Ari

Dreaming Deep Far beneath the surface, under and dimensions away from the Earth, sleeps a crab-like monster little bigger than a puppy. It lies nestled in the arms of two people who love it more dearly than its own kind ever could, and its mind resides almost wholly in the Dream Dimension. Around them, for hundreds of thousands of miles, is the dream-self that those unfortunate to meet it in their nightmares have seen, a Nameless One little more horrible and soul-shattering than the Unspeakable One itself. The monster doesn't know how or why it came to Earth-Prime, it only understands that all and everything that is not itself is terrible and strong. But the people, a Chinook couple from centuries ago, found and were kind to the strangely timid extradimensional thing. Both mystically gifted, they understood the danger it presented and took it into Sub-Terra. There they could sleep eternally, guiding the horror from its nightmares and into peace. But they never anticipated the creation of the Emerald Cities, the desires of millions over the years that called to the Dreaming Deep and drew its drifting thoughts up into the humming astral hive of humanity. Feeding it with longing and dread until the little thing now dwarfs the Earth it cowers within. Now the Nameless One slowly intermingles with the people of the city, reaching into the minds of those with unusually potent hopes or fears and making them come true. These threads are becoming a rope that will pull the Dreaming Deep out into the waking world and the Emerald Cities into the shadow of the Dream Dimension where nothing will be impossible. The former Dragoneye Zhi was aware of this, but kept it secret in the foolish hope that he could use it as a status boost and leverage against the rest of the Chamber. With him dead, and no Dragoneye or local mage with the power of Ghorumazz to cast out the invader, the people of the Emerald Cities are entirely at the mercy of the monster. The couple know about the danger, but can't do much more than send their own dreams out into the upper world and search for a way to warn someone of the coming disaster. Kale-Kalakala searches the northern shore of the Columbia while her husband Pilpil-Piah combs the south. Children of Dreams, the Monsters Most people in the area of the Atlas Range have a similar recurring nightmare of going deep under ground into suffocating darkness. Most of them wake up when it starts, but a few fail to or manage to press on and that brings them into the world-warping presence of the Dreaming Deep. Nobody who gets that far wakes up unchanged, some mentally and others physically or spiritually. The horror from beyond the void lashes out at these terrifying visitors and in the material world that often translates into bodily transformation. Most people who get altered aren't really different from how they were before, but the shock of their new, monstrous form and countless eons of expectations that anything so hideous as they often turn out must be evil has severe consequences. They usually run from their old lives into the wilderness, where many of them meet and join one of the Cryptid Clans around the Columbia River delta. They are most comfortable with the wide-ranging and diverse Wood Clan. Unlike their new brethren, however, even other Changed Ones, they feel their very existence is intrinsically evil. Ironically, this is because of the Dreaming Deep's own biases and fears, but the result is that the Monsters(as they insist they be called) believe they are so because they were always evil, and that the Dream just made them on the outside what they were on the inside. Monsters can look like practically anything, even nearly-normal people, though most meld the traits of various animals with bizarre supernatural gifts. Like their shaper, all of them can inhabit the dreams of others, and some use this to travel unseen through civilization. They tend to push others in their Clan to abandon any vestiges of humanity and are often responsible for attacks and disappearances of people in the mountains, forests and water around the Emerald Cities. However, some reject this and try to use their new forms and preternatural powers to protect humans from danger or from other Monsters. Either way they have few friends, even among the accepting Wood Clan and Unhumans. _________________________________________________________________ [OOC] All Monster characters, in addition to their other traits, have the Power Super-Movement 1(Dimensional(Dream Dimension))[2PP]

The Chamber A secret society bent on perpetuating its shadow rule of the Emerald Cities, a coterie of the most powerful local figures of organized crime and some of its most diabolical secret villains, with many political figures and nascent technocrats, including Maximilian Mars of MarsTech, among its associates. ____________________________________________________________ [OOC] The Chamber is a book-canon organization, found in Secrets of Emerald City, which here has some modifications. First, counter to the status quo in the book, the Chamber and its stranglehold on what are here the Emerald Cities still exists. Max Mars is still on the board as the Commander and no Silver Storm has occurred to shatter the conspiracy's monopoly on super-powered dominance. As in the book, Zhi, the former Dragoneye of the Golden Dragon Society, is dead. Both by the weakening of his body by poison from his subordinate Feng-Li Chen and from the shock of being confronted by the neophyte superhero the Salmon. Also as in the book, the dragon's mystic power has not been granted to Chen, though no other Dragoneye has appeared. Chen has kept up appearances with magic artifacts.

The Federation Of Elites, F.O.E. In Brief: A loose affiliation for otherwise unconnected superhuman or super-skilled criminals. Background The unofficial supervillain "team" of the Emerald Cities with influence worldwide, which since the 1970s has been the name under which dozens of strangers have joined forces on countless criminal operations. Less a team than a talent pool, the Federation has leaned heavily on the philosophy of selecting specific skillsets over catch-all base-covering. This has kept them from open confrontations and in business at the expense of having little reputation outside of the members themselves. Their preferred(and only)method of contact and organization is via telepathic messages from some unknown master plotter. Thus far they've had no reason to complain. Except for the name, which was changed by petition in the 90's from the Fraternal Order of Evil to its present state. Means With access to potentially hundreds of superpowered beings and the accumulated wealth of countless jobs big and small, not very much is beyond the reach of FOE, assuming so many extreme personalities and clashing ideologies manage to work together smoothly. Motive Personal wealth and the easy life is what attracted most of the FOEs to criminal life in the first place, and so much positive reinforcement has done nothing to change their attitude. They were in it for the money and are still wholly mercenary. ____________________________________________________________________________ [OOC] F.O.E. is a book-canon organization from Secrets of Emerald City. Besides the name it is functionally identical to what is described in the book. Because it has no set membership, FOE is an excuse to use any combination of supervillains for a given thread. Pretty much any source works, from Freedom's Most Wanted, Rogues Gallery entries or the Threat Report collection from Green Ronin, Vigilance Press' Rogues, Rivals & Renegades, WordMonkey Studios' Algernon Files, or almost any other source of characters. Setting-specific details would need to be changed, but the genericizing effect of both superhero genre conventions and the need to fit things into RPGs makes that the easiest thing imaginable.

The League of Overlord Associates, "LOA" In brief: The international henchman's union. Background Thanks to decades of tradition and their relative cheapness and interchangeability, henchmen have been a reliable backbone of many supervillainous organizations. However, in the last decade or so there has been a massive push by the unpowered minions of evil to better working conditions, pay and equipment from their patrons. This so far has been grudgingly accepted by masterminds the world over, as superpowered henchmen are thus far much more unreliable, rarer and exponentially more expensive. The improvement in performance has been substantial, but time will tell if it is enough for the powerless to keep their place in the world of supers. Membership More individual-focused organizations, like Overthrow or some branches of the Ghostworks, have a very strong LOA presence, largely on account of its benefits for morale and loyalty to a mastermind who treats their underlings like people. At least nominally. Obviously, groups like SHADOW or the Foundry have little reason to care. The inner circle of the Labyrinth has a commission underway exploring the pros and cons of upgrading to LOA standards at their more permanent operations. Worldwide, the number of card-carrying members is likely in the tens of thousands and steadily growing. Means LOA-certified henchmen are typically 1-3 PL higher than normal, with Equipment/Devices to match, the Teamwork 2 Feat and 5 ranks in Knowledge(Tactics). Otherwise they're dependent on their employer and little different from other minions. Motive Improving the lot of everyone unpowered who has somehow come to work for criminal masterminds who want to variously take over or destroy the world.

Emerald City, Washington Gem of the Columbia A child of the natural wealth of the Columbia River delta, Emerald City, WA started life in what is now the district of Islandview, nestled in the rich farmland at the foothills of the Atlas Coastal Range. Over time, as its sister city to the south grew, so did the northern town, until it now stands as a smaller but still prominent city occupying the northern delta. Comparatively new, it has a more common Euro-American style and less glamorous image abroad, which has started to change after it became the center of an Archetech branch. It has a remarkably large military presence, given its size and location. Emerald City, Oregon The Facet City Originally a fort and trading post on the bank of the Columbia River built by members of the famous Stanley-Malory charting expedition 1809, Emerald City, OR is now a thriving port town and technological development center. Always friendly and welcoming to new things, the city is dramatically different from most others in the United States, with architectural, social and cultural influences from hundreds of countries across the globe and high technology made commonplace. Despite this, and its population that rivals Portland, the city suffers from a strong colonial cringe in regards to its lumberjacking, fishing and mining past, begrudging it and the kitsch culture surrounding its nominal ties to The Wizard of Oz. Districts, North: Hookville: The location of Fort Brewer Naval Base, and the housing and support center for Navy and Coast Guard personnel, families and civilian contractors. Cascadia: The location of Joint Army/Air-Force Base Clark-Gordon and their support and housing for military families, military & civilian personnel, and retirees. Bridgepoint: The center of Emerald City North, a collage of industry, businesses and housing next to the city's major civilian port. Location of Archetech West. Northern Shore: A wealthy suburban development under the shadow of looming Mt. Forge. Home of 'Mini Mumbai', a large Hindi and Punjabi community. Island View: The historic birthplace of Emerald City, rich in farms and ranches, and where most of the local mining interests and workers are. Districts, South: Oceanside: The Outer Peninsula of the Arcadian Peninsulas, separated by the Bronze River, location of the major airport and aerospace facilities. Houses the low-risk prison Arcadia. West Vallee: The Inner Peninsula of the Arcadian Peninsulas, separated by the Red River, a working-class district with a heavy focus on manufacturing. Abutts the middle-class suburbs of Arcadian Peaks. Lakeside: An enclave of the rich, eccentric and reclusive around the shores of the artificial Lake Vallee(pronunciation contested). Many of the city's new tech barons live here. Eastern District: The dense center of Emerald City's East Asian population, with the majority being colorful Jadetown's Chinese and austere Little Osaka's Japanese. Sunset Hill: The lofty seat of Emerald City's old money, home to a large gated community of out-of-town eccentrics. Location of beautiful Overlook Park. Royal Hill: The thriving upper-scale business and housing outside downtown. Location of the famous art-deco Crown Tower Hotel. Riverfront: Emerald City's downtown and birthplace, home of its major businesses, city government, numerous art and culture centers, and the famous Yellow Brick Row shopping blocks. University Hill: Formerly Gallows Hill, the town's execution site, now a sprawling campus for well-regarded Emerald City University. Location of the persistently-innovative Parker Sciences Building. Southern Shore: A sprawling suburb that reaches from downtown to the vast Elysian Forest, site of the mini-Silicon Valley of MarsTech Campus, tech development center. Bethlehem Heights: Another working-class community that used to be the center of Emerald City's lumber and mining workforce. Site of Bethlehem Heights Psychiatric Hospital. The Islands Stepstone Islands: Carry the bridges between Islandview, EC-WA, and Bethlehem Heights, EC-OR Fortress Island: Home of the dour Fortress Island State Penitentiary, the high-security prison. Council Island: Location of an upscale community in the shadow of the Astoria-Megler Bay Bridge, also home of Devlin, a massive rusted-copper green derelict Devestoid from the Devestoid Disaster of 2005. Malory Island: Home of the city's lighthouse. What Needs Doing Thanks to their distance from the major super-human capital of Freedom City the Emerald Cities enjoy a relatively super-crime-free existence. ECS's enormous wealth and access to supertechnology hasn't attracted any superhuman thieves or the likes of even hyper-competitive Dr. Otaku. Its branch of A.S.T.R.O. Labs has this far failed to produce any accidental monsters, madmen or misfits and if any mutations have occurred from the Columbia River's tainting by upriver nuclear plants it has been well-hidden. Even their famous viridian gemstones appear to lack the supernatural qualities attributed to them by superstitious 19th century miners. ECN's military installations and experimental hardware have thus far failed to catch the attention of any would-be worldbeaters. The only supercriminals likely to be encountered are foreigners, most likely hired by the major cartels and mob branches known or suspected to operate in the Emeralds. Despite that, the "mundane" criminal element is still a serious threat to the lives and livelihoods of those in their territory, and some parts of the inner Eastern District are nearly impenetrable without an understanding of the power structure of the local Triad or Yakuza. Besides human evil, the Pacific Northwest is quite geologically active and presents many damgers of its own. Earthquakes, while not as common as further south, are still regular events. Living in the shadow of the Atlas Range also puts the cities at risk from mudslides and avalanches, while the Red River Dam and the Columbia River pose significant flooding hazards. Out to sea, the steady shipping traffic and passage of civilian vessels has started to draw the ire of the nearby Umiquan Empire, the warlike fish-people beginning to get very threatening about the pollution, noise and garbage. Closer to home, the Elysian Forest, Atlas Mountains and Columbia have been hotbeds of rumors about strange creatures and mysterious sights, disappearances and inexplicable events since the area was ruled by the Chinook. Any heroes setting up in the region will have plenty of crank calls about UFOs, wingéd shadows and Sasquatches to deal with, long before the conspiracy theorists start to just accost them in the street. The Emerald Cities, especially ECS, have long had a simultaneous problem with a substantial homeless population and human trafficking. The neglect of one has not helped the other, and of all the problems in the city that needs heroes the most, caped or otherwise. But there aren't any local supervillains. There never have been. Honest.