What Law would you make when reality broke?

World building is always a tricky proposition. If you do too much, you risk slowing the pacing down or overloading the reader. Too little and your world risks feeling flat, maybe even logically unsound or riddled with plot holes. One of the things I wanted to look at was how would the introduction of Powers impact that society? I introduced events that put some history into the world, showed how people with powers impacted it, and the way the world reacted to them. I hope you find them interesting and effective. Would you have made different choices?

The Fracture, 1992

The original Fracture happens in 1992, releasing Surge energy and granting powers to some people worldwide. The transformation is strenuous, killing anyone going through the process who is past their early thirties. Instead of a golden age or problems being solved, it erupts into war.

The Fracture War, 1992-1997

As people with powers started taking what they wanted, the stronger ones even starting to seize control of territory. These individuals, known as Surgelords, destabilize the world. Police are unable to maintain order, armies are unable to maintain borders. Surged individuals known as vigilantes begin acting against the Surgelords. The vigilantes often have weaker powers or hesitate in application of violence, and die in large numbers. Eventually the vigilantes organize and begin working in teams, turning the tide of the war. The Surgelord Malfrent Brom conquered Bosnia and declared himself king. He still rules there when our story begins in 2025

The Accord, 1997

When the Surgelords were routed, the vigilantes, who had organized themselves into the Heroic Defense Alliance (HDA) had all the leverage. They wrote The Accord, the guiding principles and rules of the HDA and used their leverage to set themselves up as an independent organization with government funding and subject to Congressional oversight. Other countries could sign onto The Accord which would allow the HDA to operate in those countries.

The Iron Curtain Call, 1997

Shortly before the signing of The Accord, a Russian Surged going by Piotr the Terrible with the power to control mechanical devices held Russia hostage, demanding the country surrender to him, every hour they refused, he detonated one of their nuclear missiles in their silos. The hero Caesura and her team, Curtain Call, had to kill Piotr to stop him. The news called this “The Iron Curtain Call”. The terror from this incident led to worldwide nuclear disarmament.

The 28th Amendment, 1998

There was fear throught the citizenship that Surged could be used by the government to create a police super state. The 28th Amendment was passed to ban law enforcement from employing Surged individuals.

The New Geneva Conventions, 1998

Likewise, no one wanted Surged soldiers fighting wars or Surged deterrence replacing nuclear deterrence. A round of New Geneva Conventions banned the use of Surged individuals in military service. By the time the story picks up in 2025, there are private security/mercenary corporations (like Sandstone) that are using Surged operatives.

State and City Level Hero Alliances (SCLHA, aka The Minors), 1999

Eager to have their own protection, States and some large cities began creating their own hero teams with less funding, resources, and weaker Surged members. The HDA assumed oversight of these organizations under The Accord. The public rapidly abandoned the clunky acronym and started calling these teams The Minors. The HDA were the Majors.

Privacy Protections against Surged Invasiveness (aka Iudex’s Law), 2003

The hero Iudex has a power that makes anyone who is breaking a law to obey his commands. In the early days after the Fracture War, he would enter a public space and give a random, odd command like jumping on one leg or clucking like a chicken. Anyone who followed his command, he would order to confess their crimes. The Supreme Court eventually ruled in US v HDA that this violated the 4th and 5th Amendments. Congress wrote the Privacy Protections Against Surged Invasiveness law to make power’s like Iudex’s or telepaths illegal to use to gain evidence or confessions. Empaths were still legal, but because lying under oath is a crime that an Empath can ascertain, they are banned from courtrooms or other perjury venues outside of strictly scheduled circumstances, such as their own testimony. The law is most commonly referred to by the name of the hero who prompted its creation. Iudex has become one of the strongest proponents of the law, accepting that his actions were wrong.

The Surged Sex Act, 2008

Not all people who are Surged get amazing powers. Daniel Barger had the power to increase or decrease the temperature by two degrees in a ten-foot diameter around him. When it was discovered that Surged individuals have a small chance to have offspring with powers that fully manifest in their late teens (called Fracture Kids), he found his niche. He started the Institute for Powered Offspring (which people just called Barger Babies), offering genetic material at first, then accepting more money for direct applications. When he was arrested for sex work, he claimed he wasn’t engaging in sex work, he was offering genetic customization services. The case was tied up in appeals for more than five years, prompting Congress to pass the Surged Sex Act, making it illegal to exchange sex or reproductive material for money or any financial benefit with a Surged individual.

Superheroes get the comic books. The rest of the world gets the bureaucracy, the fallout, and the clean-up.

It’s easy to ask what happens when ordinary people get god-like abilities. The far messier—and much more dangerous—question is what happens thirty years later, when the institutions realize they have to live with the monsters they made.

That collision is where Mystech: Fracture begins. Available now—pick up your copy, dive into the deep end of 2025, and tell me: would you sign The Accord, or take your chances in Bosnia?