Spiritia was first discovered by the ancient race of humanoids known as the Protoculture hundreds of thousands of years ago during their war with the Inspection Army and their Protodeviln masters. Spiritia served as a catalyst for the Protodeviln's extra-dimensional energy, and they fed on the Protocultures' life forces to maintain and strengthen their powers. But the Protocultures learned how to use their spiritia to resist the Protodeviln and break their hold over other enslaved humanoids. Eventually a group of mystics called the Anima Spiritia who were trained in the use of spiritia powers confronted the Protodeviln on their icy homeworld and sealed them in special anti-spiritia containers where they would hopefully sleep for eternity. This effectively destroyed the Protodeviln empire but by that time the damage was already done. Over 85% of the galaxy-wide Protoculture civilization had been destroyed, and without a strong central government the surviving worlds soon collapsed into anarchy and civil war. The knowledge of Spiritia and the Anima Spiritia themselves were forgotten as the Protocultures disappeared from space.

Centuries later the human race was discovered on Earth by the remains of the Protoculture's Zentraedi army, and war soon broke out between the two forces. Humanity quickly discovered that their culture shocked and overpowered the Zentraedi forces, and this knowledge was used throughout the war, cumulating in the "Lynn Minmay" Operation during the final battle of Space War I. At the time the UN Spacy assumed that the Zentraedi's reaction was due to their rigid military structure and lack of experience with "pleasurable" sensations, but much later certain eccentric scientists such as Dr. Gadget M. Chiba aboard the Macross 7 would theorize that humanity's victory was due to their unconscious use of Spiritia against the Zentraedi forces. Regardless of the reason, the Zentraedi were defeated and integrated into Earth culture.

Then in 2043 a research group from the Megaroad-13 colony mission began exploring the Varuta system, which contained the ancient ice world which was once the home base of the Protodeviln. The research team accidentally released one of the imprisoned Protodeviln, Gepernich, from his slumber. Gepernich immediately mentally enslaved the research team and eventually gained control over the entire population of the Megaroad-13, thus creating the Varuta military forces. The Protodeviln then began seeking other humanoids outside of the Varuta system to capture and consume. The Varuta forces encountered the Macross 7 and Macross 5 colony missions and attacked them, thus starting the UN Spacy/Varuta war of 2045-2046. Not knowing that the Varuta were brainwashed humans and hoping to duplicate the "culture shock" attacks of Space War I, the Macross 7 military secretly constructed the VF-19 Kai Fire Valkyrie and gave it to Basara Nekki, a young but up-and-coming rock star that had some of the same qualities as Lynn Minmei. While Basara's "cultural" attacks against the Varuta proved largely ineffective at first, he began to exhibit some psychic-like powers in combatting the Varuta's energy-draining tactics. The Varauta and their Protodeviln masters began referring to Basara as an "Anima Spiritia", a term that meant nothing to both him and the Macross 7 intelligence community.

Dr. Chiba eventually discovered that Basara was unconsciously using his Spiritia energy to fight against the Varuta and Protodeviln attacks, and developed a way to use technology to augment and focus Basara's powers. This led to the rebirth of spiritia research and technology as the Macross 7 command staff created special teams such as Sound Force and the Jamming Birds to try and exploit these spiritia powers against the Varuta. With the development of the Sound Energy System and the Sound Boosters, the Macross 7 was finally able to face the Protodeviln on even terms. Eventually Macross 7 forces made an all-out attack against the Protodeviln on their icy homeworld and (barely) succeeded in destroying the lead Protodeviln. After their leader's defeat, the survivng Protodeviln quickly abandoned their homeworld to search for a "spiritia paradise" outside of our galaxy. Without leadership, the few surviving Varuta forces fell apart, quickly ending the UN Spacy/Varuta war.

NOTE: GMs, don't feel as if you have to track every character's spiritia level during every minute of the adventure. 99% of the time a character's SP level will be at their base level, which is equal to their ME.

As a character's spiritia points drop below their base level the character will begin to feel lethargic and numb. In order to do any action at all the character must make a ME roll at a penalty equal to the number of spiritia points that have been drained. For example, if 5 spiritia points have been drained so far then the character must make a ME roll at -5. Even if the person succeeds in his ME roll all skill rolls are at -20% and all attributes rolls have an automatic -5 penalty.

Once a character's spiritia points have reached zero further spiritia draining lowers the character's ME attribute. At this point the character has fallen into a complete trance and cannot perform any actions at all. Furthermore, as their ME attribute drops the character becomes more succeptible to brainwashing and can be turned into a living drone. If spiritia draining stops at this point the character will do whatever the drainer tells him to do until his ME level returns to normal. However, the character will continue to act sluggish; skill rolls are made at -10% and attribute rolls have a -2 penalty. If left alone the character will eventually break the trance himself (see below), although the Varuta have developed technology that can keep a person in this suggestible state indefinitely (see Spiritia Technology).

Once a character's ME has reached zero the person falls into a coma. This is automatic and the character does NOT get a PE roll to resist. At this point the person has been completely drained of spiritia and no further energy can be taken. However, the character will remain in the coma indefinitely until his spiritia is healed to the point where his ME is equal to 1.

If a character's spiritia points are below his normal level but above zero the person will regenerate spiritia at a rate of 1D6 points per day. As long as the person's SP level is above zero he can also temporarily increase his spiritia by 1D6, 2D6 or 3D6 points (GM's option) if exposed to strong positive emotions. However, these positive emotion points are temporary and will drain back down to the person's current spiritia level once the excitement is over.

EXAMPLE: Mylene (who normally has a base SP level of 12) is attacked by a Vampire and drained of 6 points of spiritia. Fortunately Gamlin saves her before any more spiritia is drained, leaving her current base SP level at 6. Later Basara sings to inspire her, and the GM decides that his singing gives Mylene a temporary 2D6 SP boost. She rolls a total of 9, raising her spiritia to 15. However, once Basara stops singing Mylene's spiritia drops to 6 again. After a good night's rest Mylene rolls a 4 on a 1D6, and her base spiritia level goes up to 10. Given one more day of rest she will probably return to normal.

If a character's spiritia points are drained to zero and his ME is reduced below his standard level (but above zero) the victim will remain in a trance until his ME regenerates to its standard level. During this time the person will be unable to take any independent action on his own, but can be instructed/ordered to do activities and take care of himself by others. If left alone the character's ME will regenerate at a rate of 1 point per day. However, Dr. Chiba developed a sound therapy treatment that when used increases this rate of recovery to 1D6 ME points per day. Extra points on the last day of recovery go towards increasing SP.

If a character's SP and ME points are both drained to zero the character will remain in a coma for 20+6D6 days. During this time the victim must be cared for constantly or he will die in a number of hours equal to his PE. Dr. Chiba's sound therapy decreases the number of days in a coma by 6 days for every 1 day the therapy is applied.

EXAMPLE: Lt. Docker (who has ME and base SP level 11) is drained of spiritia in the very first battle of the UN Spacy/Varuta war to the point where he falls into a coma. He rolls 24 on 6D6, so normally he would be in a coma for 44 days, followed by 11 days of rest to recover his ME and several more days for his SP level to return to normal. However, after 20 days in a coma Dr. Chiba perfects his sound therapy and uses it on Docker. 4 days later (44 - 20 = 24, 24 / 6 = 4) Docker has regained consciousness. 3 days of rest returns his ME to normal (he rolls 4, 3 and 5 on 1D6 for the three days; on the last day the 1 extra point increases his SP level to 1) and can return to work. His SP level is still dangerously low, however. It will a few more days of rest before Docker is back to his exhuberant self.

Accumulating and using spiritia is somewhat similar to using magic. The first step in using this ability is believing that you have it. A character does not necessarily have to believe in spiritia (or even know what spiritia is) in order to accumulate it, but instead must firmly believe that his attitudes and actions have a fundamental effect on everyone and everything around him. The person must believe that he can literally change the universe with his convictions. This belief requires complete dedication on the character's part; any doubts in his mind will cause him to loose all spiritia he has accumulated up until that point.

Once the character believes, he can store excess spiritia energy within himself well above his base SP level. The person's SP will naturally increase by 1D6 per day indefinitely. In order to get this level to rise more rapidly the character can engage in vigorous practice or activities that excite him both physically and mentally. (There's a reason why Fire Bomber practices several hours a day every day and gives 1-3 concerts per week.) Every hour of strenuous activity increases the character's SP level by 1D6 to 6D6 points; a typical hour-long practice will only provide 1D6 points while a concert in front of thousands of screaming fans will provide 6D6 points. The GM is the final arbiter of how many points are provided per activity.

The one caveat of stored spiritia points is that point losses from negative emotions are permanent instead of temporary. If a character has stored spiritia points and starts feeling negative emotions (for example, grief after losing a friend in battle) he will lose 2D6 spiritia points per hour until he stops feeling the emotions. (GMs, use your discretion as to the duration of the negative emotions.) The only way to get these points back is through more practice.

Long ago the Anima Spiritia discovered that they could use spiritia energy to make dramatic changes in the local space-time continuum. These changes could range from small expressions such as motivating a roomful of people toward a common goal to repelling and imprisoning the immensely powerful beings known as Protodeviln. Some of these powers could be done on their own, while others required technological augmentation in order to use their spiritia to maximum effect. All knowledge of these powers were lost eons ago when the Protoculture empire disintegrated, and have only recently been rediscovered by Sound Force. Discovering the full powers of spiritia has been a slow process, and it is safe to say that it may take decades of research before all secrets of the Anima Spiritia are rediscovered.

Spiritia powers are roughly categorized into three different types. Minor spiritia powers can generally be done by people without the aid of technology, relying instead on their own belief and stored spiritia. Medium spiritia powers are extremely difficult for people to achieve on their own without spiritia technology, although they can sometimes be done with the aid of a group of people. Major spiritia powers are the most dramatic expressions of spiritia power, and can usually only be done with the aid of major spiritia technology.

Each spiritia power has an associated Sound Energy Cost with it. This is the amount of Sound Energy Points it takes for an Anima Spiritia character to use that particular power. Sound energy points are slightly different than spiritia points in that they represent the amount of spiritia power a character is generating. By himself, a character can expend one sound energy point by using up one stored spiritia point. However, with certain examples of spiritia technology such as the Sound Energy System (SES) a character may be able to expend 10 or 100 sound energy points for every spiritia point he uses. Commonly the only way a character will be able to generate enough sound energy points to use a medium or major spiritia power is with the aid of an SES.

NOTE: In several episodes of Macross 7 Dr. Chiba refers to the amount of energy Sound Force is producing in terms of Chiba Song Units. In RPG terms one sound energy point is roughly equal to 1,000 Chiba song units.

The first requirement for using spiritia powers is that the character believes in himself and his goal 100%. If there are ANY lingering doubts or insecurities the person will be unable to mentally focus himself enough to use his spiritia powers. Second, in order to access stored spiritia points the character must have a way to express himself. Performance is the best form of expression, therefore the character must have at least one of the three following skills:

• Play Musical Instrument (any)
• Singing
• Dancing

NOTE: A character does NOT have to be an Anima Spiritia O.C.C. to use spiritia powers. In the entire Macross 7 saga Basara Nekki is the only one who MIGHT qualify as an Anima Spiritia. The only requirements are a performance skill and a strong conviction.

Characters using spiritia powers in combat can use only one spiritia power per melee. Furthermore, since using a spiritia power requires constant performance the character cannot attack or do any other melee action for the duration of the power. The only permissible action is attempts to dodge incoming attacks.

In order to use a spiritia power the player must declare at the beginning of the round which power he will use. If he needs to power up a Sound Energy System prior to using the power this takes an additional round, otherwise the player may activate the power when his turn comes during the round. The player rolls against his performance skill, and if successful gets to use the power as outlined in the description. If the character fails his roll he may try the same power again the next round or declare a different power to use. Once a power is successfully used the player must continue to dedicate his attention to it until he cancels the power, the duration expires, or he is interrupted.

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THE ANIMA SPIRITIA O.C.C.