Toxin Synthesis
Yi-Min's body is capable of rapidly synthesizing a variety of biotoxins and toxic substances that are found in nature. These can range from the extremely lethal, as in the muscle-paralyzing botulinum toxin, to the merely inconvenient, such as the juice found in a bee sting, to anything in between that she has knowledge of.
The majority of these are expressed as a secretion through her skin pores, but in the case of certain compounds that are naturally found in a gaseous state (i.e, carbon monoxide), she is able to exhale these from her lungs in a corresponding form. In this beginning it was difficult for her to maintain reliable control of this, as her body would continue unabated in the production of certain substances even while she was asleep; this is how she killed her brother Yi-Shan when her ability first manifested. This is almost entirely no longer an issue for her, as she generally has very good control of her power now and is highly aware of its intrinsic limits, but when extremely angry or otherwise abnormally stressed she is still prone to unintentionally exhaling puffs of toxic gas.
Similar to venomous snakes, there is a limit to the quantity of toxins she can exude or generate at one time. The energy cost of producing different substances is naturally variant based on the compounds involved, but for the sake of simplicity they can be broadly separated into three different categories based on severity of effect: inconvenienced (rash, mild pain, blurred vision, etc), wounded (heart palpitations, staggering, momentary blindness, severe pain, etc.), and lethal (dead). These have a simplified "toxin cost" of 1, 3, and 6, respectively: she is capable of expelling roughly 6 "units" in a short span of time without needing to spend an appropriate number of hours to recharge, which occurs at a constant rate of approximately 1 unit per hour. As a rule, she is limited to producing only one type of substance at a time; it would not be possible for her to, say, exhale a cloud of toxins and secrete poison from her skin at the same time, nor produce two types of poison simultaneously— it would be either one or the other.
Physical repercussions for ability use are based both on relative substance lethality and the volume that has been produced. It is somewhat difficult to use exact descriptors here given that different toxins have all manner of different effects and different thresholds, but there are general patterns: the first, that creating gases is more tiring than liquid poison given their greater potential to affect multiple people at a time; and second, that lethal substances as a whole are more punishing to produce. Expelling a small aura of non-lethal gas that would only affect Yi-Min's immediate surroundings would be easy, but causing it to affect an entire room would tire her out and not uncommonly cause her to be afflicted with a nosebleed. Expelling a small aura of lethal gas that would only affect Yi-Min's immediate surroundings would be taxing, likely giving her a nosebleed, but causing it to affect an entire room or larger would in all likelihood make her pass out afterwards. For liquid substances, lethality is more determinant in what effects she will suffer than volume produced, but the principle is the same. In both cases, if she produces too much too quickly, she will become exhausted to the point of unconsciousness or worse; this is tied into the "cost" unit values given above. In addition, if she is forcibly knocked out (and not merely sleeping), then whatever her ability is doing at the moment will also cease.
As a result of repeated ability use over the years, many of her bodily fluids have become irreversibly saturated with a cocktail of poison traces, most notably her blood and saliva; brief contact with these is usually not damaging, but will likely leave a tingling sensation behind in the other person upon touch. She herself is adapted to be immune to the effects from most poisons, venoms and toxins, whatever the source.
Additional Detail: Synthetic Assimilation:
During her time with the Taiwanese military and the Chinese Vanguard, Yi-Min came to discover that she is capable of learning to synthesize artificial compounds in addition to natural ones, such as CS gas (tear gas). It takes upfront and personal exposure to the substance first in order for her body to come to 'learn' how to mimic its chemical composition, and even after this, the synthesis of any artificial substance takes a much more exaggerated toll on her body than a natural one would— perhaps precisely because it is unnatural. When producing too much of these, she is more easily susceptible to nosebleeds, exhaustion, and other adverse effects; she is also only willing to attempt to produce non-lethal doses of synthetic substances because she is not willing to risk the potentially catastrophic backlash to her own body. Her repertoire with man-made chemicals currently includes several items, notably carfentanil, CS gas, and 3-Quinuclidinyl benzilate (BZ), a military-grade incapacitating agent.
Fusion: Healing (Detoxification)
Yi-Min is able to remove toxins and poisons from another person, including those she may have inflicted herself. She needs to be able to touch the other person in skin-to-skin contact long enough to draw the toxins out. The substances she draws out do not have to be naturally occurring, but naturally-occurring toxins and poisons are easier for her to withdraw, given her primary ability of Toxin Synthesis. When she takes a substance from a target, her veins appear dark as she effectively brings it into her own body; she can then either store it for her own use using her primary ability, or she can choose to exhale it in a dark, ominous looking cloud immediately. In addition, if she takes in a synthetic poison in this way, she is able to learn how to synthesize it with her primary ability. Taking in the toxins this way does not work against the "costs" of her synthesis ability, and expelling them in cloud form is not exhausting as it is for her self-created toxins.
Talents
| Talents |
Effort |
Description |
Learned From |
| Tox-Screen |
None |
With just a touch, Yi-Min is able to identify the substance in a person suffering from poisoning of any sort, provided that she herself has had experience with that particular substance through the use of her ability. If she has not had experience with the substance using her ability, she may get an idea of the general kind of substance it is (e.g. hemotoxin, neurotoxin, etc.) |
Self Taught |
| Biological Purge |
Low |
Due to her primary ability, biologically-occurring toxins are the easiest for Yi-Min to purge, and take only about a minute to withdraw from the target's body. |
Self Taught |
| Synthetic Purge (Known) |
Moderate |
Synthetic substances that Yi-Min has synthesized in the past take about 5 minutes of skin-to-skin contact to withdraw from a target. These take more of a toll on Yi-Min and she will feel the effects of the substance, though at a mild level, until she is able to dispel it; however, there will be no lasting damage. |
Self Taught |
| Synthetic Purge (Unknown) |
High |
Synthetic substances that Yi-Min has not yet synthesized through her ability are the most taxing for her to purge. Such poisonings require strong concentration and take about ten minutes to withdraw completely. Yi-Min will feel the effects of the substance (at a moderate level) until she is able to expel it; after she has purged the substance, she will be exhausted and feel the lingering effects of the substance (at a mild level) for about 6 hours, though there will be no lasting damage. She is able to "learn" through this experience the unfamiliar substances to use with her synthesis ability (please +request). |
Self Taught |
| Limits |
| One at a Time |
If a person is suffering from multiple substances, she has to do one at a time. Likewise, she can only heal one person at a time from poisoning (no two-handed healings). |
| Exhaustion |
Even the easiest healings can take a toll. At the low cost level, she can heal about 20 people before she will need to recharge for an hour; at the moderate cost level she could heal about six people before needing to recharge for six hours; at the high cost level, she will need to recharge immediately for about 12 hours after just two people. |
| Effort Key |
| None |
Requires no effort and is a part of the character's autonomous functions. |
| Low |
Requires minimal effort and concentration, like walking, holding a conversation, or reading. |
| Moderate |
Requires dedicated concentration. Moderate-effort abilities cannot be used while actively fighting or using another talent with an effort of Moderate or higher. |
| High |
Requires undivided concentration. Cannot do anything other than move slowly or talk in short sentences while using a High effort talent and cannot use other talents that have an effort level of Low or higher. |
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