Gaia
From SCross
Contents |
What is she?
Gaia is the world everyone lives on. Well, almost everyone. The spirit world, and the Zodiac lands, and the Dungeon exist in contact with, but are not part of, Gaia.
Strange Things
Though a man can sail around Gaia, experts of the sciences report that the curvature of Gaia and the distanced traveled to get around her are entirely out of sync. No credible reason has been put forward for why this is so.
Due to this, the shape of gaia is a mystery. Though most agree it must be a sphere, the conflict in measurements creates confusion in trying to model the planet out accurately. This is only more confused if one accepts the story of the Zodiac people that they sailed to gaia from across the ocean, where Gaian people simply circle about the planet.
Her Will
Gaia is, without doubt, alive. Through her blood travels the souls of all things, living and dead. Though it is said that granite alone can withstand the touch of her blood, others postulate that granite itself is simply a very sedentary and nonreactive form of life stream. A still living 'wall' for the blood vessels of Gaia.
Gaia's Will is something that has only been discovered truly in the last century, though some Barbarians would have you believe they knew all along. The planet was awoken with the Song of Gaia, sung by a small army of adventurers in the final days of the infestation of the Shades, dispelling them from the face of Gaia by rousing her to full wakefulness, if only for a single harmonized moment.
Sentience and Gaia
The Song of Gaia raises several important questions:
- How did everyone in the world sing the same song at the same time?
- How did Gaia hear it?
- Why was this song important to her?
- How can we speak to Gaia? Are there more songs?
Recent research into the nature of Gaia shows that Gaia thinks slowly though the thoughts and dreams of everything that makes her up, including the quiet and slow dreams of the stones and trees and water. Though sentients have the most energetic of dreams, they are also the most fragmented, volitile, and at disharmony with one another. The stone has a larger influence on gaia for simple sake of consistency, as slow as it may be.
Some beings have a natural affinity for Gaian thoughts. The Mtezeko of the west are a notable example, leading credence to the idea that the barbarians had some idea of Gaia's Will. It is thought that this process is not entirely an act of biology. It can be learned, though it is difficult to calm oneself and to resonate with the slow thrumm of Gaia's dream song.
- You may raise your Gaia stat for 10 XP.
Effects of Gaia Stat
What is the Gaia Stat
- Gaia is your connection to the Gaian dreamsong. Most people start with a 1 in this stat, though species with a sensitivity to Gaia(Monsters, Mtezeko) begin at 15.
- At a Gaia rating of 10 or higher, a person will dream the gaian dreamsong while asleep, resulting in glimpses of her larger thoughts and urges, with higher ratings resulting in higher amounts being remembered upon awakening.
- At a Gaia rating of 20, gaian dreamsongs can be countered by singing its anti melody, causing any other dreamsong currently being sung in the area to fail and countering their effects so long as you continue to sing the anti melody.
Learning a Dreamsong
- A dreamsong can be learned by anyone with Gaia rating of 10+, though some dreamsongs need higher gaia to actually sing, or to sing fully.
- Dreamsongs have an Emotion.
- Dreamsongs work better with people who resonate with their Emotion.
- Some songs will ONLY function with those who resonate with their emotion.
- Upon gaining Gaia 10+, one may select an Emotion to resonate with. It should reflect their true personality.
- Dreamsongs cost 50 JP(Unless otherwise noted) to learn from any geomancer, blue, or monster job, or 75(50% more) JP from any other job. uJP can be spent.
Known Emotions
Defending against Dreamsongs
- Dreamsongs are not magic for purpose of defense.
- Dreamsongs are not physical for purpose of defense.
- Dreamsongs can only be stopped by those in tune with gaia(Gaia 20, counter song)
- Anyone who knows at least one dreamsong and has a gaia of 20 can countersong.
- Counter songing is a 1000 ATB interrupt.
- Counter Songs cannot be used if the user is already at -1000 ATB charge or worse.
- Counter Songs negate all dreamsongs being used on the battlefield at the time the countersong is sung, though their singers are free to resume singing on their turn(And the counterer is free to counter again if they are not too far into the negatives)
- Anyone who knows at least one dreamsong and has a gaia of 20 can countersong.
- Some Dreamsongs can be countered with elemental or geomantic magic that works directly against the effect caused by the dreamsong, but this is more an act of tug of war and does not actually stop the dreamsong so much as working around it.
