A Beginner’s Guide to Drucraft #36: Essentia Capacity In Practice

The previous entry discussed the theory of essentia capacity;  what it is and what it means.  This entry will focus more on how it works in practice.

When Essentia Capacity Matters . . .

A higher essentia capacity allows a drucrafter to use more sigls at once.  Technically it would also allow a drucrafter to use sigls with higher Lorenz ratings, but since these are so rare, the main use for a high essentia capacity is to allow the drucrafter to use multiple sigls with Lorenz ratings of 1 or lower.

Using multiple sigls at once is difficult.  Using two is more than twice as hard as using one, and using three is more than twice as hard as using two.  New channellers quickly find that even if they might have enough essentia capacity to operate two or three sigls at the same time, they don’t actually have the skill to do so effectively.  The usual way to compensate for this is by using continuous sigls – since these require no concentration, a drucrafter can use one triggered sigl (and focus all their attention on that) while the continuous sigls do their own thing.

However, there’s a much simpler way to get around this problem – use one sigl at a time.

. . . And When It Doesn’t

The simple fact is that very few sigls have to be used simultaneously.   If you have a medical sigl that stops bleeding, a levitation sigl that floats you up in the air, and a torch sigl that floods an area with light, then with enough time and practice you could build up enough skill to use all three of them effectively at once.  But realistically, if you’re using a sigl to stem someone’s bleeding or levitating yourself off the ground, then you probably want to be focusing on that.  Yes, you could end up in a situation where you have to provide emergency first aid in pitch darkness while hanging off the side of a building, but it’s not all that likely.

And, indeed, this is what generally happens.  Medical sigls are used in hospitals, slowly and individually.  Industrial sigls are used in factories – again, individually.  The same applies to invisibility, flight, and so on.  Even if you want to use two sigls at once, in most situations, you can probably figure out a way to use first one and then the other.  And if either of those uses are important, you probably want to use them one at a time, so that you can concentrate on each.

So why does essentia capacity matter?

Environmental Differences

Essentia capacity matters very little if you’re somewhere safe.  If you’re not being threatened or rushed or pressured, then there’s very little reason ever to need to use two sigls at once.  But if you’re somewhere dangerous, then being able to use two sigls at once can be very important indeed.

However, the real reason essentia capacity is so valued is only partly related to ‘safe’ versus ‘dangerous’.  It’s that in a one-on-one duel between drucrafters, having a higher essentia capacity is a huge advantage.  If one of the two drucrafters can use two full-power sigls while the other can use three, then, all else being equal, the one who can use three will almost always win.  They can use two sigls to counter their opponent’s two sigls, while using a third to attack unopposed.

This, more than any other other reason, is why people care about essentia capacity.  It’s the playground question of “who would win in a fight”.  Lots of people argue that it shouldn’t matter – and indeed, much of the time it doesn’t – but “who would win in a fight” is something people do pay attention to, even if they may not admit it.  It’s roughly equivalent to height and physical prowess in adult men.  Very few will say out loud that they judge based on these qualities, yet men who are tall, strong, and fit still tend to get preferential treatment over those who are short, weak, and flabby.

The Working Range

Most people’s essentia capacity falls in between 2 and 3.  As a very rough guide, for men, 3 and above is high, between 2.5 and 3 is average, between 2 and 2.5 is low, and below 2 is very low (the term ‘essentia cripple’ is sometimes used, though this is considered insulting).  For women, the brackets are roughly the same, but about 0.3 to 0.5 points lower (so ‘high’ would be 2.6 and up).  These figures vary from country to country.