My lot, although Far Place theists, opted for an ancestral spirit,
motivated in particular by one player/PC. We had established that
their clan founders (Danlarni clan, Tovtaros) were mostly
Balazarings from an earlier game Keith ran in the 1300's and the
PC's, having been exiled from their Tula along with some hangers on,
landed up in the spot where their Ancestors first arrived in DP.
Having just contacted the clan founder (Danlarn) buried beneath
their new stead, the PC's who had not gone off for a moot of sorts
elsewhere wanted to summon an ancestor to be the guardian. The writeup
is here:
http://www.eiderweb.net/firetribe/episode11.html
In short, they got a different ancestor this time, a Balazaring huntress who was not best pleased at being dragged out of her slumber. They had assembled their 'wealth' for inspection as well as a bunch of relevent accoutrements and 'clan' support. We ran it as an extended contest which worked quite well, the ancestor being very reluctant. There was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing of AP, including a desperation stake which paid off and an opening being made accidentally for the local chaos infestation (dryads which had been turned into night hags of a chaotic disposition and attacked the stead by means of deathly hands coming out of the ground and grabbing at people).
In the end, a bargain was made. The ancestor, being ethereal and all, was desperate for pleasures of the flesh. One of the maidens volunteered to allow her body to be possessed whereupon the ancestor gorged herself on food, drank herself silly and picked one of the PC's for a night of carnal delights. This maiden ended up as the home for the spirit on a permanent but on-off basis and now lives in a hut at the top of the hill, having been crippled, half-blinded and rendered mostly dopey by the experience.
I asked for each PC who wished to join the band to come up wth a requirement which served the ancestor's need for pleasures of the flesh. We had telling her endless stories, taking her hunting, shacking up with the maiden and so on as choices: http://www.eiderweb.net/firetribe/episode14.html
I ended up choosing the guardian's abilities as the response here was slow. I went for sensing hostile spirits (which has helped), a gorse pallisade defence and the blessing being a bountiful dulu nut harvest, which is likely to make them rich beyond their wildest imaginings come Earth Season.
Mostly, the guardian has served as a fun, very stroppy NPC and a link with the clan's past.
So to your particular case, Trotsky, I like the idea of a choice of guardians. What I would emphasise when you play it out is also the requirements, perhaps getting the players to come up with propositions as a way of persuading the guardian they do pick. I also think that it is not much fun to set the whole thing up as a contest where a defeat would be outright failure - perhaps more some rather unpleasant prices to be paid than with a straight victory.
Sam.
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