Touched by Vorlons: Difference between revisions

* In ''Blue Light'' by Walter Mosley, a blue light comes from space and magically enhances anyone it comes into contact with. It makes them the best at what they are doing at the time.

* In ''The Featherbedders'' by Frank Herbert it's a reason why telepathic Slorin only rely on [[Metamorphosis|polymorphing]] to infiltrate societies they are parasiting upon.

{{quote| Next time you find a blob of something jes' lyin' in a field, you leave it alone, hear? [...] It was you made him so dang strong, pokin' him that way. Slorin aren't all that strong 'less'n you ignite'em, hear?}}

** [[Eberron]] provides an entire race [[Touched by Vorlons]]. The Kalashtar started out as human mystics untill they merged with extraplanar beings known as Quori.

** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' after Time of Troubles has "Touched mages" -- wizards who agreed to perform for the goddes of magic (but ''don't'' need to be Mystra's faithful) a "little" service -- help to erase a dead-magic zone, drop a "funny" surprise on local Cult of the Dragon cell and so on. They receive a temporary granted power (which may change mid-quest). When the mission is complete and this power vanishes, the wizard is left with a little, but useful spell-like ability (like Feather Fall or Light at will) and is a bit less vulnerable to one school of spells. Naturally, this also stimulates the faith more often than not.

* Never, ever a good thing in ''[[Warhammer 40000]]''. Partly because you're liable to get [[Burn the Witch|nailed to a stick and purged with flame]] if you get touched by any alien... or listen to them... or look at them (unless through a gun sight)... or live in the same general area as someone who looked at them... and Emperor help you if someone on your planet was engaged in a Chaos Cult.

** Played more straight with Astropaths, a class of Psyker and the main means of interstellar communication in the setting. In order to survive sending messages through [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|the Warp]] they undergo the Soul Binding, exposing them for a brief second to the mind of the God-Emperor. As a result, their eyes burn out, leaving them blind.

** Aside from the [[Eldritch Abomination|Chaos Gods,]] there's also the [[Physical God|C'tan]], [[Blessed with Suck|Psykers]], and [[Abusive Precursors|the Eldar Gods]]. In general, getting [[Touched by Vorlons]] in [[Crapsack World|this]] [[Darker and Edgier|setting]] is never a good thing.

*** Which is when the Commissar ability "It's For Your Own Good!" comes into play...

* ''[[The World of Darkness]]''

** The Imbued of ''[[Hunter: The Reckoning]]'' are granted strange abilities by the [[Powers That Be|Messengers]].

** The changelings of ''[[Changeling: The Lost]]'' were abducted by [[The Fair Folk]] and dragged off to Faerie, where their bodies adapted to the fact that the laws of physics had been thrown aside in favor of contract law. But then, at a certain level, it turns out the abduction {{spoiler|wasn't so much this trope as it was [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]]...}}

* In ''[[Black Adventures]]'', [[The Missingno|Missingno.]] bitch-slaps Mary, injuring her eye. Her next appearance reveals that she has obtained some of [[Missing No]].'s powers, which she uses to help her and Joseph get the upper hand against Black.

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', the [[Filler Strips|filler story]] "Stick Figure Tales of Cotton", Torg and Riff both gained superpowers from a group of aliens ([[It Makes Sense in Context|that were actually the author's hand]]) after going through some parodic superhero origin stories that didn't actually give them any powers.