VINES

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Victor: Victor is classified as a “flier”. There are a few different ways of flying recorded. Technically, Victor has the ability to affect the force of Earth’s gravity in his near vicinity. He can make gravity repel him, causing him to float. Using various points of attraction and repulsion in his body, he can “fly” up to 60mph. This does not take any physical effort, but it does require a great amount of concentration.

He can make objects up to 20lbs float if they are within six feet of his core. The weight decreases five pounds for every foot further than that. Conversely, if something such as a projectile is heading towards him, he can cause it to plummet to the ground.

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Inez: Inez has the rare ability to create light. She does this by manipulating an unknown force in the palms of her hands, sending out beams of energy in light form. The light goes out in all directions, but she can focus it by cupping her hands or moving her fingers.

The light itself is not harmful, emitting about as much heat as an LED, but is capable of causing brief blindness at 50 feet when focused properly. She can also manipulate this energy with her feet, but no specific use has been found for this, as she insists on wearing shoes into battle.

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Nick: Nicodemus may or may not actually have a superpower. Several individuals have been found who have an innate knowledge of some part of the natural world, but it is debated whether this is “power” or simply that the people in question are very smart. Nick has an innate knowledge of chemicals and how they react to each other. He uses this knowledge to make various poisons and serums, most of which he puts into darts.

He has no special physical abilities, and as such it is best for him to stay at the edge of any given fight. However, as has been proven, his dart gun is a very effective club when he’s cornered.

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Emmy: Emily is classified as a “speedster”, someone who can move very fast. Like fliers, there are a few different ways of achieving this. In Emmy’s case, it is simply her consciousness, or speed of thinking, which she can adjust. This can go in either direction, giving her hours upon hours of perceived time to finish a test, or make a three-hour flight pass by in minutes.

Her body, however, does not see the passage of time as she does. While she can use her muscles as much as she wants in her perceived time, this takes a great toll on her body. It has been advised she use her ability as little as possible outside of fights.

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Shawn: Shawn has the odd ability to, upon death, regain consciousness the last time he woke up. This is technically classified as time travel. His body feels the same as the last time he woke up, for good or bad. Shawn avoids alcohol out of a fear of repeatedly waking up with a hangover.

This power was discovered when, at the age of thirteen, his father took him white-water rafting and the raft broke in half. It is unknown if anyone else has this power, as most people are reluctant to find out.

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COPPER

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Catherine: Catherine can manipulate the temperature of things around her. Technically two superpowers come out of this ability; pyromancy and cryomancy. Since a decent amount of knowledge is needed to know how temperature will affect any given item or area, people with this ability focus on one or the other. Catherine chose to become a pyromancer.

At this point in time, Catherine is one of the strongest known pyromancers, judging by temperatures she can create and the distance she can affect.

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Oscar: Oscar is classified as a “shapeshifter” He can change his shape into that of a gecko. This does not cause him any pain. However, he does not lose any mass or volume when he does this, leaving him a giant, 200-lb gecko. His clothes do not change with him.

He can change individual parts of his body at a time, giving him the handy ability to climb walls and ceilings. Unfortunately, most ceilings are not designed to have a 200-lb man hanging from them, and as such he’s caused a decent amount of damage and has received a concerning number of concussions.

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Petra: Petra is what is known as an “organic invisible”. She can turn her body or parts of her body invisible. Unfortunately, as this includes eyeballs, going 100% invisible leaves her blind. She can turn things directly in contact with her skin invisible, as long as the thing in question is completely natural and organic.

This means, to be a superhero with any sort of effectiveness, she must wear skin-tight garments with no underwear, and spend a good amount of time without the benefit of sight. Most organic invisibles choose to not join superhero teams.

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Paul: Paul has the ability to teleport. He achieves this by replacing the particles in his body and anything attached to him with the particles of any space he can see.

While arguably the most powerful member of COPPER, his power comes with the most limitations. He must be able to see the area he’s teleporting to. The area must be clear of people or he risks teleporting someone’s arm away. “Attached to him” includes any sort of liquid, meaning he can’t teleport if his foot is in a puddle or if he’s being touched by water running from a faucet, as that would technically mean he’s attached to the planet. Teleporting with anything heavier than he can lift is extremely tiring. And lastly, if he loses focus just before teleporting, he risks teleporting slightly off from where he intended to go, potentially leaving him with his feet encased in asphalt, or his arm through a tree.

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Ethan: Ethan is what’s known as a “screamer”; someone who can manipulate sound waves. Sound carries force with it, and screamers learn how to use this force to their advantage. With it they can move objects, rupture eardrums, hide other sounds, and much more. However, a sound must first exist for the wave to be manipulated, and simply screaming is the best way to create one.

These people are stereotyped as not knowing the meaning of the words “quiet” or “subtle”.

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Rhea: Rhea has the ability to, at will, harden her skin into a pitch black stone-like material. When she does this, her skin cells become extremely dense and thick, preventing anything from getting in or out. It can be cut with difficulty, but will not chip. The thickness of her skin means her movement is restricted, and she runs the risk of overheating due to an inability to sweat. When her skin changes, it pushes out all hair and any excess oils, leaving her completely hairless and with perfect skin.

It also pushes out finger/toe nails. She says this is extremely painful, and as such she always stops the skin change from reaching her hands or feet.

Naming conventions: Superheroes in this world do not go by silly, made-up monikers. This is for a number of reasons. 1) There are too many superheroes, and when they first started appearing, all the good names were quickly taken. 2) In the heat of battle, some heroes on the same team would forget to shout “look out, Lizardchick!” and instead shout “look out, Jane!”, thus completely giving away any secret identity. 3) A lot of the names were very silly, and heroes need to be taken seriously. 4) It just… makes life easier. When a hero joins a team, they are given the option of keeping their name or choosing a new one, as long as the new one is a registered name somewhere on the planet. Last names are never allowed.

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Superhero team names are made up out of acronyms of the first letters of the member’s names. The team name must be 1) a word in a dictionary, and 2) pronounceable in the native language of the country. Bad spelling is acceptable but frowned upon. For example, before Inez joined VINES, they were known as SEVN, and before Catherine and Pax joined COPPER, that team was known as ROPE. The reason for naming teams like this is the same as the first reason heroes are given normal names: there are too many of them. Nearly every city in the world has a team of heroes working there. If there weren’t a way to easily name teams, they’d spend weeks trying to find some sort of “Epic- Amazing- Totally- Awesome- Lightning- People Team”, only to find that name already registered in Detroit. Instead, a hypothetical Sam, Henry, Ivan and Theresa will simply have to find a good anagram for their names, change one of their names if they don’t like the options, kick Sam from the team, or get a fifth member (whose name hopefully does not start with E).