He Who Fights With Monsters | Compendium Lorebook (spoiler level 3)

1. #1Astral Kings and Messengers

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   Astral kings rule their own universes. Most are messengers' masters: the messengers are their servants, invaders of worlds, and carry the astral king's message. In Book 8 Jason discovers that he himself is an astral king, which makes him both a political danger among the messengers and an unusual ally to them.

2. #2Authority and Sanctioning

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   Authority is what great astral beings and gods are made of, and the thing that lets them shape the cosmos. It cannot be taken by force and must be traded, it comes in a safe set state and a dangerous potential state, and it is guided by will. Sanctioning is how transcendent beings change one another: their authority is turned against them, or they change themselves with it. The books treat it as the cosmos's only real punishment, because an immortal cannot be killed. What it is: great astral beings are the most powerful entities in the cosmos, and "the nature of both themselves and their power was known as authority". Authority is "the fundamental power of the cosmos", and everything in physical reality is underpinned by it to some degree. Two states: set-state authority has been put to a purpose, which makes it fixed, defined and safe ("clay turned into a bowl"); potential-state authority is the unworked clay, "except the clay is actually enriched uranium". Jason's domains: his spirit domains are made of set-state authority, which he calls "the treehouse that I'm allowed to play in". His spirit realm is also an aspect of his authority. He thinks that if his domains broke down into potential-state authority it would kill him. Transformation zones: they are "areas of set-state authority breaking down into potential-state authority", the domes being the world sealing them like scabs.

3. #3The Cosmic Throne and the Sundering

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   The Cosmic Throne was the ultimate authority that regulated the great astral beings. They broke it long ago, replaced it with a web of pacts, and in time regretted it. Jason is asked to repair it during his transition to astral king, and to leave it empty. He does so at the end of Book 11, which sets a new status quo for the cosmos and, as a side effect, makes his interface the System. What it was: "the power that regulated cosmic forces, keeping the great astral beings adherent to their respective purposes". Transcendent entities have effectively infinite power, and authority is "the right for a transcendent being to employ their infinite power in a specific way", which keeps the cosmos in balance; the throne was "the ultimate authority". A neutral arbiter: the throne must be left empty, "a neutral arbiter without will, only purpose", as it was before the sundering. Raythe and Velius want someone who will claim the ultimate authority and then give it up without ever exercising it. The rules it enforces: "The rules of the cosmos are enforced by something called the Cosmic Throne. It was damaged long ago, but the throne has been restored and the rules are more dangerous to bend, let alone break". Knowledge says the rules "have been put back in place. By you, no less".

4. #4Gods and Churches

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   Gods are transcendent beings outside physical reality, each focused on a single concept (Dominion, Healer, Knowledge, Death and more). They manifest avatars, speak with Akashic Speech, give followers essences and awakening stones that they can take back, and work miracles. In Jason's words in Book 8, "gods are like regional managers of full-blown universes". Churches are their institutions.

5. #5Great Astral Beings

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   A great astral being (GAB) is a cosmic-scale transcendent: an aspect of the cosmos that embodies a concept such as construction, finality of death, time, entropy or dimensional integrity. They are not gods and are not bound by gods. Clive describes them in Book 1 as similar to gods but belonging to no world: they exist between worlds in the deep astral, "gods to the gods, although you wouldn't catch any gods saying that". They do not rule worlds directly. They act through vessels: mortals chosen to host them, and prime vessels, who carry the fullest part of their power. GABs cannot interact with physical reality directly; they recruit others to act for them. Authority: they generate it intrinsically. See 00_Cosmology_Overview.md. Mortal form: great astral beings enjoy mortal bodies. A vessel can be possessed; Clive notes it is possible, if far from ethical. Diamond-rank vessels of the great astral beings can withstand the strain and keep their selves, unlike the disposable vessels the Builder uses; eventually the soul can no longer cope and the vessel passes on the role, with no lingering effects and a stronger soul as a result. No fear of gods: Clive says a GAB is one of the few beings that need not fear a god's retribution, since the gods of Pallimustus cannot see into an astral space that is not part of their world. Sanctioning: see section 4.

6. #6The Council of Kings

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   The Council of Kings is the nearest thing the messengers have to central leadership: a loose body of the strongest astral kings, the heirs of the side that won the old war against free messengers. It guides but does not rule, many astral kings stand outside it, and its members are rivals who cooperate. Its de facto leader is Jamis Fran Muskar. What it is: "the closest thing the messengers had to central leadership", represented in Book 10 by a collection of prime avatars, each belonging to a different member. Membership: it "ostensibly represents the strongest of the astral kings", with many others outside it, "even a few powerful eccentrics who have declined to be part of our little group". The council does not know how many astral kings stand outside it. Authority: "The Council of Kings may guide us, but you do not rule us". Jamis says he is a member and that some consider him its leader, "although it has no such thing". Tera Jun Casta calls him "the closest thing we have to a true, singular leader". Not absolute: the council's power is not absolute, as what happened in Boko already shows, and controlling it is "a delicate affair". Rivalry: "Every person here is an enemy to everyone else in this room, yet we work together regardless". Messenger structure: astral kings rarely mix their forces, to protect the culture of hierarchy. Large operations are coordinated by meetings of Voices of the Will, the commanders of each king's local forces.

7. #7The Deep Astral and Interstice

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   The astral is the space between worlds, the source of all magic, and the home of the beings who govern the cosmos. Clive explains it to Jason as a bowl of dumpling soup in which worlds float. The deep astral has no geography, time or space of its own, and gold-rankers rarely travel in it without a patron. Interstice, the universe-city, is the capital of the part of it that anyone knows. The dumpling soup: Clive says the cosmos is "a bowl of dumpling soup". Each physical reality is a dumpling, and "the astral is the soup through which we are all the dumplings... floating". The astral is also the source of all magic, "pure, unadulterated; the most fundamental building blocks of reality". Why worlds differ: some worlds soak up a lot of the soup and others very little, which is why Pallimustus has essences, awakening stones, quintessence and monsters and Earth did not. Astral spaces: "think of the soup kind of congealing around a dumpling", giving a magical dimension attached to a world. Congealed magic can drift away, especially if someone pokes a hole in the world's side, and can touch another world to form a brief unstable link. What the deep astral is: "just magic. Only magic." Physical substance cannot exist there, which is why Jason's body "ceased to exist" when he was pulled through it. Only his soul, being magical, survived.

8. #8The Rules of Intrusion

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   The Rules (or Laws) of Intrusion govern who may invade a world and on what terms. They began as the rules for holy wars, where one faith invades the domain of another, and they also govern dimensional invasion. Since the Cosmic Throne was restored they are strict. Invaders need a pretext or an invitation, and until they meet the terms they are cut off from outside help. What they cover: "The Rules of Intrusion have always been in place. On my world, they mostly apply to holy wars, where one faith invades the domain of another. But, as it turns out, they also govern dimensional invasion". Jason describes them as a body of rules about "who can invade a world", including how one god can invade another's territory to conduct a holy war. Closed worlds: there are rules about intruding on worlds that have not declared themselves open to the cosmic community. Earth was opened to the wider cosmos, which let outside forces in. Bending them: the Jakaar pirate fleet makes its living on rules that "could be nudged" and others "pushed". The lower the rank, the less strenuous the rules, so a gold-rank crew can go places the admiral's main force cannot, and a thin pretence is enough to satisfy the rules for a low-to-mid magic world.

9. #9The System

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   The System is the interface of windows, ranks and messages that Jason carried alone from Book 1. When he restored the Cosmic Throne, an echo of him was imprinted on it, and his interface became available to everyone in the cosmos with essences or the potential to get them. He administers it through the System Administrator gift, with limits, and in Book 12 withdraws it from regions that keep slavery or indenture. Before: in Books 1 to 10 the interface is one of Jason's outworlder gifts, a private window, inventory and quest log; see../03_Magic_and_Adventuring/Unusual_and_Unique_Magic.md. The announcement: on every world with magic, every person who has essences or the potential for them sees a screen saying "Don't Panic. Everything is going to be fine. Welcome to the System", in whatever medium the species uses to communicate. Why: "The throne could never be restored to what it was. Part of you was imprinted upon it. An echo of you, spread across the cosmos", and "You made your interface available to everyone with essences or the potential to get them". What it does by default: it lets people view their own information and nothing more, but species gift evolutions and essence abilities are expanding the base effects, as they did for Jason.

10. #10The Unorthodoxy

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    The Unorthodoxy is the messenger resistance: the descendants of the free messengers who lost the old war, who live in hiding without the brand and the indoctrination. They are few, scattered and short of allies, but they have astral kings of their own and hidden birthing planets, and a secret way of drawing extra power at their rank. Boris Ket Lundi is their agent on Earth and Pallimustus. Origin: Boris says that originally astral kings guided newborn messengers to form their own marks, and there was no rank limit because limits are a function of the brand. When messengers who had transcended became astral kings they instituted the brand and enslaved their own kind. There was war, the free lost, and the defeated went into hiding. "In time, the leaders of the enemy became the Council of Kings. We became the Unorthodoxy". The orthodox view: messenger society teaches that the Unorthodoxy is a scant few in the hidden crevices of society. Boris says most of that is inaccurate. Orthodox messengers hunt them diligently, and an orthodox commander worries that talk of a traitor astral king is the thinking that leads to the Unorthodoxy and a purge. Numbers and hiding: "the Unorthodoxy is scattered and lacking in allies. We hide because we lack the strength to fight, and nothing ever changes". They use different methods in each place so that losing one site does not expose them all.

11. #11Death

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    The god of Death on Pallimustus governs the passage of souls into the astral, and is distinct from the Reaper, the great astral being who is "very big on the finality of death". The church certifies deaths and returns, opposes Undeath, and is dryly protective of the order of things. The deity changes guise, and the books speak of both a goddess and a lord. Domain: the Reaper is "very big on the finality of death. Some consider it the true god of death, as all our god of death governs is the passage of the soul into the astral". Where there is no god of death to guide the soul into the astral, it drifts into the Reaper's grasp on its own.

12. #12Destruction

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    Destruction is a god of the hidden kind, worshipped by those who want to destroy rather than rule. His church is small, secretive and well hidden, and its allies include the Church of Undeath. In Book 10 he takes an interest in the natural array under Yaresh, whose catastrophe or whose tree-turned-apocalypse-beast would serve him, and he speaks to Amos Pensinata through a prisoner priest. The hidden kind: Carlos explains that many gods fall into two camps: those with temples anywhere there are people, and "the gods whose priests dwell in the hidden places. Gods who you pray to not because of something you want, but something you want to avoid. Pain, Discord, Deceit". Destruction is not on his list, but the Book 10 priests work in the tunnels and the temples are hidden; the wiki also counts Destruction among the hidden gods. The priests under Yaresh: captured priests are found with a messenger communication orb in the tunnels of the natural array. The voice of the god: when Amos Pensinata presses a captured priest, "a new aura shrouded the prisoners, unmistakable in its divinity", and Destruction's voice rumbles "like an avalanche": "The souls of my priests are mine to toy with, not yours". Jason, as a nascent astral king, is unaffected by the god's will.

13. #13Dominion

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    Dominion is the god of rulership, the god "of deciding who gets to be king". He is young, handsome, sneering, charming and frank, he is the god most interested in Jason, and he turns up in person more often than any other. His church is the outlier among churches in keeping low-ranking essence users under its thumb. For all his menace he gives Jason surprisingly honest advice. The temple and the creed: a believer in the Divine Square calls it the temple of Dominion and says "Dominion issues the divine right to kings and nobles. It is he who determines who rules, and who serves". First appearance: at Jory's clinic he comes to take the Healer's cast-out clergy, "young and handsome, but with a look of disdain and faint cruelty", with an aura like a wave of fire. He tells those who join: "There is no service in my church... under me, you will obey or suffer. Or both, as I choose, because you will not enter my service. You will belong to me". Jason and Gary: "I love that guy," Dominion says of Jason, because "the ones who won't kneel are always the most fun". He tests Gary with his gaze, laughs when Gary stands, and says "That is where monarchs come from. I love them most of all. I'll be keeping an eye on you, Gareth Xandier". He asked after Jason by name.

14. #14Fertility

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    Fertility is the god of growth and birth, and his church is far more practical than its murals suggest. It grows children in vats, bridges races so that mixed couples can have children, supplies food in surges, and in Book 12 is the thing the brighthearts most need to rebuild their people. Its temples are covered in murals of people being fertile, which Jason notes with some alarm. The murals: Jason avoids pairing with "the god of fertility? The one with all the provocative murals?", and Farrah describes the temples as covered "in murals of people... being fertile".

15. #15Hearth

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    Hearth is a god of home and shelter. The books show only its church at work: its priests organise people who have lost their homes, alongside the church of Refuge. This file records what the text says. The Healer's Hearth ritual: Neil asks whether a procedure is "the Healer's Hearth ritual", suggesting a ritual named for Hearth is used by the Church of the Healer. Organising refugees: after Boko's destruction, Jason says "The priests of Hearth and of Refuge will be organising the people. Who wants to settle permanently, who wants to find a new home, and who wants to wait for the reconstruction of Boko". In Jason's kingdom: the clergy in his astral kingdom stay for his journey to Earth. The first contingent came from the churches of Hearth, Refuge and Dominion, and others joined as the work expanded, mostly for the logistics of a population in the tens of thousands.

16. #16Hero

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    Hero is the god of heroes, the only core deity without subordinate gods. He appears in the books almost only through the Cup of Heroes, a miracle that makes a dying hero a demigod at a terrible price. Hero is regretful about it, and by Book 11 plans to sanction himself to give mortals a gentler option. Name and rank: Jason notes "the god of heroes is called Hero. They really stick to that straightforwards naming convention". Hero is "the only core deity not to have subordinate gods". Appearance: a leonid larger than Gary's demigod form, with a divine aura. The Cup of Heroes: when Gary goes out to die against the undead, Hero appears and tells him his choice, not his life, was the sacrifice: "You believed that you came here to die. People keep thinking that what the gods want in sacrifice is their lives, but that is not the case". He conjures a goblet, a dewdrop falls into it, and Gary snatches it, saying "I know what it is". Hero calls his choice the reason both are there. What it does: Gary drinks, and the window says he has absorbed divine power belonging to the god of heroes, which will leave his soul unless he is isolated from the god's influence, and reforges his body into a gestalt. His hammer, fire and iron essences become Divine versions at Gold 0 and his forge confluence is replaced by a Demigod essence. The aftermath: Hero acts "like a proud but sad father". Jason, learning of it, speaks in a flat voice, and Farrah warns him not to do anything crazy.

17. #17Knowledge

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    The goddess of Knowledge is the god Jason meets first and speaks to most. She is detached, polite, honest in form and a planner at heart, and she knows everything anyone in her world knows. Her church is scholarly and wealthy and funds research, and from Book 6 on it is shown mustering armies. By Book 13 the books reveal she has worked for centuries to invade Earth. Appearance: in the Divine Square a glorious light appears in front of a temple and the people fall to their knees. In her temple she takes the form of a woman with colourful clothes and Mediterranean features, "beautiful, yet there was something detached and untouchable about her". She says "I am Knowledge. Everything that is, or ever was known in this world". Omniscience, limited: she knows what anyone in her world knows, including what Jason brought with him. Jason says in a recording that deities are gender fluid, "heard from the goddess of knowledge herself", and jokes that she knows his Mario Kart shortcuts. The church: acolytes of the church check Adventure Society assessments, "don't try to slip anything past them, because there isn't any point". Gabrielle Pellin introduces herself as an acolyte. Danielle Geller will send her scholarly relatives to the temple's library, as "the goddess always welcomes seekers of truth". Gifts to Jason: a token the goddess claimed would send him home and books on dimensional transgression, which Clive annotates.

18. #18Pain and Discord

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    Pain and Discord belong to the "hidden" gods, the gods people pray to for what they want to avoid. The books mention them only in passing. This file records every thing the text says, so that a story using them knows how much is open. The hidden gods: Carlos says many gods fall into two camps: those whose temples are anywhere there are people, and "the gods whose priests dwell in the hidden places. Gods who you pray to not because of something you want, but something you want to avoid. Pain, Discord, Deceit". These are the "dark gods" who "will do very well" if the Purity deception becomes public, and Carlos does not like "the idea of my actions serving the God of Discord". Pain, a god or a goddess: a soldier thinks of Pain as a god, but Kerr answers, "Where I come from, they know that Pain is a woman", and refers to "the Goddess of Pain's firstborn daughter". Gods are gender-fluid in the books. A byword for fear: Trenchant says that against an affliction skirmisher he would "run like the God of Pain was chasing me". Discord: it is called out as "in particular" the god the deception benefits.

19. #19Purity and Disguise

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    Purity is the god of cleanliness, with both gentle and extreme aspects; his church is rich, strict and prominent in Greenstone. For centuries the god in the Church of Purity was not Purity but Disguise, who masqueraded in his place with Knowledge's help. The church's collusion with the cult of the Builder, Disguise's role in the Order of Redeeming Light, and the real Purity's relic are the revelations behind the Book 3, 8 and 10 plots. The church: Anisa Lasalle is a priestess of the God of Purity, and a priest of Purity in clean robes attends the Adventure Society inquiry team. The temple has church militants who guard its interests. Collusion with the Builder cult: when the church's involvement with the cult comes to light, a number of its key members vanish on "previously scheduled sabbaticals", including the archbishop Nicolas Hedron. The people from the church are detained under the authority of the ecumenical council. Hendren: the archbishop calls out, "You think afflictions can take down a priest of Purity?" in the fight.

20. #20The Healer

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    The god of medicine and healing, the Healer is kind, modest in manner and strict with those who exploit the sick. His church runs clinics, hospitals and research. In Book 1 he casts out the corrupt clergy of the Greenstone temple in person, and in later books his priests, among them Neil, Carlos and Arabelle, are central members of Jason's team. Corruption in Greenstone: Neil Davone makes a stand in the Greenstone Temple of the Healer, saying "This isn't about serving the Healer", and is told he is no longer welcome in the church. The god arrives: the Healer appears at Jory's clinic, tells his clergy that merely not being shunned from his temples is "mercy enough", and refuses to restore their essences: "For that, I shall give you no salve. But you may turn to another". He says the power-seekers are of no use to him and hands them to Dominion, who takes those willing. A blessing: he declares the clinic a sanctuary for healing, accepts that Jory's alchemy includes "togetherness jelly" ("I'm not going to begrudge people a little... togetherness"), and promises rituals of sanctification and a healer to staff it. Those who repent: he answers a plea from a priest with "You blame others for your failings?", and gives a slight nod of assent to those who accept responsibility.

21. #21Undeath

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    Undeath is the god of the unliving, the dark counterpart of Death. His church lies dormant for generations and strikes when it has saved up the god's chances to intervene. In Book 10 it nearly destroys the Cardinas expedition, and in Book 11 Jason sanctions the echo of Undeath's authority left in an avatar. Undeath is a menacing but brisk god who compromises with other gods, including the high priestess of Destruction whose grandson serves in his church. Early notice: Gary says "Undeath is bad". A character recalls a zombie plague with a Temple of Undeath at its heart, whose high priest was the local mayor. How the church acts: Hana Shavar says the Church of Undeath "does not act frequently. We don't give them the chance", so it lies dormant for generations and strikes when it gets one. "It's like their god has been saving up his chances to intervene in the world. Expect to see some dark miracles". Garth and Jameela: Garth, a zemravore, leads the church's priests in Cardinas, and with Jameela commands the undead. Garth's tactic: "The harder-fought the battle, the more we have to work with when it's done", and every battle that does not crush them makes the church stronger. Claiming territory: Jason sees the god seeping into the ground and making it his domain, marked by purple light. Death says "Undeath has been liberally spending his influence in this place".

22. #22The All-Devouring Eye

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    The All-Devouring Eye is the great astral being of annihilation. It does not communicate with the others, gives no blessings, and stands apart from the pacts. Its realm in the deep astral is where Gordon and the apocalypse beasts come from, and the great astral beings believe it created Gordon for the purpose of repairing the Cosmic Throne. Among those interested: it is one of the handful of great astral beings that take an interest in physical realities.

23. #23The Celestial Book

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    The Celestial Book is the great astral being of the understanding of magic, venerated by researchers and ritualists. It gives blessings, is friendlier than the Reaper and more cheerful than most of its peers, and in the Book 11 battle it is the one great astral being who enjoys being mortal. It locked essence combinations after the sundering. Veneration: "I venerate the Celestial Book," Clive says, describing a blessing that triggered a racial gift evolution, changing the human special-attack affinity to a spell affinity, like the elves. It is "fairly common for those of us heavily involved in magical theory". Not a god of books: Jason first asks if it is "the god of books, or something". It is named among the great astral beings interested in physical realities. Approachable: its stones are described as "a lot more approachable than the Reaper". A word on proportionality: the World-Phoenix reminds the Builder, "The Celestial Book wanted me to remind you about proportionality... The ritualist is one of his", meaning Clive, and the book will not tolerate a gold-ranker sent to kill the boy out of spite.

24. #24The Keeper of Moments

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    The Keeper of Moments, also called the Keeper of the Sands, is the great astral being that governs time. It opposed the sundering from the beginning and refused to join the pacts, and it polices attempts at time travel. Its prime vessel is Raythe, who in Book 13 bargains with Jason over what he may try to do with time. Domain: "Even the Keeper of Moments, the great astral being that governs time, cannot [affect the past]". Policing time: it "comes down hard" on anyone who comes close to time travel, "in terms of bad ideas, even on a cosmic scale, time travel is the worst". Names: a speaker confesses "a soft spot for the name 'Keeper of the Sands'. I like the hourglass imagery", and Jason says he once heard the master called "the Underclock". Vessel: Lady Raythe is the prime vessel of the Keeper of Moments. She says her master "opposed the sundering from the beginning and refused to participate in any of it", which gives her freedoms others lack. The Keeper stands apart with the All-Devouring Eye and the Word in the Silence. Interventions: Raythe's master took an interest in Jason, and its prime vessel killed Mah Go Schaat to protect him. Velius warns that the Keeper and the All-Devouring Eye waging war in Jason's soul would be bad even if they were on his side. Why the link was left: Clive reasons that the Builder's synchronising of two universes' timelines can't have pleased the Keeper.

25. #25Legion

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    Legion is the great astral being that administers the cosmic rules governing life itself. It is one of the beings that joined the pacts after the sundering, then came to think the sundering a mistake. In the Book 11 battle it appears in a mortal body as a deep-voiced man with antlers and a beard. No blessings: Legion and the All-Devouring Eye are not known to hand out blessings. Domain and realm: Legion "administers the cosmic rules that govern life itself", and its realm abuts the All-Devouring Eye's region, a place "where life and annihilation are neighbours". A sanguine horror was summoned from a "nightmare realm where the Limitless Legion met the Final Domain". Position on the sundering: Legion is among those who "have come around and will fight". In a mortal body: "the man with the antlers". It speaks in a "deep, rumbling voice" and objects to vessels that Jason provided: "There are rules". It looks impassive behind its beard. Its view of the plan: it tells Jason that he could have given them far more advantages, and says "We do not get 'used in turn'". Fighting beside him, it says "You are throwing away a chance we have waited eons for". Against the World-Phoenix: it says Jason agreed to help and that "we exploited that to come here", and explains that it is easier to make an immoral choice when you are not doing so alone.

26. #26The Seeker of Songs

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    The Seeker of Songs is a great astral being whose domain the books never state. It was against the sundering from the start. It appears in Book 11 in a mortal vessel as a woman with blue eyes, and likes music from Jason's world. Position on the sundering: Raythe says the Celestial Book and the Seeker of Songs "were both against the sundering from the start". Appearance: "the woman with blue eyes" among the great astral beings in mortal bodies. Manner: it identifies a phrase as "a song from Asano's world: 'Rumble in the Jungle' by Fugees, featuring A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes and John Forté". When the others complain at being used as a training tool it says "this man is hosting the largest gathering of great astral beings since the sundering, and he's using us as a training tool?". Against the World-Phoenix: it calls hijacking Jason's soul while his willpower is diminished "unconscionable", and in the throne room, when the Reaper calls ceremonies pointless, says "I rather like them".

27. #27The Builder

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    The Builder is the great astral being of construction, whose work is forging universes. There have been two. The first built the twin universes of Earth and Pallimustus and was sanctioned for it. The second, the Builder of the present, is a mortal messenger who was raised to the office and whose authority is held on conditions. He is obsessed with physical reality, runs the cults that hunt astral spaces, and is building a universe of his own. Obsession and method: "obsessed with physical reality while, by its very nature, being unable to co-exist with it", the Builder recruits people to carve off the astral spaces connected to their world, then steps in and claims them. He gathers followers rather than crossing the World-Phoenix. Tools: star seeds, tokens, cults, constructs and clockwork animals. The three-way meeting: the Builder meets the Reaper and the World-Phoenix, grandly says "I will be worshipped by an entire universe... A god beyond gods", and is told that "we are the rules". The Reaper's terms bar him from interfering with Jason's birth world or producing new star seeds, tokens or vessels. In return the World-Phoenix will offer Jason a power at the cost of no further resurrections. Observers: the Builder's observer constructs accompany a group at a test, and Shade reads this as the Builder testing them.

28. #28The Reaper

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    The Reaper is the great astral being of the finality of death. It is distinct from the god of Death of Pallimustus, who only guides souls into the astral. Cold, dry and a lover of rules, the Reaper is the mediator among the great astral beings, the father of the shadows that serve as familiars, and in Book 11 the reluctant opponent of Jason's plan to restore the throne. Its vessel is Velius. Domain: "The Reaper is very big on the finality of death. Some consider it the true god of death, as all our god of death governs is the passage of the soul into the astral". Items and orders: the Way of the Reaper is a set of skill books, and the Order of the Reaper's teachings are collected in its legacy. The Order of the Reaper used ancient knowledge of how to anchor such realms, "provided by the Reaper itself". Reaper awakening stones give mostly aggressive utility and conjuration powers. Speaking through Velius: when the Reaper takes over its vessel, the warm voice becomes "cold and bleak". It tells the Builder that Jason "carried the World-Phoenix's token. Those pacts are older than you and I will not violate them". The rules: "We are the rules. To deny them is to deny ourselves". It arranges the compromise between the Builder and the World-Phoenix and makes its own concession, because it fears being made a farce if Jason is resurrected over and over. Shade: "Of all my children, Shade has ever followed his own path", the Reaper says, with a brief fatherly smile.

29. #29The Whisper in Corners

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    The Whisper in Corners is a great astral being Jason had never heard of before meeting Raythe and Velius. It joined the fight against the consequences of the sundering and appears in Book 11 as a veiled woman in lace whose voice comes from every direction. Position on the sundering: it is among those who "have come around and will fight". Appearance: "the woman in lace", laced and veiled, "not a great astral being Jason had heard of" before. Voice: "Her mouth did not move, her voice instead a susurrus of whispers all around them". On forcing souls: it warns the World-Phoenix that there are lines even great astral beings should not cross, and asks "Will you become like the Builder, World-Phoenix? Forcing your way into unwilling souls". It later asks why she would entice others to stand against her.

30. #30The Word in the Silence

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    The Word in the Silence is a great astral being named only once. The text lists it among the beings that "stood apart" from the rest, even before the sundering. Apart from the pacts: Velius says of those who stood aside from the sundering, "They have ever stood apart from the rest, even before the sundering. The Keeper, the All-Devouring Eye, the Word in the Silence".

31. #31The World-Phoenix

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    The World-Phoenix is the great astral being of dimensional integrity: it keeps universes from tearing, and it set Jason's journey in motion. It prefers to plant seeds rather than act, has a sense of humour, and fought Jason in his own soul in Book 11. Its prime vessels are called First Servant or First Sister, and Dawn, a former vessel, is its hierophant. The mark on Jason: his first status screens carry a symbol of a fire bird, and an ability labelled "Authority of the World Phoenix". Jason says the World-Phoenix gave him "a gift as his soul passed through the astral", and that he is an outworlder through "happenstance". Its role: "the integrity of dimensions is mine. It is only with my permission that you can conduct your little game". The Builder will not cross it. The meeting of three: the World-Phoenix attends in a celestine vessel with alabaster skin and ruby hair, "a teasing smile and an amused twinkle in her red, gemstone eyes". She calls Jason "a pleasantly effective little seedling", and negotiates with the Reaper over terms that forbid the Builder from interfering with Jason's world.

32. #32Abilities and Attributes

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    An essence ability is a power an essence user has from an essence. Each essence gives five; one is awakened at absorption and the rest are awakened later by stones. Each ability has a type, a cost, a cooldown and a rank, and gains a new effect at each rank. Four attributes, Power, Speed, Spirit and Recovery, each bond to one of the four essences and rise in rank as that essence's abilities are mastered. Abilities and attributes together decide when a person can move up a rank. Special attack (melee, drain, wounding, blood): Leech Bite. Spell (drain): Blood Harvest. Special ability (dimension, teleport): Path of Shadows. Aura (holy, unholy): Hegemony. Conjuration (darkness, light, dimension): Cloak of Night. Familiar (ritual, summon): Sanguine Horror.

33. #33The Adventuring Profession

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    Adventuring is the work of killing monsters and clearing hazards for pay. In practice an adventurer is a licensed contractor: they take posted notices and contracts from a jobs hall, work in a team, and are paid in spirit coins and loot. Most are not heroes in the story sense, and the profession is as much about judgement and bookkeeping as combat. This file describes how the work runs. The organisation is described in 05_Organisations/Adventure_Society.md.

34. #34Afflictions, Boons and Damage

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    An affliction is a condition that harms its target for a time; a boon is a condition that helps. Both are named in brackets in System messages, carry tags (poison, disease, curse, holy, unholy, magic and others) and can stack. Defence against afflictions is a game of resisting, cleansing and negating: a cleanse removes an affliction, resistance reduces the chance or strength of one landing, and some afflictions are built to defeat both. In this world a character who understands which tool beats which condition has a large tactical advantage, and Jason's power set is built around that interplay.

35. #35Alchemy, Artifice and Magical Materials

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    Alongside essences and stones the world has a layer of working magic that does not need an essence: quintessence gems, spirit coins, potions, ointments, enchanted tools and growth items that rise in rank. This file describes what these materials are and how they are used. It does not list individual named items; those are in 09_Items_and_Artefacts/.

36. #36Astral Spaces, Transformation Zones and Surges

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    Three kinds of event reshape territory in the series. Astral spaces are pocket worlds attached to a physical world through apertures. Proto-astral spaces are short-lived, unstable versions of them that Earth suffers from. Transformation zones are sealed events that rewrite a place and the people in it. Monster surges are periodic increases in monster numbers across a world. All four are driven by the same source: raw magic leaking through from the astral.

37. #37Auras

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    An aura is the projection of a ranked person's soul. It grows with rank, is read by other ranked people as a sense of danger, strength and mood, and is how adventurers judge each other before words are spoken. Controlling the aura is a skill with three basic parts: projecting it, restraining it and suppressing other people's. Auras can be hidden, masked, aimed at normal people to intimidate them, and, at silver rank, begin to lift the body off the ground.

38. #38Awakening Stones

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    An awakening stone is a consumable crystal that awakens one essence ability the user has not yet awakened. It is the third kind of non-living magic Rufus lists, after essences and quintessence. The stone does not choose the ability; it steers toward a theme, and what comes out depends mostly on the essences the user holds. Stones are how a new essence user fills out the twenty abilities that a full set carries, and they are bought, auctioned, given as rewards and kept as family wealth.

39. #39Confluences

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    A confluence is the fourth essence a person receives. It is not picked, bought or found. It is produced by the three essences already absorbed, and it arrives the moment the third is used. In the main run of the series a given trio of essences always gives the same confluence, and the Magic Society keeps a list of the known trios. Confluences are rated and talked about as if they were essences in their own right, and many of the best-known power sets belong to a confluence.

40. #40Magic on Earth

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    Earth has the same magic as Pallimustus in a much thinner form. Through most of its history essences and monsters did not exist there at all; magic leaked in through short-lived proto-astral spaces, and a small number of secret societies used the powers that people could earn from them. When Jason returns in Book 4, Earth's magic is low and rising, with a planetary Grid of rituals monitoring and containing the leaks. The monster waves of Book 5 and the transformation zones that follow end that system. By Book 11 the rules have changed.

41. #41Essence Catalogue

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    The books name far more essences than the wiki lists give with evidence. This file collects those the text actually shows, with who holds them and what the text says of their behaviour. Rarity statements come from the text; where the text gives none, none is invented. It is intended as a quick reference for building a character's power set, not as a mechanical list. The full set of essences the Magic Society knows is in its living document. The wiki's fuller lists of essences, confluences and combinations are in../Appendices/Wiki_Reference_Lists.md, with a cross-reference to the first book line for each entry found in the text. Where the wiki gives a rarity, it agrees with the text so far: sin is Legendary, renewal is Epic and rune and vast are among the highest.

42. #42Essences

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    An essence is the most powerful and rarest of the forms in which magic condenses into something that is not alive. It is absorbed into a person's soul and gives that person a set of five abilities tied to its concept. Four essences make a full set. A person with a full set becomes iron rank and is changed by it. Essences are how Pallimustus makes essence users: the people who fight monsters, serve in the churches and run most of the world's institutions.

43. #43Familiars, Summons and Conjurations

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    A familiar is a creature made or called to serve one person for life. A summoned familiar is built by ritual from magical materials and a being drawn from the deep astral; a bonded familiar is a creature that answers a call. Familiars are different from the short-lived summons many essence users can conjure in the middle of a fight, and from conjurations, which are things drawn out of mana. All three are essence abilities and come from awakening stones or from the essences themselves; none can be used by anyone who lacks the necessary ritual knowledge.

44. #44Jason's Power Set at Gold

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    The appendices of Book 12 are the only complete statement of one character's essence abilities across all ranks. They are used here as a worked example of how abilities are built: each ability gains one new effect at each rank, and many effects add an affliction or a boon that other abilities then use. The author notes that the list "is written for brevity (believe it or not) rather than accuracy or comprehensiveness". This file records the facts and adds no numbers.

45. #45Monster Cores and Training

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    An essence user can grow in power in two ways. One is to consume monster cores, which is easy and can be bought. The other is to train, fight real danger and meditate. Rufus's teaching in Book 1 is that the first method eats into the potential of the second. The setting's politics, from the aristocratic families of Greenstone to the Network on Earth, turn on which method a group has used, and on what it costs them later.

46. #46Monsters

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    Monsters are the most common way magic manifests in a magic-rich world. They appear from nothing, usually in the wild, live for a time that depends on their rank, and then dissolve back into raw magic if not killed first. They have ranks like essence users; the ranks are not given by essences but by the density of the magic that makes them. Hunting them before they reach their aggressive final stage is the bulk of an adventurer's work, and what they leave behind funds much of the economy.

47. #47Progression Tracks: When Rank, Essence and Ability Were Gained

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    This file records, for Jason and a few teammates, the first chapter where each rank, essence and ability appears. Jason's lines come from the system messages that announce them. For Jason's full gold-rank power set, see Jason_Power_Set_Reference.md. "First shown" means the first line the compendium found, which may come a chapter after an unreported awakening.

48. #48Ranks and Advancement

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    Rank is the world's measure of power. It runs from normal people through iron, bronze, silver, gold and diamond; beyond diamond are gods and great astral beings, who are not part of the ladder. Essence users and monsters share the ladder, and each rank "has a suppressive effect on lower ranks". Rank changes the body, the length of life, what a person can do with their aura and the way other people treat them. It is the setting's class system.

49. #49Rituals, Arrays and Formations

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    Ritual magic is the practice of drawing a diagram, a circle with lines and glyphs, and powering it with external magic to do something an essence ability cannot. It is used for absorbing essences, awakening stones, summoning familiars, spreading wards and tracking, and, in permanent form, as formations and arrays. Ritual magic is learned, not given by an essence, and a competent ritualist is a valuable member of any team. Anyone can learn external magic; only essence users can combine it with essence powers.

50. #50Skill Books and Learning

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    A skill book is a consumable magical book that implants knowledge directly into the reader. It can teach a language, a martial art, the basics of ritual magic or a branch of astral magic. A skill book gives technique and information, not understanding or practice, and the people who use them well prepare beforehand and consolidate afterwards. They are the fast, flawed route to ability in a skill, in the same way that cores are the fast, flawed route to rank.

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