Nitrogen Transmutation

Any SHRPG

I've been thinking about nitrogen blooms and transmutation over the past few days, so here are some results.

I was reading about corn and nitrogen fixing (because what's lunchtime without thinking about where the tortilla came from?) and I suddenly realized that someone whose power is specific to nitrogen would be...powerful. Those algal blooms in rivers and ponds? Usually caused by excess nitrogen from fertilizer (there's also a phosphate problem but we'll set that aside). One river mouth had a de-oxygenated area the size of New Jersey, just from algae. So someone with control over nitrogen could just be cleaning up.

In a more traditional superhero setting, proteins require nitrogen...which means that your nitrogen controller can weaken the muscles instantly (or, controlled very specifically, cause erections: the effect of a nitrogen oxide on vascular tissues is used in erectile dysfunction drugs). Turn all the oxygen in an area into nitrous or nitric oxide, and they can't breathe and I believe one of those is acidic.

(This is almost as good as the ability to control poop (I cannot find the cartoon at the moment).)

Imagine somebody with transmutation at range...point at the battlesuit character with life support and turn all the oxygen inside to, oh, helium. Or just carbon monoxide. Suddenly, the character is choking and has a certain number of strength rolls to maintain consciousness.

At least one version of Firestorm tried to lessen the deity-level power by requiring Ronnie to know the chemical formula being changed, but there's still an awful lot that can be done with simple one, two, and three-molecule structures. All the oxygen in the air becomes carbon, and suddenly it's CH₂ looking for something to fill the extra two bonds. Not only does the person have serious problems if it happens in their body (hint: primary component of blood is H₂O), but I believe that the reaction of C-H₂ joining to whatever is available is exothermic (real chemists can correct me, because I haven't studied chemistry since 1982).

I was thinking about nitrogen-fixing the other day. A lot of pollution and anaerobic zones in rivers and ponds are from an oversupply of nitrogen in the water, from fertilizer. What if the character is an element transmuter, and the default unconscious thing is turning nitrogen to oxygen? The air has lots of nitrogen, so low-level conversion makes the air “better” and more interesting. This in turn might make other people want to be around the hero, just because they feel better. Of course, it’s visible to anybody tracking superpowers in action, and oxygen just feeds fires, so bad character to have around wildfires...or sparks of any kind.

Even limited to triatomic-or-less molecules to something else, transmuters can be vastly effective. Carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide is lethal; oxygen to nitrogen knocks out and eventually kills that opponent in the life-support suit. Oxygen in the blood to nitrogen in the blood could give the bends to someone even if they’re invulnerable. Water vapour in the air to nitrous oxide would be a way of throwing off the aim.

Element transmuters are sooo powerful. I never feel like I could do them justice.