Chapter Text
The world of Twilight is not a world where the superheroes have deliberately taken over, but one where they have inherited the Earth almost by default as various social institutions started to crumble in the face of accelerating social change, leaving the superheroes in the often unwilling position of being a sort of new royalty. Even though government and civic authority has all but disintegrated, the various areas of America each have their own coteries of protecting superfolk to look after them. The superheroes have thus tended to group into clans, each looking after a particular province. There are numerous "Houses" of this nature dividing America up into a kind of feudal barony system effectively, in terms of politics if not in terms of technology, which is as advanced as one might expect by 2030 A.D.What I want to show is a world in which, having lived through the terrors of the fifties through the early Nineties with the overhanging terror of a nuclear Armageddon that seemed inevitable at the time, has found itself faced with the equally inconceivable and terrifying notion that there might not be an apocalypse. That mankind might actually have a future, and might thus be faced with the terrifying prospect of having to deal with it rather than allowing himself the indulgence of getting rid of that responsibility with a convenient mushroom cloud or nine hundred.
The Houses of Heroes
The House of Might
The House of Fantastic
The House of Masters
The House of X
The House of Galaxy
The House of Attilan
The House of Strange
The House of Gamma
To counter this, there would also be a host of lesser super-beings who live within the world underneath the watch of any number of these houses with the house of might dominating the eastern coast of North America. I shall start by introducing the characters house by house.
House of Might : The House of Might is made up of the remaining living Avengers and is headed up by their patriarch, the aged Captain America. Sorted beneath him are the various other Avengers characters, including Iron Man, who has long since outlived Tony Stark, being a series of armor kept animated by an artificial intelligence that believes itself to be the deceased man. Moving out beneath them are characters such as Silver Witch, a version of Wanda Maximoff who, after witnessing the death of her brother at the hands of their father, absorbed not only his powers, but also those of her father. These days her only point of comfort is her ex-husband, The Vision, who has extended beyond simply being a synthezoid to becoming a machine interface which controls all aspects of the city that surrounds the former Avengers Tower.
Further characters who will appear within the Avengers shall be Wonder Man and Black Panther, both of whom have their own plans to betray the House of Might to other houses that they have divided loyalty towards.
The House of Fantastic : The House of Fantastic used to be the power in the region, but since the death of Mister Fantastic and The Invisible Woman, there has been a vacuum, allowing for factions like the House of Might to encroach on the territory as a result, the House of Fantastic has fled the region for the former nation of Latveria. Reed and Susan’s daughter Valeria has taken up the identity of the group’s former enemy, Doctor Doom, mastering both mysticism and science as her godfather had. Surrounding her is a council made up of the now-grown-up Future Foundation students. Her immediate opposite in rule is Bently-23, who has in turn taken up the identity of The Wizard. Valeria, while not nearly as cruel as her predecessor maintains an iron grip over Latveria, through her use of ancient Doombots and her newer HERBIE units. Notably, I want to factor in characters like Vibraxas, because of his connection to Franklin Richards. Franklin hasn’t evolved like some future versions of him have. He hasn’t become Psilord as a version of him did in the 90s, and he is not a benevolent god from the future. Franklin is a young man, perhaps college aged who is struggling to maintain his human shape. If his powers were to flair up, his physical form would merge with the universe, rendering his essence into pure narrative. He is mostly kept in his human shape by his best friend, Leech. But eventually, Leech will die, then where will Franklin be? As for the remaining members of the original Four, The Human Torch still resides within the House of Fantastic, acting as an occasional power source for Latveria, though he’s not nearly as powerful as he might have been as a younger man. He’s not too sad about it. The Thing on the other hand has grown colder and more distant as a result of his best friends’ deaths. His presence is felt in moments of absolute terror when he is needed to protect Val, Franklin, and Johnny, the last remains of his old life.
The House of Masters : The House of Masters is the home of all of the supervillains who survived the purges. They are not considered a threat by any of the major houses, who see them as a mostly neutered force. The chief among them is Grim Reaper, who might not be the original. Though, he certainly believes himself to be. The Superadaptoid serves beneath him, keeping other villains like Baron Zemo, The Struckers, and Constrictor in line.
House of X: Located on the island of Westchester, the House of X is one of the other main powers on earth, second only to the House of Might. They are composed of the surviving x-people, brotherhood members, etc. The head of this house of Jean Grey, who has since become a merged being made up of herself, Madelyne Pryor, and the Phoenix force itself. She has since taken up the place in the world that was left vacant by the deaths of Magneto and Professor X. The Host of her house’s force is made up of a group of psychics at the top. At the top are Jean Grey and Emma Frost. Beneath them are psychics like the Cuckoos and the Masterminds who have been made to spy and keep track of the movements of other houses. While directly beneath them psychic assassins like the Psylocks make up their fighting force. Though that being said, the House is in alliance with The House of Fantastic, with Gabrielle Kinney being betrothed to Valeria Richards. While other elements such as The Beast attempting a coup of The House of Might, with the aid of his lover, Wonder Man.
House of Galaxy : The House of Galaxy is a strange group. It is built up by the exiled alien heroes of earth, the former guardians of the galaxy, and time-displaced heroes, planning on taking it back and overthrowing the other houses still active on the planet. Among their number is Carol Danvers who has now assumed the position of Accuser Marvel alongside her sister, Lauri-Ell. They are backed by the Kree-Skrull empire, still helmed by Dorrek VIII and his magical husband, though they are not active aggressors in the story, despite not being allowed on their home planet. They have attempted to court The Houses of X and Fantastic because of history, but history means little to anyone these days. The earth is a bitch, we’ve finished our news. Now people from the stars have come to either uplift us or level us.
House of Attilan: The House of Galaxy will find no friends among The House of Attilan. Having been the result of Kree tampering with earth. The head of The House of Attilan is the last person you would expect to be holding any sort of control, Kamala Khan. She has now taken up the moniker of Queen Marvel and holds court of all of inhumanity. In another world, they might have been allies with The House of Fantastic, but her second in command Moon Woman has a rivalry with Valeria Richards that will not allow this. As such, the history with the House of X has left them in a spot to ally themselves with the House of Might, but with members like Lineage moving closer towards the House of Masters, it’s debatable that The House of Attilan will thrive.
The House of Strange :The House of Strange is a magical stronghold of the remaining mystics of the world. It’s named for Stephen, but it is helmed by his ex wife, Clea. Headed by Clea, the House of Strange is a mix of both dark and light magic, with Clea using her control to keep a balance between the two. With her are Strange’s old allies Wong, the Hellstroms, and Blade. The house is also home to numerous magical creatures such as satyrs, trolls, and other creatures of myth.
The House of Gamma: Lastly, The House of Gamma is a relatively new house. Based out of the abandoned Shadow Base, the heads of the house are the Hulk, now inhabited by the Joe Fixit persona, and his monstrous wife The Red Harpy. They are backed by a number of gamma-powered creatures such as the Abomination, the Leader, and the U-Foes. They are the wild card of the Houses, as they are not tied to any other house, but they have the potential to be a major player in the future.
Meanwhile, beneath all of these houses sit the street-level characters who are still around, living their normal lives. In the House of Might’s territory exist characters such as The Hawkeyes who live as private investigators. While vigilantes such as Peter Parker and Faiza Hussain reside in Latveria. While someone like Miles Morales and the former Champions operate within the House of Attilan.