Armchair Strategy #3: City of Heroes

[Stofsk]

You are in a Metropolis city that is prone to violence from supervillains. Two decades ago, a mysterious 'event' occured - a flash from the sky scientists initially thought was a meteor -that gave powers to exactly 100 children in-utero. No more, no less.

You are one of these children. The government immediately regulated the 100 'Specials' from calls by concerned parents and so on. Your liberties are under check. There is nowhere you can really go, Metropolis is the biggest city and outside it is emptiness. Assume that the city is really several cities that have grown over decades if not centuries to be closer. There are three 'core' areas, each has a periphery of suburbs, and surrounding the entire city is countryside and sea. There is no more of civilisation. (Post apocalyptic world? Off world colony?)

There are three competiting centres of power:

1. The Government. These are the ones who put you under check to study your powers. They have detailed files on all of you, who you like, who you borrowed money from, what your powers do, where you live, what you do for a living, etc.
2. The Underworld. The criminals, the gangsters. Metropolis has a seedy underbelly. There is always opportunities for those who have little to no scruples. Some criminals are anarchists, others are just out to make a quick buck, others still have a desire to control Metropolis for their own purposes...
3. The Pious. Religion still holds a place in this society. For the purposes of this scenario, you can assume that the religious orthodoxy is split in two over what to think of the Powered. Half think you're demons, the other half think you're misunderstood saints.

Between these three, there is the people of Metropolis who are caught in the crossfire.

Assuming you can choose your power, what do you do? Who do you fight for? Who do you ally with? What do you do? Also, while there are exactly 100 Powered, there are others that are 'sidekicks'. There is a place for the 'Punishers', the 'Batmen and Robins', and so on.

In this scenario, what kind of power do you want? Do you have a plan?

Possibilities:

• You work for the government, and have been placed in charge of organising a group of Powered to act as a kind of enforcement agency. You will assist SWAT teams if a superpowered menace comes, and otherwise be an instrument of the City Mayor's will. There is an oversight committee made up of bipartisan city senators.
• You are a vigilante. You either work alone or you have a side kick or you work with trusted Powered or sidekicks alike. You are in it for your own motivations - whatever they may be, heroic, fascist, anarchist, altruistic, profit - but the main point to remember is, you are not an arm of the law. You are targets of the law and the criminals alike, and you may be hated or liked by the people.
• You are a non-aligned criminal. You don't believe in the law. You are approached by a Syndicate who are concerned that the Mayor's office has begun organising a group of Powered, and thus you are given cash incentives or whatever you fancy to act as a counter-weight to the forces of the law.
• You are a devout believer. Your church knows you are a Powered, and considers you a saint because you use your power to help people. But there are others who hate you because you are a believer and thus consider you a heretic.

So what do you do?

Final point: everytime a Powered dies, every remaining Powered gets stronger in whatever ability they use. So for example if you fly, you fly just that little bit faster.

EDIT: Oops, forget to say. Only a very few know about this last bit. A sympathetic doctor as part of the law program to regulate the Powered knows, whoever he told, and whoever you told. Others might know, but you don't know who. This is obviously a dangerous secret.

[frigidmagi]

I gotta say that amoung the religious there will be more than two view points.

Some may view the 100 has a test of humanity's ability to weild greater power and of it's ability to treat those who are different and may be threatening. People with these beliefs will vary between those who will be just supportive and those who believe the 100 should be strictly taught "the correct path."

Others may view them has a temptation. Not evil in and of themselves but something that should be avoided. Those guys will encourage the 100 not to use their powers and call on the government to exerise restrant. Some may attempt to avoid the 100 altogather.

[Stofsk]

Bump!