Darth Wiki / Daybreak City

Daybreak City is a Superhero setting created by Lily The Litten, heavily inspired by Masks: A New Generation and (to a lesser extent) Mutants & Masterminds's Freedom City setting.

The primary setting is the titular Daybreak City, a fictional East Coast city that happens to be the Superhero Capital of the World. There have been three prior generations of heroes and villains (the Golden Generation, the Silver Generation, and the Bronze Generation) with a new generation on the rise. The world's premier Super Team, Paragons United, is based out of Daybreak City, as is S.T.A.R.S..

Initially created merely as a backdrop for another story, Daybreak City has grown into a surprisingly rich setting, with just about every super-powered individual (of which there are many) serving as the Hero of Another Story.

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This setting contains examples of:

• '90s Anti-Hero:
  • Harbinger was the poster boy for these, appearing shortly after the Nebulon Invasion and, unsurprisingly, being a vigilante who used guns and killed people. Unlike most others of this archetype, he ended up retiring and going into therapy.
  • Ironwatch is an entire team of '90s Anti-Heroes, comprising five grim vigilantes who tend to default to lethal force.
• Action Mom: Quite a few. Most notable are dimension explorer/scientist/superhero Therese Plutonium-Yu, retired ex-supervillainess Eclipsa/Tabitha Cutler, and Housewife and part-time hero Lydia Sherwood/Ms. Aegis.
• Affirmative-Action Legacy:
  • The original Rocketeer was a straight man, while the second is female and the first openly bisexual member of Paragons United.
  • Lunar Man has a pseudo-successor in Lunar Knight, who is female and a Selenite.
  • Lightbringer I was the white Michael Cole; Lightbringer II is the black Tobias Allen.
  • The Plutonium family has a psuedo-example in Felix and Naomi. Where previous generations of Plutoniums have all been white, their mother Therese married a Chinese man and her children are half-Chinese.
• Alien Invasion: Throughout the setting's history, there have been a few of these. The most prominent was the Nebulon Invasion of 1991, where Lambda of the Nebulae attempted to conquer the Earth as revenge for a previous defeat; it took all the heroes' efforts to beat him back, and many perished in the fight, including Sovereign and Star Maiden.
• Ambiguous Gender: Citadel never takes their armor off and has a synthesized voice beneath their helmet, leaving their gender unknown.
• Anthropomorphic Personification: Icons are these, being the physical manifestations of various concepts. They lack the broad range of domains that deities have, but hold more power over their embodied concept in term. The most prominent on Earth are Symphony, the Icon of Music, and Liberty, the Icon of Anarchy.
• Arch-Enemy: But of course—it's a superhero setting, after all. The number of heroes who don't have these (like Blackbird) can be counted on one hand.
• Art Attacker: Brushstroke/Karol Silverio-Kushner, a student of the Arcadia School for the Arts with a magic paintbrush that can draw anything to life.
• Battle Couple: The founders of Ironwatch, Galeforce and Onryo, also happen to be dating.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: When he debuted on the superhuman scene, Liberty presented himself to the Bronze Generation (then teenagers) as a freedom fighter who would teach them to fight injustice in a way their mentors refused to. His actual goal was to radicalize the Bronze Generation and set them on the city's authorities, sparking citywide riots that would end in the complete collapse of any sort of civilization. While Liberty was stopped, and pretty much everyone is aware of his true nature now, he still gets a kick out of corrupting decent people into freedom-obsessed terrorists and is happy to take on his sheep's clothing to do so.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Very much averted with Liberty, the Icon of Anarchy. Many people think his pursuit of unchecked freedom with no regard or consideration for others is because his morality amounts to "promotes my area of influence: good, denies my area of influence: bad", but Liberty is fully aware of how evil his actions are and just doesn't care.
• Blow You Away: Windwing, obviously.
• Cain and Abel: Lunar Knight/Ka'ilah's Arch-Enemy is her sister, Umbra/Sh'arya.
• The Cape: The very first superhero, Sovereign; the hero who heralded the Silver Generation, Silver Saber; and Sovereign's niece/Distaff Counterpart turned hero in her own right, Princess/Lady Justice.
  • Hyperion of the Alpha Alliance is a subversion; he carries himself like a cape, and has the Flying Brick power set to match, but his actual personality is much ruder and more belligerent.
• Chaos Is Evil: Liberty embodies this trope—almost literally, as he's the embodiment of the worst parts of freedom. He desires total, unchecked freedom for himself with no regard or empathy for others, and is trying to turn the world into a lawless wasteland to get it.
• Child Soldiers: Lady la Mort's Angels of Death, street urchins whom she trained in the art of assassination.
• The Cowl:
  • The Owl from the Golden Generation, and Nightwatch from the Silver Generation. The former disappeared and is most likely deceased, while the latter is still an active member of Paragons United.
  • Alpha Alliance member Midnight is a subversion; despite her dark aesthetic, Midnight is a perky Genki Girl and one of the Alpha Alliance's only real "heroic" members.
• Dating Catwoman: Gadgeteer superhero Toybox and mystic supervillainess Eclipsa eventually developed this dynamic. As of the present, the two are married and raising a daughter.
• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • Nightwatch, Midnight, and Shadow Siren are all heavily darkness-themed (and Shadow Siren possesses actual power over darkness), but all three are heroes.
  • The The'resskini are literal space bats from Pluto, who worship ancient gods from another dimension known as the Elder Ones, barely speak human languages, and have a distinctively Lovecraftian air to them. The vast majority of them are perfectly normal folk, who view their deities as benign, if bizarre.
  • Eclipsa was not originally this, having been a sorceress supervillain in the past, but she eventually grew into this trope.
• Diabolical Mastermind: Psithon, leader of the villainous organization Ouroboros, is a mastermind villain with Psychic Powers; Visionary has clashed with his organization several times, but has never managed to apprehend the man himself.
• The Dreaded: Lambda of the Nebulae. Commander of the Nebulon Armada, greatest foe of the Silver Generation, and would-be conqueror of the Earth. He is a notorious Hero Killer who came the closest of any villain to outright victory, and while he was ultimately imprisoned in the star Sirius, his impact on Daybreak City is felt to this day, and everyone, hero and villain alike, fears the idea of his return.
• Elemental Powers: There are quite a few elemental heroes and villains.
  • Windwing and Galeforce use wind.
  • Star Maiden wielded the power of the stars themselves.
  • Luminary uses light.
  • Sunbolt combined light and electricity.
  • Crystalline and Malachite make use of crystals.
  • Shadow Siren wields darkness.
  • Gaea's Vanguard is a Classical Elements Ensemble comprising Gnome (Earth), Undine (Water), Sylph (Air), and Salamander (Fire).
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Supervillain Mirror Master/Raymond Lee has two young daughters, Nora and Jasmine, whom he loves with all his heart.
• Even Evil Has Standards: When their King of Swords was putting together the Court of Swords, there were two villains he didn't even consider extending invitations to. The first was Apophis, an Omnicidal Maniac. The second was Voidsoul, who is not an Omnicidal Maniac, but has a unique brand of sadistic cruelty that even other villains find hard to stomach.
  • Most villains would never team up with Liberty, even if their lives depended on it. The ones who do are either really stupid, really arrogant, or care for others about as much as Liberty himself does.
• Fictional Country: The Akleia Archipelago, an archipelago situated out in the Atlantic. Initially nothing special, the discovery of a huge supply of aurorite and the ensuing scramble for it led to the Aura Detonation, a Mass Super-Empowering Event that crippled the government and caused the nation to be carved up by various warlords. The supervillain Malachite took over, and these days is the unquestioned ruler of Akleia.
• Five-Token Band: House Rainbow, a Silver Generation team made up entirely of LGBT+ superheroes, was this; it was comprised of Bluestar (gay), Scarlet Shadow (bisexual), Sunbolt (asexual), Diamond Darling (lesbian), and Flurry (trans woman). Bluestar and Sunbolt get extra points for being Hispanic and Japanese respectively.
• Fluffy the Terrible: You wouldn't think a supervillain with a name like Gnome would be much of a threat^note he's named after one of the four alchemical elements like the rest of his team, but Gnome is a frighteningly skilled geokinetic and such a fanatical Eco-Terrorist that the rest of his team is actually growing afraid of him.
• Flying Brick: Several: Sovereign, Silver Saber (among other powers), Princess/Lady Justice, and Hyperion are only some of the examples.
• Flying Firepower:
  • Star Maiden was the most prominent example, using Star Power.
  • Luminary/Atsuko Kimura, whose powers revolve around light.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: The King of Swords was a secretary before finding the Iron Crown.
• Gemstone Assault: Both Crystalline and Malachite possess this power. They even received it the same way, no less.
• Great Gazoo: The Master of Ceremonies, or MC, a Reality Warper with seemingly no limits to her abilities and the personality of a game show host/wrestling announcer, being tireless, energetic, and just a little insane. She most commonly uses her powers to force superheroes and supervillains into incredibly bizarre "games" for the sake of the audience's entertainment.
• The Gunslinger: Sundown/Teresa McGee styles herself as an Old West-style gunslinger, and her weapon of choice is a blunderbuss (albeit modified with non-lethal rounds).
• Harmless Villain: The Crew are an entire team of harmless villains, comprising four college dropouts with lame superpowers and a lot more bravado than sense. They solely use their powers to rob places, and they never do that successfully.
• Heel–Face Turn: Blackbird III/Jaden Hawthorne, most prominently. Starting off as a supervillain like his father and grandfather, he was defeated by the hero team the Trinity on his first outing. Rather than send him to prison, the Trinity took him in, eventually rehabilitating him; he's currently a member of Paragons United.
• Joker Immunity: Mostly averted; unlike most superhero settings, Daybreak City doesn't have a Revolving Door Afterlife. That said, Voidsoul—the Arch-Enemy of Windwing—plays it straight In-Universe, repeatedly returning to menace whoever's serving as Windwing despite having appeared to die several times.
• Kid Hero: There are quite a few teenage heroes running around (and some teenage villains). Many of the teen heroes are students of the Nova Academy.
  • Tatterdemalion exaggerates this, given he's a ten-year old Gadgeteer Genius.
• Legacy Character: Aplenty, given the setting's long super-history.
  • Most prominently is Windwing, who has had three bearers of the mantle: Benjamin Breeze, Johnny Rogers, and Paul Bennett, the last of whom is the current holder.
  • Iris Caulfield is the granddaughter of hero Rocketeer, and has inherited his Super-Speed and mantle.
  • Shadow Siren's name and powers pass from parent to child. Felicia Philips was the first, then her daughter Amanda; her granddaughter Natalie is the next in line.
  • A villainous example with Blackbird, passed down through the Hawthorne family: first Harold Hawthorne, then his son Isaac, and then his son Jaden (though the latter has made a Heel–Face Turn).
  • Another villainous example is Lightbringer: the first, Michael Cole, was killed by Tobias Allen, giving him the White Light.
• Light Is Not Good: Lightbringer bears the "White Light" and dresses like a modern Knight in Shining Armor, and Morning Glory's costume is heavily sun-themed. Both are supervillains; Lightbringer is a scarily charismatic Knight Templar and Morning Glory is the leader of a Super Supremacist organization.
• Mad Scientist: Tons, most to do with Spark-Induced Manic Disorder. The most prominent is Nomer Odin ("Number One" in Russian), the one behind the Tunguska Event and the world's first true supervillain (oddly not an SIMD sufferer, or even a Sparkbearer at all).
• Meaningful Rename:
  • As her uncle Sovereign's Distaff Counterpart, Anya Quinn originally went by Princess. After his death, she stepped into his role as leader, changing her name to Lady Justice.
  • Downplayed with Malachite, who changed his name to Lord Malachite after taking over Akleia.
• Occult Detective: Visionary/Min Wei is a Psychic Detective. She is an investigator of psychic crime and widely regarded as one of the world's foremost psychic experts.
• Old Superhero: Nightwatch/Thomas Rothchester, a Badass Normal Cowl, began fighting crime in 1980 at twenty-four years old. Fast-forward to the setting's present day (2014) and he's still an active superhero even though he's almost sixty and has a grandchild. While he's stubbornly refused to retire thus far, he has begun to feel his age and is looking into training a successor.
• Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: Nightwatch and both Lightbringers. The first Lightbringer was only a few years younger than Nightwatch, but his aging was slowed by the White Light, giving him the body of a man in his late twenties when he was in his mid-fifties. The second Lightbringer is an exaggerated example, as he isn't even eighteen yet.
• The One Guy:
  • Phenomena/Ryan Salotis is the one guy of the Tricksters, a four-man hero team.
  • Villain team with an F in competence the Crew has Termite/Justin Wakefield.
• One-Steve Limit: Averted. The setting has two Michaels (Michael Cole/Lightbringer I and Michael Prescott/Malachite) and two Lydias (Lydia Anderson/Palette Swap and Lydia Sherwood/Ms. Aegis).
• Only Sane Man: Midnight/Sophia Foster and Crystalline/August Adams are the only members of the Alpha Alliance who try to avoid letting any personal dislike of their teammates get in the way of their job.
• Power Stereotype Flip: Windwing III/Paul Bennett is much more quiet, cautious, and reserved than you'd expect an aerokinetic to be.
• Powered Armor: Citadel of Paragons United is the most prominent user of this in the modern day, and is never seen unarmored.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Lord Malachite, ruler of the Akleia Archipelago. While a dictator and not afraid to get his hands dirty to survive, he keeps the populace happy so they don't overthrow him and is willing to team up with heroes if Akleia is under threat. It's also Played With, as deep down, Malachite genuinely cares for his nation and his actions are motivated by that as much as they are by pragmatism.
• Riddle for the Ages: Who was the Owl? Despite numerous attempts in-universe, no one ever found out who was behind the mask, and whoever it was took the secret to the grave.
• Secret-Identity Identity: Khepri is, in many respects, Tau Kassab's real identity. This is even less a good thing than it would be normally, as Khepri is an Incarnate whose divine soul is slowly eating their mortal one.
• Sidekick Graduations Stick: Both Johnny and Paul were originally Kid Sidekick Gale to their respective Windwings before graduating to the mantle themselves.
• Sole Survivor:
  • The Paradigm was a thirteen-man group in its day, but only one of those members are still alive in the modern day. The Avenger, Black Leopard, and Mermaid died fighting the Shadow Society. Crossbow and Rapier disappeared into a dimensional rift and were never heard from again. Golden Marvel sacrificed his life to kill the Doomlord near the end of the war. Falcon, Radio-Wave, and Supervolt were picked off after the war by remaining Shadow Society members. Sovereign and Star Maiden died years later in the Nebulon Invasion. And Professor Plutonium succumbed to cancer only two years after them. Thanks to his magic, Dr. Mystery/Allen Ashton has outlived all his teammates, though he's none too happy about it.
  • Of the five members of House Rainbow, only two—Bluestar/Carlos de la Cruz and Sunbolt/Yuki Monroe—survived the battle against the Nightmare Queen, and Bluestar would later perish in the Nebulon Invasion. Sunbolt retired shortly thereafter, and now lives quietly as a librarian.
• Sore Loser: Lambda. You don't get more "sore loser" than by responding to your interstellar war being thwarted by superheroes with invading their planet to take it over and kill several of those heroes personally.
• The Spark of Genius: An actual thing, literally referred to as the Spark. Sparkbearers are Gadgeteer Geniuses able to invent things far beyond what most people are capable of, to a degree of Reality Warping. The issues are twofold: one, the Spark only works in brief spurts; once a Sparkbearer is done building, they return to their normal intelligence with no way to replicate the creation process. Two, overuse of the Spark can lead to Spark-Induced Manic Disorder (abbreviated to SIMD, and a recognized disorder in Daybreak City's DSM). In some really unfortunate cases, SIMD has been known to manifest alongside the Spark.
• Spider-Man Send-Up: Ragdoll/Chelsea Kane, a cat-themed teenage superhero with supernatural mobility and heightened senses. Amusingly, it's her Arch-Enemy Wolfspider who has the spider theme.
• Steven Ulysses Perhero: Two prominent examples in the Golden Generation were Lucy Starr, the heroine Star Maiden, and Benjamin Breeze, the first Windwing.
  • All of Gaea's Vanguard: Clay Meadows/Gnome, Noelani Keahi/Undine, Skye Guthrie/Sylph, and Ignacio del Sol/Salamander.
  • The Master of Ceremonies invokes this trope; when going incognito as an ordinary civilian (which she very rarely does) she likes to use the name Maslyn Cerbett.
• Super Family Team: The Plutonium family. There was Professor Plutonium in the Golden Generation, his son Maxwell in the Silver Generation, Maxwell's own children William and Therese in the Bronze Generation, and their children Julie, Samuel, and Violet (William's) and Felix and Naomi (Therese's) in the Modern Generation.
• Super Supremacist: New Era believes in the inherent superiority of superhumans over regular humans, and aims to create a world where the superhumans rule as gods over the "cattle". Their primary use of rhetoric is to claim that ordinary humans distrust and envy superhumans and will inevitably attempt to detain and kill them; as such, superhumans have no choice but to meet violence with violence.
• Super Team: Aplenty; Daybreak City has a particularly high amount. Notable teams, both past and present, include:
  • The Paradigm, the world's first superhero team and the only one to come out of the Golden Generation. Brought together by Professor Plutonium, the Paradigm fought both Nazis and the Shadow Society—a fight that only a few of them survived.
  • Paragons United, founded by former Paradigm members Sovereign and Star Maiden. To this day, it is the world's premier hero team, having branches in just about every major city.
  • The Alpha Alliance, a team brought together and sponsored by a mysterious benefactor, comprising five decently-known heroes (and one scrappy newcomer). Unbeknownst to most, the team can hardly stand each other and the only reason they're together is because of their patron.
  • The Tricksters, a small team that operates in the Daybreak City University area (and are in fact comprised of four of the university's students). More of a Ragtag Bunch of Misfits than other teams, they've nonetheless managed quite a few impressive feats.
  • Ironwatch, a team of '90s Anti-Heroes who have a bad habit of defaulting to lethal force in their war against crime.
  • House Rainbow was a Silver Generation team comprised of all-LGBT superheroes; their leader, Bluestar, founded them specifically as a space for queer heroes to be themselves. It didn't quite go as well as he hoped, but the team was still notable as the first of its kind and paved the way for other such teams in later generations.
• Superhero School: Nova Academy.
• Superior Successor: Benjamin Breeze wasn't considered a bad hero by any means, but most people In-Universe point to his successor Johnny Rogers as the defining Windwing and the one who truly made the hero a household name. (By contrast, Johnny's own successor Paul is viewed as something of a Sucksessor.)
• Sweet Polly Oliver: Golden Generation hero Rapier/Genevieve Olsen, a young woman who pretended to be male to avoid the sexism of the time. No one ever learned the truth, not even long after Rapier was presumed deceased.
• Two Girls to a Team:
  • Within the Alpha Alliance, Sapphire and Midnight are the only girls.
  • The Paradigm, the first superhero team, had two girls: Star Maiden and the Mermaid. In truth, Rapier was also female, but pretended to be male so as to get more respect from her peers, and the truth was never discovered.
• World's Best Warrior: The assassin and supervillain Ribbon. Already a Badass Normal, being an expert martial artist with Olympic-level strength, her power enables her to use anything as an extremely lethal weapon, even if that something would not be considered a weapon by any sane man. Her name comes from her preferred weapon of a hair ribbon.