User:MJ12 Commando
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 is only bound by their force of will, their beliefs, 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.
Technology
The appearance of the Inspired in the early years of the 20th century did much to leapfrog technological advancement. New theories and improvements were hitting maturity right as people had adjusted to the old generation. The oldest remember how impressed they were with radio-but merely a decade and a half after its invention television was introduced, and color television soon after that. Those who have grown up with posthumans have gotten used to near-continuous culture shock, as new and superior inventions were introduced at a breakneck pace.
In peace and in war, technology has advanced as fast as there were Inspired to take it to new heights, civilian and military both. World War II was fought with stealth fighters and cluster bombs, and ended with the nuclear annihilation of several cities in Britain, Japan, and Germany. World War III, when it will be fought, will be fought with antimatter bombs, fusion-powered warships, and high-energy weapons.
Although advancements can be built by Novas and Inspired alike, the ones Novas create are either extensions of their will or perfectly possible under mundane laws of physics. The inventions of the Inspired defy physics and cannot be reproduced without another Inspired at least managing the process-but nevertheless can do wonderful things. Despite the obvious power of atomic rayguns, nanite disassemblers, energy shields, and one-man warships, there are often significant needs for material which can be mass produced cheaply and easily and issued in bulk numbers.
Superscience
Although wondrous devices can be constructed without any violation of the laws of physics, superscience is still valuable for what the posthuman mind can accomplish without being bound to the laws of physics. Those who are Inspired can create wonders which should not function-clockwork golems with the ability to reason and think, powered only by windup springs, faster than light drives, teleporters and resurrection machines-wonders that could only have been dreamed about without the crafting hand of the Inspired.
Static Superscience
The most common method of creating technological wonders, static superscience conforms to the laws of physics, although it is almost always far more advanced than it has any right to be, or use principles of physics which although real are essentially impossible to apply without the hand and mind of the Inspired. Antimatter battery-powered railguns, strong AI, and even the occasional reactionless drive. The lowest examples of static superscience and the most cutting-edge prototypes of human origin blend together, but the greatest are still wondrous in their own right.
Dynamic Superscience
The true draw of the Inspired is, however, the ability to break physics completely, instead of merely playing with its quirks or what is theoretically possible but implausible. Faster-than-light teleportation, direct temporal manipulation, resurrecting the dead, energy shields, pocket dimensions, and more are the realm of dynamic superscience, which is often as magical as the powers of the Legends. Rarer, far more difficult to create, and requiring both skill, inspiration, and an excessive amount of obsession, the rare machines which fall under this category are much-prized for their power.
Novatech
Novas themselves can create and invest machinery with their reality-altering characteristics, giving it some of the character of superscience. The Nova's own power is the relevant factor here-the investment of that power is what makes the machine work, not anything inside. A Nova who fancies himself a magician may build a magic wand, carving it with arcane runes for nights on end, while another one may construct a multi-ton industrial device for the same purpose of transmuting matter. Either way, the machine functions, as the internals are not as important as the Nova's will and the Nova's intent.