Vital aura

In the world of Cradle, vital aura gathers around the elements it belongs to; for instance, stone aura gathers around stone, and water aura gathers around water. The more of an element that is present, the more aura gathers there. Slowly, and at different speed for different elements, the elements themselves, will start to gather the aura, and if left undisturbed for long enough, these veins of vital aura are refined into a higher state. Pools of water will turn into sacred pools, which are often used to refine elixirs, and Titan's Bone, which comes from stone, is almost unbreakable.

Madra comes from vital aura. Madra is the energy produced and residing in one's core. A baby is born with pure madra. Life, blood, and dream aura generated by one's body are initially converted into pure madra, at birth and early childhood, but as vital aura is gathered from the environment and integrated into the core, it takes on the aspects of that aura, and the corresponding madra is produced instead. Once cultivated, madra can be used to fuel and empower a multitude of techniques as well as one's own body. As one advances, their madra becomes more potent and more dense, allowing them to do more with less.

The core resides in the center of one's spirit, placed just below the navel, and madra channels loop throughout the body, to and from the core. Replenishing and expanding the madra pool of a core is done through cycling, drawing in vital aura of the same aspect, or through the use of elixirs and pills.

• see also Madra for a list of aspects, and see Sacred Arts for how all this magic works together