Terminax

Whenever I read over my Champions source books, I'm struck by the range of activities ARGENT is involved in around the world -- how many pies it has its fingers in, and how viciously it digs into them. But from comments I've heard over the years, most Champions players who don't have those books don't fully appreciate what ARGENT is capable of, nor the range of uses it can be put to for character origins and backstory. In part this is due to there being no source book dedicated to that malevolent corporation. Hero Games did plan to publish one, but the severe downsizing the company went through several years ago curtailed that plan for the foreseeable future. There's actually substantial information extant, but it's dispersed over more than a dozen books.

I thought it might be interesting and helpful to the community to pull that info together and organize it for easy consumption here. What follows on this thread is a brief history of ARGENT; a summary of ARGENT's motivations, goals, and methods of operation; a rundown of its known organizing structure, with a little logical extrapolation based on relevant precedents; ARGENT front companies described in the books; an overview of ARGENT's extensive activities around the globe; its interactions with various superhumans and supercrime groups -- those it works with, is interested in, and its rivals and enemies; a list of official supervillains (and superheroes) who owe their superhuman abilities to ARGENT science, and how they came to be; and a collection of devices commonly used by ARGENT's operatives.

For anyone interested in looking up this information themselves, the core history and description of ARGENT appears in Champions Universe. Significant additional info is in Champions Universe: News Of The World, Champions Worldwide, Monster Island, and Teen Champions. Smaller amounts are in the Champions Villains trilogy, Hidden Lands, Millennium City, UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom, and VIPER: Coils Of The Serpent. ARGENT is also briefly mentioned in Book Of The Destroyer, Champions Beyond, Champions Of The North, Cops Crews And Cabals, DEMON: Servants Of Darkness, and Vibora Bay.
 
Because there are substantial differences to how ARGENT is depicted in Champions Online compared to our pen-and-paper game's books, I'm confining myself just to data found in the latter. But I'd be happy to add info related to the MMO if anyone's interested.

The garden before yesterday's thunderstorm.
 

 

 
A wild flower that's crept into the garden.
 

 
 

I fly both a Canadian and American flag and "properly" at that. I'm not particularly patriotic to either Canada or the USA, it's just something I do because several of my significant others are American and I always thought it respectful that I cared about them as I do my fellow Canucks.

I fly both a Canadian and American flag and "properly" at that. I'm not particularly patriotic to either Canada or the USA, it's just something I do because several of my significant others are American and I always thought it respectful that I cared about them as I do my fellow Canucks.

I fly both a Canadian and American flag and "properly" at that. I'm not particularly patriotic to either Canada or the USA, it's just something I do because several of my significant others are American and I always thought it respectful that I cared about them as I do my fellow Canucks.

My flower garden.
 

 
The first fancy daylily bloom of the year, "Angie" named after a dear friend of mine. 
 

 
Another picture of "Angie", earlier in the day when the light was strong.

My flower garden.
 

 
The first fancy daylily bloom of the year, "Angie" named after a dear friend of mine. 
 

 
Another picture of "Angie", earlier in the day when the light was strong.

I think it was a comic exclusive character and never featured in any of the game books that I'm aware of.

My flower garden.
 

 
The first fancy daylily bloom of the year, "Angie" named after a dear friend of mine. 
 

 
Another picture of "Angie", earlier in the day when the light was strong.

I've been recuperating from a deck job for the last couple days, so have had time to sit down and write. Not quite enough along to show the work but getting there. Hero Designer is sure getting a work out! 
 
Terror Incorporated
 
Profesor Muerte, the renegade disciple of Doctor Destroyer founded his hybrid villain team/organization in the early 1980s. He'd strike seemingly at random, with agents in tow and causing terrible casualties before packing up. In truth his terror attacks were merely diversions so other agents could carry out bank heists, rob precious metal or gem exchanges and kidnap the wealthy to ransom without interference from law enforcement. On occasion, he'd raid corporate or governmental research labs to steal their secrets. Profesor Muerte soon branched out, networking with other criminal and terrorist organizations, becoming an instrumental middle man and outfitter. By the late 80s, he had well established himself and began experimenting with various techniques to develop super beings, resulting in creation of Gigante, Think Tank and several others. He also recruited the mercenary Feurermacher and former IRA terrorist Scorpia to his cause.
 
Through the 90s, Terror Inc kept relatively clear of superhero activity, crossing swords more with the likes of UNTIL, PRIMUS and other law enforcement agencies. Successful as they were, the group began to crack with the ambitious Scorpia wanting more from life than being Muerte's lackey and Feurermacher growing wearing of Muerte's failed promises to stabilize his condition. When the latest Gigante died in a confrontation with UNTIL, Scorpia, tired of the situation decided to contact Eurostar secretly and offer her services, which Fiacho immediate accepted. Scorpia easily convinced Feurmacher to join with her, and between the two they murdered Profesor Muerte and after taking what they could from Terror Inc's lair, blew it up and left to Europe.
 
The problem was, they did not kill the Profesor. The man who Scorpia and Feurmacher killed was in fact, Profesor Muerte's longstanding chief agent and body double. For years, he'd operated as Profesor Muerte's proxy in the field while the real Profesor Muerte kept entirely to the shadows. While Scorpia's betrayal stung, it was never unexpected that she'd turn on him. She and Feurmacher had never met or worked with the original Muerte. Hidden in his true lair, Profesor Muerte let Terror Inc seemingly crumble and take the pressure and heat that had built up against for two decades away. In truth, he purged and reforged his organization and simply picked up where the old group left off, establishing new fronts to provide the same services he always has. In the last decade, he has created a new squad of super agents and prepared for the eventual confrontation with Eurostar. He has sold them weapons and tech for their own efforts, building in the means to track and disable them when the time is right to attack.
 
Notes: Gigante, Terror Inc's brick was not a single person but a long succession of short lived constructs created by genetic alternations and surgical grafts that were always just called Gigante and looked identical. Because of the expense of their creation and their short life span, between two to four years each, Profesor Muerte only created one at a time and would replace them at need. Scorpia and Feurmacher never cottoned on because Gigante followed the orders of the (false) Profesor Muerte.
 
Profesor Muerte himself remains a budget version of Doctor Destroyer, with four major outposts across the world, eight more smaller hideouts and facilities, a small fleet of vehicles including a stealth airplane and transport submarine plus an agent corps of about 1,400.
 
Terror Incorporated super agents TBD.
 
Deathstroke
 
Another group of the 80s and 90s, Deathstroke fell apart when their plans for world domination, ended in complete failure and all but the founders and brothers, Requiem and Chiller were seemingly killed. The brothers were sent off to Stronghold and rotted there, failing to escape during either the major breakouts in late 90s and 2000s. That's when the super villain Think Tank came into their lives in 2015. The odd psychic/cybernetic villain had bounced across America for close to twenty years, serving as a freelancer for ARGENT, PSI and VIPER as well as groups like the Crusher Gang or the Ultimates until his capture by the Elite. Sent to Stronghold, it turned out that Think Tank had compromised the integrity of the facility years in advance and had secretly stockpiled the means to escape. While gathering and reassembling his scattered components, he was spotted by Requiem and Chiller and to keep their silence offered to take them with him. In the break out, Think Tank neutralized not only the power dampeners, security robots but also the hot sleep cells. The mass breakout of 2015 shattered Stronghold to it's foundation.
 
As promised, Think Tank took Requiem and Chiller with him, and the newly freed brothers pitched the idea of reforming Deathstroke. Not having anything better to do, Think Tank agreed but with the caveat that he'd have input on any new additions to the team. Their first recruits were the modern Blowtorch,
 
Notes:  The DuMorte brothers, Requiem and Chiller have hardened over their decades of imprisonment. 
 
Think Tank, was created by Profesor Muerte early on in his career to be his version of Doctor Destroyer's minion Menton. Comprised of the disembodied cybernetically boosted brains of six minor psychics wired together into a gestalt being, and encased into a small tracked chassis with four robotic tentacle arms, Profesor Muerte found the results lacking so he dispatched the creature into the world on it's own, wiping it's memory of it's creator and giving it the secret mission of compromising Stronghold and staging a break out should it end up there. It took it years to get there but it did and once it did, for the first time in years Think Tank found itself aimless and latched onto the DuMorte brothers.
 
Blowtorch II took over from Blowtorch I, after the original burned himself to a crisp fighting an unnamed vigilante in a Detroit warehouse in 2013. Aside from cosmetic changes, the new one uses an improved version of the original's customized flamethrower which he calls the "Inferno Gun" and carries a second, handgun sized version as well as delayable explosive incendiary charges. Blowtorch II isn't the pyromaniac that the original was, just a professional arsonist who "upped his game.
 
 

I've been recuperating from a deck job for the last couple days, so have had time to sit down and write. Not quite enough along to show the work but getting there. Hero Designer is sure getting a work out! 
 
Terror Incorporated
 
Profesor Muerte, the renegade disciple of Doctor Destroyer founded his hybrid villain team/organization in the early 1980s. He'd strike seemingly at random, with agents in tow and causing terrible casualties before packing up. In truth his terror attacks were merely diversions so other agents could carry out bank heists, rob precious metal or gem exchanges and kidnap the wealthy to ransom without interference from law enforcement. On occasion, he'd raid corporate or governmental research labs to steal their secrets. Profesor Muerte soon branched out, networking with other criminal and terrorist organizations, becoming an instrumental middle man and outfitter. By the late 80s, he had well established himself and began experimenting with various techniques to develop super beings, resulting in creation of Gigante, Think Tank and several others. He also recruited the mercenary Feurermacher and former IRA terrorist Scorpia to his cause.
 
Through the 90s, Terror Inc kept relatively clear of superhero activity, crossing swords more with the likes of UNTIL, PRIMUS and other law enforcement agencies. Successful as they were, the group began to crack with the ambitious Scorpia wanting more from life than being Muerte's lackey and Feurermacher growing wearing of Muerte's failed promises to stabilize his condition. When the latest Gigante died in a confrontation with UNTIL, Scorpia, tired of the situation decided to contact Eurostar secretly and offer her services, which Fiacho immediate accepted. Scorpia easily convinced Feurmacher to join with her, and between the two they murdered Profesor Muerte and after taking what they could from Terror Inc's lair, blew it up and left to Europe.
 
The problem was, they did not kill the Profesor. The man who Scorpia and Feurmacher killed was in fact, Profesor Muerte's longstanding chief agent and body double. For years, he'd operated as Profesor Muerte's proxy in the field while the real Profesor Muerte kept entirely to the shadows. While Scorpia's betrayal stung, it was never unexpected that she'd turn on him. She and Feurmacher had never met or worked with the original Muerte. Hidden in his true lair, Profesor Muerte let Terror Inc seemingly crumble and take the pressure and heat that had built up against for two decades away. In truth, he purged and reforged his organization and simply picked up where the old group left off, establishing new fronts to provide the same services he always has. In the last decade, he has created a new squad of super agents and prepared for the eventual confrontation with Eurostar. He has sold them weapons and tech for their own efforts, building in the means to track and disable them when the time is right to attack.
 
Notes: Gigante, Terror Inc's brick was not a single person but a long succession of short lived constructs created by genetic alternations and surgical grafts that were always just called Gigante and looked identical. Because of the expense of their creation and their short life span, between two to four years each, Profesor Muerte only created one at a time and would replace them at need. Scorpia and Feurmacher never cottoned on because Gigante followed the orders of the (false) Profesor Muerte.
 
Profesor Muerte himself remains a budget version of Doctor Destroyer, with four major outposts across the world, eight more smaller hideouts and facilities, a small fleet of vehicles including a stealth airplane and transport submarine plus an agent corps of about 1,400.
 
Terror Incorporated super agents TBD.
 
Deathstroke
 
Another group of the 80s and 90s, Deathstroke fell apart when their plans for world domination, ended in complete failure and all but the founders and brothers, Requiem and Chiller were seemingly killed. The brothers were sent off to Stronghold and rotted there, failing to escape during either the major breakouts in late 90s and 2000s. That's when the super villain Think Tank came into their lives in 2015. The odd psychic/cybernetic villain had bounced across America for close to twenty years, serving as a freelancer for ARGENT, PSI and VIPER as well as groups like the Crusher Gang or the Ultimates until his capture by the Elite. Sent to Stronghold, it turned out that Think Tank had compromised the integrity of the facility years in advance and had secretly stockpiled the means to escape. While gathering and reassembling his scattered components, he was spotted by Requiem and Chiller and to keep their silence offered to take them with him. In the break out, Think Tank neutralized not only the power dampeners, security robots but also the hot sleep cells. The mass breakout of 2015 shattered Stronghold to it's foundation.
 
As promised, Think Tank took Requiem and Chiller with him, and the newly freed brothers pitched the idea of reforming Deathstroke. Not having anything better to do, Think Tank agreed but with the caveat that he'd have input on any new additions to the team. Their first recruits were the modern Blowtorch,
 
Notes:  The DuMorte brothers, Requiem and Chiller have hardened over their decades of imprisonment. 
 
Think Tank, was created by Profesor Muerte early on in his career to be his version of Doctor Destroyer's minion Menton. Comprised of the disembodied cybernetically boosted brains of six minor psychics wired together into a gestalt being, and encased into a small tracked chassis with four robotic tentacle arms, Profesor Muerte found the results lacking so he dispatched the creature into the world on it's own, wiping it's memory of it's creator and giving it the secret mission of compromising Stronghold and staging a break out should it end up there. It took it years to get there but it did and once it did, for the first time in years Think Tank found itself aimless and latched onto the DuMorte brothers.
 
Blowtorch II took over from Blowtorch I, after the original burned himself to a crisp fighting an unnamed vigilante in a Detroit warehouse in 2013. Aside from cosmetic changes, the new one uses an improved version of the original's customized flamethrower which he calls the "Inferno Gun" and carries a second, handgun sized version as well as delayable explosive incendiary charges. Blowtorch II isn't the pyromaniac that the original was, just a professional arsonist who "upped his game.
 
 

I do the math/setup in Hero Designer and copy it over to a list in LibreOffice writer. I usually do powers in sets with brief descriptions, then have an a-la-carte list from cheapest powers to most expensive powers to plug and play with. Works well for me for everything from arsenals to gadgets to magic spells and cosmic power pools.
 

So, yes, OT1H, all the reasoning around mutant hysteria does fall down upon examination, but then as a metaphor for racism, that works, because the rationalizations an constructs of racism, and race itself, also don't hold up to dispassionate scrutiny.
 
OTOH, the consistent presentation of a group as dangerous is just part of prejudice against that group.  Maybe Marvel should have introduced a lot more non-/trivially- powered but obvious mutants as 'extras' in background scenes and as victims of mutant hysteria, to make that point more clearly?
 
Personally, that still feels on-point for me as a metaphor of the crazy ways race can work.  In past times and places, there were racists who were absolutely certain they could tell a Jew or an Irishman or whatever at a glance, while today, we don't see it, like, at all.  
 
Certainly, tho, a story or two of a mutant spreading around a mutate or mystic origin story as a way of "Passing" might've been a nice idea.
 
OK, well, I can agree to disagree on that point.  I quite like allegory as a literary technique.  It allows the reader to look at the logical structure and moral/ethical implications of a real-world phenomenon without all the unexamined emotional attachment they may have to it.  Sure, some of us can be super-dispassionate without any such crutch, but even if all of us could, it can still be an aesthetically pleasing literary device.

Gave a buddy of mine who's an International Harvester fan and owner of a few vehicles your information and photo. I'll let you know if he turns up anything.
 

A bit of clarification, that may help (or not).
 
Stan Lee specifically noted that the principle behind the mutant plight, and the main two leaders, was to draw a parallel between the civil rights struggles; with Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr.  In order to "hide the irony", Professor X would be MLK and Magneto would be Malcom X.
 
The concept was to show the two ways one can try to overcome the civil right oppression of the majority; either peacefully or militantly.
 
So, one of the reasons that the mutant plight rang true (at least in America, but to a lessor degree world-wide), is because it was mirroring struggles that were really happening (and still do).
 
It didn't need to make logical sense in regards to why "altered humans" or aliens were not treated the same way.  The point was that unlike an altered human or alien, mutants were born that way, and thus had no say in their plight - so, somehow people had to just "know", so the analogy would work.  In fact, the fact that altered humans or aliens are accepted and mutants (who were born that way and had no say) are not, makes the whole parable that much more heart churning.
 
Finally, another aspect not mentioned by others (which the point I've made above does not contradict, but only explains the "why"), is that most mutants express their powers around puberty - and have no training how to use them, so many are angst-ridden teenagers, with powers they can't control - not a very safe or comfortable prospect (for "normals").
 
My $.02.

Everyone - I'm cool. We're cool. I might have been annoyed, but I am not remotely angry with anyone. I apologize if I've ruffled any feathers with my statements.
 
I've made it a policy that I tell people up front what they can expect from me at my table (whether virtual or not) and one of the things is I don't want to play with certain types of people. I don't wish them any ill, but the vast majority of the Right-Wing and so-called Libertarians, apocalyptic Evangelicals and anti-LGBTQ+ types hold views very contrary to mine and work against my well-being and that of many others. I don't really want to discuss it at length in public, hence why I asked what I did.
 
Tjack - Thank you for the welcome. I am however not particularly new. I've been a member since 2009. I've just not communicated much over the years. Past social anxiety issues mostly.
 
Opal - I'll refrain from further RL political comment in public. I will send you a PM instead to address your points.
 
The third party in-game politics however are fair game. I happen to remember Ross Perot Jr sort-of Presidential run in 1992 and it definitely had an impact, even if he fizzled out. Third party candidates were getting elected elsewhere, like Jesse Ventura in Minnesota. So in a world of superheroes, and different outcomes, I could very well see a third party IF it was run well and consistently having an opportunity in 1992 when both the Republicans and Democratic candidates were weak and suffering from missteps As parties go, the Patriot party is a center-right with a very "Greatest Generation" vibe to it especially at first. Russel G. Warding was young (early 40s), charismatic, very successful both in business and family without any whiff of scandal. He had connections that served him well and unlike Perot, spent time building his political movement and message well advance of the election and stood firm on his messaging throughout the election. He appealed to allot of the voter base and was shockingly elected. He only lasted a term however because the Patriot party held neither the House or Senate and had to fight every inch to get anything done, so he was voted out then the next four years sucked and he got elected again, this time with a much bigger margin in the House, and about the same as before in the senate and he got allot more done. Sadly his successors weren't as talented, and the party steadily lost ground afterwards but I haven't gotten to the more modern political climate.
 
There is quite allot I haven't gotten to yet and the Rhodesia/South Africa history blurbs and specifics are part of those. There's an couple of alien invasion/incursions that hit in the 70s, and Rhodesia/South Africa lucked out and retrieved alien salvage from one which gives them a technological edge against their neighbors. Rhodesia in particular also have a significant RAVEN presence.  I've told others elsewhere on the forum I am a fan of old school VIPER and RAVEN. The dynamics of 4E's war between them that led to RAVEN falling to VIPER then being milked for cash, then freeing and reinventing itself was one of the best long term plot threads that spanned the original setting. My twist is that yes RAVEN loses the war, is taken over by VIPER and milked for cash then frees a *portion* of itself. The freed RAVEN in the 90s becomes the reinvented Raven as what occured in the 4Es An Eye For An Eye book. However, there's a portion that sticks together under VIPER, who ultimately "sheds" it as franchise to one of it's most reliable Nest Leaders and it becomes RAVEN 3.0, which serves closer to the original RAVEN in design rather than the criminal conspiracy that Raven develops into. Three orgs, two with the same name and all very confusing to outsiders if they don't pay attention/know the backstory. South Africa is an entirely different matter and is basically old Apartheid Africa given a new lease on life thanks to alien technology.  They're heavily dependent on robotic drones which allow them to cope with numbers it's opposition possess. Africa of this world is much more in strife torn than our world.
 
As to North Korea, it's easier to answer this backwards. I'm a huge fan of the Uber comic and really have wanted to do something with it in game form and this someplace I think I can use the ideas behind Uber without it being an alt-WW2 universe. North Korea is basically a nazi state in all but name and conveniently they had this one time when they could have been pushed off the map had the Chinese not stepped in to save them. So instead of the Chinese stepping in, what if the North Koreans had an army of super men that they finally commit to action? That's my hook. As to what the whole process is, that's one of the secret plots I'm not going to reveal outside of it getting revealed in-game. Every North Korean has blood taken and tested, to determine their viability as a candidate. They get a mark on their personal papers and when they serve their obligatory service, candidates get pulled based on said mark and the national need for particular subtype of super man, go to the deep underground (yet unpenetrated by outsiders) bunker complex in the North of the country and... go through the process and return to duty as part of the North Korea Special Forces branch. Back during the war, the process was a bit cruder and they made only the basic light brick initially but against normal soldiers, that's still more than enough. Over the years since, they've refined and broadened their capabilities and it wasn't until after the armistice that the developed their equivalent to the "battleships" of Uber. As for China, they basically have the same view of North Korea after they got the bomb... contain contain contain.
 
As to why other countries haven't figured out North Korea's secret sauce? Or duplicated on their own? They just plain don't have the secret ingredient(s) or the secret recipe/formulation to make it and the North Koreans who know either are number less than twenty and perhaps as many as three know both and none of them have been above ground since they were read in. Attempts have been made to procure it and failed. As to good old Doctor Destroyer, he's dismissive of whatever they're doing because he knows his technology is better. He's certainly grabbed a few "samples" over the years and tried to figure it out and... it's secret has always eluded him. That should tell you something. Malachite... err, I mean Teleios has the same thought process.
 
Most of the world's super soldier programs follow the traditional paths - genetic manipulation, biological and chemical augmentation or cybernetics. Cybernetics are by far the most reliable method but not cost effective. Genetic manipulation is a crap shoot - mutates are tend to be as random as mutants are (and yes, I follow the Marvel conventions of Mutates vs Mutants) but hybrids... well there's been some success there just hasn't worked out to the point where nations would trust the results or tolerate the bad publicity. VIPER on the other hand... Biological and chemical augmentation can be fairly reliable and comparatively cheap but they usually go only so far and have side effects. Other technologies have just worked out better. Power suits and Mecha for instance. Not any cheaper, but normal people can use them and that ultimately makes them more comfortable to most governments.
 
 Long winded but I hope that answers your questions.

An Amazonian looking woman in a red and black costume with exaggerated spikes on her shoulders steps out as the commercial starts, "Hi. I'm the villainess Bonecrush!  Some folks know me for my amazing Prius chucking abilities, others scream in terror as I dangle their chosen heroes such as Australian Ninjas over the wreckage of a building I helped decimate. I was having a successful career as a bad guy! I was really getting up there, but like many twenty first century super-criminal women, I wanted MORE than just career. I wanted someone special in my life. Someone I didn't have to kidnap to get a 10 minute conversation with."
 
A Mars Unit pulls up, their law enforcement vehicle being used as cover as they draw out their high powered weapons "Freeze!"
 
She sighs, grabs an empty garbage dumpster and flinging it up where will land on the Mars Police unit, forcing them to flee. After it comes down with a huge smashing WHAM she continues, "I admit it, I was lonely, and I was missing romance. Sure, I knew other supervilains, but a lot of them just weren't connecting with me. I'm okay with world conquerors, high tech assassins, and vengeful maniacs, but... some of them get handsy before they know you- Ugh, what a turn off."
 
Bonecrush holds up her smart phone, "That's when I found Rend-er! The Dating app for Supervillains! I took a compatibility test, gauging my limits of what's acceptable to me ethically. A personal example? Removing spines non surgically? YES. "  She smiles , then goes on "Ketchup on Spaghetti? NO"  A look of disgust, before her expression  turns cheerful again, "And Rend-er takes that all into account! And now I'm meeting with bad guys who don't just desire and admire this big bullet proof body, they respect and want to talk about what I value in my life of mayhem! Who knows? The chances of meeting Mister Right just went up, " She pauses and covers her mouth coquettishly  with a glove that has an old blood stain on the index finger that just hasn't quite washed out, then winks and smiles as she removes it "Or should I say ? Mister WRONG for everyone else... but me!"
 
SUBTITLES FLASH ACROSS COMMERICAL SCREEN IN SMALL PRINT:
Render is for Entertainment only. Render is not responsible for undercover superheroes who may use you to get information on your next crime and or make you want to reform. Some applicants may lie and seek to use your genetic material, blood, or very soul for even grander dark schemes. Render is also not responsible for your secret identity or plans being discovered by spunky reporters you will want to kill later. Please use the Rend-er app with caution for these reasons and more. But isn't love worth it?

Technology, Magic and Mutants in A World Apart
 
---
 
Technology in this world is often well advance of our own, but in general application of said technologies still happened across a same time frame as world. For instance, while cellphones and similar small sized communications equipment were deployed much earlier than the real world, their overall usage didn't really take off any faster than in the world of A World Apart. Super science and technology has been rampant since just before WW2. Early superhumans were almost all the result of genetic alteration (even if they didn't understand genetics until later) via biological and chemical augmentation. Early computers and even cybernetics/robotics existed in very experimental forms from the start but they didn't really get used/applied until later. Things like power armor and robots saw service in WW2 but they were crude compared to what developed in the so-called Silver Age. The internet bloomed in the same time frame as the real world but things like broadband and fiber optics supplanted dial-up  in much quicker timeframe and so on.
 
Mecha and super robots exist, with mecha largely supplanting super robots in modern times - the difference in the two is mostly a matter of appearance and size. Mecha tend to be smaller, look like real robots/vehicles and far more numerous than you'd expect. Super robots tend to be giants, and outlandish looking and most have been long retired by the modern era. Yes there were giant monsters and yes they fought. Just in general, they did so outside the public eye or were actively covered by outside forces. Japan was super crazy in the 60s and 70s for them and had no less than 7 super robots (many of which were combiners!) but over the years they've all been destroyed, dismantled or mothballed and in modern times, Mecha have taken their place. The USA, Russia and China maintain the largest numbers with most other inclined nations have a one to three dozen such machines.
 
Similarly from the 1970s onwards, there was a tremendous increase in power armored and cybernetic using superbeings. In modern times, particular since the 2000s the military, police and other security agencies all have access to such technology though the ultratech versions used by the likes Paradigm and Doctor Destroyer are far beyond anything in common use. Life extension technology is extremely common with the wealthy or powerful easily able to double their natural life expectancy.

How the North Korean superhuman program works is completely unknown, even to Doctor Destroyer though he's of the opinion it's based on alien technology. UNTIL thinks it's some form of magic. There seems to a different series of techniques involved, because they have developed quite a few variations over the years. The most typical power set is a low-powered brick with low-powered speedsters and telekinetics being the next two most common power sets. However, there are a number of much more powerful versions of the above that combine all the previously mentioned characteristics and even some unique abilities. What IS known, that the process is ultimately fatal to the user - dramatically shortening their lives. Typically the subject is endowed at 18-20 years of age (and possibly earlier) and the average lifespan is reduce to 30 to 35 years of age and often less, depending on how much they use their powers. Lives are very expendable in the DPRK and women are expected to have as many children as possible as result.
 
---
 
Magic on the other hand is wildly disputed topic in IC terms. There's as many truths and fictions as there individuals, creatures, and entities and it becomes muddled fast to normals. All that people can really agree on is magic exists, that supposed patheons of Gods amd Demi-Gods exist and the rare Dragon makes an appearance. For the people who are actually involved in the magical world, they know magic has existed for much longer than current record of history and that is has largely waxed and waned over the years and since the 1920s it has been absolutely exploding beyond any level ever experienced by humanity. For as many people who claim they have the answers, just as many people try to disprove them.
 
Magic, like superpowers is only wielded by a small fraction of the population and in many forms. There are a handful of "Arch Mages" or high-powered magical beings seen in public but for the most part, they keep quiet on the vagaries of magic. They're usually just viewed as superhumans with a difference. Governments tend to really dislike magic as they cannot control, quantify or regulate it effectively.
 
The speculation concerning the seven (or are there more?) great wards - all of which predate the structures placed over top of them - focuses on the idea that there was some precursor of modern man, who lived in an age unknown to those that came after it and of no record of it remains. Certainly geographic and archeological evidence does not support this but magic is... weird. What IS known, is that three of the wards have completely failed each leading to a small catastrophe in the modern world. Four more are believed to exist and are all compromised and will fail eventually. But nobody knows where or how or what will happen when they do. As to what the wards were intended for, it's believed that they channel Earth's magical energies into a containment spell which quelled magic for thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years. Both the Circle of the Scarlet Moon and DEMON have their own theories, ranging from entombing some great precursor mage to sealing away primordial beings but is it the truth? Nobody knows.
 
Magical creatures from Trolls to Goblins to Fae and the frequently mentioned Dragons exist, but are very rarely seen by the general public and often will be just be confused with superhumans in general. After all is there any difference between an Orc and a person who LOOKS like an Orc thanks to a mutation? Magic is... weird. 
 
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Mutants are believed to be the result of the radical increase in radioactivity resulting from nuclear weapon usage for the past 70+ years. Like normal humans who have undergone experimental superhuman augmentation, they've been affected somehow at the deepest genetic levels which manifest in all sorts of superhuman abilities and powers. However, in direct contrast to the results of experimentation, technology or even magic or the divine - mutants face allot of public mistrust and blowback for mostly hypocritical and religious reasons. The negative view of mutants is not nearly held as strongly as classic racism, sexism or classism divides but certainly is a rising problem.
 
According to Rhodesia and South Africa (which both remain as isolated White dominated Apartheid states in A World Apart) there are no mutants nor magic using people in either country. The truth is, as soon as anyone, emphatically non-white shows a speck of superhuman ability, regardless of it's origins they are tracked down and murdered. Whites with superhuman abilities, even mutants are required to serve the state in perpetuity, and maintain the cover than their abilities are the result of enhancement technology. Those that don't get with the program are likewise eliminated unless they manage to flee outside of Africa.
 
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Not at the moment but perhaps sometime in the future. I'm putting out the campaign notes in full first.

Guys, when I said "To save us all time and energy let's just silently agree to disagree and your presence or commentary are not necessary". I meant, don't litter my thread with your completely off-topic banter. 
 
 

A broad outline of A World Apart:
 
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The world of A World Apart is similar but different than ours. Superheroes, as we know them came into being mostly in the Interwar years and World War 2. Mystics, wizards and strange things weren't unknown beforehand or during but the world-at-large didn't believe so their power, influence and visibility were highly restricted. Yes they were there, but in the shadows. On some worlds, Nazi Germany and it's fascination with the occult were responsible for a surge in magical forces but here not so much. Instead the cause behind that, would be found in 1920s Egypt. During Howard Carter's discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb, he inadvertently weakened a ward that lay under the tomb placed there in times far older than the Pyramids themselves. One of seven such scattered across the world at what once were the nexus points of ley line energies that fed magic to the planet. As the one in Egypt faltered so did the other's weaken, slowly but surely. This act, allowed energies once dammed up and shunted elsewhere to flow once more unimpeded. At first it was just a trickle of an increase in magical power but as the coming decades would reveal the eventual flood that'd come would have grave consequences for the world. At the same time, science was revealing secrets of it's own, leading man to build devices of increasing complexity and power, shaping the world in ways never seen and revealing fundamental building blocks to the universe itself.
 
As the world barreled into World War 2, the first true superhumans were born in the labs of Germany and America, then Russia and Britain then all over as experimentation in biological and chemical sciences unleashed man's true potential. While most weren't much more powerful than highly trained and those at the peak of athletic fitness, some were and demonstrating powers of the unbelievable - the strength to lift tons. to throw electricity or fire or the power to move objects with one's mind or probe into the thoughts of others. As the world fought each other so did these men (and women). Patriot, the American Shield, Herrenmensch [Master Man], Blitzkrieg, the People's Protector, Red Star, Union Jack, Spitfire and many others. Soon, advances in war making technologies would unleash novel technologies, most barely understood or stable. So-called Doomsday devices would be invented and almost always fail. Until the Americans developed the atomic bomb and used it to end the war in the Pacific, destroying two Japanese cities in the process. Germany itself was beaten long before that, even with the boasts of it's masked men, scientific elite and occultists who turned to the ever increasingly available mystic arts.
 
The Post-War period was a time of denouement as the world recovered and changed even more. The first generation of Superheroes for the most part faded away. either retiring from public life or dying as side effect of the means which they gained their powers. A very few stayed active, though most stayed in the shadows. The unleashing of the power of the atom would have it's own side effects. Radiation and radioactive pollutions from the variety of nuclear explosions would go on to affect the genetics of a tiny minority of people, giving them superpowers through mutation. While most of those so afflicted would not demonstrate their powers until the late 50s and early 60s, those that were blessed or cursed by them were a magnitude more powerful than the generation that came before them. The second and less visible side effect is the unseen side effect of nuclear detonations. Each time one was exploded for testing, the energy waving forth dramatically affected the nexus points and ley lines of magical power on the world. Now that they were properly "live", instead of being inactive, each blast overcharged the ley lines and nexus points. They still were being drained but now with pulses of power charging through them, other wards began to fail faster. If only man had known what it'd soon unleashed.
 
As the world recovered, men and women of power and influence gathered together and formed the criminal cartel they called VIPER. A council of elites were formed to direct the organization from the shadows and they recruited a leader, a figurehead of sorts to act as their public face who they called the Supreme Serpent. Arming themselves with cutting edge weapon technology, VIPER quickly found supervillains to be of supreme usefulness and recruited them if only to serve as living weapons. Their goal was to gain power, and eventually dominate the world. Elsewhere, unknown to all, one of Germany's top scientists had stayed aloof and untouched by Allied hands. Now calling himself Doctor Destroyer, he would prepare in secret for his own plans of world domination. In North America, a motley collection of mystics, magically inclined individuals and even a Dragon (woken from it's long slumber by the return of magic levels worldwide) assemble and found what will become the modern Circle of the Scarlet Moon. One of their own would seek his own path, ultimately creating the basis of the future DEMON organization. On the side of "Good", the United Nations Tribunal on International Law or UNTIL is formed and in the USA, PRIMUS is created. 
 
The Korean War proceeds largely without the presence of superheroes until the United Nation forces regain the initiative and push Northwards towards the Yula River. At that moment, North Korea reveals that it has developed a reliable and reproducible means to create superhumans at an unprecedented scale, deploying the world's first (and to this day) only superhuman army. Pushing the UN back to the 38th parallel, the Korean War ends in stalemate that lasts to the modern day.  Around the world, other nations rush to do the same but over the coming decades, the various programs are rarely create more than a singleton or handful of superhuman results. By the late 60s the first mutants start cropping up, the majority of which appear in the American West or Japan. Technology advances quickly, leading to a profusion of superhuman enhanced by powered armor and giant robots. It's at this time, America's leading technologist and inventor becomes Paradigm. A new wave of superheroes take the world and particularly the United States by storm, becoming the heroes of the silver age. Some are legacies, taking over the roles of Golden age heroes while others claim to be Gods and Demi-Gods of old awakened by the changing world.
 
The assassinations of both Kennedys tip the world ever so slowly into a darker, more complicated world. Decolonization in Asia and Africa lead to conflict after conflict. The silver age begins to tarnish and turn it's generation of superheroes into peacekeepers and peacemakers. Supervillains of increasing power begin to appear, as do Mutants. As the world enters the third stage of superhuman development, or the bronze age to some - the first aliens appear (or at least acknowledged in modern times) drawn to Earth by it's numerous nuclear bomb testings over the years . These first incursions are almost always met by superhuman force and drive away, for now the majority of these off world visitors. Among the space faring races, Earth becomes a place to avoid - too dangerous, unpredictable and unwise by their standards - though some of them have other musings. It is in 1970 that Doctor Destroyer first appears and defeated by a coalition of superheros under the banner of UNTIL. VIPER not to be outdone also launches it's first forays in global domination but all of which fail, leading to an internal collapse and reorganization. RAVEN is birthed in these tulumutus times as an counter anti-colonial organization, marking among its members, magnates and royalty from around of the world unwilling to lose their power bases without a fight. In Chicago, a young teen comes into the possession of a mystical amulet that transforms him into a tall, dark haired muscle clad man that can fly like a jet, easily lift a locomotive over his head and nearly indestructible to harm. Calling himself the Mighty he becomes the Midwest's greatest hero. 
 
Learning from Korea, the United States settles the war in Vietnam quickly choosing instead to focus it's counter-Communist efforts elsewhere. Instead of the notion that it will fall under the sway of the Russian communist bloc, Vietnam joins Yugoslavia led Non-Aligned Movement. PRIMUS deploys the fruits of decades of research, unveiling the fruits of the Cyberline program - the Golden Avenger and his lesser counterparts the Silver Avengers to the world. While still not unlocking the secret of making a superhuman army as North Korea has, it does gives the USA a firm leg up over nearly everyone else.  Paradigm coaxes Patriot out of his second retirement, recruiting ten of America's most notable or powerful superheroes into the group known as the Elite. While the 70s and early 80s can be called the Bronze age by some, it stands out as the time where more superhumans than ever, many with much milder powers appear. VIPER and RAVEN begin a series of conflicts and raids against each other. Mechanon makes his first appearance in 1982 and over the course of the next few years would terrorize the east coast of the US, battling several local superhero teams, being destroyed each time only to return again.
 
In the mid-80s, The Mighty everyone in Chicago knows, disappears from public service only to be replaced by a different, slightly slimmer and smaller man naming himself the Mighty and paired with a woman of similar color and build calling herself Ms Mighty. The pair claim to brother and sister, and the children of the Mighty who they claim has retired. They serve in his stead for several years until the evil robot known as Mechanon once more attacks. In an ambush strike Mechanon swiftly strikes down Ms Mighty and in a brutal engagement across the system it and the Mighty trade blow after blow until the robot crushes the stalwart hero. Badly damaged in victory, Mechanon self-destructs when the Elite and other superhero reinforcements confront it. A search is made for the fallen Mighty and Ms Mighty but the bodies have disappeared.
 
The Cold War ends with the USSR beginning to collapse, Europe pulls together to first create the European Community then the European Union. Even as the Berlin wall falls, a outspoken Danish politician calling for even greater unity becomes disillusioned with the whole project and leaves the European parliament. In the months to come, this man would be the supervillain known as Fiacho and create Europe's first supervillain team, called Eurostar. Recruiting Europe's most powerful supervillains into it's ranks, Eurostar becomes the Europe's opposite to America's Elite. As the Warsaw Pact disintegrates and the USSR's influence retreats, South Eastern Europe becomes Eurostar's playground until VIPER, resurgent and refocused ambushes the team. Killing several of Eurostar's roster, this sparks a war between the two that lasts to this day. Iraq invades Kuwait and is ultimately repulsed by a coalition led by the USA. At the same time, a coup in the USSR leads to a dramatic reorganization it's borders as many of it's member states condemn the coup and breakaway. However the coup is ultimately successful and Russia reorganizes the USSR into a smaller but less burdened nation.
 
In the early 90s, America undergoes a sea change in politics as industrialist and business tycoon Russel G. Warding launches the Patriot party, successfully not only capturing political control over states such as Minnesota, Ohio and California but also becoming the first third party President of the country in the 1992 election campaign. The country's political landscape changes overnight. The Patriots lose control of the Presidency in 1996 to the Democrats but regain it in 2000 and ultimately losing it to the Republicans in 2004. 9/11 as we know it in our world, never happens. Instead, the world faces invasion by an apparent interdimensional conqueror who is stopped by an alliance between the world's superheroes and supervillains, with only notably North Korea refusing to get involved. This event would reinvigorate UNTIL as an international agency and cooperative effort to fight against worldwide threats. Canada would create it's own national superteam, called the Sentinels after members of the Elite cross from the American side chasing down a team of VIPER supervillains and challenging Canada's sovereignty.
 
Appearing in Chicago out of nowhere in early 2018, is someone who looks like the original Mighty in both appearance and powers. Saving a crowd from an out of control bus, he would quickly disappear as he appeared. Since then, whoever this Mighty is, has intervened city wide hundreds of times saving countless lives. Paradigm tried to confront the hero to ascertain his identity and was brushed off and told to "Get the hell out of my way you corporate stooge. Go back to Wall Street!" which was caught live on camera much to the chagrin of the armored hero.
 
GM's note: There are, obviously many many points being glossed over here and lots of other events not yet listed. More edits are coming and more will be detailed in future postings. Patriot is an Captain America (Marvel) clone, The American Shield is a Shield (Archie/Impact) clone, Paradigm is an Iron Man (Marvel) clone. North Korea's superhuman army is heavily based on Uber (Avatar). The Mighty is a Captain Marvel/Shazam and family (DC) clone, Russel G. Warding is a fictional replacement for Ross Perot Jr.

I dunno if I've mentioned this, but I was among the first in Ontario, Canada to get Covid-19 back in mid-December 2019. Couldn't prove it at the time, because tests didn't exist yet at that point and I've since had two more bouts (both with positive test results). I worked as a cleaner regularly up to March 2020, and very infrequently on a temp basis since. Always wore protection and kept my distance, but my cleaning jobs have always been at the commercial/industrial variety. The first time, I was very ill and bedridden for ten days and have never quite recovered physically from it. The two later times weren't half as bad but still not fun. Pretty similar if you got the worst pneumonia ever combined with flu. It's a misery and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
 
I'm in my mid-40s, so I'm not going to see a vaccine for at least a month, probably well into June at the rate my area of the Province is going. Anti-Mask/or anti-vaxx people are idiots at best, and complicit killers at worst to me. The governments could do a hell of allot better but it could have done allot worse too. The CERB saved me economically when it came out, but the inability to continue onto the follow up program has forced me to work dangerous gig stuff and my Province is doing it's best to even make that impossible. So it's all a very mixed bag here but it could be allot worse.

Alright, I've tracked down a single reference to Eurostar being supported in the Book of the Empress. Page 184 "IIC agents are also secretly aiding (among others) the Warlord, Kinematik, the Devil’s Advocates, Eurostar, and Sunburst." There maybe other references elsewhere I've missed.
 
So there's no details beyond it's a covert effort. So unless we decide for our individual tables that Fiacho is aware of the aid, and is just using it to further his own ends or whatever reaction we choose - the aid he's getting he's likely unaware of.

This is wagging the tail part again. Part of the whole problem is Fiacho is a bit of a blank canvas beyond his ken for European unity under his benevolent (haha...right) vision. We know what he wants. We've seen how he tries to get it but we really don't see the thinking that fills in his thought process like we have with Doctor Destroyer, Mechanon and many of the other Master Villains. In some sense, that is okay since it gives us plenty of room to choose for ourselves how to to draw the lines from A to B to C to D etc etc
 
Whereas Dean's put out the idea Fiacho might be White/Christian in view, I'd definitely eschew the Christian aspect and go with an athiest technocratic outlook. He's a politician, who's outlook has gone 180 degrees from his idealist/utopist youth of a Europe united, where cultures can grow side by side, everyone needs are taken care of and can advance the arts, sciences, technology and importantly themselves transforming Europe into the world's exemplar super-nation. Sadly he's cracked, and he's about driving Europe together for his need for power, and as a politician he's collected the tools to do just that. He's obviously a hands on type, but not necessarily a micro-manager. But those are my strokes added in, rather than what they might actually be.
 
Given Fiacho's actions, he's already worse than every single other terrorist/thug since World War II - I'm sure he'd be pretty hypocritical and view Muslims poorly in a secular, technocrat way that facists hide behind. He'd couch them as non-compatible with European morals and views, that they don't add anything of weight to European culture and in fact actively hinder Europe by not dealing with their own problems, and attempting to take over Europe with all the usual racist garbage views. I think similarly, he'd view the British negatively for Brexit and he should be smart enough to back Scottish independence/desire to return to the EU if only to divide attentions of his enemies. The UK team(s) have always been the major opposition to Eurostar so anything that hurts them is good for Eurostar. In fact, while I bet he rails at Brexit and wants to punish the UK for betraying the dream of an united Europe, I'm pretty sure he also recognizes that having them on the outside only makes him stronger on the continent.

Without trying to drag that part of the discussion any further into the mud, let's move on from what my European friends thought. I did not intend their remarks to be so controversial, just what a bunch of Europeans all had to say on the subject.
 
I think if I continue to use Eurostar, it'll be as I've already outlined before. It's a little late in the game to toss out them out given their place in both canon and my personal campaign world. Not to spoil any possible future plans but I think going forward I'll run a dedicated campaign with Eurostar making a full press run for European conquest  with the options being successful (small or large scale), flaming out or even possibly passing of the torch to the next generation of Eurostar.
 
Out of those three NPCs I've added to the team mix, Výrobca (The Manufacturer) is my favorite closely followed by Cadavru (the Body or Corpse depending on the translation). The third, the Extemist didn't work terribly well for me but was created to be a player's Hunter, so allot of his background was mixed with the player's backstory so I think I'd have to retool him if I use him at all going forward.
 
As mentioned before Výrobca is a Dieselpunk style engineer who combines a bulky, strong and metallic machine aesthetic with rune magic/magical smithing special effect. So he's sort of a magic gadgeteer mixed heavily with magically forged golem-like robots and vehicles. Combined with the added group of agents, Výrobca gives Eurostar a military force, albeit a small one that gives them allot more flexibility in terms of them actually taking/holding ground. He's less of frontline asset for the team and functions as a lesser lieutenant of the team, but still fully capable of combat if needed. He more fell into the group out of combination of self-interest/preservation than honest belief that a unified Europe under Fiacho's rule is possible but the chance of power it offers is too much to resist so he's along for the ride for now. He controls a total of 256 (+40 pts worth) of assorted enchanted mech minions and 32 (+25 pts worth) of assorted enchanted vehicles. He is also, almost unique in Eurostar in that he maintains a proper secret ID, as a very wealthy Slovakian oligarch with ownership in heavy industry and electronic manufacturing.
 
Meanwhile Cadavru was a cold-war throwback. Created in the late 70s and active from 1981-1987, Cadavru was originally known as the People's Champion. Touted as Romania's best trained soldier combined with cutting edge science, he was on the surface a super tough and skilled martial artist and national symbol and was used to advance Romanian/International Communist propaganda. However for reasons unknown to the world, he vanished in 1987 and nobody with the knowledge of why or the program that created him survived the Romanian Revolution of 1989. The truth is very dark and didn't come out even  after Eurostar somehow found him, and incorporated him in Eurostar with a name change. Cadavru was in fact the result of Romanian scientists making both a super solider serum AND longevity serum based on what were believed a trio of vampires (but were they??? nobody knows for sure) dug up from an ancient vault who were experimented on using blood farmed from hundreds (thousands? again nobody knows) of children in state care. By 1987, Cadavru / The People's Champion was undergoing negative side effects from his treatments and was "preserved" and buried at a secret site. The scientists and bureaucrat (the hunter of Cadavru) in charge of the program saw the flames of revolution coming and vanished (perhaps to VIPER or some other organization?) with the fruits of their labor and test subjects. Eurostar *somehow* got wind of his location, dug him up and with "coaching" by both Fiacho and Mentalla has slowly adapted to the modern world. Cadavru's basically turned into some sort of undead thing who can function during the day (outside of full strength sunlight, which he is susceptible to) but his full strength comes out either underground or at nighttime. He's basically yet more muscle for the team, doing what Fiacho (and Mentalla) tell him to do and doesn't really have a life outside of the team.
 
The likelihood is a multi-tier plan where Fiacho establishes a real foothold, possibly even several and consolidates a real powerbase to act as a springboard for future conquests. I know allot of people look to Eastern or South Eastern Europe as places to start, but somehow I still feel Fiacho is a Dane, thus a Western European at heart and would very much like to have power at the core of what he'd consider Europe even if he also has his mitts in going-ons in the "hinterlands" of Eastern and South Eastern Europe. This is where I wanted but didn't get any guidance from my friends. My knowledge of Europe is pretty much limited to my cold war era education and travel guides/youtube videos or research into criminal organizations for game material. I want Fiacho to live up to his name/reputation and make a real go of it.

This is the one I like. Couldn't find the B&W version I was trying to describe.