All is contained in Street Magic page 94 :

"For unbound spirits, sunrise and sunset still count during its time on its metaplane, and a disrupted unbound spirit is unlikely to ever return unless the conjurer spends his time in an area where the sun rarely sets—such as Antarctica"

So what is clearly said is that sunrise and sunset time limit is conditionned by the location of the conjurer.

This open an amazing can of worms :

- Mages operation in artic circle (Scandinavia, Inuit, Siberia) are tremendously more potent than others with spirits.

- Every megacorps should have a Polar Thaumaturgic Study Center.

- If you need the prolongated service of a powerfull spirit and dont have time for binding or karma, just take a plane ticket to Paris... then Hong-Kong... all you have to do is keep ahead of the sunset and you will keep control of the spirit forever.

- What happen if you travel in the other direction ? all of sudden all your spirits are poofing ?

- What if it is the spirit that cross the sunset ?

Guess some mages will start to open around the world summoning service for cheap, all they need is a jet

"Tremendously more potent" seems more than a bit far stratched, as this does not lift the limit of one unbound, summoned spirit at a time, it only saves the mage the hassle of summoning (and resisting Drain) roughly every 12 hours and that's it.

If you consider that it also give a lot more time to the mage to rest before trying to actually do some binding it open more possibilities.

Isn't also some ritual magic that have a time limit by the sunset ?

Well, maybe the sunrise/sunset are always counted from the place where it was summoned...

Although it is kinda silly, that this can range from 12h/12h to 6 months/6 months.

Bye
Thanee

Sure they all will have one... if not for the spirits but for being out of the way...

Actually, if you start in the US, you will have to go the other way around the globe to stay in front of the setting (or rising) sun. So, it's Hong Kong first and then Paris.

Well, if the spirit is with its summoner, he will cross sunset, too, so the spirit will return to its homeplane. If the summoner is not present when the sun sets, it becomes a little bit more tricky. But chances are, in this case the spirit will be on remote service. And I would say, in this case, it's the spirit's place that's important with regard to sunrise /sunset, so the spirit will still go *poof*.

Why? You can only have one unbound spirit at a time. You can't loan unbound spirit services, so the summoner has to order the spirit himself every time... and if the spirit leaves the summoner's range (Magic x 100m ), that's a remote service, that uses up all owed services, so the mage has to summon a new one anyway. Plus an unbound spirit on remote service still counts against the limit aslong as the remote service is not finished, so you can't summon a new one right away.

All in all, you can potentiallly abuse this "next sunrise /sunset" rule... but only in very specific locations like the poles. For me, that's nothing to worry about.

-CJ

Well, it also cause trouble when you send the spirit at long range mission, or you do long range travel.

Interestingly, is there any place that fix what is concerned for the summon duration : place of summon, spirit, summoner or any of the 3 ? I bet for summoner given the quoted passage.

A quick note. The Arctic circles have a background count like you wouldn't believe. Remember that Mana comes from living things and next to nothing can survive at the poles.

However RAW says that you are right.

Arsenal Pg:165 Under Polar Magic

Yes and no. Mana comes from living things, the fluff tells us, but the gaiasphere covers the whole earth.

Plus there are tons of animals at the arctic.

Long Term Service.

Does not require binding. Spirit lasts "a year and a day" (which on a strict interpretation would be one day/night cycle in the arctic, a slightly more liberal would be two, and a very liberal would be 366 years). Said spirit does not have a range-from-summoner limit. Spirit does not count against the summoner's unbound spirit limit.

Is this your own supposition or do the books mention a background count at the poles (I didn't see any mention of it at the Arsenal page you referenced)? I can see an argument for possible mana ebb (negative background count) at the south pole, but with an ocean just a few meters below the surface of the north pole, I would think this less likely there.

I hand wave that for the same reason listed for the Mana Voids in Chi-Town. By older (3rd ed) rules Antarctica has pretty strong Mana Surges (Target Wastelands pg 124). Either way I guess as long as your consistent.

IMHO the Arctic is fair game. It's part of a mysterious NAN, the ice completely melts in the summer thanks to global warming, and therefore it's a major trade hub during summer months. Lots of corps have an interest in keeping the waters safe for trade, and there's no place to stand on right by the pole itself.

The Antarctic, on the other hand, has a background count like you wouldn't believe. That place is a penguin-fringed abyss, home to ancient scars of the last time the Horrors came to town.

Check out this video for some cool images of the teeming life under the ice cap:

SCUBA diving under the ice cap.