Mental Meanderings

Talents are, effectively, the psionic equivalent to spells: specialized effects you can manifest by shaping the energies of your mind. This list of talents is used by the Paragon and by the other classes found in Link’s Psionic Handbook. Enjoy!

Paragon 1.7Download

I am haunted by a ghost. It is not a particularly malicious ghost. It’s not the type that wakes me up in the night, sweating and panicking with fear at an unexplained weight on my chest. It’s not the type you’d see in a horror movie, one that makes me fear going into dark places for fear I’ll be dragged away to my demise. It doesn’t knock things off of shelves or fill my house with unexplained…

Wake. Sleep. Doze. Sleep. Wake.

The moments of true wakefulness came so far apart, and so briefly, that they seemed nonexistent. Even when he managed to pull himself from the depths of drowsiness that had enveloped him, he caught only glimpses of the world:

His room, in the dark of night, with only the stars for light.

His room, glowing orange-rose in the light of the rising sun.

His…

Leoth’s Last Night

Leoth had been building up this moment in his mind for weeks. He had idly considered this course of action several times over the last few years, but it was only in recent times that he had finally made up his mind. The notion that he might stay here forever had become unbearable. It was not a bad place, not compared to others. It was just not the place for him.

“You should not leave.” Master Fon…

You may have noticed that the quantity — and, arguably, the quality — of my entries has decreased in recent months. If you haven’t, well, I have, and I’ve looking inward to seek a solution to that for quite some time.

For now, I am putting Daydreams on hiatus in order to refocus and reorient myself. While I love what I’ve done here, and it has given me some wonderful ideas that I might never have…

There are rules, in this world, and there are consequences for breaking them. Some rules, like those of physics, are woven into the fabric of the world itself. Some are part of the social contract forged, over time and experience, by beings as they interact with one another. Some are impressed upon us by governing bodies. Regardless of their origin, there are consequences for breaking them.…

The One Who Fails

I tend to think of my life as defined by my mistakes. There are more of them than successes, so it’s easier, in a way, because it’s so much easier to think of times that I’ve messed up than it is to think of times I’ve done the right thing. Mistakes are a part of me. They’re even how I think of myself internally. If I were to give myself a title, it would be “The One Who Fails.”

Now, I could…

Home is insidious. It sneaks up on you in ways you don’t expect, becoming a part of you even if you never asked for it. I don’t like it. I don’t like feeling attached to things, and I don’t like it when things happen without my consent. Nobody does.

I didn’t want to live in that place. I didn’t even want to live with her, but life has a way of thrusting things on you that you don’t want. At…

“Mom, why are we at a table for four?”

Dan’s mother had told him that this lunch date was just for the two of them. His first, fleeting thought upon seeing the extra chairs was sadness, because at one time, his father would have joined them. Then he had noticed that the table was next to the window, where his mother preferred to sit, and that all of the tables with seating for two next to the…

Grandfather’s Story

“Hivara is beautiful,” Grandfather said.

I rolled my eyes, because I knew, from that single phrase, where this would lead. I’ve heard Grandfather tell this story many times before, but my cousins, it seems, have not.

“No she’s not!” said Ruon, the youngest of them. His face scrunched up with a level of offense reserved only for the young and for middle-aged women confronted with a situation…

She is happy. She has always liked to do things with her hands; she has always liked to make things, and to look upon them later and say, “I made this. I accomplished something.” She still makes things, sometimes. Knitted caps or scarves or gloves. Handmade greeting cards, for birthdays and anniversaries. Simple things, perhaps, but things which take time, and give her pleasure.

It isn’t often…

“Khari, do you think we belong here?”

Reid sat awkwardly against the wall of Khari’s tent. He knew he was welcome here, and he knew that Khari didn’t mind his presence, but he still felt slightly uncomfortable. He liked Khari. He was pretty sure she didn’t mind him, either. He’d just never felt quite as connected to her as he had to Alana or Tynus. Khari intimidated him.

“Yes.” Khari didn’t…

Orua, Session One, Part VI: Jillian

Preceded by: Orua, Session One, Part V: The Rondrell Home

“I need to go check on Melark.”

Delphine strode off purposefully, leaving Garrett to stand, frozen, next to Rowan. The door to the Rondrell home had just shut behind him with a thumping blow that felt like it had struck directly against Garret’s heart. He knew Rowan hadn’t meant to harm the baby, but he still had, and Garret felt like it…

Aian Glossary: The Gods

The world of Aia, as seen in my posts related to the Orua campaign and in several other, unrelated short stories, is a world governed by a myriad of deities. The people associate them with all sorts of different aspects of the world, from the seasons to the turnings of the moons, and most deities are — as compared to deities from some other worlds — relatively accessible to their followers.

The…

Orua, Session One, Part v: The Rondrell Home

Orua, Session One, Part IV: The Calldecs

“Oh, Simm.” The leaden weight that sat upon Delphine’s heart grew heavier

The Rondrell home sat at the end of the street that curved northward toward Rowan’s house. The whole of Orua was arrayed in a rough circle, with the Two Trees and the village square at its center. The few folks that lived in the village proper, and not out on one of the farms, had…