Well Here Goes.. My New World.

[GreaterThanOne]

This is the introduction to a new world I am creating for a Supers Campaign. I have an extensive background because I am also using it for a setting for a few short stories. Let me know what you think or if you see any serious problems or even if you just think something would be "cooler". Anything constructive is appreciated. I do not have a name for the setting yet so its just world setting. I have some ideas but I am waiting for an Ah-Ha moment. So here it is:

 

The adventures will take place at a time of great upheaval. The Character’s lives will develop in the immediate aftermath of an immense and continuous bombardment of Earth by Extreme Energy Cosmic Rays originating from a Supermassive Blackhole in the Ursa Major Cluster.  

 

A blackhole with a mass 9 billion times that of our sun in the center of that galaxy, rotating at 85% the speed of light has been spraying Cosmic Rays towards the center of our own Milky Way galaxy for nearly a billion years like a colossal woodchipper launching a spray of hyper-accelerated, deionized nucleons instead of bits of wood.

.  

As our solar system gyrates around the galactic core as part of one of its spiral arms, we cross paths with these enormous waves of Cosmic Rays like driving around an enormous water sprinkler with the window down on an undulating road. 

 

These rays and their sub-particles bombard Earth through its magnetic barrier, the heliosphere, causing mutations and activating passive adaptations hidden in the DNA of nearly all forms of life on the planet from bacteria and virus floating in the upper limits of the atmosphere to strange life forms adapted to a life without light, leeching the energy to survive and replicate from the chemical vents in the deepest depths of the oceans. 

 

Plants and animals can exhibit traits from species far back in their genetic tree often regressing nearly entirely and other times only exhibiting a few minor throw-back traits. Other creatures blend genetics into strange hybrids, many familiar to us through legends and mythology. Monsters like dragons, giant apes, and even unicorns have their basis in Affected animals in bygone years during past Events. Often these traits are spread broadly or were spread by particularly successful species like humans.  

 

A few of these life forms can inter-breed with local life and completely new species often emerge in generations rather than millennia or ages.  On the other side of the coin, entire Genus and Families of creatures annihilated almost overnight as ancient mosses, algae and fungi alter local ecosystems often after wreaking havoc on local life or by creating new alpha predators that decimate local plant or animal populations. 

 

Previous Events have caused mass extinctions and a particularly long Event was responsible for the Cambrian Explosion 55 million years ago. The effects have also ensured that no animal has successfully evolved to use radio or higher frequency organs on Earth as the cyclical nature of The Events cuts their branch short before it ever has a chance to be useful. Until now... 

 

Humans, in their inexhaustible curiosity and exploration have altered the very climate of Earth in great part fueled by the advances in electronic and communications technology including the use of high frequency radio and the harnessing of sub-atomic particles.  

Our technology allows us to store knowledge and communicate information across the globe in microseconds. It is the technology behind intercontinental ballistic missiles and The Internet. It has allowed us to gain dominance over the entire planet as measured by sheer impact like no other species before. Except...  

 

Without our tools, we are not much more than very curious, very weak, little monkeys. The average medium sized domestic canine could very likely kill the average, unassisted and unarmed owner if they decided to turn against them fearlessly. Forget about the average 21st century human fighting off a predator of any size alone and unarmed. 

 

But we don’t lose access to all of our tools, our species has survived and clambered to the top of the food chain on a trail of blood and fire littered with the carcasses of the species that have caused us fear and even more of those plants and animals that are resources, food or labor.  

 

We are not a peaceful species and we will not go out without a fight. Another of our greatest assets as a species is our ability to adapt to the most hostile environments, we find a way to cling to life and eventually to dominate it at times against seemingly impossible odds.  

 

Even without radio, electricity or computers we are still far from declawed. Firearms, explosives, Kevlar, RPG’s, and napalm all still level the playing field in our favor against these Monsters, and we are going to need it because... 

 

This Event is different in more than one way.  For one, its duration will be measured in decades not years or weeks. As it continues the world will continue to evolve/devolve and chaos will start to play a part as permutations of permutations twists the world into something unrecognizable to those that live to see its effects. 

 

This event also differs in another important way. Amongst those Affected humans that exhibit strange god-like powers are some from previous ages. The eldest have lived millennia, immortals for all purposes and this time they have been waiting.  

 

Since time immemorial the Affected born fortunate enough to look Human have served “civilized” men until eventually and inevitably, they too are feared or envied and eventually killed. Our species only knows one cure for fear.  

 

From the besting of Enkidu by Gilgamesh to the theft and then blinding of Polyphemus by Odysseus, history repeated itself endlessly. The victors hailed as heroes for every creature slaughtered regardless of the threat it posed or how hard it tried to avoid contact with this xenophobic and genocidal primate.  

 

This time, the eldest and wisest, the survivors of these inevitable Monster Hunters and so-called Heroes have asked, “Why should a town of filthy, superstitious, ignorant fishmongers be granted more right to life than a unique and majestic Dragon that, if left alone, will live for millennia?” and the answer was, “They should not be.” They asked themselves, “What is the worth of a noble griffon in lives of men?” and the answer was, “A great many.” And when they asked, “Why should we let them hunt us one by one, alone, hiding in the deepest caves, in the most isolated corners and the furthest isles?” and the answer was, “We should not.” 

 

This time, they are prepared. Those able to infiltrate human society have gained positions and made fortunes. They have prepared supply lines and equipment that will not be affected by The Event. Their vision is a world where the leaders shepherd the planet instead of ravage it. That nature be allowed to run its course and that undesirable traits be restrained, trained or controlled by whatever means possible but that only in the direst cases are unique species to be destroyed.  

 

They wish to impose their will on the destructive humans like the days of old in Ancient Olympus, Ancient Sumer and Old India. Before this endlessly destructive Age of Man.  

 

But first they must bring man low. Shatter his pride and take his tools so that he will know his place at the feet of the gods.    

 

A war is coming which side are you on?