Can a Mage find someone on a map?

Question

Is it possible for a Mage to find someone on a map? If yes, which Spheres are required? (I think Connection and maybe Mind)

Are some components required too (hair, blood...) or are just the name and a mental picture of the people enough?

Answer 1

Searching using Correspondence is fine and it is what will be usually used. However mages have a lot of different ways to locate someone on map:

Correspondence to actually search. It's mage's task to "see" the person in all the area he's sensing.

Having some kind of connection to the person: Life, Mind or even Prime + some (usually lower than above) correspondence. You will sense the person, but you still need something to relate that sense to actual space.

Time? Probably could be used. Even without Correspondence by physically walking around and tracking the person. Combine with the above sensing using Life/Mind/Prime to make it easier.

Forces or Matter? Doubt it.

Entropy? Oh yes. Guessing is always good. Still I'd require some Correspondence here if I were Storyteller.

Finally you can always just ask spirits. No other sphere required (unless Storyteller decides that you do need Correspondence to decypher the message of highly alien spirit).

In theory Mind alone could be used to locate a person. But to translate it to physical location you still need Correspondence. Usually.

Answer 2

I played a detective in an OWoD game who could follow crime scenes back in Time until the perp was found (then track the perp on the map to find where they are currently). It was a few years ago, but I am recalling I used Mind, and Time to view the crime scene at the time of the crime to see the victim/create a mental connection with him. I would then consult a map of the city using Correspondence (now known as Connection) to find were he was at that moment. From there, I would continue the effect by "pulling back" until I recognized a landmark (and between a living in a distinctive city and having both Correspondence and Mind, my character was darn near a GPS for the group). I would then travel to the landmark, cast a similar Rote using the same Spheres (Correspondence/Connection and Mind) to feel a pull towards him, much like dowsing rods are supposed to steer/pull you toward water.

To answer your question more directly, if you have a DNA sample and Life, that would likely be better than Mind. However if you have a picture, Mind would work. A rough description would significantly increase the difficulty but would likely make Mind still usable. Regardless, you would need Connection (or Correspondence if your book is old) to cast the Effect.

Answer 3

As always in Mage there are a ton of different ways to do this, assuming your map as a foci.

But I will say that the most common way will be Correspondence (or Conexion in the Sorcerers crusade) 2: Sense Space.

Remember that you do not require anything of the victim (such as blood), but it is always better due to the Correspondence Effect Table (for reference):

Correspondence Effect Table

Effect Rating Range / Connection

1 - Line of Site / Blood Relation / Body Sample

2 - Very Familiar (home/office) / Best Friend / Prized Possession

3 - Familiar (local mall) / Co-Worker / Possession

4 - Visited Once / Acquaintance / Anything Used Once

5 - Saw or Heard of It / Stranger / Item Touched Casually

6 - Anywhere on Earth / No Connection

PS: I do believe that if the target is not Earth (AKA the static reality), you will also need Spirit ( Umbra / Deep Umbra), Mind (High Umbra) or Entropy (Low Umbra)

Answer 4

Of course.

There are two main ways I've seen it done in a few different groups and with different paradigms.

No matter the profession, there's the one's that include the power of blood in their paradigm such that Life 1, Correspondence 2/3. The difference between the Correspondence levels relates to the time it takes as with Corr2 the mage actually has to look thru each area on the map one by one. With Corr3, the mage looks through all areas of the map (Filter All-Space) at once.

Then there are those that may use Mind, or Prime to do the same effects. The use of Time to do the same thing isn't really the map search. It's more the step backwards in time to the crime scene then stepping thru time follow the suspect(s). Time 2, Correspondence 2.

Answer 5

If your paradigm matches, there are many ways.

Mage is all about Paradigms and how you explain your tools get to the result you want.

If your view on Correspondence explains that a map is a representation of space and that it is connected to the space it depicts as a simplified projection, that is one way to explain part of your magic. In your paradigm the map is a tool. With another tool, like the classic crystal needle attuned to the essence of a missing person, you might manage to run your Life/Correspondence spell to point at the place the missing person is.

If your paradigm is that everything is Data, and you have your computer (tool) sort through all of the camera feeds of the town, and show their locations with timestamps of when the person was there, then you are running a Data/Time spell to find them, and the output is a map because that's easy to understand.

If you take a wolf skull and connect to the spiritual entity that once was in it to empower you with its sense of smell, that's a Spirit/Life spell that allows you to track the smell of the person... just not on a map, and you don't remotely track with correspondence - you follow their real track.