A/N JW'S setting detail post.

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Before I go any further, I would just like to inform all of you that the Canon Main Character, Bell Cranel, will not be making an appearance in this Story. Percy Jackson has now completely and totally subsumed the role of the Main Character. All your base are belong to him. Bell Cranel is now a non factor in story and effectively does not exist in this particular timeline.

I repeat, Bell Cranel is not going to have any role to play in this story. He is effectively non-existent.

You may resume your regularly scheduled reading.

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The Falna
The falna is a god's grace/blessing, usually given when an adventurer joins a god's familia. It allows for the Adventurer to gain Excilia(EXP points) and grow in strength. However, the effect isn't immediate. The adventurer must have their god update their status for any changes in strength to take place. Only the god who gave them the falna can update it, but with their god's permission adventurers can choose to leave a familia to join another. In such a case, their old falna is written over by their new god's falna. However, they do not lose any of their hard earned excilia in the process and will retain their former strength.

The Falna takes the form of a large tattoo that covers the entire back of the adventurer that possesses it. The graphical design of the Falna differs based on the god who granted it. (Loki has a large jester and Hestia has a flaming chalice) The falna is written in the 'Sacred Text' which can only be read by the select few who bother to take the time to study it. In this Story, Percy can read it because his brain is hardwired to read Ancient Greek... which is what the rest of Orario calls the 'Sacred Text'. The falna is normally displayed openly on the Adventurer's back, with only their clothing to hide their falna from others. However, gods who are savvy enough learn how to make the falna invisible to the naked eye by 'Locking' it.

In fact Loki does this to her familia, which is why Aiz Wallenstein can walk around in that little low back dress without showing her falna to the world.

Seriously, look at this.

Spoiler: Dat Back

Do you see a tattoo there? Don't answer, it was a rhetorical question.

In fact, this is why the Item known as Status Thief exists. To reveal the Falna of someone who has had it locked.

Abilities

There are two types of abilities: Basic and Developmental.

Basic Abilities are:
Strength
Dexterity
Endurance
Agility
Magic


I think that we SBers are smart enough, so I won't bother explaining what each does. But all adventurers have these abilities on their falna, it's why they're called basic.

When you first receive a falna all of your Stats start at I0 and are normally hard capped at S999. (Bell can reach even further thanks to his unique skill)

The Basic Abilities progress as such:
I0 - I99
H100 - H199
G200 - G299
F300 - F399
E400 - E499
D500 - D599
C600 - C699
B700 - B799
A800 - A899
S900 - S999
SS1000 - SS1099
SSS1100+

Again, it is normally impossible to go past S999 but Bell in canon can and has managed to boost his abilities past the hard cap and had his Agility so high it got to the point where the falna just gave up and gave him a static SSS letter rank. (SSS1337)

It goes without saying of course, that it gets harder and harder to raise your abilities the higher they get. Also, the falna does not take into account how strong you were before receiving the falna, which is why while an Amazonian might be far stronger naturally than a Pallum, the falna will still state all of their abilities as I0 when they first sign up with a familia to become an adventurer.

Developmental Abilities
Developmental abilities are different from basic abilities, for one they do not normally appear at the start of an adventurer's career, when they first receive a falna. But rather, they appear upon a level up should the requirements to unlock them be met. Only one can be gained per level up. Also, they do not follow the progression scheme of the basic abilities but rather, they have a pure Letter Rank for them instead of a Letter and a Number.

For Example:
Hunter: G

There is another difference, but I will go into that later. For now I will write about the 'Requirements'.

Every Developmental ability has requirements that should they be met with the proper Excilia, will unlock them and make them available to be selected upon a Level Up. You see, Excilia isn't just the flat EXP points you get while playing an RPG. They are your literal experiences and memories. Every Monster you kill, every Sword you forge, Every magic item you handle, it all becomes your Excilia.

So let's say you forge a lot of swords and armor. As such, you gain a lot of excilia related to forging and blacksmithing. Therefore meeting the requirements for the 'Blacksmithing' Developmental ability to be available for selection upon leveling up.

Of course, Percy being the Bullshit Demigod he is, gained two Developmental abilities upon receiving the falna.

Level
The Level functions both as a sort of a Social Rank for Adventurers and a Measure of Sheer Power. A good rule of thumb is that Higher Leveled adventurers are magnitudes stronger than Lower Leveled adventurers. Upon receiving the falna, everyone starts at level one. No matter how strong they were previously. Most will never progress past level one.

To Level Up, you first need to have all of your Basic Abilities with the exception of Magic be at D500 at the very least. Then you need to accomplish something that would be impressive relative to your own strength. What exactly that is can vary. Bell in canon leveled up by defeating a Minotaur at level 1.

Once you do Level up however, several things happen.

1.) You gain an boost in raw power that is not reflected in your Falna. (Bell at level 2 with all his stats at I0 would still be stronger than Bell at any point pre level up.)
2.) All of your Basic Abilities will be reset to I0. This does not mean that the Adventurer has to start all over from the beginning but rather, his old stats remain as an invisible base that he can build upon. Also, Developmental abilities are unaffected by level ups. And will not be reset at all.
3.) Assuming the adventurer has managed to meet the requirements, he will gain a Developmental Ability. If he has met the requirements for multiple developmental abilities he can choose which one he wants to take. But he is limited to only One per level up.
4.) You Totes get mad Street cred.

Okay, the last one is a joke.... actually no, not really. You see, if you even manage to get to Level 2 you are considered part of an elite few. And even then, you are only considered a Third-Class Adventurer and amongst the more Famous Familias you may be stuck playing Supporter for your betters. Level Three and Four are considered Second-Class Adventurers. Level Five and up are considered First-Class Adventurers. The Cream of the Crop. If you're level 1? You're a scrub and you get no respect. Look at the assholes above thee and weep as they shit into your mouth.

Skills
Skills are... well let's call them special powers possessed by some adventurers if you will. Their effects can vary wildly and some are very rare if not outright unique. They are however, limited to only those who have a Falna. Bell's Realis Phrase can increase his Growth rate to ridiculous enough levels to break through the nominal hard cap, Welf's Crozzo Blood allows for him to make Magic Swords(Imagine a DnD Wand just in a sword form), Percy's Despair upping his Encounter Rate, Lefiya's Fairy Cannon Doubling all Offensive Magic damage etc etc etc.

Edit: I have noticed that some of you are still confused between Developmental Abilities and Skills, and have trouble diffrentiating the two. Well, let me help you understand by comparing and contrasting the two.

If you are not a bullshit Demigod, Developmental Abilities only appear upon a level up. However, a Skill can appear at anytime. Due to their spirit blessing, the Crozzos gained their ability to make magic swords in the form of a skill upon receiving the Falna. Bell spontaneously developed Realis Phrase at level 1 because of his pursuit of Aiz. Percy got Despair because being a Demigod is suffering.

To highlight another difference, Skills do not have ranks, and they do not grow or develop any further. So yes, Lefiya's Fairy Cannon that doubles Magic Damage will not eventually grow into an OMGWTFPLSNO Cannon that Quintuples Magic Damage.

...Not that anything is stopping her from getting another skill that boosts Magic Damage even further.

Magic
While I want to call Magic a special power possessed by some adventurers, there are some differences. First of all is that there Congenital Magics and Acquired Magics. Congenital Magic is magic that you possess naturally as a member of a specific race. As a Demigod of Poseidon, Percy can Manipulate Water, talk to horses, gain serious boosts to regeneration and strength while in contact with a body of water etc etc etc. All of that is natural to him as someone with Poseidon's power. Acquired Magics on the other hand is magic that you gain by any means other than birth. Either by receiving a falna or reading a Grimoire or whatever. Bell's Fireball is an example of an Acquired Magic.

Another difference is that most magic require a chant to cast. In general the longer the chant, the more powerful the spell. So while Bell's Firebolt as a no chant spell, can be cast simply by speaking the Spell's name, it isn't very powerful. While Riveria's Rea Laevateinn requires a multiple stanza chant but is strong enough to nuke huge areas of enemies.

Also, while there is no hard limit on how many skills you may possess, there is a limit on how many magic spells you may have. Each Spell takes up a 'Slot' with most adventurers having around one to three slots(If you have played Dark Souls, think of it as Attunement Slots). Once all slots are used up, the only way to get more spells is to use a grimoire.

Curses
(Edit 6/14/2016) Hoo boy, didn't think I would need to add anything to this post but here we are. Right, Curses are extremely similar to magic. I mean look, they take up an Attunement Spell Slot? Check. They require a chant to use? Check.

They differ in that Curses can only be tanked by Developmental Abilities and certain Magic Items and that the using a curse Costs the caster something. (e.g Lowered Status while Curse is active)

... I have no idea what madness possessed me to spend the time to write all of this down.

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