The Three A's

The Three A's (commonly abbrievated as the **3As**) are disciplines that manipulate the supernatural energies of the universe in order to achieve the impossible. They are Arcana, Aura, Anima, and are prevalent throughout society. They allow you to travel in and out of the Ancestral Realm, create intricate runes that accomplish a variety of effects, summon spirits to do your bidding, create avatars of power to destroy your foes, and more.

The 3As almost creates a pseudo class system. Intelligent characters would be better off with choosing Arcana, while warrior-like characters would choose Aura. Anima is more for almost hybrid characters and summoners.

## Brief Summary

Arcana is magic. It deals with manipulating mana, the energy of the mind. It's the most versatile of the three energies, though that stops it from being the strongest in some cases. With Arcana, you're able to create runes and enchantments, teleport, send flurries of elemental attacks at your enemies, and more. You are able to do nearly anything. In order to use Arcana, one must be intelligent.

Aura is the energy of the body. It deals with the physical world, and as such is the strongest energy when doing so. With aura, you can heal yourself, create avatars, evoke weapons or objects, drown your opponents in conjured water, and more. Aura requires the user to be physically capable, being intensive in agility and strength.

Anima is the energy of the heart and soul. It deals with spirituality and the Ancestral Realm. With anima, you can summon spirits to do your bidding, subtly change the hearts of others to have them serve you, evoke spiritual energy to cut down foes, rapidly increase your time perception to therefore increase your reflexes, render yourself physically intangible, and more. The discipline of Anima is split into two categories: Skill/Precision and Willpower. The former requires its namesake, which is great skill and calmness. The latter requires the ability to befriend, or force spirits with your will.

## Arcana

Arcana, more
commonly known as Magic, is the discipline of using mana in tandem with your mind to produce a desired effect. These
effects are called spells. Practitioners of magic are known as mages.

Magic involves both
studying mana, and learning to manipulate mana with your mind. The two
main aspects of magic is knowledge and focus. Comprehending the nature
of mana is a hard task in itself, but controlling the energy with
your mind to exploit its nature and cast a spell is what makes the discipline so difficult. You can be intelligent enough to understand the nature of the spell you want to cast, but without a strong, focused
mind, you won't be able to cast a powerful spell. Vice versa, you can
have a strong mind but if you don't comprehend your school of magic,
your selection of spells will be very limited.

Mana is produced by the mind and stored in the mana pool. In order to recover mana, one must rest and abstain from the use of mana. Repeated use and strain of the
mana pool will increase it, much like how muscle strengthens after
arduous work.

### Schools of Magic

With magic, mages
are able to accomplish almost anything. There are many schools of magic,
ranging from telepathy to aquamancy to necromancy. Out of the three
energies, magic has the most utility. Mages can learn to teleport,
create enchantments and runes, and more.

## Aura

Aura is the
discipline of using the bodily energy, Aura. More specifically, it's the
use of aura, in tandem with your body, to produce a desired effect
known as an Alos. Practitioners of aura are known as Aurics.

Aura involves both
training and strengthening your body, and learning to manipulate the
energy. The two main aspects of aura is strength and skill. Strength in
aura refers both to your bodily strength, as well as the intensity of
your aura manipulation. An auric with good strength can achieve stronger
Alosi, such as crushing boulders or evoking powerful weapons. Skill in
aura refers to the user's control of their body, as
well as how well they form and shape their aura. An Auric with good
skill can achieve more difficult Alosi, like evoking complicated items like guns or even large ballistas, transmuting the environment around you, or healing.

Aura is produced by the body as well as collected from the environment, and stored in the aura pool. In order to recover aura, one must rest their bodies and abstain from the use of aura. A common
misconception is that the amount of aura someone has directly correlates
with how fit their body is. One can only grow their aura pool through
repeated use of aura. It is completely dependent from their body. For
example, an auric can have a strong body but if they don't practice the
use of their aura, their aura pool will be rather small.

### The Law of Alos

Aura is unique from
Arcana and Anima, in the sense that alosi must originate from the body
and stay connected to the body in order for the user to continue to be
able to manipulate it. For example, if an auric evokes a sword of aura,
but drops it, they won't be able to control it anymore as they're
disconnected from it. Because of this Law of Alos, most ranged alosi
remain tethered to their user, commonly through a strong, thin string of
aura. More skilled Aurics can make their tethers so thin that they're
practically invisible.

### Schools of Aura

With aura, aurics
can manipulate the physical world to their pleasing. There are many
schools of aura, focused not only on combat but on practical use as
well. Listed below are examples of uses of aura. (If you have an idea
for an aura ability, please don't be afraid to suggest.)

* **Evocation:** The art of molding your aura into a shape, then manipulating the shape's properties. This is a basic school of aura. Most Aurics who practice Evocation use the school not only for making weapons mid-battle, but also serving them in daily life, such as evoking a bag to help them carry things. The form of evoked aura normally appears as glossy, translucent, and in the color the user desires. More skilled practitioners of Evocation are able to manipulate the appearance of their aura to look more like real objects.
	+ **Elemental Evocation:** The art of giving your evoked aura elemental properties. This is a more advanced school of aura. You can use Elemental Evocation to produce effects such as striking someone with an bolt of auric lightning, or igniting your sword with auric flames**.**
		- **Avatar:** An even more advanced school of Evocation is Avatar. It is a very difficult school to learn, as it involves engulfing the user in physical aura to form an avatar around them. These avatars can range in size and strength, from the size of double the user's body to a full building.
* **Strength Boost:** The art of giving oneself more physical strength. This allows for aurics to be able to give themselves higher bodily power and speed, even to superhuman levels. Stronger practitioners in this art, for example, are able to lift tons, as well as outrun cars.
* **Healing:** The art of mending wounds and curing disease. Auric Healers are able to simply touch another, and are able to fix any ailment their bodies may be experiencing.
	+ **Shapeshifting:** The art of modifying one's own body with aura to a desired shape. The more experienced users of Shapeshifting can do a full body transformation, where they turn into things ranging from a beast, to a small critter, to even an everyday object. The art of shapeshifting has many useful uses. You could enhance your vision, grow wings, or even harden your skin to be as tough as steel.
	+ **Alteration:** The difficult art of altering another's body. It's an advanced sub-school of healing. Alteration is intended for effects other than healing. One use of alteration is hardening another's skin so that they may have better defense. An offensive use of this ability could be damaging their internal organs, or even blinding them with a single touch.
		- **Symbiosis:** The rather difficult art of combining Shapeshifting and Alteration to change the shape of another. An offensive example would be altering the brain's hormonal levels, causing a variety of mental effects. A defensive example would be partially merging with another being. A utility example would be befriending other animals, which makes it a useful skill for druids.
* **Transmutation:** The art of changing the properties of an external object. Similar to shapeshifting, except that you're manipulating something other than yourself. By touching an object, a practitioner of Transmutation is able to change its properties, like its composition, state of matter, temperature, and more.
* **Mimicry:** The art of copying the exact movements and skill of another, simply by watching. By boosting their own eyes and nervous system with aura, one is able to replicate another to near, if not complete perfection. For example, if they're watching a skilled archer shoot an arrow, they can replicate the same form and accuracy. The user does not retain their skill with whatever they mimicked, however, as they are only able to perform it for as long as they're boosting their eyes and nervous system. If they stop this enhancement, then their muscle memory forgets the skill, and they must copy it again.
* **Tethering:** The art of keeping something attached to the user's body using a thin string of aura. All ranged auric abilities use some form or principal of Tethering in order to keep control. Tethering allows for basic 'telekinesis' as well, as the user would be able to lift objects with a small string of aura.
	+ **Puppetry:** The art of manipulating objects using tethered aura. Practitioners of this skill use the Law of Alos to their advantage, keeping their 'puppets' tethered to their bodies in order to maintain control. More skilled users can manipulate up to a dozen or more objects.

## Anima

Anima is the
discipline of using the energy of the heart and soul, Anima. More specifically, it's the use of anima, in tandem with your emotions and/or soul to produce a desired effect, known as an Aius. Practitioners of
anima are known as Animists.

Anima focuses
heavily on skill/precision and willpower. They apply directly to both the heart
and soul. For the soul, you need skill/precision. For the heart, you need willpower to overcome and dominate spiritual dangers and befriend spirits.

Anima is collected from the Ancestral Realm by the soul. In order to recover anima, one must rest and
abstain from the use of anima. To grow your anima pool, you must strain
it much like you would strain muscles in order to become stronger.

Unlike alosi,
aiuses don't have to originate from the body. Similar to magic, animics
can manifest their aiuses away from their body for ranged aiuses.

### Emotions

Emotions can
significantly affect the effects of an aius. What makes anima a
difficult discipline is not only the complexity of the techniques, but
also how to control them and their effects. Many animics have good
self-control, because they're able to control their own emotions.

A common
misconception about emotions in anima is that emotions govern the
effects of an aius. They do not, though they can heavily impact the
effects of the aius, unless the user is skilled enough not to let their
emotions affect their aiuses.

* **Anger:** Adds an offensive aspect to an aius. Hurts others.
* **Happiness/Love:** Adds a defensive, supporting or healing aspect to an aius. Helps others. For example, a soul evoked sword swung happily at a friend could heal their soul instead of hurting it.
* **Excitement:** Adds speed to an aius.
* **Determination:** Adds power and intensity to an aius.
* **Sadness:** Adds a spreading/splash effect to an aius, causing animic effects to spread to others nearby. The sadness of the user can also spread to others. For example, a soul evoked sword swung at a victim could cause the slash in the victim's soul to appear in others' souls nearby.
* **Fear:** Adds a random effect to an aius. A fearful aius can have any of the effects of the other emotions.

### Schools of Anima

With anima, one can manipulate the emotions and souls of others, and of the Ancestral Realm. (If you have an idea for an anima ability, please don't be afraid to suggest.)

* **Soul Evocation:**The art of giving intangible form from your soul. Soul Evocation affects the souls of others. A soul evoked sword that slashes the leg of a victim would hurt the victim's leg and instilling a number of effects on them. They would feel weakened, lose their will, and feel the same pain in their leg as if they were actually cut in their physical body. This makes soul evocation dangerous, as it allows for unseen wounds.
	+ **Ki:** The art of giving your soul evocation tangible form. Ki is highly unstable when uncontrolled, as it naturally wants to return to its state of intangibility. If left uncontrolled, the Ki will release a high amount of energy and explode. The more skilled the user is, the more they can manipulate the properties of their ki, including the hardness, shape, and more.
		- **Elemental Ki**: The difficult sub-school of Ki that gives your Ki elemental properties. Practitioners of this art are able to make fire, electric, arctic and more types of Ki.
* **Soul Consumption:** The art of consuming the anima from other spirits and souls in order to increase physical strength. This ability tends to tire out the opponent both physically and spiritually, while also increasing one's own physical strength. A downside to this ability is that Soul Consumption is a rather tiring technique, in which you use more anima than you consume.
* **Zen:** The art of temporary clearing your mind and heart of your emotions. This art gives you enhanced focus, thus sharpening your senses. Time also slows down for the user, allowing their mind to think faster and have significantly improved reaction timing. Note that Zen does not increase the user's speed, only their reaction time.
* **Insight:** The art of achieving clairvoyance. Through concentration and focus, one can experience another location without physically being there.
* **Ghosting:** The art of rendering your body completely intangible. Users of this art are able to briefly Ghost for a moment before having to become tangible again. However, while Ghosting, they're still vulnerable to magic, auric, or animic attacks.
* **Empathy:** The art of sensing the emotions of others. Users of Empathy are able to use anima to read the hearts of others, to see if something is affecting their emotions. Empathy can be used to detect nearby life forms, as it allows users to sense their hearts. Practitioners of this art are also able to speak with spirits in the Ancestral Realm easily.
	+ **Whispering:** The art of changing the heart of others. Whisperers are able to influence their victims into doing their bidding. The difference between Whispering and mind control is that Whispering makes the users want to do their command, whereas mind control is more of a forceful command. The art of Whispering can also be used to 'corrupt' the hearts of others, turning them 'evil'. Inversely, it can also 'purify' the hearts of others by undoing the corruption in their hearts. Note that this ability can also be used on non-humans as well, which makes it good for druids.
* **Soul Manipulation:** The art of manipulating the soul of the user. Practitioners of this art are able to do various effects with their souls. One technique, for example, is infusing part of your soul into an object so that you can control it. Another is **Astral Projection**, where your body goes comatose but your spirit is free to wander in the Ancestral Realm. Users of this art are also able to speak with spirits more freely, like users of Empathy.
	+ **Reanimation:** The art of pinpointing and pulling specific souls of the dead in the Ancestral Realm and controlling them. Users of this art are able to either directly use these souls in battle, or put them in bodies to create minions. These souls only remain in the regular world until the user releases control.
	+ **Spirit Summoning:** The art of summoning spirits from the Spirit World to do your bidding. This is different from Reanimation in the sense that the spirits need to willingly want to follow you. If they don't want to, they can simply resist. Spirit summoning can be considered the 'good' counterpart to reanimation.
		- **Spirit Enslavement:** The art of enslaving the spirits that you summon. If a spirit resists your command, the user can force them to obey if they're strong enough.
* **Possession:** The art of inserting your soul into another living being and controlling them. This ability causes your body to go comatose while your soul forces itself into another body or object, establishing dominance over the thing and taking control.
* **Bonding:** The art of establishing a bond between your soul and another's. This is useful for those who have pets or mounts, as it allows for easier communication through telepathy and empathy between the bonded souls. This skill is also the reason why animics have the easiest time with bonding with a Familiar.

## Bracing

Bracing is a technique that all energy users can perform. It's the ability to repel foreign energy away from them. An example would be a character being able to Brace, defending them against attacks such as magic telepathy or animic Whispering.

## Energy Theory

   Aura is the energy of the physical universe. It permeates everywhere, though is mostly concentrated in the bodies of living beings. Cells are what collect aura from the atmosphere like sponges, while also producing their own aura at the same time.

Anima is the energy of the Ancestral Realm. It permeates there, and is also in the souls of those in the physical realm. A soul is defined as a link between the physical realm and the Ancestral Realm. Souls are most commonly tied to the bodies of living organisms, which gives them the ability to collect aura from the atmosphere. A common illustration of a soul would be a tight string between the two realms, tied to a body. From this string, anima can flow from the Ancestral Realm into the body of the user, which can be used to perform Aiuses.

   Mana is the energy of the mind. The mind is the special junction where the soul is connected to the body. This junction creates a unique energy known as mana, and is only produced in the mind. It has a foot in each aspect of reality: the physical realm (the brain) and the Ancestral Realm (the soul). This is what allows Arcana to be the most versatile discipline, even if the other energies may excel at their own respective abilities.