Karma
Whether for good or ill, killing another being leaves a mark upon the soul of the killer. This is generally referred to as 'karma', or as one's 'aura' by most denizens of Avendar who care about such things. This comes from the various magics of spirit which perceive the state of others' souls, in the form of a coloured aura. This colour scales from black to silver; as the bulk of the range is either red or gold, the auras are colloquially referred to as such.
While aura does not directly correlate to alignment on the whole, it is an accurate indicator of what someone has been killing. Additionally, alignment does limit how far in any direction one's aura may go.
Aura grades are as follows:
- Black (maximum red aura)
- Dark Red
- Red (maximum red aura for a neutral character)
- Faint Red (maximum red aura for a good character)
- None
- Faint Gold (maximum gold aura for an evil character)
- Gold (maximum gold aura for a neutral character)
- Bright Gold
- Silver (maximum gold aura)
Certain spells, particularly of the Void and spirit spheres, will either improve if the target has compatible aura or fail if the caster has an incompatible one. Water-based healing effects will have weaker effects if cast by magi with reddened auras. Other effects are possible; individual spell helpfiles should be consulted in these cases.
