Aberrant RPG - Table Top Creations

[Hugin]

Hey there, been running a TT for a few months now and while we've had some nice story happenings, my players came up with something I thought was kinda cool and so I'm putting it up here for perusal. I'm thinking about intro'ing it in a N News Service release, but it is non-canonical so I'm floating a balloon to check reaction.

NodeStone

It is a new background, like Euefibre, a nova can attune it to themselves and use it to store quantum pool in the amount of one point for each dot in NodeStone. NodeStone does not offer any soak and does not have the mutable shape, color or texture properties of Euefibre. It's only other property is that for the number of dots in NodeStone, divided in half, rounded up (1 at 1, 1 at 2, 2 at 3, 2 at 4 and 3 at 5), that nova presents a +1 difficulty to any attempts

to detect or define their quantum signature. Any Quantum Attunement or Node rolls or technological attempts to detect the presence of an active nova deal with this difficulty. This does not interfere with the social penalties from excess Taint however.

The 'real world' (hehehe) uses of NodeStone would be mostly in battery uses. It is a crystaline metallic substance with no tensile properties and has limited ability to be used in as wide of a way as Euefibre. It can't be put into cable or wire, it is always opaque. It makes for good batteries however as it is readily rechargable, doesn't seem to degrade or oxidize, is non-toxic

to it's environment and has a nice property in that when physically damaged when charged, NodeStone does not release the energy unless properly tapped and even then, individual pieces retain a proportional amount of energy.

Something unknown to the general public, is that the more dots a Nova has in it (only works with quantum from Novas) the shinier it gets. It starts off looking like dull hematite and ends up with a brilliant chrome finish.

[Jager]

Here it is.

James, why does it interfere with detection?

[Hugin]

Why does Euefibre offer soak even if it is in the form of a thong?

Nah, not going there. Really, because I had to give my players a secondary effect and I wasn't going to be offering even more cheap soak.

Explanation, coming from a non-science guy, the energy pattern in NodeStone, only when dealing with a Nova, is not static. It takes it in, it gives it back, the energy is flowing in and out. This results in a lower amount of energy bleeding off into the environment and diffuses attempts to identify a Novas energy signature.

[Sakurako Hino]

So... It dampens a Nova's signature? So by doing an energy transfer into the stone, and drawing from it, you put off no signature?

Is that what you're saying?

[Hugin]

No, it dampens and diffuses the signature, making identification more difficult. It increases difficulty, it doesn't make indentification impossible.

[Sakurako Hino]

Oh, sort of like how some materials buffer and reduce sound waves? Like a noise barrier for quantum?

[Condomble]

So let me see if I got it.

As the power flows in and out, it begins to form a "closed loop circuit" with the energy creating a highly localized and increasingly focused field. Superficially similar to a magentic field wherein the MR node forms one pole and the Nodestone forms the other pole. Increasing quantum density results in a more tightly focused "NS" field.

Passive forms of detections are increasing difficult because the more energy the NS device stores, the more efficient the quantum flow becomes and the less energy bleeds to the surrounding environment which is what the passive detections depend on.

Active detections (can't think of any power that could be called active at the moment but I'm tired) are subliminated into the power flow generated between the Nodes Stone and the MR node thereby allowing a much weaker return than would normally be the case.

A conjecture for you;

Taint

Perhaps there is a rationale for explaining a small effect on taint limited to one or two dots and ONLY for the novas that manifest things like a slight quantum glow which is suppose be a slow bleed (loss) of quantum into the environment.

It would have no effect on social penalties whatsoever. They just don't glow. People still freak out when they're around and feel uncomfortable.

In any case Bravissimo! Well done! Well balanced!

(polite gulf clap)

Good job Prodigy.