Coinflip for the tie: heads, Midwest bison it is!A a bison of the midwest.
B Experimental
It's time to die of something other than dysentery. #NotJust50PoundsOfMeat
Add on Specification: Intelligence increase, Aggression
Oh, you're going to have fun with this one. Your initial survey picked up a wide variety of non-sapient animal life on the planet. Sharing a continent with your first subject is a species of powerful, tusked grazers called bison or buffalo by the settlers. Wild-tempered and unruly, they've escaped the grip of domestication in the hands of the native populations. Hunting them, on the other hand, is a fundamental part of life for many of the locals. Increasingly, settlers arriving in these lands are engaging in the same. These humans are primitives with little idea of conservation - you suspect the bison will be overhunted and exploited into oblivion eventually, for all their power and ferocity. You don't really
care about their fate any more than you care about the humans', but it gives you some pleasure to introduce a little more danger into these hunts. The possibility of your first subject encountering your second, while an unlikely one, is also an added bonus.
You request a batch of Experimental serums this time, with traits pertaining to intelligence and aggression if possible. Unfortunately, experimentals are rather less certain and regular than safe serums, so there's no guarantee these traits will manifest as you expect even if Machine manages to locate serums with such qualities. Even identified qualities such as that of 'rage' can be 'misplaced' in an activation - for example, producing an anger-sensing ability rather than influencing the subject's behavior per se. Just the same, a 'cold' quality can manifest as cool and aloof behavior rather than powers over ice and frost. Experimentals are not... an exact science, or even really science at all. They sometimes seem to have a will of their own.
Even so, you're only eager to see what they can do. The batch arrives on your desk soon enough.
The options this time around are...A) ’Maestro’. Experimental. Traces of planning, intellect, music, sound, communication, ego.
B) 'Bruin'. Experimental. Traces of transformation, resistance, size, aggression, fear.
C) 'Nova'. Experimental. Traces of light, aggression, zeal, domination, vision.
D) 'Revelation'. Experimental. Traces of time, service, consumption, possession, intellect.
E) 'Umbra.' Experimental. Traces of grief, darkness, transformation, intellect, change.
Unlike the safe middle-ground power levels of Safes, Experimentals can manifest on a much wider range. This tends towards Average Power Level as well, but has a chance for extreme results. The possible power levels are listed below.
Experimental Power Scale (d10)
-9-10 – Transformed. The serum transforms the subject into a non-living artifact, force of nature, phenomenon or other unusual remnant. The area around the subject is radically transformed.
-7-8 – Destroyed. The serum destroys all trace of the subject, potentially transforming the area around them.
-5-6 – Killed. The serum leaves the subject dead or brain-dead.
-3-4 – Broken. The serum leaves the subject physically and/or metaphysically broken, unable to live anything close to an ordinary life.
-1-2 - Crippled. The serum leaves the subject weaker and punier than the species baseline, altered harmfully.
1 – Reroll, subtracting the second result from zero (so 0-x).
2 - Puny. The serum leaves the subject with abilities of minimal use, or a weak ability hampered by a significant drawback.
3 - Weak. The serum leaves the subject with weak abilities, or a mediocre ability with a significant drawback.
4-5 - Middling. The serum leaves the subject with a mediocre ability with a significant drawback.
6-8 - Average. The serum leaves the subject with a mediocre ability, or a strong ability with a significant drawback.
9 - Strong. The serum leaves the subject with a strong ability, or a mighty ability with a significant drawback.
10 - Reroll, adding results together (so 10+x).
11-14 - Mighty. The serum leaves the subject with a mighty ability, or a super ability with a significant drawback.
15-17 - Super. The serum leaves the subject with a super ability.
18-19 - Legendary. The serum leaves the subject with a legendary ability.
20 – Godlike. The serum grants the subject godlike power over their aspects, potentially endangering you, the planet and perhaps even the wider galaxy with their newfound abilities...