The Cerulean Legion

The main inspiration behind The Cerulean Legion supergroup was the "space-cop" paradigm in comics, found in such organizations as the Green Lantern Corps, Darkstars, Nova Corps and The Lensmen. While we are influenced by these examples, we are also careful not to copy them in any direct manner. This leaves the door opened wide for a great amount of creativity in character creation, storytelling and roleplaying opportunities while giving us a solid framework upon which we can build the Legion's mythos.

"The principal mission of the Cerulean Legion is to preserve the rights of all beings through the prevention of crime, containment or destruction of evil, protection of persons, property, and the maintenance of order throughout the galaxy.

We believe that this can be accomplished in part through the fidelity, bravery, and integrity of our officers and through the example they set for others."

A New Begining. (by Cyphre & Jean-Luc du Lac)

During and as a result of the cataclysmic Rikti invasion, mankind grew fearful and desperate, struggling for survival and victory over our foes. Desiring to find any means by which we could more easily and readily protect ourselves, our greatest minds...scientists and engineers from around the globe...were assembled in an attempt to breach other dimensions where we might discover and acquire new energies, resources, and weaponry.

We were successful. Previously unknown doorways to other realms were opened for the first time. We found our new technologies. We found our new energies. The tides of the war would now surely turn.

However, due to haste and ignorance of the ramifications of what they were doing, our overzealous and slightly arrogant researchers inadvertently caused a "minor" cosmic paradox...shattering reality and the cosmic "Source Stone" (the cosmic anchor by which all reality is defined and maintained) into several separate but less stable realities, each containing several dimensions and thousands of fragments, or "shards", of the Source.

Life went on as usual. Luckily, the inhabitants of Earth in each nearly identical reality managed to triumph over the Rikti invaders, yet remained unaware of the paradox or that the other realities existed at all.

In one such reality, soon after the war ended, a research vessel known as The Lancelot began it's four year exploration mission of the cosmos. This small, 11 man group of interstellar scientists and explorers, led by the French entrepreneur/adventurer Jean Luc du Lac and Canadian engineer/astronaut John Talbot, discovered an intense crystalline power source unlike any other known to exist at the time...fragments of the Source Stone...the shards of reality itself!

The only person on the crew with space walk experience, Talbot was sent out to gather specimens.

As cautious study of the small crystalline fragments began, the team noticed they seemed to emit their eerie blue glow more brightly in proximity to certain members of the research team than to others. The glow seemed particularly bright when Du Lac and Talbot came near and brighter still when in proximity to ship navigator Hugo Dak. Scans of the shards revealed no emission of heat or harmful radiation. Excited by this development, Du Lac decided to hold one with a bare hand. Once touched, the shard seemed to dissolve into his skin. Witnessing no adverse reaction, the rest of the team tried this as well, though only Talbot and two others (Hugo Dak and pilot Kiri Takase) had the same result. Strangely, all four reported feeling as though the shards chose them.

Suddenly, all four reeled, glowing the same cerulean light and overwhelmed as they were forcefully and mysteriously filled with an esoteric discernment of the fragmented Source Stone. They also found to their utter amazement that the Shards had granted them astonishing energy-based powers and abilities, though the nature of these gifts seemed to differ in accordance with the host's personality and strengths.

Discerning how exceedingly dangerous such power could be in the wrong hands, the Lancelot's crew gathered all the remaining shards they could find, forging a pact to use the power of the Source Shards to protect this reality and as a force for good in the universe.

Thus, the Cerulean Legion was born.

Using Earth as a base and as their training grounds, they now recruit from across the galaxy those brave, honorable, and strong enough to fight evil and injustice wherever it stands.

Invited Kheldians aside, all members of The Cerulean Legion gain their powers from the shards of a fractured crystalline object they call the "Source Stone" or simply "The Source". Legionnaires maintain that prior to the Source Stone's shattering it served to protect, preserve, and if necessary repair the universe itself. The Source Stone, though ancient, was still a created thing, bound by it's creators to Reality. While the universe was whole so was the Source Stone. Late in the spring of 2004 by Earth's calendar the universe was fractured and with it the Source Stone, creating the fragments the Legionnaires call "Source Shards". Individuals from many of the universe's sentient races have shown an affinity for these shards, the wan glow of the crystals flaring to brilliance in their presence. Should one of these individuals come into direct physical contact with a shard it is absorbed into their body, becoming a part of them and granting them extraordinary powers consistent with their nature. Those Shardbearers most in tune with what remains of The Source believe that a person's shard-granted gifts are also dictated by the role they will take in the work to come. Though the powers granted vary person to person, the shards themselves are in all ways identical save for minor variations in shape or size. There are some abilities universal to Shardbearers regardless of their individual manifestations. All Shardbearers are physically tougher than the baseline for their species, and heal faster. All Shardbearers of sufficient experience have proven capable of flying under their own power. From the moment they first take on their shard they are wrapped in a projection of shard energy that serves the same protective and environmental function as heavy clothing. This is the "standard uniform". The Shard will disintegrate actual clothing worn by the bearers, converting it to energy and storing it. As Shardbearers gain control over the Shard's energies they can either suppress this disintegration or shape the energy so that they can alter the form of their uniform however they wish, retaining the colors of the initial standard uniform. Additionally, as Shardbearers gain in strength and control they become capable of flying through and surviving in the vacuum of space. This level of power is indicated by a soft glow that surrounds them when they are actively using their powers. This aura will be either blue or crimson, appropriately.**

The Shards may also genetically and physically improve Shardbearers:

• John Talbot, for example, has had his once faulty eyesight restored to better than 20/20. Another ShardBearer was cured of a fatal degenerative genetic disease and no longer even carries the gene.
• Many Shardbearers have more perfect bodies, vibrantly fit and healthy. While this may be an attempt on the Shard's part to fix 'flawed' physiology it does also appear to hinge at least in part on the bearer's ideal image of themselves. Some Shardbearers even became taller, while others are completely unchanged. A man born without eyes did not develop them. Nor did another Shardbearer, an alien for whom the removal of the eyes is a part of the culture of his caste, regrow them.
• Although seventeen is the youngest Shardbearer chosen, there seems to be no upper limit. Older Shardbearers have been returned to youth and vitality upon accepting their Shards.
• Latent mutant abilities may be strengthened and enhanced by the Shards.
  
  

The natural color of the Source Shards appears to be a deep shade of blue. When most Shardbearers or potentials are near a shard, it remains that color. The Shards will however flare crimson in the presence of a certain, apparently rarer, individuals.
There have been several theories as to the significance of this shift. At first, it was thought to be a simple indication of "evil", largely due to the destructive, oppressive nature of the first two crimson Shardbearers Riley McCane (Scarlet Thunder) and John Kollmorgan (Scion). This has since proven to be innaccurate. Unfortunately, these first two had been rogue special operations agents, trained and willing to kill, and were attempting to subvert the power to their personal agenda.
It now appears that the blue shards are for those destined to be 'true' heroes, shining examples who stand en garde to serve and protect life throughout the universe while the red shards are for the subtler and more pragmatic kind of person who gets things done by any means necessary... inside or outside the bounds of law and culture.
As a crimson Shardbearer once put it "We have within us an ancient fragment from the backbone of the universe. What authority do the laws of man hold over us? How are we bound by the moral compass of a single culture? We have work to do." While given the long view that the work may be the work of saints, in the immediate sense it requires the ability to set yourself above the law and consider power to be perogative, qualities most often found in megalomaniacs and sociopaths. It seems then that if this view is true, Crimson Shardbearers will most frequently begin their path as villains.