Lemongrass Lore: Superpower Classification
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Since powers first manifested roughly 500 years ago, scientists all across the group have been debating how to classify powers. Until the ‘80s, powers were generally classified as Internal (such as telepathy or charisma) or External (such as super-speed or super-strength), which left a lot of powers uncategorized.
In the 1980s, the government finally released the Governmental Taxonomy of Powers which allowed the government to catagorize abilities. In true governmental fashion, however, the system is still very flawed, and has been widely criticised for not being accomedating enough for the variance of powers it classifies, as well as the lack of handling of secondary powers.
On its most superficial level, powers are classified in terms of Active, Passive, and No powers, desgignated as A, P, and N on ID cards. Some areas also include an AP for people with multiple powers, but that is not yet widespread and not recognized in every county. The more detailed classification system is most commonly used for medical scenarios, particularly if the power can interfere with treatment, and many insurances require a classification code, with different insurance packages designed specifically for certain powers. This information is self-reported, although legal action may be taken against those who report their powers inaccurately.
Active Powers (ones that need to be activated manually) are classified by their Preconditions, Area of Effect, Content, and Postconditions.
A Precondition is what must happen before a power can activate
Presentation: Physical manifestations of characteristics (ex. wings, tails, a third eye, etc.)
Physical: Actions that must occur from the activator (ex. Joel’s power is activated by jumping, many have to make contact, etc.)
Conditional: Conditions that must occur involving the AoE (ex. an injury, or only a certain portion of the AoE can be affected)
Temporal: Time that must pass BEFORE a power is used (ex. powers that can only be used on certain times)
Area of Effect includes who or what the power can effect (Note: Powers that can affect one's self and others are labeled as if they can only affect others. Range is also not factored into the Area of Effect)
Self: Can only effect the whoever's activating the power.
Single-Object: Can only affect a singular nonsentient object at a time (ex. single-object telekinesis)
Multi-Object: Can affect multiple nonsentient objects at once (ex. technopathy)
Single-Human: Can only effect one person at a time (ex. making someone hallucinate)
Multi-Human: Can affect multiple people at once (ex. Scar’s charming ability)
Single-Entiry: Can only effect one sentient creature at a time
Multi-Entity: Can affect multiple sentient creatures at once
Single-Hybrid: Can only affect one sentient or non-sentient being at a time
Multi-Hybrid: Can affect multiple sentient or non-sentient beings at once
A power's Content pertains to what the power can actually do (this is NOT a complete list, there's other categories out there, I just don't know what they are yet)
Mimicry: Powers involving duplication or mirroring of any sort
Chronometric: Powers relating to time
Sensory: Powers relating to senses, either experiencing or affecting others
Movement: Powers related to actions taken (not including restrictions of those actions)
Environmental: Powers that can only activate/develop in particular environments
Anthro: Powers relating to the human mind, body, or spirit
Healing is an important enough domain that it is often considered separately even though it is included under the Anthro category
Presentation: Powers relating to physical attributes outside of the typical ‘human’ (not counted if it’s a precondition for a different power)
Constuct: Powers relating to the creation or reforming of a previously non-existant object
Uncategorized: Powers that don’t fit into any of the previous categories
A Postcondition is any concequences or drawbacks using a power may have.
Delay: Time that must pass AFTER a power is used before it can be reused
Exhaustion: Can be physical or mental. Hunger counts.
Power reflection: Whether the activator experiences some of the effects of the power (ex. healing that involves transferring injuries onto the activator)
Temporary: Wears off after a short period of time.
Passive Powers do not include precons or postcons, and are instead classified by whether they're Situational or Ongoing in addition to Area of Effect and Content.
Situational: Powers that activate/deactivate automatically if certain conditions occur (these conditions are not specified by this system)
Ongoing: Powers that are constantly active, do not need to be activated, and cannot be turned off
For example, Mirage's Invisibility is an Active Presentation-Precon Self Anthro Ability, while Listener's advanced hearing is a Passive Ongoing Self Sensory Ability
The majority of powered people only have a single ability, but in some cases a secondary power can manifest later in life, typically due to intense stress, trauma, or adaption to disability. This can often cause an issue with classification, as secondary powers are not always recognized due to their rarity, and people with multiple powers typically have a choice of whether or not to declare both.
Some people only declare one power but if an incident occurs relating to the other power than they can end up not covered by insurance, have problems with doctor visits, or potentially held liable for superpower fraud.
Some people declare both but have to deal with a slog of systems not built for them, leading to struggles with automated systems and dealing with a subset of people who don’t believe in or aren’t aware of multiple powers.
GoodTimes' Charisma: Active Multi-Entity Anthro Ability with Temporary-Postcon
(Note: Scar legally files as non-powered)
Father Time's Healing: Active Temporal-Precon Single-Entity Healing Ability
(Note: Cleo legally files as non-powered)
Stopwatch's Time Dilation: Active Self Chronometric Ability
Tempo's Looping: Active Self Chronometric Ability with Delay-Postcon
Pixel's Teleportation: Active Self Movement Ability with Exhaustion-Postcon
Remedy's Healing: Active Single-Entity Healing Ability with Exhaustion-Postcon
Listener's Listening: Passive Ongoing Self Sensory Ability
(Note: While Martyn's ability is Passive, he can actively strengthen it, leaving him technically somewhere between Active and Passive)
Chameleon's Shapeshifting: Active Self Mimicry Ability with Delay-Postcon
Solstice's Mimicry: Active Self Mimicry Ability with Temporary-Postcon
Mirage's Flight: Active Presentation-Precon Self Movement Ability
Mirage's Invisibility: Active Presentation-Precon Self Anthro Ability
(Note: Jimmy legally classifies himself as Flight only. Additionally his invisibility is technically single-object AoE, but by the time he realized that he already had Self on his documents and didn't feel the need to change it)
Astral's Teleport Swap: Active Self Movement Ability with Exhaustion-Postcon
Astral's High Jump: Active Physical-Precon Self Movement Ability with Temporary-Postcon
(Note: Joel legally classifies himself as Swap only)
Dr. Blaze's Technopathy: Active Conditional-Precon Multi-Object Environmental Ability
Dr Blaze's Super-Speed: Active Self Movement Ability with Exhaustion-Postcon
(Note: Tango legally clasifies himself as nothing because he's legally non-existant)
Skulk's Sonic Screech and Darkness: Active Presentation-Precon Multi-Entity Sensory Ability with Temporary-Postcon
Skulk's Echolocation: Passive Situational Self Sensory Ability
(Lizzie legally classifies faerself with faer Echolocation ability, despite it being faer secondary power)
Arcane's Shield: Active Single-Entity Construct Ability with Exhaustion-Postcon
Arcane's Damage resistance: Passive Situational Self Anthro Ability
(Ren is the only person who files his paperwork with both powers. It is a decision he regrets constantly.)
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