The Assumption
This afternoon, my brother called and we spoke briefly. The family is planning to visit him at Seagle this summer and he asked me when we would be coming. I told him that we hadn't yet decided which show we were going to see. "What?!" he replied. Okay, maybe we did know what show we were going to see, I told him, but I have not heard any discussion of when we are going. None at all. A moment ago, I saw a note in my mother's handwriting on which she'd scribbled the Conchshell's name and phone number. I asked if she was coming with us to Seagle. My mom's response was, "Fuck you, you aren't going to Seagle, you useless waste of flesh!" Okay, so maybe she didn't say any of those words, but it turns out that she doesn't want me to go visit the Mountain this summer. She assumed I'd be too busy with work and school to take a long weekend to go visit my brother. Oh, gee, thanks, Mom. I mean, why actually bother to ask me what I want, you just go ahead and assume I don't even want to go. You might as well assume I don't want anything for my birthday, either, and while you're at it, assume I won't be eating anything but bread and water from here on out.

I have to find some kind of discredited philosophy to believe in. Of course, I'm having trouble getting past the fact that most of them were discredited for a reason: anarchy, fascism, communism, black supremacy, each has quite obvious flaws. Hmmm, maybe nihilism....

SPQR
My latest idea for a new name for The Cloak's city, and possibly his entire universe, Eternal City. Rome is known as the eternal city; so, why not formalize that as Eternal City? It shares the same initials as my initial choice, Empire City (curse you, Michael Chabon!), and I think it flows better than the current tentative name, Palatine City.

Eternal City
Palatine City
also
Aero City (San Francisco)
Centropolis (Chicago)
New Amsterdam (New York)
Astropolis (Los Angeles)
Patriot City (Phildelphia)
Puritan Bay (Boston)

Eternal City/Palatine City
The Cloak - SPQR, chairman of the Secret Society of Mystery Men
Aero Girl
The Gargoyle - SPQR
The Mandarin
The Meteor
The Owl - SPQR
Mr. Noir

Aero City
All the mystery men of Aero City belong to the Aero Corps, which operates out of the Aerodrome...
Aeroman
Aerowing
Aeronaut (partially retired)
Retrograde
Radiation Girl
The Blur - exiled from New Amsterdam
Mr. Impossible - exiled from New Amsterdam

Centropolis
Spartan
The Echo - SPQR
Sebastian Adair
The Pyre - SPQR
Faust

New Amsterdam
The Protectors, a team composed primarily of "reformed" villains, are the only legally sanctioned mystery men in the city that never sleeps, and only one true hero remains...
Zero Hour - v
The Gladiator - h (secretly v)
Pyromancer - v
Publius - h
Crimson - h
The Engine - v
Ignis Fatuus - v
Nitro Man - v
Destructo - v
*****
The Praetorian - SPQR

Astropolis
After being exiled from New Amsterdam with the founding of the Protectors, The Lion had himself declared Champion of Astropolis and founded the Pride. Not all of Astropolis's native mystery men have obeyed The Lion's orders...
The Lion - exiled from New Amsterdam
The Lioness
The Leopard
The Panther
The Cheetah
The Puma
The Lynx
The Tiger
Archimedes
*****
Lightning Rod
The Boxer

Patriot City
The Frost - SPQR
Captain Photon - exiled from New Amsterdam
Strongman
Tornado

Puritan Bay
The Proxy - SPQR
The Tribune - quasi-SPQR
Human Dynamo
Dreadnought

The Hyperion Guard
Operating under the authority of the League of Nations Covenant and based in Geneva, Switzerland, the Hyperion Guard's mission is to protect the whole world, but as a matter of law it has no authority to operate in the United States.
The Futurist
Celera
Pax
Helios
The Lycian
The Brick (a golem controlled by Agent M)
Agent M
Abstract Man
Cold Fusion