Manifest society
Manifests are Source users who take pride in their ability to draw ever-greater power from the universe despite its many risks. In contrast to the intellectual, organized, mystics, manifests have a reputation for being unruly and untrained. While the reality is more complex, it is clear that manifests resist moderation in their use of fos, causing great strain between the two kinds of Source user.
In the broadest sense, mystics often define manifests by what they are not - i.e., any Source user who is not a mystic. But humans have been drawing on Source forever, long since there were either mystics or manifests. More specifically, manifests are the result of a social movement that emerged in the complex political era after the end of the Omban Empire in 338 IE, during which old alliances and institutions were rebuilding. It was at this time that the various skills of the manifest became commonplace, rather than merely the wanton use of fos. It is sometimes asserted (both by manifests and by others) that the specific practices of the manifest are derived from those of the Kingdom of Duedarcia or lands even further south, but there has never been any demonstration of that.
Various individuals have been proposed as 'the first' manifest. Perhaps the most plausible claimant is Kisendu 'Mosaic' Velemi, a fourth-century woman from eastern Choradan who rose from a family of bakers who taught sentinels wounded in war to use Source. Shortly thereafter, an often-criminal gang known as the Eyewitnesses arose on the streets of Omba, identifying and training students from the impoverished masses of the former Imperial capital. In Basai, the mystics at the Academy at Dundures talk about the Subversion of Maimala, perceived as an early effort to infiltrate and corrupt high-ranking mystics, that ended in its namesake's execution.
In the fourth century, manifests were seen as a symptom of the breakdown of the Empire and a threat to the social order, and were even persecuted in some cases. They were regarded (wrongly) as suicidal, because of some well-known cases of reckless untrained fos users destroying themselves with Source. For their own part, manifests came increasingly to resent the degree to which mystics were in control not only of sources of fos, but also of power and key roles within institutions. In the sixth and seventh centuries, culminating in the fos blight of 651, as the great Basaian fos fields began to dry up and fos supplies dwindled, the stereotype of a reckless user of fos became even more threatening, but the price of fos became so great that many manifests were forced to restrain their use of Source. Now, with the fos rush, there is a new golden age of manifests on the horizon, as the conservative philosophies of the mystics are regarded as outmoded.
There is no manifest society, per se. They have no formal organization nor do they congregate in systematic ways. At most, there is a general recognition of common interest that leads one manifest to help another. Manifests train in an apprenticeship system under a single master, but even that is often a fairly loose relationship. One special characteristic of manifest training is that one cannot complete one's training before completing the Five Repercussions (vash zargasse) - i.e., serious effects of Source use, that then become part of the narrative that the manifest tells. It is understood that only a manifest who has sufficiently failed can be prepared to succeed. Of course, this is risky, but managing risk is part of the philosophy of the manifest.
Outside of Basai, where mystics still control almost all positions of power, manifests now occupy a variety of roles within lineages and institutions, especially in the western states of Choradan and Daligash. Nonetheless, as a generalization, manifests tend to be more independent in their employment, preferring the freedom to choose their own work. There is still notionally some distrust of manifests due to the perceived risks of their behaviour, but individual manifests who have proven themselves are employed by their own lineages, by governments, and in the military.
