Cultivation & Rankings

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## Cultivation

### Definitions

* **Affinity** – A person’s affinity denotes what element they need to cultivate Essence from. If they have multiple affinities, they need to cultivate all of those elements at the same time.
* **Affinity Channel** – The pathway along the meridians that Essence flows through. Having multiple major affinities will open more pathways, allowing more Essence to flow into a person’s center at one time.
* **Aura** – The flows of Essence generated by living creatures which surround them and hold their pattern.
* **Center** – The very center of a person’s soul. This is the area Essence accumulates (in creatures that do not have a Core) before it binds to the Life Force.
* **Chi spiral** – A person’s Chi spiral is a vast amount of intricately knotted Essence. The more complex and complete the pattern woven into it, the more Essence it can hold and the finer the Essence would be refined.
* **Corruption** – Corruption is the remnant of the matter that pure Essence was formed into. It taints Essence but allows beings to absorb it through open affinity channels. This taint has been argued about for centuries; is it the source of life or a nasty side effect?
* **Cultivate** – Cultivating is the process of refining Essence by removing corruption then cycling the purified Essence into the center of the soul.
* **Cultivator** – A cultivator is one who cultivates. See above. Seriously, it is the entry right before this one. I’m being all alphabetical here. Mostly.
* **Essence** – Essence is the fundamental energy of the universe, the pure power of heavens and earth that is used by the basic elements to become all forms of matter.
* **Mana** – A higher stage of Essence only able to be cultivated by those who have broken into at least the B-rankings and found the true name of something in the universe.
* **Meridians** – Meridians are energy channels that transport life energy (Chi/Essence) throughout the body.
* **Spiritual Essence** – An even higher stage of essence only able to be cultivated by those who have broken into at least the S-rankings and Incarnated into a true name of something in the universe.

## Affinity Channels

The pathway along the meridians that Essence flows through. Having multiple major affinities will open more pathways, allowing more Essence to flow into a person’s center at one time. The affinity types are: Clogged, Ripped, Closed, Minor, Major, and Perfect. Perfect doesn’t often occur naturally.

### **Affinity Channel Type**s

* **Clogged** - Draws in no essence, because the channel is blocked with corruption.
* **Ripped** - Draws in an unknown amount of essence, but in a method that is unpredictable and lethal.
* **Closed** - Draws in no essence, because the channel is either unopened, or forcibly closed.
* **Minor** - Draws in very little essence.
* **Major** - Draws in a sizable amount of essence.
* **Perfect** - Draws in a significant amount of essence. This affinity channel type cannot occur naturally. It is very dangerous to strive for, as the path to this type leads to ripped channels.

## Essence Types

### **Basic Essence Types**

* **Air** - The Essence of wind and movement. High affinity with Air can lead to a flighty and flippant personality.
* **Celestial** – The Essence of Heaven, the embodiment of life and considered the ultimate good. Gained through prayer and concentrated with special hymns gifted by the church. High affinity with Celestial is thought to lead to overly brave if not foolhardy behavior.
* **Earth** - The Essence of the stone, wood and balance. high affinity with Earth can lead to a lethargy or stubborn personality.
* **Fire** - The Essence of passion, emotion and most of all heat. High affinity with Fire can lead to being easily angered or a person that reacts before thinking.
* **Infernal** – The Essence of death and demonic beings, considered to be always evil. Though cultivated in obscure ways and with a reputation for murder and torture, Infernal is also extremely versatile. High affinity with Infernal can lead to a more unfeeling personality.
* **Water** - The Essence of liquids, tides and flexibility. there is no dominant personality trait associated with a high affinity water cultivator because they can range from mellow to explosive.

### **Higher Essence Types**

* **Steam**
* **Lightning**
* **Plant**
* **Mud**
* **Magma**
* **Portal**
* **Spotter**
* **Nature**

## Rankings

The ranking system is a way to classify how powerful a creature has become through fighting and cultivation. Each rank has ten levels within it, the lowest being zero and the highest at ten. The first five ranks are all about direct Essence and Mana accumulation. Further ranks require greater knowledge.

## Laws

*See: The Tower*

The Tower of Law is a total of 721 floors. Each floor except the second to last and last have 6 options, with the second to last having 7 and the last having one. If someone or something has all affinities open, they have a total of 4328 options to specialize into.

### Notable Laws

* Acme
* Madness
* Love
* Time