Mentor Spirits

In the search for magical enlightenment, affiliation, or purpose, many Awakened individuals are drawn toward certain animals, mythological figures, or concepts. This may be an idol they grew up with, a tribal totem, or something they look up to achieve in their life. It could also relate to their religious or magical beliefs. So strong are the feelings for this person or idea that once the individual Awakens, the idea takes a life on its own. It becomes what is known as a mentor spirit.   This mentor spirit is much like other spirits in that it has its own personality, but it’s not a spirit in the summon- and-banish sense of the term. It can be seen and heard by those it chooses, and even physically interact with its followers. Your mentor spirit can have significant influence over you, giving you benefits when you remain true or punishing you if you go astray (usually with temporary reductions to your Magic rating).   Magical mentorship can come in different forms. Often you have your own link to your mentor spirit, but an Awakened guild or society can become linked to a mentor spirit as a group.   There is no real understanding of the nature of mentor spirits, but their general goal is clear: They want to keep Awakened individuals on the path that helped introduce the mentor spirit to the Earth in the first place. For gamemasters, mentor spirits can be used as a tool to communicate information to the magician and enhance role-playing. The mentor spirit can provide cryptic clues, riddles, omens, and sometimes even straightforward advice. Any Awakened character can connect with a mentor spirit by taking the Mentor Spirit quality (p. 76, CRB). Gamemasters may also choose to award mentor spirits in the course of role playing, provided the player character has done enough to deserve it.   MENTOR SPIRIT ARCHETYPES Each of the mentor spirits listed here represents an archetype. These archetypes are idealized as totem animals, deities, and forces of nature by different cultures and traditions. The archetypes listed below serve merely as examples of different archetypes and are not meant to apply to all cultures—a totem animal considered a healer in one culture may be considered a deceiver in another. Additional archetypes will be presented in future sourcebooks, and you can always work with your gamemaster to develop a mentor spirit archetype that best fits your character’s outlook.   Each archetype offers three advantages: one general bonus, one bonus that applies only to magicians, and one that applies only to adepts. Mystic adepts must chose either the adept or magician advantage at the time they accept the mentor spirit and can’t change it. Each also has a disadvantage and some alternate names or concepts for the mentor spirit, if you don’t feel the given name really fits your tradition. Advantages and disadvantages apply at all times.