09-19-2019, 07:30 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
Let us imagine that, starting at 1000 AD, a cumulative 0.1% of people every year manifested supernatural powers across the globe. By 1500 AD, 39.4% of people would have manifested supernatural powers, meaning that super humans would probably be dominant over normal humans. By 2000 AD, 63.2% of people would have manifested supernatural powers, meaning that it would be a world of supers.
Let us further assume that a world of supers would be a world where super humans possess supernatural abilities, where normal humans manifest cinematic abilities, and where the 'average' person is 250 CP. How would you have had history diverge with such a change? What major events would have been prevented or occurred? For example, in my conceptualization of the changes, the Northern Song Dynasty of China under Emperor Zhenzong would have quickly embraced the existence of super humans and used them to accelerate his consolidation of power. With his focus on Taoism in his court, the super humans would have been seen as chosen of the gods of China and would have been accorded great respect. The super humans would have prevented the weakening of the Northern Song and, when Mongols attempted to invade the Northern Song in 1279, the Mongols would have been crushed by the millions of Chinese super humans (22.2% of the population at that time). Genghis Khan would be a minor footnote in Chinese history, just another barbarian super human chieftain that attempted and failed to conquer China. |
09-19-2019, 10:22 PM | #2 | |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
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I think gangs and feudal systems would have lasted longer under powerful leaders.
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09-19-2019, 10:58 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Jan 2009
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
Okay, so the average human is 250 points. What's the statistical distribution look like? Are 16% of people 500+ points, or 2.2%, or 0.1%? Are unlucky 'negative supers' with packages that are undeniably supernatural but ultimately negative in point total extant or common? What's the demography like in terms of powers- what kinds of powers are most common or rarest? Does genetics, or any other discernible phenomenon in the material universe, govern or influence the strength or type of powers granted?
I suspect that most of the solution space for the parameters I'm discussing here would realistically either result in apocalypse or some manner of sociocultural singularity long before 2000, or indeed 1500. |
09-20-2019, 05:46 AM | #4 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
Let us assume that the distribution of capabilities is broader than ours. Our distribution is probably -500 CP (human vegetable) to 500 CP (most competent human alive). Their distribution would probably be -500 CP (normal human vegetable) to 1000 CP (one of the most powerful super humans alive). In other words, 500 CP will likely be 1:1,000, 750 CP will likely be 1:1,000,000, and 1,000 CP will likely be 1:1,000,000,000.
In order to focus things, we will posit a few rules about abilities. One, super humans may have a maximum of 75% of their point value in abilities. Two, super humans may not have more than 25% of their point value in a single ability. Three, Ultrapower does not exist, nor does Jumper or Snatcher (summoning items is Signature Gear with Summonable (+100%)). Four, any non-technological source, though they are just different facets of a universal source. Genetics does play a roll in manifestation, with every super human parent increasing the chance of manifestation, and the spread of super humans is evidence of their genetic success. |
09-20-2019, 06:45 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Denver, CO
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
My biggest questions would be around colonization. England in particular was able to leverage a small population with technology and geography to rule an absurdly large portion of the world population. Would they have been able to take India if the various Indian nations were resisting with super-powered individuals? I don't know much about the history of India at that time, but it could prove a very interesting setting.
China could likewise have potentially have resisted European influence longer. Perhaps leading to nastier opium wars. Again, not a part of history I'm super familiar with. Generally, if guns aren't as big an advantage, then Europe isn't as overwhelming when they come knocking. How about the Americas? Were they discovered by Europeans earlier due to more capable travelers? Or later because there was less pressure for the faster route to Asia? Current estimates say that more than 90% of the native population of the Americas was wiped out by various European plagues after discovery. This, more than anything, has lead to the current domination of the Americas by other cultures. In your world, perhaps treatments for those diseases were developed by folk at the time and now we have much larger native populations. Or maybe.... ALL first nations people in the Americas have super powers because only they survived the plagues? And then they successfully contained colonization to the East coast once their population started to bounce back. |
09-20-2019, 07:16 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
Since the Northern Song would have stomped the Mongols flat, that changes a lot of trajectories. For example, that means that Islam does not really become dominant in Central Asia, the western part of East Asia, and the northern part of South Asia. It means that the Silk Road is not resurrected, the Islamic kingdoms of West Asia are not destroyed, and likely that the Black Plague does not occur (since its spread was related to the expansion of trade under the Mongols). With stronger Islamic dynasties, the Turks are capable of threatening Eastern Europe earlier and the conquest of Muslim Iberia likely stalls, meaning that Castile does not exist to fund Colombus in 1492.
The real question comes how to existing dynasties embrace super humans? In my conceptualization, the Northern Song embraced them due to their Taoist belief, but how would Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Islamic, and Pagan dynasties treat them? Those who embraced them would likely prosper while those that rejected them would likely fall. |
09-20-2019, 08:58 AM | #7 | |||
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Snoopy's basement
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
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Last edited by Donny Brook; 09-20-2019 at 09:08 AM. |
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09-20-2019, 09:19 AM | #8 |
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: Forest Grove, Beaverton, Oregon
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
Genetic super powers would have to lead to "reasonable" royal breeding along with some monsters like those from The Hills Have Eyes and that mythical Scottish clan of cannibals.
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09-20-2019, 12:44 PM | #9 |
Join Date: Feb 2016
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
Genetics influences manifestation, but it does not guarantee it, so why should super humans submit to line breeding? Now, I could almost guarantee you that super human women would become preferred wives of the upper class, regardless of their origins, though upper class super human women would likely become the preferred consorts of royalty. By 1250 AD, I imagine that the majority of the upper class in any nation that accepted super human would be super human, be married to super humans, and/or be descended from super humans.
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09-20-2019, 02:05 PM | #10 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
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Re: A World of Supers [Powers/Supers]
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