On the table are presented 52 playing cards, face-down in a random order.
An esper is asked to pick out the Ace of Spades among them.
They pull out a one...
-- And their power allowed them to see which card was the one they desired --
When, in the Declaration of Independence of United States of America, magic was practically outlawed in the denunciation of Britain and their perceived ills, the new nation became one of the few places in the world where mages held no political power. This created a void in the supernatural powers of USA, meaning they had no natural defense force against such a threat. Mercenaries were a short time answer, but every president from George Washington knew that a homegrown solution had to be created. Thanks to influence of a certain masonic organization that had been part of USA's creation, focus was shifted from magic to another potential source for powerful beings.
Those beings were the psionic anomalies – mutants often referred to as espers.
Espers appear here and there in the history of the world but rarely did they band together. Instead they tended to work as oracles and soothsayers, masquerading as powerful mages. Unlike magic, the psionics of espers is not considered a foreign, invasive element to the world. This is because it is created from wholly human means; power that comes from Odic Force generated by an additional part of the brain referred to as Odic Stem. It is the existence of this Odic Stem that marks espers as mutants, as normal humans do not possess this vine-like structure around their real brain stem. This additional stem generates Odic Force, a powerful substance that alters world's state around the esper as his or her mind commands it. Of course, there exists the Achilles' heel of psionic abilities: psionic abilities are given form by an esper's brainwaves, which are unique to each person. Therefore each esper has only one psionic ability, though it might appear in various ways. As a certain esper succinctly put it: “There are as many different forms of ESP as there are espers.”
As large influx of immigrants arrived to the shores of the growing nation of USA, those in charge were able to guide bloodlines in a manner that strengthened the psionic abilities of certain families. The amount of espers rocketed upwards in the ongoing decades and they began to band together, forming a natural network of supernatural guardians of the new nation's enemies. They became what is known in some circles as “Old Blood” - the gentry-like elite among the espers of USA. They are powerful families, hundreds of branches strong, that grew in to fill the supernatural power vacuum in the key areas of the new nation. Even in modern times these families hold a great deal of sway in politics, both hidden and mundane. This, of course, was something of a misstep on the road for USA to have its own equivalent to mages. The families of Old Blood were strong, yes, but they were too powerful – and they did not work under the government.
What the government needed was a branch of espers answering only to them – they needed the Stargate Project.
Utilizing the research of a long-time psionics researcher Karl Zener, a certain branch of US military, with the approval of President Roosevelt, began researching into espers and how to utilize them in service to the country, especially during WWII. However, ironically enough it was not until early 1970's, under the leadership of President Nixon, that the project yielded proper results. This was only possible thanks to the increased funding to combat the breakthroughs of a Soviet psychotronic-research program. Known then as GONDOLA WISH program, US military was capable of creating espers through gene-manipulation and artificial Odic Stem insertion into an embryo.Thus were the first so-called “Designer Babies” created, artificially-grown espers that could then be birthed through proper pregnancy, or later purely in laboratories. No longer did USA have to rely on the Old Blood families or the randomly mutated espers they could find to protect them.
You are one of these protector using psionic might; You are under the watchful eye of Stargate.
You are an esper.
As an esper, you are capable of altering the world momentarily by bending it to your will momentarily. Your very self, how you view things, how your mind works, what your mind deems natural, is transferred through Odic Force into your surroundings and made real. This is not against the laws of the world as you are merely changing what is 'natural' by rejecting the reality in place and substituting that with your own, personal reality. Some also speculate that the reason why the world does not try to crush espers as it does with mages is because the mutation of an Odic Stem is somehow natural to humans... perhaps their next evolutionary step, so to say.
Whether you are an heir of an Old Blood family, a Designer Baby from military laboratories or even just a freak of nature who happened to be born mutated, your destiny is still tied to Stargate; While just a research program before, in these modern times it has grown into the government bureau that decides all things esper-related, much to the anger of the old families. If Stargate wants something, it will most likely achieve it, one way or another. Some do say that espers of America are a powder keg waiting to explode but for now they stand an united front against dangers of the turnside of the world... all under the banner of Stargate.
For now.
Esper Origin
As a member of Stargate, you are an esper who shapes to world to his or her image through the usage of Odic Force and scientific phenomenon that serve as the esp's basis. There are as many psionic abilities as there are espers, but each of them is unique.
Upon choosing the Esper Origin, you gain:
Old Blood:
The Four Hundred of New York, Main Line of Philadelphia, First Families of Virginia... it is no accident that the Old Money of America is tied heavily to the Old Blood of America. Those with psionic abilities abused them heavily, growing powerful and extremely wealthy in the process. However, they were just the first generation of the Old Blood families, those seen as proper Americans. The so-called second generation utilized their powers in a time where it was seen illegal by those already in power. For this reason these immigrants eventually formed into crime families and organizations such as the Irish-American and Italian-American mafia and their hidden branches of psionics. Ironically enough, both the first and the second generation of Old Blood place high value on family, respect and wealth; they are also mostly centered these days on the East Coast and the New England region.
Skill Increase: Intimidation +2 SP.
Granted: Perk [Blood Money].
Designer Baby:
Although the public side of Stargate has long since been made to look like a hoax, the actual facilities still exists underneath Menlo Park, California. Psionic Science Institute (PSI) has all the facilities it needs to home grow, train and educate new carefully crafted espers to suit whatever needs the government and military have at any point. Agents of PSI have everything about them honed towards achieving perfection in their future role, from physical attributes to skills and even their very ESP. Each 'batch' of new espers are designated a role before they are created, after which they are molded into that role from their very birth. A single batch like this is known as an “Alphabet Soup”, with each member being designated with a code letter that matches their ability or role in some way. This is to help decrease individuality that could hamper their mission as a psionic agent of the government.
Skill Increase: Lore [_] +2 SP.
Granted: Perk [One Job].
Freak of Nature:
Not all espers are from the old families or government projects. Naturally occurring espers are rare, far rarer than mages or any other supernatural beings. Therefore it has become a long and arduous task for the government of USA to catalogue these individuals and keep tabs on them. As they are still citizens of that very country, they are allowed to live normal lives... but at the same time, they can be called to action to defend their homeland with their powers, if need be. Some agree to this, others rebel against it, becoming freelancers or psionics-for-hire in the process. Still, the way the government sees it is that as long as an esper uses his or her power to defeat supernatural threats to the common man, that's enough. So, while some espers might be nigh oblivious to their strange powers, others use them to hunt monsters and save people, travelling across the country in the process.
Skill Increase: Any one Skill +1 SP.
Granted: Perk [Self-Taught].
Your Ability is: Psionics.
As said before, psionics (Or ESP, which stands for extrasensory power) is a power born wholly from the mind of a mutated human – an esper. Odic Force gathered by their Odic Stem is send out in a pattern shaped by their brainwaves, substituting the reality in a way that is almost instinctual to that esper. Whether it be creating flames wherever they look or becoming invisible in shadows, an esper's power is always tied to one crucial fact. Unlike something supernatural like magic, or something that is classified as a miracle like thaumaturgy, ESP functions within laws of physics... to an extent. In other words, each ESP seems to have a basis in some sort of scientific principle or theory.
For example, an esper cannot create fire out of nothing. He or she could cause oxidation in any material they looked upon for a set amount of time, or they could be able to distort dim-enough light to appear invisible in darkness. There must always be some sort of explanation behind an esper's ability... though as they are all theoretical and achieved through the power of Odic Force (which is represented by your Odic Points), they are still removed from normal reality by quite a bit. To teleport an object from one location to another may be possible only in theories or on paper... but an esper can make it a reality by utilizing his or her power.
When creating an ESP for your character, there is one major decision you must first make. An ESP, or an array of psionic powers, can be either Internal or External. Internal ESP is all about powers of the mind (Telepathy, psychometry, etc.) While often not as flashy as their external counterparts, internal psionics are far more insidious and dangerous. External ESP is all about powers spread out into the world (telekinesis, pyrokinesis, etc.). It focuses on destruction caused by your powers that appears in physical world.
Once you have decided what form your ESP takes and whether or not it is an internal or external one, you must decide on its Rank. Unlike many other abilities, ESP is just one ability with multiple applications. You must first purchase the maximum Rank of the ESP. This is the absolute highest Rank you can use your ESP on. However, it also means that you can use said ESP on lower Ranks to conserve Odic Force. This ties especially to your main ability, what is the main purpose of your ESP. You can perform it on every Rank up to your maximum, changing how powerful it is and how much it taxes you.
Then there is the subject of applications. For every Rank in INT you have, you get to have two additional applications – another way to use your ESP. So, for example, your main ability could be creating an ever larger blast of fire. However, one of your applications could be creating a wall of fire to trap your enemies with. Or in case of telepathy, your main ability could be contacting someone from further and further away, but your application could be trying to issue a command into their brain that they have to obey. Like the main ability, each application becomes stronger the higher Rank it is used in.
The quick list of how much each Rank of ESP costs in AP and in mana is as follows:
The overall power of your ability comes not only from what Rank it is, but how strong is your governing attribute and how much AP was paid for it. This means that though two different abilities may appear similar in scale, one might actually be stronger in contest of raw power if more AP was spent on it. However, only fools trust raw power, as that is the easiest thing in the world to turn against yourself...
The contents of the psionic ability and its applications may be decided freely by you. Just remember that they should reflect the ESP's type and Rank it is used at. If your character is chosen as one of the player characters, the GM will then go over the in-game mechanics with you, making it so that it can be used in the actual game. The best way to ensure this is to make sure your ESP is imaginative, unique and creative.