In Necessary Evil, a band of aliens lured the world's superheroes into a cunning trap and killed or imprisoned the vast majority of them. The player characters are the only enhanced beings left to save the planet - supervillains! As the alien overlords' policy is to kill anyone exhibiting paranormal abilities, the only option open for such individuals is fight or flight! You can guess which option most villains choose.
Setting The Stage
It started on January 1st, 2008. The first ships appeared over every major city of the planet. There was no prelude and no demands. The aliens just attacked. They were an amphibious race that combined the nastiest aspects of sharks and crocodiles with an aggression matched by neither. They were the stuff of nightmares to most. The people called them "Fins".
New York became a war zone, Tokyo burned, and even sunken Atlantis was razed and its ruler - the legendary Aquarian - slain.
Earth's superheroes fought back immediately. The Fins were terrifying, but no one ever doubted the heroes would win out in the end. After-all, aliens had tried to invade Earth three times before, and earth's defenders had always emerged triumphant.
But the fins possessed advanced technology and savage bloodlust, so the losses were heavy. Earth began to worry.
The V'sori
Then came the turn of the tide the people had come to expect in these epic wars of aliens and supermen. Advance forces and another alien race arrived in earth orbit - the V'sori. They claimed to be the long-lost allies of Atlantis who had been searching for their missing comrades in arms for hundreds of years. During their quest, they had grown to become the defenders of the Galaxy.
The V'sori claimed the Fins - or K'tharen as they called themselves - were rampaging mercenaries who ravaged world after world, but the V'sori had fought them before and would help Earth against them now.
The world's greatest superhero, Champion, the leader of Alpha Force, flew into space to meet them. He returned later and gave a stirring speech that called for humanity to hold out for just a bit longer. They did, though the final cost in blood was great.
When the V'sori arrived, the K'tharen fleet rose to fight them. The alien ships fought a titanic battle in space, but the V'sori won out, and even beamed the images of the fleeting Fins to earth.
Humanity cheered their saviours and welcomed the advanced alien protectors with open arms. ANxious youths danced in the streets, proclaiming an era of peace and love. Less trusting commentators were booed and mocked in the national press. And some appeasement-minded governments even offered the aliens the figurative keys to their states.
Treachery
Of course that's just what the aliens wanted all along. In every major city, heroes and world leaders joined together to welcome the aliens. The crowds cheered as the V'sori ships appeared overhead. Every superhero, sidekick, president, and even stars of sports, movies and music attended these grand galas. The people of earth cheered as they watched their heroes greet the alin saviors on the news networks.
The cheers turned to screams when the V'sori ships opened fire on the gathered throngs. Moments afterwards, the K'tharen warships returned - servants of the V'sori!
Champion was standing before the cameras when the V'sori hit. They knew his weakness - radiation - and targeted him with a concentrated beam of energy that turned the hero into what looked like a pulpy mass. Massive deathrays then swept over the gathered throngs, slaying thousands of heroes, officials, generals, and innocents in moments. Within thirty minutes, the unthinkable had occurred. Earth's greatest heroes were dead and its leaders vaporized.
The aliens had won.
Defeat
Soon, televisions and radios around the world carried an announcement from the admiral of the V'sori fleet. Earth was now under the control of the V'sori Empire. Resistance would be met with death.
The V'sori Empire wanted Earth's resources. They needed a way to study our defenses and then take them out with a surprise strike of surgical precision. They succeeded flawlessly. They claimed destroying more of our infrastructure and our people was counterproductive to their goal, gaining a new self-sufficient source of raw resources.
The V'sori have placed Governors in charge of the former nations of Earth. The invaders and their Fin servants are now commonplace. There isn't a single government left to oppose them, and they feel they have nothing to fear from Earth... but they are wrong.
Earth's heroes are dead, but there are others who can stand up and fight on this planet. They are supervillains... and they're a necessary evil.
Quote:
The Face of the Enemy
http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/a...oriktharen.jpg
The stuff of nightmares, the K'tharen are monstrous, slavering aliens - as fearsome as they are savage. Most are well over 7' tall - every bit of which is muscle. The "fins" have humanoid forms, but with a thick crocodile-like hide. Their head has a distinctive shark-like appearance, especially with the fin-ridge that runs along the top of their skulls and their coal-black eyes. Their coloration runs toward the darker end of the spectrum along their backs, from light greens to blue and violet, while the front is universally pale.
The K'tharen grow darker along their dorsal ridge as they age, and older members of the race can appear pure black.
The V'sori on the other hand, can best be described as beautiful. They are tall, thin, but well-muscled, and bear a bluish complexion eerily similar to that of the Atlanteans who have lived among the people of Earth for generations. Their hair is mostly dark brown or black, and is often worn short, but with a single small braid of longer hair off to one side of the face. V'sori are rarely seen in public without their body armor, a tight suit of segmented plates composed of some unknown alien material. In battle, V'sori commanders wear full helmets with mirrored visors.
Omega
The year is 2011. The Earth has been under the control of the V’sori Empire for over two years. Humans with extraordinary abilities, commonly known as superpowers, have existed for nearly a century. Those who used their powers for altruistic reasons were known as superheroes. It is believed somewhere around 98% of them have been killed by the V’sori.
Various resistance movements have been quashed by the V’sori, but the most promising has only just begun to act — Omega. Omega was started by the greatest criminal mastermind of the modern age, Dr. Destruction. Its members are largely made up of former superhumans the world once called villains. Dr. Destruction has said that only he is the rightful ruler of the earth — “not some alien scum from the back corners of the galaxy.”
Omega is organized into cells, each of which is only aware of the other members of its own cell to prevent betrayal. Cells are contacted with their mission information through blind drops, secret codes, and most commonly, encoded radio broadcasts.
The Face of Dr. Destruction
Dr. Destruction has been practicing super-villainy since the early 1980s. His first escapades were the stuff of comic books - bank robberies, jewel heists, and kidnappings. After being thrashed by the Champion one too many times, the vengeful Destruction vanished for a few years, then returned with more powerful weaponry, and more willingness to use it.
No one knows who the doctor really is, or what his face looks like behind the mask. His powers are well-known, however. In his past pattles with Champion and other superheroes, he displayed superhuman strength, energy blasts, teleportation, and mind-control. What inherent powers he possesses and what might come from his incredible devices is anyone's guess.
Quote:
Profile of a Space-God
So what does the Outsider look like? A pale, bald humanoid wearing shimmering robes of gold and red, the Outsider's yellow eyes glow with cosmic power.
His dimensions seem to change based on his whims. At one instant he is human-sized, while the next he is the size of a small building. During various confrontations with the military and Earth's super-humans, he demonstrated vast control over cosmic energy and the fundamental matter of the universe. He also had at his command a number of powerful robotic servitors strong enough to go toe-to-toe with Earth's mightiest protector, Champion. He was only defeated when a strange alien device from his own lab was used against him, seemingly disintegrating the all-powerful being, leaving nothing but charred ground where he stood.
Star City
The Map of Star City
The main action in Necessary Evil takes place in Star City. New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and most every other major city in the US were rubbled by the V’sori. Star City was left curiously untouched by the aliens’ weapons of mass destruction. Large numbers of K’tharen and drones operate in the city, however, and seem to take the place of weaponry that might cause too much collateral damage.
This amazing island was created some time ago by a being of god-like power called The Outsider. The United States annexed Star Island after the Outsider was defeated and began a very expensive and high-profile scientific study of the island and its amazing ability to spawn superhumans. Two years of study at the taxpayers’ expense found no particularly useful results so it was sold off in parcels to the highest bidder.
Exactly why the Outsider created the island Star City now sits on, why so many superpowered beings are spawned here, and why the aliens don’t blast it into oblivion is a mystery your team may unravel as they fight for its survival. For now, know that Star City is your character’s home, and he’d best defend it with his very life. The future just might depend on it.
Quote:
The Warlord of Star City
The V'sori in charge of Star City is Warlord Grypon, an aging commander and master politician who has shown a keen interest in Star City, and all of its neighborhoods, inhabitants and architecture, no doubt due to its near-magical origin.
Grypon always travels with a bodyguard of a dozen elite K'tharens.
People of Star City
Star City is home to around five million citizens, down from the eight million who lived here prior to the invasion. Most of the loss comes from those who took flight rather than casualties, as the aliens took special care not to overly damage the island. They did settle it in force, however. A large number of citizens weren’t comfortable living in such close proximity to the invaders and were allowed to flee to the mainland.
Geography of Star City
Star City lies two miles off the coast of the eastern seaboard of the United States, about halfway between Boston and New York, and is roughly six times the size of Manhattan (180 square miles). The island Star City was built on was created in 1955 when the nearly omnipotent being known as the Outsider came to Earth. Other than the fact that Star City is home to an inordinate number of superbeings, the island seems completely normal.
Star City is in fact shaped like an eight-pointed star. Four large points alternate with four smaller points surrounding the large central sections called Uptown and Downtown.
Each of the points forms a subsection of the city. The large points are known by their compass counterparts: Northpoint, Eastpoint, Southpoint, and Westpoint. The small points have the more colloquial names of Beachhead (NE, known as Bright Beach pre-invasion), Tempest (SE), The Docks (SW), and Prospect Point (NW). The central area of the city is divided into two subsections: Uptown to the north and Downtown to the south.
Star City connects to the Eastern seaboard of the United States via an amazing bridge, also built by the Outsider. Christened the “Sea Bridge,” this miraculous two-mile span has weathered powerful Atlantic currents, high winds, and even two super-powered terrorist attacks.
The Sea Bridge supports seven lanes of traffic: three going toward the city and three going away. The bridge lands at Westpoint, funneling traffic north or south to Uptown and Downtown respectively.
Engineers have since converted the seventh lane into a mag-lev line that runs from Providence, Rhode Island, to the Sea Bridge and on to Star City.
A bustling ferry industry has also grown up around Star City, shuttling cars and pedestrians across the two-mile stretch of ocean to Star City’s Westpoint receiving station. More than a dozen ferries from two competing companies serve better than 50,000 cars and pedestrians per day.
Quote:
Northpoint
Northpoint is the most heavily patrolled section of Star City that is not home to any V’sori. Once the upper middle class district, Northpoint is now the home of those humans who willingly work with the alien empire. Northpoint follows the high-rise appearance of Uptown in its southern section, then becomes a series of brownstones as one moves north.
Mayor Perez: Northpoint’s most important human resident is Star City’s current mayor, Jerry Perez. The V’sori governor appointed Perez mayor about a year ago, and he has since surrounded himself with a number of like-minded cronies. Perez’ primary goal is self-preservation, but his secondary objective is rooting out any resistance cells in Star City. He has proven himself an implacable foe of the resistance, and uses whatever resources given him by his alien overlords to hunt down any insurgents. He has used his freedom and authority to form his own Star City Police Department, and has even been allowed to arm his officers with a limited number of highpowered V’sori weapons.
Special Ops Corps: After winning the complete confidence of his alien overseers, Perez was allowed to create a special branch of the police to deal with superhuman menaces across the city. The Special Ops Corps, or SOCorp, was born, and with strong alien support, Perez outfitted his new officers to do battle with superhuman foes.
Since its inception, SOCorp has worked closely with the V’sori governor in busting several rings of resistance operatives, earning them the enmity of every Omegan in town. Because of this, Perez never goes anywhere in town unescorted, unarmored, or unarmed!
Perez and SOCorp are based in Northpoint’s heavily guarded Public Safety Building, located on Center Avenue, the primary thoroughfare that bisects the neighborhood.
Quote:
Eastpoint
Eastpoint is the “residential” area of Star City. Patrols here are common towards the northern edge that looks out at Beachhead, but become less common to the south. The mainly workingclass residents of Eastpoint have learned to live under V’sori rule, but they primarily deal with Mayor Perez and the SCPD. Perez has worked hard to make nice with the many labor unions headquartered in Eastpoint, and a peaceful coexistence has been achieved.
Of course, there are many among the labor unions and working class who do not appreciate the V’sori presence in Star City, or the administration of their human quislings. A growing movement of labor unrest gnaws at the peaceful fabric of Eastpoint, threatening to plunge the neighborhood into a boiling cauldron of chaos. Lead by Richard Lyons, head of the local chapter of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), the Eastpoint Insurgents (as they have come to call themselves) are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the V’sori’s rule in Star City. Several recent public protests have ended in violent confrontations between the SCPD and certain members of the IBEW.
Quote:
Southpoint
The lowest point of Star City in every way is Southpoint. The V’sori only send patrols into this wretched hive when actively pursuing someone. The only public transportation serving this unfortunate section of town is the mag-lev rail, and service is intermittent at best. Violent criminal gangs rule many of Southpoint’s dilapidated streets, but the area is large enough that their influence does not stretch to its every corner. These quiet and deserted pockets of Southpoint make excellent locations for Omega cells and safehouses since they’re somewhat insulated by the violent but unorganized street gangs.
The Tenements contain Southpoint’s largest concentration of humanity, a great, ramshackle row of poorly maintained highrises that are little more than dens of drug use and hopelessness.
Quote:
Westpoint
Westpoint is the industrial hub of Star City. The power and water purification plant is located here as well as some of the processing facilities for the V’sori aquaculture farms. The V’sori presence is high in these locations but moderate elsewhere. V’sori scientists continue to study and marvel at the inner workings of the Outsider’s amazing power and water plant.
Westpoint also offers visitors the oncetrendy Industry Shops, a collection of retail outlets featuring artisan-level crafts, jewelry, and fashions housed in the remnants of an old sheet-metal factory. Prosperous in spite of the alien presence, the Industry Shops still attract thousands of visitors each weekend, many eager to part with their money in exchange for the merchants high-priced wares.
The Shops are also the location of the popular nightspot known as Chick’s Café. The proprietor is Chick Abel, a man who, at least publicly, prides himself on complete neutrality when it comes to matters surrounding the invasion and the current alien occupation. Great jazz music and gourmet Cajun cuisine attract the city’s best, brightest, and sometimes most notorious.
Abel’s avowed neutrality has even encouraged a few brave V’sori officers and warlords to frequent the bar. They and their retinues are now regulars at Chick’s on the weekends. This has lead to some uncomfortable moments as alcohol sometimes makes the tensions rise between the alien and human clientele, but Chick always manages to keep the peace. As he is fond of saying, “I don’t allow politics in my club.”
Also situated among the artisans of the Industry Shops is the novelty store called Heroes, which sells collectibles and memorabilia related to Earth’s superhuman population. The disruption this shop’s wares (mainly comic books, old photos, action figures, and games) causes among the populace of Star City is small, so the V’sori have continued to allow it to operate with little interruption. The owner of the shop is Mitch Powers, a onetime history professor at Star City University. No one knows why the wheelchair-bound Powers quit his tenure-track position at SCU to run the store, but he has managed to make a go of it, moving enough product to meet his rent each month and afford a few creature comforts.
Quote:
Beachhead
Beachhead is home to Star City’s V’sori base, which is walled off from the rest of the city. Besides military structures, the most notable place is the old Star City Aquarium, which has been converted to a recreation facility for the aquatic V’sori and K’tharen.
More than just a fortress in a once-hostile city, Beachhead has become an enclave of safety and security where the V’sori and their most trusted allies can walk without fear of attack, conduct delicate research, or pursue pastimes unrelated to the business of the invasion.
The only humans allowed through the walls of Beachhead are slaves or those with special clearance from V’sori high command. Even trusted human allies like Star City Mayor Jerry Perez must make special arrangements to tread the area’s heavily guarded streets, and no humans are allowed within the Star City Aquarium’s sea-green walls. Many members of the resistance have speculated as to exactly what transpires within the old aquarium-turned-alien recreation center, but no one has yet been able to penetrate its security to discover what’s really going on in there.
Quote:
Tempest
This aptly named section of Star City often catches the worst of any storms that hit town. Patrols are uncommon here, but the many criminal gangs of Star City tend to have family here and act more as protectors than scavengers.
A trio of highly sophisticated energy arrays are situated atop Tempest’s largest tower. These cylindrical, metallic rods somehow gather the energy from any storms that lash the neighborhood and store it for use in powering the area’s only factory, Burns Brewery, which borders Southpoint. The Outsiders’ original intent for the energy array and the building it rests upon is unknown, but the enterprising residents of Tempest made it one of the northeast’s most successful small breweries. Omegans returning from successful missions can choose from Thunderheat Stout, Hurricane Lager, Nor’Easter Pale Ale or a selection of seasonal brews.
Quote:
The Docks
Like Southpoint, the Docks can be a hard area of town. It is the only place where humans in Star City are connected to the outside world, and unless they are guarding a special shipment, the V’sori patrols are light in this area. This lack of official presence has lead to frequent late-night raids by the gangs of nearby Southpoint. The Docks are mostly shutdown at night, except for the actual pier area where workers operate under bright lights 24 hours a day.
Rumors abound of secret resistance bases and weapon caches hidden somewhere amid the maze of warehouses dotting the docks. Well-known mobster and black marketer, Willy the Fish, purportedly makes his home somewhere among the Docks, ruling over a once-mighty criminal empire that has steadily declined over the past four years since the aliens’ arrival.
Many speculate that the Fish is allowed to exist by the powers that be due to a special agreement to supply Star City Mayor Jerry Perez and alien warlord Grypon with certain delicacies from abroad. Whether it’s precious jewels from Africa or the freshest truffles from Europe, Willy the Fish is renowned for delivering the goods, but the price is always high.
Quote:
Prospect Point
Once the home of the rich and famous of Star City, the mansions on Prospect Point now serve as the residences of the highranking V’sori of Star City. The old Country Club has been transformed into a minor V’sori base, geared entirely toward protecting the residents. Mbuna and Manta transport craft can be seen taking off and landing from the area on a regular basis.
Warlord Grypon, the V’sori leader in charge of Star City, is believed to maintain a residence at Prospect Point along with a number of his seconds. The area is also notable for a tremendous slugfest that took place above it during the final battle against the Outsider. The ultra-hero Champion battled one of the Outsider’s most vicious robot servitors to a standstill above what would become Prospect Point’s Rolling Hills Golf Club. In fact, many of the sand traps and other unique features of the course were actually created by the calamitous impacts of the combatant’s supertough bodies as their melee careened up and down the beautiful landscape.
Quote:
Uptown
This section of town features glittering high-rises and skyscrapers of glass and steel. The buildings in the southern area of this section sport a more retrograde architecture. McGlothlin Park, the largest park in the city, is split between the Uptown and Downtown sections. Its once pristine, tree-lined lanes have grown out of control since the invasion, and its branches and bowers help conceal a fierce street gang that preys upon the alien occupiers.
Uptown is also the location of the campus of Star City University (SCU), a small, private university with an enrollment of some 5,000 students. SCU’s campus borders McGlothlin Park, and houses one of the nation’s foremost programs in robotics and electrical engineering. Since the V’sori have taken over Star City, they have kept a close eye on the research at SCU’s robotics laboratory, which once had close links to several military projects.
Numerous student protests occur every month on SCU’s campus, many of them ending with violent confrontations between the students and Star City Police Department officers. The SCPD have been able to contain the protestors for now, so the V’sori have not taken a direct hand against them.
Quote:
Downtown
Downtown architecture features heavy doses of dark stone and gothic style. The V’sori patrol this area, but confine most of their activity to mag-lev train lines. Some of the smarter gangs have learned how to survive in this area, and rumor has it that the Black Market is located somewhere Downtown.
If someone in Star City is looking for contraband of any kind, Downtown is the place to start the search. As long as you’re far away from the heavy traffic of the well-policed mag-lev lines there is all kinds of underground activity to be found.
Downtown is also the home of Star City’s only professional sports franchise, Major League Soccer’s Star City Sentinels. The Sentinels play their games in Weston Stadium, and are owned and operated by mysterious billionaire industrialist George Weston. Rarely seen in public, Weston made his fortune trading international currencies and futures, but his true passion has always been European Football, or Soccer.
The Sentinels are extremely popular in Star City, and in accordance with the tough financial times, owner Weston has lowered ticket prices to make coming to the games more affordable. Several V’sori Warlords have even taken an interest in the team, and Weston has granted them their own private box to view the games away from the screaming crowds of human spectators.
(more to come...)
