Backstory for a Superpowered Universe

Hello. 👋😁

My name is Lightning _Bolt ⚡.

I'd like to share with you the premise for a continuing series of metaphysical vignettes available in FICTION here on Vocal. Each episode is a standalone story featuring a different cast of characters.

Here's the overarching concept for Earth-1861...

In ancient times before Christ, there was a Classic Age of Superheroes. Odysseus, Hercules, Achilles, Helen of Troy, Paris, Hector, and other heroic figures were not merely mythological literary characters. We now know that certain ancient gods were also real, including most of the Greek pantheon, the Egyptian pantheon, and the Mayan pantheon. The ancient Greek deity Poseidon has been one of the longest serving members of America's most venerated super-team: the Incorruptible Club.

That classic era of heroes, however, ended by the Middle Ages. There were no more known metahumans for almost a thousand years.

The Golden Age of Superbeings began in the year 1861, the year the so-called "United States" was split in two over the issue of slavery.

Just as the Civil War broke out, leaders on both sides of the conflict were the first people to manifest paranormalities. No one had personal superpowers; it was the time of the Great Givers, when heroes bestowed blessings on their followers. Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy was able to supernaturally augment members of the Confederate army, as well as enhance the morale of all Southerners. Robert E. Lee was considered the most gallant gift-giver of all Golden Age heroes. During various battles, he endowed his troops will a variety of superpowers, including limited invulnerability, enhanced speed, enhanced senses, shadow powers, even electric auras. The legendary General Stonewall Jackson could not become a stonewall himself, as so many people now mistakenly believe, but he did bestow on his troops stalwartness, both a physical and a mental capacity to persevere under the most savage conditions.

Abraham Lincoln, of course, was the supreme gift-giver of the North. He had a superhuman ability to bolster the morale of Northerners. He also had a spectacular vulnerability, however: he made extremely poor decisions when it came to picking the top commander for the Union Army. General George McClellan, for instance, had the ability to inspire and empower, but he was no match for Lee, particularly during the Seven Days' Battles and at Malvern Hill.

Since the nation's inception, Americans had always argued about the scope and purpose of government. Founding Father Thomas Jefferson believed in maximum freedom and minimal government. His hardcore laissez-faire approach allowed for slavery. Jefferson was a slaveowner himself, who had an affair with his own ‘property.’

On the other hand, Founding Father John Adams, believed in strong government. He had witnessed an angry assemblage tar and feather victims in New York City. He believed government was the only proven tool to counter the abuses of the mob... and that a strong government of the people, by the people, and for the people was the only means by which a common man could be afforded protection from the exploitations of the rich and powerful.

Jefferson and Adams were best friends their entire lives, but they argued about government until they died (entangled on the same day: July 4, 1826.)

The divisions between slaveowners and abolitionists lead to both Civil War and the Golden Age of Superheroes. Both events highlighted the two sides of the American psyche.

The people who were considered superheroes in the North were reviled as supervillains in the South.

And conversely, revered Southern superheroes were considered by Northerners to be the most dastardly of supervillains.

When Lincoln finally promoted Ulysses S. Grant to lead the Union Army, there was, at long last, an empowerer who could compete with Lee. Grant was able to neutralize Lee’s paranormal advantages. At Gettysburg, for instance, when Lee bestowed his troops with flaming armor and sent them on Pickett's Charge against Cemetery Ridge, Grant was able to imbue his defenders with cold powers, creating a metaphysical stalemate (at the cost of thousands of Confederate casualties).

The event that truly altered course of the conflict was Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. It is considered by historians to be the most significant pronouncement of all time, impacting the War Between the States like no other empowerment had. Not only did it instantly boost the morale and change the mindset of every slave in the south— it bestowed superpowers upon a vast host of Negro slaves.

Jefferson Davis countered Lincoln's proclamation freeing the slaves by espousing the Southern Declaration of Ownership, which gave paranormalities to slave-trackers. Superpowered slaves escaping captivity (especially those using the underground railroad) were hunted down by superpowered Southern constables, bent on bringing the runners to justice (intent on murdering them.)

The ramifications of both proclamations would resonate long after the war.

The Civil War ended April 9th, 1865. All the first generation of supers— the original Gift-Givers— they all lost their abilities the instant peace was declared. Most of the veteran troops that the generals had empowered lost their paranormal abilities also. A few, however, kept their powers, although no one knew how (or why).

For more than fifty years after that, there was a period when no metahumans arose.

In the 1920s, the Silver Age of Heroes began.

The script was flipped from the Golden Age, when leaders and generals empowered their troops. In the Silver Age, it was the followers who empowered their leaders. The first true supervillains originated during this roaring decade, many of whom were members of the then-rising Ku Klux Klan. Maniacs, murderers, and haters were lifted up on the shoulders of their followers… and the Universe (God) then seemed to respond with the first true superheroes. The new law-bringers who were transformed into metahumans in those earliest years were some of the most honorable, most noble, most courageous superheroes to ever serve: men like Iron Bat, Doctor Destiny, Traffic Stop, Foxtrot, and Fad Man; women like Honey Bee, Mah Jong, Glad Gal, and the Flaming Flapper.

The most influential superhero of all time was ‘born’ on December 25th, 1925. His name was William Winston Masters. On Christmas Eve of '25, the thirty-three-year-old farmer was called out just before midnight to help a friend in need. It was bitterly cold in the little city of Wabash, Indiana, and Will had was scraping frost off the back windshield of his automobile when a drunk driver came careening down the street, hit an ice patch, lost control, and barreled into Will, pulverizing his legs and lower torso.

Amazingly, he didn’t die instantly. Will had never married and lived alone, but his neighbors heard the terrible collision and came to his aid. He was taken to the hospital, where he clung to life for nearly three hours before passing away.

William had a near-death experience. He rose up out of his body and watched as the medical attendants declared his death, at 11:54 p.m.. His soul then shot through the ceiling, rose up over the city, and was instantly enveloped in light. He met his guardian angels. He had long interactions with the spirits of an Oracle of Delphi, a Mayan astronomer-priest, and Nostradamus. His soul was then deemed worthy by God Himself and the Lord said, “You will fulfill their wishes. You will give Hope to the people.” A heavenly choir then sang, infusing him with cosmic power.

At one minute after midnight on Christmas Day, seven minutes after he passed away, the Wish Master regained living awareness. He screamed in excruciating agony and his first wish was for the pain to stop. Instantly, it did. Everything below his ribcage went numb.

He looked down at himself and saw his legs were shattered. His right leg was basically gone below the knee. Shocked, but not exactly afraid anymore— comforted by his fresh memory of being in Heaven— he wished for his body to be restored… and instantly, it was.

He walked out of the hospital an hour later, to the astonishment of everyone who’d watched him die.

He was a shy man, so Will Masters' third wish that day was for everyone who witnessed the miracle of his rebirth to forget everything they saw. They did. A couple days later, he wished for all the medical records of his hospital stay to disappear. They did. It was like his brutal death on Christmas Eve was erased from history.

Wish Master didn’t don a fancy costume and start fighting supervillains until nine years later, when Indiana was attacked by the Teutonic Twister. And it wasn’t until the Second World War that he used his daily wish powers to give himself additional abilities, including flight, invulnerability, and super strength.

The cover of the 1951 Time magazine Person of the Year issue proclaimed he was, The Most Powerful Man in the World. That same year, Wish Master took on the infamous Kothgam menace, eliminating South Korea’s greatest advantage in that ongoing war.

The 1960s saw the beginning of the Modern Age of Superheroes. It’s also called the Time of Teams. 1960 is the year the first supervillains banded together: the Ten Terrors. The dawn of space travel also brought about the origin of the First Family of Superheroes: the Far-Fetched Five.

For years, Wish Master resisted joining any of the teams that popped up. It wasn’t until the Watergate Monster nearly overthrew the American government in the 1970s before he was persuaded to join the Incorruptible Club. Later, during the Crisis of ’88, he reinstated and solidified the team’s incorruptibility, after the Orange Traitor's notorious insurrection.

A wish that he made early on in his career gave Wish Master phenomenal longevity. He wasn't immortal, but for each day that passed, he only aged a single hour.

From 1960 until 2019, the world remained chaotic… and yet predictable. Every year there was some new threat to all life on earth, or some new villainous attempt at global domination, or occasionally even some new twist of fate that rewrote physics, or biology, or some other universal constant. “Expect the unexpected,” was the actual battle cry of the San Francisco supergroup called Eureka. It was impossible for anyone to envision what devilish, insane, unfathomable danger would rear its ugly head next— but it was an absolutely certain bet that, no matter what terror did arise, heroes would stand up to it and ultimately win.

The universe was hard-wired so that good always triumphed over evil.

If at any time, in any given situation, the villains were defeating the heroes, the end of that story simply hadn’t been written yet.

On hundreds of occasions, the Wish Master used his wish fulfillment powers to undo the damage done by villains, restoring property, undoing injuries, wiping away traumas from victims’ minds, even bringing the dead back to life.

It’s believed, however, that during some event decades ago, the Wish Master caught a glimpse of his own future. It’s still debated— and many who knew him say it’s patently untrue— but others claim he learned far in advance exactly how and when he was going to die.

The Age of Extra Awareness

In 2018, Wish Master and the Incorruptible Club faced their greatest challenge: a newly revamped Shadow Squadron. The Squadron were deadly mutant supremacists. In 1983, the Shadow Squadron annihilated the Arizona Eight in an infamous bloody massacre. Clemet Horatio Moore, aka the Comet—one of the strongest villains ever born— grabbed Copper Cowboy by his head and smashed it between his hands in a gory explosion of blood, brain matter, and pennies. When the Incorruptible Club defeated that first version of the Shadow Squadron, the Comet swore he’d get revenge.

Three incarnations of the criminal team later, the Shadow Squadron escaped their prison in the Labyrinth in 2019. Recruiting two new members to their group— those additions were what allowed the hatemongers to instigate the catastrophe that would be known as: "The Extinction Event."

The two teams squaring off against each other were…

The Heroes: The Incorruptible Club

Wish Master— Will Masters, with the powers of flight, invulnerability, super strength (but not super speed). He also had ability to grant three wishes every day.

Super Shield— Sidney Wentworth, a super genius who augmented his physical prowess to that of an Olympic champion and then additionally donned sophisticated armor of his own design, created from an alien metal called absorbium.

Emerald Empress— Esmerelda Ellington, an extraordinary warrior woman with numerous enchanted weapons, including a scepter that shot emerald energy blasts, a crown that protected her from all psionic attacks, and winged sandals that granted her flight. Her green and gold cloak granted three different powers: either invisibility, intangibility. or teleportation. She had a pet snake named Cleopatra who whispered secrets and mesmerized with sibilant songs.

Poseidon— Original Greek God of Seas, Storms, Earthquakes, and Horses.

Crystal Ball— Crystal Ballinger, an enchantress and illusion caster with an actual enlarged crystal ball for a head.

Martian Maniac— S'amm S'mmith, a green-skinned otherworldly shapeshifter with anger issues. He unwillingly takes on other people's rage and sometimes alters his appearance unknowingly to look like any furious attacker. Brutish, but tender-hearted, he comes from an age thousands of years ago, back when humans were proceeded by Neanderthals and the humanoids that existed on Mars were equally unevolved. In 1966, the Time Wizard Eterno drug the Maniac and sixty-five other Martians from the distant past into the present to be used as an attacking army. The Martians were defeated by the first ever team-up of the Incorruptible Club and the Far-Fetched Five. When Mr. Responsibility returned the Martians to their original time-stream, S'amm S'mmith begged to stay behind on Earth. He was granted his wish and welcomed into the Incorruptible Club.

...and... Jade Javelin— Oliver Barton, with a single superpowered arm, he was able to throw high-tech javelins with uncanny accuracy.

And The Villains: The Shadow Squadron

Comet— Clemet Horatio Moore, mutant supremacist, raging homicidal maniac with super strength, flight, and exceptional invulnerability.

The Shadow Sovereign— Shane Solomon, the cool-headed leader of these mutants, with darkness powers: black force fields, selected areas of darkness, blinding blasts, shadow decoys, and ebon energy spikes.

Blue Funk—Franklin Blumenthal, a true immortal, with strength, resistance, and growth powers, as well as his “Blue Burst”, the ultimate expression of his power, which is achieved by him committing suicide.

Crawl Space— Telly Porter, with teleportation powers linked to shrinking.

Static Cling— Stacy Smith, with the ability to create balls of gooey black tar that envelope and entangle a victim, and then build up an electric charge that detonates the moment either A) the trapped person is touched or B) the moment the person breaks free of the gook.

...and... Doldrummer— Billy Black, who played his drum throughout the battle, with a beat that gradually decreased the confidence and effectiveness of the heroes.

I’m not going to tell you how this epic battle all played out. The story of the hellish Extinction Event will be detailed another day. What is relevant to everything that comes after this point is that during the Incorruptible Club's battle with the Shadow Squadron to stop the destruction of humanity, Wish Master sacrificed his own life. With his final breath, he invoked,

Whenever they need it most, let all their wishes come true.

And with that proclamation, millions of people worldwide instantly received a superpower. Now three years later, billions more are still waiting on their supernatural inheritance.

Eventually everyone alive will gain a superpower.

And that brings us up to speed! ⚡😁👍

Already here on Vocal, I have published three episodes/issues set on Earth-1861. All three are standalone stories that can be read in any order.

The first short story set during this Age of Extra-Awareness is entitled Death by Chocolate?

The second short story set in this universe is Green is My Love?

The third short story set in this universe is Knowledge is Power?

SUBSCRIBE for more of this 🌈 series: "Whenever They Need It Most."

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Thank you kindly for your support!

_____________Bolt ⚡