Post
by Tattooedman » Wed Jan 09, 2013 8:16 am
Bay City:
Bay City is a unique place, made up of San Francisco, Oakland and the Peninsula following the Proprietor War, an event that left all three place in shambles comparable to the destruction that happened in Freedom City following the last Terminus Invasion.
The Proprietor was a man that wielded immeasurable powers which he demonstrated during his first appearance when he forced a new island to arise from the middle of the San Francisco Bay, declaring it the capital of his new empire. The Proprietor then went about choosing people to act as his army, each of them granted powers (as well as making them completely loyal to the Proprietor) so they could carry out his plans, which were opposed by the original Champions over the course of several days. It all came to a head almost a week later on the Proprietor’s island where the would-be conqueror attempted to use the device he’d created (using items stolen by his minions in the previous days) that would unleash an large scale mind controlling effect that would have covered the United States. The Champions tried to contain the effect to the Proprietor’s island and for the most part they succeeded, the Proprietor’s island was destroyed in the device’s final release of energy, but despite the Champions’ efforts the energy wave still reached the surrounding provinces and utterly decimated them as well as completely destroying the Proprietor's island and everyone that had been on it - the Champions, the Proprietor and his minions.
In the aftermath the local government bodies of San Francisco, Oakland and the Peninsula combine into what became known as the Bay Area Emergency Relief Council (more commonly known nowadays simply as the Council), in an effort to better coordinate disaster relief and Federal emergency funds. Which worked just as they’d hope as the Federal Government, who was all to eager to only have to deal with a single political entity, handed out funds that allowed the Council, working with the Sentinels, the Freedom League and several unaligned heroes worked to rebuild what had been lost. But not just back to what it had been but into something better - something that was called Bay City, a combination of all three districts into one larger city. During the rebuilding efforts several organizations, SHADOW, VIPER, and organized crime leapt at the opportunity to sneak their operations into the budding infrastructure of the rebuilding city and the chaos was simply just too tempting for many metman criminals who seek opportunity in such situations which led to a sudden boom in meta-crimes that several heroes came forward to fight for the newly made city.
Notable Heroes:
Crusader: Michael Livingstone is the reincarnation of an Knight from the time of King Arthur, Sir Michael of Livingstone, who traveled the land on a quest to rid the land of the creations of the corrupt sorcerer known as the Alchemist. He was armed with only Hasufring, a blessed and supposedly magical broadsword and an unshakeable will despite the horrors created by the Alchemist to stop him. Unfortunately Sir Michael never managed to bring an end to the Alchemist and his spirit never moved on but instead returned to life repeatedly. The first time the spirit of Sir Michael fully awoke was during World War II, where he reclaimed Hasufring and resumed his quest to track down the Alchemist (who Sir Michael thought had somehow become immortal and was continuing his evil works) and as a result the “first” Crusader is well known for his liberation of several of the death camps run by the Nazis as he searched for his foe before mysteriously disappearing, many people believe that Crusader was killed behind enemy lines and his sword lost, and it is a subject that Crusader has refused to comment on when pressed by reporters. Exactly when Michael Livingstone recalled his past life isn’t known but there is a chance that the explosive end to the Proprietor War is the cause as it was only a few months later that Crusader made his first public appearance, with Hasufring in hand as he dealt with Pulsar. Crusader makes use of modern technology as well as relying on his medieval skills; he’s a skilled detective and has fashioned a high-tech piece of headgear that enhances his vision as well as his “shield gauntlets” which can either be used to block in melee or fired at range as needed.
Hunter: Jason Wilde IV, better known as Jase to his friends, is a student at Bay City University working on a degree in electronics and chemistry. He is also the third member of his family to take on the mantle of the Hunter, handed down from his grandfather (Jason Wilde II) to his father (Jason Wilde III). He is constantly upgrading the gear he carries with him through a combination of his own creations and items he sees being developed at his father’s company, Odyssey Research Incorporated (O.R.I). While many of the other heroes of Bay City are dealing with the likes of the Masters of Fortune, Pulsar, Grond, Principia, Orge, VIPER and Dragon Branch, the Hunter prefers to focus his attention on the Scarlatti Family and has been doing a respectable amount of damage to their operation so far despite being relatively new to being a super hero.
Gatekeeper: The main mystical protector of Bay City, Gatekeeper has been fairly busy here lately. Between keeping tabs on what’s coming in and out of the Pit (a physical gateway that is connected to the Shattenwelt) in Golden Gate Park, dealing with the people who want to eliminate him from the list of possible candidates to take over as Master Mage when Eldrich is gone, as well as trying to keep his private life from seeming like something that belonged in a monastery he’s got his hands full.
The Commander & Jetstream: A husband and wife team of heroes who were inactive for several years after the birth of their child and have recently returned to the public eye. The Commander is one of the strongest metahumans known as well as being invulnerable to most known forms of injury, while Jetstream is able to fly at supersonic speeds in addition to being an impressive hand-to-hand combatant. In their non-powered identities of Steven and Josie Stronghold, the pair operate a successful real estate brokerage in Bay City. Their son, Will, recently began attending the Arcadian Academy.
The Marksman: Donald Henderson’s experiences in the military left him with a taste for adventure and the skills to find it, his family’s fortune funded his endeavor as he developed the identity of the Marskman among the underworld of San Francisco. One of the founding members of the original Champions he survived the Proprietor War only because he’d been badly injured just the day before trying to stop the Proprietor’s people from robbing O.R.I. of technology the Proprietor deemed needed for his plans. Despite his protests that his healing factor would have him up and ready his teammates left him behind for his own good and met their fate. It’s haunted the Marksman in the years since and he’s mostly retired, though he does hold reserve status with the new Champions and has been periodically seen active in Bay City. Currently he does more nowadays as Donald Henderson; supporting various charities as well as hosting and/or attending various events to better the lives of the people that now live in Bay City.
Rush: Gerald Spence has the difficult job of balancing a career as a District Attorney with the life of a super hero, sometimes wonders why he only has a few minutes a day to spend with his fiancée. His mutant powers of hyper reflexes allow him to move at superhuman speeds that allow him to defy gravity, create vacuums by running in circles, yank a gun from a person’s hand before they have a chance to pull the trigger and even run across water like a skipping rock. But Gerald keeps the fact he’s a mutant a secret from the press for fear his mother might finally discover his dual identity and he’d never want to hurt her.
The New Champions: Unlike the Sentinels or the Freedom League, the original Champions didn’t have a previous incarnation as a group of WWII mystery men. Nor was it subsequently reformed in the 1960s. Indeed, the first heroes to come together in San Francisco in the summer of 1980, seven local heroes, Gauntlet (a retired Marine who found a Preserver artifact, a high tech piece of armor that attached to his right arm, and used it’s energy manipulating powers to be a hero), Jaguar (a werejaguar, secretly one of the Children of the Moon), Kinetik (a manipulator of kinetic energy that manifested it like a speedster), the Marksman (an marital artist/weapons master who used his family fortune to fund not only his own career but to support the team), Obsidian (an alien prince with standard brick abilities from a long dead empire seeking to find his place in the strange world he found himself in), Sapphire (an ex-teen pop star who developed energy projecting powers and flight), and Witchcraft (a sorceress of respectible skill), came together to face the first threat of the creature Grond, afterwards the heroes were able to pool their efforts and resources together to track down exactly who had set the beast loose upon the city – VIPER, and then dealt them a telling blow by capturing one of their local nests in the city. Realizing the good they could do as a team the seven of them agreed to continue working together and from that point on the Champions were here to stay. They dealt with many odd and strange foes with all manner of intensions and plans to take over the world, but the Champions always managed to come out on top somehow despite old members leaving, new members joining and such over the course of their existence.
That came to an end when the Proprietor came to San Francisco. He was a power unlike anything the Champions had faced, so much so that they called upon all their reserves and even then it was barely enough. However, despite all the challenges and hardships they faced, the Champions managed to defeat the Proprietor from setting off a series of events that would have affected all of the continental United States, Canada and a good part of Mexico.
Unfortunately it required the Champions lay down their own lives, something each and every one of them did without hesitation. A testament to the kinds of heroes they were but still it wasn’t enough to save San Francisco as the energies the Proprietor attempted to unleash was merely focused on the surrounding area – levelling San Francisco, Oakland and the Peninsula. In the aftermath all three were rebuilt as a new kind of metropolis, called Bay City and virtually every major super hero in the United States lent a hand in its construction helping it to be completely done in just under two years.
A couple of years later Quantum, one of the many newer heroes that came to Bay City, saw that there was a need for a local team of heroes and reached out to the lone survivor of the Champions, the Marksman, and spoke to the older hero at length about what she was looking to do. After securing his backing Jo went about selecting possible members, which didn’t take too long given that many new heroes had come to Bay City since its founding and thanks to support from local millionaire businessman, Donald Henderson, Treasure Island was rebuilt from the ground up. When public opinion turned on the newly formed team the Marksman made his first public appearance since the end of the Proprietor War and announced that he completely supported the new Champions.
Behemoth: The loud and brash member of the New Champions, Behemoth very much enjoys the life of a super hero. He just wishes he could transform out of his monstrous form to have a little down time periodically, as he’s always keeping an eye out for any signs he’s giving up too much control to his inner demon during a fight (as it’s that spirit that is responsible for his powers and it tries to subtly take control during Ryan’s weaker moments). He’s managed to retain his teaching position at Bay City College, but is often “in the field” and doesn’t have to deal with students that much. What none of Behemoth’s teammates realize is that he’s been in a relationship with the metaman criminal Principia, he’s trying to get her to try and work out a deal with AEGIS but so far she’s just not that interested in going there, preferring to enjoy her time with Behemoth.
Defender: College student Glen Harmon, together with his friends, got their hands on various parts of a set of alien power armor that they repaired and modified to work for a human pilot, adding several of their own unique creations for it as well. Thanks to the sub-space radio (that must be of alien design) Glen stays in contact with his friends (who have named themselves Team Defender) and acts as the technological genius for the Champions. Defender is a little prone to jumping the gun and diving into trouble head first without thinking of the consequences of his actions but his heart is in the right place.
Seeker: The end result of a VIPER experiment to create better troops, Adam escaped their island laboratory and traveled abroad for several years, learning martial arts from a traveling master he encountered. After coming to America it didn’t take Adam long to realize that someone needed to stand up for the everyday people as he saw VIPER troops and instantly recognized their connection to his old home and new they were up to nothing good. He’s a quiet man, preferring to let his actions speak for him but when Seeker does speak he’s to the point and speaks his mind. He also has an impressive understanding of chemistry and genetics thanks to his being raised by the scientists who created him and has published a few papers that have been well received in the scientific community.
Quantum: Joanne “Jo” Amos grew up in a family that had a tradition of public service as members of the police and while she was proud of that tradition she wanted more and pushed herself in school and athletics to earn herself a ticket into AEGIS. When her powers activated during a field mission (during which her team had been pinned down by members of Overthrow) she managed to save both her men while taking a few injuries of her own and managed to keep her emergence a secret. Once Jo had recovered from her injuries she turned in her resignation knowing that her superiors would never allow her to operate as a costumed hero while she was part of AEGIS, they would want her to be part of the Reserve (AEGIS’ team of metamen) but she had a history with established member Minotaur and knew it would affect both of them in the field. Instead she went solo, gaining a private investigators license and opened up an office in Bay City while patrolling the streets as Quantum. The formation of the new Champions was her idea and it was thanks to her tireless work that the members were brought together.
Zenith: Shannon Havelock grew up dedicated to learning magic and how there was supposed to be a balance to all things but when she was given her final test she became disgusted with the 7th Circle of the Lodge (it’s leaders) and choose to go solo. After working with Gatekeeper for over a year Zenith developed a reputation as a knowledgeable spell caster that could be counted on when the chips were down. She’s just starting to come out of her shell (due to her semi-sheltered early life with the Lodge) and can often be found among the people of the city, enjoying the ecliptic mix of Bay City’s inhabitants.
Notable Villains:
Black Diamond: Danny Nash is just a young adult rebelling against his overly controlling father, Harrison Nash, and his corruption as he sought to make his company, Nash Teletronics a world-wide company. When the FBI brought formal charges against both Harrison and the family company their stock bottomed out and it was only through a shrewd legal defense that Harrison stayed out of jail and kept his company.
Danny had turned his back entirely on his family and pursued his dream – being a professional snowboarder, funding himself off his life savings and even though he wasn’t fairing as good as he’d first thought he would Danny was happy. Until Harrison cut off his funds, demanding Danny return to Nash Teletronics to help rebuild it to it’s former glory as a electronics designer. His first project was a coolant suit for use by firefighters that Danny saw potential in, just not for it’s intended use but as a means to his taking revenge on his father. Quickly designing and building a hoverboard as well as making several modifications to the coolant suit so that it had some offensive capabilities and embarked on his first crime spree as Black Diamond. In the years since Danny has managed to keep his freedom while striking out periodically at Nash Teletronics and others he feels are in need of learning a lesson of humility, while he pads his wallet of course.
Interface: Rutger Eisenmann was a mercenary who was utterly loyal to his current client of the moment, he would follow their instructions to the letter without question or hesitation. This made him a solid reputation that brought him to the attention of Fabricators Inc., who were looking to add a few more operatives to their operation. Rutger liked having a regular paycheck and the work was a lot safer in general, that was until the Foundry decided they’d try and thin out their competition a bit and began a series of attacks on various hidden labs of Fabricators Inc. and the lab Rutger guarded was on the top of their list to raid. In the following firefight Rutger suffered several serious injuries protecting both scientists and projects before the Foundry’s forces were finally stopped. Fabricators’ scientists felt they owed Rutger for his efforts in their defense and they subjected him to a newly designed cyborg conversion process which saved his life, for which Rutger was obviously grateful for even though he no longer looked human. For several more years he continued to work for Fabricators Inc., calling himself Interface and fighting various heroes that came calling upon the company for their selling of high tech items to the underworld until he could no longer deny he wanted more for himself. Rutger wanted to return to the kind of ‘man of action’ he’d been years ago but realized that put him at cross purposes with his employer. In the end he worked out a deal with Fabricators so that they’d continue to provide him with the maintenance he required for his body to work properly and he would steer potential clients towards them as payment as well as use them to supply his technological needs (at a discount in regards to his long standing history with them of course). Since that time Interface has go on to become a power in the underworld in his own right. Hungry for power and glory, he hopes to one day take over the entire world but for now the city of Arcadia will do as a first step.
Junkpile: Thought to be an Urban Elemental, similar to Doctor Metropolis, Junkpile simply appeared after the Proprietor War lashing out at anyone who angers it. A shambling mound of urban trash (old tires, cinder blocks, pop cans, broken glass, broken up bits of blacktop and concrete) it has not ever spoken (aside from angry bellowings) and seems to have a child-like mind, seeking acceptance from others and often finding only fear and those who try to manipulate it for their own ends. Some scientists think that Junkpile is more like the criminal Hiroshima Shadow in that it was created from all the pain and death caused by the destructive end of the Proprietor War. Doctor Metropolis has fought Junkpile on a few occasions, but he often times merely tries to moderate Junkpile’s damage while trying to calm it down and communicate with it. So far he has made little headway.
Principia: Margaret Trevail kept the development of her powers over gravity a secret from everyone that was close to her (not that there were really that many people to begin with). For the most part she did it to avoid becoming involved in what she saw as the wasteful life of super heroes and villains, wanting to focus on her scientific career instead. But when her employers at Panstar stole part of her research to use in some of their illegal activities Margaret knew she couldn’t let it slide. Creating the identity of Principia she set out to take her revenge on Panstar, waging a one-woman war on them for over a year using inside information she gathered during her usual work hours. Finally Panstar offered her a payoff to leave them alone (only after the five metaman mercenaries they’d sent after her got sent to the hospital, courtesy of Principia). But then a strange thing happened – Margaret found she’d come to like the thrills of wearing a mask and doing as she deemed and soon she found herself committing more of the usual crimes a super villain would do. A recent development is a budding romance with Behemoth of the Champions, and while they both feel a strong attraction to one another and are carefully negotiating their way through their feelings Principia still commits crimes despite Behemoth's attempts to get her to change her ways.
Pulsar: For some reason Pulsar loves working in Bay City. Maybe it’s the ease with which he can find work, maybe he just likes the weather, it’s hard to say why he does anything really but he’s regularly seen somewhere in Bay City what seems like almost every other week trying to pull off some crime. It’s got the point that most of Bay City’s local heroes have a “This one time I was fighting Pulsar…..” story.
The Masters of Fortune: A long running team of criminals whose membership includes over twenty metamen since it’s founding in the 1970s by the Black Paladin, many members chaffed under his kind leadership (the man has a solid understanding of tactics and combat, but actual leadership is beyond him) and they would leave the group simply because they tired of his egomania. After the Proprietor War, former member Cateran brought together a new version of the Masters and to date they have been more successful than their predecessors were (a fact several members of law enforcement attribute to Cateran's style of leadership compaired to the Black Paladin's).
Cateran: Heather McGowrie simply hadn’t been born in the right time. She wanted to do as the men of her clan did but despite growing up tall and strong (stronger than many men of her clan in fact) she was forced into the role of a woman in the year of 1644. It wasn’t until she finally ran off one night and soon found herself a part of a band of highwaymen that Heather truly felt alive and for several years she lived the life of a thief until she noticed that she’d not aged a day past her twentieth birthday while her fellow thieves were now old men. Realizing that there was more to her than others, Heather choose to travel the world and did her level best to enjoy herself for the following two centuries. It wasn’t until the 1970s that Heather return to her former profession of thievery, when the Black Paladin made his return to the world. The corrupt knight impressed Heather and she crafted the identity of Cateran and sought the Black Paladin out to join him in his freebooting ways, forming the base for the original Masters of Fortune. For several years she was connected the Masters in some way, shape or form until the Black Paladin just disappeared, then she was forced to take control of the group. Unwillingly at first but she soon came to enjoy leading a new group of thieves and redeveloped her leadership traits to the point that the Masters of Fortune were considered among the best thieves active in their time. Following the Proprietor War, during which almost all the other members of the Masters were either killed or injured so badly they retired, Heather almost walked away from her life but following a fight with Crusader realized that she loved her criminal lifestyle too much and rededicated herself to her cause – going out and recruiting new members for the Masters of Fortune, members chosen by her, to suit her wants and goals for the group. That’s how Hummingbird, Whitestar, Crimson the Archer, and Tungarak were brought together and now as the new Masters of Fortune they’re building a reputation that has already put their predecessor’s to shame.
Crimson the Archer: A former South American assassin that retired and moved to America to enjoy the fruits of his labor after becoming tired of how easy his job had become. Richard Atwood (whose real name is actually Ricardo Smith) instead discovered that he’d unwittingly bought the hidden base of dead criminal marksman the Crimson Archer. When Cateran showed up to collect some things from her former teammate’s hidden lair she found Atwood expertly using the equipment and offered him a place in the rebooted Masters she was putting together. Atwood, sensing a challenge finally worthy of his skill, agreed and hasn’t yet regretted his choice. Though he had to update the name and look of the legacy he’d taken on, now Crimson the Archer proves just how deadly his aim is every time the Masters of Fortune pull a crime.
Hummingbird: Melissa Saunders was very surprised to learn she was a mutant when she woke up one morning shrunken down to only an inch tall. What surprised her more is that she could fly while shrunk, a pair of powers that the young girl quickly put to use in trying to get some of the finer things in life for herself. During one attempted robbery Melissa learned about some of her other powers – like her ability to plant a hypnotic suggestion in the minds of others simply by telling them what she wanted them to do. From there Melissa made sure she never wanted for anything and began her career as a thief for hire. Cateran liked how Melissa was more interested in getting away with her score than anything else and feeling that the Masters needed more of that attitude tested the young girl heavily before offering her a spot on the team.
Tungarak: Paul Grissolm was the worst kind of archaeologist – the kind that took the treasures of the past and sold them to the highest bidder on the black market. All that changed when he found an strange turquoise and mesa stone artifact hidden in a secluded cavern deep within a pueblos of Arizona. After taking the artifact and returning home Paul found himself barely able to stay awake, so he stumbled into bed still holding the strange stone and had the worst night’s sleep in his life as he was wracked with intense pain and strange dreams about ox-headed demons. When he woke up Paul found that his body had been transformed into a parody of one of the many cave drawings he’d seen in Arizona – now sporting a head that looked like an ox skull while his entire body looked to be carved out of mesa rock. Having few other options Paul used his underworld connections to get hired on a few crews who were looking to knock over banks and with his newfound strength Paul could do that, literally. After hearing about Paul, Cateran wasted no time in reaching out to the newly empowered crook and offered him a place in the rebooting of the Masters of Fortune she was implementing. What sold Paul was a combination of Cateran’s good looks as well as the promise that she’d try to help him find a way to regain his old body.
Whitestar: Arthur Kosigian was a member of high society who had become bored with his life and managed to fall in with the really wrong crowd, as in one of the lesser cults that support the Brimstone House. He quickly rose up the ranks to the point that he was allowed to help perform rituals and when his time came Arthur spoke his word with confidence and authority.
To bad the man that followed him didn’t.
The demon the cult had been working to summon went on a rampage, gravely injuring several of the cultists before being returned to it’s home dimension. Among those injured was Arthur, the demon’s Hellfire having burnt his spirit to the point he’d went into a coma. The other cultists placed a rune covered pendant around his neck and dumped him at a nearby hospital where Arthur finally woke days later. Angered by the abandonment Arthur tore the pendant off only to interrupt its purification spell that was supposed to remove the demonic taint he’d been afflicted with, so instead of being cleansed Arthur found himself in possession of super powers which he used to first escape the hospital, then a few weeks later go on a crime spree of robbery and violence that made headlines across the state. And it was those headlines that caught Cateran’s eye and realizing that her new Masters of Fortune needed someone with a willingness to use their powers aggressively sought out Whitestar (as Arthur had named himself), and he accepted as he’d begun to have to deal with superheroes and saw the benefits of being part of a team. Unfortunately what Cateran hadn’t realized is that Whitestar is just as bloodthirsty as Crimson the Archer is.
Scarlatti Family: One of the few remaining members of Cosa Nostra, the Italian Mob, Leo Scarlatti and his people and are responsible for much of the ‘common crime’ that happens in Bay City; smuggling, protection rackets, loan sharking, bid rigging, as well as robbery (through their non-mafiosi members).
Last edited by
Tattooedman on Mon Jul 22, 2013 6:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.
