The Atomic Think Tank

by **Charles Phipps** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 9:52 am

by **Charles Phipps** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:19 am

The obvious question for most Mutants and Masterminds gamers is how to merge the Freedom City universe with any new release. In this case, the difficulty might seem daunting given Heroic Earth isn't a single city but an entire planet of superheroic legacies. Nevertheless, harder mergers have been done (Meta-4 and Freedom City), so one just needs sufficient scotch tape.

We'll start with the City itself rather than the various groups inside it.

Merging Freedom City and Heroic Earth

In the Merged Universe (Earth-618 for comic reference's sake), Freedom City exists as the pre-eminent city in America and Heroic Earth rivals like Freehold, New Amsterdam, Los Dios, and Falconcrest City all exist in its shadow. It is the city for Super Heroes even if its not the only city with superheroes in it. Freedom City folk tend to have an assumption about their position the same way that New Yorkers do about their city (one's that pretty well earned as well). Still, it's a bit of local color that you often see Freedom City sports fans getting into tussles with Falconcrest City ones over games.

Because most of Heroic Earth's super heroes arrived during the early 1980s, the Centurion maintains his preeminent place in super heroic lore. While he had Golden Age contemporaries like Graywing and Titanman who were almost as famous in his day, he's still the one that left the most telling mark on the world. In the Merged Universe, the Centurion's costume and its similarity to Divinos' own Mithran guardsman's uniform (plus the almost identical nature of their powers at first glance) helped result in that beings almost immediate acceptance by the public at large.

Ironically, while Freedom City was recovering from Mayor Michael Moore's depredations, the rest of the country was falling to pieces and the Iron Age went on. While Freedom City was learning to trust its superheroes again, the rest of the country was learning to hate them. The Freedom League contributed to foiling the Psychotic Seven's attempt to conquer the entirety of the world and helped keep the public from reacting hysterically against superheroes gone bad.

In general, Freedom City goers are a model of super hero acceptance and public support. The fact that Doctor Metropolis exists helps people look at super hero vs. super villain fights as much more flashy public spectacles than the nightmarish financial disasters that they are in other cities. Mayor O'Conner's tireless public support of expanded public rights for super heroes actually reaches to the national level and with it clear that he should probably step down as Mayor soon enough, people are starting to believe he should make a run for President of the United States.

Ironically, this widespread public acceptance of super heroes has a bit of a back draft for Freedom City citizens. Much like as the Dark Knight depicted, wannabe super villains and super heroes come to Freedom City because they're interested in the celebrity they expect to find. Likewise, a great number of Metamen come to the city due to the assumptions about tolerance they'll find. This has lead to groups like the Gene Nation targeting Freedom City for publicity reasons. The fact that the Freedom League has actually "left" Freedom City hasn't quite registered on a lot of people other than they're now suffering a lot more super powered crime that can barely be coped with.

It's place as one of America's most powerful institutions has also guaranteed that numerous groups are also interested in controlling it. P.H.A.N.T.O.M and the House of Serpents launder billions of dollars through the Labyrinth's Banks in the City and the Foundry's research is privately solicited by numerous terrorist groups like the Black Hand. Ironically, the Freedom league was largely ineffective at preventing this sort of thing from infesting their city underneath their nose.

The Terminus Invasion had the potential to destroy all of reality but never actually got much farther than Freedom City itself. The Centurion's defeat of Omega managed to hold the line at Freedom City itself where the invasion began. Thus, quite a few people in Heroic Earth do not actually realize that it was a significantly more threatening alien invasion than the ones by the Tsavong or Orkus (or the Grue for that matter). This is immediately reversed in Freedom City itself where it is considered the city's defining moment, especially with the loss of the Centurion (a day that caused the entire nation to weep as one).

Thus, the City of Freedom stands as a city that's in dire need of champions in Heroic Earth and one whose progressiveness is contrasted with the fact that it's a place of major corruption. Freedom City's seemingly wholesome glory is used as a disguise by many groups eager to fuel the various evil factions in the country. Worse, without the Freedom League directly patrolling it, it's likely to get much worse as the history of the city is a shout out to every lunatic with a super power and a cape.

by **Charles Phipps** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 10:52 am

The Freedom League and the Patriots

All around the world, a lot of people want to ask whether or not the Freedom League could beat up the Patriots. Then they get into arguments over which members of the Freedom League should be present and at what era amongst other internet pedantry. Thanks to the wonders of mind control, the two teams have actually tussled in the past with the results being inconclusive as to which is the stronger (though Divinos nearly defeated the entire Freedom League once when particularly angry---he was eventually taken out by Raven's quick use of a Annihilation Zone arrow given to Bowman).

In general, the two teams don't worry themselves about such things. Neither team really cares about the fame that is so important to others and is mostly concerned about saving lives. In that respect, they've often teamed up against particularly cosmic threats with little difficulty (other than who is in charge.)

Unfortunately, while the two teams are friendly to one another, they're not always polite. Aside from Johnny Rocket who can visit, have a cheeseburger, and be back in Freedom City in seconds; the two teams don't get to interact much outside of business. The merged universe is filled with a cornucopia of hostile, super villains, and terrorists that precludes super hero social parties. The loss of the Centurion and the retirement of many "Silver Age" (1980s for the Freedomverse) super heroes from the Patriots has resulted in the two teams having a lot of members neither side knows very well.

Ironically, individual friendships between the teams are actually quite strong. It's just that they don't extend on a group level.

The closest relationship is Athena and Daedalus. The Goddess of Wisdom and Daedalus have known each other far longer than their respective teammates. When most of said fellow teammates are dust and bones, they'll continue to know one another. Daedalus has a mixed relationship with the goddess, simultaneously reverent and disgusted at the same time. He's a little perplexed as to why she's allowing herself to be treated as just an exceptionally powerful mortal but likes to think that is a sign his time of ordeals is coming to an end (unfortunately-he's wrong. Athena's reasons for visiting Earth are unrelated to Daedalus).

Less close but still notable is Black Wing II's association with Raven. Or, more precisely, Callie Summer's relationship with Alexander Timons. In the merged universe, the original Black Wing took a great deal of inspiration from the Raven (just as the original Raven took a great deal of inspiration from the Golden Age Gray Wing). The two know each other from their civilian identities as well, in addition to their super hero ones (both deducing the other's identity fairly quickly thanks to their superior Detective powers).

In the pair's case, both are intimately familiar with the other's lifestyle. Just as Doctor Sin is Callie's grandfather, so is Death Mask III the father of Black Wing II. Likewise, they have somewhat dubious relationships with their father-figures (though Callie is at least on speaking terms with Duncan Summers). In the few periods where either has free time, they actually socialize at each other's estates. This has lead tabloids to add debutante Callie Summers to the list of Alexander's famous Hollywood girlfriends (Callie approves of its use for a potential cover but frequently chides Black Wing II for a way of life that she doesn't approve of).

Johnny Rocket's relationship with Splotch also bears mentioning. After a brief encounter with some of their super villains teaming up, the two struck up a friendship based on being the "Other Guys" in their teams (though that's since changed). Very similiar to the Human Torch-Spiderman and Booster Gold-Blue Beetle relationship, the two had a series of team ups in the first five or six years after the Centurion's death that were very high publicity. Their similiar ages and joking lifestyles made the pair's adventures quite light hearted in otherwise serious teams.

The relationship hit a rocky patch when Johnny's homosexuality became public knowledge. While Splotch was initially uncomfortable thanks to his Jewish upbringing, it was mostly an issue that there was an entire side to his friend that he didn't know. While there was some joking speculation in the media about their relationship, Splotch tried to mend fences with his friend after coming to terms with the discovery. Unfortunately, the two have never really recovered the trust that was lost between them.

In any case, the Freedom League's recent move to space hasn't helped the two teams much. Divinos, who lives in space, believes the Freedom League is taking on far more than they can handle by trying to protect the entire world while Captain Thunder believes the Patriots are unnecessarily America-centric (discounting that the Steel Commando is an operative for the United States government).

by **Charles Phipps** » Tue Aug 19, 2008 11:21 am

AEGIS, Unison, and the Foundation for World Harmony

To describe the complicated world of international espionage in the world and its various organizations, you might need a flow charts. Boiled down to its simplest, UNISON is the name for all United Nations based security initiatives that include the Foundation for World Harmony and ITS various sub-organizations. A.E.G.I.S, on the other hand, is a purely United States based Intelligence and Anti-Terrorist Task Force that occasionally cooperates with the Foundation for World Harmony.

In the merged universe, The Foundation for World Harmony works like clockwork compared to the other UNISON divisions. Its role is somewhat similiar to U.N.C.L.E and UNIT rolled together and its usually able to match A.E.G.I.S step for step (thanks to Dame Michelle Holmes' draconian leadership more than anything). Repeatedly, certain parties in the United States government have questioned the validity of continuing to support A.E.G.I.S separately as opposed to just rolling over the organization into the Foundation. Like all issues of American Defense and internationalism, this isn't going to happen any time soon.

To be honest, Harry Powers dislikes the politics about the A.E.G.I.S vs. Foundation rivalry that has been set up and blames it for the constant battle on Capital Hill to secure more funding for his organization. Worse, he feels the entire thing adds eight different layers of Red Tape to acquiring the necessary information he needs from international sources about terrorist groups that threaten U.S. sovereignty. Several times, he's caught Hell to pay from the Foundation's operatives intervening in his covert operations abroad and vice versa.

(Un)fortunately, depending on what side of the issue you fall, Harry is unlikely to support any unification with the Foundation any time soon. While it would be less costly and more efficient, Harry's most common experience with the organization is Majestic-13 at Area-51. Given the American branch of the Foundation is a bunch of "black suits and mirrorshades" (not to mention secretly infiltrated at nearly all levels by the House of Serpents), his opinion on the whole organization is that its better for the United States to look after itself.

A.E.G.I.S. agents and Foundation ones meet more commonly than people might think. Thanks to U.S. military policy; they operate with large freedom in Germany, South Korea, Japan, most countries in South America, and plenty of NATO countries. Likewise, Foundation Agents operate in the borders of the United States (especially where aliens are concerned). The two agencies' agents tend to dislike one another intensely, especially when U.S. agents are operating on foreign soil across from native born ones. Majestic-13 is even LESS popular amongst AEGIS agents as they love throwing their weight around and claiming planetary security.

Given this attitude, Michelle Holmes has preferred to cultivate good information sharing relations with the FBI, CIA, and NSA as opposed to AEGIS. This has only further infuriated Harry as he feels like he's being cut out of the loop (mostly because he is). This is all especially tragic given the agencies were almost extensions of one another during the leadership of Jack Simmons. Of course, then, the Foundation was largely under the leadership of the United States as opposed to Great Britain.

by **Charles Phipps** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 6:30 am

SHADOW and the Halt Evil Doer! universe

The immediate effect of groups like P.H.A.N.T.O.M and the House of Serpents is that SHADOW (and to a lesser extent, Overthrow) is no longer the only game in town. A.E.G.I.S and its obsession with tracking down Nacht Krieger and mop up the remains of SHADOW seems much more unreasonable when there are equally powerful super-terrorist organizations that are running around the world causing trouble.

Overshadow in this world is much more a mythic figure that is more likely to play the various organizations as pawns rather than attempt to actively involve himself in the affairs of the world. The player characters might defeat a SHADOW terrorist base filled with clones, only to have it 'discovered' that it was a splinter group of the Gene Nation that had adopted Shadow imagery (yeah right).

In the merged universe, Overshadow's continued activity is not a secret to a number of individuals. Ironically, most of them are terrorists themselves.

On the villain's side: The Iron Khan has known about Wilhelm Kantor's previous lives and even dueled with a few of them. Thus, he knows in the abstract that Shadow's master is almost certainly reincarnated somewhere and up to no good. Death Mask III simply outright knows SHADOW exists and has even deduced it's behind Overthrow. He's just not chosen to act on that information yet. General Venom is also capable enough to perceive the pattern of events that leads him to believe SHADOW is still extant, he's just not sure where and who. Ironically, he's secretly supporting AEGIS to find out. Finally, the undead Count Reich is fully aware that Overshadow is Wilhelm Kantor and pretty much knows everything about them due to his previous involvement with the organization in its Nazi years. Unfortunately, Overshadow has deduced the Count is far too unstable to actually be trusted yet not easily destroyed.

On the heroes' side: Only Dame Holmes has any real inclination that Overthrow is anything more than a cell-based terrorist network. Bizarrely, she's actually fit most of the pieces together that it is a catspaw for a SHADOW or SHADOW derivative. It's just, unfortunately, she has almost no evidence of it and her conclusions are based on the Holmes ability to see patterns in chaos. Overshadow would almost certainly move against her if he suspected she knew as much as she did. Somewhat less threatening but still irritating is that Black Wing is disturbingly close to cracking SHADOW himself. In this case, he's been following Franklin Folke's paper trail for years now and he's intelligent enough to see the patterns like his father.

Currently, secrecy is SHADOW's biggest friend in the Halt Evil Doer! universe. Once the cat is out of the bag, SHADOW will pretty much have to rely on brute force to get everything done and it will be in a seriously problematic position. Shadow is powerful enough to seize several small nations for itself and maybe a few moderately large ones but it doesn't have the current power to conquer the entire world (Overshadow's goal). Worse, SHADOW isn't exactly a popular organization with the world's villains either.

The House of Serpents and P.H.A.N.T.O.M would both attempt to move against it in the event of a war (General Venom out of nationalist reasons and Phantom because of it's anti-Nazi roots). SHADOW is one of the few organizations that, if a war erupted between either of those two groups, it would end up destroying them (being crippled as a result). Overshadow knows that he must somehow cripple or co-opt both organizations before he takes over.

Shadow has a much friendlier relationship with the Gene Nation. The two organizations are cooperating towards the creating of super-powered clones and how to create Ultiman style hybrids. Overshadow is even considering inviting the Red King into the Penumbra. In this case, he's underestimating the man's innate racism. The Red King is more interested in gaining the Ultimen's technology than he is in serving a fascist agenda. Likewise, should the Red King ever meet Superior, the two would immediately plot to take control over Shadow.

by **dirkgentry2000** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 10:53 am

Working my way through HED still - enjoying it quite a lot and looking forward to reading this thread again once I know who everyone is...

For those interested in the HED/DEFCON fusion that Charles mentioned above - he was gracious enough to post it here

by **Libra** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:07 am

Most excellent and awesome work Charles. On both threads.

by **Charles Phipps** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:14 am

dirkgentry2000 wrote:Working my way through HED still - enjoying it quite a lot and looking forward to reading this thread again once I know who everyone is...

For those interested in the HED/DEFCON fusion that Charles mentioned above - he was gracious enough to post it here

I look forward to your thoughts there, Dirk. Any opinion from a fellow seasoned gamer is welcome. I may yet get around to checking your other supplements and adapting them.

Libra wrote:Most excellent and awesome work Charles. On both threads.

Thank you Libra.

Once everyone has had a chance to acquaint themselves with HED! I'll be taking requests here about specifics.

by **Libra** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 11:18 am

Curse you Phipps, I already have too many excuses to buy HED. Now I won't be able to pick one!

(:wink: :mrgreen:

)

by **Charles Phipps** » Wed Aug 20, 2008 1:48 pm

The House of Serpents in the Freedomverse

Since we're going elsewhere from canon anyway, there's nothing wrong with going in distinctly new directions. One of these directions is the relationship between the House of Serpents with that of A.E.G.I.S. In the Heroic Earth Universe, The modern Foundation for World Harmony in the United States is corrupt to the core and General Venom's 'secret empire' (pun intended) is able to operate with impunity (minus Colonel Victory's America Force One as to be detailed in the Book of Heroes).

Not so much in the Merged Universe.

Jack Simmons legendary rivalry with SHADOW is almost matched by Harry Powers own distaste for the House. During the mid-1980s in the merged universe, General Venom launched a massive number of attacks that were designed to overthrow the United States government and instill his own ultra-patriotic replacement. They built huge Teleportation Lasers, attempted to draw the General's hooded face in the moon, and even attempted to clone super soldiers from the bodies of dead conquerors. You know. The usual.

Harry Powers was AEGIS' attachment to America Force One during this time and they managed to prevent the General from overthrowing the world. Harry bears a grudge against the organization until this day and is constantly watching for its resurgance in the modern era. While General Venom prefers to avoid civilian American causalties, he has less trouble with AEGIS operatives and conflicts between the two sides can get quite bloody (despite what the cheezy tie-in cartoon says).

While the threat of the House has kept Harry in funding fairy well until the War on Terror started, the General was canny enough to switch tactics with the modern era. Harry KNOWS that the General is up to his usual tricks but he has no idea just how nasty they're going to bite him. Unlike Overshadow, no one believes the House is extant, but a lot of its missions are now overseas and AEGIS having nightmarish trouble getting the authority to deal with it (especially given Harry's own complex relationship with the Foundation for World Harmony)

Worse, General Venom has been quietly riding the tide of public sentiment to install House loyal and funded public officials who are making it a pain in the posterior for Harry to operate against them. Many of these loyalists aren't genuine members of the House but just ideologically similiar enough to serve the General's needs. Meanwhile, a lot of House cover organizations have re-organized themselves as military subcontractors and corporations that A.E.G.I.S has unwittingly found itself giving clearance too.

Jack Simmons own advice regarding how to deal with the House is curiously absent. While the Patriot has never shied away his robotic heart from fighting House operatives, he does so with a heavy heart. The original Steel Commando was a close and personal friend of his while he has difficulty reconciling the Machiavellian Master Scientist with the idealistic young man that John F. Kennedy appointed to follow in his father's footsteps.

The fact that General Venom believes he's doing what's necessary to root out, ironically, organizations exactly like his own from the United States' government also means that AEGIS has a lot of cynicism about their mission against it. More than a few AEGIS agents have been persuaded away by appeals to their Patriotism.

by **Charles Phipps** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 4:45 pm

The Grue and Tsavong

The similarities between the Grue Unity and Tsavong Empire are not coincidental. In fact, the Tsavong were created by a party of Grue crashlanding and then being mutated by their new home planet's cosmic rays (and possibly the Weapon Smiths of the Annihilation Zone). The Tsavong developed the Masters and eventually became individual beings. Eventually, they rediscovered space travel and set about conquering the universe.

Then they re-acquainted themselves with the Unity.

In truth, if there is one race in the cosmos that the Tsavong hate more than the Thran then it is the Grue of the Unity. Likewise, the Grue Unity utterly despises its wayward children and has made it a high priority to exterminate them. Unfortunately, the Grue Unity has found the masters to be every bit as intelligent as it in strategy while the individual Tsavong warriors tear through lesser members of the Unity like a hot chuzack through drapnar.

The Great Cleansing War, as it is called, is something that everyone else in the galaxy is eager to never see resolved. Effectively, the Tsavong and Grue Unity are evenly matched. The Grue Unity benefits from its greater coordination and mindless devotion but the Tsavong are superior warriors with a greater facility at enhancing themselves with super powers.

Neither faction has been prevented from expanding its domiciles but the amount of resources consumed in their mutual attempts at genocide have probably prevented either species from conquering the galaxy.

In addition to other races being glad that the two are occupying themselves with the other's destruction, some have actually gone to the trouble of trying to prolong the war. The Thran, moral enemies of the Tsavong, actually have agents from client species supplying the technologically inferior Tsavong with advanced weaponry.

While this might eventually be used against them, they consider the conformity driven Hive mind of the Grue to be the greater threat. Likewise, Star Khan has a formal alliance with the Tsavong to destroy any Grue ship that enters his space. Star Khan has no love for the Tsavong but they do not totally absorb other races into their ranks like the Grue do.

The Lor Republic uses the Great Cleansing War as an opportunity to shore up its own defenses and also prepare for the day that one side of the other manages to figure out a way to wipe the other out (the issue isn't that they CAN'T. It's just neither the Masters or the Unity is willing to totally destroy their Empire as a total war would almost certainly do---with no guarantee of victory).

by **tylrlsaa** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:04 pm

Charles Phipps wrote:In the merged universe, The Foundation for World Harmony works like clockwork compared to the other UNISON divisions. Its role is somewhat similiar to U.N.C.L.E and UNIT rolled together and its usually able to match A.E.G.I.S step for step (thanks to Dame Michelle Holmes' draconian leadership more than anything). Repeatedly, certain parties in the United States government have questioned the validity of continuing to support A.E.G.I.S separately as opposed to just rolling over the organization into the Foundation. Like all issues of American Defense and internationalism, this isn't going to happen any time soon.

The United States has multiple intelligence gathering services which are A) operating independently of each other, and B) cannot share info to save their collective souls.

The idea that A.E.G.I.S. and the Foundation would be remain seperate doesn't seem odd at all. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, petty power corrupts out of all proportion, and beaucratic power is rock solid.

by **Charles Phipps** » Fri Aug 22, 2008 6:02 pm

tylrlsaa wrote:
The United States has multiple intelligence gathering services which are A) operating independently of each other, and B) cannot share info to save their collective souls.

The idea that A.E.G.I.S. and the Foundation would be remain seperate doesn't seem odd at all. Power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely, petty power corrupts out of all proportion, and beaucratic power is rock solid.

Yes, this is based on real life. The rivalry is actually somewhat understated here because the Halt Evil Doer! universe is a bit more idealistic than Earth-Prime.

There's also real security concerns on both sides. Dame Michelle and Harry both believe (correctly) that the other's organization has moles in its rank. Keeping information in as few hands as possible is just good common sense.

by **Charles Phipps** » Sun Aug 24, 2008 6:42 pm

The Claremont Academy and The Tomorrow Society

Frankly, it's just not so simple anymore to be a Metaman in the Merged Universe.

Ever since the arrival of the Centurion and especially since the Terminus Invasion, there's been an increasingly larger number of people developing super powers. These individuals don't always want to become super heroes or super villains but they still have abilities that are dangerously out of control. Just locking them up has the curious quality of turning otherwise average citizens into people with a significant desire to pay the government back for their incarceration.

Duncan Summers' choice to create the Claremont Academy for Freedom City's unusually high percentile of super-powered youth has yielded the best results so far. Duncan Summer's environment of talented humans mixed with super powered ones tends to result in an environment that is as close to non-traumatic as a High School Experience can be. While not all of Duncan Summer's students go on to become super heroes, not even a majority, those that do tend to actually know what they're doing.

Unfortunately, he's right at the point of shutting the school down.

In the Halt Evil Doer! universe, the simple act of encouraging students to rejoice in their powers but associate with humans just as if they had a special gift is something that deeply organizations like the Gene Nation. While the Red King hasn't yet attempted to wipe it off the face of the Earth, he has launched several small scale attacks and acts of sabotage to cause Duncan Summers fits. At heart, he believes that th message of integration that Duncan is teaching is something to be stopped at all costs.

Ironic, since Duncan wasn't even aware he was teaching it (since super powers as a source of racial hatred is just so far removed from his mindset)

Likewise, Duncan Summers is not affiliated with the Tomorrow Society and its attempts to create schools for "Gifted Youngsters" across the land. While he would normally approve of it, the simple fact is that he doesn't trust the Red Queen all that much. As the daughter of Orkus, he can't help believe that she might turn against them at any time or even unconsciously introduce individuals to something horrible. He's been to Mass Castle and thinks such a surreal environment is decidedly not what children need to become normal and functioning adults.

Ironically, the Next Generation and the Tomorrow Society's younger members get along just fine. Both have a "grass is greener" view to the other's schools and have cooperated on numerous occasions against the Gene Nation and the Psychotic Seven. The Alterniteens are a new addition to the dynamic between the groups and honestly, it's caused some friction. While the Alterniteens love the new dimension they've found themselves in, some of them have expressed their acknowledgment that they might fit in better with the "freaks" of the Tomorrow Society than their fellow Claremont Academy students.

Serena Vervain, as a note, is the one closest to the Tomorrow Society for a very good reason. The Red Queen is actually Serena's mentor in the mystical arts. Eldrich simply doesn't have the time to take on a full time student and Serena Mass is able to relate to a young girl heroine far better than most. At this point, Serena is almost her mentor's equal in magic and will probably exceed her but considers her a big sister figure that is one of the most important individuals in her life. Any harm against the Red Queen would invite her wrath.

by **Charles Phipps** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 12:31 pm

Oh, any requests?

The Atomic Think Tank

Halt Evil Doer! megaverse thread

Halt Evil Doer! megaverse thread

Who is online