'The Matrix' referred to a consciousness (loosely defined) associated
with the hyperstructure of the Universe, existing mostly in a higher-
dimensional 'bulk' space outside normal reality, composed of something
that was neither matter nor energy as Humans define those concepts.
'The Flux' refers to the field of psychic potential associated with
this Universal awareness, analogous to the personal psychic potential
field associated with individual Homosentients.

This psychic potential field can be tapped into by Homosentients to
duplicate most (but _not_ all) psionic phenomena, at higher power
levels than most psions could ever hope to match,  and also to do
things 'conventional' psionics can not.  The process is not easy, and
there are costs and dangers associated with it, but it can be done.

Homosentients who wield the Flux as individuals are called 'fluxons',
the counterpart of a psion, and at first glance the two appear
similar.  They can produce broadly similar effects, and the basic
phenomena underlying psionics and Flux abilities are similar, but some
key differences separate the two types of ability.

The most basic difference is that psionic power is innate to
Homosentient beings, it is as natural as walking or breathing or
seeing, the psychic potential field is self-generated.  The Flux is a
psychic potential field that is _alien_ to the fluxon, instead of
manipulating his or her own psychic potential, he or she is
manipulating a vastly more potent field derived from a foreign life-
essence.  The Fluxon must draw this psychic potential, with its alien
imprint and nature, into his own mind and body, shape and direct it,
and impress his will upon it.  Inevitably, just as the fluxon effects
the Flux, the Flux effects the fluxon.

Also, though the potential power of the Flux far surpasses even the
strongest Homosentient psion, it is inherently _impossible_ for that
power to be as perfectly controlled as psi can be, precisely because
it is an alien power.  One might compare the difference between Psi
and Flux to the difference between walking and riding a horse.  The
horse faster, more enduring, and can carry greater loads than a
Homosentient.  A horse can be be trained to be very reliable and
useful.  However, the horse can _never_ be _perfectly_ reliable, the
control can never be quite as good as walking, because one is dealing
with a separate will.

This same difference means that for certain specific things, Psi is
more effective than Flux.  For example, Flux power _can_ be used to
duplicate psi skills such as healing or life extension, but because
the psychic power is alien to the subject, it is inherently clumsier
and harder to use for such purposes (though the sheer scale of the
available power can sometimes make up for this, assuming one is
prepared to tolerate the greater risks).

Also, because the Flux is an alien field, it's very unsuitable to use
for in duplicating Telepathy, and ESP is a special case that has to be
examined more closely on its own.  It's not the Matrix could not use
the Flux for Telepathy or ESP, it could, for the same reason an
ordinary Homosentient can use his own psychic strength (in theory) for
Telepathy or ESP.  For fluxons to wield that power is more complex.

(NOTE:  This uses my house version of the GURPS 3e psi rules, see
here:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.frp.gurps/browse_thread/thre...
)

Also, the Flux is inherently 'noisier' than Psi.  A fluxon must by
definition interact with an outside power from beginning to end, and
this is detectable by a variety of means.  Psi is detectable as well,
but because the mechanisms of its operation are mostly 'internal', it
is primarily the _effects_ that are detectable.  To return to our
earlier analogy, the first sign that a Homosentient is about to begin
walking is often the physical motion of the legs and body, the process
of internal preparation and deliberation is mostly indiscernible.

In comparison, before riding a horse, it must be mounted, a saddle may
be necessary, the horse may well make noise on its own, before the
action ride even begins.  There is plenty of activity to indicate that
something is about to happen, activity visible to those who know for
what to look.

Some locations have a temporary or permanent Flux rating higher or
(rarely) lower the '1'.  While there is no absolute upper limit to the
Flux rating of a locale, in practice Flux ratings above '5' are
vanishingly rare, and most high-Flux sites have a rating of '2' or
'3'.

(We'll come back to what these numbers _mean_ a little later.)

The area of a high-Flux area can range from one hex to miles across or
larger, but as with most things, the old rule 'the bigger the fewer'
applies, large high-Flux areas are rare.  To determine a random high-
Flux site, choose an area and role 1D.  On a 1-3 result add 1 to the
background level, on a 4 or a 5 add 2 to the background level, on a 6
role again.  On the second roll for a 1-5 the site background is a 4
and on a 6 the site background is 5.  (Flux ratings above 5 should not
be assigned randomly, they're _extremely_ rare and almost always have
a very specific reason for existing).  If the intensity result gives a
4 or a 5, the GM should decide _why_ such a high rating exists in a
site, as well.

A handful of sites have a Flux rating of zero, these too should have a
reason for existing, they are very rare.

Sites can _change_ Flux rating by any of several means, as we'll be
addressing a bit later.

Theoretically, as noted above, _anyone_ could become a fluxon with the
right training and skills.  In practice, things are a little more
complex.  Some people possess the Flux Affinity advantage, which makes
them more naturally able to use the Flux for their own use.  Also,
some people for various reasons are unable to do in practice what they
can do in theory with the Flux.

Two skills are critical for any fluxon, Flux Awareness and Flux
Mastery.

New Skill: Flux Awareness (M/H*, no prereq, no default**) - This skill
simply enables a fluxon to _sense_ the presence of the Flux directly,
to perceive its ebbs and flows and local intensities.  Possession of
this skill _defines_ a fluxon.  In the late Atlantean Age, a fluxon
would be defined as an individual possessing at least skill level 10
in Flux Awareness.

* For characters with the Flux Affinity advantage, Flux Awareness is
(M/A) rather than (M/H).

**The one exception is for those possessing the Flux Affinity
advantage, they have a natural Flux Awareness skill default of IQ-10,
_if they try_ to perceive the Flux.

New Skill:  Flux Mastery (M/VH*, prerequisites Flux Awareness skill at
10 or better, Flux Master can never be higher than Flux Awareness
skill level-2) - A fluxon who has Flux Awareness at 10 or better can
begin to study Flux Mastery, this is the skill that enables a fluxon
to _affect_ the Flux, to guide it, attract its energies, repel its
energies, use it for practical ends, etc.  Because one must perceive
the Flux to manipulate it, this skill absolutely requires Flux
Awareness as a prereq and has no default, and for any fluxon the
maximum possible skill level in Flux Mastery is 2 levels less than the
fluxon's skill in Flux Awareness.

* For characters with the Flux Affinity advantage, Flux Mastery is
merely Mental Hard rather than Mental Very Hard.

There are various ways the Flux can be used, but any means of using
the Flux requires that the Fluxon first 'find' the energy-pulse of the
Flux and then 'grasp' it so that s/he can put it to work.

First the fluxon must roll against Flux Awareness to 'find' the Flux,
with a bonus equal to the Flux Rating of the locale.  If s/he succeeds
s/he must then roll against Flux Mastery to gain a measure of control
over the Flux.  This is trickier, the results depending on the degree
of success.  For every 3 points of success on the first roll, rounding
down, the second roll gets a +1 bonus.

If the Flux Mastery roll succeeds by more than the local Flux Rating,
the fluxon has essentially solid control over the Flux...for the
moment.  A critical success counts the same as a success greater than
the local Flux Rating.

A success at less than the local Flux Rating means that the fluxon has
a grip on the Flux...but not a perfect one.  A failure means that the
fluxon has no influence over the Flux, and can try again at the usual
penalties for repeat attempts.  A critical failure means the Flux
reacts badly to the attempt at harnessing it, which can have a variety
of physical results.  A critical failure on a Flux Mastery roll sends
the player to the Flux Failure Table with a penalty equal to the local
Flux Rating.

Now Tamara must try to control the Flux.  Her extreme success on the
first roll helps, she succeeded by 8, divided by 3 that gives her a +2
bonus to her Flux Mastery roll.  Thus, Tamara now has an effective
Flux Mastery skill of 11+2 or 13, she rolls an 12.  Success by 1!

Unfortunately, the local Flux Rating is 3, and she only succeeded by
1.  She now has a 'hold' on the Flux...but a precarious one. She can
try again (no penalty!) and hope for a better result, but if she fails
she loses the current hold anyway.

Tamara is nervous, she's planning something tricky and decides she
wants to try for a better 'grip'.  Her player rolls again, and this
time the result is a 14.  A failure, she loses her grip on the Flux
and faces a penalty for a repeated attempt to try again.  Note, though
there is a skill penalty now, there's no Fatigue cost.  The Flux is
doing all the work, or not, as the case may be.

Tamara is in a hurry, so she immediately tries again, now with an
effective Flux Mastery skill of 12 (-1 repeat attempt).  She rolls a
13, sooo close.  She really needs to do what she's wanting to do, so
she tries again, at a -2 penalty, now her effective skill is down to
11 (same as her base skill, the repeated attempt penalty has cancelled
her bonus from the great Awareness roll).  This time she rolls a 17.

Critical failure!  Tamara fails to regain any grip on the Flux, and
now the Flux 'reacts' badly to her contact, which could be very bad
for Tamara (and anybody else too close!)  Tamara's player must now
roll on the Flux Failure table, with a -3 penalty because of the local
Flux Rating, or else the GM can apply a negative result of his/her
own, taking into account the Flux Rating and other factors as seems
appropriate.  The GM decides to use the Failure Table.

Here is the Flux Failure Table:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.frp.gurps/browse_thread/thre...

<<#>>

Nothing much...immediately.

EXAMPLE:  We step back in time and rerun the sequence.  In this
alternative history, Tamara tries again after losing her grip on the
Flux, again with a -1 penalty for the repeat attempt, and thus an
effective skill of 12.  As history replays, this time her player
rolls
a 9, success!  What's more, this time she succeeded by 3, which
matches the local Flux Rating.  She has a nice solid grip on the Flux,
and she's ready for her next action.

Note that she could, of course, try again, but it's hard to see why
she'd want to.  The only way she could do better would be to roll a
success by four or more, thus giving her a really superb grip, but the
odds are against it.  Matching the Flux Rating is very good.

Flux Talent:  PSIONIC DUPLICATION

The first general way she can use the Flux is to duplicate most (but
not all) psionic Powers.  The exceptions are Telepathy and ESP, these
psi Powers can't be directly duplicated by the Flux (though some other
interesting things can be done, more later).  The other Powers,
though, the Flux _can_ be used to duplicate with various levels of
success.  Generally speaking, the Flux is less precise and harder to
control than psionics, but conversely, it can be used to harness
_much_ more raw power than most psions could ever hope to match.

Also, there is a particular risk associated with this technique, as we
shall shortly see.

To duplicate psi directly, the fluxon must actually, consciously draw
the Flux energies into himself or herself, channeling them through
body and mind as if they were his or her own natural psychic energy.
Doing this successfully enables the fluxon to use Flux energies to
produce the same sort of effect that psions use their native energies
to produce.  From the point of view of an external observer, the
fluxon appears to be almost indistinguishable from an immensely
powerful psion.

In GURPS terms, though, the fluxon must learn separate, parallel Flux
skills to duplicate the various specific skills of psions, and they
are not interchangeable and they do not default to each other.  Thus,
a high level of skill is psionic telekinesis does not help a fluxon
use the Flux to manipulate objects, s/he needs the skill of Flux-
telekinesis.  All the 'parallel' skills have the same costs and
penalties as the psi versions, and one _can_ certainly know both if a
fluxon also a psion, but the point cost is not reduced since they are
sufficiently different not to default to each other.

Note that the Flux abilities are not divided into separate Powers,
though, they all draw on the Flux Power available to the fluxon, as if
they were all part of some single specific Power.  This is determined
at the start when the fluxon decides to use this approach, by rolling
3d and allowing for the local Flux rating as follows:

FR 1: add 1d
FR 2: add 2d
FR 3: add 3d

etc.

OK, what does all this _mean_?

The 'Power level' of the duplicate psi abilities is determined by a
roll of 3d, PLUS the fluxon character can add as many dice as desired
up to or equal to the local Flux Rating.  The number rolled is the
effective Power of the duplicate abilities, the more dice the stronger
the potential abilities can be.  However, here's where it matters by
how _much_ that Flux Mastery roll got made by.  If the fluxon rolls
more dice than s/he succeeded in the Flux Mastery roll by, there's a
chance of something going seriously wrong.  For each die over the
'success level', there is a matching skill penalty on anything done
with the duplicate psi abilities, and critical failures of any sort
bring in that Flux Failure Table again.

By staying below the 'success level', the skill penalties are avoided,
and even critical failures only produce what they would be expected to
produce with the equivalent psionic failure.  On the other hand, by
taking that risk and skill penalty, the fluxon can often get quite a
bit more raw power, which can be really useful...

This all sounds horribly complicated, but it's actually pretty simple
in practice.

EXAMPLE:

Tamara from our previous example now has a good grip on the Flux, and
decides to use it to duplicate psionic abilities.  She draws the Flux
energy directly into her mind and body, channeling in ways analogous
to the way a psion uses his or her own 'native' energy, and shapes it
for her needs.  Tamara has a choice to make, though, as to how much
energy to draw in and use.

In GURPS terms, her players must decide _how many die_ to roll.  The
local Flux Rating is 3, which means she could choose to roll as many
as 6d, or she could roll as few as 3d or anything in between.
However, if she rolls more _extra_ die than her success on her Flux
Mastery roll, she gets a penalty to everything she tries to do.  In
her case, she succeeded by 3, which is as many extra die as she can
roll anyway, so she can go all the way with no skill penalty (but
there is one reason she _might_ chose to forgo 1 of those die, as
we'll see in a moment).

Tamara needs power badly, so she draws in as much energy as she can
manage (her players rolls all 6 die).  Her player rolls a 17 on 6d,
Tamara can now use any of her duplicate-psi skills with an effective
Power of 17!

Tamara, as it happens, has Flux-telekinesis at a skill of 15, Flux-
Autohealing at a skill of 21, Flux-Exohealing at skill 19, and Flux
Metashield at skill 12.  With Power 17, that means she move objects
massing up to 1000 lbs at one yard/second, for ex.  Her equivalent of
the Psychokinetic metashield has a basic DR of 256, and she can do
some impressive healing action.

Now her player rolls the same 6d again, getting a 21, meaning Tamara
can wield these powers for up 21 turns!  At the end of that time she
has to make another Flux Mastery roll, on a success against her
unmodified skill she gets _another_ 21 turns, and so on, until she
finally fails.  At that point she has to start from scratch.

Note that she can retain these powers even if she leaves the high Flux
Rating site, but once she finally fails a duration roll, she has to
start again at the Flux Rating _for her current location_.

Now, one caveat:  Tamara decided at the start to focus as much power
as she could into herself, (i.e. her player rolled all six die).  That
means she's at the limit of her control, since that matches her Flux
Mastery skill roll.  She _can_ try to use 'extra effort' with any of
these abilities, but any critical failure on such an effort brings in
the Flux Failure Table.  She _could_ have deliberately held back from
using all the energy she could for the sake of control (her player
could have rolled only 5d), leaving some margin and avoiding that
risk.

(Had Tamara succeeded in that Flux Mastery roll by _more_ than the
local Rating, even that limitation would be gone.)

But that's why Tamara decided to try again after her first success
gave her only a success by 1.  She could still have tried to use all
that power, all six dies, but that would have given her a -2 penalty
on _every_ skill roll and any critical failure sends her to the Flux
Failure Table).

That's _one_ of the ways a fluxon can use the Flux, and in some ways
it's the most precise and controllable.  It involves an inevitable
risk, though, because in drawing the Flux energy inside oneself, one
exposes oneself to the influence of an alien life-essence, and this
can have consequences.  Regardless of how well or badly it goes, when
Tamara is 'done' with the Flux, letting its power go and relaxing her
mind, her player rolls once more vs Tamara's Will.  On a critical
failure, Tamara has been affected by the Flux in some way.

(We'll go into what this can mean later.)

Flux Talent:  RANDOM MANIFESTATION(S)

This is straightforward, the fluxon can decide to stimulate the Flux
to just run wild, producing some spectacular effect of which s/he may
or may not be fully in control.  Why do that?  Because it can be very
useful sometimes, if it goes well.

To do so, the fluxon, instead of drawing the Flux energies into
himself, more-or-less commands them to run wild, to produce a Random
Manifestation.  The Flux _will_ obey if the fluxon suceeded in his
Flux Mastery roll, but exactly what happens and what will follow and
how long it will go on depend on a few things.

However, the manifestation is _not_ chosen by the fluxon, s/he will
find out what it is when the manifestation occurs, at which point
there is a chance to gain control of it.  The fluxon can choose to try
and seize control of it, or not as desired.  If the later, the
manifestation will effect anyone and everyone in its area of effect
except the fluxon (usually), friend and foe alike.  If the fluxon
decides to try and gain control, s/he must roll vs his or her Flux
Mastery skill with modifiers as the GM thinks appropriate, including a
a negative bonus equal to the Flux Rating.  On a success the fluxon
can make suggestions to the GM about what the manifestation should do,
and reasonable ones should be followed.  On a failure, the GM has sole
control over the manifestation, the fluxon is a witness.  On a
critical failure the fluxon is subject to the effect of the
manifestation as well.

GMs can use the Random Manifestation Table for convenience, or as a
guideline for what can happen, if desired:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.frp.gurps/browse_thread/thre...

If a player decides his character is using this technique and informs
the GM, immediately the GM (not the player) rolls 3d, plus one die for
each Flux Rating, and consults the Random Manifestation Table (or
picks something comparable, the higher the result the bigger the
effect should be.  The table is far from complete, the blank spaces
leave space for GM imagination, the possibilities are nearly endless.

EXAMPLE:  Instead of using the Flux to duplicate psi, Tamara decides
to call for a Random Manifestation.  The GM rolls 6d (3 die plus 3
more for the Flux Rating) and gets a 14.

Moments after Tamara sends her command to the Flux, the entire region
for a mile or so around is filled by tiny manifestations similar to
ball-lightning, intense balls of crackling psychic energy, blazing
bright as arc lights, floating up, down, and all about, inflicting 2d
damage to any unprotected being or objects they touch (armor protects
as usual).  The GM decides to add a touch of his own, any time one of
the light-spheres touches a living thing, along with the physical
damage a mental blow effect equal to Power 10 is also inflicted!

Tamara is untouched, the manifestation is ignoring her, but it's just
as dangerous to her friends as her foes!  She can try to gain control
of it, and tries.  She rolls vs her Flux Mastery skill of 11, with a
penalty of -3 for the local Flux Rating, and makes it with a 7.  The
manifestation is now reasonably responsive to her control.  Her player
tells the GM she wants it to spare her allies and bystanders, and only
focus on her enemies.  The GM decides this is 'reasonable' and the
manifestation obeys.  The lightning-things fly right past her friends
to focus their power on anyone Tamara considers an enemy within the
range of the manifestation.

If Tamara makes a request of the manifestation the GM thinks
unreasonable, it will be ignored.  For example, Tamara's player
suggests that the manifestation should focus all its power on a place
miles beyond the edge of its effect.  The GM considers this
'unreasonable' and informs her that the manifestation is ignoring
Tamara's urgings.

If the control roll is a critical success, the GM should be especially
lenient about what is 'reasonable'.

(Obviously the suggestion has to be something connected to the
manifestation, it's no use asking that an earthquake knock airplanes
out of the sky, for ex.)

Tamara can also suggest that the manifestation dissipate at any time.
The GM should usually consider that reasonable, again within common
sense limits.  Stopping a major earthquake, for ex, does not make the
_results_ go away, things may still be on fire, roads ruined, dams
broken, etc.  Stopping a Flux-manifested firestorm does _not_ cause
the things it ignited to go out!  And so on.

If the control roll is a failure, the manifestation does as the GM
decides, for as long as the GM wishes, the fluxon has no control at
all.  On a critical failure, Tamara herself may be targeted by it!

Why would a fluxon do such a chance thing?  Because random
manifestations can be _enormously_ powerful, are easy to create, and
sometimes a situation is desperate.  For ex, when her fireball
manifestation dissipates, Tamara might well have wiped out an army of
opponents single-handedly!  Random manifestations can enable one
fluxon to affect regions miles across or more, and they are 'cheap'.
Tamara spent no Fatigue, the Flux did all the work.

We saw random manifestations, now we look at what happens with a
controlled manifestation.  This is where the Flux really gets useful,
for those with the skill to pull it off...and the risk tolerance.

At very high (20+) skill levels in Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery, it
becomes possible to attempt to get the Matrix and the Flux to do
things that psionics can not duplicate, and that can potentially have
truly epic effects.  This is also where a special sort of attribute
comes into play.  Every Homosentient character (and indeed almost all
living things) in the Orichalcum Universe have this attribute...but
for most people it rarely if ever _matters_.

To use Controlled Manifestation, a fluxon must have _at least_ Flux
Awareness skill 22 and Flux Mastery 20.  More is better.

The key to this process is that the Flux is merely the manifested
psychic power of the Matrix, that universal consciousness I mentioned
earlier.  The Flux is to the Matrix as ordinary psionic Power is to an
individual Homosentient psion.  The difference is one of sheer scale,
in the largest sense, the gap in scale and power between the Matrix
and an individual Homosentient is _greater_ than the gap between that
same Homosentient and any specific bacterium.  The Matrix and its Flux-
field pulsates across the entire Universe and in fact beyond.

Is the Matrix a sapient being?  Good question, the Atlanteans
themselves were divided on this point, their consensus was that the
answer was 'not exactly'.  Its awareness was so diffuse that on
anything less than a cosmic scale, it was subsapient, an instinctive
sort of awareness.  The Atlanteans discovered that it could be
'programmed' (for want of a better word), influenced to do certain
things using the Flux as its tool.

A fluxon with sufficient skill and Flux connection could more-or-less
instruct the Matrix to carry out complicated instructions, complete
with various if-then-else contingencies.  This process worked _better_
in areas with high Flux Ratings, because this meant that the Matrix
and the Flux were more 'focused' in that area, easier to interact
with, and with more local power available for work.

Because the Matrix has an instinctive awareness and a certain will of
its own, it can be unpredictable...and it 'likes' some people better
than others.  This manifests itself in the Flux Affinity advantage,
but also it varies from time to time for the same person.  That is
where the attribute I mentioned comes in, it represents the Matrix'
willingness to cooperate with a given person.  It takes the form of
Flux Points, each character has a certain number of Flux Points to
spend, once spent they're gone but they do eventually 'grow back'.

Really complex controlled manifestations often require the cooperation
of many high-skill fluxons, and a lot of things can go wrong, but the
payoff can be so high that the risk is worth it...sometimes.

In order to use this process, a fluxon must roll a success vs Flux
Awareness, with a -5 penalty, and then roll a success against Flux
Mastery again with a -5 penalty.  If the fluxon achieves this, s/he
can then basically try to 'program' the Matrix for a specific effect.

This is handled differently than the other effects.  In essence, the
Matrix (i.e. the GM) makes a reaction roll, more or less, to the
fluxon.  If the reaction roll is a 'good' or better, the Matrix will
_attempt_ to carry out the wishes of the fluxon.  On a failure, the
Matrix will ignore the 'program', on a 'bad' reaction or worse the
Matrix will be biased against the fluxon afterward for a while.

If the reaction roll is good enough, then the GM rolls again to see if
the fluxon properly got his/her wishes across.  The GM will role 3d
and on a success the 'program' is good.  On a failure the Matrix will
still do _something_, but it won't necessarily be what the fluxon
intended.  The worse the failure the bigger the difference, a failure
by 1 or 2 might produce a subtly flawed result, a critical failure
could be a disaster.

Both the reaction roll and the following success roll are heavily
modified and the GM's discretion is crucial, since the variety of
possible effects is too big for any specific rule to cover.

On the reaction roll, the GM should apply negative modifiers for
increasing complexity, for trying too often (it's a good idea for a
fluxon to wait a while after a major effect, days to weeks is good),
for anything the GM thinks might apply.  For something _really_
complicated, a -3 or a -4 on the reaction roll is reasonable.

Likewise, on the following success roll greater complexity adds
negativity, as much as the GM thinks appropriate.

The Atlantean Master Fluxon Alminiyax has Flux Awareness 26, Flux
Mastery 24, and 23 Flux Points, one level of Flux Affinity, and he has
in mind doing something complicated.

To make things easier, he goes to a place with a Flux Rating of +4.
This gives him a +4 on his Awareness roll, and he gets _another_ +1
for Flux Affinity.  He has a -5 penalty on the roll, so his effective
skill is 26.  Not too shabby.  He rolls a 13, which is terrific, he
made ths first roll by 12.  (Remember, he gets a +4 on the next roll,
12/3).

He rolls against Flux Mastery at -5, but he has the +4 bonus from
before, and he gets a +1 for Flux Affinity. This adds up to a Flux
Mastery skill of 23.  He rolls a 15, making his skill role by 8.  He
made it, he can now try to carry out his plan.

Now deep in the trance of communion with the Matrix, Alminiyax lays
out his desires into the vast mental structure of the Matrix, and then
the Matrix decides whether or not to cooperate.  In GURPS terms,
Alminiyax's player tells the GM what he has in ind, and the GM rolls
3d for the Matrix reaction roll.  It's really complicated, the GM
decides it's a -9 on the reaction roll.  Alminiyax has been doing this
sort of thing a _lot_ lately, that's a -2.  Alminiyax has Flux
Affinity, that's a +1, so he's looking at a -10 on the reaction roll.
Not too great.  In fact, since he needs a 13 or better on the roll,
he'll have to spend some of his Flux points, representing the Matrix's
good will towards him that he's imposing upon.

Alminiyax has 23 Flux points, he opts to spend 10 of them.  This kills
the penalty on the roll.  He'd like to spend more, but he may need
them later.

The GM rolls, getting a 13.  So far so good, the Matrix is ready to do
what Alminiyax wants...if Alminiyax can explain that well enough to
get things right.  This depends on his Flux Mastery skill.

The GM rolls again, deciding that this is so complicated and unnatural
that it's worth a -15 penalty again, gibing Alminiyax an effective
Flux Mastery skill of 09.  It's a +4 Flux Rating region which brings
him back up 13 on skill.  (I forgot to mention in the earlier post
that the Flux Rating acts as a bonus on the skill role here).

Now, the consequences of failure could be nasty (_something_ will
happen, after all, just not necessarily what Alminiyax _wants_ to
happen) so Alminiyax opts to spend another 5 Flux points, getting a +5
and bringing his effective skill back up to 18.

He gets a 14, and the Matrix begins to carry out his wishes as
expressed.  This means the Matrix does what _the player told the GM he
wanted_.  If he'd blown the second role, the one where he imprints his
wishes on the Matrix, the GM would intentionally do something other
than the player wished, since the Matrix didn't understand the fumbled
instructions.  Since Alminiyax succeeded, though, the GM will do what
the player asked.

Which doesn't automatically mean, of course, that the player thought
through the implications of what he was asking, if you know what I
mean...

Alminiyax's success rolls mean that the Matrix carries out his
wishes.  Before his eyes, the corpses he laid out begin to twitch as
the Flux telekinetically animates them...

Everybody has a certain number of Flux points (which can be zero or
negative), but most characters rarely if ever have occasion for them
to matter.  Flux points represent, for want of a better word, the
tendency of the Matrix to 'like' or 'dislike' certain people, the more
Flux points a person has, the more 'good will' s/he has built up with
the Matrix.  They can be 'spent' in various ways to influence certain
die rolls or situations.  In fact, positive Flux points can be 'spent'
on _any_ Flux Awareness or Flux Mastery roll, to 'buy a bonus' on the
roll, +1 bonus for each point spent.  The player must inform the GM
that s/he is spending Flux points, and how many, _before_ making the
roll.  Note that even if the roll still fails, the Flux points are
_still spent_.

For ex, in the above illustrations, Tamara's player could have spent
Flux points to help her rolls.  Or rather, that could have been done
except that Tamara's knowledge was limited, she did not know this was
possible or even that she _had_ Flux points.

If a character has _negative_ Flux points, this represents a certain
amount of hostility from the Matrix/Flux toward the character.
Negative Flux points can not be 'spent', and in fact represent an
_automatic_ penalty on all Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery skill
rolls, regardless of whether the player wishes that to happen, and the
points don't go away after the roll, the negative points have to be
recovered by the usual means (about which more shortly).

Thus, trying to use the Flux with a significant negative Flux point
total is probably a bad idea, nasty failure is nearly certain, with
potentially dire consequences.  Note that if anything happens to send
the character to the Flux Failure Table, the negative points add to
the roll for the bad consequence.  If a character with a large
negative Flux point total gets a critical failure, this can nearly
guarantee a really bad result, something potentially disastrous.

DETERMINING FLUX POINTS:  When creating a new character, after all
other steps are complete, roll 3d and subtract 3, giving a range from
0 to 15.

For characters with Flux Resistance, multiply by -1.

IF the character has the Luck advantage, add 2 for each level of it,
IF the character had Unluckiness, subtract 2.

Add 1 for each level of Charisma advantage (yes, it even works on the
Matrix to a degree).

For characters with the Flux Affinity Advantage, double the points at
level 1, quadruple them at level 2, multiply by 8 at level 3.

IF a PC has a positive number of Flux points and IF s/he so choses, s/
he can spent 5 character points to increase the Flux points by 50%.
This is a one-time chance available only at character creation.

The resulting number is the character's basic Flux points.

EXANPLES:

Don's player rolls 3d and gets a 9.  He has Extraordinary Luck, so he
adds +2.  He has Flux Affinity 2, so he quadruples that, getting a
44.  He _could_ spend 5 character points to boost that to 66, but he
opts against it, so his basic Flux points is 44.  Not bad, the Matrix
likes Don.

Sara's player rolls 3d and gets a 5.  Sara has Flux Resistance, so
that becomes a -5.  She has two levels of Charisma and one level of
Luck, bringing her to -1.  This is her basic Flux points.  At -1, the
Matrix seems to have a slight animus against Sara.

Joe's player rolls 3d and gets a 3.  He has Flux Resistance, it
becomes a -3.  However, he has a level of Charisma and a level of
Luck, his final total is a 0.  The Matrix is neutral toward Joe at the
beginning of play.

Note that any of these characters _could_ still study Flux skills and
become fluxons, at least in theory.  It is just that the Matrix will
react a lot better generally to Don than it will to Joe, and Sara will
be fighting up hill unless she can raise that point score.

Luckily for Sara, that's not impossible, as we'll see.

What this very common trait means is that the Matrix had a negative
reaction to you, as a general thing.  Some people get a worse reaction
than others, in GURPS terms a character with Flux Resistance has his
or her Flux point totals multiplied by -1.  One of the quirks of this
tendency in the Matrix is that if it takes a dislike to someone, the
more it would otherwise tend to like them (the higher the Flux point
total), the more it will tend to dislike them in the case of those
with Flux Resistance.

While you can raise your Flux points into positive territory even with
Flux Resistance, it always remains as a drag on the totals.

Flux Resistance supplies no benefits in terms of resisting Flux based
powers or effects. and can have other nasty side effects depending on
the exact situation.

NEW ADVANTAGE: Flux Affinity +15/+45/+100

The Matrix responds especially well toward characters with Flux
Affinity.  Flux based skills come more easily, Flux effects are more
easily controlled, even the highest-level powers are more readily
useable. Flux Affinity has, in theory, no upper limit to the number of
levels one can take, but in practice PCs should be limited to three,
and probably to two.  The higher the rarer, in a big way.

In the Orichalcum Universe, in the Modern Day setting on average 1
person (meaning _H. sapiens on Earth) in 100 has Flux Affinity 1, 1
person in 10,000 has Flux Affinity 2, and 1 person in 250,000,000 had
Flux Affinity 3.  This may be different in other places and times,
because the Matrix has a diffuse will of its own.

With any level of Flux Affinity, Flux skills are easier to learn, Flux
Awareness is mearly M/A rather than M/H, and Flux Mastery is M/H
rather than M/VH.  Also, anyone with Flux Affinity at any level gets
an IQ-10 default to use Flux Awareness.

For each level of Flux Affinity, a fluxon gets a +1 on all skill rolls
with either Flux Awarenesss or Flux Mastery, _except_ for skill rolls
to 'explain' or 'program' the Matrix for a Controlled Manifestation.

Each level of Flux Affinity multiplies the Flux points of the
character by 2, 4, or 8 (at higher levels the progression continues).
Also, each level of Flux Affinity cuts the time it takes to 'recover'
spent Flux points by half.

At Flux Affinity 3, a characters gets 1 level of Luck for 'free' if he
does not already have it, this does _not_ add to his Flux point
total.  Most (4 in 6, roll 1d) character with Flux Affinity 3 are
Weirdness Magnets (does not count against 40 pt limit).  Most level 3
Flux Affinity characters lead very odd lives, even if they have no
idea what they are.  If a Flux Affinity 3 character comes into a high
Flux Rating area, things can get _really_ odd.

Traditionally, among those who know of their existence, characters
with any level of Flux Affinity are called 'wyrdlings'.

Some GM guidelines for Controlled Manifestation:

1.  Though it may seem like magic, and operates in some ways like
magic, the Matrix/Flux is _not_ magical.  It has immense powers, but
it's bound by iron laws, and there some things it just can not do.  No
level of Flux skill can resurrect the dead, alter the velocity of
light in a vacuum, create _ex nihilo_, create life from inanimate
matter, combine combined oxygen and carbon to get water, or anything
of that sort.  Any such attempt automatically fails (the nature of the
failure varying with circumstances).

2.  If a fluxon's desired Controlled Manifestation is really large or
complex, the GM is perfectly within his rights to apply any level of
appropriate penalty to the rolls, the largest Flux feats ever
performed faced triple-digit penalties!  (Why and how this works we'll
come to, there are ways around the apparently insurmountable barrier
of a -100 penalty on 3d).

3.  Since the Matrix/Flux is not magic, the GM can and should require
that the fluxon(s) seeking a given Controlled Manifestation have some
knowledge of how what they are trying to do works.  If a group of
fluxons wants to create a hurricane (which is certainly within the
range of possibility!) at least one of them should know some
meteorology, for ex, so they can explain their desires to the Matrix.
The Matrix has some ability to perceive and reason on its own, in a
sort of brilliant instinctive way, but the GM should demand that the
fluxons at least have _some_ idea of what they're trying to do.

4.  By 'unnatural', I mean that the event is something that wouldn't
normally happen under the natural flow of events.  The more 'out of
place' or 'out of step' the Manifestation would be, the more it
'costs'.  For example, trying to create a thunderstorm on a hot, humid
summer afternoon in the temperate zone is much easier than creating a
thunderstorm at 10 degrees F below zero in winter in with dry air and
no clouds!  It _could_ be done, but it would cost more (higher roll
penalties) and take longer (the Flux has to gather moisture, move in
warm air or heat the air, etc).  It's much 'cheaper' and faster to
make a sandstorm in the middle of the Sahara than in the middle of the
Amazon jungle, or to bring about a big earthquake in California than
in the Canadian shield region.  The GM's common sense has to be the
rule.

(Note that the Flux _could_ produce a sandstorm in the Amazon jungle,
but it won't be easy and it'll take some time.)

5.  If the GM thinks a desired Manifestation is totally ridiculous, he
should not hesitate to apply ridiculous penalties.  For ex, trying to
make a volcano in the middle of the Great Plains of the USA is
_theoretically_ possible, but would probably involve a -10,000 penalty
on each roll and would take centuries or more to _happen_ if the
fluxons succeeded.  To make it happen faster would raise the penalty
in proportion.

Now, about those huge penalties, the only way around them on a big
Manifestation is to use Flux points, so the more Flux points are
available, the more the chance of making whatever is sought happen.
One person can only have so many Flux points, but more than one person
_can_ combine their efforts on a single Controlled Manifestation.  For
really large, complex, and difficult Manifestations, this is the only
realistic way Homosentient fluxons can do the task.  By combining
their efforts, they can add all their Flux points to neutralize the
penalties on the reaction and communication rolls, reducing it to a
manageable level.

How do they do this?  They _all_ have to have _at least_ skill 22 in
Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery, and they _all_ have to succeed in
skill rolls on both to start, at -5 on both, just as Alminiyax did
above.  They can individually spend Flux points to help these rolls,
but they may need those points for the next step!  Flux Affinity
helps, of course, just as above.

When they think they have enough, they must then make the attempt to
sway the Matrix to cooperate, (i.e. the GM makes the reaction roll on
behalf of the Matrix).  The reaction roll is made _once_, the GM
treats them as one fluxon, _averaging_ their positive and negatives
for the reaction roll.  Here is where they start to really need those
Flux points, since the cumulative Flux points spent add to the
reaction roll bonus!

The member of the group who _most recently_ took part in an individual
or group Controlled Manifestation attempt counts as the most recent
for the whole group.  If that attempt failed, add -1 to the reaction
roll _for each member of the group_.  Thus the group is wise to make
sure that the person who most recently engaged in this activity
_succeeded_, it helps their reaction roll!  Planning things out ahead
of time is important when using the Flux!

If the reaction roll is good enough, now comes the communication
roll.  Their _average_ skill in Flux Mastery becomes the collective
skill in the attempt to imprint their desires on the Matrix, again,
here's where the Flux points are needed, since any project difficult
enough to need so many fluxons is likely to be operating under _heavy_
penalties to start with.  If they fail this roll, something will still
happen, and since they are probably trying something spectacular,
there's a good chance whatever wrong things happen will be
spectacularly wrong!

The upshot is that any effort at a group-based Controlled
Manifestation needs the highest skill levels they can get, and should
be as rested, prepared, and on as possible!

It takes as many hours of game time to do a group imprint (meaning the
imprinting roll) as there are members in the group, and if they are
interrupted it _automatically_ fails!

(The same is true of an individual effort, but the time involved is
far shorter, usually no more than one hour (GM's discretion)).

In the year 2008, the Atlantean master fluxon NPC Ylarines and his
followers have decided to try and destroy a mountain dam in the
western United States, creating a disaster to distract official
attention from even more nefarious doings elsewhere. (What's an
Atlantean master fluxon doing in the modern USA?  That's for me to
know.)

Ylarines has Flux Awareness 30, Flux Master 28, 3 levels of Flux
Affinity, and 60 Flux points.  Each of his six followers, for
convenience, we will say has one level of Flux Affinity, Flux
Awareness 28 and Flux Master 26, and 30 Flux points, giving the group
a total of 240 Flux points if they can manage to spend them usefully.

They begin by gathering not far from their chosen target (distance
doesn't necessarily _stop_ such activities, but it can add penalty to
the cost), they are on the top of the canyon overlooking the dam below
in the early dawn light.  The seven of them begin chanting and
engaging in the autohypnotic processes that enable them to enter the
proper trance state for using the Flux on this level.  The local area
has a Flux Rating of 1.

In GURPS terms, each one takes a turn to try and 'find' and 'contact'
the Flux.  For each character the GM rolls against first the Flux
Awareness, and if they succeed then against their Flux Mastery, at
-5.  (If these were PCs, the players would roll for their characters
and the choose the sequence beforehand).  Of the seven, the first four
makes both rolls successfully.  Ylarines went first, he now has three
other fluxons ready to join him.  They can try again, but at -1 to the
effort, or make do with what they have.

With 150 Flux points among them, Ylarines decides they have enough.
Now the Matrix (i.e. the GM) makes a reaction roll, with the following
bonuses and penalties:  the average of their Flux Affinity is 1.5,
(6/4), rounding down to 1.  That's a +1 on the reaction roll.  None of
them have called on the Flux for anything complicated lately, the GM
decides that's worth a +1.  They're asking for something fairly basic,
so that's only a -5 penalty.  They spend 5 Flux points to cancel that
penalty, and anothre for a +5 bonus, leaving them with 140 in reserve.

The GM rolls 3d and gets a 14, adding +1 for the average Flux Affinity
bonus and +10 for the spent Flux points gives 24, they made the roll
easily.  In fact they'd have made it without spending their points,
but they had no way to know that beforehand and those 10 Flux points
are lost.

Now that they can sense that the Matrix will go along, they attempt to
imprint their wishes onto the Matrix.  This takes 4 hours of game time
(4 fluxons in the effort).  In GURPS terms, the GM averages the Flux
Mastery skills of the four contributing fluxons, (30+28+28+28)/4=28.5,
round down to 28.  Add +1 for the average Flux Affinity, +1 for the
local Flux Rating.  They have to roll below 30 on 3d to succeed.

The GM considers the situation.  They want something basically simple
(break a dam), but fairly large (it's a big, solidly made Bureau of
Reclamation dam anchored on solid dense rock), but they don't want to
_just_ break it, they want to _pulverize_ it, shatter it into gravel
(to set a mystery for the government to puzzle over).  Pulverzing a
well-made, well-placed concrete dam takes quite a bit of energy, so
the GM decides that a -50 penalty is in order.

Ylarines and his fellows decide to spend 50 Flux points to kill the
penalty, meaning that they succeed on anything but a critical
failure.  This leaves them with 90 Flux points among them (costs
divided equally, rounded down).

The GM rolls, gets a 6, the Matrix properly understood what they had
in mind and acts upon it immediately.  In the canyon below, without
any warning, the dam suddenly begins to vibrate for no visible reason,
as a surge of psychokinetic activity grips it, the water in the
reservoir behind the dam churns in sympathy, the power wires leading
from the power plant strum and break, then the metal pylons anchoring
the power lines to the canyon wall begin to fall apart.  Cars driving
along the road on top the dam are shoved off into the water on one
side, over the 700 foot drop to the other as alternating waves of
psychic force sweep through the structure.

Then, just minutes later, the dam begins to distintegrate, solid
concrete crumblings steadily into gravel-sized chunks, and the
reservoir begins to sweep through the space being evacuated by the
collapsing dam.  A wall of water sweeps along the canyon...

The crude way is to use Flux power to oppose a manifestation with a
manifestation.  In our above example, suppose that another Atlantean
master fluxon, the redoubtable Adaronades, and his student-fluxon
Tamara (from our above examples) and her husband Phillip happen to on
the opposite side of the canyon, playing tourist.  Shortly after
Ylarines starts his nefarious activities, Adaronades senses what's
happening, and Phillip looks through his binoculars in the direction
Adaronades sensed activity and they spot Ylarines.

Adaronades realizes he has only a few moments to do anything, since he
can feel that the other team is almost past the point where it's safe
to interrupt him.  By himself he lacks enough Flux points to do
anything too big, Tamara lacks the skills to help with a Controlled
Manifestation or fighting one directly.  So he has to try something
quick and crude.  Luckily has has Flux Awareness 37 and Flux Mastery
35, and 60 Flux points and has level 2 Flux Affinity, all of which
helps now.  He succeeds in his sense and mastery rolls, and goes for a
very simply Controlled Manifestation, and spends 20 Flux Points on his
reaction roll to help it along, he succeeds.  He spends another 20
Flux points on the controlling roll, which has only a modest penalty
because it's so _simple_.  He makes it.

Even as Ylarines and Co. are in the approaching the last safe moment
to stop them, Adaronades' manifestation appears: a sudden tremendous
surge of psychokinetic force sweeps Ylarines and his allies over the
edge of the cliff, sending them plummeting to their deaths.

By himself, Adaronades probably could not safely stop things if it got
that far.  If he had enough high-skill, high Flux-point help, though,
he could either let Ylarines finish while setting up his own
counteracting Controlled Manifestation, or he could try to 'contest'
the manifestation.

The first is straightforward, it might consist of something like
collapsing the rock walls of the canyon down-stream to contain the
rushing flood, or the like.  The effort would work like any other
Controlled Manifestation, no contests of skill or anything of the sort
involved, it would just be a matter of one group using the Flux to
create an effect, another creating a different effect, and letting
them interact like any other physical phenomena.

The other way is to 'contest' the manifestation.  Contesting a
manifestation works roughly the same as creating one.  The fluxon(s)
involved must make their Awareness and Mastery rolls, and then the
'contesting' group makes a reaction roll too, in effect asking the
Flux to stop whatever it's doing for the other group.  Whichever group
wins the higher reaction wins the contest.  That is, if the contesting
group gets a higher reaction roll than the first group did, the
control of the manifestation shifts to them.  He/she/they must then
make a Flux Mastery roll of their own to either shape the
manifestation or dismiss it, just as if they had started the process.

Note that the first group can then attempt to contest it again, to
regain control, and if they succeed their opponents can try
again...but each time this happens the reaction roll penalties get
worse.  In game terms, the Matrix is getting irritated by the constant
importuning.  Normally a 'good' or better reaction is needed for
anything to happens on a Controlled Manifestation, something is
already happening, the reaction rolls are a struggle for control, and
can keep going down.  When one side or the other hits a ver bad' or
worse result (1-3 or less), both groups lose control and the
manifestation runs wild.

Note that there are no limits to have many different fluxons or groups
of fluxons can contest for control of a manifestation, but the more
contestants the faster the situation is likely to turn into an out-of-
control disaster.

For example, suppose Adaronades had enough support to 'contest'.  He
and his people go through the same processes they would if they were
trying for a Controlled Manifestation of their own, but when they
reach the part when the GM rolls their reaction roll, they have to not
just get a 'good' reaction, they have to _equal_ or beat the Matrix's
reaction to the first group.  A tie is a win.  If they succeed, they
then must get their own wishes across the Matrix (succeed on a Flux
Mastery roll), even if their intention is simply for the whole thing
to dissipate harmlessly.

Suppose Adaronades and Ylarines get into a serious of contests for
control, driving the Matrix into an irritated state, until finally
Ylarines tries once too many times.  In GURPS terms the GM rolls a 2
on the reaction roll, the Matrix is now irritated and the dam does not
just crumble, it essentially _explodes_, spraying billions of bits of
gravel at assault-rifle velocity in all directions!  Or maybe the
effect hits the walls instead of the dam itself and the canyon
collapses downstream leaving the dam intact.  Or something equally out
of control.

1.  Almost all Flux-related game events boil down to two GURPS skills,
Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery.  The former enables the fluxon to
_sense_ and _perceive_ the Flux, with its ebbs and flows, pulsations
and shifts and alterations.  The second enables the fluxon to
communicate with the Matrix (the mind behind the Flux) to command the
power.  Flux Mastery skill is limited to (Flux Awareness -2).  Almost
everything involving the Flux can be 'gamed' with these two skills.

2.  Unlike most GURPS skills, where super-high levels of skill show
diminishing returns, Flux Awareness and Flux Mastery keep on getting
more useful even with skill levels in the 30s and 40s, because
enormously high skill levels help offset the tremendous 'cost' of the
higher level Flux powers, especially the fantastically powerful and
versatile Controlled Manifestation ability.

3.  It's _theoretically_ possible to teach yourself the Flux skills
from written references and other such sources, but it's much harder,
much of the talent of a fluxon is a learned thing, best taught by
direct experience.  Triple all learning times for flux training
without a skilled teacher.

4.  Even with high skill, there are ways to lose access to the Flux
power, or to have it become reluctant to respond to you.  Likewise,
there are things that can make the Flux temporarily more malleable to
a fluxon.

One of the dangers has its roots in the fact that the Flux is
basically the psychic field of the Matrix mentality, just as an
individual Homosentient has a personal psychic field that is the basis
of psi.  This super-psychic field can be and is influenced by other
minds, indeed this is the basis of Flux skill.  It happens in a more
general way as well, however.  The Flux takes on an impression from
the thoughts, emotions, and imaginations of living beings in proximity
to it, meaning in practice almost everyone.  The impression is barely
there, faint, a ghostly semi-presence...on the scale of the Matrix.
On a mortal scale it can be quite significant.

Thus the Flux reacts to the thoughts and feelings of the general
population, and indeed of the plant and animal kingdoms, any
biological mind with sufficient self-awareness to _have_ feelings or
desires or thoughts may influence the Flux slightly.  The effect of
any one individual is usually almost immeasurably slight, but
cumulative effects can become important.  More potent minds have
greater effects as well, thus Homosentient thoughts and feelings can
be especially important in influencing the Flux whenever there is a
large population of Homosentients in one locale ('locale' meaning a
planet or something of comparable size).

This means that especially common, universal thoughts and feelings can
be especially influential on the Flux.  A feeling, thought, or image
common to millions of minds is more likely to leave its mark on the
Flux than something occupying only a few minds.  Also, an especially
_intense_ emotional image or idea will be more potent than a more
'relaxed' one.  In some cases the overall behavior of the Flux may
even change in response to such influences, Flux-based phenomena may
actually start to behave in the way that large numbers of people
'expect' them to.  This does not _always_ happen, but it is does
happen often.

The common influence can be especially important in Spontaneous
Manifestations, about which I'll explain downthread, but it also
matters for individual fluxons who use the Flux to duplicate psionic
abilities.  In order to duplicate personal psi powers with the Flux,
the fluxon must actually draw the Flux energies into himself, and
channel them through his body and mind just as if he was doing the
same with his own natural psychic field.  This internalization of the
Flux gives it a chance to leave a mark on the fluxon, usually based on
the thoughts and images and emotions the Flux has absorbed in from
others over time.

As mentioned above, when a fluxon uses the Flux to duplicate psi
powers, 'from within', when s/he finishes, no matter how well or badly
it went, the fluxon must make a Will check.

EXAMPLE:  Tamara has finally finished with her activity, and she
releases the Flux, her Flux-based parallel-psi powers fade away, and
she breathes a sigh of relief.  However, her player must now roll vs.
Will, with a penalty equal to the Flux Rating.  On a success nothing
bad happens.  On an ordinary failure, the Flux leaves a psychological
imprint behind.  On a critical failure, it's more so.  After a failure
on this roll, any further rolls against Flux-based changes to
personality lose that +2 bonus until 30 days have passed.

Tamara has 3 levels of Strong Will and IQ 12, giving her a Will of
15.  She's a Flux 3 area, so there is a -3 penalty.  She rolls a 13.
She picks up a new quirk, (GM's option).  On a critical failure, she
might have picked up 2 quirks, or one really troublesome one.  The
effect is permanent unless Tamara somehow can get rid of it (roleplay
it!).  This process is cumulative, over time failed will rolls can
induce new mental disadvantages (or for that matter new mental
advantages), all compulsory, none providing new character points.
Over time this can radically alter a character's personality.

Specific skills and techniques existed in Antediluvian times to undo
such effects, or at least ameliorate them.  Does Tamara have access to
such in 2008?  Good question.

This can range from the trivial to the humorous to the awe-inspiring
to the terrifying, depending on the circumstances and the intensity.

Note that such effects rarely if ever reflect a single person's
complicated thinking or imaginings, instead they tend to reflect
generalied things, things that many minds might recognize or dwell
upon.  Emotional resonance helps, too.  If you were not too far from
Disneyworld, and one day you saw a cloud apparently sculpted by wind
into a nearly perfect image of Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck, you may
(highly likely) be losing your mind...or you might be seeing a
Spontaneous Manifestation (unlikely, but not impossible).

This would be a fairly harmless Spontaneous Manifestation...not all of
them are so safe.

The higher the local Flux Rating, the more the chance of a Spontaneous
Manifestation, and the more spectacular it can tend to be.

Even in high-Flux areas, such events are uncommon, but they do
happen.  They're more likely in some specially affected areas, about
which we'll talk more later.

The answer is that there are defenses against these techniques.

The first defense is common sense, if Ylarines and his fellows had not
been standing so close to the edge of a steep lethal drop, it would
have taken more than a simple shove to deal with them.  They were
careless and had no idea another fluxon was around, making Adaronades'
task easier.  The common sense defense against Flux-based attacks is
to avoid situations where the 'natural danger level' is high, since
that makes it easier to use a _modest_ manifestation to cause a bad
(for you) result.

The second and more general defense is to use the Flux to guard
against such attacks.  This technique we will call 'warding', and like
everything else to do with the Flux, in game terms it involves the
familiar basic Flux skills.  It works almost like a Controlled
Manifestation, and in fact it could be considered a form of that.

A minimum skill level of 20 in both skills is needed, and again a -5
penalty applies to both rolls.  A success on both means that the
fluxon has found and made contact with the Matrix/Flux.

But to ward himself or someone or something else, the next step is
slightly different.  Instead of seeking some physical effect, the
fluxon is asking that the Flux 'immunize' whoever or whatever is being
warded from attack by others using the Flux.  Again the GM makes a
reaction roll, and again the fluxon can spend Flux Points to gain a
roll bonus.

Warding is 'easier' than other Controlled Manifestations, though,
since instead of asking the Matrix/Flux to _do_ something, the fluxon
is asking that it _not_ do something later.  A 'neutral' or better
reaction is a success, and each higher level of success (i.e. good,
very good, or excellent) gives a +1 bonus on the following skill roll.

Now the fluxon (assuming he made the first roll) notes what he wants
warded and how intensely, and rolls vs. his Flux Mastery skill, with a
bonus from the previous reaction roll (+1 for good, +2 for very good,
+3 for excellent), along with the usual bonuses from the local Flux
Rating and Flux Affinity.  The GM assesses a penalty based on the
thing warded and much it is to be warded.

If the fluxon makes his skill roll, he (or the other subject) receives
the requested warding.  A failed roll has no result at all, except to
consume however many Flux Points were spent.  This process is very
safe, there's little risk of anything going wrong with a warding
attempt, assuming one doesn't blow the initial attempt to make contact
(a risk common to _all_ Flux use).

The effect of the Ward is that any attempt to use the Flux to attack
the Warded object suffers a penalty on the skill _and_ reaction roll
of the attack.  This works against both Uncontrolled and Controlled
Manifestations, and even offers protection from the natural
Spontaneous Manifestations.  The only thing is offers no protection
from is the parallel-psi technique, because this works through the
mind and body of a fluxon and involves no overt manifestation, it does
not apply to that.

Suggestions for penalty roll on the skill roll for GM:

Fluxon seeks to ward only himself: -3 * Ward Rating
Fluxon seeks to ward a group including himself: (2* number of group *
(-3 * Ward Rating))
Fluxon seeks to ward one other person: (-5 * Ward Rating)
Fluxon seeks to ward group not including himself: (2 * number in group
* (-5 * Ward Rating))
Fluxon seeks to ward object:  -5 * Ward Rating * number of hexes
object occupies

These are just guidelines, the GM can and should apply bonuses and
penalties according to specific circumstances.

The Ward Rating is the penalty on the reaction and skill rolls used to
attack whatever is warded.

EXAMPLE:  Ylarines survived the fall from the cliff due to Villain
Survival Effect (i.e. the good guys didn't find the body afterward).
He eventually recovers, and sets out for revenge on Adaronades.  He
catches up to Adaronades, finding him having a late supper in a little
diner in a small town in Iowa.  Watching from his car across the
street, listening to the driving rain and musing over how he was
wronged by Adaronades (after all, Ylarines was minding his own
business in the process of trying to engage in mass murder, and
Adaronades went and interfered, insufferable busybody), Ylarines
launches his attack.

Ylarines figures he'll keep it simple, and tries for a Controlled
Manifestation, he asks the Flux to choke Adaronades to death.  That's
easy, basic, and simple, and Ylarines spends several Flux Points to
make sure it works.

Trouble is, Adaronades Warded himself heavily, unknown to the outraged
Ylarines.  Ylarines gets off to a good start, his first two rolls (to
find and connect with the Flux) go well.  Then he tries for his
strangling Manifestation, and things promptly go sour.

His reaction roll is penalized by Adaronades' ward, which has a -25
rating.  The GM rolls 3d, and when all the Flux Points and everything
else are totaled up, he gets a 16, a very good reaction.  However, the
Ward Rating now subtracts 25 leaving a -21, a Disastrous reaction.
Because it was a Ward penalty, there's no real loss to Ylarines'
popularity with the Matrix, it's just that the Matrix has already been
programmed against what Ylarines wants.  He has to try _again_,
spending more Flux Points to make up for the deficit.

(NOTE:  The GM should _NOT_ tell the player _exactly how many_ Flux
Points are needed to overcome the penalties, the penalties are
_secret_, because the character has no way to no except to try and
see!  A fluxon can make an Awareness roll at any time to try and get a
'sense' of what is needed, but the answer will be something general,
like 'at least 20 points are needed', or 'something like 30'.  On a
critical success on a Flux Awareness roll, the exact penalties are
revealed.)

Suddenly suspecting that Adaronades is protected, Ylarines tries to
sense how strong the protections are.  His player rolls against Flux
Awareness, and gets a success, he learns that it will take at least 15
Flux Points, but how many more he doesn't know.  (On a crit success
he'd be told he needs '25' to kill the penalty.)

Ylarines spends 20 _more_ Flux Points on the next try, the GM rolls an
18, and because of the extra Flux Points the -25 Ward penalty is only
-5, final result 13.  That's a 'good', Ylarines is in business.

BUT...he still has to explain to the Matrix what he wants, i.e. his
player must make a Flux Mastery roll as with any other Controlled
Manifestation.  Knowing Adaronades is warded, he spents another extra
20 Flux Points, and on the 3d roll he makes a 16.  When all the
bonuses and penalties (including the Flux Points and the Ward penalty)
are added up, Ylarines' player ends with 37, his roll failed!

EXAMPLE:  Replaying the example above, Ylarines decides to try to make
it look like an accident.  Instead of trying to strangle Adaronades
with PK, Ylarines asks the Flux to collapse the restaurant roof.
That's a little more energy, so the penalties are worse, but not too
bad from Ylarines' point of view.  He makes his rolls, but again he
finds that when he gets to the reaction roll it's weirdly hard.  The
thing is, as long as Ylarines _himself_ knows that his ultimate goal
is harming Adaronades, directly _or_ indirectly, the Matrix will sense
that too, through the connection with the Flux, and the Ward kicks in.

Once again, Ylarines has to spend far more Flux Points than he thought
he would for so basic an effect, and again he blows the final skill
roll because of the Ward penalty.  This time, instead of collapsing
the roof of the diner, the Flux blows the hood, trunk, sunroof, and
doors of every car on the street right off their hinges, making a
horrible ruckus!

All this noise alerts the inhabitants of the diner that something's
up, just as the waitress brings Adaronades his apple pie.  He walks to
the door to see what's up, and sees doors and trunks and hoods and
other car-parts scattered through the street, a plethora of damaged
parks cars, and sitting in a ripped open car across the street is
Ylarines, pounding on the wheel of his car and cursing in Atlantean as
the rain through his now-open sunroof soaks him.

This time our villain managed to give State Farm some interesting
insurance claims, but Adaronades is still safe and sound (the same
can't be said of his car, but better his car than him!)