Superpowers have become a very important part of the world in many ways. The world has changed drastically since before they appeared in public, both for the better and the worse in different ways. Though most traditions and jobs are still in place, they may be different than they were.

Superheroes, Supervillains, and Those Like Them

The most major change is the addition of superheroes and supervillains. They both appeared long before any other superhumans ever did, which was a strategic move on their part. Only 5's can be superheroes. Though that isn't an official rule, it is a trend that has never been broken. (Unless it was a 4 pretending to be a 5, though that never ended well.) The same rule seems to apply to most of the more traditional supervillains, though superhuman gangs sometimes even include humans in them. It's nothing personal, the superheroes and villains just don't want to bring in someone who would get hurt or mess things up for them. Their lives are all already short enough as it is with that job.

Every city and town, large and small, have their own superhero or team of superheroes protecting them. They are treated like celebrities, and are viewed about the same way professional athletes are. Everyone thinks their superheroes are the best that ever lived and actually argue about it. Saying that a city's superheroes stink near fans is just asking to get punched in the face, especially after a loss. There are entire channels, websites, news stations, apps and shops dedicated to the different superheroes and supervillains. Those in big cities are always more skilled than those in smaller cities, and if they're not then the one more powerful than them will be recruited to a bigger city. The superheroes of more major cities are extremely famous and get paid extremely well. It's remarkable how so many heroes can never commit any crimes, have pretty much the same personalities, and all die in one of the ways on a very short list. Some people claim that is a conspiracy, but very few actually believe that. They have to make sure they are good role models, so they control themselves, as directed by their strict rule-book, that's all. 

In order for a superhero to be a superhero, they have to be licensed. The licensing process is quite difficult, but the reward it great. Before they become superheroes, the super must first have a permit. When they have this permit they must take classes on fighting, power control, ethics, laws, and other things. There are rumors that they take a pun and comeback class, but no one interviewed will confirm nor deny the existence of such a class. After their first year and a brutal round of tests, they are assigned to a superhero to act as their assistant. These assistants mostly have to do small tasks at first, like fetching coffee or being a distraction. Though on paper they are called Superhero Assistants, everyone knows them by another name: sidekicks. They don't seem to be offended by the term at all, even if at first it was a jeering remark, it's now just viewed as a nickname. Sure, the heroes like to pester them, but when the sidekick gets their license and becomes a superhero they will do the same thing. After a sidekick gets licensed after another series of tests and the report written by the hero they worked for, they either look for a city or town to work for or are recruited, depending on how good their powers are. After about two years of being a superhero, unless they are too questionable to entrust a sidekick to, they are given their own assistant to train. After that sidekick moves on, the hero gets a new one until they die or retire, though only one superhero has ever actually retired, since his power was that he could not die.

There are several kinds of 'bad guys'. There are vigilantes, traditional supervillains, henchmen, gangsters, pseudo supervillains, and telemarketers. 

Those darn telemarketers...

Those who are not licensed to do hero work and do it anyway for any reason are vigilantes. Being a vigilante is illegal and, in some cases, treated just as seriously as supervillainy. The difference? The vigilantes can't really break out of prison quite like the big supervillains can. Vigilantes are typically caught by the superheroes and thrown into jail, but those who aren't usually die some way or another in very gruesome ways, almost as if someone was using them to send a message.

Traditional supervillains are often overly flamboyant and are always limited to several personality types. As a general rule, they are all masters of puns, virtuosos of melodiously evil cackles, weavers of eloquent monologues, and never too good to pick up the prettiest lady on the street as a hostage. There are several types of villains: the mostly silent ones, the overly emotional, the mad scientists, the rage monsters, and the gloomy ones. There is never any deviation from that list. All villains steal valuable things, usually from banks or museums or armored vehicles, and are ultimately after total domination of their city and/or the world and/or the universe. It just depends on how ambitious they are.

Typically supervillains have a lot of issues with their love lives and they let everyone know it. Instead of coping with breakups like normal people, their only reaction seems to be to go for a violent stroll through the nearest city, demolishing others' property and fighting superheroes. To add injury to insult, they almost always lose. As bad as the villains are after a breakup, they are even worse when expressing their love for someone. After all, nothing says love like the name of their loved one etched into the city with lasers, explosives, or who knows what else, with romantic music and the screams of terrified citizens playing in the background. Needless to say, big cities must be avoided at all costs on Valentine's Day. Most normal people just celebrate it in the country or the day before or after to avoid any danger. After all, for normal people, nothing says a terrible date and possible bad omen to their relationship like having the romantic restaurant they go to getting blown to bits, leaving them fleeing. As bad as supervillains sound, they are always stopped by the superheroes eventually, and actually go out of their way to not seriously harm civilians. Their hoards of henchmen chase them away before anything dangerous happens. Though this may seem weird for 'supervillains' one must take into account that even supervillains have to have insurance for anyone to take them seriously and killing or injuring civilians tends to make their rates go up. Add in lawsuits and they are all just too much of a hassle. If they were completely reckless, they would probably spend more time in court than they would've spent time in jail for what they were on trial for! Very few people actually see that side to villains and just view them as seriously messed up individuals who need to find a better hobby. Overall, supervillains are an inconvenience and a nuisance, but are greatly entertaining to watch when they battle the superheroes. Though the civilians are usually terrified during a battle if they are nearby, after it happens it is a huge source of bragging rights. It is becoming harder as of late for henchmen and police officers to chase off the bystanders. 

Henchmen are, unlike those they work for, usually very different from each other in background, powers, and personality. However, no one really knows or cares about that, since they are pretty much just faceless and disposable workers in the public's eyes. Though in public villains will often treat them like stupid dogs, they actually treat them pretty well when out of the public eye. After all, they are surprisingly hard to replace... Henchmen usually have full benefits that normal workers would get at a normal job, competitive pay, and most villains even offer scholarship opportunities after a year of employment. Sometimes it just pays to be bad--literally. Usually villains will purposefully hire homeless people or those in poverty as henchmen as well as their buddies they make in prison before breaking out. It's not like the villains have a heart or anything--honest! It's just that they choose those who aren't in a position to refuse their offer. Those who were helped off the streets are often very loyal to their supervillain and may actually claim they are a good person, though not too loudly, since that would be bad for their boss's street cred. The media likes to beat the supervillains over the head with stories that they are purposefully targeting the poor, which the villains don't mind, since bad publicity is good for them, but they also paint the homeless epidemic as a cesspool of crime because so many of them become henchmen without stopping to think for a moment that the supervillains are doing more to help them back onto their feet than anyone else. Sure, what they're doing is bad, but what else would supervillains be hiring people for? Washing dishes? Supervillains hire henchmen regardless of powers or the lack thereof. Hand the henchmen a scary weapon, uniform, and mask and they are equal with every other henchman. Their identities are always top secret, which helps them blend back into normal life after they decide to quit, usually for a better job elsewhere. Lately, because of the scholarship offer, the homeless aren't the only ones drawn to the prospect of being a henchman. There is a trend of college aged adults becoming henchmen to help pay for their tuition. It is estimated that a quarter of all college students attending school are, in some way or another, having their tuition paid for by the supervillains. Can anyone prove that though? Absolutely not. The henchmen can't admit it both for legal reasons and that it's in their contract not to. 

Though they are all seen the same, there is a hierarchy of henchmen. The new ones or ones unable to fight usually work in the lair doing housework or repairs to equipment. After some training, the new henchmen are allowed to join on missions as low ranking henchmen. These ones are usually the ones who do work no one else wants to do that don't require much skill, like interrupting an evil monologue of their villain for some reason. Above them are ones who basically act like managers. They make sure nobody messes anything up and take care of any more sensitive problems. The managers answer to the top-level henchmen. Though to everyone else those top-level henchmen just look like any other henchman, they are big stuff. Only those who are grade 5 supers can be top level henchmen. Those henchmen are the only ones decided by powers. They answer directly to the supervillain and oversee different parts of the organization. The top level henchmen are basically the supervillain equivalent of a sidekick. In other words, they are the supervillains in training. The supervillains have to train them like a mentor and apprentice. It isn't uncommon for villains to train the same people for years before they go out on their own. Even after the apprentice goes off on their own, they still typically keep in touch with the one who trained them, even if they act like there's some bad blood between them.

Though the traditional superheroes and villains were the only supers on the scene for a long time, it was only a matter of time before superpowered gangs started showing up. They were typically much more violent than the traditional supervillains and commit smaller crimes. As a general rule, they are usually small, tight knit groups, though some larger ones do exist. They are completely loyal to their gang and will often die for it. Crossing over to another gang or reporting anything to the police are some of the ultimate offences and the ones who commit them will be silenced. The thing is, they don't know who would be the one to kill them should they defect from their gang--both gangs would hate or not trust them and there are plenty of people have a grudge against them that would love an opportunity to make one of them pay and blame it on the gangs. Once in a gang, a person is usually there for life. There is no real escape. As time goes by, they are becoming increasingly complex, which has led to the rise of the pseudo supervillains. 

Pseudo supervillains are called such because they do not fit the norms of traditional supervillains. Because they wanted to keep the two types of villains separate, they call the traditional supervillains 'supervillains' and pseudo supervillains pseudovillains. These are much more crafty than normal supervillains and can go their whole lives without being detected. These are the faceless villains who use others to do their bidding and have their hand in about every criminal activity there is going on. These almost exclusively target larger cities, though they usually live nowhere near the place they are controlling. Pseudovillains are very mysterious and almost impossible to catch. To limit panic, the media often doesn't speak of them at all until one is caught, leaving most people completely in the dark about their existence. These people often use the gangs or even supervillains to do their bidding and rarely have any clear trace back to themselves. The thing about pseudovillains is that they are not always supers. At first they all were, using threats to keep everyone in line, but it is impossible to tell nowadays. There are full secret empires built by pseudovillains and, for all anyone knows, it's very possible a human could've inherited at least one. 

Sports:

Sports have been something also drastically changed because of superhumans. They have become more important in some aspects than they ever had been before.

Nearly every single professional athlete is a superhuman. The only reason humans are even left on teams is because of the outrage from humans when every team had completely taken out every human and replaced them with a super when the supers (other than the heroes and villains) first appeared. Now the only humans left are to appease the humans and everyone knows it. The humans on the teams are often treated like dirt or bullied by their teammates and coach, be it in elementary sports or the big leagues. They aren't allowed to have much time on the field or court, though it is claimed to be for 'safety reasons' most of the time, even if, with the proper equipment, the humans can have their own kinds of 'powers'. Overall, the sports industry is very hateful about humans, though typically doesn't show it in front of cameras or where spectators can see, since most of their viewers are humans or low grade supers. Low grade supers are treated the same way as humans in the sports industry, though they are usually easier to get rid of, since people aren't so concerned about keeping them as they are humans, since most people really don't care the divisions of supers when it comes to hiring. Any super is a super.

Due to the introduction of superpowers in sports and few rules to govern them, things were bound to get wild. At first powers were banned, but after a long battle with the Superhuman Rights people from the IBSA, the ban had to be lifted and many people were sued. It seemed like a victory to superhumankind... until supers started severely injuring each others on the field, sometimes unintentionally, sometimes not. There were some rules in place, but clearly they hadn't been enough. The rules slowly changed, and would sometimes vary from place to place, but it wasn't until the death of the quarterback of one of the teams in the Super Bowl that people really started taking it as seriously as it should've been. This may not have been the first such case, but it made the most impact because of how televised it was. People across America, people who normally didn't watch a minute of football and die-hard fans alike, saw it live for a few moments before the broadcast was shifted to the announcers and clips of the crowd instead of the carnage on the field until the quarterback was mostly shielded from view by the referees and other staff. It didn't matter though, because with the cameras in every hand in the stands the whole world watched as the football player who was thought to lead his team to a sweeping victory was burned to death as members of both teams kept playing without realizing the severity of the situation until the referees stopped the game. The pyrokinetic defensive guard of the other team was arrested and sentenced to life, if nothing else as a warning to other foul-playing supers who thought murdering an opponent was an option, even if there was more to it than just bad sportsmanship. After that, all sports evolved dramatically to be almost unrecognizable from what they once were seemingly overnight. The number of times powers could be used and the strength of them were more limited, discouraging use of powers, and changing uniforms to handle attacks better. The games were made to be harder to challenge players more and make it more entertaining to watch.

As it was later revealed, much to the outrage of many fans, the professional football, baseball, soccer, volleyball, and basketball leagues became completely choreographed to cope with the inevitable danger of having competitive supers clash. Though it was claimed to be for safety reasons, it is suspected that there were other reasons behind it. In other words, it was completely rigged. After that every athlete of any sort was viewed as a faker. Watching those sports became like watching pro wrestling. After football was deemed a faked sport, people started seeing all sports that way, even those that weren't. People still watch sports, but with more of a strong sense of betrayal and a grain of salt...or ignorance or denial that it is fake at all. Now most people instead keep an eye on the superhero and supervillain battles instead.

Now that it's obvious that the sports are rigged, the industry has not been doing well. As a result, there have been apology ads run constantly everywhere they can get them and promises to make things right again. The pro baseball league seems to already be fulfilling these promises, because all of the players look very confused and several have started running the wrong way because no one actually understands the sport. At this point, the little leagues are officially better, since non-professional sports had to be rigged. Considering that the basketball and football players don't seem to be confused at all and haven't once scored a goal or touchdown on the wrong side, it's safe to say that they are still rigged.

The main part that superhuman sports have impacted though was in the Olympics. What was originally just a bunch of countries meeting to compete became a quiet threat of the power of countries. Countries started sending their most powerful supers, regardless of their skills, to show them off to any other countries who would think for a minute that a war with them would be a good idea. People started to watch for the supers as much as for the events themselves. Having one powerful super could scare people enough, let alone a team full of them. Having weak supers, or worse, no supers at all compete for your country is like surrender. It was better to not show up at all then to send humans, even if skilled humans are more likely to bring home medals than the untrained supers. The Olympics are, simply put, about as tense as an international nuclear weapon show.

The idea of sports entirely has shifted from fun and leisure to getting as many powerful superhumans in the limelight as possible for the world to see while trying to limit liability. Ultimately though, it shows the instability of superhuman integration into normal life like most things don't show as clearly.

Medicine:

There are many differences between supers and humans beyond whether one has superpowers or not. Most of these differences will be discussed later, but there are ways that it has changed medical treatment.

One of the most important medicines prescribed to supers are power suppressors. Though there are different brands that are slightly different, they are all made for the same purpose and from the same things. They are descended from the tobacco plant, though they have gone through quite a bit more than the tobacco found in cigarettes and has much more powerful power suppressing abilities than them.

Tobacco had been known by supers for many years as a way to help calm their powers and was declared a type of cure. The native people of North and South America, who first had it, used it in many different ways, which, historians believe, may have been due to the tobacco dulling power-related illnesses along with the usual things tobacco does. Considering that the Native American people are 12% more likely to develop powers of some sort than any other race, the theory has not been seriously questioned. It was passed on as a cure-all to Europe. It remained as being thought of as a healing herb for many years. Even when it was discovered that it was actually an insecticide and dangerous, it still held on, partially by superhuman influence. Not only was it the normal addictive properties that kept them hooked, but the fact that it helped them be what they wanted to be. It helped them be human. Throughout the years, superhumans have used tobacco in different forms to blend in with humans, especially before the IBSA was formed. They were often the influence that made their human buddies smoke too so they wouldn't stand out after it started coming to light how dangerous it was. In hindsight, one can trace where the superhumans were trying to remain hidden by where tobacco was used the most. In wars especially supers used it religiously, even more than others, to keep their powers from surfacing in the battle because of the persecution it could bring not only to them but those related to them. Supers knew there were people looking for them, especially during the testing around the time before superhumans declared their independence from the humans, and had to take every precaution to seem normal.

Even in modern times with power suppressors much safer than tobacco, supers trying to hide themselves often use tobacco as a substitute. Though tobacco is both more dangerous and more expensive than taking power suppressors, it is cheaper than the cost of taxes and insurance for supers. Because of this, tobacco has completely became a sign of poverty and criminal activity in the US to the extreme. It cannot be emphasized enough how shameful it is, especially for those who don't fit the stereotype people have set for tobacco users. Very few will ever use tobacco of any form in public and will hide the fact that they use it at any costs. Most tobacco users are supers, and most supers who use tobacco are illegally hiding their powers. The police know this, and often track those who buys tobacco and find a reason to test them for powers. This is a little known fact, however, because if it got out it could cause some pretty major problems with illegal tobacco sale and make it harder to catch the supers in hiding. Is this method of catching supers shady and possibly illegal? Absolutely. However, considering how many casualties grade 2 supers cause a year, they can scare just about anyone into seeing things their way.

Eventually the chemical responsible for the suppression of powers was found and isolated, leaving out nicotine and many of the other harmful chemicals found in the normal tobacco plant. It took awhile to get off the ground, but the power suppressors seemed to spread across the entire superhuman population overnight. Back when they first came out, though supers were out in the open, being a super was not cool. Really only the superheroes and villains were the ones who even seemed to want to be supers at that time. As time went on, it became more accepted to have superpowers while also having a normal lifestyle, whereas before powers had been strongly associated with either superheroes and villains or other criminals. Fear of the power suppressors spread through parents through many studies, which most doctors still claim are falsified. Though the parents were usually completely dependent on the power suppressors and unable to control their powers on their own, their kids, who didn't take the suppressors since they were kids like the previous two generations, learned to deal with their powers. It was hard at first, since raising kids with powers isn't an easy task, but after the first generation went through it and people figured out better ways to raise super children it wasn't so bad...Well, it was still hard, because they were raising kids, but it was easier than it had been for those who had no idea what to do.

Modern power suppressors come in different varieties so that if one is not effective with an individual they can try a different one. As much as doctors like to pretend they are, they do not work 100% of the time. It is important to note that they are called 'power suppressors' not 'power blockers'. No matter how good the medicine is, it will never completely block powers, only weaken them until they aren't useable. The powers can still act up on their own or come in an extremely strong burst that even through displays some of the power, even if that burst isn't as strong as it would've been without power suppressors. Doctors give power suppressors day in and day out, giving the same tests over and over without really questioning them. As a result, some important details sometimes get lost in the monotony, like how well the power suppressors are actually working. Though that does happen, since doctors make mistakes too (especially with how overworked they are) it is more common that a super may build up a resistance to the medicine or become completely acclimated to it. If they don't get tested for their medicine to make sure it isn't working, they may not know. That can be a problem especially for grade 1 and 2 supers. Different doses work differently with some people. Some people's powers are completely knocked out with just a little while some people have to have comparatively large amounts to even dull their powers. Power type can also affect how well power suppressors work. There are tests to figure out how well the power suppressors work, but they have to be requested and scheduled other than the initial testing they are given before getting prescribed the power suppressors. Usually power suppressors do not fail, but that isn't to say that they don't.

Side effects of power suppressors can include fatigue, shortness of breath, sluggish movements, nausea or vomiting, constipation, tingling or numbness in the extremities, hallucinations, confusion, fainting, power crazing, headache, singing obnoxiously in public (that one is mostly a joke), blurry vision, trouble concentrating, slurred speech, seizures, weight gain, dizziness, and death. It is important to note that most people who take power suppressors have not symptoms or only mild ones. The most common side effects are headache and a little nausea and usually go away about an hour after taking them and stop altogether after the first couple weeks of taking power suppressors. It is very rare for supers to get more severe reactions, but it happens. Usually if that happens they just switch the kind of power suppressor they use. Should more serious symptoms appear it is important for the super to get to the hospital as soon as possible, especially if power crazing is evident. Studies show that there is a slowly increasing minority of supers who are allergic to one or more ingredients in the power suppressors and can go into anaphylactic shock either by coming into contact of a specific type or any power suppressors. Those who are allergic to power suppressors are often allergic to tobacco as well. There hasn't been any conclusive information about why this is happening.

Now power suppressors are used only by prescription because of how strong a dependency they create. Competitions among companies who make them are fierce, as increased regulations have built an oligopoly where each company is trying to outdo the others, no matter the cost. Of course, that cost is obviously to make better and safer medicine at a cheaper price and definitely not subtly attacking each other and murdering particularly troublesome members of the other companies. 

The hospitals of supers and humans are to be separated by at least a thousand feet. This is for many reasons, though the most notable are different tests and treatments, different diseases, the possibility for powers to be unstable, no treatment center alternatives for supers, and the volume of supers that go to the hospitals that would back up the wait time of a combined hospital. Despite the views of humans, supers are fragile in their own ways and require special treatment.

Depending on power type and some other variables, when certain supers get sick their powers become uncontrollable. This period of having their powers be uncontrollable following or during sickness or injury is called 'power crazing'. With some powers this can be extremely dangerous, with others it can just be a little weird. Either way, those who have this kind of reaction have to go to a hospital to treat it and avoid harming anyone else. They are put in what have been nicknamed the 'lead rooms' since, though it isn't the only attribute of the room, they are lined with lead to avoid any radiation getting out. These rooms are under the ground to the side of the hospital. Usually a small wing is built on top of them, but those are usually only there to hold supplies for the rooms below it and be a transport area between the main wing and that one. Never will these be placed beneath the main hospital or any other busy or important structure or place. The wing above them helps keep most people away from being over the tops of these rooms, which, though it isn't likely to happen, would be helpful should a super inside the building accidentally destroy the complex. Every precaution is taken to avoid that, but it has happened twice in the past. In these rooms the sick or injured super is kept by themselves. Signal doesn't work in these rooms, so they are limited to books, DVD's, art supplies, and other offline things to entertain themselves. Usually if they're there they are unconscious or in a state of hysteria anyway, so usually there is no reason for them to complain about their phones not working until right before they are released. Depending on the powers of the supers, the nurses and doctors have to wear different gear to protect themselves, such as a hazmat suit, or have powers resistant to the one of the patient, such as immunity to radiation. Supers whose powers 'craze', or lose control when they are sick or severely injured, are immediately given power suppressors. Usually a crazing super would have something written in their medical history about what power suppressors work and don't but sometimes there has to be some testing done if that one doesn't work or if there is no record of any power suppressors taken in the past until something is found that will work. Usually patients there are unconscious, either due to their powers, or because they have been sedated. Powers often do not work as well or at all when the super is unconscious, which helps the doctors get the situation under control. Once the super is well and shows no farther signs of crazing they are released to go home. It is important for any supers who know their powers craze to always make especially sure to be fully vaccinated and to take extra care of their health to make sure they get sick as little as possible. A crazing super is required to turn themselves in to the hospital as soon as they get sick, whether there are signs of crazing or not. Some supers have powers that craze and others do not. Very rarely will one have powers that don't stick to crazing and non-crazing every time. Every super is different, and what sickness may make one craze may not with another. For instance, crazing may only happen in some supers with the flu, while in others may happen with every little sickness they have. It depends on the person. If the super seems to have excessive crazing that is triggered easily, they may be prescribed power suppressors regardless of grade.