couple of thoughts:

Your concerns about quick advancement.  What I am understand to be your point is that if people advance too quickly, then it destabilizes the setting.  Threats that were threats no longer count, interdependent relationships change as some people become more bad-ass (mechanically at least) than others, people might choose to take moves that change the overall dynamic of the story.

To counter this argument, I would look to pages 111-112 where the book talks about looking at things through crosshairs.  Specifically, the text says: <quote>It’s one of the game’s slogans:“there are no status quos in Apocalypse World.”</quote>  I see this as being true as much about players choices as it is about what the MC can or cannot target.  It was a traveling setting, now it's about staying in one place?  The guys on the run from terrible enemies who decide that here, now, is a place to take a stand is a great idea.  Relationships changing due to imbalance?  Just because Kodak's son Gris-Gris can now beat the shit out of him doesn't make it any less important or interesting that he is his SON.  Threats are no longer really threatening? That gang of bikers that used to terrify the holding are now kind of a bunch of wimps.  They might have just been a bunch of bullies, but the tyrant that they report to has something to say about you doing what you do.  Change leads to... well, change.  And change is interesting.

You have also mentioned being concerned that the story should take 8 sessions, and that's it.  My gaming group has been playing short-arc independent RPG's for a few months now, so that we can sample a bunch of games.  Keeping a schedule in mind helps make for satisfying story arc while still doing so in a limited time frame, but that's not the concern of the MC: he doesn't have to work to wrap anything up, or to make sure everything get's dealt with.  For the MC, he just does what he does: keeps life interesting, thinks about what's happening off-stage, and advances story whenever he feels like/it feels right.  It's between all of us to say "hey, we want to wrap up in the next two sessions, so let's start dealing with the meat of the story."  So far, we haven't had real burps with people not getting enough story in any one single game.  It doesn't need managing, just keeping it in mind is enough.  If you do end up a session or two short, well, play something short in the interim:  I really recommend Fiasco.

I see benhimself started a thread on world of darkness hacks, but started with vampires.  I have been meaning to get Mage in to a system I can stand for a while now, and AW seems like a great fit with some modification, so I hope no one minds if I start a thread for it by itself.

I've been thinking about how to do this justice.  My current thought is to keep most of the basic moves from AW as is except for opening your brain.  Along the same lines, weird would likely be replaced with Arete.  I would however have an overlying rule that says:  If you make a move using magick, then +arete -disbelief to the roll, and the MC get's access to magick-related moves if you miss.  In addition, I'm thinking a second clock in addition to harm called "Paradox" that works much the same way, and debilities that work with it as well.  I'm probably going to have them add descriptors to segments of the clock as well: from 12:00-3:00 water drains the other way, things like that.

But the real juice of Mage for me has always been the personification of magick: each mage in the world sees it differently, and does their magick differently because of that.  The question becomes how to reward/bring those aspects in to play?  So maybe we have a section called "Spheres", which are weapons, with descriptors and affects like in AW.  You want to do magick, you're using a weapon, and those descriptors are included.  All Spheres start with the descriptor <i>foci</i> meaning you need a foci to use it.  Those foci, being things in themselves, would also have descriptors.  Spheres would need to advance with understanding, but I'm not sure if I want to do that as part of overall mark improvement, or if I want a separate improvement track for them.

Finally, character books.  It would be real easy to make the traditions a character book each, but that doesn't capture the "PC's are unique" idea that resonates so from AW.  I think instead I'll have them as moves that can be taken, only one from this set ever.  So for an Akashic Brother, it might be something like "if you consult the Dharmic Record", or for a Dreamspeaker "When the spirits aid you in your cause."  Character books should be more.. specific. Perhaps:

The Man in Black
The Ghost in the Machine
The Prophet
The Freedom Fighter

hrm, these needs some thinking.  The WoD books are a little too unfocused, especially with Mage, to make me think of archetypes that are not just direct corollaries to traditions.

Anyway, that's what I'm thinking right now.  More musing to be done.

...yeah.  I'm um... so.  yeah.

So, am I just blind or is there no way of clearing all "new post" markers other than by reading each post? 

hah, this is really awesome.  I was actually thinking of some sort of AW hack that would use the 5 fundamentals from the art of war as the basic stats (Dao, Heaven, Earth, Command, Discipline) that would be about epic warfare of one type or another.  It might be a good fit for you here, they are pretty close to what you have described anyway and are pretty thematically appropriate.

*grin* Sorry, unlooked for advice I know, I just can't help my geekin' out sometimes.