A week passed with Arlene training to master Christopher's ability to map out terrain, movement within terrain and resources within terrain of multiple regions she already had maps of. Aileen I returned to tutor Arlene in new techniques once the week was over.
"Arlene, this phase in your training program is almost complete so there are a few things I want you to know" Aileen I said.
"I'm listening" Arlene said.
"I've already given you an estimate of how powerful the Weaver Of Calamity is however the bulk of his strength is only mainly felt in the World Of Dreams. His strength regardless of how many Nightmares he has under his command and how powerful they are can only be made manifest in the Human Realm through fearful humans" Aileen I explained.
Arlene listened closely.
"Fear is the basis through which the Weaver Of Calamity can inflict other Debilitating Stats upon Mankind. Hatred, Anger, Envy, Greed, these are merely forms of fear being made manifest in the form of human emotions. Most of these ultimately boil down to the fear of loss. The fear of losing life, possessions, loved ones, self-worth. These fears of loss are what the Weaver Of Calamity predominantly takes advantage of and that is why Cowardice is the first Soul Of Evil. It is through Cowardice that the greater forms of evil such as betrayal and treachery are made manifest in the Human Realm and even in the Realm Of Dreams. Having said this, it is an old saying amongst Dream Knights that 'the Weaver Of Calamity is only as strong as Humans allow him to be'. You can think of the Weaver Of Calamity as a weapon whose engine runs on negative sentiments. Since negative and positive sentiments are mostly experienced by humans, we have the ability to decide just how much destruction the Weaver Of Calamity has the capacity to wreak" Aileen I explained.
"I see" Arlene realized what Aileen I was trying to tell her.
"Before we begin Today's Lesson, there is another thing you need to know. I'm sure you've heard of the concept of 'Auras'" Aileen I asked.
"Yes, Aura is a form of life energy manifested by virtue of a person's state of being at a particular moment in time. It's mostly made manifest through emotion and helps humans understand the feelings of one another by analyzing things such as posture and facial expression. Amongst other things, it helps one understand things like aggression, joy and sorrow being radiated by another person and it is the reason one can tell whether an opponent is dangerous or not. Wild Animals utilize a similar concept when hunting" Arlene explained.
"That's an excellent explanation. That brings us to the final parameter your sigil has the capacity to map out and that is Climate. This is achieved by mapping out the Auras of Individuals within a particular terrain however it is not achieved by mapping out their auras in isolation but by mapping out changes in aura during interaction amongst individuals. Interaction in particular is key because it allows us to deduce 'Tones' and 'Themes'. Tones have to do with emotional response and can be deduced by posture, facial expression and levels of stress in vocalization. Themes on the other hand have to deal with the focus of ideas. Themes and Tones go hand in hand in that Themes can trigger Tones. As such, there are Themes that can trigger Positive Tones and Themes that can trigger Negative Tones. This is quite similar to the lesson of Associations you learnt under your Gramps Fenrir. The degree of influence a particular individual has within an Ecosystem can be deduced by analyzing the themes they radiate and how many people are affected by that theme. If the theme triggers a largely positive response in line with Moral Conscience, then it is a Positive Theme. Not all themes that trigger positive responses are Positive Themes because not all trends align with Moral Conscience and this if you've been paying attention to the breakdown of the Weaver Of Calamity's forces is how Decay, the fifth Soul Of Evil takes advantage of the situation. If a theme on the other hand generates a largely negative response, there are one of two possibilities as well. The first is that the theme is a Negative Theme and doesn't align with Moral Conscience. This is a situation where Decay is prevented from taking advantage of the situation to wreak havoc amongst humans. The second is that the theme is a Positive Theme because it aligns with Moral Conscience but isn't widely popular or acceptable amongst people. In situations like this, it is not only Decay that finds an opening to wreak havoc but Sloth, the Sixth Soul Of Evil does as well and seeing as Sloth is the Harbinger Of Calamity, you can very well deduce what is likely to happen next" Aileen I explained.
Arlene nodded and paid close attention.
"The general climate of a particular terrain can be deduced by analyzing the interactions amongst various individuals and how these interactions trigger either positive of negative changes in the auras or emotional states of other individuals" Aileen explained as Arlene observed the phenomenon via Christopher.
Christopher had assigned a separate colour code to the colour coded circles which represented individuals within the terrain. They were almost like emoticons (Lolz). The colours predominantly switched between a peaceful blue connoting Positive Tones in response to Themes and a Dark Red connoting Negative Tones in response to Themes. Arlene noted that there were a few colour coded circles that held the ability to trigger specific tones in a vast amount of the population.
"The ability of a single individual to trigger either positive or negative tones in a vast number of the population connotes their degree of influence" Aileen I explained.
Arlene also noted that when the themes being broadcasted by the individuals with influence triggered negative tones in a vast number of the population that is, when a vast number of the population of the colour coded circles turned red, most often, Nightmares began to invade the terrain leading to conflict and chaos. On the other hand, when a vast majority of the colour coded circles were a peaceful blue, there was mostly peace and the Nightmares backed off. The only exceptions to the rule was when a theme triggering a positive response wasn't in line with Moral Conscience. In this case, the Nightmares invaded nonetheless. The second exception was when a theme triggering a largely negative response was in line with Moral Conscience. In this case, the Nightmares backed away and didn't invade regardless of the dissatisfaction exhibited by the humans acting up except for Sloth and Decay who acted to take advantage of the situation.
"I see. When a theme triggers a largely Positive Response in line with Moral Conscience, the Nightmares back away. When a theme triggers a largely positive response in contrast to Moral Conscience, the Nightmares invade regardless of the satisfaction of the humans involved. When a theme triggers a largely negative response and the theme is in line with Moral Conscience, the Nightmares are prevented from invading regardless of the dissatisfaction of the humans involved except for Sloth and Decay who act to take advantage of the situation and when a theme triggers a negative response when the theme stands in contrast to Moral Conscience, the Nightmares are prevented from invading because the people stand for what is right" Arlene noted.
"Good observation. The climate of a particular terrain can be deduced by studying changes to tones triggered by specific themes over an extended period of time" Aileen I explained.