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| Infinite worlds, endlessly unfolding… |
Stuff I’m going to do when I grow up-Rise and
Fall (Part One: The Setting)
The
previous article detailed the story’s outline and Rise and Fall’s basic
cosmology. It spoke of the decline of superhumanity and the slow but certain
death of the OverMan through a decades-long whimper, not a bang.
But what
has been the function of the superhumans in this Universe? How have they
actually changed Earth and made human civilization into this construct that no
longer requires them? And, above all, how much has all this changed mankind?
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Does the future hold the
hi-tech bling it promised?
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Unfortunately,
no. Rise and Fall does not exist within the narrative definition of a utopia or
a dystopia. Rather, it is just a few dozen steps ahead of us. Mankind, even if
it has developed means to defend itself against extraordinary threats, has not
been transmuted into some enlightened race that dances to the secret music of
the Spheres. We’re still as petty, territorial and divisive as ever, afraid of
both our own potential and that of our fellow men.
We’re also
still rushing to pay the electric bill, because let’s face it: geothermal
energy may have replaced oil, but that doesn’t mean that shit’s free.
It is
perhaps this normalcy, this way that the world has not evolved into something
greater or reduced to ruin by the folly of man that has driven some of the
older, more powerful (or important) superhumans mad. The thought that mankind
does not require them not because they became something that surpassed them,
but because they simply rendered them obsolete.
But what was the world like, in the day of the
superhumans? What were their greatest and most important organizations and how
did they come to this?
Well why
don’t you join me as we look at…
THE HEAVY-HITTERS OF RISE AND FALL
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| Actual artwork soon to follow |
The
Sentinel:
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The watchful eye of the almost-gods…
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The
Sentinel were first formed by the League of Nations after the end of World War
One, as part of a project that aimed to form a superhuman intervention force,
with the intent to function as a counter-measure against any and all threats,
both on and off-world.
The first
incarnation of Sentinel (manned by Titan, Doctor Infinity and his Infinity
Squad and the experimental US superhuman that later came to be known as Brick
the Zombie) played a very important role in stopping the multiversal invasion
by Earth 3-Epsilon.
The
invasion both proved the existence of multiversal threat and also the need for
Sentinel to be provided further jurisdiction (to the point of it being able to
overcome national sovereignity in the name of homeworld security) as well as a
need to increase their numbers. The idea of giving such extreme powers to a
group of superhumans was of course, ill-advised at best. By 1937, Sentinel had
become a superpower in their own right.
When Nazi
Germany invaded Poland, Sentinel immediately intervened, claiming that an
attack on this nation befell under their jurisdiction. Despite their success at
halting the blitzkrieg in its tracks, they soon found themselves under attack
by every diplomatic organization and nation on Earth, demanding their immediate
disbanding.
The
Sentinel were thus destroyed and its respective members sent back to their
countries, to wait and watch helplessly as the Germans tore through Europe and
the Soviet Union. It wasn’t until 1940, when Nazi Germany revealed its own
superhuman capability, that the Sentinel was immediately reassembled and sent
to the battlefield.
World War 2
ended with severe losses for both human and superhuman population. Furthermore,
Titan’s resignation from Sentinel and defection to the Soviet Union (his
homeland) signaled the beginning of the superhuman arms race and the Cold War.
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| Nukes vs Spandex |
The
Sentinel find themselves suddenly burdened with both the responsibility of
regulating extra-normal threats (The Third Cosmis Conjencture and the
Chaodeamon invasion, for one) as well as the very real possibility of a
full-scale nuclear holocaust that could destroy them.
It’s with
the collapse of the Soviet Union that Sentinel disbands officially, giving up
on the UN. With Titan at the head, they reestablish themselves as a separate
entity, with the function of aiding any countries that ask for their help,
while making sure to stay well the hell away from human affairs.
Sentinel’s
final roster consisted of:
Titan
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| The direct descendant of the world’s first superhuman. |
The exact
origins of Titan’s bloodline have remained, so far, unclear. According to his
own testimony, he is the latest in a line of superhumans, dating all the way
back to the days of prehistory, a pure-blooded bloodline of near-gods.
Titan has
the bearing and the attitude of a born monarch. He was, after all, raised by
his parents with the belief that he is the paragon of human achievement and his
own powers support this claim. Macrocosmically strong, capable of perceiving
the material world down to the quantum level, flying at speeds only measureable
in the Richter scale and tough enough to survive his descent into the
furnace-heart of a quasar, Titan has been the leader of Sentinel by sheer might
alone.
If anything
can be considered as his actual ‘weakness’ then it should be his arrogance, his
conceit for every ‘vanilla’ human, as well as suffering from a form of
superhuman hemophilia.
You see,
Titan’s family is pure and has done its damnedest to remain pure throughout the
millennia of human history. They consider themselves to be gods and well…
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Incest *is* considered to be
the mythical privilege of divinity.
|
Despite his
near-invulnerability, any wound sustained by Titan will cause him to bleed
profusely without the ability to heal naturally. He has done his best to
conceal it for years, choosing to maintain the face of invincibility, to the
point where his denial has convinced him of it.
And for
people with delusions to divinity don’t take well to the idea of being deprived
of the praise they believe they deserve…
Nevermore:
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| Nevermore Power Armor, Mark III |
Edgar
Rumfoord was one of the first US superhumans to have burst into the scene
during the Cold War. Considered Titan’s counterpart in every way, Nevermore was
originally a vigilante, dealing his own brand of justice in the streets of New
York back in the 70’s and 80’s.
Or that’s
the story they want you to believe. Nevermore did not exist as an entity, since
he assumed the mantle of the original Nevermore, a man named Samuel Henriksson;
a Vietnam Veteran who had taken it upon himself to wage war against (and I
quote) ‘the darkness in the heart of America’. The targets of the original
Nevermore (a name inspired by Samuel’s love for the works of Edgar Alan Poe)
were the criminal gangs of New York City, but also a number of ethnic groups
and even homosexuals.
Samuel
Henriksson was finally shot down by a police SWAT team during his attempt to
resist arrest as they stormed his hideout; the idea, however, of a vigilante
spawned myriad copycats, with Edgar Rumfoord the best-equipped and maddest
among them.
A talented
physician and impossibly rich, Rumfoord took the mantle of the vigilante with
none of the skills or aptitude of Henriksson. It was his meddling with the
origanized crime syndicates that led to a brutal counter-attack that led to the
death of his wife, Lenore. Refusing to accept his own folly, Edgar instead
chose to go crazy and dedicate a decade of his life into becoming something
that the world would fear, instead of respect.
By stealing
Doctor Tyranus’ G-E5 power armor designs, he developed a stealthier version of
the armor, which he used to target the men behind his wife’s death, beat them
to within an inch of their lives and then admit them to his private clinic,
there to be surgically crippled and trapped for the rest of their lives.
Keeping his
façade, Rumfoord soon became the jailer of New York as well as its vigilante.
His aptitude with mechanics and his tenacity also earned him a place among the
Sentinel as ‘the world’s greatest mortal’. It was this glory and pretension
that kept the demons of his personal failure at bay. But when mankind forgot him,
he decided to get even.
Kuan Yin:
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| Mongolian Goddess. |
The most
powerful superhuman in history (outshining Titan in every way that matters),
Kuan Yin abandoned Chine in favor of joining Sentinel in the joint defense of
Earth.
Capable of
bending reality and, above all, leading the team, Kuan Yin soon found herself
at odds with Titan, who had absolutely no interest in sharing the world with
her. During their spat and power shifts, Sentinel nearly tore itself apart.
It was
during Russian’s invasion of Georgia when their conflict reached critical mass.
Kuan Yin, choosing to use Sentinel as her private army to force Russia to halt
their invasion effort, nearly tore the team apart. Facing what could have been
the possibility of World War Three, Sentinel turned against her and killed her
in a climactic battle.
It was Kuan
Yin’s actions that forced the hand of human governments to actively take
measures that would eliminate the need for superhuman aid.
Surakh:
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The sorcerer, dwelling in the
astral plane.
|
The twelfth incarnation of the arcane champion of Earth, Surakh has been a
member of Sentinel for three incarnations. A master summoner and the first
mortal to have ever crossed into the astral plane (and made contact with its
denizens), his power mostly relies on summoning beings from other realities to
do his bidding.
His true
nature, however, is far more insidious: the true nature of Surakh has been that
of the Aztec god Tezcatlipoca, a trickster spirit that has always existed in
the bylines of human history. His allegiance to Sentinel is only attributed to
boredom and there are few (if any) superhumans left that could fight him head
on.
This lack
of attention by mankind has begun to fatally bore him, forcing him to seek
other avenues for once again reaching the spotlight.
Marduk:
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Tecnhically not a superhuman…
|
Out of
every member of Sentinel, Marduk is by far the being least affected by the
whimper that has signified the end of superhumanity. Ancient and nearly
omnipotent, Marduk had existed with mankind peacefully for ages, until the
Second Cosmic Conjencture and the manifestation of the Chaos Demon Loug forced
his hand.
Unlike
Surakh, who is a trickster being clad in mortal form, Marduk is a true god in
every sense of the word. It has wisely chosen to avoid any and all meddling in
human affairs, its place in Sentinel reserved for any cosmic disaster that
might befall his current continuum.
Out of the
entirety of Sentinel, Marduk is the least affected of the death of
superhumanity’s importance. He stands guard at the gates of the realms that
stretch beyond life, forever standing guard against any and all threats.
He waits
still…
But what
kind of enemies did Sentinel face, back in its glory days? What sort of strange
bedfellows will they make now, on their final days?
Well why
don’t we look at…
Dr. Tyrranus:
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G-E5 power armor, Mark IV
|
Born in
Chechnya in 1963, Leonit Kadyrov spent his teens during the collapse of the
Soviet Union. Deciding that he was not going to waste his genius (and skills)
in the service of a corrupt and totalitarian regime, he defected to Germany,
where he abused the Cold War NATO budget (originally intended for the
development of counter-superhuman technology) to develop and perfect the G-E5
power armor technology.
It was in
the 90’s when his home land was being invaded by Russia that he headed back, to
build an army of powered humans, there to become Chechnya’s greatest protector
and a supporter of numerous organizations around the globe. Despite the fact
that the Tyrranus moniker was given to him by the press, Kadyrov has openly
embraced it as his standard.
Kadyrov
has, however, grown old and even his G-E5 technology has since grown obsolete.
His legacy has moved beyond him and he finds this most distressing.
Agau:
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| The Queen Witch Unleashed |
One of
Surakh’s (and Sentinel’s) greatest enemies, Agau was born in Haiti, as a
houngan and representative of the loa to her people. Through dark pacts, she
sought to further increase her power, which turned her into an undead being and
a necromancer supreme.
Agau is
deathless and her power has never been truly tested to its utmost limits. It
was during the Second Cosmic Conjecture that she was made apparent as the truly
destructive force that she was, able to even take a divine being like Marduk
head-on.
She has
been considered dead for decades now, but still remains at large. Her powers
and destructive capabilities however, have remained unused and she aches for
another epic spat with the world’s greatest superhumans.
Roland Vadus:
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| The Puppeteer |
Roland
Vadus had once been the Sentinel’s director during the Cold War and their
greatest and most important enemy during the 70’s. Whereas Kadyrov is the
penultimate anarchist and a romantic fighting in the front lines, Vadus is the
calculating, controlling son of a bitch behind the scenes.
Roland
Vadus is not a native to Earth. Having escaped the crash of the prison-ship
that was transporting him to the Andromedan maximum security prison, the
shapeshifting being survived for decades trapped in the Antarctic, until a scientific
expedition dug it up. Having consumed and assumed their forms, the creature
made its way to Argentina, where it integrated itself to human society.
For years,
the creature that became Roland Vadus would clash with superhumans (villains
and heroes alike), under the moniker Mr. Halloween, a shapeshifting villain in
the 50’s and then as the Hivemind in the 60’s. It wasn’t until the 70’s during
the first Cosmic Conjencture when the creature devoured then Sentinel director
Roland Vadus and became him.
While not
invincible (and in fact, quite culnerable to fire), Vadus is a being that is
tailored to survival. With the ability to incorporate the memories and
knowledge of every creature it devours (coupled with its unnaturally long
life-span), he is the penultimate enemy of the Sentinel.
But with
the fight gone out of them, he finds himself bored, tired and feeling so much
older…
Carcossa:
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| Where the flesh factories swallow men whole and spit out blood, monstrocities and horror… |
When Earth
3-Epislon invaded, Carcosa was their first last and final line of defense and
has remained so to this day. It is unknown whether or not the exposure to the
current continuum was what turned it the way it is, currently or if the city
was originally intended to be a nightmare factory of epic proportions.
The city of
Carcossa once housed two million 3-Epsilon natives and was intended as the
staging point of the invasion. It was a fully functional arcology, intended to
withstand year-long sieges, complete with automated defense systems and a fully
functional-AI that did not go insane. If anything, any and all records that
were rescued from Carcossa indicate that whatever happened in there during the
last days of the invasion was in no way the operating systems’ fault.
Something
entere Carcossa and changed it. Sure, 3-Epsilon was already a dark universe
where mankind had become more machines than men, bereft of morality (and in
some cases, identity) but this was fucked up. Great flesh-factories sprang out
of the bowels of the city without any indication of warning. Monstrosities
creeped out of its alleys and living nightmares infested its every corner.
By the time
native superhuman aid had arrived, it was too late for its people. All that was
left was the sound of strange machines, screaming at the heavens and
furnace-thick smoke, released from its bellows…
The city of
Carcossa is sentient and malevolent beyond the shadow of a doubt and has
resisted any and all attempts to be destroyed or contacted. It has remained
trapped inside a stasis field inside its original place of origin (South
Africa) but still remains one of superhumanity’s greatest concerns.
But
something has been churning in its depths. Something cold and calculating and
patient, that tastes the air and knows that bloody change is nearing.
And last,
but not least…
Loug, the Chaos Demon:
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| Loug, assuming one of its true forms. |
The being behind the Third Cosmic Conjencture
and the creature that nearly destroyed the current continuum single-handedly,
Loug is Sentinel’s greatest enemy. A creature of pure chaos and unspeakable
destructive capability, Loug first invaded Earth in the 60’s and was driven
back by the concerted efforts of superheroes and villains alike.
Loug has since been trapped in a tesseract prison
on Earth’s moon, poisoned by geometries developed by Doctor Infinity and held
in place by Sentinel, plotting its revenge.
But what the hell is a Cosmic Conjencture,
Kostas? Also, none of these guys look like honest-to-God protagonists. Oh and
by the way: what’s Earth-Epsilon?
I’m glad you asked, reader, because In part 3,
we’re moving on to…
THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS.
Addendum:
Whoa, 50k pageviews. I don't know if it's worth anything in the grand scheme of things, but goddamn that's a pretty number.
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