The Orichalcum Universe...Basics

[Johnny1A.2]

OK, we've looked a an example of a failure with the Flux.
So what happens if the fluxon succeeds?

Nothing much...at least not immediately.

EXAMPLE: We step back in time and rerun the sequence.
In this alternative history, Tamara tries her Flux Mastery skill again
after losing her grip on the Flux, again with a -1 penalty for the repeat
attempt, and thus an effective skill of 12. As history replays, this
time her player rolls a 9, success! What's more, this time she succeeded
by 3, which matches the local Flux Rating. She has a nice solid grip
on the Flux, and she's ready for her next action.

Note that she could, of course, try again, but it's hard to see why
she'd want to. The only way she could do better would be to roll a
success by four or more, thus giving her a really superb grip, but the
odds are against it. Matching the Flux Rating is very good.

Note that nothing particularly interesting happens on a success, all
it means is that Tamara has found, made contact with, and got a grip
on the local Flux energies, she hasn't _done_ anything with that...yet.

What can Tamara _do_ with her hold on the Flux? Well, that depends on
her knowledge, the strength of her will, the circumstances, and a bit
of luck...and of course on her her risk tolerance.

Flux Application: PSIONIC DUPLICATION

The first general way she can use the Flux is to duplicate most (but
not all) psionic Powers. The exceptions are Telepathy and ESP, these
psi Powers can't be directly duplicated by the Flux (though some other
interesting things can be done, more later). The other Powers,
though, the Flux can be used to duplicate with various levels of
success. Generally speaking, the Flux is less precise and harder to
control than psionics, but conversely, it can be used to harness
much more raw power than most psions could ever hope to match.

Also, there is a particular risk associated with this technique, as we
shall shortly see.

To duplicate psi directly, the fluxon must actually, consciously draw
the Flux energies into himself or herself, channeling them through
body and mind as if they were his or her own natural psychic energy.
Doing this successfully enables the fluxon to use Flux energies to
produce the same sort of effect that psions use their native energies
to produce. From the point of view of an external observer, the
fluxon appears to be almost indistinguishable from an immensely
powerful psion.

In GURPS terms, though, the fluxon must learn separate, parallel Flux
skills to duplicate the various specific skills of psions, and they
are not interchangeable and they do not default to each other. Thus,
a high level of skill is psionic telekinesis does not help a fluxon
use the Flux to manipulate objects, s/he needs the skill of Flux-
telekinesis. All the 'parallel' skills have the same costs and
penalties as the psi versions, and one can certainly know both if a
fluxon is also a psion, but the point cost is not reduced since they are
sufficiently different not to default to each other.

Note that the Flux abilities are not divided into separate Powers,
though, they all draw on the Flux Power available to the fluxon, as if
they were all part of some single specific Power. This is determined
at the start when the fluxon decides to use this approach, by rolling
3d and allowing for the local Flux rating as follows:

FR 1: add 1d
FR 2: add 2d
FR 3: add 3d

etc.

OK, what does all this mean? Again, it reads more complex
than it really is.

The 'Power level' of the duplicate psi abilities is determined by a
roll of 3d, PLUS the fluxon character can add as many dice as desired
up to or equal to the local Flux Rating. The number rolled is the
effective Power of the duplicate abilities, the more dice the stronger
the potential abilities can be. However, here's where it matters by
how much that Flux Mastery roll got made by. If the fluxon rolls
more dice than s/he succeeded in the Flux Mastery roll by, there's a
chance of something going seriously wrong. For each die over the
'success level', there is a matching skill penalty on anything done
with the duplicate psi abilities, and critical failures of any sort
bring in that Flux Failure Table again.

By staying below the 'success level', the skill penalties are avoided,
and even critical failures only produce what they would be expected to
produce with the equivalent psionic failure. On the other hand, by
taking that risk and skill penalty, the fluxon can often get quite a
bit more raw power, which can be really useful...

This all sounds horribly complicated, but it's actually pretty simple
in practice.

EXAMPLE: Tamara from our previous example now has a good grip on the Flux, and
decides to use it to duplicate psionic abilities. She draws the Flux
energy directly into her mind and body, channeling it in ways analogous
to the way a psion uses his or her own 'native' energy, and shapes it
for her needs. Tamara has a choice to make, though, as to how much
energy to draw in and use.

In GURPS terms, her players must decide how many die to roll. The
local Flux Rating is 3, which means she could choose to roll as many
as 6d, or she could roll as few as 3d or anything in between.
However, if she rolls more _extra_ die than her success on her Flux
Mastery roll, she gets a penalty to everything she tries to do. In
her case, she succeeded by 3, which is as many extra die as she can
roll anyway, so she can go all the way with no skill penalty (but
there is one reason she might chose to forgo 1 of those die, as
we'll see in a moment).

Tamara needs power badly, so she draws in as much energy as she can
manage (her players rolls all 6 die). Her player rolls a 17 on 6d,
Tamara can now use any of her duplicate-psi skills with an effective
Power of 17!

Tamara, as it happens, has Flux-telekinesis at a skill of 15, Flux-
Autohealing at a skill of 21, Flux-Exohealing at skill 19, and Flux
Metashield at skill 12. With Power 17, that means she move objects
massing up to 1000 lbs at one yard/second, for ex. Her equivalent of
the Psychokinetic metashield has a basic DR of 256, and she can do
some impressive healing action.

Now her player rolls the same 6d again, getting a 21, meaning Tamara
can wield these powers for up 21 turns! At the end of that time she
has to make another Flux Mastery roll, on a success against her
unmodified skill she gets _another_ 21 turns, and so on, until she
finally fails. At that point she has to start from scratch.

Note that she can retain these powers even if she leaves the high Flux
Rating site, but once she finally fails a duration roll, she has to
start again at the Flux Rating for her current location.

Now, one caveat: Tamara decided at the start to focus as much power
as she could into herself, (i.e. her player rolled all six die). That
means she's at the limit of her control, since that matches her Flux
Mastery skill roll. She can try to use 'extra effort' with any of
these abilities, but any critical failure on such an effort brings in
the Flux Failure Table. She could have deliberately held back from
using all the energy she could for the sake of control (her player
could have rolled only 5d), leaving some margin and avoiding that
risk.

(Had Tamara succeeded in that Flux Mastery roll by more than the
local Rating, even that limitation would be gone.)

But that's why Tamara decided to try again after her first success
gave her only a success by 1. She could still have tried to use all
that power, all six dies, but that would have given her a -2 penalty
on every skill roll and any critical failure sends her to the Flux
Failure Table).

That's one of the ways a fluxon can use the Flux, and in some ways
it's the most precise and controllable. It involves an inevitable
risk, though, because in drawing the Flux energy inside oneself, one
exposes oneself to the influence of an alien life-essence, and this
can have consequences. Regardless of how well or badly it goes, when
Tamara is 'done' with the Flux, letting its power go and relaxing her
mind, her player rolls once more vs Tamara's Will. On a critical
failure, Tamara has been affected by the Flux in some way.

(We'll go into what this can mean later.)


MORE LATER.

[Johnny1A.2]

What risks does Tamara run in our example above? Besides the
obvious ones, there is a subtler danger.

In order to duplicate personal psi powers with the Flux,
the fluxon must actually draw the Flux energies into himself, and
channel them through his body and mind just as if he was doing the
same with his own natural psychic field. This internalization of the
Flux gives it a chance to leave a mark on the fluxon, usually based on
the thoughts and images and emotions the Flux has absorbed in from
others over time.

As mentioned above, when a fluxon uses the Flux to duplicate psi
powers, 'from within', when s/he finishes, no matter how well or badly
it went, the fluxon must make a Will check.

EXAMPLE: Tamara has finally finished with her activity, and she
releases the Flux, her Flux-based parallel-psi powers fade away, and
she breathes a sigh of relief. However, her player must now roll vs.
Will, with a penalty equal to the Flux Rating. On a success nothing
bad happens. On an ordinary failure, the Flux leaves a psychological
imprint behind. On a critical failure, it's more so. After a failure
on this roll, any further rolls against Flux-based changes to
personality have a -2 penalty (-4 on a critical failure) until after the
passage of 30 days.

Tamara has 3 levels of Strong Will and IQ 12, giving her a Will of
15. She's a Flux 3 area, so there is a -3 penalty. She rolls a 13.
She picks up a new quirk, (GM's option). On a critical failure, she
might have picked up 2 quirks, or one really troublesome one. The
effect is permanent unless Tamara somehow can get rid of it (roleplay
it!). This process is cumulative, over time failed will rolls can
induce new mental disadvantages (or for that matter new mental
advantages), all compulsory, none providing new character points.
Over time this can radically alter a character's personality.

Specific skills and techniques existed in Antediluvian times to undo
such effects, or at least ameliorate them. Does Tamara have access to
such in 2010? Good question.

[Johnny1A.2]

What else can Tamara do with the Flux? Well, let's say that intead
of trying to duplicate psi powers, she tries for something both more
potent and more dangerous and less controllable? She can do that if
she wishes.

Flux Application: RANDOM MANIFESTATION(S)

This is straightforward, the fluxon can decide to stimulate the Flux
to just run wild, producing some spectacular effect of which s/he may
or may not be fully in control. Why do that? Because it can be very
useful sometimes, if it goes well.

To do so, the fluxon, instead of drawing the Flux energies into
himself, more-or-less commands them to run wild, to produce a Random
Manifestation. The Flux will obey if the fluxon suceeded in his
Flux Mastery roll, but exactly what happens and what will follow and
how long it will go on depend on a few things.

However, the manifestation is not chosen by the fluxon, s/he
will find out what it is when the manifestation occurs, at which point
there is a chance to gain control of it. The fluxon can choose to try
and seize control of it, or not as desired. If the later, the
manifestation will effect anyone and everyone in its area of effect
except the fluxon (usually), friend and foe alike. If the fluxon
decides to try and gain control, s/he must roll vs his or her Flux
Mastery skill again with modifiers as the GM thinks appropriate,
including a negative bonus equal to the Flux Rating. On a success
the fluxon can make suggestions to the GM about what the
manifestation should do, and reasonable ones should be followed.
On a failure, the GM has sole control over the manifestation, the fluxon
is now a just witness. On a critical failure the fluxon is subject to the
effect of the manifestation as well.

If a player decides his character is using this technique and informs
the GM, immediately the GM (not the player) rolls 3d, plus one die
for each Flux Rating, and consults the Random Manifestation Table (or
picks something comparable, the higher the result the bigger the
effect should be. The table is far from complete, the blank spaces
leave space for GM imagination, the possibilities are nearly endless.

(I will post the Random Manifestation table downthread, along with the
Flux Failure Table.)

EXAMPLE: Instead of using the Flux to duplicate psi, Tamara decides
to call for a Random Manifestation. The GM decides to use the random
manifestation table and rolls 6d (3 die plus 3 more for the Flux Rating)
and gets a 14.

Moments after Tamara sends her command to the Flux, the entire region
for a mile or so around is filled by tiny manifestations similar to
ball-lightning, intense balls of crackling psychic energy, blazing
bright as arc lights, floating up, down, and all about, inflicting 2d
damage to any unprotected being or objects they touch (armor protects
as usual). The GM decides to add a touch of his own, any time one of
the light-spheres touches a living thing, along with the physical
damage a mental blow effect equal to Power 10 is also inflicted!


Tamara is untouched, the manifestation is ignoring her, but it's just
as dangerous to her friends as her foes! She can try to gain control
of it, and tries. She rolls vs her Flux Mastery skill of 11, with a
penalty of -3 for the local Flux Rating, and makes it with a 7. The
manifestation is now reasonably responsive to her control. Her player
tells the GM she wants it to spare her allies and bystanders, and only
focus on her enemies. The GM decides this is 'reasonable' and the
manifestation obeys. The lightning-things fly right past her friends
to focus their power on anyone Tamara considers an enemy within the
range of the manifestation.

If Tamara makes a request of the manifestation the GM thinks
unreasonable, it will be ignored. For example, Tamara's player
suggests that the manifestation should focus all its power on a place
miles beyond the edge of its effect. The GM considers this
'unreasonable' and informs her that the manifestation is ignoring
Tamara's urgings.

If the control roll is a critical success, the GM should be especially
lenient about what is 'reasonable'.

(Obviously the suggestion has to be something connected to the
manifestation, it's no use asking that an earthquake knock airplanes
out of the sky, for ex.)

Tamara can also suggest that the manifestation dissipate at any time.
The GM should usually consider that reasonable, again within common
sense limits. Stopping a major earthquake, for ex, does not make the
results go away, things may still be on fire, roads ruined, dams
broken, etc. Stopping a Flux-manifested firestorm does not cause
the things it ignited to go out! And so on.

If the control roll is a failure, the manifestation does as the GM
decides, for as long as the GM wishes, the fluxon has no control at
all. On a critical failure, Tamara herself may be targeted by it!

Why would a fluxon do such a chancy thing? Because random
manifestations can be enormously powerful, are easy to create, and
sometimes a situation is desperate. For ex, when her peculiar
manifestation dissipates, Tamara might well have wiped out an army of
opponents single-handedly! Random manifestations can enable one
fluxon to affect regions miles across or more, and they are 'cheap'.
Tamara spent no Fatigue, no real effort, the Flux did all the work.

Of course, this technique is also, by any sane standard, doubtful,
it's risky as all Hell and can easily go badly wrong, especially for a
low-skill fluxon. But it is an option open to a fluxon, in
extremis.

[Johnny1A.2]

OK...we've seen that a fluxon can duplicate psi powers, or create a
random manifestation of potentially tremendous power. Is there
anything else a fluxon can do? Well, yes.

We saw random manifestations, now we look at what happens with a
controlled manifestation. This is where the Flux really gets useful,
for those with the skill to pull it off...and the risk tolerance.

At very high (20+) skill levels in Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery, it
becomes possible to attempt to get the Matrix and the Flux to do
things that psionics can not duplicate, and that can potentially have
truly epic effects. This is also where a special sort of personal trait
comes into play. It can be looked at as a 'fifth attribute', one that
costs no points and for most characters is not even relevant.

Every Homosentient character (and indeed almost all
living things) in the Orichalcum Universe have this attribute...but
for most people it rarely if ever matters. It only comes into play
in rare situations...or for a fluxon. This attribute is Flux Points.

Flux Application: CONTROLLED MANIFESTATION

To use Controlled Manifestation, a fluxon must have _at least_ Flux
Awareness skill 22 and Flux Mastery 20. More is better. More is in
fact much, much better.

The key to this process is that the Flux is merely the manifested
psychic power of the Matrix, that universal consciousness I mentioned
earlier. The Flux is to the Matrix as ordinary psionic Power is to an
individual Homosentient psion. The difference is one of sheer scale,
in the largest sense, the gap in scale and power between the Matrix
and an individual Homosentient is greater than the gap between that
same Homosentient and any specific bacterium. The Matrix and its Flux-
field pulsates across the entire Universe and in fact beyond.

Is the Matrix a sapient being? Good question, the Atlanteans
themselves were divided on this point, their consensus was that the
answer was 'not exactly'. Its awareness was so diffuse that on
anything less than a cosmic scale, it was subsapient, an instinctive
sort of awareness. The Atlanteans discovered that it could be
'programmed' (for want of a better word), influenced to do certain
things using the Flux as its tool.

A fluxon with sufficient skill and Flux connection could more-or-less
direct the Matrix to carry out complicated instructions, complete
with various if-then-else contingencies. This process worked better
in areas with high Flux Ratings, because this meant that the Matrix
and the Flux were more 'focused' in that area, easier to interact
with, and with more local power available for work.

Because the Matrix has an instinctive awareness and a certain will of
its own, it can be unpredictable...and it 'likes' some people better
than others. This manifests itself in the Flux Affinity Advantage,
but also it varies from time to time for the same person. That is
where the attribute I mentioned comes in, it represents the Matrix'
willingness to cooperate with a given person. It takes the form of
Flux Points, each character has a certain number of Flux Points to
spend, once spent they're gone but they do eventually 'grow back'.

Really complex controlled manifestations often require the cooperation
of many high-skill fluxons, and a lot of things can go wrong, but the
payoff can be so high that the risk is worth it...sometimes.

In order to use this process, a fluxon must roll a success vs Flux
Awareness, with a -5 penalty, and then roll a success against Flux
Mastery again with a -5 penalty. If the fluxon achieves this, s/he
can then basically try to 'program' the Matrix for a specific effect.

This is handled differently than the other effects. In essence, the
Matrix (i.e. the GM) makes a reaction roll, more or less, to the
fluxon. If the reaction roll is a 'good' or better, the Matrix will
attempt to carry out the wishes of the fluxon. On a failure, the
Matrix will ignore the 'program', on a 'bad' reaction or worse the
Matrix will be biased against the fluxon afterward for a while.

If the reaction roll is good enough, then the GM rolls again to see if
the fluxon properly got his/her wishes across. The GM will role 3d
and on a success the 'program' is good. On a failure the Matrix will
still do something, but it won't necessarily be what the fluxon
intended. The worse the failure the bigger the difference, a failure
by 1 or 2 might produce a subtly flawed result, a critical failure
could be a catastrophe.

Both the reaction roll and the following success roll are heavily
modified and the GM's discretion is crucial, since the variety of
possible effects is far diverse big for any specific rule to cover.

On the reaction roll, the GM should apply negative modifiers for
increasing complexity, for trying too often (it's a good idea for a
fluxon to wait a while after a major effect, at least days to
weeks is good), for anything the GM thinks might apply. For
something really complicated, a -3 or a -4 on the reaction
roll is reasonable.

Likewise, on the following success roll greater complexity adds
negativity, as much as the GM thinks appropriate.

Positive modifiers come from a few things. The reaction roll gets a
+1 for each level of Flux Affinity. Also, a fluxon can spend a Flux
Point to gain a +1 on the roll. Flux Affinity has no benefit on the
subsequent skill roll, but a Flux Point can be spent here too, a +1
for each point spent. In either case, whether the roll succeeds or
fails, the Flux Point is spent.

[Johnny1A.2]

How does this work in practice? Let's look at an example.

EXAMPLE: We have to let Tamara go now, she doesn't have
anything close to the skill levels needed for this.

The Atlantean Master Fluxon Alminiyax has Flux Awareness 26, Flux
Mastery 24, and 23 Flux Points, one level of Flux Affinity, and he has
in mind doing something complicated.

To make things easier, he goes to a place with a Flux Rating of +4.
This gives him a +4 on his Awareness roll, and he gets another +1
for Flux Affinity. He has a -5 penalty on the roll, so his effective
skill is 26. Not too shabby. He rolls a 13, which is terrific, he
made ths first roll by 12. (Remember, he gets a +4 on the next roll,
12/3).

He rolls against Flux Mastery at -5, but he has the +4 bonus from
before, and he gets a +1 for Flux Affinity. This adds up to a Flux
Mastery skill of 23. He rolls a 15, making his skill role by 8. He
made it, he can now try to carry out his plan.

Now deep in the trance of communion with the Matrix, Alminiyax lays
out his desires into the vast mental structure of the Matrix, and then
the Matrix decides whether or not to cooperate.

In GURPS terms, Alminiyax's player tells the GM what he has in mind,
and the GM rolls 3d for the Matrix’s reaction roll. Now, since what
Alminiyax has in mind is really complicated, the GM decides it's a -9 on
the reaction roll. Alminiyax has been doing this sort of thing a _lot_ lately,
that's another -2 penalty. Alminiyax has Flux Affinity, that's a +1, so he's
looking at a -10 on the reaction roll.

Not too great. In fact, since he needs a 13 or better on the roll, he'll have to
spend some of his Flux points, representing the Matrix's good will towards
him that he's imposing upon.

Alminiyax has 23 Flux points, he opts to spend 10 of them. This kills
the penalty on the roll. He'd like to spend more, but he may need
them later.

The GM rolls, getting a 13. So far so good, the Matrix is ready to do
what Alminiyax wants...if Alminiyax can explain that well enough to
get things right. This depends on his Flux Mastery skill, which he now
has to roll against again.

The GM rolls again, deciding that this is so complicated and unnatural
that it's worth a -15 penalty again, giving Alminiyax an effective
Flux Mastery skill of 9. It's a +4 Flux Rating region which brings
him back up 13 on skill. (I forgot to mention in the earlier post
that the Flux Rating acts as a bonus on the skill role, just here, in this
case the high level of ‘concentration’ of the Flux in a high Rating zone
makes it easier for the Matrix to comprehend what is desired.)

Now, the consequences of failure could be nasty (something will
happen, after all, just not necessarily what Alminiyax wants to
happen) so Alminiyax opts to spend another 5 Flux Points, getting a +5
bonus to the roll and bringing his effective skill back up to 18.

He gets a 14, and the Matrix begins to carry out his wishes as
expressed. This means the Matrix does what the player told the GM he
wanted. If he'd blown the second roll, the one where he imprints his
wishes on the Matrix, the GM would intentionally do something other
than the player wished, since the Matrix didn't understand the fumbled
instructions. Since Alminiyax succeeded, though, the GM will do what
the player asked.

Which doesn't automatically mean, of course, that the player thought
through the implications of what he was asking, if you know what I
mean...

Alminiyax's success rolls mean that the Matrix carries out his
wishes. Before his eyes, the corpses he laid out begin to twitch as
the Flux telekinetically animates them...

[mtowle]

Neat and very detailed. My burning question (open to all) is what is the pronunciation of Orichalcum?

Also, my interest in it as a "mystical" metal waned when I learned that it is an actual alloy used in coins (as per Wikipedia):

"Numismatics
In numismatics, orichalcum is the golden-colored bronze alloy used for the sestertius and dupondius coins. It was considered more valuable than copper, of which the as coin was made. Some scientists believe that the orichalcum could have been used for jewelry for poor people as it appeared to look like gold."

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by mtowle

Neat and very detailed. My burning question (open to all) is what is the pronunciation of Orichalcum?

Also, my interest in it as a "mystical" metal waned when I learned that it is an actual alloy used in coins (as per Wikipedia):

"Numismatics
In numismatics, orichalcum is the golden-colored bronze alloy used for the sestertius and dupondius coins. It was considered more valuable than copper, of which the as coin was made. Some scientists believe that the orichalcum could have been used for jewelry for poor people as it appeared to look like gold."

That's not the orichalcum I'm talking about. :lol:

According to Plato, 'orichalcum' was a treasure metal to be found in Atlantis, that was 'almost as valuable as gold', and no longer to be found after Atlantis fell.

Nobody knows for certain just exactly what he meant, or if he just made it up out of whole cloth. For my purposes, he was talking about something real.

[Johnny1A.2]

OK, we've covered most of the basics of how the Matrix and Flux works
in game terms (though there are some complicated things still untold),
now a little more about those 'Flux points' I mentioned in the
previous examples.

Everybody has a certain number of Flux points (which can be zero
or negative), but most characters rarely if ever have occasion for them to
matter. Flux points are a mathematical gaming convention that
represents, for want of a better description, the tendency of the Matrix
to 'like' or 'dislike' certain people. The more Flux Points a character has,
the more 'good will' s/he has built up with the Matrix, the universal
life-essence/consciousness mentioned earlier.

They can be 'spent' in various ways to influence certain die rolls or
situations. In fact, positive Flux points can be 'spent' on any Flux
Awareness or Flux Mastery roll, to 'buy a bonus' on the roll, +1 bonus
for each point spent. The player must inform the GM that s/he is spending
Flux points, and how many, before making the roll. Note that even if
the roll still fails, the Flux points are still spent.

For ex, in the above illustrations, Tamara's player could have spent
Flux points to help her rolls. Or rather, that could have been done
except that Tamara's knowledge was limited, she did not know this was
possible or even that she had Flux Points.

(Flux Points are a mathematical convenience, of course, fluxons don’t
think in terms of them in game. They represent various sorts of skill and
intuitive awareness.)

If a character has negative Flux points, this represents a certain
amount of hostility from the Matrix/Flux toward the character.
Negative Flux points can not be 'spent', and in fact represent an
automatic penalty on all Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery skill
rolls, regardless of whether the player wishes that to happen, and the
points don't go away after the roll, the negative points have to be
recovered by the usual means (about which more shortly).

Thus, trying to use the Flux with a significant negative Flux point
total is probably a bad idea, nasty failure is nearly certain, with
potentially dire consequences. Note that if anything happens to send
the character to the Flux Failure Table, the negative points add to
the roll for the bad consequence. If a character with a large
negative Flux point total gets a critical failure, this can nearly
guarantee a really bad result, something potentially disastrous.

DETERMINING FLUX POINTS: When creating a new character,
after all other steps are complete, roll 3d and subtract 3, giving a range
from 0 to 15.

For characters with Flux Resistance, multiply by -1. (Note that this is a
negative multiplier.)

IF the character has the Luck advantage, add 2 for each level of it,
IF the character had Unluckiness, subtract 2 for each level.

(In my world, just as Empathy and Danger Sense are indications of the
presence of psionic power, Luck/Unluck is an example of a person
with unusual Flux presence, for good or bad.)

Add 1 for each level of Charisma advantage (yes, it even works on the
Matrix to a degree).

For characters with the Flux Affinity Advantage, double the points at
level 1, quadruple them at level 2, multiply by 8 at level 3.

IF a PC has a positive number of Flux points and IF s/he so chooses, s/he
can spent 5 character points to increase the Flux points by 50%.
This is a one-time chance available only at character creation, and is
not likely to be useful for anybody but an aspiring fluxon.

The resulting number is the character's basic Flux points.


EXAMPLES:

Don's player rolls 3d and gets a 9. We subtract 3 and get 6. He has Extraordinary Luck, so he adds +2, giving us an 8. He has Flux Affinity 2, so he quadruples that, getting a 32. He _could_ spend 5 character points to boost that to 48, but he opts against it, so his basic Flux points is 32. Not bad, the Matrix likes Don.

Sara's player rolls 3d and gets a 5, subtracting 3 to get a
'2'. Sara has Flux Resistance, so that becomes a -3. She has one level of Charisma and one level of Luck, bringing her to -1. This is her basic Flux points. At -1, the Matrix seems to have a slight animus against Sara.

Joe's player rolls 3d and gets a 5, subtracts 3 and gets a 2. He has Flux Resistance, it becomes a -2. However, he has a level of Charisma and a level of Luck, his final total is a 0. The Matrix is neutral toward Joe at the
beginning of play.

Note that any of these characters could still study Flux skills and
become fluxons, at least in theory. It is just that the Matrix will
react a lot better generally to Don than it will to Joe, and Sara will
be fighting uphill all the way unless she can raise that point score.

Luckily for Sara, that's not impossible, as we'll see.

[Johnny1A.2]

NEW DISADVANTAGE: Flux Resistance

What this very common trait means is that the Matrix had a negative
reaction to you, as a general thing. Some people get a worse reaction
than others, in GURPS terms a character with Flux Resistance has his
or her Flux point totals multiplied by -1. One of the quirks of this
tendency in the Matrix is that if it takes a dislike to someone, the
more it would otherwise tend to like them (the higher the Flux point
total), the more it will tend to dislike them in the case of those
with Flux Resistance.

While you can raise your Flux Points into positive territory even with
Flux Resistance, it always remains as a drag on the totals.

Flux Resistance supplies no benefits in terms of resisting Flux based
powers or effects. and can have other nasty side effects depending on
the exact situation.

NEW ADVANTAGE: Flux Affinity +15/+45/+100

The Matrix responds especially well toward characters with Flux
Affinity. Flux based skills come more easily, Flux effects are more
easily controlled, even the highest-level powers are more readily
useable. Flux Affinity has, in theory, no upper limit to the number of
levels one can take, but in practice PCs should be limited to three,
and probably to two. The higher the rarer, in a big way.

In the Orichalcum Universe, in the Modern Day setting on average 1
person (meaning H. sapiens on Earth) in 100 has Flux Affinity 1, 1
person in 10,000 has Flux Affinity 2, and 1 person in 250,000,000 had
Flux Affinity 3. This may be different in other places and times,
because the Matrix has a diffuse will of its own.

With any level of Flux Affinity, Flux skills are easier to learn, Flux
Awareness is merely M/A rather than M/H, and Flux Mastery is M/H
rather than M/VH. Also, anyone with Flux Affinity at any level gets
an (IQ-10) default to use Flux Awareness.

For each level of Flux Affinity, a fluxon gets a +1 on all skill rolls
with either Flux Awareness or Flux Mastery, exceptfor skill rolls
to 'explain' or 'program' the Matrix for a Controlled Manifestation.

Each level of Flux Affinity multiplies the Flux points of the
character by 2, 4, or 8 (at higher levels the progression continues).
Also, each level of Flux Affinity cuts the time it takes to 'recover'
spent Flux points by half.

At Flux Affinity 3, a characters gets 1 level of Luck for 'free' if he
does not already have it, this does not add to his Flux point
total. Most (4 in 6, roll 1d) characters with Flux Affinity 3 are
Weirdness Magnets (does not count against 40 pt limit). Most level 3
Flux Affinity characters lead very odd lives, even if they have no
idea what they are. If a Flux Affinity 3 character comes into a high
Flux Rating area, things can get really odd.


Traditionally, among those who know of their existence, characters
with any level of Flux Affinity are called 'wyrdlings'.

[Johnny1A.2]

OK, now that I've explained about Flux Points, we can go into a bit
more detail about Controlled Manifestation, which is the most powerful
general Flux technique (and by far the most potentially dangerous!).
In the above example of Alminiyax, the GM assigned double-digit
penalties to the reaction and communication rolls, which is precisely
how it works. The bigger, more complex, and more 'unnatural' the
desired Manifestation, the higher the penalties. Also, there are some
other factors.

Some GM guidelines for Controlled Manifestation:

1. Though it may seem like magic, and operates in some ways like
magic, the Matrix/Flux is not magical. It has immense powers,
but it's bound by iron laws, and there some things it just can not do.
No level of Flux skill can resurrect the dead (it can reanimate the body
under some conditions, but it can not restore the original person), alter
the velocity of light in a vacuum, create ex nihilo, create life from
inanimate matter, combine elemental oxygen and carbon to get water, or
anything of that sort. Any such attempt automatically fails (the
nature of the failure varying with circumstances).

2. If a fluxon's desired Controlled Manifestation is really large or
complex, the GM is perfectly within his rights to apply any level of
appropriate penalty to the rolls, the largest Flux feats ever
performed faced triple-digit penalties! (Why and how this works we'll
come to, there are ways around the apparently insurmountable barrier
of a -100 penalty on 3d).

3. Since the Matrix/Flux is not magic, the GM can and should require
that the fluxon(s) seeking a given Controlled Manifestation have some
knowledge of how what they are trying to do works. If a group of
fluxons wants to create a hurricane (which is certainly within the
range of possibility!) at least one of them should know some
meteorology, for ex, so they can explain their desires to the Matrix.
The Matrix has some ability to perceive and reason on its own, in a
sort of brilliantly instinctive way, but the GM should demand that the
fluxons at least have some idea of what they're trying to do.

4. By 'unnatural', I mean that the event is something that wouldn't
normally happen under the natural flow of events. The more 'out of
place' or 'out of step' the Manifestation would be, the more it
'costs'. For example, trying to create a thunderstorm on a hot, humid
summer afternoon in the temperate zone is much easier than creating
a thunderstorm at 10 degrees F below zero in winter in with dry air and
no clouds! It could be done, but it would cost more (higher roll
penalties) and take longer (the Flux has to gather moisture, move in
warm air or heat the air, etc). It's much 'cheaper' and faster to
make a sandstorm in the middle of the Sahara than in the middle of the
Amazon jungle, or to bring about a big earthquake in California than
in the Canadian shield region. The GM's common sense has to be the
rule.

(Note that the Flux could produce a sandstorm in the Amazon jungle,
but it won't be easy and it'll take some time.)

5. If the GM thinks a desired Manifestation is totally ridiculous, he
should not hesitate to apply ridiculous penalties. For ex, using the Flux
to make a volcano in the middle of the Great Plains of the USA is
theoretically possible, but would probably involve a -10,000 penalty
on each roll and would take centuries or more to happen if the
fluxons succeeded. To make it happen faster would raise the penalty
in proportion.

Now, about those huge penalties, the only way around them on a big
Manifestation is to use Flux Points, so the more Flux Points are
available, the more the chance of making whatever is sought happen.
One person can only have so many Flux points, but more than one person
can combine their efforts on a single Controlled Manifestation. For
really large, complex, and difficult Manifestations, this is the only
realistic way Homosapient fluxons can do the task. By combining
their efforts, they can add all their Flux points to neutralize the
penalties on the reaction and communication rolls, reducing it to a
manageable level.

How do they do this? They all have to have at least skill
22 in Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery, and they all have to
succeed in skill rolls on both to start, at -5 on both, just as Alminiyax
did above. They can individually spend Flux Points to help these rolls,
but they may need those points for the next step! Flux Affinity helps,
of course, just as above.