The Masterman project was a program initiated by the German government in the mid-1930's with the aim of creating artificial superhumans for use by the German military. Initially the project had little success, but in the late 1930's it achieved sudden and spectacular results with the creation of the superhuman known as Masterman who fought with the German army to such great effect. Fortunately for the allies, several defecting German scientists made their way to Britain where they formed the core of what became known as the Maximan project, set up to create a British superhuman to counter the threat of Masterman. After the war many of the prime movers of the Masterman project went underground and re-surfaced in the Chilean Empire, where many of them work to this day. Examination by allied scientists of the remaining notes from the Masterman project gave no clue as to the final breakthrough which made the creation of Masterman possible, only vague hints that it came from an outside source. The discovery of several secret rooms which seemed to be devoted to magic of some kind led to speculation that the information was of magical origin. However, this has never been proved.
Personnel involved in the Masterman project:
The leader of the Masterman project, Blobel was a geneticist and bio-physicist. When the Masterman project laboratories were over-run by the allies he committed suicide rather than be tried for war crimes.
Blobel's second in command, he was (and remains) a medical doctor, geneticist and experimental biologist. Heavily involved in the experiments (mainly on people from concentration camps) which led up to the creation of Masterman, he continued experiments in genetic engineering on people even after Masterman's successful creation, apparently for his own curiosity. After the fall of Germany he disappeared and re-surfaced in the Chilean Empire in the early 1950's. Since then he has continued his genetic engineering work and has risen high in the Chilean scientific hierarchy. Born in 1911, he is now a spry seventy-nine years old.
Joseph Mengele's chief assistant, she worked under him in the concentration camps, specialising in genetic engineering and neurological work. After the fall of Germany she re-surfaced in the Chilean Empire at the same time as Mengele and has continued to work alongside him as an associate rather than a subordinate. She is suspected of involvement in the creation of the Pericles biological artificial intelligence. She is eighty-nine in 1990.
Another of Mengele's assistants, a geneticist, she joined the Masterman project shortly before its successful conclusion, working very closely with Mengele and Freiburger until 1942 when personality clashes with Mengele caused her to leave the project. She re-surfaced in the Chilean Empire in 1955, apparently reconciled with Mengele, and since then has worked closely with him. She is now eighty-four.
The third of Mengele's assistants, he was captured by allied forces in the fall of Germany. After being tried for war crimes at Nuremburg he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Spandau, where he remains, now aged ninety.
On an equal level with Mengele in the Masterman project, his cybernetic techniques were a rival to Mengele's genetic engineering techniques, and personal differences caused severe enmity between them. Like Mengele Krauskopf carried out many experiments on people from concentration camps, and also like him he disappeared after the fall of Germany, re-surfacing in the Chilean Empire in the late 1950's. He too has risen high in the Chilean scientific hierarchy and is considered personally responsible for the creation of the Chilean Iron Legion cyborgs. He is also suspected of creating the cyborg known as Silverfist, of the Protectors. His personal enmity with Mengele continues to the present day, and they have not worked together since the Masterman project. Krauskopf is one hundred and four years old in 1990, his life sustained by a myriad of cybernetic replacements.
Krasukopf's chief assistant, he helped to carry out many of the experiments on people from the concentration camps. He re-surfaced in Chile at the same time as Krauskopf and worked under him until his death, at the age of ninety-eight, in 1982.
Another of Krauskopf's assistants, he was captured by the allies in the fall of Germany and placed in Spandau prison after being found guilty at his trial in Nuremburg. He died in Spandau in 1974, at the age of seventy-eight.
Although not directly associated with the Masterman project, Peyne was the head of the British Maximan project which used information provided by defectors from the Masterman project. After WWIII he continued to be involved with the British government superhumans programme, and was responsible for the creation of the team of superhumans which became known as Cloud Nine. After some of Cloud Nine died or vanished, and the rest lost their powers after a mysterious illness, Peyne resigned from his post and has never been seen since.