Avishraa Reloaded

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====== Empathy ======
Many of the life forms of [[universe:mikurmiya:avishraa]] possess a psionic sense which has no direct human equivalent but might in English might be called **empathy**: the ability to detect the state of feeling of another being.
 
It should be noted that 'feeling' is not meant in a narrow sense, and covers a variety of subjectively perceived states of mind and body. An empath may, in principle, detect physical pain as well as emotional anguish, hunger or thirst as well as intellectual desire, arousal as well as love. The sensitivity of the empathic sense - both in general, and to specific feelings - and its ability to make fine distinctions between feelings, all vary between the species known to possess it.

===== Characteristics =====
Empaths can perceive the direction of the feelings they sense, but most have no 'depth perception'; that is, there is no way to distinguish between a weak signal close up and a strong one at the limits of detection, except with the assistance of the other senses and by deduction. The empathic sense is passive, like hearing; unlike hearing, the possessor has no method of preventing the sensory input from reaching them - there are no empathic 'earplugs'. While it is possible for empaths with a certain measure of self-awareness and emotional self-control to 'cloak' or 'shield' themselves so that //other// empaths have difficulty detecting them, the detecting empath can - under normal circumstances - only learn to ignore signals in which they have an aversion or lack of interest.
 
The sensitivity of empathy, either in general or to specific feelings, varies between the possessing species and how each one uses the ability. In most cases, empaths are most sensitive to the most primal feelings: hunger, fear, arousal, fatigue. The empathic 'signal' produced by other organisms generally trends in strength with the physical size and complexity of its brain relative to that of the empath; a sapient empath, for example, might be unable to detect an insect even at close range, but would be able to detect another sapient mind from a considerable distance.

===== Sociobiology =====
Empathic ability is not, as such, a numerically common feature among Avishraan life, but is taxonomically widespread, being found in evolutionary lineages that are often not closely related to each other. This suggests either that empathic ability appeared very early in Avishraa's evolutionary history and has remained latent since then, or - more likely - that there is some unknown factor in the Avishraan environment (possibly related to the presence of [[item:substance:voidstone]]) that has allowed and encouraged the appearance of empathy on multiple independent occasions.
 
This fact makes it difficult to make broad statements about either the function or the biological seating of empathic ability, though somewhat more solid statements can be made about individual lineages.

==== Takmids ====
Avishraa's three known sapient species are all members of the [[species:clade:takmid]] clade, a diverse group of largely predatory [[species:clade:draconiform|draconiforms]]. The ability appears to be centered in an organ located underneath and abutting the frontal lobe of the brain; it is composed mainly of multiple, narrowly-separated layers of nervous tissue folded into a complex bundle. Unusual biochemical activity of an uncertain nature occurs within the spaces between the layers. The initial appearance of this organ appears to have occurred only shortly before the broad division of the takmids into their two surviving lineages, and came to be used with a different emphasis in each one.
 
The [[species:clade:takmin|takmins]], whose members consist entirely of the [[takma:|takmar]] and the [[xtauh:]], utilized the empathic sense mostly as an aid to hunting, a way of detecting prey even when not immediately visible or audible. While capable of detecting a wide range of feelings, it is most acutely sensitive to sensations of distraction, inattentiveness, or dormancy. In order not to interfere in each others' hunting, most civilizations of both species above a certain density have developed the practice of [[takma:behaviors#empathic_shielding|cloaking one's own]] [[xtauh:behaviors#empathic_shielding|emotions from detection]] except in private. The end result, in both species, is that the feelings detected through the empathic sense do not, in and of themselves, typically elicit sympathy.
 
The other takmid lineage, the [[species:clade:dvidalin|dvidalins]], consist of four or five related species, all of which are empaths but the only sapient member of which is the [[orghysh:]]. The orghysh make the most involved use of the faculty, which is balanced somewhat more evenly between detection of prey and intraspecific social signaling; among them, the empathic sense is capable of making very fine distinctions between emotional states, and plays a large role in their societies. While the empathic sense is still used while hunting, there is not a strict separation in their perception between prey and non-prey, and orghysh cultures are generally more prone than those of the takmar or xtauh to attribute sentience or sapience to other organisms.

===== Localization =====
There are no locations where empathy is inherently inoperative, but empathic signals can be entirely negated in the presence of [[item:substance:voidstone]], a psi-active mineral. Voidstone is found is trace amounts throughout Avishraa's crust and mantle, generally in concentrations too low to be detectable, but can very rarely be found in relatively pure deposits, which prevent empathic signals from passing within or through a volume linked to their shape and mass.

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