Post by Hawkshaw on Apr 17, 2022 16:04:57 GMT
They call it the Super Century. A little more than twenty years ago, as the clock struck midnight on the first of January, the year 2000, several very special children were born. Nobody's been able to determine precisely how many- certainly more than fifty, and somewhere under five hundred. These children were all born with certain gifts that elevated them above their peers. Superpowers, if you want to be crude about it. There's no scientific explanation for it, and even most conventional religions have struggled to provide an explanation, but certain esoteric philosophers developed a theory that's become mainstream. They call these people the Century Children, and suggest that each of them represents a certain aspect of the 21st Century.
As evidence to this theory, they've pointed to stories that most people thought to be mere fairy tales until now. Certain individuals who stalked the 20th Century, dismissed as urban legends, that were believed to possess powers just as these modern Century Children. A living god who showed Oppenheimer the destructive potential of splitting the atom by doing so with his own two hands. An unkillable soldier who was seen on every battlefield in every conflict from the Great War to Vietnam. The existence of these individuals has never been verified, and all hints of their activities cease on December 31st, 1999. But if they were real, they could provide a precedent for this new breed of supermen. With one big difference. None of these Century Children are interested in hiding.
They are celebrities, CEOs, government agents, vigilantes, killers, villains, and heroes. No two are the same. Some represent ideas that have endured for millennia, like Independence and Control, Order and Chaos, or War and Peace. Others are more difficult to define. What does War mean in the 21st Century? Not being an infantryman, but being the man who manufactures the weapons of war. Does Justice mean enforcing the rules of the system, or operating outside of them? That's for the Century Children to define- and everyone else is just living in the world that they're going to shape.
Nowhere does it feel more like you're living in the Super Century than in Century City. That's because the New Metropolis didn't exist until quite recently. The plans were drawn up in 2016, and it was completed three years later. Today, it's home to ten million people, the largest city in the United States. For most people, this would have been an impossible feat. But Century City wasn't built by 'most people.' It was the brainchild of two Century Children. August Forson, the Spirit of Industry, and Phoebe Steele, the Spirit of Innovation. Forson designed the city itself, while Steele's self-replicating constructor nanomachines built most of it. The Governor of economically-impoverished West Virginia was happy to sign off on the project, hoping it would bring jobs back to the state, which it did. But it brought something else, too. Capes.
Not every Century Child wears one, of course. All of them are exceptional, but plenty of them prefer to excel in ordinary fields. More than a few, however, have chosen to make real the stories of men and women in colorful costumes fighting crime. And there seemed no better place to do so, for many of them, than Century City. Forson's project wasn't an 'American city,' exactly. His aim was to create a city with no national character whatsoever, and in order to accomplish this, he opened the doors of Century City to immigrants and refugees from all over the world. Unsurprisingly, they came in droves, fleeing war-torn nations both near and far. Most of them wanted nothing more than a place to stay where they'd be safe. But plenty of them saw opportunity, too. And so came crime. So much of it that the Century City Police Department was unprepared. The Founders were no help- Steele had moved on to other projects, and Forson hasn't been seen outside of Century Tower since construction was completed. So the job fell to the other Century Children, who now seek to combat the criminal organizations that dominate much of the New Metropolis.
Though Century City is technically located within the borders of West Virginia, it's legally considered an independent city, like Washington D.C., with no representation in Congress or the Senate. The Mayor is the highest authority, second to only the President himself. However, another group has developed significant influence of their own in Century City- the corporations. Some sixty percent of the city's population is employed by one corporation or another, either directly or indirectly. While few people are able to acknowledge it publicly, due to the fact that all of the city's papers are corp-controlled, the Mayor is more or less in the pocket of these corporations as well. They seek to impose their own will on Century City, although not every corporation shares the same interests as the others.
Four factions vie for control of the New Metropolis, each influenced in their own way by the Century Children that are affiliated with them. These factions are as follows.
The Law: Officially, if you want to operate as a 'hero' in Century City, you need to be affiliated with the CCPD. That means your identity has to be a matter of public record, you have to prove you can control your powers, and you get to carry a badge. While in theory the CCPD reports back to the Mayor's office, tensions are high between the two, due to the Mayor's corruption and the CCPD's distaste for any authority higher than their own. While many heroes and police officers genuinely want to do good, plenty of them are just looking for an excuse to abuse their power. They'll spend as much time clearing out homeless encampments as they do busting drug labs.
The Corps: Under pressure from his corporate masters, the Mayor of Century City signed a law in 2020 stating that a 'sponsored hero' could operate in the New Metropolis independent of the CCPD, so long as their identity was public. These 'corporate heroes' are paid better than their official counterparts, but often have to choose between protecting their interests and doing the most good. Since Century Children are so rare, very few of them are actually employed by a corporation- instead, most 'corporate heroes' are the CEOs of these corporations, who promote their own products by using them on Century City's streets. The man most emblematic of this trend is Mars, whose iconic crimson-gold warsuit is a common sight in Century City's skies.
The Crooks: Seeing an opportunity to gain control of an untapped market, criminals from all over the world flocked to Century City when its doors opened. Now, they have influence over large sections of the New Metropolis, often controlling entire neighborhoods through methods both subtle and overt. Some of these criminal syndicates are run by ordinary humans, but the most powerful are controlled by Century Children, who seem intent to prove that power and virtue don't necessarily go hand in hand.
The Rogues: A small number of Century Children want to do good, but without working within the law or for a corporation. They are branded as vigilantes, and treated as criminals by the CCPD, but the gangs are no friend to them either. This is the most difficult path for a Century Child to take, so it's no surprise that several have chosen to walk it. The individual who best represents this group is known only as Hawkshaw, the Specter of Justice, who intends to bring his brand of justice to the cops, the corps, and the crooks, no matter the cost.
Super Century is more of a 'mini-sandbox' than a single story. If you intend to apply, bear in mind that you can only have a single character, and they must belong to one of the four factions. Make sure it's a character you're happy with, because you won't be able to switch if you get bored with them, barring extenuating circumstances. The purpose of this rule is to prevent characters from becoming integral to a narrative or story arc, and then disappearing, making a resolution impossible.
Each character will be a Century Child, living somewhere in Century City. The specific layout of the city has been left intentionally undefined, so every writer who participates can have a hand in shaping it. Your Century Child should have a specific 'theme' of some sort, based on the examples given above. This doesn't necessarily have to determine their powers directly- for instance, there probably wouldn't be a 'Spirit of Speed' or something quite so generic. Instead, it could be the 'Spirit of Progress,' who both personally possesses superhuman speed, and desires progressive social change.
There are several traits which almost every Century Children possesses, in addition to their own unique abilities. Most notably, every Century Child will live for exactly one hundred years, from 2000 to 2100, and won’t physically age beyond their mid-twenties or so. That is, unless they’re killed before then. They’re also generally in excellent physical condition, with no notable genetic deficiencies. They also tend to possess some level of enhanced durability and a resistance to disease.
Please keep your characters within a reasonable level of strength. Century Children are not gods.
There's no specific format for applications- just give a general overview of your character, their powers, and their motivations, as well as what faction they're a part of. The following characters have already been accepted:
- Mars.
- Hawkshaw.
- Sheer Heart Attack.
- The Angel of Jackson Street.