META-4 is a fictional campaign setting

Campaign setting

A campaign setting is usually a fictional world which serves as a setting for a role-playing game or wargame campaign. A campaign is a series of individual adventures, and a campaign setting is the world in which such adventures and campaigns take place...

 for the roleplaying game Mutants & Masterminds. It was created by Super Unicorn members Erik Mona

Erik Mona

-Career:Erik Mona served as the editor-in-chief of Dragon magazine since 2004 and Dungeon magazine from 2004 to 2006; at the time, both magazines were published by Paizo Publishing, until the license through Wizards of the Coast expired in September 2007...

, Kyle Hunter, and Sean Glenn, who were the contracted design studio for the M&M 1st edition line. The setting was initially created to give the character backgrounds in the Mutants and Masterminds 1st edition core book more life. It was further detailed with a full history in Crooks!

The META-4 Agency

META-4 is a government agency much like the CIA, whose task is to oversee superhuman activities. The agency consists of both human and superhuman operatives. They are also broken into four branches, each with its own color uniform. The agency is currently run by director Talia Thorne.

The Reserve

The current superhuman program run by META-4. The team acts as both a training ground for new recruits, as well as a force against superhuman threats. The team is known as the Reserve as they are generally utilized for larger threats; ordinary criminal activity is handled by local law enforcement and other non-affiliated superhumans.

Current Core Group:

• Marathon - A super speedster.
• Minotaur - A former Green Beret, given superpowers through the ANTAG program's Man/Myth project. One of the most disciplined members of the project, he was moved to META-4 and the Reserve for active duty. His goal is to capture the other members of the Man/Myth project, who are now known as the Bestiary. Known powers are super strength and super toughness.
• Inferna - Minotaur's longtime partner in the fight against the Bestiary. Known powers are various methods of fire control fire including flight.

Other members:
The Reserve has had a few rotating members who help occasionally for short stints:

• Cyclone
• Knock-Off
• Protonik
• The Pugilist

Deceased members:

• Argus - left in a vegetative state after a fight with Fuse.
• Ant Devil - killed in a fight with Fuse.

The Statesmen Initiative

Following defeat in the Vietnam War, and faced with an ever-growing population of super-powered citizens, the United States government formed a team of government-sanctioned heroes ready to meet any domestic or international threat. The team was made up of 50 heroes, once from each state in the Union. The core team was made up of Trinity

Trinity

The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...

 (NM), Skyscraper Joe (NY), Kittyhawk (NC), Calamity Jane Doe (SD), and Bigfoot

Bigfoot

Bigfoot, also known as sasquatch, is an ape-like cryptid that purportedly inhabits forests, mainly in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Bigfoot is usually described as a large, hairy, bipedal humanoid...

 (WA). Other members included Hotrod (MI), Jersey Devil

Jersey Devil

The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature or cryptid said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey, United States. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations...

 (NJ), Bunyan Babe (MN), and the Connecticut Yankee

Connecticut Yankee

Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant was a nuclear power plant located in Haddam Neck, Connecticut, that was commissioned in 1968, ceased electricity production in 1996, and was decommissioned by 2004. The plant had a capacity of 582MW. Demolition of the containment dome was completed the week...

 (CT).

Eventually poor publicity from the hero-turned-rogue St. Elmo (MA) coupled with Congressional investigations of financial irregularities and a string of defeats in the early 1980s led to problems for the team. After the loss of Trinity in their battle with the Atomic Brain in early 1982, the team splintered and was disbanded by the end of the year.

Bestiary

A group of villains seeking to grow stronger and show their real worth. Originally created by ANTAG, a government research program whose goal was to create new superhuman soldiers. They were part of the Man/Myth project along with Argus and Minotaur. These members however turned unstable during a mission to Iraq. The ANTAG program was subsequently taken over by META-4. Since then, The Reserve and Bestiary have become arch rivals.

• Behemoth - A large blue beast of a man.
• Chimera - The team leader.
• Cockatrice - Can turn people to stone with just a look.
• Griffon
• Manticore
• Undine - A woman who looks part fish & can control water.

The Front

Soon after becoming President in 1992, Ben Farmer began receiving threats from terrorist groups and super villains. In response to this threat, Farmer formed the Front, a group of presidentially-appointed super heroes who acted as body guards under direct order of the President. With his election in 2000, President Bert Lando replaced Farmer's team with a new group more loyal to him. New members included Alpha Male, Primute and Radiomega.

Current Villains

• Atomic Brain
• Blitz
• Damocles
• Fuse - Villain responsible for the death of President Ben Farmer in 1995.
• Gepetto
• Moonquake
• The Nihilist
• Sister Blister
• Spasm