Janus reflects on his time in the cult and his slow but progressive indoctrination. How his food was subtly diminished, sleeping times were shifted, independence and decision making were shelved. How all of his behaviors were subtly curtailed to fitting what the cult wanted. He then tries to recreate a minor example of that on another in order to better understand them and their traumas.
BEHAVIOR CONTROL
* Regulate individual’s physical reality
* Dictate where, how, and with whom the member lives and associates or isolates
* When, how and with whom the member has sex
* Control types of clothing and hairstyles
* Regulate diet – food and drink, hunger and/or fasting
* Manipulation and deprivation of sleep
* Financial exploitation, manipulation or dependence
* Restrict leisure, entertainment, vacation time
* Major time spent with group indoctrination and rituals and/or self indoctrination including the Internet
* Permission required for major decisions
* Rewards and punishments used to modify behaviors, both positive and negative
* Discourage individualism, encourage group-think
* Impose rigid rules and regulations
* Punish disobedience by beating, torture, burning, cutting, rape, or tattooing/branding
* Threaten harm to family and friends
* Force individual to rape or be raped
* Encourage and engage in corporal punishment
* Instill dependency and obedience
* Kidnapping
* Beating
* Torture
* Rape
* Separation of Families
* Imprisonment
* Murder
Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a human, Creature, or Dead target within arm's reach. Dead targets must have died within the past week, and you must have their remains in your possession. This Effect cannot be used unless The target preforms an action from the B section of the BITE model.
The target can communicate in your language for the next hour.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is Janus eyes change color from brown to blue.. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
You may only use this Effect once per target per day.
Ashen One is one, of absolute defense. Clash/Defending, and parrying... Fuck it, we ball.
You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using Shield to gain the benefits of this Effect.
You have 6 Armor, which only reduces damage taken from Clashing. Any armor piercing effects from Clashing are ignored. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
When you take Damage from a source which is within 5 feet, deal back as much Damage as your Armor prevented.
Octopuses can see hundreds of feet in the water, his human eyes let him see on the ground as well as underwater.
You gain the following benefits at all times.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
Now you see her...now you don't. It's almost as if she was never there to begin with, but the shadow that seems to be following you out of the corner of your vision reminds you that that isn't the case.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into a formless shadow for the next hour. You may end the effect early and return to your normal form at will. Your structure must remain relatively contiguous. It is not necessarily obvious that your transformed state is an unusual phenomena or that it is acting with singular purpose.
While in this form, you can squeeze through any gap that a rodent could fit through.
Damage from standard attacks is halved, but Damage from AOE effects is increased by 1.
You cannot communicate, use equipment, or use Gifts while transformed. Your equipment does not transform with you beyond basic body coverings. Carrying capacity is unaffected.
Mikey is able to stay acutely aware of his surroundings even in tumultuous situations. His ears are able to distinguish a whisper coming from a cacophony.
As long as Mikey can see something clearly he can tell what sounds it makes even if the sound waves don’t reach him. His mind fills in the gaps, subconsciously reading what sounds are made from the subtle movements of the object.
Mikey's earing are able to vibrate at frequencies to cancel out damagingly loud sounds and to pitch other sounds to one he can pick up.
You gain the following benefits at all times. You must actively and obviously be using Earings to gain the benefits of this Effect.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Any Effects or supernatural abilities which would suppress one of these senses are rolled at +2 difficulty.
Dominic has developed new implants for his optical nerve. The nanoscale augmentations allow him to tap into the x-ray bands, and with that, he has captured the dream of every super spy throughout time to peer through into the safe, to observe its mechanisms and see beyond.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You may perceive things through Sight within 15 feet of you with perfect clarity as though there were no walls or obstacles blocking your view for the next 30 minutes. You must maintain Concentration to keep up the effect.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is Dominic's pupils dilate. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
You may perceive through up to 15 feet of material. The Difficulty of all Perception rolls made through a wall are increased by 1 per wall.
The aquamancer channels a nearby source of water into a flexible whip, which can be used to attack or to defend.
Spend an Action. Select a target within arm's reach. You must actively and obviously use at least a gallon of water to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Athletics Difficulty 6. The target may contest by rolling to Dodge or Defend as a Reaction, Difficulty 6.
If the Contested Outcome is positive, the target takes that much Damage plus 4.
You may use this Effect to Defend against any melee, projectile, or firearm Attacks within range or Clash against any Attack targeted at you. Using it to Defend deals no Damage but does not cost Exertion.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Unimportant characters just can't seem to hit our hero with their attacks. Injuries that are sustained from underlings are conveniently non-severe.
You gain the following benefits as long as the attacker isn't important enough to have a name.
You have 4 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. This Armor cannot be circumvented with Called Shots.
Be amazed as the magician wields a deck of simple playing cards with all the poise and precision of a ninja's shurikens. Fear not, for they will not hit you, unless they want to.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are engaged in combat with playing cards.
+2 dice to all rolls utilizing playing cards.
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. Your target should be intuitively based on the triggering event. 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 musician pours their heart and soul into their music, giving others some much needed perspective and solace and all around good vibes. This can be a temporary easing of the mind, but with prolonged music therapy it can even permanently cure psychic damage.
Exert your Mind to activate. Select a Living target within arm's reach. You cannot target yourself. This Effect cannot be used unless you continuously play music for your target during the activation. Over the course of one Downtime, your patient must communicate with you and reveal at least one of their Traumas to you, including the details of those Traumas and the circumstances of how they were acquired. After the full treatment time has elapsed, roll Charisma + Performance at Difficulty 6.
Your target may Resist. If your treatment is successful, you may remove one of the patient's revealed Traumas without incurring any Experience cost.
Once per day per target, you may choose to use this Effect to stabilize the Mind of a target within arm's reach. Treatment takes 30 seconds but will not remove any Traumas. If you are successful, restore 2 Mind damage.
You may choose to use this Effect to temporarily relieve any number of the patient's Traumas (including mental Conditions). In this case, Treatment takes an Action and the effect lasts two hours. If the Patient is currently experiencing an episode, Difficulty is increased by 2.