Mitheral
"Growf!"
First, a little history of how it all began...
Vanguard
Mar 20,2025
Noone knows where he came from. Is he human? Alien? A god of old? All we knew was there was nothing and noone else like him. He showed up Mar 20, 2025 like a Superman. Yeah, just like in the comic books. A tornado emergency had been declared in the Oklahoma City area. An F5 funnel had formed and was headed for the city when he arrived. Three individuals plus a family of 4 reported being saved by him. The news got weirder. He turned away from the group of survivors he had collected to face the tornado. Then he took off and flew into the tornado. It glowed with a swirling energy giving off arcs of lightning, then slowly dissipated.
There were reports afterwards of the same costumed man arriving at emergency centers with wounded, assisting first responders, reopening travel routes. But he didn’t stick around for thanks. Little more was been learned about the man save for the fact that he did tell several people that he was NOT Superman, no S. But he offered no name either.
He stands an estimated 6’9” to 7’0” with dark hair. He wore a battlesuit that hid his eyes and hair. He was extremely polite. You know the saying ‘strong streak of good?’ He gave that sort of a first impression. He was seen to have lifted objects massing several tons.
As you can imagine his sudden appearance drew speculation. It has also drew the attention of the government. So many questions needed answers.
Mar 23, 2025
So … tall, dark … probably handsome. And he was the news story of a lifetime. This was a job for Lois Lane. The problem is that this guy wouldn’t stand still. He showed up three days later in eastern Turkey in response to a major earthquake. Get this: he spoke Turkish.
The traditional hurricane season for Atlantic has begun in June. But for the past decade tropical storms have been coming earlier. Several years ago they were starting in April. This year the Gulf of Mexico has a Category 3 hurricane growing and headed for landfall in New Orleans … again. The … superhero … seems drawn to major disasters rather than criminals.
Mar 27, 2025
Effects of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans - Wikipedia (2005)
Hurricane names get recycled every 6 years. It was ironic that one of the most destructive hurricanes in American history had had the same name. Hurricane Katrina had been a Category 1 storm just 2 days before. The next day was being upgraded to a Cat 3 and was now a Cat 5 with wind speeds around 175 mph. The last time Katrina had hit if had downgraded to a Cat 4 with wind speeds at 145 mph (though in downtown the winds were half that). This time the conditions were a little different and the storm was still gathering momentum. It was expected to hit New Orleans with winds up to 200 mph within 24 hours with a storm surge over 25 feet.
Two days before Vanguard had spent about 24 hours in eastern Turkey in response to an earthquake. He has shuttled medical personnel, generators, food and water. He had built a temporary bridge and cleared roads. Truth to tell he had been exhausted. He had barely had a day of rest. But tell that to the people in New Orleans. No, if he could help, he had to.
Problem was, he had no idea how to stop a hurricane. Tornadoes were easy. They had a path typically only a few hundred feet or less. A Cat 3 hurricane produced the energy of the Hiroshima bomb every second. But it wasn’t just the winds It was the water swell that resulted from the barometric depression. The last Katrina had sent a swell of 15 to 25 feet. This one was going to be worse. And he had no idea how to displace that much water. The best he could see hoping for was damage control. Even now the evacuation was underway.
The first thing he did was clear out a few stalled vehicles that were slowing the evacuation. There was a Car-B-Que that fire trucks couldn’t even get to. He snuffed out the fire with a gesture, then cooled it off with an icy blast of wind. But as usual he didn’t stick around to chat. His thoughts were to save as many as he could by speeding the evacuation. Then go deal with hampered rescue efforts in the path of the storm. At least this time the news had done a better job of informing people. And emergency services was doing far better with evacuation efforts.
He arrived in New Orleans around Noon. The storm was still about 18 hours out, but winds were already getting dangerously high.
Abigail Williams, Ace Reporter
Age 21 (2023) Abigail Williams had been an assistant to a prima donna newswoman who was annoyed with covering some cutesy story about some disabled vet giving a bear to some brat with leukemia - her words. The program, Bears for Courage was begun by a 15 year old boy (22 at the time of this event). Now while her boss was whining about the assignment, a tall young man entered along with some US Marines but split off from them. Abigail recognized the young man as a high school football star who had led his last place team at Albuquerque Academy to the State Championship. He stood about 6'7", a handsome caucasian male with black hair, and steel blue eyes hidden by Ray Ban sunglasses (though he removed them for the interview).
Dr Duncan Moran tended to shun the Press. However, the words of Abigail's boss had been picked up by his sensitive ears. Duncan had observed silently, not getting involved at all. He listened to the rather abrasive tones in the prima donna's voice and rolled his eyes, clearly bored. If anything he took a little pity on the assistant. Once Abigail's boss was busy pasting on her smiles for the camera, Duncan moved in to join the crew. He had leaned in and whispered asking if any job was worth being treated like that. Then he asked Abigail if she could get away for a 'real' interview.
It had sounded like a pick up line. But once he was assured that he wouldn't get Abigail fired he pulled her into an office and gave a proper interview to explain the real reason this patient was so important. She represented the first patient to receive a new nanotech treatment for leukemia - one that would simulate the disease and bind up the sites in cells where the disease attached itself to replicate and force the cancer into remission.
He finished up by calling his estate manager right there and had her get the editor on the line. Duncan explained what he had just done and who he was. Then he asked to make sure Abigail wouldn't get fired over the matter. To sweeten the deal he said he'd call the next time he had a demonstration to conduct for the military or NASA - on the condition that Abigail was the reporter sent. He did suggest that the editor get Abigail some extra training in preparation.
And that was the early start to Abigail's career. One contact with Duncan had opened up doors. It had gotten Abigail stuck working under a far better reporter, a Pulitzer prize winner, whose age was catching up to him. She didn't get any more respect, but at least she got less disrespect. Her new mentor decided she lacked real experience and expected her to prove herself.
Her new boss had slowed her career down, but had slowly begun to give her begrudging praise, deciding that she was serious about being an investigative reporter, even though much of what she did was eyewitness or on the scene news. She'd had speech lessons, upgraded her wardrobe a bit. Her cranky mentor was still hard on her, demanding more than perfection. But the occasional 'could be worse' was like an applause.
So now they were assigned to what everyone hoped would be the story of the century - her cranky boss' last assignment for he was retiring. They had been covering the disaster even though her boss had admitted that his gut said the flying guy was real. But he also says that if he was, he would be moving around so fast that there would be no way to track him. Better to go where he was needed and let the story come to you.
They stopped at the scene of an accident where a handicapped access short bus assigned to transport some elderly (6) out of the area had been literally picked up and thrown into the second floor of a building injuring the driver and killing an ambulance tech. The elderly were O2 dependent and could hardly walk on their own normally, much less in high winds. Abigail and her boss concurred, screw the story they came for. It was a long shot anyways. They decided to use their own news van to transport the elderly out.
The strain of the rescue proved too much for her boss who suffered a stroke while getting one of the last patients to the news van. So there Abigail was, trying to use CPR on a man who had given her tons of grief, but seemed more like a mentor and uncle than anyone short of family. Then she looked out the window to see a school bus rolling over and over at them by the winds on a course directly for them.
That's when HE showed up. The super dude (still no superhero ID at this time) was nowhere near strong enough to just catch the bus. He couldn’t just lift it to sail over them as the building was just on the other side of them. They had been using it to shelter from some of the wind and so they didn't have to walk far. So he did something new. He sliced the bus in half with an invisible energy beam and let it break in half on his body, the two pieces slamming into the building to the front and rear of them. Then he walked to them, shined a ray on Abigail's mentor and told her she did good. The ray enveloped her mentor in a shimmering field. The superhero explained that it was a life support system that would keep him alive until they could get to medical center. He asked her to help make sure everyone was secured. Then he lifted the whole news van and flew it out to a hospital.
Did he stick around for an interview or even a thank you? No.
Well, Vanguard did return for an interview. He offered no superhero ID. He suggested Abigail come up with the ID, though he did ask that there be no S’s involved and that the name be simple. Thus the name Vanguard was finally chosen.
Rise and “Fall” of Vigilantism (2022-2028)
“Superheroes” had been around long before Vanguard. By superhero I mean guys dressed in costumes and living a vigilante life. Some were known publicly and even had websites. But they often clashed with law enforcement. Most weren’t taken very seriously. After the arrival of Vanguard the whole superhero gig exploded.
For the next three years Vanguard sought training from law enforcement and emergency services in an effort to coordinate his efforts. However the bulk of the “superhero” community were still vigilantes. They hampered undercover operations, violated due process. In short, the government asked Vanguard to take a stand against them.
This placed Vanguard in an awkward position. He countered with an alternative that was met with resistance and strong skepticism. The biggest concern was one of accountability. Secret ID’s were the issue. However, Vanguard pointed out that the criminal underworld had begun to develop its own version of “superhumans” and is going to arm them to the teeth. He predicted that a force would need to be selected, trained and prepared to counter them within 10 years - and in 30 years his own abilities would become obsolete as a whole new generation of metahumans entered the scene.
With this in mind Vanguard began the search for “superheroes”. His criteria was very strict. Applicants were required to send in a resume.
No Teenagers - First, he was looking for serious heroes, not some teenagers who take a few scraps of cloth and get themselves beat up. Applicants had to qualify for military service or their application was denied. (Research this.)
Dedicated - He was looking for members who could make the superhero gig a full time job. This tended to be a problem for those with spouses and kids.
Stable - He had no time for hotheads, or psychopaths. No mental illnesses. No racists. No religious fanatics or any sort.
Identity - Each member was required to reveal their Secret ID to Vanguard and the Political leaders of their nation. G7 wanted members to reveal themselves to all the G7 leaders, but Vanguard put his foot down.
Nationality - must be a citizen of one of the G7 nations*. There are four major macropolitical entities in the world. G8, BRIC, Arab League, and AF.
Speak English - Each member had to be fluent in English. An modest accent was fine, but a team needed to be able to communicate.
G7 - (USA, Canada, UK, Japan, France, Germany, Italy)
BRIC - (Brazil, Russia, India, China)
Arab League - (Old Arab League, plus Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan)
AF - African Federation (the rest of Africa)
*Please note that despite wealth, Australia is not in any of these groups. This is more about politics than national GDP’s.
Early Metahumans (2022-2036)
In 2017 an asteroid of interstellar origins, Oumuamua, passed through our solar system at over twice the escape velocity of Earth. It was nearest to Earth (0.276 a.u. Or 25 million miles) on October 8, 2017. Any meteorite activity from the visitor would have hit Earth around Oct 18 of that year.
A few years later humans with strange abilities began to emerge. They were exceedingly rare. At the time the number was estimated to be around 80 worldwide, or about 1 person in 100 million. Some of these humans had proven dangerous, using their new powers for personal gain, or lacking any control. As a result governments around the world have begun the hunt for these “mutants”.
It was only natural that the governments sought the help of Vanguard. At first it was on a case by base basis. Then, in 2028 they sought organized help. Vanguard refused. But that was because the “request” violated civil rights to due process and possibly the Constitution. In response various agencies began revoking the charters of the superhero teams of vigilantes, effectively shutting them down.
Third Stage Metahumans - 2036-2037 (Present)
Over the past few months newer, more powerful metahumans have surfaced, some on par with Marvel characters. The old vigilante teams are badly outclasses as are most of the early metahumans. Vanguard seems notoriously absent. Some of the new metahumans have agents with gear on par with what the chartered groups of vigilantes had that were supported by Vanguard. (He supplied more advanced technology to vetted team members.) Where these new metahumans are coming from is a complete mystery. The world has become a warzone.
Characters
Your character may be from one of the following types. Remember, you should be heroes here. You may not like each other. You may not trust each other. And some of you may consider the others criminal or that they abandoned the people.
I am looking for original characters. But let’s face it, comics have been around a long time. It is going to be hard not to come close to something that has already been done. Your characters should all at least be of human origins.
Vigilante
Active - never retired, stayed with it possibly as a solo act.
Coming out of Retirement - retired after the G7 revoked charters, perhaps got busy starting a family. Remember, it’s only been a several years.
Metahuman Heroes
These are the equivalent of lower powered Marvel characters. Not X-Men, Avengers, etc. (Well, the Vigilantes could be comparable to Black Widow or Hawkeye.) You will be outclassed by the new metahuman villains. Also, you will be on the hunted list - officially.
Powers
Resource Link
Powers
This is a listing of powers. Below are some guidelines.
Not Allowed
Muscle Memory/Skill Duplication
Pheromones
Power theft, duplication, or nullification
Time/Temporal Control
Precognition
Mind Reading
Mind Control (or similar powers that control others)
No Androids, Cyborgs, Mecha
No uncontrolled powers or powers simply too dangerous to be around.
No Absolute, Godly, etc powers. In other words, let’s avoid the OP stuff.
Disclaimer: I removed a few powers from the original list. But if I think your power won’t work well with a group or in an Advanced RP, it won’t be approved.
Make your powers cohesive. Someone with spider powers shouldn’t suddenly start tossing fireballs.
For a power like flight, explain how it works. Wings are pretty obvious.
If your power have limits or drawbacks, list those. However, don’t overdo this either. For example, a metabolism that effectively reduces you to having to spend the whole time eating is useless.
Posting
For this RP I am going to require strong writing skills. This is an ADVANCED RP. Members will be expected to post 3-5 times per week - partly dependent on responses from others. (Not sure if that is even possible given turnaround time for posts. But then I am used to 1x1's. Point is, I do not want people holding up a scene.) Minimum length should be 3-5 good paragraphs - with no rehashing of others’ posts. ADD something to the scene with your posts rather than echo someone’s post back.
Writing Sample
I rarely ever require one. For this RP I will.
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