Faeires, Mentem, Corpus and Animal

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

Hi all,

This may seem a strange question, but I noticed in ArM5, the example of the Faerie Lord of Ice (Supernatural Realms/Bestiary section) has mentem powers which presumably control humans.

Would those work on his faeries as well?

Do mentem effects work on Faeries generally, or could faerie familiars be immune to mentem attacks? If there is a dangerous Faerie or Magic creature with InMe or ReMe effects, could a faerie evade their powes?

I notice in the shape/material bonus table that "panpipes" includes a bonus for "manipulate faerie emotions." Does this mean that Mentem can effect Faeries?

If not, how do you take advantage of the shape?

I also note that sometimes in the Play by Post games people have used Corpus on Faeries of human shape. Does that mean Animal works on Faeries of Animal shape? Obviously creatures made of elemental material would be different, but I'd assume that they'd be effected by their elemental form? So a normal Perdo Ignem effect which quenches all flame would work against a Faerie made of pure flame?

I note that Perdo Animal works on even Mythic Creatures of Magic Might (The Agony of the Beast spell example when explaining sympathetic magic in ArM5 was used on a Dragon as normal) - does this hold true for Faerie creatures as well? If not, why not?

2

Mentem affects any creature with Intelligence. So it should affect most faeries, that indeed have Intelligence, but some may have Cunning and so won't be affected by Mentem.

Corpus affects anything with the broad shape of a human, including (human-like) demons and angels (in corporeal form), faeries, giants, zombies...

Animal likewise affects anything animal-like.

However, there is a question on how specifici formulaic spells are. Is "Cripple the Howling Wolf" work on a wolf only? On any mundane aniumal? On any animal-like creature, regardless of Realm? For damaging spells, I think saying "anything for Form" seems right. For spells that affect emotions, however, I could see how someone could rule that a spell that creatues some emotion simply doesn't work on a faeries' alien mind. The standard approach, however, is I think that it would affect any mind.

3

Thanks!

Though, I'd disagree with the notion that Faerie emotions are "too alien" for human magic. Faeries are reflections of human dreams, imagination and emotion. They are more human than any supernatural critters.