History

(Note: Up until 1900, it can be assumed that in-character history roughly mirrors out-of-character history, just with more superheroes, except as noted)

Superheroes have always existed. Stories have been handed down from ancient times of those with special powers that set them above most. Hercules, a fantastic warrior with god-like strength, is not so different to our own Mr. Universe. The ancient Egyptian Osiris (worshipped as a god, but probably no more powerful than many of the mages today) was brought back to life after his body had been torn to shreds through the supernatural healing abilities of Isis. Even in mediaeval times, we have King Arthur and his knights, warriors of immense skill who protected the land, and the powerful Morgaine, who worked against them. However, the supers of the past were much rarer; perhaps a few hundred worldwide in a generation. It is only in recent times that the number of superheroes has exploded. Now each town has at least one protector, and acts as the base for at least one person of great and terrible ambition.

The turning point seems to have come in the late 1800s as, hot on the heels of the industrial revolution only a generation earlier, the first “tech” supers began to emerge. With the new technologies using electricity, and great advancements in mechanical devices, early powersuits, energy weapons, and even primitive force shields became possible for the first time. This allowed anyone with the brains or the money to elevate themselves to the level of a hero (or, as many did, to pursue less noble goals). Of course, the most famous conflict of this early age is the tragic rivalry between Coil¹⁾ and The Wizard of Menlo ²⁾. Tragic not just in the eventual turn to darkness of The Wizard of Menlo ³⁾, but also in opportunities lost: one has to wonder how much science could have been advanced by such great minds working together, rather than against each other. Events worldwide have surely been influenced by the rise of superheroes, both for good and for ill.

Unsurprisingly, science became glamourous, with fame, infamy, or both available to any who could push the boundaries to obtain some small advantage in the constant struggles that plagued the super community. Given such a scene, it is hardly surprising that humankind's progress continued apace. In the 1960s, the nuclear age dawned, with the promise of clean power, so cheap that it would not even be worth counting the price. Of course, such promises neglected the serious security needs of a power source that could so easily be weaponized by those of ill intent. Following the Australia Crisis, nuclear weapons were banned, and nuclear power came under considerable regulation. With the nuclear age came a shift in the landscape of supers. As well as a new generation of tech heroes, those with powers in their very DNA became much more frequent. Previously reserved for the children of the gods of myth, alien exiles, or the occasional very rare birth, mutants began to make themselves known. Some of these were deliberate, scientists experimenting on themselves or others to create a new breed of superheroes; some arose by accident, a chemical spill in Japan famously gave a whole village powers overnight; and some were simply born powerful, perhaps a product of the generally increased radiation levels.

(Note: Up until 1900, it can be assumed that in-character history roughly mirrors real-world history. There will be some differences (mostly, a lot of major figures will be superheroes), but the broad course of events will be the same. After 1900, the timeline diverges significantly from that of the real world.)

18th Century: Groups in support of American independence turn to technology to combat British Redcoat superpowered fighters. These factions would eventually form the basis for the modern-day separatist movements.

1880-1930: Devolution of Empires: The old empires (starting with the creation of the Dominion of Canada) eventually succumb to mounting internal and external pressure to give more power to their colonies. By the end of this period, most adopted a structure where the central government handles constitutional and foreign policy matters, while all other internal affairs are handled by the colonies. Some arguments over where the borders of each colony should be arise, and these are dealt with in various ways. For example, France allows free movement, but stubbornly refuses to move the lines on the map, Britain creates a system of referenda which allow the borders to be determined by the locals. Neither prevents all the arguments, but they help to reduce them. Each Empire takes a different approach to the formation of the central government, some forming it only from the “home” country, and some allowing various degrees of representation from each colony. This is supported in many places by the separatists and their various regional chapters. This process is greatly sped up by the various crises which occur during this period, meaning that the empires no longer have the resources to tightly control all their territories. By the end of this period, each of the empires is greatly reduced, with most of the territory away from their capitals either semi-autonomous or fully independent.

1905-1909: The Russo-Japanese war, the last great war of the Imperial Age, results in Japan controlling much of Northern Asia, including Manchuria, Mongolia, and large sections of the former Russian Empire. The instability this causes results in revolution in Russia, the monarchy dissolving, and their empire crumbling. Over the period of devolution, Japan retains a tighter control over the constituent regions of their empire than most of the other countries, and manages to crush any independence movements.

1920-1931: Global Financial Collapse: After nearly a decade of increased international cooperation and trading, rising speculation by the emerging financial sector causes a bubble of prosperity which peaks in the early '20s, and then bursts spectacularly. Starvation and poverty causes riots all over the globe. Many superheroes attempt to alleviate the worst of the problems, using their powers to help quell the uprisings or distribute food to those in need. However, the only real winners of this decade are the villains who thrive on the chaos, using the instability to advance their own plans or simply sow more discord.

1933: The Fall: Just as the world begins to recover from the financial turmoil, a meteorite impact in the Atlantic Ocean results in tremors felt throughout the world, amplified by the further destabilisation of faults, as well as the impact itself; and tidal waves over the Eastern coast of the Americas and the Western coasts of Europe and Africa. Quick response by superpowered individuals greatly reduces the loss of life, with even most of those previously considered villains pitching in to help. As one famously said, “What's the point of ruling the world if there's nothing left to rule?”

1935: First Contact ⁴⁾: The Thuun, a tall, 8 limbed race of extraterrestrials, arrive on Earth offering advanced technologies and help in rebuilding the crippled world. Initial attempts to examine the new tech or construct it from the designs provided are unsuccessful. The Thuun shrug this off as a symptom of Earth's less advanced science which will be eventually alleviated with proper education. Soon, Thuun devices are in most cities, providing food, fuel, and power from seemingly any raw materials.

1936-1956: The Great Betrayal: In the unseasonably cold summer of 1934, the Thuun devices begin to spew out strange insectoid robots, which proceed to cause chaos in the cities, destroying any factories, transport infrastructure, and power networks, to cripple the abilities of humanity to resist. Supers attempt to fight back, and manage to blunt the initial strike, but humanity has quickly become reliant on the near-miraculous Thuun devices, and it takes some time for the world to build up to fight a war. Over the next two decades, humanity finally manages to gain the upper hand and destroy the Thuun invaders. Humanity's defence is handled mainly by groups of supers rather than conventional armies, as the armies of the various empires are too underfunded and underequipped to mount a successful counterattack. The Spanish, Japanese and British Empires go as far as nationalising local superhero groups and pouring their resources into the supers rather than trying to fight a conventional war.

1956-1970: The Restoration: Humanity finally has a chance to rebuild from the previous disasters. The few other extraterrestrial visitors to Earth are treated with suspicion or outright hatred, even though most are single castaways or explorers rather than organised invaders. Attempts to analyse Thuun technology prove fruitless, as whatever it is based on ceases to function under close observation. The science needed to even attempt such study significantly advances the fields of particle and quantum physics, and results in the development of multi-purpose programmable computers. However, the replication abilities of the Thuun devices remains out of reach. During this period, many nations make successful bids for independence (some peaceful, some less so). By 1970 all of the former empires save Japan are reduced to their founding nation and a few small, scattered colonies. The Global Council is formed, an intergovernmental organisation designed to allow better diplomacy between the nations of the world, and to coordinate responses to further global catastrophes.

1967: The Australian Crisis: Separatists from New Zealand attack Australia, trying to cripple the British Empire. After their initial success, they manage to incite much of the populace into open revolt. Tragically, this draws the attention of a brilliant but disturbed scientist, Dr Atom. Wishing to prove himself by eliminating the country full of criminals (as he saw it), he detonates nuclear weapons in all major cities of the continent, effectively rendering them uninhabitable. Following this incident, the use of nuclear weapons becomes banned completely, and much tighter controls are placed on the availability of potentially weaponizable material.

1973: Following the Australia Crisis, Gamasot Laboratories purchase a large proportion of the now barely habitable continent, and relocate their research and development facilities there. The general scientific community drops all research into genetic powers.

1970-2020: Harmonisation of Law: Through the Global Council, reforms are proposed which result in certain minimal standards of law in each Empire. These define both acts which are prohibited globally and fundamental rights for citizens of Earth (a term which encompasses both humanity and naturalised aliens, now that the tensions from the Great Betrayal are reduced). A series of agreements makes it much easier for people and goods to move between nations, and a World Court is established as a final line of appeal where a case relates to the directives set down by the Global Council.

1992: First landing of a human on the Moon as part of an international project organised by the Global Council. The first extraterrestrial landing is estimated to have occurred in 1534 based on the remains of a waystation found there.

2007: A chemical spill in Aichi, Japan, results in an entire village gaining the ability to see through walls. This lead to the Treaty of Mombasa, enforcing considerably tighter controls on substances which can cause alteration of human abilities. However, the Treaty had limited effect, as the corresponding directive from the Global Council was considerably diluted. Many blame lobbying by Gamasot for the reduced controls.

2020-2050: Political union: Eventually, in 2020, the Accord of Singapore is signed, officially naming the former Global Council as the World Government, Drachma as the global currency, and establishing SPEAR as a combined international police, army, and intelligence service. Capital City is founded in Switzerland, and grows steadily until it covers most of the former country. Similarly to the old model, the World Government retains control over broad constitutional affairs, setting minimum standards for law and citizen rights, and other powers are left to the regional administrations. While the old empires still share some cultural connections, the nations which formerly controlled them find that most of the powers they held are now wielded instead by the World Government; and attempts to claw back further powers are met with fierce political resistance.

2022: The Rothwell Science Park was founded as a hub for scientific endeavour within Capital City.

2036: JeevesCorp announces the creation of the first sentient AI, later released in 2040 as the JEEVES personal assistant.

2038: The first public operations by Firebrand and Batallion, marking the emergence of the vigilante group Garuda.

2050-Present (2075): Actions by separatist groups and others seeking independence from the World Government cause a tightening of restrictions on individual states of the unified world. In theory, each still has its own laws. However, the mandate of SPEAR expands sufficiently that if those laws disagree with the directives of the Council, they are barely worth the paper they are written on.

2057: The SolarMax project is completed, an array of solar satellites which co-orbit with Earth, and beam the generated power back to a network of geostationary satellites, and ground hubs located on the equator. The project promises free energy for all, but network load balancing means that various super-cities (such as Capital City), or facilities which use a lot of power in a small area still require their own power stations. The location of the downbeam is declared a no-fly zone, as the energies involved would obliterate almost anyone who tries to fly through it.

2062-2064: The California Rebellion: Growing unrest in California comes to a height after an independence referendum concludes with a very narrow loss for those seeking independence. Allegations of fraud are thrown by the Californian Free State (as those seeking to govern the new state call themselves), which escalates into rioting and violence. Several supers supporting the independence cause mount a series of attacks on World Government institutions in the region. These are officially condemned by the CFS, but several years later it is discovered that high-ranking members of the CFS funded the attacks. The Gladius division of SPEAR are brought in as peacekeepers, but are unable to prevent all of the incidents. At the climax of the crisis, the CFS headquarters is destroyed, causing the death of most of the leadership of the independence movement. With much of their independence and funding cut off, the independence movement eventually quietens down. SPEAR have always maintained that the destruction of the CFS headquarters was the sole responsibility of Scream Shifter, an anarchist supervillain seeking to escalate the chaos. She was captured in 2068, and is currently imprisoned in Tartarus.

(More information on the geography page)

Approval ratings for the World Government hover around 40% globally, with many seeing it as a layer of bureaucratic busybodies who serve only to interfere in their daily lives. There is significant bad feeling in areas where World Government Directives have overridden local laws: for example setting price caps on essential services, declaring conservation areas in places earmarked for development, or ordering development in areas of importance to the locals. To add to the concerns of the separatists, the World Government has declared controls on superpowered individuals unconstitutional, ruling that a person should be judged for their actions, not their abilities. However, only around 30% of global citizens are pro-independence for their nation, as most are of the opinion that independence would leave them in an even worse position.

N.B. Superhero names (where applicable) are translated into English to ensure that their meaning comes across.

• The Trung Sisters: Military leaders in Vietnam (around 43 AD), they were born to a military family and grew up well versed in tactics and martial arts. In 40 AD, they assembled an army and overthrew the ruling Chinese forces, holding them back for three years until their eventual defeat. Their victory was helped in no small part by their ability to communicate with each other instantaneously, and by allies such as Phung Thi Chinh who fought beside them.
• Isis and Osiris: A pair of powerful mages in Egypt. The mythology surrounding them makes sifting out the history very confusing, but it seems Isis was an extremely talented healer, and Osiris exerted control over the waters of the Nile (enhancing or reducing the seasonal floods, depending on how his subjects pleased him).
• Gilgamesh: A king with superhuman strength, capable of building walls singlehandedly, and defeating monstrous creatures (which some speculate to be other supers, twisted in the tales by their bad reputation). Journeyed on an ultimately futile quest for eternal life.
• Alexander the Great: Apparently possessed of a great tactical mind, as well as the ability to strengthen those fighting near him, and enhanced awareness which allowed him to observe the ebb and flow of battle even as he fought within it. Alexander conquered most of the known world at the time, but following his disappearance at the age of 32, his empire crumbled.
• Boudica: Queen of the Iceni, scourge of the Roman Empire, she commanded the very land to rise up against the foreign oppressors. Her control over nature caused the ground to rupture under the Roman camps, the forests to lash out at their troops, and the brambles and briars to tangle over their roads. Her uprising eventually faltered, but only after the coordinated destruction of a huge area of woodland to nullify her powers.

• Hua Mulan: A shapeshifter, with a preferred female form and at least one attested male form (plus probably others). She served in the army in place of her ageing father and young brother. According to some historians, she acted as a spy once her powers were realised by her commanders.
• Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table: Arthur himself had inhuman strength, apparently able to cleave a man in two even with a blunted sword. He also had a sharp mind for politics, surrounding himself with the most powerful heroes he could find to rule over his lands. While many of the stories associated with him are true, it seems that Merlin is mostly a product of myth, or at least a conflation of several less powerful mages of the time.
• Vlad the Impaler: Better known in popular culture as Dracula, he had the power to absorb the life energy from those he killed, sustaining him and granting him health well beyond any normal person. Part of the Order of the Dragon, sworn to protect Christendom against their enemies, he gained a reputation for supreme cruelty, even amongst his fellows. Eventually, after a drawn out war against his own brother (who had joined the Ottoman Empire), and betrayed by his most trusted advisers, he was captured. Following his eventual release and retaking of his homeland, he was killed in unclear circumstances, finally bringing Wallachia under control of Constantinople.
• Genghis Khan: Born to a family with a natural affinity for horses, Genghis was by far the most powerful of his line. He could control the movements of hundreds of horses at a time, which, combined with his keen tactical mind and highly trained cavalry, made the Mongolian army devastating and allowed them to sweep across Asia and into Europe. He died at the age of 65, after his failing health caused him to fall from his horse while hunting. Due to his wish to have his body buried in an unmarked grave, rumours of his survival persisted for many decades, even as his empire fell apart.
• Tomoe Gozen: ”As a swordsman she was a warrior worth a thousand, ready to confront a demon or god”. Blessed with strength and speed far beyond any baseline human, Tomoe served as a samurai in 12th century Japan. Armed with an oversized sword, and a bow which few others could even half-draw, she strode into battle and lay waste to those who stood against her. Following the defeat of her commander - Minamoto no Yoshinaka - at the battle of Awazu, she gave up her sword and swore to lead a life of peace and obscurity.

• Moctezuma I: Fifth Emperor of the Aztecs (not to be confused with Moctezuma II, ninth Emperor, who ruled during the Spanish conquest). Under his reign, the Aztec Empire conquered or brought to heel many of the surrounding peoples. This was helped in no small part by his ability to reshape the landscape to his whim, creating high ground for his troops to attack from, and miring his enemies in marsh or rocky terrain.
• Hattori Hanzo: Despite his reputation as a ninja (indeed, he sets the archetype by which the ninja is judged in popular culture), his powers did not lie in stealth. In fact, he was a pyro, capable of flinging small wisps of energy which would detonate on impact, as distractions or to set fires in his target's provisions. His legendary ability to stay hidden, it seems, was entirely through training.
• Anne Bonny, Calico Jack and Mary Read: Each of these notorious pirates would have deserved an entry on this list alone, but together they made history, terrorising the Caribbean. Bonny could move objects with her mind, starting out as a small-time pickpocket. With practice, she could cause cannonballs to stop mid-flight before they hit her ship. Her first mate, Calico Jack, wove the weather, giving them favourable winds, and becalming or scuppering their pursuers. Read was a sharpshooter, at a time when most guns had an effective range measured in feet. Her customised pistols were more accurate than anything which would be produced for at least another century.
• The Moai: Originally thought to be mere ornamentation, study of the legends of the area and of the Moai themselves revealed them to in fact be an extended family of supers, whose bodies were made entirely of stone, and who grew to colossal proportions over the course of their lives. The Moai would rest for decades, and then rise up to defend the island if it were attacked, or aid in the event of natural disasters. Unfortunately, they did not prevent the ecological collapse which resulted from the excessive offerings to the Moai, attempting to reawaken them when they went dormant for the last time. The legends say that in time of great need, they will reanimate again to protect the island.
• Leonardo da Vinci: Italian polymath, excelling in seemingly every field he put his mind to, da Vinci also led a secret life as a protector of the streets. Accounts exist of criminals finding themselves strung up in ingenious traps as they attempted to escape a robbery, or groups of bravos intent on causing trouble being faced down by armoured vehicles. For centuries, it was unclear how da Vinci had such a knack for being in the right place at the right time, until renovations in Florence uncovered a small part of the network of cunningly mirrored tubes which allowed him (or more likely an accomplice working in his lab) to observe almost the entire city. Once archaeologists knew what to look for, similar networks were found in Rome, Bologna, and Venice, each converging on his base of operations in those cities.

• Thomas Edison (The Wizard of Menlo) and Nicola Tesla (Coil): Famous rivals in the growing “tech” super scene. Each created masterworks harnessing the power of electricity, and each advanced the cause of science significantly while trying to destroy the other. Their final confrontation reportedly ended with a bright flash, after which nothing but wisps of smoke and torn metal remained.
• Annie Oakley (Bullseye): Sharpshooter, performer, and bounty hunter. Oakley could famously hit any target using any gun. Her enhanced sight and sense of touch (studied intensively by the medical profession at the time) allowed her to feel the exact properties of the weapon she was holding, and predict exactly where the shot would go. During her career, she aided in the capture of several dangerous individuals, including both Edison and Tesla on occasions where their feuds had got out of hand.
• Shaka kaSenzangakhona: Monarch of the Zulu Kingdom, Shaka united large swathes of southern Africa: partially by force, partially by politics. His speedster powers may well have inspired his military tactics, using fast, lightly armoured spearmen who could overwhelm musketeers before they had the chance to reload.
• Thao Thep Kasattri & Thao Sri Sunthon: The wife and sister-in-law of the governor of Phuket province in the 18th century, these sisters had a rare talent for illusion. They successfully held off a five week invasion by Burmese forces by making it seem as if the borders of Siam were full of soldiers, right down to the glow of the fires at night, the murmur of covnersations on the wind, and the smell of fighters who have been encamped too long. This deception gave the Siamese army time to regroup for real, and repel the invasion.
• Ned Kelley: An infamous Australian outlaw, Kelley found initial success as a gold miner, using his control over metal to pull the precious metal out of the ground. Following police activity surrounding his family, he turned to a life of crime. Much of his time was spent evading capture, but he also staged several bank robberies, siphoning the gold out of any small gaps in the vault, or peeling the doors apart as if they were tissue under his hands. Famously, his last stand before he was captured saw him and his men in thick suits of armour which flowed around them, all manipulated by Kelley's powers.

• Ayako Minami (Bio Warrior Psi): Bio Warrior Psi held the bustling metropolis of Tokyo to ransom in the summer of 1928. She created a deadly disease with a trigger which only she could activate, and revealed her plan only after 90% of the city had been infected (as well as countless others throughout the Japanese Empire). She set a series of escalating demands, each requiring more resources than the last, including private islands built to her specification, all manner of luxuries, total immunity from prosecution and even her own private army of bodyguards. Eventually, following extensive research, a cure was distributed in what has been marked as probably the most successful secret operation of all time, resulting in only a few dozen fatalities when heroes working for the Japanese government finally came after Psi, as almost all the infected had been cured without her knowledge.
• COLOSSUS: A one in a million shot against a Thuun robot managed to cripple it without activating the auto-destruct mechanisms. While much of the weapon and armour technology was beyond the ability for scientists at the time to analyse, the electronic components could be reverse engineered. This not only advanced the fledgeling field of computer science significantly, but also gave humanity control of one of the Thuun robots. Early field tests showed that the other robets were not programmed to attack their own kind even if attacked, and so the captured robot, codenamed COLOSSUS, was used to liberate areas under Thuun control. Once the Thuun had been defeated, the lead scientists on the project took the decision to destroy COLOSSUS so that the powerful weapons it contained would not fall into the wrong hands. After a lengthy trial, they were imprisoned for this act of destroying government property, but public pressure and the advancements in computing that they had enabled meant that they only served a few years of their sentence.
• Gonzalo Rendón (The Gentle Surgeon): A renowned healer in Ecuador, The Gentle Surgeon travelled throughout South America healing the sick and founding hospitals, several of which still bear his name. He attracted quite a following, and brought much needed attention to the then-poor state of healthcare in the region. In his later life he campaigned for free and open access to healthcare throughout the world, resulting in a directive from the Global Council prescribing minimum standards of healthcare which must be available to all (either taxpayer funded or subsidised by less necessary treatments).
• Strike Force: An early precursor to the Aegis division of SPEAR, Strike Force were an international group who made it their mission to capture and contain the growing numbers of powerful supervillains. During their active service in the 1970s and 80s, they obtained agreements from most of the nations of the world (with the notable exception of Japan) to be able to act within their territory, and have acted as a model for superhero groups since.
• Marius Clarke (Dr Atom): A pioneer of the use of nuclear devices within the tech hero community, Doctor Atom defeated several high profile supervillains of the time. Unfortunately, his fanaticism got out of hand, and his response to the uprising in Australia in 1967 was to place large nuclear devices in all major cities. The devastation caused by this led to a total ban on nuclear weapons, and the incarceration of Dr Atom until his death in 2017.

• Program Aries: An early SPEAR initiative to create a “perfect soldier”, Aries was beset by many problems from the outset. Their use of poorly understood genetic modification techniques resulted in monstrosities which could barely be described as human, let alone perfect. As more and more disturbing reports came out, the project was shut down. The fallout was so bad that the entire scientific division of SPEAR was closed down, and any required work since has been contracted externally.
• [Identity redacted] (Silk Bullet): A pro-World Government sniper who was active during the California Rebellion, Silk Bullet specialised in flying to high altitude (using their natural abilities), and picking off their targets from miles above. Their identity has been kept secret for their safety, as they were involved in the apprehension of several high-profile supervillains before their retirement. While they were never officially a part of SPEAR, they have been pardoned for their vigilante activities due to the good that came from their work.
• Jane Flint (Scream Shifter): Born with the ability to manipulate sound, Scream Shifter would use her voice and her innate abilities to cause her targets to resonate, eventually making them tear themselves apart. This was effective at getting into bank vaults, secure compounds, and armoured cars, and allowed her to collapse the headquarters of the Californian Free State while their leaders were in full session, killing everyone inside. While her most high-profile crime targeted those rebelling against the World Government, the overall pattern appears to be intended purely to sow discord, rather than in favour of any particular side. She is currently held in a carefully designed totally dampened room in the heart of Tartarus following her capture by the Furies.
• Black Sapphire: An archaeological dig in Northern China uncovered a mysterious artefact, a stone which seemed to absorb all light, yet shine with a paradoxical radiance. Those who touched the stone found themselves beginning to turn into the same black jewel, as if they were statues carved from it, but retained their freedom of movement. In fact, they also gained strength, endurance, and no longer needed to eat or breathe. Unfortunately, the same transformation was experienced by any organic matter they came into contact with, and so the site was contained. Eventually, the gem was destroyed using high levels of radiation. This appeared to stop the contagion from spreading, but did not reverse the transformation. Several of those affected have since taken up careers as supers.
• Tai Laverne (Commodore Adamant): The Commodore was the figurehead for Adamant Industries, a corporation which sold a wide range of gadgets, armour and weaponry to those who wanted tech superpowers without the effort of making it themselves, or the cost of a bespoke solution. The Commodore used Adamant products in several daring and well-publicised missions, showing that heroes using off-the-shelf products could compete toe-to-toe with those using much more expensive or carefully designed equipment. Unfortunately, others who bought Adamant products were not so lucky - their equipment never seemed work as well as the Commodore's, and there were frequent technical malfunctions. Adamant Industries blamed these faults on incorrect use and maintenance, but there was sufficient suspicion to prompt the Oculus division of SPEAR to investigate. It turned out that the Commodore had not, in fact, been using Adamant products, but that they were a skilled mage specialising in combat magic and illusion. They used their prowess in combat to defeat their foes, and illusions to make it appear as if the barely-functional Adamant products were responsible. Tai Laverne was given a reduced sentence due to testifying against their former employers.

The future is not set. Those who have come from the future report very different outcomes for the world, ranging from eternities of peace to all out war, alien invasion, and/or plagues which nearly wipe out humanity. Equally, there are several travellers who arrived in the preceding decades who remember totally different versions of modern history (and due to their influence, nailing down the inventor of time travel has proven nearly impossible). It is unknown whether it is possible to return to your home timeline after travelling into the past, or whether you are stuck in the future caused by any changes you made. In most (but not all) futures, time travel has sufficient resource cost that it's not practical to perform except in extreme circumstances. Certainly, it would take a large percentage of the current world energy supply to achieve even a short hop by any currently known methods.

Following a spate of murders, and some interesting legal wrangling, it is not a defence to any crime to claim that it was performed in order to prevent worse things happening in the future. Similarly, while knowledge of the future may be somewhat accurate shortly after arrival in the past, the timelines tend to diverge quickly from there, and any future history quickly becomes irrelevant. Therefore, you may use such knowledge to justify Tropes in your backstory (e.g. playing the stock market to give you “resources”), but it will not give you any in-game advantage.

Note that time travel cannot be taken as a superpower, but you may play a character from the future, the past, or from an alternate present, with some explanation about how you got here. If you could time travel during the game, you would end up on a different timestream to the rest of the playerbase with no way of getting back, and would effectively make yourself unplayable (and it's also OOC a massive headache for the GMs). This is a broad prohibition, a power relying on “future you” sending back items and information which are relevant to your current situation would also not work - you will not be in the timestream where those items appear.