This article is about a spell. For the Ultima VI character, see Peer (NPC).
Peer
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The spell Peer – in the older times of Ultima IV called View – provides the caster with a map of the immediate vicinity.
Spell Description[edit]
If the mage needs a quick overview of the current surroundings, Peer offers that insight. It shows an overhead view of the area around the mage in the form of a magical map. This map helps wise spellcasters to properly orient themselves if lost in the wilderness or deep within a dungeon. However, it does not warn the caster of the nature of any nearby enemies. For that task, the Wizard Eye spell should be employed to spy out possible enemies.
The spell has the same effect as peer gems (as well as the magical mapping helms found in Ultima II).
History[edit]
For the longest time, it was only possible to use magical items to get a magical overview of the surroundings. It was not until the last Age of Darkness in Ultima III that the spell Vieda allowed to do such without having to rely on special items. With the founding of Britannia, that magic was further developed in the Peer spell as we know it (previously known as View).
Of note is that by the Age of Armageddon the spell had lost much of its usefulness. During that time, it could only show the position of the mage on the world. Even though that also worked while being underground – something a sextant logically could not accomplish – it was far less useful than its earlier incarnations.
![Locate.jpg](/images/thumb/f/f5/Locate.jpg/170px-Locate.jpg)
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The lands that we now call Britannia in honor of the wise and just influence of Lord British are vast in scope and hold many uncharted regions. Although cartographers have traveled all the circumference of the main continent, many internal tracts have yet to be accurately recorded, while there are numerous islands rumored to exist to the southeast with nary a chart to show their location. Here the practitioner of the mystic arts has a great advantage over the wanderer or seafarer in that the View spell may be woven when the need arises. The View incantation is of middling difficulty and involves the use of hallucinatory Nightshade and powerful Mandrake Root. Mandrake lends power to the enchantment while Nightshade provides a mystic overview of all the land within the range of a simple Blink spell. Simply blend the reagents and speak out the name of the region through which you travel.
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Travelers in Britannia tell of magical gems that transport the vision of one gazing into their depths to a viewpoint thousands of feet above the land, like that of an eagle suspended in flight. It is illusion and reality. The change of viewpoint is illusion, but the knowledge provided is real. Powerful mages can replicate these miraculous effects through magic. In Quas Wis requires only two ingredients to create its illusion. Only the most powerful mandrake root will work for this spell; and only the most convoluted stems of nightshade. Mix the two in the dark of night with seven drops of cold spring water. Let the moisture evaporate, then place the shimmering powder in a cloth sack. When intoning In Quas Wis, cast the powder high to view the world about as if from the air. If cast within a towne, building or dungeon, all the detail of that level is revealed.
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Reveals the world and the caster’s place in it as though peering through an eagle’s eye.
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This spell gives the Mage a look at the entire world as well as showing his location in it.
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Gallery[edit]
See Also[edit]