World Lore
Note: It is not necessary to read this before starting the main story. This is for reference purposes and extra information only.
You can skip this chapter if you do not like info dumps.
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Realms
Nothing much is known about them yet, but it seems to be something that exist beyond Planes.
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Plane
The land where living things exist, different Planes have different levels of beings.
Current known Planes (From lowest to highest tier):
-Earthen
-Spiritual
-Cloud
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Earthen Plane
The main continent is the BeiYang continent populated largely by humans and ruled by the Royal Bei family in the Capital City of Jin. The political system follows loosely based on medieval monarchies where Grand Sects are treated like independent existences. The country and Grand Sects have a relatively friendly relationship where they cooperate with each other.
Sects offer their services to trade for living necessities with the country.
Animals within the BeiYang continent are also able to absorb and cultivate Elemental Quarks. Some will gain enough Elemental Quark to become more intelligent and were known as Youkai, while the others who gained a malicious nature were termed as monsters and were hunted by both humans and Youkai.
There has been rumored to be other continents across the seas but none so far have managed to find any.
On the same continent exists the country of Dong south of the Death Mountains. They were a militaristic nation governed by a dictator and they had spent the last few decades absorbing smaller countries around them outside of the Royal Bei family's influence.
Many believe that the country of Dong will not pose a threat to them since the Death Mountains prevents them from spilling over to their side of the continent. This is because the only known way to traverse the Death Mountains is through a treacherous mountain path which is unsuitable for armies to march through.
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People
There exist two primary kinds of people: Practitioners and non-Practitioners with non-Practitioners being the majority in the Earthen Plane.
Practitioners are people who possess a Cultivation Point and actively train in the art of manipulating Elemental Quarks with it. All Practitioners possess a Cultivation Point though not all people who possess a Cultivation Point are Practitioners.
Do note that Practitioners are not automatically stronger than non-Practitioners as a non-Practitioner can still overpower a Practitioner through brute strength and other martial skills, but Practitioners definitely still hold an advantage over non-Practitioners in combat.
Practitioners can be likened to mages that are also trained in martial combat though not as thoroughly as skilled Fighters.
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Cultivation Point
The area within a Practitioner's body where his Elemental Quarks are stored and circulated. Without a Cultivation Point, one would not be able to sense and use Elemental Quarks innately. One can train themselves to expand and improve the quality of their Cultivation Point through pills and effort, increasing their Elemental Quark reserves, speed of converting Elemental Quark and speed of refilling their Elemental Quark reserves.
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Quark Veins
The pathways within a Practitioner's meridians that are used to circulate Elemental Quarks. They are spread throughout the body, connecting the limbs, the head and the Cultivation Point.
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Elemental Quark
Essentially the Mana of the Practitioner World. It exists as many different elements with the most common being Pure Element which is found in most Practitioners. Practitioners are able to channel these Quarks into their Cultivation Point to turn them into different elements if they are proficient enough.
Some Practitioners are born with an innate Elemental Quark of a specific element in their Cultivation Point E.g. Fire instead of Pure. This makes it easier for them to cultivate and utilise Fire Elemental Quark but will have a harder time using other elements as they have to change their Fire Elemental Quark into Pure Elemental Quark first.
For Practitioners who are born with innate combination Elemental Quark, they will have to break down their Quarks into the elements required to form their elemental quark in order to use other elements. They are exceptional at multicasting as the elements that have been broken down can be used instantly within their Cultivation Point. (E.g. Breaking Divine Lightning into Lightning and Light, the Practitioner can multicast a Lightning and Light technique at the same time) Though it is easier for them, multicasting is still a Master level technique and still requires a lot of effort to learn.
Elemental Quarks are also separated into two different groups. The Base group where the element exist by itself without needing to be combined; and Combination group which can only be created by combining Base Elemental Quarks.
Current known Base Elemental Quarks:
-Pure
-Fire
-Earth
-Air
-Water
-Light
-Dark
-Astral
-Space
-Spirit
Current known Combination Elemental Quarks:
-Energy (Fire+Water+Air+Earth)
-Lightning (Energy+Air)
-Divine Lightning (Lightning+Light)
-Metal (Earth+Space+Energy)
-Magma (Earth+Fire)
-Cold Fire (Water+Air+Fire)
-Frost Lava (Magma+Cold Fire)
-Life (Energy+Earth+Air)
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Elemental Tiers
The power one can utilise from a specific element is decided by the tier of their proficiency.
Current Tiers:
Basic
-Able to change Pure Elemental Quark into their element and cast it out into the material world
-Able to manipulate natural elements to a small extent e.g. moving a rock without physical touch
Journeyman
-Able to reshape summoned Elemental Quark into other forms e.g. sword, arrow, spear
-Able to manipulate natural elements to a certain extent e.g. changing the direction of a stream for a few moments
Intermediate
-Able to imbue summoned Elemental Quark with pseudo life using Pure Elemental Quark.
-Summons should be able to understand simple instructions e.g. Summoning a Flame Golem that can defend its summoner
-Able to combine the Elemental Quark with a different Elemental Quark of the same proficiency e.g. Earth and Fire to create Magma
-Able to manipulate natural elements to a great extent e.g. creating a small tunnel through a mountain without risk of tunnel collapse
Advanced
-Summoned Elementals are able to perform more advanced tasks e.g. Summoning an Earth Golem that can stand guard of a location and only attack who the summoner deems a threat while ignoring those that are not.
-Able to combine multiple different Elemental Quarks of the same proficiency e.g. Water, Air and Fire to create Cold Fire
-Able to manipulate natural elements to an extraordinary extent e.g. Creating a tornado and directing its path
Master
-Summoned Elementals possess semblance of intelligence e.g. Summons are able to communicate their summoners' intentions through speech or actions
-Able to combine combination Elemental Quarks of the same proficiency e.g. Cold Fire and Magma to create Frost Lava. Note that combining Fire, Earth, Air and Water creates Energy, which if combined with Air again creates Lightning
-Able to manipulate natural elements e.g. creating a sinkhole, instantly dematerializing forest fires, creating a lake, creating earthquakes
Legend
-Summons seem to be sentient creatures
-Complete control over the Elemental Quark the Practitioner is proficient with
-Able to create natural disasters on a whim
Combination group elements can never be higher tiered than the elements used to create them. The Practitioner must increase his proficiency with the elements used before he can advance the particular Combination group further. (E.g. Water, Air and Fire must all be Master level before Cold Fire can be Master level. If one of the aforementioned elements is stuck at Advanced level, Cold Fire will not be able to advance further.)
However, if a Practitioner already possesses innate Combination type quarks, the above rule will be exempt for their innate element
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Cultivation Techniques
Cultivation techniques can be seen as spells used to shape the Elemental Quarks a Practitioner will manipulate.
A proficient Practitioner would be able to manipulate their Elemental Quarks to create all sorts of phenomenon they wished like creating a lightning storm with their Advanced tier Lightning Quark.
But a less proficient Practitioner might achieve the same result if they knew a Cultivation Technique that instructs the way to manipulate their Elemental Quark to create it. The Practitioner might not even need to be proficient with Lightning quark if the Cultivation technique covers the manipulation of the Elemental Quark required to create the Lightning quark.
Cultivation Techniques are basically Elemental manipulation skills that earlier Practitioners have recorded down to pass to younger generations.
The downside would be the longer casting time needed for the Practitioner to materialise their intended result should they not meet the required proficiency. The less proficient the Practitioner is with the manipulated element, the more time needed to complete the technique. E.g. A Practitioner who is only proficient in Fire quark would spend a lot more time to complete a Water Cultivation Technique compared to a Practitioner proficient in Water quark.
Nevertheless, Cultivation Techniques serve as a gateway for Practitioners to advance their techniques. Many Practitioners use the Cultivation Techniques passed down as references to create their own Techniques.
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Sects
The below is the Sect Hierarchy for Sects in the Earthen Realm, note that other Sects might follow other forms of hierarchy or naming conventions, but the most basic principle remains similar throughout.
A prospective Practitioner would join a Sect to learn to control their Elemental Quarks starting at the bottom, working their way up to the elite position once they have progressed far enough.
The Sects provide food, lodging and teaching materials but in return, the Sect Practitioners will represent the Sect to complete requests, hunts and other miscellaneous tasks as dictated by the higher members of the Sect. People outside the Sect could post Sect Requests to the Sect Guild to fulfill specific jobs like hunting a monster, creating a pill or even caravan guard.
Not all Practitioners are part of a Sect as some may be self-taught or left a Sect to seek their fortunes. Those are known as Mercenary Practitioners and would usually join the Adventurer's Guild for work. Sects and the Adventurer's Guild usually work together to fulfill requests they are unable to handle themselves.
Sects usually compete with each other through friendly competitions showcasing their members' Elemental Quark usage mastery and Cultivation knowledge. The Earthen Plane Sects usually gather once a year for the annual Sect Showcase Festival to display their talents.
There exists Minor Sects and Grand Sects. Minor Sects usually focus more on nurturing young potential Practitioners to realise the existence of their Cultivation Point and assist their first Elemental Quark manipulation.
From there they will usually seek Grand Sects and pass their selection test to further their studies. Although it is not unheard of for potential Practitioners to directly seek entry into Grand Sects without going through minor Sects first.
The current strongest Sect in the Earthen Plane is undisputedly Heaven Sect because of Master Lin's presence.
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Student Practitioner
-Entry level
-Will learn under teachers to control Elemental Quarks
-Would be tasked to fulfill basic Sect Requests
-Usually around 10 - 18 years old
Outer Core Practitioner
-At least Basic tier in an element
-Will learn under teachers to advance their Elemental Quark proficiencies
-Would be tasked to fulfill Sect Requests
-Usually around 18 - 30 years old
Inner Core Practitioner
-Three elements at Basic tier/ Two elements at Journeyman tier/ One element at Intermediate tier
-Allowed to self study or seek out guidance on their own
-Would be tasked to fulfill Sect Requests
-Most would work as staff members in specific branches of the Sect e.g. Pill Mixer at Alchemical Branch, Counter Staff at Sect Guild etc.
-Usually 25 - 40 years old
Elite Practitioner
-Four elements at Journeyman tier/ Three elements at Intermediate tier/ Two Elements at Advanced tier
-Most would self study though some can be chosen or seek to be direct disciples of Elders or Masters
-Could be tasked to fulfill Sect Requests
-Allowed to take teaching positions and a few management positions
-Usually 30 - 50 years old
Elder Practitioner
-Elite Practitioners who have been in the Sect for an extended amount of time. Positions are given at the decision of the other Elders, Masters and Sect Master.
-More of an honorary title to show seniority
-Could be tasked to fulfill Sect Requests
-Most take up teaching positions or management positions in the Sect
-Usually 80+ years old and a member of the sect for 50+ years
Master Practitioner
-Four elements at Advanced tier
-Supposedly strongest Practitioners in the Sect
-Could voluntarily take up Sect Requests
-Most take teaching or management positions in the Sect
-Age varies from the youngest 20 to beyond 100+
Sect Master
-The leader of the Sect
-Not necessarily the strongest in the Sect
-Position focuses more on Sect management and charisma rather than personal strength, basically the figurehead of the Sect
-Will make most of the decisions regarding the Sects' future though does not wield absolute authority
-Position is usually decided among the Elite Practitioners and above through vote though on rare cases Inner Core Practitioners have been chosen as Sect Masters
Other info:
Eris has split personalities
1st personality: Eris
Devoted, pleasing. Default "speaking" personality. Sees herself as the 'big sister' of the four.
2nd personality: Bait
Hyperactive, straightforward. Surfaces when agitated and usually talks like a yankee. Prone to violent tendencies.
3rd personality: Laverna
Quiet, secretive. Uses few words in her speech and prefers to solve things as efficiently as possible. Ends sentences with "..."
4th personality: Denna
Humble, demure. Always uses 'humbly', 'humble' in her sentences, refers to herself as 'this one'.
