Need a bit of advice

[tikatu]

And I thought I'd ask my f-list - among other places.

I have a character in my fantasy, my MC in fact, who has a small grouping of magical powers. For one, I'm using the definitiion of "seer" as in "s/he who sees things". This refers to her seeing the past or future of a person who touches her, and seeing ghosts. But there's another power that I

Comments

[tikatu]

Thanks, Ivy. I'm starting to get ideas along the lines of a "truth-diviner" for someone who makes others tell the truth, against their will, and without knowing that it's an outside complusion.

[tikatu]

Of course! Wouldn't have it any other way.

[lillehafrue]

I tend to think of a "seer" as just how you described. Someone who sees events that are going to unfold or have happened. The future visions are very fluid, because one small action could have an impact on what happens.

Soothsayer, again I picture a physic sort of person, only anciet times comes to mind, not modern. Perhaps calling her/him a thought-senser? She/he can sense the thoughts of a person, and if need be, force the truth from them with his/her mind. One of the authors I read, Meredes Lackey, does this frequently. Her characters have something called "Truth Spell." It comes in differnt forms, some people can only sense when the truth is not being told, others can force it out of someone.

Hope this helps!!

[tikatu]

The character doesn't really have a mental connection to those around her; it's more like she has an aura that compels people in her presence to tell the truth, even against their will. Someone elsewhere called her a "walking-lie detector" but I see her more like a "walking truth-serum". She can't sense when a lie is being told (that goes to my empath, who can figure out when someone's lying by their emotions) but just compels the truth.

It's creating some interesting drama at the dinner table...

[hobbeth]

Interestingly enough, only my 1984 Webster's dictionary said that a soothsayer is "a speaker of truth or wisdom". Yet it also added that s/he is a prognosticator. Dictionary.com and Merriam-Webster (the online dictionaries I checked) both say that s/he is someone who pretends or claims to predict the future.

Perhaps "truth-finder" would be a more accurate description, since all she has to do is be near them. Or this one just came to mind: "truth-magnet", given the fact that people in her presence have to tell the truth - basically she draws it out from them.

[tikatu]

"Truth-magnet" is an interesting idea. I think you may be one of the few that actually understands what it is that Siobhan does; most others have suggested that she takes an active role in this - which she doesn't, at the moment.

Thanks for weighing in on it. If you read the ETA, I did come up with an "official" name to call this power. Everyone was really helpful, too!