Ch5 07
The tricky thing about repeating Godspeak is that you’re never entirely sure what the message is until you’re done saying it. Mortals have difficulty understanding the general lingo of Godspeak because it’s pretty much words infused with your own life force.
This means that trying to translate directly what someone is saying is rather difficult if you’re not attuned to their essence. It’s sort of like a personal encryption algorithm for talking to the Gods.
Now, you will ask, how do you teach someone Godspeak? Well, certain commands are easily translatable. Most Guardians use these simple requests when they speak with the Gods. These requests are often only two to three words long. Learning those words may take years of practice. The general route is to literally have students repeat the sounds until they’re ready and then train them in then use actual Godspeak.
Now, if someone learns a Godspell – a series of words that invoke a very specific outcome, this means that they are a very dangerous adversary. Most Gods did not make a spell to butter their toast or push aside an arrow aimed for their heart. A Godspell is literally a personal spell of a God – something they created for an express purpose – usually destructive or reality-warping at the very least.
“I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.” 😜
Wait.. so she CAN heal?
If you gave her a magical healing mace that she could apply liberally to someone’s temple to relieve them of their head(aches), I’m sure it would work!
But it would leave a really nasty bruise and passabiley black eyes.
Not everyone can be a doctor, but nearly anyone can be a blood donor. (Or essence, in this case.)
That’s a kind of healing, right?
In that case, everyone of us has the capability of making miracles happen! *Cheesy 80s cartoon logo*
Really, that depends entirely on your definition of ‘miracle’.
This metaphor makes me wonder if there’s such a thing as ‘tainted essence’…
Plot twist. She did know one of her parents. That parent was a god/goddess of Icypoles.
“I Hasera give my spent essence (f)reely(?) to Gurtie Ironthide(?) Delver of(?)”? I know there are previous uses of Godspeak that probably use other letters. Maybe i’ll go back and try to figure it out more clearly
Pretty close. The last symbol is the name of a God – Dershan. Gurtie Ironhide is her name. Other than that, you’ve translated it perfectly!
Next page: “You may now kiss…”
Perhaps I am mistaken, but weren’t there several references to a Godspell used on Lark?
Not in comic, at least. There are some who believe that his so called ‘life of adventure’ is due to a curse given to him – but that hasn’t been identified as canon in the story.
A Godspell would explain a lot, mind you.
So who’s the one offbeat god who did create a godspell for buttering toast?
Probably the same one who created sliced bread.
The Gods were not very good at the whole ‘marketing’, ‘merchandising’ or even the ‘money’ aspect of life. They don’t really understand it or even truly care. That being said, they were capable of whipping up fantastic meals for their followers with the snap of a finger. The favored food of the Seraphs is, in fact, bread, so I’d have to say Sermali would have such a spell. After all, the Seraphs are the truly “civilized” of the races, the others are pale reflections of their grace, splendor and absolute modesty.
Well, are we talking about just basic butter? Or are we talking about putting someone’s lifelong misery into a physical manifestation of jam and spreading that on toast? ‘Cause, you know, mixing those up could result in a really bad situation…
So… If most magic consists of two or three words, max, then Hass just repeated a full Godspell sentence without any idea what she was doing. She’s either completely naïve, or she really trusts this total stranger that she literally never heard anything about before. But if she has essence to spare for raw magic instead of Godspeak, then she’s going to become very frightening when she learns to control it
It’s a Guardian thing, truth be told.
And yes, she pretty much signed a contract without reading it with her words. Naivety, thy name is Hasera
Attempt at translating the Godspell:
“I, Hasera, give my spent essence [freely] to Gurtie [Ironthide Delner Oi]”
I couldn’t quite get the last word, and guessed a lot on the two before it. I believe that would be Gurtie’s full name? “Freely” is the only thing I could come up with that fit in the other spot… but the Godspeak word is short one character for that to be it