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Do all Spirits act the same way regardless of their tradition? I thought that the summoner's tradition was the lens with which all their spirits were summoned?
Much like Psionists, though they consider spirits to be mental constructs there is room for benign possessors.
Spirits are affected by a host of things, not just the summoner's perceptions (but that is a factor as well) tradition, environment, history of the summoner, and of course the spirits own attitudes/attributes all play a role in it's personality matrix.
If we look at two textbook traditions (Mage and shaman) and look at how they interact with spirits it gets interesting (and murky!)
Mage's are usually very text book and acedemic in the way they view magic. When they summon a spirit, the spirit is usually 'flat' in it's personality, but it still has a personality! it is believed that this is caused by the Mage's desire and will to see magic in a forumlialic view point.
A Shaman, who usually has a very flowing, interactivity view to magic (it is all around us, part of us, in us, through us, hippie flower-power type views) summon spirits with very viberant personalities. Again this is believed to be because of the shamans view that magic is a living thing....
Now, you have to look at the environment that the spirit is being summoned into... areas that are filled with negative emotions, toxic substances, and other pollutants are generally more hostile, and 'angry' then ones summoned in happy-go-lucky places, or natural, clean surroundings. it is believed this is caused by the fact that the summoner is pulling them from the 'astral' (or where ever the spirit was) and forcing it to inhabit the polluted environment.
Lastly, spirits are actual beings... they may (or may not) be life forms as we understand them but they express all the characteristics of a sapient.... including some very distrubing qualities! by this I mean, they instinctivly know who has summoned it, even is a room of mages. They seem to know the history of the summoning mage in regards to spirits (has he used them as astral traget bombs? abused them? sent them to be destroyed?) and seem to have their own wants, desires, objectives, views, and knowledge! spirits at times have shown knowledge of subjects that they shouldn't know about, and also the inverse of that. Some spirits have been extremely hostile when summoned, others extremely helpful. Some spirits will obey they LETTER of the command, but not the intention. Others will obey the intention of a command, if not the letter....
However, what is NOT known about spirits is more then IS known... Is there only a handful of spirits? Or are their endless amounts? Is a mage summoning the same spirit over and over again, just 'wrapped' differently everytime (IE: is that guardian, fire elemental, and water spirit in actuality the SAME spirit, just repuposed by the will of the mage?)
also, the more powerful the spirit (force) the more personality it has! so while a force 2 Guardian spirit may seem like an automiton, a force 10 guardian spirit is a whole different animal! Not to mention smarter, stronger, and more willful then it's summoner (so BEWARE!!!)
Spirits are powerful, and mysterious beings that possess GREAT powers and abilities. Only fools and madmen make light of spirits and what they can do, what they are, or that they are in 'control' of a spirit at all times. There are all sorts of fluff out there of rampaging spirits that have broken free of summoners to run amok on the world (and the mage!!), or of mages who thought they had a spirit under control, only to find out at a very inoportune time that that wasn't the case... or that what they meant with a command and what the spirit interprets are two vastly different things!!!