Okay well. Let's say hypothetically my foci was stolen(find it hard to believe because I never let them off my person, even my weapon foci!) Anyways Let's say that one of these was stolen.

Is the link with it one way or two ways. Could I pump a spell down the astral pipeline that connects myself to my foci.

I keep trying to find something that says that it is two ways or if it is one way.

I'm wondering if there are so many strings attached to all the different magical uses (each spell being used has a "String") that I would never be able backtrack my own foci? And then ritual bomb that stupid scum that stole my foci.

Well just wondering. So I guess anyone out there willing to help me out.

From the rules: A bonded foci has an astral link to its owner that can be used to track down the owner. This is why mages don't let foci out of their possession very often.

Or words to that effect.

I don't know of a rule about the two-way thing - I'm betting that it's one of those GM discretion things.

Personally, I would let a mage track his foci by the astral connection between it and himself . . . right up until the person that stole the foci / bought the stolen foci rebonded it, at which point the previous connection would be terminated.

But I really think it's an opinion issue. Like all experienced players, you do have subtle ways of bullying your GM into letting you have your way, right?

The astral link between owner and focus can be tracked in both directions as it is. See Astral Tracking (SR3 p. 177) for rules on following the link. How you figure out where you are physically, and what you do when you get there, are both up to you. Once you get there you'll be able to go outside the building and look around, but you won't be able to read the street signs.

The link is not enough by itself to allow Spellcasting in either direction. But the focus can be used in Ritual Magic (rules in MitS) to form the type of link across which a Spell can be cast by the Ritual Team at the Magician who bonded the focus. SOTA 2063 describes a magician who has learned to do Ritual Magic across such links in the opposite direction (from the Magician to the Focus). See "Turning the Tables" p. 37.

To break the link between you and your focus they only have to expend the first point of the bonding cost. They can pay the rest later as they get it.

If you are an Initiate, you might want to go on an Astral Quest to conceal the astral link to your focus by passing it through a metaplane. This will at least keep non-initiate mages from tracking YOU down from your focus. The higher the rating quest you undertake, the harder it will be for initiate mages to track you down. See "Astral Concealment", MitS p. 94.

SotA '63 re-introduces rules for using Sympathetic Links as a Metamagic Ability. Personally, I'm not sure whether I agree with needing an entire Metamagic just for this ability though.

SOTA 2063 also introduces the rules for reverse ritual tracking. Meaning you can use it to backtrack your own lost foci.

I imagine if you traced the foci and found it to be in a place from which it woudl be very difficult to liberate (e.g. an Ares vault) you could use the link to perform Ritual Magic and destroy the foci with a spell.

Expensive maybe, but better than having that foci used against you.