I'm thinking of doing 30 Airy Spirits for November and would love to hear some original ideas. Just a sentence or even just "Spirit of _____" should be plenty but a little more would not hurt. Spirits are all over the place and to make that sort of thing come alive for your spirit players we need a whole lot of spirits in the wings, ready to enter play. Some ideas I have so far:
Fauni - Spirit of the Wolf Pack (with some alterations might be possible to use as Spirit of the Herd for other sorts of animals)
Spirit of the Elements - Forge Spirit/Spirit of the Eternal Flame (or any long-lived fire in a strong magical aura, actually)
Imagine - Spirit of the Pond's Reflection (a spirit that wants to show you your true beauty... or lack of it)
Spirit of an Idea - Spirit of the Fibbonacci Set (newly formed spirit in Pisa, follows a particular mathematician around, might one day become a daimon)
Anyhow, to get to 30 spirits useful for other folk's games I toss it to you all to do some of the idea work
Man made tools usually do not have a spirit, but I can imagine that an executioneer's axe which is a family heirloom and was used in more than a hundred executions has some sort of magical spirit (or maybe Infernal? )
Spirits of Damp Darkness - The ancient spirits lure in the depth of old forests where sunlight never touches the rotting leaves.
Imagine - Spirit of Last Whining - The spirit was formed long time ago when a prey was caught and killed by a predator. It is the echo of its last sound full of agony.
Spirit of Serenity - This spirit of emotion is formed around people who are near to divine grace, but are not true believers of Jesus and the Lord. Their calm and seren state of mind is strong enough to call those kind of spirits into existence.
Spirit of the Steep Hillside - This spirit of Terram is guarding its part of the hill which is more of a ravine. It knows all the little cliffs and lesser rocks. It is the one who decides when and how the lesser ones should falling down, or in rare cases when it is time for a landslide. It has a quite good relationship with the spirit of the creek under its side, however after a landslide the water spirit used to be angry because its way is blocked.
Spirits of small natural things. The spirit of a pond, a puddle, a rock, a whisp of air, a single ray of sunshine, a single leaf, a raindrop.
Spirits of magical things associated with a magical aura. The spirit of the vibrant colors of the magical peacock, the spirit of the feeling of peace and tranquility, the spirit of beauty of the magical vista and the feeling of the deep darkness at the depths of the cave, and so on.
I love this idea! I could really use 30 airy spirits in my game right now. I would love to see florae, spirits of plants, especially those that deviate from the familiar nymph type. Fauni would be great too for a whole range of animals, from wolves and birds of prey down to mice and fish. This goes beyond the remit of what you are trying to do, but I would be interested in any ideas around how spirits relate to other spirits. Can we talk of communities of spirits? Are there leaders? Might there be rival groups of spirits? It is hard to go far in this direction without these magical spirits becoming rather human-like and therefore perhaps more faerie than magic oriented. But it seems to me that a fire spirit will probably not like a water spirit, and the deer spirit will want to evade the wolf spirit, etc.
Totally beyond what I'm thinking though I might throw in a story idea or three around spirits interacting. That said, one of my favorite real world beliefs to reference (read: appropriate and mangle) in RPGs is the Chinese idea of a celestial bureacracy. Unfortunately doesn't fit so well in Ars Magica though there is mention of an idea of a "spirit ecosystem" (HoH:TL see Ethereal Fishermen spiders in Tremere chapter) that could definitely be explored further. I imagine the closest we would see to "courts" of spirits would be lower might spirits who help their friendly neighborhood genii loci which might be better modeled as defensive warbands.
One interpretation on a Domovoï (Russian house spirit): I had in my game, a excellent and very nice baker that was making delicious, nutritious bread. Between his dedication to his craft and his kindness, a domovoï of sort moved in and would help him at night time: perfectly tiding up the place, making sure no pest or rodden would attack the baker's flour bag.
The domovoï would sometimes also "bless" the baker bread, granting it ability to heal or recover faster.
The twist: one day, the baker got delivered a bag of contaminated rye flour with ergot. It corrupted the domovoï who started to drive people crazy, even murderous. That's when our mages got involved and culminated with a comedic fight against a dough golem. Our adventures were usually light-hearthed
Would/could each magus' Casting Sigil have an associated Airy Spirit, most commonly an Imago, but perhaps something else in unusual circumstances (for example a Lugra for a magus with the Painful Magic Flaw)? If so, an example would be a nice inclusion.
Of course such a spirit could create issues. Is it bindable as a Spirit Familiar? Are spell traces enough of an AC for a quaesitor to summon one in an investigation? There's likely a few more issues lurking too.
I think 4 spirits of the elements would make a change from typical elementals and would be useful, as would genii loci. Eidolons asdociated with personality flaws as well. I have less interest in the other types.
Spirit of the forge fire.
Spirit of the village's well
Spirit of the river rapids
Spirit of the summer rainstorm
Spirit of the forest fire
Spirit of the grain mill
Spirit of the brewing ale
Spirit of the executioner's stone
Spirit of the stone bridge
An Eidolon of Trust. The trust an old knight may have had for his King, or perhaps of a married couple of Hedge Wizards before the Order. Make it a Diedne Eidolon who trusts the Order for EMOTIONAL DAMAGE.
Geni Locii of a Royal Court of old. Perhaps a Merovingian place of power.
Geni Locii of the Drachenfels where Fafnir was killed, I actually had him as a revenge seeking Daimon level Spirit in one of my games and I would like to see someone else's interpretation.
I second the idea of some Imagines of the Sigils of many different Magi a it is really interesting.
The Eidolon of Bonisagus' suffering, perhaps after he lost his son or when his last Filius got marched.
Ghosts and Adulterations technically don't count so an extra:
Adulteration of a Gorgiastic Cathar
Ghost of the brother of Attila of the Huns
Adulteration of a Path of Strife Criamon.
And a Ghost of a Mercurian or a member of the Cult of Aita/Pluto.
Well, I had to mention the ideas before I forget them. But I didn't see the Royal Court as Daimon material, at all really.
What did you think about the other spirits though?
