New character and idea concept1

New character and idea concept 1

Tavon 03 Dec 2007 00:06

Jacob Panelon- Jacob is a senior at Empire University. He has always felt like there was a void in him like there is something missing. He has studied to be a mage since he was young, yet the supposed magic talent that showed up when he was tested behaves sporadically. He has learned what to do yet when he uses the reageants and the correct phrases the spells still usually fizzle. He went to Empire University to try figure out what was wrong with him why he felt there was something missing. Anytime he told somebody he felt like there was something missing, something wrong inside him, it was always assumed it was just the loss of his father at a young age.

He was told that the band on his wrist was to help with the headaches he had when he was younger. He barely remebers these headaches all he remembers is the pain they caused and that he doesn't want to feel them again.

Jacob is what the Collective call psi-mages. They are the only ones that register a power level that is exactly 0.5. Because they are so psionically weak The Collective usually slaps a supression band on them as soon they manifest the migrane-like headaches that will kill the child eventually if not treated. Then they usually wipe much of these memories to allow the child to live a "normal" life with a sporadic disjointed magical potential. The child never removes the band because he/she does remember just the pain (on a scale of 1-10 the pain is like 15) and never wants to feel that way again. Many of these children end up lost to the Streets as gang bangers with that extra boom at the right moment that keeps them slightly up there on the hierarchy. Those that do make it in regular society are thought to be just another weak mage.

No one up until this point has figured out what the connection between the psionic ability and talent for the arcane truly is. The Collective has just figured out it's a conflict of the 2 abilities and one of the abilities needs to be suppressed for the child to survive. By supressing their psi ability they are making sure such an aberation is kept out of breeding pool of the Collective.

Perhaps a psi not completely under the Cllective's ever watching eye could realize Jacob's true potential.

Last edited on 03 Dec 2007 00:08 by Tavon Show more

Re: New character and idea concept 1

RavenB 03 Dec 2007 05:43

Hmm. This leads to a number of questions:

1.) Why would such a weak psi-power have such a pronounced negative effect on the child?
2.) What sort of psi power do these children have? Is it telepathy, ESP, psychokinesis, or what?
3.) The Collective has actively worked to prevent any agency or faction from developing weapons that could nullify a person's telepathic ability. By contrast, the magic-inhibiting "leash" is a well-known piece of tech that is used to dampen the powers of anyone who shows signs of magery at an early age. If the child's survival merely requires that one power or the other be dampened — magery or psi — then why wouldn't the Collective just make sure the child was fitted with a leash? That would solve the problem of protecting the child's life without risking that someone might discover a piece of psi-inhibiting hardware on his person. If the child's psi-powers are that weak, the Collective could just let him run loose and live his life as a mundy; he would be leashed, of course, but all he would need to know is that his particular form of innate magic was self-destructive, and that it would eventually kill him if he took off the leash. That seems like a much safer path, from the Collective's perspective, than putting a psi-inhibitor on the child and hoping no one ever notices it.

Re: New character and idea concept 1

Tavon 22 Jan 2008 23:39

I might be able to asnwer both one and two in the same answer. Psi-magery is related to telekinesis. Where normal telekinesis operates more like a large net pushing on an object and requiring training to get it to act specifically on a an object like putting a quarter in a arcade machine, psi-magery acts more like a thousand pellets hitting an object. Psi mages find it easier to manipulate the quarter but must strain just to move a chair. For whatever reason a psi-mage's brand of telekinesis seems to have an affinity to act on thaumatons forcing these small objects to move in some semblence of a pattern. A psimage might be able to cast some spells if they believed they were a mage but the chaotic nature of their ability would keep them from operating properly. Whereas if they attempted to try to act like a telekinetic the pretty much wouldn't get beyond moving a cup of water. What makes the ability dangerous is that unconsciously they move the thaumatons and even cells in their own body. As the child grows the power gets a bit stronger increasing the headaches and adverse effects on their own body eventually leading to death.

Thanks for letting me know more how the psi collective operates. It probably would be a smarter idea to have him leashed. Reworling it a little he could still study at the University how thaumatons act to figure out why as mundane spells seem to backfire around him and why removing the leash would kill him. His thaumaphyllic psi ability would still be active and that's what would "attack" the function of others' spells.

A matured trained psi-mage's abilities could either wield lots of small objects simutaneously or manipulate "shotgun" spells-quick chaotic nature spells like an explosion.

Re: New character and idea concept 1

RavenB 30 Jan 2008 06:02

I'm going to have to think long and hard about this and get back to you. It's 1 AM right now, and my brain is ill-equipped for such thinking. ^_^