Setting Information - The Deviant Universe
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shark_girlOOC Information
The Deviant Universe Site - Here
What is the Deviant Universe Canon?
-The Deviant Universe is a collaborative art and super-hero themed storytelling project initiated in February of 2011 to August 2019 on Deviantart by mja42x on that site. The project operated through monthly storyline or fan-art challenges for member artists to participate in, along with a "Major Summer Event" every year which entailed key crossovers of every artist's casts against what was usually a global threat or unique event.
The events transpiring entailed a large number of artists, and featured a revolving cast on a super-hero team known as the "Thunder Force," analogues to similar global super-hero teams in comics. While not directly drawn from Marvel, DC, Image or small press sources, many characters were inspired by the love of these comic-book characters.
The events of 2011 and Psi-Void's first assault on Earth in the first Summer Crossover lead eventually to one last confrontation with Psi-void in the events of "World's End" in 2019's Summer Crossover, a final peace for Earth that would last for years and the subsequent dissolution of the Thunder Force and close of the primary Deviant Universe project (Though monthly challenges would continue until 2020 along with "What If" scenarios for the setting post the artist's involvement.).
IC Information
Right, so what is the Deviant Universe?
-“The Deviant Universe” is a classical Golden Age/Silver Age cusp superhero universe set in a variant Earth. Its history is related to and similar to that of the real world, though it shifts at the close of World War II. Deviants, the common term for superheroes and villains, have been present for thousands of years, but have not been as visible until the second half of the twentieth century. The public prominence of a few key figures during World War II and the events of the Sovereign War in the 1960s (the first of two alien invasion attempts on the planet) have made them a much more obvious and well-known factor in society. The first decade of the 21st century has seen an upswing in negative sentiment towards Deviants due to several high profile cases of villainous aspirations threatening humanity on a global scale. These high profile incidents, notably the Freedom War and the Rise of Omega, came swiftly on the heels of one another and led to an outpouring of concern by normal humans about the need for controls to be placed on Deviant activity. In 2013, Tensions remain at a near breaking point, and at the instant of Thresher's arrival in the Carvaka setting, this has led to the culmination of the Omega Rising crisis with the use of a doomsday weapon to ensure the demigod's death. The aftershocks of this event, known collectively as “The Genocide Wave” have left a damaged and half-ruined world bereft of its heroes, all people with superhuman powers having disappeared from the world, lost in time and space for three months before part of them return to find humanity less than pleased to have them back, fearful that the wars between hero and villain will resume.
Historically, one of the major shifts of the Deviant Universe is the relative lack of a Cold War in the 1950s. The Sovereign War largely shattered the back of any Communist-Capitalist conflict shortly after the Korean War, leading to a perceived need to unite humanity against the outside threat of the Sovereign race. After success, though some conflict remained, it never was greater than small-scale wars that were not used by larger global superpowers as staging grounds for their conflicts. It has led to the latter half of the 20th century being a time of peace and prosperity for humanity, with advancements in technology building in particular in computing, communication and robotics in some sectors, along with a limited control over pollutants and construction efficiency leading to a lower stress on the global environment.
Deviants represent roughly .001% of the global population at most, and the Earth's population is approximately 4 billion in number, the catastrophes of Omega's Rise and the Sovereign War being devastating to the human species in particular. Rebuilding efforts have been underway after the Rise of Omega in the last two years, but humanity still reels. Most individual national and cultural identities that predate World War II continue to exist, and only a rare Deviant ever involves themselves in the political process directly, so the nations that one sees on the map are generally present and reflect a post-Berlin War collapse environment, though without quite as much animosity between former Soviet satellite states. Deviant activity tends to be relegated, due to practical realities, to the outskirts of major metropolitan areas. While humanity is aware of alien species and has encountered two separate invading forces (Psi-Void and the Sovereign Race), they have only sporadic contact and most alien species maintain diplomatic enclaves on New Zealand, frequently as refugees.
The source of “Deviation” varies heavily. Some are born with genetic mutations that cause a person to display superhuman capacities or unusual properties. Others are the result of super-science at work in secret laboratories. A few rare individuals are either of extraterrestrial origin or show powers derived from magic or the influence of various old pagan gods who still influence the world around them. The variety of their capacities, natures and personalities can vary extensively, as much as the choices that they make with those powers.
Main Story Arcs of the Deviant Universe
-2011: "The Rebirth of the Thunder Force and the Threat of Psi-Void"
-An Agent Possessed: During the spring of 2011, well known government agent, 42X, was captured by the Shadow Society, brainwashed and sent to assassinate the President of the United States. Ultimately, after an effort of multiple Deviants working in congress, he was captured by the famed "Mythic," and brought in for detoxification. This incident drew Deviants once more into the public eye.
-Maximum Destruction: The second attempted interstellar invasion of Earth was conducted during the summer of 2011 by the galactic overlord Psi-Void. Earth, having been assaulted decades prior by one of Psi-Void's rival entities, the Sovereign, was now a potential source of additional resources for his dying race. Desiring to convert the planet to one more hospitable to his people and enslave its population, he first sent his robotic Cy-Droids to capture what he presumed were the greatest threat, superhuman deviants. The effort backfired, as heroes and villains teamed up once on board his orbiting space platform and attacked. In the conflagration, Psi-Void was apparently killed (The energy being instead possessing and taking over the body of his lieutenant Zaggot) and the world-renowned hero Great Man perished aiding in his defeat. The possessed Zaggot pronounced peace with earth and departed, licking his wounds and plotting elaborate revenge.
-Reformation of the Thunder Force: In the aftermath of Psi-Void's attack, the United Nations acted on the prompting and funding of the US and security council, establishing a global defense force of Deviants known as the Thunder Force. This force, comprised of an active body led by Agent 42X and with auxiliaries around the globe, was intended to be a public defender unit under government oversight without official national allegiance and represent the best and brightest of humanity. It's original founding members were Wildman, Agent 42X, Cross, Pixel, Vicky Velocity, Fisticuff, Wireless, and the Empty Suit.
Although not widely spoken about, this Thunder Force was, in fact, the second iteration of the original team, once led by the hero known as Vektor, now living out his earthly life in his civilian guise: American President Robert Hatfield.
-2012: "The Freedom War and Rise of the Dark Legion"
-Rise of the Dark Legion: Even as the Thunder Force met its early challenges, incarcerating various would-be super villains, their number ultimately met the challenge with a team of its own. Loosely organized and led initially by an enigmatic agent known as "The Hive," the Dark Legion broke several key antagonists out of prison and disappeared into the woodwork, inserting agents into the US-based RAPTOR organization and the ancillary bureaucracy of the Thunder Force, attempting to bring them down from within or corrupt them towards their own ends.
-The Freedom War: During the Summer of 2012, heroes and villains around the globe were plagued by a vision of a world, corrupted and destroyed as the heroic computer program given life and a body of electrical current Pixel was turned against humanity and Deviants. That world, known to some as 'the Pixelocalypse' was a potential version of their world, one that they had a chance to try and stop from happening. In the wake of the vision, Pixel's programming was briefly corrupted and he went rogue, killing countless civilians in a small, sleepy American town. While heroes sought to capture copies of his programming running amok, RAPTOR mobilized and demanded that Deviants around the world be registered under their banner. The movement, spearheaded by the Hive, posing as RAPTOR Supervisor Lloyd, caused a rift in the superhuman community between the Freedom Force (those who actively opposed registration) and the Thunder Force (who were enlisted to aid RAPTOR). The confrontation became a hotbed of controversy when the world-traveling hero Vigil emerged to warn that the results of the conflict imperiled everyone and that RAPTOR needed to be stopped to avoid the apocalypse seen earlier that summer. Banding together, the two forces confronted each other once and for all, the Hive's plot being revealed in the midst of the battle. Pixel, enraged at being manipulated by the Hive, slew him in cold blood and turned himself over for guardianship until it could be certain he was safe once more. Though the conflict ended, much of the public's confidence in the Thunder Force was shattered, and its membership shifted heavily to reflect changes in idealogy.
Current Thunder Force Roster: The Mighty American (Leader), Wildman, Cross, Miss July, Tsunami, Arrow-Kill, Animal Boy and Thunderhead.
-Otherworld: Though RAPTOR had been disparaged, its principle head Christina Rogers made every effort to maintain a clean ship. During this time, a plea came from another reality still, verifying that many alternate futures existed. This world, dubbed "Otherworld," was plagued by villains and in need of some help, any help. Heroes banded together from around the globe to travel together and face the villainous Deathwatch organization. Vigil, once again, interfered, this time warning that too much intervention (or any at all) could destabilize both realities and forcing the heroes to return prematurely. Though Deathwatch was not fully defeated, it had suffered a great blow and the Free States of America had the hope for a future return of peace.
-2013: "Omega Rising"
The barrier of an ancient dimensional prison known as the Abyss is opened through the manipulations of a super-villain named Syndrome with the assistance of several dupes, promised unlimited power in return for opening this prison for him. When opened, it revealed an entry into one of two extra-planar regions commonly referred to as "Hell" by numerous world religions. The being released from bondage was known as Omega, an entity billions of years in age who had the capacity to augment the powers of others who served him. He set upon the Earth to renew his efforts to dominate all life, forcing the collective power of the world's mightiest to face down first his augmented agents and ultimately himself.
While Omega himself was defeated and forced to lick his wounds in Hell once more, a cult remained on Earth, venerating and drawing power from him, forever threatening the well being of all sentient life. On several occasions, Thresher would clash alongside other empowered heroes against these agents, whose exploits frequently did not draw the attention of such organizations as the Thunder Force.
In the aftermath of the Omega Incident, civilization would spend considerable time recovering. Nation-state integrity was badly damaged in many cases and, while a world government was not established, the United Nations and peacekeeping forces like the Thunder Force increasingly came to be relied upon to address potential global threats. Augmented plantlife was found that appeared to be increasing the presence of so-called Deviants on Earth. As various peacekeeping forces sought to bring down freshly augmented heroes, believing it to be another plot of Omega's cult, they were faced with people berserk and drunk on new power.
The need to rebuild peace and stability on Earth called for a renewed recruitment for the Thunder Force. This recruitment drive would see a rise of Three teams in the Thunder Force's Roster. Though this plan would work for a time, the roster would change several times over the course of the years as global needs shifted. At no point did Thresher ever take an interest in joining or applying to the Thunder Force. While willing to aid others, she had no interest in being visible at the forefront of international conflicts, and left that to the "Big Leaguers."
-2014-2015: "Heroes United," "The Cult of Omega" and "The Genocide Wave"
While the Thunder Force convened, the collective forces of three super-villainous organizations would remain persistent thorns in the side of efforts to recover from the aftermath of Omega's escape. The Cult of Omega, the galactic overlord Psi-Void's return and the criminal organization ARES and its allies in the Dark Legion each sought out their own efforts to conquer the world, to subjugate a reeling human populace while they endeavored to rebuild. Despite the advances and assistance of deviants/meta-humans throughout the planet, these dangers posed a constant risk for the people of Earth.
The Cult of Omega, in particular to the story of Thresher, sought to find fellow empowered individuals and bring them to locations where Omega's influence could still be felt, where they could be indoctrinated and empowered. They sought vengeance against the people who had brought their lord and master low and waged a campaign of terror and murder that required regular purges. Always in the background of the organization were those meta-humans who were complicit, empowered and bolstered by Omega. Some of the lesser gods of Olympus were temporarily swayed by the deceptive powers, including Poseidon's own nereid wife and Pan, who yearned for vengeance for an ancient slight by Apollo. Agents of the Cult of Omega like these rarely remained long with the organization, its constant internal bickering and the demands of Omega himself being too much for them, and most sought some level of penance after they were brought down and came to their senses.
The god of wine, Dionysus, for his part promoted the activities of the Cult for his own personal amusement. Not only the god of wine, he was also the god of madness and he saw the insanity that they bred in their wake as intensely entertaining. He ever refused Omega's gifts, but he was all too willing to seduce agents and foils to join their order for the benefits, and perfectly happy to throw them at Thresher just to watch her writhe and vent her rage, always remaining just plausibly deniable enough that she could never truly lash out at he or Pan more than a little.
As all of these battles were waged, reality buckled. Dimensional prisons had been opened. Psi-Void sought power of maddening heights, regardless of the cost. Strange and horrific entities vied to release their ancient masters. It was too much of a strain on reality, and those who presided over that existence became increasingly unable to maintain the stability of their metaverse. As the strings of reality frayed, waves of energy raced across the earth on an annual basis. Dubbed "The Genocide Wave," these energies caused people to disappear in the fall of every year, and were seen as a sign of great instability in existence, a sign of an illness that threatened existence itself.
-2016-2017: "Otherworld" & "Nexus Sigma"
The fraying of reality hit a fever pitch as portals began to open up to alternate versions of reality. Threats from these alternate Earths started to make appearances in Tess's reality, but the worst of the lot was a reality known to the people of her timeline as "Otherworld." Dominated by super-powered villains who maintained a global syndicate known as Deathwatch, they initially clashed in prior years with the heroes of the primary timeline, only to enter Tess's world in an effort to conquer and claim multiple alternate realities, led by the insane manipulator of time and space, from whom her organization took its name.
Deathwatch's rage would ultimately be brought low by countless heroes, but the losses on both sides of the conflict were significant. The Thunder Force underwent restructuring due to losses and betrayals in its own ranks, a splinter faction breaking off over accusations of corruption and collusion in the ranks and sparking an ongoing conflict that threatened to divert their resources at a critical time, hunting after former teammates. The world needed heroes, and in this moment they were faced with a reality that was threatening to come apart at the seams.
The Genocide Wave of 2017 was phenomenally larger than any previously recorded. Countless people were simply warped away from reality into other worlds as the entity that maintained the balance of realities, Sigma, showed signs of being frayed and weakened. Normally a nigh omnipotent power, capable of keeping multiple threads and strings of causality under control, she was weakened enough in the midst of this that the shockwaves dragged whole hordes of heros into strange and surreal versions of their reality at its very fringes before they managed to fight their way back, to rescue her from a relatively minor villain, Cape Caro, who managed to briefly supplant her power. Though he was ultimately defeated and her power restored, not all of the heroes immediately returned to their Earth, and the obvious weakness of the fabric of existence was plain for all to see, allowing the true power-houses among villains to eye Sigma's power with envy and greed.
Meanwhile, Tess herself was lost, awash in the genocide wave, drawn to far-flung worlds and unsure of where she would land...
The Deviant Universe Site - Here
What is the Deviant Universe Canon?
-The Deviant Universe is a collaborative art and super-hero themed storytelling project initiated in February of 2011 to August 2019 on Deviantart by mja42x on that site. The project operated through monthly storyline or fan-art challenges for member artists to participate in, along with a "Major Summer Event" every year which entailed key crossovers of every artist's casts against what was usually a global threat or unique event.
The events transpiring entailed a large number of artists, and featured a revolving cast on a super-hero team known as the "Thunder Force," analogues to similar global super-hero teams in comics. While not directly drawn from Marvel, DC, Image or small press sources, many characters were inspired by the love of these comic-book characters.
The events of 2011 and Psi-Void's first assault on Earth in the first Summer Crossover lead eventually to one last confrontation with Psi-void in the events of "World's End" in 2019's Summer Crossover, a final peace for Earth that would last for years and the subsequent dissolution of the Thunder Force and close of the primary Deviant Universe project (Though monthly challenges would continue until 2020 along with "What If" scenarios for the setting post the artist's involvement.).
IC Information
Right, so what is the Deviant Universe?
-“The Deviant Universe” is a classical Golden Age/Silver Age cusp superhero universe set in a variant Earth. Its history is related to and similar to that of the real world, though it shifts at the close of World War II. Deviants, the common term for superheroes and villains, have been present for thousands of years, but have not been as visible until the second half of the twentieth century. The public prominence of a few key figures during World War II and the events of the Sovereign War in the 1960s (the first of two alien invasion attempts on the planet) have made them a much more obvious and well-known factor in society. The first decade of the 21st century has seen an upswing in negative sentiment towards Deviants due to several high profile cases of villainous aspirations threatening humanity on a global scale. These high profile incidents, notably the Freedom War and the Rise of Omega, came swiftly on the heels of one another and led to an outpouring of concern by normal humans about the need for controls to be placed on Deviant activity. In 2013, Tensions remain at a near breaking point, and at the instant of Thresher's arrival in the Carvaka setting, this has led to the culmination of the Omega Rising crisis with the use of a doomsday weapon to ensure the demigod's death. The aftershocks of this event, known collectively as “The Genocide Wave” have left a damaged and half-ruined world bereft of its heroes, all people with superhuman powers having disappeared from the world, lost in time and space for three months before part of them return to find humanity less than pleased to have them back, fearful that the wars between hero and villain will resume.
Historically, one of the major shifts of the Deviant Universe is the relative lack of a Cold War in the 1950s. The Sovereign War largely shattered the back of any Communist-Capitalist conflict shortly after the Korean War, leading to a perceived need to unite humanity against the outside threat of the Sovereign race. After success, though some conflict remained, it never was greater than small-scale wars that were not used by larger global superpowers as staging grounds for their conflicts. It has led to the latter half of the 20th century being a time of peace and prosperity for humanity, with advancements in technology building in particular in computing, communication and robotics in some sectors, along with a limited control over pollutants and construction efficiency leading to a lower stress on the global environment.
Deviants represent roughly .001% of the global population at most, and the Earth's population is approximately 4 billion in number, the catastrophes of Omega's Rise and the Sovereign War being devastating to the human species in particular. Rebuilding efforts have been underway after the Rise of Omega in the last two years, but humanity still reels. Most individual national and cultural identities that predate World War II continue to exist, and only a rare Deviant ever involves themselves in the political process directly, so the nations that one sees on the map are generally present and reflect a post-Berlin War collapse environment, though without quite as much animosity between former Soviet satellite states. Deviant activity tends to be relegated, due to practical realities, to the outskirts of major metropolitan areas. While humanity is aware of alien species and has encountered two separate invading forces (Psi-Void and the Sovereign Race), they have only sporadic contact and most alien species maintain diplomatic enclaves on New Zealand, frequently as refugees.
The source of “Deviation” varies heavily. Some are born with genetic mutations that cause a person to display superhuman capacities or unusual properties. Others are the result of super-science at work in secret laboratories. A few rare individuals are either of extraterrestrial origin or show powers derived from magic or the influence of various old pagan gods who still influence the world around them. The variety of their capacities, natures and personalities can vary extensively, as much as the choices that they make with those powers.
Main Story Arcs of the Deviant Universe
-2011: "The Rebirth of the Thunder Force and the Threat of Psi-Void"
-An Agent Possessed: During the spring of 2011, well known government agent, 42X, was captured by the Shadow Society, brainwashed and sent to assassinate the President of the United States. Ultimately, after an effort of multiple Deviants working in congress, he was captured by the famed "Mythic," and brought in for detoxification. This incident drew Deviants once more into the public eye.
-Maximum Destruction: The second attempted interstellar invasion of Earth was conducted during the summer of 2011 by the galactic overlord Psi-Void. Earth, having been assaulted decades prior by one of Psi-Void's rival entities, the Sovereign, was now a potential source of additional resources for his dying race. Desiring to convert the planet to one more hospitable to his people and enslave its population, he first sent his robotic Cy-Droids to capture what he presumed were the greatest threat, superhuman deviants. The effort backfired, as heroes and villains teamed up once on board his orbiting space platform and attacked. In the conflagration, Psi-Void was apparently killed (The energy being instead possessing and taking over the body of his lieutenant Zaggot) and the world-renowned hero Great Man perished aiding in his defeat. The possessed Zaggot pronounced peace with earth and departed, licking his wounds and plotting elaborate revenge.
-Reformation of the Thunder Force: In the aftermath of Psi-Void's attack, the United Nations acted on the prompting and funding of the US and security council, establishing a global defense force of Deviants known as the Thunder Force. This force, comprised of an active body led by Agent 42X and with auxiliaries around the globe, was intended to be a public defender unit under government oversight without official national allegiance and represent the best and brightest of humanity. It's original founding members were Wildman, Agent 42X, Cross, Pixel, Vicky Velocity, Fisticuff, Wireless, and the Empty Suit.
Although not widely spoken about, this Thunder Force was, in fact, the second iteration of the original team, once led by the hero known as Vektor, now living out his earthly life in his civilian guise: American President Robert Hatfield.
-2012: "The Freedom War and Rise of the Dark Legion"
-Rise of the Dark Legion: Even as the Thunder Force met its early challenges, incarcerating various would-be super villains, their number ultimately met the challenge with a team of its own. Loosely organized and led initially by an enigmatic agent known as "The Hive," the Dark Legion broke several key antagonists out of prison and disappeared into the woodwork, inserting agents into the US-based RAPTOR organization and the ancillary bureaucracy of the Thunder Force, attempting to bring them down from within or corrupt them towards their own ends.
-The Freedom War: During the Summer of 2012, heroes and villains around the globe were plagued by a vision of a world, corrupted and destroyed as the heroic computer program given life and a body of electrical current Pixel was turned against humanity and Deviants. That world, known to some as 'the Pixelocalypse' was a potential version of their world, one that they had a chance to try and stop from happening. In the wake of the vision, Pixel's programming was briefly corrupted and he went rogue, killing countless civilians in a small, sleepy American town. While heroes sought to capture copies of his programming running amok, RAPTOR mobilized and demanded that Deviants around the world be registered under their banner. The movement, spearheaded by the Hive, posing as RAPTOR Supervisor Lloyd, caused a rift in the superhuman community between the Freedom Force (those who actively opposed registration) and the Thunder Force (who were enlisted to aid RAPTOR). The confrontation became a hotbed of controversy when the world-traveling hero Vigil emerged to warn that the results of the conflict imperiled everyone and that RAPTOR needed to be stopped to avoid the apocalypse seen earlier that summer. Banding together, the two forces confronted each other once and for all, the Hive's plot being revealed in the midst of the battle. Pixel, enraged at being manipulated by the Hive, slew him in cold blood and turned himself over for guardianship until it could be certain he was safe once more. Though the conflict ended, much of the public's confidence in the Thunder Force was shattered, and its membership shifted heavily to reflect changes in idealogy.
Current Thunder Force Roster: The Mighty American (Leader), Wildman, Cross, Miss July, Tsunami, Arrow-Kill, Animal Boy and Thunderhead.
-Otherworld: Though RAPTOR had been disparaged, its principle head Christina Rogers made every effort to maintain a clean ship. During this time, a plea came from another reality still, verifying that many alternate futures existed. This world, dubbed "Otherworld," was plagued by villains and in need of some help, any help. Heroes banded together from around the globe to travel together and face the villainous Deathwatch organization. Vigil, once again, interfered, this time warning that too much intervention (or any at all) could destabilize both realities and forcing the heroes to return prematurely. Though Deathwatch was not fully defeated, it had suffered a great blow and the Free States of America had the hope for a future return of peace.
-2013: "Omega Rising"
The barrier of an ancient dimensional prison known as the Abyss is opened through the manipulations of a super-villain named Syndrome with the assistance of several dupes, promised unlimited power in return for opening this prison for him. When opened, it revealed an entry into one of two extra-planar regions commonly referred to as "Hell" by numerous world religions. The being released from bondage was known as Omega, an entity billions of years in age who had the capacity to augment the powers of others who served him. He set upon the Earth to renew his efforts to dominate all life, forcing the collective power of the world's mightiest to face down first his augmented agents and ultimately himself.
While Omega himself was defeated and forced to lick his wounds in Hell once more, a cult remained on Earth, venerating and drawing power from him, forever threatening the well being of all sentient life. On several occasions, Thresher would clash alongside other empowered heroes against these agents, whose exploits frequently did not draw the attention of such organizations as the Thunder Force.
In the aftermath of the Omega Incident, civilization would spend considerable time recovering. Nation-state integrity was badly damaged in many cases and, while a world government was not established, the United Nations and peacekeeping forces like the Thunder Force increasingly came to be relied upon to address potential global threats. Augmented plantlife was found that appeared to be increasing the presence of so-called Deviants on Earth. As various peacekeeping forces sought to bring down freshly augmented heroes, believing it to be another plot of Omega's cult, they were faced with people berserk and drunk on new power.
The need to rebuild peace and stability on Earth called for a renewed recruitment for the Thunder Force. This recruitment drive would see a rise of Three teams in the Thunder Force's Roster. Though this plan would work for a time, the roster would change several times over the course of the years as global needs shifted. At no point did Thresher ever take an interest in joining or applying to the Thunder Force. While willing to aid others, she had no interest in being visible at the forefront of international conflicts, and left that to the "Big Leaguers."
-2014-2015: "Heroes United," "The Cult of Omega" and "The Genocide Wave"
While the Thunder Force convened, the collective forces of three super-villainous organizations would remain persistent thorns in the side of efforts to recover from the aftermath of Omega's escape. The Cult of Omega, the galactic overlord Psi-Void's return and the criminal organization ARES and its allies in the Dark Legion each sought out their own efforts to conquer the world, to subjugate a reeling human populace while they endeavored to rebuild. Despite the advances and assistance of deviants/meta-humans throughout the planet, these dangers posed a constant risk for the people of Earth.
The Cult of Omega, in particular to the story of Thresher, sought to find fellow empowered individuals and bring them to locations where Omega's influence could still be felt, where they could be indoctrinated and empowered. They sought vengeance against the people who had brought their lord and master low and waged a campaign of terror and murder that required regular purges. Always in the background of the organization were those meta-humans who were complicit, empowered and bolstered by Omega. Some of the lesser gods of Olympus were temporarily swayed by the deceptive powers, including Poseidon's own nereid wife and Pan, who yearned for vengeance for an ancient slight by Apollo. Agents of the Cult of Omega like these rarely remained long with the organization, its constant internal bickering and the demands of Omega himself being too much for them, and most sought some level of penance after they were brought down and came to their senses.
The god of wine, Dionysus, for his part promoted the activities of the Cult for his own personal amusement. Not only the god of wine, he was also the god of madness and he saw the insanity that they bred in their wake as intensely entertaining. He ever refused Omega's gifts, but he was all too willing to seduce agents and foils to join their order for the benefits, and perfectly happy to throw them at Thresher just to watch her writhe and vent her rage, always remaining just plausibly deniable enough that she could never truly lash out at he or Pan more than a little.
As all of these battles were waged, reality buckled. Dimensional prisons had been opened. Psi-Void sought power of maddening heights, regardless of the cost. Strange and horrific entities vied to release their ancient masters. It was too much of a strain on reality, and those who presided over that existence became increasingly unable to maintain the stability of their metaverse. As the strings of reality frayed, waves of energy raced across the earth on an annual basis. Dubbed "The Genocide Wave," these energies caused people to disappear in the fall of every year, and were seen as a sign of great instability in existence, a sign of an illness that threatened existence itself.
-2016-2017: "Otherworld" & "Nexus Sigma"
The fraying of reality hit a fever pitch as portals began to open up to alternate versions of reality. Threats from these alternate Earths started to make appearances in Tess's reality, but the worst of the lot was a reality known to the people of her timeline as "Otherworld." Dominated by super-powered villains who maintained a global syndicate known as Deathwatch, they initially clashed in prior years with the heroes of the primary timeline, only to enter Tess's world in an effort to conquer and claim multiple alternate realities, led by the insane manipulator of time and space, from whom her organization took its name.
Deathwatch's rage would ultimately be brought low by countless heroes, but the losses on both sides of the conflict were significant. The Thunder Force underwent restructuring due to losses and betrayals in its own ranks, a splinter faction breaking off over accusations of corruption and collusion in the ranks and sparking an ongoing conflict that threatened to divert their resources at a critical time, hunting after former teammates. The world needed heroes, and in this moment they were faced with a reality that was threatening to come apart at the seams.
The Genocide Wave of 2017 was phenomenally larger than any previously recorded. Countless people were simply warped away from reality into other worlds as the entity that maintained the balance of realities, Sigma, showed signs of being frayed and weakened. Normally a nigh omnipotent power, capable of keeping multiple threads and strings of causality under control, she was weakened enough in the midst of this that the shockwaves dragged whole hordes of heros into strange and surreal versions of their reality at its very fringes before they managed to fight their way back, to rescue her from a relatively minor villain, Cape Caro, who managed to briefly supplant her power. Though he was ultimately defeated and her power restored, not all of the heroes immediately returned to their Earth, and the obvious weakness of the fabric of existence was plain for all to see, allowing the true power-houses among villains to eye Sigma's power with envy and greed.
Meanwhile, Tess herself was lost, awash in the genocide wave, drawn to far-flung worlds and unsure of where she would land...
