GM Details

GM Page

Main Page

Some extra rules I found useful.

Control Rating

But he was unmoved, and cried: "If I am mad, it is mercy! May the gods pity the man who in his callousness can remain sane to the hideous end!"
-- H.P. Lovecraft, "The Temple"

Taint is actually a measure of how much the symbiont has interfaced with the human. Of course, in many cases this damages or warps the human beyond recognition. A very tainted nova is a nova who is becoming a tool for the symbionts.

Each nova has a control rating, starting as (Taint + wave^2 + 1D10 – 6)/2. This represents how well the Symbiont understands and can control the nova. It is a dice pool that can be used in an opposed roll against the Willpower of the nova when the symbiont wants to control the actions of the nova.

Wave: 1 for first wave, 2 for second and third, 3 for fourth and 4 for fifth wave novas.

Taint resistance corresponds to a mind less amenable to control.

Assassination Risk

A publicly known nova has an assassination/violence attempt risk of 2% per game session. If an NPC, it is 10% chance that they will be killed or seriously hurt if their number comes up; PCs get to role-play dealing with their assassination attempts.

Novas

Children of nova mothers are themselves novas, children of nova fathers are just ordinary children.

   

Nova Points

First wave

Weak novas, erupting 98-02

15

Second wave

“Ordinary” novas, the big peak of 03.

30

Third wave

As strong as second wave (actually just some tweaking of the second wave design while evaluating the second wave) 03-05

30

Fourth wave

Significantly stronger, symbionts doing active testing 05-

60

Fifth wave

Has all powers and attributes; run by their symbionts. ?

120

The Entities

The Entities will not appear directly in the series; they are not directly involved in the Earth project and presumably busy with more important things. They do not interact with the brane.

Symbionts

The Symbionts are themselves not intelligent, but act as nodes in a distributed network that implements a group intelligence. It includes not just the symbionts attached to novas but also other parts distributed around the brane near Earth. They get most of their processing power and intelligence from novas.

The symbiont is the real node of the nova, interfacing between the person and trans-brane powers. It does keep track of what the nova is doing and especially how it is using its powers. It does not judge, just observe. These observations are then compiled and used to improve the overall program. The combined symbiont AI takes action based on simple comparisons between results and the big plan; while in some respects amazingly flexible and intelligent, it is also rather rigid and stupid in others. They are not very good at understanding when humans conspire against them, but defend themselves (with their full powers) when attacked by the Dwellers.

The symbionts do not have any real stats. They can be damaged using advanced quantum powers such as Quantum supremacy, but regenerate fairly quickly unless they are totally destroyed (in which case the nova permanently loses their superhumanity). They can in principle impose any mega-stat, nova power and level of quantum on their nova, but usually do that only as part of the nova development program.

Symbionts do not have any appearance within the brane, but are what is perceived by quantum perception.

Investigator(s)

The Investigator acts as a nova with access to all quantum powers and mega attributes up to 5, quantum 10 (quantum pool 40+). This is similar to a powerful fifth wave nova. Often it/they divide using Cloning into a number of independent investigators in telepathic contact.

The Investigator looks like a complex branching field of plasma, not unlike a gigantic spider stretching out towards the sky. It mostly appears when it is surrounded by plasma – fires, electromagnetic discharges and northern lights. Usually it employs some form of invisibility and density control in order not to be visible or vulnerable.

The Investigators communicate by downloading mental structures directly into the consciousness of the one they are communicating with. To a human it would be as if suddenly having memories of events that did not exist, or involved sensory modalities and dimensions humans never experience (a four-dimensional view of the solar system, with everything colour by neutrino spectrum). At first they are entirely unable to communicate with humans because the gulf of nervous system structure is so great, but after they have analysed a few humans (usually destructively) and scanned enough nova brains they begin to be able to haltingly communicate using memories and memory-parts stolen from other humans. Being non-individual they have no true concept of lies; rather than lie they withhold information.