[This chapter serves as a compendium of knowledge about the world of the novel.
The information is gradually revealed without within the story and duplicated here for ease of access. As, such it may contain minor spoilers]
1. Crowns
Definition:
Relics that bond with humans to produce abilities.
Function via resonance.
Types of Crowns
1. Combat Crowns
- Enhance physical strength, durability, or reflexes.
- Often used by soldiers or elite students.
- Examples: Blade manipulation, strength amplification, elemental attack.
2. Utility Crowns
- Non-combat skills for survival or specialised tasks.
- Examples: Stealth, flight, tracking, environmental manipulation.
3. Control Crowns
- Influence minds, manipulate energy, or alter surroundings.
- Examples: Telekinesis, persuasion, sound manipulation, barriers.
4. Monarch Crowns
- Rare, high-level, restricted by the Tribunal.
- Often dangerous or world-altering.
- Require high skill and resonance to use.
- Examples: Silent Crown, Overlord Crown
Rules
- A crown cannot function without resonance.
- Crowns can be nullified, disrupted, or overloaded.
- Users can train to increase control and output.
2. Abilities and Mechanics
Resonance:
- The connection between user and crown.
- Determines strength, control, and activation speed.
Activation Types:
1. Passive: Always on or automatic.
2. Active: Requires conscious effort.
3. Trigger: Condition-based (stress, emotion, environment).
Limitations:
- Overuse leads to physical and mental strain.
- Crowns can be destabilised by external interference (like Vahn).
- Nullification or silence fields suppress, but rarely destroy, crowns.
3. Rifts
Definition:
- Fractures in reality allowing anomalies, creatures, and energy to leak into the world.
Types:
1. Minor Rift Flare - Small energy release; usually harmless if contained.
2. Moderate Rift - Produces creatures and environmental hazards; requires crown users.
3. Major Rift Breach - Large-scale disasters; causes destruction and mass casualties.
Behavior:
- Rift energy reacts to crowns.
- Silence fields (Vahn) destabilise local resonance, affecting both rifts and crown users.
4. Monsters /Rift Creatures
General Traits:
- Usually adapted to rift energy.
- Sensitive to crown resonance; destabilised in silence zones.
- Vary in size, intelligence, and aggression
Examples
1. Rift Wraith
- Ethereal form, attacks using resonance pulses.
- Weak to silence fields; becomes slower and easier to hit.
2. Shard Maw
- Physical creature, sharp claws reinforced by rift energy.
- Weakens if crown-enhanced weapons are nullified.
3. Void Stalker
- Stealth predator, uses shadow and sound manipulation.
- High sensory abilities; disrupted by silence domains.
4. Rift Colossus
- Giant creatures tied directly to rift; very difficult to kill.
- Requires multiple crown users or domain-level abilities to stop.
4. Crown-Based Social Hierarchy
Monarch-Class Users
Holders of rare, world-altering crowns (e.g., Silent Crown).
Monitored or controlled by the Tribunal.
Extremely dangerous; able to influence regions or rifts.
Examples: Vahn Ardyn (Silent Crown), secret elite agents.
Elite Crown Users / Upper-Tier Students
Exceptional crown skill and compatibility.
Often combat-oriented.
Occupy leadership or special roles in academies and rift response teams.
Can influence lower-tier users and participate in high-stakes operations.
Examples: Thane Crestborn, Eryn Vale.
Mid-Tier Crown Users
Moderate skill and training.
Perform routine academy work, combat drills, and rift stabilization.
May assist or mentor lower-tier students.
Lower-Tier / Average Crown Users
Basic compatibility.
Limited abilities; mostly used in standard training, labor, or low-risk missions.
Often under supervision of higher-tier users.
Crownless Humans
Cannot bond with crowns.
Typically work as laborers, assistants, or support personnel.
Survival depends on skill, cunning, or stealth.
Occasionally develop techniques to survive or manipulate crown users indirectly.
2. Academy Hierarchy
Professor / Instructor – Trains students, oversees operations, high knowledge of crowns.
Wardens / Security Officers – Enforce rules, protect students, manage rift crises.
Student Tiers:
Upper-tier (elite)
Mid-tier
Lower-tier / novice
Crownless Students / Assistants – Support roles, maintenance, or hidden knowledge.
3. Tribunal Hierarchy
Tribunal Leaders / Arbiter Council – Make laws, classify crowns, enforce secrecy.
Tribunal Agents / Observers – Monitor anomalies, supervise elite users, intervene in crises.
Warden-Captains – Directly manage academy security under Tribunal authority.
Field Wardens – Carry out orders, stabilize rifts, handle enforcement.
4. Rift Threat Hierarchy
Rift Colossus – Largest, most dangerous creatures; require multiple crown users to stop.
Major Rift Creatures – Powerful, intelligent, or coordinated.
Moderate Rift Creatures – Threaten trained users; localized incidents.
Minor Rift Flare Creatures – Weak, often experimental or incidental.
5. Power Hierarchy (Combat Perspective)
Monarch Crown / Silent Crown – Reality-altering abilities; control over resonance itself.
Elite Crowns – High-level combat or control abilities; can dominate groups.
Mid-tier Crowns – Effective in small teams or controlled situations.
Lower-tier Crowns – Useful only for basic training or minor tasks.
Crownless – Cannot generate crown power; survival depends on intelligence, tools, or exploiting weaknesses in others' crowns (like Vahn).