Earth 18

## History

Earth 18 appears to have diverged from other timelines with the reinstatement of the Mutant Registration Act. This time, a process had been found which could suppress mutant abilities. Extremists felt that this would eliminate the perceived mutant threat, once and for all. As before, mutants resisted. While the X-Men were the first heroes to publicly oppose the act, the Avengers and Fantastic Four soon joined them. Eventually nearly every super hero on the planet united in opposition to the government. The conflict culminated in a final battle in front of the Baxter Building. The super-beings lost, and those that weren't killed were either imprisoned or went into hiding. Thus ended the Age of Heroes.

By the year 2099 Sentinels are used to enforce the law, although there remains a small conventional military and civilian police force. There does not appear to be any evidence that the Sentinels wish to assume absolute control as they have in other timelines, such as the Days of Future Past. With "a Sentinel on every street corner", laws are obeyed, curfews are in effect for certain age-groups, and crime is down. The Sentinels in this universe are taken for granted as an effective tool of law-enforcement, and seem to enjoy almost universal confidence in their abilities. While any remaining super heroes have been forced underground, super-humans enjoy the same rights as other citizens provided they register with the government, accept an identification stamp (a brand burnt into the skin), and take medications to suppress their "illegal abilities".

Notable among the few remaining super-heroes are Cossandra Castle (the Punisher), Reed Richards, Chad Channing (Mutant 2099), and Samuel Fisk (both the Kingpin of crime and the vigilante Daredevil). After discovering Richards' preserved brain in the Baxter Center, mutant teen Chad Channing decided to secretly discontinue his suppressive medication and became a disguised super-hero. Richards himself has constructed several robots to serve as interchangeable bodies for his brain, including one armored by a cloned replica of the Thing's organic rock skin, which allows him to go toe-to-toe with the strongest foe. Guilty over his family's past misdeeds, Samuel Fisk has chosen to fight crime disguised as his family's greatest enemy: Daredevil. Fisk dons customized armor to make up for his lack of training and skill. Paradoxically, Fisk also remains the head of not only the legitimate Fisk industries, but an inherited crime empire as well. Cossandra Castle -- the daughter of Frank Castle and Elektra Natchios -- continued her father's one-man war on organized crime until she finally succumbed to cancer. She tried to train her son, Richard, so that he could continue the tradition, but he had no desire or capacity for the violence required.

In Latveria, Dr. Doom's legacy had been perpetuated by a line of servants and heirs to the throne, each pretending to be the true and original Doom. With the common vow of "One Legacy, One Doom", they had secretly passed down the identity over the years. In the underground kingdom of Subterranea, the Mole Man appeared to have successfully founded a line of heirs, only to have it fall into stagnation due to isolation and inbreeding.

In Wakanda, the death of the last member of the Royal line (the son of T'Challa) without an heir left the country without direction. A High Council was assembled to fill the void, but was widely considered corrupt and incompetent. When Doom invaded Wakanda with an army of Doombots, councilman K'Shamba was eventually able to escape, and joined the resistance against Doom. Having distinguished himself as a statesman and a fighter, K'Shamba was given leadership of the resistance, and eventually selected to found the next line of warrior kings as the new Black Panther. Despite overwhelming odds and being out-of-communication with the rest of the world, the Wakandan resistance was eventually able to drive Doom out. None suspected that K'Shamba had been under Doom's influence since his capture, or that the entire war, resistance, and rise of the new Black Panther was carefully orchestrated to achieve a level of control through subversion that would have proved impossible through occupation.

Elsewhere, since the implementation of the Mutant Registration Act, Black Bolt of the Inhumans had become convinced that the conflict would eventually come to isolated Attilan. Black Bolt ordered the Inhumans to construct a ship to transport the entire culture off the Moon and out of the system, and the royal family was placed in cryogenic stasis. Somehow Black Bolt's demented brother, Maximus, awakened and gained control of the Inhuman throne. Though little is known about his reign, the Inhumans do not seem to have suffered much under him. The exception appears to be the royal family, which Maximus slaughtered while they slept. Maximus allowed Black Bolt to live, seemingly for the sole purpose of reviving him on schedule and taunting him into screaming out in rage, destroying the entire Inhuman nation along with his brother. Exactly what Maximus' true intention were, we may never know.

Recently, an unnamed group of time-travelers from the Age of Heroes arrived on Earth-2992 (or a very similar reality) via a captured chronometer. They arrived intending to track down the time-traveling villain Chronok, who had gone back to the Age of Heroes from the year 2099. Chronok had used an elite personal army and an encyclopedic knowledge of Earth's mightiest heroes to destroy many heroes before they had a chance to fight back. The survivors -- colloquially referred to as the "League of Losers" due to their second- and third-string status -- arrived in the future one month before Chronok departed, hoping to prevent the impending slaughter.

After stumbling upon Chad Channing and Reed Richards, the team learned that the Chronometer captured from Chronok was actually Richards' design. Knowing that they only had to wait for Chronok to try and steal it, the team trained for a full month before battling Chronok. Though they were able to thwart his plan, Richards claimed that their success only guaranteed that in some universe the heroes of Earth were safe. If the team returned home, then they might just as easily end up in an alternate timeline where Chronok has survived and succeeds in his plan. Knowing that they can't risk returning home, the Legion for the time being appears to be stuck in the year 2099.

## Residents

* Punisher (Cossandra Castle)
* Black Panther (K'Shamba)
* Mutant 2099 (Chad Channing)
* Reed Richards (a disembodied brain operating in conjunction with one of several of Richards' robots)
* The Inhumans
* The Legion of Losers -- displaced heroes from an alternate past in the Age of Heroes, including:
	+ Dagger
	+ Darkhawk
	+ Gravity
	+ Sleepwalker
	+ Speedball
	+ Terror
	+ X-23