Qi

Monks harness their qi in combat.

Qi, sometimes spelled ki, is a supernatural manifestation of magical power most strongly associated with monks and ninjas, who through training can tap inner reserves of qi to cast spells or enhance their natural physical abilities. Such magic typically manifests as either divine or occult magic.

Qi is a refined form of life energy, and practitioners of qi describe it as a force that permeates all living entities and can be honed and focused in ways that allow them to move or think with extraordinary speed, precision, and strength. Qi is sometimes honed through self-questioning practices known as koans.

Qinggong

People with specialized training in developing their qi can reach a point in their progression where they can manipulate this energy. This practice is known as qinggong.

Practitioners

A cultivator.

Cultivators

Cultivators are rare occult masters of qi refinement named for their attempts to accumulate and refine enough qi to attain immortality. While few in number, they are most common in Shanguang's mountains, Shenmen, Zi Ha, bamboo groves in Songbai, and the depths of the Valashmai Jungle.

Magi

Some magi combine qinggong practices with other fighting styles to create powerful and deadly new abilities.

Monks

Monks who are especially focused on mastering their qi are sometimes known as qinggong monks, and are capable of extraordinary feats of mobility and manifesting their qi as physical energy.

Ninjas

Ninjas can focus their practice of qi to fortify their minds through consuming herbs, and can also create poisons infused with their qi, disguise themselves or certain weapons, and evade detection.

Kineticists

Kineticists specially trained to manipulate life forces and chakras at the Schools of Perfection in Jalmeray can also infuse their elemental powers with qi.

Other practitioners

The Arms of Balance, a quartet of qi elementalists from the Academy of Golden Arms in Indapatta, competed as exemplars of their arts at the Ruby Phoenix Tournament of 4719 AR.

The Gugrangmyal and Gutshadmyal xulgath tribes of Zi Ha are the result of experiments in qi manipulation by the samsaran wizard Bakju.

Studies into the nature of qi opened the mind of a young Rivani so greatly that she spontaneously developed psychic powers.

Woodcutters in Quain use qi to apply a hardened grain to their own skin for use as whetstones to sharpen their axes.

In religion

Temples to Irori are usually elaborate complexes filled with rooms for prayer, sleep, and exercise where the faithful train both day and night to achieve perfection and cleanse their qi.

In medicine

A massage therapist.

Chu Ye, prior to being taken over by oni, was once a center of qi studies, in which energy flowed through meridian lines in the bodies of living beings. Qi could be improved through healthy eating or heat, or degraded through disease and poor lifestyles. Practitioners of various techniques, such as acupuncture, massage, cupping, and moxibustion, could quicken or slow qi and regulate its flow to improve health.

References

For additional as-yet unincorporated sources about this subject, see the Meta page.

External links

• Qi (real-world belief) on Wikipedia
• Koan (real-world practice) on Wikipedia
• Qinggong (real-world practice) on Wikipedia