On Energy
All energy is basically the same thing, when you get right down to it. Merely converted to different things and different forms.
Energy and Matter can neither be created, nor destroyed, merely converted.
Maria has the ability specifically attuned sense mystical energy (Chi, magic, etc), but she can detect some measure of other forms of it as well. She senses how it moves and interacts with the world around her in the form of auras. This gives her a general guide to where people are in a 360 degree range of her. The physical range on this generally varies depending on her surroundings.
To note, she never has an explicitly 'clear' picture of her surroundings like a normal person would. It's all waves of color and energy senses and feeling in her mind, as she'd describe it to another. She, for example, can't tell a garbage can from a stool unless you tell her, or she knows from how the room's arranged.
This means, safe to say, if someone swaps bodies with her, they're in for a hell of a headache. Normal human minds--or at least those ordinarily attuned to the more standard five senses--can't really withstand this sort of thing without a massive level of adjustment.
Incidentally, this is why she's lost her sight. It's how her body compensates for so much extrasensory mystical power.
If one were to attempt to give her back her sight, either through mystical or artificial means, she'd lose her powers in the trade off, and would slowly regain them as her body readjusts. ..And would, once again, lose her normal 'human' sight.
--
As a result of being able to see the mystical energies, Maria is capable of manipulating them on a relatively high scale. Most more complicated spells take time for her to set up, while something as simple as a spellbolt can be generated in seconds, the likelyhood of her hitting someone with it is fairly slim, due to the 'general' nature of her sense.
She's more focused on defensive ability, deflection, evasion.
--
And on a related note:
Abe is the Beastery. Maria is the magical encyclopedia. She's the one they go to to identify spells and counterspells, and that sort of thing. If she doesn't recognize it, she knows how to find out what it is.
Energy and Matter can neither be created, nor destroyed, merely converted.
Maria has the ability specifically attuned sense mystical energy (Chi, magic, etc), but she can detect some measure of other forms of it as well. She senses how it moves and interacts with the world around her in the form of auras. This gives her a general guide to where people are in a 360 degree range of her. The physical range on this generally varies depending on her surroundings.
To note, she never has an explicitly 'clear' picture of her surroundings like a normal person would. It's all waves of color and energy senses and feeling in her mind, as she'd describe it to another. She, for example, can't tell a garbage can from a stool unless you tell her, or she knows from how the room's arranged.
This means, safe to say, if someone swaps bodies with her, they're in for a hell of a headache. Normal human minds--or at least those ordinarily attuned to the more standard five senses--can't really withstand this sort of thing without a massive level of adjustment.
Incidentally, this is why she's lost her sight. It's how her body compensates for so much extrasensory mystical power.
If one were to attempt to give her back her sight, either through mystical or artificial means, she'd lose her powers in the trade off, and would slowly regain them as her body readjusts. ..And would, once again, lose her normal 'human' sight.
--
As a result of being able to see the mystical energies, Maria is capable of manipulating them on a relatively high scale. Most more complicated spells take time for her to set up, while something as simple as a spellbolt can be generated in seconds, the likelyhood of her hitting someone with it is fairly slim, due to the 'general' nature of her sense.
She's more focused on defensive ability, deflection, evasion.
--
And on a related note:
Abe is the Beastery. Maria is the magical encyclopedia. She's the one they go to to identify spells and counterspells, and that sort of thing. If she doesn't recognize it, she knows how to find out what it is.