Ether
"Ether is a strange thing. It's magic, yet it's not.
You can explain how it works, you can't explain why it works.
In the hands of a man, it could do little more than light a torch.
But in the hands of a child, he could raze a city.
The one constant of Ether is that it's a super matter. Nothing else has been consistent. Not how you use it, not how it looks, not even where it comes from. It always changes with every star.
When the Sun and Moon die so to does the Ether that surrounds us. This period of blackout can be dangerous if a city isn't prepared to deal with it, having emergency rations and services to alleviate the more Ether dependent folk.
Recorded, we have 5 different forms of Ether. Blind, Scholar, Blood, Legend and Waning, named after the age they were present in.
The Ether we currently have is Waning Ether, a weakened form of Scholar Ether. Mundane, scarce and simple. Magic just isn't what it used to be. Waning Ether can only be used to do simple things, like light a torch of fill a room with gas. Magic of old, such as earthquakes and walls of pure light is impossible with this Ether. On top of that, it can only be found in Moonkings and Etherfonts. Perhaps if you were a Sparker then you could find some use in this, but as it stands it's not worth the effort and resources required. Let the Elves have their Moonkings.
Blood Ether is a lot more violent, seemingly only used as weapons to cause pain and death. The Blood Age was a violent one. An age that most of us wish forgotten. It was a time when we could see humanity, and that includes elves, vampires, dragons, all of us at our worst. Cruel and depraved was this age of needless bloodshed, and the ether present reflected that. Some examples of Blood Ether magic involved turning your veins into brambles that poked through your skin, disfiguring faces with the lightest touch and forcing people to see the face of the Blind Moon.
Which brings us to our 3rd form of Ether. Blind Ether. The Blind age was a strange time. Most were illiterate, so we don't have many written letters from it. All we know of Blind Ether is that the only was to use it was to learn. Not just about Ether, but about the world around you. But the problem was that the more you learned, the more likely you were to disappear. Just, poof. Vanished into thin air without a trace. Nobody is entirely sure why this happens, it could be that you became one with the Ether and disappeared with it. But if the Blood Age descriptions of the Blind Moon are anything to go by, then something far more sinister was happening.
Legend Ether was the most potent and plentiful form of Ether. Just about anybody could use it, regardless of how their Etherchannels were spread out. Even if the only places your channels ended was at your hair, you could still cast magic. Not very powerful or useful magic, but magic nonetheless. Just about anything you could think of was possible. Portals between cities, flying at great speeds, terraforming farm land. It was the best time to be alive. So of course, it didn't last forever. The Legend Age had been the shortest age in recorded history. A mere 70 years. Perhaps if they just had a little more time, they could have predicted what was going to happen. They could have figured out what happened to the New Sun and Moon.
Scholar's Ether was simple yet useful magic. It was simple like our current Ether but unlike Waning Ether you couldn't really use it as a weapon. Sure you could set someone's house on fire with your lighter fingers but you'd need a lot of gasoline to do so. It was best used in the context of peace, culture and study. You could use it to enhance your memory or heal wounds or even translate languages instantly if you were talented enough. Though I suppose translating language would be less useful if language was literally in your genes."
The one constant of Ether is that it's a super matter. Nothing else has been consistent. Not how you use it, not how it looks, not even where it comes from. It always changes with every star.
When the Sun and Moon die so to does the Ether that surrounds us. This period of blackout can be dangerous if a city isn't prepared to deal with it, having emergency rations and services to alleviate the more Ether dependent folk.
Recorded, we have 5 different forms of Ether. Blind, Scholar, Blood, Legend and Waning, named after the age they were present in.
The Ether we currently have is Waning Ether, a weakened form of Scholar Ether. Mundane, scarce and simple. Magic just isn't what it used to be. Waning Ether can only be used to do simple things, like light a torch of fill a room with gas. Magic of old, such as earthquakes and walls of pure light is impossible with this Ether. On top of that, it can only be found in Moonkings and Etherfonts. Perhaps if you were a Sparker then you could find some use in this, but as it stands it's not worth the effort and resources required. Let the Elves have their Moonkings.
Blood Ether is a lot more violent, seemingly only used as weapons to cause pain and death. The Blood Age was a violent one. An age that most of us wish forgotten. It was a time when we could see humanity, and that includes elves, vampires, dragons, all of us at our worst. Cruel and depraved was this age of needless bloodshed, and the ether present reflected that. Some examples of Blood Ether magic involved turning your veins into brambles that poked through your skin, disfiguring faces with the lightest touch and forcing people to see the face of the Blind Moon.
Which brings us to our 3rd form of Ether. Blind Ether. The Blind age was a strange time. Most were illiterate, so we don't have many written letters from it. All we know of Blind Ether is that the only was to use it was to learn. Not just about Ether, but about the world around you. But the problem was that the more you learned, the more likely you were to disappear. Just, poof. Vanished into thin air without a trace. Nobody is entirely sure why this happens, it could be that you became one with the Ether and disappeared with it. But if the Blood Age descriptions of the Blind Moon are anything to go by, then something far more sinister was happening.
Legend Ether was the most potent and plentiful form of Ether. Just about anybody could use it, regardless of how their Etherchannels were spread out. Even if the only places your channels ended was at your hair, you could still cast magic. Not very powerful or useful magic, but magic nonetheless. Just about anything you could think of was possible. Portals between cities, flying at great speeds, terraforming farm land. It was the best time to be alive. So of course, it didn't last forever. The Legend Age had been the shortest age in recorded history. A mere 70 years. Perhaps if they just had a little more time, they could have predicted what was going to happen. They could have figured out what happened to the New Sun and Moon.
Scholar's Ether was simple yet useful magic. It was simple like our current Ether but unlike Waning Ether you couldn't really use it as a weapon. Sure you could set someone's house on fire with your lighter fingers but you'd need a lot of gasoline to do so. It was best used in the context of peace, culture and study. You could use it to enhance your memory or heal wounds or even translate languages instantly if you were talented enough. Though I suppose translating language would be less useful if language was literally in your genes."
Manifestation
Ether is a glowing blue mist that is usually invisible and undetectable to humans when exposed to open air.
It's possible to distill Ether into a liquid but usually you'd only be able to get it in Moonking Milk.
Type
Metaphysical, Arcane
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