I see nothing against shamans being part of the Orlanth tribe in some places, though it is not universal. And, they could still be loners and be officiates of the Orlanth cult. Wind Lords are wanderers, after all.
In general, I think the RQ4 draft of shamans was a vast improvement and extremely clever idea, and would like to see it taken even further. I envision a system where even the spirit link is not always a fetch -- for some shamans, it would be a totem spirit more similar to the fetches/allied spirits shamans had in RQ2. In some, their contact with the spirit world would be a Spirit Place, like the magic elf place in C. J. Cherryh's The Dreamstone and The Tree of Swords and Jewels.
Some shamans would have the ability to trap spirits, or store POW on the Spirit Plane, or store MPs above their POW limit. Some would be able to remember any number of Spirit Magic spells, while others could bind spirits to remember them for the shaman. Some would discorporate, but others would simply be able to see events far away, or to shapechange or fly (which are more common than spirit travel in the Inuit and Finnish shaman stories I have read). In other words, shamanism could be made into a different type of magic system altogether, separate from Spirit Magic (whcih I prefer to think of as Common Magic or Universal Magic, since I don't believe the cults use spirits to teach it, and I think it is the Low Sorcery of the West, taught like any other spell).
All IMO, of course.
David Cake
Again, I am sorry for this administrative message.
David, I got your first message to me with no problem, but my reply bounced. This was Friday, the 18th, for both of us! I have gotten your second message, but have no way to reply -- I'll wait a couple of days -- if you don't get a message from me by Sunday evening (your time), then something is still wrong down there.
Stephen Martin
ilium_at_juno.com
- -----------------------------------------------The Book of Drastic Resolutions
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