Downtown Khazan: Ice Cold Utopia

[Jcogginsa]

No, bigotry tends to be co-morbid. It's not selective, it's a rationality of viewing the world that breeds further and deeper hatred. It's an ugly ideology but it makes sense in that "hate the other," is a simple and powerful axiom.

616 bigotry is selective and makes less sense.

IRL, no race of human has any greater capacity for harm than any other. White people, black people, Asian People, Hispanic people, they're all equal in their capabilities. Yet there is bigotry between them.

That's what I'm talking about, that's why I say bigotry doesn't make sense, because Bigotry is all routed in fiction.

The only thing that is needed for Anti-Mutant Bigotry to exist is for Mutants to be defined as an other. Once a line is drawn between Mutants and Other people with Super powers, it makes perfect sense for people to be bigotted against Mutants but not other super powered individuals.

[Jcogginsa]

Dr. Dre has been hospitalized due to a brain aneurysm

[The Dog]

Seeing Fervidor's talk about a hero with the powers of a spider got me thinking of a suprisingly badass superhero idea I had: A hero with the proportional abilities of beetles.

In strength, we get the proportional strength of the Onthophagus taurus horned dung beetle, which is 1,141 times its own weight. Seeing as the average human male is roughly 198 lbs, that means a human with the proportional strength of a Onthophagus taurus horned dung beetle would be at 225,918 lbs, or 113 tons.

In speed, we get the proportional speed of the Tiger beetle, which can run 5.6 mph. A human with the proportional speed of the Tiger beetle would be running 480 mph.

In durability, we get the proportional durability of the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle, which, at its size, can survive being stomped by humans and run over by cars. Don't know how to scale that proportionally to humans, but let's say it'd make the human superhumanly tough.

Add in flight several species of beetle are capable of (without wings if you want), and you've basically got a flying brick. Other abilities from species of beetles are just icing on the cake for this superhero.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Seeing Fervidor's talk about a hero with the powers of a spider got me thinking of a suprisingly badass superhero idea I had: A hero with the proportional abilities of beetles.

In strength, we get the proportional strength of the Onthophagus taurus horned dung beetle, which is 1,141 times its own weight. Seeing as the average human male is roughly 198 lbs, that means a human with the proportional strength of a Onthophagus taurus horned dung beetle would be at 225,918 lbs, or 113 tons.

In speed, we get the proportional speed of the Tiger beetle, which can run 5.6 mph. A human with the proportional speed of the Tiger beetle would be running 480 mph.

In durability, we get the proportional durability of the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle, which, at its size, can survive being stomped by humans and run over by cars. Don't know how to scale that proportionally to humans, but let's say it'd make the human superhumanly tough.

Add in flight several species of beetle are capable of (without wings if you want), and you've basically got a flying brick. Other abilities from species of beetles are just icing on the cake for this superhero.

Would they transform into a beetle like humanoid, or would they just have the boosted stats, like Spider-man?

[Nik Hasta]

Would they transform into a beetle like humanoid, or would they just have the boosted stats, like Spider-man?

Also, isn't this like... technically Guyver?

[Beadle]

There are mites (Paratarsotomus macropalpis) that can move 322 times their own body length in a second, which is the equivalent of a human doing 1300 mph (so getting close to Mach 2).

Another tropical species Archegozetes longisetosus is one of the strongest animals in the world, relative to its mass (100 μg): It lifts up to 1,182 times its own weight. That’s the equivalent of a 200lb man lifting about 107 tonnes.

I don’t know what the durability is, and importantly they can’t fly, but a Mach 2 brick is no joke.

(Of course the toughest creature of all, at least durability-wise, is the tardigrade.)

[Fervidor]

Seeing Fervidor's talk about a hero with the powers of a spider got me thinking of a suprisingly badass superhero idea I had: A hero with the proportional abilities of beetles.

In strength, we get the proportional strength of the Onthophagus taurus horned dung beetle, which is 1,141 times its own weight. Seeing as the average human male is roughly 198 lbs, that means a human with the proportional strength of a Onthophagus taurus horned dung beetle would be at 225,918 lbs, or 113 tons.

In speed, we get the proportional speed of the Tiger beetle, which can run 5.6 mph. A human with the proportional speed of the Tiger beetle would be running 480 mph.

In durability, we get the proportional durability of the Diabolical Ironclad Beetle, which, at its size, can survive being stomped by humans and run over by cars. Don't know how to scale that proportionally to humans, but let's say it'd make the human superhumanly tough.

Add in flight several species of beetle are capable of (without wings if you want), and you've basically got a flying brick. Other abilities from species of beetles are just icing on the cake for this superhero.

This feels familiar somehow, though I can't think of any specific character like that.

Also, this reminds me of a One Punch Man fanfic I started making notes for but never got around to writing. It was supposed to feature an OC called Chimera, who was this sort of secret super prototype experiment created by Doctor Genus at the House of Evolution. The idea was that rather than super-evolve one species he spliced a whole bunch of animals together to give her a wide range of different abilities. But then he changed his mind and locked her away somewhere. After Saitama wrecked the House of Evolution she escaped and eventually decided to try joining the hero association.

Superficially she appears to be made up of just a few animals and looks like a cute monster girl with wings, claws, fangs and a scorpion tail. But when they look into her genetics it turns out there's a lot more to her:

“Her genetic makeup is primarily made up of the DNA of anatomically modern human, Barbary lion, fattail scorpion, white-winged vampire bat and golden eagle.”

“Primarily?”

“Yes. We also found the DNA of a large number of other species of the animal kingdom. Those we could identify include: timber wolf, grizzly bear, peregrine falcon, Tanzanian cheetah, agile kangaroo rat, axolotl, platypus, giant spitting cobra, sidewinder rattle snake, electric eel, great hammerhead shark, crown of thorns starfish, mimic octopus, mantis shrimp and various species of spider.”

(The room goes silent for a moment.)

“...Platypus?”

(I actually can't remember why I specified Barbary lion, which seems a bit of a strange choice to me now.)

[Sharpandpointies]

In the homebrew superhero setting I've been slowly world-building (mostly as a hobby) I figure it leans more to the DC side. Mainly because one of their earliest heroes was a Superman analogue who made such a good impression that two generations later, people still tend to think of superheroes as living symbols of hope and - if anything - hold them to fairly high standards. Young empowered humans actively try to become worthy successors of his mantle, or that of other iconic heroes of the early days, and the main reason they have fanciful code-names, dress in colorful suits and sometimes wear capes is because people expect them to. It's partly performative.

On the other hand, society has had to adapt to people with super-powers and vice versa. The early days are considered sort of a "wild west" period and is similarly romanticized, but realistically life was more chaotic and dangerous back then. Most modern heroes are licensed and have the legal authority to investigate crimes and make arrests, etc, making them akin to the police. (Although the cops have their own super-people, and the two have a bit of a rivalry with occasional quarrels about jurisdiction and procedure.) Secret identities aren't much of a thing anymore. Unlicensed vigilantes are frowned upon but tolerated as long as they don't cause too much trouble.

There's probably a minority of people who dislike/fear superhumans for various reasons, organizations who want harsher regulation, politicians who want more control over them and so on. However, there are a lot of civilians with basic powers and a huge amount of latent supers, so there's basically no getting rid of them. Plus, they've managed to secure a lot of fairly robust civil rights over time, thanks to their general popularity.

Seems more logical than the extremes we see in DC and Marvel.

I've missed the way we tend to agree on things.

That does tend to happen, doesn't it? ^_^

Superficially she appears to be made up of just a few animals and looks like a cute monster girl with wings, claws, fangs and a scorpion tail. But when they look into her genetics it turns out there's a lot more to her:

(I actually can't remember why I specified Barbary lion, which seems a bit of a strange choice to me now.)

Cripes, platypus gives EM sensing and poison claws. I never discount the duck-mammals.

[Noldere]

I'm alive, I think. At least, compared to Monday and Tuesday, I feel like it.

Anyway...

Well, it depends on what ‘cold weather’ is for you.

As a Brit, our weather is never going to get to what might be considered ‘cold’ for someone like Siriel or Cthulhu, or even Dark Soul # 7 or Fervidor.

Likewise, I’m pretty sure we’ve got Floridians in the forum, and ‘cold’ weather for them is utterly laughable.

So where are you geographically, and how often can you re-warm your hands?

Here I’d say we could probably get away with some decent running gloves, as they tend to be insulated but not too bulky. But if I were in Anchorage or Svalbard I’d probably just say “F**k this. I’m not writing outside. I’m not even BEING outside for more than 5 minutes at a time.”

Beadle makes a good point. Temperature and whether it's a dry or damp cold, please.

...Ottawa winters suck because they somehow manage to be -30C or worse, AND damp. I've had Albertans (down to -50C in the winter at times, but dry) complain when they visit here.

It's mid Alabama we're talking about, so not as laughable as Florida but still quite laughable compared to say Canada or Alaska; it's noteworthy when it drops to the low 20s or 10s around here (-7C to -12C), but it doesn't generally go below freezing most of the time. If what I've found is accurate, average humidity is around 71%, which should be pretty up there. Where I work seems to be a special case, though; because of how the building is built, it somehow manages to amplify extreme temperatures both in the winter and in the summer (to the tune of almost 10F/6C at points, as measured mid-building compared to just outside it).

So, we're looking at an effective 0C to -6C normally, with very rare dips into -13C ~ -19C territory.

Which is fine, except I spend most of my time there on a forklift (going as fast as I can safely get away with), so that 0C to -6C ends up feeling (due to effective windchill) more like -4C to -13C and the rare dips end up feeling more like -19C to -29C.

Hand rewarming is a thing generally reserved for breaks, so once every two or so hours.

[Fervidor]

Seems more logical than the extremes we see in DC and Marvel.

I found that the tricky part was justifying why actual superheroes operating legally are a thing, rather than them ending up just some sort of special law-enforcement agency. What I ended up with is that the main group is an international organization (specialized agency under the UN, perhaps?) called the Legacy Society, whose goal is specifically to carry on the legacy of the original great heroes, due to their cultural and symbolic value. Hence it's important to maintain good PR and a certain image, so their members are encouraged (more or less required) to wear the suits and have code names, and there's a lot of emphasis on upholding certain virtues and acting heroically.

I knew from the start I wanted it to be about legacy characters: The main character, Hyperdyne, is supposed to become the next iteration of Hyperman (their version of Superman) which is one of the main goals of the society since he serves as a sort of figurehead. So, it all actually fits together pretty well.

Cripes, platypus gives EM sensing and poison claws. I never discount the duck-mammals.

Yep, that's pretty much it.

I'd be curious if anyone could guess her full range of powers just going by those animals.

[Sharpandpointies]

I'm alive, I think. At least, compared to Monday and Tuesday, I feel like it.

Always good to hear!

It's mid Alabama we're talking about, so not as laughable as Florida but still quite laughable compared to say Canada or Alaska; it's noteworthy when it drops to the low 20s or 10s around here (-7C to -12C), but it doesn't generally go below freezing most of the time. If what I've found is accurate, average humidity is around 71%, which should be pretty up there. Where I work seems to be a special case, though; because of how the building is built, it somehow manages to amplify extreme temperatures both in the winter and in the summer (to the tune of almost 10F/6C at points, as measured mid-building compared to just outside it).

So, we're looking at an effective 0C to -6C normally, with very rare dips into -13C ~ -19C territory.

Which is fine, except I spend most of my time there on a forklift (going as fast as I can safely get away with), so that 0C to -6C ends up feeling (due to effective windchill) more like -4C to -13C and the rare dips end up feeling more like -19C to -29C.

Hand rewarming is a thing generally reserved for breaks, so once every two or so hours.

That's easily cold enough that if you don't have adequate gloves/mitts (I would honestly advise the latter, barring the need for serious manual dexterity), you could end up in a bad way.

You need some good hand protection, yeah. What kind I could advise, I have no idea. One problem with living up here is that EVERYWHERE sells hand protection that's suitable for that, so I don't pay attention to brands/styles. I would suggest Marks Work Warehouse (or 'Marks' as it's now known), but I have no idea if you have that chain in the US.

I found that the tricky part was justifying why actual superheroes operating legally are a thing, rather than them ending up just some sort of special law-enforcement agency. What I ended up with is that the main group is an international organization (specialized agency under the UN, perhaps?) called the Legacy Society, whose goal is specifically to carry on the legacy of the original great heroes, due to their cultural and symbolic value. Hence it's important to maintain good PR and a certain image, so their members are encouraged (more or less required) to wear the suits and have code names, and there's a lot of emphasis on upholding certain virtues and acting heroically.

That's very similar to ideas I've come up with for RPGs. If one wants to have superheroes running around doing stuff 'legally', a global organization is a good way to go. It also allows for conflict when certain countries *coughs* don't want to have 'global' stuff infringing on their capacity to be assho- wait, I mean for freedom.

I knew from the start I wanted it to be about legacy characters: The main character, Hyperdyne, is supposed to become the next iteration of Hyperman (their version of Superman) which is one of the main goals of the society since he serves as a sort of figurehead. So, it all actually fits together pretty well.

That's a cool idea.

Yep, that's pretty much it.

I'd be curious if anyone could guess her full range of powers just going by those animals.

Not all of them. Beyond the usual (claws, teeth, etc), this is all I get without going to wiki.

- timber wolf: Endurance, capacity to operate in cold.
- grizzly bear: Dense bones, brute power. Ability to hibernate.
- peregrine falcon: Flight, that insane power dive.
- Tanzanian cheetah: 60+mph sprint, gyroscopic balance system
- agile kangaroo rat: Jumping? Agility? That would just be a guess.
- axolotl: no clue.
- platypus: EM Sensory systems, venomous claws.
- giant spitting cobra: specific kind of venom that can be projected
- sidewinder rattle snake: infrared sensing, different kind of venom
- electric eel: electrical resistance and discharge
- great hammerhead shark: not sure, but likely to do with sense of smell (and regrowth of teeth)
- crown of thorns starfish: freakish regeneration
- mimic octopus: dispersed nervous system (effectively multiple control systems in body), ink, chameleon ability, squish yourself through any hole larger than your mandibles
- mantis shrimp: massive striking power for use of either claws or pincers
- various species of spider: tactical planning capacity (certain species of jumping spiders), venomous hair, yet another different kind of venom, leaping, web creation, etc.

You could have thrown on some more. Certain species of jellyfish for a different kind of (agonizingly painful) venom, or the blue-ringed octopus. And I'm sure I missed some stuff from the above. ^_^

[Noldere]

That's easily cold enough that if you don't have adequate gloves/mitts (I would honestly advise the latter, barring the need for serious manual dexterity), you could end up in a bad way.

You need some good hand protection, yeah. What kind I could advise, I have no idea. One problem with living up here is that EVERYWHERE sells hand protection that's suitable for that, so I don't pay attention to brands/styles. I would suggest Marks Work Warehouse (or 'Marks' as it's now known), but I have no idea if you have that chain in the US.

There's a Mark's America, which claims relation to the Canadian branch, but I couldn't actually find any gloves on their site. I guess I'll find something that looks good on the Canadian site and see if I can get it shipped to the states- or, failing that, try to item match it somewhere else that will ship to the states.

[Sharpandpointies]

There's a Mark's America, which claims relation to the Canadian branch, but I couldn't actually find any gloves on their site. I guess I'll find something that looks good on the Canadian site and see if I can get it shipped to the states- or, failing that, try to item match it somewhere else that will ship to the states.

Get thick ones.

Upon consideration, another option is The North Face. They sell gloves, and I would actually back them over Marks.

[Fervidor]

That's very similar to ideas I've come up with for RPGs. If one wants to have superheroes running around doing stuff 'legally', a global organization is a good way to go. It also allows for conflict when certain countries *coughs* don't want to have 'global' stuff infringing on their capacity to be assho- wait, I mean for freedom.

That's certainly possible. I intended for most member nations to have their own local heroes, so MCU Avengers-style international operations aren't common. (Mostly I just wanted an excuse to have the heroes end up in Japan at some point and work with their heroes, who are all very sentai-inspired.)

More unsavory nations that don't agree with the society are either ruled by some very powerful super-dictator who simply took over, trying to exploit their empowered population as super-soldiers, or both. Early on, most governments tried to monopolize hypers for military use or at least severely limit access to the magic space rocks that give people powers for fear of societal upheaval. But then things sorta got completely out of hand and hyperhumans became too widespread to contain.

- timber wolf: Endurance, capacity to operate in cold.
- grizzly bear: Dense bones, brute power. Ability to hibernate.

I'm actually not sure about the wolf myself. I'd say sense of smell, but I'm almost positive she got that from the bear. (Turns out bears smell even better than canines.)

- peregrine falcon: Flight, that insane power dive.
- Tanzanian cheetah: 60+mph sprint, gyroscopic balance system.

These two were basically both for speed, both on land and in air.

- agile kangaroo rat: Jumping? Agility? That would just be a guess.

Yep. Apparently those things can leap at least two meters, reportedly even three. I figured that scaled up to human proportions, that would be some crazy jumping ability. Kangaroo rats can also change direction almost immediately and reach speeds up to 10 km/h.

- axolotl: no clue.

Regeneration, basically. The axolotl is one of the few vertebrates that can regrow entire limbs and even organs.

- platypus: EM Sensory systems, venomous claws.

Correct.

- giant spitting cobra: specific kind of venom that can be projected
- sidewinder rattle snake: infrared sensing, different kind of venom

Correct. Regarding all the venomous animals, she basically has the ability to produce a wide variety of toxins and other biochemicals.

- electric eel: electrical resistance and discharge

Yeah, I thought she was too focused on physical powers and wanted to give her the ability to stun people and throw lightning bolts if needed. The electrical stuff also gave her the ability to hack electronics.

- great hammerhead shark: not sure, but likely to do with sense of smell (and regrowth of teeth)

Electroreception, actually.

- crown of thorns starfish: freakish regeneration

Correct. (Note that Dr Genus apparently used multiple species for the same ability.) Also more toxin, and possibly the ability to grow sharp venomous spines.

- mimic octopus: dispersed nervous system (effectively multiple control systems in body), ink, chameleon ability, squish yourself through any hole larger than your mandibles

Mostly camouflage and shapeshifting, though in retrospect I like the nervous system thing.

- mantis shrimp: massive striking power for use of either claws or pincers

Actually, this one was all about the eyes. Mantis shrimp can see in ultraviolet and have 12 to 15 types of photoreceptor cells. (Humans have three.) Some of them can control the sensitivity of their long-wavelength color vision, called spectral tuning. I'm not even sure what that means but it sounds useful.

- various species of spider: tactical planning capacity (certain species of jumping spiders), venomous hair, yet another different kind of venom, leaping, web creation, etc.

This one I don't quite recall, though the fact that I just wrote "various spiders" makes me think it was just more types of venom. Possibly also the ability to web people up, Spiderman style.

You could have thrown on some more. Certain species of jellyfish for a different kind of (agonizingly painful) venom, or the blue-ringed octopus. And I'm sure I missed some stuff from the above. ^_^

I did leave some elbow room for more by suggesting they didn't even identify all species her DNA is made from. Pretty sure Chimera herself didn't know the full range of her powers and kept discovering new abilities.

She also had this berserk state where she transformed into this huge bizarre monstrosity.

[Sharpandpointies]

Electroreception, actually.

Interesting. Will look that up.

Actually, this one was all about the eyes. Mantis shrimp can see in ultraviolet and have 12 to 15 types of photoreceptor cells. (Humans have three.) Some of them can control the sensitivity of their long-wavelength color vision, called spectral tuning. I'm not even sure what that means but it sounds useful.

I would guess it would mean to filter out different wavelengths to provide better ability to see through camouflage and the like. Might consider their 'mach punch' ability as well.

This one I don't quite recall, though the fact that I just wrote "various spiders" makes me think it was just more types of venom. Possibly also the ability to web people up, Spiderman style.

True about the different types of venom (brown recluse has a VERY different venom than black widow). I just like the tactical planning ability.

Interesting idea for a shmorgishborg of powers.