Cover shows various Second Age heroes and villains flying or running towards the reader. ____________________________________________________________________________ .|, COHERENT An ASHistory Series --+------------------------------------------------------------------------- '|` SUPER STORIES Second Heroic Age Sourcebook copyright 2007 by Dave Van Domelen ____________________________________________________________________________ Latest Update: 10/12/07 - Rechtigkeit added. The following handbook was compiled during the planning for and writing of Coherent Super Stories #1-4 as an aid to writing, but I decided to clean it up a bit and post it for all to see once the arc was over. It consists of three sections: General Topics (groups, places, concepts, etc), Characters and Timeline. It's entirely possible that it will be updated later as more stories set in the Second Heroic Age come out, or at least get referred back to, hence the "Latest Update" bit above. GENERAL TOPICS List: The Second Heroic Age, Aliens, Alliance of Super-Heroes, Anchor, Antigravity Technology, Department of Super-Human Affairs, Dimension Z, Edison Project, Galactic Warrior Corps, Ghostworld, Quality Motors, Paranormal/ Supernormal, Pseudoscience, "Suits and Serums", Teams, Tesla Index. The Second Heroic Age: 1967-1976, the second era of significant superhuman activity in modern times. The First Heroic Age ran from 1938 through 1947, the Third Heroic Age from 1986 through 1998, and the Fourth Heroic Age began in 2022. This is not to say that there were no superhumans active outside of these eras, however. The Second Heroic Age was marked by a wild profusion in apparent origins of superhumans and theories regarding how their powers worked. Most commonly seen were the "suits and serums" origins, whereby pseudoscientific means were used as crutches or catalysts for paranormal abilities, but there were those with other origins. This age was marked by optimism and excitement at the outset, but disillusionment and pain in the end. Many of the pseudoscientific origins of powers came with side effects that led to death or madness, and the general mood of the mid-70s was also reflected in the end of this age. The remaining entries will be presented in alphabetical order. Aliens: During the Second Heroic Age, Earth was at the very fringes of the space explored by the Planetary Confederation, and no official contact was made until the 1980s. The Galactic Warrior Corps (see entry) did send an agent to investigate, as well as to help keep an eye on any unofficial contact that might be made. The Pranir were the most commonly-encountered aliens during this era, and they operated using a variety of holographic disguises, leading to the impression that the galaxy was full of a confusing and contradictory variety of alien races and empires. To further confuse matters, some Terran criminals posed as aliens to throw off the police. There were some contacts with other secondary races, however. There were no significant alien incursions prior to the 1980s, however. Alliance of Super-Heroes: In a divergent timeline seen in CSS #4, the Second Heroic Age does not end in 1976. Instead, Weapons Master founds the first real superteam of the age, the Alliance of Super-Heroes. Because of this, and because of other changes made by JakZak Taylor before leaving for his own timeline, the Second Heroic Age did not end, and blended seamlessly into what is known as the Third Heroic Age in the main timeline. This will be referred to as the Alliance timeline in the rest of this sourcebook. Anchor: The term was not in common use during the Second Heroic Age, and only a select few knew that there was a qualitative difference between Anchors and those with supernormal abilities. Most people who even know Anchors exist think that it's just another common sort of power, like flight or strength. Antigravity Technology: A large number of superhumans had access to this by the end of the Second Heroic Age, due mainly to the efforts of Dragonfly. While his particular brand of antigravity tech did require some Violation Physics to function, it was surprisingly close to that developed using Normaltech in the Planetary Confederation. As a result, while weaker, it did function for normals, such as Weapons Master. Not obsessed with "ownership" as many "mad scientists" were, Dragonfly supplied the technology to as many of his friends and allies as he could. Additionally, Don Quixote copied it on his own...although Dragonfly would have given it to him if asked. Department of Superhuman Affairs (DSHA): Originally formed as a branch of the military to enforce the Paranormal Warfare Treaty's provisions, by 1971 it was clear that there were enough civilian superhumans that the government needed a dedicated service to deal with them. So the DSHA was split off from the military, merged with the remains of the Edison Project, and slowly given greater and greater law enforcement powers. They were also initially in charge of dealing with extradimensional entities, but this function was eventually split off and given to the InterDimensional Immigration and Naturalization Service (IDINS) in the early 1980s. By the Third Heroic Age, the DSHA was also involved in the marketing of superhuman likenesses, with the proceeds being funnelled into a fund that helped pay for the damages caused by superhuman battles, as well as supporting superheroes themselves when necessary (it having been recognized that poverty drove many would-be heroes to villainy, so it was cheaper to put them on the payroll than to clean up the messes they made after turning villain). Sometimes jokingly called the NSSA, or National Super-Security Agency. Dimension Z: An "inverted" pocket reality, home to a race of giants that could mystically disguise themselves or turn invisible. Where a "normal" reality expands into infinite possible space, Dimension Z slowly contracted over time. The boundary of the dimension was the ground, which got pushed up into ever-higher mountains as the total surface area decreased, resulting in a terrain full of fjords and mountain peaks. Once a day, the universe would contract, compressing the air at the very center into a flaming ball of plasma that served as their Sun. It would generally burn out less than halfway through the compression cycle. Unknown to all but a few, the inhabitants of Dimension Z were actually a lost colony of Jotuns, Norse giants who had abandoned their origins but not their mystic heritage. Supplementing their magic with technology, the giants of Dimension Z were able to thrive in the somewhat hostile conditions of their new home, but they longed for a better place to call their own... especially once they had calculated how long it would be before the reality would contract to the point of becoming uninhabitable. To that end, they refined the spells that had brought them to Dimension Z in the first place and turned to Midgard...or Earth. They slowly infiltrated human society over the centuries, occasionally discovered and opposed by the Quixano family. Tales of their first clash with the Quixanos, who were the only humans able to see through their disguises, inspired the Cervantes novel Don Quixote. Their most recent push started in 1969, culminating in open invasion when Dragonfly helped the current Don Quixote develop a device that would expose the giants to the world. After the failure of this invasion, they were contacted by other Jotuns and brought back into the fold, abandoning the increasingly inhospitable Dimension Z, which had started to shrink at an accelerated rate after the destruction of their Dimensional Inverter (a device intended to turn Dimension Z inside-out and drop it on top of much of Michigan and Ontario). The technological savvy of the former residents of Dimension Z was a great aid when the Jotuns attempted to establish a power base on Earth in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but they were finally exposed (although the Dimension Z connection was never made) and defeated in 1994. Dimension Z itself may still exist in the 2020s, but the odds are that it is no longer capable of supporting any life. Edison Project: Formed during the First Heroic Age in parallel to the Manhattan Project, this governmental organization attempted to study and understand superhumans and supertech. It made some progress on the theoretical front, establishing the Tesla Index after rediscovering lost notes of Nikola Tesla, but failed to provide sufficient hard benefits and was eventually merged into the DSHA. Galactic Warrior Corps: An arm of the Planetary Confederation with the mission of policing "dangerous" technology, initially intended to help keep the fruits of T!rir tech in Santari hands. However, when the first reports of Earth started trickling in from the hinterlands of the Confederation, a rookie Corpsman named Delta Rose was sent to investigate. Ghostworld: An alternate reality that was partially in contact with the ASH Universe, allowing occasional overlap and transit. It turned out that the region with the greatest potential for overlap was an inhospitable portion of the Ghostworld used as a penal colony, which meant that every so often an extradimensional criminal would find himself straddling two worlds and able to affect both. Fantom discovered the existence of this world and spent several years fighting its criminals in his own world, where they manifested as all sorts of "traditional" ghosts and spirits, before finally discovering the truth about Ghostworld and convincing its rulers to move their penal colony elsewhere. Paranormal/Supernormal: While these terms were more strictly defined by the 1980s, they're used interchangeable during the Second Heroic Age to refer to anyone with powers beyond those of mortal men, including powers granted by alien technology or even extensive training. Pseudoscience: A catch-all term for any endeavor that was scientific on the face of it, but didn't seem to be easily reproducible by others. Pseudoscience often led to amazing results far beyond what normal science could even explain, much less duplicate. Would later be formalized as Violation Physics. Quality Motors: A significant "second tier" automotive manufacturer between 1946 and 1983, after which it was bought out by General Motors. Focused heavily on "muscle cars" in the early 1970s, and was hurt by the collapse of that market. Revived as a specialty line in the early 1990s, only a few models were put out before the economic upheavals of 1998. Their most famous car was the Caballero, manufactured from 1969-1977 and again from 1994-1998. It was notable as the model most frequently used by Don Quixote, which brought it both positive and negative press over the years. "Suits and Serums": A pithy catchphrase often used to describe the nature of most superhumans in the Second Heroic Age. The inborn powers of most paranormals were fairly minor, but they could be used to unlock supertech by providing loopholes in physics, leading to a large number of device-based heroes and villains. Magic potions or scientific concoctions were also frequently seen as crutches for those who had more impressive inborn powers, but had trouble believing in their own abilities. Teams: The Second Heroic Age saw no large, stable superhero teams. While there were frequent team-ups and alliances made for specific purposes, the largest long-term units were either duos (such as Dragonfly and Ladyhawke or Flower Power and Union Label) or the small cadres of "talented normals" that worked as support teams for solo heroes. On the other hand, other than the Tinker Ten, there were very few long-running villain teams either, and even they weren't exactly a stable roster. In the Alliance timeline, the formation of the Alliance of Super-Heroes was considered a watershed event, and some of the pickier scholars of history claim it marked a dividing line between the Second and Third Heroic Ages. Tesla Index: This scale had been devised by the time of the Second Heroic Age, but it was not in common usage due to the lack of reliable means to measure it. A measure of how strongly someone can violate natural law. CHARACTERS These will be presented alphabetically by codename where there is one, or by last name when there isn't a codename. When the post-Second-Age activities of the character are known, they'll be lumped into the final paragraph of the background. Following the list of more detailed entries will be shorter entries for characters who haven't been developed as much yet, or who are more accurately part of a different Heroic Age. http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH/gallery/secondage.html has art for many of these characters. Antiochus V AKA: L.A.B.R.A.T., the Metal Messiah Role: Supervillain Created: 1969 Destroyed: 1976 (Alliance timeline), 1997 (main timeline) Appearance: Varies. Humanoid robot, spindly in build. Later added various armor plates and weaponry. Never concerned much with beauty. Powers: Varies. Killer robot stuff. Gained mystical skills in 1997. Background: One of many seemingly useless projects created by Dr. Samuel King, a high-end gadgeteer paranormal whose work was never really duplicable by normals. A victim of the lack of understanding of Violation Physics, he was laughed out of the academy, swore revenge, etc. Bobby Baines managed to get LABRAT working, though, and found him a useful lab assistant. Of course, one day, LABRAT rechristened itself Antiochus V and set out to replace humanity with robot life. Thus began a series of battles through the early 1970s, ending with his apparent destruction in 1975. He briefly reappeared in the late 1980s, but was taken aboard Devastator's satellite headquarters and studied for several years. In the early 1990s, when Devastator was lost in another dimension, Antiochus V suborned the satellite's systems and grew himself a synthorganic body dubbed "Lysias-13" and once again menaced the world, before being destroyed once again by Tymythy Twystyd and the Raiders. He re-surfaced once more in robotic form in 1997, seeking a way to integrate science and magic in the so-called TechnoMystical War, but met another destruction at the hands of WarStar. Given that he did not return again before 2026, the odds are good that he met his final end in the climax of the TechnoMystical War. In the Alliance timeline, he was destroyed permanently on July 4, 1976. Brightsword AKA: Jim Jackson Role: Superhero Born: 1947 Died: Not established Appearance: White bodysuit, blue gloves, trunks and boots, red belt and mask that covers the top half of his head. Beefy. Powers: Superhuman strength, endurance and invulnerability. Wields a plasma cutting torch of alien manufacture. Background: Born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska, Jim served in the Army after graduating high school. After a tour in Vietnam, he mustered out and was immediately captured by "aliens" in San Francisco. As far as he knows, their experimentation gave him his powers, and he was later able to establish that his "laser sword" was of Santari manufacture. However, in truth, he was captured by Dr. Huang Sheng as part of the insidious doctor's experimentation on the Magene, and his powers were merely unlocked by the stress of the experimentation (Jim had been drugged as part of his capture, which warped his perceptions and memories of these events). Considered the first major superhero of the Second Heroic Age, he repeatedly clashed with the Communist agent Darkshield. He had a reputation as a very patriotic but not very smart hero. Most of his career has not been revealed, but he retired without being forced to, perhaps in response to his marriage and the birth of his daughter. His daughter inherited his powers, and in the early 1990s also inherited his sword and identity as the second Brightsword. Delta Rose AKA: "Rose Dawson" (real name is a hue) Role: Superhero Born: 1950 (so says her faked ID, she was really born in 1964, but her species hits adulthood fast) Died: Still alive in 2026 Appearance: Short pink hair, often dyed brown. Eyes artificial with variable tint, usually blue as Rose Dawson, pink as Delta Rose. 5'8" and athletic build. Powers: Gliding (tech-assisted into flight), light emission, cyborg Background: A rookie in the Galactic Warrior Corps, Delta Rose is a mutant among her race, with an uncommon but non-unique mutation that lets her emit light strong enough to melt steel (her race communicates via light emission, but most can only glow). Such mutants are often cyborged into a Santaroid shape and put into service in either the military or the GWC. Fairly fresh out of training, Delta Rose had been given her first solo assignment, to check out this strange world the Pranir have recently discovered and started trading with. It was possible that dangerous technology could be found on Earth, and early scans indicated that the natives were remarkably similar to Santari. Her inborn powers made her well-suited to a mission with minimal support and resupply. Her cyborg body has great strength and durability, and her artificial eyes and ears have a wide range of frequency response. Additionally, her race is able to see with its skin, albeit not very clearly, giving her vague all-around sight. Her costume during the Second Age was a modified version of the GWC uniform, and was resistant to small arms fire and temperature extremes. Plus, it had glider wings to simulate the natural shape of her original body. She had a full kit of GWC gear and a scoutship, but preferred to avoid using them in order to maintain her cover as a human mutant. Her cybernetics were shielded against magnetic influence and detection, at least at the tech level humanity can manage, so she didn't set off metal detectors. Recalled to Santar in 1977, she was sent back to Earth during the Third Heroic Age, and was more or less continuously stationed there from that point onward. Promoted to the administrative levels of the GWC, she is in charge of Earth's sector, although manpower shortages mean that most of her resources are supplied by the United World government rather than by her own organization. In 2026 she looks no older than she did in 1972, due to her mostly artificial body. In the Alliance timeline, she was never recalled in the late 70s, and was a founding member of the Alliance of Super-Heroes. Don Quixote AKA: Alessandro Quixano Role: Superhero Born: 1934 Died: 1975 Appearance: Dashing Spaniard with slightly graying short black hair, hazel eyes. 6'2" tall and wiry. Powers: Able to detect invisible invaders from Dimension Z. Magic sword, high tech gear. Background: Alessandro was born into a hidalgo family that was lucky enough to flee Spain the year he was born, but not TOO lucky...they fled to France and ended up stuck there during the Vichy years. However, after WWII the Quixanos emigrated to the United States, where family patriatch Eduardo turned contacts made during the war into a small fortune. Alessandro went to Harvard Business School and soon turned that small fortune into a large one as the head of Quality Motors. Then Eduardo died of lung cancer. On his deathbed, he told Alessandro the family secret...the story of Don Quixote was indeed based on their ancestor. But that the truth was that every so often the world faced invasion by giants from another world, giants who could turn invisible or disguise themselves as mundane objects. And only men of the Quixano line could see through these veils. Alessandro was given the family's enchanted sword, which unlocked his dormant potential...and he saw that a new invasion was underway! With the help of bodyguard Joaquim Panza (who adopted the pseudonym Sancho), his magic sword, and the best gear money can buy (not to mention the latest muscle cars from Quality Motors), Alessandro became the new Don Quixote, fighting a war that no one else could see! At least, that was, until 1975, when he and Dragonfly found a way to globally disrupt the disguises of the giants from Dimension Z. Sadly, he died destroying the Dimensional Inverter that was key to the invasion, but was remembered as a hero. And one day, should the invaders try to return...well, he did have three sons and a daughter before giving his life to fight the good fight. The fate of his progeny after 1998 is unknown, and they were not involved in the Jotun affair during the Third Heroic Age. Dragonfly AKA: Robert "Bobby" Baines Role: Superhero Born: 1946 Died: 1979 Powers: Super-gadgeteer, specialty on gravity tech Appearance: Wavy black hair, brown eyes, slightly asiatic features. Background: Jimmy Baines was a SeaBee in WWII who brought a Filipino bride from the PTO. Bobby grew up dealing with prejudice because he was different, but it wasn't quite so bad once the Baines family moved to Seattle. He picked up tinkering from his father, and showed a natural talent for it. But he really loved pure science, and went to University of Washington on a full scholarship, graduating with a Physics BS in three years. He went on to get a PhD at age 23, and in 1971 was a newly-minted Assistant Professor at Michigan State University. His specialty was gravitics, and in 1972 he had realized that he'd been delving into "Pseudoscience," especially with the antigravity harness he'd invented as a practical test of some of his theories of electrogravitic interaction. His girlfriend was the original test "pilot". After the Antiochus incident, he decided to become a superhero, creating a flight suit with a laser weapon in a robotic tail. He later created miniaturized, capacitor-driven agrav "stingers" he could throw into a target to render it weightless for a few seconds at a time. His girlfriend became Ladyhawke, in a similar suit, but with razor-edged wings. They married in 1974, and in late 1976 had a son, Rodney. Rodney grew up to become Rad of the original ASH. Exposure to esoteric radiation eventually gave Bobby bone cancer, and he lost his left leg to it in early 1976. He died in 1979. His secret ID did not become public until the early 1990s when his son joined the original Academy of Superheroes. In the Alliance timeline, he mentored a young Eric Harris during his final years, and Eric took up the Dragonfly identity in 1978. Fantom AKA: Spencer Turner Role: Superhero Born: 1941 Died: Unknown (disappeared 1977) Appearance: Thinning sandy brown hair, gray eyes, sallow complexion. Not very tall, but thin. Powers: Super-gadgeteer Background: Spencer's father Quentin was a part of the Edison Project, and Spencer grew up wanting to do whatever his father did...despite security concerns keeping him from knowing exactly what that was. Taking a fancy to ghost stories in college, he theorized that ghosts were merely living beings from a reality not quite properly separated from our own, and built a suit that would let him visit that other reality. On his return, his father let him in on the family secret, and Spencer was recruited into what was left of the Edison Project. Not a great fighter due to his physical frailty, Fantom concentrated on espionage and psyops. He got very good at frightening opponents, aided by an assortment of devices he has invented over the years. While his suit's sickly yellow-green color looked almost silly when inactive, once turned on the effect of being partially out of phase with reality made the color scheme eerie and vaguely nauseating. Fantom vanished into the "ghostworld" in 1977 and was never heard from again. It's theorized that he simply liked it better there, or possibly he had met someone in that world and wanted to settle down and raise a family. In the Alliance timeline, he was contacted by the Wanderer in 1978 and returned to join Weapons Master's new team. The Freemason AKA: Samuel King Role: Supervillain Born: 1924 Died: Unknown, presumably did not survive past 1998 Appearance: Gray hair and eyes, distinctive European Jewish features Powers: High-end supergadgeteer Background: His family barely got out of Germany in the early 30s, but otherwise did pretty well for themselves. They were so proud when Sam got a job at Michigan State University in the physics department...but then he started chasing down all sorts of crazy ideas. He had this notion in his head that he could make a golem with science, and other foolishness. Naturally, it got him thrown out of the university, and his family just doesn't talk about him anymore. Such a waste. But the fools at the academy would pay! Samuel had indeed uncovered the ancient secrets of the Temple, and applied them to modern science as well. But the blind, blinkered fools around him couldn't see that which was self-evident to any who would open their eyes...and so he would have to SHOW THEM ALL! Sadly for Samuel King, he's a powerful supernormal inventor, to the point that his inventions are wholly irreproducible. But that doesn't make them any less dangerous. It should also be noted that the genuine Freemasons disavow him entirely, so they're on the "fools who will pay" list too. He sometimes affiliates himself with the Tinker Ten, but generally finds them to be small-minded fools, if not as bad as most. Most of his minions are robots, because even the dullest of human thugs has trouble putting up with him for very long. His career after the Second Heroic Age has not been revealed, but it is likely he was a resident of Haven in the 1990s if he survived that long. Lady Lawful AKA: June Hartworth-Blair Role: Superhero Born: 1924 Died: 1998 Appearance: Blond hair, blue-green eyes. 5'4" tall, athletic build, like a runner or skater. Despite her age, Lady Lawful looks to be in her mid-30's. Powers: Enhanced strength and invulnerability, slightly enhanced speed. All boosted by device. Background: As a telephone operator in Chicago in the 1940s, June Hartworth overheard plans to rob the lab of Doctor Calvin "Cosmo" Kirby. In the course of foiling this, she acquired his Enhancement Belt, and thus began a long career as Lady Lawful. The belt only seemed to work for her, and over time she found that she had some limited powers even without it. One of the few heroes to remain active after WWII, her slowed aging due to the effects of the belt let her stay in the business long after most had retired. However, she met and married Wilson Blair, and the birth of their daughter in 1972 effectively ended her secret career, with her last outing as Lady Lawful happening in the summer of 1974. She began to age normally after hanging up the belt, but still looked young for her age when she and Wilson retired to Florida in the 1990s. She vanished with the rest of the world's paranormals in 1998. Wilson's fate has not been revealed. Her daughter Jennifer became the second Lady Lawful in the 1990s, as seen in LL&DD, and also vanished in 1998. The Enhancement Belt survived into the 2020s, and is rumored to have been passed to a third wearer. Her career in the Alliance timeline is unknown, but she did not leave retirement to join the Alliance. Ladyhawke AKA: Amy Baines (nee Corrigan) Role: Superhero Born: 1951 Died: 1998 Powers: Super-Agility, ability to use supertech Appearance: Reddish-blond hair, green eyes, generally Irish features. Tall and built like a gymnast otherwise. Background: Amy was always astoundingly agile and flexible, something that let her compete in gymnastics despite the fact she hit 5'11" by age 13. Still, she thought of it as a hobby rather than a career, and ended up majoring in pre-med at Michigan State. There she met and fell for Bobby Baines, and when she graduated she decided to take a year off and help him with his antigrav harness project...her grace made her the perfect test subject for the finicky device. After the Antiochus incident, she joined Bobby in becoming a superhero, under the codename Ladyhawke. Her flight suit used larger wings with razor edges, and had a small nuclear powerpack at the small of her back. She discovered she was pregnant shortly after Bobby was diagnosed with cancer (it inspired her to get a checkup, since she HAD been wearing a nuke on her back for a couple of years before they had replaced the power packs with safer alternatives), and decided to retire for the sake of their baby. In 1980, inspired by what she'd learned in helping take care of Bobby in his final days, Amy went back to school and became an oncology nurse. Residency made it hard to raise Rodney, but she managed (superhuman stamina helped a lot in that department). When Rodney manifested powers in his teen years, she initially thought it was a result of radiation she'd been exposed to in her superhero career, but eventually found that it was most likely the Owens Effect at work. His powers over radiation may have been influenced by her exposure, though. In the Alliance timeline, she did still become an oncology nurse, but it has not yet been revealed if she ever returned to action as Ladyhawke, or if she passed the role on to someone else. Powerhouse AKA: Joseph Little Role: Supervillain Born: 1943 Died: 1998 (presumed) Appearance: Muscular black man with short-cropped curly black hair and brown eyes. About 5'11" tall. Powers: Alchemical serum gives him great strength and lets him change parts of his body into various elements, but he needs his control harness and regular injections to use his powers. Background: Brilliant but denied opportunities in his native Alabama due to the color of his skin, Joseph grew up to be a bitter young man. After a stint in Vietnam in the mid 60s, he went to college on the GI Bill, where he found a talent for chemistry. Working late at night and alone, he rediscovered the secrets of alchemical transformation of the human form, but was expelled when his excitement resulted in a fire that burned down the chemistry building. Stealing what he needed to complete his experiments, Joseph created his first Perfection Serum, which turned an already well-toned former soldier into a veritable powerhouse. He has since come up with variant serums that let him turn his hands (or other body parts) into metal, diamond, water, or even acid. By 1976, while he had avoided jail by dint of luck and sympathetic heroes (he never seriously hurt any civilians, and tended to stick to stealing from socially irresponsible companies), he found that the cumulative side effects of his serums were killing him, and he retired. A bout of "cold turkey" almost killed him, but in the wake of it he met and fell in love with Felicia Katzenberg, and they ended up having a daughter (Cassie) who grew up to inherit her father's strength (and also dated Rodney Baines). In the Alliance timeline, he was pardoned by President Ford in recognition for his help in defeating Antiochus V, and the mystic Wanderer was able to help him refine his serums to reverse their side effects. He joined the Alliance, and while he never met Felicia, he did eventually marry someone else. Rush, Bennett AKA: Doublecross (1986-1998), Simon Smith (1998 onward) Role: Government Agent (1971-1994), Supervillain (1986-1998) Born: 1949 Died: Still alive in 2026 Appearance: Short brown hair, blue eyes, looks like a government agent, even when he's trying not to. (Hair and eyes gray by 2026.) Powers: None exhibited (pre-1986), Supertech (1986-1994), Photonic Lifeform (1994-1998), Magic (2025 onward). Background: A hot-shot Quantico graduate, Bennett Rush was recruited in 1971 for the newly-reorganized Department of Superhuman Affairs (DSHA) as one of its first civilian field agents. He ended up assigned to Detroit and the surrounding area when it became a supernormal hotspot in the early 70s, and worked closely with Dragonfly and Ladyhawke. However, in 1975 he was caught in a tryst with the trophy wife of a senator and "promoted" to warehouse duty at "Warehouse 51" in Nevada, a storehouse of seized supertech and alien hardware. Over the next ten years, he carefully raided the warehouse for technology that he could use (it turned out he was a low-level paranormal, but he mostly stuck to alien tech and the odd aberrations like Beacon's Light Lance that were feasible normaltech) and became Doublecross. He was transformed into living light by an accident in 1994, then stripped of powers and memory by the Sun god Apollo in early 1998, becoming the man known as Simon Smith. By 2026 he had regained his memories and gotten new powers as the mystical Vizier of Q'Nos, making him one of the few people to be of importance in three Heroic Ages. In the Alliance of Super-Heroes timeline, a grateful President Ford granted Dragonfly's request that Rush be returned to field duty, and Bennett ended up as DSHA liaison to the Alliance. He never became Doublecross. Sheng, Doctor Huang AKA: Fiend of the East, Scourge of the Pacific Rim Role: Supervillain Born: 1892 Died: Still alive in 2026 Appearance: Bald, with Fu Manchu mustache (graying in 1967, white in 2026). Tends to dress in clothing inspired by Mandarin fashions, if more practical. Slender in build, but muscular. Powers: Superhuman intellect (nanotech enhancements in 2026) Background: Initially active in the 1920s as an alchemist in the chaos of post- Imperial China, he discovered the secret of great longevity and health in 1921, a serum that would fend off the ravages of time. His activities during the First Heroic Age have not been revealed as yet, but he mainly acted behind the scenes. By the dawn of the Second Heroic Age, he had largely abandoned the "superstition" of alchemy for advanced genetic research, and had acquired early examples of alien technology to aid him. During this time, he clashed frequently with his son Jiang. In the Third Heroic Age, he gravitated towards the rogue nation of Khadam and largely dropped from the public eye, although he continued to be opposed by his son, as well as by the adventurer Morgan Adams. Ascending to the Council of Technomancers, Dr. Sheng was instrumental in the Onslaught Project that created a non-paranormal superhuman, based in part on the work he had done on his own son. Via means he has never revealed, Dr. Sheng was able to remove his Magene and thus survived the great vanishing of 1998 (Coherent Super-Stories #6 will delve into this matter more fully). A one of the few super-scientists to survive, he was able to establish himself as a major power in Khadam, although by 2025 he had largely become something of an elder statesman, exercising subtle influence rather than ruling overtly. Sheng, Jiang AKA: Chieng Sheng (alternate romanization) Role: Adventurer, Hero Born: 1921 Died: Unrevealed Appearance: Slender and muscular Chinese man, typically dressed in loose- fitting clothing suitable for fighting. In 1967 he appeared to be only about 20 years old. Powers: "Perfected" human, longevity. No Magene. Background: Sired upon a concubine as part of an experiment, Jiang was the first successful subject of Dr. Huang Sheng's rejuvenation formula. Aging at slightly less than half the normal human rate, he spent his first forty years as a "dutiful, contemplative son", until he met Sir Montegue Preston. The adventurous Englishman convinced Jiang that his duty to mankind was greater than his duty to his father, creating a rift between father and son that would never heal. Both alone and with allies, Jiang opposed his father's activities through the 1960s and 1970s, using his mastery of martial arts and his perfected physique against his father's guile and scientific genius. Along the way, he also fought other evils, such as the Tiger Tong and the Giants of Dimension Z. He went into semi-retirement after that, joining a secluded monastery hidden underneath San Francisco's Chinatown, but emerged on occasion to battle his father alongside Morgan Adams. As he did not possess a Magene, it is possible he survived past 1998, but his fate has not yet been revealed. See Coherent Super Stories #6 for that fate. The Tinker Ten Membership: Shifting, rarely actually ten members. Role: Supervillain Team Founded: 1968 Dissolved: 1978 Theme: Gadgeteer villains and their minions. Background: The Communist supervillain Darkshield assembled several "mad scientists" in 1968 as part of a plot to trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas Fault. Like most of his activities, it was a mere distraction, but the assembled scientists found that they liked the synergy of working together. If the fools in the academy wouldn't have them, they'd form their own academy! The name was chosen more for sounding good than because there were ten founders. In fact, over the decade of their operations, only once has the roster included exactly ten members, and only the Clockwork Ibis was a member of all rosters. By 1978, the Tinker Ten was really just the Ibis and his two assistants trying to set up a protection racket in Cleveland, where they were stopped by the unpowered Weapons Master. After that humiliating defeat, no one used the team name again. In the Alliance timeline, defeating the Tinker Ten was the first case of the Alliance of Super-Heroes, and while not as humiliating as in the mainline, it was just as thorough. Weapons Master AKA: Charles "Chuck" Morse Role: Superhero Born: 1952 Died: Unknown Appearance: Brown hair, brown eyes. 5'6" tall, built like a boxer. Powers: None Background: Chuck Morse was a talented high school athlete, lettering in wrestling and track, but he didn't have the brains to get into college or the connections to stay out of the draft, so to Vietnam he went. While he never really saw combat in his brief tour, he excelled at all the armed and unarmed melee combat styles offered to him in military training, and even found a mysterious master in Saigon who taught him a great deal more. Unknown to him, this mysterious master was actually Japanese WWII supervillain Dragon Samurai, who was in hiding in Southeast Asia, but who saw potential in Chuck and wanted to pass on his secrets before dying (Dragon Samurai had been 60 years old at the start of WWII, but spry for his age due to training). Ending up in Detroit after his tour, Chuck was fascinated by the active superhero scene there, especially Dragonfly and Ladyhawke. In 1974, he made himself a costume, outfitted himself with a variety of weapons and entered the fray...only to get smacked down hard. He wasn't paranormal, and even his esoteric training didn't give him enough of an edge. But Dragonfly was impressed by his tenacity, and outfitted Chuck, now calling himself Weapons Master, with a few gadgets that a normal could use. These included a low level antigrav belt that let Chuck leap great distances, and variants of Dragonfly's antigrav "stings". He continued to act occasionally through the early 1980s, once teaming up with the contemplative and serene Jiang Sheng in San Francisco, but "getting too old for this crap" finally took its toll and he retired. It is not known what happened to him after his retirement. In the Alliance timeline, after hearing about his lonely fight from Solar Max he resolved to change things, and he assembled a team of heroes. As a result, the Second Heroic Age did not end, and may well have continued unbroken for decades. Finally, here's a few names that may come up, but don't yet merit full entries. Arc Wielder and Wanda: Sometime members of the Tinker Ten. Arc Wielder was a supertech user, but his actual skill at invention has not been established. Wanda was his normal human assistant. Beacon: A hero of the First Heroic Age, who invented several light-based devices, some of which were actually highly advanced Normaltech. He was involved in the founding of the Edison Project, but passed away some time before the start of the Second Heroic Age. Blair, Wilson: Husband of the first Lady Lawful, father of the second. A leading early researcher in Violation Physics. Clockwork Ibis: Roboticist with an Egyptian theme to his automata. Didn't get along with the Freemason. The only member of every incarnation of the Tinker Ten. Darkshield: Secretly a communist agent, his supervillain identity was pure distraction. His bulky armor really didn't give him the raw power to beat Brightsword, but his goal as a supervillain was to divert attention away from his real operations. Hence, his overt plots were often flashy and totally impractical. His son became a real supervillain in the 1990s. Flower Power: A hippie-wannabe with plant control powers. Most of the airhead personality she projected was an act, and underneath she actually agreed with her partner Union Label in most matters. Believed her powers came from the pollen of a special flower her parents bred. Retired after the Dimension Z invasion. Graybar: A three-time loser who found himself an unwitting guinea pig in experiments secretly arranged by the insidious Doctor Sheng, he was turned into living iron. Not particularly smart, and too full of himself to follow orders for long, he was rarely successful at his endeavors. He was killed during the Dimension Z invasion. Harris, Eric: In 1976, he was a college student majoring in physics and hoping to go into Violation Physics, if he could find a program offering it. In the main timeline, his research led to a lab accident in 1989 that blinded him and drove him mad, but also gave him incredible powers over forces. Adopting the name Devastator, he decided that humanity was a blight on the universe and needed to be destroyed. The greatest villain of the Third Heroic Age, he was trapped between dimensions in 1997 and thus survived until 2023, when he freed himself by taking over the body of the Template Killer, only to be slain by the Academy of Super-Heroes. In the Alliance timeline, he became the second "official" Dragonfly and was never in the lab accident that scarred his body and soul. Montessi, Iago: An alchemist in Renaissance Italy, he discovered the secret to immortality but was buried alive while in the deathlike coma caused by his serum. In the main timeline, he would be accidentally freed by Tymythy Twystyd in 1992 to become the villainous Lord Ebon, but in the Alliance timeline his prison was reinforced by the Wanderer in 1976. Panza, Joaquim: Going by the pseudonym Sancho Panza, Joaquim started as the bodyguard of industrialist Alessandro Quixano and then became his sidekick when Quixano took up the hereditary mantle of Don Quixote. Panza was a normal human, but with extensive (and mostly unrevealed) military experience and training as a bodyguard and driver. Preston, Sir Montegue: Ally of Jiang Sheng. A globe-trotting Englishman with no known powers, he was considered more of a holdover from the two- fisted mysterymen style of the First Heroic Age. Rechtigkeit I: Patriotic hero of West Germany. His mother was a Jotuness summoned by the Knights of the Thule in 1937, but she didn't want anything to do with them and ran off, eventually marrying a mortal. Her son inherited much of her physical power, but none of her mystic skills, and became a superhero in the late 1950s through the early 1970s. He wielded a magic axe his mother had inherited from her father. His own son, the self-proclaimed "Strongest Man In The World" Herr Stark, killed him in the 1980s but failed to claim the axe, which found its way into the hands of Rechtigkeit II in the 1990s and Justice in the 2020s. Rechtigkeit mainly stuck to solo work in Europe, but teamed up with Lady Lawful I a few times. "Rechtigkeit" means "Justice" (or "Rectitude") in German. Tinker Tom: Villain of the First Heroic Age, minimal paranormal talent, but a genius at souping up normal technology, especially hotrodded cars. Was a recurring foe of the original Lady Lawful, and a founding member of the Tinker Ten. Between his lower power level and his code against killing, he wasn't a very good fit with the more psychotic members, so he left the Tinker Ten early on. Mentored the young man who would later become Doctor Developer, died in 1983. Union Label: Strongly pro-U.S. hero who claimed to have the strength of America's workers. Dressed like the stereotypical hard-hatted construction worker with a flag tattooed on his arm. In private was less strident than his public persona, and he genuinely loved Flower Power despite their public bickering. Crippled in the battle against the invaders from Dimension Z, he was forced into retirement. Valkyrie: Teenaged Argentinian political refugee who dabbled in magic and was bound to the spirit of a Norse chooser of the slain. Primarily active in other dimensions until the Third Heroic Age, helping rebuild Asgard and fighting Jotuns, but did participate in the Dimension Z War for reasons she never explained (Odin told her they were Jotuns). Founded the Superhero Bar & Grill chain in 1987, and was later credited/blamed with helping inspire the more mercantile aspects of the Godmarket. The Wanderer: Long-lived Romanian mage. He was around during this time, and occasionally helped out on cases with a mystic angle, but did not become an out-and-out superhero until the 1990s. In the Alliance timeline, he was convinced to join Weapons Master's team. TIMELINE - 1967 - General: The Second Heroic Age is considered to have started this year. A few heroes, such as Lady Lawful and Jiang Sheng, were active prior to this, but an upsurge in activity in San Franciso is generally considered to mark the beginning of the Age. March 5: Jim Jackson is abducted, and in the course of his escape discovers he has superhuman powers. He uses these, along with an alien weapon taken from his captors, to become Brightsword. April 14: Brightsword makes his first appearance in San Franciso, fighting a cell of Communist agitators. May 20: Communist supervillain Darkshield challenges Brightsword to a fight atop the Golden Gate Bridge. He has the upper hand until Brightsword is joined by Union Label and Flower Power, a duo later nicknamed the Odd Couple of the superhero set. Most mark this battle as the kickoff of the Second Heroic Age. August 1: UN Resolution 214, aka the Paranormal Warfare Treaty, declares that no member nation will knowingly use paranormals in military operations. Concerned by its lack of paranormals, the Soviet Union and China push for its acceptance and enforcement (although they publicly disclaim any affiliation with Darkshield or Dr. Sheng). - 1968 - General: There are rumored paranormal actions in Vietnam, but nothing is ever proven. March 15: San Francisco's Chinatown is rocked by numerous explosions as the insidious Dr. Huang Sheng's underground base is destroyed by the efforts of a loose team of government agents and Sheng's own son Jiang. While never high profile, Jiang is considered one of the city's superheroes by most who know of him, even though he doesn't seem to have any powers. August 21: The Tinker Ten are brought together by Darkshield. While their Earthquake Machine is destroyed before it can be used, the team of gadgeteers remains together in some form for the next decade. - 1969 - General: Supernormal activity becomes common in New York City. (Exactly who was active there has not been decided on yet by the writers.) July 20: Neil Armstrong is the first normal human to set foot on the Moon. There are rumors of Edison Project launches in the 1950s, but they have never been confirmed. - 1970 - General: San Francisco's status as a supernormal hub starts to fade. Jiang Sheng is still spotted occasionally, but seems to be fighting mundane criminals rather than his father. Flower Power and Union Label start traveling the country, and while they return to their "home" city every so often (such as during the 1975 Dimension Z affair), they prefer to go wherever people need help during the next five years. - 1971 - General: Miami sees a great deal of supernormal activity, including a trio of paranormal Cuban exiles who call for the U.S. to withdraw from the Paranormal Warfare Treaty and send them to Cuba. November 12: Antiochus V declares his war on humanity and rampages across the campus of Michigan State University. December 3: Dragonfly and Ladyhawke are first spotted in Detroit. - 1972 - General: Detroit becomes a hub of superhuman activity. Primary heroes are Dragonfly, Ladyhawke and Lady Lawful. March 13: The villain known as Powerhouse makes his first known appearance. - 1973 - General: New York City ceases to be a hub of superhuman activity. January 2: The Pranir make their first known contact with humanity, setting up a small trading post in Grand Rapids, Michigan. They are driven away by Delta Rose, who at the time is not publically known to be an agent of the Galactic Warrior Corpse. June 16: Dragonfly and Ladyhawke are wed, in a ceremony presided over by the original Lady Lawful. - 1974 - General: Miami ceases to be a hub of superhuman activity. Watergate brings down the Nixon administration, but no superhumans are involved in those events. Some of the Nixon tapes reveal he dismissed the idea of sending superhumans to Cuba out of hand, seeing them as a worse problem than Castro. May 12: Weapons Master makes his inauspicious debut in Detroit. He is recognized as the last "new" superhero of the Second Age. While a couple of heroes make their first public appearances later than this, they are known to have been active in secret before May 1974. August 1: Lady Lawful makes her last public appearance, fighting Arc Wielder and Wanda. There are rumors that she's actually aided by old sparring partner Tinker Tom. There is no announcement of retirement, however, and it is not until months later that rumors circulate that she has hung up the mask for good. - 1975 - General: The invasion by Dimension Z becomes harder and harder to deny as the year goes on. Detroit is the only concentrated hub of superhuman activity, although this is in part because most of the still-active superheroes and supervillains have started playing a game of cross-country hide and seek. February 2: Antiochus V makes his final appearance in the Second Age (in the main timeline). After this, he spends nearly 20 years in hiding, rethinking his plans and developing new technologies. April 30: Saigon falls, and Brightsword is rumored to have been involved in the evacuations, although he is never captured on film during the months leading up to the airlift. October 30-31: The Z-ruptor designed by Dragonfly and Don Quixote disrupts the disguises of a group of Z-lians, forcing the invaders from Dimension Z to move up their timetable and attempt a full invasion immediately. Forces in several cities across the globe start to seek out superhumans as well as military bases and attack them, with Boston, New York, San Francisco, Berlin and Tokyo being particularly hard-hit. A small force of heroes led by Don Quixote enters Dimension Z and destroys the Dimensional Inverter, saving the world. But Don Quixote has to sacrifice his life in the process. Union Label is crippled during the invasion, both he and Flower Power retire in its wake. - 1976 - General: Detroit ceases to be a hub of supernatural activity. This is the last year considered to be part of the Second Heroic Age. At some point during this year, there is a split in the timeline. One branch leads to the main ASH setting, the other diverges due to an unknown effect, creating the "Alliance timeline". Events that occur in only the Alliance timeline will be have an asterisk after the date. Events that only happen in the main timeline will have two asterisks. Unasterisked events happen in both timelines. January 1: Dr. Robert "Dragonfly" Baines is diagnosed with bone cancer in one leg. The leg is amputated soon after, effectively ending his superheroic career. January 8: Amy "Ladyhawke" Baines discovers she is pregnant. Spring: The Alliance timeline diverges. June 30 **: Dragonfly and Ladyhawke announce their retirement via a letter sent to local media outlets. They had not been active for months prior to this, and many see this as the official end of the Second Heroic Age. July 4 *: Antiochus V attacks Washington DC and is opposed by Dragonfly, Ladyhawke, Delta Rose, Fantom, Weapon Master and the villain Powerhouse. Antiochus V is utterly destroyed. Known to only a handful, the costumes of Dragonfly and Ladyhawke are worn by visitors from another timeline, who then act to ensure certain disasters from their own history are not repeated in the newly diverged Alliance timeline. August 4: Rodney Baines is born. - 1977 - General: This year is not considered to be part of the Second Heroic Age, but a few events of note related to heroes of that age occurred. By the end of the year, the only superhero known to be active is Weapons Master, who spends most of his time fighting the remnants of the Tinker Ten. January 2 **: Fantom leaves for Ghostworld and never returns. January 6 *: Fantom leaves for Ghostworld, but he returns in 1978. He left slightly later in this timeline, due to delays resulting from the Bicentennial battle. February 13 **: Delta Rose is recalled by the Galactic Warrior Corps, and leaves Earth after informing key government officials of the true nature of her mission. She would not return until a decade later. - 1978 - General: All events described for this year only happen in the divergent timeline of the Alliance of Super-Heroes. April 2 *: Weapons Master founds the Alliance of Super-Heroes, with Wanderer, Powerhouse and Delta Rose as founding members. July 21 *: Eric Harris becomes the new Dragonfly, and joins the Alliance. August 14 *: The Wanderer contacts Fantom in the Ghostworld, and convinces him to return and join the Alliance. - 1979 - April 1: In both timelines, Robert Baines finally dies from metastatized cancer. In the main timeline, he lived long enough to see the Second Heroic Age come to a definite end. In the Alliance timeline, he lived long enough to see it coming into full blossom. ============================================================================= A Final Note: What can I say? I like worldbuilding. A lot of this stuff came out of background already established in ASH, or was mined from my Champions campaign in college, or even taken from my pre-college superhero creations. And some of it was made up on the spot to fill in gaps or serve the needs of the story I wanted to tell. I can't even remember the names of all the people whose ideas found their way into ASH in general, or this sourcebook in particular, but a goodly chunk of the new material came from or was inspired by conversations with Andrew Burton. Marc Singer reminded me about the Sheng family, as mentioned in CSV #19. ============================================================================ For all the back issues, plus additional background information, art, and more, go to http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/ASH ! To discuss this issue or any others, either just hit "followup" to this post, or check out our Yahoo discussion group, which can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ash_stories/ ! ============================================================================