Cycle of Life And Death

The mortals of Namyria live under but one universal rule: the Cycle. All that is born, must one day die. All that dies, is one day reborn. This simple yet enormous system is key to keeping Naminus asleep within Namyria, to prevent the end of the world.

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Manifestation

The Cycle is a two-way mechanism that moves energy around, to keep Naminus, the Timewheel, turning, thus preventing his awakening. This energy can be either positive or negative, and must always flow from one to the other.

Positive Energy

Good gods! You so skinny, you have to eat, makosh, so you get strong like warhorse and find good orc wife, ko'ra?

— Babush'ka Grom'tei, my grandmother, just before giving me a third bowl of stew

Positive energy is what gives plants their green, what makes blood flow, and what makes children be born. It is the essence of life, and without it, no mortal would exist on this world. It is administered through the radiance of Solaris, which warms the land, makes flowers bloom and birds sing. The Sun deity channels all this energy from the Plane of Life, a realm made entirely of this energy.
In its quintessential form, positive energy is capable of sealing recent wounds, curing diseases and ailments of the body, lift curses, and even bring back the recently dead to life. Sources of this power vary: some might find themselves favored by a divine that grants such energy, or they may have been touched by great forces of life and now carry a mark aligned to them. Some great and powerful artifacts of myth are said to emit this type of energy, maintaining their wielder healthy and long lived.
If used excessively, however, this energy can saturate a body to the point of overloading it, causing more harm than good. These kinds of harm range from hypersensitivity to the effects of Negative Energy and hallucinations, to the bursting of blood vessels and even sudden heart attacks. While there are no records of such an occurrence, some argue that, in sufficient amounts, Positive Energy can make a body burst entirely.

Negative Energy

Is it wrong to strip the gold from the deep mountains, or to hunt a pack of beasts for just a plate of tender meat? We all know it is not. Why, then, do you and the gods frown upon me when I take this miraculous fountain of power, abundant and readily available?!

— Xyrcanas Stargazer, the First Lich, on his usage of the souls of the dead for his rituals.

Negative energy is what is left at the end of life. A few moments after death, the mortal soul joins The Cycle, and begins its flow towards the Plane of Death, where the sum of its experiences and emotions will join the rest of souls in their eternal rest, and the negative energy they accumulated is purified in transition to the Plane of Life, where it arrives as fresh Positive Energy.
Negative Energy, as its name clearly implies, has no positive effects on the body of the living. It can cause a variety of harmful effects, like temporary or permanent physical and psychological damage, diseases, and even death, in many possible forms. The greatest danger and horror of this type of energy, however, is the possibility of using it to reanimate and control the bodies of the dead, in a practice called Necromancy. This foul arcane art pushes the limits and capabilities of negative energy, forcing it to stay in the realm of the living much longer than it was designed for. This soils the entire system, interfering with the flow of energy in the nearby land. Withering crops, cows that give sour milk, stillborn children, plagues and the weak and old suddenly falling dead are some of the most common occurrences. Worse yet, when combined with positive energy (usually acquired from one or more living sacrifices), a most foul and unsettling ritual can be performed, one in which the performer may achieve Lichdom, a state of living undeath, where the tethers of life, death and the cycle no longer bind them.
Since this is not the intended use of this energy, abuse of it can unsettle the balance of the cycle. Necromancy, in some forms more than others, deeply offends Solaris and Lunaris, who protect this balance in order to prevent catastrophe.

Aging

A surplus of Positive Energy fills the mortal body at birth, allowing it to grow and mature. This surplus starts evening out, and later begins to deteriorate into Negative Energy as adulthood is reached and passed, slowly but surely draining the mortal of their youth. Once the balance of negative and positive reaches a certain threshold, which varies depending on race, gender, dietary habits, etc., the organs in the body begin to succumb to the effects of negative energy, and soon after, comes death.

The Planes

See articles: Plane of Death & Plane of Life

Flaws

While Solaris designed the system, and alongside Lunaris have done a masterful job in keeping Naminus asleep, the system is not without it's wrinkles. The Anaetherials, mortals who have transcended the limits of mortality to divinity, are, in most cases, abnormalities the system cannot handle, or who managed to trick or bypass the system in it's entirety.
Many have managed to become entities with too much positive or negative energy for the system to handle without causing a great disturbance, so they had to be invited or escorted out of the universe. Others discovered its vulnerabilities, and managed to break free from the shackles of mortality, crossing the edges of the universe and creating their own planes of existence.
For more information, see article: Anaetherials

Type

Metaphysical, Astral

Locations of Manifestation

Plane of Death, Plane of Life

Affected Concepts/Individuals

All living creatures

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