Manifestations: Overview

While most creatures that roam Az are of natural origins, the presence of the Arcane Current that flows from intelligent life can sometimes result in this energy coalescing into physical entities known as Manifestations. These can take a near boundless amount of different forms, from embodiments of natural forces, avatars of deities as well as legendary monsters.  

Formation

  Manifestations are usually formed indirectly, when a sufficiently large population of one of the sapient species collectively believe that such a being exists. Even if all of the individuals are common-folk, the tiny traces of magic they impart can go towards the formation of the Manifestation in question. This logically implies that the larger the population, the more potent the Manifestation, though as with all things magic, there are exceptions. An example of this phenomenon is found in the nation of Gurn, where the doctrine of the supreme god Mulst is law. The intense religious fervor of the native population coupled with the prevalent belief in spiteful spirit entities known as daegath, leads to the residual soul-force of these people being directed to form these beings subconsciously. The deagath proceed to torment these people with visions and misfortune, which strengthens the idea that they do exist, which in turn results in the deagath gaining even greater power than before.  

General Physical Attributes

  As manifestations are composed of pure magic, most are functionally immune to conventional weapons unless there is a belief that states the opposite. For this reason, mages, wizards and sorcerers of all sorts have been employed to quell such beings. Of course, void-steel weaponry having its unique anti-magic properties is also a go to solution when there are no local mages present, with void blades cutting through the hides of otherwise near-indestructible manifestations as if they were thin air.  

Manifestation Categories

 

Rogues

  When talking about manifestations, there are two different varieties to take into account. "Rogue" manifestations are unintentional creations, formed either as a product of beliefs from populations in the existence of the entity in question, or by the random clashing of thoughts and dreams from varying sources. The former variety of rogue is known as a "Defined" manifestation, often forming around communities with a unified consensus on what the manifestation would look like. Defined rogues display a near constant form and behavior, acting within the parameters that their unwitting creators expect them to. The latter variety of rogue manifestation is the "Indefinite" group, colloquially known in some circles as "The Unreliables". This stems from the fact that these manifestations are in many ways opposite to defined manifestations, expressing a rapidly changing physical form and erratic behavior, a trait that makes them very dangerous, as they can act in unpredictable patterns. This factor seems to approach a near sentient state, as indefinite manifestations are driven almost exclusively to preserve their wretched existence, to which end they can devise a myriad of ways to acquire more soul-force to fuel themselves. For this reason, indefinite rogue manifestations are considered a greater risk to a population, as they can adapt to different tactics used against them and grow in power exponentially if allowed free reign, in contrast to defined rogues, which will try to maintain a level of soul-force that is in lieu with what its creator population believes it to have.  

Intended Manifestations

  While most manifestations would fall into the rogue category, being unintentionally created as a side-effect of certain beliefs, there are several examples on Az of manifestations being deliberately encouraged to form by certain organizations, which are classified as "Intended Manifestations" or "Conjurations". These sorts are made from the creator actively pooling their soul-force into a physical form, a process that is considered very taxing for several reasons. The primary hurdle to effective conjuration is the conversion ratio of soul-force into mass, with great quantities of magical power being needed even for a small manifestation to properly form. Because of this fact, most conjurations are made by groups of mages collectively pooling their soul-force, which runs into the second obstacle of conjuration. As creating a manifestation requires a clear mental image of its form, behavior and abilities, the more people involved with its creation, the greater a chance of conflicting mental views causing defects in the final product. Defects can range from conjurations exhibiting a form that could be described as somewhat indefinite, to more pressing issues like the manifestation being unable to carry out its intended function, or promptly self-terminating, which is accompanied by a violent explosion of magic. Seeing these issues which stand in the way of creating manifestations, its not surprising that competent conjurers are a rarity on Az, with any mage with the skill in the practice being highly sought after by people from just about every walk of life.   Returning to Gurn for another example, where as well as the rogue deageath being present, the Church of Mulst has seen to it that beings, known locally as Grief Eaters, be artificially created in order to counter the deagath. This is achieved by attuning the Grief Eaters towards negative emotion, a vital component in deagath formation, and having the common folk religiously confess to perceived wrongdoings to absolve themselves of guilt. This release of negative emotion charges the Grief Eater, which in turn spends this energy hunting Deagath and other manifestations, bringing good fortune and peace to the citizens of Gurnic settlements where they are found.   Sidenote: Should you desire to see a more historically defining example of a manifestation, then the story of Hofun the Scourge can be found linked below this article in the author's notes section.