Aftermath

Timeline

The past is never dead. It's not even past.
- William Faulkner
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"Give me a history paper of this century," Mrs. Adams demands, as if it's frickin' easy. Augh! Fricking?! I'm going to find out where dad installed that Bowdlerizer and remove it ... not my fault that e-mail cc'd to my aunt. Geeze. At least I blamed it on a virus and got away with it. Dad still says I have to pay for her hospital bill. Is it my fault she's old fashioned? I thought the interactive pic of Starchild and Sarah Michelle Gellar was neat. So did everyone who got it 'cept her. But Mrs. Adams wants an essay just 'cause i skipped class for that cool lecture by Dr. Andserson about how to figure out you have powers. Wish I had some. I could vaporize Mrs Adams or something, or mind control her like the rumours say some weird chick does in Haven. Shit. 739 characters, 144 words (thank YOU, Ms Word - if you'd get married maybe you'd stop being a arsehole about idiosyncratic spelling. Areshole?! Grrr.) - and still nothing done. Guess I'd better start at the beginning. And delete this paragraph.

Contrary to popular belief, the 21st century didn't begin in 2000. It didn't even begin in 2001, which was apparently the real new millennium according to people who really needed to get lives. The simple truth is that this century began on April 1st, 2002, in what was probably the weirdest non April fool's joke ever. To sum up the month:

People began to do weird things that science couldn't (and still can't) explain.

  1. There were a lot of riots.
  2. Lots of people began exhibiting powers in Boston, Mass, which became the home of the first real publicly acknowledged super humans
  3. A fellow calling himself Merlin was murdered in England. And a lot of schools were set fire to. So the UK has really strict laws about powers nowadays. Like schools burning down is bad, or something.
  4. Africa got turned into a paradise by some nut calling himself "Master J" and a group called Eugenics. Historians claim they were super villains (though they tend to use the term terrorist). I think the Queen of the North is hot, for a cool chick.
  5. The Lawless Justice Reserved is formed by the UN to deal with super powered types, forcefully.
  6. Riots in Boston go nuts. Apparently in an effort to stop them, Void and Starchild combine powers and nuke a good chunk of the city. At least is stops the riot.
  7. Boston is rebuilt as if unharmed, but later the rebuilding is found to be an illusion caused by some demented nut.
  8. The Peacemakers get formed, to deal with other heroes.
  9. They meet the Boston Bunch and take them to their base in Kansas.
  10. The US government (or somebody in Washington, at least) decides to nuke Kansas to kill them all.
  11. A lot of people in Kansas who had discovered fire but not heard of nukes yet die wondering why President Kennedy wasn't able to stop the Cuba thing. The heroes survive, and de-radiate it.
  12. The bomb triggers lots of things and Moscow and D.C. get nuked. All other nukes vanish, but no one knows why.
  13. Something Happens. It deals with the Boston heroes and the demented hut and the moon, but no one really knows what happened except that Master J apparently died and things quieted down.

  Riots & Wars'r'Us  
Palestine, '02 - A woman levelled a lot of buildings and set off a race for super humans between Israel and Palestine that led to an increase in border wars using people with superhuman powers.
Saigon, '04 - A self-styled "hero of the free people" led a revolt against the government that was brutally suppressed in Ho Chi Minh and resulted in the deaths of over 3 million people by the time the smoke cleared. The government defended itself against later accusations of "unnecessary cruelty to superhumans" by claiming that the hero had been backed by the U.S.. To this day, Vietnam has a very low percentage of super humans thanks to what some referred to as "the cleansing". (And, of course, some claim the government funded the hero, than backstabbed him.)
Untouchable Riots, India, '06 - Superhumans, objecting to their automatic lower class stature, stage a revolt against the government. It is a surprisingly peaceful demonstration that leads to a special classification for super humans that allows them to be of their original class but also outside it to a level that is still undergoing examination and definition. Unofficially most superhumans fit into the warrior caste and a few rare ones are considered gods and above the caste system.
Medicare War, England, '07 - England's very restrictive anti-super laws are unable to prevent some battles and the British people stage a revolt against the government to make superhuman activity not be "acts of god" for insurance claims and health reasons. The government acquiesced after several riots in major cities. Ironically, the protesters forgot to include being harmed by riots against the government as admissible in the new laws and stage another riots 6 months later to get riot damage included.
Mid-east Frag Fest '10 - The amount of super humans in the middle east, both mercenary and local, leads to the take over of the already beleaguered state of Iraq by a superhuman called himself Satan's Hand. (Needless to say, he was American, and an arsehole.) America sent Stars and Stripes and American Flag in to deal with him and, since they had violated diplomatic law, the resulting war turned most of the middle east into hell in earth, or would if most of the survivors weren't convinced that Hell on Earth is America.
Djini (pariah) War, Middle East, '12 to Present - After that war, commentators of the Koran found proof that super humans are tools of Satan and have been exterminating them when found, even going so far as to send hit squads to other nations to eradicate prominent heroes. Starchild's survival is seen as proof Satan is God of this World.
God War, South America, '14 to Present - A Brazilian Catholic super calling herself Stigmata finds what she claims is the Spear of Christ. Whether she has or not isn't know but most of South America is in a massive war with her followers winning. She has yet to be defeated in combat, by anyone or anything. The spear is always at her side, but has never been used in combat.
Mexican War, '16 - The "Inca Gods" arrive in Mexico. Upon being told the people would rather have the Aztec ones they melted most of Mexico City. They rule to this day and have closed the borders of Mexico to anyone else.

And that was just April. The rest of the year was quieter, mostly because after nuking two cities and a state, riots are a bit of an understatement. Lots of laws got drafted and passed about telepathy being illegal and registering with governments and forced service in armies. Generally, it was a really bad time to be super human. And, since the law really couldn't deal with them, it was a really bad time to be human if they didn't want to go gently into the good night. (I should get a bonus mark for that..) There were lots of police stations wrecked and lots of anarchy. Some wit who I don't feel like looking up said that it proved that every city is just two days away from anarchy.

The next year was pretty much the same, except that lots of babies began to be born with powers. Oh, yeah. According to my dictionary it's anyone born with powers, but mostly it gets applied to anyone with visible weirdness, like odd skin, or they glow, or something. According to the Mutant Defence League there's some good stuff to being born with a power, for controlling it, but the bad part is obviously a child unable to control it. I personally think they look kind of cool, 'cept when they're ugly.

In 2004 the UN and lots of governments got their acts together and decided that a war of mutual extermination was a Bad Idea. And Craig says they're all stupid. Lots of laws got tossed out the window as violating the UN charter of rights and freedoms and the pope conceded that the super humans were humans first and satanic hellspawn next. Things were looking up. To help bring people together, the PeaceMakers got back together and gave a stirringly scripted speech to the world about tolerance and all that crap. The city of Haven began to be built in what was central Kansas by all nations working together. It became the first modern city (with real net access, and wireless stuff, for free!) and probably pulled the world out of it's recession it'd been sinking into. Lots of super types came and helped build it. In 2005 it was done and Haven was big and the future.
Then things got funny. There were lots of supers and some of them became god, and some bad, and there were lots of fights. Like in the comic books, but this was real. The infamous comment of J. J. Jameson's: "This is our world, not a world for pansies flying around in tights who have a strange obsessive compulsive need to wear their underwear on the outside of their pants" became widely quoted and lots of people and insurance companies got pissed off.

In 2007 some humans, in a direct reaction to Haven, made their own city in the Atlantic ocean, so no nation could clam it. They put it underwater and named it - shockingly - Atlantis. Whoopdeedoo. They used to have a dorky super there who was good with fish and swam through water. Her name was Marie Phillips. She called herself Mermaid or something and got sued into oblivion by Disney. Since then, the city has been just humans.
Perhaps one of the biggest signs that those anti-super arseholes couldn't adapt was the assassination of noted Supernatural Rights spokesperson Dr. Elrond Windchaser of Boston. He was killed by an expert shot to the head by the radical group Humans First. In the week that followed, the Peacemakers decimated the organization with a shocking ruthlessness that led to some allegations of violating their charter, allegations that harmed the group a lot the next year. (Hey, it's from two sources, so it's research.)

2008 was a dark year for many. The Boston heroes ended up in a war against some creature calling itself Destroyer that ended with Mimic dead, Void considered dead (there is a weird black hole or door or some kind where he fell) and Weaponsmith in jail for life following his destruction of a good 12 city blocks to make sure Destroyer was definitely dead. Congress was not happy, but did absolve the rest of the team of Weaponsmith and Void's actions.

In 2009 things for ugly in Africa. The constant resource wars for the new land had destroyed much of it, except in Egypt and South Africa, the latter run by the super villains Eugenics. The Congo was taken over by the super team that was supposed to work for the government and things have generally gone to pot there, which is nothing new. You'd think they could grow up and move beyond the whole "we're oppressed" bit, but noooo. Even weirder, there's been rumours of creatures fitting the time period Master J invoked - stuff like dinosaurs and things like that.
Haven built a prison for super humans to help deal with it's over-population/fighting issue. The prison of Purgatory (aka Sparkie's due to an incident early on involving a pyrokinetic, the wiring system, and a lot of corpses) has earned some notoriety for it's handling of superhuman prisoners but most people pretend that stuff never happens.

In 2010 China began a purge of super humans not sanctioned by the government. Declaring them to be "weapons of mass destruction" in a deliberate message to the USA, China has been brutally suppressing human rights in their goal of making super humans serve the wishes of the human government. So far, the results of the very long and drawn out war have convinced other nations to be less demanding.

2011 saw a bright spot for Africa when a man claming to be Marcus Garvey arrived. He'd began lecturing in the USA on May 9th (managing to fall of a stage again) but his strong sympathies with the Rastafarians ticked people off so he was exiled to the very continent he'd been advocating in June of 2012 as part of a SETA (Send 'Em To Africa) initiative by Congress looking to reduce racial tensions among humans. (They wanted to save racism for superhumans, of course.) The fact that this so-called Garvey was white did not go over well, but his surviving an assassination attempt on October 11th by one Tyler George turned him into a legend. He died of food poisoning two months later, but the "Unite Africa" movement was born. (Yippee!)

2012 saw the brief reappearance of Bender, who had reportedly vanished in 2004 after a statement to Congress alleging the existing of a cloned race of servants for humanity. The reports are widely unsubstantiated, much like the ones about the Loch Ness Monster being real and ordering movies from Blockbusters. The PeaceMakers became less and less well known as restrictive rules on them by the US government stripped them of international sanction. Sometime during this period Starchild seems to have left the team as far as being an active member went. (Which means she's somewhere, in civvies. Hot damn!)

In the year 2013 the first large-scale anti-human riot broke out in Jerusalem, where Israel had, instead of killing superhumans like many other nations, put them into ghettos (I'd find that ironic, but I'm American so I can't get irony, so there). A good third of Jerusalem was destroyed in the ensuing war and the city is now a ghost town occasionally visited by human pilgrims wishing to brave the superhuman population. Israel has threatened to nuke them, but the public backlash quickly killed (hah!) the idea.

  Laws And Superhumans  
"Various nations have adapted themselves in different ways to super humans," according to the UN. No duh. Basically, if you use super human powers to hurt others, it's aggravated assault (assault with a deadly weapon). This applies even if the power isn't considered combative. Even having one and hurting someone normally still counts. Sucks to be a super then. Oh, yeah and if you use "excessive force" you can get your pants sued off. (One freakin' good reason to not be a public hero (freakin' again. Crap.)).
Some super powers (telepathy, disintegration, turning things into gold, using precognition on the stock market and, in Canada, making white cats fly and become vampires (no one's figured the reason for that one out yet.)) are illegal to use. Use it and you're under arrest, if not stripped of your power in some way. This can include the death penalty.
Masked heroes are generally tolerated, but not legal. "If you conceal your identity, then you have something to hide. Honest citizens have nothing to hide!" To quote JJ Jameson, the infamous owner of the Boston Sun and head of Reveal, a lobby group dedicated to making all heroes be public.
Along that line, anyone with powers is obliged to register them and themselves with the government (a few rare people get away with registering them under their super name). Mutants - the freaks born with powers - generally are registered at birth whether they want to be or not, and the government has 'em on file. Forever. (Insert whacked out conspiracy theory here.)
The police are also allowed to shoot to kill when arresting super humans. And if you're in jail, the jail. is allowed to do whatever is necessary to keep you there, including limiting rights by drugging really strong guys 24/7 and the like. If someone can't be contained, they're often given a trial and death penalty and speedy execution. For crimes where that doesn't apply, they get to go on probation - and if they miss a meeting, they're screwed.

One way to get around most of the restrictive laws is to be Sanctioned by the government. You get public money, fame, and prestige. You also have to obey the law (you need search warrants an' stuff) and can't violate international law. In nicer countries, these teams have a "no kill" clause in their charters (gotta protect bystanders) but it is waived in the case of super villains sometimes.

2014 led to a lot of weirdness. Due to the ongoing wars in South America and the Middle East, the US began to push for stronger disarmament regulations - governing super heroes. Disarm your heroes! Became a rallying cry for lots of hippie types but so far it's been mostly just a war or words, since disarming super humans (even when taken literally) is generally very difficult. Some superhumans began to migrate to Jerusalem for safety in numbers, but there are no hard figures on how many are there, nor how many super humans there are. (To say nothing of super vehicles and animals, eh?)
The Lawless Justice Reserve was heard from again, for the first time since the Boston Incident in '02. No one knows who funds them and there are no records of them in any computer system in the world. They were seen in China saving the lives of a few superhumans from an angry mob.

2015 saw the death of Fidel Castro, the "great dreamer" of Cuba. American hopes for Cuba were dashed when we realized he'd named a successor, a young Cuban-American girl called Deathwake. At least 12 attempts were made to kill her that year alone and all failed. Whoever she is, she's superhuman and very, very deadly. Cuba has become a superhuman paradise since them, catering to their population and promising neutrality from super hero/villain battles. Anyone who breaks it deals with Deathwake and none of them have survived it.
In other news, a man saying he was Haile Selassie appeared in Africa and began spurring the flagging "unite Africa" movement.

By 2016 most of northern Africa was united by the Garveyites, under Selassie. Selassie seemed to be the spitting image of his younger self (about 41 or so), but only said "it was staged" when asked about his death. When asked about his apparent youth, he just smiles and says the Good Lord blesses those He favours. He is often accompanied by a mute young superhuman he merely calls J.
As well, Edward Taylor was elected president for his first term and began introducing a lot of laws dealing with super humans, from suing to rights to imprisonment. Most of them were considered long overdue.

2017 and 2018 became more of the same old, same old. Mutants are becoming more accepted globally, but still face massive persecution in Britain power wise and in China for being themselves. SuperU opened in Haven, offering university schooling and odd things for superhumans. The Windchaser Memorial Building has the largest collected information on superhuman studies in the world.

2019 - President Taylor collapses on stage after giving a speech about tolerance to the foreigners but the doctors find nothing wrong. Conspiracy nuts claim his more hard-line stance on super humans began following this day. The American Heroes group of Stars and Stripes, American Flag, Patriot and Glory of God are given increased authority to deal with super humans who commit evil acts, and presidential pardons for any actions they commit while doing them.
The de facto leader of the Peacemakers, Lucky Jim, dies in a freak accident. (Is it just me, or is "lucky" and "accident" not make much sense? Nah. Must just be me.) A new leader, Diamondskin, takes over.

2020 is shaping up to be a banner year, with Haven showing an ugly side to the world with the rumours of mob wars between the "Woman in Red," said to be a superhuman who can control people, and her ally, a woman/man (opinions differ) who can kill with a thought against the traditional mobs. The riot squad has so far been unable to deal with them.
In other world stuff, well, just read the news. No one's heard from Starchild in at least a month, Boston managed to get nailed by something from the harbour that the Peacemakers barely stopped and is being rebuilt - again.
Africa is shaking up the UN with it's new political cult, South America is a shambles, China busy with internal war and most of Asia just as backwards as ever and not important. Europe is producing lots of documentaries on heroes and integrating them into special sanctioned ideas that are supposed to be working well. Probably lots of other neat stuff, but I'll just c/p some from the paper tomorrow. Stupid essays.

Sunday October 25th - Game Begins.

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~ Campaign ~ The World ~ Contact & Updates ~