Energy

Energy in the world of Psammosil refers to primarily three types of energy that control magic in the world of Psammosil, but can also apply to technologically created energy, such as those provide by Alcalite Crystals.

There are three main types of energy in the world of Psammosil that influence magic and people; magical energy, spiritual energy, and natural energy. These three energies control the world and let people exert their own influence onto the world by controlling them.

Spiritual energy is housed inside every living being, even if they are not sentient or aware of their existence. So long as life exists in it, it has spiritual energy. This does not extend to beings with false life, such as Golems without real life imbued in them. Spiritual energy allows one to utilize spiritual attacks if they learn how to control it, the most notable and powerful of which being Supreme Spirit.

Natural energy is housed in everything, including living things, just in a far less quantity than spiritual energy. Natural energy is responsible for some techniques and magic even more powerful than spiritual energy can produce. When natural energy exists inside of something, it changes. For example, natural energy inside water works differently than natural energy inside fire. This can lead to techniques such as the Breathing Techniques that assassins master.

Magical energy exists in only certain things, as it is in reality Plo, which you must be near to gain magical energy in your body. A child born near a Plo line, or someone who stays near them frequently will gain magical abilities. Magic is actually the most used of the three energies, despite it being rarer than both other energy types. This is because it is the most widely accepted and known energy out of the three, and people often gain it without even realizing, unlike spiritual energy and natural energy which the body can feel when the levels of them are altered or changed,

## Manipulating the Energy

### Spiritual & Natural Energy

Spiritual and natural energy affect one another. They can attract each other and influence one another to change in ways one wouldn't imagine. The only thing necessary to manipulate spiritual and natural energy is to be aware of their existence, and to picture them in your brain. Once you learn of their existence, many are often taught to visualize the spiritual energy in their chest, as an orange energy, while imagining the natural energy as blue particles floating around them. They are then taught to imagine bleeding the spiritual energy out of themselves, while imagining it leading and attracting the natural energy to where they want it to go, or influencing it in which ever way they want. This visualization is actually all one needs to begin using these two energies

### Magical Energy

Magical energy is easier to manipulate, as you don't need to be aware of it for it to work. Magical energy can do many things spiritual energy can, but it is limited in it's effects. This is because it is not ever-changing, like a person's spirit or the natural energy around a person. Magical discovery is limited thanks to this. Utilizing magical energy is, like written previously, easier to manipulate as it sometimes even lashes out itself. There is no visualization involved in magical energy manipulation besides visualizing what you want to happen. This may make it seem easy, but actually learning to sub-consciously utilize your magical energy is a hard thing that takes practice, and if you don't have a concrete will and thought on what you want to occur when you cast the spell, it will either not happen, happen in an odd way, or backfire on you completely.

Some magical energy also can't be used without materials to influence it into creating your desired effect. Using magical energy can also be made easier through verbal statements and somatic movements, which help influence both your brain and the magical energy in yourself to create the desired effect.

## Limitations

### Spiritual Energy

There is actually a limit on spiritual energy inside a person. The amount used by different techniques obviously varies, but when it's drained, it feels like your stamina is being drained completely. There is a strong line drawn between spiritual energy and your actual spirit / soul, as running out of spiritual energy doesn't mean you lack a spirit, it simply means the energy produced by your spirit is gone for the time being. Unlike magical energy, which requires resting to regain, spiritual energy can be created through emotion. A good example is a neutral person, and angry person. If a neutral person with no current emotions about the situation uses their spiritual energy all up, it will take a few hours for their spiritual energy to refill. On the other hand, if an angry person uses their spiritual energy and runs out of it, their anger will fuel their spirit into creating more and more energy, giving them more abundant and potent energy to dish out.

### Natural Energy

There is no technical limit on natural energy, but as soon as you run out of spiritual energy, it becomes almost impossible to manipulative natural energy unless you know how to directly influence it without your own spiritual energy which is hard enough to learn in the first place. There are also spells or techniques that allow a user to get rid of natural energy in certain areas, which makes it impossible to use certain techniques inside the desired area of effect.

### Magical Energy

The least abundant energy in a person's body, if they even possess it in the first place. Magical energy can be envisioned as a series of 'points'. The more training one has, the more magical energy they build up, but every spell and magical effect uses the same portion of magical energy, unless one dumps more energy into it to gain more effect, thus increasing the amount of hypothetical 'points' placed into the spell. Once a being runs out of magical energy, it is entirely impossible to regain it without potions that do so, magical effects that share magical energy from one being to another, or rest. This means that a user of spiritual energy will always have an edge up on magical energy users, as they can simply regain their energy through hatred or other emotions.

## Capabilities

### Spiritual Energy

The capabilities of Spiritual Energy is almost limitless. The only thing it is bound by is the creativity of the inventor and the amount of energy available to the user. The varied capabilities of Spiritual Energy is what makes it the most dangerous, besides potentially Natural Energy, if used correctly, out of the three types. Spiritual Energy allows the user to alter themselves and the natural energy around to create the desired effect. Some of the most simplistic techniques are the Breathing Techniques employed by assassins. These allow the user to modify their body and the spiritual & natural energy inside of them to garner a desired effect, such as replicating the effects of a Feather Fall spell with Wind Breathing, heating oneself enough to melt through metal with Fire Breathing, or teleporting through Space Breathing. Although all of these abilities may seem powerful, if the user is not intelligent in the use of the technique they are employing, it is practically useless.

Spiritual Energy has multiple different 'types' of spells or effects, if you could even call them that. Most, but not all, are categorized in different categories. They can potentially overlap through categories, and some do not even belong to any of these categories, being placed in the Misc category by most users.

#### Enhancement.

Enhancement categorizes abilities such as the Breathing Techniques employed by skilled assassins. They allow the user to enhance themselves or other things around them by fortifying the energy in the desired target, or by manipulating natural energy inside or around to enhance certain abilities or capabilities of the target.

Enhancement encompasses some of the easiest to learn techniques, which is why even some of the least skilled people are capable of using Enhancement abilities. They are also some of the first techniques a person learns or thinks of, because, yet again, it's extremely easy to simply fortify the natural or spiritual energy inside of an object, thus hardening it.

The most basic application of Enhancement is the technique called Harden, which allows a user to harden portions of their body or objects they are holding to a degree that it is harder than even steel. This allows the user to tank or deal out devastating blows that would normally destroy the user's body through use. Harden is also extremely powerful because it functions as a spiritual barrier as well due to it being composed of spiritual or natural energy, which naturally collide and then repel each other, which means a lot of Spiritual techniques are entirely negated by a user of the Harden technique.

Enhancement techniques are simplistic, but a master of an Enhancement technique could match even the strongest techniques of stronger categories due to it's simplistic nature, as simplistic abilities are often some of the strongest when applied by a smart user.

#### Defensive.

While Defensive may seem like it belongs to the Enhancement category, it encompasses a smaller amount of techniques specifically designed for defending the entirety of, or large portions of individuals, objects, or areas. It is the second easiest to learn as it also involves little application of manipulation of spiritual energy. This category is made up of techniques which allow the user to create barriers, shrouds, or force-fields that block attacks of physical, natural, and spiritual nature. These can be highly powerful techniques that can be applied subconsciously through training, allowing the user to turn a potentially life-threatening attack into what one might consider a slap.

The most basic application of Defensive techniques is simple forcefields or barriers which cover a portion of the body. Most of the time, these barriers are invisible, but a user can choose to manifest the spiritual energy into an image of armor, a shield, or something of the like. Despite the seemingly powerful nature of Defensive techniques, if you know stronger techniques, have a stronger will, or possess more proficiency in energy manipulation, you can easily pierce or even shatter these barriers, completely trivializing them.

This is the sole reason Defensive techniques are some of the most trained, as it allows the user to block an attack subconsciously without needing to worry about it, and then strike back with a counter. This makes Defensive techniques dangerous if the user is more experienced than their opponent, because they can negate most, if not all attacks thrown at them.

Defensive techniques sometimes do have a weakness to one thing: Magical energy. Magical energy does not interact with spiritual energy or natural energy unless the user wills it, meaning that if the user is not aware of your magical nature, you can often fire off a spell before they realize, and it will pass right through the barrier like it isn't even there. This is often a last ditch effort, though, as sufficient enough force or disruption of focus can easily lower a barrier or make it weak enough to be broken by other techniques.

#### Offensive.

Offensive encompasses a LOT of abilities, which overlap into other ones. Offensive is obviously the opposite of the Defensive category, and it is made up of what you might assume: attacks. Offensive techniques are equal to Defensive techniques in terms of learning difficulty, which isn't very hard at all. Offensive techniques are the direct counter to Defensive techniques, as it's simple: The strongest of the two techniques and users easily defeats the other.

The most basic application of Offensive techniques is Spiritual Swipes, which is the name of any basic attack that Spiritual Energy users use. It's as simple as letting off a 'slash' of your spiritual energy, which can harm anything around it. Spiritual energy users can often use this naturally and know how to almost immediately due to the clear and obvious idea of it.

Spiritual Swipes can be very dangerous because they can do equal to, or more damage than an actual slash with a blade. Spiritual Swipes aren't restricted to only slashes, though. They can be repulsive forces, explosive shockwaves, crushing weights, or anything that is simple and intends to only do one thing; deal damage.

While Spiritual Swipes are the most basic of the attacks provided by training in Offensive Techniques, a good user can render them immensely dangerous, as they can blast clean through any defense not strong enough to block spiritual energy, meaning that armor that is not infused with equal or stronger types of energy cannot do anything against them.

Spiritual Swipes are the most basic application of Offensive Techniques, and there are MANY more complex and dangerous attacks that can be discovered, invented, and used by skilled spiritual energy manipulators.

#### Movement / Locomotion.

A wide category of techniques based on moving the user, or a desired target, from one location to the other. This category encompasses almost as many techniques as the Offensive category, because a lot of techniques overlap with it due to the fact that any spiritual technique which moves the user as a result of it's use. This is different with targets, as an attack that causes the target to skid back a bit would not be considered part of the Movement category due to the fact that this only encompasses things that are guaranteed to move someone unless they have a strong enough skill in energy manipulation to prevent it.

The most basic application of Locomotion techniques would be simple push & pull techniques, which can push and pull the user or target through manipulating the spiritual energy or natural energy to push or pull them to the desired location. This doesn't have much of a name, as it's simply just... pushing and pulling. It could also be considered a Spiritual Swipe from the Offensive category, or part of the Defensive category.

Other techniques may include speed enhancing techniques, which also apply to the Enhancement category. Any technique that moves the user or target is part of this category, so there isn't much to talk about regarding it.

#### Conjuration.

Conjuration Spiritual Techniques allow the user to conjure forth images, weaponry, items, and many other things that could be highly useful. A skilled user can render real equipment useless, as they can produce just as effective, if not more effective, copies of the items they require. A user of Conjuration techniques can be extremely dangerous as there is practically no bounds to what they can create as long as they have the energy and knowledge to do so.

A large negative to Conjuration techniques is the fact they require a lot of knowledge to actually perform them at their maximum degree and potential. You must envision the item itself, the materials of it's parts, the inner working of it if it is a device, amongst many other things. Without this knowledge, your Conjuration techniques will be limited.

When one attempts a conjuration technique for one of the first times, they may create an 'imitation' of an object, which is a mirage of the real item. It does not have color, and simply takes the color of the user's spiritual energy, which is different for each person. It replicates the general shape and can collide with other things, but a strong enough blow could destroy it with ease.

This imitation has created the technique referred to as Flash Tracing, which is due to the almost instantaneous forming of the desired item, and the fact it's almost like an empty trace of the item, like when you trace your hand on paper without any details. Flash Tracing is surprisingly used by a lot of highly skilled conjurors due to it's speed of creation and ease of use. You do not need to picture anything but a slight thought of the desired object, and your mind will fill in the blanks shape wise.

A further application is referred to as Solid Mirage, which entails creating a 'true' copy of the item which looks just like it. This requires having seen the item fully, having knowledge on it's material, and composition. You must also fully envision the item in your mind to create it's Solid Mirage. A Solid Mirage remains in the world indefinitely until unsummoned by it's creator or dispelled by another being. Solid Mirages are incapable of breaking, but perfectly replicate the material it is meant to be, such as metal. Hardness will apply to the metal even if it isn't the actual metal, meaning that a diamond blade will always outclass an iron blade, even if one is a real sword and the other is a Solid Mirage.

Conjuration is not restricted to mere copying either. It is, in it's very essence, the power of creation. And so, to create desired objects with either of these you must instead think of the object you want instead of thinking of an object you've seen or had before. This requires more energy than merely copying an item you've seen, but it can be immensely powerful when compared to a mere mirage of another pre-existing item.

At a high level, Conjuration can even perfectly copy pre-existing items and their magical effects, albeit slightly weaker most times unless you possess immense knowledge on the desired item.

Conjuration can also be used to summon living things, but that is seldom used unless you posses a high tier of mastery with it. Often, one chooses to mimic life by granting false sentience to beings they create. Conjuring a human body is hard, and so often the choice is to create a 'human' body, which has the outer-appearance of a human, but is merely filled with spiritual energy that the conjurer manipulates to garner the desired effect.

#### Transfiguration.

Transfiguration techniques allow the user to change or control energy, objects, weaponry, and even beings into other forms. Transfiguration uses spiritual energy to morph and bend the target into a desired shape. Transfiguration techniques can be useful in almost any situation, allowing the user to morph their weapons, change their limbs, or manipulate their appearance temporarily to grant them advantages. Transfiguration techniques can make the user a dangerous weapon even without equipment.

Transfiguration is, in it's very essence, the power of change and reformation. Transfiguration is often confused with alchemy in this regard, although it's effects are far more applicable than alchemy. Transfiguration, much like alchemy, cannot create something from nothing, as that would be Conjuration instead. Transfiguration allows one to bend a pre-existing object, or a conjured object to their will. This is why people who often focus on Conjuration will choose to learn Transfiguration alongside it, so they can avoid being forced to conjure 40 different things whenever convenient, instead able to change their one object into various forms for various applications.

One of the most basic applications of Transfiguration is the Morph technique, which allows it's user to change one of three basic properties by flowing their Spiritual Energy into the object. The three basic properties are size, color, and hardness. For this reason, using Hardening on a weapon is also a partial application of Morph. Morph can be done to practically any object, but the moment the user's body comes out of contact from the object, it will revert to it's previous form immediately unless they possess a high mastery with Morph and spiritual energy manipulation in general.

#### Innate / Special

The last category before the Misc category. This entirely encompasses mostly Innate techniques that are irreplaceable (as in ones that cannot have their effects copied) or special abilities that don't fit in any other one, but also don't fit in Misc. There are only about five known techniques classified under this category.

#### Miscellaneous

This is the category where the leftovers of every other category are dropped. They are powerful most of the time, but their effects just cannot be assigned to any specific category. These are few and far between, but more common than Special techniques.