We Just Write
Blatantly Plural
- Location
- New England
- Pronouns
- Plural
So, let's say a friendly neighborhood ROB swings by Earth, and offers everyone a choice between the following powers. In addition, he also makes it clear that everyone's descendants will have a power as well, randomly selecting between their parents if they've got different powers. Anyone in Low Earth Orbit gets the deal too.
ROB won't leave people alone until they pick a power, constantly badgering them about the matter. However, if they can't make up their mind, and make ROB pick for them, they become a Wildcard (either A or B). Wildcards have one of the normal powers listed above, but noticeably improved in some way. Here are the Wildcard versions of each power. Being a Wildcard is also hereditary, but is recessive. If someone winds up with an alleles for each type of Wildcard, then they get both benefits, along with their own '+' trait.
So, with that in mind, how is the geopolitical situation likely to change? What alterations would need to be made to society to account for these new abilities? How will people react when the +es start showing up? And most importantly, what power do you pick (assume you don't know about the Wildcard thing). Personally, I'd go for Doppelganger.
- Doppelganger: Those who pick this power gain the ability to be in two places at once. They can process and act on the sensory data from both bodies with no issues, along with an appropriate increase to multitasking ability, but they aren't otherwise smarter than they already were. Both bodies require appropriate nutrition and sanitation considerations, and their sleep schedules are synchronized. If one of a Doppelganger's bodies gets killed, they're incredibly disoriented for several hours. Re-spawning their other body requires the consumption of additional food equal to their body mass (including a huge amount of protein of course) and assimilating it over the course of a month, before they just sort of... step out from behind themselves. It can be proven that the ability of a Doppelganger's bodies to communicate is limited by the speed of light, even though there's no sort of detectable signal.
- Responsive Physiology: Those who gain this power gain conscious control over their metabolism and healing processes. This allows them to easily adjust their physiology to be a champion sprinter one month, an amazing high-altitude climber the next, followed by a champion weight lifter soon after. They also can heal much faster and slowly regenerate entire limbs if needed, along with other injuries that wouldn't heal normally. Bear in mind this is nowhere near instant, it still takes up to a month to re-spec their physiology depending on how big the changes are. Other limits include that if they're losing weight they poop a lot more, and if they're bulking up they eat a lot more; they also don't have control over their immune system. A required secondary power that they receive is a working knowledge of how human physiology works, so that they won't screw up and kill themselves.
- Mental Grasp: Those who pick this power gain telekinesis capable of exerting up to 80 Newtons of force, reduced by 20% for every meter between them and whatever they're manipulating. They can manipulate anything they can perceive with whatever detail they can currently perceive it at. Yes, this includes looking through a microscope. Please bear in mind that this is Manton Limited not to directly affect biological matter, and they still have to expend whatever amount of energy they normally would in order to move something.
ROB won't leave people alone until they pick a power, constantly badgering them about the matter. However, if they can't make up their mind, and make ROB pick for them, they become a Wildcard (either A or B). Wildcards have one of the normal powers listed above, but noticeably improved in some way. Here are the Wildcard versions of each power. Being a Wildcard is also hereditary, but is recessive. If someone winds up with an alleles for each type of Wildcard, then they get both benefits, along with their own '+' trait.
Doppelganger Wildcards
A: A normal Doppelganger can be in two places at once. A Doppelganger A can be in four places at once.
B: A normal Doppelganger needs a month to re-make their other body and has to eat a huge amount of food to do so. A Doppelganger B only needs to wait 48 hours, and doesn't need the additional food.
+: A + Doppelganger only needs enough food for one of them, no matter how many of them there are.
Responsive Physiology Wildcards
A: Time required to re-spec physiology is reduced to 3 days.
B: Recipient's body can now repel diseases of all sorts with a 100% success rate.
+: Aging halts at ~30 years of age.
Mental Grasp Wildcards
A: Force falloff over distance is reduced to 5%
B: Maximum force is increase to 2 Kilonewtons
+: Users can affect themselves, enabling flight.
A: A normal Doppelganger can be in two places at once. A Doppelganger A can be in four places at once.
B: A normal Doppelganger needs a month to re-make their other body and has to eat a huge amount of food to do so. A Doppelganger B only needs to wait 48 hours, and doesn't need the additional food.
+: A + Doppelganger only needs enough food for one of them, no matter how many of them there are.
Responsive Physiology Wildcards
A: Time required to re-spec physiology is reduced to 3 days.
B: Recipient's body can now repel diseases of all sorts with a 100% success rate.
+: Aging halts at ~30 years of age.
Mental Grasp Wildcards
A: Force falloff over distance is reduced to 5%
B: Maximum force is increase to 2 Kilonewtons
+: Users can affect themselves, enabling flight.