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Eleazar
The rules of ASig's can be found on page 182-183 of the SR4 core book.

Astral signature explanation:

1. "Magical skills and abilities produce an astral signature on anything affected by them,..."
2. "An astral signature is the magical “fingerprint” of the Awakened
creature who created it."
3. "Foci and other magical items (like magical lodges) always contain the astral
signature of their owner (or owners)."

Astral signature rules:

1. The ASig lasts a number of hours equal to the Force of the magical effect.
2. A mage using Astral Perception can wipe out the ASig by spending complex actions equal to the Force of the magical effect.


Now, this brings up a few questions that need clarified. If I have this right, any magical skill or ability I use creates an ASig. As you can see from 1. of the explanation it specifically says magical skills and abilities produce ASig's. In number 3. of the explanation it says Foci and other magical items have ASig. So it looks like there is 2 different types of ASigs. ASigs that are "produced" and therefore leave a trace, and ASigs that are attached Foci and other magical items.

What about sustained spells? My only guess is that an ASig is left behind (traceable) once the spell is first cast. Meaning I am not constantly leaving behind my ASig by sustaining the spell.

What about foci and other magical items? If I am correct about the two distinctions between ASigs, then that would mean they don't leave behind an ASig. One thing I don't get is that if I activate a foci, shouldn't it create an ASig equal to the force of the foci. However on page 191 of the foci activation rules it is surprisingly not mentioned.

Lastly, how are ASigs erased? Say I am in a room where I just got done casting a lot of spells and used vast amounts of magical skills and abilities. Do I have to spend a gazillion complex actions to wipe them all out, or do I just spend complex actions equal to the highest force ASig and it wipes all of them out?

So to rap it up. I would like to know what actions leaves behind ASigs, and how do I remove them.
DireRadiant
Activating a Sustaining Focus.
- The focus itself will contain the casting magicians signature.
- The location where the spell was cast will retain an astral signature. Temporarily.
- There isn't a trail beteen the spot the focus was activated and the focus itself.
- There may be a trail between the sustainng focus and the magician who cast the spell.

Foci
- They contain an aura in and of themselves.
- They can show traces of the spell or magic skill used on them.

Example.
A sustaining focus that is not sustaining a spell of any sort will still display an astral signature of some sort. At the least that it can be a sustaining focus, and information such as how it is aspected, how powerful it is, and if it is courrently bonded to someone. This is all seperate from the actual spell cast on the focus, and the spellcasting act. Each of which have their own astral signatures.
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