Aether

GENERAL
Aether is a Ketrabi term for the basic ontological component of the universe - the energy which forms the fabric of reality itself. Ketrabi "philosophy" is devoted to the study of this base-matter ("spirit philosophy") and its physical manifestations ("natural philosophy"), while their "science" teaches how to manipulate it directly through ritual and practice. We would understand these subjects as something like Magic Theory and Magic Use.

The basic distinction in studying Aether is between Static and Dynamic, sometimes called "Formed" and "Flux." This references the ability of aether to form particular objects and beings which slow its constant movement and persist. All these "Static" aether-forms eventually decay (if object), or die (if living being), releasing the aether back into its Dynamic state, sometimes called "The Great Stream" in Ketrab and analogized to a kind of heaven.

HUMAN CULTURE
Surviving philosophers who escaped the doom of Jher'Naanka were instrumental in figuring out ways to use Aether to assist in the settlement of Ketrab. Their efforts led to the Greenheight farms and the birth of Ketrabi "science." With the official establishment of the city under the government of the Trident (the first triumverate), the philosophers and scientists opened the Academy, later to become the University, and began to develop more and more advanced techniques for utilizing Aether, eventually giving the fledgling nation the magical might to conquer the so-called Wilds and declare themselves an Empire. At this point, the University mages became the most important figures in the city and achieved a cult-like status. For centuries the Imperial generals were always sorcerors. The great struggle was always procuring Aether to power the Greenheight's irrigation framework, the utility grid, and the military machine. This was usually done through some kind of "mining," which refers to a variety of techniques for drawing Aether out of the ground, the ocean, or. Later a system of solar/bi-lunar aether collection was developed, easing the burden somewhat. (Umir Drehlar famously tried to extract corrupted aether from the Breach with massive drilling devices, an act which lead to the party siding with the Treants and destroying him.)

After the Ascension of the God-Emperor and the establishment of the Senate, the mages lost their administrative and strategic prominence as the Emperor vastly expanded the Academy into the University, adding History, Military Strategy, Civics, Craftwork, and Arts departments. A new class of educated administrator began to emerge, and the Ladder policy was instituted, creating a new source of Aether: slaves, who could be drained of their essential life force, which was Aether like everything else. New technologies emerged to store life-aether, and the renaissance of Ketrabi aetherwork began. By the time of the Emperor's defeat and death, Ketrabi mages were on the verge of unlocking the mysteries of how to dissolve forms and turn anything into pure usable/storable Aether, thus solving the city's power problems forever.

ELVEN CULTURE
The Elves do not have a term for Aether, as their cosmology is quite different from the Ketrabi. They see the universe as a struggle between Chaos and Order, in which every ordered object or being or pattern is constantly, entropically undermined by forces of change. They see their role as keeping this ongoing process in balance, which really means defending Order from relentless and destructive chaos. Their entire civilization, with its strict caste system, reflects this obsession with strict control.

They do not believe in an Aetherworld or Great Stream, but instead see the universe as a great spectrum. There are realms where there is no form, just chaos - this would be analogous to the human idea of Dynamic Aether - and order, which would correspond to the human idea of static aether-forms. The Elves have always had the ability to tap into these chaos-realms, channel their Dynamic Aether, and perform powerful spells, which are far more highly specialized than human magic due to the larger quantities of aether they are able to procure.

THE AETHERWORLD
Human philosophers have long hypothesized the existence of a parallel realm where unformed Aether exists, a kind of "lifestream" that would provide the energy for new births and new growths in the material realm. The Elves have a different understanding, seeing packets of "chaos" spread throughout reality and always expanding; within these spaces grow bizarre chaos-elementals whom a special class of Elven mages, Voyagers, commune with and even control. The party have at least once crossed into a realm that seemed to resemble these descriptions and did indeed harbor an energy-being, The Erlwing, which destroyed vast swathes of slum when it partially emerged into Ketrab.