Guns for Hire Mortal Magic
This page focuses on magic which is usually used by mortals, though by necessity it also covers basic concepts which are more universal in application.
Chakra
What is Chakra?
Chakra is an internal energy system present in all ensouled living beings. Chakra is not naturally useful for many that have the capacity to use it, humans among them, and requires practice or intervention. Chakra is both the name of the energy itself, and the name of that which emits this energy: points within one's body that are linked to Soul, deriving an offshoot of soul energy from this connection. On occasion these points are referred to as chakra gates, to clarify the difference between the energy and the source.
There are seven prime chakra gates in the body, largely synonymous with the Hindu belief of placement within the body, running from the top of the skull to the base of the spine. Each chakra produces energy that can be differentiated from that originating from any other individual chakra, but the difference is small enough it is not passively visible to students of chakra manipulation.
Chakra gates can be opened variable amounts, and this is commonly referred to as dilation. Chakras 'focus' to different output levels like how eyes 'focus' to different light levels.
An arrangement of energy from one's chakras into a cohesive, practically usable system, is called a chakra orientation. An orientation is like a single spell which the user can fuel using energy from his chakra gates. Orientations take many forms. Even when someone learns another person's particular Orientation, they will not be able to replicate it perfectly. Each person's known chakra orientations are, in at least small ways, unique. Chakra orientations provide ways for a user to affect himself and the world around him. In general, the more complex an orientation and/or the more exaggerated its effects, the more energy intensive it is to run.
Chakra orientations are self-perpetuating. Once a user has entered an orientation, he can alter the degree of dilation of any chakra gates in use to alter the performance of the orientation. In effect, the user is sliding between different but nearly identical versions of the same general form of chakra orientation. As most individuals are quite limited in the degree of change possible, this is commonly judged to simply be an example of how one can customize a given orientation's performance. An advanced user can make a flexible general orientation perform different functions based on the dilation of the chakra gates supporting it.
Each chakra orientation has a 'natural' state, semi-unique to each user. This is the precise amount of energy and chakra dilation involved in each of the seven chakras, analogous to a fingerprint a given orientation. Any use of chakra energy to push an orientation above this default state through dilating one's chakras for increased output is called overcharging. Any use of chakra energy to lower an orientation below this default state through contracting one's chakras is called undercharging.
A user is not limited to a single chakra orientation, and is able to freely switch between them. For most chakra practitioners, attempts to switch orientation mid-battle would be doomed to failure, as the process is too time-consuming. One must have masterful skill in several fields of chakra use and/or have chakras capable of dilating to levels that traditionally take decades of training to achieve to be able to switch orientations in a matter of fractions of a second.
Besides switching orientations, one can attempt to run multiple orientations at once, a technique simply termed multi-orientation. This is considered unreasonably difficult for those who are not dedicated and experienced scholars of chakra. Running a multi-orientation consumes energy faster than the sum amount that would be consumed by each individual orientation being used. That is, multi-orientation will always be more energy-demanding than attempting to do the same thing with a singular orientation that is designed to innately achieve both desired effects. Successfully running a stable multi-orientation for a period measured in something more than seconds is in many cultures and organizations considered one of the requisites to be given a title such as 'Master', insofar as chakra manipulation is concerned.
How do you use Chakras?
Chakra manipulation can be learned through rote training in Orientations, or by having sufficient knowledge of chakra's mechanics to construct new Orientations. The following is critical information to such experimenters:
There are some common associations tied to 'classes' of Chakra energy. In general, the two lower chakras in the body are more suited to stabilizing and defensive magics, the three chakras in the middle are more suited to offensive/mobility/flexibility/evasion/support magics, and the top two chakras are more suited to detection/illusions/mental magics. These are not hardline principles (one can fully use lower body chakras for a mental chakra application) but rather are generalizations about what each chakra is most naturally suited to.
Just as all energy emitted from a specific chakra shares observable commonalities, so too does all energy emitted at the same degree of dilation share commonalities. It is these two sets of shared traits, those unique to each of the seven chakras, and those unique to each level of energy output, that are the basis of all in-depth chakra analysis.
Each discrete level of output shares commonalities as well, and these commonalities manifest in their application. The more Overcharged a given chakra application is compared to its user's 'default' state, the 'rougher' the magic will feel. It will be less inclined to properly function where precision is required while most certainly excelling at brute force applications. Undercharging has atrocious performance when directly squared against forces, but excels when applied to uses that rely in indirect application, and either evade or absorb offending attacks.
Chakra energy does not persist statically, but it also does not fade rapidly. Once chakra energy has been invested in something, it will take between a few minutes to an hour for a given batch of chakra energy to fade. Energy invested in the environment, rather than in a body, fades much faster. This fading can be accelerated by performing something called a Chakra Flush. As the name implies, this means 'flushing' the chakra energy from one's body swiftly and is considered a vital skill for any combat applications of chakra.
While energy from a previous orientation persists in the body, any new orientations will be hindered until it finishes dissipating. However as long as one's new orientation does not involve investing energy in the body, or the same parts of the body, there is no need to flush, as it would only result in the destruction of the lingering benefits of the prior orientation.
What is the scale for chakra progression?
Assuming that a normal mortal human is spending six hours a day learning how to manipulate Chakra from someone that is trained in its use, they will learn, on average, like this:
[Know-Nothing]<[Amateur-Dabbler]<[Apprentice]<[Cadet]<[Journeyman]<[Adept]<[Expert]<[Master]<[Grandmaster]<[Everyone-Step-Back-I-Got-This]
It is assumed this training is never skipped, and that the student will specialize in external or internal manipulation, and offensive, defensive or supportive magics. There are many possible combinations that can come together to form one's specialization in Chakra Manipulation, such as 'Internal Chakra Manipulation focused on manipulating health and illness.' or 'External Chakra Manipulation of kinetic energy manipulation'. Traditionally, one is not considered to even have a specialization until he has achieved at least the Adept level.
The first week or two will be occupied getting the person able to even enter an Orientation, and it will take them a day to do so the first few times. This can be considered an 'awakening' period, as growth does pick up after here for a while.
The first month after a successful application of a Chakra Orientation will be occupied expanding one's familiarity with that first Orientation, and getting the user able to enter this Orientation more smoothly. In theory, by the end of this month, a normal person will be able to enter their initial Orientation in six to ten hours, and is expected able to sustain this Orientation for at least a day, barring directly disruptive influence. This would be considered the moment the student has learned enough they are no longer a dabbler, and are considered an [Apprentice].
To reach the next level of understanding, [Cadet], usually takes between two and five months. Progress observes a reverse bell curve: Predominately people either learn it rather easily and finish in two to three months, or have trouble, and take four to five months. Very few fall between three and four months. At this point, the individual is assumed to know at least five Orientations, and be able to switch orientations within two hours. Further, the individual is expected to now have a grasp of the 'Overcharge' principle, if not anything resembling mastery. At this level, they are expected able to utilize their understanding of chakra in live combat, and not just in the less hectic conditions of a training environment. Such a student is still not considered versed enough to teach.
To become a [Journeyman] usually takes a year, and is largely a period of refining existing knowledge. A key trait of a Journeyman is the ability to perceive chakratic energy as it flows through his body. To this end, it is rare to expect one to know more Chakra Orientations as a Journeyman than as a Cadet, but a Journeyman is expected able to use his orientations more accurately and flexibly. A journeyman can switch Orientations in less than a half hour. Journeyman is the rank one normally would have to reach to be allowed to teach in any form.
The [Adept] is required to have a solid understanding of chakra fundamentals and to be able to apply them to more esoteric and advanced uses. Adepts are able to switch chakra orientations in less than ten minutes. To this end, one spends nine to eighteen months learning between five and ten new orientations. Classic education requires that the Adept be able to use all new orientations with equal skill to those already known, and to do so with minimal direction from a mentor. At the same time, the student learns how to Undercharge chakras (a lesson purposefully omitted earlier, as undercharging without incredibly an stable control of one's orientation is worthless). Once one has demonstrated the ability to accurately estimate how to properly use a new chakra, in terms of use in actual combat and applying overcharge and undercharge alike, they are considered to be an Adept.
To become an [Expert] is a long and arduous process. Most students of Chakra will stay at the rank of Adept forever. It takes at least five years and usually closer to a decade for an Adept to have gained enough experience to become an Expert. At this point, they are assumed to know approximately fifty Chakra Orientations, and are expected to be able to switch chakras within five seconds. Experts are also expected to have learned how to differentiate between energy from each of the seven chakras, and assess what output level the chakra was at when making the energy, even when analyzing chakra energy in another person's body. The last trait expected in an Expert is the knowledge of how to perform a Multi-Orientation, if not the ability to apply it in combat.
[Masters] and those rare few above them are rare. It takes legitimate talent or considerable extenuating circumstances for an 'average' person to reach this rank. The single largest defining trait is that a Master can, if they choose, use Multi-Orientation with sufficient competence to apply it in battle if they so chose. A master can change chakra orientations in under a second, barely needs to think to render a given Orientation at precisely the desired Over or Undercharge level in a split instant, has learned how to perform all manner of Chakra Flushing, and is usually attained some twenty to thirty years after becoming an expert.
Humans don't achieve the [Grandmaster] level often enough for averages of any sort to even exist.
What makes Bloodlines different from Chakra Manipulation?
Bloodlines are purpose-built magic packages innate to the soul and blood of the user which follow logical rules. Users are are born with them, or through immense personal talent with magic self-generate them, or may gain them by a gift from a God/Wizard/Dragon. Bloodlines are completely different from Chakra's 'everyone is capable if they try' format. Chakra manipulation, while effectively infinitely flexible given enough time and practice, is ultimately an inefficient use of one's spiritual power. Bloodlines are more efficient, and for equivalent amounts of time invested in practice will always overpower Chakra manipulation by a nearly insurmountable amount. This is why in general, Bloodline users drastically outperform chakra users. There are far fewer Bloodline users than Chakra manipulators, but there is nothing that prevents a Bloodline user from learning chakra manipulation as well (and many do so). Another point which applies to all forms of Bloodlines is that a human user may have one or two bloodlines but no more than that. Non-human beings may use work-arounds to gain more bloodlines, or (in the case of Dragons) may innately develop them.
Transcendent Humans
What is Transcendence?
Transcendency is a state of being attainable by entities who have transcended the flaws of their natural magic and have embraced becoming something beyond that. Transcendency candidates must have active chakras but lack bloodlines, and must have attained a purity of form either by birth, by their own power, or by specialized processes. Not all trancendents are equal. Transcendency acquired naturally has quality proportional to the being's own quality at the time. An artificial transcendency is variable in quality and depends largely on the source from which it was derived: for example a wizard would produce a better transcendent than any natural process could. An average wizard will impart a better transcendent state than the average deity could.
The talents required to artificially produce a transcendent are skill in either Ritual, Name, or Conceptual magic as well as in Soul, Mind, or Flesh manipulation with respect to the type of transcendent being created. Essentially one skill is required per pool of three skill sets, meaning one who is well versed in Ritual magic and possessing Flesh manipulation could grant someone a transcendent body while someone equally skilled in Name magic and Mind manipulation could produce a transcendent mind.
What does Transcendence do?
Transcendent people have high capacity for learning chakra techniques, and energy efficiency that makes their limited power pools useful enough to be comparable to the larger power pools bloodline practicioners have.
How does a person walk the Transcendent Path?
Foremost, the Transcendent must not have a bloodline or significant magic that does not stem from themselves (i.e. chakra is allowable but contract powers aren't). A Transcendent may be born, or made.
There are ritual procedures to encourage an aspect of a person to become transcendent. Some use ingredients from transcendent people, but not all do.
How does Transcendence compare to bloodlines?
Transcendants are magically bright and visible, make decent magical ingredients, are prone to conflict amongst each other and other beings, and don't have any support structure in place for them usually.
