The System

There is little we truly understand about the System; its dominion encompasses everything, as far as we can tell, and it enables truly amazing things, but we know how none of those things actually work.
— Madame Herta

The Atronach system - often shorthanded to just the System - is the core of the entire litrpg mechanics of Pearalos. The reality is that nobody knows much of anything about how the System works, but its effects are felt universally, its reach ever-present and unavoidable. There are many facets to the System that determine how it operates, and we can talk about a few of these below.

The Atronach Core

A critical component of the System is the Atronach Core. It's a metaphysical construct that all beings possess, but in its latent state is of little value. We know little of why every being has an Atronach Core, but it stands to reason that the System itself is to do with it. We most commonly liken the Atronach Core to that being's Soul, as it seems to allow for their abilities and nature to manifest. On its own, an Atronach Core doesn't do much, but that generally changes at the start of adulthood for all denizens across the world. During this period, a being's Atronach Core begins to become active, granting them access to the broader functions of the System. They first tend to notice this through the appearance of a Head's Up Display - known as the Corewalker HUD - after they wake up one day, followed by the option to select their first paths of progression within the System. This is known as the the Core Awakening Process.

Corewalkers

This period is very well known about, as the System is interacting with people from a young age to aid in guiding them towards the moment of Core Awakening, and thus it seldom catches people off guard, as almost everyone is expecting it. As this process takes place, the being becomes a Corewalker - someone with access to the System at large, who can progress their core level, progress in a progression path, and more. Becoming a Corewalker is a major step for many, and in many societies it's seen as a coming of age matter, and from this point a Corewalker can begin to explore the boundaries of what the System permits and enables.

The First Core Level

Becoming a Corewalker results in getting your first Core Level in the System, and there is a limit of 100 Core Levels available to any Corewalker. During this process, a new Corewalker is guided by the System itself through selecting their first progression path, gaining all of the aspects intrinsic to that path. Details on all of these are detailed in their own pages, but below you can find details on the most important aspect of the System: attributes, including how many someone starts with.

System Attributes

Attributes define the core capabilities of someone within the boundaries of the System's mechanics, and they stand as the core starting point to anybody's life under the System. There are six main attributes in the System, in addition to three resource pools and three derived attributes, and the chosen progression path can add more attributes to these or change them entirely. Together, these attributes form the core pillar of personal ability within the System. Below, you will find details on the main six, which determine physical capabilities and the other attributes' values.

Strength (STR). Governs the power of someone's muscles and thus their ability to swing melee weapons, contributing to the damage of melee weapons and unarmed attacks. A Corewalker's Stamina Pool is determined based on this attribute, alongside Dexterity.

Dexterity (DEX). Governs a Corewalker's reflexes and hand-eye coordination, while also contributing to the damage of ranged and agile melee weapons. A Corewalker's Stamina Pool is determined based on this attribute, alongside Strength.

Endurance (END). Governs the physical toughness and durability of the body; how durable the skin is, how hard it is to pierce, and so on. A Corewalker's Health Pool is determined based on this attribute, alongside Vitality.

Vitality (VIT). Governs the ability of the body to replenish its natural vital energy, as well as fight off diseases and poisons. A Corewalker's base Health Regeneration is determined by Vitality, and it also plays a role in determining their Health Pool, alongside Endurance.

Intellect (INT). Governs how fast a Corewalker can digest and learn new information, and how fast they can grasp foreign or unfamiliar concepts. Contrary to popular believe, it does not make a Corewalker smarter. A Corewalker's Magia Pool is determined based on this attribute, alongside Wisdom.

Wisdom (WIS). Governs the connection of a Corewalker to the lifestream, and their general ability to better wield and deploy restorative magia-based abilities. A Corewalker's Magia Pool is determined based on this attribute, alongside Intellect.

Beyond these attributes, there are also the three resource pools. These are self-evident, and are the mechanics most interacted with by the System itself; these are a Corewalker's core attributes as they govern what they can do.

Health (HP). The sum pool of vital energy a Corewalker can draw on to mend wounds, stave off illnesses, and so on. Health being reduced to 0 doesn't kill a Corewalker, but rather exposes them to taking damage like a regular person, without their protective energy to mend their wounds. Health is determined with the following formula:

50 * ((Endurance * 0.6) + (Vitality * 0.4))

Magia (MP). The innate pool of mystical energy used to power magical abilities, such as Class Essences. Magia is determined with the following formula:

10 * ((Intellect + Wisdom) / 2)

Stamina (SP). The innate pool of physical energy used to power non-magical abilities, such as Class Abilities. Stamina is determined with the following formula:

10 * ((Strength + Dexterity) / 2)

Finally, these are the three derived attributes, which are attributes entirely governed in value by the base attributes.

Health Regeneration (HR). Determines the rate at which Health replenishes naturally. Health Regeneration's base rate is determined based on 10 times the Corewalker's Vitality attribute, and replenishes after a rest period (defined by the System as a 4 hour period of sleep).

Magia Regeneration (MR). Determines the rate at which Magia replenishes naturally. Magia Regeneration's base rate is 72 Magia per day, spread out over 1-hour intervals of 3 Magia regenerated, but a wide variety of perks, skills, abilities and more can impact this further.

Stamina Regeneration (SR). Determines the rate at which Stamina replenishes naturally. Stamina Regeneration's base rate is 60 Stamina per hour, spread out over 1-minute intervals of 6 Stamina regenerated, but a wide variety of perks, skills, abilities and more can impact this further.

There are also many path-specific attributes, but these will be covered in a specific progression path's article.

Starting Attributes

Prior to the Core Awakening Process that grants a Corewalker their first level, the System only assigns them their most basic attributes, known as Initial Attributes (see attribute types below). These attributes are a small amount of initial statistics to ensure that any being has some value for each of their attributes, and are derived from their ancestry's defined attribute values, in addition to the average of their parents' Initial Attributes, along with a slight element of 'genetic variance' that the System also accounts for. This variance comes in the form of 25 additional attribute points that can be freely assigned at any point prior to Core Awakening (if they are not assigned by then, the System will assign them to attributes appropriate to the person's early life), with no attribute being able to be pushed above 30 this way. Even at this stage, a person has access to the Corewalker Interface, allowing them to allocate these points and leverage the System's assistance in picking the best places to put them.

Attribute Types

There are multiple 'waves' to how the System assigns attributes to a Corewalker, which allows for the System to be very granular in how it assigns everything to ensure that various end-stage boons and buff/debuff effects have the maximum effect. These 'waves' are what is known as the Attribute Types, and every Corewalker can see their attributes broken down across these types within the Corewalker Interface.

Initial Attributes. As already noted, these attributes are a small amount of initial statistics to ensure that any being has some value for each of their attributes, and are derived from their ancestry's defined attribute values, in addition to the average of their parents' Initial Attributes, along with a slight element of 'genetic variance' that the System also accounts for.

Base Attributes. These attributes are based on the initial progression path chosen by the person throughout the period leading up to - and including - the Core Awakening. Each progression path influences Base Attributes in a different way, denoted in their respective articles, and these bonuses are far more impactful than the Initial Attributes are. As a Corewalker increases their Core Level and continues to progress in their chosen path (or branch into a secondary path through Multi-Path Progression), these Base Attributes continue to increase. These attributes are the baseline which permanent modifiers modify.

Bonus Attributes. These attributes reflect permanent improvements (or reductions) to the Base Attributes beyond their base value, be it through item effects (bonuses, set effects, and so on), classes, skills, and so on. Bonus Attributes take the baseline value defined by the Base Attributes and modify it, usually multiplicatively, and the effects themselves are multiplicatively cumulative (for example, if a 20% and a 10% bonus to the same attribute was present, the result would be 32%, not 30%).

Temporary Attributes. These attributes are the System's terminology to reflect temporary attribute improvement or reduction, be they through an Ability, an Essence, item use, and so on. They can be negative as well as positive, and they are applied to the Bonus Attributes of a Corewalker. These effects are typically additive instead of multiplicative, with multiplicative Temporary Attributes generally being reserved for very powerful and potent boons and banes.

Rarity

Everything in the System has a rarity, which can be either Common, Uncommon, Rare, Very Rare, or Legendary. These rarities represent how exclusive something is, and how hard it is to obtain and level as a result, and the rarer things are typically also stronger. Anything that is Common is generally freely available to be chosen, while Uncommon and Rare options typically come from the System Exchange and from Dungeons. Very Rare and Legendary options are far rarer, generally being unlocked from special Quests or Perks, and represent some of the most powerful options in the System. Additionally, the rarity of a Progression option (such as a Class, a Skill, a Cultivation Path, or a Profession, and any individual option tied to any of them) directly relates to the Experience modifier required to improve it. Common options require the regular amount of Experience, Uncommon options require 1.5x as much, Rare options require 2x as much, Very Rare options require 3x as much, and Legendary options require 5x as much Experience to improve. This makes the rarer options far harder to reach higher levels, and this generally means that when these options are being actively invested into, the requirements in terms of Experience increase by these values.

Pearalos Codex

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