I

Ice People – Off-shoot race of humanity, believed by some to be the result of Seekers experimentation and tinkering. The first known mention of them is in Atlantean records of the High Imperial era, when scholars speculated that they were a “lost” colony of early Atlantean settlers. They were said to live in a great city in the far north of Eurasia, close to the Arctic Circle, and to be aloof and isolationist. Given their need for intense cold, and the Saurian dislike of such environments, it was easy for the early Ice People to avoid the on-going Great War between Atlantis and Lemuria.

Standing 12-15 feet tall, with blue skin and silver or electric-blue eyes, they were hairless save for their heads, which sported fine silver or white hair. They were said to be skilled at both psionics and technology, and not unfamiliar with certain magics, especially those related to cold. Given their remote location, the Ice People were apparently little bothered by the Great Cataclysm which destroyed both Atlantis and Lemuria, and continued on in isolated splendor for thousands of years afterward.

It was the end of the last Ice Age, however, which finally threatened them with extinction. Even temperate conditions would, over time, prove fatal to Ice People, and as the glaciers retreated northward so did they. Eventually, with the aid of the equally reclusive Salomoni, the majority of the surviving population undertook the Long Migration to Antarctica. There they rebuilt their civilization, and once again dropped out of human history, for the most part.

A minority of Ice People opted to stay in the north, however, after discovering a pocket dimension of intense cold, into which they retreated. Unfortunately, this dimension was connected to another one where the Aesir had made their home. These were a warrior race of humans who had gained god-like powers in their new home, and the two races quickly came into conflict, giving rise to the legends of the Norse Gods and the Ice Giants.

The ultimate fate of the Antarctic branch of the Ice People is unknown – when 18th Century European explorers stumbled upon their great city it had been long abandoned. Much of the technology and magic still functions, but so far no one has discovered what happened to the Ice People themselves.

Infante, Trastada – Nobody knows who he is or where he comes from. The only clues he has ever provided are a slight Spanish accent and his business card: the former sounding a bit like Ricardo Montalbán, the latter a rectangle of black cardstock with gold embossed letters that reads “M. Trastada Infante, Your Deepest Desires Delivered, New Atlantis, 666-666-6666.” A card arrives in the mail in a hand-addressed envelope with no return address, or one may simply show up under a door or on a desk, or appear in a pocket.

Anyone who dials the number given (which doesn’t exist on any exchange or in any directory) will reach Infante. He seems to have a way of knowing which people are most likely to be susceptible to the bargains he has to offer. Others are encouraged to visit him; at some point after getting his card, they’ll step through a door or turn down an alley and find themselves in the small, crowded shop Infante calls home. Those who reject his offer see the business card go up in a puff of flame and they are rarely, if ever, troubled by him again.

The deal Infante offers is deceptively simple. He agrees to grant the supplicant’s deepest and darkest desires in return for nothing more than the privilege of being able to do so. He asks for no money, nor does he require any contract. Those who ask if he wants their immortal souls are met with laughter: “Your soul? Now what would I do with something Desire’s that?”

Rumors abound about this mysterious figure, but few can actually claim to have met him. The authorities in New Atlantis aren’t even certain he exists, although SHADE takes reports of Infante’s activities seriously, as does the Liberty Alliance. Arkanos has speculated that Infante may be some sort of “primal being” spawned from the darkest parts of the collective unconscious. Ultra thought he might be related to the imp Quisp, while Stormfront believes he might be tied to his old foe the Succubus in some way. Representatives of the Catholic Church believe he is a demon of considerable power. They may all be right, or none of them. All that is known for sure is that when one of Infante’s mysterious black cards shows up, trouble almost always follows.

Inferno (Casey Clinton) – (b. 25 June 1901) Boston firefighter who, in 1925, was caught in the collapse of a burning warehouse. Instead of his death, however, the event trigged a meta-human transformation in the young man, making him not only immune to heat and flame, but actually able to control fire from a distance, as well as wreath himself in flames and actually fly. Unable to rescue several of his fellow firefighters also caught in the collapse, his grief and guilt caused him to let the world (aside from his elderly parents) believe that he was dead as well. He soon began to use his powers to fight crime – starting with tracking down and bringing to justice the arsonist responsible for the warehouse blaze. At the entry of the US into WWII, he immediately took off for Europe, where he eventually joined the Freedom Front. Over the course of the War he also teamed up on occasion with both Victory Flight at home and the Liberty League in Europe. Along with Supido Kyo, he was murdered by the Japanese assassin Kaminari in San Francisco in 1946 while attending the founding ceremonies for the United Nations.

J

Jessup, Mark – Mark Jessup came to SHADE after two tours with the United States Marine Corps, and quickly earned a reputation as an exemplary agent, always in the thick of things… but always managing to extricate himself. His career as a combat agent for SHADE ended after being captured and tortured by the telepathic serial killer Headhunter, who had not appreciated a ‘flatline’ getting so close to capturing him. SHADE shrinks said Jessup couldn’t go back out as a combat agent given the trauma he suffered, but he had enough friends, high enough up in the agency, that he wasn’t forced to retire. Instead, he was transferred to the Analysis Division. Technically, this was a demotion, but you couldn’t tell by the way he acts. Jessup is happy to still be alive and sane, and finds his colleagues (none of whom have ever had to fire their weapon in the course of duty) very amusing and a change of pace from his old friends.

Jessup is the earthy, common-sense member of the Astoria SHADE team. He’s the only one in his section with practical experience fighting the people he and his colleagues now study, and he’s often called on to bring that experience to his work.

Jetstream (Bradly Donner) – Former test pilot and meteorological scientist who gained super-powers when hurricane force winds tore apart his experimental “storm chaser” plane. Jetstream is super-strong, able to fly and control the winds; he also possesses minor electrical powers. He currently serves as chairman of the Liberty Alliance.

Justice (Lawrence London) – A mysterious vigilante in New Atlantis during the 1970s and 80s. Originally an assassin created by the Arsenal, he was blind but possessed a “dark sense” that allowed him to see in total darkness; the more light around him, the poorer his vision, and in full light he was blind. He was freed on his very first assignment by fellow victim of Arsenal experimentation, the heroine Truth. Using her light powers and ability to reveal truth, she freed him of the mental conditioning that bound him, and in the process learned that her light of truth was the only light that allowed him to see. Taking the codename Justice, he teamed up with his savior, and the two quickly became the unofficial heroes of the Southbank in New Atlantis. They eventually married, before being forced into hiding when their true identities were publicly revealed. They died together defending Southbank during the Invasion in 2002.

K

Kahar’Beth Sül – Atlantean mage during the last century before the island-continent’s destruction. One-time apprentice to the Magus Prime then known as Dolórüska the Shining, it was he who led the great coalition of mages from around the world who threw down and defeated Dolórüska when he went mad and attempted to sell the Earth to unspeakable ancient gods from beyond our reality in exchange for eternal life. Unfortunately, once deposed, they found they couldn’t kill the former Magus Prime, thanks to the parting gift/curse of his would-be patrons — who granted him his longed-for eternal life, but forever trapped in a decaying mortal form.

Having succeeded to the mantle of Magus Prime himself, Kahar’Beth devised a ritual to bind the mad mage’s undying spirit to his Golden Helm, an artifact into which Dolórüska had already poured much of his power. Kahar’Beth then bound his own psychic imprint to a matrix crystal set atop a great staff. This was buried along with Dolórüska the Damned in the Tomb of Ka’Solan, in a distant eastern desert – a failsafe should the undead litch ever escape to threaten the world again.

For 16,000 years the failsafe proved to be unneeded. Then, in the year 2670 BCE, Dolórüska’s tomb was discovered and opened by two peasant farmers, the Egyptian brothers Imhotep and Ahmose.  They had been drawn to the lost site by a subtle psychic lure of the undead spirit, which quickly possessed Ahmose, when that brother first touched the Golden Helm. When his suddenly demonic-seeming brother turned on him, in defense Imhotep clutched the first thing that came to hand – a great staff with a crystal head. The psychic ghost of Kahar’Beth merged then with Imhotep, awakening the man’s own latent anrcane abilities and granting him the ancient mage’s own Atlantean magical knowledge.

Eventually, after much strife and death, Dolórüska was again imprisoned, although it took the power of Imhotep (now Magus Prime himself) and a score of the era’s most powerful sorcerers. This second entombment lasted for another 5,000 years. When the undead mage was again freed, in 1938 CE, the failsafe was again triggered, this time invoking the combined psychic imprints of Kahar’Beth Sül and Imhotep. Together, they awakened and expanded the latent mystic power of another future Magus Prime, young archeology student Roland Reid. Within him their knowledge and memory continued in the world for another 80 years, balking Dolórüska‘s every attempt to regain the mantle of Magus Prime and thereby have the power to complete his bargain, freeing his own soul and dooming Earth. After Reid’s own death, all three psyches merged with the Powers That Be.

Kaiju Island – In the North Pacific, 200 kilometers east of the Kurile Islands chain between Japan and Russia and 250 kilometers south of the Kamchatka Peninsula, lies Kaiju Island. Not actually a part of the island chain, either geologically or politically, it is a mountainous, roughly circular volcanic island approximately 40 miles across, with twin volcanoes at its heart. Originally claimed by Japan, it was annexed, along most of the Kurile Islands, by Russia after the end of WWII. In 1983, after years of contention between the two countries, it was made a UN Protectorate Area under the jurisdiction of UNEXIS.

Known by many names over the years, including Skull Island and Monster Island, it first came to the wider attention of Western civilization in the 1933 when an American expedition returned from the island having captured the gigantic ape they called King Kong. After Kong’s tragic demise at the Empire State Building in NYC, several other American and European expeditions attempted to delve deeper into the mysteries of the island. None met with as spectacular a result as the Kong expedition… and some never returned at all.

Kaiju Island takes its name from the Japanese word for the monstrous creatures that inhabit it, or at least originate there. The most famous of these, Kong aside, is undoubtedly the giant radioactive lizard Gojira — although its origins are as mysterious as those of any of the other giant monsters to be found there. Over the years, experts have offered a number of theories — that they’re descendants of abandoned Seeker experiments; that they are extra-dimensional entities summoned in ages past by various Serpent People cults; or that maybe they were spawned by radiation, mutagenic chemicals, or ancient corrupt sorcery.  

The currently most favored explanation was put forward after 1976, following another American expedition which discovered that ancient lava tubes beneath the island are riddled with extra-dimensional weak spots connecting to several “underground” regions of the so-called Terra Cava. This led researchers to look for, and eventually find, many similar weak spots on the island’s surface. The surface gateways, however, seem to lead elsewhere – either another planet, or planets, or to one or more alien dimensions. Nobody who has gone through a surface portal has ever returned to report their findings, but there are several documented instances of kaiju exiting them into our world.

Fortunately for Earth, the creatures tend to stay on or near the island, as most of them can’t swim or fly very far. Gojira is an obvious exception to this, but it does explain why Japan has long suffered more from kaiju incursions than any other nation.

The world community, through the agency of UNEXIS, keeps careful watch on Kaiju Island for any signs of trouble from its inhabitants. It was long ago decided that it was best to leave it and its inhabitants alone – conventional military forces are usually of limited use against the monsters, and once the extra-dimensional nature of the island was known, it was feared that nuking it would only tear the rifts wide open, potentially unleashing a tide of giant monsters on the world. So the international community does its best to maintain Kaiju Island as essentially the world’s most dangerous “nature preserve.”

Kamikaze (Tsukamoto Rokuro) – (b. 13 September 1926) The sixth son of a very large traditional Japanese family, Tsukamoto often felt he was unseen and unheard growing up – which may be why, when his meta-human power manifested, it took the form of an ability to explode, with tremendous concussive force. Which might seem a rather one-off sort of power, except that he also proved able to pull himself back together immediately afterward… and then do it all again. In 1942 the 16-year-old was conscripted by the Imperial military into their new Fukutsu Seishin (Indomitable Spirits) team of meta-human operatives. One of the last of the Japanese meta-humans to be accounted for after the war, in late 1945 he was captured in Osaka by the American heroes Inferno and Supido Kyo at the request of the Occupation government. Kept heavily drugged for his trial, he was convicted of crimes against humanity and executed by lethal injection in Tokyo in 1948.

Kaminari I (Himari Kenshin)–– (b. 14 August 1917) Wielder of the mystical war fan called the Storm Tessen, originally created by the kami Raijin. Gaining possession of the powerful artifact while serving as a geisha, she began calling herself the Kaminari (thunder) after she became an assassin and agent of the Japanese Imperial High Command in the 1930s and ‘40s. Assassinated the American heroes Inferno and Supido Kyo in San Francisco during the founding of the United Nations, barely escaping from Ultra afterward. Murdered by her own daughter on 29 November 1969 at the age of 52.

Kaminari II (Sakura Kenshin) –– (b. 29 November 1951). Daughter of the original Kaminari. A skilled sorceress and heartless mercenary, on her 18th birthday she murdered her mother, to take both her title and the mystical war fan known as the Storm Tessen. Later in her life she committed ritual seppuku to transfer her spirit into the powerful war fan, after arranging to have it passed down to her own daughter. Leader of the Rising Sun terrorist group, which she founded in 1970.

Kaminari III (Aoi Kenshin) –– (b. 14 December 1986) Granddaughter of the original Kaminari and daughter of the second. Unlike her mother and grandmother, she is a lone anti-hero who, when wielding the Storm Tessen war fan, is sometimes possessed by the evil spirit of her mother. While not a sorceress like her mother, she is more skilled in the martial uses of the war fan, including its offensive arcane powers of wind, thunder, and lightning, than either of her predecessors. Trained by the Magus Prime, Roland Reid, to suppress her mother’s influence – most of the time.

Killer Tot (Percy Lazarus) – Percy Lazarus should have been the happiest boy in the world—and he was, for a while. Percy’s family founded and owned Toys-R-Us, one of the world’s largest toymakers, and his parents indulged their only child’s every whim. Percy lacked for nothing as the boy with all the best toys. 

Unfortunately, as Percy grew older, it was discovered that he had a rare medical condition that began to slow, and eventually halt, his body’s normal growth. By the time he turned eight years old Percy had stopped growing. Despite his family’s wealth, over time he became the target of cruel jokes and comments from other children. Realizing that his eternally 8-year-old appearance would only diverge more and more from his peers as they moved through school, his parents decided to have their son tutored at home. There at least Percy could take comfort in his vast collection of beloved toys. He was a brilliant child with an active imagination, and his studies offered him a place where his mind could excel and grow, even if his body could not. 

Despite his immense intellect, over time it became obvious that the boy would never have a normal life. The best specialists could devise no treatment for his condition, and despite the best efforts of a string of therapists, Percy became more and more withdrawn… and ever more obsessed with his toys. When it became clear that their young heir would never grow up sufficiently, in either body or mind, to inherit the family business, his parents made plans to sell off control of the company. This did not please young Percy at all. He knew he was perfectly capable of running the company remotely, and why should he not be allowed to? But his parents were adamant that it was the for the best— this way he would always have enough money, set in trust for him. Yes, plenty of money, but in a trust he would never control. Leaving him the company itself would risk his own future well-being, they said, if he should lose it all in some future downturn. Or by his own mismanagement, he understood his parents’ unspoken fear.

Just after Percy turned eighteen, and before the plans for selling the company could be finalized, tragedy struck the Lazarus family: his parents were killed in a plane crash, leaving Percy the sole heir to the family fortune. And therefore in control of Toys-R-Us. Although he never appeared at board meetings, allowing proxies to vote his shares, he contributed a number of brilliant and innovative designs to the company, which helped expand the business and made Toys-R-Us millions.

Only once, early on, did he try to run the business directly. His appearance at a board meeting was such a humiliating disaster for him that Percy became determined to remain a recluse forever. Which didn’t mean he didn’t have outside interests. As his parents had feared, he quickly became bored with running Toys-R-Us, and instead he took to amusing himself in a new game… one called “murder.”

Percy began to use his technical expertise to become an underworld assassin, remotely wielding toys as lethal weapons under the nom d’crime Killer Tot. Once he had established a reputation he started systematically taking revenge against everyone who had slighted him in his childhood. Eventually he lost controlling interest in Toys-R-Us, after which he began providing advanced technology and designs to anyone who could meet his price. 

The Raptor eventually exposed Killer Tot’s operation, and Percy lost his remaining shares in the family business and much of his wealth. But he retained his criminal contacts and secret bank accounts hidden around the world. While his lawyers used his childish appearance and supposed mental state to confuse the issue, Percy went underground and vanished before he could be incarcerated.

Over the years his various defeats at the hands of superheroes both embittered Killer Tot and engaged his imagination and intelligence. The challenge drove him on to a new level of “games,” this time with heroes as his worthy adversaries. He still had the best toys to play with, after all! 

But all games and fun times must end. In his sixties, still looking eight years old, Percy discovered that his rare medical condition was causing complications that would eventually, and all too soon, kill him. He applied his considerable intellect and inventiveness in seeking ways of extending or preserving his life, but there seemed no solution. Even attempts at stealing and adapting the engram transfer technology used by the Living Doll and the Oracle Project proved useless in his case. Killer Tot sank deeper into mental illness as his physical condition deteriorated. In his final months he became bedridden and wracked with pain and rage. Percy Lazarus, aka Killer Tot, died in the spring of 2019, unnoticed and unmourned. 

But it wasn’t the end of his story…

Kleth-Kiln, Tombs of – In catacombs deep beneath the mountains surrounding the hidden valley of Shambhala lie the Tombs of Kleth-Kiln. Within these vaults rest the mortal remains of many of history’s greatest Magus’ Prime, placed there by the monks of the Shambhala Temple. The tombs are a sacred place, and no one except for the monks and the current Magus Prime (or those with his or her express permission) may enter. The statues within the antechamber of the tombs are enchanted as guardians over the final resting place of the honored dead.

Some Magus’ Prime come to the Tombs of Kleth-Kiln to reflect and meditate, others to more directly commune with the spirits of their predecessors. These ancient spirits, known as the Powers-That-Be, can give sage advice, but they only do so in times of the greatest need, since it is difficult for them to manifest on the earthly plane, and distracts from their job of keeping the magics of the planet in balance and out of the hands of those who would misuse them.

Kronos – Insane inter-dimensional entity intent on absorbing every reality of the multiverse into his own limbo-like realm, known as the Weld. A long-time foe of Ultra and the Liberty Alliance. After several failed attempts on Earth, most recently destroyed the local multiverse cluster in 2017, a disaster which was only undone by the combined efforts of the heroes of the Vanguard of Earth and the Hand of Fortune of Novendo, acting as the time-traveling agents of the multiverse entity called the Norn.

Kurunda – Mysterious Central East African kingdom, home of the superhuman Golden Cheetah, and a major source of esoteric materials, including kundalini crystals and uruite ore..

L

Lemuria (aka La’suria) – An ancient island-continent that once existed in the Pacific Ocean. For a time it was the center of an empire ruled by Saurians, the degenerate heirs of their peoples’ first empire of the Cretaceous Age, 66 million years ago. The small island-continent of that primeval era, known then as La’suria was hurled into the future by Saurian techno-magic in an attempt to avoid their specie’s fate of extinction-by-asteroid. The land’s return to the time stream in approximately 20,000 BCE created ecological devastation and caused the uplifting of what would come to be known as Atlantis on the opposite side of the planet.

At first humanity was little more than a horrifying mammalian curiosity to the Saurians, but in time they began to keep humans as pets and slaves, using them them in horrific arcane experiments. Saurian scientists genetically-engineered various sub-species of humanity to serve them, and were well on their way to eradicating all of still-free humanity, when an alien race of cosmic space gods, the Seekers, returned to Earth. The enigmatic cosmic beings confined the Saurians to their island home behind a great energy barrier, allowing the human species the room to grow and thrive.

After the Seekers again departed Earth, the decadent Saurians were eventually freed by, and came into conflict with, the advanced human empire of Atlantis. The Atlanteans came to refer to them as the Serpent People of Lemuria. They fought a long series of wars, for more than a millennia, which culminated in their mutual annihilation. In the Great Cataclysm, Lemuria was snapped back in time to its original place in history, and the resulting planetary upheaval sank Atlantis beneath the ocean from which it had arisen — the end of the last great Saurian Empire, and of the first human empire.

Today the ruins of Lemurian outposts lie scattered across the depths of the Pacific Ocean, largely undisturbed except for the occasional scavengers (human and otherwise) looking for ancient artifacts and secrets left behind by the Serpent Empire. Scattered tribes of Deep Ones can sometimes be found in the ruins, usually worshipping some sunken idol or foul temple. There are ancient passages from Lemuria into Terra Cava and other extra-dimensional realms.

The Lemurian ruins are dangerous, holding ancient and corrupt magic, imprisoned creatures, and dormant war-machines which the Serpent People were unable to use in the final days of their war with Atlantis. The United Nations have declared the ruins off-limits, creating the Lemuria Interdiction Zone under the jurisdiction of UNEXIS. The agency is charged with dealing with any poachers or scavengers, although they rely on the Liberty Alliance for the more serious of these threats.

Liberty Alliance – The world’s premier superhero team. Currently based out of their satellite headquarters, the Overwatch, they stand guard over the entire world. Proceeded by the Liberty League of WWII and the early post-War years, the current team is technically the third incarnation of the Liberty Alliance, and the largest by far of any of them, with some of its most famous members being Sure-Shot, Jetstream, Vitruvian, Urbana, Red Racer, Gaia, the Raptor, Calypso, and Earth’s current Paladin of Light.

The Liberty Alliance was founded in 1963 after the mysterious Overlord and his secret organization HUSH attempted a mass takeover of all three governments in North America. A group of heroes, including the Sesen, Vitruvian, Ultra, the Raptor, Red Racer, Gaia, and the second Sure-Shot, banded together to stop the Overlord‘s plans. They decided to remain together as a group, using a downtown mansion owned by Reginald Crecy (the first Sure-Shot) as their headquarters, which became known as Liberty House. During the 1960s and ‘70s, they fought a variety of menaces, and were celebrated by the media as the world’s greatest heroes.

The Alliance began to go through tumultuous changes in the late 1970s and early 80s, with some members departing its ranks while others joined. Public opinion soured, thanks to both a secret Dramorg incursion, which damaged meta-human/human relations, and a subtle orchestrated campaign by organized crime syndicates to undermine public trust in their so-called heroes.

Black Wolf quit after many disputes over the Alliance’s focus. Vitruvian, weary of the never-ending battle, decided to leave Earth to explore the stars, taking the alien shapeshifter Variance with him. The Golden Cheetah returned home to Kurunda.  The Sesen died saving the Alliance from the Sons of Set, in a battle that destroyed Liberty House. Ultra decided to mothball the team in 1981, following yet another attack, this time by the ruthless terrorist organization the Rising Sun, which destroyed the newly-built Liberty Hall and killed two new Alliance members.

Eventually, with the dramatic appearance of new hero Stormfront In 1985 and the very public Z’ardani Revelations, proving the existence of aliens, public opinion finally began to shift again. Unable to keep the secret of extraterrestrials on Earth any longer, most governments around the planet began gradually declassifing and releasing much of their information on past alien incursions on Earth. The Liberty Alliance formally reunited in late 1985, making their HQ in Chicago’s revitalized Sears Tower. By 1990 public sentiment had turned firmly in favor of superheroes once again, and the Liberty Alliance returned to New Atlantis, this time with a more international mandate from the UN. The Liberty Alliance was soon regarded once more as the world’s greatest defender of peace and justice, and its premiere super team.

When Z’ardani forces invaded Earth in 2002, the Liberty Alliance banded together with a host of other heroes, and almost as many villains, from around the globe to fight off the invasion. After the aliens’ defeat and the tragic death of Ultra, along with so many others both human and superhuman, the survivors vowed “never again.” Everyone, even those who feared, hated, or mistrusted meta-humans, recognized that the fate of the world had rested on a knife’s edge, and it was only the meta-humans who had kept Earth free.

With public opinion high and with the approval of the United Nations behind them, the Alliance expanded its operations. Vitruvian, Variance, and the latest Paladin, with the assistance of other Alliance members and the UN, constructed the Overwatch, an orbiting satellite headquarters for both the team and the UN’s newly-formed SHADOW organization. The Alliance sent out invitations to heroes around the world to join its ranks, expanding their roster and becoming a truly international organization of heroes. No longer would the Liberty Alliance operate solely out of New Atlantis. Instead, they would protect the world from any and all threats, monitoring the situation from high above, working with SHADOW as Earth’s first line of defense.

Liberty League – The world’s first true superhero team, the premier team during the 1940s and ‘50s, and the precursor to the modern-day Liberty Alliance. A number of “mystery men” (and women) banded together at the request of President Roosevelt and under the leadership of Ultra, to prevent an Axis victory in WWII. Aside from Ultra, the original team consisted of Gaia, Sure-Shot, American Eagle, Red Racer, Calypso, and Midnight Hour. After the war the Dark Angel briefly joined the team, taking the place of the recently deceased Midnight Hour, but soon decided on a limited reserve member status, to be called upon only in emergencies. During the Red Scare and McCarthy’s reign of terror the team came under attack, and when they refused to reveal their secret identities, they regretfully disbanded.

Lightbearers, Order of the –  Esoteric order of mystics, mages, and sorcerers who practice so-called “white” magic, founded in 1890 by the then-Magus Prime, Contessa Viola Girabaldi. In the nearly 120 years since their founding the Order has survived pogroms in Europe led by the Nazi-backed Thule Society, sporadic attacks by other opposing groups, especially the Black Dragon Society of Japan, and their own occasional missteps. The greatest of the latter occurred early on, after the heroic death of the Contessa in 1895, when the group attempted to force the choice of a new Magus Prime on the Powers That Be… it did not end well, but the Order survived and learned.

Lone Ranger (John Reed) and Tonto – Texas Ranger John Reid and  his older brother Dan, along with four other Rangers, were betrayed into an ambush by a bandit gang led by Butch Cavendish. Left for dead with the others, he was found barely alive and nursed back to health by Tonto, an outcast at the time of the Potawatomi Native American tribe. Once recovered, he dressed in white, put on  a mask and, riding a white stallion named Silver, he and  Tonto strove to bring justice to the Old West.

Lost Pueblo – In the desert of the American Southwest stands a lone tower of rock, rising up above the painted sands, casting a long shadow in the rising and setting sun. Native legends speak of it as a place of power, where the spirits dwell and where braves went on vision quests seeking their wisdom and aid. Those who know of it call it Lost Pueblo, and say it’s a place where strange things happen, a place best avoided by those who know what’s good for them.

Lost Pueblo is a nexus, a gateway between worlds, where someone lost in the desert can find the dark tower of stone, then wander away from it to end up somewhere quite different from where they started. It’s a place where space and time as we know them have little meaning, and distant places and times sometimes touch. It is a well of mystic power and insight.

In the days of the Old West, Lost Pueblo was a sacred place to the local tribes, and became the sanctum of Shilah Atsa, a powerful Navajo shaman and the Magus Prime of his era. Its magic influenced many fantastic tales in the Old West. After Shilah Atsa’s death in Washington, D.C. protesting the massacre at Wounded Knee, the paths to Lost Pueblo were forgotten by all but a few, although stories continued of people traveling in the desert and stumbling across it, for good or ill. Those who seek Lost Pueblo to exploit its power always discover—to their regret—that it remains guarded to this day.

Lost World – The so-called “Lost World” was discovered more than a century ago by an explorer and adventuring paleontologist from England, Professor Arthur Challenger, who called it the “Maple White Land.” Originally believed to occupy a hidden plateau in South America, later explorers discovered the plateau is actually one of several dimensional gateways between Earth and a parallel world; one where dinosaurs still roam, existing alongside other prehistoric beasts, primitive humans, and refugees from myriad other places and times. Other known Lost World gates are found at the North Pole, in Antarctica, in the South Pacific, and in the Himalayan Mountains.

Scientists speculate the dimensional interface between the Lost World and other Earths was once more permeable, but something (perhaps the fallout from the Z’ardani Invasion or the Dramorg Incursion) has strengthened the dimensional barriers and portals have become rare. It is possible there was once a gateway between the Lost World and Kaiju Island, which might explain some of its inhabitants. If so, the passage remains lost or hidden.

Other “lost worlds” on Earth have since proven to be passages to the same (or very similar) reality, including an isolated valley in China were prehistoric creatures are still found. A Lost World passage may have existed (due to the influence of Lost Pueblo) in the American Southwest, explaining the so-called “Gwana Valley” the Lone Ranger and Tonto once discovered in the region.

In addition to the diverse range of dinosaurs, the Lost World is home to mastodons, saber-toothed tigers, and a wide variety of prehistoric beasts that (like humans) should not share the same time period or climate. Tribes of primitive humans live in the jungles, surviving as best they can in the savage environment. The champion of the tribes is Zandar the Jungle Lord, a descendent of the English explorer who first discovered the passage to the Lost World. The human tribes have made one major step forward by domesticating animals for food and as mounts, and this helps keep them from being driven to extinction by dinosaurs and other threats. The Lost World is also home to scattered tribes of Serpent People. Whether they are originally from Earth or are indigenous remains a mystery.

The most powerful civilizations here are remnants of the Incan, Roman, and Chinese civilizations of Earth whose disparate citizens stumbled through various gates. Viracochasuyu, an Incan Empire, rules a small mountain range in the name of their creator-god Viracocha, whose avatar wields the “might of the sun” in the form of a glowing crystal with solar energy powers. The Incans successfully defended their territory against all threats for centuries, created incredible terraced farms to feed thousands, and even domesticated pterodactyls as flying mounts. They regularly sacrifice victims to a live volcano to sustain their gods (and therefore the world).

The walled city of Nova Roma grew from the efforts of General Titus Varinus and his lost legion, which found its way into the Lost World and remained to claim it in the name of Emperor Marcus Aurelius; their efforts were abandoned a century later when it became clear there was no hope of regaining contact with Rome, but Nova Roma resembles the Empire at its height, including its Praetor-Governor. Various ruins in the Lost World indicate Atlantean refugees once settled here as well, but apparently died out centuries ago, leaving only their artifacts behind.

TBD-Chinese peasant revolt, rebel Mandarin leader, stumble through a gate while fleeing defeat at the hands of imperial army. Which dynasty? Many revolts to choose from. Establish strong agrarian and intellectual society, no standing army, but constant civilian militia training. Enlightened rule?

M

Madame Macabre (Lily Esther) – b. 19 July 1953. Lily Esther came to the West Coast on a bus from Wisconsin in the early 1970s like many young women seeking fame and fortune. Unlike most, with her ambition, looks, and savvy she managed to land a handful of roles in some of the low-budget horror films of the day. While Cry! Blackstein! Cry! and The Growling weren’t classics, they did get her noticed by a local TV affiliate, who offered Lily a gig hosting late-night horror films as Madame Macabre, the Hostess or Horror!

Lily’s sexy persona and willingness to shamelessly self-promote got her show picked up by affiliates all along the coast. She even starred in her own movie in the mid-’80s and did a nude pictorial in Playboy. She was never a superstar, but she was beloved by B-movie aficionados and horror fans the world over.

She always knew the “Hostess of Horror” thing wasn’t going to be popular forever, but she was nonetheless able to extend her career as Madame Macabre until cable killed late night movie shows. Then younger actresses became darlings of the B-movie crowd and she realized she was losing her looks… and with them, her career.

Her tell-all book wasn’t nearly as popular as she’d hoped and a crooked financial advisor squandered the modest fortune she’d managed to save up during her career. Worst of all, the acting career she dreamed of appeared to be dead and she never had the chance to be anything but a late-night Scream Queen. Sitting alone in her soon-to-be-foreclosed-on Gothic mansion Lily contemplated how she’d wasted her life, how she’d do things differently if she had the chance and, according to an interview she later gave to People, contemplated ending it all.

How she gained the substantial mystic powers she now possesses is unknown (she refused to discuss it in the infamous People interview), but SHADE believes that a deal with the Infante is the most likely scenario, while Arkanos has suggested a possible link to other-dimensional demonic entities. However it came about, Madame Macabre’s infernal powers include the ability to manipulate mystical energies, with a variety of effects such as mystic blasts, teleportation, illusion-casting, mind control, and summoning demonic shades in the form of classic movie monsters to do her bidding.

Though moodier since her transformation from media personality to supervillainess, Madame Macabre is a sassy, witty, and generally charming woman, who still enjoys the spotlight. She is fond of horror-themed jokes, puns, and jibes. She strikes seductive poses almost on reflex and loves meeting members of her fanbase. Her crimes seem to follow no discernible pattern, leading some to believe she answers to someone else – perhaps the mysterious source of her supernatural powers?

Magus Prime –  Title granted by the Powers That Be to the mage they determine to be the one most likely to bring balance to the magical energies of Earth. The chosen one gains a host of unique powers and esoteric knowledge, and influences the tenor of magic on Earth during their time as the prime guardian of this plane of existence.

Malina Har’Avex (aka Calypso) – (b. 13 October 1917, d. 3 May 1994). The second child of King Orlinar I of Atlantis, forced to flee into exile in 1940 when a coup overthrew her father and almost her entire family was murdered. The trauma awakened the latent meta-human powers that were a legacy of her ancient bloodline, and after gathering a small army of crown loyalists, she travelled to the surface world to seek allies to help her retake the throne. After her first meeting with Ultra, she took the codename Calypso and joined the Liberty League, fighting alongside them throughout WWII and earning their respect and trust.

In 1945, with the defeat of Germany, Ultra and Gaia joined her and her growing loyalist army to retake Atlantis and recover her throne. Queen Malina proposed to her former US Navy liaison, Captain Lance Halpirn, who accepted. Resigning his commission, he wed Malina and became the Prince Consort of Atlantis, the first air-breather to do so. Their son, Orlinar, was born in 1948. After years of trying for a spare, the couple had resigned themselves to having a single heir, when their daughter Lania was born in 1958.

Both children inherited meta-human powers as well as their father’s ability to remain on dry land indefinitely. Each would attend college in the surface world – Orlinar as Ned Halpirn, Lania as Lenore Halpirn, and both would join super teams during their time above the waves. As Proteus Ned was a member of the Liberty Alliance for nearly 15 years, while Lenore, as Sea Sprite, helped found the Teen Squad.

For all the danger and adventure of her early life, Queen Malina died peacefully in her sleep in 1994, less than a year after her beloved husband’s death. She was greatly mourned by her subjects, even as they (some reluctantly) celebrated the elevation of her half-breed son as King Orlinar II.

Manifold, the Replicant – Android creation of Adam Victorson (aka the Prodigal) and the Helix, with the power to mimic superpowers. It duplicated the powers of the Liberty Alliance before being defeated by them. Manifold later rebelled against its creator – an ironic twist considering Adam’s relationship with his own creator – and now seeks to find a place the world for itself. Preferably as its master.

The Master (Nicco Steiner, Jr.) – The Master of Tyr’Ana was, for nearly two decades, the ruler of a subterranean realm in Terra Cava, the so-called Hollow Earth, whose subjects are a heavily mutated off-shoot of humanity created millennia ago by the Serpent People to serve as slaves. Eventually abandoned by their creators, the mole-like Terra Cavans simply continued to go about their duties maintaining the empty, ancient city, either repelling or absorbing various invading forces of other Hollow Earthers. 

In 2001 the mole-folk discovered a human of the surface world when he was injured and left for dead in the collapse of a mining operation in South Africa. Nursing him back to health, the servile creatures fixated on the human as their new master. In time he established his own underground empire using the ancient, abandoned science/magics of the Serpent People and his legions of Terra Cavan subjects. Over the years The Master has made occasional attempts to conquer and/or loot various parts of the surface world, but is usually thwarted by heroes like the Phenom Four and Urbana, and even other villains such as Dr. Magnetík.

He and his subterranean army had been quiet for several years, until his recent incursion into the surface world to “rescue” his long-lost wife and return her to his cavernous realm to rule at his side. The Vanguard defeated him, and in doing so discovered his true identity: the long-presumed-dead father of their own teammate Quanta.

Midnight Cartel – An international criminal organization supposedly responsible for numerous bank robberies, hijackings and murders around the globe. It is, however, an entirely fictional organization, created by The Prodigal to serve as a distraction for the authorities and superheroes. Designed to direct their attentions away from his true organization, the Helix, failed or clumsy HUSH or Arsenal operations are often attributed to the made-up group, as a courtesy to the Overlord and Dr. Hänk.

Midnight Hour (Thomas Grey) – Wealthy industrialist/playboy in pre-War New York City, and a friend of the mysterious Angel of the Night, aka Artemis. Fearing what Gerhart von Richtor might learn from his stolen fragment of her mystical Shadow Cloak, and trusting Grey, she allowed him to study the artifact for himself. From that study he developed a chemical mist which, when inhaled, granted him certain darkness-based powers for approximately 60 minutes per inhalation.

After a dramatic public debut stopping the attempted assassination of the mayor of New Atlantis in 1941, he became a founding member of the Liberty League early the next year. Unfortunately, his long-term, repeated, unfiltered exposure to the Shadow Dimension eventually drove him insane. In 1947 Artemis was forced, with great anguish, to kill her friend when there proved no other way to stop his rampage, which threatened not only his wife and young son, but New Atlantis itself. Father of Dylan Grey, the first Raptor.

Midnight Rider – A mysterious wild-west hero gifted with incredible vision and aim; famous for dressing all in black and using a bullwhip, in particular, although the unknown agent of justice was good with any weapon, seemingly.

Mimoza  – The hottest nightclub in Astoria, owned and operated by the somewhat mysterious “Diamond” Dave Dawson. Mimoza is located in a former warehouse, and includes several elements: a public restaurant and bar, Sakura; the titular nightclub, Mimoza; a members-only private club (no name – you either know of it or you don’t); an underground jazz venue, the Blue Note; and a discreet (and surprisingly classy) strip club, the Burlesque Meta. The various venues have always had an eclectic clientele, ranging from college students, tourists, and business types, to local gangsters and, discreetly, both supervillains and superheroes (but never in costume!). Everybody uses the place to relax, party, talk business and, most importantly, to be seen. 

Since the Incident, Dawson has begun openly catering to both the city’s suddenly expanded super-powered set and to the wider public’s fascination with meta-humans. One of the ways he’s found to appeal to that latter interest is to hire people with (usually minor) powers to act as wait staff, bartenders, security, dancers and strippers. Perhaps unsurprisingly, strippers dressed as superheroes or supervillains have proven to be tremendously popular and a major draw to Burlesque Meta, with a concurrent boost to the other venues.

Not much is publicly known about Dawson’s background and he likes it that way. He appears to be a very good looking man in his early 30s, despite having run Mimoza for over two decades. This has lead some to assume he is a meta-human, although it isn’t clear what exactly his powers, if any, might be. He is certainly one of the best-connected and well-informed people in Astoria regarding events on both sides of the law, mundane or super-powered. He is willing to share such information, discreetly, with either side when it suits his own purposes –  or simply on a whim, sometimes…

N

Nemesis (aka the Caretaker, aka the Overseer, aka the Other) – An artificial intelligence created at least 22,000 years ago (and possibly much earlier) by the alien space gods known as the Seekers. He seeks to fulfill what he believes to be his ancient creators’ desires, the perfection of the human race into a powerful cosmic force. He believes this is best achieved through conflict and adversity, two things which he is very adept at creating. The Astoria Incident was a recent proof-of-concept attempt to jump-start the evolutionary advancement of the species via matrix crystal mutation.

In eternal conflict with Nimrod the Hunter, the immortal consciousness of an ancient human. The two intelligences have battled one another down the ages for the soul of humanity, each seeking to do what they believe is right and best for the species.

Nightwraiths – Depending on who one talks to, either a group of interstellar criminals / terrorists or a band of rough-and-ready protectors of the galaxy’s oppressed and downtrodden. First formed in 2013 by the renegade former Paladin known as Ebony Night,  who imbued seven already powerful individuals with a fraction of his own dark power, derived from his direct connection to the Black Heart crystal. He did this by solidifying some of his of dark energy into black gems, which he embedded in the recipient’s forehead (or equivalent structure for non-humanoids), linking them to his own power. He chose his candidates from the outcast, dispossessed or renegades of the galaxy, such as Zybon of the Harbinger Fleet and Archon the Judge. Since then he has used his organization to build a power base from which he hopes to challenge the Keepers of Rampart and their Paladins as the premiere force bringing peace and order to the galaxy… at least his own rigid ideas of what constitutes peace and order.

Nimrod (Gor-Thûn, aka the Hunter) – A hunter and leader of a primitive tribe of proto-Semitic people born 22,000 thousand years ago in what today is called the Middle East. Taken up and studied – and repeatedly dissected and reassembled – by the cosmic aliens known as the Seekers, his mind, or soul (assuming there’s a difference), somehow became trapped in the crystalline matrix that was the aliens’s “computer system.” Over time he grew in both knowledge and wisdom, and when the Seekers departed Earth he remained within the orbital Observation Platform they left behind.

Centuries later, when the alien’s AI Caretaker took steps that would wipe out the human civilization of the day (that of Atlantis), Gor-Thün took action to stop it. Unfortunately, he failed by a hairs-breadth, even as he sent the Caretaker to a fiery doom in Earth’s atmosphere. The Platform was damaged, doomed as well, and so he sent a genetic copy of himself off into the future – his only real hope for some sort of survival, he believed at the time.

Against all odds, however, he survived the crash of the Platform, although buried two miles beneath what would come to be called Mt. Defiance, in Oregon, USA. He eventually gained the ability to contact, and possess, human minds across the globe, and over the millennia he lived hundreds of lives through those people. He also discovered that his old mentor/enemy the Caretaker had survived as well, and with a similar ability to possess humans. Eventually given the names of Nimrod the Hunter and Nemesis by the humans around them, the two intelligences have battled one another down the ages for the soul of humanity – one to raise it up into the light and the heights it might achieve, with love and compassion; the other to toughen it up, through constant trials of fire, death, and cycles of destruction.

Their battle continues today, and seems to be coming to a final resolution, one way or another, as humanity begins to reach for the stars…

Nimrod II (Álvaro de la Vega) – (b. 3 January 1960). A villain of the late 20th and early 21st Centuries who used sophisticated high-tech armor to commit crimes. Occasionally a foe of the Liberty Alliance, he was known to help them at times as well – in 2001 he captured the terrorist mastermind behind a failed attack on several US cities. More importantly, he came to the heroes’ aid during the Z’ardani Invasion, playing a significant role in the eventual defeat of the alien forces. Nimrod vanished after the Invasion and hasn’t been seen since. The government has consistently denied knowledge of his true identity, and refuses to comment on internet theories that he was granted a Presidential pardon.

For many years Álvaro has been a willing host, and over time true partner, to the ancient intelligence of Gor-Thûn, the Hunter — the original Nimrod. The two have developed a strong working symbiosis, which has included playing a vital role in the founding of the super-team the Vanguard.

Nimrod III – At first believed to be the original villain of that name, he in fact turned out to be an ancient, alien artificial intelligence created by the Seekers. Known as Nemesis, by those few people aware of his existence, he sought to discredit his ancient foe, the true original Nimrod by usurping his name. Declaring responsibility for the Astoria Incident (“for the good of the human race”), he planned to replicate the event on a global scale, insisting it would bring order and sanity (to those who survived), allowing humanity to face a dangerous universe, one they were currently desperately unprepared for. That plan was defeated by the new superhero team known as the Vanguard, and since then he has reverted to his usual designation of Nemesis.

The Norn –  An androgynous cosmic personification of Fate or Destiny, apparently tasked with overseeing the proper functioning of those concepts within at least the local multiverse cluster – possibly across the entire omniverse. When a fellow cosmic-level entity, Kronos, managed to collapse the entire local multiverse cluster of realities into a singularity the Norn was able to reverse the disaster by sending selected agents from two of those affected realities back in time.

Nullite (NUL-eyt) – Crystalline mineral taken from the Seeker birthing pod which gestated Ultra. It’s particular properties had the effect of weakening Ultra when he was within about three meters of a piece of the substance. It has no known effect on any other meta-human, but did cause similar weakness in Ultra’s son, Ultra Lad / Ultrason. 

O

Orichalcum (oreh-KAL-kum) – A unique metal alloy created by the ancient Atlanteans, a hybrid creation of advanced metallurgy and alchemy. The secret of its creation was lost in the destruction of Atlantis, but samples of the metal are known to still exist, owing to its near-indestructible nature. Orichalcum is golden-bronze in appearance, almost indestructible, and is immune to damage from temperature extremes. While difficult to work, it also holds enchantments well, and many ancient Atlantean artifacts made of the metal have magical or quasi-magical powers. Orichalcum weapons, armor, and tools are prized heirlooms among the Atlanteans of the modern era, whose techno-mages have been attempting to recreate it for millennia… so far, unsuccessfully.

Oshiro-gumi – The ruling Yakuza gumi (clan) in Astoria, Oregon.  Relative newcomers to the underworld of Astoria, the clan came to power there in the early 1990’s. Since that time, they have made a significant impact on the criminal scene in Astoria, with the Oshiro-gumi becoming the most influential Yakuza clan on the West Coast. Headquartered in Chinatown, the clan has spread its influence throughout the city’s legal and illegal enterprises, making it a dangerous force to contend with.

The gumi (clan) is operated in a very traditional Japanese manner, following a strict hierarchy of family and houses, with a vertical relationship where a foster son owes complete allegiance to a foster father. Members of the gumi cut ties with their families and transfer their loyalties to the bosses directly above them, creating a ‘father’—‘elder brother’—‘younger brother’ relationship. The syndicate is operated almost exclusively by men, though occasionally women are permitted to join and are most often referred to as ‘older sister.’

The Oshiro–gumi’s head, or Oyabun, is the criminal known as the Iron Oyabun, a powerful and dangerous supervillian in his own right. Authorities suspect, but have so far been unable to prove, that reclusive and powerful businessman Oshiro Tatsuo is the Iron Oyabun. He gives the impression of being a benevolent family man and canny businessman as CEO of Oshiro Enterprises, his privately held corporation. The Iron Oyabun is thought to be directly assisted by his son and So-Honbucho (headquarters chief), Oshiro Hisashi, on the one hand, and his daughter, Oshiro Mariko on the other. It is rumored that his daughter holds such an unusual position due to meta-human abilities, but what her power(s) might be are pure speculation.

Directly below the Iron Oyabun are his senior advisors, who primarily perform all the organizational duties required for the smooth operation of the gumi. They are also in charge of their own turfs in other areas of the city and perform services for their own advisors, accountants, and enforcers. On the same level as the senior advisors are the first and second lieutenants who directly oversee the street gangs and foot soldiers of the gumi.

The Oshiro-gumi is deeply involved in a number of illegal activities, but focus primarily on gambling, money laundering, loan sharking, pornography, prostitution, and smuggling (including drugs, weapons, and people). They also participate in a unique form of protection racket which is aimed at large corporations. The clan purchases a small amount of stock, which allows them to attend stockholders meetings where their very presence frightens the other stockholders. The companies are encouraged to pay a fee to keep the Yakuza away. In a similar fashion they obtain incriminating or embarrassing information about a company’s practices or leaders with the intention of blackmail. Once they gain a foothold in these companies though, they work to protect the company from having such scandals exposed to the public.

As a matter of principle, theft is not recognized as a legitimate activity by the Yakuza. This is in line with their idea that their activities are semi-open and in fact serve to protect the Japanese community; theft, by definition, would be a covert activity considered a trespass upon the people they are “protecting.”

Unlike many of the other criminal syndicates in the city, Oshiro-gumi seem more than happy to enter into alliances with gangs of other races, primarily with those of Vietnamese or Korean origin. The Iron Oyabun is also believed to be interested in forming an alliance with the White Tiger Society, but with the increasing infirmity, and anticipated death, of the Kirin, any such discussions appear to have stalled.

Along with their criminal endeavors, the clan is also involved in many legal ventures, some of which are quite large. Many stores, cinemas, Japanese restaurants and travel agencies in the city are owned and/or controlled by the Yakuza. Furthermore, the gumi usually does not conduct any actual business operations directly; they are typically managed by non-Oshiro members who pay the clan a sort of franchise fee.

The headquarters of the Oshiro-gumi is believed to be the top two levels of the 60-floor Harada Tower; the penthouse apartment of which is the personal living quarters of Tatsuo Oshiro and both his children, along with a number of personal staff/retainers.

Overlord (Identity unknown) – Founder and leader of HUSH. Overlord possesses considerable arcane and technological knowledge, and wears an advanced suit of power-armor with mystical enhancements.

Overwatch – Current main headquarters of the Liberty Alliance, a self-contained satellite in high Earth orbit, accessible by either spaceplane or dedicated “teleportals” on Earth. This isolation provides the Overwatch with considerable security in addition to making it Earth’s first line of defense against any danger from deep space.

The Overwatch was designed by Vitruvian, inspired by techniques used by the Paladins of Light in the construction of their own deep space facilities, as well as a variety of other alien technologies that he studied during his years traveling through the Confederated Union of Worlds. The Liberty Alliance, the United Nations and UNEXIS jointly funded and built the orbital structure, with the understanding that the satellite would also house facilities for SHADOW.

The cylindrical satellite has several decks, including a hangar deck for the Skymaster spaceplanes, an observation deck (with a spectacular view of Earth), quarters for Alliance members staying on board, dormitories for the SHADOW crew stationed aboard, a mess hall, gymnasium, laboratories, and an infirmary. The main control center includes the Panopticon, an advanced audio-visual array used for keeping watch over the Earth.

The Overwatch has a zero-point power core supplemented by solar collectors on its exterior surface. Its systems are maintained by a sophisticated quantum computer mainframe, containing the Liberty Alliance’s extensive case files. The command deck has a teleportal, able to instantly transport the heroes to any other portal on Earth. The League has teleportals in most world capitals and many other  major cities. The New Atlantis teleportal is located in Alliance Hall, which is used as the Alliance’s local “embassy” and base in the city.

P

PADD – Personal Auxiliary Data Display. A lightweight, portable tablet that uses wireless and Bluetooth technology to access and transmit information from desk-top or mainframe computer networks to individual users. It has a relatively small capacity for storing information locally, as it is primarily intended as an access portal into more robust systems. Introduced in 2010 by AzTech, it has become ubiquitous in both business and government as a secure method of allowing easy access to authorized users of data systems.

Paladin I (K’lar Nethu) – A Union member of the Paladins of Light, K’lar Nethu was stationed on Earth for a time. A member of the Liberty Alliance in the late 1960s and most of the 1970s, she was known to Earth simply as “Paladin.” She eventually returned to space and has risen to membership in the First Rank that administers Rampart on behalf of the Keepers.

Paladin II (Greg Greer) – The first Earth human to be granted the mantle of Paladin of Light for Earth’s sector of space, so honored by the Keepers in 1977, after Greer helped to fend off a Dramorg invasion of Earth.

A lieutenant in the US Coast Guard, he was assigned to police duties, where a routine investigation led him to evidence of corruption within the ranks. Abruptly removed from the case by his superiors and warned to mind his own business, Greer instead chose to dig deeper on his own. What he discovered was far more than just a few dirty officers –he uncovered infiltration by alien shapeshifters called the Dramorg!

Hunted by the Dramorg, he found an ally in Variance, a rogue member of that race and former member of the Liberty Alliance, and in K’Lar Nethu, the former Paladin of Light for Earth. Both had returned to the planet to warn her defenders of the new alien infiltration threat. Greer impressed Paladin K’Lar, who gave him a pair of Omni-bands, making him a probationary Paladin. He accepted the role and got his initial training “on the job,” helping the Liberty Alliance and Earth’s other heroes root out the alien infiltrators.

Once the Earth was safe, Greer left to undergo formal training on Rampart, under the guidance of his predecessor, K’lar Nethu, and others. Once his formal training was complete, Greer returned to Earth in 1979, where he served as the planet’s resident Paladin and a member of the  Liberty Alliance for over twenty years. But the Dramorg Consensus never forgot his part in wrecking their plans, and when the opportunity arose, their agents ambushed him in deep space. Although he defeated the assassins, he himself was mortally wounded, making it only as far as Mars before dying.

Paladin III (Serena Carver) – The second Earth human to be named a Paladin of Light by the Keepers of Rampart. Carver is of mixed descent, on both sides a third generation child of immigrants — her father’s family came from Chad, her mother’s people from Belize. Born in 1980, she grew up in Texas, and was both a star athlete and a National Merit Scholar in high school. After graduation she accepted an appointment to West Point, where she earned high marks on her way to becoming an officer.

Unfortunately she was destined never to finish, nor to gain her commission. When Earth’s long-time Paladin, Greg Greer, was ambushed and killed by Dramorg agents in deep space, his Omni-bands sought out a new, worthy host – and they decided on Serena Carver. Accepting the responsibility, she vanished from Earth for two years, to receive her formal training on Rampart.

She returned to Earth as the planet’s new Paladin less than a month before the Z’ardani Invasion of 14-16 October 2002. She survived her baptism of fire, and after the aliens were repulsed she accepted a membership in the Liberty Alliance to help fill out its depleted ranks. She has served with honor and distinction since then, but with the recent collapse of much of the Confederated Union of Worlds following the destruction of their capital planet, the rise of the Stellar Imperium, the renewed menace of the Dramorg Consensus, and the creation of the Nightwraiths, she has been recalled to Rampart to fight alongside the rest of the Paladins in the coming conflict that threatens to engulf the galaxy.

Paladins of Light – The Paladins of Light began millennia ago on a distant world called Rampart, the only known example of a functioning Dyson Sphere. The beings know as the Keepers rule this vast artificial world. Many suspect Rampart, and perhaps the Keepers themselves, of being a creation of the Seekers, like many fantastic artifacts throughout the galaxy, but the Keepers have always remained silent on the matter. The Keepers possess vast intelligence and experience, along with direct control over incredibly advanced technology and a nearly limitless power source. Fortunately, they also have a deep sense of fairness and justice.

When the the Union worlds first came into conflict with the Dramorg early in their expansion, the Keepers detected the conflict, assessed the actions of both star-faring races, and sent their Paladins to negotiate, and enforce, a peace.

The Keepers recruit intelligent and brave beings, usually via their Sentinels posted around the galaxy, and ferry potential recruits to Rampart, where they begin training to become Paladins. Coming from a variety of worlds across the galaxy and representing a diverse range of species, the Keepers first teach their recruits to respect the diversity among themselves and conquer any prejudices they might previously have held. Once their training is complete, the Keepers equip each with an advanced and powerful pair of bracers, made of a unique prismatic crystalline metal. These Omni-bands grant the wearer the ability to fly through interstellar space, creating small but powerful wormholes, as well as the ability to harness the power of the Singularity. The Paladins are charged with preserving peace, order, and justice in the galaxy.

The Union as a whole does not acknowledge the authority of the Paladins, but individual member worlds are free to sign the Compact of Light, as it does not conflict with the Union’s constitution. Many other civilized worlds across the galaxy recognize and respect the power of the organization. The Paladins make it a point not to interfere in the internal affairs of other worlds. They rarely go where they are not wanted and concentrate on dealing with natural disasters, interstellar crime, and similar menaces. They also protect developing worlds from outside exploitation and conquest. The Dramorg Consensus considers the Paladins adversaries, although they respect their abilities and only challenge them when they feel numbers and circumstances are in their favor.

Each Paladin wears a pair of Omni-bands that draw power from the Singularity, the glowing, multifaceted crystal floating in the heart of the Keeper’s Dyson Sphere world of Rampart. The Singularity contains seemingly inexhaustible extradimensional energy and may be related to the Seeker matrix crystals found around the galaxy. The Dramorg have sought to kill Paladins for centuries to claim their Omni-bands and study them, but whenever a Paladin is killed, the bands automatically returns to Rampart (occasionally seeking out a worthy new recruit first, if circumstances allow).

There are currently thousands of Paladins throughout earth’s quadrant of the Milky Way galaxy, but they’re still spread quite thin, and multiple Paladins are usually only seen together in times of great crisis. Each Paladin is quite independent and is expected to handle matters largely on his / her / its own initiative, but the recent upheavals across the galaxy following the destruction of Halicon has caused the Keepers to summon the majority of the Paladins back to the Rampart in preparation for war against Entropy the All Consuming and the Nightwraiths.

Phoenix – Mysterious entity, presumably an early meta-human, who first appeared in San Francisco during the Great Earthquake and Fire of 1906. After helping to fight the fires and rescue many of the trapped and injured, the flaming man vanished into the sky and was never seen again.

Power Corps– Team of mercenaries outfitted with advanced battlesuits by Cerebral. They later went independent and now hire themselves out to the highest bidder.

Power-House– An underground “enhancement” clinic granting clients super-strength and constitution, but also causing unusual mutations, and often brain damage and a significantly shortened life span.

Powers That Be – An amalgamated intelligence consisting of all of the former Magi Prime of Earth, existing within the magical field of the planet and bestowing the mantle of Magus Prime on the most worthy candidate available to keep the mystical energies of the world in balance and protect the planet from extra-planar threats.

Primate patrol– In the alternate reality known as Earth-Ape, the Primate Patrol is the most famous superhero team of them all, comparable to the Liberty Alliance on our Earth. The current Patrol formed back in 1994, under the aegis of famed scientist and philanthropist Dr. simian, and in the years since has more than fulfilled its mission to fight injustice and protect apekind, despite the best efforts of Earth-Ape’s worst supervillains.

In addition to founder and team leader Dr. simian (and adorable team mascot and cub reporter Jimmy Lemur) the Primate Patrol consists of:

Brainiape
From an early age, Virgil knew he wasn’t like other orangutans. He often heard what his schoolmates were thinking, and when the bigger apes picked on him, he could make them let him alone just by thinking it. For years, these strange abilities frightened the young anthropoid, until he heard the first media reports of Chimpanzoom’s debut as a superhero.

Inspired by Chimpanzoom’s example, Virgil vowed to use his powers helping all apekind, and devised his own costumed identity as Brainiape. He soon developed quite a reputation as a crime-fighter, and when the Primate Patrol was first organized, Brainiape was a consensus choice for recruitment. While Brainiape is on good terms with all his teammates, he feels especially grateful to Dr. Simian for helping him master his mental powers and furthering his inquiries into the mysteries of the simian mind.

Chimpanzoom
Lucius’ reputation as the greatest daredevil stunt-driver who ever lived was already firmly cemented into the public mind. His legend grew even larger after he announced his most death-defying feat yet: driving an experimental prototype vehicle designed by famed scientific genius Dr. Simian to a new world land-speed record. No one’s quite sure just how fast Lucius traveled on that fateful day, but he was finally found a week later and hundreds of miles away in the middle of an old atomic proving ground. He was now a very different chimpanzee.

Whatever strange forces Lucius was exposed to gave him the ability to move at speeds undreamt of by apekind. His awesome newfound abilities instilled Lucius with a greater sense of purpose, and compelled him to use his gifts for the good of all. Though he kept the colorful costumes of his stunt driving days, Lucius renamed himself in recognition of his new mission and abilities. He was no longer just a chimpanzee, he was Chimpanzoom, the Fastest Ape Alive!

Dr. Simian trained Chimpanzoom to the use his powers, and as a duo fought crime before organizing the Primate Patrol. Though he still defers to Simian’s judgment on most matters, as one of the first super-apes Chimpanzoom commands a great deal of public fascination, perhaps even more so than the publicity-shy Doctor.

Elastigibbon
Julius was one of Earth-Ape’s most beloved funny-apes, equally adept at physical and stand-up comedy and famous for his hilarious gibbon songs.

While shooting a movie on location overseas, an adoring fan offered him a rare native fruit reputed to bestow magical powers on those who would use them for good. While Julius wanted a tasty snack far more than a change of destiny, he nevertheless underwent an amazing transformation after consuming the gift.

The mystic fruit gave Julius the ability to make his body as stretchable as rubber and change his size at will. Reacting to the change with characteristic aplomb, Julius figured he’d better live up to his end of the deal and use his abilities fighting the good fight. Though still a wise-cracker, he embarked on a new side career as the stalwart crime-fighter Elastigibbon, a member in good standing of the Primate Patrol.

Iron Monkey
Dr. Milo’s remarkable mechanical genius rivals even Dr. Simian’s. Though this should make them competitors, in truth Milo respects and admires Simian. It was Simian and Chimpanzoom’s example that prompted him to create the invincible powered armor that makes him a superhero.

Originally, Milo intended to mass produce the armor, giving police a tremendous edge over any sort of criminal. However, when Milo presented his creation to Dr. Simian for his approval, Simian counseled the more suits of powered armor produced, the greater the chance they would fall into the wrong paws.

Impressed by the young capuchin’s boyish enthusiasm, Simian suggested Milo alone wear the armor. He promised if Milo followed his advice, Simian would induct him into the Primate Patrol. This was the chance the young inventor had always sought, and he eagerly accepted the chance to fight injustice alongside the renowned Dr. Simian. Since that day, criminals everywhere have learned to fear the might of the Armored Ape, the one-and-only Invincible Iron Monkey.

Metamorph, The Mandrill of 1,000 Faces
For years, Senpei sought insight and wisdom in the Far East, studying the ancient secrets of meditation, martial arts, and philosophy. The greatest secret he uncovered was learning how to alter his physical appearance through the power of mind over matter. While most apes would be tempted to use such abilities for personal gain, Senpei chose to use them for the greater good.

His sensei always warned him evil wears countless guises, but through clarity of thought and purpose, good men could turn evil’s own strengths against it. Senpei took these lessons to heart, and decided to combat injustice with its own deceptiveness as Metamorph, the Mandrill of 1,000 Faces.

Since joining the Primate Patrol at Dr. Simian’s behest, Metamorph has served as the team’s covert operative, using his abilities to gather information on all those Simian deems to be a threat. Despite spending years in the hustle and bustle of the modern world, Senpei has lost none of his monastic outlook on life, and remains the team’s moral and spiritual center.

Proteus (Orlinar Har’Avex aka Ned Halpirn)– (b. 21 September 1948). The eldest child of Queen Malina of Atlantis and her surface-born consort Lance Halpirn. Attended Bensalem University 1966-70, graduating with a BS in Oceanography. Part-time member of the Liberty Alliance 1967-70, and a full member 1971-1981. After 15 years in the surface world, he returned home to Atlantis to take up his duties as Crown Prince of the Royal House. With a few notable exceptions he remained in the undersea kingdom until his mother’s death in 1994, when he took the throne as King Orlinar II. As of 2020, at age 72, he continues to rule Atlantis.