Aura Mechanics#
y'all heard of thaumcraft?
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Aura is the most accessible form of metaphysical energy, and leaks in from the Void. Where the dimensional barrier around a world is weak, aura is able to leak in through holes in metaphysical space. These locations correspond with certain geographical locations in realities, thus creating areas with higher or lower aura content. This can limit or boost aura-based technologies regionally. Natural processes move aura throughout the metasphere, so aura strength can almost be seen as weather patterns.
Potentia#
Potentia is a property of all matter. Matter with higher potentia is matter that is more capable of interaction with aura and other metaphysical energies. Potentia can be accrued simply through the molecular nature of matter - certain structures are better at capturing metaphysical energies. It can also be regional - zones of higher aura strength will contain materials with more potentia. This also applies to living things, but only their physical parts. Souls are not affected.
People with high enough potentia can inherently manipulate aura without the use of rituals or other aura channels. In practical terms, this translates to the ability to direct aura in bursts - the most basic level of manipulation. A high-potentia person can perform more complex feats by inscribing ritual circles onto themselves or simply training enough to direct aura more precisely, to the level that they can shape that aura into a ritual circle in midair.
Aura In Tech#
Aura cannot be created or destroyed, only moved and transformed. Therefore, the foundational forms of aura-based technology are rituals, which are, in simple terms, channels that guide aura to flow in specific patterns to cause specific effects. Rituals are made using special materials with high potentia, and come in various shapes. Therefore, all aura tech is based on the central principle of guiding aura in specific patterns - rituals. Because of this, most aura-based tech is simply ritual inscribed devices. Of course, rituals can also be used by themselves.
Aura Cannons#
These are various firearms and artillery that can concentrate aura from the Void and shoot it out in various shapes to affect the physical world, usually aiming for specific damage types in specialty weapons or the generic combination of thermal and kinetic energy.
Soul-Striking Weaponry#
These are blades that also carry a metaphysical form that moves coterminous to their physical forms. They can scar and damage souls, debilitating their ability to draw in metaphysical energies. In baseline beings, this just makes them faint, and is harmless for the most part. In beings infused with metaphysical energies – such as most of high interdimensional society – this can be detrimental to their ability in the rest of a fight. Soul-striking blades are extremely expensive to manufacture and are mostly used by individuals and haven’t been mass produced for any military yet.