Tags Explained

This page explains some of the tags that may not be self-evident. Please add to this page if you create a new tag that is non-obvious.

AC: Artificial Consciousness. All will also have the Synthetic tag. Not all machine intelligences are considered conscious or aware, those with the AC tag are definitely self-aware.

Academy: Someone who is primarily known for their presence at the Academy in northern Wisconsin Sector. Members of ASH have mostly been to the Academy but generally lack this tag.

Aesir: A Pureblood of Norse or Teutonic extraction.

Alien: Someone from the main reality, but another planet.

Anchor: Someone who acts as a sort of antibody for reality, reinforcing natural law and shutting down supernatural powers. Note that the majority of Anchors were killed during the Pyramid Scheme, but the "dead" tag is only applied for those known for certain to have been killed.

ASH: Member of the Academy of Super-Heroes. Usually means the Fourth Age iteration.

Carny: Member of a "Crime Circus", of which there may be several in existence.

CBI: Combine Bureau of Investigation, successor to the FBI and its equivalent organizations in the other member states of the North American Combine. Responsible for crimes that cross sector or state boundaries, among other things.

Child: Generally refers to a character who was born in the 2020s, not just any non-adult character.

China: Someone mainly associated with some part of the People's Republic of China or its successor states (Central Asian Confederation, SEATO). Will not be applied to characters who are simply of Chinese ethnicity or birth.

Codename: This entry is either just about a codename, or is about a character who mainly goes by their codename.

CoH: This character is one of the refugees from the collapsed City of Heroes reality, or someone left behind there (and will also have the Outsider tag). This is distinct from "native" ASH Universe characters who also have City of Heroes versions, like Doctor Developer or TerraStar.

Conclave: The Anchorite Conclave, a group of Anchors who tried to manipulate world politics and economy in the early 21st Century before being broken by the Ankh Killer and finally destroyed during the Pyramid Scheme.

CSV: Member of the Conclave of Super-Villains. Usually means the Fourth Age iteration.

Cybernostra: A cross between a paragang and an old-style crime family. Most of the higher ranks are cyborgs, and all of the top leadership is. Some characters are more paragang-ish than others, and get that tag too.

Cyborg: Self-explanatory. Noteworthy because of Planetary Confederation law regarding cyborgs (they're essentially property).

Dead: This character is either dead, presumed dead, or has either been dead or been thought dead at some point. It ain't nohow permanent. Also includes unliving things that have been destroyed or presumed destroyed, but only if they were unique or if all samples have been destroyed.

Demon: One who once was a Pureblood, but lost most of their power in the eternal wars of the gods. Still vastly powerful by human standards, but no longer on the same plane as Purebloods. This is a "technical" definition, many entities called demons will not have this tag.

DSHA: Department of Super-Human Affairs (sometimes listed as Activities), a Combine governmental organization. Much of their enforcement responsibility was ceded to STRAFE.

Egypt: Linked to mythical Egypt.

ElDorado: The hidden city of El Dorado under the Amazon Basin. Those with this tag are either from El Dorado, or have ties there.

EUG: Eurasian Union Gendarmerie, the semi-military police that have union-wide authority.

EUROPA: Eurasian Union Ruling Order Paranormal Authority. The EU's equivalent of ASH.

Extra: This character is, at least at the time of their entry being made, a very minor character. Named and maybe even given a little fleshing out, but ultimately a bit player. The dividing line between extra and lead player is fuzzy. An extra is about as unimportant as you can get and still have an entry…although an interesting enough extra might get promoted later on. If you have both the dead and extra tags, you're probably not coming back, except maybe with the zombie tag.

Family: This tags entries that track multiple members of a given family or clan. Not to be confused with The Family.

FirstAge: Character was active in the First Heroic Age (1938-1947, roughly).

Future: Character is from a possible future. Or a no-longer-possible one.

Gadgeteer: Anyone who can create supertech, whether it's hardware or software. As long as it's more science-flavored than magic-flavored. Usually describes hardware types, but not always. Does not apply to normals, unless they have access to advanced alien technology or have some way to manipulate pre-existing supertech.

Gestalt: A character who is the fusion of two or more people, like Aaron Zander (after ASH #9) or The Family.

Greek: Not nationality per se, rather this character has some relation to Greek or Greco-Roman Myth, whether they're a Pureblood "god" or just a creature like Peter the Satyr.

GWC*: Galactic Warrior Corps, the "space police" of the setting.

Hangman: One of the cybernetically-enhanced enforcers of order in Rex Umbrae's Manhattan. They use similar technology to the Cybernostra, but prefer subtlety over flash, and do not buy into the syncretic mecha-Catholicism of the Cybernostra.

I5: Either a member of the Impossible Five or of one of their "franchise" teams.

Instructor: Usually found in conjunction with "Academy", but not always.

ISF: Imperial Santari Fleet. From the possible future of Spear-Carriers, this character is a member of the Santari fleet.

Kaiju: Giant monster.

Khadam: Associated with the government of Khadam, as opposed to just living there (i.e. not all CSV members would be tagged Khadam).

Legacy: A codename that has been passed from person to person, or a character who is specifically picking up the legacy of a predecessor.

Mage: Someone with a versatile and mystical talent for manipulating reality, as opposed to more narrowly-focused supernaturals. The magic-flavored counterpart to Gadgeteer.

Married: The character is married to another character who has a listing.

Marshal: A North American Combine Marshal. The Marshals are a layer of law enforcement between normal human police and ASH, and many Academy graduates who aren't picked for ASH become Marshals.

Media: A reporter, journalist, network personality or other person involved in the media. This also includes professional athletes and entertainers.

Medical: A medical doctor or nurse.

MetaPsych: An organization dedicated to studying psionic powers. Not all telepaths are members, but it's the main source for training them. Mostly a Combine outfit, but they get people from the EU as well.

NYPD: New York Police Department.

OnyxEye: Member of the Onyx Eye Tong, a Chinese crime family. Only Chinese are full members, but useful paranormals may be hired.

Outsider: From another reality, or has powers that let them spent a lot of time in other realities.

Paraball: Baseball with superpowers. A league was founded in the early 2020s in an attempt to find a more positive outlet for superhumans who might otherwise drift into crime.

Paragang: A member of one of Manhattan's Paragangs, Europe's Vogue Ghoul packs or the Japanese Otakuza (the Sentai members will get their own tag to separate them from the rank and file).

Police: Any police officer not associated with the Marshals, NYPD, EUG or other organization that gets its own tag.

Politician: Someone whose main "thing" is politics.

PowerArmor: This character makes extensive use of high tech (alien or supertech) armor, at least for protection if nothing else.

Pureblood: Also known as "small g gods", those with the strongest expression of the Magene. Their origins are often lost to time, as they are all Outsiders and have had their pasts wiped clean by multiple cross-temporal struggles.

Raiders: A Third Age superhero team based in Columbus OH.

Revanche: A short-lived team assembled by Kasca Kas'r.

RoadRager: Member of a paragang auxiliary devoted to high speed street racing.

SecondAge: The character was active in the Second Heroic Age (1967-1976, roughtly).

Sentai: The character is one of the colorfully garbed superhuman members of the Otakuza, the bushikamen sentai. They balance on the edge between criminal and hero.

Solo-Hero and Solo-Villain: Not a team player. Just to let people find heroes and villains that aren't part of teams or gangs.

Starname: Pranir true names are not pronounceable by most other races, so they adopt descriptive names for use offworld. A Starname has to be earned, and can be unflattering if the Pranir in question is a screwup.

Starship: A named spaceship. Mostly found in the 3732 era.

STRAFE: Superhuman Tactical Resources and Affiliated Field Experts. A mix of more "subtle" superheroes and highly trained normal agents. A mainly Combine organization, but with their mandate from the United World they have become steadily more cosmopolitan. Not to be confused with the Third Age hero and villain named Strafe.

Synthetic: A created being of some sort, whether made by genetics, magic, computer code or cybernetics.

Team: This entry is for a team or other fairly cohesive organization. Not all organizations/affiliations count as teams. For instance, individual paragangs do not get entries.

Telepath: Has some sort of psionic ability, although it may only be empathic in nature.

ThirdAge: Character was active during the Third Heroic Age (1986-1998, roughly).

UWF: United Worlds Fleet. A member of the military arm of the United Worlds in the Spear-Carriers future.

Vehicle: A vehicle that is not a starship. We're going to try to limit this to vehicles that might recur (i.e. the cars seen in the Prix Ultime are unlikely to appear again, so they probably won't get entries).

Venus: The character has made Venus their primary base of operations. Usually after the terraforming.

Zombie: Animated corpse, usually associated with the New York Macoute.

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