world build.

[pati]

WORLD HISTORY. The story of Kara's home is a story of two very different worlds brought together for the benefit of none and the destruction of both. Up until the year 2020, Earth was a normal world. The people of Earth were more concerned with progress, both personally and for mankind, and the society tended to reflect that fast-paced momentum that humans had never given up on. Modern Earth only changed with the introduction of the demons and angels into the world in an event that would later colloquially dubbed the First Coming. Known by many names throughout the world, the creatures that poured out of an unknown and very sudden hellgate were not the same as existed on Earth. Angels and demons became a more common colloquial for the creatures, though virtues and vices was a close second. With the introduction of the beings known as demons and angels, humanity faced a magical outbreak never before seen technologically adapt species. Vices and virtues had a unique ability to spread their affliction to humans who tended to possess the qualities that mimicked their specific vice and virtue. While it's not quite known why these beings exist in these fourteen types of magical energy, with the transformation of humans into similar creatures it became very clear what they represented. The process of turning a human into one of these demons or angels was initiated by touch. The afflicted human would either remain humane or become the being that touched them if they embodied the vice or virtue of the being that touched them. During this process, however, humanity was loss and the creatures became driven by two sole desires: to embody their principle and to wage war against their opposites. Virtues being harder to come by in humanity, people sank far too easily into vices. The Baneful Plague spread across humanity, and while some became virtues many more became vices. Humanity's survival was in danger, the realization striking that more people were being turned than were being killed. Eventually, humanity retreated from their houses and homes to oases referred to as domed cities. Domed cities are few and far between in the desolate wasteland that once housed humanity. Within these cities, technology began to grow at nearly twice the rate it had before, however it became focused on creating ways to escape. Many scientists studied ways to destroy or perhaps leave our reality in the physical, while private pioneers manufactured escapes mentally. Devices known as clips allowed humanity to connect with each other at all times and eventually to check into virtual worlds. Whatever clips couldn't provide, drugs and base pleasures were there to pick up the slack on. Military experienced it's own revolution after decades of experimentation on the beings dubiously called "spirits." In reality, the beings were pure magical essence with a single driving force. The government found that full spirits were impossible to control, with only two imperatives that guided their existence. Vices were the worst, always seeking to destroy, while virtues could be put to use if they could be taught to obey. The resulting experimentation involved the forceful binding of spirits with humans. Through forced binding, a human would be injected with an virtue that had been reduced down to it's magical essence. The hope was that a transfusion would force at least a partial transformation into a spirit, ensuring that they were part spirit and part human. The risks were numerous, as humans would often die out from lack of compatibility or turn completely. As such, humans that embodied ideals opposite the virtue they were being submerged in had the best hybrid results, though only by slim margins. The resulting soldiers often led short and traumatic lives that ended with either perverting their virtue into a full vice or going insane from constant resistance of their body's attempted changes. The soldiers, called Sprites, would be killed at the first sign of trouble. Amidst war and technological advancements, religion also distorted to reflect the shape of the world that currently existed. Some religions became stronger, believing the vices and virtues to be the angels and demons of their lore. Some religions rose, devoting themselves fully to virtues and even vices among the perverse. Cults became abundant, fanatics taking devotion of virtues a step further and worshiping the Sprite soldiers themselves. All in all, the mysterious forces that rose from the depths of hell reshaped Earth in drastic ways. And whatever became of the spirit's world has yet to be discovered. SPIRIT HISTORY Many scientists have devoted themselves to the study of vices and virtues. While many believe vices and virtues have only two imperatives, scientists believe there is also a third that explains their presence on Earth: to reproduce. Speculation and theories have risen from experiences Sprites have had, claiming to have visions of a complete other world. The leading theories, thus far, stem from the behaviors of the current spirits existing on Earth. Their drive to fight hints at the potential of a war spilled over from their world, and the devastated landscape on Earth suggests that vices were winning in their world. Thus, speculation suggests that virtues led the invasion of Earth in an attempt to try to gather more bodies to throw into their war. While no communication with the spirits has yet to be achieved, scientists also speculate that vices and virtues communicate telepathically. This comes from documentation of Sprites getting flashes of vices and virtues that have both connected to nothing and have connected to events that take place on Earth. Though their species seems driven by three primitive desires, theories suggest that there are societies and communication among the spirits that they've yet to understand. A question still yet unanswered, but highly focused on by scientists, is what happens when one side of the war completely obliterates the other? SPRITES REDUX Sprites are the soldiers created by the government that are hybrids of humans and spirits. Spirits being a misnomer for the beings from the other world, vices and virtues are more magical essences given independent thought and movement. Having studied the humans turned sprites, it became evident that the humans were not "possessed" as religions had earlier claimed the humans were. Instead, the humans were fully transformed from physical beings into these magical essences. The drawback was that humanity was lost in the transformation. While some scientists do believe there are thoughts and mentalities going on within spirits that occur on a level that humanity can't yet comprehend, the government decided they had no use for spirits if they could not control them. The Sprite program was created by the government to answer the question of how can we harness the power of a spirit while still controlling that power. Hybrids of spirit and humans were the hoped for result, and after many failed experiments later the government finally perfected the Sprite system. By reducing a virtue down to it's core magical essence, injecting a human with that essence could force a transformation despite the human not embodying the virtue they were injected with. The success rate of the Sprite hybrids, however, wasn't perfect, and required a type of person that seemed to hang within the balance of a vice and virtue well enough to walk that fine line and not be consumed by the essence in it's entirety. While many surviving Sprites seem to be able to walk that balance, it has been shown that no Sprite has been able to last more than a few years before being consumed by their virtue and becoming a full spirit. Vices are not used by the government, as they tended to turn completely within seconds of injection or weeks at most. Sprites are few and far between in a dome. Many domes aim for at least seven Sprites, one per virtue, but few are lucky enough to have more than three. Sprite abilities manifest in the following ways: TE Series : Sprites that create shields of energy that burst into minor explosions when ruptured. CS Series : One of the more dangerous sprites, a look from these sprites can still a creature, the length of time depending on the strength of the sprite. ID Series : Slow self-healers, diligent Sprites endure damage in an effort to turn it into a weapon back on the enemy. note: self-healing is at a reduced rate and can be overtaken if damage is greater than healing speed. PA Series : The longer a patient Sprite stores energy, the stronger their hand to hand combat is and their defenses are increased. CR Series : Binders, these Sprites tend to link with vices to siphon abilities. Any damage these sprites take is also taken by the one they're bound with. KI Series : The healers of the group, these Sprites focus primarily on healing up teammates. Tend to not be great at direct combat with just their abilities. HU Series : Good at disappearing, these Sprites can make themselves and sometimes others blend in with their surroundings. While these generalization are clues as to what kind of Sprite a person may be working with, many Sprites tend to have personal spins to their own abilities and potentially added personal boosts. More skilled Sprites have also been known to be able to summon a pure energy weapon. Spirits themselves tend to have variances of these abilities in stronger and wilder capacities than humans, including some degree of emotional influence. A Sprite that begins to exhibit signs of emotional influence is thought to be in danger of consumption. While a Sprite's abilities can standalone, they work better when combined with human weapons as follow-up or when working in groups. Sprites work best together, but also when backed by human squads. Sprites are better equipped to enhance each other and human squads, and are rarely built for taking on demons one to one. Once started, the Sprite process cannot be reversed. The two options that remain from the first injection of a spirit's essence are the Sprite program, full turning, or death. Due to the nature of a binding forcing a change in a human, it is impossible to be injected with the essence of two different virtues. The body can only be altered to fit one type of virtue.