Human Paranormals
General
Generally speaking, human Paras don’t discover their powers until adolescence. A few get their powers early, in early childhood. Others are “late bloomers” & don’t get their powers until their 20’s, 30’s, or, for some, even beyond.
Most human Paranormal’s powers don’t seem to have any genetic component, or, at least, not one that has been found. Some families seem to show a history of paranormal powers. Others, not so much. That said, there doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason for who gets powers or what kind of family they wind up in.
This does have exceptions, especially where Therians and Weres are concerned. Both types of Para seem to be able to create new ‘born’ paras. There are a few other exceptions.
Many Para powers are time-limited, requiring a rebound time. Others are ‘on’ all the time. Different Para types have powers that they have to ‘activate’ or ‘turn on’ while others have their powers on always. It just depends on the type of Para.
Many powers & variations seem to be geographically, racially & ethnically linked. Werewolves, for instance, never seem to occur in places where wolves don’t exist. Weretigers only occur in areas that have tigers. Though Weres are a unique case and aren’t always considered to be Paras along with the other human Paranormals.
There was no clear physical signs or ways of testing to see if someone was a apr or not. Weres and Therians often had higher ‘normal’ temperatures (above 98.6) compared to other humans. No medical tests seemed to turn up paranormal powers. No blood tests, no EEG’s, nothing. Only seeing a paranormal use their powers. All reports of paranormal activity were investigated and those suspected or, reported to have paranormal powers were put on a watch list until definitive proof was obtained.
In general, most Paras don’t know when other Paras are around though some paras are very good at finding others. The list of Paras who can ‘read’ the presence of other Paras is fairly small.
It’s estimated that between 10 & 20% of the general population have some form of paranormal ability. No one has any clue as to how accurate that figure is though.
Psi
Psi is considered a hypothetical “power” that might explain paranormal abilities. No one knows what it entails, where it comes from, how it can be measured or what it’s limitations are, exactly. Many psi powers appear to have common limitations (silver & lead, for example) but there is no understanding of how anything fits together or works on any level. This doesn’t stop scientists from positing that this energy “psi” is the source of paranormal ability.
Scientists, on the whole, hate the idea of psi beause there’s no way to measure it. For most scientists it’s a nice descriptive word but nothing else. Without some way of measuring whether some sort of psi energy exists or not, it’s a meaningless concept.
Some physicists believe that psi is related to quantum mechanics. Some neurologists believe that an understanding of psi and what it is would unlock the secrets of consciousness. Evolutionary theorists want to trace the history of paranormal powers back to when they first emerged, believing that paranormal ability is a sign of a leap in human evolution.
What the concept of psi is good for is in determining the relative strength of different paras. Criticisms of the psi ratings were found all over. Many para powers couldn’t be forcibly tested, so, it was uncertain for many what their true powers were. Some paras repressed their powers, clouding their true strength. Others didn’t push themselves to their full potential. But, in general paras who were thought to be powerful were given a high “psi” rating relative to others. The government used this imperfect measurement system to rate various paras.
Ironically, other paras were often used to gauge a para’s psi rating. When possible telepaths were used to read minds. Recorders looked into a para’s past. Cybers may examine all their computer correspondence. Most courts rejected the validity of evidence obtained through paranormal means meaning psi ratings & the process in which they were determined seemed to be off limits.
Legal
Legal issues surrounding human paras are many & varied. Depending on the para involved there may be only a few laws involved or, for some, there may be many. Each paranormal is forced to deal with laws applying to them in their own ways. One law that covers all human paranormals is the Paranormal Registration Act (PRA). Another law that has serious consdequences for human paranormals is the Patriot Act.
The Paranormal Registration Act requires all persons who discover they have a paranormal ability to register themsleves with the federal government within 72 hours of learning of said ability under penalty of law. As a rule, the time frame regarding the need to register is mostly ignored. The government only cares about registration & identification of paranmormals, not so much the speed in which they “come out”.
Once registered, paras are expected to update their registration once a year (many do this at tax time, while filing their taxes) or upon any important life changes (a move, new job, marriage, divorce, birth of child, etc..). Failure to update also carries penalties.
All registered paras are required to carry smart card enabled ID’s that can be scanned at distance, identifying them & their powers. Being caught out & about without one’s ID is an arrestable offense.
The Patriot Act built upon the PRA by giving the government special powers to deal with paranormals who were deemed a grave risk to the community. By going to court, the government could get a protective warrant, allowing law enforcement to either arrest or, in some cases, kill a resisting para who’s deemed a threat to security. Certain powers were seen as greater threats than others & treated accordingly. When arrested, if the process of incarcerating a dangerous para was deemed too difficult or, if incarcerated, they were still seen as a serious danger, a para could be forced to undergo a lobotomy. While lobotomies didn’t seem to rob paras of their powers, or, if they did, they did so incompletely, they did seem to make the vast majority of paras more ‘manageable’. Many paras out & out forgot that they had paranormal powers after undergoing the procedure.
The FBI was charged with oversight of paranormals & investigation of paranormal offenses, though, in general, they left minor offenses up to local law enforcement, picking & choosing the cases they felt were truly in “the national interest”. The FBI unit charged with all this was the Paranormal Invesigations Unit, or PIU. Members of the PIU were mostly paras themselves. Local law enfrocment agencies were allowed to have PIU’s of their own but were greatly limited in the size & powers of the paras they were allowed to employ. Some got around this by hiring paras as “consultants” who weren’t technicallly part of their PIU units. It was understood by the FBI that any severe para crimes would be referred to them for their handling, cutting local law enforcement out of the picture, thus limiting the need for local PIU units to employ paras past a certain level of power.
The FBI worked closely with the NSA who received, under the Patriot Act, expanded powers to do domestic surviellence on suspected paranormals. Also working close with the FBI was the Attorney General’s office and their Judge Inquisitor Division.
The Judges Inquisitor were special judges with special powers who were attached to the Justice Department’s Paranormal Crimes Division. They were given the authority to directly represent the president & the US by using their powers. They could declare a local emergnecy, triggering martial law in a limited area for up to 72 hours after which, any further martial law had to be approved by fedeeral judicial review.
National emergencies could be declared but needed immediate presidential approval unless there were extreme extenuating circumstances. Whenever the PIU and a judge inquisitor were in the same area, the judge inquisitor could pull rank & gain access to any PIU information.
Employing paras in the private sector often required a “waiver”, depending on the para’s powers & strength. The “waiver” process was often long, intrusive & intesnive. Many employers sought to hire paras under the table as a result, though, if caught doing so, this could result in criminal punishments. For those working under a waiver, waivers had to be updated yearly with their paranormal registration.
Medical
Many paranormal powers seem to be linked to certain medical & psychological conditions. No hard science proof has ever shown that the one causes the other but a link still exists in many cases. It seems that most paranormal powers come at a price & seem to increase the odds of certain diseases & conditions. Though causality couldn’t be proven, each individual type of para seemed to have certain diseases and conditions that were more common for them.
Limitations
All paranormals have limitations that come along with their powers. For each individual para we’ll explore their particular limitations but there are some limitations that are broad enough to cover many, if not all paras.
Aging -- Most all paras suffer issues with their powers as they age. All para powers require concentration & aging tends to negatively effect their ability to concentrate on their powers while using them. For shifters, paras who can shift into other forms, aging can cause unintentional shifts, make intentional shifts harder to do, find that the aren’t able to keep shits going for as long as they are used to & have problems shifting back into their base form.
Unintentional power usage is an issue that many aging paras have. Not only do they have a hard time controlling their powers when they use them, but they may suffer from a paranormal power incontinence, accidentally using their powers at inopportune times without meaning to.
Emotions -- During times of strong emotion, many paras find it hard to control their powers, unintentionally triggering their powers or, if trying to use them, finding it hard to focus in their controlling of them. Mental disorders were known to create real problems for human paras, often requiring mandatory medical treatment to help them control their powers. While the meds wouldn’t affect a para’s powers directly, they would help the para better focus on their powers by allowing them to better deal with their mental &/or emotional issues.
Brain Injuries/Damage -- While no area of the brain has been identified as controlling paranormal behavior, it seems that human brains are the location of a human para’s powers. Humans who suffer brain damage &/or medical conditions affecting the brain (brain cancer, brain aneurysm, etc.) suffer severe issues with their powers. Many paras will permanently lose control of their abilities. Others, lose their abilities partially, or, altogether. Some lose the ability to use their abilities on command, finding that their powers come & go intermittently. Since the exact relationship between brain & powers is unknown, no treatments exist for how to help these paras, although, it’s been shown that pre-frontal lobotomies do make paras more calm & manageable, thus helping manage severe cases where a para’s powers are beyond their control.
Lunar Cycles – Many paranormals are affected by lunar cycles. For shifters, the longest amount of time they can stay in a shifted form generally coincides with a lunar cycle. At the end of the cycle, they are “force shifted” back to their base form. From there, they are forced to sit out their rebound time.
For Therianthropes & werebeings, the urge to shift at a full moon is very strong. Young members of both species (& weak members) will automatically shift under the moon & have no control over their transformation. This need to shift is completely unrelated to whether the moon can be seen or not.
Some non-shifting paras get a “full moon boost” & are able to use their powers longer, suffering less impact as a result. Paras who have this power, also see their rebound times greatly reduced on a full moon. Many paras also see power upgrades, not only are they able to use their powers longer & suffer less, but some paras get more power on a full moon. Some weak paras get powers equal to an average para, average paras, powers equal to a strong. Strong paras who receive a full moon boost generally don’t get any stronger, however & just gain the ability to use their powers longer for less of a price in energy.
The 100 Virus -- The 100 Virus is a proposed condition, not really a virus, that is thought to affect some paras & limits their use of power to a total of only 100 uses. Back before science could identify things, the condition was named a virus but no medical science has been able to show that any such virus exists. Medical tests done on paras with the condition versus paras without show no differences.
Several symptoms are used to determine whether a para has the condition or not. All-over body pain after using powers which increases with each use, increasing lethargy, coupled with longer rebound times after power use, severe headaches & migraines after power use, nausea & stomach problems after power use & worsening depression after power use are all hallmarks of the condition. If at least 3 symptoms are present, it’s assumed that the para involved has this severe limitation.
After the 100th use of their powers, the para is expected to lose the ability to use their powers altogether. The depression that is felt, as a result, is often long-lasting & sometimes results in self-harm & even suicide. The only known ‘cure’ is for the para in question to not use their powers at all.
Gawainism -- Gawainism affects some paras as well. Like the knight in the Arthurian tales, paras who suffer from Gawainism gain in strength as the sun climbs in the sky & lose strength as the sun goes down. Gawainism sufferers are their strongest around mid-day & have little to no power at all while the sun is down.
Seasonals -- Some paras have seasonal disorder in which their powers are stronger in certain seasons than others. Cryos who have seasonal disorder may, for instance, be stronger from fall to spring while pyros may be stronger the opposite way. Some paras are stronger in the seasons they were born than they are in other seasons (they refer to this as being a child of the season in question, "a child of summer", "a child of winter").
Equinoxity -- Some paras suffer from equinoxity, a condition that totally robs them of their powers at the spring & autumn equinoxes. They can do nothing during those times.
Dormancy – For reasons not entirely known, some paranormals go into “remission” & find that their powers become “dormant”. Why this happens has led to many theories but no one seems to have a good explanation. What happens afterwards varies greatly. For many, a remission of powers can be partial or total. If partial, they merely see certain aspects of their powers diminished or lost or, they may have access to all their powers but at a weaker level.
Most paras who suffer a dormancy period lose their powers altogether for a varying period of time. Some lose them for a short time. Others, a long time. And a few, altogether. If a para is in a dormant state, generally, they may get brief flashes & surges of power, now & again, only to see these “teases” vanish & disappear.
Having a dormancy period once seems to increase the risk of having a dormancy period again.
Restored powers coming out of a dormancy period may return at full strength, as they had existed prior to going dormant, or…..they may return at lesser strength. Some paras suffer a power “eruption” when their powers return, suffering a brief, itsnese period where they are overwhelmed by their retuned powers before they can get control of themsleves again.
Rebound Times -- Many paranormals require a down time, often referred to as “a rebound”, after using their powers. Rebound times vary due to several factors: age, health, strength of powers, length & effort of using powers, & emotional state. Rebound times generally get longer with age, younger paras having much shorter times, on average, than older ones. Health is a factor. A sick para will require a longer rebound time to recover their full powers than a healthy one. Paras who naturally have very strong powers recover faster, all other things being equal, than weaker paras. One rule that is always constant is, the more effort & energy used while using one’s powers, the longer the rebound time required to get back to full power. Emotional states also affect rebound times. A depressed para, for instance, takes much longer to rebound than a non-depressed one.
A good rule of thumb for paras is that, strong paras rebound in half the time they were using their powers (‘half time”), average paras will rebound in the same amount of time they were using their powers, while weak paras will rebound at a rate of two times the time they used their powers. However, young, healthy, powerful paras can rebound faster than “half time”. The rule of thumb just cited is true, for the most part, on average.
After an hour or two (depending on the para) of rebound time, a para can often use their powers, weakly, for a limited time. Anytime a para uses their powers during their rebound time, they just lengthen their rebound time, making it take longer for them to reach full strength. While a para can use their powers while rebounding, they won’t be at full strength, may not be able to use the full range of their powers and may not be as “sharp” in controlling their powers.
A rare few special paras don’t need a rebound period, however. For those paras, they are merely what they are & rebounding isn’t required.
Not all paras require a rebound time, as mentioned before, some have their powers ‘on’ all the time.
All concepts and ideas are copyright M.R. McCaffery, 2012. All rights are reserved.
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