[Fwd: (UA) The Zero]

[Carl L. Congdon]

Gregory Paul Stolze wrote:

> 1)  The points you can get to build one seem a wee bit high.  If you're a
> neglected nonentity living on the streets, how are you going to maintain a
> Body or Speed level of 70?  For that matter, how is someone with Mind 70
> going to end up with ten failed marks in anything?  But that's minor.

Still, a valid point. But I wanted to emphasize that they can be just like
regular humans....except that they've fallen through the metaphysical cracks.

> 2)  What distinguishes zeros from people who've simply freaked out in Self
> and/or  Helplessness?  Lots of people must hit five failures in those ranks
> every day: surely ALL of them don't become zeros?  What's the rare event
> that makes THIS particular neglected child or street person somehow
> representative of the entire idea?

They live without hope. Somewhere along the way, they gave up on the idea that
they would impact on anyone's life, or would ever receive any credit or
acknowledgement of their existence. They're so beaten down that they don't even
have the initiative to make a *negative* impression on others (by murder,
vandalism, arson, etc.) or they're so far removed that when they do get out of
control, it still doesn't register them to other people. Others think someone
or something else caused the problem. Plus, they don't have anyone who was ever
close to them, or that person died. Most of them just started out as loners.

What makes them different? Not too much....

> 3)  Finally, my most personal complaint: they seem a little
> one-dimensional.  "Homeless invisible killers" is a solid concept, but I'd
> prefer it if it was taken to the next level and made personal somehow.
> Right now, they're an external menace, inhuman.  They're scary 'cause they
> might get you.  If you could make it more possible to empathize, they'd be
> scarier still, because you'd be worried about BECOMING one.

Not all of them kill. Most are more afraid of other people than people would be
of them. There are some so beaten down that being a Zero is almost a mercy.
Only, it locks them away from those who could show them the more decent side of
humanity. Some are so withdrawn as to be almost hyper-autistic.

--
Poets, priests, and politicians
Have words to spend for their positions
Words that scream for your submission
And no one's jamming their transmission...
And when their eloquence escapes me
Their logic ties me up and rapes me
 -The Police, "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"