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Random Magic Systems


AonEne

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23 minutes ago, SirWolfe said:

"The direct translation of the word used for practitioners of the system (jaenrielackenconriel) is "one-who-destroys-others-with-overwhelming-politeness-and-feasts-on-tears-borne-of-violently-pleasant-hospitality".

Hahahahahaha, so good! Tip of the hat to you @SirWolfe, well played, well played.

This is the other bit that made me almost spit out my pop while I was reading your hilarious and awesome post:

23 minutes ago, SirWolfe said:

The most powerful practitioners are able to set entire cities alight simply by knocking on the city gates with a gift in hand.

 

23 minutes ago, SirWolfe said:

Agriculture.

Once in a world, not far away, the gods lived high atop a mountain peak. The children of these gods, jealous of their power, flung them from the peak and burnt their divine bodies to ash. The fallow fields left from this horrendous act were seeded with the gods magical power, and these slayers of their own gods created their own children from these fields. And their progeny likewise turned upon them in time, once again sowing the fields of Cornucopia with the ashen remains of their creators.

Having redressed the original atrocity, the 3rd generation of denizens of this world found that the Cornucopian fields had strange and wonderful properties. Anything that was planted in this soil, would bear fruit and multiply. Anything that one could make, could be planted and made manifold. This led to some very strange crops indeed. The fabled Cheese Tree of Hyperia was grown from a discarded rind of Brie, and now there are majestic orchards of soft pale white cheese growing across the land. Once a crop has been established, the resulting progeny can be transplanted to any field and continue to flourish.

This world now has vast fields filled with the nodding stalks of Tennis shoe corn, bushes that flower with little single serving packets of ketchup, and trees that hang with the pendulous fruitings of Bowling balls of all regulation weights. Truly this is now the land of plenty.

Bowling Magic

Edited by hoiditthroughthegrapevine
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6 hours ago, SirWolfe said:

The Urule people undoubtedly have one of the most bizarre integrations magic into society that I've ever studied.

The native name of the system is "isriel", derived from the multifaceted root word "riel", which can convey the idea of acting with kindness/respect, but can also mean violence and war. "The direct translation of the word used for practitioners of the system (jaenrielackenconriel) is "one-who-destroys-others-with-overwhelming-politeness-and-feasts-on-tears-borne-of-violently-pleasant-hospitality". The Jaenrielackenconriel are almost exclusively warriors and duelists.

The name is quite revealing, as the magic manifests through actions of civility and respect, with greater levels of humility and hospitality directly correlating with greater displays of magical power and destructive impact, and those with a greater reputation of courtesy and chivalry can do greater things with simpler acts. And I do mean destructive. The most powerful practitioners are able to set entire cities alight simply by knocking on the city gates with a gift in hand. From my observations, it does not appear that the specific manner in which propriety is expressed has any impact on the result, as a warrior might call down lightning by saying hello to one opponent, while tearing apart a different opponent by saying the same greeting. I believe that the result is wholly dependent on what the practitioner wants to happen, and different acts of politeness simply allow them to amplify the effects.

Battles are fought one-on-one and last many days, with each warrior pairing up with a warrior from the opposing side. After a brief introduction, the two warriors will begin arguing politely in regards to lodgings, with each party offering to allow the other to remain in their tent for the duration of the battle. It is during this interaction that both parties build up their magic reserves, and the longer the two continue to offer lodgings, the greater amount of magic they will be able to expend in the coming days. 

The loser of the discussion gives in, and the two walk to the victor's tent, where they will live with one another for a period of time. During that time, the two will attempt to kill through subtle acts of magic through kindness. Subtle is key here, as tradition mandates that there be no outwardly aggressive acts during this time. This limits them to applying hexes to the food while cooking breakfast so that the recipient might choke on it, offering to help the other cut vegetables and cursing the knife to increase the likelihood that the other slips and falls on it (which is how the current Great Jaenrielackenconriel Ursi defeated the former Great Jaenrielackenconriel Jire). However, some of the more unsavory Jaenrielackenconriel do not keep this tradition, preferring instead to simply smite their opponent after letting them enter the tent first. These people are often executed by their own army, as this breach of conduct lowers the reputation of the army, and as such, lowers the strength of their magic. 

Agriculture.

This. Is. AMAZING.

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22 hours ago, hoiditthroughthegrapevine said:

Bowling Magic

After concluding my studies of the Urule people, I wandered the planet for a some time, making note of various cultures, some with magic and some without. This planet truly is quite interesting, with great varieties of magic and cultures. I do find it strange, however, that some groups do not seem to care too much about the powers they were given. Take, for instance, the town of Skitrae.

Skitrae is a medium sized city on the coast of one of the smaller continents in the North. Despite their relatively low population, the city boasts of great wealth and influence due to it being the only port in the small coastal nation of Igta that was not destroyed during the Second Urule Onslaught. This was in part due to unconventional Skitraean practices regarding politeness, which had greatly befuddled the invading army of Great Jaenrielackenconriel Jire. Their language has no form of greeting, respect is implied rather than acted upon, and the gift culture is non-existent, all of which prevented the Jaenrielackenconriel from channeling their destructive powers in the ways that they had traditionally done so. 

Another factor into the continued existence of the Skitraean peoples is their unusually powerful and common ability to manipulate matter to an unprecedented degree. Almost every citizen born in the city is able to manipulate and control great quantities of matter with great ease and dexterity. The surrounding geography itself was fashioned by the inhabitants of the city around the time of the collapse of the Evire Empire by directing the nearby Ua Mountain (the location of which is presently a large swathe of flat grasslands and fields) to move a couple hundred leagues to the South, where it now stands in the middle of the Selir Desert. This is believed to have been after the submission numerous petitions to the city council from the citizens to remove said mountains on account of "it blocking the view." 

Apart from these rare and infrequent displays of power, the general populace of Skitrae typically do very little with their magic. The only common use of their abilities is in the game that is called Skitrie (It is unknown if the city was named after the game, or the game named after the city. Both have incredibly long and intertwined histories.) This game involves two or more players, and takes place on a large, flat surface (in recent times, the go-to playing ground is the flatland where the Ua Mountain once stood. In fact, some scholars suggest that the Ua Mountain had been moved for the sole purpose of creating a playing field, and the petitions were simply meant to disguise the true purpose.) The contestants then form a number of large, solid pillars (around the height of a man) using the underlying bedrock, arranged standing up in a manner that would form a triangular shape when looking from above. The number of pillars can vary, but the most common amount is ten. Each player then uses their ability to compact the surrounding soil into a sphere about an armspan in diameter. They then take turns using their power to roll these massive balls across the field. Points are calculated through the number of pillars that collapse due to the ball (fallen pillars are repaired and replaced between each player's turn). The winner is the one who has the most points at the end of an agreed upon number of rounds, and traditionally is allowed to choose a place to eat a meal at the losers' expense. 

Many citizens of the city enjoy this pastime, and during my stay, I heard from the town crier that there would be a vote in the coming days on whether or not to move the nearby Uo and Ui Mountains in order to provide more space for playing the game. Judging by the generally positive reaction from the people around me, I expect that the Selir Desert may gain two more mountains in the coming years.

Building houses.

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On 6/10/2020 at 1:56 PM, SirWolfe said:

Agriculture.

By planting, cultivating, and harvesting plants, you can make things happen. The plant type that you're growing has certain powers associated with it, and by cultivating it in certain ways, you can add modifiers to that power. To use those powers, you must keep the plant near you; the growth of the plant releases magical energy that grants you the powers.

Plant types:

  • Tree: You can subconsciously detect any life form within ten feet of you.
  • Bush: You can sense strong emotions from another person within ten feet of you.
  • Grass: You can control the air around you in a five-foot sphere.
  • Flower: You can attach yourself to any solid surface that you're touching.
  • Weed: You can leech the life force of any life form that you touch.

Cultivation Modifiers:

  • Watering: Slightly increases Magical Energy release of the plant.
  • Soil Loosening: Increases the range of certain plant powers (Trees, bushes, and grass all gain an extra five feet).
  • Fertilizing: Increases the number of targets allowed for certain plant powers (Flowers and Weeds each gain one extra life form that you can touch).
  • Pruning: Increases power effectiveness (Life Form detection and Emotion sensing becomes more vibrant, you can control the air better, you become more attached to a solid surface, or you leech out life force at a quicker rate).

 

Edit: Well.... dang it. I guess I was late.

Edit to that edit: Oh wait, no I'm not. Nobody did agriculture (huh).

Edit to that edit to that edit: Oh wait, I am. WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!?

 

Also @SirWolfe I may or may not steal your idea of writing a study about various peoples to describe my magic systems later on. Hopefully you'll view such as an honor of inspiring another person and not as a dishonor of being plaigarised.

Edited by Channelknight Fadran
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2 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Also @SirWolfe I may or may not steal your idea of writing a study about various peoples to describe my magic systems later on. Hopefully you'll view such as an honor of inspiring another person and not as a dishonor of being plaigarised.

Consider me greatly honored. :) 

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On 6/11/2020 at 3:00 PM, SirWolfe said:

Building houses.

On the planet Taighusdhach [literally "House and home"], magic appears to be powered by the act of constructing a building for the express purpose of human habitation. The act of living in the domicile does not appear to be necessary, though more data is necessary for an accurate conclusion. The builders must be sentient beings that are consciously aware of what a house is. Automatons cannot gain magic by constructing houses. From interviews with the Taighusdhachuine [the natives of Taighusdhach], the emotional state of the builders is critical to the resultant effects, but since the building of houses is considered sacred on Taighusdhach, the Taighusdachine people will not let us conduct experiments. 

Witnessed Effects: 

  • Accelerated growth [similar to Regrowth on Roshar, can be used for healing]
  • Rain [ranging from mild drizzle to tornado-like conditions]
  • Heat [a sudden increase in temperature in the general vicinity of the domicile, can cause fires in dry conditions]
  • Cold [a sudden decrease in temperature in the general vicinity of the domicile, can cause frostbite in extreme cases]
  • Lightning [usually accompanied by a thunderstorm, could be a side effect of rain]
  • Matter manipulation [the builders stood in a circle surrounding the domicile and changed the course of the local river to benefit the crops]

The magic seems to be limited to physical phenomenon, though that could be explained by the Taighusdhachuine's reluctance to show us their building rituals. Further research required. 

EDIT: I forgot to challenge my successor. Poker

Edited by Gears
Challenge
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6 minutes ago, Gears said:

since the building of houses is considered sacred on Taighusdhach, the Taighusdachine people will not let us conduct experiments. 

I wonder, would architecture and construction firms be the Taighusdhachine equivalent of the clergy? And imagine what a Taighusdach war would be like. There would have to be days (The fastest recorded time to build a modern house is a little under three hours, but the builders had power tools and tons of planning beforehand) of preparation, in which both sides construct houses close enough to the frontlines to actually fight.

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33 minutes ago, SirWolfe said:

I wonder, would architecture and construction firms be the Taighusdhachine equivalent of the clergy? And imagine what a Taighusdach war would be like. There would have to be days (The fastest recorded time to build a modern house is a little under three hours, but the builders had power tools and tons of planning beforehand) of preparation, in which both sides construct houses close enough to the frontlines to actually fight.

The architecture and construction firms are indeed similar to the clergy, and the rituals involved in building a house are incredibly intricate, so much so that the researchers have been unable to discern what is necessary for magic and what is merely pomp and circumstance. 

The wars on Taighusdhach are beautiful things, decided by time, power, and skill. Fighting is done entirely by construction of houses. Interfering with the construction of a house is forbidden [likely due to religion], so the first blow will always go to the house that is completed first. The more intricate and beautiful a house, the more powerful the magic becomes. As such, the first houses are simple things, one-story buildings with little to no decoration. These destabilize other factions' foundations, delaying future houses. The most devastating war in Taighusdhachine history was the  Eagaitreacuthachdail [literally "magnificent castles of madness and fear"], which was waged over the course of centuries, constructing castles that destroyed much of the continent and shattered the minds of those who participated. 

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7 minutes ago, Spren of Kindness said:

Paper

The interweaving of the fibers in paper is an allegory to the interweaving of lives in the Great Tapestry of Reality. A skilled practitioner of weaving can change the past, alter fate, write something out of existence, write something into existence, and basically do whatever they please with reality as a whole. I might write a short story about this later.

Dying [to clarify, not killing or death or anything of that sort, the act of dying]

Edited by Gears
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9 hours ago, Gears said:

The interweaving of the fibers in paper is an allegory to the interweaving of lives in the Great Tapestry of Reality.

Did you just made a parody of the wheel of time of robert jorden? :lol: its awesome!

Edited by One_Armed
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18 hours ago, Gears said:

Dying [to clarify, not killing or death or anything of that sort, the act of dying]

After hearing of @SirWolfe's research on the planet Polikor, I conducted my own research, finding an entire new continent. The people there, the Hyyterwas people, seem to treat death as something sacred, not to be spoken of, and they have rebuffed my questions on the subject. When one of the Hyyterwas people dies, a manifestation of their life's work appears around them. For example, a gardener would have plants sprout around them, while a researcher would have a notebook containing all of their findings yielded up by the ground around them. How much they pursued it seems to affect the proportion of the manifestations. The same gardener from the last example could create a flower bed, but someone who devoted their entire life to giving back to nature could spawn an entire forest. It even seems that this can even affect the future. The deaths of, say, someone who committed their life to their religion could lead to a temple being built over the same spot, though this could just be an attempt to respect the deceased. The full extent of the magnitude of extreme cases, and certain types of people (warriors, criminals, and people who haven't focused on anything in particular, for example), I still have yet to research. 

Reading and Writing

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On 6/15/2020 at 1:48 PM, Enter a username said:

Reading and Writing

Having completed the first of many journeys, I returned to the city of Acket in order to organize and share my research. Though many of the readers of this document will already be familiar with Acketian society, I believed it to be appropriate that I should devote a short section to the City of Pages. 

Acket is, for all intents and purposes, a place of learning. In fact, the current name, "Acket", is derived from the Old Irilian (See Section 2.3 for an overview of the former Irilian empire) verb "Akhe" (which is the same word that names the Acketian system of magic), which means "to transfer understanding to another". However, Acket appears to have existed long before the rise of the Irilian empire, and may possibly be one of the oldest continuous societies still active today. Many ancient tablets from the mountain-libraries of the neighboring nation of Oes (one of the oldest and largest stores of archeological artifacts that have been in use since the advent of modern civilization) contain the phrase "Eip Osskieipreni ea Eipen meo pahren meo Osskipi", which has been translated to mean "Written for the catalogues of Osski (The historical name for Oes) by the Scholars of the place that is not of Osski". By analyzing the magical residue within the clay tablets, the location of the "place that is not of Osski" has been traced to the land upon which Acket now stands. Assuming the magic was the same in the past as it is now, this makes perfect sense.

Acketian magic (Akhe) is relatively weak, but it has a very wide area of effect and is easily accessible to anyone. Any person who spends at least a full year in Acket gains the capacity to use Akhe, and I, as an Acketian scholar, am also practitioner of Akhe. Akhe has to do with the sharing of information, and manifests through the act of communication. This communication does not have to be auditory in nature - any act meant to convey specific and discrete information with intent will activate Akhe, and I have found that it even works with miming (see Section 5.7 for an overview of my visit to the silent village of Riswe). In modern times, Akhe has been used by many authors and scholars in order to better convey their stories and research to others, which is one of the reasons why Akhet has historically been a center of information exchange. When engaging in an act of communication, Akhe will essentially allow for clearer transfer of information to the receiver. For example, I regularly use Akhe during my travels to speak with locals that do not speak Irilian. Akhe translates the intended meaning behind my words, which it then transfers to the person I am speaking to. My instructor, Scholar Triewin, described Akhe as a magic that forms a temporary connection between souls and minds, allowing information to travel directly into another's mind without the corruption or incorrect connotation that language imparts. 

Consider the name of the planet in different languages, for example. To the land-bound Entrausrnam people, they would use the word "Polikor", which means "all land". However, the seafaring people of Igta call the planet "Kriwetikhe", which means "Where the oceans are". Though these both refer to our planet, the concept is slightly different. The Igtaean idiom "Kriwe bokripe shae", which literally translates to "One that does not feel the water" but figuratively refers to a person who does not understand the world around them, would not translate properly into Entrausrnamean, as the idiom is dependent on the listener linking the concept of water to the planet. 

Akhe would allow an Igtaean to say "Kriwe bokripe shae" to an Entrausrnamean, and the Entrausrnamean would understand that the phrase is referring to a person who does not understand or register anything at all, even if Entrausrnamean culture does not connect the idea of water to that of the entire world.

Hopefully this has been understandable, as I was too exhausted from my travels to properly utilize Akhe while writing this specific entry. If not, please do not hesitate to contact the University. They will leave a note for me for whenever I get back from whatever journey I am taking at the moment. Until then, wish me luck for my next set of travels.

-----

End of Scholar Wolfe's 7th Journal of Exploration.

Sweeping the floor.

Edited by SirWolfe
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Another great entry SirWolfe!

12 minutes ago, SirWolfe said:

This communication does not have to be auditory in nature - any act meant to convey specific and discrete information with intent will activate Akhe, and I have found that it even works with miming (see Section 5.7 for an overview of my visit to the silent village of Riswe).

Such a good detail, hilarious!

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6 hours ago, SirWolfe said:

Sweeping the floor.

Hi.

It's me.

Fadran.

You've met me here and there. Most of you did nothing less than complain about my constant "overpriced" wares (I see things differently than you puny mortals!), but a few of you were nice enough to at least listen to me (thank you, Corrin, for existing. Or do you not exist? Since you're dead... hm).

In any case, those of you who believe my COMPLETELY and TOTALLY TRUE tales of traveling (why does everyone always think I'm being sarcastic? I'm not sarcastic), then you'll know about this land called the Iconar Collective. This Collective is one of many in the Omniverse, a universe which is one of many in the multiverse. I am from Ivinan of the Iconar Collective, but since then I've explored a number of Collectives in the Omniverse, including a particularly fascinating land called Faria. My fascination of this land is only natural, as their entire economy is built around janitorial duties such as cleaning windows, scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors.

I can't seem to find a good reason why, but for some reason, the Particular composition of "cleanliness" is different here than anywhere else in the Omniverse. Where in most Collectives the Icons and Ranos form a sort of lattice structure to represent cleanliness, in Faria the Icara Compound is more similar to that of a DNA strand. In fact, the similarities are so serendipitous that cleanliness can actually reproduce itself. By cleaning a small area of a room, the rest of the room gradually becomes cleaner. The locals call this process "scrubshifting," a term that I personally find hilarious.

Some people can actually tap into this reproduction of cleanliness and use it to clean things just by looking at them. These people are referred to as "Scrublords"; yet another hilarious term, in my opinion. A single group of Scrublords known as the Order of the Scrub (could this civilization grow any more ignorant?) serve as the oligarchial government for all of Faria. In addition to their powers of cleanliness, the Order of the Scrub's members are trained in physical combat, wielding various cleaning instruments such as broomsticks, dustpans, and squirt guns primed with bleach to enforce their laws.

Whether or not any of these people make an impact on the entirety of the Omniverse, I haven't the foggiest.

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16 minutes ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Hi.

It's me.

Fadran.

You've met me here and there. Most of you did nothing less than complain about my constant "overpriced" wares (I see things differently than you puny mortals!), but a few of you were nice enough to at least listen to me (thank you, Corrin, for existing. Or do you not exist? Since you're dead... hm).

In any case, those of you who believe my COMPLETELY and TOTALLY TRUE tales of traveling (why does everyone always think I'm being sarcastic? I'm not sarcastic), then you'll know about this land called the Iconar Collective. This Collective is one of many in the Omniverse, a universe which is one of many in the multiverse. I am from Ivinan of the Iconar Collective, but since then I've explored a number of Collectives in the Omniverse, including a particularly fascinating land called Faria. My fascination of this land is only natural, as their entire economy is built around janitorial duties such as cleaning windows, scrubbing toilets, and sweeping floors.

I can't seem to find a good reason why, but for some reason, the Particular composition of "cleanliness" is different here than anywhere else in the Omniverse. Where in most Collectives the Icons and Ranos form a sort of lattice structure to represent cleanliness, in Faria the Icara Compound is more similar to that of a DNA strand. In fact, the similarities are so serendipitous that cleanliness can actually reproduce itself. By cleaning a small area of a room, the rest of the room gradually becomes cleaner. The locals call this process "scrubshifting," a term that I personally find hilarious.

Some people can actually tap into this reproduction of cleanliness and use it to clean things just by looking at them. These people are referred to as "Scrublords"; yet another hilarious term, in my opinion. A single group of Scrublords known as the Order of the Scrub (could this civilization grow any more ignorant?) serve as the oligarchial government for all of Faria. In addition to their powers of cleanliness, the Order of the Scrub's members are trained in physical combat, wielding various cleaning instruments such as broomsticks, dustpans, and squirt guns primed with bleach to enforce their laws.

Whether or not any of these people make an impact on the entirety of the Omniverse, I haven't the foggiest.

This. This is beautiful. It's as if the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy had a baby (novelette?) with the Ars Arcanum.

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11 hours ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Ah, thanks. I just realized I didn't give a prompt so here you go:

Rolling the d20

Exactly how you would think it works: the d20 is a weapon used for either incredible success or critical failure. If you have certain magical die, which are rather hard to come by, if you roll with the intent to do something, the number that faces the sky at the end of your roll will determines how well or proficient you do your job.

Want to take over the world? Roll the die. If you get a 20, you will almost definitely succeed in a short amount of time. But if you get a 1? Get ready for all of your plans to be discovered by the government before they’re set into motion and yourself executed. Rolling the die is a risk. Some people choose to recklessly use them all the time, inviting and cheating death time and time again. Others will only use the die once or twice their life, during their hour of greatest need. 

You can only roll the die once a day, however. You cannot avoid your consequences and must deal with them until you have the chance to roll the die to stop that consequence. Of course, you could roll poorly on that roll, and suddenly, your problem just became a whole lot worse.

Another thing to note is that rolling multiple die at once has... odd effects. Perhaps you will be turned into a chicken. Then again, you could sprout wings and gain the ability to fly. These outcome typically tend to be bad though, and only the most daring of dice-rollers choose to use them.

The Shard’s emojis

Edited by Truthless of Shinovar
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1 hour ago, Channelknight Fadran said:

Whoever makes this has better make it lame, because the emojis on the shard are stupid.

Too bad, because I love them, they’re the best. Fight me. 

Whenever a 17th Sharder becomes a God Beyond, they unlock the ability to use emojis and get superpowers. :mellow: gives you the ability to be perfectly emotionless. :huh: gives you the ability to know the answer to any question you ask. ^_^ gives you the ability to send out a wave of happiness affecting anyone in your vicinity. :o gives you the ability to eat anything without dying. ;) gives you an aura of being like Hoid. It doesn’t actually make you into Hoid, just gives you that vibe. :P lets you instantly come up with witty things to say in any circumstance. :D instantly puts you or others at ease. :lol: cures mood and anxiety disorders for a few hours. B) transforms the next thing you say into something Cool ™️. :rolleyes: gives you the ability to teleport. -_- lets you control exactly when you sleep. <_< sends out an effect that stops anyone from being annoyed with you. :) creeps everyone out. :wub: fills the user or someone else with love for whatever word is typed after it. :angry: instakills enemies. :( causes a sad puppy to appear next to you. :unsure: gives you the ability to know when someone is lying. :wacko: gives you the ability to fix broken things. :blink: stuns everyone who sees it. :ph34r: turns you into a ninja. 

Edited by AonEne
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