Timeframe for Jupiter's Children
Many of the theme files mention that the Jupiter Ignition occured 'around 20 years ago'. But what does that mean for the setting?
The Jupiter Ignition occurred in 1997. Up until 1997 the game world and the real world were the same for practical purposes. The game setting, however, is 20 years past that, in 2017. Some of the major political elements that occurred in the real world between 1997 and present day have been kept, though their reasons and the background behind them have changed dramatically.
When Jupiter ignited, the world was swept by chaos. But it was a chaos that resided mostly in high places with the waves occurring in the low places. As time progressed after the Ignition, people settled down. The masses, that is, since they still had the same daily struggle for survival. Religions took a kick in the pants, but so did politics and science. In the struggle to find answers and make sense of things, some pretty dramatic events happened. The UN actually reached near 100% agreement. At the same time, the world was on the brink of war. Nearly every Third World country was in the throws of some sort of revolution, coupe, collapse, or uprising... sometimes all at once. Plenty of people took advantage of the confusion and uncertainty to promote their own plans and ideals. Alliances shifted and flowed, treaties were signed and discarded, new countries formed, dissolved, returned to their original state, or rose again... sometimes in the period of days.
But as time wore on and Jupiter just sat there all bright and shiny without giving any answers... the people in power calmed down. Mostly. There were quite a few new faces and many ambassadors found themselves representing unfamiliar governments. Within a couple years, things were, while still very shaky, at least not likely to explode. A lot of figures that lead primarily through charisma either vanished or turned into icons.
And through it all, the average Joe just tried to get through the day.
And then came the revelation that there were people in the world that were not so average after all. Sure, there'd been tales and rumors ever since the Ignition, but most people didn't take them seriously. The stories were considered on par with alien abduction, UFOs, witches and monsters under the bed. But during those years, evidence kept mounting. The scientists that were scoffed were now being listened to. And the media was catching more and more of these 'superhumans' in live coverage for everyone to see. Which was probably the proving point for most: If it is on the news, it must be real.
So, just after things were starting to get settled (if still a quiver like a bowl of gelatin) another wave of strangeness rolled through the world like a kid dropping a bag of marbles in a fish pond. It didn't help when so many figures that rose to power revealed that they were these 'better than human' types. It also didn't help when they came into conflict more and more often.
But the media loved it.
Soon these super-powered people, great and small, were called 'metahumans'. They had abilities that ranged across imagination. Most, to be truthful, couldn't accomplish more than a person with money, influence, or technical power could Others were extremely powerful, easily able to style themselves as dictators... or deities.
Understandably, those in power by pure politics alone did not take too kindly to the show of physical power presented by many metas. Tensions rose once again... When it became known that children were displaying metahuman abilities as well as people that seemed normal before, things snapped. Again, there was a world panic at the upper echelons of government.
Which resulted in the Metahuman Registration Act.
The Act was made in a time of panic, a time of uncertainty, when those in power feared they would be toppled at any moment (and had plenty of examples of just that). As a result, the Act doesn't make the best of legal sense. It became a force of its own with the full weight of fearful politicians behind it. And to tell the truth, the actions of the DMHA probably saved American government, much less the governments of many other countries that adopted the same guidelines.
It's more than ten years after the institution of the DMHA and the world hasn't fallen apart. It's rather frayed at the edges, with torn parts and is rather shabby on the whole, but still pretty much in once piece.
Metahumans have become the icons of the media, with their exploits often covering up the real issues... Issues that the average person just doesn't want to think about.
NewsTheme -- NewTopic
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