The existence of extranormal entities traces its lineage back centuries, but they were far and few between, or, particularly in the case of magical beings, well contained from public knowledge, relegated to the realm of rumor and mythos. This only really changed in the 40s, and since then, the “eras” of metahumanity have been established by historians to understand trends of behavior amongst the superhuman community.
The Golden Age: Running through the mid 40s to mid 60s, this era is considered to have begun with the debut of Lady Liberty at the tail end of WWII, her being the first person to match the modern conception of a “superhero”, and end with the debut of Paragon. Powers back then were less flashy, less dramatic and frankly less powerful. Many heroes were completely unpowered, mystery men taking advantage of the ability of a mask to make a myth. Criminals had yet to fully embrace this tactic however, and the ratio of superheroes to supervillains far favored the heroes. This would be the last time this was true.
The Silver Age: Running through the mid 60s to mids 80s. An era characterized by a sharp spike in power, as well as in strangeness. New technologies created monsters and drew the attention of aliens, magic leaked into the world in greater numbers, villains embraced the idea of masks of their own as the number of enhanced beings spiked. Paragon was among the first and the greatest of this new generation, and set a good role model for how power should be used. There was an element of disbelief to the strangeness that would occur in this era, while an undercurrent of restraint on both sides was always employed, under an unspoken understanding of mutually assured destruction. This era came to an end with three decisive blows in the same year, Paragon’s death, a series of brutal murders of sidekicks, and the release of the deadly virus known as the Metaphage.
The Bronze Age: Running through the mid 80s to the mid aughts, the metaphage brought the level of power being wielded down considerably, and kept many outside influences away. Governments that had seen no hope in handling extranormals before now engaged them with a vengeance, and when the upper limit of power was no longer annihilation, conflicts could get more severe and more personal. A dark and bloody time, of old norms being broken and old bonds breaking apart. It was only when Paragon was reborn shortly after Boffin cured the metaphage that these dark days ended.
The Modern Age: So it is called now, so it will be until a new one arises. Running from the mid aughts to the present. The scars of the bronze age remain, but power has begun approaching the ridiculous levels of the silver age again, if not the extranormal population. A new generation of young heroes and villains inspire hope for a balance, for understanding, for a world that could heal from the violence of times past, but the bottle has been opened, and can’t be recorked. An edge lies below the surface, and when it surfaces is often hard to predict.
METADATA: Loosely based on the eras of superhero comics, and the elements of them that I often associate with my ideal of an era, though slightly more grounded in a consistency that is explained by more than changing audience tastes and the comics code authority. I like to set it up so that we are, based on pattern, on the cusp of another change.
