Where is the corresponding magical tradition of the ancient greeks? Every old culture has its own tradition, but i am seriously missing the greek one. Should the hermetical tradition counts as such or is something else fitting?

I don't see it either, but it should exist. hermetic magic would work for say, the cult of Pythagora, but there should be a different tradition for the priests and what not. Here is a short version I'm making, you can use or change it as you see fit

Dodekatheon

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology

(Yes I'm that lazy)

Drain Attribute: Willpower + Intuition

(There are god arguments for Charisma, but there are not enough Intuition based traditions, and the Greek tradition greatly extoles the virtues of person knowledge, strength, and power, so it does fit, but feel free to change it if you desire)

Associated Spirits

Combat: Fire
Heath: Water
Detection: Earth
Illusion: Air
Manipulation: Guidance

And thats pretty much it, in the end a tradition is just a drain attribute, spirit types, and flavor text, I just don't have time for flavor text half an hour before work.

Very true. Generally the best way to make a 'new' tradition is to take one of the traditions already presented that is most similar and just change the flavor text. You might be able to take the norse tradition and just change the flavor text from 'norse' to 'greek'

The Norse tradition is pretty similar - one difference is that I'd make it materialization - the Greeks had plenty of fauns, nymphs, manifesting gods fighting mortals, demigods, and so on. Zeus the bull, the golden shower, the swan, and so on come to mind...

Of course there are lots and lots of traditions missing in the book; these were just examples. On the other hands, they're examples of traditions that are still functioning and successful for a reason. Shinto because the Japanese love it, and it's deeply ingrained in the culture. Hermeticism because it's rigorous and academic, making it understandable to westerners, scientists and corporations. Amerind shamanism because it was so successful in the Ghost Dance war.


Which Traditions became big has a lot to do with how much of it has been preserved over the centuries; there's a lot more material left over in some cultures than in others. There's not so much material left about ancient greek magic, thanks to efforts of the Church to stamp out superstition. They've been doing that in the Mediterranean for a lot longer than in Scandinavia. Greece was Christianized in the first to fourth century AD, while Scandinavia was "done" mostly in the tenth century.


Of course, that needn't stop you from using Greek magic, but there's rather little historical material left about it (if research is your style.)


EDIT: I should make a distinction between Hermetic Greek magic, and Greek folk magic. The latter we don't know much about. The Hermetic strain has been fairly well-preserved and developed in the middle ages and renaissance.

You know what other tradition is missing? The Force tradition. I think 'The Force' is the single most common 'custom' tradition. No surprise that it isn't in the books mind you, but still.

still, one could always duct tape a grenade to a bolt, and then fire it at someone

heck, given the electronic fuses used in SR, that may well be a viable option.

I think you meant to put this in the crossbow thread?

how the heck did it end up here? i swear i was typing that into the correct thread.

The Otaku are coming for you... Run. Now.

heh, they be welcome