Pendragons, About beasts and mortals 0.1a (RPG)

Lore 7.1 - Chords of Creation

Everything in the world was created by celestial beings who used the Chords of Creation to channel the Arcane Elements from the dimensions surrounding Midragar, and thus, create everything that exists. These Chords have a supernatural sound frequency that, for the non-celestial ears, are indiscernible.

The real power of the Chords was lost with the fall of such beings and can no longer interact with the natural elements of the world, thus only affecting living beings.

The Chords of Creation system is the classic elemental system, but with a different tone. Pun intended. We have water, air and earth. "But what about the fire?". Fire is just overheated air, so it's air. Just like lightning or electricity that is plasma (fire) even more heated, but in the end it's just air.

Whoever conjures Chords is called a "sorcerer", as it is a power that comes from within the individual. Midragar's living beings only have access to a single Chord and a single tone, but in very rare cases, they can have up to three.

Being born with more than one Chord, however, is always accompanied by several complications and deficiencies. This is because Chords are a primordial and extremely powerful energy, so when you have access to more than one, the individual's body ends up "overloading" and breaking with so much power.

These individuals are called "Elementists" and usually die at 30 (thirty) years of age due to the complications generated by multiple Chords.

The most common deficiency being the "magic rash syndrome", where the Elementist has no control over when they can use the Chords and are unintentionally conjuring them at random times (magic Tourette's syndrome).

There are three ways to cast Chords. They are:

· With voice and instinct, like plants, animals and Pendragons.

· With catalysts, which are magical instruments.

· And mixing the voice with hand signals. Called Arsilan (Arcane Sign Language)

Each Chord corresponds to an Arcane Element. Further on there will be a list with each. It is possible to shape and manipulate the Chords the will of the sorcerer who casts them. This skill is called "guiding."

Each Chord has a temperature when it is cast, and such a factor is determined by the sorcerer's genetics. A sorcerer can only cast or control an element that is within its temperature. Cold does not control hot or warm and vice versa.

You can change the temperature of elements using alterations or accidentals. However, you need to be an experienced wizard (have Magic 3) to do it.

See Chapter for more details.

You can also control elements cast by others if some criteria are met. This technique is called "regency".

See Chapter for more details.

The Chords work by accessing parallel dimensions and bringing their energy to Midragar. The kingdoms are called: Gelyatrak, Kaytraz and Serador. Water, air and "earth" respectively. Earth has quotation marks for having properties different from the conventional and will be explained further throughout the booklet.

This energy can manifest itself in three different ways for each dimension. The manifestation is determined by the tone of the Chord used. Low, mid or high. These are:

· Solid (ice), liquid (water) and gaseous (steam) for Gelyatrak.

· Gaseous (air), plasma (fire) and superplasma (lighting) for Kaytraz.

· Magma, crystal and metal for Serador.

Each tone acts the same as expected on Earth. Ice melts in contact with fire, water conducts electricity, wind blows steam in the direction it goes etc.

Every living being of Midragar has natural access to the Chords, however, each has a way of doing it. Plants can create inaudible subsonic vibrations for any non-plant individual. Animals can use instinctively through roars, snares etc.

Elevated lose some of this instinct by becoming rational and are forced to create instruments that help them reach the frequencies needed to use Chords.

See chapter Catalysts for more details.

Crystallurgy and Minerochemy derive from Chords and therefore have unique interactions with this system. However, Crystallurgy and Minerochemy do not interact with each other.

Elevated that live in the oceans can also use Chords, however, underwater effects work slightly differently. As the sound propagates better in the water, any Chord has a quadruple range, however, it is much more difficult to set the correct tone.

Only someone very trained can use Chords when submerged (obviously, the viscosity of the liquid in which it is submerged also affects the effectiveness of Chords).