Interlude: Evaluate the Excellent Evocation!

[sythyry]

So here are the spells. But not just the spells! I want them evaluated! By experts! Specifically, by you!

[Poll #1572035]

Comments

[otter3.livejournal.com]

Graft the Fortuitous Euphemism sounds like one of the spells used to create that anti-scrying enchantment...Lubricate the Lithe Hatstand, too.

I think of Map the Mimsy Insult as a particular kind of translation spell...

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

IC: I blush extravagantly! I was unaware that my translator was taking such liberties with my magical system!

[gavinfox.livejournal.com]

Surely there is some well known Ketherian literature that thoroughly parodies your magic system, and those who delve into it's idiosyncrasies, right?

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

Most of these make no sense, but:
-"Flagellate the First Dog" sounds like some kind of evil, subversive Cani spell for interfering with social rank.
-"Ignore the Glass Ferret" sounds like a high-quality concentration spell. If you can ignore a highly valuable ferret, that's some good focus!
-"Rotate the Piratical Politician": Forces a politician to re-evaluate their beliefs in light of evidence and relevant law. Outlawed immediately by said politicians.
-"Zero the Willful Wilderness": An eerie but effective spell that makes a dangerous area like the Verticals suddenly, palpapably quiet.

[rowyn]

I think Rotate the Piratical Politician allows the current Piratical Politician to replace himself with another Piratical Politician, after the first one gets caught. Thus evading punishment and ensuring continuity in the corrupt regime.

It is an evil, evil spell!

Ignore the Glass Ferret

[vik_thor]

hmmm... I forgot that glass is much more rare on World Tree than our universe.

I'm still thinking it is more of a hiding/invisibility spell. Not sure if it is Mentador or Illusidor. Sort of hiding in plain sight, by keeping people from noticing you.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

I personally thought that "Rotate the Piratical Politician" was a Mutoc Ruloc Destroc Mentador Illusidor spell used to sway someone to your line of thought - gently, but insidiously. If they were not at all inclined to hold that thought, the spell will fail, but otherwise, it will resist all outside influences. It is subtle - it masks itself, very easy to miss when taking effect and next to impossible to spot after the fact if cast with reasonable power. Most effective when used on a corrupt politician - someone who could be bribed to taking your side, does so at the cost of, in theory, one cley; could be used on someone else, but a politician will likely have more clout to make it worthwhile.

But it's a Mentador spell for out-and-out mental manipulation, so... evil.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

> Outlawed immediately by said politicians.

But of course. Everyone knows Mentador is evil, no matter what you use it for. Carefully saying nothing about certain (comparatively) popular immortality spells.

[vik_thor]

On a side note, do children get cley from birth, or do they start getting it later?

(Getting from birth makes more sense, but can also see that the start of receiving daily cley would be a trigger to children starting to expiriment with spontaneous magic…)

{and I should probably edit this icon, make it look like a Sleeth. Either that, or he is just a very odd coloured Sleeth.}

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

Yes, the get it from birth. Accidental death by spontaneous magic is a common source of childhood mortality in the World Tree.

[rowyn]

It's not quite at birth, but it's during infancy:

To the magic sense, the magerium appears as a tree. At birth, it is a slender connection between mind and spirit, like a saplin. Over the first months of life, as the child establishes relations with the 7+12 gods, it grows 7+12 main branches.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Am I the only one who, on several of these, was torn between "Evil wizards only" and "I want that"?

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

"Reach the Obnoxious Lists" sounds like it should be RuCoHr5, used to bring a bunch of papers/parchment/etc that are in an inconvenient place(perhaps because they were placed or blown there, perhaps because the caster can't be bothered to get up and it's almost time to get new cley anyway).

"Stab the Upwind Second" seems like some complexity of Mu or De Te, used to undo what someone else just did - making it so an attack never happened.

"Saute the Sneaky Pundit"... perhaps I shouldn't have rated it an attack spell as such. Gives a painful but not particularly injurious fireblast to its target, especially someone sneaking around to get dirt to sling on someone, and does so in a noisy, bright, and generally conspicuous manner.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Upwind Second sounds to me that it's changing a second in the future, instead of the past. It'd probably have to be triggered in some way to be useful.

[kris-schnee.livejournal.com]

Triggering a spell that goes to the future? Maybe if you were in a skyboat traveling at exactly eighty-eight leagues per hour...

[terrana.livejournal.com]

It'd more likely require some foreknowledge, perhaps with a KeTe spell beforehand to provide such. Could well require Co or Me as well as Te if it's going to influence someone's actions. All told, it'd probably be easier to use a long-duration version of a more conventional control spell to take effect when desired and simply sit dormant until then, possibly mindfully. Of course, mindful spells require a certain Sp specialisation, and for someone better at Te than Sp...

It sounds more to me like the spell would cause a second (or perhaps P/5 seconds or actions?) from someone's personal timeline to simply not happen, although I have a sneaking suspicion there's already a spell for that.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

"Rile the Pernicious Orren" seems like CrMe or MuMe 5 or 10, and makes someone excited(possibly anxious, possibly angry[especially if they realize they got hit with Mentador, though in that case the anger might not be intentional], but definitely exciting their mental state). Specifically designed to send an Orren into a wild rush.

Although it has its negative factors, the speed of an Orren in a wild rush means that in a straightforward fight(where doing a stupid thing is not so likely to be problematic), it can be very effective to use this spell on an Orren warrior.

[terrana.livejournal.com]

I suspect there are a great many evil wizards present on these threads. Or at least people who would be evil wizards if we - did I say we? I meant they, of course - had access to magic.

[terrycloth.livejournal.com]

Burn the Congruent Cani - AoE Fire Flower, that leaps from target to target based on arcane connections the targets are holding!

Flagellate the First Dog - It's like a blue shell for politicians.

Graft the Fortuitous Euphamism - Also known as 'change the awful sentence'.

Ignore the Glass Ferret - Makes something hard to see even harder to see. Sort of practice spell for Veil and the like.

Jump the Intimidating Fripperies - Get out of Etiquette Check Free

Reconstitute the Perfect Meal... yeah, I think we all know what this one does. Hl [co] [hr]? Sometimes it's the best option.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

Reconstitute the Perfect Meal... yeah, I think we all know what this one does. Hl [co] [hr]? Sometimes it's the best option.

Possibly with some Tempador in there - patterning this after Refill the Cup.

But yeah. You have had a very nice meal. Something has forced you to lose this meal. This spell will turn the results into a form which is pleasing to re-eat.

...So I gathered, anyway.

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

You need an option for spells that are useful but primarily for non adventuring purposes. "Alphabetise the Acrimonious Bantam", for instance, is the Kennoc Herbador Corpador Spiridor spell that is cast on a small chicken. The chicken can then be given pile of paper files and a criteria and will pull out all the files that match the criteria (5% of the files that should be included will be missed and 5% of the files pulled will be ones that should not have been included).

Essentially the world tree equivalent of a database management system. Not really useful for adventurers, but critical to the adminstrative clerks of large city states. Indeed, "killing the municipal chicken" is a common metaphor for beuracratic incompetence.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

[Bard's left head explodes]

[stormydragon.livejournal.com]

So what did your right head think? ;>