Kodora (standing behind a podium at the top of a huge mesa): Konnichi wa,
minna-san! Today, I'm going to show you about Chi, Ki, and magic. To help
me out, here are a few friends of mine!
Kodora waves to a small section of curtain, out from which steps a somewhat short, vaguely bishonen boy wearing a tang and kung-fu pants and a pair of outdoor slippers. His unruly black hair is in a pigtail, tied off with what appears to be a bit of string. He looks nervously at the audience with grey-blue eyes and waves.
Ranma: Uh, hi.
Kodora: To help with demonstrating chi, we have Saotome Ranma.
Another wave to the curtain, and out steps a huge, muscular giant of a man with wild, spiky black hair. He wears an orange gi, with a symbol on the left breast, and a larger one on the back. He also has a deep blue tee- shirt, a pair of armbands, and some very large boots on. He smiles somewhat dopily, and also waves.
Goku: Hey there, everyone!
Kodora: Also to help with demonstrating chi, and to help with demonstrating ki, we have Son Gokuu.
A wave to the curtain yet again, and a small boy, brown-haired, in odd green-and-white clothes steps out from behind the curtain. He holds a sword and a small ofuda. He half-glares at the audience, and bows slightly.
Kodora: To help with magic, we have Shorun Li.
One last wave to the curtain, which explodes. As the smoke clears, a tall, leggy blonde with bronze skin can be seen where it used to be, wearing a lot of leather. She has some blue markings on her face, one on her forehead, and one at the outer corner of either eye.
Urd: Hello, everybody.
Kodora: Also to help with magic, but to help with ki and chi a little also, we have Urd of the Norns. And, any second now...
Something small and black, looking somewhat charred falls out of the sky, leaving an impact crater.
Kodora: Ah. Here he is.
Out from the crater steps a badly-charred tiny old man. He is bald, with a very small moustache, and wears a deep purple gi, although most of him has been charred black for whatever reason.
Kodora: Also to help with ki, chi, and magic, is Happousai.
Happousai ignores the audience and tries to glomp Urd, who fries him even more with a thunderbolt.
Kodora bigsweats.
Kodora: Right. And finally...
A short, redheaded woman flies in from the same direction as Happousai came from. She wears a cloak and some very strange, extremely old-fashioned clothes. She also has a sweatband around her head, obscuring her forehead. Her eyes are an odd shade of reddish-orange, and she lands calmly, though she shoots Happousai a glare.
Happousai (snickering): Still too small.
Lina Inverse: DARE BRANDO!
THOOM
Happousai: Ouch. ::falls over::
Kodora grins.
Kodora: He deserved that one. Now, then, shall we start? I will begin by explaining the differences between chi, ki, and magic, aided by Happousai and Urd.
Happousai tries to glomp Urd, and Kamisama fries him with a lightning bolt, knocking him out completely.
Kodora (sweating): Or, maybe just Urd. ::clears her throat:: Anyways. Chi, ki, and magic are used quite often throughout various manga. To outward appearances, they seem to work almost the same way, but each one is a very different thing. The most useful properties of these, are that they each compose a sort of energy source which cannot be measured technologically, and which is usually very difficult to detect, even if one is attuned to them. Urd?
Urd (pulling a diagram from nowhere, with three overlapping circles on it, marked "Nivelheim", "Asgard", and "Midgard" ): Thank you, Kodora. Now, what you see here is a diagram of a typical universe. You have Asgard, the realm of the gods, Midgard, the realm of the living people and animals, and Nivelheim, the realm of the demons. In a typical universe, there are three sources of power. Mana, Pishogue, and Ki/Chi. Mana and Pishogue are used to power magical spells, while Ki/Chi is used in slightly different manners, being of a different nature. Mana and Pishogue are both produced "naturally" by their respective realms of Asgard and Nivelheim. Furthermore, in a number of universes, Mana is produced "naturally" by the other two realms. Mana is only produced by the existence of a realm. Nothing short of Kamisama himself could change the amount of mana produced by a realm.
Happousai gets up, Urd glares at him, and he takes a seat, pulling out his pipe, and looking a bit sheepish.
Urd (Aside, to Happi): I warned you. ::to the audience:: Where was I? Ah, yes. Pishogue is a bit different from mana. For one thing, it is only "naturally" produced in Nivelheim. In Asgard or Midgard, large quantities of negative emotions, pollution (emotional, mental, or physical), or evil rituals are needed to produce Pishogue.
Lina: Wait, doesn't that mean that any demon that comes to Midgard would have no energy for their spells, and be stranded? But we know that doesn't happen.
Urd: Right, Lina, but something else about Pishogue and Mana is that they can be transported from one plane to another. Each entity has a limit to how much Mana or Pishogue they can store within themselves, and they can transport that much with them from one plane to another, for later use. Another thing to keep in mind about Pishogue is that the more pollution or negative emotions that are present, the easier it becomes to access, and the more you can do with less of it. So the ideal Pishogue user would be someone like a typical Ryouga, who generally carries enough dark emotions with him, particularly depression, to almost allow him to access Pishogue without meaning to.
Everyone in the audience near Ryouga sidles away from him except Gosunkugi and Xelloss. Ryouga looks around, puzzled.
Ryouga: What? What did I do?
Xelloss: That... is a secret.
Ryouga gives Xelloss a blank stare, before noticing the shadow on him. He looks up. Right up Mara's skirt. And passes out.
Urd: Although that also means that other Pishogue users in his area have an easier time of it, too. Happousai here will explain the last major bit of difference with Ki/Chi, Pishogue, and Mana. ::bows and heads to the others, taking a seat in a chair that didn't used to be there.::
Happi: Thank you, Urd-sama. ::gets up and heads over to the diagram:: One thing that Urd neglected to tell you about is that this diagram only shows the most common universe type. The second most common is here. ::flips the page on the easel, revealing one with a single circle labeled "universe":: In this kind of universe, effectively Midgard is all there is. There is no Asgard or Nivelheim. Furthermore, in this kind of universe, Mana and Pishogue are very similar, only the opposite of each other, although Pishogue retains most of its typical properties. Now, as for Chi/Ki. Where Mana and Pishogue are unaffected by living things other than in their use, Chi and Ki rely expressly on living things for their production. Chi and Ki are actually slightly different things. Chi is usable only by sentient and semi-sentient entities. This is because Chi is energy formed by one's willpower, and unless one is at least partially self-aware, one does not really HAVE a will to speak of. Therefore, the stronger a person's mind, emotionally, the more Chi they will have access to. Furthermore, exercising your Chi will also increase your reserves, as well as making the energy easier to call upon. ::taps his pipe out on the ground, and begins to refill it:: Ki is somewhat different from Chi. Ki is the actual existence of a thing. ::lights his pipe, and begins to smoke, though the actual smoke from his pipe disappears once it gets about a half- foot away from him:: What do I mean? Well, look at it this way. Matter is energy. If you don't know this yet, take a physics class. Anyways, given any amount of matter, the constant motion of the little bits of it will always produce some energy. Not necessarily very much at all, but it's there. This energy is the basis for Ki. Because the longer the thing sits around, the more energy it will build up. However, even after millions of years, this energy is insignificant compared to the Chi of even an idiot like Kuno.
Somewhere in the back of the audience, a sneeze is heard, and the beginning of a Kuno rant, cut short when Vegeta mashes the kendoist into the floor.
Happi: So where does the rest of the ki come from? Largely from the flow of energy in the universe. Without any ki in the first place, things would have no anchor, and would simply disappear from the universe instantly. Unfortunately, noone knows any more than that about where Ki comes from, although the longer a thing exists, and the more sentient it is, the more Ki it has, fully sentient beings having the most, regardless of age. ::goes back to where he was before, and sits down, taking an occasional puff from his pipe::
Kodora: Thank you, Happi. Now, on to actual use of these power sources.
*********
The screen freezes, and we go to a desk, behind which sit Nabiki Tendou and Michiru Kaiou.
Nabiki: Thank you for watching FNFC, the all-fanfiction channel. We now return you to your normally scheduled fanfiction.
Michiru: But, as you may well have guessed, more sections of this dissertation will be interspersed within it. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
**************************************************************************** *************
Kinda dry, huh?
I just felt a need to make a collection of the stuff I figured out about the anime/manga multiverse, but where people would read it and put it in context with my fanfiction. I'll try to keep these sections short and far apart, maybe one in each "book" of Passenger. Thanks for being patient enough to read this!
Akane took it into her head to prepare breakfast. A certain panda
awoke at the initial sounds of culinary skirmish, took note of this,
and quietly let itself out through the front door, seeking someplace
where food was food and peril was peril and the two didn't suddenly
try to combine in unholy matrimony.
-Excerpt, "Pool of Drowned Ranma" (Oneshot)
Kodora waves to a small section of curtain, out from which steps a somewhat short, vaguely bishonen boy wearing a tang and kung-fu pants and a pair of outdoor slippers. His unruly black hair is in a pigtail, tied off with what appears to be a bit of string. He looks nervously at the audience with grey-blue eyes and waves.
Ranma: Uh, hi.
Kodora: To help with demonstrating chi, we have Saotome Ranma.
Another wave to the curtain, and out steps a huge, muscular giant of a man with wild, spiky black hair. He wears an orange gi, with a symbol on the left breast, and a larger one on the back. He also has a deep blue tee- shirt, a pair of armbands, and some very large boots on. He smiles somewhat dopily, and also waves.
Goku: Hey there, everyone!
Kodora: Also to help with demonstrating chi, and to help with demonstrating ki, we have Son Gokuu.
A wave to the curtain yet again, and a small boy, brown-haired, in odd green-and-white clothes steps out from behind the curtain. He holds a sword and a small ofuda. He half-glares at the audience, and bows slightly.
Kodora: To help with magic, we have Shorun Li.
One last wave to the curtain, which explodes. As the smoke clears, a tall, leggy blonde with bronze skin can be seen where it used to be, wearing a lot of leather. She has some blue markings on her face, one on her forehead, and one at the outer corner of either eye.
Urd: Hello, everybody.
Kodora: Also to help with magic, but to help with ki and chi a little also, we have Urd of the Norns. And, any second now...
Something small and black, looking somewhat charred falls out of the sky, leaving an impact crater.
Kodora: Ah. Here he is.
Out from the crater steps a badly-charred tiny old man. He is bald, with a very small moustache, and wears a deep purple gi, although most of him has been charred black for whatever reason.
Kodora: Also to help with ki, chi, and magic, is Happousai.
Happousai ignores the audience and tries to glomp Urd, who fries him even more with a thunderbolt.
Kodora bigsweats.
Kodora: Right. And finally...
A short, redheaded woman flies in from the same direction as Happousai came from. She wears a cloak and some very strange, extremely old-fashioned clothes. She also has a sweatband around her head, obscuring her forehead. Her eyes are an odd shade of reddish-orange, and she lands calmly, though she shoots Happousai a glare.
Happousai (snickering): Still too small.
Lina Inverse: DARE BRANDO!
THOOM
Happousai: Ouch. ::falls over::
Kodora grins.
Kodora: He deserved that one. Now, then, shall we start? I will begin by explaining the differences between chi, ki, and magic, aided by Happousai and Urd.
Happousai tries to glomp Urd, and Kamisama fries him with a lightning bolt, knocking him out completely.
Kodora (sweating): Or, maybe just Urd. ::clears her throat:: Anyways. Chi, ki, and magic are used quite often throughout various manga. To outward appearances, they seem to work almost the same way, but each one is a very different thing. The most useful properties of these, are that they each compose a sort of energy source which cannot be measured technologically, and which is usually very difficult to detect, even if one is attuned to them. Urd?
Urd (pulling a diagram from nowhere, with three overlapping circles on it, marked "Nivelheim", "Asgard", and "Midgard" ): Thank you, Kodora. Now, what you see here is a diagram of a typical universe. You have Asgard, the realm of the gods, Midgard, the realm of the living people and animals, and Nivelheim, the realm of the demons. In a typical universe, there are three sources of power. Mana, Pishogue, and Ki/Chi. Mana and Pishogue are used to power magical spells, while Ki/Chi is used in slightly different manners, being of a different nature. Mana and Pishogue are both produced "naturally" by their respective realms of Asgard and Nivelheim. Furthermore, in a number of universes, Mana is produced "naturally" by the other two realms. Mana is only produced by the existence of a realm. Nothing short of Kamisama himself could change the amount of mana produced by a realm.
Happousai gets up, Urd glares at him, and he takes a seat, pulling out his pipe, and looking a bit sheepish.
Urd (Aside, to Happi): I warned you. ::to the audience:: Where was I? Ah, yes. Pishogue is a bit different from mana. For one thing, it is only "naturally" produced in Nivelheim. In Asgard or Midgard, large quantities of negative emotions, pollution (emotional, mental, or physical), or evil rituals are needed to produce Pishogue.
Lina: Wait, doesn't that mean that any demon that comes to Midgard would have no energy for their spells, and be stranded? But we know that doesn't happen.
Urd: Right, Lina, but something else about Pishogue and Mana is that they can be transported from one plane to another. Each entity has a limit to how much Mana or Pishogue they can store within themselves, and they can transport that much with them from one plane to another, for later use. Another thing to keep in mind about Pishogue is that the more pollution or negative emotions that are present, the easier it becomes to access, and the more you can do with less of it. So the ideal Pishogue user would be someone like a typical Ryouga, who generally carries enough dark emotions with him, particularly depression, to almost allow him to access Pishogue without meaning to.
Everyone in the audience near Ryouga sidles away from him except Gosunkugi and Xelloss. Ryouga looks around, puzzled.
Ryouga: What? What did I do?
Xelloss: That... is a secret.
Ryouga gives Xelloss a blank stare, before noticing the shadow on him. He looks up. Right up Mara's skirt. And passes out.
Urd: Although that also means that other Pishogue users in his area have an easier time of it, too. Happousai here will explain the last major bit of difference with Ki/Chi, Pishogue, and Mana. ::bows and heads to the others, taking a seat in a chair that didn't used to be there.::
Happi: Thank you, Urd-sama. ::gets up and heads over to the diagram:: One thing that Urd neglected to tell you about is that this diagram only shows the most common universe type. The second most common is here. ::flips the page on the easel, revealing one with a single circle labeled "universe":: In this kind of universe, effectively Midgard is all there is. There is no Asgard or Nivelheim. Furthermore, in this kind of universe, Mana and Pishogue are very similar, only the opposite of each other, although Pishogue retains most of its typical properties. Now, as for Chi/Ki. Where Mana and Pishogue are unaffected by living things other than in their use, Chi and Ki rely expressly on living things for their production. Chi and Ki are actually slightly different things. Chi is usable only by sentient and semi-sentient entities. This is because Chi is energy formed by one's willpower, and unless one is at least partially self-aware, one does not really HAVE a will to speak of. Therefore, the stronger a person's mind, emotionally, the more Chi they will have access to. Furthermore, exercising your Chi will also increase your reserves, as well as making the energy easier to call upon. ::taps his pipe out on the ground, and begins to refill it:: Ki is somewhat different from Chi. Ki is the actual existence of a thing. ::lights his pipe, and begins to smoke, though the actual smoke from his pipe disappears once it gets about a half- foot away from him:: What do I mean? Well, look at it this way. Matter is energy. If you don't know this yet, take a physics class. Anyways, given any amount of matter, the constant motion of the little bits of it will always produce some energy. Not necessarily very much at all, but it's there. This energy is the basis for Ki. Because the longer the thing sits around, the more energy it will build up. However, even after millions of years, this energy is insignificant compared to the Chi of even an idiot like Kuno.
Somewhere in the back of the audience, a sneeze is heard, and the beginning of a Kuno rant, cut short when Vegeta mashes the kendoist into the floor.
Happi: So where does the rest of the ki come from? Largely from the flow of energy in the universe. Without any ki in the first place, things would have no anchor, and would simply disappear from the universe instantly. Unfortunately, noone knows any more than that about where Ki comes from, although the longer a thing exists, and the more sentient it is, the more Ki it has, fully sentient beings having the most, regardless of age. ::goes back to where he was before, and sits down, taking an occasional puff from his pipe::
Kodora: Thank you, Happi. Now, on to actual use of these power sources.
*********
The screen freezes, and we go to a desk, behind which sit Nabiki Tendou and Michiru Kaiou.
Nabiki: Thank you for watching FNFC, the all-fanfiction channel. We now return you to your normally scheduled fanfiction.
Michiru: But, as you may well have guessed, more sections of this dissertation will be interspersed within it. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
**************************************************************************** *************
Kinda dry, huh?
I just felt a need to make a collection of the stuff I figured out about the anime/manga multiverse, but where people would read it and put it in context with my fanfiction. I'll try to keep these sections short and far apart, maybe one in each "book" of Passenger. Thanks for being patient enough to read this!
Akane took it into her head to prepare breakfast. A certain panda
awoke at the initial sounds of culinary skirmish, took note of this,
and quietly let itself out through the front door, seeking someplace
where food was food and peril was peril and the two didn't suddenly
try to combine in unholy matrimony.
-Excerpt, "Pool of Drowned Ranma" (Oneshot)