Esper Talents
I can kill you with my mind.
General
Moderately rare talent among the general population, though certain species / races have it very common:
- Eldritch: The vast majority of their population are at least touch telepathic (leading to their aversion to touching, as they have lost the training for shielding). There are a few who have very strong talents.
- Glaseah: The majority of the population has some esper talent, primarily telepathy. They treat it as commonplace, and have shielding techniques. The percentage of population that either has no telepathy at all (Kis'eh't) or have very strong talent has not been defined.
- Flitzbe have some sort of talent
- Faulfenza commonly have fire-starting, we do not know if any other talents are commonplace among them.
- Chatcaava shape-shifting, seems to have a psychic component. Though it seems to have fallen out of common usage, it is experiencing a resurgence. Winged females are rare, but have the ability to absorb and pass on traits.
Eldritch
Found in jaguar notes: "Val's book"
- Kindling (fire-starting)
- Astral Projection
- Pattern Sensing
- Controlling Bodies/Biology (yours or others)
- Animal Speech
- Telepathy
- Touch-telepathy: hearing another's thoughts during skin-to-skin contact. This can range from a general sense of what they're thinking to actual conversations, and is largely involuntary for Eldritch.
- Empathy
- Touch-empathy: feeling another's feeling during skin-to-skin contact, or, for some with stronger talents, during close proximity without touch. This is largely involuntary for most Eldritch. The more direct the contact, and the longer it lasts, the stronger the effect.[1] It is difficult or impossible to lie to an Eldritch when they are touching you.[2]
- Mental Coercion
- Projection of Emotions (gotten from the native animals)/Hypnosis
- Weather affecting/sensing
- Earthsense
- Sensing history of objects by touching them. (psychometry)
- Breeding for best outcome (touch both to sense DNA combinations?). This is something the Chatcaava must have.
Touch Sensitivity
An unexpected touch, a touch with a strong feeling behind it, or being touched repeatedly can result in symptoms from the mild to the life-threatening for Eldritch. The only cure is significant time and space without touch.[1][2] Glaseah appear to suffer this infrequently if ever, and some Eldritch are more resistant to it than others.
Symptoms may include:
- Symptoms similar to extreme exhaustion or depression (being unable to stand upright without support, slumped posture, shaking or shivering)[1]
- Fainting or passing out upon being touched[1]
- Slow or irregular pulse, and cold extremities[1]
- Short and irregular breath[1]
- Coma-like unconsciousness, from which some are rumored to never wake[1]
- Extreme sensitivity to physical stimuli, such that even mild sensations are perceived as intense.[2]
Pattern Sensing
Extremely rare. Valthial tells Jahir that most people who tried to see the future went insane.[3]
Valthial also tells Jahir that he suspects the reason Liolesa did not go insane was that it was gifted to her.[3]
Cusp Events
Moments when the Sight indicates that all potentials are frozen and lead to a single point, at which point a choice (or choices) are made that lead to an irrevocable shift in the future. These moments are rare.
“Because there is room in every story for choice,” Liolesa said. “But sometimes, the divine writers say, 'this event must occur, or the story will be nonsensical, and not have the ending that We desire.' When those events draw near, it is not a sign that our choices are less important. It is a sign that our choices are among the most important we can make. That the event in question exists so that we can manifest our natures, and show whether we are in accord with the mores of the story... or demonstrate that we are at war with them.”[4]
Two known instances:
- During the events that unfolded during the novel Rose Point, when Reese Eddings made her first visit to the Eldritch homeworld. Witnessed by Liolesa, who had Hirianthial in her company. Liolesa speaks of it, the day before Reese's court presentation: "What I feel is that if I don't catalyze something now, we might not survive."[5]
- During the events that unfolded during the duology Lisinthir's Heirs, when Lisinthir returned to solidify his claim on Imthereli. Witnessed by Jahir and Liolesa.[4]
Kindling (Fire-Starting)
Only three Eldrich have manifested this talent. Two of them died in firestorms they conjured in 'fits of strong emotion.' Sediryl Galare would have been the third to die if it hadn't been for her friends. Qora offers to train her gift.[6]
Glaseah
The Glaseah include basic mind training alongside literacy and mathematics in early childhood education. [7] The primer alternates between practical exercises in focus and concentration, and cheerful explanations of the ethical and mannerly use of the mind talents. The latter are typically framed as roleplaying exercises. [8]
Development
Kits receive a 'mind-flowering' gift when they first show signs of developing talent. [9]
Mind-levels
- etpesk
- sizht
- g'ht'j
- q'znth (mind apprentice)
- nva'shec'k (mind master): to be able to hold a conversation, mind-to-mind, with a known person over range; to be able to maintain that contact under duress; to be able to identify concrete facts in the environment of a person at range; and to be able to resist influence from a master-level power.
- dva'htiht (mind mage)
- sa'tih (mind healer)
Extra special doubleplus ungood level: o'ht'aj, mind slave.
Mindlines
"A mindline is a permanent psychic channel between two or more people. It's rare. It has to form between two compatible minds, and to be sustained it has to be nurtured." [10] For Jahir and Vasiht'h, it started as mindtouches: brief impressions of the other's emotions and thoughts, often framed as a flavor, texture, sound, or other sensory experience. At first, such touches were involuntary; later, they could initiate them on purpose. [11] The mindline is like a longer-lasting mindtouch, and it formed unpredictably at first. When Jahir and Vasiht'h committed to each other on Selnor, their mindline was "made permanent by vow and intent". [12]
- ahv'shev: mindtouch
- et'ahv: mindline [10]
Mindline Criteria
- consented to by both parties
- functional without effort, conscious or otherwise
- unbreakable by external agency
- capable of enabling its participants to be greater together than they might be if isolated
- blessed by the Goddess
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Even the Wingless, Part One
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Even the Wingless, Part Two
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Heartskein, Chapter 3
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dragons' Fealty, Chapter 2
- ↑ Rose Point, Part Three: Snow
- ↑ Healer's Wedding, Chapter 1
- ↑ Heartskein, chapter 8
- ↑ Heartskein, chapter 10
- ↑ Amulet Rampant, Chapter 4
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Mindtouch, chapter 21
- ↑ Mindtouch, chapter 34
- ↑ Mindline, chapter 6