"Each holiday tradition acts as an exercise in cognitive development,
a greater challenge for the child. Despite the fact most parents don't
recognize this function, they still practice the exercise.
Rant also saw how resolving illusions is crucial to how the child uses
any new skills.
A child who is never coached with Santa Claus may never develop an
ability to imagine. To him, nothing exists except the literal and
tangible.
A child who is disillusioned abruptly, by his peers or siblings, being
ridiculed for his faith and imagination, may choose never to believe
in anything - tangible or intangible - again. To never trust or
wonder.
But a child who relinquishes the illusions of Santa Claus, the Easter
Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy, that child may come away with the most
important skill set. That child may recognize the strength of his own
imagination and faith. He will embrace the ability to create his own
reality. That child becomes his own authority. He determines the
nature of his world. His own vision. And by doing so, by the power of
his example, he determines the reality of the two other types: those
who can't imagine, and those who can't trust."
-Rant, by Chuck Palahniuk
Interesting, but like most things I feel the the Golden Mean applies.
While the idea of a child raised without the ability to imagine or daydream fills me (and probably any RPG player) with either horror or pity. There is the other extreme where a person gets so wrapped up in his "castles in the air" that he loses touch with the practical things that NEED to be done.
Right now, I'm stuck in a job I really dislike (looking for another one) but I have to admit that it is extremely difficult not to plot out new adventures or fantastic locales instead of focusing on the minimum amount of work I need to do.
So to tie this back to the Signers, are you proposing that the faction contains individuals with heightened imagination and creativity? Would this translate to an advantage in any situtations?
And to tie in my polar opposite, would a person out of touch with reality (and it seems odd to describe Sigil as "reality") that his over-active, possibly reality-warping, imagination would lead to problems?