"New" Magical Tradition: City Magic, For the urban primitives out there. Options

[Coldhand Jake]

<<This is a workspace for me to write up a tradition of magic, that has alot of cousins, but is really all it's own. City magic, those who the elements aren't as important as the soul of a place. Also, it has been repeatedly noticed that yes, this is "street shamanism". To which I reply..."Yep.">>


City Magic/Street Shamanism
Concept: In the city, the spirits of earth, air and water give way to the spirits of parks, skyscrapers and neighborhoods. For the urban primitive, or 'street shaman', the spirit of his car, or his home, or his entire sprawl demand just as much, if not more, reverence and respect as the most ancient of trees and mountains. The urban animals teach wisdom, and the rare urban wildernesses of garden and park bring peace, but it is the great grumbling voice of the City that the urban primitive knows is Father, just as Gaea is Mother.
Combat: Guardian
Detection: Guidance
Health: Plants
Illusion: Beast
Manipulation: Man
Drain: Willpower+Charisma
Born out of a fusion of Neopagan, Wiccan, and Chaote principles, the origin of City Magic's beliefs were addressed around the turn of the century, mostly as an attempt to bridge natural animist beliefs and an urban lifestyle. Elements of animist religions such as Native shamanism, Shinto and Wuxing have strong influence in city magic, lending a totemic quality to urban animals, buildings, places, even phenomenon such as traffic, electricity or homelessness. They are known for sharing the Chaos magic tendency to invent new gods or totems on the spot, as well as a strong curiosity about other traditions, in which they are mostly known as lazy god-thieves unwilling to maintain a real tradition of their own. In city magic, one's magical power is granted mostly by the gods one brings into the city with him, or in the great spirits that rise from places of great population and history. One urban primitive might follow the many manifestations of the Goddess, and be nearly indistinguishable from a Wiccan. Another might follow Rat and Cockroach or Skor as he dumpster-dives for his next pair of second-hand disposable clothes, and a third might give prayers to Hades, Hel and the ghosts of the city's dead as he does a little civic cleanup in a graveyard. The Urban Primitives aren't above mixing and matching pantheons, or even combining entirely contradicting religions or philosophies, as befits their melting-pot homes. In general, they wish to make sure their city, like a person, is healthy and happy. They tend towards acts of charity towards the downtrodden, and public works.

Their eclectic beliefs lend to acceptance of new ideas, religions and gods, but a few general trends have emerged. Street shamans tend to acknowledge the animals of the city as totems, as well as the dead of the city as revered ghosts. The buildings and locales tend to be considered spiritually awake, if quiet. An apartment complex, well-maintained, and full of growing families is assumed to be happy, while a car ill-maintained, abused and unappreciated is thought to be in dire need of respect and care. Objects tend to take on a life of their own around urban primitives, and the way they often talk to devices around them, some mistake them for technomancers.

A street shaman's ritual space is usually his home, or, if he has no home, somewhere where the "pulse of the city" is strong. Parks, subways, government buildings, utility stations...places that influence or host many people constantly are powerful to the urban primitive. Also, ancient sites, that have played important roles in a city's history are sought. In Montgomery, Alabama, the Dexter Avenue Memorial Baptist Church, where Martin Luther King Jr. preached, is such a site. Also, important symbols of the city's pride are magnets to street shamans...the St. Louis Arch, the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House, the Statue of Liberty, all draw street shamans by the dozens.

Magic for the street shaman is mostly ritual, involving appeasing and pleasing the spirits, totems and gods that rule over whatever the practitioner wishes to affect. When practicing sorcery, a street shaman will usually lean towards shamanic, Chaote or Wiccan methods, depending on where their personal style draws its symbology.

City magic is an animistic tradition, where one "awakens" the spirit of an object or creature to make requests of it. A street shaman calling up a guidance spirit might ask the spirit of a library for advice, or a public comm where he can find someone. They believe that such spirits never vanish, but merely return to slumber once their tasks are done, and that the same object has the same spirit. An urban spirit often has the power of Avatar, where it may speak through an object, such as having a face appear on a wall of a building, or have a local creature speak. This is not possession, but is often mistaken for such, as it is exceedingly common for urban primitives. Avatar is not considered a task, but a method of communication, but can be part of a task, such as distracting a guard, or carrying a command to a crowd.

Mentor Spirits:
Adversary, Artificer, Cat, Dark King, Dog, Fire-Bringer, Great Mother, Owl, Rat, Raven, Seductress, Spider, Trickster, Wise Warrior

New Mentor Spirits:
City Father
When civic identity takes on a uniqueness that makes one proud to call a place home, a City Father awakens. Seattle, Los Angeles, Detroit, New York, Phillidelphia, Atlanta, Paris, Rome...when the city feels like it's alive, and aware, and has a personality of it's own, the street shamans can call out to it. For those who respect the city, he will provide, guiding those who walk in His (or Her) Name to help and happiness. Those who would do reckless damage to the city and it's people find their destructive powers curbed. After all, just ask Atlanta about fires.
Advantages: +2 to Health spells, +2 to Survival checks in the city
Disadvantages: -1 to Combat spells

Sprawl
Sprawl is HUGE. Bigger than the people and corporations in it...it is the horizon that's just more buildings...when you can see the horizon for the towers. And Sprawl knows everything that happens in its vast expanse, it's eyes and ears are everywhere. Those who ask Sprawl can find most anything in its borders. However, Sprawl just cares about getting bigger, the welfare of each person on the streets pales in comparison to the sheer bulk and power Sprawl craves. If you can't cut it in the Sprawl, you deserve what you get.
Advantages: +2 to Detection spells, +2 dice for spirits of Man
Disadvantages: If a Sprawl magician weakens himself to do charity for someone else, he loses Sprawl's benefits until he proves he's still got his edge.

Toxics Street Shamans tend to turn to Pollution, Pestilent Rat or Rabid Dog. Many Toxics of these Mentors often "corrupt" Street Shamans under the guise of teaching the young Awakened about "the truth of the City". They hail from all four Agendas, Poisoner, Reaper, Havoc, and Sterilist, and like their counterparts, tend to mix and match agendas to fit the situation.

Ant, Cockroach, Silverfish and Termite are also common as mentor spirits among street shamans, and more than a few have been lost to their alien thinking, sliding into their sway as full Insect shamans. Ant and Cockroach have been especially successful at recruiting from the urban primitives.

<<I'll be adding more Mentors, as well as fleshing out the fluff. Others who know a little are welcome to help, anyone is welcome to comment. Expect this first post to mutate and multiedit.>>

[masterofm]

Sprawl seems to be a little too overpowered for the bonuses it gives you against the disadvantage. Might I suggest +2 bonus dice to detection instead of manipulation since +2 dice to spirit of man is already filled with awesome?

Don't have the city mage use logic or intuition for their drain stat. Hermetics use logic as their drain stat. Use intuition for a city mage's drain stat. It makes some sense, and shamans also have taken charisma as their drain stat so you really only have intuition to use anyways.

[Coldhand Jake]

Sprawl seems to be a little too overpowered for the bonuses it gives you against the disadvantage. Might I suggest +2 bonus dice to detection instead of manipulation since +2 dice to spirit of man is already filled with awesome?

I like it. I was basing Sprawl off of Mountain, as a monolithic form, but I like Detection.

Don't have the city mage use logic or intuition for their drain stat. Hermetics use logic as their drain stat. Use intuition for a city mage's drain stat. It makes some sense, and shamans also have taken charisma as their drain stat so you really only have intuition to use anyways.

Actually, I had entirely forgotten shamanism's Charisma option, which fits alot better than the others.

[masterofm]

Really? I thought using your intuition to survive in the city and cast spells seemed like a good angle to play.

[Coldhand Jake]

Really? I thought using your intuition to survive in the city and cast spells seemed like a good angle to play.

Yes, but the real roots of the religion comes from respecting the spirits all around you, much like shamanism. Hm. Maybe a choice between intuition and charisma...what were your thoughts on the spirit junctions? And big edit up.

[masterofm]

As a city mage (personally I like the term Urban Mage better) you seem to play it out more like they are a shaman, but the thing that I find interesting is that you can create a different ideal. If they cast through charisma then they are
"shamans" and not really "city mages." In a sense city mages have had to survive on their instincts and willpower to get through many tough situations. The city is all they have known and have been able to view it as it's on amorphous entity that changes based on the ebb and flow of the population that it engulfs. City mages have become more adept at picking out the nuances of the city and also magic by becoming aware of their surroundings and the habbits of the creatures residing in it.

I see a city mage as street savy and able to augment this into the way they view and have then been able to cast magic. As the city is always subtly changing the urban mage is able to detect the subtle nuances in order for them to survive. Generally their wards will need to be put up by use of grafitti, and summoning circles will be etched out in colored chalk. Their homes are generally filled with different knick knacks found off the the street and restored, while the walls will be covered with different grafitti tags.

[Coldhand Jake]

Hm. See, that is a fine argument towards the intuition option, so I'm going to call the two options settled. Tell me, what city are you in? I'm in Montgomery, Alabama, myself.

[Ol' Scratch]

I don't personally buy the fluff of this tradition, but it really should be named something else because the term "City" provokes something completely different than what you described. Actually what you described sounds more like the story of a street shaman more than a genuine tradition.

A true "City" tradition would be all about Logic. Likewise, the spirit types would be more along the lines of Earth (Asphault), Air (Smog) and so on and so forth. In fact, it would be the exact opposite of Plant and Beasts, as those are the domain of the wild, untamed world, not the one man has mastered and structured to their will. Individual mentor spirits would be as close to Beasts as you would get. There'd also be a constant danger of practioners falling to more Toxic paths due to the close relationship between the two.

[Coldhand Jake]

I don't personally buy the fluff of this tradition, but it really should be named something else because the term "City" provokes something completely different than what you described. Actually what you described sounds more like the story of a street shaman more than a genuine tradition.

Well, what I have presented is what I live. I recommend Urban Primitive: Paganism in the Concrete Jungle, if you'd like to study the concepts it's rooted in. I would add that the street shaman from previous editions has no tradition rules of it's own in SR4. This certainly can be used for it, as it's rare that street shamans get such attention and detail anymore. In fact, I have noted up front that this certainly can be used as the Street Shaman's tradition.

A true "City" tradition would be all about Logic. Likewise, the spirit types would be more along the lines of Earth (Asphault), Air (Smog) and so on and so forth. In fact, it would be the exact opposite of Plant and Beasts, as those are the domain of the wild, untamed world, not the one man has mastered and structured to their will. Individual mentor spirits would be as close to Beasts as you would get. There'd also be a constant danger of practioners falling to more Toxic paths due to the close relationship between the two.

The correspondences are rather simple, and I'll walk you through them. Feel free to offer counterpoints.
Combat=Guardian. This represents asking for the ability to fight from the spirits of dead soldiers, patron gods or the spirits of neighborhoods to reject troublemakers. Buildings hate it when someone comes in throwing around combat magic, and will happily whomp the destructive person if roused.
Detection=Guidance. Asking an ancestor spirit, diety or the spirit of an wise and ancient building, or the spirit of something that sees all, like electricity, can get you alot of info.
Health=Plant. From their roots in paganism, the rare places where nature peeks out are considered oases of peace and security. From the biggest rolling park, to a windowsill herb garden, to a vial of scented oils, the Old magic is in the plants, and it is there city shamans seek to cleanse and reinforce themselves.
Illusion=Beast. In the city, animals survive by stealth, scavenging and running away. Those who listen to them can learn their tricks, and find boltholes and skitter unnoticed among the shadows.
Manipulation=Man. Spirits of man can be ancestors, buildings, tools, and even echoes of old gods. They bless the spells of city shamans that reach out to touch others. One might invoke Aphrodite, the Horned God, or even Skrew, the God of Getting Laid, to bless your Orgasm spell...

There's already a tradition with Smog in it too. Toxic shamans.

[paws2sky]

From the original post:

They are known for sharing the Chaos magic tendency to invent new gods or totems on the spot, as well as a strong curiosity about other traditions, in which they are mostly known as lazy god-thieves unwilling to maintain a real tradition of their own. In city magic, one's magical power is granted mostly by the gods one brings into the city with him, or in the great spirits that rise from places of great population and history. One urban primitive might follow the many manifestations of the Goddess, and be nearly indistinguishable from a Wiccan. Another might follow Rat and Cockroach or Skor as he dumpster-dives for his next pair of second-hand disposable clothes, and a third might give prayers to Hades, Hel and the ghosts of the city's dead as he does a little civic cleanup in a graveyard. The Urban Primitives aren't above mixing and matching pantheons, or even combining entirely contradicting religions or philosophies, as befits their melting-pot homes. In general, they wish to make sure their city, like a person, is healthy and happy. They tend towards acts of charity towards the downtrodden, and public works.

The bold parts are only things I have a quibble with. I understand you're basing this on a real-world belief system, but...

1) I have a hard time seeing anyone in the 6th world who knows anything about magic giving each other crap because they borrow concepts from other traditions. If it works, there's no denying it because it works. Who, would care that I'm using a smudge stick and an airhorn to banish a spirit instead of a pinch of salt and a silver bell? IMO, if people are going to get on each other about how magic is practiced magic, its going to because they're either a zealot/loony or there's toxic/twisted/blood magic involved.

2) Mechanically speaking, I think you should more clearly define why some people develop different drain attributes, yet follow the same tradition (I can only think of one other tradition that does this - Wicca).

3) You say that its usually a possession tradition, which I personally agree with in this case, but don't give really any indication of who or why some people would be able to conjure materialization spirits.

4) I like the idea of finding the common threads between traditions and using them. However, I strongly dislike the idea of inventing things on the spot. Its something bugs me about Chaos Magic too.

Illusion=Beast. In the city, animals survive by stealth, scavenging and running away. Those who listen to them can learn their tricks, and find boltholes and skitter unnoticed amon

This was the only correspondence I was scratching my head about when I read the initial write up. Personally, I was thinking Task for Manipulation and Man for Illusion (or vice versa). This works though

I think you're trying to fit too much into one tradition, but the core concepts (particularly urban animism) resonate with me.

-paws

[masterofm]

Try not to link spirits with dead people. Guardians, task, guidance, and spirits of man are not actually the spirits of fallen people... as far as we know and what is written. Personally I think giving them all of the good spirits makes them a little broken game wise. Giving a shaman not only spirits of man, but guardian, and guidance = broken. Choose one maaaaybe two. Anything more then that is handing the mage a silver platter and telling them to go nuts.

I would say remove guardian spirits and replace them with beast for balance purposes. Also I would make guidance spirits water spirits instead. Since the Shaman you described is a fan of life an nature maybe having a water spirit would be a good thing instead of a guidance spirit.

[Coldhand Jake]

I'm confused. What makes these spirits so much better?

[masterofm]

Guardians get the optional power "Any combat skill." They also get Materialization which is awesome as a power. They also get F + 1 body, F + 2 agi, F + 3 reaction, F + 2 Str. They are awesome at combat and if you summon a force six guardian spirit and give them a gun they roll 14 freaking dice to shoot someone, and they get 2 IPs right off the bat. They also get counterspelling and magical guard as a power. Magical guard is awesome.

Guidance have Arcana, Counterspelling, Divination (which is totally broken,) magical guard.

Spirits of man gets the optional power - any spell that the summoner has, the skill of spellcasting, Influence, Search.

All of them can actually see on the physical plane so they don't have that crazy astral vision when manifested. There is no downside that any of them really have, and each one brings a high degree of awesome to the table. Task spirits are also pretty nuts too. One type of these spirits alone is awesome, but when you combine them all they are just waaaay too good.

*edit* also as a possession tradition you can just possess someone with oh... say a guardian spirit and watch them rock out with crazy weapon skills, or have basically another mage (spirit of man) walking around dishing out some crazy justice. *edit*

[Coldhand Jake]

Well, I see your point that the tradition could use some power-game proofing, but as the tradition itself is a benevolent one, and the spirits fit the roles so perfectly, gonna let it stand. I point you to the Voodoo religion in Street Magic, also, as I've seen, capable of being powergamed and abused. I'd rather make this tradition fit the concept perfectly than perfectly nerf it.

[Riley37]

There's a religious group in San Francisco which does retreats, kinda like the ones where participants go meditate in nature, but instead they go on retreat in a scruffy part of downtown, and eat lunch at a soup kitchen, and observe what they see and reflect on what it means to them. I've done that retreat; I'm not much of a "vision quest" kinda guy but I find it at least as thought-provoking and emotionally challenging as anything I could do in a desert or river rafting or whatever. See also the "Walkabout" episode of Babylon Five. There's some kinda shamanistic stuff in the Tenderloin area of SF; street art, mostly murals or painted tiles stuck onto walls, and particularly there's an alley off Ellis Street (not far from the Glide soup kitchen) with a bunch of plants and a kinda shrine with a sign saying "Tenderloin National Forest" in a parody of Park Service logo/format, and a wall graffito honoring the "Guardians" with a list of names.

I prefer the approach of "This might be exploitable, so don't powergame too much, eh?" if the player is up to that level of maturity. The GM always has control of how cooperatively spirits interpret their task instructions, and since that's not a numerical factor it's less munchkinable; the GM could say that the spirits are more helpful when the PC is selflessly helping the city as a whole, and less helpful when the PC is just trying to make himself more rich and powerful.

Determination and stubborn unwillingness to change a plan strikes me as not so much an urban theme, especially not a down-and-out urban theme. I'm thinking susceptibility to urban vices such as booze and strip clubs and so forth (now including BTLs), as with Seductress, or agoraphobia when in *real* wilderness (SF has a 1000+ acre park but it's still no preparation for prairie or open ocean or deep forest), and I can imagine difficulty when summoning while outside a city.

[CanRay]

Mentor: Neighbour
Cities were developed as cultural and communities, for the betterment of everyone around them. Neighbour encourages people to learn about the others in their community and support them in various ways, bettering all of the area. Neighbour often appears as a kindly old man in sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater.

Advantage: +2 dice to all Social Tests.
Disadvantage: The magician that follows Neighbour can never turn down a plea for help, or an opportunity to education children. Doing so will negate the assistance of Neighbour until the error is corrected, or the magician has performed some task the GM deems appropriate.

Toxic Mentor: Gutter
When you've gone as far down as you can go, there isn't really much use looking up. All you can do is try and make yourself feel better than other people, and that's by dragging them down further. Gutter encourages magicians to generate negative emotions in people, particularily their self-esteem. Quite a number of these magicians started out rather powerful, and burned out for various reasons, turning to this twisted path as the only way to garner even a smattering of their once great powers.

Advantage: +2 to Illusion Magic, +2 dice to summoning or binding Spirits of Man.
Disadvantage: A Gutter Spirit can never raise themselves out of the bed they made for themselves, and can never have a lifestyle above Squatter. This fact is not lost on Gutter himself, of course.

[psychophipps]

Mentor: Neighbour
Cities were developed as cultural and communities, for the betterment of everyone around them. Neighbour encourages people to learn about the others in their community and support them in various ways, bettering all of the area. Neighbour often appears as a kindly old man in sneakers and a zippered cardigan sweater.

Advantage: +2 dice to all Social Tests.
Disadvantage: The magician that follows Neighbour can never turn down a plea for help, or an opportunity to education children. Doing so will negate the assistance of Neighbour until the error is corrected, or the magician has performed some task the GM deems appropriate.

Toxic Mentor: Gutter
When you've gone as far down as you can go, there isn't really much use looking up. All you can do is try and make yourself feel better than other people, and that's by dragging them down further. Gutter encourages magicians to generate negative emotions in people, particularily their self-esteem. Quite a number of these magicians started out rather powerful, and burned out for various reasons, turning to this twisted path as the only way to garner even a smattering of their once great powers.

Advantage: +2 to Illusion Magic, +2 dice to summoning or binding Spirits of Man.
Disadvantage: A Gutter Spirit can never raise themselves out of the bed they made for themselves, and can never have a lifestyle above Squatter. This fact is not lost on Gutter himself, of course.

You know, seeing the great stuff so many of y'all come up with, it makes me wonder why some of the hacks in the DevGrp aren't looking for a new job while you're writing for the game. I, for one, would appreciate the living hell out of seeing your great ideas becoming RAW rather than tossing RAW so often to use your ideas instead.

Excellent job here, as always, CanRay and great ideas from Coldhand Jake as well.

[CanRay]

I don't have a job with them, or anyone, because I can't be relied upon.

Gutter, however, pollutes the Manasphere in a way that you don't normally see. Remember that it's not cities that are the problem, it's the negative emotions that occur in large concentrations. (Ghettos, Slums, Welfare Housing, and so on).

Fear a Gutter Shaman in The Rats Nest!

[Coldhand Jake]

New fluff and mechanics for City Father and Sprawl. Also, I love Neighborhood and Gutter.

[Riley37]

Another possible balancing limitation/requirement for an urban mentor, could be a more active requirement to oppose toxics. If you see toxics and don't oppose them, you lose the mentor bonus.
Even when the toxic villain is allied with insect spirits, shedim, blood magic and a rogue AI; is that the Grand Slam of SR classic villains?

[masterofm]

Garbage mentor spirit - + 2 to manipulation spells, +1 to body tests (+4 only when dealing with poisons)

-4 to all sent based perception tests, -2 to all other perception tests, is not able to chose above a street or squatter lifestyle.

Garbage mentor spirits are always shifting and moving around in a torrent of trash and waste. Generally a good spirit... if you can tolerate the stench that is. Although some urban shamans are wary of having such a mentor spirit as they think these mentor spirits have been known to whisper dark secrets in the mage's ear. The garbage mentor spirit is believed to be a mark on a mage that is starting on the path toward becoming a toxic shaman. Most of this is actually just word of mouth and has no basis on the garbage mentor spirit, but is a widely believed truth amongst those who are unfamiliar with the spirit in question.

[masterofm]

How about this flavor wise and it makes it a little interesting for a urban shaman or mage

Junk spirit -

S- F - (1d6/2) rounded up
R - F - (1d6/2) rounded up
A - F + (1d6/2) rounded up
B - F + (1d6/2) rounded up
C - F
L - F
I - F
W - F

Initiative - Fx2

Skills - Assensing, Unarmed combat, Dodge, Perception, Astral Combat.

Powers - Astral Form, Conceal, Materialization, Sapience, Fix (see note below)

Optional powers - Fear, Confusion, Movement, Any technical skill (but only involved in making repairs)

A junk spirit is extremely good at fixing any vehicle, comlink, or weapon out of anything at hand. It is the mcGiver and gets +6 dice to whatever it is fixing. However after the spirit dissipates and/or returns to its metaplane the item that underwent repairs is returned back to its previous state of disrepair.



Work in progress will edit later.

[CanRay]

Toxic Mentor: The Pusher

Born of the desperation of those addicted to the mindbenders and poisons that mankind has created to push into themselves, The Pusher is the personification not of the addicted, but those that prey upon them. Part trickster, manipulator, con man, and snake oil salesman, The Pusher advocates making more people addicted to various nefarious things, be it drugs, chips, or perversion.

Those who follow The Pusher often have developed mind manipulation spells and sell the useage of those as "Drugs" in their own right, selling a good quality high at no cost save Drain.

Advantage: +2 Dice to Illusion Spells, +2 Dice to Manipulation Spells.
Disadvantage: The Pusher is a greedy bugger, and, while the first taste is free, he is highly adverse to giving anything away without a price afterwards. Magicians who follow The Pusher are often addicted to the power he gives them, and he demands 150% Karma for anything to deal with increasing magic (New Spells, Initiation, Increased Skills/Magic Level, ect.).

[Coldhand Jake]

You know, seeing the great stuff so many of y'all come up with, it makes me wonder why some of the hacks in the DevGrp aren't looking for a new job while you're writing for the game. I, for one, would appreciate the living hell out of seeing your great ideas becoming RAW rather than tossing RAW so often to use your ideas instead.

Excellent job here, as always, CanRay and great ideas from Coldhand Jake as well.

A word here. I actually am trying to build a portfolio to write for Catalyst. I'm building a high-power One-Shot that I'm considering, if they're interested, turning it into a yearly series. Also, while I mostly play cyber characters, it's because I don't really get inspired by the choices for magicians. So, I added this to the game to get me playing Awakened again, because for me, the flavor is more alluring than the crunch.

[CanRay]

Maybe I should write the Toaster Mentor...