Here are two semi-magical skills i have come up with. Tell me what you think. Don't know what the inspiration for the first one is, the second one is partly inspired by the movie Equilibrium and partly by the possible blade from The Scar by author China Mieville. The rest is my own work (i hope).
THE PSYCHO-THAUMATURGICAL DISCIPLINES
Though most of the arcane disciplines are directly connected to the occult and the otherworldly, a few of the arcane disciplines are of a more natural kind. The psycho-thaumaturgical disciplines are borderline-unnatural disciplines dealing with the skills that can be obtained through preternatural control of one's mind. The disciplines are entire sciences in their own right, and are extremely difficult to learn, though the rewards are proportionally great.
OBLIVIATION (MNEMOTAXONOMY)
Called Memory Control by the public, obliviation by the practitioners and mnemotaxonomy by the experts, this is the art of controlling one's own memories. You can't use this to shape your thoughts or anything, but you can use it to put some of the unused space in your brain to better use; mainly the subconscious. This space is organized into thematically-divided archives, which is to be filled up with accordingly themed memories later in this process. When the obliviator wants to archive a specific memory or piece of lore, he uses special techniques to 'forget' (obliviate) the thought from his conscious mind, and return it to the subconscious, where it is then placed in the appropriate archive. A small mental string, which contains a mental key-word as to what the memory is about, is attached to the memory, which in turn allows the obliviator to pull the memory back up if the need arises. Obliviation requires a special mind-set, arduous training, and perfection of the techniques, but the rewards are also great, since it allows for near-perfect memory, learning, and calmness of mind, and of course also the ability to store vast amounts of knowledge, making the talented obliviator a living encyclopedia. Masters of the skill are called Polymaths.
ACTIVE ACTION CALCULATION (TYCHOESTIMOLOGY)
This discipline is all about taking every factor into account. Active Action Calculation is the art of predicting events by calculating the odds of something happening according to the factors involved. It's a difficult art, requiring a good overview, an incredible, well-honed speed of thought, and, of course, skills at probability calculation and at remembering the effects of every single factor. Calculators start by assessing a situation, determining what each and every factor involved is, and what effect they will have on the probabilities. Next step is calculating the probabilities themselves. The third and final of the theoretical steps is to pick out the most effective of the probability paths. Fourthly, a calculator can choose to carry out the actions he has calculated to be the most effective. Calculators usually also strive to perfect the control of their bodies, so they can carry out the probabilistic paths with a higher degree of precision (and thus, success). Talented calculators can carry out the assessment step in a few seconds by entering an aptly named Watcher Trance. The trance is divided into a series of sweeps, where he goes over every factor. Multiple sweeps often ensure the highest degree of success as hardly any factors are left unaccounted for in that case. The calculations and optimization steps are carried out in a separate Focus Trance. The practitioners are sometimes called sentinels, which is also their preferred term for themselves.
This is like computer hacking in your brain. Pretty weird. But neat!
Interesting.
I use a skill based system, but the ideas for my Sage Skills are somewhat similar, entering a trance and cross-referencing a sage's own and their shared memories to access data. Higher power sage skills actually allow for probabilities of conflugence in terms of the data mining and allow for them to extrapolate from possible correlations as well as real ones, making them intuitive geniusew when they pull out a good roll.
(A lot of this came out of Dickson's Childe cycle, always very useful for integration of racial characteristics).
I see a lot of the old Marvel 'Mad Thinker' in the second one. Ever read that?
Nope. Can't say i have. Sadly enough, i seem to have skipped my comic book education. Reading over the wikipedia article, i can easily see how you connect it to him though, so yes, he probably studied tychoestimology. : )