Tried to post this yesterday, but ENW was down. So, here it is.
The_Universe said:
That being said, I'm still not entirely sure I understand where and how supers fit into the world, exactly - part of that is because we haven't really encountered the "normal" public anywhere, so we have no idea how the non-super populace thinks of us. I mean, the characters might, but we don't. Accordingly, the threats in the game thus far have been directed squarely at our characters, rather than at the wider public with only us to stand in the way of the threat, as is often the case in comics or cartoons - while we certainly have a stake in self preservation, I wonder if some innocents at risk (be they general public, or the PC's families and friends) might add some dramatic depth. Similarly, who are some of the other supers we know of? Obviously, we're not the first generation of gifted individuals (Merlin, himself, is some 40-50 generations removed from the rest of the PCs). Who's died? Who's lived? Who's disappeared?
Supers are sort of off the screen for the general public at the moment. While they played an important role during the war, afterwards, generally at the behest of the normals, they receded into the background. Most people were happy to pretend they never existed, while governments went about rebuilding and figuring out what to do with their supers and programs related to them (whether they be creating them, managing them, or discovering them). In the immediate aftermath, they could be sent to find missing Nazis and Nazi supers or thwart occasional disturbances of rogue supers abusing their powers. Since governments had essentially conscripted and commanded the supers during the war (which was the first major appearance of large numbers of supers), most governments and supers continued this arrangement (which I'll discuss further in answer to the next question).
As for supers you know, Merlin is the one who's probably been exposed to them the most, while Titan and Angel (?) have probably run into them peripherally during their stay Stateside. Ice Queen probably knows a few Norwegian/Scandinavian supers. Miss Placer might know a few from her work on the Eldridge. What you might do is each make up 2 supers contacts that you have. In addition, I'm going to list some major supers you've either met or heard of.
Meteor--Soviet Fire Blaster, served in the Red Army and was instrumental in the battle of Stalingrad. Spent much of the post-war period doing PR throughout the USSR. Last known location was in the vicinity of the USSR-China border.
Hurricane--British weather controller, played a significant role in the Battle of Britain, killed along the Rhine by Psy-core.
Psy-core--German with mind powers. Fought in North Africa, Italy, and the Allied drive to Germany. Killed in Berlin by General February.
General February--Soviet Cold Controller/Ice Blaster. One of Stalin's closest confidantes and general trouble-shooter. Last known location: Moscow.
Skipjack--American Naval officer and Speedster. Well known in the Pacific theater, major contributor to island hopping campaign. Very popular among the military, where he continues to serve in Japan.
Boomer--Canadian infantryman during the war, with Sonic powers. Left the military to do intelligence before being posted to The Castle, where he recently arrived.
Stretcher--German medical officer with elongation and healing powers. Killed at Stalingrad.
Flying Tiger--American shapeshifter. Served in China during the war, though he went rogue afterwards choosing to stay and fight for Nationalist China. Last known location: Taiwan.
Ronin--Japanese martial artist. Fought throughout the Pacific campaign. Committed Seppukku upon Japan's surrender.
Screaming Eagle--American with flight powers and strong close-quarters battle skills. Served in Europe during the war and recently was posted to The Castle.
Charlemagne--French warrior with strength powers and a powerful sword. A returned hero in the mold of Merlin, serves as the defender of France and worked with the French resistance during the war. Currently in Paris.
Saracen--Turkish warrior, with speed and mental powers. Did not appear during the war, but has been seen in various allied capitals with Turkish diplomatic delegations. Last known location: Ankara.
Red Dragon--Chinese paragon. Served with Mao's communist forces during the war. Last known location: Near the USSR border.
Mario Mario--Italian soldier with some strength powers and a penchant for hurling objects. Fought on both sides during the war. Last known location: Florence.
Shadowstrike--Greek communist with mental powers. Fought the Nazis during the war, still fighting the Greek state, despite the recent end of the Greek Civil War. Last known location: Greek/Yugoslav border.
Athena--Greek nationalist with mental powers and a magical spear. Fought the Nazis during the war and the communists following it. Badly wounded in last engagement with Shadowstrike. Last known location: Athens.
Rock of the Marne--American soldier with strength/density powers. Looks remarkably young for one of the few supers to have lived through both World Wars. Currently serves as supers liaison with France in Paris.
Wraith--Soviet super with invisibility and sonic powers. Little is known about Wraith other than a tendency to appear when least expected. Last known location: Magnitogorsk.
Red Blade--Chinese weapon master. Fought the Japanese and the Chinese nationalists during and after the war. Last known location: Beijing.
The Flying Dutchman--Dutch weather controller and flier. Fought the Nazi invasion and served with the allies in North Africa, where he was killed by the Submariner.
The Submariner--German naval officer with water control powers. Major player in the battle of the Atlantic, also served in North Africa and Italy, where he disappeared in 1943.
Anyway, I think this is a decent start on that. There are certainly others, but those are some of the major ones.
Secondarily, I'm not sure where our little team fits into the world organizationally - we're a sort of independent NATO team, as far as I can gather, but who we ultimately answer to remains hazy. While I don't want an NPC to lead us around by our noses, having a solid "contact" with "the Authorities" might be helpful. In a more general sense, I'm still not certain how NATO commands our loyalties. If indeed we are under NATO authority, rather than our individual nations (who are nevertheless coordinating their activities), we would be both entirely unique (as far as I can tell) and well ahead of our time. If we have individual national commanders in charge of our activities, working as a sort of council, or something, it might be interesting to meet those authorities, and come to some resolution as to why some of us who are decidedly non-military in origin are taking orders from a decidedly military organization.
I recall mentioning the military liaisons in the first session, but it's no surprise that has been forgotten. For clarity I'll describe it here. You, as well as other supers, have been assembled by the allied nations, and NATO members in particular (though Germany is not a member yet), as a way to maximize responses to Soviet activity. You are each considered part of your home nations forces (most have some military background, even if its science related, and all have been put under government authority) sent to The Castle as part of putting together an allied face to Soviet aggression, particularly that involving supers. Now, NATO is a new organization, so it's a bit of an experiment. You are beholden to your countries leaders, elected or otherwise, but at the moment are serving under the Supreme Allied Commander Europe. He is the ultimate military commander, though the various NATO member heads of state wield power above him.
NATO Heads of State
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SACEUR
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Various military commands including NATO Supers Command (NATOSUCOM)
NATOSUCOM is commanded by Dr. Ian Wesson-Smythe, because of his long experience with supers. Under him are the liaison officers: Colonel Richard Bennett (USA), Colonel Marcel Devereaux (French Army), Colonel John Roberts (British Army), Colonel David Rickenbacker (Canadian Army), Colonel Guiseppe Amonte (Italy), Colonel Henrik Van Nostrum (Netherlands), Colonel Francois Dumont (Belgium), Colonel Ivar Christensen (Norway), Marcos Silveira (Portugal), who basically run daily operations and serve as a link between the supers and their governments. At the moment there aren't enough teams to warrant their being a link to the commander, thus your meetings with Wesson-Smythe. As more teams are stood up, the liaisons will likely play a larger role.
As a note, the first Secretary General was not appointed until 1952, thus the absence of that position in this very basic org chart.
In case I haven't adequately addressed it, let me emphasize that my understanding is that every player has a government connection military or otherwise, which has led to their being assigned to this position by that individual government. That government can choose to move you elsewhere (Miss Placer could be reassigned to her scientific work for example). Whether any character has any loyalty to any particular government is a different matter.
Lastly, I think the team needs a name, of some sort.
Sure. I'd love to hear some of your (collective) ideas on the matter.
Hopefully that adequately answers your queries!
