Hello readers, you glorious few who've walked alongside me as we dive into this world of ours. One of your peers (IanZe) commented that he wanted to see some kind of literature pertaining to 'power levels'. At first, I was going to write it in-verse, lore appropriate, and then I thought – why not drop some sort of pseudo intellectual thesis bullshit on you all and let you sort it out.
Just kidding.
Shout to to my readers, IanZe, Raphonix, Ixire, Sin of Wrath, finaltheorum, Kane, Saher Assi, gargantuan, etc. There are quite a few and if I forgot your name I'm sorry! Whatever the case, seeing your comments and talking to you every day is a big motivator for me and I appreciate it.
This will not slow down the release schedule, I already have a framework for all of this and am just stream of consciousness writing. Sorry if it's messy, but let's be real, the world is messy and that kind of 'real life' with no chosen ones, divine providence, etc... That's what I'm writing. This is 'real life', I had very little interest in writing a contrived messiah plotline, I wanted something new, something unique and at least semi relatable.
Again, I wanted something new. Obeying the time worn tradition of following an 'oh my god, there's a bad guy who did something wrong to me!' just wasn't for me. I don't want that. That's not to say that my books aren't campy and full of cliches, but... I want to innovate, I think innovation in writing has fallen by the wayside. Writing is art, no different than painting or anything else, and the community surrounding authors and their works has really fell off in my opinion. People are stuck in this loop wanting to consume the same thing over and over again, which is fine. Again, it's going to sound arrogant, like, who am I to say that I'm even succeeding at that?
You will never, ever, hear me saying that I am a GOOD WRITER. This story is good, I read a lot of the stuff that makes 200k a month and know my storytelling is better. Because again, people are stuck in a loop. They can be better writers than me, but the modern meta of sorts for literature has been stagnant for 20 if not 30 years. I'm staring at the giants, GRRM, Robert Jordan, Tolkien, and while I'll never be them, I want to find that innovation that they did. There are so many great writers out there, and those that we've lost, it is my greatest dream (and one that will never happen) to make something that does the same. Those were innovators, the so common gamelit power fantasy telling me the characters HP dropped, oh no! Every time they are hit, is so exhausting. I can barely read a book anymore, and my creative process had finally given me a new hobby.
It's not here to make money, I'll probably never be paid for this. I don't think I'm a good writer, all I know is that I'm trying. It's not a lack of confidence, it's just reality that when trying to reinvent the wheel, you're bound to fail. Maybe I am failing, I don't know, but I am having fun. This is an adventure to me and in my ten year 'career' of writing, with 11 total novels, 5 of which have been published and did reasonably well, I am finally... Blissfully... Having fun. Doing what I want to do, and I am genuinely enjoying it. Even when people tell me that I am a piece of shit writer and nothing I do matters, all while reading this for free. Hundreds of hours of work, and sometimes I laugh at the messages I get.
Not mockingly, by the way. It's not like they're wrong, I'm not the person to tell you that you're wrong. I am not very arrogant, and I think humility is a joke as well. These are just things. If I'm a chef, and someone tells me a dish is too salty, I am left with two options. Right? Either tone down the salt, and experiment with feedback, or tell that guy to eat my ass and continue doing the same thing. I'm not that guy. I'll tone down the salt.
I want something new, I want to innovate. I keep reading the same book, basically, over and over and over again. The dialogue sits at a bizarre disconnect with reality, relationships feel so dry and contrived, and unrealistic. There is no innovation anymore, that's how I genuinely feel. Characters have one conversation with some dude with a long ass beard and click immediately to the truth of their lives. Yes, master, I will suddenly be a better person. No, people make mistakes and even if they want to, change is not so easy. Characters cannot be boiled down into archetypes or black cloaked edgy swordsman. I want to convey genuine pain, indecision, or flaws that feel more real than most. Not sure if I succeeded or not, but it's a project. People fail, I fail, we all fail. Failure is what makes us, it's a scientific process, my whole life has been constant failure. But I'll keep living, trying, and reaching, and I hope you do too.
But you didn't come here to learn about me or hear me justify the things I'm writing for you. For free, by the way, so go easy on me. (I am wearing nothing but a pair of tube socks and a cowboy hat, I'm in the zone, kiddos). Let's get it.
Here goes nothing... This was a lot longer and more jumbled than I thought it would be, but I will, as always, try my best.
Consider this (extra space for your eyeballs): That sometimes, and quite frequently, people are manipulating or straight up lying to our MC and he is slowly discovering that for himself.
PRIME MYTHOS - This can be skipped, if you'd like, but it might answer some questions, power scaling comes after this, and an explanation of how mana and spira relate to the 'system'.
First, I'll start with a rationale and some background before I answer that question asked of me regarding 'power levels'.
This is in-verse, as are the 4th wall breaks that some people didn't quite like. Surprise, this book is, in canon, a 'book' of sorts, though not in the literal sense of things. Perhaps that is immersion breaking, it shouldn't be, but I can see how it could snap you from the setting – pretty jarring to drop this on you all at once. If so, I apologize for that, but this (possibly like our own reality) is a simulated construct like all other worlds, and part of the the universal narrative presided over by a being known as 'the writer', that construct of fate. If fate, destiny, or any approximate exists, absolutely nothing is real. And yet everything is, because for a human or mortal mind to insist they are not real when a literal divine entity said they were -
This is an intermission, and the next arc is about to officially begin after Tyr gets his arm back.
'Dauntless', as it were, is not a fictional universe, in canon. It is very real, the fact that it is a story does not change that, because we all are intimately aware that stories can often feel more real than the boring world we live in. A world where greed and industry have overtaken everything, the mad rush of society and our shockingly dull media-centric culture. We gobble it up, all of it, and I am certainly no different.
The Dauntless universe is built on a mythos. There are twelve prime gods, who betrayed the 'order', which is the underlying fabric of the cosmos. Everything works because the order says it should, or said, as the twelve turned against their masters, the Primordials, and effectively killed them. Feasting on the remains until they achieved the 'freedom' (or control) that they were looking for, as celestial entities developed, they became more and more complex until they developed consciousness, albeit a primitive one.
Ordered by three hegemony's, the cosmos existed in a state with the Architect at its head. Architects, dreamers, and keepers. Architects shape, and there is quite a lot that I can't reveal at risk of spoiling later story components but I'll try my best. The framework of everything was determined by the architects, the beings who sit first among equals in their new ordering, shaping everything and burning out imperfection wherever it rears its ugly head. That was, ultimately, their mission – to create and destroy in an endless cycle to bring the universe closer to perfect. They are the cosmic force of balance. The prime gods, of which Valkyrja is a member, the lady of black and white and the one who would become the pre-defining concept of the cycle between these two universal components.
Her shards, that which the gods were broken into as a result of the second war in heaven, are Hel (the conscious concept of death), and REDACTED, the concept of life. They are all separate entities, all shards are wholly individual people that after eons (billions of years) have developed their own personalities. There are many of them, perhaps even infinite iterations.
Orpheus, for example, is a shard of Ryu. She is the goddess and warden of 'fate', which is 'how things should be'. It is still unknown whether fate actually exists, or if free will is all an illusion.
The dreamers (led by a being known simply as Moth) are the gods of mana, irreality, and the great dream. Moth 'imagined' the universe our characters live in from the slop of primordial ooze when everything was just raw energy. He is the pre-defining concept of chaos and disorder, who took the order and twisted it until it was the entire universe as we know it was a raging mass of everything possible.
Ryu, the prime god of reality, is the god of spira. The universe as we know it exists because she asserted her will over the great dream and engaged in a war with Moth. She is the lady of paths, of inevitability. Spira makes things 'real', and this will be important later. Anything with physical form is first defined by the dao, the concepts by which all things exists sitting even higher than any god, and Ryu's will is what makes it tangible. They are effectively the gods of reality, and law, though not in the sense of morality and ethics, but rather physics and existence. The dirt you walk on, the water you drink, and the food you eat, is the result of this clash between mana and spira. Everything in the universe is struggle and conflict down to its deepest parts, all energy necessary for creation comes from this relationship.
This is what the shapers guide, literally shaping it into form. They are (or were) the gods of balance, create and destroy in a constant cycle irrespective of Ryu's struggle against Moth. She won, and what we know as the 'astral' is their domain, the place between, the veil and fold around reality and what lies beyond on either side.
Moth wasn't killed or necessarily 'beaten' - the twelve cannot be killed because without even ONE of them - a prime law of the universe ceases to exist. He was just crammed into the place 'between' "nothing" and "everything" (our universe and the great black beyond - true infinity), which is why temporal anomalies exist, the sleeping gods are inactive but just their dreaming subconscious is enough to bend and tear reality. Spira is a lot like the air inside of a life raft, pushing back and keeping it afloat, but leaks are appearing everywhere.
This is a quarantined world. So many consciousnesses (including the deaths of people inside an astral space) threatens to wake the dreamers. And if they do rise from the dream, they would be near unstoppable. They are necessary for the fabric of the universe, but these gods are not your friend. Unlike Ryu, they have no compunction or willingness to cooperate with the ordering. As gods of chaos, the concept of 'losing to win' is anathema to them. But even as they want to fight against the expanding pressure of spira, they are also constantly fighting against themselves, because it is their nature. The dream, which is responsible for all mana, as mentioned, is akin to a cosmic virus.
Hence why the fogmen and darkbeasts fought one another. Fogmen are akin to mercenaries in the mist, they are a thinking sapient race that feeds on emotion, especially negative emotion. They are known for purposely terrifying people, and not killing them, in a bid to force nim or other beings with bright souls into mental illness, PTSD, and the like. Better food, basically, but they are essentially just animals in that vein - they need food and we provide it for them. Unless darkbeasts, they are a lot more 'morally gray', but the creatures of the fog aren't 'real' in the cosmic sense, they are made from raw chaos and emulate living things.
Every creation is just a concept as these three houses vie to create the perfect universe. Each house has four prime deities, the 'high ones' that have been mentioned a few times, and what you have are reality (law), the dream (chaos), and the architects (who were initially thoughtless entities with no overriding will other than to create and destroy). The great tree exists in the space between order and chaos, a ward in the fold of space that holds it all together and keeps the prime gods safe from what lies beyond. On either side, there is no good and evil in this relationship, they simply are. It's no different from a shark eating a fish, it does it because instinct guides, it follows.
A world of all spira would be still and lifeless, but a world with all mana would be like a storm of energy, nothing would be defined or remained constant. The change it would bring to the universe would ensure that whatever life came of it would change too fast to ever truly develop until devouring itself.
Spira wants everything to exist in a constant state, and mana wants to warp and twist it. They are not so simply defined as the concepts of creation and destruction. It's order and chaos, which are related but unique concepts. 'Shapers' in this dynamic are like wardens, the architects who take the imperfect result of this universe spanning clash. Making something out of nothing, without falling into the trap of 'everything' where the entire cosmos and all of its attendant alternate universes would be pure, unmoving matter. No energy, so to speak, it's a concept of combustion, burning fuel to keep the light shining for a little while longer.
These prime gods cannot be killed by anyone but themselves. Without even a single one of them, the universe would fall into a state of imbalance. Which is exactly what is happening, one of the twelve has left the ordering and that is exactly why the nephilim exist.
Once upon a 'time' (high ones do not know time as they exist above the dimension time exists in, only using it as a tool), there was endless life, every world was seeded with beings – but there was no concept of will. Things just exists, and Samael, the god of creation, considered this an imperfection, they existed to do nothing at all, leaving him with two choices. Either life was inherently flawed and cannot be allowed to exist, or they were missing something intrinsic to the balance.
Samael could not destroy, at this point the high ones were possessive of very little in the way of intelligence. Floating balls of energy following their original directive given to them by the Primordials and slowly floating through space. For the architects, it was one to create, one to destroy, and one to sit between them (Valkyrja). Samael made, ignited suns and molded planets (his name is important, his figure is 100% allegory), while his brother followed and destroyed what he'd wrought. That's why they exist, it's evolution but on a cosmic scale - life just happened to come from the relationship - the sacred struggle and duality that defines everything.
In an act that would forever change the universe, almost assuredly for the worse, Samael paused in his creation and disrupted the balance. In all eternity, this had never happened before, and his great project resulted in the concept of true evolution and change being given to life for it to decide what to do with it, not 'gods'. Proto agency and 'free will', which billions of years later would result in sapient beings. Massive seas of single celled organisms were ignited with will, instinct, and a prerogative to propagate that had never existed in them before. Before this, life as we know it did not exist, think of mountains or ooze even simpler than algae - or energy constructs with no prerogative just floating in space waiting to be eaten. They did nothing, felt nothing, just sat there in suspension until they were destroyed.
Samael was not intelligent, he was naïve beyond belief, the god of everything 'good' in the universe, from a cosmic perspective. Nothing would exist without him other than cold, empty void. His mercy, the vague concept that he felt sorry for his creations, resulted in the worst crime ever committed wreaking havoc on the cosmos.
Like Prometheus and his fire. Control was for the high ones, and they alone, and albeit inadvertently, Samael had effectively given one of the prime universal constructs to living things. Possibly handing the control of the greatest weapon ever experienced by anything 'alive' into their hands, and it couldn't be taken back. In laymans terms, Samael had just made every single form of life in the universe its own god - down to an amoeba.
Their connection, that of living things with the ability to think and feel, had unfortunate side effects. This began the third war in heaven.
The first being the war against the architects and the primordials. The architects were made to shape, and see to the cycle of destroying flawed creations. Technically speaking, their creators were flawed - and therefore they needed to die. Odyn, the prime architect, and his two sons - destroyed them. The primordials were capable of thought, and they created something that wasn't - because any compunction, emotion, etc. is intrinsically flawed. Get it? Just like our Roomba's are going to get us one day.
The second being the struggle between Ryu and Moth, in which the former 'won' - asserting contextual order on the universe in a way that Moth was fine with. After all, chaos for the sake of chaos is NOT chaos - it'd be the 'norm'. He needs Ryu to define himself, everything relates to something, a coin has two sides, etc. Still, at this point, they had no intelligence or agency whatsoever beyond instinct - remember that.
As all things with a mind are wont to do, biological life saw these titanic beings in the sky and began to worship them as the first gods. Their connection to this universal force of 'free will' gave them power over their deities, and others, as well as access to the dream where anything was possible. In the process, billions of new gods were created (actual celestials, Astarte the god of war would be an example of one of these). Some, like Samael, initially embraced this feeling. The first feeling, they had never felt anything before and through the thoughts, prayers, and instincts of living things – the idea that they'd been plugging away at an impossible task for a literal eternity began to surface. They started to think. And therefore experience time.
Ryu was neutral to the event, she was a god that could not be worshiped and continued in her task of warding away the dream as ever, with more beings subordinate to her, created by mortals, her duties became easier and true reality took shape. Samael loved it, basking in their praise and continuing his great project with greater gusto. But not all gods experienced these potentially beneficial changes.
It's important to note that because time had not existed as a linear construct practically until this point where the gods could think and measure its passage, everything happened all at once, not at all, would happen in the future, or already had. It's hard to position in a way a human mind could understand it, frankly, but all actions before this were instantaneous. Even the 'dreamer' hadn't considered the passing of time, only the reaction of atoms throughout the universe that needed this vague construct to operate, as did all lower dimensions, of which matter is a part of them.
Moth went mad, filled with screaming pain until he and his three 'sons' fled further into the astral and shut themselves down. Forced to confront something they had not considered possible because it hadn't existed before. And every day, more things are added to the dream. Concepts only mortal beings could consider. War, sin, etc - even something as simple as a 'microwave' would've been like forcibly burning a thought into the dreamers heads. They hate it, obviously.
They were the most effected, but not the only ones.
The prime god of destruction, Samael's 'brother', and son of Wotan (the architect himself / Odyn) went insane. In his insanity, he too broke from the order and tried to destroy Samael in his madness. He succeeded, in a manner of speaking, but Samael was too powerful to shatter – resulting in Samael ultimately defeating his brother. Destruction, the cosmic force of erasure, killed itself in that moment, it couldn't handle the madness and shattered into infinite shards at the peak of this new war in heaven, damning the universe to entropy and stagnation. Think about it like a story wit a beginning and no end - energy decay is not possible without destruction, both a planet eating monster and the staple that ensured things had an end.
"The ender" - etc. So in this case, eventually, the entire universe would become light. No decay means radiation doesn't fade away - it just builds up until what light emitted by the suns filled eternity until it shattered. Think of the whole universe existing in a state where temperatures scaled up infinitely over time - nothing new could be made because 'everything' was all that existed. Which was anathema to the cycle that dominated these celestial beings, so they had to fix it.
But high ones cannot truly die, and now that someone 'believed' in them (or something), all it managed to do was scatter 'him' into an infinite series of shards. Not nim as we understand them yet, these shards were all something like clones, but there is ONLY ONE high one, as there can only ever be one destroyer. It's enigmatic, and goes back to that point of it already happened, will happen, etc. with the timeline as linear as it is. Yes, it's meant to be confusing, I am not a physicist but it's not meant to be answered as it only explains a very small part of the story.
The chaos that followed defines the currently timeline. That is where all of this exposition comes to an end, because they are important plot points, some of which have been answered but in a very 'riddly' sort of way (I'm sorry if you don't like that sort of thing.)
Mortal thoughts didn't just create new gods, it changed the old ones. They had the ability to inflict chaos on beings of balance and order, consciously, simply through realizing they existed. This was why Moth felt so much discomfort being around them, and why he labors to bind all worlds together so that he can send proxies through to stop it from happening. This is the 'fog', the reason why worlds are quarantined, and the same substance that destroyed Sigi's Trafalgar and threatens to destroy the world as well. Moth cannot descend himself, but he can anchor parts of himself to physical worlds and begin influencing them without feeling pain.
All quarantined worlds (any place with a specific 'ppm' of atmospheric mana) - that hosts astral apertures - are held down because of the fear that Moth or one of his sons will manifest on it. Or, alternatively, infect the tree - so they are cut off from the wider universe and any and all technology that can access alternate dimensions.
Samael eventually went mad, facing his own creation and 'death' of the only reason he had to keep going (the god of destruction - his one true love, muse, etc. of sorts) – and fled reality to the great beyond (the black/void/where everything is nothing and nothing is everything). He is the great traitor, and though he was forgiven, he was compelled by the need to stop this once and for all and start over again. Without destruction, whether he existed in a lesser state or not, creation had no meaning and no place. Duality was broken, and Samael was just 'human' enough to feel grief for the first time. In memorial to his sworn partner and companion, he gouged out his eyes and made shards of his own, constantly searching for his match as he plans a way to reverse his great mistake. Samael is the great traitor of the ordering, and is hated by all the gods aware of his existence, of which there are few.
Someone like Astarte, who I use as a reference because the prime elemental gods are the strongest in context to the story (the fire king, or whatever) - knows only his name. Not what he's done, even gods don't know that. Only the high ones are aware.
This is an important point coming up in the story, and the reason why Hastur is trying to kill as many mages as possible. For very obvious reasons - mana is (maybe?) allegory for climate change. Used for everything, a race dominated by complacency and convenience, it's literally poisoning the world and people KNOW THIS, but won't stop. More mana = mages will be stronger, why would they care? They believe the primus' will protect them from anything and everything.
Lo and behold, Octavian is directly enabling Hastur (Cortus, a primus once - but no longer). Yes, I expand on this and give him a bit of backstory as well. But again, there are no villains, this is a relatable mission even if it does mean genocide. At least in my opinion, I didn't want morally gray though - and he's not. He's a 'greater good' type savior figure who sacrificed everything for mankind as a whole, as primus' are expected to do. We get more information later on this, no spoilers.
In any event...
What is a primus?
A primus is a nephilim, and this word in the old tongue means 'first among us'. They exist as heralds to new worlds that nim arrive on, and Hjemland (the world the setting is in) only has two true primus' in the literal sense. Jartor, Ragnar, Alexandros, Vidarr, Octavian, etc. They are the last remaining pure lines of higher nephilim who maintain and develop a proper aspect. Making them incredibly powerful, but they only have one. Recent eras has seen them degrade, and their numbers decrease because the humans are not supposed to be on the world. The weaker spira gets, the more imbalanced they get in turn.
Like all humans, they are born to a ghost of a dao, one above all others. An empty spot in their gates that is filled when they awaken, every single one of them awakens before the age of 5.
A gate, by the way, is the funnel by which nim (or other races) can utilize unnatural energies (of which spira/mana are both). Nature exists between, not alongside one or another. It is its own thing, which related to anima - biological / cellular energy, stuff like that.
Shards are sentient and conscious, as the gods are. Each primus is a collection of two minds, and it might interest you to know that both individuals exist at all times in the world. That doesn't mean there are 'two primus'' from the one body, we will still be calling them that because it is a title rather than what they truly are. As proposed by Sanguinar.
Notably, Jartor is the only known modern primus to have only had one son up until this point. Now two, of course, and both are higher nephilim. As you might imagine, these beings live a pretty long time, making it to two centuries before they disappear into the arks and are never seen again. The idea that they'd only have one son is unlikely, and that is by design. Tyr is the result of a long project of his, and the others, which includes a great many other 'main' characters in the story. A process of eugenics to create new and more powerful breeds of human, or human hybrids when necessary. New weapons, superhumans at the nephilim tier (Goroshi / Daito) the norm for all mankind, or at least a few hundred of them to make the primus' job easier.
Tyr, as you might imagine, is a very unexpected failure. Jartor's shard, however, unlike that of some others, is more benevolent and refused to kill him after what happened. After that, the two separated and Jartor's shard is still wandering around the world away from its host (they are like parasites) although they still communicate and pressure one another telepathically.
Very soon, we'll be learning a little bit about those events that made him the defective product he is today.
Octavian, before Iscari, had 63 children. All of which were killed before the age of five years old to make way for a new primus candidate. The shards dictate their actions, 'the way', the universal prerogative to continue their legacy. It's amoral, at best, or downright evil at worst, but with no higher nephilim on the world, it will be destroyed. All quarantined worlds are slated for eventual destruction, there is no known force that can stop it. This is their attempt to do so, even if it means damning the universe (but they don't know the consequences, making that irrelevant, not even Ragnar knows).
They are effectively slaves to the shards in their head, constantly battling wills or simply talking to them. Some (Ragnar's) are partners to their host, but others (Alexandros) is constantly abused by his - in a relatively constant state of agony just by speaking to human beings.
Also worth noting, an arcanum is also a shard, or an aspect but related to a god rather than a dao. It's an imperfect system, even cosmic entities realize that, which is why there are so many worlds with contrary physics governing them. Each one is an attempt to reach for perfection, and they are all failures to the ordering. The only reason they have not been destroyed is because thinking beings, gods and high ones alike, cannot agree on the matter.
Mimir, the reader, once said that if the universe exists in a state of constant duality, and God (as in the first ever being) made it that way – then imperfection is inevitable. That in imperfection, and the sacred struggle between existence and entropy, it must already be perfect. For this heresy, he was destroyed and cast into his own shards. His eyes and mouth sewn shut, trapped in the wyrdwell for all eternity and forced to passively learn all knowledge that is forgotten.
He is supposed to be the guide of all nephilim, or at least his shards, but the component present of him on Hjemland is damaged. This is a HINT, by the way. Damaged. And he does exist on the world, he is supposed to control the other nephilim and train them to their purpose via the ascendancy trials. That was their original purpose, and it sort of turned into a fighting tournament (because humans are... Human...)
NEPHILIM – An explanation of what “NIM” are as a greater whole, and their purpose. There are those who are, and aren't, servants of the ordering. Of which there are two, the order and anti-order, both of which refer to them by the same name, believing they are 'right'. Gods typically lie outside this system, as mortal beings shaped them into things with individual will. Almost universally, they are fighting against it and do not want it to happen. Living things give them power, and define their existence, without mortal consciousness, most 'gods' (Astarte, Agni, Thanatos, etc.) cannot exist, and they will die. Hence their obvious resistance, the continuance of playing games on planets all over the cosmos to continue their great harvest. Mortal beings are like cattle to most of them, sources of faith and food.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
There are three branches of nim, which are the original humans, 'high humans'. The seraphim, auronim, and nephilim.
Seraphim were the first, the creation of the architects in an attempt to replace Tyr. They were regarded as a failed product, as they only concerned themselves with one thing, and one thing only. They were the first wielders of the aspects, and almost immediately betrayed reality to follow these guiding principles, engaging in a war with Ryu's subordinate gods.
As the creations of the prime 'gods' of balance in the universe, they seek almost universally to damage reality to a point where mana and spira sit in more perfect tandem. Which is impossible, leading many to go insane, but many still serve their initial prerogative, serving the gods. Six is a Seraphim, serving as arbiter for the architects that remain, content with balance rather than swinging it one way or another. He has no patron god and is no servant either, but obeys the will of Ryu's remaining shards, which are the last known lawful gods who are still trying to formulate a way to save reality. Mimir, Arkon, Orpheus, Ouroboros. The reader, Mimir, keeper of all knowledge. Arkon, the keeper of law. Orpheus, the weaver of fate. Ouroboros, the endless cycle (in context of reality). These are a few of her children (Orpheus and Ouroboros however, are shards of Ryu. The third is one who's name cannot be spoken aloud - if one were to whisper it, the universe would end).
Which is another hint. Orpheus is a shard of Ryu, Tyr and Orpheus are 'married' (this is not a lie, they are married). Is that a coincidence? Ryu is a hint in and of herself, very rarely mentioned. 'Herself' - gods do not have genders - they are amorphous, especially the high ones. The current 'real' pantheon is Lovecraft inspired, just twisted to my preference of 'spooky evil thing!' - I'm pretty sure universe devouring (or creating) gods wouldn't make fish people scratch at my door. Anyways...
Seraphim like Six exist to fight and kill gods. Their grand plan failed, arguably, because they are living things and therefore flawed. They, like auronim, are slaves to their shards but cannot be so easily controlled or manipulated by their creators. Some, again like Six, developed personalities through their time spent traveling, and they aren't necessarily evil. They are amoral, and will snuff out billions of souls on a whim, destroy worlds and kill anything that gets in their way. All nim were designed for this purpose, to engage in war, and the seraph are far more aggressive in pursuit of this than most.
It's worth noting that all of the high ones (sans the dreamers) shattered themselves in an attempt to spread their essence. Some are independent constructs, 'gods' in the more classical sense with the ability to influence the material world, and some are 'shardlings', which are nascent higher nim. Alex is a shardling, as is Astrid. Tyr is not a shardling, and this will make sense (if it doesn't already).
Ryu's auronim, who were known as the builders, a race of similarly amoral humans that do exactly as the name might imply, they build. They, too, were imperfect. Like machines. They made weapons, build fortresses around astral gates (or inside them, as in the tower + Aurora, a pretty alliterative name) - and are sort of like... Robot people, they lack the agency and complexity of living things and only (like seraphim) develop 'personalities' via the process of going insane after millions+ of years spent 'alive'.
Nephilim were different, the progeny of Ryu and REDACTED. Instead of creating new life and filling them with gates to be occupied by whatever random dao they achieved, Nephilim (WHICH ALL BASELINE HUMANS IN THE SERIES OF DESCENDANTS OF) are the more literal children of gods. They are born of the blood purposely shed during the war in heaven. Gods shattered themselves intentionally, and these shards are born and cultivated into specific children who continue to engage in their eternal struggle, in the material realm.
This is why the 'old gods' are often considered dead - but they aren't. They just spread out because they were forced to engage directly with the universe rather than obeying one directive.
All nim, but especially nephilim, are biological weapons of mass destruction. Auronim and seraphim cannot breed, but nephilim specifically are cast in a more natural form. That makes them weaker, largely, but only in the context of Seraphim and Auronim being essentially born gods, versus nephilim who are demi-gods. Some are weak, some are not, it is not a guarantee that they be born strong. There could be a nephilim of farming or fishing, who excels at one very specific task and not much else beyond that - though they'd still (in our context) be superhuman. The absolute floor of a true adult nephilim would easily be five tons. The strongest among them could split planets in half with their bare hands - but they aren't gods. They exist, basically, to 'earn' godhood through effort rather than seraphim who were let loose and started murdering shit with no command. Eugenics again, and the allegory of the wolf and the sword AGAIN (HINT) - it's like breeding good bloodlines in dogs. Only promoting the loyal, nephilim that earn the attention of trusted gods would be given a place among them, hypothetically.
They are as unique as all the shards inside of them. Unlike modern primus', who again, are basically devolved gods themselves (and a semi-unique nephilim variant) – nephilim are as varied and independent as the gods that created them. They are each born with empty gates, an unlimited number of them technically, though their biological form limits how strong they can actually get.
Nephilim are the force sent to worlds to fight against the dream and slow its encroachment on reality. They are not universally under the same banner, they were given agency and will to pursue their own goals. Unlike the others, who are dominated by the instinct of their shard (far worse than a primus would be - to avoid confusion). Seraphim and Auronim are both machines, in a way, whereas Nephilim are free to pick and choose what path they take. In a manner of speaking, I repeat, because even the gods don't know if 'free will' actually exists. They are given the choice to progress as they see fit, freedom as it were.
They exist solely to conquer, kill, adapt to and dominate the worlds they land on. Typically this involves devouring mana or killing any dedicated mages. Beings without the balance of mana and spira naturally within them (non-humans usually - because unlike nim they weren't meant to use both sources of energy naturally), aka most lifeforms by this point. Very few things have more spira than mana in the world, and this contributes to the imbalance.
They are an empty vessel of sorts, and their power is earned through observance of endless struggle. All 'humans', in one way or another, are nephilim. It's effectively genetic, but after thousands of years of lacking that struggle that defines them as beings solely dedicated to war and conquest, they had devolved significantly. All of mankind is capable of awakening to nephilim, though the effort can be insane. For example, and leading into power scaling, some might need to kill a billion things and absorb their energy to advance. It all depends on how they've lived their lives up until that point, their bloodline and genetics are an inherent component factor.
By far the most numerous of nim, but also the most inconsistent. Everything they are is predicated on what they've earned for themselves. They are vampiric entities that gather energy far more efficiently from actions and kills than others. Their gates, being empty, allow them to do so. Once occupied by a shard, this gate allows them to more efficiently progress through one action or another. Again, whatever that might be, nephilim exist to CONQUER and that doesn't always mean killing. So, in context to the story, there could literally be a primus of drawing veggietales porn - its in conviction and how much you care.
Weird example, but we're vibing.
“POWER SCALING” (THE FINALE - ITS NOT, KEEP SCROLLING LOL) - I know this is messy, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless. This turned out to be more exposition, it's useful, but you can skip to the end if you want a more concise list of powerful individuals.
I'll start by repeating that there is no power scaling. The system I've developed is too complex (specifically in Tyr's world) to rely on gamelit or mundane training arc makes a man. That's not how it works, training can give you skill and help them a little bit, but it can't make someone a god. People accumulate shards, or aspects (usually about 1-5 at most) – more than 5 will lead to insanity, almost assuredly – and these act as a medium by which their strength can grow.
Nephilim exist to adapt, they are born murder hobo's (just like humans in real life, honestly), to conquer and reign supreme over all living things. They are weapons, but not everything is centric around killing.
Although, in contradiction of that, it is by far the most efficient way. Each and every thing they do, based on the significance of the action, feeds their spira. Even something as simple as sweeping the floor or cooking a meal. That is because struggle is sacred, the will and desire to keep living is what makes mankind so strong. And how they've managed to conquer a world where much stronger races exist. Otherwise, it would've been impossible for them to conquer the kijin, Anu, and beastkin who are far more powerful on the baseline.
Remember, significance. Like a mother lifting a flipped car off their baby, etc.
Tyr, as the MC and prime POV in the story, is getting a lot stronger. In fact, he is one of the strongest characters in the series and has been for a very long time. As in, even before the astral space he would've been able to challenge, and permanently kill, Hastur. It's not levels, like a video game, but that is pretty similar to how the system actually works. We know that when he taught Alexis how to gather spira, that she started off at a far better point as he did. Tyr had expended so much effort, far more than a normal person and yet, to some, he feels so weak. That's because he started with such a large vessel to fill with things, his floor was much lower but his ceiling is much, much higher. She will need to expend an insane amount of effort to reach the standard of a primus, whereas his is supposedly inevitable.
Is he weak, though? Contrary to some of the exposition, there are hidden plot points and truths to what he is. Everything that he has ever done, from completely erasing an awakened monster capable of challenging a party of experienced adventurers, to literally freezing an astral space (a world), was by his own power.
But I'll tell you why he's not OP, if you'll continue allowing me to write for you.
Spira is the collective energy of reality, a byproduct of the clash, and in human terms it is the right a person has to exist. Their spiritual imprint on the world. Mana is just fuel for bringing the unnatural to life, in comparison. Tyr is only inferior, among humans, to a primus. This makes sense, because a primus has one power above all others and sits practically at the peak of what this era of humanity is capable of. They live in tandem with this significance and the world itself will not allow them to leave it until someone can break that threshold of energy within them.
Their significance, as it were, is too great. Mages do not experience this kind of boon, but strong warriors and people with great convictions do. This is how arcanums are born in more normal humans, that which makes the heroes and saints. Their shackles, essentially, keeping them exactly where the gods want them. Solomon, for example, was one of the few individuals who refused this gift of power and pursued his own. He wanted to become a primus, himself, which is not possible – but all men are born with the right to struggle for that power. They might even reach it, but the effort would be true lunacy. Upon realizing that he could not truly grasp one single shard above all others, because that was for they and they alone, he dedicated his entire life to helping them. Building an army, the chimera and other creatures, that could not disobey a primus.
Remember when Nala said that Tyr could tell her simply to die, and she'd be forced to do so? That was the truth. They exist only to serve the primus'. But is Solomon a good character? I guess we'll find out. He did kill primus', after all, and a god – though the latter still exists in form. I'm winking at you, this is a wink, another secret that might've been missed in the incredible amount of chapters, which I totally get.
They are in the material realm, and that being said, the power and capabilities of spira is practically infinite. If someone has the power and conviction to wield it. Most don't even know that they are, every time you swing a blade, hammer, or hoe, spira flows through that action. Perhaps only a tiny wisp of it, but it is there.
Everything Tyr does is significant, he is powerful, but the problem is that there is no focus. He has betrayed a universal law in the past and lost his aspect. In exchange, he's become an empty vessel and filled it with new things. Tyr cannot die, even Jartor couldn't kill him, he is eternal and will always exist because he was created for a purpose. Even if he doesn't know it, it defines him, and he is constantly resisting it and that's why he appears weak. But quite literally, he can never truly lose a fight - it's not possible for anyone - even a god, to kill him. He is a true primus, the first among us, of the new era in which only one other is or ever will be his equal.
Which is weird, right? Because pretty much this whole story is Tyr losing and losing himself in that constant string of failures. He cannot fail at anything, though, nothing at all. This relates to his aspect, and also why he is failing. Contradictory, maybe, but not from my perspective. His flaws make him both weak and strong in tandem. His power, growth, all of that is irrelevant - this isn't grinding boars in the forest until you're level 60 - this story is about being human - not the opposite. And a choice presented to him when he finds out if he wants to hold onto the peace only mortals are capable of, or give it up.
What you have is a broken child with an absolutely horrendous childhood, missing five of his formative years, trying to figure life out. Trying to figure out what his purpose is. He is lost, and the only thing keeping him going are the people he's met and bonded with. Everything he is, whether he wants to admit it or not, is bound to them. He might not love as normal people do, but he wants far more fiercely. Refusing to accept an eventuality where he won't feel these things. Right now, is an amalgamation of inconsistent powers that he's gained from all over, but they are parts of one greater whole. Things are trying to make themselves at home in his body, because he is so empty, and they've done so.
Gods, and therefore shards, are parasites. It's like seeing a flatscreen TV or GTX 3090 on sale for five dollars, everyone wants a part of that action whether they need it or not. And there is a being, in the story already, who saw that. And shrouded Tyr from the gods. Unfortunately for them and all of that consideration, Tyr had rabidly been looking to fill himself with power to make himself whole again.
As a note, he is still 'dying'. The only reason he hasn't died is because he never stops moving, and of course the bargains he's made with Agni and Thanatos (the gods of challenge and death respectively). Iscari, by the same token, is still dedicating his every waking hour to saving his best friend, someone who Tyr (a man with faults) has never forgotten, but he doesn't consider the consequences of his selfishness either.
When his aspect is finally revealed (pretty soon, actually) this will make sense. Although, based on the fact that an aspect is what someone wants the most (in primus terms), his dominant shard, the new aspect after he lost his first, might already be obvious. Again, probably lost in the mess, I'm not really sure but it will make sense, I swear.
You see, so many stories go by levels or stats, or really strange contrived powers that make one person better than another. In real life, a NAVY Seal or whatever equivalent you want to use for a super soldier can be shot by an untrained civilian and die. This is not exactly how this story works, but it's an appropriate comparison.
You can have a gun, but it isn't any more than a chunk of metal and plastic until you pull the trigger. Tyr has a very big gun, and its safety is on. It's about to come off, soon, and consistently remain so, but probably not in the way that you expect. Maybe.
However, tangents aside, I was asked, and so I will provide. Sort of. I'll separate these things into categories as best I can.
ACTUAL POWER SCALING BECAUSE I WENT OFF ON A TANGENT HAHA PLEASE DON'T UNFOLLOW ME HA HA HA (seriously... I need you... I'm so cold...)
Gods are not part of the power scale, the real world is not about fighting and most could care less about martial conflict. Everything happens through their proxies (the faithful, churches, etc.) But if you want to know, Bumi (earth), Astarte (fire), Vortigern (air), and Veles (water) are the elemental gods of most significance. They cannot kill one another and Bumi has been struggling against Veles on every world for billion of years. It's just not relevant, in my opinion.
Primus':
Jartor > Ragnar > Octavian > Alexandros > Vidarr > Iscari > Vidarr's son > Jartor's new son > Tyr (sealed, let's say. Because it sounds mysterious and dramatic).
All primus' are just below the tier by which something starts to be considered a god. In fact, their shards are awakened gods, in the literal sense. They are life forms far above the average to the point where it's hard to really place them. But the above 'tier list' is how a conflict would stack up. Ragnar is 'weaker' than Jartor, in a 1v1 situation, but he has other abilities and magic that make him a far more versatile opponent. In my opinion, it could go either way, but Ragnar is a very honorable man and Jartor feels absolutely no shame in fighting to win or going for a low blow. Honor is weakness, Jartor is a berserker compared to Ragnar's ability to love and cherish humans in a way most primus' do not.
Not super relevant, again, they won't be fighting in the entire length of the story. Ragnar is Jartor's mentor and the best friend of his father, like real family. They conspire frequently and are nothing less than the best of friends. That tends to happen when you know someone for 250 years.
Jartor is the strongest primus, it's his aspect and literally in his blood. In a fight, he would dominate all non-deified characters revealed in story except for one. Abaddon would thrash them all in a struggle, but he is inherently lazy, and he can't. Abaddon is a child of spira and his people cannot physically kill a primus. Technically, and eventually, he would be forced to sleep again and this could be considered a defeat. However, the primus' can't kill them either. The relationship between Abaddon's mysterious race and the primus' is a big part of why the world is the way that it is. Abaddon is the strongest character introduced in the novels sans Six and most divine entities, period. Take that how you will, he is so strong that he has begun entering the dream to fight things on other worlds. His soul is capable of traversing reality, hence why we saw him at the 'tree' when Tyr was redirected to the conjunction point (eggplant land, where Tyr met Six, whatever, what he saw there was basically an illusion filtered through his mortal mind to give it form. This is reality bending tier, where things cease to exist and operate as humans would understand.)
Abaddon is not a god, or celestial, he is a very real and living thing at this current time. With that being said, he could not kill a god. He is not human, or nim in any way shape or form, if you were curious. He is 'spira-kin', who were the original denizens of this world and many others.
Whatever the case, his people and the primus' are, for all intent and purposes, allies. So not relevant (for now).
There is no power scaling in Dauntless, not in this specific thread of the wider connected universe. As some of you know, there is more than one book, the others just haven't been published yet. This is an introduction and a primer, first and foremost. However, obviously, there's always going to be a perceived need to know how powerful someone is so I've done a little thinking about this and come up with somewhat of an answer.
Note that again, the gun analogy. Having the means and ability to use it isn't so obvious as casting a spell in another fantasy universe. Significance means conviction, conviction means caring enough to do it. Pure mages, like Kael, could be killed with a regular old steel knife to the heart, if he was naked and not using his magic. But he is an archmage, in a magic duel he would completely dumpster someone like Tyr because the latter doesn't know how to fight against him. There are thousands of years and all those black books of magical innovation, it couldn't be that easy. Could it?
Tyr's soul magic is contrived, the song Daito taught him. It's not his weapon, its a training tool and a way to guide him down his path. The 'choir' is incredible important, the world song, its a way to access his own spira and wield it because his individual self is too jumbled up to do so, as literally as casting a spell – that is. Daito taught it to him as a test to see how he'd use it - and he really hasn't. But he will, in a manner of speaking.
All aspects, as a side note, are related to gods. Like shards, these are literal, actual, pieces of gods that give nephilim their powers. That included Alexis, who is awakened, hence the black snake which is the shard that settled inside of her and doesn't belong. That snake is already a character in the story, for those of you asking if it was random or not. It's not.
Jartor: The primus of strength. And that goes being strength of the limbs, by the way. Strength in EVERYTHING, these are both their 'strengths' - and their weaknesses. Any perceived weakness in himself causes him pain - I explain this a lot more in the story later on.
Octavian: Endurance.
Alexandros: Freedom.
Ragnar: The War Flame. A war derivative, related to magic. He is a super genius and magus far beyond any human mage, by a long shot. He is Solomon tier of genius in terms of the arcane, and has read every single black book.
Vidarr: Storms.
Cortus (Hastur): To be revealed, but it is and was the opposite of Tyr's first aspect, which will also be revealed. Cortus was destroyed, and no longer holds an aspect. His shard, that independent part of himself is fractured and still alive. Every primus, again, has a counterpart personality that battles against the original. This is important, they are a lot like haemonculi, or clones, except they are fully realized and capable of independent action from the main.
Iscari: Hope.
Tyr: ??? Remember, it's what he wants the most. This becomes incredibly important, but he does have an aspect and he's been awakened to this entire time. His awakening point happened when he met the kobold and wiped out the tuskers. He is primus, but in a truer sense of most others. Two primus' exist currently, the classical and truest of their form, it's not answered who these two are until much later. But... It shouldn't be that difficult to guess knowing that Tyr is now one of them. He was made anew, as was.... ??? Moving on.
'Raw' power in 'mortal' characters introduced: THIS IS NOT A SYSTEM THAT WILL REMAIN A COMPONENT OF CANON OR THE STORY, THIS IS JUST FOR THE SAKE OF WHAT WAS ASKED OF ME. BEEP BEEP.
Vidarr tier characters, definitively not primus tier, but not too far off either, exist. Nala is the only known example of a person that could give him a fight like this. A cosmic classification exists, and I'll explain before I get down to brass tacks. Class-25 or higher, like Signe explained, is a god or awakened nature spirit. This is not the cannon classification system that I'm about to use, but a primus at their peak is somewhere between a 15-20 for the sake of the conversation.
Class-0 is a normal human, this is the baseline for the cashier you just spoke with at your local Wendy's. Yes, I am watching you. I am in your walls.
Spira and mana are contrary forces, but they also work together, as explained. Someone cannot become powerful without a balance of both. Mages subvert this rule by building on their mana beyond normal humans and do not progress in a normal way. It is like a crutch, Tyr's body rejects it and that's why he was so shit at magic initially. It's worth noting this.
Class-3 is a trained and veteran combatant (Regar), we are (by the way) disregarding magic in this comparison, this is again about spira. So confusing, I know! A world without mystery where everything is so literal as Naruto jutsu is boring, sorry. Aha, I see your divine dragon infinite grasses and raise you my lightning demon of the forsaken moon! No, real fights are not rock paper scissors and dramatic monologues, I could never get into that. This is an adventure story, and if you made it this far you'll note how the action has been pretty subdued. Challenge is more than wrestling someone, it's in your soul, your heart and mind are everything in both worlds.
Wah ha ha. I'm laughing, out loud, and it sounds just like you read it. Yes, I am watching you, again. I hate anime. You have been officially bamboozled by the prime bamboozler.
Anyways... Damn, I really should've planned this out better. Sorry, Ian.
Spira defines your right to exist, and is the only notable measure of power. Enough spira makes you literally impossible to kill. In terms of spira, Tyr would be a class-20, but this does not translate to his ability to kill things. He cannot die, the world, like real life, is damn inconsistent like that. If I put it to a stat sheet, the measurables would be in their hundreds, and I'm not doing that. Again, this is not a gamelit world, but it works like one in some ways.
Class-5 is an awakened individual. Block busters, so to speak, they wield abilities that could take out a city block.
Class-8 is hero tier. City destroyers, potentially, it depends on their skillset. Of course, swinging that much energy around has a cost and they don't just do that by default. All heroes and saints are governed by gods who ensure they live by rules preventing this.
Class-10 is the wall all saints face and what keeps them below the standard of a primus. Any saint could destroy a mountain if they pushed their power to the maximum. They are the avatar's of gods, demi-god tier so to speak, and are the most powerful a human can become through conventional means.
It seems close, alpha numerically, but we'll meet both a saint and a hero soon and you'll see. There is a huge difference between classes, an exponential one. Some heroes are not very strong, but Aurelius (a hero) is very close to saint tier. He is a piece of shit, by the way. I literally hated writing him and deleted some chapters because the man I imagined in my head was so irredeemable that it didn't feel real, but it didn't change the fact that some people are actually like that. We will get to that, though, sort of soon. Two arcs from now, or so.
Lucian, a saint, and one of the only known saints in the entire world – would give any of the primus' a fairly decent fight. He was Octavian's mentor and trainer, like an uncle to the primus. Octavian's Tiber, basically. And older than him, by the way. Class-10 is where we get into reality bending territory, localized, though. Obviously these people are not gods, but they act in tandem with the will of their patrons. The ultimate paladins, essentially.
They would be a fair opponent for most nephilim, their power begins to betray the class system, numbers cease to matter. After all, Jartor would be a class-17 and Lucian (a saint) would be able to spar with him. Exponential differences in strength, yes, but again – it's how you use it. These things are complex by their very nature. Though, obviously, Jartor could kill Lucian if he really wanted to, pretty much instantly. He'd just have to want it, which is a subject I've begun to broach with Tyr's storyline.
Spira is about want and need, it is the ultimate power. Condensed willpower, taking the reins of what's real and bending it to your will.
There is no 'yes, I am strong, I have farmed 20 levels off these kobolds and now I can lift a car!' - it's just not like that. Willpower and the ability to reach to your potential is important. Just like mages, spira and mana are both resources you can physically wield if you possess the means by which to do so.
Tiber and Samson are both class-4 existences. Just beneath their awakening points, age and their humanity have kept them from progressing. They are well above the average knight, easily able to fight against standard battle mages, but they are still wholly human.
Mikhail and Fennic would be conditional class-3's. Trained, practiced combatants, Tyr hasn't noticed their growth but they are all progressing alongside him. Each would be about Regar's tier, and stand a fairly good shot of beating him in a fight. With that being said, they aren't superhuman IN THIS WORLD.
IN THIS WORLD, someone who could lift 500 pounds is not at all rare. Tiber, for example, could - when pressed - handle half a ton. Think of it like spira cultivating the physical body. This is a plot point later on, and a reason why some people gravitate so closely to Tyr.
Astrid, Sigi, Brenn, Micah, Tythas, etc. Those human characters and very talented mages, including Jura, Girshan, Yana, etc. Class-4, roughly. They are all exceptionally talented individuals who have been influenced by proximity to Tyr to reach higher. Again, this does not mean Brenn could automatically just go about winning against every class-3, but at this stage they start to step away from baseline humanity. Healing from wounds others would consider mortal, become strong enough for higher powers to notice. Of course, he's a paladin sworn to Vestia, so that is already the case in Brenn's specific example.
They are trapped by the system of human magic, only Alexis has been dragged out through her relationship to Tyr, someone who has become a taboo existence. He is essentially a living, breathing, black book. He does not obey the order ("the way") and knows things that he shouldn't. This, by the way, and those shards I mentioned, are also plot points. His 'not remembering things' is significant, or repeat trials until it's hammered home.
Literal gods want and need him to die, something so simple as him being alive is very dangerous. Even as we speak, and he lives, he is a war criminal who has killed hundreds of thousands of living things. Remember how he released the mycelians? Literally created a new lifeform capable of worldwide destruction? Yeah, people didn't forget, Hastur is protecting him and so is Iscari, among others. They walk in his wake and clean up his messes, this is not a contrivance in my opinion, it is plot. What would you do for your friends / family if they did something bad? If you love them, you might cover it up.
Keep in mind that 'systems' are not so boiled down into one specific progression path. There is the way of the daoist, the origin, the shardbearer (paladins, heroes, saints), and the old way. Tyr had engaged and practiced each of them individually and that is part of his problem.
Benny was a class-7. 7!!! Before he died, I cried writing that chapter, by the way. I'm sorry. Witness him.
Xavier, a class-3.
Kirk is a class-6. Very strong, someone who could stare down an archmage with his new armor and potentially even kill them.
Alexis is a class-5, breaching on a class-6. She is the strongest character not influenced by a god or some other higher power. Except for her bloodline, of course. This will become a plot point as well so I can't say any more.
Tyr, and who I'm sure you've all been waiting for me to finally get to the point, is a conditional class-7 as we speak. He is very, very close, to the hero tier. But again, I repeat, things are not so simple. He has the gun, but he cannot use it. At the peak of his current power, he is easily the equal of Iscari - if not able to kill the man outright.
In terms of magic, he would lose to someone like Kael or Lernin, but eventually – be it a hundred years or a thousands... You'll see, magic is so irrelevant to Tyr it doesn't need to be a tool on his belt. Alex is superior to him in terms of magical ability, but how would she kill him? She literally cannot. Tyr would continue to rise again, and again, he is primarily a shardbearer, a paladin of the literal concept of death. Freeze him, drown him, bury him, he would never stop and that is the defining aspect of his character. Anything less powerful than someone like Vidarr, let's say a class-13, could not kill Tyr.
"Kill". Nobody can kill him, I'll repeat that, but they can destroy his biological body.
His pillars, the defining individuals who've shaped his life (remember, shaper magic, this 100% relates to the architects), have made him insanely strong. Because of his aspect. The double edged sword weighing him down.
It's not 'who would beat who???' in a fight, it's who couldn't be beaten in a fight. Keep that aspect in mind. Ever primus on the planet could all fight Tyr at once and they could not kill him. He is a shardbearer, a paladin, and all those others things. It's inconsistent, jumbled, but that was largely my point, it's sort of satirical in that way, but he will see this eventually. It's subversive, a sort of deconstruction of the stereotypical hero.
He only has one primary ability, just one, and it's not so literal as Jartor being 'very strong' (in all ways). I've touched on it many times, what his aspect is, but soon we'll officially know. Maybe this even answered it for you.
Below the primus tier, Tyr is the strongest character that has an important place in the story. And yet, at the same time, a primus could not officially defeat him any longer. Why? Is this deus ex machina? No, it's not, he is one of them and always has been. It should make sense but I have never, once, made how strong someone is an important component of the plot. This isn't a boxing exhibition, it's a story of adventure, discovery, and a tiny shred of humor. It's supposed to be fun, and haunting, in equal measure. Imagine growing up with an abusive father while you commit war crimes and nobody cares?
Tyr might not see that now so literally, but he will, believe me. He is haunted by his past, but not through any vein of empathy or remorse, he just knows that he can't feel these things.
Tyr couldn't beat Vidarr, but Vidarr could not kill Tyr. Do you get it? It's not an arm wrestling contest, it's your right to keep living. I mean sure, Vidarr could flatten him with a lazy slap, that's how strong the primus of storms is, but Tyr won't die.
'Die', as in cease to exist. Every time Tyr is killed, he dies, the 'boy sworn to death'. Biologically, he does cease to remain living in that moment, and kisses the domain of death every single time. But do you remember when I mentioned his heart as stopped beating? Way back when, you might. He is 'alive', but is he actually living? Guess we'll find out.
He's not undead, by the way. No necromancer death knight shenanigans for you. Unliving would be a more appropriate word to use, and I'll leave you with that.
Note: For clarity, the 'class system' doesn't mean you cannot kill a class above you. However, a class-0 could never possibly kill a hero. Aurelius could lay on the ground naked and let a crowd of people stab him with magical weapons, they could not kill him. Etc. Do you get it? Maybe not, and I'm sorry if you don't, but I did my best!
Thanks for reading. I really appreciate you. :)