Excerpt from the second draft of An Earthling’s Guide to the Larger Universe
Training Abilities
Training abilities are abilities that are given as part of your Path to help you learn what’s needed to follow the Path. For example, a warrior might get ‘Basic Sword Use’ while an herbalist might get ‘Basic Useful Plants’. Later on, the warrior might get ‘Sword Combat’ or ‘Basic Melee Combat’ while the herbalist might get ‘Advanced Plant Harvesting’ or ‘Common Tincture Concoction’. What you get depends on both your Path and your current knowledge base; there are a wide variety of options, and to some extent it seems like the Voice will choose things it thinks you need.
They are all useful simply to have; you can immediately use the skill they give. With that said, they are far more useful as training aids. Pay attention to what the skill tells you and practice. Simply using it in the field is not enough; practice and paying attention will get you farther than simple use. Training abilities come in multiple levels and you will not get a direct upgrade until you have mastered the lower one.
If you get an ability that seems to upgrade only part of a training ability you already have, you have either focused that portion high enough to qualify (for example, someone with Basic Melee Weapon Use might earn Basic Sword Combat) or it’s something you haven’t practiced enough (that same person with Basic Melee Weapon Use might get a skill in Basic Combat Footwork). If the second happens, it’s a signal from the Voice that you have some work you need to do.
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Rissa sat in her empty-feeling hotel room and stared at the dragon’s core sitting on the desk before reaching over to pick it up. She rubbed it like a worry stone and sighed. She couldn’t leave until Jacob was able to take the time off work to go see their father for more training, but this place was so dull without Serenity.
Back home, she had friends she could go out with for an evening when he wasn’t around, at least if they could get a sitter. Often enough, it was her, a friend, and her friend’s kid. Well, except for Christine; her oldest was sixteen, and she was perfectly happy leaving him to watch his siblings to go to a movie with Rissa - usually the afternoon matinee, since Christine didn’t work and Rissa could set her own schedule.
Rissa gripped the worry stone harder as she felt her foresight kick in. She expected to see something horrible happen to Christina, since she’d just been thinking about her, but that wasn’t what she saw.
In front of her somehow - even though there wasn’t room - was a dragon made of darkness. As it turned towards her, she saw lights begin to glow, spread out through the shadow’s body.
No, not a shadow. A nebula. The sparks were like the tiny stars she’d seen as Serenity’s shadowlike form interacted with the magic attacking Jacob. They were more colors, though; all the colors she could think of were present in these stars, while that had simply seemed bright and colorless.
She felt a feeling of danger. It wasn’t aimed at her and it didn’t come from the dragon. Was it aimed at the dragon, then?
She couldn’t see the source, but sparks flowed out of the dragon like blood from a wound in its side.
The dragon vanished as the vision ended.
What the hell was that? The dragon had to be Serenity, didn’t it? But what the heck did it mean? Rissa’s visions were generally very straightforward; what she saw was what happened. They weren’t symbolic allegories, so this wouldn’t happen until Serenity was somehow a star-filled dragon-shaped nebula. She didn’t always know when; it could be years away.
Assuming it was Serenity after all.
She started to dismiss it, then changed her mind. She’d write it up and send the details to Serenity. She didn’t have to know what it meant to have a pretty good guess that it was likely to be something he’d want to know about.
It didn’t hurt that it would give her something useful to do while she waited for Jacob to finish teaching for the day other than make money. That was useful, but not very interesting.
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Serenity was searching all over Serenity Settlement for the Lord’s Door when Rissa’s text came. He read through the message, shrugged to himself, and sent back a simple ‘Love you’ to Rissa.
He could guess why she’d gotten that vision now; he was looking for the Lord’s Door as a way into the Void, and that vision certainly sounded connected to the Void somehow. He wasn’t convinced it was a vision of himself, but he also didn’t know what else it could be. Perhaps he’d meet something in the Void?
Or perhaps the vision wouldn’t come to pass. It might be likely right now, but that didn’t mean it would happen. Especially not something so vague.
Serenity went back to hunting for the Lord’s Door. He wasn’t satisfied with what he knew of the Void, and another visit seemed like the best way to find out more. If he was going to be part -
No. That wasn’t the way to say it.
If it was going to be a part of him, he wanted to know what it was. Right now, the one thing he could safely say it wasn’t was empty, and that was what “void” meant. He needed a better word.
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Hours after Rissa’s text, Serenity finally found the Lord’s Door situated at the base of the trunk of one of the trees near the Settlement Crystal. Naturally, it wasn’t visible from the crystal; it was on the opposite side of the trunk. He’d walked near it any number of times, but it hadn’t occurred to him that it might be in a spot no one went until he’d checked all of the inhabited areas twice.
Serenity relocated the Door to his treehouse before checking on the options. They were the same as before, except for “Use Void Spark”, which now simply said “Void”.
When Serenity stepped through the door into the Void, he found it much the same as before. The one large difference was that this time there didn’t seem to be another Void Sovereign waiting for him. Serenity missed the presence of someone to help guide him, but perhaps this was for the best. He needed time in the Void to figure out what it was and make sense of the words he already had.
You see nothing where I see everything. That was what it had said, wasn’t it?
Serenity floated as one more darkness in a place without light and stared around himself. The last time, he’d started to see something in the Void Spark. This time, he wanted to see something in the Void.
Something from nothing and nothing from something. It sounded somewhat like the tales of the Primordial Chaos, yet this was nothing at all like that. The Primordial Chaos was supposed to be a hot, painful place where everything tried to be and become, all at once.
Perhaps then it was more like Order, the common point between Life and Death? Ordered Chaos was one of the ways to see Life, while Serenity’s interpretation of Death held notes of the Final Order that became Stillness and Stasis yet not quite Entropy for even that required Change.
That didn’t feel right, either. It wasn’t Order or Chaos, yet what else was something from nothing and nothing from something?
Serenity opened his senses; all of them, even his Time’s Eye. He saw nothing at all until he realized that there was a hint - a gleam - something of Time laid over the whole place. It did change, it always changed, yet that wasn’t quite right.
It could change. That was the right word. It always held the chance to change. The possibility.
Magic threaded through the space that no longer seemed so empty to Serenity and suddenly he saw farther than he had before. It was empty, yes, but that was because there was nothing there yet. There might be or there might not be in the future.
In the far distance, Serenity saw others like himself. Others who could wade in the sea of that-which-might-be and find what they wanted.
Some were creatures native to the space, similar to Serenity’s Void Sovereign shape. They partook of the nature of the place and were shaped by their experiences rather than their surroundings.
Others visited for only a moment, taking a piece of the space back with them as they left. Serenity suspected that many were summoners, while others were dreamers or visionaries. It was not a place to linger if you weren’t made for it. Serenity didn’t quite understand how he was handling it; it seemed like it ought to hurt to see so much at once, yet it did not.
Serenity slowly realized it was because he wasn’t truly seeing all of it at once. He was seeing one thing that could be, then moving on to the next. Some of them were, while others were only possible, yet it wasn’t through Time that he was looking. No, he was seeing things that were possible and yet weren’t true right now.
Oh. That was why.
This place was like Chaos in that it could be anything; indeed, it was entirely possible that some of the tales of the Primordial Chaos were of this space. That wasn’t what it was, though. This place was a place where anything could be, a place of Potential.
Everything drew on It, for It was a place of Origin.
Those were both better terms for it than Void, but Serenity knew that Void was not completely wrong. After all, what was there before anything was other than nothing?
Well, there was potential.
Serenity felt his mind growing tired of having the potential around him pushed into his thoughts and the world around him grew dark again. This wasn’t his place and he wasn’t truly comfortable here. Not for long periods.
This was where a piece of himself came from, his origin, but he’d left. His home was on Earth.
As he wished to be home, the place-that-wasn’t that surrounded him disappeared and was replaced by the pillow-filled treehouse. The Lord’s Door was gone.
Exhausted, Serenity slipped from his Void Sovereign form back to the hatchling dragon shape. He wanted to be himself and at that moment, that meant the dragon. In some ways, he was more the dragon than he was the chimera, even though he was far more familiar with a bipedal form.
Serenity burrowed into a pile of pillows, almost too tired to read the Voice’s messages as he fell asleep.
[Void Sovereign form has become Sovereign of Potential]
[Void Dhampir of Mana and Essence has become Magic Dhampir of the Origin]
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General
Name: Serenity
Species: Chimera
Subspecies: Sovereign of Potential (Kernel), Essence Dragon (Hatchling)
Core: Unique
Progression: 93%
Tier: 2
Features: 5/11
True
Crystal
Link
Death
Origin
Path: Magic Dhampir of the Origin
Level: 51 (100/1020)
Tier: 2, 0/51 Spent
Path History:
1: Unbound, Steadfast, Evoker
0: Death-Eater, Battle Adept
Condition: Healthy
Healing Available: Full
Mana: 3000/5000
Essence: 3000/5000
Stamina: 2600/2600
Might: 250
Agility: 250
Phys: 250
Understanding: 250
Will: 250
Mind: 250
Perception: 250
Ambit: 250
Essence
Pure (Innate)
Ev: 446,651 (Purified)
Titles
Previous Supreme Existence
First of A Kind
Named
Ghost in the System
Aspect Pathfinder
Incarnate
Lord
DeathLord
Tyche’s Curse
Worlds’ Friend
Coin
1376 Etherium
Magic
Essence Techniques
Chimeric Alteration
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Claim Mana
Devour Mana
Essence Drawing
Purify
Affinities
Energy: 40%
Liquid: 6%
Mind: 32%
Plasma: 42%
Solid: 17%
SpaceTime: 71%
Magitech: 37%
Vapor: 14%
Liminal: 90%
Nihility: 50%
Concepts
Arcane: 80%
Energy: 52%
Essence: 25%
Life: 20%
Mind: 15%
Plasma: 26%
SpaceTime: 42%
Liminal: 37%
Nihility: 35%
Magitech: 51%
Topology: 5%
Aspects
Arcane (Mana): Initiated (Vital)
Essence: Growth (Vital)
SpaceTime: Nascent
Incarnate
Death
Physical
Resistances
Chemical: 137+10
Cold: 303+10
Curse: 265
Darkness: 177+10
Death: Immune
Heat: 532+10
Life: 417+10
Light: 298+10
Mind: 278
Pain: 641
Pleasure: 32
Shock: 334+10
Sleep: 53
Space: 250
Time: 1000
Unknown
Chimeric Heritage
Pure (Innate)
Essence Dragon (Primary)
Asura
Child of Time, Unbound
Dhampir, Essence/Mana
Draugr, Sage
Elemental, Essence
Elemental, Mana
Godling
Human, Earth
Lich, Paramount (Primary)
Vampire, Daywalker
Void, Sovereign (Subrace)
Wraith, Nightmare
Known Heritages
Azata, Lightning
Curse Witch
Healing Light
Hexen
Heavens’ Fire
Jiang-Shi
Knight of Blood
Malevolent Spark
Mote of Decay
Mote of Stasis
Mummy
Remnant Wisp of Life
Revenant, Star
Sea Lion, Earth
Abilities
Monster Biology
Eyeless Sight
Colorless vision that does not require light; no visual effect
Inherited from Final Reaper
Vital Sight (previously called Life-Sight)
Shows the primary animating Affinity, usually Life, for creatures. Makes the eyes glow with blue-white fire
Inherited from Final Reaper
Blossoms’ Sleep
Can induce sleep on self with a defined wakeup time
Dream Blossom Dust
Runic Shielding Tattoos
Resists one attack of any sort. Does not require preactivation if the attack will kill or disable. Fully drains current MP to establish, drains SP to maintain, ends when hit. MP drained determines strength of blow that can be resisted, will fail if strength is exceeded but may reduce the power of the attack even if it fails. Effect is better with automatic activation
Self-created ability (Not actually tattoos, his skin/scales grows “naturally” in the correct pattern and color to create the effect)
Claws
Hands and feet have claws (all forms)
Essence Dragon
Wings
Six-limbed creature; all forms have wings. The wings are strong enough to be noticeable and might assist in gliding, but are not large enough to support actual flight.
Essence Dragon
Scaled Hide
Thickened, resistant outer skin layer, covered in most places with scutes
Essence Dragon
Filter
Details unknown; so far, Serenity has determined that it will output Essence when fed mana, but it does not seem to have a use at this time.
Linked Crystal Seed (True Core)
Amplify Aura
Details unknown; has a Power Reserve that appears to be required to allow it to function, but the method to fill the Power Reserve is unknown.
Linked Crystal Seed (True Core)
Increase Link Distance
Details unknown; has a Power Reserve that appears to be required to allow it to function, but the method to fill the Power Reserve is unknown.
Linked Crystal Seed (True Core)
Change Stone Type
Details unknown
Linked Crystal Seed (True Core)
Raw Mana Control (Horns)
When in a ley line or other high concentration of raw mana, choose where it flows in the body.
Self-created ability
Dhampir’s Default
When a Dhampir is casually examined, he or she appears to be a normal member of the living population.
Dhampir
Amorphous Restoration
Why should a cut matter when a body has no fixed form?
Turns energy into whatever the body needs, wherever it needs it. Can convert physical mass to energy; increased purity or organization or interest improves the conversion.
Voidling (Curiosity)
Path Abilities
Loot Core
Teleports a monster core from touched monster body to the user. Usable on any dead monster with a core. Costs mana
Death-Eater
Resilience of the Dead
Slightly increased resistance to certain status alterations
Death-Eater
Eat Death
Absorb Death energy found within the Death Eater’s aura. Absorption based on Affinity. Intensity of absorption can be varied but the ability cannot be completely disabled. Absorbed Death energy may be used as if it were Death mana. Dissipates with time.
Ability damaged
Death-Eater
Basic Analyze
Analyze a being for basic information. The being may be animal, Pathed, or monster. Other beings may be analyzed if they have any appropriate features. Items may not be analyzed
Battle Adept
Intermediate Unarmed Combat (Claw Variant)
Losing your weapons is not a disaster when you have weapons attached to your hands. Your expertise with claws is nearly nonexistent, but your general training with unarmed combat is transferable
Battle Adept
Infused strike
Infuse your body or weapons with energy to deal additional damage. Replaces Deathstrike. May use any Affinity held. Power of infusion scales with Affinity used. Costs Stamina
Battle Adept
Far Strike
Discharge the magic infused in your weapon to strike a single opponent at a distance. Stamina cost increases with distance
Battle Adept
Adept Aspect Form
Instead of infusing an Affinity into your weapon, infuse your Aspect into yourself. Limited time, consumes both stamina and mana, induces unconsciousness when the Form lapses
Battle Adept
Basic Sense Raw Magic
Detect background, non-attuned energy. This sense is always active
Child of Time
Linked Sight
You may share your vision and vision-based abilities with your Seer or anyone whom you share a similar Link with. They may also share their vision and vision-based abilities with you. Consumes Stamina per vision or vision-based ability shared in either direction. Vision ability costs are paid by the user instead of the originator of the ability, if applicable
Child of Time
Moment of Prescience
Know a moment ahead of time when something will kill or disable you or someone you wish to protect. Activation is automatic. Cannot be activated more than once a minute. Consumes stamina in inverse proportion to the threat
Child of Time
Time’s Eye
Your eyes see the motions of Time as it stretches and changes. The hidden is easier to see and the false easier to see through. Consumes Stamina
(Note: the Stamina cost is low enough that it can be maintained for hours at a time, though that will significantly reduce Serenity’s available Stamina for other uses)
Child of Time
Unbound
Time does not quite have the same hold on you as it does on others, and Fate does not rule you. You can slip between the lines of the future and past or even blur them if you have the desire and the strength. That which will be has no power over you, and you can break the strands of Destiny for others if you dare. This ability is always active and has always applied to you
Child of Time
Basic Identify
Identify an object to gain basic information on it, such as its name, basic properties, materials, and/or minor enchantments
Steadfast
Scale Hardening
Use Essence or Mana to reinforce your scales, making them harder to damage and more protective. Costs Stamina to maintain
Steadfast
Wait for an Opening
Study an opponent’s actions in combat to gain an intuitive understanding of the right time to strike
Steadfast
Second Wind
Convert some of a more filled resource pool (Mana, Stamina, or Essence) into an empty one. Consumes some of the converted resource
Steadfast
Stand Tall
Whether you are the last wall between your loved ones and your enemies or you simply love to fight, your ability to take a beating is exceptional. Blood loss, bruises, injuries, and even broken bones will not stop you. You can fight at the full effectiveness your body is capable of despite your injuries
Steadfast
Essence Sight
You can already sense Essence with your Aura. Sight adds precision and distance to your detection capability. This may be enabled or disabled at will. A visual effect may be present
Evoker
Physical Storage
You can store spells inside your own body to be evoked later. Stored spells may be evoked only by you and may be triggered at any time. All variable effects must be determined prior to casting. Stored spells will degrade with time and use of mana or essence in the area the spell is stored.
Evoker
Spell Conversion
You can convert the power of any spell you can Evoke into a ranged mana or essence strike. The power of the strike depends on the stored spell power.
Evoker
Store Spell
You may temporarily store spells in items to be evoked later. The item must be strong enough to hold the spell, and synergy with the spell will slow spell degradation. Stored spells will degrade with time and nearby mana or essence use. Storage of spells can damage items used.
Evoker
Designate Evocation Conditions
You may designate conditions on when a stored spell can be evoked. You can bypass any conditions you set, but you cannot bypass conditions set by other Evokers. This allows you to set conditions that will allow non-Evokers to Evoke stored spells, but spells Evoked by the untrained will be significantly degraded during the evocation.
Evoker
Take Shape
Take Shape - You may assume the shape of any Form you know. Your personality and goals remain your own. Number of forms that can be known is affected by Ambit. Accuracy of learned forms will decrease with time; rate depends on Ambit.
Current known forms: Chimera, Hatchling Essence Dragon, Sovereign of Potential (Kernel), Human(?), Crystal Hilt
Sovereign of Potential
Merge
You may merge with another being. The merge may be contested. Success rate in a contested merge is affected by Ambit. Requires Sovereign of Potential form.
Sovereign of Potential
Entwined Magic
You can mix Mana and Essence magic freely, to achieve effects not possible with Mana or Essence alone. Passive.
Magic Dhampir of the Origin
Gaze of the Origin
When you choose, you can infuse your gaze with the power of your connection to the Origin. Effects vary. Power depends on Ambit.
Magic Dhampir of the Origin
Aura of Magic
When you choose, you can reveal your Mana and Essence pools with your aura. Passively increases the maximum size and regeneration of your Mana and Essence. Increases the regeneration of others’ mana and essence at a slight cost to your regeneration rate. Easily sensed. Power depends on size and regeneration rate of mana and essence pools.
Magic Dhampir of the Origin
Magic Dhampir of the Origin Locked Abilities:
Level 75 - Armor Another - In your Sovereign of Potential form, you may envelop someone or something. Instead of choosing to Merge with them, you may choose to Protect them, giving them a layer of armor formed from your physical self. This may also leave a permanent Mark (consent required).
Level 100 - Mold Magic - You can alter magic that has been given a steady form. Passive.
Open Quests:
Tutorial Instruction
Restore the Lost
Path Quest Stage 3
Global Quest: Invaders
[Tutorial Instruction]
[Serenity must participate as an instructor in Phase One (training phase) of a tutorial at least once per Real-Time Day on average. Student participation is permitted when it does not conflict with instruction]
[Student participation into later portions of each tutorial attended as an instructor is permitted]
[Serenity may participate in additional tutorials as an instructor]
[Tutorials Completed as Instructor: 53/180]
[Mentor Quest: Restore the Lost]
[Goal: Find out a way for dragons to have lower-Tier eggs and hatchlings to allow their minds and bodies to grow together and prevent them from becoming Lost]
[Optional Goal: Find a way to restore those who have been Lost from their spirit form, physical form, or both]
[Optional Goal: Learn about other species with this issue. Generalize the solution]
[Reward: Unknown]
[Failure Consequences: None]
[Message begins: I don’t really expect you to be able to do anything about the Lost any time soon, but you have the best chance I’ve seen in millenia. If you can’t, maybe a descendant of yours will be able to. Message ends.]
[Path Quest Stage 3]
[Goal: Repel the invasions threatening your friends and family. Aid from others is permitted]
[Reward: Varies depending on number of invasions expelled and contribution]
[Optional Goal: Repel all invasions threatening Earth. Aid from others is permitted]
[Optional Reward: Choose the location for Earth’s World Core Interface Crystal]
[Penalty for Failure: None]
[Penalty for Abandoning Quest: Discontinuation of Path Quest, Change in Path]
[Global Quest: Permanently deal with all Invasion Portals and remove the threat of the invaders]
[Quest Status: 23/512]
Known Affected Cities:
London (Active, Humans)
NYC (Resolved, Hegemon Worms)
Washington, DC (Active, Sterath)
Denver (Unknown, blue centaurs)
Arlington, Texas (portal is in Dallas/Ft Worth, bats notable) (Traa)