The Primal Tradition, A Homebrew Magical Tradition Options

[Gothic Rose]

I was contemplating things, and it occurred to me that there wasn't a specific tradition that views Magic as the creating force of the Universe. Thus, I banged out the Primals - nature-like magicians that tap into the essences of creation, destruction, and other such universal concepts in order to power their spells.

Tell me what y'all think.

The Primal Tradition
Concept: Magic is all. It permeates the world - it is it's mother. All things come from Magic - It is the alpha and omega of the universe. Spirits manifested are echoes of creation and destruction - elemental forces that rule the world; entropy, stagnation, so on so forth. The Primal understands that Magic is the All, and they merely tap into the flow of the Creative and Destructive forces that exist in all places and times. Most Primals choose a specific force of Magic (Creation, Entropy, Destruction, etc) as their focus and point of worship.


Combat: Fire
Detection: Air
Health: Earth
Illusion: Water
Manipulation: Beasts
Drain: Willpower + Intuition

Mostly found in the nomadic cultures of South America and the plains of Africa, as well as some more rural portions of europe (including a small cabal of druids in the United Kingdom) the Primals were, for a time, believed to be another form of Shamans - and, in many ways, they are similar. Both traditions tend towards the natural. Both traditions rely on Mentor Spirits, although, instead of a Totem, each Primal worships one of the Aspects - Creation, Destruction, Entropy, Order, and Unity.

The Aspects: Each aspect listed below is, essentially, one of the Mentor Spirits available to the Primals. Not all worship these concepts, but most do choose a specific Aspect as their primary center of worship.

The Destroyer
Those who follow the path of Destruction are not necessarily violent individuals, but they understand that violence, and conflict, are necessary for rebirth. For the cycle to continue, for there to be creation, death and destruction must take place.

Advantages: +2 dice to Combat spells, +2 dice for Spirits of Fire
Disadvantages: -1 die for Health spells.

The Creator
The Mother, the Father, the inventor, the nurturer, all of these are reflected in the act of Creation. To create is to be one with all things. Those who venerate Creation understand that life, and all things, must be protected and nourished.

Advantages: +2 dice for Health Spells, +2 dice to Spirits of Earth
Disadvantages: -1 die for Combat spells

Entropy
For the cycle of creation to continue, reality must change. Perceptions are a part of that reality – they define what is and what is not. To alter those perceptions is to embrace that change has occurred.

Advantages: +2 dice for Illusion Spells, +2 dice for Spirits of Water
Disadvantages: -1 die for Detection Spells

Order
While change occurs, it must be regulated – too much promotes sickness and destruction. Order must be imposed upon all that is created – as such, perceptions must be enhanced to ensure that all is maintained as it is.

Advantages: +2 dice for Detection Spells, +2 dice for Spirits of Air
Disadvantages: -1 die for Illusion Spells.

Unity
Balance between all of the forces of the Universe, of Magic, is of tantamount importance – too much change promotes sickness; too much order promotes stagnation; too much creation promotes pain; too much destruction promotes suffering. The be one with All is to understand that all are necessary in equal amounts.

Advantages: +2 dice for Manipulation Spells, +2 dice for Spirits of Beast
Disadvantages: A Primal of Unity must make a Willpower+Logic (3) test to initiate any offensive action – including insults, taunts, and outright attacks. Essentially, they do not like to "rock the boat."

[JBlades]

I really like this. I had a similar idea, but never got around to getting off my butt and writing it up. Nice work! The Aspects are perfect, as are the elemental associations. Consider it stolen! :D

[blakkie]

EDIT: BTW nice work on the Mentor Spirit options. I like what you've done with that.

I've been trying to fit a tradition around the [pre-Christian] Slavic patheon. However it is tough slogging for a few reasons. First trying to align with the 5 spell catagories. Second trying to align with the 6 spirit types. The rather limited, or sometimes quite varied, explaination of what they did or were about. So far i've gotten to the point of

Combat: Perun lightning, thunder, and a crapload of other stuff including war...i've tentatively got him down as a Spirit of Man but he maybe could also be Fire....he's a puzzler because he's kinda a mulitple god in one, with various meanings for various people
Detection:Stribog, is the grandfather to the 8 winds so definately Air Spirit, but outside that is from very far back so i haven't been able to find much of any backstory for him yet, so i just plunked him into detection *shrug*
Health:Hors, old sun/moon (Moon Spirit), Hors is definately about healing and surviving, but old sun (the waning sun as Winter Solstice approaches) or even moon doesn't fit into the current SR4 spirit list :(, i don't really think Water Spirit fits at all which is about the only spirit type not assigned
Illusion:Koschei the Deathless (Spirit Of Countless Forms), he actually has a cool backstory where he has hidden his life forces within a trail of numerous items and to kill him you have to trace back through them all and eventually smack him on the forehead with a needle to off him, was considering him Spirit of Man, i don't know, but it seems better that he be an even more nebulous type of spirit that takes on the form of whatever is around
Manipulation:Veles, definately Spirit of Beasts (he's all about cattle), i tossed him into manipulation for now because there is a bit of a wealth connection, but then there is another god that could fit the same roll

Fire Svarazic is very much the god of fire, but i'm having a hard time trying to squeeze him into any spell catagory.

As for which of the mental attributes for drain, i really can't say Logic. Intuition doesn't feel quite right either, nor really Charisma. Slavs in my experience tend to be more doubled up on Willpower (this based more than a little on being married to one :P ), but i don't believe that is a valid option.

[SL James]

Reminds me that I need to get off my ass and finish the Endless.

[Ophis]

[SL James]

Uh, yeah... magical tradition... Not for anything... real.

Nope. Not me.

[Ophis]

[Gothic Rose]

[snowRaven]

Nice work Gothic - I like it!

[NightmareX]

[Siege]

It seems the bonus dice for spirits directly support the bonus dice for spell groups - which make the aspects highly focused and specialized.

Example: The Destroyer gets bonus dice for Combat spells and bonus dice for Fire spirits which are associated with Combat spells.

I'd suggest mixing up the Specialty Dice and Bonus spirit dice, possibly drop bonus spirit dice and replace it with a special trait or something else for variety.

-Siege

[Ophis]

[Synner]

[NightmareX]

[Gothic Rose]

[NightmareX]

[Gothic Rose]

Wieeeeeeeeeeeerd. And Crazy. :P Still holds true, though. Always open to suggestions.

[Ophis]

[NightmareX]

[Buster]

This tradition is awesome! Thanks, I'm going to use it in my games.

Can we start a sticky thread with all home-grown traditions? I hate to think that I'm missing out on any other great traditions like this.

[lunchbox311]

And Buster wins the Necro thread award. :D

It is a good tradition though.

[Buster]

LOL. And I didn't even apologize for it either. (not in this thread anyways).

I have become Threadomancer, Resurrector of Lost Posts.

[mfb]

why does it live!?

[bibliophile20]

I just took a good solid look at this, and I just have one thing to say:

I like it.

It's nicely thought out, and the concept is a winner in my mind.