Hive Type

16 Jul 2016

One of the weirdest kiind of breakthroughs provided by The Event is the so-called Hive-Type. They look like common people, weaker even then Paragons, but their main power is the capacity to tap upon knowledge from other consciousness. There’s lots of ways that they can do this: some of them (Villains normally) can take and “process” other’s mind to absorb them into themselves. Some developed this power by bring some kind of dellusional consciousness into power, like those with Multiple Personality Disorder Disease. Others had a kind of weird collective breakthrough where each one can feel the other feelings or even “talk” with them no matter the distance, sharing information and skills all around the Hive.

Some says that Hive-Type are only a kind of weak Mentalist-Type. This is a misconception, sometimes a fatal one: Hive-Type have normally only the power to tap upon knowledge from their “sources” (shared or not), but this can make a difference when one of the minds into your Hive is a US Marine Sniper or even a Verne. This is the main power of them: they can tap from everyone that is somewhat linked with him (how this link is done depend on the Hive-Type), including breakthrough powers! Fortunately there’s so few of them that can do this… But a Hive can be very powerful when he knows himself, his mind-friends and can prepare itself.

Power Permissions

The Hive-Type Power is basically based on how many and how powerful the other minds inside the Hive. The Hive can be a controller one (one main personality just tapping the knowledge and powers from others) or even a Gestalt (where all the Hive can talk to each other “mentally” and so)

Power Skill

Normally, Hive-Tapping uses the Willpower Attribute, although some of them can learn to tap better than normal under his Hive, using the Awareness Stunt.

Invocations and Compels

A Hive-Type can invoke their power to bring upon a consciousness or tap into the Hive resources, or to send messages for another members of the Hive (if you’re part of a Gestalt). At the same time, a Hive-Type can be compelled to lose the control of his own body, took by another consciousness or be called by someone else from his Gestalt.

Hive-Type are also somewhat capable to identify other Hive-Type, at least from the “same type” of themselves. This is also a good way to Invoke or Compel the Power Aspect.

Power Stunts

Normally, Hive-Types, if they take by themselves, will take only Stunts from Paragon or Mentalist, if any, trying to work better with their own powers. Althought they’re nothing against taking some Power Stunts from other Types (or even tapping for them from someone into the Hive!).

The main Hive-Type Power Stunts will take the following Stunts:

• The Others: like the Stunt Pool Metamorph-Type Stunt - but each one has a Hero, Trouble and at least one Background Aspect, that can also be Ivoked/Compelled.
• Gestalt: works like Slippery Metamorph-Type Stunt
• Exchange Consciousness: works like The Change Metamorph-Type Stunt, using Willpower
• Awareness: each level sums +2 to Willpower for Hive-Tapping checks. Up to 4.
• Exchangeable Skills/Resources: as they call upon the Hive to change their powers, they can do this by somewhat tapping on others Skills/Resources. Normally this is done via the Stunt Pool, however a Hive can take some Skills exchange as default. By 1 SFP, you can “lock on” one Skill Exchange, setting it previously. By 2 SFP, you can choose the Exchanges on-the-fly.

  Example: Rick is a Hive-Type that tap upon the skills from other people from his Hive, by calling for their help. One of them is the master-thief and Paragon Lorcas O’Malley. To do this, he exchange his Good Academics (+3) with his Mediocre larceny (+0), representing Lorcas skills on pickpocketing or lockpicking.

• Mindworld: you can consult your Hive for tips on what to do. Pay 1 FP to pay this and call their help on any specific check. On this Challenge/Contest/Conflict, you’ll receive +1 in all related checks, based on your Hive tips. Describe to the GM how you Hive help you at each check. However, you can’t do any check you can’t normally at that moment, like using Power Skills/Stunts you don’t have (although you can do this by using Powers Stunts into a Stunt Pool)
• Tagteam: you have one Consciousness that can assume yourself when you are taken out or give in. Any Physical Consequences stays, but Mental Consequences are ignored and Stress are cleaned out, and can assume the Conflict the point you are. You can do this only once per session. Name this Consciousness and Give it a different Hero Aspect and Trouble. You can use Stunt Pool to build the Powers for this consciousness. 2SFP
• Pain Share: (require Awareness and Gestalt) as far you can contact others in the Hive, you can transfer your pain (either physically and emotionally) to others. Pay 1FP or do a Hive-Tap roll (against the Hive Willpower). If you pass, you can transfer half the shifts of damage you suffered to your other Hive members (all shifts on a Success With Style). If they are taken out you can’t tap on them as long they can’t heal the damage. However, do this is very dangerous: in a Epic Fail, you receive the same number of shifts as a Mental Attack because of the Psychic Shock
• Wyrdmind: You have a somewhat “chaotic” mind by some reason: maybe your Hive is part of a Multiple Personality Disorder, or the minds on your Hive are too much alien for the humam mind. No matter what, you can tap on this to defend yourself from precognation, scrying or other kind of mind-reading. +2 on all Defenses against those actions and, in case of Epic Fail from the reader, you provoke a Mental Attack with the total of shifts of the Failure as damage.

Power Class Requirement

Hives are leveled by how they can control their Hive. Each Awareness Level equals one Class. A Hive-Type without Awareness is considered D-Class.

Variants

The main kinds of Hives are:

• Mind-Absorvers: they can, consciously or not, absorves other’s mind and put it into her own. Some of them also knows how to free them back to their bodies (considering the body is still alive). One of the worst Hive-Mind Villains, called DASD based on the old-fashioned mainframe storage device from some high-power computers, is known to absorve their victims minds as a way to take hostage people he needs to do his crimes, menacing to kill the victim’s bodies and them “free” them into the death oblivion;
• Collective Minds: They are people that can naturally talk between themselves, no matter where they are, with almost no limitation or lag. They “appears” to each other like they are talking directly, and sometimes they can “assume control” on each other’s bodies and provide useful skills. Urbeto is one of the most famous Collective Minds. Meaning village in Esperanto, he/she/they are normal people that fight against common bandits. Some says that at least one C-Type Ajax is part of Urbeto, and that he/she/they can somewhat “transfer” his powers to others into it. Another known Collective Mind is Gaea Hypotesis, a group of kids that can feel which each one feels and then works together somewaht.
• Multiple Selfs: somewhat, they are like Mind Absorvers, but in this case, the mind of the person is somewhat fractured before or during the breakthrough. But they can tap on this to create lots of consciousness that can works like a Doppelganger Metamorph. One of the famous one is Memetic, that looks like able to use the powers and knowledges from almost every pop culture hero or villain. Their motivations are fluid, but recently, after a robbery spree, he gave himself to the authorities and was allocated to Heroes Without Borders;
• Smartmobs: they are not exactly a breakthorugh, although some call them this way. They are more like a organization that can tap into the knowledges from each other via special Vernetech. The main one known is Smartmob itself, a rescue team that, being best of the best, permits each one to provide help to the main agents in action, via the special Vernetech supercellphone created by Urania, a A-Class Verne;
• Mind Hives: the one that gave the Type his name, normally are a combination of bodies that works under a same mind, that absorves minds and controls it. Looks like a kind of combo of Redux, and Hive… And sometime even Verne, like in the main case, MCP, a Verne that, gone crazy, created his own army of people controlled by his nanotech.

Observations

This type maybe will need some work on how things will be work. A tip is to previously create all The Others

Inspirations:

• Mind Absorbers: Somewhat on Marvel’s Rogue
• Collective Minds: BBC’s Sense8 and Morrison Doom Patrol’s Crazy Jane
• Multiple Selfs: Vertigo’s Shade, The Mutable Man; and somewhat DC’s Firestorm
• Smartmobs: Warren Ellis’ Global Frequency
• Mind Hives: Star Trek’s Borgs; Perry Rhodan’s Posbis