Revision [495]
This is an old revision of HeroesMmoTimeline made by ConradWong on 2015-11-05 17:31:15.
Mu Factor/Timeline
The world of Mu Factor shadows the near-future real world in which this story is set, similar to the way that actual comic book publishers like DC and Marvel pattern their worlds after reality. The conceit is, after all, that players get to be powerful mutants in a world similar to their own, rather than a world so different that they have no baseline for comparison. It minimizes the amount of lore that must be taught to new players.
Long Ago
Refugees flee the oppressive Kadinen Empire but their starship goes off course into a never-before explored part of the galaxy. They are forced to crash land onto a small blue world orbiting a yellow star, Earth. They splash down into coastal waters and evacuate, but their ship soon sinks beyond recovery. Lacking technology, they decide to settle down with the native hominids.
The 2020s
Genetic engineering is on the rise. It is now possible to screen and eliminate a wide range of congenital diseases in the womb.
The Garden of Eden foundation attempts to use genetics to create 'protohumans', reverse-engineering gene fragments shared by nearly all humans. One of the configurations of these fragments is what comes to be called the Mu gene. A number of prospective parents volunteer to raise the protohuman candidates as their own; the foundation provides stipends and scholarships.
Humanity expands slowly into space. The Bellwether asteroid is brought into Earth orbit, and used as the foundation of a skyhook system to ease the cost of space launches.
The 2030s
The Ecoclysm shakes the earth, with tsunamis assaulting the coasts and earthquakes rocking the continents.
Born in what would become the Island of California, Athena Awakens with the power to control the very bedrock. She uses it at first to defend her hometown of San Francisco from the tsunamis sweeping in fro, the Pacific, raising mighty seawalls. But she does not know the cost of her power: earthquake after earthquake rock the state until she discovers and uses a Mu Crystal to enhance her powers temporarily to bind the faultlines... Incidentally sundering California from the rest of the United States.
Athena surrenders herself to the authorities. After much diplomacy and argument, other governments unwilling to allow the US to retain such a powerful earthshaker to its own ends, she is inducted into the newly formed Extraordinary Capabilities Department (ECD) of the UN Peacekeepers, and sent around the world to assist in disaster relief efforts.
In what would become Old New York, Zeus Awakens with the power to control lightning. His power proves little help against the storms assaulting the New England coastline, but in one hospital, he saves lives by drawing electricity from the clouds until the generator can be repaired. He assists the National Guard by helping to quell the looters and rioting.
He is captured by the US and his powers are probed, but he eventually breaks free, soured against authority by his experience. He goes underground and deals with criminals in an effort to gain the power to help other mutants avoid governmental scrutiny.
The Garden of Eden foundation has gone underground, its proprietors nowhere to be seen. Many question their agenda in sowing the seeds of so many powerful mutants.
The 2040s
The Earth is recovering from the Ecoclysm. New cities have been created near the shattered old ones, soaking up refugees and integrating them into a once again functional civilization.
Athena becomes the head of the ECD and announces the new Licensed program under which mutants will be allowed to live among normal humans so long as they are willing to use their powers for the benefit of all under the aegis of the UN's many humanitarian efforts. Without the License, they will be restricted to special communities 'for their own protection'. Zeus steps forward to publicly announce his opposition to the License, and calls for mutants to rally to his banners: equality and freedom for all mutants. Public opinion is split on whether mutants should be integrated with humanity at large.
