User:MJ12 Commando

Panopticon

More Than Human

The superman has always been with us. Since time immemorial, there have been those capable of feats no human can do, leading us into the future. They always called it a bright future, a land of wonders, they have always done great deeds in the name of causes they themselves thought were noble, but what has it led us to?

It has led to a hundred million dead in the ten years of the Second World War. It has led to the situation today, where Stalin rules the USSR with an iron fist, facing down an equally unyielding NATO as apocalypse looms over the heads of all. It has led to brushfire wars all over the world, except that in many cases the soldiers have the ability to destroy towns and cause untold destruction. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and on both sides there are those who fight for what they believe is right-and in the end all they create is death. The question is not if there will be a reckoning, but when.

Faster-than-light has guaranteed that the apocalypse will not be total, though. Perhaps the survivors will realize, when apocalpyse finally happens, how foolish our course is. Or perhaps, despite being more than human, they are still all too limited by their viewpoints and beliefs.

The Supermen

There are roughly four types of superhuman, although there are significant variations in them. One of them has apparently existed since time immemorial, the Legends. The Inspired started appearing since the early 1900s, first very rarely, but now more and more often. One was created in the early 1920s, the Novas. And the last one was pioneered by the USSR in the mid-1940s, an attempt to create an artificial superman-the Remade.

Only the Remade can be truly built-a Legend is born as much as made, to become an Inspired is a subconscious choice, and although one might think that a Nova could be cloned it hasn't happened successfully yet. The clone always ends up insane and Tainted-only the most insane and suicidal will attempt it nowadays.

The Legends

-Some are born to greatness.

Legends are those who are born into greatness, a main character in some sort of inscrutable cosmic story. Their destiny is unknown to any, even to them, but they know that they will be guaranteed to be remembered. Legends are often called "magicians" but their magic is not the common perception of wand-waving. Their magic is as varied as they are, and they are as often supermen in the vein of Odysseus and Achilles as they are magicians like Merlin. Their power is not bound in their own preconceptions, it is only bound by their force of will and their destiny.

Their tradeoff however, is an inability to create. A Legend can only rehash or exaggerate-it needs that grain of truth lest it become fiction.

A human can split a wood board with a blow-a Legend can split a concrete wall.

A human can create fire with two stones and kindling-a Legend can create a conflagaration with no tools.

A human can build a wall-a Legend can summon one out of the Earth.

A human can dodge a ball-a Legend can dodge a bullet.

The Inspired

-Others achieve greatness through work.

The most human-seeming at first glance, Inspired are powered by their obsession. Their obsession in one field lets them create wonders, whether through alchemy, clockwork, electricity, atomic power, nanotechnology, or exotic spacetime manipulation. They have been responsible for many of the breakthroughs that we take for granted-fusion powerplants, cures for diseases and poisons, flying cars, superconductors-and more. They have also been responsible for the creation of doomsday devices, disassembler bombs, flying fortresses, and other weapons of death.

The Inspired's obsession is their greatest strength and their greatest weakness. An Inspired always starts obsessing about one field, but as their power grows their obsession grows, and often Inspired die of overwork, alienated from society in their waning years. A brief life burns brightly and the Inspired burn all too bright and all too brief.

An Inspired can break scientific tenets, presumably altering reality-but some of that Inspiration rubs off on their machines. This doesn't happen with all their inventions-some of them are just ahead of their time instead of physics-breaking, but the minority, like perpetual motion machines, teleporters, and FTL drives, are. These devices require an Inspired to build but not to maintain or use.

Novas

-There are those who have greatness thrust upon them.

Novas gained their superhuman ability by sheer luck. Ever since the 1921 Hammersmith Experiment which swept a wave of mutagenic radiation over the Earth, a few are born with the Mazarin-Rashoud gene, and the possibility to express it. In a time of extreme stress this gene manifests, allowing the now-erupted Nova to warp reality. Often this is used to improve their bodies and minds, but they can also create energy, manipulate minds, teleport, or other acts.

Novas are capable of incredible physical and mental feats and are possibly the most versatile of all posthumans. However, being more than human in every way they are also the most strained in relating to humanity-a Nova suffers from Taint as the body was not designed to channel the raw power of the universe, invaribly driving them away from humanity.

Although Novas may build wonders as well their wonders must conform to mundane laws of physics-they may copy the designs of the Inspired but they may not improve on them or truly understand them-no matter how intelligent. There is "novatech", but that is not technology as much as an extension of a Nova's will-it works because the Nova wants it to work and has invested some of his reality-warping power into it, little more.

Remade

-And there are those who buy greatness.

Remade are Human 2.0, created by a lab instead of human stock. Prototyped by the USSR to counteract the Axis's advantage in superhuman numbers, Remade are the most common of all posthumans. The earliest ones were genetically and chemically modified, faster, stronger, and tougher than human and threatening to German supermen when given super-science weaponry. Development of Remade has not ceased since the end of World War II and the technology has leaked, despite USSR attempts to keep it secret. Now any country with the ability to afford the equipment (and there are many) can start producing its own superhumans.

There are now dozens of varieties of Remade, ranging for the USSR Alphas to the advanced cyborg chassis that the Chinese Steel Dragons use to the Splicers becoming more and more common in the United States. As anyone willing to pay the money can become a Remade it is the easiest course of transcending human limits and some countries are debating or have enacted mandatory enhancement policies.

Most Remade conform to physical limits-only a few have been rebuilt by Inspired, allowing them nearly as much power as a "true" superman. They may be superhumanly strong-but if they try to lift a car they'll just rip the bumper off, and if they try to throw a one-ton weight they'll just go flying backwards instead. Nevertheless a cutting-edge Remade can match a weak Nova or Legend and in numbers and armed with similarly cutting-edge weaponry they are potent in their own right.