There are eighteen chromatic planes parallel to the material one, and spiritual disposition determines which one an individual can connect to. Simply by having the right character, an individual will feel the presence of their nascent self in the other plane.
Plane selves are the basis of one’s connection to a given chromatic plane, as these planes are not given to being connected to in the abstract. Rather, they give parts of themselves over to become the essential properties of people, and those people, in turn, become a guiding force to make these other selves stronger. When people die and fully pass on, half of their other selves’ essence joins to their own spirit, while half of each returns to its respective plane.
Other selves are both separate and part of the bearers’ spirits, and they have no distinction between spirit and body–they are manifest spiritual essence within their respective dimensions, and yet they are linked strongly enough to their bearers that they are accurately described as part of them.
The eighteen dimensions are organized by organ (hand, shoulder, rib, eye, heart, lung) and material (stone, soil, crystal).
Hand is power whose definition is oriented around the action it produces, rather than the power itself. Nonetheless it produces that power which underlies that action.
Shoulder is demonstrable strength. It can clearly be displayed, and yet it remains a raw parameter, not so much focused on flashiness or show.
Rib is foundational strength. It is the framework which is relied upon, but which is not necessarily the most active.
Eye is thought and feeling, thought predominant. It is a magic that one bends in order to harness.
Heart is a feeling and thought, feeling predominant. It is a magic that one is bent by in order to harness.
Lung is the flow in the foundation, energetic yet central. That which homeostasis requires to be in constant motion.
Shoulder and rib are predominantly physical.
Eyes and heart are predominantly mystical.
Hand and lung are divided.
Consider stone. It is strong, yet dull. Stone is basic. Stone is familiar. Stone is reliable.
Consider soil. It lacks the strength of stone, and yet it cannot shatter. Furthermore, it can hold life. Soil lacks the strength of stone, but it also lacks its hardness, its direct conflict, and bears abilities besides hardness and potential force.
Crystal is hard, it shines, it can be sharp – but it is brittle. Where stone is grounded yet dull, crystal mimics the shine of a star, but its center lacks that same substantiality, that same fundamental constitution. But nevertheless, a diamond saw is sharper than any.
Having an other self is not merely an accessory. The connection is to all points of the spirit, and pulls on one’s identity. A person can have up to three other selves. Any more, and they are torn apart, and each other self absorbs part of them, and becomes their own entity.
Each other self can directly work through thr main self, the main self harnessing powers of the other self, but it is also possible for the other self to channel things from its realm through itself and into the main self and/or the world around them. Doing this enough may allow the other self to recreate what was channeled through it.
Other self absorption is also important for individuals seeking greater power. Absorbing part of the other self’s essence premortem both grants power that will remain even if the other self is somehow inaccessible, and also the capacity to produce and hold onto more power in the other self. The tradeoff is that power gained from absorbing part of the other self is lesser than the power of the other self consumed, but the other self can regrow it in time.
Essence from the chromatic planes can end up in the material one, either by bleeding over, creating what is called the ‘rainbow ether’, or by random rifts appearing, through which the essence that shoots through momentarily crystalizes. These crystals, being made of pure supernatural essence, can be eaten more or less harmlessly to gain some of the dimension’s power without even a need for an other self.
A few of the realms:
Red – stone; hand
Red draws upon the sharpness inside, the audacity, the boldness, even the brutality, to make sharp changes
Blue – stone; eye
Blue draws deep to produce magic, whether by the still of contemplation or the fervency of study and consideration.
Green – stone; lung
Green is life and energy, vitality and constitution, embodying both the force behind continuation and the combination of flexibility and hardness when necessary to outlast hardships.
Dun – stone; shoulder
Dun is strength in the raw, ofteb slow and sometimes agonizing but great in capability.
Grey – stone, rib
Grey is the outlasting attribute, the raw density of resilience that in overwhelming circumstances can be called imperviousness, an immovable object.
Pink – stone, heart
Pink is to live enraptured with what one is and what one has made oneself, to channel the self that is natural and the self that is constructed as one.
Lavender – soil, hand
Lavender is the consolation of a therapist or the blessing of a priest. Its power is in the flames it smothers and the seeds it plants and waters, even when it does both in the name of control. It is a healer and a master at once, it is the quiet wisdom amidst mad debate, it is the sleep that anxieties of the night get lost in, it is the proverbial woman behind the man.
Violet – crystal, hand
Violet is the charm in more ways than one, the magic that stage magicians pretend to have. Violet is strength, mystique, magic and style, all at once, yet only with any power to speak of when they all stand in unity.
Mint – Crystal, eye
Mint is psionic power of the lofty, near effortless in its mildest forms, yet with progressively more advanced abilities, it get progressively more difficult.
Periwinkle – Soil, eye
Periwinkle is the magic a mile wide and an inch deep, its realm offering powers to learn and draw upon from grooves tread by those who went before. It is the magic of wonder, rather than study or superiority. It is home to countless elemental natures to conjure and basic concepts to actualize, but it has limited potential.
Azure – soil, heart
Azure is the love of the world’s beauty, of life’s grandeur and of the excitement of doing and being.
Viridian – Crystal; lung
Viridian is the mysticization of the very breath in one’s lungs, and its power enables generation and use of vril.
Orange – soil, lung
Orange is will to extend one’s energy into the spiritual, beliving it not already there yet. It enables generation and control of ki.
Black – crystal; heart
Black is the power of melancholy or apathy. It can calm, and sometimes it can ‘calm’ things straight out of existence. It can also block some things from coming into being or activating. It can be seen as like a sedative or a tranquilizer: Some can put someone to peace, too much can put someone out for good.
White – shoulder, soil
White is the power of aggressive will to life, embodying both personal regeneration and, in spiritually-inclined individuals, miraculous healing.
Yellow – Crystal, shoulder
Yellow is the power of lightness and celerity.
Vermillion – Soil, rib
Vermillion is the attribute of persistence despite time, setbacks and discomfort, and carries with it power enabling this behavior.
Indigo – Crystal, rib
From the urge to find one’s own way even when it is impractical, indigo supresses connection to the other realms but increase the ability to develop power independently of them.