Terms
Aura: An existential energy field that surrounds objects or beings with the radiance of its presence. Auras are malleable, flexible and normally invisible. They are normally manipulated with paranormal tools and energies.
Auraprint: Tenchants can play back or store experiences for review, research or entertainment. These playback impressions are referred to as “auraprints.”
Black Essence: A mysterious force of the Xubus that affects sentient milieu races. Only races and entries whose type have been indoctrinated into the Xubus seem to be susceptible. Black essence victims slowly lose vitality and potential, withering by order of magnitude from a small amount in a day to huge volumes in mere moments. The result for any infected is eventual consummation and utter destruction.
Fiend System: A standardized bounty-hunter and reward flow system. As planar horrors or outside entities disturb the harmonics of an alien realm, they build a type of karma-based existential enmity called “Fiend factor”. A negative energy that the radiates around them.
Rules of the Fiend system:
1)Negative energy is created by disrupting the harmonics of a realm’s natural, societal and psionic systems.
2)Bounty hunters and seekers of balance who dis-corporate (banish) the disrupting entity from the realm they’ve offended gain positive energy within the Fiend system.
3)An entity cannot enter a realm if it’s negative energy is greater than that of the highest of that realm’s most negative energy entities.
4)Negative energy cannot be removed. Positive energy must be taken or traded for to offset negative energy.
5)Positive energy can be freely transferred to any other entity.
6)Positive energy can be stolen or stripped from a defeated entity (this act generates an equal amount of negative energy so this is a zero-sum act… unless the stripped positive energy is sent elsewhere and not “digested”.
7)Positive energy repels negative energy. If a realm has a great amount (thanks to its citizens) that world is harder to penetrate. The positive energy level of the average entity acts as a barrier… one that is easily surmounted by a powerful evil entity but an impediment to weak minions.
Because of these rules, some worlds are extremely difficult for evil outsiders to penetrate:
For example, if an evil Overlord has too much negative energy to enter arrive in a target realm from the start. It must send minions with negative energy equal to or less than that of the entity that is the most negative or evil already present.
This Overlord must plan a campaign that will grow the strength of the minions from his lowest tier… so that it can send stronger minions who will grow in strength and corrupt the realm, until the corruption is enough that it can finally breakthrough and conquer.
The Overlord can also try to corrupt the entities already present… or have minions drain positive energy from victims and transfer that energy to reduce the Overlord’s negative energy size. Enabling it to slip through.
8)Positive energy can be sent to any entity in mental or direct contact. (Many bounty hunter systems trade on this reward flow and offer credits, goods and services in exchange for positive energy.)
Hunters of Nowhere use the Fiend System to collect bounties on planar horrors that seep through the cracks and endanger the peace and prosperity of their realm’s citizens. Bounty hunters trade their positive energy for goods and equipment to a variety of Rewardflow shops that send the goods to precursor portculli, send automated shop golems or arrive themselves to set up kiosks in realm.
Flow: A existential Tenchant that permeates throughout the continuum. Flows are the mysterious inner workings of the continuum’s technics. A collection of systems and utilities set in place by an ancient and powerful race of planar crafters. These systems tame and make accessible paranormal physics and para-cosmic scales.
Examples of Flow systems are “the elemental balance”, “the soul link”, “the tradeflow”, “the fiend system” and “the planar structure.” All are paranormal all-access laws and systems that all entities are subject to.
Modular Nuclear Chaos: A Hyum planar weapon system, feared by others of the sentient milieu races. As far as the other races are concerned, the MNC weapons of the Hyum elder race is a myth. No race had ever seen it deployed or have historical records of its effects. However, there are faint traces of other elder races who seemed to have once been enemies of the Hyum. Very faint traces.
Planesrad Collective: A milieu of elder planar races whose directive is the safe and controlled colonization of virgin realms and continuums.
If a planar race is interested in colonization, they often turn to the Planesrad to purchase a new realm or cluster of realms for peaceful habitation. After a former review period, any member or honorary member races are granted a permit and the coordinates of the purchased realm.
The Planesrad Collective’s primary currency is exploration coordinate data for primitive habitable worlds, but there are other ways to obtain Planesrad credit. Rare biologicals, technics and artifacts can also be turned in for credit.
In the event of a planar dispute for a realm, the race that arrived first is usually granted control. As Planesrad traded worlds are nearly impossible to discover with astronomical luck or the proper coordinates, this is a rare occurrence.
Techna: A special paranormal skill or ability that draws energy from positive or negative energy normally stored in an object or being’s aura.
Tenchant: An artificial sub-aura that normally performs a paranormal feat for or against its host aura. Tenchants can curse its host with ailments or provide benefits and boons.
Technic: Pertaining to the field of special paranormal phenomenon that is related to or is associated with techna.