In the Happy Force universe, the gifted - or cursed, depending on whose point of view you look at them with - are defined as anybody who has extraordinary abilities not normally possessed by the species. This covers the gambit from super-strength to shooting spikes out of your elbows.
There are three major groups of gifted: overt, covert, and invisible:
Overt are the kinds of gifted that cannot easily hide their abilities. Mutations, wings, physically built-in weapons (I hesitate to call them natural) etc. In 109, Wade falls into this category. He has to wear a huge gauntlet over his arm and wear special clothing in order to hide the demon and his wings. examples of this type of gifted in HFN are Alex, Willard Hamm, and later versions of Trio (or Tres, if you prefer).
Covert types are those whose abilities are hidden until used. Elementals tend to fall under this category. Adriana is our Covert 109 member. She looks relatively normal until she starts popping in and out of shadows like they were doorways. Other examples (from HFN) include Kaze (early Kaze, that is), Ne' Sonya, early Trio, Aiden, Turel, Zolo... heck, just most of HFN.
Invisible types are the hardest to define and identify. These are the kinds that are gifted in game-terms (they have gifts on their character sheets) but the gifts are impossible to directly identify, even while they're in use. Augmented gifted also fall under this category (as augmented gifted are made so by a special object or tool that can be removed from them). These tend to be social or luck-based gifts. Rad, being based almost entirely off of luck, is our 109 rep. the other half of his gift set centers around his gun, giving him an augment. Lucky and Jeanie are our invisible gifted from HFN.
After those three groups, the branches of the gifted tree become very numerous: we have elementals, augmented, psychic, social, healing, mutations, transformations, etc. etc. There is room for error, of course. In order to define a gifted with super strength, one would have to look at the record of strength for that species and then have a margin for error. Therefore, the world's fastest man or the most believable (ha!) psychic would not qualify.
Then, there are two different types that every gifted on the above lists fall into: evolving or not. All player characters are considered evolving gifted. As they play and gain experience, they buy new gifts and abilities. In-game terms, they are mutating and evolving - their powers are constantly growing and changing. Non-evolving gifted are just that - non-changing. Their gifts are at their peak. They won't be gaining any new abilities or powers by living their lives. The latter type are much more rare, and so far I can't think of any examples in our campaigns, but they definitely exist.
According to our universe, the gifted have been around for a long time. Legends and stories of them (exaggerated or otherwise) have been passed down on almost every planet since anybody can ever remember. So we look at it this way: Greek mythology? Gifted. Super heroes in comics? Gifted. Movie monsters? Gifted.
It's just a loose idea, but it serves it's purpose for our cause. Is any of this really relevant or need information? Yes. for you see, the gifted aren't all considered good. In fact, there are a lot of people in the universe that see gifted as a threat. And most of them aren't content to simply stand by while the gifted (or cursed...) do as they please and evolve into what essentially boils down to gods-among-men.
That's where the Alon come in.
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