Lord Liaden

If that's what you want to say cosmic energy is in your game, sure. But while cosmic energy in the source comics can do nearly anything, so can magic. So can psionic energy, certainly when it's pumped up to Phoenix Force level. Or Menton level, if we talk about the CU and Menton's latest incarnation. That quality alone wouldn't argue for any of these forces being more "fundamental" than the others. In the Champions Multiverse, the higher planes of Yetzirah run according to magical principles. Cosmic power has only been mentioned in connection with Malkuth dimensions, like our universe. The beings and spirits of Yetzirah, even gods and dimension lords, don't use it as far as has been revealed. Whatever one would call the interaction of Binah and Chokmah, none of those existing terms appears adequate. However, Da'ath is the link between the other two sephiroth, and also on the border between Atziluth and the lower planes. If conceptual entities draw on the power in Atziluth, Da'ath is probably their conduit. And maybe the actions of mortals can inadvertently pierce it and release "spills" of reality warping.

In the CU other-dimensional planet of Lythrum, it's theorized that the dark matter of its dimension is suffused with magic, which both Lythruman sorcerers and scientists can tap and utilize for a wide range of effects, having "darkness" SFX. In fact Lythruman technology often incorporates magic, in ways Earthly practitioners of either discipline don't understand. Science and sorcery are so different as to normally be incompatible, but a few brilliant researchers, like Professor Paradigm, Gyre of the Devil's Advocates, and Baelrath of the Lemurians; and some races/civilizations such as the Lythrumans, the Elder Worm, and the Gremlins; have learned to blend them. Those examples could support an argument that science and magic are both aspects of something more fundamental. (May I just add that I'm really enjoying this discussion.)

Which will, of course, occur just after warranty runs out.

The world most of us perceive and interact with apparently runs according to Newtonian mechanics, and they describe and quantify such things just fine. However, your example would explain why the technology of the more advanced alien races in the CU was mostly not impacted by the loss of magic. Over their much longer period of civilization they discovered more of the principles governing the physical universe, on which they could build a path to even more discoveries. But without understanding the foundation of that path, there would be no way forward. OTOH the change in physics due to magic/splunge/reflections/whatever created alternative paths that sufficiently gifted scientists could perceive and exploit based on their existing understanding of science. In the Champions Universe the technology of the Gadroon and the Malvans is illustrative of that gap in understanding. Captured Gadroon gravity-based tech has defied human analysis, because it appears to operate on principles even super-scientists have never imagined. While human scientists trying to understand the non-functioning Malvan devices in their hands has been likened to Neanderthals trying to reverse-engineer a supercollider. Another example from fiction would be Hugo Danner, the prototypical superman of Phillip Wylie's novel, Gladiator. Danner's superhuman strength and durability was the product of a treatment invented by his biologist father. That invention didn't fit conceptually with mainstream biology, which the elder Danner said was based on a mistaken assumption; but that assumption was so logical, so reasonable, that it could be generations before the mistake was discovered, if ever. For my part, I keep thinking of the theory of dark matter. To explain the difference between the measurable mass of the Universe, and what we can actually see in the universe, we invented something with the properties necessary to fit. But no one has found dark matter yet, and we have no idea if it exists or if something completely different is happening. Holy Crap! What if dark matter is actually ether?!

A tad lengthy, but illuminating.

Steve Long did produce a nice, inexpensive 36-page 5E PDF mini-setting book with a very similar flavor.

What I had heard at the time, from Whedon and other people involved with Age of Ultron, was that Whedon was too exhausted from that experience to consider taking on another movie of that scope for the foreseeable future, which I could believe. There were also reports that Joss was unhappy with studio meddling, but he and Marvel both kept their public comments civil and respectful. This is the first I'm hearing of significant upsets on the JL set, although lots of people have come out recently with serious complaints over Whedon going back decades.

Her acting was improving with experience, too. No awards likely in her future, but competent.

Condos in Hobbiton.

I always figured that mutant powers are the same as other super-powers, only they were inborn rather than the result of mutagenic accidents/experiments. Someone gets hit by lightning and develops electrical powers, someone else develops them at puberty, they're still electricity. Something like Psyclops' optic beams could be psychokinesis, or some other type of energy; but I don't see why someone else who isn't a mutant couldn't gain that power. Colossus could be exchanging his body's matter for something comparable from a neighboring dimension, and the same could apply to the Grey Gargoyle. IMO "mutant" is just an origin category, not a SFX descriptor. See, now there's a good example. Maybe during times of high magic, or whatever other name you want to use, there actually IS ether, or at least something that behaves enough like ether that a super-scientist could manipulate its properties.

This is a variation on dogs and their owners looking alike.

Cue the, "It's not the size..." jokes.

Deprogramming Americans will be a monumental task.

I count nine little ones, beating out the Octomom.

Hmm... this is really interesting to contemplate. Perhaps "splunge" (to use the term we're currently operating with) is the power wielded by the conceptual entities, transcending other distinctions: and those entities, or other agencies, "refine" it into magic, cosmic power, ch'i or psionics. But the quantity and balance of splunge is what affects the properties of each universe. I'm reminded of Dean's discussion of Atziluth, the highest of the planes in the Hero Multiverse, on p. 9 of The Mystic World. Let me quote what I think is the passage most relevant to this discussion: Atziluth contains three sephiroth, each considered a single plane by mystics. They call BINAH (or Understanding) the Dark Sea of Being. It is an infinite reservoir of power for creation or destruction. CHOKMAH (or Wisdom) is called the Bright Sea of Forms. It contains every possible archetype of objects, actions, ideas, structures, or any other category you could name. Mystic tomes say the light of Chokmah shines on the dark waves of Binah — form combines with substance — and the sparkling reflections off the waves forms the Multiverse. Perhaps this is the power -- which I will now call Reflections of Atziluth -- which conceptual entities convert into magic, cosmic energy, matter, life, everything. But major actions by mortals like the Walpurgisnacht Working or the Kolvel Event can accidentally break through to Atziluth and tap the Reflections, changing the balance of properties in a world, galaxy, even universe.

Well, there you go. Cross out "magic," write in "splunge." Along those lines, I once made a gadgeteer PC whose equipment ran on phlogiston. I think Christopher and HeroGM above cut to the chase, though. Ultimately it's about what we like. These games are supposed to be fun, and anything in them that's detrimental to our personal fun should be changed for our own games, whether or not anyone else finds it problematic. FWIW I don't like magic as the cause for super powers myself. I wish Steve had chosen something else. But I can work with it in the context of the Hero Universe, because it's internally logical, contributes to the overall timeline of the meta-setting, and doesn't keep me from having any kind of superhuman I want.

Oh, BTW, in regards to the earlier reference to Godzilla flying:

Sneaky, attacking from surprise, lobbing bombs from a distance, and prone to sinking and drowning everyone aboard. Yeah, I can see it.

As I've said elsewhere, "magic" as the cause for super powers seems to be a particular sticking point for gamers to swallow. I believe a big part of that is that many gamers consciously or unconsciously associate magic only with how it manifests in many other games, like in spells. You could mentally scratch out the word "magic" from Champions books whenever it appears in that context, and substitute some other name more to your liking. The world would run pretty much the same either way.

Maybe they could rename the USS Maine.

My favorite comment on that video came from "Gelo G": His girlfriend: "Is this your cat? So cute." Cat: HEY BABY

You should look up a translation of The Kalevala, the Finnish national folkloric epic poem. It's very cool IMHO, and great source of inspiration for fantasy gaming.

Thanks, Dean. FWIW I'm just trying to respond to AlgaeNymph's topic with something that I consider to logically accord with precedents established for the CU. Like I always say, this is a comic-book universe. Everything doesn't have to make sense, it only has to make sense in context. My theory came about only as a thought exercise, unlikely to have an impact on any game of mine.

It would be a waste otherwise. His name is "Banana," after all.

Tail spinning, no. But he did use his atomic breath like a rocket's exhaust to fly at one point. IIRC that was in the movie Godzilla vs Hedorah from 1971, the latter creature called "the Smog Monster" when the film was released in the West.