Sentients who mess with psionics are putting their sanity at risk. Amateurs who dabble often meet sticky ends: driven mad, they've been known to throw themselves off of spires or descend to the ground to vanish forever in the Mist. Psymancers devote their lives to studying psionics, following carefully-laid rules to protect their own psyches from fracturing. Tales of famed psymancers are as fantastical as they are disturbing and odd. "Fringy" is the term used to describe the more eccentric and bizarre, so at best a serious study of psionics has a dubious prize at the end.
Keepers. At the other end of the spectrum are Keepers, psionicists who devote their lives to airships and their neuravine clusters. Optional for smaller ships, but starting at normal size, a keeper is recommended, and starting at large one becomes necessary (for the largest ships, a score of keepers or more is needed). To stay safely attuned to their airships, keepers cannot use their psionics in any way other than interacting or assisting the neuravines directly. They become a stable, supportive psyche for the delicate neuravines, and any stray traces of damaged psyches would be poison to these sensitive systems, so no Keeper will risk it. Though said to be as powerful as the strongest psymancers, keepers are typically regarded as reserved or withdrawn yet well mannered and disciplined, a stark contrast to their fringy peers. Keepers rarely achieve fame, but their contribution to society is essential and immensely beneficial. Universally, peoples tend to treat keepers with respect, or at a minimum as valuable - corrupting or damaging a keeper is universally reviled and unthinkable, a waste of an all-too-rare resource.
None can deny the value of psymancers to society either, for many inventions that survival depends upon came from their strange, twisted minds. Airships. Eonic-forged weapons. Psyomite artifacts, some capable of fantastical things. Much of this psytech can be used by common folk, though strict training in psionics, at a basic level, protects users from mishandling their interface with the psytech and triggering any number of unfortunate (and sometimes deadly) surges from their psyomite cores. Sometimes they explode, demonstrating how impressive their energy storage is. Only psymancers are foolish enough to handle the psyomite, to cut it and grind it and bend it's energy into specific yet useful functions. For anyone else, training in psionics helps to ensure that the psytech does what it's designed to do and nothing more.
Trained Psionicists: for characters who have the Psionics (T) Skill, in addition to proper handling of psytech and psionic shout, they gain one ability at Rank 1, a 2nd at Rank 3, and a 3rd at Rank 5.
The Cost: many psionic abilities can be taxing to employ, and the instincts (INS) of the practitioner can reduce the strain. Instincts are what flexes and twists the psyche to resist harmful or overwhelming psychic forces. Some costs bring pain and fatigue. Others cause internal hemorrhaging. Psymancers have been known to kill themselves pushing beyond their limits, or frying their psyches into a vegetative state.
Psionic Test
Psionic Skill - Rank
Success: check cost,
set successes (up to max)
and pay cost
Failure: no effect
Failure of 3+: blowback incurs cost test
(as if success of 0)
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Cost Test
INS test - Rank - successes
results:
Rank 1 (per Failure of 3, 1S)
Rank 2 (per Failure of 3, 1DS, + 1S/spare failure)
Rank 3 (per Failure of 3, 1DS, +1W/failure)
For example, say a character with Psionics(T) Skill (+1) and INS (+3) uses psionic shout, a Rank One ability. Since the psionic test is skill - Rank, we have +1 (skill) -1 (Rank) so the test is 3d6+0 (about a 63% chance of success). If this test fails, nothing happens. If the player rolls a Success of 5, they would have to make a cost test (they could opt for fewer successes, but max successes means they're giving it their all). With Success of 5, the cost test would be INS - Rank - successes, or +3 (INS) -1 (Rank) - 5 (successes), or -3 (roughly a 26% chance of success). We see that Rank One has a cost of 1S per Failure of 3. If the character rolled 3d6 - 3 = (10) - 3 = 7, that would be a Failure of 3, so the character would suffer 1S. The effort came with a slight headache or other minor pain or fatigue. The player could commit to the 1S cost, or they could opt to drop to success of 4, raising their final result by one (Failure of 2), meaning there would be no cost. This is why both psionic test and cost test are made before applying the effect - the psionicist can sense how much the effort will cost and can reduce the power of the results to manage costs.
General Abilities:
Once a psionic ability has been empowered and the cost paid, it can be maintained unless another ability is used or the psionicist ends it. Psionic attacks tend to be quick and done, since psionics cannot be used defensively and offensively at the same time. If a psionic power is active and the user senses an attack, they may choose to drop the effect to focus on defending themselves.
Note that area effects are always indiscriminate.
Psionic Shout (Rank 1): one of the few abilities even basic psionic training can access, psionic shouts may be detected and pinpointed by anyone with psionics(S). Powerful shouts have reached psymancers and keepers leagues away. As this can give away location to any specialist in an area, it is used sparingly. Frequent use may enrage nearby psymancers (considered very unwise, as one may go fringy and melt the offender's mind). Range of the psionic shout depends on successes scored, starting with Nearby, +1 range category per success (so a success of 5, for example, would be 5 range categories above Nearby, or Extreme range, about 500m).
Telepathy(Rank 2, S): two-way mental communication between the psymancer and another sentient. The intervening space cannot be shielded (like the neuravines), and the recipient can hear within their minds the words the psymancer wishes to convey, but it is their choice if they wish to respond and what words they choose. Alternatively, can be used to blast a telepathic message to every sentient within range - this use is one-way only. Range starts at Short, +1 range category per success.
Telekinesis (Rank 3, S, Short): more advanced psymancers (or those armed with particular psyomite artifacts) can harness psychic energies to inflict kinetic forces, typically limited to targets they can see. These forces may push, pull, or move an object, perhaps hurl it, and some can create explosive forces (1DW Blast). Size affected starts at Tiny (S0), +1 Size per success (until size of target is reached), then remaining successes go to increasing damage. For example, to create a point blast to damage a normal-sized target, 3 successes bring S0 to S3, and remaining successes may increase base 1DW. GM chooses appropriate stat to counter.
Stat Enhancers: Note that trained psionicists can chose the same ability multiple times, gaining Superior +1 each time.
True Ace (Rank 3, T): reflexes and hand eye-coordination surge to their limit, gaining Superior +1 to FIN tests.
Silk Tongue (Rank 2, T): heighten and enhance social instincts, enhancing words (spoken in just the right way) to tone and body language, gaining Superior +1 to ALL tests.
Solid Temple (Rank 3, T): maximizes the body's ability to fight ailments and resist damage, gaining Superior +1 to BOD tests.
Tree Sweeper (Rank 3, T): muscles become enhanced with a surge of strength, gaining Superior +1 to STR tests.
Primal Peak (Rank 3, T): perceptions and instincts function perfectly, gaining Superior +1 to INS tests.
Brainiac (Rank 3, T): push the mind to its limit, gaining Superior +1 to MEN tests.
Iron Eye (Rank 2, T): the psyche is armored and reinforced into a will of iron, gaining Superior +1 to NER tests.
Warfare:
They say the most dangerous foe is a lone psymancer...
Mind Twister (Rank 2, T, Nearby): locking eyes with a sentient target opens them to this attack, where a chaos of psychic energy is blasted into their minds. This is an attack test of psionics versus the victim's psionics (or MEN by default), with a range of Nearby, 1DS. Can be upgraded to 1DW by raising Rank to 3, and upgraded even further to 1D MEN, meaning a target could have their psyches shredded. At this most potent form, cost at Rank 3 replaces S damage with W damage, and W damage with MEN damage - this form of attack may shred both minds. Part of the effectiveness of Mind Twister is that the target is aware of all levels of potential damage, experiences a brief surge of what it would be like to live through each one, then the trauma of those memories is used as a weapon, inflicting that 1DS base damage. The trauma may batter their minds into withdrawing to protect itself. The trauma can also be long lasting, so this ability is not used lightly, especially against one's own clan, and survivors will never forget the user's psyche, and can always recognize them within Short range.
Bleeding Heart (Rank 2, T, Short): the psionicist fills their heart with a particular emotion, to the point where it overwhelms them, then they amplify this and use a psychic shout to infuse every sentient within Short range that enhanced emotion. Each one makes a Psionics (MEN) test with a penalty equal to the successes scored in the attack. Some possible effects include paralysis (target is overwhelmed by what they're feeling), Fight or Flight, or anything else the player can think of (and convince the GM to agree). Failures on their tests become a negative penalty added to their condition penalty (if this brings it to -4 or lower, NER tests to function). Successes experience the emotion but are not overwhelmed by it. Every target has a permanent memory of the attacker's psyche and will always recognize them within Short range.
The Void (Rank 2, T): a defense against psionic attacks, this use of the skill plunges one's own psyche into a void, a separation from the surrounding reality, shielding it from attacks. A success grants +1D psychic armor, +1D per success of three.
Sheepherder (Rank 3, T, Short): every sentient within range feels the user's psyche as it blankets the area, muffling psionic activity, gaining a defense against psionic attacks. A success grants Superior +1 to defensive psionics tests (or +3 defense skill), per success of 3 another Superior +1 (+3 defense).