A little bit about mystics …

After the Day of Discord, many people, for the first time, began to ‘see what otherwise could not be seen’. Supernatural sightings were far more common, and people who could manipulate energies gravitated to each other, forming groups and, eventually, schools.

Rarity: At the time of the book’s beginning, roughly 1 in 100 people can become a mystic and tap into the energies of the Five Rings. Well, anyone can, somewhat, but mystics excel at it far greater than a typical person. But far less than 1% of the population use magicks. This is because many people are skeptic of what is possible with the energies: There are many false mystics in the world, and most that can use the energies can only do subtle tricks.
Fire mystics, for instance, can only make something warm or hot with their touch. It would take a lot of energy and an unusual amount of patience to actually set something on fire.

How they identify each other: When a mystic is in the vicinity of another potential user, they often make eye contact, or otherwise take notice of each other and feel an odd kinship and familiarity that complete strangers should never feel. This is because the elements and rings themselves are co-dependant, and so the energies that pass between users are very comforting.

The cost of being a mystic: When a potential user progresses past ‘Neophyte’ and begins learning, they are considered ‘awakened’. But before that can happen, they must be warned that being awakened is a double-edged sword. While using energies is empowering, once awakened, the user will never be the same, and opens themselves to the potential of being attacked by demons and evil spirits. Being awakened draws much interest from the spirit world, and the user must immediately learn how to protect themselves from such attacks.

Mystics are always more attuned to a certain element over all the others:
1st Ring: Fire
2nd Ring: Earth
3rd Ring: Water
4th Ring: Air
5th Ring: Seven Rays

While most mystics can utilize any of the first four energies, they will excel at only one. Seven Rays users can only use the 5th Ring.

A good example of how mystics excel at a certain ability is that they can do something called ‘rooting’, which is how mystics gather energy from Anima Mundi. They do this by letting their ‘strands’ (Extensions of themselves which are thin, wispy lines of energy, invisible to the eye.) extend from their legs and feet, burrowing deep within the soil as far as they can stretch. Earth mystics are, naturally, best at doing this, replenishing their energy quickly, and usually feel like they could easily extend their strands throughout the entire 2nd Ring.

Mystics can go through ranks of recruitment.
They can earn ranks only by learning under someone of higher rank.
1-Neophyte
Anybody discovered with the ability is deemed a Neophyte, even if they are not told.
2-Disciple
A Neophyte becomes a Disciple once they have found a willing Priest/Priestess to teach them.
3-Legionnaire
A Disciple becomes a Legionnaire after they have gotten a great deal of training and can pass a test administered by the Panarch of their element.
4-Priest/Priestess
A Priest or Priestess can only be appointed by their respective Panarch. It usually comes after being a Legionnaire for many years.
5-Panarch
There are only five Panarchs at any given time. They have to be both exemplary in their element and extremely wise. They usually are the most powerful of their element during their lifetime.
6-Meiallin
The only title that is officially recognized by the Naming Committee, there can only be one ‘Meiallin’ at any given time. This person is usually the most powerful of the Panarchs. (The term Meiallin comes from the name of the First Panarch of the Seven Rays: “Tavia Meiallin”. Long ago, she discovered much of how to work with the energies of the Seven Rays and recorded it in her personal journals for later generations to learn. No specific year for this event, because it happened during the time loss before the years of Harmony were being recorded.)

Channeling energies from the Five Rings is so empowering, it’s seductive. One could easily get lost in the feeling of drawing energy. The energies rush through multiple users when they join hands, the left hand being the hand that energy exits from and the right hand being the hand that energy enters.

‘Strands’ of energy can be used for many purposes. For instance, imagery from someone’s subconscious may be obtained by sending strands into another person. But using strands to draw out energy from people is called energy vampirism, and is very frowned upon.

Users may also heighten their own potential by ‘heart-linking’ with up to four other users. Then, a fire mystic that is fully linked can rather easily set fire to something they touch. Heart-linked users can also send each other imagery, and if they carefully listen, they can even communicate. But heart linking is a double-edged sword as well. If one person of a heart-link dies, everyone else dies with them. Severing yourself from a heart-link is difficult to do, because a connection almost akin to love is felt between the linked, and everyone in the link becomes aware of the severed strand—-and the pain that accompanies it—-almost immediately.

Well, that should give you a bit of an idea of what a mystic can do, although this is only scraping the surface :3~

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