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Aberrant RPG - Aberrants. In. Spaaaaaaaaaace!


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At the very least, casinos should restrict novas to gambling against people not the house. Technically, only another nova would be a fair competition, but if some foolish baseline wants to try his luck against a superhuman, well, no skin of Vegas' back.

( admittedly, this brings to my mind an origin story, wherein a gutsy mortal gambler foolishly tries to take on a nova in a high stakes card game, and erupts halfway through. . . )

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My current group has a guy with Gambling 5 Luck 5, who is planning to promote the "Ultimate Nova Poker Championship" where the world's best poker players can line up in a competition to beat him (and a couple other novas who show up). I'm planning to make the final round all four novas ... of his opponents, one has ESP, one has Natural Empath and M-Wits 4 (no bluffing him!) and one has Math Savant and M-Int 4 (he can't stop counting cards). So it'll be interesting!

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  • 1 year later...

And just as another random tidbit, relatively recently in our campaign we had some more space-related hijinx.

Specifically, an enemy nova tried to throw one of the PCs into the sun. Mega Strength 5 + Lifter/Thrower + a successful grapple = you are heading to the sun at speeds that would make Einstein's head explode. Thankfully, the victim, Quetzlcoatl, has the ability to open Warp gates, so he could change his vector.

We then had the non-trivial challenge of figuring out how to safely retrieve somebody travelling at FTL speeds, without either splattering him or whatever he struck. . .

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And just as another random tidbit, relatively recently in our campaign we had some more space-related hijinx.

Specifically, an enemy nova tried to throw one of the PCs into the sun. Mega Strength 5 + Lifter/Thrower + a successful grapple = you are heading to the sun at speeds that would make Einstein's head explode. Thankfully, the victim, Quetzlcoatl, has the ability to open Warp gates, so he could change his vector.

We then had the non-trivial challenge of figuring out how to safely retrieve somebody travelling at FTL speeds, without either splattering him or whatever he struck. . .

::blink Wow. I guess your ST plays things fast & loose, as accelerating that poor sap to relativistic - much less FTL - velocity would require a Quantum Trait of 8+ IIRC.

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Friction only works if you have something to interact with. The problem with most our possible solutions was "it'd bleed speed, but you'd still be in space for years."

Ultimately, we used some precision aimed gates to get him on a vector that passed within a couple tens of thousands KM of Earth, and requested a favor from Minos, our resident allied Q8.

( oh, as for how he got that fast? Simple: calc the distance you can throw someone if you dump about 20 quantum all into increasing your throwing distance. Then some dramatic license to have it result in them going very very fast, rather than extremely far but bizarrely slowly. Hey, works for me. )

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Other challanges for Space-Happy PC's: Terraform an ENTIRE NEW PLANET!!! Has anyone tried this yet?

Imagine the scene; SkyDancer and Star-Jumper are a married couple who LOVE flying + space...They fly/teleport across the Galaxy for the Daetalus League. They note a New World in the classic "Goldielock's Zone" of this new star system and investigate. SkyDancer's M-Perception **** let's.her quickly confirm that this world has no life yet; because it is young,just cooled enough for it's oceans too form. Looking at the virgin world, Star-Jumper notes the two small moons are both in stable orbits around this promicing, world.Joyfully the happy couple call this world "Virgina" as it is a virgin world. Now to get back to Earth and inform their friends that they have a Good Prospect, and will want to start Terrafoming as soon as possible!

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Hermes has pondered the possibility of trying to found a New Thera after the current era ends in fire, somewhere else in the galaxy. The mechanics would be tricky, but at that point if he's still alive he can probably abuse time travel at least a little to allow for finding a place, setting it up, and then going back and fetching the new colonists before centuries have passed.

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Hermes has pondered the possibility of trying to found a New Thera after the current era ends in fire, somewhere else in the galaxy. The mechanics would be tricky, but at that point if he's still alive he can probably abuse time travel at least a little to allow for finding a place, setting it up, and then going back and fetching the new colonists before centuries have passed.

Nice! This is something that I thought might make a good campaign. After all, in the official Time Line, the Aberrant War ends with all surviving Novas being kicked off Earth. Where do they go? What do Novas like this (With Nova-Sized appitites) do for FOOD? What do they do when they get another world? Is it already sufficiently Terraformed to support a population of hungry Novas? I had an idea of the Terregen and the League working together (Before the War) to terraform AT LEAST ONE WORLD to share in the event of a "Disaster" that leaves the two groups needing a new home.

I think that the more forward-looking Novas may have the idea, after watching PU in Africa; to try it if they can.

Ideas?

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RE: Teraforming

Ya, that's a challenge. From *nothing* you'd probably need that Q10 power. Down from that you'd need to start with more and more. At Q6 you'd probably need specific powers and below that you'd need lots of tech.

A challenge is exactly the point! The kind of powers that PU Novas used in Africa, can/would be used on worlds like "Virginia". Imagine the Campaign that is centered of Terraforming such a world! E-Anima/Mastery (Stone/Earth/ECT) would be needed. As would the same for Air, and Water. I like this idea and may run it at home to see how it plays out. Challenges include:Food, Air, Water, Social/Political Issues, and physical threats like Chromatics, Tained fellows who go "Postal", and PU spies/sabateurs...I am abuzz with ideas, or maybe I'm just over-caffinated! LOL!

What do you think?

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Lots of potential, but for a world I'd think you'd need a group of Q6 types with Elemental Mastery's (or you could just make the project last centuries... or maybe you could say they're just stuck there. I.e. the war broke out or aliens attacked or something and the other side of the warp gate is down).

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Well, in my case, the inchoate plan relied on a combination of Hermes' superspeed and scientific genius, and Artemis' nature goddess powers of various types, plus time travel for cheating if necessary. Which, btw, while you want broad scale matter/element powers to change the climate, if you want to actually *make* anything, superspeed is really really helpful.

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The one time I considered terraforming a planet, it was with a Q6 nova ... whose powers were M-Int, TK, CyberK, and Holo. I determined quickly that it would take him around a century, mostly due to time building various gadgets to purify the atmosphere, adjust the axial tilt, shuffle the continents around to ensure temperature regulation ... then again, he did decide to start with Venus. ::biggrin

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The one time I considered terraforming a planet, it was with a Q6 nova ... whose powers were M-Int, TK, CyberK, and Holo. I determined quickly that it would take him around a century, mostly due to time building various gadgets to purify the atmosphere, adjust the axial tilt, shuffle the continents around to ensure temperature regulation ... then again, he did decide to start with Venus. ::biggrin

Just a question; Why just Gagets instead of fellow Novas?

Note the above Posts for ideas as to how other Novas can help. As to Axial Tilt: A porportionally correct MOON is a MUST HAVE for long-term stability! Also, the best candidates are all extra-solar. The worlds that are the best candidates for terraforming should mass between 70-130% of Earth. The mass determines the Base Gravity, as well as the Atmospheric Density, and more.

Keep in mind that planetary sciences are still in their infantcy and should be used as a guide-not as a straitjacket. Still, due thought/concideration must go into a project of such monumental scale.

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Don't forget the potential of all those near-orbit gas giants. Sure, a gas giant can't be colonized. . . but gas giants most likely have *moons*. And if the gas giant is in the green belt for its star, some of those moons might be compatible.

Don't forget that Gas-Giant's Moons are subject to HUGE tidal stresses from their parent World. This produces thermal energy INSIDE the moon! Look at Io, and Europa. The effects are there for all to see. This neans that a Gas Giant need NOT be inbside the Life Zone to have enough heat to have liquid water, and so, LIFE! See Ian Douglas' Series of SF novels (Mostly Hard SF) for a good example of an Inhabited Moon.

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True, but while you might have the temperature for life, you likely won't have the light for photosynthesis. Meaning you're more likely to find the equivalent of a deep ocean ecosystem, which is great, but not hugely useful for colonization.

OTOH, if you don't mind using artificial means to cultivate food, a hospitably temperate, but lifeless, volcanic moon may be a good candidate for colonization anyway. Sure, you can't terraform it, but depending on the atmospheric composition, its still nicer to use then, say, Venus.

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True, but while you might have the temperature for life, you likely won't have the light for photosynthesis. Meaning you're more likely to find the equivalent of a deep ocean ecosystem, which is great, but not hugely useful for colonization.

OTOH, if you don't mind using artificial means to cultivate food, a hospitably temperate, but lifeless, volcanic moon may be a good candidate for colonization anyway. Sure, you can't terraform it, but depending on the atmospheric composition, its still nicer to use then, say, Venus.

RE: Venus, pure truth. Venus is WAY too close for a colony.

Still better then Mercury though!

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Just a question; Why just Gagets instead of fellow Novas?
Sole ownership. ::biggrin

The plan was to move Venus into Earth orbit, 180 degrees opposite. Then finish purifying the atmosphere, adjust the continents and oceans, seed plant and animal life, and voila, one nova homeworld.

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You also need to reduce the amount of atmosphere. A few major collisions could do the trick, or else some mega scale matter transmutation.

Actually, if you cool Venus down, then a lot of it's atmosphere will condence into liquid form and become rain!

This should be enough to both "lose" atmosphere AND gain oceans!

However, I take issue with the choice to have the Nova Homeworld still in the same Solar System as the Baselines, because, the Baselines will eventually REACH a target that is simply in a Shadow Orbit of Earth! We can see around the Sun NOW thanks to a few sci-package machines in Solar Orbit. It may take them a few years to get a strike force ready, however, the Baselines WILL be able too reach the Altered Venus within 1 year!

An extra-solar World is FAR, FAR more secure than ANYTHING inside the Sol System!

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Extra-solar worlds require Q6 and a specific build to get to. Venus is somewhat build-able and get-to-able right now, which as PowerStar pointed out is a mixed blessing.

(Assuming this is before the war) I have doubts that baselines will be the big problem, the vast number of novas are killed by other novas.

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It would require a different diplomatic ending to the Aberrant War, basically. Instead of simply disappearing and letting the Aeon Society rewrite history as they see fit, if most of the sane novas moved to Neo Venus, they presumably would retain diplomatic contact on at least a minimal level. There would definitely still be fears and discontents, but if Neo Venus managed to go a couple decades without deciding to invade Earth. . .

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It'd be interesting to play out, if anyone wants to ST that I'd join.

Neo-Venus, in theory, allows nova malcontents to leave the Earth. This kind-of sort-of provides a pressure valve for Terats and the like. Maybe someone could talk Divis into waving a hand and doing the lion's share of the work in 2008 or so. It's grandiose enough that he might go for it.

The problem is how we avoid a nova on nova war the moment NV is settled. We've got exactly two examples of stable nova societies. Eden (Greek gods on the mountain with hoards of worshipers) and "Dictator", i.e. one god-level nova powerful enough to lord over *everyone* (Divis after NOLK and The Colony both come to mind).

Dealing with taint & Nova laws (i.e. novas passing nova laws for novas) are the big unresolved issues.

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However, I take issue with the choice to have the Nova Homeworld still in the same Solar System as the Baselines, because, the Baselines will eventually REACH a target that is simply in a Shadow Orbit of Earth! We can see around the Sun NOW thanks to a few sci-package machines in Solar Orbit. It may take them a few years to get a strike force ready, however, the Baselines WILL be able too reach the Altered Venus within 1 year!

An extra-solar World is FAR, FAR more secure than ANYTHING inside the Sol System!

The nova in question (Michal from Trans-D) 1) didn't have the skills to go to other solar systems at the time he started this, 2) still has some naive faith that novas and humans can get along, and 3) would lose part of what makes him interesting if he packed it off for another solar system and left his company behind to only keep other novas for company.

For novas of a more Utopian bent, or even Terats who follow the Promethean ideal (from the Prometheans game here on Aeon), you want to be close enough to remind baselines of your presence.

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I could see Orzaiz getting behind the Neo-Venus effort. He'd see the value. You'd definitely need to establish an actual nova legal system, though its not *that* hard. The hard bit is getting people to *obey* it, but that's where self-selection hopefully comes in.

Basically, Neo-Venus would have to be the Planet of ( Some ) Novas, not the Planet of ( All ) Novas. One of the biggest stumbling blocks would be "Baselines, yes or no?" Does Neo-Venus allow baseline residents? Saying "no" means you discourage all the novas who have baseline family from emigrating, saying "yes" opens up the nova/baseline relations can of worms again.

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If you actually have reasonable nova laws, then dealing with baseline interactions isn't a problem.

Nova law (as practiced by the Earth) shot itself in the foot right out the door way back before Geryon killed that mayor. I.e. the purpose of law isn't for society to control novas, nor is it to ensure that "things are fair" between baselines and novas.

And you pretty much *have* to have baselines in any long term society. There just aren't enough novas to both run things and make a full sized breeding stock.

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Eh, if you had a stock of at least a few hundred novas, I'd say you could form a sustainable society, provided you have sufficient technical resources to get necessary jobs down without requiring manpower. Things become a lot easier with baselines, though.

As for nova law. . . I'm thinking that maybe their best bet is to model their system on some form of relatively libertarian philosophy. Fundamental basis of society being the consensual contract, with law's purpose to enforce said contracts. One of those contracts being "no one may be subject to unlawful violence", whether they be nova or baseline. Granted, libertarianism in a new colony environment could be tricky, but meh, nova powers and science mean you have less resource crunch than otherwise anyway.

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I don't think a few hundred novas is enough over the long haul. Someone will die, he'll have needed skills. Short of genetic engineering I doubt that's enough genes.

And... I suspect strongly that if we're going to avoid taint, baselines have to do the bulk of the work.

If something happens and you get temp taint, you need to take a month or two off. *That's* the nova lifestyle. It's how you avoid taint over a period of decades/centuries. This implies that your job is such that you can take a vacation for several months... which just isn't the case for most of the novas in 2008.

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Eden novas still had various minor aberrations. But yes, it's implied that they only use their powers under uncommon circumstances, and otherwise leave the bulk of the work to baselines. In truth, that's probably what Nova Venus would have become, though laws written on the use of nova powers would actually make sense, and likely would have made baselines second class citizens.

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Eden doesn't appear to have a magic cure/wand as such... but absent such, and considering Apollo's willingness to kill aberrants because they're aberrants, IMHO it's implied that they kill novas who become too tainted. What "too tainted" means is obviously going to vary from nova to nova, but I suspect that's the underlying concept.

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Just not maxing multiple times a day would radically cut down on the taint problem, provided you are willing and able to contain the poor schmucks who just can't help accumulating taint.

Hmm, there's also the Taint Resistance merit, which implies one *can* be more resistant to taint. Long term, a world like Neo Venus would effectively select for the merit, simply on who prospers ( doesn't get killed for turning into an insane tentacle monster ). If they could figure out that this trait exists, though, they could figure out how to train or engineer for it.

*ponders whether Nature Supremacy could be used to induce the Taint Resistance merit as a trait for humans/novas. . .*

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