Qi (Realms)

Qì (Chinese: 气; pinyin: Qì) is a resource used for Superpowers in the Realms of the Multiverse found in many, if not all, biological life forms. Despite this fact, only few can use it to perform abnormal feats. These few are known as Awakened, while the feats themselves are known as Superpowers. One or more superpowers and techniques within a person's repertoire is known as a Soul Arsenal.

Origin

Adam, the first human, was given knowledge of everything in the Greater Omniverse by God, including of energies present within the souls of every living being. After being sent to Earth and founding his own tribe consisting of himself, his wife, and his many children, he sought to teach them to connect the spiritual energies of one another, creating a universal, empathic language and fostering peace and understanding between individuals without the need for speech.

However, Cain did not use Qì as his father intended. Instead, he combined his spiritual energy with his physical energy, kneading and weaponizing it to call down a meteorite on his brother, killing him instantly and accidentally inventing Superpowers.

Overview

Qì for Superpowers is generated by combining two distinct energies - physical energy and mental energy. Physical Energy, drawn from the body, can be increased by training, stimulants, and other physical modifications. Spiritual Energy, drawn from the soul, can be increased through study, meditation, prayer, and experience. With either one or both of these energies cultivated to become more powerful, the Superpowers will follow suit. Therefore, practicing a particular power will build up one's mental energy, allowing more Qì to be generated, which results in the ability to perform the same power to greater effect.

Magic users can access a powerful and unstable third source of Qì, Demonic Energy, also known as Magical Energy, by entering a pact with ghosts or demons, or in extremely rare cases, drawing it directly from the Realm of Ghosts. The act of using demonic energy is forbidden in planetary law.

A fourth source of Qi, Cosmic Energy, drawn from the multiverse itself, was discovered following Tianshi's ascension. So far, only Celestials, Heavenly stone users, and those who have Kundalini are able to use this type of energy.

Since Qì is connected to the soul, each person has a unique Qì signature, akin to a fingerprint. The connection between Qì and the soul also allows for the changing of Qì colours (explained below) along with changes in personality. Despite the uniqueness of each individual's Qì signatures, similarities between Qì signatures of relatives exist and are commonplace. For example, a father's Qì signature, though unique, would have some similarities with that of his son.

Types

Qì come in seven types; the five coloured Qì, rainbow Qì and colourless Qì. The seven types of Qì include:

Black Qì

The black Qì symbol, depicting a gem.

People with black Qì can be described as cynical or pessimistic while they themselves would call themselves pragmatic or practical. While people with any colour of Qì could have an ambitious side, black Qì users take this much further, with little, if any, regard to rules. To them, life is hard enough without limiting themselves. To not use any means to achieve a goal would show weakness, and to show weakness would lead to defeat. Such is the philosophy of black.

Powers using black Qì tend to be disruptive in nature, taking advantage of the opponent's weakened state to benefit the user. Of the Five Elements, black corresponds to earth.

Blue Qì

The blue Qì symbol, depicting a droplet.

Blue Qì users are thinkers. They value knowledge and the pursuit of knowledge and are naturally drawn to logic and technology. Blue users see the world as a canvas, full of opportunities waiting to be seized. To them, any possibility, any dream, can be achieved by unlocking the secrets of the multiverse.

That being said, blue users uphold the concept of indeterminism. The reason they love knowledge so much is that with knowledge, they can be masters of essence, improving upon nature. They value thought over action or emotion, and the future over the past or present. Blue powers tend to be indirect and "manipulative". The element of water corresponds to blue.

Red Qì

The red Qì symbol, depicting a flame.

People with predominantly red Qì are adventurous individuals. Carpe diem would define most of their thoughts. They live in the moment, not wasting time with doubts or details. This is why they dislike rules and laws, seeing them as little more than a way to inhibit one's enjoyment of life. They are also emotional and passionate, maintaining strong bonds with those they care about. Joy to those who managed to win the hearts of people with red Qi, because their impulsiveness, paired with their passion, makes for a romantic, exciting, lover.

Soul Arsenals using red Qì typically have techniques that are short bursts of large amount of energy, achieving great destruction at a relatively high Qì cost. Fire is the element corresponding to red.

White Qì

The white Qì symbol, depicting a shield.

White is the colour of solidarity when it comes to Qì. White users value the community, or, to a further extent, the nation, and civilization in general. To protect the people they love so much, they would turn to their values, be it religious, legal, or cultural. However, this comes at the expense of the individual. While white users generally care about the minority and think they deserve to be treated as fairly as anyone else, they discourage personal views and feelings that might harm the group as a whole.

White powers are usually straightforward. They are easy to learn and versatile, at the cost of being relatively weak, uncontrollable, or taxing without further training and/or coordination with teammates, more than powers of a similar level from a different colour. Metal is white's element.

Green Qì

The green Qì symbol, depicting a leaf.

People with primarily green Qì find no need to change the world. Instead, they prefer to coexist with it, embrace it, which is why they are the closest ones with nature. They think harmony, both with the natural order, and with other beings is beautiful, so long as the other beings respect nature and leave it alone. Despite this seemingly pacifistic trait, they can still be aggressive or even predatory if their instincts tell them so.

Powers requiring green Qì focus more on the physical aspect. This is why most with green Qì have large bodies and muscular frames. The corresponding element to green is wood.

Rainbow Qì

The rainbow Qì symbol, depicting a lotus flower.

Rainbow Qì is the rarest and most powerful colour of Qì, Powers requiring Rainbow Qì have little, if anything, in common with each other and users are just as diverse. This type of Qì is associated with the element Heaven. Currently, there is one hypothetical factor that would cause the generation of Rainbow Qì, which is the exposure and physiological fusion with divine powers and/or objects (e.g. Heavenly Stone).

Colourless Qì

Colourless Qì is the type of Qì most living beings possess. It is the uncultivated, latent life force that serves to keep creatures alive.

Changing colours/types

It is possible to gain and/or change Qì colours as one grows as a person. To do so, one must not only understand, but also empathize the guiding principles of a colour at a spiritual level, enough to influence the person in their day-to-day lives. Adding another colour to a person's repertoire is a time and effort consuming process. In addition, all individuals have inherently less affinity towards one colour or another, requiring the individual to undergo a more intesive training to attune him/herself towards the colour than someone neutral to the colour. For this reason, most top heroes and villains focus on one or two colours at maximum, with persons having three colours being extremely rare cases, despite the theoretical possibility of mastering all five colours. Known methods to bypass this limitation include:

• Receiving Knowledge of All Things from God Himself or being created from the part(s) of such a person (Eve).
• Being created from divine power (Demiurge).
• Exposure to divine power (Heavenly Stone).

Combinations

Having two or more colours of Qì would allow a person to use powers and techniques requiring both colours, opening up the person to opportunities that (s)he wouldn't have otherwise. Such powers include:

• Soul Powers, which target the opponent's soul directly instead of the body. Requires black and white Qì. Thought to be a lost art practiced by Zerzurans.
• Nanite Powers, requiring white, red, and blue Qì, which allows the user to transform part of their body into a swarm of nanites which can then be shaped into weapons, vehicles, or other objects. Used by Switch.

Shadow Qì

Shadow Qì, named so because of its origins in the Shadow Multiverse, is Qì produced by the denizens of said Multiverse. While on the surface it works identically to its prime counterpart, it has an amplifying effect to a prime Qì user when transfused, allowing the user to access a more powerful form known as a Persona Form, boosting his/her physical and spiritual capabilities for a limited time.

Usage

The use of superpowers has three components; the mind, word, and action. These are explained below.

Of the Right Mind

To be of the right mind is to be at the appropriate mental state to use a technique. In all cases, this means a clear intention to use the technique to heal or harm the target. Doubt or hesitation would adversely affect the outcome off the technique. Aside from intention, there are other mental factors that may affect the usage of the technique, which usually depends on the colour of the technique in question. Red techinques would benefit a user that is experiencing an intense burst of emotions, while the same would disrupt the use of a blue technique.

Of the Right Word

The second component of superpowers, being of the right word means that one recites an incantation as (s)he uses his/her powers. In most cases, the incantation is simply the technique's name, but can be a chant or a short poem in rarer cases. Experienced users can use their powers without an incantation, though the effectiveness of said powers may be diminished. When one chooses to forgo using an incantation at all, (s)he trades off the potency of the powers for quicker use, although it may not be too relevant if the user is particularly skilled or familiar with the technique in question.

Of the Right Action

The last component to successfully using one's superpowers, being of the right action means to perform actions to direct one's Qì. In the case of healing techniques, this could mean holding one's hand over the injury, while in the case of offensive techniques, this would mean waving or pointing an appendage at the target.

Non-combat uses

Outside of combat, Qì has been used in disaster relief efforts, as well as more mundane tasks at the individual level, such as using pyrokinesis for lighting cigarettes or cooking, or using telekinesis for doing multiple chores at once, among others. Imprinting is another method of using Qì outside of direct combat.

Imprinting

Imprinting is a process where a being infuses Qì with an object. When an object has imprinted on a being's Qì, it would display supernatural qualities that would normally not be found on other "mundane" objects of the same make or material. This process is usually a slow, time-consuming process that occurs without conscious effort from the imprinter as the object is kept, held, or used, but can be done consciously by a practitioner who intends to infuse a large amount of Qì at a short amount of time. Imprinting this way is a spiritually taxing task and can be dangerous or even lethal without proper precautions.

Many but not all legendary artifacts are a result of Imprinting.

Amplification

There are several locations, dubbed Glows, that allows Awakened to better mold Qì from their energies. How Glows came to have this effect and whether or not it could be artificially replicated is unknown.

Associated terms

"Mono" refers to a person or group with a single Qì colour, sometimes with the colour in question added following the term. For example, a "monored Superhero" refers to a Superhero whose only Qì colour is red.

In the same vein, the term "multi" can be used to denote a person or group with multiple Qì colours, as can other Greek prefixes (a bicolour refers to a person or group with two Qì colours, tricolour three, and so on).

See also

• Aura
• Tulpa