Everyone in the world has a powerful energy deep inside them. This type of energy goes by many names: chi, ki, magic, mana, aura, spiritual pressure, chakra, and much more. Despite this however, only an extremely small percentage of the world has the ability to harness this power and wield it in whatever way they want, usually in ways that resemble super powers (shooting fire from their bodies, enhancing their natural strength, flight, etc). The few lucky people who have this ability are called "channellers" and for the most part live alongside regular humans in secret, but have also developed a secret society of channellers, most notably a school used for training those that have recently discovered their ability to manipulate their inner energy

Those who discover their ability to control their energy always discover it between the ages of 10 to 18. Accounts of others discovering their powers later or earlier in life, while theorietically not impossible, are unheard of. A human's inner energy reacts most strongly to intense and powerful emotions, and therefore the best way to utilize your powers would be to feel those emotions as strongly as possible. The powers manifest according to a person's personality (an channeller being angry will usually result in pyrokinesis, for example). Logically, all this means that a person who usually tends to feel a certain type of emotion more strongly will use and develop a certain type of power more often, and their powers in general will be based on what their personality is like

Powers rely on a person's inner energy to function, in the same way that a car relies on fuel. A person can only use their powers so much in a short amount of time before they start running out of energy and can't use their powers any more. Luckily a person's energy regenerates naturally over time, but it is commonly very slow and cannot come back fast enough in the heat of battle. It is common for channellers to "charge" their energy, an ability that forces their energy to build back up at a faster rate, but this takes heavy concentration and the user can't do anything else while doing it, which leaves them wide open for an attack. Other ways to build energy up faster are the same kinds of methods you would use to build up regular physical energy, such as sleeping and overall not being too physical for a while

Usually, a channeller starts with a single power that they stick with for most of their life. Sometimes later in their life, an channeller might discover that they also have a natural affinity for a second power as well and start developing it. However, they also might choose not to do this and prefer to hone their original power to a fine point instead. The powers are much like real life talents and skills: there is technically no limit to how many powers a person can learn, but it relies heavily on their personality and skill, and the more powers you learn the less skilled you are at each one

All channellers also gain the ability to "feel" someone else's energy, something like a sixth sense. This ability can also be honed and perfected like any other regular sense, even to the point where some users can sense a channeller across the planet or be able to tell the difference between one person's energy and another's if they've practiced it enough. There are some channellers who are born without this natural sense, much like being blind or deaf, but this is particularly rare

Generally, the abilities that channellers develop can be pretty much anything you can possibly imagine. Typically speaking however, the powers commonly manifest as one of 4 different categories: augmenters, architects, illusionists and alternatives

Augmenters are those who use their energy to enhance or alter their own bodies and physical abilities. This can manifest in a number of ways, such as increasing their physical strength, giving themselves faster reflexes and reaction times, being able to see through walls, and much more. They are the most straightforward of channellers, and so there isn't too much to say about them. Due to their focus on their bodies and physical abilities, augmenters are usually stereotyped as the "strong but dumb" type of people

Architects are those who use their energy to control or manifest types of energy (excluding one's inner energy, of course). By far the most common type of achitect is one who creates simplistic things, such as the 4 elements. However, it's also possible to make and control things like electricity, smoke and lasers, and even stranger and abstract things such as shadows, light and sound waves. It's even possible to create complex machines like cars or computers, but that requires a massive amount of skill controlling energy as well as knowledge of how the object is built and functions, and so things like that are extremely rare. Architects are by far the most common type of channellers, and therefore don't really have a stereotype about them due so many different people being that type

Illusionists are those who use their energy to control their minds and the minds of others. The most obvious type of illusionist ability would be hypnosis and mind control, but there are other types of abilities as well such as mind reading, hallucinations/altering what another person is seeing, communicating with someone through their mind, creating false memories, etc. As powerful as these abilities may seem, they rely heavily on the target not being aware of the illusionist performing these abilities on them, as becoming aware of the illusions being performed can usually break them out of the effect. Some supremely skilled illusionists can manage to hold the illusions even then, but it's extremely difficult and takes an immense amount of skill. Illusionists tend to be seen as smart, logical and strategically minded, but also heavily reliant on stealthy tactics, smoke and mirrors and not being able to actually fight

Alternatives are those whose energy manifests in some other way. The rarest of the 4 categories, these people are outliers that defy the other 3 categories either by having a power that could fit into more than one category, or don't really fit ANY of the categories. Powers such as the ability to alter and negate someone else's energy, clone themselves, change the shape of their body, etc. Alternatives are usually stereotyped as weirdos, freaks and unpredictable

In this world, there is an institution that has been made to help the younger channellers fully develop their powers. The school's staff is made up of a dream team of legendary and well known channellers, every staff member in the school is chosen due to their reputation for doing at least something majorly impressive in the channeller society. Though the institute is commonly referred to as a school, it's technically more of a combination of a school and a training camp. There ARE traditional school trappings, such as classrooms and proper classes which are used to teach the more overall basics of their powers, and these are definitely a large part of the school. However, because each student will develop their powers differently, a large part of the teaching proccess comes from the mentors. Mentors are a member of the school staff that are personally assigned a specific student and are meant to personally help develop and hone their skills and abilities in a more personal 1 on 1 way. Of course there aren't as many mentors as there are students, so most of the time the classroom teachers are given mentor duty as well, and it's also sometimes common to see more than one student assigned to the same mentor

When a child or teenager first discovers their powers, that energy will be sensed by the staff of the school, which notifies them that a new channeller has appeared in the world. The school then sends a member (or members) of the staff to find the new channeller, and talk with them and their parents about the proposition of attending the school. If they all agree to the proposition, the staff will arrive (a couple days later so the student can prepare), and will then take the new student to the school which they will live at for a full season

When being taught how to use their powers, teachers will tell their students to focus their powers in specific ways, in the form of "moves". For example, if a student had the ability to control electricity, that student would be trained to practice firing a steady bolt of electricity from their hand. These specific moves are chosen and developed by the student, (with help from the teachers). Students are also taught to give these specific moves names and to say them outloud when performing them, as this lets them focus more on imagining the move when they're trying to do it

Along with their usual classes and training with their mentors, another big part of the school are the big events known as "The Exams". Exams are trials and challenges designed and planned by the staff of the school which are intended to gauge all of the students' skills. There are multiple exams every year and, due to them being designed by the staff members, each exam is different. One exam can be as simple as a written test, while another can be as intimidating as a rigorous physical challenge. Most of these take up an entire day of the school, and some of them are even longer than that. The Exams are usually seen as a big event and, depending on what the event is, sometimes are even done in front of a large crowd of people within the channeller community

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