Ether

**Ether** is considered to be a blessing from God, and ***Divine Power*** is the ability to control it, use it as one please, and give it orders. Civilians, and even most priests, are unable to differentiate between the two.

The total amount of ether stored in a person’s soul or ‘plate’ is determined at birth, but that is not the case for Divine Power. Divine Power can continue to grow stronger if a person works hard to train and circulate it frequently without slacking off.

> No matter how much ether a person has, it is useless if they don’t have enough Divine Power to control it. On the other hand, a person who has powerful Divine Power can use their meticulous control to achieve a lot of things even if they were born with a low amount of ether
>
>
> — Aurélie Boutier, in Chapter 9

## Priests

Priests are some of the people who are able to use Divine Power.

When a priest has an excessive amounts of pure and noble, they tend to have a subtle influence over their entourage, such as bestowing good dreams upon the people nearby. This is especially so if the priest often remains in a fix space, where their ether will continue to roam the area.

The different levels and strengths of priests can be classified from strongest to weakest, such as:

* Pope,
* Cardinal,
* Bishop,
* and Clergy level priests.

### Holy Domain

A **Holy Domain** *(also known as a holy circle)* is the simplest form of a golden ether circle. It protects a priest from all external forces.

It can be used to evoke a Divine Oracle to make vows and receives confessions, and can even serve to determine whether or not a person is lying. Those who are forgiven while under the influence of a priest's Holy Domain will receive a special ether reaction. If one has no sins to receive forgiveness for, the Holy Domain will remain calm.

When the opposing forces of two Holy Domains clash, the impact results in *"golden flames [dancing] together like the flames that come up when welding things together"*. The weaker of the two priests feels the strength of the stronger opponent like an invisible force that puts pressure onto their head, akin to a migraine. In order to resist the stronger power, the flow of the weaker priest's divine power makes it so that their ether will squirm around their heart. It is possible for the weaker priest to counter the opposing force by "grabbing" onto the warm liquid-yet-gas-like feel of ether, and *"[twisting] its damn neck and [imagining] that it is under your control"*.

Being able to suppress and control ether is an ability of Divine Power, and through continuous similar image training, a priest can improve the strength of—not only their Divine Power—but their Holy Domain, as well. In a fight between two clashing Holy Domains, it is also possible for a priest to channel their ether to the soles of their feet in order to hold their ground against the force of another Holy Domain.

### Divine Oracle

A **Divine Oracle** is an ability that a priest can evoke after opening a Holy Domain.

The strength of a Divine Oracle varies depending on the Divine Power of the priest who activated the circle. The Divine Oracle would not work if the opponent has a stronger Divine Power than the caster.

After some amounts of practice, priests are able to switch back and forth between regular conversation and Divine Oracle as if *"turning the ether faucet"* on or off.

### Drawbacks

When excessively used, a priest can experience ether overload, where their ether destabilizes and 'burst' and—depending on the strength of a particular priest—can lead to destruction of environment and the loss of consciousness. In Jesse's case, after his ether had exploded following the attempted assassination by Synkie and Peter, he had destroyed his room and crumbled his walls as his Holy Domain filled the entire room, leaving him unconscious for three days in order to recuperate and allow the flow of his ether to calm down.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chapter 9
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Chapter 8
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 7
4. ↑ Chapter 6