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Aether

This vital energy is essential to life as we know it.

For a being to be classified as “living,” it requires both a soul and physical vitality, each of which is composed of aether. Scholars posit that this aether can and must be restored throughout life via the consumption and digestion of sustenance─whether this is the primary factor in the body’s need for nourishment is unclear, but what we do know is that the critical depletion of aether will result in physical or spiritual death.

Aether manifests in many ways aside from the aforementioned two, including magical phenomena both natural and of man’s design. Most importantly, it flows imperceptibly throughout the world, forming the great Lifestream to which all life one day returns, as well as the smaller aether currents that drive the winds and carry the winged aloft. Without aether’s blessings, our star would be a barren and desolate hell.

Upon death, a being’s aether disperses, and passes from the mundane physical world into the aetherial realm. However, where many lives are lost suddenly due to violence or calamity, or the flow of the Lifestream itself is disrupted, the aether may instead coalesce upon the physical plane, forming the crystals with which our star is replete.