The Chakra System as Character Design
Seven Centres, Seventeen Characters
Early in the development of Genesis of Darkness, I made a decision that would shape every character in the series: each major character would be mapped to a chakra.
This was not an afterthought or a gimmick. The chakra system — the seven energy centres described in Hindu and Buddhist traditions — provides a complete map of human experience, from survival instinct to cosmic consciousness. It became the skeleton on which every character arc was built.
The Mapping
- Root (Muladhara) — Survival, fear, primal instinct. Skythe. A character driven by the need to survive at any cost, whose entire existence is defined by fight-or-flight.
- Sacral (Svadhisthana) — Desire, creativity, emotional depth. Raziir. A being of intense feeling, whose emotional power is both his gift and his vulnerability.
- Solar Plexus (Manipura) — Willpower, identity, ambition. Vespera. The fire in her belly is literal and metaphorical. She is willpower incarnate.
- Heart (Anahata) — Love, compassion, connection. Xanqunnes. His journey is fundamentally about the heart — about whether love can survive in a universe that seems designed to crush it.
- Throat (Vishuddha) — Truth, communication, expression. Karizza. A queen whose power lies in her voice, her commands, her ability to speak worlds into being.
- Third Eye (Ajna) — Intuition, wisdom, inner sight. Anuriqqua. The Lord Sorceress sees what others cannot — across time, across space, across the veil between universes.
- Crown (Sahasrara) — Transcendence, cosmic consciousness, unity. The Master. Existing beyond individual identity, connected to the fabric of reality itself.
Why It Works
Each chakra has a shadow side — what happens when that energy centre is blocked, damaged, or corrupted.
Skythe’s root chakra is shattered. He has no stable foundation, no sense of safety. This makes him dangerous and unpredictable. His character arc is fundamentally about finding ground to stand on.
Vespera’s solar plexus burns so hot it threatens to consume her. Her willpower, unchecked, becomes tyranny. The question of Chaos is whether she can channel that fire without becoming the thing she fights.
Xanqunnes’ heart chakra is his strength and his wound. He feels everything. In a universe of war and betrayal, an open heart is the most vulnerable — and the most necessary — thing.
IIION Has No Chakra
Observant readers will notice that IIION, the golden entity, is not mapped to any chakra. This is deliberate.
IIION exists outside the system. He is not a being on the path of spiritual evolution — he is the path itself. Or perhaps he is the voice that calls from the end of it. Assigning him a chakra would be like assigning a colour to light itself.
His symbol in the book is the circlet — a closed circle, representing totality and zero simultaneously.
The Visual Language
Each chakra has a traditional colour, and I leaned into this for the visual design of the series. The colour palette is not arbitrary:
- Crimson for Karai (root — survival, blood, war)
- Emerald for Knovereah (heart — nature, growth, ancient love)
- Gold for IIION and the circlet (solar — divine will, cosmic fire)
- Violet for spiritual transcendence (crown — the colour of the void between stars)
When you read Genesis of Darkness, the colours are telling you something. Pay attention.
In Volume 2
Hunted will push every character’s chakra to its breaking point. What happens when survival instinct overwhelms everything else? When willpower shatters? When the heart closes to protect itself?
The chakra system is not just character design. It is prophecy.