Post by Khalid Sivarial on May 30, 2004 9:15:42 GMT -5
Elan are psionically gifted humans, whose lifespan is increased indefinitely due to their constant psionic regeneration process. Also, rather than having to sleep, an Elan may just sit in meditation, remaining totally aware of his/her surroundings while still resting. Elan have a unique bond with a fragment of their personality embedded psionically into a small crystal, known as a Psicrystal. This psicrystal is it's own being, though it's mood and thought processes are flavored by the personality fragment so embedded. Various Psicrystals have been known to have multiple personality fragments embedded into itself.
Special Abilities
Elan as a race have many unique abilities that others have duplicated over time. These abilties override any other pertaining to the use of the abilty in question, because of their constant drive for perfection has led them to explore unorthodox ways to circumvent impediments to their mental growth.
Combat Mode: Alter Persona
All sentient life, on a level they do not understand, has the desire to kill other life, whether just for food, or for pleasure as well, no-one is sure. The Elan have harnessed this urge, and have found a way to manifest it's power. Using their naturally occuring psionic abilities, the Elan shift their personality to a more aggressive one, much more so than their regular persona. This mental shift allows any non-combat Elan to join combat actively rather than seeking to avoid it, but even then they rarely do so- when in their alternate persona, they feel a rush of pleasurable emotions when killing. This often leads to an imbalance of their emotional center, reducing their psionic effectiveness and sometimes destroying their psionic ability totally. Some Elan seem to be immune to this effect of Alter Persona, due to their genetic background.
Read Mind
All Elan have the basic Telepathic ability to read the mind of others and speak to them mind-to-mind, regardless of mental blanks, psychic shielding, or other modes of interference, even from another Elan. The only things that Elan may not read the mind of so basically are those without a physical form- to communicate with a spirit, an Elan must learn the basics of universal Telepathy. NOTE: Undead and half-undead are *not* immune to Mind Read, unless they are incorporeal. This ability also cannot read the mind/communicate with the mind of beings on other planes. If the target has a physical body, they may be communicated with, though their own mental shielding modes may distort the thoughts that can be detected.
Distort Thoughts
All Elan learn that the best way to be undetected is to be unrecognized. From birth, adults teach the young to twist reality and distort to minds of those around them, hiding in plain sight. This ability can function on a wide array of targets, even multiples of targets. Distort Thoughts may only be used to pass by unnoticed- It cannot be used to manipulate the mind in any other way. Distort Thoughts does not make the user no longer seem to be there, but rather disguises their form within a non-descript one of the appropriate form- undead for a necromancer's castle, common noble/peasant for castle/town, etc. Distort Thoughts will even go so far as to provide the proper identification and speech patterns, within reason, of the type disguised as. Some creatures are known to be immune to Distort Thoughts. Some of the more common ones are; most Greater Undead; a few mages of lesser power and all mages of high power; anyone whose strength of mind is great enough to pierce the veil of the psions; anyone who has great strength of will, and is actively searching for deceptions.
Sustenance
All Elan, from the age of 5 years old on, no longer need to drink, eat, or even breathe; the psionic resonance found in every known object fuels their mind and body. No known source of psionic resonance has ever been found to be tainted with emotion or negative/positive energies, regardless of what item the resonance is collected from.
Path
At the age of ten, an Elan chooses his or her primary discipline, and which form s/he will use- the creative or the destructive. If ever affected by a power of the opposite manifestation Path, the effect is halved, due to the foreign paths the power must travel to affect the Elan.
Psionic Regeneration
Due to their psionic nature, Elan may heal their wounds at an extrordinary rate, without concentration. Wounds heal at the rate of one level of damage per action. Because of this ability, no Elan appears to be over the age of 30. This ability is easily circumvented- all damage from a non-physical source is treated normally, and cannot be healed in this manner without intense concentration (ie; out of combat).
Read Aura
Born with the ability to read psionic auras, the Elan quickly adapted their powers to read the auras of others, including the inanimate. This aura reading doesn't accomplish much more than to identify the source and quantity of power held by someone/something. Some few Elan have trained their senses to the point they can use Sense Aura to read a few other items of note, such as age, race, alignment, etc.
((More on Elans themselves later...))
Special Abilities
Elan as a race have many unique abilities that others have duplicated over time. These abilties override any other pertaining to the use of the abilty in question, because of their constant drive for perfection has led them to explore unorthodox ways to circumvent impediments to their mental growth.
Combat Mode: Alter Persona
All sentient life, on a level they do not understand, has the desire to kill other life, whether just for food, or for pleasure as well, no-one is sure. The Elan have harnessed this urge, and have found a way to manifest it's power. Using their naturally occuring psionic abilities, the Elan shift their personality to a more aggressive one, much more so than their regular persona. This mental shift allows any non-combat Elan to join combat actively rather than seeking to avoid it, but even then they rarely do so- when in their alternate persona, they feel a rush of pleasurable emotions when killing. This often leads to an imbalance of their emotional center, reducing their psionic effectiveness and sometimes destroying their psionic ability totally. Some Elan seem to be immune to this effect of Alter Persona, due to their genetic background.
Read Mind
All Elan have the basic Telepathic ability to read the mind of others and speak to them mind-to-mind, regardless of mental blanks, psychic shielding, or other modes of interference, even from another Elan. The only things that Elan may not read the mind of so basically are those without a physical form- to communicate with a spirit, an Elan must learn the basics of universal Telepathy. NOTE: Undead and half-undead are *not* immune to Mind Read, unless they are incorporeal. This ability also cannot read the mind/communicate with the mind of beings on other planes. If the target has a physical body, they may be communicated with, though their own mental shielding modes may distort the thoughts that can be detected.
Distort Thoughts
All Elan learn that the best way to be undetected is to be unrecognized. From birth, adults teach the young to twist reality and distort to minds of those around them, hiding in plain sight. This ability can function on a wide array of targets, even multiples of targets. Distort Thoughts may only be used to pass by unnoticed- It cannot be used to manipulate the mind in any other way. Distort Thoughts does not make the user no longer seem to be there, but rather disguises their form within a non-descript one of the appropriate form- undead for a necromancer's castle, common noble/peasant for castle/town, etc. Distort Thoughts will even go so far as to provide the proper identification and speech patterns, within reason, of the type disguised as. Some creatures are known to be immune to Distort Thoughts. Some of the more common ones are; most Greater Undead; a few mages of lesser power and all mages of high power; anyone whose strength of mind is great enough to pierce the veil of the psions; anyone who has great strength of will, and is actively searching for deceptions.
Sustenance
All Elan, from the age of 5 years old on, no longer need to drink, eat, or even breathe; the psionic resonance found in every known object fuels their mind and body. No known source of psionic resonance has ever been found to be tainted with emotion or negative/positive energies, regardless of what item the resonance is collected from.
Path
At the age of ten, an Elan chooses his or her primary discipline, and which form s/he will use- the creative or the destructive. If ever affected by a power of the opposite manifestation Path, the effect is halved, due to the foreign paths the power must travel to affect the Elan.
Psionic Regeneration
Due to their psionic nature, Elan may heal their wounds at an extrordinary rate, without concentration. Wounds heal at the rate of one level of damage per action. Because of this ability, no Elan appears to be over the age of 30. This ability is easily circumvented- all damage from a non-physical source is treated normally, and cannot be healed in this manner without intense concentration (ie; out of combat).
Read Aura
Born with the ability to read psionic auras, the Elan quickly adapted their powers to read the auras of others, including the inanimate. This aura reading doesn't accomplish much more than to identify the source and quantity of power held by someone/something. Some few Elan have trained their senses to the point they can use Sense Aura to read a few other items of note, such as age, race, alignment, etc.
((More on Elans themselves later...))
