In order to initiate Incursions, a psychonaut needs Vajra. In order to charge their actions, a psychonaut needs Vajra. Vajra is the energy of inspiration, the thunderbolt that drives the story. This Vajra is the engine that powers the Blood Red Dreaming.

Vajra

The peoples of the Realms, and also the Psychonauts, rely upon Vajra to master the realm of stories and simply to survive. And the accumulation of Vajra is mediated by the Crescent Sun. And all of this is brings us to the Crescent Sun, the calendar used by the peoples of the Greater Realms of the Blood Red Dreaming.

• Learn more about the Crescent Sun.

Vajra and the Inner Eye

When a Psychonaut first enters the Shadowlands, their inner eye will not yet have opened. This means that until the Psychonaut opens their inner eye, they can only use the most simple Vajra manipulations- the unlocking of Incursions and the charging of one’s Aura. On the skill trees provided the reader will be able see the course of their psychonaut career. As the psychonaut’s skill improve, their life in the Shallows (and thus in the bonelands) will also improve, as they take actions outside the Incursions which drive them to new heights.In addition to doing Magick in the Shadowlands, they will have success in the Bonelands.Of course, that all comes later, when the Psychnoaut’s Inner Eye has opened. But simply because the Psychonaut cannot initially spend their Vajra doesn’t mean that they cannot accumulate Vajra. They can and they should.

• Learn more about the Inner Eye

Accumulating Vajra

Included below are printable forms for the accumulation of Vajra. Psychonauts accumulate Vajra through actions undertaken in the Bonelands, in the real world. There are multiple types of Vajra, but at this point the psychonaut will only have unlocked the ability to accumulate and use the most universal type of Vajra, the Aether Vajra.

The other Vajra types and their features and the associated abilities will be discussed as they become relevant.

Vajra is accumulated across the course of a month. Looking at the form, the reader will see checklists separated by vertical lines. Let’s use the first one as an example. Cleaning and Tidying is the first item on the first form. The first section under Cleaning and Tidying has four tick boxes and then a vertical line. This means that after four cleaning and tidying sessions, a psychonaut will earn an Aether Vajra (shown below the Cleaning and Tidying section). This means that a psychonaut can earn a maximum of four aether vajra from cleaning and tidying in a single lunar month. Also remember, this vajra is not actually received until the end of the month. And Vajra resets at the beginning of the year. This process is designed to force people to continue training. Also note that some activities will produce diminishing returns. Note that physical endurance training takes more and more workouts to earn each Vajra. But in the reverse, agility training produces increasing returns- as it takes fewer and fewer workout sessions to earn vajra.

What is Vajra?

So what the hell is Vajra? Fair question.

Wikipedia describes Vajra as follows: “In Buddhism the vajra is the symbol of Vajrayana, one of the three major branches of Buddhism. Vajrayana is translated as “Thunderbolt Way” or “Diamond Way” and can imply the thunderbolt experience of Buddhist enlightenment or bodhi. It also implies indestructibility, just as diamonds are harder than other gemstones… …The vajra is representative of upaya (skilful means)… …In the tantric traditions of Buddhism, the vajra is a symbol for the nature of reality, or sunyata, indicating endless creativity, potency, and skillful activity. The term is employed extensively in tantric literature: the term for the spiritual teacher is the vajracharya; one of the five dhyani buddhas is vajrasattva, and so on. The practice of prefixing terms, names, places, and so on by vajra represents the conscious attempt to recognize the transcendental aspect of all phenomena; it became part of the process of “sacramentalizing” the activities of the spiritual practitioner and encouraged him to engage all his psychophysical energies in the spiritual life.”

So what is Vajra within the Context of the Blood Red Dreaming and the Crescent Sun? It’s a measure of success. Both BRD and CS use Vajra in the same way that video games use Experience points systems, combined with also using them as energy point bars or magic point systems. The system uses two systems here, Vajra and progress points. Progress Points are simply a marker of progress towards earning a Vajra.

Vajra Types

Vajra itself divides into four types of Vajra.

• Aether Vajra: Vajra of the Void. This is the default Vajra, a Vajra uncolored by any of specialization.
• Air Vajra: The Vajra of Story: This is the Vajra of Logic, a Vajra colored by the ability to cut apart fantasy and find the truth.
• Water Vajra: The Vajra of Mind: This is the Vajra of Knowledge, a Vajra colored by the accumulation of skill and information.
• Earth Vajra: The Vajra of Body: This is the Vajra of Action, a Vajra colored by the pursuit of achievement and vitality.

The Vajra totals are accumulated and spent separately. As warriors progress through the lunisolar year, their achievements will earn them progress points which will translate into Vajra (of the appropriate type) at the end of each month. Vajra from the previous month (and only the previous month) can be spent as progress point in order to help warriors maintain streaks and obtain Charge bonuses.