Shamanic Masks, What about non-animal totems? Options

[sapphire_wyvern]

I'd like some suggestions for the appearance of shamanic masks for shamans who don't follow animal totems.

What would the shamanic mask of an Adversary or River shaman look like for instance?

I'm playing a new Fire-bringer Shaman. Another guy I know used Greek theatre-masks as his shamanic mask; while that's good for his character, it's not so suitable for mine. Does anyone have some other suggestions?

[Synner]

This is one major difference (among several) which many people fail to make between Totems and Idols. Shamans and Idol followers are not the same thing. Without getting bogged down in the minutae it's important to realise that the former is an animistic belief and the later is a form of diety worship (with all the inherent trappings).

Shamanic masks are an element of shamanic belief that does have a few parallels in classical and pagan panthaestic belief (which is what Idol worship is), but it is probably much more appropriate to use some sort of "visual manifestation of the relevant divine power" as a form of shamanic mask than the traditional form. For instance a glowing halo or the sounds of an angelic choir (for a Christian-style Idol), a clap of thunder (for a follower of Thor), a spear of sunlight (for a follower of Apollo), a full-body halo of flames (for a follower of Fire-bringer Lucifer).

It all depends on what diety or power your Idol represents. Pick manifestations that seem appropriate to the specific Idol.

[Lilt]

The adversary shaman's mask really depends on the character. It mentions in the book that some toxic shamans follow the adversary and I'd suspect they would have a different mask than a street-punk-shaman following it. For toxics I'd say putrid greeness and apparent mutation while a street-punk would probably seemingly accquire tatoos, piercings, differently-coloured hair, and more holes in his jeans that you never noticed before.

[Ancient History]

I think TOaster's followers would look funny.

[The Synthcat]

[Talia Invierno]

Mmm, smell of burning toast ...

[RangerJoe]

I was actually doing some thinking about being a follower of Toaster the other day.

The shamanic mask which appears around a Toaster shaman when practicing magic tends to stream-line the features of his face, turning his skin silver-gray to almost chrome. Heat crinkles appear in the air above two discreet regions of his head, which appear to glow a ghostly amber. A perception( Force of magic + 6 ) test (with olafactory mods, of course) will reveal the faint scent of burning bagels which were too large to fit in an upright toaster, but which were forced in anyways (Toaster is not the brightest totem, no?)

As far as playing a Toaster shaman, I'm thinking +1 die to transform manipulations +1 die to fire-related spells, -1 die to detection spells (except some sort of special detect(bread/toast)), and -1 die to illusion spells (you try hiding a toaster in plain sight....). Of course, +2 dice for spirits of man and -2 dice for water-related spirits (sadly, there's no way of doing what I really want, which is to have a quickened ball lightning spell triggered by a detect liquid water spell be mandatory for all Toaster shamans. Toasters and water do not mix.)

Mmm... toast.

[Kanada Ten]

[Ancient History]

Fire Bringer would (probably) be Prometheus in Greek Myth (although I can see a toxic version that resembles Gothic horror Dr. Frankenstein...)

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

[sapphire_wyvern]

[Ancient History]

Sounds like ye'd be better off with the Creator totem than Fire-bringer.

[Crazy Elf]

It would also be a difference in how your character approaches magic use. For a shamanist, the totem working directly through the individual is one of the reasons a mask is so evident. An idol may not be seen by the character to work through them so much as for them.

It depends entirely on your perspective, but given a different magical slant, different masking effects will occur. It's up to personal paradigm.

[Synner]

[Talia Invierno]

Which leads to interpretation of just what the fruit of that tree is intended to be representative of. Each of the three cultures (and many of their schismed offspring) which borrow from that story interprets it differently. Within this context, could lead to a drastically different interpretation of Fire-bringer and/or Adversary if the knowledge is that of Good/Evil, or creation of life/immortality, or sexuality (to take just three).

[Ancient History]

Hey, how 'bout this: toxic Idol-worshipper. A Japanese magiciain who worships the United States for bringing the Bomb to Japan.