Battle Power

Cadets train Battle Power at the Dawn Academy and similar institutions. Practical combat use scales through Black Iron, Silver, and Gold ranks; Sword Saints and Sword Masters sit at the top of the curve.

Battle Power is the primary combat system of the Galentya continent. It works through the blood: every person carries a hereditary 'magical-beast factor' that must be awakened and activated, usually by the age of fifteen or sixteen, once the circulation is strong enough. A body too young, with underdeveloped blood flow, cannot grasp the factor at all.

Battle Power is trained by special methods that cycle it through the 'great blood circuit'; different families hold different doctrines (such as the Nortons' family Blazing Flame, or the Golden Water Technique). Battle Power comes in various elements and properties, depending on whose beast-blood was infused into one's ancestors. Lorist's internal force is a separate, secondary technique, distinct from Battle Power.

By legend, several thousand years ago Galentya was a world of magic. Mighty mages explored the sub-plane worlds but lacked reliable close-quarters guards. One genius mage, inspired by the 'berserker' gift of half-orcs, devised infusing the blood of powerful magical beasts into magicless humans, fusing it with their own, and activating it through a magic circle — thus Battle Power was born. It overturned the world: people once defenceless could now face beasts alone and win.

In that age awakening and training were done within magic circles, and Sword Gods were as common as weeds, while Sword Saints were not even worth a dog's notice. It all ended with the Age of the End of Magic: the magical element vanished, replaced by the energy of Heaven and Earth. After a dark millennium in which humanity shrank by two thirds, people relearned to awaken Battle Power in deadly struggles with beasts — now without mages or magic circles.

The more Sword Gods and Sword Saints there were among a house's ancestors, the more easily its descendants awaken Battle Power — for their blood once fused with that of powerful beasts. This is why many nobles jealously guard the purity of their family blood, some even forcing their children into marriages within the line.

Battle Power is trained at the Dawn Academy in Morant and similar schools in awakening classes; at the entry Black Iron level one is entitled only to the rank of knight-apprentice.