>>>>>[Blow up how? Like using an explosion of some sort to flip the bus, or using wind to blow it into the air, or what? Regardless, to be able to lift and throw a bus would require substantial force, which means it would be all but impossible to do without leaving some kind of signature. However, signatures can be erased, if you take the time to do so, and certain initiates are able to reduce the amount of time their signatures remain behind to begin with. If no one assensed the area within the first hour or so, it would be easily possible for a magician of a certain degree of skill and power to take out a bus and erase his signature before someone spotted it. Of course, to a mundane, there would be no traces, other than other affects from the spells used (fire, etc.). They would have to be extraordinarily powerful to do that and be able to get away without damage.
For the most part, take everything you ever learned about magic from the trids, and throw it out the window. A mage cannot sling spells all day long without falling flat on his face due to exhaustion, unless they are the kinds of spells that would be hard pressed to rip paper, much less knock a man off his feet. To use an analogy a mundane would understand, think about running. Now picture how tired you get after running a mile without stopping. Compress all that fatigue into an instant, and that is what it is like slinging a relatively minor spell, or summoning a relatively low force spirit. When you start talking about higher force spirits or spells, then picture running a marathon at full speed without stopping, all compressed into a single moment. Now add that to any other wounds or fatigue you might have from combat, or any other sources.
There is also no such thing as teleportation magic, or resurrection magic, or any of those things. Don't get me wrong, researchers are constantly trying to figure out some way to do that, but as of right now, there is no way to do these things.
Magic does not need incantations or gestures, or items, or any of those things. Many mages use these things as tools to focus their Talent, but most mages do not HAVE to use these things.
Anyone who tells you that they can make you a mage is lying to you. If you're lucky, they're just a con artist looking to get your nuyen, and the pills they give you are just placebos. If you're not lucky, you've just got a tempo addiction, or you've been tricked into making a pact with a spirit that may or may not be friendly to you, or you've been infected with HMHVV. If you're really unlucky, you'll wake up on an altar, just as the bug spirit they've summoned eats your soul to use you like a rigger jumped into a drone, except far more permanent.
Anyone telling you that they have an 'amulet' or anything else that will protect mundanes from spells is lying to you. Usually, they just look mystical, but don't do crap. Sometimes, there's a spirit in it temporarily to make use of counterspelling for a while. And sometimes, it is something much much worse.
Magic follows rules. These rules change slightly depending on the mage's tradition and beliefs, but they mainly stay the same, regardless of the mage. At least when you're talking about metahumans. Spirits and dragons apparently see and use magic in different ways from us, and they don't like teaching those ways to mortals. But if you're ever in a fight with a dragon, how they channel mana isn't going to be your first concern. And if you ever meet a dragon and aren't in a fight with them, asking them those questions is a good way to start one. In other words, don't. But for us mortals, magic has certain predictable effects, which is why a shaman can recognize the kinds of magic a hermetic or a druid or a shinto miko or a vodoo priest use, even if the formulas seem strange to them, and that's why a mage can defend against another mage's powers, even if they are different traditions.]<<<<<
--Iceblade (12:28:23/10-08-75)