Addendums (Patreon)

Addendums are optional, if spoiler heavy sections. Though I recommend reading the second one "Coinage".

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Evolution

Yet again I find myself indagating on the diverse power systems of the Existence. And they say the Records are an easy thing to maintain.

Anyways, the subject of today’s lecture is the vital arts. These multiple power systems of Khaffat (or at least that’s how the ydazi call the land, no name is never more correct than any other talking about planets) are quite interesting. There are multiple ‘vital arts’, as they call them, but let me begin with perhaps the simplest one: Evolution.

Evolution itself is a very peculiar power system as not only does not follow a lot of rules characteristic of power systems but also is end-negative.

And you ask, what does a power system being end negative entail?

Simple, the flow of power.

Most power systems tend to be either end-positive as they outsource their power (examples of these are superior entities, normally Incarnations, or the land providing for them) or end-neutral where power remains constant (it is not created nor destroyed, just transformed; these systems tend to utilize the power of the very conjurer).

Now, you have seen how Evolution works and you ask yourself: how is this power system end negative then? Or permutations like: How is power being destroyed? What’s the definition of end negative? Or, can you stop with your prediction and move forward?

To that, I answer: yes.

End negative, in a very summarized manner, is when power is lost. Slight detour, power is a generalization of any form of energy as all power systems use one, though in this case, the vital arts use vitality. Back to my explanation, Evolution is end-negative because power is lost in the process of evolving, the main activity of the power system.

When a practitioner infuses (i.e. lends their power to other entities) a non-developed living being with their vitality with the intention of evolving them, that vitality is forever lost. The vitality that evolves the plant isn’t now on the living being, it has been consumed to transform it. And that exchange may not be equivalent. More likely than not, there will have been a loss of energy.

This, however, isn’t very problematic.

Vitality is a regenerable and infinite source of power, so in the end, Evolution being an end negative power system doesn’t really affect anything. The only problem being that the power comes from the user, and vital arts themselves are on the low spectrum of power output, so even small power consumptions may be atrociously massive.

One can’t deny, though, that there’s a loss on the practitioner’s vitality deposit. The loss in max quantity is rather small, mostly unperceivable, but there’s a decrease in their potential each time they evolve a being.

Explaining that logic is a whole rabbit hole I won’t go any deeper, at least, today. The concept of potential and energy involves more aspects than just Life.

However, Evolution is a taxing process that drives the individual forward, expanding their pool of power beyond their limits each time they try. In the end, unless you are performing very cheap evolutions that aren’t challenging you, there will be a net gain on your total vitality at your disposal.

I have divagated a lot, talking about vital arts and power systems - finality of power and especially end-negativity excite me - so let’s get back to Evolution.

Let’s start with the actual definition.

Evolution could simply be described as the act of modifying an undeveloped living being. This, for all intents and purposes, is not strict evolution but transformation. A lot of outcomes do lead to the actual evolution of the living being, bypassing years or even ages of evolution in a single step, but some other outcomes only lead to a metamorphosis.

Metamorphosis isn’t the exact term, though. Species can transform into new ones after applying them to Evolution, but they will transform into new ones or unrelated ones. Meaning that there’s not a metamorphosis from an embryotic state to an adult one, but from an embryotic state to another embryotic state of a different species.

Evolution is, quite literally, the bane of any upstanding biologist.

As you may have guessed, Evolution isn’t the most correct term – though it does hold water – the process occurring here is similar to a mutation that can indeed lead to actual evolution. Though the chaotic results, ranging from straight evolution to random species substitution, are very much intended, mind you.

And talking about mutation. Yes, you may have noticed the similarities between Evolution and Mutation.

Evolution is, in a manner of talking, Mutation’s power system.

The similarities of Mutation’s abilities and Evolution’s working are uncanny, but there’s a bit more nuance.

Khaffat and its vital arts are a curious case, as there are multiple and rather unrelated power systems, the only connection being Life. This is not exactly the first time I have seen such a case, but it’s not common at all. It could be considered a remnant of an early Primordial-less Existence. Or you could say that the power systems of Khaffat are a mutation of themselves. If Mutation had something to do with it, I won’t tell you.

I’ll get into greater detail when we talk about the other vital arts.

Coinage

Ydazi coinage may seem convoluted to most, but one must think about the Asayn language before asking oneself about the bartering coin used in the Sultanate.

Asayn language is mostly composed of the use of suffixes and composition. Composite words alongside the use of motivators at the end of words influence the tone and value of any given word.

This is mostly seen in their use of coins.

The Ydaz Sultanate has two base coins: the drupnar and the fajat. Both of them are made of copper and have the respective values of one (drupnar) and five drupnar. Consequent partitions of coins are but permutations of those base coins with the usage of multiplicative suffixes that increase by orders of magnitude.

There are four levels of coinage:

Copper (or base level), composed by the aforementioned drupnar and fajat.

Silver, composed by the drupnari and fajati. The ‘i’ acts as the suffix of silver (even if the word in Asayn is longer) and has a multiplicator value of ten. This means that a drupnari is worth ten drupnars, and a fajati is worth ten fajat (or fifty drupnar). The next levels follow the same logic.

Electrum, composed by the drupnarun and the fajatun. The ‘un’ acts as the suffix of electrum (though in the case of the drupnarun it could be considered a composite word as the term for electrum in Asayn is ‘arun’) and has a multiplicator value of a hundred. This means that a drupnarun is worth ten drupnari or a hundred drupnar. The same logic applies to the fajatun.

Gold, composed by the drupnarea and the fajatea is the last tier of coins. The ‘ea’ acts as the suffix for gold (though it suffers from the same condition as the electrum coin as ‘area’ is the word for gold in Asayn) and has a multiplicator value of a thousand. Gold coins are rarely used in traditional exchanges for their immense value, as a drupnarea is equivalent to a thousand drupnars and a fajatea to a thousand fajats, or even more ridiculous, five thousand drupnars.

This is why, even though it may seem complex to foreigners, to us ydazi it’s quite simple to grasp. Eight different coins based on only two, with suffixes that clearly delimitate the value of a word. Suffixes we use in our daily life.

As a curiosity, if I may add, the same multiplicators are being used by the scholars of the country to calculate massive units. It’s not uncommon for architects and engineers to use ‘kiloreas’ or ‘golden kilograms’ to measure the weights of buildings, even if there may be more adequate prefixes or suffixes.

Excerpt of On Language, Economy, and Mathematics by Nuha Chaibi.