Manton Effect

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.

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.
• Telekinetics such as Rune  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:

It is unknown why the Manton Effect exists or how to bypass it, but bypassing it is linked to 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.