Fates And Futures
Thread Staff: Forest State, Lunas Legion
IC Thread - Roster - Discord - Theme - Archive Thread - Flashpoint Side Thread“Some will see this as the apocalypse, while others as natural evolution.”
Will you save the world, or are you doomed by fate?
Heroes and villains clash daily, battling for control. Individuals with the power to destroy entire city blocks on a whim roam the Earth, both respected and feared by the common person. Some believe in using their abilities for altruistic purposes, to protect and help others, and generally to make the world a better place. Others are only out for themselves, battling each other and the authorities to make an illegal living, or to seek personal power for themselves and their allies. It’s a constant tug of war between the two sides, neither of them having a clear edge over the other. A deadly game that catches many ordinary people in the middle.
The Syndicate is the largest group of metahumans heroes ever formed, operating in nearly every country and fighting on the side of justice. Aside from a few organizations such as the United Nations, the Syndicate has more of a global reach than anyone, in any field. And even so, the world is threatened every year. Superpowered terrorism, aliens, criminal groups run by metahumans, and supernatural beasts are all threats that the Syndicate and other authorities need to contend with. The battle never stops or slows down, and even with the Syndicate's global reach, there's not enough bodies to win this fight in the long run.
The Futures Program is the Syndicate's way of looking forward and finding the next generation of heroes. The ones that will carry on the cause even as it drags on into the future. The brightest metahumans between the ages of eighteen and twenty four are recruited, with the goal of molding them and turning them into viable heroes. The Program isn't easy, by any means. Cadets, as they are known, conduct various activities in the field and are pitted against real threats. However, those who come out on the other side intact become the newest members of the Syndicate, defenders of Earth that are loved by millions.
You are one of the recruits in the Futures Program. Wherever you are originally from is now irrelevant. You've been assigned to the metahuman capital of the world, Santa Marina, Florida, where you will be trained in both controlling your powers and applying them in the field against criminals and any other threats that you come across. You will compete with both each other and your environment, and you will be pushed as far as your limits and even beyond that. Not everyone to join the Futures Program makes it out. But those who do? You'll move onto another challenge: protecting the world, even as the odds get tougher every year.
Some of the sights that are not that uncommon in 2018...What Is This?
Welcome to Fates and Futures, the first thread in a new superhero universe that will hopefully be established over time. This is my last attempt at a P2TM RP in awhile, and I'm going back to my roots and to the successful threads I had last year for inspiration. The basic premise is that you play as a member of the Syndicate, the largest sanctioned organization of superheroes in the world. Specifically, you're a Cadet, or a member of the Futures Program. This program is meant to find the brightest young metahumans and make them viable members of the organization.
Your character will fight crime while living in Santa Marina, the birthplace of the Syndicate and a city with much metahuman history. At the same time, you'll learn from more experienced heroes. Everything will be taken care of for you. You'll live at Syndicate HQ, you'll receive a paycheck, and things such as food and clothing will be provided. You'll just have to focus on your activities as part of the Program, but that's easier said than done. After all, the Program expects you to do the work of a real hero, even with your minimal training at the start.
This RP also has a unique aspect in that events outside of the actual city and HQ have a major impact on the story. A feature unique to this thread is the crisis meter, which will be located below this post and displays the global crisis level based on recent events. What you do will impact the meter. Fail to stop something bad from happening, and it might go up. As the crisis meter rises, challenges will get tougher and things will escalate. If it goes lower, more peaceful times are ahead. If it hits 100, a cataclysm event will occur. There's also the perception meter, which measures the reputation of the Syndicate. If it gets too low, there will be consequences for the organization as a whole.
Sound interesting? Then check out the basic outline of the lore, below.
Santa Marina is the home of Syndicate HQ(West Entrance pictured, right) and has the highest amount of metahumans per capita in the worldThe Story So Far
It's not required to remember everything detailed here, but it's worth reading as a general outline of the lore before making your character.
It's unsure exactly when metahumans appeared, but all historians agree that it was around the turn of the twentieth century. The late 1800s and the early 1900s are where most estimates fall, but early metahumans weren't known for spectacular feats or for playing a large role in society. Most were forced to hide their powers due to stigma. Many were accused of practicing withcraft and magic, and in many parts of the world, there was a moral panic against metahumans. As time passed, metahumans became more established in society and gained some of their own supporters, not just enemies. The source for metahuman powers is still debated. Some appear to be related to magical sources, while other powers seem to come from mutations.
The concept of superheroes didn't become a thing until the period after World War Two. The first "superheroes" were members of metahuman police units in large countries such as the United States and the Soviet Union, which were tied to the intelligence services of these countries. Eventually, vigilantism came into the equation as private citizens formed similar groups structured like the official government run ones. Over time, the government run teams were abolished and reestablished as more secretive organizations that are deeply tied to the intelligence community. Vigilante groups became the largest, and during the 1960s and 1970s, they became more organized and looked for sanctioning by their local governments.
The World Metahuman Council was formed in 1976 to advocate for metahuman rights, in association with the United Nations. Many countries lightened up with their poor treatment of these people, and while superpowered crime grew, the amount of hereos also rose as restrictions were removed. The true metahuman boom, however, did not come until the year 1999, when an unidentified object was seen by millions of people over the London metropolitan area. This was the first sighting of many, of the aliens known as the Outsiders. In 2001, an Outsider craft shot down in China revealed several truths about this species: that they are a humanoid race with pale blue skin and darker eyes, along with silvery hair and a more athletic physique than most humans. Their technology is more advanced than human inventions, but not understood even by the brightest of scientists. And their language is still being deciphered.
Living Outsiders have been sighted around the world, ever since the first sighting in 1999, as well as their starships. However, attempts to capture them have failed, and their intentions for humanity are unknown. What is known is that after the first Outsider sighting, and in cities that are passed by Outsider craft, the number of metahumans always rises sharply. The Outsiders may be responsible for the largest increase in metahuman population in recorded history, which began after 1999 and still continues today. Every world government wishes to get their hands on Outsider technology and an Outsider ship, but all Outsider built craft appear to be immune to human weaponry, and the only one to be captured is the one that still resides in China. The only individual Outsider to be captured, outside of China, was ambushed by United States intelligence agents and taken to a secret location near Washington.
After the boom in 1999, superpowered crime and terrorism became more of a problem. The entire world was threatened by the rise of some of the most powerful villains ever seen, culminating in 2009 with the rise of Despot. An extremely powerful telekinetic who could create hurricanes and wipe entire towns off of the map easily, Despot aimed to establish a world dictatorship on the backs of a circle of metahumans. His group became known as the Legends, and Despot recruited some of the best and most talented metahumans to help him with his goals. The Legends and the Syndicate clashed across Africa, the Middle East, and eventually Europe, with the final battle taking place in southern Spain and causing heavy damage to the city of Barcelona. Team Diamond and the other well known teams of the Syndicate converged on the city, engaging in one more costly fight that killed Despot and scattered the Legends into different groups.
After the fall of the Legends in 2011, many of the former members went to form their own groups with various agendas ranging from money to power. The Syndicate was stretched thinner than ever dealing with this, and crime rates rose around the world as warlordism also increased due to metahumans. Today, the situation is stable, but deteriorating as the global number of villains rise and the number of heroes doesn't increase quickly enough to keep the pace. Whether things improve or get worse in future years, causing another possibly world ending event to occur, remains to be seen.
At the same time, other organizations exist and present various threat levels to the Syndicate and society as a whole. The Order of the Arcane exists in the shadows and deal with magic, summoning dangerous beasts to the Earth despite existing in small numbers. The Watchers grant powers to others, but not much is known about them, and the group itself doesn't exist on any specific record. As the number of metahumans grows, more groups will surely develop over time.
After Africa and the Middle East were heavily damaged by the rise and fall of the Legends, metahuman scientists helped governments create anti-metahuman police equipment and many countries became more restrictive.Character Guide
Most types of characters are acceptable in Heroes & Legends, there's just some important things to note. Some powers are completely banned from the RP for balancing reasons, and other ones are soft banned and require prior approval from the OP before use. The hard banned powers are hacking(added on July 20th) invincibility, super speed that has a top speed of higher than seventy five miles per hour, time travel, and time stopping abilities. Restricted but not banned abilities are ones that revolve around summoning, hacking, regeneration, and any kind of mind control. These abilities aren't banned, but they need to be discussed with the thread staff first to ensure they aren't game breaking and that they don't allow great results with minimal effort.
Characters that are non human fall under this category, too. There is already an established lore for most types of non humans, and characters must follow this lore if you decide to use a non human race. Demons, for example, would likely be rejected because of the nature of demons in this universe. Furries are explicitly banned. Most sources for powers, however, should be fine, whether they are genetic, magical, or something different. Heavily derivative characters may also be rejected. For example, someone may want to play the Joker. Instead of taking the Joker's traits and making an original character, they make a character that's an obvious knockoff of the Joker. This character probably wouldn't be accepted.
Flaws should also be incorporated into character building. This is not an RP where you are meant to play a 100% competent character who rarely experiences struggle or is challenged during missions in the field. A flaw is defined here as something that actually affects your character. Making a very powerful character and only giving them a weird personality quirk as a flaw, for example, won't be accepted. A more balanced character might have the same ability, but with a practical built in way that it can be countered. Most characters who are rejected because of their powers will be rejected because they lack sufficient weaknesses that would impact them in an important situation.
Lastly, try to avoid making your character an idiot. Yes, you're playing as a young adult that isn't going to have all the answers, but there's a difference between being realistically naive or just not being that smart, and actually being an idiot. While you are here to be trained, your character should have at least some idea of what they're getting into by joining the Syndicate. They don't just pull in random people off the street. Additionally, running into a group of enemies without paying attention to who you're fighting and making a plan is a quick way to get killed. Always keep in mind that you aren't immortal, and that plot armor doesn't exist.
August 1st Amendments: Before inquiring about or applying for a demonic based character or including demons in your character's background, please read the Demonology archive post that's linked below the roster! It explains how demons work in this universe and will prevent you from wasting your time writing an application for something that doesn't fit. Additionally, journalists have been added as playable characters since the RP began, so feel free to apply as one of those if you desire.
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