AlgaeNymph

No mention of Menton?  Not just for his ability to one-shot a team, but what he does afterwards.  It's heavily implied in what's written about him that rape by mind control is his thing.  To start with.  Usually of the loved ones who any who speak against him.  He'll even send you the videos.  Here's this treat from UNTIL Superpowers Database 1 (p.85):
 
 

Ideal!  : )
 
Even better, it provides an in for Key seekers who don't have on-tap divinations.  Even mystics in Champions tend to be brutes and blasters, possessing the sort of investigative acumen you'd expect from bully boys.  Oh, and Contacts; they tend to have skills rather than spells.  KS: Signs, Portents, and Omens (which Fortean phenomena are a modern manifestation of) looks like a good skill to have.
 
Besides Gumshoe, I'll have to see what works of Kenneth Hite I can get.  Have his articles from Pyramid been put back together yet?

Mystic "echoes" of the Janus Key being used? How about Fortean events? As the Key's wielder warps reality, unintended alterations also happen. Back in the day, PCs would have needed to read the Weekly World News for sightings of Elvis (or Batboy), rains of toads, images of Jesus appearing in tortillas, and the like. Nowadays I assume there are websites for this stuff.
 
Oh, hey. Let's work more with Tortilla Jesus. There are lots of lines going hither and thither in the taco, and okay, a person with a vivid imagination could imagine some of them as forming a vaguely human outline. But someone who makes a really good Deduction roll (or applies computer analysis) finds the lines form a map. The tortilla isn't showing Jesus, it's showing the roads and rivers around Eveleth, Minnesota. What's significant about Eveleth, Minnesota? Well, the PCs don't know until they go there. But it's a breadcrumb along the trail to the Janus Key. Or at least on the trail to something the Janus Key wants done.
 
Maybe the PCs encounter other people who are follow their own similarly obscure investigative trails. Maybe they're just nuts, engaging in a more abstract form of pareidolia; maybe it's connected to the Janus Key; or maybe the world genuinely is far stranger than the PCs imagined.
 
Dean Shomshak

Ah, yes, I've seen other "force field" constructs like that. In this case I believe it's primarily a construct/notation convenience. A bunch of Defenses are being thrown together as a package, and the writer (I assume Steve Long) wanted PD/ED to be Resistant, so it was simpler to make all of them Resistant. Not that he necessarily expected the fact that the other Defenses are Resistant to come into play. Since the FF is presumably for a NPC, cost wasn't a significant consideration.

I asked each of the Champions, this is what they said.
 
Defender- "Because our Job doesn't excuse us from being good citizens. Far from it, because we fight on the side of law, we have to hold ourselves to high standards. We're a part of this world, and that goes a lot further than busting heads. It was my concern for my fellow citizens that motivated me to become Defender, that and the courage the average citizen has shown in the time of crisis. It's inspiring."
 
Ironclad- "If there is one thing my time as a gladiator on Malva has taught me, it is that those who live only for battle are empty hungry things. As I have no 'secret identity' I am, in a sense, always on duty, but I see no shame in the sculpting of metals that I perform. Humanity should see more in other peoples of the universe than the violence they can do. Mostly, however, I do it for myself. I love to fight for a good cause, but there is room in my heart for that, and beauty and friendship as well."
 
Nighthawk- "Good question, I often wonder that myself. We'd get a lot more done around here if we'd worry less about public image and go with what works. On the other hand, who the hell are you to be judging? And why am I wasting time even responding to this when I could be on the streets?"
 
Sapphire- "Hello, I was a superstar before I was a superhero, and I'm not giving that up. Some people will never be satisfied, you'll never do enough to please them. It'll drive you loco trying soooo don't bother; just do your best. Besides, my fans could get violent if I shut down my music carreer. You thought VIPER was bad."
 
Witchcraft- "Yes, we could do more. However, there's a balance, or at least a need for some balance, in things. Some of us have made mistakes, or have some evil in our past. Rectifying that isn't just about beating evil, it's about being good yourself."
 
Kinetik- "Hellooo, A brother in tights here, not as rare as it was, but that doesn't mean I can just slack off. African Americans, especially the kids, need a role model, positive rolemodels. Now,I'm not going to throw myself in their face about it, but I AM going to do more than get my rocks off trashing thugs at 50 plus m.p.h. Besides, I do have to eat and I don't charge for heroing so I need a job in the big S.I.D. Who's going to pay my rent? You?"

Yeah, I disagree with your premise but that doesn't mean its a bad idea or that you are bad for proposing it.
 
... now lets just not talk about the Oxford comma.  Things are going so well.
 

No need to apologize. The Internet itself is the true cosmic horror.

leaves thread a while due to shifting interests (and fearing angry mob)
 
remembers thread and gives it a check...
 
: O
 
I...have a talent for hitting nerves without trying, don't I?  ^_^:  sorry

Actually, a campaign set in the days after she is gone could be very interesting. If there is a struggle for power, PCs could become quite important, what with Tyrannon and other multiversal threats pressing on the borders of the empire and all the internal chaos that would be going on.
 
Yet, she is a time traveller. I can’t recall, do her powers render her always unique? Or might temporal echoes of her exist even after her supposed death?

My claim in brief: V’han’s presence in the Champions Universe is so large that her metaptot is the only one that matters, and all you can do is serve or oppose her.  While a worthy campaign idea, it essentially writes the setting into a corner.
 
That said, I hope you’ll forgive me for belaboring the point but I feel I need to set up some explanation first so as to prevent confusion.  I shouldn’t assume people know as much as I do on the topic.
 
For those unfamiliar with the subject, cosmic horror is where the universe is dominated by a vast power that’s at-best indifferent and not at all friendly.  It spawned by new discoveries in astrophysics, growing secular humanism, and Anglo entitlement feeling threatened.  Earth is insignificant, there is no God, and we are not the chosen ones.  
 
To modern-minded gamers, the genre is now high-stakes pest control, often with an anxiety-laden narrative I never find convincing.  Even squishy mortals can adapt to vast, uncontrollable forces; it’s called “disaster management.”  And on the micro level the genre’s just chasing amateur sleuths with what are essentially scaly, tentacled bears.  Avoid, or kill, or parley: anything besides helpless angst.  This becomes exacerbated with superpowered individuals.  For anything as simple as a maltheistic being the answer would be to simply punch out Cthulhu.
 
Not so Istvatha V’han.
 
For those unfamiliar with the setting (which I find common in any gaming community), Istvatha V’han is a pan-dimensional conqueror comparable to the Achaemenid Persians (which will be pertinently analogous later).  Her politics can be crudely described as “NPR with teeth.”  Her three main goals are cultural preservation, anti-corruption, and improved living standards — at gunpoint, if need be.  Her management of rebels is comparable to General Sherman’s, and is the main point of contention.  I always find myself questioning why people would rebel, suspecting many are regressives who wrap themselves in Freedom™ much as myth has the Spartans did.  But going into detail there is its own thread (and I have no desire to indulge whataboutism fringe cases until I’m well-read enough to), and the point is that V’han, like the Persians, would allow integrated polities essential autonomy.
 
And it’s here I’ll finally get to the point.
 
V’han debuted in Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks, and was even right on the cover.  The year was 2002 when we still believed in American Exceptionalism and Whig History.  She was meant as a moral dilemma villain, with the aforementioned benefits verses a nebulous-defined Freedom™.  (You can just hear the eagle screech.)  Nowadays, we see that her rule would grant the Four Freedoms, the only losers being bigots and conmen, who today seem to shout the most about “Freedom.”  Worth noting is how in official Champions Universe canon, at least in 5th Edition (written 2004), that the Champions drove her off for a thousand years in 2017, when the world probably really wanted her around.  I wonder how Our Heroes accepted thanks from the POTUS.  Or how much they felt like heroes, particularly come 2022 when the magic went away.
 
My point is that today, V’han is as much of a dilemma as the Trolley Problem, where only the most insane ditherers (like philosophers) would choose inaction to keep their hands clean.  The only rational choices are to either pull the lever and sacrifice one for the many, or attempt a third option and be complicit in the deaths of many because the situation’s set up to be no-win for four-colored heroics.
 
Which finally gets me to the cosmic horror, and I thank you for being patient so far with my verbiage.  (And won’t blame you if you just scrolled down.)  Suppose you’re a superhero who’s less into face punching mentally ill bankrollers and more into systematic reform.  Fighting corruption!  Scientific utopianism!  Magitech revolutions!  Great campaign ideas!  : D
 
Except…it’s already been done for you.  All of that is one dimensional message away.  Sure, you’ll be well-rewarded for your work, and an ideal job, but it’s just not the same.  You’re not the reformer, you’re just working for her.  The campaign’s no longer about you.
 
Or you could fight the Empire.  No doubt amidst the violent aftermath you brought about there’ll need to be someone who’ll rebuild society.  Someone like you.

My claim in brief: V’han’s presence in the Champions Universe is so large that her metaptot is the only one that matters, and all you can do is serve or oppose her.  While a worthy campaign idea, it essentially writes the setting into a corner.
 
That said, I hope you’ll forgive me for belaboring the point but I feel I need to set up some explanation first so as to prevent confusion.  I shouldn’t assume people know as much as I do on the topic.
 
For those unfamiliar with the subject, cosmic horror is where the universe is dominated by a vast power that’s at-best indifferent and not at all friendly.  It spawned by new discoveries in astrophysics, growing secular humanism, and Anglo entitlement feeling threatened.  Earth is insignificant, there is no God, and we are not the chosen ones.  
 
To modern-minded gamers, the genre is now high-stakes pest control, often with an anxiety-laden narrative I never find convincing.  Even squishy mortals can adapt to vast, uncontrollable forces; it’s called “disaster management.”  And on the micro level the genre’s just chasing amateur sleuths with what are essentially scaly, tentacled bears.  Avoid, or kill, or parley: anything besides helpless angst.  This becomes exacerbated with superpowered individuals.  For anything as simple as a maltheistic being the answer would be to simply punch out Cthulhu.
 
Not so Istvatha V’han.
 
For those unfamiliar with the setting (which I find common in any gaming community), Istvatha V’han is a pan-dimensional conqueror comparable to the Achaemenid Persians (which will be pertinently analogous later).  Her politics can be crudely described as “NPR with teeth.”  Her three main goals are cultural preservation, anti-corruption, and improved living standards — at gunpoint, if need be.  Her management of rebels is comparable to General Sherman’s, and is the main point of contention.  I always find myself questioning why people would rebel, suspecting many are regressives who wrap themselves in Freedom™ much as myth has the Spartans did.  But going into detail there is its own thread (and I have no desire to indulge whataboutism fringe cases until I’m well-read enough to), and the point is that V’han, like the Persians, would allow integrated polities essential autonomy.
 
And it’s here I’ll finally get to the point.
 
V’han debuted in Conquerors, Killers, and Crooks, and was even right on the cover.  The year was 2002 when we still believed in American Exceptionalism and Whig History.  She was meant as a moral dilemma villain, with the aforementioned benefits verses a nebulous-defined Freedom™.  (You can just hear the eagle screech.)  Nowadays, we see that her rule would grant the Four Freedoms, the only losers being bigots and conmen, who today seem to shout the most about “Freedom.”  Worth noting is how in official Champions Universe canon, at least in 5th Edition (written 2004), that the Champions drove her off for a thousand years in 2017, when the world probably really wanted her around.  I wonder how Our Heroes accepted thanks from the POTUS.  Or how much they felt like heroes, particularly come 2022 when the magic went away.
 
My point is that today, V’han is as much of a dilemma as the Trolley Problem, where only the most insane ditherers (like philosophers) would choose inaction to keep their hands clean.  The only rational choices are to either pull the lever and sacrifice one for the many, or attempt a third option and be complicit in the deaths of many because the situation’s set up to be no-win for four-colored heroics.
 
Which finally gets me to the cosmic horror, and I thank you for being patient so far with my verbiage.  (And won’t blame you if you just scrolled down.)  Suppose you’re a superhero who’s less into face punching mentally ill bankrollers and more into systematic reform.  Fighting corruption!  Scientific utopianism!  Magitech revolutions!  Great campaign ideas!  : D
 
Except…it’s already been done for you.  All of that is one dimensional message away.  Sure, you’ll be well-rewarded for your work, and an ideal job, but it’s just not the same.  You’re not the reformer, you’re just working for her.  The campaign’s no longer about you.
 
Or you could fight the Empire.  No doubt amidst the violent aftermath you brought about there’ll need to be someone who’ll rebuild society.  Someone like you.

checks threads
 
oops...
 
I'll have to remember to check my threads before posting.  ^_^;
 
Welp, as least I have more answers to work with.  : )
 
Also, my sweetheart thought of a good reason to visit the ruins of Detroit (for earlier games): volunteer work.  Wonder why I didn't think of that...?

My thought is that if Ravenswood it too far from Millenium City, just move it closer.  We won't tell.  I will also say that with kids as rich as those at Ravenswood I would expect a lot of "Sweet Sixteen" cars available to bum rides in.  In a highschool game I'd probably let a 16 or older PC buy a normal car with their wealth or a relatively cheap "4 wheeled friend" perk to reflect the beater they got running over the summer.
 
This question seem familiar.  Didn't you post this exact same thread a year or so ago?  Here was my answer then:
 
I've been running a Ravenswood game for several years now.  
 
The way I've been dealing with it is by:
- Getting the kids off campus (Dates, Movies, visiting parks, Music Shows)
- Having adventures come to them (hunteds who know where they live, ex-students with an axe to grind, shennanigans in the science labs & library)
- School Events (Rival Schools, Secret ID drama at the Spring Formal, Field Trips)
- Family (One PC's father is hunted by Viper, another is the son of a Supervillain, several NPCs are the children of Heros)
 
I've found that you have to get out of the "Mayor calls the PCs on the Red Batphone" type of adventures with teenagers.  I lean into the drama of highschool.  Not only do you want to get the right date for Prom, but she is being wooed by a "nontraditional" student from Von Drotte Academy (aka a mutant from Viper's school for budding supervillains).
We have a whole ongoing plot about the future version of one PC's first girlfriend who keeps attacking the PCs to prevent them from doing all the evil she says they do in the future.
 
Also: One PC paid points for a fake ID that lets them use Rideshare services to get around town.  It won't help them get to a superfight, but it lets them get to interesting locations.
 
Having another year under my belt with my Ravenswood game I will add the following:
Have a couple of the staff be up to something.  Let the PCs find out but make sure they never get hard evidence to prove anything and have the other teachers side with the adults.  Harry Potter kept this up for like 5 books. Adventures in the city should never just be a weekend thing.  Stuff going down on a school night is just the sort of thing that adds time pressure, angst, and drama to a teen heroes life.  "I have to stop the Candyman, but if my RA catches me out past curfew I won't be able to take Wendy to the spring formal!" I've gotten a lot of mileage out of all the other kids at school, normal and powered.  (I try to make a point of having the normal kids matter, it makes the whole "secret ID thing" an actual struggle.  I'm running my game "today" so there is one normal kid who has several times gotten into internet fights with teen supervillians that the PCs had to bail him out of.  The kids themselves are friends, bullies, loaners, etc.  Crack out all that teen drama for some great roleplaying One NPC called his uncle Zorran the Artificer to see if "uncle Z" could fix his mind-controlled girlfriend The kids' parents got that money somewhere & kids have had viper try to kidnap them as hostages against their parents or been drawn into dynastic family stuff There is one kinda OK kid with *really* rich parents that keeps throwing his money around to try to buy a cool and interesting reputation.  His parties keep getting crashed by the super kids from Viper's training school.

For me it'd be Mutants & Masterminds, since I read the most supplements for that one.

I think it's lovely that you have a "sweetheart."  😍

Because the Empire is not unequivocally Evil. Istvatha V'han genuinely wants to govern well and improve the lot of all her subjects. In most of the dimensions she's conquered, the quality of life has markedly improved for their inhabitants. Taxation is not onerous, justice is administered even-handedly, war is abolished, crime and corruption are vigorously rooted out. The benefits of advanced technology are shared with all in education, medical care, communication, transportation. The opportunities for increased trade with other dimensions in the Empire bolster conquered worlds' economies, and V'han makes sure the profits are spread around equitably. The vast majority of the Empire's citizens approve of and support her rule, and in time most conquered worlds come around to that viewpoint. Istvatha herself is ageless, with the power to move herself across time and dimensions; so she has plenty of patience.

Istvatha V'han was designed to present those shades of grey to PCs, to present them with moral dilemmas. But grey is made up of black and white, and both are part of Istvatha's package. She has unquestionably brought a lot of good to a great many people, and opposing those who, for whatever means-justifying end, would cause people in her empire suffering and grief, would be the work of a true hero. You could run a campaign in the Empire on that basis if you wish, and never have to present your PCs with hard choices. However, what Steve was describing is why there are rebellions against V'han, and a campaign could be run from the rebel viewpoint. But heroes who serve her might never have seen the worst excesses of her rule, or have accepted propaganda rationalizations for it, and therefore oppose the rebels as criminals. There are more than enough examples of such regimes in history, up to the present day
 
As an example of the white from BOTE, on an alternate Earth the Nazis won WW II, then went on the conquer the whole planet. Aryan-looking people held all the power and privileges, while other ethnicities were subject to the oppression one would expect. Then V'han conquered that Earth. She usually allows local governments a lot of leeway to continue their function as long as they follow her general directives, but she absolutely will not stand for institutionalized racism. She rescinded the Nazis' racist policies and granted all the peoples of that world full citizenship and rights in her empire.
 
Now for an example of the black, on one world she conquered, there was a region where the populace was divided along religious lines, and had been warring over that issue for generations. Despite all attempts at negotiation or enforcement, V'han could not get the factions to stop fighting each other. So she completely exterminated both groups, then opened their region to resettlement from elsewhere in the Empire.

Okay, I'll admit there was sarcasm in my comment.   But to address the point seriously... government practically speaking is bureaucracy. That's your oversight, who you have to answer to. It has its own priorities, regulations, ways of doing things, to which you're expected to conform. It has its local representatives, with whom you may or may not agree or get along. It reacts and adapts to changing situations notoriously slowly. And as steriaca says, directives from above, or the personnel in charge of your activities, can change without warning.
 
And all of that applies even if the government isn't corrupt. Yes, V'han's administration is infamously tough on corruption, but it wouldn't have to be if that didn't exist. BOTE outlines several major criminal organizations within the Empire, and those couldn't thrive if they couldn't subvert local authorities.
 
You also asked about newly annexed worlds. The process of "pacification" of conquered territories is ongoing, usually taking years at least. And there are always newly annexed worlds, many of them. V'han is constantly expanding her reach. As for a science-oriented hero, several of the dimensions described in the book have mysteries or special challenges or new technologies which call for scientific investigation. That investigation might unleash something in turn requiring heroic intervention.

Where’s the challenge?

Well, there are all those rebels out there who unimaginably dislike V’han’s New World Order being imposed on their society. Welcome to V’han’s version of the SS, only your conscience won’t bother you very much because you are bettering society. Really.
 
But what if your enlightened reforms run up against V’han’s rules? Congratulations! You’re now a traitorous rebel, and one of V’han’s jackbooted minions will be along to teach you the error of your ways any minute now. Perhaps some telepathic reconditioning of your errant neurons will bring you back into the fold, comrade.

The anti-supers team could have gadget pools and/or variable f/X powers.  They research their targets and hit their vulnerability/susceptibility/doesn't-work-in-blank-limitations....

Or their good counterparts, depending on what ethical dimensions you and your group would like to explore.

Fight their evil counterparts from other dimensions.

V'han's rule is not omniscient or omnipotent -- the very existence of the persistent rebel groups described in BOTE proves that. The Book also outlines crime in the Empire, including several very powerful and widespread organized criminal groups. In addition, the Empire faces external threats from V'han's rivals, Skarn and Tyrannon; and you could also probably add to that list the temporal tyrant Korrex the Conqueror (see Golden Age Champions).
 
BTW as to why anyone would rebel: material benefits aren't the only things many people desire. Freedom of thought and expression, self-determination, matter a great deal to some. In a way, material benefits can be the enemy of order and conformity. When people don't have to focus on survival, they have the luxury to think about other things.

Beyond that there is just simply showing up and being celebrities. Anyone watch Powers?

Well, there are supposedly rebels, so stopping terror attacks comes to mind. Plus, there would be natural disasters, accidents and problems to be solved, and given the V'Hanian tech level, supers could easily be planetary-wide operatives.