Differences between TASK FORCE and Champions Universe canon

Prehistory

  1. Takofanes' origin uses the one written up by Hero Games Forum poster Lord Liaden in July of 2010 (Malvan super-sorceror) instead of the CU origin (demilich/clone of Sauron)
  2. Geologically and geographically, TASK FORCE Earth of the CU's Turakian Age very closely resembled our Earth from that era (~70,000 BC). The only major differences are in the existence of the microcontinents Kergueland (north of Antarctica, colonized by a rebel faction of Kal-Turak's slaves who became the Lemurians) and Zealandia (modern-day New Zealand, then home of the Empyreans).
  3. The Toba catastrophe ended the Turakian Age. The Empyrean king Amlin died during the fighting around that time, instead of 60,000 years later as in the CU canon.
  4. The Valdorian Age still uses our Earth's geological/geographical history instead of the CU's. The only difference with the Turakian Age is the absense of both Kergueland and Zealandia, both sunk during the Toba Catastrophe.
  5. The Atlantis legend sprung in part from the Empyrean enclave in what is now the Altiplano region of modern-day Bolivia.
  6. Instead of being a King of Atlantis, Vondarien is King of the Empyreans. He still dies opposing Dalsith/Sharna-Gorak.
  7. The TASK FORCE Sharna-Gorak splits the difference between Dalsith the Unspeakable and the Empyrean Ogurn
  8. Empyreans walking about the outside world have deliberately spread misinformation about the Altiplano enclave (and Atlantis -- see below) to hide where they are/were.
  9. Atlantis exists, just not in the same way it does in the CU canon. Human refugees from the destruction of the Empyrean's South American enclave made their way to what is now the Bahamas. Upon the rising of sea levels at the end of the last Ice Age, their magi moved their city and peoples to the Lands of Legend (Faerie). The extra-dimensional move had some unintended side effects in rendering the Atlanteans capable of living above or below water and leaving a weakness in the dimensional barrier over the Bahamas which gave rise to the various urban legends surrounding the Bermuda Triangle throughout the 1970's.
  10. The Empyrean Crown Prince Archon is Hazor's son, not grandson.

The Golden and Silver Age of Superheroes

  1. Super-science is NOT based on magic. The blocks to its widespread use in the TASK FORCE universe are institutional and due to DEMON's manipulation of the American military-industrial complex post-World War II (which wasn't that hard to do, since the crony capitalists in question were frightened by what their own nation and Nazi Germany had developed during the course of the war).
  2. In a corollary to the previous item, electrogravitcs (the linchpin for a lot of TASK FORCE universe super-science) was regarded as crackpot science until 1982, thanks to its initial development by Nazi researchers in World War II and the fatality rate among scientists world-wide attempting to duplicate that work.
  3. Tempting as it is, there is no Vibora Bay, FL. All the weirdness associated with it is moved to the Tampa Bay area, instead.
  4. There is no Hudson City, either. Dark Champions characters originally developed for that 5th edition supplement (and one developed for the supplement 'Dark Champions:The Animated Series') became the Eastside Homeowner's Association in 'Street Level'.
  5. Much as I'd like to make it so, the 6th Edition supplement "Golden Age Champions" is not canon in the TASK FORCE universe. Principle writing on "Greatest Generation" was completed over 2 years before that supplement was funded or written, and too many differences exist between it and GAC to perform a believable retcon this far after the fact (differences which only START with James Harmon III's military career, among other problems).
  6. The RSKvG's Walpurgisnacht working of 1938 designed to protect the Axis Powers (which initiated the start of the Golden Age of Superheroes) was only effective against superhumans who attempted to penetrate Axis territory and airspace via conventional means. This is why TASK FORCE was unaffected by it in "Greatest Generation" (arrived via a transit from Die Glocke).
  7. Baron Nihil's origin story was changed to "Head of the Der Riese complex" and his CU "Hatred of Canadians" psych lim was changed to "Hatred of Americans" in general and of Starforce specifically (because of what happened at the climax of "Greatest Generation").
  8. Drake-Victoria Inc. has undergone some major changes from its description in the 5th Edition settings book "Millenium City." Their start is as described in that supplement (munitions contractor for the Army in the late 1800's based out of Ames, IA). Ferris Drake III, the grandson of the company's founder in the TASK FORCE universe, was responsible for re-making the company as an aerospace contractor post-World War II by buying Convair out in 1953 (General Dynamics, the conglomerate which bought them out in Real Life, preferred to call it 'Highway Robbery'). He was an initial investor in ProStar when Frank Dormyer started that company up, earning himself a seat on its Board of Directors as a result. All powered-armor and forcefield research which Drake-Victoria is listed as helping to pioneer in the CU was sold instead to ProStar in the late 1970's in-universe as an attempt to give it another revenue stream. Also, their headquarters were moved from Ames to Fort Worth in 1953, where it stayed until Millenium City was declared open for business in 1999. Since 1987, its CEO has been Arthur Drake, Ferris Drake IV's older brother.
  9. Albert Zerstoiten sired two children, both male, both illegitimate (Sergei 'Warlord' Varinnikov in 1961, Bob 'Starforce' Hawkins in 1962).
  10. The Nyingpa Temple, where Jeffrey Sinclair became Vanguard, is in Nepal and not Tibet, which as part of the People's Republic of China in 1959 would have been quite inaccessible to an expedition escorted by the US Army.
  11. Michael Renton's experimental spacecraft Jules Verne was powered by electrogravitics and launched in 1960 (because a time-travelling Starforce made him memorize everything about the wunderwaffen 'Die Glocke' back in 1944). The Kuzane ship was intercepted after it had made Earth orbit; its destruction was responsible for creation of the South Atlantic Anomaly as well as the creation of the original Fabulous Five.
  12. The 1970's era Ranger (from "Digital Hero #17") is name changed from "Craig Borden" to "Craig Borden Jameson" to make him Ted Jameson's older brother. His departure from the Sentinels is also moved from 1972 to 1975.
  13. PRIMUS is stood up in the 1970's, which splits the difference between its 4th edition and 5th edition backstories. It also fulfills the functions that the Department of Superhuman and Paranormal Affairs (DOSPA) does in the Champions Universe, and until 9/11 is closer to its 4th edition model of a cross-department federal agency drawing resources from both the Defense and Justce Departments. Post-9/11 until budget sequestration forced its closing in September of 2011, it was a direct reporting agency to the Secretary of Homeland Security.
  14. PRIMUS' first director is Andrew Rochester, moved back in time 25 years from his CU role as Secretary of DOSPA.
  15. The leader of UNTIL is known as its Director-General, with the various Continental sub-commands under it led by Directors. I otherwise follow its 5th edition backstory.
  16. The Perseus super-soldier program was discontinued after the resignation of Clayton Stiles (All-American III) in 1979 and the premiere of the original Golden Avenger.
  17. The Cyberline process is both what the public thinks it is (a drug/biofeedback regimen) and what's in the 5th edition Champions Universe GM's Vault (RNA retrovirus). Because of the crude nature of late 1970's genetic engineering, there is a pathological interaction between the retrovirus and one of the drug regimen's components (a designer anabolic steroid) which slowly kills the person subjected to it. Until 1992, this information is known only to the researcher who came up with the process and PRIMUS' director.

TASK FORCE (1982 to 1992)

  1. Villains which have existed since Champions' earliest editions (such as Lady Blue, Pulsar, and Ogre) start in the 1980s instead of as their 5th or 6th edition writeups.
  2. The anti-mutant organization Institute for Human Advancement uses the 4th-edition organization GENOCIDE, its personnel and cover organizations, and its history ("The Mutant File") until roughly 1994. It spends most of the 1980's building its strength in the shadows, only starting to do test runs on tech and tactics by 1990 ("The Lady in the Lake"). These initial test runs occur in areas of superhuman activity like DFW that are well outside the Acela Corridor and its media outlets. Something happens offscreen in 1994 (haven't decided exactly what yet) to transform it from its 4th-edition version into what is described in the 6th-edition sourcebook "Champions Universe".
  3. Danco, the Danish company that provides the IHA its high-tech weaponry and armor, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ARGENT at this time.
  4. Zes'arou Al'Gari Vikon was moved from the 31st century (CU "Galactic Champions" sourcebook) to the 20th. His brother Tlokon was also moved through time, specifically pegged to be his older brother, and both became nephews of the then-current Sh'Garothayn (Tlokon 2nd in line for the throne, Vikon 3rd in line)
  5. I made some name changes to locations on the Varanyi homeworld which do not mesh up with source material in either the 4th ed. supplement "The Ultimate Mentalist" or the 5th ed. Star Hero supplement "Terran Empire"
  6. The character of T'Nereq Ch'uuk Skolvasian from "The Ultimate Mentalist" was gender-flipped.
  7. The 4th edition "Classic Enemies" plot seed "The Evil of Doctor Destroyer" was added into Doctor Destroyer's 5th/6th edition backstory in late 1983 as one of his master plots. The item which DEMON stole in the plot seed was a prototype psionic resonator, a central component of the mind-control satellites he used for his successful takeover of the world the next year.
  8. The Varanyi attempted an invasion of Earth in 1984 -- while Doctor Destroyer was ruling it. It went about as well as you'd expect.
  9. Megaterak's 1968 attack on Tokyo and 1985 attack on Osaka from the 5th edition CU supplement "Monster Island" have been flipped. This was a plotting decision made and written before my purchase of "Monster Island" -- which was unfortunate becase had I known (and used) the CU history, "Megaterak Raids Again" would have gained an entire subplot with Julie's grandparents and some significant urgency to keep them safe.
  10. Masahara Yohi in the CU became Masahara Yoshihiro in the TASK FORCE universe, and his background was altered to make him both a childhood friend of Julie's in Japan and a military liaison officer for TASK FORCE during "Megaterak Raids Again." He otherwise still becomes the superhero Tetsuronin on schedule in 1988.
  11. Nebula's origin was moved back into the 1980's because dammit, I wanted to use her in "The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer"!! (which was solely on the basis of Storn Cook's illustration of her in the 6th edition CVV3 supplement, but I digress...)
  12. Craig 'Blink' Ngyuen's birth date was changed from 1965 to 1985. Otherwise, his eventual relationship with Jocelyn would be WAY too creepy.
  13. As a result of age-lifting Blink, I have Spiritual Warrior doing the things Blink was recorded as doing during the Demonflame Incident of 1986.
  14. During his 1987 World Conquest Tour in the CU, Takofanes was brought to bay somewhere in Eastern Kentucky -- a routing that only makes sense if you're ignorant of both geography and military operations, since his zombie army was about to go through the widest part of a fairly significant and unpopulated North American terrain feature called THE APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. The routing I used in "Heart of Darkness" (via St. Louis/Indianapolis, with the intent of getting to the southern shores of the Great Lakes and forcing the Mohawk Valley of New York State to get to the East Coast) is the second-easiest way to get a Bronze-age army through the Appalachians (in case you're wondering, the easiest way would have been to just BYPASS the entire mountain range to the south, then once past Atlanta turn northeast to go through the Carolinas. Also a lot more graveyards to replenish your zombie army...). My routing also allowed me to have the final battle take place near Danville, IN -- an area with which I am intimately familiar :), and close to Starforce's original home city of Indianapolis.
  15. Instead of being a tiny nation which exists between Honduras and Lago de Isabel (basically the Caribbean coast of Guatemala) as described in the 6th Edition Champions Universe, the nation of Guamanga in TASK FORCE is the Mosquito Coast region of Nicaragua. It is the result of a somewhat more successful Iran-Contra affair.
  16. Until the historical collapse of the Soviet Union, I use the 4th Edition supplement "Red Doom" for the history of Soviet Union superheroics in this time period instead of the history presented in either the 5th or 6th editions. After 1992 or so, I use the later editions' versions.
  17. The Day of the Destroyer ("72 hours") more or less goes as its 5th Edition writeup in "Book of the Destroyer" describes up until the climax -- then uses the climactic scene from the old 4th edition adventure module.
  18. Neil Sher was changed from being Aida "Ha'Pele" Lerner's ex-husband in the Champions Universe to Judith Shapiro's eventual husband in the TASK FORCE universe
  19. Kara Lerner's father was changed from Neil Sher to Ted Jameson. Neil Sher becomes her adoptive father as outlined in the Champions Universe.
  20. VIPER Nest Leader Frank Detweiler's attack on the United States is moved from 1990 to 1991, and takes place roughly around the end of "Operation Phoenix"
  21. Doctor Destroyer built an Asteroid SCOOP in 1992 -- not an Asteroid Attractor. I also changed the two people holding him when the Zeta Beam first hit at the end of the Battle of Detroit (from Flechette II and Crusher in the CU to Spiritual Warrior and Golden Avenger I in TASK FORCE).

TASK FORCE (1992 to 2012)

  1. A safe -- and synergistic -- interaction between the drug regimen behind the Yeoman super-soldier experiments of the late 1970's and medical nanotech derived from what the Varanyi put into Bob Hawkins and Julie Dormyer in 1992 replaces the Cyberline process in use by PRIMUS by the mid-1990's.
  2. Warlord's character background was completely changed. Roger Warwell became a 1970's era Air Force General who used captured Blueboy (Hzeel) tech to build a helicarrier to try and depose the US Government in a military coup in 1977. He had the dumb luck to be approaching DC as the Gadroon Fleet decelerated into orbit, and he ended up dying a hero instead using his helicarrier to take out a Gadroon flagship off Cape Henlopen, Delaware. The Blueboy tech went into the Iron Eagle powered armor from the next Generation Golden Avenger competition in the mid-1990's ("Land of the Free"), whose pilot attempted to overthrow President Clinton in 1997 ("Home of the Brave"). The armor's construction had been secretly bankrolled and monitored by Sergei Varinnikov, who then stole it for himself in 1999 ("What Happens in Vegas...") to become the supervillain Warlord, president of the Republic of Central Asia and card-carrying anti-villain.
  3. The secret identities of the superheroine Victory and the supervillainess Photon were switched. They also now share an origin in the ill-fated flight of STS-52 to deploy PRIMUS' Gridiron spy satellite in 1992 (roughly during the events of "The Legacy of Doctor Destroyer"). This also means it did not fly with its real-life crew or payload as well. As an undocumented aside, Columbia's crash-landing at White Sands (briefly referenced by Photon in "Coup d'Etat") accelerated the retirement of the Shuttle fleet in-universe in favor of something more super-sciency. Columbia itself was restored post-crash and is on display at the Air Force Museum outside Dayton, OH rather than suffering its historical fate over East Texas in 2003.
  4. The titanium-ceramic composite used in the construction of PRIMUS' Superhero Tactical Assessment Course (STAC) at NSWC Pax River is actually Kendrium, as described in both 5th and 6th CU. The founding of the company that makes it up in Millenium City is otherwise as described in the 5ed Millenium City supplement.
  5. The First Dimensional War in the TASK FORCE universe did not end in the manner outlined by the 6ed supplement "Book of the Empress".
  6. ARGENT took over effective control of Larisagrad in 1998, not 2003 as listed in the 6th edition Champions Universe sourcebook.
  7. David Sutherland's political career was tweaked by having him stop representing Maryland's 8th Congressional District and run for Governor of Maryland in 2010. Also, he is one of the exceptions to my rule "if they were a superhuman in Champions 4th edition or before, use them in the 1980's" -- except for the one change I just mentioned, I use his 6th edition history. I may have also inadvertantly extended his father's career as a US Senator into the mid-1980's based on Julie's internal monologue in 'The Strange Secret of Matthew Fuseli' and Ed Anspaugh's dialog in 'The Evil of Doctor Destroyer'.
  8. Rather than use its vague definition in the Champions Universe, the nation of Taqiristan is formed from the remnant of Turkmenistan not flooded by the creation of the Tethys Sea in 2000. Sergei Varinnikov uses it as a dumping ground for Central Asian criminals, and it shares a long land border with Iran.
  9. Most of ARGENT left Earth for 70 Ophiuchi with Kat el-Hassan in 2001 ("Like a Jewel in the Heavens"), destroying most of Larisagrad in the process. The rest ended up with the Republic of Central Asia or VIPER.
  10. The wedding of Peter Renton and Marcy Gibson was moved from 2005 to 2001 because when I wrote the scene between Julie and Marcy at the beginning of "Black Ops" in October 2002 she is already married. My original intent in the first drafts of "Black Ops" was to have that prologue scene take place in 2004, but the more I wrote it the more that scene (and the attack on the Joliet Demonhame which precipitated it) needed to take place in 2002.
  11. The Multifarian Universe is an alternate timeline of the TASK FORCE universe, with a point of divergence on February 29th, 1896 and swallowed by Quemetiel on February 29th 2012. NOT a universe of non-linear chronology as per CU canon. Because of this, the TASK FORCE Shadow Destroyer does not have the corrupting influence on in-universe magic that the original CU version does.
  12. Shadow Destroyer is an alternate James Harmon III, not James Harmon IV as he is in the CU.
  13. The first manned landing on Mars was moved from 2008 to 2007 because it uses the same tech as the Central Asian Space Force does. As an interesting aside, the first humans on Mars were Real Life astronauts Chris Hadfield (mission commander, from Canada) and Cady Coleman (USA, with whom I was assigned in the early 1990's at Wright-Patterson AFB before she was selected for astronaut training)
  14. The Galaxar known as the Examiner joined his brethren for the defense of Earth in the Second Dimensional War.
  15. Doctor Destroyer's attack on New Harmon in the Multifarian Universe (as described in the CU) became his counterattack on Shadow Destroyer at Trinity Site in 1986 (as described in both "The Paradox of Doctor Destroyer" and "The Great Stronghold Breakout"). His magical stasis in the CU became a three-year time-skip back in the 21st Century before Starforce and Ladyhawk were led to Vanshakarana to retrieve him ("Leap Day").
  16. Russia never signed the Martinez Treaty (authorizing UNTIL to operate in their country), Oddly enough, the Republic of Central Asia did.
  17. DEMON was destroyed as a coherent organization during the Leap Day ritual of 2012. Shadow Destroyer was also killed at this time by Doctor Destroyer.
  18. After the story "Leap Day," I no longer attempt to track with known/published CU canon. This includes Mechanon's recorded fate in 2017 (5th edition supplement 'Galactic Champions') and Witchcraft's sacrifice of our dimension's magical energies to defeat Tyrannon in 2020 (also 'Galactic Champions').