Telekinesis

Telekinesis (or colloquially ‘teke’) is an ability possessed by all Amaranthians . This allows them to manipulate objects just like humans would, enabling them to perform actions like building houses, eating with utensils, crafting and so on.

## Development

Kids develop rudimentary teke during the first month of their life. Being children, their control of this ability is best described as “tentative” or “clumsy”, and its main purpose seems to be grabbing objects and potentially pulling them close for a taste test. As a child grows, so does their control over their teke. Some setbacks are common during adolescence when a youths swiftly growing body and mind may cause their teke to become unstable or unwieldy.

An adult will typically have fully developed, stable and strong teke. Exceptions occur mainly in situations where someone suffers serious injury, such as trauma to the head, or was not allowed to develop their telekinesis normally during their formative years. Weak, inconsistent or uncontrollable teke often hints to an underlying health condition of some kind.

Elderly individuals generally experience a gradual weakening of their teke, and some may develop “tremors”.

## Appearance

Telekinesis, when visible, looks like two semi-transparent hands. The teke often appears somewhat glittery, sparkly or wispy, and may be any color or combination of colors. It may also be almost completely transparent, with only slight distortion in the air belying its presence.

Teke is only visible when in use. If only one teke hand is in use, only that hand is visible. No one has more than two “hands”.

On young children, the stream of color between the hand and its owner is often visible. It appears as a glittering string connecting to either the foal's head or chest. This stream typically fades with age, but may become visible for adults under heavy strain.

Some like to attach meaning to the color of an individual's teke, similar to a horoscope or an aura.

## Attributes and Limitations

Most mundane tasks require little active use or concentration to perform - teke is second nature to them, and they use it just as naturally as we do our hands. More advanced or straining actions require more concentration.

Using teke is physically tiring in the same way that using your hands for similar actions would be. Someone who has been lifting cinderblocks all day will certainly feel it in their bones.

Using teke has similar limitations as using two hands would have. They couldn’t wield three swords at once, for example.

### Strength

The strength of one's telekinesis seems to be directly proportional to their strength in general - big, muscular individuals can lift heavier items than their smaller, less trained counterparts. Teke strength can be trained in the same manner as muscle strength, and with practice one can become stronger.

### Reach

The maximum reach of teke is approximately the wielder's height - taller individuals also have longer reach, but reach is always proportionate to the user. Note that teke originates from the front of the body (head or chest), and reach reacts accordingly - the user should generally be facing whatever they are dealing with for maximum reach.

### Pain and Touch

Using teke does allow the user to feel whatever they are touching. This includes texture, how warm or cold something is and so on. Teke can be used to “feel around” for the shapes of objects and people. Texture and shape affects grip strength, and some objects might be very difficult to hold. Teke can be used like hands to punch, push or block blows.

Teke can not bleed or be permanently damaged by attacks, but it can transmit sensations of pain to the user. This pain is generally felt as a strange “ghost ache” coming from the teke itself. It ranges from uncomfortable to momentarily debilitating depending on the hit sustained - getting your teke hand crushed by a piano is *not* nice.

Things such as getting struck with a blade, burned or otherwise heavily damaged makes the teke flicker away, causing whatever it was holding to be dropped.