Aberrant 2.0: IDOLNOV@

The year is 2027. It is a time of great innovation. It is also a time of chaos and conspiracy. Guys with shiny black robot arms and floral-print trenchcoats stalk the world hunting for evidence of grand overarching conspiracies which have controlled the world for decades.

Which is completely irrelevant for you, because you're not fighting for the ancient chessmasters of Aeon, nor fighting to make your voice heard as one of the Aberrants, nor working with one of the PMCs out there, nor even fighting for Nova independence as a Terat. No, you're a young, up-and-coming nova with ambitions and a semi-promising resume, found by the latest N! show, IDOLNOV@, an experiment to directly capitalize on the popularity of these incredible superhumans.

Background

The World of 2027

A Bright Future

2027 is a year of nigh-unbridled optimism, tainted with dark things lurking in the alleys. Standard of living inequality is the lowest it's been since just about anyone can remember. Nations considered to have long been worthless hangers-on to the global community are finding their feet and their voice, while the problems that plagued humanity merely two decades ago-peak oil, global warming, ecological disasters, seem all in the distant past. The Earth is becoming ever more habitable, extinct species are being reintroduced, biodiversity is up, and even as industry expands, its total emissions are going down due to more environmentally friendly and efficient technology.

Yet for all that novas have done, there is a dark shadow that the bright light has made even more difficult to ignore. The structural problems that led to the crises are still existent. Investors still play risky shell games, corporations still try to maximize profit margins and to hell with everything else, crime still exists, dictators still oppress random countries, the US is still invading people for poorly-thought out reasons, etc.

The Singularity

A few decades ago, a visionary named Ray Kurzweil defined the concept of the 'singularity', where it would be impossible to predict the technological development of the future and where strongly superhuman intellects would rule. This is the Singularity, and humanity is caught up in the midst of it. Concepts thought to be science fiction, or even science fantasy have rapidly become commonplace, or at least extant. Even further out-there concepts have been shown off, gadgets which have no place in a rational scientific world and make more sense in fantasy.

Theory is often advancing at a rate so fast the limit of what technology trickles down to the common man is market saturation and the fact that novas commonly invent systems so complex the tools to the tools to the tools to make the systems do not exist.

Novas in 2027

There are approximately 36,000 confirmed Novas given various UN census surveys, with possibly up to 2 or 3 thousand more unconfirmed due to living and only acting in remote areas. There are a further 128,000 'probables', people whose abilities are extremely implausible yet do not show high-end superhuman feats (for example, having multiple Ph. Ds and having played professional sports by the age of 25 is just implausible, not impossible). Almost all of these probables are actually Novas, given the implausibility of such performance arising from mere environmental and genetic factors, but none of them can be confirmed without lab time, and as their 'eruptions' are so subtle, they rarely report into Rashoud facilities.

UN Response Code Scaling

The UN Response Codes are used by all UN and NATO forces to delineate the potential power of a hostile nova, and the ideal response. They are also used by N! commentators and Novaphiles to discuss the power level of their favorite novas and who could beat up whom, a hobby which will never stop as long as there are people on the internet. These will eventually be replaced by the Aeon Prime/Alpha/Beta/Gamma/Delta/Epsilon/Zeta/Eta scale around 2060, if the Aberrant War still happens.

GODLIKE: Highest Response Code, used for novas whose abilities are potentially natural-disaster level in scale. As of 2027, only 2 dozen novas are classified under Response Code GODLIKE, with Antaeus, Caestus Pax, Divis Mal, and the sand and rock manipulator Mashala "Harmattan" Kader the most commonly known ones.

Nova Employment

Being a Nova is generally a quick method of achieving employment. Governments and Utopia want just about any nova under their thumb, and provide six figure salaries, excellent benefits packages, and more often than not significant benefits and stipends to even family members, for the weakest of true novas. The majority of novas find employment by one of many governments (~38%) or in Utopia (~22%), while the remaining 40% tend to freelance.

Characters

Ragna Luchs (Shrike)
Rin Yamato (Peel)
Aine (Exhack)
Alex Vincent (Starlet) (Norse)
Yayoi Sakubou (Mal)

Other Stuff

Free Flaws

Because I hate you and everything you stand for, have a 'free' flaw. Well, okay, you can take the BP from it and just buy it off.

Noncombatant (7 points): The character lacks the combination of experience, willpower, and ability to dehumanize the enemy and detach him or herself from the situation to be an effective combatant. Although the character may have the raw skill, he or she lacks the bloody-mindedness needed to put that skill to use. In nonlethal fighting such as cage matches, friendly sparring, and even the occasional bar brawl, the character suffers no penalties, however when fighting in a situation where death may be a serious concern (either inflicting or receiving the condition):

The character must pay 1 WP to make an attack that is potentially lethal (as a rule of thumb, any attack that deals more than 2L damage is considered 'potentially lethal', as are any attacks which deal more than 15B damage) and all such attacks are made at +1 difficulty. If the character fails an attack roll with a lethal attack, the character is considered to have automatically botched. Generally this involves dropping the weapon or losing the turn.

Killing people is wrong! If the character successfully incapacitates a person with lethal or aggravated damage, he or she must roll temporary Willpower. Each success allows the character to retain 1 Willpower point.

Being shot at is scary! The character, if attacked by gunfire or other loud, dangerous weapons, must pay 1 WP or abort to full defense, sprinting for the nearest cover.

When wounded, the character may go into shock, curl up into a ball, or otherwise be incapable of acting. Double all wound penalties from lethal damage. Characters wounded at -1 or below from lethal damage must pay WP to ignore wound penalties if they wish to act.

The character is easily intimidated by lethal implements. Add 2 automatic successes to Intimidation rolls against the character if wielding one.

Note that these penalties are only in lethal combat situations, such as facing down goons with guns, and don't apply to bar brawls, fistfights, and other situations where the fighting is less likely to lead to lethal results.