As long as Minerva wears her pendant, her thoughts are ordered. And with order comes safety.
Following Minerva's traumatization by a fellow contractor, the next month the young girl spent a good bit of the next month in her room. She stopped practicing everything else, just focusing on herself, and that feeling of helplessness that had come with it.
And one night, she dreamed. She remembered battling the nightmare monster, of the defenses she had forged. And she forged them again. Ordering her thoughts, marshaling them, she assembled her mind into a castle. A Castle of Light, a bright beacon in the darkness.
The castle is built to withstand a siege from the darkness. Even taking the field is a monumental task, requiring great effort by an assailant, more than most can bring to bare - and after an enemy has been cast out once, such a tactic won't work again.
Each step into the castle is a slog, a constant exhausting battle to take a wall, only to find another wall behind it that the defenders have retreated to and fortified themselves again.
From the highest point of the castle a bright light glows, and she can rain down light and hope upon invaders from it.
The castle stands at all times, a fortress for her mind and her dreams.
Of course, the walls of her castle are manned, and it is an effort for her to open the gates to anyone. It's safer that way.
You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using silver fox pendant to gain the benefits of this Effect.
You get +1 dice to any Mind resistance rolls you make. You also gain the following effects:
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Guarded Bastions: You must succeed in a self-control roll to allow anyone (other than yourself) to use an effect on you.
The user extends their hand with the owl skull wave their hand around with the owl skull and says "DENMAD EHT FO LUOS UOY EM PLEH".
They also have to cut their hand and smear the blood on the skull neck or chest of the body.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and spend one minute. Select a Dead target within arm's reach with at least half its skeletal structure remaining. You must actively and obviously use a owl skull to activate this Effect.
Your target rises as an Animate being which is ghostlike and incorporeal, unable to physically interact with the real world, though they may pass through walls and make noise. The raised creature is totally mindless, with no memory of its past life or hint of its old personality. They can communicate as they would have been able to in life. They will follow any command you speak.
The creature lasts for the next day or until it dies again. It is revived at full health. Any Injuries it had in life are not accounted for when determining its penalties or progression towards re-death, though they may affect its ability to perform certain actions at GM's discretion.
Raised creatures have their Abilities set to the same that they were in life. Their Charisma and Intellect are set to 1, but their Dexterity, Brawn and Perception are the same as they had in life. A raised creature cannot use any Effects.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
You may only use this Effect once per day.
You create a false image, object, mark or other visible phenomena. Physical interaction reveals the image to be fake, and it dissipates immediately.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action to activate. Select a target within arm's reach. Choose an illusion to generate, which can be no larger than a briefcase.
The chosen illusion is generated at your target, and it will remain in place for the next minute or you choose to end it. It can be perceived by people through their sight. The illusion cannot be used as an attack. You may create a replica of a specific being or Object, though it is still limited by what you do or do not know about the subject.
Anyone who touches the illusion (or who would be able to perceive it significantly through a sense it cannot fool) realizes it is an illusion, and the entire effect will be ended for all targets.
The illusion will remain fixed to its initial target, and can only change locations if the initial target is mobile in some way. It may have moving parts and engage in simple, predetermined movements but cannot perform anything complex or interactive unless you maintain Concentration and “puppeteer” it.
Horatio slips into existence for a second around Grace, carefully holding a piece of notebook paper in his teeth. Disappearing again and bounding through the aether, he brings the message to the target and appears beside them as well before entering their mindscape to deliver. The target gets a mental image of Horatio presenting the note with a cat’s mix of pride and disinterest.
The development of Grace’s mindscape built a home for Horatio. He’s used to making his way in and out of it- ghosts are in some ways merely memories, after all, so where else would he stay?
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target any distance away from you. You must have a specific target in mind, but you require only an intuitive understanding of them, such as their name, face, or Location.
You open up a line of communication to your target, and may converse with them as long as one of you maintains Concentration
The conversation will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
Only the most crass, disloyal citizen of the Empire would raise a hand against their Emperor - in this unlikely event, they will find themselves swiftly disarmed, even thrown to the ground - The Emperor will not tolerate assaults on his person.
Issac Neuman was quite the proponent of Tai-Chi & Aikido in his former life, both as a method of staying fit & as an opening to sell certain clients on his "woke" spirituality. As Emperor Norton II, Issac has discovered the truth behind the techniques - that the open hand is stronger than the clenched fist - the pen is mightier than the sword.
Incidentally, the Emperor leads daily Tai-Chi sessions in Golden Gate park for any who wish to attend.
You gain the following benefits as long as you take Defensive Actions only and you are engaged in unarmed combat. You must actively and obviously be using Imperial Raiment to gain the benefits of this Effect.
+2 dice to rolls for Attacking, Defending, and Clashing without a weapon. Unarmed attacks do +0 Weapon Damage (instead of -1).
You may Defend against melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks from any range and Clash with those in range of your Attacks. Attacking materials like steel or spikes will not Damage you unless it has an Effect that does so.
You also gain the following effects:
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0. Lasts three hours.
The survivalist is an expert at wildlife survival in any natural environment. Even in the harshest climates, they have the capacity to find food, water, and shelter.
Exert your Mind (unless you win a coin flip) and spend 15 minutes. This Effect cannot be used unless you are in a wilderness environment.
Choose a specific type of food, water, or survival supply which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic. You cannot create explosives. You cannot create firearms.
Roll Perception + Survival to fabricate up to 5 copies of your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. Your created items no longer expire, and will last until they are destroyed.
The mutant's arms swell to an incredible size, forcing them to lope around like a gorilla. This allows them to throw heavy objects great distances, including those unfortunate souls who find themselves in their way.
Unfortunately, they have difficulty with small objects and often destroy the things they touch by accident.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your Brawn rating is increased by 1. You may Exert your Mind to automatically gain an Outcome of 5 on any roll that uses Brawn (cannot be used on combat rolls or Effect activations).
Possession of this Power grants the following Battle Scar: You are muscled like a gorilla and have a slight muzzle and animal facial features.
You also gain the following effects:
Once the werewolf tastes the blood of their prey, there's no escape. Those injured by the beast's claws and teeth are marked with its saliva. Their wounds smell strongly of blood, and it's only a matter of time before the werewolf returns with a vengeance to finish the kill.
This Effect activates whenever a target you have injured with your teeth or claws escapes the range of your unarmed attacks. It does not require an Action or Exertion. Select a target within arm's reach. This Effect cannot be used unless the target is alive and bleeds.
Your target is marked with a throbbing wound that smells strongly of blood. The mark can only be discovered with a deep medical inspection or Effect. Removal inflicts a Severity 1 Injury on the target.
You are aware of the marked target's direction and distance from you. This lasts for the next month, or until either the mark is removed, or you choose to end the Effect. You can have up to 1 mark active.
You receive +2 dice to any rolls made against a marked target.
The mystic enters a meditation while focusing on a remote location. A glowing sigil of an eye appears on their forehead, and a ghostly image of themselves meditating appears at the location they are envisioning. For a brief period, they may see the area they are projecting to as though they were standing there.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target Location within 75 feet.
You may perceive things as if you were standing at that Location. The effect lasts indefinitely but you must maintain Concentration to keep it up. You cannot perceive anything at your physical location while the effect is active.
You create a visible manifestation at the Location where your senses are projected which looks like a ghostly image of yourself meditating.
The beastmaster can speak to and understand any animal.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
You may understand and communicate to terrestrial animal as if you are fluent in a relevant language.