From:	MrTouch <mrtouch@***.COM>
Subject:	Re: Toxic Shaman's
Date:	Fri, 28 Jul 1995 13:49:25 -0400

Its good to hear someone who agrees with me that the filter through which
a mage precieves his magic can be twisted or distorted. This idea has
been sitting over a backburner for sometime and needed some new cream
added to the sauce.

I don't believe in the world of SRII that there is any mention of a
good/evil paradime being applied to the area of magic or to the world for
that matter. Rather we tend to see competing forces clash for limmted
resources (ie something akin to rats getting ruthless in one of Malthus'
cages). With this in mind lets leave the personal belief systems of any
Shawman aside (the same example applies to the Shawman as the former
Hermietic) and take a look at the world of SRII from a new perspective
(we know that the Shawman's perceptions are intresically influenced by
the totem he belongs to).

In this world magic seems exists in space or matter. It only is able to
manifest itself of be caused to exist through a genetic link that somehow
or another bridges the gap between the mundane and the etheric. When
this occurs and how this occurs are the main questions at hand here
because the magic is always there in what ever form.

The shawman requires that he/she be choosen by a totem. Somehow the
shawman must overcome a mental barrior to link not only his/her genetics
to the magic world, but the will of the shawman as well. The totem can
be seen as a manifestation of this mental conection. He recieves his
insights into the deminsion of the magics through the imagination. The
totem serves as a semi-spiritual model for this connection. Without the
totem the shawman cannot mentaly bridge the dimensions to extract his power.

The Hermetic however has no such model to base his connection. Rather he
has only his nature to guide him to this connection. The energy he
gathers is no different than the magics of the shawman other than in
their method to find that energy. If the shawman's perception of magics
or his need for resources can somehow be different then it stands to
reason that the Hermetic mage, who has to model to draw a sense of
"rightness" from, can also be flawed.

The magics are the same, but the filters through which the mages utilizes
these powers are different.

Comments welcome,

MrTouch