Glad one of my buddies clued me on to this site.

I'm Stuart, and I'm (somewhat) known in the DeVries rank & file as "Swiss Army Nova." Anyone else from DV on board?

Anyway, I'll go lurk moar. Anyone wants to shout out, I'll be on for at least a little while longer.

Hello. I'm not an elite, thus not with DeVries.
What is a Swiss Army Nova?

Well, that's the nick I gave myself, and it stuck. Basically, if you've got someone whose node isn't pulled in the direction of a particular theme, the node tries to give him/her everything at once.

A lot of my abilities are internal reinforcement. So I'm stronger, more agile, healthier, more quick to the uptake, and a little more charming than a baseline person. (Well, actually a decent amount above a baseline.)But I'm average all the way around. I don't have a "hook" to get my name out there.

Still, diversity has its privileges. I'm well-rounded, if nothing else. And for low-level merc work, I'm apparently ideally suited. I offend neither nova nor baseline.

Welcome to the site. You've got a pretty good record from what I've heard.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Thanks, Long!

Yeah, I'm doing decent for my weight class. I'd just like to push myself a little bit more. But I've seen a lot of people push themselves too hard, and some of them went...weird. Liability weird. I don't want to go out like that.

So, what about yourself? I'm not on here (just) to promote me, I'd actually like a social life outside of assignments.

I'm one of the retired Elites on the site, though I'm one of many. There are some really good folks here.

Hey, I'd really like to hang. Seems like some nice people out there. A meetup would be cool, but I can't really bampf anywhere. Maybe someday.

My copyright attorneys would like a word with you.

I kid. Welcome and stuff!

Hello.

Curious: is that avatar representative of the real Mithril?

We already got one.

She's cuter too. Sure, she's loud, annoying, a mooch, and munches rug, but she's still cuter.

Ah. There's the Revenant we love to hate.

SAN - welcome.

Yep, that's a photo of me in my avatar.

Love you too, Rev.

Awesome!

Yeah, so you know the boat I'm in, right? After all the specialists get the good jobs, you might get considered for one or two. And if you don't have any standout powers to make a hook for yourself, it's easy, even for a nova, to get overlooked.

Still, compared to a lot of people, I get a lot of money and opportunities, so I can't complain too much. How about yourself?

Damn, and my manners fail me!

Hi Carver! And thanks for the welcome.

So are there many other Elites here on the forum?

Depends on what you define as 'Elite'.

Shit, Carver is more 'elite' than 1/2 the jack ass novas I force feed brick walls to.

Nova standards today for what passes as an 'elite' are seriously lacking.

Hey S.A.N. (keep wanting to type S.A.M...ya know, like surface to air missile). Welcome to the boards. May your stay here be long and prosperous, and if at some point you must depart, may you do so with no metaphorical sand in your shoes.

Oh, brother. No, I'm afraid I don't know the boat you're in. I can take on any shape, I'm impossible to kill, and I never require food, water, sleep, or air. I pretty much have all of eternity spread before me and no material needs whatsoever. I'm free to be who I want to be.

What job could someone offer me that tops that?

That's why I don't feel bad about spending so much time playing videogames. I have eternity. I'll do all that other stuff later.

One with a steady paycheck so you quit being a freeloader?

Ah, a literal Swiss-army knife!

Except for the flexibility, you sound like a guy I met on-duty who called himself Diecast. Nice enough, not much of a talker, but he was definitely a brick shithouse! For a one-trick nova, his trick was damn useful in his job.

And yeah, the whole "make your own clothes and food" thing sounds awesome in a budget-saver kind of way. (I still can't believe how much food I eat.) Put those both together and, yeah, you're set. Go you!

Thank you, Aidos. I appreciate that. And I hope for the same for yourself.

You know what? Oddly, enough, I agree.

I joke about it, but I think there's a serious problem with novas in general: even the smartest ones get stuck in a personal theme and don't really want to grow from there. Yes, you can blast a big old bolt of fire or magma or bees at people, but you can do other things besides using your powers all the damn time. But novas tend to become their powers instead of using their powers, you know what I mean? From what I've heard, the M-R Node, properly trained, can do just about anything, but people don't want to learn new tricks.

Add to that the fact that Iron Age super-comics and pro-wrestling were at their height when Portman Erupted, and throw in the XWF on top of that, and you get a whole bunch of novas running around who act like cartoons on crack. Thank the gods it's not every nova who Erupts, but I've had to deal with my share of muscleheads who, just after blowing up, think they're already the next Geryon. Bullshit, I've seen the tapes of him in action, the ones they train you with at DeVries. For a self-trained guy, he's extra-fucking sharp in the combat department. That strength of his is terrifying, but the worst thing about it is: it's just an add-on. Even without it, I'd hesitate to mix it up with him.

Be careful where you swing that tarbrush, Junior!

If I was you, I'd just be thankful your little magic tumor didn't push you in any particular direction. Guys like me and a lot of others out here, we had reasons to pop the way we did. And we found jobs as best we could that catered to that. So when you have a job that pays you for being who you are, and you had a reason to be the way you are, it's a lot more difficult to change than you might think.

I'm an entertainer, and I hope to be one until I finally croak. I don't want to shoot blasts of fire out of my nose, or make clones of myself, or talk to plants (unless they pay good money to show up to my concerts.)Diversity is good, but like all good things, you can have too much of it. And that ain't lazy or "in a rut" talking, neither. I get out even more than the next guy.

S.A.N. you have it about right. You learn what you can do and then build on it. Just don't make the pursuit of the new, better, and different become its own demon.

Yes but I mostly lurk. I work for DV R&D in the deep tanks along the Pacific rim.The few I meet seem okay but I think I know what you mean. A lot of them are real pushy at first. They get over it though. Down in the deep tanks helium is substituted for nitrogen in the air because of pressure problems. It's hard to be all bad ass when your voice sounds like a cartoon mouse. Once they lose the attitude they seem like good people.

Hitting the breach alarm in their quarters when they drift into REM sleep is a good reality check on the hard cases.

Jaeger: Yeah, I know. Sorry, but it's a bit of a hobby-horse of mine.

David Devlin: Huh. You're that David Devlin? You sing pretty good. A lot of the parties I go to usually have your mellower stuff playing in the background.

And no, I don't think sneezing fire would add to your act!

Ward: What do you do down there, if it wouldn't break any NDA's?

The usual stuff. Research for Dr Alinsky. Finding and flagging natural resources for private corporations. Field testing. I do maintenance on the deep tank environmentals between projects, but the last big thing I worked was the plasma containment system for the BFG variant back when it was still code named Superman's Shotgun.

See, if I had to do it all over again, I'd definitely push for a bigger brain. Now that I can really appreciate what science can do, I hear about the things the R&D guys are doing, and I can only wish I did stuff that cool.

Underwater cities, weapons development, advanced electronics: Guys like you are paving the future.

That "city" is more like a village but rest of it is spot on. Good work. Good people. I couldn't ask for more.

I happen to like my personal theme.


I've spent 20+ years teaching mine to do what everyone else's can. Saves time and energy. Most novas are thier own worst enemy, and I take that truth to thier door.


Or a bunch of novas selling thier abilities to the highest bidder like super powered mercs straight outta Heroes For Hire Inc... oh... wait...


That's your first mistake numb nuts. You don't learn from a tape, you learn from experience. Watch the Gary Indiana tape from about a year or so ago and then meet me in a dark alleyway. You'll be dead before your brain could press 'play'. Get yer feet wet in the field, not with 'How To' videos.

And who the fuck still uses 'tapes'? No wonder elites are pussies, they learn the facts of life from Beta-max.



If you ever do, taunt him. He hates that.

Welcome to the boards Ward.

S.A.N., its the American spelling 'Jager', not the German. Otherwise, if you are ever in Chicago, look me up.

Greetings and welcome S.A.N., my name is Jordan and I'm very much like you, a well rounded Nova. My "theme" is the perfection of mind and body (and spirit according to some theories) and it's something I contunue to strive for even now.

Trust me, once you (and your employers) realize just how powerful your potential really is you will find no end to your job offers.

Lots of newcomers these days!

Welcome, welcome, and mind the trolls.

Welcome to the site S.A.N. and Ward.

Thanks.

Jordan, Lou Anne, Velvet: Thank you! It's been interesting here, so far.

Find out if he still eats people before you set the date.

Who eats people?!

Rumor has it Long used to. He was one super-sickie.