Bront's Writeup of the Millenium Comet:
Origin of Powers:
On New Years Eve, of 1999, amid fears of Y2K and mass panic, the event happened. A comet, undetected by radar or telescope, passed close to earth, and was pulled into a low orbit. The comet made several trips around the earth, slowly decending further and further into the atmosphere, before it finaly burned itself up. Little was known of the strange comet, or it's odd behavior, and it's study is still an expanding field today.
What is known is the series of events that can perhaps only be linked to it. It was gradual at first, but things were different. While the most public event was the November 2001 incident where noted actor Marlon Gibson spontaniously ignited at a publicity appearance for his upcomming movie. Strangely, when he was finaly put out, he was unharmed, but rescue squads were unable to approach him. Sadly, he died later that night in an unexplained car explosion. But there were signs of oddities well before this. Rumors of men and women with extrordinary abilities were already circulating before that.
It seemed that some event had changed the fundimental rules of life, or perhaps unlocked them. Practicers of the Occult found that magic they had practiced with no results now functioned. Men who had spent their lives training found they could perform feats they once thought impossable. Some with known genetic abnormalities found them amplified to an increadable degree, sometimes good, sometimes bad. Researchers found new and once unheard of uses for technology, and technology once thought to be at an end of it's usefullness found new and strange life again. Most have been uneffected, but the cases begain to add up till it was impossable to hide from the truth that things were changing. The Chicago Tribute coined the phrase "Unlocking Humanity's Potential", which seemed as good an explanation as any, and quickly cought on.
In late 2004, the most public appearance of a super happened when a mutant, known now as Granite for his rock hard skin, tried to rob several banks in Switzerland, and eventualy was taken down by several tanks when he was unable to be pacified.
In mid 2005, when the abuse of superpowers was begining to become regarded as a serious threat to the peace of the world, the UN passed Resolution 527, enabling the formation and funding of a league of heroes with the backing of the UN to help protect the world from those who would abuse their powers and threaten peace and prosperity in the world.
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Behind the scenes:
There are 6 basic origins of powers (Seperate from the power source mechanic in M&M), though many supers are a combination of them. They are Alien (Superman, Martian Manhunter), Mutant (X-Men), Altered (Spiderman, Hulk, Fantastic Four), Training (Daredevil, Batman), Magic/Mystic (Witchblade), and Technological (Iron Man).
In this background, with the 'unlocking of potential', all of these but Alien would be acceptable origins of powers for any potential PC. Realy, most comic universes contain most of these, but Alien is one of the least included, and realy doesn't make much sense in the context of the universe as presented so far. Perhaps it will change as the world develops, but definately not at the start.
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The League of Heroes (Name subject to change)
The League of Heroes is run by Seth Sharpman under the direction of the UN. He has taken a hands off approach other than condicuting some of the initial interviews with potential heroes. He helps deal with funding issues, PR issues, and has set up two fully stocked headquarters in Kansas City in the US, and Eddinburough in the UK, as well as several minor facilities made available in other UN establishments around the world. Basicly, he handles the messes created by the heroes, so they can handle their duty.
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Behind the scenes:
Basicly, 2 headquarters available, though I suggest we base the start of things out of one of them to begin with. I'm open to a better name than the League of Heroes. Heroes won't need to worry about facilities for resting, comunications, or finding missions. Basicly, the tedious stuff is handled off screen.
[sblock=Disclaimer]Reidzilla helped me hack out a bit of this, and deserves some credit for this proposal along with myself. As far as voting for approval, I will abstain from voting for my own proposal till after other judges have voted, and I get a feel for the public view of this.[/sblock]
