[All eras]Some lore questions

[Demigod Beast]

Some TC Aeon questions:

1. Can Psi be raised above 7 dots? Or is that more of a hard limit on how powerful subquantum powers really are?
2. Can 7 dot powers be combined? I mean, in the way normal powers can be combined by multiple psions. If all eight proxies linked, that would be some epic stuff!
3. Can biotech gain Flux diseases?
4. Non-Corrupted Aberrants, such as those inhabiting Eden. Should I use TC Aberrant, or the rules given for Aeon-Era Corrupted monstrosities? It seems to me the rules for the kind of Aberrants psions face is more intended for, to use TC Aberrant terms, Transcendence 10+ novas.
5. Aberrant Corruption ‘weakens’ Doyen just by being nearby. How should I best reflect this, in game terms? I have an idea the higher the Corruption, the harder a Doyen gets hit.

[Shepherdboi]

3. Can the Detection Mega-Edge sense subquantum, the way psions can detect Quantum (“Corruption”)?

The "-9 VANISHING" entry on page 165 of Aberrant indicates Novas cannot perceive things at the sub-quantum level.

[Demigod Beast]

Ah! Thanks!

[Shepherdboi]

Some TC Aeon questions:

1. Can Psi be raised above 7 dots? Or is that more of a hard limit on how powerful subquantum powers really are?
2. Can 7 dot powers be combined? I mean, in the way normal powers can be combined by multiple psions. If all eight proxies linked, that would be some epic stuff!
3. Can biotech gain Flux diseases?
4. Non-Corrupted Aberrants, such as those inhabiting Eden. Should I use TC Aberrant, or the rules given for Aeon-Era Corrupted monstrosities? It seems to me the rules for the kind of Aberrants psions face is more intended for, to use TC Aberrant terms, Transcendence 10+ novas.
5. Aberrant Corruption ‘weakens’ Doyen just by being nearby. How should I best reflect this, in game terms? I have an idea the higher the Corruption, the harder a Doyen gets hit.

1). Human psions cannot go above 7 while psiads cannot go above 6. If Psi 8+ is possible, it'll either be in alien species or the far future of humanity.

2). No reason why they can't. Even just a single Proxy teamed up with one or two weaker psions can produce incredible effects. I did some number crunching, and I believe a completely reasonably build for the Vitakinetic Proxy, teamed up with a Psi 4 Vitakinetic and any Teleporter, basically lets them give a huge number of people at once about 13+ scale 2 soft armor, which lets them survive practically anything short of a nuclear bomb. This could help explain how the aberrant attack on Australia was defeated.

3). Possibly.

4). The Aeon rules are meant to use for NPC antagonists and allies. For your campaign, use whichever set of rules let you most easily tell the story you want.

5). Everything tends to boil down to either increased Difficulty or added Complications. Boosting the Difficulty is easier, but Complications could include thematic consequences like lost psi points or injury conditions

[Demigod Beast]

What sort of Complications? Could Psi Dysfunction be a viable one? Yes, I know Dysfunction is caused by imbalance among an Aptitude’s Modes, but still...it could be used to represent the Doyen’s thinking becoming impaired, couldn’t it?

[Shepherdboi]

The problem with using psi dysfunction as a complication is that it makes one of your aptitudes stronger, and it seems implausible for a Doyen to get stronger due to exposure to an aberrant. Complications could include -1 (or more) to effective psi level when determining power duration, losing an additional psi point, a headache that imposes +1 Difficulty to Intellect rolls, physical disorientation that imposes +1 Difficulty to Dexterity rolls, an injury from quantum energy "poisoning" the Doyen, etc.

[Demigod Beast]

Ah, missed that bit! Ok!

Some TC Aeon questions:

1. Are Doyen still capable of reproduction, or are they doomed to slow extinction?
2. Have Doyen ships or biotech (outside the Aeon Corebook) been described? If so, where can I find it?
3. Has it ever been revealed the identity of the low-powered Aberrant in Coalition captivity?
4. Who is The Colony, in your campaigns? I do not mean canonically, I mean in actual Storyguided games. (My personal pet theory’s he’s Anibal Buendia. Eufiber could be parasitic, you know. Whether it canonically can be or not is unclear.)

Some TC Aberrant questions:

1. Considering that several Edges grant nova-tech and/or Q-tech, I take it that’s meant to represent how ubiquitous this stuff is? The idea Divis Mal has Q-tech is rather interesting, while the notion Geryon might be packing Q-tech weaponry is terrifying.

[Mateus Luz]

Ah, missed that bit! Ok!

Some TC Aeon questions:

1. Are Doyen still capable of reproduction, or are they doomed to slow extinction?
2. Have Doyen ships or biotech (outside the Aeon Corebook) been described? If so, where can I find it?
3. Has it ever been revealed the identity of the low-powered Aberrant in Coalition captivity?
4. Who is The Colony, in your campaigns? I do not mean canonically, I mean in actual Storyguided games. (My personal pet theory’s he’s Anibal Buendia. Eufiber could be parasitic, you know. Whether it canonically can be or not is unclear.)

Some TC Aberrant questions:

1. Considering that several Edges grant nova-tech and/or Q-tech, I take it that’s meant to represent how ubiquitous this stuff is? The idea Divis Mal has Q-tech is rather interesting, while the notion Geryon might be packing Q-tech weaponry is terrifying.

1. Yes and Yes. Under Alien Suns have a lot about Doyen if you want to know more.
2. Not much. As above.
3. No idea. I guess no…
4. I like the Buendias Theory, but I prefer to think on a Mega Social Nova. I may try to describe the original powers he had in my head canon.

1. I need to point that Nova Tech is also amazing and pretty powerful, specially because you can have soooo many of them… anyway, to me Nova Tech and Q Tech is absolutely common to find among Novas, uncommon among non nova specialists and rare among the rest of the population. While Coretech is pretty common all around.

[Demigod Beast]

You know, now that I think about it, Divis Mal probably used Q-tech to initiate the Nova Age. He’s old enough to have invented such things without the work of others paving the way for him. I’m pretty sure Geryon doesn’t have Q-tech, but the idea of him wielding a Q-tech powermaul is too delicious to let go by.

[Demigod Beast]

Some generic questions:

1. Can novas and psions use Inspired Science? Or is that restricted to Talents?
2. Can what Talents do be detected by either novas or psions for what it is? Or are they blind to such Gifts?

[Shepherdboi]

You know, now that I think about it, Divis Mal probably used Q-tech to initiate the Nova Age. He’s old enough to have invented such things without the work of others paving the way for him. I’m pretty sure Geryon doesn’t have Q-tech, but the idea of him wielding a Q-tech powermaul is too delicious to let go by.

Page 273 of Aberrant has artwork showing Divis Mal using a device of some sort to trigger the Nova Age. He'd apparently been working on it for decades, trying over and over again until he built one powerful enough to affect the entire world. I believe he's also responsible for causing several senior Terat members to erupt in the years before the Galatea explosion.

It isn't canon, but given that Cestus Pax was secretly a full nova rather than a stalwart before the Galatea explosion, I suspect his empowerment event was because his family's car was near wherever Divis Mal was secretly conducting quantum generator experiments at the time.

[Shepherdboi]

Some generic questions:

1. Can novas and psions use Inspired Science? Or is that restricted to Talents?
2. Can what Talents do be detected by either novas or psions for what it is? Or are they blind to such Gifts?

1). IIRC there are three broad levels of super science: tech+, weird tech, and super tech. Tech+ can be used by anyone and can be made by anyone once reverse engineered. Weird tech can be used by anyone, but can only be made by Inspired, and Inspired of the wrong type take penalties to reverse engineering. Super tech can only be used or reverse engineered by the same sort of Inspired that made the super tech.

2). I believe a tiny sidebar in Adventure! indicates it is almost impossible to detect a Talent using their powers. Mega-Mental novas may be able to notice Talents succeed a statistically improbable percent of the time, and the Clairvoyant Proxy in Aeon knows some rare individuals have unusually complex interactions with probability, but barring a specific homebrew power or Edge, I doubt novas or psions have any chance of noticing anything less blatant than Dramatic Editing, and they'd probably only notice that on a legendary success (ie. Difficulty 5).

[Bunyip]

1. Can Psi be raised above 7 dots? Or is that more of a hard limit on how powerful subquantum powers really are?

Hard cap.

2. Can 7 dot powers be combined? I mean, in the way normal powers can be combined by multiple psions. If all eight proxies linked, that would be some epic stuff!

Probably. The SG would need to do some work as I have no idea what the effects would look like, but it’d be impressive!

3. Can biotech gain Flux diseases?

Not something we’ve covered yet, but my view is yes.

4. Non-Corrupted Aberrants, such as those inhabiting Eden. Should I use TC Aberrant, or the rules given for Aeon-Era Corrupted monstrosities? It seems to me the rules for the kind of Aberrants psions face is more intended for, to use TC Aberrant terms, Transcendence 10+ novas.

What are you using them for? Player’s characters - I’d suggest adapting Aberrant’s rules. SG characters - use Aeon’s rules.

5. Aberrant Corruption ‘weakens’ Doyen just by being nearby. How should I best reflect this, in game terms? I have an idea the higher the Corruption, the harder a Doyen gets hit.

Off the top of my head, their rolls gain Complication equal to the highest Quantum rating nearby, or maybe half Quantum, rounded up. Doyen takes an Injury Condition if they fail to buy off the Complication. This won’t kill them but can disrupt them into an ‘unconscious’ state.

[Mateus Luz]

1. There are 3 leves of super science, as Shepherdboi said, the names are:
- Advanced: Anyone can create, including normal people and Assassins. That is called Core Tech in Aberrant.
- Inspired: Any Inspired (including Novas, Psions, etc) can create and anyone can use, but each inspired kind have their own inspired super science related to their powers. That is called Nova Tech in Aberrant and Inspired Biotech in Aeon. While biotech must be formated, the kind that has powers and neutrals can use is Inspired.
- Powered: Only Novas and Psions/Psiads can create and use, and only their own kind, because it interact with their powers. That is called Q-Tech in Aberrant and Powered Biotech in Aeon. This tech give the user powers, and cant be activated by themselves.

2. Like for Psi detection by Quantum its up to the SG, but the general answer is no.
- A Nova can sense other Novas, but would not be capable of differentiate Psiads and Talents from baselines.
- A Psiad can detect Novas and Psiad but cant differentiateTalents from Neutrals .
- A Talent can detect all kind of powers and identify them with the proper Gift (a Cunning gift, See the Halo or something like that, I dont have the book here).

[Mateus Luz]

Expanding on the idea of Novas x Aberrant antagonists.
If you have both books available, I suggest to use the rules in Aeon to create your adversaries, you may call them different names, but its far simpler to create powered NPCs as described in Aeon than as in Aberrant.

Not: I use Aeon rules for Nova adversaries for simplicity in Aberrant.