Forums of the Megaverse®

Psi-Quakes
“The Noro know about psi-quakes since their antiquity; it’s the tradeoff of living on a planet that has so much psylite to begin with. Before they discovered the stuff’s properties, early Noro ascribed what they got hit with during an earth-shaking to the wrath of their gods, and there’s lots of myths and legends about how it got interpreted. A few kings and orders of mystics got toppled when the gods didn’t approve of them, a few heroes got made, that sort of thing. Kept the beliefs going for quite a long time. Kinda hard to argue with the gods reaching inside your brain and TWISTING.”

Psi-quakes are a rare, but dangerous, phenomena recorded where a planet has both tectonic plate activity and substantial deposits of psylite crystals. Psi-quakes occur when large enough strata of psylite are crushed by shifting subcrustal plates, causing a radiating release of chaotic psionic ‘static’ that can adversely affect psychic sensitives.
Effects are dependent in part on the Richter-measured magnitude of the ‘quake and the psychics’ distance from its epicenter.

In the following, unless otherwise noted, anybody with psionic abilities within range of the psi-quake must roll versus psionic attack. Those currently using a Sensitive ability such as Telepathy, Empathy, See Aura, Danger Sense or Object Read will be -2 to save because they are ‘open’ at the time of the attack. Those with mental defenses up like Mind Block will be +2 to save. Psionic forcefields will block the effects entirely.

Effects:
*Magnitude 1(Richter 1.0-1.9) ---Aside from a faint sense of unease or prickliness, no other effect. Generally affects a radius of 1d10 miles from the epicenter

*Magnitude 2(Richter 2.0-2.9) --- Momentary unease. Sensitive psychics save vs psionics or lose initiative for 1 melee. Range of 5d6 miles from the epicenter.

*Magnitude 3 (Richter 3.0-3.9) --- Sensitive psychics save vs psionics or lose initiative for 1d4 melees. Range of 1d4x10 miles from the epicenter.
Mag-2 effects will be felt 3d4x10 miles from the epicenter.

*Magnitude 4 (Richter 4.0-4.9) --- Momentary disorientation and shock(akin to being slapped). Save versus psionics or lose initiative for 1d6 melees, and sensitive psionic range, duration, and proficiency will be handicapped by 25% for 1d6 minutes. Range of 4d4x10 miles from the epicenter.
Mag-3 effects out to 5d6x10 miles. Mag-2 effects out to 1d4x100 miles.

*Magnitude 5 (Richter 5.0-5.9) ---Sudden shock. Save versus psionics or lose initiative for 2d4 melees, -1 APM for 1 melee, and sensitive psionic range, duration, and proficiency will be handicapped by 25% for 1d8 minutes Range of 1d4x10 miles from the epicenter. Mag-4 effects out to 5d6x10 miles from the epicenter, Mag-3 effects out to 1d4x100 miles, Mag-2 out to 2d4x100 miles.

*Magnitude 6(Richter 6.0-6.9) --- Feels like being punched out; save versus psionics or lose initiative for 1d6 melees, -1 APM for 2 melees, and sensitive psionic range, duration, and proficiency will be handicapped by 25% for 2d6 minutes Range of 2d4x10 miles from the epicenter.
Mag-5 effects will be felt 3d6x10 miles from the epicenter, Mag-4 effects out to 6d6x10 miles, Mag-3 effects out to 1d6x100 miles, Mag-2 out to 2d6x100 miles.


*Magnitude 7(Richter 7.0-7.9) ---Severe, like being whacked in the head with a blunt instrument several times. Save versus psionics or lose initiative for 2d4 melees, -1 APM for 1d4 melees, and sensitive psionic range, duration, and proficiency will be handicapped by 50% for 2d6 minutes Range of 2d4x10 miles from the epicenter.
Mag-6 effects will be felt 3d6x10 miles from the epicenter, Mag-5 effects will be felt 4d6x10 miles, Mag-4 effects out to 6d6x10 miles, Mag-3 effects out to 1d6x100 miles, Mag-2 out to 3d6x100 miles.
Only a half-dozen Mag-7 psi-quakes have been ever recorded on Noro history.

*Magnitude 8(Richter 8.0-8.9) --- Save versus psionics or be struck with such intense pain and sensory overload that one cannot move or do anything but writhe in agony for 1d6 melees. Roll under M.E. each melee round or be knocked unconscious for 2d6 melees. After the initial shock has passed, the psychic will be conscious, but -1d4 on initiative, strike, parry, and dodge, -1 APM, and will be unable to use psionics for 1d4 minutes, and will be only at HALF their psychic proficiency(duration, range, damage, skill) for another 1d6+15 minutes afterwards, due to feeling nauseous and unable to concentrate. . Range of 1d10x10 miles from the epicenter.
Mag-7 effects will be felt 4d6x10 miles from the epicenter, Mag-6 effects 1d6x100 miles, Mag-5 effects 2d4x100 miles, Mag-4 effects out to 2d6x100 miles from the epicenter. Mag-3 effects out to 3d6x100 miles, Mag-2 out to 5d6x100 miles.
Only about three Mag-8 psi-quakes have been reported in Noro history. The last and worst, it is claimed, happened only a few days after the global nuclear mass-extinction on neighboring Ironee, and was regarded by many Noro as less a coincidence and more a scathing indictment of the Noro by their homeworld’s spirits.

*Magnitude 9 (Richter 9.0-) --- Acute paralyzing agony(unable to do anything) and neurological damage(take 1d6 direct to hit points) for 1d8 melees . A successful roll versus psionics HALVES the damage. Effectively blanks out the use of Sensitive psionics for 1d4 hours afterwards, and other psionics will be at -25% of effectiveness for 1d6x10 minutes(except for those that were protected by shielding).
Range of 1d10x10 miles from of the epicenter
Mag-8 effects will be felt 1d4x100 miles from the epicenter, Mag-5 effects will be felt 2d4x100 miles from the epicenter, Mag-4 effects out to 2d6x100 miles from the epicenter. Mag-3 effects out to 3d6x100 miles, Mag-2 out to 5d6x100 miles.
Only one possible Mag-9 psi-quake has ever been recorded in Noro history and that happened in its ancient history.

*Magnitude 10(Richter) --- Never experienced on Noro-Gor or any other known world. Considered theoretical. It’s speculated that a Mag-10 psi-quake would result in instant death for psychics on a global scale and would be felt by other psychics across interplanetary distances.

Unlike seismic waves, which may be channeled by varying densities of subcrustal rock, psi-quake waves radiate more uniformly. Psionic forcefields and psychic shielding technology stops psi-qualke emissions from affecting anybody behind their protection.

Sounds like an aspect of the Three Galaxies, not PW.

Skimming it I didn't see anything wrong.

I love this I'm just embarrassed I never thought of it myself. Psylite is a great concept, I've done a few things with it myself, but they really don't do anything with it in any of the books. We don't even know how common it is in the Three Galaxies or if it is anywhere else in the Megaverse.

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Sounds like an aspect of the Three Galaxies, not PW.
.

Because the first book to mention the Three Galaxies 'verse was (called) PhaseWorld), it's generally referred to as Phase World(or PW) in addition to Three Galaxies.
Though with regards to plate tectonics, I wouldn't be surprised if Phase World was thoroughly engineered not to suffer earthquakes, the tension energies being safely bled off(and possibly used for other purposes).

Warshield73 wrote:I love this I'm just embarrassed I never thought of it myself. Psylite is a great concept, I've done a few things with it myself, but they really don't do anything with it in any of the books. We don't even know how common it is in the Three Galaxies or if it is anywhere else in the Megaverse.

We know that it's found in quartz formations, but only a millionth of any deposit of quartz could be psylite, and only psychics can recognize the stuff. It's also stated that besides the Noro, other psychic species use the stuff.
Given the abundance of quartz. Psylite should be fairly common around the Three Galaxies, but most species, lacking the necessary psionic abilities, don't realize it. But rather than drown everybody in the stuff, it's probably a lot rarer than one part per million, just to maintain the plot mcgufiin.

Much as I'd like to have the discovery that psylite is quartz laced with chemical compounds similar to those in psi-cola, making it possible to potentially synthesize quartz crystals to-order doped with the necessary compounds, it's probably unique due to some special configuration of crystals possible only through millions of years of deep crust heat and pressure.

taalismn wrote:

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Sounds like an aspect of the Three Galaxies, not PW.
.

Because the first book to mention the Three Galaxies 'verse was (called) PhaseWorld), it's generally referred to as Phase World(or PW) in addition to Three Galaxies.

It just out of place to say that one world defines Three Galaxies.

That is like saying that Los Angles, Chicago, or the city of New York defines the USA as a whole.
(And I am done with this sidetrack. But think about it yourself and make your own choice. Don't just follow the flock.)

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:

taalismn wrote:

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Sounds like an aspect of the Three Galaxies, not PW.
.

Because the first book to mention the Three Galaxies 'verse was (called) PhaseWorld), it's generally referred to as Phase World(or PW) in addition to Three Galaxies.

It just out of place to say that one world defines Three Galaxies.

That is like saying that Los Angles, Chicago, or the city of New York defines the USA as a whole.
(And I am done with this sidetrack. But think about it yourself and make your own choice. Don't just follow the flock.)

Phase World is what defines that dimension, the main book is Phase World, just like Rifts Earth defines its dimension. Either works really.

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:

taalismn wrote:

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:Sounds like an aspect of the Three Galaxies, not PW.
.

Because the first book to mention the Three Galaxies 'verse was (called) PhaseWorld), it's generally referred to as Phase World(or PW) in addition to Three Galaxies.

It just out of place to say that one world defines Three Galaxies.

That is like saying that Los Angles, Chicago, or the city of New York defines the USA as a whole.
(And I am done with this sidetrack. But think about it yourself and make your own choice. Don't just follow the flock.)

Its been the general convention among people that actually use the setting for a good 2 decades at least. DB:3 isn't called the Three Galaxies Sourcebook, its the Phase World Sourcebook.

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:It just out of place to say that one world defines Three Galaxies.

That is like saying that Los Angles, Chicago, or the city of New York defines the USA as a whole.)

They don't?
To most extradimensional travelers, the traffic hub Phase World is most likely to be the only part of the Three Galaxies they see...sort of like world travelers not bothering to visit the rest of the USA, but stopping only at O'hare and LAX before moving on. . Ask those travelers about the 'Three Galaxies' and they might name Milky Way, Andromeda, Triangulium, or Folgate/Borgort/Fwheem, or some other combo. But add 'Phase World' and they might recognize that particular universe using Phase World as the primary point of reference.

True, I haven't met anybody who's ever referred to the United States as 'LAX' but they might say that that's the only place they ever set foot in the USA.

Love the idea. Sounds like it could lead to several governments performing covert research on ways to weaponize psylite crystals as a first-strike weapon psychics.

I think if I ever use these I am going to have some minor effect on non-psychics but not sure what those would be. Might have it attract certain kinds supernatural creatures, some of the ones from Rifts Psyscape book or the Nightbane between the shadows.

Basically that these are a threat to a populace if not detected by psychics.

jtjr26 wrote:Love the idea. Sounds like it could lead to several governments performing covert research on ways to weaponize psylite crystals as a first-strike weapon psychics.

Actually, this happened the other way around...I first came up with the idea of cracking psylite crystals to produce a psionic-agonizing hand grenade. But them I thought about natural processes and the simply MASSIVE amounts of energy involved in plate tectonics..arguably enough to cause strange effects with large enough amounts of psylite crystals.

taalismn wrote:Much as I'd like to have the discovery that psylite is quartz laced with chemical compounds similar to those in psi-cola, making it possible to potentially synthesize quartz crystals to-order doped with the necessary compounds, it's probably unique due to some special configuration of crystals possible only through millions of years of deep crust heat and pressure.

Funny that you'd mention psi-cola, as my first thought upon seeing the explanation was "what kind of weird phenomena could large quantities of the plants used in the brewing of Psi-Cola cause...."

SolCannibal wrote:Funny that you'd mention psi-cola, as my first thought upon seeing the explanation was "what kind of weird phenomena could large quantities of the plants used in the brewing of Psi-Cola cause...."

It's just the synergistic combination of the chemicals, but if you really wanted to go in that direction of what happens with weird plants in the megaverse... Well, setting fire using pyrokinesis, to fields of psi-active plants? Especially if the plants acquired their psi-active properties as a defense mechanism(as many plants IRL use chemicals as defensive mechanisms) against psychic-active predators(like TK-using herbivores)?
Maybe you get a brain-burning mini-firestorm or psi-canceling smoke...