Call Me Ishmael

Card of the Day:	Ten of Swords
Interpretation:	Perhaps the end of an era? Or the ignorance I still choose to display?

For today, I would like to describe my IFGS character, as I played a game today with him, and I have it on the brain.

Ishmael Azerus is a Magic User in the IFGS system. Many Magic Users call upon the power of forces outside themselves to cast their spells. Ishmael is no exception. At low levels, I am calling upon the elements themselves to invoke my spells. At mid levels, I am calling upon a promise I made to a dying woman (aka Ishmael's love). At high levels, I will begin to call directly upon the spirit of Ishmael's love.

Let me share my incantations. For low level spells, they must be 5 seconds long. Mid level incants are 10 seconds, and high level are 15 seconds.

5 second:
Emotion! Fool's Dream! Invoke the power of ELEMENT! NOUN's melody! Sing SPELLNAME!
(Where ELEMENT, NOUN, and SPELLNAME change depending on which spell I'm casting)

The idea here is Ishmael is drawing on the power of some element and object to cast a spell. For example, Defense increases Ishmael's armor. For Defense, the element is Earth, and the noun is Shield.

10 second:
Cinco: fingers on a dying hand! Cuatro: words on a dying breath! Tres: Promises made in love! Dos: Eyes that will never open! Uno: the Pact of the Rose! VERB! SPELLNAME!
(Where VERB and SPELLNAME change depending on which spell I'm casting)

The idea here is that Ishmael draws upon the power of his Pact. The verb just gives the spell direction. For example, Dispel Magic's verb is Shatter.

15 second:
To wit: Redemption is the white wings hung as the veils of the righteous. Their catalyst belongs to life and death. Watch as they fall and envelop me! Make your choice! Hear love's final verse! PHRASE. SPELLNAME!
(Where PHRASE and SPELLNAME change depending on which spell I'm casting)

And of course, the final leg of Ishmael's story. Ishmael wasn't always the best man (ok, he's still not, but he's "better"), so he is seeking redemption. After all, he promised his love he would. However, in this incant, Phrase needs to be approximately 2.5 seconds long. You can fit a lot of words in 2 seconds, so I have a lot of customization here. As I get the higher level spells, Ishmael will start talking directly to or about the spirit of his dead love. She is still there, living on through his promise and the Rose (no, her name is not Rose. Don't be silly). Two examples here: the spell Telekinesis does exactly what it sounds like. The phrase will be "Could you do me a favor?" My favorite example, though, is Blast, a very high level spell. The phrase for Blast is "Heaven's voice roars!" I have too much fun writing these incants.


Of course, everyone in my IFGS chapter is either extremely amused or extremely irritated by my Savvy incantation. Savvy lets me know what a magic item does. My incant for this spell is as follows:
"A suave and intelligent man such as myself would know something about this, right? Because I'm SAVVY!"

Yes, it's corny, but I love it anyway.

Yesterday's Card:	Knight of Cups
Reflection:	Every once in a while, we need a reminder of who we are and how we got there.