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The superhuman Avatar appears for the first time when she narrowly escapes capture breaking into a top secret US weapons research laboratory near Dallas.
The organisation Amnesty International is founded in Britain.
The USA breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba due to its connections with the USSR.
Later in the year the USA supports an unsuccessful invasion of Cuba by Cuban exiles at the Bay of Pigs.
Construction of a Channel Tunnel begins in Britain and France.
The East German government seals off West Berlin from East Germany with what later grows into the Berlin Wall. Intense diplomatic protests by many western nations are ignored by the East Germans.
UN Secretary General Hammarsjkold dies in an air crash at Ndola, Zambia.
During the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Israel the superhuman Avatar appears and kills him before he can testify, forcing the trial to end without reaching a verdict.
Joshua Ogalu returns to his native Nigeria to help in the building of the new nation.
Minerva begins to make extensive use of Sentinelle (Sentry) powered combat armour in its armed forces. Other nations with larger armies do not do so on a large scale due to the expense of equipping large numbers of people with such armour.
The US Supreme Court judges that it is unconstitutional to screen applicants for government posts for superhuman abilities, under the 'innocent until proven guilty' principle.
After years of negotiation a worldwide high-definition television standard is adopted.
A superhuman calling himself Legione appears in Italy when he prevents the villainess Bora, along with a group of terrorists, from holding an Italian nuclear power station to ransom. There is much speculation in Italy about his relationship to the Overman also known as Legione who was murdered in 1922.
Francesca de Valdivia appears for the first time at the court of El Libertador. At first she is thought to be just another of his favourites, but she is still at court today where most of his favourites only remain at court for a few weeks or months.
Minerva introduces effective treatments for a variety of drug-related problems.
The super-assassin The Ninja appears for the first time in Japan. He quickly establishes a reputation as a deadly but honourable foe.
The Cuban missile crisis does not occur as both American and Soviet missiles already have more than worldwide range.
UN forces move into the Congo in an effort to quell the widespread violence there.
After years of terrorism and repression Algeria becomes independent from France.
The actress Marilyn Monroe dies from an overdose of sleeping pills under mysterious circumstances.
A Minervan grav-thrust ship travels to the Asteroid Belt. After locating a suitable asteroid it lands and attaches grav-thrust modules to it, stopping the asteroids spin before slowly steering it onto a course for high Earth orbit.
The Vietnamese Communist Peoples Revolutionary Party is founded.
The Chinese Peoples Liberation Army, aided by the superhuman The Hope of the Revolution and a previously unknown female superhuman Jianying (Silhouette) fights the Indian Army along the Sino-Indian border, establishing a demilitarised zone along both sides of the border.
A Minervan Seeker probe reaches Neptune.
Three new superhumans, Quasar, Sunwarrior and Maelstrom appear in various parts of the United States - Quasar in Dallas, Sunwarrior in Washington DC and Maelstrom in Boston.
The Nuclear Test-Ban treaty is signed between the USA, UK and USSR in Moscow.
Ideological differences cause Communist China and the Soviet Union to sever their ties with each other.
Trains begin to run to and from Britain and France through the newly-completed Channel Tunnel. The London Times prints its now-famous headline 'Continent No Longer Cut Off'.
The supervillain the Affrighter attacks the apartment of George and Jilen LeCroix in Paris. He kills George and is about to make off with the couples two children when an unknown superhuman called the Bloodletter appears and attempts to kill both the Affrighter and Jilen LeCroix. Before he is driven off Bloodletter kills Jilen LeCroix and her children and injures the Affrighter, although he too manages to escape before the police arrive.
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. The superhuman Quasar, who operates in Dallas, receives extremely bad press and is investigated by the US government for failing to stop the assassination. Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson comes to power.
The slow decline of the Leaning Tower of Pisa is halted.
Several methods to produce petroleum-type hydrocarbons from simple carbon compounds are developed. However they find little commercial application as it is still cheaper to extract them from natural reserves.
A huge landslide into a newly-filled reservoir at Vaiont in the Italian Alps causes a huge wave to spill over the dam and destroy or damage several towns. Only the presence of the superhuman Legione prevents the disaster being much worse.
With aid from North Vietnam, the South Vietnamese insurrectionists move close to victory.
After years of preparation, English Rose finally escapes from the British intelligence services and goes underground after destroying all the tissue samples and related material from her used in the creation of Cloud Nine. Rumours that she received Minervan aid are never substantiated.
Clive Danbury, in reality a mentallist supervillain who later becomes known as Mastermind, attempts to take control of the US Presidential elections. He is opposed by the magician Dr Wraithe who is alerted by one of his aides, and in the process of battling him Mastermind reveals his powers live on national TV. He manages to defeat Dr Wraithe but in the process of escaping one of his followers, disillusioned by his actions, shoots him dead.
Small numbers of elite French army unit are equipped with Cambronne powered combat armour.
Minerva begins to offer a commercial cloning service, including personality transfer, on the open market, against the widespread opposition of the Roman Catholic Church. However this process is, and remains, very expensive (in the hundreds of millions of Dollars for each clone) and exclusive (applicants are fully screened and have to approved by the Amazon herself).
Guerrilla warfare begins against white settlers in Mozambique.
UN forces leave the Congo. Immediately violence flares again as the various Congolese factions rebel vie for independence from the central government.
In the Soviet Union Kruschev 'resigns' from power and Leonid Brezhnev comes to power.
The Minervan asteroid Roche 1 is moved into an orbit a few hundred kilometres from Starholme 1. Mining of its resources begins.
A huge earthquake devastates parts of Alaska. The superhumans Quasar and Maelstrom both fly in immediately after the quake, and help the rescue efforts immensely. The superhuman Nereid is also seen helping in the rescue efforts, but answers no questions and vanishes after the situation stabilises. In the aftermath, many Eskimos and other native inhabitants are found to have been rescued before help could possibly have arrived. The Eskimos claim that they were saved by Sedna, and no other explanation for the event is ever found.
Congolese rebel power is ended after a combined attack by European mercenaries and Belgian paratroops smashes several of their main headquarters. In the fighting several of the European hostages held by the rebels are killed.
In Japan the famed Sumo wrestler Kajita Takeo is banned from the ring after he develops superhuman abilities. Developing an altered physical appearance and unable to cope with his expulsion he is shunned by society.
The US government introduces Steelback powered combat armour for use by small elite combat units. The name Steelback catches on so it is now used as a nickname for all combat armoured troops.
Advances in technology lead to the development of stealth systems which can render vehicles undetectable by all forms of sound sensor. The military soon finds many applications for this, in particular in the development of a new generation of submarines.
English Rose resurfaces in the United States after writing her damning and very successful autobiography 'Black Roses'. This exposes a great many things about the British intelligence services which they would rather were not known to the general public. The British government unsuccessfully tries to have the book banned, only increasing its success, and fulfilling English Roses purpose of making herself totally unsuitable for intelligence work ever again.
President Johnson orders the US military to bomb North Vietnam to prevent their continuing aid of the insurrectionists in South Vietnam.
The British government buys Steelback combat armour from the US for use by the SAS and Royal Marines.
A Minervan Seeker probe reaches Pluto.
Sir Winston Churchill dies. At his funeral almost the whole world pays tribute to him.
The magician Dark Aura takes control of US and Soviet missile bases, planning to have them launch at each other and so destroy the world for his master, the Devil. Dr Wraithe discovers the plan for this shortly before it happens and with the aid of English Rose, who has just reappeared he assembles a group of superhumans to battle Dark Aura. They include Quasar, Sunwarrior and Maelstrom, all of whom have had a minor impact on the world scene before this. Together they manage to break into Dark Auras headquarters and defeat the villain before the missiles are fired, battling their way through demons to do so.
After his defeat Dark Aura (real name Clyde Vandaleur) is imprisoned, first by the US military and later by PRIMUS. On later investigation he is found to be associated with the organisation DEMON.
All the heros involved receive worldwide acclaim for their actions and Sunwarrior suggests they form a permanent team to battle threats such as this. English Rose declines, but the rest agree, and so the Protectors are born. They set up a permanent headquarters on the West Coast of the USA.
Upon capture and medical testing it is found that all of Dark Auras' powers have vanished without trace, to his chagrin. This allows him to be placed in a normal prison after his trial.
The UN introduces a convention outlawing racism in any form.
After this event, and with the rise in numbers of superhumans, the US government forms the Primary Response and Interdiction Military Unified Service (PRIMUS) as a branch of the US military intended to handle superhuman threats which conventional forces would be unable to contain. A small number of troops in powered combat armour are assigned to the organisation.
The Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) begins to become a strong force fighting against Israel.
US forces move into the Dominican Republic to restore order there.
India and Pakistan go to war over the long-disputed state of Kashmir.
Japan buys Steelback powered combat armour from the US for some elite units of its self-defence forces.
Riots in the ghettos of many large cities cause extensive property damage and cause a rethinking of US government policy towards blacks. The Protectors, especially Sunwarrior, aid the Police and National Guard in restoring order during many of these incidents, and are widely criticised by black leaders as tools of the establishment for doing so.
Rumours emerge from the Chilean Empire that they have constructed a true artificially intelligent computer system. These rumours are later confirmed - the computer is known as Pericles and runs many of the functions of the palace in Guaqui for El Libertador.
The Chinese Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution includes the extermination of any superhumans who appear for their nonconformity with Communist ideals. This policy is continued despite the destruction that occurs in many areas when the superhumans attempt to fight back or flee. The Hope of the Revolution goes quietly to his death, his loyalty to the Party undiminished by what it has done to him, but Jianying vanishes shortly after the start of the Revolution and is not seen again.
Hernan Cortez becomes disillusioned with Dr Destroyer and ends his association with him. He sets himself up in competition with the Doctor under the name Professor Meurte. He too wears power armour. Over the next ten years he forms the organisation Terror Inc., recruiting various other superhumans as he does so. They quickly gain a reputation as a dangerous mercenary/terrorist group.
The India-Pakistan war ends when both sides accept a UN-called cease-fire.
Dr Destroyer makes his first attempt at world domination, holding the world to ransom with a superbomb. Sunwarrior, backed up by PRIMUS forces storms his Columbian jungle base and destroy the bomb before it detonates. However PRIMUS forces take heavy losses and in the confusion Dr Destroyer escapes.
Using the royalties from her autobiography English Rose sets up Rose Investigations, a private investigatory/troubleshooting agency. Drawing on English Roses' decades of experience it soon becomes very successful but resolutely keeps away from all involvement with governments. By 1990 it has offices in most western nations, a total staff in the hundreds and an annual turnover in the millions of dollars, much of which is given to charities which aid the poor, oppressed and homeless. Its main office is on the 146th floor of the Empire State Building in New York. The agency also works closely with Amnesty International and other organisations which fight injustice around the world.
The USA and USSR both move asteroids into high Earth orbit and begin mining them.
US Steelbacks are introduced into Vietnam. Despite initial successes the combat armour proves unreliable in the hostile jungle environment, although it continues to be used throughout the war.
Eleanor McLoughlin, the lead singer of The Champions, goes on a pilgrimage to an Indian Guru. After a few months she retires to stay there permanently.
The first reports of the superhuman who becomes known as Guihun Feng (Ghost Wind) filter back from Vietnam, where she devastates several US and South Vietnamese military installations. The US government asks the Protectors to help them against Ghost Wind, but only Sunwarrior responds. His decision almost causes the Protectors to split up, as the other members political views differ sharply from his. Sunwarrior aids US and South Vietnamese forces against the Viet Cong, until late in the year he and a US Marine patrol come upon Ghost Wind, along with some Viet Cong, as they attack a South Vietnamese military force. While the Viet Cong are routed, Sunwarrior attacks Ghost Wind, but he is seriously injured and the Marines are driven off. Ghost Wind escapes. Sunwarriors injuries force him to be shipped back to the USA. Unfortunately the whole incident is captured by a US television crew and broadcast across the United States to the embarrassment of the US government and military. When Sunwarrior recovers he is prevented from returning to Vietnam by the US government who are anxious to prevent another similar debacle.
The USSR introduces its first powered Krasnyi Zvezda (Red Star) combat armour, which again is used to equip small elite units. Over the following decade many nations allied with the USSR receive small numbers of suits of Red Star combat armour for use by their armed forces.
After Egypt closes the Strait of Tiran, Israel declares war. The war lasts five days and ends with an overwhelming Israeli victory.in which the Suez Canal is closed and Israel gains the Palestinian West Bank from Jordan.
The previously unknown superhuman Giganto appears in South America working for Professor Muerte.
After decades of experimentation Minerva reveals the worlds first verified artificially intelligent computer, the system which becomes known as Gaea and grows into a network covering all of Minerva.
Colonel Odumegwu Ojukwu declares the secession of eastern Nigeria as the Republic of Biafra. A swift strike, aided by two previously unknown superhumans, Dr Biafra (real name Joshua Ogalu) and Silence (Rose Ajakie) working with the rebels, allows them to capture the Nigerian capital, Lagos, but a lack of western support for the rebellion leads to a civil war as the remaining Nigerian forces fight to retake the country. Despite warnings from various tribal shamans that Silence is really an evil lion-woman who should not be trusted both she and Dr Biafra become very popular among the rebels and the general population of Nigeria.
A joint manned European Space Agency - Minervan expedition leaves Starholme 1 for Jupiter in three large grav-thrust ships. Upon arrival they carry out a thorough exploration of the Jovian system, sending probes onto all Jupiters moons and into Jupiters atmosphere. Solar Angel is occasionally seen helping the expedition as it goes about its work.
The offspring of White Heat and Dr Beat, two members of Cloud Nine, is born. In the late 1980's he becomes famous as the superhuman pop star Zenith.
The superhuman known as The Duke appears for the first time when he foils a plot by the Spanish Secret Service, aided by the supervillainess Bora, to cause major economic disruption in Minerva.
An unknown superhuman calling herself Chatte Noire robs jewellers and museums across France, getting away with millions of dollars worth of goods.
The USS Scorpion, an experimental long-duration robotic submarine equipped with the latest in sonic invisibility systems, is lost in the Bermuda Triangle and never found, despite an intense search conducted by the US military.
Soviet troops, aided by Red Star combat armoured units invade Czechoslovakia to worldwide condemnation after the communist party there tries to reform itself along more democratic lines.
The American Civil Rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr. is shot and killed.
Military bases around Saigon suffer from a plague of sabotage, culminating in an attack on the main US military Headquarters by the superhuman Ghost Wind, in which many of the US General Staff, including their leader General Westmoreland, are killed before she escapes. Within hours, while the military command structure is in disarray, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces begin the Tet Offensive. More than 100 cities and military bases are attacked and many of them are held for months before the superior US military technology allows them to be recaptured. After this demonstration of how difficult it is going to be to win this war there are calls in the US for US military forces to be withdrawn.
The US military begins a massive hunt for Ghost Wind. Despite massive attacks on locations where she is known to be, including strikes called in from orbiting battle stations, she always seems to survive.
The British government orders Cloud Nine into Vietnam to support the US forces there, but to their dismay all the members of the group refuse and walk out.
After calls for aid from a pro-Central African Republic minority in Cameroon, CAR forces move into the country against heavy resistance by the Cameroon Army.
Terror Inc. are seen in Mozambique on an occasional basis, where they fight for both the Portuguese forces and the rebels at different times in the continuing guerilla war there.
In Britain, Sir Dennis Fotherington of South Mallon uses magic to transform himself into the superhuman who becomes known as Dark Seraph.
The superhuman Spook, a member of Cloud Nine, vanishes when she falls into a mirror.
CAR forces move into civil-war torn Nigeria as their war against Cameroon continues. They are resisted by both Nigerian army forces, and by the Biafran rebels.
Rumours surface that the USSR is using telekinetic superhumans as living spacecraft drive systems. These rumours as dismissed as idle speculation by the Soviet government.
Britain introduces Paladin combat armour, a heavily modified and upgraded version of the American Steelback armour into its armed forces.
The ESA - Minerva expedition leaves Jupiter and returns to Earth, leaving behind several modules for possible future use as a base in the Jovian system.
Ferdinand Marcos is elected President of the Phillipines.
Strategic Arms Limitation talks begin in Helsinki.
Britain, Denmark and Ireland join the EEC.
The superhuman birdman who becomes known as Tengu escapes from a top-security research laboratory near Sapporo on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, killing a large number of people there before escaping. He is not seen again until he appears with the Horsemen in 1971.
An attempt is made on the life of Pope Paul VI when he visits the Phillipines.
A British business-woman is killed by a man calling himself Quarrel. It is later found that the woman was closely associated with Unterwelt. Quarrel continues to operate as a vigilante, killing European criminals, until he vanishes in the late 1970's.
In Northern Ireland two superhuman terrorists calling themselves The Patriot (male) and Scorpia (female) appear, working with the IRA against the British.
Violent student protests across Spain cause a two-month state of emergency.
The superhuman Bloodletter appears again when he attacks and tries to kill a woman and her child in Barcelona in Minerva. However, the woman exhibits superhuman powers, and it becomes obvious from them that she is the superhuman known as Chatte Noire. She manages to injure Bloodletter enough to drive him off and escapes before she can be photographed or arrested.
Three hundred thousand people, including Quasar and Maelstrom of the Protectors, attend the Woodstock festival near Bethel, New York.
US forces slowly begin to withdraw from Vietnam.
The Vietnam war expands into Laos.
The Vietnam war expands into Cambodia. All three of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia suffer massive, devastating bombing raids from both aircraft and space platforms which devastate much of the countries.
Student demonstrations against the Vietnam war flare across the USA after several student protesters are shot and killed by the National Guard at Kent State University in Ohio. The Protectors are asked to aid the Police in quelling the demonstrations, but only Sunwarrior responds to these requests, again causing severe tension in the group.
The superhuman who becomes known as Wyvern escapes from a US Army laboratory in the suburbs of Dallas and rampages around the city. Before the Protectors can arrive Professor Muerte and Giganto appear and carry him away. He is seen shortly afterwards having become a member of Terror Inc. An investigation of the incident leads to the shutting down of the laboratory for its 'inhuman' practices and the disciplining of many of its staff, including the young researcher Dr Timothy Blank.
The Chilean Empire moves an asteroid into Earth orbit and begins to mine it. Protests from nations worldwide about this threat to world safety hanging over their heads are ignored by the Chileans.
The civil war in Nigeria ends with the crushing of the last of the Nigerian army and the country is renamed the Republic of Biafra. More than a million people have died in the course of the war. The capital of the new nation is moved from its old site at Lagos to the more centrally located city of Lokoja.
The armoured male superhuman Tetsuronin (Iron Ronin) appears in Japan as a representative of the Nippon Steel corporation.
Minerva launches two probes collectively known as the Increasing Baseline Array (IBA) out of the solar system in opposite directions. Their purpose, in conjunction with the telescopes on Lunar Farside, is to provide a radio telescope array of unparalleled resolution.
Over two hundred thousand people die as a cyclone and tidal wave ravage the delta of the river Ganges.
After a huge fan of sediment is observed welling up from the seabed on the eastern side of the Isthmus of Panama, investigating submarines from the USA and SAU find a large group of robots apparently attempting to tunnel through the Isthmus. The investigating forces attempt to capture the robots so that their origin and purpose can be determined, but despite their efforts all the robots are destroyed and their origin is never discovered.
Once the Biafrans hold on what was Nigeria is consolidated, their army, headed by Dr Biafra and Silence, moves against the CAR forces which still hold parts of the south of the country.
Chatte Noire robs a string of art galleries in Rome. However, the Italian superhuman Legione tracks her to her hideout and manages to capture her and recover all the stolen artwork. Chatte Noire escapes when Bloodletter makes another attempt to kill her at her trial.
The superhuman known as Agni appears in India, where he works with the Indian security forces.