Aberrant RPG - Nipponese novas in the Trinity era and nova fertility

[Chuckg]

Just had a random thought.

 

So, the super-secret Nipponese novas in the Trinity era.  Capped at quantum 4 and node 2.  Can never develop any Taint.  Artificially maxed out.  All fine fine.

 

But, does Nippon also sterilize them?  If not, then all those totally Taint-free novas are eventually going to breed up some 2nd gen Trues.

 

Meaning that Nippon's government will have secret novas that are as totally Taint-free as anything they have going now... but have unrestricted nova power development.   And the Nipponese government secure archives escaped Project Rewrite -- hell, some of their oldest government ministers were still alive during the Aberrant War.   They will know the full potential power of what they're sitting on.

 

How would their long-range plans change, if they knew that a couple decades from now their youngest nova assets would be, by far, the most powerful beings in the world?

 

It's a thing for thought.

[Sakurako Hino]

The Aberrant metaplot goes dead right about when the second generations (and third generations, after all isn't it 100 years after the Aberrant war that Aeon takes place in?) hit their stride in Nippon. Also note that the life of a Nihonjin Nova is not a good one, you are a slave to the state under tight control and if you slip just one inch off of their axis of where they want you, you end up dead.

Also note that Nippon is a sealed off nation from the rest of the world. It's own world in of itself.

To say that country has any sort of sway in world affairs is laughable at best. Thing is if true Seconds and Thirds start showing up, there are two things that will happen.

Contact and Rebellion. And if Novas appear suddenly on the Japanese Islands you can be sure that those islands will no longer exist within 1 hour of the discovery.

Thing is what's not to say all the Nihonjin already know about this and accept their fate as cogs in a dystopian wheel?

[Darrik Reynolds]

They probably do their best to play on the carrot, the stick, and of course the classic Japanese group-centric culture to keep their novas in line. Plus the obvious consequences of exposure.

 

They still also probably try to carefully limit the overall power still of their novas, because Japan doesn't still want to leave anything Aeon can sniff out. In all likelihood, they'll adopt a Directive-style preference for subtle Mega-Attributes and powers, but they'll probably take anything they can get - and be creative.

 

Also establishing the different between Aberrants and Novas. The critical zone of taint.

[Chuckg]

Well, I don't see any reason why they shouldn't be at least as loyal as Nippontai was.  The Nipponese government seems to treat its novas entirely decently. Plus, yes, the simple factor that they ain't got much elsewhere to go, unless they get so powerful they can bamf off into space.  (And even then, this is their home. Their families live here.)

 

And yeah, a preference for subtle power development will likely color the early things.  But in the long run, if they stay alive for enough decades they will eventually be Pax-level ridiculous, and that's if you go with the conservative interpretation from the Project Utopia sourcebook (i.e., that the 2nd gens will just be 'normal' novas who use the Very Low Taint optional rules and don't gain Taint from high levels of Node or etc.).   If you go full-on 'The New Flesh' Eon sourcebook content, then the Nipponese government's plans are going to be totally re-evaluated when Apotheosis kicks in.

[Sakurako Hino]

Well I wouldn't be surprised there isn't the blackest of black tech cloaking the quantum signature of Japan. I would also wager at some point that tech will either suddenly break down or be inadequate in suppressing the signature. At that point, Japan has some splainin' to do.

[darksol-aeternium]

It would be refreshing if that explanation from Japan took the form of "You are all racist, paranoid, power-crazed idiots and here's why:" *gestures at perfectly stable 3rd gen novas*  But Japan's government is as bad as any human government, because it's made up of humans.

[Sakurako Hino]

Actually with Japan's addiction to Novas, I wager before the Aberrant War got hot, Japan shut it's borders off and started putting their doomsday plan into action (wall off from rest of world, and hope the planet doesn't explode).

To be honest I wager Japan still fears the China Ultimatum will end them. You'd be surprised what a couple KK (Kinetic Kill) warheads will do to a city. Aeon doesn't need nukes to enforce a Hundred year old ultimatum.

[Chuckg]

Yowp.  On the other hand, when some Nipponese novas start hitting Mastery 1, they actually reach the point they can start blocking the kinetic kill vehicles... or redirect them harmlessly into the ocean.

[Copper Palm Zed]

The idea of the sudden-but-inevitable failure of whatever mechanism or phenomena that is keeping the rest of the world from discovering that Nippon has potential world-wrecking walking arsenals is ripe for a game concept.

[Rubio OOC]

Aaaand that post should have been from my OOC account.

[Sprocket]

AFA I can tell, all this sounds like these Nihonjin 2ndGen & 3rdGen novas would have left Nippon and Earth to establish a nova colony world ASAP. Think about what it'd be like to grow up like they did! These people would have been kept secret from 99.9% of the entire Nihonjin populace in addition to everyone else on Earth. Second, they know that everywhere else on Earth - and the rest of the Solar System - is de facto hostile territory to even play tourist. Third, if even a hint of their existence & origins leaked out, their homeland gets blasted into oblivion.

 

Seems to me that such degrees of isolation & restriction would make anyone who could emigrate as soon as they were able if they had the option of doing so. It'd be a relatively nice place to be a kid & grow up, but after that? Sayonara, Nippon.

 

Sure, they would feel some compassion/sympathy/loyalty for the nation in which their grandparents had no other choice but to live there. Thing is, these 2ndGens & their 3rdGen kids have the option of colonizing a world where they can live freely. If the Nihonjin government was smart, they could also covertly provide them with Nihonjin baseline colonists, much like they did when colonizing Restored Hope (Iota Pegasi-3 or -4?) as a means to neutralize internal disruption among the populace, esp. from the gaijin immigrants.

 

So quantum-cloaking blacktech would still be necessary to keep the Nihonjin 1stGen novas & any immature 2ndGen nova offspring concealed. If anything, the emigration of the adult 2ndGens would take that much of a load off of the blacktech in question.

[Sakurako Hino]

Yowp.  On the other hand, when some Nipponese novas start hitting Mastery 1, they actually reach the point they can start blocking the kinetic kill vehicles... or redirect them harmlessly into the ocean.

 

Actually, the power of that sort of nova should be incredibly rare, and Japan having just one nova at Mastery 1 would be a miracle. That would mean 1 fewer crater on the Japanese chain of islands. If anything, the Nihonjin novas should be low-power, fanatically loyal, and most importantly really talented in "hiding their power level". If anything their ability to suppress their power is one of the secrets of learning how to safely grow in power.

 

The Nihonjin would be an example of stable novas, and sadly a example of how no matter how much power you got you're nothing compared to the what would happen when mankind fears you and has the means to erase you.

If anything, once Japan realizes that their novas would be outed, at some point there would be a choice all Novas in Japan would have to make. Leave, or be executed.

This is when the shit would hit the fan.

[Chuckg]

Actually, the power of that sort of nova should be incredibly rare, and Japan having just one nova at Mastery 1 would be a miracle. That would mean 1 fewer crater on the Japanese chain of islands. If anything, the Nihonjin novas should be low-power, fanatically loyal, and most importantly really talented in "hiding their power level". If anything their ability to suppress their power is one of the secrets of learning how to safely grow in power.

 

Errr, we're talking about 2nd generation descendants of Nihonjin novas after they grow up, remember?  2nd gens, even if you don't go with "A Breed Apart", can still reach damn high levels of power with zero Taint.  So, why should they be restricted to low-power? 

[Sakurako Hino]

Actually if you don't go by "A Breed Apart" which is a fan document, in other words build a 2nd like a first, but with far fewer taint restrictions, you still have Novas that have to grow into their power, and if they are aware of the NStage strategem to increasing your power, a Second Generation would have to take a long time of careful cultivation of their power to achieve the heights that a Terat or Qi-Meng would reach given far shorter time frames.
 

 

And with Qi-Meng questionible as being canon, then you just have Teras vs NStage Development. And as there wouldn't be any Terats in Japan by the time of it being closed off, your only viable option is NStage development. Of coruse if 2nd gens are automatically born NStage... that would make 2nds far more capable of becoming Mastery 1. That would mean earth has a problem if suddenly a group of 30 or so Mastery 1 STABLE Novas suddenly pop up in Japan.

[Chuckg]

Actually if you don't go by "A Breed Apart" which is a fan document, in other words build a 2nd like a first, but with far fewer taint restrictions, you still have Novas that have to grow into their power, and if they are aware of the NStage strategem to increasing your power, a Second Generation would have to take a long time of careful cultivation of their power to achieve the heights that a Terat or Qi-Meng would reach given far shorter time frames.

 

If you discard "A Breed Apart" and stick only with canon... well, the main source of canon on 2nd gens is the flavor text in the Proteus section of Project Utopia.

 

Which says that 2nd gen novas are naturally born with what "New Flesh" calls N-stage nodes.  The whole 'your farahcytes are evently distributed across your entire brain' thing?  They haz it.  From infancy.  "A Breed Apart" actually nerfed 2nd gens in this area, by making them have to separately purchase something that according to canon was part of their racial template from the getgo. 

 

So, 'careful cultivation that takes a long time'?  I don't see it.  They should be advancing at least as fast as any other nova, just with far less Taint along the way.

 

And given that Divis Mal went from Quantum 1 to Quantum 8 in circa 80 years, pointing out that with novas having been around and breeding in Nippon for the past 100+ years they are overdue to be popping some Q6+ around now.