Power sources

General GTG Sentinel Comics Lore
1

So, I thought it might be useful, especially with the RPG coming up, to make a list of where each of the heroes and villains get their powers from.  I find this sort of thing useful when creating characters and adversaries in RPG's, and the exercise was instructive in showing where we're missing information.  Some gaps and question marks will be filled in as they're covered in the Letters Page.  Feel free to correct, comment, or debate!

Note about "magic": Per Episode 71 of The Letters Page, there's a distinction between how someone accesses their magic power (ritual, magical artifact, direct invocation, etc.) and the source of that power.  This has been clarified to describe only the source.

Skill

Characters who don't have any "special" powers.  They're just really darn good at what they do (sometimes to a level that would strain credulity in the real world).
  • Baron Blade (partially, pre-Vengeance, not counting his suit)
  • Ermine
  • Expatriette
  • Glamour II
  • Heartbreaker
  • Mr. Fixer
  • The Operative (mostly)
  • Sergeant Steel (partially)
  • Stuntman
  • The Wraith (partially)
 

Resources

Characters who derive a significant amount of their power from money, a leadership position, or other social or material resources that they do not directly wield in combat.  Control of minions of any type regardless of how they were created/recruited/enslaved unless they can be created on the spot, in the middle of a battle (e.g. Unity).

  • Baron Blade (partially)
  • Biomancer (partially)
  • The Chairman
  • Grand Warlord Voss (mostly)
  • Kaarga Warfang
  • Mayor Overbrook
  • Rahazar
  • Sergeant Steel (partially)
  • The Wraith (partially)

 

Super-Scientific Transformation

This is when "science," as it operates in comic books, grants powers to someone or something that wouldn't otherwise have them, whether that transformation was intentional or not.
  • Absolute Zero (partially)
  • Ambuscade
  • Citizens Assault and Battery
  • Citizen Dawn
  • Citizens Hack, Slash, and Burn
  • Citizens Truth and Dare
  • Dark Mind
  • The Dreamer/Muse
  • Empyreon (pre-Scion)
  • Exemplar
  • Fright Train
  • Highbrow
  • The Hippo/Hippocalypse
  • The Idealist (partially?)
  • Judge Mental
  • K.N.Y.F.E.
  • Major Flay
  • Man-Grove (partially)
  • Miss Information
  • Plague Rat
  • Professor Pollution
  • Proletariat (partially)
  • The Radioactivist
  • Re-Volt
  • Setback (partially)
  • Tachyon
  • Visionary
 

Super-Scientific Equipment

When someone's powers come from a thing they own, built with comic-book "science." May or may not be grafted into their body.  Also includes drugs with temporary effects.  Does not distinguish between whether a character built the thing themselves or someone else did.
  • Absolute Zero (partially)
  • Baron Blade/Luminary (partially)
  • Benchmark
  • Bunker
  • Chokepoint (partially)
  • Chrono-Ranger
  • Cueball
  • Desert Eagle
  • Friction
  • Greazer Clutch
  • Hippocalypse (partially)
  • Muerto (partially)
  • Ray Manta
  • Revenant
  • Spite
 

The Void

Powers that come from a connection to The Void.
  • Akash'Bhuta/Akash'Thriya (partially)
  • Argent Adept and the other Virtuosos of the Void
  • Nightmist (partially, later)
  • Writhe

 

Elemental/Ley Lines

Either magic that taps into ley lines, i.e. the elemental magic of a planet, or a character transformed by such magic.
  • Akash'Bhuta/Akash'Thriya (partially)
  • Deadline/Lifeline (partially, later)
  • The Naturalist
 

Blood Magic

Either a user of blood magic, a product of it, or both.
  • Bugbear
  • The Crimson Conductor (Franz Vogel) (partially)
  • Fleshwalker Gloomweaver (partially)
  • Hermetic (partially)
  • Lifeline
  • Vampires


Discordian Magic

Magic that comes from the Realm of Discord.
  • Citizens Blood, Sweat, and Tears
  • Gloomweaver
  • Man-Grove (partially)
  • Ruin
  • Spite, Agent of Gloom


Arcane Magic

Magic that comes from the naturally-occuring magical energy of the universe.
  • The Matriarch/The Harpy
  • Headlong
  • Ignazio Gallo
  • Nightmist (initially)

 

The Host

Members of The Host or characters that tap their power somehow.
  • Apostate
  • Fanatic
  • The Idolater
  • The Seer
 

Alchemical Magic

Magic that involves the transmutation of matter, including living matter.  Frequently includes people who transmuted themselves.
  • Biomancer
  • Hermetic (partially)
  • The Scholar
  • Zhu Long (partially)
 

Witchcraft

It's not made clear whether this is an actual category of magic, but it's a running theme.
  • Citizens Hammer and Anvil
  • Glamour I (Marjorie Mittermeier)
  • Kismet
  • Setback (partially)
  • Unity
 

Egyptian Mythology

In ancient Egypt, there were beings of great power, complete with their own underworld.  Their exact nature remains poorly defined.
  • Ammit
  • Anubis
  • The Ennead
  • Ra
 

OblivAeon

Gained some or all of their power either through an OblivAeon shard, through exposure to OblivAeon or his energy, or through side-effects of his interference (e.g. exposure to chronal energy).
  • Aeon Girl
  • Aeon Master
  • Captain Cosmic
  • Cosmic Omnitron (partially)
  • Infinitor
  • La Capitan/La Comodora
  • Muerto (partially)
  • Parse
  • Progeny
  • Proletariat (partially)
  • Void Guard
  • All the other Scions of OblivAeon (partially)
 

Nonhuman

Characters who have powers simply by virtue of being what they are.
  • Balarian
  • Deadline/Lifeline (partially)
  • Doc Tusser
  • Grand Warlord Voss (unimportantly)
  • Magman
  • Myriad
  • Omnitron/Omnitron-X
  • Sanction (partially)
  • Sky-Scraper
  • Tempest
 

Isoflux Alpha

As explained in the Southwest Sentinels podcast.  A combination of super-science and ley line magic that merits its own category.
  • Choke
  • Doctor Medico
  • Green Grosser
  • Mainstay
  • Night Snake
  • Quetzalcoatl
  • Rockstar
 

Multiverse Manipulation

Powers granted by altering the fabric of the Multiverse.
  • Haka
 

Other Singular Entities

Wager Master, Faultless's original form, Wellspring, and The Fervor.
  • The Crackjaw Crew
  • Faultless (pre-Scion)
  • Galactra
  • Guise
  • Legacy
  • Wager Master
 

Unknown

The origins of the powers of these characters are still unknown.  Some, we've been promised explanations of in future podcasts.  Some are just unclear.
  • Argentium
  • Calypso
  • Citizen Gate
  • Citizen Lance
  • Citizens Pain and Gain
  • Citizens Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter
  • CON
  • Equity
  • The Idealist (partially)
  • The Shrieker/Glamour IV
  • Tantrum
  • Voidsoul
  • Zhu Long, partially (explicitly held back for now)
2

I would probably describe both Biomancer and Hermetic as blood magicians.

Skyscraper powers are due to the fact that some thorathians are born with powers she's explicitly explained as a genetic mutation 

3

C&A haven't specifically said that what they do is "blood magic," though it's possible.  Sky-Scraper's bio doesn't say she's a mutant, it just says Thorathians with power are rare and she's one of them.  You could say the same about humans.

4

Hermetic I'm not sure about but Biomancer is described as using necromancy so if he's not a blood mage he is a necromacer , definitely above the level of a natural biologist 

In the video game ,which gives power sources for all characters ,Sky scrapers power source is "Genetic Mutation" The wiki confirms this Sky-Scraper - Sentinel Comics Wiki

5

Good point, missed that.  Editing.

6

It bears mentioning that I agree with most of your list

That being said however , rereading the list ,I have to disagree with you on both Voss and Warfang both have the power source of being an alien ,thus should be in the same category as tempest

7

Biomancer can't actually raise the dead, so I'm not sure he counts as a necromancer.

Also, is Writhe actually connected to the Void? I know his shadow cloak is called Voidsoul, but I don't know if it's ever actually described as being anything other than freaky shadow energy.

8

The first line of his bio in the wiki says he has knowledge of necromancy . I`m just trying to make the point ( perhaps not clearly) that Biomancer is using more than just natural abilities. He is using some sort of flesh alchemy that seems like magic to me

9

Re: The Scholar, someone recently said he made his stone out of an Oblivaeon Shard. That being said, I'd love a source for the claim, because it was the first I'd heard of it!

10

Ah, you're right, I'd forgotten about that. I reiterate that I can't wait for Biomancer's episode because dude is one big fascinatingly creepy question mark.

@TakeWalker: I know, right? It seems weird that someone as chill as the Scholar would have such a corrupting power source. (Though to be fair, Captain Cosmic doesn't seem all that corrupted by his own power source.)

11

[quote="padcurtin"] I have to disagree with you on both Voss and Warfang both have the power source of being an alien ,thus should be in the same category as tempest [/quote] "Being an alien" doesn't get them anything, though.  Maerynians have weather-control powers.  Procitors have a special talent for leyline magic.  Thorathians and whatever Kaargra is don't have any special abilites.  They're competent in combat, but not especially so.

[quote="Jeysie"] Biomancer can't actually raise the dead, so I'm not sure he counts as a necromancer.Also, is Writhe actually connected to the Void? I know his shadow cloak is called Voidsoul, but I don't know if it's ever actually described as being anything other than freaky shadow energy. [/quote] Biomancer's bio specifically says he uses necromancy.  Might be useful to draw a distinction between "slow" magic (that one can use to create objects that can be used in battle, not dissimilar from Tachyon's ability to invent things) and "fast" magic (that can be used in battle directly).

As for Voidsoul, that's a good point.  I assumed Voidsoul was a creature of Void essence, but we didn't get a ton of detail there.  Hopefully we'll get a Scions episode of the podcast.

Something else I didn't mention was the connection between Visionary and the Void.  We know that "real" Visionary's consciousness was somehow trapped in a cage in the Void by Dark Visionary, but we didn't get much of an explanation of how that happened.  There's no other suggestion that psychic powers can be used to tap into the Void in any other way--but Visionary does have the ability to cross realities with nothing more than her own mental powers, so who knows?

12

Yeah, I got tripped up by remembering in the Nemeses episode that it was said Biomancer can't raise the dead and so isn't on the same level as Gloomweaver or Anubis, while forgetting his actual bio. I suppose he probably uses the dead in part for resources (ewww) and can animate flesh obvs, but can't actually animate or resurrect dead people.

13

I asked a fairly in depth question on this very topic for the (hopefully soon) upcoming Fanatic episode, considering that her powers are tied to “The Host”. Whether that implies a Judeo-Christian deity (complete with Adversary) or is some other source of mystic power, it definitely has some important bearing on the world of Sentinel Comics.

14

"Just Born With It"

 

Maybe it's Maybelline?

15

@mwc146: Booooooooo.

@PlatinumWarlock: I found it interesting that in the GenCon episode they explicitly call Fanatic an "angel" but dodge heavily around the concept of there being actual gods in the Sentinelsverse (as opposed to "beings with godlike levels of power").

16

That's where I disagree with you.If being an alien gives you abilities no human can have it counts as a power source. Because of their alien nature they have abilities no human can have. Let's deal with them separately :

  1. Voss : We see a lot of Thorathians in the DokThorath deck so we can infer a lot about them. They are taller than human beings on average and are built more proportionally(thus are stronger) than a human of the same height .So Voss is 67" and instead of being the lanky mess a human would be at that height, he's built like the proverbial outhouse, besides that  can summon fire with his hands either he was born with this ability or it was given to him thus giving him more than just natural human skill to work with.

2)Ok not as much evidence on Kaagra, also we don't know how much of her power is derived ex officio But again she's massive and well proportioned ( Any human woman her height would be built like a gazelle with most of the height coming from long legs) This gives her an advantage over an average person.Her most basic punch is as strong as Legacy and she seems to be immortal . That's an advantage over natural human skill to me

 

17

I would possibly argue that The Scholar could possily be under Leylines as a powersource as well for the mere fact that he can percieve them before he even gets the Philosopher's Stone, let alone the fact the stone let's him alter the lines as well.

He still belongs under Magical Artifact, I agree with that, but I'd still say he can be under Leyline as well.

18

I swear it was in the Podcast that they said the Scholar's stone was made with an OblivAeon shard through LeyLines.  But I can't for the life of me recall which one.  Maybe one of the GenCon ones?

19

It's been a while, it might have even been the AMA that Christopher did a few years back.

20

I did some Googling, and I get the impression from what I found that it was mentioned in those mysterious art streams people keep talking about that don't seem to be archived anywhere.

(Also found this: https://studylib.net/doc/9230499/cursedronway--%40gtgchristopher-does-that-mean-kvothe-will-... which doesn't have anything about this query but does have a lot of other random info. Like the part where Christopher says Beacon has a boyfriend(!))