A World of Titans and Monsters
Around the turn of the twentieth century, the average man slowly became aware of the presence of people possessed of extraordinary powers and abilities. Some hailed it as a return to the days of myth and legend. Some theorized it was the next stage of human evolution. Some claimed the intervention of a bored god. None could refute that, for good or bad, the world had changed.
However one aspect of this phenomenon remained quite a mystery. Of all these new super powered heroes and villains, why did so many of them pop up in a metropolis of upstate Michigan?
A Chronology of Myth
Cycle 1: Lost And Foundations
Coming to a store when it's finished, and rewritten!
Cycle 2: Changing Masks
Out of Context
The People Behind The Powers
In order of appearance.
Conduit
Real Name: Bradley Norton
Power: Electrical currents passes through him without causing harm. He can store electricity then discharge it how he wants.
Bradley was a good man. He was a paramedic, a friend, and a lover. As his power grew, he became addicted to the rush at the cost of short circuiting his memory. Recently he’s been becoming something else.
Grey Vigil
Real Name: Darrel Humphreys
Power: Flight. Can see, but not hear, ghosts.
Most superheroes would say that Grey Vigil’s heart is in the right place, but his methods and ego are nothing to be proud of. No one is sure if it is a sense of duty or vanity that drives him. He might not know himself.
Gabriel Docket
AKA: Theta (sometimes called “Crapshoot”)
Power: Cycle 1: Cursed with luck. Cycle 2: Hands of Fate
A professional gambler who lost his trade.
Cycle 1: Gabriel doesn’t have a job, he generally doesn’t work, but money, food, and a nice place to crash always lands in his lap. He is the luckiest man in the world, but can’t intentionally make probability go his way. Also he’s been getting a lot of unwanted attention from the hero and villain crowds who tend to use him as a living good luck charm whether he likes it or not.
Cycle 2: He may have lost his way in life, but the time has come for him to forge a new path.
Akiva Shen
AKA: Tempora (often mispronounced “Tempura”)
Power: Absorption and redistribution of time without the ability to turn back the clock.
An eighty-one-year-old Jewish/Chinese woman who appears to be a nineteen-year-old Japanese girl, Akiva retired from the superhero business years ago because her heart just wasn’t in it any longer, mostly due to a growing detachment with society. She still combats injustice where she finds it, but most days she spends her time editing and ghost writing for Mieter Publishing. She does not know the full extent of what she is capable of.
Rick Parkway
AKA: Façade
Power: Impersonatory shapeshifting. He can assume the guise of anyone he meets.
More of an information broker than superhero, due to his infiltration skills, Façade has inside knowledge of most gangs and criminal organizations in the city. He is also the main bartender at Candlebrook Tavern, the pocket dimension superhero bar.
Noor
Real Name: █████ █████
Power: Unknown
Little is known about her apart from her odd manor of dress, her middle eastern accent, and that she claims to be a vampire displaced from her home reality. What she does know, and what she can do, she is keeping to herself as best she can. For the moment she has allied herself with people from the city’s criminal underground.
Summer
Power: ESP allowing her to “see” magic. She also receives information on future events.
Summer baulked at stories her uncle told her of spirits and the occult, until one day they came calling. She was robbed of her sight and given the burden of clairvoyance. She makes her way as a fortune teller and messenger from the world beyond that of mortals.
Springer
Real Name: Elisabeth Raleigh
Power: Close-range, telekinetic, repulsion blasts.
In costume, Springer is still establishing herself, but she is making connections quickly and earning the respect of other superheroes. Out of costume, Elisabeth, recently out of college, is a budding clothier.
Valor
Real Name: Shawn Tenney
Power: Near super human strength and agility.
Valor’s typical superhero grounds are the inner-city Bishop's Park neighborhood and McLemore Projects. Contrary to most heroes who work all over the city as needed, Valor believes that spreading one’s self to thin means the plight of the common man gets ignored.
Leila Nejem
Power: In possession of the “Shadow Crown” which allows instantaneous transportation between areas of darkness.
Whatever redeeming virtues Leila had before she found the Shadow Crown have withered away over the years. Whether this was due to the crown’s influence or a matter of a depraved mind reveling in new-found power is a moot point. Now she is little more than a high-functioning psychopath who was brought to the city to make use of her…gifts.
Axiom
Real Name: Edward “Eddie” Hastings
Power: Seven foot tall chrome and white power armor; flight capable, outfitted with an array of conventional weapons.
Also known as “The Platinum Paladin”, Axiom’s sterling reputation has earned him a lot of prestige. Since Akiva officially retired, he has been serving as the de facto public face of New Rourke’s superhero community. Although some actually know what he’s really like behind that glistening veneer.