metaphysician Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Yeah. IIRC, there's a mental aberration called Judas Syndrome that fits him to a T.Basically, he's a perpetual follower who always betrays his leader eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Psilord Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Can anyone toss a good alternate idea that does not involve Mr Max "ubber" Mercer or previous unquestionable knowledge of the future to solve this?What about Mercer starts Aeon in the past as a normal man as described in your first post. He lives a long time and erupts as a nova in the aftermath of the space station explosion just like everyone else.Differences being that he is extremely rich, has a well established and respected philanthorpic organization already in existence. Many world leaders (read as economic, political and religious leaders) with much influence are members, or are otherwise favorably disposed towards the society, and will give serious consideration to the suggestions of the society.Upon eruption, this extremely weathly and influencial aged man goes insane. The growth of the node within his brain, coupled with his suddenly newfound powers, manifests extreme (quantum enhanced) paranoia in him. This paranoia focuses upon Novas.Max, the insane rich and influential guy, has also erupted with some degree of mega-socials to go along with his already high (but normal) intelligence.Is it so hard to imagine in this situation that Mercer could influence the society to initiate an agenda such as PU and PP? Remember that in the beginning mega-socials wouldn't have been realized for the massive danger they are; remember also that at the very beginning the whole world was in shock at the appearance of these supermen. They would have been eager for someone to point the way for them, especially someone with a definite plan of action, someone like the Aeon Society.Not so far fetched to me. No need for an uber-Mercer, just an insane and influencial little nova. Anyways, just an alternate take on the question. ::wacko Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
metaphysician Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 Sounds like "Max Mercer by way of Lex Luthor." I like it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Thunder Posted February 1, 2007 Share Posted February 1, 2007 The first four Terats were Orzaiz, Fong, Mathematician, and Apostle. A few more joined, then Divis came along with Scripture and several others and taught them Chrysalis, and then Fong developed the philosophy of Teras and the Teragen was born. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFVD Posted February 1, 2007 Author Share Posted February 1, 2007 A Breed ApartKinslayer is on page 74 and Rebel Yell is on page 71.They both look like characters I might use on my campaign if PCs beging investigating the sterility conspiracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFVD Posted February 2, 2007 Author Share Posted February 2, 2007 As for the new Max Mercer’s time displacement power, here is the write-up I did, tell me what you think:Inanimate Matter Temporal DisplacementLevel: 3Quantum Minimum: 2Dice Pool: Perception + IM Temporal DisplacementArea: Inanimate matter not exceeding in mass the equivalent mass that the same ratting in Attunement would affectRange: TouchDuration: InstantEffect: Allows the character to send a limited amount of inanimate matter through time.Description: This power makes the Nova able to “jaunt” objects to the future or past. The following table determines the temporal reach of the jaunting:Dots in IM Temporal Displacement* From seconds to days** Up to a year*** Up to 10 years**** Several decades***** 100+ years, potentially centuriesNote: This is a strictly NPC power unless the ST needs a sure-fire way for the PCs to “re-boot” the chronicle.The Nova can make limited amounts of matter jaunt forward or back in time. For some reason the power is fatal for living organisms, so while jaunting a steak is ok, doing the same to a goat will kill the animal (the messiness of the effect is left open to ST decision). So personal time travel is possible but the result will be having a dead body popping up out of nowhere.It does not allow matter jaunting in space (but see the Extra: Pocket Jaunting), whatever is sent will arrive at the desired moment in time at the precise location where it was displaced from. When the power is activated the Nova has the insightful knowledge of weather the location of the jaunted object is free and not “taken” by other matter. So an attempt to jaunt an apple into a drawer that would be full at that moment in the timeline will automatically fail and will not result in an subatomic explosion due to matter taking the same space at the same time.This power does not allow changes to the past that affect the present, nor does it allow for the creation of paradoxes or time-loops. It can have catastrophic effects for the character’s present however by making it cease to exist.If the character sends something to the past that effectively changes the timeline he is on. Like jaunting a bomb that kills someone in their room 20 days ago when that same person as just punched him an hour ago); his universe is destroyed and replaced by a reality where a bomb jaunted “from somewhere” and killed someone that will never punch him. The Nova will never have knowledge of his future self’s actions and in fact may even not be around “when” the bomb should have been jaunted from.A Nova usually becomes aware that he has this power when he receives a message from his future self. Further insight on its workings and limitations come when the character realises that he may reach the moment in time in the future when he should have sent himself a message and does not. A limited dialogue with a future self is possible until the Nova realises he is actually communicating with a future possible self that may change/cease to exist every time a message is sent back.Yeah, time travel stuff boggles your mind...Extras:Pocket Jaunting – this extra is the way to make this power useful in a day to day basis. It allows the Nova to “anchor” the jaunting location to some form of “container” like a pocket, box or even a hand and make the jaunted object come into the timeline on that container even if it is in a different location in the past or future. Example: the Nova could pass a gun through a security check by jaunting it 10 minutes into the future from and to the pocket of his jacket. Notes: In my upcoming campaign Max Mercer, being a Nova, lives until the Aberrant War and develops this power as the war is coming to a conclusion. After realising how power works he chooses to “kill off” his reality by sending himself documentation decades before warning of this possible future. The message carries enough information to allow Past-Mercer to set up a plan of action but does not provide specifics about the upcoming conflict itself due to Future-Mercer realisation that everything becomes an open book once his pre-N-day self receives the information. This explains Max Mercer’s actions and how he became privy to information about the future while at the same time limiting his effect in the timeline by not making him a time-traveller. The only weird time-effect derived from this concept is that he will re-boot the setting every time the Aberrant War nears a conclusion. Of course, should someone remove him before that the timeline will progress normally from thereon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Green Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Q-Min is off. The absolute lowest I'd give this would be 4, simply because Precognition is 4. If you can retroactively kill PCs then it'd be 6... but an argument could be made for 5 (Temporal Manip). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFVD Posted February 3, 2007 Author Share Posted February 3, 2007 Q-Min is off. The absolute lowest I'd give this would be 4, simply because Precognition is 4. If you can retroactively kill PCs then it'd be 6... but an argument could be made for 5 (Temporal Manip).Actually I based it on Crosstime Travel from APG. It's Lvl 4 Q 2 and allows the Nova to travel to an alternate universe. That seems pretty funky to me and yet the designers made relatively low lvl. The power as I described it does not allow any form of Precognition, what it does it provide the user with intiutive knowledge of wether the location where he is jaunting matter to will be empty at that point in the timeline. Thats it. I decided to implement this to avoid the "antimatter" bomb effect it might otherwise cause.You can retroactively kill PCs but you may erase your own timeline when doing so. Why must it be Q6? Quantum blast can kill a lot more PCs and is Q1.Remember the power is only a plot device. It explains why stuff may pop up from the future but you dont have to bother making sure in the future the PCs experiece someone will be sending that. ::happy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Finbar Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Some quickies: 1) Crosstime Travel probably has such a low minimum Quantum because it has no use in the actual campaign world outside of running sims (and even then they are real!). If the "Inanimate Matter Temporal Displacement" power is supposed to be so bad-ass, why make it a watered-down version of Temporal Manipulation?2) Sterilization: As per "The Mickey" on pg. 51 of Project Utopia, bear in mind that PU itself doesn't know anything about the sterilization. That's been apparently added in by Proteus, as per Thetis' directions (BTW: Please note the second "t"; I keep trying to figure out who "Theis" is...). 3) You really are over-thinking Max, and co.; you eliminate Kimberly Dane thinking that Mal looks familiar, and that Whitney is apparently one of the higher-ups, and you eliminate the A! issues completely with no fuss or muss...Just an observation...FR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFVD Posted February 3, 2007 Author Share Posted February 3, 2007 Some quickies: 1) Crosstime Travel probably has such a low minimum Quantum because it has no use in the actual campaign world outside of running sims (and even then they are real!). If the "Inanimate Matter Temporal Displacement" power is supposed to be so bad-ass, why make it a watered-down version of Temporal Manipulation?Ok I might have to fidget with the game mechanics, but since its a NPC power the precise minimum Q needed and other details will always stay in the background.2) Sterilization: As per "The Mickey" on pg. 51 of Project Utopia, bear in mind that PU itself doesn't know anything about the sterilization. That's been apparently added in by Proteus, as per Thetis' directions (BTW: Please note the second "t"; I keep trying to figure out who "Theis" is...). Yes I know. But I want to turn Max into antihero/tragic character and in this version he has much more control over Aeon and PU. He is the one effectively calling the shots, even if hidden behind layers of deception.3) You really are over-thinking Max, and co.; you eliminate Kimberly Dane thinking that Mal looks familiar, and that Whitney is apparently one of the higher-ups, and you eliminate the A! issues completely with no fuss or muss...Just an observation...One of the objectives is to eliminate A! issues altogheter ::biggrin I don't know what you are refering to about those two characters, i haven't read my PU copy yet. But I guess they are just details that can easily be changed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Green Posted February 3, 2007 Share Posted February 3, 2007 Actually I based it on Crosstime Travel from APG. It's Lvl 4 Q 2 and allows the Nova to travel to an alternate universe. That seems pretty funky to me and yet the designers made relatively low lvl. No, they made a typo. CTT is supposed to be Q6. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NFVD Posted February 4, 2007 Author Share Posted February 4, 2007 No, they made a typo. CTT is supposed to be Q6.Oh! ::blinkWell, back to the drawing board methinks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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