>> the Rats of NIMH, rather than Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. <<
I loved the Rats of NIMH -- not just for being a cool furry movie, but for diving into a massive lake of ethical issues and scientific implications. That is exactly the kind of story I would enjoy exploring. And there were two explicit superpowers in the movie: Super-Intelligence, and the Amulet which was powered by will/emotion.
>> I'd limit super-animals to areas where they do /not/ draw human attention, like NIMH, as a survival mechanism. <<
In terms of a surviving population, I agree. They would need to be somewhere that humans rarely go and/or to be something humans routinely overlook. The rats could've stayed in the rosebush forever if they hadn't started stealing their human neighbors' electricity.
>> Anything with obvious differences, like the laser eyes you mentioned, is likely to be "destroy, then autopsy" as the /first/ response. <<
I agree. That's not an unreasonable response for humans, either. In terms of individual animals, they might pop up occasionally and be destroyed. This could be something that superheroes are called to deal with -- or something that is usually dismissed as a crank call. For every elk that really has Laser Eyes, there are probably 20+ incidents of:
* "Hey, y'all, watch this!" * Guy soaks himself with Doe in Heat spray. * Gets stomped by an ordinary elk that knocks him into his campfire. * "Warden! That fucking super-elk nuked me with its glowing eyes!
>> Sea life is more likely to survive without detection just because we use so LITTLE of the actual volume of the oceans. <<
Yes, that makes sense. Deep water is a plausible place where a population of super-powered creatures could develop. Then again, shallow water has different potentials: coral is bleaching due to UV radiation and changing water chemistry. Imagine if some corals managed to evolve instead. Super-powered razor coral = O_O
>> Pond life is waaay more noticeable, and the worst area to "spawn" would be the third-stage treatment plants for large urban water supplies. (The huge, huge water reservoir without the tanks, which is almost-human-potable, but has a few PPM too many of something which breaks down under UV exposure. Water sits and "cures" for anywhere from days to weeks before cycling into the water supply as tap-safe.) <<
An obvious development of this is that inspectors or activists spotting super-powered anything near a wastewater plant, factory, etc. would call SPOON and the EPA suspecting that someone was dumping Really Bad Stuff. The official policy would probably be "contain and destroy." But mad scientists are very curious and do not follow rules ...
Re: I'd start with-
I loved the Rats of NIMH -- not just for being a cool furry movie, but for diving into a massive lake of ethical issues and scientific implications. That is exactly the kind of story I would enjoy exploring. And there were two explicit superpowers in the movie: Super-Intelligence, and the Amulet which was powered by will/emotion.
>> I'd limit super-animals to areas where they do /not/ draw human attention, like NIMH, as a survival mechanism. <<
In terms of a surviving population, I agree. They would need to be somewhere that humans rarely go and/or to be something humans routinely overlook. The rats could've stayed in the rosebush forever if they hadn't started stealing their human neighbors' electricity.
>> Anything with obvious differences, like the laser eyes you mentioned, is likely to be "destroy, then autopsy" as the /first/ response. <<
I agree. That's not an unreasonable response for humans, either. In terms of individual animals, they might pop up occasionally and be destroyed. This could be something that superheroes are called to deal with -- or something that is usually dismissed as a crank call. For every elk that really has Laser Eyes, there are probably 20+ incidents of:
* "Hey, y'all, watch this!"
* Guy soaks himself with Doe in Heat spray.
* Gets stomped by an ordinary elk that knocks him into his campfire.
* "Warden! That fucking super-elk nuked me with its glowing eyes!
>> Sea life is more likely to survive without detection just because we use so LITTLE of the actual volume of the oceans. <<
Yes, that makes sense. Deep water is a plausible place where a population of super-powered creatures could develop. Then again, shallow water has different potentials: coral is bleaching due to UV radiation and changing water chemistry. Imagine if some corals managed to evolve instead. Super-powered razor coral = O_O
>> Pond life is waaay more noticeable, and the worst area to "spawn" would be the third-stage treatment plants for large urban water supplies. (The huge, huge water reservoir without the tanks, which is almost-human-potable, but has a few PPM too many of something which breaks down under UV exposure. Water sits and "cures" for anywhere from days to weeks before cycling into the water supply as tap-safe.) <<
An obvious development of this is that inspectors or activists spotting super-powered anything near a wastewater plant, factory, etc. would call SPOON and the EPA suspecting that someone was dumping Really Bad Stuff. The official policy would probably be "contain and destroy." But mad scientists are very curious and do not follow rules ...