Let's GO: Cascade City...National Super Teams
SETTING RELATED, NON PLOT ENTRY
I have been asked by Email whether governments in my campaign world make use of Super Humans.
The Short answer is "No, international law forbids it."
The Slightly Longer answer is "Sometimes, there has been more than one Super Human given a brevet air force rank (necessary by national law if they were going to be allowed to perform a rescue mission to a top secret space station), or diplomatic designation (when it became necessary for someone to be recsued from The Embassy in a foreign embassy).
Occasional slights on the international law for "public good" are generally winked at by the international community.
The Long answer is "Yes, they do. But it has to be kept quiet to avoid incident." Nearly all nations are guilty of using superhumans in contravention of international law. The USA has long made use of the Mercenary superteam
The Faction on an ongoing basis. It is a poorly kept secret (and should they ever be defeated, the US Government would almost certainly disavow any knowledge of their existence), but nothing can ever be proven.
The Chinese government has long used metahumans in all aspects of their government, and is routinely caught doing so. Their constant refrain of "we didn't know they were metahuman, and aplogize" does little to quell the fears of the rest of the world concerning China's standing in the world community.
One aspect that is roundly ignored, despite being in
flagrant violation of international law, is the concept of the
national super team.
Nearly every nation on Earth currently either has a national super team, or aspires to one. So long as they keep away from military action (publically) no mention is made of the national super teams.
The more well-known national teams are listed below...
The Sentinels (Canada): Outlined earlier in the thread. A large, poorly funded and marketed organization, used primarily for natural disaster control and battling super-crime.
Executive Sanction (United States):
Executive Sanction (or "XS" as they are known colloquially) were originally a impromptu team formed during the Hoon invasion calling themselves
The Minutemen.
Tasked by de-facto resistance leader
Mr. Wonderful with actually leading the various ground forces to retake strategic cities (once Hoon broadcast power had been disabled by
The Justice Hurricane)
The Minutemen found themselves with an incredibly high profile, and a populace that belived them to be the finest example of the American "can-do" spirit. The President, recognizing an "optics coup" when it dropped in his lap, signed them up on national TV.
XS are, in all but name, Secret Service agents, tasked with protecting the President. They take orders
only from the President (the office, not the man) and deal almost exclusively with super-crime.
Current Roster...
- G-Man: Gravitic Powers, Tactical Genius.
- Straight Arrow: Incredible Archer with a variety of super-tech arrows. Arch-conservative.
- G.I. Gantic: U.S. Army Ranger with Growth powers.
- The U.S.Archon: Flying, super strong super patriot
Ex-Members...
- The Untouchable: Pistol Wielding crimefighter. Only active as a Minuteman.
Current whereabouts: Gotham.
- The Revenant: Insubstantial, fear-inducing creature of the night. Only active as a Minuteman. Considered a public relations disaster. Too "borderline" for XS.
Current whereabouts: Gotham, where residents think of him/her with a mixture of awe and dread. (The Revenant is credited with organizing Gotham neighbourhoods into Militias, allowing the city to be the only US state capitol never to be captured by The Hoon. The Revenant effected this with a mixture of terror, threats, bribes and beatings for those who didn't share his/her vision. The people of Gotham are thankful...but they are also wary.
- The Platinum Blonde: Metal-bodied beauty. Originally recruited for the PR benefit (XS, it was felt, needed a woman on the team). Since stealing the XS metahuman computer files, The Platinum Blonde has turned to super-crime genrally as a henchman for such Luminaries as The Draconian, Sister Fear and Hellhound.
Current whereabouts: Unknown
Team Crisis Ninja XDO (Japan):
Japan’s new national team. Shortly before the Hoon invasion of Earth, a publicity campaign for both the old Japanese nationals (
Zen Team) and SUPER! Magazine’s manufactured team (
The Justice Hurricane) involved a “member swap” (
Zen Team leader
Zen Lion for hotshot celebrity metahuman
Mirror Image).
The Hoon invasion saw the destruction of Zen Team in a battle over an erupting Mt. Fuji (caused by the Disaster Loa,
Apocalypso). Only
Mirror Image survived.
A scant year later, the Japanese government collected the most powerful heroes remaining in their nation and convinced them to take up the reins dropped by Zen Team.
XDO deals mostly with the plague of radioactive monsters that have been attacking the Islands of Japan with regularity since the Atomic Bombing at the end of WW2.
Current Roster...
- Zen Lion: Team Leader. Aging, respected member of Japan's superhero community. His "Zen Team" Sentai suit is the last one in existence.
- Kabuki-San: Sonic-Power wielding operatic baritone with a "power naginata", capable of shooting energy blasts when charged by his impressive voice.
- Black Bushido: Man with high-tech armor, and a mystical sword capable of slicing nearly antyhing, following an ancient warrior code.
- Whispering Lotus: Incredible, supernatural martial artist. Unproven rumours of her Ninja Clan and Yakuza ties dog her continually.
- Shogun Tsunami: Son of The Atlantean (famed member of the Freedom Legion) and a the late Japanese Superheroine Dynamic Cutie. In all likleihood, Japan's most powerful metahuman. Second in command to Zen Lion.
Ex Members...
- Gomi: A sentient pile of industrial detritus, capable of forming itself into a variety of shapes/devices. Considered too difficult to direct for continued XDO membership.
Current whereabouts: Tokyo harbour.
- Yokozuna: Super Sumo Wrestler. Slain by Zorlokk
- Kid Kamikaze: Wouldn't change name to show proper respect for Japanese war dead. Incredibly popular with Japanese teens. Considered something of a hearthrob.
Current whereabouts: Tokyo.
Coming up when I get some meore time
Eisen Schild(Germany),
Los Hombres (Mexico),
The Imperials (England) and
The Faction (Mercenary).
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