Only teenagers are superhuman

[Steve]

This is something that I've been thinking about, a setting where the factor that allows for superhuman abilities is something that activates during puberty (I'm thinking 13-14) but fades away almost completely by the ages of 20 or 21. Call it the Seven Years of Power.

 

It could be some alien virus, magic or whatever. But it only grants superhuman abilities to teenagers, who lose them again when they reach adulthood.

 

How would the world respond? There would be no heroes or villains past early college age.

 

For the supers, I guess it would be kind of like being child actors, having their glory days in their youth and then living as ordinary people for the rest of their lives.

[Tjack]

Very interesting idea but it would require players who are either young themselves or could convincingly portray someone that age.

Actor in movies or TV in their mid to late twentys playing 15 year olds gets sad pretty quick. Look at "That 70's Show", and see the difference between Mila Kunis who was 16 when the show started and the rest of the gang.

[death tribble]

Sounds also like a definition of Hell. And you would have older people either trying to eliminate the threat or harvest teens in order to get powers.

[Hugh Neilson]

you would have older people either trying to eliminate the threat or harvest teens in order to get powers.

So there would be unscrupulous adults seeking to leverage the teens' abilities to their own benefit, ripping off the teens along the way. Or, in other words,

 

I guess it would be kind of like being child actors.

[freakboy6117]

There is actually a series of young adult novels on that very concept powerless by Matthew Cody and it's sequels.

The premise is the new kid in the small town of Noble's Green discovers his friends have superpowers and grows from that .

 

Through the series they discover the mystery of why they get powers and more importantly why they dissappear when you hit 18.

 

I really enjoyed the series some classic Super hero and coming of age action.

 

 

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6371720-powerless

[freakboy6117]

I think you could have a good story about a 20 something mentor training a new team.

 

I imagine like child stars there would be a lot of substance abuse mental illness and suicide amongst the post powered.

[freakboy6117]

I think the biggest question would be the frequency of powers and power range if we are talking 1/100 with 250 point plus power range we are probably talking total societal collapse one 13 year old psycho getting God like powers and either destroying or taking over a small town for example. Imagine if the It's a good life!" episode of the twilight Zone was a regular occurrence and the public reaction.

 

I would imagine a government response might be relocation and assessment camps where the entire teenage population is separated from society until they are depowered and safe.

 

Of course if it's a global problem expect Al queda or boko haram sending out child soldiers to attack the West and teen conscription to find and train supers for defense.

 

If we are talking 1/10000 then I imagine it will still be a serious problem but you will see more surveillance of schools a new homeland security department with agents investigating reported incidents probably a bounty for information. Probably a propaganda campaign about using your powers for society a flashy national team to get kids to turn them selves in.

 

When your talking 1/100000 to 1/1000000 it's probably kept secret with only about a few dozen supers expect people to not ignore it but consider it like serial killers or sports stars interesting but not a big part of daily life.

 

government would investigate but probably with existing institutions unless the powers are mostly confined to a single area there are probably few public super battles expect government to recruit and train anyone they can find to deal with any junior super-villains.

[Christopher R Taylor]

I like this idea for a story series, actually. It keeps the character set young, it targets an audience who'd like it best, etc.

[Steve]

Well, even at one per million, that might still mean several thousand superhumans worldwide. Some countries with younger average demographics might have a higher percentage of superhumans in their population.

 

I was thinking the starting point would be 250-300 points and then grow from there with experience. Since the government would be watching for superhumans, it would be a reason for using masks and secret IDs.

[Kesedrith]

Yeah, unlike the anime version of this idea, I think it would end up for a nightmarish scenario. Adolescents are simply not noted for their ability at self control, and if they have powers that allow them to pretty much do whatever they want with impunity, that's exactly what I'd expect to happen. Let's face it, most teens are reined in almost strictly because "Mom and dad are going to be...angry."

[freakboy6117]

With a one per million ratio alot of poor countries would have a disproportionate number of supers for example 50% of the population of Niger is under 14 with 22 million people they would have a half as many as the uk similar ratios are in Afghanistan Mali etc.

[Amorkca]

I would think there would be a rise in new births in the "Developed" countries...

[freakboy6117]

Yeah I would expect governments to increase birth rates through subsidies etc but the developing nations would have a decadeish advantage

[Steve]

Yeah, unlike the anime version of this idea, I think it would end up for a nightmarish scenario. Adolescents are simply not noted for their ability at self control, and if they have powers that allow them to pretty much do whatever they want with impunity, that's exactly what I'd expect to happen. Let's face it, most teens are reined in almost strictly because "Mom and dad are going to be...angry."

The Kents managed to bring up a Kryptonian, so I could see kids who were raised well not abusing their powers. There is thus a fictional precedent from the comics that can be used in this fictional world concept.

 

Mutants in the X-Men setting also tended to gain their powers at puberty, and a lot of them didn't seem to be monsters once they had them.

[Kesedrith]

Fictional, yes. Anime worlds would also lend a fictional backup to it turning out okay. Realistically though, that's not how it would go at all.

[dsatow]

I would think the government would start inducting children to be tested at age 13 and begin military training.  They would probably treat the kids nice so long as they follow orders and the kids might even become celebrities.  The world however would probably ignore them once their powers fade.  I could see resistance groups fighting to keep their kids.  Wildlings might be the name of kids who'd rather live on the street than be forced to work for the adults.  Truant officers might be a bit more dangerous to deal with dangerous truant kids as well as gang members roaming the streets unchecked.  Regular police would probably be dressed more like soldiers.  I can see some religious groups fighting to protect the kids while other religious groups look to make them extremist fighters/weapons.

[Steve]

Testing would depend on how the powers emerge. If powers came from a certain gene sequence that could be tested for, then testing would be possible.

 

But what if it was like White Wolf's Exalted or Scott Bennie's excellent Gestalt: The Hero Within setting for Champions? In those, powers are granted, not genetic. Rounding kids up and trying to test them would be as useless as trying to figure out if Billy Batson could someday become Captain Marvel by giving him a blood test. 

 

For the setting I'm pondering, powers would be sourced by using something very much like how Gestalt did it, through a bonding process with a psychic entity that would then allow that person to draw upon the collective psychic power of mankind. If you drew upon the collective flickers of psychic energy from billions of people and then granted access to that combined pool of power to just a few thousand people, those few would be extraordinary.

 

Having this exaltation to superhuman ability could be triggered by many factors, but perhaps adolescents are the only ones gaining them through having a certain mental flexibility and maybe the ability to imagine. Then, as they grow older, their minds gradually lose that special spark of wonder and imagination they once had, and they wake up one day to find their powers gone, their link to greatness going to another.

[Hugh Neilson]

http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/09/the-teen-brain.html

 

The teen brain differs, physiologically, from the adult brain, so there may be something that allows the entity to interface during that period, and not before that stage of development, nor after it ends. Are we now looking at some villainous organization seeking to alter their brains so development stops and the powers remain?

[freakboy6117]

Hmm

 

One idea that I'm planning to use in my UK hero project. Is the mysterious genie like being that takes kids on adventures or gifts them miraculous items. Something like that would make for a interesting common origin.

 

Think Mister Mxyzptlk, batmite or Mary Poppins.

 

Higher dimensional beings with strange motives.

 

Some of them might grant powers or give magical artifacts while others take their champions or their enemies off for fantastic adventures.

 

Imagine if it was some sort of epic Cosmic contest and only kids could participate.

[Badger]

Very interesting idea but it would require players who are either young themselves or could convincingly portray someone that age.

Actor in movies or TV in their mid to late twentys playing 15 year olds gets sad pretty quick. Look at "That 70's Show", and see the difference between Mila Kunis who was 16 when the show started and the rest of the gang.

 

I remember some old movie (black and white B movie) where one of the teenager friends looked like he was about 35-40.  I thought he was a teacher until I listened to the way they were talking to him.  

 

 

Course, I'm not sure I could portray a teenager when I was a teenager.