Energy Hierarchy Theory

> It’s like adding water to a cup of tea. The more water you add, the less sweetness you’ll taste.
>
> Sarah to George in Chapter 2 of Aether's Legacy

The Energy Hierarchy theory is a scientific theory in Extramundane biology stating that with every generation of Extramundanes, the level of Delta energy in the bloodline decreases, otherwise meaning that the future generations of Extramundanes are certain to be less powerful than the Extramundanes of the past.

## History

The Energy Hierarchy theory was proposed in the late 21st century. It was meant to explain why newer Extramundanes tended to have less powerful abilities than their parents and the previous generations. Scientists in the late 22nd century used this theory to explain why Delta Deficiency Disorder would be such a devastating disease for Extramundanes in the coming years.

## Theory

### Original

The basis of an Extramundane's body is the ability to produce and utilize Delta energy to express superhuman functions ranging from enhancements to the human form, the ability to control the elements and produce them in their body, and channeling power stemming from the mind to influence the world and people around them. As these functions tend toward manifesting one at a time, we categorize them into the three classifications: Biologicals, Elementals, and Psychics.

We have long known that the mind exerts the most power when conducting biological functions in the human body, and in the Extramundane body, it is why Psychics exert and produce the largest amount of Delta energy in comparison to the other two classifications. Furthermore, in recent years, it has been known that the Extramundane population at any given time is composed of only about 10% Psychics. It is unclear how the body determines the function it will channel Delta energy toward, but it has been proposed that the body adjusts to the function based on the level of Delta energy it is capable of producing. Thus, because Delta energy was once considered a foreign entity in the body and the ability for the Extramundane body to produce it resulted from a mutation and/or human experimentation, the levels it is produced at generally range toward the lower end. As such, there are more lower-level Extramundanes, these which include Biologicals and Elementals, than higher-level Extramundanes. This also explains why the Biologically-Enhanced function is expressed more commonly than the Biological-Shifter function, why the Elemental function is based upon its own power structure, and why the Psychic function is more likely to only express telekinesis and not empathy and telepathy. The classifications and types both have their own power structures.

Over the years, it has been observed that less and less high-level classifications and types are being expressed than low-level ones in Extramundanes all around the world. The Psychic population continues to decrease by 0.2% every year, and it is even theorized for that percentage to increase, leading to an exponential decrease in the Psychic classification in the forthcoming centuries. As my partner and I have concluded through our models, we hypothesize that this pattern will continue, not only among the Psychic classification but also among the rest. This means that high-level types all across the board will be affected. Perhaps even the high-level Elementals will soon cease to exist, and with the Biologicals, we might observe that their abilities will be limited to one or fewer transformation types.

Furthermore, the more impure that Extramundane bloodlines become, the lower the Delta energy capabilities will be passed down. Unless we find other ways to obtain Delta energy outside of the Extramundane body, the Extramundane population is certain to begin to decrease in both power and numbers.

(Originally Written by Dr. Celine Li)