Originium Arts

Biodata

Nature and Mechanics

Originium Arts are subjective abilities linked directly to the user's heart: they manifest fantasy, imagination, and inner will in reality 19 44. Originium itself can condense energy, but when stimulated it erodes nearby matter and multiplies, making it both a foundation of civilization and a source of suffering 44.

• Activation can be initiated through a thought, concept, gesture, chant, or written text 23.
• Arts typically require a medium made from Originium. Common media include staffs, lighters, daggers, and mechanical Originium products 10 23 44.
• A mature casting system avoids using the Originium crystals within the caster's own body; doing so risks accelerating crystallization 44.
• Effective Arts use depends on talent, instruction, and access to training or resources. Academy-taught spells are standardized, while more advanced knowledge is tightly controlled 46.

Costs and Limitations

• Repeated use increases an Infected person's Originium infection rate; at a critical threshold, the user may fully crystallize or explode 6.
• Strong Arts rapidly consume stamina unless the user pays a greater price, such as consuming life force 13.
• Emotional instability can cause Arts to become uncontrollable. Yelena's fear, anger, and isolation repeatedly intensify her freezing power 5 7.
• An external medium is safer than using one's own infected body as a catalyst, though Infected bodies can be forcibly used as casting media or “living Originium batteries” 23.
• Arts can be suppressed through specialized restraints, as demonstrated when Yelena is prevented from using hers by a device around her neck 33.

Known Applications

Elemental and Environmental Manipulation

Originium Arts can alter the environment through phenomena such as cold, fire, wind, and physical barriers.

• Yelena's extreme cold creates a lethal freezing zone that immobilizes or kills enemies, but her control and endurance are limited 9 13.
• An Ursus mage uses an Originium lighter to transform a flame into a serpent of fire 10.
• Emperor's Royal Guards employ wide-area pressure to immobilize targets and create black Arts barriers for defense 11.
• The Administrator, acting through Elafia's Arts, creates a hurricane of wind blades and a massive wind wall 39 40.

Ritual and Sacrificial Arts

Ancient or specialized Arts can draw power from living beings and large-scale preparations.

• Ursus military mages use Infected captives as disposable batteries to sustain prolonged bombardment and ritual-scale casting 22 23.
• A military ritual reacts with the Originium crystals embedded in an Infected person's body and channels power through symbols traced in the air 23.
• Elafia kills a cat as the price for activating her Originium Arts 39.

Emotional Influence

Chlorine Sodium describes her own Originium Arts as a limited ability to distort the emotions of nearby creatures, including non-humans 13.

Medical and Technical Use

Originium Arts have applications beyond direct combat.

• Chlorine Sodium can suppress the outward protrusion of Originium crystals in an Infected person, though the condition returns when the crystals are stimulated through Arts use 16.
• Pianna's mechanical right arm is an Originium product and functions as a durable, dexterous casting-related tool 44.
• A practitioner capable of both medicine and Originium Arts is considered especially rare and valuable 46.

Notable Practitioners

• Yelena — Awakened an extreme-cold Art while escaping an Ursus mine. Her power freezes opponents and reshapes the surrounding area into a death zone, but is closely tied to trauma and emotional instability 2 9 19.
• Pianna — A Sarkaz mage who teaches Yelena to use an Originium dagger as a casting medium 44.
• Emperor's Royal Guard mages — Use high-level suppression, barriers, and coordinated combat Arts 11.
• Ursus military mages — Conduct large-scale ritual Arts and exploit Infected people as power sources during Operation Snow Removal 22 23.
• Elafia / the Administrator — Uses Elafia's wind-based Arts and sacrificial casting as part of her confrontation with Chlorine Sodium 39 40.

Equipment and Casting Media

• Originium staffs — Conventional academy-associated casting tools 44.
• Originium lighter — A low-cost medium used to cast fire Arts 10.
• Originium dagger — A knife with an Originium-particle blade; suitable for ordinary spells and favored by battle-hardened Sarkaz casters 44.
• Mechanical Originium arm — Pianna's artificial right arm, built from an Originium product 44.
• Infected bodies and crystals — Dangerous but usable media for malicious or ritual Arts 23.