IT1900s

1906 – San Francisco Earthquake damages city badly, leaving 250,000 homeless. Literally dozens of lives are saved by a young asian woman who gives no name.

1908 – San Francisco’s Chinatown and Japan Town are openly protected by the young woman of 1906, calling herself Steel Serpent.

1911 – Steel Serpent fades back into the shadows, replaced by a half-asian male taking the same name.

1914 – World War I begins. Some Americans head to Europe as volunteers.

1915 – Sinking of the Lusitania. More Americans head to Europe to fight Germany. Among those is Minuteman III. Back in the States, Lady Liberty III roots out German spies and saboteurs, though the fact that America isn’t yet officially at war with Germany limits what can be done.

1916 – Lady Liberty III, The Maid II and Hugeonot form the Liberty League, aiding each other’s fights, until Hugeonot is captured and executed. Lady Liberty III and The Maid II continue aiding each other, but do not publicly form any kind of league.

1917 – America formally enters the war. The war makes several mysteries famous: Sgt. Savage, head of Able Company; Captain Corey, master of the airplane; and the mysterious Cheshire Cat. Germany fields few mysteries to battle, preferring to send them forth as spies and saboteurs. Lady Liberty III fights the incredibly strong Magni often, usually to a draw.

1918 – The Cheshire Cat falls while aiding troops at Battle of Berlau Wood, is discovered to be a woman – and a German. Armistice ends combat.

1919 – Treaty of Versailles is signed. Cheshire Cat is given a hero’s burial in America. Prohibition. Minuteman III supports the law and seeks out scofflaws. Lady Liberty III fights the law verbally, to little avail, but refuses to directly aid those breaking the law.

1920 – Lady Liberty III is sought in the Palmer Raids – Attorney General Palmer arrests thousands and deports hundreds on suspicion of Communist Affiliation. She avoids capture, though she has to lay low for a time. Minuteman III questions AG Palmer’s evidence. AG Palmer attacks Minuteman III in the newspapers.

1922 – Teapot Dome scandal. Lady Liberty III is no longer sought, all warrants are cancelled, but after eight years, she announces that she’s hanging up the nomme de plume. Rumours abound that she’s marrying Minuteman III, but they’re never substantiated.

1926 – Minuteman III retires.

1931 – In Scottsboro, Alabama, 9 black men are arrested on charges of raping two white women. Liberty Belle II finds evidence that exonerates all 9, indicating that the charges are wholly spurious, but they’re still convicted and imprisoned. Liberty Belle II is widely viewed as a race and sex traitor, but continues her fight. Eventually, she manages to get them a different trial, where her evidence is admitted, and they’re released.

1932 – Bonus Army of WWI veterans marches on D. C. and are met by police and national guard. The veterans are rebuffed.

1933 – Twenty-first Amendment repeals Prohibition. Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany.

1935 – Italy invades Ethiopia, a new Lady Liberty appears, warning against Italy and Germany. Lady Liberty IV is roundly criticised for her claims.

1936 – Spanish Civil War begins. Lady Liberty IV goes to Spain to help. She’s frequently opposed by a Spanish Mystery going by the name of El Cid.

1937 – Japan attacks Nanking, killing more than 250,000 people. Several Chinese mysteries fall as well.

1938 – Lady Liberty IV narrowly escapes capture at the hands of El Cid and forces under his command. She flees Spain, seeking refuge in France.

1939 – WWII begins, as Germany invades Poland and Czechoslovakia. Lady Liberty IV calls for America to enter the war to stop the Nazis. Lucius Steel 'liberates' the Rossum Diamond, but runs afoul of the FBI and is given a choice.

1940 – Germany captures most of Western Europe, Vichy France established. Lady Liberty IV remains in France, fighting for the resistance. She occasionally fights two Nazi mysteries, Totenfrau and Fraulein Donner. Near the tail end of 1940, Lady Liberty IV captures Fraulein Donner, though she quickly escapes. In Austria, France and Switzerland, Dr Steel appears, most often spying on, or actually liberating people and things from the Nazis, but occasionally fighting.

1941 – Germany invades the Soviet Union. Foremost in the vanguard are Magni – apparently the same one who’d fought in WWI – and Uberblitz. Both work largely separate from the army itself, preparing areas, rather than fighting directly. Lady Liberty IV is captured by Totenfrau, but quickly escapes with the aid of two French Mysteries, Valjean and Orleans. Working together, the three easily negate the influence of Totenfrau and Fraulein Donner, but are unable to affect much of the rest of the occupation. Japan attacks Pearl Harbor. The U. S. enters the war. Ahead of even the troops is Minuteman IV, who joins Lady Liberty IV in France, only to move shortly to Germany, where he operates as a saboteur, a spy and – in his own words – “A beacon of Freedom to the German People who’ve been so sorely mislead by a madman.” – The German high command puts a massive reward on his head.

1942 – Magni, arriving from the Russian front, battles Valjean and kills him, only to fall to Lady Liberty IV. Totenfrau goes berserk and is slain by Lady Liberty IV and Orleans. Fraulein Donner flees, and the two heroines are able to give more substantive aid to the Resistance. Minuteman IV very nearly manages to assassinate Hitler, but is forced to flee.

1943 – Orleans disappears. Lady Liberty IV looks for her in vain, but is soon forced to return to helping the Resistance prepare for eventual aid by the Allies. Minuteman IV flees Germany into Italy, bearing evidence of death camps. Germany dismisses the evidence as ‘propaganda’.

1944 – Allies invade Normandy, D-Day. Lady Liberty IV finally locates Orleans and frees her. Minuteman IV returns to Germany. Reckless behaviour gets him captured by Uberblitz, and he’s publicly humiliated and executed.

1945 – Lady Liberty IV hunts down Fraulein Donner and – in a three hour battle – kills her. She immediately leaves France, returning to America. Germany surrenders. Uberblitz disappears.

1946 – Lady Liberty IV retires.

1950 – Korean War begins. While all nationalities show signs of having Mysteries in the war, none are overt. Mysteries in the U.S., too, are subdued, many of them staying scrupulously out of politics. The sole exception is Lady Liberty V, who speaks out against sending U. S. Troops to Korea, and against Senator McCarthy.

1952 – Lady Liberty V is subpoenaed by HUAC, but refuses to answer the subpoena. A new Minuteman appears and tries to take her into custody. Their fight is short and brutal, but she escapes. They clash several times over the next year, but she always escapes from him. Eventually, rumours of scandal surround Minuteman V, and he drops out of sight.

1954 – McCarthy takes on the Army and loses. Censured by the Senate, his power decreases. The subpoena is cancelled. Lady Liberty V continues to speak out against interventionist politics, but isn’t heard. A new Dr Steel stops an assault on a small town in New Jersey which many witnesses claim was an invasion by aliens.

1957 – Lady Liberty joins Martin Luther King, Jr and 25,000 blacks in Prayer Pilgrimage at Lincoln Memorial.

1961 – Bay of Pigs fails. Rumours indicate that Minuteman V was part of the invasion force. Lady Liberty V publicly supports Freedom Rides.

1963 – Lady LIberty V joins Civil Rights March on Washington.

1964 – U.S. begins bombing North Vietnam. Lady Liberty V speaks out against the activity.

1967 – ‘Long, Hot Summer’ of race riots begins in cities across America. Lady Liberty V is killed while attempting to quell one in D. C.

1969 - Richard Nixon elected. Minuteman V publicly supported and endorseed him.

1971 - Minuteman V dies in Vietnam. After the earlier blow of the Tet Offensive, this is too much for the American Public, and demand increases dramatically to end American Involvement in Vietnam. Nixon agrees, with no good grace, though the actual process of pulling out soldiers still takes another two years.

1974 - The Watergate Scandal breaks. Nixon is revealed as having been a Mystery himself, in his youth, but it's not enough to save his career.

1979 - Minuteman V attempts to rescue the hostages held in Iran. He manages to get two free, but all three have to flee and are unable to rescue the others.

1982 - Minuteman V retires, having tried and failed to recoup after his release.

1982-1985 - The 'Drought'. For three years, neither old Mysteries nor new make so much as a dent in national news. Local news is full of them, but nothing more widespread. Many view this as evidence of a government crackdown on media.

1985 - Teton River Dam in Idaho collapses and would flood a 300 mile area, except that the water is held back, by the first Parahuman to act publicly. She’s dressed in a skin-tight white bodysuit, and appears again several times: Holding up a bridge during an Earthquake, airlifting residents from a burning high-rise, and even towing icebergs to desert areas. Since she doesn’t give a name, the press gives her one – Crane. Others appear in short order, almost as if triggered by her appearance. One of the first is Iron Sheikh – another name given by the press – who, taking offence to her presumption and mode of dress, attacks her as she helps to water Somalia. Although incredibly powerful – pictures show him lifting a fully loaded C-5 – he proves no match for her, and is knocked unconscious to the ground.

1987 - A battle occurs above Washington, D.C. between two Parahumans. One is dressed as anyone would be, and though no name is ever learned, is apparently intent upon destroying the city, starting with the government buildings. The other, dressed in the costume of every Minuteman since the first, bears the title of Minuteman VI well, defeating the other, though he escapes. He faces numerous battles throughout the next year, winning them all, though not always easily.

Crane, still acting primarily as an agent of aid, distributes food and medicine in Africa and the Middle East directly to the needy, bypassing the governments entirely. While on one such trip, she is attacked by a group of Parahumans calling themselves In’Shallah. She defeats all of them by herself, sending them fleeing away. Even some of the most radical mullahs bristle at the presumption of the group, and while they find support, it is not widespread.

1988 - – Several more Parahumans come out of the woodwork, forming a team – The Society of Justice. They make Minuteman VI an honorary member, but the actual members are: The Detective, Lady Liberty VI, Star and Streak. They fight several battles with other parahumans, either singularly or together, and generally protect the entire Eastern seaboard of the U. S. When asked why they didn’t recruit Crane, Lady Liberty VI indicated that they had, but she wasn’t interested.

Minuteman VI fights dozens of battles on his own, against his first foe – now known as Seraph – as well as foes such as In’Shallah. While his record remains spotless, some of his foes are very close to his own level.

Crane, after being booed by many of those she was helping after her defeat of In’Shallah, enters semi-retirement, declaring that she’ll help out in emergencies, of if asked, but will otherwise leave people alone – as they seem to wish to be – with their corrupt and evil governments. Her comments stir international anger, but she refuses to retract them.

1989 - The Society of Justice announces the addition of two new members – Immortus and Sorceress. Not long afterward, they run into Minuteman VI’s nemesis, Seraph, with his own team around him, calling themselves The Doom Convergence. During the battle, Seraph kills Star, blasting her through four separate skyscrapers. So tough was she that her body is still intact when it lands in Central Park. Before Seraph can do more than gloat, however, The Detective – until now considered nothing more than a Mystery – attacks him, killing Seraph with a single, immediately fatal, heartshot. The rest of The Doom Convergence flees, their morale shattered. The Detective surrenders himself immediately to the NYPD. Star’s body, since it can’t be properly embalmed, is placed inside a crystalline coffin filled with noble gasses. Her coffin is initially placed in a cemetary, but so many people come to visit her tomb that it’s moved to mark where she fell.