by C. C. Ekeke
The Cassel Scale: Dr. Johannes Cassel’s classification for superhumans is used by the OSA, the Cassel Scale categorized how powerful or potentially powerful any super can be.
Class 1 - A super who looks no different from any other human being, and whose powers are pretty effective in combat. Likewise, they have no limitation placed on them as a result of their abilities.
Class 2 – just like Class 1’s, but with a catch. While at first glance they can pass for a human being, careful scrutiny reveals they have some strange trait that sets them apart, like an eye color that doesn't generally appear in humans. A Class 2 super has some limitation imposed on them because of their power.
Class 3 – Like Class 1’s and 2’s, Class 3 supers are handy in combat situations. But as a result of their genetics, they cannot pass for human without the use of a disguise of some sort.
Class 4 – Supers with neither a non-combative power or no real powers at all. Some of them are like Class 2 supers where they cannot hide what they are.
Class 5 – A super whose power levels make them serious threats, capable of wide-scale destruction and proving very difficult to take down, contain or kill.
Class 6 – These supers are rare and wield potentially limitless power at their disposal.
Omega Class – Beyond Class 6. These supers are rumored to exist, but none of have been encountered. Supers are potentially godlike in power and could break the world.
Cayucos, California: Cayucos is a beachside suburb in San Miguel. Its high school, Cayucos High is a rival of Paso Robles High, who dub them as Cay-useless.
Central Coast Plaza: Central Coast Plaza is one of three major malls in San Miguel/SLO County. The mostly outdoor design bears a lot of similarities to Fashion Island in Newport Beach, CA. Given its proximity to wealthy suburbs like Morro Bay and El Marquez, Central Coast Plaza’s stores, restaurants, and shops attract the upper crust of San Miguel.
Chesterfield, Missouri: Chesterfield aka Suburbia, USA is a suburb of St. Louis and where Greyson Hirsch was raised as a child. His mother Dorit Hirsch, lives there still.
Côte Royale: This is the main port for Amarantha and the largest collection of prisons to hold supers to fight in the Gladiator Games of the island’s ruling families.
Creve Coeur, Missouri: Creve Coeur is a suburb of St. Louis and the former home of Greyson Hirsch.
Crownwood Hero Academy: Crownwood is a renowned school for teen supers being trained to become superheroes. They have a close partnership with OWE and other corporations who employ teen superheroes.
Las Cienegas, New Mexico: This suburb of Santa Fe is the home of Max Ochoa and the Ochoa Pack. This city borders the Pueblo Xochitl land and is a hotbed of supernatural activity. But other than town leadership and law enforcement, the general public of Las Cienegas remain blissfully unaware of the supernatural beings residing in their town.
Danger Room: ex-hero Leviathan had opened several clubs in the mid-1990s to be like Planet Hollywood for superhero fans. Regardless, Danger Room in San Miguel is the crown jewel. Built in downtown San Miguel’s Grand Street Row, the massive structure is a half-dome reaching three stories tall, sporting an Art Deco façade with reflective sea-blue windows covering the front. Danger Room’s café is open to the general public for breakfast and lunch while the nightclub is closed off. At night is when the club opens up. Framed costumes and signed posters decorated the walls, along with photos and videos of superheroes in action. Wax replicas of Titan, Lady Liberty, Sentinel, and Geist filled several display cases.
Dourado: Named the Golden City, Dourado is a gorgeous and sprawling work of art between jagged goldenrod mountains, crimson shorelines, and spiraling palaces that sparkle and reach for the heavens. Sunbridge House, Carneiro's palatial home, is a jagged and impenetrable fusion of metal and mountain stone.
East St. Louis, Illinois: East St. Louis is the grittier, more crime-ridden little brother to St. Louis across the Mississippi River. The superhero Hurricane focused his cleanup efforts in that city because of its constant spikes in crime. As his alter ego, he rented out a warehouse in East St. Louis as both a base of operations as his heroic alter-ego and a training hub for any psychiatric patients with superpowers to help them get a hold on their powers.
Five Cities Promenade: This is the main and more affordable mall in San Miguel, located in Arroyo Grande. The name is taken from the Five Cities of the Central Coast: Arroyo Grande, Pismo Beach, Halcyon, Grover Beach, and Oceano, all which make up greater Arroyo Grande.
Genex Laboratories: Genex Laboratories is a top-tier genetics research and experimentation center that’s a subsidiary of Paxton-Brandt. Lauren Gerard worked at its St. Louis location as a researcher.
Harmony Casino: A brand-new gambling hotspot in the northern San Miguel suburb of Harmony. Geist busted up a money laundering operation with help from his ally Blackjack and reporter Quinn Bauer.
HQ: HQ is one of retired hero Leviathan’s many superhero-themed nightclubs. This location in lower Manhattan is one of the hottest clubs and eateries in the Big Apple. Framed costumes and signed posters decorated the walls, along with photos and videos of superheroes in action. Wax replicas of Titan, Lady Liberty, Sentinel, and members of the Protectorate filled several display cases.
The Junction: In the late 1990s, this thirteen-block San Miguel neighborhood was to be a mecca of business and luxury high-rises near downtown. But a combo of bankruptcy, cheating scandals, and embezzlement had destroyed the venture. That left the city with countless unfinished buildings that became magnets for crime and homelessness. Presley and her crew squat in an abandoned loft in the Junction. Geist does a lot of patrolling there.
Lake Nacimiento, CA: This is both a lake and an adjacent minor town in SLO County. Many residents of San Miguel visit the lake for weekend trips to escape the hustle and bustle of life in San Miguel.
El Marquez, California: The wealthiest suburb in San Miguel south of Cayucos and north of Morro Bay, based off a peninsula partially created thanks to the SLO County Earthquake in 1987. When San Miguel was being built on the ruins of San Luis Obispo, resources were put into building out the rest of the peninsula artificially. Now the peninsula has some of the most high-end retail stores and priciest homes in all of SLO County, with prime beaches and its own harbors. Central Coast Plaza, San Miguel’s high-end shopping mall, its located right next to the base of the peninsula.
Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa: This was the fifth California mission founded by Father Junipero Serra, September 1, 1772, named after Saint Louis, Bishop of Toulouse, France.
Mission San Miguel: Mission San Miguel - named for the Archangel Saint Michael - was founded by Franciscan Father Fermin Francisco de Lasuen in 1797, and was meant to close the gap between Mission San Antonio to the north and Mission San Luis Obispo to the south. What many people don’t know is that Mission San Miguel was also built to be a prison for supernatural enemies of the Catholic Church and armory /military station for the church’s able-bodied warriors. On the morning of December 22, 2003, California's Central Coast was rocked by a severe earthquake, the largest to strike the region in over 50 years. Mission San Miguel, just 34 miles from the epicenter, was especially hard-hit and was closed to the public for two years.
Newsworthy.com: The Newsworthy site was founded in San Miguel and is growing in readership. It’s a US and International news site where the readership can suggest stories to the editorial board, leading the reporters to write about the type of breaking news and investigative reporting their audience wants to see.
Nipomo, California: Nipomo is at the southernmost edge of SLO County and at times isn’t even considered a true suburb of San Miguel. The city is known for its ranches, horseback riding, and sand dunes. Its city center became more urban after San Miguel’s emergence and gets a little dangerous after dark. In recent years, a superpowered vigilante named Ballistic has become the city’s defender and has worked to clean up the crime problem.
The Office of Super
human Affairs: The OSA is America’s premiere superhuman surveillance and intelligence agency. Formed in the mid-1970s to deal with the sudden emergence of supers, the OSA has worked with superheroes to monitor supers, hunt them, and if necessary, terminate any that are threats to the general public or national security. The OSA Director position includes a cabinet seat given the importance of the position. Many ethics watchdogs have complained about the shadowy and secretive nature of the OSA’s operations or the more brutal tactics it has used to capture targets. So far, none of this has damaged the agency’s standing. The OSA has an executive office and five major directorates: The Analysis Branch, The Operations Branch (Acquisition Services (AQSES), PsiOps and Superhuman Tactical and Retrieval (SURTR)), The Support Branch, The Science and Technology Branch.
Oldtown San Miguel: Before San Luis Obispo was renamed San Miguel, a village in SLO County existed named San Miguel. Now, it’s referred to as Oldtown San Miguel with a weekly farmer’s market, a kind of hipster vibe in its growing populace, and is the location of Mission San Miguel.
Olympian Worldwide Entertainment: OWE is one of the largest entertainment corporations in the world. The film and TV studio got its humble start in San Miguel in the mid-90s when corporate-sponsored heroes were gaining in popularity. The company’s fortunes skyrocketed once they formed their first corporate sponsored teen team called The Wunderkinds. Even though others like Disney and Mattel had attempted their own teen superhero teams, the Wunderkinds struck gold for OWE in ways that could not be duplicated. By targeting superheroes and people who loved them, the company went from a profitable niche to worldwide success. Unlike many other studios, they resisted buy offers from other major Hollywood studios. They own the Extreme Teens franchise, which is the company’s most profitable franchise, as well as many regional and international teen superhero and/or superhero teams like the Liberteens in Philadelphia and the speedster Velocidad in Mexico City. OWE also owns the Mount Olympus Theme Park in San Miguel as well as theme parks in Georgia, Missouri, and other parts of the world.
Paragon’s Bar: Also known as Paragon’s Pub. This dive bar, named after the disgraced legend Paragon, is located in Southside Atascadero, known to have a massive superhuman population. The bar is superhuman friendly and known to get rowdy. Quinn and Seraph went to the bar to get answers about Titan’s death.
Paso Robles, California: Paso Robles is San Miguel’s largest suburb mainly thanks to the city’s massive amounts of vineyards/wineries and many suburban neighborhoods nearby downtown San Miguel. Paso Robles is the residence of Hugo Malalou and many of his friends who attend Paso Robles High. Lady Liberty is also a resident of Paso under the identity of Betty Ortiz and owns a boutique clothing shop named AOPGS, which secretly serves as a superhero costume shop.
Paso Robles High School: This is the high school that Hugo, Simon, and their friends attend in Paso Robles, CA. The school covers grades 9th – 12th. Its mascot is a Bearcat. Its top sports rivals include Templeton High, Atascadero High, Morro Bay High, Pioneer Valley High, Santa Maria High, and Orcutt Academy in the Central Coast – Ocean League.
Paxton-Brandt: Paxton-Brandt Industries is a global conglomerate that is one of the largest biomedical and pharmaceutical megacorps on the planet. Their mantra is to make the world a better place. They have one of their main headquarters in San Miguel and have various properties all over the city and its many suburbs, including free clinics catered toward supers. Paxton-Brandt is accused of various ethics abuses, corrupt business dealings and more. Paxton-Brandt had been helping the Amaranthine Royals keep their regime afloat as long as they were provided access to superhumans they could test on. But nothing has been able to stick to the company, thanks in part to their subcontractor relationship with the OSA. However, Helena Madden has enlisted Quinn’s help to expose the company’s various crimes.
Pismo Beach, California: A beachside city which was absorbed into the San Miguel suburb Arroyo Grande. Pismo is known for being a gathering spot for Monarchs in the spring.
Rio Luis: This river was created thanks to the 1987 earthquake, cutting a path from the mountains, through downtown San Miguel and to the sea.
San Luis Obispo County: SLO County in California’s Central Coast is the location of San Miguel (formerly the city of San Luis Obispo). SLO County remains one of California’s premiere destinations for wine production. Even after the revival and restoration that founded San Miguel, residents had an attachment to keeping the county name.
San Miguel, California: San Miguel aka “The City of Wonder,” is the largest major metropolis in Central California and one of California’s most populous cities. It’s also a mecca for superhumans and superheroes.
Originally, before 1987, San Luis Obispo was a sleepy town and county seat for SLO County. After a major earthquake leveled most of the county, rebuilding commenced. But instead of just rebuilding San Luis Obispo and other SLO County towns, a consensus of investors and wealthy residents created a major city between Los Angeles and San Francisco. By 1993, San Miguel was born. Since its birth, San Miguel is one of the fastest-growing big cities in America, providing residents a buffet of career choices between farming, wineries, entertainment, financial and more. Countless companies flocked over to San Miguel during its birth. More to the point, San Miguel was crafted in a way similar to LA so many SLO County towns connected and became suburbs to San Miguel to increase city size and gain more US House seats. But like San Fran, San Miguel was built with the future in mind and crafted a fantastic subway and railway foundation, all which paid off when San Miguel created the SMAT railway and the best subway system in the country. And lastly, San Miguel’s superheroes include Titan, Lady Liberty, the Extreme Teens, and at times, the Vanguard.
Another factoid about the City of Wonder is how San Miguel has more superhumans per capita than any other US city, followed by NYC, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Philadelphia.
San Miguel Guardians: Named in honor of the Vanguard, this is San Miguel’s local NFL team.
San Miguel International Airport: SMI is the largest airport in the Central Coast and one of the largest in California. In order for San Miguel to be taken seriously as a major city, the city needed to expand one of their regional airports into SMI.
San Miguel Outlaws: The Outlaws are San Miguel’s local baseball team.
San Miguel Sentinels: Named in honor of the superhero Sentinel, this is San Miguel’s local basketball team.
San Miguel Tribune: The Tribune is the main newspaper of record for San Miguel and SLO County. The newspaper has seen competition over the last few years due to the rise of SLOCO Daily.
Scituate, MA: This seaside town just south of Boston is where Quinn Bauer and her family grew up. Scituate, according to Quinn, is home of the “world’s best clam chowder.”
Seneca International: Seneca Intl is the largest corporate distributor of corporate-sponsored superheroes in the country. They were the creators of the uber-patriotic Stars & Stripes team back in the early 1990s. Their roster includes the team Battalion in Los Angeles and the Americools in Austin, Texas.
Shenandoah, VA: Shenandoah is actually three cities that never fully integrated; a gateway to Shenandoah National Park with kitschy tourist centers on every major street, a Civil War tourist trap, and a neglected metropolis. Gorgeous antebellum-type structures stood beside buildings marred by graffiti and homeless tent cities stretching for blocks around run-down buildings. Shenandoah used to be a growing city in the shadow of Washington DC, coasting off the popularity of hometown hero Paragon. But after Paragon’s dramatic fall from grace, no one wanted anything to do with him or the two he grew up in. Shenandoah suffered economically as many of its Paragon-themed or superhero related businesses shuttered. In a way, it became a cracked mirror image of San Miguel on the west coast.
SLO Coast Daily: SLO Coast Daily (aka SLOCO Daily) is one of the leading news sites in California and direct competitor with the San Miguel Tribune. Seven years ago, SLOCO Daily was a sm
all regional paper that mostly relied on print publishing. Once Helena Madden was brought as Editor-in-Chief and Dave Packer as VP of Ad Sales, the news site was transformed into was a digital powerhouse akin to the Daily Beast. Its editorial department once covered only regional and local news. SLOCO Daily expanded to cover California and US News, including Politics, Entertainment, Travel, Lifestyle & Cultures, International News, Sports, and its most popular section, Superheroes. The news site is now big enough to warrant a Washington Bureau chief.
Steinholt Superhero Academy: Steinholt is the top superhero academy in America, located in Upstate New York. But the school has very tough requirements to get in. Not all its students end up becoming superheroes, but those who graduate have a top-tier grasp on using their powers. Its reputation is so storied, there is a a TV show of the same name loosely based off the academy.
Templeton, California: Templeton is a suburb of Paso Robles and has its own high school (Templeton High), which are fierce rivals for the Bearcats. Over the years, there have been many rumors about strange happenings in Templeton. It has a fairly large wiccan population, but no one can prove these strange happenings beyond hearsay and gossip. In truth, Templeton is home to the largest witch coven in the Central Coast, the second largest being in Harmony, closer to the sea.
Watchtower: Watchtower is one of retired hero Leviathan’s many superhero-themed nightclubs. This location in Chicago is one of the hottest spots in the city. However, Watchtower doesn’t draw as many visitors as its sister nightclubs due to the lack of superheroes and superhero teams in the Midwest.
FOREIGN LOCATIONS, AGENCIES & HEROES
Amarantha: Amarantha is an impoverished island nation in the Caribbean east of Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. It was conquered by various European countries over the centuries, giving the country a mishmash of cultural influences, including Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Dutch. The country is surrounded by crystal blue oceans. Amarantha’s most notable aspect is its large population of superhumans. More than once, the US has tried to curb that population of supers right at its doorstep and to disastrous results. A more recent attempt led to the enslavement of the superhuman population to the wealth non-super citizens who set themselves up as royalty. Thanks to the arrival of Greyson Hirsch and the country’s underground insurgency, the royals were overthrown and supers are back in control of Amarantha.