The PCs have chosen for an Iron-Age feel to this game.

So, I've been glancing through the Emerald City book and there's a lot in there that actually syncs up nicely with the game-setting that I've been using and has evolved over the past several forays.

So..  Here's some ongoing notes.  As I consider stuff, I'll add it in here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:02, Wed 22 Apr 2020.

Freedom City & Emerald City
Freedom City does not exist in this world.   Most American metahuman activity is centered around New York City, instead.  Emerald City was, until five years ago, comparatively quiet.


Rise of Metahumans
There have always been costumed adventurers and vigilantes.  Recorded history is full of accounts of these individuals.   But it wasn't until WWII where they really came to stand out.  Many conscripted into military service.


Project Starfish
Project Starfish was the name of a private scientific effort to cure cancer.

Funded by billionaire industrialist Sebastian Swift in an attempt to save his daughter, Project Starfish bankrolled an enormous research project attempting to reproduce the regenerative effects of some echinoderms.

The scientist leading the research effort, Doctor Alexandra Harding, became "infected" with microbes from an extra-dimensional (possibly extra-solar) origin.  These turned out to be sentient and pan-dimensional.  Not only did they heal the cancer, they endowed Doctor Harding with extra-ordinary powers.   Unfortunately, her talking to the "colonists" within her led her to being put under psychiatric observation, and she was unable to prevent the subsequent infection of several dozen volunteers for the radical last-ditch cancer treatment.

Twenty-two of the 120 volunteers survived.  But every one of them showed complete remission and, surprisingly, evidence of metahuman powers.


Clandestine War
In an altered psychological state, Doctor Harding revealed her new abilities, thus setting off a multi-national hunt.  Not just for the cure to cancer but the key to unlock metahuman abilities.

Swift moved his volunteer-patients to several remote locations around the world, to both safeguard them and prevent them from being taken into custody and used as guinea-pigs.


Project AEGIS
In late 2014, Sebastian Swift joined with AEGIS (American Elite Government Intervention Services) the federal arm of the Justice department tasked with overseeing and responding to superhuman threats.  Swift positioned his former patients (those who volunteered to join Project AEGIS) to form a metahuman group answerable to the United Nations.  The group still has it's base on Governor's Island in New York City.

A year later, the United Nations passes the Barcelona Accords, declaring that metahumans are human beings and retain all the rights and responsibilities of such.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:05, Sun 08 Mar 2020.

The Silver Storm
The Silver Storm happened about five years ago.  It was result of two metahumans (Earth-Mover and Cascade) fighting in Emerald City.  Neither meta has been seen since.  Both are believed to have been destroyed in the resulting blast.  Since then, the emergence of metahumans in and around Emerald City have shot up dramatically.


Project Elysium
Doctors Alexandra Harding, William Mazarin and Nahid Rashoud incorporated Project Elysium to study the evolution and growth of metahumans.  Elysium's stated goals are to study the metahuman condition and seek to use metahumans to better the quality of life on earth for all its' inhabitants.

StormFront
Originally an illegal underground fighting ring, An expose by Eddie Pollard of the Emerald City Courier-Express brought it's existence to light.   While he expected to highlight the brutality of it, owner Dwayne Ragner spun the media coverage into a contract with the XFC (Ezxtreme Fighting Championship), and now boasts an international broadcast audience.

AEGIS EC
AEGIS exists in Emerald City, though it hasn't had a stellar record until recently, when a new director, Calpurnia Maddox took the reigns.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:06, Sun 08 Mar 2020.

Cascadia
The past winter has seen unprecedentred storms and earthquakes threatening the entire pacific rim.  Untold damage was inflicted by winds and rain.  At the center of the tempest was a new island, risen from the depths.

Approximately 2900 km north of Hawaii and 2400 km west of Emerald City.  The small island  extends for approximately 13 kilometers and boasts a large lake at it's center.  No ship or airplane has been able to approach within 150 km of the island's area, though satellite photography shows what appears to be intense growth of flora across the risen land.


Aberrants
"Aberrant" is a term used by an anonymous commentator on an internet post regarding the appearance of a newly erupted metahuman.  Former talk-show host Guiseppe Bennatti was an unfortunate victim of the Silver Storm.   While getting into a heated argument with a domestic-abuse perpatrator on live television, Bennati suffered a grand mal seizure which sent him reeling to the floor.   Before paramedics could get to him, his very skin turned translucent, revealing his internal organs.

Not all metahumans look or feel like they belong.  The "Aberrant Manifesto" puts forth the idea that Metahumans are not human, but are the next step in evolution.  Therefore, the laws, conventions and morality of humans does not apply to them.    The Aberrants goal is to liberate metahumans worldwide and to illuminate their full potential... by whatever means necessary.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:19, Tue 04 Feb 2020.

"Unmasked"
Unmasked is a reality television show that attempting to ferret out the "secret identities" of various metahumans.   It has since evolved into something more of a celebrity fan show, after a couple of notable masked metas unveiled themselves on public television.   "Unmasked" presented it as a three-part miniseries inviting viewers to register their guesses as to the identity of the masked people.  Viewership engagement soared beyond anything seen previously, and "Unmasked" became further dedicated to the life and times of the modern metas.

Votrenom
Votrenom is the leading agency for brand development.  They act as PR and marketing agents to "sculpt" your new persona, the metahuman identity that the world will come to know.   It is not the only such agency out there, but it is the best known.   Votrenom has a branch office in Emerald City  and you may have contracted their services to secure endorsement deals, public appearances, or to develop your public persona.

Operational Classifications

Ultraviolet - Critical Response, Natural Disasters
Red         - Emergency Response
Orange      - Security & Assessment (specific threats identified)
Yellow      - Security & Assessment (no specific threat identified)
Green       - Public Relations
Blue        - Infrastructure & Humanitarian efforts
Indigo      - Metahuman Identification & Assessment
Violet      -
White       -

The following codes are not publicly acknowledged to exist.
Black       - Lethal force authorized
Infrared    - Clandestine Operations

You will hear the term "Sanction Black" very rarely.  it's basically a kill-order.  This target is out of control and is too much of a threat.    An non-lethal option is that, if the target could be captured and neutralized, they could be remanded to the Rashoud facility in Bahrain...  basically a metahuman Supermax cold-sleep facility...

This is also, in part, for (way way-) backward compatibility with one of my original M&M games "Sanction Infrared" (which was all about metahuman spies.  Back in the Aberrant days, two decades ago.