Elemental Forces of Planet Solaris in a Nutshell
An Explanation to the Layman
By Kwin Alexander Dark

One of the more miraculous benefits granted by Dakon’s wonderful BTMs is the ability to tap into the very essence of life around you. Many simpleton cultures across this Nomaverse and others spawned civilizations which believed in nature spiritualism. They are known to believe that everything around them – the water they drank, the trees they lived with, and the fire with gave them heat and light – had a spirit about them.

Wizards and their brides have long ago mastered the arts of what they called the elemental forces: Fire, Demi, Stone, Ice, Water, Fauna, Sylphid, and Lightning. These are the essences of the raw power of the planets themselves. Whether or not they have spirits of their own, like the heathens proclaim; these elements are a powerful force when used by the hands that know them well. Many would rather fight alongside one with mastery of these energies rather than a dozen of warriors with their blades of steel.

The most important thing to know about the elements is that they act a lot like the material weapons of a warrior. A sword and axe have similarities in that they both will use their sharp blades to cut through the flesh of their enemies. An axe also has similarities to the hammer, in that they use longer handles and laws of physics and torque to deal massive damage. Each weapon links to another through similarities, until you eventually return to the sword. The elemental forces act in exactly the same way.

If one were to make a chart showing the eight basic elemental forces linked by similarities, he might end up with something that looks a little like this:

Water
Ice		Fauna
Sylphid		Stone
Lightning		Demi
Fire

Each element is bordered by two other elements with similar properties. This fact is especially useful for those who do not possess the natural skills of magi, like me. Even the smartest can only master one of the elements, but since it has similarities to its two bordering brethren, then he can dabble in the arts of those two elements as well. Let me give you an example.

Let us assume that in training, you have learned to favor Fire magi over other elements. As your chosen element, you have a grasp of the energy of Fire. The mundane mind of a normal warrior is severely limited in these elemental arts, but not entirely incompetent. You can see that the elements of Lightning and Demi border the element of Fire. Therefore, in this example you would have a minimal grasp of both those elements as well as Fire. Unfortunately for those of you not blessed with the ability to be a Wizard or Sorceress are forced to deny the use of the other elements. The curse of relying on physical strength to get what you need is amplified when the elements are taken into consideration.

Returning to the physical weapon analogies as I wish not to leave behind the slow-minded, we can consider the sword once again. The curved katana is used effectively with a concise, slashing motion that can more easily ignore parries with its curved edge. A broadsword on the other hand is used to attempt to remove limbs and even the head with more of a blunt weapon feel, rather than relying on its sharp edge. Elemental magic is the same.

Fire, for example, is usually used as an aggressive, offensive element. Everyone has heard stories involving mages hurling balls of fire at their enemies. Fire can also be used more passively, as a means to simply light a campfire to keep warm. Fire is also a popular defense against ice. Like a blacksmith can craft a sword to achieve different goals, so too can a warrior craft his Fire magic to achieve different goals.

Finally, these eight elements are just the basic elements of Planet Solaris. Many other elements are found vaguely in manuscripts but removed from recorded historical documents and little is known of them. The healing magic which Clerics find themselves so proficient with is said to be from a separate elemental force called Holy where the force used so well by the Necromancers to fuel their ability to control the dead is sometimes referred to as the Evil element. There is little record of these subset elements which I myself wish to discover more about.

I hope that this little explanation helps you to understand a little more the basic elemental forces of Planet Solaris. There is much more to know of their mighty powers but I fail to see the point of recording them for the eyes of laymen. This is all the information that is required to know to successfully utilize the essences of the elements. More information may be found in the Elyndrel Academy, open to everyone.

A Continuation of the Study of the Energies of Planet Solaris
An Explanation to the Layman
By Kwin Alexander Dark

Now that we have gone over some of the simpler aspects of the elemental forces, it is only logical to delve into the workings of the purer energies of Solaris. I will apologize in advance, however, as these are harder to dumb down into diagrams of swords and blunt objects as before. The information of the energies of Solaris is harder to grasp than the elemental forces, as it were. Before I bore you to tears over these warnings, let us get started.

The energies are different from the elements in that using them does not make one a master of the art. One can command fire and weave the powers of fauna and claim to be one who is a caster of these powers, however one cannot rightfully claim mastery of ki or plasma just because one can flick a wrist and cause these powers to appear. Although it is not rare for one to form a ball of plasma energy as one's first reach into the arts of magic, it would not be accurate to claim this warrior as plasma savant. Hard to grasp? I blame you not. These energies seem to come more naturally than the elemental forces at times to some warriors, but they are hardly more basic in design.

Each individual energy is unique in itself, and therefore are much harder to be described as a ring. However, for those visual learners, I have thrown something together. I hope it can help your brain wrap around this concept if that is even possible:

Chaos
Cie		Plasma
Divine		Infernal
Chi		Ki
Extraplanar

The greatest thing about the energies is that they do not require mastery. It may seem counterintuitive at first, but just give it a little clever thought. When one masters a favorite elemental force, one then shuns others, forcing a specialization. Although mastery of those forces allows a warrior great powers in the form of the perks they carry, this specialization may cause a weakness. The energies do not require mastery and they do not force the user to shun other energies. Very powerful warriors will eventually learn how to grasp these energies greater than a simple neophyte, but will never lose sight of the other energies.

Those warriors who look to their inner strengths and powers will be fine users of ki. It is focused through meditation and unleashed as a very potent energy that is often crippling and explosive in nature. Using this energy with too much excess, however, can cause even the most meditated to feel weakened by using too much of his inner power. A very similar energy, chi, is used by warriors who instead look to more of an inner mentality or spirituality. It also can be fueled by meditation and acts similarly to ki- powerful, potent, and devastating. Relying too much on this energy will cause the warrior to become mentally exhausted, tired, and drained. These side affects, though, pale in comparison to the raw power that ki and chi possess.

Another pair of similar yet opposite energies can be found in the divine and infernal energies. They are both energies that are used by those with an intense control of their own emotions. Historically, clerics and elves have always been powerful wielders of divine magic, powering it with their hope and happiness. Alternatively, necromancers and demons have begat the most powerful handlers of infernal magic, fueled by their lust for power, greed for wealth, or hatred for civility. I must make a very important side note here: divine magic and infernal magic are not good and evil. Those with blackened hearts can focus their joy into divine powers and even the most valiant of do-gooders can have a streak of aggressiveness when it comes to their most treasured of ambitions.

Plasma energy is probably the most common of all the energies and elemental forces combined. It is created by focusing inner energies into the atmosphere around oneself. This will trigger a reaction in the biotech microorganisms (BTMs) that converts lesser mechanical energies into a substance not solid, liquid, or gas, but a weightless plasma of swirling kinetic and thermal energies. With practice, this can be manipulated into shapes and hurled at opponents. It also has a special attractive nature to solids. Therefore, this energy can be created on the surface of a weapon, causing its next landing blow to transfer this energy to the opponent, arcing off of the weapon as it strikes. I will assume that you care little for further scientific explanations, so I will conclude this description with saying that plasma is fast and easy to make and it burns like liquid fire when it comes in contact with flesh.

When the BTMs create plasma, it is a very pristine and orderly process. Filling this substance with entropy will cause it to explode in power. This energy is known as chaos energy. Because the BTMs do not wish for this to happen, chaos energy can only be created by extremely powerful warriors or by the use of an item or sophisticated equipment specifically designed to overpower these invincible devises. This energy is ever changing, so it is very difficult to be able to learn how to harness this power. But, if you ever become strong enough to wield it, your name will be well-known enough that someone with the knowledge of this power will find you. Little more is known to the masses about this energy, except that if you see it heading your direction, you had better make your peace. Fast.

The only energy that could match chaos energy in raw power would be cie. It only holds a light to chaos energy in the fact that it is far more containable and less sporadic. This power is similar to nuclear power. It can only be created by the fission of pure cie metal, which creates such an astronomical output of energy that it would blow your mind. To put it as simply as possible; during a great war of great lengths of time ago, Manark City was a floating battle fortress. It could fly over the land at astronomical speeds and was equipped with an energy shield so incredibly powerful that it could deflect anything that could ever be fathomed to be thrown at it. During simulation tests, the shield was estimated to be able to deflect a planet the size of Earth. The incomprehendible power that supplied this flying fortress was given by a trio of cie reactors. Each reactor burned approximately seventeen pounds of cie per week under normal circumstances. I hope this little example is enough to show just how powerful this energy is. For those of you drooling at the mouth right now, I have some potentially devastating news for you, however. This energy can only be created by humongous cie reactors or androids of such complexity that it is hard to imagine that anyone has the technology in order to create them. The technology that was used to create the reactors that supplied power to the above mentioned flying fortress was lost with the city's destruction, and any cie reactors now could not dream of outputting so much power.

The last energy may not be as powerful as chaos or cie, but eather is not an energy that should be taken lightly. Strangely enough, this energy should not even exist on Solaris, or even anywhere in Solaria, or any of the other galaxies for that matter! Eather energy can only be contained on a higher dimension from ours, the Eather Realm. Over time, stranded in this lonely habitat, enough eather energy will combine in order to form a being. The existence of eather energy is only possible when one of these beings transverses into our dimension. This energy burns like plasma, but also is very corrosive. Contact with this energy can boil the flesh off of one's bones, melt solid steel into puddles, and even dissolve powerful attacks of other energies. The reason that eather is so powerful is that each unit of this energy has enough power to produce five more units of itself! Left untamed, a microscopic speck of eather energy could expand and dissolve the entire Nomaverse in a fraction of a second. For this reason, only these eather beings are able to use this energy. They cannot willfully lose control of its own energy and destroy the entirety of everything, however, which is probably a good thing.

I apologize. It seems that I have become rather wordy. I hope that you will excuse me. As you may have been able to tell, these energies cannot be presented by the image of a shiny stick. Nevertheless, I hope that I have been able to give you just enough information for you to be able to grab onto the premises of these powerful tools, at the very least. A bolt of ki. A divine prayer. A volley of plasma. Such are things that I would put in hundreds of times as much faith than a swing of a sword. If you feel differently, then if we meet someday in battle, I would hope to be against you. Oh how I enjoy easy and imbecilic prey.