Posthuman

**Posthumans** (also known as **Posties**) are sentient entities who have transcended the confines of their own Narratives, and are able to directly interact with both their own Narratives and others.

## Potential and Flowering

Posthumans can only come from Narratives where Dwarves turn wheels that drive and generate history. The Dwarves' production of posthumans is an attempt at replacing the Gods, many of whom died as a result of The Chaostrophe. Within any such Narrative, the potential for one of its denizens to become posthuman (through the process known as flowering) varies, as does whether a flowering is successful.

Though it is possible for relatives to have an equal likelihood of flowering, and having an ancestor be a posthuman makes flowering more likely to be possible, it is not a genetic trait. For instance, Asha's family had generations upon generations to master the method of flowering, so most of them successfully flowered, and had indeed devised a method that reliably, but not infallibly, flowered members of the family. Conversely, though Han-Mi and her great-grandparents Raven and Isabela are all posthumans, her grandmother and their child Son Mi was not a posthuman, a trait she presumably shared with her child, Han-Mi's parent. Flowering is additionally not possible for someone whose counterpart in another Narrative already has flowered. Though many iterations of one person can exist across the Metaverse, only one of those iterations may become a posthuman.

Flowering often involves trauma, but may not necessitate it, as seen with The Sentient Plant, which simply found enlightenment and flowered as a result. While it is a process that has produced some successes, there is a good deal of trial and error, and not everyone who is capable of flowering survives the process. Lloyd Allen and Raven set up the Second Playhouse specifically to flower posthumans, but it took years to even produce the first of two known successes, Kate; even so, the same circumstances being experienced by any 2 given people may not necessarily induce a flowering, as Kate's companion during the experience, Alex, failed to flower, and was perpetually trapped in a recursive loop, and Caravan generally seems to have a bias towards flowering women; no man to have done Caravan has successfully made it close to the point where he'd flower.

A successful flowering can be brute-forced, however; Sarah McKiggan, later known as Mother, experimented with physical and psychological torture to flower posthumans, and in doing so, she managed to flower posties with a far higher success rate than Raven and Lloyd had ever done on their own. However, her methods permanently warped the subjects, both mentally and physically. Finally, flowering is not limited to humans, as the Sentient Plant flowered and achieved transcendence.

## Powers and Abilities

* **Psychic Energy Manipulation:** Posthumans are able to empower themselves with psychic energy. This can come from within the postie themselves (as with Raven, whose raw emotional intensity greatly enhances his power as a Narrator) or from external means (as with Lloyd, who used his Radio Hour broadcasts to siphon psychic energy by creating a psychic battery in lieu of his normal power, which was diminished by his death and resurrection as a Doll).
* **Metaverse Awareness:** Posthumans can interact with and take advantage of the various mechanics of the Metaverse to utilize their abilities to the fullest.
	+ **Narrative Interaction:** The most notable trait of posthumans is the ability to directly interact with Narratives.
		- **Narrative Travel:** Posthumans can travel between Narratives in a variety of ways, such as through Narration, filling out roles in performance, or simply willing themselves to blip into a Narrative. Skilled posthumans have the ability to rapidly transport themselves and others through multiple Narratives in rapid succession.
		- **Narration:** Posthumans can describe the events and appearance of a scene, causing them to physically manifest within that scene as though a background character. An inexperienced posthuman in the process of Narrating might lose track of the Narration, in which case they will lose what grounds them to the Narrative they're in and go flying through random Narratives until they can Narrate again to tie themselves to a singular Narrative.
			* **Character-focused Narration:** A posthuman can choose to hone in on a specific person in a Narrative and follow their story, physically manifesting wherever the character currently is. An inexperienced posthuman doing this is only able to do so for as long as the Narration's subject is in the desired location. Once the subject moves on, that posthuman, without practice to avoid this, will be ejected from the scene.
			* **Past-event Narration:** Posthumans can Narrate events that have already occurred. When this happens, the posthuman *is* able to Narrate as they normally would, but is not able to interact with events or change them.
			* **Changing the Narrative:** If a posthuman is aware that an event is about to occur, but does not wish for it to occur in the manner it will, they can try to change the Narrative: in other words, Narrate a different outcome. This is the most direct means by which a posthuman can alter a Narrative, and while at face value this tool may be invaluable, it is not limitless, and the degree to which a postie can change a Narrative is dependent upon the Narrative's willingness to cooperate. A persistent attempt to change a Narrative without its cooperation can result in the Narrative's destruction, regardless of whether or not this is the intended result.
				+ **Retcons:** Some posthumans, such as William and Han-Mi, have exhibited the ability to retcon Narratives, thereby rendering a previously nonexistent plot point possible.
				+ **Keystone Cops:** Marjolein (under Raven's tutelage) has exhibited the ability to change the genre of a chase from a lethal version to one resembling a slapstick comedy silent film. It's not clear whether this type of genre-shift is something that can generally be done or if it's just this specific manifestation that works.
			* **Narration-induced Empathy:** Whenever a posthuman Narrates, intense emotional feedback is a side effect; they will feel all of the emotions the characters within their Narration are experiencing. This has led some posties, such as Raven and Lloyd, to develop sociopathic traits as a coping mechanism.
		- **Narrative Attunement:** Posthumans familiar enough with Narratives can comfortably guess the possible paths a Narrative can take, producing an effect that almost mimics precognition.
	+ **Metaversal Travel:** Posthumans have a degree of mobility within the Metaverse that provides them with means to travel all throughout it, though they may not be able to *safely* access every place.
	+ **Other Forms of Reality Manipulation:** Posthumans such as Sarah McKiggan and Lloyd have been shown to construct and/or manipulate subrealities and demiplanes.
		- **Reality Storm Creation:** The posthuman Asha has demonstrated an ability to generate a small reality storm. However, as the reality storm's creation was the direct symptom of a seizure, it's unclear whether this is something a posthuman can do consciously.
	+ **Archetypal Embodiment:** In addition to the standard posthuman powers, posthumans may also embody archetypes, reflecting a specific character trope. This archetype may vary from postie to postie, and it ought to be noted that while each *individual* tends to embody a single given archetype, it is possible for posthumans to be caught within an additional "group" archetype that they share with someone else. Lloyd and Raven, for instance, embody the archetype of "The Lovers" as a unit in addition to the "Strategist" and "Trickster" archetypes they each respectively embody individually. Archetypes can have drawbacks as well, such as "The Lovers" causing Lloyd and Raven to severely decline in mental stability when they're apart for too long. Furthermore, posthumans have the ability to further hone archetypes they already embody, as exhibited with Lloyd Allen during the Posthuman War, where he returns to level 5 of metaspace to enhance the capabilities his strategist archetype grants.
		- **Archetype Switching:** Most posthumans embody one archetype, with no indication that they can take on another. However, William is a special case in that he has the ability to switch archetypes. It is unclear whether this power is specific to William or if he, being the most senior posthuman, simply represents a level of ability that other posties still have yet to reach.
		- **Archetype-based Abilities:** The archetype a posthuman embodies may grant them certain abilities. For instance, Raven, a trickster, can fight using cartoon physics and tropes such as anvils that come from out of nowhere. For Lloyd, it greatly improves his strategist archetype's tactical decision-making skills and mental faculties.
	+ **Transmogrification:** In the final battle of the Gnome War, the posthumans from The Crossroads exhibited an ability to transmogrify objects.
	+ **Shapeshifting:** Some posthumans from the Crossroads also exhibited the ability to shapeshift. Whether this is tied to their archetypes is unknown, though it is known that archetypes can physically change a person, as seen with William. Sarah McKiggan also exhibited this ability during the Posthuman War, turning herself into a meat monster as a form of psychological warfare against Lloyd Allen.
	+ **Extraneous Empowerment:** Sarah has exhibited the ability to use her flowered mutants as a sort of battery to empower herself; it is unclear whether this can be done in general or if this is unique to Sarah's situation, but Lloyd Allen has proven capable of a similar feat by using his radio show's listener base as a psychic battery.

## Known Posties

### Presumed Alive

* William
* Michael
* Jill
* Asha
* Lloyd Allen
* Raven
* Kate
* The Sentient Plant
* Han-Mi
* Marjolein
* The Crossroadies

### Dead

* Constance O'Brien
* Jacqueline O'Brien
* Isabela
* Amelia
* Doug (Baron Samedi)
* Ethel (Cerridwen)
* 12 unnamed Crossroadies

## Trivia

* Older Posthumans are known to use the term **Transcendents** to describe themselves. This is seen in the portmanteau **Transhuman**, which is rarely used and not to be confused with Xandorians, who are also described as "transhuman" for surpassing the bounds of natural evolution.
* In Asha's home narrative, Posthumans are known in religious rituals as Awakened Ones.
* Any reincarnation of a posthuman to make it into Elysium can, upon remembering the life in which they were a posthuman, be a posthuman. As a result, Rachael can access posthuman abilities now that she's been to Elysium as her previous incarnation, Constance, was a posthuman.
* According to Paul, posthumans are rarely able to produce children after flowering. Thus, Son Mi is the result of a rare case where posthumans, namely Isabela and Raven, were able to have a child.