[All eras]Some lore questions

[RickJonzz]

Thanks all. I'm poking at doing a Planetary-style game in the Aeon era, and wanted to be sure I was connecting the dots on my conspiracy board correctly.

[Demigod Beast]

1. Is TC Assassins a full on Era? Can it be considered its own ‘corebook’? Or is it just an expansion for the central rulebook?
2. What’re the character types? Talents, I’d assume, but I’d like to know before I make my purchase?
3. Does it have information on assassins in the Nova Age?
4. Does it have lots of setting lore? Lots of new factions?

[Mateus Luz]

1. Is TC Assassins a full on Era? Can it be considered its own ‘corebook’? Or is it just an expansion for the central rulebook?
2. What’re the character types? Talents, I’d assume, but I’d like to know before I make my purchase?
3. Does it have information on assassins in the Nova Age?
4. Does it have lots of setting lore? Lots of new factions?

1. No. Its a rules/set expanssion that can be used in basically any point of the timeline with little changes, but its focused in the Core setting.
2. They are basically Talents, but they are aware of their abilities and their Masteries (basically the same as Gifts, but more focused) have a strong connection with hunting and killing people.
3. No, but it wont change much to Nova Age. Aeon and Adventure is harder to say and may work a bit different.
4. It has a lot of Factions and have a lot of lore about the world we dont see in the action stories of regular Talents. It's all about shadow and twilight, the places and games regular people stay away for their own safety, like the world of the assassins from Wanted, John Wick and Kill Bill.

[Amethyst]

1. No. Its a rules/set expanssion that can be used in basically any point of the timeline with little changes, but its focused in the Core setting.
2. They are basically Talents, but they are aware of their abilities and their Masteries (basically the same as Gifts, but more focused) have a strong connection with hunting and killing people.
3. No, but it wont change much to Nova Age. Aeon and Adventure is harder to say and may work a bit different.
4. It has a lot of Factions and have a lot of lore about the world we dont see in the action stories of regular Talents. It's all about shadow and twilight, the places and games regular people stay away for their own safety, like the world of the assassins from Wanted, John Wick and Kill Bill.

Thank you.

[Demigod Beast]

Thanks! Is it about the same size as TC Aeon and TC Aberrant?

[Mateus Luz]

It's 188 pages long, while Core is 233, Aberrant is 314 and Aeon is 385.

To be fair, it is dense in content.

[wyrdhamster]

Here's another bunch of statements that lead to a couple of questions. I'm going to leave out Aether (because I need to re-read it) and Anima (because I missed the KS and am waiting for the release to grab it). Please correct me where I'm wrong.

The statements-
(...)

From my understanding the books - you are generally correct. 😎

* Prior to Tesla, were there psiads and stalwarts? Presumably they were super-rare. There were also rare Gogs and Magogs (who, like Dracula, are not exactly novas or even Aberrant mutants, but sort of their own thing).

In my own ( maybe a bit noncanon ) take, Gogs and Magogs are general previouse takes on Inspired, before Hammersmith - so Psiads/Stalwarts/Mesmerists can ALL be Gogs and Magogs.

Also - if you look Psiads before Aether, even Hammersmith - look for the 'Mystics' of various magical traditions around the world. 😎 In my own game I just started just after Hammersmith, my players are looking in India for various Psiads and Max Mercers as literal 'avatars of Khali' - by vision from Three Prongs mystic. 😎

* Similarly, were there new (obviously super-rare) psiads and stalwarts manifesting between Adventure and Aeon?

See above, but can be also a bit more scientific with each decade goes on. Also, see our fan miniera about Psi in 1950s-70s. 😎

* Are there (also super rare) "natural" stalwarts in the Aeon era?

I assume that is the case. 🤔

[wyrdhamster]

It's all about shadow and twilight, the places and games regular people stay away for their own safety, like the world of the assassins from Wanted, John Wick and Kill Bill.

... And Assassin's Creed frenchise - 3 of 5 core Societies in TC Assassins are based loosely on AC groups. How to fan marry TC Assassins with AC games backstory - more in this topic.

[Demigod Beast]

Has anyone done stats Writeup on big characters in the Nova Age? 1e and the d20 versions are acceptable, too.

[Dataweaver]

A few nitpicks:

1. Superiors aren't stalwarts. They're an artificially imposed variant of quantum empowerment that's not as powerful as Novas, but which also lacks the tendency to mutate into something only nominally human.
2. Novas are stalwarts — or rather, stalwarts are what Novas look like under the constraints oof the Doyen Barrier. Unlike the original Adventure!, Stalwarts have, in theory and somewhat in practice, access to the full range of Quantum Powers, including such things as being able to fly and fire blasts of energy; they're just more limited in their ability to do so (for instance, the flight only lasts for a few turns). That said, stalwarts aren't immune to the mutating effects of channeling Quantum, in the form of Telluric Burnout. Dr. Primorus and Cestus Pax are Novas in the sense that they're individuals who are more powerful than your average stalwart.
3. The naturally occurring Psi-empowered come in two basic types: those with innate power, and those with innate channeling. Psiads are what you get when these coexist; Latents are what you get when there's innate channeling but not innate power. Psions are what you get when you start with a Latent and artificially stimulate their power. (That implies a third type of naturally occurring Psi-empowered individual: one with power but no channeling; it's been suggested that such individuals would have full access to all bio-tech as if they were a psion, but wouldn't have any psionic powers of their own.)
4. Mesmerists are psiads in the same way that stalwarts are Novas.
5. Squires (Æther) are daredevils (Adventure!) are Talents. The relationship between daredevils or Squires and Talents is the opposite of the relationship between stalwarts and Novas: the unique environments found in the Æther and Adventure! ages empower them, making Dramatic Editing even easier than it is in other eras.
6. Gogs and Magogs are not psiads and Novas. They are Æther-enhanced Talents. They either channel Æther through Apparatus (Gogs) or through their body, resulting in mutations (Magogs). Magogs are not Quantum-powered, despite some superficial resemblances between them and Novas.
7. Psiads and Novas can appear in any era (though in Adventure!, they manifest as stalwarts and mesmerists); but outside of Adventure!, Aberrant, and Æon (so far), they're rare.

[Demigod Beast]

Had any stalwarts survived to N-Day, would they’ve stayed stalwarts, or undergone a full eruption? Would a mesmerism upgrade to a psiad?

And what happened to Hammersmith, himself? He received more Z-waves than even Divis Mal!

[Dataweaver]

All Stalwarts that existed on N-Day Erupted.

That doesn't mean that it was necessarily a big Eruption; Dark Stars are a thing in Aberrant, after all, and a Dark Star is, essentially, a stalwart — just using the Nova rules instead of the Talent rules. So a stalwart can “Erupt” and effectively remain unchanged.

[Demigod Beast]

What do you, in your own campaigns, had happened to Hammersmith, himself? Dude was closer to the machine than anyone else, soaked up more Z-waves than Divis Mal.

[Dataweaver]

He was killed by the explosion.

[Demigod Beast]

He was killed by the explosion.

Is that canon?