A YJA Moment - The New Gods and the Crisis

In a timeline long since erased, the godwave had created a Fourth World very much as our own.  In that domain were the forces of order, the New Gods, and the forces of chaos, the residents of Apokalips.  Although the Lord of Apokalips, Darkseid, attempted to conquer all of reality, he was always stopped by the New Gods and their leader Highfather.

In that timeline's future, Darkseid made contact with the time travelers Chronos, Per Degaton, and the Time Trapper.  It's unclear how they came into his attention but whatever they did greatly angered the Lord of Apocalips.  After disabling their technology with his Omega Beams, his Parademons swiftly overwhelmed the chrononauts and subdued them.

After days of agony in the Torture Pits of Apokalips, the trio were dragged before his throne of Darkseid to be executed.  Per Degaton pleaded for mercy but Darkseid toyed with them, asking what they could possibly offer in exchange for their lives.

So Per Degaton told him.  The words spoken between them would never be known but Darkseid had them released immediately. 

In the far past, just after the godwave created the Fourth World, the form of the planet of New Genesis was stabilizing.  A Hellseed suddenly appeared, planted underneath the capital of Celestial City.  The resulting Firepit engulfed the City and all the New Gods which dwelled within.

Time forever changed.  Without the New Gods, no one was there to challenge Darkseid, allowing his forces to infiltrate the cosmos.  In the cosmological realm, the essences of the slain New Gods were too nescient to transition to the afterlife, coalescing into jewel-like ingots known as the Infinity Stones.

And the force-which-cannot-be, the Anti-Life Equation, began to seep into reality.
The Universe is in an imbalance but the end has not come.  For though there have been accidental avatars of the Anti-Life Equation, the individual who could wield its full power, Darkseid himself, is unable to access it.  He still searches the Known and Unknown Universe to seeking his goal to supplant reality with his own.

Yet Per Degaton knew how this story ends.  His last words spoken as Rip Hunter twisted the blade in his stomach declared the terrible truth.  That Darkseid does not access the Anti-Life because he has not realized his power and his role.  For deep within the God of Apocalypse lies the Seventh Stone, the Entropy Stone.  And by harnessing the power of Entropy, Darkseid will have the power to tear down the barriers and turn the universe into one of servitude and slavery.

Its a future Rip Hunter gave his life to rewrite.

A YJA Moment: Demona and the Gargoyles

Gargoyles are a race of Mythics all but extinct in the modern-day.  They are huge demonic-looking creatures, who operate in the night but turn to stone in the day.  While Gargoyles existed throughout the world, the most notable Clan was on Castle Wyvern in Scotland, where they protected the nobles from invaders.

The creatures did not have names for each other, but two were given titles by their human allies.  Their leader was known as Goliath and his second-in-command and mate was known as Demona.

Betrayed by their allies during a siege, most of the Gargoyles of the castle were shattered while in their statue forms.  The court magician, however, cast a dangerous spell that shielded the remaining Gargoyles, including Goliath, from the human view.  But the spell itself had the unexpected effect of trapping the Mythics in their stone forms permanently.

Demona. who had left the Castle during the battle, returned to find her people either shattered or cursed. Unable to break the magician's spell, she traveled the world to find a way of freeing them and a means of exacting revenge on the humans.  Learning from the great sorcerers of the world, she became an accomplished practitioner in the mystic arts.  Not content with mortal magics, she attempted to barter power from the Mythics, which led to her being cursed by the fae known as Pan.

The curse robbed her of her stone form - during the day, she would become a mortal being indistinguishable from a human.  She used this ability to further infiltrate the human world, using her sorcery to change her appearance when necessary.  She eventually gained influence in several groups - As Mystique she became a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, and as Domanique Destine she rose the ranks of Stark Industries.

All the while she schemed.  Using homunculus arts she created a simulacrum of Tony Stark that she made the heir to the Xanatos fortune.  She tried in vain to create offspring but Pan's curse prevented her from using magic on herself, so her Goliath-Demona child instead became the metahuman known as Nightcrawler.

Her plans were many - she convinced Tony to relocate Castle Wyvern to atop Stark Tower to keep it close to her.  She then used Stark's apparent demise to have Xanatos take control of the company - her homunculus would be genetically identical to Tony allowing him access to all his secret files.  She then made deals with Weapons Plus, betraying the Brotherhood in exchange for cloning a new Gargoyle race.

Ultimately Demona hoped to use her influence in the Brotherhood and Orchis to heighten the tense relations between humanity and its metahuman sub-species, causing a conflict that would cause open warfare.  If enough humans were killed then the Mythics such as the Gargoyles could then rise up and reclaim the planet as their own.  She came very close to doing so, arraging for both the Sentinel attack on the Xavier Mansion and Magneto's murderous response against Checkmate leadership using an Aircraft Carrier.

In the end, the Avengers defeated Demona and imprisoned her in the "Black Mass" supernatural containment wing of the Triskelion.  Clan Wyvern has temporarily relocated to Outland, in order to figure out what to do about David Xanatos and his possession of their home.

A YJA Moment: The Mythics

What has been called The Mythics are magical creatures that were once numerous on the planet.  Whether created by the gods or the result of portals to other worlds and dimensions, creatures like Centaurs, Dragons, Medusa were commonly encountered by heroes all over the world.

However, with the growing presence of civilization and the power of technology, even the most powerful Mythics found themselves overpowered and out-numbered.  Groups like the Holy Order of St. Dumas and the Demon Knights made it their duty to slay these "foul creatures", while singular heroes like Hercules and Jason slew Mythics indiscriminately.

Mythics were forced to hide in order to survive.  Some retreated to unexplored territories or magically hidden lands, while others made desperate bargains for patrons to hide them.  However, for most their fate was sealed.  They would be hunted and slaughtered, their forms used as the ingredients for magical devices, and their existence relegated to nursery rhymes or books of ancient lore.

In modern times, the Centaur known as Adrasteia the Kentauride has begun the process to gather the remaining Mystics and house them in the dimensional pocket she calls Outland.  To that end, she has been scouring the globe and making contact with various groups that have supernatural creatures as members, offering them a new home in Outland.

At this time the Medusae Steno and Scylla,  the Asgardian steed Sleipnir, and the Unicorn known as Panacea are permanent residents. After the events in the Underworld and Japan, the Centaurs Hylonome and Chiron have also have taken up residence in Outland.  The dimension also has its share of temporary visitors, such as the Gargoyles of Clan Wyvern and the dragon Shou Lung.

A YJA Moment - Stark Industries

Howard Stark was a famed engineer and adventurer who once was associated with a team of "Mystery Men" which included the likes of Doc Savage and The Shadow.  It would be ironic that his side-project, a small company called Stark Industries, would blossom into a multi-national corporation due to the looming threat of the Second World War.

Anthony Stark was born into a life of privilege.  Stark Industries dominant in post-war America, in no small part due to Howard's involvement with the Strategic Science Reserve.  Tony received the best of everything - the best education, the latest entertainment, and unparalleled access to the halls of power.  When Howard was killed in a car accident in 1994, Tony was well prepared to take control of the family business.

As the new CEO of Stark Industries, Tony realigned the company away from industrial manufacturing, and conventional weapons sales, turning to the lucrative advanced technology in order to boost the companies revenues.  When he was kidnapped while on a field test in Afganistan, he returned with the idea of what would become the War Machine project.  Using advanced cybernetics developed for the medical field, he constructed a suit of powered armor powered by an advanced power source.  The War Machine was to the United States Military's testbed for a new advanced defense force to deal with the rising issue of metahumans. 

Stark's world would change during the Battle for New York when an alien force led by Loki staged an invasion over the United Nations Headquarters.  Taking his prototype War Machine suit, he joined an ad hoc group of heroes in defending the city and by extension the whole world.  His "Iron Man" identity a house-hold world, and finding the idea of heroism intoxicating, Stark accepted an offer to join The Sword, a Covert Action Team under the control of the Office of National Emergency.

In the years after that, Stark became very busy with his newfound hobby.  Now part of The Shield, Tony left the day-to-day operations to his advisor Pepper Potts and Dominique Destine.  While Pepper tried to reign in his growing eccentricity, while Dominique encouraged him.  At the height of his hubris, Tony moved Castle Wyvern brick-by-brick from Scotland and placed on the top of New York's Stark Tower.

When Tony was listed among the missing during the Watchtower Incident, Stark Industries stock plummeted.  David Xanatos, the billionaire financier known his aggressive business practices, staged a hostile takeover over the business, adding the tech giant to his own considerable portfolio renaming it Xanatos Enterprises.

When Tony returned he found the company his father founded now in the hands of another.  It was devastating but led to the most interesting business relationships.  Batman offered Iron Man control of Kord Omnitech, a company that Bruce rescued when its founder Ted Kord was slain. 
With a fledgling but promising company in his control and his genius intellect, Tony seeks to build a new Stark Industries and perhaps find a way of reclaiming what Xanatos has stolen.