Realistic or Modern A Matter of Worth [Information]

[Birdsie]

GN: You're allowed to post any worldbuilding data you deem interesting/noteworthy here. Contact me before posting anything major, like global or national organizations and teams, or A-list superheroes/villains. Have fun!

 

[Birdsie]

Full Setting History

Before the Age of Heroes

Unless otherwise noted, the History of <A Matter of Worth> is largely similar to our own. Most differences in eras anterior to the 20th century have to do with the existence of magic.

While magic has existed in the world's early history, very few humans learned how to use it, and it often remained anecdotal. There were, however, places where magic was common. Among them was the elven city of Avalon.

Elves, as recent studies have shown, are a sub-species of humanity. Aside from their unnatural skin tones and longevity (the average elf lives about four centuries), their one important difference from humans is their natural aptitude for magic. In ancient times, elves became mistrustful of human communities and secluded themselves to Avalon, a city they had enchanted to float of the British coasts. Their occasional interactions with humanity have no doubt influenced Arthurian legends.

At some point between the 10th and 11th century, a major event happened - an elven archmage named Nollius became the ruler of Avalon, presumably through a coup. There are rumors about Nollius having "sold his soul to the Demon King for power", but historians do not know if there is any truth to that. Regardless, Nollius's rise to power was followed almost immediately by the city disappearing to the realm of Limbo. In addition, magic all over the world saw a vast reduction to its potency for the next few centuries, as Avalon was an important terminal and node for the planet's leylines.

WW1: Avatar and Mutants Appear

Super-powered mutants first appeared in the 1920s, though there were some odd, rare cases prior to that: various boys and girls, more-or-less evenly distributed among populations, began manifesting metahuman abilities as they reached puberty. The phenomenon was completely mysterious at the time; in the modern era, thanks to the progresses of physics, biology, and genetics, the mechanics of mutation are somewhat more clearly understood - but its actual cause remains unknown. It is widely agreed among the scientific community that there is genetic engineering at work, modifying human fetuses to give them powers, but the nature and identity of the engineer is a complete mystery.

Whatever the cause, the mutants were here, and their powers were more than enough to cause great worries. Fear was rising, and could probably have led to chaos, had it not been for the Avatar:
Not long after the mutants first appeared, the Avatar made his first appearance. Dressed in a white-and-gold costume, wearing a cape, radiating faint light, and wielding cosmic powers so great as to dwarf those of the mutants, the Avatar embarked on a campaign of heroics across the world, rescuing people from accidents, saving communities from natural disasters, fighting crime, and generally being a protector of humanity twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

On one hand, the Avatar proved even more frustratingly mysterious than the mutants, refusing to answer any questions concerning his true nature and origins. On the other hand, his charisma and heroics soon made him an inspiration to many; both to regular humans, who learned thanks to him not to fear super-powered individuals, and to a large segment of the mutant population, who began to see him as a role model: In the years that followed, many mutants opted to follow his example, using their powers for heroics.

The Age of Superheroes had begun.

WW2: First Contact with Extraterrestrials & Return of Magic

The first case of extraterrestrial contact in history, in the late 1930s, was Tagton.

An interstellar mercenary, Tagton offered his services as an assassin to whoever could pay him - the payment in question consisting of valuable artwork. It has been theorized that Earth holds nothing of value to Tagton's tech-advanced civilization, but that he can find alien collectors interested in another species' art. One of his very first clients was the Third Reich.

Nazism had to somehow fit mutation into its ideology - after all, Hitler needed the Axis's mutants to serve as super-soldiers. One major obstacle to his military plans, however, was the Avatar: The latter was vastly more powerful than any mutant, and while not politically active, had made it very clear that he was no partisan of racial supremacy. If The Axis was to declare war, the Avatar would almost certainly stand against them.

And thus, Hitler opted to hire Tagton, requesting that he eliminate the Avatar. The assassin proceeded to use not only alien technology, but also professional ruses and elaborate traps to distract the Avatar and trap him, plunging him into the sun. While this green-lighted Hitler's plans, he didn't - and never had - any intentions of actually paying the non-human mercenary. When Tagton came back for his payment, the Nazis tried to kill him - which, as it turned out, he had seen coming: Having taken his own precautions, he slaughtered his assailants, took his payment, and sat out the rest of the war.

With the Avatar gone, the war was waged in a manner not too dissimilar from our own world, save for the presence of mutant super-soldiers on both sides. Some of them excelled. Some perished. Some turned the tide of battles, fighting both against normal soldiers, tanks, and the other side's mutants. Aside from their direct value on the battlefield, super-soldiers were often a great tool for both troop morale and propaganda; their role as such further helped meta-humans' positive image in society.

On April 1944, however, the Avatar came back. He had spent the last five years trapped in the sun, constantly burning, regenerating, and trying to get free despite the atrocious pain. The Allies kept his return secret while he took his only recorded vacation to recover his power; he returned to action on June the 6th, assisting the Allied armies as they struck at Normandy.

With the Allies opening a second front in France and the Avatar lending his power to their forces, the Axis was clearly losing. With desperate times calling for desperate measures, Nazi leadership opted for an alternative strategy - one that would affect the fate of the world for decades to come: For many years, Hitler had been in contact with the Thule Society, a mystical organization that had thrown its lot with the Nazis as they rose to power. The research of the Thule Society led to believe that in the past, magic had been a powerful force in the world, allowing for powers not inferior to those of the mutants - as opposed to the meager party-tricks that even the best mystics of the Thule Society had to admit were the best they could do. They believed (correctly) that a powerful ritual had once sealed magic in Limbo, and that a counter-ritual they had developed could bring magic back - thus empowering not only the Thule mystics, but also the vast trove of artifacts they had collected over the years. Hitler, desperate for a power with which to counter the Avatar, green-lighted their plan, and a ritual to return magic was enacted.

In a way, the ritual was a success. The mystics were able to develop powerful spells, several of them joining the ranks of the super-soldiers. Others used newly-empowered rituals to give regular German soldiers super-powers. As for the magical artifacts they had gathered, many of them proved quite potent indeed. On the other hand, while this new advantage did slow down Allied progress, it could not turn the tide of the war. WWII ended in 1945, with the Axis utterly defeated... but with magic returned to the world, the war was nevertheless going to have long-term effects.

Unfortunately, the mystics of the Thule Society knew not the full extent of what they unleashed from Limbo.

1945 to the 60s: Superpowered Administration & Rise of Shadow

Following WWII, the number of superhumans increased worldwide at what some considered an alarming rate. This was due not only to the constant rise in the mutant population but also to the emergence of magic-based superheroes and villains, as well as technology slowly reaching the level where it could replicate superpowers. This caused some concern, as it was felt that greater degrees of oversight would be needed to handle the influx of metahumans.

The 1950s saw the creation of metahuman-handling agencies through most of the industrialized world. Of particular note were the United Nations' Bureau of Super-Powered Affairs, and the USA's Federal Metahuman Administration Board. Like most such agencies, the FMAB requires every super-powered individual to register (though they are more than willing to hide secret identities from the media), and offers a stipend to superheroes who need it.

During the late 1950s, as the Cold War raged on, a few agents of the CIA and KGB met up to discuss a common concern: It was their shared opinion that the conflict between the Western and Eastern blocs was missing the truly important matter - the conflict between humans and superhumans. It was their belief that, left to their own devices, the metahumans would one day enslave humanity and that it would inevitably lead to suffering and power struggles - and that as such, they had to be enslaved first or humanity had to be purged and given a fresh start. From that meeting, was born the organization Shadow - though this information would only be discovered many years later.

A vast international conspiracy, Shadow used its ideology of human vs metahuman conflict as an excuse for secret power-grabs and manipulations. Over the years, it became a powerful force, having deeply infiltrated every side of the Cold War. It is strongly suspected that they influenced many of China's policies at that time, resulting in conflicts between the Chinese government and its metahuman population. In a show of awe-stunning hypocrisy, Shadow also began to employ metahuman resources and power-copying technology, in their own words, "doing the wrong thing for the greater good."

1970s: Global Champions

Though his existence only became public knowledge sometime after the Cold War, Red Act was a mutant with great shape-shifting powers, and one of the greatest agents the KGB ever had. During the early 1970s, he discovered the existence of Shadow and spent a long time studying them, discovering who in the USSR was working for them. Once he had compiled enough information and gathered sufficient proof, he went to those among his superiors whom he knew weren't in on the conspiracy. What ensued was a massive purge in which Shadow's Soviet branch was almost completely exterminated.

This sudden turn of events caused Shadow to panic and forced them to step up their plans, anxious to act quickly before the same could happen to their American branch. They launched a coup d'Etat in the USA and a launched a black ops strike in the USSR, using advanced weaponry, elite troops, super-powered forces, and a vast infiltration of American and Soviet infrastructures, with their intent being to launch nukes and EMPs in both nations to cause worldwide panic and as a hastened step on their plan towards a "new world." The plan came dangerously close to success, but was foiled by superheroes across the world uniting against Shadow, with the Avatar at their head.

Following this disaster, Shadow was mostly purged, but some of its remnants survived and faded into the background. They would go on to remain a threat over the following decades, constantly running a number of plots, and occasionally attempting something massive. It should also be noted that some of Shadow formed splinter groups with differing ideologies, and even the main backbone of the organization had mostly lost sight of its original purpose, becoming an organization for the profit of its members.

One of the long-lasting effects of Shadow's attempted plan was to convince the Avatar of the need for greater teamwork among superheroes. With the help of several other heroes who had fought off Shadow, he went on to found the Global Champions, Earth's premier "supergroup".

While teams of superheroes had existed before, the Global Champions united several among the world's best.

Years after the Shadow Incident, a second contact with alien life was made. This time, it was Garzor, the Gashren warlord. Having placed his battleship in Earth's orbit, he proceeded to use technology far beyond anything previously seen on Earth to attack Madagascar as a show of force. With the island nation turned into smoldering ruins, Garzor declared that he would do the same to any nation that did not surrender to him.

This was the first major challenge of the Global Champions, who had to fight Garzor's forces in space. As the public only learned decades later, the Global Champions were assisted in this battle by Red Act, who infiltrated the battleship and sabotaged it from inside, allowing the Global Champions to destroy it. Garzor managed to flee; Red Act requested that the Global Champions not reveal his existence to the world.

1980s: Omnicorp, Return of Avalon, Cryosphere, Megalopolis

The 1980s were a very eventful decade.

They had barely begun when George Li, an Americano-Singaporean businessman and financial genius, funded Omnicorp. Omnicorp, described as "the ultimate expression of branching out", quickly took root in practically every branch of the economy, becoming a multi-billion-dollar company in an amazingly short time. In particular, their contributions to the field of high-tech made them a fortune.

The next major event was magical in nature. Ever since the return of magic in WWII, magical entities and objects previously stuck in Limbo had been slowly coming to Earth (a process that is still ongoing). In the 1980s, the largest piece so far returned: Avalon, which was still ruled by the archmage Nollius.

Nollius's reaction was to attempt world conquest, using Avalon's magical might. He did not expect mankind's technology, however, nor its metahumans. The world's superheroes, with the Global Champions at their head, drove off Avalon's forces; they were unable, though, to defeat Nollius in his seat of power. The evil sorcerer has remained on control of Avalon ever since; the elven city, flying over the Atlantic, has remained one of the main threats to world security.

It wasn't that long after Avalon's attack that Garzor returned, with a new, better battleship. This time, Omnicorp put its technological resources at the disposal of the Global Champions. Working together, they were able to hijack the ship's controls, causing it to crash in the Nevada desert - more specifically, in an area owned by Omnicorp. While Omnicorp officially declared that the purpose was to ensure that there would be no collateral damage, it is public knowledge that they immediately proceeded to salvage the ship and reverse-engineer as much of its technology as they could.

Garzor, again, escaped.

Perhaps the most important event of the decade was the rise of Professor Cryo. Formerly known as professor Michael Hart, a brilliant physicist and inventor of Carnegie Mellon University, he disappeared with no trace after the death of his wife. He returned a year later, his skin turned blue, armed with superpowers, and working on a grand plan.

In secret, Cryo contacted many of Pittsburgh's supervillains, as well as several villains from the outside - in particular, Tagton. On the day before the plan's climax, Tagton assassinated Pittsburgh's greatest heroes. The next day, Professor Cryo activated a cold generator, creating an arctic climate all over the city. Its heroes fought their way through the Professor's allies, minions and traps, dying one by one before finally reaching the cold generator and destroying it. This turned out to be the final trap, with which Cryo killed the last of them before activating a second generator and renaming the area "the Cryosphere".

What ensued was called the Battle of the Cryosphere. Heroes from all over the world, with the Global Champions spearheading them, attacked the Cryosphere, attempting to liberate it from the numerous supervillains who had taken it over. The battle ended when Professor Cryo emerged, calmly walking up to the Global Champions. He then explained to them that his machinery was powered by a device that was teleporting a steady stream of matter from the sun's core, harvesting its heat for energy. He further explained that the same device could, if necessary, instantly teleport in enough matter from the sun to cause an explosion equivalent to an H-bomb, razing the city and killing its entire population. It was programmed to do so if the Professor ordered it, if he died, or if some foreign influence on his brain was detected.

While the Global Champions were still digesting this information, the professor activated hidden cryo-cannons, knocking them out. Rather than execute the Global Champions, he just threw them out of the Cryosphere. The message sent to the world was clear: Professor Cryo was now the city's uncontested master.

Over years to come, the Cryosphere would become a safe haven for the world's supervillains, further adding to Professor Cryo's considerable power.

The last major event of the 1980s, approaching their end, was the creation of Megalopolis: Omnicorp, using technology reverse-engineered from Garzor's ship, built this high-tech city in Rhode Island, even moving their HQ there. Megalopolis has since become a massive city, a financial center, and a great hub for super-powered activity.

1990s: Venture Industries, Second Battle of the Cryosphere, Madman

In addition to the end of the Cold War, the early 90s also saw the meteoric rise of Dr. Dexter Darien. An eccentric genius, the doctor had already become a multi-millionaire thanks to several patents; as the new decade rolled in, he founded Venture Industries, "a company dedicated to the research and application of extreme science" (which the public often interprets as "giving mad scientists respectable jobs"). Venture Industries became a truly global power when Darien approached the Global Champions, and offered them a deal: Venture Industries' technological assistance, in exchange for the Global Champions' using their powers to help with the Tower of Babel project.

The Tower of Babel was an extremely ambitious design, even by Venture Industries' standards. An orbital elevator made of carbosteel, connecting an artificial island at the equator (named Venture Isle) to a gigantic space station in geosynchronous orbit, it could not have been built without the powers of the Global Champions (in particular the Avatar, who created the megatons of carbosteel involved). The space station, named Venture City, became a political entity under Venture Industries' control, and would house the company's new corporate HQ. Over the years to follow, the Tower of Babel would revolutionize the space industry, while Venture City would become a center of advanced scientific research.

By that point in history, the Cryosphere had become the world's largest supervillainy center. It had seemed that, following their earlier defeat, the heroes of the world had accepted the new status quo.

It was not so.

Ever since the Battle of the Cryosphere, the Global Champions had been secretly planning a new attack, organizing the heroes and resources needed. When the right time came, numerous mystics performed a ritual which warped space itself - just enough to prevent Professor Cryo's power plant from teleporting in matter from the sun. With the Cryosphere's power source taken out, thousands of superheroes descended upon the frozen city, fighting thousands of supervillains and Cryospheran troops in the streets.

For a while, it truly seemed as if the heroes were going to successfully liberate the city. Alas, it would not be so. Mysterious troops (suspected to be Shadow, but never confirmed), equipped with high-tech weaponry, entered the Cryosphere and helped Cryo's forces stand against the heroes. This bought the villains precious time; time that was used to counter the magical ritual warping space. It remains unknown who countered the ritual and how, but the results were a disastrous retreat of the would-be liberators. The Second Battle of the Cryosphere ended with numerous casualties among the superhero community, although some of the civilian population made it out of the city alive.

By the mid-90s, Megalopolis had already become a hub for superpowered activity, boasting the one highest superhero-to-civilian rates on Earth (though probably ranking below Venture City and its somewhat transhumanist mindset). In an effort to keep up, the crime syndicates of Megalopolis joined forces in an attempt to create a special enforcer - a super-thug that could face the city's metahuman heroes. To this purpose, they chose one of their own, and subjected him to every power-giving treatment available to them. The resulting supervillain, codenamed Mordor, would soon contact other elite supervillains across the world with Shadow's help; together, they would form the supervillain team V8. V8 then spearheaded an attempt by Shadow to take over Venture City; the attempt nearly succeeded, only barely being foiled by Venture City's defenders and the Global Champions.

V8 remains an international threat and recurring foes of the Global Champions.

Ever since Avalon's return from Limbo, Nollius had hatched a wide variety of plots. The greatest one, however, came to its culmination only after years of secret, hidden work: For a long time, Avalon's agents had been discreetly kidnapping victims from the third world, distributing their abductions across many countries so as not to get discovered. Once 50,000 abductees had been gathered, Nollius enacted a terrible ritual in which they were all sacrificed, allowing him to create an army of shadow fiends - powerful magical monsters with which he launched a new attack on the world. The ensuing war, while brief, raged across the globe, and caused tens of thousands of deaths in collateral damage before Avalon's forces were finally pushed back.

The final major event of the 90s was the arrival of Madman. The first (and to date, only recorded) visitor from another universe, Madman quickly acquired the moniker of "mad scientist to end all mad scientists." On Halloween 1999, he terrorized Seattle with robotic dinosaurs. On the 31st of December, he temporarily took over the world's computers, launching nukes at dozens of major cities. Heroes scrambled to destroy the nukes, and managed to stop almost all of them - but the few that reached their target self-destructed without any nuclear blast. Taking advantage of the confusion, Madman had gotten inside the White House... where he threw a cream pie at the president's face, before disappearing into the night. Once, Madman turned the Egyptian sphinx into an actual, huge cat - he never did change it back.

Madman's "unique style" would remain a constant in following years. All of his plots seem designed first and foremost to amuse him - but while structural damage may be high, the body count is always remarkably low. He has a surprisingly large fanclub, much to the heroes' chagrin.

2000s+

One long-term consequence of Madman's arrival was proving the existence of parallel universes, along with the possibility of traveling between them. Despite some controversy around the subject, Venture Industries set out to research the subject; by studying Madman's own portals, they began creating their own, though they remain unsafe prototypes.

Shadow has, on one recorded occasion, hijacked one of those portals in an attempt to conquer a weaker universe. While they were stopped, it is impossible to tell for certain if they have not been making other attempts...

The most recent major event has taken place less than a year ago. A mysterious individual, calling himself the Power-Lord, showed up in Jerusalem, displaying vast superhuman power. Once he was in the media's eyes, he proceeded to blow up Jerusalem.

When heroes reached the smoking crater, the Power-Lord was waiting for them, smiling. A massive battle began, as the Global Champions and thousands upon thousands of superheroes - practically all of the active ones - fought the Power-Lord, who displayed power levels off the charts.

With the world's superheroes losing the fight, some supervillains actually joined in, fearing that the Power-Lord would destroy the world if not stopped. Even with their help, though, the mysterious newcomer kept the upper hand.

As all seemed lost, an orbital weapon was fired at the Power-Lord from Venture City. Venture Industries has so far kept the weapon's nature a secret, but whatever it was, it drastically reduced the Power-Lord's stamina, allowing the remaining meta-humans to destroy him.

The true nature of the Power-Lord remains a mystery. Experts agree that his powers were magical in nature, but they do not completely fit known models of magic. Regardless of what he was, the consequences of his actions were quite grave: He has not only annihilated Jerusalem but also killed a fair share the world's superheroes in a single battle.

Such is the situation in the world: Thousands of superheroes watch over it, but with their numbers recently cut down, many worry about their ability to protect the world. With Madagascar and Jerusalem destroyed, Pittsburgh turned into the Cryosphere, Avalon still flying above the Atlantic, Shadow plotting across the world, and countless villains making their moves, the world has never needed heroes more than now...

 

[Birdsie]

Groups & People of Interest [NPCs]

Global Champions

Avatar: Without a doubt, one of, if not the greatest hero in the world. He started the superhero movement of today, and remains one of the strongest heroes in history. He possesses nigh-invulnerability, immensely powerful blasts of energy, hypersonic flight, and a "pool of cosmic power that can be adapted to almost any use." His mind is said to be immune to control and he doesn't seem to possess any biological needs. Avatar is the leader of the Global Champions.

Titan: A Japanese mutant, who, in her vanilla state, already has greatly superhuman condition and is gifted with massive regenerative capability. In seconds, she can grow to the size of a mid-rise building, her strength and durability scaling up exponentially with her own growth, and she can shrink herself back to human form in that same way. She often uses this to jump over buildings, by running, becoming giant and becoming small in mid-air, her momentum carrying her to the other side. Notoriously well-grounded and easy to get along with.

Bleu-Blanc-Rouge: France's premier super-soldier, the field leader of the international Task Force Synapse, and the Global Champions' main tactician. A complex and dangerous neurological operation enhanced his brain's motor centers, giving him superhuman coordination, equilibrium, reflexes, agility, combat skills and a poor man's version of superspeed he can release in very short bursts. He routinely uses his monomolecular-edged sword to riposte machine-gun fire and cut through concrete. He is a born leader and one of the world's greatest tacticians.

Mister Tomorrow: A Moroccan mutant, he always believed that transhumanism is the future - meaning empowered individuals like him have the responsibility to make that future a good one. His control over his own biology allows him to enhance his physical capabilities, instantly heal even major wounds, and turn his fingers into blades.

Tracer Pulse: A gritty, hardboiled detective straight out of a noir novel, he got sick of being unable to handle superpowered criminals. So he went and got some superpowers of his own, through ways best left unmentioned. His super-speed lets him move at speeds exceeding Mach 20 or pluck bullets out of the air, his energy blasts put heavy artillery to shame, and his detective skills have remained sharp.

Causality: Some have called her "India's Marie Curie." A genius physicist who applied that genius to a poorly-understood phenomenon - magic. As it turns out, actually understanding the physical process behind it gave her an edge, turning her into a sorceress of rare power. Her abilities are vast in both scale and versatility, and only more so if she takes the time to prepare a proper "ritual".

Techno-Paladin. People call him "the smartest man in superheroics." He's not sure it's true, but it might be. His cybernetic armor, in addition to making him a particularly mighty "flying brick," also provides him with immunity to many physical attacks, and comes armed with ranged blasts and a variety of gadgets. His genius allows him to find solutions (technological or otherwise) to nearly any problem.

Mimic: A mysterious magical swashbuckling shapeshifter, his power is the ability to have almost any power, or combination thereof. He can't have everything at once, but his sheer versatility eclipses even the Avatar and Causality. However, he cannot quite match their sheer scale. It is rumored that he escaped from Nollius' own laboratory, with no memory of how he got there.

Phantom: A mysterious alien energy being, Phantom is invisible, goes through matter like it isn't there, has immunity to most physical attacks. Not only does that make them a fantastic spy, but their own telekinesis means that most fights are very, very one-sided in their favor.

Thermakron. A twelve-foot-tall robot, he is strong, nigh-invulnerable, much quicker and more agile than anything his size should be, immune to all mental tampering, able to self-repair… and, perhaps most impressively, he possesses truly immense control over extreme temperatures, both in melee and at range. He is as capable of instantly freezing several city blocks, as of striking a single target with a heat beam comparable to the heart of the sun. However, his robotic nature and size can make things awkward in human society.

Hannah Jepsen: Director of GCAD-70, and the impromptu mission control operator for the Nebula Brigade. Her Deputy Director is Caleb Carillon.

New York Capes/Organizations

Spoiler: Independent

Villains
Deathrat: Made his first appearance on May 5th. Powers are being speculated, but he was seen turning into a giant, monstrous rat-like abomination, as well as shifting into the form of a small mouse to escape and sneak into Rikers Island. Claws and teeth leave behind festering, infected wounds.

Spoiler: Liberty League

An old team of superheroes in New York, government-supported. Their base is said to be underneath the State of Liberty.

Current membership includes:

Doctor Hex, a powerful arcanist and one of the last active original members. Current leader of the team. He has access to a variety of powers and rituals; his energy blasts can destroy walls even at lower power, and he can teleport across New York instantly, taking the team with him. Specializes in energy manipulation and curses that inflict mystical ills or bouts of bad luck on the enemy until removed by another skilled mystic.
Komodo, a reptilian mutant with an elastic tongue capable of lashing out like a sharpened bullwhip. Extremely agile and slippery, with good reflexes and body control. His tough skin provides him with good protection against attacks and his clawed fingers allow him to easily climb up surfaces and even cling to ceilings. Komodo is also a trained martial artist, and capable of tracking opponents by scent or taste.
Lady Volt, an electricity controller, capable of charging up using existing electricity and dealing it out using whips, grenades, missiles, or straight up bolts of lighting, or a variety of other, different forms. She can maintain a static field of electricity in the air around herself to stun foes who get too close. Great with her power, and knows how to avoid being lethal with it.
Vigilance, a mutant with super-strength, flight and fire blasts. She has been capable of shaping the fire into pseudo-constructs, such as shields or weapons, but it's difficult and rarely cost-efficient. Her strength, durability and flight speed scale slightly with the ambient heat of the environment around her. She'll be significantly stronger and faster in a burning building than in, say, the Cryosphere for example.
Origami; something of an anomaly, his powers work atypical for a mutant and aren't magic. Origami can subtly distort space by folding paper to no end, and, optionally, unfold it all instantly at range. He uses it to make paper balls that can expand instantly to cover a whole street or to fold hundreds of sheets to make highly-durable armor panels. The properties of the paper's weight seem to be selective, but generally, his constructs don't weigh much more than they would if they were made with a single layer.

Spoiler: New Predators

Of all active villain groups in New York City, the most infamous one is the New Predators. A diverse team of supervillains, they joined forces a few years ago in order to take control of the NY underworld, and they have ties with the V8. They often clash with the Liberty League.

Leadership of the group is usually disputed between Tsunami and Graviton.

Tsunami: A young woman from a Yakuza family. She took with her a magical artifact that she has since bonded with, and which grants her high-level control over water.

Stretch: The supervillain known as Stretch would be little more than a street thug were it not for his mutation. With some super-strength and a highly elastic body, he is both a dangerous combatant and a master of disguise, capable of taking anyone's shape.

Graviton: The original Graviton was a tech-based villain from Venture City. Upon his death, he managed to transfer his gravity-controlling battlesuit to his cousin, who embraced the supervillainous legacy, and has been spending his loot on upgrades for the suit.

Brick: An extremely strong mutant, he has displayed flight, force-fields and energy blasts that easily made him the strongest member of the team.

Spoiler: Acceturo Family

A remnant of the Italian mafia, the Accetturo Family remains a family in name only, and is now naught but a glorified street-gang vying for control over NYC's streets. They are known for intimidation, drug and weapons trade, people trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, blackmail, and bribery. The gang predominantly recruits Italians and Greeks, but at this point, is willing to make concessions with skilled people. They have several mutants in their ranks, and some of their members have been known to dabble in magic.

The current leader of the Accetturo Family, calling himself simply Accetturo, is a mutant aerokinetic, though his power mostly allows him to compress wind in a short range around himself then shoot it out. He has also dabbled in magic; mostly energy attacks, conjuration, and necromancy.

V8

Villains Eight is a semi-mercenary organization dedicated to helping the underworld thrive in exchange for profit and power. It has eight primary members, each one with their own mooks.

Mordor: Enhanced human, with several levels of improved strength, durability, and speed; enough to demolish buildings with just his body, given time. Can fly at the speed of sound. Has a pool of secondary powers of various nature, like several forms of lasers and energy blasts including ones that curve or home in on target, with the rough power of a tank cannon; sensory powers like seeing through walls or hearing everything whispers from across a city and not being confused by them; enhanced reflexes to the point of dodging long-range attacks; cognition and improved intellect and the ability to form tactics. On top of that, he is a dynakinetic, capable of manipulating and generating fire, lightning, ice, water, and earth. He has learned the basics of magic from Sandman, was tutored by Pinpoint on marksmanship and learned engineering from Overhaul. Leader of V8 and arguably their foremost A-lister.

Pinpoint: A deadly mercenary and crack shot with almost any firearm, often said to be one of the world's best marksmen and snipers. He is blind in one eye and has a narrow field of vision in the other one, however, what he does see, he can analyze without end. Complex analysis of observed targets, including past, future, physical composition, and weak points. He has significantly enhanced reflexes and motor control, letting him predict trajectories of movement and shoot even people moving at subsonic speeds easily.

Sandman: A villain with a sadistic streak and a penchant for boasting. He emits a large-scale aura, covering the rough distance of two city blocks. Everyone within range is slowly sapped of stamina, afflicted by fatigue and tiredness, and eventually falls asleep. The closer one gets, the faster the effects; being within his cone of vision also enhances the progression speed of these effects. It is suspected that he isn't a mutant but a mage, because his powers were known to sap strength out of opponents with physiologies that usually don't involve stamina and fatigue. On top of that, Sandman is an accomplished sorcerer and has extensively practiced witchcraft to be capable of accessing his victims' dreams and minds, forming illusions, and to create a bulletproof shield around himself to prevent people from sniping him from far away.

Epoch: Time manipulator, capable of moving himself or a single person or object backward or forwards in time up to five seconds, though he has been known to be capable of managing to turn more time than that with straining effort. Appears to possess some form of soft precognition and retrocognition. With training, he learned to stop people in time for several seconds. Victims' memories and cognition remain unchanged; it is only their bodies that move. With effort, he can also lock people in temporal loops and do other things. Supposedly, he isn't a human, but rather a "temporal entity" that leaked out of the time-stream and eventually gained a malicious sentience.

Queen: That one popular girl at school that seems to scoff at any person that doesn't meet her standards of beauty or handsomeness? That's Queen. She hates disgusting things and is 'trying to make the world a better place' by destroying them. Queen has the ability to shoot out golden beams and globes of energy that adhere to whatever they hit like glue, but quickly turn from energy into a solid, pseudo-crystalline matter, possibly encasing entire people. She has figured out a quirk of her power where, by emitting it through her feet, she covers the ground in waves of her energy to prevent people from getting close. Obsessed with her self-image and style, and doesn't take kindly to having it tarnished or being ordered around.

Overhaul: Overhaul is, not as much a mad, as an immoral engineer and scientist, obsessed with taking pre-existing technology and improving it beyond its usual capabilities; making it more efficient, making it better, just to prove that he can do it better. He is known to be Techno-Paladin's archnemesis, and it is believed the two have some kind of feud from their private lives. Overhaul maintains a lot of gadgets and a suit of power armor. A glaring weakness is that in his obsession with making one object better, he doesn't have time to work on, or maintain another.

Volbeat: A fifteen-foot-tall, hulking, cyborg juggernaut; Volbeat's body is covered in armor plates from alien metal and is filled with thrusters, pumps, artificial muscle, and as many pistons as possible to give him additional strength and speed. In addition to his rather terrifying strength and durability, he is also a mutant capable of generating and manipulating electric fields; his lightning discharges can level small buildings instantaneously and if given time, he can build up a static charge around his body that will electrocute anyone who gets near or enough power to burn through a whole city block. Overhaul has added minor gadgets and improvements to his body over time, improving its utility.

Heavy-Hitter: Heavy-Hitter is a mutant who builds up a kinetic charge in his body as he moves and acts throughout the day. He has no known hard limit for how much energy he can store, but it is predicted that it begins to slow down after five-hundred kilojoules, and he builds up to that in roughly a minute. Usually, he is in a state where he can easily destroy cars or small constructions, but with enough time collecting energy, he can collapse high-rise buildings in a single punch and hurt some of the strongest members of the Global Champions. He also instinctively releases kinetic energy from the surface of his skin to counteract impacts and attacks, but this doesn't affect any energy that is non-kinetic or potential in nature, therefore thermal or magical sources can still hurt him.

Corporations

Omnicorp: Founded in the 80's by George Li, Omnicorp is one of the largest corporations in the world, which, annoyingly enough, applied the "don't put all your eggs in one basket," too extensively. Omnicorp, as its name implies, has a branch in virtually every industry to some extent. Omnicorp is largely responsible for building Megalopolis and it is an open secret that it controls the city entirely. Omnicorp isn't necessarily corrupt, though it is bent on turning a profit above all else.

Venture Industries: Dr. Dexter Darien, an eccentric genius, the doctor had already become a multi-millionaire thanks to several patents; as the new decade rolled in, he founded Venture Industries, "a company dedicated to the research and application of extreme science" (which the public often interprets as "giving mad scientists respectable jobs.") Venture Industries became a truly global power when Darien approached the Global Champions and offered them a deal: Venture Industries' technological assistance, in exchange for the Global Champions' using their powers to help with the Tower of Babel project, which allows the company to easily access the earth's orbit in their efforts to explore space.

Other

United Nations' Bureau of Super-Powered Affairs: Global organization for handling superpowered affairs, with a strict set of guidelines on what counts as "superpowered affairs" and what does not.

Federal Metahuman Administration Board: National registry of metahumans, willing to give a stipend to independent heroes who need it.

Cryosphere: A quasi-nation and international hub of villainy, ruled by Professor Cryo. The natives of Pittsburgh are being treated as hostages and menial workers.

Avalon: The elven kingdom of Nollius, currently floating several kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean. This ancient kingdom possesses many mystical tools and rituals, and Nollius himself is one of the strongest archmages in history.

Shadow: International shadow group, split into many cells around the world. Originally intent on wiping out metahumanity - and mutants in particular - believing it to be a danger. Nowadays, Shadow turned into something more of a group that profits its upper brass at the expense of its lower agents who receive lesser benefits.

Miscellaneous Information

Spoiler: Bastion Award

The "Nobel Prize of superheroics," the Bastion Award is an order issued to superheroes, superpowered individuals, or even unpowered individuals that have shown exemplary service in the field of superheroics, be it by fighting people considered "villains" or through other services towards humanity. Many people last year were given Bastion Awards for standing against Power-Lord.

Regulations state that "a reward cannot be retracted once issued."

The prize is named after Bastion, a WW2 hero capable of manifesting forcefields, who used his power to protect an entire battalion during the Invasion of Normandy. He died only hours later to a super-massive energy blast fired by a Nazi mutant-soldier. He was awarded the first Bastion award posthumously, in 1947, after his children created the Bastion Foundation. The second to receive a Bastion Award was the Avatar and he has received four more over the years, but he relinquished one of them to the Red Act after his exposure.

 

[Birdsie]

Nebula HQ

Located on the twin islands of North Brother Island and South Brother Island in New York, the HQ is a technological marvel, on par with any other Global Champions-funded hero base.

The main complex on North Brother Island is shaped like a ziggurat or pyramid with walls constructed from ferrocrete; a synthetic compound of metallic alloys, ceramic polymers and stone of various kinds; as well as carbosteel, a super-strong alloy derived from alien materials. The base could easily survive a small nuclear detonation and has an actual shelter in one of the sub-levels. The complex has twenty floors and six sub-levels. The complex uses a set of four elevators in the center, but has a set of emergency stairs.

In order to get between islands, or from island to the rest of the NYC, the base has a number of forcefield bridges that can be turned on and off to access various districts of the city, and are wide enough for cars or trucks to move across. One of the bridges connects to Rikers Island.

The North's ten topmost floors are dedicated completely for the use of the heroes of the Nebula Brigade.

The top floor contains a teleportation chamber that can transport the user to the Global Champions' base, the second floor from the top is a cafeteria/kitchen and dining room with a robot chef, the third is a living room with a huge TV, the fourth contains the dorms of the members as well as their bathrooms, the fifth is a locker-room with the heroes' equipment coupled with showers and a requisitions computer, the sixth is a combat training room with reinforced walls, floor, and ceiling; the seventh contains a gym with various training implements, the eighth is a large pool, and finally, the ninth is a study/library. The tenth floor is strictly business, with a memorial monument area for fallen heroes, a small room with computers for mission data analysis, a board room for meetings and strategic discussion, and a security room with access to cameras and forcefield bridges.

The two floors below that contain temporary holding cells designed for supervillains, designed to hold and suppress people with superpowers. After that, there are two floors acting as the living quarters of the non-powered workers, and another floor acting as an armory for the building's security staff with the addition of an engineering bay and laboratory for use of both the heroes and the unpowered staff. The next floor is a large hospital and triage center, a mental therapy center, and a quarantine zone for infectious diseases. The two floors below that contain various offices, meeting rooms, the PR department room, the GCAD director's office, and other rooms. The ground floor is a large, welcoming, decorative hall, and the only floor of the building that tours are allowed to see.

Below that are six sub-levels. One is an underground garage and vehicle repair bay with a ceiling that opens up to allow aircraft to take off and a cavern for boats, another level for an engineering bay and laboratory only for the heroes, another sub-level for a special containment room for hazardous objects and magical artifacts, a storage basement, and finally, access to the underwater monorail.

There is an underwater tunnel connecting the North and South Island, which itself uses a monorail to quickly get a person across from one side to the other one, but most of the time, the monorail is offline for unknown reasons.

South Brother Island is a mystery. When the Nebula Brigade members check their pockets, they see they have security cards for both North and South Brother Islands. They can see there's a building on South Brother Island that looks rather like theirs. No one can actually remember ever going over there, what's over there, and no one can seem to find a floorplan or anything. Whenever someone goes to visit South Brother Island, they come back in five minutes to a few hours to carry on with their day, not realizing they don't remember being over there until it's pointed out to them.

 

[Damafaud]

Caterwaul Network

Named after Caterwaul Society, a small superhumans society who, to quote their leader, 'tired of all this superhero war and shit why the fuck are we dragged into this leave me alone' in the 90s.

The Cold War and Cryosphere First Battle dragged more than just visionary superheroes and supervillains lusting for glory or world destruction or some grander schemes. It also dragged in superhumans just using their power to dry the laundry faster or going to work faster by a minute. They also dragged in the invisible man lingerie thief and speedster mugger. In other words, normal people.

Caterwaul Society started as a meeting for superhumans to help each other out to protect their lifestyle. The discussions span from 'Superpower: How to Fight with Them?' to 'Life Hack for Home Maker with Water Power!' to 'How to Survive Another Shit Like War'.

When the internet became a thing (thx scientists), the Society started to cover a larger geographical area. Under a referral based system, Caterwaul Network now had over 200,000 members over the globe, with a heavy concentration of users in cities like New York and Megalopolis.

As Caterwaul Network goal was to preserve the lifestyle of superhumans not under a major factions, their tendency leaned toward unlawful actions.

 

[_gallifrog_]

The Shop of Random Magical Crap​

The Mystic Shop was set up by the underground magical community of New York in the 1920s just after WWI. It became colloquially known as "The Shop of Random Magical Crap." It started off as a place for New York mages, warlocks and other magic users to sell and trade services away from the watchful eyes of governments and later mutants, supervillains and superheroes.

If started as nothing more than a basement room underneath a shoe shop. The shoe shop acted as a front. The rules were simple.:
- Anyone magic user can enter of their own free will, regardless of alignment.
- Non-magic users must be accompanied by a recognised magic user (who will be held accountable for any trouble created)
- Sanctuary and temporary accommodation will be offered to any magic user who needs it
-No fighting of any kind on the property and it's grounds. (like the Continental in John Wick).

Over the years it expanded as more and more magic users became aware of its existence. It became a portal hub allowing travelling mages to get to New York. Then the hotel side of the business was set up, and it does a booming trade. More and more of the block was bought up. Non-magic users see an extremely overpriced chain coffee shop (too stupidly expensive for them) and a selection of old apartments. Magic users see a coffee shop and a grand hotel style building made of hexbrick. The windows are arched.

Spoiler: Building Outside (magic person view)

The main lobby is lax formal, with mages of all ages, species and fashions sense scurrying around. The lobby is atrium style. When looking straight-up you can see straight up through the roof skylights to the outside sky. A central pillar rises four stories up. This pillar is covered in all manner of adds written on parchment, fancy not paper, napkins, the back of failed school tests, graph paper, in other words whatever paper the person had on them at that time. The left side is a giant coffee shop/smoothie bar/restaurant/lounge. This is the hang out spot of choice for the younger generations. In each of the four corners of the lobby is a spiral staircase made of metal. Straight ahead leads to a room of portals, that allow easy movement around the world. There are staff desks at strategic points around the room. On the right-hand side is a set of lavishly carved wooden doors. Through the doors is a drinking bar. Its decor changes regularly and this is the place where the older mages congrate to reminisce about the old days.

The first floor is devoted to custom clothes shop dealing in default street clothes, fancy suits, armour and ceremonial robes. There is also a well-stocked smithy catering in none magical weapons and tools. The enchanting of objects takes place next door. In the streets overlooking the streets is an extensive jewellery store.

The second floor is for other trade, this floor is a series of private meeting rooms. The rooms are hired and this is where deals are made and contracts are drawn up.

The third, fourth and fifth floors accommodation for staff, patrons and anyone taking sanctuary. The rooms are basic, a bed, table, wardrobe, bathroom and chests under the beds. The very top floor is an observatory and rooftop balcony. At the back of the building is a courtyard and stakes for large animal familiars.

The basement extends down four or so stories and contains a gigantic library packed with manuscripts, scrolls and mystic papers.