Arts

How arts works in most parts of the world is pretty simple. Each person is born with latent potential to harness arts, and that latent potential usually has an affinity. This affinity can be tested using a seer stone, which glows a specific hue depending on your affinity. Seer stones are common and can be found all over the world, most countries have them readily available for young children to determine the path they want to pursue. If you are capable enough, there are ways to "shape" your affinity into a more specific power. This shaping can sometimes happen at random, where you realize your ability without trying to obtain that specific ability, but it can also guided provided you have adequate skill and training.

Arts manifests itself via a series of manipulations and techniques. Manipulations relate more to an affinity and is basically the "kind" of art that is controlled (earth, water, metal, sand, etc.) while techniques relate to how each person utilizes their arts. Essentially what would be considered a spell is called a technique.

There are three major groups of that the affinities are typically categorized in, the categories are made on simple relations made with the affinities and the world. The earth and water affinities are known as the life affinities, as they make up the basis of life. The fire, lightning, and light affinities are known as the energy affinities, as they are the different manifestations of energy. The air and darkness affinities are known as the soft affinities, as they tend to be less tangible.

Arts are not common in the world, with only 40% of the population having an affinity and even less being able to channel that affinity into an art. However, arts have become a staple in many cultures and practices around the world.

Seer Stones

Seer stones are clear, highly crystalline stones used to determine one's affinity. When one's energy is applied, the small stone will slowly begin to float and glow a specific color, and that color determines your affinity. If the stone remains colorless and doesn't float, it means that you do not have any latent affinity, and even though you still have latent potential for arts you'll likely not be able to utilize it without the help of some tool, weapon, or artifact. The seer stone can also break into pieces and display different colors for each piece, which means the person holding the stone has an affinity for more than one element. After breaking a part, the seer stone will stay broken.

• Fire: The stone becomes a fiery red hue.
• Water: The stone becomes a soft blue hue.
• Earth: The stone becomes a strong green hue.
• Air: The stone becomes a smoky grey hue.
• Lightning: The stone becomes an electric yellow hue.
• Light: The stone becomes a brilliant pale-yellow hue.
• Dark: The stone becomes a bold black hue.

Affinities

There are seven affinities present within the world. Each affinity can develop into a myriad of powers and abilities, and can also be mixed with multiple other affinities for even more types of powers and abilities.

Fire

Characterized by a fiery red hue, the fire affinity is a very common affinity to have. It can manifest in its purest form, or form other elements such as ash and magma. This affinity typically adds some sort of energy aspect when mixed with other affinities. Fire, as well as lightning and light, are called the energy affinities because they all have to deal with energy in some of its purest forms

Water

Characterized by a soft blue hue, water affinities are typically thought of as life-giving affinities, as many of them have to deal with living things. Water affinities can mix with other affinities (especially earth) and can make such affinities as plant and wood based affinities used to create living things.

Earth

Characterized by a strong green hue, the earth affinity is said to be the most versatile of the affinities due to its large variety of derivations. The affinity can manifest itself into many derivations of earth, including sand and metal.

Air

Characterized by a smoky white hue, the air affinity is slightly overlooked at times, but is indeed extremely versatile. It can create powerful offensive techniques as well as quiet stealth techniques. Due to being categorized as a soft affinity, it is somewhat difficult to learn to control this affinit- based purely on its nature. Once trained many leaders have held this affinity and used it to perform powerful techniques.

Lightning

Characterized by an electric yellow hue, the lightning affinity is a very powerful affinity. The pure energy that emanates from this affinity lends to powerful offensive techniques for those who harness it. It is also said to be the fastest affinity, allowing someone to gain an extreme advantage over the battlefield.

Light

Characterized by brilliant, pale yellow hue, people who use the light affinity have been taken as gods and holy deities. People have developed this affinity into powerful techniques, including invisibility.

Dark

Characterized by a bold black hue, the darkness affinity is one of the more esoteric affinities and it is somewhat more rare to find a practitioner. Also called the affinity of insanity, this affinity has been known to wear away the minds of those who wield it, driving them to madness.

Potential

Potential is a pseudo affinity developed and discovered by Enix Myrtemer. Potential is an amplification of energy, allowing the user to alter aspects of their art and raise it to a level not capable by other means. This has led to the development of new powerful arts. The method for obtaining potential is through constant training and learning, and is so hard on the body that only the most skilled practitioners are able to pull this off successfully. It seems that humans with high levels of B-tetraxilin that experience some unnatural trauma are able to innately develop some form of potential as well, although this doesn't seem to be as strong as a trained version of potential.

Archaic Arts

Archaic arts are arts that mortals were able to obtain before the advent of arts. These archaic arts are powerful and took a lifelong commitment to studying in order to learn. In the present day, these arts are somewhat rare but no longer take a lifetime of study to learn. Each category archaic art has its own hand symbol, used to stabilize the art and contain it. Having existed before the advent of arts, archaic arts are not locked to any sort of affinity, but they can have affinities applied to them. Some archaic arts, such as binding and body modification arts, have become much more common in the modern world while other archaic arts, such as teleportation and time arts, are still rarely seen. It should also be pointed out that archaics are not technically arts, as they were not created by the tynar and do not rely on the manipulation of affinities.

Binding Arts

Binding art is one of the more common of the archaic arts, as it still practiced by powerful art users. The hand symbol for binding art is both hands clasped together with the fingers interlaced. The name is rather self explanatory, as this category of archaic art is used to trap and conceal other sources of arts.

Body Modification Arts

Body modification art is, as the name suggests, related to changing the body. This art is still to this day not well understood and tends to vary completely from one technique to the next. While not well understood, this art seems to be somewhat intuitive and allows for easier development of body modification techniques after one or two are learned. An example of its intuition is that High General Sarrow was able to develop a body modification technique to edit the bones of his Legion, Modric, after learning a separate but similar modification technique that he had used on himself. The hand symbol for body modification art is both hands creating an upside-down triangle by touching the tips of every finger.

Teleportation Arts

A very uncommon art to witness, teleportation art is thought to be one of the rarest of the archaic arts. Teleportation art is unique in that it is the only archaic art with a one-handed hand symbol, which likely developed due to the fast nature of the art. The hand symbol is composed of the pinky and ring fingers curled into the hand with the thumb and pointer finger extended forward and the middle finger bent at the top two knuckles to make a hook.

Time Arts

The rarest of the archaic arts, time art is a very powerful art that has been almost completely lost through the ages. Time art, as the name suggests, is used for the manipulation and distortion of time. The hand symbol used to invoke time art is forming a circle with both thumbs and both pointer fingers.

History

The Advent of Arts

The advent refers to when mortals began to be born with the innate ability to use arts. Before the advent of arts in the world, arts were not commonly able to be used by mortal creatures. Arts were still very much a part of the world, but it was rare, ancient, and fickle. Mortals were taught how to use arts by mortal sympathizers of the tynar race, a race of superior beings that had conquered all corners of the world. The tynar are a race of intelligent bipedal magical beasts that were the first being ever to be able to use arts. During the Millennium War, a tynar named Enix Myrtemer created a resistance army and began teaching the mortal races how to use their latent energy to manipulate arts. While weak and physically draining at first, over time people who were able to train their energy to high levels were able to pass those traits on to their children, who could attain even higher levels of energy control, eventually becoming strong enough to manipulate powerful arts.

This advent did not affect the country of Methos Gran because of a large structure known as the Boundary. This structure was created by the first ruler of Methos Gran in a practice of isolationism in order to protect objects known as sigils that started appearing in the country.

Practitioners of Arts

While once rare, practitioners of arts are quite common in the modern world. However, not all who use arts use it at the same level of skill, and there are different classifications, called castes, denoting your status on how skilled of a user you are. Your caste level is an international indicator of your adeptness at using your art, and is usually only useful in military situations. For most countries, castes have no impact on socioeconomic status. Since there are only four different castes, the breadth of each caste is wide, and there can be large differences in abilities between two members of the same caste.

Common Caste Practitioners

Most practitioners of arts fall under the common caste. This is the weakest caste of arts users and consists of many non-combat users. Most people who aren't in any sort of military and therefore generally don't train their arts fall under this caste.

3rd Caste Practitioners

The weakest of the combat castes, this caste consists of low level and beginner fighters.

2nd Caste Practitioners

A powerful caste consisting of skilled and veteran fighters.

1st Caste Practitioners

This caste consist of the most powerful users of arts in the world, many rulers and generals, as well as powerful villains, fall under this caste. The skills needed to attain this caste require both natural talent and rigorous training, and many don't ever make it to this power level.

Energy Practices

Energy is in all aspects of nature and within all creatures. While it is abundant and naturally reoccurring, it is still limited by the source. When creatures use energy, they consume the naturally generating energy within their bodies. This comes back over time, faster for some than others, but can still cause severe symptoms such as fatigue, exhaustion, dizziness, and even fainting if depleted from the body. Some creatures naturally have more available energy within them, and while there is no way to increase energy reserves there are methods to reduce consumption rates.

Energy Shielding

Energy shielding is a basic technique used by arts practitioners to defend against other arts. It requires the user to create a thin skin of their own energy around themselves to protect them from both physical attacks and offensive arts. While more advanced arts practitioners are much better at this technique than novices, even at its most basic level energy shielding can protect one from an otherwise lethal attack.

Energy Observation

Energy observation is a wide category for sensing energy. Energy observation is the awareness of different energy within the observation area of the user. The most common use of energy observation is energy perception. This is the ability to distinguish between sources of energy and determine the strength of that energy within a given area. High-level energy perception allows the user a larger range and the ability to pinpoint the location of that energy source if out of view, as well as being able to distinguish between sources that are close together. An example of an adept use of energy observation is the ability to distinguish between different energy signatures and determine the identity of a person based off of it. An example of an easier to learn use of energy observation is energy concept, which is the ability to be able to recognize the flow of energy within objects, allowing the user to sense attributes such as thickness and density.

Energy Manipulation

This is the most basic practice regarding energy and is the basis of all arts. Energy manipulation is simplified into two aspects; force and form. Force is the strength of the manipulated energy. Techniques that are purely related to the force aspect are incredibly strong but lack precision. Techniques that are purely related to the form aspect lack power but are precise and hold an intricate form. Both aspects are important in all techniques, but the aspect that the technique leans more towards depends on the use of that technique. Within energy manipulation is also something known as energy alteration, which allows a user to alter their own energy to either mask it or better connect it with something. An example would be experienced possession users alter their energy in a way that makes it more like the energy of their possession, allowing them more access to their power.

Energy Form Expression

Energy form expression is the practice of understanding energy concepts in a different way. Much like there are various fighting styles built around different theories of fighting, the different energy form expressions are ways that people control their own body and mind in order to achieve a certain outcome.