[Path Magic] What happens if you Banish a Spirit of Place?

Anaraxes · 03-10-2022, 08:05 AM

Magic in many settings, especially nature magic, is presumed to be wholesome. So, the obvious effect is for the area to decline without its guardian. Plants suffer, fish leave the river, the mountaintop becomes barren and hostile.

But if you like to upset expectations, you can turn that on its head. The genius loci is the embodiment of the place, and uses its power to maintain its place, which is not just its home but its body. But it's a fixed, eternal being, which means enacting its vision produces stasis and rigidity, with nothing allowed to change from the spirit's vision and goal. Indeed, the spirit can't even conceive of any other way of being, as it has just one nature. Once the spirit is gone, new plants and animals can appear in the forest, the trees can grow thicker and taller, the river can change its course and become more bountiful, people living in the area become more inventive and progressive, developing new cultural expression or technologies and techniques.

03-10-2022, 08:05 AM	#4
Anaraxes Join Date: Sep 2007	Re: [Path Magic] What happens if you Banish a Spirit of Place? Magic in many settings, especially nature magic, is presumed to be wholesome. So, the obvious effect is for the area to decline without its guardian. Plants suffer, fish leave the river, the mountaintop becomes barren and hostile. But if you like to upset expectations, you can turn that on its head. The genius loci is the embodiment of the place, and uses its power to maintain its place, which is not just its home but its body. But it's a fixed, eternal being, which means enacting its vision produces stasis and rigidity, with nothing allowed to change from the spirit's vision and goal. Indeed, the spirit can't even conceive of any other way of being, as it has just one nature. Once the spirit is gone, new plants and animals can appear in the forest, the trees can grow thicker and taller, the river can change its course and become more bountiful, people living in the area become more inventive and progressive, developing new cultural expression or technologies and techniques.