Would you like to know more about the world protagonist Nathan Wald, psychic, lives in? Do you want to see more than the first chapter available on
NaNoWriMo? Here is the concept I am using to keep track of all the characters and plan the world.
Characters
Nathan Wald
He is a body and mind historian. He is very talented in mind
history, and decent in material. 35. He works as a special consultant with the
police department. He is very proud of being a psychic, unlike most. Many hide
it.
Stacey Rosen
30. Manager at a department store. She's not psychic, but
she has what is latent power. She is what is known as a pusher
Detective Daniel Hammes
Friend and "handler" for lack of a better word for
Nathan. "Friend" is a loose term as well. Nathan keeps himself at a
distance to everyone.
Detective Zachary Clap
Hammes' partner. Likely a very minor player. Skeptical to
the point of intolerance of psychics.
Reese Maynard
A rapist and murderer who Nathan helps catch in chapter 1.
He comes in several times.
Lyle McCoy
Stacey's abusive/controlling ex.
Paul Gunderson, esq.
Psychic lawyer. First appearance is as Jason Campbell's
Lawyer. Not a friend of Nathan's. Also Maynard's lawyer.
Jason Campbell
Extra. He is a child molester. Only plays into the story
since Gunderson is introduced at his trial.
Adam Evenston
Founder of MACE. "Haruspex" The name is spelled
this way for now because it says Adam and Eve. Oddly enough, and it should come
up, he is not psychic at all. Not even latently so.
Theodore Wald
This is Nathan's uncle who died in the Columbia Riot.
Professor William Wallace, PhD
This was Nathan's instructor at ten. Though Nathan has few
friends, this man is closer to a father. Also, a close friend of Theodore Wald.
He hates that he is named after a Scottish general, but as he is a historian,
it works.
Oliver Dramm
Reporter. Member of Morning Star?
Clara Wald
Nathan's sister
Theodore Jay Wald or TJ
Nathan's first child.
Lacey Wald
Nathan's second child
Carl or CJ
The child where Nathan discovers a new way to test children.
Psychic abilities
Real abilities
Historian
A historian is someone who can see the past. Real ability
comes in three types: Body, mind, and materiel. About 2/3 of historians have
limited use of more than one. Only about 1/4 have full ability in two. About
1/10 can use all three (nearly always actual historians or government). About
1/100 have full power in all three (Genealogists).
Body
A body historian can see what a person did or even saw at
times. They cannot read thoughts. These types are good for tracking people
down, or can help you find a lost item.
Mind
A mind historian can tell what a person was thinking. As
such, they are often called lie-detectors. Though this has obvious law
enforcement applications, it can help people with repressed memories. It also
has value with depression and multiple personalities as they can see which is
real. They can translate spoken languages they do not speak sometimes, but
cannot work as interpreters as they cannot be understood. Helpful in intel.
Also very useful in business settings.
Materiel
These psychics can see the history of an object by handling
it. Though people are often in these visions, they cannot follow the people.
Actual historians require this gift. Criminal investigators often have this.
Oddly, they are sought for bank tellers and other money handlers since they can
know if a note is fake because they can see the history. Sometimes, people can
translate old written texts with help from mind gift.
Mentalists (sometimes called mind-readers, clairvoyants)
A mentalist has special view of the present. Many of these
are diagnosed as mentally ill. Only about 1/4 can use two gifts. 1/25 has full
power of both. 1/50 can use all three. While 1/100 can use three gifts fully,
they are always insane. This leads to dissociative disorders. This is the
smallest group, but it is because so many are written off as mentally ill. Many
actually are.
Mind
This is very difficult to control. Those with this gift (of
varying strength) can hear people's thoughts. This makes them useless as
interpreters since people do not think in linear language. So many people
cannot control what they hear, and they hear voices in their head. Sadly, the
most successful mind-readers are often sadists. They are excellent
interrogators since they can literally feel fear. Though it works for happiness
too, it almost never manifests that way. A small number are magicians. A large
number are con men if their gift tends toward latency.
Body
This is the rarest gift except telekinesis. Common examples
are twins who can feel each other's pain. In fact, almost 4/5 identical twins
have this in some latency. Astral projection and out-of-body experiences are
more common. This is also the one that got psychics noticed. People would see a
crime in someone else's body and remember it. Many of them were then arrested
for actually committing the crime. Uncontrolled, this can also turn into sex
addiction.
Material
Claivoyant. Not common and difficult to train. Unless this
gift is very strong, it often goes unnoticed. Luck is a latency of this. Those
who pile things up but still manage to find them have some latency. Strongly
gifted persons can see through boxes, read hidden cards, etc. Exceptional
reflexes often relate to this. In strongly gifted persons, it usually plays
with some precognitive material gift. They can be very difficult to separate
and define.
Precognitives (Fortune tellers)
Though the experts believe there must be a mind element, it
has never been defined. Some claim that being able to forsee someone's death is
this, but others say it is body. The problem with this gift is that if they are
accurate, their predictions tend to change the future. It can, therefore, be
very hard to prove. Shady psychics with mentalist mind gift often play
themselves off this way. Really, they just tell people what they want to hear.
The real gift is often believed to be so weak it only shows in latencies.
Body
These are the ones who can foretell your future. It is quite
common, and nearly every human has had
dream that later came true. The problem is that weak foresight is hard
to separate from dumb luck and strong foresight changes the future. For the
most talented, they often go a little crazy. The future keeps changing as they
look at it. Some police departments tried to use these to predict crimes, but
since lack of a capable guardian is key to a crime, they almost always stop the
crime entirely.
Materiel
These are the professional gamblers. They can foresee the
future of objects. Because objects are less affected by foreknowledge, they are
often successful. They often simply end up as stock brokers or investment
bankers.
Telekinesis
This just starts to arise in the book. There are a few
documented cases, but they tend to fail to inspire the mind. The twins at the
end have telekinetic powers capable of lifting small objects up to one pound.
Latencies or fake or partial psychic ability
Often, latencies are temporary. A person may have a lucky
streak caused by an awakened gift, or they might just get lucky.
Luck
Extremely good luck is often a sign of some psychic ability.
The exact cause can be hard to pin down. Those who actually are precognitive
material often outplay themselves. They get over confident and dull their gift.
"Love at first sight"
Some believe that true love at first sight shows some
psychic ability to foresee the person's mind. Many more factors play into this,
so it cannot be proved, and love at first sight never really happens.
Pushers
Some people have an ability to influence people. They make
friends easily and are well liked. They are charismatic and interesting. No one
with this gift has been found. A full-fledged gift would mean that person could
actually control another's mind. Precognitive mind. If it exists, then that
person does not want us to find them.
Intuition
The hunch is a latent psychic ability. Like all latencies,
it is unreliable over long term, but dead on occasionally.
Photographic/identic memory
Some people simply have insanely good memories. Actually, they
are latent past psychics.
Prophecy
We have all had a dream that later came true. However, this
is a form of psychic clairvoyance.
Physical talents
Some people have an uncanny natural talent for sports. This
will come up as a theory later in the book, but it may be a latent psychic
phenomenon. Or, maybe people just practice a lot
Mechanics of psychic ability
When the psychic craze awakened, it was first noticed in
men. There is a reason for this, and as Nathan explains, "All women are a
little psychic." Without training, very few psychics are effective, and
this made it harder to prove. Brain size has a huge influence on psychic
ability. The theory is that the closer connections enhance the ability. As
women have smaller brains, many women have latent psychic ability.
Unfortunately, this makes it harder to prove women are true psychics.
In the beginning, those with "real" or true
psychic ability were hard to separate from the control group. They could not
draw a marked line that says this woman is psychic, but this woman simply has a
good memory. There were some men who stood out markedly above their peers, and
proved the concept. Unfortunately, this leads to feminist criticisms as you
would imagine. The issue continues that few women can be proven true psychics.
Children tend to be slightly psychic. This usually fades as
their brains grow and the connections distance. Many nightmares stem from a
merging of psychic memories with real memories. As they grow, they learn to
suppress it, ignore it, or they simply lose it.
History
In the beginning of the discovery of psychics, many people
were simply afraid. People thought all psychics would read their minds and make
them do things they didn't want. People raised privacy concerns. It escalated
often to violence and hate.
Making this worse was the use of lenses during training.
Lucky charms are actually a form of lens. Some needed an item to help focus
their mind. Some had to focus on a single point on their body, usually choosing
the third eye region. People felt this was simply a hoax.
There is now a holiday once a year where psychics gather and
display ability in public. It has the feel of a carnival or old-time medicine
show. Still, it makes the people more approachable. Also, once a month, on the
last Sunday, psychics are supposed to take a day of rest where they do not use
their psychic ability at all.
Mental Advancement Corps of Educators (MACE)
MACE has three missions: To find and train psychics, to
educate psychics and the public, and to better understand the psychic
phenomenon. This also functions as an employment agency for psychics and
advocate for psychic rights and psychics in court battles. Part of the training
is that a psychic must return to MACE at some point for at least two years as
an educator or four years as support staff at some point. Nathan will spend
much more than this later in his years.
Psychic Equality and Rights Charter (PERC)
Following the riots, several congressmen pushed PERC forward
as a bill and got it ratified. Nathan was eight, Stacey was three. This
guarantees the right to practice as a psychic if registered, trained, and
licensed. Also in the law is the validity of psychic testimony and the granting
of rights to testify as experts or eyewitnesses. This paved the way for
tolerance, but we still are not 100%. The latest amendment to PERC made it
mandatory that the insane be evaluated and tested as psychics, but allowed that
treatment for both psychosis and psychic ability be conducted.
Mental Riots
These riots spanned many years. The first, Seneca Street
Riot, killed a close friend of Nathan's parents. Nathan was two. Several later
riots (Nathan age four, five, six, and twice when he was eight) caused more
deaths an executive order ended this, but the bill did not pass until Nathan was
9. The final amendment came when Nathan was ten. Stacey was five. This was
considered the final passing.
No comments:
Post a Comment