Trinity RPG - Venezuela Phenomenon/Process 418/etc.

[Snackula]

This is nothing more than a passing thought that caught my interest, but...

As mentioned in Asia Ascendant, this phenomenon was closely related to the effects of the Hammersmith explosion, only perhaps more potent. Plenty of coverage has been given to the rise of various (fill in the blank)morphs, but there's another aspect of wide-scale Telluric energy release that I've only even seen a vague allusion to in AsAs and nowhere else. So my question is this:

Has anyone used this as an opportunity to bring 'Lost Worlds' into a Trinity era campaign, whether on Earth or near space? Given that ISRAns can no longer sense Earth, this seems like a pretty interesting possibility (depending on the prevailing theme of the campaign).

I can just picture (for example) the return of Baron Halcyon as he leads the Goran/E'tah out of Hollow Earth through a cavernous exit in Antarctica to wreak havoc on the pioneers there.

Or an FSA patrol being extremely surprised to find Dinosaurs returning to the swamplands.

To be fair, though, any manifestations might be more in line with the collective subconscious of the Trinity era, so the previous examples might be entirely unacceptable.

Any thoughts? Criticisms? Disparagements? Curses unto my tenth generation?

[Ian Watson]

Certainly, go for it if you want to. Sounds like great game fodder. (:

The way I see it... okay, you know basic quantum theory, yes? Where a particle like an electron doesn't have a definite position, just a cloud of probabilities. It only "collapses" down into a specific location once it's been observed. There's far more to it than that, of course, but it's the salient point.

In the 1920s, there was still a good portion of the Earth which hadn't really been explored. Until they've been explored, they sort of exist in an undefined cloud of probabilities (and, once explored, collapse down into the most likely probability, which is "reality").

The Hammersmith explosion artificially collapsed many of these waveforms, instead choosing the highly improbable (seems to have been based almost on expectations and myth of the local populace). So instead of "just" a swamp, you get the dinosaur swamp. Instead of just a cave, you get a population of underground creatures. And once these locales are "created," they exist as though they have always existed, with a full history.

The dissipation of Z-rays by the 1940s means that waveform probabilities are no longer artificially locked in place, so most of the Hidden World disappears to become more mundane by that time.

Of course, by the 2120s, Earth has been mapped out in far more detail. There are no uncollapsed waveforms for the Venezuelan Phenomenon to affect.

Once the Phenomenon reaches other worlds, on the other hand....

[SkyLion]

Once the Phenomenon reaches other worlds, on the other hand....

Now that's just brilliant! ::idea

[Snackula]

The way I see it... okay, you know basic quantum theory, yes? Where a particle like an electron doesn't have a definite position, just a cloud of probabilities. It only "collapses" down into a specific location once it's been observed. There's far more to it than that, of course, but it's the salient point.

"And the winner is...#3! In a quantum finish!"

"No fair! You changed the outcome by measuring it!"

Okay, I was too tired to think up any near space examples when I posted the topic, but I figured that'd be the prime territory for this. With that in mind, I could definitely picture some strange goings-on in the Kuiper Belt or Oort Cloud. Of course, there may be some fairly taint-ridden areas out there, given that I assume that's about where the fight would have occurred between The Colony's posse and the Nihonjin Novas in 2103...

Could also be a chance to throw in a primitive underwater civilization for the Norca to discover beneath the ice of Europa, or a race of ice creatures on Pluto (given the alternate timeline of the TU, I wonder if they consider Pluto a planet...)

Anyway, it's just some ideas. Doubt I'll ever get a chance to use anything like this in a game, but I'd love to hear about it if anyone else does.

[Sprocket]

On the topic of Europa, there's already some canon color material regarding the Norça & possible xenolife on/from Europa. Check out Trinity Field Report: Oceania (AFAIK it's still available as a PDF) for the tantalizing hints.

[Snackula]

Sweet, I'll have to read that again. Even the main book had hinted at it, though, which was what gave me the idea.

[Rorx]

Somewhere it gave an approximate speed that the effect was spreading out at, anyone remember what it was?

I was just trying to think of when it would reach Khantze and the ensuing choas as more people erupted across the planet. With the higher Quantum field around Khantze compared to Earth a higher proportion of people are likely to go that way than on Earth.

[Alex Green]

I'd thought it was the speed of light, but I don't remember reading that anywhere.

[Snackula]

I can't remember if there was a specific rate given, but personally I would say it's traveling at the speed of fiat. In other words, if you want it to have reached KLG, then it has. Telluric (or whatever you like to call it) energy probably isn't limited by relativity, so I would say go nuts. It might even travel faster toward areas with high levels of Taint, Quantum, or Psi, due to their sympathetic nature. Or it might polarize away from those areas... your choice, ultimately.

[Sprocket]

Re: Venezuela Phenomenon Extrasolar ETA-

Looking at my hardcopy of Asia Ascendant, the closest they get to establishing a speed for the Venezuela "telluric wave" is "many times the speed of light", which translates as "whenever the ST sees fit for it to get to a given extrasolar star system" AFAICT.

As to what it would do when it hits, that seems to have been left solely up to the ST's out there. I could see the VP wave erasing some of the environmental Taint on Khantze Lu Ge, & perhaps causing some "clean" eruptions of old-style novas.

[Rorx]

At a guess I'd say that puts it at a year or less to Khantze (Alpha C at ~4-5LY from Earth), so they would be having a fun time over there while the New Order in Africa is causing political and noetical upheaval back home on Earth.

Yep, my take would be that rather than a general rise in all types of supranormal types, possibly with a bias toward Psi types, like of Earth. On Khantze it would be more like the Aberrant Age with a higher proportion of triggering being in the Quantum types, Aberrant and Nova for want of better terms.

Depending on where they take place (occupied territory, or beleagured lands) the people who erupt could act against the invading Aberrants (even if Aberrant themselves) although acceptance by their neighbours is unlikely unless a lot of work can be done by Eden Nova types invery short order.

Presumably the presence of the Aberrants/Taint makes it difficult to see into the future of the colony, and so no-one forsaw it disappearing from their Noetic radar, as panicked/worried some of the Seers about Earth.

[Alex Green]

So what would the Colony be like with a lot less taint? Better or worse?: ::devil

[Ian Watson]

For those who haven't, read the opening fic for the Trinity ST Handbook (can be found at the RPGBooks wiki in my sig). It was written by Stew "DigitalRaven" Wilson, based on a general overview Bruce Baugh gave me.

Enkidu's people have been living in the clouds of Venus.

Make of that what you will.

[Sprocket]

So what would the Colony be like with a lot less taint? Better or worse?

I suspect that the Colony would be totally unaffected by the VP wave, due to metaplot requirements for an Obvious Big Bad Character. Some Taint-monkeys just can't (maybe shouldn't) be salvaged. ::sly

Enkidu's people have been living in the clouds of Venus.

So that's where Baron Zorbo's stash of Chiquibul Crystals ended up! ::laugh ::tongue

Although I agree that creating aerostat habitats capable of dealing with Venus' atmosphere is well within the realm of Adventure! super-science, esp. given several decades of serious improvement through R&D.

[metaphysician]

I'd be skeptical of Process 418 or a similar "clean" telluric wave having much direct effect on an existing taint monkey at *all*.

[Snackula]

For those who haven't, read the opening fic for the Trinity ST Handbook (can be found at the RPGBooks wiki in my sig). It was written by Stew "DigitalRaven" Wilson, based on a general overview Bruce Baugh gave me.

Enkidu's people have been living in the clouds of Venus.

Make of that what you will.

Man, that's gotta be hot when you're covered in hair... ::wink

That's a cool idea, though. I've always thought Venus was just begging for some strangeness. Like someone finally breaking through the high winds, and discovering that it's calm near the surface, and strangely reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's depiction in The Illustrated Man ("The Long Rain").

[Alex Green]

I suspect that the Colony would be totally unaffected by the VP wave, due to metaplot requirements for an Obvious Big Bad Character. Some Taint-monkeys just can't (maybe shouldn't) be salvaged. ::sly

It works if he's still (or even more of) a monster with less taint.

[Rorx]

So what would the Colony be like with a lot less taint? Better or worse?: ::devil

It depends, perhaps if it lost his mental aberrations he wouldn't be hell bent on capturing the Earth and turning all humans into sub-Aberrant minions. On the other hand, just because the biological/chemical cause of it meglomania vanishes doesn't mean the actual mental state would go away after so many years and with no change in the environment that supports that state.

However, it is just as likely that the wave effect suddenly doubles his Taint to a degree that his body can't support it anymore and he keels over, as it is suggested could have happend to some of the early eruptions that the Norca got to after the event.

[Snackula]

Re: The Colony

This is just my take, but I think that the majority of Aberrants that lose Taint in the process will still hang on to their Aberrations, whether mental or physical. I might be forgetting something from TeVe or AsAs, but I seem to recall that it doesn't actually say anything about these going away. Either way, I'd be inclined to treat it the same as any other form of Taint reduction: the Aberrations remain, but are henceforth treated as Flaws.

[Alex Green]

I guess what I'm working towards is the idea that dealing with a sane monster might be a lot worse than dealing with an insane one.

[Snackula]

I guess what I'm working towards is the idea that dealing with a sane monster might be a lot worse than dealing with an insane one.

No argument here. ::cool

A villain's always more lethal when they can focus more on their real objectives than on trying to unravel the secret agenda of their left nipple.

[Sprocket]

Excerpted from Trinity: Terra Verde, p. 26:

Most peculiar of all, some of the Aberrants Norca keeps locked in secret facilities throughout Sudamerica lost all signs of Taint affliction.

That sounds like some Aberrants could have their permanent Taint lowered or eliminated along with the accompanying aberrations, but since the chances for such are utterly random it falls directly under the auspices of ST fiat.

[Alex Green]

Rather than ST fiat it's possible Trinity just shifted back to a Medium Taint environment and away from a high taint environment.

In abby the first 4 points of Quantum doesn't give you taint and the first 3 points of Taint doesn't give you aberrations. I don't remember how Trinity works but I recall it's not that nice. It's it something like every dot of Q gives you a point of taint or something?

Oh! Interesting side note; I always figured one of the reasons Divis left was because Trinity was a high taint place, ditto for why the other abbies left. So if the Earth is low or medium taint, then it just became a lot more desireable too.

[SkyLion]

Man, that's gotta be hot when you're covered in hair... ::wink

That's a cool idea, though. I've always thought Venus was just begging for some strangeness. Like someone finally breaking through the high winds, and discovering that it's calm near the surface, and strangely reminiscent of Ray Bradbury's depiction in The Illustrated Man ("The Long Rain").

I love the illustrated man!

[metaphysician]

Rather than ST fiat it's possible Trinity just shifted back to a Medium Taint environment and away from a high taint environment.

In abby the first 4 points of Quantum doesn't give you taint and the first 3 points of Taint doesn't give you aberrations. I don't remember how Trinity works but I recall it's not that nice. It's it something like every dot of Q gives you a point of taint or something?

Oh! Interesting side note; I always figured one of the reasons Divis left was because Trinity was a high taint place, ditto for why the other abbies left. So if the Earth is low or medium taint, then it just became a lot more desireable too.

Good point, though I doubt Mal will return merely because of this. Alot of the others might possibly, though.

[Snackula]

I love the illustrated man!

Aha! I knew you had good taste. ::happy

That was one of my favorite books growing up - which is really saying something, given how much I used to read.

[Sprocket]

Yes, nova-caliber aberrants use the High-Taint Rules (APG p. 68). It's also stated in the corebook that this involves getting a dot of permanent Taint per dot of the Quantum Trait.

[Alex Green]

Yes, nova-caliber aberrants use the High-Taint Rules (APG p. 68). It's also stated in the corebook that this involves getting a dot of permanent Taint per dot of the Quantum Trait.

The really interesting question is what happens when a nova moves from a medium taint area to a high taint area (or vise versa). Is it retroactive or not? ::devil

BN's game did something like that to the PCs and it was just grim.

[BcAugust]

The really interesting question is what happens when a nova moves from a medium taint area to a high taint area (or vise versa). Is it retroactive or not? ::devil

BN's game did something like that to the PCs and it was just grim.

Eek, that would...be very, very bad with our Aberrant game(Low Taint rating). I'm not sure what each would do....though if you have any amount of Taint, it's a real possibility you might explode on arrival in a high taint area if it was retroactive. Hmm...though a gradually creeping changeover would make for interesting gaming. Say, a week changes you a Taint point at a time either way? Which would explain the changeover taking place fastest with the youngest Aberrants in Trinity, as their taint from Quantum would drop the fastest to a level where it isn't detectable.

[Alex Green]

The way he did it was he just "gave" an extra point of Quantum AND all Quantum abilities (including Node). So anyone with Q4+ and Node 2+ got +2 Taint. He also gave a point of temp taint for every point of quantum we used.

[metaphysician]

A point *per* quantum spent? Yikes. Point me to the nearest gate out. That sounds like the kind of place even the Colony would go "No way, no how, I like being a *live* insane monstrous titan, thank you very much."

[Sprocket]

::blink AFAIK, environmental Taint is a threat to novas who have yet to erupt, although the elevated levels of environmental Psi present on Earth & Luna in the Trinity era aren't too healthy for them either. I think the details for such were put forth in TFR: Noetic Science. I've yet to see anything suggesting that environmental Taint affects already-erupted novas.

AFA what BN did, that sounds like it would make a TPK (total party kill) seem downright pleasant by way of comparison. Nasty, just plain nasty. ::wacko

[metaphysician]

I'd never even considering dropping a place like that on my players head unwarned. And by warned, I mean "this place is insanely dangerous, you can feel it radiating toxic energies from hundreds of miles away, it is a cancer that will mutate and kill you if you even come near it. Do you really want to?"

[Rorx]

So what do we think the likely effects will be when the wave reaches Khantze?

The psions are likely to be prepared already by the time it gets there, and there probably isn't that many actual Aberrants there. I'd guess at only 20-30 per faction, but then I haven't had the benefit of reading the background of Battleground. So to me the effect on the hundreds of sub-Aberrants is likely to be the most important thing.

[Alex Green]

Subby Menu options: Get cured. Erupt. Become psiads. Nothing.

Given who they are, if the subbies get cured that's a bad thing. Further, I don't think they will get cured since they're the result of nova powers, not taint.

I don't think they'll erupt because if they had the right stuff they would have done so already. Ditto becoming a psiad.

So that leaves nothing.

[metaphysician]

I don't know, I'd consider "cured" a possibility, if the nova power that created them did so via taint. OTOH, a fifth possibility is "get injured and/or die". If their altered physiology is too dependent on their own taint, something that cleans up taint might inflict agg damage on them.

[Alex Green]

I called being cured a bad thing because they live in a group of other sub-abbies, and their lord and master is the creature that created them. Being cured implies a very short life span or just re-infection.

[metaphysician]

Ah, true.

[Snackula]

There are also Sub-Aberrants posing as normal people with Taint sickness to spy on things in the human-run cities...Might make for an interesting plot thread if one of them was suddenly cured, and subsequently reevaluated their priorities.

[Rorx]

What I remember seeing of the power that creates subbies involved pumping them full of enough Taint to physically mutate them into a form for there powers. It also destroyed any chance of eruption or triggering at a later stage.

I'd say it woukd be one of: weakend as their Taint and hence mutations/powers lowers, cured in the same way, or killed as their Taint breifly vastly increaser as the shockwave passes.

The hidden spy is a full Aberrent, not a subbie, whose Taint aberration looks like a bad Taint disease.