[Trencher Johnny]

I'm told that Satan, Lucifer, The Devl, et al goes under the name "The Adversary" in Shadowrun. Can you take him as a Mentor Spirit? Is there anything published about dealing with him? I want to know all about this.

[Sendaz]

SR4 Street Magic has the Adversary Mentor in it.

It is not necessarily evil by default, but also the more rebellious side standing up to a greater authority.

That said they can be slick manipulators as easily as the urban rebel sticking it to 'The Man'  and generally do not take orders well.

Remember this if from 4th so a little tweaking is needed to bring it into 5th.
Spirit Mentor (Adversary)
---------Advantages: +2 dice for Manipulation spells, +2 dice
to Counterspelling
------------Disadvantages: Adversary magicians have issues with
authority. If the Adversary magician is given orders or instructions
which do not match his own desires and intentions, he
must make a Willpower + Charisma (3) Test or refuse the
order, going with his own decision instead, regardless of the
consequences.

[firebug]

Keep in mind that the Black Magic tradition also changed greatly between 4th and 5th (since it'd be the most likely to have such a mentor).  In 4th it's pretty much LaVeyan Satanism, in 5th it's almost cartoonishly evil.

[Trencher Johnny]

What's LaVeyan Satanism?

[Imveros]

What's LaVeyan Satanism?

 

LaVeyan Satanism

[Trencher Johnny]

Oh, I didn't think that was a thing in real life. I couldn't find it on the wiki.

[psycho835]

Oh, I didn't think that was a thing in real life. I couldn't find it on the wiki.

WHAT? I'm sure I read a wikipedia article on that. Although, that WAS a few years ago AND I found it accidently via wiki walk. Maybe it was a section of a different article...?

[Namikaze]

I think the Wiki that Johnny is referencing is the Shadowrun Wikia site.

[Trencher Johnny]

I think the Wiki that Johnny is referencing is the Shadowrun Wikia site.

Bingo. I thought it was a Shadowrun thing, not a "real life" thing. It didn't even cross my mind to google it.

Not gonna lie, I feel a little dumb right now.

[Namikaze]

Anton LaVey Aleister Crowley was...  interesting.  Some of his art is incredibly valuable to the right person.  In fact, it might make for an interesting run opportunity.  Personally, I've seen some of his work and it's not much different than a Rob Zombie album cover for White Zombie.  Which makes it interesting to look at, but it doesn't exactly enrapture my attention.  But what if one of his drawings (he only used pens) somehow had become imbued with his Magick (that's how he spelled it) and could be used ... for whatever.  He liked to do a lot of orgy-based ritual Magick, so one might be inclined to lean in that direction.

What I'd probably do is have the art be used as a focus, have the ritual practitioners have an orgy to activate it, and then it summons some demon or something.  That would be interesting as hell actually.  If you're one of my players, don't read this! 

[Longshot23]

Aleister Crowley might be a "better" model than Anton LaVey.

The thing with Totems *ahem* Mentor Spirits is that they're intended to be inclusive of a whole heap of mythological figures. Dragonslayer could be viewed as Zeus, Thor, Apollo, Hercules, Siegfried, Beowulf . . . and probably a few others, or none of them. Owl, Bull, Raven etc are a bit different. Adversary could be Satan, Lucifer, Angra Mainyu, whatever . . . but it doesn't have to be. Hell, I just thought of Adversary manifesting as Sid Vicious.

It's as much how the Mentor is perceived by the character as anything else. I'm sure there are threads where this has been discussed exhaustively.

[Namikaze]

Yeah, I was talking this out with my wife last night and totally realized I was not talking about Anton LaVey at all.  My whole previous post was about Aleister Crowley, and I got the names swapped somehow.  I feel dumb now. 

[Longshot23]

Oh, don't feel dumb. They each bring something to the Black Magic(k) concept.

[Sendaz]

And actually it was a good thing.   

Most people would have gone right to the truly old school Crowley, while overlooking LaVey which can represent a different take on it with a more bad-ass attitude without necessarily being flat out evil.

Interestingly as one of LaVey's main point was there were no Gods and that they were merely an invention by ourselves to use as a mental tool, his teachings could also serve well as the basis for Satanist based Psionic Character.

Granted you don't get a Mentor spirit since brownnosing up to a spirit guide is not their way, but the path is there should one wish to take it.

[Trencher Johnny]

This actually has me kind of pumped for making an Adept with the Adversary as his Mentor spirit. He is discussed briefly in Dragonfall but he just gets the "Devil = evil deceiver" treatment. The source of that info isn't reliable though, which is why I came here.

Devil Wong will be so much fun to play, that cantankerous old bastard.