Revision [35]
This is an old revision of AvatarsGuardianSpirits made by ConradWong on 2008-06-11 22:06:26.
Guardian Spirits pass through several levels of maturity. One is not born with a Greater Guardian Spirit immediately; they start small and become larger and stronger as their Link gains more experience and wisdom.
There are several types of Guardian Spirits known to Tasavar:
- Augment - these manifest in the form of partial armor, growing in complexity and strength and coverage as the wearer gains experience. They have little personality, but they do have emotions, and their wearer can sense their feelings. Doing a job well usually gives them satisfaction, but they may become annoyed if asked to perform meaningless tasks.
- Martial: while they may cover the head or shoulders, usually the functional end of the Augment appears as a gauntlet or a shield, or a weapon of some type. Usually one major ability, be it greater physical ability, the ability to unleash a devastating strike, or creating a shield sphere, and one or several minor abilities.
- Divine: in the case of Celestial casters (as the Links in the service of the clergy are called) they often manifest as wings, or as orbs or talismans that circle the wearer's head. Usually strong in one type or style of magic they can perform, plus several lesser abilities.
- Avatar - these are independent creatures possessed of special abilities. They have personalities and some degree of sentience.
- Fierce: usually beasts, possessed of great physical strength or agility and one or several lesser magical abilities, but balanced Fierce Avatars can use magic nearly as well as physical means. (and are weak against strong Fierce Avatars if they don't have the opening shot)
- Cunning: small beasts or faerie in appearance, possessed of only moderate physical strength but great magical strength. Like Divines, they are specialized in one school of magic with several lesser abilities. They are the most intelligent of the Avatars, and possess considerable independence.
Guardian Spirits may appear without bidding if their Link is in danger, but once their Link has been trained, they usually only appear when summoned. In the open daylight, they are strongest and can be kept out indefinitely, but at night, it drains their Link's store of energy to manifest them. It would take someone with exceptional willpower to keep a Guardian Spirit strong through an entire night. Use of powers burns energy faster.
Most Links undergo some kind of training just so they aren't helpless without their Guardians, and so they can ration the energy they expend. New Links tend to overuse their Guardians and run out just when they need them the most.
Guardians can be hurt or injured. Sunlight and rest are the recommended treatment, but Guardians strong in the healing arts (usually Divine) are able to heal other Guardians.
Avatars normally appear to be the same age as the Link. Augments don't have visible age. A very young character (under 8) will usually not be able to manifest an Avatar for longer than a few seconds at a time, and should not manifest Augments unless they've already got an example, i.e. a child swinging a stick pretending that it is a sword might momentarily appear to be wielding an actual sword.
Guardian Spirits have several stages of maturity:
- Whatever their apparent age, the initial power level of an Avatar or Augment is described as 'First Light'. They have only two powers - usually one offense and one defense power - or one sphere of magic. They can only be manifested for a few minutes.
- After training, Guardian Spirits reach 'Second Light'. They gain a third power and can be sustained for as long as an hour.
- Attaining Second Light (and beyond) results as a larger or more ornately decorated Guardian Spirit.
- Through experience, or sometimes even further training, they reach 'Third Light'. They gain a fourth power and can be sustained for up to a full day, though this is draining. This is as far as most Guardian Spirits go.
- There are levels of power between Second and Third Light, and there are degrees of strength between Third Light Guardian Spirits, they aren't equal. However, these are the major stages of development.
- Some characters have such great power or wisdom that their Guardian Spirits can reach 'Fourth Light'. This is a supercharged state, rather than a permanent state, where the Guardian Spirit's powers are amplified and they gain a 'Breaker' spell as well. This state only lasts for a few minutes at most, and then they are exhausted.
If a Guardian Spirit is 'killed', it dematerializes and the Link generally succumbs to exhaustion. When it is called forth again, it will be grievously wounded but not dead. It can then be healed but will need time to recover its full strength.
The ability to use spells associated with a sphere is loosely defined as a single power, but spells are a level below the single-purpose abilities, i.e. if a Guardian Spirit wove water into a shield of ice, it would be a weaker shield than that of a Guardian Spirit that had the ability to project a deflective bubble.
