Meta:
Don't get me wrong, I'm all in favor of setting some Lore type precedents, but the specifics, like is it irradiating us, magically bestowing upon us or just genetically altering us via direct robotic intervention, seems a bit like semantics and could be decided by the players for their own characters.
It's like the X-men vs. Inhumans actually. Inhumans are genetically different with latent powers, but powers are activated by Terrigen mist. Mutants have latent powers that are activated by distress and sometimes dangerous exposure to varying chemicals or energies. The common point is that they are all genetically predisposed to get powers. Honestly I like that there are details, but I'm afraid that I could care less about what weird changes in their brains have been made to make these things possible.
I guess what i'm trying to say is like I don't care that their pancreas now has a secondary function that renders them effectively immortal. That might be cool for an individual player and maybe taken into account when working together on a battle or such, but it doesn't matter much on a scale more than "They have another power that renders them effectively immortal".
What I'd like is to have a clarity on where powers come from (Script's nanobots idea is cool and we could dress it up however our individual characters want maybe), I'd also like to know what's good on the meta-game side of tinkering with it all.
-Should power manipulation be off the table?
-Is any portion of "gifts" considered physical(like would the Mighty's strength fail him vs. nullifier field, or Li Zhiquan's cat eyes vs. nullifier)?
-For that matter is there any inherent weaknesses with our chosen power origin? (ie. Do our nanites all have an issue with microwave radiation?)
On some level, it is semantics. But you're right, the language we use might color our future. Power manipulation, I think, needn't be off the table. In fact, the story seems to be building more toward the GTF developing things that will grant and/or alter powers. However, to make it a good story, there will always have to be heavy risks and costs involved in developing such hardware. And so far, there always have been! You are a bunch of good writers, after all. As such, so long as we cooperate whenever a major change needs to be made, I'm sure we can keep things on the right track.
I understand that pinning down the basics of Gifts would not only make writing about Gift research easier, but also help make that plot more consistent and engaging. On the other side of the coin, Hydro is right in that not pinning it down could help keep things stable power wise and keep us from getting lost in the haunted woods of lore!
To that end, my proposed solution is a very partial pindown. The best and brightest know that the ring released both a large amount of energy and a swarm of fine particles whose presence is nearly impossible to detect. And, in turn, the GTF both understand and understood how these two elements interacted well enough to piece together remnants of the Ring (hypothesized to contain the mystery particles), "charge" it with the incredible power Faye and her team learned to harness over years of study, and create their own device.
Now, because Faye is gone and the second ring is on the bottom of the ocean, the fact that it needed pieces of the first could make the "race for the ring" an important plotline going forward (should we chose to make it into one). The GTF can't just build another one. But if they find the one they did construct, their creation could forever change the course of history once more.
I think that solution preserves the lovely ambiguity without losing the opportunities solidifying the origins grants us. But what do you think? I'm still open to any and all ideas. To better answer your other questions, Meta, the Gifts do seem to cause permanent physical changes. And nullifiers do seem to impact those changes(we established that Kane lost some of his physical strength in prison). However, it doesn't seem to completely shut them down (he was still able to break free of a straightjacket).
My thoughts are that physical Gifts' relatively permanent nature dampens the affect of nullifiers somewhat. In other words, it takes time to reverse the extreme physical changes people's Gifts have forced them to undergo. However, an immediate affect is noticeable. For example, The Mighty might not lose all his strength when in the presence of a null field. However, it will begin to fade fast! Over time, his muscles would probably decay and return back to their normal state. Just the same, Li Zhiquan's eyes would almost immediately lose their night vision, then lose their ability to see at all. And eventually, his eyes would return to normal. This may lend credence to the thought that Gifts are some sort of reality warping, like Hydro suggested. However, I think that we can still leave it ambiguous.
Additionally, I don't think an inherent weakness (besides the known nullifier technology) is really needed. If it is tech, it would probably be shielded somehow. If it is mental reality warping, well, messing with someone's mind already affects how they use their powers.
Lastly, Autumn, Gift-copying does seem to produce different results than Gift-stealing. I think that is a great detail that could reveal to our characters that the person granted the Gift affects the Gift as much as it affects them.
So again I ask, how does all of this sound to you players? I'm more than happy to listen to the people who've made this thing we have going really great.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:00, Mon 10 Apr 2017.
