Cascading Justice

A Mutants & Masterminds Campaign

No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Everyone knows who the superheroes are. You see them on TV, you know their names, you buy their action figures. Here’s the thing, though: anyone the media calls a “hero” is either sponsored by the government or a corporation. Every one. Every hero team needs a license to operate and who do you think provides that license? Do they do good things? Sure. But they do it on the company dime, and that makes them beholden to company policy. You see the heroes saving people, stopping disasters, thwarting villains. But who decides who’s worth saving, what’s really a disaster, who’s really a villain?

Villains. Yeah. That’s a much murkier area. Some of them are bad, don’t get me wrong; some of them do things that would make history’s greatest monsters proud, and they do it for personal gain or revenge or for no reason at all. Evil exists. But some people who get painted with that “villain” brush are just supers without a corporate sponsor. They’re off-book. Unsanctioned.

Enter Destiny, Avatar of the Fates, and longtime member of the Guardians of Justice. She’s been able to translate her popularity as a member of the team over the years into celebrity, celebrity into wealth, and wealth into a small, but successful entertainment brand: Lemonade Entertainment Media, Inc. She’s started to notice how, while technically, justice is for everybody, it tends to benefit the elite, the wealthy, and the privileged. It’s time for that to change. Destiny has recruited you to fight for real justice. To the public, you’re on the payroll providing security for LEM, Inc. Behind the scenes, you are seeking justice for the voiceless, for those in the margins, for those who have been left behind and you won’t be satisfied until it comes cascading down like a flood and washes away injustice.

Player Characters

• x (Played by David)
• Tanky strong character (Played by Ted)
• Jonny Volt played by Donna
• Psyche played by Dan
• Cosmic/psychic (Played by ShawnMichael)

Setting

• Portland, OR 2022

Circa 2 Million BCE

• The Nagax'ian, also known as the Serpent People, found the Empire of Lemuria.

Circa 100,000 BCE

• The aliens known only as the First Ones first visit Earth and tamper with humanoid genetics. Their genetic tampering leads to the creation of the race of people called the Bloodline.

Circa 20,000 BCE

• Humans advanced by the First Ones found the island nation of Atlantis.

Circa 10,000 BCE

• War between human-controlled Atlantis and serpent-controlled Lemuria triggers a great cataclysm, sinking both island nations. Survivors from both societies scatter. The Serpent People begin to adapt to an aquatic life and establish a new city in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Pacific Northwest. Some Atlantean survivors turn to magic and build New Atlantis on a new island using sorcery that allows the island to exist in a pocket dimension and remain hidden from the physical world. Other Atlantean survivors found the hidden city of Ultima Thule.

1914-1918

• World War I is fought in Europe.

1932

• Franklin D. Roosevelt is elected President of the United States.

1936

• President Roosevelt is reelected.

1938

• Paragon first appears, preventing a robbery at the First National Bank in Chicago. While super powered humans have existed prior to this, "The Paragon of Humanity", as he was dubbed, marked the arrival of super powered individuals into public life. The idea of the superhero enters the public mindset, although individuals with powers are relatively rare. Later scientists will come to learn that there is a singular genetic source of those who had powers prior to the advent of the Wildstrain mutation and that these people are all descendants of the Bloodline.

1940

• President Roosevelt elected to a third term as President.

1932

• 1941: President Roosevelt announces the formation of the Liberty Squadron. While supported by Roosevelt and operating in support of the United States, the Squadron is an independent group of heroes and not run by the government.

1932

• 1944: Harry S. Truman is elected President.

1932

• 1945: At the end of World War II, Allied intelligence agencies discover a secret human-experimentation camp in Eastern Germany. The facility is destroyed by fire shortly after. Dr. Felix Reimer, head scientist and member of the Nazi party, is tried for war crimes at Nuremberg. He is found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Dr. Reimer is found hung within his cell the day after his sentence is passed. In reality, Dr. Reimer’s death was faked by U.S. Military Intelligence. Under a new identity, Dr. Reimer heads up a team of prominent geneticists. Project Pantheon, the U.S.’s first foray into the deliberate creation of super powered individuals is born.

1932

• 1948:Truman is elected to second term as President.

1932

• 1949: NATO is established, in the words of the first Secretary General, “to keep the Russians out, the Americans in, and the Germans down.” China becomes a communist state.

1932

• 1950: The Korean War begins.

1932

• 1951:Scientists working with Project Pantheon are able to isolate the Bloodline gene that produces abilities in those with super powers. Manipulating that gene they create a new strand of DNA known as the Wildstrain sequence. The United States creates its first super soldier: Captain Mike Gurney, aka Ares, a 30 year old U.S. Marine Corps officer from Goodland, Kansas. An elite group of U.S. soldiers led by Ares are dropped behind enemy lines to inflict damage on North Korean interests. The project’s success remains top secret, but easily secures additional government funding to produce more super soldiers like Ares.

1932

• A group of alien Helakeen scouts begin infiltrating and spying on the United States government.

1932

• 1952: The Korean War comes to an end as the Communist forces in the north are defeated, thanks to the American super soldier program. Korea remains a united democratic state, but American troops will continue to occupy the country for another quarter century.

1932

• Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected President.

1932

• 1953: An explosion at a secret military complex in Montana destroys the town of Valentine, Montana killing thousands. Government officials announce that the cause of the explosion at the military storage complex is sabotage by Communist agents. In reality, the facility housed the Project Pantheon super soldier program. The explosion contaminates the local area with hazardous and experimental toxins. Ten months later, Ruth Bolland, of Flatwillow, Montana, gives birth to Sam Bolland, a healthy and happy baby boy. At six months old, Sam is found floating above his crib and becomes the first human being to be unintentionally altered by the Wildstrain sequence.

1932

• 1955: Reports of individuals with super powers around the world begin to increase. During the signing of the Warsaw Pact, the Soviet Union publicly announces the existence of its own super soldier program, the CKM (Спроектируйте Красный Молоток) or Project Red Hammer.

1932

• The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings bring suspicion on those with super abilities and operating publicly as super heroes and forces the conscientious disbanding of the Liberty Squadron.

1932

• 1956: The Soviet Union unveils Red Star and Ursa, a brother and sister in their late teens, who both display powerful super powers and are immediately at the center of a massive propaganda campaign. During the Hungarian Revolution, Red Star leads the pro-Soviet forces in crushing the Rebels.

1932

• President Eisenhower is reelected

1932

• 1957:The Soviet Union launches Sputnik and the Space Race begins.

1932

• 1958: The Surgeon General confirms that the Wildstrain mutation and other variants are capable of altering the DNA of older children and not just those infected in utero, as previously believed.

1932

• 1959: In response to the increased threat of super powered Communist agents at home and abroad, President Dwight D. Eisenhower establishes AEGIS (the American Elite Government Intervention Service), appointing Jack Simmons (formerly the Patriot, a member of the Liberty Squadron) as its first director.

1932

• 1960: The United Kingdom forms the Society of Gifted Intellects, a private institution for individuals with powers who also possess high levels of intelligence. The society attracts many gifted students from across the globe.

1932

• John F. Kennedy is elected President.

1932

• 1961: Hades, the Greek god of the Underworld, leads an army of spirits in an invasion of San Francisco. He states that because of the "hubris" of humankind as evidenced by the growing number of individuals developing super abilities, that the gods have risen from their slumber and a new age of wonder has been ushered in. A number of heroes band together to fend off the invasion, but approximately 4,000 people are killed before Hades retreats. The heroes remain together to combat similar threats, founding the Guardians of Justice.

1932

• Archaeologist Adrian Crowley discovers the lost Temple of Sirion and the Eternity Staff. He is entrusted with the title of Sovereign Mage and told to prepare for what is to come. When the Eternity Staff is touched by human hands, Malashar the Mystic awakens from his forced slumber in the Terminus dimension.

1932

• 1962:During a covert operation, deep within the polar icecaps of the Barents Sea, a U.S. supers team, led by Ares, engages the Soviet Union hero Red Star. During an intense battle, the American Nuclear Submarine Spearhead sinks with the loss of all hands. Red Star is reportedly killed but his body is never recovered.

1932

• 1963:President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. AEGIS investigators believe a super powered assassin is behind the killing.

• Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President.

1932

• 1964:Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution granting President Lyndon B. Johnson unilateral power to conduct military operations in Vietnam without formerly declaring war, but forbids the use of American super soldiers in South East Asia. Despite this restriction, some civilian men with super powers are drafted alongside their unaffected counterparts.

• President Johnson wins the presidential election.

1932

• 1965:Researchers at the Society of Gifted Intellects reanalyze the Wildstrain mutation and discover that 93.6% of children worldwide have mutated DNA, although studies indicate that the vast majority will never display any super abilities. The Society states that by the year 2000 around 1,500 people around the world will display significant super abilities. This does not include those who are gaining abilities from sources other than the Wildstrain mutation.

1932

• 1966:Mass draft protests take place throughout the United States. A number of protestors use super abilities against the authorities and a riot ensues. A team of AEGIS-backed heroes are used to quell the troubles. As a result, 352 people lose their lives. In response, a number of high-profile super powered individuals, including Ares, retire from government service.

1932

• 1968:Richard M. Nixon is elected.

1932

• 1969:Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon. While collecting rock samples, Buzz Aldrin spots something unusual, a set of bare human footprints leading off into the lunar horizon. All details of the incident are kept a secret.

1932

• 1970:President Nixon authorizes the use of super soldiers in Vietnam. The U.S. flies in one hundred elite, highly-trained supers with heightened physical abilities. In response, China sends their own super soldiers to the aid of North Vietnam. The first true “super battle” takes place 100 miles south of Hanoi.

1932

• 1972:Sparrow and Skunk are discovered breaking into the Democratic National Committee offices at the Watergate Building Complex in Washington, D.C.

• President Nixon is reelected.

1932

• 1973:The Watergate Scandal erupts. It is revealed that Sparrow and Skunk were operating at the direction of the White House.

1932

• 1974:President Nixon resigns. Gerald R. Ford becomes President.

• Issues are raised concerning the ability of those with super abilities and the possible ease in which they might escape “standard” penitentiaries. President Gerald R. Ford makes a national speech where he reveals plans for the construction of a super-maximum-security prison capable of holding dangerous super criminals.

1932

• 1975:The Vietnam War officially comes to an end with complete withdrawal of US troops from Mainland Southeast Asia. The introduction of Chinese super soldiers into the conflict is cited as the primary cause for America’s defeat.

1932

• 1976:In response to the increased threat, both at home and abroad, from super villains, AEGIS unveils to the nation Freedom's Shield, America’s first national hero team.

• Jimmy Carter is elected President.

1932

• 1977:The United States officially ends its occupation of Korea.

1932

• 1978:A devastating explosion destroys the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France, killing 124 people. Initially it is thought that Communist sympathizers are responsible, however a televised statement is issued by a masked man referring to himself only as Figurehead. During his ten minute statement, Figurehead claims to be the leader of an international criminal organization known as MANTIS whose aim is total world domination through terrorist and subversive activities.

1932

• 1980:President Carter announces the completion of Crownpoint Supermax Penitentiary (known as “The Pit”) in central New Mexico. Built within a decommissioned nuclear weapon silo and testing area, the facility lies 500 feet beneath the desert sands and is capable of holding up to 300 Super Talented criminals. Rather than being administered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, control of the complex is assigned to AEGIS.

• Ronald Reagan is elected President.

1932

• 1983:Tommy Flinder, top quarterback for the Chicago Bears, is discovered to possess faster than normal speed and reflexes. After a six month investigation by the NFL, it is discovered that around 12% of professional football players have hidden super powers. This opens a series of high-profile revelations throughout the sports community resulting in a national ban on any individual who possesses super abilities from competing professionally. Many ex-sports stars find themselves employed by AEGIS and other government organizations. Others, including Tommy Flinder, are disgusted by their treatment and openly campaign in Washington. The “peaceful” protest quickly turns violent as local law enforcement officers, supported by AEGIS operatives and Freedom's Shield, attempt to arrest many of the high-profile sports celebrities. Some supers arrive on scene to support the protesters, and within minutes, a full-scale battle takes place on the National Mall lasting nearly 9 hours. The Washington Monument is heavily damaged and eventually collapses resulting in the death of 40 people.

1932

• 1984:President Reagan is reelected.

1932

• 1986:After a 75 year journey, Halley’s Comet returns to the inner solar system. As it passes, radio astronomers pick up an unusual signal seeming to emanate from the tail of the comet. After weeks of careful decoding, a short message is deciphered: “Beware the Helakeen.” Government officials quickly brand the message as a hoax. NASA begins construction on the first moonbase.

1932

• 1988:The Soviet Union withdraws from Afghanistan after a brutal war. It is revealed that the use of CKM super soldiers had been widespread throughout the conflict. The USSR accuses the U.S. of carrying out covert operations against its troops during the war. Captain Richard Lentman, a decorated soldier with super powers, writes an article for an international news group where he states that he belonged to a classified military unit trained and backed by AEGIS that were involved in a series of high profile military assassinations in Afghanistan. The U.S. government denies any involvement or wrongdoing. Richard Lentman dies of a brain tumor later that year.

• George H. W. Bush elected President.

1932

• 1989:Due to the success of the UK’s Society of Gifted Intellects, and with the increase of super powered geniuses, the United States forms its own think tank and research organization known as SCOPE (Scientific Operations). The organization is semi-privatized with heavy funding from various science and technology corporations and other interested wealthy individuals.

1932

• 1990:Start of the Iraq War and American Occupation in the Middle East. UN forces agree to the use of super soldiers, during the invasion of Iraq. America proclaims this to be a mission for Iraqi freedom from tyranny, but critics claim it is merely a colonialist attempt to secure a steady supply of oil. Saddam Hussein’s regime quickly tumbles, but Iraqi resistance fighters will continue to plague American forces over the course of the occupation. While searching for weapons of mass destruction, a secret bunker is unearthed forty miles east of the town of Baqubah. The complex had been semi-destroyed by the retreating Iraqi Military. Intensive searches, however, reveal samples and equipment that show Iraq has been developing its own super soldier program known as the Hafaza Project. (Hafaza meaning ‘Guardian Angel’ in Arabic.) The project involved injecting individuals with highly dangerous compounds designed to warp and transmogrify a subject’s body through direct mutation of their DNA.

• Jonathan Lark, a young and super intelligent scientist with a tested IQ of 230, successfully creates the first fully-functioning nanotech machine. Using himself as a human guinea pig, the 100 nanometer-sized device is injected into his bloodstream where it uses existing materials found with his body to replicate itself. For 48 hours, the nanobots patrol Lark’s body, destroying any harmful bacteria and viruses that they find before being flushed out within his body’s natural waste. Within a year, Fisher forms Lark-Tec International, a hugely powerful corporation that develops and sells nanotech science throughout the world. At the age of 21, Jonathan Lark becomes the World’s wealthiest man with an estimated fortune of $98 billion dollars.

1932

• 1991:The Soviet Union collapses and ends. Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Republic, leads a revolt against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. The 15 separate republics are granted their independence. Yeltsin remains the President of the newly independent Russian Republic.

1932

• 1992:President George H.W. Bush easily wins re-election. He turns this to his advantage by seizing control of Iraqi oil fields in payment for America’s peacekeeping services, and a surplus of oil begins flowing into the American economy. Orbital construction begins on the International Space Station.

1932

• 1993:The nations of Western Europe unite politically and economically to form the European Union. Voters in the United Kingdom overwhelmingly reject EU membership. American forces invade Kuwait and Western Iran and seize the oil fields.

1932

• 1995:Six missiles are fired at the West Coast of the United States from an unknown location out in the Pacific Ocean. Five of the missiles are intercepted and destroyed by the USAF, but the sixth reaches the outskirts of Santa Barbara , where it explodes and releases a payload of

botulinum toxin. Despite a frantic and full-scale emergency cleanup, over 2,000 people lose their lives to the deadly neurotoxin. MANTIS claims responsibility for the attack.

1932

• 1995:President Bush signs executive Order 96-300 in which he exempts Crownpoint Supermax Penitentiary from revealing any records or information surrounding the operational activities within the prison. Human rights campaigners state that the order is an admission of guilt and that prisoners at “the Pit” are being experimented on. The U.S. government denies the claims and states the executive order was passed to protect the security of the penitentiary.

1932

• 1996:Running under a new populist party following libertarian principles, Ross Perot runs as a candidate of the newly formed Reform Party and makes a successful bid for the Presidency. It marks a turning point in modern political history as the United States moves beyond having just two political parties in power. While the Reformers tend to be socially permissible when it comes to sexuality and individual rights, they favor fiscal policies that benefit large corporations and those in power and they oppose immigration. This has led them to partner with Republicans over the years to maintain power over political progressives.

1932

• 1998:While on a routine training mission in close orbit, the Space Shuttle Goliath encounters an unknown anomaly. The Shuttle is engulfed by a strange energy that knocks out all of its systems, including life support. An emergency shuttle is immediately launched to intercept the lifeless Goliath. Upon reaching the stricken shuttle, only one member of the crew, Commander Ollie Franklin, is found alive. All six other Astronauts are found deceased, their bodies horribly mutated by radiation. Commander Franklin returns to Earth a different man, stricken with survivor’s guilt, but also possessing extremely powerful super abilities.

1932

• 1999:Despite worldwide fears of computer chaos, the Guardians of Justice handily defeat the Millennium Bug and his Y2K Drones.

1932

• 2000:The Millennium Bug, with some extradimensional help from Malashar the Mystic and allies from the Terminus dimension, wreaks havoc by freeing the inmates of the Pit. While the Bug and most others meet defeat that night, it takes the world’s heroes more than six months to recapture escapees. One quarter of the escapees are never recaptured.

• Jack Simmons, the Patriot, passes away in a government hospital. His memories and personality are transferred through an elaborate spell into a stone golem by Dr. Thelema (Adrian Crowley), allowing Simmons to continue working as a government agent behind the scenes.

• Ross Perot is reelected

1932

• 2001:At 5:16pm, on June 14th, a 22-year-old mentally ill man with significant super abilities climbs the Brooklyn Bridge and explodes in a ball of searing plasma, destroying the bridge and killing over 400 commuters during heavy rush hour traffic. In response to the public outcry, the government instigates the Compulsory Talent Registration Act of 2001 (CTRA), stating that, “It is a federal offense to knowingly use any form of super talented ability unless in self-defense, furthermore any discovery or use of a super talented ability should be reported to a Federal agency or local law enforcement.” Exceptions are made for supers employed by the government or part of teams that possess permits and corporate backing. Monetary incentives are provided to those people registering their abilities or reporting those individuals breaking the CTRA act. There are major outcries throughout the Supers community with many influential figures of the day stating that the Brooklyn Bridge incident was government sanctioned. A group of low powered individuals with super abilities refuse to register through the CTRA and flaunt their powers as a protest. They are swiftly arrested by AEGIS operatives, publicly tried in Federal Court in Manhattan and given a sentence of 2 years imprisonment. During post-trial proceedings, the courthouse is attacked by a team of individuals led by the former war hero Ares, who appears to have not aged, and the sentenced protesters escape authorities. Ares and his accomplices escape capture and form the freedom movement known as the Pantheon.

• The Guardians of Justice become sponsored by a partnership of several corporations.

1932

• On September 11, 2001, Freedom's Shield miraculously prevents a massive terrorist attack on targets in New York City and Washington D.C. involving Islamic militants hijacking and flying planes into landmark buildings.

1932

• 2002:2AEGIS and Freedom's Shield move their New York headquarters to the top floors of the World Trade Center South Tower in a symbolic display of American perseverance.

1932

• 2003:Jonathan Lark, owner of Lark-Tec, and the world’s smartest man, builds the largest and most advanced independently-owned space station, naming it ‘Haven’. After many years of shying away from the public eye, Lark makes Haven his permanent residence.

1932

• 2004:After two of Boston Red Sox’s star players are discovered to be unregistered super powered individuals, they are forced to resign from the team; the Boston Red Sox go on to lose the World Series. Several protests in support of super powered rights, starting in Boston and quickly spreading across the country, get out of hand as protesters and AEGIS First Response

Units clash. The Federal government implicates Pantheon, branding them as domestic terrorists. Campaigning for stricter regulation, registration, and monitoring of individuals with super abilities.

• George W. Bush is elected President.

1932

• 2006:Reports of a major catastrophic event beginning in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and spreading from there, begin to surface. The President of Brazil broadcasts an emergency radio address urging all persons to avoid entering the country. Shortly thereafter, all contact with the government in Brasilia is lost. Reports also soon start coming in from Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru of similar events. A wave of South American refugees flee north to Central America, Mexico and the United States, carrying tales of dramatic mutations producing strange new species, including giant predators and carnivorous man-eating plants. Much of South America is placed under international quarantine indefinitely, and the United Nations establishes a no-fly zone over the affected nations. The exact cause of this massive environmental disaster remains classified.

1932

• 2008:Hillary Clinton, running as a Reform Party candidate, is elected President.

1932

• 2010:With the Arabian peninsula devastated by years of violence and warfare, many Middle Eastern refugees, including radical Islamic fundamentalists, flee to Russia and Eastern Europe. An expedition of Canadian and Japanese scientists disappears without a trace after entering the South American Quarantine Zone. The United States completes construction of a huge wall along the entire US/Mexican border, under the jurisdiction of the US Army. US border patrol soldiers at the wall are placed under a strict shoot-to-kill policy against anyone attempting to enter Mexico – or anything attempting to leave.

1932

• 2011:The Terminus Invasion. The inter-dimensional armies amassed by Malashar the Mystic invade New York City. The largest alliance of super heroes ever seen unite to repel the invaders. Many heroes die or are seriously injured in the battle. In the wake of the invasion, a wave gratitude sways public opinion and heavily influences politicians. The government reluctantly revises the CARA act. Individuals are no longer required to register with the government, although it remains illegal for supers to congregate in groups of 3 or more unless they have a permit at substantial cost and have sponsorship by a corporation or business.

• In what becomes known as the Cheney Doctrine, the President declares that any military

or political interference in the South American oil disputes by any foreign power will be considered an act of war against the United States.

1932

• 2012:Hillary Clinton is reelected

1932

• 2016:Donald Trump is elected President.

1932

• 2017:President Trump is assassinated during Independence Day ceremonies by individuals clearly possessing super powers who escape capture. Mike Pence is sworn in as the 46th President of the United States and is quick to blame the Pantheon for the assassination.

1932

• 2018:Jonathan Lark and Lark-Tec successfully build and test the world’s first small-scale nuclear fusion power source. Fearful of how nuclear fusion might be abused by world governments and corporations in their ongoing conflicts, Fisher announces to the world that humanity is not yet ready for this new technology. All existing blueprints, prototypes, and design files are safely stored and secured aboard Haven.

1932

• 2020:The presidential election is suspended. Citing the continued threat posed by terrorist threats and the Pantheon, President Pence proclaims a national state of emergency and suspends the year’s election indefinitely. Congress passes the Extraordinary Emergency Powers Act. In a nationally televised speech, President Pence reassures Americans that he will resign his office once all the threats to America’s prosperity and security are overcome. Super powered rights groups seize on the growing unrest to paint Pence as a tyrant whose policies are the true threat to America.

1932

• 2022:Present Day. Start of the Campaign.

NPCs

• XXX: xxx

Resources

• Cascading Justice Character Sheet