The Overground

The source of all magic, a plane of existence that maps onto the normal world according to an impossible geometry.

The overground is home to strange creatures, alien landscapes, and the fey. Regular humans have difficulty navigating its space. It is sensitive to thoughts and feelings, although opinions in the magical community differ on the significance of this. Some psychics think of it a world formed from the subconscious thoughts of living things, while others, including the fey, consider it to be a living thing, a psychic environment that pre-dates humanity.

• Magic: A mysterious energy that flows from the overground, allowing thoughts and feelings to override the laws of thermodynamics. All living things have a bit of magic.
• Overground rifts: Holes in space that allow passage between the normal world and the overground, in both directions--though not necessarily to the same place. A hazard for the curious and unlucky. They have a natural cycle of appearing and disappearing. Ones that have existed for a long time are called stable rifts.

Psychics

People with innate magical abilities. A psychic's power is unique to them.

Though it is possible for powers to appear well into adulthood, psychics usually acquire their powers during adolescence. Common anecdotes suggest environmental factors, like a stressful event or prior exposure to magic, might influence power development.

The DSC categorizes psychics as either voluntary psychics (who can use their powers at will) or involuntary psychics (whose powers work without their volition). More broadly within the psychic community, psychic powers are often grouped into the following categories:

• Telekinetics: Psychics who can move objects or produce energy. "Physical" powers. Sometimes given the subclass kinaesthetes for psychics whose powers affect their own body.
• Telepaths and empaths: Psychics who can perceive the thoughts or feelings of others, or project their own into someone's mind. "Mental" powers.
• Seers and scriers: Psychics who can glean knowledge about other times or places. "Information" powers.

Higher Powers

Psychics capable of affecting reality on a large scale.

"Higher power" is often used in the same breath as "omniscience" or "omnipotence". There is no one quality that makes someone a higher power, but they are usually ascribed the following abilities:

• Immortality
• Teleportation
• Rebuffing the powers of other psychics

Due to the private nature of the magical community, it's not uncommon for higher powers to attract followers, occupying a position of authority among local psychics or offering them a safe haven (or even outright annexing a settlement). These are colloquially referred to as higher power towns. Locket Downs Ontario is one such place.

• Conscripts: A person who has bonded their magic to a higher power. So long as the higher power is immortal, so is the conscript.

Fey

The people of the overground, with their own variety of magic.

They use stable rifts to travel between particular human-world locations. "Fey" is often used synonymously with "shapeshifter", as shapeshifting is a unique ability of the fey, but not all fey are shapeshifters. Their basic social unit is the court. Have their own society, culture, as well as a trade language to facilitate communication between geographically disparate courts.

• Fey fire: The particular physical manifestation of fey magic. Looks similar to flame but not always hot. The name is a bit of a misnomer; in the fey language, it's more literally called "energy". Can be used to heal or injure. All fey can manifest this, regardless of whether they can shapeshift.
• Shapeshifter: Shapeshifters have three forms: human, a specific animal, and a true form, a volatile monstrous shape made of fey fire. The latter is used for traversing the overground, and difficult to sustain outside of it. Seems to behave like a psychic power, since only non-shapeshifting fey have other powers.
• Fey coat: A garment used for shapeshifting. Non-shapeshifter fey wear them too.
• Court: A group of fey organized around a particular philosophical concept or type of animal form. The current leader is the king, regardless of gender, and their backup is the second.
• Corrupted shapeshifter: Rarely, a shapeshifter loses control of their volatile magic, causing them to absorb other animals.

Divergent Security Commission (DSC)

An organization devoted to protecting the psychic community from threats, magical and mundane.

Originated as a vigilante monster-hunting group, then expanded into magical research, but have grown progressively more interested in policing and taxonomizing psychic powers. DSC HQ is in London, UK, but the organization has other cities around the world. In BDBN's 2027, they are contracted by several governments.

• Rexupresine: A drug for suppressing psychic powers, developed by the DSC. Originally used to neutralize psychic threats. By 2027 it is mass-produced as a medication.
• Psychic licence: A form of ID in the BDBN future. The card grants magic-users the legal right to use their magic without fear of retaliation. While not technically required, unlicenced psychics run the risk of losing benefits and attracting unwanted legal attention. The card has strict designations for whether a psychic is "voluntary" or "involuntary" and the scale of their magic (1-9), and classifies them according to four discrete categories (telekinetic, telepath, seer, fey).
• Arcadia Wellness Centre: An institution associated with the DSC. Originally a private psychiatric hospital for psychics. By 2027 it has expanded into multiple branches, including a private prison.

Overground Shards

Regular objects transmuted into magical artefacts via long-term exposure to the overground. Rare and highly prized within the magical community.

Each shard has its own unique power, as well as a mind of its own. Unlike artefacts that have been enchanted manually, overground shards never lose their magic (barring very specific circumstances).

• Bonded shard: A shard that has attached itself to a particular person, working only for them. The criteria for bonding depends on the shard; some are more choosy than others. People who are bonded to shards are called shard-bearers. Shards have a knack for making their way back to their bearer as long as they are bonded.
• Unbonded shard: Can be used by anyone (in theory).
• Ascension: According to psychic rumour, a ritual that involves extracting the magic from seven overground shards to make a wish, a one-time world-altering extension of one's powers. As it is not so easy to acquire seven shards, the last such incident was supposedly many, many years ago. One of the capabilities attributed to higher powers.

Enchantment

Magic from any source other than one's own powers or a shard.

This could describe materials brought from the overground, stored magic, or even a fortuitous manifestation of one's own thoughts. Even people who are not psychics can use it, and some researchers spend years studying techniques for doing so.

• Artefacts: Objects infused with a psychic's power, or other magical source. Fey have a small market of these. Eventually run out.
• Wards: Politely asking the overground for protection using any written medium with personal significance. Fickle and individual.
• Janus doors: A pair of doors made to connect with one another by magical means. Essentially an artificial stable rift.