I dunno why.
Garish Tattoo [0]
This particular disease crops up on a number of timelines; it’s pretty obviously a bioengineered one, but nobody’s sure who is creating it, and how they’re spreading it. It’s communicable, but not very: symptoms include extreme lassitude and a mild fever for several days, a brightly glowing rash that turns into a brightly glowing scar, and the permanent acquisition of both a psionic talent, and minor psionic abilities/perks. Garish Tattoo is never fatal on its own, but somebody with a compromised immune system might not survive the experience. There are seven recognized strains of Garish Tattoo: contracting one form of the disease immunizes you from the others.
The good news for sufferers is that while getting Garish Tattoo does put a permanent strain on the system, the abilities that come with the disease are generally worth it. There’s no real stigma in most places for having the disease: in fact, some people deliberately try to get infected. Tattoo White and Tattoo Orange victims are particularly in demand by governments and organizations, while more criminal organizations will always be able to find a place for anyone with a case of Garish Tattoo.
One last note: Garish Tattoo never shows up in timelines with existing psionic powers. Also… while having a particular trait’s Talent would allow someone to later buy more powerful abilities in that trait, there’s usually no suitable teachers around to instruct the would-be psion. This suggests to Infinity that there’s possibly a second stage to the deployment of Garish Tattoo…
Advantages:
- Tattoo Red: Ergokinesis Talent/1 [5], Night Vision/4 [4], Light Amplification perk [1]
- Tattoo Orange: Telepathy Talent/1 [5], Emotion Sense/1 [3], Emotion Sense [H] IQ-2 [1], I Know What You Mean perk [1]
- Tattoo Yellow: ESP Talent/1 [5], Card Sharp perk [1], Forecast perk [1], Visions (Aspected Dream) perk [1], Visions [H] IQ-1 [2]
- Tattoo Green: Psychokinesis Talent/1 [5], PK Grab/1 [short range] [4], PK Grab [H] IQ-2 [1]
- Tattoo Blue: Probability Alteration Talent/1 [5], Good Neighbor perk [1], Karma Bank perk [1], Loaded Dice perk [1], Lucky Break perk [1], Shopper’s Blessing perk [1]
- Tattoo Purple: Teleportation talent/1 [5], Castling perk [1], Coin Trick perk [1] Exo-Draw perk [1], Expulsion perk [1], That Extra Inch perk [1]
- Tattoo White: Psychic Healing Talent/1 [5], Life Support perk [1], Natural Doctor perk [1], Postmortem perk [1], Psychic Surgery perk [1], Soothing Touch perk [1]
Disadvantages: FP -1 [-3], HP -1 [2], Unnatural Features/5 (Glowing scar on base of neck) [-5]
Note for PCs: obviously, if a character is being built from scratch, he or she can not bother with reducing FP/HP. This would make the cost 5 points total; but Unnatural Features/5 should be kept. And enforced.