Talk:The Bureau:Main Page

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So, here's my notes, gonna take some time to get them organized into pages.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Foreign_Agents_Registration_Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smith_Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registration_acts_(comics)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mann_act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Secret_Service

The BoMA's mandate is established in Title 28 of the United States Code (U.S. Code), Section 533, which authorizes the Attorney General to "appoint officials to detect... crimes against the United States."[7] Other federal statutes give the BoMA the authority and responsibility to investigate specific crimes.

The Metagene : Term coined for the hypothethical "source" of metahuman powers. Metahuman powers are generally believed to be genetically inherited because statistical evidence suggests that children of metahuman parents are more likely to develop metahuman powers. Additionally, children of metahuman parents have a exponentially higher probability of expressing metahuman abilities without experiencing any kind of "origin event." Research is ongoing to find the actual source and develop a screening process. Leading research seems to be aimed at examining anomolies in mitochondrial DNA.

Origin events : The event that triggers a metahuman's first expression of their powers. Generally related to physical or psychological trauma. Before a metahuman's origin event, they are utterly indistinguishable from a baseline human. The scientific community is divided over whether the specific circumstances of a metahuman's origin event influences they powers they develop.

Origins of Metahumanity : Theories on the origins of metahumanity tend to fall into two broad camps: Environmental factors, and extraterrestrial influence.

The more generally accepted group of theories on the rise of metahumanity place the blame on various environmental factors, from mankind's ever increasing caloric intake to atomic radiation. This reasearch tends to tie the origins of metahumanity to the origin events that precipitate the expression of metahuman abilities themselves. For example, the rise in the use of nuclear power leads to more nuclear accidents, and thus more humans develop metahuman abilities in response to those accidents.

The less widely-held belief is referred to as Contact Theory: Humans develop metahuman powers in response to exterrestrial contact, whether due to intentional influence by aliens (genetic tampering) or as a kind of evolutionary self-defense mechanism. Statistics indicate that the rate of metahuman expression within the general human population has spiked immediately following each documented extraterrestrial contact of the last century. However, limited statistical correlation can be found to link any specific metahuman's abilities with a specific documented extraterrestrial contact.

History of Metahumanity : First verifiable metahumans appeared in the late 1940's and early 1950's in the aftermath of WW2 (possibly in response to the Roswell incident).

In circumspect, historians speculate that stories of mythic heroes and monsters from humanity's oral tradition indicate that metahumans existed before recorded history in what some term an "Age of Myth." As to where these hypothetical mythic metahumans went, no one knows.

The metahuman population saw its most significant boom in the mid-to-late 1970's. Conincidentally, the 70's saw an increase in reports of confirmed extraterrestrial contact. These incidents culminated in 1975 with "The Fire In The Sky," a 24-hour global incursion by a hostile extraterrestrial force that was repelled by humankind's nascent metahuman population.

In the aftermath of 1975, the U.S. government began earmarking a significant portion of the Department of Defense budget for research of both metahumans and extraterrestrials. While DARPA's investigations into the origins of both metahumans and the 1975 aliens bore limited fruit, money funneled into more practical applications led to the creation of the Bureau of Metahuman Affairs.

History of Masked Vigilantism : Masked vigilantism first captured public attention in the mid 1930's. So-called "masked marvels," these costumed men and women performed acts of vigilante justice against the rising criminal underworld in America's cities. Costumed vigilantism reached its peak during the run-up to U.S. involvement in WW2, when men-and-women of mystery captured headlines battling Axis spys and sabotuers on the homefront. Most vigilantes quietly retired or gave up their costumed identities to join the war effort following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The masked vigilantism "fad" passed for all intents and purposes following the war until it was revived by the first metahumans in the late 1940's.