Dark & Shattered Lands
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Manatonics are those rare people born with special abilities of the mind. No one is quite sure why they are born this way, but all evidence suggests it is a very random event. Certain races seem more prone to it than others.
No one can tell who is a manatonic unless they are one themselves. Those who are found out are generally hated and cast out of society, viewed as freaks of nature.
The GiftMistrustedThaumaThe PowersKindred MindsPerilThe Monks
The gift is present from birth, but it sleeps. A child born with it grows up no different from any other, and may live half a lifetime without knowing what lies within. Only once they have grown in experience and strength does the gift stir, and even then it does not always wake. Many who carry the seed will die never knowing it was there.
When it does wake, it wakes all at once. The mind floods with sensation, the manatonic staggers where they stand, and in that moment every other manatonic in the realm feels a new mind open among them.
Scholars argue over who is most likely to carry it. Some say elves and gnomes, whose minds turn naturally to study; some say those who walk the path of law and goodness; some say it runs stronger in women than in men, or that the moons have a hand in it. None of them can say for certain, and the gift has turned up in every corner of Algoron.
There is one other way, darker than birth. A manatonic's power does not die with them. When one is beheaded, the gift passes to the one who took their head.
The Gods of Algoron rarely walk the mortal plane. When a God wishes to speak to a mortal, they do so by entering the mortal's mind and speaking to them directly. Manatonics can do the same: they speak mind to mind, and over the ages some have pretended to be Gods to get what they wanted. It is a big part of why manatonics are so mistrusted, and why most keep their gift a close secret.
Some go further than mistrust. The Slayers count manatonics among the unnatural things they have sworn to rid from the world, alongside Angels, Demons, Balanx, Dragons and Vampires.
A manatonic's power is measured in thauma, the strength of the mind. It is not something other people can see or measure; only a manatonic knows their own. The stronger their thauma, the more of the powers they can reach, and the deeper their mind can push.
Using a power costs effort. Some powers are spent at once and the mind recovers; others must be held, and the mind stays weaker for as long as the manatonic keeps them up. A manatonic must choose which powers to hold and which to let go.
Thauma is not fixed. It can be won from other manatonics, and it can be lost to them.
A manatonic's powers grow with them. The first come as their mind awakens, and the rest only as they grow in strength. These are the powers that manatonics are known to wield.
Send the mind out to find someone nearby and look on whatever they see, without moving a step.
Turn the mind toward healing the body. Wounds close faster, and both strength and spirit return far more quickly, for as long as the focus is held.
Focus the mind on one part of the self (strength, intellect, wisdom, agility or endurance) and raise it beyond its natural limit. Only one can be held at a time.
Pour some of the mind's own energy into another's reserves. The stronger the manatonic, the more they can give, but their mind is left weakened for a while afterward.
Reach across the world and place an object straight into another's hands. Those with weaker minds may never know where it came from.
Reach into a lesser creature's mind and bend it to the manatonic's will. Those who are angry, already bound, or simply stronger cannot be bent, and a mind that resists can strike back.
Join minds with a companion (a groupmate, clanmate or countryman on the same land) so the manatonic's next protective magic lands on them instead, however far apart they are.
Ready the mind to hold the next blessing it receives, whether a spell, potion or scroll, so that it lasts twice as long.
Manatonics are never as alone as they seem. Their gift gives them things no ordinary mortal has:
The gift draws other manatonics like a flame. When two of them fight to the death, the victor tears away some of the loser's strength of mind and takes it for their own.
To lose one's head is to lose everything. A manatonic who is beheaded is stripped of the gift entirely, and the one who took their head gains their power. A mind that loses too much will go dark, and its owner is left blind to that world forever.
So the manatonics of Algoron watch one another as closely as they watch the Slayers.
The monastic order is the offspring of an ancient cult of manatonicists in the old Serpantol Empire, who were driven from their homeland just before the Yinn destroyed it. To this day only true manatonics may become monks.
The aspiring monk must travel into dae'Tok and find the Temple of the Serpent's Eye. That is where the secret of the monastic life is kept.