Rising Star History

Rising Star was America’s answer to Meta-human and mutant development. It was formed as a training facility to instruct those who had just become aware of their powers how to best use them for the good of man. It was the world’s best hope for peace.
Opening on January 1, 1962, the fifty students if Rising Star were greeted by the President of the United States and escorted into their new home for training. There new home was not as safe as most believed. From the beginning, Rising Star was plagued by bomb threats and a series of murders.

On the first night, Private Samuel Jones was suffocated while on guard duty. The lack of neat signatures, and low-level light were the only clues found on the surveillance cameras. Hence, someone with darkness powers had attacked the guard. There were over a dozen students in the base at the time that could have duplicated the feat any it was possible an outside force could also have killed the guard. There were many foreign nations who wanted the Rising Star projected ended. They saw it America’s storehouse of Super soldiers that were being trained to take over the world. Any of these nations could have sent an assassin to end the project.

The deaths continued for the next four nights. A janitor was found in a broom closet and had died of explosive decompression. Ten soldiers were confirmed killed, and nine others seriously injured during an explosion in the guard barracks. Two of the genetically enhanced guard dogs were also killed by explosive decompression. No clues were left behind at any of the crimes leaving Rising Star to cancel classes and place the school on red alert. The school was shut down until the investigation was finished.

Five students were allowed to help with the investigation because of their special abilities - Firefly, American Ninja, Rampage, Giking, and Ihni. Since each of these students were adapt with most of their powers, had some background in investigation, and could not duplicate the powers of the killer, they were given free rain of the compound to find clues to the death of the soldiers. Within a few days they had discovered that Sable, a student, had been hired by an outside force to stop Rising Star from ever starting. She had been incredibly cautious about leaving evidence, but her perfume and personal sent were impossible to hide from Rampage and his extraordinary sense of smell. His senses told him that Kinetica, the Minutemen who had recruited him, had been at all of the crime scenes. He knew this was impossible, since she was still in New York. He followed his senses and located Sable. To his surprise, she was Kinetica’s twin sister, had developed darkness powers, and was truly evil. She was eventually captured and placed in a holding cell in Rising Star until she could be properly detained.

As the year progressed, students were allowed to leave Rising Star on spring break. The students were sent in teams as part of a larger PR program. Team Alpha was sent to San Francisco and was quickly recruited to investigate the disappearance of a Titan Missile. There is an unofficial report that Team Alpha took out a Motorcycle gang, but the team did discover an organization unheard of until then called Viper. Viper had taken the missile and was planning to use it. Team Alpha managed to stop Viper and save the day. The team was rewarded with an additional week of spring break and PR duty. On April 1, 1962, the day they were due back, they never reported in. All searches for the team were inconclusive.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Rising Star students and military personnel stood side by side to defend the nation. The final conflict seemed imminent. For a brief moment, the world stood on the brink and cooler heads prevailed. The Soviets removed their missiles and the war was averted. The balance of terror was restored for the world.

On July 4, 1963, Team Alpha walked through the gates of Rising Star. They told tales of demons, magic, and witches. Isis and other instructors quickly took the team aside and examined them. It was discovered that the team had defeated a foe calling herself Queen Melikan VI. She was an inter-dimensional traveler who had come to Earth to extend her power of her dark Goddess, and to escape the evil plots of her daughter. She had created a dimensional rift, which had transmuted the very nature of reality in a 300-mile radius around the remote desert base. Others of her world had also come through the gate to help defeat her, and return Earth to its normal state. It had taken little over a year to accomplish the task, but Team Alpha had defeated her. However, the dimensional travelers left micro-fractures in the quantum matrix of the entire area, but left the team itself unharmed. Dazed that a year had passed, they quickly returned to their studies.

No one at Rising Star considered the fractures to be an issue until July 10, 1963. A shock wave from a blast hit the quantum fissures around the Rising Star compound in Arizona. The reality of the world cracked wide open. Overnight, a hundred thousand possibilities were born and died. Within twelve hours, the reality fractures stabilized…. sort of. The desert Southwest is split into several dozen Zones, each with its own reality, different rules, and different laws of Physics.

General Gerald Hathaway, commander of Rising Star, calls the students together to find out what has happened to the world. All communications have been cut off and the hot line to the White House is nothing by static. A semi-permeable wall has been detected around the base, blocking all mental powers, teleportation, and almost everything else. Thunderbird, a professor at the school, made a quick recon of the surrounding desert and returned with strange reports of ruins, horse drawn wagons, and the completely vacant city of Phoenix. General Hathaway sends teams in all directions to scout as far as they can and return with whatever answers to what is out there and what happened.

On July 12, 1963, General Hathaway resigns from Rising Star and retires to San Diego, California. He has complaints of psychological problems dealing with his grip on reality. Reports based on the General’s notes prove him to be unstable and disassociated with reality. He claims that the realities between the worlds have ruptured. There is no evidence to prove he is correct, but one of the students at Rising Star - Whisper a blind psychic, has disappeared. There are no records of the fractures in reality.

June 1, 1966 proved to be a crowing mark in Rising Stars history. It marked the first graduation class of the training facility. Eight students graduated and six immediately went into government service to for the Team called Ultraforce. The other two students, Vincent Jones, AKA the Rocketeer, and the Black Panther volunteered for the Army. A VC land mine was responsible for ending both of their careers.

In 1970, Champion, one of the founding members of Ultraforce, opts for a solo career and forms his own team called the Champions. He disbands the group four years latter for lack of funds. William Bennett immediately refinances the team. Whose only compensation for financing the team is for considerations he would state latter. The group agreed.

During this time, Ramses founds the country called Quaadam, and his capital city of Acheron. He manages to seize a thirty-mile stretch of land during the Arab-Israeli War. Attempts by both nations fail to recover the land from Ramses. His forces are too powerful. Shortly afterward, Ramses declares himself Pharaoh of Quaadam.

The considerations of William Bennett would be called in on September of 1972. A rebel force was threatening to topple a small South American country that was a key interest of his. The Dictator General Javier Del Santos, ‘A Great American Friend of Business,’ was threatened to be deposed, and this could not happen. To many American interests would be lost. The Champions were asked by Mr. Bennett to assist the Santos forces and help change the tide of the battle. They had no recourse but to agree. With their help, the General crushed the 30,000 “rebels” who were massacred in the battle. An investigation proved the ‘rebels’ were no more mostly women and children who were caught in the struggle. A congressional committee was formed to investigate the affair. The report remained sealed, and the Champions disbanded.

After the affair, Champion and several groups of investors lead by William Bennett formed a company to supply superhero services. This service was presented to every city in the United States with a hefty one million dollar price tag. If cities wanted superhuman protection, Power Corps was the source for their needs.

April 17, 1974, the blackest day in superhero history. Ultraforce began a rampage of crime and devastation across the United States. It took over four months, but Ultraforce was finally defeated Champion and his hand picked team. During the rain of terror, Ultraforce had managed to kill or maim the third and forth year Rising Star students sent to stop them. Rising Star itself was destroyed and over 25 first and second years students who were present - all but three were killed. It took four hours and a battle through three states, but the special Power Corps team was triumphant.