Unsanctioned psyker - colourful abilities?

[Flinty]

Im developing a Pirate crew but Im having a problem with the Psyker. I have her as unsanctioned at present, but feel that the background fluff is weak, and I have hit an imaginative brick wall in trying to come up with some colourful powers, reflecting her skills in remaining undetected.

So far I have soul veil and fragment image as ''hiding'' abilities, with suggest, demoralise and mind scan as secondary avoidance and situational control type powers. I also had mesmerisim, but that really seems to be a stronger repeat of demoralise. I felt chameleon was a bit strong for someone unsanctioned and therefore untrained in ''advanced'' abilities, but I might swap that for Fragment Image to keep her out of trouble.

I have been flicking through the Powers of the Wych and the Dark Heresy core rules to try and get inspiration, but after an entire week of pretending to work and ignoring my domestic chores Ive still got nowhere...

Any suggestions?

Stats are:
Ws  Bs  S    T     I    Wp  Sg   Nv   Ld
42   51  37  45  77  79   37   48   42

She's really not a combatant (just a las pistol side arm) and not likely to hang around in a fire fight - thats what the Pirates are for after all..


Background fluff follows -

Calypso

Calypso does not remember her real name, her parents or home planet. Identified as possessing minor psychic awareness during a Black Ship visit at the age of 8, she joined the masses in the holds, designated as fodder for the Golden Throne. During the return voyage, a malfunction lead to the temporary loss of psy-shielding on one of the holding decks. Brief though the collapse was, it proved enough for the deziens of the warp to exploit resulting in a major manifestation. Despite an immediate purging of the forward sections, the ship was doomed and limped into a low level orbit around Yethnor 12, an isolated agri world. Before the salvage tugs could hope to arrive, the ship dropped into the planets gravitational well, slowly broke up and impacted on the surface. What Sector PDF's could be spared were quickly mobilised and carried out extensive operations to clear the resulting daemonic infestation, virtually exterminating 2 of the 3 population centres before the planet was declared free of taint 8 months later.

[Not quite sure how anyone survives an planetary collision, but....]

Calypso's first memories after the crash were of living on a remote watering station with an older couple who insisted she was a distant orphaned relative who had been under their care for at least 6 years. It transpired that her 'Mother' was an unsanctioned psyker who had learnt to control and manipulate her power to avoid detection for decades. Calypso was fortunate to be able to spend days, sometimes weeks, alone on the cereal prairies, where she honed the lessons she was taught, becoming highly adept at the meditation techniques common to the planet's religious culture.

[Distinctly unimaginative here..]

Upon reaching adulthood, she became a lay-sister in the Order of Blessed Contemplation, where her long meditative retreats were actively encouraged. However, she knew that she was hugely exposed on such a small and conservative world and with the help and advice of her Mother, sought anonymity off-planet. Joining a pilgrimage to the shrine world of Salatarius, she managed to leave the ship at a stop over and took to begging in the slums. A chance arrived with a travelling circus, where her uncanny customer service skills got her a job on a sideshow; from here Calypso developed a pitch of her own as a skilful and entertaining interpreter of the Emperor's Tarot along with a sleight of hand and card trick act.

Gambling was a logical progression, and Calypso became the 'muse' of several high string names on the sector casino circuit, as well as a moderately successful player in her own right. Success bought its own problems, not least a nasty Nipshish addiction which eventually reduced her to dealing bent games in a docking ring card-bar on a station servicing the Tortuga cluster.

She met Vane whilst taking a break at the bar, surprised when she was unable to read someone who security scans had shown had no psy-boosting or shielding tech – psykers of any ability were unlikely to expose themselves by cheating in a grubby 5 throne games like hers. The offer of a drink assured that Vane gave her his full attention, and her interest was piqued when she was still unable to gain any telepathic or empathic insight. Vane proved to be a very superstitious character, and a demonstration of her Tarot skills made him insist that she join his ship.

With nothing at all to loose except some unwelcome attention, Calypso became a supernumerary on The Nastenka and her card tricks and tarot skills made her welcome with the crew. Vane's contacts swiftly acquired enough documentation to cover her past and allow her to move freely through planetary customs and security. Her stock rose higher when noticeable increases in the crews shares were attributed to her 'negotiating' skills, which firmly cemented her position as a valuable shipmate

Calypso is aware that a pirate crew is a seething and delicately balanced mass of greed, ambition and jealousy; knowing the thoughts of several would-be-mutineers, she has always decided that discretion is the only option and refuses to discuss what she knows with anyone, including Vane.

Edit: Vane is the Captain of the Nastenka

[JoelMcKickass]

I like her. The name is a nice hard back to The Odyssey (at least i think it is...), which fits the sea faring theme quite nicely.  I'm drawing a blank on the psychic powers though, maybe something like "Mind Wipe", she makes people forget what they were doing, and leaves them open to suggestion. Involves alot of GM discretion, but fits well with the persona of bringing people in. Difficulty is something like half the targets Wp/Sg (whichever fits), and she lowers their Wp by the amount she passed by for D3 turns. Something like that.

Or maybe using the Detection power and reversing it? No one within 2D6 knows she's there unless they can physically see her?

Background wise, she could survive in an escape pod, with one of the Security having turned the gun on him/herself (an early manifestation of her powers made easier by the fact a Daemonic Incursion happened midship, thus weakening the securities willpower. She is literally the straw that broke the camels back, finally breaking the securities willpower and having them kill themselves rather than her), making Mother believe they were her parents.

Also, would Vane be more likely to seek her out? If he knew of someone with a particular talent for reading the Emperor's Tarot, maybe he'd go and look for her, what with being a suspicious pirate.