Editing Trigger Event (section)

==Triggers in Society==
A trigger event is typically a very traumatic experience.<ref name="Rw">'''wombatsanders:''' I think you may have taken the "if you think you might trigger, you won't" explanation too literally. It's not that thinking about powers prevents them, it's like "a watched pot never boils." If you're in a position where you can still think of any solution, if you can still think, you're not desperate enough to trigger.<br>'''Wildbow:''' Yep. well said. - [https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/9e4w7p/comment/e5n6zrz/?st=JLZWI416&sh=a0f5e1ca Conversation on Reddit]</ref> The way in which people gain powers might hint at why the villains outnumber the heroes two to one, why more women than men have powers, and why third world countries have the highest densities of people with powers (if not '[[cape]]s', exactly, as most act either as warlords or mercenaries).<ref name="4.3" /><ref>"Trigger events are a crucial element for study, because the timing, nature and spread of these emerging powers may provide a clue as to where these parahuman abilities come from.  More women than men have powers, for example, and there are more powers in undeveloped countries than there are in industrialized ones – Some of you may remember me mentioning this fact in the 101 class, when I was talking about the witch burnings in The People's Republic of Uganda." <span>- </span>[[Sentinel 9.3]]</ref> Not everyone who triggers is given an immediate solution to their problems, and some are killed outright as they trigger.<ref name="16.4 c1">Of course. Stands to reason, given the situations that can arise. Some just don’t figure out their powers fast enough to act, others don’t get powers that serve to fix their immediate situation (Taylor doesn’t get out of the locker, for example – her situation gets worse) and yet others are just unlucky (getting shot seconds after manifesting – imagine the situation in Brandish’s interlude if [[Brandish]] had been targeted by the gunfire before [[Lady Photon|Little Miss Photon]] erected a forcefield). - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/monarch-16-4/#comment-7339 Excerpt] from [[Monarch 16.4]]</ref>

Although experts understood many of the nuances of trigger events, the details weren't to the general public.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">[[Interlude 18.y]]</ref> It was commonly believed that powers were genetic, even though this had been thoroughly disproved.<ref>The genetics theory is popular, but has been thoroughly debunked.  We’re going to talk about ''how'' it was debunked… - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/04/10 Excerpt] from [[Sentinel 9.3]]</ref> Governments would downplay the details of trigger events to prevent people from self-harming in order to gain powers. It was widely believed that the strongest powers resulted from athletes, great minds, and other such exemplars who broke past some fundamental limit.<ref name="IRC1">Wildbow: So there are theories and sentiments and overall people will hear of trigger events as a concept, but it gets muddled intentionally by some outside parties, especially gov't forces who are eager to keep people from doing horrible things to themselves and each other to create triggers.<br><br>Wildbow: So it depends where you are geographically, but by and large, the running, underlying idea is that it ties into you reaching your 'limit', and the strongest powers have resulted from athletes, great minds, etc, who broke past a wall.<br><br>Wildbow: The Triumvirate lying about their trigger events did a lot to sell this<br><br>Wildbow Trigger events get mucked up and included as a tertiary thing. The narrative being that some people go through bad things and get troublesome or broken powers.<br><br>Wildbow: But that's like, background, it's theory, and you wouldn't want to aim for that when you could strive for better. - [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/22757612/ Wildbow on IRC, archived on Spacebattles]</ref><ref name="R2">The way I spelled it out elsewhere is that they're known about, but it's more... 'One of the three big theories is that powers manifest in moments of extreme emotion or pivotal moments. Sometimes these are negative emotions, but sometimes they're positive. Positive emotions and moments of triumph and excellence lead to stronger, better powers with less drawbacks. Moments of negativity lead to flawed powers with complicating factors. Legend, Alexandria and those guys? They must have done something ''major''.'<br><br>And so you do your best to nudge the masses to really strive for excellence and not to self-harm or throw themselves into negative situations. Capes trigger in moments of negativity and they tell themselves they got unlucky, until someone in the know informs them that no, the people at the top didn't really get the paragon, excellence, positive emotion triggers. - [https://redd.it/54wu5k Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> This was in part due to a concerted effort to spread disinformation about the process,<ref name="IRC1" /> and seemed to be largely successful given the confusion among the general public.<ref>“It happens when a bunch of people get powers all at the same time.  The powers get fractured and different people get different pieces.  She triggered when you did.  Ring any bells?  Does anyone stand out?”<br><br>“Maybe.  Some people, I guess.  I don’t even know what a trigger is.”<br><br>“They say if you do something really triumphant, you get good powers.  If you don’t… you get the flawed or broken ones.  You trigger at major moments.  Best days.  Worst days.  That’s the line, anyway.  Does it hold up?”<br><br>“I got good powers, so…” May paused.  She thought about how she’d let her mom die.  Was that supposed to be a triumph?  “I guess I did something good.” - [https://www.parahumans.net/2019/02/09/ Excerpt] from [[Interlude 12.z II]]</ref>

There was a popular myth that younger triggers were more powerful.<ref>Brian continued, “The third heavy hitter on the Wards is Vista.  You know that myth about how the capes that get their powers young are exponentially more powerful?  Vista’s one of the kids who keeps the myth alive.  Clockblocker is sort of a one trick pony, his trick involves screwing with one of the key forces of our universe, but it’s just one thing.  Vista also messes with physics on a fundamental level, but she’s versatile. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2011/08/16 Excerpt] from [[Agitation 3.3]]</ref><ref>My first thought was trigger event.  The second was, ''maybe that idea about people being stronger if they get their powers at a younger age is true after all''. - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2012/08/11 Excerpt] from [[Snare 13.5]]</ref><ref>'''foxtail-lavender'''<br>@the third gen child, that's definitely not enough information to base this "third gens are stronger than everyone!" theory off of. Literally all we know is that a toddler triggered and a family died. was outed. Third gens definitely don't trigger easily, seeing as it took a lot for Theo and Aster never did. Even second-gens don't trigger "easily."<br>Bonesaw, Skitter, and Glaistig Ulaine are first gens; they're incredibly powerful.<br>Allfather is a first gen; he's pretty powerful. Kaiser is a second gen; he's a lot stronger than his father. Golem is a third gen; he's so much weaker than his father, it's not even funny.<br>Also, all of those powerful second and first gens like Panacea and Bonesaw and Glaistig Ulaine? They all triggered pretty young, so that also could have been a contributor in how powerful they were.<br><br>'''Wildbow:'''<br>^<br>Third gens being strong is fanon, really. Fox is more or less on the mark. - [https://redd.it/4m2pd4 Comment by Wildbow] on Reddit</ref> It is more of an adaption by the young person growing up and figuring out the nuances of their power with the extra time.{{Cite}}

The [[Protectorate]]<ref name="R2p">Crisis points. Generally attached to the beginning or ending of a patrol. Extends patrols by another hour, hour and a half a day. Schools, hospitals, police, social services and the like all send information to the PRT regarding incidents and people of interest on a regular basis. Workplace accidents, recent firings, child abuse, and so on. The idea is to touch base, investigate for any unusual goings-on in the wake of the incidents in question, and ensure that the road to the Protectorate/Wards is a clear and easy one to take, should anyone in the wake of these incidents have triggered. A lot of the time it's being a sympathetic and friendly face to bystanders and victims, so the PRT comes across as approachable. - [https://redd.it/5ezjhd comment by WildBow on Reddit]</ref> and other heroes (such as [[New Wave]]) would check up on possible recent triggers.<ref name="II2.2e1">“If I said ‘crisis points’, would that mean anything to you?” I asked.<br><br>“It’s been a long time since I heard that.  Yes, it means something.  Do you work with capes?”<br><br>[...]<br><br>“You’d want to identify the key patients, check with any parents, if they’re under eighteen, and they often are.  Then with me, you’d want to check with legal, you can call my references, which I do have on hand…”<br><br>[...]<br><br>Crisis points.  More a PRT thing than a New Wave thing, but we’d done a small share.  Looking out for the recent triggers, putting our faces and names out there, staying in touch with the public. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2017/12/12 Excerpt] from [[Flare 2.2]]</ref><ref name="R4">Q: The Crisis Points procedure. Are the kids she's visiting just sick kids, or are they recently triggered?<br>A: Kids who've had bad days who could have triggered from it. - [https://redd.it/7j8llw Wildbow on Reddit]</ref> This serves as a useful recruiting tool, as many new parahumans are impressionable and don't have many positive influences.<ref name="II9.12e1">“Families too,” Rain said.  “Uhm, Jessica said something about this to me at one point.  That people with powers tend to have worse relationships with their family.”br><br>“If they had good support systems, they’d be less likely to trigger,” I said. - [https://www.parahumans.net/2018/10/02 Excerpt] from [[Gleaming 9.12]]</ref><ref>“Why are we going to get powers when they won’t?” another kid in our cluster asked me.<br><br>“Because you were alone.  It’s a bit of a trend, I think, one I’ve noticed.  I’ve seen a lot of powers, and I’ve seen a lot of people with powers who had similar things wrong with them.  Labyrinth, Bakuda, Night, Fog, Mannequin, Siberian, Lung, August Prince… again and again, it’s their ability to ''communicate'' that’s missing, either because of their powers or because they chose to hide or mask their voices.  I was thinking about it, and I think we parahumans tend to be loners by nature.”<br><br>''Which might explain why we struggle so much as a community.'' - [https://parahumans.wordpress.com/2013/06/01 Excerpt] from [[Drone 23.4]]</ref>
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<ref name="WoG1">[http://worm.wikia.com/wiki/Trigger_Event?oldid=4324&oldid=4319 Edit by Wildbow]</ref>,

Discussion of how triggers are viewed in society given triumvirate misinformation:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Parahumans/comments/br0824/the_triumvirates_lie/?depth=2

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