Today in the Trinity Universe

[aberrantangels]

[Edited 2:41 PM to correct the link I was going to add but didn't. *^_^*]

Out on the horizon
I see a puff of smoke
Indians on the warpath
White man speaking with forked tongue, isn't it?
Pardon that?
— Boys Don't Cry, "I Wanna Be a Cowboy"

2004
[Aberrant] California Law Enforcement Bulletin includes a cult update mentioning nova-centric cults such as the followers of Bhagwan Sri Mahananda and the "Sacred Circles" of Kelly "Calliope" Pierson.

That's one aspect of novahood that Aberrant covered better than most previous, and probably some subsequent, superhero milieux — what they call "Mega-Social" powers. In fact, the only previous treatments of inhuman persuasive ability that I can readily think of were Zebadiah Killgrave, Marvel's "Purple Man" (a villain), and David Harstein, "the Envoy" of the Wild Cards world's "Four Aces" (a hero who had to go into hiding).

One of the Aberrant supplements I was looking forward to was Aberrant: Cult of Personality, which was supposed to be an in-depth discussion of the game effects of Mega-Social attributes and enhancements, with worked examples of their effect on the Nova Age. (Aberrant: Brainwaves, available as an unofficial e-book here, did the same for Mega-Mental powers, and Aberrant: Brute Force would have covered the Mega-Physical.)

Comments

[ezrael.livejournal.com]

Alan Moore's Tao character in his Wild CATS run had a similar ability.

[aberrantangels]

I didn't read those issues in their serialized publication, but I've read the graphic novel where some of the cast go to Khera, and I think I remember Tao showing up in some of the Earthside scenes there. Thanks for the reminder.

[lostfactor.livejournal.com]

To be a bit on the pedantic side, the Purple Man doesn't quite count. Rather than being extremely persuasive beyond human norms, his body exhumes a high level of pheremones that render all those inhaling them extremely susceptible to suggestion. If one stops breathing in the pheremones, he has no ability. (This was demonstrated multiple times; most prominent in my mind was when Nate Grey used a telekinetic filter to block the pheremones from infecting him.) It's closer to hypnosis, or in some cases bodily control separate of conscious desire - he's said on multiple occasions that nobody touches him unless he wants them to, which is true, as the pheremonal influenceis just too powerful.

It's tangental to the point, of course.