Editing SPOILER: RANDOM NOTES

NOTES & IDEAS

http://www.usanetwork.com/series/the4400/flash.htm

http://www.answers.com/topic/flight-93


These are the stories of Godlike upon their waking, five years following the 9-11 tragedy. 

Building their investigation case by case, Nicolas and Tara slowly begin to shed light on the mystery of the Godlike. Finally, on the very site where the plane crashed, they learn the truth about what happened: The Godlike were not abducted by aliens, no government experiment, but instead were changed by humans living hundreds of thousands of years in the future. Facing an end stage of human evolution and with a vested interest in the betterment of their predecessors, they have sent back the Godlike to play pivotal roles in upcoming events that will impact the future of mankind.


All were quarantined and given a wristband for identification purposes.  The band includes name, contact info, SS#, any signs, and their Godlike number.

ZEALOT closes the Arcadia Estates and is about to open “the Godlike Centers,” a place for people to discover “their inner gods.”  He becomes the legal guardian of  HEALER  and enlists him to heal important potential benefactors of the Godlike Centers.  Now, as the members of the Godlike struggle to resume their “life interrupted,” each will come to play a pivotal role in events still to come…  events that will shape the destiny of the human race.



Based off the mini-series "the 4400" and the comic Supreme Power, you wake up to find you have powers and are one of only 283 other individuals with abilities far beyond reality. A very realistic look at what you'd do with powers in a world that wants to exploit you. Sharing an origin from an event that shook the world.

The origin of Super Powers results from 9/11. 
In the style of comics like Supreme Power and Watchmen and the TV show 4400 with respects to the world and super powers and how people look at them. 
The game would begin with the players in an airport terminal. 
They all would make PL2 normal people for characters and need to have a destination for which they're going on the plane. 
None of the PCs know each other and alot of the opening of the game would be all about interaction at the airport (a noticably lax security airport). 
They'd interact with many of their fellow passengers before getting on the plane. 
Long story short. 
In the air the Terrorists attack to take over the plane. 
Similar to real life events THIS plane's passengers plot to take back the plane... 
The players get a chance to do this but in the mix the plane is going down. It crashes before it's intended target in a field - saving thousands of lives. Seemingly dooming the passengers.  It doesn't. 
CUT SCENE – 
present day. (although prior there was NO REASON for the players to guess they were roleplaying the day that became 9/11/01. 

The passengers start "waking up" 
The players will slowly realize their place/time in history and the events of the world since. 
(similar to Unbreakable and the 4400) all of the passengers survived. All 283 of them! 
SECRETLY the catalyst for their survival and powers was some event from the plane - undecided as yet (possibly a government agent with some sort of scientific chemical or maybe even aliens!). 

The rest would be learning about their powers and eventually dealing with world events and some other supers (like the living terrorists with powers!)... 

They'll slowly learn that they're among the most powerful of the 278 people in the world with powers. 
PL16


Oddly enough, the US Government doesn't have an Agency that includes monitoring and study of super-powers as part of its mission. I think that it would largely depend on the nature of the "event." If it's a plane crash, you'd have NTSB / FBI investigators showing up, and the FBI would probably be able to maintain control of the situation from that point forward, up until the people are released, at which point they would probably kick it up to the National Intelligence Director, who would coordinate the surveillance of the supers. At that point, the FBI would keep tabs on domestic supers and the CIA would keep tabs on international supers. 

Some likely other candidates would be: 

FEMA: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is now a part of the Department of Homeland Security and is a favorite agency of conspiracy nuts, as they have broad authority whenever a state of emergency is declared. In reality, their main job is rebuilding things and getting people to hospitals, but they would have the authority to hold the people against their will if a state of emergency had been declared, and they'd be able to tell other agencies what to do while the emergency lasted. 
www.fema.gov 
www.dhs.gov 

Air Force Intelligence: These are the guys that always get accused of having aliens locked up on a military base somewhere. It seems unlikely that they'd be put in charge in the real world, but if you plan to have the stories of Roswell be true, they would probably take over. 
http://aia.lackland.af.mil/

U.S.A. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases 
Center for Disease Control and Prevention 

No - they will not develop powers until a short time after they wake up. The idea being that the Government will let them go thinking it's okay and then they "erupt" spontaniously after. 

My thought is that the fact the government went on-site of the crash and ALL 283 people were alive and intact but in comas was the main reason for the coverup of the fifth plane and not telling the families... They just reported them missing/dead. 

Meanwhile the government studies them... but finding no anomolies in the time in comas.

the healing coma/stasis with brain activity, that's probably what kept the government watching them. Then suddenly the activity stops (a week ago) and they ready to dispose of the project. They take them off the machines and they start to wake up (finished from the healing and changes) later they start developing powers - as you noted as a side effect more than anything.

the government stepped in and placed all in an "Area 51" type military medical facility. Again with public knowledge but also buried in the media not a cover up so much as a "nothing to see please move along". 

Now if powers do not manifest - my suggestion would be that the "coma" is more of a statis like state - their is brain activity, their bodies do not suffer muscle atrophey, there is no visiable aging, etc. Some reason for the government to A) not remanded them to the care of their relatives and B) run all the tests and set up the medical facility, which can become a foundation to help them reintergrate once they do awake (insert darker black op goverment prupose here).

And here is my idea for the "power surge" effect - Plant control left the dead woman and found its way into a man being beaten. So my though is that something about the "powers" key into poeple in distress. Which leaves them in a "coma" like state but for the new twist its only for 5 days now! And in the five days of "coma", their bodies "heal" at a rapid rate. 

But other than the distressed aspect it all seems random. There is no connection to the two, nothing that would otherwise link them. Now if later you have some cool idea and want to set up some pattern thats cool and could make for a great mystery to slove. 

I think that on the whole the super power thing should be an after effect of the "comas". Unless there was some serious physical mutation going on but I would down play that sort of thing as happening after they awaken. The government is not going to release them all if they suddenly wake up with their powers full on. I say play it that the powers manifest after release and allow the players the chance to role play this discovery. They will be big news simplly for the fact that they all "woke up" at the same time.

WHY/HOW the power energy leaps and seeks someone out after one of these Godlike people are killed... 
Maybe it's just genetic and the powers look for a person that is somehow related (family-line) to another member of the 283... seemingly at random but directed by family line and bio-structure-map...


Basic story breakdown of the Aberrant meta-plot: 
•	A satellite crashes and spews radioactive stuff in the air over tha planet,t his may or may not have been the birth of homo-sapiens-novus, or Novas. 
•	The first publically known Nova was Randal Portman, a firefighter who arrived on the scene of a schoolbus fire. The children were screaming for help and they could not put the blaze up. Suddenly Randal had a flash migrain that knocked him to his knees, the fire then lept off of the bus and onto him, as his body absorbed it. He became known as "The Fireman" 
•	Soon after more and more Novas erupted and came forward. Eventually they pretty much made the world a much better place, by making advances in technology, and even pretty much obliterating open warfare. 
•	Novas are superstars. They are worshipped by the people at large, many even think of them as gods. Some fear and hate them but not very many... 
•	Basically think Marvel's mutant hysteria in reverse. 
•	Currently one organization controls a large percentage of the planet, it is called: Project Utopia. PU is in charge of all technology and what not on the planet earth. 
•	There is also a seedy underbelly to it all... 
•	PU is also secretly trying to keep Novas in check through insidious means. 
•	There are other groups too... Like those Novas who believe that they exist outside of human law and what not. 
•	There are no real Supervillains in Aberrant. Since Novas can easily make immense ammounts of money legally there is no point.

 
NOTES

GODLIKE... a hyper realistic setting akin to Unbreakable meets Supreme Power meets Watchmen meets the Ultimates. 
Set in modern day the "heroes" are just waking up from the event that is "creating" 283 people with super powers - POWERFUL super powers, PL16. 

The player characters and 279 other normal people survive a plane crash, the FIFTH plane in the 9/11 disasters... The one FEMA didn't tell anyone about. In conjunction with Celera and John Hopkins the US government hid the knowledge of the fifth plane because of the freak/supernatural occurance of EVERY passenger surviving - even the ones "KILLED" prior to the crash. 

4+ years later the "Survivors" wake up at the same time. Celera http://www.celera.com/celera/about was commissioned to research the event and has held the 283 bodies in their Seattle branch facility, studying them - testing and collecting tissues and blood. Learning little to nothing and then they wake up... 

Seperated and in paranoia many of the passengers speak out, demanding their rights have been violated. Celera quickly puts plans together to fly the Survivors back to Washington DC for a press conference announcing to the world the revival of these, previously declared legally dead, comatose survivors!! 

Just over 48 hours pass and the passengers (read the player characters) have had enough. One PC, a lawyer and former political aid to Senetor Lincoln Chaffe http://www.issues2002.org/Senate/Lincoln_Chafee.htm pleads his case demanding they all be able to organise as a group then let free. 


Currently the main defense Celera official claims is 
1. the "Survivors" are technically dead and have no legal rights 
2. they're not technically prisoner, they're being held for safety reasons 
3. they're also being held for study, many of the survivors have shown better than average consitution - even healing old diseases and cancer in their own bodies... Celera wants to take that to the world... 



I don't think any defense Celera makes matters. Especially after they have officially declaired these people are Survivors. The "283" are not criminals or even impicated in the 9/11 events. 

Even when people are declared dead they do not have their civil rights suspended when they are shown to be alive. 
Quote: 
Or more specifically I need your thoughts on how to "combat" my player's "legal rights" requests. 
What Celera needs to have done it have a legal-team set up onwership of the of the "bodies" and though they can hold on the the resurrected forever... They might hang onto them for ten years on so. The red tape should be an enormous tangled web. 

The earlist blocks to through out would be that Celera is the one that gets to chose the legal team for the "283". They choose consiensious but inexperienced youngsters with a Man in their hip pocket the lead them. 


Let's look at this.You obviously want your government to be fair and treat these people with respect.I realize this is a game but I think you've gone too far into the realm of fantasy to make THAT fly.Look at the history of the government cover ups:. 
1.Tell people your treating them for a disease but your not so you can study the long term effects of the disease. 
2.Tell the people in a town you're spraying for insects while you're actually testing out a new chemical weapon. 
3.Create a hallucinagenic and test it out on your own troops. 
I could keep going but I think you get the point.In certain high security areas they post signs saying"Unauthorized Personnel Will Be Shot On Sight".Anything the government considers dangerous is regulated and records kept to see who is in possesion of it.(The FBI keeps track of certain books,I.E.The Anarchists Cookbook,because they contain the knowledge needed to build bombs or cause havoc.You have to register to own a gun,get a license to drive,etc)These people have the power to affect the world on an unheard of level.They would be labeled athreat just because they exsist.They wouldn't have rights until the government was sure they didn't pose a threat(which in effect means NEVER.)If any of them protest have "accidents" start to happen to the most vocal of them or better yet have "accidents" happen to people they love on the outside. 
 


Here's another legal matter. Some of the 283's spouses my have moved on, and remarried. Also, some of their children my have been legally adopted. How many of them may have had life insurance policies and wills that had gone into effect?


Humm What about the "Patroit Act" Didn't it set up A HUGE amount of provisiones for legal actions based on the 9/11 events - Now in your world the 9/11 events included a 5th plane event - I am sure that due to that somewhere buried in the "Act" would be some provision to deal with the "Survivors" 

And then there is the whole "health" risk issue that could buy you some time as well but sooner or later the 'Legal' issue will make it impossable to hold them - so I say give it to them let them be released only to discover that thw world has very much moved on without them! And the bed of roses they thought they were headed for is very much thorn laced. 


Ladies and gentlemen of the court, I hold in my hand a very important document that is highly damaging to the "survivor's" case (make survivor's in quotation marks) in this matter. 

Here is a document signed by ten of the top leading geneticists in the world after genetic tissue was handed over to them from the "survivors" following their initial recovery. I would like to read a portion of this now for you all... 

From Dr. Alfonse Drake: 
"The genetic makeup of these subjects, I say subjects because their DNA no longer even remotely resembles human DNA, is unlike anything I have ever seen. If I were given this DNA without knowledge of the source of it I would not even assume that they were human." 

Webster's dictionary states the definition of human as: 

Human 
Pronunciation: 'hyü-m&n, 'yü- 
Function: adjective 
1 a : of, relating to, or characteristic of humans <the vulnerability of the human body> <human chorionic gonadotropin> <human growth hormone> b : primarily or usually harbored by, affecting, or attacking humans <human appendicitis> <the common human flea> 

The "survivors" show major non-human charictaristics, their bodies are not vulnerable to the same things as humans as already demonstrated. 

3 : consisting of members of the family Hominidae : HOMINID —hu•man•ness /-m&n-n&s/ noun 

And the definition of Hominidae is... 

hom•i•nid 
Pronunciation: 'häm-&-n&d, -"nid 
Function: noun 
: any bipedal primate mammal of the family Hominidae —hominid adjective 

Some of these poor beings are not even mammals anymore... Therefore we state that these people are not in fact humans, and as such are not privvy to the basic human rights and also have no right to challenge the wisdom of the united states govornment.


Not really. Celera themselves have trumpeted that these people are survivors of the plane crash. To then turn around and deny it looks very, very suspicious. 

No court in the land is going to approve holding these people, unless the kibosh gets put on the judge somehow. 

Basically, it's too late to do a coverup. The news is OUT. Public opinion is going to swamp anybody who tries to hold these people prisoner. They're national heroes!


 
Oh and not to be a snarky know-it-all, but its changed in the last few years to Hominin. The new classification for Homo Sapiens, our direct ancestors and extinct close cousins is Hominini. Hominea covers African(i.e. excludes orangutans) great apes, including humans ( even you fellas). All of this info is mostly new to me as well, as it comes courtesy of the June 18-24, 2005 issue of New Scientist, incase you are wondering what part of my ass I am pulling it from.






That would be a great intro to becoming super heroes, using their powers for good in a world that hates and fears them. This also leads to the rise of super villains, since suffering a tragedy doesn't make you a good person, and noone poses moral questions at airport security.... 

So the '283' go out in the world, some using their abilities for good, others ill, and some merely want to be left alone. Though the idea of secret identities becomes kinda meaningless doesn't it? Celera and the gov. know who they are, and that information gives them great power over the 283 with the threat of reprisals on those they love hanging over their heads. 


What about passenger #239? Surely one of the 238 was pregnant at the time of the incident. This child would be a toddler now, perhaps with mind control/illusory/reality warping powers that have forced 'them' to keep her/him sedated, or otherwise controlled. 

Or the kid could simply have a 'handler'. Maybe a female officer/agent, that has become attached to the child, causing her to become conflicted. She knows the plan, but her instincts might override her training and job dedication. Personality wise, this person would need to be very grounded, with no phobias, calm and collected. She would have been perceived as cold and calculating before becoming the handler. As the child has started to develop a personality, she would likely become increasingly disillusioned with the ideals of the plan, and increasingly aware of the threat the plan posses to the further development of the child as a human being. 

The handler may have done a very good job raising the child (to this point) to be well behaved. This would lead to the child becoming sheltered, and give the handler's superiors the false sense that she could be replaced, with few ill consequences. I wouln't make the child spoiled, though, just unaware that life could possibly be differnt than he/she has ever know it to be.

I didn't think about it, but with what I wrote above, there are some legal ramifications as well. Did the kid’s parents survive? How old was the woman carrying the kid, was she in her teens, twenties, thirties, or forties? Did she know she was pregnant? Was the father aboard? Who are the child’s closest living relatives? Do they know the child was on the way? If they did, you can be sure they will be asking questions once the condition of the 238 are revealed. The mother would not likely have been as far along as her third trimester, and flown without urgent need. What is the legal status of the child? Was the mother even and American citizen? If not, then the child would at least have duel citizenship, and sooner or later, the country of the mother's origin will want to have a say in the Childs affairs (especially if relatives step forward and ask them to). What if the child's father turned out to be a diplomat? 

{edit}What if the 'mother' was a surrogate for a Diplomat/world leader/ruling family, and was simply traveling to visit family or was on the run to keep the baby for herself.



The dead passengers (and terrorists)... 
They ended up totaling to be TEN. 

- 6 Terrorists (one lived) 
- the Captain 
- the First Officer 
- a Flight Attendant 
- a first class passenger 

and 
heheh.. 
the dead - they won't "get up" for awhile (at least 5-6 more sessions). 
The way I figure it the first "story arc" is just dealing with being realeased and ending with the PCs truely learning their powers. 

The second arc will be more with conspiracy, public opinion and climaxing with rumors of the dead being "used"...... 

Then onto the third arc with the first REAL super battle, probably the surviving terrorist or a crazy passenger (likely the passenger, to hold back on the terrorist) 


The players have heard hints about "283 living bodies" that was then directly contridicted by only having 273 "Survivors"... Etc.. 
The players are confused but very aware of these "missing" bodies so I'd like to lull them to forget about them for awhile. 
Know what I mean? 

The PCs have asked that Celera allow the "Survivors" to arrange all together privately to talk about their situation... 
I'm imagining it (at first) being like a big social mixer...... it could be cool for the *formerly* pregnant lady to be there, either hysterical or drugged or in-freakin-sane having lost her mind due to the baby being gone, etc... 

What do you folks think would be most cool?? 


I like all this line of thinking - however, (whether you know it or not) its VERY similar to the TV show "the 4400" which I am using as inspiration. This seems to be a mix between the super-baby and Miya. 
One of my players watches this show... 
I think I'd like to USE that fact to twist his perception of what will happen. He's likely to think I'll be using the SAME idea from the TV show... Why not TWIST the idea horribly... 
I'm not sure where yet - but I'll think of ideas.... perhaps the baby really is an "evil anti-christ" or hinted at as the "second coming"!! 

Alternatively I could make the kid absolutely human or the next evolution of human. 

Was the mother even and American citizen? If not, then the child would at least have duel citizenship, and sooner or later, the country of the mother's origin will want to have a say in the Childs affairs (especially if relatives step forward and ask them to). What if the child's father turned out to be a diplomat? 


I actually really LIKE these ideas! 
What would be the best country? 
I think we've got the middle eastern countries covered with the terroist factions that will be involved later. 

My first thought is China. 


{edit}What if the 'mother' was a surrogate for a Diplomat/world leader/ruling family, and was simply traveling to visit family or was on the run to keep the baby for herself. 


THAT is neat. 
that way she may appear to be "american" but the baby may be Chinese or whatever... 



I recommend one of the '283' tire of all this crap and snap, unleashing their powers on the doctors, nurses, guards, etc, and making a break for it.  


The PCs already "heard" about one "incident" in the west wing of the facilities. A young girl (Maggie Young) that one of the PCs had a minor passby in Issue #1 is now 7 years old (she was 3-4) and they learned that she wanted her mom - and threw her bed and monitoring station through a wall!! (ie. high Super Strength) 

On hearing this it's when the PCs really started demanding their rights. hehe... 

Other "incidents" could be cool... 
any ideas? 

I'll likely keep them minor for now. 

Full Metal wrote: 

This, in turn, sways public sentiment heavily against the '283', since theyre obviously so dangerous, and the government puts them under guard, until they are forced to fight their way out. There would be no other option for them anymore; they'd never be released voluntarily now, and the government and Celera have the perfect excuse to keep them in cages for study and expirementation. 



I'd have to do an "incident" once they were released then... 
To get the public aware of what's going on. 

Or have the government take them back into custody but with media opening ... having the incident while underguard - OOOOoooo maybe ON CAMERA killing or maiming one of the press!! 




 
Here is a cool idea. If you are someone very wealthy and the controller of massive wealth. You die, and are declared death, and that means legally. You then return from the dead. What happens? 

Could your legal inheritors who had you declared dead (cuz you were) or I suppose the coriner did. Then what? I know only this might happen in the case of Jesus Christ in real life *oh look your back, um well your stuff is already divided to your disciplines, sorry JC. Oh ok well I'll just go back to heaven then. Its been a fun 3 days, cya'. 

Other than than that in a supers game this might actually come up 'for real'. Anyone thought of that. 


Or you could go with Turkey. Turkey is our closest ally in the Middle East, besides Israel, but if you remember, we had some trouble getting them to allow us to send troops through their country during the build-up to the Iraq war. On the surface you might think this is because Turkey is a Muslim country, but it's was more because they were torn between alliance/friendship with us and their attempts to get into the EU at that time(they felt their economic future lay with the EU). They were stuck between a rock and a hard place because some of the more vocal opponents to our invasion of Iraq were also opposed to Turkey joining the EU. 

Point is, Turkey would again be stuck in the middle, as they would want their citizen back, but wouldn't want to piss us off just for the sake of it. However, others in the EU might see it as leverage to be used in US/EU relations.