After my HIGHLY acclaimed Akashic Character Thread, I thought about doing some more for some of my psionic PCs/NPCs. Jokes aside, I will include some of the designs I’m preparing for my budding campaign setting. So, D&D used to call psionic powers "siddhis" back in the 70's, before I was born. After researching them, I discovered that gurus warned those who daveloped siddhis that, even when they were part of the road to enlightenment, they were a trap, a distraction to reach the goal. So, I thought this: "what if some siddhi masters decided to dwell on the trap?" This region of my campaign setting is the result.
The Mountain Kingdoms of Semky Ling
A high-altitude plateau of world-topping peaks nestled between the Lands Between and Akashavarta. Centuries ago, a celestial impact saturated the region with volatile psionic energy, cursing some of their inhabitants with uncontrollable mental power. That changed when a follower of the Enlightened One arrived to spread his word. The guru taught the “cursed” how to tame their power through discipline and meditation, but warned that this mastery was an illusion, and that focusing on these siddhis (mental powers) would detour them on the path to Enlightenment. Today, the nation is held in the iron grip of a psionic theocracy, a ruling class of masters who viewed the mastery of siddhis as the ultimate path to divinity. Opposing them is a growing insurgency of orthodox followers of the Enlightened One, including gurus, psychic warriors and soulknives, who believe these powers are nothing more than seductive traps. The land exists in a state of perpetual philosophical war, with the theocracy struggling to maintain order against a rebellion that views their very existence as a heresy.
Vajra-Panthi the Diamond Lotus
LN male human kineticist psion/elocator
Vapan, as his peers call him, is a Bodhipa (psion) from the Mountain Kingdoms of Semky Ling, a student from the Semky Ösel (mind over energy) school of thought. He is a very arrogant young man, refusing to touch others and interacting with them only by his telekinetic powers. With his training as an elocator, he doesn’t even touch the ground, considering it too “earthly” for such an enlightened being as himself.
Lobsang the Quiet
NG male human meditant psychic warrior of the ascetic path
Lobsang is the archetypal traditionalist, wearing only the gray wool clothes of a peasant and carrying almost nothing. He uses his siddhis (psionic powers) as a last resort, preferring using his martial arts to circumvent challenges. He protects the common folk from those ascetics of the theocracy that abuse their status.
Penpa “twitchfinger”
CN female human babbler eccentric (paranoia taboo)
Penpa grew up as the daughter of a goat herder. She had trouble learning how to speak, and her parents always spoked to her in “baby speak”, even when she was a young girl. Later in her life she discovered the reason for both: she was one of the “cursed”, people born with a great mental might but no guide to tame it, and in her case, those around her had trouble speaking. She always heard voices, especially at night, something that has her on the edge, and she calms herself by twitching her fingers. Once, a group of bandits attacked her and her father while herding, and in the ensuing conflict she unleashed all the power she had tried to hide, with horrible results: all the bandits and goats, as well as her father, were destroyed in an instant. Not knowing what to do, she fled. Now, she tries to hide her powers again, until the next time she is forced to use them. (the eccentric class can be found in the great Malevolent Thoughts horror psionic book by Spoonbender Games)