The Tutorial

[Context]

[What is Nen and Shouko?]
[How do you develop Nen?]
[What is Hatsu and Condition?]
[What are all the Hatsu Types?]
[Enhancers]
[Emitters]
[Manipulators]
[Transmuters]
[Conjurers]
[Specialists]
Examples From Canon]
[One of the most interesting examples in the show]
Finally, Secondary Hatsu?
[Nen Abilities (Not Available)]

First and foremost, Nen, or Aura, is the energy of life. It creates and destroys life by all natural means. Without it, Life doesn’t exist. With it, is a cycle.

There are those who can adjust this Nen at his or her own advantage, to the point that they can create, control, or take away things.

Manipulators of the Nen use what is called “Shouko”, Aura Nodes. Shouko comprises of countless points, or nodes, on the body that work with the Nen to keep the body stable and fluctuant within the cycles of life. Being able to know your own engine’s design allows you to become its new engineer, so to speak. And in likeness of the process, it takes time to become a professional engineer. It may take one many years, another a few months to control one’s own Nen and Shouko.


This concludes on what Nen is. If you wish to learn more about the individual techniques, read here: LINK.

Now, on how to develop with it.

To develop Nen, you have to meditate and be in physical top shape. Exercising helps, but so can conditioning your mind. All of this, including your persona and experiences in life, determines what Hatsu type you are. What is Hatsu?

Hatsu is the unique system in controlling Nen. Once you master the basics of Nen manipulation, you become capable to know your Hatsu and develop with it. Once you accept your Hatsu, you must create a condition in order to grow stronger. The tougher the contract is for you, the stronger you ability can be.

A condition, or “contract”, really means you have to do something after every time you use your Hatsu ability, or before using it, or if you use your ability you list your limits on what you can and what you cannot do. Breaching your contract will lose all your Nen abilities. Example would be drinking 10 cans of beer right after using your Enchancer abilities to something as strict as only using your ability once a month or to a select few individuals.

There are 6 Hatsu types in all.

To know what Hatsu you have, you must do the Water Divination. Meaning that all you have to do is put a leaf on top of a cup of water. Then you focus all your energy meditatively into the water and see what happens…

Enhancer – Strengthens and Reinforces natural abilities.
Kyouka

If a student increases the quantity of water in the glass during their water divination, they are an Enhancer. Enhancement is basically the ability to use aura to increase the efficiency of an object or one's own body. Therefore, Enhancers are able to greatly increase their physical attack and defense, and are best suited for close-melee combat. In this RP, you can only draw to a primary focus over speed or strength, but never both. That way there's a difference between a lithe, fast fighter and a bold, resilient fighter.

Emitter – Shoots out or projects aura.
Houshutsu

If a student changes the color of the water in the glass during their water divination, they are an Emitter. An affinity for Emission means that a user is capable of controlling the deployment of their aura while separating it from their body. Aura usually decreased in intensity very quickly when it is separated from the source body, but strong Emitters can separate their aura from their body for long-periods of time and still be able to maintain it.

An application of this is the ability to throw giant balls of aura. Emission abilities are commonly mistaken for Conjuration abilities. The two, however, are fundamentally different. Objects created by Emitters are made of pure aura, believed to be invisible to normal people.

Manipulator – Controls Objects or Living things
Sousa

If a student moves the leaf floating on the water in the glass during their water divination, they're a Manipulator. Manipulation is the ability to control living or non-living material, or influence them, or confuse them. Abilities belonging to Manipulators tend to be complex, and generally require certain conditions to be met [this will be their method of “contract”] before the user is able to control the target object. All manipulations require physical contact.

*An example of a Manipulator is Shalnark, who can control people by placing a phone antenna on their body. Another Manipulator is Baise, who can control people by kissing them.

*Note: Because this is a very powerful Hatsu type, it requires having any level of EXP to become a Manipulator “over objects” or "animals"; 300 EXP “over people” in a confusing sense [like Kastro]; or 1,000 EXP over people in controlling sense [like Baise and Shalnark]. So for role players who wish to have a Manipulation Hatsu type and capabilities to what they desire, they will need to role play up to the required EXP count first. And if they wish to do distant-based manipulation without physical contact, it's required to have Emission as your secondary Hatsu type*

For a character to resist your Manipulation ability, they'll need to set into play enough Nen that's at least 1 point above your nen in order to release themselves from being controlled by you.

Example: Soren touched Yoshi. She gave 50 of her Nen into the ability. If suceeded, she controls the mind and body of her enemy. It will require Yoshi to release 51 Nen in order to relieve himself from Soren's mind control.

Transmuter – Changes the quality of Aura.
Henka

If a student changes the taste of the water in the glass during their water divination, they're a Transmuter. An affinity for transmutation means a person can change the properties of their aura to mimic something else.

A simple way of thinking about it would be that transmutation allows your aura to mimic properties of a substance, whereas conjuration allows you to change your aura into actual substances.

Transmuters can copy the properties of real things, including elements. For example, Killua Zoldyck uses his aura to copy electricity. Transmuters can also give their aura properties that don't necessarily mimic real things; Hisoka's "Bungee Gum" copies and combines the properties of rubber and gum. Transmuted substances are invisible to people unaware of the existence of Nen.

Conjurer – Materializes object out of Aura.
Gugenka

If a student creates an object in the water in the glass during the their water divination, they are a Conjurer. Conjuration is the ability to create a physical, independent, material object out of one's aura. Once a person has mastered the conjuration of a certain object, they can conjure it and dispel it in an instant, whenever they want. It is believed that conjuration is the only way in which Nen can create things which ordinary people (unaware of Nen) can see and touch.

Furthermore, objects/entities materialized by this technique have a subtle "independence" to them. This means that they can continue existing even if they were at a considerable distance from the Conjurer, or even if the Conjurer themselves are not aware that they have yet to be de-materialized. And some Conjured things can have unique abilities: example, Phantom Troupe Shizuku can suck up dead things or objects using her vacuum.

Specialist – Unique. Distinctive Aura. Rare.
Tokushitsu

If a student causes some other effect during their water divination, they're a Specialist. It is possible that the effect that occurs can give some insight into how they should direct their ability. Specialization is anything that doesn't belong into the other five categories. This is the vaguest Hatsu category.

For example, Kurapika's specialization ability allows him to use all the five standard Hatsu types at 100% efficiency. Chrollo Lucilfer specialization ability allows him to steal and copy another’s ability, no matter what their Hatsu type was. It is possible to become a Specialist later in life. Almost all with a secondary as Specialist come from Manipulator or Conjurer backgrounds. Primary Specialists are actually the rarest breeds of all Hatsu types.

Examples from Canon Anime/Manga
[each name has a clickable link to their ability’s descriptions and conditions]

-Kastro's Doppelganger [Conjuration]- The Doppelganger was solid and moved like a human being under his control while fighting as a Enhancer. Kastro is a good example of Enhancer + Conjuration [he also had a rare-to-see third hatsu, able to utilize manipulation in order to confuse the target’s mind].

-Killua’s Electricity [Transmutation]– The electricity isn’t real electricity, but a mimic of electricity. He was able to copy it with the help of shocking himself with a taser everyday. He’s also an example of Transmutation and Enhancement [electrical body].

Kurapica’s Chains [Conjuration] – The chains are real. With more into focus, he can create a dagger at the end of it for his secondary Hatsu’s purpose (Specialization—contracted only to use against a Phantom Troupe bandit).

- Hisoka's Bungee Gum [Transmutation] - Normal people are unable to see it and it always is physically connected to Hisoka. Furthermore, it is not solid, but rather pure aura energy copying the properties of rubber and gum.

- Razor's 14 Devils [Emission] - They were not solid and ordinary people couldn't see them. Razor's 14 Devils were pure aura, and they did not need to physically stay in contact with him.

- Shachmono Tocino’s Eleven Black Assistants [Emission]– His ability allows his emitted aura to take the form of 11 black hooded robed soldiers that can be manipulated for battle use by Shachmono with simple commands

- Phantom Troupe bandit, Shalnark [Manipulation]— can control people’s body but not the mind by placing a phone antenna on their body.

-Baise [Manipulation]— can control people lustfully by kissing them.

-Squala [Manipulation] – Has the ability to manipulate and communicated with dogs and take advantage of their senses.

Neon Nostrade [Specialization] – has the power to accurately foretell a person's future in poetic verse.

-Phantom Troupe bandit, Kortopi [Conjurer] – is able to materialize a perfect copy of any non-living object that he touches. He can tell their location no matter how far, but his condition is to touch the original material, and all his copies must be inanimate.

Phantom Troupe bandit, Pakunoda [Specialization] – Has the ability to read the conscious thoughts of any person she is in physical contact with and can extract memories by asking specific questions. And can also share her memories by shooting a bullet harmlessly into another person's head using a revolver.

The most Complex and most interesting example is actually one of the Phantom Troupe members in Hunter x Hunter: Shizuku. She uses Conjuration. What she conjures is a vacuum with deadly teeth.

And her condition is to only suck up objects and/or dead things, or else she will be breaching her contract to her Nen and lose her abilities.

But, because she has deadly teeth on her vacuum, it can kill the one hit munches on. Therefore, she can suck the dead body right when it dies. Thus she doesn’t breech her contract and can keep the area clean and spotless by sucking the body and its blood up.

Tricky, tactical, and spotless. No one has to make an ability this complicated, but it’s a good example on how you can have a very limited condition (in her case she can only suck up dead or non-living objects) and still use it to your advantage.

Finally, Secondary Hatsu?


Secondary Hatsu simply means a second Hatsu in conjunction with your primary. Examples would be Killua mimics electricity with Transmutation, but then later on can fuse with the electricity being secondarily an Enhancer.

Another example is Kastro. Kastro is a good example of Enhancer + Conjuration. Being able to fight and also creating a droppleganger. But he's also a rare prize, because he's also is able to create a tertiary [the third being Manipulation to confuse the target’s mind while manifesting his droppleganger]. But tertiaries will never be available.

However, secondaries will. But it requires having 2,000 EXP. And you'll have to explain how it can be useful with your primary, since it's suppose to work with your primary, not be on its own. And secondaries aren't required. No one has to go so far, but can if the wish to. Secondaries do not have a contract. You keep the same contract from your primary Hatsu Type.

You'll need to register your Secondary Hatsu Type here: LINK