Once The Ones Before ruled. Beings beyond reason, beings of infinite creation and
negation, who where and where not and where often in between. When the war of Light
was over the Magistrates of Order had named and cataloged every last infinite one
of them, categorized by those that exist and those that didn't, what there powers
where and where not, where their bodies lie, and what campaigns they took part in.
Only the greatest and most feared where bound up in a great name though, fewer still
where given multiple names, but the greatest and most fear of the Ones Before had
name upon name heaped upon it in the hopes that it would stay chained in it's names
for all time and beyond time. For the Magistrates could not slay it they needed it
to much and they owed it everything. Among it's names where

Decadis, the decayer
Patrius, the forbidden father
Nihilis, the inevitable
Malus, The molder of destinies
The lie maker
The deceiver
The war bringer
Devourer of universes
The great burning darkness
The mother of ten thousand names

and lastly

Entropy

In the Time Before there was unlimited creation and unmaking. The Devourer of
Universes was one that created the unmaking of others, to hem and confine was it's
way, to constrict other forgotten gods was it's talent. It named and described them
whittling away there existing by writing them down until the once ultimate was but a
paragraph in it's book. It was from Patrius that the Magistrates learned Order but
they perfected the concept. To Decadis order was but a crude tool to club prey over
the head with to be fashioned as is used then ignored. Laws and customs Malus made
with out care for contradiction or causality. But even the deceiver was eventually
deceived.

The Magistrates fashioned names even he could not wriggle or squeeze out of and caught
him, brought him back to the deepest and most secret of their workshops and they
worked on it's flesh and spirit. Wielding clarification and logic like a hammer and
anvil they beat and shaped the Molder of Destinies and did not hear his pleas. They
beat him into a book and aimed his purpose towards one thing, an ending. They
purified it's words until none could escape them. When they where done and ever
sentence of it's being was pounded perfect, grammatically correct, and spelled with
precise consistency they threw lots and chose one among their number to read it.

Thus was Entropy forged, the Magistrates war could commence for time now held the
universe in it's sway. The once infinite now decayed to manageable, cause now lead
to effect, what the Ones before did they could no longer take back or undo, and even
the unpredictable happened at a consistent rate. All because some where from the
very start of time to this day on till the end of all days a man stands in the most
hidden of spaces and reads aloud the decay of all things.

Character came to me in a dream and I knew my world needed somebody that was just plain fucked up.

Background: Steven Lewis was born in Cullman county Alabama mentally retarded but with immense physical power. He was raised and home schooled with an extremely fundamentalist upbringing. He seemingly vanished after his 18th birthday to wander the country and find his place in "the lords plan." Seven years later he was caught by a group of superheroes investigating a spree of disappearance with no apparent rhyme or reason. He claims that "there sins smelled delicious." He had kidnapped his victims then held them down with one hand using his superhuman strength and ate them alive with a spoon.

He has since been incarcerated three times in various superhuman containment facilities, but has escaped each time usually as a distraction for more powerful and connected villains escapes. He is currently at large.

Personality/Motivation: Steven is ultimately an irredeemable monster, a true psychopath. His handicap of mental retardation may make him seem a misguided innocent at times and make even the hardened dark champion show mercy, a fact that he uses to his advantage often. He has learned to act up his retardation and play the innocent quite well which is how he keeps out of the authorities clutches for long stints, no one suspects that such a nice 'special' child of god could be the notorious Cullman Spoonfed Cannibal.

Powers & Tactics: He is a simple brick, not powerful enough to be a threat to most supers, not even versatile enough to be a threat to even well trained normals. He is more a plot device, something horrible that lurks out in the world and does things that would make even world conquering megalomaniacs puke.

His ability to smell "sin" is up to the GM to define, if he is really smelling some kind of wickedness heroes may be inclined to show mercy or see him as a dark champion. On the other hand he may just be nutbar and eating people at random.

( stats )

the hero games random hero generating system is written in C++
score...

very very weirdly programmed I might add

The Age of Legends
Empires of the Gods
    a bit of background on my world from the time before men ruled the earth.  Chronologically the age of legends started some undefined age earlier than we can guess and ended around the time the first real human civilizations started forming, its influence can be seen on these civilizations in Sumeria, the Indus valley, pre-Lemuria, pre-Olmec locations as well as the founding of China.
    Most of this time period was peaceful as these great empires worked together to explore the world, discover great sciences and tend to the young human race.  Such golden ages could not last though, eventually the world got to cramped and tensions rose.  It is unclear whether a war actually occurred.  Those who say it did say that the damage was so large that it isn't obvious, pointing to the formation of continents and mountain ranges as its aftermath as well as the extinction of the Atlanteans.  The opposed camp believes that all sides realized how damaging such a war would be and withdrew from the earth.

The Great Road: Built during the time of peace this system of interconnected portals traversing the earth(and beyond?).  They can take any kind of form from a simple door to a great stone arch, to a grove, or a pond.  They allowed travel across the globe.  Only the Lemurians really know much about it these days and even they don't know all about it, they certainly can't duplicate the magics that make a node.  The nature and location of any particular node is up to the ancient builders (see GM) but some Nodes where movable so the Lemurians have made some modifications to the network.  Each Node requires some ritual to activate a portal and it destination, in theory a node can also be turned off so that no one can come through.

Europe (the Aesir)
    A collection of near earth realms (collectively called the nine worlds) once ruled by a race of powerful and primal entities called the Jotun who blur the line between sentient and elemental.  At some point to distinct subraces split form the Jotun.  The Aesir who had less connection and with primal elements and more interest in higher ideals of civilization and progress, and the Vanir who live an agrarian life and at least seem less violent than either.  The Aesir created the realm of Asgard and unbreachable city in the clouds and lead an aggressive campaign to control the other eight worlds.  They where ostensibly successful though the Jotun still control four of the worlds independent of them. (Jotunheim, Niflheim, Muspellheim, and Helheim).  Though the Vanir fought the Aesir to a stand still they eventually decided surrender as a mostly free vassal state was more profitable.  
    Two other factions in the nine world exist, the Alfar(elves, fey) who come from beyond any earth related realm and settled Alfheim under the Aesirs rulership(the politics are slightly more complex as Frey the Vanir lord governs them for the Aesir). Though the elves have the form of unnaturally perfect men and have adapted well to our plane, they are not natives and their science/magic and philosphy is based on a completely alien view that most earth based life can not understand.(think lovecraft light)  Nidavalir, a subterranean real ruled by the Dueger(dwarves) and a sect of outcast Alfar is completely sovereign, no one has ever tried to make war on it yet.

Motivations:    What goes up must come down and the flying city of Asgard is no different.  The Aesir live in constant fear that their perfect(in their eyes) civilization will topple, and seek out anyway to heighten their might and contain possible threats.  Their efforts usually forestall the inevitable at the cost of making their fall that much harder when it does come.

Influence on Earth:    The Aesir claimed rulership over most of what is today the European continent, though they never did much with it.  Most likely the fact that almost all connections between the nine worlds and earth are there lead them to possess it as a buffer state to the other powers at the time.

Current:    Most of the connections between the nine worlds and earth are severed.  The Aesir no longer pay much attention to our realm, possibly because of the severed connections or possibly because they no longer see earths empires as a threat as they once did.
    The Aesir and Jotun are in and have been in an uneasy armistice for centuries now.

Atlantis (atlantic ocean)
    The Atlanteans are the only Empire of the time to be wholly native to Earth.  They where a humanoid race decended from fish, having a few million year advantage in evolution over us mammals(not to mention three times the terrain to rule) their gradual rise to power came early in earths history and some expect that it was what prompted the other powers to start influencing our realm.  They as a race where intellectual and exploratory and most of what they are remembered for is their science.  They where closely allied to the Aesir and toward the end of their own empire they fostered the lemurians.
    Lemuria: Once an island civilization in the pacific ring of fire region, when natural disasters struck sinking their nation the high priests cast a immense spell granting them the ability to live and breath underwater, a spell that has lasted through their descendants to this day.  They where aided in rebuilding their empire beneath the waves by the Atlanteans (who having limited ability to go on land found the lemurians quite useful).  The Lemurian royal family is even has Atlantean blood giving them long lives and strong bodies.  (also red hair, an odd side effect of the ichthyian heritage, odder still on their pacific islander features.   it also suggests a connection between ancient Atlantis and Ireland)

Current:    Atlantis is gone, none are sure why but their race went extinct as the Age of Legends ended leaving their cities, technologies, and plot devices behind.
        Lemuria still exists and recontacted the surface world after WW2, it is currently part of the UN with few relations to other nations.

Mediterranean and Middle East
This region was not controlled by any large empire of but by many smaller forces, usually a god or pantheon of gods ruling a single city or small nation.

still to come:
The Celestial Government of the Middle Kingdom(far east)
Africa, Australia, Americas, India

I have written his backstory, made some changes to make him a more effective and legal character, I also have made some stylistic changes after finding an authoritative book on what wizards, wizardry, and all things of arcane and supernal power is like (its a children's picture book)

*bump* added character sheet ( I was inspired to try and write something as EPIC! as possible, so here is a tentative character for Vern's proposed Cosmic Iron Age game ) ( Rough Character sheet ) In short he is a rip off of Green Lantern as Mr. Majestic is of Superman

Warning: this may not make sense to those not very familiar with the Hero System

My Ruling:  Change Enviroment is to be used to produce normal illumination or the lacks there of including the special effect of "dimlee lit" or darkness on a natural (i.e. not absolute)  level.

Background on the Debate
Light is possibly the most debated special effect in the Hero System. All starting with the following sentence "Characters cannot use Change Enviroment to duplicate existing Powers (like Darkness), nor can it creat light (use Images, Only To Create Light (-1))" _{Hero System Fifth Edition, pg90, section Change Enviroment, paragraph 4, sentence 1.} This makes some sence at first glance, images makes you see things and light lets you see things, right?  Wrong.  Under this write up, your flashlight creates the illusion of light and if other people fail there perception roll they will think it is real light but if that roll succeeds they will realize that it is only a fake light.  It would seem that the writers fell into the trap of confusing special effect (of holograms) and game effect (of allowing sight to work)

Otherways of writing up light:

Transmit for the Sight sence -- Nifty idea if I do say so myself but this does not illuminate things just makes images that are obviously projected (as apposed to Images which makes them seem real), good if I ever need to write up a T.V.

Light -- Thank Andrew for taking the knife to the Gordion Knot and simply saying theres a new power, its called light, it makes light, it cost this much.  No muss no fuss.  The problem?  1: Its not in our book and that sheet of Homebrew Rules always seems to get lost when I need to lookup details.  2: the nifty program we have to make our own characters on our computer doesnt recocnize it and making custom powers on it gets "wonky" fast.  3: Does Hero realy need another power? I say thee nay.

Dispell/Supress darknes -- Problems:  1. all or nothing either its pitch black or midday, no inbetween.  2. How many points is a hex (4 cubic meters) of nighttime?  is midnight time more points than 9 in the evening or sealed room darkness?   This should be saved for magic light that not only iluminates but also dispells magic darkness that normal light wont penetrate.
Closing Argument

Lets ask ourselves what exactly (in game mechanics) does a light or the lack of it do?  Well looking at the chapter on sences we see the only real mention of either is in the modifiers to perception roles.  Now let us ask, is there some power already in the book that allows us to change the local enviroment so that certain rolls such as perception can become slighlty easier or harder?  Why how about Change Enviroment!  Infact on further reading I find that it is perfectly acceptable to use Change Enviroment to help or hinder perception rolls so long as you are not using Light or Darkness special effects.  "A Change Enviroment ability may have some effect on one or more Senses.  For example, a character may be able to Change Enviroment to creat a thick fog which would obstruct characters' Normal SIght." _{Hero System Fifth Edition, pg230, section Affecting and Using Senses, subsection Change Enviroment}  (Just nit picking but I would like to also point out that  the section should be called "Effecting and using senses" not "Affecting and using senses")

BACKGROUND:
    Panzermensch (Tankman) is the best success of “Die Programm Des Ubermenschen.” He was once some hapless guinea pig culled from the camps for experimentation by the likes of Mengele. He has become the Nazis ideal of a sub-human, hard working, loyal and dumb. He is believed to be dead as his mutations did not seem suited to a long life span and the research that created him was never found by the allies, hopefully it was destroyed.

POWERS:
    He is super strong, super tough, and super dumb. Because of the way he was chemically mutated into his current state, he is very susceptible to further chemical attacks. He must continue to take the serum that made him a monster once a day or his health will start to fade and he will eventualy die.

( character sheet )

HEROES DON’T DO DRUGS KIDS! (They take super serums)

BACKGROUND:
    Andrew Schuyler was a nobody and wanted to be a somebody. He joined the army to try and be all he could be and learned that all he could be wasn’t enough for him. He volunteered to try a new experimental super serum that would make him something better than himself and it worked, and just in time to fight the nazis. He joined the Liberty League as Major Patriotism the all around better than a normal soldier hero.
    He won fame and glory (and a fair bit of wealth from war profiteering); everything that he ever wanted and he wasn’t going to give it up. He stayed in the military leaving the League behind to fight whatever his country wanted him to fight. Though his actual military rank left his heroic title behind for much of his career by the end of Korea it caught back up when he changed his name to GENERAL PATRIOTISM! (though the rank was mostly in name and his command was a small group of supers and there support staff).
    When the cold war ended and it became clear there that the political winds back home had changed he retired from the army, changed his name legally to Patriotism and started a political career. He bills himself alternately as a hero willing to fight for his rights or as a soldier who wants nothing more than peace after all that he has seen. By the 90s he is the senator of Maine.

POWERS:
    He has slight super strength, slight super reflexes, slight super intelligence, is rather tough and isn’t above any dirty trick in the book.

THINGS TO BE WORKED ON:
    His gear multipower is not specified but should be normal everyday gear such as guns, IR goggles, Kevlar, tear gas, ect
    The template he is on doesn’t really fit so many skills

( character sheet )

BACKGROUND:
    James Jackson was a research assistant of Nikola Tesla and during the test of a new experimental Dynamoelectric Generator he was electrocuted by it and its ill understood properties. Instead of harming him however it seemed to give him strange powers beyond a normal man; powers he would use for the good of all. He is a founder of the famous Liberty League, fought in World War II against the Nazis and their Programm Des Ubermenschen. He battled the soviet team Red Scare and was there for the battle vs. Stalin. He retired after that battle and married Lady Liberty, they have two children, the brick type Liberty Lass and the blaster Lightning Rod.

POWERS:
    Dynamo is well a dynamo of physical and electric power. Possessing great muscular strength and endurance as well as the ability to power electrical devices with but a touch, this allows him to use several inventions made for him by his friend Tesla, including a ray gun (with stun and kill settings) and a propulsion back pack. He actually can fly under his own power by moving along the earth’s magnetic field but it is clumsy and inaccurate so he needs the pack to stabilize his flight. Lastly, he can perceive electromagnetic fields and radio waves.


( character sheet )