Dresdenverse Magic

[kmfrank]

Alright, I was looking for something like this online, but didn't find it, so I decided to make it myself: A catalogue of magic in the Dresden Files universe as we have been presented with. Unfortunately, this mostly means evocations, as we aren't told the words to many summoning spells or thaumaturgy.

I'll go through as best I can, but feel free to add to it. I'm including the passages that lead me to the interpretation of the spell's effects, in case anyone disputes them.

Vento Riflittum: Looks to be some sort of wind-based shield.
Storm Front: "My terror and adrenaline roared out of my fingertips in the form of wind, gathering up speed enough to tear the hair from a man's head. It caught the blob of acid and flung it back at the demon in a fine spray, stopped the thing dead in its tracks, and even drove it back several feet, its claw-tipped feet sliding on my smooth floor, catching on the rugs."



Vento servitas: Myriad of uses; summoning, general direction of wind magic.
Storm Front: "The pale, smooth wood of my wizard's staff all but glowed in the darkness as it flew toward me, driven by a gentler, finer blast of the same wind [that powered Vento Rifflitum, above]."
Storm Front: "My staff, driven by tightly controlled channels of air moving in response to my evocation, leapt across the room and slammed the door shut in front of Donny Wise's nose."
Storm Front: "And, beneath the elevator, the winds rose up at my call, a solid column of air that caught the bottom of the elevator like a giant's palm and hurled it upward..."
Fool Moon: "I hissed, forcing out tightly focused will, and a sudden current of air simultaneously threw my staff to me and slammed shut the door to the cells, giving the trapped prisoners what little protection it offered. I caught the staff in my outstretched hand and turned to the barred gate that held me shut in the antechamber with the loup-garou."
Fool Moon: "The tools jumped and rattled in place-and then fell still again."
Fool Moon: "I shouted and released the spell, the circle, and the amulet, as the sound of the shot hit me like a slap in the face. Power rushed out of me, everything I had left in me, focused and magnified by the circle and the time I had taken to refine it, flying forward at the leaping loup-garou."

Ventas servitas: May have replaced "vento".
Grave Peril: "The air stirred, and then flung staff and rod into my open hands before dying away again."
Grave Peril: "Wind roared up in response to my command, and whipped out toward the pair of vampires, carrying a cloud of dust and dirt and debris with it. They both staggered, lifting a hand to shield their eyes against flying particles."
Grave Peril: "Wind roared up in a sudden fury and hurled me from my feet, back into the air. I collided with Rudolph and Stallings as they ran forward. We all went down in a heap upon the ground."
Grave Peril: "There was an abrupt surge of moving air and Justine came tumbling out from behind the washing machine with a yelp. She lay there for a moment, naked and stunned, staring up at me with wide, dark eyes."
Grave Peril: "With another roar of wind, the door exploded outwards, into a large, empty room, splinters flying everywhere and shattering one of the two lightbulbs illuminating the room beyond."
Grave Peril: "Sudden wind slammed it shut right in front of his eyes."
Grave Peril: "A furious column of wind slammed into her like a bag of sand, catching her in midair and driving her across the room, into the wall."



Ventas fulmino: Lightning attack. First fueled by an actual strike of lightning in SF, later without.
Storm Front: "The demon was maybe six inches away when the storm's fury boiled down my body and out through my arm, out of my pointing finger, and took it in the heart. The force of it threw the thing back, back and up, into the air, and held it there, wreathed in a corona of blinding energy."


Veni che: Specialized wind effect that mimics personal levitation, possibly flying with finer control.
Storm Front: "Wind swept up beneath me, making my duster billow like Batman's cloak, lifting me directly up to the platform above and over its low railing into the suspended room."

Pulitas: Cleaning spell.
Storm Front: "The broom twitched. It quivered. It jerked upright in my hands. And then it took off across the kitchen floor, its brush waving menacingly, to meet the scorpions' advance."


Vento giostrus: Whirlwind effect.
Fool Moon: "The winds howled down from the trees and whipped into a savage circle of moving air, lifting up dried leaves, sticks, and small stones. The miniature cyclone picked the charging Tera up off the ground and hurled her a good twenty feet through the air, into the branches of a pine tree. It also hurled out a cloud of rocks and small debris, forcing me to seek shelter behind a tree trunk."


Ventas Veloche: Creates fog; possibly restricted to where there is blood from the caster spilled.
Fool Moon: "The curls of steam from my blood began to thicken and gather into dense tendrils of mist and fog. Back along our trail, where more of my blood had spilled, more fog arose. For a few seconds, it was nothing, just a low and slithering movement along the ground-and then it erupted forth, billows of fog rising to cover the ground as the energy rushed out of me, covering Tera from my sight and causing shouts of confusion and consternation to come from the law officials pursuing us."


Fuego: All sorts of flame-based effects.
Storm Front: "The canister's grey lid flew off in a little whoosh of flame, and Donny Wise yelped, drawing his hand back sharply. The red canister burst into flame on its way to the ground and landed there in a crumpled, smoking lump."
Storm Front: "A rush of heat from my hand exploded into flame on the far side of the room and engulfed the stereo, which began to emit a sound more like a long, tortured scream than music."
Fool Moon: "Power lanced out through the rod in a flood of scarlet light that charred a six-foot circle of wall into powder and ash and sent it flying."
Fool Moon: "I saw the reflected image in the beast's eyes brighten to nuclear-white in front of a tall, lean figure of black shadow, saw the flood of energy as big around as my hips rush down the hall like a lance of red lightning and hammer into the beast. Sound rushed along with it, a mountain's roar that made the gunshots and screams of the evening seem like a child's whispers in comparison."
Fool Moon: "Nothing happened, except a little puff of steam, like a breath exhaled on a cold night, and sudden, blinding pain in my head."
Grave Peril: "A beam of white fire spewed out from my blasting rod and across the wooden storefronts."
Grave Peril: "Fire came to my call, roared forth from my fingertips and engulfed the wire. It writhed and then vanished in a detonation that rattled the house around me and sent me tumbling back to the floor."
Grave Peril: "Fire slammed out the end of the rod, missing Kelly by at least a foot, but still hot enough to set the hem of her cloak ablaze. The flame slewed in an arch across the ceiling and down the wall as I started falling, cutting through wood and brick and stone like an enormous arc-welder."
Grave Peril: "Power exploded from the rod, circular coruscations following a solid scarlet column of energy that lanced forward, toward the vampire's head."

Pyrofuego: Seems to be used in larger-effect combat fire spells.
Grave Peril: "The tree-towers of the topiary castle exploded into blazes of light, and the hedge-walls, complete with their crenelated tops, went up with them. Fire leapt up into the air, forty, fifty feet, and the sudden explosion of it lifted everyone but me up and off the ground, sent wind roaring around us in a gale."

Flickum bicus: Simple spell lights the candles in Harry's lab.
Grave Peril: "My spell, a tiny one I had used thousands of times, stuttered and coughed, the energy twitching instead of flowing. The candle's wick smoked, but did not flicker to life. I frowned, then closed my eyes, made a little bit of an effort, and repeated the spell. This time, I felt a little surge of dizziness, and the candle flickered to life. I braced one hand on the edge of the table."



Forzare: Force-based evocation effects.
Fool Moon: "So I leaned my will and my concentration on the staff at the same time I did my body, and worked on multiplying the force I was applying to the steel bars."
Fool Moon: "The bars bowed out in the middle, parted to an opening perhaps a foot wide and twice as long."

Riflettum: General shield.
Grave Peril: "I lifted my staff in my left hand in front of me, horizontally, and slammed power recklessly into a shield."

Stregallum finitas: Dispels the Sending, phantom image, of another caster.
Storm Front: "Scarlet light abruptly flooded over it, devouring its edges and moving inward."

Appare: Summoning spell for demons.
Grave Peril: "Power surged out of me, into the circle, through the rent in the fabric of reality, and as it did, the circle sprang up like a wall around the band of copper in the floor. I felt the cut as an acute, vicious pain, enough to make me blink tears out of my eyes as the power quested out, fueled by the energy of the circle, guided by the articles spread around it."

That's enough to start, I think...Anybody else think this is a good idea?

EDIT: Special thanks to Vash, who provided me with the means to do this as easily as I was able to.

[Fuegodefuerza]

Whoa, nice. This is a fantastic idea. kmfrank++

Are you going to continue this for the entire series? I'd be glad to help, if you are.

[kmfrank]

Yeah, I was hoping it'd be continued, and it'd be even better if I didn't have to do it all by my lonesome. Once there are a bunch more additions, I'd love for a mod to come and combine them in an attractive manner into the first post, or one post for each 'type' of spell or something. Just to make it a better reference.

[Kalas]

Hey km how far are you in the series? Just up to Grave Peril or is that how far you're notes go?

Also should we include the invocation-less spells?

[Aekiel]

You missed hexus, which he used to put out that security camera in Fool Moon.

[Datakim]

It is a very interesting idea.

It should be mentioned however that this is less about Dresdenverse magic and more about Harry Dresden magic. It has been said that in the Dresden universe the words are only mental constructs and that a wizard can use any words he wants from any language (or even invent nonsensical ones). The spells and incantations here are ones that are probably used by only Harry and those he has learned from or taught to.


Magic is a kind of energy. It is given shape by human thoughts and emotions, by imagination. Thoughts define that shape—and words help to define those thoughts. That's why wizards usually use words to help them with their spells. Words provide a sort of insulation as the energy of magic burns through a spell caster's mind. If you use words that you're too familiar with, words that are so close to your thoughts that you have trouble separating thought from word, that insulation is very thin. So most wizards use words from ancient languages they don't know very well, or else they make up nonsense words and mentally attach their meanings to a particular effect. That way, a wizard's mind has an extra layer of protection against magical energies coursing through it.

[kmfrank]

Here's some more examples from SK and beyond; only new spells will get descriptions from me, while old ones just get the ones from Butcher.

The Third Sight:
Storm Front: "The kind of things you see when you learn how to open your Third Eye could be blindingly beautiful, bring tears to your eyes-or they could be horrible, things that made your worst nightmares seem ordinary and comforting. Visions of the past, the future, of the true natures of things. Psychic stains, troubled shades, spirit-folk of all description, the shivering power of the Nevernever in all its brilliant and subtle hues-and all going straight into your brain: unforgettable, permanent. Wizards quickly learn how to control the Third Eye, to keep it closed except in times of great need, or else they go mad within a few weeks."


Ventas servitas:
Summer Knight: "A sharp and sudden torrent of air caught up the flower box and hurled it straight toward me."
Summer Knight: "The wind rose in a sudden roar, a screaming cyclone that whirled into being just in front of me and then whirled out toward the heavy metal shelving."
Summer Knight: "Wind leapt out in a sudden spurt, seizing the Unraveling and tearing it from Aurora's fingers, sending it spinning through the air toward me."
Death Masks: "A column of wind hit the snakeman from behind, lifted him from the floor, and flung him across the room. He slammed into the wall of washing machines, driving a foot-and-a-half-deep dent in one of them, and let out a wailing, hissing whistle of what I hoped was surprise and pain."
Death Masks: "...throwing my will at dirt of the pitcher's mound. It whirled up into a miniature cyclone of fine brown soil, forcing the vampire to turn its head and shield its eyes."
Blood Rites: "The power I'd gathered in my staff shot out of it, an invisible serpent of energy. The shield fell just as a shrieking gale of wind shot down the stairs. The column of air howled against me, throwing my duster forward around me like a flag, and caught the blazing napalm like a tub of Jell-O, hurling the fire back the way it had come and providing it with air enough to treble its size."

Ventas fulmino:
Summer Knight: "The fury of the storm beneath us reared up through the wood of my staff, electricity rising in a buzzing roar of light and energy coming up from the ground and spiraling around the staff and across my body. It whirled down my extended right arm, a serpent of blue-white lightning, hesitated for a second, and then lashed across the space between me and the tip of Lloyd Slate's sword, fastening onto the blade, and bathing Slate in a writhing coruscation of azure sparks."


Fuego:
Summer Knight: "Fire in a column the size of my clenched fist flashed out at Grum and splashed against his chest."
Summer Knight: "Fire erupted from the tip of the rod, a scarlet ribbon of heat and flame and force that lanced out toward the unicorn. After having seen how spectacularly useful my magic wasn't on the Ogre Grum, I didn't want to chance another faerie beast shrugging it off. So I wasn't shooting for the unicorn itself-but for the ground at its feet. The blast ripped a three-foot trench in the earth, and the unicorn screamed and thrashed its head, trying to keep its balance."
Summer Knight: "A lance of crimson energy, white at the core, leapt out from the tip of the blasting rod and scythed across the giant bee's path. My fire caught it across the wings and burned them to vapor."
Death Masks: "...sent a lance of raw fire whipping through the air."
Death Masks: "Fire rose up from the floor in a wave as wide as the doorway and rolled forward in a surge of superheated air. It expanded as it lashed out, and slammed into Nicodemus's bloodied chest. The force of it threw him back across the hallway and into the wall on the opposite side."
Death Masks: "A jet of flame as thick as my arm roared at him, but one of the incoming vampires hit him at the shoulder, dragging him out of the line of fire. The newcomer was set alight though, greasy skin going up like a bonfire, and it screamed hideously as it burned."
Blood Rites: "A lance of white-hot fire streaked from the tip of my blasting rod into the late-night air, illuminating the street like a flash of lightning. Bouncing along on the car like that, I expected to miss. But I beat the odds and the burst of flame took Kongtron right in the belly."
Blood Rites: "Fire lashed across the top of the fence, bright and hot enough that the suddenly expanding air roared like a crack of thunder. Metal near the top of the fence glowed red, running into liquid a few feet above the man's head. Droplets pattered down like Hell's own rain."

Flickum bicus:
Death Masks: "I felt a tiny surge of energy flowing out of me, and the candle danced to life, lighting my apartment in dim, soft orange."
Death Masks: "...and the wick suddenly glowed with a pure white flame."


Forzare: Note - can also be used defensively as a wall of force.
Summer Knight: "Naked force lashed out toward my feet, bruising one leg as it swept past. Even in magic, you can't totally ignore physics, and my action of exerting force down against the earth had the predictable equal and opposite reaction. The earth exerted force up toward me, and I flew out of the mud, muck and water flying up with me in a cloud of spray. I had a wild impression of mist and dreary ground and then a tree, and then it was replaced with a teeth-rattling impact."
Summer Knight: "A curtain of blazing scarlet energy whirled into place in front of me, and it slammed into the oncoming bees like a giant windshield. They went bouncing off of it with heavy thuds of impact. Several of the bees crash-landed and lay on the ground stunned, but two or three veered off at the last second, circling for another attack."
Death Masks: "The silver rope flashed with a glitter of blue light and darted toward the ceiling. Her wrists went with it and she was pulled completely from the floor."
Death Masks: "The raw force I sent out behind me shoved me forward. Actually, it shoved me too far forward. I landed closer to Nicodemus than either Michael or Marcone, but at least I didn't wind up sprawled at his feet."
Blood Rites: "There was a flash of light and thunder as the force lance struck the car, and between the reckless speed of Murphy's Hog and my will, physics landed firmly on our side. Our side of the equation was bigger than theirs."


Unknown Suppression Spell: Allows electronic equipment to function around Harry.
Death Masks: "It was delicate stuff by its very nature, and extremely difficult for me to hold in place. So far so good, but I saw the nearest cameraman wince and jerk his headset away from his ear. Whining feedback sounded tinnily from the headset."

Magnetic Earth magic: Manipulates metal objects. Not certain, but possibly how McCoy pulls satellites down from orbit. No given incantation, but Harry's specialty isn't Earth magic.
Death Masks: "I redirected my power, easily found the knife in Madge's hand, and without the circle to protect her, there was nothing she could do to keep me from seizing the knife in invisible bands of earth force, magnetism, and sending it tumbling out of her grip and into the abyss of the chasm near them."


Malivaso: Screws with electronics.
Fool Moon: "The power I'd gathered, though it felt like it was about to split me at the seams, rushed out in an almost impotent little hiccup of magic and swirled drunkenly toward the security camera. For a long minute, nothing happened. And then there was a flash of light, and a tiny shower of sparks from the rear of the box. Smoke drizzled up from the camera in a quavering plume, and I felt a small surge of triumph. At least I hadsomething left in me, even if it was aneurism-causing labor to perform the mildest of tasks."

It is a very interesting idea.

It should be mentioned however that this is less about Dresdenverse magic and more about Harry Dresden magic. It has been said that in the Dresden universe the words are only mental constructs and that a wizard can use any words he wants from any language (or even invent nonsensical ones). The spells and incantations here are ones that are probably used by only Harry and those he has learned from or taught to.

True, but that's why I included the descriptions - spells should have generally the same effects regardless of the caster or language. I hope that at some point, descriptions of magic from Elaine, Morgan, Ramirez, Luccio, and any other caster gets included.

[Aekiel]

True, but that's why I included the descriptions - spells should have generally the same effects regardless of the caster or language. I hope that at some point, descriptions of magic from Elaine, Morgan, Ramirez, Luccio, and any other caster gets included.

I think that would only apply to Dresden's type of magic because the incantations are based on a bastardised form of Latin, so each word has its own meaning that is vaguely backed up by an actual language. If he used only nonsense words to cast his spells I imagine another person using the same words could cast a completely different spell with them.

Dresden magic doesn't rely on incantation for the spell to work, only for it to provide a buffer so the wizard doesn't melt his brain out his ears in the process, that's why Harry was so buggered during Fool Moon, because of the super-caffeine wearing off and because he had to use incantation-less magic.

Also, I was sure that techno-killer spell was hexus... Wonder where I've actually heard of it >_>.

[kmfrank]

Yeah, I thought you were right about the hexus thing - I guess we've read the same story, whatever it might be, but I text-searched all 10 novels, and it isn't in any of them.

Must be from one of the DLP Dresden fics.

Also, on a more careful reread of Storm Front:

Segui votro testatum: tracking spell, utilizing blood.
Storm Front: "There was a rush of energy that focused on my nostrils and made me sneeze several times in a row. And then it came to me, quite strongly, the scent of Gimpy's cologne. I stood up, opened the circle again with a swipe of my foot, and walked out of it. I turned in a slow circle, all the way around. Gimpy's scent came to me strongly from the southwest, out toward some of the richer suburbs of Chicago."

[RJL333]

He does use hexus in the books to screw with electronics, vut I'm not sure when.

[kmfrank]

He does use hexus in the books to screw with electronics, vut I'm not sure when.

Hmm...actually, he doesn't. In case you missed it, I text-searched (with a computer) the entire series, because I mistakenly thought so too. I couldn't even find it in any of the DLP stories I searched, so I'm not sure where that came from.

Maybe different versions of the book? Anyone want to verify? I don't have the in-print versions at my apartment with me, so help is appreciated.

EDIT: I am an idiot. Thank you.

[Datakim]

Yeah, I thought you were right about the hexus thing - I guess we've read the same story, whatever it might be, but I text-searched all 10 novels, and it isn't in any of them.


Whatever program you used sucks.

Proven Guilty:

I made a mild effort of will, focused my thoughts on the elevators, and murmured, “Hexus.” Nebulous and unseen energy fluttered down the hallway, and when the hex hit the elevators there was a sudden hiss of sparks at one edge of the panel with the call button, and an oozing smoke dribbled out a moment later. The doors started to close, then a bell went bing. The doors sprang open again. That happened a couple of more times before Murphy closed to the elevator and caught up to Darby Crane.


Small Favor:

I focused on the lights above the entire section of the station Tiny slid into, lifted my right hand, and snarled, “Hexus!” Some of them actually exploded in showers of golden sparks. Some of them let out little puffs of smoke—but every single one of them went out.

[Midknight]

Awesome work, great job

[Longinus]

Gravitus : concentrates gravity in one specific place.
It´s My Birthdate Too: "The magic lashed out into the ground beneath the vampire’s feet, and the steady, slow, immovable power of the earth suddenly stirred, concentrating, reaching up for the vampire standing upon it. In technical terms, I didn’t actually increase the gravity of the earth beneath it. I only concentrated it a little. In a circle fifty yards across, for just a fraction of a second, gravity vanished. The cars all surged up against their shock absorbers and settled again. The thin coat of snow leapt several inches off the parking lot and fell back."

[XxEnvyxX]

Pretty good,like the idea for this thread.
Not only good for writing fanfiction with/about Harry Dresden,
but a great way to entertain^^

[NightFox]

Very nice job here, an excellent addition that I've been wanting to compile for some time.

On an earlier topic of words and magic: Dresden also notes that wizards use different languages at their own discretion, giving way to the belief that spells are less based on words and more based on the moment. We've seen that when Dresden is angry or enraged, his spells are more potent and powerful - uncontrolled when his emotions are uncontrolled. More refined wizards - notably Luccio - can manipulate their magic into "thin thread-like flames" (Dead Beat, I believe) to match their usability.

[Kalas]

Harry's magic is more powerful and ptoent when he's angry etc. because one of magic's sources is emotions, meaning more power available for the spell, not because the spell is uncontrolled.

Older Wizards, while not having more power availale per say have far more control, which is why Harry's fire spell makes a blast of flame, while the much older Luccio's fire spell makes a very intense beam of fire.

[Datakim]

Very nice job here, an excellent addition that I've been wanting to compile for some time.

On an earlier topic of words and magic: Dresden also notes that wizards use different languages at their own discretion, giving way to the belief that spells are less based on words and more based on the moment. We've seen that when Dresden is angry or enraged, his spells are more potent and powerful - uncontrolled when his emotions are uncontrolled. More refined wizards - notably Luccio - can manipulate their magic into "thin thread-like flames" (Dead Beat, I believe) to match their usability.

It has been said that the words are just a tool or focus that makes it easier and safer to cast spells. A wizard can attach any word to a specific effect of their imagination and magic does not care at all what the word is. So Harry could cast fireballs while yelling "blimb-blomb-bloo" if he truly wanted to. He can (and has) also cast spells without words but its risky to do that.

As for emotions, emotions do seem to power magic, or perhaps emotions allow wizards to draw deeper into their reserves that they would not have the skill/experience to do otherwise. It is possible that the old wizards like say the Merlin can wield their magic at full strength at all times without having to worry about emotions.

Anyway, two significant emotion-powered magics that come to mind are(SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOOKS 9 and 10):

1)In White Night Harry asks Lara to kiss her, which causes him to experience a massive surge of lust and desire. He then uses that to create a magical shield even though he was very drained and battered at the time.


I embraced that lust, allowed it to enfold me, and returned the kiss with nearly total abandon. I slid my right hand around the succubus's waist, and down, pulling her hips hard against me, feeling the amazing strength and elasticity and rondure of her body on mine.

With my left hand, I extended the shield bracelet toward the cavern, the bombs, the onrushing ghouls—and I fed that tidal force of lust through it, building up the energy I would need, some part of me shaping and directing it even as the rest of me concentrated on the mind-consuming pleasure of that single kiss.


2)When Michael is shot in Small Favor, the rage Harry feels allows him to create a beam of magic without his blasting rod that is far more intense and focused than anything he has ever done, even with the rod. Though admittedly that might have had something to do with Soulfire.


Then I drew in a breath, whirling a hand over my head and bellowed through my ragged throat, so loudly that it felt like something tore, “Fuego, pyrofuego!” I stabbed the first two fingers of my right hand forward as I did, unleashing my fury and my will. “Burn!”

A bar of blue-white fire so dense that it was nearly a solid object lashed across the distance from me to Tessa and slammed into her like an enormous spear.

The mantislike Denarian threw back her pretty face and screamed in agony as the shaft of fire bored cleanly through her, melting a wide hole that burned wider still before searing itself shut. She went down, howling and thrashing, burned by fire far deadlier and more destructive than any I had ever called before, with a blasting rod or without one.

[XxEnvyxX]

And after Small Favor it is clear that Harry can do such stuff, too, if he puts all his concentration/ intention into it.
It is just too much of a bother in a normal fight to do it,
but who knows, maybe in a year or ten he can do it with much less concentration?
He grows pretty good if you look at Storm Front and then at Small Favor and he is one of the most powerful wizards alive, that makes him all the more fearsome if he can control his powers like someone like Luccio.

[Winter Knight]

I'm not sure which book it is in (I think a later one), but dresden uses a flame based spell called 'Flamarus' or something similiar.

[kmfrank]

Next batch of spells!

Memoratum defendre memorarius: A thaumaturgical spell utilizing a bit of hair twisted together and threaded into a ring and the caster's blood. Protects from mind fog.
Summer Knight: "I tied off the improvised string and touched the bead of blood on my thumb to the knot...The energy rushed out of me and into the spell, wrapping tight around the string and pressing against Murphy. A wave of goose bumps rippled up her arm, and she drew in a sudden sharp breath."

Interressari interressarium: A simple tracking spell utilizing a compass that points in the direction of the target.
Fool Moon: "Energy rushed out of me, swirled within the focusing confines of the circle I had drawn, and then rushed downward into the compass with a visible shimmer of silver, dustlike motes. The compass needle shuddered, spun wildly, and then swung to the bloodstain on the dome like a hound picking up a scent. Then it whirled about and pointed to the southeast, whipping around the circle to hover steadily in that direction."

Entropus: Counterspell for summoned creatures.
Death Masks: "The counterspell worked. The serpents writhed and thrashed around for a second, and then imploded, vanishing, leaving behind nothing but a coating of clear, glistening slime in their place."


Forzare:
Dead Beat: "The sigils on the staff burst into sudden, hellish scarlet light, as bright as the blaze of my shield, and shimmering waves of force flowed out from me. They flooded out over the sidewalk, under the Toyota parked on the street nearest Cowl. I snarled with effort, and the Hellfire force abruptly lashed up, underneath the street side of the car. The car flipped up as lightly and quickly as a man overturning a kitchen chair. Cowl was under it."

Dead Beat: "The runes on the staff burst into smoldering scarlet light. There was a thunderstorm's roar, and raw power, invisible and solid, lashed out of the end of my staff. It whipped across the shop, knocking books from the shelves on the way, and hit the ghoul in the chest. It lifted him off his feet and sent him smashing into the plywood-covered door. He went through the wood without slowing down, out over the sidewalk, and into the wall of the building across the street, where he hit with a crunch."

Dead Beat: "Unseen force struck the zombie like an ocean wave, flinging it back up the stairs and out of sight."

Dead Beat: "There was no flash of light with the release of energy—I'd kept the spell tidy enough to avoid that. Instead it all went into kinetic force, snapping the plate glass as cleanly as if I'd used a cutter, and bending the center bars out into a neat bow shape, large enough to slip through."

Dead Beat: "A lance of unseen force lashed out at Corpsetaker, but the necromancer leapt back and away from it."

Dead Beat: "Unseen force lashed out at the ground behind me and flung me up at an angle. I hit the branches of the tree maybe ten feet up and scrambled wildly to grab one."

Dead Beat: "Cowl swiftly crossed his hands at the wrists, forming an X shape with his arms, aligning defensive energy before him—but he hadn't been quite swift enough, or else he hadn't reckoned on how much energy he had to deal with. The lash of raw, scarlet force hammered him hard on the right side of his body, spinning him around and stealing his balance. He stumbled in a corkscrewing motion, and went to the ground."




Spell from Cowl:
Dorosh: same effect as Dresden's "Forzare"
Dead Beat: "He hit me with raw, invisible force—pure will, focused into a violent burst of kinetic energy. I knew it was coming, my shield was ready, and I braced myself against it in precisely the correct way. My defense was perfect. It was all that saved my life...Cowl hit me harder than any of them.
My shield lit up like a floodlight, and despite all that I could do to divert the energy he threw at me, it hit me like a professional linebacker on an adrenaline frenzy. If I hadn't been able to smooth it out and take the blow evenly across the whole front of my body, it might have broken my nose or ribs or collarbone, depending on where the energy bled through. Instead it felt like the Jolly Green Giant had slugged me with a family-sized beanbag. If there had been any upward force on it, it would have thrown me far enough to make me worry about the fall. But the blow came head-on, driving me straight back. I flew several yards in the air, hit on my back, scraped along the sidewalk, and managed to turn the momentum into a roll. I staggered to my feet, leaning hard against a parked car. I must have clipped my head at some point, because stars were swirling around in my vision."

Dead Beat: "He lifted one hand from the folds of his dark cloak, and there was no warning surge of gathering power when a wave of vicious force flickered out from his palm and took Ramirez full in the chest. The young Warden hadn't been ready for it. The magical blow lifted him from his feet and threw him backward like a rag doll. He hit the ground twenty feet later, limbs already flopping limply, and lay there without moving."




Spells from Luccio:
Dead Beat: "Fire lashed from her left hand—not a gout of flame like I could call up, but a slender needle of fire so bright that it hurt the eyes to see."

Dead Beat: "She snarled a word, and another searing thread of flame shot over my shoulder about eight inches from my right ear. There was a howl, and I turned my head to see another specter that had been charging my back fall, consumed in scarlet flame."

Dead Beat: "Luccio caught one of them in a grip of invisible power and hurled the un-dead into the ones behind, sending more of them to the ground, but a pair of the zombies got through."




Spells from Morgan:
Dead Beat: "A heavy stomp of his foot sent a ripple through the earth that knocked undead to the ground like bowling pins."

Dead Beat: "A gesture of his hand and wrist and a cry of effort drew grasping waves of concrete and earth up to clamp down on the fallen zombies. He closed his fist, and the earth tightened, drawing back down into the ground, cutting and tearing its way through undead flesh and ripping the zombies to shreds."

Dead Beat: "Morgan lashed his fist out at me, shouting something that sounded vaguely Greek, and the very rocks of the earth rippled up in a wave that flew toward me with incredible speed."




Spells from Ramirez:
Dead Beat: "Ramirez, a fighter's grin on his face, lashed out with some kind of bright green energy I had never seen before, and the zombie nearest him simply fell apart into what looked like grains of sand."

[Aekiel]

It's in White Night (I just finished re-reading it last night >_>), though I can't remember exactly where. I think it was in the fight against Madrigal Raith and Vittorio Malvora, where the fire raced across the floor then swerved around to set Vittorio's leg on fire.

[fuubar]

It's White Night at the fight in the Deeps with the uber!ghouls.

"Flammamurus!" There was a crackling howl, and fire ripped its way up out of the stones of the floor. It rippled out from the point of impact in a line running thirty or forty yards in either direction, a sudden fountain of molten stone that shot up in an ongoing curtain ten or twelve feet high, angled toward the ghouls charging us from the far side of the cavern. Blazing liquid stone fell down over them, among them, and the oncoming tide of screaming ghouls broke upon that wall of stone and fire with screams of agony and, for the first time, of fear.
Ramirez says a little bit after that that it was Vulcanomancy, or volcano magic. I'm interpreting it to be a combination of Earth and Fire magic.

Great job with this kmfrank.

[Aekiel]

Ahh, must have got the two confused. Vulcanomancy sounds pretty nifty though, wonder if he could set off a volcano if he tried hard enough....

[XxEnvyxX]

I bet he could, but I wouldn't advice him to do it, only he went on a Kamikaze mission against some really bad and powerful (and killable) foe.
But it would be really great, I'm sure.

[Aekiel]

Yeah... setting off a volcano might be a bit risky if you don't have a means of, you know, getting away. Heh, it might even be the way this post-apocalyptic scenario comes about that Jim has been muttering on. It would probably be Cowl who does it... He's got power in spades and the skill to back it up.

Wonder what it would do to the Nevernever around that area... It's a bit of a strange subject, considering how vaguely the Nevernever resembles the real world, though I imagine all the emotional distress caused in the area would have an effect. Heh, it sounds kinda like the Warp out of Warhammer 40k now that I think about it :p.

[fuubar]

Yeah... setting off a volcano might be a bit risky if you don't have a means of, you know, getting away. Heh, it might even be the way this post-apocalyptic scenario comes about that Jim has been muttering on. It would probably be Cowl who does it... He's got power in spades and the skill to back it up.

2 words.

Ebenezar. Krakatoa.

[Ryuugi Shi]

Didn't Eb do the volcano thing once. I think he did, so it is possible. But I wouldn't recommend doing so, as he'd probably kill someone in the process. And if Harry did it, The Senior Council can do it as well.

Edit: Ninja'd

[kmfrank]

Truthfully, I see setting off a volcano as thaumaturgy, rather than evocation. Evocation would be, like, splitting the ground and having flames shoot out of it, which Harry did. Of course, attempting that nearby a volcano might set it off too.

Of course, the satellite thing of McCoy's could be either - he might have collected a bit of a bunch of satellites a long time ago while they were being built, and kept it for thaumaturgy, or (more likely) used a bit of Earth Magic magnetism to do it. Which makes Earth Magic into a whole new kind of whupass, really, far above some of the parlor tricks we've seen from it.

Anyway, here's the next batch of spells from Proven Guilty.

Forzare:
Proven Guilty: "Unseen power lashed from my staff, pure kinetic energy that ripped through the air and hit the maniac like a wrecking ball. The blow drove him back down the aisle, through the air. He hit the projector on its stand. It shattered. He went through it without slowing down. He kept going, the flight of his passage tearing through the large projection screen, and hit the back wall with a thunderous impact."
Proven Guilty: "I hadn't ever used quite that much Hellfire before.
Power rushed out of my staff. Usually, when I employed it like this, the force I unleashed was invisible. This time, it rushed out like a scarlet comet, like a blazing cannonball. The force dipped at the last second, then came up at the phage. The impact threw it against the ceiling with bone-crushing force, and at least twice as much energy as I'd intended. The phage came down, limbs thrashing wildly, bouncing and skittering frantically, like a half-smashed bug."
Proven Guilty: "Power lashed through the length of the staff, and there was a hiss and a sharp crack nearly as loud as a gunshot. The chain jumped. I lowered my staff, to find one single link split into two pieces, each broken end glowing with heat. I nudged the heated links to the ground with the tip of my staff, faintly surprised and pleased with how little relative effort it had taken."
Proven Guilty: "Unseen force lashed out, caught up Molly as gently as I could manage it, and flipped her tail over teakettle away from the creature."
Proven Guilty: "Invisible force lashed out and struck the black ice under the Scarecrow like a mortar round. It threw the creature ten feet into the air, spinning end over end. Deadly chips of black ice flew."

Veritas cyclis: Tornado of winds.
Proven Guilty: "The howling winds thundered down into the silent courtyard as if I had torn off an unseen roof. They gathered along my spinning staff, fluttering with lightning the same color as the blazing runes on the staff. I cried out and hurled the winds, not at the oncoming fetches, but at the thousands of bones lying between them and me. The wind picked them up with a wailing shriek; a sudden cyclone of broken bones and shattered armor, spinning them into a whirling curtain. The lead fetches were too late to avoid plunging into the cloud, and the ossified tornado began to rip them apart, battering to pulp whatever was not sheared away by the edges and points of bone and broken shards of ice. Fetches following in their wake skidded to a halt, letting out a startlingly loud chorus of hisses, the sounds filled with rage."

Fuego:
Proven Guilty: "The rear window glass flashed; a hole the size of a peanut suddenly appeared, the glass dribbling down, molten. Bottles exploded as their contents heated to boiling in under a second, spattering that whole section of road with a thin and expensive layer of water."
Proven Guilty: "Flame shot up into the Chicago sky like a geyser, and the explosion of sudden heat broke some windows in the nearest buildings. The van's engine stuttered in protest, and the temperature inside the van dropped dramatically. Lights flickered out on the street, the abrupt temperature change destroying their fragile filaments as my spell sucked some of the heat out of everything within a hundred yards."
Proven Guilty: "Then I blew two-thirds of that dome away in a single blast of light, thunder, and fire. The golden Summer flame hammered straight through the ice and into the Scarecrow. The old fetch was taken off guard, and the lance of fire incinerated what would have been a hip and thigh on a human being."
Proven Guilty: "So I unleashed the fire again, this time so brilliant that it lit dark mountainsides five or ten miles away, so hot that the blowing snow hissed into instant steam in the wake of the flame. When it struck the fetch, it detonated into a blinding conflagration, an explosion that roared so loudly that it shattered every icy replica of a rose vine upon the parapet. What tumbled burning from the faerie skies toward the merciless mountains below could not have been identified as anything in particular. It trailed sparks, soot, and ash, and when it slammed into a granite cliff side, it hit with such force that an icy rockslide was jarred loose from the mountain's slope, burying the fetch under incalculable tons of stone."

[NightFox]

Truthfully, I see setting off a volcano as thaumaturgy, rather than evocation. Evocation would be, like, splitting the ground and having flames shoot out of it, which Harry did. Of course, attempting that nearby a volcano might set it off too.

Of course, the satellite thing of McCoy's could be either - he might have collected a bit of a bunch of satellites a long time ago while they were being built, and kept it for thaumaturgy, or (more likely) used a bit of Earth Magic magnetism to do it. Which makes Earth Magic into a whole new kind of whupass, really, far above some of the parlor tricks we've seen from it.


I would lean towards attributing McCoy's personal specialty towards earth-based magic. In Blood Rites, when McCoy faces Kincaid, it's described as a "low thrum emitted from his steel ring," after which Dresden felt a wave of nausea, and Kincaid's gun flew out of his hand and into the alleyway. Magnetism could easily attribute to the movement of the metal, and nausea is a symptom of magnetic waves, also associated with earthquakes.

Following that supposed train of thought, pulling a satellite out of the atmosphere would be closer to the use of Earth magic rather than Thaumaturgy. Magnetism of any possible metal, or a very precise and focused use of gravity.

[fuubar]

I'll have to go back and look at the book to be sure but I'm fairly sure that Ebenezar and Harry named that satellite when they were on the farm. So if they did do that then they would have some sort of power over it through it's name I would imagine.

[White Rabbit]

Would naming a nonsentient/nonorganic object allow for someone to hold power over it? I wouldn't think someone would be able to summon/spellcast it like that. Earth magic and magnestism are the ones I would most likely believe.

[fuubar]

Heh, I really don't know if it would or not, I would think that it probably would, but mostly I was just tossing that idea out there.

[Ryuugi Shi]

I don't think the fact that they named it would have any effect, as, if I remember correctly, it already had a name. If naming an object would do anything in the first place.

[XxEnvyxX]

Naming an object can have the same significance like naming a human or an animal, but it is how/why you name something and the power behind it.
I think that a new must be somewhat accepted most times, but if enough emotional power is behind it, I bet it could work on objects, too.
But I doubt it would work on the satellite, there wasn't much of a connection there.
MAybe you can work with dolls...take a small child that grows up with a doll that it loves and cares for and gave it a name. The name has a deep meaning for the child as has the doll itself. Maybe that would work.

[Samuel Black]

I don't think so. I'm fairly sure that your true name is ever changing based on how you see yourself. Maybe SF is where I read that, don't remember. Anyways, you can't name something yourself and then use that as their true name. If you could, what's to stop, say, Morgan, from telling Harry, "You know, you seem like a Bob to me. From now on, your true name is Bob." Can't do it. Harry still considers himself Harry, so it wouldn't work.

The satellite doesn't have an identity, a life. It's just a hunk of metal. No identity, no name.

[XxEnvyxX]

No, I don't mean to say that everyone can give everyone a new true name.
I was just trying to make a connection between what parents do and a possibility to give a true name /far weaker than a normal true name, but it should have some kind of effect) to an object if enough emotion is in the mix.

Because I think that a true name 'grows' stronger over time. A baby may have such a name, but doesn't really identify himself/herself with it. So maybe naming an object is on the same level of a newly named baby and the first week from this, as long as the name giver is strongly connected with the object. Seldom, but it may be a possibility.


I don't think so. I'm fairly sure that your true name is ever changing based on how you see yourself. Maybe SF is where I read that, don't remember. Anyways, you can't name something yourself and then use that as their true name. If you could, what's to stop, say, Morgan, from telling Harry, "You know, you seem like a Bob to me. From now on, your true name is Bob." Can't do it. Harry still considers himself Harry, so it wouldn't work.

Yes, the name of a mortal change (the way you say it, it is s´normally still the same name, but with a different accent, even if it is only a very small thing), because they change with every big new experience, but no one else but the person him/her-self can change it, mostly an subconscious decision. Fearies and Demons doesn't have this 'problem'. Harry said it himself.

[Aekiel]

No, I don't mean to say that everyone can give everyone a new true name.
I was just trying to make a connection between what parents do and a possibility to give a true name /far weaker than a normal true name, but it should have some kind of effect) to an object if enough emotion is in the mix.

Because I think that a true name 'grows' stronger over time. A baby may have such a name, but doesn't really identify himself/herself with it. So maybe naming an object is on the same level of a newly named baby and the first week from this, as long as the name giver is strongly connected with the object. Seldom, but it may be a possibility.



Yes, the name of a mortal change (the way you say it, it is s´normally still the same name, but with a different accent, even if it is only a very small thing), because they change with every big new experience, but no one else but the person him/her-self can change it, mostly an subconscious decision. Fearies and Demons doesn't have this 'problem'. Harry said it himself.

You're really missing the point of how the Name works in the Dresdenverse. It's not something to do with other people, it's how a living being views itself, so arbitrarily naming an inanimate object Bob would not have any effect on it because it cannot view itself as 'Bob'. If I decided that from now on I am going to call you Billy the Kid (or Princess Peach or what have you) it wouldn't make a difference to your name unless you began to think of yourself as Billy the Kid (or Princess Peach). See what I mean?

Also, non-mortal creatures can't change their name over time because they are literally the same from the day they are born to the day they die. Not personality wise, obviously, but at the fundamental level they cannot change. I expect it has something to do with freewill of the human soul, or something along those lines.

[Samuel Black]

You're really missing the point of how the Name works in the Dresdenverse. It's not something to do with other people, it's how a living being views itself, so arbitrarily naming an inanimate object Bob would not have any effect on it because it cannot view itself as 'Bob'. If I decided that from now on I am going to call you Billy the Kid (or Princess Peach or what have you) it wouldn't make a difference to your name unless you began to think of yourself as Billy the Kid (or Princess Peach). See what I mean?

Also, non-mortal creatures can't change their name over time because they are literally the same from the day they are born to the day they die. Not personality wise, obviously, but at the fundamental level they cannot change. I expect it has something to do with freewill of the human soul, or something along those lines.

Exactly what I was trying to say, just a little better. An inanimate object has no life, no soul, no sense of self. It's just an object. You could name it all you want, but until that object becomes alive and views itself as that, it won't do any good.

I always just took the Sidhe/Demon thing was like that because they're soulless. You know, they act the way they do because they were created like that. They have free will, but only within set limits. Like the thrice bound equals truth thing. They can't lie if they say something three times, but they could choose to just not say it. Or twist it so you don't understand.

[Aekiel]

I always just took the Sidhe/Demon thing was like that because they're soulless. You know, they act the way they do because they were created like that. They have free will, but only within set limits. Like the thrice bound equals truth thing. They can't lie if they say something three times, but they could choose to just not say it. Or twist it so you don't understand.

They can't lie in the first place, that's why they're masters of deception, because they had no other choice. The thrice bound truth thing just means they have to give a straighter answer than usual, though it pisses them off something rotten if memory serves.

And yeah, that's what I meant in regards to the soul. Humans have a soul and the power to choose how they live their life. Soulless beings like the Sidhe are restricted to behaving in a certain way and are unable to break from that mold. It's like trying to train a wild wolf. You may be able to make it do a couple of tricks (if you're lucky and don't get mauled first :p) but underneath it all there are still the instincts of a vicious predator.