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.

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 meteor 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, 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 magical energy is forbidden in planetary law.

A fourth source of Qì, cosmic energy, drawn from the universe itself, was discovered following Tianshi's ascension. So far, only Celestials can access cosmic 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.

Qìneng 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. There are no known personalities or emotions in particular that would cause the generation of Rainbow Qì. This type of Qì is associated with the element Heaven.

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 (Adam) or being created from the body part of a person who did (Eve).
• Being created from divine power (Demiurge).

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.

Interactions

Overcoming interactions

Generally, Powers from one colour of Qì have advantages and disadvantages against another colour. Exceptions exist (such as ice Powers being weak to fire Powers despite the former using blue Qì and the latter using red Qì. Overcoming interactions are as follows:

• Black has an advantage against Blue (earth contains water)
• Blue has an advantage against Red (water extinguishes fire)
• Red has an advantage against white (fire melts metal)
• White has an advantage against green (metal cuts wood)
• Green has an advantage against black (trees break earth)

Usage

There are three components to using Qì for superpowers; psychological (of the right mind), somatic (of the right body), and verbal (of the right word). These components may or may not all be present in the use of a technique - the more complicated the technique is, the more components it uses and the more complex said components are. For instance, the use of Brahmastra requires one to fully understand the extent of power in one's hands and its implications (psychological), put that understanding into words (verbal), and move parts of one's body to form the manifestation of such power and send it towards the target (somatic) The requirements of these components differ by the colour and to a lesser extent, the individual techniques one is about to use. For example, more often than not, Blue techniques dictates that the user must be as calm and level-headed as possible, whereas Red techniques benefit from passionate emotions from the user.

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.

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).