The Age of Wonders Universe

[Charles Phipps]

Yes, so far, it's a free-open world.

And I like Mercy Island.

You could imagine SOMEONE might come to visit from the other world and GOD HELP the world then.

Especiallly if it's something...Lovecraftian.

[kingk]

Yeah, that was my thought. It could be nothing, or it could be where the entrance way for something very bad. I'm glad you like it.

[Libra]

I must still apologise for being bereft of ideas fellows, but I do know good ones when I see them and would like to compliment you fellows for expressing them so well!

[Voltron64]

Oh but we'd still like to hear your commentary on everyone else's creations.

[Charles Phipps]

Mister King

* Special thanks to Phrozen for inspiring the character.

Mister King is one of those figures who was shrouded in legend even before the Nexus Event. If you were involved in law enforcement or a criminal around the Mexican border, you undoubtedly had heard legends about him. That he was a he was a Federale before his family was killed by the cartels, he was a hit-man double-crossed by his bosses, and that he's the Chosen of Santa Muerte. There's even a story he's a Wild West gunslinger cursed to walk the Earth because the Devil was afraid of him.

Mister King claims all the stories are true, especially the ridiculous ones.

Jose King (call him "Joe") has broadened his scope of operations from the Mexican Southwest, however. He has no discernible superhuman powers, at least as far as anyone can tell, but he's survived a ridiculous number of gunshots and explosions over the years. If there's any proof that humans might be capable of Charles Atlas superpowers in real life, it's the number of bloody battles he's walked away from intact.

Not bad for a man just over sixty.

Mister King, despite his sketchy past (and by sketchy we mean piles and piles of bodies he's left behind), is not a mad dog killer. He's a very deliberate killer and only does so when he needs to. It just so happens he's needed to do a lot.

Mister King has great respect for the law, when it works and is not corrupt. Sadly, he's spent much of his life dealing with people who flout it without consequence. He's uninterested in anything but violent crime but there's plenty of that to go around.

Getting on in his years, Mister King has backed away from his action-movie like lifestyle and devoted himself to the task of teaching. A pessimist by nature, Mister King believes the arrival of Nexi will lead to the downfall of human civilization. It's not because he thinks Nexi are bad people, it's just he thinks most people are jackasses and the government will naturally tick them off to the point the newly godlike people will make things a bloody mess.

And he's right.

So he's preparing for that time. Mister King has created The Order. The Order is a collection of Nexi he hopes he can use their powers for good. By good, he means "kick the ass and/or kill the son of **** who will use their power to kill and maim for pleasure or money."

Mister King has a somewhat eclectic martial arts skills. His martial arts are divorced from deep philosophy and more, "Smash the boards by hitting them really hard. If that doesn't work, come back and we'll talk more." and "Don't use it to be a ****." He also is familiar with explosives, grenades, heavy-weapons, knife-fighting, knife-throwing, lockpicking, stealth, stunt-driving, tactics, and may be one of the few people on Earth who know gun fu. As he says, "I could teach you how to use two guns at the same time but....why not just use an Uzi?" He's also able to maneuver his body so he can avoid being shot or seemingly take blows which would kill a normal man.

Obviously, Mister King also makes extensive use of body-armor. Despite this, he's had virtually every bone in his body broken at least twice.

Mister King is, thankfully, not presently wanted by the law. Whatever he's done in his past, he's managed to cover it up enough no one really knows what he's been involved in. He's still on the run from the cartels, however, especially the Organization's branch. Somehow, the Divine Leader persuaded three of the largest ones in Mexico to unite together. Despite this, with the Order's help, Mister King has significantly weakened the cartel's strength in Mexico and made life better for countless thousands. Mister King has a fairly simple moral code and it doesn't need much elaborating on. He's not interested in small crimes, just the nasty stuff, which he thinks superpowers can help take a bite out of.

Mister King is a weather-looking Mexican man, tall, and scarecrow-like. He has a thick greying mustache and long black hair. Mister King is covered in scars from head-to-toe but is still rather handsome. He prefers to dress in a Spaghetti Western-like outfit but one modern enough not to draw too much attention in the South West. Sadly, he wears it no matter the environment he's in. He's also sporting a virtual armory of handguns, Uzis, and grenades at all-times.

Mister King Quotes

* "The essence of the martial arts is getting the other guy to not kill you."

* "Some dumb ****ers are always going to try and challenge you if you look like the toughest guy in the room. The trick is separating the ones out to kill you from the guys who just a need a thorough whooping."

* "People say there's no honorable or dishonorable way of fighting. That's baloney. Honorable people don't get normal folks killed covering up their mistakes. Dishonorable people do. Anything else is fair game."

* "It's wrong to kick a man when he's down, unless he's about to get back up."

* "Don't try that shoot the gas tank trick, it's just stupid."

* "The jackrabbit moves faster than his opponent while the turtle hides in its shell so it avoids attack. I
have no idea what that means."

* "The essence of teamwork is remembering you're all supposed to beating up the same guys."

* "Knocking a guy out is harder than it looks. Hurting him so bad he doesn't want to get up off the ground is easy."

* "The first rule of my martial arts style is not to kill anyone who doesn't have it coming. Otherwise, I have to come get you and then it's going to get really awkward."

[Voltron64]

I take it you've seen Machete?

[Charles Phipps]

I take it you've seen Machete?

Hehe. Yep.

Admittedly, I wanted an old martial arts mentor character and figured this was a non-stereotypical way to do it.

Next up will be the Order and at least one example character.

A poor guy whose discovery he has telekinesis leads him to decide he's developed the powers of a Streetfighter II character.

I welcome anyone who wants to contribute members to the group to do so!

[Charles Phipps]

The Order

The Order is a small group composing a half-dozen or so individuals assembled by Mister King for the purposes of fighting the Organization. Mister King, Super Dragon Punch Zero, Mister Arcane, Shadow Lynx, El Grande, and Dark Sun.

It's not the first "superhero team" but it's arguably the first one not assembled by a bunch of people who thought having superpowers was the best thing ever before crashing and burning. Certainly, it's the first independent superhero organization that has only peripheral government involvement.

At least as far as they know.

The Order isn't a particularly glamorous organization as superheroes go. For example, until they recruited their teleporter, they couldn't really just appear at the scene of a battle in order to involve themselves. Instead, they had to call each other on cellphones, make travel arrangements and meet up often days later. As a result, they were more likely to go on the offensive after investigating something than respond to imminent attack.

The Order hasn't been without casualties either. Despite the fact the group was put through pretty severe training by Mister King, members have died trying to repulse the threats they've fought against. As Mister King points out, they're fighting a war against a ruthless foe and that's not an easy thing to do.

Further cementing the group's problems is it's somewhat gray legal area. The only reason the group hasn't been rounded up by Pendulum, which isn't too fond of amateurs involving themselves in Nexus affairs, is the fact it's got a couple of members on the team. They've been known to "deputize" the others for dealing with threats, much to the irritation of their superiors and local law enforcement.

The Order has managed to win its spurs, though. It's not only disrupted many of the Organization's operations, including saving an entire town from being destroyed by Nexi mercenaries as an example, it's been involved in some of the big super battles along the West Coast and Mexican-USA border. They fought the Demonreach, the dinosaur invasion of the Time-Ripper, and stopped the Body-Jumper Club.

[Charles Phipps]

Ken a.k.a Super Dragon Punch Zero

"This is so awesome!"
-Ken facing down horrific odds.

Kenny Rogers' (yes, really) reaction to gaining his powers is not at all that uncommon. For a lot of people you get the angst, denial, shock, and horror from most comics. What many Nexi react with is perhaps a bit more realistic when discovering they had superpowers. They think it is the most awesome thing ever and immediately try to figure out how to use their abilities in the most fame-grabbing way possible.

In Kenny's case, he decided immediately he would use his power to become a Streetfighter II character. He's not even hiding it. He's dyed his hair blond, wears a red gi whenever possible, and would get plastic surgery to look more like a certain character if he could afford it. Capcom probably has reasonable grounds for a lawsuit at this point.

He was really way too overweight for the look at the start of his career but Mister King is nothing if not efficient in getting his subjects to lose weight.

Kenny's powers aren't even related to the martial arts, he just happens to have telekinetic powers. He uses this to give himself artificial toughness, make his fists as tough as steel, throw balls of telekinetic force, and also levitate himself enough to hit bad guys with his Zero Punch. Unfortunately, his attempts to utilize his abilities in any other way are complete failures.

Super Dragon Punch Zero isn't an idiot, though you'd be forgiven if you believed this. He's just enthusiastic about the fact he has an opportunity to be a real-life superhero. If not for being found by Mister King, he probably would have gotten himself killed in the first month of his new career. However, thanks to Mister King, he's usually able to channel his abilities into a semi-constructive way.

Usually.

The simple fact is Kenny is just so darn HAPPY to be a superhero it's difficult to put into words. This is a dream come true for him and while he takes his job seriously, not even beatings wipe off the grin on his face. He's especially fond of people who live up to his idea of what superheroes are supposed to be like (as much martial artists as costume-wearing capes).

It's Kenny's desire to continue being a superhero to the point he's part of a large Justice League-like organization and thus frequently attempts to be a role-model, in often bizarre ans surreal ways like stopping to lecture kids on things he remembers from his G.I. Joe PSA days. The really disturbing part is it's working as he's become a semi-famous superhero in his own right, often invited to participate in UFFC matches or serve as a guest commentator.

Despite the fact that the source of his "Art of Video Game Karate" powers is his Nexus abilities, Mister King has managed to give him an actual firm grasp of real-life fighting abilities. Several Nexi opponents have thus been surprised to find that, despite the fact he's ridiculous, he's fully capable of kicking their butt. He's even gone so far as to pass on Mister King's lessons to several students, sadly saddling them with gimmicks stolen from other fighting games.

Ken notes himself to be the "First Gay Superhero" despite the fact this is questionable at best. Still, it reflects the fact he wants to be a positive role model to the point he seems to advertise every element he thinks is remotely admirable about himself. Unlike, say, Booster Gold, however, he genuinely wants to be a hero. It's just that he's not really content to let his laurels rest.

Super Dragon Punch Zero has recently suffered a severe blow to his confidence. One of his partners in the Order, Super Wasp King (you can tell they had a bunch of things in common), was killed fighting assassins of the Organization. Super Dragon Punch Zero thinks he could have saved him if he'd doen more and blames himself. So what's his solution?

SEEK OUT OTHER SUPERHEROES AND CHALLENGE THEM TO HONORABLE BATTLE!

How this relates is difficult to explain even from his perspective.

[Phrozen]

The Brotherhood of Enlightenment

“New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common.”
- John Locke

The Brotherhood of Enlightenment has been around, in secret, for hundreds of years in fact some say Galileo himself founded the brotherhood in secret after he was forced to recant his discoveries under threat of death. They are scientists, philosophers and poets whose purpose is to reform society through reason and advance knowledge through science, promoting science and intellectual interchange and opposing superstition, intolerance, abuses of church, state, and the power of the oligarchy.

This is of course debatable. The truth is probably that the Brotherhood of Enlightenment was an offshoot of the Freemasons who eschewed the more mystery religion of the Freemasons for a hardcore branch of science.

The Brotherhood is governed by the Council of Newton, which is always made up of the five senior men and women within the Brotherhood. The Council is currently led by Sir Phillip Humboldt a British physicist who worked alongside Dr. Guy Rousse at the Large Hadron Collider. He was also present when the Collider ruptured and released the wonder that was the Nexus Particle into the world. Sir Phillip disappeared shortly after the incident and did not reappear until six months later when The Brotherhood of Enlightenment made their existence known to the world.

Of course, the Brotherhood was studying one of their members who was infected with the Nexus particle. That particular effect was to dump basically the contents of a hyper advanced computer into their skull. It took the Brotherhood about three months to figure out the rudimentary concepts of the language their member was now speaking.

A manifesto was released first. A 200 page pdf sent worldwide declaring a new age of enlightenment that began with the discovery of the Nexus Particle. Equations and designs that would harness the power of the Nexus to create a free renewable source of energy were placed on social networking sites and explained by the members of the Brotherhood via YouTube videos. They were mostly laughed at, jokes were made about them on late night talk shows, and their unconventional sciences ignored or even vilified by the people in power around the world.

Well, it didn't help that the designs basically broke the laws of the thermodynamics, which at that time was surmised to be quackery.

Then the Council of Newton proved to the world that they were serious. In a single night the Council, and only the five members of the Council, wearing what has since become known as the Tesla Armor flew into the capitol of the small nation of Tajikistan and by morning they were the new rulers of Tajikistan. The coup was quick and vicious as they wiped out the small military, being careful of the civilian population, and the despotic rulers of the nation were exiled into neighboring countries.

And promptly got put on every terror watch list in the world as a terrorist organization. The mid-term consequences is that the Russian bear has awoken and is in the process of totally rearming into a super power including recruiting many Russian Nexi and giving them training from former NKVD agents.

All was not good through. The rulers of the countries surrounding Tajikistan feared that the Brotherhood would not be satisfied by just staying within the borders of their new nation and they were right to be afraid. The Council of Newton and the Brotherhood will not be satisfied until they can make the whole world a better place and as Tajikistan has proven they are not afraid to use force to do so.

Russia has eyes on Tajikistan and while the Brotherhood has the technological edge, the Russians would be quite content to simply bury the country under bodies and/or use targeted assassination in its rebuilding of the Russian empire.

[Phrozen]

Momentum

Momentum is one of the best known celebrities in Southern California and one of its most beloved heroes. Quite unlike LA's first heroic love in Adonis, Momentum does not have the build of a superhero. He is tall but awkward and gangly. His personality is somewhat goofy, soft spoken, and shy. These flaws has seemed to endear him to the populace rather then a liability.

Momentum is Jamarcus Cole only a 16 year old when he began his superheroic career. The following two years hasn't changed his personality much. Jamarcus was a sheltered kid growing up which wasn't a bad thing when growing up in South Central Los Angeles. Jamarcus lived with his grandmother from since he can remember. From his grandmother is where he got his work ethic. She kept him off the streets and focused on education. At the time, Jamarcus lamented the fact that he didn't get much social interaction between studying and a job but it probably saved his life.

One day Jamarcus luck in avoiding the gang violence that was endemic to his neighborhood and got caught in a drive by shooting walking home from work. Jamarcus felt the bullet hit his body but it seemed lighter then one would expect. In fact, the bullet didn't penetrate at all and fell harmlessly to the ground. It seemed that Jamarcus had gained the ability to absorb kinetic energy. Over the next few months Jamarcus experimented with his powers. He could absorb kinetic energy, shoot it out as blasts, charge his fists and feet to punch, jump, and kick with more force, and charge other objects with kinetic force. While he could generate some kinetic energy by hitting himself or stomping on the ground for almost all of effects he would need to be hit with much more like a bullet, car, or a super strength punch.

Putting together a costume made of dodger blue and silver. His first costume was thrown together and not professional at all. We are talking Amazing Bag-Man levels here. He began to go out at night to protect innocents from the gangs that infested his neighborhood. He soon found out that while he was pretty much immune to bullets and punches, knives were more then able to still cut him open.

After the LA Times published an article highlighting his heroism and questioning Adonis', the super strong Adonis began a rampage in downtown Los Angeles calling out both Momentum and Shimmer. After a two hour long fight the two heroes were able to defeat Adonis but forcing down a bubble of kinetic energy down the rampaging braggarts throat, essentially choking Adonis out. This launched Momentum into the forefront of the public's mind.

After the so called 'Battle of Los Angeles', Momentum was contacted by several companies and governments that wanted to sponsor him. Momentum accepted as a way to support himself and his grandmother. He was presented with a new costume that was sleeker and professionally made. It also added some protection against being stabbed. Momentum was also deputized by the Los Angeles police department. While the press found Momentum as a quiet individual that wasn't a really good interview, the public celebrated his quiet heroism.

Though many think that he is romantically involved with Los Angeles heroine and frequent partner Shimmer, they are not dating. They are good friends but keep their relationship professional. Pendulum has not yet taken in Momentum to be trained yet as he is very public and hasn't caused much mass destruction of endangerment of the populace at large.

[Charles Phipps]

Momentum is awesome.

He strikes me as the Peter Parker of the setting, the shy awkward youth turned hard luck goodguy.

Thankfully, he has a better relationship with the Daily Bugle.

I'm envisioning Momentum getting randomly challenged by Ken only for the fact his powers are kinetic based to mean Ken's punch and kick based philosophy would result in Momentum beating him down horribly.

Probably accidentally.

"I am beaten! Well played."

"What is WRONG with you? I was doing the laundry when you jump kicked me!"

[Charles Phipps]

Mister Arcane

"Last night I had a dream last night where the Dhali Lama came to me and shared the secret for where the Organization's base for distributing heroin into the United States is. It's down the street, six blocks to our left. However, before then, I think we should discuss the negative chi everyone's accumulating. Anyone up for it? No? Okay."
-Typical Mister Arcane dialogue.

Jacob Searson was a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation before N-Day, specializing in serial killers. While Jacob wasn't quite to the level of Dale Cooper in quirkiness, he wasn't far off. Having to get in the head of complete monsters, Jacob compensated by developing a keen interest in the occult and Eastern mysticism.

Really, unlike on television, he was on the verge of being fired for his interest in how Chinese astrology and Feng Shui could lead to serial killers being tracked down. It doesn't matter how effective you are at capturing them, the fact you're expected to testify in court about how you caught them meant most FBI Directors were eager to find a way to fire him. That is, before he actually gained supernatural abilities. After N-Day, Mister Arcane discovered his amateur alchemy, spell-work, and ki-based martial arts was working.

The Pendulum adamantly refuses to believe in the existence of the occult despite the fact numerous Nexi have developed abilities similar to vampires, wizards, or wizards. It's merely a form of subliminal manipulation of more flexible esoteric abilities or other mumbo jump. Certainly, that's Mister Arcane's case. He's been studied up and down by the Pendulum and they still have no idea how his abilities work. Jacob Searson possesses the ability to alter his Nexi powers in accordance to spells and rituals he uses.

In truth, he just knows how to do magic.

These abilities completely disappear whenever he's not using the rituals and spells with only a few of them being "permanent" like his Tibetan protection bracelet or the fact he can create what he terms to be Taoist fireballs. Other abilities are highly helpful in his new job at the Pendulum like being able to track down murderers by feeling evidence and using it as a tracking spell.

Despite numerous attempts to make him "more powerful" by "broadening" his abilities by abandoning magical principles, all attempts to do so have failed miserably. Not only must he possess his ritual and spells but they have to come from the mish-mash of Eastern and Western mysticism he religiously follows. Given he's an urban white guy, the fact he's gleefully jumped into the reality of his powers only makes him more of an embarrassment to the FBI.

Which is why Pendulum has formally recruited him.

Mister Arcane now works semi-exclusively with the Order, traveling around America and frequently calling them in to deal with Pendulum cases where the local branches are overwhelmed. He has an especially large interest in shutting down the Organization because his mandala-wheel (I'm not kidding) told him his destiny says so.

Mister Arcane is aware that there's a definite link between his "magic" and the Nexus but he thinks that this is actually a case of the supernatural returning to the world as opposed to appearing for the first time. He's thus extremely interested in finding out if there's people like him out there and investigating cases of the supernatural.

Mister King thinks Mister Arcane is thoroughly cracked but believes he's one of the most experienced individuals present. In addition to his somewhat game-breaker abilities for tracking down bad guys, he's also an extremely good detective. Likewise, Mister Arcane's supernatural abilities are things he's largely mastered and put to exceptionally good yes. The fact he's good-natured and the other Order members like him is only icing on the cake.
Amusingly, Mister Arcane is a serious practitioner of Jeet Kune Do and frequently hands Super Dragon Punch Zero his butt while correcting the latter's terrible mangling of martial arts philosophy.

Mister Arcane, it should be noted, has started his own study of the supernatural and his powers have been growing exponentially ever since. He's even contacted mystics on other worlds who have confirmed the reality of the supernatural. While it would be premature to consider him Earth-0 "Sorcerer Supreme", it may well be he'll be filling that role until someone better comes along. Privately, if such a position were to exist, he wouldn't want it and would gladly hand it over to someone he'd feel was better qualified.

Mister Arcane, despite his many quirks, is almost as professional as Fade in his methodical approach to crime-solving. He's serious, even if he loves magic, and considers the kind of criminals who put on costumes to be no better than the ones who don't. He targets killers almost-exclusively, ignoring super-powered thieves for those who are taking human lives. This occasionally causes him difficulty with the Order as several of his associates are stone-cold killers and vigilantes. The one exception to his focus on killers is when the target is supernatural. Then he spares no expense to seek out information.

He has even formed his own team of investigators, called The Esoterrics, to deal with the supernatural exclusively.

Mister Arcane is a very handsome man, resembling Karl Urban in Red, with an excellent sense of style. He doesn't wear a costume but somehow manages to pull off the look of a modern wizard despite it. Maybe it's the coat. He is exceptionally well-built and occasionally fights bare-chested. Despite this, he is a "normal" martial artist as opposed to a superhuman one.

Mister Arcane has one weakness and that he is somewhat easily beguiled by women. It's something he wonders about since he knows better but can't help himself. Part of this may be due to his recent divorce but another reason may lie in a recent visit to Earth-17. There he was enchanted by the supernatural wiles of Rose Red and her warlord sister White Rose. The two women both are attempting to use him as a tool to take over their respective homeworld. Mister Arcane would feel violated if he knew his mind was tampered with but would be surprised to discover both women have feelings for him.

[poodle]

interesting...not sure what I can contribute..

[DaughterofEchoes]

And promptly got put on every terror watch list in the world as a terrorist organization. The mid-term consequences is that the Russian bear has awoken and is in the process of totally rearming into a super power including recruiting many Russian Nexi and giving them training from former NKVD agents.

*Snip*

Russia has eyes on Tajikistan and while the Brotherhood has the technological edge, the Russians would be quite content to simply bury the country under bodies and/or use targeted assassination in its rebuilding of the Russian empire.

I know I'm only half done with my Area 51 analog, but is it a bad time to say it's 'Roswell' was the Tunguska event, is called деление Ѣ or Division Yet.

Good thing I'm not quite done yet, or I might have to re-write it!