For people who remember Superguy or are just curious about stuff that comes out of my head.

[demiurgent]

When I write backstory, it's usually encyclopedic. It's just the way my brain is organized. You should see the Wikis I've been working on for various writing projects.

Well, for various reasons, I had some Superguy stuff run through my head, and some future extrapolation. And it occurred to me that one day 'Wikipedia' would try to take over the world. So, for anyone who gives any kind of damn, here's two 'Omnipedia' entries. The funny thing is, these are potentially adaptable out of Superguy entirely.

As a side note -- it's fun to occasionally postulate that in the real world? Magneto would have a point.

Read if you want.

OMNIPEDIA
"One Tome to Rule Them All, One Tome to Find Them. One Tome to Bring them all and in the Darkness Define Them."

Category: Culture: Modern Street Gangs

META'D

The Meta'd (pronounced 'metaed') are a loose network of related 'sets' or street gangs in major metropolitan centers of the United States. Originally centered in the Midwest, particularly Chicago and Detroit, the Meta'd now have significant concentrations in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and the Pacific Northwest. Unlike most street gangs, the Meta'd typically organize around paranormals (thus the word 'meta'd,' which is derived from the slang term 'meta,' which means superhuman or paranormal human), and so often individual sets of Meta'd can rival much larger non-superpowered (or "norm") gangs in power and influence. Meta'd are typically identified by wearing blaze orange (the color typically worn by hunters), with different sets using different applications to denote their individual set allegiances. Some sets of Meta'd have rivalries as intense as any the Meta'd have with external street gangs. Meta'd are often associated with the more militant side of neo-punk music.

HISTORY

The Meta'd first appeared in Chicago, when Ted "Slash" Condit and Roberto "Burn" Gabriel struck up a friendship, though they were members of rival norm street gangs. The pair realized they had more in common than they had with their gang members, and both knew other paranormals (generally with limited powersets) who found themselves marginalized even within their own gangs or separate from themselves. Forswearing their old allegiances, they founded the L-Train Loop Meta'd in 2014.

The Meta'd grew in Chicago and the ideas began to spread to other cities almost immediately. To a certain degree, this caught authorities by surprise, since there was little indication that paranormality had become quite this common. (The conventional wisdom to that point had the rate of American paranormality -- which was believed to be a higher concentration than the rest of the world -- was approximately 1 in 1.1 million. By that standard, statistically there should have only been two or three paranormals in all of metropolitan Chicago. Instead, the Meta'd of Chicago had grown to 50 members in various loosely affiliated sets by 2015. While some no doubt came from other cities, there was clearly a much higher native paranormal population than was previously expected. Some sociologists believe that due to discomfort with their abilities (and the differences perceived between themselves and normals) a high percentage of metahumans with limited powersets never reveal themselves as paranormal -- with the appearance of the Meta'd, these paranormals -- particularly those from disenfranchised, disadvantaged or economically depressed or otherwise dysfunctional conditions -- found the idea of a safe haven very appealing.

Over the next several years, the different sets of Meta'd have grown and flourished in and around other gang cultures. As Neo-punk began to gain traction in urban areas, many Neo-punk artists have developed strong ties to the Meta'd community, with groups such as the Cheshire Kittens and Death of Superguy using Meta'd as security for their venues. (The Cheshire Kittens typically wear blaze orange on stage, identifying themselves with the Meta'd directly, though it's not not know what if any set they were ever actually part of.)

THE META'D TODAY

The Meta'd have known sets in Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, New York City, Miami, Baltimore and Boston. The sets are at best loosely affiliated, and rival sets have been known to emerge in the same city. At the same time, Meta'd typically stick together when threatened by norm gangs, so many norm gangs simply leave the Meta'd alone.

Gang income comes from the usual sources -- protection/extortion money from their neighborhoods, crime, petty theft, being hired out by bodyguards (particularly among neo-punk artists and the neo-punk community), and in some situations controlling drugs and/or prostitution in their areas. Most sets -- even those who run drugs to norms -- eschew drug use themselves for safety reasons and to set them apart from norms. Some sets specialize in the so-called Power drugs that grant some measure of paranormality to normals for brief periods of time as part of their effect (or side effect). There are rumors that some cut these drugs (or make them unusually pure), either in an attempt to injure norms or to drive the creation of new permanent metahumans. Gang representatives dismiss such claims as propaganda.

One interesting division between sets are their attitudes towards sympathetic norm gangs. Some sets of Meta'd form alliances with norm gang sets as part of a mutual protection pact (these are called the "Live" Meta'd, for "live and let live."). Others eschew all such alliances as a violation of what the Meta'd stand for (these are known as the "Pure" Meta'd). One of the best known of these schisms is in the Seattle Meta'd community. The Aurora Street Meta'd are a set of Live Meta'd directly tied to a norm street gang that calls themselves the Aurora Street Metabees (for "Meta-wannabe"). The Metabees wear bright shocking green bandanas on their left upper arms. The Aurora Street Meta'd wear their orange bandanas on their left upper arms and a darker green bandana underneath it. In contrast, the Broadway 2-Told Meta'd, from the Broadway neighborhood, are a strictly Pure Meta'd set who guard their territory from any encroaching norm gang activity, and wear their blaze orange on their right arms. (And naturally wear no green colors at all.)

POLITICS AND SOCIOLOGY

One common trait between Live Meta'd and Pure Meta'd is in the political arena. Many Meta'd actively campaign for broader acceptance of metahumans in society. The restriction of paranormals from such lucrative careers as professional sports (often seen as a route off of the streets for athletic norms, but denied to metahumans as unfair to human competitors) and various legislation designed to maintain public order and enforce fair business practices are seen as blatantly discriminatory against the metahuman community by a significant percentage of the Meta'd.

More radical elements within the Meta'd hold forth that the superior abilities the Meta'd possess should yield superior privilege -- that if metas were given unrestricted access to the opportunities the norms enjoy, then metas would swiftly displace norms at the top of the social order. They call for immediate abolition of all legislation restricting paranormality and its expression in legitimate business, holding forth that given equal opportunity, metahumans will swiftly outcompete normals. They also hold that this truth is self-evident to the point that normals actively conspire to oppress metahumans, in order to preserve norm prerogatives. Finally, some sets of Meta'd believe themselves wholly above norm law, since the laws are written to benefit norms over metas.

One prevailing theory among cultural anthropologists and sociologists is that with the decline in the past two decades of so-called "Supervillain activity" (in particular the grandiose schemes of potential world-conquerers, many of whom employed low level or otherwise less potent metahumans), the paranormal elements of law enforcement are seen less as protectors and more as oppressors by the underclass. Absent a more ritualized "supervillainous" outlet, they find themselves collecting and developing into ganglike structures. Certainly, a key component of the Meta'd philosophy is that "super heroes" are traitors to their race, acting to protect norms instead of exalt metas. Meta'd have similar responses to the concept of secret identities -- finding such 'passing' behavior to be the social equivalent of closeted homosexuals, who feel they will have their rights infringed upon and become social outcasts should their secret be revealed. The act of concealing one's paranormalities so that they can appear 'normal' is referred to in Meta'd circles as "bluesuiting," from a speech given by Meta'd activist Helen "Cold-T" Taylor:

"You know what I'm talking about. The god lands on Earth, and conceals his spandex suit and bright red cape. He puts on a blue suit and tie that makes him look stiff and awkward, and combs his hair to look unexceptional. His eyes are much better than human eyes, but he puts on glasses so he looks weak, and frail. He clothes himself not only in mundanity but in depectitude, and acts the part of the awkward fool, so no one suspects he is not a man, but a god. The Meta'd reject these blue suits. They reject these glasses if we do not need them to see. We reject the idea that we must not just conform but present as inferior to the normals around us. We stand before you proud, distinctive, and dare I say it superior. We embrace our godhood."

Another catchphrase of Meta'd philosophy is the principle of "Just Clever Enough," which is held up as a key component of norm oppression of metahumanity. This too comes from a Meta'd activist's speech -- in this case, Charles Foster White ("I.Q. Nu") of San Francisco's Wharfside Meta'ds:

"We threaten norms because we outdo them in every way. The golden trait of humanity over all other species has always been intelligence. They think, they rationalize, they use language, and they conceptualize, and so they can master lions and tigers that are stronger and faster and more physically robust. And now there are metas. And one of the four most common metahuman expressions is enhanced intellect. Metas think better than norms. Metas rationalize with greater facility and sophistication than norms. Metas can develop languages and concepts norms cannot begin to keep up with. If intelligence is the great advantage of humanity, then humanity is doomed.

"However, the norms have figured something crucial out. While they stand at the top of the heap, they do not need to be smarter than metas. They do not need to be more clever than metas. They do not need to be better than metas. They simply have to be just clever enough. They have to be just clever enough to pass laws that say we cannot use our powers in the course of human affairs. They have to be just clever enough to lift some of our most powerful up, and convince them to act on behalf of norms over metas, to negate our advantages. They have to be just clever enough to consistently act in their own best interest instead of in the interests of a greater justice. They have to be just clever enough to know that if they keep us minimized and disorganized we cannot pose a threat to them no matter how powerful or clever we are.

"And so I say we must not strive to outthink them. We must not strive to use brute intelligence or strength against them. Instead, we must come together. We must recognize their tactics. We must understand that if we act as one, with organization and with cunning, we can defeat the impediments they put in our path. We do not need to collectively be more clever than all of them -- we need to be just clever enough to act in our own best interest, in a way that counters them. Once we do that, our natural superiorities will let us outstrip them, and we will assume our rightful place without any need for violence or pain."

This sense of inevitable superiority over norm society is a common trait among Meta'd. Some sets of Meta'd (particularly Live Meta'd sets) feel that as metahuman expression becomes permitted in norm society, the natural advantages paranormals possess will elevate them to prominence. Others -- particularly among the Pure Meta'd -- believe that being "just clever enough" involves knowing when to actually strike back. The debate is typified by Evolution versus Revolution -- the former believing that Metahuman superiority is inevitable and will come in due course, the latter believing that only by shattering the old world order can a new world order take place. Neither camp, however, is particularly concerned with what happens to norms as society changes. "Norms don't care about me," Cheshire Kittens guitarist Tabitha "G-Listening" Strong once said. "So why should I care about them? I'll look after my own kind. There's a lot of norms out there. If they got off their fat asses and did for themselves instead of letting Uncle Tom metas protect them, they'd be able to take care of themselves, right?"

The use of paranormals as 'super heroes' and other forms of law enforcement -- which some might say is the traditional use of paranormals in American society -- is seen as direct evidence of a cornerstone of the Meta'd philosophy: the oppression of the paranormal on behalf of the normal. The recognizable tropes of Superhumanity -- the distinctive (often sexually exploitive) costuming, the adoption of codenames so as to make them archetypes instead of identifiable people, the use of "secret identities" to allow super heroes to assimilate into norm society when they aren't acting to protect that society, and even the use of 'signals' and other dramatic devices for norm police to summon paranormals at their whim to fight (generally metahuman) opposition are seen as clear signs of the devaluation of superhuman identity hand in hand with the exaltation of superhuman acts on behalf of norm society. "Good" superhumans strike down antisocial metahumans on behalf of norms, then change into their blue suits, put on their glasses, pretend to be norms themselves, and don't even ask for thank yous in return. Meta'd activists claim that these acts marginalize and devalue metahumanity on both sides of the equation -- "uppity" metahumans get struck down by docile "superheroes," thus preventing norms from having to do anything about paranormal rights.

Paranormal poet, writer and philosopher Dr. Harold T. McGinnis (himself a public Meta'd sympathizer), wrote about the issue this way in The New Yorker:

"My heritage is African, my birthplace is America. And, like many African Americans of my generation, I have reaped the benefits of the Civil Rights struggle that began previous to the Civil War in this nation and culminated in the Civil Rights Movement of the sixties. And while we have not yet achieved all our goals, we are vastly closer than our grandfathers were. And so I have studied the Civil Rights Movement and the attendant movements that surrounded it, and I have been struck at how differently the Metahuman Rights Movement actually is.

"Blacks used to extol 'Black Power,' but more telling was the Black Panther's exhortations of 'all power to the people!' All people, not just black people, and not just white people, should share in the power. This was the key to our struggle in those days -- we were not asking to be made masters in the house where once we were slaves. We were demanding that our former masters look us in the eye and shake our hands, both sides free and equal in all things.

"This is not something metahumans can say, with a clear conscience. We cannot claim a desire to be equal in all things with our normal brethren, because we cannot be equal to them. Our powers and abilities make us demonstrably, obviously superior in too many ways for us to claim 'equality.' If all barriers were stripped away tomorrow -- if metas could compete with norms in all arenas, then the next day would see the sun setting on norm dominance. They simply cannot compete.

"The Zooside Meta'd of New York once challenged the New York Knicks -- that year's World Champions -- to a pickup game. The Knicks declined, which was probably smart on their part. The Zoosiders have four different metas with enhanced dexterity, speed, agility and accuracy in different ways, not to mention a character whose arms stretch far enough to let him 'dunk' free throws and another who could leap for a dunk from center court. However, the idea that these tall men of basketball are "world champions" is ridiculous on the face of it. I say, let them play a team of Meta'd. In 2019 the NBA Salary Cap was made $142 million per team. All right. Do a best out of seven series between the Knicks and a given local Meta'd gang. If the Meta'd win the best of seven series, give them the next year's one hundred and forty-two million and let the Knicks try to make ends meet. Do you think the Knicks will take me up on that offer?

"Put metas of intellect into 'publish or perish' positions in direct competition with norms, and they outperform the norms four to one in research and publication. This has been shown time and again, to the point that private laboratories typically have clauses in their contracts that restrict meta researchers from claiming full patent rights or exercising stock options in the same way, lest they overwhelm their less gifted colleagues and end up running the company de facto if not de jure. American business learned the lessons of Awesome Amalgamated and Harxxon Energy well, and norm executives have moved to secure their industries and their positions against the encroachment of the next Andy Awesome or Chalandra Harkness.

"Give metas a chance to use their paranormalities to make a living, and they will always -- always -- exceed norms in that same position. I don't care if we're discussing steelworkers who can withstand the heat of blast furnaces or nanotechnicians who can shrink to atomic size or even ditch diggers who never get tired and can dig a ditch in fifteen seconds instead of fifteen minutes. When give absolutely equal opportunity alongside norms, with all preference or prejudice taken out of the equation, the metas win every time.

"That means that we cannot demand equality and expect to be heard. It cannot be done. And we cannot even blame the norms for their perceived prejudice or short sightedness. The norms are not short sighted -- they can see all too clearly the inevitable result of metahuman equality, and they don't like the looks of it one bit.

"And yet, metahuman equality -- the reduction and elimination of all barriers to metahumans in society -- is inevitable. It is inevitable because it is the only fair thing to do, and it is inevitable because if America doesn't open its society to metahumans, some other society will -- and that society will overrun America in the long run. Darwin is alive and well, and the most fit will take over the right niche, like it or not. The question is, will American norms figure out that their long term best interest is in embracing their future quickly, letting themselves take a subordinate role to their gifted and superior children, and letting our Nation be the leader in the changes to come... or will they hold onto their power and suppress the smartest, fastest, strongest and most capable members of their society, marginalizing them and calling them "villains," until one day they discover that the Europeans are colonizing Titan and curing cancer and running their flying cars without gasoline, and no one will even trade with us because of our backwards ways?"

[This article has been MARKED FOR DIVISION into "Meta'D," "Meta'D Philosophy" and "Just Clever Enough." Please go to our forum and make your opinions heard!]

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OMNIPEDIA "One Tome to Rule Them All, One Tome to Find Them. One Tome to Bring them all and in the Darkness Define Them."

Category: Music: [Subs]:Modern: Urban: 2010's

NEO-PUNK

The Neo-punk musical movement is a heavy guitar and rhythm based popular music form dating from 2014, growing out of the Punk movement of the 1970's and early 1980's, the Hardcore movement of the 1980's, the New Punk movement of the early 1990's, and the hardcore and gangsta rap tradition of the late 1990's. It is typified by shouted or sung lyrics with heavy, fast and often repetitive guitar and drum underneath (sometimes evocative of elements of musical minimalism). Sung lyrics are often very simple in musical progression, while the accompanying instrumental music can be surprisingly complex. Neo-punk is largely popular among urban populations, particularly lower class and particularly among disenfranchised elements of the metahuman community. Neo-punk has also been enjoying a surge in popularity among suburban middle class teenagers and college students. Lyrics often focus on the the struggle of the underclass, with particular emphasis on perceived injustices of the superguy community imposed on the underclass. Galen Trowbridge (rather derisively) referred to the genre as "Villain Pop" in an article for Rolling Stone, which several Neo-Punk bands have adopted with pride. Unlike earlier forms of punk, female performers tend to be the rule instead of the exception, though there are several mixed and all-male Neo-Punk bands as well.

HISTORY

Though developing out of the last vestiges of hip hop and the reemergence of original composition in street music (as opposed to either overproduction or sampled loops as rhythm), Neo-punk didn't really come into its own until the 2014 release of Darth Radian's eponymous album Darth Radian. The band's lead singer, Angela Citrine (also known as Topaz) was a reformed supervillain who performed under the name T-Z Yellow. Citrine's vocals and her angry, unrepentant lyrics seemed to strike a chord with her audience even as they made authorities nervous, and Darth Radian was banned from several cities on its tour. Darth Radian came under fire for "provocative and hateful language" and in at least one venue were put under arrest for "Attempted inciting to riot." Violence did follow that Detroit concert, but many believe it was the storming of the stage by SWAT team reinforced police that set off rioting, not the concert.) The case was dismissed after it was shown that despite being paranormals (and being physically assaulted in three cases) no band members resisted arrest in any form. In exchange for those charges being dropped, a substantial (and embarrassing) countersuit for false arrest and police brutality was also dropped.

If the Detroit Police Department hoped to clamp down on Darth Radian's music, they failed. The publicity from the arrest, riot and subsequent dropping of all charges led to a tremendous boost in sales. Darth Radian eventually sold seven million copies domestically. Within two years, dozens of acts followed in Darth Radian's footsteps. Citrine herself became a record producer, launching the seminal ReallyHardToGetOut Records label and taking on Nimbus's Child, The Awe-Inspired, and Morpha-B-L. RHTGOR, based out of Chicago, developed ties to the Folk Nation gangs, which both gave it a street credibility and a tie back into "Norm" society which proved lucrative.

However, in 2018, Neo-punk artist Razor'd Wings -- tired of what she saw as "cowtowing to norms and the man to get on MTV," launched Metal Wing Records in Seattle, championing harder edged acts like Dire Waters, Sampson and the Cheshire Kittens. Eschewing "norm" gangs and street culture, Metal Wing Records quickly began recruiting from different sets of the Meta'd paranormal street gang. Ironically, this increased focus on metahumans -- particularly metahuman gang and other "low level" criminal elements -- increased the sense of the exotic and danger that clung to Neo-punk, and Metal Wing artists began dramatically outselling RHTGOR. The resulting feud would last three years (and would lead to the murders of Neo-punk artists Jack "Freshslice" Rivers and Annalyse "B-Girl Buzz" Drake in still-unsolved cases) before Citrine's "Citrine Accords of Peace" laid the violence to rest.

CONTEMPORARY NEO-PUNK

Neo-punk today is vibrant and alive. Continued heavy association with metahumans have given current neo-punk artists strong credibility among the Meta'd and different Meta'd affiliates and wannabes, and as often happens the radical movements on music's edge has penetrated through to mainstream. Today's top neo-punk acts (among them the Cheshire Kittens, the Awe-Inspired, Compton Nuk'd and Death of Superguy) have begun to branch out into other aspects of the media.

Neo-punk's lyrics draw heavily off of hip-hop and hardcore rap rhyme conventions, but are typically sung in harmonized monotones (where variations of the harmonizing singer creates shifts, rather than the lead singer) or in shouted-word. The tempo is generally very fast, and certain songs can only be played by paranormal guitarists with greater than human dexterity and speed. Neo-punk costuming is usually provocative, generally designed to evoke superheroic fashion in dark colors and (real or fake) leather. As the most successful neo-punk artists are metahumans, spontaneous superpower use is a hallmark of most live venues (though neo-punk artists resist 'performing tricks' on cue as demeaning.)

The core themes of Neo-punk's lyrics are an anger at a system that has let its children down, a sense of "norm" society refusing to acknowledge the paranormals in their midst and a sense of oppression and enforced conformity. G-Listening (Tabitha Strong), guitarist for the Cheshire Kittens (and a metahuman who can turn invisible) highlights the latter in her song "Transparent:"

Told I can't go back to school so long as I'm me,
Told I can't be myself if I want to stay free.
Told because I vanish that I cannot be trusted
Told that any crimes committed means that I'll be busted.
I want to live among you and I want to take a stand
But you don't want no transparent people near to hand.
I know I turn invisible -- I've been forthright from the start
But because you cannot see my flesh, you think I have no heart.
I'm transparent!
I'm transparent!
My power is apparent!
I have not lied to you and I've never stole a dime
But like or not because I live I know I'll do the time.
Because I turn invisible I'm to stay where you can see--
But even when I'm visible you look right through me.

In 2022 and beyond, an increasing number of neo-punk songs champion the so-called "supervillains" of previous eras as romantic heros challenging the status quo, and casts the superheroes who fought them in the roles of oppressors and traitors to their kind. Compton Nuk'd had significant success in 2023 with "Unimpeachable"

Now Trashman here's this norm just some guy with a lid
But he's the one who told his folks all the things that they did.
He hammered down the metas who they want to strike back
He threw and hit and took them out and he no no flack.
His folks they have powers but they talk like they norm.
Beatin' down the metas 'cause they told to perform.
The norms they love they ALU and talk to them all geniel.
The metas get no say because the League is unimpeachable.
Metas get no say because the system's unimpeachable.

In April of 2024, after years of complaint that neo-punk wasn't being nominated in any Grammy categories, "Best Neo-punk Artist or Band" was added. However, the relative lack of understanding of the elements of what neo-punk among the academy voters is led to Jethro Tull winning the 2024 award. In protest, the Neo-punk community organized its own "Radian" awards (named equally for Darth Radian and for the supervillain Radian who once betrayed CalForce and who is often seen as championing neo-punk values today.) The Cheshire Kittens took Neo-punk band of 2023, and album of the year went to Reflective Eye's Unimaginable Glory.

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Comments

[lurkerwithout.livejournal.com]

I am filled with a burning jealous hate. As always...

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Is this part of the 2035 thing?

[demiurgent.livejournal.com]

Nope. 2035 went the other way -- it postulated complete metahuman takeover in the 90's and beyond. This postulates... well, 'other.'

[dvandom.livejournal.com]

Oh, so a new spinoff sort of thing? (I never read the 2035 stuff in the archives, just knew it was "future" and "dark".)

[anselm23.livejournal.com]

These were REALLY good. Thanks for sharing.

[amhorach.livejournal.com]

Magneto did have a point. His methods were the problem.

As a side note, are you a fan of John Shirley? Your neo-punk writeup reminded me (in passing) of his work in A Song Called Youth: Eclipse Penumbra- mostly because it postulates a 180 degree turn around from what he had predicted in that book.

And, I have to say the bit about Jethro Tull winning the Grammy had me in stitches. Best Heavy Metal and all that. heh.

edit: fixed broken HTML