Chants/Incantations (詠唱・呪文 , Eishō・Jumon?), also known as Aria, is an activity necessary for the activation of Magecraft. Procedure-wise, incantations would be the “application” part in a system of application, acceptance, examination and issuance. Aria is employed by types of spellcasters, including some Psychics, but is most closely associated with magi.
Contents
Mechanisms[edit | edit source]
When making use of a Thaumatugical Theory stabilized by a first-rate school, one has to go through a pre-established process. For large-scale system like these, incantations are just a part of said process. For a personal-style of Thaumaturgy however, they play the important role of self-hypnosis: to place the mind of the magus in a state in which it can effectively control the Magic Circuits.[1]
Spells have predetermined capabilities; so the powers of a particular spell will always remain the same, no matter which magus uses it. The incantations, however, may differ. Regular incantations are something chanted not towards the outer world, but to one’s inner world; they are actions that activate the thaumaturgical process inside one’s body and reflect one’s nature. As long as the incantation of a spell possesses a specific meaning and/or a set of keywords are included in it, the particulars of said incantation are left to the caster's personal tastes. Therefore, it is only natural that they differ from magus to magus. No surprise, magi that boast a great ego usually have long incantations for their spells.
The greater the meaning behind the contents of an incantation to the caster, the better the final result will be. The stronger the self-hypnosis, the more the magus can optimize the use of his Circuits. Changing the words of an incantation does not mean much; what matters is the meaning behind them.
Incantations chanted towards the outer world are called Grand Incantations and are related to Greater Rituals. Performance of one of those alone is said to be impossible. When they are done, it is always in groups. Note that for spells with long incantations, an observable effect on the outer world will usually appear before the process is fully completed. Exception being the cases of the activation of Reality Marbles.
Spells are classified accordingly with the length of their incantations:
- Single-Action – Instantaneous spells. Requirement for activation is only to pass energy through the Magic Circuits. (ex: Gandr, most of Mystic Eyes).[2]
- One-Line – Spells that the incantation is made of a single phrase composed of one word at the very least. A thaumaturgical process very well stabilized and easily activated. (ex: Rin using a spell stored inside her family’s Crest).[1]
- Five-Line – Spells with incantations made of five phrases.
- Ten-Count – Instantaneous Contract. Already considered a simple ritual. The minimum step necessary to activate High Thaumaturgy (spells with power ranked A or above). Consisting of ten phrases or more. A fully trained magus can perform them in about a minute.[1]
More than the power of the spell, this particular classification seems to be related on how smoothly a mystery can be reenacted: the easier a miracle can be actualized the shorter its incantations will be. On that account, Archer and Shirou’s incantations to activate their Reality Marble are all above Five-Line, coming really close to Ten-Count types.
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High-Speed Incantation[edit | edit source]
High-Speed Incantation (高速詠唱 , Kōsoku Eishō?) is a skill of modern magi that allows chanting of incantations at a faster pace. Activation of thaumaturgy is done in half the normal time (ex: Ten-Count spells are done in 30 seconds). A skill possessed by Aoko Aozaki. This ability also exists as a Servant Skill.
High-Speed Divine Words[edit | edit source]
High-Speed Divine Words (高速神言, Kōsoku Shingon?) is a skill to activate thaumaturgy using Divine Words (神言, Shingon?). They are languages from the Age of Gods, back when words played a heavy role in spellcasting, and that modern humans can no longer pronounce. The users can do High-Thaumaturgies in one second because they give the World orders directly without connecting their Magic Circuits. All mythologies have different Divine Words and two of them appeared so far; the Greek one that Medea and Circe use and the Egyptian one Nitocris casts. In the other words, Divine Words are newer than Unified Language spoken when it was still the only one language in the World.[3]
Due to her use of Divine Words, Medea’s spells do not work the same way that of those of modern Magecraft. For one, she can cast even High Thaumaturgy-level spells with the speed equivalent of Single-Action ones. Furthermore, while the majority of her spells fall under the One-Line category, their power-level is easily on par with Five-Line ones. Finally, due to the different dynamics, only a Servant with Magic Resistance ranked A or above is immune to her spells.
Incantations[edit | edit source]
| Chants | ||
|---|---|---|
"I will kill. I will let live. I will harm and heal. None will escape me. None will escape my sight.
I kill, I give life. I injure, I heal. There are none who escape from my hands. There are none who escape from my eyes.
私が殺す. 私が生かす. 私が傷つけ私が癒す. 我が手を逃れうる者は一人もいない. 我が目の届かぬ者は一人もいない。
Watashi ga korosu, watashi ga ikasu. Watashi ga kizutsuke, watashi ga iyasu. Waga te wo nogareuru mono wa hitori mo inai. Waga me no todokanu mono wa hitori mo inai Spirit and technique, flawless and firm
Shingi, muketsu ni shite banjaku 鶴翼欠落不 Crane wings (Spirit and technique), without opening (flawless and firm) 「―――鶴翼（しんぎ）、欠落ヲ不ラズ（むけつにしてばんじゃく）」
Be gone, shadows
Kage wa kieyo 影は消えよ
<poem> Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let red be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate." "Let it be filled. Again. Again. Again. Again. Let it be filled fivefold for every turn, simply breaking asunder with every filling.
Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Fill. Let each be turned over five times, simply breaking asunder the fulfilled time.
<poem> Let silver and steel be the essence. Let stone and the archduke of contracts be the foundation. Let black be the color I pay tribute to. Let rise a wall against the wind that shall fall. Let the four cardinal gates close. Let the three-forked road from the crown reaching unto the Kingdom rotate. Let it be declared now; your flesh shall serve under me, and my fate shall be with your sword. Submit to the beckoning of the Holy Grail. Answer, if you would submit to this will and this truth. An oath shall be sworn here. I shall attain all virtues of all of Heaven; I shall have dominion over all evils of all of Hell. (For Berserker) Yet you shall serve with your eyes clouded by chaos. For you would be one caged in madness. I shall wield your chains. (For Berserker) From the Seventh Heaven, attended to by three great words of power, come forth from the ring of restraint, protector of the holy balance!
I am the bone of my sword
His body is made out of swords
体は剣で出来ている。
Karada wa tsurugi de dekiteiru
I am the flesh and bone of my own sword.
I am the bone of my sword
I am the bone of my sword
His body is made out of swords
体は剣で出来ている。
Karada wa tsurugi de dekiteiru
I am the bone of my sword
His body is made out of swords
体は剣で出来ている。
Karada wa tsurugi de dekiteiru | ||
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2
[] Fate/complete material III: World Material - Theory of Magic - Magecraft: Incantations, p.043 Incantations
The incantation is the action for performing magic and is necessary when starting up a magic formula. There are two types of incantations, steps and bars, and bars take more time than steps, which finish instantly. The more difficult the magic formula, the more bars are needed, also, it is possible to raise the effect of the magic the longer the incantation is made.
There are rules to be kept in the incantation and if those are kept, adding personal arrangement to the finer points is effective. This is particularly evident in spells and it’s normal for there to be different arrangement according to ease of usage per school and magus. Also, with respect to large scale magic, a ritual or contract is necessary to start up the formula, but these include countless steps and bars so these aren't treated as incantations. Note that the high speed divine words of Casters can activate large scale magic with one bar, and on top of that, that one bar can activate spells faster than or the equivalent of one step.
•One bar (approximately one second)
Incantations using spells and utterances. No matter how fast one says it, at least one second will be used up. Put two of these together and you have two bars, three and you have three bars, and the incantation becomes larger and larger. Of course, for each extra bar, the time is extended by 1 second.
•One step (less than one second)
Incantations performed by one action such as finger pointing, teeth gnashing, etc.
These are the shortest types of incantations and they can activate magic in an instant.
These include Gandr shooting which activates by finger pointing and mystic eyes which activate by looking. Also called Single Action.
•Ten count (instant contract) (ten seconds)
A magic startup method which establishes a contract that would have actually taken many hours in about ten seconds. As an incantation, there would be ten or more bars. Thus, while it may be called instant, ten seconds will actually be necessary. - ↑
[] Fate/side material - Encyclopedia: Incantations [Magecraft], p.056 [T] Incantations [Magecraft]
The action required to perform magecraft.
This included: 1) Single Action (one Step), which activated magecraft directly from magical energy, 2) Spells of one Bar, which required anchoring within one's body, 3) Ten Count (Instant Contract), which consisted of spells ten Bars or greater, etc.
Rin's Gandr shot and Rider's Mystic Eyes were Single Action. Shirou and Archer's lengthy incantation of more than five Bars approached Ten Count.
Caster's spells were only one Bar, but she could activate them faster than one Step, trumping mages of the same level in speed.
Even though Caster's spells were merely one Bar, their power was equivalent to spells of more than five Bars. Normal mages could not match them.
By the way, Caster's incantations were themselves "Divine Language", so strictly speaking we should not really describe them as "one Step" or "one Bar".
A Magic Resistance of around B or C rank was required to negate Caster's spells.詠唱【魔術】
魔術を起動させる為の動作。
魔力を通すだけで魔術を起動させる一工程（シングルアクション）から、つの事柄を自身の中で固定化する一小节、十以上の小节を以って簡易的な儀式と成す瞬間契約 （テンカウント）等が確認されている。
凛のガンド撃ち、ライダーの魔限はシングルアクションに属し、士郎、アーチャーの詠唱は五小节以上の、ほとんど テンカウントに近い長詠唱。
キャスターの詠唱は一小节ではあるが、その発動が瞬間的である為シングルアクションより速いか、同レベルのスピードを誇る。
そのクセ威力は五小节以上の魔術に相当するのだから、まっとうな魔術師には手におえない相手と言ヲえよう。
ちなみに、キャスターの呪文自体が“神言"である為、一工程、一小节といった括りにはとらわれない。
スキル·対魔力のB、C辺りの条件には该当しないという事だ。 - ↑
| Concepts |
| Bounded Field • Conceptual Weapon • Magic • (Second Magic • Third Magic • Fifth Magic) • Magical Spells • (Gradation Air) • Marble Phantasm • Mystic Code • Mystic Eyes • (Mystic Eyes of Death Perception) • Psychic • Reality Marble |
| Creatures |
| Daemon • Demon • Divine Spirit • Doll • Dragon • Familiar • Golem • Homunculus • Humans • Magician • Magus • Phantasmal Species • Spirits • Vampire |
| Holy Grail War |
| Command Spells • Great Grail • Heroic Spirit • Holy Grail • Master • Noble Phantasm • Parameter Rules • Servant • Servant classes • Skill |
| Organizations |
| Church • Chaldea Security Organization • Demon Hunter Organization • Mage's Association • The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors |
| Terms |
| Akasha • Chants and Incantations • Elements • World • World of Magecraft • Magic Circuit • Magical Energy • Soul • Magic Crest |
