Index of Terms
A simple Index of various terms used in my upcoming series Astral Records Part 1: World Tourney
Fundamentals
Physical Plane – nicknamed “The Walk”, the ordinary everyday world we live in.
Astral Plane – nicknamed “The Jump”, the Astral Plane exists beyond the Physical realm and is a stretch and squashed contortion of the Physical Plane where mana is found in abundance.
Aether - physical construction of the Astral Plane. Kind of like matter.
Mana – Mystical Energy that permeates the Astral Plane.
Jumping - the act of moving between Physical and Astral Plane
Capering – changing the stretch and squash of the Astral Plane.
Pole – A special weapon made of mana
Balestra – a kind of magical spell utilizing mana
Vaults – an object that uses mana to generate poles, enhances the body, and allows the use of Balestras. Essentially like a computer chip for mana.
Astralite – also known as a Jumpers, Astralites can Jump between the Astral and Physical Plane. Because of this they have access to mana which physically and mentally enhances their body as well as allows them to utilize Vaults
Astrape – a combative sport in which Astralites battle in a closed arena with their vaults.
Astrape Basics
Astral forms - dealing damage to this form will not cause any physical harm to a person but will weaken their physical form making physical attacks significantly easier.
Jump Fatigue - Caused by spending too much time in the jump. Astral form begins to weaken, but it won’t collapse. Instead after a certain point your walk body will begin to sustain damage from strain. Healing does not work on it, and only time can recover it.
Falling and Landing - when jumping, there is a small moment where one is left incredibly open. Any damage applied during this state is incredibly devastating. Landing is when this state of falling ends.
Tripping - phenomenon whereby reducing an astral forms health they are forcibly un jumped and sent to the real world where they must wait for their astral form to fully heal before jumping again. In this time, they will face heavy mana drain and also be debuffed
Tumble - less severe form of tripping. Will send person to walk without the debuffs or timer.
Stumble - a tumble but it sends one to the astral realm.
Prints – A distortion created when an Astralite is about to Jump
3 damage types:
Physical: Damage taken in the Physical Plane
Astral: Damage taken in the Astral Plane. Decreases mana
Elemental: Damage created with mana. Deals both physical and astral damage.
Astrape Tactics
Peeking – quickly glancing into the other plane without actually Jumping
Bobbing - peeking and unpeeking repeatedly in order to keep track of opponents in both realms. Has small delay.
Skipping - jumping an attack to hit across a dimension. Elemental attacks deal full damage, corresponding damage of physical/astral attacks weakened
Frolic - Movement technique where an Astralite will rapidly switch between walk and jump depending on jump distortion for faster movement.
Frisk - A combat application of a frolic whereby an Astralite stutters when near an enemy to throw them off or otherwise receive less damage. Deals small amounts of physical and astral, as well as decreases mana
Pounce - A common exploit of falling used to punish a frisk. Because window is so small though, unless someone frisks right in front of someone else, it doesn’t really matter. It’s also incredibly difficult to exploit because one must read the frisk and then skip. However, doing so will cause massive damage and cause tumble, forcing the person back from where they just jumped.
Bounding - attacking in the jump where someone in the walk would be if they were in the jump. This greatly reduces their mana but does not damage astral form
Springing - Jumping from astral to walk and back to avoid astral damage with an initial burst of mana so that landing time is limited greatly in the walk
Popping - using capering to stretch the jump and build more kinetic energy then striking in the walk to deal large amounts of damage.
Lunging - capering the jump and then using it to bolt forward extremely quickly.
Vaulting - using a burst of mana to caper (temporarily) and then move quickly across the walk via the jump. Smushes jump more than what’s typical of natural capering (though it is possible to happen naturally, it’s just not common).
Astralites Extended
4 categories of Astralite:
Terrestrial – a basic Astralite with no extra abilities. Make up some 60-70% of all Astralites
Luminaries - those with the ability to wield mana as a spell. 9-13% of the Astralite population.
Stellar - those whose physical abilities have been increased far more than those of a normal Astralite. (A mildly tough guy versus silver back gorilla). They have a great amount of control over their own body and can easily shift what kind of damage an attack will do by converting physical attacks to mana and vice versa. 9-13% of the Astralite Population
Polarises - no Polaris is alike. Each has their own unique talent and skill. Often times Polarises can manipulate ether like a Luminary, or are physically enhanced like Stellars, however this often underlies some greater strength. Less than 1% of all Astralites fall under this category.
Astralites find their strength roughly calculated through several categories. Some categories can be boosted by mana and are marked with a (+). These are:
Speed(+) - Determines how fast an Astralite can move.
Dexterity(+) - Determines the ease of use of weapons and their control. Very important for larger weapons. Low dexterity means sluggish movements and wide openings.
Physical Strength(+) - Determines physical damage, basic not used in battle often.
Astral Strength - determines damage caused by astral attacks
Mana Power - How much mana one can store
Physical Fortitude(+) - determines resistance to physical attacks
Astral fortitude - determines resilience to astral attacks and thus determines number of attacks before tripping.
Elemental Fortitude(+) - determines resistance to elemental damage.
Jump Fatigue Resistance - determines the time a jumper can jump before negative affects kick in
Cognition(+) - Determines processing rate in a battle which is essential when dealing with fast paced combat.
Mana Regeneration - determines rate at which mana is absorbed, both passively and in the jump.
The Pledge - A ceremony in which two astralites mix mana into specialized springs called pledge rings. This creates a special connection between the two. This connection doesn’t just boost their stats, it allows for stimuli to be transmitted between the two. Pledging makes basic techniques into their banded counter parts and opens up brand new opportunities as well. Two people who are pledged are called a duo.
Compatibility – all astralites have a mana wavelength and the way these wavelengths interact can change how a fight happens. When fighting with someone of an opposing mana wavelength, damage and the like is more pronounced leading to short fights. Those with similar wavelengths have longer battles that normally come down to attrition. Between a pledged duo, those with compatible wavelengths strengthen each other. If they weren’t the results would be very dangerous and volatile.
Pledge Techniques
Leaping - deriving from leap frog, special technique useable by pledged duos. Allows attacks of one type to deal a small amount of damage of another type when the duo is in separate realms.
Hopping - this technique powers attacks up if both members of a pledged duo are in the same realm. The damage dealt is more substantial than that of Hopping’s bonus damage.
Bounce - reduces failing time if jumping to same dimension as partner. Also works if partners swap realms at the same time.
Diving - survival technique useable by pledged duos. Allows the transfer of mana to a duo partner. This is an all in technique depleting a user entirely of mana. The recipient does not receive all the mana that is depleted either. The perk of this is that it allows a tripped pledgemate to recover substantially faster.
Banded Techniques:
Peeking/Bobbing - Able to see a distortion pledge mate would be if partner is in another realm. Bobbing delay lessened for partners in opposing planes
Skipping - Besides attack benefits. If both astralites hit the opponent, it will cause a tumble.
Frolic - If timed in sync with partner, can reduce failing time.
Frisk - Same benefits as frolic
Pounce - If in opposing dimensions, Astralite can see when someone is about to jump (a so-called print), which increases chance of a pounce. However, this window is significantly smaller if jumping opponent has their partner in the plane they are jumping too.
Bounding - Causes a small amount of astral damage if partner is in walk. If both in Jump, will cause a stumble.
Springing - If both are in astral and spring, the time is even further reduced. However, if one is in walk, it will lengthen the time to jump back, but still decrease falling time.
Astralite Gear
Lamé – the armor of an Astralite. Comes in 3 broad categories of light, medium, and heavy.
Springs – special chips in the shape of cylindrical shells that can provide a wide variety of different modifications to an Astralite’s combative abilities. From making them move faster, to regulating mana use, to increase the strength of their pole.
Mana Shields - an ability of lamé to create shield made of mana that takes the form of a hexagonal lattice. Depending on the grade of the lamé, the shield can take more or less of a beating. These shields read data directly from an astralites brain stem and converts thoughts into a location and size for the shield. A small shield concentrates energy and makes it sturdier, but it’s small size itself is a weakness. Size and durability are inversely proportional to mana output.
Springboard – housing unit for everything an Astralite needs for battle. It’s a shaved half-dome disc which spins to activate. Pushing and spinning the inner ring opens up the board so that springs, vaults, and lamé can be swapped out.
Vaults Extended
Akashic Vaults - vaults created long ago with no discernible origin. They have a high selectivity when it comes to compatibility. These cores have a range of properties and abilities that can greatly assist the Astralite using them. However, while power, they all have severe drawbacks on their users. When actuated, they bind themselves physically to a person.
Mundus Vaults – A modern invention to replicate the function of Akashic Vaults. They come in two parts: the grip and the core. The core is placed in a springboard while the grip is used to create the pole. Poles of Mundus Vaults are made up of the grip and the forte. The forte is the mana part of the blade. The vault can be activated with the grip.
Astralology
Astralology – study of the Astral Plane and mana
The Crouch – Astralites exist in an unstable state torn between their physical and astral bodies. Because of the gap between these worlds, they can’t exist side by side, and one is always in “The Crouch”, a metaplane which exists and doesn’t simultaneously. Thus, The Crouch is not a true realm, and “exists” only as an intermediary between the Physical and Astral. Because of this nature, the form in the crouch is constantly trying to jump to its respective realm, however because the physical and astral bodies are so connected, they don’t wish to exist in separate realms and thus their bodies exist in a constant back a forth which creates passive mana regeneration.
Traion - from trans- other side. Mana force carrier. Pronounced like try-on
Almanite and Pidinite - precious metals used in the construction of Mundus Vaults
Elements - Every Astralite has an element, and each element has certain weakness to other elements. These elements manifest in mana and can impact strategies for a battle. There are 8 total.
4 fundamental elements: Fire, Water, Earth, Air
4 combination elements: Ice (Earth Water), Lighting (fire air), Light (air earth), Dark (fire water)
Balestras Extended
Impala - attack spells
Entrechat - status spells
Balestras consist of two parts:
1) Incantation- spoken words
2) Gesture- specific way one makes their body
Both of these work in tandem to define a spell.
Balestras follow an order of three sequences that define them:
1) Start Up Sequence - the phrase one says to start any spell. There’s no much thought put into. The incantation’s accompanying gesture is often very simple as well.
2) Constitution Sequence - the most important part of a spell. This is where the parameters of the spell are defined. It often takes immense concentration and brain power to create a spell. Often, one will slowly optimize a spell over a period of time. Once optimized, one will typically practice the spell’s constitution sequence to commit it to a kind of muscle memory called a Grimoire. Only then is the spell usually feasible in battle. The gesture in a constitution typically defines what kind of attack it will be. For example: making an x with two slashes would define a relatively standard attack. A circle shape would define an aoe attack. A slash across a DOT. Etc. The thought portion defines the rest of the spell.
3) Activation sequence - the final step. This activates the actual spell. It can be delayed, delaying the spell
Spell Sequencer - attachments that can be made to gear to allow anyone to cast a spell. These sequencers, based off of the biology of Luminaries and Stellars, can contain only one spell, though it can be slightly modified during activation. Spells however are still restricted to the element.
Miscellaneous
Feria – large multi-round tournaments of Astrape. The Deuce Feria is being held this year and is a 2v2, the most common kind of Astrape
Hologram Screens – Special tablet like screen created by a layer of air encapsulated by a traion barrier. Traion reenergization creates a disturbance in the electromagnetic field which causes nearby atoms to become plasma and release light via traion photoerization in a process called the Auflin-Mayers effect.
