Ringmaster

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Quirk

Quirk Name: Ringmaster

Quirk Type: Emitter

Quirk Overview: The user can leave harmless faintly glowing marks on things they touch. If the user draws a closed shape with their body in some way (walking around the area and ending where he started, drawing a circle with his finger) anyone/any part of someone’s body that is currently in the closed area or passes through it has a mental link with the user. Link can be used to communicate telepathically, use each other’s senses, or to attempt to mind control the other. Link can be broken by either party at will once the person has left the closed area, if still inside the area, only the user can sever the connection. Trying to mind control each other in the beginning would cause a strong urge and intrusive thoughts about whatever it is the person is being urged to do. The longer the link is maintained, the more leverage the user gains over the other person and the effect is no longer two way. The other person is eventually reduced to an almost animalistic level and will follow the user’s commands, unable to think enough to sever the link themselves. Each link is only between the user and each individual person. Being under the link becomes less straining for the user over time. The user can use the link to expose the people linked to them to overwhelming stimuli/emotions to cause mental strain.

Quirk Limits/Drawbacks: When the link is first formed, the user can read/hear the linked people’s thoughts whether they want to or not, but the person/people on the other side of the link can read the user’s thoughts if they choose to. Neither party can block each other’s telepathic messages. Being under the link is mentally straining on the user and becomes more straining the more people they’re linked to at once/in a row. Since it’s a two way link, the user can be negatively impacted by stimuli or emotions people under their link experience. The user can be spied on very easily by the person under their link near the beginning of the link. (drawbacks mostly scale in reverse: over time the debilitating drawbacks at the start dwindle away and sort of reverse onto the other person on the link. Mental strain on the linked person increases faster than the user’s drawbacks diminish.) Glowing marks slowly fade over two hours (as of now) and once they’ve completely disappeared the link is severed.

Quirk Strengths: (What does the quirk excel in?) Can be used as a way to communicate with and coordinate allies via telepathy. Could be used to subtly spy and eventually mind control someone who doesn’t know they are under the link effect. (if the user doesn’t send a telepathic message or try to exert anything over the people they’re linked to, there’s no mental or physical indication/signal to know they are now linked.) Could be used offensively in a prepared space with a trap set. (Somehow stop people from leaving the glowing area and being able to sever the connection.) Most powerful application is setting a trap so wide that people familiar with the quirk don’t realize they’ve entered a link.

Quirk Weaknesses: (What makes the quirk not run at 100%? What are the counters to the quirk?) The best counter to his quirk is knowing how it works because if you know putting your hand/foot/etc in a glowing circle means you have a mental link with the user, you could spy on them back, read their thoughts and learn their plan, immediately sever the connection by leaving the area, or find the user’s location and rush them. Looking at how bright or dim the glowing lines are can tell someone how long it’s been since the user has been there/drawn the line. Main natural weakness that would cause the user to be at less than full strength is any outside factor that he lets hinder his focus (could be anything from a chaotic loud room making it hard to hear people’s/their own thoughts or pain making his thoughts for someone he’s controlling fuzzy.)

Future Development: I expect most raw quirk strength improvement to really just be related to control and resilience. Over time, they’ll be able to block out other people’s thoughts when they choose during the link and make it more difficult for the other person to read their thoughts/tap into their senses.

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