New Twist On An Old Question, servitor maintenance Options

Here’s a new twist on an old question for you.

Some weeks ago I was talking with a servitor I have had for a while and have formed a familiarity with. I was trying to alter its effects on me to coincide with my self-concept; mostly standard maintenance. Then a few days ago I began to realize I have had that particular servitor for sometime now, and have had occasion to tweak its’ effects. The ends it is set to now are very different from what it started as. Yet, there was never any need to mess with the sigil, or its original construct, and it has preformed its most recent task with efficiency that was surprising. Upon reflection I saw that each time I alter the task it is to do, it becomes more effective. Now at first I believed that the trend was do to me ever narrowing of the scope. Which was quickly dispelled when I listed the tasks- Attract like minds, sort casual acquaintances from those for potentially something more, invoke sympathy in other I tend to offend, help in finding various sorts for close relations, even running interference for me with people I don’t like. Granted, all tasks listed do fall within related scope- that of social interaction, - but from what I understand of these things general makes for poor results.

So come the quandaries: How far can a servitor be altered before it is stretched beyond its original intent. What happens when it does, given the familiarity on both the servitor and creator’s parts? Has anyone else had a servitor for a similar time, two years, with similar or different results? Lastly, dose the servitor become more elastic with familiarity?

Greetings FatherJhon!
I am usually quick to point out that (in Bardons scenario) the mage should create and terminate the 'elementary' in a short, specified time frame. (Please refer to IIH for those arguments) But, surprizingly, I really can't...having created a servitor many years ago that I have tweaked....consistantly over the years and have, I suppose, my child and a very loyal servant...a spirit familularis so to speak. When I originally made him/it I utilized a number of elements (which helps give him/it a better adaptability of performance). Bardon warns of the servitor gaining a sense of survival and the possibility of the mage losing control over it. To me this has not happened but, again, I've come to be rather loving towards him/it and couldn't bear to think of him/it being destroyed because of a hypothetical 'end-date'. It can become a fatal flaw. There are reasons that this is so. We can become too reliant upon these helpers and, in my dotage, he/it provides a certain amount of 'company'. I suppose that it all depends on the mechanisms we imbue it with to begin with. You don't want a vampire construct with a free will and movement to be left alone if we happen to die unexpectedly...? My failimg is that now I have a couple of said familiar spirits in which I have no desire to terminate as they are performing admirably and they learn/program quickly. When I die they will be given to my godchildren or they will slowly fade unless I reabsorb them. *sigh* If you don't form attaching emotional bonds then it should be easy to terminate such an 'experiment' but, frankly, I have other plans in mind for them. When you overburden the original stricture of its making you run the risk of losing control or having it 'crash' and burn like a bad motherboard. The trick is to allow it room for growth and to ritualise this growth with initiatory cycles where it has additions to its name, etc. added It really becomes a different servitor than the original much like a child is different than its adult form. By keeping a strong link you assure its survival though remember that it is your thoughtform given flesh so-to-speak and if it is damaged or destroyed by an outside force, you will suffer the rebound effect! This has the potentialiality of killing you as well! Keep your children well! I hope this may shed some small light on this subject. There are for instance a number of 'leftover' constructs still in existance today from centuries ago that are just barely holding on and who subsist on temple offerings of adherents of today and the accumulated energies of eons of 'worship'...They look and act very much like real spirits but their rituals anmd methods of construct are forgotten and they will slowly fade (or not!) over the years.
Sorry for the mid-nights blather but I felt compelled to speak up! I'm very proud of my kids and rightfully so! Good luck! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/i_triangle.gif)

I also have two familiars, which began as servitors, one I have had for six, and the other four years now. I think there is a point at which a servitor is no longer just a servitor - which is a construct with a specific task and lifespan in which to complete it - but a familiar, a companion spirit that aids the magician in any number of tasks. This sounds like what you are fostering, and I think it is perfectly fine, though the possible drawbacks that Bym mentions are well founded.

As far as how much they can be altered, how elastic they are, I look at it this way - how much can your personality, experience, and capability be altered without altering your own body? I see the servitor as a complete being, having a body, mind, and spirit just like a person. Their body is the base to which they are affixed, their spirit is the purpose they are given, and their consciousness is the awareness and tools they are given to carry that purpose out. They purpose may evolve, their consciousness may expand, and their body may never change significantly, though in time it will probably decay if it is not properly taken care of.

A familiar spirit is an excellent aid to any magician. I would only caution against developing more than a small number - 1 or 2, 3 if you feel it necessary and yourself capable - of such spirits, and really 1 or 2 will suffice most any need I think. They function well as governors for lesser servitors, and can keep sometimes a better record of your magickal work than you will, at least in my case, reminding you of things that worked before and theories you developed but never tested, if you give them that power. After all they have little to do but aid you in whatever way you allow them to.

In my case though, I have not considered ever leaving them to anyone. I am hoping that when the time comes, they will assist me in my reincarnation, and help to remind my next personality who I was in this life, and hopefully speed my education in the occult, assuming I don't ascend.

peace

That's super super interesting.

I feel that the single factor that allows this to happen, though I don't really know the definition of servitor in this community entails, but would be to remove any form of intelligence and sentience. For it to be a simple energetic machine. As an energetic system that runs off of what appears to be 'rational' (0101010111....) processing, the only thing that will ever occur is decay of its energy source over time, or if there are flaws in logic or thought, which can be changed or modified or overlooked et cetera.