[@VitaVitaAR]

Chill, ummm they wouldn't technically be built in programs, but it would be more of an uplink or downlink sort of mechanic. As such the spirits would be their own individual beings that help him/her out for some kind of payment.

Example:
Torin (my character) regularly maintains a relationship with a dryad (or similar plant based spirit) by caring for a group of plants in his/her room. Torin would call on this Dryad to lend him/her their power. At this point in time Torin can control plants (to a certain extent). Afterwards, He would repay the Dryad by either getting a new plant, giving his existing plants a really good type of fertilizer, or by finding a very fertile piece of land to plant one of his plants in, so that it can grow naturally. 

Now the intricacies of each relationship would very based of the type of spirit that he is interacting with. The basic concept is that while Torin has a large breath of abilities, he needs to sufficiently repay the spirits that aid him, otherwise they can choose to leave him.

Since they would technically prove to be NPCs, the spirits themselves would fall under the purview of you as the GM. 

Does this explanation make sense?