Freedom City: The Setting

[Jongluer]

Freedom City, is a beautiful metropolis located in Delaware and for some inexplicable reason contains (or has contained) some of the world's greatest heroes (as well as the largest amount of powered people). It is located along the coast, with the heart of the city resting on a peninsula between two rivers and a number of outlying suburbs, rowhouses (think Queens), projects (as in what rappers refer to as the hood or streets), and mansions surrounding different areas in the coastlines and lands around it.
About a decade or two ago, there was a great invasion from the dimension known as Terminus (a world that is completely void of life, that is chaos incarnate), that destroyed a good portion of the Downtown areas, allowing a large amount of rebuilding to occur. Turning Freedom City into a beautiful and modern city, fully planned out, and possessing an impressive monorail system. This is largely in part due to the mysterious entity known as Doctor Metropolis (see: The Freedom League).

A wee bit of history
Freedom City has existed in some shape or form since the early 1600s when Dutch and English settlers formed a number of settlements within the area, with Freedom being the major focal point of them. It continued to develop especially afterh the Native Americans were pushed away and the wars with them ended. The only thing of note in Freedom's early history were a set of Witch Hunts that resulted in the death of several citizens. By the time of the Revolutionary War, Freedom had begun to form itself as a bustling center of trade with an ever growing populace. With the war came the first masked heroes to fight against the Britsh. First was Lantern Jack, a mysterious figure along what is known as the Lantern Hill area, who would often be spotted at night with only dead British Soldiers found in the morning, many claim that he still haunts the area to this day. Next and more importantly was Lady Liberty, a masked swashbuckling woman who often came to the aid of militias in dire need of assistance. The name would be taken up several times throughout the years, and is currently held by a member of the Freedom League. By 1789 the towns had officially formed Freedom City.
During the 1800s, Freedom City continued to spread and grow larger. Immigrants began coming in from Europe, and the infrastructure continued to grow. Freedom City University was founded in 1825 along with the opening of the first newspaper still in operation today (and in operation throughout all sorts of trouble including the Terminus Invasion) the Freedom City Ledger. During the 1890s a series of grisly murders occurred in Freedom, seeming to take a similar tone as the famous "Ripper" killings in London, how this string ended is still unknown having both been attributed to Lantern Jack and a mysterious English Detective.
It is in the dawn of the new century that world truly began to change. While masked mystery men began to appear in the early 1930s, it was not until 1938 that the world shaking event occurred, the appearance of a being who would change the world. Centurion, the world's greatest hero, appeared thwarting a robbery at the First National Bank by lifting the getaway car right above his head and letting bullets bounce harmlessly off his chest. With the arrival of the first super-human, more costumed heroes began to appear, the Age of the Super-Man began and the world has yet to look back. The Second World War, saw heroes take to the world stage, with groups like the Liberty League and the Allies of Freedom taking the fight to the frontlines (or in some cases behind them) to squash Nazi oppression and Hitler's Ubermensch. The era was one of both great hope, and great loss, with many heroes giving their lives to bring an end to the war. Though against many of their views, the war ended officially with the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
During the fifties, mainly due in part to the government's insistence that some of its greatest heroes unmask before the House Un-American Activities Committee, heroes seemed to dissappear as a whole. Only a few remained active by the end of the decade. Of course by the 60s this fear had abaited and, heroes slowly started to trickle back. Of course, the big comeback came in 1960 when the greek god Hades invaded Freedom City with undead horrors. Several heroes almost immediately banded together to fight back, Centurion and Lady Liberty (having remained active since WW2), Daedulus (a master of technology), and the Raven (a master of martial arts, stealth, and gadgetry), afterwards they would form the Freedom League much to the applause of the populace. The 60s saw a rise of superhero activity, which some claim to be from the first (and largely unsuccessful) attempt of Omega to invade Earth from Terminus in 1965. The government also during this time formed their super-crime branch: A.E.G.I.S. (American Elite Government Intervention Service). During this period, many super-villains and former Nazis sprung up to threaten the world being battled by the Freedom League as well as other heroes.
Throughout the 1970s heroes began to gain chinks in their armor, becoming human in a way most never dreamed they could. Heroes began to fail, some fell prey to their own human fualts, others to drugs, and some yes even aged and were forced to retire. Occult scares occurred regularly, and some rurmors the even Dracula had come to Freedom City. People were becoming afraid and even abandoned by their heroes, especially as more heroes descended into darkness becoming dangerous and lethal. This attitude was made clear when in 1984 Mayor Moore was elected and passed a law to turn vigilantism into a crime with a rule of zero tolerance. While even the long-standing hero Centurion, who had stood against criticism in the fifties and sixties, found it best to abide by the law, not all did. A group formed to fight a war in the shadows against dark criminals, drug lords, and gangsters, as well as even corrupt police officers.
It seemed like the world could not get worse, but it seemed that in the darkest of times, Freedom City found it's light once again. In the early 1990s, the entity known as Omega from the Terminus dimension invaded Earth once more, and this time due largely to the lack of heroes gained a foothold in Freedom City. While the dark heroes who had been fighting throughout the last decade were little match for the armies of terminus, it was the return of many heroes such as Centurion and Daedulus which brough about the end of the war. In a climatic battle that resulted in a large portion of Freedom City destroyed, Omega was forced back and the invasion halted. This was because of the great sacrifice of the hero Centurion, who died to breakdown Omega enough that he had to retreat to lick his wounds.
It seemed that Freedom City was faced with the daunting project of rebuilding. But then the arrival of another being, Doctor Metropolis, a being claiming to be entirely of the city itself, an "urban spirit" as he has been coined, ended this notion. He was a being of urban force, and cooperating with other heroes he was able to redesign Freedom to the glory it is today. From this, the city also elected a pro-hero mayor who ended the laws of the Moore era, letting costumed heroes back into the city. The world was bright once again, and beyond an unsuccessful invasion by the alien group known as the Grue Unity in the early 2000s, everything was right.
The Freedom League largely expanded, and now watches over the world from their space station. The world is safe, or so it seems...

[Jongluer]

Freedom City, Today

Freedom City as it is today is a bustling metropolis, with several different districts throughout the city. It is home to many major businesses, three institutes of higher learning, a bustling art community, several well-known tourist attractions, and of course a large hero population (which can be both good and bad). The city's central areas are well planned and the entire city is connected by a world-renown monorail system. Around it are a number of historical communities and areas both peaceful and crime-ridden. Freedom City is a true melting pot of economic and social ideals. Most people come to it due to job oppurtunities, or education.
A quick tour of the regions-

Downtown-The area in the center of Freedom City, it is the center of businesses, as well as several of the cities famous communities.
The Waterfront: A lovely tourist attraction near the tip of the peninsula, this place is known for its famous restaurants, the Pier Two Shopping center, and of course the Freedom Aquarium. In addition the waterfront outside of its tourism, is the central docks area, where many ships are constantly coming and going out of the busy port.
Riverside: Not too far from the waterfront is the artsy and student community of Riverside. Home to low-rent apartments along lovely tree-lined streets, it has many posh restaurants catering to the new age crowds. It has a number of small shops, and closed off streets for marketplaces. Also Riverside has many parks, including the famous Riverside Park home of the Sentry Statue (a massive 40ft tall statue depecting a superhero in a stlye similar to Centurion).
Wading Way: The business epicenter of Freedom City. Where companies have their power lunches, and deals are constantly made within boardrooms. Also home to a number of high end stores, national chains, and the three tallest buildings in the city.
City Center: The center of government within Freedom City including several important pieces of infrastructure and federal government buildings.
Midtown: Home to shopping as well as a large number of apartments, Midtown is simply amazing. Home to the massive Millenium Mall, it is a hotspot for everyone. It includes a number of restaurants, museums, shopping centers, places of worship.
The North End: North of Liberty Park (the largest Park in Freedom City), is a small area centered around the small and prestigous Freedom City University. It caters to the student population as well as high-tech companies such as ASTRO Labs.
Parkside: The homes of the movers and shakers of Freedom City. This place overlooking the famous Liberty Park, combines the artistic senses of the Theater District with the high power of the North End and Wading Way. It is also home to the Global Broadcasting Network.
The Theatre District: Where the nights come alive, here is home to a number of Broadway-Style shows, small theater houses, opera, rock shows, jazz clubs, bars, and clubs themselves. In addition to this are a number of late night restaurants catering to the crowds that see the shows. Finally, technically within the district is the Liberty Dome home of sporting events and innumerable concerts.
The Fens: A small stain on the Downtown area. The Fens have become an epitome of the inner city over the years with cheap housing, gang-related violence, as well as sleazy porn theaters. This is far from a place someone wants to end up.

North Freedom-North of the Wading River, is home to some of the wealthiest and high-powered individuals of Freedom City. It is also a center for the "city of tomorrow" image.
Hanover-The largest area of North Freedom, it is centered on high-tech business as well as "e-business". The major focus of the town is the Hanover Institute of Technology, a technical school to rival MIT in prestige. Hanover straddles the line between college town and up and coming suburb/world of tomorrow.
Kingston-One of the many suburbs around Freedom City. This place is home to the upper middle class and largely inhabited by the technology professionals of Hanover. Though widely sought after as a place to live, the current residents wish to retain their suburban attitude and thus resist any attempts to build the area up.
North Bay-Home of the rich and sometimes famous, North Bay is the place of sprawling mansions on the beachside. Known for its Yacht Club, it doesn't take a genius to realize the type of people who live here.

West Freedom-This area outside of the city is known for its contradicting nature. On the one hand are the older buildings of the original settlements, and on the other are the newer suburbs springing up as Freedom City continues to grow.
Lantern Hill-A little slice of colonial history resides here in the exclusive Old Money section of Freedom. It has a number of town houses dating back to the 18th and 19th century, renovated to be used in modern times. It is a bit more cozy than the rest of Freedom, with narrow tree lined streets. While it retains a number of its true historical evidence, Lantern Hill is also home to a number of mystery mainly the large amounts of paranormal activity that supposedly occurs here. Also it is the supposed home of Lantern Jack.
The West End-Originally home to a number of different Ethnic communities from the age of immigration, the West End is now a conglomerate of nationalities (though some places still retain their original ethnic ties). It has a large number of row houses, and smaller apartments, made for the working classes of Freedom. Home to some of the best pizza places and delis in all of Freedom City. Sadly though, there are also a number of criminals who hide out here, from lowly street gangs to the organized crime families who maintain a stronghold here.
Greenbank-Originally home to the bustling train yards of Freedom City, Greenbank has fallen in modern times. There are many abandoned warehouses and old box cars just decaying and rusting over. It is carefully watched for the occassional smuggler, but is still mainly just a rail yard if one that is far from its glory days. It is hoped that the introduction of jobs from the new maglev trains will bring it back to somewhat of a reformed status.
Ashton and Grenville-The model suburbs of Freedom City. They've sprung up over the last twenty years or so, and are a beautiful arrangement of modern pleasantness with single family homes in several lovely styles.

South Freedom-Here rests the greatest challenge in Freedom City, while it is continually developing and growing, South Freedom still faces the entrenched poverty and inner city problems that have existed there for years.
The Boardwalk-A well known attraction of Freedom City is its boardwalk, lined with famous hotels, lovely shops, and more importantly: the few legal casinos in the state. It while at first might seem to be a great place, it is widely influenced by the mob and home to many problems that are not seen by the naked eye.
Southside-While mainly lower middle class families, for years Southside has been collapsing due to sections stricken by poverty and crime. The area is a den for crack houses, gangs, and all sorts of lowlives. Freedom College is also located here as well as the Jordan International Airport. However the Airport creates cheap housing (which seems to fuel crime), and the College is widely considered a party school (attracting all numbers of drugs and illegal businesses). Still there is the occassional touch of the development, though even this is often buried beneath the corruption of those who are hired to do it.
Bayview-A bit to the east of southside, lies the suburbia of Bayview, known for its waterfront views and relatively affordable housing, it is a place where suburbanites flock to. It resembles Kingston in many ways, but it is filled with those who often worry about the crime from Southside filtering in. Within Bayview is the slightly nicer area of Bayview Heights where gated communities with lovely spreads of wilderness are often found.
Port Regal-Even farther east is the beautiful rich community of Port Regal. It is filled with Victorian Era homes, and middle class as well as some old money who just don't want to leave. Here one can find all manner of people. Most indulge themselves at the Ocean Heights Amusement Park along the coast. And some might find a point of interest at the Providence Asylum.
Lonely Point-Finally far from the city, right along the craggy coastline, is Lonely Point. A desolate area of wilderness whose only real point of interest is the Naval Base, which only really exists to ferry prisoners to the Blackstone Maximum Security Prison.

[Jongluer]

The Freedom League
The Freedom League was formerly centered in Freedom City, but has since expanded to become an overarching force of order in the world. They deal with the major crises faced by the planet, responding when things start to get out of control. While composed of a large number of members who operate across the globe, the core group is compromised of the following-
Captain Thunder: One of the few public heroes, Captain Thunder is a former Air Force Test Pilot, who has through an accident many years ago gained control of electrical forces, as well as being extremely strong and able to fly. He is the leader of the team, and a very level headed sort.
Daedulus: Assumed to be the son of the world famous hero and inventor Daedulus. He wears an impressive suit of armor that grants him a wide variety of powers. The hero is largely silent and inactive outside of his heroic roles, imparting wisdom and technology when he can.
Doctor Metropolis: Not being a doctor (it is an honorific) or even human, this urban spirit arose after the Terminus Invasion. It is largely kind to the human race, and seeks to protect it as well as its cities. It can largely be seen doing relief work, and helping out wherever. It's place among the Freedom League seems simply natural.
Johnny Rocket: The super-speedster and the successor to the title of Johnny Rocket, is John Wade. He is a public figure well known for his own in fight banter, and skills as a superhero. Of course, the most well known thing about him is that he is gay, having been outed by a former lover several years ago.
Lady Liberty: Most recent to carry the title, the current Lady Liberty has outshined most others to hold the name. She fought bravely when the Terminus Invasion occurred, and was one of the many to help rebuild afterwards, as well as once more found the Freedom League.
Psuedo: A mysterious shape shifting alien, not much is known about Psuedo at all beyond that he is a part of the League.
The Raven: The second to take up the mantle, The Raven is a crime fighter of great skill. Both investigatory and actual combat. She uses a wide arrange of gadgets as well as actual skill to deal with all manner of threats. She rose during the Terminus crisis.
Siren: A woman who claims to possess the powers of the Sea Goddess Siren, she has a wide range of sea related powers. Beyond her water control and sea-life control, she also can control the weather, is very strong, can swim at great speeds, and can even fly. She responded to the attack on Freedom City fairly quickly, though her main expertise lies in dealing with smugglers and some paranormal activity.
Star Knight: A member of an intergalactic police force. The Star Knight wears a high tech suit of armor that allows her to combat all forms of crime throughout the galaxy. She arose during the invasion by the Grue Unity, giving the vital information and tactics that helped defend Earth.
Bowman: The youngest member of the Freedom League, Bowman is a member of a long line of heroes well versed in archery. Each of them has been highly capable in combating crime, but the current Bowman is as of yet untested and so the world waits to see what will become of him.

Other Heroes Beyond the Freedom League other heroes exist in the world, and in Freedom City. Though most specialize in certain areas.
The Atom Family: A group of four "kids" (ages range from preteen to early 20s), the grandchildren of Liberty League advisor Dr. Atom, who have due to their family's unique history mutated into super-beings. They are largely explorers, looking into the unseen corners of the world, universe, and multiverse rarely on call to respond to threats.
Doctor Tomorrow: The man from the Nazi-controlled Future, came to this Earth's aid during World War II, helping to form the world as we know it today by founding the Liberty League. He is occassionally seen throughout time, often acting as its defender.
Eldrich: Earth's Master Mage, he is rarely seen but has been caught responding to problems in the greater world. But beyond the fact that he exists somewhere, not much is known about him outside of certain circles.
Lantern Jack: The mysterious being of Lantern Hill, he seems to carry a lantern that can seek out injustice and set things right.
Foreshadow: This man of mystery supposedly can see into the future. He is a dark figure who has waged a one man war against the crime that plagues the areas of the Fens, Southside, and The West End. Foreshadow shows up often in the nick of time, to stop crime before it can even truly begin.

[Jongluer]

Supers and the Law
-Offensive superpowers are considered weapons, and using a power against someone is generally considered aggravated assault unless the invdividual is acting in self-defense or to prevent a crime.
-Superheroes do not have to follow criminal procedures unless they are members of the police force or other law-enforcement agency. Among other things, this means superheroes don't need to read a criminal his rights when making a "citizen's arrest"
-Superheroes can be charged with "excessive force" if they use more than the minimum force required to disable or restrain opponents. This is most often invoked in the case of violent vigilantes who kill or maim criminals.
-Costumed identities are recognized as legal entities, allowing costumed superhumans to engage in commerce, testify in court, or be sued without revealing their alternate identity.
-Superhumans are public figures, subject to the same sort of media coverage as other public figures.
-The use of Super-Senses and powers like Telepathy can be considered a violation of the Fourth Amendment prohibition against "unreasonable searches". No one can be forced to submit to a telepathic scan and evidence acquired solely through extrasensory means is not admissible in court. Some places have even gone as far as to consider the use of such powers rape.

Law Enforcement
Overall Law Enforcement in the FC universe is the same as we know it today, and generally will work well with heroes when they abide by common regulations and do not resort to excessive force.
STAR Squad-Still, the Police Department cannot always rely on Superheroes to be on the scene in case of supercriminal attack. Thus there was the creation of the Superhuman Tactics and Regulations (STAR) Squad and department within the police. While STAR agents regularly work to just solve criminal cases, it is the well-known STAR Squad that works as a SWAT team in the case of a superhuman assault within their jurisdiction. In some situations they fill the roll of AEGIS.
AEGIS-American Elite Government Intervention Service, or AEGIS, is the federal law enforcement branch that deals primarily with supers. Where the local police can't handle it, or where Supers cross state lines with their crimes, it quickly becomes the problems of AEGIS. The group deals with the same problems that the FBI, DEA, and even ATF might handle, and often work closely with if not recruit from these groups. There main goal is to keep the country safe from supers, this is both within and out of our borders. While inside they operate much like the FBI, outside they are even more secretive than the CIA. Some even theorize AEGIS has entire wars occurring with terrorists groups like SHADOW right beneath the world's noses.

World Overveiw
Overall, North America (particularly America itself) has the largest concentration of Supers in the entire world. The rule in NA is simple, the larger a population, the more supers.
South and Central America are lower when it comes to superheroes, and generally have groups of mutants or mystically-empowered heroes working both for the people and with governments. The most closely watched region of South America is the plateau in Brazil that is connected to the primeval Lost World dimension home to dinosaurs and primitive humans. Also South American countries sometimes unknowingly harbor all sorts of criminals, mainly Nazi holdovers from world war 2, such as the infamous organization known as SHADOW.
Europe only possesses a smattering of superheroes, mostly since many bearers of the super powered genes died during the second world war. As well as tensions caused by the German Ubermensch program which caused distrust in the idea of a "super" person. Most European heroes are often descended from American heroes which never left, or scientifically based. England has the most supers, France is second, and finally after the ban against masked crimefighting was lifted after German reunification Germany became third, the rest have only a handful each.
Africa is the least super populated continent in the world in comparison to its regular population. It does have a long history of mages, and even some mutants and scientific accidents, but overall it is largely non-super. There is the tiny and formerly isolated country of Dakana which is the sole home of Daka Crystals which are focus points in many arcane rituals as well as scientific experiments.
Asia is also fairly barren when it comes to Supers at least in comparison to its size and population. Russia once believed to have many supers, actually has very few, Soviet attempts to create them often failed miserably and the few successful ones fled after the collapse of communism, the few supers left have formed the Russian Guard to defend and protect itself. China and the rest of East Asia, is eerily lacking in heroes, the reasons to which are all theoretical, some claim that the discriminatory governments that have sprang up over the years killed off supers, some claim that mystical influences interfere with traditional notions of supers, some even say the supervillain Dr. Sin has kept it artificially low to avoid competition. The only country that has more than the rest is Japan, mainly to ties with America, radiation from the Atom Bomb droppings, and the way it has embraced technology.
Australia is like Asia, fairly low in supers, though it has more than most of the other countries in the area. The Supers mainly being centered in their cities. There are also a number of mystical spots on the continent, left over from Aboriginal mages.
Finally the UN attempts to oversee the world's supers, though has little to no power to enforce whatever its rulings are. They have fromed the group UNISON (United Nations International Superhuman Oversight Network) designed to coordinate the efforts of the world's heroes in times of crisis but overall have never been able to complete their job. Often the job they should be doing is taken over by independant groups such as the Freedom League.

[Jongluer]

Alan Moore High School

General Info.
Alan Moore High School is the massive school located in the Bayview area, serving both Bayview and Bayview Heights as a public school collecting from the several elementary schools in the area. The school has grown with the community having been erected in the mid-80s when the first developments started being built in Bayview. It has expanded over the years, creating several wings and outbuildings along with expansive sports fields. The student population is fairly large, numbering around 3500. The faculty works hard to provide top of the line facilities as well as cutting edge educational techniques into their lesson plans. Its ranked as one of the best schools in Freedom City, constantly updating its facilities, and it even regularly holds seminars for teachers throughout the area to help them improve. With the large student body, the only real problem is large class sizes, but with another round of hires this problem is slowly being fixed. The school stratifies itself academically, with groupings of ap/pre-ap students, the average level, and groups who require more individual attention or a leg-up.
The school boasts a fairly large number of clubs and athletic teams. The clubs vary containing everything from honor societies to the recent extreme sports clubs (which mainly focuses on skateboarding though they have sponsored several sky-diving field trips). The school sports teams are very highly prized, though school spirit is another issue, most can't deny that the sports teams are good. The football team has several state championships in their history, and was the Freedom City champion last year. Several other teams have won state, and some have competed on the national level. The school's mascot is a Moose, and the school colors are black and green. The school has had a rivalry with the Port Regal Royals for a decade now after an incident that involved students at Alan Moore High revealing that the Royals were using steroids. Kids at Port Regal say it was a set up that cost the Royals the championship. Ever since there has been trouble.

Structure

The school itself possesses several acres of land along Grant Avenue and has several buildings on the premises. First right off the road is the original school building built in the 1980s with a small parking lot out front and along the side. This building contains a number of classrooms that could be used for nearly anything, as well as the offices used by the administration and guidance counselors. It did contain the gym and library originally but these were destroyed in a fire in 1989. Any number of classes are held here at anytime. Beyond this original building are the athletic fields and football stadium. These fields are normally filled with athletes after school but during the school day are either empty or used as the quad where students sit during lunch or some go to ditch classes, some teachers even have the occassional lecture outside. Ringed around the athletic fields, and built opposite them are several other buildings. First the athletic complex sits near the football fields, containing weight and cardio rooms, a main gym, olympic sized swimming pool, and several auxillary gyms usually used for wrestling, gymnastics, or other occassions. There is a small complex of buildings opposite the original building, here the science building a place of state of the art laboratories and a lecture hall, connects to the library which shares its building with several general classrooms, and finally the art building which houses several large rooms for the music groups, two darkrooms, the offices for the school paper, several rooms for art classes, and finally the auditorium itself. Opposite the athletics building are the technology classrooms, anything from buildings where students build robots, to fixing cars, working with wood, or any other number of things. Offices for department heads sit throughout the school generally near the classrooms of the department. Clubs in the school occassionally have offices that are just spread out in old classrooms throughout the school.

Social Scene

Despite its large size Alan Moore High still has a large number of different social cliques that can sometimes be very nasty to each other. At the top of the metaphorical food chain are the athletes and rich kids who somehow tend to be considered popular, the types that the masses of students (who don't belong to any general clique) wish to be. They hold the largest parties at their massive houses in Bayview Heights, never get caught with the crazy stunts they pull, and are even well-liked by some teachers. There are the rockers, the geeks, and extreme sports people who all are broken down into different subcategories themselves and the three groups have a tendency to intermingle amongst themselves, general being accepted by some people at the top and people along the bottom. There are kids who are into the rap/gangsta feel trying to make it seem like they're from Lincoln or Southside but are obviously all suburbanites. The drama, art, and music kids who all seem to stay in their one building on the school and mix together. Finally, there are the druggies as some call them, groups of kids who generally stick to one addiction and all go to their own parties, plenty of people interact with them to get ahold of something but few actually spend time with them, and for the most part they like it that way since in their opinion people can't really understand their whole scene. Overall, the social scene is not one of fierce rivalries, though it can sometimes boil over into fights and cause problems. Sometimes there is bullying primarily rooted in the different groups, but it rarely gets out of hand. A large amount of kids in the school don't necessarily belong to any clique, and often just stick to their groups of friends, or strive to be a member in one of the groups.
Outisde of school, these groups tend to stick together and their are several large hangouts off of the school. First at least once a month, more if one of the school teams wins a major victory, there is a big party somewhere in the area at one of the rich kids houses that nearly anyone is welcome at. Being so close to Freedom City means that a lot of kids hang out there during the weekends seeing rock shows in the theater district, or going to bars that don't necessarily check id. The Bayview Mall is a popular hangout for students on the weekend, and once more allows people to see the divisions among them, it has lots of stores catering to the needs of nearly everyone.

[Jongluer]

Something fun, relating to Avi's Backstory that I just made up.

The A.M.E.R.I.C.A.-American Mathematical Engineering Research Intelligence Competition of America.

The AMERICA is a competition involving math and sciences, generally relating to national defense, that was created during the 1950s. It was created to help American students become better able to compete against the Soviets on an international level, since with the launch of Sputnik many people believed that America was falling behind. So, to truly show the American spirit, the competition was devised and has been the only important date on the American Academic in December for several decades.
While originally sponsored by the American Government it quickly found backers in several universities (i.e. HIT and MIT), as well as the recently established ASTRO Labs. The famous hero Daedulus also assisted in organizing the competition, proposing the idea that it shift between cities across the nation over the years giving every state a chance to host it at least once.
The AMERICA has two parts, a quiz bowl and then a research project competition. Both sections have prizes of scholarship funds, as well as the ability for students to be recognized by major corporations, think tanks, and the government itself for their academic skills (thus perhaps being tapped for jobs early on). The quiz bowl is organized amongst quiz leagues across the country, and slowly brings kids up through national circuits to the final competition between the best teams from every state. The research projects are broken down into several different fields, and it is the best from every state in each subject that make it, the children are evaluated on their research papers as well as presentation (often focusing on practical application). Making it into the AMERICA in either section is an admirable accomplishment, and surviving into further rounds is very impressive.
The judges in both competitions are very harsh. Normally they are collected from the best and brightest of the country. Dr. Atom served as head judge for several years, Daedulus served as a judge as well, and now having returned has taken over as the Head Judge. Other judges include high ranking government scientists and independant researchers. The current panel of judges (for both competitions) is: Daedulus (head, Super-Scientist/Super Hero), Dr. Clarence MacLeod (leading ASTRO Labs Researcher), Dr. Bernadette O'Connell (Professor and Researcher at H.I.T.), Dr. Edward Farhi (Professor&Researcher at M.I.T.), and Dr. Hal Abelson (Professor&Researcher at M.I.T.). They are well renowned researchers in their chosen fields, as well as respected by the academic community at large. Their are a large amount of minor judges but overall they are the main panel who determines all final decisions.
The competition lasts for four days of high pressure competitions and many difficult rounds of question and answer after giving presentation on a student's research. The competitors are generally the winners of competitions throughout the entire academic year. This year, Freedom City will hold the competition at the Hanover Institute of Technology. Many (in the academic community) are very excited for the competition, and many schools in the area (all being invited to at least view the competition, though some are contenders for the competition itself) are eagerly awaiting it.