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Theory: "Imitating" Epic powers [SPOILERS]


name_here

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We know Prof's gear is a cover for Transferrence Epic powers, but he's not the only person claiming to copy them. Now, we cannot prove they're not doing the same thing, since Megan hasn't attempted to use their gear, but it seems somewhat implausible there's a secret set of Transference Epics who can convincingly imitate the powers of other Epics.

 

I think what is really happening is based on the cell trade. Diamond takes payment in intact cells of Epics, which apparently contribute to imitating their powers. Thing is, that doesn't make much sense for producing non-organic imitations. I suspect that all the "technological imitations" are not replicas of Epic powers; they're the actual powers used by the Epic, generated from cloned cells of the user controlled technologically. Being able to discover things about Epic powers from cells implies this is theoretically possible, even if not all instances of Epic tech do it.

 

However, the only "real" imitation we've seen is possibly an exception; it's a gauss gun that energizes the projectiles and conceptually well understood. Whether it could plausibly be created under known physics depends on exactly what it does to charge the projectile, but it requires an enormous energy input that leads me to suspect it does its damage in an entirely mundane manner because someone saw Rick O'Shea's powers and decided to make a gun that did that. But I'm dubious that all of them are like that, because Fortuity's cells would have been worth something and I don't know where to even begin duplicating his power.

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There is one piece of Epic inspired tech that people tend to overlook.  The phone system.

 

The cell phones in Steelheart are capable of communicating with each other directly, are capable of penetrating steel caves,and apparently they do not broadcast a traceable signal.  This is almost impossible with real world science and technology.

 

If your theory is correct then it seems likely that Knighthawk foundry (where the phones are made) is run by an epic with telepathic powers whose blood goes into each and every phone.

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The Knighthawk Foundry is an enigma. It definitely sounds like it's run by an Epic, it's powerful enough to maintain strict neutrality, and everyone inexplicably trusts them with providing secure communication devices, even the Reckoners. Having them powered by Knighthawk's cloned cells would explain why Newcago outsources their communications infastructure instead of designing their own; if the biological component is tamper-proofed it would be impossible to replicate them.

 

Alternately, they might work in a way that obeys standard physical laws but depends on components only Knighthawk's powers can manufacture, which would dovetail nicely with being powerful enough no one can push Knighthawk around if he makes military gear too and refuses to export it. He might have Enforcement suits with a laptop-size battery holding enough power for 72 hours of continuous combat instead of relying on Conflux, for instance. Either way, it's probably no coincidence that the most omnipresent Epic-based tech is manufactured by a group that has an Epic-style name.

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