Thomas Lee Notes
I have decided to keep track of all the quirks, feature and strangeness of aether cultivation in my own little journal for about two reasons:
1. My ability to think and remember stuff may be increasing, but I'd rather not gamble my brain in a high stakes poker game unless I have a back up record ready to go.
2. I'm pretty sure I'm not gonna be the only guy who will gain access to this library, so I might as well contribute.
Regardless, I have decided to order these things from Grandmaster onwards, because that's where shit goes crazy.
Well...enjoy the read.
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Aether Armor (Regalia)
A trademark signature of those at the Grandmaster level, Aether Armor is the ability to condense one's own aether with the aether of their surroundings and create a personalized suits of armor that can increase their abilities exponentially.
The first step in true manifestation, the aether armor serves as the foundation for a warrior's future cultivation.
The look and abilities of the armor is predicated on three factors: personality, formula and conviction.
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Personality determines the overall look of the armor.
It's fact that not everyone thinks the same, have the same tastes or have the same values, and one's personality tends to be a crystallization of this.
For example, let's say there are two Grandmasters, both having cultivated the same formula, an Ignati type formula.
One for the cultivators is hot headed and a little wreckless, while the other is surprisingly calm and significantly more calculative.
When they activate their [Aether Armor], both armors will have essentially the same stats and abilities, but will visually be very different.
The former's armor would look rougher, tougher, burnt black and could probably get hit by a cannon ball and then laugh as it harmlessly melts into slag.
The latter however would look as tranquil as a pond, complete with a lotus and a crane, unperturbed by everything...including the people screaming as they drown/burn in the pond of fire.
Regardless of the look though, it doesn't belay function, that's what the formulas do.
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Aether Formulas determine the functionality of a cultivator's aether armor and this where shit gets whacky.
By default, all aether armors increase a cultivator's baseline abilities physically and enhance the power of the arts used by said cultivators.
Not all formulas are created equally, some are crazy powerful, some are absurdly weak, and some are just plain weird. Depending on the formula in question, this can determine the extent to which the armor can enhance a warrior's ability as well as confer any traits that were previously unknown to the cultivator.
For example, [Concerto of the Storm Gods] is a formula that naturally increase the effectiveness of thunder and lightning arts by a factor of twenty percent or so. When the aether armor associated with the formula is activated, not only does the effectiveness jump from twenty percent to two hundred percent, but the armor allows the user to manipulate storms like a conductor. Granted it also makes it look like they're covered in speakers and/or weird screaming golden faces, but you know, tradeoffs and aesthetics.
It would be safe to assume that the strength and durability of one's aether armor is directly proportional to one's aether capacity and/or strength, but it's actually more mental...or heart focused.
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Conviction.
Alright, full disclosure, I'm using the word as technically a translation/bastardization of a Valrestan word that translates directly to: "strength of spine that supports heart and mind". It was a pain to spell, so I'm using "conviction" because it means the same thing.
The strength of a warrior's conviction is what determines the strength and durability of their aether armor. A spineless warrior, or one who has lost their conviction, can never summon forth their armor.
The sources of these convictions can vary dramatically, some using religion as a focus, others loyalty or even just belief in oneself.
By holding true to one's conviction, one's armor can become impenetrable or close to it at least.
But because the strength's of one armor is based one's conviction, emotional events have a tendency to distort one's conviction, and thus, their armor.
Acts of betrayal, horrible revelations, the fear of failure, the death of loved ones, all of these and more can rattle one's heart, in turn, weaken one's armor.
Supposedly it's why there are so many stories of warriors who have nothing to lose or have everything to lose, fighting like they're invincible.
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Formula+Conviction+Personality = Aether Armor.
That's the long and short of it, and the more I think about it, the more is sounds like anime.
It doesn't help that some of the armors I've seen range from traditional knights to tokusatsu suits...suddenly reminded of a certain anime about pretty boys in constellation themed armor...Meteor Fist,Ha!