Explore the core concepts of Dream Aether in Dreams of Aether, including its properties, encoding, and the significance of Aether Crystals. Learn how Aether influences the game world and character progression.
Dream Aether, often simply called Aether, is the fundamental primordial energy in the game world. It is described as a perfect, undetectable energy with no waste, theoretically allowing anything to be possible if used correctly.
The Oracle Bracelet constantly absorbs Aether from the atmosphere and can also compress it from dead bodies into its purest form. However, absorbing uncompressed Aether directly from a dead body is dangerous, as it contains the deceased's memories, experiences, and feelings.
The presence of more people, especially spiritually evolved beings, leads to faster Aether growth, creating a virtuous cycle of evolution. Civilizations that advance enough will eventually detect and utilize Aether.
Properties
Dream Aether adheres to specific laws:
- Aether is attracted to itself.
- Aether spun centrifugally moves inward.
- Aether absorbed from the atmosphere is instantly replenished and retains its density.
According to the textbook Novice Aether Manipulation, introduction:
Dream Aether is the origin of the Universe, its source unknown and considered infinite. It is the precursor to energy, which in turn creates matter. Higher Aether density increases the probability of energy and matter generation, potentially leading to a Big Bang and the birth of new Universes or Seed Worlds. The Aether density of a Universe constantly increases due to:
- Constant renewal from an infinite source beyond time and space.
- Aether being drawn to denser Aether, similar to gravity, meaning powerful beings increase local Aether density.
- Aether being attracted to brain activity, thoughts, and dreams, hence the name 'Dream Aether'. Solidified Souls are theorized to be mini Aether sources, attracting Aether, especially to intellectually evolved life forms.
Encoding
Basics
For Dream Aether to be used, it must first be encoded. The Oracle Bracelet's 'Encode' ability transforms Aether into energy to enhance a person's attributes. Initially, seven basic attributes can be enhanced: Strength, Agility, Constitution, Vitality, Intelligence, and Perception.
The cost to Encode varies with volume. Volumes above 3 cubic meters double the price, and above 6 cubic meters, triple it. For example, enchanting a 3 cubic meter unit with Sharpness Encoding costs 1 Aether point, the same for stats. Larger beings require more Aether, but those slightly exceeding a size threshold become inefficient, as even a small extra volume significantly increases costs. Therefore, avoiding unnecessary weight gain is advised.
Every body has a finite Aether capacity. As Aether stats increase, the body fills up, eventually reaching its limit (e.g., the 100-point limit for humans). Exceeding this limit leads to overfilling.
Grade
Encoding also has different grades, affecting Aether condensation and space efficiency. Grade 1 Aether is like a gas, Grade 2 like a liquid, and Grade 3 like a solid. Each higher grade allows the body to hold 10 times more Aether and incorporate more complex functions, enabling passive properties akin to Aether Skills.
The Oracle offers the 7 Grade 1 primary Encodings for free. Other grades and functions come at a significant cost, purchasable from the Oracle Store. For instance, Grade 2 Strength Encoding costs 1,000 credits.
| Encoding | Max Attribute |
|---|---|
| Grade 1 | 100 |
| Grade 2 | 1,000 |
| Grade 3 | 10,000? |
Examples of Encoding
The Oracle assigns colors to different Aether energies for simplicity: Red for Strength, orange for Agility, yellow for Constitution, green for Vitality, cyan for Intelligence, and indigo for Perception. The Oracle device uses more Aether to encode each energy based on its color; one point of Aether for one point of Strength, two for Agility, and so on.
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