Question Glow

Glow! New character, new fun! And Morpheus has given us lots of fun to deal with indeed.


I'm particularly curious about her name. She has one, but she refuses to tell anyone what it is. Where did it come from? Did she pick it? Is she concealing it out of stand-offish-ness, or is there a deeper reason? (Having a hidden True Name might come in handy when dealing with magic types, though. Has anyone here read Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook?)


Also, power speculation! Teleporting is usually a Warper trait, but other than that she seems to have an Energizer powerset. I'm guessing that she's not tapping into Earth's magnetic field though. Considering what Kristin said about unusual Energizers , I suspect that too much teleport charging at once won't be too healthy for Glow, although the fact that she's not constantly taking in energy may help. The shapechange is interesting. The Exemplar trait seems too slow for the morphing we've seen, and too passive to be turned off even by a split personality. I could imagine an Exemplar trait with two BITs tied to it, but it's still too slow. Shapeshifter, maybe? She shifts without needing to teleport first, so it's unlikely to be part of her Energizer (if that's what it is) suite.

Don't dwell on the rankings too hard. Remember the ranking traits are descriptive, not prescriptive. She might be something that requires it's own description or a bridge between Energizer and Warper or they'll just get it wrong on her MID.

While it's a definite that attempting to classify powers accurately is silly, especially as the notation is geared more towards getting an idea of what individuals are capable of rather than how their powers function.

But on the speculation front, I'd suggest that if she's an Energizer, then it's like nothing we've seen before, as she charges up while being in the alternate dimension as opposed to what Kristin details here . I suspect a notable detail is that her hair is clear before it assumes the blue glow.

Her secret name is certainly interesting, though I wonder if it indeed bears any relation to the concept of a True Name or not. It might just be personal, after all.

I can't help but feel though, as if Glow will set a precedent that will shift our (we, the readers) interpretation and understanding of some of the underlying principles of concepts such as BITs.

I'm betting she's a warper.

But she could easly be an avatar though and that Glow is the spirit.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Glow! New character, new fun! And Morpheus has given us lots of fun to deal with indeed.


I'm particularly curious about her name. She has one, but she refuses to tell anyone what it is. Where did it come from? Did she pick it? Is she concealing it out of stand-offish-ness, or is there a deeper reason? (Having a hidden True Name might come in handy when dealing with magic types, though. Has anyone here read Wizard's Bane by Rick Cook?)


Also, power speculation! Teleporting is usually a Warper trait, but other than that she seems to have an Energizer powerset. I'm guessing that she's not tapping into Earth's magnetic field though. Considering what Kristin said about unusual Energizers , I suspect that too much teleport charging at once won't be too healthy for Glow, although the fact that she's not constantly taking in energy may help. The shapechange is interesting. The Exemplar trait seems too slow for the morphing we've seen, and too passive to be turned off even by a split personality. I could imagine an Exemplar trait with two BITs tied to it, but it's still too slow. Shapeshifter, maybe? She shifts without needing to teleport first, so it's unlikely to be part of her Energizer (if that's what it is) suite.

The transformation makes me think of Mega-Girl's PK shell

Not quite the same, since James actually shrinks when becoming Glow. Mega-Girl has a "shell" around a scrawny male body that looks like a tallish, athletic female.

Or to put it another way: Mega-Girl's PK shell (and Beltane's ectoplasmic shell, for that matter) are like a padded suit -- it can add stuff, and sometimes hold in soft tissue (like pinching one's waist, or -- er -- playing the role of a gaff), but it can't actually make you smaller. Glow is a whole 'nother thing.

Sir Lee wrote: Not quite the same, since James actually shrinks when becoming Glow. Mega-Girl has a "shell" around a scrawny male body that looks like a tallish, athletic female.

Or to put it another way: Mega-Girl's PK shell (and Beltane's ectoplasmic shell, for that matter) are like a padded suit -- it can add stuff, and sometimes hold in soft tissue (like pinching one's waist, or -- er -- playing the role of a gaff), but it can't actually make you smaller. Glow is a whole 'nother thing.

I'm referring to it's activation nature, but its either shape-shifting or warper based shape-shifting is my guess (internal shape warping)

My guess is She's a shifter / warper. the Shifter aspect allows for a faux-enrgizer powerset by having a physical capacity for storing the energy she collects. she then expends it for the other displays of energizer-like powers.

I would have eliminated the warper aspect as an ability powered by the energy but if she were a pure shifter with only the internal batteries she'd not have the "juice" to get there the first time to charge-up.

She's also possibly genetically predisposed to shifting and/or warping due to her mother since they're both possible explanations for a size-change power.

DanZilla wrote: My guess is She's a shifter / warper. the Shifter aspect allows for a faux-enrgizer powerset by having a physical capacity for storing the energy she collects. she then expends it for the other displays of energizer-like powers.

I would have eliminated the warper aspect as an ability powered by the energy but if she were a pure shifter with only the internal batteries she'd not have the "juice" to get there the first time to charge-up.

She's also possibly genetically predisposed to shifting and/or warping due to her mother since they're both possible explanations for a size-change power.

Well her mother is most probably a size warper, we don't see her costume getting damaged, and shifters typically have a mass range, warpers don't have the same issues when it comes to mass

I've had a few people ask me about how Glow came about, so I thought that I'd answer here. I came up with the basic character a couple years ago, before I began writing Whateley stories. At the time, I didn't think she'd fit well with my Legacy Universe, so I held onto her. Once I started writing in Whateley, I realized that this would be a great setting for her.

For awhile, I'd considered using her as my primary 2G character, though I decided against this for several reasons. Then one day, my muse brought my attention back to the character and started screaming for me to write her story.

Previously, I had planned on bringing her straight to Whateley, dealing with the problems that came from split personalities and multiple identities, then having her pushing her powers too far and going into a burnout, which would result in the personalities merging and becoming stuck in Glow form. However, I decided to focus more on the psychological aspect of their situation, and that telling their story away from Whateley and in a more personal setting would make for a much better story.

Since Glow is not currently going to Whateley, she is less likely to interact with most of the other characters, but it does leave her open for some story opportunities outside of the school. I do have further plans for her.

Morpheus wrote: I do have further plans for her.

I question if this has ever not been the case.

Oh, I've always had plans for Glow. It's just that the plans that I have for her now are not the same as the ones I've had in the past. Glow as a character has evolved a bit from how I'd originally envisioned her, as has her overall story.

Hmm, vacation adventures/cross overs

From a story logistics standpoint, I see Glow and Silver Ghost crossovers as a distinct possibility, moreover, I see that as as a way to expand the scope of the major interconnected story arks to beyond Whateley, as outside of vacation and origin stories we don't really know much of the larger world of WU, and a set up that would enable such crossovers would make it easier for more outside of the academy POV areas.