R.A. Baker's Blog, page 2

Psi-sonics—Can you hear me now?

Psi-sonic mages can manipulate existing sounds and create new ones from silence. Put simply, this power allows one to shape and alter sounds. For example, a man’s words could be changed into a tigers’ roar, or even into different words. A good psi-sonic mage could make the sound of ten men marching to sound like a thousand—or disguise the dinof great battle to sound like an approaching storm. This talent could prove invaluable in war, for these mages could use sound to fool the enemy into following a false path, or to lure them into a trap. Other uses for this psi-magic include increasing sound loud enough to shatter glass or dampen sound, as to not alert an enemy of their presence. It is said that a few gifted Psi-sonics can psychically tap into the auditory system of another person or creature. Then he is able to hear whatever his link hears, making such a person the ultimate eavesdropping tool.

Psi-somatics—That Healing Touch

The healers of the psi-magic world, psi-somatic mages are the rarest and most precious mages of all. Blessed with the ability to accelerate a body’s ability to heal itself, a good psi-somatic healer can mend a broken bone in minutes, a deep cut in seconds. In other words, this psi-magic draws from a person’s own constitution and strength and magnifies it many fold. Thus, a strong warrior wounded in battle would be far easier to heal than a sickly patient wasting away in bed.

Needless to say, psi-somatic experts are invaluable on both the battlefield and the sickroom. On a cautionary note, psi-somatic healing is a draining process, especially when healing physically weak  patients—so much so, that mages often risk their own lives trying to save the lives of others.  

Sensational! The Psi-magic known as Psi-Sensation

Tareners gifted with the power of psi-sensation can gain knowledge of a person or event through touch alone. They have the ability to detect psychic impressions left on an object by its previous owner. Through the object, they can summon a vision that plays out an event involving that object—especially if that event is associated with strong emotion, violence or death. This kind of object reading can also be used to find more information about its previous owner, including sex, age and how he came to possess (and eventually lose) the item.

As one of the more mysterious psi-magics, psi-sensation is certainly more subtle than say, the fiery practice of psi-pyrics. However, in the right hands, this power has the potential to change the course of history. Speaking of history, enforcers of law often ask psi-sensation trained mages to help with older, unsolved crimes.  A good psi-sensationalist can recall all manner of past events—from a lover’s quarrel gone bad, to a fatal duel, to a tragic accident—with the same accuracy as if he had been there in the flesh. All the mage needs is an object the person in question made contact with or used. Through the object, they can summon a vision that plays out an event involving that object—especially if that event is associated with strong emotion, violence or death. 

 To read more about the characters, visit: http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Gate-Rayna-Nightwind-ebook/dp/B00AQ8WON2

Psi-Pyrics—Burn Him!

Few psi-mages are feared more than the psy-pyric. With the ability to heat air so hot as to ignite, these fire wizards literally leave a trail of flame in their wake. Beyond molecular agitation, psi-pryics can control existing flames by making a fire bigger, smaller, hotter or colder. He or she can even make flames move around as if it were a living creature, thus taking the idea of playing with fire to a whole new level.

Psi-Portation—Hey, she was here just a second ago!

Psi-Portation is the ultimate way to get around. Just concentrate, focus on where you want to go, and—voilà! Not so fast. Maybe it’s not as simple as it seems. A good Psi-Porter has to be mindful of the exact landing destination or risk reappearing in solid rock, underground, under an ocean, hundreds of feet in mid-air, or any number of equally unpleasant (and often fatal locations). The longer the distance, the greater the risk. That usually limits the individual to nearby places they have already been and are quite familiar with. Also, those who practice this psi-magic need a strongly focused mind, for the easily distracted may very well re materialize with body parts in the wrong place. Other than that, Psi-Portation is quite fun!

Read more about psi-magic and the amazing world of Taren on my website: www.rabakerwebs.com

Psi- Olfactics—What’s that smell?

As you may have guessed, psi-olfactics is the school of psi-magic that deals with smells. Those born with this ability have a much keener sense of smell than the average Taren citizen does. Furthermore, they are able to psychically create smells—ranging from the truly heavenly, to the utmost repulsive. While it may not be as flashy as psi-illusion, or as powerful as psi-kinetics, psi-olfactics is considered a very useful talent to have. Practitioners can easily find work tracking down escaped criminals, and the occasional wayward farm animal. And if they choose to be left alone (or gain an edge in combat), a well-versed psi-olfactic can unleash a stench so potent as to put a skunk to shame. In the book, The Beast at the Gate, a character named Levit is a psi-olfactic who is needless to say, very particular about smells. It is something the young boy character Quan finds out in short order. To read more about the characters, visit: http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Gate-Rayna-Nightwind-ebook/dp/B00AQ8WON2

Read it and see for yourself!

My book, The Beast at the Gate is on amazon.com and has a great “look inside” feature. You can read a few sample chapters of my book for FREE. See for yourself if you want to take a plunge into the amazing world of Taren. I’m confident you will. If you have been craving a creative and exciting sci-fi/fantasy novel to read, why not visit amazon.com and take a look? See you in Taren! Click here: http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Gate-Rayna-Nightwind-ebook/dp/B00AQ8WON2

Psi-Kinetics—A Forceful Proposition

In my novel, The Beast at the Gate, few psi-mages are as powerful as a master psi-kinetic.  A psi-kinetic can move objects through space without touching them. With their minds alone, they can project a force that can push, shove and otherwise bully an opponent from afar. A few talented practitioners of this particular psi-magic can manipulate wind to surround them and lift them in the air for short periods of time. They can create force shields, crush internal organs, topple trees—well, you get the idea. Psi-kinetics can pretty much do what they want. That’s why most Taren citizens give them plenty of respect, and a wide berth.  One particularly dramatic scene in my book involves a powerful psi-kinetic warrior, some angry red-robed mages, a fire golem…and a well. The result is one heck of a battle! Why not pick up a copy of The Beast at the Gate and see for yourself?

http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Gate-Rayna-Nightwind-ebook/dp/B00AQ8WON2

Now you see me…now you don’t

Psi-illusion is the ability to affect what the eye can or cannot see. Psi-illusionists can play tricks on the mind—literally—by altering what the brain perceives as visual reality. The results can be anything from invisibility to camouflage, to psychically altering one’s appearance to look like someone (or something) else. Now, you can imagine the potential for enormous mischief here. Enormous and deadly mischief in some cases. Fortunately, Psi-illusion is a relatively rare talent in the world of Taren, and rarer still are those who are masters of this powerful school of psi-magic.

Psi-Clairvoyance—The Divine Inspiration of Future-sight

In The Beast at the Gate, those blessed (or cursed, depending on your perspective) with Psi-Clairvoyance can glimpse into the future and see events and occurrences before they actually happen. Depending on how talented the individual is, these glimpses may range from a brief, blurred premonition to a finely detailed showing of a scene.  While this may  seem like the perfect talent to have, the reality is that it can cause frustration at best, madness at worst. I wrote a scene that helps illustrate the complexity of dealing with such an ability. Here is an excerpt of the character Orin speaking to Cirderor. Orin is a Psi-Clairvoyant:




If Orin was annoyed, he tried not to show it. “Sir, do you know why the Princess is here?”
“Of course I do. She is here to ask my help in restoring her to the throne. I don’t need a Psi-clairvoyant to tell me that.”
“More specifically,” Orin said, “she is here to make an attempt at overthrowing Nephredom by force and clearing her name, so that she may be accepted as the new Queen. I’ve seen this image before, many times, coming about in many different ways. But only in a few such visions did I see the master mage with her, and of those few, fewer still had the Kuaran and the boy-child in them.”
“The rest were false visions, then?”
“No. No vision is ever false. What appeared in any of them could happen, depending on crucial decisions made at crucial times--far too many to count or track. As time passes, some possible futures become impossible, and clairvoyants no longer see their images; the many possible visions become fewer and fewer. Eventually, as time goes on, there is only one vision--and there is little anyone can do to change the outcome at that point.”
“Then I was right to call you here. I have a feeling there will be some ‘crucial decisions’ made tonight, and I need your advice.”
“You desire to know whether to support the Princess or to turn her away.”
Ciredor sighed as he nodded, meeting Orin’s gaze with his own. He was not accustomed to seeking counsel in others; he had once prided himself in having better judgment than most. But lately he wasn’t so certain. But I love her!  “Perhaps it was one of my own crucial decisions--one I made in the past--that has caused us to lose our way. I don’t want the problem to get worse.”
“You are referring to when you first introduced Nephredom to the Queen?”
“Yes, and I had no way of knowing the Queen would eventually grant regency to that devil.”
“The Subjugator of Joy. Respected, but hardly loved.”
“He harasses and taxes our people mercilessly. He denounced the use of magic among common citizens--the one thing that defined us as a people. Magic gave us our strength, made us whole. Now, to practice magic openly, one must undergo the secret training of the Red Robes--and no honorable man would desire to become one of those things!”
“They are an abomination.”
Ciredor smiled a dark smile. “If I had known the kind of man Nephredom was, I would have let those young urchins stone him to death back in Lamec.”
“I believe you would have.”
“And yet, now that the Queen is dead, he claims she declared him King with her dying breath. If this is true, to oppose him would be high treason--punishable by death.”
“Indeed.”
Ciredor turned an irritated eye to Orin. “Seer, if I desired a yes-man, I would have gotten one years ago. This is not the time for cautious conversation. I seek your sight, not slavish agreement!”
Orin stared at Ciredor with his piercing gray eyes. “You mistake confession of truth with false harmony. You know me better than that, Your Reverence.”
Ciredor tensed his lower lip, pressing it firmly against his teeth. The only time Orin called him that was when he was offended. Your Reverence. Coming from his calm lips, it sounded like a curse.
Orin smiled, then uttered softly, “doubting in the darkness, sifting through the ashes, I cry out, but death has plugged all ears.”
Ciredor sighed. “A verse to a new poem?”
“Yes.” A short silence passed before Orin spoke again. “I have been your lieutenant in war, your Second in peace, and your friend in both. If you want my opinion, then I will give it freely: You are being foolish.”
It was difficult at times to tell if Orin was speaking of the present or of the future. Did Orin mean that Ciredor was being foolish now, or was he referring to a future time? Ciredor laughed in spite of his displeasure. “You are a man of extremes, I’ll grant you that. I think I liked you better as a yes-man.” Ciredor’s tone grew serious. “Is that what you truly believe?”
“No, but you are missing my point. Being foolish implies that one commits foolish acts. Foolish mistakes. It is what you fear most--the consequences of a foolish mistake.”
“Is that what you see in my future? That I will make a foolish mistake?” Ciredor paused, then added the next logical assumption. “One that could cost us all dearly?”
“That is one possible future, yes. Furthermore, as time has passed, the other possibilities have begun to fade, and the few that remain still show the path you most fear.”
“Which involves me making the mistake you mentioned.”
“Yes.”
“I don’t suppose you will tell me what it is, let alone how to avoid it.”
“You know I have sworn never to influence the future in that way. Besides, my visions are muddled and unclear, and I never see the whole picture at once. What may start as a bad path may eventually right itself, and what may appear to be the good path may ultimately lead to ruin.”
Ciredor chucked humorlessly. “It never ends for you, does it?”
“No. The futures I see are endless arrays of branching roads that shed some avenues and grow new ones based on the choices people make.”
“One damned decision after another.”
Orin sighed. “Nevertheless, it is sometimes better to make a decision that could damn than to do nothing and be damned.”
“Another line for a poem?”
“No, a warning for a friend.”

If you enjoyed this passage, I think you will love the book. Order a copy of The Beast at the Gate and immerse yourself in the world of Taren.