[NoSuchThing]

MNRU - Metahuman Neurological Research Unit

This San Francisco research centre was the first of its kind to be officially established and is endorsed by the United States government. The unit is led by Dr Joyce Williams, whose expert status in the field is well recognised even in these early stages of metahuman research. Its main focus is on how metahuman brains produce superhuman behaviours, but there are many strands within with a more psychiatric focus.

The MNRU has good people working for it who are genuinely trying to help metahumans to control, manage and adjust to their powers and the many burdens that co-occur. Simultaneously, there are those at the MNRU with ulterior motives – including Joyce Williams herself, whose research is heavily classified. There are whispers of metahumans being held at the institute against their will in order to take advantage of their powers, but Dr Williams runs a tight operation and only a select few experiments are allowed to be made public knowledge.

Security at the research unit is far higher than that of your average neuroscience centre due to the nature of its subjects. Parts of it, such as the mental health clinics, are more easily accessible, but the level of clearance required to reach the darker parts of the institute is nigh impossible to obtain unless you are a trusted colleague of Dr Joyce Williams herself.

The Vault

To imprison a truly powerful metahuman is no simple task. Some are strong enough to lift vehicles, others can melt steel beams with a glance. It became very clear very quickly that conventional prisons could not contain most of the metahumans of the criminal persuasion. The real problem lay in the wide variety of powers. How do you imprison a man who can walk through walls?

The answer was a purpose built facility, in a well-chosen location. Death Valley.

A metahuman may be able to walk through walls, but he cannot then survive the journey of thousands of miles across one of the most inhospitable landscapes known to man.

The Vault, as it is known, is under an almost perpetual state of construction. Every metahuman power operates differently, and must be dealt with in a different fashion. One cell contains a set of enormous steel pylons, capable of withstanding hundreds of tons of force, fixed deep into the concrete so that a metahuman with superhuman strength cannot move even an inch.

In some cases even such dramatic constructions cannot contain a metahuman. In this case there is little option other than to keep them under almost constant sedation. This could be during the construction of a purpose built cell, or it could be indefinitely, so potent are their powers. Though it has only been in operation for a matter of months, already the Vault is known amongst the population, though its location is a closely guarded secret.

All of the guards are ex-military or intelligence, and there are number of powerful metahumans amongst their ranks, paid an enormous salary to stay in one of the most isolated installations ever constructed.

EMBA - Evergreen Metahuman Boarding Academy

A boarding school located in the state of Washington for metahumans aged 14-19.

Metahuman abilities most commonly manifest in children in their teens, frequently at the height of puberty. This change in the human body leads to further changes that can set those children apart from humanity as a whole. Naturally this can lead to a wide variety of problems; it is difficult to ground someone that can phase through the wall of their room at will. It makes a difficult time for children even more challenging.

Normal schools struggle to deal with these problems. None have the experience (and few have the money) that some metahuman children need to learn to control their powers. Naturally a solution was proposed; a school for young individuals with superhuman abilities, where they could learn to control them and be amongst their peers.