[NoSuchThing]

TLDR: ~18 months ago 'The Event' happened. Clouds of a strange biological agent were released above every major population centre on the planet. This cloud awakened the latent metahuman abilities in millions of people. Super powered crime has swept the globe. America's answer is the Hero program.

The worst car accident in American history leads to six survivors developing metahuman abilities.

In June 2017, San Francisco witnessed the worst car accident in American history with nearly forty total fatalities. Six individuals experienced what could only be called miraculous recoveries. These six should have been among the dead, but a mysterious woman saved their lives, restoring each of them to the peak of health.

Fast forward just a few days, and they are discovering that life is not the only thing that their mysterious benefactor gave them. Each of them has developed amazing powers, things that no human should be able to do.

With that unbelievable revelation has come another - they are not the only humans with special abilities. There has been a secret community of people with superhuman abilities living alongside normal humans for generations. Every story about alien abductions, vampires and werewolves has had a normal human with strange powers at its heart.

The June 3rd survivors are caught between two sides; the mysterious doctor who saved their lives, who wants to expose a secret that has been kept for centuries, and those who will do anything to keep it hidden.

[NoSuchThing]

The Survivors start using their abilities to fight crime and are caught on camera.

The six miraculous survivors of the June 3rd crash developed miraculous abilities, and thanks to the drive of certain members of the group they began to undertake dangerous night time activities. Their powers make them something more than human, and they can make a difference, and they intend to.

Crime is a business, and those running the business did not take kindly to a bunch of clowns in strange suits interfering in their interests. The ensuing conflict came to the attention of local law enforcement and, of course, the media. When footage emerged of people exhibiting superhuman abilities it was initially dismissed as a hoax, until it became clear that this was something more. A national news crew caught one of the vigilantes on camera, and the world as we knew it changed.

The new 'heroes' were being heralded as a new step for humanity by some, as dangerous by others. The world polarised. Suddenly people were demonstrating abilities that had been thought possible only in science fiction. Why was this the first that had been seen of it?

The Event unlocks the latent metahuman abilities in a small minority of humans around the world and masked vigilantes emerge.

This confusion didn't last long, 'The Event' took place on the 24th of August. At first it was thought to be a chemical attack. Terrorism perhaps, or the first strike of a new war. Similar attacks were happening all over the globe however. Virtually no nation was spared. Then the changes started.

The majority of people were left unaffected, many died, a few, a rare few developed powers beyond human ken. More masked vigilantes emerged, and worse, criminals with metahuman powers.

Normal Police departments couldn't deal with this new wave of super powered crime. The official stance was that vigilantes were criminals, but with no other recourse most Police Departments turned a blind eye to the masked metahumans who patrolled the streets. Some Vigilantes became immensely popular, with corporations making use of their image and name to make millions in franchised products.

The situation was unsustainable; most, if not all of these vigilantes had no training, and little understanding of their own powers. Collateral property damage was only one factor, and before long insurance companies simply stopped paying out on damage caused by conflicts between masked metahumans.

Hundreds of people die in a confrontation between a vigilante and a villain, leading to the unveiling of the Hero Program.

It wasn't until May 2018 that things changed. A metahuman known only as Shockwave took over Grand Central Station in New York, trapping more than five hundred people and issuing a ransom demand to the State of New York. Negotiations were ongoing when a vigilante entered the scene. The ensuing fight collapsed part of the main concourse and three platforms. Three hundred people died.

Less than a week later the Government passed a number of new laws, increasing the penalties for vigilantism and those that turn a blind eye to it. The next day they unveiled their solution to the crisis. The Hero Program was a government funded, federal program that would combat so called 'super-villains' with trained and registered metahumans.

This program had been under development since the early days following the event, and was promoted and introduced by a combination of governmental and public PR companies, including Ascendant on the west coast.

Some vigilantes disappeared, choosing to hang up the mask, others were recruited into the growing Hero Program. Some attempted to continue as they had been doing and found themselves rapidly tracked down by the full might of the federal government.

[NoSuchThing]

The globe adjusts to metahumans - some countries also adopting their own Hero programs, others criminalising the use of metahuman abilities.

As of September 2018 the Federal Hero Program has been in operation for four months. To those within the program it is clearly still under development, relying on a small number of highly trained, powerful metahumans to enforce the law. To the public it is already a branch of the federal government.

Other countries have undertaken similar programs, tentatively introducing Heroes to combat metahumans who seek to use their powers for personal gain. In other places metahumans are treated alternately as gods, or as weapons. Some countries have ruled all metahumans as property of the state, and subject them to experimentation and testing.

Britain is a prominent country that has taken a radically different approach. Metahumans are required by law to register their powers and public use of abilities is prosecutable by law, regardless of the reason. Parents with metahuman children can be deemed unfit to raise them with no recourse or warning. They have been roundly criticised, and many pro-metahuman groups hold up Britain as an example of what they fear may come to pass.

Heroes have become a major part of public life in America. Licensed merchandise is now a market worth millions. Posters, posable action figures and clothing bearing the icons and colours of popular superheroes can be found at local stores and in nationwide chains. Talk shows have grown around them, and Heroes are now at the centre of the greatest cultural shift since the printing press.

[NoSuchThing]

A boarding school for metahuman students opens. Meanwhile, shadowy groups gain influence.

Recognising a desire for bespoke support and training for young people with powers, the Evergreen Metahuman Boarding Academy is established as a specialist 14-19 provision for the education of young metahumans.

The Hero Program is now a fact of life, with Heroes filling their own unique celebrity niche in the world. Prominent Heroes include Paladin, Glacia, Celerity and Tank. Their reputations are as varied as their methods, with some Heroes, notably Tank, receiving criticism for their aggressive approach.

Recently a number of attacks have taken place in New York City, a group with funding and numbers appear to be attempting to kidnap children, covering their tracks with explosives and arson. Recently this group attempted to kidnap the child of a Hero, sending her on the run, unsure of who to trust.

Meanwhile, on the West Coast, the influence of a mysterious criminal syndicate known as the Spades continues to grow. They still remain in the shadows, but knowledge of them is getting out, for them, staying hidden is no longer a certainty.