 ..................................................................................... |  Earth Drega is an AU roleplay set in the world of Parahumans, a web series written by John “Wildbow” McCrae. This roleplay is based on the canon universe and placed in the period of the first work in the Parahumans series but is not based on the canonical storyline. Prior knowledge of the story is, therefore, helpful but not explicitly mandatory. You will not be turned away for not having read the Parahumans series. Discord - Parahuman Wiki One year ago, a villain named Confessor unleashed an army of ghostly monsters on the city of Bridgewater. The incident lasted two weeks, with Confessor slowly growing into an S-class threat that resulted in the deaths of eighteen parahumans, five of whom were members of the city’s Ward team. The remaining survivors, only two teenage heroes, were transferred out of state once their injuries were healed. Bridgewater grieved heavily, and most people spent the following months expecting the other shoe to drop when it would turn out that some of the phantoms hadn’t been killed and were simply replicating in the shadows. Some didn’t leave their home for weeks, still paranoid that they’d be met with monsters or a more ruined city than the day before. Known villains stepped up and took advantage, capitalizing on the chaos to grow their influence over the city. Some even left outright and haven’t been seen since. The city wasn’t the same after Confessor’s reign of terror ended. In the following months, damage to the city was repaired, families got back on their feet, and additional workforce was requested from nearby cities. But most importantly, the people picked up the pieces and moved on, as they always do. The planet still turned, and time passed. There were scars, but they faded to the background. |
Bridgewater has relaxed a little, and the PRT has determined that now is an excellent time to try and fill the gap left behind by the former Wards team. Bridgewater is the largest city in Maine, with roughly 800,000 people. It would be straightforward to miss another villain rising in the background. The Confessor disaster caused a lot of chaos across the city that could have easily resulted in trigger events, meaning there are young parahumans who can be recruited and turned into the city’s next generation of heroes. You are those heroes. The PRT and the Protectorate are starting from square one to rebuild their numbers and ensure Bridgewater has heroes to defend it in future years. Many people are afraid to throw children into the line of fire after so much loss, but a lot is riding on this. If the Wards aren’t reinstated in the city, then Bridgewater could suffer in the future.
That can’t happen again.
That can’t happen again.
Welcome to Earth Drega. This is an RP set in the Parahumans series, as stated above, with our alternate lore. Our purpose in this story is to rebuild something important that the Confessor took from us- The Wards. In every city across America, the Protectorate oversees teenage heroes with their own vulnerabilities and troublesome backstories. These kids one day grow up to join the Protectorate while being trained and kept safe from a world full of monsters in human form. Their dissolvement in Bridgewater left a power vacuum, but we're here to change that. The lack of a Wards team is an unusual problem, meaning there isn't any precedent for building one from the ground up. But the good thing about not having a precedent is that we can make our own rules. A branch of the PRT or the Parahuman Response Team oversees every branch of the Protectorate. Their responsibilities include handling the "politics" of capes, preventing the good guys from going too far when stopping the bad guys, and working with heroes of all kinds to ensure evil doesn't win. The PRT's director has come up with his plans to set the Wards for success, plans that break half of the rules in the book and get him fired if these were normal circumstances.
Typically, Wards have to follow rules that their adult counterparts wouldn't, such as the number of hours they're permitted to be on duty. This was the first rule to go out the window for Bridgewater's new team, as they can't get up to speed if they're constantly taking mandated breaks. Wards are given a standard paycheck at the end of every month, which is docked if they break the rules. In canon, it is said to amount to $50,000 a year, but this money will be effectively tripled as an incentive. This money will be theirs to use how they see fit, within reasons. This additional budget also extends particularly to any tinker-class heroes who may join the team, along with absurdly lax limitations on what tech they are permitted to build and use on the job, provided it passes safety testing as usual. The wards will also receive special permission to access PRT information that would otherwise be classified for anyone in their position. This information includes schematics for high-level tinker-tech access to PRT records regarding villains, to name a few. They won't have complete access to the entire PRT database, but they are encouraged to use their available resources.
Lastly, arguably the most important to some is that the usual probationary measures for Wards with a criminal background will be nonexistent. Canon examples of these measures include an ankle bracelet used to track someone's locations for the first six months after they join, restraining orders, curfews, and specific limitations on what someone can use their powers for. None of these will be enacted on a Ward, regardless of their history, as long as they are honest with the PRT and take their new role seriously. This decision was made to encourage more would-be heroes to "come clean," knowing many people were pushed to desperation in the wake of Confessor's rampage. This is also meant to encourage players to write characters that are more rough around the edges, as no one ever gets superpowers in this world by being a well-adjusted individual. They can get away with this without being thrown into a jail cell, thanks to the circumstances.
Typically, Wards have to follow rules that their adult counterparts wouldn't, such as the number of hours they're permitted to be on duty. This was the first rule to go out the window for Bridgewater's new team, as they can't get up to speed if they're constantly taking mandated breaks. Wards are given a standard paycheck at the end of every month, which is docked if they break the rules. In canon, it is said to amount to $50,000 a year, but this money will be effectively tripled as an incentive. This money will be theirs to use how they see fit, within reasons. This additional budget also extends particularly to any tinker-class heroes who may join the team, along with absurdly lax limitations on what tech they are permitted to build and use on the job, provided it passes safety testing as usual. The wards will also receive special permission to access PRT information that would otherwise be classified for anyone in their position. This information includes schematics for high-level tinker-tech access to PRT records regarding villains, to name a few. They won't have complete access to the entire PRT database, but they are encouraged to use their available resources.
Lastly, arguably the most important to some is that the usual probationary measures for Wards with a criminal background will be nonexistent. Canon examples of these measures include an ankle bracelet used to track someone's locations for the first six months after they join, restraining orders, curfews, and specific limitations on what someone can use their powers for. None of these will be enacted on a Ward, regardless of their history, as long as they are honest with the PRT and take their new role seriously. This decision was made to encourage more would-be heroes to "come clean," knowing many people were pushed to desperation in the wake of Confessor's rampage. This is also meant to encourage players to write characters that are more rough around the edges, as no one ever gets superpowers in this world by being a well-adjusted individual. They can get away with this without being thrown into a jail cell, thanks to the circumstances.
With a population of 80,000, Bridgewater is the largest city in Maine. You can cross the border to Canada and reach Montreal in just 90 minutes by car or take a boat further up east. Bridgewater received its name for this reason, being a port city for ships going up to Canada. The city has a primarily defunct shipyard where cargo vessels used to come in bi-yearly, but they’ve stopped coming in after Confessor’s rampage. The city was hit pretty hard when the Confessor attempted to take over, and this shows in the less populated districts, now left to crumble to dust. These are typically the areas most likely to see villain activity.
PRT HQ: The main base of operations for the Parahuman Response Team. An ugly, utilitarian building with dozens of floors ran with the vigilance of a federal prison. Numerous sublevels of the PRT building are dedicated solely to holding nefarious parahumans for detainment and questioning.
Protectorate HQ: Partially inspired by the canon Protectorate base of Brockton Bay, the BPHQ is a large, heavily fortified complex with multiple buildings, surrounded by a specialized forcefield system and armed with tinker-made weapons. This is where the city’s heroes plan their day-to-day activities. Everything from public relations patrols and more is plotted here. This is also where the Wards will be when they aren’t off the clock, or on a mission.
The current lineup of heroes protecting the city are as follows:
Eastwood Park: It’s a half-mile-long park full of things to do. Have a picnic, ride bikes - and hope a villain doesn’t come out of the treeline and start setting things on fire, or just lay in the grass—your choice.
Bridgewater Harbor: Formerly just an industrial sector of the city, the harbor was renovated in the last few months to allow smaller ships and boats to come through. It was a mostly wasted project that made the city look nicer since most people don’t go out on the water in a city where the warmest day is 50 degrees.
Heroes Memorial: A monument of metal and stone in the heart of downtown, dedicated to the lives lost in the Confessor disaster. Dozens were killed in the attack, including a staggering 18 heroes: five Wards and thirteen Protectorate heroes across three cities.
Protectorate HQ: Partially inspired by the canon Protectorate base of Brockton Bay, the BPHQ is a large, heavily fortified complex with multiple buildings, surrounded by a specialized forcefield system and armed with tinker-made weapons. This is where the city’s heroes plan their day-to-day activities. Everything from public relations patrols and more is plotted here. This is also where the Wards will be when they aren’t off the clock, or on a mission.
The current lineup of heroes protecting the city are as follows:
- Grandmaster: With a superhuman mastery of all melee weapons and a knack for strategy, Grandmaster leads the Bridgewater Protectorate by example.
- Axiom: Axiom uses her custom exosuit to effortlessly warp the laws of physics. The universe yields to her intellect.
- Nightstalker: One of the few Case 53s, and never letting his background get him down, Nightstalker prowls the darkest corners of Bridgewater. Under the cover of shadows, no villain is safe when he finds their trail.
- Hellstar: This fiery striker leaves nothing but dust in his wake with a single punch. Anyone left standing is sure to be blown away by the force of solid matter going supernova when he throws a punch.
- Gatecrasher: The villains won’t know where to look. Gatecrasher tears open doorways into an alternate reality where no one else can survive. She enters a partial breaker state to teleport across the battlefield and compromise even the most secure locations in a flash.
Eastwood Park: It’s a half-mile-long park full of things to do. Have a picnic, ride bikes - and hope a villain doesn’t come out of the treeline and start setting things on fire, or just lay in the grass—your choice.
Bridgewater Harbor: Formerly just an industrial sector of the city, the harbor was renovated in the last few months to allow smaller ships and boats to come through. It was a mostly wasted project that made the city look nicer since most people don’t go out on the water in a city where the warmest day is 50 degrees.
Heroes Memorial: A monument of metal and stone in the heart of downtown, dedicated to the lives lost in the Confessor disaster. Dozens were killed in the attack, including a staggering 18 heroes: five Wards and thirteen Protectorate heroes across three cities.
- 1) Be considerate of other players, above all else. No one is the main character. We will not be entertaining the idea of our characters dying, but our actions may have consequences if we aren't careful. If an issue comes up, I'll help solve it so we can prevent it in the future.
. - 2) We will be using Discord as our primary method of communication for this RP, as most people do these days. Discord is excellent for contacting people for reminders, asking for extra time to post, or coordinating with one or multiple people for a collab post. I'll post a permanent link at the top of this thread if you don't see it when you're reading this.
. - 3) When posting your character for approval, post them to the OOC first. If you post an in-progress sheet, do me a favor and state that in your post when you drop it. I'll be shooting for a maximum of 9 characters. Anything more, and it'll get hectic. You will be allowed to write multiple characters. But as a rule, I'm limiting people to a single Ward, with any additional characters being NPCs, members of the Protectorate or PRT, or possibly something else. Our primary focus is rebuilding Bridgewater's Ward team, so these characters won't typically be the center of attention.
. - 4) Going back to rule one, there are certain things we'll avoid for this RP. This alternate universe is based on a world where people get superpowers from awful things happening to them. But for obvious reasons, some things are best left out. When in doubt, use your best judgment and fade to black.
. - 5) I'm gently pushing for a post a week, but I know we live in the real world. Things happen: people get rushed to the hospital, your car stops working, and no one's manager is paying them to roleplay. Therefore, this rule will be very flexible. If it turns out that we don't have any issues or get into a rhythm where we post slowly but consistently, I'll probably redact this rule entirely. All I ask is you at least keep me informed so I can accommodate your absence in character as needed.
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