> Here is a fictitious world I'm making up. It is designed to be a superhero kind of world. I wanted to incorporate different myths (old and modern) in a more organized way then most companies do; I also wanted to add a form of Christianity. After all in a world were King Arthur, Dracula, Thor, Hercules, Ra, and little Green Men exist why not Christ? Then who do you rationalize the existence of polytheistic deities with the existence of One True God? Well I think I got an idea that works. This is just a rough draft for a reality that I may or may not get around to writing stories about. There is still much work that need to be done.
>
> ====
>
> God created the universe, He set off the Big Bang and has subtlety guided the forces of gravity, evolution, and other cosmic forces. Mankind is not the only intelligent life God created, the universe abounds with life. Until now humanity has been but a foot note in cosmic history, like many other races they were visited by The Son, and are besieged by demons seeking to corrupt souls. But Humanity's time has come, the axis of History is set to turn and Earth is the focus point.
>
> The pagan deities of Earth are varied and many of them really exist, but they are not, as some Fundamentalists believe, demons. Many of them never even sought worship. Their origins are varied. The Egyptian Gods are a ancient race of Aliens, billions of years ago their world was like the earth is now, the Cosmic Focus for the next age of Universal History, and they did not fare well. Millions of years ago they came and settled on Earth, the early humans who saw them assumed they were Gods. Some revealed in the worship, most notable Set, whose demands for human sacrifice earned him the Title of the God of Death. Some of the other Heliopolitans chose to fight for humanity against Set's gruesome hungers, most notable Horus, Isis, and Osiris. Most of the Heliopolitans preferred to keep hidden, first in an underground kingdom built under the Sphinx, and later on Mars (were they built the 'face'). Set was destroyed and sent to Hell, were he now serves as a General in Satan's army.
>
> When humanity was first discovering civilization some of the Angels in Heaven became intrigued by human women, for humans looked more like angels than any other races in the entire Universe. Some of them mated with human women creating a race of powerful beings who called themselves the Assir, the migrated north to settle, and met a race of Earth Angels, charged by God to guard the Entrance to Hell (hidden under glaciers and the Arctic Ocean. These Angels were called the Venir. For a time they lived side by side peacefully, but a demon named Loki snuck in amongst the Assir and instigated a war between the Assir and the Venir. The Assir, being descended from Celestial Angels, overcame the Venir. Soon, however, the leader of the Assir, Odin, discovered Loki's trickery and banished him. He would continue to sneak back often, causing trouble and running interference to allow his demon kin to sneak past and into the world. Loki even went so far as to sire an entire race of Giants, who till this day war with the Assir.
>
> When the Angels impropriety with human women was revealed several of them were cast into to hell. The were eager to oppose God so Satan sent them back to act as false gods, called the Titans. They were eventually overcome by the few other angles that sinned but repented, for penance they were charged to end the Titans tyranny, and then to remain on Earth, to fight off other demonic threats. They became known as the Olympian Gods.
>
> The breath of God sustains all life, but not all life has souls. The Breath of God is the Life Force. It is possible to lose your soul. Usually when Satan claims a soul he takes the Life Force of the damned as well, but occasionally it suits his purposeless to leave the Life Force in the body. This creates the Soulless, also known as the Undead. There are many kinds of undead, each develops heinous powers individually, but the myths of werewolves, vampires, zombies, ghouls, bogeymen, and other such creatures of the night are inspired by the Soulless.
>
> Elves, dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Gnomes and other such creatures all also exist, in the early days of the Cenozoic era they came to earth, outcasts and vagabond from a multitude of worlds, and for millions of years lived and died on the planet. Empires came and went; wars were won and lost. Eventually they came to realize that their time was fading, humanity was on the rise and more powerful creatures were taking up the job of defenders of the planet, many of them relocated by way of dimensional portals located through out the world to the Land of Avalon. The portals can only be opened on special days and only by ancient spells. A few chose to remain on earth, some living along side humanity (Merlin for example was a 3 million year old Half-Elven wizard, the Lady of the Lake was a Mermaid). Other took to hiding in dark forests and up steep mountains (Big Foot and the Yeti are races of Orcs and Trolls). Their last great city was Atlantis, and it was destroyed by the foolishness of one evil wizard who sought to destroy humanity in its infancy. Today it sits at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, inhabited by a race of Aquatic Elves and Merfolk.
>
> A new age is dawning for humanity, and the universe. The Earth is soon going to pass through what has been called Armageddon, Ragnarok, the Rapture, the End of Days, and the End Time. But it may not be the End of all that is. The prophecies are warnings of what is to come. Since W.W.II a new bread of humans have arisen, the Super Humans. Their actions in this time will determine if humanity will rise from what we are now to take our place as a new Galactic Force. They will determine if we will be the next mighty race to shape the course of history for millions of worlds, or if we will be consumed and destroyed by the force of time and destiny. Many threats will appear. Alien races that want to harness the potential power of humanity or else destroy us before we can prove a threat. Demons will appear who would like nothing better than for humanity to be destroyed. And the rising of the Anti-Christ (this along with the standard Supervillains, mad scientist, rogue monsters, killer robots, and all the other threats Superheroes must face).
>
> ====
>
> The power of myth isn't the only force at work on Earth. Science, and the wonders and horror scientific exploration can unleash are also present.
>
> In the past aliens who have come to Earth have been seen as gods or demons, in more recent years they are seen for what they are.
>
> The Grays and Green (also known as Little Green Men) have been visiting earth for around a hundred years, studying and experimenting on us, for unknown aims. Rumors stories abounded, but no solid evidence ever cam to light. Most people dismissed the idea of alien visitors as lies and urban legends; no government took them seriously. That is, until July 1949 when a scout ship crashed near Roswell New Mexico. The secret was out, humanity now knew they were being watched. The government scrambled, several cover-up organizations were founded; the Men in Black, Blue Book, Majestic 7, but they were all a smoke screen. The real conspiracy was much more competent and more secretive than any of these other black op organizations. Its name- The Department. Area 51 was only briefly the home of the flying saucer, the alien bodies, and the one alien captive; they now reside in a huge warehouse storage area deep in the bowels of The Department HQ. Also in the warehouse, the Arch of the Covenant, the Holy Grail, the last strain of live Small Pox, and many other mythic and technological terrors and tools. The HQ's location is hidden, no one out side of the Department is aware of its location.
>
> The Grays and the Greens are not the only aliens to show an interest in Humans. The Slivarans and the Nocburns both involved themselves in W.W.II. The Nocburns aided the Axis powers, giving the Nazi's doomsday weapons in exchange for slaves taken from the Concentration Camps. Their perennial enemies the Slivarans came to the allies aid, they have been fighting a rebellion against the Nocburn empire for thousand years and, until the arrival of human DNA for the Nocburn scientists to play with, were on the edge of victory. Now they equal the scales, aiding the allies technologically, as well as providing one elite warrior to join the first human Superheroes against the Axis superhuman. It wasn't long before a Nocburn warrior joined the Axis superhuman.
>
> With the fall of the Axis powers the Nocburn fell as well, but they still bedevil humanity out of spite, and the Slivarans still count us among their allies, they have a tenuous understanding with The Department that amounts to a non-aggression pact.
>
> Various other alien races have made contact with increasing frequencies since the end of W.W.II.
>
> Genetic Manipulation first conducted by the Grays and Greens later by the Nocburns and their Nazi allies and later my many a Mad Scientist has greatly effected the world. Humankind has, imbedded in our DNA, the sequence that marks us as the key players in the founding of the next chapter of Universal History. As our DNA is altered this cosmic key can be triggered, creating superhumans. Some aliens have tried to splice the key DNA sequence into their own DNA with varying results. Radiation has also been known to trigger the key prematurely.
>
> With the introduction of alien technology during the war The Department had a tough job collecting and hiding it all. Some of it slipped through their fingers. Time Machinery, Personal Force Fields, Faster than light travel, television, Velcro, microchips, cybernetics, fiber optics, robotics, matter transformation, teleportation; all these and more found their way into various scientist and government hands. Some few made their way into the general public, but many more found their way into secret labs and spy technology, often used to create super weapons, supervillains and superheroes.
>

Neat concept.

On a less-than-related note, I think the scariest world you could create would be one in which mind-reading powers existed in everyone (although it might be a good idea story-wise to not have your protagonist have this ability) and there's no way to shield your thoughts or anything. That, to me, is a terrifying concept.

-eric "secrets . . . " sleator
Fri 1 Dec A.D. 2000