SUPERHEROES !

[Kalub Rade]

We all know that, depending on your godly parentage, that you will show some type of skill/ability that is affiliated with the domain that your godly parent resides over. From both series, we have noticed that children of the Big Three are noticeable stronger than others. Yet, we've also been introduced to characters who are not of the Big Three and yet they have formidable abilities that make them "threats". Most notably, we've encountered Piper and Leo. Aphrodite and Hephaestus. Piper can charmspeak. A term we've only just come to know, but it's basically the power of persuasion. Her abilities were so strong, she was able talk Jason back to life. Leo? He can create, manipulate, and is resistant to fire. WHO KNEW! Even when we thought children of Zeus couldn't get any stronger after seeing Thalia throw around lightning like a badass, suddenly Jason shows up and is able to FLY?!

It brings up the question of what other demigods have abilities that are drastically more powerful than their average abilities. We've seen Clarisse turn an arrow into rubber. Is this some type of foreshadowing that a few select Ares kids can manipulate weaponry altogether? I brought up the topic to Echoe, and she said that I should find out what everyone else thinks. So, I decided to create a list of more powerful abilities that a few children of a god could possess (not saying they're the only ones!) Some of the few are already being used by a few members on the site. Let's start with the Big Three, shall we?!

ZEUS

• We've already seen Heracles do it in the Disney movie. I mean, c'mon. He strangled the Nemean Lion with his bare hands. SUPER STRENGTH! I'm talking Hulk strong. It's not really a far stretch when you look back at the myth. If he could have it, why can't a particular character have it now?
  
• Weather manipulation. We've seen lesser forms, but I'm talking about complete manipulation. Make it rain, create a thunderstorm, make the clouds go away. All of it.
  

POSEIDON

• Percy showed a little bit of his geokinetic abilities, but Poseidon wasn't called Earthshaker for nothing. I think that a kid of his could rend open the earth and create all sorts of damage with earthquakes.
  
• Liquification. Oh yeah. You shoot an arrow at me? I'll just turn into water. Joke's on you. ;]
  

HADES

• Hades is the god of wealth. Riordan never touched on the fact they might be able to summon money out of thin air.
  
• I think I saw someone try this, but I was already thinking about it beforehand. Energy sourcing. Touch a person and suck the life energy out of them. Like... Rogue. From X-Men.
  

DEMETER

• They've already been shown to have some wicked plant-growing abilities. I can't think of much else for the stern little gardeners.
  

ARES

• Weapon manipulation. Clarisse turned an Apollo camper's arrow into rubber. I'm seeing some foreshadowing.
  
• Anger/negative empathy. Heaven has it. Seeing that their father loves nothing more than to pick a fight, it's perfectly suitable for Heaven to be able to project negative emotions. A+.
  

ATHENA

• Telepathy. This is what sparked it all. I asked Echoe if I could switch out Kalub's ability for this. Goddess of Wisdom, Thought, Intelligence. Kalub would be like the Leo of the Athena cabin. It's not far-fetched, and he would only be able to send "mental" messages and read people's thoughts. He wouldn't be able to influence people like charmspeak. Just "hear" the thoughts of people around him.
  
• Memory manipulation. A lot of Athena's kids have abilities based off memory. Maybe someone could wipe short-term memories or something like that and enhance forgotten memories.
  
• Adoptive muscle memory. This is what Kalub has now and I'm trying to get switched with telepathy. It basically allows someone to see something performed once and be able to replicated it perfectly afterward.
  

APOLLO

• Rapid cell regeneration. The children of the god of healing. Maybe on of them could be like Wolverine and have super fast healing?
  
• Audiokinesis. Sound manipulation. They'd be able to do stuff like sonic screams, or replicate someone's voice perfectly (like a cyclopes).
  
• Photokinesis. Create flashes of light/heat, and maybe bend light around oneself to become invisible even.
  

HEPHAESTUS

• We've seen the Hephaestus kids do some pretty cool stuff, yet I was still able to brainstorm a few ideas. Metal mimicry was one of them. It allows someone to turn parts of their body into an organic steel. (Like Colossus from X-Men.)
  
• Metal manipulation. Magneto style. ;D
  

APHRODITE

• Uhm... pheromone manipulation?
  
• Induced pleasure? o_O
  

HERMES

• Super-speed. Not Flash fast, but like Cheetah fast.
  
• Invisibility? Kind of makes sense, right?
  

DIONYSUS

• Induced madness. Make people literally go crazy for a bit.
  

I'm not saying that these are the required powers/abilities for the more gifted individuals, but what I am saying is that it wouldn't be surprising to see a Hermes kid in the next book speeding around like a hummingbird. Things keep on getting more intense in the books, and the site itself has already taken in a few very interesting people with very interesting and POWERFUL abilities.

The question is this: do YOU think that strong powers should be bestowed to select individuals other than the "Big Three"?

[Levi Faollan]

I was on a site before that had a few "super" abilities that were reserved for the cabin leaders since they were considered to be the most experienced kids as far as role playing went. My only problem is that some people would want these outright and couldn't handle some of them without godmoding. Like I have no problem with Thane having the life drain ability but there was someone else who wanted it but considered themselves to be a lower role player and I didn't think he would be able to handle an ability to that magnitude.

If you give them to the cabin leaders then that would be fine with me because all of the cabin leaders have great experience and are good role players and even better campers. But to just have some random person have them, they would really have to prove they could handle it first.

[Katy Knight]

While I do agree with Levi in that only the more experience players should get the opportunity for stronger powers, I don't think it should be restricted to Big Three kids. It would be good for other campers, say Apollo, Athena and any other campers to have these stronger powers, I think it would make sense if a camper applied and a decision was made by the admins and the mods. Just allowing any old camper, particularly as Levi said, one who considers themself a lower grade role player, to have a powerful ability will just cause chaos if they don't recognise that they are godmodding or something.

I've got no quarrel with giving stronger powers to cabin leaders, but I think that the more experienced leaders and regular campers should get a higher chance than the lower grade role players, as experienced players will be able to handle the more powerful powers.

[Kalub Rade]

Thanks for the feedback, guys! As to what Levi said, I'm totally on board with the idea that only these "super" abilities should be granted to experienced and reliable members. Reliability is as important, if not more, than how experienced an RPer they are. If they're new, but can handle the ability with power-playing or Godmoding, then I don't see why they shouldn't possess it. BUT! If they're going to skip out on the site a week or two later, then... wtf? Absolutely not. As far as I'm concerned, I believe that the "super" powers should be granted to members who've been here for a while and have shown an effort to really get integrated with the plot.

These "super" abilities could be applied IC by having their godly parent visit them in a dream or something and apply it to them, instead of just suddenly saying an older camper has had his ability all along.

What else? Oh! Not only should the member with the character be full of good stuff, but the character should be a great hero and camper. Sure, they might not be the nicest person in the world, but if they are working in favor of the camp, doing quests, and fighting to protect their beliefs (and whatever else) then they should automatically become a top contender. Not one person in the original books has had exceptional abilities that wasn't a great hero. Plus, you have to make sure these abilities aren't given out (theoretically), and then their character dies in a fight with someone.

And as a note on giving abilities only to cabin leaders, I don't entirely agree. Some of the cabin leaders, I've noticed, skip around on their activity. A post here and there. While they're good, they're not always around and in the plot when they should be. So either appoint new cabin leaders if they're gone for extended periods, or allow the runner-up in the cabin to be blessed with these "super" abilities.

As Katy said, experienced players should automatically be higher up on the list of possible candidates for the abilities. BUT! They should also be reliable and active as well.