Alliances with spirits...

[Manicrack]

This thread (http://burningwheel.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1164) got me thinking about something.

Why do all minor spirits have to be bound to a summoner's will?
It totally makes sense that spirits can be bound and can be forced to do your bidding, but I feel there should be more.

Example scenario:
A druid like character wants to prevent a gang of orcs to burn down his forest. To do so he calls to the great spirit of the forest and asks for help.
Now, it would deffenitely be in the spirit's interest to not see the forest burn, right?
if we could replace the binding with a duel of wits in some cases, I think it would make a really cool game. Also there would be no, or only a very little grudge against the summoner, since he served the spirit's interest.

Basically, the spirit and the summoner would be striking somehwta of an alliance, with contributions from both sides.

Am I loosing the concept here or do you at leats understand what I mean?

-Crack

[luke]

sounds logical from a human, mortal perspective. Spirits are neither human nor mortal. And burning down the forest does not destroy a spirit. In fact, the time it takes for the forest to regrow is a mere blink of a eye to an entity that exists as part of the very fabric of time and creation.

that's how I see it, at least. You're free to go another route.

-L

[Manicrack]

yeah, I guess i see spirits a lot more sentinent than some others do.
Especially spirits of something so prosperous with life as a forest.

anyway, thanks for the quick reply

--

[TickTockMan]

Another thought on the matter might be that the spirit of the fire has just as much right to exist as the spirit of the forest.

Plus, fires are often restorative to an old growth forest (appropriate to this example). We all know Nature has a way that can seem very cruel and callous. Sometimes one natural force gives way to another, it does not necessitate a war between the two. The ocean wears away the land, the land does not struggle against it, and does not get upset.

Its like that poem-

"I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself,
a bird will fall frozen dead from a bough never having felt sorry for itself"

To me, Elves, being a product of that very Nature, often seem aloof and callous for a similar reason. Their perspective is longer and a little alien. They may seem closer to Nature than Man is, and closer to Man than Nature is. Their aloofness is a symptom of the origins in Nature, and their Grief is a facet of ther "humanity"

That is enough elven psychoanalysis. Fascinating question though!