Even before humans escaped from their currently inhospitable home world, humanity had started to direct its own evolution.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw051/
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Jones grew up learning there were some things one simply didn’t ask in the Midnight Cabaret, such as how a trick really worked, a performer’s home town, and what Uncle Ernie did on his nights off that sometimes brought him home with bloody knuckles…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw050/
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The peoples of Haven have lived in fear of these creatures for over a thousand years. I was almost eaten in one bite by a Couatl, nearly lost my senses to the last surviving Mind Virus, and came very close to being burned alive with the Unquenchable Fire, all to try to discover the secrets of the Star Demons. Here’s what little I've learned…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw049/
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As a Ghost Blade Warrior, Nyomi Witu has mastered the ability to summon a Ghost Blade: a meter-long semi- transparent sword of pure mental energy. She can make her particular Ghost Blade appear anywhere … even inside of something, or someone.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw047/
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She specializes in the study of applied biomimicry, using nature as an inspiration for her engineering designs. Marisol’s best design yet has been the “Fathom” powered deep-sea diving suit. With the suit, she’s been able to venture farther and deeper than most undersea explorers, and with her knack for following her hunches, Mari has discovered creatures of myth and civilizations of legend. So far, Dr. Paz has kept these things out of her papers, satisfied to write only about her engineering work.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw046/
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When tested, he was once able to target ten different sheep identified only by numbered ear-tags, each one running in a different direction inside a herd of hundreds, and simultaneously teleport each sheep into a different pen. Young Mr. White can do these sorts of things because he creates, destroys, and manipulates miniature wormholes at will.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw045/
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The reports usually arrive after a sighting of a strange shape-shifting creature, and are on topics as far-ranging as cover-ups of dangerous, badly-designed bridges to connections between port officials and pirates. It is an open secret that several trans-national oil company executives have pooled their resources to put out a bounty on the creature.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw044/
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…she really doesn’t have much respect for creatures that aren’t her physical or mental equals. She does, however, make exceptions for creatures that she finds interesting, or who can lead her to the interesting items that she enjoys collecting. All other creatures are potential prey.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw043/
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In this state, he unconsciously assesses the known capabilities of his opponents, predicts their most likely moves, visualizes the consequences of his potential responses, and calculates his best possible course of action. His mind recalculates all the known variables in an ongoing battle from moment to moment.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw042/
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The worst thing an opponent can do when facing Concordia is give her time to prepare for a fight. With even one turn to spare, Lyra will start casting her best spells on herself.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw041/
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Sophie made a new life for herself among the homeless, squatters, gangs, and anarchists of the urban jungle. In this dangerous world, she found a ready outlet for her rage, and plenty of opportunities to practice using her unusual abilities in life-or-death situations.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw040/
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Proposed as long ago as 1994 CE by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, this faster-than-light space drive did not become a reality until one was finally forged from dark matter itself … When activated, it wraps the ship in a bubble of space-time that experiences no acceleration, while outside the bubble it warps space in a wave, contracting it ahead of the ship while expanding the space behind it…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw039/
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…She was long content to play with the tourists of New Orleans, date the locals, and participate in her species’ dominance displays and mating rituals when required. That is, until Hurricane Katrina hit and broke the Mad Ones out of their cells along with many other old monsters. The Mad Ones actually do all the horrible things that all In-betweeners are accused of doing in the old legends…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw038/
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…the garbage crawled over him —and into him. It was a swarm of broken little reject robots, just another piece of poorly stored industrial waste hidden along the gulf coast. They went first for his eye, his legs, even his cell phone, trying to fix him, to upgrade him, then they went for his flesh.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw037/
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“When I recovered from nearly drowning in water, unchained otherworldly evil, and magical energy, there was a ghost at my side: Uncle Beau. As I huddled with everyone else in the reeking SuperDome, he slowly told me about how the storm took out more than just the levees, but the magical wards that had kept all kinds of evil locked up in this town. Now that evil was running wild all over the South, and as his heir, it was my job to find those old monsters wherever they hid, bring them back to their cages in New Orleans, and lock them up again.”
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw036/
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“So now I race down the back roads of the old South in a beat-up ’71 Thunderbird. It has a lot less style than my ’Vette, but between the trunk and the hollowed-out doors, it can pack a lot of ammo. Most days I eat road-house chow; Most nights I sleep in my car. … We gather clues, both mystical and mundane, to the whereabouts of those old monsters, and then we go hunting…”
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw035/
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Outsiders visiting Earth will sometimes accidentally leave behind the odd piece of gear; Few such items can be triggered by mere humans, and even less can be activated without harm, but a small number can be used just well enough to cause trouble.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw034/
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The great flying Crystal Ships of the Sidhe … are designed to be strong, to be fast, and to endure all manner of adverse conditions, but despite their honorable showing in the First War of the Falling Stars, they were never meant for combat.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw033/
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Haven dreamed herself. She dreamed herself in many forms. She dreamed her skies and oceans, mountains and valleys. She dreamed parts of herself with their own free will and their own dreams. In short, she dreamed her people…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw032/
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The majority of Chimerae live in and around the White Waste, Haven’s largest desert and site of the world’s worst magical catastrophe. … Natural philosopher Marius Thane, who has risked his life to study the Couatl, believes that they await the hatching of the “Paragon”, a being that will lead them in the retaking of Ghost.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw031/
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Some passes come closer than others, so much so that on some crossings, the glowing red crevices cracking its black pearl surface can be seen with by unaided human eyes ... There is evidence to suggest that ages ago, the inhabitants of Ghost were wiped out by an invasion from Antipode.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw030/
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They fearlessly experiment with technology, sometimes just to see what happens. Lutin mages have tried to infuse their machines with magic. Their tinkerers have tried to reverse-engineer alien relics from the Wars of the Fallen Stars. Lutins have developed both steam engines and gun powder. The results of all this tinkering have been mixed, and Lutins haven’t been the only ones who have suffered when their experiments have gone wrong. The easiest way to draw the ire (if not outright hostility) of most other sentient species on Haven is to openly display Lutin technology.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw028/
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A warrior who attains vita ngoma ya akili (battle dance mind) is aware of the flow of an entire battle at the same time she notices one minute flaw in an opponent’s defenses, and can anticipate attacks split seconds before they hit.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw027/
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It is within the ability of most educated people on Haven to learn the structure of Koro-go, the Korobokuru language, but about half their vocabulary is incomprehensible to non-Koro. Koro-go has words for colors beyond red, for combinations of magnetic field characteristics beyond just polarity and strength, and for complex emotional interactions. Conversely, the language has few ways to describe deliberate deception, such as lying, because it’s very difficult to do in Koro society.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw026/
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…Even those depicted in the artworks of other species have all been replaced by blank spaces on canvases, gaps in bas-reliefs, and empty lines in songs. Just about everyone on Haven is certain the Rakshasas went extinct during the same magical catastrophe that gave rise to the White Waste.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw025/
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…Some say they are like puppet masters, manipulating world events as they fight decades-long feuds by proxy; Others say they are the secret guardians of Haven, the world’s last defense. One thing is known: to survive the ages, each one had to have become an extremely dangerous being in her own right.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw024/
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Harmony schools emphasize a rational approach, featuring meditation and the learning of greater self-control. Chaos schools emphasize a more emotional, intuitive approach that features all-night dervishes and self-discovery through powerful experiences.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw023/
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…both the blade and handle will change length to make this weapon the equal of a long knife, swords of various sizes, or a 3 m (10 ft) pole arm, all the while remaining nearly weightless and perfectly balanced…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw022/
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…the underworld can tell you how McLeish earned her nickname. Sara remembers everything you did, including things you did in the dark, things you’d rather forget; and if you disappoint her, Cruel Sara will show it all back to you.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw021/
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Andrew can see, hear, and smell as well as the best nocturnal predators. On moonlit nights, he sees as much detail as most humans can see during the day. Charters can hear a heartbeat in another room, or isolate a single voice in a crowd. He can remember smells the way other people remember faces.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw019/
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From a very young age, Byron had realized that he was different from other kids, even though he wasn’t sure how. There was no room in his father’s world for anything other than a “normal” son –a tough, strong, accomplished athlete– so Byron became that, and hid his true nature from his father and everyone else.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw018/
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Instead of worrying about how to tell her parents that she wanted to be an artist instead of a veterinarian, she was worrying about how to survive the agents of the Sovereign-hunting Project Rancher.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw017/
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Long before the general population had even heard of a Sovereign, his father, Andrew Charters, was working under government contract to build “little machines” that could change people at the genetic level, ostensibly as a medical tool. His father volunteered to test the prototype machines in his own body –and they slowly broke Andrew’s brain. Nate grew up being told that his father had died in a lab accident…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw016/
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…In 1327, Julian of Kent made a pact with an evil from beyond this world and traded away his humanity for immortality. He was taught the principles of magic and the Ritual of Rebirth in exchange for serving the Dark Sires…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw015/
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At their first way-station … the Order was waiting. Hex and the broken remains of The Saints fought off their pursuers long enough to let the rest of the refugees escape for parts unknown, leaving Helena and her unit stranded on Earth.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw014/
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“…Somewhere in there sprawling, half over the edge of a dock, watching neon dance on multiplying ripples as bits of my shattered mind tried tumbling back together. Staring into the reflection of a nightmare creature wearing my face and asking: ‘What’s my name?’”
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw013/
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…his timely intervention and fast talking bought enough time for a Canadian crew to escape a band of smugglers whom they’d witnessed at work. They didn’t forget that, and their next time in port, offered him a paying job onboard the Ice Princess…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw012/
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“I’ve never forgotten my first sight of a faerie Huntsman, clothed in mist and shadow and rune-covered armor, mounted on a horned beast, pointing a spiral-carved spear right at my nine-year-old heart…”
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw011/
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Hiram kept his end of the bargain, and even stuck up for them when some rude spring-breakers at Playa del Carmen wanted to use them for dwarf-tossing. They were thankful, saying something about wanting to avoid disintegrating the locals…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw009/
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She also learned about their program for creating mentally enhanced soldiers, for building machines to augment and control psychics, for spinning off from any government program, and for forming an organization to hunt down and train “special” children under the guise of a world-wide charity. It was a lot for a five-year-old to take…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw008/
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Lucian Dark can usually pass as fully Human, even though he’s really a hybrid of Human and one of the native lifeforms from the extra-dimensional realm of Susur. In medieval terms, Chiaroscuro is the progeny of an incubus and a witch.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw007/
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It took a long time for Laquesha to put it all together, but her psychic abilities are the result of a Creche experiment gone horribly wrong. Her parents, both doctors, met on a UN World Health Organization mission in Kenya…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw006/
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“…Within an hour of blowing the whistle to Jargenson, Keiko had a ‘lab accident’ –seems she fell and hit her head on a giant magnet seven times before dying. I nearly got cooked when a microwave laser ‘misfired’ a centimeter from my scalp…”
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw005/
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“…One night I’m shooting darts at Terry’s with a few odd short blue-skinned tourist types, when we start buying each others’ shots. We’re all having a grand time, and then one of the little fellows jumps behind the bar and offers to make up a special drink for me. The next thing I remember, Terry’s youngest boy is shaking me awake in the rafters. Seems I flew up there…”
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw004/
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…He has a plush coat of vibrant purple fur, turquoise eyes, ivory teeth and claws, and iridescent feathers that range in color from salmon pink to lemon yellow to turquoise blue. A bright pink nose tops his cat-like muzzle, and the insides of his large, fan-shaped, scalloped ears repeat all the colors in his feathers…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw003/
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What few outside the Midnight Cabaret realize is that nearly everyone in the show is a war refugee from some faraway magical realm, worlds overrun by evil. Despite leaving their conquered homes and taking human form, the enemies of these survivors sometimes send minions after them; perhaps to thwart future reprisals; perhaps to finish the job. The performers always look for signs of incursions by their old enemies as they travel around the troupe’s new home.
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw002/
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All players, save one, play the roles of the story’s fictional heroes, the Player Characters (PCs for short), and try to “save the day” as the heroes would. The remaining player, the Game Master (or GM) plays the roles of all the other characters they meet: villains, monsters, everyday people and animals; collectively known as Non Player Characters (NPCs). The GM also acts as referee and sets up every new game session, or chapter in the story. Together, everyone's choices shape a collaborative, interactive tale…
https://www.tenthousandworlds.org/titles/ttw001/
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