The skin also detects vibrations, though if it was tied to any of the five senses it wouldn't really be a sixth sense, would it? ;)

As for the souls, they wouldn't have to be colored in order to bear recognizable signatures. Since it's a sixth sense, it could just as easily be tied to a feeling about the particular aura as it could the color of it. Having it be something less distinct than a specific color would also avoid the issue of there being only so many wavelengths of color to use and him running out of different colors for each person (and you also wouldn't have to remember which color each person was if you mentioned it specifically). He'd also be able to more readily recognize people he's familiar with than he would strangers.

And for the range, the haze kind of imposes its own limits. If someone was far enough away, they would be indistinguishable from the "background" magic of the world around them, and being unable to see most magic through solid objects would also impose its own range restriction. I think the biggest thing that would make it potentially OP would be the ability to see through walls at will, so once you take that out and refine it down to the core of what you want, it becomes an acceptable ability as far as I'm concerned.

You make too much sense sir. Bravo haha
But da colors. EDIT: I still want them. Colors, while limited in the spectrum, are expanded further by mixing colors, and adding tints and hues. There are thousands, and taking a semester in Art Design, I can get specific with color names ;)
And I would be the one to worry about the difficulty to remember if mentioned specifically.

Anyways, so just so I completely understand, he would sense things in a 360 radius. Magic would create white "light", whereas the absence of magic would simply be darkness. Distance imposes a haze, walls impose a barrier, and the aura/light of a human/soul would be distinguished by something akin to an instinctual feeling, or maybe a different presence accompanying the light itself?

I personally see no reason to not allow the colors.

That's my idea, yes. :) Though to put it even more simply, matter (or even more specifically the magic it contains) imposes haze, rather than distance. Gases impose the least amount of haze, liquids somewhat moreso, and solids become almost entirely opaque. If he were looking through a vacuum devoid of any matter or magic, his vision would be crystal clear for as far as that vacuum went. Or if an object were somehow made devoid of magic, he would see through it as if it wasn't there.

Does that make more sense? My hope is that by explaining it that way it will have a good enough base that all the strengths and weaknesses won't have to be completely explained, but can still be extrapolated fairly easily based on how the ability itself functions.

Edit: I too see no reason to disallow the colors, I'm just suggesting a different method of achieving the same effect that requires less work for the writer. :P

WHOA. IC post already. WOOT!

No one mind that IC post. It's just preparing for whenever we actually start. :p

Schradinger said
That's my idea, yes. :) Though to put it even more simply, matter (or even more specifically the magic it contains) imposes haze, rather than distance. Gases impose the least amount of haze, liquids somewhat moreso, and solids become almost entirely opaque. If he were looking through a vacuum devoid of any matter or magic, his vision would be crystal clear for as far as that vacuum went. Or if an object were somehow made devoid of magic, he would see through it as if it wasn't there. Does that make more sense? My hope is that by explaining it that way it will have a good enough base that all the strengths and weaknesses won't have to be completely explained, but can still be extrapolated fairly easily based on how the ability itself functions.

I think I understand it better now. But I'm still kinda confused. In his blindness, I'm assuming everything would be darkness, except what sixth sense could pick up and detect. However, what about if the magic made the state of matter, such as, an aquamancer casting some a water ball on his face, or spell to create a magical solid "wall" per se? I'm just having trouble visualizing it.

EDIT: I like work as a writer :P Plus, with colors, I can add color xD which is always a boon to me.

Ichthys said
No one mind that IC post. It's just preparing for whenever we actually start. :p

Awwwwww...damn xD

I'm excited for more characters to be posted.I'm already plotting and scheming.

It wouldn't actually be the matter that blocks his vision, it would be the magic it contains (hence my example of a magic-free object being perfectly clear to him). If someone created a wall of air with magic, the concentration of magic within said wall would have to increase and therefore make it more opaque to him, regardless of the actual density of the air it was composed of.

Ahh okay. It makes much more sense to me as I read it more. But just to clarify on distance, larger distances would make the magic less opaque versus short, and solid objects containing no magic, such as brick wall, would impose the "clear vacuum" and could contain the magic from being detected by his sense based on the concentration of said magic? With that cleared up, I can put the nail in the coffin of my understanding of your proposal.

Although I do think your explanation makes the ability easier to justify, explain, and apply rather than color-coding all of magic to the previous blue-green and then attaching it to his hearing.
I would still like the souls and spirits of "living" things to have color however.

Greater distance would make things less clear (ie: more opaque), and since magic is a fundamental part of everything (including bricks), he would be unable to see through solid matter (unless some way were devised to remove the magic from it). Your wording is a little tricky, but if that's what you meant then yes.

As for colors, I have no power to stop you. I was merely proposing an alternative and you can take or leave what you will. :)

It seems this discussion is reaching a nice conclusion. If so, I need to know, so I can make a judgement on the sixth sense ability, after the sixth sense ability is adjusted in light of the discussion of course.

If you want to include the colours, Milieu, while I quite like the monochrome idea of Schradinger, actually, that whole concept is nice. If you like the colours, it'd be a pretty simple step to go from monchromatic to giving each magical presence a shade of colour.

If I'm reading things rightly, the haze of magic is kind of like a mist/light/sensation, however Atlas would be sensing it. And mist and light can be quite colourful. It'd probably be a more subtle thing, and kind of an only out of the corner of his eye(or at the edge of his awareness, fleeting and gone if he focuses on it). So it could make perfect sense to sneak colour in that way, and have him slowly working his way towards learning how to 'see' the colours and understand them, from what started out as monochromatic.

While we're on the subject of controversial abilities, what would be your opinion of scrying? I'm thinking it would be an interesting ability for Vincent (my character in progress) to have.

The restrictions for his particular variation of the ability would be that it requires one of the possessions of the person being scryed, and the more contact that person has had with the object, the clearer the scrying would be. If he did it with an object they only touched once, it would be little more than haze and a vague location, but if it was a piece of jewelry they never took off, he'd be able to see and hear everything going on in their vicinity with perfect clarity. He wouldn't initially be able to view past events, but he'd likely be working on a way to achieve that somehow (though he wouldn't succeed for a very long while, if at all. It would be up to you).

Nemaisare said
If you want to include the colours, Milieu, while I quite like the monochrome idea of Schradinger, actually, that whole concept is nice. If you like the colours, it'd be a pretty simple step to go from monchromatic to giving each magical presence a shade of colour. If I'm reading things rightly, the haze of magic is kind of like a mist/light/sensation, however Atlas would be sensing it. And mist and light can be quite colourful. It'd probably be a more subtle thing, and kind of an only out of the corner of his eye(or at the edge of his awareness, fleeting and gone if he focuses on it). So it could make perfect sense to sneak colour in that way, and have him slowly working his way towards learning how to see the colours and understand them, from what started out as monochromatic.

Yes. I was having trouble visualizing how it would work, but this makes more sense to me. The "mist" of magic acting as a sensation in which the color shade unique to a soul or spirit being trapped in the sort of magic light particle (in the context of how mist/atmosphere traps light and refracts a certain color), always lingering elusively on the edge of his awareness, although he has technically been blind for several years now according to the bio I created, he would have developed some sort of mastery over it by now. But this explanation would help me to write it better

@Schradinger: Yeh? Is this kinda what you meant?

More or less. As long as he can't see through walls at will, I'm happy. Lol. As I mentioned before, I think that's the main thing that would make it OP. Having 360 degree vision is advantage enough. :P

Also, Ichthys, would the mother of Lord Bayard be a person I should not consider as an option for a character?

EDIT: Another limit that might be had to this seeing magic thing, is the very simple fact that the more magic is used, the thicker it is liable to be in that area. If there are a lot of spells happening around Atlas, they are likely to blend together and create some level of difficulty for him to differentiate between a person, spell or wall if he has to move quickly and can't give this sense his full attention.

Nemaisare said
Also, Ichthys, would the mother of Lord Bayard be a person I should not consider as an option for a character?EDIT: Another limit that might be had to this seeing magic thing, is the very simple fact that the more magic is used, the thicker it is liable to be in that area. If there are a lot of spells happening around Atlas, they are likely to blend together and create some level of difficulty for him to differentiate between a person, spell or wall if he has to move quickly and can't give this sense his full attention.

Makes sense. It would be a sort of cacophony.
So who wants to be the witch who creates a gnarly seeing eye wolf for my character? xD

Schradinger said
More or less. As long as he can't see through walls at will, I'm happy. Lol. As I mentioned before, I think that's the main thing that would make it OP. Having 360 degree vision is advantage enough. :P

I can do that, easily enough. However, earlier you stated that if the magic concentration was high enough, he would be able to see through the wall and detect (I believe you said immensely powerful). So should soild walls/object be the defacto magical barrier that prevents his sense from passing through it and seeing what's beyond it? Or would there be allowances, like if the crypt keeper lady prepares a massive spell to summon all the undead from the catacombs? :P

@Nemaisare: Yes, you shouldn't consider this role, for a few reasons. One, OOCly, it's gives an unfair claim to the throne since usually immediate family is given the right. Candidly though, if the mother did not want to rule, then this first point would be moot (as is the case with Shradinger's upcoming character). Two, ICly, having immediate family wouldn't have created such a large power vacuuum with the Lord and Lady's deaths. Again though, if for whatever reason the immediate family didn't or couldn't rule, then this would also be pointless. But finally, considering Lord Bayard was in his 40s, his mother would be in her early 60s (at the earliest). She would be by death's door, considering life expectancy is around 50-60 in the realm. :P

So in all honesty you could play her if:
- She didn't want to or couldn't rule.
- You want to play a character who is basically already dead.

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@Schradinger: I'll open up this scrying magic to public discussion. :)

@Milieu: I think there should be allowances. He wouldn't be able to see people just standing behind a wall or a mile away, but if those people were preparing a spell to resurrect an entire graveyard, I imagine it would stand out like a beacon to him (though even the allowances would have limits).