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But mysterious figures prowl the dark waterfronts and Art Deco canyons of Arcadia, preying on the wicked. Hunted by the police and organized crime, these outcast heroes are a vigilante law unto themselves; agents of chaos in a well-ordered yet nonetheless corrupt society.
In Arcadia true heroism is about the individual fighting back against institutional corruption, social indifference and moral decline. This is a world of shadow, danger and bloody retribution. Several of the heroes located in Arcadia are X, Ghost, and Monster.
But there is trouble in this paradise: dreamers, the homeless and the dying see Golden City as their personal panacea. Outside the city gates lies an increasingly restless population of people wanting to enter the Golden City and partake of its dream. They have formed a squaters tent city. To combat this influx, Golden City has barricaded itself from the rest of the world.
A continent away, the United States government views the growing power of these modern gods with fear and suspicion. And among the city's elite there is a growing disenchantment with the status quo. The revolution is just awaiting a catalyst.
Recently, Golden City has become a Sovereign City-State. It has seceded from the U.S. under Grace's and Catalyst: Agents of Change guidance and protection.
Steel Harbor is a post-industrial nightmare where anyone who is willing to fight the war on the streets is welcomed. It is a city under siege from drugs, crime, pollution and gang warfare.
Here rival gangs led by superpowered thugs, vie for turf. Bounty Hunters patrol the streets and alleys. Those hardy few who are willing to fight to win back the streets are eaglerly welcomed and desperately needed.
Barb Wire, the Machine, Motorhead, and Wolf Gang are many of the heroes who have made Steel Harbor their home.
In 1947, an electromagnetic pulse disrupted Vortex's first test of the device, the machine exploded creating an interdimensional distortion known as the Vortex. The alien scientist, Vortex, was sucked into the distortion. The military soon became aware of the distortion, and locked it down as a top secret, high security, installation. Many men and women were transformed by the distortions energies, creating useful super powers in some, and horribly disfiguring others.
Decades later, the Seekers, aliens from the Swarm, came to Earth and drew Vortex from the distortion. Ever since then, Vortex has battled the coming swarm, and has retaken his base and erected a force field around it.
Cinnibar Flats is the home to the Vortex, Division 13, Hero Zero, and many other heroes and mutates.
A few miles away is the Cinnibar Flats U.S. Army Research Center - the secret entrance to The Vortex: a vast and mysterious underground complex where giant robots and unfathomable machines stand motionless, awaiting the day when their creator will return. This otherworldly enigma is now surrounded by a massive containment structure and cordoned off by the government and military - both of whom deny that anything out of the ordinary is going on, despite all evidence to the contrary.
Something happened here in 1947, something that changed the world forever - and it's about to happen again...
