Matter Control PowersHome

Micro-Environment

The hero can alter his immediate surroundings to create a miniature climate around himself. The Micro-Environment always contains fresh clean air (or water or methane or whatever the hero breathes) at any temperature and pressure the hero desires. The Micro-Environment incorporates a Force Field that protects it from any factor that might harm or even annoy the hero, such as rain, poisonous gases, extreme temperatures, or the pressure that naturally results from having 3 miles of ocean over your head. In such cases, the Micro-Environment automatically excludes potentially hazardous gases and liquids and reduces the Intensity of pressure, extreme temperature, and high gravity by the Power rank number. Lesser or equal Intensities are canceled out, while higher ranks only penetrate in diminished form.

The Power automatically Collects the desired materials into a sphere around the hero; if no such materials are available, the Power employs an innate form of Matter Creation or Conversion to produce those materials. The Force Field maintains the desired pressure, temperature, and gravity levels while enclosing the desired materials and shielding the hero from the undesired ones. If the hero requires a surface to stand on but none is available, the Power provides one by solidifying a section of the Force Field.

The Power is primarily intended to protect the hero when he is in places other than his home environment. It can, be used to protect him from extreme variations in that home environment though, should the hero so choose. Thus the Power can be used to protect the hero in the middle of a house fire, gas leak at a fertilizer plant, radiation spill at a laboratory, a thunderstorm, or a smog alert in Los Angeles. The Power can be used to Resist the effects of Air or Water Animation, Weather Control, Heat, or Cold Generation; the Intensity of the attack is reduced by the Power rank number.

The Micro-Environment has a maximum radius in feet equal to the Power rank number. Normally it is a sphere centered in the hero but she can shape it or direct it to another location if she so desires. The maximum range at which the hero can direct the Micro-Environment is determined by the Power rank. The maximum volume of the Micro-Environment is the equivalent of a sphere whose radius equals the Power rank number. Figuring out the maximum volume of other shapes requires a doing a bit of geometry.

Example: A rank of Gd(10) can produce a sphere of 3.14(10-cubed) or 3,140 cubic feet. This can be shaped into a rectangular "tunnel" 10' high, 10' wide, and 31' long. I suggest that anyone with this Power figure out as soon as possible how big a sphere/hemisphere/column/tunnel/cone/etc. he can make with his Power rank. If you don't, the Judge is liable to say that mysterious changes in the environment prevent your hero's Power from working.

The Power only protects the hero from environmental effects or Powers that employ aspects of the Environment. Beside the Powers mentioned earlier, this Power will also provide limited protection against Electrical Control, Electrical Generation, Coldshaping, Gravity Manipulation, Hard Radiation and its Control, Thermal Control, Plague Carrier, Geoforce, Spray, and Pheromones, but only if the offending Power originates outside the Micro-Environment.

As hinted at before, the Power can be used to create any environment the hero desires, provided it is beneficial to whatever nature of being is inside its protection. Of course, what is a marvelous climate for one being could be instantly fatal to another. Consider the Micro-Environments created by beings that thrive on super-heated steam or swim in liquid helium. Player characters are limited to producing only those Micro-Environments that will help the beings inside. Villainous and Mind-Controlled NPC heroes are able to pervert the Power and create toxic Micro-Environments. In such a case, the Power is treated as an attack and the intended victim is urged to Resist it in any way he can.

The Nemeses are either Air or Liquid Animation, depending on the nature of the Micro-Environment.

Range: Column B.