Empathy

Empathy is the ability to both sense and affect the emotions felt by others in the surrounding vicinity.

Unlike the innate humane capability of empathy (which is simply the ability to understand and share the feelings of another), the Descendant ability of empathy is the supernatural ability to actually sense and manipulate the feelings and emotions of other people.

Limitations
As with any other ability, the extent of focus and concentrations are natural limitations for any users of this ability. Other limitations include:
 * The empathetic capacity of the user
 * The user's actual sensitivity to and interpretation of a specific emotion
 * Due to different individuals experiencing emotions differently to one another, some emotions tend to be felt more or less intensely, or in some cases, misinterpreted entirely as a different emotions

Application Examples

 * Transference - the ability to transfer an emotion felt by one to another being
 * Overloading - the ability to overload the senses of a being, incapacitating them

Siân O'Gallagher
Siân is among the most feared empathetics in the Academy, capable of inflicting deep negative emotions in her victims. She is particularly noted for her favoured power of incapacitating multiple opponents with the illusion of searing pain, described by her victims as though being sliced through the body by a hundreds of tiny needles.

Her abilities are capable of affecting multiple around her, but are most concentrated when focused upon a single target, often causing such a serious effect on her victims that even after subjection they experience symptoms akin to post-traumatic stress disorder.

History
Siân's powers manifested in the aftermath of a near-death experience, where the normally quiet and introverted 12-year old was shoved into a bag by a gang of ex-cons and thrown into a river. The Academy intervened and rescued her from drowning, before she unintentionally disabled all around her with the same desperation and fear suffered during her ordeal. She is now closely supervised and trained by the Academy, though she is no less feared by her fellow Academians.