Yes, Flicker just called out Ptesan-Wi on her heritage.

Ptesan-Wi has been fervently (to say the least) carrying on in her anti-wasicu pro-Lakota bigotry in a major way, then suddenly when another nova comes on and proves to be even MORE fervent about their cause (AquaMarine), she drops a comment about there being "no one more fervent than a convert to the cause."

Flicker knows that Neil Preston turned Brawlzilla into Babezilla. Neil Preston is very close to Ptesan-Wi; close enough to get into a suicidal fight with Revenant to defend her honor.

Flicker packs a dot of mega-int. She can put two and two together.

So before anyone calls BS, I call not-BS.

They way I wrote Machina's post before that, I very nearly used that EXACT example without realizing it was true. I didn't want to step on any toes, because my understanding of the Thoughtwave/Ptesan-Wi relationship is murky at best, so in the end, I fell back on the slavery example.

Realistically, Machina probably knows (M-INT 5, former Directive, has nothing better to with his time than surveille other novas and keep dossiers on them, which includes you, yes, you, reading this, whoever you are), but like most things he knows, he's remaining mum on the matter. Secrets are way more powerful and dangerous than common knowledge, anyway, and besides, it neatly solves the problem of the fact that the character should, by all rights, have a metric fucking ton of IC meta-knowledge that most people would bristle at giving; he simply doesn't use it.

I don't think Mega Int would help out here at all. Saying 'Because I have Mega Int, my character can figure out something Neil did, in private, with not other witnesses.", is just reaching.

However, one thing I hve been curious about is all novas possess quantum signitures, PW does not (she does not possess a Quantum score at all) there fore, when you look at her with quantum attunement she is a baseline. She shows up as something totally different.

Even Mithril, who doesn't possess a 'node' so to speak has a Q-Sig. You can fool people by saying "My node is dispersed." but how do you inform peopel that you do not have a quantum signature, there is no way around that.

The moment someone imprinted, or precieved her with Quantum Attunement her cover would be blown.

Just my thoughts, I honoestly not about to get in the middle of the IC battle about this. OOC I'll gladly discuss/debate it however.

One tiny little technicality. Flicker knows what Neil can do... and also knows that Neil's transformative powers don't work on novas. Flicker also knows that Ptesan-Wi is apparently a nova - that is, she can speak with minds, she has mega-appearance, she has telekinesis, etc.

Yes, there's the lack of a quantum signature... which has been "explained" as an aberration of sorts: a shielding that prevents her quantum signature from being seen, and prevents her from seeing the quantum signature of others. Basically, the choices presented IC'ly are (1) for some reason, this nova's quantum signature can't be detected, probably because of a unique aberration, or (2) for some reason, this isn't a nova but can do amazing nova-like tasks; she must be a heretofor unheard of type of being. Occam's Razor cuts pretty cleanly in favor of explanation number one.

Just pointing out that little detail.

Also, one other point. It has not been my intent to portray Ptesan-Wi as exhibiting "anti-wasicu pro-Lakota bigotry". The character has been repeatedly labelled as such, and I'm all too aware that if a thing is said enough times by enough people, it becomes "true" in the public eye, but such has not been my intent.

There is a thin line between ethnic pride and bigotry. I have taken rather great pains to keep Ptesan-Wi on the ethnic pride side of that line. If other characters want to twist her words into bigotry, that's dandy... but if other players want to take the same tack, that's a different matter.

I am not the most eloquent person on the planet. However, I think that I've kept Ptesan-Wi from blatently crossing the bigotry line.

As far as Flicker knows, Neil's body-altering abilities work on nova and baseline alike. He's displayed such an astonishing level of mastery of all things biological that she has no reason to believe that he can't alter anything that's alive.


I think that you are wrong. However, these are both statements of opinion, so meh.

This is something that has come up on a number of occasions. Intent versus perception.

When I ran GMC it was my intent for him to be a pollyana nutball that was majorly pathetic. Instead people saw him as one of the few upstanding, forthright and honest novas on the boards. Suprised the fuck out of me I can tell you.

For a long time James ran Jager in such a way as he believed Jager should be seen as a trustworthy comrade in arms. Most saw him as a manipulative snake in the grass. Again, not James' intention and it caused him some consternation I believe.

What we intend and what others actually see are two different things. You may not have intented to have Ptesan come across as a bigot but I'm sorry, if that's how most folks see her that's what she is . "Is" in this case being the subjective reality of the character. There is no real objective reality because you only have subjective viewpoints that define the reality when it comes to personality and behavior.

Sorry.

But, if it makes you feel any better I still find Ptesan-Wi an interesting and real character. Just not real in the way you perhaps intended.

Which is an explanation that can either be accepted or refuted based on the individual in question. Most of my characters don't know enough about nova physiology (ie. Trooper, Gerald Haney), have inquisitive personalities (ie. Lemmy) or really give a shit (ie. Slattern) to have given Ptesan-Wi any other reaction than "Wow, that's a new one on me." But I would say that someone like Hugin, with hefty dose of MegaPerception (with QA), a decent Node, a real hefty dose of intellect and knowledge, and another hefty dose of paranoia and curiosity combined would likely have second, third and probably fourth thoughts about whether Ptesan Wi was in fact a nova or something else entirely.

I think it's up to the character involved. But no, I don't think that intellect alone would be enough.

Only one of my PCs knows about Ptesan-Wi, and that was Samhra, who used to collect and read those old Aeon pulp fictions from the 1920s.

And even her knowledge is sketchy - she knows nothing of Project Pandora and psiads, but she suspects that Ptesan-Wi is a Mesmerist (she was the one who suggested this possibility to Ptesan-Wi, in fact).

She also knows that Ptesan-Wi was Thoughtwave (duh) but not Mystic.

I'd like to clarify that Flicker is not at all certain of her suspicion. She's got the beginning of a strong hunch, and the post on the IC forum was a fishing trip.

Hugin:

I have to agree with that observation, because it matches up perfectly with the law of unintended consequences. When a character behaves in a certain way, there are only a few ways it can be explained.

1: The character IS as protrayed.

2: The writer used the wrong term and it went under the editorial radar.

3: The character is using a strong term for a weak motive. (Expressing pride as prejudice).

Might be (and probably are) a few other reasons, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

The story holds water until this point. Quantum Attunement allows a nova to detect everything we've mentioned so far, but also permits one to look at the Taint score as well. PW cannot incur taint.

"So, why don't you have a node or a Q-Sig?"

"Oh, I have aberrations that cloak my node and aberrations."

"Aberrations, how can you be aberrated with no taint?"

"It cloaks that too."

Right about this point anyone nova worth their salt, like super smart ones or those who know Q-Sigs like the back of their hand would easily know that something just isn't right.

I'm not saying her story can't trick people, but as far as lies go, I don't think she would fool anyone with who knew 1/2 of what they were talking about.

Just my opinion.

I agree with Rev on this, however what he impllies would require an in person visit as well as Quantum Attunement scrutiny which as of the moment I do not think anyone who does not already know she is not a Nova has ever done.

Hugin visited them over a year ago (an unfinished story) so he could have actually deduced her as being something else then. Now for the record I am not saying no one can figure it out I just agree that there has to be motivation or reason to suspect it (which I might add Flicker's reasoning/hunch is strong enough for her fishing trip)

Now with that said this opens up a lot of story potential. One of the reasons Waki's life was so appealing to her was the isolation and protection a huge, powerful and heavily aberrated Nova could offer. Putting aside any actual love or connection between them let's face it she could manipulate him with the right "Motivations". So it gave her a luxury she hadn't had much of since she had became a Psion safety, security and stability.

Since then everyone who has found out her secret she could trust. The fact that people she cannot trust might be starting to find out is dangerous for her to say the least, yet it does open broad avenues of story to many of us. In the end it is her choice to run with but it sure feels like a treasure trove of ideas.

Waki nailed it: nothing remains a secret forever. This particular secret is a 5-point flaw; eventually, it has to bite her in the ass.

That said, I do want to make sure that folks have their various ducks in a row before they do the big reveal.

Oh, I have no intention of doing any reveal.

I smell a Rat...

Referring only to Ptesan-Wi's non-Lakota pedigree, my IC basis for this is that Thoughtwave used to post on the forums. She announced her change in name to the board, in fact. And Thoughtwave was a white girl, wasn't she? Her ava was awfully white. Admittedly, I wasn't around for this, but if Thoughtwave or Mystic was ever a presence on these forums, it doesn't take a genius to know that she wasn't born a Lakota. After all, I figured it out from strictly IC information. If I'm wrong, it would be super if someone could clear it up for me.

Having said that, I made no claim with any character on knowledge of Ptesan-Wi's not being an actual nova. None of them have such knowledge.

I have no intentions of a big reveal but this subject is something that has been on my list of things to discuss for quite some time.

Mostly between PW and Reven. My opinion is, and feel free to dispute it that after 18 years there is very little Reven does not know about Q-sigs. Sure he may not be a mega brain but when it comes to manipulating quantum only Quanta can come close his level of skill. In my opinion, the guy is an expert on the subject and it would take very little for him to look, touch and know that she is in fact no nova.

Thing is it doesn't really matter. Reven doesn't care who or what she is. He has secrets and he knows so does she, it's not his business and he isn't about to call her out on something that he doesn't feel is the world's business.

Although I have been dying for him come right out and ask "So, what are you anyway." Hehe.

I would think every quantum signature is unique to the nova it is from. That's why you should be able to recognize the signature of a nova if you have experienced it before. Like a fingerprint. Also like a fingerprint there are things that are similar when you look at a large groups. Ptesan Wi seems like the exception to all of this.

That she is no nova is going be obvious to anyone with the quantum abilities or skills that cares to check.

Rat will certainly have no problem figuring out that PW is not what she pretends she it. Not only will his Q Attunement not work, but neither will his Disrupt, Q-leech, Q-Imprint, Q-Forgery or his Disimmunize. Add to those powers, a high intelligence, high Medicine and experience working on the nature of Quantum, and her ruse will last about a minute.

Considering that WR is a Terat, he will let the organization know that PW is not a Nova. He will also probably try and capture her for 'experiments' on where her non-Quantum powers come from.

This is where I consider myself both happy and fortunate that PW has never had occasion to meet WR. That said... whilst WR's various Quantum-specific powers would not work, his Disrupt would indeed work on PW (just as PW's Disrupt would work on WR). Essentially, it works, not in the way it normally does, but as the whole quantum/subquantum opposition forces conflict; net result is the same.

As for the whole "well, it's obvious she's not a nova" thing... hold up.

It's obvious to us, the players, that she's not a nova. It's obvious because we know, 100%, that every nova has a Q-sig and that there are psiads. But from the character perspective, there's still a helluva lot of unknowns about this whole deal. With the exception of Samhra (who's PU archive delving turned up references to "mesmerists"), nobody has a clue about there being anything other than baselines and novas. And much of what novas really are remains a mystery, with considerable debate over the finer points.

It's much like extraterrestrials. If someone shows up with funky physiology that doesn't quite fit the human norm - say, extra digits on each hand, or no appendix, or whathaveyou - pretty much everyone from doctors on down are going to work from the theory that said person is a genetic fluke, rather than an extraterrestrial... even if it *is* an extraterrestrial. It's the shorter logical connect; Occam's Razor and all that.

Same thing with psiads. What is the shorter logical connect: that this particular nova (who all tend to be fairly unique anyway) has evolved or developed or tainted or whatever a way to hide her Q-sig, or that she is something entirely different from nova or baseline that nobody has ever heard of before? Occam's Razor cuts in favor of "unique nova".

This is why I said it is obvious to anyone who cares to look. Yes that she is a nova is the easiest answer. It is the answer that anyone would accept if they did not really care about the answer. Of course she is nova. Of course she has an aberration. Of course she is Lakota.

Anyone that did care about the answer and had means to chase the question would not be so easily put off. Such people are not casual observers. They are people that cared to investigate. Because they cared enough to check, they may have a reason to care enough to find a real answer not depending on the razor of Occam. How far they would be willing to go in finding an answer depends on the person asking the question. The Directive would likely arrange her disappearance. She is after all a genuinely valuable resource even if she is a nova. Proteus might care but only until they realize she is a psi. Utopia may or may not know what a psi is. Cisco would care only in a politely casual way. Very similar to Revenant. At the end of the day Ptesan Wi is your character.

Occam was an unimaginative motherfucker.

I still can't stop laughing at your joke Hugin.

That's funny. I have to resist the urge to punch him every time I read that.

Occam was a minimalist, no-bullshit motherfucker who just didn't cowtow to superfluous waste. He was a motherfuckin' badass, yo.

Exactly.

It's worse than that, there are novas who under some circumstances don't have a Q-sig. No one on the board is like that, and it's extremely rare, but the power does exist in the book so presumably someone has it.

Given that one or more novas can turn off their q-sig, but are totally normal when they aren't spending juice to turn it off, it isn't that big a hop to thinking she's a nova with hers stuck off. Or, if you feel paranoid, she's a nova who chooses to always hide hers.

Seph and Occam sitting in a tree...

k-i-s-s-i-n-g!

hehehe.