Into the Tides book bonus: Illusion Powers

Today is a little book-bonus! In posts such as these, I'll give you extra information from my novel that you won't find in the book itself.

The magic that can make pretty,
trippy images for everyone--
but only off the clock. On the clock,
they tell you when someone else is
seeing things.
(image from here)

In Into the Tides, people who have magic are called "Powers." Each type of magic has a different set of capabilities, which is based on genetics. And for each Power type, there are 6 different levels of ability, called classes, with 6th class being the weakest and 1st class having the most magic. How a person's class is determined is based on what they can do.

I've been working on creating descriptions that explain what each Power type can do, by class. If you're reading the book and wondering what the characters are capable of, and what they would be capable of if they were higher in class, you can find out!

Here's more about illusion Powers, which are referenced in Into the Tides but never really make a full appearance. Illusion is a fully mental Power, unlike any of the previously listed magic types.

A non-exhaustive list of some Magic Types
Illusion	6-	Passive: Vague feeling when someone sees something differently (frequently acts up for things such as colorblindness, looking in a different direction, finding something accidentally lost, etc) Active: Shift own perception of color [see a different color] or sound [hear sounds in a different tone or at a different decibel level]; shift 1 person's perception of the color of a small object with awareness (they know the color is incorrect; effective regardless of willing or not. Does not affect technology.)
	5	Passive: sense if someone else nearby is seeing something differently (a 'feeling,' often described as a tickling in the gut, that a person within 10 feet is seeing the same things you are but in a different color or shape, or sees something hidden. Does not reveal what, but gut feeling gets stronger closer to the person who is seeing the thing differently. Only occurs for magic or when viewer believes something has been deliberately camouflaged)  Active: shift own perception of color and sound; shift another willing person's perception of color and sound to the same degree; distortion on small objects with awareness (shift the color of an object or sound; slightly shift the shape of the small  [1 inch or less] object)
	4	Passive: gut feeling if another person within 10 feet sees something different; ability to see through a willing person's eyes when touching them Active: shift own perception of color and sound; shift up to 4 willing people's perception of color and sound to match (people must be within 20 feet); distortion on medium-sized objects with awareness for up to 3 people; shift universal color of small object with awareness (anyone looking at it will see a different color as long as illusion Power focuses, but will know the color has been altered); create small images on a blank surface for people within 10 feet of Power; remove a willing person's ability to see (until the illusion Power stops focusing)
	3	Passive: gut feeling if another person within 10 feet sees something different; ability to see through a willing person's eyes when touching them (must close own eyes) Active: distortion for self; distortion for up to 10 willing people (people must be within 30 feet); distortion on medium-sized (up to 5 inches diameter) objects with awareness for up to 8 people; universal color or shape shift of an object up to 5" with awareness; create sound and images on blank surfaces for up to 10 willing people within 10 feet; remove another person's ability to see (duration: as long as focus if willing; usually around 2 minutes if they're unwilling); remove 3 willing peoples' abilities to see
	2	Passive: gut feeling if another person within 10 feet sees something different; ability to discern approximately what is different (the area that looks different, but not what is different about it); ability to see through a willing person's eyes (distance limit 1 mile) without losing own vision Active: distortion for self; distortion for up to 10 willing people (people must be within 30 feet); distortion on medium-sized (up to 5 inches diameter) objects with awareness for up to 8 people; universal color or shape shift of an object up to 5" with awareness; create detailed sound and images on blank surfaces (images are translucent) for up to 20 willing people within 50 feet; create detailed sound and images for 1 person within 10 feet without awareness, willing or unwilling; remove sight for up to 10 willing people or 5 unwilling (apprx. 10 minutes)
	1+	Passive: gut feeling if another person within 100 feet sees something different; knowledge of what looks different and how; ability to see through another willing person's eyes regardless of distance Active: distortion for self; distortion for up to 100 willing people (people must be within 100 feet); distortion on objects up to 5 inches diameter without awareness for people within 40 feet of illusion Power (viewer is not aware that anything is different about object); universal distortion on objects up to 4 feet across with awareness; create detailed sound and images (images are opaque; with awareness; willing or not) on any surface for up to 40 people within 100 feet; create detailed sound and images for up to four people within 20 feet without awareness, willing or unwilling; remove sight from up to 40 willing people or up to 10 unwilling (average duration: apprx 1 hr); extended hallucination (willing person may continue to see/hear hallucination for approximately double the length of time that illusion Power was focusing)

Illusion Powers, like music Powers, are often employed in investigations, and are also used in intelligence operations. While higher class illusion Powers could conceivably play movies for their friends (and occasionally do in their down-time), the rarity of high class Powers means they don't do so professionally. However, they have been known to occasionally moonlight during vacations for extremely wealthy clients who are willing to pay outrageously for the experience of a 3-D movie. Such things require official approval (with lots of paperwork) and the government usually takes a cut through a high tax on the experience, but those illusion Powers who do so have been known to make a good vacation/retirement off the deal.

Technology, it is important to note, is not affected by illusion Powers. Because this is a mental Power, it affects the brain's interpretation of input; thus, brainless organisms are unaffected. More intelligent organisms with sophisticated brain structure are usually equally affected as humans, including most mammals and lizards; but those with less sophisticated structure or more alien metal structure, such as squid, insects, and plants, are not affected at all.