From:	"Jason Carter, Nightstalker" <CARTER@***.EDU>
Subject:	Slave Spirits? No way.
Date:	Mon, 12 Apr 1993 20:10:49 -0700

Guys,
While we can talk the socio-political ramifactionso of spirit summoning as a
from of sorcery there is one thing that is not necessary. Additonal rules on
control of spirits (either nature or elemental).
Why you might ask? Because it was already handled in the conjuring test.
What do you think the magician is doing when he summons a spirit? He is more or
less (depending on the Shaman in question) neogiatiting with the spirit for
services. Shamans are trained on how to correctly ask the spirits of the land
to come to their aid. Mages manipulate magical energy to gain access to a
spirit form one of the Elemental Metaplanes.
One the question of whether or not a spirit will follow any particular command
given by the magician remember these are spirits we're dealing with. They don't
think like people. For something as silly and mundane as "Hearth Spirit, clean
up this room" to something as deadly serious as "Fire Elemental explode that
fuel reserve" are things these guys never do. This means that once you've
managed to get the spirit to agree to give you x number of services, he will do
x number of services, no matter how silly they are.
I hope this allow you all to see why there is no need for additional rules
like shamans making Charima Test to have Spirit do what they ask and Mages
needing to do some bargining to get elementals. The conjuring test covers the
Shaman and that 1,000 nuyen per point of force in materials Mages use sounds
like some nasty bargaining to me.
So remember guys, before looking for more ways to complicate the rules look
closely at what the rules do. Odds are "It's in there!"
Lastly I have a few comments on mages enslaving elementals. In the UCAS and
most other nations, spirits are not recognized as intelligent or even living
beings. A magician is criminally responsible for any actions under taken by a
spirit they summon. Now moving beyond the law, the character of the mage and
how they treat their elementals would decide if the mage was a "slave-driver."
I'm sure none of you (Ed, Jeremy, Steve, and Stefan) would accuss Raven of being
a slaver. She's very nice to her elementals, often patting them on the head and
saying she's sorry when she sends them into a fight were they might die. On the
other hand a mage who summons elementals and sends them to horrible deaths and
regularly drains off their force permently to protect himself for things he
could easily avoid would be a slave driver.

See Ya in Shadows,
Jason J Carter
The Nightstalker