The cultivation system allows Sentients to develop “techniques” “spells” and “artifacts” that rely on ‘Qi’, as well as supplying a system to advance their power through the use of ‘Qi’, meditation, and worldly understanding.
This system adds a new energy to the world ‘Qi’, ‘Qi’ can be divided into three major “levels”- ‘Mortal’ ‘Qi’, ‘Immortal’ ‘Qi’, and ‘Divine’ ‘Qi’, each level being exponentially more powerful, and vastly harder to detect, then the previous level. ‘Qi’ can further be divided into a near limitless number of subtypes relating to one sphere or another.
‘Qi’ functions as follows- ‘Mortal’ ’Qi’ flows like water, and is thinly spread over most of the world, ‘Immortal’ ‘Qi’ Flows like gas, sitting over 'Mortal' 'Qi' and gathers around mountains and other “tall” natural structures. ‘Divine’ ‘Qi’ is like Plasma, and acts like a star, gathering and refining “lesser” levels of ‘Qi’, only moving when is forced to. All levels of ‘Qi’ are attracted to similar types of ‘Qi’ and areas highly associated with similar types of ‘Qi’, while changing the plants and minerals exposed to it to be more like it over time, this effect is exceptionally limited at the ‘mortal’ level, but can still be seen over eons, mortals and beasts exposed to ‘qu’ will find that it can be likened to ‘radiation’ to an extent, with the case that long term exposure to it making one resistant to it, ‘mortal’ ‘Qi’ can be described in effects as ‘sunlight’, being exposed to it is mostly harmless, though one may get “burnt” if they are overexposed suddenly, ‘Immortal’ ‘Qi’ can be described as ‘Nuclear’ radiation, in that it will make the unprepared sicken and die or deform if they are exposed, but it has its uses, while ‘Divine’ ‘Qi’ acts like ‘gamma’ radiation, its devastating, and undeniably harmful, warping anything that even vaguely survives in its surroundings.
All Sentients possess a set of "Meridians", a normally intangible spiritual lines that form paths through the body even where the body does not have natural links, these "Meridians" act like “veins” or “nerves” for ‘Qi’- allowing it to travel around the body. Every point where the "Meridians" diverge there is a “node”, the heavens have decided that for the ease of remembering, there will be exactly 82 ‘nodes’ in the mortal body, with one central ‘node’ located at the heart, heart equivalent, or center of mass, based upon annoyingly inconsistent sentient biology, and 9 sets of 9 more looping throughout the body.
“Meridian Nodes” start off “closed” which prevents them, and the ‘Qi’ in them from directly having any effect on the rest of the body. Anything that harms the “Meridians”, or “opens” the “Meridian Nodes” will be painful, actual damage done to them can’t be healed except through exceptional methods.
Sentient beings possessing meridians can be defined as “Cultivators'' if they advance through the “cultivation” system.
“Cultivators” advance through the “cultivation system” by advancing through three “major” stages, each containing three “minor” stages. The first major stage is the “Mortal” stage, it is divided into the “Meridian opening” stage, the “Body forging” stage, and the “Realm shaping” stage. The second “Major” stage is the “Immortal” stage, it is divided into the “golden core” stage, the “Soul birth” stage, and the “Perfection” stage. The third “major” stage is the “Divine” stage, it is divided into the “Path destruction” stage, the “World soul” stage, and the “Infinite Existence” stage.
You may work on any or all stages of your “Major” stage, but can’t move onto the next “Major” stage until the mandatory stages are complete, you can NOT complete a lower stage after you have advanced.
Each “Minor” stage passed slightly perfects the genetics of the cultivator, and either doubles their lifetime, or adds 10 to the [number of stages passed] years to their life- whichever is less, while each “Major” stage entered directly optimizes the cultivator’s genetics on a deeper level, and doubles their lifetime.
as a side effect- with each stage it becomes harder to reproduce, but children born to parents of a higher stage will have more “potential” as they have far better genetics.
Beasts follow a similar system, but don’t cultivate, they simply get stronger as they age and eat, theoretically a beast could eat and sleep its way to the “Divine” stage, but beasts are more likely to advance when they have fought to bring out their own potential- and a beast that didn’t fight at all would take several billion years to reach that stage, assuming it didn’t die of old age first.
To begin the “Meridian opening” stage, the cultivator must find a method of forcibly “opening” their “Heart Node”, this can be by consuming a natural treasure containing a great force of ‘Qi’, exposing themselves to a far higher grade of ‘Qi’ then their body can handle, utilizing a technique that forcibly builds up the ‘Qi’ in ones, or by being helped by a cultivator in the “Immortal” stage, no matter how they open the first one the rest of the stage only requires that they open the rest of their “Meridian Nodes” to complete it.
The “Body forging” stage requires the cultivator to refine their body through various painful methods, and by using their ‘Qi’, expunging impurities and flaws while strengthening them overall, this stage can be skipped or finished “early”, but one will not get the benefits of completing this minor stage unless they refined a minimum of 80-90% of their impurities and flaws, and will have difficulty in later stages do to their weaker body.
The “Realm Shaping” stage firstly involves forming a mental “world” this world can take any form, but its size is limited by ones major stage, next one must create a clear mental image of what they view themselves as, and burn that image into their mind until they can call it up with a single thought. This is another stage that can be skipped or finished “early”, but once more one won’t get the benefits for “properly” completing the stage for doing so, and as a side effect will have issues with remembering who and what they are at later stages.
The “Golden core” stage is the first stage of the “Immortal” stage, to begin this stage, one must gather a vast amount of 'Mortal' 'Qi in their “Meridians'', and gather this ‘Qi’ into a single “Meridian Node”, forming a single spark of 'Immortal' 'Qi’, and converting the “node” from the immaterial into a “real” part of the body, fusing it with whatever else is in its location. Failure to gather enough ‘Qi’ to form your first spark of 'Immortal' 'Qi’ will result in one's “meridians” being crippled instead, or explosive bodily failure should one have failed to complete the “Body Forging” stage. As a side effect of becoming a “tangible” part of the body, the “golden core” can be damaged by physical means, however it CAN be healed by means that would heal the physical body as well.
The “Soul birth” stage is started by gathering 'Immortal' 'Qi” inside one's “mental realm” and forming a “blade” with it, that you use to carve off 10 - 50% of your soul, this removed section of soul is then fused with your mental projection over time, forever linking it with yourself, it will always maintain your memories, and always be a reminder of who you “wanted” to be, this “birthed soul” can separate from your body for a time, but must return unless you fuse it with an Immortal “artifact”, in which case it will exist separately even should you die, and last until twice your lifetime has passed. This stage can be skipped but can’t be finished early.
The “Perfection” stage involves refining ones body with “immortal” ‘qi’, strengthening it greatly, and removing any remaining impurities- if started without completing the “body forging” stage, it will also require far- far more destructive methods to remove prestated impurities, likely crippling the perfection seeker over and over again, reducing their estimated lifetime, this stage can be Skipped or Finished early, but one's body will NOT be able to handle the stresses of ‘Divine’ ‘Qi’, being warped and twisted when they advance. As a side effect, completing this stage adjusts one's body such that one does not need food, water, air, or sleep- simply subsisting upon ‘Qi’.
The “Path destruction” stage, is the first stage of the “Divine” stage, it is divided into three parts, first one gathers a massive amount of 'Immortal' 'Qi’, then one uses that ‘Qi’ to fill their “Golden core”, much like the “Golden Core” stage, different is that when one has filled it they must destroy the REST of their meridian system, and forcibly rend the energy out of it as well, finally one must forcibly merge their soul with that volatile mixture while under tremendous pain. success will spark a “Divine Flame” and generate one’s first mote of 'Divine' 'Qi’, while failure at ANY point will lead to guaranteed death. Failure to complete the “Soul birth” stage will leave one Mindless with the total loss of their soul.
The “World Heart” stage involves making one's “Inner world” into a “real” world, capable of bearing the weight of the laws of cultivation, and in turn- merging it with the laws of cultivation- upon completion ones “inner world” grows strong enough to contain real life, and to an extent- one can be called “god” of this world, but there is a catch- nothing from this world may leave it without becoming illusion, as a side result- those who complete this stage can bear the system that allows for their existence with them, even through the gates.
The “Infinite Existence” stage involves changing one's own nature, filling one's existence with 'Divine' 'QI’ and meditating upon one's own existence, finally one will come to the conclusion that this universe is simply a simulation and one will be able to gain true godhood when they travel through the gates into a real world.
‘Qi’ has three sources- firstly true gods give off an amount of ‘Qi’ simply by existing, this ‘Qi’ is associated with their sphere. Secondly, gates give off some ‘Qi’ based upon the world beyond them. Thirdly, Cultivators give off a small flow of ‘Qi’ one rank lower than their “Major” stage.
Spells and artifacts work on the same basic premise; one overlaps several “basic truths” of the universe they saw while meditating on a suitable material using something conductive to ‘Qi’, these basic truths take the form of runic designs, with their “complexity” being determined by their power and scope, thus it is easily possible to create the rune describing ‘FIRE’ or ‘EXPANDING’ but Infinitely difficult to use the rune for ‘INFINITE’ simply because that would take up more space then there is in the universe, for Spells, the “material” one uses is their “mind”, and the “conductive material” is “mental energy”, for Artifacts- it is more difficult, as the effects will be limited by the conductive material used, likely to the determinant of lower quality materials written upon, which may be outright destroyed if the flow of ‘Qi’ upon them is too much stronger.
'Qi' gathers on ground, better 'Qi' gathers around mountains, best 'Qi' only gathers naturally in stars, 'Qi' is sphere flavored and changes things based on its flavor, exposure to 'Qi' is like exposure to radiation- safe in the right dosage, likely to give you magic cancer if you dance around like a moron in glowing puddles of it, 'Qi' comes from gods, gates, and high level people. Mortals have "Meridians", Meridians are like Veins for 'Qi', Hurting your Meridians feels like grinding a salted cheese grater over your genitals while someone brands your full body, Meridians only exist spiritually most of the time, Mortals gather 'Qi' using Meridians and gain abilities, strength, and life extensions through a system that's hard to advance through that only has three big "levels" that each have three little levels, Eventually the one in a million reach -NOT- Godhood without dying of old age, advancing the wrong way, or annoying the gods too much and are convinced by the laws of the system they need to leave the world through the gates to advance further. Animals can advance the same, similar effects, only they don't have Meridians, they just eat, sleep, and fight to get stronger. Artifacts and spells can be made by people who trip out while contemplating things and see runic patterns on infinity, and then copy those patterns on other things or think too hard about those patterns.
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Topic: Gatekeeper Gods: A God Game At the Crossroads between Realities (11/-1000) (Read 6243 times)