Issue 2: Back at school!
The rest of the work period progressed without incident, students working (or not working) as the mood struck them. Some students were quite industrious, while others were quite slow in their efforts. All the while, Professor Positron kept on examining the work of each student eagerly.
At the end of the half hour, the temperature went down slightly, and Professor Positron stepped into the front of the classroom, to a whiteboard against the wall.
"Students, please set your projects away for now. Our suprology instructor, the Antediluvian, a most distinguished member of the super-powered community."
A hush went through the room as a man stepped in through the doorway, clothed in a long double-breasted dark blue coat, with a rather aristocratic red ascot, patterned high-waisted trousers, and fine Oxford shoes. His brow, upper jaw, and nose were all highly prominent features in his face, reflecting his supposed neanderthal background, and his dark, piercing eyes burned underneath two bushy eyebrows. His hand went up to his well-groomed beard, stroking the hairs on his chin as he looked over the room. His face, however, was disfigured, bearing serious scars under one eye leading down into the cheek.
He cut a powerful figure, and looked at each student with genuine curiosity, although many found his attention to be intimidating enough.
Several moments later, a power-point presentation went up on a screen over the whiteboard. The Antediluvian began clicking through images of several great super-heroes.
"That which we call powers does not constitute one category, students. There are, of course, many sources of power, none of them commensurate. For instance, one can receive power by various kinds of study..."
An image of Sister Salem and her husband, the Infi-Knight, went up on the screen. Both of them received their most important abilities through arcane or scientific and technological study.
"...or by meditation."
An image of the Green Tornado went up, a hero who famously earned his powers by achieving a state of inner serenity while inside the eye of a hurricane--thereby gaining the ability to end the hurricane.
"By biological advantage or genetic mutation."
Two heroes flashed on the screen, first Paragon, a hero born on another world, and then Firefly, a hero born on Earth with the ability to produce and control flame.
"Experimentation, curses, and even trauma can cause the development of powers."
First, an image of the monumental ape, Kongotron, went up on the screen. Then, an image of the legendary hero, the Astral Stranger. Finally, an image of Turbo-Boost, a former villain who developed the ability to move at incredible speeds after waking from a coma caused by a traumatic brain injury.
"And let me be the first to tell you, there's no shame in how you gain powers, in what effect they have on your body. To be changed is no reflection on your fundamental dignity."
He scanned the room before continuing his lecture, looking for something--though nobody could rightly guess what.
OOC: In your responses, please describe specifically how you react to this opinion from the Antediluvian.
As he spoke, the classroom would become gradually aware of the pitter-patter of rain drops hitting the roof and windows around the building, the sound of wind moving around outside.
"So, if so many things can cause super powers to develop, if indeed most powers differ in their fundamental nature from other powers, the question is this: what is suprology, the study of super powers?"
He paced to the other side of the whiteboard before speaking again.
"It is, simply put, the study of all abilities far outside the norm. The study of not only Carbine's hand-eye coordination, but Paragon's flight, the Jabberwocky's mystic dream power, Sister Salem's occult knowledge--even the apparent connection of Panthalassa the Sea-Sovereign or Inferna to the so-called 'god-nature' which is the source of their divine power. At the very same time, it is the study of the history of powered individuals, their lives and the historical conditions they found themselves in."
He stroked his beard.
"There are several key factors which we study before all else. First is origin, that is, the source of power. For myself, a suprologist would say I have more than one source for my abilities. In the time that I first lived more than sixty-five thousand years ago, I was killed by the fall of a meteor to the earth. Yet, the cosmic rays which that meteor gave off revived me, granting me immortality, strength, speed, and heightened intelligence. More importantly, I developed a mystical connection..."
The rain very suddenly stopped, and the wind stood still.
"...to the weather. I have since gained thousands of years of combat knowledge, as well as deep knowledge of both occult practice and scientific method--although, as a powered individual I have a particular preference for the arcane arts."
After a moment, he continued again, the rain beginning its pitter-patter anew.
"The next aspect is scope. Many powers are limited to the self, while others affect the world around the user. Some, in fact, have a grand scale. I have, for instance, gathered a storm spanning the Atlantic Sea. Another aspect is control. Although I was able to gather that storm, I was incapable of controlling the minute physics of the storm. I could not, for instance, direct a single lightning bolt to strike, although I could create the atmospheric conditions for lightning."
He put a finger to his chin as if he was thinking of an inside joke.
"Another aspect we suprologists look at is limitation. No power is unlimited. My ability to control the weather, for instance, is limited to weather here on the planet Earth. Nothing I could do will change that solid fact. There is much more to suprology than I have been able to impart here, but let me warn you: powers can be a difficult thing to get a grasp on. You may be under a misapprehension about the source of your own powers, as I once was. When I first awoke and for thousands of years after, I believed that I had been cursed by a great spirit of the sky."
He turned the power-point presentation off.
"You will also need to constantly reevaluate the various parameters of your power. As you mature, your powers may change in nature, they may become more precise, you may lose strength or speed, or you may gain in all regards. You may lose your powers, temporarily or permanently, and you might even find yourself with new powers. So, I warn you all: in our world, things may not be what they seem. Your powers, furthermore, may hold secrets that will be difficult to understand. When a great alchemist in a time long past sought to use me to develop an elixir of immortality, what he really discovered was the Anti-Life Serum."
Now at the end of his lecture, the Antediluvian wiped at his brow with a handkerchief, dabbing away the little sweat which had collected on his forehead.
Momentarily, the class ended. As the students filtered out, Sage would be the first, and perhaps the only, student to notice that Hellbinder watched as their particular class let out. Every day, Hellbinder was present to observe the students leaving Sage's class in particular.
OOC: Once you've posted your reactions to the rest of the class period, mosey on down to the new End of Session thread to do the following:
1.) Stars + wishes
(Keep in mind that our next issue is going to be the evening's events, y'all getting the opportunity to hang out and have fun before detention in the morning.)
2.) Take two end of session moves.
3.) Declare your mentor, keeping in mind that this will set you on either the super-tech track or the arcane arts track! I think most of you already made your decisions, but you'll finalize these decisions there.
This message was last edited by the GM at 11:14, Tue 30 May 2023.
