The Jewel tumbled through space, picking up layers of interstellar dust until it looked like a normal meteor. Then it got caught by the passing solar system, this creation of an ancient alien race that had leapt spaceward but a thousand years after Creation, and over the next couple centuries as Science was created, it fell.
Until, on one fine hot late morning, it intersected the orbit of the third planet from a very important sun. For this sun was one of the very few of the ten trillions of stars that supported life.
One might think it simple chance that the Jewel came here, but the odds against that were roughly 10 to the 147 power to 1. In other words, impossible. But who or what the guiding mind intended is not known.
And then it fell into Earth's atmosphere at the optimal angle to survie entry. But perhaps the guiding mind miscalculated for it did not survive entry. It began breaking up over the Northern Tremenos Ocean, and then the Coastal regions, and the highland hills received even more of the splinters that fell from the sky. Until finally it exploded over Sintar City.
That night, the obstretrics wards were swamped as an unusual number of children were born. Also, a rather remarkable number of children were born nine months later. Worse, there were huge numbers of people checked in to insane asylums.
It went down in regional folklore as The Crazy Night. Many people claimed to have seen things that were not there. Some claimed to see aliens speaking to them in some babble. Others heard thoughts.
A great fire was started north of Sintar City, and it burned for four days. Some say it burned unstoppably until one Kevin Rice Martins got drunk enough to pass out. But no one officially credits that explanation.
The central government and the provincials and even the metropolitan governments investigate, but claim to find nothing unusual. This might be true, but the various governments tend to squabble a lot with each other as the central is the most powerful, but it depends on the metro and town governments to donate their taxes to the provincial (who run most of the military as a consequence) who then donate it to the central.
Its not very efficient and effective, but thats partly the point. The governances spend so much time squabbling with each other that they rarely have time to bother the citizens unneccessarily. It also helps that the typical citizen is armed with a machine gun for 'home defense', and a .60 calibre sniper rifle for 'bear hunting'. The fact that these weapons make governmental excesses extremely hazardous is a fortunate historical accident due to the Invasion Panic of 6792 After Creation.
The Panic had the locals convinced they were about to be invaded by several foreign armies about a hundred years ago. So they armed themselves for defense against a war that never happened. But they noticed that the 'excessively rude' governmental officials suddenly became polite, and so they held on to their weapons.
And then in 6894 the Crazy Night occurred. (As a side note, one can take a normal, but boring world, and insert a Crazy Night.) Over the next several months more and more proofs of power occurred. Psionic abilities multiplied in those in the area.
Before this there had been tales of hunches and luck and the Sight. Now, there are starting to be rumors of telekinesis and mindreading. Stories get out, but its generally 'friend of a friend of a friend.'
In '95 AC, the Sintar Park Incident occurs, and nearly three hundred people claim to have witnessed 'a young man with long hair wave his hand at a car on top of a child, and the car flew and crashed on top of the gazebo across the park.' as one witness put it. 'then a female with spiked blonde hair healed the child, and then dissappeared with the young man.'
More claims come forward, and more of them sound solid. Some research projects are getting started in parapschyology, and are reporting some remarkable results with Rhine card testing.
In late '95, the Painted Horse Riot occurred. This riot was claimed to be about police brutality, but most experts thought that an excuse for the fun of an orgy of shoplifting and vandalism. However, several dozen people claim that the Painted Horse statue (from the aboriginal people who used to live in the area) animated, and a man armed with a spear forced the most violent of the rioters to withdraw in confusion.
In '96, it became generally accepted that 'something odd was happening'. Religious texts were studied, and so was the increasing parapschyology research. The texts spoke of 'the gift of light from the emptiness' and 'the end of all things shall not come before light comes unto the people'. Many preachers had thought the second, a prophesy, had referred to the electrification of the world, but some now wondered if this was 'the light'. It did seem to fit the original language better than the other interpretation.
In mid '96, the City Guardians began to operate. So did the Seeing Eye, an anonymous reporter who claimed to be telepathic and to use his powers to spy out what the government was really up to. So did Mr. Vigilance who served as 'judge and therapist through pain' at the same time.
On the other side, the Dread, and the Force Majeure, and the Dead Yankee, and the trio of bank robbers--Loot, Rob, and Steal all begain to operate. Also a number of secretive power mongers began to use their powers in hidden ways to evade the rules and limits built into the economy.
The highland hills actually got more people using their powers earlier, but not as many went 'super' in part because less attention was paid to them than the city psi's. The Coastal and the Sea regions were also bombarded with asteroid dust and splinters, and they more slowly developed powers.
Some people were hit with splinters, and they developed powers first. Others were dusted, and this dust could grow into 'splinters in the mind' to borrow a phrase. Still others, among the susceptible would develop mo slowly. These susceptible including those in the womb, and near birth.
Psi 15@10
Tech 13@10
Body Regular
Magic 2@2