Prana

Breath of the Godhead

"When the due season hath arrived and Prana shouteth to herbs,
Then all is joyful, yea, each thing upon the surface of the earth.

When Prana hath poured down his flood of rain upon the mighty land.
Cattle and beasts rejoice thereat: Now great will be our strength, they cry.

Watered by Prana's rain the plants have raised their voices in accord:
Thou hast prolonged our life, they say, and given fragrance to us all.

Homage to thee when coming nigh, homage to thee departing hence!
Homage, O Prana, be to thee when standing and when sitting still.

Homage to thee at every breath thou drawest in and sendest forth!
Homage to thee when turned away, homage to thee seen face to face!
This reverence be to all of thee!"

- Hymns of the Hidoi

Manifestation

Prana is the vital spirit that permeates all forms of existence, from the gentlest breath to the sturdiest mountain, it is the most basic energy known to humanity, as fundamental as gravity. Everything from faint movement to a roaring bonfire contains and exudes Prana, but one can harness the Prana within for specialized effects. Only the most powerful mages can harness Kaprana - Prana in its purest form, uncontaminated by the elements. Kaprana exists within each and every human as a single spark of purity. The vast majority of magic is performed through mixing a human's innate elemental affinity with the Prana created by the body and spirit.

Prana does not exist within the Material Realm - only in the Astral Realm. All physical forms, such as The Elements are contained within the Material Realm, while all subtle energies lie within the Astral Realm - this includes Prana, emotion, and even consciousness. When a mage manipulates their Prana to cast a spell, they are moving their Prana in the Astral Realm: in order to affect something in the Material Realm, a magic-user must pump their Prana into it and form an Astral Link with their target. Astral Links occur naturally and are responsible for most magical phenomenon in the Material Realm.

A mage studies the flow of Prana throughout the body and its Chakras as their most basic education. Once understood, a mage works to gain control over their own Prana flow, often through meditation and breath training, and then they combine their innate energies with their Prana and use specific movements and vocalizations to manifest as a "spell". Due to the unique nature of magical energy, different people connected to the same element may cast the same spell in wildly different ways, even if they mimic each other's motions. However, spellcasting is self-consistent: when someone uses their Prana to achieve an effect, that person must always use the exact same process in order to replicate the spell in the future.

Prana Harmonization

Prana is chaotic and hard to control by nature: grasping it is like cupping invisible sand with a sieve, or squeezing water. Altering it is no easy feat, hence the need for a focus, but that only applies to external manifestation - it is far simpler to control one's internal flow, but not all who learn to do so intend to project it. Instead they turn inward, learning finer control over their Prana and how it affects the body. These people form Astral Links within themselves, between their Chakras and their body parts. As their control grows their Prana flow unblocks and harmonizes, empowering their body, mind, and spirit, thus enabling them to perform feats beyond a mundane person. Someone who has such control is known as a Harmonic, and is capable of seeing ants on the horizon, catching blades, or leaping over a building.

Prana Harmonization is a phenomenon that scholars have studied for millennia, as there are tales predating The Transcendent Emperor's rule of men and women with great power. In times of duress, the body's Prana flow subconsciously hastens as a survival response, and repeated bouts of stress would strengthen it over time until one became aware of the vital energy coursing through them. At this point, it becomes much easier to consciously train the body to cycle Prana more efficiently, and some Harmonics even strengthen their Chakras after enough training. While mages focus more on using their Prana to cause great effects in the world, Harmonics rely on their Prana to enable themselves to achieve greatness. Some even do both.

Localization

Oftentimes, merely moving one's arms around while chanting and maintaining rhythm in the breath is not enough to manifest one's Prana - hence the need for the vast majority of magi to carry foci around with them. These are created in a multitude of ways - the earliest wands were simply sticks with crystals on the ends of them, although many contemporary magi can be found with Apricorn-enhanced staves or Prana-collecting tomes. Kaprana is one of the few forms of energy that can be utilized without a tool, although it could be argued that it is the users' skill in magic that caused them to access such energy in the first place is what allows them to forgo a staff.

The subject of monsters and Prana is contentious and bitter, born from centuries of experimentation and debate amongst glory-seeking scholars. All monsters have Prana within them - a consensus reached decades ago - it merely lies stagnant, unable to be used. The rub lies in how to explain their bizarre and powerful abilities: If Prana does not flow through them, then how can a rock emanate psychic energy? Some scholars theorize that monsters can directly tap into the elements that they are attuned to, yet there is a fringe group of mages from all around the world that insist that rare monsters they have experimented upon absolutely have the ability to utilize Prana, but evidence has yet to be produced, nor have they been able to expand upon these claims. Many mages refuse to talk about the topic altogether to the uninitiated simply due to the frustration associated with it.

Kami, on the other hand, have Prana in them, but unlike monsters, theirs flows through them like a human or other mundane organism. Despite this, they can tap into The Elements the same way a trained human can, but much more easily. Some of them still have foci in order to further manifest their power, but these are usually the rare Kami that maintain a semblance of humanity, and are often very powerful because of it.

Holy Meditation by georgecatalin93

Type

Metaphysical, Supernatural