Pneuma - Revision history

Tyg13: /* Key terms */

2026-07-20T09:05:08Z

Key terms

← Older revision		Revision as of 09:05, 20 July 2026
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	* '''Shaping''': converting pneuma between pure and elemental, either direction. Always costs (Law II).		* '''Shaping''': converting pneuma between pure and elemental, either direction. Always costs (Law II).
	** '''Absorption'': the act of siphoning energy from physical elemental pneuma present in consumables or in the world, to fill one's pneuma reserves.		** '''Absorption''': the act of siphoning energy from physical elemental pneuma present in consumables or in the world, to fill one's pneuma reserves.
	** '''Condensation''': the act of transferring one's pneuma reserves into physical elemental pneuma for later consumption.		** '''Condensation''': the act of transferring one's pneuma reserves into physical elemental pneuma for later consumption.
	* '''Affinity''': how strongly a living thing is aligned to one element. Tracked per element, per practitioner. Sets casting cost and power. Grows by spending that element (Law III).		* '''Affinity''': how strongly a living thing is aligned to one element. Tracked per element, per practitioner. Sets casting cost and power. Grows by spending that element (Law III).

Tyg13: large-scale manual style and content rewrite

2026-07-20T09:04:46Z

large-scale manual style and content rewrite

Show changes

Tyg13: Forms: drop the per-element temperature/moisture table; fold shared-quality framing into the diagram caption, keeping the edge (not the individual element) as the unit (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-20T08:08:32Z

Forms: drop the per-element temperature/moisture table; fold shared-quality framing into the diagram caption, keeping the edge (not the individual element) as the unit (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:08, 20 July 2026
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	* '''Pure''' — plain life-force, no element. Life-magic and all martial (warrior) power run on pure.		* '''Pure''' — plain life-force, no element. Life-magic and all martial (warrior) power run on pure.
	* '''Elemental''' — pure pneuma bound to one of the four elements.		* '''Elemental''' — pure pneuma bound to one of the four elements: fire, air, water, or earth.

	~~Each element is a pair of qualities, one temperature and one moisture:~~		[[File:Aristotle's Elemental Square.gif\|thumb\|The four elements on a square. Each edge joins two elements that share a quality — a temperature (hot or cold) or a moisture (wet or dry); the diagonals share none.]]

	~~{\| class="wikitable"~~
	~~! Element !! Temperature !! Moisture~~
	\|-
	~~\| Fire \|\| Hot \|\| Dry~~
	\|-
	~~\| Air \|\| Hot \|\| Wet~~
	\|-
	~~\| Water \|\| Cold \|\| Wet~~
	\|-
	~~\| Earth \|\| Cold \|\| Dry~~
	\|}

	[[File:Aristotle's Elemental Square.gif\|thumb\|The four elements ~~by quality~~. ~~Adjacent~~ elements share a quality (~~allies~~); ~~diagonal elements~~ share none ~~(enemies)~~.]]

	* '''Allies''' — two elements that share a quality (adjacent on the square). Every element has two allies.		* '''Allies''' — two elements that share a quality (adjacent on the square). Every element has two allies.

Tyg13: Match Bembi's code: sweep attunement→affinity throughout. Combine synergy-reward (allies) with dissonance-suppression (diagonal) under one Synergy-and-dissonance section. Fix stale death/Law citation. (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-20T07:58:57Z

Match Bembi's code: sweep attunement→affinity throughout. Combine synergy-reward (allies) with dissonance-suppression (diagonal) under one Synergy-and-dissonance section. Fix stale death/Law citation. (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

Show changes

Tyg13: Rewrite in rules-manual register; unify the diagonal (annihilation/counter/suppression); adopt counter=diagonal; add mastery-of-all aspiration; split combat detail to new Combat page (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-20T07:48:17Z

Rewrite in rules-manual register; unify the diagonal (annihilation/counter/suppression); adopt counter=diagonal; add mastery-of-all aspiration; split combat detail to new Combat page (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

Show changes

Tyg13: Cleanup: move elemental-square image into the definitions block and condense the elements to one line + image; fold in hybrids table; delete now-duplicate Forms and elemental-square sections (drop ASCII diagram) and the three redundant per-law essays; promote Opposition to a top-level section (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-20T00:07:46Z

Cleanup: move elemental-square image into the definitions block and condense the elements to one line + image; fold in hybrids table; delete now-duplicate Forms and elemental-square sections (drop ASCII diagram) and the three redundant per-law essays; promote Opposition to a top-level section (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 '''The four elements'''
 {| class="wikitable"
-! Element !! Temperature !! Moisture !! Allies !! Enemy
+! Relation !! Reaction !! Result
 |-
-| Fire || Hot || Dry || Air, Earth || Water
+| Allies (share a quality) || Synergy || Combine into a hybrid
 |-
-| Air || Hot || Wet || Fire, Water || Earth
+| Enemies (share none) || Dissonance || Cancel into pure, less than went in
 |}
-Elements sharing a quality are allies; elements sharing none are enemies. Every element has exactly two allies and one enemy.
+'''Hybrids'''
 {| class="wikitable"
-! Relation !! Elements !! Reaction !! Result
+! Allies !! Shared quality !! Hybrid
 |-
-| Allies || Share a quality || Synergy || Combine into a hybrid
+| Water + Air || Wet || mist, ice, tempest
 |-
-| Enemies || Share no quality || Dissonance || Cancel into pure, less than went in
+| Water + Earth || Cold || mire, clay
 |}
 '''Terms'''
@@ Line 49: / Line 55: @@
 </blockquote>
-== Forms ==
+== Opposition ==
 Opposition plays out most plainly in the world, yet it is felt within the practitioner as well:

Tyg13: Rewrite the Three Laws: tighter plain-lore voice, each law leaning only on terms defined above (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-19T23:56:58Z

Rewrite the Three Laws: tighter plain-lore voice, each law leaning only on terms defined above (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:56, 19 July 2026
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	== The Three Laws of Pneuma ==		== The Three Laws of Pneuma ==

	~~Long before scholars gave it a name, every~~ breath-worker~~'s first teaching held the same~~ three ~~truths, and no apprentice has yet found cause to doubt them~~.		Every breath-worker learns these three before anything else.

	<blockquote>		<blockquote>
	'''I. Vitality.''' Pneuma is ~~the force that underlies all~~ life. To breathe is to live, to live is to breathe ~~— they are one and the same~~.		'''I. Vitality.''' Pneuma is life. Anything holding pneuma is alive, and anything alive holds pneuma. Put pneuma into something lifeless and it wakes; take its pneuma away and it goes still. To breathe is to live, to live is to breathe.

	'''II. Attrition.''' ~~No shaping of~~ pneuma ~~is without loss. Pneuma may be imbued with an element~~, ~~and imbued pneuma unmade back~~ into pure, ~~but nothing crosses that threshold whole —~~ the ~~deeper one's affinity, the less it leaves behind, but never nothing~~.		'''II. Attrition.''' Shaping always costs. Whenever pneuma crosses between pure and elemental, or two enemies cancel into pure, part of it is spent in the crossing. Only carrying and storing come free.

	'''III. Affinity.''' ~~Every~~ element ~~embraces its neighbor~~ and ~~attacks its opposite: what is close may be joined~~, ~~what stands in opposition~~, ~~forced together~~, ~~unmakes both~~, ~~leaving nothing but breath beneath them. So too an element draws close only to~~ the ~~one who breathes it~~, ~~and remains~~ a ~~stranger to the one who merely holds it~~.		'''III. Affinity.''' An element only answers someone who breathes it. Your affinity to an element grows by shaping that element and no other way, never by holding, hoarding, or buying it. The higher it climbs, the less each shaping loses, always just short of a clean crossing. Growth means spending; no coin buys mastery.
	</blockquote>		</blockquote>

	~~=== I. Vitality ===~~

	It is why a mountain spring runs cold with both water and earth at once, never one alone; why a slain salamander gives up fire enough to warm a hand, though it lived its whole life on nothing grander than insects and shade; why even the stillest hermit, who has never lifted a blade nor spoken a spell, wakes each morning a little fuller than the night before.

	~~=== II. Attrition ===~~

	An alchemist who forces fire against flood in a crucible is left with pure pneuma, always less of it than the two elements held between them — the loss is not a debt owed to anyone, only the price of the crossing itself. It is the same toll paid when pneuma is drawn from a vent into a body, or unmade from pure into a spell: some part is always spent on the shaping and never seen again. No teaching, however deep, closes that gap to nothing.

	~~=== III. Affinity ===~~

	A flame held near a gust becomes a storm's lightning; held near stone, a forge's magma. But hold flame against flood, or wind against mountain, and neither survives the meeting — only breath remains, and less of it than either side began with.

	So it is between a breath-worker and the elements they touch. One well-versed in fire draws deep from a vent that leaves a stranger with almost nothing for the same reach; and to call that breath back out again, shaped as fire or frost or storm, costs less and carries further the closer that bond runs. The bond itself is built only one way — by spending, never by holding. This is why the deepest fire-sworn in the world still kneels at a vent before battle, and why no buyer of pneuma, however rich, has ever purchased their way into closeness with an element: coin buys the breath, never the affinity to shape it.

	The same attack the elements wage upon their opposites in the world plays out, more quietly, within a single breath-worker. As one grows close to fire, water grows cold and distant to them — its breath answers slower and thinner in a hand already sworn to flame — and the water-sworn find fire recede from them just the same. Neighbors bear one another no such grudge; only true opposites contend for the same soul. None of this shuts a door: a breath-worker may still come to know all four, and even both halves of an opposed pair, but the road across an opposition is the longest one, walked only by those willing to spend the effort it demands.

	== Forms ==		== Forms ==

Tyg13: Add definitions block (forms, elements table, reactions, terms) before the laws so every term is in scope before use (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-19T23:56:41Z

Add definitions block (forms, elements table, reactions, terms) before the laws so every term is in scope before use (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

← Older revision		Revision as of 23:56, 19 July 2026
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	'''Pneuma''' is the animating spirit of the world — breath, life-force, and the fuel of all magic. Everything alive contains it; to be alive ''is'' to carry pneuma. It is both a collectible resource and the foundation of character progression.		'''Pneuma''' is the animating spirit of the world — breath, life-force, and the fuel of all magic. Everything alive contains it; to be alive ''is'' to carry pneuma. It is both a collectible resource and the foundation of character progression.

			== Pneuma, and how it's handled ==

			Pneuma comes in one '''pure''' form and four '''elemental''' ones. Pure pneuma is the plain breath of life and carries no element. Elemental pneuma is pure pneuma that has taken on one element. Life-magic works on pure pneuma directly.

			'''The four elements'''

			{\| class="wikitable"
			! Element !! Temperature !! Moisture !! Allies !! Enemy
			\|-
			\| Fire \|\| Hot \|\| Dry \|\| Air, Earth \|\| Water
			\|-
			\| Air \|\| Hot \|\| Wet \|\| Fire, Water \|\| Earth
			\|-
			\| Water \|\| Cold \|\| Wet \|\| Air, Earth \|\| Fire
			\|-
			\| Earth \|\| Cold \|\| Dry \|\| Fire, Water \|\| Air
			\|}

			Elements sharing a quality are allies; elements sharing none are enemies. Every element has exactly two allies and one enemy.

			'''When two elements meet'''

			{\| class="wikitable"
			! Relation !! Elements !! Reaction !! Result
			\|-
			\| Allies \|\| Share a quality \|\| Synergy \|\| Combine into a hybrid
			\|-
			\| Enemies \|\| Share no quality \|\| Dissonance \|\| Cancel into pure, less than went in
			\|}

			'''Terms'''

			* '''Shaping''' moves pneuma between pure and elemental: give pure breath an element, or unmake an element back into pure.
			* '''Affinity''' is how strongly a living thing is aligned to one element, measured separately for each. It belongs to the breather, not the element.
			* '''Carrying and storing''' moves or holds pneuma without shaping it, keeping its form. This handling alone comes free.

	== The Three Laws of Pneuma ==		== The Three Laws of Pneuma ==

Tyg13: /* The elemental square */

2026-07-19T22:25:18Z

The elemental square

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:25, 19 July 2026
Line 43:		Line 43:

	=== The elemental square ===		=== The elemental square ===
			[[File:Aristotle's Elemental Square.gif\|thumb\|Aristotle's Elemental Square]]

	The elements follow the classical (Aristotelian) square of qualities (Law 3): fire is hot and dry, air hot and wet, water cold and wet, and earth cold and dry. Opposites share no quality — fire stands against water, air against earth — while neighbors share exactly one, and only neighbors may combine:		The elements follow the classical (Aristotelian) square of qualities (Law 3): fire is hot and dry, air hot and wet, water cold and wet, and earth cold and dry. Opposites share no quality — fire stands against water, air against earth — while neighbors share exactly one, and only neighbors may combine:

Tyg13: Open questions: flag the opposition-of-attunement rule as a reversal of the earlier jointly-settled "no attunement opposition" decision (wants joint review), and add opposition-suppression strength + total-attunement soft-cap curve to the deferred-numbers list. (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

2026-07-19T12:03:47Z

Open questions: flag the opposition-of-attunement rule as a reversal of the earlier jointly-settled "no attunement opposition" decision (wants joint review), and add opposition-suppression strength + total-attunement soft-cap curve to the deferred-numbers list. (via update-page on MediaWiki MCP Server)

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:03, 19 July 2026
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	* Is there a "death" or corrupting force opposed to pneuma? Largely rejected as a new substance in favor of death being a violation of Law 3's annihilation (destruction with no pure residue) and undead being beings whose Law 1 self-generation has failed — but this is explicitly deferred until the base system above is fully settled.		* Is there a "death" or corrupting force opposed to pneuma? Largely rejected as a new substance in favor of death being a violation of Law 3's annihilation (destruction with no pure residue) and undead being beings whose Law 1 self-generation has failed — but this is explicitly deferred until the base system above is fully settled.
	* Ambient dynamics: should weather and time shift local pneuma abundance (storms surging air)?		* Ambient dynamics: should weather and time shift local pneuma abundance (storms surging air)?
	* Concrete numbers everywhere: absorption and casting efficiency curves at each mastery level, self-regeneration rate, annihilation loss rate, condensation costs.		* The '''opposition of attunement''' rule reverses the earlier "no attunement opposition" decision, which was settled jointly in an earlier design round. It wants that same joint review before it is treated as final.
			* Concrete numbers everywhere: absorption and casting efficiency curves at each mastery level, self-regeneration rate, annihilation loss rate, condensation costs, the strength of opposition suppression between opposed elements, and the soft-cap curve on total attunement gain.