Thread: Super Powers ?

What it the super power called that lets you with stand high levels of heat. Something that would let you like walk through fire or a oven and not get hot.

That usually gets lumped in with pyrokinesis

In biology, the word 'eurythermal' means something which can tolerate massive temperature.

Originally Posted by Sam W

In biology, the word 'eurythermal' means something which can tolerate massive temperature.

as does thermophilic; although it sounds like a disease, the ability to comfortably tolerate extremes of heat would be thermophilia.

Thermophilia may sound like a disease, but the advantage is that the word itself, due to its roots, is comprehensible to anyone. Then again, as far as superpowers go, many words have been made up through out the history of literature and graphic novels. My tip: 80% of the English language is composed of Latin and Greek prefixes and suffixes. Take some time to play mix'n'match until you find a word that fits your character and that sounds right for what you're writing.

To the average reader though, thermophilic seems like a range of temperatures from cold to hot. While it's not necessarily proper word construction, I think pyrophilic might be a better term to use. People associate the prefix pyro- with heat and fire.

Originally Posted by heartofthedragon

To the average reader though, thermophilic seems like a range of temperatures from cold to hot. While it's not necessarily proper word construction, I think pyrophilic might be a better term to use. People associate the prefix pyro- with heat and fire.

Pyrophilic infers that the subject is comfortable only in high temperature environments.

I looked around the web a bit and came up with Pyrophractos. It literally translates as fire-protected but I'm not sure if it refers to protected against or protected by. I'd run it by a linguist at your local university before publishing anything.

In French we have a word that I have seen in English also: "Nexus". I first saw it in a fantasy book, describing how the character could withstand extreme temparatures, physical and mental pain and what not. This word also has a funny sonority, a bit mysterious, I like it.