Calcify Earth

Calcify earth [Major] by Iczer

'Let's just bring this to my turf'

The character is home to a great variety of spores that function as if a rapidly growing form of coral like structures. With a little effort, he can send this outwards, allowing the colonies to spread and grow, with a lot of effort he can devestate terrain.

By expending all actions for the melee, the character can send out his bacteria to do his will. At the start of the next melee round, the bacteria has spread outwards as many feet as the character's ME score, have settled into the ground, eaten available mineral resources, multiplied and died, leaving their shells behind. Any section of earth in the area, including any natural or artificial mineral is affected, including corrodible metals and becomes covered in a crust, two to 7 inches thick with periodic spires. If the character expends his next melee round in concentration, he expands the affected zone by an additional ME in feet (which continues until he reaches a radius equal to 10 times his ME score in feet or stops concentrating).

The area is a jagged and rocky zone that is difficult to bypass. Anyone wending their way through it on foot must move at a speed of 6 or less or suffer 1D4 damage every 10 feet moved. Car tyres will be slashed by their transit, and anyone who falls down in the area will take 3D6 additional damage from the jagged rocks. Anyone running through the area must check for balance or fall (with the usual consequences). The affected area has an SDC equal to the character's MA for every 2 foot across area.

While standing in the affected area, the character can perform a number of feats.

1) Form spikes: the character can expend 2 actions to cause the growths to form rapidly upwards. a formed spike has 15 SDC per level and can grow 8 feet, plus 2 feet per level. It can be used to parry ranged attacks (+2 to parry only), support weight (each spike can support as much weight as the character's ME attribute expressed as PS), act as a ladder or bridge, or even be used as an attack ( no bonus to strike, but opponents are -4 to parry/dodge as the attack will be coming from an odd angle. the attack is sufficiently slow to sidestep/parry)

2) Grow Body armour: the character can have his colonies expand over his body, forming jagged body armour. the body armour adds has an AR of 15 and posesses 20SDC per level (not considered natural armour). the armour's spiky growths inflict 2D6 in combat, and anyone foolish enough to grab or grapple him suffer 3D6 damage. It takes 3 actions to grow body armour

Duration: The calcification process is effectively permanent, though it is brittle, and has an AR of 4, so natural weathering can erode it fairly swiftly, and a man with a hammer can, with sufficient time, remove it.

Damage: The mineral leeching drains away about 5% of a substance's SDC. vehicles and sensitive objects will become effectely useless (Glass windows become opaque, metal precision parts become eroded and choked with the growths etc) it does not inrinsicly harm people.