Looking for world building help

[MrRigger2]

I've recently be inspired to try my hand at an Original Novel (not that anything is really original nowadays), and I'm looking for a bit of world building assistance. My inspiration scene, then thing that is sticking in my mind, is a man walking down a grocery store, pulling items off the shelves with telekinesis and putting them in his basket. And no one bats an eye.

My base idea, the one I'm working with right now has the divergence point set in 1954, where people referred to as Post Humanity, or more commonly referred to as Posts, start emerging to the public eye. They're people with powers and abilities beyond the mortal ken, telekinesis, super strength, flight, the whole grab bag. Now, the thing that makes this a bit different from comics and whatnot, X-men in particular is the numbers. To put it to a comparison, in the Marvel Universe, before the House of M storyline, when mutants were at their most prominent, roughly 1 in 25,000 to 1 in 10,000, depending on location. The hard figure works out to be an average of around 400,000-500,000 mutants. My universe is going to have a Post population (if I can figure everything out) of 10%, or roughly 600,000,000 powered people world wide.

Now, here's where I get to the crux of the problem. In Marvel, mutants are easily put upon and discriminated because there's so few of them worldwide (for a certain definition of easy). When you have 10% of the world population "different", that's harder, not to mention I don't want to send a message about oppression or anything like that, I'm thinking about doing this because I enjoy writing for its own sake. The way I saw it, the biggest problem with powered people in any media, is government power, knowledge, and control. I'm not going to cover a Superpower Registration Act, because that's over and done with. It's not a huge deal, it's something that just another box on taxes and census forms.

I also see a bit of a decrease in costumed Superheroes and Supervillains (they're definitely still there) from what other media have. At six hundred million Posts, most of those people don't have the "hero" gene in them. They're just normal people living their lives. Hence my image of the guy using telekinesis to buy groceries. He's not a hero, he just happens to have powers. If you want to use your powers to help people, you go to the cops/military/government, who have teams to help train you and put you to best use, just like non-powered people. The people who dress up in spandex and capes, well, they're largely considered a bit nutty at best. Of course, those that do dress up tend to be very powerful indeed.

I'm just having a bit of trouble coming up with all the ways life would be different, while still having the world be recognizable. I'm not sure of what else information to give you guys, but I'll do my best to answer any questions you have and I hope you're able to help me brainstorm

However, I'm posing this at a bad time, I'm about to go up to the State Fair tomorrow, so I'll have limited connection time, but I'll do my best to be prompt with my end of the brainstorming.


MrRigger

[Kirai]

Well, one problem I see is that with those numbers it will be hard to control these people... and that they could try to take over. But then, unless they are persecuted first that won't likely happen since people like being able to go out in peace.

And with the large numbers understanding and accepatance should come relatively easy.

There will definitely be research on them though. More or less voluntary, the more law abiding the more voluntary, break a law and you can expect to have to suffer through many a humiliating expereince. Though nothing inherently dangerous probably.

Also capes... I don't think they will run around at all. They would be vigilantes in a world where the cops have the same power, so they would end up in prison very fast, where they either are reeducated to cops, or become villains(and research objects)

as for how life for most people would be different, depends on what powers are available. If somebody has the ability to create super light metal somehow, we can expect some very interesting new material sciences.

Ugh... so many things that can be changed, for example telekinesis would mean very dangerous jobs like bomb technichian? You can defuse the bomb very easily suddenly. Or several fine works on computer chips, depending on how telecinetics work you could probably create even better ones at a fraction of the price you would currently pay for the same level of miniaturisation.(Not that the mutant wouldn't have you pay a lot, still less that usual though)

[MrRigger2]

For controlling people, remember that most people don't mind being led around as long as you don't tell them that's what you're doing. I don't want the Posts to run the world, regular people are too ornery for that. That's not to say that there wouldn't be Post congressmen and senators, or that other countries wouldn't have Post Leaders/Dictators (Dr. Doom), but I don't think the Posts would pull of world domination. Especially since most people don't want to lead, and just as many despise change.

Yeah, I'm not going for a story on discrimination, for the story's current day Posts are accepted by pretty much anyone. Not to say that there aren't bigots running around, but that's real world too.

I'm currently discussing the whole "Science understanding Posts" with g-man on skype, and he brought up much the same point. I'm saying that the general technological level is higher, as regular people would want to know why these people can bend and break the laws of Physics, as well as those Posts who have Mental powers like super intelligence, or Technopathy. So yes, people would absolutely research Posts. If only because there are those who wouldn't have the Required Secondary Powers to keep from hurting themselves, so they would turn to SCIENCE!!!

Talking with g-man, the legal system would likely have to be revamped, at least in part. I'm still working it out.

As for capes, I've already decided there will be some, and I don't think I'd take them out unless an extremely good reason comes along. Remember, Superman and Batman came out in the Thirties, and if people started developing powers, there's at least a few who would be unstable enough to slap on some spandex on and fight crime. That's the jump off point. Posts start to develop, and people, being selfish, start to use their powers for personal gain, i.e. crime. Some people would put on spandex and duke it out. However, the majority of Posts who want to help do just join the police/military/government. And since I'm not writing a "Government is Evil" lesson here, that's not so bad.

And powers run the gamut from "I can turn a 1x1 section of wallpaper purple", to "I'm Superman." Reasoning it out with g-man, I've decided of the Post population, about 10% are Alpha level, or you average Super Hero level of power. Roughly one percent of them would be Omega level, or the "I'm Superman" level of power. I don't think I'm going to have anyone at the "Dr. Manhatten" level at all.

MrRigger

[unknown11228]

Social and ethical repercussions are all largely effected by physical limitations. What powers are available exactly. What limits on control and power are there. Because without set and defined limits Dr. Manhatten is exactly what you'll get.
*Imagines a "so you're a Post" quiz on some government recruitment sight with a list of powers and scale of strength for each.*

[MrRigger2]

Like I said, there's no one at Dr. Manhatten level power. But as for powers that exist at varying levels of strength, you've got all the stock superpowers, Super Strength, Flight, Speedster, Enhanced Senses, Every type of vision under the sun, Telepathy, Telekinesis, Shape Shifting, Fire, Ice, Water, Electricity, Earth, Air, Light, Sound, Super Intelligence, Techopathy, the list goes on. However, there's no one who can alter reality at will like Dr. M could, so there's not one person who controls the fate of the whole world.

To give some hard numbers, of the 600,000,000 Posts worldwide, approx. 60,000,000 are "Alpha" level. For this kind of power, think Cyclops, Beast, Shadowcat, Black Canary, Cyborg, Changeling, Marvel Girl (pre-Phoenix), etc. Beyond that power level, you have the "Omega" level, which boasts about 600,000 worldwide. A huge number, but since there's so many, they'd fall into a check and balance system, should they be pitted against each other, which they likely wouldn't be, as most humans are smart enough to avoid going out and getting into fights everyday if they can avoid it. Most Posts are just trying to live their lives as any regular human would. Most Posts wouldn't go and try to effect worldwide change, because most wouldn't see the need. I'm saying that of the Post population, roughly the same percentage of regular humans who become police officers, so would an equivalent percentage of Posts.

As for power and control over Posts, regular people aren't scared by them. One out of every ten people you see would be a Post, whether it would be visible or not. But by this point, people have grown up with Posts. Posts are here to stay, and people are pretty much over their freak outs.

Now, like I was discussing with g-man earlier, I'm trying to write a first person superhero/sci fi novel, not an alternate history novel. Obviously, some things are different. They have to be. And because I know they'll bite me later on, I'm trying to fix these problems now before I get stuck on them later.

MrRigger

[Thozmp]

Out of curiosity, after Posts started to become more widespread, would comic books still be the same? Literature and what have you would also be affected, as I'm not sure sci-fi stories involving robots would still be considered as such if there are people who make them. The Great american novel would also be a bit different, as I keep wondering about "The Great Gatsby" with Post humans and other books I've read changed just so.

[MrRigger2]

I did consider this, and while there would likely be some comics that feature Superheroes and the like, I think that they would change focuses. I see the comics changing to keep the unattainable element to them. Superhero comics, when they came out, were showing people and beings that were more than humans could be, and after the emergence of Posts, that's not there anymore. They had the superman, he was there. I see them shifting to keep the unobtainable element to them, so I'd say a lot of comics focus more on aliens and outer space, because I've decided that while the Space Race was sped up due to the inclusion of super geniuses and materials brought forth out of necessity (metals and fibers to deal with super strength and intense heat powers, especially), Earth has had no contact with alien life of any kind. But it's something that people want, but hasn't happened yet. So yeah, alien comics for the most common american comics, while manga and whatnot, I don't see changing a whole lot. Manga covers every end of spectrum anyway.

MrRigger

[Dechstreme]

What's the commercial infrastructure like in the world?

[MrRigger2]

Well, I want to avert Reed Richards is Useless, at least partially. There'd be a big jump in the biological sciences, as scientists try to understand Posts, and certain other things would come into being a bit earlier. The internet has been around for years longer, at least commercially, hitting the wide market in the late 80's, rather than the mid 90's. Robots are common enough that people know about them, but you wouldn't see one walking down the street. If you were rich enough, you could have a robot butler, but don't expect much in the way of personality, not that most of them mind. That said, a lot of inventions and progress gets stalled by competition between the super geniuses, and there's not one person that is leading the pack. The big problem is the super geniuses and hyper intelligences each saying they can fix the problem the best, and end up obsessing over outdoing the rest, while they never get around to actually solving the problem.

Medicine and Healthcare would be further along, but while some diseases have been cured, others have sprung up in their place. Super resistant biologies and immune systems lead to super resistant bacteria and viruses. Nature Abhors a Vacuum, after all.

On the entertainment side of things, sports would have very stringent rules on Posts on teams, if they don't just create new leagues altogether. I also see new sports coming into being. gman suggested Air Polo, and I'm seeing all sorts of different teams. Wings, Psychic Flight, Flying Bricks, and team of super geniuses who all use Jet Packs...

I have to wrap this up, but I hope this answers your question.

MrRigger

[Dechstreme]

Yes, it does. Thank you Mr. Rigger

[Thozmp]

What about things like design? A person with wings or a tail isn't going to be wearing the same clothes as a person without, chairs and such might have to be modified, differing fabrics so that people who might have claws don't easily shred their own clothes just getting dressed and people who are invulnerable keep their clothes if they might not notice that it takes the damage they can't.

[QuoteMyFoot]

Posts could make history a lot more interesting, but if you're not interested in going with that (and it could get very confusing very quickly), I think you could get away with glossing over that kind of stuff and saying that, at least for the first decade or so after their appearence, it was harder for Posts to get into politics because of fears of control, etc. Especially if the powers aren't very easily explained at that point. And that sort of stigma might persist to the present day, the same way that female politicans are still not common. Or maybe most Posts just don't want that extra attention. I imagine that anyone with any sort of mind-control powers or way of influencing people's thoughts would be banned from politics and a couple other professions (which could lead to Cursed With Awesome/Blessed With Suck, I suppose).

One thing you might want to think of though is the relative wealth of several leading powers; EU, America, China, Russia, even Japan. If they have a proportionate number of super-intelligent individuals who have been able to create a bunch of new inventions, then they're going to be worth a lot of money. Now, this probably wouldn't effect Japan/Russia TOO drastically, since they have a relatively low population. The EU and China, however... well, yeah. That's a lot of new powerful minds (or powers, depending) coming about. America would still probably be the dominant world power, but the gap between them and the next guy would be a lot smaller.

Just a few things to think about. It's why I could never get on with a project like this, I'd be too busy trying to find out all the changes to history.

[unknown11228]

Did you think of kid posts? I guarantee that they will use their powers in ways their parents and society in general disapprove of. Even if they have the best intentions.
"Sorry about your truck mister, but my sister really wanted that ice cream."
And that is ignoring the ones that try to be superheros.

[MrRigger2]

What about things like design? A person with wings or a tail isn't going to be wearing the same clothes as a person without, chairs and such might have to be modified, differing fabrics so that people who might have claws don't easily shred their own clothes just getting dressed and people who are invulnerable keep their clothes if they might not notice that it takes the damage they can't.

I have thought about design a bit. Clothes to keep up with a living volcano would be, by necessity, extremely durable, while the discerning Half-Bird creature would be concerned with making sure their wings aren't pinned by their clothes.

Posts could make history a lot more interesting, but if you're not interested in going with that (and it could get very confusing very quickly), I think you could get away with glossing over that kind of stuff and saying that, at least for the first decade or so after their appearence, it was harder for Posts to get into politics because of fears of control, etc. Especially if the powers aren't very easily explained at that point. And that sort of stigma might persist to the present day, the same way that female politicans are still not common. Or maybe most Posts just don't want that extra attention. I imagine that anyone with any sort of mind-control powers or way of influencing people's thoughts would be banned from politics and a couple other professions (which could lead to Cursed With Awesome/Blessed With Suck, I suppose).

Yes, there would, by necessity, be rules in place for what kind of powers are allowed in certain jobs. And I see certain jobs requiring additional training. Lawyers requiring classes on mental protection to ensure the DA's mind isn't tampered with. I see anti-telepathy technology being in use in certain fields, even if it might be cost prohibitive for real wide spread use. Same thing with general Anti-Power tech. Dedicated prisons would have it, while the county jail probably wouldn't.

One thing you might want to think of though is the relative wealth of several leading powers; EU, America, China, Russia, even Japan. If they have a proportionate number of super-intelligent individuals who have been able to create a bunch of new inventions, then they're going to be worth a lot of money. Now, this probably wouldn't effect Japan/Russia TOO drastically, since they have a relatively low population. The EU and China, however... well, yeah. That's a lot of new powerful minds (or powers, depending) coming about. America would still probably be the dominant world power, but the gap between them and the next guy would be a lot smaller.

I'm still figuring that out, but I have thought about that. I don't want to make the world unrecognizable to our own, but I know that some things will have to change simply for logic's sake. I still can't decide if problems in Africa would be better or worse. Certain Posts would be able to use their powers to relieve people in need, but at the same time, oppressive Posts would likely take the place of warlords and make life a bit worse.

Did you think of kid posts? I guarantee that they will use their powers in ways their parents and society in general disapprove of. Even if they have the best intentions.
"Sorry about your truck mister, but my sister really wanted that ice cream."
And that is ignoring the ones that try to be superheros.

And this is a bit of why I say I can't get rid of superheroes completely. Kids want to be superheroes, even ones who never read comics or things of that nature, and you know that more than a few never completely grow out of that. So if you take into account that they'd actually be in a position to become a superhero, I can't see there being no spandex clad buffoons running around. Not that they'd all be buffoons, but I like the word buffoon, and it really doesn't see enough use. And as much as I don't want segregation in this thing, classes for young Posts to learn how to be responsible with their powers would be necessary.

MrRigger

[Dechstreme]

Why do people always equate Superhero with Spandex? I'm more of a plain clothes guy myself. More practical than spandex. Besides, if there are going to be Post Human Police Officers, They aren't going to use Spandex.

What kind of powers would you see being in high demand as part of the Police Forces? Would there be anything different about their uniforms that make them stand out from regular human cops, like a special decoration or modified badges? How about the different sections of a police headquarters? Would there be segregation of posts and normals depending on the Unit, or would the units be mixed depending on the skill of the Posts and the Normals?

[Thozmp]

You know, reading this makes me think of "Wildcards," stories and comics that featured a world that was hit by the Wildcard virus which did essentially the same thing, can't remember when it hit but the people changed fell into three categories: Aces (those with "good" powers: teleportation, pyrokineses, super-strength), Dueces (Those with suck powers: changing the color of wallpaper, blinking to change the channel), and Jokers (unusual biology: wings, tails, lobster claws, multiple limbs) although sometimes Jokers could have powers like the other two. Though sometimes it was hard to tell, such as one woman who had wings, very beautiful, very popular (I think she had her own talkshow), but she was still a Joker, even if only she really acknowledged it.

There's a lot in the stories, and I think most of them occur about 10-20 years after the virus got out, but it does some world building like has been described here.

[MrRigger2]

Why do people always equate Superhero with Spandex? I'm more of a plain clothes guy myself. More practical than spandex. Besides, if there are going to be Post Human Police Officers, They aren't going to use Spandex.

You're right, Post Police Officers aren't going to be running around in spandex, but they also aren't (relatively) anonymous like "Superheroes". Plain clothes would be a lot more practical, but they also don't fit the image of a Superhero. Of course, when I say Superhero, I envision The Cape, you know, the moral beacon who can't be corrupted and always does the right thing. And I'm going to have one of those as one of my characters. Captain Solar, the world's first Superhero, the man who really exposed Post Humanity to the public (way back in 1954), is the perennial Cape. He fights crime, he says, "No, thank you, officer" as the cops take the bad guys away, he saves kittens, he does everything a Cape should do. Of course, he's almost in his eighties, still Captain Solar, and is more myth than man in the eyes of most of the world nowadays, not that most realize this. After all, it's lonely at the top, and most of his contemporaries are either retired or dead, while he's still going.

What kind of powers would you see being in high demand as part of the Police Forces? Would there be anything different about their uniforms that make them stand out from regular human cops, like a special decoration or modified badges? How about the different sections of a police headquarters? Would there be segregation of posts and normals depending on the Unit, or would the units be mixed depending on the skill of the Posts and the Normals?

It depends on what's needed for the unit, what the situation calls for, and what is available. Flying Bricks are always in high demand for a SWAT team that needs to breach a room, while Telepaths and Persuasive Speakers are there for hostage situations. I'm envisioning a guy who can slow time for himself for a few seconds as a sniper, giving him real life bullet time. I wouldn't have different uniforms for Posts and Humans, a beat cop is a beat cop, no matter if you can move things with your brain or not. Most units would be mixed by necessity, but there are probably some elite units that are all Posts, just like there would be some units of only Humans, because the man in charge doesn't trust Posts and their unnatural powers.

You know, reading this makes me think of "Wildcards," stories and comics that featured a world that was hit by the Wildcard virus which did essentially the same thing, can't remember when it hit but the people changed fell into three categories: Aces (those with "good" powers: teleportation, pyrokineses, super-strength), Dueces (Those with suck powers: changing the color of wallpaper, blinking to change the channel), and Jokers (unusual biology: wings, tails, lobster claws, multiple limbs) although sometimes Jokers could have powers like the other two. Though sometimes it was hard to tell, such as one woman who had wings, very beautiful, very popular (I think she had her own talkshow), but she was still a Joker, even if only she really acknowledged it.

There's a lot in the stories, and I think most of them occur about 10-20 years after the virus got out, but it does some world building like has been described here.

I've heard of Wildcards before, though only in passing. Though from what I remember, while the virus could give you powers/mutations, most of the time it just killed you in horrific ways. I could be wrong though. But to be honest, a lot more of my inspiration came from Top Ten, a comic by Alan Moore.

MrRigger

[Dechstreme]

What kind of Posts would be looking at other areas, like construction work and what not?

[MrRigger2]

I see Empaths getting into psychology, provided they don't get ambitious and try to fix some of the real psychos and end up insane themselves. A lot of Telepaths would likely end up drafted by the government (not actually drafted, more like recruited) or working in fields that don't utilize their Telepathy, as going through peoples minds always struck me as a more evil power if not carefully controlled. Speedsters would be in high demand in a wide variety of areas, I see a firm called SpedEx, promising your package delivered anywhere in the world in thirty minutes or less. (I judge speedsters more on a Flash scale than a Quicksilver one.) I see one character who is a walking nuclear reactor, with the unfortunate inability to turn it off, so they have to spend their entire life in a specially shielded room in a power plant. A guy with eye lasers or heat powers could become a welder. Shapeshifters like Mystique would be in high demand as actors, while Shapeshifters like Beast Boy would be in high demand as animal stuntmen. That said, there would be plenty of people who don't use their powers specifically for their careers. I can see a living volcano as a high price lawyer, just because I like the image of a guy made of rock with a glowing, smoking crater in the top of his head wearing a perfectly tailored suit and delivering a perfect closing statement. Anything anyone else could come up with would be appreciated.

MrRigger

[Dechstreme]

Eh, after hearing about the living Volcano Lawyer guy, I wonder why you actually need help in the first place...

Wait, are any actual animals affected by whatever caused the Posts to emerge?

[ewuvi]

Healers would, of course, be in very, very high demand.

I dunno, people with hydrokinesis and such would probably be very successful as members of emergency disaster aid, yes?

[MrRigger2]

Eh, after hearing about the living Volcano Lawyer guy, I wonder why you actually need help in the first place...

Wait, are any actual animals affected by whatever caused the Posts to emerge?

There wouldn't be any naturally occurring Post Animals, but given that some Mad Scientists are inevitable (I'm going for Trope Overdosed, but not in a bad way), Genetically modified animals would exist, they just likely wouldn't run around wild.

Healers would, of course, be in very, very high demand.

I dunno, people with hydrokinesis and such would probably be very successful as members of emergency disaster aid, yes?

Healers would be in extremely high demand, and only the weakest would likely stay out of the medical field, if only because of societal pressure. A Flying Brick can get away with working a desk job. Someone with a Healing Touch would find it much more difficult, and would likely only not be in the medical field in extreme extenuating circumstances.

MrRigger

[Dechstreme]

You may have a point about that, 'Wuvi. But in that tangent, wouldn't they also used other elemental types for that career?

[MrRigger2]

You can apply a lot of different powers to disaster aid. Telepathy/Empathy to find trapped survivors, Teleportation to evacuate people, Pyrokinesis to deal with fire, Hydrokinesis for flooding and redirecting fresh water to relief areas, Super Strength/Telekinesis to remove/clean up rubble, Matter Eating for the same, the list goes on. Disaster Relief is easy to put Posts to work in.

MrRigger

[ewuvi]

It would also help them to be accepted by the general public. Revered and not feared and all that.