MORE THAN HUMAN: ASPECT SUBMERGENCE TRAINING An infant brain has a tremendous plasticity. When you are born, you have the potential to become any number of things. With everything you learn, the structure of your brain alters. Skills, memories, senses, a personality - all stored in a complex organic processor. But what if you could take what you know, what you've seen and done, and lay a completely new person over it? New skills, new muscle memory, even a new personality. Unlock the potential within a human mind and body in the blink of an eye. You could become a skilled athlete, a powerful negotiator, a fearsome warrior. You could be anything and anyone. You could reinvent yourself. You could be a god. We call them "Aspects." Post-hypnotic suggestion, physical alteration via microsurgery and implanted biomachinery, and deep-immersion training provided by the Library combine to provide the subject with the ability to "submerge" their own personality and memories within those of a custom-made persona. The creation of an Aspect is incredibly complex and expensive, but the use of one is extremely simple: concentrate for thirty seconds, speak your personal mantra to trigger the submergence, and let the new you take control. However, submergence training is nearly impossible to undo, and some Aspects require that the subject already possess extraordinary mental or physical traits. Further, no one has ever successfully performed submergence conditioning on a Gifted individual - the results have been insanity or death in each case. Although each Aspect is perfectly customized to the host, they can be organized into specific types. HUNTER Anything can be found, if you have the tools and techniques to find it. The Library is vast and finding information quickly and precisely can be difficult even for experienced users. A patient and careful searcher can find the trail of someone on the run. A detail-oriented and attentive investigator with the right tools can comb a room and find evidence that is too small for the naked eye. But for one who can dive deeper, swim faster, twist and turn within the wells, there's more than just addresses or bread crumbs. The Hunter Aspect sees everything, hears everything, finds everything. At the moment of submergence, her senses are tuned to their highest pitch, and her ability to access and access information becomes almost pretenatural. Hunters are investigators and trackers; they might be elite detectives for private police agencies, bounty-hunters or corporate head-hunters. When the Aspect takes over, the Hunter becomes more confident, more alert, almost painfully aware of her surroundings - able to track a target by smell from city blocks away; request, download and process data at inhuman speed; easily conceal her own searches; even detect the sound of a beating heart from across a room. The submergence isn't without drawbacks; a Hunter is often prone to sensory overload, resulting in splitting headaches and even physical overheating, and it becomes difficult after extended submergence to keep from being distracted by incoming information. HEALER A doctor can save a life; a Gifted doctor can perform acts of awe-inspiring medical genius. But for someone who can submerge into the Healer Aspect, the very flow of life itself is not only visible but tangible, and war can be waged against death on a molecular level. The blood of a Healer is flooded with microsurgeon biomachinery, his senses are tuned to detect signs of injury or illness, and once he has submerged, he has access to vast information on practical medicine, biotechnology and even alternate forms of medicine. Practically immune to disease himself, the Healer can perform miracles of medicine with just a touch and sustained concentration. While submerged, the Healer's voice is modified to produce a primal soothing effect in his patients, and he can easily read biological indicators for stress or pain, effectively making him an empath. With the right tools to supplement his "healing touch," the medic with this Aspect could feasibly revive the recently-deceased, dissolve bullets from a patient's body and immediately begin reconstructing the damaged tissue, or break down a tumor without breaking the skin. Even with all of a Healer's gifts, however, there are limits even to this Aspect's abilities. The body can only store so many microsurgeons before the Healer must rest and consume the raw material "slurry" to resupply. While submerged, Healers often find it extremely difficult to refuse polite requests or pleas for help, and prolonged surgery can leave a Healer so exhausted that he can barely move. PUPPETEER By donning a sensory-extension rig, anyone can teleoperate properly-equipped remote control machinery. Waldoes (industrial telemanipulators), robots, drones, and even semi-autonomous vehicles can be used easily from even kilometers away. Most are limited to one, or at most, two remote devices at once. For the Puppeteer Aspect, these are but crude toys. A Puppeteer can submerge her normal personality, release herself into a well, and extend her senses into several machines at once. Combining haptic feedback, data processing and enhanced sensory awareness, the Puppeteer can connect to multiple drones or telemanipulators, drive multiple cars at once without losing focus, or tap into an entire apartment complex's security systems. For this Aspect, the Internet of Things is a second body, one that reacts faster and more precisely than their own. Some Puppeteers even use remote-controlled synthetic bodies (nicknamed "dolls") to interact with others remotely. However, while submerged, the Puppeteer is virtually unaware of events around their own body (unless they happen to point a camera their own direction), and the more devices they control at once, the longer it takes them to recover once their original personality emerges. Agoraphobia, social anxieties, personality constructs (such as alexithymia), confusion, missing time and temporary paralysis are common side-effects of prolonged submergence for Puppeteers. SHAMAN Psychologists, religious leaders, confidence artists, philosophers, professional psychics (as opposed to actual Gifted individuals) - many individuals have spent many years perfecting the art of understanding the core of the human mind. Many attempts have been made at understanding the interplay between the spiritual and rational parts of a person, to find the key to the truths hidden inside another person's skull. But all of that is only the beginning for a Shaman. Those who undergo submergence training for this Aspect can do more than simply empathize with a victim or sell a story to a mark: for the Shaman, a conversation can become a spiritual journey in an instant. Half-hypnotist, half-storyteller, the Shaman Aspect can place others in a trance, unlock their psyche, and change the very nature of the world for them - at least, for a while. While submerged, the Shaman's demeanor becomes dynamic, almost hypnotic; subsonic signals in her voice trigger primal responses in a listener, and her ability to manipulate the well allows her to draw others in with her. This ability, called "journeying" by Shamans, allows them to talk a person through a repressed memory, address psychological trauma, and even place subliminal cues in someone's mind - commands which can be triggered up to seventy-two hours later. Even without a full journey, a Shaman can "nudge" others with special pheromone cocktails produced by their implanted biomachinery and their vocal augmentations. Shamans possess a limited ability to disrupt Aspects or even the Gifted, as their submergence training and biomachinery give them the ability to disrupt concentration and affect an Aspect's submerged, extra-rational consciousness. Some have dubbed Shamans "Sirens" or even nicknamed them "succubi" or "incubi," as not all Shamans use their Aspect for good. Specially-licensed Shamans also assist in the submergence training of other Aspects. However, use of this Aspect is hardly a fast proposition - selling someone on a complex lie, manipulating their memories or healing deep scars in another's psyche takes time, and is physically draining. Journeying leaves Shamans exhausted and with their senses dulled. And then there is the risk of addiction - of becoming so rapt in journeying that the Shaman refuses to emerge, falling into a comatose state for extended periods. Sometimes the only thing that can bring a Shaman out of this perpetual trance is one or more others of their own Aspect "going in after them." SHARK The hard sell is an art-form: it takes imagination, confidence, and focus bordering on obsession. Knowing how to intimidate, cojole, read and manipulate are the tools of enforcers, lawyers, and high-power CEOs. They are children compared to a skilled Shark. The Shark Aspect has a flair for personnel management, and the ability to smell out the vulnerabilities of others. A Shark submerged in his Aspect is a black-eyed, unblinking force of raw intimidation. His voice drops into a lower, harsher, colder register, and develops a mesmerizing quality. His heartbeat slows, he becomes unnaturally still, and his perception of sensory cues like sweat, muscle twitches or eye-movements heightens. Any sign of fear or stress is telegraphed to the submerged Shark - a Shark can literally smell weakness. His own emotions are subsumed, and he becomes icily logical and nearly impossible to intimidate. A Shark can stare down an angry burner several times his size, and by the time they're done, the hard-core hired muscle might need therapy. Sharks excel at negotiation, intimidation, and interrogation. Some work for high-end private police agencies, and the combination of a Shark and a Hunter is a nightmare situation for even a hardened criminal. Maintaining submergence for more than a few hours at a time can leave a Shark not only exhausted, but emotionally drained, unable to fully interpret emotions in himself and in others. (A curious quirk of the Aspect is that true sociopaths make poor Sharks.) The greatest weakness of the Aspect, however, is being pitted against another Shark. Such exchanges can leave both Sharks with splitting headaches and without making much headway at all, but their negotiations are certainly icily rational affairs. FLAME A great performer can inspire emotions. A great artist can influence minds. Performance and creation are powerful tools. For a Flame Aspect, igniting the emotions of others is a consuming passion, a driving goal. The moment he submerges himself and the Aspect takes over, the Flame's every movement becomes artistry. Some paint, some dance, some sing; the Flame is a savant of physical art, with the power to captivate and inspire. While submerged, the Flame's physical coordination is flawless, with inhuman kinesthesia and proprioception. A Flame devoted to gymnastics could balance his entire body atop a single index fingertip; a Flame freerunner could sprint down the banister of a staircase; a painter with a Flame Aspect could finish a complex painting with incredibly precise brushstrokes at lightning speed. And for a witnesses to their kinetic performances, a Flame is enthralling, subtly manipulating the subconscious of his audience until they cannot look away. The alterations made to a Flame Aspect's body and brain mimic certain Gifted abilities to achieve this effect, and in truth, the Flame is the most poorly-understood Aspect outside of the secretive Codices and the strange Transcendent. The primary limit on a Flame Aspect's abilities is purely physical. While submerged, a Flame is consumed by a euphoria that dulls any sensations of fatigue or pain - without a properly-adjusted limiter in place to trigger emergence automatically, a Flame could work until collapsing without realizing it. Some Flames in the past have even deliberately disabled their limiters, choosing to literally perform until death, the ultimate expression of their overriding passion for their art. CODEX It takes a special sort of mind to become a Codex Aspect, different than the proclivities and talents required for any other Aspect. Most Codices begin their careers extremely young, in their teens. It takes years of immersion training before one can even receive the Aspect overlay to become a Codex. Hunters have tremendous data-sifting and sensory abilities; no one can read you like a Shark; and no Aspect can delve into the extra-rational mind like a Shaman. But Codices must interact with information and the mind in a completely different way; they are the ones who provide immersion training - if an Aspect is clothing for the mind and body, then Codices are the tailors. Their methods are a closely-guarded secret, though one thing is known for certain: Codices are trained in special techniques, from the subtle to the highly-overt, which can disrupt the Aspects of others. Changes in posture and inflection can manipulate a Shark's ability to read someone, for example, while a sort of informational static can block a Hunter's information-gathering. A Codex is the gatekeeper to the Library itself, and in addition to their abilities to provide Aspect training, they are also skilled in analysis and presentation of information. They are the third-rarest Aspect, after the Transcendent and Dragon. There are limitations to the Codex Aspect's abilities; they actually physically nauseous if required to disrupt many different Aspects in succession or for extended periods, sometimes to the point of being incapacitated. They also struggle with Library-dependence; Codices sometimes walk into walls, even, as they are lost in a partial trance, accessing and correlating data. Most need a full-time assistant and even a bodyguard simply to function, and their curiosity often completely supplants their good sense. TRANSCENDENT Adaptability is an important trait for survival and success in Apsis City. People who can move from skill-set to skill-set, rapidly learning new ones and applying old ones, are highly valuable in any field and at any strata of society. Those who can easily flow amongst exotic company, absorbing those traits which are most useful, those who are never for a loss when it comes time to learn a new trade - these are highly sought-after qualities. True to their name, however, those rare few who successfully pursue the Transcendent Aspect take learning and adapting to a completely different place. Most who pursue this Aspect are left physically crippled and with a variety of severe mental illnesses; only a small number successfully complete the full cycle of training and modification. This is because the Transcendent ceases to exist as a single entity, and instead becomes a multitude. Aspects are described as becoming a new person, but this is most true of the Transcendent, who has multiple overlays of skill-sets, personalities and memories, each tailored to a particular task. These skill-sets are known as personae. If the current persona is not sufficient, the Transcendent simply switches to another in a few seconds. Professional negotiator to ballet dancer to skilled fencer - the Transcendent can cycle through ten or more distinct persona packages to become just who they need to be. With the help of a Codex, a Transcendent can also change which personae are currently stored in the Aspect overlay. This all comes at a tremendous cost, however. The Transcendent Aspect is often dangerously unstable and prone to issues ranging from prosopagnosia to mirrored-self misidentification, amnesia, dissociative identity disorder, a wide range of personality disorders, and even full-on psychotic breaks. Transcendents must constantly remind themselves of who their core persona is, and undergo regular maintenance in a well where Shamans and Codices can make sure that they are still psychologically intact. It is not uncommon for a Transcendent rapidly switching personas to develop extremely severe nose-bleeds, or even black out, and dissociation is a common side-effect of extended submergence. VISIONARY There are those who can think many steps ahead, who can juggle elaborate schemes with ease; chess-masters, strategists, and leaders. There are even rare Gifted who can literally see into the future, but for most, true prognostication is a mere fantasy. But for those who have the aptitude, it is possible become so well-equipped for reading the world around them that they seem almost prescient. The Visionary Aspect sees "the big picture" in ways others cannot. For a Visionary, submergence dispels doubt, hesitation and emotion; their connection to the well expands to a torrent, and their senses heighten. It is easy to conceptualize a Visionary as a distaff to the Hunter Aspect; the Hunter focuses on their surroundings, seeing things in the immediate area in minute detail and calling up the knowledge they need to track elusive prey. For the Visionary, everything becomes global - not just the action of the moment, but the actions of many moments all around them. He is detached from the moment, viewing everything in slow-motion, as they perceive cause and effect, and rapidly produce rational conclusions based on that cause and effect. For the Visionary submerged in his Aspect, there is no past or future, only an infinitely-entangled and perfect now, a precision series of predictions based on countless streams of data. Visionaries are highly-desirable commodities and potent tools for those with access to their unparalleled reasoning abilities, but it is important for those seeking to invest in this Aspect that it comes with certain limitations. A Visionary cannot be left unattended while submerged; in this state, he is utterly oblivious to the minutia of his surroundings, completely incapable of conceiving of himself as a finite individual. He could tell you all about the trajectory and probable point of impact for a projectile, extrapolate the exact direction it would ricochet, and predict with eerie precision the reactions it will trigger up to several minutes in the future, but he would not be able to attach any real significance while submerged to the fact that its path happens to intersect with his torso. Further, submergence for a Visionary essentially requires overclocking one's own brain to deal with the massive amounts of information used for prediction. It is not uncommon for Visionaries to suffer sensory overload, fainting spells, nose bleeds and even to overheat their own bodies. Some Visionaries only perform extended analysis while literally submerged - in a tank of cold water to keep their body temperature down. ROOK For the rich and successful in Apsis City, bodyguards are a fact of daily life. The threat of kidnapping, assault or assassination is one faced by anyone who has really made a mark on society. Those whose sights are set on a move to Apex have more to fear than most, and some have practical armies of trained professionals in extraction, evasion, threat-reduction and even urban combat. For the truly discerning customer who is in fear for their life, only one solution will do, however: the living fortress known as the Rook Aspect. The Rook was a development of the Hunter Aspect, but instead of a keen investigator and tracker, the Rook has made herself a living battery of defensive countermeasures. While submerged, her senses are augmented to sweep for and intercept threats; her endurance to pain and fatigue becomes nigh-superhuman, and her body is flooded with designer hormones that tremendously heighten her strength and speed. Biomachinery automatically hardens the Rook's tissues against impacts when submergence is triggered, and for a time, there are few unmodified humans that can stand up to her in close combat. Rooks can actually smell explosives, trace sniper fire by sound, and have no concept of fear while submerged. For a time, a Rook Aspect is the perfect protector. Naturally, this comes at a cost. The Rook cannot stay submerged for more than twenty or thirty minutes at a time without risking permanent damage to her organs, in particularly her brain, pancreas, liver and heart. Her appetite is tremendous after a period of time spent submerged, and the skin of a Rook who has served in her chosen role of guardian for any real length of time is a network of scars, from life-saving surgeries and injuries alike. Overuse of submergence can also cause permanent damage to sensory organs, and profound muscle spasms and even seizures. Rooks tend to work in pairs for this reason, and all keep strict exercise and self-care regimens to avoid being crippled by their own Aspect. DRAGON Strength can be intoxicating. For some, no display is too extravagant to meet their needs, no show of force too excessive. Power perceived is power achieved. Wealth, knowledge, loyalty, charisma, strength; all are roads to power in Apsis City. This is true of those with submergence training, and true of those known as Gifted. The two cannot be combined; some quirk of the genetic tampering that produces a Gifted human is incompatible with the surgical and psychological alterations required to produce an Aspect. The reasons why are understood only by high-ranking Codices. But there is something of an exception: the Dragon Aspect. The methods used by the Strangers to "uplift" humans at the genetic level, creating the Gifted, are not foolproof. Sometimes errors occur. Children are born who should be Gifted, but the complex structures in their bodies needed to express a phenomenon do not form correctly. They are effectively handicapped, and this often has extensive physiological consequences for the unfortunate child, ranging from neural disorders to missing limbs, blindness, and severe tissue fragility. This failure to fully develop the modified traits is known as Fragile Human Uplift Syndrome, or FHUS. For some who survive with FHUS, a means of mitigating their condition - and indeed, using FHUS to create an Aspect unlike any other. Dragons undergo the most intense surgical alterations of any Aspect, save Rooks. The candidate's body is extensively modified with biomachinery and synthetic tissue which mimic a Gifted's unique physiological structures, and they are given a custom-made, extremely expensive artificial heart. They are trained in visualization and meditation techniques which allow them to control this biomachinery. Upon submerging, the Dragon taps into the numerous sensors of the connected world, granting them tremendous sensory acuity nearly rivaling that of a Hunter, which they need in order to correctly guide their abilities. A Dragon uses the latent cellular structures meant to power a phenomenon and their artificial uplift structures to generate a full-body "false mass field." In effect, the Dragon can manipulate the effect of gravity upon their own bodies or upon other objects with a touch - the Dragon can levitate her own body, cause a touched person to become so heavy they are crushed to the floor, or increase their own mass to tremendous levels - as though the Dragon were vastly larger than she appears. The upper limit on this false mass field is 1.25 metric tons. Exactly how a Dragon withstands this effect is not entirely understood; of all the Aspects, only the inner workings of the Codex are more closely guarded by the Library. The strain on a submerged Dragon is tremendous, however. While it is possible to remain submerged for hours at a time if they keep their use of their abilities to a reasonable level, the more they use them the hotter and hotter their bodies run until an emergency protocol forces them to emerge before they die of heatstroke. Dragons require frequent, expensive maintenance to keep the artificial uplift structures properly functional and to check for stress damage to their reinforced skeletons, and use of their Aspect for extended periods can leave them paralyzed, as their abilities draw upon the electromagnetic field of their own cells to function. The Dragon Aspect is a complex and expensive one to attain, and few candidates survive the process with their minds sufficiently intact to so much as function.