>I think most mindless, multi-purpose gnomes are confused, wandering
>Mostali constructs...
Seconded.
>Elementals don't really live on the Spirit Plane.
I don't think there is a clear-cut distinction between the mundane and the spirit planes, but basically i agree.
>All earth is alive. All air is alive. All natural elements are alive.
More or less. Everything is awake or can be awakened. Some things/ beings never went to sleep. Of course, some things were Killed until Dead (like the Dead Place), which makes them harder to interact with, though not impossible. Genert is dead, which makes Genertela less fertile than Pamaltela. Mostal is dead, making stone less 'lively'. Yelm and Ernalda are dead half the time.
Mostal is dead, Genert is dead and Ernalda is half dead - shouldn't it make gnomes harder to summon than sylphs, who were never touched by death, or at least not in the same extent?
>However, the soul of raw elements is somewhat different from the souls of
>trees, animals, people and man-made items (who all have a clearer border
>between the "I" and the "other" than the wind and the compost heaps). Raw
>elements only have a "soul" when the many many small puffs of air, specks
>of dirt, drops of water etc unite. This they usually only do when urged to
>it by a magician or a spirit - a cave-spirit may cause a cavein, an earth
>priestess animate a compost heap etc. Thus there is a difference between
>"elemental spirit" and "elemental". But then, this is just a theory.
If the elemental gains a soul as a result of the summoning (or the summoning may actually CREATE the elemental in toto), couldn't the elemental sometimes also gain self-consciousness/ ego in the process?
Perhaps 'summon [elemental]' should be renamed 'create [elemental] or 'animate [element]', if the elemental isn't a spirit per se, but just a potential being called into existence by the magic.
An 'elemental spirit' differs from an 'elemental' in the matter of ego/intellect. Whether this is a qualitative or quantitative difference i think we should let everyone decide for herself. Me, i prefer the quantitative approach because it blurs the borders and suits my GMing style better.
>All Michael's suggestions on the Use of Elementals/ Elemental Spirits are
>very valid IMO.
Well, i sure hope so. Even if it's difficult making elementals more colourful and quirky and still retaining playability, it doesn't mean we shouldn't try.
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