Vident Obscura classifies entity by type and power level. The power level is determined through the physical changes in the surrounding environment measured through a calibrated Athrometer which measures the displacement of energy caused by the entity. The unit of measure for this displacement is called the Oswald symbolized by the cyrillic character Yu (Ю). This measurement measures the displacement of Aether within a region, the official scientific definition is a measure of the aethic displacement requires to alter the local aether field by 1 Aethic-Volt symbolized by the cyrillic Iotated A (Ꙗ). The Oswald is used to measure the presence of a disturbance in the Aether over time.
Ranking
Correlation between class and actual displacement can vary locally, this is a measure of the absolute measure of potential displacement given nominal environmental conditions.
| Class | Displacement | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0-2 Ю | Normal levels of displacement. Nothing unusual. |
| 1 | 2-5 Ю | Slightly heightened levels of displacement, area may feel hot / cold or otherwise be sensed to be different. |
| 2 | 5-14 Ю | Increased flow of Aether, enough to determine directionality. Consistent with weak magic / psychic presence. May indicate an inactive ghost or weak entity is nearby. |
| 3 | 14-37 Ю | Consistent with the active use of minor disturbances within the Aether. Magic / psionic abilities being used can manifest changes in the environment. Entities can begin to alter perception or cause minor sensory disturbances either direct manipulation of the environment or through sensory perception manipulation. Likely to be a definite environmental shift that even the untrained person can detect. |
| 4 | 37-100 Ю | Consistent with an active and moderate disruption within the Aether. Magic / psionic abilities being used can definitely make changes to the environment and construct simple patterns. Entities can begin to bring more complex manifestations, detailed hallucinations are possible, distinct and measurable changes in color, light, and shadow also possible. A person in an area with this kind of flow will likely feel uneasy or get a strong sense that something isn't right. |
| 5 | 100-273 Ю | Consistent with a high level of disruption within the Aether, people in this kind of disruption will begin to sense not only a flow but direction even if no entity is manifesting. Magic / psionic abilities can be used to alter the environment with multiple simple patterns at once. The displacement for performing magic / psionics can become difficult to withstand without training. Entities at this level may be able to suppress the mind of a person within the area and attempt possession. |
| 6 | 273-742 Ю | Generally people will shy away from areas where this high of a disruption in Aether is occuring. Disruptions of this size indicate a potentially dangerous situation, users of magic / psionics require specialized training to produce and endure this kind of flow and can lay down a complex or even intricate pattern upon the environment. Entities at this level can physically manifest as vapor or even simple liquid constructs, they can also create complex hallucinations when not manifesting a physical presence. |
| 7 | 743-2,017 Ю | The nature of the Aether flow itself begins to alter the physical environment. Most magic / psionic users begin to top out at this level requiring significant training and endurance to withstand displacement to use energy of his magnitude. They are able to lay to multiple complex patterns and perform major / lasting changes to the physical environment. Entities at this level can create large vaporous / detailed liquid constructs. Liquid constructs can also border on becoming viscous and entities are able to create multiple manifestations of lesser kinds simultaneously. |
| 8 | 2.017-5.483 kЮ | As a general rule a mortal being cannot withstand this level of Aether flowing to / from the body for more than a few moments without suffering some kind of physical consequences to the event. An entity causing this much displacement of Aether can manifest itself as a viscous or even semi-solid construct to varying degrees of intricacy. Multiple manifestations are possible and even likely, entities of this class are extremely dangerous. Agents are under standing orders to not engage such an entity without proper approval from their superiors. Entities at this level can easily cause numerous psychological and physical deformities in mortals. |
| 9 | 5.483-14.904 kЮ | This level of Aether is physically impossible for a mortal body to withstand without some form of protection, even a short exposure to this flow in to / out from the body would likely be fatal, if not it would cause grievous injury. Entities capable of this level of flow can easily manifest themselves as fully solid forms in the material plane while maintaining additional manifestations in the surrounding area. They can also both manipulate perception and the physical environment to a relatively high degree. Lesser demons often are detected as this degree of disturbance in the Aether when they are actively using their abilities. |
| 10 | 14.904-40.515 kЮ | At this level the normal laws of reality are suspect and may be mutable. Greater demons often show up as this level of disruption when detected entering the material plane. |
| 10+ | > 40.151 kЮ | Singular events have been recorded which qualify as a greater disruption than class 10, classes above 10 signify a fundamental shift within the Aether on a large scale, large enough to level cities or cause mass insanity across an entire population. |
Aethic-Volt
This unit measures the potential aethic-energy stored within a region. In terms of magical energy it measures the potential energy build-up within a region in the local Aether outside the body. In terms of psionic energy it measures the converse, the potential build-up of energy within the body's Aether. In both cases the energy measured is the potential energy prior to equalization or release toward a particular unit of work. Similar terminology exists of the Aethic-Watt and Aether-Ampere describing the interaction and usage of Aether as a form of energy. Though the relationship between the 3 units is similar to that of their physics counterparts, their related calculations is different.
In most practical cases of measuring the Aether in a region of space, the Aethic-Volt and the Oswald are the two primary units of measure.
Origin of the Oswald
The unit of measure is named after Oswald Coldstone a resident of England during the height of the study of the occult in Europe. Coldstone was different in that he actually had some family ties to the study of magic and the supernatural. His grandfather passed on to him an Athrometer, which he spent his life studying both the construction and use of.
Coldstone described the intensity of magic, psionics, and supernatural entities in terms of the disturbance they leave upon the surrounding world, calling this the supracorporeal shadow. He measured this as a positive integer computed from the difference between what he called the supracorporeal and the infracorporeal. Through this he measured the movement of Aether from outside the body to the inside. He further perfected this and discovered a mathematical representation of this using differential mathematics. Having consulted with some of the best minds of a the time, he perfected modifications to the Athrometer allowing it to measure both the direct intensity of the local energy but also calculate the supracorporeal shadow.
OOC: Oswald to Class
For the purposes of calculating Oswalds per class, the following formula was used, and then rounded to the nearest integer. For the purposes of the game itself, this formula isn't really a thing but rather a character in-game would describe the levels being decided based on observation, mostly of ghosts. Then that distinction is used to describe demons and other entities with ghosts as kind of a gold-standard for classification. The scale can be used then to represent any use of magical or psionic energy.
