Tiffany

Something something /quest/ wants to be the little necromancer girl. By Nahkh.

In a few more words, the quest details the story of one Tiffany Blake, seeking to learn the black arts of necromancy to bring her brother back to life. Unfortunately, it now seems she has gone over her head.

Author's note: This article is intended for participants to collaborate on figuring stuff out. It'll be easier if you keep this page up to date. Also, hanging around #rubyquest or #tgchan when I'm updating is a Good Idea. Also, feel free to put wild theories in the discussion page, or the questdis thread.

First thread

Second thread

Third thread

Fourth thread

Current thread

People

Tiffany

The Protagonist Tiffany is a little girl. Her grandfather teaches her magic.

Dad

Gregory Blake Dad is still hurting over the death of Tony, but lately he's been expressing it as a protectiveness of Tiffany.

Mom

Julie Blake nee Kinsley A powerful warlock

Grampa

Alexander Kinsley An old man who is skilled in necromancy. He is deemed a heretic by the Conclave.

Lynn

The girl from the Goth shop. She's attracted to Dad.

Billy

Boy with BB-gun

Joel

Little Boy Outside School

The Reaper Man

Death AKA Guardian of the Underworld AKA Watcher from the Abyss

Thomas Kinsley

A warlock who's job it is to hunt evil stuff

Gareth Kinsley

A wise-cracking brand new apprentice from the Kinsley family.

Wolfgang Eidhart von Rothwald

The patriarch of the Rothwald Family.

Martin Rothwald

A warlock from the Rothwald Family. Cousin to Julie Blake.

Susan

Tiffany's friend

Factions

Turns out not everyone in the world is one big happy family working together in perfect harmony. Who'd have guessed?

The Kinsley Clan

A British Magical family. They have ancient magic stuff, a school, and some regulations regarding what is too evil to use.

The Rothwald Family

A German Magical Family. They have money, and are willing to use anything they can.

Lords of the Underworld

There are thirteen great Lords of the Underworld. All but two have signed the Compact, the missing two are Khezet the Unseen and Hakuman the Dreamer.

History

Long ago there existed powerful city-states ruled by wizard kings. They did all sorts of stuff that pissed off the Lords of the Underworld, who eventually went to war with the mortals. The war was known as the Harrowing, and was apparently devastating for the mortal side. Eventually the wizards did something that forced the Lords to agree to peace, and the peace treaty is known as the Compact. The exact contents of the Compact are so far unknown, but it essentially forbids the extension of life by magic and returning the dead to life etc. It also defines the duties and rules of the Guardian of the Underworld. It also tasks the mortals to create and maintain the border of the Underworld, known as the Threshold.

Magic

Every creature is composed of three parts. There's "tuaftia" or "soul", "hanku" or "breath" and "haftsusha" or "spirit". Tuaftia is like that part of your soul that is uniquely yours. It was created when you were born and it will travel to the Underworld when you die. Haftsusha is more of a hand-me-down. Some time after your birth a spirit will choose you as it's host and when you die it will eventually find a new host. The exact criteria that spirits use to pick hosts is a little hazy, but they do tend to stick to specific family lines. It's also connected to the person's name. That's where the tradition of naming children after famous ancestors comes from, by the way. The haftsusha carries personality traits and stuff like that. It's what does magic. Runes are used to define the manner in which an effect should occur, and the haftsusha makes it happen.

Known Runes

Runes are the basic components of which spells are made. These are all multi-function units, which are used to compose larger and more complicated spells.

Enemy

Can be interpreted as 'enemy', 'threat', 'danger', or 'attack'.

Detection

Can be interpreted as 'detection' or 'warning'.

Reversal

Can be interpreted as 'reversal', 'remove', or 'prevent'.

Seeing

Can be interpreted as 'seeing' or 'scrying'.

Absolutely

It means what it says. A common expletive.

Touch

This one means 'touch'. Presumably, that refers only to physical contact.

Forward

Directs the spell in a forward direction.

Hook

The hook carries a myriad of meanings, the most prominent being to ensnare, to capture, to keep hold, to catch.

Golden Scale

Splits the power flow. (used to devote a part of the power into the barrier and another part into the attack)

Cradle

Can be interpreted as 'gently' or 'no harm'

Sunset

Can be interpreted as '(to) close', 'night', 'darkness' or 'sleeping'.

Circle

The oldest symbol of them all. A boundary. The circle divides the world into an inside and an outside. Often used as a base symbol.

Blade

Combines the runes inside it tightly together. Often used as a base symbol.

Compound Runes

These are associations of runes which serve a given purpose, and can be integrated as a unit into a spell. In terms of logical hierarchy, a compound rune is equivalent to operator within parenthesis.

Concealment

A commonly used combination of "Detection" "Reversal" and "Absolutely". It conceals the spell to which it is applied. "Seeing" is most commonly the rune on the bottom.

Soul Anchor

Holds a captured soul or piece of soul in place for use later in the ritual.

Watch out. It bites.

Spirit Pump

Moves a captured soul from one container to another.

Power Transference

It transfers power

Known Spells

Note: For purposes of this article, a "spell" is any rune, chant, or specific combination thereof which have been invoked or observed in-thread to accomplish an effect. Any known or speculated effects of the spell should be recorded, and the source of information should be noted if possible. Images should be the spell in as complete a form as possible, copied directly from the thread to minimize the possibility of inaccurate information. Spell-related speculation is permissible in the Notes section, but please reserve the Procedure section for as pure a mechanical description of the spellcasting process as possible.

Sever Soul Piece

Notes

This spell was used as the initial step in the creation of Tiffany's familiar, Mulder the raven. According to Grandpa, this spell summons a soul eater, which he called "a common enough critter from the outskirts." That creature attempts to eat a portion of the caster's soul, but since the soul anchor holds the soul piece in place it is unable to escape with it after severing it from the caster. The soul eater will begin to digest, but the soul portion remains intact for long enough to prepare significantly complex rituals. There is no known reason to doubt this information.

Grandpa also implied that stopping mid-spell, either the chant or pulling the hand from the circle, would "get real bad". It seems likely that while casting the spell he used his mental controls over Tiffany to stop her from pulling her hand from the circle. His motives for this are potentially questionable, however; he may have been merely pushing Tiffany to create a familiar which he could manipulate, as Mulder later proved key in his plans.

Procedure

The right hand is held above the central circle in the Soul Anchor rune of the diagram. The rune is focused upon, and the following chant is uttered repeatedly.

lafta nian tuaftiatsa
tuaftia nian 'iaianuutsa
kaialaktu annan
laftkaktu u'shan.

As the chant is repeated, the rune appears to come alive as a giant mouth, which devours the caster's hand and with it a portion of their soul. After the hand is completely severed, the caster may stop chanting with the spell complete; they will find their hand intact, if pained. A severed piece of the caster's soul is held within the soul anchor, with a soul eater slowly digesting it.

Al-Asmari's Atonement

Notes

This spell was used as the second step in the ritual to create Tiffany's familiar. It banished the soul eater being held in a soul anchor after it had severed a portion of Tiffany's soul, successfully separating the creature from its meal. Grandpa said that Tiffany would feel an easing of tension when the spell was complete, but if she did or not was never noted; it is possible that she did and was simply too agitated to effectively perceive it at the time.

It was mentioned that the banishment would take place "using the outer circle", referencing the runes involved. This may imply that the circle surrounding the soul anchor in this spell could actually be used as an independent rune in other contexts, but this has yet to be confirmed or investigated.

When asked about dangers, Grandpa said that "Al-Asmari is pretty failsafe against this kind of thing", implying that the spell is quite reliable. Exactly how broad "this kind of thing" is has yet to be determined. It was implied that a stronger type of creature might be able to somehow fight back, but that the soul eater being banished would not be able to; in spite of this it was able to make the table upon which the spell cloth was set groan and detonate a nearby lamp. Other creatures would likely be able to accomplish substantially more.

Procedure

The following chant is uttered three times while the caster focuses upon the rune circle.

hiat luut laha hanku
kiaufta'autsan naatsa
uftus niaftfta hx'ä 'anku
nxs kasua shu taatsa

That completes the spell.

Anti-scrying Protection Spell

Notes

This spell was used by Tiffany's mother to protect the key used to unlock her wardrobe. It disabled Tiffany's postcognative abilities entirely for about a day.

Procedure

The chant for this spell is unknown. It shares a few runes with other spells (notably Concealment and the Postcog dampener) but uses two unknown runes in its construction.

Terror Ward

Notes

This spell was used to protect the contents of the wardrobe. Causes intense paralytic fear to anyone who beholds it.

Procedure

The chant for this spell is unknown. Its rune incorporates "Enemy" and an unidentified rune, withing "Blade". It can be countered via a friend circle spell.

Friend Circle Spell

Notes

Tiffany improvised this spell when countering the Terror Ward in her mom's wardrobe. While not completely effective, it "lessens" the feeling of fear.

Procedure

This simple spell has a chant, but was not explicitly mentioned. Adding a "Concealment" rune to the outside will make it become invisible. It incorporates the runes "Enemy," "Reversal," and "Circle".

Knockout Spell

Notes

Martin cast this on Tiffany after cornering her in an alley.

Procedure

It's unknown how this was cast, as it appeared out of nowhere, not written on anything in particular.

Spirit Trap

Notes

Grampa had Tiffany prepare this in the second chapter. It is a trap with the purpose of causing a target's huftsasha to fight itself. It is extremely dangerous for the person caught in it.

Procedure

The base is a circle.
The hook on the left covertly lures someone into the trap. Grampa said it lured an enemy, but in practice it seemed indiscriminate, and it lacks an accompanying "Enemy" rune, so it is likely he used that word merely in keeping with his facade. Were we to be more discriminate, we could likely bind the hook and enemy runes together in a blade.
The circle to the upper right is the location in which Gramps was stored. It serves to allow a mage control over the whole shebang. It could be omitted if the purpose were merely to cause harm to or neutralize the target. In this case, the victim would likely eventually die.
Concealment conceals this from the target; it would not be a good trap if it could be seen.
The central circle on the line is a reference point. It appears to refer to the victim, but this is not entirely certain.
The right side contains the Mad Eye of Hakuman. It determines the place from where the enemy is least likely to defend. We know very little about this compound rune, and thus should not mess with it. It is connected to the reference point with "touch".
Above the reverence point is an enemy rune, which likely identifies our victim. It is connected to Power Transference, which is in turn connected to the Mad Eye of Hakuman.
Below the reference point is the Golden Scale, which redirects power into the barrier and back at the enemy.