RULES OF CONDUCT
=====

1. The most important rule of any game is to have fun. These rules are only to guide behavior in an OOC fashion, though I know they're not really needed for the group assembled, I do feel it's important that visitors know exactly what is allowed here.
   
   
2. No flaming or spamming of other players. If you have a problem that you cannot resolve your differences in an adult manner please consult the GM. My decision will be final.
   
   
3. It is essential that if you are going to do anything that affects another player's character that you negotiate this off list or OCC before proceeding. Conflict is fun. It makes writing fun but remember there is a considerable investment in a character and that should be respected.
   
   
4. Always ask the permission of the owner of the character you wish to do something to. If you are uncomfortable with what is going on in your thread, say something. Talk to your partners, talk to the moderators. I can intervene if necessary. There will be a Zero Tolerance Policy for those who ignore the wishes of another about their character(s). This goes for every single person on the list.
   
   
5. Amber: Faded Past, Future Glory is rated as a Mature game so explicit sexual content if forbidden. If it is discovered that you have done this you will be permanently banned from the list without exception. If you get solicited for sex, cybering, or if they ask for your phone number... copy the conversation/email and send it to me and I will deal with it.
   
   • If your characters are getting into a romantic or sexual situation, please use the tag: Fade To Black and leave the rest to the reader's imagination
     
   • Don't write for someone else's characters. You don't know what they feel or what they plan to do. The only exception to this is when they have given you permission to do this and have let the GM know that they have.
     
   • Also, if you are not involved in that thread and you see someone speaking for or acting for another person's character, do not assume anything. Bring it to the our attention, if the permission was not mentioned in the post.
     
   • If you have permission to make actions for another player's character, please make an OCC note down at the bottom of the post to let everyone else know that you do.
   
   
   
6. No God-Moding. No one is all powerful and all knowing.
   
   
7. While I welcome open and frank discussion,  don't flame or threaten me or tell me how to run the game. Always communicate with me or my representatives in a respectful, intelligent manner, and we will do the same for you. Failing to do this is grounds for expulsion from the game.
   
   
8. All bios/characters are subject to GM approval.
   
   
9. Posting Procedures. Please keep your posting perspective in the Third Person. It has been found that this is an easier format for other players to follow and interact with. Also please refrain from using other colored text than default black to make reading easy on the eyes of all involved, especially the GM. Garish colored text tends to trigger migraines when over used for me. Bold for your speaking is fine, if you feel the need to make a distinction.
   
   In order to prove that you've read the rules this far, please put somewhere in your RTJ: Scrappy Doo is the anti-christ.
   
   
10. Killing of characters... this is a big one. There is no killing of another player's character unless the owner of said character gives permission to do so and that the GM is aware of it and approves it. The illusion of mortal danger is fine but players place a lot of work into their characters and arbitrary murder of those characters is not allowed.
    
    
11. All characters become property of the game. If a player chooses to leave, the character will then fall to NPC status whose fate will be chosen by the GMs. Canon characters are NOT property of any individual player and whose fate cannot be declared by a departing player.
    
    
12. When you reply to a post, please be sure to cut and past only the pertinent material from the original post. We don't need duplicates of every post each time you reply!
    
    
13. Occasionally, mistakes are made and you must delete a post due to a mistake. Please let me know when/if you need to do this so that I'm not looking for posts that don't exist. Also, this is not a game of "do-overs", if your character makes a mistake, play through it.
    
    
14. No asshole posts.
    
    These are the posts where a character puts out every negative thought they have about the other characters and the players of those other characters have no chance for reacting. If your character doesn't have the balls to come out and say it, don't put it in the public venue.
    
    They are passive aggressive bullshit and all it does is create a lot of bad feelings amongst players. If you want to have your character think badly about someone else, that's fine. Put it in as a private line to GM, if needs be. That way only you and I can see it.
    
    
15. Players should be prepared to post twice per week as any fewer slows the game down for all. If you are unable to meet minimum posting requirements for any reason, please send me a private message. I'm not hard to get along with but I do expect players to have the respect for myself and others not to leave us waiting without word.
    
    If you are unsure as to what you feel/think your character should do next in a situation, contact me.
    
    If you feel a thread/situation isn't one that you think your character would be involved in, contact me.
    
    If real life is throwing tons of shit at you and you're genuinely unable to post regularly, contact me.
    
    I can't read minds. I need to hear from players surrounding issues that pop up. I can't fix or work around what I don't know about.
    
    Players who do not meet the minimum posting requirements will be placed in Lurker Status after 1 (ONE) week and have their access to groups other than public revoked until I have received a message from that player indicating that they DO wish to be included in this game and give me some reason that a twice weekly schedule is too much to be managed.

This message was last edited by the GM at 04:40, Sat 03 Feb 2018.

All characters start with 150 points.

Character Sheet

Name:
Age:(Both Actual Years Lived and Amber years)
Height:
Weight:
Hair Colour and style:
Eye Colour: (No emotionally changing eyes, please. Pick a color and stick with it)
Clothing Choices:
Personal colours and symbol:

Stats [Amberites start with Amber level stats. Dropping a stat in exchange for points is subject to GM approval and must have a character background reason.]

Psyche:
Strength:
Endurance:
Warfare:

Powers (See Below)

Items/Artifacts (per ADRPG book)

Skills: (Three things your character is known for doing well. Subject to approval)

1.
2.
3.

Personality Traits (both good and bad and subject to GM approval)

1.
2.
3.

Personal History: (At least a couple of paragraphs, please)

Requested Parent: (Not a definite given, but a suggestion to help me along in my decision-making).
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:35, Thu 13 Nov 2014.

Pattern Initiate - 10 points

As blood of Amber, your character has the Pattern Initiate ability. You can travel around the Golden Circle unassisted. You cannot travel further than the established routes, manipulate matter or probability in any way.

Pattern Adept - 25 points

Having learned more about the ways of the Pattern, you can travel to the Second Circle Kingdoms unassisted and make minor manipulations in the Second Circle but still not within the Golden Circle Kingdoms.

Pattern Mastery 50 points

You have walked the Pattern and can avail yourself of all the powers per the DRPG. The character must have at least Amber rank in Endurance to successfully traverse the Pattern.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:37, Thu 13 Nov 2014.

Iconograhy - 30 points

The ability to construct items that represent a particular person for the purposes of communication with said person. This includes sketches, portraits, sculptures, wood carvings, or an art form of one's own desire. The form of Iconographic medium must be declared in advance.

Iconography Abilities:

• Creating Icons: Iconographers can create Icons, magical talismans that can create a psychic link between the subject and the item itself. As described above, an Icon can be created through a number of mediums: illustration, painting, stained glass, etching, sculpture, wood-carving, etc. The materials are the same, and an Icon takes roughly twice as long to create as a nonmagical version of the same item. The process must be uninterrupted, requiring considerable concentration and artistry while the Icon is created. Icons can only be created depicting subjects known to the Wright: creating one based on an unfamiliar subject may not work at all, or may contact a Shadow world doppelganger of the desired subject. It is not necessary for the subject of an Icon to allow for its creation, or even be aware an Icon is being made.
• Impromptu Icons: One-use Icons can be constructed quickly in a less-permanent fashion; quick abstract sketches or impressions that allow the Wright to contact the subject in a hurry. These impromptu Icons do not need to be as exact, and take only half the time to create as a regular Icon (essentially the same time to create as the “regular” item), but the disadvantage is twofold: they do not last beyond a single use, and they can only be used by the specific Iconographer. Another Iconographer could, when given a “used” impromptu Icon, determine who it depicted, but could not duplicate that Icon in any form. An impromptu Icon has none of the resistance to damage of a traditional Icon, and requires considerably more concentration and exertion of Psyche to use. When on the receiving end of a contact using an impromptu Icon, communication will seem distant and lacking the usual clarity.
• Icon Defense. When attacked psychically or by some other means (Sorcery, invocation, etc.) an Iconographer can use his own Icon to create a powerful psychic bulwark through an evocation of self, backed with the magic power of the Icons themselves. This requires intense concentration and access to an Icon depicting the character (whether a self-portrait or an Icon made by another), and can be maintained for as long as Endurance holds out. The more powerful the forces defended against, the more difficult and draining this power is.
• Identifying Icons: Iconographers are able to instinctually recognize any item that is an Icon, and sense the identity of the being it is linked to. They are also so sensitive to any contacts being made through an Icon that the Iconographer can tell who is contacting them before accepting and opening the communication.

Additional Discipline - 10 points

The Iconographer is able to use a second medium in order to create Icons. Forms must be declared in advance.

Location Iconography - 10 points

In addition to creating Icons of people, the Iconographer is able to make Icons of places and use them for travel.
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:08, Tue 25 Sept 2018.

Cantrips - 5 points

These are instant flashes of magic that assist the user. They are instantaneous and last only a brief few seconds. 5 Cantrips may be chosen. Additional Cantrips can be purchased at 1 point per cantrip.

• Charm (“Canto!”)
  This creates a minor and temporary enchantment upon an item or being. The enchantment has little effect other than to make the thing appear magical to senses capable of detecting magic energy, though it can be used to enchant an item or being for a spell or ritual requiring a magical object or being. The larger the being, the shorter the effects of this cantrip last, and conversely, the smaller, the more the cantrip remains in effect.
  
• Clarity (“Colo!”)
  This cantrip provides a moment of intellectual clarity, when otherwise confused, dazed, or befuddled. It is useful against drunkenness, magical confusion, or any condition that hinders rational thought. It lasts only a few moments, before the original state returns.
  
• Dampen (“Opprimo!”)
  This cantrip allows your character to cause an existing process to momentarily dampen or falter in intensity, despite normal behavior. It might cause a flame to gutter, or electrical current to suddenly ebb.
  
• Dim (“Caligo!”)
  This cantrip dims the light in an area momentarily, causing shadows to deepen and any available light source to become faint to feeble.
  
• Flare (“Clareo!”)
  Useful for quick illumination of an area, the Flare cantrip offers a momentary burst of dazzling light, enough to fully illuminate a small or medium space. Flare lasts for a few seconds, then fades rapidly. The light can come in a variety of colors or intensities, but it is not bright enough to do much more than temporarily surprise an attacker. Many magicians customize this power to create signature uses, with a particular pattern or color to the illumination.
  
• Focus (“Conligo!”)
  This cantrip quickens the spirit of the caster, giving them a sudden surge of Psyche. This can possibly tilt the balance for evenly- or closely-matched contests of Psyche, or if well-timed, can help provide extra protection against an incoming psychic assault.
  
• Foul (“Inquino!”)
  This cantrip will cause the subject to become inedible or otherwise impure and unusable, whether it be food or drink, a chemical substance, or even a medicine. It will curdle milk, taint water, and cause fresh food to spoil. It can also desecrate sacred substances like holy water, and even cause poison to lose its efficacy.
  
• Fracture (“Fatisco!”)
  Fracture allows your character to cause a sudden weakness or flaw in a physical item or object, whether it be a window to be cracked, a glass to be shattered, a door-frame to splinter, or a rope to fray.
  
• Glitch (“Dirimo!”)
  When directed at a technological device with moving parts, such as an electrical engine, a computer, telephone, etc. this cantrip will create a momentary malfunction, causing it to fail to work momentarily. An electronic signal will become garbled, a circuit will fail to be completed, etc. For a larger device, the cantrip will merely cause a sputter or quick failure of function, but a smaller item might completely seize up and need to be rebooted, etc. This condition is not permanent and goes away after a few moments.
  
• Grasp (“Capio”)
  Usually accompanied by a physical motion with a hand, this cantrip gives a slight physical shove or tug to the targeted item, structure, or living being. It is not enough to push a target over, but could potentially cause the subject to lose balance in a chaotic situation, or it could potentially knock something out of a target’s hands if it is being held loosely.
  
• Invigorate (“Roboro”)
  This cantrip gives a quick charge of energy to another living being, almost like a metaphysical shot of adrenaline. In game terms, it represents a sudden burst of Endurance, enough to jump up one rank for a few seconds. The amount of energy given is enough to potentially re-start the heart of a dying character or give someone a bit of vitality when fatigue has set in. It can’t offset wounds, or bring the dead back to life, but the sudden surge of life-force might confuse a zombie or momentarily quench the appetite of a hungry entity like an Erebus (page 145) or other energy vampire.
  
• Jam (“Haesito!”)
  When directed at a door lock, a hinge, gears, or anything with interlocking components or pieces that move against one another, this cantrip causes them to inexplicably slip and become jammed. This might temporarily cause a crossbow or pistol to jam, a door-lock to freeze, a winch to suddenly stick, etc. The effect lasts only a second or two, and does not do any permanent damage to the targeted item.
  
• Loosen (“Explico!”)
  The Loosen cantrip causes any knot, buckle, or fastener to become loose for a moment, allowing someone to take advantage of the interval and untie or otherwise unfasten it. The cantrip can apply to something as abstract as a pulley or fan belt, or a rope tied around your character’s hands. It won’t completely unravel anything or completely cause it to become undone, but will give a slight window of opportunity to pull the fastening loose.
  
• Mana (“Animus!”)
  This cantrip creates a sudden pool of mana, or magical energy, that can be used to boost another spell or magical power other than those based on the Pattern or Logrus.
  
• Nullify (“Con-vello!”)
  This cantrip lets the caster momentarily cause any magical energies to fail. This can be cast while an enemy spell-caster is building or casting a spell, causing that spell to fall apart, or it could temporarily suck the magical energy out of an existing magical process, like a ward, curse, or magical shields. This cantrip’s power is relative to that of the caster, meaning that a more powerful Psyche will have a more profound effect on the targeted magic energy. It can also instantly counter almost any other cantrip.
  
• Numb (“Rigeo!”)
  In the rare occasion that your character is expecting to experience pain, the Numb cantrip causes a momentarily dulling of sensation to a particular body part. Uses might include dulling the area before cutting into an area for battlefield surgery, or lessening the pain impact before it hits. While this cantrip doesn’t prevent damage or boost the target’s Endurance, it will help resist side effects of a sudden painful injury, letting the target go without yelling or flinching.
  
• Pain (“Noceo!”)
  When using this cantrip, your character must point at a particular body part of an intended victim as the cantrip is uttered. A good tactical tool, the Pain cantrip sends a quick burst of physical discomfort or actual pain through the affected body part. It is not enough to cause damage or any long term effect, but it is uncomfortable and can catch an unwary foe by surprise.
  
• Paralyze (“Con-gelo!”)
  This cantrip freezes the subject for a moment in their tracks, causing a non-painful paralysis that lasts but a second. This paralysis is not mental, and the target will be conscious throughout the momentary paralysis, but physically unable to act. This is a powerful cantrip when used in the midst of combat, and can cause an attacker to miss a blow, or a defender’s parry to go awry.
  
• Reveal (“Acclaro!”)
  This cantrip reveals the reality behind an illusionary appearance for a moment, pulling aside illusions, holograms, or other immaterial means of changing the way something looks. The caster’s Psyche is important: the higher the Psyche the more profoundly the illusion is stripped away.
  
• Quicken (“Propero!”)
  This cantrip causes any physical motion the caster is performing to speed up momentarily, whether running, dodging, or attempting any feat of eye-hand coordination where speed is crucial. The caster’s perception also speeds up momentarily, allowing full control over this physical motion while the cantrip is in effect. This could be used to win a close race at the final moments, speed a reaction, etc.
  
• Stun (“Sopio!”)
  This cantrip causes a momentary sense of confusion, befuddlement, or even vertigo in the targeted foe, causing the target to lose a train of thought or botch any complex action being attempted. It is not harmful, little more than the psychic equivalent of an involuntary sneeze, but can often disrupt a critical process or action.
  
• Sureness (“Caveo!”)
  This cantrip allows for a slight improvement of eye/hand coordination, allowing your character to perform a physical action with more accuracy. It might make a single weapon strike slightly more precise, guiding it through armor joints or a slit in a helmet, or the caster could use it to win at darts.
  
• Surge (“Acuo!”)
  This cantrip allows your character to cause an existing process to suddenly surge, or increase in intensity, despite normal controls or limitations. It lasts for only a second or two, and has no effect on the overall duration or magnitude of the process. Surge can cause a campfire to suddenly flare larger, a light bulb to suddenly brighten, a horn to grow louder for a moment, or electric current to suddenly increase by a noticeable amount.
  
• Chill (“Refrigero!”)
  With a fanning of the hand, this cantrip reduces the temperature around a single person or item. It can be used to refresh someone on a hot day, or to act as a balm to sunburn or a fever. It only lasts for as long as a snowball in the summer.
  
• Draw (“Scribo!”)
  This cantrip allows the caster to draw or write on any dry surface with the tip of a finger. It leaves behind a mark in the finger’s path. What the caster creates with that marking is up to her, and the quality of it depends on whatever artistic ability she may have. The effect only lasts for several seconds, although the mark remains behind after the cantrip expires.
  
• Heat (“Calesco!”)
  With a rubbing together of the hands, this cantrip imparts warmth to a person or item. This is enough to reheat a meal or thaw a frozen lock. It can help stave off the cold for at least as long as a hot mug of coffee.
  
• Mend (“Corrigo!”)
  This cantrip allows the caster to fix small cracks or chips in an item the way someone else might with a tube of superglue. It doesn’t permit the caster to reattach bits that are broken off if they’re thicker than a pencil. It can also be used to fix a small blemish, cut, or scratch on a person, as long as the injury is no more than skin deep. Some use it to heal shaving nicks.
  
• Purify (“Purifico!”)
  With this cantrip, the caster makes a small amount of food or drink clean to consume. This is enough to affect anything on a dinner plate or in a glass, mug, stein, goblet, and so on. It removes all poisons and toxins permanently, although it doesn’t affect the flavor or quality of the food or drink itself. Some use this cantrip at every meal, and it’s common for merchants in Nexopolis who drink together to employ this cantrip as a toast. It’s fine to trust your drinking partners, but it’s even better to be sure about what you’re drinking. Since it removes all toxins, this cantrip also removes the alcohol from a drink.
  
• Smack (“Quatio!”)
  With a quick knock or slap, this cantrip makes a flaky item work again. This won’t repair something that is entirely broken, but it can get a crashed or buggy bit of tech working again, at least for a few precious moments. It also puts an instant end to a Glitch cantrip.
  
• Spark (“Scintilla!”)
  With a snap of the fingers, this cantrip produces a small spark. It only lasts for as long as the snap itself, but this is enough to ignite a fire if there is something flammable at hand.
  
• Stick (“Obhaeresco!”)
  This cantrip allows the user to stick an item to a dry, flat surface. The item in question cannot weigh more than a pound, and the surface must be stable, preferably something like a wall or a door (or Door). The item sticks there until it is disturbed, at which point the cantrip ends. Many use this cantrip to leave notes for others, anything from warnings to welcomes. It’s also a fine way to put small items near at hand for easy access— or to hide them in unexpected places as well

Changing one's self is no small feat and requires a certain amount of metaphysical dexterity. It also takes a great deal of practice. This is the power to manipulate the tissue of your own body. There are certain inherent limitations upon this. For example, you may not add to or subtract from the total mass of your body using shape-shift. Shape Shifting comes with built-in dangers. While the wielders of Pattern or Logrus run the risk of destroying the universe, Shape Shifters face the day-today challenge of being able to destroy themselves. For example, since the power involves self-change, there's always the danger of changing to a state where a character can't change back.

Shape Shift Wounds - 5 points
The ability to seal or close open wounds on the user's body. This will not heal internal injuries or prevent infection but will seal a bleeding cut or injury until the shape-shifter can get to a medical practitioner.

Avatar Form - 20 Points

The Avatar form is more exotic, designed to adapt the character for survival in incredibly
hostile Chaotic Shadows. Elemental forms are usually based on either fire, earth (stone), air or water, and are best suited for those environments. Users chose one Elemental Form in advance which will assist the user in certain hostile environments.

Primal Form - 20 Points
Often called the demon form, this is simply because of the character's appearance. Demon forms have the same basic personalities as the character. The character is naturally armored in this state and equipped with natural weapons like talons, fangs, horns, and even spine-tipped tails. In other words, Primal form is the Shape Shifting equivalent of putting on a suit of armor, and wielding a range of weapons. While the form is well equipped for Combat, there are no Attribute advantages of any kind.

Shapeshift - 35 points
The user may avail themselves of all powers of shapeshifting per the ADRPG and will have all of the partial abilities listed above.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:59, Mon 10 Nov 2014.

Sense Magic - 5 points
Gives the user the ability to sense magical qualities in artifacts.

Spell Building - 10 points
The character has learned the basics on how to build a spell and cast it. You have not learned the intricacies of holding and hanging spells.

Sorcery - 15 points
Having learned the full spectrum of magic, including the ability of racking a single spell.
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:35, Tue 11 Nov 2014.

A mythical sort of place that supposedly resides deep in the castle, the Hall of Mirrors appears to be a shortcut to taking the Pattern. To find it requires a significant mental advantage and no blood relation to Amber is necessary. The Hall has been rumored to appear in areas other than the Castle as well. The same mirror will show many different shadows, and not necessarily the same one at any time.

Mirror travelers cannot manipulate any shadows to which they travel in any metaphysical way.

Mirror Travel - 10 points

The Hall has revealed itself and the user is able to step through the mirror to a Shadow realm. The user has no control over which type of shadow they may find on the other side of the glass nor any contents or probabilities of the realm. The traveler must make careful note of where the mirror opening is located so that they may open the mirror to travel back to the hall or they may not be able to leave the Shadow again and will require assistance (if any is at hand) to return.

Mirror Locating and Holding - 20 points

When traveling through the mirrors, a user at this level is able to hold the opening stable so that he or she can return to it with greater ease and with less likelihood of losing the spot.

Location Assurance - 35 points

While the mirrors can be fickle in which shadow a traveler will go to, the experienced mirror traveler can recognize patterns and cycles in the mirror images and force a shadow to appear.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:27, Wed 12 Nov 2014.

CONJURATION - 20 Points

As per Amber DRPG (please PM if you need Info)

Conjuration is the ability to "conjure" up items or creatures. It can also be used to "empower" or "ensorcel" people, places or things. It is really using Magic to shape Shadow, and to give that bit of Shadow power. Since many of the details of Conjuration relate to putting together items, you'll want to refer to the Item Creation Section for a lot of the specific details.

HIGH COMPELLING 25 points (or +5 points if you already have Conjuration)

As Per Shadow Knight
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:15, Wed 19 Nov 2014.

Both done per the ADRPG or Shadow Knight.

Empathy [30 Points] Taken from Lords of Gossamer and Shadow Supplement. I'm vastly cutting the explanations on the Empathy Abilities. If the power appeals to you, please send me a PM and we can discuss more specifics.

Empathy is a Lesser Power, a type of mind-based magic relatively widespread across the Gossamer worlds. Many worlds feature psychic powers, whether commonplace, rare, or even thought imaginary. The most common is Empathy, concerned primarily with mental communication and sensing.

Users of Empathy are called Empaths. Empaths have a variety of abilities relating to the mind: they can sense the minds of others from great distances, read surface thoughts, communicate telepathically, judge others’ degrees of Psyche, and even mask their own Psyches, hiding from psychic detection. Empaths can mask pain or shift it away from others, and can speed the healing process.

Furthermore, Empaths can dominate weak minds, rendering them open to suggestion. Vastly weaker opponents can be paralyzed physically or mentally. Empathy comes with dangers, though, and should be used judiciously. Opening one’s mind with another and forming an empathic link is a two-way street: a bridge between minds might turn into an avenue for an assault into the Empath’s own mind.

Empathy Abilities

The following abilities are known to all Empaths:

• Empathic Link -- Like a traditional psychic contact, an Empath can create a psychic link between two or more characters. This link can be created by touch or over a greater distance. Contact by touch does not have to be as close as skin-to-skin, but the more unobstructed by clothing or armor the better. The range for distance is line-of-sight or through psychic means.
• Sensing Psyche -- Rather than “tuning in” to a specific Psyche, an Empath may instead attempt to locate other psychic presences (living beings or even sentient items of power) in the same manner, opening the Empath up to any nearby psychic presences. The higher the Psyche, the easier it will be to spot.
• Aura Sense -- Empaths can recognize and identify beings by their psychic auras, even if they are disguised, invisible, or otherwise unseen. The Empath must have encountered the being sometime prior, and must have been paying enough attention to get a psychic “feel” of them. The Empath must be in a state receptive to perceiving psychic auras, and must also be within sight of the being to be recognized. Psychic auras that are especially well-known to the Empath will jump out immediately, while hidden or less-familiar ones will take a moment or two to sort out.
  
• Item Reading -- Empaths can sometimes even get a psychic trace off an inanimate object. Clothing or personal items belonging to other characters might carry some lingering psychic imprint, depending on how long the item was owned and the frequency of its use.
  
• Danger Sense -- This power is identical to the Channeling power described on page 143 of the Lords of Gossamer & Shadow core rulebook.
  
• Sensing Thoughts -- Once an empathic link is established, it is easy for the Empath to determine the subject’s surface thoughts: a non-obtrusive reading far subtler than Psyche-based mental probing. To use this ability, an Empath must create an empathic link, and then quiet her own mind until she can “feel” the linked subject’s surface thoughts.
  
• Mind Probe -- An Empath can probe the mind of a connected subject, gaining a specific sense of the subject’s emotional state and/or thought processes. This is a one way ability, allowing the Empath to search the mind of the subject, not two way mind-to-mind communication.
  
• Mind Reading -- With a successful, non-resisted psychic link (which includes both willing subjects and those whom the Empath overcame in a psychic combat), an Empath can read a subject’s mind fully, rooting through memories, thoughts, emotions, and even the subconscious mind.
  
• Psychic Neutral -- Each living being gives off a psychic aura, and with this ability, the Empath can attune their own psychic aura to the surrounding area, rendering it near impossible to detect except by high-Ranking Psyches. While Psychic Neutral, the character cannot:

1. Attempt other Empathy abilities requiring an empathic link
   
2. Bring the Pattern or Logrus to mind
   
3. Use Channeling powers, use cantrips or spells
   
4. Communicate via Icon
   
5. Use any Artifact or Creature psychically.

*Any attempt to do any of these activities results in the Empath “uncloaking,” and becoming visible to anyone searching using psychic means.


Sensing Psychic Qualities

The Empath is also able to identify if any Psychic Qualities are possessed by another character, Artifact, or Creature. This does not enable the Empath to learn what the exact nature of the being/item is, or the extent of its power, but will identify its ability in a general fashion, such as “highly-Ranked” or "is intelligent and psychically sensitive,” and so on.

• Sending -- The Empath can project simple messages or emotional states to the subject through an empathic link. These messages or emotional states must be relatively short and simple to understand, defined by the Empath in a few words.
  
• Emotional Manipulation An Empath can influence a subject’s emotional state for better or worse through the empathic link, by projecting a desired emotion to instill upon the subject, or by evoking the subject’s own memories to cause certain emotions. The first method is the most common, projected through a normal empathic link.
  
• The second method can only be performed if the Empath is familiar with the desired memory to be evoked, such as through an existing or prior mind reading or psychic probe.

The birthright of anyone born of at least one full-blooded Rebman parent, this
enables the character to breathe underwater in most places, with additional benefits.
While all those in Rebma and its lands are able to breathe normally, or at least without ill
effects, this power lets Rebmans and others travel to places where Rebma's enchantment
does not protect them.

A minor Power at best, this can best be described as a Shape Shifting variant with
fewer benefits, though more suited for the environment of Rebma. This Power works
everywhere in Shadow where Shape Shifting will, and beneficially, comes with few of the
dangers inherent in Shape Shifting.

Adaptation is usually not even a conscious Power, as most who have it use it
instinctually and without effort. The Power's very nature makes it most useful as an
automatic power, without the need to remember or concentrate on its manipulation.
Dangers of Adaptation. Because some of the uses of this power involve both
internal and external manipulation of bodily tissues, it can leave the users open for some
weaknesses which should be considered.

. Because some of the uses of this power involve both internal and external manipulation of bodily tissues, it can leave the users open for some weaknesses which should be considered.

• Rapid Changes in Surroundings. Teleporting (or Trumping) from one type of atmosphere to another is dangerous, especially if the environments are radically different in nature.
  
  For example, it would not be wise to Trump from miles below the ocean's surface into the fiery plane surrounding the Keep of the Four Worlds if one were specially adapted for survival in the first of those places. Near instant searing of the lungs, blindness, and dehydration would be immediate effects if attention is not paid to the transition, and depressurization would create potentially deadly results. For higher ranked Endurance scores, this becomes less of a threat, but is almost always discomforting.
  
  The Gamemaster should initially ask the player attempting such transitions in environment if they have any preparations to make. If these do not become a standard part of any Trumping or teleporting, then the Gamemaster should feel free to inflict upon foolish characters traditional diving maladies such as the bends, burst eardrums, sudden nausea or vomiting, dizziness, unconsciousness, and possible respiratory failure as natural consequences of rash behavior.
  
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• Time Needed for Adaptation. Unlike Shape Shifting, conscious Adaptation is very quick and requires little concentration. Changing single features such as altering body temperature is quick, only requiring five or ten seconds. Electing to completely alter one's own body to survive comfortably in a hostile and different underwater climate can take up to thirty seconds. Since it usually takes much longer than that to reach one's destination while swimming, this amount of time is rarely inconvenient. Changing back to one's normal state is almost instantaneous, but usually must be willed consciously.
  
  As with Shape Shifting, one's physical condition is of utmost importance when using Adaptation. Healthy, well fed characters with higher Endurance scores will be able to Adapt and survive sudden changes in environment far better than tired, malnourished, or characters ranked Human level in Endurance.
  
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• Endurance Limitations. Because the process of Adaptation is far less taxing and involves much less manipulation of bodily tissue, Adaptation is not as tiring as Shape Shifting, and may be attempted a few times throughout a day for Human Ranked Endurance characters, often for Chaos levels, and Amber or higher-ranked characters may use Adaptation continually for prolonged periods of time, Shadow-swimming throughout multitudes of differing types of watery environments.
  
  ---
• Attribute Tips for Adaptation. Adaptation is a function of Endurance, and higher Endurance will allow characters greater flexibility in changing their bodies to meet new environments. It will also aid tremendously when the character makes the mistake of changing environments without considering the dangers and adjusting accordingly.
  
  Since Adaptation does not cause one to change their personality in any significant fashion, high Psyche is not a requisite.

Adaptation Abilities

Adaptation confers the following benefits to its users:

• Breathing Underwater. Unlike in Rebma, where the watery environment is altered so that those from above might breathe and exist there without harm, the waters of the ocean floor surrounding Rebma are not so hospitable. Stepping off Faiella-bionin and swimming or walking away from Rebma are each deadly to surface dwellers and Rebmans without Adaptation.
  
  This ability allows the user to travel wherever one wishes within a watery environment, extracting oxygen enough for sustenance, and also lowering the amount of oxygen the body needs. This ability is of little use in breathing in non-oxygenated atmospheres, such as vacuums and alien world Shadows. The Power of Shapeshifting might be of more use here, allowing the character to Shape Shift into a being with different respiratory requirements.
  A side effect of this is that the character is able to speak while underwater, anywhere, and may henceforth hold conversations, use Trumps, Spells, Power Words, etc...
  
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• Swimming. Heightening ones ability to move through the water, this ability works in two ways:
  
  Firstly, it strengthens muscles and adapts them to the motions most conducive to rapid, tightly controlled swimming. Adaptation gives the character some instinctual understanding of maneuvering in water, and maximizes their physical attributes to aid them in swimming.
  
  Secondly, it allows the body to produce an oily film which is released through the pores, slippery and slick, which aids in making the character move unimpeded through the water. This ability does not impair motor functions or make the hands too slick to handle weapons or other items. It might be rendered useless if the body is covered with clothing, hence the scanty garb common to those in Rebma. The less impeded with clothing a Rebman is, the more this ability aids them in moving through the water.
  
  Use Strength as a judge of the character's swimming speed, since Strength is a measure of muscle and its applications, and speed and power swimming is a physical activity which builds and demands muscular ability.
  
  This film quickly dissipates in outside air. One interesting potential use for it is in
  Strength versus Strength Combat, where it might make a wrestler slippery and difficult to
  hold onto.
  
  ---
• Immunity to Cold. By both strengthening the body's resistance to cold and lowering a character's body temperature, this ability allows submersion without discomfort in the coldest of waters. It also allows survival in cold environments, though long-term exposure to intense, unrelenting cold can harm a character with Adaptation just as it can anyone else, though to a lesser degree.
  
  Endurance is the barometer of how much this ability will allow a character to withstand. Allow Human Rank Endurance characters the ability to remain in very cold (35-50 degrees Fahrenheit) water for long stretches of time without discomfort, Chaos Rank to survive freezing water or atmospheres (15-35 degrees), and Amber Rank the ability to remain in frozen waters for long-term periods of time. It is even possible that highly Ranked characters with this ability might be able to survive being frozen in ice for a short time, hibernating until thawed.
  
  ---
• Resistance to Extreme Pressures. As Corwin observed during his fight on Faiella-bionin, stepping forth from the bridge can be fatal. The pressure of the deep water surrounding Rebma is incredible, able to crush the life out of any surface dweller who dares step from the protection which Rebma's gates and stairway offer.
  
  Adaptation allows the character to survive without damage the changes in pressure that come from swimming downward, upward, or out of the confines of Rebma. It prevents cramping, deafness, depressurization, and other factors which characterize deep-sea diving.
  
  With Adaptation, a character can swim freely up from the ocean's floor to the surface and vice versa, without the time consuming necessity of becoming acclimated to the gradual change in pressure.
  
  This ability involves toughening the tissues of the body, alternately swelling them with blood and oxygen or dispersing them to meet the required pressures. Endurance governs the ability to resist these changes, and the ability of the body to adapt to differences in pressure. A Human ranked character would be able to move down to about 200 feet or so beneath the surface without distress, and a Chaos Ranking in Endurance allows submersion up to 500 or so feet. Amber level allows the character to continue at depths of around 1000-1500 feet below the surface without harmful effects. Ranked characters may venture beyond this with some caution, with the points determining roughly the depths they might survive without considerable harm.
  
  A character such as Corwin, with superiority in Endurance (if he possessed the Adaptation Power), would be able to survive depths unheard of, unexplored save for within immensely strong pressurized diving bells.
  
  Rapidly changing from one atmosphere to another, can be devastating if the character is not prepared for the change.
  
  ---
• Enhanced Vision. The bottom of the sea-floor is quite dark. If not the strange fires which burn everywhere in Rebma, the city would have been quite dark. Enhanced vision allows a character alter the structure of his or her eyes, to maximize the available light and provide illumination. However, like sea-creatures from the lowest reaches of the ocean, once the point of utter blackness is reached, this vision fails to be useful, though it allows for the user to see things which are illuminated, such as many forms of sea-life which produce bioluminescence, the ability to produce light from their bodies.
  
  Looking into the eyes of a character with this ability in use shows their pupils to be almost entirely black, similar to the way a cat's eyes dilate to allow night vision. The "flip-side" to this ability is that Adaptation allows the character to shrink the pupils to
  mere pinpoints, allowing only the slightest amount of light in. This is automatic and nearly instantaneous, preventing the Rebman character from being blinded from a sudden teleportation or change in lighting.
  
  ---
• Advanced Hearing. Sound carries a shorter distance underwater than it does
  in air. Though it is not useless below the ocean surface, fewer creatures are able to rely on it as a primary sense. This ability allows the character's hearing to develop to a phenomenally acute level, which allows for the inner ear to pick up the faintest of sound
  waves passing through the water. Very useful for any natural forms of sonar, or listening
  for the songs and noises made by the creatures of the deep. This Power allows the character to hear below the ocean at a range of approximately double the aboveground range for noises. Of course, the "loudness" and quality of the sound affects the character's ability to detect it.
  
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• Directional Sense. Oceans are vast, greater than most humans' ability to comprehend. It can be easy to get lost while traveling through them, especially when they are unfamiliar. Directional sense allows the character to remember a clear feeling of the direction they traveled from, and gives a rough estimate of the depth which the character is at. Further sensing allows a player to get an approximate feel for the compass points.
  
  Clued into regular tidal currents or familiar with the undersea topography, a character can navigate quite easily. However, this ability does not provide any clue to the whereabouts of a place the character has never been, and will not help find something if the character has no idea where to find it.
  
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• Increased Touch Sense. Known in the animal kingdom as the lateral line system, this sense is closely related to the sense of touch, allowing fish to sense the movement of other beings in their vicinity and to sense obstacles. This sense extends beyond the fish's line of sight, and is how they are able to maneuver in utter darkness.
  
  Consisting of a series of channels under the skin of most fish, the Adaptation power uses the human pores for this ability, allowing them to sense the presence and direction of changes in the flow of currents around them. Currents create vibrations in the channels (or pores) which are transmitted via the nervous system to the brain where the information is processed like other sensory input. Altered currents register differently, and can be easily detected.
  
  This ability can be turned on and off by the character, and with concentration can be used aboveground to detect the movement of air about the Rebman. Drawbacks to this power is that clothing hampers it, and rain renders it similarly useless

Players should be prepared to post twice per week as any fewer slows the game down for all. If you are unable to meet minimum posting requirements for any reason, please send me a private message. I'm not hard to get along with but I do expect players to have the respect for myself and others not to leave us waiting without word.

If you are unsure as to what you feel/think your character should do next in a situation, contact me.

If you feel a thread/situation isn't one that you think your character would be involved in, contact me.

If real life is throwing tons of shit at you and you're genuinely unable to post regularly, contact me.

I can't read minds. I need to hear from players surrounding issues that pop up. I can't fix or work around what I don't know about.

Players who do not meet the minimum posting requirements will be placed in Lurker Status after 1 (ONE) week and have their access to groups other than public revoked until I have received a message from that player indicating that they DO wish to be included in this game and give me some reason that a twice weekly schedule is too much to be managed.
This message was last updated by the GM at 03:33, Mon 24 Sept 2018.