Corporeal Class (Cor-poor-ee-all)

The Corporeal Class

The Corporeal Class is a classification of Manifestations within the Dual-Class system, created by English researcher Robert Stanton in the 1400s under the title of the Passive Class. Globally, around 148 countries recognise the Dual-Class system despite controversy that the Corporeal Class has generated since its inception.
The Corporeal Class is the physical Class of powers, involving any powers that manifest as bodily changes. Many of these are passive manifestations that cannot be directly manipulated. Originally, when Stanton created the Corporeal (Passive) class, it had only two Subclasses within- Weremen and Enhancements, but this was expanded upon by Arthur Craddock and Doctor Moore in the 1800s. They renamed it to its current title, and added two more Subclasses.
The name Corporeal comes from the Latin word "corporeus", which refers to the body on a physical level as opposed to spiritual. It's generally more fitting than Passive as not all of the Subclasses within are uncontrollable- many of them require training and intent to use, much like powers from the Elemental Class. The currently recognised and documented Subclasses and major Manifestations are listed below:

Enhanced Ability (c. 1400)

• Enhanced Constitution (c. 1400)
• Enhanced Strength (c. 1400)
• Enhanced Speed (c. 1400)
• Enhanced Intelligence (c. 1400)
• Flight (c. 1980)

Shapeshifting (c. 1400)

• Full Shapeshifting (c. 1400)

Illusory (c. 1862)

• Teleportation (c. 1862)
• Invisibility (c. 1862)
• Clairvoyance (c. 1862)
• Telepathy (c. 1862)

Theoretic Corporeal (c. 1869)

• Omnipotence (c. 1869)
• Transcendence (c. 1869)

The Powers & Manifestations article has an interactive chart listing all Subclasses, as well as Major and Minor Manifestations.

Significance

The creation of the Corporeal Class was a hugely significant step within Empowered sciences- while not all powers can fit inside neat boxes, it allows for much more accurate studying and comparisons of powers. It proved that certain powers were compatible with others, as in theory, an Empowered with the Clairvoyance power could eventually unlock the ability to teleport, to become invisible or use Telepathy. They could never, for example, use Flight, or have Enhanced Strength. It's almost impossible to have powers in multiple Subclasses under one Class (the only known exception being Angites, who possess an extra power gene), even if an Empowered could have powers from both the Corporeal and Elemental Classes. This gives the Corporeal Class a lot of merit, and is why it is recognised in so many countries.

Controversy

The Corporeal Class has been fairly controversial since its inception. Some propose that while the Elemental Class is solidly defined as powers that require active manipulation, the Corporeal Class is a mix of passive and active powers, and so it's barely distinct enough to be its own Class. Not only that, but several Manifestations have had their categorisation disagreed upon. Flight has long been debated as it can be a result of Shapeshifting or an Enhanced Ability, and had originally been in the Shapeshifting category before being moved to Enhanced Ability in the 1980s. Additionally, many Necromancer temples consider the Minor Manifestation Self-Healing to not be separate from Vitamancy, and claim many of them as Necromancers despite not officially being Elementals. This is also complicated by the fact that two Necromancers could produce a child who has the Self-Healing power.
No Subclass has met more controversy than the Illusory Subclass. Some feel that the name is misleading, and many others point out that Teleportation, Invisibility and Intangibility are active manipulations. Despite this, the system remains as no other proposed system works better.

Corporeal Class Characters

Due to the Corporeal Class being rarer than the Elemental Class, there are less characters within the books with powers that fall under this category. Statistically, in the total Empowered population, less than 30% of active Empowered (0.5% of Global population) have one or more Manifestations under the Corporeal Class. The list of characters with Corporeal powers are as follows:

• Ultraviolet (Invisibility, Intangibility, Flight)
• Terra (Invisibility, Intangibility, Flight)
• Jaguar (Self-Healing)
• Psychic (Telepathy)
• Ace (Enhanced Strength)
• Vixen Stray (Enhanced Speed)
• John Wolffstone (Limited Shapeshifting)