Cultivating Plants

Evolved Races

There's not much left to be said about the power systems of Khaffat. Three of them there were, plus a pseudo one. Still, there are some aspects of these ancient magics that should be elaborated.

Nurture has become somewhat the default concept when people think of Life and its derivative power systems, and even though Enlightenment is more related to Information, its presence can be seen from time to time, from place to place.

No, what interests me most is Evolution. It's no surprise that the offspring of Life and Chaos is Mutation's power system, but there are some interesting aspects of it I would like to explore, if at least verbally.

Yes, I knew I could have the answers, but truth without pursuit is not knowledge, just mindless trivia.

As you have seen in Khaffat with Evolution's antics, it is possible to create new species, but my personal interest is the creation of sub-species, breeds if you like. I never liked the term 'race'. But I can use it if it pleases you. Evolution – the concept, not the power system – isn't always about upgrades, but diverging paths.

In Khaffat we can see two diverging paths of the human race: the sultanzade and the hashashid. If you have been paying attention to my narration, it will be evident to you that sultanzade are humans evolved attuned with Nurture, whilst hashashid are those touched by Enlightenment.

You are correct. Evolution is affected by other power systems. Because in Khaffat there were other two, it interacted with these two to create two new breeds of humans. In this case, outwardly indistinguishable from normal ones.

Stop with that visage of yours, you already know what I'm going to say.

Yes, the Veiled are humans affected by Evolution.

How is it possible for grown and non-prenatal humans to be evolved, you ask? Well, the Veil is Change's power system, meaning that it can bend rules, as Chaos always does. But there are many beings out there in other worlds that have been evolved.

Speakers in Hwertz. Celestials in Lon. Veiled in Earth. Mages in Caelestaya. Alns in Shafroi (though those are not human). I could go on, you know.

Like every other sub-aspect, Mutation is always present, even if its power system isn't accessible. This means that most worlds with their unique quirks and unique inhabitants have been evolved through… non-natural means. At least as unnatural as the very Existence we tread can be. Every power system you may call 'genetic' is only a consequence of Mutation: Magic, Grace, the Veil, Agatecraft… Have that in mind.

Now, going back to Khaffat, the sultanzade and the hashashid are those affected by Nurture and Enlightenment respectively.

As you have noticed, because their power systems are not genetic and available to everyone, their changes compared to base humans aren't significant. The more limited and bound by blood a power system is, the more unique the breed becomes.

Sultanzade are the most normal of the evolved humans in Khaffat. This race is practically identical to humans in every aspect except for their affinity toward Nurture. Even then, that affinity is minimal.

Let me tell you a secret. Sultanzade are quite a unique breed as they have the capability of using and learning their power system even without their Locality. In simpler words, if a sultanzade were to be born out of Khaffat and without ever having been linked to Nurture, this person could still access the magic system. Isn't that neat?

Of course, no sultanzade has ever fled Khaffat.

The hashashid suffer more alterations compared to their base species. There's a concept of 'thick blood' or 'pure blood' amongst the assassins that makes reference to how powerful a hashashid is. Though they can be born without hashashid parents and this makes no sense at all and it's just superstition. What the concept of pure blood actually refers to is how close to Enlightenment the hashashid is connected to. Whilst genetics may play a role, this is mostly related to how many drugs the parents were on when the child was born.

Now, the purer a hashashid's blood is, the stronger traits it presents. In this case, a greater connection to Enlightenment, but also decrease cognitive functions whenever the hashashid is not actively partaking in the power system.

Because they are closer to their power system than most evolved races, the hashashid have a considerable increase in power when practicing their parent power system. They also have a somewhat strong connection to the cognitive plane, but no hashashid except one has seemed able to exploit it.

Well, that will be all for… Dryads, you say?

This is a misconception I've seen from time to time, but dryads are not an evolved race. They are their own species, just that their origins are heavily interlinked with Evolution.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

I understand your doubts, but an evolved race linked to Evolution does not exist. Evolved humans, like I've told you, appear from the connection between Evolution and other power systems. Having an Evolution-evolved human would be the closest thing you could to a power system committing incest.

You are really focused on that one, huh?

Okay fine, yes. It's possible for an Evolution human to exist. Are you happy?

Stances

There has been much discussion around the effects of Nurture and its stances on their wielders, but now in the budding fields of psychiatry and modern medicine, we have taken a step forward into understanding the true magnitude of these self-afflicted effects, which may or may not be negative to the wielder.

Whilst this is common knowledge, it must be stated that stances increase certain parameters of the body in a multiplicative manner. That is to say that a frail child with ten Haya might be physically weaker than a top-notch soldier with a single Haya as their base values are too disparate. Now, what has been discovered is that this multiplicative value is also applied to the self-imposed secondary effects of the stance.

It is too early to speak about formulae, but it has been clear so far that the increase of the desired value of the stance and its byproduct are applied differently, namely this – mostly – undesirable byproduct is always lower.

Before talking about the byproduct of each individual stance, I would like to emphasize the fact that Nurture does not follow a linear growth regarding the amount of Haya backlogged and the magnitude of the stance.

From one Haya to ten, the effects are linear. This much is common knowledge. A person putting one Haya in a stance will double the desirable effect. A person with ten Haya will increase it by eleven times.

It is from ten Haya onwards that the growth rate varies. This is due to the fact that from that point onwards each stance becomes too oppressive for the body to purely focus on it. A person with eleven times their strength but baseline hardness will result in the wielder hurting themselves. It is hard to calculate the increases of the stances as a concept as straight-forward as strength is hard to empirically calculate, but so far the greatest approximation is that at the value of a hundred Haya a cultivator is able to have an increase of twenty times in the selected stance and two times in all other aspects.

This is, of course, a crude approximation and it is expected that future studies will portray more accurate results. However, it is still remarkable that a cultivator that has reached the three-digit mark will no longer suffer from atrophied attributes, just pure increases all-round.

From a hundred Haya onwards, we find the 'hard cap' – the ten Haya point is colloquially known as the 'soft cap' – where values and formulae become even harder to calculate. From this point, vitality dilutes more toward the undeveloped properties, but no approximation has been studied so far as cultivators with this much vitality are not common.

Now that we have stated the groundwork, it can be said that a cultivator with a hundred Haya may experience twice as many byproduct effects compared to their unstanced self.

Yet again, I must announce that this is an approximation and the studies have only been preliminary.

Without further ado, here are the byproducts of every stance:

Strength: This stance bolsters the fighting instincts of the wielder. This is normally portrayed as hotheadedness and pride. People constantly on the strength stance are known to be territorial and adversarial.

Defense: This stance bolsters the self-preservation instincts of the wielder. Oddly enough, this is normally portrayed as nonchalance. People constantly on the defense stance believe themselves immortal, capable of shrugging off anything life may throw at them and may lose grasp on reality.

Speed: This stance bolsters the flight instincts of the wielder. This is normally portrayed as evasiveness and hyperactivity. People constantly on the speed stance become agitated and distracted easily. Those who suffer from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are even more affected than those who do not. This very interaction has scholars confounded and they theorized on the possibility that there may be other multipliers beyond the amount of vitality a person has backlogged.

Charm: This stance bolsters the reproductive instincts of the wielder. This is normally portrayed as sultriness and increased sexual desire. People constantly on the charm stance believe themselves desirable and suffer from bouts of rage if they are not looked at constantly, at the point of worship. Those who suffer from sexual disorders, especially those related to a lack of sex drive or most sexual dysfunctions, find themselves at the same sexual levels as most people when wielding this stance.

Regeneration: This stance bolsters the eating instincts of the wielder. This is normally portrayed as dysmorphia and gluttony. People constantly on the regeneration stance are known to not be satisfied with the amount of food they eat, but they also feel an imperious need to burn all the extra calories they have taken. Some doctors recommend people to be on this stance to help with exercising, but recent studies confirm that the stance's effects may not be that pronounced. Other side effects of this stance are an increase in menstrual pains and period blood, yet a complete erasure of any negative side effects of menopause. This stance is the nemesis of young women, yet the best friend of older women.

Stealth: This stance bolsters the herd instincts of the wielder. This is normally portrayed as a lack of drive and sloth. People constantly in the stealth stance are known to not feel a need to be distinctive and will do their best to fit with the rest, to the point of not being distinguished from background noise.

Agility: This stance bolsters the adaptive instincts of the wielder. This is normally portrayed as easygoingness and lack of resistance. People constantly on the agility stance do not present resistance against change and partially look forward to it. Some people classify this stance as the only one safe to constantly wield as it helps their wielders to adapt to any situation with ease. Whilst some people may be inclined to state that not fighting change is a negative, I am personally inclined to accept such positive statements.

Flowing: So far, this stance has not been known to bolster any derivate property or instinct of the body. This is thought to be because the flowing stance is the only one that always flows vitality outwardly, and none remains on the body. Some say it bolsters maternal instincts, but those are baseless theories.

Excerpt of Somatic Symptoms of the Stances of Nurture by Nesrine Gerges