Aberrant RPG - A Breed Apart

[Good Alice]

Information manipulation....It is not only a good idea, it is a good power.

[Dr. Wombat]

Originally Posted By: Courier

Quote:

...This is really playing with fire and I can't help but think that someone would have realised this and pulled the plug.

I don't disagree... but Thetis liked playing with fire. Better still, I don't know how you "pull the plug" after it's out there. Sexually transmitted diseases are extremely difficult to reign in after they are out.

Ideally it would be something where the baseline population would be the host animal but only novas would be effected.

Another issue here is motivation. If it's all about numbers management, then you don't take the risk. If you are trying to prevent the creation of hatchers and hundreds of insane 2nd gen Q8+ novas... then you are already running risks, the question is which is worse.

Edit: This is Troll.

Granted, but I wasn't really considering the 2nd Gen factor, as my take on it is somewhat different. Of course, their knowledge of this leads us back to the time travel point you brought up earlier. If that's the way things work, then, yes, Proteus would almost have to go for it, consequences be damned. ("Hmmm, humanity rendered infertile by a possibly correctable retrovirus or Earth torn to bits by psychopathic godlings..." is a question that really doesn't call for much debate.)

Once it's out, you're stuck with it, but I was thinking that someone might call a halt during the design phase. (Again, if the 2nd Gen material is taken as accurate, this wouldn't happen.)

[Dr. Wombat]

Originally Posted By: HyperFocus

RE: Awesomely Mighty & Infallible Conspiracy™ and All-Powerful NPC Centre of the Universe™

The great thing about Mme. Rosseau is that she is an utter cipher in the Aeonverse. Her powers are nebulous and unorthodox, in contrast to the more obvious powers possessed by other +5 quantum novas. She's obviously very active in her movement but appears to merely facilitate its growth rather then direct its development.

Oddly, I meant that to be referring to Proteus, and Pax/Mal. Rousseau is such a bloody cypher, I have a hard time integrating her into the flow of events. She's more of an 'All-Powerful NPC On The Periphery That Can Never Be Touched™'.

[Dr. Wombat]

Originally Posted By: Millie

Debating Aberrant canon is pretty absurd in and of itself, because WW left it purposefully vague and ambiguous by presenting all but the essential parts of it in the subjective viewpoint of letters, news reports and etc. Personally, I think this is a great design decision, because it lets each individual reader get his or her own idea about the whole, or even play with various ideas, and not really be wrong. WHich in turn gives STs a lot of leeway to move things about without puncturing the "canon bubble".

While I have to agree with the absurdity, I dislike the design decision for the very reason you like it. I would much rather that the 'base information' be very cut and dry, so to speak, so that everyone starts on the same page. Then, should a ST wish to depart canon, they're able to do so with precise knowledge of what they're departing, and they're able to inform the players of the differences. As opposed to different interpretations which, in my experience, leads to fairly long debates, especially when the players have one interpretation and the ST another and the group only realises it once play has begun.

I've never thought that anyone's take on a game is "wrong", even if it violates canon. I do like to know about the changes in order to avoid assumptions when making a character, of course. (Sometimes that's not necessary, but sometimes it helps.) Basically, I think that if you are going to go to the effort of creating an interesting setting, you should flesh it out as much as possible and make the entire thing available and not keep secrets or design deliberate vagaries.

[Courier]

Quote:

Once it's out, you're stuck with it, but I was thinking that someone might call a halt during the design phase.

As opposed to things like the murder of Slider, the release of that Q7 Bio-manip, or any number of real world incidences?

Even if we assume that the viris will mutate to effect baselines, and if we assume that it will be as bad as AIDS, both of which might not be obvious, someone might still reasonable conclude that eliminating tens or hundreds of thousands of novas would be worth it. This is the case even more so if one were of the mind set that STDs won't bother anyone who isn't doing something they shouldn't be doing.

For a real world example, just recently the 2nd lethalist cancer effecting women got a vaccine. But because the vaccine is against the underlying Sexually transmitted disease, parts of our government are wondering if the vaccine should be used.

Edit: Also Troll.

[Dr. Wombat]

Originally Posted By: Courier

Quote:

Once it's out, you're stuck with it, but I was thinking that someone might call a halt during the design phase.

As opposed to things like the murder of Slider, the release of that Q7 Bio-manip, or any number of real world incidences?

Even if we assume that the viris will mutate to effect baselines, and if we assume that it will be as bad as AIDS, both of which might not be obvious, someone might still reasonable conclude that eliminating tens or hundreds of thousands of novas would be worth it. This is the case even more so if one were of the mind set that STDs won't bother anyone who isn't doing something they shouldn't be doing.

For a real world example, just recently the 2nd lethalist cancer effecting women got a vaccine. But because the vaccine is against the underlying Sexually transmitted disease, parts of our government are wondering if the vaccine should be used.

Edit: Also Troll.

Again, my thoughts on this were/are based around Proteus' agenda being that of reducing the overall nova-boom, not the elimination of novakind due to the disastrous potential of 2nd Gen suberbabies. Change the agenda, and you change which decisions get made.

Generally, thumping a virus into an entity that manipulates energies, known and seemingly unknown, rather magnifies the chance of mutation. It's not guaranteed, but the chance is fairly strong, in my opinion*.

As for the mindset, you're right, given that mindset, then they'd probably take the chance.

Regarding your real world example, I had heard of it, depressing, I thought.



*Dr. Wombat is not an actual scientist, his science advice should only be considered valid when he says, small, common-sense things such as: "That hot, glowing, rock might be dangerous, you probably shouldn't swall... never mind..."

[Joseph OOC]

Yes, retroviruses rather reliably cause mutations, as they aren't exactly precision devices. Now, note that Taint is not "mutation" in the normal, genetic sense of the word, and in fact normal mutation would almost only be displayed in the children of the mutated individual (or as cancer, but novas I think are immune to cancer). Taint is mostly psychological (which is why, I guess it can be controlled with Teras "meditation") and is based on the incomplete control of quantum forces by the nova mind. Which is probably why 2nd gen novas have less Taint: they understand quantum better, implicitly.

*Millie is not exactly a scientist yet, but can be fairly trusted in biology and chemistry, it being her current field of study.

[astronomer]

A Breed Apart is a useful book, but mostly for GMs, since the mechanisms of breeding aren't on most players' minds. The canon/noncanon questions seem to be a matter of interpretation and intuition. Even the game designers had varying views of how it all worked. And as for Sophia Rousseau as Plot Device, anyone with a level 4+ power is de facto a plot device, wielding the power to shape the world in absurdly potent and potentially subtle ways. It's not always about boot-to-the-head, since Antaeus could have done some ugly things to homo sapiens if he were so inclinded, like negate fertility for the species.

[Rorschach]

I think Breed Apart is a good book, well balanced and all... Anyway the three 2nd gen types hutrt me a bit.

First of all, why in Hell should terats want some taint-sensitive children??? For Chrysalis purposes? Well... I don't buy it, I can't! "True" 2nd gen are just EXACTLY what Teragen is looking for, why trying to abort them? Chrysalis is primarily a way for novas to control Taint and unlock their potential... something true 2nd gen can easily do naturally. So , special, "chrysalidable" 2nd gen are a nonsense.

About that trog thing, I find it less silly, but, I prefer the idea that heavily tainted novas more often CANNOT sire at all.

[Timeslip]

Rorschach: what Terats what and what their genetics and taint give them are two entirely different things. I imagine that you're right, that Mom and Dad Terat would be just ducky with their kids coming out "perfect" from the get-go; because of their own methods, however, that isn't what they get.

[Wanderer]

While my overall judgement about ABA is very positive, this is a quite good and useful book, and I heartily commend the authors, I have to remark I share Rorshach's concerns, and that, according to ABA's writeup itself, the point looks very stressed to me, 2nd Gen going Terat is not mainly or mostly a genetic thing (i.e. owed to the fact the parents have Chrysalis), but an imprinting thing (i.e. owed to the children being full-immersion indoctrinated in Teras by Bounty and Scriptire since birth). If a Teragen child were not raised by Bounty in the Nursery, he wouldn't develop as a Teras, but as a True or a Trog, according to parents' taint load, as usual. Since Chrysalis doesn't count, and typical Teragen is going to have a low-intermediate Taint (owing to most of it being channeled into or shedded during Chrysalis), the vast majority of 2nd Gen sired/born by Teragen and not raised by Bounty would become True.

It is quite likely that in coming years, several Teragen 2nd gen novas will not raised in the Nursery, as some 1st gen Teragen recover or keep their fertility by means of developing Fertility, Health, Quantum Conception, etc, instead of being temporarily enabled by Bounty.

Nonetheless, it should be remarked that ultimately, the differences between True and Teras 2nd Gen are minor and more cosmetic than anything else, and the latter are a variant of the former: Teras 2nd Gen are going to have a rather limited Taint anyway, since most of its usual sources are closed to them: no high Node or Quantum, no tainted traits, most of the Taint they do reap will be purposefully sought and either channeled into or discarded during Chrysalis. They will only look/become inhuman if and the way they really want it. As the psychology and worldview of most True and Teras 2nd Gen will be rather similar anyway (with the possible exception of those True that are puposefully raised to be sympathetic to baselines, and they are going to be very few, thanks to Utopia motherhunters), they will most likely see eye to eye.