Power System Overview

AX.GAT.08.03 - Power System Overview

Astraeus Terminal treats extraordinary capability the same way it treats everything else: as a resource, a credential, and a liability. The four traditions practiced aboard the station and in the Ki Nebula are not magic in any mystical sense; they are disciplines, some biological in origin, some learned, all subject to the physical and social constraints of a station where everyone is watching and infrastructure is shared.

The Terminal's population has developed practical language for these capabilities. Psionics is the word for minds that reach further than minds should. Void Attunement is what the Survey Corps calls the navigational instinct that keeps Drift-Touched pilots alive in the nebula. Arc Theory is the formal name that engineers gave to the Ashori electrical capability they spent years trying to replicate. Cybernetic Integration is what it looks like when augmentation goes beyond the hardware and becomes something a practitioner actively wields.

These traditions coexist on the station in an atmosphere of practical tolerance and quiet suspicion. Nobody bans Psionics, because the Velhari who run key analytical operations have it and the station needs them. Nobody bans Arc Theory, because the Ashori engineering crews are too useful to antagonize. Nobody talks openly about which senior administrators are augmented past the point where the CI tradition becomes relevant. The traditions are facts of station life. What matters is what a practitioner does with them and who finds out.

Tradition Categories

The four traditions fall into three categories that describe how the practitioner interacts with the world. Categories have mechanical relevance, certain perks, conditions, and faction protocols reference them.

Force

Force traditions project outward. The practitioner generates something, energy, charge, kinetic effect, and sends it into the environment. Force traditions tend toward direct application: attack, disruption, alteration of physical conditions.

Tradition	Lineage Affinity	File
Arc Theory	Ashori	AX.GAT.08.06

Resonance

Resonance traditions receive and extend. The practitioner opens perception, reads conditions that are not immediately visible, or projects mind and attention beyond their body. Resonance traditions tend toward information, navigation, and interpersonal influence.

Both Resonance traditions operate in fundamentally different registers. Psionics uses the practitioner's own consciousness as the instrument, it is mind touching mind, emotion reaching emotion, perception extending through organic neural architecture. Void Attunement uses the Ki Nebula and the character of deep space as the medium, it is environmental attunement, the capacity to read what the void is doing and how it is moving. A Psionic practitioner navigates through people; a Void Attunement practitioner navigates through space. The traditions do not overlap mechanically, and practitioners who have both find that developing one does not help with the other.

Tradition	Lineage Affinity	File
Psionics	Velhari	AX.GAT.08.03
Void Attunement	Drift-Touched; Meridian (affinity)	AX.GAT.08.04

Form

Form traditions alter the practitioner. The practitioner changes their own capabilities, enhancing, extending, or rewriting what their physical systems can do. Form traditions tend toward sustained enhancement and self-modification rather than external projection.

Tradition	Lineage Affinity	File
Cybernetic Integration	Synthari	AX.GAT.08.05

Access Rules

Lineage-Direct Access

Some lineages grant a tradition at 1D as part of their lineage identity. This die does not come from the Talent generation budget; it is part of who the character is.

Lineage	Tradition	Starting Rating
Velhari	Psionics	1D
Drift-Touched	Void Attunement	1D
Synthari	Cybernetic Integration	1D
Ashori	Arc Theory	1D

Lineage-direct access is independent of Profession. A character with lineage-direct access who takes a Profession that grants the same tradition receives the 2D affinity upgrade, their tradition rating advances to 2D rather than stacking a second independent die.

Profession-Granted Access

Characters without the relevant lineage may access traditions through their Profession's Power Access. Power Access is designated in the Profession entry and grants the character the ability to purchase and develop that tradition using standard Odd Talent rules.

One tradition per Profession. A character's Profession grants Power Access to one tradition. Taking a second Profession does not grant a second Power Access, characters may only hold one Profession.

Cybernetic Integration Prerequisite

Cybernetic Integration via Profession requires an additional prerequisite beyond Power Access: the character must have at least one qualifying implant. A qualifying implant is hardware that replaces or fundamentally augments a naturally occurring biological system, a prosthetic limb, neural processor, augmented sensory organ, synthetic organ replacement, or skeletal reinforcement.

Additive or passive implants do not qualify: subdermal comms, passive data chips, and cosmetic augmentations are not sufficient. The tradition requires that augmentation has already changed what the character's biology is, not merely added to what it carries.

Synthari ignore this prerequisite entirely. Cybernetic Integration is lineage-direct for Synthari because they are already what the prerequisite describes.

Independent Study

No tradition in this catalog is available through Independent Study. Without either the relevant lineage or a Profession that grants Power Access, a character has no mechanical path to a tradition regardless of XP invested. The traditions require either biological substrate or structured training, both are things that happen to a character before the campaign begins, not improvised mid-play.

Multi-Tradition Characters

A character may have at most two traditions simultaneously: one from lineage and one from Profession. The combination is uncommon on the Terminal but not unknown, a Velhari who takes an Oryx Logistics contractor Profession with Arc Theory access has both Psionics (lineage) and Arc Theory (profession). An Ashori survey specialist with Void Attunement access has both Arc Theory (lineage) and Void Attunement (profession).

Two Flux tracks. Characters with two traditions track Flux independently. Overloaded in one tradition does not affect the other.

Two governing Attributes. Each tradition has its own governing Attribute, chosen at creation. The choices are independent and do not interact.

Two Backlash tables. Backlash conditions trigger per-tradition. If a character rolls Backlash on Arc Theory, Void Attunement is unaffected.

Characters with two traditions are not more powerful in a single scene than characters with one, Flux still limits each tradition to one Overloaded use before imposing Disadvantage. The advantage of two traditions is breadth, not depth.

Odd Talent Rules Summary

All traditions function as Odd Talents per AX.C.04. The following applies to all four traditions:

Roll: Governing Attribute + Tradition (+ Focus if applicable)
Maximum tradition rating: 5D
Maximum Focus rating: 3D
Advancement cost: current rating × 2 XP to improve (e.g., 2D → 3D costs 4 XP)
First purchase cost: Governing Attribute value × 2 XP for a tradition at 1D via Profession
Foci: Each tradition defines 2–3 Foci in its tradition file. Foci are optional specializations that add dice to specific Expression applications. See individual tradition files.

Quick Reference

Tradition	Category	Governing Attribute	Lineage-Direct	Profession Access	Special Prerequisite
Psionics	Resonance	Wit	Velhari (1D)	Yes	None
Void Attunement	Resonance	Wit or Speed	Drift-Touched (1D)	Yes	None
Cybernetic Integration	Form	Body or Wit	Synthari (1D)	Yes	Qualifying implant (non-Synthari)
Arc Theory	Force	Body or Wit	Ashori (1D)	Yes	None

Flux universal rules: First use per scene = Clear (normal roll). Subsequent uses = Overloaded (Disadvantage). Recover via Short Rest (10 min) or Primary Action + Governing Attribute + Resolve vs. Threshold 3.