you dont have to read all this but as the story goes on I will come back and update this part, chapters wont come that frequently expect like 2 a week as time goes on I will write more a week
The Endless Spire is a monolithic structure that pierces the heavens and anchors the earth, a structure both revered and feared.
- Failure to complete a floor or voluntarily leaving results in _Flaws_. These manifest as physical, mental, or spiritual afflictions:
- Mana Sickness: An inability to cast spells without severe pain.
- Aura Instability: Aura behaves unpredictably, causing spells or weapons to backfire.
- Memory Loss: Climbers lose portions of their identity, forgetting their purpose or loved ones.
- Death: In some cases, failure is instant death, with the climber's body consumed by the Spire.
Flaws are permanent and can rarely be mitigated, making the Spire both a source of ambition and terror.
- Upon clearing a floor, climbers receive a Boon. These are powerful gifts that come in various forms:
- Weapons: Swords, staves, and artifacts imbued with unique abilities.
- Spells: Elemental or Pure, Boons can expand a climber's magical repertoire.
- Enhancements: Increased mana capacity, enhanced aura manipulation, or even physical mutations like wings or scales.
- Relics: Items tied to the Spire's history, often carrying cryptic inscriptions or visions.
- Kingdoms covet boons, and rulers often sponsor climbers hoping to gain an edge through their rewards.
mana and aura
Mana is like a pond; it could take shape in any form or size…but within a pond, there is always something lying on its surface, that's called an aura. The two exist in a balanced state; one can not exist without the other, but to use mana, one would have to have a strong will and a mana pool.
but if one wants to make a spell then one would have to understand how that spell works and why it works once you have figured out the how and why, then you will always be able to cast any spells..but there are two types of spell elemental spells and pure spells.
Elemental spells: it's simply the ability to use earth fire wind and water spells, but if one has the talent then they could learn sub spells for a certain element. sadly a mage can only use one main type of Elemental spell. this means that if a fire mage wanted to use a water spell they wouldn't be able to, even if they knew the how and the why they won't be able to use that type of spell, Why?
The answer is very simple, mages can attune themselves to Elements. Once they have attuned themselves, then they can't change it…. To put it even more simply, once bor,n you can use only one Elemental type, try as hard as you want, but you can't learn another that's not from your element.
that's where supplements come in. if one were to study their element long enough then they could use new types of elements. these are called Subelements. A mage could do anything with these subelements but trying to learn a sub-element that doesn't belong to your main element will not work. Humans are bounded by one element type, they can expand that type by creating different subelements.
Pure spells: These are spells that lack any type of Element typing. Mages like these can use healing magic or even flight or something else…but can they learn Elemental?
The answer is no. They can't, they weren't chosen to have that, so they can't use it. There are many limits to this. A mage could even create a new spell entirely. But a new question arises…can Elemental mages use pure spells?
The answer is sadly no….why? not sure myself I'm just making shit up I cant think of everything I have to make this system balanced. (They just weren't auttned to Elemental spells there's a chance that you can be born with both but that's a mutation that slowly kills you over time WHy? its a curse from an old civlation they are imbued and were cursed to be like this so you only get both if your parents are imbread)
Now, using the earlier example, we will be talking about aura. As I said earlier, the two exist as a balance, so every person has an aura. It could be their presence or their existence itself. But can Aura be used like in other fantasy series?
short answer no
Long answer no
Aura: The best way to describe an aura is the surface tension of a pond. One can use aura to either sharpen a blade or undo a spell…why is that? Like I said earlier it's like surface tension. To use mana, you would have to break that tension, which means mana and aura will be mixed. But there's a way to pull the two apart, and that's what's called spirit.
Mana needs willpower while aura needs spirit. if one's spirit and willpower is strong enough then one can use the two together. how overpowered would that be?…im asking myself too many questions so I will answer that later.
If one were to control the surface tension, then they could strengthen themselves… their friends' weapons and their spells…but hey, isn't that overpowered? Yes and no. I will make sure that every mage knows how to use aura to fight, but there might be some mages that think that learning how to use and apply aura is beyond them.
If a mage who knows how to use aura and someone who only knows how to use mana were to fight, who would win?
the answer would be the aura user…why? because aure could be used to strength spells, if there's no strength behind an attack then could that do any damage? aura user can strengthen themselves and their spells they can even stop the spells of other mages ..that's if the aura user can spot the weakness within a spell.
if a skilled aura user were to fight another skilled aura user were to fight then it would be a draw…because both know how to strengthen their attacks and weaken the other aura vs aura cancels out each other even if the other aura is stronger….but mana against mana works the opposite big mana wins against small mana. But if small mana knows how to use aura, then they win giant big mana, but if big mana knows how to use aura, then big mana wins.
so to summarize aura is surface, the surface can strengthen and cancel spells if the surface fights the surface then draw but if the surface fights an entire sea then the sea wins.
If someone knows how to use both, then they would be overpowered but like I said big mana vs bigger mana, the bigger mana will wi,n but if bigger mana doesn't know how to use aura then they lose, but if both sides know how to use aura then bigger mana will win….but I don't want this system to be about who has the bigger stick…..so to balance it the ones the understand the how and the why of there spells are the winner…besides in this story smaller manan is better in some ways because if one has bigger manan then dangerous things will come after you bigger mana could be good but it depends on the person that has it.
to balance this even more to use more complex spells one would need a further insight into it and how it works and why it works like if someone had an ability to stop time for a short period of time how would they actavite it?
Well, they would need to study how time works and how these different things affect time so that they can understand why it works, but abilities like this require a larger mana pool for it to work.
haveing a large mana pool can be a boon and a flaw. you can fight for much longer with mana and you can use more of your aura but you have a higher chance of loseign control. what I've added is that the more mana you have the easier it is for you to get brain damage from using to much mana.
a boon for smaller mana pools is that they wont really have to worry about getting brain damage because their pool would be smaller a flaw they have is that the have to be more careful with their spells because of how little mana they have.
This should balance the system a bit, so to beat the guy that has a larger mana pool is to make him use more mana or use aura to cancel out his moves…
Citadel of Ascent
Mana and Aura Education: Academies across the world teach the basics of mana and aura manipulation. The most prestigious institutions, like the _Academy of the Fivefold Arts_, draw students from all kingdoms. However, these academies focus on general principles, leaving mastery to the individual.
Climbers and Their Role: Climbers are both envied and feared. Their power and Boons elevate them above ordinary mortals, but their Flaws make them unstable. Many kingdoms hire climbers as enforcers, while others shun them, seeing them as harbingers of disaster.