Create a Zekiran
Psychic Powers
A catch-all for the rest of the strange things Zekiran Psionics can achieve. Though many affect targets, equal numbers may only affect the user or those around them, many are informative powers. As mentioned later, the invention of new powers will usually be in this category. Psychic powers may be defined by some eminent Zekiran scholars as being those which are assisted by the minds of the dead: those which can move anywhere, through "time, space and minds" easily. The dead theory is still just that, but for all intents and purposes, it's true. Just ask any Outsider.
Within the Character's immediate locale (up to 3xPower Rank in yards in any direction) they can locate an object they know of precisely. The object itself modifies their ability to perceive it: Character's favorite piece of (whatever), well known and seen often - 3x ability; In the Character's possession list but not available constantly - 2x ability; Character is familiar with the object through association with friends or family 1.5x; Character has seen something like it but has never touched one - .75 ability; Character doesn't know what the object is beyond a description from someone else - .5 ability; Character is guessing what the object is - .25 ability. The ability regardless of modifiers will sense the object through walls, solid rock, or any amount of space within the range. Once the object has been sensed, the Character will be able to home in on it unerringly as long as they are concentrating on finding it. If the object moves, their sense will alert them.
MAJOR 01-20 Sense Through Object targeted, controlled
This power does not include directly the ability to locate an object. But it does offer the ability to use the object as a focus for vision or hearing, touch or general sensations. The object must be within Power Rank x 2 in yards (any direction). As above for locate, adjust for excessively familiar or unfamiliar objects, within reason any object may be used ("I try the lamp that's in every ceiling in this hotel until I find the girl!"). The temperature, light level, humidity and such may be determined automatically, and any other powers that the Character may have may also be used at a distance in this fashion, with no penalties. While the Character is using this power, however, they are in a somewhat trancelike state, and may be attacked easily unless their concentration is broken. It's usually a good idea to use this power with a friend near by, or in controlled settings.
SPECIAL 01-20 Psychometry targeted, controlled (or uncontrolled)
The art of sensing the history, condition and use of an object. In the uncontrolled version of the power, the Character constantly is noticing objects on people (brooches, pins, their Status logo, even their clothing if it is interesting enough) or in rooms, including the room itself, and it's almost as if there's a running dialog or overdub in their head of each description. They can learn some strange things this way (the room was built by mutant Slaves with Plant control, that pin has been worn by three generations of that family) and they can get very confused with it too, unless they Skill up to a more controlled state. With the regular version, it offers the Character the ability to fine tune their requests regarding the object: where was it milled? Who cut the wood? Was this object recently broken? Any number of things may be discerned by the user, so long as the object can be considered an 'object'. A table for instance will read as long as it was assembled - but reading the wood may offer insight to where it was grown, the mill, or carvers... But this applies only to inorganic or dead material - reading the tree that table was made from requires Flora sense! Character may just ask for a general description, or very specific, and with Skills may be able to pry loose information that normally wouldn't be just found laying about. This Power is extremely useful for Game Holders to describe their settings fully to the character, any details which might become important may be emphasized, but then again, unless the Character is paying attention to it all, they may just be yakking their face off.
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: missing fingers/hoof hands, extra appendages/tail, horns, etc; density, out of body, other mental or sense powers
A Character with this power can cast their perception out of their normal physical realm. The range they can do so is Power Rank in miles, with Skills can go higher. The Character sees, hears and can 'feel' in a ghostly way, they cannot affect anything in this manner (unless they have some other bizarre power and a Skill to assist). Only if they are actively being searched for can Characters using this power be seen, except by those who have special senses or are excessively perceptive (over 200% normal Reaction/Sight), but there is a vague sensation that accompanies use of this Power, those being observed will become agitated and get the 'heebie jeebies'. Skills can diminish this. Power use lasts with concentration but is usually exhaustive after half an hour. While the Character is using this power, they are in a dangerously defenseless state, so use it with a friend.
MAJOR 21-35 Sense Through Person targeted, controlled
With this ability, the Character can select someone and utilize their senses as if they were their own. The other person may be up to Power Rank miles away unless Skilled and very familiar with them (characters who often work with one another may get an affinity for this use, and it becomes easy to just say, "we're doing the sense thing, even though he's six miles away."), and they cannot use any extra senses the castor may have unless the subject also has it (can be Skilled up). This power lasts as long as the characters are cooperating and concentrating.
SPECIAL 21-35 Personality Transfer targeted, controlled
Characters may move their entire personality and powers into another person's body. This is extremely uncomfortable (at least the first time it's done) because the body is probably laid out a little differently than the one doing the transfer. If the Transfer is into an uncooperative subject it is a contest of skills (Aggression, Courage, perhaps even a Power skill). As the Sense Through version, as a pair become used to it, it can become easier to do and at longer range. The personality within the body is 'pushed around' until it submits to being ignored, or simply the target may lay low and indicate that they are not attempting to combat the intrusion. With the Skill, the character may remove the target's personality and move it into their own body, this is the main difference between Transfer and Possession. This is very trusting, isn't it? Power lasts with concentration and can be botched into permanence. This power can also be Skilled up into use on exclusively other people - take friend one and put them in friend two's body...
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: Animal mutations, tail, fin addition, tech-elf powers and mutations, fangs, weather and other senses
With this power, a Character is able to produce a mental shield around themself that provides protection from the elements, attacks physical or mental, or other events. This shield affects ONLY the user, and is most often completely uncontrolled. With Skills it can be used to protect from one set of events more than others, or can be used at will. The amount of protection varies but since this is a minor power, it will not be more than 8 points of damage or effects up to Power Rank 3 or Minor ability. The power appears either as a haze around the Character or with Skill it can become completely invisible. More often than not, this protects only against physical attacks, not energy-based ones or mental.
MAJOR 36-45 Force Field environmental, controlled
A more advanced version of the shield power, the Character is able to produce an actual force field around themself and a small distance around them, usually to include their Master/Lord or other some such person to protect. As above, it appears as a haze around the character but this one is much more difficult to hide since it is also much thicker in nature and can protect up to 20 points/Power Rank 1/Major or Skill up to Special abilities. Power lasts as long as the Character concentrates or until exhausted. This power can be used against both physical and energy attacks.
SPECIAL 36-45 Controllable Force Field environmental/targeted, controlled
This advanced form of force field allows the Character to project the same 20 point shield around anything nearby or in a shape of their choosing - including folding it into a 40 point shield! This power can last as long as the Character is concentrating, but the exhaustion rate is twice as fast as the Major power. It cannot normally be used against people but a clever Character (or Player) might skill up to manipulate it for use as the Major Telekinesis power. Keep in mind, however, that there is still a vaguely visible aura of this, it does not keep out air or light, but it can be used to keep out water, fire, or electricity. It cannot be used against mental powers, unfortunately, not even with skills.
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: usually these are Bred Slaves, designed to protect their Owners, they tend to either be very small and unassuming or large and strong, and often with complimentary powers.
This Power can heal up to 8 point wounds completely within Power Rank in minutes. Wounds over 9 points take two times longer for each 8-point rank. Target may contest this with a Power skill roll, if they really don't want to be healed. This power can be used on themself, but remember if they're wounded they are probably also at a minus to use any skills and abilities. This is NOT the same as the automatic healing power.
MAJOR 46-55 Major Healing targeted, controlled
Wounds up to 16 points are healed within minutes, as above, in 16 point increments over that is half again as long. Skills relating to healing such as anatomy, genetics, and surgery may increase the amount of points healed or the order that things are done in, internal bleeding must be stopped before bones are knit, before the muscles can be healed, before the skin is closed, just like surgical healing. Characters without this knowledge are at the normal level to heal. Characters with major Healing usually can heal themselves pretty well, suffering only half penalties from being hurt for using this skill to heal.
SPECIAL 46-55 Regenerate Other targeted, controlled
For loss of limb, near-death, or other substantial damage to another character, this Power will bring them back from the edge of death. Up to losing all of their Body points, there is no upper limit for the amount of points regenerated with this power, only it takes 10 minutes for each 10 points of damage regenerated. During that time, a Character may die anyway, if their wounds are not healed in the proper order. It is vital to keep blood and oxygen to the brain, heart and organs, less so to the limbs. Anatomy and surgery skills aid this power greatly - or the other way around, really. Most Degree One Healers who are heavily Bred have this skill and are in demand for high-danger areas (mines, races, etc.) where damage is taken frequently. They may regenerate themself, but it is the same as using it on another person, they must be coherent to do so.
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: small skin disorders/changes, senses other than normal, other Healing or Enhancement powers, rarely Environmental abilities
** This power may extend the lifespan, see self-healing note.
As with Minor Healing, but in reverse. The target may contest or use a power to block this power, but the one with the stronger Power Rank wins, usually.
MAJOR 56-65 Major Hurting targeted, controlled
As with Major Healing, 16 point increments. Getting fancy with this power can include simulating 'burns', 'breaks', or just offering pure pain to the target. It is possible to kill someone with this level of this power, but it would take a while.
SPECIAL 56-65 Kill Other targeted, controlled
This level of hurting immediately goes for the throat so to speak, actually to the brain. It immediately inflicts 20 points of damage directly to the internal Body of the target, and ONLY those who have skills or other powers to counteract this ability will be able to resist any of those points. Other people may assist both the Killer or the Protector, at a normal Skill vs Skill. Use of this ability must usually be covered up by clever fast talking, otherwise the character may find themself Exiled. While this ability can be used on animals, it is at a .5x penalty
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: this is usually the power that really strange people get addicted to, it attracts certain sorts. Otherwise there are tails, senses and Mental powers to be had
With this Power a Character may be able to distinguish between certain genes and others. They can spot problems in actual genetic code, for instance if used when Breeding, it can figure out which genes will combine to create a lethal problem and which will be best used together for a new Power. Most Degree Six Breeders have this power if they have any psionics at all, or a version of it. The target must be in proximity to the character and there is nothing to defend from. Skills can increase the number of people sensed at once, the specifics looked for, or other handy uses. The uncontrolled version of this is most often found in people who are not Breeders, and they cannot necessarily figure out what the hell they're perceiving when they do so.
MAJOR 66-75 Minor Gene Alteration targeted, controlled
An ability coupled with the above Sense, the Character is able to move around some of the defective genes they find, or cause certain ones to spontaneously change. The number of changes they may make is Power Rank in Small Items (genes)x 2, at any given session - Note that the number of genes for any given item may be in the dozens. This can be a long term piece of work, it's up to the Game Holder to determine how many codes must be altered to effect any visible change. Again used mainly by Breeders. If this power is used on an adult it can be excessively painful if they choose the proper sets of genes - hormone production, protein breakdown ability, immunity controls. Education is strongly recommended for those with this power.
SPECIAL 66-75 Genetic Manipulation targeted, controlled
Using this power without proper education levels is very much not recommended. With it, a Breeder (most often) can alter the basic makeup of another person even up to their adult form with or without killing them. Change their skin color, their Powers, even their basic Characteristics! If used on a sentient target (most of the time) that can resist, they will do so at Power Rank as Skill, but if they have a complimentary power such as Healing or Shapeshifting they may use any of those associated skills. Sometimes this is not necessarily a bad thing, the Breeder may be able to cure infertility this way, relieve a bad skin problem, or activate a normally latent power. Be warned, this power is extremely painful to receive. Most Breeders use it only on the cellular level, killing cancers or changing the nature of a sample before trying to combine it with another. Breeders of less than Sixth level may be banned from their work if they are discovered to be using this power on their subjects!
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: combining this power at most levels with Shapeshifting may result in the ability to force other shifters to shift too, it is mainly associated with other senses and mental powers, strange extra limbs, oversensitivity, addiction (usually to bad things or people), weakness to mental abilities, Dreamwalking or powers, most often found with abilities which do not affect other targets
**This power (of Major or Special ability only) may be used to extend lifespan, see healing note
Either version of this Minor Power allows the user to see and sense not more than Power Rank in Days into the past, except with skill use. The 'flashback' may be focused on a person, themself, or an object with control, without control it may just be an annoying constant perception around them that is not the here-and-now. However, it may be a useful tool to provide inspiration when an event has just occurred and the Characters don't know about it yet! ("Hey, I think there was a murder here yesterday!" "Why do you say that?" "I just have this ... feeling.")
MAJOR 76-85 See Person's History targeted, as above
Up to the entire life of a person may be seen - if controlled usually they may select a year or chunk of time to watch. The history is played at extreme speed, but is wholly available to the user: all the events and memories, feelings and private moments are there. Embarrassing and somewhat terrifying if used on the wrong person, without warning. What you see obviously depends on what the character has done in the past, right? They may resist with a power, skill or just their Power Rank, but this is a Major power, remember, most skills can easily deter a Minor, but... Given who is doing it and to whom, all bets are off as to the reaction of the characters involved. Trauma may be re-lived, or seen from a new perspective, madness can be endured, or any number of things can go wrong. This Power is mainly for role playing purposes, use it carefully.
SPECIAL 76-85 Speak With Dead environmental?, as above
Mentioned elsewhere is a discourse on the dead of Zekira. Suffice to say that Zekirans with Powers have stronger spirits than those that don't, and those spirits may stick around to talk if need be. Zekiran ghosts are unusual in a manner: they very clearly exist but they rarely have any reason to. Dead with former Aggression or Courage scores above 100 may stick around longer, regardless of their Power base. But this power to speak with them is usually accompanied by a Sanity loss of up to 50% of the Character's starting Sanity the first time it manifests. If it is uncontrolled, that Sanity loss occurs once when the first use appears and not again. If it is controlled, roll vs Power Rank each time they use the ability, if failed, they will lose another 1d4 Sanity. Anything more than a failure they do not lose any points. The Dead are finicky about who they talk to, and why. Speaking with the dead is also pure role playing: Dead NPCs are everywhere, really. They might offer some insight but they may also be as batty nuts as you'd expect the dead to be. They do live in their own world, not necessarily being able to affect anything in the physical one unless they have a very strong power over matter and desire to use it. There are no limitations as to how long a character may wish to speak with a dead person, except the dead's personality. This is really a strong extension of psionic perception, not actually seeing into the past, but it cannot really be classified anywhere else.
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: saurian appearance, very low Sanity, tail, animal tunings, pyro or cryo kinetics, healing
**Note: by combining Speak with Dead with a very strong Healing power or the ability to create matter (living or otherwise, mixing powers) one may be able to force a Dead person into a new body, or using Transfer Personality in that fashion, but this is extremely dangerous and one might ask "really, why?" Outsiders were created in this manner.
This ability is the same as See Recent Past, only applies to the short future: for role playing purposes, this also only applies to things which will DIRECTLY involve the characters. The Uncontrolled version of this power has been used by people like Lam Fimel to predict the presence of people at disasters, the controlled version has been able to get people directly into jail by seeing the winners of Steed races.
MAJOR 86-90 See Person's Future targeted, as above
This Power may see up to the target's death, if need be, no matter how far off or close that is. Major disasters can be seen - and not avoided! Lam will tell you, there isn't a thing to be done about these visions they have, they really do see THE future.
SPECIAL 86-90 Foretelling environmental, as above
In general, the ability to foretell the future has been ignored, because the Zekiran attitude is that of resigned slow change. Some things need to be seen, however. The massive die-off of northern Bears, an ice age or sudden weather pattern, earthquakes, and such have all been seen by professional seers. Using this ability forces the character into a state of defenselessness, and if it is uncontrolled they may not have anything else they may do, as it takes them into a vision and won't be stopped for anything, Steeds, Storms or Stones. Sanity loss for each use of this Power is 1 point, and yes this is regarding the uncontrolled version as well. The Game Holder decides when this power gets activated if it is uncontrolled, and how easy/hard to regain that lost Sanity. There is no range on this power. None. You could be seeing the rockslide that kills a skiier on a Fi'ir peak when you're just minding your own business in Frea. What you do with this power is entirely up to you, once the GH tells you what you've seen.
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: extra features (eyes, etc), skin conditions, other sense abilities, survivals, odd environmental controls or abilities
Only one character so far has the ability to change the futures seen, and that is through an amazing amount of Breeding and mixing of powers. And guess what? You ain't him!
The Character is able to sense their immediate surroundings with greater clarity than others. Useful for Steed Racers, renegades, or bodyguards. While this is technically a Psionic power, the effects in game terms are that their Reaction/Perception score is multiplied by their Power Rank. This only applies to their immediate surroundings, though, so they cannot use their 3x hearing to sense something across a mesa or half a mile away. Immediate surroundings is considered to be Power Rank in yards with the Character at the center.
MAJOR 91-95 Danger Sense Locational self only, controlled or uncontrolled
At the discretion of the Game Holder the Character may be able to sense things that may harm them, and know exactly what and where it is, within their immediate surroundings. If the power is controlled the Character must specify that they are 'activating the ability and attempting to flush out the danger' if they are in a situation they believe will harm them. It is considerably more useful as an uncontrolled ability unless the Character is working regularly between high- and low-danger areas. (A hunt park manager trying to get the best out of their customer's trip, then heading back home for a relaxing bask on the patio...)
SPECIAL 91-95 Autoreacting Senses self only, uncontrolled
All the Character can do is watch their body do its own thing. Really, in game terms multiply the Reaction/Perception by Power Rank to get the senses' abilities, and the raw Reaction score itself is added to Agility when a roll on that score is needed (not at character generation, however, just for game play). Usually, this will keep the Character alive in stressful combat situations, during races, or in physical emergencies. The problem is that without Skilling up, the Character always reacts before everyone, and is seen to be jumpy, twitchy and neurotic. The Power applies to other senses as well as the normal five, too.
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: twitchy, neurotic. Yeah, and other things like homicidal mania and utter terror. Most often other senses or survivals, sometimes paired with Speed or Flexibility, some have animal tunings or features
With this Power, a Character is able to sense Mutants even if they have no outward appearance modifiers or mutations visible. Latency counts, so those who may never have used an ability will also be sensed. It is not a visible power use, the Character simply has an idea, a prickly feeling, that those around them are or are not mutants. The range of this power is proximity only, cannot be trained up. A side effect of this power is that the user is also vaguely susceptible to the outside use of any Mutant Power. This power is similar but not exact to that of "Detect Psionic Mind". It centers on physical mutations and hidden genes. ("Did you know she's a mutant?")
MAJOR 96-100 Discriminative Affinity self only, controlled
With education or with skills, after detecting the mutant, this version of the power can be used to tell what type and level of ability the mutant is, but not if they've used the ability recently or if it's being neglected. The range of this power is line of sight, but it can be skilled up to several miles. ("Did you know she had her tail cut off so people wouldn't notice?")
SPECIAL 96-100 Mutant Sensory Perception targeted, controlled
Used by Breeders to detect exactly the power and ability of each person they may encounter, used by others to activate powers that are normally latent or have never been used before. A good knowledge of all the powers and mutations available comes usually only by Breeding education, or with proximity to a Breeder who will use the Character with this power to see if their work has been successful. A target may resist this power, but will feel little more than uncomfortable while it is being performed on them. With it, a Character literally reads the Psionic powers as well as all Physical Mutations (or, disadvantages?) listed on any given character sheet. There is no power that can not be detected by this ability, though some which are used in combination may confuse the user. Mirage has this ability, but she is not fully educated as to each Power and Mutation, so she describes her experiences with each power to one of the Breeders she may be working with (Darkhanis or Vanya, Morgontain, others).
Typical Other Mutations/Powers: to some extent, the character with this power will always be a little more susceptible to Powers than others. Usually the other powers are mental, mostly senses or telepathy/empathy, dreamwalking or control, healing, self-healing, enhancements