PROGENITOR: WORM (A Wormquest AU)

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CHARACTER SHEET & GLOBAL METRICS
  • Informational
    • SUSPICION​
    TECHNOLOGY​
    ECONOMY​
    WARFARE​
    2​
    3​
    3​
    2​

    THE METRIC DATA IS NOT AVALAIBLE TO YOUR CHARACTER UNLESS THEY HAVE SUPERHUMAN (10+) DICE IN MIND.
    YOU MAY CHECK THE METRICS, BUT YOU MUST NOT ACT UPON THEM.
    IF YOU START DOING MONKEY BEESKNEES, THEN I'LL REMOVE THESE.
    BUT THEY'RE NEAT, SO DON'T MAKE ME DO THAT.



    THE CURRENT MEMBERS OF THE STONEWALL NINE

    TEAM MORALE:     Dissolved (1/4), Fraying (1/2), Bad (3/4), Average (x1), Good (x1.5), Excellent (x2), Found Family (x3)
    TEAM HEADQUARTERS: Yggdrasil, the World Tree
    TEAM ALLIES: NYPD (Grudging), Stan Lee (Eager), Cam Nguyet (Whether You Want Her Or Not), Amanda Sykes, Abe Sykes
    TEAM ENEMIES: Don Crawler (Nemesis) [IN JAIL], Glasshead (Nemesis) [IN JAIL], Miss Eyes (Nemisis) [IN JAIL], Zipperneck (Rival) [IN JAIL],
    Cam Nguyet (Whether You Want Her Or Not)

    TEAM WARDS: Tina Shaw, Amy Sykes, Cassie the Humanoid Force, Sloppy Joe, Aisha Laborn, Camilo Vera, Jill Danning
    ​
    Lily Satō, Head of the Stonewall Nine

    AGE: 19 (DOB: 1951)
    PASSION: Girls [7], Fuck the Cops [4], Superheroing [1]
    LOYALTY: Queer Rights [7], Your Friends [5], , A Better World [1]
    BASE WILL: 25 | XP: 1

    Lily has seen nothing but hassle from New York's finest and is damn sure not going to let them push her around. And now, finally, a queer woman can hit back harder than the patriarchy does.

    BODY​
    CORD.​
    SENSE​
    MIND​
    CHARM​
    COMMAND​
    1d+1wd​
    6d​
    3d​
    3d​
    2d​
    2d​
    Lily, before becoming a metahuman, was perceptive and smart, but had the strength and endurance of a sixteen year old girl after a bad cold. Afterwards, she could become incredibly strong if she manipulated the physics of the items she touched, or the clothing she wore to augment herself. Her max press was five tons without any additional effort, a top speed of 40 MPH for running, and a vertical jump of 8 yards. Also, she can dodge bullets.

    SKILLS (Broad, Flexible, Influence)
    [Any] New Yorker, Japanese-American, Delinquent (B/F/-): 3d
    [Any] Being a Lesbian in the 1960s (B/F/-): 3d
    [Any] Superhero (B/F/I): 1d
    [Coordination] Sneaking (-/-/-): 2d
    [Coordination] Lockpicking (-/-/-): 2d
    [Mind] Speak Vietnamese (-/-/-): 1d
    [Mind] Speak Russia (-/-/-): 1d
    [Mind - Hyperskill] Intuitive Physicist (B/-/-): 6hd
    [Charm] Voice of the People (-/-/I): 1d
    [Command] Stubbornness (-/-/-): 3d

    Lily, before becoming a metahuman, was the bad apple of her family. A second generation Japanese immigrant, she doesn't like or respect her parents - if only because she's grimly determined they'd freak out if they found out what she...felt about other women. She's good at sneaking out and has spent more time at Stonewall than she has at school, as her grades will attest. She's got a stubborn attitude and is about ten years early for punk and ten years late for the Beatniks. She makes do.

    ARCHETYPE: METAHUMAN
    Source: Unknown | Permission: Super
    Intrinsics:
    Immutable: Barring superhuman assistance, gadgets, or something wildly unexpected, Lily's powers will not change or improve.​
    ​
    Infectious: Lily is either a strong, stable or weak vector (she doesn't know which.) If she's strong, she has a 100% infection rate until she reaches power equilibrium. If she's stable, she has an 80% shot (the joy of being a Tier 3.) If she's weak, she's got a 10% shot. Infection passes when she uses her powers on anything sentient.​
    ​
    POWERS

    Not So Little Anymore...
    Dice: 1wd
    Hyperbody (+4), No Physics (+1), Booster [2] (+2), If/Then [Must Be Wearing Clothes Over The Parts Used] (-1), Obvious (-1)​
    Cost per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 20​
    By adjusting, in minute and gross ways, the physical properties of either what she carries and her own clothing, Lily effectively has her very own suit of strength enhancing exoskeletal structures. This imparts incredibly precise control to her blows, her athleticism, and her jumping. This isn't a subtle effect - her body emits strange flashes and odd noises as air and light interacts unpredictably with her physics alterations.

    Fast as a Thought
    Dice: 4d
    Hypercoordination (+4), No Physics (+1), Go First [2] (+2), If/Then [Must Be Wearing Clothes Over The Parts Used] (-1), Obvious (-1)​
    Cost per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 20​
    Just like with her body, but this covers her reflexes as well. She can dodge bullets! ...not that she HAS too. The flashing and eerie hissing makes stealth hard, so she prefers to turn it off when she's sneaking anywhere.

    Intuitive Physicist
    Dice: 6hd
    Hyperskill [[Mind]General Physicist (B/-/-)] (+1)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 12
    She's intuitively a PHD equipped physicist on par with Albert Einstein. Maybe better, actually. She literally can't NOT know the exact right answer to any physics question. This really helps, considering her powers.

    Everything is a Gun
    Dice: 8d+1wd
    Range: 2,560 Yards | Mass: Knockback = Base Damage + 6 meters | Base Damage: Width in Shock & Killing
    Attack (+2), Area [1d] (+1) Spray [1d) (+1), Heightened Capacity [Mass] (+1), Penetration [2] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass] (+2), Speeding Bullet (+2), If/Then [Must Touch an Object] (-1), Obvious (-1)​
    Cost Per Die: 9 | Total Cost: 108​
    By touching an object (any object, really) and canceling their mass and lateral motion relative to the planet Earth, she can turn anything, from an apple to a doorknob to a manhole cover into a projectile. By touching a lot of objects (I.E, using spray), she can hit as many times as she gets sets. By making sure to touch relatively fragile objects and creating deliberate fracture points, she turns the weapon into a kind of kinetic shotgun (using Area.) People hit by this tend to go flying (using the Power Capacity [Mass]), but she can just use narrow blades if she just wants to do the slicing and slashing. The only problem is if she can't touch things with her skin (it has to be a skin to skin contact) it won't work. Oh. Also, the sonic booms.

    No
    Dice: 10hd
    Range: 512 yards
    Defends (+2), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Spray (+1), Obvious (-1), Limited Capacity (-1), If/Then [Must have a Medium to Manipulate] (-1)​
    Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 40​
    By glaring at the air around her, she can render it impenetrable to whatever is coming her way. Maybe the air molecules suddenly lose the ability to move at all and become an impenetrable wall that simply bounces a kinetic projectile off, or negating an explosive's ability to undergo chemical interactions that lead to detonations, or making the air molecules ahead of her simply non-conductive to whatever energy blast is heading her way. This is not subtle - producing bright flashes, loud booms, and strange changes in local atmospheric conditions as the interactions become chaotic beyond the immediate radius. The maximum number of people or places she can protect at once is five people, but the more people she tries to protect, the less effective the defense is. It's literally impenetrable when she's just protecting one person, but if she's protecting five at once, a fast shot or lucky hit might get through.

    Physical Fuckery
    Dice: 5wd
    Range: N/A | Mass: N/A | Speed: N/A​
    Attacks (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Must Be Related to Repressing a Physical Law] (-1), Locational [Head, R. Arm, L. Arm, Body, R. Leg, L. Leg] (-6)​
    Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Must Be Related to Repressing a Physical Law] (-1), Locational [Head, R. Arm, L. Arm, Body, R. Leg, L. Leg] (-6)​
    Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Must Be Related to Repressing a Physical Law] (-1), Locational [Head, R. Arm, L. Arm, Body, R. Leg, L. Leg] (-6)​
    Cost Per Die: 6 | Total Cost: 120​
    Whenever she puts her mind to it, Lily can do something. If it can be done by suppressing a physical property or law, she can do it. Needless to say, once she realizes how her power works, she starts studying the hell of out physics. This is really easy, thanks to her intuitive understanding of physics. However, this power requires her to be able to use every SINGLE iota of her body's contact with the surrounding universe. If she has taken any trauma to any part of her body, then these powers short out. If she gets a chance to refocus, she can reestablish her control...unless the body part in question is too damaged to be used (I.E, filled with any combination of shock or killing damage.) In which case, she simply cannot tap into this ability to manipulate the universe. She simply lacks the holistic connection to the universe.

    Seriously, Though, everything?
    Dice: 1d
    Range: Self Only
    Attacks (+2), Attack Quality [10] (+10), Augment (+4), Area [10d] (+10), Booster [10] (+10), Burning (+2), Engulf (+2), Penetration [10] (+10), Radius [5] (+10), If/Then [Augment Only] (-1), If/Then [Cannot Spend Use Augment for anything but "Everything Is a Gun"] (-1), If/Then [Must Be Manipulating Matter On A Scale Permitting The Impacts She Wishes] (-1), Self Only (-3)​
    Cost Per Die: 54 | Total Cost: 54​
    Hey, what if she touches a mountain face and she negates its inertia and lateral motion for a flash of a second and turns Everest into a five kilometer high rock shotgun? Well, uh...take your pick! Add all of the above! If she uses a chemical tanker, it might explode. If she uproots an oil derrick, it will set things on fire. Anything justifiable in the scene, she can do it. She will have to spend a willpower point to do this. Oh, and be willing to accept the consequences.

    Confident as Hell
    Dice: N/A
    Base Will (+3), Attached [Hyperbody] (-2)
    Cost Per Point: 1 | Total Cost: 26
    Lifting five tons over her head, running as fast a car, and being aware she doesn't have to be afraid anymore all combine to create a staggering, preposterous level of raw confidence. This is good, cause it makes her good at fighting supervillains and changing the world. The only problem is that if that hyperbody ever goes away...poof. There goes the confidence. Good thing that won't happen! ...right?

    ​
    Andy Richter, Time Thief and Genius Gadgeteer
    Andy's Powers

    ANDY HAS 11 BASE WILL.

    Hypermind
    Dice: 4wd
    Hyperbrain (+4), If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of any form if electrical equipment) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 12

    More Hypermind
    Dice: 2wd
    Hyperbrain (+4) If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of a pretty hefty chunk of computers) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 8

    Even More Hypermind
    Dice: 2wd
    Hyperbrain (+4) If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of even more computer components) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 8

    Dear God, Sir, How Much More Hypermind Do you Need!?
    Dice: 2wd
    Hyperbrain (+4) If/Then [Must be within 10 meters of a pretty hefty chunk of computers) (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted by wrapping his head in a Faraday cage] (-1), If/Then [Can be disrupted with any form of non-physical radar jamming too] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 8

    When Andy is within ten meters of any kind of electrically conductive material harnessed for human ends – lamp posts and microwaves, toasters and hair driers – he becomes smarter than the smartest human being in the world. If those electrically conductive materials are arranged into a computer of some kind, then he becomes a lot smarter, and he gets more and more smarter the more and more computers are around him. Eventually, he hits the four way tie for smartest monkey on this marble. Unfortunately, unlike some metahumans, Andy's "exocortex" is suspended on physical matter and communicated to him via electromagnetic signals, meaning they can be blocked or removed by his enemies.

    Time Snatch
    Dice: 2hd
    Mass: 2.5 kg or less
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Limited Capacity (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 20

    Andy has a fascination with electrical gizmos and computers. But the 1960s was not enough for his subconscious. He is able to reach forward in time into parallel universes and, uh...steal stuff. The stuff can only come from other universes, and he can't do more than 2.5 kilograms at a time, making the stuff he REALLY wants (quantum computers, spaceship engines, laser guns) slightly tricky.

    I Can Make Whatever You Want
    Dice: 5hd+10d+5wd

    Attacks (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Requires at least 6wd of Hyperbrain to be active] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is only for Technology] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Any Gadget Made Must Have the Manufacturable Extra] (-1), Willpower Investment (-1)
    Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Requires at least 6wd of Hyperbrain to be active] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is only for Technology] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Any Gadget Made Must Have the Manufacturable Extra] (-1), Willpower Investment (-1)
    Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Requires at least 6wd of Hyperbrain to be active] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is only for Technology] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Any Gadget Made Must Have the Manufacturable Extra] (-1), Willpower Investment (-1)
    Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Delayed Effect (-2), Touch Only (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 7 | Total Cost: 280

    Hokay. So! Andy can make gadgets. He's, in fact, one of the better gadgeters in the world – in part because he doesn't NEED A LABORATORY. He doesn't NEED supplies. Because he just...uh...borrows them from the future. (Note, if he chooses to not borrow things from the future, then he will need a laboratory, but won't get a rebate in points.) The gadgets he makes can be, eventually, learned to be recreated by non-metahumans. Now, it still takes him some time to actually build a gadget! Now, there is one tiny problem: He needs to be smart enough to do any of this, and that means that if he's in a Faraday cage helmet, then he's shit outta luck.

    Oh, also, the last useful ability is the ability to deconstruct other people's foci. So, if he finds a gadget in the wild, he can take it apart and gets all the Willpower used to build the device in the first place. This is why gadgteers tend to HATE one another. He can also deconstruct any device he's built to get the willpower he invested in it back.

    Base Will
    Dice: N/A
    Base Will (+3), Attached [Hypermind] (-2)
    Cost Per Point: 1 | Total Cost: 14

    He's a driven, focused guy.


    Sabah Attar, Girl Who's Under Your Skin

    SABAH HAS 8 BASE WILL

    Puppets
    Dice: 2hd+8d
    Range: Touch/5,450 Yards
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Delayed Effect (-2) If/Then [Needs Materials To Make Them From] (-1), If/Then [Can only use hard dice with skin] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Attached [Telekinesis] (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 48

    By using her telekinesis to sew together, uh, material - don't tell people it's skin, please don't tell people it works best with skin - Sabah is able to make incredibly useful puppets. With a 2x10 result, she can make 10 of them. They last forever and are perfectly loyal to her! ...so long as they're within about three miles. Once beyond that, they act on their own recognizance. She CAN make it with non-skin and she's even pretty good at it, but it is kind of tricky and doesn't always make the best minions. (a 2x1 to 2x3 result produces Rabble, while a 2x4 to 2x6 makes trained minions, and 2x7 to 2x8 makes professionals. 2x10 make Elites.

    Matterkinesis
    Dice: 9d+1wd
    Range: 510 Yards | Mass: 1.28 Tons| Speed: 128 Yards
    Attacks (+2), High Capacity [Mass, Range] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass, Range] (+4), Spray [1d] (+1), If/Then [Only Manipulates Unliving Matter] (-1), Limited Capacity (-1)
    Defend (+2), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Spray [1d] (+1), If/Then [Only Manipulates Unliving Matter] (-1), Limited Capacity (-1)
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), High Capacity [Mass, Range] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass, Range] (+4), Spray [1d] (+1), If/Then [Only Manipulates Unliving Matter] (-1), Limited Capacity (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 19 | Total Cost: 247 points

    This is the big shebang. Sabah is able to manipulate non-living matter to move it around. She's pretty weak. For...a tier 4, meaning she can "only" lift a 1.2 ton boulder off the ground from a "mere" 510 yards and "barely" throw it at 128 MPH. Guh. What a chump, right? This power can defend, attack, and manipulate matter. The matter that she manipulates tends to "stick" to what it was doing for about an hour - so if she flings a rock upwards at 128 MPH, then it'll keep going straight up at that speed for an hour before falling down.

    Specialty Puppets
    Dice: 2hd
    Range: Touch
    Attack (+2), Duration (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only Is Attached to Puppets] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Can Mimic Expert Minion Abilities] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
    Defend (+2), Duration (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only Is Attached to Puppets] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Can Mimic Expert Minion Abilities] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Only Is Attached to Puppets] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Can Mimic Expert Minion Abilities] (-1), Touch Only (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 4

    When she makes puppets, the puppets can do stuff that they would reasonably be able to do. If she makes a bunch of ninja costumes, they get the Elite Ability: Stealth, allowing them to do what minions normally cannot (sneak into buildings without being spotted.) She can attach any elite ability she wants to these puppets!

    Armed Puppets
    Dice: 2hd
    Range: Touch
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), Touch Only (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 8

    ...is that a puppet? HE'S GOT A GUN!? BLAM BLAM! If this power is used after the puppet power, then the puppets have guns and can do their damage in S/K damage. The guns look like they're made of felt cloth or bone depending on if Sabah is making them out of which cloth - but no matter how impossible the gun looks, it still can kill.

    Immune Puppets
    Dice: 2hd
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Puppets] (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is for Immunities Only] (-1), Self Only (-3)
    Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 12

    These puppets don't need to breathe, cannot be poisoned by gas, cannot get cancer, radiation, "live" I guess, forever, and are immune to pretty much whatever would kill a normal human other than straight out physical damage.

    Self Stitching
    Dice: 2hd
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Engulf (+2), No Physics (+1), Self Only (-3)
    Cost Per Die: 6 | Total Cost: 24

    Sabah hopefully doesn't learn about this for a while. But the instant her own flesh dies, she can control it and can instinctively stitch it back together again. This effects her entire body. At the most extreme case, if she is completely atomized, she will reconstitute herself in approximately sixty seconds. She will not enjoy doing this, but she can do it. Death for Sabah now requires some equally permanent effect or for her to lose her powers.

    Touch Up
    Dice: 1d
    Hypercharm (+4)
    Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 1d

    Like most teens of any gender or sexuality, Sabah has a few hangups about her body. A few wrinkles gone, a bit less sag here and there. Most people won't notice, but they're gone.

    Base Will
    Points: 1
    Base Will (+3)
    Cost Per Point: 3 | Total Cost: 1

    She's just a bit more confident. Also, I had 3 points to spare


    Lisa Wilbourn, Nose Who Knows

    LISA HAS 12 BASE WILL

    Become a Foxgirl
    Dice: 2hd
    Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Self Only (-3)
    Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 8

    Lisa becomes a fox girl!

    Elementary
    Dice: 5wd
    Hyperskill [Broad, Flexible] (+2), No Physics (+1), If/Then [The wild dice must be set to the value of the normal die rolled] (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 20

    Why, it's elementary, my dear Watson! This is a broad and flexible skill that covers all manners of detective and investigation sneakery. It has no physics, allowing for preposterous levels of information to be drawn, far beyond what would normally be available from a mere glance. The only problem is that it is somewhat dependent on her own mind (5d.) So, if she rolls a 4, 3, 2, 1 in her normal mind dice, she'd HAVE to get a 5x4 - a fast, but not necessarily correct deduction.

    Bang
    Dice: 10wd
    Hyperskill [Broad] (+1)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 40

    She's quite possibly the best shot on the planet with any gun or gun like object. This is a byproduct of her incredibly focused intellect.

    Coordinated Like A Fox
    Dice: 10wd
    Hypercoordination (+4), Attached [Fox Girl] (-2)
    Total Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 80

    When she is a fox girl, she is able to preform feats of physical coordination that defy imagination. Dodge bullets? She can CATCH bullets. She can shoot bullets WITH HER OWN BULLETS.

    Can't Touch This
    Dice: 1d
    Hyperskill [Narrow] (+0), Interference (+3), Duration(+2), Attached [Fox Girl] (-2)
    Total Cost Per Die: 4 | | Total Cost: 3

    Remember when I said she can dodge bullets? Say she gets shot at. She rolls a 10x10 using her coordination+ this skill. This now on for the rest of the battle. She can dodge all the bullets forever until the battle is over.

    The Nose Knows
    Dice: 10wd
    Hypersense (+4), Attached [Fox girl] (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 80

    Her senses are so preposterously attuned to the world around her that she can see in the dark, read by touch, identify targets by smell, differentiate between distinct sounds in a symphony by their subtle differences, and can sense movement up to a quarter of a mile away.

    Oh Shit
    Dice: 2hd
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), No Physics (+1), Radius [13] (+26), Self Only (-3), Uncontrolled (-2), Attached [Fox Girl] (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 26 | Total Cost: 104

    This is a power no one knows she has. Because it's not really a power exactly. It's a combination of her incredible senses and her deductive reasoning. Here's how it works. If anything catastrophic happens within 12 hours - the death of a loved one, a natural disaster, a space station knocked out of orbit and smashed into the ground - and it happens somewhere within 50 miles around Lisa, this power triggers. The game resets to that point with her waking up from a prophetic dream put together by her subconscious, aware of exactly what she did during that day. Once she realizes this power exists (and, also, the 50 mile limit to when it triggers) she is going to be INCREDIBLY CLINGY.

    Base Will
    Points: 5
    Base Will (+3)
    Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 15

    She's confident, like most of you, because she has superpowers.

    Theo Anders, Arm of the Resistance

    THEO HAS 7 BASE WILL

    Limb Field
    Dice: 8+2wd
    Hyperbody (+4), Booster [+8], No Physics (+1), On Sight (+1), Endless (+3), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Radius [1] (+2), Spray [1] (+1), If/Then [Only for arms] (-1), If/Then [Requires Local Materials] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 20 | Total Cost: 320

    So! Everything within a 3 mile range can be touched by Theo by manifesting an arm made of local materials (air, if nothing's there, but he can also use cloth, bits of stone, metal, anything that he can use to reach through.) This does mean it doesn't work in a vacuum, but it can work in an extremely thin atmosphere or with local dirt if he was, say, on the Moon. Anywho, he can make as many arms as he want (for example, if there were twenty people in a ten yard radius, he could make 20 arms to grab each of them by the scruff of their necks.) What is more, he can use this power through screens to cheat the distance. If he sees someone on TV, he can manifest an arm there and pants them! Cool!

    Anywho, these arms can lift 1.28 trillion tons, last forever unless he is killed or runs out of willpower. They can throw a 1.6 ton object nearly a tenth of a mile. They can punch someone so hard that they'll go flying 48 yards BEFORE you figure for any extra damage. And did I mention they defy the laws of physics - so, he can pick up a building without spilling the coffee cups inside? Cool!

    Tougher Than He Looks
    Dice: 3hd
    Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Hardened Armor (+2), Armored Defense (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 30

    He's tougher than he looks. He has 3 levels of Light Armor, which reduces shock damage to 1, then converts 3 levels of killing damage to shock. So, if he was thrown into a wall for 5s/2k like poor Ned, he'd take 1s/2k, then the 2k would be turned to shock, so that's a total of 3s - a bad bruise, not a potentially life threatening spine snap.

    Rachel Lindt, Houndmistress Extraordinaire

    RACHEL HAS 9 BASE WILL

    Pet Their Heads And They Wag their Tails
    Dice: 2hd+2d
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Touch Only (-2)
    Hypermind (+4), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), If/Then [Does Not Provide Hard Dice To Canines] (-1)
    Points Per Die: 5 | Total Cost: 30

    When Rachel pets a dog, the dog wags their tail! Also, she can now talk to this dog, forever, at any time, using normal conversational English. She can also understand the dog's response. Oh! Also, the dog gets +1d to its mind as hypermind, bumping it from an animalistic 0d to a human level 2d. Good dog! Who's a good pupper?

    Make My Doggy GROW!
    Dice: 3hd+6d+2wd
    Range: 5,120 yards
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), On Sight (+1), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Obvious (-1)
    Hyperbody (+4), Booster [2] (+2) Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
    Hypercoordination (+4), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
    Defends (+2), Duration (+2), Armored Defense (-2), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
    Defends (+2), Duration (+2), Interference (+3), Armored Defense (-2), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
    Attacks (+2), Penetration [5] (+5), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make My Doggy Grow] (-2)
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Engulf (+2), Attached [Pet their heads] (-2), Attached [Make my Doggy Grow] (-2), Self Only (-3)
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Attached [Pet their Heads] (-2), Attached [Make my Doggy Grow] (-2)
    Points Per Die: 13 | 260

    If a dog that Rachel has petted is within range - or even just visible through a screen, or...she can talk to it over a phone (note to self: Invent radio collars for her dogs that she can work through), she can make the doggy GROW! This only lasts for a short time, but the dog will become much larger, much tougher, and much stronger and much faster. Basically, they get +3hd+6d+2wd to their Body, their Coordination, AND they'll get (effectively) 5 levels of light and hardened armor and +5 health levels on each area, making each dog a literal walking tank! ...also, they get laser eye vision. Which can cut through tank armor. Cause, you know. They're dogs.

    ...the dogs can also fly. At 640 MPH.

    Cause they're dogs.

    Power Collar
    Dice: 2hd
    Range: Touch
    Useful (+2), Permanent (+4), Attached [Pet Their Heads] (-2), Always On (-1), Automatic (-1), Touch Only (-2)
    Point Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 4

    The dogs, once she pets them, cannot gain dark energy powers despite being sentient. It's an instinctive byproduct of Rachel's will to both connect with dogs and 'keep them safe' - wild, uncontrolled dark energy powers spreading unchecked through the doggy population terrifies her subconscious. And so, her subconscious makes sure to lock that off.

    Healing Touch
    Dice: 2hd
    Range: Touch
    Useful (+2), Useful Quality [5] (+5) Engulf (+2), Touch Only (-2)
    Points Per Die: 7 | Total Cost: 28

    Though terrified at first this power only works on Dogs, Rachel is relieved to learn it actually can work on just about anything. She touches them, and they glow a little, and then heal 7s/7k to every single part of their body instantly. No muss, no fuss. It, sadly, cannot bring people back to life unless she pushes herself (she will have to permanently burn 1 Base Will to do so.)

    Base Will
    Total Points: +2
    Base Will (+3)
    Point per Will: 3 | Total Cost: 6

    She's determined. Not as much as others, but enough.

    Marsha P. Johnson, The Queen of Stonewall

    MARSHA HAS 11 BASE WILL

    Flower Power
    Dice: 9d+1wd
    Attacks (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [All Effects are Plant Themed] (-1)
    Defends (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [All Effects are Plant Themed] (-1)
    Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [All Effects are Plant Themed] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 21 | Total Cost: 273

    A powerful and incredibly flexible ability, Marsha is able to create and utilize plant growths (most people think she can only do flowers, but she can do trees, she can do vines, she can do thorns, oh boy.) These plants often defy physics and understanding - if she wants, she can make a thorn that can cut through tank steel, or a tree that can grow powerfully enough to uproot a building, or an apple that, when eaten, can cure sickness. While her power isn't as "rawly" strong as some other abilities - if she got into a tree V arm wrestling contest with Theo, Theo would win - her powers are so staggeringly flexible that she is an amazing asset. However, her powers do need to be "formatted" - meaning that if she isn't prepped for combat or defense, she is terrible vulnerable.

    Queen of Stonewall
    Dice: 8hd
    Defend (+2), Endless (+3), Radius [3] (+6), Delayed Effect (-2), If/Then [Only Works in an building she owns and operates and has become in, some metaphorical and metaphysical sense, hers] (-1), No Physical Effect (-1), Exhausted (-3)
    Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 64

    So long as the Queen is in her domain, no harm shall come to any who are there. This power is an endless effect centered on her, radiating out approximately 40 yards (meaning an exceptionally large building won't be entirely protected.) The effect is entirely psychological - people simply cannot bring themselves to harm anyone while in the field - this includes her allies, she can't shut it down for them.

    Beauty Without Compare
    Dice: +4d
    Hypercharm (+4), Obvious (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 3 | Total Cost: 12

    She is luminous, with total of 7 dice in Charm.

    Fabulous Performer
    Dice: +1d
    Hyperskill (Broad, Flexible)
    Cost Per Die: 1d | Total Cost: 1

    This is a mild improvement, but it was all I could think to spend her last point on. Sue me!

    Tori Heflin, The Telekinetic Smuggler

    TORI HAS 8 BASE WILL

    Invisible Telekinesis
    Dice: 3d+1wd
    Attacks (+2), Booster (+4), High Capacity [Mass] (+2), Non-Physical (+2), Power Capacity [Mass] (+2), Subtle (+1), Spray [1d] (+1), Locational [head] (-1)
    Defends (+2), Controlled Effect (+1), Duration (+2), Interference (+3), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Radius [1] (+2), Subtle (+1), Locational [head] (-1)
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Booster (+4), High Capacity [Mass, Speed] (+2), Power Capacity [Mass, Speed] (+4), Subtle (+1), Locational [head] (-1),
    Useful (+2), Booster (+4), Engulf (+2), High Capacity [Mass] (+1), Power Capacity [Mass] (+2) Attached [Telekinesis] (-2),
    Cost Per Die: 45 | Total Cost: 315

    By focusing, Tori is able to create telekinetic fields. Unlike many, these fields are completely, one hundred percent invisible. She can protect people in bubbles (selectively, if she wants!) bout 10 yards wide, so long as they are within about 80 yards of her. Her attacks are incredibly narrow stabs that then balloon in the target - they can only be dodged, not resisted with armor (hence the 'non-physical' extra.) If she's feeling exceptionally vindictive, she can just grab your heart and punch it as hard as she can from within your ribcage too. Her max range for her TK attacks is 800,000 yards. That's 450 miles! It can send people flying pretty goddamn far too.

    Next, she can pick up and carry stuff. Anything within 450 miles, and her max weight is 2,000 tons. Not as stupidly huge as some people, but nothing to shake a stick at. What is really amazing, though...is this.

    Anything she picks up - anything at all -     becomes invisible TOO. This includes her own self, if she's using TK to fly. This includes the ENTIRE PARTY if she's carrying everyone. This includes jets. This includes buildings. Anything she grabs, she can turn invisible!

    Adaption
    Dice: 4hd
    Useful (+2), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect For Immunities Only] (-1), Self Only (-3)
    Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 32

    Thanks to telekinesis, she can also breathe in space. With telekinesis.

    Base Will
    Points: 1
    Cost Per Point: 3 | Total Cost: 3

    You know the drill by now. Powers, better will, had points hanging.

    Brian Laborn, The Power in Obscurity

    BRIAN HAS 7 BASE WILL

    Grueclouds
    Dice: 9hd
    Attack (+2), Daze (+1), Duration (+2), Radius (1) (+2), Non-Physical (+2), Spray [1d] (+1), Limited Damage (shock) (-1), Limited Width (-1)
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), Radius (+1), Attached [Dazing Cloud] (-2), Automatic (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 10 | Total Cost: 180

    When activated, this power is a bit slow and sluggish - effectively going off last on every round. However, you have to know it is coming, and this requires a Resistance roll of Sense+Perception to spot where Brian is looking (he just need to glare to do it.) If the resistance roll fails, then you get hit with 5x10 attack in a 10 yard radius. Due to limited width and limited damage, this only does 1 shock to the head. ...it also removes FIVE DICE from their next turn. If a character has no dice, they can't do shit. This happens each round they're in the cloud, so if they're completely debilitated, they take 1 shock to the head every round until the cloud is dispersed or they slowly and painfully die. Since, 1 shock per 6 seconds for an hour is going to kill you. Even better, the cloud also gets a 4x10 useful effect that obscures visibility, chokes out EM frequencies, and negates all but the best dark energy perceptions. That's what the useful is, the jamming field.

    Power Thief
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Attacks (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Endless (+3), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Is For Mimicking Powers Only] (-1), If/Then [Target Must have been exposed to the Gruecloud at all! Ever!] (-1)
    Defends (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Endless (+3), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Is For Mimicking Powers Only] (-1), If/Then [Target Must have been exposed to the Gruecloud at all! Ever!] (-1)
    Useful (+2), Variable Effect (+4), Endless (+3), If/Then [For Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect Is For Mimicking Powers Only] (-1), If/Then [Target Must have been exposed to the Gruecloud at all! Ever!] (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 18 | Total Cost: 162

    If a target has been exposed to the dark energy cloud that Brian can produce, Brian can replicate that power. In himself. Now, usually, it will be a great deal weaker, and it may require expending some willpower, but he can do it. What's more, as he hits more people (or more people volunteer for the admittedly unpleasant whammy), his power catalogue just gets bigger and bigger and bigger.

    Ghost Recall
    Dice: 2hd
    Useful (+2), Duration (+2), If/Then [Subject must have been exposed to the Gruecloud] (-1), No Physical Effect (-1)
    Cost Per Die: 2 | Total Cost: 8

    Powers aren't the only thing that Brian can copy. He can also recreate the memories and personality of a person in a ghostly, shimmering cloud of darkness roughly in the shape of the person. Their personality-clone cannot form new memories and only exists for a short time, but has pretty accurate information. If you can convince them to give it up. Is this ethical? Anyway, that's Brian's power set!

    Brian's Library
    • Every Single Power From the Stonewall Nine
    • THE EYEBALL POWER SUITE (note, as this is multiple powers, it would take Brian a total of 5 rounds and 81 WP to make one permanent eye with each of these powers. However, he doesn't need to make an eye with every part. He can just have an eyeball that flies for 18, or an eyeball that can access the Eyeball Zone for 18 WP (18 to make it, 0 to make the Zone) Fortunately, due to Permanence, each of these WP expenditures does last forever. Or, uh...until the eyeball is squished...
    Eye Eye, Sir!
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Defends [Evasion] (+0)
    Useful [Exists] (+0), Permanent (+4), Touch Only (-2)
    Points Per Die: 2 | Cost: 18

    By focusing, an eyeball grows inside of Brian's body, then pops out. It's gross.

    Why Is It So Tough, It's An Eyeball!?
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Useful [Health Boxes] (+0), Permanent (+4), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
    Willpower Cost: 2 | Cost: 18

    When he creates the Eyeballs (which, as a note, he currently cannot), Brian can only give them 3 extra health levels, making them much smaller.

    Eyebeam
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Attacks [Eyebeam] (+0), Spray [5d] (+5), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
    Willpower Cost: 3 | Cost: 27

    The Eyes have laser beams. Because they're eyes. Brian's eyes will have a total of 6d+2wd, rather than 9d+1wd.

    Eyeflight
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Defends (+0), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
    Useful (+0), Permanent (+4) Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2)
    Willpower Cost: 2 | Cost: 18

    The Eyes have it! ...flight, that is. Brian's can soar along at a mere 10 MPH. They are slightly better at dodging though.

    Into the Zone
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Useful [Traps Target In Horrifying Nightmare Dimension] (+0), Endless (+3), Traumatic (+1), Attached [Eye Eye, Ma'am!] (-2), Touch Only (-2)
    Willpower Cost: 0 | Cost:0

    Brian's eyes, like Miss Eye's eyes, have access...TO THE EYEBALL ZONE.

    Your Attack, Foreseen
    Dice: 1d+2wd
    Hyperskill [Dodge] (+0)
    Willpower Cost Per Die: 0 | Cost: 0

    Formatting his power this way does let Brian dodge better.

    Mistress of All Eyes See
    Dice: 4hd
    Hyperskill [Tactics] (+0), Power Capacity [Range] (+2), Booster [5] (+5), No Physics (+1), If/Then [Can Only Command Eyes] (-1)
    Points Per Die: 7 | Cost: 63

    For a staggering 63 GODDAMN willpower, Brian can get the STAGGERING ABILITY to command Eyeballs with his mind at a range. AMAZING!!!!!

    GADGET ONE: The Gaia Engine

    Useful [Gravity Control] (Mass: 500,000,000 tons| Range: 200,000,000 meters| Speed: 50,000,000,000 meters per round [74 times the speed of light])
    Dice: 2hd
    Useful (Free, Gadget) | Duration (+2), Booster [10] (+10), Power Quality [Mass, Range] (+4), High Capacity [Mass, Range] (+2), No Physics (+1), If/Then [Requires Metamaterials Produced by Lily to Function] (-1), Foci [Fragile, Bulky, Crew x4, Manufacturable] (-5), Obvious (-1), Slow (-2)
    Cost Per Die: 10 | Total Cost: 40 WP (1 Base Will To Free Up)

    Costing 40 WP from your pool (representing the metamaterials that you provided to construct it), the Gaia Engine is a remarkable device. Requiring the attendance of sixteen trained professionals - among the first hires that Andy ever made - the Gaia Engine is capable of gravitational manipulation at an obscene scale and speed, with ludicrous precision. How absurd? Well, from orbit, you can snatch up the entirety of Manhattan - island and all - and rip it into space and then fling it towards Alpha Centauri at 74 times light speed without damaging a single thing on it, nor causing it damage when it lands on Charon. Cool! You officially can't bitch about me spending 40 of your WP on this fucking thing, you goddamn maniacs!

    The duration is approximately a day, so once per day, the crew have to make sure the gravity field that keeps Yiggy in the air is 'reupped.'

    GADGET TWO: The Aegis
    Defense [Gravity Shield]
    Dice: 5hd
    Defends (Free, Gadget), Endless (+3), Interference (+3), Attached [Gravity Manipulation] (-2), Foci [Bulky, Manufacturable] (+0),
    Cost Per Die: 4 | Total Cost: 40 WP (1 Base Will to Free Up)

    Feeding off the Gaia Engine, the Aegis is an attached chunk of material that projects a defensive field around the entirety of the Yiggy's superstructure. Incoming weaponry, unless it goes faster than 5x10, is simply swatted away. This includes beams of light, the rays of the sun, solar flares, and other nasty things.

    GADGET THREE: Room Service
    Useful [Room Service]
    Dice: 3d+1wd
    Useful (Free, Gadget), Endless (+3), Variable Effect (+4), Attached [Gaia Engine] (-2), If/Then [Variable Effect Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect is for Room Service Only] (-1), If/Then [Variable Effect only applies within the Yiggy's superstructure] (-1), If/Then [Room Service must be Requested] (-1), Foci [Bulky, Manufacturable] (+0)
    Cost Per Die: 1 | Total Cost: 7 WP (1 Base Will To Free Up)

    Also feeding off the Gaia Engine's powers, Room Service is simple as hell. You ask for tea, earl gray, hot. Then the fucking tea shows up! This also covers very attractive P-zombies that look like dead celebrities, medical aid, giving you lucid dreams, creating illusions, playing movies, and translating languages.

    Here's some basic rules for gadgeteer who want to make powers

    ---

    GADGEETING RULES FOR GADGETEERS

    STEP ONE
    Decide what power does. All powers can either ATTACK, DEFEND, or be USEFUL. Each thing costs (+2)

    Example: I want to make a ray gun that can also heal people. It Attacks [Ray Gun] (+2) and is Useful [Heals People] (+2)

    STEP TWO
    Apply modifiers for extras and flaws to each power capacity. The full list is found in the Wild Talent's core rulebook. Add them all up into a total cost per die. The minimum point value is always 0 (you can't get extra for going below your maximum.)

    Example: This ray gun can fire very fast. It has +3 Spray. This ray gun heals all of you! It has Engulf (+2). Both attack and useful has the Foci (-1) with the Fragile (-1) and Accessible (-1) flaws. This means it costs 2+3-3+2+2-3 for a total of 3 points per die.

    STEPTHREE
    Count up how much it costs based on how many dice. If it has hard dice, the hard dice are "base cost x2" and if it has wiggle dice, then they cost "base cost x4."

    Example: This ray gun has 5d+1wd. It costs (5x3)+(3x4) for a total of 27 willpower.

    STEP FOUR
    Use your gadget. The gadget can then be taken apart to regain your willpower back. If you want to, you can burn 1 base will to make it a gadget that exists permanently (freeing up those dice for later.) If the gadget has the Manufacturable extra, then it can be made a common, household device that anyone can buy for a cost of 1/2 the willpower it costs to make in base will, taking 1 month per base will spent to make it ready for manufacturing.

    Example: Pretend the raygun has manufacturable (even though it doesn't.) It costs 14 Base Will to make it buyable at any street corner, and takes a year and change for the final designs to be completed. Once done, the inventor gets the 5d+1wd that they put into the gadget back into their gadgeteering dice pool.

    ---

    HOW TO INFLUENCE PEOPLE WITH YOUR INFLUENCE SKILLS

    There's a big old table from the Kerberos Club book! Here it is!

     
    Last edited:
  • Informational
    • Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Jan 7, 2022 at 1:46 PM, finished with 60 posts and 8 votes.
    • 10
      [X] Plan: Fellow Travelers
      -[X] 1 XP: +1 to a narrow skill (1 each to Russian & Vietnamese)
      -[x] First: Yggdrasil aka Yiggy, Orbital Base for the Stonewall Nine (3 Base Will - 1 for the Gaia Engine, 1 for the living quarters, 1 for the support gear)
      -[x] Second: The Buzzing, syntergenic super-guardian (10 base will to make manufacturable, NO EFFECT ON METRICS but instead prevents syntergenes from impacting metrics for as long as it exists)
      -[x] The Iron Curtain.
      [X] Plan: Back In The USSR
      -[x] 3 XP: +1 to a loyalty [Your Friends]
      -[x] First: Yggdrasil aka Yiggy, Orbital Base for the Stonewall Nine (3 Base Will - 1 for the Gaia Engine, 1 for the living quarters, 1 for the support gear)
      -[x] Second: MARS, the reactor to power the world (2 Base Will to make manufacturable - +1 ECONOMY)
      -[x] The Iron Curtain.
      [X] The Iron Curtain
      [X] Plan First Time In The USSR
      -[x] 3 XP: +1 to a loyalty [Your Friends]
      -[X] First: Cornucopia, a replicating replicator (4 base will to make manufacturable, +1 TO ALL METRICS)
      -[X] Second: Yggdrasil aka Yiggy, Orbital Base for the Stonewall Nine (3 Base Will - 1 for the Gaia Engine, 1 for the living quarters, 1 for the support gear)
      -[x] The Iron Curtain.
      [X] Plan: From Moldova With Love
      -[x] 3 XP: +1 to a loyalty [Your Friends]
      -[x] First: Yggdrasil aka Yiggy, Orbital Base for the Stonewall Nine (3 Base Will - 1 for the Gaia Engine, 1 for the living quarters, 1 for the support gear)
      -[x] Second: The Buzzing, syntergenic super-guardian (10 base will to make manufacturable, NO EFFECT ON METRICS but instead prevents syntergenes from impacting metrics for as long as it exists)
      -[x] The Iron Curtain.
    Click to expand...


    Gotcha plot, gotcha SKILLZ!

    I'm going to be bleeding off base will from your loyalty to yourself - Lily's becoming less shellfish!
     
    Cosparent
  • Sidestory
    • October 31st, 1969
    New York City
    New York

    ...Halloween

    ...but you already knew that


    "...is that costume...appropriate?"

    Tina Shaw's voice drew Amy Sykes' attention as she turned from the mirror in her apartment in New York - which was simultaneously located in Kansas. Amy, with the casualness born of being barely thirteen when her mother exploded and then became the next best thing to God, shrugged and spread her arms. "Totally! I don't get cold! And if anyone's a weird perv...boom!"

    Tina frowned, drawing her legs up on the bed. She looked from Amy's creative interpretation of the word 'witch' to the windows. There were two of them - one angled on the western edge of the rectangular room, and the other on the northern end. The northern window looked out at gleaming city lights and the evening sky. The western one still showed the view out of Amy's old bedroom back in the Sykes' farm. The sun was setting there, and painting the wheat in shades of orange. The cheerful jack-o'-lantern that Amy's father had put out on top of the scarecrow glittered in the distance, the candle beaconing what kids were willing to brave the trek from one farm to another.

    "Did you check with your Mom?" Tina asked.

    "Yeah, totally," Amy said, walking do the door. A small glowing bead of green fire flickered right above the doorknob - Amy gripped it and twisted it from Kansas to New York, then opened it and found herself looking into neither - instead, she was looking through the thin green rectangle of the doorway's edges to the interior of an army base bunkroom, where Abraham Sykes, her father, was lacing up his boots and her mother, Amanda Sykes, was standing before the door, her arms crossed over her chest.

    "...hey Mom..." Amy said, shyly.

    "Hi Mrs. Sykes," Tina added.

    Amanda Sykes had the power to rearrange molecules at will. She could pattern energy into semi-coherent, quasi-sentient constructs. She could read minds and, theoretically, turn back the clock (if only by taking all local matter and energy states and shoving them back to where they had been a few seconds before.) Some people theorized that she could cause the sun to go nova, punt the moon out of orbit, or turn everyone in a hundred mile radius into pillars of salt.

    Despite this, she couldn't ever quite manage to arch a single eyebrow like Mr. Spock did on the TV, no matter how hard she tried. And she tried her hardest as her fourteen going on fifteen year old daughter shot her her best 'what? Me? This is fine!' look.

    "What?" Amy asked.

    ***
    ​
    Lily Sato was handing out her fifteenth bunch of Entropandies - all the flavor, but they actually repair damage to your teeth - to the throngs that were practically beating down the front door of the Stonewall when she heard the quiet rattling BANG of Amy Sykes entering the building. She lifted her head, her brow knitting together, while the kids (four of which were wearing passable imitations of her costume) hurried off, laughing and whispering to one another under the supervision of their parents. And she did mean kids, they were twelve, eleven, easily. Amy stomped down the stairs as Lily closed the door and-

    Choked.

    "What are you-"

    "Shut up!" Amy fumed, throwing herself into one of the few stools that remained. She was dressed in a frilly blue dress with a sheep's crook in one hand, which she tossed down to the ground.

    "I think Bo Peep's a fine costume," Tina said, dressed herself in a very somber looking nurse outfit, with a big hat and a bigger red cross stitched onto it by hand, it looked like.

    "The movie's not even freaking out yet!" Amy groaned. She picked at the slightly too perfect dress' hem - and it didn't take superpowers or a hypermind to realize it had been created from literally thin air.

    "What the fu...heck were you going as before?" Lily asked.

    "A witch!" Amy said.

    "...a...uh..." Tina's pale cheeks flushed and the blond sketched an indefinable shape in the air with her palms. "You know."

    "Oh god," Lily said - but before she could burst out laughing even more, the doorbell rang and a chorus of 'trick or treat!' rang out. "One second."

    "Why are you on candy duty?" Amy muttered. "I thought this place was going to have a wild party."

    "It will, in like, two hours," Lily said, laughing. "And I'm on candy duty becuase..." She paused, opening the door, then handed out the candies, which glowed as she passed them out to the kids. There were a few people dressed as the Progenitor in this group, and a trio of adorable Asian kids who were dressed as the Lion, the Tin Man and the Scarecrow. As they scampered off and Lily waved, she closed the door, then turned back to Amy and Tina. "Because only I can turn your average Starburst..." She held out the brightly colored, wrapped squares. "Into Entropandies!"

    Tina giggled. "What are those?"

    "Candies that emit a low level anti-entropic field," Lily said. Seeing her expression, she amended. "They clean your teeth." And decavity them, and reduce gum damage, and clean up any errant cancers you might have, and...

    "Wait, if the party's in two hours!" Amy said, sitting up, excitedly. "We can get a new costume."

    "Oh no," Lily said, shaking her head. "You are not getting help from me, no way, no how."

    "Awww, come on, Lily!" Amy said, sprawling forward, while Tina stepped up, biting her lip slightly.

    "It would really make Amy's night. Halloween is for, uh, fun, right?" she asked, nervously. The earnestness of her voice and the gleam in her eyes made Lily reconsider her general stance of 'when in doubt, don't piss off the Progenitor.' She brushed her finger along the brim of her hat, then called out up the stairs. "Rachel!"

    "Mmmh?" Rachel's voice drifted down the stairs.

    "Can you walk?"

    "Mmhmm!"

    "Can you take over candy duty? I'll make a bunch of Entropandies, and you can just hand them out!"

    "Mmmh."

    "Why can't she walk?" Amy asked, curiously.

    "Costumes!" Lily said, clapping her hands, her cheeks bright red.

    ***
    ​
    In the future, there was a store called Spirit Halloween.

    It didn't exist in the 1960s.

    That didn't mean there weren't stores that sold Halloween costumes - in fact, Andy had negotiated selling the likenesses of the Stonewall Nine to Ben Cooper Incorporated, one of the bigger companies that produced halloween costumes. The money he had made from that was already being poured into the election campaigns for more progressive politicians, and while he was not exactly optimistic about their chances, he did say that it was better to at least try and ameliorate the worst parts of American governance with what he had.

    But Amy Sykes didn't want to dress up in Morgana's outfit. She wanted something that suited her, and thus, spent quite a deal looking along the collected clothing. She was shooting up like a weed, Lily noticed, and already looked a bit old for her age. She wondered when Amy's natural regeneration would 'kick in' and lock her into a certain age for the rest of her existence. Remembering that according to Andy's studying, Amy was basically immortal and might outlast the Earth, the sun and the stars...it sent a tiny thrill of existential horror along the teenage superhero's spine. She forced it down as Amy held up a Catwoman costume.

    "Ooh?"

    The costume looked like it might be painted on, if she wore it.

    "Uh..." Lily said. "I...uh...how about, uh...this...one?" She held out a spiderman costume that had fake abs.

    "I'm a girl, though," Amy said, frowning.

    "Buck tradition!" Lily said.

    Tina giggled, then grinned and leaned in, whispering in Amy's ear. "Pffbtt!" Amy spluttered. "Shut up!" The two started to shove one another, but in the end, Spiderman actually did win out.

    ***
    ​
    The party at the Stonewall was technically to commemorate the ending of the Stonewall Nine's long tenure there. The first of November, they would finish moving from it to their newly built headquarters - and reveal that to the world in all of its glory. But that didn't mean that the Stonewall wouldn't still be an important part of their lives, and the whole group had picked out a good manager to run it and transform it back into being a social spot for the queer scene in New York.

    This meant that the party, rather than being somber or sad, was, to borrow a term from the future...

    Fucking lit.

    The music throbbed. The dancing was intense. And the drinks were good.

    "The hardest part was getting the kids to leave," Rachel said, her voice pitched to be heard by Lily and Lily alone. "They kept wanting to pet Yordle."

    "Everyone wants to pet Yordle..." Lily muttered, darkly.

    "Are you jealous?" Rachel asked, laughing. "Do you want to get more pets?"

    "Maybe..."

    "So, I see we didn't lose every kid," Rachel said, nodding to the corner, where Marsha was speaking with Tina - who was looking completely stunned - and Amy, who was bouncing excitedly.

    "That's why I put Marsha on em," Lily said. "Make sure they don't get drunk, or anything."

    "Is this party...too much for them, they're basically babies?" Rachel asked.

    "Eh, it's no worse than what I got up to at their age, it's fine," Lily said.

    Rachel choked on the next drink she took from her red plastic cup, grabbed on Lily's shoulder, then shoved her around - where the best costume she'd ever seen of the Progenitor was walking through the crowd, right towards her. Lily coughed, then nodded. "M-Ma'am," she said, as she realized the metal was quite real. So were the tiny spurts of green flames. Amanda Sykes looked from her, then to her daughter, then back again. "...there's lots of punch!" Lily added, hastily.

    And to her shock, Amanda smiled. "Good...compromise choice on the costume," she said, dryly.

    Lily breathed out a slow sigh. Amanda slapped her shoulder, gently.

    "I was just checking, you don't need to look so scared, Lily." She grinned. "After all. I'm not your Mom."

    Lily considered that idea.

    Then she immediately started to drink heavily, to banish the thought.
     
  • Sidestory
    • A Shavian, Turf Warrior and a Muppet Walk Into A Bar...
  • Sidestory
    • "Kierkegaard wrote, ahem..." Papers shuffled. "The subjective thinker's form, the form of his communication, is his style. His form must be just as manifold as are the opposites that he holds together. The systematic eins, zwei, drei is an abstract form that also must inevitably run into trouble whenever it is to be applied to the concrete. To the same degree as the subjective thinker is concrete, to that same degree his form must also be concretely dialectical..."

    The yarn and leather woman, with blond tresses that ran along her obviously fake shoulders, shuffled papers while Private First Class Turf Warrior 208119 sipped his first cup of coffee and realized that humans were completely fucking insane. It wasn't just that this was the foulest thing he had ever tasted - and the first thing he had ever 'tasted' was the brackish salt water beneath the Gulf of Tonkin, which was thick with oil and pollution byproducts created by the fleet that was patrolling by overhead - but it was also...

    "Who the fuck writes this shit?" he whispered, softly, to Moldy. Moldy was a pile of flesh and muscle that was arranged into the general shape of a human child, left eye far larger than the right eye. Moldy was one of the only Shavians in the room, and was listening intently.

    "Kierkegaard, Nine," Moldy whispered back. "Shh."

    208119 shook his head and sighed. He didn't need to sigh. He was a creature of dark energy, suspended and contained in a clump of earth and mud and branches that only knew how to do three things: March, follow orders, and kill or be killed for the Marine Corps. He'd been created, along with three hundred thousand others, as part of the last big push before Humphry pulled the plug on the war. He grumbled under his breath. "Should have gotten myself blown up like the rest of my platoon..." He sipped more coffee.

    "Then you'd cease to exist, Nine." Moldy looked at him, then blinked his eyes in a weird, fluttery irregular way. "...shh."

    Nine rolled his eyes.

    The rest of the lecture at the D.E-partment went on and on and fucking on. 208119 was supposed to be an...Actor? And have....absurdism? And then something something, somehow, that meant that he had free will and could do whatever he wanted? All he really wanted was to get his ashes hauled, go back to the base camp, and stand around inside of his assigned closet space until America was thrown into another war again and he'd have to kill or die for truth, justice and the American way. He knew, intellectually, that that desire had been blasted into the coherent energy that infused his body of earth and mud and branches by his creator, the Gunny. The Gunny felt the same way about the Marines as he did, and so, 208119 felt the same way.

    But knowing that intellectually didn't fix the fact that the Army wasn't for bits of earth and mud and branches. That he had to get a real job, according to the Gunny. That he still couldn't understand thing one that this Muppet lady was saying.

    ...she was pretty, though.

    As the rest of the Turf Warriors and Muppets got to their feet, Moldy started to drift into the air. He had legs, but he didn't really use them. He started to float towards the speaker, and 208119 sighed, then walked after him.

    Miss Jessica Darning was putting her papers away and drinking a large glass of water as they came close. Moldy started off the flirting in the way that only a Shavian could: "Why do you drink water? You don't need it."

    "My throat still gets sore, Moldy," Jessica said, smiling wryly at Moldy, then turned to face 208119. Her brows knitted (fuck, now I'm doing it, 208119 thought to himself) and she cocked her head. "I haven't seen you before."

    "You can tell us apart?" 208119 asked, honestly shocked.

    "Nine is easily distinguished because of this," Moldy said, pointing 'helpfully' at the chunk of VC shrapnel that jutted out of his shoulder. He had packed fresh earth around it and kept going during the push, and no one had been sure if pulling it out would do more or less damage than keeping it in.

    Jessica laughed, quietly, then tucked her papers away into a little leather briefcase. Her thumbs seemed too big to work the latches, but they still managed it. "I was crafted to help with this exact kind of...existential crisis. My creator, Sabah, can sew all sorts of abilities into us Muppets - some of us have weapons, some of us have armor, some of us can make food, or grow crops, or work in mines." She shrugged her shoulders and 208119 tried to not make it obvious that he was watching the way her bright yellow breasts rose underneath her clothing - which, were the oddest part, honestly. If she was just a full on naked woman made of yarn and knitted cloth, that would be one thing. But Jessica Darning wore a very normal, very human blouse and skirt. She even had a crucifix. "I was made to understand people." She smiled, then met his eyes. "So, I noticed you were having a bit of trouble with Satre and Kierkegaard."

    208119 coughed, then rubbed his hand against his neck, his wrist bumping against his shrapnel. "Nah, it's...I guess...you know, like, we're people, and, even though we know who made us and why, we're all...you know, dealing...with stuff."

    Jessica laughed again. "Yeah, that's close enough." She glanced at the clock above the desks in the room. "This is my last class, did you two want to get something to drink after?"

    208119 stood a bit straighter. "I don't-" Moldy started.

    "Shut up, Moldy, you fucking do," 208119 hissed. Then his dun colored cheeks...didn't darken, because he didn't have blood. But they wanted too. "Sorry, ma'am."

    "I teach philosophy to Turf Warriors," Jessica said, then turned and started to walk towards the door, skirts swishing. "I've heard worse."

    208119 watched her go, gulping slightly, while Moldy hovered beside him.

    "Muppets don't have-" Moldy started.

    "You don't know that," 208119 hissed back, then hurried after.

    ***
    ​
    "But how can we have agency, as you say, if we lack the ability to propagate ourselves, like all other sentient species on Earth."

    "Are...there more than one?" 208119 asked, sipping on his beer, while Moldy bobbed in the air in the general area above where his chair was.

    "If you want there to be more Shavians, you can surely ask Tina Shaw if she can make some, right?" Jessica asked, earnestly. "I haven't really done much reading on Shavians, since you're so rare."

    "We've asked, but she says no," Moldy said, then shook his head. "Considering the nature of Crawler, the first really famous Shavian, we're burdened immensely by an unfair onus that, because our personalities are randomized, we cannot be trusted to breed." Moldy paused for a beat. "I am done speaking."

    He vanished from the air above the table with a crack. He hadn't even taken a sip from his drink.

    Jessica blinked slightly, then looked from where Moldy had been hovering to 208119. The two of them were in a corner table in The Fraying End, one of the first Muppet run and owned bars that was started in Yarntown in New York. The beer was good, the food was terrible, and humans were rare. Of course, so were Turf Warriors, so 208119 was forced to become aware of the fact that every other person was looking his way, subtly or overtly. He tried to ignore it as he grinned at Jessica. "Don't worry, he does that."

    "What a strange creature," she said, shaking her head, blond tresses rustling faintly. "He doesn't seem to understand human emotional context nor even basic social cues or...dynamics...or...even senses of hierarchy, like, the basic stuff that most people get." 208119 nodded, opening his mouth, about to add his own two cents, but Jessica continued, her eyes looking off: "He reminds me of certain extreme ends of the neurodivergent spectrum I've been studying about..." She sounded sympathetic, so 208119 realized that maybe calling Moldy a weird little freak would get him in hot water.

    "Yeah," he said. Something was nagging at him. He started to tug on the paper wrapping around his bottle, a nervous tick that he was pretty sure he'd picked up from the Gunny. "You, uh...you really think that he's right, thought? That we're all different species? Cause, I always kinda thought we were human, you know?" He looked down at his hand, flexing his fingers slightly. The earth and dirt that was his palm moved with a faint crinkling noise - but he didn't shed dirt or anything. Even the tiny bits that moved freely kept in cohesion with the rest of himself, where if he was just a statue or something, they'd flake right off. Jessica's pale yellow hand went over his, and gripped him.

    "What's human, after all?" she asked, smiling gently. "I think being human is less about bits inside you and more a shared lineage of culture, history, language, feelings and desires."

    208119 gulped and nodded. "R-Right," he said, wishing he could blush.

    "We're born of humans, and I think most of us want to be a part of human society - as fucked up as some parts of it are," Jessica said, smiling broadly - causing 208119 to cringe faintly. He'd never heard a lady use language like that before. Well, okay. Not a lady like Jessica Darning, at least. She grinned, seeing his expression. "I wasn't stitched yesterday, Nine."

    208119 laughed. "I guess not. So, uh..." He groped for something to say about existentialism, wanting to impress her.

    She leaned in, whispering. "I know you don't understand existentialism, Nine."

    "Oh."

    "I didn't invite you out for drinks to talk about existentialism, either."

    "Oh?"

    Jessica's button eyes glittered. "Nine, do I have to give you an SOP for this?" She leaned in, her body shockingly warm against his shoulder.

    "Oh!"

    Later, his back pressed against the matress, Jessica's arm and leg hooked over his body, and feeling the closest that he had ever gotten to tired in his entire year long life, 208119 lit up a cigarette, inhaled, then blew out a stream of smoke above the air. Jessica giggled. "Yeah, light up in bed with the girl made of yarn," she whispered, mischievous. He snorted and held the cigarette far out over the bed, so the ashes would scatter onto the carpet, which provoked her shoving him until he got it over the ash tray beside the bed. After the laughter had died down, Jessica became somber. Her finger played along his chest, gently, tracing the lines of earth, the edge of a small branch that had rubbed against her breast earlier.

    "Have you ever thought of getting a different name than 208119?"

    "Uh..." He paused. "Not really, no."

    "Do you like the name?"

    He considered. He was in bed with a gorgeous woman, smoking a fine cigarette (unlike coffee, he could see the upsides on this) and he was beginning to realize...he didn't actually have to get up and drill tomorrow. He could just stay here, as long as he wanted.

    "Yeah," he said, quietly. "I think I do." He grinned. "Wanna see an upside of dating a Turf Warrior, Darning?"

    "Hmm?"

    "I can march for days..."
     
  • Sidestory
    • I feel bad that the dogs can't really talk to them about all this too. You know, never-mind languages, we could make a universal translator that helps you understand intent and experience empathy beyond just the spoken word.

    Not just a translator… a communicator.

    (This is the worst pun I've ever written)
     
    Side stories good. You can show off characters we don't get to see too much of in the moment as Lily.
     
    @CyberEnby So like, narratively, how is the cornucopia supposed to work? Is it one big ass replicator? I'm kinda imagining something the size of a building that can build anything inside of it as long as it has power.

    Your write up says "decentralized" though so maybe it's more like the feed/seed? We could build cornucopia like they were power stations and then run infrastructure lines to smaller replicators for people to use. Very big project to do such a thing in America, better pray to god there's a progressive government when we try to roll it out. I'm still thinking we should do Panacea/MARS before it.
     
    Parzival95 said:
    @CyberEnby So like, narratively, how is the cornucopia supposed to work? Is it one big ass replicator? I'm kinda imagining something the size of a building that can build anything inside of it as long as it has power.

    Your write up says "decentralized" though so maybe it's more like the feed/seed? We could build cornucopia like they were power stations and then run infrastructure lines to smaller replicators for people to use. Very big project to do such a thing in America, better pray to god there's a progressive government when we try to roll it out. I'm still thinking we should do Panacea/MARS before it.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    Panacea should definitely be done before it, because that will generate the good will and economic clout we need to push Cornucopia through, and I'm coming around to doing MARS right after because energy will be one of the main inputs to Cornucopia.

    As to what Cornucopia is, well, the most basic version of the system is a cube the size of a washing machine. You plop it down somewhere, plug it in (or rely on it's built in solar panels, but that's slow as balls), and it expands to twice its transport size. You can feed it raw material which it can refine into blocks of precursor feedstock, which can in turn be fed back into it to make stuff. It's throughput is nothing to write home about, taking hours to make stuff, but it can make just about anything - including the parts that can be assembled into a copy of itself.

    Now, the real magic is that you can use it to make the parts that can be assembled into larger, less refined fabricators. You don't need atomic precision for everything you do - better to print the parts for a laser sintering machine, or a CNC lathe, etc. The Cornucopia machine comes with a extensive database of all those machines needed to make other machines and how to use those in turn. Think of it as a nanotech seed for a Warhammer style STC.

    Now, some materials and objects would be locked out - explosives, weapons, etc. We can't prevent people from building the machinery that will let them make those parts, but we can place certain blocks in place that will make it a huge pain in the ass. We absolutely don't want the military fabing nacreous diamond jet fighter airframes for instance.

    We can also take out patents, and lobby hard to keep these machine in house in the beginning - and sell just enough stuff to organizations like the military that they can't quite muster up the political will to have our IP seized (indeed military sales are a form of progressive tax! "This circuit board is mil-spec don't you know? Takes proipriatery processes to make it this rugged! That's why it costs a hundred times what our civilian boards cost! What's that? They look the same? Well of course, it's all in the quality control you see!").

    We open up new factories allover the place, built up from seeds, and under the democratic control of traditionally marginalized communities, pumping profits back into them and creating stores of political and economic capital that further fuel our civil rights machine. We also need to expand globally - the first phase of which should involve the Stonewall Group setting up operations in South Somalia, Gabon, Brazil, Ecuador, and Indonesia as well as Catalonia (Spain). The former are all equatorial nations with ocean access, making them key transhipment hubs once we build an orbital ring. The later is a good acess point into the European market, in an area sympathetic to anti-capitalist goals.
     
    Lol, it's totally gonna be a disaster. Really it doesn't matter what blocks we put in it when any other hypermind gadgeteer will have a final product to reverse engineer but the attempt must be made. It'll slow them down at least.

    However it should be totally capable of ruining the current world order so there's that. I expect it to be violent, DCs probably getting his mid-late 70s WW3.

    I kind of expect this to go the way of The Diamond Age, which I absolutely recommend, in which nation states break down and society instead reorganizes itself in cultural "phyles" which have sovereign enclaves all around the world.

    Society in The Diamond Age is dominated by a number of phyles, also sometimes called tribes, which are groups of people often distinguished by shared values, similar ethnic heritage, a common religion, or other cultural similarities. In the extremely globalized future depicted in the novel, these cultural divisions have largely supplanted the system of nation-states that divides the world today. Cities appear divided into sovereign enclaves affiliated or belonging to different phyles within a single metropolis. Most phyles depicted in the novel have a global scope of sovereignty, and maintain segregated enclaves in or near many cities throughout the world.

    The phyles coexist much like historical nation-states under a system of justice and mutual protection, known as the Common Economic Protocol (CEP). The rules of the CEP are intended to provide for the co-existence of, and peaceful economic activity between, phyles with potentially very different values. The CEP is concerned particularly with upholding rights to personal property, being shown to provide particularly harsh punishment for harming the economic capability of another person. The role of the CEP in the world of the novel could be seen in comparison with the roles of real-life international organizations such as the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund.

    "Thetes" are individuals who are not members of any phyle and are often socially disadvantaged and economically poor, being similar to second-class citizens under the CEP. In the novel, the material needs of nearly all thetes are satisfied by freely-available food and clothing, albeit of low quality; thetes without the political connections of a phyle are entitled to similarly low-quality "free justice."

    The book distinguishes three Great Phyles: the Han (consisting of Han Chinese), the Neo-Victorian New Atlantis (consisting largely of Anglo-Saxons, but also accepting Indians, Africans, and other members of the Anglosphere who identify with the culture) and Nippon (consisting of Japanese). The novel raises the question as to whether Hindustan (consisting of Hindu Indians) is a fourth Great Phyle, or a "riotously diverse collection of microtribes sintered together according to some formula we don't get."

    Internally, the New Atlantis phyle is a corporate oligarchy whose "equity lords" rule the organization and its bylaws under allegiance to the vestigial British monarchy. Other phyles are less defined – some intentionally, as with the CryptNet group or the mysterious hive-mind Drummers. Over the course of the story, the Common Economic Protocol sponsors the investigation of clandestine Seed technologies in order to preserve the established order from subversion, using the justification that unrestricted access to Sources would lead to the proliferation of high tech weapons and result in anarchy. It is also hinted that property rights are so expansive that the Protocol recognizes children as the economic assets of their parents.

    Explanation from the Wikipedia page. Won't end exactly up like that but I expect to see disintegration of federal society as local autarky suddenly becomes a viable strategy.

    I dunno, maybe we can do something else to cripple the nation-states ability to wage war, something to rearrange the balance of power so that defense once more outstrips conventional offensive ability.

    Maybe bombardement grade barriers that'll dome a territory and take a nuke to the face? Actual functional ABS? (Shields are less likely to provoke immediate nuclear war I think).
     
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