What is being attuned!? Well, think of it like Sphere's of reality from the Mage world if it helps. But in this world, being attuned means that you have studied, labored, and worked countless hours, days, months, and perhaps years to touch the realms beyond. The realms of life, death, energy, material and ether. You've painstakingly practiced and learned how to call upon the powers of the these realms to do your bidding. To command these forces and weave them into something of awe or something of horror. Power comes with a cost, it is not easy being attuned, and there are many dangers every attuned will face. But should you prevail and master the powers beyond, then you shall taste success.
Death
Life is everywhere in the Sundered World, and where life is, death is not far behind. This Attunement evidences itself in a manner too delicate to be seen by the mundane person, but its malign energies hover over the world like a thick cloud. From the crushing of the tiniest insect to the thousands killed in a volcanic eruption, death’s influence exerts itself behind the scenes. And the raw energy of the Attunement can become visible to everyone, subtle though it may be, in the creation of ghosts, zombies, and other such undead revenants.
The powers handed to those attuned to Death control the powerful metaphysical forces behind these events. An attuned who can wield this skilfully enough can slay mortals with but a thought, rotting their bodies into nothing. Death can give one the ability to create one’s own undead, or bolster those that already exist, and it grants many more powers to those with the stomach to seek them. Attuned using Death can lengthen their own lifespan by robbing years from another, or perform the reverse and hand another years from their own thread. Death Attuned can destroy Etherial energy and sunder spells, make themselves or others appear to be dead, manipulate the shadows, create, transmute, or destroy ectoplasm (the substance of ghosts), cannibalise the souls of the dying for Energy, and, at higher levels and with a little power of Life Attunement, bring people back from the dead, but at the cost of their own lives. Death is both a terrifying and alluring Attunement, and those who use it equally so.
Initiate
The initial skills of one attuned to the powers of Death include the power to see the impact of death in individual people, noting how many have died in that person’s presence. He can also see the manner in which a person or creature died and exactly how long ago that was. The attuned also gains the power to see the ravages of time on a person, examine the health of the soul, see the ghosts of the departed and speak with them in turn.
Apprentice
An Apprentice of Death, with the second level of mastery, can bestow his perceptions of the weight of death on others. He can now create the substance called ectoplasm; an energy used in matters related to ghosts. It is at this level that the attuned first gains power over auras, as he is now capable of suppressing them. He can cause physical objects, but not creatures, to decay, and can enhance his touch so he can interact with things beyond the mortal coil. Also, the mage gains the ability to summon ghosts, even against their will, and create soul jars, the vessels for soul trapping. Finally, he can leech the vigour from incoming attacks, rendering them useless. At this level the realm of the dead comes into his perception, a dark place that seems mirrored to earth on many levels, the realm where the dead go to pass beyond. Much like Mithbar, this land, called many names, is indeed one of the realms beyond, and as such, it is home to many alien and terrifying entities. The danger of this vision is once one can see into the world of the dead, the world of the dead becomes aware of the attuned as well.
Disciple
The third level of mastery allows a Disciple of Death to force ghosts to do her bidding or raise zombies for the same purpose. He can heal the corpus of ghosts and create gateways into the realm of the dead, traveling there himself... at his own peril. He can mystically destroy objects, shunt them into the realm of the dead, or weaken the structure of objects already there. His gains the ability to suppress his life signs and appear dead. Finally, he gains the power to convert the souls of the dying into Energy and to sever the souls of people from their body.
Adept
With the fourth level of mastery, an Adept of Death gains the power to enervate her foes, sucking out their strength and rendering them weak and powerless. She can bind the recently dead into objects or places, dooming them to haunt these locations forever. She may also rot the living flesh of a creature, and create an intelligent, driven undead creature called a revenant. Also at this level are granted the powers to suppress the life signs of another, to shift into the realm of the dead without a gate, to bind souls into a soulless person, or to destroy her aura permanently.
Master
The fifth level of mastery gives a Master of Death the power to tap the souls of the perfectly healthy for Energy, to summon ghosts from their realm in order to gain their knowledge, or to bolster the power of ghosts already in the world. She may also steal years of life from a person, destroy Energy itself whether it lies within an artefact, as ley lines, or even within another Attuned, and sunder any magic.
Ether
Magic is used by many, and a wielder of Ether can gain considerable power over all these people, simply by rendering their arts useless. An Attuned skilled enough in the Attunement of Ether may work many wondrous and powerful changes upon the magical nature of one's surroundings, to the point where a true master can create an Etherial Spring and siphon the Essence from spirits or ghosts. One can pull Energy from Springs or tear it from regular objects, making anything a potential source of power. The Attuned can dispel the efforts of another with ease or simply create a potent shield against magic energy rendering attacks and curses null and void. An Attuned can tap into the essence of other realms and utilize them in fantastic ways, from pulling forth the living shadows of darkness, or traveling to realms far beyond their own. One can see resonance and auras directly, detect and alter the ley lines of the world, bending these currents of magical energy to one’s whim. One’s powers can conjure up the destructive power of raw magic to rain destruction upon one’s enemies or transform mundane objects into supernal perfected forms. An Attuned with the power of the Ether is a useful ally and a powerful foe indeed. Arcane Sight gifted through Ether is generally the most potent for examining resonance, though other Arcane Sight spells are better for specific types of resonance. Mythic Vision also allows the caster to view a Mithbarian race's true nature, seeing a shape shifter for what it truly is, or piercing through the cloaking abilities of others. Another very useful application is in counterspelling; Apprentice knowledge of Ether allows an Attuned to counter any spell without knowledge of the Attunement used by the targeted spell. An Attuned who is an Apprentice of Ether gains the ability to supernaturally sense when others scrutinise or tamper with her active spells. This is known as "sensing the threads", and Ether magic may also be used to thwart this ability. The Ether is a driving wind that blows across every realm, and all the spaces between, an Attuned can step into these winds and travel instantaneously to another point within the current's path, taking a mile in two steps.
The dangers however, are great. Like any other Attunement, failing in controlling your powers can lead to disastrous effects, but with Ether, these disasters are usually fatal for more than simply the Attuned. When tampering with the currents of the realms, others pay close attention, and should one falter and fail, those failures can be seized as opportunity. Rips in the essence of the realm tear open and any manner or number of entity may very well crawl forth to wreak havoc and devastation on the realm they so deeply wish to conquer as their own.
The Dangers of this Attunement are very real, and while an Attuned may have the needed expertise to control entities from other realms, that power might not be absolute, and the foolish don't always assess the power of such entities. Drawing forth a behemoth from the Realm of Rock and Sand can go very badly, very quickly if the Attuned is not ready for the amount of resistance that creature can bring to bear. Even the lesser levels are a danger, putting a bullseye on the back of the Attuned for any realm denizen that might be lurking around in the area.
Initiate
An Initiate of Ether, using the first level of mastery, can see the resonance of Energy more proficiently than with any other spell. One can also detect and analyze enchantments in items, and see through illusions (depending on the respective skill level of illusionist and observer). One gains a limited ability to dispel magic, though one must have knowledge of the effects being dispelled. the Attuned gains the power to see, hear, and converse with denizens of other realms that manifest in their own language. They can determine the course and flow of the etherial winds around them, and see leylines and springs
Apprentice
The second level of Ether allows an apprentice to grant his perceptions of the ether to others, can glimpse across the barriers between the nearer realms, and communicate with any entity that may be looking back. He may summon minor or lesser denizens of the realms to the barrier as well, and then converse with them at his own peril... Here there be monsters. One may counter spells from any Attunement, or create armor against enemy spells (though not against regular damage like punches, or guns). The aura of the Attuned may be altered, making one appear as something one isn’t, and one may create the dueling circle for the Duel, a ritualized form of wizardly combat. One may also cloak oneself from the mystical senses of other Attuned as one alters or examines their magic, and may activate artifacts and imbued items without needing to fulfill their triggers.
Disciple
A Disciple of Ether may bestow one’s shield against magic, or alter the aura of other creatures. One may channel Energy directly from Springs or take it from leylines or enchanted items. The power over dispelling increases, allowing one to selectively dispel magic from some targets while still keeping the spell active against other targets, fortify the souls of targets, making them more resistant to attempts at soul theft, and one can imbue spells into items or make weapons and equipment capable of affecting creatures from other realms. One may transfer one’s Energy to other living creatures, create wellsprings of power from the ley lines that straddle the Earth, or redirect those lines to refill a spring that has been drained. One may wield the raw energy of magic as an offensive weapon, blasting at her foes with magical fire, not even arch masters can withstand such energy for long, unless they kill the Attuned channeling this power they will eventually be burnt to ash. He may perform exorcisms, driving entities from other realms from the host anchor they ride on earth, and may directly command them with magic, forcing them to submit to his will. His ability to call these creatures to him extends, allowing him to summon entities from beyond of all levels of power to his side, though without an anchor their stay on earth will be brief. Drawing forth the substance of other realms and manifesting it on earth falls under his sway, drawing out living shadows or entities made of light, rock creatures or living fire.
Adept
An Adept of Ether can dispel any spell encountered without needing to understand the workings behind it. One may reactivate the flow of Energy from dormant Springs or suppress active Springs Into temporary slumber as if putting a cork on the end of a hose. One may bestow one’s perception of magic and the ether upon even the unattuned at this level of power, allowing them to glimpse into the magical world without fear of invoking the gaze of those that lurk beyond. Energy can now be siphoned from the Essence of spirits, loci, and ghosts or pulled from regular, non-enchanted objects. The Adept can now store excess Energy in a form of battery they can tap into and utilize as well. He may make pacts with the entities of the realms to create familiars, and giving them an anchor into this world, though be warned, many of these creatures are devious at best. The Attuned can now access the currents of the Ether and travel upon them, as if stepping out of this realm, and reappearing anywhere else on Earth in a drastically reduced travel time
Master
A Master of the Ether can now solidify the barriers that separate the realms, or sunder them completely, allowing hordes of monstrosities onto Earth for as long as they have the energy to withstand their anchors. He can exert command over these entities while they reside, though the number of which he can influence is measured by the amount of energy he has in his store of the etherial component. One can now siphon Energy from unwilling Attuned or create one’s own temporary Spring to draw power from. The Attuned can carve out a channel for a new leyline to cross across the landscape, and can alter the course and speed of etherial winds. One can also expel Energy from a given area, creating a ‘dead zone’ in which magic cannot function, though this may endanger the lives of creatures within the zone.
Energy
The burning of the sun and stars. The burning of a fire, the course of electricity arcing across the sky. Almost the entire world can be associated at some point with the power of the elements, and on a smaller scale, so can the systems that keep the Earth running. Tides and the seasons are dependent on the same cosmic reactions that the elements holds sway over, and it has influence over the weather, heat, light, the movements of the tectonic plates, and many other systems, too.
On a lesser scale, many of the devices of mankind run on electricity or fire. Even at the lower levels an Attuned can manipulate the workings of these machines. And it's well suited for any combat they may become embroiled in. The ability to hurl fire, shoot electricity, or stab at opponents with blades of ice and wind, can make short work of most opponents, especially when combined with invisibility or the ability to see in the dark. With sufficient levels of power, even things such as the true light of the sun or the radiation of an atomic blast can be created and controlled by the Attuned. One can speed themselves or others up, or slow them down. They can create rain, wind, storms, and even earthquakes, tornadoes, or tsunamis. They can meddle with gravity, fly, and manipulate objects from a distance. And those are simply the powers of a master. The powers available to an archmaster or higher are unknown, but one thing that is certain is that they must be truly terrifying in scope. Attuned who study the elements find that some types of energy are easier to manipulate than others. Heat, light and sound are among the easiest, while electricity, fire and kinetic energy require greater mastery. At lower levels, forces and energies may be influenced in subtle ways; as an attuned learns more, she may manipulate them overtly, and eventually create some of them from nothing. More esoteric forms of energy like radiation and gravity require high mastery before they can be affected at all.
Initiate
At the first level of mastery, an Initiate of Energy gains the power to alter his perception to see in the dark, to increase the range of light and sound perceptible to him, or to detect energy as visible phenomena. Minor influence can be exerted over heat, light, and sound, altering their flow and direction. At this level, however, the Attuned cannot alter the intensity of the heat or light or the volume of the sound, nor can these forces be created from nothing. The Attuned can also pick up radio signals and convert them into intelligible sounds.
Apprentice
With the second level of mastery, an Apprentice of Energy can grant his increased perceptions of energy to others. He can now increase or decrease the intensity of heat or light and the volume of sound, though these forces still cannot be created from nothing. Minor influence over fire and electricity is now possible; the Attuned can make existing fire and electricity move under his command, though they can neither be magnified and diminished nor created from nothing. Inanimate objects can be made invisible. The force of a blunt blow can be manipulated into a stabbing point. Radio signals can be altered to broadcast whatever the Attuned desires, and he can create a shield of energy to disperse, deflect, or halt physical attacks and rob energy-based ones of their power.
Disciple
The third level of mastery allows a Disciple of Energy to complete his mastery of heat, light, and sound; he is now able to create these forces from nothing. He can now bolster or weaken electricity and fire, though he still can't create them from thin air. He can bestow his shield upon others, and turn himself invisible. The Attuned can also call down lightning from a stormy sky, manipulate objects from a distance, attack with orbs of kinetic energy, or turn bullets, thrown rocks, and arrows aside. At this level, he gains the ability to redirect the flow of magnetism and radiation.
Adept
An Adept of Energy with the fourth level of mastery has solidified his power over fire and electricity, able to spin these forces from thin air and hurl them from his fingertips. He may make non-destructive alterations to the weather, speed up or slow down objects or himself, and perform limited flight via levitation. His telekinesis is now expanded to work on living beings, and he may increase the force of friction to make any wind or motion deadly. The Attuned may now bestow his invisibility on others, bolster or weaken extant sources of magnetism or radiation, and transform one type of energy into another.
Master
At the fifth level of mastery, a Master of Energy may now bestow his levitation and bursts of speed on others, and create directly harmful weather effects such as tornadoes and tsunamis. He may create earthquakes and control the direction or power of gravity, cause EMP pulses, and create or destroy magnetism or harmful radiation. The Attuned can now also fly, and as a final note, can create true sunlight, not just mere light, extreme deadliness to the undead and all.
Life
Life is somewhat less common in the Realms than it is on Earth. Much of the material universe is both uninhabited and uninhabitable to life as we know it, living flame and shadow are both alien and unrecognizable as true life as it exists on Earth. As far as humanity is aware, Earth is the only planet confirmed to hold true life. But on this one sphere, life reigns triumphant. The surface and the oceans teem with various examples of flora and fauna, as does the world beneath our feet and even in places as bleak and inhospitable as the peaks of the tallest mountains, the craters of geysers and volcanoes, and the deepest undersea trenches. The life that dwells in the Sundered World doesn't take root all that often, but when it does, it thrives.
More diminished in scale, but more relevant to the everyday Attuned, are the lesser fields that the Attunement of Life covers. An Attuned conversant in can heal wounds, regenerate limbs, and purge disease from the bodies of those she wills. She can speak to, tame, and control the beasts and plants of the wild, and even exert control over the biological impulses of humanity, generating emotions or simply puppeteering the bodies of the populace. She has the power to improve the physical qualities of others, making them stronger, faster, or tougher, or she may instead weaken and degrade them. She may create miraculous beasts out of thin air, turn animals into people, turn people into animals, or turn animals into other animals. She may change her form as she pleases, becoming any person or any creature suitable for the task, or make herself or another a bizarre hybrid of characteristics by taking features from one life form and attaching them to her subject in whatever way she desires.
Initiate
Using the power of the first level of mastery, an Initiate of Life may use her perceptions to detect the resonance of life forces, perceiving their vital animation as threads in the etherial winds. She may analyse a creature to determine its species, age, and gender, or perform larger detections to sense the proximity of specific types of life. She can analyse a wounded or diseased creature to learn the nature of its injuries or ailments, and purge herself of harmful substances such as poisons or drugs.
Apprentice
An Apprentice of Life, commanding the second level of mastery, can use her powers to heal wounds that she has sustained, or that have been inflicted upon a non-human creature. Her mastery of body purging allows her to force the drugs and toxins out of others, and she may rid herself of diseases and illnesses. She may exhibit full control over her bodily functions, allowing her to change her heart rate, metabolic rate, breathing, and reflexes as she pleases. She gains power over the base life forms of the Sundered World (insects, plants, fungi, etc.), allowing her to control them through manipulating their instinctual behaviour, transform them into other base life forms, or graft their features onto other base life forms. She may confer her ability to see living resonance upon others, and may bolster her body with vital energy, becoming more resistant to harm.
Disciple
The use of the third level of mastery allows a Disciple of Life to fortify the corporeal forms of others in the same manner as she can bolster her own. Her powers of healing grow to the point where she may bind the wounds of others and cleanse diseases from their bodies. She gains power over median life forms (most mammals, fish, reptiles, birds), allowing her to control their instincts, transform them into other median life forms, or graft their features onto other such creatures. She may even take on selected physical characteristics of median and base life forms herself, though she cannot yet fully become one. She gains the power to strengthen or weaken her body, and those of base or median life forms, and may alter her features to appear as whoever she pleases.
Adept
An Adept of Life, wielding the fourth level of mastery, increases her ability to control base and median life to the point where she can exert bodily control over them, rather than simply nudging their instincts in a given direction. She gains the ability to affect multiple facets of her form or that of an animal at a time, bolstering or degrading them as necessary. She may now exert limited control of the physical power of another human, both to improve and weaken. She can alter the features of another person or give them the traits of a base or median life form, and gains enough control over her own form as to allow her to change any characteristic of her body into that of another human being. She can trigger base instinctual reactions in humans, and can transform a base life form into a median one. Her abilities to control disease increase to the point where she can create it in others, and she may launch direct assaults on the life force of another. Finally, she gains the ability to change her shape into that of any creature she pleases, though this comes with a risk of being lost in the new form’s instinctual reactions and briefly losing control over her actions.
Master
Utilising the fifth level of mastery, a Master of Life gains the formidable power to create life from Energy and thin air, without needing to build off an existing creature. She may convert animal life into human form (though they gain none of humanity’s advanced intellect) or even transform it into any kind of creature she can conceive. With a little more magic, she can give the new creature the ability to breed true, creating a bloodline of hybrid beings or newly made creatures. Limited control may be exerted over human life, but self-destructive commands or actions that run counter to the person’s morality are more difficult. The Attuned's shape changing abilities advance to the point where she can shift forms without risking mental conflicts, and can transform others in the same manner. She gains the ability to improve or degrade multiple aspects of a human’s form, and can temporarily regrow body parts lost by herself or another, with enough skill with the Ether and Energy, she can make these permanent and completely regrow such losses.
Material
Though most of the Realms and space between is composed of empty vacuum, awash in a sea of energy, everything that truly matters in the material universe is made of matter. Our stars are made of flaming gas. The planet we live on is built from metal and rock and magma, covered with oceans of water and sheathed in a protective shroud of air. Without the anchor of matter, stars could not burn, the galaxy could not remain tied together, and life could not come to be. Considering the power of matter on a less cosmic level, the Sundered World and its peoples are intimately connected to the material. Mundane matter is all around an Attuned who sets out to influence it. Humanity has a great reliance on tools and devices, and Attuned with the full power of Matter can make his devices or those of his allies superior to those of the average person, or reduce the quality of the tools of his enemies to the point where they become useless. He can create the means for himself to survive on from nothing, crafting devices, conjuring up raw materials, or simply spinning the gold to buy such things out of thin air. An Attuned can shape objects and substances as he desires, whether solid, liquid, or even gas. He can convert types of matter into other types, or simply render them unto dust, as he wills. Higher level Attuned are capable of creating the mythic substance of Mithral, a metal capable of storing Energy within its form, though this also requires some mastery of the Ether.
Initiate
An Initiate of Matter, with the first level of mastery, can read dense resonance, discern how to operate a complex machine, detect specific substances in his surroundings, and recognize the structure and density of an object. He can also alter the conductivity of a simple item, and detect hidden compartments and passages within walls and objects.
Apprentice
The second level of mastery allows an Apprentice of Matter to grant his perception of dense resonance to others. He can improve the balance and weight of an object, making it more accurate, or alter the transparency of objects to allow sight through walls or to bar the sight of others through normally transparent objects. He gains power over the composition and shape of liquid objects, allowing him to turn one liquid into another or shape it into any form he desires, without heed of gravity or cohesion. Finally, the Attuned gains the power to employ surrounding matter as a shield, using water vapour to douse flame, softening oncoming projectiles, or using air to dampen the inertia of blows.
Disciple
With the third level of mastery, a Disciple of Matter can bestow his shield upon others. His power over the composition of liquids expands to solids, allowing him to change one solid into another (though he cannot yet shape solid matter, or change things into rare or precious objects). He can make substances more or less resistant to damage, repair broken objects, and make weapons or ammunition armour-piercing. Also, he can now combine various parts of unrelated devices into a working machine to do whatever he pleases.
Adept
An Adept of Matter can, using the fourth level of mastery, alter the form of solid objects as he wills or create rare and precious substances out of base materials. His control over solid and liquid matter is extended to gaseous substances, as he can now alter the density and course of gas or change one form of gas into another. He also gains the power to transmute solids into liquids or liquids into solids, whether they are related (ice into water) or not (soup into iron). Mechanical objects may be altered to be more or less efficient. Finally, the mage can annihilate chunks of mundane matter, dissolving it utterly and leaving behind no trace of its existence.
Master
At the fifth level of mastery, a Master of Matter may change the size of an object, making it larger or smaller as he pleases. His ability to transform substances grows yet again, allowing him to transform objects between states of solid, liquid, or gas. His faculty with objects increases to the point where he can cause them to constantly repair themselves, and he can create objects out of nothing. His powers over destruction also increase to the point where he can unravel even magically charged objects such as enhanced or imbued items, Mithril, or even artifacts.
