In the new Dark Conspiracy RPG, certain very special Operatives will have access to Empathic powers - supernatural abilities, presumably of the mind, that grant unworldly talents.
Everyone presumes these are psychic powers that, for whatever reason, have simply started manifesting in humanity in recent times.
Everyone is, of course, wrong.
A tiny, tiny fraction of the world's population seems capable of utilising Empathic powers and, as an Operative, you can choose to do so by selecting the Empath career, and its assignments of Mystic, Military Empath or (gulp!) Test Subject.
What has only really been theorised up to this point is that Empathic power comes not from the mind of the individual but some outside influence - this is, of course, the Dark Dimensions that constantly press ever more firmly onto our own world. The appearance of Empaths is simply one manifestation of the Dark.
Empathic Talents
So, what can you actually do with Empathy?
Well, if you are lucky (?) enough to have an Operative with the Empathy characteristic (EMP), you will be able to gain the Empathy Use skill. This has several specialities, each granting the use of one talent:
Computers: Sense the flow of data within computer systems and networks.
Drain: Reduce the defences of a hostile being, leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Foreboding: Gain glimpses of the future, to varying degrees of effectiveness.
Healing: Focussing empathic energies to repair biological damage.
Project Mind: Impose emotions and thoughts into a living creature.
Sense Mind: Detect and understand the presence and emotions of living creatures.
Veteran Travellers will find much familiar here, as the core mechanics of Empathic powers are close to those of Psionics. However, there are important differences.
To begin with, each talent is quite flexible and, as well as extending range (which you can do with Psionics, of course), you can choose to add other effects, albeit at greater difficulty.
And this is a problem because, other than Test Subjects, human Empaths tend to have low EMP scores - untrained Mystics roll just 1D for it. This means that while 'basic' use of Empathic talents are often just Routine (6+) difficulty, failure will be quite common.
Empathic Paroxysms
To help counter this, Dark Conspiracy has a 'fail-forward' mechanic called Empathic Paroxysms. What this basically means is that even if you fail an Empathy Use check, you might still pull off the use of the talent... it will just have some unintended consequences.
For example, suppose your Operative is trying to manipulate data on a computer on the other side of the room. If you just manage to scrape through on the check with Effect +0, you get to use that computer but something very noticeable will happen - perhaps ice begins forming on surfaces around you as the temperature plummets, people nearby suffer from splitting headaches, or spectral whispers can be heard in unknown languages.
Start getting negative Effect, and more... interesting things start happening.
Perhaps your talent still works, but a blast of empathic energy knocks everyone nearby flat, or whatever talent you were attempting suddenly rebounds back onto you.
As the negative Effect grows, the talent will actually fail but consequences grow ever more deadly. Perhaps the Empath's mind crosses over into the hellscape of a Dark Dimension, trapped there until it can muster the will to break free. Maybe the Empath becomes a conduit through which dimensions bleed into one another to create a violent Empathic storm of crackling energies and dark, soul-sucking winds. It is even possible that the Operative will weaken the veil between dimensions sufficiently to allow an actual Dark Minion to breach into our world.
Which will give the Operatives another, rather urgent, problem to deal with.
This all underlines the very real fact that no-one, absolutely no-one, really knows what Empathic powers are or what the Dark really is.
Dark Empathy
As you might be expecting, there are entities who are very familiar with Empathy - the Dark Minions. And, as masters of these energies, they have access to their own Dark Empathic talents.
Each Dark Empathic talent is categorised into various Esoterica, groupings that allow Dark Minions to use a variety of related talents.
For example, the Dark Esoterica is one that just about every minion can access, and grants talents drawn from the fundamental structure of Dark Dimensions. These include the ability to temporarily 'fade' into an adjacent dimension or create an active breach into our world. They might try to draw upon wisps of the veil to create a terrible resonance in living creatures that incapacitate them with pain.
All simple things for a Dark Minion.
Incidentally, it is possible for Dark Minions to manifest the same Empathic powers that humans can try to use, but they do so far more efficiently. Instead of having to learn a new skill for each individual talent, they group all of them into the Material Esoterica.
The Royal Esoterica is accessible to those minions who hold power over others of their kind, such as the Minion Lords and their commanders. Through these talents, they can instigate a frenzied bloodlust in their underlings, create a dimensional anchor so their followers are less susceptible to Instability, or simply harness their own will to completely dominate another creature, minion or human.
One of the defining characteristics of each Dark Minion is the range of Esoterica it has access to. Pretty much all can at least attempt to use talents from the Dark Esoterica, even if it is only on an instinctual level. Those who have regular contact with humans might start developing the Material Esoterica.
However, there are many others, and Operatives might have to work hard to figure out what links the talents that are grouped under a specific Esoterica. Perhaps some are born of specific dimensions, while others require a Dark Minion to accomplish some great feat, or are granted by what passes for their gods in order to command legions.
Operatives and Dark Empathy
Neophyte Operatives might see Dark Empathy in action and, rather than fleeing in all haste, instead start thinking about how they can use it themselves. Is this possible?
Oh, yes. But they might not like the results.
DarkTech artefacts might grant a doorway into using these Empathic talents, as does descending into the madness that lies along the path of Dark Influence.
Operatives might well be able to harness incredible powers, sufficient to go toe-to-toe with the worst of Dark Minions. However, there is a price for using the enemy's power.
Because of course there is.
