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Fragmentation (Original Superhero Setting)

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0.23: Playing with Potential, cont. x3
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    • ==> Give me a hint

    If there's something intelligent watching you anyway, you might as well try to ask it for help. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right?

    "If there's anything observing this space, could it please give me a hint?"

    Instantly, a piece of paper appears in the space just in front of you. It reads as follows:

    "You are the (513th) person in this reality to ask for a hint. Enjoy."

    You flip it over to see if there's anything else. Unfortunately, that's all it says.

    ...Now you know Progenitor, or whatever he left in charge of this place, is trolling you.


    ==> Bring forward the powers who's descriptions aren't lying.

    All the powers move forward.


    ==> Create an interactive book that will be conductive to your understanding of this place.

    All that nets you is another tome reading "nice try". When you experimentally poke the individual words, the book begins to sing.

    "I know a song that gets-"

    You slam the book shut. "Mute the book currently in front of me. Remove the book currently in front of me from the space I am currently occupying."


    => Find all shapes with writing that is legible in a similar way to the 'eyesight' power.

    Failure.


    => Find power whose description contain the word or letters, "God".

    Another note. "Persistent, aren't you?"



    ==>Go back to grouping similar powers
    ==>also order powers by number of sides
    ==>make a note of where most sided shape and brightest shape went
    ==>try and read writing of other members of the groups they ended up in

    You learn very little you didn't already know; the blue power went off to the exact middle of the other blues.

    ==>Go back to grouping similar powers
    ==>also order powers by number of sides
    ==> illuminate with a different backdrop the group whose shapes are on average piked most often. First by number of sides, then color and lastly size-brightness.
    ==> order by similarity to shapes piked by (insert couple of famous villains and heroes)

    Failure.


    ==>Try looking at the lights in four or more dimensions or with different light spectrums (UV, infrared, etc)

    Achievement unlocked: PEEKABO!

    Attempting to look at the powers after adding additional dimensions just ends up confusing you.

    Delving into non-standard ways of viewing them, however, does work, and works quite well. You find a large number of shapes of every color in all directions and separate from the grid. Some of them are different from the ones you already organized, too: many of these powers are connected to other shapes of different or the same colors. You note that the "center" of each of these new powers is usually the dimmest; the powers connected to it are brighter.

    Additionally, you're able to order them into the grid now. They either didn't exist or ignored your orders before.


    ==>Combine shapes with the same number of sides

    This just makes more things explode.


    ==> Bring me the power that is dimmest of all those with the least number of sides.

    Failure. Apparently, this space can't handle combined abstracts like that.

    -----------
    On a phone ATM; be back later to answer the questions asked of me.
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • ==> bring to me the powers that are the dimmest
    ==> of the powers in front of me, put back all but the one with the fewest sides.
     
    Nice. Okay, how about:
    ==>Arrange powers by number of connections
    ==>Move powers impossible/near-impossible to use/have without harm to myself or others to the side
    ==>Arrange powers by number of times previously chosen (by other people)
    ==>Display the names/aliases of previous choosers of those powers
    ==>Arrange powers by color of descriptive text
    Also, what if:
    "I know a song--
    "...that bears a resemblance to a certain other song but in fact lists, clearly and concisely, the precise effects of every power in this place?"
     
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    ==>order shapes by similar personalities\values?
    ==> let's try and see if the vary in any othe sense maybe smell?
     
    So the assumption here is that the number of sides a power has represent it's versatility (hence some of the multi-sided not fitting properly into a category) and the brighter a shape is the more powerful it is, with there always/almost always being a trade-off of power versus versatility. correct?

    ==> Try to remove a side from a shape.
    ==> Shrink yourself to read text.
     
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    wertsir said:
    So the assumption here is that the number of sides a power has represent it's versatility (hence some of the multi-sided not fitting properly into a category) and the brighter a shape is the more powerful it is, with there always/almost always being a trade-off of power versus versatility. correct?
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    No, it seems that the brighter it is, the less sides it has, and the weaker it is, see the glasses power.
     
    greatoz said:
    No, it seems that the brighter it is, the less sides it has, and the weaker it is, see the glasses power.
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    But if that were true then we should just go for the one with the most sides, as it would be most versatile and the most powerful. I don't think it would be as obvious as that.

    It should be noted, that while we know that the brown line has the effect of 'minimal sight enhancement' we don't know what it actually DOES, the obvious effect is not necessarily the right one. (it is also suspicious that the only power we can read is one that has to do with eyesight)
     
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    ==> Examine the descriptions for shapes with the most and least sides.

    ==> Examine the descriptions for the brightest and dimmest shapes.

    ==> Examine the descriptions for all shapes of one color. See if you can find a pattern.

    ==> Compare shapes of equal brightness, but which are visible in different spectrums, and their descriptions.

    ==> Compare shapes with equal numbers of sides, but which are visible in different spectrums, and their descriptions.

    ==> Ask that all shapes that you cannot currently perceive be revealed to you.

    ==> Ask that the description for a randomly selected shape with a currently unreadable description be expanded in size until it is readable to the human eye but no larger than one square inch per letter, in a language which you understand and a light spectrum which you are capable of perceiving

    ==> Find the purple trapezoid you originally saw, and examine its description.

    I'm so sorry. I can't stop SCIENCE!ing.
     
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    wertsir said:
    But if that were true then we should just go for the one with the most sides, as it would be most versatile and the most powerful. I don't think it would be as obvious as that.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    could be that the more sides it has, the more uses of the power, but not necessarily the actually usefulness. the super-bright line gave a minor improvement to eye-sight, it's possible that some of the ones with countless powers, are just a thousand variations of "minor improvement to body function X"
     
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    Xyzarach said:
    could be that the more sides it has, the more uses of the power, but not necessarily the actually usefulness. the super-bright sphere gave a minor improvement to eye-sight, it's possible that some of the ones with countless powers, are just a thousand variations of "minor improvement to body function X"
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...
    Still. Making yourself a little bit stronger so many times as to be effectively infinite (the uncountable number of sides on a "sphere") would make us absurdly powerful, and some of the effects are probably going to be rather esoteric.
     
    will408914 said:
    Still. Making yourself a little bit stronger so many times as to be effectively infinite (the uncountable number of sides on a "sphere") would make us absurdly powerful, and some of the effects are probably going to be rather esoteric.
    Click to expand...
    Click to shrink...

    not if it's a 1%-5% improvement in 1000 incredibly minor aspects of the human body.

    X% boost to eyesight.
    X% boost to blood oxygenation.
    X% boost to bite pressure.
    X% boost to hair volume and glossiness.
    X% boost to enamel hardness.
    X% boost to...



    that's what this experimentation is about, trying to find a good power, so we don't have to pick one at random.
     
    0.24: Playing with Potential, cont. x4
  • Threadmarks
    • You haven't exhausted all there is to find, but people now have enough information to start thinking about what abilities they want to hunt for.


    => Give Bring me the dimmest power with up to 5 sides.

    This gets you a small, barely-visible red triangle. Its description is as follows:

    "Greater gravity control or greater spacial manipulation or greater temporal slow."


    ==>Arrange powers by number of connections

    Success. It would appear that each of the clusters has a centralized power and then several secondary powers related to it. Unfortunately, you can't scan too many; most of their text descriptions start overlapping themselves.


    ==>Move powers impossible/near-impossible to use/have without harm to myself or others to the side

    You're able to move several hundred powers of all colors, shapes, and brightness to the side.


    ==>Arrange powers by number of times previously chosen (by other people)

    Failure.


    ==>Display the names/aliases of previous choosers of those powers

    Failure.


    ==>Arrange powers by color of descriptive text

    It's all white.


    ==>order shapes by similar personalities\values?

    Some of the powers you had previously categorized as "entities" detach from the greater grid to form up. Similar colors are mostly, but not always, clustered together.


    ==> Let's try and see if they vary in any other sense, maybe smell?

    You try to enhance your smell, hearing, touch, taste, and sight. It doesn't reveal anything new.


    ==> Examine the descriptions for shapes with the most and least sides.

    This experiment takes a while, but you manage to figure a few things out. Having a massive sample size can perform wonders.

    When it comes to number of sides, descriptions start having alternatives for what they can be. For example, the purple trapezoid that you were originally drawn to had the following:

    Least sentient empathy or least simple empathy or least animal influence or least sentient influence.


    ==> Examine the descriptions for the brightest and dimmest shapes.

    Brighter shapes tend to be less powerful. There are exceptions. For example, the brightest shapes generally have "minimal X", but the brightness just below that is "least X". Perhaps Progenitor wanted to give a tiny reward to those who searched for the brightest ones?


    ==> Examine the descriptions for all shapes of one color. See if you can find a pattern.

    It takes a while to manage this, but you have a massive sample size. There's quite a bit of overlap, but you're able to determine the following as a guideline...

    Brown: Improvement. Making your own body slightly better, adjusting the bodies of others, shape-shifting, biological healing, etc.

    Green: Summoning. Creating projections or pulling material from other realities falls under this category.

    Blue: Mental effects. An increase in mental processing speed, multi-tasking ability, supernatural awareness, enhanced knowledge, etc.

    Purple: Controlling or sensing the minds of others. Empathy, animal control, mind-based stealth, memory removal or modification, etc.

    Red: Environmental effects. Hydrokinesis, thermokinesis, telekinesis, gravity control, etc.

    Orange: Movement. Teleportation, portal-making, superspeed, etc.

    Silver: Creation, whether it be mechanical, robotic, or even of living creatures. This includes mad differently normal scientists.

    Gold: Breaking the laws of reality more than usual. Flight that doesn't obey momentum, imposing alternate laws of reality in a given area, etc.

    White: Conceptual abilities. Healing, the ability to see through anything, invulnerability that can block any attack regardless of strength, etc.

    Black: Stealth abilities. Invisibility, silent movement, turning ethereal, etc.


    ==> Compare shapes of equal brightness, but which are visible in different spectrums, and their descriptions.

    The new, visible clusters of powers incorporate "and" on the parts connecting them. So it looks like you'd get one primary power and then several secondaries if you chose one of them.


    ==> Compare shapes with equal numbers of sides, but which are visible in different spectrums, and their descriptions.

    They have the same number of "X or Y or Z or W" options.


    ==> Ask that all shapes that you cannot currently perceive be revealed to you.

    Another "nice try" note. Jerk.


    ==> Ask that the description for a randomly selected shape with a currently unreadable description be expanded in size until it is readable to the human eye but no larger than one square inch per letter, in a language which you understand and a light spectrum which you are capable of perceiving

    No matter how much you expand it, the words are still overlapping and making it into one block of white. Annoying.


    ==> Find the purple trapezoid you originally saw, and examine its description.

    "Least sentient empathy or least simple empathy or least animal influence or least sentient influence."


    ==> Try to remove a side from a shape.

    Another implosion.


    ==>ask if brightness=power/focus and sides=facets of powers?

    No response.

    ------------------------------

    If you wish to ask what color a specific power would likely fall under, I'd be happy to tell you now.

    Please don't literally ([ ]) vote for what power to go for yet. It'll mess with the vote-tally for the main character creation and people may still have experiments to propose.


    EDIT: To elaborate, each side is a possible power you could get if you picked a given shape. I'd roll a die for which one it would be, thus the "or".
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • ==> move the shape with the most amount of colors to show itself before you in a visible to humans spectrum
     
    So light /= power
    Sides = versatility
    Colour = type

    So we need to check the powers as their level of light goes down and find the best level, then we go looking for powers that are connected to particularly useful colours and mix and match versatility to power.
    Finally we need to check how hard some powers are to use.

    Personally i think we need Brown, Blue as support powers and maybe White, Gold, Silver or Red as the major power.
    Mostly because the first two increase our general potential and ability to learn, our major power then needs to be simple yet powerful and versatile.
    Extremely powerful Telekinesis for example would let us do a ton of stuff if it was powerful and controllable enough, the hard part would be controlling everything with our mind. (Hense the blue upgrade)

    Edit: When we have narrowed it down a bit, we could ask 'show me everything this power is connected to' and make sure we are seeing everything about the power.
     
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    White, Gold, or Silver, for sure. If we want to be hideously overpowered, a simple sized, very dim conceptual power. Every problem will be a nail.
     
    ==>Compare 3-sided shape with 4-sided shape of same brightness, and five and so on (basically, see if powers grow weaker as sides increase)
    ==>Compare strengths of connected shape vs unconnected shape of the same brightness
    ==>Sort powers by similarity to powers already present in capes in the outside world
    ==>Move powers that can only be used to harm (injure, kill, etc, with little/no potential unharmful effects) to one side
    ==>Arrange clusters (connected powers) by overall dimness
    ==>Bring forth the dimmest power with >1 connection. >3? 5? 20? More?
    ==>Move forward all powers labeled with greater or above in description
    ==>Try to view powers with ecolocation/sonar

    And yeah, I'm thinking white or gold
    ==>Move forward white shapes, gold shapes, and clusters that contain both white and gold. Arrange by dimness, then try number of sides ascending, then descending
     
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    Edited the last SCIENCE! post with a few extra details.

    Voting still has at least another 12 hours to go, but have a (partial) vote tally to try and make the vote less even:


    Sibling gender and relationship to you:
    [x] Twin Sister
    -[x] Cooperative
    No. of Votes: 16
    permeakra
    AramilOniasha
    armorfiend
    D-san
    greatoz
    jaiveer00
    Jeboboid
    ltmauve
    OSRFanatic0
    Redshirt Army
    sainen
    Shadowward
    tricholysis
    veekie
    Wawv
    Xyzarach

    [X] Twin Brother
    -[X] Cooperative
    No. of Votes: 7
    Christyking1980
    BunnyLord
    devo342
    Dr. Bob Doom
    globalwarmth
    Neo-Chan
    will408914

    Your gender:
    [x] Female
    No. of Votes: 14
    permeakra
    armorfiend
    Drakomon96
    greatoz
    Jeboboid
    ltmauve
    OSRFanatic0
    Redshirt Army
    sainen
    Shadowward
    tricholysis
    Wawv
    wootius
    Xyzarach

    [X] Male
    No. of Votes: 15
    Christyking1980
    AramilOniasha
    archangis
    BunnyLord
    CatScannerDarkly
    devo342
    Dr. Bob Doom
    D-san
    globalwarmth
    jaiveer00
    Neo-Chan
    o3o
    veekie
    will408914
    Zeuseus


    Honestly surprised by the ratio of female twin to male twin votes, especially since the votes for PC gender are pretty even. Going to point out a few extra perks to try n break the relative tie between the two PC genders. I admit to being biased toward having the PC and their twin be the same gender for the purposes of shenanigans, but whatever.


    Same gender (female PC with the current vote):

    Pros: You would be identical twins. This allows you to fulfill an awful lot of twin-tropes and generally screw with people. Pretending to be one another, practicing speaking in sync to creep people out, etc. You're likely to be more used to teaming up with one another and cooperating to achieve various tasks.

    It would also be easier for you to spend time with one another as the same gender.

    Cons: People can have difficulty remembering which one of you is which even if you make sure to have different hair-and-clothing styles. People can have difficulty associating a given emotional reaction to only one of you rather than both. Some people may consider both of these to be pros.


    Different gender (male PC with the current vote):

    Pros: You would clearly be siblings, but wouldn't be identical twins. You are only rarely mistaken for your sibling, and even then, people quickly correct themselves. It's easier to get other people to connect to you as an individual instead of dragging your sibling into everything.

    Cons: It's more difficult to spend massive amounts of time with your sibling. You won't have as much experience teaming up with your twin. You can't invoke most twin-tropes nearly as easily.


    EDIT: The lead of female twin over male twin is massive enough that I could lock that bit now, if people want.
     
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    [X] Enchanter: One of your parents can use their abilities to make the guidelines of physics cry in a corner. They insist their abilities follow specific rules, but since their creations can't be replicated, who can tell?
    -[X] Mother
    -[X] Villain: This parent uses their abilities to commit actions frowned upon by the law.
    --[X] Serious: They get in, complete their objective, and get out. No fuss, no shenanigans.

    -[X] Drifter: One of your parents has the ability to access alternate dimensions. Not the kind where you're able to meet your own evil self; to the best of your knowledge, those don't exist. Instead, many of them have points in which they diverged from the history of a different reality.
    -[X] Father
    -[X] Hero: This parent uses their abilitiesto fight crime or otherwise has helping humanity as their primary goal.
    --[X] Silly: They enjoy their job waaaay too much. "STOP RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCUM!"

    Family drama!

    [X] Twin Sister
    -[X] Cooperative

    Background: You

    [X] Name: Alexander
    [X] Age :16
    [X] Male
     
    ==>Bring me the dimmest gold power in this place
    ==> Read to me out loud at what is considered a normal human speaking volume, the descriptive text of the power now in front of me
     
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