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| | ''(Yes, I use the 3E style of abilities, sue me. I just find it faster, because you don't need the exact number.)'' | | ''(Yes, I use the 3E style of abilities, sue me. I just find it faster, because you don't need the exact number.)'' |
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| − | Rank +6 is the normal maximum for a typical human, marking him as one out of millions. For example Strength +6 would mean you're the strongest person of your generation. Higher ranks should be bought as powers. | + | Rank +6 is the normal maximum for a typical human, marking him as one out of millions. For example Strength +6 would mean you're the strongest person of your generation. |
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| | Now to the secondary abilities. These are: | | Now to the secondary abilities. These are: |
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| | ::-Your WIS rank is also your base Will save. It represents the strength of your mind, your ability to resist fear and mental effects. | | ::-Your WIS rank is also your base Will save. It represents the strength of your mind, your ability to resist fear and mental effects. |
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| − | ====Hero Points & Extra Effort==== | + | ====Hero Points==== |
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| | ==Setting== | | ==Setting== |
| − | ===A short History===
| + | The world is not much different than our own. There are almost the smae problems. The biggest difference: Supervillains and -heroes. There are many inventions made by unscrupulous scientists that are exploited by either these scientist or other morally defunct individuals. Other people are the opposition, fighting these villains for ulterior motives like money from corporate sponsors, YouPipe Likes and, although rarely, for the general good. |
| − | '''1985'''
| + | These gizmos range from simple blaster guns to De-evolution rays; from simple jetpacks to flying body armours, from rage- and strength-inducing pills to treatments that make you almost invincible. Most of these inventions were lucky shots and couldn't be reproduced, others were deemed to dangerous to be made public, others were too inefficient. But some advanced the general technology (more to that later). |
| − | - Johannes Gertner uses a self constructed jetpack to rob the Züricher Kantonalbank and escape the swiss police forces. Though jetpacks were known throughout most countries, Gertner's design was much advanced with a never seen-before range and maneuverability. Soon after Gertner started to draw a path of robberies throughout the swiss confederation. His inclination to give on-site interviews while wearing a mask soon made him the first officially acknowledged super-villain. For months he evaded capture until he was arrested in his Monte Carlo mansion by french police forces, after his cleaning lady had found his jetpack and mask and informed the police.
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| − | But Gertner was only the first, not the last.
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| − | In his wake, it became more and more common to see improved designs of common inventions used in criminal activities, though the real rise of supercrime did not come for the next 3 years.
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| − | '''1986'''
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| − | - In Tübingen, Germany, scientist Jakob Bardele develops an engine he jokingly called the Flux Capacitor. Little did he know that his invention would bring forth both some of the worst villains and some of the best heroes the world has seen.
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| − | This small sized engine had a power output like nothing ever before, equal only to a nuclear generator. The first villain using a Flux Capacitor in his crimes was Bardele's own lab assistant and son in law, Jakòv Hûdek. He stole the blueprints and sold copies of them on the black arms market. Suddenly the specs were in many hands. A few months after the theft, the first experimental power armours appeared, limited only in numbers by their building cost. While the Flux Capacitor by now is outdated and a museum relic, it was the first gamechanger.
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| − | The second one appeared the same year in a military contracted pharmaceutical lab in Nevada, USA. They developed a drug that would enhance the physical performance of anyone under its influence. The subjects were many times stronger, faster and had better reflexes. They also could stay awake for 7 days. Side effects included psychosis, enhanced aggression and impulsiveness, megalomania. The Pentagon called it a success though and released further funding for the lab and other facilities working on similar projects.
| + | Though the news are full with stories about these heroes and scoundrels, it is still a rare phenomenon. The typical civilian stands a greater chance to suffer from a car accident than being involved with a supervillain. |
| − | Unfortunately, some of these research results found their way out of the labs into the hands of drug lords and pharmaceutical companies and several months later juiced up criminals began to emerge.
| + | Nonetheless, the society has fully embraced these "gifted" individuals. The heroic ones look down from billboards as they have overnight overtaken supermodels as advertising personas. Even some of the more rogueish criminals (noone officially connected to a crime, but there is a dark-grey area) are spokespersons for some products. Some hero outfits are government funded and controlled, others operate with only the accreditation of their local mayor and/or police force. |
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| − | '''1987-2001'''
| + | But as glorious and different these superindividuals are, they still look human. |
| − | - These years saw the emergence of a new kind of criminals, Supercriminals. Most were only henchmen and thugs, equipped by forces in the shadows of society. Their new-found power led these thugs to live out their most violent instincts. It soon became clear, that the normal police forces could do nothing against this new threat. This was when the russian government released the PLD, the so called "Powered Lawmen Directive".
| + | A few years ago, the first 'aberration' was documented, a soldier during the invasion of Iraq 2003. He reacted differently to the combat drugs his team was issued with and the effects stayed permanent. This case was in the military, so the general public didn't know about it. Two years later the first people began to change. Iron Eagle, staunch defender of Cincinatti and YouPipe vlogger with over 2 million subscribers, changed over the course of four days into a hideous creature with green-gray rubberlike skin, hairy warts and tentacles. No wonder his channel was flooded with hate-trolling. Soon other individuals changed, mostly people only peripherally exposed to any mutating agent. |
| − | They used governmental funded research results to form an official team of "patriotic russians" to stem the tide of powered criminals (most of them secretly backed by the russian Maffiya). This "кра́сный инициати́ва" or "Red Initiative" was the first official team of superheroes. Many countries followed, even some cities started recruiting their own heroes (the "Washington Patriots" are the most famous example).
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| − | But there were already some individuals fighting the good fight, inofficially and not backed by any government or organisation. The records claim "Iron Eagle" to be the first of these vigilantes. He was first seen foiling a bank robbery in his hometown of Cincinatti in May 1987. He would later be even more famous for another incident.
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| − | Soon super-crime and fights between powered criminals and heroes was a media staple, especially in the US, which saw the highest density of Supers worldwide.
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| − | But despite the prevalence of Supers in the media, they only were a small margin of society. At the height of the "Super Generation" there may have been around 2000 individuals with "powers" in the whole United States.
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| − | Still, super-criminals and heroes had one thing in common. Their powers always came from a technological source and required access to either a device or a drug or medicine, so, once arrested, they could be stripped of their powers.
| + | Of course humanity is known for its tolerance and open acceptance of the strange and welcomed these poor victims of a random misfortune in its midst as equals.....I am kidding. Those suffering from the change were soon dubbed 'aberrations' and soon were pushed to the edge of society. In many countries they lost any claim to welfare, most of them lost their jobs or were demoted. In more radical countries they were even hunted and incarcerated. Demagogues canceled them out as being punished by God, Allah or whomever. |
| | + | Those looking different but still appealing to the human eye (most of them women with just unnormal skintones) found themselves subject of certain fetish scenes and there are rumors of a secret 'flesh trade' in the underworld. |
| | + | Only those of high stature and/or with money could soften the social stigma a bit, but even these were driven to a life as social hermits. |
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| − | Then the unthinkable happened. On September 11th, 2001, two planes hit the World Trade Center in New York, another plane hit the Pentagon and a fourth hit the Capitol building in Washington. Similar attacks happened worldwide, with several landmarks (St. Basil cathedral, Moscow; Brandenburg gates, Berlin; Eiffel tower, Paris; La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona and many more) and governmental buildings (Palace de Republique, Paris; Kantei, Tokyo and a failed attempt on the Kremlin) damaged or destroyed. Soon a red masked man talked to a jordanian reporter, confessing his responsibility for these attacks on the decadent nations of the world and promised more trouble. This was kept secret from the public. A "normal" terror organisation was soon blamed and cries for war were heard.
| + | Still the numbers are low, for example there are about 500 known aberrations in the New York area. |
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| − | Soon there were other attacks worldwide, this time more regular terror plots with explosives, targetting several chemical plants all over the globe. Meanwhile, despite fervent claims of innocense by the Taliban government of Afghanistan, US forces and their allies invaded that country. Soldiers were equipped with experimental combat drugs, manufactured after the study of some drugs used by super criminals.
| + | The situation of the Changed was a problem for any government. In the US it was helped by the appearance of GeneForce, a team of aberrations fighting evil to improve their and their fellow changed image in the public eye. |
| − | Here the US soldier Sgt. Kei Li received the dose that changed his life. But this case was kept secret by the military.
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| − | On US soil, a week after the war in Afghanistan had started, the Red Mask, as he would become known, made his presence public, detonating some kind of radiation device on top of the Sears Tower in Chicago. Many heroes came to fight him, but were kept busy by an army of super-powered criminals. Only Iron Eagle could breach the defensive perimeter and tackle the Red Mask, who was escaping, using some kind of jet boots.
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| − | High in the sky the two fought, the whole time filmed from media helicopters braving the turmoil. All of the US (and all of the world over cable and internet) were glued to the screen, as Red Mask told the Eagle his vile plan to overthrow humanity. They saw Iron Eagle making a last-ditch attack with his blaster glove, catching Red Mask in the chest. Everyone saw the terrorist and the heroe fall towards the lake, only to feel relief as Iron Eagle managed to spread his metallic wings just in time to stop his descent. Everyone witnessed the death of Red Mask.
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| − | And also the agony the victorious hero apparently was in, clawing at his armor, discarding it piece by piece, showing the world his changing skin. Rubbery tentacles sprouted from his forearms and bat-like winks from his shoulders. The change went on for several days.
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| − | It becameclear, that the attacks on the chemical plants were made to spread a certain mix of compounds in the atmosphere and then cause some kind of chain reaction with the radiation device.
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| − | '''2002-2011'''
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| − | - During these years, the world struggled with the appearance of the "Changed", people that developed powers not dependant on any technology. In almost every case these powers were accompanied by physical deformation, in much fewer cases with other obvious changes like a significant smell or some kind of aura. Only one in a thousand would almost look human.
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| − | And humanity began to fear. These were people, that could not be stripped of their powers to incarcerate or defeat them. And most didn't look human anymore. Soon Hate groups formed and religious fanatics dubbed the victims of the Change "Aberrations", "Monsters" and "Abominations".
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| − | In the United States, then President Cleveland Wallace, a liberal republican from North Dakota, elected to his office 2004, tried to calm the public and remind everyone, that the Changed were american citizens like everyone else. His politics worked...a bit. Though there was no massive front against the Changed, there were isolated incidents of violence, even murder. Social pressure caused many of the Changed to loose their jobs (especially teachers, doctors etc.). Others were fired by prejudiced and/or fearful bosses. Officially they still had their usual rights, but that changed as well in some states. Courts declared that some Changes could be claimed as cause for eviction by landlords, as the presence of the Changed was declared aggravating to other tenants. Other courts ruled that restaurants and hotels could deny entrance and service to the Changed. For some it felt like the times of Segregation.
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| − | In short, the Changed were pushed to the lowest rank of society. Only a few that had great social and political power or wealth or in best case both, were somewhat protected. | |
| − | Most of the others were forced to take menial jobs, live in conditions much like in third world countries or to take up crime..if they were lucky. Some had been changed in ways still attractive to the human eye, at least to some. A booming sex industry developed, catering to fetishes now being able to be fullfilled.
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| − | Then in 2010 a disgruntled group of Changed made an attempt to shift public attention to these violations of their rights as US citizens with a demo at the Washington Monument while human hate groups rallied and formed a counter-protest. Tensions rose and tempers flared when President Wallace decided to address the issues and discuss possible solutions with the protesters. As the situation calmed and the president sat with a group of spokesmen of the protesters, someone fired a shot and killed Wallace. It was never discovered if it was a Changed or a Norm who fired the shot, but all over the country the disposition towards the Changed shifted.
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| − | The former TV-personality and former VP and now acting president Truman Strong declared a state of emergency, putting a curfew for Changed in place and further demolishing their rights. He showed his true colours by embracing an Anti-Changed policy and mingling with right-wing elements. Officially recognized Super-heroes were forced to either support the government or being stripped of their official support and status and being declared criminal vigilantes.
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| − | '''2011-now'''
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| − | - A few months after the assassination of President Wallace and on the height of Anti-changed actions, Georgetown professor Dr. Clarisse Raymonde, a renowned book author, scientist, philantropist and expert consultant for both TV and political commitees, contacted a few sample Changed, that she knew. They met the first time in secret in Dr. Raymonde's house in Washington and formed GeneForce, a group dedicated to upholding the peace and to better the public opinion of the Changed.
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| − | At first it was a struggle, as most of their actions would be considered criminal offenses under the new laws. But the group soon netted respect amongst organisations as the FBI, S.H.I.T and many regional police forces. Slowly there was change. Not alone caused by GeneForce's actions, but bv President Strong's actions as well. It soon became clear, that he was not only Anti-Changed, but Anti-non white, which led to many other minorities to stand alongside the Changed. Also many liberal-minded white americans were increasingly put off by the president's politics.
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| − | It was before the 2016 election, that GeneForce and the FBI revealed the plot behind the death of President Wallace. A fringe group of both Changed and Non-Changed that wished for war between the ethnicities to sow chaos, was behind all this. The president was the group's founder and he orchestrated his ascent to the presidency with the group's help.
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| − | Immediately a big public outcry arose and and President Strong was impeached and the elections were held prematurely (as they would have been only two months in the future).
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| − | President Anne Patricia Lebowski, a democrat from Minnesota, was elected with a landslide victory. She promised to repeal and replace the unfair laws of the Strong administration. And she started to do so.
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| − | Meanwhile, a new discussion was pushed to public attention by Clarisse Raymonde. The Changed (or First Generation Mutants, as she called them), usually changed when fully adult and with no discernable pattern. But Dr. Raymonde prophesied the emergence of the second generation, people born at least with the latent possibility of powers. Many other scientist laughed at that, as did a lot of other people. Then Dr. Raymonde produced 4 young teenagers that were born with the genetic laatent ability of powers and that had changed early in life. And these weren't the only ones. These four young teenagers had been taught by Dr. Raymonde on how to use their powers. They soon were known as the New GeneForce.
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| − | The exploits of the NGF led to Dr. Raymonde being allowed to open a special school, where other second generation mutants could be taught. This was the birth of Dr.Raymonde's Institute of higher learning.
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| − | ===The Change===
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| − | The Change is a genetic affliction caused by mutagenes released by Red Mask and his organisation, W.R.A.T.H. It can affect any adult over 18 years, causing powers to manifest, as well as significant obvious changes.
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| − | There is no discernable pattern on which people are affected. There is no common denominator like ethnicity, physical health or else.
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| − | Lately the Change has been proven to be inherent in the genes of kids. They were born with the Change. It usually affects them between the ages of 8 to 12 with the same results.
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| − | Here is also no discernable spread pattern. Children of changed parents are as likely to be afflicted as are children of non-changed parents.
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| − | ====Status of the Changed====
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| − | While things look better under President Lebowski, there is still a lot of prejudice against the Changed. Many media (most often of right-wing tendencies) still depict them as Monsters. Still there is no job equality between Changed and Norms. The Changed still suffer segregation in a few states (South Dakota, Wyoming, Texas, Alabama, Rhode Island, Vermont, Hawai'i, California). Despite GeneForce's best attempts, there are no officially recognized teams of Changed Supers.
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| − | There are many anti-changed hate groups, the largest is "PureHuman" or "PH". Other existing groups like the Ku Klux Klan have jumped on the bandwagon, eager to bash another minority.
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| − | The overall situation is not helped by those Changed embracing their powers for their own gain. Some are mere thugs and criminals, some claim that only violence can procure true equality, even proposing forming a nation only for the Changed and some rare individuals believe that the Changed are superior to humans and should rule the world.
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| − | ===State of the world===
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| − | The world of GeneForce resembles much our regular world. The only major differences are brought forth by the history of super-heroes. Vigilantism, while technically still in a gray area of legality, is accepted as long as the vigilante adheres to certain moral standards (no killing, no excessive force etc.).
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| − | Of course this may change from region to region.
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| − | There are many heroes celebrated as icons, even religious figures of worship in some parts of the world.
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| − | ====State of technology====
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| − | Technology has made significant advances, at least in the so-called first world countries. The following technological advances are common in these countries, uncommen in less developed nations and rare in the third world.
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| − | - Fusion reactors have replaced nuclear reactors, but atomic energy has lost overall significance. Fossil fuel power plants don't exist anymore, replaced by much more efficient solar and water power plants. The latest developement is the cold fusion reactor (producing almost as much energy as a Fusion reactor, but with much less radiation and waste), an experimental plant being currenly build near Pittsburgh, PA.
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| − | | |
| − | - Fossil fuel engines have been replaced by electric engines, with electric cars being the only allowed cars to be sold in many countries (an exception is made for oldtimers). This, coupled with advances in filtering technologies, has led to a great reduction in air pollutants (Los Angeles still has no visible stars at night).
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| − | - Holographic recorders and players are possible, creating full 3D pictures. The technology is available, but still quite expensive and not as used by the movie and video game industry.
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| − | - Medicine had advanced, so that organs can be grown from stem cells to be available for the general public, reducing the waiting time for transplant patients to two to three weeks. Wealthy individuals can have organs grown specifically for their bodies, eliminating any need foor immunesuppressants, but this treatment is expensive.
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| − | - Computer technology has advanced not as much, most advances being made in miniaturisation. Handheld devices are now almost as powerful as a usual workstation.
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| − | - Many cars, houses and even handheld devices are equipped with SolFoil, a black foil, usually glued on open surfaces, that functions like a solar panel, but with much greater efficiency. SolFoil works well even under a clouded sky.
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| − | - While energy weapons are known, they are not publicly available. But the NRA has already achieved that the possession of an energy blaster is not illegal, just the sale of these. And they are working on a complete legalisation.
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| − | This of course is the state in any advanced country, and even there mostly in major urban areas. For example: even in rural america it is not unusual to find someone with a special permit to drive fossil-fueled vehicles or possessing an old style flat-screen TV.
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| − | ====Known Super-Heroes====
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| − | Inside the US and in many other countries, the most recognised and famous super-hero is '''Justice Bieber''' (he legally changed his name), a pop idol for many teens (his Beliebers). He had used his vast personal wealth to procure a well-designed power armor. He has so far foiled a few crimes, but they are widely published and their videos on YouPipe have gone instantly viral. Though there are rumors, that all of Justice Bieber's crimefighting is staged with stunt performers as criminals, they have not diminished Bieber's influence over the screaming teenie masses.
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| − | The most famous team is the officially recognised S.H.I.T, the Super-Hero Intervention Team. They function as a powered arm for the US government (like the Avengers in modern day comics), though they seem to follow a moral code and are not blind puppets. They call New York City as their homebase, but there is a S.H.I.T. chapter in San Francisco as well.
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| − | Almost as famous is the Patriot Brigade, also an official team. They are known for their heavy-handed, "shoot first, ask questions later" approach and their lack of regard for civil rights. They operate mainly out of Minneapolis.
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| − | There is also the Washington Patriots, a team of Supers, protecting Washington D.C.
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| | ==GeneForce== | | ==GeneForce== |
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| | ==New GeneForce== | | ==New GeneForce== |
| | ===History=== | | ===History=== |
| − | ===The Raymonde Institute of Higher Learning===
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| | ===Members=== | | ===Members=== |
| | ====Player Characters==== | | ====Player Characters==== |
