opnet [OpNet] Quantum Backlash

[Preston]

Timeslip's judicial quandary with Quantum Backlash Syndrome (aka taint) has caused me to re-examine my own effects on baseline human society. Maybe by sharing our experiences with our own individual effects, we might gain some useful insights into this race-wide phenomena. Here is mine:

When I am around humans, and not concentrating to some degree on their presence, I make people feel as if they are facing some sort of intense scrutiny, or judgement. I've had one suspect compare it to "the Eye of God looking down on me, exposing all my sins." People have also confessed to feeling sensations of guilt, shame, and self-loathing. A few have even relived past moments the are particular ashamed of.

Mind you, I'm not a telepath and I don't have any kind of innate 'sin-sense'. When I exert my attention toward a social situation I can alleviate these sensations and even engender feelings of trust and confidence. I do not find my QBS to be debilitating and even find it occasionally useful when dealing with certain suspects.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

I'm not sure if it counts or not. When I'm a massive, super strong, mentally unstable killing machine, most people treat me like I'm a massive, super strong, mentally unstable killing machine.

On occassion I get that when I'm small too.

[Machina]

Buddy of mine in the service erupted, and somewhere along the way after the fact, his body started emitting low-level radiation, to the extent that spending too much time around baselines made them sterile. Poor bastard nixed his own sister's ovaries.

[Neil Preston]

Machina, if you would please put me in contact with your buddy's sister, I would like to see if I could help her out.

[Roma]

Hi everyone!

No taint for me. Surfing light waves and playing with time is just fine without it. Wings are verra nice too. I recommend all of it to anyone.

I'm very very very sorry for the novas that stepped into the taint thing. I wish I could help all of them. I can't but I wish I could.

[Hugin]

Quantum Backlash makes it sound like such a horrid thing. Perhaps a little more enlightened approach would help?

[Trooper]

No "backlash" here. And stuff like horns or ruby red skin aside (that shit can actually increase your fee base) I kinda feel bad for the folks like Machina who got a bad case of the assholes from being a nova. Or folks like Hugin, who if rumor is correct, is walking around with a pair of fun parts.

[Roma]

Dripping snot from everywhere or shooting off little sparkies of radiation is more than a boo boo. I wish there was some way we could help these people.

[Trooper]

Originally Posted By: "Imagineer" Meadows

Dripping snot from everywhere or shooting off little sparkies of radiation is more than a boo boo. I wish there was some way we could help these people.

I knew of a poor bastard by the name of MegaMold. Fucker had nasty green shit growing all over him and most shit he touched. Reeked to high heaven too. I actually think I did him a favor when I torched him with that napalm torch. So...that was a way to help him.

[Preston]

I use the term 'Quantum Backlash Syndrome' and the slang of 'taint' because they are the terms in common usage, Hugin. If you could come up with another term that would achieve common acceptance, I would gladly use it.

[Hugin]

Evolution?

[Roma]

Evolution into what?

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Originally Posted By: "Imagineer" Meadows

Evolution into what?

I think it's more like "Evolution away from" rather than towards something.

[Kultra]

Well, realistically speaking. I have only seen the reaction Taint gives off on other people, and then again everyone has their own version of "Quantum Backlash"

Let's take different people for example:

Machina became irritant after his Eruption. (I find this one hard to believe, he was probably irritant already.)

Procyon turned gold in color after a continual use of his powers.

Dr.Smith turned green, and I believe he also became bigger.

Det. Preston became an intimidating interrogator.

Wakynian has become more and more like the gryphons of legends.

Long wakes primordial fear on people with his appearance as a Tiger.

Revenant...well, I think he is dead. Don't get me wrong, but that's what his medical report says, but I'm sure he must still use blood for something...

Timeslip also, she lost her actual semblance and became a field of startscape.

Quantum Backlash does seem to affect some people over others, but without an intimate knowledge of how the process of eruption is triggered or works, we won't know what persons or process make somebody more apt to handle the quantum channeling which causes it (or so far is thought to cause it).

The list I gave you on one side shows what "Taint", as the slang goes, can be unpredictable and affect anybody. But every story has a flip side, right?

On this case, yes. There are multiple Novas across the globe with no physical signs of Quantum Backlash.

WarGear, our little goddess of war has no physical "evolutions".

Myself, I erupted roughly a month or so after N-Day, and I have still to show any signs of Quantum Backlash.

Trooper has admitted to lacking any too.

Imageneer has said she lacks it too, but It would be better to check in case the wings were part of it.

And Tempest, the Canadian magnetic field controller also lacks it.

But those are only people who don't have physical signs of Taint, what about mental signs?

Eruption and overuse of powers have also been known to create mental problems, chemical/hormonal imbalance and psychological issues. This "aberrations" like they are disrespectfully called, are much more personal and need a great deal of study before they can be claimed to be either from the Quantum Backlash or from simple Stress or Shock.

Quantum Backlash is not like anything any human (or nova in this case) has ever found as far as "body disorders" goes. Currently Nova's only have Baseline science to back their knowledge, I theorize that it will take more than a couple of generations before Nova kind can understand what is a curse to some, and a blessing to others.

[Wakinyan]

How often does mental form follow function though? A nova with fire control having a fiery personality. One who becomes artficial and able to access and control machines becomes cold and more concerned with logic. It quickly becomes apparent that these issues are not random luck of the draw conditions.

Take me as an example. I came to look like an mythical animal as Polymath mentioned, so too did my mind or at least part of it. Long I know has some of those same issues just pronounced in different ways. Fenrir is another example on this and I can go on and on. In fact the only Nova who drifted toward a animalistic evolution who does not seem to wrestle to with the psychological side of it is Vixen I sometimes wonder if because of her profession and mental discipline prevented this issue with her.

Point being the frame of mind sets you up for your 'evolution' the trick is to stop allowing it to be controlled subconsciously and bend it to your will before it becomes a evolutionary dead end (in more ways than one). And this does not mean resisting it either. It is not something to fight but rather embrace. You do not block it but guide it, nurture it and let it flow around more unhealthy aspects so that you become a whole entity. Think of it as a garden, if you tend it and care for it it will flourish. If you neglect or ignore it it will grow haphazerdly and out of control.

I by no means claim I have got this mastered yet. I still grapple with urges and instincts daily but it is much more manageable now than it once was even a year ago.

,,

[Warren Verona]

Alright. I'll play.

By now you people should have an idea, but I don't think anyone has ever really heard the full story. So, here goes.

Most of you know, on N-Day I mutated. On N-Day I got my first lesson in 'Taint'. I was eight, and when my zealot of a mother shot herself up with heroin and was watchin' CNN about all those people thinking that is was some divine punishment and that Satan was coming to take over the world an all that.

She had spent most the day preaching to me (while stoned) about God this and God that. And how the Archangels would come to battle the Devil's army. Like an idiot, I believed her.

Man, I wanted so much to make her happy. To make her proud of me, like any good son would. I hoped it would get her back to normal again and off the dope.

So, I prayed. I prayed that I could help by fighting alongside the righteous. Go ahead, laugh. Fuck you, I was eight.

Bout' two hours later, my head is ringing like the Gong Show. The pain is unbearable and my mother and I are watching the sky burn, some of you that were there that day, I'm sure you remember how beautiful the sky was all day, and even into the night, like it was alive.

So, a few minutes later I'm in the tub, playing with my Dragon Ball Z action figures (if you laugh, so help me I will find and rip your fuckin' spleen out!). My memory is fuzzy, but I think my ma brought me in a towel or something and when she saw me she freaked out. I was mutating I guess. Anyway, she freaks and drowns me in the tub. I fight as best I can but hey, obviously I lost or this story would have been over by now. Everything went black and that was that.

Anyone who knows me, or has asked me the right question will usually get the answer. "I sold my soul for power."

I'm not lying when I say it either. I could have given up, but I didn't. Anger, rage, pain, hate, every negative emotion you can fathom flooded through me as the world faded to black. All I wanted was revenge. All I wanted to hurt her back for doing that to me.

And so, I became a 'Revenant': The return of the dead upon the living.

I got revenge. I slew her, but it wasn't enough. I was still empty, and I needed more. My eruption was a tainted harrowing into pain and evil that goes beyond what I could attempt to describe.

So, that's that. Here I am. Grown and learning more with every day.

You know what I think?

I think my eruption was 'tainted'. I've always wondered what I would have become if she hadn't interfered. Considering the theory of how your mind set can effect your eruption I suppose I might have become an Archangel to make my mother proud of me. It is what I wanted most at the time. But, that's not what I got. My own thirst for revenge signed a pact with dark forces that twisted and corrupted what I was meant to be into what I am.

Atonement's a bitch.

So, Preston, you want my taint... here ya go:

1. I'm dead. Clammy grayish/blue skin, jaundiced yellow eyes, blackened nails. No organ functions. Tear it out, and it grows back as the wound heals.

2. I see death. Everything around me withers and dies the longer I gaze upon it. I've seen most of you at you're oldest, and beyond. This does not work through reflective surfaces, I've never seen myself grow old and die.

3. My voice is a conduit to the netherworld. Every soul I've ever swallowed attempts to escape with each word I speak.

I don't have to eat, usually as long as I got juice in me I'm fine, I just like the taste.

Originally Posted By: Polywannacracka

Revenant...well, I think he is dead. Don't get me wrong, but that's what his medical report says, but I'm sure he must still use blood for something...

I don't have blood. My blood coagulated long ago and it doesn't flow, at all. It's now just black and kinda looks like black, chunky, spoiled milk.

At any rate, I felt like babbling... sorry to hog yer thread Preston.

Originally Posted By: Jr. Birdman

Where have all the good men gone and where are all the gods?

And fuck you for getting that song stuck in my head.

Asshole.

[Lemmy Chillmeister]

Wow. When my mom got tweaked she just kicked the shit out of me and fucked my friends (when they were "old" enough)

You win, dude.

[Mr. Crimson]

Those Terat fuckers don't even know who Darwin is, much less what he said, as they throw around "evolution" as if it was this generation's catchphrase. Mutation I'll go with, but "evolution" is the process by which mutation and natural selection transform species to make them better adapted to their environment. So if you want to call QBS "evolution" (pretty silly in its own right, as evolution is a process and not a "thing") you better have the means to prove it makes you better adapted to your environment. I think I'll rather go the rational way and say it's the combination of mutation, psychological disorder and quantum power. You may note those are three factors we are only beginning to understand, so it's normal we aren't getting too far with QBS.

[Good Alice]

Revenant how is your soap Box?

Crimson, the Teragen are well not right in many fields when it comes to science or logic. The field of evolution is still in debate today. The arrival of novas on a single day give many religions leaders to many ways to treat us as their gods,angels, diva, spirits, demon ect.. We do not know full what it means to be human,novas or if novas are not human. The debate is still here and we do not know enough to say one is right and other is wrong. I digress.

[Warren Verona]

Originally Posted By: Good Alice

Revenant how is your soap Box?

Sorry, you're gonna have to speak up, you didn't come in clear. It's hard to hear when your way down there and I'm way up here.

Then again... life has a way of telling you how things are supposed to be. If you look closely.

Yer always gonna be beneath me.

[Good Alice]

Revenant, I would never want to be as high as you. I do not want to be high enough for the hang-men's noose and not see the ground.

[Lemmy Chillmeister]

Originally Posted By: David 'Dr. Troll' Smith

Originally Posted By: "Imagineer" Meadows

Evolution into what?

I think it's more like "Evolution away from" rather than towards something.

Bah. Silly ass Utopian pig-dog.


All I know is I'm evolving into something completely badass. The colorquick skin is just a sweet bit of bio-bling.

[Roma]

Originally Posted By: David 'Dr. Troll' Smith

I think it's more like "Evolution away from" rather than towards something.

I shouldn't think running away would be useful. Are they all running away?

Originally Posted By: J. 'Polymath' Rivera

Imagineer has said she lacks it too, but It would be better to check in case the wings were part of it.

The wings are beautiful and functional. There was a smidgen of problem with tops but early morning flying in the clouds does come with a price.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Originally Posted By: "Imagineer" Meadows

I shouldn't think running away would be useful. Are they all running away?

Some are I think. They got hurt by humanity so they're turning their backs.

Originally Posted By: Lemmy Chillmeister

All I know is I'm evolving into something completely badass....

And Unique, don't forget unique. Eventually you'll be your own species.

[GDP_ST]

Speaking for myself, I prefer to call the self-controlled process I undergo 'apotheosis', rather than 'evolution'. I suppose another way to put it would be 'self-evolution', but that doesn't have the same ring to it.

Evolution is a very easy term to sling around, as Crimson notes. I think of my continued change as a growth towards Homo Novus, shedding the Human as if it were my infant stage with each conscious act of channeling 'Taint' into positive energy. QBS (A charming acronym, it sounds like a news station) is energy that is meant to be harnessed and channelled. Unfortunately doing this takes time, self-awareness and training, not to mention risk.

As to effects on myself: (other than my colour)

Humans find it hard to stand my presence for long, unless they are overwhelmed fans. My 'divine aura', as I (mostly) jokingly call it, makes me seem ever more strange: 'awesome' might be the word. They become tongue-tied and, if guilty of negative thoughts about me in the past, guilt and fear-stricken. It makes having a normal conversation with all but the most self-possessed of them difficult. I find it hard to empathise with them on anything but the most basic of levels. Thankfully, intellect takes the place of fellow-feeling and prevents my becoming a monster.

No surprise to many, but I have subconsciously (not that there is much divide between my conscious and my subconscious anymore) chosen a solar deity focus for my apotheosis. I give off solar energy in small amounts (enough that I can give those in close proximity a tan if that proximity is protracted).

My skin is tanned an even bronze color, though not unnaturally so, etched with strange swirls of gold that follow the lines of my form and glow softly.

I draw sustenance from solar energy (not my own, naturally) and I produce nimbus effects in my aura when using juice, the greater the amount used the greater the flares.

My voice is similarly inhuman, possessing a perfect baritone pitch. My hair seems golden, but is in fact light brown streaked with silver that seems gold in the light of my aura.

As I look and catalogue the changes that have taken place in Peter Nord over the last two decades, so many of them self-imposed, I wonder what the future will bring. I like this world. I like Humans, perplexing and infuriating though they may be. Just because I am not one does not mean I forget that once I was. How many of them carry the seeds of future Novas in their DNA? What other strange and wonderful branches of life might spring from them? To kill, whether they be Nova or Human, is a tragedy.

The real tragedy is that sometimes it may be necessary.

[Roma]

Originally Posted By: Procyon

The real tragedy is that sometimes it may be necessary.

Why?

[Doctor Nova Madigan]

I'd love to know why I do what I do. Giving it a name like "taint" or "quantum backlash" or the oh-so-annoying "quantum expression" doesn't get me any closer to that understanding. It only slaps a label on it.

[Mr. Crimson]

Ì call bullshit on Procyon and his apothe-fucking-osis, also called, even more stupidly "self-evolution". You're like a damn junkie, saying "I'm in control, man" and refusing to see the fucking problem. You're not in control, if you're "channelig Taint" as you like to call it, it's the equivalent of trying to build a nuclear reactor in your bath following a manual written in a language you only vaguely understand. Fuck, if you're doing Chrysalis it means you're letting yourself get sodomized by that ego-stroking fucker Mal and his bullshit "Teras Archetypes", and even then, you're lucky the only negative side effect you have is not being able to talk to the humans. The bullets have missed up until now, that doesn't mean you're dodging them.

[Matryoshka]

Crimson, do you have a better answer?

[Preston]

Mr. Crimson, if you want to ask some useful questions, or add to the discourse, please do so. If you want to rant against other novas, or other nova groups, create your own thread.

[Matryoshka]

Preston, if you think that will make him see reason. I have some Nigerian bankers you just have to talk to...

[Ptesan-Wi]

Thank you, Preston. It is often forgotten that words of wonder and hope are as, if not more, important than words of disbelief; your reminder of this truth is welcome.

[Hugin]

Originally Posted By: Mr. Crimson

A truly remarkable amount of fecal matter.

Sounds like someone has issues. Enough so that they are unable to see truth.

[Trooper]

This whole Taint thing seems kinda crappy to me. I mean, unless some of you actually choose to turn green or have glowy eyes.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

Originally Posted By: Trooper

This whole Taint thing seems kinda crappy to me. I mean, unless some of you actually choose to turn green or have glowy eyes.

Or howling at the moon mad, or Sloppy Joe.

Yeah. Stay away from the things that generate it.

[Leliel]

The rumours I have heard about Sloppy are essentially that he erupted in the....interesting state he exists in. Just a rumour though.

Procyon's rather eloquently phrased description fairly well sums up my views on quantum backlash effects.

As far as myself, my own transcendence has resulted in becoming essentially a self aware mass of (for lack of a better term) negative energy. Sort of a blacklight shadow, and it's generally not a good thing to touch me...

In the early days after I erupted, I could still appear roughly as I did as a baseline, but now I live solely as energy. Though it has made some aspects of social interaction tricky, I am happy with the way I am.

[Kultra]

Well, Sloppy Joe, Leviathan, Long and by his word Revenant erutped Tainted as it's slanged, during eruption the QBS is caused by the body rejecting, or being resistant, to the Quantum energies growing out through it.

Currently, the trascendance you so push Leliel is turning you from Human to Nova to something else entirely.

Some Novas have become tainted enough to not only change species, but change their whole family or genus. The only thing still linking them to the Homo Sapiens Novus is the fact that they have Quantum Powers, and traces of a Node.

Procyon mentions a Chrysalis, or Apotheosis, I have to admit I'm out of the loop on this one, but something that can turn Tain, and guide it? Impressive, it would be the equivalent of a baseline controlling cancer or an auto-immune diseas by meditation.

I wish to learn more of this...

[GDP_ST]

Originally Posted By: "Imagineer" Meadows

Originally Posted By: Procyon

The real tragedy is that sometimes it may be necessary.

Why?

Imagineer,

Welcome to the boards, and I am sorry to have missed your debut here.

I hope that your question was born of a genuine desire to understand the worldview of another, and not of an all-too common propensity of people to ask for the views of others just so they can point out all the flaws in that reasoning? Without meaning to be rude or dismissive, the fact that you asked the question strongly suggests to me one of three probabilities:

1: You are young and/or have yet to acquire the experiences necessary to have discovered such reasoning for yourself,

or -

2: You already have your mind made up on this particular issue, and that was a rhetorical question meant to open a debate.

or -

3: Both of the above.


If it is 2 or 3, please don't start debating this matter with me. Seek out other threads with similar content (there are lots) and read all the views there. If (and only if) you have something new to contribute after that, by all means please do so. It would be refreshing to read a new opinion on the matter if that is possible. Simple trollery is not entertaining nor enlightening though.

If you fall into category 1, then I would be happy to explain my personal feelings on the matter to you.

As I begin I would ask, however, that you bear in mind that my experiences are based on nearly two decades of strife and struggle, as a Utopian, an Elite, and as a Terat who saw themselves as fighting for Nova freedom. I have not always been right: I am not infallible. I went through emotional and mental pain as well as physical, have spent some time in reflection, have felt shame and shed tears for those deeds I have committed. The world today is not the world of a decade ago. Where once I regarded force as the first resort, I now view it as the last. To kill is always a shame on the killer in my opinion, no matter how necessary that individual views the act. If I saw such an act as unavoidable (unavoidable meaning that the consequence of hesitation would be the death of myself or someone else) then I would kill without hesitating.

As I understand it, Elites all know that if they have a high Nova kill ratio, they get higher fees. But the flipside of that is the fact that they can expect no mercy in turn, whereas an Elite with a rep for sparing opponents lives if possible would be more likely to receive clemency if defeated by another, not to mention the likelihood of an Amp Well from that ex-opponent a few weeks later.

If it had been myself that Excavator was aiming at, for instance, my response would have been as swift as Timeslip's and no less lethal. Whenever someone is prepared to use lethal force, they must be prepared to have it used against them. It is one of the brutal truths of the world in my view: Live by the sword, and you lose the right to complain if you die by it. And yes, that applies to me as well. One thing I try to avoid being is a hypocrite.

What matters to me is intent: If a Michaelite attacks me with hypercore ammunition and is unable to hurt me significantly, the argument is "Well, they couldn't hurt you, so why kill them?" My answer is simple: They intended to kill me. And if I let them live? Yes, they could be arrested, go to jail, serve a sentence for some years, survive to preach their hatred to others, and then one day they might be responsible for the killing of another Nova, or maybe a Human who accepts Novas, or a politician with progressive views regarding Novas. In the immediate face of violent fanaticism there is survival or extinction, and that is an area with no shades of gray. For the Michaelites who do not bear arms and just mouth the fear and hate-filled slogans, I have no feelings but pity and disgust. I am not going to go on a crusade to exterminate them. They can spout all the garbage they wish: Their right to free expression ends in my eyes when bullets start spraying at Novas.

Some time ago, a young lady whose peaceful heart is an inspiration to me sent me an Opmail asking me to teach her how to kill. At the time, I was shocked and, yes, a little hurt by the request. Shocked, because it was obvious to me that in her anger and pain at the time, she was close to abandoning her principles. Hurt, because I got the impression that she viewed me as some implacable engine of destruction. Whether or not that impression is true (we have not discussed it since that time) she quickly came to her senses and recanted her request, to my relief. I do not see myself as a murderer or assassin, though I'm sure some are happy to. Whilst I would be ready to teach someone to defend themselves and others, to teach the right mindset to adopt when going into battle, etc., I would not become a teacher of death. A thin line to some I don't doubt, but the distinction is readily apparent to me.

I would use lethal force to defend myself or others as my conscience dictated, but would not set out to cold-bloodedly commit murder. On the flip side, I would not back down from a situation purely because people might die: there would have to be something to be gained from such an act other than forestalling the inevitable.

To sum up, Imagineer, killing is a complicated matter. Everyone has their own views on it, and everyone's an expert until they find themselves in the crucible. I don't expect others to share my views, and do not particularly care if they do or not. I view it as a tragedy when life is lost, but I will kill if my conscience deems the act necessary.

I hope that this long-winded reply answers your question satisfactorily. If you have further questions, by all means ask them by Opmail if you do not wish to take up forum space with them.

[Trooper]

Originally Posted By: David 'Dr. Troll' Smith

Yeah. Stay away from the things that generate it.

What? Being a fucking nova?

[GDP_ST]

Oh, and Polymath, for some salve to your curiousity, please glance here...

A Brief Hysteria of Chrysalis