Essence

Essence is a Essential Aspect of a character; It is a life-force representation used to make Bonds and Attunements, Pacts, and fuel Augmentations and powers through Mystic Offerings of sacrifice and Ritual. It is reflected in a character’s Aura.

Essence Pool

Most living things have a natural Essence Pool based on their Order of Being that binds them firmly to a continuum, while others are more connected to the Aether or even tied to the Void, as in the case of the Body Beyond and/or a Mind Beyond. A setting, locale, and/or race can limit how a character may spend Essence at the time of Character Inception and beyond. Some have specific uses of their initial Essence dictated or adjusted.

Starting: (based on species/race Order of Being; typically 5) + Weave Factor (factors in Sanity and Charisma)

Pool: Current maximum total.
Pledged: This is Essence that has been set aside for Features, Empowered Bonds and Attunements. Natural Affinity from Aptitude can offset the cost of Pledged Essence for Empowered Items. All items requiring Attunement take 1 Essence to bond with, to a maximum or reaching zero Essence. Attunements can be broken, returned the Attuned Essence to the Essence Pool. Every time an entity pledges Essence, it creates more Elan attached to the target, even if the bond is later severed.
Free: The amount of the Pool available for use.
“Spent<.mark>” Essence is an amount of Essence from the Free amount used to activate or trigger an effect. This returns at the rate of 1/Short Rest cycle.
Allocated: To be assigned from future gains to the Pool; Note amounts and uses.
Spent: It is not necessary to track permanent decreases – this is player choice.

Adjusting: Permanent Sanity or Charisma changes recalculate the Weave Factor and trigger a moment of Actuated Awareness. It can be sacrificed for many gains, including those of Pacts, signs/portents, as well as deep Bonds and Attunements. Additionally, there are dark arts and strange ways of transferring it between beings. Certain events may trigger a spontaneous change: