Mr. Mysteries' So-True Histories Episode 13 - The Chaos Part I
Hello Eager Learners! I am Mr. Mysteries, formerly of the Learned League, and this is my KARENcast series on the history of our Reality, Reality 69. Our last episode was on our Great Deviation Point. I previously said that this issue would cover the Neohuman Riots, but I realized that the period between the Neohuman Activation Pulse had too many notable events to gloss over. So today’s episode will instead cover the period after the NAP, commonly known as The Chaos.
The first wave of abilities awakened by the NAP were typically small in scale, although those first few folks who developed visible changes had obvious issues. Among those first Neohumans, simple physical and mental enhancements were the most common by far, followed by mobility enhancements like flight and leaping. Unfortunately, it is believed that many early Neohumans that expressed psychic or energy manipulation powers were killed by their own powers or panics from neighbors. During the two years after the NAP, reports of disappearances and murders skyrocketed across the world.
The first known Neohuman “incident”, also popularly known as the Dayton Dilemma, was the robbery of Dayton Savings & Loan in Dayton, Iowa on January 3rd 1948. In this incident three early Neohumans (John James Johnson, Maurice ‘Brand’ Meyer, & Leslie “PeeWee” Litton) used their superhuman abilities to stage the robbery of the vault and drawers of the Dayton S&L. Local police proved unable to deal with the combination of super strength and speed the robbers demonstrated, although one of the involved police demonstrated a minor material manipulation power that enabled them to capture Litton during the escape. Johnson and Meyer were captured separately in other incidents over the next few years (Johnson in September of 1950, Meyer in May 1949).
Similar Neohuman criminal incidents became increasingly common over the next two years, as a wider array of Neohuman abilities became apparent. Police began to actively recruit Neos (as they began to be called) to be able to counter these abilities. Several companies, through the use of Neohuman metal capabilities, began to rapidly release more complex and robust weapon and information systems. Grace Hopper, working under the auspices of the US Navy and now confirmed as an early Neohuman, released COBOL in late 1950. Jack Kilby and Robet Noyce released the development of the integrated circuit in 1951. Doug Engelbart founded the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) in 1953, which would go on to have major input in research about Neohumans and technological development.
It is interesting to note that in comparison with Prime Reality, that by this point the technological path of our Reality was running roughly 10-15 years ahead of the similar curve in Prime. This will only become more pronounced over time.
This has been Mr. Mysteries’ So-True Histories. Thanks for listening and watching. Our next episode will look at the culmination of the Chaos in the mid to late 50’s.
The first wave of abilities awakened by the NAP were typically small in scale, although those first few folks who developed visible changes had obvious issues. Among those first Neohumans, simple physical and mental enhancements were the most common by far, followed by mobility enhancements like flight and leaping. Unfortunately, it is believed that many early Neohumans that expressed psychic or energy manipulation powers were killed by their own powers or panics from neighbors. During the two years after the NAP, reports of disappearances and murders skyrocketed across the world.
The first known Neohuman “incident”, also popularly known as the Dayton Dilemma, was the robbery of Dayton Savings & Loan in Dayton, Iowa on January 3rd 1948. In this incident three early Neohumans (John James Johnson, Maurice ‘Brand’ Meyer, & Leslie “PeeWee” Litton) used their superhuman abilities to stage the robbery of the vault and drawers of the Dayton S&L. Local police proved unable to deal with the combination of super strength and speed the robbers demonstrated, although one of the involved police demonstrated a minor material manipulation power that enabled them to capture Litton during the escape. Johnson and Meyer were captured separately in other incidents over the next few years (Johnson in September of 1950, Meyer in May 1949).
Similar Neohuman criminal incidents became increasingly common over the next two years, as a wider array of Neohuman abilities became apparent. Police began to actively recruit Neos (as they began to be called) to be able to counter these abilities. Several companies, through the use of Neohuman metal capabilities, began to rapidly release more complex and robust weapon and information systems. Grace Hopper, working under the auspices of the US Navy and now confirmed as an early Neohuman, released COBOL in late 1950. Jack Kilby and Robet Noyce released the development of the integrated circuit in 1951. Doug Engelbart founded the Augmentation Research Center (ARC) in 1953, which would go on to have major input in research about Neohumans and technological development.
It is interesting to note that in comparison with Prime Reality, that by this point the technological path of our Reality was running roughly 10-15 years ahead of the similar curve in Prime. This will only become more pronounced over time.
This has been Mr. Mysteries’ So-True Histories. Thanks for listening and watching. Our next episode will look at the culmination of the Chaos in the mid to late 50’s.
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