Post by MoonHunter on Mar 20, 2005 17:14:13 GMT
If you ask most people, super people are a recent phenomena. Ask a few people in the "know", and they will say that supers have occured as a rare phenomena, in small historical clusters, since the begining. If you ask "people", you are getting the wrong answer.
The details of the early history have been lost, offuscated, or just fabricated lies, so we will ignore them for the moment. What we do know is that "Those of the Outside" (Outsiders or those outside normal society) have been with Humanity since the begining. Most of them fall within certain Gentes or types (MoonChildren, Mages, Gargoyles, Vampires, The Cold (ghosts, et all), Fey, Dragons, and a few others). Since a mystical event which occured near the same time of the Battle of Hasting (1066), there has been a magical veil drawn over paranormals and things of magic. Unless an item was magicallys shielded, any artifact showing an Outsider or scroll mentioning them has been "altered". In addition Mundane people will not think of magic and will rationalize away what they see. As time has gone on, this veil spell has thinned... until is has nearly broken in the 1960s.
In the 60s, four factors nearly broke the veil. The first was the number of people who had "dropped out" of normal society, being marginal they were able to see more of the Outside than people had before. The second was the appearance of Psionics, a new type of mind magic users. Most were quite weak, but their different powers that could be used without special training, made them a commodity that were snatched up by the various mystic lodges. The third was the apperance of Meta, of paranormals of extreme power (equal to that of a comic book superhero) that did not conviently fit the gentes and lodge conventions. Admittedly there was only five of them, and they were part of the occult underground, but they were a new factor in the universe. The last was the Jesus time, as the various occult factions began to The War that would begin 1000 years after his birth and end with his death (1968 to 2000 approximately). Any occult force that could maintain control over the various nexus of the world could change the world to fit their ideals/ views. The work of the world mages managed to prevent that.
It was into this world that The Guardian was born. Of course he was called Seeker then. He was part of the HouseHold, a group of Guardians or WorldMages who protected and defended the Sphere. It was odd that a member that young would have that kind of pwoer, but he was initiated at a mere 14 in 1982. Towards the End, he was injured... he could no longer work world magics AND his basic channels had been fried so his normal manifestations of power could be performed. Yet he could not give up protecting the world and he had all this power without an outlet. Finding that he had exceptional psychokinetic and telekinetic abilities with limited range...(powers he did not have before the injury), he realized he could still help the world... by making the world ready for the existince of paranormals and metas. You see by the time of the new century, the number of known Metas had grown to 30 and the number of psychics (and potent psychics) had grown in leaps and bounds. The Veil was stretching. The Old Order of the Mystic Lodges and the Cabals could not adapt to these new powers disrupting the Status Quo. Without a proper introduction, the old fear that Humanity would squash all the Outsiders (probably through sheer numbers as well as tech) would come to pass. So he did the only thing he could do.
He broke the Veil by becoming a super hero. There was a large Earthquake in the SF Bay area. He could not help people and still keep the Veil, so he strapped on something like a costume with a cape and performed rescue operations in broad daylight, making sure he was caught on camera. People "accepted" that a "super hero" could fly, move great weights, sense people through walls, and do other incredible feats. He, via television and radio, called for the local metas and paranormals to "edge" and help in the rescue overtly rather than covertly. And a few did... then faded back into the shadows to wait.
Later that night, he was interviewed on Live CNN where he explained a sanitized version of the world's real history and that metas existed (not quite outing the Outside... and not mentioning the true numbers of the Outsiders which would of made everyone paranoid). He also called for Outsiders (paranormals and metas) to "step up" and help society rather than cowering in the shadows.
He expected to be eliminated the next day by the Cabal for breaking the Veil, but he had completed his mission to make mankind accepting that they share the planet. His new public status made that elimination difficult and they did not want to make a mayrter. The Outsider community held is collective breath, waiting for Humanity's response. And Humanity merely shrugged and went on with their life. A few paranormals and metas "outed" themselves. Those that wore costumes (as heroes or villians) were more accepted than those that did not (a number of pop stars revealed that they were paranormals which helped). Most paranormals only helped out with public paranormal threats, which made the conventional police happy.
Six months later, Guardian fought a creature in New York City... a creature made of technomagic unleashed by an experiment gone wrong. He had called for the assistance of meta to stop this thing. Nobody came. He died a grusome death on live television. Within an hour a dozen paranormals and five metas appears to put down the monster. They decided to remain together as the public group Guardian always wanted.
So the Guardians are this world's first (and for the moment) only Super Team. There are a couple of groups that are still "in the shadows" and are helping conventional police "on the sly". People do not like most paranormals who are not "helping people" So the world is soon to be filled with costumed paranormals and metas.
Characters will have a supernatural and magical F/X. There is no super technology on this world. We expect mages, psionics, super martial artists, and human variants (Weres and other transforming half beasts, Gargoyles, Fey, Immortals, and so on). These people will have connections to the various lodges, secret martial arts schools, and mystical groups that will "sponsor them". Metas, those with a higher power level, are distrusted by the rest of the paranormal community. (Kind of like Mutants in a normal Marvel Universe). They have powers that don't work like very one elses, so they are hard to advance in skill.
Of course what someone is and what they appear to be to the Mundane/ Insider population is quite different. Guardian was a limited range kinetic, with some minor telepathic and clairvoyant abilities. To the world, he was a super with the ability to fly, generate a forcefield, lift weights, see through walls, and so on. Also you might be a Ninja from the ShadowHand school, but everyone else thinks you are just Viper a powerful martial artist.
The details of the early history have been lost, offuscated, or just fabricated lies, so we will ignore them for the moment. What we do know is that "Those of the Outside" (Outsiders or those outside normal society) have been with Humanity since the begining. Most of them fall within certain Gentes or types (MoonChildren, Mages, Gargoyles, Vampires, The Cold (ghosts, et all), Fey, Dragons, and a few others). Since a mystical event which occured near the same time of the Battle of Hasting (1066), there has been a magical veil drawn over paranormals and things of magic. Unless an item was magicallys shielded, any artifact showing an Outsider or scroll mentioning them has been "altered". In addition Mundane people will not think of magic and will rationalize away what they see. As time has gone on, this veil spell has thinned... until is has nearly broken in the 1960s.
In the 60s, four factors nearly broke the veil. The first was the number of people who had "dropped out" of normal society, being marginal they were able to see more of the Outside than people had before. The second was the appearance of Psionics, a new type of mind magic users. Most were quite weak, but their different powers that could be used without special training, made them a commodity that were snatched up by the various mystic lodges. The third was the apperance of Meta, of paranormals of extreme power (equal to that of a comic book superhero) that did not conviently fit the gentes and lodge conventions. Admittedly there was only five of them, and they were part of the occult underground, but they were a new factor in the universe. The last was the Jesus time, as the various occult factions began to The War that would begin 1000 years after his birth and end with his death (1968 to 2000 approximately). Any occult force that could maintain control over the various nexus of the world could change the world to fit their ideals/ views. The work of the world mages managed to prevent that.
It was into this world that The Guardian was born. Of course he was called Seeker then. He was part of the HouseHold, a group of Guardians or WorldMages who protected and defended the Sphere. It was odd that a member that young would have that kind of pwoer, but he was initiated at a mere 14 in 1982. Towards the End, he was injured... he could no longer work world magics AND his basic channels had been fried so his normal manifestations of power could be performed. Yet he could not give up protecting the world and he had all this power without an outlet. Finding that he had exceptional psychokinetic and telekinetic abilities with limited range...(powers he did not have before the injury), he realized he could still help the world... by making the world ready for the existince of paranormals and metas. You see by the time of the new century, the number of known Metas had grown to 30 and the number of psychics (and potent psychics) had grown in leaps and bounds. The Veil was stretching. The Old Order of the Mystic Lodges and the Cabals could not adapt to these new powers disrupting the Status Quo. Without a proper introduction, the old fear that Humanity would squash all the Outsiders (probably through sheer numbers as well as tech) would come to pass. So he did the only thing he could do.
He broke the Veil by becoming a super hero. There was a large Earthquake in the SF Bay area. He could not help people and still keep the Veil, so he strapped on something like a costume with a cape and performed rescue operations in broad daylight, making sure he was caught on camera. People "accepted" that a "super hero" could fly, move great weights, sense people through walls, and do other incredible feats. He, via television and radio, called for the local metas and paranormals to "edge" and help in the rescue overtly rather than covertly. And a few did... then faded back into the shadows to wait.
Later that night, he was interviewed on Live CNN where he explained a sanitized version of the world's real history and that metas existed (not quite outing the Outside... and not mentioning the true numbers of the Outsiders which would of made everyone paranoid). He also called for Outsiders (paranormals and metas) to "step up" and help society rather than cowering in the shadows.
He expected to be eliminated the next day by the Cabal for breaking the Veil, but he had completed his mission to make mankind accepting that they share the planet. His new public status made that elimination difficult and they did not want to make a mayrter. The Outsider community held is collective breath, waiting for Humanity's response. And Humanity merely shrugged and went on with their life. A few paranormals and metas "outed" themselves. Those that wore costumes (as heroes or villians) were more accepted than those that did not (a number of pop stars revealed that they were paranormals which helped). Most paranormals only helped out with public paranormal threats, which made the conventional police happy.
Six months later, Guardian fought a creature in New York City... a creature made of technomagic unleashed by an experiment gone wrong. He had called for the assistance of meta to stop this thing. Nobody came. He died a grusome death on live television. Within an hour a dozen paranormals and five metas appears to put down the monster. They decided to remain together as the public group Guardian always wanted.
So the Guardians are this world's first (and for the moment) only Super Team. There are a couple of groups that are still "in the shadows" and are helping conventional police "on the sly". People do not like most paranormals who are not "helping people" So the world is soon to be filled with costumed paranormals and metas.
Characters will have a supernatural and magical F/X. There is no super technology on this world. We expect mages, psionics, super martial artists, and human variants (Weres and other transforming half beasts, Gargoyles, Fey, Immortals, and so on). These people will have connections to the various lodges, secret martial arts schools, and mystical groups that will "sponsor them". Metas, those with a higher power level, are distrusted by the rest of the paranormal community. (Kind of like Mutants in a normal Marvel Universe). They have powers that don't work like very one elses, so they are hard to advance in skill.
Of course what someone is and what they appear to be to the Mundane/ Insider population is quite different. Guardian was a limited range kinetic, with some minor telepathic and clairvoyant abilities. To the world, he was a super with the ability to fly, generate a forcefield, lift weights, see through walls, and so on. Also you might be a Ninja from the ShadowHand school, but everyone else thinks you are just Viper a powerful martial artist.