Antiself

Antiselves are the manifestation of one's unconscious feelings and emotions. They are autonomous, colourless mirrors whose soul purpose is to bear the weight of the sorrow felt by their human counterparts by taking the physical wounds and injuries extreme emotions cause. To acknowledge one's antiself is to acknowledge your own suffering, a pledge to carry your grief upon your own shoulders in exchange for the powers lent to you by your counterpart. Those who have awakened antiselves may shift into and out of their mirrored forms as necessary, as well as an enhanced affinity to certain weapon types, allowing them a distinct advantage on the battlefield.

To see the full list of Antiself users, refer to Category:Antiself.

Igniting
Antiself users posses the ability to 'ignite', producing a flame whose colour depends on their affinity to certain weapon types. These range on the visible spectrum from red to blue.


 * Those who produce a flame falling on the red part of the visible spectrum have significant ability in wielding heavy, close-ranged weapons such as broad swords, axes and flails which deal extremely high damage concentrated on a small area. Their antiselves typically possess horns and claws for additional close range damage, as speed is reduced due to their heavy weapons.
 * Those who produce a flame falling on the orange and yellow part of the visible spectrum have significant ability in wielding long and close-ranged mechanised limbs, from artifical wings to motorbike wheels, each one unique to its operator. Their antiselves typically possess tails and other animal-esque appendages, all of which contain complex motors and machinery, making them fast moving, covering a wide damage radius.
 * Those who produce a flame falling on the green part of the visible spectrum have significant ability in wielding smaller bladed weapons that deal lighter damage at a wider radius than their red-flamed counterparts. Examples include scythes, spears, rapiers and lances. Their antiselves typically possess wings, which allow for a greater area coverage and faster movement, which is helped by their light weapons, and may or may not possess tails for balance, and/or horns.
 * Those who produce a flame falling on the blue part of the visible spectrum have a significant ability in wielding long-ranged artillery that deal varying amounts of damage at a specific target depending on the type of artillery used. Examples include railguns, bazookas and cannons. These antiselves most resemble humans, with no discerning inhuman features shown in other affinities.

Infectious Antiselves
However, otherselves are not indestructible; build-up of emotional stress or sudden trauma may trigger than mutation of an antiself when their human counterpart becomes unable to cope with the mental strain. In this event, the flame colour produced will transmigrate into a purple hue, and their human counterpart is assimilated into their antiself, and ceases to exist. Antiselves who have merged with their human become infectious, causing enormous surges in their power beyond their control, leading them to attack other antiselves and consequently infecting them as well. Humans who have been attacked by infectious antiselves become aimless and apathetic, seemingly unable to perceive emotions.

Infectious antiselves are characterised by their highly regenerative bodies, and presence of metal chains, which act as an extension of their limbs. Once antiselves become infectious, the only way of preventing them from causing further damage is by killing the infectious antiself with a weapon used by another antiself.

Antiself Initiative Syndicate
A.I.S. is an international organisation that aims to seek out individuals believed to be physically and mentally fit, in order to train them into becoming skilful antiself users who will then be tasked with annihilating infectious antiselves.

Affiliates of the Syndicate are placed in one of three groups:
 * Students (adolescents between the ages of 15 and 18) are trainee Syndicate members. They are trained within AIS centres to wield their antiselves and their weapons, as well as the six hours of academic education that children are legally required to undertake between these ages. Students also receive significant focus on their mental health, as they are required to be extremely fit in both mind and body, ready to become Freelancers.
 * Freelancers (individuals over the age of 19) who have graduated from the training centres and have expressed interest in furthering their careers in infectious antiself disposal. Freelancers are sorted according to location, and receive alerts and missions from the Syndicate whenever infectious antiselves appear within their catchment area. They usually have another regular day job which forms an additional source of income.
 * Graduates (individuals over the age of 19) who have graduated from the training centres but have expressed no wish to continue a career in infectious antiself disposal. Their details and whereabouts are retained on the AIS information bank in the event that their abilities are needed.