![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Lifestream and Materia
What is the Lifestream?
The Lifestream is the spiritual energy of the Planet. All living things are connected to the Lifestream and will return to it when they die. It flows in and over everything, sustaining the Planet and holding the souls and memories of everyone who had ever lived. Ideally, this would go on forever with the level of Lifestream remaining more or less constant.
Unfortunately, the ShinRa Electric Power Company learned how to use the Lifestream as a seemingly endless energy source by condensing it into mako (mah-ko) energy. This burned up the Lifestream and was slowly killing the Planet. With the death of the Shinra Electric Power Company and the destruction of many of their mako reactors three years ago, the Lifestream is able to do its job properly, letting the Planet heal. There are a still few functional reactors, keeping the towns that rely on them powered until an alternative can be found, but many reactors have been decommissioned.
Despite being largely beneficial, the Lifestream is considered toxic to most humans. It holds the Planet's memories; most living people, when exposed to high concentrations of pure Lifestream, suffer what is called mako poisoning. They fall into a semi-vegetative state, only vaguely aware of their surroundings with no idea who they are. Some mumble, others remain completely silent. It is unknown what the victims experience while poisoned as there is never any memory of the experience when (or rather if) they recover. The only people known to resist mako poisoning are those that were selected to be a part of ShinRa's eltie SOLDIER unit, but it is unsure what made one person SOLDIER material and not another.
Mako and Materia
Mako is simply the liquid form of the Lifestream and is not itself unnatural. It was merely uncommon until ShinRa developed their mako technology; before, the only known natural mako spring was found on Mt. Nibel . The same is true of materia, the crystallized form of mako. It, like the Lifestream, holds the memories and powers of those who died but unlike the Lifestream it can be used with little harm to humans. A mental shock is required to use the abilities kept in the materia, which is usually done by simply focusing on the materia and willing it to work. This does cause mental exhaustion and most people cannot use materia constantly without rest or the use of ethers. Ethers are extremely expensive, however, so many people don't bother.
Until recently materia was widely used. The ShinRa mako technology made what was once a rare natural phenomenon commonplace and materia, like mako, made life easier. Today, however, many people don't approve of extensive materia use as they believe it will make healing the Planet take longer. That doesn't stop some people, however, and no one but the most zealous will go around telling people they can't use materia.
Appearance and Effects of Materia
In Edge of Life, materia will follow the same color scheme as the original game. A link can be found here explaining what that means, but here is a quick summary:
Green Materia: The most common, this materia holds spells such as Fire, Cure, Esuna, and Bio.
Blue Materia: The second most common, this materia is support materia and often adds extra effects to the weapon or armor it is currently attached to. Apart from the All support materia, however, most people can't use this stuff effectively.
Yellow Materia: Also called command materia, this materia grants the user extra abilities such as learning enemy skills, knowing how many more hits it will take to kill an enemy, or using two spells at once. This materia isn't terribly common and can be difficult to use.
Purple or Pink Materia: This materia just increases the user's natural abilities, though there are some that help catch chocobos. Aside from chocobo lure materia, it's not often used or seen.
Red Materia: The rarest materia of all, red materia is called summon materia and allows the user to call down powerful aeons. There are only a handful of summon materia in the world.
If the materia is used enough, it will eventually become "mastered" and create a second, "unmastered" copy of itself. No one knows why this happens, though some scholars in Cosmo Canyon have a few ideas.
In Edge of Life, if you need to describe how a spell is working, remember that despite having glowing orbs that can unleash huge fire tornadoes and purge all poison from the body, soldiers and hospitals are still things. A mastered Restore materia is useful in surgery, but it doesn't replace it and if you break a bone, you will still likely need a cast.
The Lifestream is the spiritual energy of the Planet. All living things are connected to the Lifestream and will return to it when they die. It flows in and over everything, sustaining the Planet and holding the souls and memories of everyone who had ever lived. Ideally, this would go on forever with the level of Lifestream remaining more or less constant.
Unfortunately, the ShinRa Electric Power Company learned how to use the Lifestream as a seemingly endless energy source by condensing it into mako (mah-ko) energy. This burned up the Lifestream and was slowly killing the Planet. With the death of the Shinra Electric Power Company and the destruction of many of their mako reactors three years ago, the Lifestream is able to do its job properly, letting the Planet heal. There are a still few functional reactors, keeping the towns that rely on them powered until an alternative can be found, but many reactors have been decommissioned.
Despite being largely beneficial, the Lifestream is considered toxic to most humans. It holds the Planet's memories; most living people, when exposed to high concentrations of pure Lifestream, suffer what is called mako poisoning. They fall into a semi-vegetative state, only vaguely aware of their surroundings with no idea who they are. Some mumble, others remain completely silent. It is unknown what the victims experience while poisoned as there is never any memory of the experience when (or rather if) they recover. The only people known to resist mako poisoning are those that were selected to be a part of ShinRa's eltie SOLDIER unit, but it is unsure what made one person SOLDIER material and not another.
Mako and Materia
Mako is simply the liquid form of the Lifestream and is not itself unnatural. It was merely uncommon until ShinRa developed their mako technology; before, the only known natural mako spring was found on Mt. Nibel . The same is true of materia, the crystallized form of mako. It, like the Lifestream, holds the memories and powers of those who died but unlike the Lifestream it can be used with little harm to humans. A mental shock is required to use the abilities kept in the materia, which is usually done by simply focusing on the materia and willing it to work. This does cause mental exhaustion and most people cannot use materia constantly without rest or the use of ethers. Ethers are extremely expensive, however, so many people don't bother.
Until recently materia was widely used. The ShinRa mako technology made what was once a rare natural phenomenon commonplace and materia, like mako, made life easier. Today, however, many people don't approve of extensive materia use as they believe it will make healing the Planet take longer. That doesn't stop some people, however, and no one but the most zealous will go around telling people they can't use materia.
Appearance and Effects of Materia
In Edge of Life, materia will follow the same color scheme as the original game. A link can be found here explaining what that means, but here is a quick summary:
Green Materia: The most common, this materia holds spells such as Fire, Cure, Esuna, and Bio.
Blue Materia: The second most common, this materia is support materia and often adds extra effects to the weapon or armor it is currently attached to. Apart from the All support materia, however, most people can't use this stuff effectively.
Yellow Materia: Also called command materia, this materia grants the user extra abilities such as learning enemy skills, knowing how many more hits it will take to kill an enemy, or using two spells at once. This materia isn't terribly common and can be difficult to use.
Purple or Pink Materia: This materia just increases the user's natural abilities, though there are some that help catch chocobos. Aside from chocobo lure materia, it's not often used or seen.
Red Materia: The rarest materia of all, red materia is called summon materia and allows the user to call down powerful aeons. There are only a handful of summon materia in the world.
If the materia is used enough, it will eventually become "mastered" and create a second, "unmastered" copy of itself. No one knows why this happens, though some scholars in Cosmo Canyon have a few ideas.
In Edge of Life, if you need to describe how a spell is working, remember that despite having glowing orbs that can unleash huge fire tornadoes and purge all poison from the body, soldiers and hospitals are still things. A mastered Restore materia is useful in surgery, but it doesn't replace it and if you break a bone, you will still likely need a cast.