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--- experimental_abilities [2024/06/07 12:50]
susannah [Abilities]
+++ experimental_abilities [2024/06/07 13:15] (current)
susannah
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   * Gain knowledge or experience of ship hearts which gives you insight into their existence, metaphysically, as defined in the skills below.
+=== Rules ===
-==== Abilities ====
+  * This is not a traditional 'skill tree', in that you do not need to spend XP to gain the levels of knowledge below. You do, however, need to meet the unlock preconditions at each level. This is a mechanical way to codify levels of understanding of ship heart metaphysic between players.
+  * Note that just gaining knowledge of these things through hearsay (or reading research papers) is not sufficient to unlock each level - you must, yourself, have been engaging with ship hearts in metaphysically significant ways in order to gain the innate, internal knowledge of their function that these 'skills' represent.
-  * Dim Awareness: You have had a metaphysical interaction with a ship heart and now have a vague understanding that ship hearts have some kind of life cycle.
+==== Dim Awareness ====
-  * Advanced Awareness: You have had a metaphysically significant interaction with one or more ship hearts. You are aware that:
+You have had a metaphysical interaction with a ship heart and now have a vague understanding that ship hearts have some kind of life cycle.
-    * It is not actually accurate to describe what you are aware of as a ‘life cycle.’ Ship hearts do not have the experiences one might associate with a ‘life cycle’: birth, reproduction, old age, etc. What you feel you are beginning to understand is in fact better seen as a progression.
-    * A key thing you start to grasp is the progression, in particular, of a ship heart’s personality. Ship heart personalities are influenced by the interactions they have with people they are exposed to - both Startouched and not. The more of these interactions a ship heart has, the more well-defined their personality becomes, and this is therefore usually most pronounced as an effect during a ship heart’s early exposure to people.
-    * You can infer from this understanding that there might be a point at the start of this ‘progression’ where a ship heart has not yet interacted with people, and that at this point it might have no personality at all.
-General knowledge of ship hearts, plus the knowledge of what has happened with Endeavour, add an extra data point to this understanding: once a ship heart personality has formed, it does not usually change - but it can change, though you suspect that some significant event is needed to achieve this.
-  * Full Awareness: You have had multiple metaphysically significant interactions with multiple ship hearts, and you have come to as strong an understanding of their existence as any non-ship-heart is likely to ever have. You are aware that:
+==== Advanced Awareness ====
-    * It is not actually accurate to describe a ship heart’s ‘life’ as a ‘progression.’ Ship hearts do not change according to the passage of time in the same way we do. While their personalities can undoubtedly progress, considering a ship heart to be entirely defined by the personality they develop during their early exposure to people is ignoring so much else of what ship hearts are or can be. Also, ship heart personalities can shift dramatically under traumatic influences.
-    * You are aware that there is some kind of interaction or link between ship hearts and Decay. However, you cannot fully grasp this unless you have also had metaphysically significant interactions with the Decay (see the GMs if you believe this applies to you).
-    * A ship heart has no personality until its first exposure to people. Prior to this, it is in an ‘unattuned’ state where it has no awareness of anything going on around it. Once it becomes aware of its own existence, it will start to ‘attune’ and develop a personality influenced by its surroundings.
-There is no meaningful upper limit to the power which a ship heart can bring to bear on the world, though in practice they are limited by the ship heart’s conscious personality’s awareness of what is, or should be, impossible.
-    * However, this means there is also no meaningful upper limit to the destruction which can be unleashed when a ship heart ‘explodes.’ Ship hearts can be thought of as vast reservoirs of potential power, which can release in horrifically destructive ways if destabilised. This destabilisation can come from without - physical damage to a ship heart - or within, if the ship heart’s personality believes it cannot physically do what it is doing.
+You have had a metaphysically significant interaction with one or more ship hearts. You are aware that:
+  * It is not actually accurate to describe what you are aware of as a ‘life cycle.’ Ship hearts do not have the experiences one might associate with a ‘life cycle’: birth, reproduction, old age, etc. What you feel you are beginning to understand is in fact better seen as a progression.
+  * A key thing you start to grasp is the progression, in particular, of a ship heart’s personality. Ship heart personalities are influenced by the interactions they have with people they are exposed to - both Startouched and not. The more of these interactions a ship heart has, the more well-defined their personality becomes, and this is therefore usually most pronounced as an effect during a ship heart’s early exposure to people.
+  * You can infer from this understanding that there might be a point at the start of this ‘progression’ where a ship heart has not yet interacted with people, and that at this point it might have no personality at all.
+  * General knowledge of ship hearts, plus the knowledge of what has happened with Endeavour, add an extra data point to this understanding: once a ship heart personality has formed, it does not usually change - but it can change, though you suspect that some significant event is needed to achieve this.
+==== Full Awareness ====
+You have had multiple metaphysically significant interactions with multiple ship hearts, and you have come to as strong an understanding of their existence as any non-ship-heart is likely to ever have. You are aware that:
+  * It is not actually accurate to describe a ship heart’s ‘life’ as a ‘progression.’ Ship hearts do not change according to the passage of time in the same way we do. While their personalities can undoubtedly progress, considering a ship heart to be entirely defined by the personality they develop during their early exposure to people is ignoring so much else of what ship hearts are or can be. Also, ship heart personalities can shift dramatically under traumatic influences.
+  * You are aware that there is some kind of interaction or link between ship hearts and Decay. However, you cannot fully grasp this unless you have also had metaphysically significant interactions with the Decay (see the GMs if you believe this applies to you).
+  * A ship heart has no personality until its first exposure to people. Prior to this, it is in an ‘unattuned’ state where it has no awareness of anything going on around it. Once it becomes aware of its own existence, it will start to ‘attune’ and develop a personality influenced by its surroundings.
+  * There is no meaningful upper limit to the power which a ship heart can bring to bear on the world, though in practice they are limited by the ship heart’s conscious personality’s awareness of what is, or should be, impossible.
+  * However, this means there is also no meaningful upper limit to the destruction which can be unleashed when a ship heart ‘explodes.’ Ship hearts can be thought of as vast reservoirs of potential power, which can release in horrifically destructive ways if destabilised. This destabilisation can come from without - physical damage to a ship heart - or within, if the ship heart’s personality believes it cannot physically do what it is doing.
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