The Aberrant Condition

Aberrants use taint to change the world around them. Thanks to mass-media saturation,
people of the Trinity era commonly believe that taint drives the Aberrants mad. This is
not the case. It is true that to manipulate taint, Aberrants develop a gland in their brains
that presses on the prefrontal cortex — a golf-ball sized lump of flesh called a Mazarin-
Rashoud node. This node in and of itself does not necessarily lead to mental decline. In
many Aberrants, their lust for more taint sees to that.
Aberrants use taint radiation to affect reality on the quantum level, one step removed
from the subquantum level used by psions. Taint applied to the quantum world stimulates
the fundamental forces, and as an end result the world changes to match the Aberrant's
whim. Taint breaks the normal laws of physics in doing so, and that takes an awful lot of
raw power. As people in the Trinity Era understand it, taint is homogeneous; whether it is
the power an Aberrant uses to rip holes in reality or the diseases and afflictions that such
powers bring with them, though many Edenite “novas” like Apollo Milliken demonstrate
a marked difference between the two effects.
Using taint leaves an Aberrant marked both physically and mentally. Aberrants often
display physical mutations, from the merely cosmetic (blue skin, three eyes) to the more
useful (claws, tentacles). No matter how apparently useless these mutations, they all
serve to distance the Aberrant from humanity — the less human he looks, the less human
he will feel. Controlling taint also warps the M-R node, putting pressure on the prefrontal
cortex (the part of the brain that discerns right from wrong), leading to psychological
damage. Again, this distances the Aberrant from the rest of humanity. Dehumanization
was a factor even in the Aberrant Age, with beings such as Divis Mal starting movements
that ultimately reveled in the inhumanity of the Aberrant condition. That Mal came to be
a spokesperson for Aberrants worldwide is a telling sign.
The dehumanization is not limited to the physical and mental changes that taint wreaks
upon the Aberrant's body. The powers that taint grants also challenge the nature of being
human. An Aberrant that can survive in hard vacuum and does not sleep will not see the
world in the same way as a human. The majority of the effects that taint produces are
external expressions of instant gratification, and often over time an Aberrant comes to
rely on his unnatural abilities. This of course leads to more taint, and through that more
mutations.
Why then do Aberrants only demonstrate a certain few powers? Nobody in the Trinity
Era is sure. Certainly, no Aberrant has spontaneously developed an ability at whim, yet
the basis of their powers seems to be the ability to do anything. It might be a case of
development, the Aberrant only manifesting abilities akin to those it already possesses
due to similarities in the use of taint to get the result. It could be a purely subconscious
block, but after over a hundred years without any evidence of one Aberrant breaking the
block this is unlikely. Other theories include variations in the node affecting how it
handles taint, which is close to the developmental theory. There are teams of scientists
working for both the Æon Trinity and several private research groups who have been
unable to crack this particular mystery.
Of course, not every Aberrant is warped and dehumanized through channeling taint. The
numbers of these low-Taint Aberrants have escalated sharply since the Venezuelan
Phenomenon, with up to 1 in 20 novas being low-Taint. Most of these novas are new to
their condition; their initial jolts of power not enough to trigger mutations or
psychological changes. The Aberrant can further stave off these changes by exploring her
powers in a controlled fashion, not giving in to the lure of using taint as much as possible
“just because,” but applying restraint and self-discipline. Perhaps the best examples of
this attitude towards taint are the Edenite “novas,” as exemplified by Apollo Milliken: he
destroyed a sizeable part of a Chromatic fleet, yet is not an insane, be-tentacled freak (see
Stellar Frontier for more information).
Though Eden is kept a secret from the majority of the world, it does provide a valuable
insight into the Aberrant condition; namely that the more taint is used and pushed to its
limits, the more mutating effects it has upon the wielder. In many ways, this is like
exercise: up to a certain point the development is natural and healthy, but over-exertion
will do more harm than good. This is in many ways one of the key issues of Aberrant
Syndrome, if the taint is given the chance it will end up controlling the Aberrant as much
as he controls it.
Sub-Aberrants as created by the Colony have several notable differences. First and
foremost, they are unable to directly control taint. Being born normal humans, they
haven't the Mazarin-Rashoud sequence necessary for controlling taint. Instead, the
Colony forcibly injects humans that it captures with large quantities of taint radiation.
This overloads their bodies, causing massive physical mutations.
A normal Aberrant — if such a thing could be said to exist — gains his powers through a
control over taint, guided in some way towards a certain common element between these
powers. Sub-Aberrants, on the other hand, have the same thematic concept, but once the
taint-radiation from the Colony has done its mutating work there is no more "free" taint
for the creature to use for its powers. Instead, this taint will warp the body of the sub-
Aberrant to create the powers it possesses. An Aberrant may be able to shoot fire from his
palms through taint alone, but a sub-Aberrant would be warped to the point that one
appendage was a biological flame-thrower. A side effect of the infusion of taint radiation
is to cause lasting psychological damage to the subject, leaving them with an
overwhelming loyalty to the Colony.
The majority of Aberrants faced by psions are sub-Aberrants, made by the Colony in
order to help it recapture Earth. Because their mutated forms radiate an aura of taint, they
often appear no different to psions than regular Aberrants. Indeed, often the regular
Aberrants are better able to hide the taint they produce, leading to all manner of trouble
for the psions involved.

Taint Radiation
Manipulating the universe on the quantum level takes an incredible amount of energy.
Without the precise manipulations made possible by access to the noetic layer, this energy
dissipates as taint radiation. This radiation, capable as it is of shearing atoms from
molecules and of creating matter from apparent nothingness, is not generally healthy to
anything that remains in its general area.
Taint is highly energetic radiation that interacts strangely with matter. The radiation
affects DNA worst, making living things mutate. Plants swell and distort, crops are
useless, and trees sicken and die. Healthy crops fail, grass yellows even as it grows to
head-height and beyond. Trees weep from open sores in the bark. An area of taint
radiation that has had time to affect the local plant life should be mistakable for nothing
else. Taint is, at its core, unnatural. It is the raw power of gods turned loose onto the
normal world without any form of control, and the world should reflect that.
Animals in taint-dense areas mutate too — but in the biological sense. Strange growths
often turn cancerous, eyes cloud over and the sense of smell tries to carry on even though
the nose is a mess of sores. Teeth may elongate, limbs may wither, but whatever happens
to a creature, it will not be beneficial. That's not to say that mutant beasts are entirely out
of the question, but that whatever makes them that way should obviously be a bad thing.
Some Aberrants may be capable of creating warped animals bred for their own purposes,
but without their direction the energies warp an area's fauna almost at random. If this is
ever beneficial to the creature in question is debatable. Hybrids between plant and animal
are also possible, disturbing fusions that should not happen made possible by the
rampaging taint in an area.

Bears With Laser Eyes!

Taint-mutated animals are presented as an option to Storytellers to reinforce the damage that
Aberrants can do to an area just by using their powers. They should be a tragic reminder of how
taint corrupts living matter — it's not called taint for nothing.
Some players and Storytellers will likely take this as carte blanche to break out some of the
wackier mutant creatures featured in other games and claim them as an inviolate part of the
setting. That's just not so. More than anything else, these rules are optional. If some Storytellers
want their taint-infected fauna to come from the pages of Gamma World, that's fine. This
section, however, is not an explicit endorsement of that.
Taint can affect non-living matter as well. Concrete may have molecules sheared off to
the point where it is as light as polystyrene. Plastic melts and warps into alien shapes. The
ground may parch, moisture leeched away, or the area may flood into swampland. A
desert may be blasted into a plain of glass, perfect glittering spires jutting to the sky
among trees hunting for the last water. Most of these effects will be very localized —
with the exception of the Blight and areas of the Florida Archipelago there are no other
large-scale areas suffused with taint radiation on the planet. Smaller areas are certainly
possible, especially in more remote locations where sweeps for Aberrants are less
frequent and the tainted can hide out for long periods. Small areas that house a couple of
Aberrants for a long time that are later destroyed after a massive use of taint are the
perfect locations for warped landscapes, but they can occur anywhere the background
taint radiation has built up to a high enough level.

Taint Diseases
The effect of taint radiation on human bodies is in a special category of its own. Taint is
manipulated by humans — or creatures that were human — and it has a special
relationship with human biology. Some of the people exposed to high intensities of taint,
especially in their formative years, may manifest signs of becoming Aberrants. Far more
run the risk of contracting a painful disease that is nearly always fatal. Taint-based
diseases run the gamut from spontaneous tumors that put the internal organs under
intense pressure to wasting diseases that accelerate the victim's aging. Worse, these
diseases cannot be treated by psions. The miasma of taint radiation that each disease
carries is enough to throw the noetic field entirely out of line around the patient, making
the fine tissue manipulation and regeneration of vitakinetic healing all but impossible.
Subject: Wexler's Disease
From: Choi Sun-Mi, Office of Noetic Security
To: Jun Shan, Æon Trinity, Neptune Division
Encryption: DSE
Transmission type: Textfile
Date: 13:21:12 12.14.2121
Agent Shan, I believe it only fair to inform you that we have completed our investigation into the
recent outbreak of Wexler's Disease among the people of Xinjiang. Going by the taint-ridden
sample of black sludge you managed to extract from one of the victims, we were able to piece
together the spread of the disease. This lead us to an underground storage facility that was being
used by a minor drug ring. There were a number of crates of strange machinery, including one
full of a similar black sludge in canisters. All of these crates were labeled “Metachinery.” We
analyzed the substance in these canisters and believe that they contain active nanotechnological
agents. A sample is on its way to a secure Æon holding facility and the remainder will be
destroyed in line with Aberrant technology protocols.
Stranger are the diseases picked up after an Aberrant dies. Sometimes his particular taint
signature can color the way that the disease manifests. A neutral Legionnaire may help
kill a steel-skinned Aberrant only to be caught in the final explosion and, weeks later, find
that the taint is slowly converting his skin into unliving steel on a molecular level. The
taint from a super-strong Aberrant may inhibit myostatin production, leading to ridiculous
levels of muscle growth to the point where the muscle bulk snaps bones with every
exertion.
Taint diseases should be both weird and scary. They are what happen when Aberrants
meet normal people. Some humans get a mutant cancer. Some have their bones weaken
and muscles atrophy. Some of them die as their bodies convert into disordered
information. Each of them is dying a slow, lingering death as the world's best doctors —
psion and neutral alike — look on, unable to do anything.

Taint and Psi

Psi and taint do not interact at all well because they operate on layers very close to each
other, among the building blocks of reality. Taint manipulates the world on the quantum
level, grouping together photons and gravitons and other tiny particles that just can't be
broken down any further. It also works on the bonds between molecules, atoms and
quarks — the basic elements of physical matter. Psi interacts on an even smaller level.
Down below the quark level — the quantum level — is the subquantum level. The
subquantum (or noetic) level is concerned with the information that describes particles on
the quantum level, and psi lets a psion manipulate this information, changing reality on a
different level.
Down that small, distance is pretty much meaningless. The problem comes with
interference. Too much taint energy sends ripples through the noetic layer and a buildup
of noetic flux can backlash against the taint-based quantum manipulations. Taint, even
the low-level taint radiation generated by an Aberrant, makes psi use in the surrounding
area problematic at best. On the other hand, concentrated psi use can negate an Aberrant's
powers by denying it the taint flow that it needs.
—transcript of a presentation to scientists working on the Nakamura Process, December
16, 2122
I am sorry for the lack of information available prior to this meeting, even compared to other
information on the Process. I believe that our discovery is pressing enough to inform you all
right away.
We have known for a while that there is a single genetic trigger present in both psionically-active
individuals and our novas. We now know that this gene is set early in life by one of a range of
protein chains produced in reaction to background levels of taint. Given different amino acids,
this gene fuses itself into a certain position, allowing the subject to develop further talents only
in the area that this 'switch gene' has determined.
The required protein chains appear to be a natural biological reaction to both taint and noetic
energies. We have isolated a third class of protein chains that could be used to activate the gene,
but given the mutation of the other chains it is likely that the state of the planet has not been
conducive towards their creation for at least one hundred and fifty years.
This discovery is important, as we now know that there are classes of protein chains. The
swamping of the planet in quantum energies at the end of the twentieth century lead to the chains
that precipitate the nova state becoming more complex and increasing the likelihood of their
uptake, directly leading to the Nova Age. Likewise, with the coming of the Proxies the psion-
trigger chains have grown more complex and the nova-triggers have returned to mid-range
production.
In order to curtail the development of both psion and nova abilities, early in the Nakamura
process we introduce carefully cultured protein chains that re-set the switch gene. The process
goes on to develop the gene into full activity before any outside influence can affect it. This
latter part is important, as we have observed the protein chains of natural manifestations
mutating when exposed to significant amounts of the energies that originally caused them to
develop. While these mutations have not been recorded in activated control groups, the potential
(as evidenced by the class of protein chain in the pre-activation state) can increase at any point
up to activation. The strange phenomenon that currently sweeps the planet is altering more than
just the noetic medium. It is altering the balance of all energies, causing people to produce
trigger protein chains of all kinds, though mostly the less-advanced versions. This is, to be blunt,
disturbing. If the number of advantaged individuals in the world increases, we will be unable to
hide our nova scientific assets.
We have no recourse but to step up screening. Every individual who possesses the trigger gene
must either go through the Nakamura Process or leave the country and be placed under special
observation. We are on the brink of losing everything we have worked for, and we cannot let that
happen.
This is a bit harder to bring out in a game without resorting to a set of opposing
modifiers. There's no real pain and no mechanical effects for the interaction except as it
applies to psi use. So how do you evoke the right feeling? Nearby taint alters the noetic
field in imperceptible ways. Just being near a source of taint — be it an Aberrant or a
rock from the Blight — feels subtly wrong, like an oddly-colored smell. Go with it. It's a
slight feeling rather than a super-sense, but it can add color if the players start to
experience odd feelings almost at random, until one or another makes the connection.
Another point to consider is that each psion will have a different kind of odd feeling. One
character's head may hurt in the same way as it does before a big storm, another might
experience déjà vu or prickling thumbs. Work with your players to determine the odd
feeling each character has when something isn't entirely right. If you encourage your
players to describe their characters in some detail before a game that's the perfect time to
gather details like this without having it seem too suspicious.
Rules for psi and taint interacting are on page 146 of the Trinity Players Guide. As that
section indicates, they work best when the rules help the story. Sometimes, that's not so
easy to tell. Does it help the story to have the main enemy of a group of psions with
mostly low-level powers make it even harder to kill him? Maybe, if it'd be a cakewalk
otherwise. But if the characters are fighting for their lives in their underwear the Aberrant
doesn't need the extra help. A lot of this decision rests upon the feel of each Aberrant. If
you want one to be an example of how far humans have fallen, the disruption is a good
idea — the creature is a reminder that the Aberrants have fallen so far that they are no
longer in touch with the noetic world. Aberrants that display less signs of taint but have
obvious power (like Apollo Milliken from Stellar Frontier) should likely also disrupt low-
level powers. This cuts both ways, strong psions will disrupt these Aberrants when they
try to use their powers. On the other hand, if every child of the Colony or raiding taint-
mutant were to dampen lower levels of psi then Aberrants become more alien, and
significantly harder to kill.
All living things have a psi template. As noted above, psi is the “energy” that describes
the universe, containing information about every particle, every object, every person and
every thought. Neutrals in Trinity possess a dot of Psi to represent this noetic template —
their own description on the noetic layer. Aberrants, alone out of everything in the Trinity
Era, do not have this noetic template. The noetic disruption caused by so much taint
flowing through an Aberrant’s node rips the psi template clean from the Aberrant. Sub-
Aberrants also experience this noetic disruption, but as a slow wasting effect. Tainted
areas and people inflicted with taint diseases also degrade, but at a much slower rate,
though this is one of the reasons that taint-diseases are untreatable by noetic means. Some
theoreticians suggest the area at the center of the Blight is close to breaking down entirely
and becoming a state of flux as the information describing the area is entirely destroyed.
An Aberrant has to possess a Mazarin-Rashoud node or be exposed to incredibly high
levels of taint for this effect to manifest. Some of the earliest Aberrants, and some of
those created during and after the Venezuelan Phenomenon do not have nodes — indeed,
they have Psi ratings (see Asia Ascendant for an example of such a nova). When the node
develops, the psi template goes. In its place, the Aberrant constantly generate a low-level
field of taint that keeps her molecules together and her mind attached to them. It is this
field that disrupts psi powers in the presence of an Aberrant, and its strength intensifies as
the Aberrant becomes more powerful, needing more energy to hold himself together. This
quantum-level ‘glue’ is an automatic effect of the Node, and no amount of noetic
manipulation has been able to disrupt it.

Quantum
Quantum is the fundamental difference between Aberrants and novas. It's the term used in
the Aberrant game to distinguish the controlled manipulation of quantum energy from the
uncontrolled, mutating side effects. This difference isn't present in Trinity as nobody in
the setting is aware of it. Nihonjin scientists may know more than anyone else about the
Aberrant condition but even they do not distinguish between quantum and taint. And for
good reason: they have no reason to. Quantum and taint both affect the world on the same
level: why differentiate the two? For the most part this section continues using taint in the
same way so as not to sound like a missing chapter of an Aberrant book.
The difference does help explain novas in the Trinity setting, like those among the Eden
colony and the few remaining in Nippon. They have developed their quantum abilities
steadily, avoiding the buildup of taint that leads to what most of the Trinity universe
thinks of as Aberrant Syndrome. When creating an Aberrant to act as a foil for your
characters it can help to consider its quantum and taint as separate things.

What About Daredevils?

With all of this discussion of psi and quantum and taint, some players and Storytellers may be
wondering what the third kind of superhuman — paramorphs (the daredevils of Adventure!) —
manipulate. After all, they have knacks, they have an equivalent in the Trinity time in the
Nihonjin Superiors (detailed in Asia Ascendant), surely they must also manipulate some kind of
science-fiction energy?
We're sorry to disappoint, but there is no “third energy.” Eximorphs manipulate quantum and
psychomorphs manipulate noetic energy. Daredevils don't work with anything. Their knacks and
“powers” are a shorthand, a handy way to show that they really are just that good at something
without giving them obscenely high scores in any number of broad skills. Daredevils and
Superiors are they way they are naturally.
Also, some fans of all three games may be offended at the idea of daredevils being the biological
“missing link” with Aberrants and psions. Certainly, there is as much evidence to suggest that
daredevils are nothing more than normal — but highly accomplished — people. If the
Storytellers and players prefer, then there's no reason not to go with that idea. It doesn't alter the
game to the point where future supplements will be useless, and is just as valid as our official
explanation.
For some grades of Aberrant, most notably the sub-Aberrants created by the Colony and
many of the taint-crazed creatures trying to take the Earth, the Taint and Quantum will be
just about the same. A powerful Aberrant will have a high Taint, making it obviously an
Aberrant. Most groups of psions will encounter these Aberrants, either in the solar system
or on Khantze Lu Ge.
Other Aberrants will be mildly tainted but possess a greater level of Quantum. This
includes Aberrants who manage to pass for human in most locations, as well as novas
who have not been able to control their power as well as they had liked. Despite their lack
of Taint they are still deformed in some way, and likely insane. Despite that, they have
power exceeding what most non-psions would attribute to them.
Aberrants can also have a vast difference between their Taint and Quantum. They are
apparently human (or obviously superhuman) but not twisted. Their bodies are an
extension of their self-image, and they do not radiate taint in the same way as other
Aberrants. Most if not all of these Aberrants consider themselves novas who are, if not
overly friendly, at least respectful of humanity as a race.
The important thing to remember is that it is quantum, not taint, that disrupts psi. An
Edenite may look perfect and have incredible control over his powers, but the
impressions they make in the quantum world when he uses them have serious
repercussions on the noetic world. They may not radiate taint as an energy field, but their
power unleashed comes from the same source as the taint of all other Aberrants and its
effects on psions are the same.
The Doyen are creatures of pure noetic energy, condensed into the physical world. As
they have a much more active link to the subquantum world they feel the disruption of
quantum energy far more intensely than psions. While a psion finds it harder to
manipulate noetic energy when the local area is bombarded with quantum energy, the
Doyen are physically and mentally disrupted by the quantum flux — they flicker in and
out of existence. They are reminded that humans have the capability within them to
manipulate quantum energy and that is one of the very few things that scares the Doyen
as a species. Like other psionic disruption, it is actually the quantum manifestation rather
than the uncontrolled taint radiation that causes this effect, though the Doyen (along with
every other group in Trinity) do not believe that taint and quantum differ.

Building A Better Mousetrap

Every Aberrant in your chronicle should be unique and memorable. This section offers
tools to help you do that, from tips on motivation and the psychology of an Aberrant to
variant game mechanics for creating Aberrant characters. The last thing you want is your
Aberrants to be remembered not as fearsome examples of human potential gone wrong
but as a horde of faceless mutant freaks — that's one of the things Aberrant cults are there
for, after all.
One of the first things you should do with any Aberrant in your game is work out what its
function is as a character in your chronicle. While the fallen paragon angle is the most
obvious, it doesn't have to be the only one. Perhaps you want to present some
sympathetic novas who live among humans on a colony, only exerting their powers when
pressed. Maybe you want a figurehead for a cult who has worked out a new social order
that encompasses humans, psions and novas working together to save the planet — but it
requires bringing down both the Æon Trinity and the governments of the world. Every
Aberrant should have an angle, and the creation process will be much smoother once you
have found it.
A large number of Aberrants will have “taint-crazed fallen human” as their angle. Indeed,
for sub-Aberrants and other minions of the Colony, that's the main hook, and that is a
good thing. Despite everything said about alternate societies and the novas working with
humanity there are still a large number of Aberrants who want to take back Earth for
themselves and damn the humans living there. Stereotypes exist for a reason. On the
other hand, a stereotype isn't a particularly useful tool for creating a character with real
depth. Dig deeper, look below the surface for the elements in the stereotype that brought
it about, find the archetype and use that as a means to fill in the blanks about each
Aberrant.
At some point, you need to work out what powers your Aberrant has. Whatever
framework you are using to create your creature try to make sure that there are is some
kind of reasoning behind them. The kind of threat you want the Aberrant to be can
determine its powers, or perhaps they are a projection of the Aberrant's archetypal role,
whether she wants them to be or not. Or maybe they are just all effects of the mutations
that have built up on his taint-wracked body. There's no “right” way to create power
themes, as long as you can justify the majority of the powers in a way that won't leave the
players scratching their heads and wondering what the hell the point of the Aberrant was.

Motivation
Once you've worked out the angle of your Aberrants and fleshed out some of the details
you need to work out their motivation — why they are doing what they do? This can be
related to their angle, but doesn't need to be. The motivation should make sense to the
Aberrant — nobody thinks, “I'm going to try to take over the Earth today.” People do
what they do because they believe that it is what they should, and Aberrants are no
different. For example, an Aberrant may attack the Earth because his family and
community drove him away when he manifested Aberrant Syndrome and his isolation in
space has warped his perceptions of the planet.
An Aberrant driven mad by taint is harder to understand, and therefore it's much harder to
work out why he would do what he is doing. Taint-related insanities break the Aberrant
away from his old methods of thinking, focusing more on what makes him different. An
Aberrant capable of controlling people may see regular humans and even psions as
puppets for him to control as he will whereas one with spatial manipulation powers may
regard humans moving passively through three dimensions with no control over their
surroundings as beneath her notice. This insanity is tied to the Aberrant's powers and
mindset in some way, and working it out can give you a greater handle on why she does
what she does.
As a Storyteller you don't need to develop a motivation and full psychological profile for
every Aberrant that features in your series. If your story has a lot of Aberrants it can
quickly become a massive task, most of which will have little impact on your stories.
Work on the Aberrants who are going to have the most impact, both ringleaders and
manipulators behind the scenes. The Aberrants with less of an impact on your plot should
logically have less time spent developing them. If the Colony sends a sub-Aberrant to kill
the psions that have disrupted its latest strategy, the motivation of the sub-Aberrant isn't
the major concern of your story. The Colony on the other hand (or tentacle) should be
given as much detail as your plot needs to make sense, and there should be plenty of
chances for the players to find some of these clues.

Spelling it Out
Aberrants were once human. This is their hook, their reason to be in the setting: to show
just how far humanity can fall when it reaches too high, too fast. The less-warped
Aberrants got to be the way they were because they kept control of the subconscious need
for power, but all too many saw their power as a right. Any story featuring Aberrants as
more than mystery villains should at least touch upon their human origins — the crab-like
thing that disrupts electromagnetic fields around it was once a human with extraordinary
powers, like the psions themselves. With that said, it's all too easy to hit the players as
well as the characters over the head with the burden of responsibility and the price of
power. It's even worse from a player's perspective to listen to Storyteller characters
soliloquizing about the price of power every time they encounter an Aberrant than it is to
hunt Faceless Aberrant Monster #23. It can be very difficult to set the balance right.
Aberrant autopsies should comment on the unaltered human biology that remains —
however much or little that is. A raving sub-Aberrant kidnapped from an asteroid mining
colony who returns to demolish that colony may pause when he sees his family and
friends — or may attack them all the more viciously. An extropian “nova” who acts as a
wellspring of technology for a colony may still keep an image of the child he left on
Earth. It's the little things, the details around an Aberrant that best illuminate his lost
humanity. Working in these details for each Aberrant with a significant impact on your
series can add depth to their character while also illustrating their wider metaphoric role
in the story.

Memorable Foils
Every good character should stick in your players' minds for some reason. Aberrants
make this easier — after all, they each should have something relatively unique that they
can do, and taint has left many looking unlike anything else by the effects of taint.
Unfortunately, if it were as easy as just looking different, the job of a Storyteller would be
much easier. The first, and possibly most obvious piece of advice, is to avoid creating
Aberrants that are similar to each other. Just as characters in a story with similar names
are harder to distinguish from each other, two Aberrants who have glowing blades in
place of one arm will be harder for your players to tell apart, unless the blades are a
footnote to their other mutations. Likewise, insectile and crab-like features are an easy
way to make Aberrants appear different, but used too often can swiftly become faceless.
Without the distinction of hair color and facial description the rest of the creature's
description often fades into the background.
Another thing to consider is that not every Aberrant bears the same mutation for the same
powers. One may have hands surrounded by crackling black energy, through which
strange stars are visible, while another may more prosaically have large, razor-sharp
talons. If every Aberrant that can open warp gates glows blue when doing so, you lose the
element of surprise, and you run the risk of having your players use an Aberrant's
description to catalog its powers. Keep your players thinking on their feet, and make sure
that you describe the powers in a way that ties them to each Aberrant. With that in mind:
describe the powers. Some Storytellers get into the habit of describing the appearance of
an Aberrant, and then resorting to game-terms and statistics. If you want your Aberrants
to be memorable, try to avoid that — if nothing else to avoid confusion between
Aberrants with similar powers. If one has an arm with no hand that vents plasma from the
stump and another breathes flame from a fire-wreathed skull, there's an obvious
difference. If one has a stump of an arm, the other a fire-wreathed skull, but both attack
with the same dice pool and damage there's not that core difference. Being memorable
means making an impression, after all.

Defining Aberrants
Powerful Aberrants don't just come about because of exposure to taint. Some of them are
incredibly potent from birth. Trinity-era scientists do not differentiate between the two
types simply because they do not realize the difference. There are few enough Aberrants
that are sane enough to work with that the idea of letting them breed on Earth is not an
idea that any have dared entertain. Fortunately, most of the Earth-bound Aberrants show
no wish to procreate, and of the colony-based Aberrants it is hard to tell who was made
and who was born.
Among researchers, several divisions have arisen describing various forms of Aberrants.
Some groups will use one definition, some will use another. Some organizations use
multiple definitions when referring to a given Aberrant, to more accurately describe their
origins and relative power level.

Generation
The first generation are the Aberrants that most people think of whenever the name
comes up. A normal human, exposed to taint radiation and bathed in quantum fires that
have burned since the Aberrant War develops a Mazarin-Rashoud node. Generally this
classification is reserved for the Aberrants who originated during the height of the Nova
Age. As such, they’re generally more rare, and at the same time, more powerful.
The first obvious signs of eruption are splitting headaches that can last for days at a time.
The pressure exerted on the brain by the growing lump of proto-matter actively pushes
the frontal lobes out of the way, hence the headaches ― and the madness. The changes to
the Aberrant's brain are not temporary, and the presence of quantum radiation further
alters the electrochemical signals rushing along twisted neural pathways — assuming the
Aberrant still has a brain ― twists his thoughts into what normal humans consider
insanity.
As well as the mental degeneration, a first generation's taint twists his body. While
nowhere near the level of a sub-Aberrant, most do display some physical alterations.
Some of these taint-modifications are beneficial, such as a hardened carapace or wings
allowing atmospheric flight. Others serve no useful purpose, from eyes mounted on stalks
to protruding bony ridges. All of them are permanent. Some are more drastic, such as the
Aberrant's body being transformed into a burning skeleton or a collection of electrical
impulses in a computer network. None of these changes are necessary ― Aberrants fly
just as well without wings as with, and a carapace is just as good as a force field. These
changes are physical expressions of how taint will change a human body that is barely
able to control it.
There are ways for first generation Aberrants to escape the fate of mutation and insanity,
or at least to prolong the period before its onset. So far the Aberrants working for Nippon
and the Edenites have demonstrated the broadest acceptance of this practice, but any
Aberrant ― including many created during the Venezuelan Phenomenon ― can do so
with or without guidance. By not using his powers to their fullest potential whenever the
opportunity presents itself, the Aberrant avoids stressing the parts of his psyche that
channel taint. It's a slow process, requiring a great deal of self-awareness and voluntary
restraint ― discarding the chase for more power can be hard ― but taking things slowly
allows the Aberrant to mature into his growing abilities without forcing them.
Third-generation Aberrants are those who have erupted since the Aberrant War.
Superficially the same classification as the first-generation novas, these Aberrants could
never be mistaken for a nova. They do not accumulate taint over a period of time or due
to misuse of their powers; once they erupt, they immediately display signs of high
degrees of taint. They mutate to a high degree nearly instantly and display many varied
signs of derangement. In short, while first-generation Aberrants may or may not develop
Aberrant Syndrome, third-generation Aberrants almost seem to get it automatically. The
most often encountered “true” Aberrants in the Trinity Era, third-generation Aberrants are
much more common than those of the first generation. Additionally, they also seem to be
weaker, almost as if the rapid onset of their mutation somehow puts a cap on how
powerful they can become.
Second-generation Aberrants are not formed from exposure to taint. They are the children
of the first generation, their bodies better able to channel the taint that has surrounded
them from the moment of conception. The strange genetic material that makes up the
node of a first generation is found throughout the body of a second generation Aberrant,
making taint-spawned insanity much less common. Taint mutations are also less common
as the distributed node prevents a great deal of taint focusing at one point and building up
to dangerous levels.
The second generation are much more powerful than the first. Without the limitations of
taint they have no compelling reason to slow their development and instead forge ahead,
growing in power until they outshine all but the greatest of the first generation. They gain
powers along a theme, like other Aberrants, but are better able to understand their own
abilities and develop them in ways that would seem bizarre to a normal human
intelligence.
In addition to their powers the second generation of Aberrants are different from humans
in their perceptions of the world. Except in extreme cases, they did not grow up among
humans and many never experienced a “birth” as humans understand it ― the parents
must have procreated, but with the wide variety of alterations that the first generation
possess there is no telling what form that intercourse, and the following pregnancy, may
have taken. Each second generation Aberrant has grown up with her powers, surrounded
by other taint-fueled gods. Because of this, she doesn't think like a human would. A
second generation's powers are as natural to them as breathing (if they still have to), and
even those who could frame their thoughts in human-comprehensible terms find little
compelling reason to do so. Kali and Yog-Death (Stellar Frontier, page 109), being the
offspring of the Colony, are the highest-profile second-generation Aberrants known.
The first and second generations are easier to comprehend. Their powers are secondary to
their upbringing, and they still think in broadly human terms. The ability to mutate plants
or create electrical charges is a later change that wasn't present during the formative years
of their psyche. Taint often alters their thoughts, but in the same way that trauma alters
human thoughts ― a good book or website on mental illness can be a great help when
working out how an insane Aberrant thinks. The second generation do not have this
human grounding. Though a second-generation Aberrant's powers expand throughout his
life, he is born and raised thinking very differently from ordinary humans, or even the
first generation. They should be inscrutable ― unless they can advance their plans by
being open ― doing things for reasons that the players will never hope to understand but
that further their own goals.
If two second generation Aberrants managed to procreate, their offspring may well be
some kind of fourth generation. So far, there are no known instances of fourth-generation
Aberrants anywhere in the universe, and what they would be like is anyone's guess. They
could be able to warp all of reality on a grand scale, or perhaps would have no more use
for physical bodies, becoming the taint-based equivalent of the Doyen. The possibilities
are limited only by the Storyteller's imagination.

Tier
Most Trinity-era researchers do not trouble themselves with trying to work out an
Aberrant’s parentage, and this goes double for anyone who encounters a live Aberrant
without expecting it. For simplicity’s sake the Æon Trinity use a broad scale of threat
level. Tier I Aberrants are otherwise referred to as “Prime Threats” and include Caestus
Pax, the Colony, and a few others. This small grade includes the oldest and most
powerful first-generation Aberrants, as well as second-generation Aberrants that are
mature in their power ― a far faster process than the Trinity would like to believe. Third-
generation Aberrants rarely, if ever, achieve this sort of power. Young second-generation
Aberrants and first- and second-generations of a moderate or high power level are
included in Tier II. Finally, weak recent eruptees, powerful sub-Aberrants ― and low-
taint Aberrants when they are discovered ― make up Tier III.
This chapter uses the Tiers to refer to all naturally-occurring Aberrants. Sub-Aberrant by
their very nature must be handled differently. Where distinctions are made between the
generations, each generation is noted with the relevant Tiers.

Sub-Aberrants
Sub-Aberrants are victims. They were not born with the potential to become Aberrants;
instead, a powerful Aberrant suffused their bodies with taint that warped their body and
mind. Hence, a sub-Aberrant doesn't manipulate taint in the same way as other
generations of Aberrants; rather than summoning fire from taint energies a sub-Aberrant's
body must be mutated to produce a napalm-like substance. Every power a sub-Aberrant
possesses must stem from a biological alteration to his body ― though the difference
between a sub-Aberrant and a mutated Aberrant would probably only come out at
autopsy.
The taint injection alters a sub-Aberrant's thought processes. Though he remains as
intelligent as before his sanity is shattered. A sub-Aberrant perceives the world only as it
relates to his condition, the friends who fought to stop him being dragged off are now
enemies who didn't fight hard enough, a loving family becomes a painful reminder of
what he once had. This doesn't mean he will attack things at random ― that wouldn't be
rational ― but it does mean that he will be hostile and will make potentially complex
plans to take revenge either on the people he used to know or the race that abandoned
him.

Who is the Colony?

Lots of Aberrant players are dying to know which of the famous faces of the Nova Age turns into
the Colony. While there are a lot of theories, and several have a lot of backing in the setting, for
the purposes of Trinity the Colony was a nobody during the Nova Age. Perhaps it erupted after
the start of the Aberrant War, perhaps it had been in hiding since the start of things. Nobody
knows.
Of course, if you as a Storyteller have a theory about the Colony's identity then you should
certainly run with it. It gives players an extra mystery to solve and can lead to some interesting
reports of life before the Aberrant War. We don't want to answer the question at this late stage
because we don't want to tread on your ideas and give your players the answers in one page of
one book.

Statistics
There are a number of systems you can use for Aberrants in your games. The default
presented in Trinity is the simplest, offering statistics and powers without any real
difference between a sub-Aberrant pawn and the Colony. This section not only expands
that method for creating Aberrants but also offers alternatives, including using rules from
Aberrant.
The rules for Aberrant creation in the Trinity rulebook are a good point to start from.
However, the single template doesn't really cover the broad possibilities of Aberrants,
especially given the somewhat disingenuous stats. If Apollo Milliken can devastate a
third of a Chromatic war fleet without raising a sweat at Taint 7, why is it that the general
Aberrant template starts at Taint 8? The answer of course is that different powers have
different scales of effect. Nothing in the back of the Trinity book is nearly as powerful as
Milliken's Radiant Conversion, and these descriptions are the real measure of an
Aberrant's power level. With that in mind, use the Taint rating as a measure of an
Aberrant's power reserves, the raw energy he has available. What he can do with that taint
is a function solely of his powers.
As a general guideline, the powers in Trinity are good for creating sub-Aberrants and Tier
III first-generation Aberrants. Use the Aberrant's Taint rating to determine the
effectiveness of these powers — Strength + (half the Taint rating) Lethal damage for
Natural Weapons, Taint rating in damage for Acid and the like. Any further powers
should deal a base level of no more than ten dice of Lethal damage, and should not affect
more than a hundred kilograms of mass or ten people at once. Sub-Aberrants should be
mutated to the full degree of their Taint rating, but cannot possess powers that are not
linked to their physical changes. In addition to the Aberrant powers in Trinity and the first
few dots of most Modes, Storytellers may find inspiration for new powers in Adventure!
or the low-level powers in Aberrant.

The Venezuelan Phenomenon

Many Aberrants have erupted because of the Venezuelan Phenomenon. Creating such Aberrants
is possible with the systems in this chapter, but as many of the low-taint Aberrants are of a kind
not seen since the 1920s there is a better source. A Storyteller with access to Adventure! is
encouraged to create such Storyteller characters as stalwarts. These characters do not have a
Taint rating, and the rules of Taint interacting with Psi do not apply to them. Optionally,
Storytellers may prefer to use a stalwart’s Inspiration rating in place of Taint whenever a
comparison is needed.
When it comes to Tier II Aberrants, you will need more powers. Modes at a certain rating
(usually 3 or 4) are a good model for many common Aberrant abilities, as are
supercharged versions of the existing powers. Despite this, detail an Aberrant's signature
powers separately. For a Tier II Aberrant, a power that costs Taint should be equivalent to
a vehicle level attack or something that affects up to a ton of mass or one hundred people.
Inspiration can come from mid-level powers in Aberrant, if the Storyteller has access to
that game. The level of Taint an Aberrant has indicates how mutated an Aberrant is, one
radical mutation for every two points of Taint. Mutations can include taint-related
insanity, allowing a high-Taint Aberrant to pass for a human right until space begins to
warp in his vicinity.
Tier I Aberrants are old, dating from the Aberrant War, and very rare. The new victims of
Aberrant Syndrome have not had the time to develop their powers to the degree as the
survivors of the Aberrant War, though second generation Aberrants find themselves
developing this level of power relatively early in their lives. At this point, the Aberrant
should have a number of Modes at four or five dots, as well as signature powers that can
affect more than ten tons of mass or more than one thousand people. Mutation from taint
should be either extreme — the Aberrant is a writhing mass of tentacles and teeth, or a
sentient mass of solar plasma — or non-present. An untainted Aberrant of this level does
not use his powers lightly or tax his limits regularly, relying on his lower-level abilities
rather than the extremes of power available to him.
In addition to the systems above, this section presents a number of variant systems for
Aberrants. All of them are designed to scale around the three rough grades of power
mentioned above.
Enhanced Attributes
Many Aberrants possess Attributes above five dots. In addition to the extra dice conferred
by superhuman prowess, there are additional benefits. Perhaps an Aberrant with
incredible Dexterity or Wits can automatically win Initiative, or one with incredible
Charisma can cause others to go along with her out of sheer force of personality. Sub-
Aberrants don't get these benefits, and only Tier I Aberrants should have more than two
Attributes that possess these extra benefits.

Taint for Powers

To add more structure to the rather freeform power framework above, limit Aberrants to
one power per point of taint. In this case, a “Power” can be any number of powers in a
single Mode or an Aberrant Power as appropriate for their power level. Attributes above 5
cost one Taint for three dots.
First- and third-generation Aberrants of any Tier that have warded off the mutating effects
of taint should have one less power than their Taint would suggest, but have at most one
mutation, usually mental or a beneficial physical modification like functioning wings.
Second generation Aberrants do not have this restriction.

Quantum
Assign each Aberrant a Quantum rating as well as a Taint rating. Base the number of
physical mutations on the Taint rating. Taint also determines the level of Ambient Taint
surrounding an Aberrant. Most Aberrants will have a Taint rating of at least 3, though
low-taint Aberrants are an exception. Use Quantum to work out the damage from powers,
and how many powers the Aberrant has if using the Taint for Powers rule above. Use the
higher of the two to determine the Ambient Taint left in an area after an extended use of
powers.
Sub-Aberrants have no Quantum, basing all their powers off their Taint. Only low-taint
novas and first generation Aberrants who have warded off the mutating effects of taint
should have a Quantum higher than their Taint.

Expanded Powers
The following powers clarify and expand upon the list of Aberrant powers given in the
Trinity rulebook. These by no means make up a comprehensive list of Aberrant abilities,
they are presented as a springboard for Storytellers when designing their own Aberrants,
as well as to make it easier to create antagonists on the fly. The powers are separated into
the same ranks as used in the rest of this section — low power corresponds to sub-
Aberrants and Tier III first- and third-generation Aberrants, medium power covers Tier II
first-, second- and third-generation Aberrants, and high power is for Tier I Aberrants. Tier
I and II Aberrants will likely have only one or two powers from their listed power level,
along with Mode-equivalent powers. The majority of their powers will come from lower
grades. The Aberrant powers presented in the Trinity rulebook are all low power abilities.
When powers reference expending Taint assume that an Aberrant has a pool of temporary
Taint equal to her Taint score. Modes that call for Psi rolls or expenditure instead require
Taint rolls or expenditure instead.

Optional Rule: Aggravated Damage

Some of the powers detailed below do damage on a level that disrupts an object’s noetic
template. These powers deal a third kind of damage, called Aggravated damage. This damage is
marked with an asterisk (*) alongside the normal Bashing and Lethal damage, and “pushes” both
Bashing and Lethal along the track in the same way that Lethal pushes Bashing down.
Aggravated damage is soaked with the Lethal soak rating of any armor worn. Aggravated
damage cannot be healed except by psi powers.
Storytellers who do not want to deal with adding another type of damage to their games should
treat all Aggravated damage as unsoakable Lethal damage that does not heal. If used, it is the
Storyteller’s decision which Modes deal Aggravated damage.

Low Power
 Burning: The Aberrant can surround himself with a corona of energy,
razor-sharp bony spines, or some other all-over defense. The effect costs a point
of Taint to manifest for a scene, but deals half the Aberrant's Taint in Lethal
damage to anyone touching him. Also, any non-energy weapon used to attack the
Aberrant has its damage reduced by two. The Aberrant cannot wear armor.
 Claws: Wicked talons tip the Aberrant's fingers, tentacles, or other primary
manipulators. This could also be an energy field or any other rationale for the
Aberrant dealing Strength Lethal damage. Every two points of Taint (rounding
up) deal an additional point of damage (so an Aberrant with 7 Taint would deal
Strength + 4 Lethal damage). These claws do not hinder the function of the
Aberrant’s hands.
 Enhanced Reflexes: The Aberrant's nervous system (or what passes for
one) conducts signals far faster than the human equivalent. The Aberrant doubles
all movement rates, and can take two independent actions each turn. The Aberrant
can channel additional actions at a rate of one action per point of Taint, though
each action taken in this way deals a level of unsoakable Bashing damage to the
Aberrant.
 Extra Limbs: This Aberrant has more than the normal four limbs. While
Tentacles covers the replacement of a limb with a mass of tentacles, extra limbs
come in addition to the normal human four. Every extra arm lowers the dice pool
penalty for multiple physical actions by one die. An extra set of legs doubles the
Aberrant's movement rates.
 Growth: Stimulating cellular growth or shunting taint energies into mass
allows the Aberrant to grow to terrifying proportions. Spend a point of Taint to
grow up to three times normal size. Every multiplier of normal size adds +2 to the
 Aberrant's Strength and Stamina (and can take these above 5 dots), but adds one
to dice pools to hit the Aberrant. Further uses of this power are not cumulative.
 Modes: Several Aberrant powers can be represented using psionic Modes.
Tier I Aberrants should not have effects above the third dot of a Mode, but do not
need to worry about crossing Aptitudes between the six Aptitudes in the Trinity
rulebook. Sub-Aberrants should only have individual powers to suit their
mutations.
 Natural Weapon: One of the Aberrant's manipulator appendages has been
grossly altered to deal incredible amounts of damage. Whether it is constantly
emitting hard radiation or changed into a diamond-hard lobster claw, the limb
deals damage equivalent to the Claws power, but with a vehicle-scale damage add
of one half the Aberrant's Taint, rounded down. The limb cannot be used as a
normal manipulator.
 Sealed Systems: The Aberrant does not need to breathe and is adapted to
survive in a vacuum. This provides no extra protection against attacks but renders
the Aberrant immune to gas, suffocation and the effects of pressure extremes. The
Aberrant also suffers no penalties for orientation when fighting in microgravity.

Medium Power
 Create Matter: The Aberrant can create matter from nothing, shunting
quantum energy en masse into physical form. Ten kilograms of matter costs one
Taint, fifty kilograms costs two Taint and a quarter ton costs three Taint. The
matter must be naturally-occurring and non-radioactive, and the Aberrant can
create it in any basic shape that she desires.
 Duplicate: For two points of Taint the Aberrant can create a perfect
duplicate of itself. One duplicate per dot of Taint that the Aberrant possesses can
exist at once, though there is no limit on how long a duplicate can remain
functional. Each duplicate has the same statistics as the Aberrant, but does not
have the Duplicate power and shares the original Aberrant's taint pool.
 Electronic Communion: Unlike technokinesis this power does not allow
the Aberrant to control computer systems. Rather, the Aberrant can project her
mind from her body, leaving the body capable of reacting only on instinct. The
Aberrant's mind inhabits any complex electronic system, and she can control the
system instinctively. When inhabiting a machine the Aberrants can survive the
“death” of her body and transmit to other electronic systems over hard-lines or the
OpNet.
 Hardened: The Aberrant is exceptionally hardy, possibly through
possessing multiple (or no) organs or other bodily adaptations that make it
incredibly hard to kill. As a result, the Aberrant has a duplicate of each Health
Level. As an added bonus, the Aberrant soaks Bashing, Lethal, and Aggravated
damage with its full Stamina soak in addition to any armor.
 Modes: Mode-equivalent powers bought for mid-power Aberrants may go
 as high as five dots in a number of Modes. When rolling or spending Taint to
activate these powers, the Aberrant must pay one point less or roll one fewer
success to use the Mode. Any Willpower costs are unaffected. The Aberrant can
use Teleportation Modes at this level, but Quantakinesis is unavailable.
 Molecular Disruption: This is a brutal demonstration of Aberrant mastery
over the strong and weak nuclear forces. Roll Taint in a resisted roll against the
target's Psi. Each success deals one level of Aggravated damage to the target that
bypasses any armor, as its molecules are torn apart at the subatomic level.
 Power Sink: Taint's connection to the quantum world allows the Aberrant
to act as a power sink for a slice of the electromagnetic spectrum (or another
category of energy, such as direct kinetic or sonic). Any attacks of the selected
type of energy have their damage reduced by the Aberrant's Taint. Every point of
energy absorbed in this way can heal one level of Bashing damage.
 Shaping: By restructuring matter on the molecular level the Aberrant can
reshape any amount of existing matter. A tree-branch can be formed into a club,
raw materials combined into a gun, or a mountain into a vast palace. Two points
of Taint allow the Aberrant to reshape up to one ton of matter. The basic elements
must all be present — creating a gun out of a block of ice is impossible — but the
reshaping process can combine them in new ways.

High Power
 Authority: With this power the Aberrant has incredible control over one
particular substance or form of energy. This could be magnetism, plasma, kinetic
energy, acid, steel, or anything else that seems appropriate. The Aberrant can
create, reshape, control, and destroy volumes of matter of up to 10 tons, or an
equivalently large quantity of energy at any distance she can sense.
 Bacterial Consciousness: The Aberrant is not limited to his old body, or
even to a single replacement. This power allows the Aberrant to spread its
consciousness to others by touch, destroying the minds of any victims as it asserts
control. The minds remain linked through the threads of taint, but there is no
central point to the web of consciousness that opponents can target — they must
destroy a significant proportion of the host bodies. The Aberrant can dominate up
to one thousand people without penalty, though psions can resist the Taint roll
with Psi.
 Biomanipulation: Extending taint through other beings, the Aberrant can
alter the biological processes of living creatures. In addition to forcing growth or
atrophy and mutating the base form of a creature, this power allows an Aberrant
to affect viruses and bacteria. Such a use can swiftly result in a pandemic outbreak
of a tailored plague that only affects certain elements of a population — only men,
or those over a certain age. Psions roll Psi in a resisted action to lessen the effects
of this power when it is used on them.
 Modes: High power Mode-equivalent abilities have no limitations. The
Aberrant can have a rating of five dots in as many non-Quantakinetic Modes as
 necessary. Using these Modes does not cost Taint or require a Taint roll to access
the default power level. If using the Freeform Psi rules from the Trinity Players
Guide the Storyteller is encouraged to allow the Aberrant to use the same system.
 Omniscience: By perceiving the threads of quantum entanglement and the
interplay of nuclear forces, the Aberrant extends its sensory range to unthinkable
levels. The Aberrant can perceive every movement in a given city and with focus
can expand this range even further. The Aberrant can project its senses to any
point within one kilometer, multiplied by five kilometers per point of Taint, and is
always subconsciously aware of movement and discharges of energy within that
area.
 Taint Injection: This ability allows an Aberrant to force its taint into the
body of a normal human or other creature. Unlike Biomanipulation, this power
overloads the target’s body, twisting it into something else entirely. By spending
two points of Taint, the Aberrant transforms the human into a sub-Aberrant, with
Taint equal to the number of successes the Aberrant gets on a normal Taint roll.
Any latent psionic ability or dormant Aberrant Syndrome is lost as taint rewrites
the target’s biology. Psions injected with taint die as the foreign energies interact
with the psi wrapped in the psion's noetic template.
 Terraform: A slow-acting power, with this ability the Aberrant can channel
taint over time to affect the geological and climactic conditions of a whole planet.
The power costs one Taint for each major change, which takes six months to fully
come about. These changes can be in atmospheric composition, surface
temperature, or even the size and shape of continents. Once a planet has been
terraformed, the Aberrant can set events in motion that generate hurricanes or
earthquakes, or disrupt the planet's magnetic field.

Using Aberrant Rules

Storytellers who also play Aberrant may wonder just how different novas and Aberrants are.
Aberrant’s character creation and power systems are flexible enough to be used in both games to
good effect. The following section provides rules for using Aberrant rules to create Storyteller
characters for your Trinity games. Rules for creating player characters are on page XX.
Note that several of the powers in Aberrant have a level of effect that some Storytellers may
deem inappropriate for their games. There is nothing wrong with toning down the power
mechanics or indeed keeping the two rulesets for their respective games and using the rules
elsewhere in this chapter to create Aberrant Storyteller characters.

Eruption
Aberrants manifest their powers in times of physical or emotional stress. The form that this stress
takes can color their eventual powers. One of the most common causes of eruption in the Trinity
Era is proximity to a source of taint, be that a powerful Aberrant or an area of taint radiation like
the Blight. Second-generation Aberrants mature into their powers naturally, without needing an
external stimulus, and sub-Aberrants are created by taint infusion. Neither kind has an eruption
to speak of.

Character Creation
Character creation is handled much the same as in Aberrant, with the following changes.

General Character Creation

For baseline character creation, assign whatever Attributes and Abilities make sense as for any
NPC. All kinds of Aberrant start with three free dots of Endurance and Resistance. When
selecting Backgrounds, bear in mind that sub-Aberrants cannot have Attunement, Dormancy or
Node; and that second generation Aberrants cannot take Dormancy as they have no baseline
human form. Eufiber should only be available to old first-generation Aberrants who have kept
their supply from before the Aberrant war.

Nova Points
The following are some suggested Nova Point ranges for the various power levels used in this
chapter. Power Cap is the maximum rating for that power grade to have in a Mega-Attribute or
power. Starting Taint is the number of dots of permanent Taint that the character has before
spending any Nova Points.
Power Grade Nova Points Power Cap Starting Taint
Sub-Aberrants 5-15 2 3
Tier III First/Third Generation 10-25 4 1*
Tier II First/Third Generation 30-55 5 3
Tier II Second Generation 50-75 - 1
Tier I First Generation 75-150+ - 3
Tier I Second Generation 100-150+ - 2

Spend Nova Points according to the chart on page 120 of Aberrant as normal. Sub-Aberrants,
Tier II and III Aberrants should not be created with a Quantum of more than 5. Throughout the
history of the Trinity Universe, only Divis Mal has had a Quantum score higher than 8, and
creating characters on his level can have unprecedented effects on your game. Tier III first- or
third-generation Aberrants can start with 0 Taint for a cost of 5 Nova Points. If this option is
used, no other powers or Quantum can be bought Tainted.
Sub-Aberrants must pick from the following powers: Armor, Bioluminescence, any Body
Modifications, Boost, Claws, Disorient, Flight, Force Field, Immobilize, Immolate, Invisibility,
Mental Blast, Poison, Quantum Bolt, Sensory Shield, Shroud, Sizemorph: Grow, Strobe, Stun
Attack, Warp. Non-Body Modification powers each result in an extra dot of permanent Taint,
with an associated biological alteration that produces the power.

Quantum Powers and Psions

Some powers work differently on psions due to their non-nova nature, and Aberrants have some
extra rules for interacting with them.
• Disrupt functions the same as normal, but is resisted by a roll of Psi + the Mode being
disrupted, as the Aberrant uses focused taint to disrupt the noetic flow around the psion.
• Any “mental” powers that are resisted with Willpower and Psychic Shield, including Empathic
Manipulation, Mental Blast, Telepathy and others, are resisted with the psion's Willpower or Psi,
whichever is higher.
• Powers that directly manipulate a target's quantum signature, including Aberration Transfer,
Node Spark, Quantum Imprint, Quantum Leech, Quantum Vampire, Quantum Authority,
Quantum Supremacy, automatically fail when used on a psion. There's no point in rolling. Using
the Node background or Mega-Perception Enhancements to track the quantum signature of a
psion works at +2 difficulty.
• A psion can destabilize the flow of quantum through an Aberrant with a focused noetic burst.
Each psion can generate an effect akin to the Disrupt power, rolling Psi + highest Mode. This has
no effect on sub-Aberrants and non-quantum powered beings.

Aberrant Societies
The material in this chapter is all well and good, but how is a Storyteller supposed to use
it? First-generation Aberrants don't swarm at the Earth every month, and the vast majority
of powerful Aberrants have no reason to return home at all. There are more ways to
introduce Aberrants into a game than to have them attack Earth. After all, if Eden was
colonized by Aberrants and humans together, isn't it possible that other planets would
have Aberrant inhabitants? There are plenty of reasons to have more planets inhabited by
Aberrants — either with humans or not — and such planets can offer a wide range of
themes to a game.
There are a number of reasons to explore new planets. The characters may volunteer to
accompany an Upeo explorer as he tracks down strange taint-signatures. The Æon Trinity
may maintain a project that monitors for potential colony worlds. The characters may be
part of a field test of an upgraded Leviathan that ends up far off course. These only
scratch the surface, and all include a clue as to how the characters can get to their
destination, be it via Leviathan, psionic teleportation, alien (or Aberrant) technology or
something even stranger.
Whatever your reason for putting your characters on a planet of Aberrants, stranding
them there with no hope of return takes a lot of fun out of the situation. Crippling their
spacecraft is fair enough, but if there's no way to repair it and the Aberrants on the planet
below want them dead, the game quickly changes tone. If there's no hope of escape then
there's a chance you'll lose your players' interest — never a good idea for an ongoing
game. Any of the means used to get them to the Aberrant world can be used to get them
off again, though some will take more work to be believable than others.
There's no reason to limit yourself to one Aberrant world. In the fine tradition of
television, the characters may find themselves moving from planet to planet, trying to
reach Earth or a related colony again. The Kupita (Stellar Frontier, page 62) may send a
ship out with a psion team to map and initiate contact with potentially friendly Aberrant
planets, or a larger Æon expeditionary force may take more than one group of psions
aboard a Leviathan to make peace with the Aberrants or wipe them out. A game using this
model has to be very careful to have each Aberrant colony be actually different from the
last, to drive home just how different groups of humans and gods can be.

Strange Worlds
Aberrant powers can alter the ecosystem of a planet over time. Some Aberrants see
nothing wrong with altering a planet to suit their needs, whether the planet is shared with
humans or not. Sometimes, this can be beneficial — a few Aberrants possess the power to
terraform any planet within reason to an Earth-like standard, given enough time. Many do
not stop there. Planets that have been Aberrant colonies since the Aberrant War will likely
be twisted more and more towards their inhabitants. This could be apparently simple —
natural shelters with furniture all grown from bedrock, a rather more pleasant natural
temperature — or obviously complex — weather patterns that shift with the Aberrant's
moods, or rivers that flow uphill according to altered gravity.
Changes to a planet do not need to be so drastic. Aberrant colonies need not be
functionally different to any other planet with a breathable atmosphere and some gravity,
but the technological and social developments can vary widely. Informational nanotech
may seed one world, educating every inhabitant and providing perfect recall of every
event. The social structures of such a world would develop differently to an extropian
world that sees the human body as an imperfect base that merits constant improvement.
The social and political establishments of either world could develop in any number of
ways and the presence of Aberrants make even bizarre ideas possible.
Aberrant colonies are a chance to explore a wide range of science-fiction ideals that
otherwise may not fit with the standard Trinity setting. While no Aberrant could create a
Dyson sphere from nothing, on a planetary scale the possible changes are endless. A
fascist world where the community always comes before the individual? Definitely
possible. How would you like your citizens controlled? Aberrant propaganda? Mind
control? Technological implants? Or is the society a rebellion against the Aberrants who
initially brought people to the world, hunted as enemies of humanity?
If ideas don't come to mind straight away, look at the world around you. Read the politics
section of a newspaper and try to work out what the possible fallout of controversial
decisions could be. Add advanced technology and super-powerful humans. You don't
have to make every world into a statement about national or global politics, but they can
give you a good starting point.
Try to focus on the social changes and the Aberrant impact on the situation, and work out
how each will affect how the planet appears to the characters. That is the most important
point; you can present a group of players with a beautiful portfolio on the sociocultural
structure of each planet they visit but if every world reacts in the same way to the
characters then most of your work has been in vain. Social structures are hard to
represent, and more than anything else your maxim should be ”show, don't tell.“
You should consider a number of points when creating new planets, though these points
differ between solely-Aberrant colonies and mixed Aberrant-human worlds. This section
isn’t an exhaustive list, just some common points to think about.

Aberrant-Only worlds
Aberrants have settled worlds in groups for as long as they have dreamed of other worlds.
The planets may be impossible for humans to live on, due to a lack of natural resources
like food and water — or oxygen. Alternatively, the world could be analogous enough to
Earth to support human life, but the Aberrants wanted to get away from the problems of
living among humans.
The colony itself could have formed at any time; the pressures that altered the
human/Aberrant social dynamics on Earth don't affect the interactions between Aberrants
themselves. They do affect, however, how the Aberrants interact with any humans or
psions that make their way to the world. Whether the Aberrants remember what it was
like to be human, or have abandoned all of their old life and no longer have any ties with
the past will shape their interactions with visitors. If they remember leaving amidst the
Chinese government threatening to destroy the planet, their reaction to a Ministry
expeditionary force is likely to be vastly different to that of a multilateral Æon group.
All-Aberrant planets are not at all easy to create. Do the inhabitants get on? If so, how? If
not, what rules have they agreed on to avoid destroying the planet? Have they altered the
planet at all? Without the stabilizing force of humanity, it's all too easy for an Aberrant
world to fall to infighting and ideological conflicts. The Aberrants are gods without
worshipers, and have often developed to the point that they no longer perceive things in
the same manner as humans. All too often, their fellow Aberrants do not share their
specific frame of reference and vital concepts become lost in translation.
Why then do these worlds exist? Why would a group of powerful Aberrants who can
barely agree on anything remain on the same planet as each other? Barring outside
pressures such as the only one of the group able to open warp gates teleporting away, the
main reason is that deep within their minds the Aberrants were once human, and most
still have human social instincts. Being alone gives each Aberrant no insight other than
her own, and without conflicting views she can go slowly mad without the influence of
taint. Further than that, Aberrants can be friends and lovers despite their disagreements,
and many find common points even through their altered states of perceptions.
Aberrant-only worlds are more likely to be strange worlds as described above. Assuming
that each Aberrant can survive there really is no limit to the properties a planet can have.
Non-Aberrants arriving on the planet may need any of a wide range of survival
equipment from environment suits for poison atmospheres to VARG-grade encounter
gear for worlds with far higher gravity than Earth normal.
Assuming more than two Aberrants reside on a planet, there will be some form of
structure governing encounters between each. The following list includes the most likely,
but is by no means conclusive.
Anarchy: Rather than the entire lack of rules, the Aberrants adhere to the tenets of
enlightened self-government. Each respects the others and restricts his actions to avoid
affecting the others without their consent. At least, that's the idea. Aberrants can affect
others without meaning to as their powers fluctuate, and there is no central order to
appeal to. Rather, the affected parties must deal with their own problems, and doing so
can lead to open warfare that leaves large areas blasted with taint.
Dictatorship: One Aberrant, either through sheer might or possessing the means of
producing necessities like food, holds authority over the others. This authority may be by
consent, as the others realize that the dictator is necessary and the dictator does not abuse
his position, or the dictator himself may be a tyrant and the other Aberrants struggling to
overthrow whatever puts him in a position of superiority. In either case, the backing of
outsiders can alter the balance of power drastically.
Communal: Each Aberrant does everything he can for the good of the whole, donating
creations and artifacts to the group in the manner of an old nomadic tribe. A communal
group does not have to meet often, but will do so at set times to make sure that everyone
gives back what they take and to share news. As everything is shared by the commune
there is no outright ownership of anything, and the concept of someone having something
that is not used for the benefit of the group is quite alien to this micro-society. The
community runs a communal society above any individual, as opposed to the system of
anarchy that is governed by each individual.
Antagonistic: The Aberrants form small groups based on ties of friendship or beliefs, with
each group antagonistic towards the other. This could be something as simple as a
professional rivalry or as complex as any courtly intrigue. The groups will rarely break
out into open conflict out of a sense of mutual preservation. Rather, each group tries to
get one up on the others, by discovering something new, finding a new supply of food, or
some other means of improving their lot.
Besieged: The Aberrants are not alone, and are not prospering. Another group, either
powerful aliens or another group of Aberrants, are holding the colonists under siege,
trying to get them to evacuate the planet. For whatever reason, the Aberrants cannot leave
— perhaps the first one to be killed was the only one able to teleport, or they have
children who would not yet survive the rigors of spaceflight. Another group of outsiders
could be a big advantage to either side, and characters embroiled in such a situation
would have to work out who to help, if anyone.
Example:
Anthony Selas was one of the novas who fled Earth after the Chinese Ultimatum. His
friends and companions left him behind, teleporting or warping to distant planets. With
nowhere to go, Anthony tagged along with a group of other novas he only knew from
their research. Together, the ten found an isolated planet with an atmosphere of inert
gases that would allow the group to continue their experimental work. Agreeing to meet
only to share results, they descended on the planet and prepared a central meeting place
in addition to their individual settlements. None of the group needed to eat or breathe,
and for most sleep was optional. The group didn't expect to leave the planet, and met to
share results and to ensure that their experiments were not disrupting each other.
Five years ago, their warper was killed. Nobody knows who did it, the death isn't an
obvious match for the powers of any of the group. They are at each other's throats still,
wanting to know who would kill to keep them on the planet. The fact that each Aberrant
has discovered something that gives them a good reason to leave the planet does not help
matters. Actual combat hasn't broken out, but each of the novas believes that one of the
others is a killer and is not about to tell which one for fear of being right. The psions
arrive to an atmosphere of paranoia and distrust. How they handle the situation and who
they decide to trust will have a big impact on the other novas, and will probably decide
the fate of the whole colony.

Mixed worlds
Colonies that incorporate both Aberrants and humans have a different dynamic to
Aberrant-only worlds. The humans have basic needs that Aberrants don't necessarily
require, like food, water and a breathable atmosphere. In turn, the presence of weaker
beings can lead to a number of societies evolving based on the obvious differences in
strengths between the two castes.
Something to consider is when the colony was formed. Novas were exploring space
throughout the early 21st century, through warp gates, teleportation, relativistic travel,
and even some hypertech spacecraft produced by nova inventors that could carry human
passengers. The intent of these early expeditions was for research and curiosity. Once the
Aberrant War broke out, novas left the planet to escape the fighting, and many begged
those who could leave to take human friends and loved ones with them. Rather than the
curiosity of early nova explorers, these were refugees looking for a planet where they
could live without the horrors of a war involving quantum Gods. Finally, the Ultimatum
drove the remaining Aberrants off-world, and a number of humans chose to go with them
rather than remaining on a world that was prepared to destroy itself. Knowing the origin
of a colony planet can give you a wealth of ideas when working out the social structure
and how the colony would respond to visitors, both psion and human.
The presence of humans means that the atmosphere will be breathable (assuming that the
Aberrants haven't altered the humans to breathe methane), and that the basic needs of
human life will be available. The technology could be of any level; an Aberrant who
chose to leave the planet may create wondrous nanotechnology or prefer a tribal lifestyle
without modern conveniences like electricity. Humans again limit the situation, making
the more extreme planetary alterations unfeasible.
Socially, the role of humans and Aberrants varies widely. Aberrants are far above humans
through the simple fact of their powers, and these only increase over time. This does not
lend itself to happy cohabitation. The following list is intended to illustrate some of the
many ways in which Aberrants and humans can exist on the same planet.
Benevolent Dictatorship: The Aberrants ultimately have total control. While an Aberrant
may listen to the humans, nothing mandates that she must give weight to the humans'
concerns. The Aberrants in such a case are concerned with the well-being of the whole
colony, and will use their powers to ensure that it functions as smoothly as possible. The
colony on Eden is a good example of this system at work.
Separation: The Aberrants and humans have little interaction, living apart from each
other. The Aberrants still ensure the well-being of the human population, but will not
interfere in conflicts between individual humans. After several generations the humans
may come to regard the Aberrants in the way that the ancient Greeks regarded their gods,
with tales of the colony's founding and of the Aberrants' actions as myths and legends.
Uplifted: There are a number of reasons that an Aberrant may have altered the humans of
a colony. Perhaps they went in search of a singularity or had some similarly lofty goal, or
the humans were committed to finding the limits of “humanity”. In this state, Aberrant-
designed hyper-technology has blurred the line between human and Aberrant; from
intelligence augmentations and biological customization to seemingly sentient AIs far
more powerful than an SI or human mind, and even humans uploaded out of their
biological forms.
Tribal: The humans have formed into small tribes, grouped around an Aberrant who acts
as a moral and political leader. It's rare for research colonies to take this path, but in a
refugee colony it is all too possible. This isn't a “de-evolution” to a “primitive” level; the
tribes are microcosms of the countries of Earth with Aberrants in place of both
government and military — and many of the problems of the real world.
Providers: The Aberrants may remove themselves from the humans as with Separation
above, but remain involved with the human colonists by supplying anything from
advanced technology (if the colony is otherwise self-sustaining) to food, if the world is a
harsh place to live. Such worlds lend to closer links between the Aberrants and humans
without constant interaction and the problems that that can lead to.
Oppressed: One group, probably the humans, is oppressed in some way by the other
group. Aberrants may flaunt their abilities, not caring how many baselines they injure or
kill in their lust for more power. Alternately, with powerful weapons or alien assistance
combined with Aberrants disinterested in increasing their power the humans could find
themselves oppressing the Aberrants. This would give the world a super-powered
underclass who are looking for any excuse to revolt.
Example:
The nova known as Mercury Jones was a rising star in the late 2030s. His body
converted to living plasma and gravitic anomalies on eruption, he needed a containment
suit to function without destroying a large area around him. His destructive potential
lead to him being highly sought-after in the Aberrant War, but nobody could find him. A
pacifist, he had arranged to leave Earth with a group of friends, relatives, and others to
found a colony on a habitable world far from Earth. Opening a warp gate, they left
without fanfare. The world they found was a rock orbiting a dying sun, nothing like what
the astronomers had promised. With his containment suit badly damaged from the warp,
he sent the humans to land and tore himself free.
Mercury Jones lives on, his body now a tiny star providing heat and light to the colony
on the planet he orbits. He still communicates with the colonists — over 1000 of them by
2121 — through a form of telepathy, but he will leave any visitors for the colonists to
deal with alone. The humans on the planet live a mostly agrarian lifestyle, but brought
and maintain enough technology to give them an edge. Every homestead has a
communications center, linking everyone on the planet, and anything that affects the
colony as a whole is put to a communal vote. By and large, the populace are pacifists,
nobody owning weapons aside from their farming tools. Psions who attempt to attack
Mercury simply because of the taint he gives off will draw the ire of a whole planet —
and even with his help reintegrating the separatist colony into the modern world will be
an uphill struggle.

Back Home
Social interplay between Aberrants and humans doesn't start and end with undiscovered
colonies. Aberrant cults exist throughout known space, humans flocking to (usually first-
generation) Aberrants to serve them. Aberrant cults aren't named by accident; they are
insular societies with members who often cut their ties to their former life in favor of the
cult. Cultists put Aberrant above all others in the social order, and members expect each
other to obey her every command. If the Aberrant can create sub-Aberrants or otherwise
empower individual cultists, these members are elevated to a position between the normal
humans and the Aberrant. Aberrant cults do not always form around one Aberrant: a
group of sub-Aberrants or newly-erupted first-generation Aberrants may soon find
themselves leading a cult.
There is a great temptation for the Aberrants that a cult worships to be cruel. The humans
volunteer to degrade themselves in front of their masters, and the urge to treat them like
playthings is strong. Some cults may have Byzantine hierarchies that exist only so the
Aberrants can play with the power and morality of his subjects, or all the humans may
occupy a bottom rung, with the Aberrant able to destroy any of them for no good reason.
Aberrants who find themselves with a cult must be careful not to get too careless, or else
they will kill or cripple all of their followers.
If the Aberrants in charge of a given cult will randomly start killing cultists for their own
amusement, why would anyone want to join in the first place? There are a few reasons.
The Aberrant will usually reward loyal followers with power within the cult, money,
forbidden technology, or anything else the cultists would find useful. In addition, if
anyone starts persecuting the cultist then he has a group of like-minded individuals —
and, in extremes, tainted mutants — to seek retribution. More than that, in the 22nd
century there are more reasons than ever for a human to go through life feeling
unfulfilled, and the pseudo-religious trappings that many Aberrant cults use are a chance
to belong to a shared secret, to belong to a group that knows something that the world
does not.
In turn, the Aberrant gets more than mindless adoration from the cult. It's hard for an
inhuman taint-ridden creature to do many things in society, thus human attendants who
can arrange transport or special equipment, or keep human authorities from detecting the
Aberrant and his cult, is an obvious bonus. The Aberrant also gets a psychological boost
from people willing to serve him. The world is not kind to Aberrants, and the influence of
a number of humans who really don't think that he should be killed and dissected can
help the Aberrant avoid ruining long-term plans in a fit of rage.