Hokay, further response to our friend the 'wave-borg.
First, I gotta say, yes, it is as bad as it sounded.
- concept of character as 'wave-borg in general. It works a *lot* better as, essentially, a neural-connected suit of power armor than as a hypertech cyborg equivalent. Going with the latter would basically require that he drink a fair amount of the stuff and then completely luck out on his "what did you turn into" check. Also... where, on this cyborg, do the original wheelchairbits go? You can't just throw them out aterwards - they're important and necessary parts of the defining matrix. Finally, in order to get done what you want to get done, you're probably going to require at least about half the mass of the human character in handwavium. All of that mass has to go somewhere. Thus the idea of powered armor rather than cyborg.
- not "highest possible manifestation" so much as "bizarred and not terribly predictable but generally major enhancement"
- nature of handwavium: here is your first issue. Point one is that quirks aren't from interference. They're from the fact that you're working with handwavium, which is by its nature a poorly understood technology. Focused, perfectly controlled and quirk-free applications will be available in about 50-100 years (You might get close in as few as 25-35, given the amount of efort that is going into understanding the stuff, but you wouldn't be quite there yet.) In any case, though, by that point almost everyone will have them, and it'll be well outside the scope of the current exercise. The point is that we don't *know* what, exactly, makes handwavium do what it does. We have some basic clue, and in a few years we're likely to have a bit more, but we won't straight-up know. I can buy that this guy set up a really intense system with a lot of up-front investment of time and mental energy, and gets something of appropriate coolness in response. That's cool. What it buys him, though, is that it turns his wheelchair into pretty much what he wanted (a suit of power-armor) rather than just something that he'd probably find useful (a gravity-assisted hoverchair). What it does *not* buy him is any sort of freedom from quirk effects. Is another reason to go power armor. Having to live the rest of your life as a hulking obvious amalgam of man, machine, and 'wavium pays for a lot of quirk points, if you play up the inconvenience/bizarreness from time to time
- basic wave properties: on of the things to remember is that basic 'wave devices have one or two things that they do. AIs and other character-equivalent devices can have a few more, and major vehicles tend to incorporate a number of smaller devices into themselves. The point is, though, that each toy does one or two things, and each character only has access to a finite (usually small) number of toys. Beyond that, the toys that they do have then have quirks that counterbalance them to a degree. You're asking for "I can form any basic tool or shape I might want, I have instant access to a ship-equivalent and spacesuit at all times, I'm always covered in low-profile armor, I'm a natural combat monster at hand-to-hand and close range, oh, and I can warp the local laws of reality. In exchange, I'll take the quirk that my skin looks funny (easily hidden behind normal clothing) and maybe one or two others of relatively low level." This isn't even *remotely* balanced.
- your on-board buddy: speaking of which, having an affectionate but occasionally adversarial relationship with the AI that lives in your head? actually, in this case, this isn't quite enough quirk to break even with the nifty thing about having a generally allied AI that lives in your head. Also, your brain cannot serve as the basis for your AI. It is too busy serving as the basis for *you*. Adding 'waved intelligence to human brains yields Mad Scientists, not onboard AIs. Thus the continuing need for a computer.
- Simple initial hardtech yields simple wavetech. Complex wavetech requires complex initial hardtech. For something like this, an ordinary wheelchair simply isn't going to be sufficient. It could serve as the core, certainly, but you'ld have to include a few other things as well, preferably higher on the tech scale. This is why I was thinking you were talking motorized. They don't have to be specified, but they would have to be there.
Perhaps I am wrong, but the biggest issue here seems to me to be thematic. It sounds like you want a superhero-style character. Indeed, the character you describe would make an excellent low-level superhero out of the box, and could be trained up to low-medium or straight medium with relative ease. He even has a decent (actually, more than decent. Remarkably high-quality, really) superhero-genre origin story. This, however, is not a superhero universe. This is an awkward universe. This is a universe that, more than anything else, is about going too far, too fast, and then desperately patching the holes that result with duct tape. This is a universe composed entirely of kludgy tech - of things that work only because the individuals that love them have figured out how to compensate for all their many flaws and strange needs. This is not intended to be heroic (though there are heroics here, and they belong, the heroics are most often those of (arguably) normal people, thrust (however willingly) into abnormal situations and doing the best they can under the circumstances.) This is intended, mostly, to be funny.
On the other hand, it's very late for me now, and so that bit abotu thematic issues could be entirely off-base. I'm signing off now. I would say, though, that the writing was excellent, and I would look forward to seeing more of the character, regardless of how, or where, he turns out. You pretty much *could* plug him into your superhero universe of choice with only a few minor edits. If you don't think that he'd survive the conversion to 'wave-normal with the parts that appealed to you intact, i would suggest that you transplant him to a universe where he *would* fit, and run with him there.
First, I gotta say, yes, it is as bad as it sounded.
- concept of character as 'wave-borg in general. It works a *lot* better as, essentially, a neural-connected suit of power armor than as a hypertech cyborg equivalent. Going with the latter would basically require that he drink a fair amount of the stuff and then completely luck out on his "what did you turn into" check. Also... where, on this cyborg, do the original wheelchairbits go? You can't just throw them out aterwards - they're important and necessary parts of the defining matrix. Finally, in order to get done what you want to get done, you're probably going to require at least about half the mass of the human character in handwavium. All of that mass has to go somewhere. Thus the idea of powered armor rather than cyborg.
- not "highest possible manifestation" so much as "bizarred and not terribly predictable but generally major enhancement"
- nature of handwavium: here is your first issue. Point one is that quirks aren't from interference. They're from the fact that you're working with handwavium, which is by its nature a poorly understood technology. Focused, perfectly controlled and quirk-free applications will be available in about 50-100 years (You might get close in as few as 25-35, given the amount of efort that is going into understanding the stuff, but you wouldn't be quite there yet.) In any case, though, by that point almost everyone will have them, and it'll be well outside the scope of the current exercise. The point is that we don't *know* what, exactly, makes handwavium do what it does. We have some basic clue, and in a few years we're likely to have a bit more, but we won't straight-up know. I can buy that this guy set up a really intense system with a lot of up-front investment of time and mental energy, and gets something of appropriate coolness in response. That's cool. What it buys him, though, is that it turns his wheelchair into pretty much what he wanted (a suit of power-armor) rather than just something that he'd probably find useful (a gravity-assisted hoverchair). What it does *not* buy him is any sort of freedom from quirk effects. Is another reason to go power armor. Having to live the rest of your life as a hulking obvious amalgam of man, machine, and 'wavium pays for a lot of quirk points, if you play up the inconvenience/bizarreness from time to time
- basic wave properties: on of the things to remember is that basic 'wave devices have one or two things that they do. AIs and other character-equivalent devices can have a few more, and major vehicles tend to incorporate a number of smaller devices into themselves. The point is, though, that each toy does one or two things, and each character only has access to a finite (usually small) number of toys. Beyond that, the toys that they do have then have quirks that counterbalance them to a degree. You're asking for "I can form any basic tool or shape I might want, I have instant access to a ship-equivalent and spacesuit at all times, I'm always covered in low-profile armor, I'm a natural combat monster at hand-to-hand and close range, oh, and I can warp the local laws of reality. In exchange, I'll take the quirk that my skin looks funny (easily hidden behind normal clothing) and maybe one or two others of relatively low level." This isn't even *remotely* balanced.
- your on-board buddy: speaking of which, having an affectionate but occasionally adversarial relationship with the AI that lives in your head? actually, in this case, this isn't quite enough quirk to break even with the nifty thing about having a generally allied AI that lives in your head. Also, your brain cannot serve as the basis for your AI. It is too busy serving as the basis for *you*. Adding 'waved intelligence to human brains yields Mad Scientists, not onboard AIs. Thus the continuing need for a computer.
- Simple initial hardtech yields simple wavetech. Complex wavetech requires complex initial hardtech. For something like this, an ordinary wheelchair simply isn't going to be sufficient. It could serve as the core, certainly, but you'ld have to include a few other things as well, preferably higher on the tech scale. This is why I was thinking you were talking motorized. They don't have to be specified, but they would have to be there.
Perhaps I am wrong, but the biggest issue here seems to me to be thematic. It sounds like you want a superhero-style character. Indeed, the character you describe would make an excellent low-level superhero out of the box, and could be trained up to low-medium or straight medium with relative ease. He even has a decent (actually, more than decent. Remarkably high-quality, really) superhero-genre origin story. This, however, is not a superhero universe. This is an awkward universe. This is a universe that, more than anything else, is about going too far, too fast, and then desperately patching the holes that result with duct tape. This is a universe composed entirely of kludgy tech - of things that work only because the individuals that love them have figured out how to compensate for all their many flaws and strange needs. This is not intended to be heroic (though there are heroics here, and they belong, the heroics are most often those of (arguably) normal people, thrust (however willingly) into abnormal situations and doing the best they can under the circumstances.) This is intended, mostly, to be funny.
On the other hand, it's very late for me now, and so that bit abotu thematic issues could be entirely off-base. I'm signing off now. I would say, though, that the writing was excellent, and I would look forward to seeing more of the character, regardless of how, or where, he turns out. You pretty much *could* plug him into your superhero universe of choice with only a few minor edits. If you don't think that he'd survive the conversion to 'wave-normal with the parts that appealed to you intact, i would suggest that you transplant him to a universe where he *would* fit, and run with him there.