For millennia, people have wondered about the potential for harnessing supernatural abilities, altering the world around them with the power of their mind. There are many legends, myths and stories of such individuals but the presence of real life psychic abilities has never been definitively proven.
Until now.
In the simplest terms, Empathy is a supernatural ability, perhaps psychic, that allows the wielder to manipulate creatures, objects and the understood laws of physics. This is, however, a misunderstanding of what Empathy is and does. It is both magic and science, whilst simultaneously being neither. Most of what is ‘known’ about Empathy is little more than speculation or conjecture, and most Empaths are dismissed as fraudulent psychics and mystics.
Empathic Operatives
For Operatives, there is only one way to be able to use empathic powers right at the start of a campaign - take the Empath career!
While this does indeed give you access to supernatural powers (that are probably safe to use...), there are some drawbacks.
For a start, while Empaths get a new characteristic (EMP - Empathy), how much you get is dependant on which assignment you choose.
Mystics are basically civilians who have developed mysterious new powers, and have only just started to figure out how to use them. They roll EMP on 1D, so they will be somewhat less than reliable.
Military Empaths have had a measure of training, though theirs is a tough life. They roll 1D+2 for EMP.
Want the full 2D roll for your EMP characteristic? Well, you can... if you are happy being a Test Subject. Poked and prodded, and driven way, way beyond their limits, Test Subjects can be powerful, but they will almost certainly be... damaged.
However, during each term in their career, all Empaths must make a Mental Fortitude roll, with a penalty if they failed their Survival roll. Mystics get away with this pretty easily and will generally avoid any problems. Military Empaths have it hard and Test Subjects... well, they will be failing most terms!
If the Mental Fortitude roll is failed, an Empath must determine the effects of Empathic Stress.
Empathic Stress
This is very much the downside of gaining supernatural powers. Failing a Mental Fortitude roll may result in something fairly minor - minor in this case may mean losing all of your hair or one of your five physical senses.
However, things can easily get much worse - extremes of emotion, causing a feeling of great unease in others... or gaining an aspect of the Dark Minions. This may be horns, warts, translucent skin or something similar. However it goes, this Operative may not be going out in public all that much!
Using Empathic Powers
So, you have gone through all that and are now an Empath. What can you do with Empathy?
Well, Empathic talents are varied and, once mastered, highly adaptable. A trained Empath can drain the essence of life from an enemy, force emotions and thoughts into another being, sense the flow of data through computer networks, gain glimpses into the future, and more.
However, you may remember that Empaths, generally speaking, do not have high EMP characteristics. On the face of it, they will fail a lot.
It is not all bad. Some uses of Empathy are (relatively speaking, given that you are delving into the powers of other dimensions) easy to manifest. Also, failing an Empathy Use check does not always mean you actually fail. Oh, no. Your Referee will want to know to what extent you failed. They will want to know what Empathic Paroxysm takes place.
This can be minor, such as a change in the environment (has it suddenly got very cold in here, and have those shadows suddenly just grown?), pulses of raw Empathic power may radiate out from the Empath, the talent may work but in an unpredictable manner... or the Empath's mind may be cast, briefly, into a Dark Dimension, or a Dark Minions may suddenly breach into our universe, inexorably called by the Empath's wanton ignorance.
Empaths can do things that no other humans can even think of attempting. But there is always - always - a dread cost.
