Here is a basic breakdown and synopsis of the rules of the “Night of Madness” universe. Much of the rules involved are left vague on purpose.

General: Night of Madness takes its name from the event that caused mutants to appear. On that night, most of North America was gripped in madness. A percentage of the population experienced severe pain, and gained powers. And it is always the same, a severe mind-numbing migraine that came out of nowhere, as well as an almost blinding light that lasted from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, then vanished. But even they are not sure how long this lasted, as the pain and light was so distracting that each remembers it differently.

Some were driven insane, or could not control these new powers. So at the onset, you had deaths, violence, and a roughly week long wave of destruction and madness until things started to settle down again. Some were obviously mutants immediately, some took weeks, months, or even years to discovered that they had changed.

In short, it is a “Superhero” series, but is not mandated that the characters be such. Create a hero, create a villain, write about the lover of one of them, or just another person living in this setting. Is all up to the author. After all, Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson, and Miss Eve Teschmacher could be just as interesting as a main character. And Lex Luthor and Batman never had any powers at all. Other than being smart or rich.

The date is purposefully vague, but the Night of Madness itself was sometime between roughly 2008 and 2010. The Internet is already in common use, but cellphones are not quite what we see now. Bohica starts about 5 years after the NoM, Dire Wolf starts almost a decade before and lasts to around 3 years after.

The event itself is to be left vague, but any ideas a character wants to believe as the cause can be given. A gift from God, a curse from Satan, a Government Experiment gone wrong, Aliens playing games, or anything else. However, it can never be proved or disproved, simply the belief of the characters themselves. The characters can believe anything they want, but will never be able to confirm their beliefs in it other than in their own minds.

Powers can be granted to anybody, but they have to have been in the area roughly in a cone from Central Alaska down to around Honduras-Nicaragua north and south, to Haiti-Dominican Republic (but not Puerto Rico) and Newfoundland in the east, and somewhere between California and Hawaii in the west. Only people in this region can be affected, but that can also include people on boats and aircraft.

The decision on North America was simply to limit it for story reasons. A worldwide event could be a disaster, and decades of strife would have resulted in smaller nations. And it is not just the US. Canada, Mexico, Belize, Honduras, even Cuba has mutants also.

However, even if somebody was in that cone of effect, they will not actually manifest their powers until they reach puberty. That means children can become affected, but will not know about it until around 12-13 years old. This mean a 6 year old flying from Disneyland back home to England could have been affected. And then 7 years later have the powers that had been hiding suddenly come out while he or she is living in a suburb of London.

All who are mutants during the time of the effect felt a sharp almost migraine like pain, and saw flashes of light, then faded away. Depending on the mutations, it may have been obvious immediately, or it may be subtle and not known about for days, weeks, even months and years. For the more latent ones (chameleon, breathing water, invulnerability) it may only become obvious or become active if an event triggers the mutation. Like an individual starting to drown when gills appear on their neck. Or extreme stress, fear, or danger causing an unknown Chameleon identity to appear.

For a Chameleon, it may simply be the same person, or a completely different person that appears in the other form. If a writer does this, I would suggest have them remain the same “personality”, unless the Guest (Chameleon) form is of a different gender than the Host (natural) body. In the case of Bohica, I did it for several reasons, only part of it was to help prevent any kind of psychological trauma from somebody having their gender swapped. Dire Wolf is a Chameleon, but largely only a single personality. I did not feel the need for this, as both are female.

Chameleons are classified as one of 2 main types. The most common by far are “Lesser Chameleons”. In this case, they only have 1 or more cosmetic mutations, and apparently no other powers. This is something minor, like their hair changing colors, growing or shrinking in height, but ultimately something that only affects appearance with no real “superpowers”.

Greater Chameleons are more, and largely fall into 4 categories, depending on the genders involved. They are always classified as HOST-GUEST. XX-XX is a female host with a female guest. XY-XY is a male host with a male guest. These are by far the most common Chameleons. More rare are the XX-XY (female host and male guest) and XY-XX (male host and female guest). And a Chameleon can never fall asleep in the guest form. Whenever consciousness is lost, they will always revert to their host form.

And individual may have a single power, or a slew of powers all stacked together. In general the “Big Mutations” that almost automatically qualify a person as a Paladin are flight, manipulation of elements (fire, water, cold, etc), invisibility, extreme speed, and things that increase perception. Invulnerability by itself is not, as an invulnerable person with no other powers is basically useless other than as a human shield.

But combinations of multiple abilities can qualify an individual to be a Paladin. Bohica is not particularly powerful in any single power, but the combination of weaker powers together is what causes him to be a Paladin. And as his story progresses, he learns he has even more, and how to use his powers more effectively.

All Paladins get a $10,000 a month stipend, membership into the “Co-Op/Union”, insurance and legal protection, and reasonable assistance in performing their duties. They can live in housing provided by Control, or they may provide their own housing. But if Control is to make modifications to any real property, agreements are made so that if they die, retire, or move that property is then sold to Control.

For cities, follow the DC convention of creating your own. In that universe, Gotham is roughly New York – New Jersey. Metropolis is actually roughly Delaware. Central City is generally Chicago, Fawcett City (Captain Marvel) is around Minneapolis, Gateway City (Wonder Woman) is San Francisco, National City (Supergirl) is Los Angeles. Star City (Green Arrow) is Seattle, Ivy Town (Atom) is Boston. But authors are also free to use real cities, like in the Marvel Universe.

Compass City is this universe is roughly equivalent to Philadelphia or Saint Louis. A large port city with a river providing ocean access, yet not on the coast itself but located inland. Feel free to use it, or create your own. Control has an office in every major city of roughly 100,000 people or more, the larger the city and more Paladins/Rogues it has, the greater of a presence they will have.

And there is no secret, hidden, or ulterior motives behind Control. It is exactly as it appears, a Government Agency that only exists to assist Paladins or others who have powers. Not unlike the Veterans Administration, it honestly only exists to help mutants. It is not like “The Company” in the Heroes TV show, they only exist to track and assist mutants. However, that does not mean that an individual inside the organization may not have a dark or ulterior motive. But the organization itself is helpful or neutral, not evil.

Anybody who is aware that they have a power must register by law. Even if it is as minor as changing the color of their fingernails on demand. That is because Control is aware that future mutations may become evident, and they also use the data collected to try and figure out exactly what happened, and the scope and repercussions of what mutations can do.

Such as, through Control the research wing discovered that both XX-XX and XY-XY Chameleons are all perfectly stable when it comes to reproduction. Either can father or birth a child, but the change of size for a pregnant female may cause problems in later pregnancy.

In the case of XY-XX, the male can father children, but they are never in female form long enough to become pregnant. In the case of XX-XY, the moment one changes to the male guest, the child instantly vanishes as the male has no womb. It is not even a miscarriage, the child simply ceases to be. An XX-XY can give birth, but must remain in their female host form during the entire term of their pregnancy.

All Chameleons have other things that happen when they change. Mass can increase or decrease up to 50%, which the scientists can not explain. In females, ovulation will continue unchanged. In an XX-XX, both host and guest ovulate on the same cycle. Also, any intoxication or illness (but not injury) is eliminated when a Chameleon changes form. Changing will instantly sober the person, eliminate any virus or bacteria, and purge other chemicals from their body.

And when they first change, an “Imprint” is made as to how they will always look when changing. And that will always be their “default look”. If a woman had shoulder long hair, they can cut it all off, change to their other form, and when they change back it returns to being shoulder long again. But always the natural color. The same with fingernails. So if you have a character that wants a different hair color and they are a chameleon, they will need wigs and not dye.

Some Chameleons take advantage of this, as changing makes grooming simple. Take a shower, change twice, they are dry and their hair is perfect. Or even just change forms twice, as showering is only for comfort.

All stories should be confined to no later than around 2025 or earlier. I have as yet not decided if this is a trait that becomes genetic and can be passed down to future generations. But even an unborn child who had been conceived before the Night of Madness can become a mutant upon reaching puberty.

No members who are a Paladin can serve in the Armed Forces of any country. However, individuals with more passive powers can. Analytical Analysis, minor abilities to heal others or oneself, or the myriad of minor physical mutations are allowed to those in uniform, so long as they are not of a benefit in actual combat.

Most Paladins do chose a “Code Name”, but it is not required. And because this is a universe where DC, Marvel, and all of the other comic book companies are real, they are aware of the existence of fictional characters such as Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Doctor Octopus, Braniac, Poison Ivy, and The Hulk. But the use of such names by a Paladin or Rogue is generally treated with derision, and even contempt by the others in their community. So while a Paladin who can run really fast may call themselves “The Flash”, most other Paladins will mock them for it.