Toyhouse

Rhythm is the "soul" of all living things. A spiritual essence that can be drawn upon for power. Depending on the civilization it can be utilized in different ways. Some things remain consistent. Every living being has a "Strength" and "Weakness" When using rhythm in its raw form, the "intent" of attack is carried along it. If one attacks with their rhythm that is strong against their target, it will be more effective. (Knowledge-strong user attacking a knowledge-weak user for example.)

Rhythm is naturally restored as long as the user keeps living despite the connotations of "burning one's soul". The soul is made up of all the desires, experiences, and feelings that are accumulated over one's life and is what gives the rhythm its color.

A primary teaching of rhythm is "to know is to use". If one does not know about rhythm, they will be unable to use it. However, the mere thought of something possible may make it a reality. Techniques can be lost or gained by civilizations based on the manipulation of information.

A practical example of this is a rhythm-using civilization comes across a non-rhythm-using civilization. Even using technology, they would have a very difficult time attempting to steal or siphon rhythm from the non-rhythm-users unless they made them aware of their latent power.

Rhythm can be burned until there's nothing left. Once that point is reached, the user starts burning their life energy. This visualizes itself in the user's hair or fur turning an ashy white. Once this life energy is totally depleted the user will die. Younger individuals can recover from this state, while older rhythm users may require the aid of other rhythm users in order to replenish this lost energy.

As with any biological system, rhythm is susceptible to a variety of illnesses and conditions that inhibit or otherwise affect the user in a negative way. More information can be found here.

As a Sense

Rhythm, while being a power that can be used, is also a sixth sense for its users. Rhythm makes its users more sensitive to other users around them, allowing their emotional states to be picked up just like any other external stimuli. Another thing this allows is for users to sense the Element of resonators. Training this sense is possible, allowing rhythm masters to be able to discern another's Stave at a touch.

Rhythm Script

A type of writing where the user allows their thoughts and feelings to be transcribed so anyone attuned to rhythm can read it. This is accomplished via touch and allows the reader to trace a finger across the sentence in question to receive the information. Since this is being read via rhythm, normal language barriers can be broken in this manner and there isn't anything to be lost in translation since the meaning is always the writer's intent.

To write in rhythm script on paper, the user can use a medium such as a Rubato crystal to channel their thoughts through. Reading the script with one's eyes is all but impossible, and visually it just appears as random script from various old and dead languages. Even if one were to try and decipher the various characters, there wouldn't be anything readable as each writing "style" is unique to that particular writer, almost like a rhythm fingerprint.

This has fallen out of favor in modern times as most Rhythm users now speak English and technology has caught up to the point of no longer needing rhythm to transfer messages over air.

Stave

The strength and weakness of one’s spirit. Each rhythm user once they awaken their rhythm are assigned a strength and a weakness, and a color associated with that strength is what it burns as

Rhythm comes in three standard colors:

Blue – Representing willpower, the strength of one’s soul to continue moving.
- When strong: The user will exhibit leadership qualities, stubbornness, determination, and tenacity.
  - At its strongest the user exhibits an unshakable will, able to keep going well past the points where their body should have stopped
- When weak: The user will be a poor leader, fold/break easily, and are usually quiet and reserved.
  - At its weakest the user lacks any form of agency outside of what it takes to survive.
Red – Representing emotions, or the ability to connect the thoughts and feelings of those around them.
- When strong: The user will have great social awareness and pick up on unseen emotional cues of those around them. They also have great control over their own emotions and can very easily "fake" a mood or feeling and have it seem genuine.
  - At its strongest the user exhibits what could be described as "mind-reading" able to easily read the intentions of those around them and be able to handle most social situations through diplomacy.
- When weak: The user will come across as blunt or uncaring of people's feelings. They may come across as rude or oblivious. In addition, they also have strong emotions, but lack control of them, leading to more frequent outbursts.
  - At its weakest, the user lacks any sense for "reading the room" and will find themselves socially isolated. In addition, they will find their emotions to be highly unstable, snapping back and forth between moods at the drop of a hat.
Yellow – Representing knowledge, or the strength of one’s understanding of the world around them
- When Strong: The user will have an easy time understanding complex topics. Critical thinking skills are also improved with this.
  - At its strongest, the user will understand topics they have little exposure to with great ease. Their critical thinking skills will be top notch and formulating tactics and plans will be second nature to them.
- When Weak: The user will have a difficult time learning in general. They may not be able to understand more nuanced topics without several different explanations. They have a hard time "seeing the big picture" and work better on the fly or in moment-to-moment situations.
  - At its weakest, the user will be unable to understand foreign topics and lack the understanding to see the bigger picture.

These weaknesses can be mitigated or turned into a strength when in the presence of another who has a strength of stave to compliment the weakness. For example, a will weak individual with strong knowledge may surround themselves in strong willed individuals to bolster their own weakness and allow them to lead.

Though individuals have one strength, one weakness, and a third neutral stave, this is more of a sliding scale rather than an absolute. There are some rhythm users who will have low rhythm potential in all three categories, while there are those exceptionally gifted users who have high potential in all staves.

There exists two additional "colors" of rhythm that are extraordinarily rare to find.

White and Black

White rhythm is considered "pure" rhythm, the color of rhythm one is born with before the world has a chance to dye the user's soul with the sins of the world. It is weak rhythm, barely able to defend the user. However, in its purity, there is great potential within it. There are recorded atrocities committed attempting to gain this newborn rhythm as an energy source. There isn't a person alive who knows a method to extract rhythm from a living being for this is a line that should not be crossed. That isn't saying a method was never discovered - such information was purposefully lost in an attempt to save innocent lives.

Black rhythm on the other hand is considered to be evil, being all parts strong rhythm with no weaknesses to speak of. Such a user would be charismatic, with an iron will and a quick wit to boot. Black rhythm does appear in roughly one in a billion births, however even in the modern era, such dangerous rhythm is usually destroyed before it has a chance to become a threat.

Terms

Tempo - The measure at which rhythm naturally passes between two individuals. The higher the tempo the closer they are.
Etude – The act of mending the weakness of a rhythm user by another who has the matching strength in what the receiver the weak rhythm is, negating the detrimental effects of their weakness. For example: a knowledge-weak user will understand complicated subjects much easier if they're etuding with a knowledge-strong user. Rhythm rich cultures have less of a need for this technique due to constant siphoning and receiving of the correct weak and strong rhythm respectively. A pair which a matching strength and weakness are called a “duet”. The closer a duet is the easier it is for rhythm to flow, thus dampening the detrimental effects further.
- Etude works better with a physical touch, though still works just being in the presence of the other party involved. The most effective ways to etude and speed up the process is usually by sharing a bed with a duet partner, with scaling returns based on physical closeness, reaching the peak effectivity while holding one's partner while they sleep.
Scale – the rhythm network of one’s physical body. Certain techniques have been developed to allow for visualization of this network. Damage to the scale can occur, affecting the ability to utilize rhythm as an effective tool.
Burning Rhythm - A technique which a living being “burns” their spiritual existence in exchange for energy. Since living things constantly evolve and grow until death, this “burning” of ones own soul can be recovered from. Rhythm cannot be burned unless one knows and wants to burn it. Rhythm in a burning state can harm that which lives as long as the one burning it wishes it. Most cultures that discover rhythm weaponize it for this very fact. Since a burner can be selective about what is harmed simply by their mental state, it is an effective way of dealing with enemies.
Physical Rhythm - (Different civilizations have different names for these), Rhythm can be stored in certain precious gemstones for later use. Depending on the usage of rhythm, there may be natural deposits of these on rhythm rich planets. With the right technique, a rhythm user can draw the rhythm out of the stones and use it to replenish their own rhythm. More advanced civilizations use these stones in place of traditional energy sources such as fossil fuels.