"Hello."
"Oh! Hey there. Sorry, you caught me off guard. What are you doing loitering in an alley like this? Are... are you a fan?"
"You could say that I've been following your work. With interest."
"...Thanks, I guess. So what can I do for you, miss...?"
"How did you get to that drug ring just before the police? Are you working with them?"
"What? Oh, no. I've been conducting my own investigations. Just dumb luck that they found out about it as well, I guess. Listen, I don't-"
"Have you ever thought about it? Siding up with them?"
"...They still seem pretty set on grabbing me, to be frank. Listen. I'm not sure I should be talking to you about this. I'm, ah, losing some of my mystique, and-"
"Have you ever thought about siding up with anyone else?"
"What?"
"Teaming up. You know. Not working alone anymore."
"...That's what this is, isn't it? You're like me. That's how you snuck up on me like that."
"I'm like you, yes. But don't get me wrong. You and me... we're just ordinary kids."


---

"In 1964, the end of the world happened. But it passed pretty quickly and the vast majority got over it within a couple of years. Still, there were some who, regardless of what amount of time passed, insisted that the portents were unignorable. The lights in the sky, the voices of angels, the plague that wiped out 5% of the world's population and then vanished before it was ever identified... To them, the world had ended, and they never ceased with their loud insistence that God had come down and taken the righteous with him back to heaven. Possibly the reason that they spent so much time shouting this at the rest of the population is that they wouldn't know what to do with themselves otherwise.

In a way, the world had ended. But only in the same way that it ends every day at sunset and then is born again the next day at sunrise. Every day the world hatches from the metaphorical shell of allegorical night like a triumphant phoenix, a little older and a little further away and in no way whatsoever comparable to the world that died just a few scant minutes ago and that must now be laid to rest. Nothing more than usual had changed after the events of late 1964. But nothing was the same.

It is now 1981, and as always it is a time of change. But now the focus is not on how the world is dying or in what way it will be reborn: Now the only thing to think about is who will inherit it."

---
---

On another Earth, not too removed from our own, some shit went down in 1964, shit that even 17 years later science hasn't been able to conduct an adequate post-mortem on. A vast wormhole opened in space just outside the moon's orbit, billions of people over the world reported hearing unearthly voices in their heads or dreaming vividly of angels, and a bizarre and untraceable disease snuffed out 160,000,000 people. Within eight months, a period of time which even now most people are still referring to as "The Rapture", all of these things had come about and then ended. The wormhole vanished, the voices ceased, and the plague ended without it ever having been discovered just what caused it, where it came from or how it was communicated. It was as though it had all been a bad and very very weird dream. Only one permanent thing came from the rapture, and that wouldn't be noticed for a good seventeen years.

You see, every child born after about September 24th, 1964, almost two months after the appearance of the wormhole colloquially referred to as Lucifer's Halo, has been born with Potential. Not the kind of cheesy generic potential that means that every child born to smiling, loving parents can become a lawyer or doctor or astronaut or something. Potential to become something more than human. Some have more potential than others, some have comparatively little, some rare children even have none at all. But this is irrelevant. The fact is that the vast majority of these children, some of which are even young adults by now, are completely unaware of their abilities. And thus it is only in rare cases of divine inspiration, hard strife or sheer arrogance that they ever discover their advantage. Unfortunately, the United States government is not unaware of the difference in the youth of today, and they are more than happy to do everything in their power to keep the American youth ignorant of what they can do. Since the Rapture propelled the nation forcefully and decisively into a conservative government which has decisively held power since, contact with the outside world has been hugely limited, with American trade remaining for the most part strictly American. Thus, it has simply been a matter of making sure that any child who does discover his or her power remains unknown to the public at large.

But we won't concern ourselves with the machinations of the American government. Rather, let us focus on the small South Eastern city of Constance. Here, a young man known as Alistair Rogers decided to pursue his dream of becoming a superhero, and found more success in doing so than he could ever have dreamed. That was eight months ago. Now, Rock Hard (as he likes to be known) and his sidekick Black Cat wage war on criminals of the city, guided from the shadows by their "silent partner" Brain Power. Unknown to them, though, their exploits are just now becoming known to the people of the clandestine governmental division known as the Bureau for the Investigation and Prevention of Abnormal Crimes. And these people know that they must act fast, for the Champions of Tomorrow are inspiring imitators and rivals by the dozen, within the city and without.
---

Name: Alistair Rogers
Alias: Rock Hard
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Allegiance: Champions
Potential:
Strength: 7 Speed: 2 Resilience: 8 Agility: 3 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 6 Healing: 2 Senses: 5
Personality: It was a potent combination of altruism and egotism that propelled young Alistair towards a fateful career as a masked vigilante, or “superhero” if you want to stay on his good side. And though his methods may have changed for the better since that time and he may have lost some of his original naivete, it is still that same desire to do good and look good whilst doing so that motivates him to go on with the whole thing. Alistair is an idealist in broad terms, but can be very pragmatic when it comes to situations in which difficult decisions need to be made. He is aware of the occasional need for sacrifices, whether that means breaking a few of a henchman’s fingers to get to a ringleader or letting a jewel thief go free in order to nail a multiple rapist. However, he values human life above all other things, and believes all people capable of redeeming themselves. Thus, he has never taken a human life, and never wishes to. One of the aspects of his pride means that he believes that his powers make him responsible for pretty much everyone around him at any given time. It was also partially this belief in the old adage that “with great power comes great responsibility” that convinced Alistair that becoming a superhero was the right thing to go. And it was not fear that held him back before that, but laziness.
Appearance: Standing at almost six foot and with a relatively well-built upper body, it is only Rock Hard’s somewhat immature-sounding voice that ever let on to witnesses that he wasn’t at least in his early twenties. He has jet black hair that unfortunately tends naturally to a somewhat greasy-looking shimmer, and which is cropped messily a bit below his earlobes. Rather thick glasses hide eyes of a dark slate-gray. When in civilian clothing he tends to slouch a bit and affects an appearance of confident awkwardness, but when in Rock Hard gear he stands up fully straight and lets his “natural” air of assured superiority take over. This is more of an assumed difference to further improve his disguise than anything else, though.
Costume: The main component of Rock Hard’s costume is a leather double-breasted trench coat which reaches down to about his knees. This was “acquired” on an early mission from a drug lord’s bodyguard, and has replaced the lycra costume he originally crafted himself to this day. It is quite ostentatious, with lots of unnecessary straps and buckles on the sleeves and shoulders, and a large pointed collar. Alistair has also adorned it with a lot of designs in dark purple studs, including on the back the flaming smiley face that he has made his insignia. In addition to The Coat, Rock Hard wears a pair of somewhat baggy black combat trousers, steel-toed boots and a pair of sturdy black kevlar gloves with reinforced knuckles. On his head he wears a sort of adapted Lucha Libre mask which bares the bottom half of his face but covers his neck. Dark purple flame designs surround his eyes.
Equipment: Uses a radio system built into his headwear to both communicate with the other Champions and eavesdrop on police radio channels. Aside from that, just his boots, gloves, and a light bulletproof vest he wears under his Coat.
Biography: Born to first generation Irish immigrants to America, Alistair was a huge fan of comic books and superheroes from a young age. Somewhat bullied in school until his genes caught up with him and he grew four inches in the space of a month, Alistair suddenly found himself tolerated by the jocks and idolised by the misfits. This lead to a boost in confidence that only quickened his development towards the status of ass-kicking dispenser of justice, and it was around this time that the young man began training, working out and experimenting in the stitching of lycra. Alistair quickly noticed that his efforts were leading to improvements at a much faster rate than he could have predicted. Not only was he stronger than his ex-military father in the space of two months, but as his training progressed he seemed to develop almost inhuman abilities. He could throw a punch at a concrete wall with all his might, and although his skin would tear and cause him pain the wall would be more likely to crack than his knuckles. In less than a year, he was confident enough to put his show on the road, and soon he had gained notoriety as the Kid Who Broke Dwayne Brooke’s Arm In Three Places And Sent Him To The Slammer. One incarcerated drug baron wasn’t enough for Alistair, though, and he was annoyed that his superhero alias hadn’t been noticed. Thus, for his next trick he turned over a car containing three gang members escaping from a drive by, making sure afterwards to stick around long enough to broadcast the name Rock Hard to the cameras. It was soon after that that Alistair met with the like-minded youth Brain Power, or Jennifer Velasquez, who quickly paired him with the young gymnast Alicia Sroka (Black Cat) and formed the group known as the Champions of Tomorrow. (Due to Alistair’s insistence that this is a ridiculous name and Jennifer’s indifference, though, this name has as yet not been publicised.)
Other: None

---

Basically, you can play any young person, but they must have some reason for having discovered their Potential if you want them to have powers. This can be rigorous athletic training, an aspect of their personality that led them to pursue greatness, and so forth. Potential is at this point limited to advanced strength, speed, agility, etc. and I've included a point system to prevent people getting too overpowered. These are just kids, after all! You can roleplay whomever you desire, from superheroes to supervillains to police officers to government agents to Government-trained and -brainwashed superkids known as Black Masks. Youths like this who have been trained by the government tend to have been focused in their training on one or two Potential skills, though. Fighters have high strength, Dancers have high speed and agility, Shooters are high in dexterity and senses and Defenders have high skills of resilience and healing. If anyone wants to roleplay Black Cat, Rock Hard's sidekick, feel free. You can also change any elements of her character to suit your preferences, (including name) as long as she's a girl who discovered her Potential through extensive gymnast training that her Olympic wannabe mother put her through.

Name:
Alias: (If applicable)
Age:
Gender:
Allegiance: (BIPAC, superhero, police, civilian, supervillain)
Potential: (Assign 40 points or less)
Strength: Speed: Resilience: Agility: Dexterity: Intelligence: Healing: Senses:
Personality:
Appearance:
Costume: (If applicable)
Weapons/Equipment: (If applicable)
Biography:
Other:

I'll have Brain Power's character sheet up shortly.

Name: Jennifer Velasquez
Alias: Brain Power
Age: 16
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Champions
Potential:
Strength: 4 Speed: 3 Resilience: 2 Agility: 3 Dexterity: 6 Intelligence: 8 Healing: 7 Senses: 6
Personality: At face value, Jennifer appears to be the generic cold-hearted intellectual who only consorts with others for her own benefit and who considers all those who don’t meet her intellectual requirements to be beneath her. Aspects of this are true: She is not completely misanthropic, but she doesn’t tend to trust people implicitly, or enjoy the company of others particularly, and thus she refers to few people as her friends. She is a generous-hearted individual, though, and does not hold her own needs in higher priority than those of others. Also, she does not tend to look down on those who are less intelligent than she herself. Indeed, she doesn’t tend to view people in general as being less or more worthy than others, instead considering everyone she meets products of their environments rather than responsible for their own skills and weaknesses.
Appearance: Standing at 5’8’’ and having inherited considerable beauty and an enviable figure from her Hispanic family, Jennifer is something of a looker. The only aspects of her appearance that she takes from her mother’s side are her platinum blonde hair, which is cut to shoulder length with a straight fringe, and her piercing green eyes. Despite these natural advantages, Jennifer tends to put off most suitors with her expression, which on a regular day will range between sour and hugely indifferent, and to wear clothes which are more practical than enhancing of her assets.
Costume: None that has as yet been revealed. Tends to wear cardigans and long skirts or trousers in shades of grey or dark blue.
Equipment: As well as the radio device that she uses to communicate with the other Champions, Jennifer uses a number of devices, many of which she has crafted herself. These include a wrist-mounted crossbow/sling device that fires rubber bullets at stunning speeds, a glove that can deliver incapacitating electric shocks to those that it touches as well as fire a short-range charge, and a number of throwing blades designed for the disarming of opponents using firearms.
Biography: Jennifer is the only child of a successful author and a lecturer at the local university. Destined for academic success from a young age, Jennifer’s education was only benefited by her unending thirst for knowledge, which had her reading scientific and political texts at the age of eight and relentlessly questioning her thrilled parents on all sorts of subjects. Her academic success in high school was complimented by her social success, which saw her gaining unconditional entry into the cliqueist of cliques on the basis of her looks and the wealth of her parents. Jennifer went along with this to begin with, but quickly realised that she gained nothing from it and quickly became something of a pariah within the school, only really associating with the science geeks who revered her as a sort of goddess of intellect. Soon realising that she exceeded in many ways what were commonly considered the upper limits of human ability, Jennifer began searching for possible explanations for her superhuman abilities. This led her to her investigation of the new vigilante on the block Rock Hard, who she quickly identified as similar to her in many ways. She also took notice of the large amount of acclaim being given to the young amateur gymnast Alicia Sroka, and began to put plans in motion to start an organisation which would bring together young people with supernormal Potential. Not to mention give her more opportunity to research the source of the power that she and her fellow kids had gained…
Other: None

Changed my mind, I'm taking Alicia. :>P

Name: Alicia Sroka
Alias: Black Cat
Age: 14
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Champions
Potential:
Strength: 3 Speed: 5 Resilience: 3 Agility: 8 Dexterity: 4 Intelligence: 3 Healing: 6 Senses: 7
Personality: If Rock Hard is an antihero (antisuperhero?) for his arrogance and amused approach to crimefighting, then Black Cat is a veritable pseudovillain. Possibly the only real reason she goes along with Jennifer and Alistair's crimefighting capers is the immense entertainment and satisfaction that she derives from defeating criminals, or as she refers to it "catching rats." Furthermore, she most likely only doesn't place her own safety over that of the civilians she protects because of her unshakeable belief in her innate survivability; as she refers to it, her "nine lives". However, unlike Jennifer she is a social animal, and tends to become very attached and loyal to the people who gain her trust or amuse her enough. She is also somewhat tactless and inconsiderate, though, and can thus sometimes give a bad impression upon first meeting.
Appearance: Alicia stands at just 5'3'' and has the lithe and petite frame that is almost a pre-requisite of gymnasts. Her dirty blonde hair is moderately long, and usually tied back in a sleek topknot, and her eyes are an almost ridiculously deep brown. She stands at her full height no matter the situation (aside from when she's stalking) and likewise in usual circumstances struts pretty much everywhere she needs to go. Her expression is normally that of amused indifference, her countenance only ever really shifting when she is displeased or disappointed. When that happens, she makes no effort to hide it.
Costume: Compared to Rock Hard, Black Cat's costume is far less than ornate. This is partially because her modus operandi calls for a far more stealth-orientated technique, and partially because, as Alicia puts it, "basic black is slimming". It is basically composed of a black spandex leotard with elbow length sleeves, over black tights. On her arms Black Cat wears elbow-length black latex gloves with pointed fingertips that conceal her retractable "Claws". Her headwear is of a similar material, and covers the top part of her head with eyeholes, a hole for her topknot and her one concession to costume, a pair of cat ears. Her original costume idea featured a pair of latex calf-high boots to match her gloves, but this was quickly decided against when she tried tightrope walking in them. Now a pair of rather simple gym pumps adorn her feet, although with customised tougher soles to allow her to wear them on all kinds of surfaces. She also wears a utility belt with a buckle shaped like a cat's head.
Weapons/Equipment: Black Cat uses a wide variety of custom-made equipment when on the job. This includes a two-foot long truncheon that also contains an extremely powerful pressurised-air-powered grapnel and a set of ten small retractable diamond-tipped blades that reside in the tips of her gloves. Alicia also uses an array of custom trap grenades designed for her by Jennifer, including smoke grenades, flashbangs, tear gas grenades and simple concussive force bombs. These grenades are all simply two-inch diameter featureless black balls, but they have a slight intentional imbalance in how they are weighted, which allows Alicia with her superhuman dexterity to throw them in precisely curved arcs.
Biography: Alicia's mother had always dreamt of mounting the balance beam in an Olympic stadium, but sadly a sheer lack of any great amount of talent prevented her from achieving this. When she hit her twenties and thus had comfortable passed the stage of her life when her hopes had any basis in reality, Imogen Sroka became a gymnastics instructor, subliming her unquenchable desire for acclaim into desire for her pupils to acheive what she could not. When her own daughter was born, her wishes did not change. Against the wishes of an increasingly henpecked father, Imogen pushed her only daughter into training as a gymnast as early as was physically possible. Alicia was quite content with the exhaustive training that she was put through as a child, though; as far as she was aware, her fame as an Olympic-level gymnast was all but certain. And as her talents improved with a speed that was almost unearthly, everyone else began to believe it too.
Alicia was approached by Jennifer Velasquez shortly after her fourteenth birthday. Although it took some time, the older girl eventually convinced Alicia that her unnatural talents were a result of a born potential to exceed the norms of human limitation. Even more impressively, she convinced the girl that as time went on her abilities would put her in danger, and that remaining on the amateur gymnastic circuit would only increase the speed with which antagonistic forces would identify her ability. This would likely not have been enough to discourage Alicia from giving up gymnastics, though, unless Jennifer had proposed another means by which she could make use of her talents...
One faked fall, skillful bit of hospital espionage and counterfeit x-ray later, Alicia was diagnosed with a compound fracture that would prevent her from reentering the world of professional gymnastics until her eighteenth birthday, and put in a cast so heavy it restricted her to movement in a wheelchair. Unbeknownst to her parents, of course, the thing could be removed quite easily.
Other: None

Okay, just thought I'd put up a guide to what the different stats for Potential mean. Also note that my characters haven't necessarily fully reached the limits of their potential yet.

Strength:
1-3: Abilities of a fit to well-trained adult human. Capable of lifting slightly more than their own weight.
4-6: Slightly to much greater than human capabilities. Capable of lifting up to about 500lbs and bending iron bars with relative ease.
7-9: More than human. Can lift up to about 800lbs, break steel and easily kill with a powerful kick.
10-12: Superhuman. Can lift 1000lbs and more, break concrete slabs and tear regular humans apart like wet tissue.

I was going to do this for all of them, but boredom set in. :P You'll have to use your discretion in working out the equivalents. Or just ask and let me use mine.

Also, I've had the idea for a secret counter-BIPAC organisation made up of superpowered teenagers known as the Inheritors, who believe that they and the other youth of the world are destined to take their rightful place as rulers of the planet, above regular humans. I may introduce them as the roleplay progresses.

Name: Scot Thermwell
Alias:Captain Vulcan
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Allegiance:Super Vilan
Potential: 35
Strength: 7
Speed: 4
Resilience: 8
Agility: 4
Dexterity: 3
Intelligence: 10
Healing: 1
Senses: 5
Personality: A sly and a brick wall to most people. He is almost imposible to talk to.
Appearance:
Costume: Its realy him just out of his hoodie
Weapons/Equipment: Viles full of napalm, Belt with spots for viles, Motorcycle(Not always with him)
Biography: Scot was always secluded in life, he never had a mom or dad, He lived by finding scraps until he was twelve. He then found a rich family to live with. He then inhareted the family's welth at the age of sixteen when his parents were murdered by a kid with a mask on. He then vowed to destroy everyone that hid behind a mask. He bought all the napalm he could get his hands on. He filled viles with it and cliped them to his belt. He then burned down his first house. He belived that this was fun and he continued doing so. He now sits upon his throne in the building he owns.
Other: (The first house he burnt down can be used in any hero's biography.)

Name: Karmen Santiago
Alias: White Night
Age: 15
Gender: Female
Allegiance: Doesn't know yet.
Potential:
Strength: 9 Speed: 5 Resilience: 3 Agility: 4 Dexterity: 3 Intelligence: 7 Healing: 4 Senses: 6
Personality: Karmen is a troublemaker with a good heart. She won't let anyone stand in the way of something she wants, doing anything to get it. But she'll help someone if she feels like it, and will do good in secret. She's very confident and forward and won't let anyone step on her.
Appearance: Karmen is tall, about 5' 5" and very muscular. She is tan-skinned and has golden-brown, shoulder-length, straight hair that's usually tied in a loose ponytail. Her silver eyes dart around, always vigilant. She is slender, weighing only 120 lbs. Her face is chiseled, and she is very pretty. She isn't very expressive, hiding her emotions well.
Costume: Her favorite thing to wear is a tight-fitting, tight, white v-neck short-sleeved shirt under an open sleeveless black vest with black jeans and black Chuck Taylors. She'll also wear a black fedora with a white ribbon around it.(she likes black and white.)
Weapons/Equipment: She carries many various knives, two katanas, and a crossbow. She also has two handguns, which she carries on her waist. She has rope, ammo, tools, and small explosives too. She has a rifle, a shotgun, and other weapons that she doesn't always carry on her but will use when she needs them.
Biography: Karmen was born December 21st, the darkest day, under a new moon, the darkest night, at 12:00 pm. She grew up with loving parents. She took swordfighting and martial arts lessons from a private instructor, and became a master. But then everything changed. Her parents were killed in a car wreck when she was 12, she was put in foster care, given to a bad home where she learned how to use a gun. Then she stole all the guns, ran away, and lived on the streets. Then one day, a gang attacked her and she used her swords, killing the gang members in a fit of rage and unearthing her Potential.
Other:

Sweet! So we've got a mask-hunter and... another crimefighter? Does she focus more on criminal gangs? Either way, her use of lethal force will probably put her at odds with Rock Hard and the others. Which should be interesting.

I might create a slightly overblown supervillain character to act as a foil. I'll start writing my intro for the IC as well.

Name: Gregory Beaufort
Alias: Black Friday
Age: 17
Gender: Male
Allegiance: Supervillain
Potential:
Strength: 6 Speed: 5 Resilience: 3 Agility: 4 Dexterity: 6 Intelligence: 4 Healing: 5 Senses: 3
Personality: Gregory possesses an arrogance of nature that is a sort of flipside to Alistair Rogers’ belief that he is responsible for those less talented than he is. Gregory believes himself to be superior, just as his rival does, but what he has that Rock Hard does not is a sense of entitlement that also comes as a result of his greater abilities. He does not resent the regular humans of the world, and can occasionally draw amusement from them challenging him. Gregory does, however, consider himself more worthy than they are of the wealth and comfort that they live in, and wastes no time in dispatching anyone who stands between him and that which he desires. For this same reason, though, he tends to disregard the weak and needy entirely, and he although he carries revolvers he will not purposefully take a life unless it is to protect his own.
Appearance: 5’11’’, slim and long-limbed, Beaufort is blessed with the fine bone structure and dashing smile of a natural charming villain. Buoyant, chocolatey hair crowns his head, and his eyes are a piercing icy blue which he claims with possibly only slight exaggeration have let him find his way into the good graces of quite an abnormal number of women.
Costume: Contrary to his title, his costume is quite colourful. The simple bandit eye mask that he wears is the only purely black part of his costume, aside from his bow tie. The black waistcoat that he wears over a variety of colourful long-sleeved shirts is veritably covered in gold designs that would almost certainly be tasteful if they weren’t so tasteless. Even the flexible leather trousers that he wears are covered in gold thread, and held up with a belt that has a golden buckle roughly the size of his fist.
Weapons: Attached to his belt are two long-barrelled black revolvers in leather holsters, but unless he is unavoidably called to use them (or if it will grant him slight convenience) he will avoid it. Usually he just uses the two sets of black steel knuckles that he also holds holstered at his belt. They are resilient enough that, with his enhanced strength, he can punch through brick walls.
Biography: Yet to be come up with.
Other: None

no, that's just how she got her potential. she has a dark side and she could become a supervillan in the future. it's all about how it suits her. that's why she's called white night. that's why she uses leathal force.

Right guys, I'm really sorry to be a bore but I'm going to put this roleplay on hiatus for a while in favour of other projects. (And essay work.) I'll be sure to let you know if or when I feel like resurrecting it, though!