I was doing some reading over how spirits work in 4e, and noticed that the book is really vague about how long spirits will stay around. I have an idea how this works, but that involves a lot of inferences about how it did in earlier editions. So just to be clear, it's:

Summoned spirits: Until sunrise/down, or until services are expended.
Bound spirits: Until services expended.

Does this sound about right, or am I completely off-base?

Yup, that's right. An unbound spirit hangs around until the sun rises or sets, whichever comes.

It's also under Spirit Services, on page 186 of the SR4a book: "A spirit will perform the services it owes until the next sunrise or sunset." Seems quite clear to me. Maybe not easy to find, but clear.

And yes, it does mean that if it's summer and you're above the arctic circle (or it's winter and you're below the antarctic circle) an unbound spirit will hang around for a few months if you don't use up all of its services.

If i'm in northern Alaska, can I have a summoned spirit for 6 months?

What if you're not on Earth at all? The really powerful magicians - you know, IEs and GDs, as well as high-grade Initiates - are probably powerful enough mojo-slingers to summon something on the moon, or in an orbit where the sun is never eclipsed.

I never liked pegging things to sunrise and sunset, for just that reason. Could you summon a troublesome specific spirit, order it to fly something stupid like 250,000 Km above one of the poles and hold its position there until the dawn of the Seventh World?

Slide: If the sun doesn't set (or rise) for six months straight, by RAW, yes.

ShadowDragon8685: Doubtful. Taken from Street Magic, page 120 on Mana Voids: "If a character exposes himself to the astral plane (either by astrally perceiving or projecting) while in a void, he risks having his astral form torn apart as it dissipates into the surrounding emptiness—as would air in a vacuum. Each Combat Turn the character is astrally active, he suffers Physical damage with a Damage Value equal to the absolute value of the void’s rating (so a –8 Rating void deals a DV of 8 )."

And spirits are always astrally active, as I understand them. At that high up in space, you're in a mana void of anywhere between -7 and -12. Maybe worse. Great way to alienate your spirit allies.

Alright, that might not work. But you could set it up so a spirit would be making a patrol route where it never experiences sunset or sunrise whilst still staying on the Earth's surface.

This assumes that there is something useful for the spirit to do for the magician in that specific location. Sure, send your spirit up to the arctic to patrol the north pole forever. But you live in Seattle, so what is it doing for you? Yes, a summoned spirit could hang around for a duration similar to a bound spirit, but what would happen if you called it back to you for a service, and it arrives in Seattle 37 sunsets/sunrises after you summoned it? I don't know either. As a GM, I'd be inclined to say, "Poof! It's gone."

I think the idea with doing that is to take a spirit that would be inconvenient for you if someone else summoned it out of circulation without going to the trouble of doing a metaplanar quest to find its true name and killing it.

[e]Honestly, what I do is just give unbound spirits a strict 12-hour duration, no more, no less, and it couldn't give a rat's ass about when sunup or sundown hit.

I will have to dig up the point in one of the older books, but it isn't where the spirit is that matters, but where the initial summoning point was to determine when dawn occurs.

I don't think SR4 ever made that point, though.

So... Summon far enough north, and it can potentially go for months anywhere in the world?

Now THIS is spirit abuse. Not the arbitrary things that anger gamemasters.

Just try keeping a spirit around for months and see how they treat you in the future.

As a GM I Guarente future spirits will use edge to resist summoning with that kinda stunt.

So you do not allow Binding or Long Term Binding at your table?
I agree that using rules logic loopholes is gonna incur a response from the GM, but Binding and Long Term Binding can have spirits tasked for much longer than "a few months," and are not considered Stunts.

To tell a spirit who should have the reasonable belief that when the sun rises he can go home that he can't because even though the sun rose in Seattle he was summoned on a semibalistic over the arctic and thus has to stick around for 3 more months even as the sprit sees the sun ride and fall dozens of times. It's basically breaking the deal with the sprit and is a role play issue more than a game mechanic one in my book. Binding is another story as the spirit know it's being bound and can act accordingly. If the summoner has a good rep then no problem. If he pulled the stunt above he can still bind but the spirit is going to fight him for it.

No doubt... I call Shennanigans (Brazillian?) on the Artic Logic Hole, but that is a different ball of wax.

Technically, no. Once the spirit ventures far enough away from you on a service it becomes a remote service, which for an unbound spirit means you're forfeiting any remaining services once the job is done (SR4a, page 187, "Spirit Range").

But if the Task takes Months, then Technically yes, since it's dawn/dusk is set where it is summoned. Makes Long Term Binding useless....

True. But then I doubt the majority of players will have the patience for that. The IEs or GDs on the other hand...

Naturally it's allowed.

In my worldview, the mana that magicians easily throw around is very desirable to spirits. The Magic attribute represents the amount of it you can use to form a pact with a spirit. The Summoning skill is the ability to create such a pact without loopholes by which the spirit is obligated to fulfill its end of the bargain. Combined, with a little luck, they determine how beneficial the deal is the to conjurer.

Binding is an even greater expenditure of mana. Magicians have learned how to compel spirits to even greater assistance through Binding, so long as the mana is enough, determined by Magic. The lower the Magic attribute, or the ability to use Binding properly, the harder it is to bring spirits to do your bidding, particularly more powerful spirits with greater mana demands (which tend to also be craftier, finding clever ways around many agreements).

Trying to use Summoning to do what only Binding should be able to do would enrage any self-respecting spirit.

Can't say I disagree with that at all... Makes perfect sense...

Exactly. Spirits share with other spirits about summoners, and one who's been mean and abusive to spirits will find even new ones extra resistant to being summoned (meaning, they'll use Edge to help resist being summoned).

The Inuit shaman who's nice to his spirits could very well find they don't mind the six month day as he does whatever north of the arctic circle. Said spirits may more likely go by the intent of the services asked for by their summoner.

The UCAS hermetic stationed in Antarctica who treats her spirits as disposable during her research tour of a six month night will likely find any she summons to be quite pissy in the least. Upset spirits will seek out any possible loophole they can find in their instructions to end their services as quickly as possible, and may go by the literal word over the intent.

Yes. You still gain more by summoning the ideal spirit for the task at hand.