#sliver powers

[sburbian-denizens]

Achromic Apeirons

Slivers of the Void Aspect

One of the most ubiquitous Slivers to exist, this solid/liquid/gaseous/plasmic substance makes up a significant part of the Furthest Ring, and thus all of existence. It is, as its name suggests, completely colorless. Such that it is actually invisible to normal senses. Even to touch. The only way to detect the substance is either by having something color it somehow, or through Void attuned senses.

The Apeiron react violently when exposed to even the slightest bit of Certainty, mostly introduced through the Light Antergy, the Apeiron collapse their uncertain nature into other, knowable substances. In nature, this mostly means that the Apeiron transmute themselves into a cloud of random quarks and disperse into the ether. Never to return again. They do occasionally change in concert, allowing random masses of objects to come in and out of existence in the Furthest Ring whenever you blink in there. It’s very unnerving to witness. Large amounts of Apeiron transmuting spontaneously is usually the preamble for the emergence of a new Session.

Sublimation

Apeirons transmute themselves when introduced to Certainty, they likewise return when all Certainty leaves them. Terrible koans aside, Apeirons are essentially the building blocks of most matter in a Session and the Furthest Ring (and probably the Universes as well, but that's still just conjecturing at this point) and building blocks can come back if the Building is taken down.

As all Timelines of a Session exist simultaneously in the Furthest Ring, Doomed Timelines all come into existence along with any Stable Timelines. As far as things can exist in the Furthest Ring anyway. When Doomed Timelines reach their Game Over point, all matter in the failed Session is slowly converted back into Apeiron. To make ‘room’ for ‘future’ Sessions to be created.

Apeirons can also sometimes exist in Void Player Lands. Though that usually means that the Land and/or Session is slowly deleting itself due to some error in construction. So The Player better figures out a way to stop it quickly.

Alchemy

Achromic Apeirons can be alchemized using a combination of any three Void-bound Grist type. It can also be created by inputting Perfectly Generic Objects in an Antergy Sublimator and adding Void Antergy. Just make sure it doesn’t collapse its non-existence in its container. Apeirons are some of the hardest substances to contain because of how often it happens.

Items cannot generally incorporate Apeirons into their design, not unless a Void-bound is manning the Alchemizer. Stranger things have happened in Sburb however, so its possible that others can find a way to get in on the action as well.

Items that incorporate Apeirons are usually those that can have semi-stabilized its existence. This results in shapeshifting items that can modify its composition. Certain items can also convert things to and from the Apeiron phase. This is usually the realms of invisibility cloaks, disintegration rays/swords, and transmutation equipment.

Powers

Powers based on Apeirons are quite similar to those items that are made of or manipulate it. They can usually collapse nearby matter into Apeirons, effectively disintegrating them. Others can grab Apeirons out of the void and shape it to their user’s will. Essentially an elemental path to the standard Create/Destroy Nothingness power most void users seem to get these days.

[sburbian-denizens]

Elan Vital

Slivers of the Life Aspect

Also referred to as the Breath of Life or Gas of Vitality, Elan Vital is a sublimation of the Life Aspect found almost everywhere in the Medium in very small traces. The gas takes a form likened to oxygen and is similarly invisible, tasteless, and odorless. To those few that can see it (usually Knowing-Classes of Life or Doom) the gas appear as a faint blue substance that permeates the entire Medium, the color gaining more solidity when more of the gas is present in an area.

When inhaled, Elan Vital is absorbed into one’s body, granting them increased vitality and healing. In such small concentrations as found in the Medium at large, this ‘merely’ allows one to heal their injuries slightly faster and more completely and to refill one’s Health Vial over time. These effects increase dramatically when larger concentrations are used, granting a very potent healing factor when used correctly. Be warned, however, the healing provided by Elan Vital still uses the nutrients found in one’s body rather than conjuring biomass out of nothing as with some healing powers. Using too much too quickly can lead to nutrient deprivation in the most extreme of cases.

The gas also has negligible effects on people who have already died. It can’t revive them, it merely invigorates the various microorganisms that are consuming it. This leads to corpses decaying much more rapidly. This can be useful to dispose of dead bodies, but not much else.

Sublimation

As stated, the gas is found in small quantities within the Medium’s very air. Generated along with the Medium itself when the session begins. Certain Lands may have greater quantities of Elan Vital in their air, either as an advantage to Players with Quests involving ridiculous amounts of fights or as an obstacle to overcome should it benefit the Underlings as well. Abilities that deal unhealing wounds are your friend in the latter cases.

Alchemy

Elan Vital can be alchemized through a combination of Living, Vitamin, and Oxidant Grist. It can also be created by filling an Antergy Sublimator with pressurized Oxygen and Life Antergy. It can also be made by just filling a pressurized tank with the Medium’s air and isolating the Elan Vital somehow.

Items that incorporate this Sliver into their design are usually various types of Health replenishing items. Most of these items come in the form of aerosols or scented candles that release the gas when used, but there are condensed Vital that come in a liquid state as well.

Powers

Powers surrounding the Vital are almost always of the healing variety, either creating the gas to further one’s regeneration or enhancing the effect of the gas in the air for similar results. Another use would be to use it to relieve one of fatigue or to increase physical strength. There are, of course, more sinister options when it comes to powers (Causing uncontrolled growths in cells similar to cancer or increasing the virulence of diseases) but those are rarer to manifest.

[sburbian-denizens]

Avernian Gas

Slivers of the Doom Aspect

Named after one of the gates to the Underworld in greek mythology, Avernian Gas is a type of air infused with large concentrations of Doom Antergy and is usually found deep within the Lands of the Dead. The gas appear quite innocuous in most circumstances, it is as tasteless and colourless as air and those without a sharp sense of smell cannot even tell anything is wrong. Those who can smell the gas can sense the unnerving sense of sterility in the air, as if all the bacteria and plants that produces such smells are gone.

When inhaled by the Living the gas acts as a subtle poison, slowing causing its victims to love their vitality. This first manifests as tiredness, followed by the slow yet steady approach of total organ failure, and finally, death. Due to the gas’ effects no corpse covered in the gas shall decay from bacteria or parasite and many plants and animals leave their corpses behind as if they have been preserved.This takes over an hour of constant inhalation to happen however, and those bound to Doom would slowly gain resistance, and eventually immunity, to it’s effects as they grow into their powers. Life-bound also possess a measure of resistance to it, if only in the form of having a lot of Life Antergy to act as a buffer.

The gas has no negative effect on any of the Dead (even those that still need to breathe for one reason or another) and in fact, slowly restores their strength when they rest in a cloud of the substance. All Dead beings attest that the gas feels nostalgic for them, which is quite valuable to those beings who feel unwelcome in the Land of the Living.

Sublimation

Avernian Gas usually only appear deep within the Lands of the Dead, where leagues of Dead Antergy congregate from its inhabitants. The gas also sublimates near those Dead who walk in the Living World, though aside from the faint smell it appears in small enough quantities as to be harmless. The gas often leaks out from the afterlife wherever it’s gates are opened and the telltale smell is often used to locate such entrances to the Lands of the Dead.

One can usually detect the presence of Avernian Gas using its periphery effects, which is to say, from the piles of seemingly non-rotting corpses of plants and animals it leaves behind. Barring the presence of copious amounts of death, however, one must rely on their senses of smell to detect the gas.

Alchemy

Avernian Gas can be alchemized by a combination of Gaseous, Poisoned, and Deathly Grist. It can also be made through the Antergy Sublimator by using concentrated amounts of Doom Antergy and a small bottle of normal air.

Items that incorporate this Sliver is almost always poisonous in nature, though it’s (relatively) slow acting nature ensures that most of its effects are confined to knocking out foes and occasionally causing their organs to be disabled temporarily. There are, however, certain items that use a concentrated version of the Gas to make it almost immediately fatal.

Powers

Avernian gas is usually called up in one of two ways, either directly through an ability that infuses the air with Doom or by opening small entrances into the Underworld and allowing it to flow outwards. When the former gets stronger it’s usually in the form of faster acting poison effects or greater rejuvenation to the undead, sometimes both. The latter is normally just a side effect or a neat trick that is second to the feat of opening gates to the afterlife, though a rare few have refined this trick by opening larger gates or by making many smaller gates instead.

[sburbian-denizens]

Furor Fragments

Slivers of the Rage Aspect

Also known as Volcanic Mines and Angry Obsidian to certain parties, Furor Fragments are a relatively common sublimation of the Rage Aspect. It takes the form of, as its moniker implies, small pieces of obsidian. Thin vein-like lines crisscross just beneath its surface, visible through their faint orange glow. The fragments act as containers for pure Rage Antergy, remnants from their volcanic origins, and even the smallest piece contain enough to do damage to another being.

Should one of the fragments be broken, such as by someone stepping on them, the contained Antergy would violently burst out in the form of black stone. Very spiky and sharp black stones. The sheer force of this expansion of matter is comparable to a medium caliber gun in extreme cases, and makes just as much noise, though it’s actually more similar to a dart gun in most cases. Most of the damage the materials can deal is usually in the form of cutting and piercing, as its protruding spikes are almost always blade-sharp.

Sublimation

This type of sliver almost always spawns near volcanic phenomena, usually in the aftermath of an eruption of some sort, though it can be artificially spawned through the use of powers and alchemy alike. Players who venture near such locations should take care to avoid stepping on them, either by watching out for faintly glowing rocks and wickedly sharp rock protrusions or by having nearby Underlings activate them for you.

Alchemy

Furor Fragments can be alchemized through a combination of Explosive, Volcanic, and Obsidian Grist. It can also be created by inserting regular Obsidian and sufficient amounts of Rage Antergy through an Antergy Sublimator.

More generally, items that incorporate it into their designs tend to be more brutal in nature. From bullets and arrows that expand into javelins and morning-stars when fired, to expanding stone swords and javelins, to even armors that counterattacks by growing stone spikes.

Powers

Aside from the usual plethora of matter creating powers, Furor Fragments can also be created by a few specialized abilities. The most common of which is one that converts some of the nearby ground into these fragments, creating a veritable minefield of spikes. Another common ability is to spawn small fragments and control how they form after cracking, allowing one to instantly create weapons or other objects so long as they have enough imagination for it.