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Theomancer
EXTRA: The [Introduction]

EXTRA: The [Introduction]

[You are currently in a pocket dimension called NEXUS]

[Said dimension has been created by a being known as the God of Creation]

[The God of Creation is as old as existence and came to be as soon as the concept of reality was needed]

[The first act of the God of Creation was to Generate beings akin to himself: The first gods were so created]

[First came the God of Time, so that everything may move forward]

[Then came the God of Life, so that other beings may exist]

[And then came the God of Death, because everything needs balance, so to avoid Stagnancy]

[Satisfied with his two new creations, the God of Creation proceeded to create Matter: both physical and meta-physical so that concepts like material and immaterial had a reason to be]

[The God of Life and the God of Death, inspired by the act of their progenitor, tried to accomplish something similar: the second gods so came to be]

[The God of Life created the God of Growth, to Nurture the Matters that were slowly being created]

[The God of Death in response created the God of Decay, to quell the Growth of Matter and avoid Overgrowth]

[The God of Creation had just finished creating raw Matter, and decided to let his creation decide the Path that it would follow]

[The God of Growth started creating Suns, the Stars that dot the sky and provide light, by condensing the most unstable part of Matter]

[The God of Decay at the same time condensed the tamer parts of Matter, creating dead floating husks, ready to be used for else]

[Seeing a grander scheme, the God of Time decided to act, instilling motion into the Bodies previously created, generating a perpetual rhythm in time]

[Unbeknownst to them, another being had started forming when the God of Creation came to be, the Goddess of Destruction because, by the first will of the God of Creation, existence would not tolerate stagnancy and everything had to have an opposite]

[The Goddess of Destruction loathed everything in existence, and the more there was, the more her powers and compulsion to Destroy grew]

[Taking advantage of the absence of the opposite of the God of Time, the Goddess of Destruction went against her own instincts and created the Goddess of Luck, for it being whimsical, it had the power to create opportunity, and it was all the Goddess of Destruction needed]

[And so, what looked like the infinite conflict between the God of Creation and the Goddess of Destruction started]

[An innumerable number of attempts at complete Annihilation later the God of Creation realized that the reason for this conflict was that he instilled creation with the concept that only Opposites would avoid Stagnancy, and that Collaboration was a much-needed thing]

[With a great deal of effort, the God of Creation removed the stiffness that he had introduced into existence when he came to be, and multiple things happened at once:

* First, the Gods snapped out of a Trance, finally able to step out of their pre-existing roles, just like the Goddess of Destruction had once done.

* Second, the Goddess of Destruction realized the folly of her way, and decided to collaborate with the God of Creation, temporally spent, in creating two new Gods, in honor of previous events: The God of Conflict and the God of Harmony]

* Third, the presence of only God-level conscious beings indicated the possibility of lower intelligent beings, those that could be affected by every God: Mortals]

* Fourth, the concept of Time was below that of Creation and Destruction, so the waves generated by their fighting over existence will have repercussions for all of Time]

[Mortals were a true novelty to Gods, able to embody multiple properties from the get-go, whilst still having the opportunity to gain and lose them, resulting in a rapid e numerous differentiation]

[The more primitive beings were too unlike what the Gods originally envisioned, while the more sapient ones always thirsted for far much more than they thought possible: And so, the Last Gods came to be]

[For what would develop into animals and plants the God of Nature was created, to guide them through Instincts]

[For the Intelligent beings the Goddess of Knowledge was created, with a similar thirst for ever more]

[But the ripples of the previous Godly War could not be stalled any longer, repercussions were at hand: multiple realities experienced drastic changes to the previously unnamed energy that dictated the will of the Gods across existence, Aether, some simply gained a modicum of control over a diluted version of it, Mana, other saw their planets ripped apart from it.]

[And that’s where You come in:

We regret to inform You that your world suffered the latter.

You and any other that You’ll find around your person are the only remaining Humans in existence.

This new opportunity provided by the Gods is to be considered a Gift from the Gods in view of their unintentional meddling.

Know that the event before the destruction of reality, the activation of the Litchman reactor, would have caused a catastrophic failure in the membrane of reality, and consecutively flood it in Aether, disbanding Matter to its original state.

May You find solace in this new World created by the Gods and safe from the ripples of their fighting.

May You see this as an opportunity to start anew, forge your own path and pioneer the way for future generations.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Know that for conciliation and Introduction purposes your body, and that of the other Humans, has been altered for Integration: namely the introduction of the System, that You are as of right now capable of using; proprietary reproductive systems have been streamlined to enable crossbreeding, which is encouraged; and lastly, the Pacify Enchantment Woven into the temples, that are used as arrival points during Transference, that temporally alters the thought process, with the purpose of easing individuals into their new environment:

the Nexus]

[The Nexus is, as previously stated, a pocket dimension created by the gods.

It is located on the fringes of reality, and because of that it is constantly under the direct influence of Aether.

The landmasses that make up the Nexus have been salvaged from the dimensions mortals have been rescued from.

This gives the Nexus a peculiar appearance, with floating islands, hovering over an Aether-core.

Said Aether-core is responsible for both the hovering and the rotation of the islands.

The Aether-core is comparable to a wormhole that teleports everything that falls under a certain depth back on top of the islands; this applies only to non-living beings because everything alive is capable of absorbing Aether and will end up becoming part of the Aether-core.

This issue has not been resolved by divine intervention because a death resulting from this is beneficial to the Nexus]

[Aether is the life-blood of existence, and nothing could properly be defined as alive without it.

Control over the Aether is reserved for the Gods, and although other divine beings may express a modicum of their will over it, it is trough at great cost and even greater effort]

[For Celestial Bodies the Nexus has two suns, Major and Minor, one big and bright white, with the other rather small and red orbiting the first, and four moons, Self is the biggest and the other small ones orbiting it are the Stem, the Cord, and the Cortex]

[The Nexus is an ever-changing sprawling landscape, that never stops moving and is always bathed in Aether.

Said Aether is responsible for elevating individuals that succeed in harnessing its might, but it’s also responsible for the “Spawn” of Monsters: Evil creatures with a penchant for cruel acts against other living beings.

These Spawns are a natural occurrence and are to be dealt with as soon as possible; failure to do so will see the consequence as its own punishment

One of the few responsibilities assigned to the residents of the Nexus is the culling of said monsters, in order to avoid them grouping and coordinating for massive attacks.

Monsters may resemble creatures from saved worlds, but they are vicious and with the only thought in their head to cause suffering among mortals.

The issue with Monsters has not been cleared by divine intervention in order to maintain a stable source of conflict, while also pushing various communities, with different ideologies, to collaborate, in order to assure survival.

Defeated Monsters will release the Aether trapped within their bodies in the atmosphere, where close enough individuals may absorb part of it to strengthen themselves]

[The System is a divine compendium doted of self-awareness, created mainly by the Goddess of Knowledge, but imbued with aspects of every god.

Its end is to ease mortal beings into the powers that they came to have, with a personalized interface that guides the users along the path of self-discovery.

It is also responsible for analyzing reality in a compact format so that it can be understood by its users.

While highly personalized, the System is one single thing, so constant communication among its instances assures it stays updated.

Through it, it's possible to advance to a higher state of being, including, but not limited to, a demi-god.

It is deprived of divine knowledge in order to avoid Stagnancy and urge individuals to advance, discover and improve]

[The changes that happen upon Transference are decided and cataloged through the System and are divided in:

* Traits: which can be inborn or acquired; inborn traits can be racial, common among all individuals of a species, or hereditary, meaning that they are passed along the progeny of a family line; acquired traits are earned through acts of great relevance, either objectively or subjectively so, and are generally awarded with the help of the System.

* Gifts: as the name implies are bestowed upon mortals by divine beings and are either tailored to the individual or refer to the connection to the said divine being.

The only biological changes of note are a slight modification to the reproductive system, as already previously mentioned, and the creation of an internal pathway with the purpose of guiding Mana inside the body.

Said pathways coalesce into the Mana pool, a new organ capable of storing Mana inside the Body.

There may be issues with individuals with anomalies outside the norm of their species, said anomalies may be resolved in different ways, with the System deciding with a case by case scenario]

[Mana is a diluted version of Aether, that can be safely wielded by mortals; only divine beings are privy to the manipulation of Aether.

The manifestation of Mana is highly personal and is decided by Aptitude, Creativity, and Will.

Aptitude is the natural inclination of a being for various types of magic, from creating the more volatile elements to altering and controlling pre-existing matter.

They may indicate proficiency with an element (water, fire, earth, etc.), compatibility with a concept (dimension, healing, etc.), or even more.

Creativity isn’t static, nor measurable, but fundamental nonetheless in the correct visualization and creation of magic.

Will is one of the primary "Stats" in the System, and it indicates the mental fortitude of an individual.]

[About Stats, the System will always keep a record of the state of Body and Mind of its user through them.

The recognized Stats are:

* Strength, it refers to muscle strength and sturdiness, and it influences most bodily activity.

* Dexterity, it refers to agility and coordination, and it impacts most bodily activity.

* Acuity, it refers to the speed of thought, problem-solving capabilities, and the capacity to retain information.

* Will, an already mentioned Stats, it is most impactful in magic casting.

Other Status indicators are the HP (Health Point) bar, which indicates the relative wellness of the Body, with a 100% as fully healthy, the Fatigue bar, which indicates both the mental and physical exhaustion of the Body, with 0% indicating being fully rested, and the Mana bar, which indicates how full the Mana pool is, with a 100% as at full capacity.

These Stats are capable of being improved and the Gods will encourage said advancement through rewards suitable to the occasion]

[Once a mortal has stabilized its existence it will be attributed a Class. Classes are not unique, but versatile, meaning that everyone might specialize in a completely different aspect of a Class, generating various Sub-Classes.

Sub-Classes can be found across multiple Classes and are indicative of an individual personality.

It is encouraged to experiment and test the limits of one mastery over their own brand of magic and to always strive to improve them.

The last categorization present in the System is Jobs: they are quite simply the occupation an individual may have, paired with their own personal circumstances]

[One last thing to keep in mind about the System is that it will not give its user complete access, but will "lock" certain information under undisclosed prerequisites that are to be found on one's own, or with the help of a Teacher]

[The Gods do not require rituals nor gratitude but will punish disrespect.

Other divine beings may abide by their own rules, but are to never be considered above the Gods.

The Gods will not intervene in the affairs of mortals, including events that may result in the total annihilation of the Nexus]

[You have reached the end of the Introduction, for further information directly access your System or ask for help from temple Priests]