August 30, 2006. In the skies above Kashmir the nova soldier known as Mu Lung died of unknown causes. To date no explanation has been found for his apparent immolation. The single witness of the event maintains that Mu Lung's death was not caused by an outside agent.
It is the belief of Zuhin Alhazred Mohammed that Mu Lung died when he lost control of his powers. There is no evidence however that supports this claim and all attempts to duplicate the event have failed. As far as our data confirms there is no possible way for a nova to hurt himself through the agent of his/her own Quantum Powers either willingly or unwillingly.
-----Dr. Toiho, Allergy Treatment Center, Ridgemont, Ohio.
As far as game mechanics go there is no way to reproduce the events that led to Mu Lung's death or those which would cause the Blight in Trinity times. A nova is immune to his own powers and even massive amounts of Taint will only inconvenience a nova, not destroy one. No amount of Maxxing or Dying For Power will cause a nova to self immolate, destroying himself and everything else for kilometers around. But there is one area that the game mechanics don't cover and that is where Pulling Out All The Stops comes in. The amount of Quantum a nova can spend in a turn is set by his Node rating (or lack of Node rating) and cannot be exceeded. However sometimes that is just not enough. There are times when the nova will need to exceed this limit in order to accomplish what he wants, or sometimes merely to survive. Circumstances may demand a higher Quantum output than the nova can safely handle. Usually just after the nova has maxxed his powers and realizes that even though his Quantum pool is relatively whole he can't access enough of it to do what he intended to and stay alive at the same time. To gain access to this extra Quantum the nova has to overcome his node's natural resistance to its own Quantum energies. Like an isolator when it's resistance has been overcome the nova can channel more during this brief surge than otherwise possible, but the price is high and the risk is tremendous.
System: The nova rolls his Quantum + Node against a difficulty equal to the amount of Quantum exceeding his normal, per turn limit, that he wishes to use during the round. (In other words if he wishes to channel 3 more points of Quantum he needs 3 successes on the roll.) If he succeeds then he can use the Quantum normally but on the following turn he is afflicted by headaches and suffers a -2 dice penalty to all dice pools for a period of weeks equal to the excess Quantum he spent or until he is administered a dose of Mox. If the roll is failed then the nova gains one temporary Taint for each point of excess Quantum he tried to channel. If the roll is a botch then the effects are even more terrible as the nova suffers one level of Aggravated damage that cannot be soaked for each point of excess Quantum as well as the affliction of Temporary Taint. However none of these penalties can compare to what happens when the nova tries and fails to channel more Quantum right after maxxing his powers. If the nova performs Pulling Out All The Stops on the turn following a successful Maxxing attempt then several conditions apply. First he can spend two of his Maxxing successes to double the output of Quantum. Each Quantum Pool point spent provides two points while the difficulty for Pulling Out All The Stops remains the same. In other words the nova can elect to spend three points of Quantum in excess of his per turn maximum and the difficulty would remain three. While the nova would only spend three points from his Quantum Pool, he would have six points from the expenditure instead of just three. However if the roll fails the nova emits the energy as a blast that causes damage equal to [Quantum] + (Quantum points spent) in lethal damage, including to the nova who cannot soak the damage, to an area that has a radius of [Quantum] + (Quantum points spent) x10 meters for novas with Quantum of 1-5. Novas with Quantum 6-7 convert this to Kilometers, Quantum 8-9 novas produce blast effects in hundreds of kilometers, and Quantum 10 novas produce blast areas in the thousands of kilometers. If the roll is Botched the damage is Aggravated and the nova will not survive no matter how many Health levels he, she or it has. Also Failing or botching the roll after a successful Maxxing attempt will release Taint into the surrounding area. A Permanent background Taint of 1-5 remains in the area of the blast. This background Taint inflicts a point of Temporary Taint on those who enter it for each level of Permanent Taint in the area. Assign a value to the background Taint based on the power of the nova and the strength of the blast. As above a failed roll incurs Temporary Taint for the nova equal to the excess amount of Quantum he was to spend. A botch incurs no further Taint, the nova is already dead.
Of course this process presents many more dangers than it does benefits which means that even contemplating this action will be a rare occurrence. But some set effect powers such as the Crush Mega Enhancement and those where the player chooses to use the optional rules from the Players Guide where some powers benefit from extra Quantum expenditure to boost their effectiveness might benefit from Pulling Out All The Stops. Most notably Force Field and Quantum Construct. The possibility is there even though the chances of failure are minimal if the character uses it with caution. Most accidents in this respect will come from novas who misjudge the amount or who are ignorant of the consequences. A nova who suddenly realizes that activating four levels of Enhanced initiative, five levels of Quickness and Enhanced Movement but who can only spend 10 Quantum per turn would leave himself open to an attack that he can survive by using Absorption is likely to consider this option. But in the normal course of play this option would be so rare as to have minimal effect on the game.
On the other hand a character (PC or NPC) who knows about this option somehow, can very well use it to make a suicide attack that is nearly impossible for others to survive. A nova with Quantum 5 and 30+ Quantum Pool could cause considerable damage to a very large area by purposefully failing the roll by setting the difficulty too high for him to make it. To curb this you can very well impose my House Rule that any roll that doesn't cover the difficulty and comes up with one or more One's is a Botch. No matter how many Health levels the nova has or what powers he possesses that would permit him to survive death, this form of suicide will be fatal to him. Though 35+ Aggravated damage to a 240+ meter area is one hell of a 'screw you guys'. So be careful not to allow players with a poor sense of sportsmanship access to this option. It serves better as a plot device and a tool for an interesting NPC demise.
Also remember that the nova is only in danger if he uses this option after Maxxing his powers so that cuts the lethality of it even further to something approaching the incidence we see in the setting. (Two incidents known of, one of which hasn't even happened yet.)
