Jefferson wrote:
> As part of another project I'm working on I've ended up defining rohain magic 
> in Celandra, and I thought I'd share it with the group.  A couple of caveats: 
>   First, rohain abilities are extremely idiosyncratic.  Each ability exists in 
> nearly infinite variations.  Second, not all the abilities are known.  The 
> right circumstances haven't arrived make some of the abilities (particularly 
> the higher ranking ones) available.
> 
> SQUIRE ABILITIES:
> 
> Spiritblade: a weapon formed of "energy" which is effective against intangible 
> and magical creatures.  Stronger spiritblade may affect normal creatures as 
> well.  Most Spiritblades are invisible.

Interesting, but I'm not sure how useful it would be, since we don't 
actually know how often Dreaming entities come to Celandra. Also, how 
would it affect the races that have emigrated to Celandra permanently? 
My gut is that the Eerith would be more strongly affected than the 
Vraa'al, being far less material in nature.

> Spiritform: allows a rohain's conciousness to leave his body and "walk" around 
> in spiritual form, returning to his body immediately whenever he wishes.  A 
> spiritform may walk through walls and hear what people are saying.  A powerful 
> rohain may transform his entire body.

Does the rohain have to enter an altered state of consciousness to do this?

> Spiritguard: protects from and allows a rohain to sense those magics which 
> affect the rohain's mind or body without being directly damaging.

> Spiritshield: forms a defense which protects a rohain from damage.  Weaker 
> shields are only effective against insubstantial and magical attacks. 
> Stronger shields can affect anything.  As with Spiritblade, most spiritshields 
> are invisible.
> 
> Spiritsense: allows a rohain to see spirits and other intangible entities.

These three seem to be very practical abilities.

> KNIGHT ABILITIES:
> 
> Dreamsense: allows a rohain to sense magic.  With greater powers a rohain can 
> tell more about the magic.
> 
> Foresense: gives a rohain a momentary warning when he is in danger.  With more 
> power a rohain can tell more about what is going to occur.

Dreamsense is okay, but Foresense is potentially questionable. One of 
the cardinal rules of Celandra is that magic affecting Time is 
impossible for any being other than the Creator. If Foresense is just a 
matter of sensing that the man behind your back in the alley has pulled 
a knife, or that there's a large pool of acid under the innocent-looking 
stretch of floor in front of you, that ought, I think, be okay, because 
it's only looking at the present.  If, however, Foresense works by 
showing a glimpse of the future, it won't work in Celandra's universe.

> Innersense: allows a rohain to "see" inside objects or past barriers and in 
> total Darkness.  Some rohain can "look" in any direction without needing their 
> eyes or to move their head.

Another practical ability.

> Mindsense: gives a rohain a vauge idea of what living creatures and spirits 
> are feeling.
> 
> Pastsense: allows a rohain to see how an object or area was used in the past. 
>   Can see a person's past when combined with Mindsense.

Mindsense by itself should be okay, since there are already established 
groups in Celandra with similar powers.  However, Pastsense, like 
Foresense, may be problematic because of the prohibition of 
Time-affecting magics.  Now, I don't think the exact rules on this have 
even been explicitly laid out, but the impression I've always had is 
that looking into the Past is just as impermissable as looking into the 
future.  The only way to find out what happened in the past in a 
location is to find someone who was there, and ask them. This may 
require necromancy, if you want to know what happened 2000 years ago.

Also, the interaction of Mindsense and Pastsense to reveal a person's 
past may also be problematic in other ways, but this is addressed in the 
  discussion of Farspeech.

> PALADIN ABILITIES:
> 
> Farleap: is a personal teleporation ability.
> 
> Farsend: is a teleportation ability which transports small objects and magical 
> effects over distances.
> 
> Farsense: allows a rohain to sense distance location without traveling there.

I see no reason why these shouldn't be possible, but telportation of 
anything bigger than a breadbox, and especially of anything living, 
should require the expenditure of a considerable amount of energy.

> Farspeech: allows rohain to communicate over long distances.  Most can only 
> communicate with other rohain, but some can "speak" with anyone.

This power could be very problematic.  After doing some re-reading of 
old posts, long-distance projective telepathy seems to only be 
acceptable in Celandra if mediated by a divine power. If Farspeech works 
like an old-fashioned telephone exchange, where Rohain A tells Feroze(or 
a servitor) that he wants to talk to Rohain B, and the Being then 
completes the connection for Rohain A and breaks it when the 
conversation ends, that would be fine.  There would definitely be no 
problem if the communication was through, say, mirrors or flames, rather 
than a mind-to-mind link.

However, if Farspeech works as a direct mind-to-mind link unmediated by 
divine Authority, if it is pure telepathy, then there would be big 
problems. If the Eerith found out about it, they would almost certainly 
do everything in their power to prevent rohains with Farspeech from 
using the power.  And it's a safe bet that most of the other Dreaming 
beings, certainly all the Cedonian gods and their servants, would 
support the Eerith in their actions.

> Fartouch: gives a rohain the ability to sense dimensional effects like gates 
> and teleports, the presence of gods, and aspects of the "physical" relations 
> between the area and the Dreaming.
> 
> CHAMPION ABILITIES:
> 
> Dreamshadows: generates illusions.
> 
> Dreamwalk: allows a rohain to travel between the Dreaming and Celandra.

Does the rohain enter the Dreaming in body or in spirit? Cedonian 
clerics can enter the Dreaming in spirit while sleeping, but AFAIK, the 
only way for a Celandran to physically enter the Dreaming is to go 
through a Gate, because the material substance of the body strongly 
resists being pulled out of Celandra. It's a lot easier to go from the 
Dreaming to Celandra than it is to go from Celandra to the Dreaming.

> Dreamshare: give a rohain the ability to "take over" a person's mind while in 
> Spiritform.

Eep! This power suffers from the same potential problems as Farspeech, 
in spades. To take over a person's mind would require that the rohain 
establish Authority over the other's mind. This would require, at a 
minimum, the person's consent, and the consent of that person's god or 
gods, and possibly the agreement of Coron, who, while not responsible 
for all souls, nevertheless takes an extremely dim view of any act which 
interferes with anyone's soul, before or after death.

Attempting to use the Dreamshare power on an unconsenting person would 
bring the wrath of Coron and the Eerith, and the wrath of any other 
interested Beings, down upon the rohain who attempted such an act.

> Dreamhealth: allows a rohain to recover much more quickly from injuries.
> 
> Dreamgift: allows a rohain to "bring forth" small objects from the dreaming. 
> The items of weaker Dreamgifts are strictly temporary, but stronger Dreamgifts 
> create items that are longer lasting, even permanent.

Possibly possible, but never addressed before, AFAIK. Up to Juuso, really.

> PARAGON ABILITIES:
> 
> Paragons do not gain any new abilties, but their existing abilities are much 
> expanded.
> 
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> 

Andrew
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