THE ESSENCE

## Overview

The essence, in its purest form, is the source and end of all things. It contains life, death and all other universal laws in itself, and subsumes everything it comes into contact with. Thankfully, Essence as it exists in the earthly plane, is NOT pure, and is heavily diluted. Pure essence originates from a far away plane, and due to its immense and constantly growing energy, it gradually pushed out of this plane, creating a "pathway" of of diluted energy that planes could form around. Gradually this kept happening, over many eons, until the essence became diluted enough for physical things to share its space, and the Earthly Plane was formed. In the earthly plane, essence can't exist in its pure form, and is very impure, constantly shifting between 4 different phases, which contain different universal laws. The first phase is Waxing. This is the phase of birth, growth, life, many things, cacophonies, spring, joy, unity and new things. The next phase is Thrux. This is the phase of struggle, heat, power, flow, time, fury, calmness, domination, continuation and summer. The next phase is Waning, which is the the phase of culling, consumption, killing, decay, construction and crafts, harvest, cities, dread, curses, will, and Fall. The last phase is Inthrux. This is the phase of death, clarity, cold, hunger, desperation, insight, silence, peace and winter.

## Worldly and Local Essence

As mentioned previously, Pure essence cannot exist in the Earthly Plane, and must be diluted to enter. Because of this, Essence that is encountered in the world is very far removed from pure essence and isn't as cleanly subdivided as it is described. Essence can exist in between phases in reality, can have multiple tonal aspects and qualities. The "phase" that is detectable is mostly due to the vibrational movement pattern of the essence energy itself and thus fluctuates continuously. Worldly essence is used to describe the general state of essence in the world. What season is it? have there been any important events lately or that are ongoing? Are the gods angry? all this can be gleaned from the Worldly essence, which scholars rush to standardize with every change they detect. Worldly essence is primarily used for analysis, and only really has minute, general effects

Local essence is similar to Local essence, just scaled down. When essence is measured on such a small scale (local area) It can be hard to tell the primary phase of an area, but gives you more details about the things going on, and is much more nuanced than Worldly essence. Local essence is very important for rituals, and can generally cause more change to reality than worldly essence (although Worldly essence can be thought of as the average phase of all areas in the world).

## Individual Essence

All beings that are living contain, absorb and produce essence. This happens within the essence system of the body, which generally consists of mineral filaments that surround nerves, blood vessels, etc. and modulated/cause essence flow within the body. The essence that exists within your body is called individual essence. It DOES NOT depend on the local or even worldly essence (but can be changed and influenced by it), and is more related to the Individual essences of your parents as well as certain events that occur during or close before your birth. Individual essence also depends on certain Omens, Portents or Prophecies that may involve you, but this is rare. Individual essence influences many mental and physical aspects, and also determines your Chromatic Art to some extent. Your individual essence also has a quality and tone, which depend on the phase. The amount of individual essence you have is very minorly affected by your parents, and must be actively trained to increase the amount of essence you can store in your essence system. If your individual essence is somehow destroyed (although this is usually requires another party, and doesn't naturally happen) you will essentially cease to exist. Upon death, your individual essence begins to dissipate from your body, and your new "spirit" will travel towards the nearest Essence Well, and travel to the Spiritual Plane where they may be absorbed into the for of another, more powerful spirit (like a deity or something of that nature) or reincarnated.

## Properties and Mechanics

Essence contains all universal laws in its pure form, and each phase contains a portion of these universal laws. Essence will always naturally flow into the next phase, strengthening and enhancing it. This is a harmonious phase-relationship. Essence phases are also opposed by one other essence phase (Thrux and Inthrux oppose each other, as do Waxing and Waning). This means an essence phase will nullify its opposite, if it is higher in concentration or abundance. Because of this constant, strengthening cycle Essence does not lose energy. However, as it gains power, it begins to be consumed itself, by a primordial energy called Limina. Limina hardens as it consumes essence, and "grows" to surround it. Since essence contains universal laws, it is highly reactive to symbolic items, actions, and rituals, and can be easily in this way.

Essence is generally naked to the eye, but can be detected through basic Chromatic Art training. Usually, essence in the Worldly Plane is not very concentrated, and thus not very dangerous. But in some locations (like the Starlands), and through essence manipulation, it can be concentrated enough to cause harm. Essence is extremely corrosive, and when there is enough in the air, it will begin to eat away at and consume everything. This causes mortal minds and bodies to degrade leading to death, insanity, or severe maiming/injury. Essence is readily contained and absorbed into certain materials. Crystal contains essence the best, as do other kinds of minerals. Water (and to some extent, other liquids) also hold essence fairly well, but usually need crystal or mineral deposits in the water for there to be any seen effect (this is true of the Essence Sea. Because it's saltwater, it contains a dangerous amount of essence). this property has many practical uses, and allows for the creation of a wide array of essence machines. Grounding stone is unreactive to essence, and seems to be unaffected by it. In the Worldly plane, each phase of essence contains both a death and life aspect, represented by Deities.