There are just two weeks to go until the hotly anticipated Capital City Independence Referendum. Following the revelations of corruption at the highest levels of the World Government, the Yes campaign have a landslide majority in the polls, suggesting that the city is almost certain to declare independence. There is no legal framework for the city declaring itself independent, but the Yes campaign believe that once the voice of the people has been heard there will be little the World Government can do but fold to the pressure.

[OOC Note: You can vote in a minor action]

Temple has been destroyed by what is thought to be a blast from a SolarMax satellite, with hundreds dead at the scene. How the satellite fired where it did is under urgent investigation by the World Government, but it is thought that a malevolent hacker must have been involved.

Strange rumours come from the site of the incineration, suggesting that Mercy, Punishment and a fire-breathing T-Rex were at Temple at the time.

All three SolarMax satellites have been violently deorbited, leading to global power loss and what many believe will be the largest humanitarian crisis in history. Scientists and engineers are already rushing to fix the problem, but the best estimates suggest that the SolarMax network will take several months to return to normal operation. While many of the largest cities have fusion reactors, the rest of the world has turned to old-fashioned technologies in order to survive. Shares in coal, oil and gas have skyrocketed, and the World Government has lifted the ban on polluting fuels for the duration of the crisis.

The last week saw a vicious cyberattack against the Al-Battani Space Station that wiped out its servers and destroyed the life support systems on board. No contact with the crew could be reestablished and for now, they are presumed dead. Meanwhile, investigations have yielded a warehouse rented by Aldwyn Drake as the origin of the signal that was used for the hack.

Our thoughts go out to the families of the brave astronauts.

Following a long and complex investigation, several members of the World Government have been arrested from charges ranging from conspiracy, to corruption, to murder and attempted mass murder, due to their involvement in an organisation known only as The Cabal. The Cabal were attempting to intiate a global war, in the misguided belief that only by having an arms race between factions of humanity could we ensure that we had the weapons to defend against extraterrestrial threats. Those arrested are:

Capital City:

• Mai Ngo - Chancellor
• Seong Han - Planning Commissioner
• August Geier - Security Commissioner

Subcouncils:

• Henry Chambers, plus 3 other members¹⁾ - North American Subcouncil
• Sofia Melendez, plus 2 other members - South American Subcouncil
• Claudia Burgstaller - Speaker, European Subcouncil
• Jon Forst, plus 6 other members - European Subcouncil
• Amariah Stefansson, plus 2 other members - Island States subcouncil
• Yi Saito, plus 1 other member - Asian subcouncil
• Khotso Marumo, plus 3 other members - African subcouncil

High Council:

• Tino Shumba, Nathaneal Evers²⁾, plus 6 others.

Despite the involvement of several of those arrested in the no confidence motions in SPEAR, there is still political will for the votes to go ahead, as critics are saying that this proves that law enforcement should be further divorced from the legislature, and that even if the dissolution of SPEAR was part of some grand conspiracy, there are still questions to be raised over the organisation.

That was the message emblazoned in hundred metre high scorched letters on a mountainside overlooking the city a couple weeks ago. Investigations at the scene found the after-effects of a major avalanche, and the body of Yeti - one of the Tartarus escapees - with multiple stab wounds.

(ooc: This news breaks hours before the summit)

Parliament has been attacked by a highly organised and extremely well trained group, who have taken the High Council and European Council hostage, as well as several members of the Chancellory and Committees who were present in the building. Shots have been heard from within, and the bodies of several security guards, and members of the council who were formerly superheroes have been thrown out. SPEAR troops are currently in a stand-off with the attackers, who are yet to issue any demands, except to say they they will kill anyone inside if there is any hint of an incoming attack.

The votes of no confidence in SPEAR, which were due to occur today, have been postponed due to the crisis.

Shortly after the attack on Parliament, The Core was taken over by a what seems to be the same group. Again, no demand has been issued, and for now power is still flowing normally. However, given the problems with SolarMax, and the blackouts affecting much of the rest of the world, removal of the Core's power could be disastrous. Footage from the attack shows the attackers gunning down Peter O'Neil and his son, who were on a visit to The Core at the time, as they were in the security office attempting to get an update on the Parliament situation, and apparently caught in the crossfire between the attackers and the guards.

In a heroic battle worthy of song and story, the dragon which destroyed large portions of The Forge was defeated, reportedly by The Arcane Archer, Lassitude, Jazaro, and with resources and coordination provided by Murdoch Marshall. During the attack, severe damage was sustained to buildings in the Bern district, but officials are saying that this is much less than the devastation which could have been caused had the dragon been allowed to roam free.

Thanks to numerous individuals, the Bunyips that were threatening both Capital City and various other locations around the globe have been defeated. Whilst damage caused by the creatures was high, had they not been killed or driven away, it could have been much worse. Officials are now looking for anyone able to deal with corpses larger than a building.

An unknown person or persons has vandalised the moon, only recently restored to its former glory. A large scorch mark across the centre of its face appears to be bleeding some form of black goop, which is slowly spreading. Numerous smaller scorch marks seem to be trying to spell something, but are presumed to be encrypted.

TRPLTDRS IQ BAPTH-PBAOE HORGSTAUZBR GFFEP SHWMEA

The vigilante known as The Artist is wanted for questioning, after similarities have been found to an old murder case in which the victim was found crushed with an anvil, apparently created by the same method. We appeal for any sightings, or information leading to their questioning or arrest, to be reported to the local police.

James Choi, CEO of Gamasot Laboratories and Dr Kelly Moon, Head of Research of the company were arrested, publically frogmarched to a police station local to the Choi Dome by Avalon, The Arcane Archer and Samuel Marvin. Numerous evidence of their crimes has been released online by the once-believed-dead VIrTuAl AdEpT.

JeevesCorp and Gamasot Laboratories recently underwent a corporate merge, forming new company JCG Technologies. The technological advancements the two companies made on their own means that the whole world is waiting with bated breath to see what they can accomplish together under the leadership of the previously unknown new CEO, Ms Liberty Jeeves.

“Dear JeevesCorp Customers and ELLIE Users,

We would like to thank you for all participating in the 36 week trial of our new search engine powered by the Electronic Logical and Linguistic Interaction Entity. Your feedback has been invaluable and we will act on it to make the next generation of AI and Search from JeevesCorp even better than the last.

The merger with Gamasot Laboratories will allow us to vastly improve our products as well, but in order to do this we need to build a merged approach from the ground up. Therefore, for the time being, we're retiring the public face of ELLIE and returning to a more traditional approach to Search. Not to worry, all of the functionality of ELLIE will remain and your experience with other JeevesCorp products will not be affected.

The new Chair of Biological Research of JCG Technologies, Dr Jack Stapleton, has put forward a call for volunteers for the testing of new superpower development. All testing will be conducted at the subject's own risk, but may result in new powers. In order to ensure the techniques are not leaked, memories may be suppressed, but a video of the subject giving consent for the procedure, as well as an explanation of what has been done will be maintained in all cases.

The Forge Relief Package, approved last month by the Chancellors, has so far failed to make any noticeable impression to people's lives. Speculations are rife that the vast sums of money have been intercepted en-route, and put to nefarious ends.

Friends, citizens, heroes. There is no easy way to say this, but the crisis we are facing runs deeper than you can imagine. Death is real, and each day the Horsemen come closer to riding out across this Earth. Enclosed in these files is everything I can give you - all the knowledge, tools and weapons I can distribute. Use them, build on them, and whatever else you find that works, spread the word so that others can keep fighting. It's one thing to say that monsters exist - that makes people run and scream and hide and fear. It's another to say that they can be fought, and another still to say that we can win. But I promise you, if a sad, lonely old man can do it then so can you. It's not just the supers, it's all of us: the time for heroes is now. And you - yes you - I'll be at the Kalamani. Come get me.

Years from now, although I cannot tell when - as we all know, the timeline is in a state of constant flux - the world as we know it will end. Eventually, things get too much and we hit the Apocalypse, and believe me that is not a word I use lightly - we are talking literal hellfire, brimstone, Four Horsemen, the works. In that future, there are tiny pockets of resistance who have refused to die, but they're pockets of cowering, fearing vulnerables just hoping that the horrors walking the Earth don't notice them and praying that they can wake up the next day.

We cause that. Supers.

I know that's going to be a difficult one for you all to swallow, but it's the truth as far as I know it. Allow me to explain: you'll all remember the stories of the old heroes, the tiny few who were gifted with extraordinary powers - King Arthur and his Knights, Alexander of Macedon, the legendary figures of our timeline - small in number and spread so thinly as to be almost entirely absent. Time has gone on and the “Super” population has increased, disproportionately so to the general population of humanity; part of this has been the rise of the tech-heroes, but they too are supernaturally gifted with intelligence and insight far beyond the average inventor. My point is this: that there is some external force acting upon the world, bestowing itself upon individuals and manifesting itself as preternatural abilities. Over time, this force has been growing and seeping into our world more and more, and it is that selfsame force that it all feeds off, that he feeds off.

The man I speak of is probably best known to you all as Death. Not a Super taking that name, but the very manifestation of the abstract concept. I've theorised that he has existed for countless aeons before the concept of Death was a glint in the human consciousness, much less something we characterised and anthropomorphised as a Grim Reaper - he took that form merely to suit his ends. I also believe that he is one half of the being some of you may have met, by the name of Life-and-Death. As you're all no doubt aware, various beings of greater concepts have split over the past few months, and this one is no different.

I'd like to tell you that the split can be stopped by stopping wanton death, by stopping killing or unduly harsh punishment; by stopping frivolous violence or dark thoughts, or by quelling the fear of Death that lies inside all of us somewhere. Indeed, I have told many of you this - I'm afraid it was a white lie. The truth is, his split seems inevitable and his rise to power unstoppable. The only solution I can propose is to cut off the power from which these beings draw breath and take form: we must stop our powers. We must cut off our connection to that outside force and swear off any use of it. That is the only way this world will survive.

If we are going to be heroes, then we cannot be super.

He is coming for me, and I can't stay here for long. For those of you wondering, I came through a passage from that future to try and stop it. If we win, I will have no reason to exist and will fade away into the aether.

I'm ready, are you?

A police report has been submitted accusing a man, known only as Mr. Rupert, of mental assault. Mr Rupert has been unavailable for comment.