User blog comment:GrandMethuselah67/Mage: the Awakening tribute sheet: Oliver Skarsgard/@comment-4867780-20151018024029/@comment-26322734-20151027031750

Nah, the whole theme of Mage is Hubris. Every single problem that the mages face is their own fault, it happens because they got too proud, and now they have to deal with the consequences of the Exarchs breaking and controlling reality. So the Abyss, while an eldritch realm, actually happened because of the Exarchs breaking the Celestial Ladder (the ultimate act of hubris). The horror of this gameline is basically this:

The universe is being plagued by horrible monsters from beyond the walls of reality. They want to devour everything and turn the Fallen World into a hellish playground. You let them in.

So the whole thing is a massive Nice Job Breaking It, Hero towards the entire human race. But the hopeful part about that is the Awakened have the power to change and fix the things their ancestors screwed up, but doing so isn't going to be easy.

As for the Scelesti, the game makes it clear that they're hurting themselves as much as they're hurting every one else. In fact, a lot of Abyssal magic is fueled by self-harm, and said self-harm doesn't necessarily have to be physical. Sometimes, it's mental (allowing an Abyssal entity to inhabit your mind in exchange for power) or Spiritual (allowing the Abyss to fill your soul so you could rule its realms, in the case of the Aswadim). The Scelesti themselves aren't dangerous, the things they summon are, which in turn makes them pretty dangerous.