Powers + Permissions
Janine Farehouse is a being of "pure thought-energy brainwaves" installed into a pterosaur, which gives her some psychic abilities.
The big one is telepathy. She cannot read minds or pick up on anyone else's thoughts, but she speaks by broadcasting an approximation of her human voice. Janine can similarly broadcast music and sound effects, which don't carry any farther than normal sound. It's a directional ability - you can tell which way it's coming from - and if they're not paying attention in person your character might not realize she's using telepathy at all.
It's most convenient for this skill to affect everyone, but it's worth noting that this is not actually noise. A deaf character will pick up on something, even if it doesn't register as sound.
After that, and related, is her ability to broadcast sensory input. What she can do with sound Janine can also do with other senses. Currently she's not much good at this and can make nothing convincing - think low-budget CGI - but with a great deal of practice - several months of it - she'll be able to convince people within range that there's a herd of tightly-packed iguanadons moving in a straight line, complete with smells and unyielding scaly skin, and have the herd continue to exist for almost a half hour after she's created the projection.
That ability really relies on belief. Know it's fake and you can walk right through them, if you want. Also they are not real - no matter how much effort she puts into a simulated anything or how ignorant you are of what it really is, while you might be able to fold an illusory blanket around yourself and feel warm you can still get chilled and cannot use it to carry things with.
The vaguest power is idea-sharing, which only works at the very closest range.If there's no time for conversation or she's talking to something that can't understand the fine points of language, she's still able to get the general idea across, given close proximity and time to concentrate. The highest level of this lets her built a mental picture of a map, the start and end point, and general notes, and share it with someone.
Then there's empathy. She has a big, beaked, inflexible face, and holds her head and neck in certain ways that make for very opaque 'expressions', but generally it's pretty clear how she's feeling. That's because she broadcasts her emotions. This range is very short, and shortens if she doesn't feel like sharing. If she chooses she can deliberately project an emotion so it can be felt from farther away. Either way, characters who aren't highly distracted easily know where it's coming from and that it's not theirs.
Janine also receives the emotions of people in close physical proximity to her. She can't tell if they're not hers unless she thinks it out, wonders why she's suddenly feeling angry or humiliated. Stronger emotions can reach her from a few yards away, but for subtler ones she has to be much closer.
Finally, an ability she had as a human, the piercing stare. Janine can choose to direct a look at someone that makes them feel as if she's seeing through all lies, all bluffs, all deceptions, and can see who that someone is at heart, which can be a positive or negative experience, depending on how the character sees themselves. She can't actually do that, and only rarely tries, but that's what it feels like.
However, she's only seen directing it on her peers, people in their early/mid teens with massive insecurities. It's entirely possible that older characters, or ones with more mental fortitude, would perceive it to be just a weirdly skeptical look.
If you don't want your character affected by any or all of these save telepathy, please comment. I don't mind!
The big one is telepathy. She cannot read minds or pick up on anyone else's thoughts, but she speaks by broadcasting an approximation of her human voice. Janine can similarly broadcast music and sound effects, which don't carry any farther than normal sound. It's a directional ability - you can tell which way it's coming from - and if they're not paying attention in person your character might not realize she's using telepathy at all.
It's most convenient for this skill to affect everyone, but it's worth noting that this is not actually noise. A deaf character will pick up on something, even if it doesn't register as sound.
After that, and related, is her ability to broadcast sensory input. What she can do with sound Janine can also do with other senses. Currently she's not much good at this and can make nothing convincing - think low-budget CGI - but with a great deal of practice - several months of it - she'll be able to convince people within range that there's a herd of tightly-packed iguanadons moving in a straight line, complete with smells and unyielding scaly skin, and have the herd continue to exist for almost a half hour after she's created the projection.
That ability really relies on belief. Know it's fake and you can walk right through them, if you want. Also they are not real - no matter how much effort she puts into a simulated anything or how ignorant you are of what it really is, while you might be able to fold an illusory blanket around yourself and feel warm you can still get chilled and cannot use it to carry things with.
The vaguest power is idea-sharing, which only works at the very closest range.If there's no time for conversation or she's talking to something that can't understand the fine points of language, she's still able to get the general idea across, given close proximity and time to concentrate. The highest level of this lets her built a mental picture of a map, the start and end point, and general notes, and share it with someone.
Then there's empathy. She has a big, beaked, inflexible face, and holds her head and neck in certain ways that make for very opaque 'expressions', but generally it's pretty clear how she's feeling. That's because she broadcasts her emotions. This range is very short, and shortens if she doesn't feel like sharing. If she chooses she can deliberately project an emotion so it can be felt from farther away. Either way, characters who aren't highly distracted easily know where it's coming from and that it's not theirs.
Janine also receives the emotions of people in close physical proximity to her. She can't tell if they're not hers unless she thinks it out, wonders why she's suddenly feeling angry or humiliated. Stronger emotions can reach her from a few yards away, but for subtler ones she has to be much closer.
Finally, an ability she had as a human, the piercing stare. Janine can choose to direct a look at someone that makes them feel as if she's seeing through all lies, all bluffs, all deceptions, and can see who that someone is at heart, which can be a positive or negative experience, depending on how the character sees themselves. She can't actually do that, and only rarely tries, but that's what it feels like.
However, she's only seen directing it on her peers, people in their early/mid teens with massive insecurities. It's entirely possible that older characters, or ones with more mental fortitude, would perceive it to be just a weirdly skeptical look.
If you don't want your character affected by any or all of these save telepathy, please comment. I don't mind!