The Circle

The Team's Origins

Long ago, in an ancient corner of space, there lived a race called the Fictus of the Ficti solar system. They were all alone and unable to defend themselves against other alien empires that frequently invaded their system. They were unremarkable in appearance and culture. They had a planet-wide ruling royal family and basic technologies (that we humans would consider extraordinary!). Some of them were, however, brilliant scientists in areas like space and time and matter, and these individuals were forcibly recruited as advisors to the war-mongering warlords that plagued their system.

The King Fable, called Orion Kadillus, discovered an ancient treasure trove of knowledge belonging to a now-extinct creator species known as 'The Extincts', containing an ancient chemical science known as 'Arch-Fiction'. This formula, when injected into the body, allowed certain individuals to control, harness and bestow the powers, physical internal structure, traits and/or abilities of fictional heroes from stories or media. The power to make fantasy...into reality.

Excited by this discovery, Orion injected the serum into his two sons, Ceres and Darius, and himself. The powers bestowed on them turned them into godlike, unstoppable heroes that could only be found in your average comic book or movie. Together they drove the warlords from their system and set themselves and their race up as the 'Guardians of Fiction', or simply 'Fictions', dedicated to policing their reality from invading creatures and armies that broke in from other dimensions.

Time passed, but the father and sons remained, due to an unintended side effect of The Ancient's science: immortality. While their friends and lovers died, they lived on. While Orion and Darius greedily accepted this fate, it drove the teenage Ceres mad, causing him to flee his planet, in search of some paradise to escape his own planet's needs and duties.

Eventually he crashed to Earth, seeking solace and normalcy among the citizens of England. There he assumed the identity of Jonathan Kide, a simple teenage boy. Initially reluctant to divulge his powers, he revealed himself as an alien when other aliens began attacking Earth in small groups, such as pirates, scout teams or assassin guilds. Though the young man fought bravely against the aggressors, he was caught on camera, and became a global sensation.

Soon the FBI, Area 51, MI6, the CIA and the KGB were hunting him from across the world, in a mad dash to obtain his powers for containment or to control. As 'Johnny' prepared to give up himself and his Fiction powers to whoever reached him first, his longest-standing friends- Isaaic and Lewik- instead convinced him to prove himself as a defender of humanity, by drawing an alien enemy to Earth. Suddenly inspired, Johnny bestowed Isy and Lewik with the weapons, outfits, abilities, training and biological augmentations necessary to make them both into a swift and brutal assassin and an accurate, precise military sniper (respectively). Johnny then sent out a galaxy-wide call speaking of unimaginable wealth, hoping to attract a band of alien pirates to the planet.

The plan worked. Except it attracted not one group of pirates, but EVERY pirate crew in the entire galactic expanse. Nethertheless, Earth's first three superpowered heroes stood fast and destroyed them all in a single hour, amazing the whole world in the process. They had averted why many thought would be an apocalyptic event, despite being pursued by humanity's own secret services.

The UN called an emergency conference, and, after much deliberation, set up Project Canine, or more commonly known as 'The Circle'- a group of superheroes and vigilantes under the employ and funding of the UN, whom would have ultimate authority above all other Earth authorities aside from the UN itself, and would have to report in every year to ensure faith is kept.

Why 'The Circle', you ask? Well, the nickname originated from when the team stole King Arthur's famous round table from the ruins of Camelot during an adventure, after the mythological monarch fell in battle with his son Mordred. As such, each member features a name of one of King Arthur's knights (some changed to female versions or made up entirely) on their ID cards, bedroom doors and meeting-room chairs.

Operating on a previously-abandoned floor of the Ritz Hotel in London, the group has grown to feature a wide variety of heroes created by Johnny's fictional powers, and has battled everything from alien armies to demon lords- and won everytime.

They are The Circle, and these are their stories: