Your grandparents dreamed of having superpowers! Thanks to the Mega-City System, that dream is history!

It is late in the 24th century. 150 years ago, the United States fell by the wayside. Out of the ashes of the war that followed, the Mega-City System formed. It is a society not so dissimilar from the one that came before, built on notions of freedom, democracy, and republicanism.

However, the System’s founders were as realistic as they were aspirational. They sought to do a better job of accommodating humanity’s strengths and weaknesses. Consequently, You Know How You Are is one of the Mega-City System’s most cherished maxims. And it’s also why everyone, from a young age, learns that the System will not last forever. It will eventually fall apart, like every nation that came before it.

To ensure it’s as durable as possible, history is glorified. In fact, history is why Philadelphia is the Mega-City for the U.S. Eastern time zone. It simply has more old buildings and artifacts than anyplace else. Why does that matter? For the Mega-City System to continue to ascend, citizens must understand that in spite of their differences, they have more in common than they think. They are one people with a shared history.

Of course, fetishizing the past only gets you so far. A sense of sisterhood and brotherhood, of connection and community, needs to be part of everyday life. There must be a common cause or passion that brings everyone together, regularly. In Mega-City Philadelphia, it’s sport, and that sport is gladiatorial combat. 

That’s where The Alpha Upgrade Program comes in. It offers every Mega-City citizen genetic enhancement. All you have to do is be 18 years of age. Economic background doesn’t even enter into it.

The only catch: Once you’ve upgraded to superhero strength, dexterity or constitution, you are obligated to seek fame and fortune—and there is plenty of both—under the FightLight battling other gladiators, sometimes to the death.