Aberrant 2.0 Variant Chargen

Superiors

Aeon's Project Tantalus files on the Babel Dossier suggest that much as Psions are artificial Psiads and Japan and the Colony have both managed "artificial Novas" of a sort, there may be artificial Paramorphs, or "Daredevils". These artificial variants would probably be somewhat, but not greatly, superior to the Daredevils in the 1920s-but would not match a fully powered Paramorph induced by a Hammersmith repeat. No nation has been confirmed to be running these experiments.

Superiors are built with the same rules as baselines in Step 1, but have their Transformation in Step 2 give different properties.

• Superiors may purchase any attribute or ability up to 6 after transformation. Effectively, they have Exceptional Attribute and Ability Prodigy in every field.

• Superiors gain 15 Transformation Points, spent as Nova Points, except they may purchase Heroic Knacks, which cost 2 transformation points each, or an Ability Mastery, which adds +1 to an ability which is already rated at 6. This is the only form of power they can possess. They may not purchase Body Modifications, Psi Aptitudes, or Quantum Powers.

• Superiors have a starting Inspiration of 1 which can be increased as Quantum is, up to 10. They have an Inspiration pool of (Permanent Inspiration) points. It costs 1 Transformation point to increase this pool by 3 points.

• Superiors have a Quantum rating of 0 and a Psi score of 1. Under any non-medical scans, they show up as neutral baselines.

Taint Mutants

Taint Mutants are technically not Novas, as they do not possess the M-R node. Their ability to channel Quantum is much more haphazard and limited by their initial mutation. Rather than possessing a M-R node, they possess the cells scattered in metastasizing cancerous nodules all over their body, alien biology which will eventually consume them from the inside out with power they were not designed or intended to channel. On the flipside, anyone can be induced into becoming a Taint Mutant.

These mutants are built as humans the same way as a normal Nova, but have significant restrictions on their power. When designing them post "Eruption", Taint Mutants have 10 NP (versus a full-fledged 1st Gen Nova's 45), and they start with Permanent Taint 6. Taint Mutants gain the free point of Quantum and the free points in Endurance and Resistance that all Novas gain, but may not raise their Quantum under any circumstances. In addition to their increased starting Taint, Taint mutants cannot buy powers "Tainted" for reduced cost-every power or Mega-Attribute they purchase is already Tainted. These mutants also may not buy Node or Dormancy-they have a Quantum pool of 10 which they may not expand, and may only spend up to 4 Quantum/turn.

Obviously, because of their Quantum restriction, Taint Mutants may not possess any quantum powers with a quantum minimum higher than 1. Many Taint mutants also have their physical and mental attributes greatly rearranged as their reshaping is consciously done by a Nova. Most notably, most Taint mutants have an appearance score of 0, transferring all dots of appearance into dots of additional physical attributes, and mega-intellects are exceptionally rare among Taint mutants, as the Aberrants want expendable shock troopers, rather than thinkers and planners. Taint Mutants are at the mercy of the Aberrant who created them in terms of power set-after their mutation, a sub-Aberrant may never gain new powers, even if he does improve in already-granted ones.

In theory, it would be possible to create artificially-induced "pseudo-Novas" such as this in a significantly less horrific manner as a route to transforming humanity into a posthuman existence. However, an understanding of the theory behind creating pseudo-Novas (as opposed to Taint Mutants) would require one to piece together fragments of information left behind by the defunct United States of America, the EU, Project Triton, the Teragen, and the current Aberrants.

Taint Mutants are not rendered unplayable at Taint 10+, rather their mutations become ever more obvious and they become ever more unstable. Taint Mutants with Taint above 10 are doomed to a (relatively) fast and miserable death, and are often expended on suicidal attacks against human holdings. These mutants must make a reflexive (Stamina + Resistance) roll every month, the difficulty being (Permanent Taint - 8). Failure on this roll adds +1 to permanent Taint, and botching this roll causes the mutant to die in a horrific and agonizing fashion. Liquefaction is not the worst possible outcome here.

Trinity-era Aberrants

High-Taint Eximorphs are the majority of recent (2080+) eruptions rather than the low-taint ones. With both higher Taint and lower power, these Aberrants are still more than a match for the average Psion. Low-level Trinity-era Aberrants are built on 30 NP, but gain 1 point of permanent Taint for every power or Mega-Attribute they possess (no matter the dot rating, M-Str 5 gives 1 point of Taint, just like M-Str 1), and 1 additional point of permanent Taint per point of Quantum they possess.

These Aberrants never erupt without aberrations and start with a minimum of 3 permanent Taint (including the 1 point from their automatic level of Quantum). These Aberrants are technically not limited in development, but may not start with a Quantum higher than 3 or any power rating higher than 3. They are also not rendered unplayable at Taint 10+, but simply gain more and more mutations.

Higher level high-taint eximorphs exist and can be built with any number of NP, but have the same rules for taint and aberrations.

Japanese Novas

Japanese Novas are forcibly erupted via some sort of unknown but presumably complex process. Japanese Novas are selected at birth and groomed for their role from childhood, and intensively trained, but much weaker due to a complex interplay of systems. For baseline chargen, Japanese Novas gain 20 BP and 8/6/4 attributes, plus 35 abilities + 5 specialties due to their intensive training and selection process.

• Japanese Novas have a maximum Permanent Taint of 0 and Node of 0.
• Japanese Novas cannot buy powers Tainted, and start with 35 (versus 45) NP.
• Japanese Novas may never increase a power, Mega-Attribute, or their Quantum rating above 4.
• Japanese Novas may purchase Enhancements unlike other Novas.
• Japanese Novas are automatically Taint Resistant for free. They may never take temporary Taint for power maxes or otherwise willingly gain Taint.

Colony Novas

The handful of proper Colony Novas that exist are generally built using normal rules save for a few differences. In general, Colony novas have easier access to traits such as Chrysalis and Eufiber, as well as the incredibly rare aptitude of Weaving.

• Honored Colony Novas are taught Chrysalis for Taint Management. Most of his minions do not gain this honor.
• Colony Novas start with no Taint, but at least 4 points of aberrations.
• Colony Novas gain Eufiber 1 and Weave 1 free, and purchase additional dots of Eufiber or Weave at half cost. This is both a method of surveillance and a method of protection.

Coalition Furies

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