Pacific City Chronicles

Steel Corps
Steel Corps is made up of mercenaries that use robotic technology. Several types of armored merc are available to them, all the way up to military-grade main-battle-tank-level mecha suits. many of the members are cyborgs and some are robots or androids. Steeel Corps usually hires itself out as covert military units for governments who don't want personal involvement, corporations who wish some illegal weapons muscle, or to combat metahumans for various villains. They also stage raids on high-tech facilities and sometimes steal new robotic suits or prototypes. Sometimes they kidnap scientists to design upgrades, or make emergency repairs they cannot.

Bloody Mary
It's said there has always been a Bloody Mary, but then with an assassin of her caliber legends spring up like drops of rain. She's told at least five convincing, provable and conflicting accounts of her life including that she was trained at the original Shaolin Temple, that she is the reincarnation of Kali born to usher in a new age of destruction, and that she is Morrigan, Goddess of Death, bound to a mortal body until she kills as many people as there are stars in the sky. That she is a metahuman of some type is undeniable. She's been seen to walk through walls, and survive a direct hit from a space-based laser platform. She seems to have a weakness regarding fire but most that have faced her and lived have outwitted her in some way rather than face her in direct combat. She only tries to kill a person once per contract. If she fails, the contract must be renegotiated. Given her price and that she only accepts payment in advance in diamonds of the first water, most don't follow up. Little is known about how to contact her, or what her terms are. It is known that (1) she will only kill someone with genuine metahuman capability, (2) she will make only one actual attempt at killing the target and (3) if she is lied to or the contract misrepresented, she will kill everyone involved with the offer.

Canada's Main Superteam: AEGIS
Referring to the invulnerable shield of Zeus, AEGIS is the largest superteam in Canada and the only one with national recognition. It's funded by the government, with a base in Toronto and one in Vancouver. It's had many members over the years, usually staying around six, but has been sometimes as high as nine.

Aegis
Leader of AEGIS
Secret ID: Gavin Lords
Powers and Equipment: Superstrength, flight, highly resistant to damage, solar beams from eyes.
History: It's known Aegis has ties to the Canadian government on some level. He's the founder and leader of the team for the past 10 years, though he's now the only original member left. Gavin was born with his superpowers and trained in a government facility all his life to control them.

Mobius
Secret ID: Amanda Lords
Powers and Equipment: Teleportation, opening wormholes in space, time travel
History: Amanda Lords is Aegis' older sister, also born a mutant with the ability to fold space and time to her will. She keeps her time-manipulation power a very close secret. She left the Canadian training facility while her brother was still trying to master his powers and saw a great deal of the world ad beyond. She has never fully accepted that the government scientists were not trying to control them, so she has hidden boltholes all over Earth.

Titan
Secret ID: Brian Preston
Powers and Equipment: Titan can grow to almost 50' high with proportiate strength. He becomes highly resistant to all forms of damage as he grows.
History: The youngest member of the team at 18, he's only been with the team for a few months following the death of the previous Titan at the hands of Bloody Mary. It is rumored that he's a relative of the previous Titan, since there is a strong physical resemblance. Unknown to the public, he's the kid brother of the original Titan, endowed with the same powers as a result of being bombarded by the same meteor radiation as his brother.

Doctor Arachne
She has the form of an emaciated young woman with thin spider-legs attached to her back. They look too fragile to work, but they support her weight, spin steel-strong webbing cables, and are tipped with deadly poisonous barbs. She is an android created by persons unknown (despite reports otherwise, Die Nachtspinne is not her creator but he may have had a hand in her creation) to further the Nazi cause. She does this with the bloody single-mindedness of a machine, but she has been known to display emotion and be swayed by arguement. She is very intelligent and can keep track of hundreds of plans all at once. She commands hundreds of troops, legions of semi-autonomous robots, elite forces like the Spider Trooper pictured here, at least a dozen supervillains, (including the former 'sidekick' of Die Nachtspinne), and an organization that brings in tens of billions in illegal and legitimate monies. She is considered a Class A threat by the UN Security Council and ATLAS.

ARACHOS
Arachos was formed in 1937 by a Nazi physician interested in psychological manipulation, Doktor Blud. It was a secret spy organization meant to experiment with terror techniques but it became so much more... Blud soon was tasked with creating and recruiting metahumans in the beginning days of Hitler's regime, especially psychics. Die Nachtspinne was one of his first recruits, and proved to be one of the most horrific villains of the war with his mind manipulation powers. In many ways he planted the seeds that later blossomed into the HUAC scares almost two decades later.

After the War, Arachos was fragmented by spyhunters and heroes, driven underground in a half-doxen different guises. Each part tried to ressurect itself but usually failed before it achieved much. Finally, in 1975, it was reborn when The Iron Ring brought all the survivors together for the first time since VE-Day. The scientists and their proteges, the aged spymasters with vast webs of contacts, the technicians and teachers, all met their new master: Doctor Arachne. Since that time, Arachos has been a shadowy presence in our world, working towards the goal of a glorious Fourth Reich. They handle assassination, espionage, terrorism, regime change, and illegal technology. They are a very high-tech organization, with access to androids, cloning, robots, sattilites, the works.

THE IRON RING
The Iron Ring was born in 1967 when three former Nazis: a doctor, a general, and a wizard of the Thule Society decided to reform the various scattered Nazi remnants into a cohesive whole that could bring about a Fourth Reich. They spent years researching and hunting down hidden legacies and secret bases, talking with super villains and killing the occassional Golden Age hero they ran across. In 1975, in a massive island base off the coast of Chile, they brought together all the factions they had found so far and urged them to work together to rebuild Hitler's dream. Doctor Arachne now effectively leads the Iron Ring, who still hunt down hidden Nazi legacies.

Legion
Legion is a mystic with eight non-human souls bound to him; each holds a different ability for him to use. He is a former member of Westguard, and highly regarded in the Pacific City mystic community, though he is quite disturbing to deal with. Maybe it's the way he constantly talks to the other souls in his body, or how his voice has an inhuman 'depth' to it that you don't normally hear outside of small choirs.







'Jackie the Vampire Slayer'
No-one knows Jackie's real name or why she despises vampires with a passional that borders on the pathological. What is known is that she's turned herself into a living weapon against the undead. Armed with several weapons of her own invention and a very practical working knowledge about vampires, she tries to kill as many as she can by any means needed. Most people avoid her, and only seek her out when they have an undead problem they can't solve by other means. She works cheap and she gets as dirty as needed. She lives completely 'off the grid' and there are no less than seven outstanding warrents for her arrest on everything from arson to murder.

Most of my vampire inspiration comes from Buffy and from the Harry Dresden books.

Vampires exist and have much the same weaknesses and strengths as your typical Buffy vampire: they are strong as four or five men, they can be shot and stabbed with little effect unless it's in the right place (heart or brain), they burn in direct sunlight but can stand indirect light for a time, they die instantly if staked or beheaded or if enough fire is used on them, they must drink blood but it can be animal blood.

There is a class of vampire that is basically mindless; these are created when someone needs a group of savage killers but doesn't want to really increase the vampire population in the city. They disintergrate by themselves in about 24-72 hours after they rise.

There is a large subclass where power flows in the bloodline - if you kill the sire, the children revert to normal humans (dying quickly if beyond their normal lifespan).

There are rarer classes or types of vampire, all with different powers and abilities, though most have both the need for blood and the vulnerability to sunlight. Everything else is up in the air. (Though there is a very rare type that subsists on emotions - it's not a pleasent thing either, since the emotions it feeds on are lust, anger and fear).

SIBL
Supers Information B-Layer

A network protocol that effectively creates a 'shadow Internet', allowing registered metahumans and law enforcement to share information, databases, email and more in a more secure environment. It's a secure registration-only system that can work from any device connected to the net, thanks to the software engine invented by SCI-Tech.

SIGMA
Superhuman Incident General Management Agency
This is a division of the Defense Department. It deals with all metahuman threats to the safety and security of the United States and also maintains the two metahuman-capable confinement facilities in Washington state and Louisiana.

ATLAS
Advanced Tactical Liason to Allied States
The United Nations metahuman resource management council, which recruits, trains and equips the UN 'Superteam' for us in UN rescue and military operations. By UN resolution, it is the only body officially allowed to field metahumans in a military capacity though most of the First World countries maintain

OTHR
Office of Trans-Human Resources
This is a division of the Justice Department, concerned with crimes against metahumans, material and monentary aid to victims of metahuman crimes or abilities, and civil rights issues. It is often at odds with SIGMA.

MK-ULTRA
This was the secret branch of the CIA that experimented on metahumans in the early 1960's, seeking to duplicate or disrupt their powers. It was officially shut down in 1975 by the Director of the CIA but rumors persist that it operates several 'black' research and development centers scattered throughout the world.

'Section Six'
This was a rogue group of highly-placed military and intel personnel headed by J. Edgar Hoover. Hoover became concerned with the possibility that metahumans meant to supplant humanity and formed a task force to find ways to disable or kill them. Section Six broke from it's government roots in 1972 when Hoover's death threatened to expose them. It went underground and continued it's goal to destroy all non-humans in the world.

Star Man
Real Name: Rhikos Uteryu (Rick Young)
Powers and Equipment: Transtellar flight, super senses, greatly enhanced intelligence and the ability to channel cosmic energy into a variety of devestating effects.
History: A quasi-living andriod created as a sentient star probe by the energy beings of the Quiyen Galaxy, Rhikos found Earth in the early 1100's and infiltrated human society to observe and report back to his masters if the world was suitable for colonization. He was damaged in the Crusades by a Fosek energy spear and spent the next 800 years deactivated. When he was revived by construction work in 1967, he realized that much of his control programming was gone; he was truly a free-willed creature for the first time and able to access all his considerable abilities with no restraint. By doing so, he sacrifices his effective immortality by placing irreperable strain on his systems, but he considers the shortened lifespan a just trade to help his adopted world.

Maelstrom
Real Name: Dr. Ivan Luther Stromm
Powers and Equipment: Maelstrom is a mutant weather-controller, able to summon and control vast weather systems of any type from thunderstorms to hurricanes. He can create and manipulate air, water, and lightning to form a variety of effects. He uses his air control power to fly, for instance, as well as to draw breath from the lungs of his enemies. His control and summoning powers have grown greatly over the last ten years, to the point where he is a major world-wide threat. He has access to vast, seemingly limitless wealthy and a powerful organization that is bent on nothing less than ruling the world.
History: Nothing much is known about Maelstrom before he held the city of London hostage in 1992, only to be defeated by the Teens Supreme, something that still rankles the man to this day. Even though he managed to later kill two Teen Supreme members in retaliation for his embarrasement, he wasn't taken seriously as a threat until he found the Crystal of Ikos in a ruined Greek tempe. Said to be the essence of Zeus' lightning bolts, Stromm figured out a way to use it and permanently increase his power to almost demi-god levels. Since that time he has threatened the world a number of times but so far has thankfully been defeated by Earth's heroes.

Nightfox
Real Name: Tiffany Foxe
Powers and Equipment: Nightfox has no superpowers; she depends on her amazing speed and agility to keep her out of harm's way. She is an accomplished martial artist, easily capable of dealing with trained normals but with no obvious paranormal abilities. She uses several small grenade-like pellets to produce light, fire, smoke, knockout gas, blniding acid sprays or simple explosions.
History: Nightfox is a known jewel theif who will also take on high-risk art theft and artifact theft if the pay is right. She is a pure mercenary who will risk everything right up until her contract runs out. She refuses to kill and this has put her at odds with some former employers. She is also noted for taking revenge on anyone who doesn't pay her fee or who deals in bad faith.

Firefox
Real Name: Eva Foxe
Powers and Equipment: Eva is a pyrokinetic with minor normal telekinesis; she can fly under her own power and project concussive heat blasts and explosions.
History: Firefox, unlike her sister Nightfox, is a known killer-for-hire, promising a gruesome death by burning to anyone her employer names. She bills herself as an elite assassin but her methods are crude at best, designed to be showy and get the message across with as much violence and property damage as possible. She moves around a lot as even most other criminals don't like it when she hits town.

Synergy
Real Name: Clea Brande (aka Helena Marx, aka Samantha Taylor)
Powers and Equipment: Synergy is a former Omega-class telepath and telekinetic. Due to her brain injury, she is currently classed as Alpha+ Class. She has a number of psionic talents, mainly telepathy and telekinesis. She can also project images or even false memories into another person's mind, making her a Grade Zeta security risk.
History: Clea Brande (aka Helena Marx, aka Samantha Taylor) was born and raised in the Pacific City area. She became a clinical psychiatrist after graduation from PCU; she originally worked at Bishop Hospital before moving to private practice in 1992. She performed several experiments on herself with various mixtures of psychotropic drugs in hopes of bringing out her latent psionic abilities. She succeeded but it is generally agreed that the process also distorted her thinking and perception.
She became a master supercriminal and battled the New Sentinels, Honor Guard, and Power Inc. from 1993 until 1997, when she was finally captured and remanded over to the Lockdown facility. She was kept in solitary confinement within a power-dampening cell. In 1999, Lockdown physician Paul Meyers diagnosed her with a rare form of brain tumor and gained permission of the board to operate. What no-one knew was that the doctor’s son had been killed by Synergy in 1995. The ‘tumor’ was fabricated to allow him access to her brain. Halfway through the procedure, one of the nurses noticed something odd and brought it to the attention of one of the other doctors. Seeing what Meyers was doing, the doctor tried to stop him. Meyers went berserk and cut the doctor’s throat with his scalpel, then tried to complete his lobotomy on Synergy. Meyers was overpowered by guards and taken away. He is currently serving life imprisonment with possible parole in 2008.
Synergy suffered severe damage to the parts of her brain that control her psionic abilities. She is still very powerful but not able to take on entire experienced superteams anymore.
While she was being transported to an ASTRO Labs test facility, her transport was attacked by Electrocutioner, who freed her. She joined forces with him briefly until she was re-captured by Westguard. She currently resides in the Lockdown.

Sentinel
Real Name: Keith Kendrick
Powers and Equipment: Sentinel can fly at hypersonic and translight speeds, throw fully-loaded oil tankers, and has survived a direct hit by a 5-megaton nuclear device; he is generally recognized as one of the most all-around powerful beings on the planet.
History: Sentinel first appeared in 1944 as a teenager calling himself Kid Superior and aided various other mystery men in the war effort. Despite the existance of other masked heroes, he was one of the first true superhumans and the term 'superhero' was coined with him in mind. In 1950's, he was the first metahuman to be targeted by HUAC as a possible security risk; Senator McCarthy declared Superior's famous 'I Belong To The World' speech as an open endorsement of Communism. Because he was unwilling to give up the identities of his teammates, Superior was almost killed by a rogue military group called Section Six. He quietly disappeared after this incident and years later it was revealed that Section Six had discovered his secret identity and used that information to blackmail him into retirement.


Eternal
Real Name: unknown
Powers and Equipment: The true extent of Eternal's powers are, like so many things about her, unknown. She has demonstrated a level of power equal at least to Superior and has used her abilities to defeat many world-class threats over the last two decades. She seems unaging, but that's mere speculation. She rarely talks to anyone beyond simple commands or gestures, has never given interviews or accepted invitations, and no-one has a clue as to her origins or motives. She seems as benevolent as most other costumed heroes, though, and her actions have won her respect and cooperation that she rarely seems to even notice. Even her superhero name was pinned on her by newspaper reporter Todd Gray, the only person Eternal has shown the slightest personal interest in.
History: Eternal appeared at a massive chemical spill in Dallas on May 19th, 1987; she aided the local superteam and then moved on to a bus crash in Philidelphia without a word. She has appeared at random all over the world with no detectable pattern to the places she goes or which emergencies she answers.

Electrocutioner
Real Name: Edward Matthew Noe aka Mat Nowe
Powers and Equipment: Extensive cybernetic reconstruction gives Electrocutioner enhanced strength, endurance and speed. Large capacitors located in a linked series down his spine power twin durallow tentacles that are powerful enough to crush steel and can deliver a 500,000 volt electrical charge. Nanoweave superconductor webbing just under the skin makes Noe almost invulnerable to normal electrical discharges plus provides him minor armoring. His costume is typically duraweave armor plating tough enough to stop most bullets.

The Pacifc City MSA contains more than seven million people total, it's combined incorporations stretching from the northern limit of the Seattle sprawl to just south of the Canadian border and Vancouver.

The stats for incorporated Pacifc City proper:
Mayor: Sandra Chase (to April 2007)
2000 census population (rank): 2,896,016 (3); % change: 4.0; Male: 1,405,107 (48.5%); Female: 1,490,909 (51.5%); White: 2,027,211.28 (70%); Black: 246,161.44 (11%); American Indian and Alaska Native: 28,960.24 (1%); Asian: 347,522.00 (15%); Other race: 72,400.48 (3%); 2000 percent population 18 and over: 73.8%; 65 and over: 10.3%; Median age: 31.5.
2004 population estimate (rank): 2,862,244 (3)
Land area: 227 sq mi. (588 sq km);
Alt.: Highest, 521 ft.; lowest, sea level
Avg. daily temp.: Jan., 40.1° F; July, 65.2° F
Churches: Roman Catholic, 35; Jewish, 12; Protestant, 447; others, 42;
City-owned parks: 552 (7,300 ac.);
Radio stations: AM, 21; FM, 37;
Television stations: 31
Civilian Labor Force (PMSA) April 2005: 4,005,1001;
Unemployed: 248,8001, (6.21%)

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