Faium

Faium is the term used for humans who express the extraordinary abilities to fly, sometimes at high speeds and altitudes, and generate kinetic or explosive homing projectiles from their bodies when concentrating appropriately. In 2035, Roughly 0.003% of the population of Foreuvo expresses Faium traits to some degree, totaling about one million, with one third of them being considered fit for military service to some degree.

Most humans start to express Faium traits between the ages of 6 to 18, with only a loose apparent connection to genetics; Parents that are both Faium expressive have a higher chance for their children to be expressive but there is no definitive link. Because of this, most Faium expressive children grow up with little or no support for their abilities until approached by one of the NGOs dedicated to helping them.

### Flight

The most common ability and most taxing on the individual. Three quarters of all Faium expressives are capable of flying to some extent, though some of this group is limited to low hovering with only slight horizontal movement. Half of this group are capable of flying a minimum of thousands of feet in the air at multiple hundreds of miles per hour, and roughly one fifth are capable of breaking the speed of sound. Each individual has their own altitude limit, up to which they do not need any special respiratory equipment - however, pilots brought above their personal limit altitude require oxygen masks to survive.

Military Faium pilots usually have a limit of about five hours in the air starting from full energy, with this limit decreasing the faster they fly for long periods. These pilots use a special energy drink called Usim to quickly re-energize and get back into the air. It is possible to build stamina back up with a normal diet, however the time to do so ranges from a few days of bedrest to multiple weeks depending on how drained the pilot became.

### Homing Projectiles

By concentrating in a specific way, Faium pilots can launch explosive projectiles from their bodies, with some pilots being able to launch up to twelve at a time. Concentrating on different kinds of targets at once is difficult; military pilots are able to launch two projectiles at either ground or air targets, and then specialize into either of those with 4, 6, or 8 targets. Hesopell was able to launch twelve projectiles simultaneously at either air or ground targets, but was the only pilot in the Arduen military capable of doing so; Chandra has fired 8 projectiles in this manner once, after seeing Phantom do so.

### Extrasensory Perception

Most Faium pilots express some degree of ESP. About ten percent of pilots only express ESP abilities with no flight or projectile capability whatsoever. The two categories of ESP are Detection And Ranging, and Communications.

#### Detection and Ranging

By focusing on ESP as a sixth sense, Faium pilots are capable of "feeling" objects around them and determine the precise distance. Detecting other Faium pilots is generally easier than anything else. With special training, it is possible to even feel the ground or ocean beneath the pilot and identify objects below them. By concentrating something felt with ESP, a pilot can "lock on" to this feeling and use it as the target for homing projectiles. The range of this ability depends on how much the pilot is concentrating, how large the target is, and when detecting other Faium pilots, how much energy they are using at that moment.

#### Communications

Pilots can also cast their vocal thoughts to be detected by one or more other pilots. It is possible to communicate like this to specific pilots the caster can currently feel or send them unrestricted to anyone in the area. Military Faium pilots can communicate with each other at a distance of about 100 miles. Most militaries on Foreuvo have established relay chains of pilots to enable near-instant lines of contact throughout active combat zones.

It is also possible to combine these two in an attempt to locate pilots who are trying to evade detection. By "singing" across the sky, it is possible to detect pilots that are listening to the song even if they are outside the normal range, or are specifically flying in a way to make feeling them more difficult. This is usually employed in a defensive tactic to protect large areas from invaders.

## Stress

Even with Usim, military Faium pilots expend themselves so fiercely while in the air that it is harshly taxing on their bodies. In 1990, Lieutenant Colonel Rigel Marx noted that each of the pilots under his command needed 20-25 hours of rest, physical therapy, and drug administration to be fully combat ready again for each hour of flight time. By 2035, this time had decreased to 10-15 hours, with some pilots such as Chandra needing only 5 hours of recovery per hour of flight time. Chandra typically required the painkiller Aspirol for headaches, a long deep tissue massage, and 18 hours of sleep after each mission, while her wingmate Frogman had to be rushed to an ICU to be put on partial life support for 12 hours.