| Originally Posted by Selene Starblade five years ago
Section Two: On using chi.
Between chi and ki, chi is the more accessible of the two energies, as it can be called up by emotion, particularly focused emotion. On occasion, it can be expressed by those with absolutely no physical or mental training, if the emotion is strong enough. The most direct demonstration of this is the ability of those in particularly desperate straits to call upon superhuman reserves of strength or speed for longer than adrenaline has an effect on the body.
There are many uses for chi, as it is a highly flexible energy. In the end, of course, it is not quite proper to call it an energy, as it can be used as a semi-solid, but energy is the best and most comprehensible way to refer to it.
The most common expression of chi is involuntary. Whenever someone is focusing on generating chi, they will generally put out a battle aura, a faint glow or emanation around themselves, indicating that their body is generating more chi energy than is present in the resting state. Akane Tendou, for example, often generates a blue rage aura when irritated. Unfortunately, she seems to have no effective way to use this chi, resulting in its generally being wasted to further increase her battle aura.
While the chi in a battle aura is generally actually just floating around the system of its generator, chi can also be used for the express purpose of putting out a battle aura. This allows the user to do such things as make their aura visible intentionally, expand their battle aura beyond themselves, or achieve other similar effects. However, as a battle aura is largely an involuntary expression of chi, it takes a lot of chi do do anything in particular beyond making the aura larger or more intense.
Battle auras are very defining of their possessor. It can generally be assumed that the larger and more intense the battle aura, the more chi the creator has. Normally, battle auras are invisible to anyone not already experienced in using and sensing chi, but an especially intense battle aura, either due to raw power, or to energy being spent on making it detectable, can even be seen by everyday people. Also, the shape or form of a battle aura can be affected by the nature or emotions of the possessor. Someone with an especially strong self-identity may have a battle aura that vaguely resembles themselves, for instance. Usually, however, a battle aura takes the shape of flames rising off of the generator. This is largely due to the way the user thinks of their chi, however, and while flame-auras are most common, battle auras can easily be found in different forms, from swirling like water to simple spheres or geometric shapes. Also, if the battle aura’s possessor has a particular emotion on which they base their chi more often than any other, that emotion will start to have an effect on the aura as well.
With that in mind, this seems to be a good place to note the specific effects of emotion on chi. While chi is ultimately a shapable energy, subject more than anything else to the directions of its generator, the emotion used in creating the chi still has effects on the form of the chi. Each emotion lends to its chi a particular color, and emotions that can be considered a variation on another emotion usually have special shades of that color.
There are four other qualities that emotion alters in chi. First is temperature. When let be, each emotion’s chi has a natural temperature range that it takes on. This is the most difficult effect of emotion upon chi to alter, so most chi users generally leave it alone, preferring instead to use a different emotion of chi to attain particular temperatures. It is usually considered not worth the effort to alter the temperature of a particular emotion of chi. Regardless, chi is either cold, warm, or hot to the touch, though technically there is relatively little distinction between warm and hot chi. The primary differences are that hot chi is capable of igniting flammable materials, and hot chi tends to be uncomfortable for most beings to be in contact with (aside from its generator).
The second most difficult quality of chi to alter is its brightness. While most chi generates a certain degree of light when at an intensity to be visible, the majority of chi light is very bright, making it visible in broad daylight, and also useful for lighting dark rooms. A few emotions of chi are ‘dark’, not ever generating much light at all, and generally only visible with well-lit surroundings against which to contrast them. Used correctly, these emotions of chi can even reduce the lighting in an area.
The third emotion-based quality of chi is weight. This quality has less effect than the previous two, because if the person controlling the chi wants the chi to go up or down in particular, it will, regardless of its weight. However, many chi blasts or thrown-chi effects do not involve the chi’s generator beyond the projection of the chi, so the blasts will have a particular tendency based on their weight. Heavy emotions of chi are denser than gas, though somewhat less dense than water, and will thus have a tendency to fall like a thrown ball. Light emotions of chi will tend to float upwards in the air, and are very useful for lifting things underwater.
The fourth significant quality of chi is texture. Again, this is largely controllable by the chi’s generator, and chi is never sticky, rough, etcetera, without the generator’s enforcement. The only two textures caused by particular emotions of chi are ‘hard’ and ‘soft’. Chi that is ‘soft’ tends to flow like fluid around things, suffusing the environment. ‘Hard’ chi resists intrusion, often acting like a solid surface. Chi that is neutral in this respect acts more like a thick gel, solid to a point, but rather elastic.
Thus, we arrive at a sort of ‘chi table’. Each line has three entries- the emotion generating the chi, the qualities of that chi, and the color that the chi will take.
Anger / Hot, Hard, Bright / Red
Lust / Hot, Bright / Fuschia
Love / Warm, Soft, Heavy / Pink
Joy / Soft, Light, Bright / Yellow
Depression / Cold, Heavy, Dark / Puce (yellow-green)
Confidence / Light, Bright / Gold
Jealousy / Cold, Hard, Bright / Green
Hunger / Hard, Dark / Brown
Rage / Hard, Hot, Bright / Electric Blue
Sorrow / Cold, Soft / Blue-green
Contentment / Warm, Soft, Dark / Gray
Tranquility / Warm, Soft, Light / White
Outrage / Hot, Hard, Light / Orange
Dispassion / Cold, Hard, Heavy / Sky Blue
Determination/ Cold, Soft, Bright /Orange
Certain emotions of chi have particular emphasis on particular aspects- dispassion chi is particularly cold, rage chi is especially bright, and love chi is very soft.
Thus, we have the limits of chi, clearly defined. Just as important, if not moreso, however, are the potentialities of chi. Beyond the reflexive battle aura, there is a near infinite range of things that can be accomplished with chi, despite its limitations. The most simple and easy intentional use of chi is to enhance the body.
The most basic form of enhancement is, of course, to improve the body’s resistance to damage. This seems, at first, to be completely in error, as the basic use of chi allows a person to strike harder. This, however, involves a fallacy of perception. If anyone ever did strike with all the strength they could bring to bear, without chi enhancement, they would likely injure their own hand, foot, etcetera. The human body is capable of exerting more force over a short period of time than its own structure can withstand. Using chi to enhance the body’s resistance to damage, however, can push the limits of what the body can withstand up to meet what it can exert.
The next form of enhancement, of course, is to increase the amount of force exerted by the body upon its environment. This is achieved by increasing the speed at which muscles contract, thus increasing the speed of limb movement. This needs to be balanced with the first form, or the chi user risks injuring themselves much as explained in the previous paragraph. This allows the user to strike harder, inflicting more damage, but also permits higher and longer jumps, greater lifting power, and faster motions, up to the point where they match the speed at which the chi user can mentally process their environment.
Following naturally from the second form is the third- increasing the speed at which the mind functions. With an increased processing speed, the mind can control the body at higher speeds. This is considerably more difficult than the previous three forms of chi use, much as each is more than the previous ones. However, where the previous three- battle aura, damage resistance, and improved force- are each a step apart, this form of self-enhancement is several steps up, despite being an instinctive next step.
The final basic form of self-enhancement does not fit in the same ‘ladder’ as the others. This is enhancement of the senses. There are numerous ways to achieve such effects, some working only on certain senses, others working on all of the senses.
There are other methods for enhancing the body’s capabilities with chi, but these are more specific, and some are highly esoteric. The remainder of the uses of chi are outside of the body. These are where the emotional properties of chi take center stage, and are also the much more noticable methods.
Chi projection is only capable with large stores of chi, thus mandating that one be at least practiced in the use of chi in other manners, if not expert. This is why it is so rare for those not practiced in some sort of combat to be able to use chi: the most basic uses are generally only found in martial arts. Without considerable practice in the basic uses, not enough chi will be generated to function in any of the advanced uses.
Chi projection can take on many forms. The most basic form of this is the chi blast, of which there are two grades. The lower grade of chi blast requires less energy, but the higher grade is more effective and more flexible.
Lower-grade chi blasts use the chi to bind together a mass of air, which usually takes on a ball or slightly more aerodynamic shape, and throw it at the target. This is capable of bludgeoning the target, but does not work so well against fluids, or against anything significantly tougher than wood. There is also a minor explosive aspect to this form of chi attack, as the chi releases from the air on impact, blasting away from the impact point.
High-grade chi blasts take considerably more effort, largely for the simple reason that they consist of pure chi, rather than a mass of chi-bound air. These blasts usually take on spheroid shapes out of reflexive habit from those used to using lower-grade chi blasts, but can also be seen in any of a number of other shapes. The kind of damage inflicted varies likewise. Standard is bludgeoning and explosive, much as a low-grade chi blast, only on a larger scale. However, an especially focused chi blast can puncture or slice things, depending on its shape. An excellent example of a highly effective high-grade chi blast is the Kienzan, also known as the ‘Destructo Disk’, as used by Kuririn. Its flatness allows it to shear through nearly anything, as well as making it highly aerodynamic, thus requiring less energy to push it through the air. The spinning motion keeps the chi, so long as it is bound together, in a disc shape, and further aids the cutting effect.
Due to the ability of chi to act like energy, solid, or fluid depending on the will of its generator, there is a wide variety of attacks that can be performed with it. It is not, however, limited to offensive use. A solid plane or disc of chi can be used as a sort of shield, and it can be infused into a mass and used to levitate it. However, controlling chi once it is no longer attatched to one’s aura requires a considerable extra expenditure of the energy, and thus, many chi-users will settle for flinging multiple projectiles, rather than persisting with a single one until it hits.
One method around this problem is the semi-beam form taken on by the Kamehameha. By maintaining a constant wave of chi from the projectile to the controller, it takes considerably less chi to influence the motion of the projectile. On the other hand, this leaves the controller vulnerable, as they must remain in place, throwing forth more and more chi to power the beam as it becomes longer and longer. As yet, no complete solution exists to avoid the problem.
Regardless, the ability of chi to take on any shape desired by its controller permits an incredible degree of flexibility, although the controller will need to be at least a little bit imaginative to come up with a workable shape. For this reason, flexibility of mind is at least as important as practice using chi.
There is one major vulnerability that chi has that is not shared by any other form of ‘special energy’. The fact that chi is powered by emotion means that someone other than the generator who is attuned to that emotion, either by feeling it particularly strongly, or by focusing on it, can basically ignore any of the chi projected at them or, with sufficient practice, absorb it to increase their own stores of chi.
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