Worlds of Freedom Design Journal #5
Paragons of Freedom
Freedom City: home to the world’s greatest heroes since the dawn of the 20th century, with a rich and storied history of costumed crimefighters and their never-ending battle against the forces of evil. But what if it weren’t that way, or at least, weren’t that way yet? What if, rather than a long history of superheroes and villains, Freedom City was only now learning what it mean to be at the epicenter of the superhuman world, discovering a heritage most never even knew?
Paragons of Freedom makes the Freedom City setting more suitable for use as part of the Paragons setting. It gives Freedom City and its characters a “post-modern” spin, making them suitable for use alongside the characters and factions in Paragons, and it allows you to use Freedom City as a setting for your own Paragons series.
In the Freedom omniverse, you can treat “Earth-Paragon” as another parallel world, where superhumans developed late, and somewhat differently, in Freedom City. So characters from Earth-Prime Freedom City could potentially visit here and meet their paranormal counterparts. The same is true for other versions of the paranormal world created using the material from the Paragons setting sourcebook: any of them could be worlds in the greater omniverse.
From the Paragons perspective, there are no “parallel” worlds as such, unless you choose to introduce them. Any variant Earths or settings outside the physical world are part of the Imageria, the vast realm encompassing all thought and imagination (see Chapter 3 of Paragons for details). The “Earth-Prime” Freedom City, in all its four-color glory, and the other settings in this book, could be realms in the Imageria, strange reflections of the reality of the paranormal world of Freedom City described in this chapter. It’s largely a matter of which cosmology you choose to focus on in your series. Of course, it’s also primarily an issue of perspective: the people from Earth-Prime may consider their world just as “real” and not care for the idea that they’re “imaginary” while those from Earth-Paragon are not, and who’s to say they’re wrong? This uncertainty is an important, and useful, part of the Paragons setting.
The Breakout
In Paragons of Freedom the Breakout occurred in the first year of the 21st century, following a terrorist attack on Freedom City by Al-Khyal, the terrorist network known as “The Shadow,” in English. In the half dozen years since, the world has seen an explosion of paranormal activity, rippling out from the epicenter in Freedom City, which remains the most paranormal place on the planet.
The Freedom League
Members: Captain Thunder (field leader), Bowman, Daedalus, Dr. Metropolis, Johnny Rocket, Lady Liberty, Patriot, Siren
What the Paragons Freedom League lacks in terms of the history of its Earth-Prime counterpart, it makes up for in enthusiasm and dedication. The League was formed in the wake of both a terrible attack on the United States of America and the Breakout that followed it. It is a symbol of both American resolve and the potential for paranormals to serve the public good. The League is also a none-too-subtle reminder to foreign powers, including the United Nations, that America intends to be the “super-power” of super-powers, as well as economic and military might. Thus, relations between the Freedom League and their UN counterparts in the Vanguard are cool, at the best of times.
The Freedom League is based out of the top floors of Freedom Tower in downtown Freedom City, where Pyramid Plaza once stood. They have no orbiting satellite headquarters and no teleporters: such things are no more than notes and sketches in Daedalus’s notebooks for the time being. They do use the Pegasus-class spaceplane as their primary mode of transport, as well as sky-bikes for inner-city transportation, although, their sky-bikes are turbo-fan powered, rather than anti-gravity designs (Daedalus hopes to adapt anti-gravity coils for the sky-bikes eventually).
The greatest difference from their Earth-Prime counterparts is the Paragons Freedom League is not an indpendent organization; they are a division of AEGIS and answerable to the agency and the US government. Some members of the League (notably Bowman, Captain Thunder, and Patriot) are US military officers and retain their rank and position. Even the civilian members of the team are expected to observe military protocol and discipline.
Note that Pseudo, Raven, and Star Knight are not members of the Paragons Freedom League, although Raven does have a counterpart in the setting:
The Raven
Kai Lei’s entire life has been a quest for the truth: first, to discover who her true father was, an American agent who left her mother before she was born. Then, it was to find her mother’s killer and avenge her, a quest that led her into the darkest corners of southeast Asia, to train with some of the most skilled thieves and assassins in that part of the world. Eventually, as the Raven, Kai Lei attained her goals and found her life without direction or meaning. Her father now cared for other children as he had never been able to care for her. Her mother’s killer was dead, but the organization that employed him went on.
It was while investigating this “Initiative” that Raven encountered Enigma and found her way into the ranks of the Illuminati. Hers has been the darkest path of any in their alliance, and she knows well the parts of the world—and of humanity—people most wish to forget. Enigma’s quest for the truth has become her own, although she does not yet acknowledge feeling more than just professional respect for the mysterious investigator.
