voice; username: h. wells

[hsalf]

Hello...hm - fellow victims. Not sure what we call ourselves. Teammates? Comrades? ALASTAIR-ains? Considering we've all been ripped from the homes we know, victim perhaps is apt enough until I begin learning names.

[Ok but that's not what this is all about, so moving on:]

I want to pose some questions regarding the powers many people here seem to have. Both of a magic and genetic variety. I'm a physicist who studies the latter back home, from the angle of how environment can effect the spread of genetic mutation that brings people to have special abilities. The phenomenon is a relatively new one back where I came from, so it's still a topic of curiosity for me.

I'm not as well-versed in magical concepts, but from my standpoint they seem to be akin to miracles - powers that warp reality, even in small ways. And not everyone is predisposed to using them. Many of these sorcerers and witches are among the most powerful beings alive.

[He pauses for a moment, the message stopping as he thinks on his idea before continuing to transmit it through the jewel.]

It's nothing you need to get deep about if you don't prefer to - I just want to know what powers you have and what you use them for. Be it back home, or here, since I imagine the use would be far different given our circumstance.

If you're not keen about talking on your abilities, I'm equally curious about the perception of abilities in different world environments. Are they accepted or reviled? Is it everyday or miraculous? Back in my home, most people are still reluctant to believe. Those who do...well, there are both heroes and villains who use abilities for their own means.

[There's another pause, shorter, and then he softly laughs before going on.]

The multiverse is a vast realm of infinite possibilities. I like to learn as many of those possibilities as possible, if people wish to indulge me. Curiosity is a vicious bug.

Comments

[hsalf]

["Titans" huh? Great beings of myth. He wonders how much like that these "Titans" are.]

Sounds like a perilous threat if it endangers humanity on such a scale. [So he infers from the way Levi phrased it.] Genetics are the make-up of a living thing. In simple terms, they are the building blocks of all living life. Who you are, in many ways, is determined by the genetics that were passed down to you by the previous generations of your family.

[powerdriven]

[ the concept is far too advanced for the repressed folk living within the walls, but given his description, there is another general idea to apply it to. a very basic one, voiced as he grasps it. ]

Blood ties. [ like those of the royal family. ] Then you're saying some latent abilities are caused by a mutation in a family line's genetics? How do you determine it?

[hsalf]

Blood samples are looked at and determined through observation of strands of DNA - that which makes up everything in the body. The gene pool is extensively large over many years of family members related by blood. Harnessing the ability to manipulate the gene pool is sought after by many who wish to create the "perfect human."

[powerdriven]

[ he hadn't liked accepting such a lack of explanation for magic, himself. but something like this doesn't explain it away exactly, and it seemed that the function of "magic" was pretty different in all of their respective worlds. still. ]

That's... insane. And are you among them?

[hsalf]

No - not at all. [He says quietly and sighs.] It's only theory, for now. But it's becoming an increasingly popular idea to the mass public. Being able to create the perfect child to take care of, the perfect adult that can function independently - it's not hard to see why people are keen to the idea.

You don't sound like you're fond of the concept though.

[powerdriven]

Something like that sounds like it's bound to backfire, if you ask me. But I'm not the expert. [ and maybe he's a tad too biased. ] Those titans I mentioned. There are a bound to be a couple dozen or so theories floating around about it, but their origin is considered a mystery.

I'm not a thinker, but even someone like me has to consider that if it's possible to mess with the abilities that make a human a human... it could go too far.

[hsalf]

Science is all about backfires. [If everything turned out nice and clean every single time, then there would be no real advances or breakthroughs he thinks.] But I agree - there is a lot of danger involved in it all.

Humans are extraordinary things, from a scientific standpoint. Our biology is incredibly advanced compared to anything on Earth that I know of. It could be these "Titans" you mentioned are biological experiments.