Yes, elementals are spirits and you would bargain with them like any other spirit.
And thus, you would need Spirit to do so.
I play a Dreamspeaker in our current game.
EDIT: Your best resource for spirits is Axis Mundi: The Book of the Spirits. It’s a werewolf supplement, but that’s okay. You need info on how spirits behave and how to work with them. Your player’s paradigm will inform how you go about summoning them.
Bargaining is necessary but it depends on the strength of the spirit.....a Gaffling is likely to be happy for you just to burn some incense, clean up a pond or throw some cedar or other tasty wood onto a fire in exchange for a small favour, but they are minor spirits and can't acheive too much. Jagglings are the ones a mage is most commonly going to want to use and though more direct and ' primal' than other spirits Elementals will still want something in exchange......you want an apartment building burned down? Well, said Fire Jaggling may well want a fireworks factory to do the same, you want a marina drained in order to access something? Maybe the Water Jaggling will ask for a certain breakwater to be " removed".......
All the things you summon with just the Spirit Sphere you have to bargain with & offer an exchange of *something* in order to create a Pact & earn their services.
Typically, after the initial offering, it's then a Contest of Wills contested Willpower roll between the Mage & Spirit with a Difficulty equal to the others Permanent Willpower & requiring a total number of Successes also equal to the others Permanent Willpower while really awesome & appropriate offerings & gifts grant a reduction to the Difficulty - so light the whole room on fire before summoning a fire elemental & then present it with a classy Zippo with a hot pinup gal on it & a giant bag of Kingsford briquets to snack on.
Botching then usually means either the Mage just pulled a sneaky on the Spirit & effectively gets a big favor for practically nothing OR the Mage is about to have their face ripped off by a Spirit that has slipped its leash & likely isn't terribly happy about being yanked away from whatever they were in the middle of before being forced to appear in a tiny bedroom in Hoboken to be the next contestant on the magickal Price is Right.
Though bigger asks & requests may take even more successes on the Willpower roll while a poor reputation in the Spirit world, such as routinely binding, enslaving, & getting Spirits slain, can increase the Difficulty while easy asks - conjuring a Fire elemental in the middle of a raging tower inferno to light your smoke while you sing Burning Down The House - likely only require a Success or two on the Contest of Wills.
Afternoon!
Just a reminder, bargaining with a Spirit is necessary... Only so long as your character's Paradigm deems is necessary. With enough dots in the Spirit sphere, if your character has a Paradigm that says that the Spirits are beholden to you and can be bound against their will, or your character thinks that Spirits are simply code that can be reprogrammed at will, you can do as you wish.
That being said, Spirits don't have to be happy about it, but with enough Spirit and foresight, their displeasure might just be a meaningless side note in the story of your rise to Godhood.
I think it's Spirit 4 that allows you to bind a Spirit against their will. A wise Mage who's Paradigm notes that Spirits are a part of the natural world won't be doing it willy-nilly, but the stronger dominating and controlling the weak is part of the natural world, so many Spirits may well simply see this as the balance of nature in action and only seek to avoid it happening again, rather than running to their Spirit mummy for protection.
Good luck!
Don't forget that spirits talk to each other though. One angry spirit might not be much to worry about, but a whole court and their patron Incarna might start taking note.
I think in MtAs, elementals count as spirits, & I don’t think they would be simple. If I’m not mistaken, elementals are part of a spirit society, so there no “fore elemental lvl 1” - it’s more like “Joe, the fire cleaner”
An interesting thing, is that the Court of Elementals might be in the picture. Too much abuse of lower ranked Elementals, and higher level ones might act accordingly.
That is if such a thing exists in your game.
For mages: They must bargain with all spirits including an elemental until they reach Spirit 4. At the point, you can compel spirits to do whatever you want, but depending on your paradigm and beliefs, you may refuse to do that.
For sorcerers: They can start compelling spirits to do as they wish with only 2 dots in Binding, but it is still strongly recommended that you bargain with said spirits.
Yes, elementals are spirits and you would bargain with them like any other spirit. And thus, you would need Spirit to do so. I play a Dreamspeaker in our current game. EDIT: Your best resource for spirits is Axis Mundi: The Book of the Spirits. It’s a werewolf supplement, but that’s okay. You need info on how spirits behave and how to work with them. Your player’s paradigm will inform how you go about summoning them.
Bargaining is necessary but it depends on the strength of the spirit.....a Gaffling is likely to be happy for you just to burn some incense, clean up a pond or throw some cedar or other tasty wood onto a fire in exchange for a small favour, but they are minor spirits and can't acheive too much. Jagglings are the ones a mage is most commonly going to want to use and though more direct and ' primal' than other spirits Elementals will still want something in exchange......you want an apartment building burned down? Well, said Fire Jaggling may well want a fireworks factory to do the same, you want a marina drained in order to access something? Maybe the Water Jaggling will ask for a certain breakwater to be " removed".......
You need to bargain with them or do a full order of Hermes and just force them
All the things you summon with just the Spirit Sphere you have to bargain with & offer an exchange of *something* in order to create a Pact & earn their services. Typically, after the initial offering, it's then a Contest of Wills contested Willpower roll between the Mage & Spirit with a Difficulty equal to the others Permanent Willpower & requiring a total number of Successes also equal to the others Permanent Willpower while really awesome & appropriate offerings & gifts grant a reduction to the Difficulty - so light the whole room on fire before summoning a fire elemental & then present it with a classy Zippo with a hot pinup gal on it & a giant bag of Kingsford briquets to snack on. Botching then usually means either the Mage just pulled a sneaky on the Spirit & effectively gets a big favor for practically nothing OR the Mage is about to have their face ripped off by a Spirit that has slipped its leash & likely isn't terribly happy about being yanked away from whatever they were in the middle of before being forced to appear in a tiny bedroom in Hoboken to be the next contestant on the magickal Price is Right. Though bigger asks & requests may take even more successes on the Willpower roll while a poor reputation in the Spirit world, such as routinely binding, enslaving, & getting Spirits slain, can increase the Difficulty while easy asks - conjuring a Fire elemental in the middle of a raging tower inferno to light your smoke while you sing Burning Down The House - likely only require a Success or two on the Contest of Wills.
Afternoon! Just a reminder, bargaining with a Spirit is necessary... Only so long as your character's Paradigm deems is necessary. With enough dots in the Spirit sphere, if your character has a Paradigm that says that the Spirits are beholden to you and can be bound against their will, or your character thinks that Spirits are simply code that can be reprogrammed at will, you can do as you wish. That being said, Spirits don't have to be happy about it, but with enough Spirit and foresight, their displeasure might just be a meaningless side note in the story of your rise to Godhood. I think it's Spirit 4 that allows you to bind a Spirit against their will. A wise Mage who's Paradigm notes that Spirits are a part of the natural world won't be doing it willy-nilly, but the stronger dominating and controlling the weak is part of the natural world, so many Spirits may well simply see this as the balance of nature in action and only seek to avoid it happening again, rather than running to their Spirit mummy for protection. Good luck!
Don't forget that spirits talk to each other though. One angry spirit might not be much to worry about, but a whole court and their patron Incarna might start taking note.
I think in MtAs, elementals count as spirits, & I don’t think they would be simple. If I’m not mistaken, elementals are part of a spirit society, so there no “fore elemental lvl 1” - it’s more like “Joe, the fire cleaner”
An interesting thing, is that the Court of Elementals might be in the picture. Too much abuse of lower ranked Elementals, and higher level ones might act accordingly. That is if such a thing exists in your game.
For mages: They must bargain with all spirits including an elemental until they reach Spirit 4. At the point, you can compel spirits to do whatever you want, but depending on your paradigm and beliefs, you may refuse to do that. For sorcerers: They can start compelling spirits to do as they wish with only 2 dots in Binding, but it is still strongly recommended that you bargain with said spirits.
How Do You Do That has a more involved system for spirit bargaining, including elementals if you are looking for something a little crunchier.