#chdiscuss

Character Discussions: Powers

Bastian Lucas (empath, Dark Empathy)

“I can…feel things. Emotions from people near me. But also the residue left by emotions felt in a specific place. Valentine would have us record what I felt at a crime scene and then compare it with what I felt in the presence of a suspect. People leave emotional traces, like signatures. If you can match them, you can determine whether or not a person was in a place—and sometimes what they did there. It's not an exact science, but if the police couldn't prove someone did something, they'd bring the suspects to the compound and use our data.”

Bastian is the only known empath in the world. His sensitivity to others’ emotions means he can not only feel what they’re feeling but also connect those emotions to past actions. This makes him an excellent interrogator because he can tell when someone’s lying based on what they’re feeling.

It also makes him perpetually misanthropic and cranky af because he knows exactly how often people are feeling and doing stupid, horrible things.

Because Bastian’s power is intensified by proximity and touch, he’s nearly always wearing a pair of black gloves to protect himself. He also has an extremely strong mental shield to block out as much emotional noise as possible. And when completely avoiding all human life isn’t an option, he can hide out in or near water to dull some of the emotional cacophony around him.

There’s just one small problem:

His power is getting stronger...and it’s killing him.

(The incredibly spiffy @andiwriteunderthemoon​ created the tag #chdiscuss to help get us chatting about our OCs. So hit me up with any thoughts/questions you might have about empaths (or other assets) in the Compound Series! Even better, whip up a post about your own characters and use the tag so we can learn more about your OCs, too!)

@andiwriteunderthemoon​ asked in this post the following questions as part of a discussion starter:

Topic #1: Your character’s powers

What type of powers do you characters have and how strong are they? Do your characters reveal their powers immediately? Or do they hide them until crucial moments? Is there a particular reason for this?

BETHANY is invulnerable. She has been since a child, though she only discovered this was the case when she was seventeen, due to having some very overprotective parents. She believes this invulnerability is due to the fact that when she was 8 years old she was cursed to die on her 25th birthday, and is therefore protected by her curse until that day. Unlike most people with powers hers didn’t grow stronger as she got older, as hers is just permanently on. Her invulnerability protects her from all forms of sickness and physical threats, and can have a minor effect on reality too, deflecting some attacks as if she’s protected by a force field. It also protects her from herself too - despite her drinking, poor diet, and lack of fitness her health is perfect.  Things like cramps register as pressure, hunger as a form of emptiness, and extreme heat (like if she gets set on fire) as warm at best. Bethany’s power won’t allow hair and nails to be removed (so waxing is out), but it will allow them to be cut as it’s dangerous to her health to let them grow too much.The grey area her power has around her hair is the only reason she’s able to bleach it white.

Bethany’s power means she’s practically unstoppable. It’s lucky for everyone that she’s extremely lazy and has a good moral code.

BLAKE has the ability to find anything he’s looking for, kind of like a human GPS. Because the strength of this power grew as he did he never really knew he had it, instead believing he was good at finding things due to a combination of research skills and pure talent. What was actually happening was he’d unknowingly locate the item, then do a heap of research to back up what he knew.

When he discovers he has this power and starts to learn to use it he discovers the more information he has on what he’s looking for, the more accurate the search is. If he were to try and search for ‘trees’ or ‘money’ without any detail he’s likely to end up with a migraine instead of what he needs. His accuracy also wanes if tired or drunk.

Blake’s ability is in high demand and there a multiple groups who want him working for them... whether he wants to or not.

NYSSA wasn’t born with her immortality or her diamond form, instead gaining them through a curse several millennia ago. She’s properly immortal, having reformed even after being reduced to dust. She doesn’t age, doesn’t change, and can see no end in sight.

While she looks like a normal person, under her skin she appears to be pure diamond. If she drops the illusion and makes it shine through she’s likely to blind the people around her, so she keeps it hidden instead. It will appear if she loses focus though. It’s also made her remarkably strong, though if she’s hit with enough force she’s likely to shatter.

DOMINIC has the same immortality Nyssa has. His secondary power is a perfect memory, which can cause him some problems as he’s unable to forget anything. Ever. ‘Destroy the world to make it leave him alone’ level problems, on occasion. He’s learned to categorize and file his memories in order to make day to day living bearable.

Him and Nyssa go to a lot of effort to hide who they are as they just want to be left alone and be treated like normal people. This doesn’t stop them from Getting Involved in magical drama when it suits them though. For people who want to be left alone they’re actually rather nosy.

What type of powers do you characters have and how strong are they? Do your characters reveal their powers immediately? Or do they hide them until crucial moments? Is there a particular reason for this?

Original Post

Ok I’m going to talk about Grandparents of the Revolution instead of Hellverse for once, and very specifically Chrisl, Adri and Vic.

Chrisl: They have healing magic and they’re pretty strong, and able to basically drag someone back from being nearly dead just by sheer willpower (although this costs them a lot of energy and makes them nearly pass out) They’ve been told all their life that they would be better of doing something that didn’t involve magic because healing magic isn’t really well regarded in Cloud, especially the small spells and weaves to help. They use their magic pretty regularly considering they’re a healer, but when training Soren for Soren’s Magistae, Chrisl uses very little magic and focuses on the more physical aspects of healing. They had hang ups about their magic when they were younger but after the revolution, they became a lot more confident about their magic.

Adri: Xe didn’t know xe had magic for a long time, because xir magic is warding. Xe’s very very good at manipulation of wards and physical space and generally magic that revolves around writing. Because xir magic isn’t flashy and can’t be controlled the way most other magic can, xe wasn’t thought to have any magic at all, and was really looked down upon for it, and it also really affected xir life in a society which was so based on having magic and using it. Xe’s pretty open about xir warding (Lightnink is basically entirely done by xir with some help from Chrisl and Adri), and uses it when xe needs to. It took a long time for xe to be okay and xe’s honestly just happy that xe has magic that can help the beings around xir, even if it isn’t that obvious

Topic: Characters’ Powers

Ria

Despite being mute, is able to sing using magic (which she can only do because she is a princess). She mostly sings in the mermaids’ language, using it to control the other mermaids or control the perceptions of people around her. (Specifically, she likes to use it to sneak around. This is the only bit that can also affect humans.) She can’t use it to communicate too much, only very specific commands and ideas (i.e. “You know my name” but not her exact name). 

One doesn’t need to use specific songs to convey specific meanings. In fact, if she wanted, she could just use one song over and over. It all depends on the intent of the song. Her go-to is a melody without words that her mother figure, Helia, used to sing to her when she was young.

She used to use this ability frequently, but then Helia scolded her until she realized that was rude.

Mermaid princesses can all use songs, so they can conflict. In this case, the more experienced/older mermaid usually wins out. It’s painful for all non-princesses involved.

Lynne

Our “Beauty” has the “power” to absorb curses. Really, that ability in itself is a curse - in fact, she’s drawn to curses against her will and takes parts of them into herself in a way. 

The only real example of this so far is her absorbing Prince Greyson’s curse - he had become a full beast, unable to communicate or think, until she came along. She absorbed enough of his curse that he was able to think rationally again, and the only real side-effect was that her hair turned grey.

Eventually, absorbing too many curses will kill her, so Grey tries really hard to stop her from doing so. However, resisting the lure of others’ curses causes her pain until she’s far enough away from them.

Thank you @andiwriteunderthemoon​ for teh lovely idea! I think I missed the first one about powers but i might do it eventually. 

It was @rinah-creates​ who suggested I do Serka for this second as I don’t often think about my character’s motivations :)). I know what drives them, but actually calling it motvation? ups!

Anyway! Here is Serka from Raflec’s Story not the actual title, i still have no clue what this wip is gonna be called 

Serka’s motivations generally revolve around a strong sense of duty to her pack and a fierce, raw love for her pups and whoever she sees as family. A year or so before the plot she has lost a litter, as they were either stillborn or died a few weeks after birth. As she is a rather young wolf herself, this made Serka stricter to her older pups and overprotective. She constantly made sure that the rest of her pack was within reach and moved their den closer to the cottage Raflec lived in as she saw him/them as her weird, furless, winged pup.

Leaving with Raflec and Suna, one of her eldest daughters, at the beginning of the plot, was a tough decision to make. Her pack was hunted and had to disperse. In her eyes, Raflec, who at the time is no more than eight years old, was her youngest pup and she wanted to make sure he survives by any means necessary. She took turns with Suna in order to protect Raflec facing foes bigger than her not only once and ending up injured and bleeding.

Topic #1: Your character’s powers

What type of powers do your characters have and how strong are they? Do your characters reveal their powers immediately? Or do they hide them until crucial moments? Is there a particular reason for this?

It’s taken me long enough, but I’m finally getting to this XD

It’s hard to pick one OC from one WIP, so I’ve picked one from the two WIPs I’m most focused on.

Carys, Frost of Avalon: 

Carys is a banshee turned frost and is a monster, so her powers are kind of ambiguous and spread. As a banshee, she doesn’t have much in the form of magic. She can go specter or invisible, travel through the Otherworld, and comfort the dying with her song (which sounds like wailing to the living save for under special circumstances). Oh yes, in FOA, banshees also become proficient with whatever weapon they are using, whether they were warriors in life or not, so that’s a sort of magic they inherit to keep the dead where they belong.

As a frost, Carys has command over the spirits of those she lamented. So, she can summon them. Whether they obey her or not depends on their respect for her. They do, which gives her a ghost army since she’s lamented every soldier (both sides) to have ever fallen during King Arthur’s reign.  

The monster thing is a bit... complex. It has a lot to do with her origin and backstory. To keep it simple, she is half unicorn and, in an attempt to make her stronger, her father grafted other mythical creatures into her blood. Her unicorn side gives her light magic and good feel stuffs, but she’s never actually used this or her other magic, so she doesn’t know the extent of it. She’s only done things instinctually like allusion magic. 

Carys is very careful about using her powers... at first. There comes a point when there’s no point in hiding it from certain people or at all. The name of the game is to prevent Arthur and his buddies from realizing she’s anything but human. Merlin knows from the beginning, of course, which she figures out eventually. So, she uses her magic around him, but she only ever calls upon her powers when she deems them necessary, which isn’t often. But when it happens, it’s usually a pretty big display of awesome. She is incredibly powerful, but her lack of understanding stints her use of it. Good thing Merlin is teaching her what she doesn’t know.

Mr. Noarwin, Cerberus Rex, Nameless: 

Mr. Noarwin is a demon called a solar, which is a demon species that escaped the Hels Plane and can turn themselves into bladed, armored nightmares. They are notorious for consuming one another to gain power, and as a victim of such an attempt, Mr. Noarwin has never actually taken on this form for fear of attracting solar who hunt their own kind.  

Essentially orphaned by this incident, he had to learn at an early age the art of charming people who hated his kind. He was not born with magic, save his transformative abilities, and so relied on his wits to survive. After being forcefully employed at a barracks when he was 12, he discovered the art of illusion magic, which he used in small ways. Mostly to hide from the men that beat him and sneak food he was denied. 

This went on for four years, until a young captain ripped Mr. Noarwin from his abusive “employers” to use his talents in espionage. Mr. Noarwin took this job seriously, and so he dedicated himself to enhancing his natural talents, becoming something of a Casanova among nobility despite his race, and learning more of his allusion magic. He eventually learned to create large-scale images, which he uses in street performances to entertain himself and earn money so he doesn’t need to go to the captain for any. Eventually, he reached a level of proficiency in his abilities that he could also disguise himself.