I assume that anyone looking at this page has not
already heard of essence theory. At its core it is but
a mere combination of other games. But the roleplaying
it now allows is imeasurable. Until now fans of Final
Fantasy wouldn't go near a Jedi, and a Trekkie was out
of the question. Now a set of rules exists that will
revolutionize chatting, and eventually, traditional
role playing games. So I present to you the Essence
Theory, a mediator for all sources.
Basic Terms
Many of the terms I will use on this page originated
here, and to avoid confusion I will include this part
as a glossary.
Virtual Character (VC)- A virtual persona that
a chatter takes on. Many times this character is
completely different from its 'real' counterpart.
It is needed to distinguish between the two, especially
since most real people can not cast magic. Many D&D
players will recognize this terminology from PC's and
NPC's, there are no PC's since there is no standardized
character creation method. There are NPC's however,
these are characters that are known by many, but are
played none. The most clasic example of this is Jobu,
bard of the utensils.
Virtua-Physical actions- although most of the
time these are used in combat situations, they don't
have to be. Even walking over to a good friend that is
sitting by the fireplace is considered to be a virtua-physical
action. Basically anything that is a third-person
statement can be considered virtua-physical. These
actions are normaly enclosed within asterisks (*) or
italicised when possible.
Essence- The energy that is always present. Many
different abilities allow someone to tap into the
essence. When they do practically anything is possible.
Wizards, Jedi, Clerics, Mystics all draw from this
universal power source to use their various abilities.
By scientific terms this considered to be conduitive
energy.
Essence Taps- Any of the various abilities that
allow a person to tap into the essence. When a VC
essence taps he transforms some source of internal
energy into essence. The specific forms of essence
tapping will be described later.
Focus- It is the proccess of concentrating on
something physical, mental or spiritual in order to
draw on the essence. When a VC focuses on any specific
object or being, the energy expelled during this period
is translated into essence. Since energy cannot be
created nor destroyed this holds true to scientic
principals.
Immortals- Whenever I refer to an immortal, it is in the
sense that a being never dies of natural causes. This of course
means that they can be killed in all cases. Gods are
merely immortals that are worshipped by others. Elves, Dragons,
Liches, Vampires, and most other undead are immortal by these
standards.
Essence Taps
These are the various forms of essence taps. More exist
than what are listed on this page and I am hastedly
researching how this fit into essence theory. D&D stands
for Dungeons and Dragons (unadvanced through "3rd edition")
, SB stands for any references to the movie "Space Balls",
SW stands for Star Wars, ST is for Star Trek, and 5th
refers to the new rules in DragonLance 5th
Age.
Wizardry Magic (D&D)- When a mage takes the
time to memorize a spell, he obviously expels mental
energy. It is this energy that becomes essence. That
is why a small spell, such as magic missile, needs little
time to study and has relatively small effects. Whereas
wish, the strongest wizardry spell, takes years to learn
and has an infinite amount of effects. It should be
noted however, that no VC's have access to wish, for
there is no one to keep the balance a Dungeon Master (DM)
normally handles.
Force (SW), Schwartz (SB), and Sorcery
Magic (5th)- In these essence taps
the practitioner concentrates on the energies around him.
The more time he takes to grasp and control the energy,
the more energy that is expeled and transformed into
essence. VC's that use these taps normally beleive in
taking the time to truly master the controling phase of
the tapping.
Psionics (D&D)- A psionicist attempts to
merge his physical, mental, and spiritual selves. He
creates a divine focus of power which he may store.
During psionic combat the psionicist transfers this
transparent energy into the mind of an opponent.
Original and logical counter-thoughts become a war of
harbingers. Those being the mental manifestations of
offensive and defensive thoughts and essence.
Dietism (Real), Priestial (D&D)- By
placing a divine interest in a person, immortal, or object
the caster is able to create focus through worship. The
abilities granted vary because of diverse rituals and
beliefs of each practitioner. Most Druidic, Clerical,
Paladin, Wiccan, tribal, and cult powers use this form
of essence tapping.
Immortals and Enchanted Creatures
Elves, Dragons, Pixies, and many other "magical" species can
naturally Essence tap. In some cases their ancestors enchanted
to have access to the Essence. Many creatures were initially
created through an Essence tap, if such as creature were to
reproduce the offspring would automatically have greater than
average Essence, if not Essence taps.
Immortals and gods are somewhat different. When a priest or
other cleric Essence taps by focusing on a specific being some of
essence gathered is expelled to that being itself. If enough
people worship a particular being, he gains enough power to become
a god. A god has access to an immense amount of Essence due to
this. Immortality is just an Essence tap that allows a being to
live forever. Most gods are immortal as well due to the fact
they quite often have Essence to spare, and such a powerful tap
almost assures them of their position. Most immortals have
certain terms they must abide by. Vampires tend to
lose a great deal of potential in the daytime. Liches can be
dispelled by many
greater "light" Essence taps. Many immortals can only be
destroyed by another being of great power, such as another
immortal. This is because the Essence taps of the two immortals
counter balance each other.
One Essence tap that is shared by all wizards and priests, is the
ability to sense stored Essence of a like tap. A large example
of the is of Jedi
being aware of others who are fluent and gifted with the Force.
Similarly, wizards can detect other strong wizards, and psionicists
can sense others who possess psionics. A major factor in this is
the amount of Essence each can tap and have stored. A psionicist
who has mastered megakenesis can sense others for a great distance,
as opposed to a few feet like a wild talent. A wild talent being
someone who naturally has high potential to Essence tap, but does
not expand on that gift. Of course, the
psionicist who can tap megakenesis broadcasts a much larger aura
than the wild talent.
Eventually more will be added to the Essence theory, although if
you have any comments or suggestions related to this feel free to
e-mail me at frogurt@geocities.com.
