Aberrant: 2011 - The Coming Equinox Q&A

[Autumn Solstice]

If anyone has questions, concerns, or complaints please feel free.

[Chimera]

So, Autum/Summer creates Soma naturally due to her regeneration? Am I interpreting that correctly?

My only real complaint is that this has so far painted Utopia as completely black/evil. That's not really how I see Utopia so it's a bit of a disconnect for me. Unless, of course, this doctor guy is really working as part of Proteus.

Otherwise this has been an entertaining read.

[Autumn Solstice]

Originally Posted By: Chimera

So, Autum/Summer creates Soma naturally due to her regeneration? Am I interpreting that correctly?

No. Solstice and two other novas (who may be characters in 2009, I haven't gotten that far) have a unique genetic code. (Like some people being born immune to certain sicknesses)

Try to smell what I'm stepping in here as I explain this (I'm sometimes poor at getting my point across). I'm playing off a theory (mind you, I'm no geneticist, half of this would hold water about as well as a Star Trek ‘tech!’ script) that novas are capable of some incredible things, like regeneration. Particular cells are designed to do particular things like when a child is conceived the cells know "Okay, I'll make the kidney, you make the brain, and you Bob, make the heart". That's all those cells can do is create the type of tissue they were designed for. These cells are called unipotent cells, capable of creating only one type of cell, but may self-replicate (they are the only stem cell that may self-replicate).

My theory is that all novas who possess Regeneration are capable of much, much more. If their body required it they could take unipotent cells designed for one purpose (the heart lets say), and completely remap those cells to create another form of tissue entirely (a kidney, or a liver) if their body required it to heal grievous injuries.

This is why they heal so quickly, the body doesn't waste time in generating the specific tissue needed (closing the wound, scabbing, etc...), it rewrites the coding of the unipotent cells closest to the injury and rapidly replicates these cells to instantly heal areas that are lacking a particular tissue. The enhancement then mass-produces the cells it needs to replace the ones it used to heal the injury. All this is done at an incredible speed, of course.

In theory, the process is impossible. It's like taking a rabbit's cells and turing it into a vat grown gorilla. Re-mapping the purpose of unipotent cells in such a manner is beyond our current level of science, as far as I know. We're still limited to cloning the type of tissue the cells were originally intended for (Merrow for merrow, heart for heart, etc)

Now, obviously, when removed from the body (or the node) these particular traits would be lost. Blood taken from a nova would not just spawn another nova, right? The node assures that the cells are unstable and quickly lose thier quantum born properties.

Solstice's (and the two other novas in question) are unique in the sense that their cells are not unstable providing certain conditions are met. The Director discovered that by saturating the cells with quantum energy that they could be cultured and still remain stable, possessing the same traits they would were they still a part of the nova in question.

His trump card? SOMA. A fluid harvested from the nodes of novas to increase their own capabilities. By saturating the cells with this enzyme he was able to trick the cells into believing they had never left the body. This is one reason he's secretly got her believing that she requires it to keep her node 'stable'.

The cultures are short lived (about six hours or so) which is why Solstice's 'gene therapy' is almost daily now.

This would help science in several ways:
1. Discover and isolate where in baseline DNA the key to latency is.

2. Discover where or how to make a latent erupt with nothing more than a surgical procedure.

3. Clone a nova. Although the nova would still have to 'grow' and be educated it would be no different than the host it was grown from.

4. Determine which powers a nova would receive, or never gain at all. By tweaking this and that science could gain complete control over how a nova evolved.

5. Study the effects of quantum-saturated cells introduced into a species other than humans.

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My only real complaint is that this has so far painted Utopia as completely black/evil. That's not really how I see Utopia so it's a bit of a disconnect for me. Unless, of course, this doctor guy is really working as part of Proteus.

Okay, lets get one thing out of the way... Project Utopia is evil. They are the front for Project Proteus, and their agenda is on par with world dominance by ensuring that everyone relies on them for everything. If anything they are guilty by association since Proteus runs Utopia from behind the scenes.

However, the Director, and all is lil cohorts are in fact Proteus. The Director is involved in research (at Solstice’s expense and perhaps the two unnamed novas) that even Proteus doesn't know about (how? Because I say so).

Obviously this guy is evil to the core and his plans may well be doomed to failure, we'll see. Rest assured I'm not going to flood RPG-Post with an army of vat grown novas while the Director sits in his giant robot shaking his fist and cackling manically.

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Otherwise this has been an entertaining read.

Thanks. I was bit by the sci-fi bug and thought I’d just go nuts and torture Solstice about as much as I possibly could.

[Ravenshire]

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

This would help science in several ways:
1. Discover and isolate where in baseline DNA the key to latency is.

I thought this had already been accomplished. It’s just expensive.

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

2. Discover where or how to make a latent erupt with nothing more than a surgical procedure.

I find this thought disturbing and would vote “No” if this ever came up to a canon vote. Come on now. This is way scary a concept.

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

3. Clone a nova. Although the nova would still have to 'grow' and be educated it would be no different than the host it was grown from.

Nope. This goes against the whole “novas are each and all unique” and falls more in the province of Nova powers, or Nova Gadgetry than ‘normal’ science. A replication process should not be allowed.

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

4. Determine which powers a nova would receive, or never gain at all. By tweaking this and that science could gain complete control over how a nova evolved.

In theory, novas can gain any power and their choice of powers is more psychological than genetic. This is a major deviation from that

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

5. Study the effects of quantum-saturated cells introduced into a species other than humans.

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My only real complaint is that this has so far painted Utopia as completely black/evil. That's not really how I see Utopia so it's a bit of a disconnect for me. Unless, of course, this doctor guy is really working as part of Proteus.

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

Okay, lets get one thing out of the way... Project Utopia is evil. They are the front for Project Proteus, and their agenda is on par with world dominance by ensuring that everyone relies on them for everything. If anything they are guilty by association since Proteus runs Utopia from behind the scenes. .

Please understand that this is your interpretation of the situation and not how all of us see it. In the game, the whole “Proteus is the Cancer inside Utopia” is the purpose behind the Aberrant faction.

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

However, the Director, and all is lil cohorts are in fact Proteus. The Director is involved in research (at Solstice’s expense and perhaps the two unnamed novas) that even Proteus doesn't know about (how? Because I say so).

Thank you for that. At least he is working for the “Darkness Within” and not some rogue Utopian who has lost his freaking mind (and moral compass).

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

Obviously this guy is evil to the core and his plans may well be doomed to failure, we'll see. Rest assured I'm not going to flood RPG-Post with an army of vat grown novas while the Director sits in his giant robot shaking his fist and cackling manically.

I think his moment passed in the late 1920’s. Was is a giant robot spider?

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Otherwise this has been an entertaining read.

Thanks. I was bit by the sci-fi bug and thought I’d just go nuts and torture Solstice about as much as I possibly could.

[Autumn Solstice]

Originally Posted By: Autumn Solstice

This would help science in several ways:
1. Discover and isolate where in baseline DNA the key to latency is.
2. Discover where or how to make a latent erupt with nothing more than a surgical procedure.
3. Clone a nova. Although the nova would still have to 'grow' and be educated it would be no different than the host it was grown from.
4. Determine which powers a nova would receive, or never gain at all. By tweaking this and that science could gain complete control over how a nova evolved.
5. Study the effects of quantum-saturated cells introduced into a species other than humans.

Allow me to clarify real quick... I wasn't trying to imply that the Director has, could, would, or will in fact do any of those things listed.

They ar emerely some possible ramifications as to what this mad man could do if he were to accidently spill 'Chemical X' into one of his vats.

It's meant to be scary stuff.

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3. Clone a nova.

Nope. This goes against the whole “novas are each and all unique” and falls more in the province of Nova powers, or Nova Gadgetry than ‘normal’ science. A replication process should not be allowed.

This guy has access to Proteus grade tech and novas, he's meant to be a real schmuck that everyone is going happy to see go. The idea of him having a 'gadget' that could assist him with this process is not to far fetched, in fact it was going to be part of the next installment.

Whether or not the damn thing works... just wait and see.

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5. Study the effects of quantum-saturated cells introduced into a species other than humans.

Yeah... the hallmark of any good mad scientist... "Let's feed some to the dog... I wanna see what it'll do.

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Thank you for that. At least he is working for the “Darkness Within” and not some rogue Utopian who has lost his freaking mind (and moral compass).

Naw, I wanted the 'villian' to be just a plain sicko with resources that are meant to scare characters like 'Hero', 'Ravenshire', 'LiberTeen' and really piss of characters like 'Primal', 'Pele', and other Terats who even thoughthe guy was acting on his own, would never believe that Project Utopia isn't to blame or had a hand in it.

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I think his moment passed in the late 1920’s. Was is a giant robot spider?

Giant robots are in the Aberrant Canon Universe. Page 212 of the core book shows a nova destroying a giant robot. We accept the core book as canon so we must accept that giants robots are canon as well... with brains in thier stomachs...

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Indeed. You’ve put a good deal of thought into this and its been interesting.

Thanks.

A note about canon...

This story has the potential for me to have a lot of fun with it. Up to and including the need for a canon vote I'm sure. To be honest, that's okay. If the whole thing goes NC I'm cool with it.

What I would like to ask though is for people to understand that wit hthe power of novas and nova era science nothing I'm proposing (thus far) is too far fetched. Please save the "You can't do that! I vote no!" stuff for when I really cross the line... an I prolly will.

What do you get when you splice Summer's genes with the Leader of the Teragen's genes???

A Shopping Mal.