[OOC] Unlikely Heroes

[BlessedWrath]

Wilson, I'm looking over your character sheet now. As it stands, you do not have one power, like the rest of the players on this thread do. That is a requirement for character acceptance, per Kirra's original description of the character sheet. I will outline the problems I see below:

Electromagnetic Sight
-Detect Neurochemical Impulses: This is the ability which your character uses to see "the nervous system". It amounts to Detect Life Forms.

-Detect Electronics: This is a separate ability, which has literally nothing to do with the nervous system in any living being. If this was the case, every human would be able to sense the electromagnetic noise emitted by every electronic gadget in creation. "he'll be able to expand his range of 'mental sight', and be able to see around him for anything electronic or with any kind of impulse or nervous system" is two distinct, separate abilities.

-Empathy and Read Thoughts: Two more distinct, unique abilities, which have nothing to do with seeing neurochemical impulses. Seeing neurochemical impulses does not make your character a telepath. Even if this did somehow work, it would take a supercomputer to decode the information. We're talking about billions of exchanges of information per second.

At this point, your character has four distinct, separate abilities. This is in violation of the requirement that each character has only one. Speak to Kirra about what one ability you really need your character to have, and I'm sure this can be ironed out. Aside from that, however, I would suggest reeling in the tone of frustration in your posts. It will not help your case if you are not diplomatic in airing your concerns.

On a side note, the carbon fiber armor: Where did he get it? Be aware that such a unique bit of equipment will certainly draw attention and make him easily recognizable to enemies. It is also the case that TSP forces would most probably have confiscated that the instant he was black-bagged. No self-respecting agent would allow a prisoner to retain any kind of offensive or defensive equipment. That is pretty much the reason I didn't allow Sam to have any of her tools with her after the escape; she wouldn't have been allowed to keep them in the cell.

[WilsonTurner]

Dad works as a carbon fiber part manufacturer. My dad actually is a carbon fiber part manufacturer, so I know that there can be quite a bit of faulty carbon fiber pieces left over from an order, simply because it has an air bubble or something. It's not actual armor, more just decoration. If someone punched him, it wouldn't do much, but it'd just splinter if hit by a bullet or something. It's just carbon fiber plates interlocked and strapped on, really. Most of them have little air bubbles or some other imperfection that makes it faulty.

[WilsonTurner]

And it all the powers aren't individual, they are all one thing, just different uses for it: The awareness of the Nervous System. He sees everything going on, so he, with study, can be able to pick up on what a certain flash means. What a certain bolt through the brain means. Why it's all moving at a certain frequency. And I meant to take out the electronics sight, I must've passed over it.

They are not all four distinct abilities. Well, three, I didn't mean for the electronics to continue being in my app.

The three aren't different, they're just different uses from one power. He is aware and can see the nervous system, which takes in the 'detect life forms' and the mental awareness. The empathy/thought reading is because he can SEE and ISOLATE all those different things inside your head, and study them. With study, he'll understand it, provided he's talking to the person about what's going on.

[BlessedWrath]

Kirra will have final say over this. My evaluation stands as written. I cannot recommend acceptance based on what I've seen. Empathy and mind-reading carry such powerful implications that they must be separate powers. Having both as a side-effect of a third power is simply too versatile and powerful to be allowed in a one-power roleplay. For example, the power as described would not only tip off your character to a danger of being shot, but literally inform him of when to begin dodging based on the impulses from the brain to the trigger finger. Essentially, it's overpowered.

I'll try to give you an example of what I mean: Sam's ability relies on pinging technology with a psionic wave. Through the magic of induced current, she is able to exploit that effect to gain limited control over electronics only. If I were to include mechanical parts, hydraulics, or anything non-electronic in that, it would be a separate power. It's still tech manipulation, and still falls under the Technomind power, but I specifically left it out because that's not how it works.

This doesn't even cover the fact that decoding the human brain and entire nervous system in realtime is something even our best analysis technology can't do, let alone a human mind. I will cede that an impulse from the brain to a muscle group should give you information on what physical actions the person is likely to take, but expanding that into two of the most useful telepathic powers in the entire psionics spectrum is, I think, over the line. That, and you'd have about 0.000000000000001 seconds to react to such an impulse.

EDIT: I could also see limited ARA potential. Autonomic Response Analysis measures changes in the body due to stimulus. For example, heightened body temperature, galvanic skin response, etc, etc. Detecting changes in the adrenal gland could indicate stress or fear, for example. This is nothing close to mind-reading or true empathy, but is much closer to the effect you're looking for.

[ArcanicNeon]

BlessedWrath said
Kirra will have final say over this. My evaluation stands as written. I cannot recommend acceptance based on what I've seen. Empathy and mind-reading carry such powerful implications that they must be separate powers. Having both as a side-effect of a third power is simply too versatile and powerful to be allowed in a one-power roleplay. For example, the power as described would not only tip off your character to a danger of being shot, but literally inform him of when to begin dodging based on the impulses from the brain to the trigger finger. Essentially, it's overpowered. I'll try to give you an example of what I mean: Sam's ability relies on pinging technology with a psionic wave. Through the magic of induced current, she is able to exploit that effect to gain limited control over electronics only. If I were to include mechanical parts, hydraulics, or anything non-electronic in that, it would be a separate power. It's still tech manipulation, and still falls under the Technomind power, but I specifically left it out because that's not how it works.This doesn't even cover the fact that decoding the human brain and entire nervous system in is something even our best analysis technology can't do, let alone a human mind. I will cede that an impulse from the brain to a muscle group should give you information on what physical actions the person is likely to take, but expanding that into two of the most useful telepathic powers in the entire psionics spectrum is, I think, over the line. That, and you'd have about 0.000000000000001 seconds to react to such an impulse.EDIT: I could also see limited ARA potential. Autonomic Response Analysis measures changes in the body due to stimulus. For example, heightened body temperature, galvanic skin response, etc, etc. Detecting changes in the adrenal gland could indicate stress or fear, for example. This is nothing close to mind-reading or true empathy, but is much closer to the effect you're looking for.

I... Holy Shit Wrath. Did you go to MIT or something? Because HOT DAMN.

[BlessedWrath]

Not really. I did go to college for a while, but determined that it wasn't my thing. What knowledge I do have has been amassed by experience, targeted study, simple observation or by random chance. I'll get curious about a thing, look it up, theorize about what implications it might have in a science fiction story, etc, etc. The only reason I know how to pick standard pin-and-tumbler locks is because I got curious one day and looked it up.

The thing about ARA devices is that they only register changes in the human body. The whole "lie detector" thing has never been conclusively proven to be an effective or reliable technology because of the fact that stress does not only happen when a person lies. If a person worries, for example, that the truth will be perceived as a lie, that stress can trigger the machine. Again, I saw a thing I was curious about and studied it for a day.

Anyone can do it, honestly. All you need is an internet connection and an inquisitive mind.

[ArcanicNeon]

BlessedWrath said
Not really. I did go to college for a while, but determined that it wasn't my thing. What knowledge I do have has been amassed by experience, targeted study, simple observation or by random chance. I'll get curious about a thing, look it up, theorize about what implications it might have in a science fiction story, etc, etc. The only reason I know how to pick standard pin-and-tumbler locks is because I got curious one day and looked it up.The thing about ARA devices is that they only register changes in the human body. The whole "lie detector" thing has never been conclusively proven to be an effective or reliable technology because of the fact that stress does not only happen when a person lies. If a person worries, for example, that the truth will be perceived as a lie, that stress can trigger the machine. Again, I saw a thing I was curious about and studied it for a day.Anyone can do it, honestly. All you need is an internet connection and an inquisitive mind.

Oh ok! It's just your vocabulary... Just... Wow.

[BlessedWrath]

That comes from roleplaying and reading; pretty much the only two things I could do when I was younger (life story omitted). I was there for the rise and fall of AOL roleplay chatrooms, among other things. I used to do IM roleplay and such, but that's really fallen off in recent years.

[WilsonTurner]

Well, I guess I'm gonna drop out of this roleplay. It's just taking too long for a decision, and my character's possible uses are being mistaken for individual abilities when they are not.

[BlessedWrath]

That is your choice, of course. I would advise you wait for Kirra's decision, though. This roleplay has always been a slow-paced thread, because many of the participants have obligations which limit their time spent on it. She won't just ignore you; she'll make a decision when she has time. If I see her on Skype, I'll let her know you're waiting.

Short of that, there is nothing else I can do.

[Rina]

Sorry for the delay Wilson. Work picked up a bunch these past few days with a project's shipment date being moved forwards which caused me to return home pretty late to finish things up in time and have been going straight to bed after making dinner. I have tomorrow off so I don't need to worry about staying up too late so let me grab a cup of coffee and wade through everything and I'll get up my responses for both here and in the PMs sent to me.

[Rina]

First thing before getting into anything, let's not forget the first and the most important rule I have listed about following the fundamental rules of the site, especially concerning keeping things Fonz cool. A discussion, healthy debate or even maturely disagreeing with someone in a reasonable fashion is good and by all means encouraged but going beyond that and leaving Fonz territory is not tolerated here. I hope I won't have to go beyond this general warning to everyone on this matter.

Thus in the order of OOC posts submitted-

1) Ryver (as well as everyone else since there is good information here), I think we settled everything via Skype (which we really should start up a group skype for those wanting to do so, I'll form the group right now and add in anyone who wants to join if they PM me their Skype name).Once everything is settled out with Wilson's character sheet, chapter three ideas (which is on TitanPad), Reformer's base information (which BlessedWrath is leading the work on but feel free to read/ contribute via TitanPad) and getting up the next IC post I'll update the summary section (AKA the Story so Far section on page on of the OOC) but for now I think we're on the same page

2) ArcanicNeon, good question. Of course even though I know a bagillion songs, this is the time I forget nearly all of them that would fit.

Anyways until I can figure out a better song with the "you" being the Reformers



3) Wilson. Yes, I am sorry for the delay as I said in my prior post I've been busy with work and as always roleplaying will come secondary to my own health and obligations that I have and as frustrating as it is I cannot stop my job or stay up late before a long shift and have the potential of being tired at my job which precision and accuracy is vital role in my job and sleep deprivation is something I cannot have on the job.

If your decision stands at leaving, by all means feel free to do so. I rather not leave on conflicting terms but it would be a better choice instead of having bitterness seep into the roleplay as time goes on if this confliction is not fully resolved between us as well as BlessedWrath. However if you are willing to move on and continue working on your character sheet with keeping in mind of being Fonz cool, feel free to do so and continue reading. If not, I hope this is a learning experience for both of us and will help you with your roleplaying down the road.

Continueing on...

Although you've narrowed down your powers from having both electric powers and powers concerning neural impulses, I am still uncomfortable in the range your character's power has. Sure sensing living beings and seeing impulses in the brain is fine. Seeing the impulse work its way through the afferent neurons to the brain due to a stimulus or have it move out from the brain to efferent neurons is fine by me. Even seeing many impulses move from the occipital lobe to the temporal could potentially correlate(but not causate) a memory of some sort based on what a person might be seeing is okay too . Knowing what the memory is about or bits and pieces of what the memory could be or even if it is a memory(since the temporal lobe deals with more than memory and the configuration of the lobe is different in each person) is a no go.

As BlessedWrath has stated for you, each character is limited to a narrow spectrum of power that will also not collide with another character's (whether NPC or player made) ability. Your best choice if you are wanting to interpret the meaning behind impulses seen in the nervous system is going along with what BlessedWrath said with the ARA or something similar that you might be interested in so that you can detect primal behaviors concerning the flight or flight response.

You come to a choice now. You can either change your powers to fit into what is acceptable (mindreading/empathy being a no-no) or try your luck with this character in another roleplay. I've intentionally created characters weaker with the mindset of not making them greatly overpowering against normal humans as well as having to depend on each other more often during a battle. Creating the level system (what I had you do by writing down what your character is able to do at level 1,3 and 5) as well as limiting the range of ability is two such ways I've used to keep levels on the lower spectrum of things. Good luck in either way you choose.

[BlessedWrath]

I think it's your turn, Kirra. No rush. As always, if I can help, I will. I know you're busy with RL stuffs.

[Rina]

Yep I was working on it last night and will finish it up once I get home.

[ArcanicNeon]

Another goal that i want Ester to accomplish is throw the best worst puns. not just any puns, ICE PUNS.

[BlessedWrath]

You're giving me chills, Arcanic.

[ArcanicNeon]

BlessedWrath said
You're giving me chills, Arcanic.

You could say i'm

ICE COLD

(ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT.)

[Ryver et Rhine]

Morning all! Am otw to work. I shall post soon. I guess I wont have to factor in Wil's char if he is dropping out. :)

Btw would it be alright if I start some interaction with Christian, Prince of Seraphs?

[BlessedWrath]

As long as it's not Vanilla Ice, we're good.

[ArcanicNeon]

BlessedWrath said
As long as it's not Vanilla Ice, we're good.

You sure? You could be a great

Ice Ice Baby! (That was shit.)