Steve Jackson Games Forums - View Single Post - [Psi/Space] Irar, the Jewel in the British Crown

Prince Charon · 01-09-2021, 05:42 AM

Gormelites have many martial-themed ritual psi styles, with the core skills often being Combat Art skills or Meditation; one odd group has a Book style (which was quite surprising for the Irari), based on Autohypnosis - they live around and protect one of the biggest surviving libraries, that of a boarding high school with a pretty decent wall around it (they also claimed the contents of a nearby bookstore shortly after the Final War, and took over an abandoned mansion and its library on a hill nearby when they found a tunnel leading to it from the basement of what was once one of the girls' dorms; the mansion's attic now serves as a watchtower). Many styles place Cyberpsi in its own separate Path like the Irari do, in some cases the most prestigious Path in the style - this is mainly because these abilities help with operating mecha and other computer-controlled devices, so 'nobles' are often cyberpsis. In particular, a common Netrunning variant called Machine Sychronization (Maximum Duration increases first, then activation time decreases) is vital to making effective use of big, stompy robots in combat. They have a range of Psi Adept limitations, including 'Not When Berserk, -20%' or 'Only When Berserk, -20%' (obviously, the same advantage cannot have both), as well as Environmental (e.g. 'Only in areas of high background radiation,' or 'Only in a city') Gadget limitations (most often of the 'psychological crutch' variety), and so on.

Ergokinesis is not always split, as a few styles treat two or more of Cyberpsi, Photokinesis, and Electrokinesis as a single power. Telepathy is usually separate from Electrokinesis/Ergokinesis, though some styles have Cyberpsi as part of Telepathy or ESP. Psychic Vampirism & Psychic Healing are the same power/path in the known Gormelite styles (known to the Irari, that is) that have either. The known styles do not appear to have Meta-Psi, though some styles have a Path of Anti-Psi, and some individuals have a few Anti-Psi abilities.

One Cyberpsi ability that a very, very small number of Gormelites have been rumoured to have (and that so far has not been used with ritual psi) is a form of Invisible to Machines that resembles Phantom 'Mech Ability from BattleTech, though it does not necessarily require a mecha to use (it can be used to hide a mecha or other vehicle, but only if the user is also using Machine Synchronization). This ability can be defeated by manual targeting, or by grid square elimination ('Flatten everything in grid reference 5-epsilon. Time on target.') - the problem with the latter is that it requires levels of resources, organization, and cooperation that are rare on Gormel.

Thoughts?

01-09-2021, 05:42 AM	#19
Prince Charon Join Date: Dec 2012	Re: [Psi/Space] Irar, the Jewel in the British Crown Gormelites have many martial-themed ritual psi styles, with the core skills often being Combat Art skills or Meditation; one odd group has a Book style (which was quite surprising for the Irari), based on Autohypnosis - they live around and protect one of the biggest surviving libraries, that of a boarding high school with a pretty decent wall around it (they also claimed the contents of a nearby bookstore shortly after the Final War, and took over an abandoned mansion and its library on a hill nearby when they found a tunnel leading to it from the basement of what was once one of the girls' dorms; the mansion's attic now serves as a watchtower). Many styles place Cyberpsi in its own separate Path like the Irari do, in some cases the most prestigious Path in the style - this is mainly because these abilities help with operating mecha and other computer-controlled devices, so 'nobles' are often cyberpsis. In particular, a common Netrunning variant called Machine Sychronization (Maximum Duration increases first, then activation time decreases) is vital to making effective use of big, stompy robots in combat. They have a range of Psi Adept limitations, including 'Not When Berserk, -20%' or 'Only When Berserk, -20%' (obviously, the same advantage cannot have both), as well as Environmental (e.g. 'Only in areas of high background radiation,' or 'Only in a city') Gadget limitations (most often of the 'psychological crutch' variety), and so on. Ergokinesis is not always split, as a few styles treat two or more of Cyberpsi, Photokinesis, and Electrokinesis as a single power. Telepathy is usually separate from Electrokinesis/Ergokinesis, though some styles have Cyberpsi as part of Telepathy or ESP. Psychic Vampirism & Psychic Healing are the same power/path in the known Gormelite styles (known to the Irari, that is) that have either. The known styles do not appear to have Meta-Psi, though some styles have a Path of Anti-Psi, and some individuals have a few Anti-Psi abilities. One Cyberpsi ability that a very, very small number of Gormelites have been rumoured to have (and that so far has not been used with ritual psi) is a form of Invisible to Machines that resembles Phantom 'Mech Ability from BattleTech, though it does not necessarily require a mecha to use (it can be used to hide a mecha or other vehicle, but only if the user is also using Machine Synchronization). This ability can be defeated by manual targeting, or by grid square elimination ('Flatten everything in grid reference 5-epsilon. Time on target.') - the problem with the latter is that it requires levels of resources, organization, and cooperation that are rare on Gormel. Thoughts? __________________ Warning, I have the Distractible and Imaginative quirks in real life. "The more corrupt a government, the more it legislates." -- Tacitus Five Earths, All in a Row. Updated 12/17/2022: Apocrypha: Bridges out of Time, Part I has been posted.