Recovered Texts: The Archive of Energy
Energy is an omnipresent natural force within the Defenders of the Cross Universe / Planetary System. It permeates all things, living and nonliving, throughout the planets. Living beings can interact with Energy, including Humans. Humans that have been exposed to this ambient energy slowly become infused with it as well, as with all living things, this leads to what was known in the past as the “Birth Gate Effect.” Humans born on these planets afterwards have naturally become exposed and infused with this energy. Some humans in particularly have developed an ability to control their Energy, these are the ones chosen to become Defenders. Defenders use their own Energy to enhance aspects of themselves and in techniques developed by Mankind during their time living on these planets.
Energy manipulators can fashion it into various forms; they can give it the aspect one of many elements, such as Fire or Ice; they can forge constructs out of energy or they can infuse it into materials with the ability to conduct or store energy, such as a variety of metals or remotely control an object such as a blade, called Phantom Swords; they can increase their own internal energy flow to enhance physical performance, such as increased movement speed or attacking power; they can also release it violently – either intentionally or not – to release raw energy referred to as Unaspected Energy.
All four of the core training principles Defenders can undertake involve techniques used to better control their energy and channel it into techniques, equipment or self augmentation:
Soldiers are trained to channel their energy into their equipment to enhance its defensive properties, to reinforce their projected energy into a protective barrier called an Aura by some, channel it through their weapons for powerful techniques or release it in bursts for devastating blasts. Soldiers are experts at augmenting energy flow within themselves, their equipment or even their immediate surroundings. They learn various techniques in which to increase the power of themselves or those around them, fortify their Aura or reinforce their protective gear. Soldiers are also those most thoroughly trained in the release of disruptive energy collectively known as their “Howl” techniques, this leads to interesting effects in battle which hinders the ability of a soldier’s opponents to fight effectively.
Muses are trained to become the most efficient channelers of Energy. They undergo mental and physical training to increase the amount of internal Energy they can hold and flow through their bodies, and learn various techniques of different elemental aspects such as Fire, Water, Lightning and Wind. The more familiarized a Muse becomes with an elemental aspect, the easier they can influence the actual natural element. With enough training and the use of a catalyst such as Plasma (an energy capsule of native origin) or Crystalline (rocks mined from a planet with a high raw energy concentration), a Muse can temporarily control natural elements themselves. The only ones with enough training to properly use external energy sources such as Plasma or Crystalline without potentially fatal feedback are Muses.
Hawkers are trained to increase energy flow through their bodies, increasing their agility and speed. They also perform low-scale manipulation of wind to distort ambient energy, cloaking them from enemy eyes. Another technique taught to Hawkers is to channel precise amounts of energy into arrowheads or daggers coated with compounds that become a poison once activated with the proper amount of Energy. They can also train themselves to enhance their reflexes with their own energy, allowing them to dodge all manner of attacks at a near-superhuman level. Hawkers can also fashion elementally aspected techniques using Fire and Ice aspects. In a style similar to Soldiers, they can also disrupt the energy of their targets to weaken them in a variety of ways.
Dealers are the Defenders trained the most into the application of energy to materials and specialized instruments. As mentioned previously, there are various materials that can contain and even conduct energy, Dealers are taught about these fundamentals and given the understanding and training to apply it in construction and combat. They can alter the energetic properties — such as conductivity or resistance — of crafted instruments to enhance different performance parameters of military armaments or even energy based machinery. In combat, they fashion specialized ammunition which creates highly specialized, but temporary, energy effects. Dealers learn skills to use energy-activated explosives, grenades, and various types of ammunition (both ballistic and explosive) that cause a variety of effects ranging from a anesthetic agent to a fire-aspected explosion all at the flick of an energy signature from the Dealer at the moment of firing a weapon or finalizing a crafting process.