The rules of power are changing.

Power is no longer restricted to a chosen few, those with armies, or wealth, or weapons.

Increasingly, power is being bestowed randomly.

The media calls some of them heroes, and some of them villians, but the difference matters little.

Every day, any random idiot could fall into a vat of nuclear waste, or get bitten by an alien bug, or any numberof utterly impossible accidents that could give them the power to level buildings and single-handedly conquer countries.

This has made a lot of people, mostly old, white men, very nervous. Generals are having discussions with politicians in dark rooms, and suddenly a very large percentage of the country's budget is open to anyone who can promise to change the rules back.

One of the men who has made such a promise is CEO Xanatos Sable. Sable Industries has never done anything very special, mostly weapons manufacturing and electronics, but with new and shiny federal backing it's shifted into more...exotic pursuits.

That's where you come in. Sable has chosen you to lead his new Paranatural R&D Divison.

[ ] Write-In| Your name, pronouns

[ ] Write-In| Your appearance

You're flattered, really, it's just...

You don't think you've ever seen Sable smile. He laughs occasionally, after crushing a small business or ruining the life of one of his enemies. And it is a little weird that he never takes that glove off of his right hand. And there's something about the way he swirls a glass of wine while staring into the gigantic marble fireplace he had installed in his office...

And that joke he made, about how finding recruits for human experimentation "won't be a problem." He was joking, wasn't he?

But...he's a good guy. Donates to charity all the time. Sure, the things he's sold to the government have probably killed a lot of people somewhere in the world, but that's not his fault is it?

This is what you've always wanted. Staring into the depths of the universe and discovering the truth. Bringing humanity into the future. Sable is a professional, he won't...misuse, the things you discover. It'll all be above board. That's what you tell yourself every morning, before you put something special into your coffee and don't think about it.

Anyway, you've got a lot of work on your plate. Sable managed to secure a huge windfall that should put the department several steps ahead of the competition.

Windfall
[ ] Demonic Horn: about a month ago, a giant red...thing the size of three-story apartment rampaged through Harmony City spreading fire and devastation in it's wake. The city's heroes managed to send it back through the burning rift it came out of, but not before knocking this off. [Potential Unlocks: Pyrokinesis, Infernal Magic]

[ ] Alien Crystal: Some sort of spacecraft blew up spectacularly while entering the atmosphere. One of the pieces that survived contained a sliver of luminescent crystal. Whatever purpose this component could have served is unknown, it could be anything from a hypercomputer to a trash compactor. [Potential Unlocks: exotic energies, coherent light weaponry]

[ ] Psionic Helmet: A (heavily damaged) hypertech helmet confiscated from the supervillain Submission, which apparently allowed him to mind control an entire country before he was defeated [Potential Unlocks: Mind Reading, Mind Control, Psionic Blocking]

[ ] The Shards: jagged pieces of a black, glass-like material that visibly vibrate in and out of existence. Hypothesized to either originate from or have been acted on by a parallel universe with different physical laws. [Potential Unlocks: Phasing, Dimensional Spelunking]

[ ] The Deathless Hand: A desiccated severed hand which retains functionality and mobility, and constantly attempts to escape it's container. [Potential Unlocks: Necromancy, Undead Countermeasures]

[ ] Fluffikins: A teleporting cat contained in a Faraday cage, gifted to us by the Nocturne police department after three months of pursuit, on the condition that we do not let it escape again. [Potential Unlocks: Teleportation, Genetic Mutations]

Yes, this will be a good place to start, a good foundation upon to build.

Then, of course, there's you.

You've always had a talent for learning, of course, that's how you got this position, but managing a whole department requires more than that.

Secondary Skill
[ ] Martial| There's a very real possibility that some of the experiments could turn dangerous, or that the department could be targeted by a Super. If that happend, you might well be the last line of defense.

[ ] Diplomacy| In a perfect world, you'd be able to pursue science for it's own sake. In the real world, you'll have to constantly prove to Sable and the Board of Directors that your research is providing dividends, have to haggle with other departments for resources, not to mention having to wrangle a laboratory of scientists and lab assisant.

[ ] Stewardship| And of course, let us not forget the most vital of all skills in the modern world. Bureaucracy. Cutting red tape, filing forms, dotting t's and crossing i's.

[ ] Intrigue| And sometimes you'll have do to do things you're not proud of. You'll have to lie to people's faces, commit fraud, maybe even steal. It's not preferable, but it'll definitely be necessary.

This is your chance to make a difference. If you have to make a few compromises to do it, then that's the way the world is.

But sometimes you wonder. The rules of power are changing. Perhaps you could change the world as well.
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This is a Quest specifically for those people who like those supervillian CK2 games, but wished they would focus on only the science fiction tech development part. That's not all that we'll be doing here, but it'll be a big chunk.

If you want to build tech with a supernatural effect, you'll need to find something with supernatural properties and analyze it. Creativity and write-ins will be rewarded. I obviously have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, so if you have questions please ask them.