Delta

Delta (definition): The Greek Letter used to represent change in scientific nomenclature.

History

It is 2040, and it has been 30 years since the advent of the superman. Homo Sapiens Novus, gods spawned from men, have walked the earth for three decades, changing it irrevocably. The six million supermen in existence are the vanguard of technical development and political developments. The world has changed more in the preceding three decades than many would have thought possible.

Asia

The new superpowers on the bloc are China and India-thirty years has been a long time for Novas to erupt, creating untold opportunity. Now both countries stare at each other from their borders, amassing deterrent weapons and hoping that the deterrent systems will bring peace. The Great Wall of China has been reborn, an automated defense network of advanced drones, strategic weapons and missile defense systems, networked to sensors, controlled by a powerful computer bank directly interfaced to one of the most powerful cyberkinetic Novas, "The Guardian of the Mandate of Heaven". India has similarly fortified itself with defenses intended to make any war bloody.

America

The fallen giant that is the United States does not realize it yet. They still act as insufferably important as ever, but in the Nova age, population matters. The US's population of 380 million does not compete with the billion men and women that China, India, and the EU can drawn on as a talent pool for potential Novas. To make up for this, it has concentrated what Novas it does have into developing better human enhancement technologies, encouraging them to work themselves to the limit.

American Novas suffer significantly raised rates of Aberrant Syndrome but their development of the Olympians has been significant.

Europe

The European Union has become the third superpower of sorts, having expanded its member-state collection in the intervening decades. Making up for its somewhat smaller population with starting off with a first world basis and warm relations to the US, they were the second power to reap the fruits of the creation of the Olympians and the Superiors, invented the Psions independently,

Middle East and Africa

Things get worse. The advent of hypercombustion engines, improved materials synthesis technology, and cheap fusion have marginalized the Middle East, and with no stability to begin with the Novas were just fuel on the fire. The Middle East and Africa are almost continuously plagued by brushfire wars of various stripes that Utopia needs to intervene in. The most important polity in the Middle East and Africa is the Republic of Iran, one of the rare success stories of the region-one of the few stable, reasonably well-off nations in the region.

Supermen

Novas

Novas are powered by the quantum forces of their M-R node, capable of doing anything their mind forces them into. The most powerful of all the superhuman strains discovered or created as of yet, they are also the least stable. Aberrant Syndrome is well documented and modern medicine has not come up with a cure for it, although it can at least semi-reliably detect burnout and recommend rest and relaxation for those afflicted.

Nova eruption can be artificially induced by heavy stress but this process is risky at best and uncontrollable at worst, and often leads to Novas already suffering from extreme Aberrant Syndrome. It is rumored that the Teragen have created a method to create artificial Novas in their Antarctica base but these rumors have never been solidly substantiated.

Rules: You already know what Novas do. Chargen for Novas will be described later.

Psions

Originally developed by EU Project WINTERGREEN in the 2020s, the Psions are anti-Nova shock troops. Incapable of the raw might of the Novas, Psions are immune to Aberrant Syndrome and particularly resistant to Quantum power via the might of Psi. Capable of emulating some Nova powers, Psions are also capable of boosting their mental and social attributes to superhuman levels.

Psions require genetic susceptibility, but must be artificially induced. Unlike eruptions, awakening a Psion is a highly controllable process that is most often done in a combination of lab and military training facility. Psion technology is exclusive to the US and EU currently due to extensive and heavy security on the technical details, but it is likely that the Wintergreen process has been reverse-engineered by major powers. Psions in EU and US service generally serve in government-related roles.

Rules: Psions are Psiads and generated in the same way. Their powers are generally developed along a very narrow theme though, and they cannot break out of this theme because of the artificial induction of their awakening. A pyrokinetic psion is incapable of ever developing, say, mind altering powers because of the fixing of his paradigm via the Wintergreen process. They are, however, nicely mass-producible.

Olympians

The second artificially built posthuman phenotype, the Olympians are a US development in genetic alteration, bringing out powers akin to "movie action heroes". Olympians are luckier, more adept, and physically and mentally superior

Rules: An Olympian may not have any Mega-Attributes but starts with 2 dots in all attributes instead of 1, has an attribute maximum of 7, and can take Daredevil Knacks as in Adventure, as well as Skill Masteries.

Superiors

Superiors are often considered by the three former categories to not fit in this area. They are just humans with significant genetic tweaks to make them more capable in all respects. The first development of the Superior genome was patented in 2025 and with their advantages (and various laws encouraging their use) the first generation of Superiors has just hit maturity. Superiors do not retain the genetic markers necessary to create another posthuman phenotype, and therefore the tailored virii that turn an embryo into a Superior are only used when it is already known that the child will not possess the ability to become one of the three former categories.

Rules: Superiors start with 2 dots in physical, mental, and social attributes instead of one (maximum is 6), and 8 points of physical and mental merits (or related social merits such as Enchanting Features). They may not take any personal flaws due to their regenerative capability and the removal of many recessive genetic traits. (Obligation would be okay, but Bad Vibes/One Arm/etc would be not, as an example).