Fiction:Essence

"It is our essence, the reason why we are alive, the reason for our existence, our actions and our thoughts. It is a way of thinking, an uncontrollable force that runs though us all. Light and dark, everything is due to Enyirgy."

- Unknown



Essence, sometimes called Energy or occasionally Enyirgy, soul, life-force, or spirit, is the immaterial nature of all living things. Though it is usually simply named as such in some galaxies of the First Gigaquadrant, it can manifest in many other named ways, usually as energies that can be manipulated in many ways but also as psychological and physical traits, i.e. Purity or malevolence. Essence usually manifests itself in reality is invisible forces, or energies, that surround species and beings, which can sometimes be manipulated to produce various effects, such as telekinesis. The varied forms of essence throughout history have sometimes gone ot the extent of defining entire cultures, as is the case, for example, of Psionic Energy.

Pure Essence
Although Essence is only directly known from the Energies that manifest themselves in reality, the study of these Energies for many millennia has resulted in a model of "pure Essence" being created. There are many theories as to how this Essence would have been "split" into the different Energies that currently exist.

Pure Essence is considered to be one of the two fundamental components of the universe, the other being that which makes up matter and energy. Essence and matter/energy are both capable of affected each other. Essence is believed to be behind consciousness (as creatures' souls are usually composed of an Energy such as Elemental Energy), and so may tie into scientific theories such as Cosmospawn Theory, and even religious beliefs such as the One God as worshipped by many civilisations across the universe. However, as mentioned, matter is capable of affecting Essence, which is a major item of consideration when relating Essence with consciousness, as individual creatures' consciousnesses are heavily affected by material factors such as brain chemistry. If Essence is conscious, then it must be a consciousness completely alien to anything else in the omniverse.

Division and Variations
Energies are classified into four categories. Two of these categories, Chaotic and Elemental, are named after their "primal Energies", believed to be the Essences from which the rest of the category are derived.

Only "primary" Energies are described on this list. There are others that seem to be "subtypes" of primary Energies, such as Gyronic spawn energies and Elemental subtypes. In addition, different Energies can be combined to create what appear to be entirely new powers. The most unusual of these is "Shock Energy", which is formed when two opposite Energies (such as Gyronic and Dark Gyronic, or a Chaotic Energy and a Light Energy) mix. It is difficult to control and purely destructive, but very little else is known about it. Some theories suggest that it is pure Essence, being all that remains after the opposing aspects of the two Energies annihilate each other.

Chaotic Energies
Chaotic Energies are those characterised as being "evil". They are primarily associated with destructive powers - either ones used for offence, or those used for the improvement of the user's own body but often at the cost of being transformed into a demonic entity, a process known as "Descension". The extent of this depends on the Energy: Demonic invariably causes permament disfiguration, Descension's main feature (hence the name of the Energy) is that it only causes a temporary transformation, Entropic destroys the user if they attempt to access the necessary levels of power, and Dark (a weaker power) does not cause any transformation at all.

Chaos Energy is the primal Energy of this category. The other Chaotic Energies are:
 * Dark Energy
 * Demonic Energy
 * Descension Energy
 * Entropic Energy

Demonic Energy is the only Energy that is certain to be derived from Chaos, due to both of them being associated with the Ayrai'Shikua.

Light Energies
Light Energies are those characterised as being "good", often considered to be a polar opposite to the Chaotic Energies. In some ways, this appears to be true, as Light Energies do not seem to have much of an emphasis on offensive powers, being based primarily on mind control and manipulation of their own Essences.

All of the Light Energies appear to be opposites to specific Chaotic Energies:
 * Celesial Energy - possibly a primal Energy, so is either considered to be an opposite to Demonic Energy or Chaos Energy
 * Life Energy - probably an opposite to Entropic Energy, sometimes thought to be an opposite to Dark Energy
 * Mystic Energy - generally considered to be an opposite to Dark Energy
 * Psionic Energy - generally considered to be an opposite to Demonic Energy

Gyronic Energies
Gyronic Energies are those involved with the manipulation and progression of time. There are only two Gyronic Energies, Gyronic Energy and Dark Gyronic Energy. Some believe them to be derived from their own primal time-manipulating Essence (hence their classification in this category), while others believe Gyronic to be a Light Energy and Dark Gyronic to be its Chaotic equivalent. An alternative theory is that Gyronic is simply the the sense and ability to view time in a higher dimension.

Elemental Energies
Elemental Energies are essentially those that are "neutral" (hence not Chaotic or Light) and not associated with time (hence not Gyronic). It is often criticised as being a "catch-all" category, and the Energies may not all be related to each other.

Elemental Energy, known by numerous other names by thousands of other civilisations across the universe and throughout history, is generally considered to be the primal Energy for the category. Many believe it to be the closest thing to how pure Essence as used by mortal beings would appear to be, although it is significantly less powerful.

There are also many differences between Elemental and other Energies (which has led some to believe that Elemental is a different thing to Essence entirely). Firstly, Elemental is based on balance, while other Energies tend towards an extreme and are balanced by opposing forces. Secondly, it does not usually take tangible form - in effect, Elemental is always the indirect cause of its associated phenomena, while other Energies often manifest directly. Finally, Elemenal Energy flows through specific points in a creature's body, known as "meridians" and "subtle bodies", in a complex structure that other Energies do not. However, this latter point may be the result of said creatures' souls being composed of Elemental Energy rather than another Essence (tests on entities with non-Elemental souls have so far not been done).

The only other Elemental Energy is Mana Energy. Some theorise it to be simply another means of accessing Elemental, but there are several differences, such as how Mana has more obvious tangible manifestations of Essence. However, very little is actually known about the Energy, so a fair comparison cannot yet be made.