WARNING, THIS POST IS, AGAIN, REALLY FRIGGIN' LONG. IT ALSO CONTAINS A FAIR AMOUNT OF SPOILERS TO THE MECHANICS OF THE FLAMESTAR CHRONICLES, HOWEVER FOR THE MOST PART NONE OF IT IS ACTUALLY PLOT RELATED. ALL BUT THE MOST MINOR PLOT-RELATED THINGS HAVE BEEN PUT IN SPOILER TAGS. SO...DON'T READ IF YOU'RE THAT SENSITIVE TO SPOILERS IN A FIC I DOUBT MOST OF YOU HAVE OR EVER WILL READ ANYWAYS. I THINK I'LL TURN CAPS LOCK OFF NOW.
Do you utilise Aura (capital A, Aura) in your fics, or do you avoid it like the plague? Why?
Oh boy oh boy oh boy! Prepare to be confused, everyone!
Yes, I do use Aura. No, I do not call it Aura. When it gets down to technicalities, no it's not really Aura. For all intents and purposes? It's Aura. In TFCv1 it was called Arcana Energy but in v2 it's now Source Energy, which unlike Arcana Energy can be called just Source as well without sounding too weird.
TRINITY spoiler, but a small and largely insignificant one:
However, here's where it gets confusing. Aura is Source, but Source is not Aura. It may help to explain what exactly Source is within TFC. Basically, Source is the most basic form of energy that exists and is composed of three subtypes: alpha, beta, and gamma. When Source energy is massed together it may undergo conversion to another type of energy or matter. The subtypes that make up the composition of the new type of energy or matter can affect its properties, which is most important when it comes to matter and living beings. When a living being's matter is composed predominantly by a single type of Source Energy, that being acts as a sort of magnet, attracting that same type of Source to themselves in an aura. That aura then literally becomes that being's soul and is what gives them sentience. Humans are composed entirely of the alpha subtype and Pokemon of beta. Inanimate matter is composed of all three subtypes and lacks any attractive force, while living yet non-sentient matter such as normal animals are only composed of two and have a weak attractive force to both types, but not enough to gain an aura.
TFC spoiler, somewhat important but more so because of the implications:
Now, from there it's probably not that hard to leap to what Aura actually is within the realm of TFC. It's simply the aura of Source Energy that surrounds both humans and Pokemon and thus is essentially that being's actual soul. So when Lucario senses Aura signatures and whatever, he's actually seeing people's souls, while when he fires off Aura Spheres he's taking his own soul and firing off chunks of it. Now, with moderation that's not a bad thing as his natural attractive force to beta-type Source Energy means his aura will be replenished in time, but therein comes some complications to using one's own aura as a weapon within TFC. If you expend too much energy too fast, you'll die. End of story. It also works the other way, if you somehow collect too much energy at once you'll basically overload, your body not being able to handle so much energy. You die then too. Of course, the only way that happens is through external means as the body won't naturally attract an excessive amount of energy.
So yes, Aura is used in TFC, although it's worth noting that I had thought up the core concept of Source Energy well before that movie even came out. Originally Source and Aura weren't linked at all, however when I saw that canon had created a somewhat similar concept to what I was already doing, I just had to link them. The theory that I went over here is actually a bit different and more detailed than I had at first, where Aura was simply a more abstract type of Source that could be classified as "life energy".
As for what exactly I use Source and thus Aura for within TFC, well, yeah, Rayne can shoot energy balls out of her hand. However, they're closer to Shadow Ball than Aura Sphere. There is a reason for that, however, and it has to do with how I view special attacks as working within TFC. Simply put, all special attacks are directly Source-based. The Pokemon is able to intuitively control the Source energy they attract to achieve the desired effect, whatever that is. In Cyndaquil and its evolutions along with pretty much all fire Pokemon, for instance, their bodies contain sacks of methane gas that can be released and then ignited using Source Energy to create flames (alternatively, flames can be created entirely out of Source, as is the case in attacks where the fire doesn't come from any specific spot on the body). Note that they're not using their own aura but simply surrounding energy, which therein lies the big difference between Aura-based attacks and normal special attacks within TFC. As the user's aura tends to be much more concentrated than surrounding energy, the Aura energy used within Aura Sphere and everything is thus stronger than simply gathering together surrounding energy would be. HOWEVER! Humans do NOT have that intuitive ability to control Source Energy, of course. What this means is that when a human DOES control Source Energy (as with psychics and such. And Rayne), no matter what they use it for, they ALWAYS pull energy from their own aura! They can still use that energy just like surrounding energy, but it means that a human who channels Source Energy will always be limited in how much they can do without killing themselves.
Valentine said:
This. That and my characters are the kinds of people whose special powers are fueled by SCIENCE. As in, yes, SCIENCE. Must be capslocked because SCIENCE.
Source Energy in TFC, and thus Aura by extension, is considered (mostly) to be SCIENCE and it's explained in backstory stuff that it has indeed been studied by real honest to god scientists. :O The only magical part is how Pokemon and human channelers are able to actually manipulate it. I'm not even going to try to figure out an explanation for that.
I wish I had read this topic earlier and not when I should be going to bed. There are some other things I could answer but seeing as it's 1:45 I'm not going to even try now. Maybe later. Probably not. Oh, and Val, saw the new chapter and will probably read it this weekend while I'm putting off doing Discrete Math homework and yet more programs. Yep. And, again, anyone who read all this gets a prize. I'm thinking...cake this time. Everyone loves cake, right?
