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Question MATD and Its Limitations!

3 years 9 months ago #1 by Softdreams
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    • Are there any limits to how MATD could potentially shape the Manifestor's body? Is it somehow related ro said Manifestor's PK ability?

    MATD seems to be more like a corset than a shifter-like effect. Also, this question is exclusively about versatile manifestors (Beltane, Thorn, Alakazam, Hollywood etc...).

    Some have used it for fat relocation purposes (Alakazam), full-blown transitions, at least superficially (Beltane), others for a e s t h e t i c s (Thorn). I was wondering more about... Changes to the manifestors eye color, internal changes (especially those related to MtF), hair type, texture, color, achieve a Faux-Exemplar state, etc... Unless said limitations are decided by the author?

    Since I have always thought of the changes caused by MATD to be surface only.
    3 years 9 months ago #2 by Sir Lee
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    • That's an interesting point. To what extent MATD changes one's body? Will Beltane be eventually fertile? Has her DNA changed?

    One possibility is that MATD slowly reshapes one's BIT, and the BIT in turn causes the other changes. That assumes, of course, that manifestors have BITs -- but if true, it's the single known, reliable way to change a BIT.

    Which opens other implications... say, for instance, that Phase hires Beltane to change Phase's body. That would involve Beltane keeping Phase in a manifested shell pretty much constantly for, well, years, meaning that Beltane would have to be Phase's constant companion for the period. Phase does have the money to hire Beltane for this, but... would it even work? OK, Phase's BIT is all kinds of messed up due to Nimbus' meddling, so it might not work anyway. Would it work for any other kind of mutant? Like, say, 'Shine wanting to look like a bodybuilder?
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    3 years 9 months ago #3 by null0trooper
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    • The user's attitude toward the augmentation may also matter. Megs and Beltane both see their augmented state as their real body.

    Eye color change would be tricky because the iris is inside the eye, behind the cornea and lens. A manifested contact lens might be seen by the unconscious as "not-me" even as it reshapes the cornea for better vision.
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    3 years 9 months ago #4 by Softdreams
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    • Nope, it wouldn't or couldn't reshape others. MATD only redefines your own biological patterns. Now... There might be mutants out there with some sort of biokinesis who can. But Beltane has canonly estated she can't. Now... Beltane hasn't exactly researched this (or hasn't she?) but the way she phrased it sounded very "I learned of this in Powers Theory."
    3 years 9 months ago #5 by Softdreams
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    • One of my theories is, since there's some sort of always-on psychokinetic ability that shapes an Exemplars' body (because of this there is an abundance of EX/PK types, although the BIT is more than mere psychokinesis), MATD achieves a similar effect... After all, it's psychokinetic energy using matter (ectoplasm, whatever Alakazam uses, smoke from an elemental plane? Smoke-shaped ectoplasm?) as a medium. As long as the shell is kept-on, it reshapes away.

    And yes, Null! I see how that would play a part in this! It would make sense.
    3 years 9 months ago #6 by Valentine
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    • Softdreams wrote: Nope, it wouldn't or couldn't reshape others. MATD only redefines your own biological patterns. Now... There might be mutants out there with some sort of biokinesis who can. But Beltane has canonly estated she can't. Now... Beltane hasn't exactly researched this (or hasn't she?) but the way she phrased it sounded very "I learned of this in Powers Theory."


    IIRC Megs told Jade the same thing. It would only work on herself.
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    3 years 9 months ago #7 by Kristin Darken
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    • MATD cannot override a BIT.

    MATD is actually one of the things that first set me thinking about the idea of unifying everything through the idea of ectoplasm. Basically, if Manifesting can incorporate ectoplasm into the body as organic material long enough for it to become part of the body's natural shape/structure, what's to stop ectoplasm from doing the same thing as a result of a BIT (or other imposed template)... ie Regen (and Shifters)?

    But a BIT would be dominant. As would Shifter 'template' forms. That info even overrides DNA to redefine everything about the organic body... and all natural growth, healing, and regeneration will progress towards the definition given by the BIT if one exists. That's why Exemplar have an innate level of regen. It's why (most) Regen can recover even absolutely horrible wounds/damage. It may take time, but as long as energy is present to allow cellular growth; the body WILL progress towards the BIT ideal. MATD happening to someone with a BIT will be countered as quickly as their body can heal the damage.

    MATD is not a genetic change. It's not a Shifter change. It is almost always going to be purely 'shape' in nature.

    That said... it's nearly an identical process to Shifting or Regen... so a really bad 'case' of it... who knows?
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    3 years 9 months ago #8 by Sir Lee
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    • So... essentially, what Kristen said regarding MATD causing changes to the cellular/DNA level is: "not supposed to, but maybe?" Leaving the matter of the fertility of Mega-Girl, Beltane etc. To Be Determined.
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    3 years 9 months ago #9 by Kristin Darken
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    • *nods* Specific cases can always be different than the overall 'rules'... after all, just because someone like Mega-Girl believes (or has been told by researchers/medical staff) that her changes are a result of MATD... and MATD is known to only cause structural changes, not biological ones... doesn't mean that any of that is actually accurate. They have no way to measure the presence of a BIT, after all. And while having a BIT typically results in being ranked as an Exemplar... it's very tough to properly identify an Exemplar 1 or 2. Especially an Exemplar with a strong PK trait. So maybe what appears to be MATD is actually just slow healing influenced by structural 'shaping' moving towards the BIT shape.

    And there's always the unreliable narrator factor. :P
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