BTW, Sphere, any more problems with your new-founds?

My new-found whats?

The whole Teleporting thing, dude. You know, the event that launched this topic.

Oh that. Heh.

Doing alright at the moment, cheers mate. It's why I've been a little quieter than normal on the ol' boards. Been practising.

Getting pretty good too. Got line-of-sight down, no worries. Jumping to the horizons about as far as I can get without concentrating, which ain't bad at all.

Further than that? Well, I'm hitting the mark nine out of ten. Managed to jaunt to the King's Cross district in Sydney for some r' and r' if you know what I mean? Spent a night there partying with some Brit backpackers. Tried to jaunt home and ,bang, I was in the middle of a sodding rainforest! Was nearly tapped out of juice so had to spend a couple of hours crashed out to recharge, woke up with eye-to-eye with a jaguar.

They're a bit more endangered than they was before I got there. Stupid things. I bloody hate cats.

OH, damn! I like jaguars, too.
Oh, well, they do have the reputation of just killing for the hell of it. Pity really. We have to work on your Dr. Dolittle skills next.

As long as I can get the little bastards to say "Bollocks" I'll be happy. Although that kind of gene tampering is more Momento's area. Have you seen that monkey he's got? Scary.

Btw Jager. I'm jaunting to Marakesh in the next few days to check out this whole Baraka cult thing. Any advice on how to handle the local law? Just in case they pop up, you understand.

Hmmm ... beyond avoiding it?

Seriously, I can put you in touch with some people who can be useful to you, as long as you use some tact.

The message should reach you soon.

Tact? I'm the most tactful guy I know.

Cheers for the info.

Sphere, you need to hang out with a more sociable crowd.

It's not one monkey now! It's many, the Old Baron has made some friends.

I have just gotten back from a very embarrassing event, there I was sleeping normally and thinking my usual thought, when I get woken up in my old college in the girls showers room by a very angery matron. This wouldn't normally be a bad thing, but I live in Cuba at the moment and my old College is in Weybridge, England! I had on idea how THAT happened, luckily one of the girls was happy to put me up for the night and then I needed to get back to Cuba which isn't easy if you are one of the most wanted people in England.

All I can say is thank God for the Op net and Warp gaters.

Momento, you do realize that some people can track warp portals, right?

Incase you are putting some friends in danger.

That the same with 'porters?

Yep. It's not exact (from the intel I have been able to gather), and it takes them anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to track the exact location. Still, given time and a global reach, you can see the worry for those who hop to certain areas.

Sleep tight, all.

Wonderful. Just wonderful.

I am curious about something that relates back to the origonal topic.

I haven't manifested any new powers since my first year. Is this unusual for the rest of you?
Also, in the past few months, my existing powers have become ... less controllable, if that's the right word. It is more like the difference between sailing a 12 footer in the Bay and a 60 footer in the Atlantic, if that makes any sense.

Normally, I don't bring my personal problems to the forum, but my own medical resources have been exhausted and the next time I cross the threshold of a Rashoud clinic, it will be in chains.

Wow, the uptight so right cop has got a case of the Taints.


Bummer.

Now, I've been erupted for a few years now and I haven't gotten any new powers myself. But, my shit's gotten better. I can do it more often, it's more effective and more dependeble. That and I'm tougher, faster, and the songs come quicker and easier now than when I first got brain chubbie. So, I'd say no new stuff and your old stuff going to shit is a bad thing.

"Bummer."
I often find myself thinking, "There but for the grace of god... "

Shortly after my own eruption I'd noticed my skin tone would take on a bronze cast after I'd been subjected to physical forces sufficient to harmed a baseline. Over the years as my affinity for quantum has grown, that same hue has manifested over longer periods until it now never entirely fades. Is this taint or the inevitable progression of that which I started on the day of my eruption? It seems that any in a position to answer that question have a somewhat disturbing tendency to disappear. I will say that I've never developed anything seemingly inexplicable relative to my eruption. A few new tricks here and there but the seeds of all were present on that most interesting day.

In other matters; I'm told spoofing the detection methods mentioned earlier is not impossible.

"some people can track warp portals"

D'you mean through the use of technology, or are you refering to novas?

I've heard of that kind of tech, but only as being able to detect the event - not the origin or destination.

There are novas who can track - I've managed to do it once or twice (can't jump myself though). A transition from a teleport or warp leaves a distinct energy residue. With a fair ammount of work, it is possible to feel out the sympathetic residue at the other end of the transition.

If I was trying to fuzz the signal, I'd probably make two jumps, one to a place like Fermi Lab, and then to my destination. The quantum static put out by nuclear reactions would usually prevent the tracker from getting enough resolution.

If that was impractical, it might be possible to teach yourself how to make a 'messy' transition - throwing out enough extra energy that the residue is chaotic and obscured.

Preston:

Have you actively worked on developing new abilities?

Not seriously. I have helped other members of my team develop new powers, though. The two principles of desire and ability are well known to me, though.

That's probably it. Sometimes a new ability just manifests, but it's not too common. I developed new abilities fairly regularly over the last decade, but I was pushing constantly.

Actually, that kind of activity isn't necessarily good to imitate - I've been having similar problems to yours for a couple of years. Large-scale applications of power are pretty risky now, since I often get more backlash than I can control.

Don't think there's a way to fix that. If you catch wind of something, though, let me know.

My whole theory on this, is that we don't "get" new abilities, rather our abilities are set during our eruptions and they come to light as time goes on and we explore our ability.

In which direction we go, the results of our labor is evident.

I'm all for the "we are all unique" theory. What works for one of us won't necessarily work for another of us, for no good reason.

I have know novas who could manifest any power for no other reason than they wanted to. Others could only manifest powers that fit a certain theme or element.

I've trained with a good number of novas in my time. We are all very different creatures. Always keep that in mind.

Hmm.

Sorry to have missed this earlier.

First off congrats to Sphere. Being able to get from one side of the globe to the other with little more than a thought makes you part of a very small but interesting club. It’s interesting but I’ve noticed that those of us who can teleport, translocate, warp, create portals, or whatever they care to call it tend to view things differently than those who can’t. When you can go from Paris to Tokyo with the same effort it takes some to cross a room it is bound to change your perspective. Walker is bound to have more to say on this than I but I imagine that crossing into space this way changes you as well. It’s an interesting chicken and egg argument. Are we different because we can do these things or can we do these things because we had a special mindset to start? Personally I suspect that it is a little of both.

Now as for tracing teleports … I personally can’t do this nor have I met anyone who claims that they can. But like others I’ve heard of this and I believe. It strikes me that given the infinite possibility in what we can all so that at least one of us must be able to do this. I’ve also been contacted regarding the possibility of a contract recently by a group of normal and nova scientist who are working on this exact sort of thing. The problem scientifically, as I understand it, is that the size of a mechanical device to detect this sort of thing is prohibitively large in most cases. Detecting local disruptions in space will be their first step. They still have to secure funding and then build their detector but they think that they are going to get it. In fact they were sure enough to contact me already. I’ll be interested to see if they can pull that off let alone the second step, which will be trying to calculate where the other end is once they detect a nearby space-time disturbance.

OK, developing new ‘manifestations’ or ‘powers’ … I find this to be an interesting topic for discussion. Personally my ‘theme’ has stayed constant. I summon black disks. However over time I’ve been learning to do more and more with them. When I first erupted I could only create portals and solid wall disks. It didn’t take me long to learn to use those disks other ways though. I’ve learned to fly with my disks, use them as lethal weapons, and, most recently, to ensnare others. I’m sure that I will learn even more as time passes. That said I haven’t spontaneously developed a new ability or learned something that isn’t disk related, like, say, controlling the computer that I’m using right now. Every once in a while you hear about that sort of thing but it seems reasonably rare.

Preston, I can understand some of your feelings regarding the clinics, but the fact is that it is pretty hard to find good help for issues like this outside of them unless you are willing to seek out the Teragen and risk their ‘insight.’ I’m not sure that I can help directly, but if you need quiet transportation from one place to another then I would be happy to do so for you.

Meridian,I would like a word with you.

Speak away or feel free to PM me.