Alchemagi is a talent possessed to some degree by all Aurrians, which lets them form a mental connection to the aechens, elementary particles that can manipulate the natural elements of the world. By changing, charging, or directly controlling these elements, depending on the person’s alignment, both air and solid matter can turn to liquid, reform, or be turned into a weapon. While outsiders would see such talents as “magic,” in Aurra centuries of study have been able to—mostly—explain the ability with science, and both teach and continue to experiment with the power.
Base Elements
Every Aurrian can use the base elements to some degree, however the vast majority only use them for labor purposes. To make spells powerful enough to weaponize and become lethal requires intensive training.
WATAIRRE
STRENGTH:☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆
Allows the manipulation of moisture in the air and air currents. Techniques can create wind, move waves, and condense water. More advanced spells can create ice, sometimes instantly. Once control is used to move air or water, it can be released and the element will have very little active alchemagi throughout, meaning it is able to bypass some anti-alchemagi devices like sealed shields and nullification fields, but many spells can be easily broken or defended against. Air spells can be used to propel the user at high speed.
Control Words: Arctic, Aqua, Breeze, Chill, Droplet, Gust, Pelagic, Typhoon
EARTH
STRENGTH: ☆☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆☆
Controls the ground itself, if made of sand, soil, or rock. Higher level techniques can liquify solid stone and mold it into defensive forms, or pull someone underground. The potential of this alignment’s strength is generally limited to what is available below and nearby the user, and it is often used in tandem with water, iron, or plant spells to create barriers. Earth based techniques typically take time to form, but are very resilient to attack. Masters of the alignment may even be able to control local gravity.
Control Words: Cave, Granite, Gravity, Ground, Mine, Quarry, Quartz, Sand
IRON
STRENGTH: ☆☆☆ SPEED: ☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆☆☆
Iron adepts can reshape metal into various forms, making anything from alloys to iron dust into both sharp weaponry or durable shields. They are particularly well suited for combat in urban areas or building interiors, and blacksmiths and other metal workers are typically of this alignment. Adepts often carry as much metal with them as they can carry to transform into blades or barriers. Reshaping solid metal takes time, but is usually strong against most alignments, although vector attacks can still slice straight through it.
Control Words: Cobalt, Copper, Iron, Metal, Platinum, Tin, Titanium
MIND
STRENGTH: ☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆
All Aurrians can use some form of mind-based alchemagi, with telepathy the most basic of abilities. Adepts tend to fill positions in science, research, tactical advisement, synthesis, or education, as they think and come to decisions more quickly and are better at reading other people. Mind may be an “invisible” alignment, but its spells can also become powerful and irresistible, with techniques including mental manipulation and control, the projection of hallucinations and other illusions, and neural shock.
Control Words: Belief, Identity, Meditate, Reflect, Self, Thought, Within, Vision
PLANT
STRENGTH: ☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆
Plant adepts fully rely on some form of pre-existing plant life, whether it is fully grown or still in seeds, which can be sprouted and rapidly grown. Farmers and horticulturists of course tend to be plant adepts, but with the right bio-engineered seeds, they can also turn vegetation into deadly weapons, ensnaring traps, or resilient natural barriers. Powerful techniques can allow people to bend trees and manipulate forests. Plant life is often at least somewhat resistant to flame and can become difficult to cut through.
Control Words: Clover, Flower, Grass, Growth, Ivy, Leaf, Seed, Sprout, Vine
SILVER
Silver is not a true alignment, but rather, is the term used when an Aurrian lacks one. Silvers cannot use any advanced elements, but they still have access to every base element. Often, they have higher average potential in the base alignments than other adepts. For example, an iron adept may excel in their native element and show moderate strength in a secondary alignment, but will likely have little potential in any others. Talented silvers can become moderately powerful across all base alignments, and use three or four elements at once to create advanced and difficult-to-predict multi-spell techniques. Silver has a slightly plurality among all adepts, with about 18% of all Aurrian being silvers.
Advanced Elements
These alignments are only useable by the few people born with bodies capable of holding and wielding them. Adepts of these alignments can use all base elements, but only a single advanced element. They are capable of far more powerful techniques than base aligned adepts.
VECTOR
STRENGTH: ☆☆☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆
Vector is a peculiar brand of alchemagi that appears to be the most unnatural of them all. Adepts can align and energize individual atoms into cutting beams of blue or green light, which can either be slowly pushed forward or launched for a rapid attack that fizzles out quickly. Users can form structures from basic lines to complex and more robust mandalas, and use the lines to slice through matter, making such spells the bane of iron and earth adepts. However, other vector adepts can block the spells, and sufficient electricity, fire, or even bursts of air can destroy the lines.
Control Words: Alpha, Beta, Delta, Epsilon, Gamma, Sigma, Theta, Omega
LIGHTNING
STRENGTH: ☆☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆
Able to create the fastest techniques outside of solar spells, the rare lightning adept has the ability to control the electricity in the air and shoot lightning from their blades. Adepts can also create large static fields that disrupt and weaken other alchemagi, destroy electronic equipment, and act as a partial barrier that can slow down projectiles. Users of this alignment are typically master swordsmen who use techniques to move at unparalleled speeds.
Control Words: Bolt, Electron, Polarity, Resistance, Shock, Static, Thunder
FIRE
STRENGTH: ☆☆☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆
Fire adepts wield unruly destruction on the borderline of alchemagi control, the flames sometimes overwhelming their creators. Nevertheless, the alignment that begins with the control of friction and heat and ends with raging infernos has proven powerful and deadly across the centuries. Fire adepts may often burn themselves, but the plasma barriers they can project have also saved lives, as if the protection is hot enough, it can incinerate both incoming ballistics and enemies.
Control Words: Corona, Hydro, Ignite, Flame, Flash, Fusion, Scorch
SOLAR
STRENGTH: ☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆
By far the rarest alignment and rarely seen in combat, solar adepts—and by extension people able to use solar techniques at all—only make up about one out of every ten million Aurrian births. Able to control light, their spells are unrivaled in their speed, and adepts can create flash bursts, redirect light to darken areas, or even create diffusion domes that nullify all nearby alchemagi. Only the highest levels of solar techniques, like a concentrated solar ray, can become lethal, but a solar adept’s support potential is unrivaled.
Control Words: Arc, Bright, Dark, Flare, Photon, Ray, Spectrum, Wave
NOVA
STRENGTH: ☆☆☆☆☆ SPEED: ☆☆☆ RESISTANCE: ☆☆☆
An alignment with very little contemporary research, as it was made forbidden to use thousands of years ago and there are no known adepts. Nova was said to have been so powerful, that it was used to mold Aurra’s very landscape, by leveling mountains and changing the flow of rivers. Instead of material manipulation, it destroys it, releasing large amounts of energy in the process. Nova users were said to decay the alchemagi in their bodies in the process and had shorter lives than usual.
Because the technique was made forbidden long ago, the control words were never modernized; any users would need to recite the spells through original Latin.
Control Words: Accentus, Caelum, Et Conlidam, Interitus, Exitium, Mortem, Perdere
Spells, Stones, Casting, and Paradigms
Spells can be simple or complex, and talented alchemagists can even combine two alignments into new, powerful techniques. They are created when the user extends one, two, or three fingers, which determines the strength of the spell. The user then recites a chain of words in their mind to form an image of the spell, after which their body’s alchemagi directs it through their finger, where it is cast and transforms from mental visual to physical reality. Many lower-level spells only control existing matter instead of creating new objects from existing nearby elements.
Power and potential of every user is determined by the number of alchemagi stones they have implanted. These are bio-organic pebble-shaped concentrations of alchemagi that both contribute to a user’s maximum potential and better regulate their natural reserves. They are fully integrated with the body and can become dangerous if they are damaged and cause alchemagi to leak out. One stone is needed for Tier 2 spells (cast with two fingers), and two are needed for Tier 3 spells (three fingers). Stones are typically implanted in the wrists for whichever hand the user is otherwise dominant with.
Paradigms are adepts that are said to represent an alignment. Unlike other Aurrians, they can only use the alignment present within them from birth. Only one is alive for each alignment at a time, and as paradigms can also be Earthens, who have no knowledge of alchemagi, it is virtually impossible for all ten paradigms to be alive at the same time in Aurra. Paradigms can become so strong with their one alignment that they can sometimes overwhelm fields designed to block alchemagi use.
Apostles are the most powerful of any alchemagi user. They are always born on Earth, and carry their gift into Aurra for the second half of a full life. Historically, their appearance often brought about a contest for the throne, typically ending in death. Apostles can use all ten alignments at once and were viewed as “gods” in Aurrian antiquity.