The Protectorate

The Protectorate is an organization that works with PORT to organize parautilitarian superheroes and assist them in their activities. Currently, its authority and influences only extend throughout North and South America similar to PORT, with completely different organizations managing hero activities in other regions of the world.

## Overview

The Protectorate markets itself as a group ran by heroes for heroes, and explicitly promotes the fact that they receive funding from government organizations and voluntary donations, reassuring the people it's meant to protect that their heroes will never charge for their services. The Protectorate maintains high popularity and support all throughout North and South America, as its existence proved extremely helpful in calming people's fears of parautilitarians using their powers unethically.

The Protectorate, while not under the official control of any governments or other organizations, receives its funding from the United States, meaning that PORT has some degree of control over its heroes and their behavior. Protectorate heroes also cannot interfere with the activities of Hunters or government officials.

## Structure

The Protectorate has a structure very similar to PORT, where a nation under Protectorate support would be divided into sectors based around major cities or population centers. Each sector is overseen by a "commander", and each individual city within that sector has a "captain."

Within the Protectorate, both heroes and the villains they fight against are ranked on a "letter grade" system based on their abilities and performance. A+ grade heroes, for example, are heroes who are more powerful and/or more active than A- or B grade heroes. Contrary to popular belief, a hero's grade rating is only reflective of their personal accomplishments, and has no bearings on their position within the Protectorate. It is entirely possible for a lower-graded hero to be the leader of a high-graded one, though this is a rare occurrence. Under the grading system, heroes can only fight villains rated the same grade as they are.

Being a Protectorate hero is considered a full-time job, and an average C-grade hero is paid $50,000 a year, which increases and decreases along with their grade and other performance factors.

## Operations

Protectorate heroes are typically seen patrolling cities and searching for crimes to stop and disasters to rescue people from. Many of them also use their abilities for community service or outreach programs meant to stop crimes and tragedies from happening in the first place, which allows the Protectorate to fulfill a niche that PORT cannot.

When a major disaster such as a titan attack or a Keter-level supernatural threat occurs, certain specific Protectorate heroes can be called upon even if the crisis is not taking place in a city they normally operate in.

All heroes within the Protectorate have the option to hide their identity, and the organization successfully petitioned for a law banning the leaking of hero identities to the public in 2018.

### The Wards Program

The Wards Program is a youth outreach operation started by the Protectorate in 2021 to recruit as many heroes as possible in the shortest possible amount of time to ensure that the Protectorate is well-equipped for future titan attacks. Most high schools in North and South America are secret participants in the Wards program, and will report any students who develop Exceed Skills to local Protectorate heroes, after which point the student will be approached and recommended to join the Wards. Parental permission is not required for minors to join the program.

The Wards themselves are essentially paid interns under the guidance of more experienced heroes, and typically tackle D and C grade threats for the sake of their safety. Once a Ward reaches 18 years of age, they're graduated to an official Protectorate hero, freed from the authority of whichever hero is assigned to guide the Wards in their given city, and allowed to take on stronger threats.

Wards are paid minimum wage, and their hours of patrol are designed to resemble a part-time job.