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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fralex" data-source="post: 7672471" data-attributes="member: 6785902">That's cool, you can also flavor it more generally as a power that comes from a mental "Awakening" of some sort. Some new way of thinking about the nature of the world that gives you power over it. It's not really a secret, like the arcane is. It's just some piece of knowledge that is almost impossible to grasp, but once you do, gaining more power is simply a matter of refining the techniques you know. One Weird Trick, if you will. It's not a spiritual enlightenment per se, I guess you could call it an enlightenment of the soul (mysticism fun fact: the soul is the source of will in an individual, allowing them to be self-aware and actively use their mind; the spirit is the vital energy that powers all living things).It can come from exposure to things that seemingly defy all notions of natural law and sanity, the revelation of some universal truth that is beyond horrifying, and not letting it break you. Instead, some hidden part of your mind you never used before gets painfully stirred into action, giving you the power to fight back against madness itself. Thus, an infection from the Far Realm on a large enough scale would lead to a rude Awakening for lots and lots of individuals who are open to it (others would just go hopelessly insane). This should not, of course, mean that things from the Far Realm do not scare you or test the limits of your sanity; it just means you're better at resisting it than others. Ooh, if you're using Sanity as an ability score, psions would be perfect for it, as a spellcasting ability. I can think of plenty of stories about mad wizards or mad priests, but the idea of a mad psychic sounds wrong somehow. They might seem mad or illogical to people who can't grasp this truth, but their mind is crystal clear. No, I think psionics is inherently based on understanding, in full, the forces behind your power. And this truth, whatever it is, should be impossible to learn directly from someone else. No words of any language come close to being able to describe it. It has to come from within.And not all Awakenings are traumatic. Some come to this knowledge by a wondrous inspiration, or from years of meditation at the foot of a master (who cannot explain the power, but can help guide them to coming to their own realization). You might even work it out completely on your own. But I feel like this concept of being awakened, of gaining understanding of some powerful truth that cannot be explained to anyone else, is where psionics gets its unique flavor.TL;DR The key source of psionic power is an awakening revelation, a single piece of knowledge that when understood, gives you everything you need to use psionics. The Far Realm is so alien to conventional knowledge that it can, if you're lucky, lead to your awakening rather than your madness. But there are other ways to reach this psionic enlightenment, too.</blockquote>

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