The so-called “Twelfth World”, named for an unfounded hypothesis of a celebrity scientist, is marked by the prominence of spectacular individuals in possession of unnatural abilities. The technical term assigned to such persons is “parahumans”. In common parlance, they are known as “superheroes”.
Superheroes draw their powers from an internal resource known as “para-energy”. Very little is known about how it originates or truly functions. What is known is that it naturally responds to the user’s thoughts, which has created a very lucrative industry surrounding para-energy-based technology.
Where there are superheroes, there must be supervillains. It was actually the villains who appeared first; the brilliant mastermind Sirius striking fear into the hearts of the world. Heroes such as El Toro and Spectacular Man emerged to counter his schemes. Sirius retreated into the shadows, weaving a network of ne’er-do-wells, defining a new era of criminality and giving rise to the spectre of Panoptikon.
To regulate the explosion of parahuman activity—positive, negative, and mixed—governments were forced to stand up new organs. In the United States, Congress created the Public Administration for the Training and Coordination of Heroes (PATCH). PATCH maintains training and registry programs nationwide. Most superheroes are either under contract with PATCH or independent, as there have yet to be any sustainable private firms.
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See the dedicated blog for posts on the Twelfth World lore.