Marco legal

Various combat-related powers are useful to police offi- cers, giving them innate weapons and protection. Even

more likely to transform law enforcement are mental powers. Imagine “thought police” able to read a suspect’s mind to know whether or not he’s guilty, or empowered to arrest people just thinking about committing a crime! Abilities like Detect and Postcognition are useful for gath- ering evidence and, with the aid of someone with Precog- nition, police may even stop crimes before they happen. Of course, this raises questions like: if you intend to com- mit a crime, and a telepath or precognitive senses you will, are you just as guilty as if you had actually done it?

MediCine

While the Healing effect is likely to have the greatest impact on the practice of medicine, other powers may also be use- ful to empowered physicians. For example, Penetrating Vi- sion or Remote Sensing can replace X-ray machines, Precise Move Object can perform surgery without cutting open the body, and the ability to place a subject into a deep sleep or coma can replace the use of anesthetics. There’s also the issue of how traditional medicine reacts to the existence of super-powered healers. Are they practicing medicine with- out a license? How do you license them?

politiCs

The political implications of powers are vast, but some can affect the political process directly. In addition to simply using super-powers to grab political power (see over-

lords in the following section), abilities like superhuman

Presence or outright Mind Control can have a significant impact. Conversely, powers like Mind Reading and Detect (truth) change the character of political hearings, allowing society to know if their politicians are being honest!

psyCholoGy

Mental powers can be a tremendous boon to psychology, allowing neuroses and even psychoses to simply be wiped away. Of course, there may be long-term side-effects to such a “brute force” approach to mental health. There’s also the danger of unrestricted “editing” of minds. It’s one thing for someone to volunteer to have his antisocial tendencies corrected, but what about convicted criminals? For that matter, what happens when society begins “correcting” other behavior, such as rebelliousness, unacceptable reli- gious beliefs, or “sexual deviancy” (which may all have far- ranging meanings, depending on who defines them).

reliGion

The existence of divine super-powers may or may not prove the existence of a God or gods (or various other supernatural entities like spirits and demons). At the very least, many powers and power sources have religious im- plications. Clerics can benefit from the use of powers in their roles as healers, intermediaries, spiritual leaders, and counselors. Some may claim their powers give them spe- cial insight into people’s souls, and they may be right! Just as many might claim a super-powered religious figure is false and misleading. Powers could lead to a new era of religious understanding and tolerance or one of schism and holy war.

sCienCe

Scientific study and understanding of some powers may lead to major breakthroughs in science. For example, learning the mechanism of a teleportation power may lead to artificial teleporters, and the mechanism of te- lepathy can provide the key to faster-than-light commu- nication (or even travel). Of course, some powers may be beyond the understanding of science, especially those powers without a scientific basis (such as magic). Many powers can also be helpful to scientists, allowing them to study phenomena directly without instruments or perform certain experiments without the need for ex- pensive equipment.

transportation

Teleporters with enough carrying capacity could revo- lutionize travel, at least for some. Even if abilities like Teleport aren’t widespread enough for general use, they remain an option for those with access to them in emer- gencies. Super-fast couriers can carry messages from place to place, or even transport items instantly.

outCasts

In some settings those with powers are outcasts: feared, hated, or disdained by society. This becomes more likely if powers originate from something outside of society’s control, making normal people jealous of abilities they can’t have and fearful of what they can’t understand or control.

Prejudice against supers may take many different forms. At the most basic level, society may institute draconian laws to keep powers under control and prevent supers from having an “unfair advantage.” At greater levels, peo- ple might consider certain powers (and their wielders) in- nately evil or dangerous. Governments may ban the use of super-powers and closely monitor and known supers for infractions. The empowered may lose their civil rights, forced to wear identifying marks (clothing, tattoos, brace- lets, even tracking implants) to warn “normal” people about them. In the extreme, supers are hunted down and imprisoned, enslaved, or killed.

Strict regulation and even oppression of powers is often justified by the greater good of society. Some supers may even buy into this, working to police their own kind, or be- coming “hounds” to track down and imprison or kill other supers. Collaborators looking to advance their own lot, or trying to keep revolutionaries from rocking the boat, use their powers to support the existing structure.

Societal prejudice may inspire human rights organiza- tions and political groups supporting supers. Some sort of resistance among those with super-powers is also likely. They may try to work within the system to educate and overcome fears toward them, or work in secret to escape from an oppressive society or to overthrow it! In the latter case, supers may one day find themselves in charge of the world that once oppressed them, whether they want to be or not.

Chapter 1: settinGs

Chapter 1: settinGs

overlords

Supers can use their abilities to set themselves up in charge of society, whether ordinary people like it or not (or whether the supers like it or not, for that matter). Su- perhuman overlords might be ruthless dictators or en- lightened guardians of humanity, doing what they feel is best for everyone. The second type of overlord must al- ways be on guard against turning into the first kind, abus- ing power and privilege, even if it seems justified at first. If the overlords all draw their power from the same source, then control of that power source ensures rulership and may be a key weakness for rebels to target. Overlords with different power sources may come into conflict because of them. Perhaps there is a hierarchy or caste system of overlords based on different powers or origins.

Consider what powers overlords have at their disposal and how powerful they are individually. A small handful of overlords can rule the world if they’re powerful enough to sweep away conventional military forces on their own, or if they have sufficient mental powers to pull the strings behind the scenes. “Power” does not always mean fight- ing ability, however. Less powerful overlords must be on their guard against mundane threats. Some overlords may even be physically weaker than normal humans, such as psionicists with atrophied bodies but powerful minds. Settings with empowered overlords may have renegades of one sort or another. Perhaps a member of the ruling class has grown dissatisfied with the status quo, or a com- moner has somehow tapped into the power reserved solely for the elite. Imagine a theocracy ruled by those empowered by the gods faced with a strange new proph- et who claims to have the gods’ favor, and the powers to prove it. Rebels among despotic overlords may try to cre- ate a rebellion to overthrow them while renegades from benevolent overlords may be corrupted by power, and even taint the whole of society with their schemes.

seCreCy

How well known are powers in the setting? In some set- tings, powers are a well-kept secret (although they may not stay that way). Powers in other settings are public knowledge (for good or ill). Knowledge of powers affects the style and tone of the series, since it determines how openly supers use their own abilities.

seCret

The existence of powers may be kept secret for a number of reasons. Supers may fear society’s reaction to their exis- tence (and rightly so). Keeping powers secret provides the element of surprise. Powers may be inherently dangerous or corrupting, things best kept out of the wrong hands. A higher power or powers may forbid revealing their exis- tence to anyone; secrecy may even be a requirement to keep powers functioning!

Whatever the case, a secret powers series has two “worlds”: the mundane world where everyone is ignorant of the

existence of powers, and the empowered world, hidden behind the scenes. The mundane world may be similar to our own (from any time in history) or it may not. Layers of secrecy are possible; imagine a setting with physical super-powers but secret mental powers. Psychics have concealed their existence and true nature out of fear oth- ers would hunt them down as threats.

Subtle powers are best suited to a secret series, since keeping powers secret is an important part of the setting. Therefore mental powers and others with little or no no- ticeable effect are best. Characters have to be careful how and when they use their powers to keep them a secret. Generally, the consequences of discovery should be grave enough to encourage them to do so.

private

In some settings, powers aren’t generally known, except to a particular subculture, usually made up of the em- powered themselves. This subculture is large enough to constitute a kind of “world” of its own, where powers are used relatively freely. Supers only need to be careful when they are forced to interact with “normals.” This approach allows for a bit more freedom than a secret setting, where characters are constantly looking over their shoulders to avoid discovery.

As an example of a private setting, imagine a “society of night” made up of various monsters and supernatural beings (including humans with supernatural powers). At night, among their own kind, they are free to use their powers as they wish, limited only by the laws of their cul- ture. During the day, or among normal humans, they have to hide their true nature and rely on subtlety to get the job done.

A world may even have multiple empowered subcultures: a secret magical society, for example, as well as a hidden society of psis, another of genetic mutants, and so forth. These groups may be entirely open with each other or only barely aware of the others. Perhaps the different fac- tions are all locked in a shadowy war behind the scenes with the mundane world none the wiser.

open

On many worlds with powers, their existence is public knowledge. People have different opinions and ideas about powers, but pretty much everyone knows about them. This is usually the case in M&M settings.

Of course, just because the general public knows of pow- ers doesn’t mean they know everything about them. They may not know how they work, for example (in fact, it’s possible nobody knows). Public beliefs about powers may even be entirely wrong. For example, a conspiracy may have convinced the general populace supers are the cho- sen of divine forces, when in fact their powers come from an entirely different source. In some cases even supers might not know that public beliefs about their powers are incorrect. Superstition, folk-beliefs, and urban legends may color the perception of powers.