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Idea for a sigil-watching servitor

11:28 / 12.03.02

I had this idea. Once I asked, "So why don't you just use sigils for everything?" It was suggested that sigils are great tools for some things, but not for everything.

I got to thinking: what if you had a servitor, or rather a type of servitor, which looked at the sigils you were casting, and when one popped up that could be better served by a different method, it would grab it out of the ether and suggest a better method for what you were after?

I'm calling this idea for a servitor type a "willcatcher," since it sifts statements of intent and lets some go about their business while flagging others and notifying the user of some suggested methods. I figure one creates a personal willcatcher (details on the parameters I think are important can be found here) and leaves it running, until such time as the willcatcher notifies you that it needs modifying. I was reminded of Dabh (even though I don't know much about hir) and of Gek: they seem like entities with similarly broad spheres of influence.

I haven't gotten past the general name and basic design ideas. Any thoughts?

11:46 / 12.03.02

Sounds interesting. Instead of having the servitor just bring the problem to your attention what if it were to ask if you wanted to change it.

For example, think of microsoft word's spellchecker. When you run the spellchecker, it checks the spellings of words, says ok this word is wrong, do you want it changed.

So what if this servitor were like that? You know, it comes upon a statement of intent that doesn't quite work right, says "hey, this could be done better, you want it changed" and if you say that yes, you do want it changed, it would perform the necessary actions to change.

Just a thought.

01:58 / 13.03.02

I think I understand and you seem to have everything worked but there is just one thing that isn't clear to me. How is this servitor going to say, "Ok, this sigil is not effective." or "Your line to, um, Apollo has been disconnected" ? You said through Synchronicity and I instantly got the image of the radio playing *NSYNC's Bye Bye Bye once the ritual failed. This is cool but sometimes it's less obvious. You don't need a servitor that works in mysterious ways ... you need one that's going to be articulate. (Note: this is only true for this situation, because it whole purpose is to guide you.) Work that out and you have yourself a pretty interesting servitor. The next step is to activate it and see how it works.

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: impulsivelad ]

10:47 / 13.03.02

Fair point. I guess I was hoping to get those jolts of, "Oh, this clearly means something" that I have been trying to learn to pay attention to. But I agree: asking for detailed messages via synchronicity may be asking for trouble.

I do want some kind of "passive" system, though. Maybe dream messages are the way to go, if I can pre-arrange something to signify that it's the willcatcher alarm going off.

I think I have this nagging fear that a misstatement will get me eternal life without eternal youth, or a financial windfall in the form of the insurance settlement after my legs are sawn off, or any number of other bad twist endings in wish fulfullment stories. But then again, I don't want to attempt to pass the buck to this servitor and make it do everything so I don't have to. While I think that the servitor probably shouldn't *do* anything but research and notification, the spellchecker metaphor is bitchin': "Are you SURE you want to do this?", where 'this' is a dreadful misunderstanding.

[ 13-03-2002: Message edited by: doubting thomas ]

14:37 / 13.03.02

What if you arrange to "run" the willcatcher after firing off a sigil during, say a flaneur (a "significant" stroll, a walk with magical consciousness), and have a pre-arranged set of "yes/no, autorepair/ignore" signals. If you lived in the woods, maybe different insects or mushrooms could be used. In the city... colors of cars? frequency of traffic lights?
Or maybe just cloud shapes?
Perhaps picking a specific location for messages - a particular corner or square of the sidewalk, where you sit and await contact....

-g