Xavier School

Subject To Change Without Notice

The Xavier Institute:

Founded in 1997, XI is primarily a boarding school for high-school age students, it has a student body of about 250. It also offers 2-year Associate degrees through programs that work in conjunction with other academic bodies throughout the country. XI is, first and foremost, a school which teaches the nationally mandated curriculum. This is augmented with classes tailored to help new mutants control their emerging powers. While some students entertain aspirations of becoming ‘X-Men’ and engage in non-sanctioned adventures, the focus of the school is to help students learn control and educate them on the Dream of peaceful coexistence between humans and mutants.

The school maintains a full-time staff of teachers and administrative support staff, with guest lectures, activities, and presentations of alumni. While there is some overlap between educational staff and the various X-Men initiatives, the two projects are separate, and involvement in one does not mean that participation in the other will be expected.

Xavier’s Institute is not advertised or widely known to be a haven for mutants, and the heroic activities of the X-Men, both public and clandestine are kept well away from the school to help the Institute maintain its concealment.


Past notes:

Currently this is a place for working notes. It is not set in stone. It is not 'the way it will be'. This is to see what folks have so far and how we can massage it all together to see if that takes us where we want to go.

FEEL FREE to add thoughts, commentary, reasoning etc.

1997? Founding of Xavier's Xavier takes in first students <blah blah blah>
2001? First Graduate The first student gets their High School Degree from Xavier's - Chars 28-31
2002 "Classic" X-Men Adults come to Xavier's to join the X-Men
2003 "New Mutants" The second generation of students start to arrive
2006 "Gen-X" Third generation of students start to arrive
2007 Second Graduates The second generation start to graduate Chars 25-21
2010 "New X-Men" Fourth generation of students start to arrive
2011 Third Graduates Third generation of students start to graduate. Chars 19-20
2014 Fourth Graduates Fourth generation of students start to graduate. Chars 18.

Thoughts from Nightwing's player: With the potential Xavier being under age 40, I think there's a lot of potential to make a very fresh take on the X-Men. Even if you go by the First Class timeline of events (not the year, certainly), I think it could totally work:

  • Xavier sets up the institute 5 years ago. He and whomever is around then (Beast, whomever wants to app that age/time, etc) help recruit mutants that Xavier could find through Cerebro. Those mutants could be as young as 13 back then, coming into their powers, having just discovered them, are hiding them, etc.
  • Those younger ones then come to the school and are taught, a la High School. The older ones could get college degrees. Either way, it allows for those who are 18+ to have had up to 5 years of training at Xavier's before the game opens.

It allows for characters to be of almost any age and still either play arriving to be trained at Xavier's or they've been there for a while…and it allows for some fluidity on who the 'originals' are. Even if Scott was there for his college years, he could still totally be a Team Leader as it wouldn't necessarily have to be about Seniority, but who is the best fit for that/those positions.

It also allows for not having to put people in 'levels' of X-Men as it can be frustrating when you arrive and are told you're one of the 'New X-Men' even if you put in your BG that you've been there since your teens.

Just my two cents, really. :)

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Cal here. Anyone who's played with me as Piotr on HM and UU should know I've always been a strong advocate both ICly and OOCly of a less super sekret X-Men. Not to the degree of having the school known to be their base, of course. Let the Avengers have their public mansion and the JLA their Hall of Justice but being known to exist as a team of 'good' mutants superheroes. It just never seemed to make sense ICly or OOCly to be secret when that does nothing to advance Xavier's goal. And if the Batcave can be directly under Wayne Manor with no one figuring it out, the X-Men's base can certainly be equally safe under the school. I'm including this point here because it ties into the larger picture.

When it was first proposed that Xavier be 35 or so, my first reaction was '…' followed by 'Wut?' But it not so slowly grew on me for one simple reason: every single comics game with the X-Men, be them canon games or Year One games, have basically the same boring, tired, old X-Sphere based strictly on canon. Why? Because that's how it's always done and someone might not want it done differently. To which I say they can still be the exact character they want to be,

Xavier's age is irrelevant. Who the original five are is irrelevant as are their ages. It's standard that new PCs never really mention another PC in their BGs so as not to lock the other person into thngs: often without their permission if that FC hasn't been apped yet and might not want something to happen. None of that changes. And nothing proposed significantly changes an apper's options. They can be whatever age they want and not be locked into a 'class' based on canon. They can be open or secretive based on their own philosophy. They can have been students or arrived as adults. If anything, their options are even wider than they'd normally be.

We can deviate from canon and try something totally different. Hopefully something fun. Daring. Lets not get locked into doing the same old thing just because that's how it's always done. The basic theme of Marvel's mutants won't be affected by any of this so the base flavor will still be there. We're just changing the topping and whether it's served in a cup, cone or waffle cone.

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Nightwing here again. Everything Cal said. Yes. His reasoning is spot on.

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Cal again. Something we should think about before specifics are decided upon is who can be a student/get trained there? Obviously, mutants. But since we're a combined Marvel/DC game, what of metahumans? Personally, I'd like to see it have been always open to anyone with a genetic difference from humanity so both mutants and mutates. Flash wouldn't qualify since it's the speed force but Sue Storm would since she not only is now genetically different (and could have used training in how to handle her powers) but also can pass along power to her offspring. I think this would maintain the feel and theme of Xavier's while opening things up a little to DC characters and the occasional Marvel mutate.

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From Cal:

So I thought I'd summarize what was discussed and agreed to at the meeting and send it around to everyone who has a need to know. It's not definite till staff says it is and parts might get retconned but till then it gives us a framework to work with. I might be leaving stuff out but I think ths is most of it and the important stuff.

Xavier's Institute for Gifted Youngsters exists. Since the game only allows those 18 and older, it is relegated more to the background and all the students are NPCs. Xavier's is also an accredited 2 year college. This lets us continue to have an influx of new students, just of the proper age.

Xavier's, both schools, lets in mutants and metahumans. Anyone who is genetically different from base humanity is eligible for the school and the X-Men. Flash, being a vessel for the Speed Force, doesn't qualify. Black Canary, with her scream, could if the player wants to go that route. Spider-Man and the FF, being genetically altered, would also theoretically qualify.

The timeline is on the following page. It works and makes things simple. (Ignore the part about Xavier being young unless staff decrees it.) http://comuxthegame.com/orgs:xavier-school

The X-Men's base is not under the school. It is several miles away (somewhere) and connected to the school by an underground maglev train.

The X-Men are publically known to the extent that they are 'a mutant superhero team that sometimes shows up and does stuff that other superhero teams do'. Some codenames are known and that's up to whoever is playing that character. Secret identities are used and canon costumes are altered just enough to hide one's identity (a small mask for Storm for instance).

The X-Men are one team. No sub-teams, secondary teams or whatever. Everyone is on the same team. That being said, there is a 'public strike force' that is the public face of the X-Men. Anyone at all can be on it. Anyone who doesn't want to be doesn't have to be. It's completely at the player's decision.

SHIELD, being an international peacekeeping force with a lack of nationalistic ties, knows how to contact them. They don't know much else. They might have helped each other out once or twice in the past (staff can decide if that's so). No other agency knows even that much.

As far as more general mutant stuff, there is a Mutantown (size undetermined), other X groups such as X-Factor will be created organically instead of already existing, the Brotherhood is Magneto's to decide.

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