Fandom Escalation - Heroes, Villains, Endbringers, Oh My!

[RinKaihou]

The year is 2011. Brockton Bay, a city on the Northeast portion of the United States, one of the top 10 US cities with the highest cape population and home to the Protectorate East-North-East (Protectorate ENE). And this is where your story begins…


In a world where parahumans or capes, people who have powers that break the laws of physics, run rampant, you are but a single star amongst many. But your actions will have consequences and even the smallest of rocks may be the cause of a tidal wave. Will you be a member of the Protectorate, coordinating with superheroes across the world in an effort to save humanity? Will you be a small time thief, whose only major appearances are in Endbringer fights? Will you aim to be the top dog in a villainous empire, slowly spreading your influence throughout the city? Or perhaps you will be a rogue, selling your services to the highest bidder?

 

[RinKaihou]

Unwritten Rules


Beyond the laws, rules and regulations of heroes or the truces and underhanded agreements of villains, there exists the Unwritten Rules of being a cape. These rules are made for the purpose of solidifying the Endbringer Truce, securing the status quo between heroes and villains and preventing all out war. Breaking one of the rules may cause all capes in the area to come down on you with a vengeance.


The rules focus on separating one’s cape life and civilian life. ‘Outing’ the civilian identity of another cape to the general public is as big an offense as attacking the cape out of costume. Even trying to determine another cape’s identity intentionally may cause negative attention to come down on you. Killing, while not entirely disallowed for villains, is strictly frowned upon as that would result in one less cape for an Endbringer fight.


Endbringers


The world, as we know it, is ending. Society ha crumbled, globalization is non existent and most cities follow routines similar to feudalism. For humanity to survive, decentralization was key. This was due to the Endbringers.


The Endbringers are monstrous beings that take turns attacking locations around the globe to cause as much damage as they possibly can. Apparently unkillable, the Endbringers retreat to their respective domains to heal after they have sustained sufficient damage, only to attack again months later.


Capes from all across the world, no matter the alignment, converge in one location to fight Endbringers. While strictly voluntary, all capes know that Endbringers are the main reason why they are tolerated by the normal populace. An Endbringer fight where one cape out of four died is considered a good day.


Currently, there are three known Endbringers:


Behemoth - The Endbringer with the highest number of cape kills. It appeared on December 13, 1992 and has the ability to manipulate multiple forms of energy (electrical, thermal, kinetic). Although slow, he is extremely durable and the radiation he emits can render a region uninhabitable over the course of a few hours.


Behemoth is over forty-five feet tall. He has gray, leathery skin topped with cooled magma and obsidian-like crags, some of which can even reach 10 feet in length. His body is described as a muscle-bound caricature midway between a human and a bear. Behemoth's hands are merely mangled growths of obsidian-looking material and his arms are as thick as oak trees. The growths of obsidian on his head resemble horns that are rooted in the middle of his face. In a gap between two of the horns he has a single red, glowing eye. His mouth is a jagged gap, lined by obsidian teeth with a deep glowing coming from the throat.


Leviathan - It appeared in 1996. It has macrohydrokinesis and a water ‘afterimage’ that follows behind it and moves as fast as Leviathan is. While not having as much power as Behemoth and not as intelligent as the Simurgh, his ability to call forth tidal waves in increasing levels of power makes it a very destructive foe, especially in coastal areas.


Leviathan is thirty feet tall with a seemingly disproportionate body and scaly skin. He has a top-heavy appearance due to his hunched shoulders and the large cords of "muscles" standing out on his neck, upper torso, and shoulders. However these muscles are superficial only as his strength and movement are not impaired when they're damaged. The top heavy appearance is only strengthened by his much thinner forearms and calves, topped off with massive claws and digitigrade feet. The face lacks any kind of mouth, nose, or ears, the only recognizable feature being 4 green orbs acting as eyes (three on the left side, one on the right). At the rear end of his body is a prehensile whip-like tail around 40-50 feet long.


When walking on two legs he sways his upper body back and forth in sync with the swaying of his arms, using his tail for balance. However he is far more balanced and significantly faster once on four legs, fast enough to run on the surface of the water. Within water he moves faster than any speedster, almost appearing to teleport. He constantly has his after echo appearing whenever he moves, perpetually shrouding him in water.


Simurgh - The Simurgh was the third Endbringer to arrive, appearing just after the turn of the millennium.


The Simurgh appears as a fifteen-foot tall woman, waif-thin and unclothed. Her hair is almost as long as she is tall and is, like the rest of her form, platinum-white. She has a variety of asymmetrically and apparently randomly placed feather wings, which appear excessively large compared to her body. Parts of her are described as being hollow, or made from carefully placed wings, which serve as replicas of the absent body part.