The Veil & Psionics
The price of power in a broken world
The Nature of the Veil
The Veil isn't just a barrier—it's the skin over a wound that never quite healed. A natural membrane stretched between our ordered reality and the raw, seething chaos that exists beneath all things. Not evil, just other—alien mathematics that hurt to perceive, fragments of dead gods mixed with pure possibility that hasn't decided what it wants to become.
What Lies Beneath
- Pure, incomprehensible chaos—not malevolent, simply beyond mortal understanding
- Fragments of entities that died before time had meaning
- Raw possibility waiting to be shaped by will, emotion, or violence
- Things that were never alive but aren't quite dead either
- The source of all psionic power—and the hunger that consumes those who use it
Understanding the Current
The Current is the raw force that flows beneath the Veil, like electrical charge building in storm clouds. Psionics don't create power—they conduct it, using their will as a channel between the chaos below and the world above. The more you draw, the more you thin the Veil around yourself, creating "bleed points" where reality grows soft and strange.
You're born with the spark, marked by forces beyond understanding. Training can refine it, but no amount of study makes a man psionic if the Current didn't choose him at birth. And the Current is drawn to strong emotions—which the frontier provides in deadly abundance.
Categories of Psionics
Mindweavers
Telepaths & Illusionists
Telepaths, illusionists, memory-twisters. Fearsome in courtrooms and gambling halls. Can make three men remember slights that never happened. Prolonged use burns away empathy; many turn cold and hollow. Townsfolk fear them more than bandits—at least bandits are honest about robbery.
Seers of the Veil
Prophets & Dream-Walkers
Clairvoyants, precognitives, dream-walkers. See threads of possible futures, but never clearly. The more they scry, the faster madness frays their sense of "now." Townsfolk shun them as "ghost-blind." Sell dream-paintings that sometimes prevent disasters—or cause them. Example: Liza "Hollow-Eye" Marrow, who bleeds when she sees.
Bastion Souls
Shielders & Nullers
Defensive psions; shielders, anchors, nullers. Can stop other psionics cold, making them invaluable. Rare but valued in militias and caravans. Gambling houses employ them to prevent psionic cheating. Ironically, prolonged anchoring makes them fragile—often die young of organ failure. The stronger the shield, the shorter the life.
Flesh Shapers
Healers & Blood-Weavers
Healing hands, blood manipulators, bone-knitters. Essential in frontier medicine where doctors are rare. Can mend wounds that would kill in civilized lands. Whispered to slide into darker arts—re-weaving flesh into monsters. The Red Hands cult recruits them for their "miracles." Every healing leaves a mark on the healer's soul.
Psi-Slingers
Gun-Channelers
Gun-channelers who forge bullets from pure thought. Mix martial grit with psychic precision. Powers require a physical medium—guns, sometimes bows in older cultures. Each bullet fired is a piece of themselves made manifest. Duncan Maddox is the most feared example. Most burn out before forty—if they live that long.
The Cost of Power
Veil Bleed Progression
Drawing on the Current erodes the border between mind and world. Symptoms progress:
- Stage One: Headaches, nosebleeds, trembling hands
- Stage Two: Hallucinations, voices in mirrors, time-skips
- Stage Three: Memory gaps, personality fractures, soul-scarring
- Stage Four: Becoming "Hollow"—body remains, mind is shadow
- Stage Five: Total dissolution into the Current itself—becoming one with the chaos
Supernatural Entities
Psionics aren't the only force—the Veil leaks, and things crawl through:
Fen-Wraiths
Amorphous, marsh-born spirits that haunt Dead Fen. They whisper bargains, offering power for anchors into flesh. Caravans light tar lanterns because the smoke keeps them at bay. They fear iron and running water.
Stormcallers
Lightning apparitions that stalk the Bluffs. They seem drawn to psions, striking harder near heavy channeling. Some swear a man can bargain with them—trade a year of life for safe passage.
Ashborn
Dust-storm phantoms in the Ash Belt, half rumor, half truth. Sometimes they kill, sometimes they guide. Appear as faces in the storm, whispering names of the dead. Their motives remain unfathomable.
Hollow Men
Victims of Veil Bleed pushed too far. Bodies remain, but minds are shadows. Used as enforcers by Dust Vultures. They stare empty and endless, following simple commands. The worst part: they remember who they were.
Ritual & Culture Around Psionics
- Charms & Talismans: Silver coins, bone beads, ash-dipped feathers—everyone carries protection
- Outlawed in Orvain: Consortium law requires psions to register. Unlicensed ones disappear
- Circle of Ash: See psionics as proof man can stand equal to gods—they hoard lost rituals
- Everyday Use: Small tricks (mind-calming, dream-smoothing) pass quietly if not flashy
- The Crossing-Faith: Believes psionics can be redeemed through suffering
- Ley Line Shrines: Stone markers where travelers leave offerings for safe passage
- Common Saying: "Current-sick" for those showing Veil Bleed symptoms