The Campaign Builder's Guild

This thread has become the Supermodern Discussion thread, with the main thread located here. The other three settings discussed here are still being worked on, but for now remain undeveloped.

As ElDo astutely pointed out, a superhero setting works best with many different writers, and therefore I ask that anyone who has a concept to submit, that they do so. I'll accept almost anything, and I look forward to seeing what you have. Other than that, I would like to know what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and if I have any gaping holes I need to fill.

[spoiler=Old Post][ooc]Don't bother reading this post if you read the main thread, all the information here is in the main thread and the main thread is more up to date. I am just keeping this information for record keeping purposes.[/ooc]
Superhero Worlds

[ooc]Please keep all discussion here, Iâ,¬,,¢m not going to break this up into multiple threads right now: these are all still mainly concepts, not full settings.

Also, keep in mind that these are somewhat comic book worlds, and I reserve full rights to retcon, far more than I ever would on my normal fantasy worlds.

Oh, and one other thing â,¬' if I am using existing heroes names, especially if the concept is similar, let me know so I can alter them if need be.[/ooc]

Supermodern

Supermodern is the placeholder name for the first and foremost of the superhero settings I am working on, and the one from which I will likely draw from for any crossovers with ElDoâ,¬,,¢s superhero settings.

[ooc]I realized it was going to be stupid to try and define the world by its timeline â,¬' instead, I am going to outline heroes, villains, organizations, and such like a normal setting, then build the timeline with those in mind. You will notice many heroes donâ,¬,,¢t list much interaction with specific other superhumans. That is mainly because Iâ,¬,,¢m still developing villains and other Heroes, so there will be some blank spots.

Anything marked by an asterisk is complete. Of course, thatâ,¬,,¢s nothing yet marked as such.[/ooc]

[spoiler=Overarching concepts]

Nature vs. NurtureA lot of my heroes have a conflict between their birth and who they are now, be it a demonic parent, touched by a dark force they want no part of, a parent or grandparent who took up supervillanous activities, or even a more personal, less melodramatic conflict, such as being born to a long line of alcoholics or even just being a legacy child, be it superheroic legacy or otherwise.

Acceptance Best exemplified by the half-breeds, most heroes in Supermodern struggle for acceptance. While some, such as Amanda Murell, are widely known and loved, most metahumans are viewed with suspicion and distrust. Part of this is human nature, part of this is because of the next concept:

The Heroes Donâ,¬,,¢t Always Win while they have thus far managed to avert most major takeovers, supervillians of enough power and intelligence have carved out for themselves territories over which they rule. Kansas City is permanently quarantined; its inhabitants transformed into horribly twisted feral mutants by the workings of a villain. A large (country sized) portion of sub-Saharan Africa will be blanketed in impregnable darkness for the next two thousand years, and the vampire lord that created it still rules from within. The southern 75 percent of South America is the territory of an extraterrestrial empire. Although many, much worse events were averted, the fact remains that the heroes always winning, or even only losing the small, personal battles, is not a truth of this reality.

The Government is Not Your Friend Most governments have active psi-divisions, which come just short of being thought police. Wars use superhumans crated from programs that donâ,¬,,¢t exist, or exploit existing metahumans for gain. The US government stripped peopleâ,¬,,¢s minds bare in Guantanamo Bay, and reprogramming captured enemy agents does happen more often than people would ever admit. Half-breeds are treated as second-class citizens, weather officially or not. The Comprehensive Superhuman Test Ban Treaty of 1962 is the only thing that prevented a full-scale genetic war. Although some heroes uphold the idea of nation or patriotism, almost all of them struggle with reconciling their vision of nation with the actions of the government.

Corporations Are Worse. Everything governments do, multi-national corporations do behind the scenes in other nations, often more extensively than the governments ever dream of. Laws rarely touch them, and although they do not have the impunity enjoyed by cyberpunk megacorps, they still commit horrible acts, all in the name of increased profit.

The Villains Donâ,¬,,¢t Always Wear Black Itâ,¬,,¢s not always easy to tell who is a good guy and who is a bad guy, and even the obvious bad-guys are needlessly cruel. The ones with melodramatic monikers, such as Lord Darkness, are usually given those names by the media, not self-chosen.

Superheroes Change Things While many major world events still happened as they did in our world, the happened in different ways â,¬' higher technology is available due to the existence of super-intellects for several decades, and that has an impact on everyday society and other aspects of life. People wear virtual reality helmets to access computers is the most major change to everyday life, but medicine is vastly increased, including cybernetic replacement parts for either internal organs or limbs, and everything we do now is done then, but people are often much safer or it is more efficient. The biggest changes are in the military, where the hardware available to the common soldier is vastly better than ours, and flying tanks, space-based weaponry, and low power battlesuits are part of everyday life.

The Space Race Accelerated The first human landed on the moon in 1953. The first sanctioned orbital colony was constructed in 1961. (Metahumans had space bases prior to government orbital colonies.) Humans have set foot on Mars, which is twice as large as the mars of our world and is inhabitable, and we have encountered numerous alien species. The UN has Embassies on two alien homeworlds. Though encountering an extraterrestrial is uncommon, it is also not rare, and many people meet one in their lifetimes.[/spoiler]


Heroes:
[spoiler=Amanda Murell]
[note][/note] Real Name Amanda Murell
Aliases:Miss Justice, The Azure Avenger, Harbringer (while under demonic control)
Status: Active
Origins Amanda Murell was the wife of Dr. Henry Murell, a scientist working on the USAâ,¬,,¢s super soldier program. One day, after accidentally being contaminated with their latest serum, Dr. Murell came home. It is believed that along the way an unknown airborn microorganism entered the serum and provided the â,¬Ëmissing linkâ,¬,,¢ to make the serum potent enough to work. Amanda was the only one to come into physical contact with the serum, and rapidly begin developing extraordinary powers, first noticed when she sliced the tip of her finger off when making dinner and pulled it away, the wound sealing before her eyes. A law was fast tracked through Congress allowing women with certain levels of superhuman power into the military, and Amanda was teamed up with the first generation of British supersoldiers and thrust into the battlefields of WWII against the relatively numerous Nazi supersoldiers.

After the war, Amanda became a celebrity at home and around the world, often traveling around the globe to deliver speeches and to make appearances. Somewhere along the line, she picked up the moniker â,¬Å"Miss Justice.â,¬Â In the beginnings of the 1950s, America saw the rise of super villains and the red scare, prompting Amanda to return home to defend America. During that time, she gathered other super beings including Aelfar, a prince of the Faerie realms, Feral, a former scientist who was the victim of a horrible lab accident, Solar, a woman with powers of unknown origin, Technis, an inventor woman with electrical powers, and more as part of a government initiative to form a super team to defend America against the perceived threat of soviet supersoldiers. Called the Guardians, they stood on numerous occasions between the nation, the world, and on one occasion reality itself and destruction.  

In 1964, in the wake of Henryâ,¬,,¢s death at the hands of a Cairthi assassian, Amanda took a leave of absence from the team. She took up the name â,¬Å"Bluestarâ,¬Â and, with her close friend and teammate Solar, joined a Freejaunt ship and traveled the cosmos. She was reunited with the Guardians, at the time headed by Technis, just in time to prevent Lupis van ÃŽntuneric from taking control of the Government. In a rage, Lupis used his powers to strip away a great deal of Amandaâ,¬,,¢s life force, pushing her into Hades. Aelfar sacrificed his immortal life to restore her to life, and with that process her powers increased greatly, including granting her the ability to fly. Amanda remained with the Guardiance for a while, taking back over the team when Technis went rogue.

[note] [/note]In the days leading up to the Demonwars, Amanda was captured by Asmodai, who dragged her back to the demonic realm of Hell. There, she was imbued with mastery of hellfire and had her mind broken, turning her into the deadly Harbinger. However, she was able to break the control and turn her hellfire powers against the demons, turning the tide in the war. Although she lost much of her hellfire powers during this counter-strike, she still retains them in a reduced form, though she rarely uses them. It is believed the Harbinger persona is still buried deep within Amanda psyche.

Powers: Flight, Super Strength, Regeneration, Enhanced Senses, Super Speed, Incorporeal Form (for M&M users, itâ,¬,,¢s the Ghost Alternate Form). During the Demonwars, Amanda was forcibly imbued with mastery over hellfire.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=the Watchgirl]
Real Name Valerie Ross
Aliases: The Watchgirl
Status: Active
Affilations: Occasional leader of the Irregulars, has occasionally worked with the Guardians.
Appearance Valerie is an attractive woman, about five and a half feet tall and athletically built, with short dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her costume is green and blue, with a green mask covering her head completely.
Origins: Valerie was born in 1957 in Chicago, IL to Ryan Ross and Shannon Carter. Ryan was a British WWII super-soldier who was honorably discharged after a Nazi super soldier tore off his arm. He immigrated to the United States, hiding his super-soldier status, to live with Shannon, who had been a red cross nurse who had cared for him after his wound. Valerie has a pain of older twins, Sarah and Brendan, born in 1952. Ryan became increasingly bitter as he aged, and in 1959 he vanished, leaving Shannon alone with the three children. She struggled with a second job in addition to her nursing career, and Ryan and Sarah withdrew into themselves, even often speaking in a secret language they had developed. Young Valerie occupied herself mainly by reading through her fatherâ,¬,,¢s books, many of which were scientific manuals Ryan had purchased in hopes of understanding his condition. After devouring her fatherâ,¬,,¢s library, Valerie moved on to the public library, and would usually stay there from the time she got out of school to the time it closed.

In 1965, tragedy struck again. Shannon was found brutally murdered, beaten to death by someone with abnormal strength, and both Sarah and Brendan vanished. Valerie was sent to live with her aunt Katie and uncle Daniel, and Sarah and Brendan were never found, Shannonâ,¬,,¢s murder remaining unsolved. Katie and Daniel cared for Valerie as best they could, but neither had had any children, and both were unsure of themselves. However, they were both politically aware and often attended protests and such, and instilled a strong sense of social justice in Valerie, a sense that shaped her later life. Worried about her health, Katie and Daniel pushed Valerie into taking gymnastics, which she excelled in, more than Katie and Daniel expected. Even further, for the first time, Valerie had friends, forming a close bond with two girls in her class, Rachel Gallagher and Michelle Belz. The three would remain friends into high-school, eventually adding the quiet Rhonda Doerr to their group.
It was around this time Valerie discovered she had powers. It happened when she was walking to the library, still her favorite place to be when her friends were busy. A stray cat in an alley drew her attention, and she walked over to pet it. Suddenly, she knew she had to get out of the way, and leapt, pulling a summersault and landing on a fire escape twenty feet above her head, staring down at the confused man, who had drawn a gun on her. The gunman turned towards her, and again she leapt, this time lashing out with a kick that shattered the manâ,¬,,¢s nose. He ran away, and Valerie passed out.

When she woke up, it was night, and she was fully aware of her new senses, which included the ability to â,¬Å"seeâ,¬Â in all directions,  the ability to pinpoint things though hearing, as well as an ability to see into the ultraviolet and infrared spectrum. Not knowing her fatherâ,¬,,¢s past, she assumed she was a half-breed, an idea that both frightened and fascinated her. She walked home, finding with her first step she felt faster than ever before. In fact, she felt faster, stronger, and overall better than she ever had in her life. Deciding to keep this from her parents, she also decided to tell her friends of her powers, since she wanted to share with someone.

On the way home, her cellphone rang. It was Rachel. She hadnâ,¬,,¢t seen Michelle all day, and neither had Rhonda. Michelle wasnâ,¬,,¢t answering her phone. Since Valerie was closest, she stopped by Michelleâ,¬,,¢s house. The door was broken. Valerie ran in, moving far faster than she new possible. A scream sounded from upstairs, and she knew instantly that it was Michelle, and that with her was the same man as before, the one with broken nose. Valerie arrived in time to save Michelleâ,¬,,¢s life, but not the life of Michelleâ,¬,,¢s parents. Michelle had passed out, and Valerie decided two things at that moment â,¬' one, that she would use her powers to protect people who had no one to protect them, and two, that no-one could know that she had powers. She fed the police a lie about how she had snuck up on the man. Michelle was shipped away to live with family in New Jersey, and Valerie made herself a black and blue costume. Soon, the papers were calling her The Watchgirl, and she became simultaneously famous and infamous.

MORE TO COME LATER

I intend on expanding on her super-heroic activities once I have more villains planned out. Note that the cellphone was not a mistake â,¬' cellphones were invented in 1969 in Supermodern, and were common by 1975.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Aelfar] Real Name Aelfar Doâ,¬,,¢Slyvathin
Aliases:The Fae Guardian, Prince Aelfar (actual title)
Status: Deceased
Origins Aelfar was the son of the king and queen of the fae court, who left for Earth to leave behind the politics and bickering of the fae and live among mortals. He is the father of Slyph, an active member of the Guardians.
Powers Aelfar possesses an array of powers, all of which stem from fae magics. His sword, Esthanerandil, or â,¬Å"Moonbladeâ,¬Â in the Fae tongue, also posses some powers.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Solar]
Real NameRa Cehl
Aliases: Solar, Rachel (common mispronunciation of her name)
Status: Active
Origins:
Powers: Many of Solarâ,¬,,¢s powers stem from her control of cosmic energy, which allows her to produce a variety of effects. She also possesses flight and the ability to traverse and survive in the vacuum of space.[/spoiler]

Villains:
[spoiler=Lupis]
Real Name Lupis van ÃŽntuneric
Aliases: Lord Darkness
Status: Active, Currently rules Isla de ÃŽntuneric, an island nation he raised from the bottom of the sea off the coast of South America, inhabited by those seeking political asylum from other nations.
Origins:
Powers:Lupisâ,¬,,¢ only power is in innate intellect. He later replaced his entire body with the most advanced piece of cybernetic hardware ever developed, making him the physical superior of his longtime foe Amanda Murell, and easily matching more powerful beings. [/spoiler]

Organizations:
[spoiler=The Guardians]
History: COMING SOON: See Amanda Murellâ,¬,,¢s history for some details.
Original Roster: Amanda Murell (Leader, active), Aelfar (deceased), Feral I (retired), Technis (retired, now heads the Technocracy), Solar (active)
Inactive or Deceased members: COMING SOON
Current Roster: Amanda Murell (Leader), Solar (Alpha Team Captain) MORE COMING LATER[/spoiler]

Alien Races:
[spoiler=Sharal][ooc]I want to use the offspring of homo sapiens and Sharal to play with a large racist theme, and also as a means of introducing a large number of low to mid  powered metahumans to my setting without doing the usual â,¬Å"mutants!!!11oneâ,¬Â rout. (Donâ,¬,,¢t get me wrong, I love the X-Men, but I donâ,¬,,¢t want to copy it directly) However, the Sharal story feelsâ,¬Â¦awkward to me as of now, so Iâ,¬,,¢m looking for help on how I can improve it and make it seem more realistic.[/ooc]Although now mostly extinct, the Sharal are easily the most influential aliens in Earthâ,¬,,¢s history. In the 1950s, the Sharal were at war with alien entities known only as shadows. Having long ago transcended flesh, the Sharal were beings of pure energy with vast psychic abilities. However, the shadows were hunting them down to near extinction, and a small group of (only 100,000) Sharal decided it would be better to hide in a form of flesh rather than be destroyed. They fled to the nearest planet, Earth, and created human forms for themselves. However, when creating these forms, they were forced by an attack to teleport to Earth before their new, human, bodies were complete. As such their new forms were flawed.

The result of this flaw was that the offspring of Sharal and human displayed extraordinary abilities. This â,¬Å"Alien Panicâ,¬Â, which begin in the 1970s, resulted directly from the discovery that these people were not the result of natural mutation, but rather had a molecular and cellular structure different than anything else seen on Earth, though they appear â,¬Ënormalâ,¬,,¢ to the naked eye. Called Halfbreeds by humans as a term of insult and calling themselves Scions or Inheritors, depending on who you ask, the scientific community has been baffled about how to classify the children of the Sharal.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=Half-breeds]

The offspring of an alien race and humans, most people fail to distinguish between the offspring of Sharal and humans and the offspring of other alien races and humans. Half-breeds are treated with distrust, fear, and outright hated. War with alien races has taught humans not to trust them, and the idea of creatures both human and alien, who can hide among humanity but has powers far beyond their ken, terrifies people. To make matters worse, the truth behind the Sharal is not known, and therefore half-breeds are left to draw their own conclusions as to the nature of their origins.

However, various groups champion the cause of the half-breeds. The Hybrids are in the forefront among these, a team of half-breeds founded by Richard Schulze, a half-breed with weather controlling abilities. The Hybrids have consistantly fought to improve human/halfbreed relations, largely by dealing with halfbreeds that seek to use their power for personal gain or in violent fashion. Although not sanctioned by the US government, the government has been known to turn a blind eye to their activities, or to even call on the Hybrids for aid. However, at other times the Hybrids has been in direct conflict with the government.  

The other major half-breed power group is the Scions of Sharal. The Scions were the first to discover the truth behind half-breed origins, which was discovered by Greg Zuletov, a half-breed with the power to manipulate gravity fields in his vicinity. The Scions believe that half-breeds are inherently superior to every other race on Earth, and therefore are destined to rule this backwater mudball. They currently maintain a lunar base, and their primary goal is half-breed dominance of Earth.

Mechanical:
Half-breed playerâ,¬,,¢s powers usually have the â,¬Ëalienâ,¬,,¢ descriptor.[/spoiler]

Other:
[spoiler=The Freejaunt Society]The Freejaunt Society, or just the Freejaunt or even the Frees is the English name for the intergalactic association of pirates, rebels, and other outcasts from society. While the freejaunt has a code, its members range from idealistic freedom fighters to greedy buccaneers. The term freejaunt refers to their practice of using the jauntways, the intergalactic highway of gates, by forging payment â,¬' in essence, they jaunt for free.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=STORY ARCS]What would comics be without story arcs? Although I am somewhat vague about the time or order so far, these are just a sampling of the story arcs that will appear in the Superverse.

The Demonwars â,¬' in an event that bears uncomfortable similarity to the biblical apocalypse, the Demonwars was a period of time when extradimensional creatures who claimed to be demons invaded Earth and attempted to usurp it as a staging ground for their plans of a reality-spanning empire.

Technocracy â,¬' Technis of the Guardians goes rogue and builds a robotic paradise in the south pacific in the late 1960s. The Technocracy saga covers Technisâ,¬,,¢ attempt at global domination that was thwarted by the Irregulars.

MORE TO COME![/spoiler]

[spoiler=ORIGINAL CONTENT][spoiler=Timeline of the World]
[note]Where nothing is mentioned, assume events unfolded as they did in reality.[/note]
[ooc]Atlantis- I want to include it, but I donâ,¬,,¢t know how to without being horribly cliché. Thoughts?[/ooc]

[note=Super Jesus]In his controversial 1995 work Super Jesus, theologian Ralph Barmeister theorizes that Jesus, instead of being divine, was actually merely superhuman. This work attracted a great deal of negative attention, and Barmeister was assassinated in 2001[/note]Early History â,¬' The exact dates are unknown, but the first recorded superbeings are the gods of early civilizations mythology. The biggest mystery surrounding them is why there was a sudden increase in the number of superbeings at that time periods, and why there are no recorded superbeings for thousands of years since then.

1930s â,¬' Nazi scientists, in order to create a superior soldier, begins the first super solider experiments. To avoid falling behind, Great Britain, American, Russia, France, and Japan begin their own experiments. The Naziâ,¬,,¢s have an advantage here, however, due to their willingness to experiment on Jewish subjects with disregard for their health, meaning Germany is the only country to field a notable number of superhumans during WWII. A lucky accident in America led to the wife of one of the scientists who was working on the project to gain super powers, and Amanda Murrell became Americaâ,¬,,¢s first superhero. She did not use a code name at that time, but later took on a variety of monikers. Thanks to the efforts of Amanda Murell and Generation Alpha, the five low power superheros produced by Great Britain, Nazi supersoldiers (ÃÅ"bermensch) were defeated allowing an Allied victory in the war. Japans only known successful super soldier from that time period, whose name loosely translates to â,¬Å"The Holy Samurai,â,¬Â did not emerge in time to alter the course of the war.

1950s â,¬' With the arms race between the Soviet Union and the United States in full swing, both also heavily invest in super soldier programs.

[ooc] more to come later â,¬' until them, questions are most appreciated.[/ooc][/spoiler]

[spoiler=Notable heroes]

[spoiler=Amanda Murell]
Real Name Amanda Murell
Aliases:Miss Justice, The Azure Avenger, Harbringer (while under demonic control)
Status: Active
Powers: Flight, Super Strength, Regeneration, Enhanced Senses, Super Speed, Incorporeal Form (for M&M users, itâ,¬,,¢s the Ghost Alternate Form). During the Demonwars, Amanda was forcibly imbued with mastery over hellfire and some limited magical abilities â,¬' The former she rarely uses, but she does use her magical abilities when needed.[/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler][/spoiler]

Fallen

[ooc]Fallen will use the Supermodern time line up until 1967, where in Supermodern the Comprehensive Superhuman Test Ban treaty was ratified, halting super soldier experiments. In Fallen, that Treaty was not ratified, and the Earth of Fallen spiraled out of control until global war erupted, resulting in an apocalypse in 1987. The Demon wars, which happened in 1996, happened as normal, but many of the â,¬Å"demonsâ,¬Â (actually extradimensional beings, not true demons) are still on Earth, having not met with the organized resistance they faced in the world of Supermodern. The presence of demons prevented the alien Skrae from gaining a foothold on Earth. Most of the heros of Supermodern have living counterparts in Fallen.[/ooc]

Evolution

[ooc]In evolution, the appearance superbeings coincided with the Renaissance, dramatically altering Earthâ,¬,,¢s history. America is broken up into the United States and Confederate States, Europe is dominated by a much larger France, Prussia controls large portions of Eastern Europe, a decadent Ottoman Empire dominates much of the middle east, Japan controls large parts of real world Russia, China, and Southeast Asia, Colonialism was shaken off much earlier in Africa and South America, forming what are now known as superocracies, or governments ruled by superbeings. The Aztec empire was also able to withstand Spanish incursions. Some of the heroes of Supermodern and Fallen exist in Evolution, especially those that developed their powers naturally. However, for example, Amanda Murell became the first woman president of the CSA.

Evolution will be a 2 in one setting, one part taking place during the Renaissance, while the other one takes place in the year 2006.[/ooc]

Redemption

[ooc]A superhero setting that takes place in a fantasy world with elves and dwarves and goblins and dragons and all manner of fantasy creatures. More details later. All magic will follow the M&M magic rules[/ooc]

Well, I updates supermodern with more information on Miss Murell, including a picture. :)

Updated Supermodern again. I'm going to follow ElDo's policy - anyone with an idea for a concept that they want to see in Supermodern, post it here, and I'll be happy to incorporate. Keep in mind that Supermodern is going for a relatively more gritty feel than most silver age comics - the general feel I am hoping to achive ranges between 1970s Marvel and Marvel's newer Ultimates Series.

I don't know what I'm getting into here, but I've always wondered why whatever induced super powers in humans didn't also do so for animals.

If an animal species developed sentience and/or tool use by a super/mutation/cosmic cheesecake/whatever, would homo sapiens have the power and disposition to render it extinct?

This suggestion is at the very basic level of the idea - the grommam.

The grommam were a rather uninteresting D&D creature, from 2nd edition I think, who were basically talking gorillas.

Well, if the mountain gorillas of the congo could talk and build things, would they have had that much of an effect on developing human culture and history?  Perhaps not, but there might easily come a time when it started to look like Earth wasn't big enough for 2 sentient species.  

And when such a time came, which species supers would have the advantage...?

Quote from: DeeLThis suggestion is at the very basic level of the idea - the grommam.

The grommam were a rather uninteresting D&D creature, from 2nd edition I think, who were basically talking gorillas.

Well, if the mountain gorillas of the congo could talk and build things, would they have had that much of an effect on developing human culture and history?  Perhaps not, but there might easily come a time when it started to look like Earth wasn't big enough for 2 sentient species.  

And when such a time came, which species supers would have the advantage...?

Talking monkeys and gorillas are actually a mainstay in comics, and a DC editor once even noticed that covers with monkeys sold better than covers without. Interestingly enough, there was an actual DC editorial policy limiting the number of monkey covers per month back in the 70's because of this.

Examples of super-monkey popularity include Gorilla Grodd (hell, all of Gorilla City), Cy-Gor from Spawn, the Ultra-Humanite, Titano, even Detective Chimp.

Supersimians unite!

A group of superpowered monkeys and apes called: The Prime Eight.

Chimpion, Sworn defender of all lesser primates.
The Baboon Banshee, incorporeal baboon with a paralyzing scream.
Captain Capuchin, organgrinder's sidekick by day, urban avenger by night.
Gorilla Guerilla, master of stealth and tracking.
Tarsius Tempest, whose fast and furious leaps and bounds create windstorms.
Lemurati, small in size gargantuan in wisdom and arcane knowledge.
Gibbonigma, master of mimicry and disguise.
Orang au ten, able to make multiple copies of himself, a one ape army.

Quote from: Captain XathanHowever, the Sharal story feelsâ,¬Â¦awkward to me as of now, so Iâ,¬,,¢m looking for help on how I can improve it and make it seem more realistic.

X-Files[/i]-style alien invasion paranoia. That way, your Sharal story ties in to the beliefs of real-world conspiracy nuts instead of being tacked on without precedent.

I have no idea how I didn't see these posts, sorry guys. >.<

DeeL - Superpowered animals will appear more heavily in my fantasy setting and possibly Evolution, but it's hard to fit them in a more modern setting. I probably will include some animals that have the power to turn into men, and perhaps have other powers. (I just got a mental image of a werewolf wreathed in black and red flames, and that mental image is going to stick for quite some time, and probably will become a character.) I am going to be raising a lot of lost continents, too, so superpowered animals can appear there pretty easily as well. But a whole race is less likely.

CYMRO - At first the ideas of super-simians seemed rather absurd to me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how well it could fit into Supermodern, just by logic - with the superhuman test-ban treaty, governments would have logically tried super-apes next. I'm going to roll the idea around in my head for a bit.

Meepo: Good call on Wikipedia. :-P

I'm reserving the name Hybrids for the superhero team of Halfbreeds. The X-Files alien invasion stuff will fit better with some of the other alien races I have planned (Alien races are going to play a big part in Supermodern).

Oh, and massive Supermodern update today, so check it. :D

Added Watchgirl and a core-ethos type thingy. :D

QuoteCYMRO - At first the ideas of super-simians seemed rather absurd to me, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how well it could fit into Supermodern, just by logic - with the superhuman test-ban treaty, governments would have logically tried super-apes next. I'm going to roll the idea around in my head for a bit.

It is definitely a fun idea to monkey around with...

Man, this is an awesome thread. Personally i have been working on the creation of a superhero world recently (although i had not planned to post it up here - it's purpose is to be the setting of a few seperate comic series). This does mean that i have come up with lots of different heroes/villains recently and, although many of them have a place and will be used, there are lots of i deas i will likely not use. I'll put up some descriptions of stuff i have later.

But what i found to be an excellent way to get inspiration for superbeings is to flip a random D&D book (sections with monsters and/or spells are the best, but any part could work) open to a random page and then take some element of what's there to be tha basis of the powers.

That's a good way to get inspiration, 7, thanks for the idea. I also have a number of homage characters, people who draw inspiration from existing comic book heros and villians. I need more unique ones, though, and the DnD book is a great way to do that. :D