Dictionary Definition
aberrant adj : markedly different from an
accepted norm; "aberrent behavior"; "deviant ideas" [syn: deviant] n : one whose behavior
departs substantially from the norm of a group
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Adjective
- Wandering; straying from the right way.
- Deviating from the
ordinary or natural type; exceptional; abnormal.
- Charles
Darwin,
- The more aberrant any form is, the greater must have been the number of connecting forms which, on my theory, have been exterminated.
- Charles
Darwin,
- Deviating from morality.
Derived terms
Translations
wandering; straying from the right way
- Finnish: harhautunut, harhaileva
- Vietnamese: lầm lạc
deviating from the ordinary or natural type;
exceptional; abnormal
- Finnish: poikkeava
- Vietnamese: khác thường
deviating from morality
- Finnish: hairahtunut, harhaileva
- ttbc Catalan: aberrant
- ttbc French: aberrant
- ttbc Hindi: पथभर्ष्ट, विपथगामी
- ttbc Italian: aberrante
- ttbc Portuguese: aberrante
- ttbc Romanian: aberant
- ttbc Spanish: aberrante
Noun
- A person or object that is aberrant.
Shorthand
- Gregg (Version: Centennial,Series 90,DJS,Simplified): a - b - r - a - nt
- (Version:
Anniversary): a - b - e - r - a - nt
- (Version: Pre_Anniversary): a - b - e - r - nt
Extensive Definition
- For other meanings of "aberrant", see .
Setting
Super powers in Aberrant come from an individual's ability to manipulate energy at the "quantum" sub-atomic level. Since individuals who can do this have an imperfect understanding of quantum mechanics, their powers are limited by their subconscious and usually follow a specific "path" or are linked to a specific focus. For instance, all the powers of the nova called Anteus revolve around nature; he can teleport by stepping into a tree and out of another tree of the same type somewhere else, create new species of animals, or alter the normal course of life and death for plants and animals. All his powers follow his focus of nature. Other novas have other foci such as plasma, fire, water, shapechanging, or invulnerability.As a nova's ability to manipulate the quantum
fabric of the world grows, he begins to experience Taint, the side
effects of channelling larger amounts of energy. Taint is the
'non-humanness' side of quantum manipulation and at higher levels
novas begin to show either physical or mental defects. These
defects vary widely; examples might include a tentacle growing from
one's stomach, sociopathic disorders, hair made of flames, odd skin
composition (such as rubber), a power that is "always on",
megalomania, or continual radiation.
Aberrant is unique among the publisher's
game-lines for having no particular castes or character
classes. Aside from this, it shares with many other White
Wolf games a tendency to embrace "shades of gray" morality and
reject the traditional superhero trope of "heroes vs.
villains".
Aberrant is the middle game of the Trinity
Universe, and is thus the prequel to Trinity
and the sequel to
Adventure!. Trinity details the future history of the novas,
over a 60-year span of time, while Adventure! covers the dawn of
this setting in the 1920s.
Several books were in the works for Aberrant at
the time of its cancellation, most notably the three "Mega-Books,"
each of which focused on what it might be like to have Mega-Social,
Mega-Mental, or Mega-Physical Attributes, while also shedding light
on some other element of the Aberrant setting. The first of these
Mega-Books, called Aberrant: Cult of Personality, took a close look
at Social Mega-Attributes and also examined the rise of nova-led
cults. This book was complete and waiting for art at the time of
the game's cancellation. The second of the Mega-Books, called
Aberrant: Brainwaves, was going to examine Mental Mega-Attributes
and provide comprehensive rules for "gadgeteers," those novas who
use their vast minds to build amazing devices. The last of the
Mega-Books, tentatively titled Aberrant: Brute Force, would address
the standard Physical Mega-Attributes while also providing players
with background and rules for civic defenders, novas employed by
cities to act as crime fighters/public relations operatives.
Factions
The metaplot revolves around the interactions between various factions, most of which employ Nova agents. Among the most important are:- Project Utopia, an organisation with seemingly altruistic ideals that promotes cooperation between Novas and humans to build a more perfect world. Utopia has UN sanction to deal with novas. It is also linked to the Aeon Trinity organisation, which rises to greater prominence in Trinity and whose roots are detailed in Adventure!
- The Teragen, a diverse group of Novas who share a common philosophy called "Teras". A direct result of this philosophy is that the group willingly embraces its evolved status, and therefore claim biological superiority to humans. While the outside world view the Teragen as a single group it is actually a coalition of different interests united by philosophy and their enigmatic inspiration, Divis Mal. In his Null Manifesto, he declared, essentially, that novas could only be governed by their peers, freeing its members from the obligations of human law.
- The Aberrants, a group of Novas concerned about evidence of corruption within Project Utopia. While a small faction, they are nevertheless taken very seriously by Project Utopia.
- The Directive, an intelligence organisation controlled by the governments of Russia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and the United States.
Various smaller groups exist, most of which are
focused on more specific goals. Players' characters generally
belong to one of the above factions, work for a specific
corporation, or hire themselves out for odd jobs, often as
mercenaries or troubleshooters.
System
Aberrant uses a modified version of the Storyteller System. A character adds his attribute to his skill (or power as the case may be) and rolls that many 10 sided dice. Any dice that comes up as a 7 or higher counts as 1 success. Accomplishing different tasks requires different numbers of successes to accomplish. Flying a plane may only require 1 success, but flying a 747 with a near fatal wound, all the rest of the crew dead, and no hydraulic pressure could require 5 or more successes.The first major difference with Aberrant is that
in addition to normal attributes such as Dexterity, Manipulation
and Wits, novas have what are called Mega-Attributes. Scores in
such attributes may be added as dice every time a character makes a
roll using the linked mundane attribute, but Mega-Attributes are
much more powerful. Every success rolled using mega attribute dice
count as 2 normal successes, and rolling a 10 counts as 3
successes. Alternatively, the scores in a Mega-Attribute may be
used to reduce the difficulty on a one for one basis, though never
below needing one success. The player can choose each turn which
way to use his Mega-Attribute, and can even split the points
between the two ways. (Statistics Note: A rank of a regular
attribute gives you approximately .4 of a success per roll. A rank
of a Mega-Attribute used as a die gives you approximately .9 of a
success per roll. Reducing the difficulty of a task is the same as
subtracting 1 from the needed successes.)
Powers are treated almost exactly like skills
except that they come in different levels of power. Level 1 powers
are comparatively weak, while level 6 powers can do nearly anything
(one level 6 power is 'Universe Creation'). Lower level powers are
cheaper to purchase with experience, while higher level powers cost
more. There are a wide range of powers from controlling any single
element (fire, gravity, entropy, quantum, magnetism, etc...), to
flying, to mental domination, to imperviousness, to time travel,
and teleportation.
aberrant in French: Aberrant
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
aberrative, abnormal, abominable, abroad, adrift, all abroad, all off, all
wrong, amiss, amorphous, anomalistic, anomalous, askew, astray, at fault, atrocious, atypical, awry, beside the mark, circuitous, corrupt, criminal, deceptive, defective, delinquent, delusive, departing, desultory, deviant, deviating, deviational, deviative, deviatory, devious, different, digressive, discursive, disgraceful, disparate, distorted, divergent, eccentric, errant, erratic, erring, erroneous, evil, exceptional, excursive, fallacious, false, faultful, faulty, flawed, formless, hardly the thing,
heretical, heteroclite, heterodox, heteromorphic, ignominious, illegal, illogical, illusory, improper, inappropriate, incorrect, indecorous, indirect, infamous, irregular, labyrinthine, mazy, meandering, not done, not
right, not the thing, not true, odd, off, off the track, off-base,
off-color, out, out-of-line,
out-of-the-way, peccant,
peculiar, perverse, perverted, planetary, preternatural, rambling, roving, sacrilegious, scandalous,
self-contradictory, serpentine, shameful, shameless, shapeless, shifting, sinful, snaky, strange, stray, straying, subnormal, swerving, terrible, turning, twisting, undirected, undue, unfactual, unfit, unfitting, unlawful, unnatural, unorthodox, unproved, unrepresentative,
unrighteous,
unseemly, unsuitable, untrue, untypical, unusual, vagrant, veering, wandering, wicked, wide, winding, wrong, wrongful, zigzag