Earth Kaf

Since the arrival of Wild Hunt in the '80s, Earth as we know it has seen significant departures from real-world history. This page seeks to collect these main divergences, as well as differences from Earth Bet.

Note: this list is not exhaustive, please check up in #lore on the Discord if you have questions.

Geographic Differences

For the most part, our Earth is geographically similar to its real-life counterpart, with the exception of our two setting cities, which are fictional locations:

• Ashton is a city located on the Washington coast, in the place of the real-life Aberdeen. With an urban area population of nearly two million, it represents a significant change to the area.
• Devilfish, our current setting, is a fictional city located in northern Minnesota, about in the position of Grand Marais. While in real life this area is little more than lakes and trees, in our setting it's a has-been mining town of about one hundred thousand population.
• Earth Bet's Brockton Bay does not exist on Earth Kaf. Maine is just as sad as it is in real life.

Geopolitical Differences

A summary map of the geopolitical spheres of influence in Earth Kaf.

The presence of Endbringers and to a lesser extent capes in general have resulted in many changes to real-life nations.

• Most significantly, the Cold War never really ended, the Berlin Wall never fell, and for the most part the Warsaw Pact countries and Soviet states have been consolidated into a single nation, the Unified Soviet Republic.
• Following conflict in Venezuela that resulted in the US city of Minneapolis being dirty bombed by state-sponsored terrorists, US involvement in Latin America increased drastically, resulting in more direct approaches. The most notable of which was the annexation of Panama in 1994, making it a US territory.
• A combination of foreign meddling and parahuman-led uprisings have led to much of the Middle East devolving into a messy power vacuum colloquially referred to as the Arabian Strife.
• Following the 1995 Endbringer attack, Korean Reunification has been achieved, and while the nation still faces significant challenges, the reunification has largely been seen as a success.
• The US territory of Guam has been almost completely militarized, and acts as a black site and location for military research.
• Spain has undergone a takeover by a villainous Tinker, and as of the present-day is something akin to real-life's North Korea.
• Irish reunification was achieved after nearly a decade of cape-led fighting in Ulster.
• Due to the ever-present threat of Endbringers wiping out one's country, the Gibraltar Treaty was signed into effect, among other things establishing a formal "successor" organization to take over a country should its government collapse due to an Endbringer attack. Most nations have designated either the US, China, or Soviet Republic, and these designations are a visible sign of the spheres of influence these superpowers wield.

Space Lore

The arrival of what was almost certainly an extraterrestrial being has spurred significant strikes in our research in Earth orbit and beyond. These are detailed in our Space Lore series linked at the bottom of the page, but in short:

• The International Space Station does not exist. In its place, the US has a military orbital station referred to as Space Station Freedom.
• The Soviets likewise have a permanent presence in space, Salyut 10, home to the first human born in space. The Soviets have differentiated from Freedom by making their station incredibly public and open compared to their prior stations, similar to the ISS today but with a Truman Show-esqe situation going on.
• A moon colony, Argo Station, was settled in 2005, establishing a permanent presence on the Moon.

Note: Powers do work in space, but get weaker and less effective the further you are from Earth. In addition, the shards aren't fans of it, and may introduce adverse mental effects in their hosts to prevent straying beyond Earth's orbit.

Organizational Differences

• The Federal Government established an organization now known as the Parahuman Response Team to act as the sole authority on parahuman-related affairs in the United States. While this is similar to Earth Bet's PRT, several key differences are in place:
  • The PRT is under the purview of the Department of Justice rather than a branch of the military.
  • The Protectorate is more closely-integrated with the PRT, existing as a division of the PRT rather than a separate organization under their purview.
  • Likewise, the Wards are just the "junior division" of the Protectorate, rather than a separate team.
  • The usage of containment foam is far more limited on Earth Kaf, mostly due to out-of-character reasons (it's not fun to RP with or against).
  • Unlike in Earth Bet, the PRT is broadly competent at its job, and is not being sabotaged from within by willfully inept leadership with ulterior motives.
• Canada has its own PRT-analogue, the RCPA. Its state-sponsored hero team is also referred to as the Protectorate, but it's its own distinct entity, albeit one that works closely with their neighbors to the south.

Power Differences

• Our twinned Entities are slightly different than in canon, and most notably both are very much alive and active.
• The Warrior entity is known as Wild Hunt, and focuses on sweeping up any potential threats to the cycle.
• Our equivalent of Cauldron (the Goetic Covens) are run by the Thinker entity as an alternative means of distributing powers.
• Endbringers are weaker than in canon, and attacks occur less often, only once a year. If not killed, they will evolve and return stronger next year. Killing an Endbringer will result in a new one appearing next year.
  • This is mostly due to out-of-character circumstances; the Endbringer fight is our yearly capstone event and having it more than once a year would be Too Much to organize.