You aren't 'super' at all; your amazing talents come from intense training and innate abilities. You might have been driven to physical excellence by some all-encompassing desire for perfection or revenge, or perhaps you are not human at all, and possess powers natural to your race. With your natural origin you have to rely on your cunning and skill.

Examples of Natural Heroes:
Batman, Black Widow, Green Arrow, Hawkeye


You derive your powers from technological devices, from suits of high-tech body armor to powerful energy weapons. Few have been able to duplicate the amazing technology which lies behind your gadgets. You need not be a brilliant inventor; you may have acquired these items from another source.

Examples of Technology Heroes:
Cyborg, Iron Man, Red Tornado, Blue Beetle


You receive your powers from a magical source. These abilities might come from a mystical artifact bestowed upon you, the mastery of numerous magical spells, or pacts made with powerful dimensional entities.

Examples of Magic Heroes:
Wonder Woman, Dr. Strange, Dr. Fate, Zatanna


You received your powers either through purposeful scientific inquiry or some accident gone awry. You have since learned to harness your new-found abilities, becoming a powerful force in the world.

Examples of Science Heroes:
Spiderman, Daredevil, Plastic Man, The Flash, Static


You were born with abilities which set you apart from the rest of humankind. Your powers manifested at birth, puberty, or possibly adulthood. Mutants are often viewed with awe and fear by those who don't understand them.

Examples of Mutant Heroes:
Every single X-Men

These heroes prefer to stay at range, using either their powers or weapons to attack from a distance. They excel at dealing damage to both single targets and cause area of effect damage to multiple enemies at once. Their weakness is that they're usually not particularly skilled at close quarters combat and are generally not very tough or durable when it comes to taking hits themselves.

Examples of Blaster Heroes:
Hawkeye, Cable, Cyclops, Fire, Storm


These are heroes who use their powers and abilities to hinder, herd, immobilize or otherwise perform similar manners of crowd control. They focus more on locking down or impeding their enemies, rather than doing outright damage to them. They tend to favor ranged attacks when fighting, because they're not very strong in close combat, nor very good at taking hits.

Eaamples of Controller Heroes:
Spiderman, Dr. Strange, Jean Grey, Iceman


These heroes specialize in using their powers, abilities and skills to either buff their allies, or debuff their opponents. They can do things like heal or strengthen their allies, or weaken, blind or confuse their opponents. Generally, these heroes also tend to prefer ranged combat when attacking, as they don't fare very well in melee due to their typical squishiness.


These heroes use stealth and cunning to ambush, surprise or trick their opponents. Setting up traps, lying in wait to strike from the shadows, sneaking up or dropping down behind an enemy, these are all things that the infiltrator do. They can usually choose whether to focus on single target ranged combat, or single target melee fighting. They're more durable than the above three archetypes, but only by a bit. They still shouldn't be on the frontlines.

Examples of Infiltrator Heroes:
Batman, Black Widow, Shadowcat, Invisible Woman


These are the heavy-hitting melee focused heroes who use their powers and skills to get up close and personal with their foes. Punching, kicking, swinging a sword or hammmer, or even just head-butting, these guys and gals are all about being in the thick of things and dealing out damage. However, they typically don't have any ranged capabilities (other than throwing stuff) and while they'r emore durable than the above heroes, they still need to be careful to not get overwhelmed by numbers.

Examples of Scrapper Heroes:
Wolverine, Captain America, The Flash, Wonder Woman


These are the chonkiest of heroes, who excel at wading into melee and both dishing out and soaking up blows. They're living, breathing tnaks who excel at being in the thick of it, taking blows and crumping goons. They're the toughest and most durable of heroes, and are good at close combat. But, they usually don't have any means of ranged attacking, other than throwing things.

Examples of Tanker Heroes:
The Hulk, The THing, Wolverine, Colossus


Please keep in mind that the above archetypes are just generalized, simplified categorizations. You don't need to strictly adhere to the specifics of each type, but rather keep it in mind as a guideline or as a "focus" for what your character's primary abilities, powers and skills will and should revolve around. As well as things to keep in mind when faced with certain situations or scenarios.

In order to join the ranks of Paragon City's illustrious crime-fighting operations, one must undergo and take the Sanctioned Hero Test (S.H.E). This is a multi-part exam taht tests a person's character, knowledge and raw powers/potential, in order to determine whetever they'd be a good fit or even just suitable as a candidate for becoming a defender of the city.

Because P.R.O.C is run yb goverment, and they like to know who and what they're delaing with, parts of the test must be taken in a person's "non-alter ego" form. That is to say, their true identity. Of course, when you take the test, you haven't been officially licensed as a heor yet, so technically you shouldn't even have an alter ego yet. Also, obviously, the people conducting and being in charge of the exam are sworn to the same level of secrect and confidentiality as doctors or other sectors of the goverment who deal with sensitive personal information.

The Exam consists of the following parts:


This part of the test focuses mainly on common knowledge and understanding of laws and basic social behavior. Questions are posed in both a 'yes' or 'no' formula, as well as free-form answers where you have to reply with your own words and thoughts. People who show a lack of understanding or knowledge about this part will not pass the exam.


This part of the exam focuses on dtermening a person's character, morals and social views or standing. It is performed by both a psychiatrist, as well as a regular member of the P.R.O.C staff. These parts focus on things like asking the applicant questions about morality, social views and how they'd react or respond to certain situations or interactions. To ensure that the results aren't faked or lies, meant to sound good and earn the person a pasing grade, one - or both - of the staff in charge of this part of the test are gifted with some form of mind-reading or psychic powers, in roder to weed out disingenuine or lying indidivuals who try to "fake" their way through the exam.

Indidividuals with noteworthy amounts of racism, sexism, social prejudices, intolerance, lack of compassion/empathy, lacking scruples, aggression or other similar factors are immediately disqualified.


This is the final exam, and is only conducted if the applicant has passed the previous tests. In essence, it is a demonstration for what the person can actually do. If the applicant has any sort of superpowers, they're asked to show them off and display what they're capable of, either by hitting targets/dummies or traversing some kind of obstacle course or otherwise. If the person is a Natural hero, with no powers, they're put through a ttraining course similar to that of either Police or Military Special Forces, to see if they have what it takes.

Ironically, the aptitude test, while being the final exam, is actually the least impactful and important of the trials. Of course, a person who 'fails' at this exam still gets rejected as a candidate, but since it is a "demonstration"-type test, you don't need a perfect, or even enar-perfect, "score" to pass. You just need to do "well enough" to show you could be an asset.

The Protective Response and Operations Committee is the administrative organization created by Paragon City's goverment in order to manage, direct, lead and monitor the other five groups. They primarily consist of beaurocrats and administrative personnel, and have very little to no field-presence. Their job is to oversee, not get involved directly. Since their formation, the efficiency and results of the other five Hero organizations in the city has improved, giving them a positive and respected public opinion. By default, regardless of which faction you join, you're a part of PROC as well, as your group answers directly to them.


The Department of Advanced Technology Application. This is the faction which most heroes of a 'Technology' origin choose to join. DATA primarily focus on crimes, incidents and disasters that involve high-tech, cybernetic or electronic matters. While they have a generally good public opinion, there are those who worry that they're hoarding secret, highly advanced weapons and devices that could be abused or fall into the wrong hands. But for the most part, most citizens of Paragon City appreciate them and their work.


The Enhanced Logistics for Insight and Tactical Excellence. This is the group which most heroes of a Natural origin sign up with. As a faction that has almost no, or extremely few, actual members with 'real' super powers, ELITE is most often given the task of dealing with more mundane issues. Such as stopping regular terrorists, investigating criminal syndicates, thwarting the mafia and so on and so forth. While highly regarded as 'Champions of Every Man' by most of Paragon City, there are those who claim that the organization is vestigial and unnecessary, as everything they do could be handled by the other groups, and likely be done just as well - if not better. Still, among the general populace they have an overwhelmingly positive reputation.


The Genetic Investigation and Facilitation Team. The faction which most heroes of a Mutabt origin join. In fact, unless you have a mutant origin, you can't join GIFT. Their primary duties involve locating, identifying and recording mutants and mutant behavior, as well as dealing with any incidents or situations casued by, or involving, mutants in general. As the opinion on mutants is mixed and varied, GIFT enjoys an equally mixed bag of opinions - with some people fearing or outright hating it, while others are intrigued and curious. GIFT is also a constant topic of online conspiracies and wild, unfounded rumors.


The Modern Arcane Guild of Investigation. The team which most heroes of a Magic origin will join. This group is tasked with investigating and dealing with any paranormal or magic/arcane issues that arise within Paragon City. They're also tasked with securing, cataloguing and sealing away harmful or potentially dangerous mystic artefacts. As magic, in gneral, isn't well understood or known to the public, MAGI receives a usually negative and unappreciative opinion from the population. They're often blamed for any incidents or crimes that involve magic, or are accused to playing 'clean up' for things that they themselves caused - evne if if that isn't the case at all.


The Scientific Experimentation Research and Application to Paranormal Humans. The faction which most heroes of a Science origin will decide to register with. They primarily deal with things that invovle scientific experiments, harmful waste of unknown origins or properties, alien technology or relics and things along those lines. While gneerally appreciated by most folks, some worry that SERAPH is just a playground for a bunch of mad, callous, unscrupulous egg-heads who'd create a black hole in the midst of the city, just 'cuz they could. Of course, that isn't true at all, but some people are just like that.


Other then GIFT, your character is free to join up with whichever group they want, regardless of their origin and archetype. From a gameplay perspective, the groups are all pretty much the asme, and will just serve as where you get your "missions" or "quests" from. Their locations in the city is different, the aesthetics of their facilities are different and the NPCs you can meet and interact with from each group is different. But in the grand, non-detailed scope of things, they all serve the same purpose and functions, and you can do everything at the facility that any other group can, though as your own thematic version obviously.

Please do keep in mind that once you've made your choice and joined a group, quitting and applying for a different one is very frowned upon. Not only because it'll cause a lot of paper-and-administrative work, but it'll also require you to sign a bunch of NDA's and agree to a whole bunch of legal and beaurocratic fine print which may prove to be more hassle than it's worth. Plus, y'know, if you start over as a new member, you'll be put back at the bottom of the totem pole, where you'll need to work your way back up the Superhero Ladder in order to get to join more crucial or important missions.

But, hey, if you like signing documents, filing papers, being monitored and having to start off by stopping bicycle thieves and telling off graffiti-painting teens... Nobody will stop you.

A list of distinguished and well-known heroes and super groups in Paragon City.

• Captain Dawn: A famous hero who controls and manipulates light. Has taken dwon countless criminals on his own.
• Amber Siren: A superheroine who uses her voice to create sounds and soundwaves to charm, stun and shred the bad guys! She's very popular with young men especially.
• Magnaton: A large, towerigng man in an equally large and towering suit of solid metal, who wields a giant hammer. People affectinately tried to give him the nickname "WRecking Ball" on account of the amount of collateral damage he causes, but he didn't like it.
• Black Swan: A Natural heroine within ELITE, who acts as their poster-girl. Don't take her lightly though, she's an absolute beast with both pistols and knives! And she knows kung fu.
• The Silver Wings: A quartet of superheroes who all had the fit of flight. Were incredibly popular during the mid 80's to late 90's. They've all retired by now though.
• Flail & Match: A mutant hero duo, with Flail being able to make their arms into giant... Flails... And Match being able to set things on fire. It's rumored that they're siblings, but they'ver never confirmed or denied this.
• Silver Paladin: A mysterious, androgyneous hero in a suit of pristine white knight's armor, wielding a violet longsword of clearly arcane make. Never seems to speak, so the general public don't even know what gender they are. If they have one. They're very chivalrous though.
• The Druid: A hero who's been around for over 30 years now. He commands plants and usually roots or tangles the bad guys up. It's alway sa hassle to clean up after him though.
• Aquamarina: A sorceress who specializes in using water-element spells. She often puts on fun waterpark performances during the summer and is one of the few members of MAGI who's actually popular.
• Racer Fangs: A group of three heroes who all have some kind of movement or speed-related powers. They frequently can be seen racing down the highways and chasing car-thieves.
• Atlas: The great hero whom Atlas Park is named after. Single-handedly defended Paragon City against the nazi invasion during World War II. He's long dead now, but his massive statue in Atlas Park still remains to this day.
• Chrome Raven: A dark-garbed member of DATA who is recognized for his primarily bird-themed gadgets, weapons and tools. Like the Raven-a-rang, or the Raven-Bombs, or the Raven-Computer... He's... A bit obsessed.
• King Roar: A mutant who has the head and mane of a lion, and his hands and feet are lion paws with lion claws, and he's got a tail. And his entire body is covered in fur. But he walks upright. Some people mistaknely believe he's a guy in a mascot costume. He is not amsued by this misconception. He's quite popular for a mutant though, and has his very own action figure!
• Scarlet Fists: A five-man super group, who all wear red outfits, and strike dramatic poses and make grandiose announcements whenever they show up. And for some reason, their arrival is always heralded by a weirdly convenient blast of rainbow smoke... And their catch-phrase: "Not so fast!".

A list of reviled and well-known villains and evil organizations in Paragon City.

• Technomancer: A fairly recent villain, but one who's made a name for themself with their robotic minions and evil machines of doom.
• Killer Klown: A lunatic who loves and revels in causing fear, horror and chaos. Did we mention destruction? 'Cuz she likes that too. She's destroyed large parts of the Paragon monorail twice.
• Shadow Cheetah: While he doesn't cause a lot of damage to the city infrastructure or citizens, he's a burglarizing menace who has stolen countless jewels, gems, paintings and other priceless things. A real live cat burglar, with superpowers!
• The Sanguine Enclave: A group of dark wizards who perform profane and terrible rituals, all to appease their supernatural masters. Kidnappings, torture, blood sacrifices. These guys are just the stuff nightmares are ame of.
• Lord Armstrong: A weirdly rotund villain, with a mechanical arm. An arm that can do all sorts of crazy, and horrible things. Don't let his otherwise comedic appearance fool you, he's dangerous. ... And fat.
• Deathvine: A horrible, awful mutated sentient plant-creature-thing. Wants to turn the entire city into a "garden" by using the residents and nutrients and/or fetilizer for its macabre plans.
• The Blastmaster: A horribly deranged pyrotechnician, obsessed with two things: Fireworks and people screaming. It's not hard to see how combining the two let's him experience both things at the same time.
• The Iron Skullz: An absurdly large and wide-spread street gang, identified by the skull tattoo they all have on their forehead. Dealing drugs, extortion, mugging, robberies, burglary, vandalism. Yeah, they're a group of thugs.
• The Hellraisers: An equally absurdly large and wide-spread biker gang, who for some reaosn seem to be gifted with the power of satanic immoltion... Well, at least their more senior members are. Arson, kidnapping, theft, destrcution of public and private property, asault. Yeah, they suck too.
• The Carcino Family: A group of mosters straight from some 1930's movie, or something. These guys have been around for ages, and still do crap like robbing banks, running gambling rackets, blackmailing, coercing small-time business owners... Just your stereotypcial mob scumbags.
• Swarmlord: A creepy villain who commits crime by using bugs. Big bugs. Like, ants the size-of-a-full-grown-Boxer hound. Oh, and he's got scorpions, wasps and other fun things under his control too... Neat.
• PAIN: A terrorist organization, hell-bent on causing fear and, well, terror by doing things like random bombings, hostage-taking, trying to capture City Hall, kidnapping high-profile citizens. You know, usual terrorist things. Their motto, "We are PAIN!" is rather accurate to be fair.
• Gigantox: A very large, very angry and very violent mutant - who looks very similar to a minotaur from myth. And he's just as vicious, ill-tempered and blood-crazed as you might expect. Him and King Roar usually have really epic scraps when they meet, 'cuz they hate each other for some reason.
• Menace: A hacker or cyber-villain or something. It's not really clear, some think it's a rogue, evil A.I. Whatever the case, it seems to enjoy causing havoc by tampering with or disrupting things like street and traffic-lights, the power grid, bank security systems and classified police files and other delicate data.

Foreword:
Currently, I have no cohesive map of Paragon City to offer. Also, I have no immediate desire to write up a lengthy description of every single zone, so for now... If you've got questions or want details on what a zone looks like, or what services or locations can be found within it, please just ask me about it. Thank you for your undesrstanding.

Safe City Zones:

These zones are located within or near Paragon City, and are deemed safe for residential use and otherwise: Crime is still rampant, as everywhere in Paragon City, but most crimes committed in these zones are far tamer than those in the Hazardous Zones.
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Atlas Park
Brickstown
Founder's Falls
Independence Port
Kings Row
Overbrook "Faultline"
Peregrine Island
Salamanca "Croatoa"
Skyway City
Steel Canyon
Talos Island

Hazardous Zones:

These areas of, or around, Paragon City are those with the highest amounts of, or most erious, crime in them. They're generally considered unsafe and unsitable for 'upstanding' citizens to live or work in.
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(The) Abandoned Sewer Network
Astoria "Dark Astoria"
Baumton "Boomtown"
Eastgate "The Hollows"
Eastgate Tunnels "The Tunnels of the Trolls"
Perez Park
Striga Isle
Terra Volta
"The Hive"
Venice "Crey's Folly"
White Plains
Woodvale "Eden"

Notes:
Any location that has a secondary name in "quotations" is what the resident locals of Paragon City calls that area when talking about the zone in a casual, informal way. Areas with quotation-names are only refered to by their "official" names by goverment employees or when serious discussions about them is being had.

There are no mechanics or dice rolls or cards to worry about in this RP. For the most part, it's fairly freeform and you can do and go as your like. The only thing that you need to keep in mind are these, very few and fair points:

Never auto-hit, insta-kill/KO or flawlessly succed at anything unless you've asked beforehand and gotten okay to do so.

While there's no limit to how often or how much you can use your superpowers or skills, or how far you can travel or move, please be fair. Nobody has endless stamina, nobody can ignore pain forever and nobody can dodge and evade every single attack someone else throws at them endlessly.

When you're fighting one or more enemies, follow these simple instructions:

1. Describe where your character moves to and what and/or who they can see.
2. Write what your character does and what action they take, along with their desired and intended result or outcome.
3. Wait for my GM post, with the results and resolution to your actions.

That's really it. Don't be a power-gamer who can't handle getting nicked or getting a bruise, or bloody nose, every once in a while and don't go winning every fight without breaking a sweat. Do taht, and we'll all be the bestest of friends.

Notes:
When making your character and choosing both your Powers and Abilities, do try to avoid making them overly complicated, as well as unreasonably powerful right out of the gate. You're meant to play as fledgeling, fresh and new, inexperienced heroes who've only just started getting a grip and handle on their new super powers. You're not meant to be able to unleash full-scaled tornados that can flatten entire buildings or conjure roots and plants that'll turn an entire neighbourhoood into the rainforests of Kongo. Keep it simple and keep it reasonable. That's the best way to ensure your character gets approved.

If you have ideas for NPCs, villains, other heroes, locaitons, plot-lines, missions or anything else of that sort, always feel free to share them in the OOC or via PM to me. I've put a lot of love into putting this together and it makes me really happy when people get invested in and like something I've made. Even if I can't put or make exactly what you had in mind into the RP, we can always discuss and come to some sort of agrement or compromise. Unless it's like... Totally not in line with the theme, setting or mode of the RP at all... Then I can't really help you. Sorry.

Also, if you're one of those clever, gifted artsy people who can do all the flashy image and picture and graphic-stuffs, and you want to contribute to the RP by making things like banners, location photos/images, edit peoples' faceclaims to their minute preferences... Go right ahead! I can't do any of that stuff myself, so I always appreciate people who can and are willing to lend their talents.

Of course, I'm not gonna give you special treatment or benefits for doing those things. It's soemthing you choose to do yourself, and you can start and quit doing it whenever you want. Nobody's gonna force you.

Other then that, let's try to have a good time and build a fun setting and game together!

Stella is driven by an insatiable curiosity and hunger for knowledge, finding interest in many things others might think are boring or pointless. Where her fellow heroes are concerned, she loves to hear their stories, the details of how they acquired their powers, their motivations to do what they do. She is not quick to judgement, even where the villainous are concerned, and tries to see the best in people. Violence is not a first choice of hers, but when it needs to be employed, Stella tries to be swift and decisive.

She has the heart, empathy, and kindness she needs to be a good hero in Paragon City, as well as a determination and fearlessness that will help her overcome villains, and the barriers her own family have put in front of her. As she's still a teenager, she is prone to impatience, sometimes feeling like she's ready for greater things, or being held back, which can sometimes make her reckless or impetuous, but her heart is almost always in the right place.

Outside of hero work Stella is very easy to get along with, always ready to lend a hand or an ear. She's not wildly outgoing, and due to the frequent training of her teenage years she missed out on a lot that other kids got to do, making her maybe a little bit naive, but she's also a quick learner, and adapts pretty well to whatever environment she finds herself in.


Stella Noemi Kennedy is the only child of one James Kennedy, a former assistant to the Ambassador to Japan, and Hanako Mori, whom he met while working in Tokyo. As James described it, they had a whirlwind romance that led to Hanako wishing to leave Japan behind and see the world with him, a decision that was unlikely to go over well with her wealthy family. Less than a year after leaving Japan behind, Stella was born.

Her childhood was more or less idyllic, growing up with means just outside of Washington D.C., her father continuing his political career while her mother largely stayed home to raise her. When she turned seven, however, tragedy struck the family, as Hanako was killed in a car accident, leaving Stella with only vague memories of her as she grew older. James grew withdrawn for a time, his career plateauing, and he struggled to raise Stella alone.

When she was thirteen, Stella began to grow more and more curious about her mother and her past, and the entire half of her extended family she never got to meet. This coincided with James beginning to move on, and entering into new relationships. Digging though her mother's old things, Stella found a locked suitcase and pilfered it for her own. She'd taught herself to pick locks, and managed to pry it open, finding a mysterious treasure trove of her mother's history, from the time before she ever met James.

In the suitcase was a strange bodysuit, a mask, a pair of ornate bladed fans, and a journal full of entries all written in a bizarre script that wasn't Japanese or any other written language that Stella could identify. The last message was in English, however:

Follow your heart and stay true to yourself. Nothing can stand in your way. I believe in you.

Her mother had been some kind of superhero? Stella had more questions than ever. Did she know her daughter would find this eventually? Why did she leave her old life behind? To answer these, Stella knew she had to seek out her mother's family. But she didn't know where to start, and her father knew frustratingly little about Hanako's past. Stella kept what she'd learned to herself, feeling bitter towards her father at that time for leaving the memory of her mother behind.

It was only a matter of time until Stella tried to follow in what she believed were her mother's footsteps. At fifteen, she donned the suit, finding it fit her strangely well, masked her face, and took up her mother's weapons, setting out into the night to fight crime. It went about as well as one would expect, nearly getting herself killed when she tried to break up a gas station robbery. She would've been shot if not for the timely intervention of another masked man.

Mori Kenta, he was called, and Stella picked up on the name immediately. He'd been watching her, or watching over her, though he refused to say for how long. He was her mother's brother, and thus he immediately became Uncle Kenta to Stella. Grumpy and aloof, he'd apparently been given the "honor" of bringing Stella into the fold of the Mori clan.

They belonged to an ancient bloodline of mystical warriors dedicated to protecting the world from yokai, demons, and those that sought to summon them and other magical evils. Stella asked countless questions, but only learned that through meditation and many secret techniques, anyone of the Mori bloodline could activate powerful abilities to cut down any yokai, and shield themselves from all manner of magical tricks. Had Stella not discovered the truth, she would've been "allowed" to live a normal life, but now that she'd taken up her mother's blades, she needed to be taught to use them.

That proved difficult. Had Stella been born in Tokyo with the other Mori she would've been taught from early childhood. Instead she was a fifteen year old who didn't even know the very basics of their ways, and finding "inner harmony" was extremely challenging for a girl in such a tumultuous period of her life. Kenta proved a tough master, uncompromising in Stella's physical and mental training, and like a brick wall whenever she asked questions she wasn't allowed to know the answers to yet, about the clan or her mother. One of the few things he did tell her was that her mother had been known as "Butterfly" among the clan. Stella decided to take the name up for herself.

Four years later, Stella finds herself headed for Paragon City alone, having learned the basics of her clan's ways from Uncle Kenta. Apparently the leader of the Mori clan, known to her only as "the Daimyo," found her progress insufficient. Kenta warned that Stella would be treated as an outsider by her people, not worthy of their knowledge, until she can prove herself on her own. How exactly she must "prove" herself remains a mystery to her, but in the meantime Stella intends to do all the good she can in Paragon City. She gained acceptance to Paragon City University to study history, which is all that her father believes she's there to do. She hopes to learn about her family history, or the history of the demonic forces they fight, when she isn't on the street battling villains.

After taking and passing the Hero Exam, Stella is ready to find her destiny, and unravel the secrets of her family's past.

• Research and memory recall
• Lockpicking
• Gymnastics
• Flute