The New Guard (OOC/Superhero/Signups/Invite Only/CLOSED)

[Agritum]

Intro

CHAPTER ONE IC

Since the dawn of time, the nations of the world and their people fought each other and nature itself, in a wearing, interminable and continuous conflict, one that is immortalized by history itself, and is still seen today: the race for survival. At times, they simply couldn't go on: society had been weakened, the resources squandered, the brave ones killed.

And so, at the dawn of mankind, our predecessors were quick to realize that they needed someone to save them and their lands, in their times of need. They needed heroes. And their prayers were seemingly answered, as the Guardians started to appear around the world. Gilgamesh, Hercules, Achilles and many others were amongst them, as are us. Their marvelous powers permitted them to achieve superhuman feats, and fight for their countries in their hour of need.

Years passed, and us Guardians continued to walk along you humans. After the Middle Ages, we began wearing the ensigns of our very nations over our clothes, costumes instead of armors. We fought in their name, as it was our duty as Guardians. We would never let our Wards be harmed. I am sure that many fellow Americans have heard of the exploits of The Minuteman during the Independence War, of the clash between Billy Yank and Johnny Reb in our Civil War, and of the valiant war effort of The Freeman in World War 2 against the authoritarian forces of the Axis.

But, in these days, each one of us fears that our powers and loyalty to our countries could be a deadly combination, in the event of a clash between the nations we are meant to protect. It is my opinion, and the opinion of the Guardian of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Guardian of West Germany, and the East Germany one, and the Canadian, French, Italian, Japanese, Chinese Guardians' and of many other of us, that Guardians should never be used to provoke harm to another nation.

It is under this shared opinion, and with the support of the United Nations, that the World Guard is founded. The Guard will provide protection to every nation in the world, regardless of its government or allegiance. The Guardians will remain politically neutral, but still preserve their loyalty towards their own nations, as it is their duty to preserve their well-being.

And now, I feel that it is my duty to proclaim the allegiance of this new peacekeeping organization: the whole world, and all of humanity!"

-Inauguration Speech of the World Guard, spoken by Commander Eagle, Guardian of the United States of America, in the UN General Assembly Building in New York, USA on the 10th of November 1962.

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So, it looks like that you received an invite from me or from another member of the RP! Nice to see you there, then, whoever you are! Hope you will enjoy your stay! Anyways, did you read the speech directly above this writing? I suggest you to do it, or I will get angry!

Jokes aside, this RP is a small exercise at OPing, in preparation for the launch of another, much more developed RP of mine, in this year's Summer. But let's get to explain what this one does revolve about, shall we?

The Guardians

Who Are The Guardians?
To put it into simple and concise words, Guardians are human beings entrusted with superhuman powers by a mysterious and unknown force no one really figured out about. The task of a Guardian, which is directly imprinted in their consciousness by the Unknown Force, consists in a single, incredibly important order: "Protect your Ward."
A Ward usually consists in the homeland/nation of a Guardian, which they are to defend from every threat, external or internal may it be.

The strenght of a Guardian is usually proportional to their Ward's national strenght. Granted, sometimes the supposedly stronger Guardians found themselves harshly battered at the hands of Guardians from supposedly less strong nations. In fact, in the Guardian community, the Strenght Versus Skill debate is a raging and ongoing one.

A Guardian loses their powers either by dying (that would be obvious), or by sincerely admitting to the Unknown Force that they simply don't have anymore the resolve to continue their task. In both cases, the Guardian is promptly stripped of his powers by the Unknown Force, and a new Guardian is chosen by it. The selection is usually random, but the Unknown Force seems to have a preference for candidates in the 25-40 years age range.

Every time a new Guardian is chosen, a power-giving shockwave ripples through the territory of their Ward nation, randomly endowing some individuals with significantly less strong superpowers, as part of some strange collateral effect. These individuals are today called "Standard Supers", "Powereds", "Superhumans" and lot of different terms. You'll learn more of them later in this opening post.

We aren't going to play them, anyways.

Guardians And Their Powers
The powers of the Guardians are really the superpowers of your average comic book heroes, except that each Guardian, provided their nation is strong enough, already starts out on a quite advanced power level. Using the TV Tropes Super Weight scale, a newly created Guardian could be qualified as a mid-level 3, with the potential to max out 3, and even edge out in Weight 4, in some cases.

Guardians tend to have multiple powers, usually consisting in superhuman strenght and durability, coupled with other two different powers. Of course, it varies from Guardian to Guardian.

No Guardian has ever been capable of reality bending or copying/absorbing the powers of other Guardians.
SO DON'T SUBMIT A GUARDIAN WHO DOES THAT, OK?

Code of Conducts
The quite simple order of simply "Protecting your Ward" gives Guardians plenty of leeway to do whatever they want with other nations: there have been cases of Guardians intervening to save the Wards of other Guardians, either due to a surge of heroical spirit, or just for want of fame and recognition in foreign countries.

Sadly, some Guardians instead preferred to directly attack other nations, and plunder their treasures. A prime example of this latter behaviour are the infamous deeds of the Guardian of Germany, Baron Blitzkrieg, during World War II. This conflict also provides us with an example of the former, heroical behaviour, as shown by the intervention of Guardians of Allies-aligned countries during said conflict.

Guardians usually use the Constitution or funding ideals of they nation they represent as a Code of Conduct or source of inspiration. They'll be loyal to the Government of their Ward, as long as said Government will be equally loyal to the central values of the country. A quite good example of Guardian not agreeing with the opinions of governmental authorities remains Commander Eagle, historical Guardian of the United States of America in the Fifties and Sixties, famous for his dislike of McCarthyism and protests against the Vietnam conflict.

Nom De Guerre, Costumes and Secret Identities: Guardians as "Superheroes"
Due to pop culture, superpowers and all those things, Guardians nowadays are treated as real world analogues to the superheroes of fiction. Which isn't very far from what they are, to be honest. Guardians have used costumes or particular clothing since the 1600s, and it was during that very age that most of them started wearing masks or similar pieces of clothing to cover their identity.

It was also during these times that Guardians started to assume nicknames or nom de guerres, still to avoid identification, and to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. Said aliases are currently used by every Guardian in the world, with no exception. They tend to be quite patriotic-sounding, or atleast referencing cultural or folkloristic aspects of a Guardian's Ward.

While Guardians commonly wore the uniforms of their countries' military forces or other traditional clothing since the early part of the 20th Century, it was only a few years before World War 2 that the tradition of wearing flashy and colourful costumes made of spandex began the common clothing fashion for most Guardians. With their government sponsoring them, nothing stopped these people to go and wear a costume patterned with the flag of their nation, as some statement of loyalty.

All Guardians which participate in the World Guard have atleast half of their costume, or clothes, devoted to the flag of their country. While spandex or latex clothes have been the rule, the choice of costume is usually different from Guardian to Guardian. Usually, their governments design said costumes to them, and may also incorporate gadgets in them, like retractile wings or similar.

While most governments encourage their public depiction as superheroes, they are quite quick to remind the public than a Guardian, instead of a superhero, is actually a quite real thing, and that those men in spandex are tasked to provide security to the nation, or the whole world.

The Standard Powered

Are the superhumans endowed with their powers by an unknown collateral effect generated by the selection of a new Guardian at the hands of the Unknown Force, which causes a power-endowing shockwave to ripple through the ward of the new Guardian, endowing a random number of people with powers.

The age range for Standards is much lower than the one for Guardians, with most Standards usually being in their teens when endowed with their powers. Interestingly, the children of a Standard may sometimes carry the powers of their parent, but this isn't a quite common event to witness.

Standards are much more weak than Guardians, usually being restricted to only one or two powers, and not being capable to generate as much destructive energy as a Guardian. However, they are not to be taken lightly: their abilities and powers are still superhuman, and can be employed in right or wrong.

Standards are usually registered by their nation's government, to keep a watch on possibly illicit activities, and while segregation from normal humans has been almost vanquished in most countries and they benefit from full civil rights, Standards are still kept under a watchful eye, due to fears of them embracing a criminal career.

Some Standards decide to prove the government wrong, and start vigilante careers in their hometowns or regions, inspiring themselves after the Guardian of their nation. Other ones instead really embrace villainhood, though they have to be careful to avoid smackdowns by the government or the Guardian of their nation. But actually, most Standards prefer to live a normal and calm life, coping with their newly-found powers.

Most countries have atleast a special school complex for young Standards on their national territory. Contrary to popular thought, they aren't superhero schools, but normal schools inhabited only by Standards and with security provided by the government, created to avoid massacres in case of a violent rampage by a Standard student in a school full of normal humans.

In short, Standard Schools suck.

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Guardians And Our World: A Short History

Prehistory to Classical Antiquity
While graffiti depicting lone men killing entire droves of wild animals by themselves or flying up in the sky like birds have been found in prehistoric caves around the world, the first written documents testifying the existance of Guardians on our planets date back to The Epic of Gilgamesh, written in 2500 B.C. , quickly followed by some particular Indian vedas. These works featured larger-than-life figures, capable of incredible feats of strenght and prowess.

The same can be applied to all the Greek mythologic and epic works, such as the tales of Hercules, or Homer's poems, like the Iliad. According to researchers, characters like Hercules and Achilles may have been actual people, or more specifically, Guardians, whose feats became greatly famous in all of Greece, granting them a legendary fame.

In the Eastern world, it has been theorized that Jimmu, the first Emperor of Japan, may have been a Guardian who used his powers as an aid to unify the Nipponic Islands. This topic is still widely debated by the academic community.

Some theorize that the legendary gods of the Aztec people may have been Guardians who achieved enough fame and renown in their country to be immortalized as gods by folklore, respected so much by their worshippers to the point of being offered human sacrifices.

There are even more recordings of possible Guardian activity, present in every culture of the world but, according to academical studies, Guardians seemingly started to become much less open and covert about their capabilities, acting in the shadows or hiding them.

Middle Ages
It is widely accepted by Guardian History researchers that the legendary ruler of Britain, King Arthur, may have actually existed. It is theorized that Arthur masked his Guardian powers by cultivating a reputation as an excellent tactician, and justifying his battle prowess by claiming that his sword possessed magical powers. Some of his knights may have been Standards.

However, this tactic of hiding one's powers to avoid persecution by religious organizations or unneeded attention from enemies wasn't always successful: El Cid, a possible Guardian, may have been exiled by the King of Spain due to the latter's fears of the former using witchcraft to gain power in battle. Joan of Arc, which may have also had a much stronger link with the Unknown Force, to the point of continously hearing it, suffered an even worse fate.

16th Century - 17th Century
The Guardians of the Aztec people and of Spain may have clashed during the Spanish colonization of the New World in the early 1510s, leading to the former's Guardian defeat. Chances are that he was struck down by the normal rifles of the Conquistadores accompanying the Spanish Guardian, rather than by his opponent himself.

Francis Drake was most likely a Guardian, and the first one to adopt a nickname, "El Draque", and have some sort of support from the government of his homeland, even though Queen Elizabeth didn't actually know of his superhuman powers.

The Thirthy Years War was the first time multiple Guardians were engaged in battle against each other. Protestant and Catholic soldiers, seeing such events, thought of them as divine smithings or miracles happening on the battlefields. It possibly was one of the reasons for the incredibly high death tolls of said war.

18th Century - 19th Century
The American Indipendence War is considered a landmark in Guardian history: The Minuteman, a masked man dressed in the clothes of a Continental Soldier, became known amongst the rebel troops for his incredible speed and aim with a rifle. He was commonly seen leading whole brigades in battle against the British, and conversating with George Washington himself. It is widely accepted that The Minuteman was the prototype for the successive generations of Guardians, Americans or not, due to his use of an identity-concealing, nationality-representing costume, and the use of a Nom De Guerre, other than not even trying to hide his powers.

This new Modus Operand was also popularized by Le Masque, the shifty and smart Guardian of France during the French Revolution, which aided the rebels with the uses of his stealthy and swift powers of invisibility and agility. He may have also aided Napoleon's rise into power, during the last years of his life.

At Waterloo, the British and Prussians openly used their Guardians in battle against the French forces, after months spent searching for them. They encouraged their Guardians to openly fight for their country instead of acting in the shadows, like The Minuteman did, setting up a new way to treat Guardians which would have been followed my most governments in a short period of time.

The American Civil War saw the clash between Billy Yank, the Union's Guardian, and Johnny Reb, the Confederate one. They both proudly wore the flags of their nations in a flamboyant manner, and continued to lead soldiers in charges and battles. In the end, Yank came out as the winner of the clash.

Early 20th Century/The Great War
After the assassination of Duke Franz Ferdinand at the hands of the Serbian Gavrilo Princip, the political situation in Europe quickly degradated. There is no need to mention what were the results of said assassination. WW1 is considered a turning point in Guardian history: even in the times of the Napoleonic Wars or the American Civil War, Guardians lacked official endorsement or sponsorization from the governments of their nations, even if they fought amongst normal soldiers on the frontlines.

The United Kingdom and the German Empire were amongst the first countries to start officially sponsorizing their Guardians, rather than just seeking them out and recruiting them in their armies. The British Guardian known as Grenadier was mostly employed in covert, low-profile missions, but his image became quite known amongst the Tommies, to the point of becoming a national hero for the whole nation. His German counterpart, Der Hauptmann, received similar fame.

Not as noteworthy, but still quite important, WW1 marked the first intervention of an American Guardian in war fought in an another part of the globe: Corpsman, known for his exceptional healing powers and his deep knowledge of medicine and hailed as a guardian angel by Entente soldiers, became one of the founders of the International Commitee of The Red Cross in the post-war period.

World War 2
The best and the worst of humanity was witnessed during the Second World War, and Guardians aren't exented from it: the German Baron Blitzkrieg and the Japanese Red Sun became known for their heinous war crimes, enough to warrant a full-blown military campaign by the Allies to take them down.

It was also in this war that the United States of America had their first black Guardian, The Free Man. Working in conjunction with the British Guardian named Bulldog, and Esprit Tricolour, the female Guardian of France, The Free Man managed to kill in battle more than three enemy Guardians, winning an undiying reputation as a war hero. His handshake with the Soviet Champion Of The People on top of the smouldering ruins of the Reichstag became the subject of what could be considered one of the most famous photographs in human history.

The 50s, 60s and 70s: Times of Change
After the post-war retirement of The Free Man, Commander Eagle stepped up as the new Guardian of the United States of America. A trusted advisor of President Harry S. Truman, Commander Eagle partially influenced the President's internationalist foreign affairs policies, and one of the main proponents of the creation of a Guardian group composed by the Guardians of NATO countries.

During the Eisenhower presidency, his collaboration and friendship with Red Star, the Guardian of the Soviet Union, drew him plenty of criticism: the two Guardians boycotted the Korean War, drawing the anger of their respective governments. As a result, the war had to be fought through conventional means, and was finally put to an end by threats of a nuclear strike by the USA, which contributed in the creation of an armistice.

Amongst his major critics was Senator Joseph McCarthy, who accused Eagle of being a Soviet sympathizer, a closet-Communist, and a false American. The Commander proceded to lay an unprecedented verbal beatdown on the Senator, ending with the latter voluntarily resigning from his position in the Senate as a direct result of said beatdown.

His relationship with President Eisenhower was much more complex: while he appreciated the various reforms and federal agencies introduced by the president, such as NASA and DARPA, the Commander was critical of his foreign affairs policy, due to his own laxed views on USA-USSR diplomatic relations. This led to the Commander refusing to take part in the Operation Ajax, and in the further military missions of the Eisenhower administration. Instead, the Commander pursued a solitary campaign of crime busting, especially of Standard Powered criminals, sometimes going even outside America's border to catch dangerous international villains.

However, the turning point in Commander Eagle's career as a Guardian would be the Cuban Missile Crisis, during the Kennedy administration. With tensions rising to incredible levels between the USA and the USSR, both nations were counting on their Guardians to uphold their demands, possibly, with the use of lethal force. However, the two Guardians surprised the whole world: they stepped in the crisis, but rather than fight each other with their powers, openly mediated a peaceful resolution to the crisis, and progressive disarmament of American and Soviet nuclear assets around the world.

Kennedy and Kruschev, having to face both the admonishment of the two super-beings and the pacifist, reconciliative sentiment they had inspired in the world and that had been popularized by the media outlets, had to give in to their demands: the Cuban Missile Crisis ended peacefully, with the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba, and American ones in Turkey and Italy. Up to today, no missiles have been placed again in those countries.

Deeply shaken by this event, Commander Eagle and Red Star organized after the end of the crisis a worldwide meeting of the most important Guardians of the world, to discuss how the powers of the Guardians, which had only been used by coutnries to threaten other countries or to cause destruction, may instead have been put in service of all the nations of the world, to protect them and enstablish an era of World Peace and political stability.

It was under this spirit that Commander Eagle and his fellow Guardians submitted an historical proposal to the UN: the creation of the World Guard, a politically neutral organization of which the sole objective was warranting peace and protection to all of humanity, without being constricted by diplomatic burdens or other factors. The proposal passed, and led to the creation of the first World Guard lineup, composed by Commander Eagle, Red Star and the Guardians of the other great powers of the world.

The World Guard was initially quite succesful in preserving said world peace, and promoted several civil rights reforms for the Standard Powered, which up until then had been subject to segregation and discrimination. The success of the World Guard eventually led the Soviet Union to christen a space station all for them, to improve their capability to instantly deploy around the world.

While President John Fitzgerald Kennedy proudly lauded Commander Eagle's achievement in public, the CIA were paranoic about the true alignment of the World Guard, and suspicious of their neutrality. To combat the possible threat of an USSR-aligned World Guard, the CIA created an organization composed by former Standard criminals, and intelligence experts from around the world, including defectors from the Soviet Block. The Forward Operation for the World's Liberty was born, codenamed FOWL.

However, after few months in his inception, FOWL promptly cut all ties to the CIA and the American Government, and went rogue. Their attempts to pursue an agenda of covert economical and military domination of the world was still continously thwarted by the World Guard, with mixed results. Tragically, the World Guard and Commander Eagle failed in protecting President Kennedy from an assassination attempt at the hands of the newly re-christened WILDFOWL.

Haunted by the death of the President, the Commander resigned from his position as Guardian of the USA, and was stripped of his powers. Without a charismatic leader, and now lead by the much more jingoistic Guardian named U.S. Defender, the World Guard couldn't halt the Vietnam War, in which Defender himself fought, the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, the rising tension between the two sides of the Cold War, and the Watergate Scandal.

The 80s: Human-Kal'Urga Conflict
With the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, the various Olympic boycotts raging on, and the alarmist tones used by American president Ronald Reagan to refer to the current political situation of the globe, the whole post-70s period was considered the black era of the World Guard's history. Forced to both mantain some sort of stability, and continue to fight WILDFOWL, which was starting to become even more stronger, some thought that the World Guard would have disappeared in a few years.

None knew that an event would have changed the whole course of the World Guard's and the planet's history, in better or worse: in 1987 a race of intelligent humanoid aliens, the Farnesians, came onto Earth as ethnical and political refugees: according to them, they were escaping from an alien race of slavers and conquerors, the Kal'Urga. Debate flamed around the world, discussing whetever give or not give the Farnesians asylum.

The debate was cut short by the arrival of the Kal'Urgan fleet, determined in catching back the Farnesians, which also promptly decided to enslave the human race, too. Not knowing of the power of the Guardians, the Kal'Urga declared open war on the whole planet, only to be meet by full resistance by all of the world's powers, and the World Guard. Even WILDFOWL decided to openly combat the alien threat.

The conflict was short but deadly enough: it saw the deaths of more than four Guardians, 2 millions civilians and military personnel casualties, and the complete annihilation of the Kal'Urga fleet. Several population centers on the United States eastern and western coasts were partially destroyed, along with ones in the Soviet Union, China, Japan and Europe.

While the war resulted in a quite advantageous victory for the humans and a boost of popularity and trust in the World Guard, it also led to the indebolishment of the Soviet Union, which eventually collapsed a few years after, and the accidental worldwide distribution of dangerous alien technology and fuels.

The Farnesians left the planets a few months after the war, after having helped the humans with technological gifts and reconstruction help, and enstablished a new home for themselves in Alpha Centauri, still keeping a close contact with the humans.

The Kal'Urga have never returned, since the end of the conflict.

2020 A.D. , Current Day
While still tainted by disputes and conflicts in the most poor parts of the world, the geopolitical sphere is quite stable, and enjoys from the protection of a strong, motivated and popular World Guard. The newly founded Russian Federation has since reduced their rivalry with the United States of America, and most of humanity benefits from moderate technological advancements, which are slowly reaching the capacity to achieve Faster Than Light travel.

The World Guard is strong as ever, led by the American Guardian named Star-Spangled Savior, and shows no sign of weakening. It currently fights against the conspiracies of WILDFOWL and other similar organizations, and continues to supervise the protection of the whole world.

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The World Guard

We,
Guardians of different nations, but of a common species,
hereby swear in presence of the whole world,
that none shall ever harm our planet and its people,

We swear
that no nation will be preferred, and none will be discriminated,

We swear
that the safety of the whole world is more important than our own lives,

We swear
that we will never betray our homeplanet, and leave it alone in its hour of need.

We, Guardians of the World Guard, swear this oath in the name of all the free people who inhabit this planet.
May their strenght and devotion support us in all our endeavors, let us be proud of them.

We swear,
in the name of the Earth, its nations and the entire human race,
that we are Guardians of the World Guard, and so we shall remain!"

-Oath of The World Guard, translated in English from Latin.

Founded a few days after the end of the Cuban Missile Crisis, the World Guard is a team composed by the world's strongest Guardian's, with the goal of protecting the whole world from threats internal and external, and promote peace and stability in the nations.

The World Guard's lineup usually consists in the Guardians of the world's most powerful countries: said power is measured via a cross-examination of both the Economical, Military and Political power of a country. The current World Guard is composed by Guardians from 11 countries, them being:

The Original Founders:
1.The United States of America - Currently Represented by Star-Spangled Savior: Male. Superstrong and incredibly durable, he is capable of generating lasers and other forms of hyper-concentrated light. Current Team Leader. He's a celebrity in the USA, and pretty well-known around the world. Quite patriotic and hot-headed, but reserved on political issues.

2.The Russian Federation (while being the USSR) - Currently Represented by Winter Guard: Male. Superstrong, can generate cold and manipulate everything under a certain temperature. Capable of becoming a formless mass of snow, and use himself as a living blizzard during combat. Always mantains a detached and could behaviour.

3.The French Republic - Currently Represented by Image (French pronunciation): Female. Can literally paint illusions in the real world, and modify and warp the thoughts of enemy minds at will. Feminine and quite stubborn, she is basically the team's chick. The Ditz to CyberSaber's Geek.

4.The Federal Republic of Germany (while split in West Germany and East Germany)- Currently Represented by Jaeger: Male. Super-agile, and with incredible hearing and sight. Is one of the few Guardians in the World Guard to use guns, in this case, an experimental, super-light sniper rifle. Is actually a very friendly person, with a liking for parties and drinks with friends.

5.The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - Currently Represented by Jack of Tradess: Male. Has knowledge in every expertise field known by humanity, but is pretty much average in every one of them. He used his various expertises to create several gadgets for himself and the team. Is quite mischievous and trickster-ish, and has a liking for playing pranks, on ally or enemy alike.

6.The Republic of Italy - Currently Represented by Il Grande (The Great One): Male. ULTRA-Strong, with hulking muscles to boot, and taller than 2 metres. His powers consists simply in that. Incredibly boisterous (and for a good reason: he once managed to lift a freight liner), he is not an extremely smart person. Likes fighting.

7.Canada - Currently Represented by Northern Bear: Male. The Unknown Force gave him flight, strenght, durability and titanium claws at the cost of...being turned into an humanoid bear. Retains an human intellect, and is a quite nice and friendly person, and even somewhat shy. The World Guard's pet.

8.Japan - Currently Represented by CyberSaber: Female. Capable of entering any electronical sytem or appliance, and manipulate them. Is also a quite capable swordsman, and can slice almost anything with her Cyber-Katana. A covert gaming otaku. Best friend to Image and Northern Bear.

Plus recent additions, like:

9.The People's Republic of China - Currently Represented by Lucky Dragon. Male. Has pyrokinetic powers and the ability to boost his martial arts moves with them. He's agile enough to practice high-speed parkour. Usually quite serious, but capable of cracking hilarious sarcastic statements everywhere and then.

10.The Republic of India - Currently Represented by Vajra: Male. Has Electrokinetic powers, the ability to turn himself into pure electricity, and cause blackouts or overloads at will. He takes every fight quite seriously and prefers tactic to raw power. Outside of the battle, he is the quirky chef of the World Guard.

11.The United Mexican States - Currently Represented by El Rodillo: Male. Not quite strong, but faster than a speeding bullet, and softer than rubber. He can assume various elongated shapes to quickly rain fists down his enemies, but his preferite technique remains turning into a super-fast human ball and knocking down all his opponents, flipper-style. It is the main reason for why he adopted this particular nickname. Butt-monkey of Star Spangled Savior's immigration jokes.

YOU WON'T RP THESE GUYS. THEY DISAPPEARED. YOU DON'T HAVE TO HAVE YOUR CHRAVTERS HAVE THE SAME POWERS AS THEM. I ENCOURAGE CREATIVITY ON YOUR PART.

The other countries in the world can still support the World Guard through donations and the like. There have been recent talks regarding admitting Egypt to the lineup, but they haven't progressed by much.

Pictured: the space station "Harmonia"

Built by the Soviet Union in the 60s, and then consequently upgraded to the point of being perfect even by today's standards, the Harmonia is the current dwelling of the World Guard, and a miracle of technology and engineering. It has docking bays for special transport spaceplanes, which can be used to quickly deploy the World Guard around the world in a few hours. It is actually a quite big station, which also hosts every kind of facility, other than the dwellings of the World Guardians.

And yes, it has artificial gravity. Thank the Farnesians for that gift.

The World Guard is funded by all the participant nations, especially by the US. Supervision is instead done by a special committee of the UN with the task of monitoring the Guardian's actions and avoid any problems. The UN officials who routinely follow the World Guard, some of which are Standard Powered, are respectfully referred to as Guardsmen by the Guardians.

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The Fulcrum Of The Plot A.K.A. Why You Had To Read All Of The Above

2020 A.D.
It was a pleasant and gentle day of summer (winter in the southern emisphere) when the thunderous news of the complete disappearance of the members of the World Guard rocked the whole world. It was on everyone's mouths for a whole week, and the media debated on where they had went, or if they were even still alive. Meanwhile, the governments of the world and the UN scrambled to find their lost Guardians, not managing to find any links to their disappearance.

It seemed that the Harmonia had been left completely deserted, with the morning breakfast of the Guardians lying on their lunch table, half-bitten. No strange activity had been noticed on the space station a few hours before the appearance, and even the camera feeds didn't give much evidence to the governmental investigators.

With no clues on what had really happened, a small lull began in the news, with no further updates to the situation and the status of the World Guardians. That's it, up until they discovered that new Standard Powereds had began appearing all around the world. The governments of the world quickly made the connection, and scrambled in search of the newly empowered Guardians, not even caring anymore for the old ones: the world had been deprived of its strongest protectors, and it needed new ones.

However, as soon as the nations rounded up their new Guardians, they quickly noticed a common characteristic about them, and a quite odd one to boot: their age range.

Every one of these new Guardians shared the common age range of 16 to 19 years. They could have been easily mistaken for Standards, had they possessed advanced enough powers to be classified as full-blown Guardians. Again, the public, the media and the government couldn't understand what really was happening. Maybe the Unknown Force was playing tricks on them? Or was it an anomaly of the system?

Incapable of figuring out what was happening, governments of the nations behind the World Guard just decided not to progress the investigation, and instead focus on training their new Guardians as fast as they can. In fact, without the World Guard, WILDFOWL managed to gain more ground in their eternal conflict with the forces of justice, and would have likely managed to commit even more heinous acts, if kept unchecked.

Months after, the young Guardians finished their training, and got sent to the Harmonia. With the whole world watching and counting on them, and the whole burden falling on their shoulders, this new World Guard lineup will maybe have to face the greatest challenges ever encountered by the team.

This, this is their story: the tale of The New Guard!

...and yes, you will RP these guys.

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Guardian Applications

Code: Select all

Guardian App (Remove all the parentheses when you actually post it. Including this one!)
NS Nation:
Name(Your real Identity):
Gender:
Age(16-19):
Nationality:
Appearance:
Alias (Your Guardian name. Try to keep a somewhat patriotic motif, if you can.):
Powers (Everything not particularly ridiculous or overpowered goes. Brownie points if the power is a representation of your country's stereotypes. But you can go with anything you want, TBH)
Costume (Ditto as Alias. Must have the flag or colours of your nation on atleast half of it.
Weapons and/or Gadgets (Can also be part of your costume, like retractile wings or jetpacks. Choose whatever you want):
Personality:
Likes:
Dislikes:
Bio:
RP Sample:


Guardian App
NS Nation: Agritum
Name: Christopher "Chris" Hawthorn
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Nationality: American
Appearance:

Alias: U.S. Eagle
Powers: -Enhanced Strength (and Stamina). Chris can easily lift up to 3,520.00 tons without much hassle. While he could lift even more than that, it would put his muscles and bones in a strain so high that, while not damaging them in any way, would generate an amount of pain so high that he would quickly collapse in unconsciousness. Luckily, Chris is capable controlling the degree of strenght he exerts, permitting him to avoid passing his natural limits, and avoid crippling people accidentally.

-Enhanced Durability. Chris' body is quite resistant to external trauma, other than benefiting from an exceptionally good immunitary system. At his current level of power, his skin alone manages to make small arms projectiles bounch off, and he can even manage to resist being shot at by a tank. However, he's still vulnerable towards chemical agents, drowning and strangulation. While feeling pain in a lessened way, he can still be badly hurt by a particularly powerful attack or weapon

-Flight. Chris can easily defy gravity, move in all three dimensions and reach a maximum speed of Mach 1.2
Costume: Developed and created by DARPA in conjunction with other agencies of the Federal Government, U.S. Eagle's suit is made of a cutting-edge brand of experimental polymers, which render the suit quite resistant to damage, other than being water, fire and bullet-proof. It is quite resistant to the high-speed velocities U.S. Eagle usually flights on.

It consists of a mostly white spandex-like body suit, which covers most of U.S. Eagle's body except for his eyes and mouth, and a (think The Flash or the Captain America from the Marvel movies), all of which is decorated in a perfectly United States Flag Code-compliant style (Same painting and decorations as Heroman
Weapons and/or Gadgets: U.S. Eagle's suit is equipped with an holographic wrist PDA, which permits the Guardian to easily access an enormous degree of informations and communicate with the US Government via radio.
Personality: Chris is a trustworthy and honest individual, with an high sense of honour and duty, and undying loyalty towards the people he cares for and the values he defends. That said, while a pretty amicable person, he may at times come out as too much emotive or idealistic, and with an exaggerate respect for rules. He is however a quite understanding person, and he's quite ready to change his opinions.
Likes: The USA (duh), the American people, the government (when it's behaving well), freedom, civil rights, good individuals, fighting for his country and the whole world, trying to vanquish all forms of evil and injustice, protecting the weak, baseball.
Dislikes: All forms of unneeded authoritarianism and oppression, the strong bullying the weak, terrorism in any form, WILDFOWL, super-villains, some members of the establishment.
Bio: Christopher was born in a middle class family in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Peter Hawthorn, a captain in the USAF, and his wife Julia, a kindergarten teacher. With his father usually being absent from home due to his job, and his mother having to juggle between caring for him and working, Chris had quite some leeway on what to do. Even so, he was never really mischievous, which surprised his mother even more.

Since he was a child, Chris continued to be an admirer of Star-Spangled Saviour, who promptly became his role model. He kept atleast one poster of the Guardian in his room, and frequently read about his and the World Guard's latest exploits.

Chris, already a quite obedient child, grew up to be a good-natured and energetic teenager, loyal to his friends and loving to his family, all of it coupled with quite a leader spirit. Which is why all his highschool classmates were quite surprised to discover that, instead of becoming the football team's quarterback or the captain of the basketball team, Chris just enrolled in the cinema and theater clubs of the school, and occasionally played as the pinch hitter of the school's baseball team.

He noticeably tended to act as some sort of big brother or guardian to his younger and more inexperienced companions, going as far to protect them from bullying and helping them in studying, even at the cost of his free time or reputation. Chris would side with the weak, and help them in standing up to whatever made their life miserable.

And yet, he couldn't prevent one of his best friends, Timothy, from committing suicide after being picked on due to his homosexuality. Timothy's death was a devastating happening for Chris, who promptly blamed himself for not being capable of noticing the depression suffered by his friend and shield him from harm.

Chris became a quite aloof and silent young man, retreating into his college studies and occasionally having a meeting or two with his high-school friends. And all of this endured, up until the day he woke up and promptly found himself flung from his bed against his room's wall.

As soon as he heard that elder, misterious voice in his head telling him to "protect his ward", Chris realized what had happened. Turning on the TV and listening to the news only confirmed what he had feared.

At first, he was tempted to escape, not feeling worthy enough to take up the mantle of his nation's Guardian: he was only a 19 year old college student under psychological counselling, what did he know about being the Guardian of the world's superpower, and fighting WILDFOWL, and leading the World Guard?

And then, he thought about his nation: deprived of its Guardian, terrorized by his sudden disappearance, uncertain on what would have happened. He thought about his fellow Americans, who didn't have anymore a person to count on, a figure to inspire themselves after, an hero,

A Guardian.

Days later, a young man draped in an American flag ripped out of some flagpost and covering his head with a hoodie flew in the U.S. Congress in Washington D.C., and saluted all the members of the establishment which were in that building.
Chris had made his choice.

Under the President's direct orders, Chris was immediately secured and brought by the government in a safe zone, while his identity was quickly covered up by Feds. For months, Chris was trained with the aid of extreme virtual simulations and epthe experience of plenty of special forces drill instructors. He perfectioned his flight, learned several melee combat techniques and even trained in using handguns, even if he didn't particularly like them.

These months were also spent trying to figure out more about his powers and their extent, other than starting to develope his Guardian alter ego and selecting an appropriate nickname and costume. In the end, Chris decided to name his new Guardian persona after one of the most important and beloved guardians of US history.

And then, finally, the new Guardian of the United States of America was presented to the whole world in a widely televised ceremony, the President herself present in it.

From the ashes of Star Spangled Saviour, and inspired by the spirit of Commander Eagle, U.S. Eagle was born.


RP Sample: BLADE OF 'MURRIKA!

[Agritum]

---

The New Lineup of The World Guard

Guardian of The United States of America - Chris Hawthorn AKA U.S. Eagle (Agritum)
Guardian of The Russian Federation - Elena Solovyova AKA Kliuchevskoya (Rupudska)
Guardian of The French Republic - Marie Joan Rovelange AKA The Maid of Normandy (Constaniana)
Guardian of The Federal Republic of Germany - Richard Freisc AKA The Raptor (AETEN)
Guardian of The United Kingdom Of Britain and Northern Ireland - Analiese Dunant AKA The White Medic of the Commonwealth (Inritus)
Guardian of The Republic of Italy -Ivan Gilberto AKA Il Titano di Roma [The Titan of Rome] (Caecuser)
Guardian of Canada - Aisha Tremblay AKA Dancing Spirit (Ceannairceach)
Guardian of Japan - Morimoto Kyoko AKA New Dawn (Olthar)
Guardian of The People's Republic of China - Li Zhi AKA The People's Fist (Wolfenium)
Guardian of The Republic of India - ??? (Nightkill slot)
Guardian of The United Mexican States - Esmeralda de Santa Anna AKA Snakeslayer (Zarkenis Ultima)

[Nightkill the Emperor]

I like how I have India already reserved.

[Olthar]

Wow. That's a big OP.

[Agritum]

Wow. That's a big OP.

And that's because I spoilered some parts

Have a nice read. I worked my ass to make it both sufficient AND entertaining to read.

[Agritum]

I like how I have India already reserved.

You can get away with your character's Alias being Nightkill, if you want.

[Olthar]

Well, it shouldn't be too hard to incorporate a red dot into a white costume.

[Agritum]

Well, it shouldn't be too hard to incorporate a red dot into a white costume.

She'll also have to be Japanese, woo-hoo

[Constaniana]

I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with some decent superpowers for a French character, except for jumping really high (like a frog) and a hammerspace full of wine and cheese.

[Olthar]

I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with some decent superpowers for a French character, except for jumping really high (like a frog) and a hammerspace full of wine and cheese.

I don't think they need to be stereotypes, Con.

[Agritum]

I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with some decent superpowers for a French character, except for jumping really high (like a frog) and a hammerspace full of wine and cheese.

I don't think they need to be stereotypes, Con.

Yeah. Also, Con, read all of the OP or I'll be angry.

[Rupudska]

Gee that wasn't delayed at all.

App to be up shortly.

[Olthar]

This is quite an elaborate back story.

[Agritum]

Gee that wasn't delayed at all.

App to be up shortly.

I wrote the second half of my app after coming back from a McDonald's, too.

[Agritum]

This is quite an elaborate back story.

I could make a book series about it or sell it to a comic company, but no, here's me using it for a RP

[Olthar]

This is quite an elaborate back story.

I could make a book series about it or sell it to a comic company, but no, here's me using it for a RP

You should get an artist and make it into a webcomic. I'd read it.

[Agritum]

I could make a book series about it or sell it to a comic company, but no, here's me using it for a RP

You should get an artist and make it into a webcomic. I'd read it.

Dream on, dream on...

[Olthar]

You should get an artist and make it into a webcomic. I'd read it.

Dream on, dream on...

You really should do it.

[Rupudska]

I could make a book series about it or sell it to a comic company, but no, here's me using it for a RP

You should get an artist and make it into a webcomic. I'd read it.

I'd do it myself, but that would require effort, therefore I do not care.

[Olthar]

We don't get to make our own heroes?

[Agritum]

We don't get to make our own heroes?

....nope, you make them. The Heroes I wrote about are the ones that disappeared
. We replace them

[Zarkenis Ultima]

Hello, my name is Zarkenis Ultima. You piqued my interest, prepare for an app.

...Later, though. .

[Olthar]

We don't get to make our own heroes?

....nope, you make them. The Heroes I wrote about are the ones that disappeared
. We replace them

Oh, okay.

[Agritum]

Hello, my name is Zarkenis Ultima. You piqued my interest, prepare for an app.

...Later, though. .

You know, I just remembered, I am watching the Legend of Zorro while I type

[Agritum]

....nope, you make them. The Heroes I wrote about are the ones that disappeared
. We replace them

Oh, okay.

Again, read the OP well and ask me for any clearance on things you don't get