Realistic or Modern Masked - LORE/WIKI

[KyleTok]

Welcome to the MASKED wiki thread.​

Overview
This roleplay takes place on Earth, the homeworld of its dominant species, the human race, in a reality that has all the features of our own: same countries, same personalities (politicians, movie stars, etc.), same historical events (World War II, 9/11, etc.), and so on. The main difference in this reality to our own is that paranormal and superhuman elements have long come out from being just myths and are instead part of common knowledge in everyone's life - and the world for that matter, has adapted, making room for costumed superheroes to guard the planet from threats, both extraterrestrial, and from within. The tradition of using costumed secret identities to fight or commit evil had long existed in this world (for example, with the medieval Black Knight), but it came into prominence during the rise of industrialization, with costumes taking on more peculiar designs with skin tight suits and armor. During the 20th Century, the tradition was reinvigorated by the Children of Liberty, a group of old school superheroes who have long retired in our time. In modern times, an organization known as the Guardian Initiative Division has come out to pursue and license those they deem fit to serve as world guardians, and provide them protection under jurisdiction that legalizes vigilantism and gives them certain benefits under national law depending on where they are based at. Our roleplay will focus on the North American sector.

Since the beginning of the Guardian Initiative's involvement during the cold war, licensed vigilantes have become to be known as 'Guardians' instead of 'superheroes' - a term coined only in the media and comic books. The way that humanity have come to know these enhanced individuals falls under three categories: Vigilantes, Guardians, and Criminals. For the authorities, there is no in between. A supervillain, is simply a criminal under the law - a criminal that would require the attention of Guardians.

The rest of the lore is comprised of elements introduced in each character story - bringing in both sci-fi and fantasy story points that let us explore different parts of this universe. When something is defined, we make it cannon and protect it, and prevent any lore bending elements that would harm existing elements from coming in. For example, Heaven is defined under cupid's character, so we would reject any new definition of Heaven. The replies to this thread will consist of roleplayers providing more information on certain new elements they introduced into this world in a wiki like format - creating a centralized lore repository.

Table of Contents
Governments:
The Guardian Initiative

Organizations:
Radiants of Christ

Spiritual Concepts:
Heaven and Hell

Species/Subspecies:
Angels and Demons
The Radiant

Below are ideas for replies that can already be added. If I tag you, please go ahead and reply to this post - even if just to hold a placeholder. This creates a space for me to contribute as well since I can freely edit replies on here.​

SpotBandit Please create a post about Heaven and Hell? Not sure if there is another concept in your story you want to define in a reply of its own as well, but the main thing I think would be helpful is to define angels as a species.
Hypnos Would be cool to have something about the Children of Liberty, and we can add more to it as we RP, maybe we reveal retired members of it as npcs in the future.
ThatGuyWithSouvlaki not sure how much you're planning to explore her uncles company, or his ex partner's company rather. But you can introduce it here considering that company conducts experiments that can give powers.
Excal a page for Radiants of Christ - I don't know if there is any other element in your story that you'd like to make a page for, but this is the main thing I see as you have pretty much defined a new "species" known as the Radiant.

 

[KyleTok]

GUARDIAN INITIATIVE DIVISION​

An espionage, special law enforcement, and counter-terrorism agency with worldwide presence that deals with paranormal and superhuman threats to international security. The G.I.D has governmental support in nearly every country and has only become known to the public eye during the reinvigoration of costumed superhero presence, when fear and public unrest over increasing sightings of the paranormal has become too much for governments to handle. The main initiative of the GID is to pursue and license assets under their jurisdiction, in order to provide them with proper training and support to protect the planet from threats. Those vigilantes that get licensed under the GID become known as 'Guardians' who have both political and financial support from the organization, and are expected to attend yearly assessment and training sessions where they are trained to use their abilities in a way that produces the least amount of harm to innocent civilians. Part of the assessment is required to be able to design customized equipment (Supersuit, Gadgets) to help Guardians control their abilities better.

Although the official founding date of the organization is in the 1950s, it has actually existed far beforehand under a different name that is now lost to the world - the illuminati, and was actually founded in 1776. In a world where unexplained wonders are the norm, more people turn to religious texts in order to find meaning in the chaos - but a secret society formed under the shadows to pursue enlightenment and truth. They had since worked to infiltrate any body of power, and oppose any clerical or royal structures that would take away the power they have to face the unnatural. Even before they could legally license superheroes to protect the planet, they still provided them with support by keeping them secret from the world and erasing any footprints they might have left behind. It is because of the illuminati that costumed heroes were not well known before the Children of Liberty, since any record in history before them was wiped away.

Organization Structure:
The organization is led by the Director, a position that is passed down when the predecessor retires. The current incarnation of the Director has been in its position for nearly one hundred years, and he is still going strong. Under the director are three Chiefs who lead three different sectors of the organization: Minerva, Argus and Tutelar. The Data collected from each sector is transformed into information that can be relayed to the Director at real time allowing him to make quick decisions.

Minerva This sector focuses on the mystical. They hold and collect artifacts of unknown origins (AUO) and conduct experiments on said artifacts to understand and collect data on them in which the rest of the organization may have access to. They also pursue cases that the organization would classify as impossible to understand using human science, which sometimes leads the Minerva to deal with alien technology. The Chief of Minerva is not yet introduced.

Argus This sector focuses on worldwide surveillance. They work to get access to any security camera, microphone, or classified data around the world so that the organization can remain on a near omnipotence status. If you have a secret, Argus most likely already has access to it. The Chief of Argus is not yet introduced.

Tutelar This sector focuses on acquiring Guardian assets and working on preparedness to face threats. They pursue vigilantes who are wanted by the authorities, assess their threat and desire to do good, and then may offer to license them under the organizations protection. Licensed Guardians are protected by law in order to continue their superhero endeavors, but are also given training and equipment funded by the GID. The Chief of Tutelar is Bianca Ramírez.

Guardian Legislation:​

With the rise of superheroes and villains during the cold war, many laws passed and then crossed out involving vigilantes, below are some of the laws:

1. Vigilantes unlicensed under the G.I.D are subject to fines and detainment after three warnings. Vigilantes can be criminally charged if refusing to be assessed by the G.I.D, and will be imprisoned without cooperation.
2. To be licensed, Vigilantes must receive official and appropriate training depending on the individual power and ability. The training is focused on ensuring the potential Guardian will produce the least amount of damage to innocent civilian life.
3. The Masked doctrine indicates that Guardians must use a secret identity to reduce targeted crime. This follows the sociological understanding that Guardians will accumulate enemies throughout their careers, and that having their identity revealed will act as a motivating factor for crime in hopes to hurt the Guardian's love ones and personal belonging. The Wilbur family was the first to break this law - which gave the G.I.D a lot of grief.
4. Guardians are to only take a life in order to save a life. Any circumstance otherwise can deem the Guardian incapable of protecting humanity and will be stripped of their title.
5. Guardians are to make themselves available to the G.I.D when they are needed.

 

[KyleTok]

The Headless
A gang of sociopathic criminals who identify by tattooing a dashed line around their neck. They surfaced around 2008 and have since become a prominent criminal group around the country who deal with weapons and drug trading. The gang is known to have always found ways to gain access to military grade weapons, and to have been involved in numerous terror attacks, with its members willing to give up their own life in order to inspire chaos. Despite everything, the Headless still managed to fly under the radar in terms of priority for governmental response, mostly due to the ease at which its members die off or get thrown in jail. By today, the remaining of the Headless are only few.

Recently, the Headless had made a bargain with a mysterious man who provided them with alien tech weapons (Elemental Constructor, Gama Oscillator, Black Mould). With their numbers dwindeling, the Headless hope to inspire as much chaos as they can before they are taken off the board.

The Elemental Constructor, once activated, will draw elemental energy from its surroundings and construct an elemental figure. A DNA signature of the person who activates these devices will be stored, giving the individual full command of the elementals.

Gama Oscillator is not yet introduced.

Black Mould is not yet introduced.

The motivation of inspiring chaos is not yet clear. The leader of the Headless is not yet introduced.

 

[SpotBandit]

WIP
-- Heaven and Hell --

---
Christianity.

It began in Judea, where a man claimed to have witnessed vision of a splendid, perfect world sat high, high above, deep within clouds. As he fiddled with his cotton robes, anxious to tell of his spiritual journey, he claimed he'd seen the grandeur of a righteous being, wrapped in light, with his winged creations, who sat amongst each other in a civilisation far beyond humanity's reach. They chattered among each other, free of any care. He spoke that all that existed in this place was purity-- a realm, untainted by evil or sin. The perfect world. One only of dreams. An unachievable fantasy.

Heaven.

But the man, he also claimed he'd seen the realm of nightmare. A realm that rivalled the splendor of Heaven. A realm of brimstone and hate. His tremors, once out of excitement to share his vision, were now out of fear. He spoke wearily, frightfully, of a horrifying realm engulfed in a blazing red inferno, deep within the Earth's crust-- beyond any achievable means of existing. Rivers of lava, unending fires.. all inhabited by awful, malevolent beings, with vicious pointed horns and tongues like snakes. Ones with wings, ones with sharp talons, ones with scarily pointed tails that looked like iron spears-... they came in all frightful shapes and sizes, with needle-like teeth and twisted grins. He spoke of beings that thrived off of sin, that revelled in the failures of life. That lusted to watch the world burn.
Such a terrible place's name?

Hell.

The townspeople were skeptical. But the wise man came armed with proof of his journey to these places, despite supposedly having visited these places in spirit. The man draped in robes declared that one being from each realm- one of the benevolent, winged people from above, and one of the horned, devil spirits from below- had gifted him proof of his journey. In his left hand was a deep black rock, which gently and ominously pulsated a dark crimson. It was unnaturally warm, and never ceased to give off heat. Anyone to hold the rock was overcome with an uneasy feeling. In his right hand was a large feather a metre or so long, impossibly white and covered in odd markings on it that no bird could possess, nor could one hope to paint onto a feather to begin with. It was remarkably light, almost abnormally so given its size. Anyone to hold the feather was overcome with the feeling of ease and peace.

With these remarkable items began the religion of Christianity.

For 2,000 years, Christianity has been widespread. In the earlier stages of developing humanity, this religion was widely adopted in Rome, who essentially based their entire society off of this belief to appease the God that lived within the clouds in hopes that they, too, could be granted wings to join those already among the clouds. In recent times, the very existence of these two realms have still yet to be proved, but as we exist in the age of science, it is almost universally agreed by most that these realms have never existed to begin with.

The two artifacts that the prophetic man had once wielded have remarkably gone without being lost, and now reside in a museum, along with the story of the visions this man claimed to have had- though the details throughout the years have progressively become lost or muddled, as such things do when they have existed only by mouth for 2,000 years. While science on Earth concludes that Heaven and Hell do not exist, science has still to decipher how exactly the two artifacts from so long ago even exist...
---


So concludes Earth's understanding of these two realms. While Christianity is still a widespread religion on Earth, it unfortunately doesn't bode much for the humans that follow it.

Heaven and Hell are two realms that exist wholly seperate to Earth, without much hope a human soul could reach either realm. They both individually share ties with Earth, but exist in the same realm together- one tie for Heaven, another for Hell. Each realm can only be accessed by their respective 'species' that come from them. This used to be different, where Heaven and Hell would mingle often, but this has since been banished and thus both realms have become exclusive to their appropriate 'species'.


HEAVEN


(Image from google and enhanced through AI)

What is it?
Heaven is a wholly seperate realm from Earth that exists high within the clouds, where there is no proper earth to stand on (outside of some islands that anyone could walk on). It's a remarkably cold place that houses both angels and their god, the latter of which had hand-sculpted each one of them to bring them to life. The realm is peaceful, and the architecture there consists of very roman-like buildings and most, if not all structures made of marble. Some structures are perched on clouds, while others are sat on floating island held up by holy magic or clouds. Heaven is the embodiment of an eternal paradise.

Society in Heaven is mainly about peace, prosperity and giving. Angels are given things by their god on the condition that they treat each other with respect and love. Food and the like are baked by angels who give them out for the sake of providing a meal to others. Heaven's situation is very sandbox-like. If you want to go do this thing, so long as it isn't malevolent or hurting someone, then go and do it. The only person limiting you is yourself.

Heaven shares a somewhat correct bond with what has been written in Christian literature at best. Such wild tales of men speaking to God and carrying out His deeds as human saviours have never truely happened, but were instead either conjured up by humans who wanted to insert their piece of fiction into history, or instead were humans who had dreams or visions of what they interpreted as Heaven or Hell, or of angels and demons, when in fact the two shared no ties whatsoever. The only human to truely witness both Heaven and Hell was the man who had visions of each when he interacted with two objects-- a piece of Hell's brimstone and an angel's feather-- when he found the two items in his house in close proximity together, likely left behind by a demon. Much of Christian literature isn't applicable to Heaven, and because of the extremely, minuscule few times an angel had arrived on Earth, humanity's understanding of angels is skewed to the point that the very depiction of an angel from Earth is incorrect. The human interpretation of Heaven also falsely claims that a human soul, if they followed the religion devoutly in life and strayed from sin, could find their way up into Heaven for eternal peace. This is unfortunately impossible given that angels and demons are not comprised of human souls-- or at least angels aren't. Some demons once were human.

Humans have also falsely made these 'rules' that are said to 'allow' a human soul passage to Heaven, and said rules are uncomfortably exclusive to say the least. Many of these rulings actively go against what the angels and god in Heaven believe in, as the rulings were made in a time when humanity was in a far less open-minded state like it is today. Unfortunately these rulings remain in the modern bible.

Humans are also under the misconception that Heaven's god is omnipotent over the whole Earth, and His influence can reach anyone on Earth. They say he is all-powerful, and looking over everyone, and that he will protect them from harm if they follow him. This is also false, and the god of Heaven's reach is exclusive only to Heaven and his own realm, where his concern is only focused on his angels. Only there is he truely all-powerful.

Heaven is a place packed full of holy energy, thanks to the presence of its god and inhabitants. At first glance this shouldn't be an issue, and it wouldn't be, so long as electronics stay outside of the realm. Electricity is impacted by the presence of festering holy energy, and as such, electronic devices will struggle to work properly or if at all in Heaven. Technology that is less reliant on electricity should remain functioning, and anything outside of that will either be faulty or remain unpowered.

While Heaven hasn't had any visitors from Earth, if they so happen to find themselves any guests (which will not happen without an angel's assistance), they will gladly house them and temporarily grant them a blessing to walk on clouds, namely so they don't fall to their demise.


What about history?
Heaven has existed since the dawn of the Earth. For a long while, the god of Heaven remained dormant in a slumber, as the monumental power it took upon him to craft the realm rendered him exhausted. The god awoke ~1000 years BC, or roughly around when the iron age of humans began. For a large portion of his re-awakening, the god remained alone in his realm. It was only ~300 bc before the god created his first angel, and following the creation of his very first angel, he named the creation after a greek constellation in the sky. The feeling of joy this angel gave him, the feeling of fulfilment, was something that the god had never experienced before. Following this, the god decided to create a holy civilisation within the clouds just for his angels. He would continue to sculpt angels up until this day.

Angels have remained largely out of contact with humans. They've never had any need to associate with them, and were all plenty satisfied staying up in Heaven. Very few angels would venture down to Earth to check out what was going on, but they wouldn't stay for long and wouldn't be seen by many before returning back (before any of their gateways disappeared). So, while angels were existing alongside their god in Heaven, they hadn't realised that by then, the humans had made a whole religion around their 'species', realm and god. It's still something that they haven't quite looked into much yet.

For almost all of Heaven's existence (both as a realm and civilisation), it has remained at peace. It was only shortly ago, 40 or so years, that demons began to realise that angels were so true to their benevolent teachings that despite being polar opposite beings, they would interact with the devils respectively. They also realised that angels could be really gullible, and with enough time and grooming, they could be slowly lead away from Heaven and to sin. Because demons thrive so much off of the pain of others, and that this was another form of entertainment outside of bullying any humans on Earth, they began to slowly poison the angel community by lying to the holy beings, coercing them to come to Hell instead. Surely, it was a far more free utopia. It would make you so much more happier. There are already other angels down there having one hell of a time, why not join them? The demon's naturally slick tongue and unholy influence unfortunately laid claim to some of the angel's innocence. Before long, the angel community found themselves in the midst of a silent pandemic that quickly began to claim one after another, and then another, and so on.

After a while of this, and witnessing the downpours of rain that would drench the land because of their god's sobbing over his creations which were wrongfully stolen from him, the remaining angels in Heaven swore to protect Heaven from any further sin, thus becoming 'guardian angels'. They have since prevented any other angels from being tempted to sin, and have subsequently kept any demons who have managed to somehow slip into Heaven away from Heaven's gates. Those who would not comply with their wishes would be swiftly laid to rest.

Shortly following the assembly and creation of the guardian angels was Heaven's ultimate act of betrayal ever. Orion, a guardian angel, had been conspiring to launch an attack on a weakened Heaven to either convert angels to sin or kill the stubbornly loyal ones, and to overthrow the benevolent god for the infinite power he possessed. Orion had grown angered by the god's soft demeanour, mad that despite having so much power, he would refuse to use it to its full potential and instead had settled down with the angels in Heaven to rule over a peaceful species near incapable of hurting even a fly. God could've been far more feared. He should've lived up to the title of all-powerful being, and anyone to even bare mention of his name should find shudders running down their spine. True power was the ability to crush your foes swiftly, and to instil fear in those who'd hear your name. It was to rule with an iron fist. To kill all who dared stand up to a mighty, unstoppable force.

Orion's extremely skewed idea of force, along with his power fantasies, eventually lead him to launch the attack on Heaven without a second thought. Demons and fallen angels streamed in from down below, whom of which began to lay siege to Heaven's society. The guardian angels, whom of which were in scarce amounts compared to the sheer volume that was the rebelling army, quickly had to retreat into the deeper parts of Heaven to avoid being ripped apart by the swarming army.

Seeing the assault against Heaven and seeing his own creations fight against each other so viciously, it was only then that their god finally chose to use his power for violence. Enraged, His righteous power near immediately defeated any rebelling angel or demon in Heaven. All fallen angels were banished to Hell, now stripped of their halos, wings, and holy power forever. Without their blessings, the god-forsaken angels lost their ability to walk on clouds- their once home-, and began to fall to the fiery depths. Demons had their wings shredded by the light, and they too fell back into the depths. The remaining innocent angels, as they slowly began to regain themselves from the violence, watched from the safety of their sacred home as those who betrayed them fell through the clouds and down below. The traitors desperately clawed at the air as they disappeared into the depths for eternity.

Orion managed to barely escape his god's eternal punishment by using his powers to open a gateway to Earth, which closed just before he could be hit by the beam of light headed for straight him. He has since escaped to Earth, where while armed with his dark magic and power fantasies, he is now a festering threat that all should be wary of.



HELL


What is it?
wip
very hot place, bad bad place

​

 

[SpotBandit]

-- Angels and Demons --

Angels are demons are polar opposite beings that go hand-in-hand in terms of concept, but in practice, mix as well as water and oil. They both come from different realms tied to Earth, and behave vastly different from one-another thanks to their largely different natures. Both beings have been documented in Christian scripture for about 2,000 years, though even with so much supposed documentation behind both 'species', some information about them in ancient text is either wrong or goes unspoken (save for demons). What exactly are these peculiar beings?


- Angels -


Angels are almost what you would imagine to be, bar a few major differences that true angels possess that humanity has forgotten about because of this elusive species' nature. While angels are probably as benevolent and giving, and perhaps slightly condescending (albeit unintentionally) as you may think, their origins and physical appearance aren't correctly documented in any form of literature to-date.

Angels are often incorrectly referred to as a 'species', though they (like demons) aren't exactly living things in the sense that they fit the bill for a normal living creature, and were created like a normal creature. They are extant, but are often referred to as a species for convenience. Every single angel was a sculpture, delicately hand-crafted by their god, and brought to life by a blessing from the all-mighty being. They lack the organs and urge to reproduce, and don't even have a living organism's most basic organs (despite possessing the ability to eat food). They live, they breathe, need to eat and drink, and they think and feel. That's the closest they get to a living creature.

Angels are wholly ageless, and are all sculpted to appear as adults. They possess the intelligence of an adult, and can often be quite literate just by nature. Because of their ageless trait, and the fact that angels do not have any natural diseases, angels can live for all of eternity so long as they aren't killed. Provided angels had started to be sculpted at around 300 bc, this means that some angels (or now fallen angels) are up to 2,300 years old!

The angels were and are still made in the image of their god, with slight differences. Angels are made to have soft, pastel and light colouring that make their appearance look soft and friendly (there are a few exceptions), and have massive wings that are capable of effortlessly carrying an angel through the sky courtesy of a blessing from their god. Angels possess bird-like appendages (birds legs and talons for hands and feet), and a set of pseudo-ears that help express their emotions. They also have a set of odd fluffy animal-like ears that are curved downwards (likely because human ears would freeze easily in such cold temperatures), and a glowing halo that is always present above their head unless noted otherwise. Their skin colours come in all different shades, and the colours and designs of their feathers, talons, hair, etc, are always made to compliment their looks. Angel halos are always a light purple, and are never otherwise.

The angels have a very high tolerance to freezing temperatures, courtesy of their massive fluffy wings that generate and keep in plenty of heat, their thick clothing, and again through a little bit of a blessing just to make sure they're comfortable. This leaves them prone to over-heating and hot environments, which angels exhaust very quickly in and are near incompatible with.

Despite having a very un-aerodynamic frame, angels are remarkable agile in air thanks to highly developed core and wing muscles. Another blessing however aids them in their flight, as even though they may be quite fit for agile flight, a humanoid body shape is no shape for proper flight. Because of their status as holy beings, angels also have a naturally high resistance to forms of magic (and complete immunity to some forms of magic, for instance magic that can alter their appearance, mind, behaviour, etc-- namely magic that affects their person), though a good way to defeat an angel would be to sap their holy powers from them, as it will leave them remaining as what they truely are; a statue.


-Culture-
All angels are, unsurprisingly, a pretty religious species. Living in close proximity to their god, and literally being statues brought to life, mean the angels share a very strong bond with their creator and thus hold him in high regards (especially after having dealt with the betrayal of the fallen angels). The angel's society is built wholly around their god's beliefs and benevolence, of which he gifted to all of his creations and helped sow them, which until recently, has lead to constant peace among the community. These beliefs have been taken onboard by the angels so much that even their natural nemesis, demons, find themselves treated with respect like any other. Angels have built some well-kept prayer temples within Heaven, and will often pray twice or three times a day to pay respects to their god. There are also carefully-crafted marble statues of their god built around Heaven, though it should be noted that the true appearance of the statue is only visible to angels and demons- the appearance of the statue will change in accordance to one's ability to comprehend the true form of god (which vary based on personality, past experiences, etc. One may observe the statue as a stag, while another may view the statue as a robed man).

While angels are very devout, they are not known to force their religion on others, as they are aware that their religion is very exclusive to them. They are considerate. Attempts to force a religion on another when undesired is also deemed a disrespectful act, and given that respect is one of the high values of angels (as is love, loyalty, faith, etcetera), it is something that angels will avoid like the flu. Those who speak against a god (eg. human's incorrect interpretation of god) and not specifically the angel's god- while they will rouse a concerned gaze from the angel- won't cause any angels to grow mad. What does easily get under an angel's skin however is directly insulting their god on the basis of knowing where they come from, in which case the angels will grow defensive and mad. Because of their culture though, angels will not physically attack anyone outside of self-defence, and in cases of guardian angels, when a threat doesn't back down with warning.

Angels will also avoid what they consider 'sin', which is anything that could be applicable to any one of the seven deadly sins (minus lust, as angels completely lack sexual attraction and anything else involved with the sin). This involves such small things such as cursing (angels will not use their mouth both to utter blessings of God and curse, and that it may make a 'gateway' to sin), and using vulgar sign language, which they will never try to go out of their way to say or do intentionally. They will kindly request that any nearby people they associate with may stop sinning if they find themselves in a situation where they must stay nearby and listen to vulgarity, though if their requests remain ignored, they will leave that person/those people, as not only is over-vulgarity inconsiderate, but it is also something the angels wouldn't want to associate with and have rub off onto them.

The angels are criminally kind species that sustain themselves off of the positive connections of others, all the while praising their god as they feel. Though this natural benevolence comes at the cost of being a more gullible and naive community, so long as the angels are working in the way of their teachings while upholding the purity of their society, they're happy to remain the way that they are.



- Demons -

Demons are unremarkably the polar opposite of angels. They come from the depths of Hell, and are often hardened, inconsiderate creatures with little respect for anyone else but themselves. By nature, all demons are aggressive and malicious, though very rarely may a soul that is unfortunate enough to be cast into Hell find themselves retaining the ability to care for others and have remorse. Demons are chaotic and wild, and their exact reaction to a certain situation can vary vastly from one individual to another.

Demons, like angels, are often incorrectly referred to as a 'species', but because of the nature of their being, they are just extant. Their origins are shrouded in mystery, but it is believed that they had come into existence before angels, and that when humanity's hate had begun to fester as it pooled throughout the human's history, the negative energy transcended to the realm of Hell and gave rise to the first demons. After their birth, the devils have consistently slipped between their own realm and Earth to torment humans and cause catastrophe, and even corrupt the souls of unfortunates to transform them, too, into demons. Demons are the only one of the two realm's species that humans have (mostly) correctly been described in Christian literature-- not to mention even in literature outside of religion. This is thanks to how often demons will venture to Earth, and this has even more-so been amplified by the fact that demons have now been completely barred entrance to Heaven.

It is believed that the knowledge that humans could be transformed into demons was what lead to satanism.

The demons come in many shapes and sizes, usually depending on power or rank. They all have pointed teeth and oddly coloured eyes with a snake-like pupils, and universally have a pair of horns or more on their head. Pointed tails, the legs of goats, sharp claws for hands, wings with eyes or teeth on them-- their appearances vary as much as their personality, and because of this variation in design, the depictions of demons in literature have always been inconsistently... consistent. For those who believe in such things, there are numerous reports of children who've claimed to have seen demons and subsequently had drawn the demons to try to depict what exactly they had encountered, and what's often drawn by the children are demons with an uncanny resemblance to other demons jotted down in historical pieces of art. Pieces of art that may've come from a wholly different country or time period where the child couldn't of possibly drawn reference from have been reported to share eerie resemblances to supposed demon encounters by those who claim to have found themselves in such a hapless way.

Demons thrive off of the suffering of others, and they often take trips to Earth to toy with humans or start mayhem on their own accord. Wildfires caused by arsonists have at least roughly a quarter of the time have been started by demons looking for mayhem. Most disasters, like perhaps a massive car accident or large stabbing, have been caused by the urging of a demon's hand, and in these situations, there will always be at least one demon lingering nearby, silently revelling in the chaos, under the guise of a human.

Vulgar and crass, demons also live the thrilling life of sin. Unlike angels, demons are willing and often take part in one, if not more of the seven deadly sins, including one of the deadly sins that angels are incapable of taking part in. Demons are largely inconsiderate and any implication that they should stop acting in such a juvenile manner will only cause them to retaliate by doing whatever they're doing far more. The devils greatly enjoy the frustration of others.

In terms of resistances and weaknesses, it's common information for anyone to know what a demon is that the species is wholly immune to fire and lava. Demons are almost completely resistant to all forms of heat, though for what they're capable of resisting in heat, they make up for what they are incapable of resisting in terms of lack of heat. Frigid temperatures are a demon's nightmare, and they can quickly find themselves victim to the temperature if they do not keep themselves hot. Demons, like angels, also have high resistance to magic (and share the same immunities to magic as angels do). Some demons are capable of flight if they have the wings to do it. Others are very adept at manipulating hellmagic, which can be used for a myriad of things.

-Culture-
Demons from Hell don't exactly have a culture. Being universally mean-spirited creatures that can have wildly different personalities leads to a large variation of culture, which is too vast to round down much. They do not have a righteous god to worship like the angels do, and the closest thing they can get to culture is their universal enjoyment of tormenting the innocent or weak. Sometimes demons will claim souls to turn into demons, so long as that soul is malevolent enough to even fester into a demon. Other times they may just eat the soul for power. Some may keep it in a jar, because they can. What they do is near unpredictable, and that only adds to their chaos.​

 

[Excal]

RADIANTS OF CHRIST


The Known Story​

Sometime in the 1960s Charles Goodfellow, an Evangelical playboy oil baron 'prince', was on a hiking trip in the mountains of New Mexico when he, according to his now popular biography, encountered a meeting with an angel. Said angel filled him with the love and fear of the Father and filled him with visions that the Days of Reckoning were at the hand, that the forces of evil as revealed in Reveleations would soon rise up, and the Apocalypse would begin in a few generations, and Christ, in his mercy and love, would grant his power onto a select of his children in advance of his coming, to make way and proclaim the Kingdom of Heaven through their works.

Much like Saul, a prosecutor of Christians, had been made an apostle to demonstrate God's grace and glory, so too would Goodfellow, a materialistic, narcissistic brat who exemplified all that was wrong with his generation, be changed and put to God's work. He was granted a blessing and was transformed into the first Radiant, a bronze skinned, golden eyed being with superhuman power.

Taking on his inheritance and pouring it into the construction of a great monastery compound in the place of his vision, he travelled the world and fought in the defense of Christian missionaries across the world, be it the Christian hospital networks of central China during it's civil war, or schools and food aid missions across Africa, he would very publicly place himself in their defense and thereafter proclaim the coming of the Apocalypse and the Second Coming. As he became more and more publicly known, and the GID began to pressure him to come under their jurisdiction, he finally went onto the first live television broadcast and announced the nature of his being, and his organization, the Radiants of Christ. He proclaimed not only his vision and transformation and mission, but also that others may receive said blessing too if they undergo a similar commune in the mountains and open their hearts to God. This was the aim of the Radiants of Christ.

Many were skeptical at first, knowing his previous reputation, and believing him to simply be a deluded Superhero with a Messiah Complex, but he invited priests and monks the world over to examine his claims, and they came and astonished the world by giving him legitimacy. All the more so when one Nigerian Pastor underwent the commune and became the second Radiant.

And so his organization was quickly rocketed to a celebratory status on par with the Children of Liberty, and a new wave of faith and evangelism spread across the world, much to the chargin of the GID. Other superheroes, even the religious, were troubled as well, as the Radiants of Christ, though professing an allegiance to the international body of Christ (all followers), had an explicit exclusionary policy regarding any non-radiant superhero.

They not only refused to grant the commune to any faithful super, but actively proclaimed that all non-radiant supes were carrying pagan or heretical powers, and should cede any vigilantism to their Radiant counterparts, hang up their masks, and find repentance. A few religious supes even listened. Despite the controversy this caused, the Radiants didn't refuse to work alongside other supes when absolutely necessary, despite this 'elitism', and accepted the directives of the GID and local nations otherwise, yet tightly maintained their internal autonomy.

Up the present day, 10 more Radiants have been added to the ranks. Non-radiant members claimed a personal commune experience despite the lack of a blessing and pledged their lives in service to the organization and it's mission, bringing the total number of the organization to roughly just under ten thousand worldwide, the low number despite their popularity being attributed to their strict selection process. Their operation consisted of 'outposts', usually built near other missions, that spread their doctrine, performed their own missions, and provided logistical support to the Radiants. A good portion even 'left' the organisation and offered their trained talents to public states and organizations across the world. Some even in the GID, claiming the 'Radiants' as their faith.

Despite their international operations and status, the organization carries a distinct 'American', 'Western' quality, not only due to it's founding member being an American Evangelical, but the fervant, apocalyptical quality of it's faith that matched the zeal, and sometimes rhetoric, of American Evangelicals, as well as their close affiliation with the American Military.

The Real Story
​

Charles Goodfellow was a bastard. A conniving, greedy, self absorbed asshole who played his faith, much like most historical bastards, for PR and little else, and felt little conscience continuing his father's practice of labor exploitation, Union breaking, and political strong arming, both figurative and literal. His encounter in the mountains of New Mexico was no angelic commune but an encounter with an ancient alien artefact, a cybernetic eye enclosed in two revolving disks, found in a semi-collapsed cave, surrounded by the bones and fetishes of long gone worshippers that came to the Frontier. This thing promised him, in visions, fame, power, and glory. Charles lapped it up and readily opened his mind to the artefact and was devoured and transformed into its first instrument.

The priests and monks and pastors who later came to verify his story, too, were drawn in by the temptations and splendor of this artificial being. So hungry were they for genuine miracles and signs of God that the visions that assaulted their minds were met with little skepticism or resistance, each vision suited exactly to the recipients biases and background. Though they weren't blessed by Radiance, they nonetheless obtained a kind of 'Enlightened' serenity and aura, a mark of their mental takeover. So it went with most converts who came to meet the OFANIM.

Most.

When the organization first began, a few converts reacted not with immediate worship but with horror or a skepticism that soon turned to revulsion and madness. They were swiftly dealt with and so it was decided that not all could be immediately exposed to the artefact, but slowly, they had to be prepared, their psychological barriers broken down and their minds made supple. And really, they didn't need the entire, or even most, of humanity 'converted' for the Ofanim's purpose, only a strict, strong minority, the best, brightest, the most willing they could find.

The international spread of their organization had obvious ulterior motives. The increasing spread of their people throughout the world's power structure didn't need explanation, but their outposts, serving as propaganda structures on the surface, actually housed replicas of the original Ofanim artefact, items which replenished the strength of the Radiants and served as points of additional background 'influence' in the local populace. More importantly, they were amplifying signals. For what, it was not yet known, not even to the devout.

Organizational Structure
​

The Radiants of Christ consist of predominantly four branches:

1. The Radiant superheroes themselves.​
2. The Chrestosists, who serve the support role of fulfilling the everyday duties of logistics, admin, finances, ministry, PR, etc, of the organization.​
3. The Sophiatists, the monks in charge of training and security in the monastery compound.​
4. The Antinomians, a secret military-esque division responsible for internal scrutiny, external surveillance, counter-ops, 'clean-up', and the handling of the Ofanim and its replicas.​

Radiant Powers​

Radiants can be divided into three categories:

1. The Guardians. They possess super strength, stamina, and fortitude, and are officially made up of 6 members, five male and one female. They are the dominant image of the organization. Charles is a Guardian. So is Henry.​
2. The Angels. They possess psychic powers such as telekinesis, telepathy, levitation, and psychoscopy (the ability to obtain information of an object or person by touch). They consist of three members, all female. They often work with the Antinomians in counter ops, or the Chrestosists in PR or diplomatic ops. They possess semi-fortitude due to their bronze skin. If a Guardian can take a few tank shells before taking true damage, an Angel can take one or two tank shell equivalent force before being crippled.​
3. The Seraphim. They possess elemental abilities such as lightening or fire, used either to assault (in the form of bolts), to defend (in the form of spheres), or to maneuver (in the form of jets). They consist of three members, two female and one male. They possess semi-fortitude due to their bronze skin. If a Guardian can take a few tank shells before taking true damage, an Seraphim can take one or two tank shell equivalent force before being crippled.​

All Radiants acquire a new bronze body post transformation, bestowing some degree of fortitude. They also lose the need to eat or sleep, though they are able to, and can withstand and store immense heat. However, they are also very conductive, and can also lost heat easily if not properly insulated, making frost or cold a manageable threat. They also possess weakness to corrosive powers or concentrated corrosive elements.

All Radiants acquire eyes that radiate an intense light, as well as verberating, booming voices. If desired, they can release a bright outpour of light from their bodies to blind those around them, even give burns to those close enough, though this exhausts them after a few minutes.

Ofanim and the Monadists

Ofanim
​

The Ofanim is an alien artefact hailing from outer space from a cybernetic, theocratic, invasive authoritarian species calling themselves the Monadists. It's purpose is to travel across the stars and search for signals of life, preferably intelligent. Once found and landed, it will analyze the local populace and begin conversion through psychic influence. Once sufficient information has been obtained about the atomic structure of the species, it will begin creating psuedo Monadists, and smaller replicas of itself, the purpose of which is to prepare a signal to reach the closest invasion force, and prepare for their arrival.

The appearance of the artefact is of two interwoven disks, with semi-organic eyes, that revolve around a central cybernetic 'eye' core. It radiates an intense light and heat, and emits a vibrating, mechanical 'thrum' in its vicinity.

The Ofanim on earth arrived in the middle east in the land of Israel shortly after the time of Christ, becoming responsible for the rising of 'Gnostic' cults, which are mimicries of the Monadists' religion. It travelled in secret through sects and owners, never generating a popular enough following thanks to the efforts of Catholic Inquisitions, and later the efforts of the Illumanti (GID). Its most notable recent controversy was the 'Cathar' heresy in Southern France, which almost reached a significant presence were it not for the bloodthirsty zeal of the at the time papacy in wiping out heretics.

Finally it was found by Charles, cradled in the bones of its previous owners. And when it was found again, it had gathered enough data about humans to begin its plans in earnest.

Monadists

A human like sentient race of cybernetic beings, who won the Great War of their world, Elysium, and began a millennial long transhumanist eugenics project of ascension, annexation, destruction, and transformation, culminating in their becoming as 10 foot tall, augmented bronze beings, psychic, powerful, and able to withstand the cruelty of the void to spread their faith.

They believed themselves to be sparks of divinity, brought forth by God, known as Monad (The One, the Absolute), into a gross, imperfect material world built by a fallen angel, the lowest Aeon, who stole a piece of divinity and transformed itself into an imperfect creation.

It is their sacred duty to God to redeem the universe back into its holy grace, by transforming gross matter into order and structure. Into technology and civilization.

They do not procreate anymore, but assemble whoever is needed by factory, and are divided into a strict hierarchy that resembles their visions of the angelic order, the Aeons, which also resembles the structure of angels known by Catholic Christians and esoteric Jews. They posses the combined abilities of the Radiants, but amplified, and are a nightmarish, self righteous force.

When invading a world, they conquer it with swift and brutal force, and breakdown and incorporate the biology and technology of the host species into their own knowledge and structure. Any converts of the Ofanim are not spared in the end, though they aid in their invasion. They 'ascend' into their perfection.​

 

[N-On-E-Mus]

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Susurratrix
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History
Susurratrix an underground organization. Though the exact date that the organization was founded is unclear, it seems to have originated in the 18th century. Their primary goal has been to be able to influence, manipulate, and control the world from the shadows.

Their Leader
Their leader is a mysterious figure, known as simply ‘One’. Some believe that he doesn’t age, others have theorized that the helm of the name has been passed down throughout the centuries, but no one knows for sure.

One started the organization back in the 1700s, during the Enlightenment Period, when knowledge became widespread. To him, all the inventions, the ideas was madness. People were meant to be ruled under one leader, they needed to be controlled. And he was determined that the leader would be him. So he started Susurratrix

Their Rival

The G.I.D, and Susurratrix have been enemies from the very beginning, their only obstacle from taking over. The Susurratrix caused chaos, the G.I.D was always there to end it. There was one resource that they always raced for. Superhumans.

Eventually Susurratrix, tired of battling for Superhumans with G.I.D, decided to move in a different direction. Manufactured Superhumans, that could easily be controlled. They started Project Occisor, to see if it could be done. After countless attempts, they finally did it. Keethan Joglo was one of their first successful test subjects, their first manufactured, controllable, superhuman. After he escaped, Susurratrix made it their goal to retrieve their asset.

Their Front
Currently, in order to remain hidden from the G.I.D, they pose as a small science company, by the name of ‘PARTICLE TEK’, A company based in Canada, that researches and creates particle technology, and sells them