This is the prequel for the new universe. Timeline: Today, Feb 8 2012

AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BY A BEING WHO HAS APPEARED SUDDENLY TO EACH AND EVERY PERSON ON THE EARTH AT THE SAME TIME.

You humans go about your daily lives, dealing with each crisis as it comes up as best you can. Sometimes though an event that can and will change everything about your lives, your planet, your entire existence are destined to occur and, without help from somewhere, your race will vanish completely and utterly.

That's where we come in. You can call us Observers if you wish. In truth we have no racial name or even identities. We just are. It is our responsibility to maintain order and balance and there is only one of us per Galaxy. Of all the beings I have observed, yours shows the most potential to become the greatest in your Milky Way, as you call it, galaxy.

You have many myths, many different beliefs, many so-called Gods whom you call by many different names, not knowing that they are all the same thing. Yet it suffices that you all believe in something, even those of you who profess to disbelieve.

Even we Observers do not know the reasons why intelligences come into being or why some turn to evil, or worse, indifference, yet they do exist and some are much worse than others. Do not misunderstand me. We Observers are neither good, nor evil as you know those terms. In almost every case, we only observe and report, almost never interfering except in a case where a promising intelligence is threatened with extinction, and even then, very indirectly.

In the instance of your small blue planet, almost all of your myths have a basis in fact, yet they are minor when considered in comparison. Some of these myths have come to pass... others have not. There is, however, one which has been predicted and will happen. Many of your scholars have claimed to have discovered a prediction that your world will end in a very few of your months, a few days before the celebration of a major religious holiday, your Christmas.

I have communicated with several other Observers, and they agree that only our interference, our help if you will, can possibly prevent the loss of your promising civilization. Therefore, we have decided, and I have already begun to will visit some of you granting you powers, abilities that, if used properly, may stave off the extinction of your race.

I cannot and will not tell any of you how to do this, nor will I interfere any further than granting these powers. What you do with them, how you utilize them, and how you can prevent this event will be up to you. To each person granted a power, or powers, I will give one additional piece of information that will lead that person to another so gifted. By acting together, as a team, you have the chance to save your world and it's promise of greatness.

I will say no more... save this. People of Earth. When these gifted persons come to your knowledge, what you do, how you react to them, will determine whether your planet survives, or dies.

With that statement the being vanished, leaving only a disbelieving and confused planet full of people. The stories which follow are what happened. Who was affected and what occurred to them. How they reacted to having been gifted and how they were treated by the race of humans on their planet, and the result of their success, or failure.

CHAPTER, THE FIRST. First Gifted.

The Office Of The President of The United States, immediately after the visitation of the Observer.

“What the flying fuck was THAT?” The President yelled to his hastily gathered staff. “I'm waiting people! Give me something... ANYTHING! I want answers and I want them now!”

The room buzzed for a few moments, then quieted as his Chief of Staff, nervously spoke up.

“Sir. Mr President, we haven't had time to even begin to form any kind of opinion or a plan of action. It's only been an hour since the call to gather here reached some of us. We need time to try to reach any kind of conclusions or form any kind of plan to deal with this announcement. In truth Sir, we don't even know whether to believe this “Observer” or ignore his so-called warning and message.”

“This thing has the people of the world up in arms and ready to riot!” The President said, still at the top of his lungs. “I mean, where the hell did this being come from? How does he, or it, know so much about us? Who is it going to choose to 'gift' these so-called powers to, and how do we get some control of them? I mean, do we trust this Observer to be telling us the truth, or do we believe that it's even friendly?”

The hubbub around the table reached a crescendo, then died out as The President scowled.

“Damnit people! I want answers and I want them yesterday! Is that understood?”

A chorus of 'yes sirs' and 'you bets' answered his demands and several of the staff members got on their phones and began making frenzied calls to subordinates.

The President turned and stalked out of the room, surrounded by his Secret Service detachment, and the room grew silent for a few minutes. Then, the Secretary of Defense spoke up.

“I think we need to institute an immediate threat level 2, with plans to upgrade it as we go. God only knows what this Observer person really wants, but we can't afford to drop our guard for even a second! We also need to establish an agency to find, study, and use, if we can, any individuals who might be contacted by this being and get gifted with unknown powers. They could be a threat to our National Security! Gentlemen? Let's get cracking on this! Use any and all resources that exist to get us some damned answers!” and with that pronouncement, he left the room.

So begins the story. Who is going to be 'gifted' by the Observer? Is his real purpose as he stated. Or does he have a different, hidden agenda?

FOR THOSE WHO ARE CHOSEN.

You will be visited, personally by the Observer who will ask you if you want to join in this venture. You will be given a week to decide. In that time you must first decide to join in. Then you must decide on what powers/abilities you would want. Then you must find the other 'gifted ones' and begin to gather clues as to what the threat is, how to find it, and how to deal with it.

The Observer will not tell you what, where, or how. He is not permitted, he says. He will also not divulge where the other girted ones are or who they are. Your powers should not be any more than half of the things that Superman, for example, can do, and they cannot be Technology based. For strength...nothing stronger than Spiderman is a good rule of thumb. Mental powers, as long as they are not overpowering are fine. Think of Emma Frost, or The Scarlet Witch. Flight... nothing over escape velocity from Earth's gravitational field. Reflexes/etc no more than Spidey again. Speed... see flight.
Invulnerability... virtual invulnerability is okay, but not total invulnerability. Your hero should be able to be injured, given sufficient force applied to him or her.

ALL stories will be canon, supervised by me, Cathy_t_. No non-canon stories will be accepted. Bear in mind, this is a 'search and destroy' mission. You will not be fighting bad guys or super villains. (Unless the Government decides to butt in somehow.) Your heroes are literally fighting for the survival of the race and the planet.

There are no racial biases involved. If your hero is African American, Oriental, whatever, makes no difference to this universe. Your hero can be Straight male or female, TG, TS, Gay, Bi, or whatever offshoot you can think of. As long as they are human, that's all I ask along those lines. A little friction between heroes might be a good thing for the story.

Remember above all. Your hero is a volunteer. There is no force used in any way to convince him or her to participate. They should only be motivated by the prospect of saving the world. If that's not their only reason for participating, the Observer will know and disallow their participation.

Try to come up with a novel name for your hero. That might be a tough one, as all the good names seem to have been taken. LOL.

Each story will be written by two or more of the participating authors, with alternating chapters, or co-operative dialog and story within a chapter.

This might prove to be a gigantic failure but it won't be for a lack of trying on my part. I have nothing but time to devote to this venture, and I hope to accomplish something really great in conjunction with the other authors. I hope to be able to work with all of them in either chatroom discussions about the story, or in multiskype format. ALL authors involved will be equally credited with the whole story.

You give me your best, and I will give you MY best.

Cathy