Well, it took nine months, but my much-needed political detox has ended, and now...
Anyway, I'm MrVulcan, and I'm here to share some worldbuilding projects of mine. What are these projects? I'm glad you asked.
The Nickstaverse: My main world. It's a one-man superhero universe with fantasy and sci-fi elements. It's got puns, serious powers AND silly powers, a quasi-elemental magic system, 60+ alien species, 40+ sapient mythical creatures, 0 non-Abrahamic deities and a surviving USFL. On The Frontier: An alternate future world set in 2222 with aliens and other weirdness. Return to Skylands: I do what Activision won't and come up with more Skylanders stuff. Tales from Elmer Sterrett High: Arthur, but with monsters instead of furries. Worldwide Warriors: Watchmen, but happy.
I'll post stuff about them here. Hopefully regularly, but I'm not making any promises.
14000000000 BC: The Father decides to create a universe, which He populates with angels. Unfortunately, some angels aren't happy with this arrangement and fall from grace. They are cast into Hell and become the first demons.
10000 BC: Sapience develops on Terra. The first two protosophonts, Adam and Eve, quickly fall from grace.
9975 BC: Cain, son of Adam and Eve, kills his brother Abel. After having to go to the afterlife alone, Abel takes up the job of accompanying souls to the afterlife so no one will ever have to face the same soul-crushing loneliness he did, thus becoming the Grim Reaper.
7000 BC: The protosophonts diverge into all 47 of the biological Terran sophonts.
3000 BC: The Father creates the lights to populate a new dimension of His, which would eventually be called Newland.
1000 BC: The golems are created to protect The Father’s chosen people, the Israelites.
1 AD: The Son comes to save the souls of the universe.
33 AD: The Son is put to death on the planets He visits, but is resurrected after three days.
1336 AD: The ogre chief Shrek stops the advances of Lord Farquaad’s armies into ogre territory.
1561 AD: British mage Finley Langhorne discovers Newland while tinkering with dimensional spells. Britain uses it as a dumping ground for Catholics, much to his chagrin.
1810 AD: The dark wizard Akumu places a curse on the Edo-era superhero Kami No Yōna’s descendants.
1889 AD: The first Dr. Anomalous founds the Society for the Cataloguing Of Unusual Things.
1939 AD: The British superhero Egret becomes the first superhero to enlist in WWII, flying to other countries in an attempt to convince them to join the Allies.
1942 AD: The V-Squad was formed as the first national superhero team. They would disband after WWII ended.
1945 AD: Hiroshima and Nagasaki are nuked, causing a spike in dormant but uncontrolled super-mutations in Japan’s population.
1989 AD: The Battle of Tiananmen Square leads to the collapse of the People’s Republic of China.
1991 AD: The Soviet Union collapses.
—RECENT EVENTS BELOW; REMEMBER TO SHIFT EVERY FEW YEARS—
2000 AD: Fireball, Glow, Poisoner, Nanosecond, and Icebox form The League of Incredible Heroes. They face off against villains like Edgelord Deathslayer, White Knight I, Debreather, ALPHA, Sun Goddess, The Crowns of Hell, and Beast Mode.
2003 AD: Atering Vuvusol lands in Tahlequah, Oklahoma on Terra and warns the Terrans of the Jhinu as he did to several other races, and helps to found the Orion Alliance. Here he also meets Margaret Johnson, whom he would eventually marry. Shortly after Vuvusol’s arrival, the Jhinu War begins with the invasion of Zeel. Following this, Space Knight becomes the first Earth superhero to enlist in the war.
2004 AD: The first human/alien hybrid babies are born, beginning the Hybrid Baby Boom.
2007 AD: The Battle of Boulder ends in a resounding victory for the Orion Alliance, albeit with the deaths of Mr. Shock, Daedalus, Faker, and the Human Rocket.
2009 AD: The Jhinu War on Earth ends with the Battle of Gary and a total of 50 million Terran deaths (and 39 superhero deaths). In response, the city-controlling light superhero Gothamopolis rebuilds the city from scratch even better than it was before. Unfortunately, the strain is too much for him and he dies. Out of respect, the new city is named Gothamopolis in his honor. The LIH disbands shortly afterwards, having decided they’ve fought enough.
2010 AD: The Octette makes their debut. / The Alliance of Evil makes their debut.
2011 AD: The Corps makes their debut, shortly followed by the Redeemed.
2012 AD: Dr. Destruction attempts to conquer Tacoma, Washington, but is stopped by a group effort from multiple heroes, culminating in Dr. Destruction committing suicide via orbital laser cannon.
2013 AD: The US becomes the first country to establish a national superhero team, The Federal Bureau of Superheroics. The Super Education System, or SES, is also founded to teach superpowered teenagers how to be superheroes. / The Destroyers make their debut.
2014 AD: The Force of Nature makes their debut.
2015 AD: The Junior Supes of Gothamopolis make their debut. / Color Force makes their debut.
2016 AD: The Four Horsemen are locked away in the Jail Dimension, but not before Pestilence infects a bystander named Serena Ramirez with every disease known to mankind to give her his powers. / The Fiendish Fifteen, Sick Six, and Vice Squad make their debut.
2017 AD: Foundry is arrested in Weaverton. / The Energetics, Iron Legion, and Wuxing Warriors make their debut. / The Bullies defect from the Colorado State Super Academy to become evil.
2018 AD: The Six Heroes make their debut. / White Knight I is killed by Aaron Archer. / Team Tachyon make their debut.
2019 AD: The Starlets make their debut. / The Clobber Crew, The Dominion, and The Rivers of Hades make their supervillain team debut.
2020 AD: KenCo puts together their KenCo Rainbow Warriors. / Eight escaped alien convicts form the supervillain team Crash Site Omega.
2021 AD: The Ten Plagues Incident occurs in Gothamopolis.
2022 AD: Xenox, Psionica, Hothead, Zeppelin Girl, and Rush form the Halfbreeds after escaping from ALPHA custody in Weaverton, Washington. To prevent this from happening again, ALPHA forms its Empire Division.
Here's a rundown of every (American) superhero and supervillain team I've made for the Nickstaverse!
The Big Dogs Federal Bureau of Superheroics (30): America's national superhero team and the first responders if something big happens
Notable Super Academies INSA (30): Indiana's state super academy, located in Gothamopolis WASA (20): Washington's state super academy, located in Weaverton COSA (18): Colorado's state super academy, located in Bold City
Independent Hero Teams
The Anomaleague (9): The errand boys of the Society for the Cataloguing Of Unusual Things, and the best stoppers of very unusual crimes The Energetics (7): An all-energy controller team The Force of Nature (5): A weather-themed team that didn't get the memo that the Iron Age ended The Halfbreeds (5): A relatively new team made entirely of half-alien teenage girls The Iron Legion (5): An all-power armor-user team The KenCo Rainbow Warriors (7): A corporate-backed team that somehow isn't corrupt The Octette (8): A well-established all-female team The Redeemed (5): A team of ex-villains who were bad, but now they're good The Six Heroes (6): Equal parts superhero team and comedy troupe The Starlets (5): A team based off Sailor Moon made by a guy who knows nothing about Sailor Moon The Wuxing Warriors (5): A classical Chinese-elements themed team
The Big Three of Evil
The Alliance of Evil (30): America's largest supervillain team, based in Gothamopolis The Destroyers (15): The former minions of the late Dr. Destruction, based in Weaverton The Fiendish Fifteen (15): The surprisingly successful new villains on the block, based in Bold City
Other Villain Teams
The ALliance for the Protection of Human Achievement (ALPHA) (4): A human supremacist hate group with a division of trained mercenaries The Bullies (7): Seven teenage defectors from COSA The Clobber Crew (6): An all-brawler team The Corps (8): Eight power armor-clad mercenaries Crash Site Omega (8): Eight escaped alien convicts with a hatred of all things Earth The Crowns of Hell (6): Superpowered Satanists The Dominion (5): A gang of far-right sycophants Onslaught (3): An all-duplicator team The Rivers of Hades (5): A team of shockingly effective edgelords The Sick Six (6): A team of truly warped disease-lovers Team Tachyon (7): An all-speedster team The Vice Squad (7): A gang of superpowered thugs bent on funding their addictions
Members of the Federal Bureau of Superheroics (in alphabetical order so no members can complain)
Bandage (Cleopatra): A mummy who can ensnare people in her bandage-like flesh Bird of Paradise (Sabrina Castilho): A Brazilian beauty with a magic amulet that lets her turn into a macaw Bombshell (TN-20): A gynoid with miniature bomb factories for hair Burning Man (Bruce Tent): A flaming green skeleton with military training Captain Cactus (Tom Crow Foot): A Navajo cactus-man Cobalt (Veronica Steele): Basically just blue female Iron Man Crusader (Steve Bird): He has the power of God on his side (no anime though) Demoness (Kendra Johnson): An Army vet who turns into a demon-like creature when she has a PTSD attack Dr. Night (Roy Neville): A Cleveland district attorney who became Batman Eclipse (Renee Watson): An amateur astronomer-turned-cosmic dynamo of light and darkness Fallout (Bonnie Barnes): A sentient cloud of radioactive ash Fauna (Amelie Thibodeaux): A Haitian immigrant with animal control and mimicry powers Fluoridated Man (Frederick Alexander): A former conspiracy theorist made of Teflon Folder (Chitose Furukawa): An amateur mage who can bring her origami to life Grail (Maria Bird): Crusader's amazing wife with the healing power of the Holy Grail Grandmaster (Tucker Scheving): A former FBS office worker who got his hands on the supervillain Checkmate's chess gadgets Halloween Man (Owen Albertson): A festive fear controller Ketuwong (Ro Sul): An alien from the planet Zeel with laser eyes, super strength, flight, intangibility, and material mimicry Medusa (Medusa): A gorgon who used to work as a museum curator Miss Methane (Cassandra Crawford): A flatulent crimefighter with connections to the Society for the Cataloguing Of Unusual Things Multiplier (Mark Song): A former streamer who turned to superheroics after his mutant duplication powers manifested Patriot (G. I. Joe Parker): An americophile with more guns than IQ points Queen Bee (Heather Schmidt): A former model who turns into a bee-person when stung by bees Shatter (Leona Masters): A scientist with a freeze ray and an itchy trigger finger SigmaX (Project Sigma X): A robot with a jet thruster and four arms full of laser pistols Stormer (Rodney Ritter): A charming Southern weather controller Super Duper Man (Harley Cahill): wish.com Superman T-Wreck (Rex Peters): A T-Rex-man with human-proportion arms Timelapse (Tim LeMont): A time controller who mostly makes things old Vwurmp (Joel McGill): A portal creating vagrant with nothing better to do
Bandage: Can unravel her bandage-like flesh to entangle enemies Bird of Paradise: Magic amulet that lets her turn into a macaw Bombshell: Miniature bomb factories inside her hair puffs Burning Man: Pyrophoric skin (but he's figured out how to control his burnination enough to ditch the suit) Captain Cactus: Sharp spines and photosynthesis Cobalt: Suit of Iron Man-esque power armor Crusader: Sword that can summon lightning strikes and create fissures Demoness: Turns into a demon-looking creature when stressed Dr. Night: Basically just Batman Eclipse: Darkness control on the left, light control on the right, flight everywhere Fallout: Body of radioactive ash that can fly, squeeze through small openings, and shoot gamma rays Fauna: Animal mimicry and animal control Fluoridated Man: Teflon skin, fluorine and hydrogen fluoride breath, and hydrofluoric acid sweat Folder: Can bring her origami to life Grail: Healing touch and force fields Grandmaster: Chess piece-shaped weapons Halloween Man: Fear control Ketuwong: Laser eyes, super strength, intangibility, flight, and material mimicry Medusa: Petrifying eye blasts Miss Methane: Can eat a special berry to produce foul-smelling gas to release on villains Multiplier: Duplication of not just himself, but pretty much everything Patriot: Guns, guns, and more guns Queen Bee: Turns into a humanoid bee whenever stung by a bee Shatter: Liquid nitrogen gun SigmaX: A jetpack and quadruple-wielding laser pistols Stormer: Weather control Super Duper Man: Basically just Superman T-Wreck: Super strong, super tough, and super smart Timelapse: Time control, which he mostly uses with relation to aging Vwurmp: Portals, portals, and more portals
Here's where the Nickstaverse all started: the Indiana State Super Academy. I started out with just 18 students, but I eventually expanded the student body to 30, and alsoo made it be one of 50 Super Academies in America.
But I digress, Indiana's is based in Gothamopolis, a city built on the ruins of Gary that functions as the Fort Worth to Chicago's Dallas. Here are the thirty students attending INSA:
Amaranth Archer (Aaron Archer): A bow-and-arrow user who's cleaning up the streets for his big sister Argent Archer while she's off at college Atlan (Atlan): The heir apparent to the throne of Lake Michigan, childhood friend of Pyro and Light Bulb, and an expert in underwater combat Blackout (Marilyn Shelby): The daughter of the retired supervillain Edgelord Deathslayer, she can create dark energy constructs and portals Blockhead (Rockwell): A dimwitted but well-meaning earth golem from Gothamopolis's Golemia neighborhood who is made of stone, obviously Chlora (Dinah Rosenberg): A orphaned plant who was adopted by a nice Jewish couple and has elastic vine-like limbs and pollen and pheromone shots Chronokid (Martin Pali): A kid who uses the time-controlling harness his dad invented to be an awesome athlete, thrill-seeker, and superhero Deadweight (Sanjay Kenchen): The son of the two Indian inventors behind several useless knickknacks, he invented a gravity belt that lets him control gravity Deep Freeze (Malcolm McMurdo): The son of the ice-controlling superhero Icebox, he inherited his dad's powers and love of freezing villains Enferma (Serena Ramirez): A Mexican immigrant whose life was complicated by her autism and her gaining disease manipulation powers Format (Jack Hanssen): A shapeshifter whose bullying days ended with Pyro, Light Bulb, and Atlan taking him down back before they all went to INSA Hairspray (Cassandra Agarra): A Afro-Chicano girl who found out she was actually Fassai-Chicano, and thus had prehensile hair to tie up villains with Human Balloon (Rebecca Charleston): An aspiring school reporter who gained the ability to inflate her body like a balloon thanks to a chemical drenching Kid Strychnine (Brian Espada): The son of the poison-controlling hero Poisoner and the femme fatale anithero Scorpion who turned out to be a major class clown Light Bulb (Kiara Bright): The daughter of the light-controlling heroine Glow, she's Atlan's friend, Pyro's girlfriend, and an all-around nice girl Magix (Nicole Pearson): A magical prodigy who, in her spare time, enjoys styling her friends' hair, growing ice cream cones, and messing with villains Magnus (Henry Weber): A superhero whose power lineage had defied the odds by lasting from the Civil Rights era to today, baffling geneticists Mimic (Sandra Vuvusol): A half-Cherokee, half-Jhinta girl whose family moved from Tahlequah to Gothamopolis to get the best super education Morningstar (Lucifer): A light golem whose parents' choice to give him a traditional light golem name led to a turn to crime, and eventually, redemption Nitro (Alan Berryman): The son of the speedster Nanosecond, he can run fast enough to confuse any villain, but not phase through walls, that'd be ridiculous Phantom Load (Electra): A lightning golem who, like, just wants to text her followers about how on fleek her electricity-controlling superheroine game is Princess Precious (Katrina Zorin): A human-metal golem hybrid who can turn into metal, and use her father's wealth responsibly to fund her supercareer Pyro (Isaiah Goratski): The son of the fire-controlling superhero Fireball, he's Light Bulb's boyfriend, Atlan's best friend, and is the school's de facto leader Rainboy (Benjamin Harvey): The son of INSA counselor Rainbro, he can shoot rainbows to light up those villains with the full visible spectrum Slickster (Stephanie McQueen): A human-blob hybrid whose liquid body greatly aids her in fighting villains and pranking fellow students with Kid Strychnine Sonar (Bruce King): The son of the late sound-controlling heroine Scream who turned around his dad's anti-super views through defeating the villain that killed his mom Telp (Harold Rhodes): A half-Varanyi kid who has telekinesis and telepathy, which he uses to be a big nerd who gets stuffed into lockers and does math Vampira (Anna Huang): A half-Chinese, half-vampire girl who has her mother's chiropteran and gaseous forms and her father's sun resistance Vapora (Rei): A gaswinder who, like all gaswinders, can turn into thick black smoke to obscure the battlefield and suffocate villains without breaking a sweat Zapotron (Zapper #ZP40): A robot who's super smart, super strong, and has telescopic limbs to better rope in his friends for congratulatory hugs Zomboy (Tarık Çürük): A rising zombie hero who had to flee his home in Türkiye due to his Christian faith and take his tankiness to Gothamopolis
Here's another Super Academy, this time based out of Weaverton, Washington, a newer, better Tacoma built after Dr. Destruction laid waste to the city. Here are the twenty students:
Bast (Michelle Berry): A cat person who gained the ability to turn into an actual cat person after a villain team broke an enchanted Egyptian vase on her Bluebird (Rita Allman): The daughter of WASA vice-principal Blue Jay, she's just here for her mom and is planning on just being a reserve Cleidd (Arwen Moonlight): A light elf who moved to Weaverton from Newland and is armed with a sword and lack of knowledge of Earth culture Clobber (Eddie Atkins): A super strong and nigh-invulnerable kid who caught WASA's attention after hospitalizing his abusive dad Donald (Donald Jacobson): A socially awkward autistic savant who mostly helps out by building gadgets that would amaze Jimmy Neutron Easifa (Saqib Sadoon): A Syrian-born weather controller who moved to America to be with his extended family and to get a better super education Hypnotic Boy (Xavier Shields): The illegitimate son of a disgraced KenCo executive and his Pakistani housemaid who uses his mind control to shore up his ego Jumper (Curtis Garcia): A teleporting prankster who can make heroes laugh, villains annoyed, and his teachers wonder if he's going to do his homework Laser (Satya Roshanee): A young girl who has a metabolic disorder that causes her to occasionally shoot devastating lasers, hence the control rod Littlefoot (Charlie Stevens): A sasquatch who was orphaned in a forest fire and adopted by two brothers who didn't read the fine print on the "Adopt-a-Squatch" site Nighthawk (Nina Suarez): An energy controller who can create silver energy constructs, shoot laser blasts, and fly by creating silvery wings Projecta (Laura Oxford): The disowned illusionist daughter of the controversial Rev. Gregory Oxford, leader of an anti-superhuman Protestant denomination Shadow (Suki Nakamura): A Japanese immigrant who can turn into a shadow thanks to the combination of a superhuman ancestor and a curse placed upon him Shocker (Manny Park): A half-Korean, half-Kadathari kid who can shoot lightning to fry supervillains and charge his friends' phones Spinnerette (Gwen Peterson): A superhero geek who irradiated a spider and let it bite her to get spider powers, and ending up becoming a giant humanoid spider Starlight (Latrell Compton): An energy controller who can create gold energy constructs, shoot laser blasts, and fly by creating a golden aura Toxin (Carrie Hart): A girl with a toxic touch that she only recently gained control over, thanks to an experimental toxin being partially neutralized by true love's kiss Triton (Tolumanatu): The second-in-line to the throne of Puget Sound after his superhero big sister, whom he is following in the footsteps of White Witch (Leticia Davis): A magical prodigy who would very much like to use her powers for good, no matter what her weird Christian uncle thinks Wraith (Lucas Stone): A kid who was turned into a cyborg by his evil dad to be his henchman, only for him to be rescued by the FBS and start going to WASA
Here's the last Super Academy. This one is from Bold City, Colorado, which is just Boulder renamed after a battle during the Jhinu War. Here are the eighteen students:
Brainwave (Ellen Benson): A prank-loving telepath who has surprisingly good grades considering she doesn’t pay much attention Brawn Boy (Tony Patton): A super strong and invulnerable jock who misses being able to compete in high school sports like the normies Coldsnap (Annie Arthur): A lovelorn ice controller who misses her middle school sweetheart from Colorado Springs every day Diva (Deliza Vaughan): A sassy sound controller who loves the 70s because of the fashion, the music, and the Civil Rights Act being a thing Draft Punk (Enrique Noriega): An air controller who formed a fast friendship with Nasr and helps him fly longer by giving him updrafts Emotive (Angela Riley): An emotion controller who keeps getting in trouble for cheering up her fellow students with her powers Flicker (Sophia Jefferson): A studious teleporter who sees herself as more of a student and is often too busy doing homework to fight crime Impact (Robert Ashford): COSA’s de facto leader who can absorb energy to strengthen himself, and worries his evil dad will escape Tartarus IQ (Ignacio Quesada): A precognitive with little-to-no human empathy as powers make him reduce everything to an equation he can solve Nasr (Firefeather): A roc who emigrated from Jordan and formed a fast friendship with Draft Punk, who gives him updrafts to fly longer Nettle (Arvok): The son of two Prylenish diplomats from Sha-Prylen who helped the Prylenish join the Orion Alliance and loves Earth Nighttime (Lisa Remington): A shy, withdrawn, socially awkward sleep inducer, and the slightly younger twin sister of Sleeper Outcast (Denephew Sanford): A repeller from a bad neighborhood who hopes that he can become a famous hero to help out his neighborhood Puddle Girl (Xiuli (Julie) Chen): A Chinese immigrant girl who can turn into liquid, but is only starting to learn how to move as a liquid Sleeper (Andrew Remington): Nighttime’s slightly older twin brother who hopes to get his sister to be more outgoing, but might go too far at times Stretch (James Meyer): An elastic good-natured slacker who could definitely use some discipline, as he's often seen being funny rather than actually working Thunderboy (Ted Johnson): A brash young electricity controller who uses his recklessness to hide his survivor’s guilt for letting a villain kill his girlfriend Timestream (Tim Rivera): A time controller who feels like his ability to control time itself makes him better than everyone else
The Halfbreeds are a superhero team that formed very recently; in 2022, in fact. Made of five half-alien girls born in the Hybrid Baby Boom who escaped the clutches of the infamous Pacific Coast Cell of the Alliance for the Protection of Human Achievement (ALPHA) and trained by the students of INSA in Gothamopolis, they have been dubbed "the next Octette" by Super Scoop magazine.
The members are:
Sakura "Xenox" Miyazaki, the leading, maternal, half-Japanese, half-Jhinta capable of copying others' powers
Delia "Psionica" Caulfield, the bright, sunny, half-Black, half-Varanyi with telekinesis and telepathy
Sonia "Hothead" Gutierrez, the tech-loving, laid-back, half-Cuban, half-Mandaarian capable of shooting fire
Xinlei (Cindy) "Zeppelin Girl" Wu, the serious, assertive half-Chinese, half-Kalishari capable of inflating her body like a balloon
Akshara "Rush" Gaur, the distracted, broody half-Indian, half-Harkarthian with super speed
You ever wonder where all the superhero science breakthroughs happen? Well, they happen at KenCo!
Founded by Ken Stevenson Sr. in 1994, the company quickly made a name for itself through the creation of many technologies superheroes take for granted. Unfortunately, they'd eventually cause a number of supervillain-creating industrial accidents.
To make up for their corporate negligence, KenCo decided to create The KenCo Rainbow Warriors, one of the first corporate superhero teams. The current CEO, Ken Stevenson Jr., found seven interns who wanted to be superheroes, and did some fancy-schmancy genetic alteration to them to give them superpowers. Now they're ready to save lives, because no people means no customers. Those lucky interns were:
Alondra "Red Racer" Daniels, a speedster and Orange Overload's elder twin
Shakenya "Orange Overload" Daniels, a electricity controller and Red Racer's younger twin
Megan "Yellow Yell" Collins, a sound controller who was the ex-girlfriend of the first villain the Warriors fought
Theo "Green Gateman" Coleman, a portal creator who mostly joined for the glory
Sameera "Blue Band" Zufar, a stretcher with a hijab-compliant costume
Erisu (Alyssa) "Indigo Insect" Yanagimoto, a shrinker who keeps her strength while shrunk
Ryan "Violet Visor" Garvin, a token white guy with laser eyes
The Octette is one of the oldest intact superhero teams in America. Formed in 2010 and staying together without any lineup changes since, the Octette have proven to be one of the best in their field.
The team was formed all thanks to one chase in Savannah, Georgia.
While fleeing some local superheroes, the late supervillain Optimus splashed passerby Ashley Powell with mutagen containing Kalishari DNA as a distraction. Ashley's torso ended up inflating to over a hundred times its normal size with a helium isotope, causing her to float like a balloon. Luckily, a flying hero was able to keep her from floating off into the stratosphere.
Afterwards, Ashley became really sad that she had blown up like a balloon on local TV, and that got worse after she found out strong emotions, electric shocks, and even just thinking too much about inflating would cause her to reinflate.
However, Ashley's father, a veteran in the Jhinu War, knew that the Kalishari were some of the best heroes in the war, and his daughter could be a hero with that power. So, to remedy her sadness, he sent out an ad for other superpowered ladies around his daughter's age to come to their home and show him what they had. Seven people applied:
Julie "Chicle" West, a former teen actress from LA who was trying to branch out into a music career before her jilted ex turned her into bubblegum
Iris "Chemigal" Tillman, a college student from Philadelphia who had an experiment blow up in her face, giving her the ability to shoot any type of gas from her pores
Vanessa "Iron Maiden" Scott, an aspiring swimmer and former mean girl from Miami who was turned into iron by a victim of her bullying
Deshondra "Lion Queen" Thornton, a vigilante and super-nerd from St. Louis who cleaned up her neighborhood's streets with a utility afro full of gadgets
Andrea "Miss Appearance" Alvarez, a mutant from Dallas who was born invisible, but helped take out a supervillain by ditching her power-nullifying bracelet
Tomoko "Phosphora" Nakayama, a Seattle native with pyrophoric skin who made headlines after future FBS member Burning Man gave her his old containment suit
Allison "Raptor Girl" Nylund, a tomboy from Rapid City who nicked herself with an irradiated velociraptor claw and was mutated into a velociraptor-person
Pictured left to right: Chicle, Chemigal, Dirigibelle, Iron Maiden, Lion Queen, Miss Appearance, Phosphora, Raptor Girl
The other girls were able to help Ashley see that she could use her mutated body to prevent villains from messing up peoples' lives, and they formed a team, with Ashley taking on the name "Dirgibelle".
When the team formed, they originally didn’t have a name, but the media latched onto the fact all the members were girls and called them The Octette, complete with feminine -ette ending. (Strange how all-male teams never get cute masculine nicknames.)
The Octette was mostly a local team at first, but in 2012, they were thrust into the national stage after they helped defeat Dr. Destruction at the Battle of Tacoma. During the battle, Dirigibelle proved her usefulness by using her rapidly expanding body to break up crowds of Destructoids. Since then, they've helped stop plots by teams ranging from The Crowns of Hell to The Sick Six to Crash Site Omega. This has won the team many Supie awards, and even more Supie nominations.
Pictured left to right: Chicle, Chemigal, Dirigibelle, Iron Maiden, Lion Queen, Miss Appearance, Phosphora, Raptor Girl
The Octette have also become quite the pop culture phenomenon. You might remember the time Dirigibelle shilled for Gas-X, the time Lion Queen shilled for Dove shampoo, or the time Chicle shilled for Trident. They even cameoed in the superhero-themed sitcom "How to Save the World".
All in all, the Octette have proven themselves one of America's premier superhero teams.
The Society for the Cataloguing Of Unusual Things or SCOUT is a public organization dedicated to categorizing all the effects of magic and other general weirdness.
The organization was founded in 1889 by frontier doctor Stanley Charles Pierce and Elijah Bradley in the small town of Kota, Minnesota. The day of the founding, Pierce found a glass lantern that didn’t break no matter how intensely he battered it. Taking it to local arcanologist Elijah Bradley, Pierce discovered that the object was imbued with innate magical energy. Pierce became obsessed with finding more magical objects with Bradley's help, eventually founding SCOUT.
In the over a century since, SCOUT has grown to encompass every country on Earth, and operates several subsidiaries, including The Gallery Of Unusual Things or GOUT, a museum of unusual objects, The Survey Of Unusual Places or SOUP, a travel guide specializing in unusual places, and The List Of Unusual Diseases or LOUD, a home medicine guide for treating unusual illnesses.
The Pierce lineage has kept control of SCOUT under the nom de bizarre Dr. Anomalous. In 2015, SCOUT created their own nine-member superhero team called The Anomaleague. They were enlisted after the current Dr. Anomalous offered to take the superpowered art collective Is That Cool Or What? under his wing as community service for causing an outbreak of Stendhal syndrome. The lineup consists of:
Agony, a pain inducer who led ITCOW Butcher, a predatory animal controller with Down Syndrome Cranky, a robot of variable intelligence depending on Wi-Fi strength Diamond Mike, a former spelunker made of crystal Gloom, a darkness controller who wasn’t actually in ITCOW; she was Dr. Anomalous’s stepdaughter Madnut, a retired ent superhero Screech, a scientist with sound-projecting power armor Seism, a former acrobat with vibration powers Slasher, a former NHL player who took up art during a suspension, and now has anti-gravity skates
In 2018, some believed SCOUT intern Cassandra Crawford (now Miss Methane) could become a tenth member after her mutant flatulence powers manifested, but she chose to join the Federal Bureau of Superheroics instead.
Left to right: Agony, Butcher, Cranky, Diamond Mike, Gloom, Madnut, Screech, Seism, Slasher
The Alliance of Evil is America's largest supervillain team, with 30 members. For the Big Three of Evil, I'm just going to share their powers, as their backstories aren't as important. If you want to know about their backstories, just ask.
Battery Man (Will Harley): Energy absorption to become stronger and eventually shoot lasers Big Cat (Jason Prendergast): Martial arts expertise Blackstar (James Black): Density control Captain Laser (Tim Miyamoto): Laser pistol and jetpack Color Wheel (Vincent Sturgeon): Twelve different varieties of energy blast, each in a different color Count Olanik (Ludwik Olanik): Vampiric shapeshifting in a bat or a cloud of mist Creeper (Utisula): Tentacles, tentacles, and more tentacles Fastball (Jacqueline Richards): Exploding energy balls Galeforce (Jimmy Liu): Air-controlling nunchuks Gatling Guy (Pablo Cortez): Can shoot energy bullets by doing finger guns Heavy Metal (Andrew Welker): Magic club that lets him turn into metal Incineratrix (Helen Frye): Fire control Killerwatt (Carmen Ricardo): Electricity control King Midas (Marvin Berry): Gloves that let him shoot blasts than turn things into gold Lodestone (Evan Kelly): Magnetism control Meltdown (Matt Redmond): Body of radiation Mucilage (Elmer Whitman): Glue gun Oozer (Kimberly Dufresne): Slime form Pulverizer (Paul Voorhees); Super strength and invulnerability Shellshocker (Shannon Offerman): Pink-hot energy aura Sidestep (George Novak): Teleportation Skyknight (Felix Velasquez): Power armor Slip (Rick Taylor): Friction control Slowdown (Maurice Kwok): Slowing things down Speedup (Oliver Kwok): Speeding things up Static (Joseph Walz): EMP blasts Superfly (Eddie Newell): Half-fly Taronyu (Tali Kxelkat): A variety of alien weapons Tremor (Alejandra Diaz): Vibration control Vocalist (Ken Thomas): Sound gun
The fantastical dimension of Newland (accessible via dimensional portal spell), is divided into 10 realms, each associated with a different mana. The dimension was discovered in 1561 by mage Finley Langhorne, and his descendants have since crowned themselves as the monarchs of the realms. Newland has also attracted a significant population of non-human Terrans. So much so that Newland is 46.5% non-human.
Yes, it's supposed to be America upside-down. This way I can have fantasy NYC, LA, etc.,
Humanoid Branch
Banshee (Homo sonorus) (don't scream for death, just scream)
Chubbibub (Homo bellus) (take the place of halflings, basically Mario Shy Guys shaped like Kirby)
Cyclops (Homo unoculus)
Dwarf (Homo fodiendus)
Elf (Homo silvestris) (most often green, like in Skylanders)
Fairy (Homo minimus) (technicolor skin tones for these guys)
Gargoyle (Homo saxeus)
Gaswinder (Homo dispersis) (pitch black humanoids that can turn into smoke)
Genie (Homo magicis)
Ghost (Homo translucens) (very much alive, just translucent and can walk through walls)
Giant (Homo ingens) (max out at about 9 feet)
Gnome (Homo vesanus)
Goblin (Homo viridis)
Human (Homo sapiens) (the most common Terran by at least 2 orders of magnitude)
Imp (Homo calidum) (basically pop culture demons, except not chaotic evil)
Kobold (Homo mutantus) (little shapeshifters)
Leprechaun (Homo felix)
Mummy (Homo involutus)
Ogre (Homo buccinator) (look like Shrek)
Poltergeist (Homo movens) (psionic energy beings)
Reaper (Homo fatalis) (edgelord-looking guys who can drain your soul and teleport between shadows)
Skeleton (Homo osseus) (also very much alive)
Troll (Homo absconditus)
Vampire (Homo sanguisugae) (have reflections and are also fine with crosses, crossing running water, holy water, and dropping in uninvited)
Zombie (Homo lenta) (again, very much alive, basically Middle Eastern ghouls)
Ichthyoid Branch
Merman (Homo aquatilis) (covered in blue scales and can switch between legs and a tail)
Insectoid Branch
Bugbear (Homo insectum) (actually insectfolk, not like in D&D)
Gigantula (Homo aranea) (spiderfolk)
