IS YOUR CHILD A USER? 

No longer just sleight of hand or careful misdirection, magic has proven itself
to be very real and manifesting itself in our children. 

-- Taken from a newspaper dated October 4th, 2009 

You are awakened. The scientists refer to you as metahumans. Humanity prefers to
call you demihumans, as they consider you below them and only a danger to
yourself and others. Because of your abilities you were separated from your
parents at birth. They sent you to a high security facility where you every
movement is tracked and watched. Technology has been implemented to repress your
abilities and to keep you from being a danger to yourself and others. This is
not the worst thing that can happen to you. 

The important thing to remember is that your numbers are growing. Metahumans now
number in the tens of thousands. Every day it becomes harder and harder to sweep
them under the rug. The cost of keeping and maintaining their population in
these separate and secure facilities is ever growing and the UoN government
knows it needs to do something soon to change things. 

Thus, they decided to train you. As member of the Union of Nations military your
job will be to seek out and capture unregistered metahumans before they can pose
a threat to humanity at large. You will be the first unit of your kind and your
entire new subclass of humanity depends on you. No pressure though. 

Metahumans are capable of manifesting a wide range of abilities. The process
where one first manifests these abilities is called the awakening. Sometimes it
happens right from birth and others at puberty. For some it never happens, and
occasionally only after a life-changing ordeal. 

Because of their unique biology, metahumans are able to be detected at birth
with the use of specialized field scanning equipment now in use in most
hospitals. It is considered a crime to try and prevent your child from being
scanned or interfering with the scan in anyway. All births are required to be
registered so as to prevent any possible awakened children from posing a threat
to those around them. 

Of course mistakes are known to happen. 

Made-up Pseudoscience and You: 

Meitons- 

Particles unique to the biology of metahumans. Their cells radiate a field of
energy on a unique spectrum capable of being detected on specialized scanners.
All ability repressive technology works off these fields, modifying them and
rendering them inactive. The strength and complexity of the fields varies from
person to person. It is believed that the meitons themselves may be harvested
and modified to create exciting new technologies. Right now, this is all mostly
theoretical, of course. 

Negation fields- 

Generated by amplifying genetically modified awakened DNA that suppresses
magical abilities, preventing their manifestation and use. Early devices
generated a large field in which awakened beings were kept inside of.
Technological improvements saw the creation of collars designed to fit around
the necks of all awakened captives allowing a greater area of movement as well
as increasing the ability to track and record movements. Weaker versions of
these fields are used in the awakened detection process. 

Auras- 

Every single living thing has a specific aura unique only to itself. Only a
select few awakened seem to be able to detect auras however. It can be used as a
form of identification more accurate than a fingerprint or blood test. Even
twins have noticeably different signatures. Technology to detect them so far has
been unsuccessful. 

How it all works- 

So far no one has really been able to explain everything. Dr. Thomas Shepard,
the leading researcher in his field, and the one overseeing the main Olympus
facility, has come the closest to creating an all inclusive theory but many
things are still unexplained. It is know that the meitons are controlled by
previously unused part of the brain somewhere near the subconscious. It has been
proven that with careful practice and study, most metahumans can be taught to
control when, where, and with what force their abilities manifest. 

It is with this idea in mind that the characters are being trained to work with
the military as soldiers. Hopes are that when they gain sufficient control of
their powers they can be useful in combating rogue metahumans and reducing the
loss of life involved in such missions. 

Character types: 

Themes are the main things I'm looking for and they can be as generic or
specific as you feel necessary. You're allowed to follow any archetype you like,
pending GM approval. Don’t feel like you necessarily have to fit into just one
particular category or another. Most of these are just in-game military-type
terms. Mix and match as much as you like. 

Biological Adaptations (Bio-ad)- 

Those possessing speed/strength/intelligence etc that surpasses human limits.
They don't really manifest powers of any kind. Their abilities are considered to
be always on, although the negation fields do weaken them back down to human
limits. 

Biological Transformations (bio-form)- 

Like the bio-ads, these also possess greater attributes than humans, however to
attain these abilities they transform all or parts of their body into a more
magical form. Like a werewolf or what have you, the transformed state contains
its own strengths and weaknesses separate from the base state. The negation
fields generally repress transformation and can limit abilities in the base
state as well. 

Elemental Manipulators (ele-man)- 

This group of awakened control one or more specific element. Whether able to
simply control or actually manifest their element, these are the main base of
manifestation based awakened and represent the majority of the awakened
population. Their use in dealing with matters involved in their nature could
prove to be beneficial to all involved. 

Physical Manifestors (phys-man)- 

This is the group of awakened who are able to create objects and illusions from
seemingly nothing. They use their own energy to manifest items and images that
exist for the time their will exerts itself over them. They are the group least
understood by modern science as they seem to defy the laws of physics at least
for a brief period of time. 

Mental Communicators (men-com)- 

Those who are able to read and possibly transmit information beyond the use of
the basic 5 senses. Able to read the thoughts of others and in some cases
manipulate those thoughts, delete memories, and/or influence decision making
processes of a will or even unwilling being. They are by far the biggest threat
to security and the peace of the world. Use of extreme caution is advised when
in the presence of such individuals as your very thoughts may not be your own. 

Precognators (precog)- 

By far the smallest subset of awakened beings, those able to predict future
events without external stimuli. Variations on the this include those able to
remotely view areas beyond the means of their natural senses or the ability to
see past events they did not personally witness at the time of occurrence. These
are considered to be much less of a threat than any other group and possibly
extremely useful in several fields. Their abilities are also the least
explainable. 

Olympus Island- 

A government run facility housing and maintaining the majority of the registered
metahuman population. Awakened is the generally accepted term here for the
inhabitants as peaceful coexistence is the philosophy with which Dr. Thomas
Shepard runs the facility. It is the largest of its kind. The island itself lies
in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of northern Africa. 

The majority of the island is dominated by the facility with docks on the east
side and some small farms on the north end. The facility itself is a large
circle with three large equidistance sections connecting the center to the outer
ring. Each section is dedicated to a specific field. 

The southern section is housing and bases of operations for the military
personal that guard the facility and maintain the peace within. Nathan Ironside
is the supervising General who answers directly to the UoN. Below him are the
Police, Security and Defense branches. 

The Police are in charge of policing the awakened population and have the most
direct interaction with them, preventing fights or any other violence from
breaking out. Each member carries with him a controller which may activate the
collars at any time should the need arise. 

Security protects the labs and military stations as well as running all of the
monitoring systems throughout the base. Although privacy is respected, almost no
part of the base is left unwatched. Each individual collar is fitted with a
tracking device so the location of all awakened personnel is known at all times.
Most of the time they are seen standing around telling you you can’t enter
restricted parts of the facility. 

Defense is largely unused and thus receives the smallest budget. It’s there to
protect the facility from any possible external threats. They patrol the coasts
and surrounding waters for intruders who may be trying to harm or misguidedly
free the protected residents. At their disposal is a state of the art satellite
defense network and it is indeed rare for anything to pass anywhere near the
island without their knowledge well in advance. 

The north eastern section is housing for the awakened residents. More housing
also exists along the outer ring as well as areas for schooling and cafeterias
for dining. Over 5000 awakened are housed at this particular facility and is by
far the largest of its kind as well as the most state of the art. Cleanliness is
an important part of life on the island and cleaning bots patrol the hallways
gathering any sort of refuse. Defacement of property is of course largely
frowned upon. If an individual is caught trying to mark up the public portions
of the facility they will be detained for a period of time based on the severity
of their crime. 

The northwestern section is for research and development. For the most part
awakened are strictly forbidden from entering this section. Only those
specifically called upon for testing are allowed in under careful supervision.
For the most part only rumors exist amongst them as to what really goes on in
this area. It is a punishable offense for the scientists to disclose any such
information. But this is also the same area where the fields and the collars
were created, so how bad could it be? 

Between the main sections are also courtyards for more outdoor activities. The
northern area has courts for sports and other games as well as more practical
things like shooting ranges. The south western one is run largely by the science
section for the testing of various new weapons and technology in development. 

The south eastern courtyard is run mainly by the awakened population itself.
Here they have set up a market of sorts where items received from the mainland
are vended and traded for food rations or activity passes or even for assigned
timeslots for jobs. The awakened are allowed to hold jobs cleaning, cooking or
acting as low level security. 

With the installation of an education system for them to participate in, the
list of jobs increases as they can receive medical training, business, arts,
officer training and other various fields overseen and approved by the UoN. The
newest program teaches basic combat and also aids the awakened in mastering
their various abilities. This is the program all of the PCs will have been
enrolled in. It is hoped that when they finish their education they might be
able to provide their own policing and security thus freeing up resources to be
redirected in other fields. 

The central section houses most of the security systems with the upper sections
dedicated to the top personal in all departments. Offices and living spaces for
them are located here as well as meeting rooms and the main bridge that oversees
everything. At the very top sits the residence of Dr. Thomas Shepard. 

Religion: 

The Faith of the New Dawn- A belief based on the idea that the awakened
abilities are gifts meant to be used for the betterment of mankind. Although not
entirely organized, this philosophy is steadily spreading throughout the
population of the various facilities’ inhabitants. Often times local religions
are adapted to include this belief structure, i.e. God has chosen those he deems
worthy to have such gifts or this is a karmic reward. 

As for the source of the abilities, it is widely believed that all magic stems
from the same source, the mana of the earth itself. It's a flow of energy that
connects all existence in one elaborate tapestry. Awakened are said to tap into
this power and use it to change the natural world around them in their own
particular ways. It is not defying nature or going against it in anyway, but a
natural evolution of the species, bringing them one step closer to their maker
and his/her/it’s/their perfection. 

Timeline: 

1998 - A man going by the name Black Phoenix organizes a break from a maximum
security prison. All that’s left behind is corpses and odd symbols and items
used in dark rituals. Later investigation shows that he had gained a cult
following and somehow his follows gained incredible powers that defied natural
science. Going by the name The Cult of Lost Souls, they killed all those who
refused to join the cult in a bizarre and ritualistic manner. 

1999 - Authorities track The Cult of Lost Souls across three states to where it
had grown to over 100 members. What followed was the longest, bloodiest gun
battles in recorded history. The police are unable to advance any ground as the
powers of the cult make it impossible. The military is forced to intervene. 

Jan. 1, 2000 - The residence is fire bombed. Not a single member of the cult
survives. 

March 15th, 2005 - 'The First Child' incident - 5 year old Robert Fisher
destroys his home, killing his family. 

2006-2012 - A small percentage of children born after the year 2000 begin to
manifest strange abilities beyond their control. Numerous incidents of death and
destruction fill the news. No one is able to explain where they children gained
such abilities. Thousands of lives are lost as the incidents get increasingly
worse. 

Sept. 4, 2012 - Child Protection Act signed in the US. Children shown to be
manifesting any sort of strange abilities are classified as Metahumans and put
into stasis until a more effective manner of dealing with them is discovered.
The death toll finally begins to taper off. Other nations are hesitant to
support this move however. Various means of imprisonment/isolation are attempted
with varying degrees of success.

Situations escalate between nations, resulting in a new Cold War, this time
between the US and the European Alliance. China refuses to get involved,
deciding instead to isolate itself from the rest of the world and deal with the
new magics in its own way. 

Isolated locations such as islands and walled off facilities housing imprisoned
awakened become the new fad. By far the largest such facility was the original
UN/US co-funded one in an undisclosed location in the Atlantic. Olympus as it
had been codenamed by the lead scientist in charge of research, Thomas Shepard. 

While the US was the first to begin isolating the awakened in such ways, their
methods for gathering them were mostly passive. Several advances in magilogy
(the new name given to the study of the new magical abilities) led to way to
identify those with the specific genes responsible for the mutations. Able to
identify children as they were born, authorities were able to monitor the
children to see if they really posed a threat or not. Other nations were not so
peaceful however. Governments demanded that everyone testing positive be put
into stasis as the chances were too great for accidental deaths and thus they
were deemed not worth the risk.

Several police actions were taken by the US to make sure everything was being
done fairly and to insure that innocents weren't being harmed. Tensions
continued to escalate, but no full scale war was declared. Although such an
eventuality seemed inevitable until... 

May 19, 2033 - The Raymond White Incident: The city of Washington DC is
completely destroyed as an awakened child of 14 years of age suddenly violently
manifests a previously unseen power resulting in a blast with nearly a 20 mile
radius. The only thing left alive was the boy standing in the spot that used to
be his house. With the three branches of government nearly entirely wiped out,
the US is forced to resign to the aid of the UN and the European Alliance and
with it, adopting their policies and the more aggressive removal techniques of
awakened children. 

July 9, 2034 - The Union of Nations (UoN) is officially formed from the remnants
of the US and the European Nations. New laws are enacted requiring the humane
identification and transportation of Metahumans. All those identify as such are
registered and recorded for archival purposes.

Several of the major corporations form their own union, combining their
influence to create their own military force known as Shadow Corp. Only
loosely aligning themselves with the UoN, they operate mostly on their
own, controlling most of the western and northern parts of North America
as well as territories throughout the globe. China seeing this as a
threat to their national security, bans the use of these corporations
products, choosing instead to become entirely self-sufficient. Without
enough diplomatic authority to prevent any of this, the UoN is forced to
allow the world to be divided again. 

2037 - Negation fields, using the newly coined "Shepard Effect" are able to be
generated by an array of large machines in a network of overlapping electrical
fields set to very specific frequencies which effective negate the ability of
awakened people to manifest their abilities. For the first time the isolation
islands aren't simply cryogenic prisons where everyone is kept in stasis, but
areas that awakened people are able to move about and interact normally, while
still under careful supervision. Classification begins on the various sorts of
abilities. 

2044 - Technologies continue to advance and collars are created that generate a
miniature negation field on a personal basis. This allows greater freedom of
movement for awakened people on their islands. Communities begin developing on
the islands. For the first time living on the islands isn't viewed so much as a
prison, but as an alternate lifestyle for those with powers beyond their own
control. 

2046 - For the first time awakened are allowed to have their collars turned off
in controlled situations as testing shows that they are able to exert conscious
will over their powers. It is hoped that maybe one day they can learn to control
their own abilities. Training exercises are instituted along with the
educational programs. 

2063 - Present Day 

House Rules: 

We’ll be running with the BESM dX. Players have 100 CP and 30 SP with which to
build their characters. Since this is meant to be a magic heavy game, liberal
use of EP using abilities is encouraged. It’ll be clearly defined what exactly
the collars turn when activated. Everything in negotiable, so if you think of
something you’d like to do but can’t quite fit the rules around it, talk to me
and we’ll see if we can’t work something out. 

Dice size: d8

Combat: 

I'll be using the HKAT! damage system where a successful defense that does not
beat the margin of success the attack roll made only halves the damage instead
of preventing it entirely. Also, I'll be using the damage penalty rule, but the
penalties are reduced to -1 at 75% damage, -2 at 50% and -4 at 25%. 

Skills:

We'll be using the Futuristic Cyberpunk/Biopunk table with the following
changes in costs:
Power Usage - 6
Gun Combat - 6
Special Ranged Attack - 6

New Skill:
Magiology - 3, Specs: Biological, Aura, Natural, Technological

Combat Skills don't get the free specialization bonus.

Attributes: 

All attributes operate as written with the following exceptions: 

There is no Dynamic Powers or Power Flux allowed. I want all your powers to be
clearly defined in what they can and can't do. Plus they cost a lot of points,
and it's not that hard to squeeze in the lesser attributes that would do the
same thing in the same amount of points. 

HP/EP trade off 

Any attribute that increases/heals/regenerates/drains etc. HP may also be
applied to EP on a 1 for 1 trade off. 

Special Attacks

All special attacks are capped on doing only as much damage as was paid for in
the level. Attributes should balance out Defects in that respect. Level 3 is a
good limit and Level 4 is acceptable if sufficiently limited.

Sixth Sense - Magic 

Since magic is the main focus of the game, sixth sense applying to magic costs
2cp per level and requires the area PMV for any sort of range on it. Each
additional level will give a bonus in detecting hidden magics, starting at +1
for level 2, +2 for level 3 and so forth. 

Sixth Sense - Aura Reading 

Costs the standard 1cp/level. On a successful test, a character may memorize a
specific signature based upon their detection area. 

Special Defense - Magic Detection 

This attribute works like Mind Shield for being detected. It costs 2cp a level
and each level gives a +1 penalty to detection tests. If you wish it only to
apply to one specific attribute it costs 1cp/level. 

Special Defense - Pain 

This goes in 3 levels instead of 2, each one increases the amount of damage need
to incur the penalties. 

Unique Defects: 

Suppression Sickness 

While everyone is affected by the collars you're forced to wear when activated,
some people may experience more extreme reactions to the affects they have on
the body, depending on their powers. 

1 BP - The effects are a mild hindrance to the character.
2 BP - The effects are a moderate hindrance to the character.
3 BP - The effects are a severe hindrance to the character. 

Not So Magical 

The character has less magical capacity than his Mind and Soul stats suggest. 

1 BP - 10 less EP
2 BP - 20 less EP
3 BP - 30 less EP