User blog:Monarch Laciel/The Black Pillars Explanations Page

Some Terminology
This part explains common terms that you will see around my current Hallow Saga pages.

Aether: Aether is the divine emanations of the Zeroth (the Tier 0) and the "force" that allows everything else in the verse to exist, not exist, or be whatever other state of existence things are. "Everything else" includes such things as physical matter, thoughts and minds, memories, concepts, events, systems of causality, dimensions, existence and non-existence, etc. Aether emanates out from the Zeroth and flows over all reality, permeating it all. Or more accurately, reality itself is constructed of the Aether that permeates. The "closer" to the Zeroth, the higher "concentrated" the Aether is. Worlds of higher Aether concentration are of a higher priority to a world with a lower Aether concentration.

Hallows: Hallows are beings who absorb and merge Aether with their souls, accumulating True Divinity into themselves and bringing their souls closer to the Zeroth. Becoming a Hallow grants several benefits, including enhanced physical abilities and senses (though sense of pain is also included), regeneration, and later on, Sight and Commandment.

Commandment: A Hallow's Commandment allows them to warp reality, its information, laws, and concepts, to achieve various effects. More details are below.

Alaya: Alaya is the collective consciousness of all sentient beings in the universe. As Aether is the sustaining force of everything, everything has Aether. Thus, even if a being has not absorbed and merged with Aether to become a Hallow, they still wield a miniscule fraction of its power. Because of this, the collective beliefs and desires of all sentient beings generate their own Commandment and Domain. This is called Alaya, an abstract force that maintains the laws and concepts of the unvierse as most sentient beings believe the universe to be. Hallows are separated from Alaya and do not contribute their own beliefs and desires towards it.

Narrators: Narrators are those who use Phantasia to manifest Tales on the world.

The Neverworld: The Neverworld is a parallel world of reality where the supernatural exists, existing on the "inverse" side of the world. The Neverworld is made of countless layers, each representative of some belief or story that has been thought of in the Everworld.

Powers of the Hallow
Superhuman Physical Characteristics - as a Hallow grows in power, their body is strengthened, becoming stronger, faster and more durable. Even the weakest of Hallows suffer only minor bruising from bullets, even if hit in the eye or from point-blank range.

Enhanced Senses - Hallows have improved senses. They can see farther and with greater clarity, smell and hear from further away, and experience textures more vividly. They also have enhanced vestibular senses granting them greater agility and spatial awareness, and enhanced senses of time, allowing them to react to the world faster and keep up with their enhanced speeds. However, they also have enhanced senses of pain, causing them to feel pain more and in greater detail.

Immortality - Hallows do not naturally age, nor can they normally die of things such as blood loss, suffocation, or even damage to critical organs. However, as mentioned they can still feel pain if they take damage

Regeneration - As long as a Hallow has the will to live, they can restore themselves from any unwanted changes to their being. Although most Hallows can be killed by destroying their brains due to the disruption of their willpower this causes, Hallows can theoretically restore themselves even from death or complete erasure as long as they have strong enough willpower. A Hallow's ability to restore unwanted changes to themselves extends even to changes to things such as their concepts being altered or erased.

Resistance - Hallows have several resistances that are common to all Hallows as a result of their nature, listed here.

Reactive Evolution - When a Hallow actively tries to resist an effect on them, their Aether will respond to their desire and begin altering their Ego in order to resist the ability.

Extrasensory Perception - An ability known as the Hallow Sight, Hallows can perceive the world around them even without use of their senses due to their attunement with the Aether that makes up all things. The Sight is generally one of the last abilities of a Hallow to develop, along with their Commandment, and the two abilities can have an influence on each other.

Reality Warping - An ability known as the Commandment, Hallows can warp the laws and concepts of reality in an area (known as a Domain) around them in accordance with strong desires and beliefs. The Commandment is incredibly powerful, allowing Hallows to even manipulate constructs and concepts of higher dimensions. When two or more Commandments exist in the same area, they will begin to clash, attempting to crush the other Commandment and establish dominance over reality. The one exception to this is when the Commandments are sympathetic with each other and have practically identical effects. While Commandments have the potential to be freely use to warp reality, this is not commonly known and all but prodigies or the most experienced of Hallows can only cause effects with a certain theme, something known as the Hallow's affinity. The Commandment is one of the last Hallow powers to be developed, along with the Hallow Sight, and often a person's Commandment can determine what and how they will perceive with their Sight, or vice versa.

Commandment
As mentioned above, Commandments warp reality, its information, concepts, laws, etc.

What it does
What a Commandment does, is (normally) determined by what the Hallows needs it to do, at the moment it manifests. For example, Nox needed to "hide in the shadows" when his Commandment manifested and the basic nature of his power allows him to use shadows as a gateway to and from a personal shadow dimension. A Commandment can evolve further to increase in functionality (Nox became able to move his shadow and control the layout of his shadow world), but it will never diverge entirely from the original ability. However, there are very very rare exceptions to this.

Levels of the Commandment
There are three "levels" to the Commandment. Levels are not inherently indicative of relative power, as battles between Commandments are determined by the "density" of the Commandment, which changes depending on the volume that the Commandment is spread through (e.g. a Hallow using a level 3 Commandment to spread their ability over several metres around them would have less "density" than a Hallow of comparable Aether who's Commandment is centred only in their body.
 * 1) The Commandment has activated, but it is confined to the user's body (or more specifically to their soul). The Commandment will only affect things that the Hallow is in direct contact with (e.g. Damian can absorb things that touch his skin), or that occupy the same space as (e.g. Pro waving his hand through weak spaces to cut them open) the Hallow.
 * 2) The Commandment can extend beyond the user's body, but only into an "item" (called a Channel) that the Hallow has some strong connection to. This "item" is not necessarily physical - Nox's Channel is his shadow. The Commandment can now affect things the Channel is in contact with.
 * 3) The Commandment can spread beyond the body without need for a Channel. To begin with, this manifests itself as an AoE around the Hallow, within which their Commandment can instantly affect anything. With further experience and practice, the shape of the Commandment can be controlled (e.g. instead of a simple AoE sphere around the Hallow, it instead becomes shaped like an enormous massive sword, tendrils, etc)

Power of the Commandment
A Commandment is absolute - the strength of Commandment is only relative to the strength of other Commandments. When a Commandment is unrestricted, it affects all within reach, regardless of how much Aether the Hallow has, or even the force of opposing, non-aetherial powers (for example, the magics of the Neverworld). And I do mean "all within reach". Commandments have the power to even affect higher-dimensional and extra-dimensional structures and concepts. Henosis/Zerothing

Henosis is when the Ego is overwhelmed and can no longer sustain itself in the face of too much Divine Essence. This causes the Ego to collapse, and without the fundamental thing that separates them from the Zeroth, the entity immediately merges into the Zeroth, sublimating into it and merging with it, losing all individuality and desires, a process which is inspired by Promestein's blog on "becoming" a Tier 0. The event of Henosis is colloquially referred to as "Zerothing". A being that Zeroths is gone. It doesn't matter if you have True-Godly regen with Type 1 through 13 Immortality. It doesn't matter how strong your will is. You hit the Zeroth, and that's it for you. The end. No second chances. No saving throw.

Cosmic Things
Alaya

Alaya is the collective unconsciousness of any sentient beings connected to Alaya (called Alayans) that determines the laws of the universe. Aether, as the source of all reality, influences the world in accordance to its holder’s wishes, and as all entities are composed of some amount of Aether, this means that the collective beliefs and desires of sentient beings determine the nature of the reality around them, creating a Domain from the cumulative collective unconsciousness of all sentient beings. A Hallow that attempts to cause something against the rules that Alaya has set of how the world works is effectively fighting the Aether of all of humanity throughout all of humanity’s history at once, and thus the effects of their powers will be reduced, if not outright nullified (in the case of weaker Hallows). Stronger Hallows can oppose Alaya more, making their abilities more effective and able to be used at longer ranges.

Due to being created by the timeliness Aether interacting with the minds of humanity across all of human history, Alaya is a timeless construct that is nigh-omnipresent throughout the time-space of the universe. Additionally, Alaya also records and determines the past of humanity. As such, Alaya will not be destroyed unless every sentient being in the universe is simultaneously killed throughout all points in space and time.

Heaven's Fall Ritual
The Heaven's Fall Ritual is a "magical" ritual designed to summon Alaya to the upper layer of the world in a physical form that can be interacted with. It requires 7 Hallows and approximately 1 billion deaths.

The ritual makes use of the "boundaries" that exist between Alaya and Hallows. As Hallows are separated from Alaya, they can be said to exist as a "hole" in the normal fabric of reality (including physical, spiritual and conceptual levels) that Alaya maintains. By trapping 7 powerful Hallows in the same location and amplifying this "hole", a path to the true Alaya that lies beneath all fabric of reality on the "background" can be created.

The Soul
The Soul is a piece of the Zeroth that descends down through the levels of Aether towards the human world.

construct created by Alaya and imbued into humanity because they either believed that it does/should exist or want it to exist, consciously or subconsciously. The soul is essentially, the “cosmic data storage” of the person. Everything in their biological brain-mind is simultaneously and instantly copied over to the soul. When the body dies, the soul goes to the afterlife worlds that Alaya has created. Additionally, while the soul is technically ageless, this is only because it is maintained by Alaya – when the last sentient being dies, and Alaya no longer exists, the souls and the afterlife will go too.

Souls are split into two types: Living Souls and Dead Souls. Living Souls are the souls of beings whose physical bodies have not yet died. Dead Souls are those who feel the pull of Alaya, due to either their physical body having been killed, or their soul simply having remained in the world for too long.

The Soul is the connection to the Ego of humanity. Without the Soul, the person simply becomes composed of the countless Egos of individual atoms and cells. Practically speaking,  removing or destroying a being’s soul does not instantly kill them. However, it disconnects or destroys that “data backup” and disconnects the physical being from their Ego (though it does not destroy their Ego - an important point to note). Because of this, any changes and memories the person’s physical body goes through are not backed-up to the soul, and if the body dies, the soul does not go to the afterlife. Additionally, a person who has lost their soul cannot become a Hallow (though those who are already Hallows can lose their souls without problems). Both the mind of the person’s soul and the mind of their body can go through independent changes if the soul still exists after separation. Should the soul be placed back in the person, two sets of memories and experiences overlap, causing an extremely disconcerting experience where the two memories awkwardly slot into each other, not actually losing any memories, but jumbling them up.

Additionally, a person with no soul can have a soul not their own placed in them. The effect of someone having an unnatural soul inhabiting their body is generally bad. In the case of a hostile soul attempting possession, it forces the person’s physical brain-mind and the new soul-mind to fight with each other for control over the body, normally plunging the person into a coma. All the while this mental war is happening, the body begins to shut down as the stress is too much for it. In some cases, it starts melting, rotting, or undergoing necrosis. When the battle is resolved, either the soul has defeated the physical brain, and overwrites the brain, or the mind has rejected the unnatural soul and destroyed it (remaining soulless in the process).

It is possible for an unnatural soul to reside peacefully within another person’s body (an example of this is a team mate of Alex's who has his sister’s soul inhabiting him rather than his own, as a way to keep her around even after she died). However, while an unnatural soul can inhabit the body peacefully, the physical brain must always be the one in control of the body, and the unnatural soul must be very careful not to instinctively try to take control of the body in times of stress, or else the body will go into coma until the internal battle is resolved.

Oh, but that's just the default state of the soul. Khurshid  who conceptually controls the Law and concepts of souls, can change any of this at any moment. Not that she does, because that would go against her reason for being. But when she's fighting, she might change the concept of the soul so that the physical body reflects the soul, and things like that, or change her Law to say "your soul cannot exist" or things like that.

The Soul
The Soul is the fundamental essence and culmination of everything that makes something what they are, and more importantly, that fundamental characteristic that separates something from the Zeroth. It is more than simply a mere mental human concept of spirituality and life after death - it is the metaphysical essence of someone, the reality of their being that makes them themselves, unique, more than simply an emanation of the Zeroth. Arising as an "opposing" force to the Aether of Zeroth, all things have souls, whether they be inanimate (e.g. a rock) or abstract (e.g. concepts).

The soul is near-indestructible - although the thing the soul represents may be damaged, the soul itself cannot be harmed. There are only two things that have currently shown the ability to damage a soul - Zthe loss of control of a Hallow's Aether and the Will to End.

The soul is independent of, though influenced by, the state of the person's mind and brain, and continues to exist even if the person is dead, brain-dead, an amnesiac, under mind control, etc.

Aether
Aether is the common name for Divine Essence, and is also known as Atzmus, Prana, and Shen in different cultures. It refers to the omnipresent Zeroth’s divine emanations that are the "life force" of all realities, permeating, sustaining and transcending them. As all things, including matter, concepts, information, systems of causality, souls, existence, non-existence and any other type of existence, are emanations of the Zeroth to some degree, all things are partially made of Divine Essence. If the anything ever becomes 100% Divine Essence, it becomes part of the Zeroth, its individuality, power and desires sublimated into itself within the infinity of the Boundless One. This is the same as if they have no Divine Essence, as Divine Essence is the source of all reality - to have none is to be less than nothing, which is also the Zeroth.

Aether is present within all things, and naturally does not overwhem them, as for something to even come into being/unbeing in the first place, it needs to not be overwhelmed. If that makes sense. The Ego of everything is naturally stronger than its natural Aether, because if they are not stronger, they could never be in the first place. However, taking in Aether, while increasing the being in power, also threatens to make their Ego weaker than the Aether. If the Ego becomes weaker than the Aether, even if there is still “more” Ego than Aether, the entity undergoes Henosis, or by its more common name, Zeroths.

It should be noted that Aether is not conscious. It is not actively trying to become stronger than the Ego and return everyone to the Zeroth. That’s just what happens.

The Ultimate Ones
Strongest beings in the verse.

The Zeroth
The Zeroth is something that transcends reality itself. Even Aether, which acts as the "life-force" of all aspects, physical or abstract of existence, non-existence and Ur-Existence, is nothing more than the Divine Essence of the Zeroth being emanated into reality.

It is not entirely clear what the Zeroth actually is. Some believe it is the highest plane of reality from which everything else stems. Some believe it is nothing more than a myth, and for much of the series it seems to be. Others believe it is simply a higher state of existence, and theorise that there is something even greater and more incomprehensible beyond the Zeroth. Some people believe it is the one true God.

What can be said about the Zeroth is that it is everything. Contradictory or not, the Zeroth contains all things within itself. It is living and dead. Existence and non-existence. Reality and fiction. Impotence and Omnipotence. It is a incomprehensible paradoxical thing.