Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-25732944-20160210043922

I'm pretty confident about this one. I think Aura in its usefullness can be reduced to one power. Telekinesis. This telekinesis is obviously caused by the soul/aura itself, which is in essence a life force or sentience behind a creature. The only abilities outside of this telekinesis is the unlocking of others Aura (likely at the expense of your own) and mild regeneration (which would just be "speeding up" the life/healing factor).

The way this telekinesis works is through the formation of a small barrier around the users body. This is demonstrated in the initial explanation of Aura. When Lie uses his Aura we can see a purple field around his hands, preventing the Grimm from piercing them. When he later uses his Aura offensively we see the same wave. I think this works on the same property. When the Grimm attempts to bite him he blocks the attack with a telekinetic field he generates with his Aura, he then repurposes that field to act as a propulsive force.

If I wanted to reduce it even more, I could say both are just repulsive forces that can be repurposed to act as telekinesis. Like magnets, but made with your soul. This actually seems more likely to me. This would double as an explanation as to why the characters seem very "floaty" or "slippery" during combat (friction not applying as much as it should). Their Aura repels them from the ground, just not by a significant amount.

We know that Semblances are Aura manifested in a certain way. This could be the only practical difference between Auras. If I was really dedicated I could likely explain every single Aura by means of repulsion or telekinesis, but I don't have the time to do that. It'd mostly resemble that one theory that explains all of Superman's powers through inertia manipulation, I think.

http://www.qwantz.com/fanart/superman.pdf (link if you're curious)

Now onto the actual Maidens.

I believe when the Wizard gave them power, this was actually just a highly beefed up version of unlocking someone's Aura. This increased their Semblances proportionally, giving them the raw destructive powers they possess now. It may also be akin to an "evolution" of their Aura. The Fall Maiden, for example, may have only had a leaf-manipulation Aura, but the evolution of that Aura gave her control over lightning.

The previous idea of repulsion also gives us an explanation as to how they can fly. It's simply a more powerful version of a normal Aura's repulsion. Since their field has more potency and can extend over a longer distance they can repulse themself from the ground. The reason Amber couldn't fly away from the fight can be explained fairly easily. The farther away the thing being repulsed, the weaker the Aura.

Further evidence is in the Wizard's lifespan. The Wizard was stated to have been around for centuries. He must have an extremely large Aura/life force in order to have lived so long. The reason not everyone can just make more Maidens is because only someone with an Aura so enormously large could actually bestow that much power. 