Tiers

Tiers are a fundamental quality of a life.

## Overview

Tiers of life are innate values on how powerful and fundamental a life is. Each tier feeds the one below it, causing a natural exponential growth of the lower tiers, but this is usually harshly limited by lifespans, fragility, and the cyclic nature of existence.

## The Tiers

There are 11 tiers, however most creatures will only be aware of the worldly ones from Mata to Hollow, while the other tiers will take part in many religions/philosophies/teachings.

* **Celestials** - The tier of Creation, Destruction, Potential and Decay. This is the natural birth and end of all planes. Everything tends to and comes from the Celestials, and they are solely responsible of existence. Creation forms the driving force of the plane, while Destruction acts to limit it, forming the balance of life. Potential and Decay feed into and spawn from this balance, completing a balanced state of Omera. They hold the combined ability to influence existence, including the existence of the past, present and future.
* **Dhrothen** - The tier of Chaos, Harmony, Change and Growth. The Dhrothen form the values of the world, and form the colours of creatures. At this state, material begins to become more than just material, and the forces begin to influence each-other in an iridescent dance. In its simplest form, life is born. They hold the combined ability to influence the flow of the plane, and the speed of life and death.
* **Primordials** - The tier of Guile, Will, Wrath and Patience. At this stage, The Forces have almost completely combined, and the foundations of a plane is born of the Primordials. From here, individual lives rise from the void, taking form and personality. They take the form of four beings at the center of the new plane, and from them is born the first Exumata. They hold the combined ability to influence the view of the plane, and the states of being it contains.
* **Mata** - The tier of the world. These forms of life are the very fabric of the world. Their scales are the earth, the sky, the stars and the deep, and their constant dance of form is what drives the worlds. When a Mata changes form, a Belladon is born.
* **Belladon** - The tier of the self. Belladon are the first forms of physical life with agency of their own, and a drive beyond a natural cycle. These powerful creatures shape the world around them towards a specific goal, and will often be the cause of great change. When a Belladon fulfills its own purpose, it dies and its Spirit returns to the void as it always would. The rest of its form is then entered by another life, and Kindred are born. If a Belladon dies before finding its purpose, it creates a Chiromata in its wake, a physical form of Mera.
* **Kindred** - The tier of bonds. Kindred are fiercely alive creatures, and are defined largely by their bonds to others. They are the beginning of communities and goals beyond the self. Kindred are also the first tier without a defined end goal, and a limit on their age. Additionally, if a Kindred dies of old age, its life is stable enough to return to the Void and truly die. When a Kindred dies before its time, its form seeds the birth of Driven.
* **Driven** - The tier of need. Driven need to eat and breathe, as well as many other fundamental needs. Because of this, Driven are the first tier with a need to grow and expand. Births occur beyond what the tiers above provide, and they become what they need to become in their eyes. As Driven grow, some spread too thin, creating Primal, or even Hollow.
* **Primal** - The tier of loss. Primal have lost something that made them what they were, and they are now little more than the prime parts. Their life isn't meant to exist, and is often the result of incompetence, arrogance or pain. Most Primal lives will still exist within the world effectively in their own right, but will either require a new piece to fill what's missing or simply understanding of their existence. A true death is often something to be celebrated among Primal lives. If a Primal life neglects this responsibility, it risks becoming Hollow.
* **Hollow** - The tier of the hopeless. Hollow lives have no being. They have lost everything that made them what they were, and are simply base instinct. If a Hollow life loses anything more, it simply ceases to exist in the plane.
* **Mera** - The tier of essence. Mera, and their alternate form Omera, are not one thing, but rather the sum total of everything. Essence is what everything is, was, and will be, and its various forms influence what comes next and what comes before it. In the end, Omera forms the Celestials.

## Capabilities

Life of different tiers will have different qualities innately. While higher tiers tend to possess more capabilities, with a Mata being capable of changing the very worlds, they tend to lack freedom, instead bound by a need to fulfill The Cycle of the Planes. There are notable exceptions to both of these rules, but on a whole this will be the case.

* **Celestials/Dhrothen/Primordials/Mera** - These tiers should not be interacted with at a world level. These are the fundamental workings of the planes. Any ascension to a Primordial form will have far-reaching consequences to the very fabric of the plane, and the creature that ascended will fundamentally change into its most base characteristic. Ascension past this to Dhrothen will entirely change the Plane itself, erasing every form of life within it entirely, but maintaining its essence, resulting in one hell of a mess for trillions of years. Ascension past Dhrothen simply doesn't happen, but if it were to happen the plane would rupture and nothing would have ever existed in the first place (hence, it doesn't happen). Any of the above are a **BAD TIME** when it comes to role-playing though, so attempting to do this without *EXTREME*care and creativity would be ill-advised. Descension to Mera simply dissolves the creature into essence.
* **Mata** - Unknowable beings. These creatures have no fixed attributes, instead having almost unlimited controlled flux. Additionally, they have unlimited access to the void, and thus no limit to their recovery and no concept of stats or a limit to their shifting, allowing them to do anything that they wish. While their will is near immutable, they are confined by their physical form and their lack of motivation, as they exist on a completely different scale of time to most other forms of life, slower than the shifting of the mountains that they form. The only forms of Mata to break this last rule are the Chiromata and the Syclomata.
* **Belladon** - Fearsome beings. They have unique form that directly reflects the qualities of the being itself. Every Belladon's physical form directly reflects the will of the Belladon itself, and thus its species is simply its name. Some are fluid, changing as they do, and some are fixed. Belladon naturally have +10 armour, +7 recovery, and unique base stats as well as Rifted+5. Additionally, they inherit the ability to control their flux from the Mata, meaning that instead of attributes, they assign attribute points directly to their flux, and may determine if it's positive or negative at any time.
* **Kindred** - Powerful beings. Kindred naturally have +2 armour and +2 recovery. Additionally, due to their strong tie to the void, they have Rifted+2.
* **Primal** - Naturally fragile beings. They very easily de-level and are prone to decending, and have Rifted-.
* **Hollow** - Purposeless beings. Hollow creatures may not have structured thoughts or wills of their own. Their colour is always black.

## Conflict and Peace

There are two forms that could be considered life that do not sit anywhere on the tiers. These forms, Conflict and Peace, are aspects of the Celestials formed from opposing forces, essentially the missing Dhrothen. Conflict is formed of Destruction and Creation, while Peace is formed of Potential and Decay. These forms can't Ascend or Descend, and likewise a creature cannot Ascend or Descend to either of them.