[All eras]Some lore questions

[Demigod Beast]

Hmmm. Interesting. I like the Magogs being much more narrowly focused, but in some ways stronger than novas, and weaker in other ways. There’s a kind of symmetry, there.

Is transcending to a godlike state possible for Magogs? When novas reach Quantum 10, they become basically omnipotent, albeit no longer concerned with the pettiness of mortalkind, irregardless if they’re human or alien. Can Magogs reach a similar kind of deityhood?

[Demigod Beast]

A few more questions:
TC Aeon:
1. Is humanity the only species so far to have the potential for Inspiration, Quantum powers and Psi? I can see why the Doyen are so worried about us.
2. How many alien civilizations’re under Doyen control? The TC Aeon Corebook reveals one such species, but there must be others, right?
3. Am I correct in my assumption the Doyen were the most powerful species, til Aberrants invaded the wider galaxy? I wonder: did any Aberrants reach the Doyen homeworld?

TC Aberrant:
1. How viable is the idea that Quantum powers can have Powered Edges attached to them? Edges that modify powers? Or is this unnecessary, considering how tags work?

[Florin]

For your Aberrant question, I'd say that's what tags are for.

[literatzi]

A few more questions:
TC Aeon:
1. Is humanity the only species so far to have the potential for Inspiration, Quantum powers and Psi? I can see why the Doyen are so worried about us.
2. How many alien civilizations’re under Doyen control? The TC Aeon Corebook reveals one such species, but there must be others, right?
3. Am I correct in my assumption the Doyen were the most powerful species, til Aberrants invaded the wider galaxy? I wonder: did any Aberrants reach the Doyen homeworld?

1. Talents seem to be able to arise in any species, either in species that lack the potential for quantum or psi, or for members of the species that lack those abilities. Humans are unique in that they have the potential to manipulate quantum and psi.

2. The Qin and recently the Chromatics are the only ones we know about. The Qin aren't under Doyen control so much as the Doyen just took steps to limit the development of the Qin so they'll never ascend or become a threat.

3. Most powerful is hard to quantify. The Doyen failed to ascend and are trapped, other species that ascend are probably much much more powerful than the Doyen. The Doyen are heavily driven by fear, so any species that seems like it might possibly be a threat to them tend to get destroyed. I think they're also not fans of seeing other species ascend because it reminds them of their failure. The galaxy is huge though, and there are a limited and dwindling number of Doyen so they miss things, like the Yarrans who seemingly evolved and ascended without the Doyen interfering.

Basically, the Doyen are probably one of the most powerful if only because they tend to stomp on anyone who could be a threat, but they don't spend all their time checking every star in the galaxy for new threats so they miss things.

If Aberrants did reach the Doyen homeworld the Doyen wouldn't have noticed, none of them have been there in 200,000 years, and Aberrants probably wouldn't have known what they were seeing if they did reach it. A totally lifeless rock with ruins millions of years old, there are more interesting places to visit.

[Demigod Beast]

Well. Got both Distant Worlds and Under Alien Skies. Money extremely well spent.

I love the Listeners! They’re so adorable, yet so awesome. The Breach wasn’t what I expected. I really enjoyed reading it. The Coalition chapters in both sourcebooks were superb. And, yes, the Doyen are indeed cosmic assholes.

[literatzi]

I find the Listeners utterly charming. I love that they taught themselves how to speak human languages in advance of first contact, but can only speak at a yelling volume. Their extremely intricate political crime. How they're such an awkward fit as allies of humanity. Also I love that they come across as very cautious but in a very different way than the Qin, but not at all cowardly. You can see how their evolution shaped them, but also very good reasons to avoid galactic notice based on all the ruins of alien civilizations they've seen.

[Demigod Beast]

‘Water-stilling’ is such a neat idea.

[Firanai]

One thing that I love about the Aeon setting is how aliens are, well, Aliens. Sentient beings like us, but also completely alien in body and mind. An understanding can be reached, but there will always be a serious communications barrier due to radical differences in biology and culture.

[literatzi]

Whenever reading about the Doyen before their failed ascension I always envision shuckle from pokémon.

[Demigod Beast]

Well, the Doyen were described as “timid, paranoid and bloodthirsty”, meaning they’re cowards, trust nothing and are galaxy-level bullies, attacking only from a position of superiority. Some of their biotech is damn frightening, including what I, personally, refer to as the Asteroid Cannon, but, my view of the Doyen is that they’re pathetic. They’re cosmic cowards who strangle infant civilizations out of paranoia.

Furthermore, I feel horrible for the Gardeners....poor bastards. In my games, they’re canon, and they’re limited in their Quantum powers: no Mega-Attributes, no Mega-Edges and only Quantum powers revolving around what DC Comics refers to as “the Rot”, specifically through the medium of spores.

[literatzi]

Well, the Doyen were described as “timid, paranoid and bloodthirsty”, meaning they’re cowards, trust nothing and are galaxy-level bullies, attacking only from a position of superiority.

Yup, all traits shared by shuckle.

Some of their biotech is damn frightening, including what I, personally, refer to as the Asteroid Cannon, but, my view of the Doyen is that they’re pathetic. They’re cosmic cowards who strangle infant civilizations out of paranoia.

More seriously, someone on the forums or the discord commented that the asteroid cannon was such a cruel weapon because it would be so slow. Slow enough for the victims to see it coming, to maybe think they could stop one or two or three of them, but the Doyen sent enough to crack a planet apart. It's a weapon meant to utterly demoralize an entire species and let them stew in the knowledge of their end for months or years before it happens.

Occasionally I feel like they lean on the Doyen a little too heavily across some of the time periods, but in Aeon I really like the Doyen as villains. They're such black hats in a setting where most of your foes are shades of grey. The enormity of their crimes is so vast it's hard to comprehend, they're so hidden, and because they don't have any kind of unified front you can't really extrapolate the motives of the Doyen as a whole from any singular one of them.

[Demigod Beast]

I even love how the Doyen screwed up their own potential apotheosis, by being utter cowards and rushing where they should have strolled.

[wyrdhamster]

[Anima/Aeon] What dates, precisely, was Aberrant War?

[RickJonzz]

Canonically? Coooool. Which ones? My dream of Otha Herzog meeting Vlad Tepes might now be possible!

Now I'm imagining running a game where the first round of PCs are Mina's Monster Hunters. They totally kill Dracula. Fast forward to Adventure, where their grown kids discover that Dracula didn't die and have to totally kill Dracula for real. Repeat with Assassins, Aberrant, Anima and Aeon.

Each time, Dracula is slightly different. Each time, he's killed in a way that nobody could have survived.

In the end, we learn that when Edison tried to unwind Dracula, he just got multiple Draculas. (Draculae?) They were all from slightly different timelines and had some kind handwavy mental link, so each time one of the Draculas dies, their memories and power get passed to the remaining Dracs.

[literatzi]

[Anima/Aeon] What dates, precisely, was Aberrant War?

I don't think there is a precise start date because it wasn't really a one side vs another war at the start, just escalating incidents with novas slowly devolving into a fight for survival.

I swear I saw in one of the Aeon books the term "Aberrant Wars" used, which I'm stealing for use in my game. It better captures that it was more tons of conflicts happening, either involving or caused by aberrants. After it was all over people started using the simpler term "Aberrant War" which also comes with a simple us vs. them connotation that fit the post-war view of things. Gives me something to have historians be pedantic about.

In the Aeon Timline it notes...

2056 - After a decade of increasing nova violence and destruction, the United Nations condemns nova violence and urges member governments to create an international registry of novas. By this time, most people regard novas as inhuman threats and deadly monsters rather than as wondrously gifted humans.

So things were getting bad over the course of the 2040s and 2050s, with people generally pegging 2056 as when things kicked off.

The Anima manuscript says...

2056 - The Space Brigade, several Aberrants capable of unassisted space travel, destroy the L-5 Lagrange habitats and conquer the city of Olympus, the chief colony of Earth on Luna. Connection to the wireless OpNet satellites at the L4 and L5 Lunar Lagrange Points is severed, and the Space Brigade blocks any space- or planet-based photography from assessing the situation on the lunar surface. The moon is silent for a decade.

By the end of the year, world governments have declared a global state of emergency and issue broad declarations of war against nova-led governments and social territories. Over the coming months and years, every government will be pulled into a series of alliances, baseline against nova. The Aberrant War officially begins.

Later Anima notes the Possession Crisis started in late 2066, with the death of Backlash and the Crash occurring in February 2067, and then the Ultimatum and Exodus happening later that year.
So the war officially ends mid- to late-2067.