Manton Effect: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:11, May 19, 2016

All powers come with certain limitations - they might only target certain materials, have a limited range, limited precision, and so on. For most (but not all) powers, their range of effect stops at the outside of a person or animal’s body. Many of the exceptions are powers that only work on living creatures, such as certain Masters, or Panacea's biokinesis.

This effect severely reduces the potential lethality of most powers; most telekinetics can't reach into your chest and crush your heart, most people who can create forcefields can’t create one through the middle of your body and cut you in two, most pyrokinetics can't generate fire inside your brain to instantly boil you, and so on.

For most of the story, the reasons for the Manton Effect are unknown.

Examples:

Vista has the ability to stretch and compress space, but this becomes a great deal slower and requires more effort when the space she is working with is occupied by people, and she is unable to stretch, distort or compress a living individual.
- The author notes in the comments of Interlude 5 that this is due to Vista's ability involving a great many small, interconnected events through the space she's affecting, and the Manton Effect prevents said effects from occurring inside people, forcing her to work around them.
- Bakuda, by contrast, researched Vista's powers and found a way to create a controlled distortion of flesh, and specifically references the Manton Effect when explaining this.
Faultline can cut through objects with a touch, but can't cut through living things - even plants.

Bypassing the Manton Effect:

The most common way for a parahuman to bypass the Manton Effect is to undergo a second Trigger Event.

Faultline surmises that the Manton Effect might be a mental block set in place when an individual gets their powers, protecting them from hurting themselves with their abilities, which is overgeneralized to include all living things rather than just the user. Her attempts to retrain and circumvent this mental block, however, prove futile.

Bakuda was able to partially bypass the Manton Effect when she created a bomb based on Vista's abilities, which are normally Manton-limited.

Origins

"I won't spoil the conclusion if you're eager to see this through."

This {{#switch:|File=file or image|Template=template|article}} contains MAJOR SPOILERS relating to {{#if:| |some of the most pivotal parts of Worm}}. Although all articles contain spoilers, this article {{#if:|will reveal major plot twists|will reveal major plot twists}} and should almost certainly be avoided unless you have finished the story. {{#if:|

Click here to visit a redacted version, although it will still contain minor spoilers. |}}

The Manton Effect is a result of a person's shard imposing limitations to ensure they don't accidentally hurt themself. During a second Trigger Event, the shard can refine it's technique to only protect the host.

This desire to protect the host is also the origin of the common tendency for parahumans to have a minor Breaker ability protecting them, and it's misfiring in a miscalibrated shard is responsible for Case 53 mutations.

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-The Manton Effect refers to inherent restrictions present in parahuman abilities that, although adapted to the specific powers, share common patterns. Most visible is the parahuman's inability to directly affect both living and non-living targets. Additionally, the powers seem to be adapted for use by humans, in the sense that they work as the common sense expects them to work. A power that enables a parahuman walk through a solid object, does not cause her to sink into the Earth surface or teleporters do not need take Earths rotation into account. As a result, parahumans are commonly immune to their own powers, especially when used unintentionally. However, on top of that, some restrictions do seem rather arbitrary and do not appear to serve any useful purpose, but often force parahumans to use their power in a more creative way.
+All powers come with certain limitations - they might only target certain materials, have a limited range, limited precision, and so on. For most (but not all) powers, their range of effect stops at the outside of a person or animal’s body. Many of the exceptions are powers that ''only'' work on living creatures, such as certain [[Master]]s, or [[Panacea]]'s biokinesis.
+This effect severely reduces the potential lethality of most powers; most telekinetics can't reach into your chest and crush your heart, most people who can create forcefields can’t create one through the middle of your body and cut you in two, most pyrokinetics can't generate fire inside your brain to instantly boil you, and so on.
+For most of the story, the reasons for the Manton Effect are unknown.
 ==Examples:==
-*[[Missy Biron|Vista ]]<span style="display: none;"> </span>has the ability to stretch and compress space, but this becomes a great deal slower and requires more effort when the space she is working with is occupied by people, and she is unable to stretch, distort or compress a living individual.
+*[[Vista]] has the ability to stretch and compress space, but this becomes a great deal slower and requires more effort when the space she is working with is occupied by people, and she is unable to stretch, distort or compress a living individual.
 **The author notes in the comments of Interlude 5 that this is due to Vista's ability involving a great many small, interconnected events through the space she's affecting, and the Manton Effect prevents said effects from occurring inside people, forcing her to work around them.
-*[[Bakuda]], by contrast, researched Vista's powers and found a way to create a controlled distortion of flesh, and specifically references the Manton Effect when explaining this.
+**[[Bakuda]], by contrast, researched Vista's powers and found a way to create a controlled distortion of flesh, and specifically references the Manton Effect when explaining this.
-*[[Faultline|Faultline ]] <span style="display: none;"> </span>can cut through objects with a touch, but can't cut through living things.
+*[[Faultline|Faultline ]] can cut through objects with a touch, but can't cut through living things - even plants.
-*Telekinetics such as [[Rune|Rune ]] <span style="display: none;"> </span>cannot lift people though they might lift a person by lifting their costume or clothing. Similarly, a pyrokinetic could not set a person themselves on fire, but they could create a flame that they then throw at someone or place in close proximity to them, that then burns them
 ==Bypassing the Manton Effect:==
+The most common way for a parahuman to bypass the Manton Effect is to undergo a second [[Trigger Event]].
+[http://parahumans.wikia.com/wiki/Faultline <u>Faultline</u>] surmises that the Manton Effect might be a mental block set in place when an individual gets their powers, protecting them from hurting themselves with their abilities, which is overgeneralized to include all living things rather than just the user. Her attempts to retrain and circumvent this mental block, however, prove futile.
+Bakuda was able to partially bypass the Manton Effect when she created a bomb based on [[Vista]]'s abilities, which are normally Manton-limited.
+== Origins ==
+{{spoiler}}
+The Manton Effect is a result of a person's [[shard]] imposing limitations to ensure they don't accidentally hurt themself. During a second [[Trigger Event]], the shard can refine it's technique to only protect the host.
-It is unknown why the Manton Effect exists or how to bypass it, but bypassing it is linked to a second Trigger Event. [http://parahumans.wikia.com/wiki/Faultline <u>Faultline</u>] surmises that the Manton Effect might be a mental block set in place when an individual gets their powers, protecting them from hurting themselves with their abilities, which is overgeneralized to include all living things rather than just the user. Her attempts to retrain and circumvent this mental block, however, prove futile.
+This desire to protect the host is also the origin of the common tendency for parahumans to have a minor [[Breaker]] ability protecting them, and it's misfiring in a miscalibrated shard is responsible for [[Case 53]] mutations.
 [[Category:Worm]]
 [[Category:Terminology]]