Kurtzberg Worldlaws

Introduction

The world of Kurtzberg Academy is a world where superheroes-- not merely people with superpowers, but actual superheroes-- exist, and they work. People, some of them with extraordinary powers, assume false identities, put on colorful costumes, and start individual campaigns for truth and justice-- and have done so throughout history.

And they succeed.

And that's the kind of world this is: A world of battles between beings of great power. A world where one person can make a difference, and change everything.

A world where ideals not only exist, but can be a source of power.

Superpowers

Metahumans in the Kurtzworld setting obtain their powers through a variety of apparent causes-- strange accidents, exposure to mysterious chemicals or radiations, heredity-- but by and large, there is a single event that triggers the manifestation of their powers, and this often happens during puberty or young adulthood, and there is an underlying cause of all these powers-- the so-called metagene.

The Metagene is not, as some believe, a single gene, but rather a variety of related genetic complexes that are often stored within the genome as introns, and so do not manifest. The mechanisms by which it manifests are poorly understood, and even the most advanced research upon the complexes has failed to reveal any correlation between the genetic coding and the nature of powers that manifest-- powers appear to be much more likely to be influenced by external factors at the time of manifestation, or sometimes by the personality-- or even the name-- of the metahuman whose powers are then manifesting.

That this is profoundly unscientific-- by most modern standards of science-- is a cause of many headaches, but superpowers, as forces that redefine the physics of the universe, appear to likewise defy logic and science in their patterns of manifestation. A radical reinterpretation of science, based on this and various quantum principles, has been proposed but has not achieved traction in the mainstream scientific community.

There are tests that can confirm the location of certain metagene complexes, but it is known that there are many others that are not reliably detectable. Testing of all children for the metagene, so that they can be recruited to work for the government, has been proposed many times, and was in fact attempted by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics starting in 1968. After the subsequent destruction of Smolensk in 1970, governments have regarded it as too risky to implement such a program, and governments instead prefer to recruit metahumans whose powers have already manifested.

The division between purely metahuman powers and purely magical powers is not well understood, and it can be very difficult to determine the difference between them-- ritualistic practices sometimes trigger the manifestation of superpowers related to the ritual, but no technique for determining the difference of causes exists. (Some rituals are markedly more likely to cause this manifestation than others-- and one ritual that has a fairly high rate of success in triggering a manifestation is a state-run execution. It is for this reason that the death penalty has become markedly less popular in the world.)

There do exist devices that can suppress superpowers to one degree or another. These devices notably do not work differently on individuals with different sources of superpowers-- aliens, gods, mutants and divine champions are equally inconvenienced by them. (Advanced technology and spellcasting are not affected by these machines, however, and neither are the obsessive capabilities of a sufferer of Napier's Syndrome.)