Thread: Night Bane (Supernatural, grand epic.)

Whats Going On In The World Of NightBane? It's... incredible. Ladies and gentlemen, night has fallen in New York City in the early morning hours! Uh, I can't see stars or the moon, just a solid sheet of darkness across the sky. I can't BEEPing believe it! It's not an eclipse. It's... it's the BEEPing end of the world, that's what this is! Hey, they ain't paying me enough money for this. I'm getting the BEEP outta here! Anchorperson Mark Smith, Channel 7 Action News Nightbane takes place in the near future, the early years of the 21st Century. The world is very much like our own, or at least so it appears to the average person on the streets. In this world, however, supernatural beings have invaded and covertly taken over every major government and many corporate powers on the planet. In this world, thousands of young men and women have discovered they can transform into inhuman creatures of great power. Most live in hiding, their existence denied by the authorities and the mainstream press, although not by the tabloids in the 21st century, some of the tabloid headlines sharing space with UFO and Bigfoot sightings contain more than a grain of truth. Excerpts from DARK DAY AFTERNOON, by Greame Rogers . . . . Some say the riots were the worst part. Suddenly overtaxed by having to deal with both daytime and nighttime energy needs, electrical power systems without sufficient resources failed in several cities, causing brownouts and blackouts through the U.S. To make matters worse, most power outages occurred in the poorest sections of cities people already deprived of hope were plunged into terrifying darkness. It's not surprising that so many people decided to take action against the system, the government, the laws of Nature, and even against themselves all of which had forsaken or failed them once too often. The people whose power did not fail had the privilege of seeing night occur simultaneously around the world, from New York to Los Angeles, from Paris to Tokyo ... Newscasters in a hundred cities babbled incoherently about chaos and anarchy. . . . . In New Berlin, Connecticut, fully one-third of the population committed suicide or murdered each other over the twenty-four hour period of darkness. The subsequent investigation hampered by the fact that the chief of police shot himself after murdering his entire family revealed that in most cases the victims watched the news of the blackout and then calmly switched their TV sets off and took their own lives, or slaughtered their friends and family. Similar incidents occurred in quiet suburban communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe.... . . . . Then there were the monster sightings, the most widespread wave of reports of supernatural activity in recorded history. The overwhelmed and themselves panicky police departments and 911 dispatchers recorded thousands of calls claiming that inhuman creatures were prowling the streets. Seven videotapes all later proved to be forgeries depicted freakish creatures running, climbing walls and in two very graphic tapes attacking and tearing apart screaming people. Dark Day precipitated the largest case of mass hysteria ever known even respected members of the scientific, military and government community saw these occurrences. Noted pop psychologist Dr. Rachel put it best Plunged into darkness, thousands of people reverted to their early childhood, when they needed the closet light left on so the 'bogey man' wouldn't get them. Deluded by fear, they started seeing bogey men everywhere. Things weren't helped by the twisted pranksters who put on rubber costumes to help fan the flames. . . . . The scientific community remains divided about the causes. Three top astronomers committed suicide over the following month. One resigned his tenure and became a pig farmer, saying All I knew turned out to be a lie. At least pigs don't do anything you wouldn't expect them to. More sedate scientists tried to come up with an explanation. The most popular theory claimed the blackout had been caused by the release of some sort of opaque gas into the atmosphere, perhaps the handiwork of terrorists. The theory has raised as many questions as it answered, and nobody has been able to explain the satellite photos showing the entire planet had been covered shrouded, if you will by a sphere of total darkness for the entire twenty-four period. Dark Day occurred on March 6, 2000, at 602 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The planet was enveloped in unnatural darkness for twenty-four hours, without warning or explanation. The darkness wasn't night, either, because neither the moon nor the stars were visible for the entire period. Panic broke out throughout the world, leading to the deaths of over 600,000 people. In the U.S. alone, an excess of 20,000 people died in riots, fires, car accidents and suicides. Millions of others suffered from both physical and mental trauma. TV newscasters babbled incoherently for several hours, until all radio and television stations were seized by the government and made to broadcast messages instructing people to remain in their homes and stay calm. A curfew was established in all major cities, but enforcing it became impossible. In many places, the police, National Guard and military were just as panicked as everyone else and complete terror and anarchy reigned. By noon, six hours after the freak eclipse had started, most U.S. cities had suffered major fires and rioting. Many believed it was Judgement Day. It wasn't until the late afternoon that some measure of control had been reestablished. Even after the riots had been suppressed, reports of demons and monsters terrorizing the streets continued to pour in to the police departments. The government was quick to claim that all such sightings and alleged incidents involving monsters were either the product of mass hysteria or the actions of malicious pranksters or looters wearing costumes. It was later pointed out that many god-fearing people believed it was the end of the world, and therefore, it was natural for them to see demons and avenging angels, especially in a state of panic and hysteria. Yet many who claim to have witnessed carnage inflicted by monsters insist otherwise, and cry cover-up and conspiracy. However, the majority of people cling to the theories of hoax and hysteria, preferring not to believe that such creatures could really exist. They and countless others, take solace in the fact that not one monster, living or dead, was ever found, making the claims by governments around the world more believable. The next hours were spent in quiet, fearful vigil around the world, as people waited for the darkness to end or to continue. Would the sun ever rise again? Was this the end of the world? Many suicides and other acts of desperation occurred during this period, as the hours slowly ticked by and the unnatural darkness lingered for what seemed to be an eternity rather than a mere 24 hours. Then, at 602 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, the sun or moon and stars depending on one's geographic location shone again. People cheered and cried with relief everywhere. Spontaneous parties and prayer broke out to celebrate the fact that the world had not come to an end. The crisis, they thought, was over. They were wrong. fears, many remained terrified of the night. Some would not even venture out of their homes after sunset. Furthermore, monster sightings increased in frequency, particularly at night. Psychologists and government officials explained that the fear of darkness and seeing monsters that weren't really there, was an after-shock of the intense fear and violence that occurred on the Dark Day. That many people were still suffering from a mild form of post-traumatic syndrome, paranoia, phobias and numerous other maladies resulting from shock and mental trauma. They insisted that these fears would subside and that the monsters were not real. They were wrong, at least about the monsters. Starting at Dark Day, hundreds, perhaps thousands of people had become monsters. Most of them were young, ranging in age from thirteen to twenty. All of them were orphans, raised in institutions, foster homes, or adopted by normal families. They had led normal lives until their true forms manifested themselves. Each of these monsters had a unique form, always inhuman. Many were killed by terrified people, or killed themselves due to horror or panic. The rest were able to run away, hide, and later discovered that they could return to their normal human form. However, they would also learn that during times of stress, fear or desire, the change could reoccur spontaneously. They also sensed that they were not alone. That during the Dark Day, other monsters, like them, appeared on Earth. Even in human form, these gifted youths could sense the presence of others of their kind whenever they were nearby. They came to call themselves the Nightbane because it was at night that they were transformed reborn. Some of these inhuman survivors were able to forsake and contain the monster within, hide their nature from others, and lead a normal life. Yet somehow, even they were discovered and destroyed by either the police or other monsters that were systematically tracking down all are Nightbane. Running seemed to be the only way to survive, so the young Nightbane left their homes and fled into the cities, where they could hide better among the teeming millions. The atmosphere of fear and chaos brought about major political reform in America and around the world. A new political group, the Preserver Party, took advantage of the situation. The party's platform was, the preservation of American society at all costs. It claimed that the current government had failed to protect the American public. Before Dark Day, Preserver candidates for the Presidency, Congress, and State positions had been running way behind in the polls. None had ever captured more than a 12 share of the voting public. After Dark Day, this changed dramatically. The Preservers' numbers swelled as fearful people, including many who hadn't bothered to vote before, joined the party. The majority were inspired by the Preservers charismatic leader, Presidential hopeful Douglas Carson. Meanwhile, the officers and candidates of other political parties seemed to be plagued by scandal, including the suspicious suicide of a major presidential candidate. When November, 2000 rolled by, Douglas Carson had been elected president with 39 of the popular vote and carrying 31 states. Candidates from the Preserver Party managed to gain roughly one-third of Congress and became dominant in several states in the South, Midwest and Northwest. For the first time in the history of the U.S., a three-party system was firmly entrenched and a president from that dark horse group stood as the leader of the country. Political analysts predicted that the government would become frozen by gridlock as the three parties all pulled in different directions. However, shortly after the new government got underway, many Republican and Democratic members of Congress and the Senate fell into line with uncharacteristic meekness, voting the way President Carson wanted them to vote, time after time. Rumors of blackmail, bribery and corruption soon swept the Capital. Reporters who tried to investigate the matter were frustrated by a lack of any evidence to support any such claims of impropriety. However, the situation became increasingly troubling when a number of investigative reporters met with accidents, madness or simply disappeared more strange coincidences in a long string of unlikely happenstance. Meanwhile, the new Congress started passing a number of laws designed to reestablish order. The new laws greatly reduced individual rights and included expanding police discretion to conduct searches without a warrant, a national ID card, gun registration and ownership restrictions. The new Congress also restructured the Secret Service, disbanded the NSA, and created a new security agency, the National Security Bureau NSB, with extremely broad powers and expansive jurisdiction. Less than a year later, the NSB discovered a massive plot by the FBI, CIA, and DBA to overthrow the U.S. government. The National Security Bureau's probing investigations indicated that Dark Day and the growing crime-rate around the country was also part of the same plot. They also uncovered acts of alleged insurrection by, or corruption within, other government agencies. The public, long-accustomed to stories of government abuse and desperate to find somebody to blame for the Dark Day, believed the story. The NSB purged those agencies of conspirators, with scores of innocent government agents convicted of terrible crimes and executed as traitors or imprisoned. Others resigned and many vanished fleeing justice and evidence of their guilt, according to the NSB. Some really did vanish, whereabouts unknown even to old allies and loved ones presumed dead or imprisoned somewhere, but several hundred went underground, to be later featured on America's Most Wanted as Enemies of Society. In the year 2004, President Carson was re-elected with an amazing 76 majority of the popular vote. A number of newspapers and news agencies claimed that the elections had been rigged. Civil liberties continued to be restricted. Gangs of Preserver Activists later known as Preeverts started acting as unofficial terror squads, bullying and sometimes attacking people who made too much noise against the government. The National Rifle Association was one of the organizations to fall. The NSB continued making arrests left and right. By 2006, President Carson announced he'd be seeking a third term in office, claiming that the current situation needed stable leadership, and drawing comparisons between him and Roosevelt in the 1930s and 40s. Reports continued pouring in about strange goings on in the White House and the Capital, despite increased repression and news control. And monsters continued to walk the streets after dark.