SHIFTING SANDS OF IKONN

Classification: Magic Spell

Creator: Ikonn

User/Possessors: Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange)

First Appearance: Doctor Strange I#174 (November, 1968)

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Shifting Sands of Ikonn can have different effects, depending on the purpose to achieve. The functions can be grouped in two versions: Illusion and Abjuration.

Version: Illusion

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Sands could affect minds, erasing memories and introducing confusion that slowed down one or more targets.

Casting Time: Few seconds
Range: Very long (400 feet)
Components: A mandatory component, probably at caster's choice among:

• a somatic component: fingers/hand/arm movement
• a verbal component like:
  At my command let the battle cease!
  
  Forget this fight and be at peace!
  By Ikonn's sands and Hoggoth's Horde,
  let all beyond me be restored! (Doctor Strange II#50, Darkhold#6)
  
  
  Let the Shifting Sands of Ikonn confuse my raging foe!
  By the Eye of the Eternal, let him fall from vertigo!  (Doctor Strange II#52)

Duration: Instantaneous, or concentration that can be resumed if lost.
Primary effects: Calmness, forgetfulness, confusion.
Collateral effects: Concentric circles of light, centered on the caster's hands. inscribed with arcane runes.

History:
(Doctor Strange II#50) - London, 1943, in the past.
    The Sands of Ikonn were used in a composite spell. The part of the spell relative to the illusion sphere affected the mind of the crowd involved in a bar brawl between American and British soldiers. The soldiers, Pamela Hawley, Dum Dum Dugan, and even a strong-willed fighter like Nicholas Fury forgot the fight. The only person not affected by the spell was the bartender who actually wasn't targeted by it. Strange classified the spell as a minor incantation.

(Doctor Strange II#52) - In the past, during the Spanish Inquisition, in a village in Spain.
    The Spell of Vertigo contained an invocation of the Shifting Sands of Ikonn that induced confusion on the target's mind. A second part of the spell called the Eye (of Agamotto) and produced vertigo. Strange's spell worked immediately, the inquisitor fell by vertigo, but Strange was drugged and the attack of Gitana caused the loss of concentration on the spell. Thus, the inquisitor could stand and assault Strange again. Only when Strange regained his full control over his senses, could he restore the concentration and the spell itself. Strange set the spell so that the inquisitor would be subjected to it until he publicly confessed his crimes, then Strange left that time.

(Darkhold: Tales from the Book of Sins#6) - Strange used Ikonn's Sands in the same minor incantation he used in London in 1943. The illusion affected the minds of the people on the beach, having them forget the last events.

Version: Abjuration

Powers/Abilities/Functions: The Shifting Sands of Ikonn have the power to dispel other enchantments, ending their effect or changing it. Spellbreaking can also involve the possession or the control of an intruder on an unwitting host, leading to the banishment of the intruder.

Casting Time: Few seconds
Range: Short (30 feet) at least
Components: A mandatory component, probably at caster's choice among:

• a somatic component: fingers/hand/arm movement
  
• a verbal component like:
  
  
  May Ikonn's shifting sands now heed my uttered spell
  while Oshtur's mighty hands yon pendulums dispell!  (Doctor Strange I#174)
  
  
  By the sands that time has shifted,
  by the winds of weird Watoomb--
  let the masking veil be lifted--
  though its lifting may bring doom!  (Doctor Strange II#39)
  
  
  By the All-Wise Vishanti
  by Ikonn's ritual of ever-Shifting Sand
  let this soul have what is it's own...
  and let the demon begone from the man!  (Doctor Strange II#64)