Pillars of Faith by William Adams  

Pillars of Faith



Animism


     Level: 3
     Quantum Minimum: 5
     Dice Pool: Variable
     Range: Variable
     Area: Variable
     Duration: Variable
     Effect:  The Nova can manipulate the Quantum signature of a person living or dead with effects that appear to affect the very soul of the person.
     Multiple Actions:  No
     Description:  Every action a person does leaves an impression on the environment.  Every object a person touches retains an impression of that person.  The Nova whith this power can manipulate that impression, giving it a pseudo life of it's own.
     This power has many techniques which form a branch of Quantum powers that fall under the study of the ephemereal.  The control of Quantum Impressions left behind by a person may or may not be related to the elusive soul of that person, but the effects speak for themselves.

Animation
     Dice Pool:  Manipulation + Animism
     Range:  (Quantum + power rating) x3 meters
     Area:  One corpse per success
     Duration:  Maintenance
     This technique does more than simply call back the spirit of the deceased, it imbues the spirit with a certain awareness and motive force.  Enough for it to make a body move.  The nova has no control over whose spirits come to inhabit the corpses he chooses to affect the Quantum Impression left by the person whose body the nova is trying to affect will always take precedence over any other.  They are however under his complete control though they may not carry out his instructions with the best care.  The zombies and skeletons created with this technique respond to their creator with the limited intelligence of a spirit without a physical brain.  While they will display rudimentary intelligence they lack motivation and will always seek to carry out all commands with as little effort or imagination possible.
     The basic animated corpse has Str 2 Dex 1 Sta 2 Per 2 Int 1 Wit 2 App 0 Man 1 Cha 1.  The nova can instead create fewer animated corpses that are individually more powerful.  Each success can be used to give the zombies three dots of physical attributes, one dot of mental or social attributes, one dot in a power, of level two or lower, or one dot in a mega attribute or an enhancement.  Only physical powers and mega attributes are allowable.  Body modifications count as one dot no matter what they are.  The zombies have no quantum or quantum pool but can use their powers at least once per turn and can have mega attributes up to the nova's rating in Animism.

Apparition
     Dice Pool:  Perception + Animism
     Range:  (Quantum + power rating) meters
     Area:  One Target
     Duration:  Maintenance
     The nova can recreate an exact image of a person or animal from any object the target has handled or from any piece of the target's body.  The image will reenact the last action it took while in posession of the object or if it is a piece of it's body, the last action before it died or the body piece was detached.  The image is semi-transparent and if it's action takes it outside the nova's Range with this power it dissapears even if the nova is still maintaining it.  The nova can move with the apparition to keep it within range if the action takes it beyond the nova's range.  The use of Apparition is governed by the effect chart which determines how long ago an object had to be handled by the subject to be eligible for the use of this Technique.  Use of bodily remains instead of objects handled by the subject add the nova's Quantum in successes to the effect chart.

Banish
     Dice Pool:  Manipulation + Animism
     Range:  (Quantum + power rating) x3 meters
     Area:  (Quantum + power rating) meters
     Duration:  Instant
     The nova can dispel the animations and Quantum constructs that others have created.  Any entity created or animated by Quantum powers can be affected by banishment.  This includes those created by the Animation techniques of Elemental Anima/Mastery and Molecular Manipulation as well as Animism and Quantum Construct.  The roll is resisted and each success negates one success of the opponent.

Binding
     Dice Pool:  Manipulation + Animism
     Range:  (Quantum + power rating) meters
     Area:  One Target
     Duration:  Maintenance
     The nova with this power can preserve a person on death's doorstep.  When a person dies the nova can use this technique to halt the process just short of death.  This does nothing to preserve the body of the victim but will prevent the soul of the person from passing on as long as the power is maintained.  The nova has to use this technique before the person actually dies and some forms of death may be so sudden that even if the nova reacts immediately it may be too late.  But if used in a timely fashion this technique will allow the nova time to restore the body to the point where normal ressucitation techniques will bring the target back to life.  This technique alone will not restore the dead person, but as long as it is maintained the target can be revived without much trouble.  A simple electric shock and CPR will revive the target as long as whatever killed him in the first place has been repaired.  This technique has no effect on bodies in cryogenic suspension unless they died while already under the effects of this technique.  In this case the nova only has to spend the maintenance cost once per day.

Ressurrection
     Quantum Minimum:  9
     Dice Pool: Manipulation + Animism
     Range:  (Quantum + power rating) meters
     Area:  One Target
     Duration:  Instant
     With this technique the nova can call the spirit of a deceased person or animal and force it into a body of his choosing.  The body does not have to be the person's original body but the spirit has to accomodate the limitations of the new body.  A nova called back to the body of a baseline will be a baseline.  Also a human called back to the body of an animal will have his or her intelligence severly reduced.  This technique uses the Effect chart to determine how long ago the dead person or animal can be called back from the moment of it's death.  In any case the nova must gain three or more successes on the ressurrection roll for the spirit to retain all it's former memories.  Otherwise the target will retain only a hazy recollection of it's former self.  If the body the nova is attempting to force the spirit into already has a spirit (the person or animal is still alive), the nova must gain as many successes as the victim has Willpower.  The victim can roll Willpower to reduce the successes of the nova.  Even if the victim is willing though the nova has to garner as many successes as the victim has dots in Willpower.  After this power has been successfully used the body can be revived as outlined under Binding.  Of course if the body was already alive when the spirit was forced into it then nothing further is needed.  A spirit forced into the body of a living person or animal will have identity problems no matter what the nova does.  Any use of the restore technique on a spirit inhabiting the body of a living person or animal will force the spirit out and restore the person or animal to his previous state.

Restore
     Dice Pool:  Manipulation + Animism
     Range:  Touch
     Area:  NA
     Duration:  Concentration
     When a person's mind is tampered with through telepathy, domination or other more physical means the impression of what the person was like before still remains.  With this technique the nova can attempt to restore lost memories, erase post hypnotic suggestions and repair damage to the psyche of the person.  The difficulty is equal to the number of successes that the attacker originally gained against his victim.  One of the most impressive uses of this technique is to restore a person under the effects of Parasitic Domination.  No matter the distance of the nova from his victim's body this technique will force a reversion.  In cases where the nova has taken up permanent residence in the body of his victim this technique will restore the original person provided the nova using it gains the successes necessary to affect the timeframe in which the victim was possessed on the effect chart.  This power can also be used as a defense against mental control and mega social enhancements.  The nova has to concentrate, but as long as he is concentrating the nova can make a resistance roll using the dice pool of this technique against any social or mental attribute or power used against the person the nova is protecting with this technique, even himself.

Soul Sight
     Dice Pool:  Perception + Animism
     Range:  Line of Sight
     Area:  NA
     Duration:  Concentration
     With Soul Sight the nova can see the spirits of living things and the residue they leave on objects.  With a successful roll the nova can judge the Nature of a person as well as the general health of any living creature.  Using the effect chart the nova can garner the same information from objects that the person has handled in the past.

Effect Chart
Successes
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Time Frame
   Up to one hour per dot
   Up to one day per dot
   Up to one week per dot
   Up to one month per dot
   Up to one year per dot
   Up to 10 years per dot
     Each success beyond 6 increases the timeframe by a factor of 10.


All Images are Copyright © 2002 William Adams and cannot be  reproduced without permission.
Some Characters are inspired by the TV show Buffy The Vampire Slayer and their use here does not represent a challenge to any  pre-existing copyrights or trademarks.
Warning: This comic may include adult situations and suggestive dialogue not suited for minors.
 
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