Irae Energy
Irae energy is a primordial energy existing since the creation of living beings, existing all over the world; this energy is spurred to creation through the negative emotions that reside within every sentient living being. Every living being will always have a small amount of this Irae energy. The most infamous and well known consequence of the existence of Irae energy are vile beasts which are formed through large concentrations of Irae energy, through the negative emotions that created them they naturally seek the destruction of all life. These beasts had been a rare site throughout the centuries but a century ago a disaster struck which caused the frequency of appearance of these beasts to increase a hundredfold, in the chaos of the situation an entire continent was laid to waste, only ashes and death remaining, in current day, these beasts are called Iraeidin or Irae. In rare cases individuals are able to manifest unusual powers by controlling the Irae energy around and inside themselves, these individuals were originally known as Vandael, or more commonly, as Irae Mages.
Most Irae Mages are known to be dangerous and insane individuals, with most being murderers, thieves, crazed madmen furthering undecipherable goals, or simply agents of chaos similar to Irae themselves. Because of this, within most of the world, Irae Mages are shunned for their powers and looked down on within respectable societies, the exception to this being the nation of Stisedo, who are known to easily shelter evil Irae Mages, if the Irae Mage in question has any knowledge or techniques that are useful. While most Irae Mages are inherently evil individuals, some are not, as not all negative emotions would necessarily craft one into an evil person, the same can be true for one who can utilize the Irae energy produced by these emotions.
Irae Sensing
After the disaster which caused what is now known as the Iraese wastes, Irae and evil Irae Mages alike became prominent, and after decades of battles against these forces, those who fought against them figured out a method in which an ordinary person could innately "see" Irae energy. Irae sensing in the hands of a novice, only allows one to distinguish between a normal human, a Irae Mage, and a Iraeidin, however, to a veteran, they are an essential tool which can pry forth several chunks of information essential to combat. Regardless it is not easy to learn Irae sensing, unless one has had a direct confrontation with a Iraeidin it can take several months just to begin perceiving this new sense.
Irae sensing in of itself, is a form of visual sense which, unlike normal sight, functions in a constant 360 degree radius, everything seen inside this state is completely greyscale (aka only goes between white, gray, and black). In this state, the user who is Irae sensing would see a massive fog of light gray, they would be able to note regular people alongside common animals by a number of very light gray spots. These spots can be used to decipher what exactly the creature is, as a number of upright spots would denote a bipedal creature, meaning usually a person, whilst a tiny spherical amount could lead to the assumption of a rabbit or other small creature. Regular gray spots usually means that the signature is a Irae Mage, and a dark gray signature means that it is a Iraeidin, or an unusually powerful Irae Mage. Generally within a creature, the darker the color, represents the magical power that creature holds. Additionally, while a creature could have very dark spots, the spots could be few and far in-between, as the number of spots represents the amount of magical reserves the creature has, alongside their own sensing capabilities. As such, should an individual sense a person or creature, whose spots are plentiful enough to create a clear outline, and dark enough to see clearly, they are extremely dangerous, and must be avoided at all costs. Conversely, there exists individuals with an absolute lack of any Irae energy, these individuals are Spirit Contractors. The nature of the Spirits is inherently anathema to Irae energy, this leads to Spirits constantly purging any and all Irae energy from their contractors. Due to this, Spirit Contractors are for all effects and purposes, invisible to those who are Irae sensing.
Nonetheless, Irae sensing in of itself is a task that takes concentration, so even when used for a moment, the user must close off the rest of their senses temporarily, putting them in a vulnerable state, albeit for an extremely temporary amount of time. Because of this, a particularly intelligent Irae Mage or Iraeidin will be waiting for the moment when their opponent goes to Irae sense to go in for a lethal strike. As such, those who are formally trained to be able to Irae sense are frequently instructed to be wary of Irae sensing any time an opponent is aware of your presence. One of the primary reasons that Irae sensing puts the user into a vulnerable state is because simply put, it is an overwhelming sense to any who use it, even if it is a simplified degree of color, the 360 degree radius view and notably marking almost every living existence, is tiring to one's mind and hard to handle without extreme focus.
However, each person who learns Irae sensing, rapidly advances in a particular direction, the first focus lends itself towards increasing the distance at which they "see" while Irae sensing, hyper fixating on increasing the distance of one Irae sensing, while this is a facet that naturally improves, those who focus on this aspect are able to sense threats from massive distances, giving themselves and others, a large amount of time to prepare, strategize, or choose to withdraw. The second is focusing on the details of Irae sensing, to the other two directions of focus, they are only vaguely able to understand the difference between a "strong" Iraeidin, and a Iraeidin powerful enough to take on five of those "strong" Irae with ease. Additionally, as represented in the visual guides, there are certain realizations that one can only have in terms of Irae sensing with a high enough degree of detailed Irae sensing. Lastly, while a tad rarer than the other two, there are also those who become able to Irae sense passively, not needing to concentrate and instead having Irae sensing work constantly, akin to any other sense, there is however the cost of a massively reduced range allowing the passive Irae sensors to basically only sense what is right next to them.
Mechanically, Irae sensing is improved by increasing the user's Soul Attribute, and the player decides which of the three paths (long distance, detailed, or passive) they take, Irae sensing takes 2 actions to activate and gives the user a -5 to the reaction of their next turn.
Below are the three Paths of Irae sensing alongside some examples of sub skills for furthering them (as a reminder only one of the three paths can be selected)
Long Distance Irae sensing
Long Distance Irae sensing - Soul (0.5)
General : every 10 meters of sense range per point of soul, and 15 meters per 2 tiers. Additionally, it will be noted that long distance Irae sensing will be far worse at gathering details compared to passive or detailed (for example you would only know that a Irae is "strong" while not having any idea of their relative alphabetical rating).
Long Distance Sub Skill examples
Multitasking
Soul 1.0
It is often mentioned when Irae sensing in an area with a large number of people that pinpointing particular individuals is difficult due to the sheer number of Irae signatures in the area. This skill will quite simply allow a user to multitask more efficiently while enacting a Irae sense, thus allowing them to Irae sense a more crowded area more efficiently.
Beacon
Soul 2.0
Requires 8 soul in order to acquire this sub skill.
The user can focus for 10 minutes to create a beacon, whenever the user then Irae senses they can choose whether to Irae sense from themselves or the beacon. This beacon has 20% of the user's Irae sense radius and has a duration of one hour. The duration increases by 1 hour for every tier beyond the first, at the 12th tier and every tier after the duration is increased by 1 day.
Sonar Pulse
Soul 1
Can only be used when at tier 5, which is also the cap.
The user as a free action can Irae sense for an extremely miniscule amount of time, akin to that of a pulse, purely gaining only the number of Irae signatures within their radius (including any nearby allies). This ability is put on cooldown for a minute after being used, a class with reserves can spend 10 reserves to skip this cooldown.
Detailed Irae sensing
Detailed Irae sensing - Soul (1)
General : for every tier the user gains 2.5 meters of Irae sensing range, additionally, higher soul & tier increase how detailed the sensing is and empower certain sub skills.
Detailed Sub skills examples
Focused
Soul 2.0
this skill makes it so that the user may spend a full round to focus their Irae sensing, this increases the tier of detailed Irae sensing by 1 whilst in this state, every tier beyond the first in this skill increases this bonus by one (aka at 2 tiers you gain +2 tiers to detailed sensing, and at 7 tiers you gain +7 tiers). The benefit of this is to allow users to reach various intrinsic milestones for detailed sensing, or to give them a slight boost for other sub skills.
Analysis
Soul 1.5
This skill allows users to analyze the flow of Irae energy within a Iraeidin to attempt to detect an anomaly or focus point, which would in turn lead to a weakness. It should be noted this will not work against all Irae, as this is most effective against caster heavy Irae or Irae with a unique/enigmatic power. Furthermore, the success of this skill depends on the tiers of detailed Irae sensing of the user. Should the user have only 5 tiers while fighting a D+ caster Irae, it is unlikely they will understand much of anything.
Retain
Soul 2.0
Usually, a Irae signature can only be remembered and easily noticed by spending a long time familiarizing oneself with the Irae signature, this sub skill allows the user to concentrate over the course of 1 full round on a particular Irae signature and "retain" the feeling of the signature in question, being able to instantly recognize it when Irae sensing an area containing the signature. This sub skill has an infinite duration, however, initially it can only be used on one individual/creature, should the user pick another signature to retain, the previous will be forgotten. Every 3 tiers the user will be able to retain one additional signature.
Passive Irae sensing
Passive Irae sensing - Soul (2)
General : For every tier the user gains 0,5 meters of a constant Irae sense, Soul does not inherently do anything for passive other than serving as a prerequisite for increasing the skill and obtaining sub skills.
Passive Sub skills examples
Vulnerable
Soul 2.0
With this sub skill the user may turn off their passive Irae sensing (turning off, or back on will take a full minute) in order to grant them a +1 boost to willpower for every tier (this boost is not doubled for martials).
Warning
Soul 2.0
This sub skill can only be acquired once the user has at least 10 soul.
when a Irae Mage/Iraeidin presence that you have not detected previously this day enters your passive Irae sensing for the first time, you gain 5 dexterity for the purpose of reaction speed. This effect can only be initially activated once per day, however, at 7 tiers, and every 3 tiers after that, the user can use this one more time per day.
Bloodlust
Soul 1.0
This sub skill can only be acquired once the user has at least 6 soul, additionally, the character has to be a frontliner in order to take this (as the way this is "learnt" isn't possible for backliners).
Due to passively sensing a variety of individuals who would inevitably attack the character, this character has become capable of recognizing the fluctuation in Irae energy when an individual within their passive Irae sensing radius is feeling greatly hostile, in other words, they can sense their bloodlust. (this does not work against opponent's with no Irae energy). Increasing the tiers allows the character to detect bloodlust from more subtle opponents who are used to keeping their emotions in check even when preparing an immediate attack.
Irae Mages
While Irae energy is most commonly associated with Iraeidin there are some gifted individuals who are able to concentrate their negative emotions into power. However, the act of concentrating and utilizing negative emotions, tends to lead these individuals into becoming consumed by said emotion, not too different from a Irae, which causes the reputation of most Irae Mage's to be known as psychopathic murderers. (especially within Zaveron)
Irae energy itself while lacking the sheer magical power that is known of Spirit Contractor, makes up for in versatility, an example of this is Irae Types. When a person learns how to utilize Irae energy, they naturally tend to fall within the primary Irae Type that most often matches their desires of Irae energy, however, Conduit is a notable exception. Nonetheless, Even if a Irae Mage has a primary Irae Type, every Irae Mage is able to exert 50% proficiency with two other Irae types (as displayed by the graph) and having 20% efficiency for the two Irae Types that aren't pointed to. There do however exist exceptions to the previously stated rules, for Mutator their usage of Irae energy involves mutations to their biology and even soul in some cases, while its theoretically possible for others to use Mutation as their souls and bodies aren't experienced in the magic, it is guaranteed to cause death. The other is Conduit, unlike mutator, it is possible to use Conduit's magic, however, the soul of those who manifest their Irae Type as conduit are only barely capable of handling the chaotic and rampaging energy within them, as such, those other than conduit can only use a tiny fragment of the Irae Type's power (10%) making it effectively useless.
Lastly, while the usage of the Irae energy itself is usually created through the trial and error of the Mage allowing them to create a variety of deadly and highly utility focused magical techniques, their exist a few "fields" of Irae energy usage that can only be utilized through teachings. Additionally, these fields are intrinsically tied to a certain Irae Type, for example, the field of blood or mind magic, can only be used by Mystic, while the permanence and poison field (both of which are considered taboo in Stisedo) can only be used by Fabricator.
(note, below is primarily a more lore oriented description of the Irae Types, for a mechanical overview see Magical Classes )
Augmenter
Specialized primarily in strengthening aspects of themselves or objects used by them with Irae energy. Amongst Irae Mages seen throughout the Mainlands those who fights in close quarters are almost always Augmenters. Augmenters can change several properties of their body, ranging from making their weight several times heavier, to increasing the raw power contained in their muscles, due to this while they often lack the raw physicality and training of someone like a Knight or Makos Warrior, they make up for it with magical versatility in approaching physical combat.
Mystic
Derives power from bringing abstract concepts and imagination into reality through the usage of Irae energy. While Mystics are often the most creative of Irae Mages, they are also often the most evil and psychopathic of the bunch, as their is no greater terror than the imagination of a truly insane creature. Mystics are known to delve into some of the most loathsome fields of Irae usage, such as meddling with blood magic and soul magic, both of which are solely pursued by outcasts.
Conjurer
Creates objects or even creatures of varying degrees of autonomy and strength with their Irae energy. Some Conjurers will focus the entirety of their magic into creating a creature of relatively equivalent power to martials of their level and then fighting together with this creature, weather the conjurer fights using ranged weaponry or melee, this combination of two completely different threats in perfect sync is hard for most singular opponents to deal with (similar to Commander's Sworn Ally). Other Conjurers may seek a simpler tactic of creating a large variety and amount of creatures in order to overwhelm their opponent with numerous minor threats leading to death via a thousand paper cuts. Lastly, there are some conjurers who create simple objects, depending on their magical power it could they could either create a sword with the durability of rotten wood, or of tungsten, while maintaining the sharpness that a sword is known for, these objects are often used in a utilitarian manor, however, some cunning Conjurers would use this to setup a field of traps in the midst of battle.
Fabricator
Brings about powerful magical phenomena through complicated pieces and rules dependent on their field of expertise. Outside of specialized fields a fabricator’s general magic is unable to be used offensively. The Fabricators base magic works on the basis of creating magical shapes, the shape itself determines the speed and effectiveness of the magic being deployed, while within the shape are several nodes and a symbol. The symbol represents the core structure of the magic, such as creating a shield, while the nodes represent how the magic is altered, with restrictions and benefits leading to the design of a magical spell perfectly within the expectation of the Fabricator. The lion's share of Fabricators are individuals who are unfaltering in being driven by sole logic, as such, they can rarely comprehend illogical matters or phenomena that can't be explained through logic. Due to this, many fabricators become die hard Irae researchers, with the goal of explaining that which has no logical explanation, many end up becoming depraved in what they are willing to do or the experiments they perform in the pursuit of knowledge and answers.
Conduit
The Conduit is a bundle of chaos, like a bomb whose fuse has run out but has yet to explode, it could theoretically explode at any moment, but the chance of it being a dud also exists. Unlike other Irae Types, the Irae energy within the conduit is constantly fluctuating, at times their Irae signature can appear akin to an extremely powerful Irae Mage, at other times it would be closer to that of a normal person. The Irae energy of the Conduit is so explosive and chaotic that most don't dare try to use the energy emanating from their own body, instead most will use an object as an vessel, while the object is guaranteed destruction, the raw power of the Conduit is so immense that the tradeoff is easily worth it.
Mutator
Alters the very building blocks of living creatures through intense usage of Irae energy, with enough skill, they can even alter their own soul to temporarily mimic another Irae type. No Irae types can use Irae energy akin to Mutators except for Mutators. The Mutator revolves around using Irae energy to change the very anatomy of biological existences around it, albeit temporarily for the most part. The degree of mutation, weather it can be done at range instead of touching the intended target, and the duration are tied to the skill and proficiency of the caster. In reality, the Mutator can very easily have his magic be permanent as the duration is due to him carefully controlling the extent of his power, should his power be allowed to chaotically rampage and mutate his target, while the resulting effect would be permanent, it would also be unpredictable and potentially dangerous to even the caster. It should however be warned, that only the Mutator can easily handle his own magic, usage on others, even other Irae Mages, are guaranteed to cause major injuries in the best possible scenarios.
Iraeidin
Iraeidin or Irae for short, These monsters are born from the convergence of raw negative emotions from individuals(becoming Irae energy) in the area, the emotion can be anything as minor as disappointment, to emotions strong enough to spur one into a maniacal frenzy. While Irae come in all shapes and forms, some with unique and terrifying abilities, they share one common factor, which is the elimination of normal life. However, different Irae may diverge in their approach on this matter, while most will simply roam about killing whoever and whatever they come across, while some may seek other approaches depending on the emotion that lead to the creation of the Irae. For example, A Irae born through Despair, may effectively "lock down" a village, preventing exit, and constantly destroy any form of hope or chance of survival the villagers may have, causing them despair, and eventually leading them to killing themselves.
While not an explicit detail, in general from what is known the form itself of a Irae can tell a large amount, from its combat focus, to potentially even the origin of the negative emotion that formed it. In line with this, it has been noticed that the larger, malformed, and grotesque Irae often form by bundles of vague negative emotions from hundreds of even thousands of individuals in an area coming together (such as a general feeling of anger). Irae formed this way are rarely intelligent and the strongest among them are often colossal monstrosities that tear apart cities with raw strength and power. Compared to this there are other Irae who are formed through a more refined negative emotion from a much smaller amount of individuals, often these Irae are only formed after years or even decades, although in rare scenarios of extreme negative emotions they can be created in a much shorter period of time. The form of these Irae are often incredibly similar to the humanoid shape of the recorded Irae to be intelligent, most have fallen into this category. Lastly, It is of importance for one is not very combat oriented to run upon sight of these humanoid shaped Irae, as more often than not these more refined Irae have a much higher power floor than the other type of Irae, with most starting at High C, thus posing a great threat to most individuals.
When Heaven's Alliance was created, the then leaders of Heaven's Alliance met with the King of Zaveron and put together a ranking system for Irae that allows scouts proficient in Irae sensing to accurately make note of the power of the Irae in question. This also allows Zaveron and Heaven's Alliance to rapidly form Elimination squads appropriate to the Irae's power, this is done so that they do not send a force that would completely overkill the Irae, and thus waste power that could be utilized elsewhere, and so that a force that is insufficient is not sent to their deaths. The rankings go as follows below :
F low, F mid, F high
E low, E mid, E high
D low, D mid, D high
C low, C mid, C high
B low, B mid, B high
A low, A mid, A high
(to the right is how Iraeidin of various ranks look like when Irae sensed, although the color would be a lot vaguer if not using detailed Irae sense)
To briefly explain some of these ranks, Irae within the F ranks are fairly rare to come across, and when they are seen it is often in groups, however, by themselves they pose little threat and a group of normal farmers with pitchforks could handle a F high. Although, The moment a Irae is within E rank, they become a notable threat as it would take a group of soldiers equipped with weapons and armor, to take down an E low Irae by themselves. That said, The soldiers of the Zaveron military are significantly better trained and equipped than soldiers of other nations, as such, a group of Zaveron soldiers can take down an E high Irae assuming good coordination and tactics. After E high, the only reliable way to kill Irae outside of extreme numbers and therefore casualties, is using specialists, such as the Knights of Zaveron, Spirit Contractors from Heaven's Alliance, or wandering Heroes.
While D and C rank Irae have a slew of dangers from supernatural abilities to physiques far surpassing people, they are not much to speak of compared to the terror that is B and A rank Irae. Starting at B rank, most Irae fought at this level will have intelligence, and not an insignificant amount either, even if a Irae has the strength and abilities of a C rank Irae, if it is intelligent it will be placed in B due to needing higher level tactics and the potential of unexpected behavior. Additionally, even sensing a B rank poses a risk to most, as their Irae signatures are strong enough to cause the average individual to immediately vomit from sensory overload, only once an individual has trained the strength of their soul can they withstand the immense pressure of their signature.
However, Even the mightiest and sharpest of B high Irae are incomparably weak compared to an A low Irae. These Irae are so powerful that their Irae signature is seen as jet black and is somewhat visible like smoke around them even without the use of Irae sensing. In the first place, you would need an individual capable of detailed Irae sensing to recognize an A rank Irae as it coats an area around itself in a fog of Irae energy, atop this, only those who have mastered detailed Irae sensing can tell the difference between A rank Irae as beyond A low the only difference is the efficiency and power of the energy flowing through their signature. If an A rank Irae is sighted, no matter where it is sighted, it is interpreted as a nation wide threat, if not a continent wide one, as if handled carelessly, A ranks will, and have, erased entire nations from existence. Even the longest lasting nations have only dealt with a single digit number of A rank Irae, the only exception being Zaveron given their role of safeguarding the Mainlands from the Iraese Wastes.
Iraese Artifacts
For all intents and purposes there are only truly two types of Iraese Artifacts, artificially created, and naturally created (while there are "Iraese Artifacts" created through the temporary/limited augmentation of an item, this does not make it a truly magical item).
Artificially created Iraese Artifacts are far more common and relatively safe to most users, as the Irae energy within it will be relatively low due to being created by a Irae Mage. It should however be noted, that "permanence" magic, is strictly outlawed within Stisedo, which is where most Irae Mages reside, nonetheless, these items are still created regardless. In most cases, artificially created Irae items can only be used by Irae Mages, as they require a catalyst on initial Irae energy to be activated, a useful function which allows them to be activated remotely and nigh instantly. Lastly it should be noted that their is a large difference between artificial Iraese Artifacts and the Orise, primarily that Orise attempt a symbiotic combiation of both technology and Irae energy, often made by several specialized Irae Mages and Inventors. Comparatively, Iraese Artifacts are almost always a one mage project, imbuing their magic on whatever object can make do.
Naturally created Iraese Artifacts are created not too differently from the phenomenon that leads to the creation of Iraeidin. However, instead of a collective amount of negative emotions within a certain area, the object becomes Iraese from negative emotions focused solely on that object. An example could be a warrior on a battlefield who is known for having a serrated sword which has caused many opponents to die a horrifyingly brutal and painful death, the terror and hate focused on that weapon would cause it to mutate into a Iraese Artifact, becoming several times more powerful than a normal armament. Another example would be a beautiful diamond necklace, worth an astronomical amount of money, and as such, is the focus of greed of several individuals looking to own or sell the item, thus mutating this once pure and beautiful object into an unholy device which no sane individual would imagine desiring. These naturally created Iraese Artifacts are far stronger than their artificial brethren, and can be used by practically anyone, but with their enormous power, comes enormous consequences, some of these items may kill their user in exchange for their powers, and for others, killing the user would be getting off easy...
