They first appeared in the 50's, the superheroes that is, they started popping up just after WWII. It changed everything, these people of extraordinary powers or skills started appearing on the global scale, like the universal scales were preparing for a paradigm shift. Turns out it was good that mother nature intervened because humans were doomed. In 1969 the Old Gods came to reclaim what they figured they were owed. Yes that's right, H.P Lovecraft wasn't writing fiction, turns out he had it just about right, giant alien monsters whose presence was so menacing that even the thought of their true forms caused mortals to go insane.....yep that happened.<br/><br/>It was those first gilded hero archetypes and they banded together and fought back the Darkness of the Elder Gods, saved us all. Not all came back from the breach but the ones that did were celebrated as the saviors of the race. Captain Supreme, Red Scarab, Lady Aryan, The The Horned Owl, and Riddle Master returned to the joy of the masses. Super villains didn't stand a chance, they simply crumpled under the pressure of this united front the heroes put on. They called the organization 'The Guardians' and it all but crushed super-villainy, a virtual utopia for humanity. These first heroes rose to a power level that few other have ever known.<br/><br/>But complacency builds foolishness and that is why we live in the world we live today, 1999, is a far different place than those first Guardians left it. With no real super villains the heroes of today tend to fight one another more than anything else. Courts are clogged with civilian lawsuits for property damage and personal injury cases due to superhero negligence.<br/><br/>Not a single one of these 'heroes' could hold a match to the original Guardians, either in pure power level or in intestinal fortitude. Half of them are cokeheads or sex addicts, the other is so obsessed with paparazzi taking their photos at celebrity charity events. Not a lot of actual heroing gets done. It is this very complacency that will be there down fall, because these soft heroes may not have what it takes to stop the impending darkness that is sure to return. A shadow that creeps across the land and swallows up its superpowered prey, growing in strength every soul it takes.