Archaics

Archaics (also reffered to as archaic arts) are a form of energy manipulation used by mortals before the advent of arts. Being a separate form of energy manipulation, they are not based in any affinity and it took lifelong commitment to study in order to learn these techniques, making practitioners extremely rare and therfore extremely powerful. Access to archaics is what guided the rise and fall of various kingdoms in the ancient era, but their influence drastically decreased after the advent of arts. In the modern era, with a much better understanding of energy manipulation, archaic techniques no longer take a lifetime to learn and can be seen being used across the world both by themselves and in conjunction with other forms of energy manipulation. Archaics are stabilized using hand symbols, and each style of archaic has its own unique hand symbol. These hand symbols are needed even if the archaic has been added to an art. While historically all archaic techniques used two handed symbols, one handed symbols have been developed for each of the archaics used in the modern day which allows practitioner of extreme skill to pull off lower level archaics faster. While some archaics have been lost to history, below is a list of all archaic arts used in the modern era.

Archaics and arts are separate forms of energy manipulation. However, the two systems seem to work well with eachother and are able to be combined quite easily, making the techniques even easier on the practitioners as the art further stabilizes the energy (even with this increased stability, hand symbols are still needed). While not technically arts, the archaics are colloquially reffered to as arts since they are often incorportated into them.

## Binding

Binding is one of the more commonly seen archaics, and is used in various ways to entrap someone or somethig. This archaic is rarely seen in its pure form and is almost always incorporated into an art. The hand symbol for binding art is both hands clasped together with the fingers interlaced, with the one hand symbol being ???.

## Body Modification

Body modification utilizes the practitioners energy to permanently alter the body or energy of another person or themselves (although it should be noted that self-applied body modification is much more difficult to pull off). Perhaps one of the most heavily developed archaics, body modification still maintains cultural prominence in multiple countries around the world, especially in Entarai where body modification has been deeply embedded in their culture for centuries and where cosmetic body modification was developed. The hand symbol for body modification art is both hands creating an upside-down triangle by touching the tips of every finger, with the one hand symbol being ???.

Due to the nature of body modification, a procedure that forcefully alters your energy, too many modifications coinciding in the same person leads to serious complications. The typical maximum no more than 3-4 smaller body modifications and 1-2 major ones, as practitioners start to reach this maximum capacity they are susceptible to a variety of symptoms such as accelerated aging of the body and muscles and higher risk of organ faliure. If one chooses to surpass their limit then they stand a very high chance of losing control of their energy and suffering a paiful death from accute energy buildup. As the energy builds in a specific area of their body, patients begin to feel intense pain and nausea and they begin to profusely bleed from their mouth/nose/ears/sometimes eyes as pressure builds in their body and tears tissue. Eventually the knot of energy cannot be contained and bursts, killing the person in the proccess. It should also be noted that already having other body modifications increases the risk of failures or complications when getting a new body modification, however this risk is significantly reduced based on the expertise of the person performing the modification.

Cosmetic body modifications were initially developed in Entarai and while you can find the occaisonal practitioner outside the country and the practice is slowly spreading, it is basically the only place you can go to get cosmetic body modifications. Cosmetic body mods are specifically made to not be invasive to one's energy, as the finished product typically has no energy at all, and are exempt from the body modification limits. They typically comprise of some physical aesthetic change of the person's body used for cosmetic decoration and self expression, like piercings or tattoos, but some can be quite dramatic and effect large areas of the body and may be more akin to cosmetic surgery.

## Teleportation

Uncommon even in modern times, teleportation is a powerful archaic that is difficult to learn and could cost you your life if not taught correctly. Thgis archaich is rather self explanatory as it allows the practitioner to travel between two points instantly, although establishing the destination is accomplished in varoius ways. The hand symbol for this technique is ???, with the one handed symbol being composed of the pinky and ring fingers curled into the hand with the thumb and pointer finger extended forward and the middle finger bent at the top two knuckles to make a hook.

## Time

The rarest of the archaic arts, time art is a very powerful art that has been almost completely lost through the ages. Time art, as the name suggests, is used for the manipulation and distortion of time. The hand symbol used to invoke time art is forming a circle with both thumbs and both pointer fingers, with the one hand symbol being ???.