The Secret Movers and shakers

[Gideon]

Okay I had a brain-storm - or more of a seizure here.

Perhaps most folks here already knew this - sometimes miss the obvious, but I was rereading my directive book.

While reading the description of the Eclipsidol description and finishing the sentence describing exposure, "Shapeshifting novas go through wild series of bizarre transformations, energy-channeling novas fire energy beams, bolts and barrages in all directions, flying novas zoom off in random directions or out into space, etc."

Let me repeat, "or out into space"...suddenly my mind shifts to the Kashmire Conflict where KAM whitnesses the "self-destruction" of an opposing nova, who, starts to glow brightly and flies out into spaceand dies... "okay," I think, I next recall that the Directive book also just mentioned (precious chapter) that after 2010, they are considering approaching China for membership..."then China would have Directve support during the next 30 years..." I think to myself.

Peanut Gallery: Get on with it!

Okay okay, so I suddenly realized, or I should more correctly say hypothesized, that the ending of the Abberrant War was not a brain child of China (in of itself), it was a Directive opperation, combining (at LEAST) the combined covert and military efforts of China, Germany, Japan, Russia and the USA. Add this to Wycroft's bizarre death, that we are told (by blatant Aeon revisionists) was a Taint driven suicide, what if it was a Directive driven defense weapon of aerosol Eclipsidol? (to protect the bread basket from lesser aberrants) He has a Mastery level of Blight, he is forced to use his power... once again it all adds up I start to think (dangerous I know).

So now my thoughts shift to the Ulitmatum...

In the vaccuum of space Eclipsodal would become a microscopic mine-field for novas, killing any that succumed to its effects, unless they had a none power based way to survive harddened vaccuum. So most novas could not approach the nuclear platforms. Heck maybe the real threat, was that the missiles all contained Eclipsidol canisters and were going to dose a target zone right before the explosives detonate? I don't know, but if Divis was faced with expsoing himself to something that just "might" negate his power, or even worse, "force" him to expres ALL of his power ate once, he might pause to think.

[Please note that I think the introduction of Quantum Gadgeteering nixes many of the feasability of this and the Nuclear defense, any Mega-Int 4 nova couldduplicate almost any power into a device...and there you have star ships, anti-nuke devices and instant jello machines...I kno wthis has holes, but I suddenly saw interrconnections that have been missing for almost a decade!]

In closing, it inow seems possible that Mal's supposed last message to earth at the UN was a partial fabrication, used to keep the baselines back home in line. I could see two possibilities, one Mal never killed the man, or even funnier, the man he killed was a nova (publically or secretly), but that fact was "revised" to help keep the histories black & white. After all the "victors" write history.

anyway, the future thoughts are just that, but I really think that KAM's whole epiphany and refermation came about from the Directive's first use of Eclipsidol, in a combat situation. (though I guess it could have been a Kuro-Tech test run too, but I like blaming the baseline boogey men (and women), the Directive.) And thus the Reason Mercer has ignored Thetus and Utopia's mistakes is that he was actually manipulating the Directive to save humanity.

How's that for messed up? ::brick

Thank you for your time citizens. Please resume your regularly scheduled activities. (where did I put my flashy-thing??)

Gideon

[Alex Green]

RE: Wycroft's bizarre death

The first thing to realize is that Wycroft didn't have Q6. The range of the blight says Wycroft had Q8. :Gulp:

So yes, he was considered a threat. The blight effect looks remarkably like "Elemental Mastery: Taint Energies" or perhaps something in the Aberration Shapechange family. I personally like the idea of Elipsol being the cause of the his explosion.

[Nullifier]

RE: Eclipsidol In Space & Vs. Mal

First of all, if you can survive in space, you don't need to breathe, and your skin and various pores are sealed against vaccum. So the drug shouldn't have any effect on space-worthy novas in a vaccum. Second, Mal most likely has the Health enhancement for Mega-Stamina, making him completely immune.

Oh, and Alex is right. It'd take Mastery 2 and thus Quantum 8 to manage anything with the scope of the Blight.

[Alex Green]

Actually I seriously doubt Eclipsol could survive in space. Ignoring pressure & radiation for a moment (both of which are serious problems), IMHO space would be either cold enough to make it a solid or hot enough to destroy it (or both).

[Gideon]

Excellent points (and "reality" checks), the whole space thing was just mind bleating, but I must admit that I had completely missed the possible Directive impact on the "odd" aberration or nova deaths in the meta-plot and setting.

This is just unsettling, that after having the Directive book for so long I never made the cannon connections... ::brick ...and to think I have been running this game for over 6 years... just wait at this rate, there will be a moment when I reread the Aberrant Core book and realize that the destruction of the Galetea was not Mal, but by an errupting baseline who founds one of the space exploratory groups... ::tongue

Also, does anyone know if the lack of potency for Eclipsodal, was intentional - i.e. anyone who inhales or is injected automatically is effective no test, or was it an oversight?

RE Space: right, but that does open a completely different tangent, of an engineered virus that generates the substance. If this virus like anthrax can exist in a spore state, it could float in space indefinitely wiating to be tranported into a viable environment where it can begin producing the drug. Heck Medibaco <sp> is great example of what happened to Wycroft, WHAT IF he was a victim of Eclipodal-baco he tried to torch...prob not, I am thinking of making the "real" cause of the Blight a planned strike on Wycroft from a secret Directve Cell in my next trinity game and maybe introduce this as a Secret Not Ment for Human minds....

[Alex Green]

Also, does anyone know if the lack of potency for Eclipsodal, was intentional - i.e. anyone who inhales or is injected automatically is effective no test, or was it an oversight?

Considering that potency levels is *only* listed in AB:WWI and not in the APG or Core book, I lean towards oversight. It's not something that they think about.

I am thinking of making the "real" cause of the Blight a planned strike on Wycroft from a secret Directve Cell in my next trinity game and maybe introduce this as a Secret Not Ment for Human minds....

Directive screw up more likely. This is what happens when you think someone is Q7 and they are actually Q8. ::rolleyes ::wacko

RE Space:  right, but that does open a completely different tangent, of an engineered virus that generates the substance.  If this virus like anthrax can exist in a spore state, it could float in space indefinitely wiating to be tranported into a viable environment where it can begin producing the drug.

A virus can live with a single spore getting through. A drug can not.

This opens the subject to the idea of combining Eclipsol with the common cold or something similar. The problems are several fold.

1) The virus would be producing the drug in small amounts, so the q release would be gradual and less violent (this is good and bad).

2) It would last longer.

3) Nova's would become immune to it and normal Eclipsol (we already know of an "anti-body", if it stayed in the body long enough they'd adapt).