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List of Talents

"Hell's Gate" and "Hell Hath No Fury", by David, Linda Evans, and Joelle Presby, take the clash of science and magic to a whole new dimension...join us in a friendly discussion of this engrossing series!
List of Talents
Post by MisterTompson   » Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:18 am

MisterTompson
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Posts: 39
Joined: Wed May 22, 2013 11:20 am
Location: McKinney, Texas

With the likely reveal of some new Talents coming sort-of/maybe soon, it got me to thinking that we really don't have a single list of all currently known (to the readers) Talents. Given the direction the snippets are pointing towards, I think that such a list will be very nice to have. So, without further ado:

Voice - Telepathy. An extremely small percentage can project what they see.
Glimpses (Calirath dynasty) - Precognition in regards to human actions. Some foreseen events can be changed, but not all (such as when one sees their own death).
Mapper - Mental elevation map
Distance Viewer - Mentally project one's vision, as if their eyes were far away. A small number can predict where creatures/people they see will be in a short time.
Plotter - A Mapper who can also sense "life essences".
Flicker - Small scale teleportation
Porter - Used to power the Emergency Transportation System (Teleporting)
Tracer - Able to See things which happened at a given place, as long as not to much time has gone. Also called "Sniffers".
Sifter - Lie detector.
Precognition - See general events in the future (natural disasters/weather forecasting)
Lifter - Telekinesis, but only on a very small scale. The most powerful of them can only lift up to 40 pounds.
Wiffer - Able to sense residual psychic residue.
Healer - The ability to speed up and enhance natural Human healing.
Mind Healer - Vague, but essentially a super shrink with possible telepathy like powers.
Portal Hound - The ability to sense the location of portals (compass like). Very rare.
Nonhuman Translator - The ability to communicate with intelligent, nonhuman creatures such as dolphins and whales.


Please post any that I missed, and I will check for updates every couple days. Hopefully I will be able to add some after the next snippet!

Update 1 (6/12): Added Sniffer, Tracer, and Precognition. Edited Glimpses. Thanks to Eagleeye, Kieth_w, and tonyz.
Update 2 (6/15): Added Plotter, Sifter, Lifter, Wiffer, Healer, and Mind Healer. Removed Sniffer. Edited Voice, Distance Viewer, Porter, and Tracer. Thanks to bkwormlisa, SCC, and brnicholas.
Update 3 (6/18): Added Portal Hound and Nonhuman Translator. Thanks to Howard T. Map-addict, bkwormlisa, Knightfire, and Jonathan_S.
Last edited by MisterTompson on Thu Jun 18, 2015 6:49 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: List of Talents
Post by Eagleeye   » Fri Jun 12, 2015 3:52 am

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Sniffer - expert to recognise flavors and odors, even if the source of them is some days old.
Tracer - able to See things which happened at a given place, as long as not to much time has gone.

Addition to the Calirath-Talent: Glimpses refer always to humans who will be involve in events and/or cause them. That is the difference to Precognition, which concentrates on future events with sources not related to human decisions (like earthquakes or vulcan eruptions)
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Re: List of Talents
Post by Keith_w   » Fri Jun 12, 2015 6:34 am

Keith_w
Commodore

Posts: 976
Joined: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:10 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Don't forget Lie Detector.
--
A common mistake people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
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Re: List of Talents
Post by tonyz   » Fri Jun 12, 2015 1:55 pm

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The Calirath Glimpses are precognition involving human action; there are also other Precogs though we don't know very much about the limits of their Talents -- but, e.g., we've heard about weather forecasting.
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Re: List of Talents
Post by Howard T. Map-addict   » Fri Jun 12, 2015 2:11 pm

Howard T. Map-addict
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1392
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:47 am
Location: Philadelphia, PA

I Seem To Recall that I wrote up such a list,
but I cannot find that I posted it.
If I find it in my papers, I'll post it on Monday.
That gives y'all a chance to beat me to it.

HTM
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Re: List of Talents
Post by bkwormlisa   » Sat Jun 13, 2015 7:22 pm

bkwormlisa
Commander

Posts: 189
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:43 pm

I went to the HHNF Glossary and pulled these out (yes, I know I cheated). You didn't have Lifter, Healer, Mind Healer, Projector, or Whiffer in your list. Lie Detectors are actually Sifters and the ETS Talents are Porters. Sniffers and Tracers are the same thing; I'm not sure where your definition of Sniffers came from (I don't remember the term from the books). Whiffers are the ones that see what happened at a place; Tracers use objects.

I would add that Voices have perfect memories, natural ability with languages, and can transmit up to several hundred miles. And while the HHNF definition doesn't include it, Tracers can also sense some of what the last person touching an object was feeling and seeing.

Healer - Can block pain and encourage the body to heal more quickly.
Predictive Distance Viewer - A varient of Distance Viewer that can predict a moving target’s position ever so briefly in advance.
HHNF wrote:Flicker – a Talented Sharonian capable of teleporting, or “Flicking,” relatively small objects over long distances with considerable precision.
Lifter – a Sharonian telekinetic Talent. Most Lifters can handle only very small objects; a very small percentage of exceptionally powerful Lifters can manipulate objects wing is much as thirty or forty pounds.
Mind Healer – a Sharonian with a complex of Talents which permits him to treat mental disorders.
Plotter – a Sharonian with the “Plotting” Talent. Plotting is a specialized sub-variant of the Mapping Talent which is particularly useful in military service. Plotters, unlike Mappers, detect the presence and location of living creatures, like human beings.
Porter – a Sharonian Talent with the telekinetic ability to teleport (or “Port”) passengers or limited freight via the Emergency Transportation System.
Projective – a Sharonian psionic with the ability to project detailed and accurate mental images for non-telepaths. All Projectives are also Voices, but less than .01% of all Voices are Projectives.
Sifter – a Sharonian psionic whose Talent allows him to determine whether or not any statement is the truth or a lie.
Tracer – a Sharonian with the Tracer Talent. One who is sensitive to the current location, or at least direction to, another individual or object. They are also called “Sniffers”.
Whiffer – a Sharonian with the Whiffer Talent. One who is sensitive to residual psychic impressions.

I would assume the "wing is" in the Lifter description should actually be "weighing as".

And for reasons I can't figure out, Distance Viewers, Glimpsers, Healers, Mappers, and Voices aren't in the Glossary. :?: :!:
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Re: List of Talents
Post by SCC   » Sat Jun 13, 2015 10:39 pm

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Posts: 236
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There's a variant of Distance viewer with Precog
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Re: List of Talents
Post by brnicholas   » Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:15 pm

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Posts: 254
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One thing that I find interesting about talents is the fact that despite the text saying several times that only the Calirath's can predict human actions the battle at Fort Salby shows that Predictive Distance Viewers know where something will be a couple minutes in advance even when its position will be determined by human action. See the order in which events happened in the quote from HHNF below.

Nicholas

Chan Forcal was a predictive Distance Viewer. His particular Talent included just a touch of Precognition. The ability to project a moving target's position ever so briefly in advance.
"Six thousand yards," chan Forcal said suddenly, sharply. "One-seven-three degrees. Two minutes."
"Six thousand yards!" Mesaion bellowed. "One-seven-three degrees! Move, godsdamn you!"
* * *
"Bugler!"
"Sir?"
"Blow 'At the Trot'!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Five Hundred Urlan heard the urgent, golden notes flaring from the bell-mouthed bugle, and the Seventh Zydors sprang ponderously into a trot. Their horses might be slower than unicorns, but despite their size, the massive beasts were still faster than the finest unaugmented thoroughbred ever foaled. On the other hand, they still had over three miles to go.
"Bugler, blow 'Canter'!"
* * *
"Now!" chan Forcal shouted, and seven four-and-a-half-inch mortars coughed as one.
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Re: List of Talents
Post by Howard T. Map-addict   » Mon Jun 15, 2015 10:55 am

Howard T. Map-addict
Rear Admiral

Posts: 1392
Joined: Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:47 am
Location: Philadelphia, PA

Y'all seem to have everything except Portal Hound.

We've only seen one PH, Darcel, who is also a Voice.
My guess is that the PH talent is new. (It would not
have been of any use, until the first Portal opened
up, anyway!) Considering how much Darcel made of it,
and how that surprised the SPA Council, I might even
guess that Darcel was the First PH.
If a rash of them suddenly develops,
then Sharonans might suddenly find that their worlds
have more Portals than they had known!

I will put these lists into the Civilians Thread,
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3242
for easier reference.

HTM

MisterTompson wrote:With the likely reveal of some new Talents coming sort-of/maybe soon, it got me to thinking that we really don't have a single list of all currently known (to the readers) Talents. Given the direction the snippets are pointing towards, I think that such a list will be very nice to have. So, without further ado:

Voice - Telepathy. An extremely small percentage can project what they see.
Glimpses (Calirath dynasty) - Precognition in regards to human actions. Some foreseen events can be changed, but not all (such as when one sees their own death).
Mapper - Mental elevation map
Distance Viewer - Mentally project one's vision, as if their eyes were far away. A small number can predict where creatures/people they see will be in a short time.
Plotter - A Mapper who can also sense "life essences".
Flicker - Small scale teleportation
Porter - Used to power the Emergency Transportation System (Teleporting)
Tracer - Able to See things which happened at a given place, as long as not to much time has gone. Also called "Sniffers".
Sifter - Lie detector.
Precognition - See general events in the future (natural disasters/weather forecasting)
Lifter - Telekinesis, but only on a very small scale. The most powerful of them can only lift up to 40 pounds.
Wiffer - Able to sense residual psychic residue.
Healer - The abilitu to speed up and enhance natural Human healing.
Mind Healer - Vague, but essentially a super shrink with possible telepathy like powers.

Please post any that I missed, and I will check for updates every couple days. Hopefully I will be able to add some after the next snippet!

Update 1 (6/12): Added Sniffer, Tracer, and Precognition. Edited Glimpses. Thanks to Eagleeye, Kieth_w, and tonyz.
Update 2 (6/15): Added Plotter, Sifter, Lifter, Wiffer, Healer, and Mind Healer. Removed Sniffer. Edited Voice, Distance Viewer, Porter, and Tracer. Thanks to bkwormlisa, SCC, and brnicholas.
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Re: List of Talents
Post by bkwormlisa   » Mon Jun 15, 2015 6:42 pm

bkwormlisa
Commander

Posts: 189
Joined: Thu Jul 21, 2011 5:43 pm

Portal Hounds aren't new, but they are very rare.

Hell's Gate wrote:The one thing everyone wished for was a Talent that would lead them directly to new portals.
The best they could manage at the moment was to push outward with as many teams as they could reasonably field, with at least one member of each team sensitive to the still unexplained physics behind portal formation. Some – and only a few – Talented people, like Darcel, could actually sense the presence of other portals well enough to at least provide a compass direction to them, which was enormously better than nothing. Still, the task of actually locating no more than one or two portals anywhere within any given universe, when an entire planet identical to their own had to be searched, was far worse than hunting a needle in a haystack.

Hell's Gate wrote:Darcel Kinlafia wasn’t just a Voice; he was also a Portal Hound.
That wasn’t the technical name for his secondary Talent, but it was the one everyone associated with the Portal Authority used. No one had yet found a way to actually detect and pinpoint the locations of portals, but a Hound had a special affinity to whatever disturbance in the fabric of creation brought them into existence. No Hound could reliably quantify what he sensed, he couldn’t pluck distances and classifications out of thin air, and yet Darcel simply “knew” the compass bearing to the nearest portal. He had absolutely no way of knowing how far away it might be, but he knew which way to go to find the closest one.
Well, that wasn’t entirely correct. A larger portal might appear to be closer than a smaller one which was actually much nearer to a Hound’s physical location. But the Hounds, who were even rarer than Mappers of Jathmar’s strength, were utterly invaluable to any exploration team.


Howard T. Map-addict wrote:Y'all seem to have everything except Portal Hound.

We've only seen one PH, Darcel, who is also a Voice.
My guess is that the PH talent is new. (It would not
have been of any use, until the first Portal opened
up, anyway!) Considering how much Darcel made of it,
and how that surprised the SPA Council, I might even
guess that Darcel was the First PH.
If a rash of them suddenly develops,
then Sharonans might suddenly find that their worlds
have more Portals than they had known!

I will put these lists into the Civilians Thread,
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3242
for easier reference.

HTM
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