History
Timeline
This is a timeline of City and World events leading up to the start of the game.
1868 to 1877: The city of Century Station was founded as a mining town due to the discovery of a legendary silver vein known as Diablo Verde.
1877: As the silver vein dried up, the town shifted to shipping and then eventually, manufacturing.
1877 to 1945: Century Station thrived as a manufacturing town.
1945 to 1963: The city’s reliance on manufacturing since the late 1800’s backfired as overseas competition forced nearly all of the city’s manufacturing companies and facilities to close. This left the large city impoverished, virtually deserted in places, and stuck with a rapidly growing crime problem.
1963: Anna Barnes revealed the existence of super-humans to the world by very publicly using her gateway-making powers to save an airliner, becoming the first public “Super Hero.” This was followed quickly by public revelation of the world’s first “Super Villain,” a man by the name of Morbius.
1963 to 1980: More and more super-humans entered the public eye. It was soon revealed that super-humans fought in WWII but governments covered it up as they sought to understand the phenomenon. Publicly the U.S. government backed Super Heroes; Texas senator Amber Waves pushed strongly for that backing as well as super-human rights and identity protection. Century Station saw a number of Super Heroes become publicly active as heroes to combat the city’s crime problem, with limited success.
1980: Secret experiments by the U.S. government to create super-humans were exposed. Since WWII the government sponsored numerous unethical programs to try and create super-humans. Many of the “second generation” of heroes resulted from these experiments. Tragically, even more people perished or were gruesomely mutated. Public backlash against the government and every hero it sponsored was swift.
1981 to 2000: Super-human activities move out of the main public eye. Heroes and Villains still abound, but the backlash against the first and second generations causes the new generation to stay under the radar and out of the limelight. The laws protecting super-humans began to erode without public support or government backing. Crime rates rose again in Century Station despite the efforts of underground heroes.
2000: The Daedalus Foundation came to Century Station to start Project Daedalus. Century Station became an autonomous District. Opponents to Project Daedalus were finally silenced once Dr. Sarnoff proved Cold Fusion was viable. Things began turning around for Century Station.
2010: Project Daedalus went live. Clean energy for everyone! Century Station entered an unprecedented boom period.
2015: The alien TMC officer Alpha Prime arrived under the authority of an ancient alien law called The Covenant. She dismantled Century Station’s hopes and dreams by arresting the lead behind scientist behind Project Daedalus (who was an alien) and confiscating all technology built upon his alien principles. The government allowed it as a show of cooperation. The Council of Industry also supported the confiscation of all the alien technology, thinking they could profitably fill the void left behind.
2016: One year later, the Council of Industry’s facilities were all up and running but not doing nearly enough to matter. Crime began to skyrocket as the city’s prospects nose-dived. The Council of Industry began to publicly sponsor Super Heroes as a P.R. move to combat the rise in crime. Other companies began to follow suit. The government also publicly sponsored heroes again, but in much more limited numbers.
2016 to 2019: With corporations backing them and the scandals of the last century in the past, Super Heroes were accepted by the public again. Laws were enacted to support Corporate backing of heroes. Despite the best efforts of super-humans, the government, and the Council of Industry, crime still skyrocketed in Century Station.
2019: The Bloody Monday riots happened. Mayor Ransom stepped down/retired, Mayor Zardona was elected for a 5 year term. The new mayor was fully backed by the Council of Industry. He did not kowtow to them, however, and a rift between Century Station government and the Council formed for the first time since before Daedalus.
2019 to 2024: Mayor Zardona enacted numerous projects to try and turn the city around with varying degrees of success. After the tragedy of the Bloody Monday riots it became illegal to operate as a “Super Hero” without a Corporate or Government sponsor. Those who operated without a backer were dubbed “Mavericks.”
2024: Modern Day. Century Station’s come a long way toward improving. Mayor Zardona is nearing the end of his 5 year term and his programs, though they’ve helped immensely, still have a long way to go in order to satisfy the requirements given to him by the Federal Government.