I haven't read all of this, so I can't say if this has been mentioned already, but perhaps consider looking at non-physical applications of aether too. Of course your character could make use of aether subconsciously to strengthen his muscle fibers or bone to better resist injury; this is subtle enough for him to look mundane as you seem to want, yet still supernatural enough to fight on the level of other characters in the setting. But how about instinct? Perhaps it's not so much something as intense as clairvoyance, but perhaps his battlefield experience is such that he has powerful, aetheric-fueled hunches. Like the aether of a potential assailant feels different than that of others around him, and so he gets a really nasty gut feeling when someone is attempting to get the drop on him. Or perhaps he has a flash of intuition that isn't more explicit than a powerful thought or subconscious movement in his body, where he finds himself acting before he's even aware of his own intent; i.e. his body responds to the aether in the opponent and lends his sword arm speed to parry or preempt his opponent's strike with one of his own.
The way I play it is that since aether seems to be in pretty much everything, the old martial arts concept of 'sakki' (murderous intent) works in both a literal and conceptual sense. A person who is not sensitive to aether cannot claim to have supernatural sense, but at the same time, they can rely on experience, intuition, hunches, or being just plain paranoid to "feel" the animosity of an assailant before they act. But a person like a monk, who manipulates chakra and is explicitly connected to powers within the surrounding environment, or perhaps the hypothetical aether-manipulating mundane fighter that seems to be the topic of the thread, actually can claim to "feel" an enemy because they presumably have instinctive awareness of that person's aether. I rp the distinction between the two as poorly studied and not particularly concrete. It is difficult to determine whether your sudden reaction to a sneak attack, or a successful guess that your opponent is going to aim for your right leg instead of your left before he's even moved, is something within you or a supernatural power; many people of martial bent probably only care that they're alive and their opponent is dead.
Psychological warfare could be a matter to delve into too. I thought raubahn looked rather different during that one cutscene. Maybe this is an effect of aether making him appear monstrous and terrifying in the eyes of his enemies. A trick of the light makes your character's features seem bestial and utterly inhuman, just long enough to make them hesitate. But in fact this isn't a coincidence and is actually your aether actively affecting their senses.
Being that my character is effectively a freak with unnatural strength, I can't really claim to be playing a mundane character, but I try to find feasible enough explanations for what she can do that it leaves people uncertain as to how much is aether and how much is built in. In some cases I haven't really decided. What is most important to me is establishing what she can do and delivering consequences where they matter.
The way I play it is that since aether seems to be in pretty much everything, the old martial arts concept of 'sakki' (murderous intent) works in both a literal and conceptual sense. A person who is not sensitive to aether cannot claim to have supernatural sense, but at the same time, they can rely on experience, intuition, hunches, or being just plain paranoid to "feel" the animosity of an assailant before they act. But a person like a monk, who manipulates chakra and is explicitly connected to powers within the surrounding environment, or perhaps the hypothetical aether-manipulating mundane fighter that seems to be the topic of the thread, actually can claim to "feel" an enemy because they presumably have instinctive awareness of that person's aether. I rp the distinction between the two as poorly studied and not particularly concrete. It is difficult to determine whether your sudden reaction to a sneak attack, or a successful guess that your opponent is going to aim for your right leg instead of your left before he's even moved, is something within you or a supernatural power; many people of martial bent probably only care that they're alive and their opponent is dead.
Psychological warfare could be a matter to delve into too. I thought raubahn looked rather different during that one cutscene. Maybe this is an effect of aether making him appear monstrous and terrifying in the eyes of his enemies. A trick of the light makes your character's features seem bestial and utterly inhuman, just long enough to make them hesitate. But in fact this isn't a coincidence and is actually your aether actively affecting their senses.
Being that my character is effectively a freak with unnatural strength, I can't really claim to be playing a mundane character, but I try to find feasible enough explanations for what she can do that it leaves people uncertain as to how much is aether and how much is built in. In some cases I haven't really decided. What is most important to me is establishing what she can do and delivering consequences where they matter.
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AV by Kura-Ou
Wiki (Last updated 01/16)
My Balmung profile.
AV by Kura-Ou
Wiki (Last updated 01/16)
My Balmung profile.
