Q: Why and how did you decide to start writing this story? - Judurange

A: I love superhero stories, grew up reading and watching them. I've watched every animated superhero thing that's out there. Superpowereds is an amazing book series I wholeheartedly recommend. I read Perfect Run, and I also read Rend. I discovered Worm years and years ago from a WhoWouldWin reddit post, and I was so interested that I began reading it. But Wildbow is a prolific writer capable of writing great tragedy, and it was just too much for me. I bowed out after the Grue fridge scene. It isn't the gore, it's the almost misery porn aspect where he doesn't give you a break. My love of the shows and discovering the various web serials, I decided I would write my own take on the genre.

A: I set out with three restrictions I enforced on myself. 1. Make the character a villain. That is because I had never written a villain before. 2. The main character cannot have an ability that could be used offensively or defensively. 3. No redemption story, no changing sides, no last-ditch get-into-heaven attempt. Originally, Nobody didn't get personality pieces when he took powers. That was added after I had already finished the docks arc and added Vivienne. There were a bunch of concepts that got scrapped and still do as I adapt to the way the story changes. I have an ending in mind and have shared it with some IRL people, but who knows how I feel about that when we get there?

Q: Is there a greater mystery behind why Nobody has no emotions? Maybe something about his mother? - Judurange

A: For a while, I did consider it, but eventually landed on the side of it making him feel too special. It would also take away his agency, making it because of someone else, and could lead to readers cutting him slack.

Q: How did Six and Mother become homeless? - Sean Bloodgood

A: Six, real name Andre Sutton, is the son of an absent mother and a violent father. His father would hit him for anything, but mostly whenever he looked at the boy and was reminded of his wife, who had fled her husband when Andre was five. She cowardly left her son behind after suffering years of abuse. By the time Andre was 17, he had turned to self-harming as a means of control. A concerned classmate found out, and Andre was forcibly admitted to a psychiatric ward. While there, he learned how to deal with his trauma and understand the effects it had on him. But after six months, he was discharged and, unfortunately, still a minor. His father beat him within an inch of his life after getting him from the hospital, leaving him for dead on the highway.

A: Mother was a gambling addict and a drug user. Originally from Vegas, she racked up debts in nearly every casino and, having no way to pay them off, began to sell her body. She would turn to morphine as a way of coping with what she was forced to do, spending most days barely conscious as Johns used her. She made friends with a younger girl, Delilah, who also worked the street, and helped her eventually escape to the East Coast. Despite the fresh start, her addiction would come back to haunt her, and she ended up getting Delilah trafficked, helping trick her to a secluded area, in exchange for a few hundred dollars.

Q: What was the first trigger event or power? - Sean Bloodgood

A: The first trigger event was the "Big Bang," which was Ukraine and Russia both using experimental chemical weapons on each other. This resulted in Ukraine being destroyed, and Russia is now either tundra or wasteland. The mushroom clouds caused by the simultaneous attacks dispersed a smog into the atmosphere. It blanketed the Earth for over a week. When people inhaled it, some of them triggered due to what many people assumed was a cataclysmic event. Not everyone who could trigger at that time did, but from that point on, some people could awaken superpowers when subjected to extreme emotional/physical/mental stress.

A: The first power belongs to a Russian scientist, who, unlike the rest of his countrymen, did not perish. He is one of the people who worked on the chemical weapons that were launched. He is a gigantic blob of irradiated goo. He is immortal, mad with grief, and just wanders around the wasteland of Russia endlessly.

Q: What personality pieces would Nobody get if he had all the main cast powers like Vi, Rorschach, or Tuesday? - Sean Bloodgood

A: Vivienne - Sense of honor

A: Rorschach - Refusal to let perceived wrongs lie

A: Tuesday - Sadomasochism

Q: What is wrong with Tuesday? - Sean Bloodgood

A: This should be covered by an interlude by the time this goes up.

Q: How many members are there in the Heroes' Union overall? - Deadslime

A: *Shakes fist* You and your desire to ask me statistical questions! Counting staff, logistical support, and non-combat members, we're looking at 10 million.

Q: Using Mr. Kim's threat level system, what would Technologica score? - Deadslime

A: Oooo. Good question. The problem is that Mr. Kim lacks the capabilities to truly test her within his future paths. However, that's a cop out answer. Technologica's threat level via her Avatar would be a 12, but she could theoretically get a 20 with the Avatar if she wanted to reveal certain things. The thing is, she would never do that, because the ability that allows her to split her attention/pilot a hundred bodies means Mr. Kim could put one of them inside the loop, and she would instantly be aware via the other bodies. Knowing it isn't real, she would just wait him out.

Q: What's the rough total for the number of Neuvohumans on Earth? - Deadslime

A: About ten percent of the population has the ability to trigger. The year we are in in the main storyline is 2224~ and there are 7 billion people on Earth. Roughly 70 million people have powers, even counting very weak ones. Neuvohumans have a very high mortality rate, leading to fluctuating numbers.

Q: Are there aliens elsewhere who've also awakened powers? - Deadslime

A: No, the specific confluence of events that resulted in the Big Bang is specifically a human thing. There is definitely alien life out there, but their forms don't share any kind of similarities to us for trigger events to be possible.

Q: How many books roughly will the story last? - Deadslime

A: Five volumes is the current estimate. Granted, Volume One is the length of three books. Volume Two is at the halfway point (I think), and it's as long as Volume One, so what do I know?

Q: What are your plans for the story going forward? Do you plan to release a hardcover book and maybe an audiobook? Maybe even a sketch book later on with all the art with character descriptions, and annotations. - Deadslime

A: This would be very cool and very expensive. The story would have to get crazy big so I could crowdfund it. An audiobook would be so cool, because it would expose the story to a completely different audience. (Tuesday would have even more Stans if you had someone doing the accents, voices, and sound effects.) The idea of having a physical book of a story I wrote is insane to me.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Q: Is there a Tinker who's made a Von Neumann probe? Also, are there already human colonies on other planets? Cause I don't think a government could resist sending people to other habitable planets if it were easily accessible. - Deadslime

A: No Tinkerer has had space travel as a specialization yet. Following Technologica's ideas on powers having dips and peaks, it's more and more likely it will happen eventually.

A: No. Unfortunately, humanity can't help screwing itself over. Technologica also doesn't love the idea of us getting off-world. It would make it harder for her to monitor everything.

Q: How do militaries function with neuvohumans added to the mix? Do they supplement themselves with Tinkers tech, or do they keep advancing tech rather than relying on Tinkers due to the risk of losing access to technology? - Deadslime

A: There are no militaries anymore. The existence of Capes and Cowls put a damper on that. The BNA could be considered the world's military, and if a country attempted to wage war, it would find itself quickly disavowed of that idea.

A: The BNA doesn't allow standardization of TinkerTech due to what you mentioned. Special Agents are free to wield Tinkertech, but the rank and file use tech that is fully created without powers.

Q: Would two or more personally pieces ever blend together into a whole new emotion? - potato_lied

A: Sort of? We've kind of seen examples of it. A bunch of Eryk's negative personality pieces sort of resulted in the rash behaviors he's been exhibiting. Isaiah's personality pieces have certainly combined. Loyalty+Curiosity+An urge to test your own limits = The need to have a rematch against Virtue. I won't say they combine the same way the powers do, but they can certainly have synergistic effects.

Q: Is there a reason Aubrey doesn't make custom helmets for her teammates that complement their strengths? - Sean Bloodgood

A: She did try; she made one for Virtue that was destroyed during the events of the Doublin' Down fiasco. The problem is that Aubrey can't seem to stop making the helmets evil-looking. Even her own helmet is a terrifying wasp-like monstrosity.

Q: In terms of writing chapters, what kind of notes would you usually have on hand? - potato_lied

A: I have a few notepad documents on my phone containing a list of power ideas, Cape or Cowl concepts, and characters that are fully designed, but I haven't found a spot for them. I have a very good memory, so I actually haven't written down the openings/endings for future volumes, but when I start writing a volume, I make a list of story beats. These are typically 1-3 sentences, so I remember what I want to hit that volume. These aren't always in order, and frequently will change depending on the flow. For example, Volume One had one that just said "maria FUCKS up. Kill her." For a more recent example, the whole Nestor Fall/Emma arc was created by combining a character idea I needed and the story beat "Technologica mission."

Q: How long has the carnival been around for? - Sean Bloodgood.

A: Decades. It's almost as if certain groups are letting them continue.

Q: If Kai made a clone of Nobody, would it be possible to give it powers, and would it keep Nobody's Avarice and Generosity powers? Would Nobody make designer clones using specific personality traits, e.g, loyalty? Would it be possible to view each individual cell as its own drone and, in that way, construct a drone army? Would Kai build a flying self-assembling platform for Nobody to give inspiring speeches for a large gathering? - Deadslime

A: Yes, but it is outside the realm of possibility for Kai at this point. You'd need an additional Bio Tinkerer to help make it all work. P.S. Good name for his powers. It would not keep the powers.

A: Cloning a person with powers is not the same as cloning a person with powers. Every power, no matter how similar, is slightly different from others. There are no powers that are exact copies, and there exists only one copy of it. Copying a person with powers doesn't keep the powers because they haven't triggered. You could try and make them trigger, but they couldn't have the exact same powers.

A: No, Kai's idea of what a drone is doesn't allow him to circumvent what a drone actually is. This would trigger the T.I.D.E. He's already pretty close with what he's done with stem cells.

A: Yes, he would, and I'm stealing this idea.

Q: Who are your favorite characters? - Judurange

A: My top five: 1. Mother/Zero 2. Isaiah 3. Rorschach 4. Emma 5. Six

I doubt anyone will agree with my list, my order, or my decision.

Q: Is Technologica the final antagonist? Do you plan to end the book there or make it more of an ever-evolving universe? - Wartrqx

A: No. I don't consider her an antagonist.

A: Eryk's story has a conclusion planned, and I do have a few ideas for a second series following a Cape or a rookie BNA Special Agent.

Q: Where do you mainly draw inspiration for the powers you give characters, or are they just stuff you come up with? - Fubeny

A: A lot of the powers come from me looking at certain powers that exist in other media and saying, "I can do better" or "I have a good take on this". Ciggs' power, which Isaiah now has, is a result of me being irritated at Oda's disregard for Smoker in One Piece. I think about the story constantly, though, and I'm always jotting down ideas for character concepts/power ideas.

Q: Tuesday backstory when? - Fubeny

A: It's hinted at in a recent Interlude.

Q: Also also do you plan to have any speedster-like character or characters? - Fubeny

A: Do you mean characters who move really fast, or more specifically, like the Flash family? Because we already have characters who do have superspeed or powers like that. Virtue, Special Agent Waters, Miles, Veer, Sigilist, RushDown, Onslaught, Titania, X-Train. Out of that, Veer is the most straight-up speedster character in the story so far.

Q: Is there anything or anyone in the story that you would change or remove and regret writing in? - Fubeny

A: This is a great question. Jean-Luc is the first answer that comes to mind. For the longest time, I toyed with ideas for what kind of role he could serve, maybe one day joining the BNA, for example. Then you have one dead friend whose death is closely related to two of the friends becoming a Cape and a Cowl, respectively. But I just don't have a role for him to fulfil, and that's a bummer. I could've just made the friend group a three-person thing, and nothing changes about the story. He's one of the few named characters who doesn't need to exist, and before people bring up Cain the mercenary from Kai's clinic, he will show up again.

A: I would not have added Tuesday. She was not meant to be here this long, but everyone loves her, so I can't just whack her without repercussions. No one was meant to like her, and she certainly wasn't meant to be anyone's favorite god damn character. I'd make her less likable, tweak her personality to be less funny.

A: Veritas, the original leader of Rorschach and Isaiah's group, was so cool, and her power was such a sick concept. I wanted Eryk to get her power, but that would've made the kidnapping arc a little too wish-fulfillment.

Q: What would each member of Momentous pick as their favorite video game, assuming they play? (Or if they'd be staunchly against) - Codesworth

A: Rorschach's would be Sims, Nobody would be any kind of macro-heavy RTS, Isaiah and Vivienne like Mortal Kombat, Kai plays roguelikes, and his favorite game is Spore. Miles likes AAA big-budget games, while Tuesday is a Clash of Clans player.

Q: What kind of price would the Merchants be putting on powers, for example, Callback's power, and if Eryk leans on them to make money, have you thought of what consequences on a city-wide level might happen? - Codesworth

A: For Callback's power, it could easily go for 20 million. If they decided to auction it, well, who knows how high it would get.

Q: If you could have a super power, what would it be? - Akuma hehe

A: Biological self-manipulation. I would be able to customize myself, could choose to live forever, adjust my brain chemicals to make writing easier, and I could hyperfocus. It's also a power that isn't obvious, and I wouldn't feel the need to save lives.

Q: What's Zero's and Six's kill count? - Trash goblin

A: Zero/Mother: Over 100, but less than 120, with a lot of those being kills from the train rides, where she kept enucleating people. (Eye scoop)

A: If we count anything he's killed, like horses, mountain lions, people, etc, it's easily over 300.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.