Signs Explained

Signs are a component of seals, special shapes drawn with conjuring ink through which magic can be harnessed in the form of spells. Signs control what form a spell will take. They serve as modifiers, allowing the effect of a spell to be altered. Each sign has a unique effect with it can contribute to a spell, with 45 being deciphered so far.

Officially named

Column

Column causes the magic of its seal to manifest in a column or beam above the seal. If the signs aren't balanced (radial symmetry doesn't affect this), the spell will manifest in the direction with the most signs. The shorter line on the sign typically faces outwards,^{[citation needed]} and while it is sometimes shown inverted, it is unclear how this changes the effect.

Dispersion

Dispersion causes the magic of its seal to pour or "disperse" out. It has many similarities to column, with it essentially being a column that just leaks its magic out instead of shooting or beaming it in a certain direction. Both it's normal and inverted variations have been seen, with the difference in their effects being unclear.

Levitation

Levitation causes the spell's magic to float above the seal, or causes the movement of the object it is drawn on. If the latter, the movement depends on which direction the signs point. The pointed, arrow-like side of the sign typically faces inwards.

Pull

Pull causes anything that is the same as its magic (water, air, fire, etc) to be pulled towards the seal when the arrow portion of the sign is pointing inwards, and will also cause it to be pulled in a twisting motion if the signs are angled. It is likely that if the sign is inverted, it would result in a push rather than a pull.

Crush

Crush will either cause objects to disintegrate or come back together, at least when paired with an earth sigil (though only temporarily). As the sign has only been seen paired with earth, it is unknown what will happen if paired with another sigil.

Float

Float will make the object it is drawn on float in midair, regardless of gravity. Some instances of the sign were replaced by levitation in the official version, but float is still used in some spells, such as dancing lights and floating expansion, with the sole function of making objects float rather than it's more varied ability before it was retconned.

Region

Region determines where magic will manifest in relation to a seal. For instance, if the region signs within a seal point all to the same side of the spell, the magic will shoot in that direction. Similarly, if all of the region signs within a spell point inwards, the magic will only manifest within the ring of the seal, and if they all point outwards, the magic will manifest outside the ring while not taking effect at all within the bounds of the seal. Interestingly, if region signs are arranged so that they are pointing towards one another, both towards the center and exterior of the seal in opposition to one another, the magic will pour only only manifest directly on the ring of the seal, as can be seen in floating drops spell.

Convergence

Convergence causes the magic of its spell to become more focused, centered down to a single point. It can also make loose particles become more rigid, as explained by the disciples of Qifrey's Atelier when they were designing the serpent's bed of sand, saying that it would cause the sand the spell produced to become hard and compact. One of the triangle's points is typically seen pointing inwards.

Collection

Collection will collect material (and possibly magic) located above and around the seal, allowing it to be used by the spell. The open side is typically seen facing inwards.

Billow

Billow converts material into a fluffy cloud that is apparently extremely comfortable to sit on. Collection is needed to collect and convert certain materials into clouds, but there seem to be some materials that cannot be converted. Similar to repetition, billowing can take the place of a sigil within a spell. Its only appearance has been within the Dragon's Bed of Clouds, so the exact details of how it works aren't quite clear.

Repetition

Repetition continually resets objects affected by the spell to their previous state, essentially rewinding time. This can be used to keep food from rotting and even to clean clothes, not to mention many other uses it has. As of the bonus from Volume 12, the status of repetition has been retconned from that of a sign to a sigil.

Weave

The weave sign (also known as ribbon) can turn solid objects affected by the spell into long, flexible ribbons upon contact with the seal. It was invented by Richeh and is used in her ribbon spells. This sign is supposed to surround the central sigil.

Cool

Cool presumably cools things down. First introduced in the volume 12 bonus, it is featured in the vapor bubble spell, presumably to either make the water cooler to drink or to help it condense from the air for the contraption to gather.

Strengthen

Strengthen presumably makes objects stronger and more durable. Introduced in the volume 12 bonus, it is a component of the capture pennant spell, helping to make the banner of a Knight’s capture pennant more durable.

Sights Set

Sights set, first seen in the capture pennant spell, is highly peculiar. Aside from the puppet sign, it appears to be the only sign that allows a spell to be controlled via one’s mind. Specifically, it seems to serve the function of aiming a spell at some point or target. For example, it’s inclusion on the afformentjomed capture pennant spell is likely allows a knight to target a specific object or person for their capture pennants to wrap around.

Entwine

Entwine, first seen in the capture pennant spell, functions to somehow make an object it is drawn on (such as a ribbon) wrap or “entwine” itself around other objects. The mechanism through which this is achieved is unknown.

Sign of Wind

The sign of wind is a sign with a strange history. Prior to the volume 12 bonus, it had only ever made an appearance in chapter 1. In this chapter, the sign seemed to serve the same purpose as the wind sigil, serving as a sigil for both the sylph shoes seal and the pegasus carriage spell. However, with the sign not appearing in any subsequent chapters and even being replaced within the sylph shoes, fans believed the sign to have been a retconned version of a wind sigil. However, with its inclusion in the pegasus carriage spell reaffirmed as of the volume 12 bonus, it is now clear that the sign is still cannon. Its function, beyond its relation to wind, is unclear.

Aeriforms Defined

Aeriforms defined are somewhat confusing thanks to the conflicting nature of its name and design. There are two basic variants of the base wind sigil: wind and aeriforms. The wind sigil makes a spell move air, while aeriforms causes a spell to create air. Confusingly, aeriforms defined has the same design as the modifiers on the wind sigil, yet shares a name with the aeriforms sigil. This conflicting information makes it difficult to determine the function of the sign, though it is known that it can serve as a modifier to the wind underfoot sigil, as seen in the pegasus carriage spell.

Gather

Gather seems to serve a very similar function and design to collection, letting a spell use material from its surroundings to construct its effect. How it differs is unclear, but gather may be less passive than collection and actively draw material in rather than just collect things nearby. This, however, is unconfirmed. The sign is seen in the vapor bubble spell.

Glaives

Glaives function to determine how deeply magic will embed itself into an animal's flesh. They likely date back to before the Day of the Pact, and have only ever been seen in the memory erasure spell variants and the liquification spell drawn by Engendale. Interestingly, it is possible that glaives aren't classified as signs based on Engendale's comments regarding them, but how exactly this is the case is left unclear.

Unofficially Named

Diamond

Diamond can be found within the spell of reduction used on the period piece contraption, which uses an inverted enlarge sign to make nearby objects shrink. By comparing this spell to the floating expansion spell, which also contains an enlarge sign, it is possible to isolate diamond's effect. Most likely, diamond will cause a spell to only affect nearby objects while not affecting the object the spell is drawn on.

Window

Window can be found at the center of the floating expansion spell, which makes use of an enlarge sign to make the object it is drawn on grow in size. By comparing this spell to the spell of reduction, which also contains an (albeit inverted) enlarge sign, it is possible to isolate window's effect. Most likely, window will cause a spell to only affect the object it is drawn on.

Enlarge

Enlarge will cause objects to grow in size (or shrink if inverted). Whether it causes a change in size to just the object it is drawn on or just to objects nearby is seemingly controlled by the presence of either a window or diamond sign respectively. It causes objects to either grow (corners point outwards) or shrink (corners point inwards). A sign may or may not be needed, but it would have to be placed in the center regardless.

Crosshair

Crosshair is a component of the rainflinger seal. It has 3 likely functions: either to cause things of the same magic aspect to disappear, to make it so magic only manifests inside of objects with the same magic aspect as it, or to create an area of effect within which its spell's magic will manifest.

Radial

Radial is a component of the snugstone spell. While it's exact function is unclear, it likely serves to decrease the power of the spells it is used in, such as converting fire into heat.

Bolt

Bolt is a component of the water bolt spell. It causes the magic of its spell to manifest in the form of bolts-like projectiles. When paired with a region sign, which controls the spell's direction, the projectiles will be shot with dangerous speed.

Eye

Eye is a sign that has only been seen three times; twice within variants of the gathering shadows spell (in Sasaran's cloak and Euini's mirror mantle), and once more as a component of the spell on the makeover mask. In tandem with the vision sign, eye seems to have some form of effect relating to the formation of illusions and the manipulation of light. What eye does on its own, however, is unknown, as it has never been seen in isolation.

Vision

The vision sign has been seen four times in total; twice within variants of the gathering shadows spell (in Sasaran's cloak and Euini's mirror mantle), once on the light-reducing spell from Qifrey's glasses, and a final time within the makeover mask spell. When paired with eye signs, as is the case in gathering shadows and the makeover mask spell, vision seems to have the ability to create illusions. However, when vision is separate from the eye sign, as is the case in Qifrey's glasses, it can be used as a component in spells intended to aid in sight. While it's exact function is unclear, its usage strongly suggests some form of relation to visual perception and sight.

Bend

Bend is a sign that has been seen in a number of spells, including gathering shadows, petrification, and possibly paired with weave to form a compound sign within the wall bend spell. When combined with eye and vision, bend will make things disappear into a pitch black shadow. In wall bend, its possible pairing with weave may suggest that within this spell, it is somehow is meant to make walls more pliable. Petrification has too much going on to say for sure what purpose bend may serve within itself, but between the three spells, the most obvious theme is some form of "bending or altering of reality." Weather that be bending vision for gathering shadows, physical objects for wall bend, or reality itself for petrification, all three spells seem to change the structure of things around them in some way. It is impossible to say for sure what this signs does as of current, but a common theme seems to exist.

Rain

Rain cause's its spell to produce an effect very similar to rainfall down into its immediate area. It may be limited to only water spells, but it would likely work with other sigils such as fire or light to create firework-like effects, or possibly even generating a lava rain with a pairing of fire and earth. This sign is meant to surround the central sigil, which is placed in the empty space at its center.

Bird

Bird is a decorative sign that creates a bird-like projection made from the seal's magic which will fly around for a while. It's only been seen once within the bird of light beacon spell, The front portion of the spell may or may not be a separate sign entirely. The design was changed in chapter 28. Ideally, the spell's sigil should be placed in the center of this sign.

Puppet

Puppet is highly unusual, appearing to be the only sign (aside from sights set) that allows one to control a spell with their mind. More specifically, puppet seems to allow a "user" (possibly either the person who drew or last touched the spell) to control the movement of the object it is drawn on. The nature of this movement seems to be dependent on the sigil of the spell. For example, wind-based puppet spells, such as the flying puppet of diversion and cloak spell, only seem to be capable of arial movement. While it is never stated, directly or otherwise, that puppet spells move in accordance with the user's mind, there is strong circumstantial evidence to support the idea. For example, Sasaran was able to maneuver his cloak with incredible accuracy and precision during his fight with Qifrey.^{[citation needed]} With his cloak lacking any visible controls through which this could be explained, it is reasonable to assume that he piloted it using his mind. Interestingly, the sealchair, which is similar to Sasaran's cloak in that it lacks visible controls yet can still be operated with clear precision and intent, features a number of signs on its underside which closely resemble puppet. It is possible that these are variants.

Bind

Bind can be found in the wall bend spell. While it's exact function is unclear, the dominant theory is that it acts akin to glue, securely attaching itself to the surface of an object that the seal touches. Another less prominent theory is that it acts to hold an object it is drawn on together, preventing it from breaking apart.

Orb

Orb has the affect of creating a spherical space above a seal within which the material the spell controls will collect. Material will only collect in this area if it is added in directly. Material will fill this space bottom to top, collecting at the bottom of the spherical region, still affected by gravity. When more material is added, it will gradually fill the space higher and higher in the same way you would see in a bucket or a cup. It is seen one time in a spell Qifrey uses to create a sphere of water, achieving this by pouring it into the spherical region of the spell directly.^{[citation needed]}

Purify

Purify is found in both the portable waste purification pot and the sewer grate purifier. It functions to separate out any impurities from the magic of its sigil. For example, it will separate out particulates and contaminants from water or dust from air. These separated substances will accumulate near the spell.

Link

The exact effects of Link are unknown, but it is confirmed that this sign functions to somehow link magic between the object it is drawn on and all other objects that were broken off, removed from, or made out of the same original object. For example, the split-shard bangles are rings all carved from fragments of the same original crystal. Constructed from a light sigil, a weave sign, and a link sign, the spell on the rings will create a ribbon of light between the ring it is drawn on and all other rings constructed from that crystal. What a link spell would be like paired with a sign other than weave, however, is unknown.

Decorative Signs

Decorative signs are a collection of different signs that mimic the appearance of animals from the Zozah Peninsula. These signs have no practical utility, so their general use as signs are in decline, since they are only used as a hobby or decoration.

Bird A

Bird A is a decorative sign that creates a bird-like projection made from the seal's magic which will fly around for a while. It's only been seen once within the bird of light beacon spell, The front portion of the spell may or may not be a separate sign entirely. The design was changed in chapter 28. Ideally, the spell's sigil should be placed in the center of this sign.

Bird B

Bird B causes magic to manifest in the shape of a bird, similar to bird A. However, the bird produced by this decorative sign is noticeably more duck-like compared to bird A.

Dragon

Dragon causes magic to manifest in the shape of a dragon. The exact dragon species that this decorative sign imitates is unknown.

Flower

Flower causes magic to manifest in the shape of numerous flowers.

Horse

Horse causes magic to manifest in the shape of a horse, as seen in the water horse spell. With the water horse spell, it is possible to pull loads via the water horse, suggesting that this decorative sign (and perhaps others as well) has the potential for practical usage.

Owlcat

Owlcat causes magic to manifest in the shape of the head of an Owlcat with winter plumage, which is almost spherical in shape.

Scalewolf

Scalewolf causes magic to manifest in the shape of a scalewolf.

Trochstag

Torchstag causes magic to manifest in the shape of a torchstag.

Valance Leech

Valance leech causes magic to manifest in the shape of a valance leech.