Post by Head Admin on Apr 11, 2017 2:30:11 GMT
National Heroes' Association
Overview:
The National Heroes Association' is one of the oldest and most reliable organizations involved with meta-humans. Founded in 1998, on the ten-year anniversary of the Valor City Blast, their mission is the liberal application of meta-humans to combat extreme threats, and they maintain a sturdy network across the nation for this purpose.
The Association was formed after the Valor City Blast, when many aspects of the American government were focused on utilizing meta-humans and preventing threats, foreign and domestic, from doing the same. This led to the creation of a special division devoted to rapid response to major metatanium-related threats and crimes. The Association's five establishing branches were in Washington D.C., Valor City, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, and Chicago. Washington D.C. Director and Vice President Al Gore was a founding meta-human agent, and has since retired.
The NHA relies on the application of superheroes to defend against foreign and domestic threats nationwide. Meta-humans are traditionally required by law to register with the association. There has been a history of tension regarding the Association, primarily surrounding their perceived prioritization: preservation of the status quo as opposed to preservation of peace, leaving a few select branches with a rather poor public image. NHA personnel are typically very well compensated and the organization has an active government PR campaign at its back to garner support. Certain heroes, such as Tectonic and Tycoon, have achieved considerable fame and fortune in their NHA careers.
Meta-humans are traditionally required by law to register their powers with the NHA, in a process similar to registering oneself as a firearm owner combined with signing up for Selective Service. One discloses that one has powers, the nature of one's powers, and certain personal information; the NHA, in turn, reserves the right to draft meta-humans in times of need or crisis, and some branches are more liberal about this than others. It is a popular misconception that all meta-humans are forcibly conscripted into the NHA.
Failing to register one's powers is illegal, but punished by, at worst, a fine and being made to fill out the paperwork. Part of this is because there are few ways to reasonably prove one intentionally withheld one's meta-human status, or that doing so was because one intended to commit a crime, plus the inherently unpredictable nature of powers. No one goes to prison just for being an unregistered meta-human, but use of powers in commission of a crime, especially unregistered powers, is an aggravating factor when charging someone with a criminal offense.
The NHA also frowns upon independent vigilantism; a cape going it alone will probably be told to sign up with the professionals or cut it out, and can easily find themselves under arrest if they break the law. Although this is not universally the case, it is accurate to the typical NHA attitude towards those going it alone.
Failing to register one's powers is illegal, but punished by, at worst, a fine and being made to fill out the paperwork. Part of this is because there are few ways to reasonably prove one intentionally withheld one's meta-human status, or that doing so was because one intended to commit a crime, plus the inherently unpredictable nature of powers. No one goes to prison just for being an unregistered meta-human, but use of powers in commission of a crime, especially unregistered powers, is an aggravating factor when charging someone with a criminal offense.
The NHA also frowns upon independent vigilantism; a cape going it alone will probably be told to sign up with the professionals or cut it out, and can easily find themselves under arrest if they break the law. Although this is not universally the case, it is accurate to the typical NHA attitude towards those going it alone.
Structure:
The NHA consists of a loose conglomerate of peacekeeping forces and field agents working independently under the direction of a series of directors nationwide who often use codenames. Valor City's director, a woman named Lucy Ketner, operates under the alias of "Luminary," for example. The NHA is too large and decentralized an organization to have one overall leader. There is at least one branch in every state, and each branch has varying numbers of members and priorities. Few branches were designed top-down; most, at their inception, were the local heroes in that given area teaming up and agreeing to play by the same set of rules in exchange for government funding, sponsorship, and immunity while on the job.
The National Heroes Association is more of a league of cooperating superhero teams under one umbrella than a monolithic, rigidly structured group. Thus, the governing body of the NHA is a council of the various branch directors which operates through discussion and consensus. some of the directors are considered symbolic leader figures, through seniority, the size of their district, or lofty accomplishments, but no one director can unilaterally dictate policy.