He was first sighted on May 20th, 1982.

Naked, with hair and skin in a color closer to

burnished gold than any human tone. He would soon become known by the first and only word
anyone ever heard him utter - “Scion”. The first and greatest of what experts would dub
“parahumans”, and more commonly known as “capes” to the public. From that point on, he
worked tirelessly, nonstop, all over the world, rescuing orphans and putting out fires.
His appearance and abilities were no fluke, no isolated event. More and more powered
individuals would appear, and with them, the first superheroes. There were supervillains, of
course, but humanity seemed to be on the verge of a golden age, with the fantastic abilities of
these men and women. Then, in 1989, one of the first public heroes, Vikare, was killed. Clubbed
over the head during a riot, he was revealed to be Andrew Hawke. A normal man, other than his
abilities. The golden age was over as quickly as it had started. Heroes were just humans like
you and me, after all, and organizations would be formed to oversee them. The Protectorate,
and its overseeing authority, the Parahuman Response Team, were formed in 1991. They
would shortly after face their greatest and most dangerous trial. The Endbringers. Less than a
year after the formation of the PRT, the monster known as Behemoth destroyed São Paulo. In
the next couple of years, two more emerged, called Leviathan, and The Simurgh. The monsters
were invincible, each dangerous in their own unique way, and they waged a constant war
against humanity, striking like clockwork, hitting where it would seem to do the most damage
and leaving millions dead in their wake. Parahuman abilities seemed to be their only weakness,
but even the combined efforts of Scion and the members of the Triumvirate, the most powerful
heroes known to mankind, only manage to turn back these monsters, never defeat them.
Crime and violence start to rise. Powers only appear in those most grievously injured or
psychologically and emotionally damaged, often to disastrous effect. The Endbringers erode
global society, invincible, dozens of parahumans dying in every fight just to buy humanity a little
more time. South America has governments in name only, as superpowered narco-cartels own
the continent and the countries on it. Japan is effectively a third world country, after Leviathan
swamps the island of Kyushu with tidal waves from all directions, killing 9 million and displacing
3 million more in a country with little land to begin with. Russian leadership changes daily, as
the remnants of the mafia and the KGB jockey with paramilitary cape organizations for power,
while a newly imperial China established an emperor and closed itself to the world. The
governments of Europe have gotten used to emergency elections, as the dangerous women
known as the Three Blasphemies assassinate leaders, seemingly on a whim. Flamboyant ‘hots’
in India dazzle the public while the ‘colds’ wage a deadly shadow war in the background. At
home in the United States resides the single largest population of capes in any one country,
more than two-thirds of whom are criminals. Villains.

Welcome to Worm. Welcome to WeaverDice.

General Information:
PRT:
The Parahuman Response Team is the paramount parahuman-centric organization in
the United States and Canada, with Mexico currently in talks to join. It is directly overseen by
the federal government. The PRT is a civilian organization staffed by non-capes charged with
oversight of Protectorate teams, which are composed of capes. While Protectorate teams have
varying group dynamics and leadership structures, they answer directly to the leadership of their
respective PRT Department, which includes control over pay, branding and marketing,
deployment and patrols, and possible disciplinary action. There is also Wards program for
juveniles with powers, focused on providing a stable environment for them to come to terms with
their abilities and develop as individuals.
Most PRT Departments maintain squads of troopers akin to SWAT. These are non-
capes given special training and equipment to deal with parahuman criminals. The most notable
of these tools is a substance called ‘containment foam’, which is a porous material that hardens
into concrete durability within seconds upon contact with air. PRT troopers will often patrol with
Protectorate capes or assist them in combat, as well as perform peace officer functions when
necessary, especially when ordinary police are confronted with parahuman criminals that cannot
be handled by normal law enforcement.
The PRT is organized into Departments, with number designations reserved for major
cities in the US and Canada. Special designations also exist, usually cardinal directions or
letters, for Departments established as special needs arise. These are often in charge of
specially designated HSoV (Hives of Scum and Villainy), cities with cape and especially villain
populations that have become unmanageably large. There are also several specially designated
departments in charge of containment zones, established around the realms of especially
dangerous or unhinged parahumans who cannot be apprehended, or areas otherwise
contaminated by fallout from Endbringer or parahuman abilities. DEPT_01 is located in New
York City, and also serves as HQ for the wider PRT. The most recently established Department
is DEPT_64, located in Anchorage, Alaska. Each Department is overseen by a Director, who
are in turn overseen by the Chief Director, Rebecca Costa-Brown.

Capes in North America:

In the United States and Canada, capes are generally divided into Heroes and Villains,
perhaps due to the influence of decades of superhero comic books before they became real.
There is little grey area, and it’s a generally accepted sociological phenomena that capes rarely
tend to use their powers for anything other than combating other capes or other general combat
pursuits. The relatively few capes who use their powers for entertainment or business pursuits
are termed “Rogues”. Heroes may be anyone from independent neighborhood patrol types to
Protectorate heroes. Similarly, the “Villain” label may be applied to anyone from petty drug
dealers to city-spanning crime lords.
The reason for this clear ideological division lies with the prolific amount of parahuman
criminals in the United States and reliance on what is termed the “unwritten rules”. Parahuman
powers can be incredibly destructive, and if law enforcement brought the full arm of the law
down on parahuman criminals it could quickly spiral out into open warfare in the streets.
Criminals show each other similar courtesies, to prevent a similar crackdown. There are a
number of rules that both heroes and villains adhere to maintain a facade of civility when people
with superhuman abilities clash.
Lethal force is generally frowned upon, especially the open carry and usage of firearms.
Carrying a gun indicates a willingness to use it, and that you’re willing to fall back to the easy
way out if you start to lose a fight. Sexual assault is similarly frowned upon. Capes are expected
to avoid grievous injuries to civilians if possible. Targeting someone in their civilian identity, as
well as those related to them in their private life, is verboten, and even the heroes follow this
rule for all but the most violent of criminals. There are serious legal repercussions for revealing
a cape’s identity, even for villains. The unwritten rules are upheld by everyone involved for a
number of reasons. The PRT has a vested interest in maintaining law and order, and ironically,
letting minor villains slide occasionally helps, as it prevents knock-down-drag-out fights in the
street, with untold amounts of property damage and civilian casualties. Among villains, it
indicates “reasonability” - you’re willing to negotiate and avoid costly turf disputes. Most
importantly, though, is the “Endbringer Truce”.
Endbringers are among what are termed “S-Class” threats by the PRT, threats so
devastating that city-wide destruction is the minimum amount of damage they inflict, threats that
call for an all-hands response. While the Endbringers are above and beyond others, it’s not
particularly uncommon for runaway powers or particularly heinous villains to constitute such a
threat. In case of an Endbringer attack or similar, powers are often the only useful tactical
response. Villain and hero alike put aside their differences to combat a threat that could kill
millions. If the PRT were to try and round up villains en masse after such a fight, they could
quickly find themselves running out of help at life-and-death crises.

Designations:
The PRT has specific terminology they use to refer to certain types of powers. For the
PRT, these represent metered code-words, that when shouted in combat, indicate that certain
types of strategies should be preferred. For instance, “Brute 2” indicates that a parahuman is
superhumanly durable and more-or-less immune to normal gunfire. Someone labeled “Brute 8”
or higher may be so durable as to defy normal offensive measures, or effectively immortal
through other means. These codes have sunk into common usage enough that the general
public uses them to label powers as well. It is important to note, however, that these labels
represent a myriad of PRT combat threat responses to different types of powers, and do not
reflect at all on the true nature or operation of powers, though they can be generally applied to
certain types of “triggers”, explained below. These designations also allow PRT Directors to cut
through red tape on the deployment of specialized assets, so it is not uncommon for a
particularly hard to pin down villain to be slapped with a myriad of lesser ratings.
● Mover - the power moves the cape. Flight, speed, teleportation, etc.
Mover triggers are provoked by a drive to escape, flee, run
● Shaker - Area of effect powers and battlefield control.
Shakers are generated from environmental danger or ambient danger.
● Brute - Enhanced strength, durability; armor, muscle, personal forcefields.
Brutes are created from experiences of physical damage or pain.
● Blaster - Powers that provide a ranged attack.
Blasters come about from hostile others, approaching or attacking from a distance.
● Breaker - Altered state, oft toggled, granting powers or altered interaction with reality.
Breakers come from abstract stressors. Blend or ambiguous re: mental or physical
lines.
● Master - Creates minions or has a means of compelling others to take certain actions.
Masters come about from isolation, alienation, exile, or betrayal.
 ● Tinker - Building alien or advanced technology.
Tinkers arise from solutionless problems over long periods, culminating in crisis moment.
● Thinker - Advanced perception, knowledge, data-collection, or skills.
Thinkers manifest from emotional or mental strain, reaching a crisis point in a short time.
● Striker - Touch based and melee effects. Typically weapon’s or arm’s reach limited.
Strikers result from immediate, in-your-face threat, usually a singular object or individual.
● Changer - Shapeshifting and alteration of one’s physical form.
Changers arise from identity/body image issues, or conflict of role vs. social
expectations.
● Trump - Powers that involve powers: picking from, add, remove, complicate, compound.
Trumps have capes directly or indirectly involved in their trigger. Rare.
● Stranger - Powers specializing in infiltration, distraction, subtlety.
Strangers gain powers from unwanted attention or social/collective pressure.

Other Terminology:
There are some terms used in the Wormverse that are significant and worth noting:
● “Kill Order” - If a parahuman is considered particularly heinous and dangerous,
impossible to apprehend by any other method, the PRT may put out a Kill Order. Such
orders are not given lightly, and require the villain in question to surpass certain markers
in property damage and casualties, as well as a unanimous vote by the PRT Directors in
the region. Upon the issuance of a Kill Order, the PRT declares itself hands-off. The
crazies come out of the woodworks, far more dangerous than your average cape,
chomping at the bit for a chance to kill and do it legally. The PRT provides a bounty that
can be contributed to by people who have a particularly vested interest in seeing this
person dead. Whoever executes the Kill Order is entitled to it’s collection, regardless of
their own criminal history. They walk into the local PRT office and collect the bounty
unmolested, even if they are a multiple-murderer themselves. Hence, the PRT is loathe
to issue Kill Orders, as for them, they signify a breakdown in law and order, and a failure
on their part to apprehend dangerous criminals through proper judicial process.
● “Birdcage” - formally known as the “Baumann Parahuman Containment Center”,
Birdcage is the hole in the ground the PRT places the most dangerous and unhinged
criminals it captures. Given the nature of the criminals, transportation is often a difficult
endeavour, but once interred, not one has escaped. The Birdcage is located somewhere
to the north of Vancouver, and is maintained by the world’s greatest tinker, Dragon.
● “Trigger” - The event that triggers the emergence of powers in an individual. Trigger
events are generally intensely traumatic and could easily be considered the worst day of
the triggerees life. It's estimated that for every person who has triggered, there are five
more with the ability to trigger. Rarely, a second, similarly traumatic event can provoke a
“second trigger”, causing the parahuman’s abilities to change or increase in power.
● “Manton limit” - the general trend of powers to affect only organic matter or inorganic
matter, but not both. This is only a generally observed trend among powers and should
not be taken as an absolute. Named after a famous parahuman researcher named
William Manton who disappeared sometime in the early 90s.
the Triumvirate
The greatest heroes known to man, they represent the front line at every Endbringer
fight and represent the best of humanity in a world that sometimes seems to be in the brink of
collapse. The Triumvirate consists of:
● Alexandria - Speeding bullets and locomotives have nothing on her. Dressed in somber
colors with a flowing black cape, a tower emblazoned on her chest, Alexandria can fly in
speeds well in excess of Mach 6 and is for all intents and purposes, invincible. Her
powerset is common enough that Mover/Brute power combos are often called
“Alexandria packages”, but she far and away represents the pinnacle. She has only
been seen to be injured once, in a fight against the villains known as the Slaughterhouse
9, but seems none worse for the wear.
● Legend - a handsome man in a lightning blue bodysuit, Legend is mobile artillery,
unleashing a barrage of hundreds of laser bolts on his targets, which among other
things, can turn corners and freeze targets. He is even faster than Alexandria, crossing
the world in seconds when necessary. He's also openly gay and married to his partner,
something which has done wonders for LGBT acceptance.
● Eidolon - the most powerful man in the world bar Scion, Eidolon has displayed
hundreds of different powers over the years, from flight and super strength, to more
exotic abilities involving energy and time manipulation. He wears green-blue robes that
seem to glow from within.
There was also a fourth member of the Triumvirate, a tinker called Hero, but he was killed in
the same fight with the Slaughterhouse 9 that injured Alexandria.

Endbringers
Humanity's ultimate enemy. The Endbringers attack human civilization on a massive
scale, like clockwork. The timing of attacks can be predicted, but never the location, and it's not
uncommon for them to attack seemingly insignificant places, only for something far uglier to be
uncovered in the aftermath of the attack. Each monster is responsible for the death of millions of
civilians and hundreds of capes, the dollar amount too high to even be counted. There are three
Endbringers:
● Behemoth - a hulking monstrosity over 80 tons and 3 stories tall, Behemoth is a red and
black titan with a single burning eye, covered in obsidian horns and claws. Known as the
“Herokiller”, he is responsible for more cape deaths than his siblings combined. A
dynakinetic on a massive scale, he instantly kills heroes who are insufficiently durable by
boiling them from the inside at a distance of 50 yards, and striking even further with
directed lightning that doesn't seem to care about the path of least resistance. Capes
utilizing directed energy attacks can expect a “return to sender”.
● Leviathan - smaller and less immediately lethal than Behemoth (not that that means
much), Leviathan makes up for it in sheer destruction, arriving with millions of gallons of
water at coastal cities, wiping them off the map with massive tidal waves. He's smaller
than Behemoth but frighteningly quick, moving so quickly underwater that he might as
well be teleporting. A “water shadow” also follows him in fights, dropping hundreds of
tons of water and ensuring his favorite weapon is always at hand. Other than the
damage done to Kyushu, Leviathan has also sunk the island of Newfoundland in its
 entirety by generating underwater pressures immense enough to crack the continental
shelf the island sat on.
● the Simurgh - Perhaps the most horrifying of the three, the Simurgh takes the form of a
beautiful, pale woman nearly a story tall, with six massive, angelic wings. The Simurgh is
a large-scale telekinetic, still precise enough to assemble advanced technology and
weapons en masse. Her true weapon, however, is far more insidious. The Simurgh is
considered the weakest and most fragile of the Endbringers, and the most easily driven
off. Unfortunately, she loses the battle, but always wins the war. The Simurgh possesses
a psychic scream that irreparably damages the psyche of those in range, assembling
them into Rube Goldberg machines of heinous slaughter. Europe suffered from months
after her first appearance in Lausanne, Switzerland, as those thought to be safe would
spontaneously go from loving family members and dutiful citizens to terrorists committing
unimaginable acts of cruelty and destruction at the drop of a hat. The only remotely
useful counter found so far is to simply seal off sites of her attacks, along with everyone
who was at the location. Permanently.