Suddenly, Supers!

[vitruvian]

Originally Posted by Gedrin

That's kinda my point. No one knows anything. It's quite rational, I'd argue probable, that the sorts of changes that give people the ability to shoot lightning from their eyes would also change their mental state. Reasonable people who are charged with the safety and security of the public will want to get a handle on things. That means test subjects.

Eventually, sure, but at first you'd judge based on behavior in the field. If people who've suddenly gained powers are acting reasonably (or at least as reasonably as can be expected given that suddenly gaining powers is kind of freaky), you can be more gentle in your methods of getting interview and test subjects, possibly simply inviting them in for a friendly talk, than if they mostly seem to be acting manically or in an otherwise unbalanced manner.... in which case, tranq darts and sedation while you study them, if they're susceptible to such methods, might seem necessary at least to some.

But their initial behavior when first observed will give the authorities something to go on, is my point - there's no sense assuming they're all mentally unbalanced if they're not actually showing signs of that, or that they're in their right minds and just choosing to mess with everybody if they're ranting and raving and rampaging.

Originally Posted by Gedrin

The initial reaction of "authorities" to supers, and visa-versa, will matter a great deal on how those subjects are gathered. If there are cooperative supers willing to help in the investigation early on, it'll do a lot to ease tensions. If nearly every exposure is criminal or uncontrollable, it will damage things greatly.

And how they're gathered will, or at least should, depend largely on how they present themselves. If they're destructive, of course you'll need to intervene. If they present in other odd or worrying ways, sure, you'll likely consider the more forceful means of gathering them up (even though the literature on how law enforcement should ideally deal with the mentally ill actually suggests less confrontational tactics are advisable, but I wouldn't expect reason to fully hold sway). But if they're presenting like pretty normal, slightly freaked out people, or even just enjoying the ability to fly or whatever or showing off a little, or especially if they're trying to perform public services (even if the professionals need to rein them in or give them some advice), then it would be counterproductive for the authorities to treat them automatically as crazed loons or the enemy.

Originally Posted by Gedrin

Media exposure would matter most in terms of public perception. Given a broad cross section of supers, there's going to be video of crazed pyros torching people alive. If no one is out there standing in the way of the fire, protecting innocents and helping "civilization" against them, things are just going to be bad. If you want to run "5 color" (more than just four) suddenly-supers, I think this is a great place to position your PC heroes. Let their actions be caught on camera, and that can sway the public's opinion of supers.

I'd also say it really does matter how strong your supers are. If your supers are essentially immortal, or nigh unkillable by normal means, there are issues. If a .338 to the head puts down almost all of them...there's likely less trouble. The power disparity matters, particularly in terms of consequence and civil control.

This is a great motivation for deciding to become a 'superhero', of course, even apart from simple altruism or being a nerd who's always wanted to be one, pioneered in the X-Men comics (although still as just one motivation among several) - trying to put a good PR spin on the existence of superhumans before public opinion calls for you all to be put in camps or laboratories.

And the power level thing kind of cuts both ways. Sure, the more powerful they are, the more worrying it is to the authorities and the public in general... but by that same token, the less likely it is that you can just take out or control them all, so the more important it is to handle things right and not make enemies of those disposed to be good citizens until you **** them off by trying to throw them in a concentration camp... especially since the more powerful they are, the more interest the government has in employing the friendlies among them for purposes of national security, and keeping them on side will work better if you're employing carrots as well as or instead of sticks.