From:	JLantrip@******.COM JLantrip@******.COM
Subject:	Watcher spirits?
Date:	Tue, 24 Oct 2000 08:16:34 -0600

>But I think the question now is: Are mages actually allowed to choose the
>form of their watchers. I say sorta. I make mages, the first time they
>summon a watcher, decide what style or image they'd like for their
watchers
>(something that matches the character), and then after that, all of their
>watchers follow that same theme.

I don't see how it would work any other way, from the magical
tradition point of view. It's the symbology that drives magic (this is
assuming, of course, the SR theme of "all magical traditions are equally
valid"...that they all "work"). Visualization is an important theme among
most of the magical traditions...you have to be able to visualize it
happening and then use the "power" to give reality to that which you
visualize.

Take, for example, a hermetic mage who is using an Egyptian style of
magic...in his mind, when he thinks of a watcher spirit, he might think of
Bastet (in Her role as one of the "Eyes of Ra")....his watcher spirit might
take a cat-like shape, since that's what he's "looking" for during the
conjuring. It might not be exactly, to the smallest detail, what the mage
is looking for, but it should be somewhat dictated by the mage's style.

Which also leads me to wonder...how many gm's let people "customize"
their magical effects (or, heck, suggest that people do this)? I usually
try to, since it helps me visualize a character better. I'll use a variety
of shaman...a Dark King shaman, for example, might call upon his connection
to death to help draw the death concentrating around a character into
himself. Also known as "heal". A cat shaman with death touch (Is that the
name? I don't have my book handy...it's a combat spell that requires
physical contact) might hit someone and claw marks would appear, where a
bear shaman might just deliver a crushing blow....

--J