>> If they were confronting the full power of the big evil spirits
>> then they can't but they are not, just as the theists are not.
> Hmm. So maybe some sort of ritual where you summon a small disease > spirit and defeat it, thus sending the "don't mess with us" message > to Mallia?
No. They are not in a position to know what they confront is or is not Malia. All they are doing is confronting something that looks like Malia and at the same time they also know that what they are confronting is not as strong as Malia.
>> If you really want a personal relationships angle, it might be best
>> to have the Big Annual Ritual as making the good spirits *happy*
>> (potluck, singing, dancing, banjo duels) so they make good things
>> happen around you. As for the bad spirits, some can simply be
>> frightened off (mass chest beating and hooting), others have to
>> beaten up so you can exhort promises from them that they won't make
>> bad things happen around you in the coming year. And then there
>> are the truly bad ones where you simply cast concealment magic so
>> in the hope they won't see you.
> I'm sure that this is true. I think the part that I am struggling > with is exactly how beating up on small disease spirits makes Mallia > leave you alone.
Except that I didn't speak about beating up small disease spirits, I said not confronting the full strength of Malia and drew a parallel with the theists. A quest performed against Malia on the Heroplanes is far easier that the same quest performed against Malia in her own home on the Spirit Plane.
--Peter Metcalfe
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