Fate vs Free Will.

Cleverest of Things:

According to the Mages, Time and Fate are related powerfully.  Fate needs time, just as Time needs Fate.  Without Time, Fate cannot express itself, or get anything done.  Without Fate, Time is just meaningless unconnected change.

I know that, but for this discussion you shoul leave Fate as more purer - there isn't "purpose" ( goal of story,"ending",  the Fate ) without "means" ( consequence, logic of story, "scenes", the Time ). But to make discussion more visible, adhere only to Fate.

What is the Fate? Let's look one Fate Arcanum in the Mage - it let you just say "I want to have car!" and on the second day you win the car in lottery. Or you find new Ferrari just before your home, so you jump in... only to discover it was stolen, and left by thieves so they could return to it later. Fate doesn't concern itself "How do you want it?", only "What do you want?".

If this is Arcanum of this "force" in WoD Universe, so the "force" itself should work more or less the same, only it is outside of our control. That means, Fate in nWoD is letter, your Destiny, an "ending" of your "story". Most people don't have high Destiny - they are not important. They are designed to be workers, policemen or just "bad father". It's also a subtle horror of Mage as it is - your life, true meaning of it, is set in stone. If you aren't the Mage ( and even most of them also ) you can't change it. You are just next doll in the theater of life, only you don't know it.

And here come Free Will - you see, I think, people in World of Darkness are like living dolls - they don't know they have strings attached to they arms and that "pupetmaster" ( the Destiny ) is trying, over and over again, to make they fullfill the Destiny. But as people are living dolls, those dolls can opose the pulling the strings of pupeter, break one by one - those that does, live the life in constant struggle, thinking they know better.  Most become outsiders, crazy or just misfortune in they life and feeling constant "life nonsense". Each string is next "big descicion" in life, even if we don't know withc of them are. Or they have lives marked by tragic becomes "pupeter" try next string to pull the in the right way - accidental fire to make the character the destined "hero" is good example of it. The character can throw himself in to flames ( and risk of death ) to save his neighbor, or just call the firefighters, but won't become the true hero.

Anyone in WoD have role to fulfill, but they can try not too. They will live hard or cruel life ( Fate IS a Bitch ), but they have this opportunity. If they don't know they Destiny ( and most don't know ) they can make errors and mistakes that makes they life even harder.