In Aetherbound, most things operate in rough bands refered to as 'power tiers'

They are named this way, as they indicate the tier of challenge in a Temple.

The Power tier of an object is based on it's Density Class, the power teir of a creature or challenge is based on it's Difficulty Class, in both cases this is shortened to DC and directly correlates to power tier.

Part of this comes from Aetherbound as a TTRPG, where a tier is the base DC of challenge.

Depending on the Density Class in an area, that area also has its own power tier, which determines the types of creatures that live there, and the monsters that manifest there.

In short, Power Tier = DC - 3

When a group enters a temple, the Tier of the temple DC typically starts at the highest number of Marks that a person in the entering group has, but scales challenge to the number of people in that group. This means that being 'carried' through a temple puts weaker people at considerable risk.

The challenges of a temple will often 'work together' well, which means that large groups need effective communication to keep up with the challenge of a temple. The most common group sizes are 3 - 6 people.

In order to complete the final room of a temple tier, the Difficulty Class increases to the next floor. Then the group is able to enter a chamber that can be used to either Attune to the temple or Manifest a reward.

When a person clears a temple chamber, they will usually recieve a reward with DC equal to the current floor multiplied by their group size.

For example: a group of 4 Delvers clear a challenge on the second floor; at DC 2, a gemstone would have a value of about 5 GP, either 4 Slugs would manifest or 2 Disks.

If a person Manifests a reward, it will be of the power teir, equal to the number of temple "floors" cleared.

If a Delver wants to Attune to gain a new Affinity Mark, they need to have cleared a number of temple "floors" greater than their number of Affinity Marks

Because of this, Templars and Temple Farmers avoid gaining new Affinity Marks.

This means that:

If a person wants to Delve a temple to Attune and set their Heart Mark before adulthood, they would need to clear 3 floors, starting at Tier 2, with a final challenge of Tier 6.

For a person to get their 4th mark, they would need to clear 4 floors, starting at DC 3, with a final challenge of DC 8.

For a person to get their 5th mark, they would need to clear 5 floors, starting at DC 4, with a final challenge of DC 10.

For a person to get their 6th mark, they would need to clear 6 floors, starting at DC 5, with a final challenge of DC 12.

For a person to get their 7th mark, they would need to clear 7 floors, starting at DC 6, with a final challenge of DC 14.

For a person to get their 8th mark, they would need to clear 8 floors, starting at DC 7, with a final challenge of DC 16.

For a person to get their 9th mark, they would need to clear 9 floors, starting at DC 8, with a final challenge of DC 18.

For a person to get their 10th mark, they would need to clear 10 floors, starting at DC 9, with a final challenge of DC 20.

For whatever reason, a Tier 0 area lacks magic. This means it is not recieveing sunlight, and ambient mana emitted by surroundings is being aborbed by something.

In an area like this, monsters would not manifest, and any people or creatures would become sick due to a lack of mana.

The Abyss Mist could flow freely in this area.

The Nether is at Tier 0 magical density.