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puppyjt · 1 month ago

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ok all caste rewrite. bc i've had it on my mind for a while. insanely long post (for me at least) so strap in if you care and skim politely if you don't. this took way too long.

i must preface by saying, i have not fully read rhato 2011, i absolutely hate scott lobdell, so if anything here is totally wrong relating to that, my bad, i tried my best to incorporate stuff from canon. ALSO i do not know shit about spirituality irl, this is a fictional philosophy, okay? okay.

my all caste is very soul magic focused, this type of magic is wielded by all caste and i think its very insinuated this is the main type of magic used and that their magic/work/training focuses on soul related things.

this is how dc fandom wiki defines soul magic:

"A type of magic that is powered by the souls of others; it allows its user to view one's aura, manipulate the soul to reveal knowledge within another, steal the powers of others, and recharge mana by grazing through other's souls. The Faust family line are notable practitioner, as it requires a user to have either no soul or a tattered soul and to be demonically empowered to cast."

but i'm going to redefine some things. these are MY definitions/revisions of these concepts/things, as stated before, they are not going to align perfectly with the comics/canon. "oh but you said that as a statement/the truth when it's not in dc canon", it is true, in my rewrite.

for soul magic, let's talk about the last part. i'd argue that jason has a "tattered soul" and essence has no soul, but neither is "demonically empowered", so scratch that off the criteria. "oh but what about all the other all-caste members?", let's say that to have a somewhat pure soul, your soul must be somewhat tattered. therefore any one who is cleansed, trained by the all-caste, and uses soul magic, must have a tattered soul. tattered ≠ corrupt. tattered = damaged/having had experienced hardships.

purity and evilness/corruption - a measurement of someone's soul/aura based off their actions, the effects of the actions, and mildly the intentions behind them. (think the points system in the good place, but like, slightly less flawed lol.)

here's a visual representation of some of these things as i feel i do not have the skills to properly verbalize how i visualize it:

^ related to this; being fully on one side of the spectrum does not mean one cannot have "evil" or "pure" aspects. additionally, being "fully corrupted" and "fully pure" does not necessarily mean they are untitled or all-caste, or that they have touched the absolute evil or cleansing.

the cleansing - opposite to absolute evil. a powerful "water" that can cleanse the souls of those who are not (fully) corrupted. if someone's soul is too corrupt or has touched the absolute evil, the cleansing kills them.

absolute evil - deriving from the well of sins. opposite to the cleansing. a powerful "water" that can corrupt the souls of those who are not (somewhat) pure. if someone's soul is too pure or has been cleansed, the absolute evil kills them.

the untitled - ancient evil race, of essentially demons, descending from eight siblings who touched the absolute evil. they take positions of power to lure people in and corrupt their souls.

all-caste - ancient cult of warrior monks created by the ninth sibling, ducra, who resisted the absolute evil and found the cleansing. cleanses people and then trains them to take down the untitled. members also train to have omniscience.

omniscience - (the "all" in all-caste.) the ability to see the future, past, and present all at once, specifically in regards to aura/souls. they can see how corrupt or pure someone has been, will be, and is. this helps members find the untitled amongst regular people. those who have this also tend to be colder and drier as they see much corrut

all-mother - the leader of the all-caste. possesses the ability to read anyone's soul/aura and determine whether or not they can be cleansed (or corrupted). gains the knowledge of members once they die. formerly ducra, would be essence but she technically refused the title, although she attempted to rebuild the all-caste after they were slain and before she was trapped in the blood blades.

all-daughter / the first daughter - essence. the first daughter and the heir to the all-caste. will gain all of the power and knowledge of the all-mother (and thus all deceased members) in the event she is killed.

the chosen / the last son - jason todd. the one prophesied to take over the all-caste when ducra died, originally thought to be essence by most until jason rolled around.

chamber of all - a magical space that apparently has a gateway to hell and the past?—really could not find a solid definition for this. help.

acres of all - a land within Tibetan mountains that is the home of the all-caste. surrounds/built around the chamber of all and the cleansing waters.

all-blades - a weapon made of the physical manifestation of one's soul. classically conjured into blades (hence the name), though can be conjured as other weapons as technology advances. kills the untitled/those with fully corrupt souls, cannot harm anyone who is not fully corrupted. held by jason todd.

blood blades - a weapon made from of the blood of the holder. same as above; can be conjured as any weapon but typically blades. traps the untitled/those with fully corrupted souls, cannot harm the pure—if one does, they themselves are trapped inside. held by essence/isabel ardila.

(all doesn't look like a real word anymore...)

personally, i think defining good and evil like this is so silly, but for a fictional little world, it's okay.

also i added that the blades can be made into other weapons bc i think the idea of jason using guns with all-blade/soul manifestation bullets is the most peak thing ever!!!!! if you take any concept away from this, let it be that!

okay. moving on to ducra and essence.

who is ducra? the all-mother. an ancient magic user who was extremely corruptible (in that middle circle of our spectrum), but cleansed herself of evil. completely omniscient. currently deceased, but her soul is present in the acres of all and can communicate with her daughter.

who is essence? the last daughter. an ancient being with no soul. she was originally born as a real girl, where she witnessed her aunts/uncles touch the absolute evil. has been continually remade by her mother using the shadows (think god making adam out of clay). NON-HUMAN (fuck you rh:o for calling her human). is technically the leader of the remaining all-caste, however has not trained anyone yet and likely will not for a while. currently bound to the blood blades and isabel ardila.

i wrote the above after the below, so below is explaining/elaborating on some of the above:

-> so, i've questioned, is essence supposed to be about the same age as jason ? i always think it's kind of weird that she's supposed to be ancient and he's like, mentally fifteen.

i've seen it done as ducra and essence endlessly giving birth to each other, and that's fine. i'm not sure if it's canon but idc. my idea is that ducra continuously recreates essence (using the shadows of course) and does not allow her to have the memories of her former selves, so that she can learn knew things each new life and study different areas—and also so ducra can teach and tell her selective things and information. this would make sense as essence would be 17/18 when her and jason, ahem, begin their relationship. but then when ducra dies, essence gains the knowledge of all of her former lives, and all of the all-caste, and essentially becomes thousands of years old mentally. thus there is no weird age difference when they initially hook up.

-> i'm also totally not sure on whether ducra is dead or not??? rhato2011 claims her and the rest of the all-caste were killed, but red hood: outlaw features her and another all-caste member. essence also sees them as force ghost type things. let's say (mildly based off very vague canon) the force ghost thing is the last manifestation of their soul/magic. ducra had a lot so hers can stick around for a long time.

additional info, some important, some not:

-> the all caste, specifically ducra, is extremely puritanical, for a buttload of reasons and with a buttload of causes:

the untitled basically breed like crazy, so sex is viewed as an evil/untitled act. ducra perpetuates this by using the shadows to rebirth essence instead of actually rebirthing her (although given the fact that ducra is ancient i don't think that would be biologically possible anyway).

the absolute evil and the cleansing must touch bare skin to work, so nudity/being unclothed is viewed as extremely weak and dangerous because you are allowing yourself to possibly be exposed to the absolute evil. it is only allowed when you are being cleansed (and obviously changing showering etc, but that is done in private quarters).

this is why the all-caste monks wear the layers they do (actual buddhists monks do wear robes to cover such things, as well as for practical reasons like the cold etc). essence wore layers while training and once exiled donned the full black body suit.

-> related to above, my ducra & all caste are not meant to be the best people ever. they are intended to be morally flawed. she is meant to parallel bruce in that her "mission" is extremely important and kind of goes above anything else.

-> i want to say that the acres of all are immune to omniscience and anything that happens within them is not known to everyone else. but this is iffy because i mostly like the idea because i want jason and essence's relationship to be a secret for most of it (not sure if that's canon or not).

-> while training, bruce was offered to train the all-caste/ducra but once told about the cleansing, he refused. he was worried that the cleansing would kill him because he was too corrupt.

ask questions, give suggestions, and give constructive feedback. this is all for fun but my goodness ive put so much thought into it. its three am and this hasn't been proofread so ill fix it up later.

i'm going to make a few posts relating to all of this; at LEAST, one with visuals of how i view everything, and one going in depth on jason and essence's relationship in my revision. i might also write some fics based off this au/revision.

jayessence sequel post

some posts that partially inspired/helped the creation of this one: what-ifs @moon-ayyye , talking about essence @spiritsglade , these reblogs and replies @autisticrosewilson , + some others that i can't find :( and literally anyone who has ever posted about the all caste on here because i've read so many posts.

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