Into the Tides Book Bonus: Flight Power

I'm off on vacation this week, but that doesn't mean no posts! Friday's publishing news post will be moved back a Friday, so keep an eye out then.

Today is a little book-bonus! In posts such as these, I'll give you extra information from my novel that you won't find in the book itself.

In Into the Tides, people who have magic are called "Powers." Each type of magic has a different set of capabilities, which is based on genetics. And for each Power type, there are 6 different levels of ability, called classes, with 6th class being the weakest and 1st class having the most magic. How a person's class is determined is based on what they can do.

I've been working on creating descriptions that explain what each Power type can do, by class. (Okay, yes, I've probably been having too much fun with this... ;) If you're reading the book and wondering what the characters are capable of, and what they would be capable of if they were higher in class, you can find out!

Here's more about flight  Powers, who make a brief appearance in the book:

Magic Types
Flight	6	Passive: Weight reduction (20% variance; flight Power does not cause loss of mass; nor is anything worn or carried by the flight Power affected). Happens randomly when not concentrating. Active: Fall more slowly*** (acceleration speed 20 ft/s/s; compare to standard acceleration 32.2 ft/s/s); reduce weight up to 30% (without mass loss); jump 1.15x normal height; hover 1.5 seconds
	5	Passive: Weight reduction (40% variance) at will (does not happen without concentrating) Active: Fall more slowly (acceleration speed 10 ft/s/s); reduce weight up to 75%; jump 3x normal height; hover 2 minutes (no maneuverability)
	4	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance) at will; fall more slowly (acc. speed 15 ft/s/s) Active: Fall more slowly (speed determined at will, but no less than 5 mi/hr; average 4th class flight power can manage 20 seconds); reduce weight up to 100%; fly up to 20 feet vertical; hover 20 minutes
	3	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance at will); fall slowly (acc. speed as low as 1 ft/s/s) Active: Fall (speed determined at will; average 1 minute); reduce weight up to 100%; fly 30 minutes (any direction; max speed 20 mi/hr)
	2	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance at will); fall slowly (acc. speed as low as 1 ft/s/s) Active: Fall (speed determined at will; average 5 minutes); reduce weight up to 100%; fly 2 hrs (max speed 60 mph [eye protection needed])
	1+	Passive: Weight reduction (100% variance at will); fall slowly (acc. speed as low as 1 ft/s/s); hover at will; often hover randomly when not paying attention Active: Fall (speed determined at will; average 5 minutes); reduce weight up to 100%; fly 8 hrs (max speed 80 mph [no eye protection needed with speeds up to 50 mph]); cold/low oxygen tolerance (may survive in lower than normal levels of oxygen or at lower temperatures--up to 1.5x normal)

***Falling 

When flight Powers reach the limits of their endurance to fly or hover, or cease to channel magic as required to continue to fly or hover, they begin to fall. Slowed acceleration when falling is a subconscious ability, does not take concentration, and will occur as long as Power is conscious (or in normal sleep; that is, not knocked out through physical force, injury, illness, or chemicals) and not affected by substantial chemical mental alteration (drugged or inebriated).

An unconscious or drugged flight Power will fall at a normal acceleration (32 ft/s/s).