superhero world building and mechanics is, this is not an exaggeration, my absolute favorite thing in the world. tell us everything.
SO everything is set in a fictional city in Delaware called Kaiyper. Why Delaware? Because it's close enough to the federal government for the presence of superheroes to be a concern but Delaware is also unassuming enough that the average American citizen would know jack shit about it.
The origin story is that there was a government funded genetics lab located in Kaiyper that was conducting experiments on rats regarding activating dormant genes. In this process they discovered a virus that appeared completely benign but actually caused the activation of a "superhero" gene in certain populations in the presence of a large amount of adrenaline. One scientist, upon learning the government intended to use it to create a superpowered army, decided the virus was too dangerous and destroyed all but one sample.
See this scientist wasn't exactly a beacon of goodness either. They still wanted to see their research flourish. And there was a man who rode the bus with them by the name of Jason Weiss who they felt was the perfect human subject to test this on. So they exposed Jason to the virus surreptitiously and then went underground.
Unfortunately even though the virus wasn't communicable in rats it proved to be in humans, and it slowly spread through the city. So people started developing superpowers out of nowhere, and no one knew the cause except the government and the lab, and they kept it hush hush for obvious reasons.
The main story takes place about 30 years after that initial infection. Jason died in a fight with the city's first supervillain. His daughter, Leona (under the codename Duchess Vespus), who only recently discovered her own superpower, has taken it upon herself to become the city's protector in his stead. She's joined by her childhood best friend Tripp Weaver, AKA Trap-Ease, and an enigmatic alien named Th'alhnan, AKA Angelface.
The city has a broad cast of supervillains, ranging from petty thieves to mass murderers, and that includes an exotic dancer named Candice Randall, stage name Candy, villain name Pound Foolish. And she just happens to be one of Leona's girlfriends.
The other girlfriend, Danielle (who belongs to my bestie @moonlube) is a member of an underground supervillain containment group composed of non-powered humans operating outside of the law to try and help control the superpowered crime wave in the city. Her partner is James, a goofball and perpetual fuck-up whose car is constantly getting wrecked by superhero shenanigans. His insurance is so high.
Most of the story revolves around Leona, Candice, and Dani trying to navigate romance amidst their clashing careers. The fun thing about the superhero gene is, its expression is not just dependent on genetics but on necessity. The primary power they develop is dependent on what they needed or wished for it to do at the time of its activation. Leona is invulnerable because she was attempting to take a bullet for someone when her power activated. Her father Jason had super strength because he was trying to stop a bus. Some people have more than one power, but it's unknown why some people develop more powers than others.
Other fun characters include
Shandar, an emperor of a now destroyed planet, forced to take refuge on earth while they plot their revenge
Diamondback, a spoiled nepo baby who has taken up supervillainy just because he was bored
The Broforce Five, five college fratboys with superpowers who think they're the rightful protectors of Kaiyper. One of them is killed early in the story and the Broforce disbands.
Abraham, a broken shapeshifting alien superweapon that can now only turn into a weird dog and a backpack. He belongs to James.
Scarabesque, a former ballerina whose career was ruined by an injury. Now wears a protective armor and uses her powers for evil. Has a little bit of a crush on Leona.
I recently started retooling the whole thing so there's some posts with more info on my blog I need to retype but that is the basics of it!!
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re: the food at the byers
i was gonna ask “why is the party always at the wheeler’s when the byers have superior food!” and then i realized. italian karen wheeler.
karen's authentic lasagna strikes again...
although consider: on special occasion (and bc the wheeler house is bigger) joyce and karen make a special latin/italian dish to appease everyone
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I have a deep belief that Roland and Curt will only sing to each other. Like, in private.
Im not explaining this well am i?
No. no i am not
Alright- so lets say its rolands birthday and curt throws him a party and everyone gathers and sings happy birthday and like you'd expect curt to be at the front singing louder than everyone with his wonderful voice…
But instead hes at the back of the room, smiling faintly and maybe mouthing the words but not singing.
And then hours later, when everyone else is gone
And its just them- like it was just them all those years ago, sitting on the couch with a guitar
Curt will open his mouth and sing happy birthday
Only for roland.
No one else
And roland will deny it
But its his favorite part of his birthday traditions
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