Awareness

When a character learns to sense Ren, they gain Awareness: an additional sense layered on top of their existing ones. It lets them perceive others’ awareness, Ren density, texture, and the polarities of other practitioners, and they can change its state at will. Every Rennim has Awareness by default, gained at Realm 1. How actively they use it is a choice with mechanical and social consequences. There are 5 states of Awareness.

Awareness states are readable by other Rennim. A character walking around in Extended state is broadcasting that they are scanning their environment. A character in Focused state is publicly scrutinizing a target. A character in Projected state is searching for something.

In tense social situations or formal settings, the expected state is Suppressed. Projected scanning in a formal audience is a little rude. Extended is mostly tolerated, though keeping it up among many Rennim is frowned upon. Focused scanning of an individual is an act of aggression. Cloaked is always suspicious if discovered.

States

State	What It Does	Social Implications
Cloaked	You appear to have no Ren, or only mundane amounts, operates the same as Suppressed, but casting abilities costs +1 Strain.	Stealth. No one can identify you as Rennim without extraordinary means.
Suppressed	Ren held inward. Extended detection reveals your Realm. Focused detection reveals your texture and polarities.	The default polite state. You are not broadcasting, but you are not hiding.
Extended	Radial outward sense. You detect Ren density and Realm in the surrounding area. Loose directional sense only. Your own polarities register in the world, and others show up on it only where they share one of yours. It cannot read the polarities others carry.	You are scanning your surroundings. It reveals little about anyone, so it passes as ordinary attention, though it can be uncomfortable when strangers keep it up for a long time, and it is frowned upon in places with many Rennim. Others who are Extended or Focused will notice.
Focused	Concentrated on a specific target. Reveals their Realm, texture, and polarities.	Deeply invasive. Using Focused awareness on someone outside of combat is likely to start a fight.
Projected	Concentrated on an area at Range. Reveals their Realm and their most prominent polarity.	Reads clearly as searching for something. Mildly invasive, but uncomfortable for those in the area, so a little rude.

Awareness and Ability Targeting

The Awareness state assigned to an ability at construction determines how it targets:

Awareness State	Targeting
Cloaked / Suppressed	Originates from you. Applies to self, via touch, or travels outward from your body.
Extended	Area centered on you. Auras, emanations, radial effects.
Focused	Targeted at a specific location or entity. Summons, hexes, teleportation.
Projected	An Area at Range. Directed blasts, Environmental effects, etc…

The full ranges for each state and substate are in Abilities. Range grows with Realm and with the experiences assigned to Awareness (see Strain, Stride & Awareness Range).