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 (Examples)
* Promote dependence and obedience
* Modify behavior with rewards and punishments
* Dictate where and with whom you live
* Restrict or control sexuality
* Control clothing and hairstyle
* Regulate what and how much you eat and drink
* Deprive you of sleep
* Exploit you financially
* Restrict leisure time
* Require you to seek permission.
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Exert your Mind and spend one minute. Select a human or Dead target within arm's reach. For dead targets, you must possess their True name..
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.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: When encountering a particularly dumb individual Janus must resist the urge to change their behavior according to the B section of the BITE model..
The contaminant is violently expelled from the body through the mouth, nose, and eyes, suspended in a thick, black, bloody mucus. Allegedly, this is preferable to dying.
Exert your Mind and spend 15 minutes. Select a Living target within arm's reach.
You may cure any Non-Alien diseases, toxins, or poisons afflicting your target even if you have not diagnosed or fully understood it. You may cure diseases or poisons even if they are not treatable through modern medicine. During treatment, the malady you are treating does not progress or cause additional Damage or other effects. Your patient is required to eat and drink nothing but plain bread and water for the next month. If they violate this rule, your treatment is immediately reversed.
When Selma uses this Gift, the air around her drops a few degrees, a subtle shiver brushing against anyone nearby. She leans close, her voice barely more than a breath, whispering into the target’s ear. As she speaks, a faint, ghostly glow — like moonlight caught in mist — gathers at the wound, shrinking it until it vanishes entirely, leaving nothing but untouched skin behind.
Selma's healing is not loud, not explosive, but intimate — a communion between the dying and the dead-yet-walking. She does not command flesh to mend; she convinces it, softly, to forget its pain. Her words are stitched with a magic older than hope, with a certainty that death is neither enemy nor end, but a passage. "Whisper of Life" is not a shout against mortality — it is a secret, a hush passed between bodies that are trying to survive just a little longer.
Exert your Mind and spend 1 minute. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Choose a specific Injury on your target that has not yet been treated with this Effect and roll Intellect + Medicine at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, the Injury is reduced in Severity by your Outcome. If you reduce its Severity to 0, the Injury is fully healed. Otherwise, it is partially healed and will heal the rest of the way at its natural rate.
This counts as a successful Makeshift Stabilization if the Injury was not already Stabilized; any Battle Scars caused by the Injury will remain. You may specify a specific condition that the patient must adhere to. If they break this condition, the treatment is immediately reversed. Record this regimen as a Condition. Lasts until the end of their next Contract or 1 month for non-Contractors.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is The air around her chills slightly. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a target within 50 feet. Roll Intellect + Technology 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.
Kayleigh has always had an uncanny affinity for beasts-- animals seem to see her as a kindred spirit, and don't regard her with the same fear and mistrust they do other humans, even going so far as to help her out where they can.
Perhaps it's this ability-- this kinship with the creatures of the wild-- that lead her to survive that faithful hike nearly twenty years ago. When Kimori and their pack came across the scared little girl deep into the mountains, they did not see her as threat or prey, instead adopting the child of man as one of their own.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Non-Alien Creature within 20 feet.
For the next day, you may issue specific commands to your target which they will be compelled to follow.
Your commands can be complex and multi-layered, though they must still be specific. You cannot make them obviously endanger themselves or violate their instinct for self-preservation. The effects of the command will fade after a day has passed.
Possession of this Power grants the following Trauma at all times: Empathic: When you come across a creature in distress, you must roll Self Control or be compelled to save them, even at personal risk..
The flesh of the victim starts to bubble, shivering moving and transforming.
Spend an Action. Select a Living target within arm's reach. Roll Intellect + Occult at Difficulty 6. The target may roll Body, -2 dice at Difficulty 7, as a Free Action to resist.
If you succeed, the target receives a new Battle Scar of your choosing, limited by the contested Outcome:
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
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.
The Battle Scars you inflict manifest over the course of the next minute.
The mutant has gained some control over their genetic instability, allowing them to trigger a mutation at will. When the need arises, their flesh warps and twists, and a new mutation manifests that is suited to whatever obstacle the mutant happens to be facing at the time.
Spend 30 minutes. You may only target yourself. The target can easily Resist.
You may add one augmentation to your target. Each augmentation counts as a Battle Scar and can have exactly one of the following Effects:
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
Your alteration "heals" over the course of the next month, after which it is fully cured.
The hacker can overload any electronic device by fiddling with their smart watch for a moment. The targeted device shudders and gets white-hot before bursting into deadly shrapnel.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a object that uses electricity within 20 feet no larger than a duffel bag (35 liters). You must actively and obviously use a smart watch to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Technology Difficulty 6.
If your Outcome is 4 or higher, the target will be completely destroyed and can no longer function, though it may still be repaired. If your Outcome is less than 4, the target will be partially damaged, and any attempts to use it will suffer a dice penalty equal to your Outcome.
When a target is destroyed, it sends shards flying. Anyone within 5 feet of the object rolls 4d10 at Difficulty 6 and takes damage equal to the Outcome. Can be reacted to.
While addressing a crowd, the influencer may use coded language to send secret messages to a particular person in the crowd. These messages can't be noticed or understood by anyone but the intended target.
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. This Effect cannot be used unless you are speaking to multiple people and the target is listening.
You may send a single message to your target. It can be no more complicated than a multi-page letter or a long email.
The message will only be perceived by the intended recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Effect is not obvious, and the only sign you are using an Effect is your left hand making a fist. If someone suspects that an Effect was used, they must roll Perception + Alertness, Difficulty 8 to pick up on your Tell.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.
By slowing the hands of one of their watches, the time-traveler may interrupt and slow a target's movement through time. The target appears to be moving in slow motion for the duration.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. Select a Animate target within 20 feet. You must actively and obviously use a watch or clock to activate this Effect. Roll Intellect + Science at Difficulty 7.
If you succeed, the target will suffer a dice penalty equal to the Outcome for the next 2 Rounds. Dice pools may be reduced all the way down to 0 by this penalty. This breaks Concentration.
You may activate this Effect as a Reaction to contest any Action a valid target is taking, reducing their Outcome by your own. Your command has no impact beyond disrupting their Action.
The Witch summons a crow, whispers a message to it, and sends it off to deliver her words. Half an hour later, the crow arrives at the recipient and repeats her message aloud in its croaking, animal voice.
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 may send a single message to your target. It can be as complex or as large as you like. It takes at least 30 minutes before it is received.
The message may be intercepted while in transit, and may be overheard, read, or otherwise understood by anyone near either you or the recipient. You must share a common language for your target to understand the message.
This Gift cannot have more than 3 Drawbacks, and its Gift Cost is capped at 2.