Mana

Mana is a crucial item in the world of Shelter, and the energy that permeates the entire World.

## About

Every living being that is capable of thoughts expels mana into the environment. Mana is essentially a supernatural energy that all sapient being produce inside their body to fuel certain racial abilities and spells that can produce various change in the world around them.

The exact nature of mana is still unclear and its not something anyone has a full understanding of according to Luke.

**What is mana?:** In the Lore, scholars have a certain theory that all things in the World are ambiguous and uncertain, and could be considered “*fluid*”, but that it becomes solid with the presence of a conscious “*observer*”. Just by being conscious beings and experiencing the world, people define reality(something close in description to Schrodinger cats, the phenomena of quantum superposition). It is then explained that even forgotten, unimportant experiences that aren’t core memories, those are “uncertain”, still hold the same reality defining power, as “*they changed the World at some point”*. Mana is as Luke describe it “*the forgotten memory of you eating your sandwich*”. Those experiences described don’t disappear, and stay inside the person as mana and over time seep out into the environment to become the fuel that runs the World. It is why only conscious being produce Mana, its true nature is “*life experiences*”. All experiences, regardless of their nature turns into mana, although not all experiences are equal. People with more interesting, colorful and fulfilling lives “tend to grow stronger on the magic front”. The Core(the term for soul in Shelter) grows stronger with strong experiences and more Mana is produced.

They are seven type of mana, one for each species, and each having a certain set of characteristics and concepts surrounding them.

**How can mana be used?:** Technically speaking, everything that lives needs as much food, water and air as it does need mana so it’s used passively. There are four stage at which mana can be used beside living.

-       **Racial abilities:** Just like one can burn fat to exercise, you can burn mana to use Racial abilities, the second level of intensity of mana burning. Each species have one inborn magical ability they can use through this level of mana burning.

-       **Ablaze**: The third level of mana burning required for ember, the own specificities of it being unclear. One need to be in a special state to reach it. It is as this level that burning mana is hard and can’t be really trained, most magic users never achieving mastery over Ablaze, something even those that master it lose as they grow older.

-       **Ember:** Embers are a special type of Mana-fueled abilities that use an intense method of bringing out the specific aspects of each Mana as words of command for powerful magical effect. A master of an Ember burns his Mana in a close conjunction with the Mana of another species for a specific and very powerful effect by bringing out the singular basic elements of each Mana. They are sometimes called “Spells of the True Power”, a magic born from the caster, but no more limited by its source, making it possible to bend the World itself to one’s will. Crafting a new ember is something that is seemingly done in very emotionally strong circunstances and has some cost for its maker, such as Luke who lost memories in the process of building an ember.

-       **Undisclosed final level**

Mana from another species can be used. Mana occurs naturally in small quantities in the air, and its possible to pass it to someone else with a touch if one’s Mana control is good enough, and it can also apparently be exchanged through bodily fluid. To absorb a foreign mana allow one to experience the same level of sensorial ability of the specie it belonged to, and a sufficiently skilled person can burn it to use another specie racial gift and use embers, although those two takes training and dedication.

While normal conscious beings are creatures of Order, monsters are being of chaos, created when one’s core is destabilized beyond repair. They are the exception to the “one specie, one mana” rule and have mana in different proportions in their body which may result in erratic and unusual magical abilities.

In the world outside of the Shelter, where mana exist in the air to some level, it can sometime condense into mana crystals, which are solidified chunk of mana from one type, with a color befitting of said mana type. It can be created artifically through a powerful ablaze, the likes that can be caused by torture or extreme emotions(in Rune case).

## Human mana

Human mana has the currently only known characteristics of Truth. Its color is unknown under mana vision as Luke cannot see his own mana under mana vision, kind of how you can’t smell your own body odor as your are used to it. The human racial gift is **Mana vision**, and allow humans to perceive mana visually as colorful light, each mana having its own color. Luke can see mana in living beings(monsters included), relics, in the air itself or in mana crystals, and it allows him to read displays on mana-based technology. This ability is apparently quite straining, at least in the (sole known) case of Luke, and he can’t maintain it too long without hurting his eyes. Also, it seems that trying to use this racial gift too hastily without enough training can lead to temporary blindness, at least in the case of Teak.

Humans seemingly have an inborn flexibility when it comes to using foreign mana. Also, this type of mana is never found in monsters, and its inherent properties makes possible to cast embers with incredibly strange effect.

Another property unique to this sort of mana is that it "clarify" thoughts and allow for a more complex thinking process, an experience that is overwhelming to non-human that use this mana.

## Canine mana

Canine mana has characteristics of: Unity, Light, Order and Day... It appears as red under mana vision. The racial ability conferred by this mana is **Empathy,** a mana ability to connect to someone else mind. When a canine focus, they get a feeling of the presence of other living creatures around them, and in a very emotional or stressful situations, they can feel another person’s emotions like if they were their own.

Canine call “**Pack Mentality**” the perfected version of Empathy. It happens when at least two canine-mana user manage to connect and accept each other on the deepest level to reach a state of complete unity of mind, allowing the sharing of thoughts, senses, skills and knowledges. Those in the link can coordinate with perfect unity as if they were “*two hands of the same person*”. Its apparently a straining process however, and there must be that willingness to surrender to the pack. That doesn’t mean one needs to even like the other persons involved, and Rune noted that in the military they simply used discipline to taught soldiers to surrender their minds to their superiors, genuine Pack mentality is preferable. Apparently, Pack Mentality is harder when there is a lot of person linked together, hence why a charismatic leader can help bind the group together.

With training, empathy can be used on other species, but not on human. It seems that the human mind operate on a different(probably "higher") frame and neither Rune(an excellent user of empathy in all of its application) nor Burry(one of the most formidable magic-user in the canine kingdom if not the world) can get a read on Luke, Max saying that they just hear noise when they attempt to. However, a human mind can be read when the human also use empathy.

## Ungulate mana

Ungulate mana has the characteristics of: **Destruction, Heat, Body and Fire**... Their mana appear as purple under mana vision and their racial ability is a form of enhanced strenght.

## Rodent mana

Rodent Mana has the characteristics of: Containment, Stillness, Eternity and Earth... Under mana vision, this mana appear as green. They apparently have a closer connection to nature than any other race, and their racial ability is “**The seal”**, a sort of personal pocket dimension that can store objects when in contact with the ground or at least a solid surface.

## Feline mana

Feline mana has the characteristics of: **Independence, Darkness, Chaos and Night**... Their color code in mana vision is orange, and their racial ability is unnamed but they can weaken the physical structure of what they touch.

## Saurian mana

Saurian mana has the characteristics of: **Restoration, Cold, Mind and Water**... It is seen as blue under mana vision, and their racial ability allow them to regenerate themselves and other for more talented magic users. Burry is said to be exceptionally talented at it.

## Avian mana

Avian mana has the characteristics of: **Release, Movement, Moment and Wind**... Under mana vision, their color code is yellow. The avian racial ability is "**Winds of Liberty"**, which nullify gravity, enabling levitation.

## Spells and Embers

**Garden of the god**: A primal amber Luke attempted during the afternoon in Max route. Max misinterpret it as a spell that slow down time to a crawl to enter a "something like a dream we can control". Luke correct him and describe the spell as something that creates a temporary speck of reality out of th contents of the target's mind. He describes it as something that cannot be controlled, as even traumas can be generate in the illusion, describing it as something for "epiphanies and stuff". Max wanted to use it to link himself(the target) to the other dogs present during his concert through pack mentatliy facilitated by the music. It needs canine mana, human mana, and at least one undisclosed other.

**Breath of Colchis:** A spell that generate a powerful mighty purple explosion. It uses ungulate, feline and canine magic. It was located within the Time bomb, and it apparently sucks up the mana in the air during the blast.

**Dance with wolves**: A canine amber used by Alon against multiple monster. When triggers it, magic seems to distort space and time, separating light and dark as if they were tangible substances by making the light brighter and the shadow thicker. A flurry of slash seems to come from every direction as time seem to slow down, while Alon moves extremely fast as if he was just a shadow.

**Amicus Dei:** an ember used by Burry, needing Canine, Saurian, Rodant and Human mana(the only amber known to use the last one). The snow around glimmers with colorful sparks, and snow seem to slow down, before accumulating in a thin white veil. The ember bring back the dead the caster was close with(their name and existence must be "carved" into the caster core) into the form of animated feral-looking ice golems. Burry use it to summon his eleven brothers, and he did so apparently multiple time in fighting situations, having done so at least a year prior to the events of the story. Also, when a person use this amber on people they knew and connected to but that are made into monsters, they can free them of their conditions, and it seems to be a prerequisit before casting the amber. This amber seem to be solely known by Burry, and also cannot be cast more than a few times and the caster will finally forget those that were brought back.

**Chainbreaker**: a spell casted by Luke using Feline and Avian mana using the concepts of independence and release. It was used to free himself from the grip of a monster.

**The Unbreakable Echelon**: An Avian-Canine spell avians use to blink towards their comrades. Through the avian mana of his knife, Burry use it to save Luke by passing him the knife. Luke later make the knife blinks out into Burry paws.

**Geas**: a form of binding promise the king of the wolves use through a scarlet rope that reflect light. It is refered by Atri as the "canine magic of absolute obedience".

**Howling echoes**: an ember cast by Rune, summoning the spirit of the hero Noon Moon as a solid canine warrior aura with a shield and a red shining sword. Rune use Luke to act as a host. Only Rune can use it and according to him "*Howling Echoes was an Ember born on weakness, selfishness, willful ignorance, and completely broken logic*" altough Rune sees it as "*the most honest miracle*".

**Undisclosed Ember**: an ember that was crafted by Luke, at the cost of memories he had with Max. What it does has yet to be shown in a futur build.