Merits & Flaws

A ghost, Loa, or other ephemeral entity has taken a special interest in you. As an expression of favor, this entity teaches you things few mortals ever have the opportunity to learn. Although those lessons do not include Sphere-based magick, you could learn insights that help you to expand your knowledge and better understand the nature of Reality. (See Raising or Learning Spheres in Mage 20, p. 337.) More often, though, this entity tells you secrets, offers you enigmas, and helps you work through situations that would leave most mortals scratching their heads or crying in corners.

Your Spirit Mentor could also teach you new Abilities, or help you improve the ones you have, if such teaching seems appropriate to the spirit in question. A data-entity might be able to teach you about computers, while an incarnation of Zhengyi Zhenren’s tiger could teach you tiger-form kung fu. Such teaching tends to take place in the Otherworlds, or in dreams, rather than in the material realm, although a spirit who can Materialize (as the Charm of that name) could certainly teach a person in her own home realm.

As with other character-related Traits, your mentor is a Storyteller character with its own agendas, personality, and so on. This Merit could be combined with the Backgrounds: Ally, Familiar, Mentor, or Totem to represent a spirit who plays several roles in your life. Depending on how active your ephemeral friend is in your everyday life, other folks might know about this mentor, consider it to be “part of the family,” or think you’re utterly out of your mind… and if that spirit clashes with the company you keep (like a Loa hanging with a Technocrat, or a demon with a Chorister), your friend might get you into hot water on the human side of your life!