Uplifted: Humans

[caeman]

I had an idea come to mind and thought I might bounce if off of people

smarter than I when it comes to world creation. Um, that would be you

guys. Stop turning around to look behind you.

Here is the paragraph from my notebook:

Aliens have come to Earth and found humans to be primitive, at best,

by their standards. They have decided to use us in the upcoming

galactic war by 'uplifting' us to a higher level more quickly than

evolution was permitting. The aliens unleashed a vast cloud of

nanites across the entire globe. These nanites would invade our

bodies and change us, giving 1 in 10 people supernatural powers.

So, that is the basic concept. Super powers come to Earth as a result

of aliens manipulating us for some greater purpose. That aspect would

come in to play later in the game. The first phase of the game would

be a planet that is suddenly changed and has to cope with millions of

supers. How would the different governments respond? How would the

world's religions respond? How would the common man respond,

especially those not changed by the nanites? What effect on the world

economy would this change have? Medicine? Technology?

I have much to think about. Feel free to offer up thoughts

[soltakss]

It sounds like an interesting idea.

Aliens have come to Earth and found humans to be primitive, at best, by their standards. They have decided to use us in the upcoming galactic war by 'uplifting' us to a higher level more quickly than

evolution was permitting. The aliens unleashed a vast cloud of nanites across the entire globe. These nanites would invade our bodies and change us, giving 1 in 10 people supernatural powers.

1 in 10 seems quite high. You'd have more conflict if only 1 in 100 or even 1 in 1000 were affected immediately. 1 in 1000 gives you something like 6 million supers but keeps them in an overwhelming minority whereas 1 in 10 gives 600 million supers and makes them very common indeed.

So, that is the basic concept. Super powers come to Earth as a result of aliens manipulating us for some greater purpose.

The problem with aliens manipulating inferior species is that the inferior species don't do what they were supposed to. What happens if the opposing aliens rocked up and the supers decided to join them? What if the supers decided that they didn't want alien intervention and warred on all aliens instead? Why would all supers behave the same way? Some might join the manipulating aliens, some might join their enemies, some might be independent and some might attack all the aliens.

That aspect would come in to play later in the game.

How much control would the PCs have in this? Could they decide the fate of others? Could they uncover the alien plot? What if they encountered the other aliens and found that they are nice? Or horrible? Would the players feel railroaded into fighting a war that isn't of their choosing? Could they be manipulated into doingn things that they think are of their own choosing?

The first phase of the game would be a planet that is suddenly changed and has to cope with millions of supers.

That makes for interesting roleplaying sessions.

How would the different governments respond?

They would try to control the supers. They would recruit supers into their aremd forces, police forces and governmental organisations as spokesmen and poster boys/girls. Above all, they would use supers to further their own ends and try to minimise the control of supers by other governments.

They would be aware that the supers will probably try and govern themselves, so that is something they would want to avoid at all costs.

How would the world's religions respond?

Badly, probably, as that is what religions tend to do. Fanatics would say the supers are witches/wizards/evil/sons of the devil and would try to persecute them. Perhaps they would be seen as messengers from God and new sects would spring up around them. Maybe the supers themselves would follow charismatic supers and start their own religions.

How would the common man respond, especially those not changed by the nanites?

They would be jealous and would try to bring down the supers. If there were only a few they would see them as classic Superheroes from the comics and treat them as superstars. However, if there were many of them the common people would see them as a threat, especially if they banded together and formed communities. There would be wars and revolutions.

What effect on the world economy would this change have? Medicine? Technology?

World economy probably wouldn't change too much. Fortune Telling/Future Seeing Supers would crash the stock markets if they were allowed to invest in stocks and shares. Technology might advance if gadgeteers or inventors made new things, but people would probably rely on the abilities of supers rather than on technology, in certain cases. Healing Supers would be very sought after and would be employed to cure sick people.

[RosenMcStern]

There was an interesting Marvel comic book mini-series by Alex Ross in the '90s about a parallel universe where everyone had super-powers, called Earth-X. You could take some inspirations from it. Admittedly, it is a very dark and apocalyptic setting.

[skarl]

New to this list, and I see that this thread is active on one of my Yahoogroups, world-create.

[seneschal]

OK ... so we're "uplifted." But what exactly does that mean? It wouldn't necessarily create a race of comic book style superheroes (unless, of course, you just want it to). It depends upon what our supposed benefactors think of as "better." Which probably means, "more like them."

In stories I've read where humans were the manipulators, "uplifting" animal species, the results were dramatic but didn't produce gods. The subjects -- rodents, dogs, cats, apes, dolphins -- acquired human-level intelligence, the ability to stand upright on two feet (because humans do it that way), the ability to use their forepaws or flippers to manipulate things (again, because humans have and value hands), and the ability to speak a human language, usually English (never mind what methods they used to communicate before). These creatures retained many of their animal abilities (senses, agility, strength) that were non-human but were not necessarily super-human. They couldn't run faster than a speeding bullet, change the course of mighty rivers, or bend steel in their bare hands (well, maybe the uplifted gorillas could). And you'll notice, they're all mammals that some humans might consider cute and cuddly. No researcher was anxious to uplift garden slugs or rattlesnakes.

With that in mind, it's a question of what affinity do the aliens have for us, what potential do they see (are we cute and cuddly to their sensory organs?). What are they like, what do they value, and thus, what would they consider an improvement? Maybe we wouldn't agree with them. Humans value intellectual ability and physical strength. But what if the aliens value musical ability (and they think Donny Osmond or Slim Whitman is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or whatever it is they eat)? What if they value rapid reproduction? Or the ability to emit certain chemical compounds (which may be unpleasant to human senses)?

In other words, what happens to the poor test subjects if our "benefactors" are the blood-drinking, soap-eating, asexual spider-cephalopods from Centauri VII?

Edited January 15, 2009 by seneschal

[soltakss]

OK ... so we're "uplifted." But what exactly does that mean?

Traditionally, uplifiting gives intelligence to an unintelligent species.

However, in this case it would mean improving the species or giving the species something it didn't have before.

It wouldn't necessarily create a race of comic book style superheroes (unless, of course, you just want it to). It depends upon what our supposed benefactors think of as "better." Which probably means, "more like them."

In the background for the setting, the aliens want powerful warriors and are uplifitng humans to become super-soldiers. So, that probably doesn't make them more like the aliens, unless they have super-powers themselves.

In stories I've read where humans were the manipulators, "uplifting" animal species, the results were dramatic but didn't produce gods. The subjects -- rodents, dogs, cats, apes, dolphins -- acquired human-level intelligence, the ability to stand upright on two feet (because humans do it that way), the ability to use their forepaws or flippers to manipulate things (again, because humans have and value hands), and the ability to speak a human language, usually English (never mind what methods they used to communicate before). These creatures retained many of their animal abilities (senses, agility, strength) that were non-human but were not necessarily super-human. They couldn't run faster than a speeding bullet, change the course of mighty rivers, or bend steel in their bare hands (well, maybe the uplifted gorillas could). And you'll notice, they're all mammals that some humans might consider cute and cuddly. No researcher was anxious to uplift garden slugs or rattlesnakes.

They didn't produce gods because that wasn't part of the story.

Introducing SuperPowers doesn't make people into gods, unless they have very major powers. What it does do is make them different.

Where creatures are uplifted and become telepathic, are they gods? No, but they are more powerful in some ways than humans.

With that in mind, it's a question of what affinity do the aliens have for us, what potential do they see (are we cute and cuddly to their sensory organs?). What are they like, what do they value, and thus, what would they consider an improvement? Maybe we wouldn't agree with them. Humans value intellectual ability and physical strength. But what if the aliens value musical ability (and they think Donny Osmond or Slim Whitman is the greatest thing since sliced bread, or whatever it is they eat)? What if they value rapid reproduction? Or the ability to emit certain chemical compounds (which may be unpleasant to human senses)?

In this case, they want soldiers to help them fight in an alien war.

In other cases they might want other things. Perhaps they like blue hair and breed in a strain of blue-haired people. You could get selected breeding programmes that produce distinct sub-breeds of human. You could uplift to get adaptations to different environments etc. Pretty much whatever you want.

In other words, what happens to the poor test subjects if our "benefactors" are the blood-drinking, soap-eating, asexual spider-cephalopods from Centauri VII?

Humans don't always Uplift to make creatures more human. Sure, cat-people and dog-people become more humanoid but dolphin-people wouldn't. Similarly, aliens might want humans for certain tasks which would mean they are not made more like the aliens themselves. What of they found oxygen poisonous and wanted a slave race that could work in oxygen rich atmospeheres? They would create humans that would be more oxygen-tolerant and that would be a lot less like the aliens.

[Connallmac]

This sounds similar to George R.R. Martin's Wild Card stories, minus the Jokers. I always found that to be an interesting premise.

[caeman]

One of the premises I am approaching this idea from is that the aliens had been living in peace for a long time. They had evolved their species through technology and genetic manipulation to the extent they were at a dead end. They had lost their ability to improve anymore and are trying to cling to their existence. They didn't become god-like beings of pure energy. Through their genetic folly, they made their species impotent of power.

Enter the humans. Untouched. Pure. And ripe for the picking.

The ultra-powerful threat is only ultra-powerful because the aliens don't have the power to fight a war, at least one with the weapons they know how to make, the new enemy is immune to them.

So, kids born after the raining down of nanites via meteorites begin developing power upon puberty. 1 in 10 kids. All over the world. This sort of change in humans would have a rather disturbing end result in some places, and maybe a happy result in others.

Phase 1 - uplift the humans

Phase 2 - make contact

Phase 3 - begin the war

When Phase 2 begins, I imagine the humans may not be as pleased with why the changes happened as the aliens had hoped.

Aliens: "But, we gave you vast power!"

Humans: "But, it happened too fast! Look at our economies!"

[soltakss]

Aliens: "But, we gave you vast power!"

Humans: "But, it happened too fast! Look at our economies!"

Aliens: "But, we gave you vast power!"

Humans: "Now, we are all-powerful wah-ha-ha-ha!"

Aliens: "But, we gave you vast power!"

Humans: "Thanks a lot. Now, what was it you wanted again?!"

Aliens: "But, we gave you vast power!"

Humans: "Thanks, now, lick the dirt off our shoes."

[caeman]

And then comes in the alien mindset of not understanding a species as 'primitive' as Humans. I don't want my aliens to just be humans in rubber suits. According to their thinking, we would be willing soldiers in their fight and not question things, because of our perceived primitiveness.

So, eventually, the humans may join the war because the Big Threat will eventually find Earth, but what humans do with the galaxy after that would be up to them.

But, that is progressing too far to really predict. I don't know if I have the chops to pull of such a long-span campaign and keep the end goal coherent.

[seneschal]

Grease Monkey Graphic Novel

Don't know if you've seen this. I picked up the hardback book at my local library. It describes just such a campaign ... humans and uplifted gorillas (dolphins declined the honor) aboard the warship Fist of Earth seeking the aliens who devastated Earth. The uplift and Earth's reconstruction were made possible by another, supposedly benevolent alien race. In the course of the graphic novel, we never actually run into either of the aliens but there's an exciting battle against the baddies in the animated series promo film.

[MrJealousy]

I suppose part of the uplifting process could be to imprint the humans with a positive image of the 'friendly' aliens.

Kind of like... 'Wow, I'm really impressed by my sudden development of super sonic speed. But I'm not so sure why tentacles fascinate me so much now!'

I guess I'm suggesting that any physical uplift in humans may well come hand in hand with a psychological change as well. If the aliens want the humans as supersoldiers it would make sense to put in a 'standard' mutation that allows the aliens to control the super humans.

Alter the mind and the body will follow?

[christopherhouse]

this is a classic sci fi theme of aliens coming in and puff we now have greater abilities, see lensmenseries by Doc EE Smith, other Classic writers did the same, that why I was thinking of creating a classic space opera setting that is uttilizes the BRP system and all its elements.

some random charts in character generation and more structure career generation. but most games do not take in account the skills and basic abilities of children or young adults who are just as often spot lighted in Classic sci fi stories as adults.

such as

we are not of earth

Tom Swift

are the first two that pop to my head.

but there also seem little room in most games now adays to do cross overs and time trips of people from the past coming to the future.

the classic play your self type of game,