Mana

Legend

“In the Mana Sea everything is swirling, pulsating, and changing. Yet Divine races and some mighty heroes like Atallanti have existed there without dissolving and even grown in power.”

“Rather a quick visit than an ended existence.”
—Skjald Yell'a'Beard

Description

Mana is the foundation of everything, both the things and beings in our world with form and thought and the swirling thick liquid and gassy energies and things at the Astral. Mana seems to be a gargantuan vast mind, with memories of a previous existence or the collective experiences since its first sparkle inside the astral, or in the void. Naturally not even the elder divines know its true origin, but the younger divines believe that the answer of origin exists within or amongst the trillions of independent swirls and shards.

This belief might be because the younger divines sprang from over-energised mana links, thus having their entirety of the mana sea. Meanwhile the elder divines, the astral’s Vornir and Boriac, and the void’s Stoicheian and Wickeryadii – all four had their sentient awakening in the void as they were further tainted by mana leaks. Realising that the hundreds, thousands, and millions of minds among the races could be of aid in seeing the mana seas’ swirling pattern and maybe pinpointing the answer some day. The mana sea released the knowledge of its embedded patterns through the gods.

Thus, mana is not just the energy behind everything, extra fuel for mana manipulation, and jump-plugs for astral travel across the ley lines. But it is also a gargantuan, mind-blowing puzzle of memory shards, awaiting to become a divine state and thus whole again.

“It’s one of the questions to which we will never get an answer.”

—Skjald Vinotis

History

Mana, or should I say the Mana Sea, existed before, but was first discovered when somewhat sentient beings of the Void noticed its leaking glows, and as they examined it, found it both deadly and fascinating. Some of these beings were so drawn to it that they squeezed themselves through the leaks or outright tore the rifts bigger and entered the Astral.

Both briefly touched and then fully wrapped within the swirling sea, some dissolved, and others changed. Some are into warped, horrific creatures; others are into extremely bright, wise, and empathic beings. Exposed to the raw floating sea, the resilient ones somehow became one with it and learnt how to master it – or was it that mastered them? A question the Divine still debate, as Stoicheian and Wickeryadi are still weary of the Astral and its Mana Sea. When the gods are asked, they merely give you this smile that tells all about who the real master is.

“The split amongst old divines is as great as that with the new ones.”

—Skjald Valgrif