Rogue Realm

http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2017/05/what_state_prisoners_get_to_wo.html

* There is a slight distortion. The image now shows a news broadcast. A thin, short, skeleton type monster with a painted on moustache and wig appears on the screen. The network bug in the corner is a simple logo reading "KADV-LD Local 8". The ticker on the bottom displays the name "Robert 'Bobert' Awful"

BOBERT: ...and while he did not have quote, "specific plans", unquote for spearheading the construction of a geothermal facility in the interior, President Gore said he was "committed to improving the energy infrastructure across the whole of Alaska." Personally, fact he bailed out the Marlboro Unlimited says a lot about his commitments to Alaska’s new projects. We’ll get something! Just might be a joke. And now here's Rod Evil with sports!

* The cameras switch. A big boned monster with a head like a triceratops is looking at the camera with a smile in his eyes. His scales reflect the lights somewhat. The ticker on the bottom lists his name as "Rod Evil"

ROD: Thanks, Bobert. The Harmony Knights baseball team got one step closer to the ASAA D1 Championship today, in a stunning upset of the Juneau-Douglas Bears. Third Baseman Quadra Nosurname recorded an impressive three hits, two of them being doubles and one RBI, while pitcher Abyss Angel recorded 4 strikeouts, with only one walk throughout all nine innings, pitching a complete game against the far larger Juneau based team. Coach Jockington Mettle hopes this success can snowball into a win against their local rival, the Rarity Dragons. In MLB news today, the Mariners-

* The broadcast distorts again. After what feels like forever, the intro to Cowboy Bebop finally burns into the phosphor dots.

Probably because when they've been hurt, they have never known how to explain it to anyone without being belittled and invalidated, and they've never felt like when they hurt someone else that their apologies and actions were adequate.

It's the autism, probably, in part. It makes navigating the "rules" of peacemaking so difficult, and that's ignoring when the other person isn't willing to hear you out at all.

The premise of this "SOUL Magic System" is: every SOUL trait affects the SOUL bearer's perception of the world (and in turn, what they understand about it on an almost instinctual level, and how they approach conflicts). These perception powers are based VERY loosely on various genres of games/styles of gameplay. Naturally, from the perspective of the characters this is just how their world works, and they may not necessarily think of them as literal game mechanics

By default, every SOUL gets a "UI" sense appropriate to its genre, and a single power. "Advanced" powers are more dramatic, and resemble actual magic, but only rarely obtained, by entering the Underground or a Dark World. Theoretically, if a SOUL grows sufficiently powerful, it could even develop advanced powers outside of these "special rules" realms

❤️ - Love

Genre: RPG (Intuit stats and number changes, connect with friends, battle foes)

Actions: FIGHT, ACT

Power: Connect (Hear the inner monologues of nearby friendly or neutral characters)

Advanced:

Check (Learn how target creature describes itself. View a party member or friendly character with a cutscene shift)

Command (Order party members to perform various ACTs)

Control (Aid and Compel party members)

🩵 - Patience

Genre: Stealth (Take your time, avoid unwanted attention, perceive threats)

Actions: HIDE, FLEE

Power: Scan (See the vision cones of anyone in your line of sight)

Advanced:

Sense (See vision cones without having line of sight. Know who is calm, searching, or on alert)

Stalk (Know when to take cover and when to follow, make devastating sneak attacks)

Shadow (Environment lighting conveniently provides ideal hiding for you and friends)

🧡 - Bravery

Genre: Brawler (Thrive in action-heavy or physical activities, do everything with Style)

Actions: LIFT, BREAK

Power: React (Briefly apply a slow down effect to everyone except you)

Advanced:

Rally (You and friends get pumped up)

Race (Speed up your movement. Turn a confrontation into a chase)

Rumble (Beat up hordes of enemies, they won't attack all at once)

💙 - Integrity

Genre: Precision (Surfaces support your weight easier, timing is everything)

Actions: JUMP, DODGE

Power: Pulse (Feel the rhythm that others miss, follow your own tempo)

Advanced:

Parse (Know the timing needed to do something that requires movement)

Pirouette (Unleash the power of acrobatic dance to attack or confound)

Paradox (Break jump physics; double jump, coyote-time, infinite wall kicks)

💜 - Perseverance

Genre: Investigation (The world is full of clues, search for them and be willing to try anything)

Actions: LOOK, USE

Power: Detect (See interactables, and characters you can talk to)

Advanced:

Deduct (Make leaps of logic others can't, see contradictions and hidden similarities)

Distract (Use your cleverness to bullshit your way out of a conflict. Engage in battles of wit and rhetoric)

Defuse (Solve a puzzle using a combination of clues and pickups no matter how unintuitive. Delay a battle of wit to buy yourself and friends more time)

💚 - Kindness

Genre: Visual Novel (Socializing is your greatest strength, creativity comes to you easily)

Actions: TALK, CRAFT

Power: Intuition (Know what anyone wants when talking to them)

Advanced:

Identify (Find ingredients for crafting and learn recipes as you do. Locate the things people want)

Inspire (Help any character make something better)

Intermission (Make something that will change many lives, skipping ahead quickly with a montage sequence)

💛 - Justice

Genre: Explorer (Open world gameplay, Journeys with end goals, Being implacable)

Actions: AIM, COVER

Power: Target (Focus to see a lock on reticule for any chosen character or object in your line of sight)

Advanced:

Track (An objective marker ensures you never lose sight of what you target. With practice, multiple markers can be followed)

Traverse (Find a way to reach your target by any means at your disposal)

Source

[...] Whether the human SOUL comes in all colors of the rainbow is a debatable factor. Those observed have been seen dyed in red, orange, yellow (supposedly), green, blue, and purple, but also a color that was, like the most notable purple SOUL, recorded in a black-and-white photo as 'blue' but seems a much lighter color than the known blue human SOUL photographed in 1967. Now, many shades of colors have been observed "shining" in human and monster eyeballs, including some that have been described as, alternately, cyan, aqua, teal, 水色 (mizu-iro), or Голубо́й (goluboi). [...] Records predating photography seemed to note human SOULs appearing in colors that directly match the colors those cultures observed; qualia once again defeats objectivity.

But, pause: it's possible this is a color English-speakers don't distinguish as its own, but could be distinct in the SOUL. For example, Bambara speakers have observed dyema, blema, and fima SOULs, but an English-speaker might differentiate two fima SOULs as green and purple. [...] We have also, technically, yet to see vörös SOULs but one photo of a red SOUL has been classified as kızıl.

For this matter, nobody is sure if they've ever seen the shine of a brown SOUL or black SOUL, for obvious reasons of those being common eye colors for human and monster alike. [...]

[...] Whether the human SOUL comes in all colors of the rainbow is a debatable factor. Those observed have been seen dyed in red, orange, yellow (supposedly), green, blue, and purple, but also a color that was, like the most notable purple SOUL, recorded in a black-and-white photo as 'blue' but seems a much lighter color than the known blue human SOUL photographed in 1967. Now, many shades of colors have been observed "shining" in human and monster eyeballs, including some that have been described as, alternately, cyan, aqua, teal, 水色 (mizu-iro), or Голубо́й (goluboi). [...] Records predating photography seemed to note human SOULs appearing in colors that directly match the colors those cultures observed; qualia once again defeats objectivity.

But, pause: it's possible this is a color English-speakers don't distinguish as its own, but could be distinct in the SOUL. For example, Bambara speakers have observed dyema, blema, and fima SOULs, but an English-speaker might differentiate two fima SOULs as green and purple. [...] We have also, technically, yet to see vörös SOULs but one photo of a red SOUL has been classified as kızıl.

For this matter, nobody is sure if they've ever seen the shine of a brown SOUL or black SOUL, for obvious reasons of those being common eye colors for human and monster alike. [...]