Superpowers

Creating the world of Fane has made me ponder about superpowers, because everyone on Fane (and fanes when they visit other planets) demonstrates some extraordinary abilities that human beings would consider superpowers.

Deena, the heroine of The Last Dreamseer, has probably drawn the short straw. Her superpower is the ability to see the future in visions. Now, this ought to be a cool ability: book your holidays for the sunny weeks, and never get caught in the rain without an umbrella ever again. But it hasn’t worked out that way for Deena. Being able to see the future made her the focus of a lot of attention by Fane’s rulers. All they cared about was that the future worked out the way that most benefitted them. If she foresaw something the queen didn’t like it was often her who suffered (shoot the messenger and all that).

If I were to be granted a superpower, I’d give seeing the future a miss in favour of the superpowers all fanes enjoy – control over the elements. Thanks to their anima crystals, all fanes can control earth, air, fire and water to a greater or lesser degree. The coolest way this manifests itself is in bounding – controlling the air and ones own body weight to be able to jump miles at once.

I based this ability on fairy tales of seven league boots – footwear that lets you step 20-odd miles at a time (my hero, Cal, says he can go twice that distance in one bound, but he’s a bit showy that way). Bounding is a kind of flying without wings and would be an absolutely brilliant superpower to possess – no need for cars or waiting for buses or trains when you can get wherever you want to go in a couple of steps.

So that’s my preferred superpower let me know yours in the comments below. And check out my friend’s Rhoda Baxter’s blog where she tries to decide which superpower she’d most like.

Find her views at: http://rhodabaxter.com/?p=3332