PROGENITOR: WORM (A Wormquest AU)

DragonCobolt · Nov 29, 2021

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!

CyberFemme · Feb 9, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
It is entirely within your powers to do this! Though, like, they wouldn't be directly in your control, and even Cam's Progress Cadre wasn't "perfectly" calibrated, despite Cam's 10hd in Hypermind and 10hd in Hyperempathy.

That doesn't even sound like a problem to me - I don't think we're anywhere near Cam's level of needing to control things. I'm imagining our version is a lot more bottom-up, with some sort of electronic direct democracy to help people organize - that way people can seek out others who care about the same things and work collaboratively. Imagine what kinds of gadgets you can build when you have a few thousand hyperbrains in close proximity.
We'll just screen to make sure we get people who want to make the world a better place, whose politics are vaguely anarchist leaning, are socially progressive, open minded, etc. Basically Andy and Lisa can put their heads together to make sure we're not going to have undue drama later on and that people will be able to work together.
Yiggy is an idea place to use as their home base because everyone's physical needs are taken care of the the universal translator makes communication simple - which is going to be important because we'll want to grad a relatively diverse set of people from all over the world. And Yiggy is easily big enough to house them all as well as any family they want to bring along - Yiggy might actually stop feeling like a ghost town if that happens. (Amy sporing can generate a maximum of 282240 metas - a lot of them, especially in the lower tiers - will probably not get their pwoers under controlled circumstances, so might not be affiliated with us, but if even half do then we'll need to expand Yiggy to make sure we have room.)

DC, can Beta get powers from Amy?

Now, we'll probably have an interlude before we move on to other gadgets, but I do think that we should first take what we learned making the Buzzing and apply it to making some defenses against telepathic espionage. Both the US and Cam have powerfull telepaths who can totally read our minds, and that's a massive disadvantage for us - this was actually the main reason I advocated to do the Buzzing first despite of how long it would take to complete. We're not making the Buzzing anymore, but we still need to deal with that issue, so I've written up a proposal:

Mind-skirovka
5HD+5WD
Either a defense of utility power that rather than blocking intrusions, feeds them bad information. If Hoover reads our mind for instance while we're plotting to destroy capitalism, he might get the idea that we're thinking about how to organize a network of food banks or something else innocent. We could even decide what kind of bad information they get, if we want to make a feint. It should have the spray quality in case we need to use it more than once per round, and possibly the interference quality if needed to make it work. The tittle, of course, is an absolutely awful pun on 'mashkirovka' - the art of military deception.

I imagine this power being attached to Tessa, who can be altered to run not just on silicon, but on human minds as well, similar to how the Buzzing would have worked. I'm not sure mechanically whether it would be cheaper for Mind-Skirovka to be an endless effect that Tessa lays down on everyone one at a time, or if we can give her some sort of No Physics information transfer power so she can instantly beam herself into the head of whomever is getting attacked and do battle on their behalf.

DragonCobolt · Feb 9, 2022

Adhoc vote count started by DragonCobolt on Feb 9, 2022 at 9:46 PM, finished with 73 posts and 8 votes.

3 people have voted
[X] It's... huh, it's actually not that big a deal? It's very EXCITING at first pass but once Cornucopia and MARS hits the space gold rush will fizzle. The military implications are a thing... but maybe this could be the Stonewall Group's ticket to getting their fingers into the military-industrial complex?
-[X] Still, invite Cam over for tea. This space focus of hers feels a little... surplus to requirements. It's probably a good idea to get a better understanding of her long term goals.
2 people have voted
[X] It's... huh, it's actually not that big a deal? It's very EXITING at first pass but once Cornucopia and MARS hits the space gold rush will fizzle into a dick measuring contest for bored upper middle class jocks? But... bump up Manufacturability of MARS to 2. Just to twist the knife a little.
- ThatGazzer
- Torgamous
1 people have voted
[X] If Cornucopia isn't already next on the list, put it there.
- prometheus110
1 people have voted
[X] The fact that Nguyet Cam is publically announcing the existence of a stealth interstellar drive that can allow for relativistic kinetic kill strikes is concerning. We need to talk to her about why she's pushing something so extreme into the public consciousness.
- MJ12 Commando
1 people have voted
[X] Nicely ask Cam when the IAEA can do it's mandatory inspection of the entire nuclear fuel cycle, manufacturing plants and sensitive research facilities, to ensure that nothing untowards is going on. An upstanding member of the international community has no reason to refuse. Lily can volunteer as subject matter expert.
-[x] Given these safeguards, Vietnam's engines are clear dual use technology which can not simply be sold or released to the world.
-[x] The atoms for peace program ought to be expanded to deliver access to safer, less militarized engines with far lower peak thrust to any non-nuclear state, keeping them just as useful and less weaponizable. That these can and will be build by US industry is a mere coincidence.
- 10ebbor10

Tea Time With Auntie Cam (cue remembering she's, like, 19)

CyberEnby said:
DC, can Beta get powers from Amy?

...no.

ThatGazzer · Feb 9, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
...no.

yeah! Beta already has powers! Andy's, because they're clones!

DragonCobolt · Feb 9, 2022

Author's Note: ~I have a new keyboard~

"It's...exciting, but I think we should definitely touch base," you said, quietly, your eyes half closed as you considered the possible ramifications of everything that was going on with this engine. "Because, there are a lot of possible answers to what the fuck is going on with Cam that could be very bad. And we want to have to talk to her about that, so we can KNOW what she thinks is going on that requires nearly perfect stealth engines that she's selling to the entire planet. A planet that, I hasten to add, is covered with nuclear missiles that are aimed at everyone else at all the times?" You bite your lip as everyone chews on that for a bit.

"Yeah," Andi says, thoughtfully, rubbing her chin. "We should invite Jace too."

"Uuugh," you groan.

"Why do you hate Jason Weeks so much?" Rachel asks.

You frown.

"It's just..." you pause, trying to articulate what it is about Jason Weeks that you find deeply, irrationally skeevy, deep in the pit of your brain. The words that float around your head don't make a ton of sense, so you just...make a vague hand gesture. "You know?"

Rachel, the dear, looks honestly confused. "No. But I'll hate him too, just, to be supportive."

"Aww, thanks!"

***

You'd think that meeting with three of the most intelligent people on the planet would feel a lot less like getting together with your high school buddies. But...you'd be wrong. There was Andy and Beta - Beta was currently wearing a bit of an illusion flower necklace that made her look like a cheerful hippy girl rather than a living collection of plants and wood that had been sculpted into a feminine form - who were both pushing twenty in the same way you were. There was you, there because you refused to ever let Cam near any of your friends without some measure of oversight, and there was Nguyet Cam.

Watching Cam purely by her interactions with the surrounding world...it was easy to forget that she had been infected with dark energy powers when she had been fifteen. She was a whole ass year younger than you, and in 1970, she had hit a major growth spurt and filled out just a bit more. She'd always be skinny and shorter than you, but she was still...annoyingly hot. And the worst part was that she knew she was hot - but then did absolutely nothing to capitalize on it. No fancy clothes, no sultry looks, not even an attempt to seduce you.

I respect you enough that we can leave the bodies behind, she said, with the way she acted.

Which of course, made her even hotter.

Which was even more annoying, because she had to KNOW it made her even hotter for you!

Cam's smile grew less enigmatic as she dunked her donut in the milk that she had ordered at the small café you were all meeting in. "So, is Jace coming by?"

"He should be here soon, I think," Andy said, nodding as he sipped his coffee.

The door to the café opened. Jason Weeks would have made everything a lot less high school - he was ancient (approximately twenty three) and wore clothes that just made him look older. Rumpled and shaggy and...distressingly similar to how you dressed, actually. , when you weren't in costume. Except he wore it because he didn't have any reason to wear anything else, rather than making a statement. That was a big, important differnece.

It also didn't matter.

Because it wasn't Jason who slid into the place. It was Amy.

"Hey Amy," you say, trying to look casual. "What's up, I thought you were in Kansas."

"Mom's on her way," Amy said, quietly.

"Ahhh..." Cam said, and you put your hand over your face, groaning quietly.

"I told you we should have met in Vietnam," Cam said, quietly, sipping on her milk, as a green flash came through the ladies room in the back of the café, unnoticed by most people. You shifted your sight to perceive dark energy flows and you saw the immaterial, invisible form that was Amanda Sykes drifting through the wall, hovering before the table. She crossed her arms over her chest, while Cam set the cup down. "During the war, the Progenitor demonstrated the ability to teleport, turn invisible, immaterial, and read minds. I can only assume that there's a non-zero chance that she's listening now. In which case, good afternoon, Progenitor, I am not here to do anything untoward with you."

Amy looked from you to Cam, her brow furrowing. "Who's she?" she whispered.

"Amy," you said, rubbing your nose with one finger. "That's Nguyet Cam."

Cam inclined her head, though her brow did furrow ever so slightly. "I..." she cocked her head. "Huh. Well, that's odd."

"What is it?" Andy asked, glancing from Amy to Cam.

"I have as complete census data on the United States as I can possibly get...and I have no idea who she is," Cam said, frowning. "Because, presumably, knowing her would be knowing the Progenitor. And the Progenitor is...quite...infuriating, did you know that her dark energy powers essentially sabotage all exocortex processing related to her identity, psychoanalytic profile, probabilistic modeling..."

You couldn't see Amanda's face, save as a burry haze of dark energy that shimmered in the air behind Cam. But you could tell that she was just a bit smug.

Cam shook her head. "You can tell your mother, assuming she's not listening, that we're not here to destabilize America." She bit down onto the donut, her voice muffled. "Any more than your friends already are."

"We're not trying to destabilize America," Andy said, flushing.

Cam looked unconvinced.

"Anyway, you, uh, go run back to the Yiggy," you say. "The grownups have to talk about boring stuff."

Amy glared at you, then started to back away - while Tina and Cassie (in her environmental suit) peeked in from around the door. Which explained how they had followed you, Cassie could fly pretty fucking fast using her TK. You sighed, then looked at Cam. "Kids," you say, rolling your eyes. Cam snorted, quietly.

"It is rather nice seeing children able to enjoy themselves again, back home," Cam said, her voice soft. "The cities are mostly rebuilt, and the food supplies have been secured since early 1969...but... it has taken some time to unlearn a fear of the sky, considering the bombing campaigns near the end."

Andy winced. You glanced at where Amanda was floating, watching it all.

"Hey, Cam," you say. "Maybe don't try and piss off the most powerful woman on the planet while in her country?"

Cam pursed her lips, faintly, then shrugged one shoulder. You wondered how much of that was artful acting, how much of that was actually her being legitimately pissed. You'd never had your house blown up by American bombers for freedom and capitalism. You felt a twinge of guilt, while Cam said: "While we're waiting for Weeks, there is - oh, there he is."

The door had opened and now, rather than an anxious teenager come to warn you about her overbearing mother...you were watching as Jason Weeks, the smartest man on the planet arrived. Andy had actually been the one to put that word in your ear - he ranked himself as not the smartest man for two very, very, very hard to argue with reasons. The first was that, unlike Andy, Weeks had the ability to shut his conscious brain off and focus every iota of his exocortex into pondering a single question. It gave him scary accuracy and long term thinking, and considering he was able to perceive everything within a light year of his person if he wanted to, he had a hell of a lot of first hand data to work with.

The second reason was, well, Andy wasn't exactly a guy was he?

Jason Weeks was dressed in an old bomber jacket, with a rumpled tye-dyed t-shirt underneath, with ratty pants, flip flops with holed socks, and an expression of baffled geniality. He looked like the whole world had done just a-okay by him. Like he knew you and forgave you from anything you needed to be forgiven for. When you combined that with the fact he had released a book that subtly mind controlled people (admittedly, it was to make them more resistant to mind control) and had a corporation that was selling water filter to people in Africa, like...

It was just...

Really condescending? Like, at least Cam was honest about the fact she was an overcontrolling freak.

You know, you guys are doing the same thing, right? your traitor brain muttered.

"Shut up," you muttered into your coffee as Andy sprang to his feet.

"Jace!" he said.

"Sup, my man," Jason said, and the two gripped, shook. "Hows the hyperbolic outroject?"

"I'm doing all right!" Beta said, cheerfully. "I heard you had a run in with that Jarvis West asshole, are you okay?"

Weeks' normal cheerful attitude and moon shaped face fell. "Ah..." he said, quietly. "No. That didn't go so hot."

"Wait, you tried to take on Jarvis West?" you asked, as he took his seat. You had...really not pegged Jason Weeks for anyone who would even get within a goddamn lightyear of superheroing. He just...he was a big fucking nerd! Jason Weeks blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck.

"The man's a menace, I had to try something, when I worked out where he'd be next. I did go in with backup, but...he held two hundred men and women hostage. Mind controlled them into standing at the edge of a roof and said if we got any closer, he'd make them jump," he said, then shook his head. "...then he set my hair on fire."

"I didn't know that was his power," Cam said, her brow knitting. "Jarvis West is neruomanipulator, isn't he?"

"He...uh...didn't use a power..." Weeks looked sheepish. "A-Anyway, we're here to talk about the L2 engine, right?"

"Right," Andy said, coughing. "Beta, make a note, send Lily to kick Jarvis West's ass."

"If the fucker would show his face within ten fucking kilometers of me, I'd vaporize him so fast that you'd think he was Glasshead," you say, your hand clenching slightly as you leaned forward on the table.

"Can't we take him alive?" Weeks looked nervous at the idea of vaporization.

"No," every single woman at the table said at the same time. There was a number of telepathically induced mass rape that you could hit and not deserve to be taken in alive. That number was fucking one.

"The engine?" Beta asked, quietly. She wanted to change the subject. Honestly, you couldn't fucking blame her.

Cam smiled. "What about it did you wish to discuss?" She asked. "The manufacturing principals are fairly simple."

"Well, there's-" Weeks says and you can just tell he's going to take ages and ages and ages to get to a point, so you roll your eyes.

"Oh cut the crap, Cam."

Cam smiles at you. "You know, I do like you, Morgana," she said, her voice soft. "You're so...fiery." She winked at you. Fuck she was hot. No, you were mad at her. It was annoying how close horny and angry lived beside one another in the brain - as you chewed on that, Cam sighed, then set the quarter of her donut that was left down. "So, there are several, interlocking, equally useful parts of the engine release that...don't all have to work. If all do, then so much the better, but if I only get a partial credit, I'm all right with that. Firstly, the Helium. It's relatively easy to circumvent, either find a way to produce your own...and, considering we live in a world with Morgana here and...heh...Carlos Moses..." She rolled her eyes at the mention of the former gangster. "...the production of HDE is going to only be kept a ProgHarm secret for a year, maybe two at the tops. But that's all right. By then, we'll have put in safeguards against the worst dangers these engines involve."

She held up her fingers. "Firstly, stealth munitions, and secondly, relativistic kill vehicles."

"You have plans for both of those?" Weeks asks.

"No, but we do," you say, scowling slightly. "FIrst thing any of us does, we start working on stealth detection systems."

"The more the merrier!" Cam is so cheerful as she picks up her donut piece, pops it into her mouth, chews with relish, and swallows. "I want every inch of this goddamn solar system to be riddled with every detection system we can manage to invent between three paranoid superpowers and the...metas who love them." She chuckled. "Probabilistic sine wave scanning, future glimpses, dark energy scrying, gestalt telapathic pruning systems, whatever the fuck you want, just make it and use it to track my engines."

"Why?" Weeks asks.

"To spot whatever else is out there, Jace," Cam says. "We know that life is possible. We know that dark energy manipulation means that life can casually bend or break the laws of physics. We know that this, thus, means that the answer to the Fermi Paradox is that they exist but are extremely exotic and hard to detect. If they exist, then they must be detected sooner rather than later, before we kill one another in our various...Marvel Comic Battles."

You scowled slightly. "You know, the chances of that happening would be way lower if you were less of a shifty fuck."

Cam sighed, quietly. "Oh, Morgana, why do you have to be so very hot and yet, so very stupid."

"Hey-" you start, flushing.

"I'm only as 'shift' and 'fucky' as I need to be," Cam said, her voice growing hard edged.

"Now, uh, everyone, lets just calm down here," Weeks say. You glared at him. Cam inclines her head, slightly, as if acknowledging he had a point.

Andy, though, was scribbling on a napkin, doing some math. Beta took up for him: "You could have just asked."

"A single detection network made by the Stonewall Group, versus multiple competing detection networks, made by every hyperbrain the Soviet Union - which, by the way, now has dozens of...thanks to me..." She grinned, wryly. "...and the United States and the Indochinese Economic Gestalt and the European Union can scrounge up? Which seems more likely to cover every possibility?"

"They're also going to replicate a fuckton of effort," you say.

Cam shrugs. "Effort wasted by the military industrial complex is pretty low on the list of my priorities to give a fuck about." She sipped her milk.

"Again, you could have just asked," Beta says. "This is the..." She sighed, not saying 'what got you into trouble last time' because you were all fairly sure Cam would have not even batted an eyebrow and the very last thing you needed was for Amanda motherfucking Sykes to ask 'what was last time, kids?' Instead, Beta said: "And the second goal? Other than the detection network?"

"Spread humanity among near-space and the stars, facilitated by the Yiggy. I predict that people are going to be buying time on your little logistics center to start moving people hither and thither and yon. With supplies and a mothership and a few scout vehicles, an entirely baseline crew could survey whole solar systems in at least a preliminary way. Once the habitable planets are found, my stargate system can be transported by the Yiggy and we can begin to web the worlds together. More humans in more space means less chances of a singular disaster wiping us out."

We all sat around, thinking about that.

Weeks made a soft 'huh' noise.

"And in the short term, the gold rush for the asteroids is going to scatter humanity throughout the solar system. With the space industrialization program I have planned out, ProgHarm can have ten million-"

"Problem," Andy said, quietly.

Cam frowned. "Yes?" she asked. "If it's the worries about rods from god or space warfare, I have plans for that...too..."

Andy slid the napkin across the table. It was filled with incredibly tiny scribbles. Cam eyed it, and you frowned at Andy, then looked at Cam, then at Andy. "Andy, did you just fucking tell her about...Project C?"

"What's Project C?" Weeks asks. "Is it like, uh, Panacea? Oh, by the way, groovy work on that stuff, really amazing-"

"Well fuck me," Cam said, quietly. "Well fuck me sideways." She folded up the napkin. "There goes the economic push for distribution and colonization, fuck..." She put the napkin down, rubbing her chin, looking thoughtful.

"Sorry," Andy said, smiling wryly.

Weeks frowned. "What is Project C?"

You coughed, then muttered. "General purpose nanofabrication system," you say. Weeks' eyes widens.

"Oooh," he says.

Cam crossed her arms over her chest, looking irritated and thoughtful all at once. "Don't let me take the wind of your sails - it's quite a remarkable way to destroy capitalism from the inside out. Though, you are going to create a great deal of cultural pressures that are going to be very dangerous until they're smoothed out, you know?" Andy and Beta both nodded at that, while Cam brushed her hands through her hair.

"Why are you so worried about aliens, anyway?" you ask.

Cam looks at you and...for just a moment, she looks fifteen again. Her face is harder than any nineteen year old girl's face should ever be - and you have a sinking feeling that it's a hardness that has nothing at all to do with dark energy, nothing at all to do with hyper-intelligence or exocortexes or anything like that. You wanted, badly, to ask her what had happened to her. You knew, from Andy's approximations and Amanda's stories, that Set was a Tier Two. He had been empowered by the Progenitor herself. Was Cam a Tier Three, like yourself? Or...had she been empowered by the Progenitor? And if she had...when.

And how?

"I love humanity," Cam said, quietly. "We have...for a hundred thousand years, crawled inch by inch, from ignorance to knowledge, and along the way, we've made works of art that are profound and thrilling. I've read them all, you know? Poets and theologians and philosophers and novelists - even people from the future that you can peer at." She smirked. "I'm rather a fan of Alan Moore, an artist who won't even write anything for eight years." She shook her head. "The only thing, now, that can threaten us...beyond ourselves...is whatever is out there. And...well...I know what it is like for a more technologically advanced alien to come to your home because they want your resources, or your land, or because your way of life is disgusting to them, and for them to kill you."

You all sat for a bit, stewing on that.

Weeks nods. "I getcha," he says, which...you just...want...to strangle him.

"This does leave us in a bit of a problem," Andy says, rubbing the back of his neck. "If we release cornicopia, and the economic push for colonization and industrialization in space goes away, then it means the L2 Engines are just one thing now."

"First strike weapons," Cam says, quietly.

"Well, come on, lets not all get down," Weeks says. "We're all the smartest people on the planet." he smiles at you, as if he's inviting you to be in on in the 'smartest people in the world' moniker. Condescending asshole. "We can figure out something."

"Why don't we just tell them?" Beta says.

"Oh, yes!" Cam mimed dialing on a phone then holding the receiver to her ear. "Hello President Humphry, have you ever considered that aliens might be an existential risk to the human species."

"Well, obviously, we'd lay it out better than THAT!" Beta snaps. "God, Cam, stop being deliberately dense."

Cam rolled her eyes. "Only when you two stop being deliberately obtuse. You all ignore facts that make you uncomfortable - like humanity's as of yet unconquered self destructive urges."

"And you want to protect it all?" Beta grumbles.

"They're flaws, but they're our flaws," Cam shoots back.

---
Well, that was enlightening! What does Lily add to the conversation?
[ ] Write In

Ct613hulu · Feb 9, 2022

This is based on meta knowledge, but we should ensure that Humanity does not end up overly dependent on the continual use of Dark Matter powers as canon indicates that the death of the Progenitor would return the world to normal physical rules. This can be assumed to result in every empowered individual becoming a normal human, the immediate death of all of the Dark Matter entities, and an end to all ongoing effects. It would be tragic for our heroes to celebrate the establishment of some kind of post-scarcity space society only to then see everything they built fall apart when Amanda dies from misadventure, violence, or an unwillingness to violate religious principles by extending her life.

CyberFemme · Feb 9, 2022

Ct613hulu said:
This is based on meta knowledge, but we should ensure that Humanity does not end up overly dependent on the continual use of Dark Matter powers as canon indicates that the death of the Progenitor would return the world to normal physical rules. This can be assumed to result in every empowered individual becoming a normal human, the immediate death of all of the Dark Matter entities, and an end to all ongoing effects. It would be tragic for our heroes to celebrate the establishment of some kind of post-scarcity space society only to then see everything they built fall apart when Amanda dies from misadventure, violence, or an unwillingness to violate religious principles by extending her life.

There's a reason I've been sticking the Native Power tag on almost everything we make.

DragonCobolt · Feb 9, 2022

Ct613hulu said:
This is based on meta knowledge, but we should ensure that Humanity does not end up overly dependent on the continual use of Dark Matter powers as canon indicates that the death of the Progenitor would return the world to normal physical rules. This can be assumed to result in every empowered individual becoming a normal human, the immediate death of all of the Dark Matter entities, and an end to all ongoing effects. It would be tragic for our heroes to celebrate the establishment of some kind of post-scarcity space society only to then see everything they built fall apart when Amanda dies from misadventure, violence, or an unwillingness to violate religious principles by extending her life.

It is not a completely unreasonable supposition, but it'd need to be confirmed before you know it is canon.

Evaunit02mark1 · Feb 9, 2022

Ct613hulu said:
This is based on meta knowledge, but we should ensure that Humanity does not end up overly dependent on the continual use of Dark Matter powers as canon indicates that the death of the Progenitor would return the world to normal physical rules. This can be assumed to result in every empowered individual becoming a normal human, the immediate death of all of the Dark Matter entities, and an end to all ongoing effects. It would be tragic for our heroes to celebrate the establishment of some kind of post-scarcity space society only to then see everything they built fall apart when Amanda dies from misadventure, violence, or an unwillingness to violate religious principles by extending her life.

That, seems like a pretty serious design flaw?

Hell with that as a base this seems like another answer to the Fermi Paradox, there's no one out there because they all got a action replay and then died because it fucking softlocked their game.

In hindsight it makes a Progenitor a pretty useful weapon. Throw one at a species, wait a generation, watch as their house of cards implodes and then roll up to collect the now abundant resources.

CyberFemme · Feb 9, 2022

[X] "Ok, at the end of the day the Dark Forest theory is a guess, based on a conjecture, built on top of approximations - yes Cam, I know they're good approximations, still not facts. We need hard data to tailor our response one way or another - and we should start laying out the groundwork for a unified response sooner rather than later. Let's put together a joint interstellar scout/observatory group, it's easy enough to sell to everyone - the public loves space exploration and the Joint Chiefs will jizz their pants at the prospect of throwing down with ET. Do we have an in with the Soviets?"
-[X] Rough plan: Cam agrees to regulatory oversight for the engines similar to WMDs for -1 WARFARE. If she's amenable, we can develop MARS jointly based on the existing L2 drive as a PR stunt, so that the base will invested into it is used efficiently.
--[X] After the meeting is done and people leave, collapse unto the table and groan, "Amandaaaaa. I swear ever since I got my powers I've been aging in dog years." Proceed to comisserate with the Progenitor about the weight of responsibility you both have to shoulder.

Edit: Added concrete steps to take.

DragonCobolt · Feb 9, 2022

CyberEnby said:
[ ] "Ok, at the end of the day the Dark Forest theory is a guess, based on a conjecture, build on top of approximations - yes Cam, I know they're good approximations, still not facts. We need hard data to tailor our response one way or another - and we should start laying out the groundwork for a unified response sooner rather than later. Let's put together a joint interstellar scout/observatory group, it's easy enough to sell to everyone - the public loves space exploration and the Joint Chiefs will jizz their pants at the prospect of throwing down with ET. Do we have an in with the Soviets?"

Well, that's ONE way to make Metrics not the pressing concern anymore, lol!

CyberFemme · Feb 9, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
Well, that's ONE way to make Metrics not the pressing concern anymore, lol!

You mean not a concern as in "the Kid-luminati are controling all sides anyway" or as in "oh boy, we're in the endgame now"?

DragonCobolt · Feb 9, 2022

CyberEnby said:
You mean not a concern as in "the Kid-luminati are controling all sides anyway" or as in "oh boy, we're in the endgame now"?

You know, it's funny...there is no real endgame planned?

I'm just going to keep writing plots until Homeworld: Revelations comes out and I have to shut down all brain function and replace it with running a Homeworld: Cataclysm quest (Unless it turns out Homeworld: Revelations sucks, in which case, I will be very sad.)

ThatGazzer · Feb 10, 2022

[X] "Hey Undercover-Copface," Lilly points to Weeks. "Think you could work with Andy and Beta on a Transitional Plan for the whole Syndi-Anarcho-Councilist thing? Once Plan C is up and running, all humanity needs is feedstock and power. Ol Grandfather Capital won't like it at all. I'd rather get rid of capitalism neatly and cleanly without a fashy backlash. It'd help a lot of people, and save a lot of suffering." She looks to Cam. "I don't think you're right. I don't think I can convince you otherwise, but... want to hear my hypothesis?" Lilly looks around the table, and runs a hand through her hair.
-[x] "...I think that Filter is DE in the sense comes in, hits someone or something shopiant, like, I donno a smart worm. Then, I think three things can happen. Depending on its think meats." start counting off. "One, That blows up the worm and glasses the planet from the resulting energy instability. two, turns the worm into a god who can't spore but has all the power that happens to hit it, and they Sublime or turn into a petty tyrant in their own little subreality. Or three, It hits the worm and its neuro-architecture is just stable enough that get a lot of that power but it starts to leak...A Progenitor. Then it starts to spread. Then it gets everywhere. And for decades, centuries, people get used to it. Then somehow, someway. The Progenitor dies. And maybe... maybe all that DE goes with them, maybe in a wave energetic enough to break things, moving fast enough to shatter radioshells, and leave nothing behind but static. leaving the whole Civilization crashing and broken, all likelihood, they don't survive it. The ones that do end up in the knapping rocks all over again. Recovery beyond that is unlikely depending on the level of reliance on DE."

Imma be honest this is just an idea, but I think it holds up?

MJ12 Commando · Feb 10, 2022

So Cam really wants people to move into space, and why not? Even if there are no aliens, having a sizable, self-sustaining population spread across the solar system probably makes it harder for humanity to do damn fool stuff and kill itself, or die because of a cosmic accident. It also achieves the thing people care about when opposing Cam - creating enough of a human diaspora, enough distance and variety and enough of an abundance of resources, that totalizing ideologies are impractical.

So the problem is that cornucopia reduces the resource push for it.

But that's solvable with the power of syntergenes!

People don't always do things because they have immediate economic benefit, sometimes they just want to wave their dicks around. We have access to Amanda Sykes and a pretty skilled syntergene writer in the form of Weeks. Make some incredible uplifting story of space exploration. We could get some pretty big-name astronauts, make it a super-big budget film, have some really amazing special effects done by the power of dark energy, and sell the idea that people should look to space, even when there's all this economic disruption happening. Maybe play into that disruption. You've put a lot of factory workers out of jobs, but have they considered creating new homes, exploring new worlds, advancing the reach and sophistication of mankind... in space?

While that happens, maybe we look into ways to make surviving humanity's new frontier and new home easier. We're already thinking of nanotechnology. What about internal nanotechnology? Respirocytes or vasculoids could improve the ability of firefighters and rescue swimmers, and obviously would make it less likely that people will die from vacuum. Anagathics would make slow-boating to other star systems possible but would also take away the specter of death. AI tools to make education and training easier. Make humanity better suited for space, and people will start pushing outwards even without some massive need for resources.

Advancing Cam's interests without damaging ours is the sort of win-win cooperation. And getting everyone to work together on things of mutual benefit builds trust. A little at a time, and certainly the limits of that trust are going to have to be clearly remembered, but getting the most powerful people in the world to work for the collective good of mankind is a good start.

[X] We already have the pieces to take humanity starfaring, with this drive now. Cornucopia makes colonization and industrialization easy. The drives make travel simple. We just need people to want to strike out. And as we do that, we also start building the tools to make life in space even easier. Maybe we can channel this cold war into a competition rather than a knife fight, by giving people something else to think about.

10ebbor10 · Feb 10, 2022

DragonCobolt said:
"Spread humanity among near-space and the stars, facilitated by the Yiggy. I predict that people are going to be buying time on your little logistics center to start moving people hither and thither and yon. With supplies and a mothership and a few scout vehicles, an entirely baseline crew could survey whole solar systems in at least a preliminary way. Once the habitable planets are found, my stargate system can be transported by the Yiggy and we can begin to web the worlds together. More humans in more space means less chances of a singular disaster wiping us out."

Oh, Cam is making a teleporter, it seems.

The problem here is that Cam's space exploration would not have resulted in any kind of redundancy at all.
Consider your average remote logging camp or mine. These places dont have their own supply chains, because it is far cheaper to just truck spare parts in as needed. And if it's not cheap enough to moce in new supplies, it's not worth doing.

Same goes for solar system exploitation, all the new settlements would have been reliant on Earth, such that a single catastrophe just leaves everyone to slowly starve or suffocate as their artificial ecosystens collapse.

DragonCobolt said:
Cam rolled her eyes. "Only when you two stop being deliberately obtuse. You all ignore facts that make you uncomfortable - like humanity's as of yet unconquered self destructive urges."

Says the woman who
1) handed out kinetic kill weapons like candy
2) was well on her way to disable MAD and ensure atomic annihilation.

Because that's the practical effect of the multiple eggs in a basket idea, if it were to succeed.
Nuclear annihikation is currently staved of by the idea if that oje person fires, everyone dies. But let ys imagine that tge US hires Yggy to place 10 million people in a self sufficient colony system in another star system where the Soviets can't reach.

Now the US is certain they'll win any atomic war, because regardless of what happens, their future is assured.
A first strike is on the table.
But the Soviets have hired Yggy next month.
So, the US knows that if they fire now, they'll get in the first strike, hopefully intercept as many missiles as possible, and worst case they still survive in space. They also know that if they wait for the Soviets to get their colony, they might get the second strike and be considerably worse of.

So, as soon as the first self sufficient colony is up, the math says you got to launch ASAP, not because you specifically want to but because the other side might if you wait, so you have to take the advantage as you get it.

Ct613hulu · Feb 10, 2022

MJ12 Commando said:
But that's solvable with the power of syntergenes!

People don't always do things because they have immediate economic benefit, sometimes they just want to wave their dicks around. We have access to Amanda Sykes and a pretty skilled syntergene writer in the form of Weeks. Make some incredible uplifting story of space exploration. We could get some pretty big-name astronauts, make it a super-big budget film, have some really amazing special effects done by the power of dark energy, and sell the idea that people should look to space, even when there's all this economic disruption happening. Maybe play into that disruption. You've put a lot of factory workers out of jobs, but have they considered creating new homes, exploring new worlds, advancing the reach and sophistication of mankind... in space?

Would Weeks (and Amanda hovering over nearby like an invisible angel of death) be willing to support the deployment of such a direct Syntergene? My understanding is that Weeks was actively against the practice of manipulating human civilization through Syntergenes and that his only major involvement in this field was focused on combating mind control or other super-human influence. I don't think that Amanda ever did much with Syntergenes in canon but I could easily see her being opposed to an avowed enemy of the United States (Cam) using them against Americans regardless of the stated intentions.

This bring to mind a potentially major problem with this attempt to collaborate. Weeks and Amanda are both invested in maintaining the status quo of Capitalism and Western Democracy. It seems as if there is a good chance that they will see any plan that ultimately intends to totally dismantle the status quo as a terrible threat rather than a unique opportunity to build a better world. Cam is seemingly a more favorable partner for ambitious plans to change the world, but the fact that she is building her new society (Progressive Harmony) on a foundation of mass mind control is very problematic. It means that the Stonewall Nine's plan for Buzzy or similar attempts to help normal humans withstand metahuman abuse of power is eventually going to make their interests strongly diverge and potentially lead to a direct conflict*.

I think that Stonewall Nine will need to be careful in bringing up many of their more ambitious plans in order to keep this collaboration moving forward and not end up making some dangerous enemies. The Venn Diagram of options that are acceptable to all parties allows for some truly transformative plans like curing all diseases or making humanity an interstellar species, but it still imposes some significant limitations.

* The Canon depiction of Progressive Harmony doesn't really provide a clear cut determination of it's overall morality. The Toiler Caste is a particular example as it seemingly resolves the challenge of worker exploitation and unemployment, but only by essentially keeping a majority of the population in a state of de facto slavery. Their whole caste system seems prone to a tremendous level of abuse that could only be prevented by the pervasive use of mind control. I am not sure whether the Stonewall Nine would see the Progressive Harmony as an abomination or something to be admired. This is probably going to be more important going forward as they get a better understanding of what Cam is building in the Progressive Harmony and the decision of whether they are going to support or oppose her efforts has now grown beyond the question of how far they are willing to alienate the United States (or Amanda as she is the real threat) by opposing the Vietnam War.

MJ12 Commando · Feb 10, 2022

Ct613hulu said:
Would Weeks (and Amanda hovering over nearby like an invisible angel of death) be willing to support the deployment of such a direct Syntergene? My understanding is that Weeks was actively against the practice of manipulating human civilization through Syntergenes and that his only major involvement in this field was focused on combating mind control or other super-human influence. I don't think that Amanda ever did much with Syntergenes in canon but I could easily see her being opposed to an avowed enemy of the United States (Cam) using them against Americans regardless of the stated intentions.

Given that everyone extensively uses syntergenes - and more importantly syntergenes are basically just more precisely targeted, more effective memes, not really mind control, I don't see why you couldn't have the US use them. Weeks literally funded his own seed money via syntergenes and this didn't exactly tear him up, I don't think he has a problem with them existing period. And Cam doesn't actually need to touch it at all. It can be entirely a production by someone who is loyal to the US. There are people around who can do that. Hell, sending Americans to conquer space is something ghost-LBJ would probably be down with.

10ebbor10 · Feb 10, 2022

Anyway, let's look at this from the perspective of a paranoid Cold War General. The timeline for the immediate future looks like this

Phase 0: Year 0 - ??? : US has nuclear warheads, while vietnam has no WMD's. US WMD advantage.
Phase 1: Year ??? - 1 Year for now : Vietnam builds up enough L2 engines to be a credible deterrent. MAD is in effect.
Phase 2 : Year ?? : Progharm starts putting people in space where they can not be reached by US WMD's. Vietnam has a WMD advantage.
Phase 3 : Year 2 : Us cracks Dark Energy Hydrogen production, creates detterrents, builds up a strategic fleet of killer sats : MAD restored

The paranoid Cold War general is not going to believe that Vietnam will ever allow it's engines to be turned against them, basing themselves on common sense, historical animosity and the fact that Vietnam is holding a stranglehold on fuel supply precisely to avoid kinetic kill weapons being created. So he will believe that if we ever enter phase 2, that Vietnam will threathen or launch a first strike to prevent people from entering phase 2.
Since this would be a loss situation for the US, the cold war general will advocate for the US's own first strike, to be fired in phase 0 before the world can enter phase 1.

Cam has created a situation were nuclear war is not just possible, but imminent. It'll start with a limited nuclear strike on the Vietnamese lunar facility, possibly with support of the Progenitor and the S9 if they can recruit support.

DragonCobolt said:
"This does leave us in a bit of a problem," Andy says, rubbing the back of his neck. "If we release cornicopia, and the economic push for colonization and industrialization in space goes away, then it means the L2 Engines are just one thing now."

"First strike weapons," Cam says, quietly.

The L2 is not just a (for now) unstoppable first strike weapon.
It's a first strike weapon which Cam has made clear she wants to have a monopoly on, for now, to keep everyone safe.

But she fails to take into account that other people just don't trust her. To her, it might be irrational to think that she will fire first, but every other nation will conclude that she will, because she has the opportunity for a completely unopposed first strike, and she can't let that slip away.

So they will all fire first, right now, before the L2 engine enters mass production.

Edit :

[X] There is one resource that comes from space, that can't be replicated and that every nation has shown itself willing to kill for. Dark energy. The US knows the location and date of impact, enough to calculate a rough trajectory, but you'd need a string of waystations, far of, self sufficient ones, to go and look where it came from or went.

MJ12 Commando · Feb 10, 2022

10ebbor10 said:
Anyway, let's look at this from the perspective of a paranoid Cold War General. The timeline for the immediate future looks like this

Phase 0: Year 0 - ??? : US has nuclear warheads, while vietnam has no WMD's. US WMD advantage.
Phase 1: Year ??? - 1 Year for now : Vietnam builds up enough L2 engines to be a credible deterrent. MAD is in effect.
Phase 2 : Year ?? : Progharm starts putting people in space where they can not be reached by US WMD's. Vietnam has a WMD advantage.
Phase 3 : Year 2 : Us cracks Dark Energy Hydrogen production, creates detterrents, builds up a strategic fleet of killer sats : MAD restored

The paranoid Cold War general is not going to believe that Vietnam will ever allow it's engines to be turned against them, basing themselves on common sense, historical animosity and the fact that Vietnam is holding a stranglehold on fuel supply precisely to avoid kinetic kill weapons being created. So he will believe that if we ever enter phase 2, that Vietnam will threathen or launch a first strike to prevent people from entering phase 2.
Since this would be a loss situation for the US, the cold war general will advocate for the US's own first strike, to be fired in phase 0 before the world can enter phase 1.

Cam has created a situation were nuclear war is not just possible, but imminent. It'll start with a limited nuclear strike on the Vietnamese lunar facility, possibly with support of the Progenitor and the S9 if they can recruit support.

The L2 is not just a (for now) unstoppable first strike weapon.
It's a first strike weapon which Cam has made clear she wants to have a monopoly on, for now, to keep everyone safe.

But she fails to take into account that other people just don't trust her. To her, it might be irrational to think that she will fire first, but every other nation will conclude that she will, because she has the opportunity for a completely unopposed first strike, and she can't let that slip away.

So they will all fire first, right now, before the L2 engine enters mass production.

The hypothetical paranoid US general also doesn't know how any systems Vietnam already has, is already aware that Vietnam has at least one strategic-scale actor that can nuke cities if pressed, and also would have to go make sure Russia doesn't see the US launches as launches against them, which will inherently be an incredibly difficult strategic coordination problem.

Assuming that Nguyet Cam is an idiot who can't think of basic second-order consequences because she doesn't realize other people don't trust her (she does, that's kind of what her sky-high social attributes mean) is radically underestimating her.

Ct613hulu · Feb 10, 2022

MJ12 Commando said:
Given that everyone extensively uses syntergenes - and more importantly syntergenes are basically just more precisely targeted, more effective memes, not really mind control, I don't see why you couldn't have the US use them. Weeks literally funded his own seed money via syntergenes and this didn't exactly tear him up, I don't think he has a problem with them existing period. And Cam doesn't actually need to touch it at all. It can be entirely a production by someone who is loyal to the US. There are people around who can do that. Hell, sending Americans to conquer space is something ghost-LBJ would probably be down with.

There is a tremendous difference from making a goofy t-shirt slogan more popular and fundamentally changing the world economy. I am assuming that Weeks is opposed to the mass shaping of human society and evaluates syntergenes working on a purely personal scale based on normal ethical rules. I beleive that this is supported by his practice of using syntergenes to defend himself from attackers and only working on a larger scale by creating syntergenes that strengthen normal human resistance to harmful mental influence.

To use a quote from Canon that describes Weeks "His theory of social and psychological engineering suggests that the more you force people and cultures to do anything, the stiffer the resistance." Weeks belief in this theory can explain why he largely works to better society by providing assistance to existing groups instead of following the lead of the other "Supergeniuses" by using syntergenes to become the de facto ruler of a major country and then make it reflect their personal take on the ideal society

I understand that Syntergergenes are described as being the logical outgrowth of memes, but the described power is significant enough that mind control seems like a fitting term. We are talking about making someone suicidal from hearing a joke, complete identity erasure, or speeches that immediately turn indifferent Vietnamese people into devoted lovers of Progressive Harmony. This is well beyond anything that can be done with conventional persuasive tactics and I think it should be treated as a distinct category of human interaction with its own rules for moral use.

My perspective on Cam and the Stonewall Nine using syntergenes as part of your vote that it really depends on how they frame it. I can see how popularizing space exploration and colonization wouldn't necessarily be seen as a major problem, but any attempt to interfere with the Cold War ideological tensions should be expected to set off major alarms. I would imagine that fear over a powerful metahuman making the American people more sympathetic to !COMMUNISM! would be a major concern for the American government (and of course the opposite for !CAPITALISM! in the Soviet Union). It seems as if their is a real risk of military and political leaders interpreting syntergenes dealing with these tensions as a major metahuman attack and responding aggressively.*

* Government monitoring and opposition to syntergenes dealing with the Cold War or other major elements of society also resolves a plot hole by explaining why Cam and the other super geniuses couldn't simply resolve the worst problem facing humanity by spreading a syntergene that made people oppose the use of nuclear weapons or reject violent extremism.

10ebbor10 · Feb 10, 2022

MJ12 Commando said:
The hypothetical paranoid US general also doesn't know how any systems Vietnam already has, is already aware that Vietnam has at least one strategic-scale actor that can nuke cities if pressed, and also would have to go make sure Russia doesn't see the US launches as launches against them, which will inherently be an incredibly difficult strategic coordination problem.

Assuming that Nguyet Cam is an idiot who can't think of basic second-order consequences because she doesn't realize other people don't trust her (she does, that's kind of what her sky-high social attributes mean) is radically underestimating her.

The Soviets are just as, if not more, afraid of Vietnam. They'd be even more likely to launch.

And the superpowers can be dealt with by the Progenitor. That's how it went during the war.

Torgamous · Feb 10, 2022

10ebbor10 said:
Anyway, let's look at this from the perspective of a paranoid Cold War General. The timeline for the immediate future looks like this

Phase 0: Year 0 - ??? : US has nuclear warheads, while vietnam has no WMD's. US WMD advantage.
Phase 1: Year ??? - 1 Year for now : Vietnam builds up enough L2 engines to be a credible deterrent. MAD is in effect.
Phase 2 : Year ?? : Progharm starts putting people in space where they can not be reached by US WMD's. Vietnam has a WMD advantage.
Phase 3 : Year 2 : Us cracks Dark Energy Hydrogen production, creates detterrents, builds up a strategic fleet of killer sats : MAD restored

The paranoid Cold War general is not going to believe that Vietnam will ever allow it's engines to be turned against them, basing themselves on common sense, historical animosity and the fact that Vietnam is holding a stranglehold on fuel supply precisely to avoid kinetic kill weapons being created. So he will believe that if we ever enter phase 2, that Vietnam will threathen or launch a first strike to prevent people from entering phase 2.
Since this would be a loss situation for the US, the cold war general will advocate for the US's own first strike, to be fired in phase 0 before the world can enter phase 1.

Cam has created a situation were nuclear war is not just possible, but imminent. It'll start with a limited nuclear strike on the Vietnamese lunar facility, possibly with support of the Progenitor and the S9 if they can recruit support.

The L2 is not just a (for now) unstoppable first strike weapon.
It's a first strike weapon which Cam has made clear she wants to have a monopoly on, for now, to keep everyone safe.

But she fails to take into account that other people just don't trust her. To her, it might be irrational to think that she will fire first, but every other nation will conclude that she will, because she has the opportunity for a completely unopposed first strike, and she can't let that slip away.

So they will all fire first, right now, before the L2 engine enters mass production.

We're already in Phase 1. Vietnam selling their engines on the open market means they've already got a comfortable stockpile for their own uses.

Parzival95 · Feb 10, 2022

[X] Plan: XCOM (Shotgunning Ideas)
-[X] 1) I'm willing to accept, given the vastness of the universe and the potential of dark energy, that while there might be aliens capable of cooperation with other species, there is a greater likelihood of alien life being unrecognizable and incompatible, for which we should be prepared. Consider the muppets, Turf Warriors and Shavians: the former two, practically human in mentality, came from the minds of adults with a general structured and educated understanding of the world, the latter from a child's imaginative whimsy. The Shavians are already alien by comparison, actual aliens may be entirely eldritch.
-[X] 2) However, consider that there's a great many paranoids around the world who might consider that whoever gets the first self-sufficient off world colony has immediate incentive to trigger MAD, so they must fire first. Irrational, I know, but unfortunately most people aren't you three. It only takes one fuck up. I think we can deal with this between the lot of us, at least by making a quick effort to get a competitor out there and possibly by delaying actual colonization efforts until the superpowers can be assured they have their own and thus can extend MAD to space. And also, maybe, being a little paranoid ourselves and monitoring anyone with first strike authority for signs of instability. Ending the world… would be bad. Honestly maybe it would've been the responsible thing to do that anyway, you never know who might be a lunatic.
-[X] 3) Although… could DE itself be a critical factor in the Fermi paradox? It's so useful, too useful… after a while, there'll be no more new metas. It'll be a lot, but eventually, even with life extension efforts, the meta population will begin to drop, and in theory even the Progenitor could be killed. And then what? A species who boomed, as we're contemplating, could increasingly find itself reliant on a DE infrastructure that it no can longer build and maintain, writing themself into a corner.
-[X] 4) Cornucopia has the risk of putting the breaks on human expansion… but it could also be extraordinarily useful to said expansion. It'll be damn hard to build a self-sufficient colony, everyone will be reliant on Earth for a long, long time, so any strike at the heart of humanity could still send us into a death spiral. Perhaps we should wait a a few years before releasing it… or possibly we could alter it so that it doesn't function in earths gravity well, atmosphere, magnetosphere… some reasonable sounding excuse they can't be operated on Earth but make space look more attractive.
-[X] 5) Probably the most difficult to pull off, but what if we tried to put together some kind of international joint-authority on space development? Some kind of agreement that countries can't have direct colonies but can only establish independent settlements. Like a space UN but with actual teeth? Too radical?
-[X] 6) Progenitor, feel free to chime in, we all know you're totally listening, you too can be a founding member of humanities paranoid sentinels watching out for genocidal aliens. We shall call ourselves… XCOM. Good game from the future, I'm stealing the name. If it makes you feel better you can treat it as keeping an eye on us to make sure we're not the evil Illuminati.

Okay, a plan that just has Lily shotgunning our general ideas out there for the hyperbrains to pick apart and discuss. And also an XCOM joke, because I couldn't resist.

MJ12 Commando · Feb 10, 2022

10ebbor10 said:
The Soviets are just as, if not more, afraid of Vietnam. They'd be even more likely to launch.

And the superpowers can be dealt with by the Progenitor. That's how it went during the war.

The point isn't whether the Soviets are more or less likely to launch, the point is that given the lack of trust between the US and the USSR deciding to launch out of the blue on Vietnam is a hugely risky option because the other superpower might well misinterpret your actions as a first strike on them.

The point is also that Cam is not, in fact, an idiot and given that none of this requires information that Cam doesn't have access to or isn't aware of, she probably has plans here to at least defuse or negate apocalyptic levels of escalation. Remember, she is fiendishly smart and very good at understanding people and how they behave. She's also well-aware of humanity's self-destructive tendencies, so assuming she forgot about all that because of enthusiasm for her new rocket is probably not warranted.

It might be possible to wring out concessions from her to assist in ensuring the "everybody dies" scenario is less likely, but I also wouldn't treat it like something that the Nine will have to drop their shit and take care of.

Ct613hulu · Feb 10, 2022

10ebbor10 said:
And the superpowers can be dealt with by the Progenitor. That's how it went during the war.

I don't think that the world know that the Progenitor is powerful to immediately stop a nuclear war by neutralizing launched nuclear weapons at this point in time. This is a feat that represents a major step in scale and precision for her any known use of power. It seems logical for everyone to simply assume that neutralizing the thousands of nuclear missiles spread all around the world in the short time between warning of conflict and missile strike would be beyond her powers. The Canon timeline seems to indicate that the Nuclear Powers still believe that they possess an effective nuclear deterrent up to 1983 when the United States and the U.S.S.R try to initiate a full nuclear war but are stopped by the Progenitor acting with only 30 minutes of warning.

Weeks actually does know that the Progenitor is capable of preventing a nuclear war so long as she has even slight warning due to his question "What action can I take to prevent the greatest number of deaths in the next decade". The answer both alerts him to how the Progenitor is almost certain to eventually suffer a severe mental breakdown and how he can prevent a likely nuclear war in the mid-1980s by suggesting to her how she can neutralize launched fissile warheads.

I consider this identification of the Progenitor as the greatest threat to humanity to be a major spoiler because it reveals a major challenge that the Stonewall Nine haven't even begun preparing to face, but is is almost certainly guiding everything Weeks does. The Stonewall Nine may improved Amanda's psychological situation by giving Amy a safe home after she ran away and hopefully preventing Cam from kidnapping Abe due to this conference, but Amanda is suffering from many other untreated problems that can be expected to eventually lead to a breakdown in the absence of major interventions. The trauma she suffered from her role in Vietnam, the troubled state of her family life, her unrivaled powers encouraging delusions of grandeurs or a messiah complex, isolation from normal humanity, and the continual pressure of living as the most powerful person in the world are all problems that she is going to have to face over the next two decade.

If the Stonewall Nine can't find a way of helping Amanda overcome her inner demons and become a more stable superhero than it doesn't really matter what they do to help humanity. The story will instead end with the Progenitor becoming a near-godlike foe that they will have to defeat only to then find a way of balancing the pressing need to permanently remove the existential threat she poses to Humanity with a desire to preserve metahuman power and avoid a complete genocide of the Dark Matter entities.

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