"The Triple Adepts"

Long ago, on the eve when the portals were first opened on the Terran home world, three brothers, triplets, were born. The oldest was named Galvin, the middle boy was named Silric, and the youngest was named Rio. As the triplets grew older, they showed remarkable affinities for the Mystic Arts introduced by the Wanderers. Galvin, whose wild temper was legendary even in his time, took immediately to Psionics. Steadfast Silric proved the best of the three at Force magic. Finally, Rio, ever peaceful, ever silent Rio followed the ways of Harmonics.
Twenty years after the Terran home world became open to the galaxy, the triplets had made names for themselves not only as the first Terran Adepts, but as adventurers and teachers. The brothers had decided it was time to settle down, and opened a school on the Terran home world where they could teach the blossoming population of Mystics. Each would teach the area he specialized in.
Of the three, Rio was the favorite of those who came to the school for education and advice. His silence was never awkward and his strange little smile often gave the impression that he knew things others didn’t. Instead of handing out advice, he’d help those who came to him by gently questioning them until they came to the right conclusion on their own.
When asked about Rio, the students of the school would reply with answers of, "Rio is the wisest man alive, for he never speaks unless it’s to help others or is important. And he always knows how things will turn out. Why else would he smile like that?" Or, "Rio is surely the wise. The mysticism he puts forth with the low lighting and many robes he wears is only to entertain the people."
Eventually, the Terrans found out just exactly what Rio had been smiling about when he suddenly began a war against his brothers, using an off day to lay siege to the very school he’d help create.
Ever since the day he began to learn Harmonics, he’d been using Discord. He’d often cover the effects with clothing, or explain away the marks that couldn’t be hidden as tattoos. The day he laid siege to Galvin and Silric, he did so unmasked in all his horror. Black swirls covered his torso, arms, neck, and face. His hands ended in long claws and his eyes glowed an eerie red. On top of his head were two large horns, tattered wings flared out from his back, and a reptilian tail hung from the base of his spine. Rio had become a walking nightmare.
The Adept’s War raged for days with neither side showing any sign of exhaustion. Rio would call forth legions of undead and Silric and Galvin would destroy them together, only to have The Betrayer bring forth more monsters. The beginning of the end came when Rio managed to get some of his minions through to his brothers. The attack came suddenly, catching Silric off guard. It was the day The Mountain fell.
With his brother slain before his eyes and The Betrayer laughing maniacally in triumph, Galvin flew into a rage like none seen before. He charged at Rio, hurling all his power at the evil thing that had been his youngest brother. Some say it was a suicide charge, a last ditch effort to rid the world of Rio if by no other way than going down with him. Others say Galvin charged hoping to overwhelm The Betrayer. Still others claim that the charge was the move Rio had been waiting for all along. Whatever truly did happen is lost to time. All that is known is that the triplets perished that day, leaving nothing but a smoldering hole in the ground. Nothing would grow there and only undead creatures would emerge from the crater; Rio was so tainted he marred the ground he died on.
It is told in folk tales and legends older than I that one day Galvin will rise again to purge the universe of Rio’s taint, that The Betrayer and The Phoenix will fight again in a battle that will make The Adept War pale in comparison. I hope I never live to see that day for even if The Phoenix wins, the price will be dire.

As told by the Terran Harmonics Adept Songwind to his students

Mystic Arts

"Only when you have mastered your own mind can you even begin to comprehend true magic."
-Ancient Rinn saying

Every “legendary” ability, from the laying on of hands, to the bending of spoons, to the ability to withstand immense pain, can all be lumped into what the Pathways game has defined as Mystic Arts. They are broken into three “disciplines”, or categories: Psionics, Projection, and Harmonics. These are the three ways in which the mind interacts with the physical world. Psionics is pure thought turned real, and can be used to cause pain, grant understanding and clarity, or tune into the more primitive portions of your character’s psyche. Projection is the power of mind over matter, the ability to cause changes on a material level that has real world consequences. Harmonics deals with the inner rhythms of the body, of the mind, and of life itself. It can be used to heal, or to harm, through amplifying proper inner harmony, or conversely, causing discordant interference within the body. The Mystic Arts differ greatly from what is thought of as “True Magic”, the summoning of power from another place.

Of the three disciplines, Psionics was the first discovered when some poor primitive was cornered by a predator and she lashed out with her mind in a last ditch effort. Psionicists are keyed into their more primal self, and many if not most of the early powers discovered were strict survival instincts made real. With time, examination, and understanding, more refined methods were discovered.

Harmonics was the next discipline discovered, quite possibly moments after Psionics. As in all things, the ability to harm came first, and then came the desire to heal. Kindness and caring brought about the emergence of Harmonic abilities. By keying into the body's natural rhythms, early Harmonicists learned to accelerate the body’s natural healing processes. As disciples of this school of thought began to explore their limits, they found that they could increase the body’s rate of healing to astonishing rates. But, as with any healing, there came a chance of harm. Through disruption of the body’s on-going processes like heart rate and automatic functions, the ability to grievously harm was also discovered. Kind-hearted Harmonicists were quick to cast out any of their practicioners who engaged in such evil, though, and soon the Harmonic Credo was adapted.

The last Art discovered was Projection. Whereas Psionic was mind-to-mind, and Harmonics was mind-to-body, Projection was the most difficult to discover in that it no longer worked with another organic, “natural” part of the world. It now was the mind imposing its will on the physical plane of being. The most difficult to discover, it was soon learned that it was no more different than learning to use an arm or leg.

As with any school of thought, Mystical or otherwise, there is a common groundwork laid out by all three. Mystical shielding is the first thing that any trained mystic can learn. It defends against any form of mystic imposition.

After an artist has shown sufficient mastery of their chosen art, they then learn to sense and make visible art in others, be they people or objects. Later, as a step into mastery, the artist learns to shatter the mystic bonds to remove their effects on a person or object. Eventually a mystic can even learn to create magic circles where true magic spells can be performed.

To begin learning a discipline you need to first learn the appropriate required skill. For psionics, the prerequisite is Meditation, for Harmonics it's Tuning, and a Projectionist must learn Barrier. Once the requisite is learned, an artist may learn Mystic Shielding and buy Apprentice level powers. Once those powers are learned, an artist may learn Detect Powers. This enables them to then buy Journeyman powers. After ten purchases of those powers, a Mystic may buy Dispel Powers, which would then enable them to learn Master powers.

There is no upward limit of how many powers of a certain level character may buy, and no requirement that they have more lower level powers than the higher ones, as long as all requirements are met. So while one player may spend points to have an artist with 15 Apprentice powers and 10 Journeyman powers, another may want only 10 Apprentice powers and then have 12 Journeyman powers. Additionally, if a character chooses to learn a new school of mystic arts, there is no requirement that his primary school be more advanced than his secondary, as long as all requirements are met.

Using Mystic Arts

All uses of a power are prefaced by the player stating “I concentrate”. The purpose of this is to make other players aware that the artist is focusing their mind and energy. It is a visible, recognizable effect.

• Rapid Fire powers are powers that have more than one packet. They must be thrown in succession no more than 10 seconds apart. If more than 10 seconds is taken between any two consecutive spells, the rest of the packets are lost.
• Shotgun powers are powers that have more than one packet. These must all be thrown in a single throw, and they will be governed by the same rules per packet as the Shotgun rules for weapons.
• Single delivery involves 1 single packet throw.
• Touch delivery requires that the mystic touch the affected person or item if they are willing or unconscious recipients of the power.
• Self delivery only affects the caster.

All powers have a duration associated with them:

• Instantaneous effects happen immediately.
• Debriefing effects last until the next debriefing, or, if the target is a player, until the target becomes unconscious or dead, whichever comes first.
• Weekly effects last until seven calendar days from the date of casting.

Mystic Art and Power Descriptions

• CHARACTER always denotes the mystic.
• TARGET may denote the caster or another being.

The format for the following powers will be listed as such:
POWER NAME (DELIVERY-TYPE, DURATION): Power Description.