| At the north side of Antarctica, where the ice covered land gives way
to the equally ice covered water, a small civilization has been built in
environmentally controlled spheres. This city is centered mainly around
the invisible coastline, interconnecting tunnels making travel between the
"bubble cities" simple and quick. There are also tunnels that cut deep
into the frozen soil, which open up landside. However, these tunnels never
let those who leave return back through them. One way out, no way back.
Within this city is a Utopian civilization, not unlike those shown in
"Brave New World." All of the people within are clones of one another,
having no identity whatsoever. However, their brains have been constructed
as menial as possible in order to keep them from questioning their single
leader, Jack Hissler, a fanatic in all senses. He is obsessed with peace
to a maniacle degree. A peace he intends to share with the rest of the
world soon enough.
Construction has begun on submersibles that can transport hundreds of
men to desired locations across the world. All work, which mostly
consisted of keeping the city running and growing adequate food, is now
centered on creating a vast supply of weapons. And as of the first of this
month, Jack has issued another ten thousand clones for processing.
Nothing had been suspected by the outside world until a team of
U.S.
scientists, on a routine study in Antarctica, found a man frozen
to death in the snow. They soon identified him as a British geneticist who
had been missing for over five years.
The Underground.
All over the planet individuals are appearing with enhanced abilities
and strange new powers. In most cases these individuals
acquire their powers and abilities slowly and gradually, learning
each new facet of their newly changed lives at a reasonable pace.
However nature is naturally violent, and occasionally the new abilites
manifest themselves suddenly and violently. In rare occasions these
"power flare-ups" cause serious property and/or personal damage. The
individuals themselves do not know what to do about this new development
in their lives, those around them naturally scorn and persecute
them. Many men and women in this brave new world are scared and
running for their lives.
It is into this enviornment that
the Underground has begun. Started by a benevolant being known only
as "The Conductor", a sophisticated underground highway has been seeking
out and helping shelter those who have recently acquired powers and are
totally unable to control them. Every city has a station and a
driver. Every road has a track. All tracks end at the Central
Station, a small town in Northern Canada which has embraced the world's
downtrodden and overpowered. There a group of men and women train
the next generation of humanity to control their powers and lead normal
lives.
Everyone knows about the underground, but nobody has
ever seen it. It is the ultimate urban legend, tales of it are
spread over the internet, movies of the week have been played on every
major broadcast network, and a feature film starring Jodie Foster and
Richard Gere is in the works, but officially it does not
exist.
Joseph Bangoski, Deidre Wiess, Trevor Stein, Alexandra
Desdemona, and the man known as Camazotz officially do not
exist.
But they are the first step towards a new life for
everyone who boards the underground railroad
An international union
of business men, scientists and non-politicians create an artificial
island in the Pacific Ocean as an experiment in creating a Utopia.
This city-nation has amazingly high technology thanks to investments by
the Forbes-list and such researchers and inventors
as (CLASSIFIED). This city spans the entire island and is
very Cyberpunk.
This new nation is governed and regualted by
a commission of superhumans called Federation21, Fed21, for short.
They are not sanctioned by any government or by the United Nations and
they are basically superhuman mercenaries, paid to represent a
rulingcouncil, working with CEO or President. Besides providing law
and enforcement
they also use their abilities to control the outbreak
of natural disasters and to remedy other eventual problems.
Note... this Utopia is a failure. Fed21 is a
gestapo and the island is a fascist state. Of course the lines
between the boring ole good and evil are blurred. This nation is in
a perpetual state of gray. The UN has been opposed to the idea all
along and uses StormWatch to sabotage the experiment and then to dismantle
the government. Lots of Fed21 vs StormWatch stories are left to be
told. StormWatch Team Seven (Black) is created as a black ops
military organization operating in thestreets of this utopia.
Meanwhile StormWatch Prime handles the other global missions and
priorities that you are used to.At the same time a new generation of angst
ridden, rebellious superhuman youth appears and StormWatch is charged with
trying to reign in these children. And so it forms the StormWatch
Academy designed to teach these kids the histories of the past and that
with great power comes great responsibility. The training
ground? Our Island Utopia. The classroom? StormWatch
HQ. Of course this is like your father trying to raise you on ideals
that were important in the 50s and 60s but will not not work in the new
millenium. So there is strife there as
well.
Mannix Incorporated Headquarters is located
on the big island in a cluster of islands known as Journee Islands.
They are approximately one hundred fifty miles south east of Hawaii.
The islands themselves are roughly twice the size of Hawaii. The big
island (names to come) is the Corporate Headquarters for Mannix
Incorporated. Five of the six remaining islands are home to several
subsidiaries of Mannix Incorporated as well as home to the Mannix Travel
Pleasure Resorts. The Sixth and smallest island is currently
undeveloped.
At the North Pole, in the Artic, there is a
stretch of fields created by a meteor strike. The fields, known as
the Dark Plains, are surrounded by ice, and their existance is unknown to
the general public.
In the dark plains, there is little but
fields of black, except for one thing. Castle Darkstone. This
castle is filled a variety of superpowered beings who call it home.
They are evil, powerful creatures who live eternally in the castle.
They exist solely to defend the castle from anyone who would enter
it. |
