Mutants & Masterminds: The Indigo Children - The Event (setting info.)

[jameson (ST)]

A note to TMNT players, this information is largely the same though some corrections, expansions, and alterations have been made.

Mysterious Explosion Rocks New York Sky - March 7th, 1990

AP - The sky above New York City was rocked by an explosion yesterday at noon. Authorities have yet to determine the source of the explosion but have stated that no damage or injuries were reported. Eyewitnesses say that the explosion seemed to come from nowhere. The FAA insists that there was no air traffic in the vicinity at the time of the explosion. Government spokesman speaking of the explosion said, "Right now the best theory that we have is that this Event was merely a micro meteor that exploded above the city. There is nothing to be afraid of and no reason to worry that this was an attack of any kind." Meanwhile conspiracy theorists are already citing a cover up by the government, claiming the explosion was the result of a new weapon system ....

Animals Dying by the Thousands - March 14th, 1990

AP - Health officials have been left stumped by a recent wave of animal deaths in the New York City area. Less than two weeks after the mysterious explosion now known as "The Event" officials estimate that 90% of all animals in the Event zone have died. The Centers for Disease Control report that the pathology appears to be acute traumatic organ failure brought on by some kind of genetic disease similar to an aggressive cancer. No evidence shows that there is any danger to humans. Scientists theorize that whatever the pathogen or pathogens may be might be unable to overcome the human immune system. Speculation as to a link to the Event has been rampant. A recent poll showed that over 80% of the populace believe that the event was a weapons test that spread some sort of contagion into the atmosphere above New York City...

Aftermath of Event Still Being Felt - September 10, 1990

AP - In the wake of the mysterious explosion known simply as The Event nearly 100% of all animals within the purported blast area have died. From rare and endangered zoo animals to beloved family pets the only survivors have been pregnant mammalian females, fertilized avian and reptilian eggs, and the Central Park Zoo's orangutans and gorillas. Nearly six months later though the mysterious health effects of the Event have continued. As these fertilized eggs and expecting mothers have given birth to deformed and often stillborn young. Health officials at the CDC insist that there is no danger to humans though they admit that they have yet to identify the source of the genetic damage that has been the cause of these deaths. "The expectation is that nearly 100% of births are going to be stillborn or so horribly damaged genetically that they will not survive long after birth. It's still a bit of a mystery." So says, the director of Event studies in the newly formed Event Research Bureau....

Retrospective: Fifteen Years After The Event - published in the New York Times, March 6th, 2005

On March 6th, 1990 the world changed just a little bit. The Event, an explosion that to this day has not been satisfactorily explained, occurred in the sky above New York City. Within weeks nearly every animal in the area had died from horrible genetic disease. Within months the survivors, pregnant females all of them, had died giving birth to largely malformed and mutated offspring. Fifteen years later nobody has an explanation for what happened. Why is it that humans seem immune to the malady that struck every other mammal, bird, and reptile in range? That question seems to be no longer as applicable as recent data have show a steady increase in cancers of all types in that segment of the population that was living in the area at the time of the Event.

Beyond the scope of health concerns and the mystery of what happened, how it happened, and why it happened however are the changes that cannot be directly tied to the Event. Crime in New York has risen steadily over the past fifteen years even as the population of the city decreases. Some say that like the butterfly in Japan whose fluttering wings cause a hurricane in the Atlantic the Event was merely the catalyst for greater change. Immediately after the effects of the Event began to show in the animal population people began to move from the city. They were afraid that there was a contagion, something they could flee from, though none of the literally hundreds of studies have been able to show any evidence of anything of the sort. As people left so too did many businesses, moving with their work force as a simple survival mechanism. As a result less taxes were able to fund fewer police which resulted in both gang and organized crime resurrecting in this once proud city.

Sharp Rise in Cancer Rates Leave Expert Baffled - January 20, 2009

The CDC today revealed results of ongoing public health information that shows a steep increase in the incidence of cancer within the New York City and northern New Jersey area. Rates of cancer in humans of all ages groups is up nearly 300%. Experts are baffled by the unilateral increase in cancer rates which do not seem to be limited to specific forms of cancer, or age groups. A connection to the still mysterious Event of 1990 seems likely given research published by Dr. Kondo and Murphy in the New England Journal of medicine in 2004. Five years later the increase seems to be increasing but with the exodus of the population of the city these numbers become increasingly difficult to track and study. New York City Mayor Bloomberg announced, at a press conference today in response to the report, the creation of a special task force to sample air, water, and local flora and fauna in an attempt to discern the cause.

Man Found Mauled in East Harlem - February 3, 2009

A local man identified as Lewis Snully was found mauled in an alley near his East Harlem apartment. Police are investigating and believe that a new gang has started up in the area and us using trained attack dogs to carry out its violence. Citing Mr. Snully's death as the twelfth such crime in the past two months police detective Albert Giodorni said, "The savagery of these attacks is sickening, even by the standards of the gang violence this city has seen of late. We implore anybody who has seen or heard one of these crimes, or has any other knowledge which could be of use in this investigation to come forward."

Explosion in upper east side warehouse kills two - June 13, 2009

Two security guards were killed last evening when the warehouse they were protecting exploded. Police say that they have no leads on the probable cause of the explosion but do believe that it is connected to the string of similar incidents around the city.

Mysterious animal epidemic continues - July 11, 2009

New York City Animal Control working with the Centers for Disease Control have reported that there appears to be no bacterial or viral link between the mysterious mass animal deaths in the city over the past two months. Sources in City Hall have confirmed that the EPA is being called in to determine if there is a chemical contaminant responsible and what, if any, impact there may be on the residents of the city.

[jameson (ST)]

Boy Saves Mother from Wrecked Car - January 27, 2000

AP - In what is being called a miracle by some and a event beyond understanding by others nine year old James Muldoon freed himself and his mother from their wrecked minivan today after an accident on the Cross-Bronx Parkway. Icy morning conditions combined with high speed caused thirty year old Elizabeth Muldoon to lose control of her vehicle after passing over a section of iced roadway. The vehicle struck the guard rail and flipped off the highway on its roof. According to eyewitness reports the child tore his way out of the back seat of the vehicle and then pulled the driver's side door off before pulling his unconscious mother from the wreck. Elizabeth Muldoon is listed in stable condition at Memorial Heart Hospital, her son had no injuries beyond minor abrasions and bruises. Authorities are citing an adrenal surge as the explanation for the astonishing events....

[jameson (ST)]

The Indigo Network

The Indigo Network is a sort of social network and bulletin board system that can only be accesses by the children changed by the Event. Created roughly three years ago in the summer of 2007, the site exists outside of the internet accessible only through a proprietary software created by Gigaflop the site's founder and creator. Gigaflop refers to himself and the other's empowered by the Event as Indigo Children. He contacts them via secure email after locating them with the help of another Indigo known as Dreamtime.

Through the Network the Indigo Children are able to communicate with others like them, discuss their abilities, and share information about the mysterious Event that seems to have spawned them. Those willing have even arranged to meet other member face to face in the real world forming relationships based on the secrets that they hide from the world at large.

[jameson (ST)]

Mystery Man Stops Armed Bank Robbers - August 3, 2009

AP - In a story right out of a comic book a man dressed in a red, white, and blue outfit with his face concealed behind a mask singlehandedly broke up the attempted armed robbery of the Manhattan First Bank on 7th Avenue.

Five gunmen wearing gang colors and wielding shotguns and assault rifles stormed into the Manhattan First Bank branch on 7th Avenue at just after 1 pm yesterday demanding cash from the bank's tellers and cash and valuables from the customers present. According to eyewitness reports as they were filling bags with money and jewelry a man dressed in what can be best described as a red, white, and blue superhero's outfit, complete with mask, entered the bank's lobby and proceeded to beat the criminals into submission. By all accounts the man appeared to shrug off multiple gunshots as he systematically disarmed and subdued the gunmen. As soon as the five men were under control of bank security the man departed the lobby without further incident.

Police are decrying the vigilante's methods even as they praise his actions in stopping the robbery and protecting those inside. Chief of Police Haggarty said that the masked man was likely wearing body armor beneath the suit to protect himself from gunfire and may have been under the influence of meth-amphetamines or cocaine...

[jameson (ST)]

Themes & Thematic Inspiration:

I'm aiming for something approaching The 4400 and the good parts of Heroes. The character have powers in a world that doesn't; some want to use them for the greater good, some for their own ends, and some want to be left alone. Gigaflop and Dreamtime are using their abilities to help Indigos while Apex has gone nearly fully public with his powers as a hero. Among all of this the PCs need to find their own way. Some may put on tights and try to emulate Apex, others may not. Add to this the search for the truth of the Event (if it can be known), and the investigation of the various Indigo related events within the city while evading a mysterious organization with unknown goals.

Themes: Mystery and discovery, the responsibility of power, protection of one's self and family, etc

Tone: Again aiming for a semi-"real" tone a la The 4400. This will be largely devoid of a "comic book" feel overall. NPCs like Apex and possibly some of the PCs may prove exceptions to the rule but should (and will) be played "straight".

[jameson (ST)]

The Event

A.k.a.: 3690, The New York Explosion, The Incident, The Manhattan Event, etc

March 6, 1990, 12:00 p.m. Over the center of New York high in the sky something explodes. There is no lead up to this explosion that is ever identified; no plume of rocket exhaust, no contrails in the sky in the wake of a plane, no trail from the heavens indicating a meteor. In the end the FAA and NASA said that the explosion was the result of an air burst meteor. The Event was given any number of appellations but eventually it would become known only as "The Event", anything more specific wasn't required, there was simply no need to specify.

Whatever the cause, the explosion would eventually be tied to the mass die-off of all animal life in New York City within a five mile radius of the explosion's center. Though the CDC and WHO insisted that there was no danger to humans within the area public fear led to an initial exodus from NYC that the city never recovered from. The city's slow decline began then and continued through the present in the wake of increased cancer rates linked to the Event in 2004.

Though officially declared a natural phenomenon speculation on the true cause of the event began almost immediately and continues to this day. Conspiracy theorists claim a wide range of causes from government weapons testing, and private sector illegal pesticide testing, to extraterrestrials attempting to make contact. Other more practical individuals state that regardless of whatever unknown trigger caused it, the Event's purpose and legacy are yet to be truly revealed.

The Indigo Children

Members of the Indigo Network have linked their unusual powers to the Event definitively. None of the Indigos have been shown to have birth-dates prior to the Event; that is prior to March 6, 1990, at 12:00pm. Thus far the oldest of the Indigos known, who goes by the handle "Sparky" on the Network, was born at 1:22pm on March 6th. The youngest was born December 29th on the same year and was delivered later than expectation (the typical nine month pregnancy is just that, typical). Members of the Network have identified that, through careful and often uncomfortable investigation, that none of them were conceived after the event itself resulting the obvious conclusion that the Event had some effect on unborn children that resulted in their unique powers.

Indigo children are normal as any other child until they begin puberty at which point their super-human development begins. Indigo abilities develop slowly with physical traits, such as enhanced strength, intelligence, speed, shape shifting, and others, being the first to show at the onset of puberty between the ages of ten and eleven. Later at thirteen to fourteen the first traces of energetic manipulation, including telekinesis, pyrokinetic abilities, and other, begin to show themselves. The last abilities to develop, and often the fastest to do so, are the extra-mental abilities such as ESP, telepathy, empathy and others. With the exception of extra-mental ability, which tend to spontaneously manifest, Indigos unilaterally report that their abilities developed slowly, incrementally, such that Indigos often do not realize they are different right away.

Regardless of their Indigo abilities all Indigo Children are physically indistinguishable from normal human beings unless they are using their powers. Depending on the Indigo's power theme some may skate the edge of human norm in appearance (ex. Waif is reportedly only 89 pounds, Apex has the physique of a pro-bodybuilder, and Golem towers over seven feet tall and tops the scales at neartly 600 pounds even when not in stone form).

[jameson (ST)]

The Event Research Bureau (ERB)

The Government loves its alphabet soup and the Event gave enough cause to create a dedicated task force to study the it in depth. The ERB is one of the smallest of the various government agencies and has survived the past twenty years at times only by the tenacity of Director Raphael Donatello. Comprised of some thirty agents with a single field office in Manhattan the ERB track down every last bit of evidence they can locate that could relate to the Event. Video tapes, samples of tissue and blood from people and animals within the area, water and soil samples, even entire frozen carcasses of some of the animal victims of the Event.

After twenty years what does the ERB have to show for itself? Well, they know what the Event wasn't. The scientists and investigators at the ERB have debunked every theory to crop up that wasn't the party line of "micro air burst meteorite". The real question then is why? If the government is sure they have their answer why keep funneling money into a tiny bureau that appears to do nothing but confirm a known "fact" and debunk all other theories?

The answer that Director Donatello gives, and which seems to be enough for the Senate Oversight Committee, is that there is plenty of evidence to suggest that there are long term health effects from the Event, and that the ERB leads the way in researching the cause of those effects. After nearly twenty years they are apparently no closer to an answer than anybody else. The current best theory is an unknown radiation burst or possibly an unstable carcinogenic compound. Either way the result of hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars is inconclusive at best.

[jameson (ST)]

The Next Apex? - April 25, 2010 - New York Times

Staff - Late last night the scene of a horrible car crash turned into the apparent coming out even of the city's newest super powered citizen. Dressed it what appeared to be a white unitard with black piping, black boots, and a black domino mask the man tore the doors off of one car to allow emergency workers access to the critically injured driver and passenger. The mystery man then removed the roof of the second vehicle before flying off into the night. Bystanders claim that there was no sign of how the man performed these feats though some have claimed telekinesis or magnetic powers.

[jameson (ST)]

April 30, 2010, ~9 pm

KCBS 2 News Anchor: This just in. A major power outage along the eastern US seaboard stretching from Boston to Washington DC has been reported. Sources confirm that a massive area, possible as large as two hundred and fifty miles radius has lost power and communications...

KNBC 4 News Anchor: ... unable to reach the State Department for comment...

KABC-TV 7 News Anchor: ... possible terrorist attack. Experts are saying that this kind of widespread sudden power loss and communications blackout could be the result of an Electromagnetic Pulse, possibly in conjunction with, or as a side effect of, the detonation of an atomic weapon or weapons...

[jameson (ST)]

Blackout hits Eastern US - May 1, 2010 - Los Angeles Times

Yesterday evening at approximately 8:52 pm Eastern Standard Time the US Eastern seaboard was struck with a sudden, and thus far unexplained, total blackout. The effect appears to have been centered on New York City with a radius of nearly 250 miles. Federal disaster relief efforts along with those of state and local authorities have been hampered by the power an communications disruption. Current reports are that power grids were not damaged and that primary power and telecom has been restored to roughly 75% of the affected area...

Possible Terrorist Attack to Blame for Worst Blackout in US History - May 2, 2010 - The Seattle Sunday Times

... Department of Homeland Security has raised the overall threat level to Red in their first communication since the abrupt power and communications blackout of Friday evening. Declaring the worst blackout in US history to be the likely work of "Terrorists with resources and organization far exceeding any previously known organization" the director of Homeland Security has asked for any an all information possessed by the public that may lead to the "determination of the means and identity of those involved"...

[jameson (ST)]

Homeland Security Inundated With Reports of Superhumans - May 4, 2010 - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

In the wake of the Pulse that blacked out nearly half of the Eastern seaboard the Department of Homeland Security called for citizens to report any possible information that may lead to the "determination of the means and identity of those involved". As a result DHS call centers, only recently reopened with the renewal of communications in Washington DC, have been flooded with calls reporting supposed superhumans and superheroic activity in Washington, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and other cities affected by the Pulse. Accounts detail people of varying description and ethnicity performing dramatic rescues using a multitude of abilities previously only seen in the pages of comic books....