Fulgurgy #1

In this world, most things are basically the same. Apples fall when they are dropped. There aren’t crazy mythical beings such as dragons. Nor are there crazy reality-warping gods that manipulate mortals. One could call it fundamentally the same….with one addition. In this world, humans learned how to release divine punishment from the skies, mess with the weather, and magnetize objects. In short, people have learned how to supernaturally manipulate electricity…..more specifically electromagnetism.

It is called many things depending on the person who views it. The original people who first called lightning from the skies were called “Stormbringer” or “Stormhander” Their abilities were seen in a mystical light -as a divine gift from the gods themselves. Some even used their talents to project the image of a god. Some see it as a way to express oneself. Though the most recent view on this strange ability is as a science that can be rationalized and broken down. This mystical art is known by the name Fulgurgy.

Possible Origins

Scholars aren’t exactly sure of how and why humans have the ability to manipulate electromagnetism. The best they can do is come up with different theories and attempt to test their validity.

Gaea Resonance Theory: In our world, the earth’s magnetic field is formed by the melted iron that flows underneath the crust. In this world, it’s a little different. The fulmenist, Kara Kazakoda thought this theory up after seeing some druids in action. He believes that electrical energy circulates just underneath the earth at extremely high speeds. These are dubbed Ley Lines and this flow of electrical energy forms a magnetic field. This theory assumes that what electromasters do is tap into these flows of electricity allowing them to absorb it passively in their bodies and release it.

This theory is currently in a grey zone. We’ve seen the ancient rituals that druids still use and had fulmenists see them in action. They’ve all reported seeing electrical energy flow into the druids from the ground. Surely this is the proof that we need. However, this isn’t seen when other forms of this ability are used. Furthermore, the first electromaster had been sent into space and was shown pulling herself to different magnetic objects in her space vessel. Though believers in the theory believe this is simply due to the fact that she can pull on the supply even when not on earth.

Extra-Dimensional Interference: The thought that the ability that they have is completely unnatural. It disrupts the flow of normal reality. Put simply -it is supernatural in origin. At the very least that’s what it appears to be. Believers of this theory believe that though the ability can do supernatural things, it merely circumvents the normal laws of reality. Thus, the method of how they do these miraculous things must come from an outside source. The most common of these is the idea that Electromasters are linking to another dimension that is dubbed Fulmen. This dimension has a near-infinite amount of energy that electromasters supposedly channel on to release electrical and magnetic fields. Since this energy is extra-dimensional in nature, it can do things that disobey the laws of physics.

Fulgur Soul Theory: Rather than the Extra-Dimensional Theory, this theory proposes that the ability source is ourselves. In the beginning, people tried to say they themselves shoot lightning from their finger though people soon realized that the human body simply didn’t have enough energy to do such a thing. So they came up with something else.

They proposed that the universe was incomprehensibly small until it started rapidly expanding with an outburst of several different energies and particles. Some of these energies and particles were attracted and repulsed by each other. This formed atoms along with energy structures. These structures are dubbed souls. Humans have these energy structures within them and through accessing them -we can pull on the energies.

Fulmenists have described seeing barely comprehensible energy waves that emit from the electromaster in an experiment when they are using Fulgurgy -showing some evidence of this theory.

How People view Fulgurgy?

The real answer is that it depends on where you are. In the more technological levels, you’ll find it near impossible to not bump into someone who doesn’t have atleast some skill in Fulgurgy. Housewives tend to use magnetic fields to keep things afloat while they work. Factory workers have people who shoot bolts of electricity to power cities. Train drivers use Fulgury to keep the train afloat and at high speeds as well. To them Fulgurgy is not some crazy science but a necessary basic skill they have to do anything in their society.

When we drift away from the cities and into the more rural areas, we see a mixture of beliefs. Villages view electromasters as demonic beings -even having many folklore about how they were banished by their gods from heaven after they committed sinful deeds. Some towns whisper of mages as if they were the second coming of their gods in human shape -no doubt due to several electromasters putting on a show.

Meanwhile, if we go even farther, we go to the more tribal communities. They view Fulgurgy as a record of their past -with several of them having minor skills in the art through praticing their ancestors rituals. Hunters and Gatherers know exactly the way to return to their home whenever they get lost. Farmers know exactly when rain is coming or a flood is arising. Warriors feel the burn in their bodies as they supposedly channel their ancestors to strengthen their bodies.

One can see Fulgurgy being used for more artistic purposes. An example of this is seen when with the The Traveling Thunder Tease. They have multiple different shows such as when they display an art showcase. In reality, the art isn’t even that good but with several electromasters manipulating photons to make the art switch colors and seemingly move. Sometimes, they have electromasters slide across the hard, stone floor through messing with chemical cohesion.

How powerful can an Electromaster be?

It depends on what you mean by powerful. A person who’s learned to control electrons on an atomic scale would be capable of simply ripping out all the electrons in their opponent’s bodies -causing an explosion of plasma. A person who instead of going micro, learned how to generate a near-infinite amount of lightning bolts from the sky could easily destroy an army.

In that sense, there is no definite ceiling that an electromaster can hit. But most simply lack the means to get that high or see no purpose. An example is a bus driver. Sure they could force themselves to learn how to create magnetic fields to lift up a building. But Bob only learned enough Fulgurgy to accurately levitate a bus. A mother could learn to shoot out bolts of electricity that can raze a forest….or just enough to act as a warning signal to get her children into bed.

Furthermore, something that holds several people back is a simple fact that you can’t learn everything. If Rachel wants to be a Jack of All Trades, she’s going to have to spread herself thin by trying to learn all the different domains of Fulgurgy such as Geo-Magnetism, Bio-Electricity, Electromagnetic Spectrum, and much much more. She would end up being weak in all the different domains while Katie who focused on Bio-Electricity is more powerful than her.

How does one become an Electromaster?

How exactly one gains Fulgurgy is summed up with two words:….it depends.  Technically everyone can gain access to this mystical art though special teaching is required. In the more technologically advanced places, people are taught at the ripe age of eight, due to them having enough intelligence to properly understand some of the more complicated concepts. They explain it simple by relying on the Fulmen Soul Theory and tell the children to imagine tapping facing a dam and think about it shattering. Typically, the child feels a tingling sensation as their hair sticks up with small arcs of electricity near them.

Self training is considered terrible as they would follow their instinct. They could possibly damage their surroundings and people with random burst of electrical energy. They also run a chance of harming themselves such as trying to throw lightning from their hands (which won’t exactly work due to the lightning having a hard time flowing from the center of their body to the palm of their hands). They can also end up blind and with third-degree burns.

However, fulmenists are somewhat shocked to see this isn’t the case with people who are part of tribes. Though their methods are a little different. They treat each aspect of Fulgurgy as completely separate things rather than the more advanced civilizations who perceive them as all one thing. People are trained with specific talents in mind such as Ancestral Invocation which is the art form of talking to one’s ancestors. Fulmenists are still puzzled how such an art fits with everything else. It is rare for someone to learn how to emit bolts of lightning but they are taught more peculiar talents such as Fire-Starting which is usually an art that children learn to set the wood on fire with minor sparks, Silent Speaking where tribe members find themselves speaking to each other without uttering a single word.

The reason why it depends is due to the idea of Affinity. A popular idea that several people are following, it was first started by Lewis Finnet. He proposed that people innately have more potential than other people when it comes to different domains. Meaning Emma and Randy could both focus on Geo-Electromagnetism -and Emma would be better simply because she was born with an affinity towards Geo-Electromagnetism. As for its validity, one can see some people having a surprisingly easy time with some domains compared to other people.

Classifications for Electromasters

Fulmenists needed an accurate way to rank how powerful or versatile an electromaster was. In the beginning, they didn’t exactly know what they were working with so they went with more simplistic and flawed categorizations. The original simply measured the amount of electricity that one could produce, the power behind them, and the ability to control it -not even factoring in the many other applications.

The system thats currently used to rank electromasters now a days is called Electromaster Leveling Spectrum or known by many as E. L. S. 

Current System:

Potential: The amount of electrical power that an electromaster is capable of generating. Having a high potential means that you could be capable of powering entire buildings with nothing but a single touch. A low potential means that your aspects don’t lie in releasing electrical energy. Potential is (at least from what fulmenists have observed) a fixed thing that people are born with. 

It’s not just electrical energy that’s ranked here as well. An infamous being known as Green Death has one of the highest potentials to ever exist. Rather than emit arcs of electricity, this monstrosity emits powerful waves of Alpha Radiation and pulses of nuclear energy.

High potential doesn’t have to just mean pure destructive power. An example is how widespread the electromancer’s area of effect is. Generally, electromancers are forced to keep it rather close to them with most keeping it around their direct line of sight. This is due to the fact that their ability begins to weaken the farther it gets from the source. But due to having a high potential, the area of effect widens for them.

Projection: Just because someone has the ability to do something doesn’t mean they can in fact do it. Projection is how easy it is for the person to project their electrical energy outside of their body. Before this was combined with Potential but fulmenists discovered that people had the ability to power entire buildings but they had a hard time projecting it outside of their bodies.

Projection takes many things into consideration. One is the method they attempt to project it out from their bodies. For fulmenist have found evidence that emitting electricity from your palms is much harder than doing it through your fingers. Maybe the person’s body is simply not strong enough to handle outputting energy. This is an attribute that one can train.

Conductivity: An electromaster’s ability to control the flow of electrcity internally and how much electricity can flow in their body without their body going through pain. The amount of electricity that can enter one’s body without going through pain is set at birth with some people having high amounts of conductivity and some people having low. Fulmenist have messed up in the past and assumed that this couldn’t be changed. Spoiler Alert -it can. In the Jemberg Experiment, several people were continuously shocked by electromasters. They made sure to use only just enough energy to make sure they wouldn’t die. Fulmenist then noted that after people could take in higher amounts of electricity 

But the amount isn’t the only things that matters. How well they can control is equally essential. Martial Artists know this better than anyone with their different breathing methods and stances, they’ve learned methods to flow electricity in the body to a crazy extent.

Domination: The emission of electricity is good and all but controlling it outside of the body can also be a key factor. This attribute focuses on the potency of the electrcity/ magnetic field/ radiation/ etc that an electromaster can control. This is a seperate attribute due to the fact potency can matter a good bit. A weak electromaster is simply in capable of manipulating even a single blast from someone with a high potential and projection due to the fact that the blast is above their paygrade.

Domination also covers the mirco scale as well with a electromaster with an extremely high domination being able to control electrons like they’re legos.  This also involves being able to manipulate multiple currents and magnetic fields at the same time.  

Limitations of Fulgurgy

This isn’t an all powerful magic -it has its limitations that all (most) electromasters must follow. These set of rules have been added and removed due to some misconceptions. An example is of a previous rule which was that Fulgurgy couldn’t be used within the presence of materials such as iron due electricity immediately flowing towards iron objects. Though now, Fulmenist know that this is due to iron being a natural conductor of electricity. These limits are split up by limits that the magic has and limits that some governments have set up to keep people in line. (I haven’t completely thought of all the different rules)

Magic based Rules:

Rule: The more extreme, the more math.  One day, Jerry is confronted with a person who comes rushing at him with a sharp wooden knife. He can’t magnetically move it fast enough nor can he think of any other strategies. So he attempts to control the electrical signals but not the chemical signals that the brain has -in order to at the very least make the enemy fall asleep. Now Jerry is a decently smart man but he is nowhere near smart enough to calculate this.

Jerry would need to know the exact electrical signal that he would have to create at the exact place at the exact time. He would need to somehow map the entire brain out and just essentially figure out things that the human mind simply is incapable of. Though, there has been a modern circumvention to this rule through people using implants called Grimoires that handle the calculation bits.

Rule: Foreign Extra-Dimensional Energy Protections: Several young electromasters wonder “how come soldiers just don’t create bolts of electricity inside people’s hearts. Then wars could be won faster” Their teacher then sighs as they proceed to explain this very law. They simply can’t. This rule states that the body isn’t a place where such energies can be formed in excess -since the body passively absorbs any energy from forming inside of it. This is also a reason why people are capable of withstanding bolts of lightning without turning into a fried corpse -their body absorbs the heat that would normally be formed but not the kinetic energy from the bolt.

Rule: You can’t learn everything: Mastering Fulgurgy is a laughable idea that will get you scoffed at by several fulmenists. To develop beyond the standard civilian level of Fulgurgy takes years upon years of hard work. To master a single domain can take most of one’s lifetime. The only person who’s managed to master more than one domain is Alvis Indigo who is considered to be the very embodiment of the word prodigy.

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