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The Old World
The RavenVerse world was created by three divine beings: Gaia, the Goddess of Life who created the world itself and all that dwell in it; Helios, the Sun God who brought light to the world, and Hecate, the Goddess of Magic and Wisdom who gave man the intelligence to create the marvels of the world as well as the knowledge of magic to aid in their endeavors. In time, man found the constant light to be detrimental, depriving them of sleep and making them exhausted by heat, so Nyx, Goddess of Night, was allowed to add darkness to the world, giving shade from the sun when it became unbearable, and an enviroment to find safe rest within. After winning the affection of Gaia, Ares the God of War granted man the ability to combat creatures that threatened them... which they would inevitably turn on each other.
This, however, was all to Ares' plan.
Ares' secret second lover, the Queen of Demons Lilith, brought her denizens to the world, and Ares favored them to overthrow Gaia's world and turn it into a land of eternal warfare. Hecate, Helios, and Gaia chose champions to defend their creation from the demons. These, as legend say, were the first superhumans. In time Nyx was allowed to create a champion of her own to fight the demons. Ares would counter with his own champion, a demon known as Rallax The Destroyer (who happened to be Lilith and Ares' son). The battle would sway in demonkind's favor, and the champions' cause seemed lost...
Until a mortal warrior known as Morrigan, with no powers of her own, joined the champions at the front of battle. Unbeknownst to Ares, Gaia birthed her as a child of their own affair. Rallax himself was unable to slay Morrigan, and was forced to flee from her. This led Ares himself to walk the earth, and challenged Morrigan to a duel to the death; if Morrigan won, Rallax and the other demons would leave the world. If Ares won, the champions of the gods would surrender. The champions, knowing they would in time fall to the demons, asked Morrigan to accept the wager, and the duel took place on the Northern Mountains.
The battle lasted all of a swift breath; Morrigan parried Ares' arrogant first swing and answered by sending her sword right through the god. His scream shook the world to the point where it was nearly destroyed; the Northern Mountains themselves crumbled into nothingness, and flows of lava burst from the world for the first time. Morrigan survived on a small chunk of ice that remained.
However, Lilith had no intention of honoring her beloved's wager. While the massive quake drove most of the demons (Rallax included) into the underworld, and the heroes moved quickly to close as many rifts as possible, it was obvious that her brood would try to take the world once again. The gods knew that war was a neccessary evil, and Morrigan was chosen to take Ares' place.
The three creators had pledged no longer to interfere with the world directly after that day, for fear that they might cause Rallax and his kind to roam free again. Their champions eventually passed away. Nyx' remained fighting as the Night Goddess had the wisdom to grant her champion the gift of reincarnation. She promised only to give mortals the choice to accept her wisdom, and never to thrust it upon them. Morrigan made no pledge not to interfere, in case she would need to come to earth again. Hecate no longer granted magic to the world.
The names of the original three champions have been long forgotten. This has been by design; the creator gods proving to themselves that they would interfere no longer. As the remaining champion, known as Shroud, would lose his memories of his previous incarnations, only the gods and Rallax remember the names of the champions.
The Current World
While the people of today (save a select few) are even aware of the existance of the events of the old world, the remnants of the past are still felt today. Magic that remained from the war permeated the world itself, granting people the ability to not only learn the secrets of magic, but allowing some to be born with innate supernatural powers.
Vigilantes have appeared from time to time across modern history, most believed to be little more than myth. In the 1920s a man named Jonathan Masterson called himself The Peacekeeper fought criminals in Chicago. He was rumored to be impervious to pain and could dissapear at will, but he himself admitted that he had no such powers on a deathbed interview before succumbing to illness in 1942.
The man who would be dubbed by experts to be the first 'true' superhuman of the modern age was known as Alpha Soldier, who had been within lethal radius of the bombs on Bikini Atoll but miraculously survived and instead gained a healing factor and superhuman strength. Alpha Soldier dissapeared during the Vietnam War and his MIA status is said to be the deciding factor in the conflict.
The first 'hero team' of the modern age was The Pack, a quintet formed after a 1979 riot in Brimstone City, New Jersey. Led by charismatic ex-bounty hunter Bulldog and possesing no confirmed superhuman members (however Bulldog hasn't appeared to age at all since his retirement in 1988), the quintet has been an inspiration to heroes in both Brimstone City and Alpha City, Florida (founded and named after Alpha Soldier post-WWII).
Vigilantes and superhumans stayed mostly in the shadows until only very recently. In 2008 as a result of a ritual performed by the sinister villain group known as The Cabal of Nightmares, Rallax The Destroyer walked the earth again, emerging from the La Brea Tar Pits and claiming Los Angeles as "(his) property and playground" and brought havoc and destruction to it. One previously unknown hero (believed to be an incarnation of Shroud) was slaughtered on live television. The US government brought together some the heroes of both Brimstone and Alpha City together to try to stop Rallax and the demons he brought with him. Five heroes (one yet another incarnation of Shroud) managed to confront Rallax directly and with their teamwork drove the demons back. Shroud fled to the shadows, and the other four were commissioned to be Strike Force One, a loose confederation of heroes who would occassionally band together as the first line of defense against superhuman threats.
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That's just my backround. Still need to do writeups about the three major superhuman cities and figure out who goes where... and writeups of individual characters etc. I'm shooting for at least 40 heroes and 30 villains, as well as at least a dozen gangs for street level adventures should street gangs with multiple nameless members be part of the game. There might be three or four teams to each side (Counting Strike Force One and Cabal of Nightmares), and at least one Hydra-like supervillain syndicate with both nameless pawns and named villain members.
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05-13-2011, 06:17 AM
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