Admittedly, the act of generating a partially self-sustaining entity for a specified purpose never truly made much of an impression upon me beforehand; I knew, rather vaguely, that it could be accomplished and, to some degree, I was even aware of some of the mechanics and preparation necessary to bring about such an entity, but I was never in possession of a motive for birthing said entity which in turn robbed me of much of my interest in the subject.

I still possess no motive for the creation of a servitor, but I find myself strangely curious as to just how versatile the servitor's role in the magician's life can be. There are two applications in particular, as hinted by the title of this post, about which I wish to inquire. The first concerns the servitor as a guardian, and the second has to do with the servitor as a receptacle.

A casual perusal of some of the other topics confirmed that the servitor could, in fact, be used as a guardian, but those same topics generally alluded to either an impersonal sort of guardianship (such as a servitor created to protect one's home and property) or a light-handed variety in which the servitor shields the magician from those that would do him/her harm in any capacity through subtle influence and nudging. I wonder whether or not the servitor can be used more intimately. Can it directly protect the magician from immediate physical harm by overtly (well...as overt as an astral construct can be) warning him of impending hazard? If, for instance, a would be assailant is rapidly closing the distance between himself and the magician, unbeknownst to the latter, could the servitor sound the metaphorical klaxon so that the magician could meet the threat appropriately?

Can the intimacy exceed even that which I described above? In a physical confrontation, can a magician symbiotically attach his consciousness to that belonging to a observing servitor so that he may be aware of opponents beyond his visual range? If so, what are the inherent dangers in such an undertaking; in joining his consciousness to the servitor's, even slightly, does the magician lose some of his ability to fully and physically react to stimuli on the same plane? Does connecting to the servitor run the risk of reabsorbing it? In a further point of curiosity, could the servitor, perhaps, glean the surface thoughts (which, one imagines, would be concentrated upon throwing a sequence of techniques) of the magician's opponents and relay them so that he could react with an uncanny swiftness?

Technically, any servitor is a receptacle for the magician that gives it life. It is a receptacle for the magician's energy given focus through will and whatever behavioral scripts the magician chooses to imbue the entity with. Can it be made to hold certain elements beyond that point, though? Can a magician charge the servitor with the task of finding and absorbing ambient energy in the environment and retaining it until he has some use of it in his workings? Are there any associated consequences? What of emotion? Can a magician impart his anger onto the servitor to keep until absorption at which point the magician would be nearly overcome with rage thus aiding in whatever (presumably destructive) working he was attempting?

I've been told that the only real limitation for the magician is his or her own mind and skill level. I have no clue as to whether or not anything that I've mentioned above is even remotely possible, but I thought to exercise my creativity and sate my curiosity at once. Thank you ahead of time to any that choose to respond to the many questions that I've included within this topic.