Adaptation

From Activating Evolution

Adaptation, also called Environmental Adaptation or Ecological Adaptation is simply the presence of physical and mental bodily features that allow one to survive in a certain environment. Types of Adaptation may include the following:

• Aerial Adaptation or Flight Adaptation allows the user to withstand extremely high/low wind pressure (one isn't disoriented or deprived of normal breathing capacity by it), and high wind friction, accompanied by an innate immunity to vertigo and/or fear of heights; this adaptation is innate for superhumans capable of flight (and counted along with Flight as one superhuman ability).

• Aquatic Adaptation, also called Underwater Adaptation or Bathyal Adaptation allows the user to breathe water in lieu of, or along with, a gaseous breathing medium (called Underwater Breathing, Water Breathing, Waterbreathing, Water-breathing or Hydropnea), to swim very well (usually at high speeds) and to easily endure high water pressure and extreme water temperatures.

• Montane Adaptation or Mountain Adaptation allows the user to live in very high-up conditions where the air is thin, as they possess adjusted breathing capacity, high air-pressure tolerance, a high cold tolerance and an immunity to the effects of vertigo or similar disorientation. This ability may imply the presence of Fur, Claws, thick skin, blubber and/or specially-adapted lungs.

• Terrene Adaptation allows the user to live in stuffy, low-light terrene conditions like caves and tunnels with vision, endurance and breathing adapted for such (and perhaps also adapted for intense heat, if the user is adapted for areas closer to the earth's core). This ability may imply the presence of Claws, thick skin, specially-adapted lungs and/or perhaps Night Vision.

• Vacuum Adaptation or Space Adaptation allows the user to survive in space unaided, to withstand atmospheres (the intense heat and any poisonous chemical elements), cosmic media (radiation) and strange gravity (even sometimes that of a black hole), and to perhaps propel oneself into space. This ability may also imply the ability to perform anaerobic respiration (breathing without oxygen or air).

The user of these adaptations would still have a human body, except with perhaps a few superhuman anatomical features. The user of this ability rarely has multiple adaptations (but if they do, the adaptations would be compatible or similar in nature).

Note: The names Environmental Adaptation or Ecological Adaptation do not imply that the user is capable of adapting to one’s environments; it implies that the user is already gifted with a physiology suited for that environment (if they can adapt to fit their environment, the ability is instead Reactive Adaptation)

[edit] Variations:

Affinity

• Affinity is a psychic, psionic or empathic connection (and thus a preference) for a particular type of subject or an area. One with this ability may have an Area Affinity, such as an Astral Affinity (where one feels most comfortable in the Astral Realm or around spirits, the dead or undead) or an Aquatic Affinity (where one feels most comfortable around bodies of water). Or this ability could allude to a Species Affinity, such as a Feline Affinity (where one feels most comfortable around feline species) or an Insect Affinity (where one feels more comfortable around insects and vermin). Other types of natural affinities are also possible.

• Area Affinity causes the user to feel more comfortable whenever they are around whatever it is they have an affinity for; this assists one’s social skills, athletic faculty, concentration and the like; Species Affinity assures that whatever species the user has an affinity for will be far less likely to attack or run away, even when the user does things which would normally provoke that species.

Necessary Adaptation

• Necessary Adaptation is the presence of bodily adaptations which must accompany other abilities in order for the user to use them safely and effectively. For example, a superhuman with the ability Quantum Perception must use a larger portion of the brain than a normal human, because their ability requires the analysis of a lot of sensory data. In the same manner, a superhuman with Superhuman Strength must have dense muscles or psychic energy to support the muscles in order to produce greater force than normal.

• These adaptations go hand in hand with the abilities from which they are derived; if these superhuman adaptations are not present within superhumans, the results could be disastrous. As such, these adaptations are not listed when defining abilities, but are rather implied.

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