Electra

House of L “House of L” is an alternate universe plot-arc that took place over Memorial Day Weekend (May 31-June 2) 2010. After an Omegadrone attack claimed the life of Mark Lucas (Edge), his grieving father used previously unknown powers to rewrite reality in a way that suited his views of what the world should be like. Mark's friends from the Claremont Academy, among the only ones able to remember the original timeline, had to face him down and set the timeline right, though at personal cost to several of them. Characters Player Characters Mark Lucas (Edge) Trevor Hunter (Midnight II) Chris Kenzie (Geckoman) Eve Martel (Sage) James Prophet (Hellion) Erin White (Wander) Notable NPCs Travis Hunter (Midnight I) Elizabeth Lawlett (Spellbound) Rick Lucas Martha Lucas Faith Martel (Seraph) Duncan Summers (Raven I) Jasmine Summers (Jasmine Sin) Plot House of L It is Memorial Day in Freedom City, and the students of Claremont Academy are scattered to various leisure activities. An emergency call goes out, first to Young Freedom, then to the League and other students, warning of something terrible happening at the Lucas residence. The great popularity in the hero community of both Rick Lucas and his son Mark ensures a swift response by many heroes, where they find the immediate aftermath of a fight with several Omegadrones and a robot copy of Shadivan Steelgrave. Before anyone can intervene, Mark inadvertently sets off a booby trap bomb in the Steelgrave robot, which explodes, sending a large chunk of shrapnel through his chest. Though it is obvious to some that Mark is already dead, he's immediately teleported to the hospital where various doctors and heroes with healing powers work to save him, while others keep vigil. None of their efforts are successful though, so attention turns to comforting the grieving parents. Rick Lucas will accept no comfort, instead turning and lashing out at his old colleagues, even as unsuspected superpowers well up inside him. He uses his newfound abilities to dissolve Captain Thunder and Bolt in a swirl of black inkblots. As members of the Freedom League try to restrain him, he bursts out in fury, revealing the power of his djinn roots as he screams “I WISH EVERYTHING WAS THE WAY IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE AGAIN!” Even as the members of Young Freedom rush to take cover, the world goes dark. Wakeup Call One by one, the Claremont students wake up, disoriented, seemingly in the bedrooms that are familiar to them, but with a feeling of disorientation as they realize the lives they remember now are not the lives of the timeline they just left. Each student has memories of a lifetime in this new timeline, but at the same time, they seem to be the only ones who recall their old lives on Earth Prime. James wakes up on a spaceship, recalling that he is no longer a prince of Hell, but the playboy exiled prince of a starfaring world called Lucifer-1. His codename is Hell-Ion, and he lives about his ship, crewed by an affectionate AI named Persephone. Chris finds himself the adopted son of Duncan and Jasmine Summers, living with them and carrying on the Raven moniker. No explanation is given as to the fate of his own parents or Callie Summers, the current Prime Raven. Eve is his girlfriend, and “Geckoman” on this world is an animalistic villain. His Prime girlfriend, Liz Lawlett, never reformed to become a hero here. Trevor wakes on the anniversary of his parents' tragic death, and is comforted by his young and vital grandparents, Travis and Margery. A super-serum has kept them both healthy and active in the hero community well into their eighties. He is now known as “Kid Midnight,” and drives a rocket cycle with a giant clock on it. Eve is woken by her cousin Faith, who remembers nothing of her life on Prime, on the day of Eve's citywide recital. A hot young musician, Eve has a beautiful voice, a singing career, and psychic powers as well. Erin falls out of the sky and lands on the lawn of Freedom Hall, her temporal inertia and extra-dimensional origin preventing her from being integrated into a new life. Instead, she has been replaced by a native version of herself with a living family. The students spend the morning trying to figure out their new lives, even as their paths begin to intersect. Erin is chased halfway across Freedom City by her double and several other superheroes who believe she is the villainous “Rednaw,” keeping ahead of them thanks to her double's habit of stopping to make speeches or talk to other heroes. The native Wander calls Kid Midnight for help, even as James remembers enough of how to work his ship to beam Erin up and out of danger. The resulting byplay makes it obvious that in this world, there is a love-triangle of sorts at work between Wander, Kid Midnight, and Hell-Ion, a fact that makes all three students uncomfortable. They begin investigating the changes in the world, and realize that in this universe, Rick Lucas died saving the Centurion during the Terminus Invasion, and the Freedom League is still composed mostly of its WWII roster. They witness the capture of Dr. Mayhem, who also seems to remember reality on Earth Prime. As he rants and tries to make the others remember, he is swallowed and erased by the same black dots that dissolved Captain Thunder and Bolt. Apparently everything in this world that does not play by Rick Lucas' rules is removed, permanently. Meanwhile, Chris goes to try and find Liz, his girlfriend on Prime. When he finds her, the reformed villain spellcaster is now a Wizard-of-Oz style wicked witch, who cackles and throws fireballs when he tries to question her. He is having a harder time than the others trying to reconcile his real memories with the implanted life he's been given. Provoked by the changes in Spellbound as much as by her attacks on him, Chris begins returning her attacks, a no-no in the sanitized and chivalrous world Rick Lucas has created. Erin teleports down to help him, since she is exempt from the rule against hitting girls. They win the fight, but that doesn't stop the ink blots from attempting to rewrite Chris! A tendril of ink strikes him in the head just before James teleports them away. Trevor teleports down to find Eve, who has been at her recital, preparing to sing in the city recital. Unlike the others, she has deliberately ignored the memories of her own life, enchanted by having her voice back and the beautiful world she seems to live in. Notes of wrongness creep in despite her best efforts, however, and when she reaches the stage, she is too undone to sing, and leaves the stage. Trevor follows her and convinces her to join the others. Up on the ship, they debate their options and decide that they must return the timeline to the way it was, no matter the consequences to them personally. Although many heroes who died on Prime are alive here, and the world is free of much of the conflict that plagues Prime, it's all a facade, maintained by the dissolution of anyone who disrupts the peace. In addition, it's obvious that millions, perhaps billions of people from Prime simply do not exist on this world, their homes and lives replaced by iconic representations of wild jungle or savanna, or simply erased. To restore the timeline, the team is going to have to confront Rick Lucas and stop him. They decide to go and find Mark. Bringing Down the House The students teleport down to Mark's house, where Eve senses Mark's mind, alive and conscious, but terrified and disoriented. He is trapped in his room with no way out. They approach the house and meet Mark's mother Martha, who appears drunk but also strangely lifeless, as though her will has been drained away somehow. She allows them to go upstairs, where they find Mark trapped behind a wall in a bedroom with no door. A joint effort by Mark and Trevor allows him to break through the wall, where his teammates try and fill him in on what's been going on. Martha begins to recover her memories of Prime, but passes out from the shock and strain of seeing Mark alive and trying to reconcile all her conflicting memories. Eve locates Rick Lucas where he is hiding, in the computer room of Freedom Hall, and the students call him out for the final confrontation. He teleports the entire house to Freedom Hall, which is standing open and empty. The students enter the Hall and confront Rick Lucas, who explains that his world is not finished, that he just needs to keep working on it until it's an entirely perfect place. He's going to use his powers to make everything better, the way superheroes are supposed to! One by one, the students reason with him, trying to convince him that he cannot be the arbiter of life, death and morality, and that the world he's creating is no utopia. When Chris angrily demands to know why his reformed girlfriend was unreformed, and the highly competent and trained female Raven was replaced by a callow teenager, it is revealed that the black dots have transformed Chris into a robot, who Rick Lucas tries to denounce as a trick of the Foundry. No one is buying it though, least of all Chris. Rick tries to point out all the good he has done for the teenagers themselves. Trevor's grandparents are alive and healthy, James is no longer tormented by the demons who haunt his dreams and try to influence his actions. Eve has her voice back, with fame to go with it, and although he couldn't help Erin herself, the White family is alive and well, untouched by tragedy and with a heroic daughter. And of course Mark is alive and well again. Rick will not accept the possibility of any timeline being correct if it means his son has to die. Mark steps forward and rejects the 'gift' his father has bestowed, pointing out that it is a hero's duty to lay down his life when the world is at stake, just as Rick's hero the Centurion did on Earth Prime. The other students step up as well, each one willing to throw away the life Rick would give them here in favor of the real world they left behind. Despite Rick's immense world-shaping power, they prepare themselves to fight. As Rick surveys the teenagers lined up to battle him, he laughs brokenly and says no more children will die today, even as the world fills with black dots. The End As the dots clear, the students find themselves back on the lawn of the Lucas residence, surrounded by other heroes and the remains of a fight with Omegadrones. They are back on Earth Prime, but Mark is with them, alive. Rick has rewritten reality one more time, but at a price. As everyone watches, he tells Mark and Martha that he cannot stay in this world anymore, that Prime cannot tolerate two powerful reality warpers without the risk of somehow enslaving the populace. He promises Martha he will see her soon, then vanishes into thin air, beyond the reach even of the psionically and dimensionally sensitive heroes. As Mark and Martha begin to mourn, Mark asks everyone to just leave them alone for awhile. With mixed feelings, everyone disperses, leaving them to their grief for the moment. Followup Following the events of House of L, there were several subsidiary threads for characters dealing with the aftermath of the crisis. In addition, the sitewide Vignette topic for June 2010 was “House of L Revisited, which gave players who did not take part in the adventure to reimagine their character through the lens of Rick Lucas' mad fantasy. Nevermore After experiencing life as part of the Summers family, Chris goes to confront Duncan Summers about what happened and what he saw in the altered timeline. Summers, though angered and saddened by what his old friend Rick Lucas did, refuses to crucify the man for what he did in a moment of grief. He also shares a moment of private pain with Chris, who leaves not entirely satisfied, but educated. Eve of Midnight When the fighting is over, Eve and Trevor share a private moment where Eve comes to terms with losing her voice and her aspirations once again. Trevor thanks her for the sacrifice that helped bring his parents back, and the two bond over coffee and a few short jokes. House of L Revisited Sixteen vignettes revealed the lives of other assorted heroes in the rewritten timeline, some of whom fared better than others. A few, like Dark Star and Fleur de Joie, slid easily into the reimagined world of goodness and peace that Rick Lucas created, while others, like Avenger and Phantom required such extensive revisions as to be hardly recognizable. The extremely unlucky Zephyr found that, like Wander, her temporal inertia protected her from initial rewriting by the black dots, but that did not mean she could live peacefully in Rick Lucas' paradise. And much like Raven II, there is no room in the new world for a minority female legacy character like Elena Gurrero's Scarab when the original can be restored. Links House of L House of L: Wakeup Call House of L: Bringing Down the House House of L: The End House of L: Nevermore House of L: Eve of Midnight To see the House of L vignettes, run a phrase search on “House of L Vignette” on the forums.

Erde“Erde” (German for “Earth”) is a parallel world where Nazi Germany won World War II. Its Freedom League Standard Notation identifier is Erde-J-Nazi-1. Heroes from Earth Prime have made several trips to Erde on different occasions, generally to help the resistance, and in one case to defuse a reality-destroying bomb. The timeline of Erde was altered by members of Young Freedom while time-traveling between dimensions when they saved the life of Midnight I, thereby strengthening the American Resistance and leading to larger pockets of free Americans on modern-day Erde.

Earth VictorianaEarth Victoriana is an alternate reality universe to Earth Prime that is characterised by the British Empire never contracting but instead dominating much of the planet. Culturally and technologically it is similar to the Victorian Era, but due to subtle differences in the physical laws of this universe, marvellous steam-based technology has permeated the world, able to mimic much of the electronic based technology of Earth Prime in the current era. It should be noted that this particular world has no alternate counterparts for Earth Prime's heroes, both because the setting does not encourage the presense of heroes, and that it is in fact about fifty to sixty years behind Earth Prime. HistoryThis universe diverges from Earth Prime firstly in that the physical laws of the reality have subtle differences. Electricity and nuclear forces seem to work badly, erratically, or not at all. However, steam-power (and other chemical processes) releases reliable and powerful energy, with minimal friction. This means that the development of technology diversified quite differently from the 18th Century onwards. In tandem with this (and perhaps because of it), the British Empire in Earth Victoriana has never lost any territory, and has indeed continued to expand, holding much of the America’s, Australasia, India, large areas of Africa, the middle east, and China, and colonies scattered throughout the globe. Unlike Earth Prime, the Empire here gave votes to all its territories, fully incorporating them into the Empire – and whilst the amount of votes given may swing more heavily in favour of England and a few of its favourite colonies (like America), the combination of this, it military and scientific supremacy (including its reknowned special forces, the SZS, or special zepplin service), and relatively benign rule has allowed it to flourish to its current position. It is currently governed by the Houses of Parliament, in a constitutional monarchy. Unlike Earth Prime, the royalty and aristocracy is still very much an institution throughout the Empire, with its current Monarch, Charles, being very popular after the tragic death of his wife in Paris a decade ago. The Monarchy has little technical power, but much influence. GeopoliticsThe British Empire covers the British Isles and Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Most of North America, Large Parts of Africa (including but not limited to Egypt, South Africa, and Nigeria), Parts of the Middle East (‘British Persia’), India, Burma, and a modest part of China named (‘Hong Kong Province’). It has many other smaller colonies elsewhere. The main opposition to the British Empire is the Vatican. Whilst technically a tiny city state, the Catholic Church in this reality has an oppressive, fanatical flavour, with its dreaded inquisition still active and keen to suppress all technology and science. It has strong support in Spain, Italy, and many parts of South America, but has tendrils everywhere. The French Empire is an empire of intellectuals and artists, and the only serious contended to the British Empire in the realm of education, art, and science. Paris is the cultural capital of the world and France takes great pride in its liberty, rationalism, and artistic freedom. The French Area controls part of Canada, and areas of Africa. The German Empire is the only serious contender to the British in terms of technological innovation, where it is probably equal. It has a rather dour faced and antagonistic image, with rumours of sabre-rattling and despotism within the corridors of power. Its only cultural output is loud, violent, and oppressive Opera. The Russian Empire is a vast area undergoing a slow burning revolution against the aristocracy, who blame the British for stirring up trouble. Ironically, Communism is starting up in Russia and has begun to spread to the British Empire, causing some malcontent amongst the workers. The Spanish Empire is the Vatican’s largest supporter and also the most openly hostile to the British. It is fiercely (almost fanatically) Roman Catholic, and has well established, similarly zealous colonies in South America. The Chinese and Japanese both have empires that are adjusting to the industrial revolution and only partially industrialised. They are one of the few areas on the planet totally free from the influence of the Vatican. The Texan Free State is the one colony of the British that has claimed independence. It is known for its gun slinging’ gambling’ liquor drinkin’ and partyin’ ways and is similar to a Steam Punk wild west. Texan mercenaries occasionally pop up around the world and are respected for their gun slinging, but perhaps not their manners. The Texan Free State is rather wild and corrupt, ruled by merchants more than politics. Earth Victoriana refers to Earth Prime as “Colonial Earth” or other variations. CultureThe culture of Earth Victoriana is based on 19th Century England with a few differences. Firstly, racism is not endemic – at least no more so than on Earth Prime. Slavery has been completely abolished. However, there continues to be a strong sense of “class” with somewhat limited social mobility. Ones accent, upbringing, family, and education are far more important than ones wealth. It is a society of “Gentlemen of leisure” and servants, and everyone is expected to know ones place. Good manners are expected from everyone, perhaps more so the upper classes (who have more slack in their lives to practice them). Breaking etiquette, rudeness, or impertinence will not go down well in Earth Victoriana. Maintaining a stiff upper lip, self control, and politeness are required. Society places a lot of emphasis on a ‘Classical’ education, with many Gentlemen literate in Greek, Latin, and History. Conversely, the working classes may be illiterate, although handy enough at the practicalities of repairing steam powered cars for instance. The culture is not as sexist as Earth Prime 19th Century society, but neither has sexual liberation permeated the culture. Women can vote, handle money, and are essentially equal in the eyes of the Law, but the culture is one of women being more ornamental than anything else. Women must be shown utmost politeness and respect, and men must always act with chivalry around them. There are rumblings recently of the working class becoming somewhat discontent with their lot. There is a Luddite movement, lead by Ned Ludd, who aim to smash all steam powered factories pushing honest working men out of employment. There is a splinter group, the Cannonites, who have formed as a political group to try and work for better conditions and improvements for the workers, who were inspired by a mysterious figure known as Cannonade a hero of Earth Victoriana who has only been seen a few times and gave some powerful speeches that set of a movement. TechnologyDue to the differences in physical laws in this universe, technology has developed differently. Electrical devices are not unheard of but rather crude and work differently. Raw electrical force can be generated fairly easily, but not controlled. An example is the baton of the English Policeman, or “Copper”. This stick has a wind up battery and is wrapped in copper wiring. Once wound up, the stick can release a one off electrical charge to stun and subdue the criminal / vagrant / rapscallion. Computers, in the traditional sense, are therefore unheard of. The British Empire, following on from Sir Babbage's work, has many “Analytical engines” which are fine steam powered computers of sorts. Steam powered technology in this universe allows for things that would not be possible in the Earth Prime Universe, inlcuding dimensional travel and crude andriods. It is reminicent of the imagination of Jules Verne. Zepplins fly the skies, steam powered gatling guns are used in warfare, superspeed steam powered rail travel is everywhere. The finest engineers and technology are based in the Royal society for Metaphysical Engineering, in London, at Greenwich observatory. One of the most prominent, and certainly the most talented, members of the Royal Society for Metaphysical Engineering is Ms. Henrietta Gertrude Wells, inventor of the Brit Machine and this discoverer of Earth Prime. Unfortunately, residual sexism in this dimension has prevented her from taking the position of president of the Royal society. Contact with Earth PrimeThe first contact between Earth Prime and Earth Victoriana was when Ms Henrietta Gertrude Wells, the finest mind of the Royal Society of Metaphysical Engineering, visited Earth Prime in search of a solution to the freezing weather that blighted England in her dimension. She recruited Cannonade, Silhouette, Edge, and Grimalkin to help, and they uncovered a plot by Russian Aristocracy to wreak revenge on the British Empire. All four heroes are now Knights (or Ladies) of the British Empire in that realm, having been awarded the order of the Garter. Contact between the two dimensions is entirely possible with the right technology, although the differences in laws of physics can lead to difficulties in transposing technology, as well as relative time dilatation and contraction. Lord Steam Is the official ambassador from Earth Victoriana (British Empire) to Earth Prime, but the appointment was at least partly to get him out of some hot water politically. Ministry of Extraordinary AffairsThe Ministry of Extraordinary Affairs is a division of the British Government on Earth Victoriana that is a counterpart of other intelligence agencies, handling “special circumstances”. These are rather broad reaching but include the affairs of other dimensions, super villains, super heroes, and any exceptional uses of steam punk technology. It is lead by the robust figure of “M”, who is Lord Steam's superior and has also recruited Silhouette as a free lance agent for Earth Victoriana. The elderly Madam Redpowder works within the Ministry, a master of make up and disguise.

Earth PrimeEarth Prime (Freedom League Designation Earth 1-Prime) is the designation for the universe in which the majority of Freedom City: Play By Post takes place. There are a theoretically infinite number of alternate universes connected to Earth Prime, only a few of which have been discovered by scientists and superheroes from Earth Prime so far. Each newly discovered universe is given a designation by the Freedom League, the organization responsible for interuniversal recordkeeping. Many are also given vernacular names based on their characteristics, such as Earth-Ape for a universe populated by simian versions of Earth Prime residents, or Erde, a universe where the Nazis won World War II and took over much of the world. It should be noted that in each of these universes, as on Earth Prime, these designations are not in regular usage, and the universe is simply referred to as “Earth” or “the universe.” Earth Prime itself is merely an arbitrary designation, created by Dr. Alexander Atom for the relativistic cataloging of universe types. Alternate Universes and Earth PrimeAccording to Freedom League research, alternate universes tend to differ from Earth Prime in either one or both of two possible ways: fundamental laws or historical events. Alternate universes also seem to be located “closer to” or “further away from” Earth Prime based on how similar they are in either of these two criteria. As a result, nearby universes with different fundamental laws will often maintain a high level of historical similarity, despite these differences. Similarly, universes with substantially different historical records often tend to hew very closely to the expected physical norms of Earth Prime, including the presence of people who might be expected not to exist given the way history unfolded. Many of these alternate realities or alternate timelines, respectively, have sheaves of alternate universes of their own, differing from each other only in small details. The “closest” universes to Earth Prime may be so similar as to be nearly indistinguishable except to the veteran dimensional traveler, or may be recent departures from a once-similar universe. Even in worlds with substantially different historical events, the more recent the point of divergence, the nearer that universe appears to remain to Earth Prime. The study of alternate universe travel and theory is still in its infancy, but the Freedom League is confident that as its roster of dimensionally-mobile heroes increases, so will its base of knowledge on the subject.

Demonic Invasion The Demonic Invasion of Freedom City was a citywide event that occurred around November 9-11, 2009, and also encompassed events in the ten preceding days. After learning of a plan by his demonic father to kidnap him and use him as an entryway into Earth Prime, James Prophet (Hellion) a Claremont student and member of Young Freedom, left his school and his team to confront the forces of Hell on his own. He was quickly overwhelmed and despite the intervention of his friends, kidnapped and brainwashed by the demonic forces. Ten days later, he returned as a demonic villain, bringing the massed forces of Hell along with him. They ravaged the city, leaving the heroes to gather in small bands to protect each other and what civilians they could. Young Freedom faced down their much-changed teammate and were able to reach the humanity still inside him enough to turn him back to the side of good. The demons were banished and time itself was rolled back by divine intervention, so that to this day, most people in Freedom City are totally unaware of the entire event. Threads Young Freedom The Morning Of James and his best friend Erin (Wander) spend an early morning together, playing video games and talking, with James never revealing that he's trying to say goodbye. Vignette: The Letter James leaves a note for his friends before going to make his last stand. Speak of the Devil On Halloween Night, James' friends find the note he left and go to find him. Another One Bites the Dust Hellion confronts the forces of Hell, which turns out to be a terrible plan. Young Freedom comes to assist, waging a pitched battle with the demons, but in the end, they cannot prevent him from being dragged down and away by the demons. Fallen Friends Wander and Psyche work through the night in Young Freedom's HQ, battling despair as they keep looking for signs of Hellion. Invasion: Riverside Gate Hellion returns to Earth with the armies of hell. While the other heroes of Freedom try to hold the buckling city together, Young Freedom faces down their teammate in a desperate bid to turn him back to the side of good. Rapprochement With the crisis passed, James sets about mending some fences, and retrieves the keys to his beloved car. Freedom City Invasion: West End Newly-formed superteam The Interceptors battle to save civilians from being rounded up by demons in Freedom City's West End. They save the day, but only at the cost of the life of their leader, Jack of All Blades. Invasion: Hanover As Freedom City is transformed into the newest circle of hell, Dr Archeville, Tempest and a handful of young heroes try to protect ArcheTech from being taken by the rising tide. Invasion: Pramas Bridge Geckoman, Fulcrum, and a few other heroes fight to protect the Pramas Bridge, a lifeline for anyone fleeing to safety through the chaotic city. Invasion: Southside Veteran hero Arrowhawk and newcomer Wesley Knight team up to protect their home neighborhood from a huge swell of demons. Invasion: Riverside The unearthly hero team The Midknighters face a huge mass of demons intent on obliterating dimensional guardian Phantom, one of the only obstacles still standing between them and victory. Invasion: Danger Manor With the rest of the city overrun, the remaining Interceptors, the Midknighters, and the city's other remaining heroes fall back to Ace Danger's heavily warded manor, along with all the civilians they can handle. With no viable options except to hope that Young Freedom can close the gates, the heroes prepare a last stand, then fight for their lives and their world when the barriers fail and Hell rushes in.

The CommunionThe Communion is an alien race from the deep reaches of uncharted space. They destroyed the planet Lor-Van and threatened Earth and the rest of the civilized galaxy during the Incursion event of late 2014. HistoryTwo hundred years ago, a Lor starfaring expedition found a strange planetary body in the Perseus Arm, approximately 17,000 light years out from the star known as Sol. A surface scan indicated that the body was completely devoid of organic life, and made, right down to the mantle, of an extremely sturdy superconductive material. A few orbital drones were sent down, and the crew discovered to their great confusion that the planet had not only once been alive, but had hosted a civilization. They could find the bones of it all over - buildings, trees, highways, oceans, and beasts, all transformed into the same material. After touching one of the drones down and ensuring there was not some “gray goo” threat awaiting them, the ship landed, and a party took to the planet. A number of theories emerged. The planet had fallen prey to a nanotech disaster, but the active nanotech had long since broken down, leaving its workings. The planet was built to serve as a living computer, not unlike some Dyson spheres in the further reaches of Lor space, and had been crafted with simulacra of a civilization as some sort of distinguishing mark. In any event, the party's engineer, an experienced technopath, attempted to make contact with the inert planet, in an effort to dig something from its database. Fifteen seconds later, the screaming started. Thirty seconds later, the planet's drones, long since left in a state of suspension, roared back to life and swept across the surface, attempting to get at the new organics who had touched down. The party barely made it off the planet with their lives, dragging the screaming technopath all the while. Once they had her quarantined, the crew's counselor attempted to parse the relevant data from the technopath. What he got was fragmented, broken, and utterly horrifying. The planet had been organic once - once being nearly twenty thousand years ago. Two separate data banks ran in parallel through the technopath's head - one a record of the planet's history up until its transformation, one a record of victory by the thing that had done it. The entity referred to itself as “the Communion,” one singular consciousness at the heart of an endless, expansive army of drones. It had sent servants to prepare the way on the planet, subverting its orbital defenses and broadcasting messages that would “sway” the citizens to its glory. As it touched down, it broadcast a telepathic signal that brought the citizens of the planet into its fold; those that resisted were destroyed under psychic assault. After the planet was pacified, the work of conversion began. Those converted citizens who had worthwhile memories were absorbed, body and mind, into the folds of the Communion. Those who were worthless would be slain and turned into computronium, to aid the processing speed and memory capacities of the greater collective. The transformation complete, the drones would lift off, leaving the world as a relay point for the greater network and a monument to the glory of the Communion. Why would they do this? For the simple reason that the Communion believed it was the perfection of thought, and everything else was static against the void. Once news of this got back to the Lor Security Council, a covert investigation was made into the nature of the Communion threat. If its goals were so expansionistic, then why had no one heard of it until now? A team was assembled, consisting of infiltrators, archaeologists, and top-range mentats, with the aim of prying knowledge of the Communion out of wherever it could be found. It turned out that other species and galactic entities had knowledge of the Communion; it was just buried under the auspice of legend or out of sheer loathing. The Grue Unity regarded the Communion as a mythical figure of anathema, the “Un-Thought” that bent will rather than stringing it together into a collective whole. One of The Curator's drones shared information, though at a high price, revealing how its greater self regarded the Communion as an affront to existence, something that wrecked unique entities in order to turn them into just another piece of a disturbing whole. Aside from conjecture, however, the search turned up little. The Communion had vanished from the known parts of the Milky Way millennia before. Or so it was thought. But in late 2013, the planet in the distant reaches of the Perseus Arm - the one that clued the Lor into the existence of the Communion - showed signs of movement. As if it was booting up. It was a passing thing, and ended as soon as it had begun, but no one took it as a comforting sign. LinksStats for Greater Communion Drone

Day of Wrath The Day of Wrath Incident was an event that took place from late November 2012 to mid-January 2013. Unbeknownst to anyone, the alien intelligence known as The Curator abducted a number of superheroes from Freedom City and replaced them with robot duplicates. The heroes were deposited on The Curator's ringworld and left to fend for themselves, while the robotic replacements insinuated themselves into the lives of the people they were imitating. At a prearranged time, the robot doppelgangers erupted into lethal violence designed to spread fear and distrust amongst the hero community and the general population. Links [Gorgon] Latchkey Kids Young Freedom defends Freedom Hall from the Crime League! (Robot Dr. Stratos) Test Site I Several heroes wake up... elsewhere. (Originally Hidden) Roughin' It A camping trip with friends leads to a discussion of old wounds. (Robot Blue Jay) Merry HAXmas The HAX company Christmas party! (Robot Harrier, Jill and Wander) Where The Love Light Leads Wander needs some space during the holidays. (Robot Wander) Chaos, Steel and Wolves Armored heroes team up to take on the Foundry (Robot Beekeeper III) War of the Worlds Young Freedom tries to wrap up their Erde adventure, only to fall into more trouble. (Robot Duncan Summers) Disco Inferno With the campus under siege, Claremont's students must decide who to trust! Counterfeit Medications Wander does some corporate headhunting. (Robot Wander) Time and Chance Beekeeper III goes beezerk. (Robot Beekeeper III) Arms and the Man Jill O'Cure goes for the killer cure. (Robot Jill O'Cure) These Chains on Me Harrier gets scarier. (Robot Harrier) Pale Moonlight Blue Jay gets in some target practice. (Robot Blue Jay) Scratch Team The Freedom League Auxiliary deals with Star Knight and Freedom Hall. Crosses with Arms and the Man. (Robot Maria Montoya) Test Site II The heroes continue to look for a way off of the strange alien planet! (Originally Hidden) Even Angels Fall Dragonfly meets Gina, they fix Midnight's flying saucer. (Robot Beekeeper III) Test Site III Stealing a shuttle, the heroes fly to their captor's doorstep! The End of the World Young Freedom wage a desperate defense against the Curator for the fate of Tronik and Earth! This Was a Triumph (Inside) The kidnapped heroes subvert the Curator from within its own control room. This Was a Triumph (Outside) Epic space battle, epic reunions for everybody! The Talk Ironclad meet Beekeeper III for the first time, again. Day of Wrath Vignette

Claremont Academy The Claremont Academy, its staff, existing students and teams are all recognized as Product Identity of Green Ronin Publishing, in accordance with Section 1(e) of the Open Game License, Version 1.0a. The Claremont Academy is a private semi-residential high school in the Bayview neighborhood of Freedom City. Originally a traditional four-year high school, it has recently been acquired by retired superhero Duncan Summers and converted into a school strictly for teenagers with metahuman abilities. Most of the school's students live in dormitories on its campus, but some local students choose to live at home and attend day school there. The school's large endowment, some of which is speculated to come from hero alumni or those interested in cultivating a new generation of heroes, is instrumental in its work to gather and train metahuman teenagers from all parts of the country. Claremont Academy's sister school and feeder is the private Nicholson School, which provides education and boarding for metahuman children from kindergarten through eighth grade. Claremont Staff Summers, Duncan: Headmaster. Unknown to the students (though suspected by a few), Summers was the first Raven, the dark-clad crimefighter of the 1960s, and father of the current Raven. Due to recent health concerns he has stepped down. Dugan, Martha: Vice Principal. She has stepped in as principle during Mr. Summers absence. Faulks, Basil: the very weird chief janitor. Harcourt, Stephanie: gifted inventors whose actions during the Terminus Invasion brought her to Summers' attention. Teaches advanced science courses. Hawke, Leeroy (Turbo-Boost): teaches ethics and responsibility, lessons he's learned the hard way as a reformed criminal. Joy, Aretha: Humble yet outgoing nurse. Kuzkin, Demetrius: strange head of the theater department. Marquez, Gabriel: Counselor at the Claremont Academy, confined to a wheelchair since the Terminus Invasion, which also awakened his power to temporarily nullify the powers of others. Perry, Jesse (Ghostman): Former crimefigher in the 1980s who used his powers to strike fear into the hearts of organized crime. Retired to write a series of pulp novels, using his experiences as fuel; now Claremont's creative writing teacher. Skyler, Darian: Righteously self-important calculus teacher. Armstrong, Travis: Gym teacher, tries to get everyone to call him Coach, usually fails. Not a big believer in second chances. Claremont Uniforms The school colors of Claremont are blue and gold. All students participating in active hero training are eligible to wear the school uniform, which is made of super-durable material and can be replaced at no charge. Students may also elect to design their own uniforms, but are then responsible for acquiring and replacing them as well.

ArchEvil The ArchEvil Incident was a planetary supervillain plot that took place mainly in the third week of July 2011. Prominent scientist, noted philanthropist and respected superhero Dr. Victor Archeville had an apparently unforeseeable psychotic break that led to him terrorizing Earth and cutting a wide swath of destruction before being defeated by his own superteam, the Interceptors. In the wake of the disaster, it was revealed that Archeville had been mentally unstable for a long time, and that his villainous alter ego had been responsible for the murder of a number of heroes and villains in Freedom City over the past year. Disgraced and distrusted, Dr. Archeville handed off control of his various enterprises and began a regime of intensive psychiatric treatment to let him bring himself back under control. Characters Because this was a citywide event, a large number of PCs participated in various facets of the plot. PCs should be linked in the summaries of the threads where they appear. For the purposes of this page, the evil alter-ego of Dr. Archeville will be referred to as “Chevalier,” the identity he created for his solo activities. Timeline September 19, 2010: Heroes Serum, Intel, Metallic Warrior, Lullaby, and Dryad are burned alive by Chevalier. October 1, 2010: First public appearance of Chevalier, perceived to be a new hero to Freedom City. October 10, 2010: Demonic antiheroine Dark Vixen is murdered by Chevalier. October 22, 2010: Chevalier betrays and murders heroine Valkyrie. October 29, 2010: Heroine Cougress is murdered by Chevalier. November 10, 2010: Heroine Kunoichi is kidnapped and tortured by Chevalier November 17, 2010: Chevalier teams up with, betrays, and attempts to murder teen hero Kid Cthulhu December 13, 2010: Heroes Lion and Finder are murdered by Chevalier. December 25, 2010: Dr. Archeville infects the Interceptors with mind-controlling nanites by way of Christmas presents. January 4, 2011: Villainess Kakoku is kidnapped and tortured by Chevalier. January 6, 2011: Heroine Ferlyn is burned alive by Chevalier. January 9, 2011: Chevalier travels outside the city, where he murders dozens of minor villains as well as 13-year-old villainess Naxean and the villain called Berzerker. January 10, 2011: Chevalier murders heroine Sheyra and her unpowered associates. January 11, 2011: Chevalier kidnaps villainess Black Priestess by faking her death by electrocution. January 13, 2011: Chevalier tortures and murders hero Hellbound. January 13, 2011: The Scarab learns of the death of her old teammate Hellbound and begins investigating the string of strange murders and disappearances in the city. January 14, 2011: Fulcrum moves in with Doktor Archeville, curtailing the activities of Chevalier for a time. February 13, 2011: Chevalier breaks into Providence Asylum and murders heroine Honey Queen, then frames Beekeeper II for the crime. March 22, 2011: Chevalier assaults hero Dynamo and kidnaps heroine Je'La. March 26, 2011: Chevalier kidnaps and tortures hero The Big Man. April 20, 2011: Chevalier murders costumed metahuman American Patriot. June 17, 2011 (early morning): Arrowhawk returns to the United States and consults with Scarab about her investigations into a crime wave against metahumans. June 17, 2011 (early evening): Wander shows Dr. Archeville Omega's chestplate, inadvertently triggering his full physical transformation into Chevalier, ready to take over the world. Prologue Evil Archeville/Reaping of the X-Vault Thread The gradual ascent of Dr. Archeville's evil side, as manifested by the treacherous “hero” Chevalier leads to a series of mysterious deaths and disappearances in Freedom City and its environs over a period of seven months or so. Heroes and villains who catch Archeville's attention also tend to interest his dark alter ego, who then kills them, or if they are resistant to death, kidnaps and tortures them. He begins by luring a group of heroes into an abandoned building before setting it on fire, then quickly escalates to more personal, face-to-face methods. By varying venue and method, he manages to escape detection, and indeed many of the crimes are not solved. Between October of 2010 and April of 2011, Chevalier murders fourteen heroes and two villains, plus several dozen civilians, and kidnaps another five metahumans for torturous experiments. Die Me, Dichotomy Thread After a punishing battle with SHADOW forces, Arrowhawk calls his old and trusted friend Dr. Archeville to treat him and his girlfriend and fellow hero Valkyrie. The trio discusses the SHADOW threat, including the reemergence of the villain Ragnarok. Eight days later, Valkyrie is summoned by her masters in the Norse pantheon to deal with a threat on the shore bordering Providence Asylum, and there finds Chevalier cleaning out a nest of hostile vampires. Believing the vampires to be the threat, she assists him in clearing out the nest, dropping her guard long enough to let him shoot her from behind with a blast of radiation. She attempts to fight back, but her injuries and Dr. Archeville's knowledge of her powers and weaknesses allow him to overpower her. He carries her high into the sky and drops her to her death, but is himself injured by a bolt of lightning she calls down. Afterwards, he convinces Arrowhawk that Ragnarock was responsible for her death, sending the hero on a wild goose chase to Europe. Who You Gonna Call? Thread During the months of Chevalier's crime spree, Doktor Archeville begins working with teen hero Kid Cthulhu to determine the nature of his unusual metahuman appearance and abilities. This brings him to the attention of Archeville's evil alter-ego, who becomes determined to destroy the teen hero. At this point, Chevalier is a known hero, so when he attempts to team up with Kid Cthulhu for an evening, the latter readily accepts. He lures Kid Cthulhu into the Super Museum, then disguises himself and lays in wait to attack. Employing one of his favorite tactics, Chevalier sets Kid Cthulhu and the Hall of Mysteries on fire, then puts a fist through the young man's chest to ensure his death. Blake Salazar survives the attack, but loses his metahuman abilities and appearance for a time. A Very Interceptors Christmas Thread Dr. Archeville attends a Christmas celebration with his proteges on the Interceptors at their Brownstone headquarters. Touched by their unquestioning acceptance of him as one of the family, he presents each of them with a personalized cuckoo clock of his own design. These cuckoo clocks are implanted with mind-controlling nanites that will make the Interceptors unquestioning slaves to Chevalier's will. Bread Crumbs Thread In mid-January, Elena Guerrero is listening to the news when she has a psychic vision related to a John Doe found mutilated and murdered in Freedom City. Upon investigating the site, she realizes that the murdered man is an old teammate from the Knights of Freedom, Hellbound. She begins investigating the crime, creating an intricate web linking dozens of seemingly unrelated deaths and disappearances over the course of many months. Back in Black Thread After spending months in Europe, attempting to track down the villain he believes killed Valkyrie, Arrowhawk returns to Freedom City at the summons of his friend Scarab. She lays out the details of her investigation, and the two of them puzzle over possible suspects. They bring up and rule out the supervillain Malice, noting that these crimes have a cruelty and sadism that the self-described savior of humanity has never shown. Clearly they are looking for someone else. The ArchEvil Invasion Revelations Thread Wander, recently hired as a security guard for ArcheTech, has concerns about the safety of the chestplate of Omega that Young Freedom brought home as a trophy after a recent mission, so she brings it to Dr. Archeville's home for him to examine in private. The shock of seeing the armor, and its implications with regards to the current power void in the Terminus is enough to shock Dr. Archeville unconscious and bring Chevalier to the fore. Without his power armor on, Chevalier is revealed as a Deep One, scaly, green and monstrous. Knowing that a fight with Wander would be inadvisable, he deceives her instead, professing horror and shame at his solely physical transformation. He's successful in convincing her, to the point that when Arrowhawk and Scarab show up at the door hoping to consult with Dr. Archeville about possible suspects in the crime wave, Wander heads them off at the door. Chevalier uses those few minutes of delay to take his equipment and make good his escape. Arrowhawk departs to track him down, while Scarab takes Wander to her base under Pyramid Plaza where Scarab makes preparations for the worst. Terrible Bosses Thread Dr. Archeville goes to the Interceptors Brownstone headquarters, interrupting a friendly sparring session intended to welcome and acclimatize the new members Thrude and Geckoman. With the use of subliminal commands hidden in images and briefings over the past months and nanomachines introduced to them with cuckoo clocks on the team's last Christmas celebration, the 'core' Interceptors Jack of all Blades, Jill O'Cure, Fulcrum, Dynamo, Colt and Grimalkin are transformed into darker versions of themselves fanatically loyal to the unveiled Other side of the Doktor. After a brief clash with their new team mates and Willow, the newly-christened Auffägangers and their master are teleported to the home of Taylor and Jack Faretti (Phantom and Avenger), aiming to capture the powerful dimensional guardian and the city's king of vampires along with their young son. Before he departs he has the likewise-altered A.I. VINCE destroy the Brownstone, right when new potential member Ferros knocks on the front door. News Broadcast Thread A new villain – some sort of super-Deep One – hijacks communications systems worldwide and makes a bizarre, terrible pronouncement. Creatures pour out from ArcheTech facilities around the globe, while a great mechanical squid beaches itself at Freedom and vomits forth Deep Ones. Load-Bearing Bosses Load-Bearing Bosses The Interceptors caught in the destruction of the Brownstone escape from the rubble with the assistance of new arrival Ferros, Geckoman losing an arm in the process of extricating himself. Swearing vengeance on the Doktor for his betrayal, Thrude uses her power over the winds to discover where he and his altered Interceptors have gone, with the group making their various ways towards their dire enemy and brainwashed allies. Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit Thread Archeville arrives with the Auffägangers before the Faretti's home, sending in his soldiers to search the place, finding it empty of inhabitants. Outraged, Archeville begins to prepare for departure to the Scarab's headquarters when his Archeville side breaks free and releases the Interceptors from his control. After a struggle where Archeville uses his carefully-laid counters against his one-time friends, Fulcrum knocks out the villainous side of the Doktor. The other Interceptors arrive and after a furious argument about what to do with the man are confronted by the monster-spewing form of the impossible creature that lay behind the Archeville family madness, an Elder being of tremendous power whose rise using the bodies of Archevilles living and dead causes madness in citizens even distantly related to the cursed family, causing riots throughout the world. Meanwhile, the various plots Archeville's Other side had laid over the years are begun, from the Deep Ones using his immense submarine to launch and invasion from the sea to mutated grue granted the powers of the Interceptors running riot to the vast space station hidden in the Asteroid Belt preparing to attack. After a desperate struggle, the Interceptors weaken the beast, and Fulcrum uses her power dampers to inject a flood of Terminus energy into the horrific monster, destroying it but hurling herself out of that dimension. Aftermath Gestalt Theory Thread As the Interceptors finish off the monster, the Scarab, Phantom and Ferros enter Archeville's mind, cleansing him of the Other's corrupting influence and healing his damaged psyche. Aftermath Thread With the battle over, the Interceptors are faced with a diminished and grieving Doktor, their own injuries, and a world that has been ripped apart. Jack of All Blades severs the Interceptors' connection with Doktor Archeville and leave, while Geckoman tries to find the rest of his teammates and sort order out of chaos. The Doctor is In(Sane) Thread A week after the battle, Dr. Archeville has been confined to Providence Asylum for evaluation and safekeeping. He receives several visitors. The first, Miss Americana, comes to deal with the business of ArcheTech, which she is trying to save. The doctor resigns his position and signs over control of the company to her, with the request that she make restitution a priority. The second is Harrier in his civilian identity, who Archeville does not recognize thanks to the Scarab and Psyche pulling all secret identity information from his mind. Harrier speaks of guilt and grief, and promises to take care of Mona's cat for as long as she is lost. The third is Ace Danger, who denounces atonement as selfishness and reminds Archeville that as long as he remains consumed with the enormity of what he has done, no one is building the scanner that could free Mona from the Terminus.

ArcheTech ArcheTech was founded by Dr. Viktor Archeville, who wanted an international chain of research laboratories unconnected to any one government or any business interests. His vision was to establish a unique center for multi-disciplinary research in a number of scientific fields, especially those pertaining to metahuman activity and the increasing emergence of metahumans. Fields of research & development include bionics and cybernetics, energy projection, force field generation, genetics and genome stability, gravimetrics, advanced metallurgy, nanotechnology, particle physics, and others. In addition to its exotic research, ArcheTech also provides humanitarian aid in times of crisis. History Archeville had done freelance troubleshooting work for numerous other science & technology research facilities, in America and Europe, for many years, even while still a college student. He used the contacts established there in three ways: to keep tabs on as many scientists and researchers as possible, to establish working relationships with investors and financiers, and similar relationships with tech-friendly politicians. Through a combination of sound investments, keen tax planning, and funds raised by selling off certain licenses for various inventions to outside commercial firms (though making certain to retain all copyrights and trademarks), Archeville was quickly able to raise the seed money needed to start up and run his company. Months of phone calls and meetings got him the researchers he needed (some who would work freelance for his company, some under contract exclusively for the company for a number of years), and “nudgings” – completely legal, just not as “above board” as usual – from certain politicians to get the building permits pushed through quickly. Soon after the first ArcheTech facilities opened, demons invaded Freedom City and in so doing warped the corporate HQ into a black pyramid. But not many seem to remember that. In July 2011, the facilities and reputation of ArcheTech suffered far greater damage when Dr. Archeville suffered a psychotic break and began wreaking worldwide havoc centered in each of the ArcheTech buildings. Once Dr. Archeville was subdued by other heroes and brought back to sanity, he chose to enter retirement and passed over control of ArcheTech to Miss Americana, who had been working as a researcher in the Freedom City center before the disaster. Miss Americana took over as CEO of ArcheTech and spent the next three years rebuilding the reputation and goodwill of the severely damaged company. Locations Worldwide. The corporate HQ for ArcheTech is in Freedom City, New Jersey, but there are branch offices all around the globe. In America, there are branches in California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Wisconsin. Outside of the United States, there are branches in Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and the United Kingdom. Dr. Archeville's plans included continued expansion, but those plans were put on hold after the events of 2011. Appearance Exterior All ArcheTech facilities are built in the shape of square frusta, or flat-topped pyramids. They are chiefly light gray in color and twelve stories tall. The distinctive design is meant to inspire pride in its employees and in the surrounding community. (Critics do note that the darker coloration of the glass in the windows at the center of the building and of some doors at the bottom make the buildings look more like giant stylized As.) Each pane of glass doubles as a solar panel, to supplement the power drawn from the local power grids, though many facilities also have their own generators (the type depending on location). The flat roof contains a multipurpose helipad that also serves as an entrance point for flying heroes. Interior The first floor of every ArcheTech branch is reserved for public information booths, lobby access, security stations, and the on-site company cafeteria. The lobby area is often host to scientific exhibitions and is a frequent destination for field trips. The first floor is open to the public, but visitors will have to check-in at the desk in order to proceed to any other floor. The top floor of all ArcheTech facilities is reserved for administrative offices and conference rooms. Miss Americana's main office is on the top floor of the Freedom City building, with her personal laboratory space below it on the tenth and eleventh floors. The ten floor between lobby and offices comprise the main functional space of each ArcheTech center. These spaces may include laboratories, think tanks, centers for specialized medicine, and specially reinforced testing areas. Most centers also include dormitory space for participants in lengthy studies or for metahumans who are having a hard time controlling their powers. All ten floors of the Freedom City center are occupied, but progress has been less swift in other cities, where forgiveness for past errors has been a long time coming. Empty space in those facilities is used for storage, or as places of public refuge in case of disaster. The basement is reserved for maintenance facilities, power generators, and the bulk transporter (see below). Access to the bulk transporters is severely restricted since 2011, and most employees of ArcheTech never even see the basement. Miscellaneous All ArcheTech facilities can serve as a temporary Metahuman incarceration facility, due to the availability of both high-strength building materials and power-nullifying devices. Each facility also has a bulk transporter, capable of nearly instantly teleporting several tons of material at a time, but only to other ArcheTech facilities. These teleporters can be used in crisis situations, bringing in supplies from other facilities or moving evacuees quickly out of the area. Due to their pivotal role in the so-called ArchEvil event in 2011, Miss Americana has heavily restricted use of these teleporters in non-emergency situations. Security for each local branch is multifaceted and relies heavily on redundant features for maximum protection. Main lobby entrances contain metal detectors and x-ray scanners, monitored at the primary security station by three full-time guards. Each floor has a security sub-station manned at all times by two guards, and three guards patrol each floor; each station has real-time video surveillance of each corridor and laboratory, and motion detectors to detect cloaked/invisible intruders. In addition to the human guards, each corridor and laboratory has an automated security turret programmed to neutralize any unauthorized persons with bolts of energy on a wavelength that will cause a normal human's neurological system to temporarily shut down; once a target is down, the energy projectors switch to emitting a beam of the same energy to keep the target unconscious. One of ArcheTech's sources of revenue is renting out space in its laboratories and workshops to other scientific organizations and universities.

Freedom League Standard NotationFreedom League Standard Notation is a system by which alternate dimensions can be categorized. First codified by Doctor Atom in the 1960s,Standard Notation replaced the previous scheme of merely giving each new alternate world a nickname based on its main differentiating feature. Atom realized that as dimensional science became more advanced and more dimensions were explored, a finer-grained system would be required. All dimensions that have been visited by the Freedom League or their allies have a designation in Standard Notation. Standard Notation is based on establishing four major facts about each universe and assigning descriptors for each in the form of a word, letter or number. There are a number of optional descriptors that can be appended in special circumstances as well. NomenclatureThe first step in the designation process is nomenclature. For purposes of ease during the era in which the system was put into effect, the default nomenclature is Earth, for any universe where the planet Earth is present and English is a major language. If another language has arisen on that world to supplant English as a major language, the name for Earth in that language will be substituted (i.e. Erde, Terre). In the rare event that a universe is found where the planet is entirely gone, or where all evidence of life has been obliterated so thoroughly that no cultural conjectures may be drawn, the designation Nihil will be substituted. HabitabilityThe second designator is that of a universe's habitability and safety for travelers and scientists. This is graded in alphabetical groupings, based on the condition of the planet, the presence of hostile forces, and the existence of dangerous circumstances. Designators should use the letter grouping that identifies the greatest danger present. A-F: These letters designate non-hostile Primelike worlds without contraindications for travel and exploration. Designations are based on a scale from most hospitable to least, based on factors like climate and overall pollution, with A being most pleasant and F not recommended for prolonged exposure.G-K: These letters indicate habitable universes with inhabitants who might prove hostile to some or all explorers and travelers. G indicates a generally peaceful population with a few specific triggers for hostility, while K indicates an entirely hostile populace who will prove a danger to any traveler.L-Q: These letters indicate universes with noticeable differences in the physical laws from Earth Prime. L indicates minor differences that may be more entertaining than troublesome, Q indicates differences so substantial that unsupported human life is endangered.R-V: These letters indicate universes with variations on Prime that might be expected to be mentally or psychologically distressing to many travelers and explorers. R indicates a universe that most would consider mildly disturbing, where V is likely to cause mental anguish to many travelers.W: This designator indicates a world that is so close to Prime as to be virtually indistinguishable.X: This designator indicates a planet that is unclassifiable for any reason. Care should be taken to explain this designation in the dossier, and recategorization should be a priority.Y: This designator indicates a universe that is inimical to human life by its very nature, but that is unlikely to create a danger outside itself. Travel to these universes should be avoided at all costs.Z: This designation indicates a universe that is inimical to human life by its very nature, and could also pose a danger to other universes. Travel to these universes must be strictly controlled, and information about them must be classified to avoid potential weaponization. DistinctivenessThe third designator is a single-word explanation of the main distinctive point of the universe. This is inherently a matter of some subjectivity, but certain designators see frequent use. Ideally, care will be taken to avoid duplication of initial letters where possible. Official Standard Notation includes the entire word descriptor for Distinctiveness, but it will inevitably be shortened for easy reference. Where more than one descriptor might apply, choose the one that is most important for a traveler to be aware of. Some common Distinctiveness descriptors include: Animal: A universe where sentient animals are the majority of the population.Disaster: A universe where Earth suffers from the effect of one or more extreme natural disasters or diseases.Eldritch: A universe in which magic has displaced science in its control of physical law.Gender: A gender-displaced or gender-reversed universe.Isolate: A universe that is unaware of its position in the multiverse, and/or with no close sister universesMalign: A universe with a pronounced moral inversion not inflicted from outside.Nazi: A universe where the Axis won World War II and continue to hold strong influence.Omega: A universe that has fallen under the influence of the Terminus.Retro: A universe where technology is substantially behind that of Prime, by choice or otherwise.Self: A universe where Earth suffers from extreme self-inflicted damage.Tech: A universe where technology is substantially advanced beyond that available on Prime.War: A universe in the grip of a world war that affects a majority of the population. UniquenessThe fourth standard descriptor is merely a measure of uniqueness. Given the structure of the multiverse and the limits of any cataloging system, it is inevitable that there will be multiple worlds with the same descriptors. The Uniqueness number solves this problem by adding a number to the other descriptors indicating the order in which it was discovered. Therefore, the first time a set of descriptors is assigned, it will be given the Uniqueness descriptor 1. The next time that set of descriptors is assigned, the Uniqueness descriptor will be 2, and so on. Special NotationsSome universes have special circumstances that require designators beyond the standard four. There are only a few occasions when these notations are appropriate. Special Notations are indicated in parentheses after the Uniqueness designator. Some examples of special notation include: Allied: This universe is a special ally to the Prime Freedom League.Closed: This universe has requested no contact with other universes.Endangered: This universe has a Primelike population in imminent danger of extinction.Enemy: This universe is aware of and especially hostile to the Prime Freedom League.Extinct: This universe once harbored a Primelike population, but is now uninhabited.It should be noted that Earth Prime does not follow the standard notation and may simply be referred to as Prime. ExamplesSome examples of worlds using Freedom League Standard Notation: Earth Z-Omega-1(extinct): The home dimension of Young Freedom member Wander, this dangerous and uninhabitable dimension is classified by the League.Earth-D-Self-7(extinct): Nicknamed Sanctuary, this extinct dimension is the headquarters of Fleur de Joie.Erde-J-Nazi-1(enemy): Commonly known simply as “Erde,” many heroes from Earth Prime have had dealings with this dimension.Earth-V-Malign-1(enemy): Commonly known as Anti-Earth, this universe is the most pronounced and well-known example of moral inversion.Earth-A-Gender-1: Also referred to as Earth-XX, this is a close Prime duplicate with the exception of complete gender inversion from the Prime population.Earth-N-Isolate-4 A recently encountered universe where all superpowers arise from a single source and have only existed since the early 1990s.

The Seven Rings In BriefThe Seven Rings are ancient tools created to defend a nation faced with enemies far greater than itself. Each of them is an incredibly powerful artifact, a weapon that can make virtually anyone into a one-person army. Perhaps most terrifying is the fact that these artifacts will work for whoever claims them; while once meant for good, at least some of them have been used for evil in the past. Power can corrupt, and there is a large deal of power in any of the rings. Only time will tell the character of their wielders in the modern day. History OriginIt was 57 BC, and Israel was freshly conquered by the Romans. The Hebrew people groaned under the harsh rule of the Romans, but what military strength they had was nowhere near enough. Something had to be done. And in a remote hideaway, something was, indeed, being done. In a secret cave complex, a conclave of mages was meeting. These men would be considered followers of the traditions of Kabbalah in the modern day, but in 57 BC they had no formalized name. While the mystical traditions of Judaism had many applications, these particular practitioners specialized in creating mystically imbued objects. They'd worked hard in times past to arm Judea's best soldiers with peerless swords, spears, shields, and more. But it was never enough. After all, the Romans had their own mages, some of whom had even studied under the witch Medea! It seemed like no matter what they had done in the brief tenure of fighting, it hadn't been enough. One of their elders proposed that it was because they had tried to make somany artifacts, and had spread their magic too thin. He said they should instead all cooperate to create a small number of very potent artifacts. These could be given to a few trusted individuals, who would become the “tip of the spear” in their fight against the Romans. So their work began. It took them until 52 BC, but they were ready for the final step. They'd crafted sevenrings, each with a unique gemstone embedded in a platinum ring, etched with dozens upon dozens of holy runes and symbols. A blue sapphire, a green emerald, a red ruby, a violet amethyst, an indigo spinel, a yellow beryl, and an orange wulfenite. Each gem chosen to channel a particular kind of energy. A particular resonance that would allow each ring to bring potent abilities to bear that, when used together, should make an unstoppable team. The rings went through their final assembly, their final preparatory benedictions. Then, the final ceremony began. Every member of this secretive group took part, all of them working in concert to channel various elements and concepts into the rings, and on top of it all pouring a healthy does of the elemental creative energy of creation. The ceremony was a success…one that cost the lives of half the participating mystics, including all the senior members. Those left knew how the rings worked, knew how to search for appropriate wielders…but did not know how to create more ever again. They agreed that, in the end, that might be for the best. Such power shouldn't become commonplace. First Seven ChampionsWithin a year, all 7 Champions had been chosen, each for possessing just the right traits to effectively use these new rings. The champions were all grabbed from normal, non-military lives to become something, someone else. They were given 6 months to train themselves and train together, before it was demanded they take the fight to the Romans. So they trained and worked hard; each and every one of them went from “inexperienced” to “near expert” in that short time. They felt they were ready to take to the field of battle. So, in the summer of 50 BC, the Seven Champions of the Seven Rings launched an assault upon a nearby Roman garrison. It was a horrifically one-sided fight. For two years, it continued in the same manner. The Romans slowly threw more and more troops at the Champions, but they always seemed to be able to take whatever forces were thrown at them. Eventually, they were taking on a fair portion of a Roman Legion. But then, tragedy struck. The wielder of the Violet Ring was isolated during a fight, and a handful of Roman mages managed to kill said Champion. The ring was recovered, but the loss hurt the morale of the group. Over the next few fights, the Romans grew bolder, and it wasn't long before Indigo and Orange were dead as well. The rest fell to despair, deciding they'd simply discard their rings, bury them in save places, and slip back into mundane lives. All of them except the wielder of the Blue Ring. He declared he would go down fighting. He fulfilled that oath, and it was only through the timely work of the Yellow Ring-bearer that such a powerful weapon didn't fall into the hands of the Romans. All 7 Rings were gathered, and the mystics chose to hide them, entrusting a small number of their remaining members to act as watchmen, and look for a time when one or more of them might be needed by the land of Judea, and given to worthy successors. Champions Through the YearsAll of the rings have been wielded several times, by good men, by tyrants, and sometimes by people who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was something of a pattern to the appearances, though. Often, 3 or more rings would be found and used at times when war or other major events were looming, or when the common person needed an extra bit of hope. The waning days of the Roman Empire saw all but the Violet and Blue rings standing against the barbarian hordes, at least for a time. In the middle ages, the Yellow, Green, Orange, and Indigo rings found themselves on the hands of people caught up in the midst of all the wars raging across Europe. As the Industrial Revolution approached, all but the Yellow ring disappeared. That particular ring seemed to keep changing hands, often working from the shadows…until it vanished in the late 1700s. From then on, none of the rings were seen again. Until a teenage boy found one in an old fortress in the desert, and decided to make himself into a hero… The Rings Blue Ring of the Determined LeaderThe Blue Ring was built as the “centerpiece” of the set of 7. Not so much because it was the most powerful, but more because its versatility and the mental/emotional state it was connected to meant it was ideal for a team leader. The Blue Ring runs off of willpower, or as some might thing of it, determination. The wielder of the Blue Ring must always have a strong sense of what he's trying to accomplish, what he stands for, and so on. Unfortunately, in some wielders, this has led to great pride; not all determination is pure in nature. The Blue Ring is associated with Fire, and typically manifests most of its more overt powers as fire constructs. Its powers seem to vary according to the person using it, and sometimes on what actions may have pushed the Ring to its limits. Most of those who wore it found themselves physically enhanced, well-protected, and able to attack in a variety of ways. They almost always have at least some ability to create objects out of ethereal blue fire; however, unlike some of the other rings, these constructs never seem to last. They are most often used for temporary cover or other short-term tactical advantages. Red Ring of the Courageous WarriorThe Red Ring has always been the most…volatile…of the Seven Rings. It grants its bearer great physical might and prowess in battle, but more than any of the other ring, it can leave its user prone to the darker aspects of its nature. For in the heat of a large fight, it is not a large leap to go from “courage” to “battle-lust”, and from there to “wrath and rage”. It is not so much that the ring forces anger on anyone who uses it, as it is that they mind-state required to use it without descending into rage is like walking a narrow ledge. More than a few have fallen from the ledge, and as a result channel immense anger into the ring; anger that has left “echoes” upon it for future users to deal with… Of course, the reward is incredible power. More than any of the other rings, the Red Ring grants its Courageous Warrior unbelievable physical might, easily topping even that of the Blue Ring. There is a legend that the greatest wielder of the Warrior's Ring so far was able to briefly hold up a small hill from collapsing on his comrades-in-arms, allowing them to escape before he simplypunched his way free. And the ring grants endurance to match that mighty strength; more than a few tales speak of the Warrior shrugging off blows even from his fellow Champions. The Red Ring grants flight, but it isn't quite as fast as the rest of the rings; it's clear this artifact is meant for power in battle and little else. More than just power, the Red Ring grants the user power over blasts of lightning. Some of these blasts are straightforward, but some are more subtle, working to wear away the armor of a foe, or perhaps even weaken his very body. Still, the Red Ring gives no truly notable powers that apply outside of combat, beyond flight and the ability to move very large things. It's clear the Warrior was always intended to work in concert with others, as part of a team. Despite this, more than one user in history has adopted a “lone wolf” mentality. Yellow Ring of the Cunning IllusionistThe Yellow Ring was, in the first group of Champions, used by the most trusted friend of the Leader. After all, together they could devise tactics that put the light-based illusions in just the right spot, playing on the fears and expectations of the enemy to drive them into disarray. And there is the core method of the Yellow Ring: Use illusions and other such powers to confused and frighten the enemy, leaving them as easy pickings for the Illusionist or his comrades. Of course, the flip side of this is that some users of the Yellow Ring descended into sadism, reveling in the power over others the ring gave them. Such individuals enjoyed causing fear in one way or another to whoever they can. This was not the ring's true intention, however; in its conception, it was thought that frightened enemies might surrender and thus prevent a larger spread of bloodshed. The ring's powers center mostly around light; it can create large, complex illusions that one can barely tell from the real thing. It uses harsher blasts of light to attack foes, strobe patterns to confuse them, and even carefully-calibrated pulses that trigger the fear response in the brain of almost any foe. Beyond that, the ring gives the basic protection against the environment all the rings share, grants the ability to fly, and gives the user decent protection, though less than the Leader, and definitely less than the Warrior. It has other minor enhancements, but it's clear from the outside the Illusionist fights first and foremost with their mind, not their arms. Orange Ring of the Protective BuilderThe Builder's ring is, in the right hands, perhaps the most potent of all the rings. Not so much because of it's destructive potential, but because of its 'creative' potential. More than once, the Orange Ring has been used to raise a full fortress in the span of a day or less. Parts of Masada itself were actually earth carefully moved and packed together by the Builder's ring. Of course, those consumed by greed while wearing the ring created deep, dark places to hide their treasures; some of these secret vaults may yet be hidden across the world! For though the ring encourages protectiveness, for some, the years drag on and warp that instinct. After all, how better to protect something than to keep it to yourself? To hide it and store it and cherish it, so that no one else can despoil it even with a glance of their eyes! The greedy Builders have perhaps been the “least harmful” of the various fallen Champions; they tended to simply sit on their hoards and contemplate their possessions. When they fought, it was only to acquire more things, never for some baser desire to fight for its own sake. The powers of the Orange ring seem to center around earth. Rock and dirt, stone and sand, all seem to be connected to this ring. True to its name, it can call up these elements to build whatever the Champion who wields it desires. In battle, the Orange Ring can create permanent walls of stone, or temporary walls of thick, powerful energy constructs. Similar constructs are often used to attack foes, and the Orange Ring is famous for holding back large numbers of enemies on its own. Its protection to the user is decent, but like the Yellow ring, it does not lend itself to fighting up close. The Builder can fly, but no faster than the Warrior. However, the Orange Ring gives its user the ability to actually move about underground, all the better to know just where to created that perfect vault… Green Ring of the Hopeful FatemasterThe Fatemaster's Green Ring has been often sought by those wishing to increase their fortunes; however, they are rarely the ones to be gifted with its power. This ring is considered the most “temperamental”, and has been known to literally fly off the hand of an unworthy user. The great trap that many of its users have fallen into is that of carelessness, a capricious abandonment of any sense of duty or obligation for the sake of following the whims of fortune. For the name “Fortunemaster” is well-earned; the Green Ring was often the difference between victory or defeat, its powers turning an enemy's skill against itself. More than that, the Fortunemaster's allies have preternatural luck, striking blows that by all rights should miss wildly, or shaking off strikes that should put them down. When he attacks more directly, the Fatemaster's ring flings out a blast of concentrated air, which moves so fast and with such pressure it often cuts the opponent. Opponents trying to strike the wielder of the Green Ring find their blows sliding off a thin layer of “armor” made of air; however, this armor can be breached, and the Green Ring's protection is never as thorough as the Blue or Red Rings. When flying, the Fatemaster can outpace everyone else; they are truly at home in the air. Ultimately, this ring is meant to move around the battlefield, aiding where it can and moving on, rather than becoming engaged in any one battle for a length of time. Indigo Ring of the Empathic Mind-spyThe Ring of the Mind-Spy was created as yet another “support” ring; while it has some potent ability to attack, either directly or indirectly, its greatest strength is in its ability to gather and disseminate information. Though the Mind-spy works best in a group, this Champion can work well on their own. In a darker twist of its intention, an experienced user of this ring could set themselves up as a ruler, due to the depth of their mental powers. Such would be the slippery slope they may face if they adopt an “ends justify the means” attitude with their abilities. For when you know the innermost secrets of man, why would you leave their ruling to them? Its wielder can read minds, or simply extend their senses to cover huge areas. And then, in a short amount of time, they can turn around and send that information to their comrades. Add to it their ability to strike at an opponent's mind directly, and they're formidable indeed. Whether the ring-user attacks their mind and will directly, fires a concentrated bolt of mind-stuff, takes control of their mind, or simply overwhelms them with fear, despair, or even love, they are a foe not to be underestimated, nor an ally to be quickly abandoned. Violet Ring of the Loving HealerThe Healer's violet ring carries with it a sense of purity, renewal, and cleansing. Fitting due to its intrinsic connection with water. The Healer must care for others with deep and abiding love. They must also take care this love does not grow into obsession with others. The cleansing waters that flow from this ring wash away wounds, diseases, poisons, and all the sundry hurts and troubles of the body. By the same token, those waters can create barriers between the wounded and the enemy, and even strike back with deadly force; sometimes these attacks are like crashing waves, and sometimes they take the form of shards of ice seeking out an opponent. Another “trick” is for the Healer to summon water around an opponent, and flash-freeze it in an attempt to hinder their movements. On flying opponents, it may at least keep them from easily using limbs, if not ceasing their flight itself. The Healer's ring gives them passable flight speed, but they can move surprisingly well under water (though all rings let their users breath there). The protections of this ring run the standards of the others, with no outstanding features thereof. Author's Notes General NotesSo, these are basically my in-universe interpretation of, and homage to, the DC Lantern Corps. They're rings, they're color-coded (for your convenience!), they're potent, and they're connected to emotions and general “themes”. But, there are some key differences. For one thing, there are exactly 7 rings, not 7 whole Corps. Each of them is unique; in other words, if one of them is already “in play” in this forum's game, you'll have to talk with that player, but most likely go for some other origin for your powers (or pick another one of therings). Another difference is that these rings don't seek out a successor on their own. They won't work for just anyone, but they don't fly off and tell someone they've “been chosen”. Instead, they often simply lay where they've fallen, or perhaps are locked away by someone who can't wear it but is still trustworthy. Some are passed down each generation. Point is, this is a plot hook: One day, your character finds an ancient magical ring, and bam, hero! Also, all rings have the Magic Descriptor, and either the Holy or Unholy descriptor (depending on if it's a villain or not). On to specifics. Blue RingThis one is used by Cobalt Templar. Thematic element/descriptor is Fire. As stated above, it's a bit of a “Jack of All Trades”, and were another character to use this, they could reasonably end up with a different set of powers and focus than CT has. Still, the general idea of Flight, Protection, at least a Blast, and probably at least a little physical augmentation is good. I'd say at least a token amount of Create Object should be in there as well, if for no other reason than to justify this character always changing up how their attack looks, if not how it works. That's not to say a future user of the ring has to do so, though. Red RingThis ring is actually hidden away, given to Cobalt Templar by Ironclad a while back (she ran into an upstart villain using it). He's not actively looking for a user, mostly due to concerns about the “anger issues” it seems to generate. That's not to say the user of this ring should take the Rage feat; far from it. But I would heavily recommend anyone who decides to take this ring on take a Complication or two that has them be more easily angered, more willing to use force, etc. The unique Descriptor in play here is Lightning/Electricity. In my mind, a user of the Red Ring would get a Blast, and then a Drain Toughness of some sort (though that could come into play much later on). No Strike here, though, except maybe a Strike 0 with some Extras; all the melee damage comes from Strength. As well, this Ring is one of the most likely to leave lasting changes on a bearer; you could pretty easily justify some Enhanced Strength and Constitution here. Also, no Toughness here, just more Constitution. This guy ought to get Impervious Toughness at some point, though. Super-Strength is pretty much a given, and at least half again as much as the Blue Ring. Flight should be mediocre, as should any sensory abilities. Life Support is pretty given, and I could see justification for Immunity to Critical Hits. Basically, this guy is really good at taking down foes in combat. But on the flip side, his Super-Strength is the most “constructive” ability he has; he should never get Create Object. Yellow RingLocation and/or User unknown (aka I haven't thought them up yet, but it's Out there Somewhere). This Ring would (obviously) use the Illusion power. Probably Environment Control (Light). Flight that could match the Blue Ring generally speaking. Some Enhanced Strength, but no Super-Strength. No Create Object. Enhanced Dex would be thematic, and a bit of Enhanced Con. Protection, but definitely not Impervious. Emotion Control (Limited: Fear), and maybe at high level the ability to nullify the Fearless feat. A basic Ranged Damage, and maybe a Mighty Damage, but definitely not the direct attack focus of Red or Blue. Yellow is intended to sit further back, fool enemies with illusions, and basically do visual and mental “battlefield control”. Precision over Power. Complications should focus less on major personality alterations and more on occasional recharge, or a minor vulnerability to unholy damage. Unlike Sinestro Corps ringsthey don't use any measure of mind control or the like. Orange RingAlso in Cobalt Templar's possession, locked away in his forest hideout. He's also not actively looking for a user, because the last guy was totally crazy with a Capital C. And he's not sure it's what he's “supposed” to do. Power wise, it looks defensively like the Red Ring. Toughness-shifted, fair bit of Impervious. Plenty of Enhanced Con. While the Red Ring makes you an Engine of Destruction on the battlefield, the Orange Ring makes you a Mountain. Not only should the Bearer be tough, they make tough Constructs. Plenty of Create Object here, but no Precise (except maybe near your “capstone”), and probably the primary iteration has no Tether or Moveable; you make big, simple rock walls. This character would play somewhat like Gaian Knight; making rocks, Move Object for rocks, Tunneling, and a slow Flight (but with Platform). Blast is you tossing around chunks of rock. No Strike; if you want Melee just get Enhanced Strength. Complications would include a long-term tendency to get possessive of objects, or even greedy. This ring has less immediate risks than the Red, but not by a long margin. If a character has iron focus and will, though (not the feat, just the character trait), it shouldn't be a large issue; mostly just an occasional “oh that's shiny I'd like it!” sort of thing. Green RingLocation and/or User unknown (aka I haven't thought them up yet, but it's Out there Somewhere). Somewhat like the Yellow Ring, this one is about Precision over Power. So no Impervious or Super Strength, but basic self-buffs are fine. Should be a fast flyer, but not be good at Space Travel; you're about Air not Space. Green is about being a “buffer”; one of the big things in this Ring should be Luck Control, and the “opening salvo” should be things that let your team-mates re-roll. Feats like Leadership and Inspire could/should be tacked inside this thing. As should ranks of luck. The Air Control should be a Ranged Damage, maybe an Area Damage, and perhaps some severely-limited Move Object (limited direction: forward or away). Later on getting anti-enemy Luck Control would be prudent. This Ring is all about changing the odds as much and as often as possible. Complications might revolve around difficulty staying focused on objectives, or developing high-grade apathy. The winds do not like to be bound, after all. Indigo RingLocation and/or User unknown (aka I haven't thought them up yet, but it's Out there Somewhere). Really only the Blue, Red, and Orange Rings are “powerhouses”. All the others should lack Super-Strength or Impervious Toughness. This ring makes you psychic, essentially. Mind Reading, Mental Communication, Mind Control, Emotion Control, and Mental Blasts are the name of the game here. I would say average Flight, putting it above Orange or Red or Violet, and even with Yellow, but not as fast as Blue or Green. Also some ESP would not be amiss. Complications would involve, essentially, doing things “for their own good”, with a bit of “ends justify the means”. Violet RingLocation and/or User unknown (aka I haven't thought them up yet, but it's Out there Somewhere). Finally, the Healer Ring. This one, along with Yellow and Green, is more of a “support” role. While those 2 are “debuff” and “buff”, this one is Heal. So, obviously, no Super-Strength or Impervious Toughness. Enhanced Con definitely fits. A Healing power or powers are rather obviously in tune. Beyond that, some Move Object limited to Water, and a Ranged Damage that's fluffed as water or Ice being thrown around. Possibly a little Create Object limited to water constructs (pull moisture from the air). Complications might include issues with becoming obsessed with people (which could sort of overlap with how protectiveness could go bad, but not entirely). This ring provides exactly as much clothing for user as the others, and if anyone ever tries to use this ring for stripperific outfits I will beat you with the Empire State Building.

Earth Z-Omega-1(extinct)Earth Z-Omega-1(extinct) is the designation of a cataloged but unexplored close-offshoot reality to Earth Prime. First contact was made on October 2, 2008, when Dr. Alexander Atom of Earth Z-Omega-1(extinct) made contact with his Earth Prime counterpart by means of an experimental interdimensional communications array. During the course of the contact, Dr. Atom (Prime) was able to elicit information about the alternate universe from his counterpart, as well as arrange for the refugee transfer of one survivor from the series of disasters that rendered the world uninhabitable. The designation, which uses Freedom League Standard Notation, indicates the planet's status: Earth: This universe is a parallel Earth world and English is or was a dominant language.Z: This universe is hostile, unexplored, and uninhabitable. No further in-person research is planned.Omega: This universe is suspected to have fallen under the influence of the Terminus.1: This is the first universe of its kind discovered.Extinct: This parallel Earth once harbored a Primelike population, but the entire population has since been wiped out. History of EZO1(e)It is difficult to pin down the first point of divergence between EZO1 and Prime, but the most likely point for major divergence occurred in the fall of 2006. What on Earth Prime was a largely overestimated outbreak of avian flu strain H5N1 through the fall and winter of 2006, on EZ01 mutated into a previously unseen and far more deadly strain of virulent influenza, dubbed “the hero flu.” The new strain was transmittable through most known vectors, and carried an extraordinarily high morbidity and mortality rate. Like H5N1, it began in Southeast Asia, but spread quickly through the entire world, often with no identifiable point of contagion. Investigation into the outbreak pattern of the disease was hampered greatly by the speed at which carriers succumbed and the rapid degradation of conditions in major universities and laboratories around the world. Researchers estimated that up to one in three human beings would die of the new strain of flu by the end of 2007 if the virus could not be contained. Unlike many strains of influenza, the young and healthy showed no more resistance to the hero flu than the infirm. Reports indicated that in fact metahumans with clearly superior immune systems were still vulnerable, and often succumbed even faster than unaugmented humans to the disease, hence the colloquial name. By March of 2007, according to survivor testimony, martial law was declared in major U.S. cities and government infrastructure began shutting down. In desperation, the CDC and WHO, in close cooperation with the Freedom League and UNISON released an experimental vaccine. No vaccine had been created that could stop the virus, instead, the vaccine was designed to augment the bodies of victims so that they could withstand the ravages of the flu long enough for its relatively brief latency to pass. In initial tests, the vaccine appeared successful, with victims recovering in controlled conditions. The vaccine entered mass emergency production worldwide, in an unprecedented effort at 100% worldwide vaccination, assisted by nearly every surviving superintellect of every affiliation. Simultaneous vaccine programs began around the world on 18 April, 2008, reaching over seven hundred fifty million people in the fourteen days following its deployment, in an effort that spanned all continents and known people groups. Initial responses to the vaccine were highly favorable, with an immediate and dramatic lowering of the death toll from the hero flu. In fact, there were no reported casualties from flu among the vaccinated population, even among those who had already been gravely ill. Some rioting was reported outside vaccination centers as families camped in lines for days to wait for doses to become available. After the fifth day of the vaccination program, irregularities were reported among the vaccinated population, brain dead patients who still exhibited substantial motor function, patients whose bodies combated the flu symptoms at the expense of higher mental functions, even several reported cases of vaccinated persons who did not contract the flu activating the vaccine's response through other, lesser calls on the immune system. Affected persons were quarantined, but the immunization program continued for another seven to nine days. On 1 May, 2007, the WHO called for an immediate halt to all vaccination programs, and for the destruction of any remaining stores of vaccine. Continued observation of vaccinated persons had proved conclusively that the vaccine was extraordinarily destructive to higher brain function, in essence preserving the body by destroying the mind. Victims of the vaccine's ill effects became zombielike, extremely strong and resilient, able to survive conditions that would normally cause death, but with no observable higher functions. They existed, in essence, merely for the sake of continued existence. They were also observed to be extremely hostile to human life, reacting with violence when faced with unaffected human beings. Despite these reports, the continued spread of the hero flu led many people to seek the vaccine anyway. Eyewitness reports of the time indicate that few vaccines were destroyed, and that most were sold on the black market before the full effects of the drugs became known. Quarantine areas for the so-called “zombies” were quickly erected, but seem to have had little effect. The vaccination program had focused heavily on health care workers, public servants, and the armed forces in many countries, leaving those individuals who were the most necessary for successful quarantine the most likely to require it themselves. Quarantine procedures rapidly broke down, and violence became widespread throughout major cities as the vaccine's victims spread out and began killing those who had not been affected. With the decline of military and police power, governmental infrastructure around the world began to collapse, along with transportation and communication. On 13 May, 2007, the Office of the President of the United States released a final press release asking for citizens to remain calm and stay in their homes if at all possible, and promising that a new vaccine would be forthcoming soon. After this point, it becomes impossible to frame a coherent timeline of world events, due to the breakdown in global communications and a lack of survivor knowledge. The lone human refugee to arrive on Earth Prime was debriefed, but due to isolation and tender years could not place dates on any events after May of 2007, but states she did not encounter any survivors after that month until the early summer of 2008, when she found a single pocket of perhaps two dozen survivors. Projections conducted by Dr. Atom EZO1 suggest the survival of perhaps as little as five thousand human survivors worldwide, probably in pockets of no more than thirty or forty individuals. The disposition of this world's nonhuman and potentially immune superheroes and supervillains could not be ascertained, but Dr. Atom theorizes that many of them left when it became obvious that there was nothing left to save. Current StatusThis universe is currently under strict quarantine by the Freedom League, and is not slated for any further investigation or development. All information regarding this world's existence and its history are classified. The one refugee survivor, an adolescent metahuman, was thoroughly decontaminated and debriefed, and has been assisted into a new life on Earth Prime. No sample of the pathogen which caused the hero flu was discovered on the refugee or in the air sample that arrived with her, but the continued presence of the flu in that timeline has not been ruled out. Experimentation to discover the nature of the pathogen and possible treatment has been vetoed as excessively risky, given the conditions on the world and the known deadliness of the viral strain. Dissemination of information regarding this timeline is unlikely to contribute to scientific discourse, and has been deemed very likely to contribute to public unease on Earth Prime, and so shall remain classified indefinitely. Dr. Atom EZO1 ceased communication with Earth Prime on 3 December, 2008, after conveying what information he had and ascertaining that the refugee he delivered was healthy and being cared for. His last message was an expression of remorse for his work on the vaccine project, along with a quote from John Donne. Before the cessation of contact, Atom provided his theory as to the divergence. He theorized that the hero flu was not a naturally occurring pathogenic strain, but had been introduced by an outside force looking to diminish or destroy humanity. In a communication on 28 November, 2008, Atom indicated that ships of unknown configuration were approaching Earth, but remained outside satellite communication range. Dr. Atom Prime and the Earth Prime Freedom League suspected at the time that the events on EZO1 may be directly related to the activities of Omega and the Terminus. In the spring of 2011, the members of Claremont Academy's superteam Young Freedom returned from an interdimensional mission that included a stay on EZO1(e). They reported that the world had been overrun by Omegadrones in the intervening three years and had become an outpost for Physician Friendly, who admitted to engineering the hero flu. The heroes reported that they destroyed the majority of the Terminus presence on the world, in part by sealing its Freedom City into the Zero Zone with the help of veteran hero Rick Lucas. It is unknown whether further travel to EZO1(e) would be possible now by any means, but as the world remains under strict interdiction, no investigation is planned. Related WorldsIn 2010, the Young Freedom superteam, again on an interdimensional mission, encountered a dimensional doppelganger of the superheroine Wander on Earth V-Malign-1(enemy), commonly known as Anti-Earth. This doppelganger, codenamed Singularity, was found to be from a closed-loop dimensional offshoot of EZO1(e) that probably existed for only a few hours. This offshoot timeline was designated Earth-Z-Omega-2(extinct).

Freedom City Everything TimelineThis is a master timeline for Freedom City History. Important city events should be listed here, as well as important events in the lives of its heroes and hero times. Events do not need to be of worldwide or citywide significance to be listed here. If the event took place within a thread, please provide a link to the thread as well. If the event is a major one with significant impact on the city, please also add it to Freedom City Big Events Timeline. 1630: Freedom City (called Freedom) is founded by Puritan colonists1694: Freedom Witch Trials, led by Elijah Prophet1779: British are driven out of Freedom by Col. Maj. Joseph Clark and the colonial army1789: Freedom and its surrounding communities incorporate as Freedom City1825: Freedom City University founded, Freedom City Ledger enters print1890: Jack-a-Knives terrorizes Freedom City, is never caught1918: The Centurion’s lifepod descends from space and lands in Freedom City1930: “Mystery Men” begin patrolling Freedom City and stopping crime, examples include Doc Prophet, The Bluesman and John Danger.1938: The Centurion makes his first public superheroic appearance, other superheroes begin to appear, including Midnight, Johnny Rocket, Bowman, and Freedom Eagle.1941: Lady Liberty makes her first public superheroic appearance since the Revolutionary War, Siren makes first appearance, Dr. Tomorrow appears one day after Pearl Harbor1942: The Liberty League is founded by executive order of President Roosevelt, made up of American superheroes and led by Dr. Tomorrow. Its HQ is located in Freedom City1943: The Crime League is founded by supervillains active in Freedom City1945-46: The Allies of Freedom, a superteam fighting in Europe while the Freedom League fights at home, is destroyed to the last man by Nazi supervillains. Casualties include La Reynard Rogue, Human Tank and Gunner, Sergeant Shrapnel, and White Rose and White Thorn.1945: World War II ends, Dr. Tomorrow returns to the future, Freedom Eagle takes charge of the Liberty League1947: First Earth contact with the Grue Unity, in the form of a crashed spaceship1950: A Grue scouting team arrives on Earth, sowing distrust between the Liberty League and the government. Eventual hero Pseudo is part of this group.1955: Senator McCarthy and the HUAC call the Liberty League to testify about possible links with communism and demand they unmask and reveal their identities. Rather than comply, the League disbands, with most of its members retiring. Midnight fights one last battle with King Cole before going underground.1960: Hades invades Freedom City with an army of dead, is repelled by heroes includingCenturion, Daedelus, Lady Liberty and The Raven. These heroes join together to form the Freedom League.1961: Dr. Alexander Atom purchases the Goodman Building in Freedom City and moves in with his family.1962: The US Government forms AEGIS to deal with superhuman threats and policing. Jack Simmons, the former Patriot of the Liberty League, is the first director.1964: Blackstone Penitentiary opens, under the aegis of AEGIS.1965: Omega and the Terminus attempt to invade Freedom City, they are repelled by the Freedom League and the Atom Family1969: A second Grue scouting party arrive on Earth and impersonate the Freedom League, once again shaking public confidence in superheroes.1972: Duncan Summers, The Raven, is gravely injured while fighting Dr. Sin. He retires and marries Dr. Sin’s daughter, Jasmine. Lady Liberty retires after her powers fade.1973: Dracula comes to Freedom City, causing much public unease. Construction begins on Pyramid Plaza1975: Super-group 1-800-JUSTICE forms, with members Jump, Jive and Wail. Super-inventor Daedelus departs Earth to explore the galaxy.1976: Pyramid Plaza is completed1977: Jack-a-Knives returns for another murder spree in Freedom City1979: Supeheroes Brainstorm and Scarab are killed while fighting to save the Freedom League from the Scions of Sobek, leading to a period of League instability1980: Ethan Keller, sidekick to disgraced alcoholic Bowman Fletcher Beaumont II, adopts the codename Archer and begins fighting crime with lethal force in Freedom City.1981: Freedom League members Halogen and Tectonic are killed while fighting Crimson Katana and the Katanarchists. The Centurion elects to disband the Freedom League due to their many recent losses. Heroes Evening and Eye of Justice are made honorary police officers and deputized by the police department, an appointment revoked by the passing of the Moore Act1983: A riot at Blackstone Prison leaves more than 40 dead and several supervillains on the loose. Administrative error and outside agitation are found to be the main cause of the disaster, but public condemnation falls on superheroes for failing to stop the chaos faster.1984: Franklin Moore is elected mayor of Freedom City on a platform of zero tolerance for costumed vigilantes. Superheroes are outlawed by the Moore Act and most leave town.1985: Outlaw superhero Archer creates the superteam FORCE Ops, an illegally-operating vigilante team of young heroes who are ruthless in their defense of Freedom City1989: Freedom City celebrates its bicentennial1992: Michael O’Connor Jr (son of Freedom Eagle) is elected mayor on a platform of rolling back Moore’s unpopular policies, including the ban on superheroes.1993: Omega and the armies of the Terminus invade Freedom City on a scale never before seen. A massive alliance of metahumans fight together in Freedom City and repel the attack, but at a steep cost: many superheroes including the Centurion and nearly all of FORCE Ops are dead, and the downtown is all but destroyed. Dr. Metropolis rises literally from the rubble and begins rebuilding the city, while Mayor O’Connor repeals the Moore Act and welcomes the heroes home. A dying Dr. Atom transfers his consciousness to a computer so as to continue to care for his now-orphaned grandchildren.1994: The Freedom League is reestablished in Freedom City, the Sentry Statue is unveiled in Riverside Park.2000: Mass breakout from Blackstone Prison, heroes spend six months recapturing all the prisoners. Mayor O’Connor begins third term, Jack Simmons, director of AEGIS, dies and uploads his consciousness to an android body.2001: Freedom Hall is destroyed by supervillains and rebuilt. Duncan Summers opens Claremont Academy for super teenagers.2005: The Lighthouse is built as a space headquarters for the now world-focused Freedom League. Freedom Hall remains its local HQ in Freedom City.

Graduation Day “Graduation Day” is a dimension-traveling plot arc that took place in early summer of 2011. As the senior students of Young Freedom prepare to graduate from Claremont Academy, the detonation of reality-destroying bombs across several universes threatens to drag the entire multiverse into the Terminus. Saved by a timely warning, Young Freedom travels across dimensions and through time to find and disarm the bombs, a journey that culminates in a showdown with Omega on a world already destroyed by the Terminus. (For the members of Young Freedom, the events of Graduation Day spread over several days and nights, but thanks to the exigencies of time travel, the entire arc took place on the morning of June 1, 2011 in the Prime timeline.) Characters Player Characters Corbin Hughes (Cobalt Templar) Trevor Hunter (Midnight II) Mark Lucas (Edge) Eve Martel (Sage) Erin White (Wander) Notable NPCs Travis Hunter (Midnight I) Rick Lucas Martha Lucas Oliver Quo-Dis (Ultiteen) Dr. Verrill H. Archeville Radio Freedom (Nightlife, Cobalt Ranger, Wonder, Edge, Sage, DJ Breakdown) Young Freedom 2035 (Lucky Strike, Psilent, Vril Knight, Amaryllis, Fusion II) Red Falcon Redbird Physician Friendly Faith Martel (Seraph) Plot Noise of Thunder It is the morning of June 1, graduation day for the Class of 2011 at Claremont Academy. In the dorm, Young Freedom teammates Mark and Erin share a moment of commiseration over not having family coming to watch them graduate, since Erin's family is dead and Mark's parents have been absent from Earth Prime for many months. Down on the lawn, Corbin flirts with his girlfriend Quo-Dis as the two help set up chairs for the ceremony. Trevor drives his grandfather Travis Hunter to the school, where he meets up with Eve, who has just regained her ability to speak after her traumatic empowering. Travis knew Eve's grandmother, herself a superhero, and the two become acquainted while the rest of Young Freedom gradually gathers together. The seniors discuss their future plans and Corbin presents everyone with framed prints of a drawing he made of the team. Suddenly, Martha Lucas appears from thin air and warns the team that they must be ready immediately or it will be too late. As the sky darkens and the earth trembles, Young Freedom prepares for action, but before they can do anything, the world is awash in a curtain of black flame. Edge tosses up a reality forcefield around the team, leaving them to watch helplessly as the world, then the universe, then all the universes are devoured by the fires of the Terminus. Worn-Out Places After a brief period of unconsciousness, the team wakes up in what appears to be the Lucas house, though it has been turned on its side and they are all laying on one wall of Martha's studio. The members of Young Freedom who participated in the last round of Lucas Family hijinks (House of L) are very angry with Martha and Rick Lucas, who apparently saw this coming and did not intervene soon enough. Corbin is agonized over the loss of Quo-Dis, who was supervising evacuations and out of range of the forcefield, while Eve tries to cope with the sudden psychic shock of a thousand billion deaths. Travis Hunter, who was caught up along with the teenagers, takes a moment to regret how far Rick Lucas has fallen from his father's legacy. When Erin puts a fist through the wall in frustration, they realize that outside the house is nothing but empty void. Rick absorbs the anger and frustration directed at him, but insists that it is not too late, that he has a plan by which the multiverse can still be saved. With the help of a friend, he has isolated the four universes where reality bombs were placed, and can send Young Freedom back through time and out through space to disarm them. These universes are all linchpins in their own way, and if even one bomb detonates, the results could be catastrophic. With further questioning, Rick's “friend” reveals himself: it is Erin's pet cat Oliver. Although before this point only Eve knew of Oliver's great intelligence, it quickly becomes obvious that he is the brains of the operation. He quickly explains what the team must do and where they must go, but there isn't much time for explanations. The agents of the Terminus are seeking out residual pockets of reality like the one they are in now. If that pocket is snuffed out, all hope will be lost. The four worlds the team must save are: Earth-J-Nazi-1: Commonly known as Erde, a timeline where the Nazis won World War II and the United States is an occupied and subjugated nation. Several members of Young Freedom visited Erde in 2009 on a school trip. Earth-M-Lucas-1: An alternate dimension created by Rick Lucas to allow him to fix all the problems he perceived in the world. This timeline briefly supplanted Earth Prime in summer of 2010 before being undone, but not before it had taken root in the multiversal structure. Earth-C-Future-2 A timeline where the linear passage of time is accelerated, whereby people who are teenagers or young adults on Earth Prime are substantially older in this universe. Earth-Z-Omega-1 A near-Prime timeline that was destroyed in 2007 by a virus released by Physician Friendly and the forces of the Terminus. Wander's home timeline. Travis Hunter elects to stay in the reality bubble with Oliver and the Lucases to avoid slowing Young Freedom down. With a wave of his hand, Rick Lucas sends the team to save the multiverse. The End of the Beginning Young Freedom arrives on Erde at night, in the ruins of a North Bay home belonging to a Jewish couple who are neighbors to the Hunter family. Midnight recognizes where they are, as well as the fact that these ruins seem to be only a few years old, rather than relics of a decades-old attack. Outside, they see the Hunter Estate being surrounded by Nazi tanks and helicopters. It is clear that this is Midnight I's last stand against the invading forces, and despite their urgent mission, the team can't just stand by and do nothing. They go into action and defeat the first wave of Nazis to buy Midnight I some time. During the attack, Midnight II displays a brand-new power by turning into smoke and vanishing midair, much to Wander's chagrin. After the fight, Sage probes one of the captured soldiers for information on the reality bomb, then, with a somewhat dubious invitation from Midnight I, everyone enters Midnight Manor through the wall-clock door in the Hunter Estate. The Erde 1953 version of Midnight Manor is much different from its Prime counterpart, lined with Grue armor plating and bristling with weaponry, it is part bunker for Midnight and part reliquary for the dozens of dead heroes whose effects and photographs are saved here. Midnight is the last of the American heroes, and it appears that his time is running out quickly. He reveals that Rick Lucas told him they were on their way, and offers to lead them to Von Braun Island, where the reality bomb is being kept and studied by the Nazis. Midnight II takes him up on the offer, and the team promises to cause plenty of collateral damage to the Nazis, even though they cannot stay long enough to help more. They travel through Freedom City in the Night Cruiser, passing through checkpoints with the aid of false papers and Midnight I's knowledge of German. When they reach Von Braun Island, he drops the team off and goes to create a diversion while they sneak inside. No sooner does Young Freedom penetrate the building than they are confronted by Doktor Verrill Herman Archeville, Nazi superscientist and, on Earth Prime, grandfather to Doktor Victor Archeville. He sets four Nazi supervillains on them, Red Eagle, Madame Blitz, The Owl and Sea-Wolf, obviously expecting them to be an insurmountable challenge to the mostly unpowered American resistance. The Nazis are totally unprepared for the force they are confronted with, and in moments the four villains are neutralized and Wander is squeezing information about the bomb out of Archeville. Archeville implies that he knows at least something about the forces in play, and that he considers himself to be on the side of the Terminus. He is rewarded with a bat to the head as Midnight and Edge disarm the bomb while the others keep watch. They extract a cosmic rod from the bomb and tuck it aside in case it could be useful later. Just as the bomb is disarmed, The Owl attempts another attack on Young Freedom, but is dispatched from behind by Midnight I. Wander gives him Archeville to use as a hostage to secure his escape, while Cobalt Templar tells him the location of a power ring he knows about that could help the resistance. Even as Rick Lucas' teleportation effect kicks in, the Nazis enter with guns blazing and Midnight I retreats to the shadows. Familiar Faces Young Freedom materializes on a sunny afternoon in what appears to be the mid 1970s. It quickly becomes apparent, though, that the year is 2011, and this is Earth-M-Lucas-1. The team is mistaken by a police officer for a team of local troublemakers known as Counter-Freedom, and are soon confronted by their in-universe counterparts. The white-bread Young Freedom of their last visit has been updated to a funkadelic collection of disco-themed heroes who now call themselves Radio Freedom. Though several of the codenames have changed (Wonder for Wander, Nightlife for Midnight, Cobalt Ranger for Cobalt Templar), the only change in the roster between universes is the retention of “DJ Breakdown,” where on Prime that notable had been ejected from the team in 2010. After a bit of initial friction, Radio Freedom agrees to help their counterparts locate and disarm the bomb planted in their reality. As they head to Claremont to regroup, the universal counterparts compare life stories. From Claremont, the united teams go to ASTRO Labs, where DJ Breakdown is a junior staff member, having failed to make it big in music. The reality bomb was discovered and brought here for study, theoretically putting it in an ideal position for disarmament. The moment they begin, however, DJ Breakdown begins playing his guitar, ensnaring his own teammates in a mind control effect. He reveals that he is aware of the origin of his timeline in the madness of one rogue hero, and declares his intention to allow the Terminus to destroy this world in the hopes that he will be handed another by his new master, Omega. Under his control, the members of Radio Freedom begin to attack Young Freedom. The battle is joined, and it seems that the members of Radio Freedom, although mind-controlled, are fighting as best they can not to attack. In a moment of ironic justice, Sage picks up a luxury car and smashes it into DJ Breakdown, echoing the attack that got Breakdown of Earth Prime thrown off Young Freedom. Midnight uses a device to nullify the sound in the air around DJ Breakdown, snapping his mind control and releasing Radio Freedom from thrall. The combined efforts of Cobalt Templar, Edge and Wander put DJ Breakdown down for the count. With the fight over, Radio Freedom imprisons their former comrade while Midnight disarms the second bomb. The EML1 team is clearly rattled by the defection, but offer their thanks to Young Freedom for stepping in to save the day. Since Rick Lucas' teleport is not immediately forthcoming, both teams return to Claremont for food and rest. Wander replaces her damaged uniform with an unfortunately disco-fied version, then she and Midnight spend a quiet evening together, knowing that soon they'll be traveling to her dead homeworld. Cobalt Templar and Cobalt Ranger talk about Quo-Dis, Templar giving his counterpart dating advice to help him work up the nerve to ask her out. The two Sages continue a discussion from earlier about costumes and attitudes, coming to a cautious agreement, if not real friendship. Edge, left to his own devices, goes to bed and wakes up to find Rick Lucas sitting by his bed. Rick tells his son how proud he is, then passes Mark a mysterious artifact for safekeeping before teleporting the group to the next world. Leaves From the Vine The team materializes once again on a sunny day in Freedom City, this time in the year 2035. Not much seems different until they begin to notice memorial banners marked with the date “6/21/34” and the motto “Never Forget.” Closer inspection reveals that while the buildings in downtown Freedom City are beautiful and adorned with the mark of a futuristic technology, they are almost all badly damaged and under repair. Before they can investigate, Young Freedom is confronted by a native super team, this one composed mostly of familiar-looking strangers. Cobalt Templar recognizes one young woman as his future daughter, Jessica (Vril Knight) who he met on a previous trip to his own future. This futuristic Young Freedom is led by a young powerhouse named Lucky Strike, who introduces her teammates Vril Knight, Amaryllis, Fusion and Midnight. The new Midnight appears uncomfortable at the introduction and requests to be called Psilent “while he's here.” Lucky Strike explains that they have been briefed about the Prime team's mission and are ready to help. Wander, one of the few Claremont students to be fully privy to the history of the time-displaced student Zephyr, notices similarities in that story to this reality, and asks if any of them knew her. It comes out that this is likely Zoe Harris' home timeline, and the disaster the city is recovering from is the same one that she raced into the past trying to prevent. Lucky Strike reveals that she was briefed by her grandfather, Rick Lucas, which causes Mark a moment of consternation. Midnight and Sage, trained observers both, begin to realize that Lucky Strike is the child of this universe's Mark Lucas and Erin White, while Psilent is almost surely the result of a genetic union between Trevor Hunter and Eve Martel. Amaryllis is a known quantity, already born and named on Prime, with Fusion almost certainly the legacy of her superheroing mother. There's not much time to consider any of that, though, since the third reality bomb is already being held in containment at Freedom Hall, waiting for disarmament. The two teams travel there via teleport beacon, arriving in a Freedom Hall rotunda that has been painted with a memorial to the heroes who died in the 2034 attack. Of the original two iterations of Young Freedom, Wander and Edge were the only survivors. Despite the quick action of the united Young Freedom teams, they reach the underground bunker just in time to see the reality bomb being stolen by a group of T-Baby nationalists called The Wolfpack. The Young Freedom of 2035 have dealt with this group before and with Midnight's help are able to track them to their headquarters on an unfinished nuclear fusion reactor situated on an artificial island. The teams teleport there, into the middle of an evacuation scene. The fusion reactor is about to collapse and release waves of deadly radiation if no one stops it. The Wolfpack confronts the massed Young Freedom teams, only to immediately surrender and beg for help in saving their own lives. They tell the team that they'd been deceived by their leader into believing that the reality bomb was a weapon intended to wipe out all T-Babies, and had stolen it in self-defense. The moment they had the bomb in hand, they'd realized it was a creation of pure Terminus energy itself, at which point their leader had blasted one member of the Wolfpack into the fusion reactor and teleported away. Not only did that blast destabilize the fusion core, it made a huge monster out of the hapless Wolfpack technician, who is now attempting to destroy everything in sight. With so many concurrent threats, the two Young Freedoms split up into groups. While much of the New Young Freedom handles the evacuation, Psilent accompanies Midnight and Sage to deal with the reactor while Edge, Wander, Lucky Strike, Cobalt Templar and Vril Knight all team up to fight the altered T-Baby. With the T-Baby subdued, Lucky Strike takes a moment to warn her parents not to get together, because things did not work out well for them in her dimension. She is cagey, but Mark hears enough to realize he wouldn't like himself in this universe. Vril Knight, on the other hand, assures Cobalt Templar that things between him and Quo-Dis in this world were good, and he shouldn't be afraid. Meanwhile, in the reactor core, Sage uses her telekinetic abilities to stabilize the reactor, exhausting work even for someone who hasn't spent several days fighting her way from dimension to dimension. With the reactor stabilized, Midnight disarms the third bomb, ending the threat to this universe. There is just time for a brief goodbye in which Midnight and Sage comfort and encourage their orphaned future offspring before Rick Lucas' teleportation effect kicks in. Young Freedom is swept away once more, this time coming out in the path of danger as the Space Needle threatens to collapse directly on top of them! The Earth Died Screaming As the Space Needle collapses, the members of Young Freedom scatter, using reflexes, powers or luck to avoid serious damage from falling debris. When the dust settles, they find themselves on Earth-Z-Omega-1, just a few days before the start of their journey. This time, instead of being deposited in Freedom City, they are in Erin's hometown, Seattle. This world is not as dead as it once was, for the team can see a fight playing out in the sky high above them. One figure seems to prevail, but then crashes to Earth as well, very near Young Freedom. They race to the scene to find a grievously injured Furion and his sentient hovercycle, wounded and exhausted after fighting Omegadrones over Seattle. Midnight is able to stabilize the Furion, who identifies himself as Red Falcon, and his cycle companion as Redbird. He tells the team that Omega has co-opted all of the East Coast, including Freedom City, and to even approach will be to court grave danger. For the moment, though, none of them are in any condition to fight, exhausted, bruised and dispirited. Redbird is also in need of substantial repairs from an expert mechanic. Wander warns everyone not to enter any of the nearby buildings, then takes off for parts unknown, promising to return shortly. Midnight is needed to repair Redbird's systems, but is able to transfer his knowledge into Sage to let her take over repairs while he follows Wander with help from Edge's teleportation. Erin and Trevor wind up at Erin's home, which is desolate and weatherbeaten after years of complete neglect. Erin, who has not seen her home since the beginning of the outbreak that destroyed her world, is looking for clues to her father's fate. Trevor investigates and realizes that Roger White did not die of the flu, but instead committed suicide after sending his family to safety. Erin, while still grieving, is relieved to know that at least he did not suffer as she'd feared. She collects several mementos from her home and puts them in a bag, then she and Trevor go to find camping supplies before returning to the group. With Redbird repaired, the team makes camp and settles in for the night. Redbird tests various people and decides that Midnight has the appropriate fast-twitch muscle reflexes to adequately pilot the Furion technology if necessary. Everyone beds down except Wander, who stands watch until the next morning when they wake and plan a strategy to travel underwater to approach Freedom City unseen while Sage provides psychic jamming and Midnight obscures electronic detectors. Redbird is large enough to hold all of them at once, leaving only the question of how to destroy enough of Freedom City to disrupt EZO1's link to the Terminus. Edge claims that he can and will destroy the entire city with his powers once the last bomb is disarmed. That settled, they depart. There Won't Be A Next Time Red Falcon and Redbird carry Young Freedom all the way to the edge of Freedom City, traveling by water or under psychic cover. Once airborne over the city, they see that it has been totally overcome and altered by the Terminus to the point of being unrecognizable. Freedom Hall, where the bomb is located, is surrounded by thousands of Omegadrones. Wander leaps straight into the middle of the pack and begins fighting, while the others fight from the air. In moments, a path is cleared into the building. Young Freedom runs in, while Red Falcon and Redbird stay behind to keep up the fight. Inside, they find a laboratory set up by Physician Friendly, the creator of the virus that destroyed EZO1 in the first place. He appears to have been unprepared for Young Freedom's speed and is flat-footed and alone. As Cobalt Templar investigates the contents of several large caskets around the room and Midnight approaches the reality bomb, Wander drives her broken bat through the sadistic physician's skull, killing him instantly. The caskets he'd probably planned on opening contain zombified versions of someone important to each member of the team: Quo-Dis, Martha Lucas, Faith Martel, Travis Hunter, and a zombified version of Trevor as well. Though the members of Young Freedom are appalled and disturbed by the scene, that does not stop them from quickly taking on the zombies. Cobalt Templar is especially affected by the sight of his zombified love, but he proves his mettle by recovering and using his powers to heal a badly injured Sage. The team destroys all the zombies, then finds Red Falcon and Redbird still alive, though in need of healing as well. With all the reality bombs disarmed and the apparently ranking Annihilist executed, Young Freedom's work seems to be done. They leave Freedom Hall with the nagging sense that despite the grueling battles of the past three days, it was all just a bit too easy. Even as Midnight warns the others of a trap, the air is suddenly black and red with Omegadrones as the Lord of the Terminus himself descends in front of them and demands to have words with them. Behind him, the air seems to rip apart as the Doom Coil begins to form, eating away at the world around them as it twists and grows. With no other options, Young Freedom falls back on the tried-and-true strategy of refuge in audacity. Without so much as a pause, Wander leaps in to attack Omega, leaving herself vulnerable by devoting all her strength to landing a bare-knuckled blow on his armor. She hits directly in the glowing center of his armor, driving him back a single step as the massed Omegadrones rain fire and energy bolts down on her. Even with all her power and training, it's obvious she can do nothing without the joint efforts of Young Freedom. Edge steps forward, calling out encouragement to his friends while Cobalt Templar uses his ring to create a perfect sword made of pure energy and passes it to Wander. Midnight blankets the drones in mist to keep them from seeing or aiming, then begins assembling a device of his own invention. It all seems to be for naught as Omega blasts a defenseless Wander with a bolt of pure entropy… until the acrobatic Sage intervenes, drawing the power-seeking bolt into pursuing her instead, even though it will surely be fatal when it hits her. As Young Freedom faces off with Omega, Red Falcon slips the sphere containing Redbird's mechanical consciousness out of the bike and passes it to Edge. Shouting defiance in the best tradition of the Furions, he then rides the bike straight into the fires of the Doom Coil as it forms, disrupting it and buying time for the others to continue their fight. With sword in hand, Wander leaps for the Lord of the Terminus, stabbing so deeply into his armor that it begins to disintegrate around him while he screams for his followers to kill her. Cobalt Templar joins Wander in the attack, using his own sword to batter at Omega while Edge scours Omegadrones from the sky as fast as they can pour in. Sage is still keeping just ahead of Omega's horrific entropy weapon, but at any moment, a single slip could mean doom. Midnight suddenly steps back into the fray, armed with the device he'd been working on: a modified railgun that shoots not bullets, but cosmic rods. Aiming at the breaks in Omega's armor, he shoots all four rods deep into the tyrant's body, a mortal wound. The team watches as the rods ignite and burn Omega to ashes, leaving only charred armor behind. There is no time to savor victory, though, as the world continues to char and collapse around them. Millions of Omegadrones are still bearing down, while the fires of the Coil eat away at what was once Freedom City. All at once, Rick Lucas is there with them, shoving everyone but Edge back through a dimensional portal to safety while he and his son remain behind to seal up the holes in the multiverse. In moments, Young Freedom is back on an intact Earth Prime, standing on the steps of a Freedom Hall that shows not the slightest sign of disturbance, much less complete destruction. Jubilant to be alive, everyone celebrates for a few minutes, until Mark reappears. He informs them that the holes are patched, and that Rick Lucas has elected to take Earth-Z-Omega-1 into the Zero Zone and hold it there himself forever, to keep Earth Prime safe from another attack from that direction. Moments later, the charred armor of Omega falls out of a final portal, the only evidence of their amazing story. Summa Cum Laude Back on Earth Prime, Young Freedom learns that graduation exercises were canceled for the day when the five of them apparently disappeared into thin air just before the ceremony. No one else remembers the end of the world, just a moment of darkness and shaking, which is probably just as well. Redbird comes back to life and begins speaking from inside Erin's backpack, asking for Midnight. With Red Falcon dead, Trevor is more than willing to take on responsibility for the alien AI the Furion left behind. Before the debriefing sessions, everyone is reunited with their loved ones, even Oliver, who seems content to be silent for the moment. Corbin is desperately happy to see Quo-Dis again, while Trevor tells Travis about everything that happened during the mission and Mark comforts his mother. Despite everything that happened in the past, Mark's friends rally around him and offer condolences for his father. Rick Lucas had his moments of villainy, but he died a hero saving the multiverse, and that makes up for a lot. Unfortunately, the Freedom League is not as willing to forgive and forget, and while they do not precisely disbelieve Young Freedom's account of all that happened, several of them seem convinced that the entire business was an illusion created by Rick Lucas. The chestplate of Omega is an impressive bit of evidence, but even that can be explained away. In the end, it's hard to decide what the League actually believes and to what extent. Frustrated and angry, Mark teleports away with his mother, leaving the rest of the team to make their own way home. They step outside and encounter Hope, a Claremont exchange student originally from Erde. Rather than her usual costume of fatigues and antique guns, today she is dressed in a trenchcoat and fedora reminiscent of Midnight I's costume, but made of the same glowing energy that powers Corbin's ring. No matter what the League believes, the actions of Young Freedom have apparently made a number of substantial differences. With that bit of encouraging news, the members of Young Freedom disperse to their various homes, or to each others' homes. Graduation is postponed but takes place a week later. All of the graduating Young Freedom seniors are awarded the Summa Cum Laude designation for their displayed mastery of the school's teachings. Aftermath The events of Graduation Day led directly or indirectly to a number of changes in Freedom City and its heroes. Wander's cat Oliver revealed his true nature as an interstellar operative who had cultivated her and given her extra powers in order to allow her to fight Omega. When she elects to remain on Earth rather than to carry on the fight in the multiverse, he removes the powers and departs, leaving her with his son Charlie to keep her company. Upon seeing Omega's armor and hearing of his destruction, Dr. Archeville's evil alter-ego takes overt control of his body, leading to the devastating villainy of ArchEvil. Midnight II adopts the Furion AI pilot Redbird, and in the way of Furion equipment, she adopts a persona more copacetic to his personality. Midnight adapts a number of his vehicles to accommodate the AI, and she begins assisting him in his work. After their trial by fire against the Terminus, and with the other members of Young Freedom graduated, Sage and Cobalt Templar assume leadership of Young Freedom and recruit other members to fill out the roster again. Links Graduation Day: Noise of Thunder Graduation Day: Worn-Out Places Graduation Day: The End of the Beginning Graduation Day: Familiar Faces Graduation Day: Leaves From The Vine Graduation Day: The Earth Died Screaming Graduation Day: There Won't Be A Next Time Graduation Day: Summa Cum Laude

OverviewClassified as “Severly Inhabitable”, Za'ak is known to be amongst the most dangerous planet in the galaxy, or at least in the category of worlds that can and do support life. While certainly beautiful with it's varied ecosystems, it is a planet of pure savagery and of remarkable brutality and the birthplace of the Za'akis people and the Praetorian Kharag. Just about every life form and plant is deadly to some degree, either via their sheer size, aggression or particularly extreme defense mechanisms. The average temperature is similar to earth but the planet reach higher and lower extremes during the peak seasons. Atmospheric composition is mostly similar to it too, making the air theorically breathable for Lor and Humans, assuming they do not inhale spores from local plant life, which may either burn the inside of their bodies or nest within their lungs similar to parasite. Gravity is slightly heavier than earth but is within a tolerable range for Lor and Humans. The planet has a single continent; a supercontinent, currently in the slow process of splitting apart. Za'ak has two satellites, which are moons. Their most common name given is Marador and Kolarth. Fauna & FloraFrom vast forests to deserts to the depths of the ocean, Za'ak is filled with massive monstrous predators, many of them as centuries old, which have grown to massive size and posses impressive regenerative abilities. This has long puzzled xenobiologists and hint that, perhaps, some life forms might have been purposefully engineered as biological weapons of some sort. Perplexing matters, some of the creature living on Za'ak seem to share absolutely no evolutionary ties with the rest of the creatures on the planet, hinting they might have been transported there and have since adapted to their new home. Flying Leeches: Leech is not exactly the right word, but is the closest possible translation. These floating, amorphous creatures, despite looking like little more than squiggly translucent bean-shaped lumps of flesh are in fact quite dangerous. At the bottom of their body is a circular hole from which emerge long barbed tendrils, which can pierce flesh. Once attached to it's prey, the flying 'leech' will suck out the blood and then any moisture. Maaghu: Natives of the the plains and plateaus of Za'ak, Amaghu are large dinosaur-like reptilian beasts noted for their speed. While temperamental, like everything else on the planet, they are amongst the rare few beasts used as mounts by the Za'ak. Training them involves a lot of blood shed...by both parties involved. Kl'Kran Beasts: Despite most, if not all of Za'ak lifeforms being predatory in some shape or form, Kl'Kran fills a recognisable ecological niche as land-based predators akin to wolves and large felines. These agile, sneaky, reptilian beasts tend to hunt in loose packs, with the elder alpha males developing vivid marking on their bodies. This combined with the dangers of hunting them has made Kl'kran beasts very prized. Khrodon: Khrodons are the closest thing Za'ak has to grazing animals of earth. Primarily plant-eating omnivores, these enormous quadrupedal beasts come in many sizes and shape, althought the smallests are taller than the average Za'akis. Khrodons have heavily armored body, with a skin similar to that of the Za'akis, albeit several time harder. Their heads and backs are protected by large bony plates and their heads bear tusks and/or horns. The smallest specimens have been domesticated…barely. Naturally aggressive, they are the reason that shepherds and butchers are some of the most respected jobs in Za'akis society. Ravager Worm: Despite the name worm, these creatures are more akin to snakes and centipedes. Growing to massive size, they rival the Sky-Tyrants in term of size, ferocity and infamy. With a massive gullet filled with multiple tongues and powerful mandibules, these creatures have been known to eat entire towns. It has been noted by xenobiologists that, like many creatures on Za'ak, they have almost no evolutionary relatives, suggesting they are not native to the planet but have since adapted. And no, they don't borrow into sand, for the record. Sky-Tyrant: The first image one would get would be one of earth's fabled and imaginary dragons. However, this is actually wrong, Sky-Tyrants are more akin to bats. Enormous, feral-looking carnivorous hairless bats. These creatures are extremely long-lived, barring death from their battles over mates. Despite the name Sky-Tyrant, these monsters are equally at home on the ground as in the air, feeding off Khrodons and anything large enough to be noticed by them. Most famously, the skull of an elder tusked Sky Tyrant was used as a throne by the mythical emperor of Za'ak, Kharag. Swarmling: A wide category of insect-like creatures which, as the name implies, lives in vast swarms for survival. Ranging from bug-sized to cat-sized, these creatures viciously attack anything that come into their territory. As a deterent against them, many Za'akis cities frequently leave freshly-killed beasts within safe distance of the town, hoping the swarmlings will be attracted and, once fed, will not bother to come after the Za'akis afterward. History Ancient Za'akAncient Za'ak was covered in pockets of civilization, living a harsh life fighting off against the encroaching predators. These primitive Za'akis organized into clan, tribes or houses and lived a life of pure brutality either against predators or themselves. This era came to an end when Kharag unified his people and began a technological revolution which lead them to something close to an early industrial age. Across Za'ak are ruins which predate Za'akis civilization, which reinforce the theory that the planet has been tampered by outside influence. Andromedan OccupationModern Za'ak is a fallen world. It's native people no longer live upon it's surface. During or after the fall of the Delaztri, a brood of Andromedans began a serie of raids on Za'ak which eventually cumulate in the death of most Za'akis living on their homeworld. The Adromedans then claimed Za'ak and it's moons for their own, setting up their bases of operation on the moons and their hatcheries on the planet surface, where they began hunting down the local life forms and assimilating their traits and strengths. Over time, this made Za'ak Brood the most aggressive and feral of all Andromedan broods. Despite their efforts, the Andromedans never managed to fully take control of Za'ak, as it's environment eventually re-asserted itself. Today, it's ecosystem coexist alongside the alien invaders, who prey upon local life forms just as much as they are preyed upon by said local life forms. History at a Glance~ -24XX BC: Kharag is born. ~ -23XX BC: Kharag begin unifying the various tribes and clans of Za'ak. ~ -2000 BC: Za'akis are uplifted and join galactic civilization as member of the Delaztri empire.

Free Kingdom of Socotra Socotra is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, located 150 miles east of the Horn of Africa and 240 miles south of the Arabian Peninsula. Consisting of four islands, the largest of which, Socotra, takes up 95% of the land area of the nation, Socotra is notable to scientists for its unique wildlife found nowhere else on Earth. Socotra remains a major center for eco-tourism, and the national government is a strong protector of wildlife both in the islands and in the surrounding oceans. Once a part of the Mahra Sultanate and the British Protectorate of South Arabia, Socotra became an independent nation in 1964 following the al-Darsah Insurgency, which pitted the Socotran Independence Front against the forces of first the Mahra Sultanate, then the Royal Navy. Socotra is an absolute monarchy under the rule of Amir al-Darsah, aka Typhoon, who has ruled the nation since its independence in 1964. Socotra is one of two Arab nations that has never had national elections since its independence, the other being nearby Saudi Arabia. The nation has consistently ranked in the bottom twenty on the Economist's Democracy Index. Government Socotra's government is centered around its monarch, Amir al-Darsah. There is no independent legislature and all government employees serve at the whim of the Typhoon dynasty and its appointed representatives - the island has officially banned capital punishment save “when carried out by the monarch or members of the al-Darsah dynasty.” The nation's iconography is adorned with symbols of Typhoon - the nation's blue and white colors are the personal colors of the monarch and his armored face adorns the national flag along with the dragonblood tree that is the island's most famous unique species. Socotra is a “metahuman monarchy”, a nation largely created and supported by the hydrokinetic abilities of Typhoon and other members of the al-Darsah dynasty. With few native sources of freshwater, the island's hundreds of thousands of inhabitants are entirely dependent on water reclamation and desalinization efforts carried out by the al-Darsah family. This has led Typhoon to declare himself “The Autocrat of the People” and contrast his personal monarchical style with the “false cults” like those of North Korea and New Freedom. Population The population of Socotra was 428,420 at the nation's 2004 census. 95% of the nation's population live on the island of Socotra proper, with a small scattering of scientists on the smaller islands Abd al-Kuri, Samhah, and Darsah. Demographically the nation is a mixture of Arabs, Indians, and Somalis, and is one of the few Gulf nations not to make use of widespread guest workers. The island has been a major center for Palestinian immigration since Typhoon's Decree Against The Storm (1976), and Palestinian-Soqotri make up the second largest Arab population in the nation behind native-born Soqotris. Critics outside Socotra have charged the nation's immigration policy (which, modeled on the American model, is among the most generous towards immigrants in the Middle East) is designed primarily to allow cover for the nation's human rights abuses, as well as the monarchy's interest in cultivating a population of native metahumans loyal to the regime. The nation's largest city, and capitol, is Typhoon City, located on the site of the former hamlet Hadibo on the northern coast. With a population of 250,000, the city has a population five times the size of Socotra's population before independence. Religion Socotra is officially a Muslim nation, with 70% of the country's population practicing some sort of Islam. The official theology of the al-Darsah dynasty is Ijtihadi, a reformist ideology that rejects many 'traditional' interpretations of Islam. Fundamentalist critics of the regime have charged that Typhoon's embrace of Islam is largely fictitious and that the regime itself practices 'pagan idolatry' in its veneration of the al-Darsah family in general and Typhoon in particular. While Typhoon has admitted to consorting with non-Muslim deities such as Set in past years, Typhoon has been swift to point out that he has “bested them in every encounter.” Economy The primary occupations of the people of Socotra have traditionally been fishing, animal husbandry, and the cultivation of dates. Though the island nation's gradual urbanization has weakened traditional pastoralism in recent years, date harvesting and fishing have remained major components of the island's economy. The al-Darsah dynasty has made campaigns against overfishing by outsiders a major military priority, ensuring that Socotra's territorial waters retain some of the most thriving fish stock in the Indian Ocean. Tourism in recent years has become a major part of the island's economy, with the region's low crime rates a major attraction for tourists from Africa, the Middle East, and Europe. Since the rise of the al-Darsah dynasty, Socotra's economy has begun embracing super-tech manufacturing, attracting global outside investment to encourage native production. This is particularly attractive to outside manufacturers as Socotra is not a signatory to the UN Non-Proliferation Treaties respecting super-technology. Human rights critics have charged that super-weapons manufactured in Socotra have been used in civil wars in Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East. Legal System Homosexuality and drug use (even of alcohol and tobacco) are officially illegal in Socotra and punishable by prison time. However, women enjoy the same legal rights as men and both have free access to medical care and education under reforms passed in the 1960s. Socotra's judiciary is made up primarily of native Soqotri lawyers appointed by decree of the monarch charged soley with “interpreting the decrees of Typhoon” - officials who serve at the pleasure of the monarch or his duly appointed representative. Socotra's corruption index is high and cases of vice laws being enforced against foreigners (but waived for a 'donation to the state' in terms of large fees) are common. Polygamy and polyandry are both legal, assuming the primary spouses can demonstrate the financial ability to feed and clothe their new partner. Children officially become adults at the age of 21 but can serve in the military starting from the age of fifteen. Foreign Policy Strongly anti-colonialist from its foundation, Socotra has frequently engaged in military confrontations with Western powers over the last fifty years. Lacking a strong native military until the last two decades, for many years those confrontations were carried out by Typhoon personally in his role as the self-styled “Autocrat of the People.” In his fifty-year reign, Typhoon (later reinforced by other members of the al-Darsah dynasty) has fought British, American, European, and Arabian superhumans and allied military forces, and generally been successful. The regime officially abandoned overseas commitments in the wake of the Terminus Invasion of 1993 (in which Typhoon was critically wounded in combat with Omega), but critics of the regime continue to point to covert Socotran involvement in Dakanan instability, Islamic terrorism in Russia and various other incidents in nations officially at peace with the island nation.

The Nicholson SchoolThe Nicholson School, located in the Port Regal neighborhood in Freedom City, is a small private academy for children from kindergarten to eighth grade. Attendance is limited and extremely difficult to come by, though the student body shows a wide mix of backgrounds and nationalities. Theschool is semi-residential and runs all year on a system of quarters with three-week breaks in-between. Its headmaster is Christina Wheeler, a Harvard graduate in finance who retired from a lucrative position on Wall Street to take on the responsibility. The school works hard to maintain its veneer of anonymous respectability, the better to conceal its secrets. Like the Claremont Academy to which it feeds, Nicholson is populated entirely by students of extranormal origin. When Duncan Summers took over Claremont Academy in the wake of the Terminus invasion, it was assumed that there were not sufficient numbers of superpowered children to warrant the establishment of a lower school. The United States government thought otherwise, and were in fact able to secure a population of so-called “Terminus Babies” for supervision and training in their own program. The government program was widely considered a debacle, despite scattered successes, and was eventually dissolved, but the need for superhuman schooling continued. Plans for a lower school in the same vein as Claremont remained on the drawing board for years, due to the substantial logistical difficulties entailed in the primary education of superhuman children. Unlike high schoolage students, who could be presumed to be ready for a modicum of independence, most primary schoolchildren required and desired close parental contact and supervision. Parents, too, would be less willing to allow their young children to be taken away for schooling, no matter how dangerous their powers and how attentive the school personnel. Accommodations would have to be made for entire families to be moved and housed near the school. The range of ages and developmental stages at the new school would also be much wider than at Claremont, requiring an entirely different educational model. Though the school was regarded as an excellent idea in theory by much of the super-community, it languished for lack of a dedicated leader to put plan into action. In 2003, Joshua Wheeler, son of Christina and Roger Wheeler, made headlines in New York City when he lifted and threw a car that was pinning a pedestrian at an accident site. This was not wholly newsworthy in New York, which has a fair share of superheroes, but for the fact that Joshua was only four years old at the time. His parents, retired heroes themselves, were surprised at the early onset of their offspring's powers, and immediately began looking for an appropriate place where their special child could receive training and education. Upon realizing that there was nothing available, Christina, whose enhanced intelligence and charisma had made her a formidable force in business, turned her attention to becoming an educator. Barely a year later, The Nicholson School was founded in Freedom City, a superhero hotbed where no one had heard of Joshua Wheeler. Enrollment in the first year was very small, barely a dozen students across the entire range of grades. As word of the new school spread to those who needed it, though, enrollment began to grow. A unique educational program, Nicholson now draws students and families from around the world to its Port Royal enclave. LayoutThe physical property of The Nicholson School consists not only of its education building, but also a dormitory for boarding students and a collection of several dozen private homes dubbed the “family village.” Education BuildingThe Nicholson School itself is contained in one large three-story building, specially constructed for the purpose in 2005. The education building combines cutting-edge safety technology to render it impervious to most physical threats with state-of-the-art understanding of optimal school layout. The classrooms are large and airy, each with at least one wall of adjustably-tinted windows to provide natural light and visual stimulation for students. Every classroom is wired for comprehensive internet connectivity, with security that renders the network as safe as any other part of the building. The second floor is entirely devoted to classrooms, with multipurpose rooms on the first and third floors that can be converted as need allows. The third floor is devoted mainly to non-classroom-based education. Science labs for physics, chemistry and engineering are all located here, as well as an art studio and a music room. The school library is also located on the third floor. The school's first floor contains all the administrative offices, as well as the cafeteria and gymnasium. The gymnasium doubles as a training facility for students, so is specially reinforced to withstand extreme forces. The gym equipment is likewise reinforced to prevent accidents and damage. The school cafeteria provides two meals a day and is capable of coping with a mind-boggling variety of dietary restrictions. The area behind the school houses playground equipment, a baseball diamond and a grassy area for games, and a paved track. DormitoryA few hundred yards from the school is the dormitory building, a smaller three-story building constructed in the same style as the school itself. Designed for the small population of students who do not live with their families for whatever reason, the dormitory can hold up to a hundred students but generally has fewer than thirty at any given time. Boys are housed on the third floor, girls on the second, with common areas on the first. The first floor of the dormitory houses the school infirmary, a cafeteria that handles dinners, weekends and vacations in a manner designed to be more homelike than the one in the education building, visitors' quarters, and common playrooms and multimedia room. The bedrooms themselves are not dissimilar to what students who move on will find at Claremont. Each one has two beds, two dressers, two desks, and two closets, along with one or two broad windows. Despite the surplus of space, rooms are double-occupancy in most cases to provide students with peer companionship. Rooms are staggered from east to west, with the youngest students in the eastern rooms and older ones heading westward along the corridor. Each floor has several communal bathrooms, the easternmost of which is height-adjusted for the younger students. In addition to student housing, the dormitory also provides housing for the adult caregivers who work with the children outside of school hours. School policy mandates one adult for every four children under ten years old, or one per six children ten to fourteen. Adult caregivers live in quarters resembling one-bedroom apartments in the dormitories and function as surrogate parents, authority figures, and coordinators for all the activities and evaluations of their young charges. The job pays well, but the pressure can become intense and staff turnover is high. Many adult caregivers are young adult metahumans in their first paid jobs. Family VillageThe square block of housing surrounding the Nicholson campus proper is also owned by the school. Known as “Family Village,” it consists mainly of single-family dwellings and duplexes, each one inhabited by a schoolfamily. Any family with a student at Nicholson is eligible to move into the Family Village, with rent determined on a sliding scale according to financial need. The Nicholson Parent Teacher Association serves as a de facto neighborhood committee as well, welcoming new arrivals and organizing events throughout the year. The PTA is also responsible for maintaining the low profile of the neighborhood when it comes to displays of superpowered activity. For all Freedom City is no stranger to strange events, nobody wants too much attention focused on the school and its environs.

Freedom League Special Circumstances Housing (or FLSCH) is in the Cline Building, a sixteen-story Art Deco-style apartment tower located in Lincoln in south Freedom City. Originally built as a hotel during a brief regional economic boom in the 1920s, the brick and terracotta structure had the great misfortune to open its doors in October of 1929 just before the Great Crash. Nearly abandoned by lawful tenets, what had been hoped to be a temple to commerce and capitalism in Freedom's biggest African-American neighborhood became a white elephant occupied by numbers rackets, unemployed squatters, and other desperate people during a very desperate time. Hope appeared in 1940, when Katharine Cline, the building's original architect (and the heroine Sea Hawk), used her family's wealth to buy the building, planning to begin its restoration. Though Cline's disappearance in 1941 meant the building's renaissance was short-lived, her detailed last will and testament (executed after she was declared legally dead in 1948) meant that a trust kept the property intact throughout the postwar boom of the 1940s and beyond. However, the Cline Trust was in trouble: the rise of the postwar economy supplanted the Cline shipyards now that Katharine was no longer there to watch them, and sometimes big chunks of the building lay vacant, ripe for occupation by everyone from the Tick-Tock Doc to a Terminus cult just before the invasion of '65. When the Cline Trust went bankrupt in the early 1970s after its investments were destroyed in the wake of the Grue Invasion of '68, the decaying building was donated to the Freedom League, a common fate for abandoned property in Freedom City. It might simply have been torn down to make way for new housing complexes (the fate of many old buildings in Lincoln), but intervention by the local heroes on the Freedom League, especially the Black Avenger, raised enough money to keep the grand old Cline intact, and even to rebuild it to some shadow of its former glory. But the Cline's troubles weren't over. The building's turbulent history began its biggest downturn in the 1980s when the building was seized (through some shady legal dealings by a corrupt city official) and sold to a coalition of Jersey City businessmen who had plans for the property: the Cline became a center of organized crime once again, this time renting rooms to out-of-town supervillains and major figures in organized crime who had an interest in the free-and-easy (if you greased the right palms) life in Moore-era Freedom City, no questions asked. The building was the scene of several major super-battles between FORCE OPS andR.I.O.T., and by 1993 when the Terminus Invasion of 1993 swept through the area it was once again abandoned and actually slated for demolition even before groundquakes shook it to its foundations and Omegadrones tore through the building. Once again, a hero came to the building's aid: the newly-awakened Dr. Metropolis took a special interest in the Cline and used his powers to rebuild it entirely, restoring it not to its original state, but to the apartment complex it had once been in the late 1940s when it had been full of eager young veterans and their families; as Metropolis put it “When the building itself was happiest.” With a little help from the Raven (who tracked down the building's sole surviving owner and made sure that he transferred title back to the Freedom Leagueas part of a larger deal to avoid prosecution), the Cline's future looked assured: the problem was, no one wanted to live there. The people of Lincoln were busy rebuilding their own homes and lives, and an old building with a reputation for bad luck and secret criminal lairs wasn't terribly attractive to normal tenants. The first tenants to stay in the new Cline Building were the Kirlees, a family of refugees from the Terminus Invasion, prole escapees from Nihilor who had nowhere to go now that the doorway to their home was closed forever. Originally put there on an emergency basis, the Kirlees were joined a few months later by the crew of a Lor scouting craft, put up in temporary Earth accommodations while they waited for pickup from home. By the mid-1990s, what had begun as an ad hoc shelter for refugees had become a permanent project for theFreedom League, a place to put castaways in time, space, and dimension who had no one to take them in even in the bright and shining world of Freedom City. Most people in the neighborhood are aware that the Cline has special tenants, but despite some outrageous incidents over the years, they keep the area fairly crime-free and the stipend from the Freedom League means the FLSCH cases always have money to spend at nearby businesses. By the mid 2010s, things are looking pretty good for the hard-luck apartments in the sky. 11 of the Cline's sixteen stories are currently in use by the League for housing; the first floor belongs to the anchor businesses like Harry's Barbershop and Rick Fox's small Internet cafe, the third and fifth floors are given over to power systems and other super-climate controls intended to keep visitors from more exotic places healthy and happy, while the top two floors remain largely unoccupied and are kept open on a semi-permanent basis for emergency housing in serious crises. New arrivals can expect to be assigned anything from studio apartments to three-bedroom family suites based on their needs, as well as a small stipend from the League to help pay for necessities and to get them back on their feet while they take life skills classes also offered by the League. Cline residents are not required to work (some of them lack the mental or physical ability to hold down a job among mundanes) but the League does offer a variety of night classes and takes pains to maximize the quality of life for residents. Several hundred people currently live in the Cline, some having been there since the early 90s and others new arrivals. Families have begun there; children have been born and raised there to people born a thousand years and million miles apart. The League does their best to separate people with incompatible backgrounds as much as space inside the building allows; keeping apart free Grue and Lor refugees, Terminus refugees and their free Omegadrone, castdown Olympians and their victims. Sometimes, as with Heliopolitans and their minders, they make sure that particular individuals stay close together. Unaccompanied juveniles are housed on the Claremont campus rather than at the Cline. The Cline has a small lending library on the first floor, a barbershop, a Goodwill store, an interfaith chapel, a laundromat, and several other small businesses; there are also several small commercial areas in the neighborhood outside catering to both locals and the Cline population. The heroes Set and Sekhmet, among others, currently live in FLSCH.

Young Freedom Young Freedom is the second super team to be started at the Claremont Academy. It first came to public notice in the spring of 2009, when its members defused a hostage situation at Freedom City's baseball stadium. Though it has never attained the public profile of the initial teen team at Claremont, Next Gen, Young Freedom has proven its worth many times over in the hero community of Freedom City. After three eventful years, perhaps the only reason YF hasn't eclipsed Next Gen is that many of its adventures have involved extradimensional travel, including trips to the Terminus. As a teen team, the turnover on Young Freedom is quite high, though former members tend to stay in touch and may occasionally participate in missions. Although based at Claremont Academy, the team often has a headquarters off-campus, typically belonging to one of the members or their families. Young Freedom does not have a team uniform, but all of its members share an insignia, a silver emblem with the letters “YF” printed on it, which most of them wear as a belt ornament. Iterations of Young Freedom Turnover on Young Freedom is fairly high, since the longest a member can be part of the team is two years (typically age 16-18). The iterations of the team have been divided into generations, with a new x.0 designation marking a complete team turnover from the last x.0 team. Young Freedom 1.0 The founding members of Young Freedom came together in Spring of 2009. Team 1.0 ran approximately from Spring 2009 to Spring 2010, with the expulsion of Breakdown, the graduation of Geckoman and Hellion, and the addition of Midnight II. Members: Breakdown Edge Geckoman Hellion Psyche Phalanx Wander Young Freedom 1.25 An interstitial period for Young Freedom, marked by fewer full-team missions and more duo or trio work for team members. Team 1.25 ran approximately from Spring 2010 through the end of 2010, when Psyche and Phalanx left the team to focus on preparing for post-school careers and Cobalt Templar and Sage were added to the roster. Members: Edge Midnight II Psyche Phalanx Wander Young Freedom 1.5 Arguably the best-known iteration of Young Freedom to date, Team 1.5 was responsible for a successful defense against the forces of Omega and the Terminus, though details of their efforts have largely been suppressed. This iteration of the team ran through the first half of 2011, when the final founding members Edge and Wander graduated, along with Midnight II, leaving Cobalt Templar and Sage to lead the new generation of Young Freedom. Members: Cobalt Templar Edge Midnight II Sage Wander Young Freedom 2.0 With all the founding members gone, new team leaders Cobalt Templar and Sage recruited new rookie heroes to fill out the team roster and carry on the YF tradition. Team 2.0 ran from Summer 2011 to the end of Spring 2012, when Cobalt Templar and Sage graduated. Members: Citizen Cobalt Templar Ghost Girl Papercut Sage Wraith Young Freedom 2.5 After the graduation of Cobalt Templar and Sage, Young Freedom continued as a loose confederation of student heroes until the graduation of Citizen and Papercut in Spring 2013. Members Citizen Crimson Tiger Ghost Girl Glow Papercut Wraith

Giant BeesGiant Bees are a result of the selective breeding experiments of Beekeeper II, who created them in order to use them as living weapons against the heroes of Freedom City, and as a tool to aid him in the conquest of his archnemesis and obsession, Fleur de Joie. Though he insists that he used no superscience techniques in creating his bees, the extreme physical, mental, and social alterations of the population would seem to suggest otherwise. Physical CharacteristicsThe average Giant Bee is between sixty and seventy feet long and approximately twelve feet tall, with males slightly smaller than females. They are generally barrel-shaped, covered in fuzzy black and yellow stripes, and have two insectile wings and six legs. Their heads are round and black, with eyes that are visible upon close inspection, and long antennae. The female bees have a concavity in their rearmost legs which are used to store large quantities of pollen while foraging away from the hive. The queen bee is approximately one hundred feet long and eighteen feet tall, and has no wings. Attendants must help the queen move when necessary. Giant bees have proportionately large barbed stingers, similar to more traditionally-sized bees. The stingers deliver a painful and paralyzing venom, though in most cases, the stinger is large enough to cause catastrophic damage without the venom payload. The stinger is better anchored than in smaller bee species, but an incautious sting can still cause damage to a bee. A small subset of Giant Bees are capable of breathing fire as well (Giant Dragon Bees). All of the Giant Bees can speak English, though with heavy accents. Many of them are only somewhat fluent, and will defer to better speakers when dealing with humans. Since relocating to Sanctuary, the bees have begun breeding more frequently, leading to increased visibility of juvenile and sub-adult bees. The newly-pupated juveniles are roughly the size of ponies and are clumsy fliers. They do not leave the hive unescorted by adults, and typically only for short periods of time. Sub-adult bees are closer to the size of panel trucks (20'x 10') and tend to be fearless. Their attitudes are often comparable to human teenagers. Hatching to maturity for a giant bee is a process that takes about two years. Colony LifeCurrently there is only one colony of Giant Bees, located on Sanctuary, the alternate-Earth dimension headquarters of Fleur de Joie. The original colony consisted of approximately sixty females, twelve males, and a single queen. A mating flight early on in the colony's development began a period of greatly increased reproduction, more than doubling the size of the colony in just a few years. The successful drone was of Giant Dragon Bee stock, and thus many of the new hatchlings have also displayed the ability to breathe fire. Because the bees are intelligent, they have made significant divergences from colony behavior, though instinct still guides many of their decisions. The Queen is unquestionably the leader of the hive, but due to her lack of experience in the world beyond the hive, she leaves many of the day-to-day decisions to her daughter Beeatrizz, the second-in-command. Considerable weight is also given to the requests and suggestions made by Fleur de Joie, who although outside the hive's hierarchy is held in considerable esteem by all the bees, who view her as a savior and benefactor. The Giant Bees make their home in an earthen hive constructed for them by Gaian Knight, with their design input. The hive is roughly the size of a twenty-story building and the length of a city block, and is located approximately ten miles northeast from Fleur de Joie's cottage. The queen's chamber is located underground, specially constructed to protect from bad weather and flooding. The area surrounding the hive is called the Bee Meadow, or “Beedom Valley,” and consists of an area of about one hundred square miles of meadow filled with giant flowers, specially maintained by Fleur de Joie to ensure that the bees have enough to eat. Giant bees fly freely all over the reclaimed territory of Sanctuary, though Fleur has politely asked that they avoid the human habitations unless specifically coming to visit, as the loud buzzing can be disturbing to people and animals. Important and Named Giant BeesBarry: A male bee shot while protecting the Beekeeper.Beeatriz: A female fire-breathing bee, second-in-command of the hive. Beeatriz is much more social with humans than many of the other bees, and often serves as a liaison with visitors.Beearthur: A male bee who enjoys socializing with people and wants a hot tub.Beelisima: The queen bee, matriarch of the hive. Half-again the size of the other bees, she cannot fly, but she exerts tremendous influence in the lives of her subjects.Beelizabeth: A female bee who sometimes interfaces between Fleur and the hive.Boris: A male bee who was wounded by Dark Star while trying to kidnap Fleur de Joie.Curl-bee: A male fire-breathing bee, exiled by the Beekeeper but now reunited with the hive.Ebee-beezer: A female bee with a misleading name.Henr-bee: A male fire-breathing bee with a quick temper.Larabee: A male bee.Super-Bee: Also known as Beeling or Bay-bee, one of the second-generation bees hatched on Sanctuary. Super-bee is the first Giant Bee hero, and a day student at Claremont Academy.

Fleur de JoieFleur de Joie, civilian identity Stesha Madison (formerly Lumins), is a plant-controlling heroine based out of Freedom City. She has been actively doing hero work since 2009 and is well-known in the city. She is very recognizable due to her thigh-length bright green hair, which she usually keeps braided in loops and coils close to her head and wreathed with live flowers. While Fleur de Joie maintains a residence in Freedom City, her home is actually on the alternate-Earth called Sanctuary, which she maintains with her powers as a haven for refugees and giant bees. While Fleur's powers make her an effective combatant in a fight situation, her talents are far more suited to disaster relief and humanitarian aid. She is powerful enough to literally make deserts bloom, given enough time and effort, and has consulted with UNISON on a number of occasions to help alleviate famine conditions and bolster new farming projects. Much of her energy is currently focused on expanding Sanctuary, which exploded from a small settlement to the size of a small town in 2014, almost all of whom were Terminus refugees with no resources. Luckily, one of Fleur's non-powered assets is her vast network of friends and associates, whom she has been able to tap for assistance in getting the money and manpower necessary to make Sanctuary more self-sufficient. In her personal life Stesha is more discreet, though that's come partially as a result of experience. Her marriage in 2010 to the superhero Dark Star (Derrick Lumins) was big news in the hero-following world, as was the birth of their daughter Amaryllis in 2011. Dark Star contributed to this by his enthusiastic new-father reaction of writing “It's A Girl” across the surface of the moon, where it remained for nearly a month. Her distinctive appearance makes it difficult for Stesha to keep a truly secret identity, but her local popularity and charm have persuaded most of her neighbors to accept the polite fiction that they do not know who she is, allowing her to live her life. That fiction began to dissolve in 2015, when she ended her marriage to Dark Star and the tabloid press began to become interested in her life once more, leading her to move to a more secure living space in the privately held DuTemps Building. Expanded History'Expanded History' <BR> From the time she was a little girl, Stesha Madison loved plants. At a very early age, she put away her tea set and equipped her dolls and bears with little rakes and shovels so they could help her in the garden. It helped that she grew up in a family that was very big on gardening. Dad taught botany at the university, and Mom was a complementary medicine practitioner and midwife who grew most of her own remedies. Mom always that they met on the opposite sides of a campus protest in the sixties. It was true that they argued a lot, but in the way of people who liked to argue. Stesha's older brothers and sisters liked to argue as well, and so did she, up to a point. But mostly she liked to garden. There was always something that needed to be done, and every day brought new growth and new beauty to look at. <BR><BR> It was hardly a surprise, then, that Stesha followed her dad into the university, majoring in botany. She did well, devouring all the information that was presented to her, but it wasn't her cup of tea. Studying flowers and plants too hard took the magic out of it. Once you'd dissected a rose, it wasn't beautiful anymore, it was just broken and sad, no matter how much you learned. She was more interested in the joy that flowers could give. Her parents were very proud when she graduated with honors, even if her father was a little disappointed that, instead of joining her in the lab, she decided to go to work at a florist. <BR><BR> It wasn't just any florist shop, mind you. Chicago had some very exclusive floral boutiques, and with the contacts both her parents had, she got a job in one of the best. Soon she was doing society weddings, making bouttonires that cost more than her entire prom dress had, and putting together elaborate birthday and anniversary bouquets that would gladden the heart of anyone who saw them. It was a great life, despite the occasional Bridezilla, and she loved it. She'd have been happy to go on that way indefinitely, if everything hadn't changed in a most unexpected way. <BR><BR> It all started with a very unusual piece of window dressing. Even with her degree in botany, Stesha had never heard of the Fleur de Joie blossom until the day her boss brought it into the shop. A very rare, extremely exotic bloom, it flowered only once every hundred years, and this one was set to go soon. “I had to call in a hundred favors,” Amy, her boss, enthused, “but this sort of opportunity comes once in a lifetime. Front row seats to history!” That was why Stesha liked Amy, they shared the same enthusiasm for plants. The Fleur de Joie was placed in the front window and monitored like an expectant mother. As its pistils swelled with the coming bloom, Amy began stationing employees to watch it at night, just to make sure they took plenty of pictures and didn't miss a thing. No one knew for sure if it was a day or evening bloomer, and they weren't about to miss out. <BR> <BR> After a few days and nights of anxious watching, Stesha's turn came up in the rotation. She staked herself out just a few feet from the plant to make sure she would catch so much as a twitch, then started reading a catalog. A sudden motion caught her attention, and she saw a leaf begin to curl back. Eagerly, she called Amy and told her something was happening, then got ready with the digital camera. As the petals began to uncurl themselves, revealing a beautiful mother-of-pearl color the likes of which Stesha had never seen, she leaned in with the camera and began to take pictures. Suddenly, when her nose was bare inches from the flower, it released a large puff of pollen into the air, right into her face, right into her open mouth. “Yie!” she yelled, reeling backwards in surprise, trying to wipe her face. The whole room seemed to take a long, lazy twirl, and then she passed out. <BR> <BR> She woke a few minutes later, sputtering at the glass of water Amy had upended over her head. The flower was still there, huge and immensely beautiful, and Stesha was still covered with pollen. “What happened?” Amy demanded. “Are you all right? Did you see it open?” <BR> <BR> “Yeah,” Stesha replied, dragging a sleeve across her wet, powdery face. “It was beautiful! And I think I'm allergic,” she added wryly. They took hundreds more photos from every angle, and so did the newspaper, and the local news channel. It was a cute local interest story that brought publicity to the shop, just as intended. After a few days, it closed again, and Amy returned it to its owner, and things seemed to settle into their normal routine. <BR> <BR> Only it wasn't exactly normal. Stesha started noticing that things were getting a little strange around her. Plants seemed to… respond to her in a way they hadn't before. Her African violets grew to twice their normal size in a week, and the rest of her houseplants quickly followed suit. After that, it was the potted plants in the shop. Soon, rosebuds were blooming at her touch. Something very strange had happened to her, and it all had something to do with that plant. She was afraid at first, but that passed quickly. All of her powers seemed good, seemed helpful, and they let her do what she loved better than she ever had before. She started small, learning to control the growth of plants around her, making sick ones healthier, growing seedlings into mature plants with a thought. It was cool. <BR> <BR> As Stesha's control grew, so did her boldness in experimenting. She began to try more things, more heroic things, and found she could do a lot more than she'd thought. When she concentrated hard enough, she could sort of become one with the plants, seeing through their flowers and leaves, even traveling along their vines and coming out somewhere entirely different. (The first time she did that, she nearly wet her pants, but the fear soon passed.) She could even make first dirt, then ceramic pots full of dirt, in which to place her plants. One memorable day, she even managed to snake out a vine and trip a purse-snatcher in Grant Park, sending him flying and letting the victim reclaim her belongings. She was like a superhero! She found that she needed to eat and sleep less, and that just laying in the sun made her feel totally refreshed in ways it never had before. <BR> <BR> It wasn't entirely without its drawbacks. One morning after an especially exciting evening of practice, Stesha woke up to find her hair had gone entirely green. Since that wasn't something she could hide, she decided to flaunt it, curling it up in a bun and sticking a wreath of flowers on it. Amy was a little skeptical, but the customers thought it was adorable, so she didn't give her any trouble. Stesha hadn't figured out a way to tell Amy about any of this. It just seemed so unbelievable. As she mastered her powers, though, the florist business began to seem very small. She still loved it, but she felt like she could do more. She wasn't up to the standards of, say, the Freedom League, but she could be a small superhero, she was certain. <BR> <BR> Moving out of Chicago was a real leap of faith. Amy was sorry to lose her, but she gave her a great recommendation that landed her a job in downtown Freedom City at another exclusive boutique shop. Stesha took some time to settle in and get the hang of her job and her neighborhood before she tried anything else. After a few months, though, she knew she was ready. Stesha thought about donning a domino mask, but in a city full of costumes, it seemed like it might be asking for trouble. She came up with a name for herself, Fleur de Joie, after the plant that had made her and the idea she had in mind, and set out to make the world a more beautiful place. <BR> Timeline 2009A Starlit Date: Moira sets Stesha up with a friend, Derrick Lumins (Dark Star), sure that they will get along fabulously. It turns out she's right, and the two enjoy dinner, dancing, and some very unpracticed flirting.

Wander Keeley Erin White (formerly Erin Keeley White), is the civilian alter-ego of the superheroine called Wander. Born November 11, 1992, in an alternate timeline (Freedom League Designation Earth Z-Omega-1(extinct)), Erin White arrived on Earth Prime October 17, 2008. Her legal name was changed shortly thereafter, to avoid confusion with her native double. She graduated from the Claremont Academy in Freedom City in the spring of 2011. She currently works as Chief of Security at HAX, a supertech company owned by Mara Halloman. In Erin's superhero identity as Wander, she is currently a member of the Liberty League. She's a former founding member of Young Freedom and keeps in touch with most of her old teammates. Wander's powers include superhuman agility, speed and strength, as well as an enhanced constitution that protects her from disease, poison, and most physical injury. She also has the ability to heal extremely quickly from injuries. She is a seasoned fighter and an experienced hero alone or in team-ups. Timeline 2009 SpringTouching Down: Erin arrives in Freedom City from Seattle with all her worldly possessions in a duffle bag. She is met by Alex Albright (Psyche) and Mike Harris (Phalanx) who are also starting school at Claremont Academy. The trio bonds over being the same age and uncertainty about the new school, and Alex offers to tutor Erin to help her catch up before the new school year.(Un)Familiar Faces: Erin, Alex and Mike arrive at Claremont Academy and get the ten-cent tour from Mrs. Harcourt. Alex and Erin are assigned as roommates for the summer.Going Walkabout Erin explores the school grounds on her own, but finds it difficult to let go of the habits and outlook she learned in her old life.Coping Strategies: Dr. Marquez, the school psychologist, assigns Erin to the Interdimensional Student Support Group, for kids from alternate realities. She meets several other students, including her classmates Quark and Agent H, but is quickly depressed by the stories of alternate realities and frustrated by the seemingly asinine response from the psychologist. She walks out of the group and does not attend again.Notes from Therapy: Wander Erin continues in private sessions with Dr. Marquez, but is less than communicative. As a compromise, he asks her to write stories to convey her feelings about all she has been through. SummerThe Sweet Science Erin and Mike help Coach Jones test some new gym equipment, and prepare for their upcoming placement tests.Placement Test: Wander: Mr. Archer, the gym teacher, gives Erin her combat assessment in the Doom Room holosimulator. After priming her adrenaline response with physical challenges and perceived threats to life and limb, he tells her to fight four simulated opponents using her normal fighting style. She frightens off one opponent, kills the next two messily, and nearly knocks herself unconscious fighting the last one before Mr. Archer ends the test. Both of them are badly shaken by the testing and what it reveals about Erin's readiness to fight for the side of good.What Dreams May Come Rattled by the combat assessment, Erin falls asleep and has a nightmare, inadvertently pulling her psychic roommate Alex along for the ride. Alex gets a look at the horrors of Erin's past and does her best to help, bringing the pair closer together.The Delicate Art of Thunder Erin goes with Mr. Archer to have specialized training from a powerhouse heroine called Thunderstanding. They get off to a rocky start when Erin finds it difficult to curb the reflexes that make her fight to kill, but eventually begins working on a number of drills to eventually make her safe for hero work.Making Schemes Erin strikes up a tentative friendship with Hope (Agent H), another dimensional refugee from a world overrun by Nazis.Making Friends Erin, Alex and Mike make the acquaintance of Eddie (Breakdown), a brash new student who is not sure whether he wants to be a hero or a famous DJ. That same afternoon they meet another student, Mark Lucas (Edge) a heroic legacy who already has a year at Claremont under his belt. They explore the library and meet Zaranna and her micro-raptor Squeaker, who once bit Mark during a sensitive moment while he and Zaranna were dating.Darian and Erin: Erin gets tutoring from Darian (Quark), who tries to teach her history with the use of a time-travel device. In the process she meets Dr. Tomorrow, gets a bit of her memory erased, and begins to wonder if Quark's fantastic devices might hold the key to going back and saving her world before it died. Darian opens a portal to her home on EZO1, but when she sees a moving humanoid shadow, she has a panic attack and makes him shut it down without going through.Out Tonight Mark wins tickets to a concert and invites his friends along, including upperclassman Chris Kenzie (Geckoman), partially due to his having a vehicle. They arrive at the concert to find Eddie already there, line-jumping and schmoozing. Chris winds up flirting with two supervillainesses, who try to put the whammy on him before Erin picks him up bodily and carries him out of danger, much to his chagrin.And Hell Came Knocking: Erin meets new classmate James Prophet (Hellion), scion of a prominent local family and possessor of an interesting set of hellfire-related powers. They arrange to play videogames together some night, as he is also of the rarely-sleeping persuasion.Take Me Out to the Ball Game: On a school outing to a Comets game, the gang arrive late due to some very unlucky traffic patterns and a wrong turn. By the time they arrive, the stadium has been taken hostage by villains Tech Kid and Mystic Force. The students work together to stop the villains and free the civilians, though once again Erin finds it extremely difficult to control her powers in the midst of a fight. At the end of the battle, Mark coins a team name, Young Freedom.Up All Night: Erin and James bond over a night of video games, two very guarded people letting their walls down just a little bit.Sweet Sixteen: Alex's sixteenth birthday party is all fun in the sun with Young Freedom until they uncover a map that leads to her mom's abandoned underground base. It's the perfect new HQ for a new team!Growing Up Claremont: Alex and Erin sign up for Driver's Ed and gossip about their male teammates. Erin asks Alex about Darian's time-travel suggestion, but Alex gently breaks the news that while going back in time might create a new and better timeline for a divergent Erin and her family, it will not bring back the family Erin lost. Erin is crushed but tries to hide it, and decides that now would be a good time to try sparring with Mike.Schoolyard Brawl Erin and Mike's sparring session leads to anger and hurt feelings when they tell each other uncomfortable truths that neither are ready to face. Alex steps in to try and smooth the ragged edges, but has a few unresolved issues of her own to deal with.The Other Goods Alex needs a dress for her first date with Mark, so she and Erin hit the mall. Erin manages to brave the crowds long enough to act like a normal teenager and is very proud of herself.Those Who Fight Monsters Erin comes across James sleeping in the library and, after nearly getting stabbed, learns about his nightly visits to hell courtesy of his demon-lord father. She tries to share with him a little about her world, but can't handle it and runs away. They reconcile later over Mario Kart and things go back to normal.Postgame Analysis After Alex returns from her date with Mark, she and Erin discuss how it went and what she ought to do next, then play a game of Life using house rules based on themselves and their teammates.Wandering Edge Erin and Mark work together in the simulator and learn that they make a formidable team. Erin manages to not botch a diplomatic situation, and Mark gets taken for a ride.Birthday at the Park: James treats all his friends to a day at Ocean Heights Amusement Park for his birthday, including food, rides and prepaid gift cards for the stores. Erin uses her card to augment her severely limited wardrobe and enjoys rides with her friends. At the end of the day, they fight some cultists and the emotion-controlling demon they summoned.A Three-Hour Tour: Erin tries to help recruit her friend Hope onto Young Freedom, but the effort is pretty much derailed by student shenanigans and a surprise trip to Erde.Morning in America: Erin, Mike, Mark and Chris wind up in Freedom City on Erde, while Alex, James, Eddie and Hope are sent to Erde's Kaiju Island. The foursome destroy a Nazi facility, where Erin scores a decisive victory against a small army of Nazi robots and disable a device that the Nazis had been using to contact other dimensions. They scavenge the pieces they need to repair the Resistance's teleporter, then head off to find their friends.Reunited and it Feels So Good: The students are teleported home from Erde, whereupon Eddie immediately says something dumb and insensitive about Nazis to Hope. Erin skips the debriefing to take her friend somewhere she can cool off.The Visit: Erin gives Dr. Haviland (Gossamer), the new chemistry teacher, a tour of the school grounds. She is mildly freaked out by the new teacher's impressive hair-based powers.Creative Destruction: Mike and Erin end up together in the Doom Room again, but this time on the same side. They patch up their differences, break the simulator, defeat a couple of villains, and cook up a plan to try simulator softball one of these days.Car Shopping: James takes Erin and Alex car shopping, theoretically for a vehicle for Young Freedom, then winds up sneakily buying Erin the blue pickup truck she's fallen in love with. FallTraining Maneuvers: Erin goes through another painful combat assessment from Mr. Archer in the Doom Room. This time she avoids killing any of her opponents, but begins to respond with lethal force to a powerful opponent. Mr. Archer gives her a real-life version of the padded bat she's been training with in the simulator.Sunny Afternoon Erin tries out her socializing ability by welcoming an uncertain new student to the school.The End of the World: Mike and Alex take Erin and Mark to the library as part of a convoluted scheme by Eddie and Chris for Mike to ask Erin on a date. Before anything can happen, Erin notices Mystic Force from the baseball stadium doing something nefarious with the library computers. It escalates into a standoff on the steps outside, one that is broken when Zoe Harris (Zephyr) comes hurtling back into the past from 30 years in the future to help her parents and their friends. Zoe spins a convoluted story to explain where she comes from, but eventually tells the truth to Erin and Headmaster Summers, asking them both to keep her secrets.Guitar Heroes: After Zoe's revelations, Erin assures her she will keep the secret, but advises Zoe that Alex will find out one way or another. She is surprised by the fact that she apparently lives another thirty years in Zoe's timeline, then clears out of the way so Zoe can go meet Eddie to join his band.Mysteries and Gossip: Back in their room, Erin and Alex discuss the day, including Mike's odd behavior and Zoe's appearance. Erin isn't exactly swept off her feet by the idea that Mike considers her “safe” to ask on a date, but doesn't rule out the possibility. She does her best to keep Alex from prying into Zoe's background, but is not terribly successful.Cool Air: Mike takes the advice of his friends and asks Erin out on a practice date, which she agrees to with some reluctance. They play simulator baseball, have a simulated brawl, share a milkshake, and fly over the lights of Freedom City at night. Erin feels awkward, but it's oddly nice.Some Girls: Despite Erin's best efforts to dissuade her, Alex runs a DNA profile on Zoe and discovers the truth about her parentage. Daisy (Student Body) overhears Alex's tearful discussion with Erin about how she isn't ready to be a mother, and gleefully spreads a mistaken conclusion all over school. Mike very nearly beats Mark to a pulp before Alex intervenes, and everyone starts to figure out what's actually going on. Alex and Mark break up, and Mike's experiment with practice girlfriends is finished.Beautiful City: Erin and Alex work together in the Doom Room for the first time, where Alex acquits herself well despite Erin's overprotective instincts. They are rewarded by additional homework from Mr. Archer.Memory: Mike stops by Erin's room for a chat on the awkward topic of breaking up a relationship that may or may not have existed. Erin insists that one outing as friends didn't mean anything more than that, but admits that maybe, if things were different, she might have liked there to be more.The Morning Of James and Erin play video games in the early morning hours of October 31. James mentions he's been having odd power spikes, and cagily mentions he has to deal with family business that evening. Erin shares that she's been confined to quarters for the evening to prevent accidents with partygoers. As he says goodbye, James tosses Erin the keys to his car, saying he won't be needing them. Erin misses the ominous overtone, too excited about the chance to go driving.Speak of the Devil: Halloween night, Erin begins to worry about James and goes to look for him. She finds a farewell note in his room and calls for her friends to help track him down before he does anything stupid. After a consultation with Phantom, the team heads out for a rescue mission.Another One Bites the Dust: Erin, Mark, Mike and Alex find James in an old cemetery, making his last stand against a small army of demons. There is a pitched battle, in which Alex and Mike both manage previously untouched levels of power, but it is not enough to keep James from being dragged off into hell.Fallen Friends: In the week after Halloween, Erin and Alex do research to try and find a way to reach and rescue James. They come up totally empty, and Erin begins to crack under the strain.Invasion:Riverside Gate: Young Freedom is called to fight a demonic Hellion and close the gate that is releasing a demon army on Freedom City. The fight seems hopeless, with far more demons than can be fought, until Psyche weaponizes the power of friendship and Erin controls her fighting instincts long enough to reach out to her lost friend. James comes back to himself and shuts the gate on his father, returning the city to pre-invasion calm.Rapproachment: Days after the end of the demonic invasion, James finds Erin exercising after dark and comes over to apologize to her. They mend fences over all that was said and unsaid, and Erin finally gets a chance to drive James' car with him in it.Giving Thanks: Acting with the very best of intentions, Mark invites Erin to his home for an awkward Thanksgiving dinner with his family. Erin appreciates the gesture and does her best, but is still drowning in grief for her own lost family. Her one saving grace is the mangy orange cat who seems to have adopted her, and who makes her feel better when she pets him.Beyond the Veil: Erin and Oliver turn out to support Mark when he learns the truth of his origins: his father is actually the son of Jimmy Lucas' genie pal rather than Jimmy Lucas himself, making Mark one-quarter djinn himself. Erin also has her first meeting with Phantom, a rather tense one until Phantom assures her that she won't be throwing Erin off Earth Prime. 2010 WinterMoney for Nothing: Over Christmas Break, Alex cooks up a plan to play the stock market and build up a college fund for Zoe. She hires Erin to keep an eye on the stocks at night, and helps her out by making her a stock-owning employee of the new company and dumping a basic course in the stock market into her head. Erin is not sure about any of this working, but needs money for cat food and wants to help out anyway.It's a Jungle Out There: Young Freedom goes on their first international adventure, traveling to Dakana to fight a clone of Shadivan Steelgrave. They defeat him and save his captured proles from firey volcanic death, but during the standoff, Erin learns that the Terminus was responsible for the virus that began the apocalypse in her home dimension.Fatherly Advice: Rick Lucas makes an unusual evening visit to Erin's dorm room to say that Mark will recover from his experience in Dakana and to warn her about the perfidious evil of Shadivan Steelgrave.Gazing Into the Abyss: Erin seeks out the dimensional guardian Phantom for more information about the Terminus and the man Steelgrave called Friendly. Phantom tells her about Physician Friendly and his horrible hospital on Nihilor, and confirms that he could well have killed Erin's world, but warns her that he is too well-defended for Erin to try and fight with any hope of success.Battle of the Sexes: Erin, Alex, Mike and Mark square off in a silly girls-versus-boys match to test their new simulator. The girls defeat the boys using an amusing human-size hamster ball and flee the scene to savor their victory.It Is Well With My Soul: Erin and James hear a rumor about a real honest-to-god (so to speak) angel in Freedom City. Since they both have a bone to pick with religion, they go seek out Heyzel, who does seem to be the real deal. No productive conversation ensues, but everyone gets something to think about.Title of Show: Young Freedom's training game of Capture the Flag on campus is interrupted when Erin and Mike nearly collide at high speeds with new student Faith. Mark executes a daring last-minute save and proceeds to unleash every romantic cliche he can think of to impress the pretty new girl. Everyone else proceeds to tease Mark, who totally ignores them in favor of his new and very impressed conquest.From the Shore to the Water: Alex and Erin go swimsuit shopping after being invited to James' mid-winter pool party extravaganza. They discuss strategies for Alex's ongoing seduction of Mike, as Erin attempts to find a swimsuit that doesn't make her look like a bodybuilder. Erin is not certain whether she'll have fun at James' kind of party, but promises to at least make an appearance.Beach Party in Winter James throws a temperature-controlled beach party for all his friends, and Erin goes with some trepidation. She has fun for awhile, then is roped into an uncomfortable conversation about the inevitable implosion between Mark and his girlfriend Faith.Beyond the Door: Erin goes back to St. Stephen's for another theological discussion with Freedom Angel, this time without taking James along. She keeps her temper a little better this time, long enough to ask about how Heaven works, even if she doesn't understand the answers. Freedom Angel admits that God has not spoken to his angels in nearly 1500 years, which is sobering to them both. SpringI Don't Know Kung-Fu: Erin attempts to teach her teammate Geckoman how to fight hand-to-hand after he loses his zappers in a fight against his supervillain girlfriend. They make some progress, but are hampered by fundamental differences in approaches to combat.A Day Without Powers: Some of the kids from Young Freedom agree to wear power suppressors for a day for a school project. Erin feels weak and clumsy, but is much less affected by the suppressors than some of her more powerful classmates.Midnight Meeting: While spending yet another late night in the common room, Erin meets new student Trevor Hunter, Midnight II, who is also a night owl. She offers to show him the Doom Room, and they run through a training scenario together and are reasonably impressed by each others' abilities. Erin offers to put in a good word for him with Young Freedom if he wants a team.Enter the Squid: Erin gives new student Blake, Kid Cthulhu, a quick tour of the school after Oliver gives him the cold shoulder upon his arrival.Monsters in the Streets:Bayview: With monsters attacking all over the city, Young Freedom is called to save the Pramas bridge from a trio of giant monsters set on shaking it to bits, civilians and all!New Sound: Oliver introduces Erin to another new student. Warren, called Rift, is a sound controller who is eager to meet people and get started at Claremont.Midnight Express: Erin and Trevor meet up on another late night. He takes her for a thrilling ride on his motorcycle, including a cable jump of the Pramas Bridge. They fight a little crime and have a surprisingly easy chat over coffee and cocoa, then Trevor invites Erin to a fancy dress party in a few weeks time.House of L: A sudden alert on Memorial Day draws Erin, Trevor and some of her teammates and friends to Mark's home, where he's just fought off another Steelgrave robot. They arrive just in time for the booby-trapped chassis to explode, impaling Mark with a metal shard and killing him instantly. At the hospital, Rick Lucas has a complete meltdown in a roomful of grieving heroes, lashing out at his old comrades and vanishing most of the Freedom League before making a wish that everything would be how it was supposed to be again.House of L: Wakeup Call: Erin finds herself falling onto the lawn of Freedom Hall, where she is immediately chased across town by a doppelganger who calls her “Rednaw.” Her friends have all been dropped into new, Rick Lucas-approved lives, but Erin is a wild card for some reason. They quickly discover that not following the script can lead to people being deleted or hurt, as happens to Chris when he throws a punch at his gone-evil girlfriend. They regroup aboard James' brand new spaceship (aliens being more Lucas-approved than demons) and try to make a plan to set things right.House of L: Bringing Down the House: Now reunited, Erin and her friends set off to look for Mark, and find him trapped in a warped version of his own home, apparently for safekeeping. They break him out and go to confront Rick Lucas in Freedom Hall, trying to convince him to fix the world. Erin reminds him that he is not the only one who is desperate to change the past, but this is not the way. Eventually Rick breaks down and uses his power again, dissolving the world.House of L: The End: When the world reforms itself again, Erin and her friends are standing on Mark's lawn, along with Mark's parents and Mark himself, still alive. Rick then tells his family he can't stay, that two reality warpers of his caliber would damage the world, and tells them he loves them before vanishing. A grieving Mark asks to be left alone with his mom, so his friends slowly dispersed, having won a victory that seems somehow a little hollow.No More Good Days: Mark reaches out to Alex and Erin for help dealing with his many emotions surrounding his father's disappearance and his own temporary death.Fisticuffs 2: Opening Credits: Erin attends a citywide sparring match for superheroes, looking to meet some heroes and pick up some pointers. Instead she encounters Dead Head for the first time, which results in an embarrassing loss of composure for her and an inconvenient loss of head for him.Consolations and Remembrances: After fleeing her confrontation with Dead Head, Erin comes back to campus, where James finds her crying against a tree. She pours out the story of her powers and her dead world to him, and he does his best to comfort her, for all he has to admit that she probably didn't kill Dead Head. James promises things will get better, and she tries hard to believe him.Life Lessons: Erin meets up again with Dynamo, a speedster she met at the sparring match, when he comes to Claremont for powers testing. His intrusive questions fluster her and make her question the place she's tried so hard to achieve among her fellow students.So the Drama: Alex and Erin discuss recent events in Erin's life, especially her argument with Dynamo and the upcoming fancy-dress date with Trevor. Alex floats an idea for a junior prom, despite their concerns that some of the members of Next Gen will try to make trouble.Life's Parade of Fashion: Trevor takes Erin to meet his family tailor, an elderly but spry man named Frank who designs uniforms and formalwear for superheroes and mystery men. He decides to design Erin a red dress that she is slightly unsure about, and tells them stories of the good old days.A Simple Plan: Mike asks Erin for advice on whether he should propose to Alex even though they are still in high school, and how he should do it. She is diffident, but advises him to go ahead if he thinks he is truly ready. She also recommends keeping things very simple, no flashy stuff. He thinks this is a good call.Now What Did You Learn Dynamo brings Erin flowers and apologizes for his rude behavior on their last meeting. She accepts the apology and shows him how to use a tennis ball cannon for training.Walk Softly and Carry a Collapsible Stick: Erin meets Eve, a new student who is a mute telepathic gymnast. They work out together and have a very brief sparring session, then chat about the school.Cold Case: While out on patrol, Erin happens upon a misunderstanding-fight between Dead Head and Lady Winter. She drops in and subdues Dead Head's skeleton minions, threatens the zombie for a few minutes, then takes Lady Winter back to base so Psyche can help her find a place to live in Freedom City.Just Like Old Times: James' increasingly hectic schedule has been keeping him off campus, but he and Erin eventually find an evening to catch up. They talk about his new ship, brought over from Rick Lucas' world, and play Mario Kart. SummerSummer Job Listing: Erin answers an ad for a babysitter with combat skills and winds up interviewing with Phantom and Avenger for the job of babysitting their dhampir child. She impresses Avenger with her reflexes and hard right hook and gets the job.No Mercy: With Grue rampaging in the streets of Freedom City, Young Freedom and the Interceptors team up to protect the beleaguered Freedom Medical Center from an enormous Grue monster.Nockin' on Iron: Erin and James step in to assist a pair of new heroes who get in over their heads while trying to stop a drunk and disorderly villainess from tearing up a neighborhood.High Noon: Erin and Young Freedom work together to stop a deadly solar laser blast from incinerating large chunks of Freedom City, but although they see it is a manmade threat, they cannot find who might have done it.Could've Danced All Night: Erin and Trevor attend a fancy party as the representative of the Hunter family and his date. Trevor wins major points by letting her drive his classic limo on the way, and despite a little nervous awkwardness, they have fun dancing and socializing. By coincidence, James is also at the party, and realizes his feelings for Erin have shifted, though he does not make this known. At the end of the evening, Erin asks Trevor to the prom.Save Tonight: Erin and Trevor go to the prom Alex is putting on at the AEON building, only for the evening to be ruined by Daisy conspiring to out the truth of Zoe cheating on Eddie with James. Consternation turns to near-catastrophe when Eddie responds by driving a sports car into the ballroom, hoping to hit James, and Mike nearly causes mayhem on his own when he lets anger get the best of him. Eddie and Zoe break up, Eddie gets ejected from Young Freedom, and Trevor and Erin enjoy one quiet dance in a hallway, listening to Trevor's iPod.I See What You Did There: Young Freedom faces the music from the Headmaster after the prom disaster. Erin is surprised to be complimented on her handling of the situation.Strength to Strength: Duncan Summers lines up a new mentor for Erin: the heroine Fulcrum. After seeing Wander in action in Fisticuffs, Fulcrum is slightly ambivalent, and after losing her first mentor after a short period of time, Erin is ambivalent as well. They eventually go out for lunch and have a pleasant small-talk conversation.At The Mountains Mark brings his teammates with him on a trip to the Centurion's Sanctum to make sure things are still in good shape there. When they arrive, they find Medea and Dr. Stratos trying to release Superior from the Zero Zone. Medea mind-controls Erin to attack her friends, before James and Trevor working in concert manage to subdue her and get her back to fighting the bad guys again.Giant Dragon Bees: Erin and Jack of All Blades mend some fences while stopping some giant fire-breathing bees menacing Freedom City.MAWS Erin steps in to assist the heroine Fusion when she gets in over her head, so to speak, while fighting Megalodon and his army of shark mutates.A Clearer View: James invites Erin for a tour of his spaceship, where engine troubles and passive-aggressive AIs make the tour a little more fraught than fun. James finally confesses he has feelings for her that are more than friendly, leaving Erin very confused.Coincidences: Erin helps out a street-level hero named Drifter nap a fleeing crook, then has a talk with him about what it means to be a real hero.A Better World Erin meets a dimensionally-jumping version of herself from a universe where the vaccine that empowered her was distributed, rather than the zombie-causing vaccine. The other Erin's world now has two billion superheroes running around. She warns Erin to be on the lookout for Shadivan Steelgrave, who has attacked and hurt or killed a number of Erins along their shared universal axis, and mentions that there are Erins out there in even worse shape than Wander.Lights at His Back, Stars in His Eyes: Erin and Oliver meet the new carrier of the Beacon legacy, Erin rescues Mark from another ill-advised sky-high adventure, and Trevor has trouble with his increasingly light-sensitive eyes.Crypt Tonight: Erin is assigned to go talk with Dead Head as part of her cognitive behavioral therapy for zombies. They do not make friends, but she doesn't beat him up a third time, so it's a partial victory.Calimari on the Menu: Fusion invites Erin to her home for dinner as a thanks for her help with the giant sharks. Erin attends and manages to act normal the entire time, a significant accomplishment. Joan, a reporter in her civilian life, is very interested by Erin's lack of answers about her personal life.The Other Guys James invites Erin, Eve and Trevor to his ship to discuss the possibility of interdimensional adventures.Just Another Class Trip: Erin and Trevor go with Dark Star and some of their summer school classmates to an alien world tha is quickly invaded by the Stellar Khanate. Trevor and Erin work toghether to save their less-experienced classmates and the day as well.Rose-Tinted Glasses: Trevor's powers manifest in the form of a secondary mutation: black and red eyes. Erin, who has been getting steadily closer to Trevor, is thrown for a few minutes, but she and the rest of Trevor's friends quickly begin to adjust to the change.Midnight Oil: Erin works up her nerve and talks to Trevor about James' feelings for her, and why things have been slightly strained on the new team. She also tells him that she really likes him and wants to keep getting to know him, even though they both have issues that require care and time. She kisses him, he kisses her back, and they make plans to have dinner together later.We Can Be Like They Are: Erin has another nightmare about zombies, this one about all her friends and family as zombies, with a gleeful Dead Head reminding her that every zombie she's ever killed was a person once, part of somebody's family.Case of the Mondays: Erin drags a very reluctant Oliver off-campus for a visit with the city's only super vet. FallA Trip Between Two Worlds: Erin, Trevor and Mark get pulled into an alternate dimension where everyone's gender is reversed. Mark and Marcie hit it off big time and Trevor and Tricia get along, but Erin's own insecurities and self-doubt lead to lots of friction with her double Aaron.A Doktor Who Makes House Calls?!: Erin's quiet night of babysitting is interrupted when Dr. Archeville comes by to give JJ a checkup, and then interrupted further when the doktor reads an eldritch tome that possesses him and releases a quintet of monsters into the city.* Outing: Erin goes to sit with Mark at the hospital while he watches over his sick grandmother. Rick Lucas drops in for a visit as well, his first since leaving the dimension, and warns them that trouble with the Terminus is coming. Mark asks Erin how her father died, and she tells him.Mind Games: Erin, Trevor, Mark, Blake and Warren are dropped into Anti-Earth by an evil version of Rick Lucas, swapped with their counterparts to see who survives better. Erin is horrified to learn that her double is a dimensional refugee like herself, driven mad and caged until needed as a weapon.Whistling in the Dark: A slow night in Southside results in a four villain pile-up for Erin, Gabriel, Momentum and Dyne. Gabriel gives the younger heroes the lowdown on Southside, while Erin gives Momentum a sobering look at what it really means to be a superhero.Meet the Interceptors: Erin's mentor, Mona, takes Erin to the Brownstone to meet her team, the Interceptors. Erin gets a tour of the house and a look at the simulator, but is a little thrown by the team's super-casual vibe.Midnight Run: Erin and Trevor take Erin's newly customized truck for a spin, and the words “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” are tried out for the first time. Chocolate pie, a discussion about evil ex-girlfriends and some very exciting kisses round out the evening.Midnight Confessions: Erin decides to tell Trevor exactly how she came to be on Earth Prime, just in time for zombies to attack Freedom City. Flouting the restriction that she is to stay on campus during any undead activity, Erin helps Mark get his mom to safety at Midnight Manor, then follows Trevor out to fight.Midnight in Her Eyes: Several days after the zombie uprising, Trevor goes to check on Erin, who's had a hard time settling down. They talk about what happened in the Manor, and start getting comfortable with one another again.The Quality of Mercy: Mark brings Erin some new clothes to replace what was recently ruined or given away, and to talk about his decision to heal his evil doppelganger. Erin admits that she was angry about that, given how Hex treated her own double, but that she was more unhappy because there was nothing she could do to help the luckless Singularity. Mark talks about UNISON, and Erin reveals she plans to stay in Freedom City after graduation for reasons.Settling In: Erin has a brief conversation with Corbin, a new student who Oliver found up in a tree. They have little in common, but the exchange is friendly enough.Absent But Not Forgotten: Erin and JJ go on a babysitting adventure to the park, where they are surprised to encounter JJ's often-absent mom Taylor. Erin tries to encourage Taylor to spend more time with JJ, but mostly just ends up annoying her employer a little. She does get permission to bring Trevor along on babysitting jobs.This Party's Better Than It Seems: Erin opens her birthday box from the White family in Seattle, while chatting about school and making friends with Jill O'Cure. She gets a new netbook, some sweaters, and an heirloom necklace that is half the set that was Erin Prime's inheritance from her grandmother.Kill A Man: The members of Young Freedom are invited by White Lion to visit Dakana for fun and education. On the way there, they take advantage of Dakana's lower drinking age, get tipsy via Alex's telepathy, and play Truth or Dare. Erin tells Trevor she loves him, and he returns the sentiment. At the reception, Hellion turns up for the first time in four months.Kill A Man: Boys Boys Boys: After the reception, Erin and Alex enjoy the plush furnishings of their room in the palace and discuss what Erin wants to do with and about Trevor.Inside Out, Upside Down: Erin goes with Avenger, Dead Head and a weird grown-up Jack Junior to rescue Phantom and JJ when an argument with Heshem leads to them being trapped inside the Void. Minions are beaten down, speeches are made, and eventually Taylor retakes her mantle and Erin gets a paycheck that will be the security deposit on her first apartment.Mind Over Matter: Erin visits The Lab on an assignment to assist a scientist and write a report about it. She tries helping Supercape with a quantum energy project, but is much more effective helping him fight off the Factor Four when they try to rob the place! He offers to show her any alternate dimension she likes, but she takes a raincheck, saying she's not ready to go to the world she wants to visit.House on the Hill: Erin brings Trevor with her to babysit JJ, but first he must pass Avenger's somewhat obnoxious idea of an entrance exam.Starve Free: Erin meets Harrier, a freed Omegadrone, when he comes to campus. She takes him to the Doom Room and has him sketch out everything he knows about Physician Friendly's Helpful Hospice, in the hopes of taking it down herself.All Your Bank Are Belong To Us: Erin takes Cobalt Templar out on training patrol, only for things to turn surprisingly dangerous when they find Pax trying to protect a bank from a crowd of robot robbers. Erin manages to keep either boy from being hurt and defeats the leader robot, but at the cost of several ribs. Back on campus, Jill finds her and cures her with trademark blunt snarkiness. Alternate Timelines and Characters 2009Ghosts in the Shell Set in Earth C-Future-2, Zoe Harris' (Zephyr's) home timeline. Erin and Mark, middle aged and divorced in this world, search the rubble of Freedom City for Zoe after the disaster that killed Alex and Mike. Their daughter Clara shows up to help, but all the evidence points to Zoe using her super-speed to run straight towards an explosion she could not have survived. 2010Mind Games Remix: While Wander and Young Freedom struggle to find a way home from Anti-Earth, Singularity gets an intoxicating taste of freedom as the Young Imperials try to chase her down.