Purpose
Founded by Professor Xavier from the ranks of his most promising first students, the X-Men take a still more proactive role in furthering Xavier's vision of peaceful mutant-human relations. Whereas the school does this by teaching young mutants to use their gifts safely and ethically, the X-Men do this by working to protect the world, even those parts of it that hate and fear them. A team of highly-trained mutants, the X-Men work to use their powers for what they see as the betterment and safety of the planet.
Structure
The X-Men are a loosely hierarchical organization. All team members are encouraged to come to meetings, weigh in on tactics and decisions, but final decision power rests with the team leader Scott Summers -- who in turn defers to Xavier's judgment when the Professor sees fit to step in.
Actual missions are composed of a smaller team, with a team leader designated by Scott to make final tactical and judgment calls while in the field. Team members must defer to the decisions of their team leaders while on missions, though at other times these individuals have no greater or lesser authority than any other X-Man.
The type of missions the X-Men do varies -- from disaster relief/search and rescue to seeking out newly manifested mutant youth in distress and offering assistance (or a place at the school) to stepping in to try and quell instances of mutant violence (whether that is violence being done to mutants, or violence caused by mutants maliciously or accidentally using their powers.)
X-Men are expected to train at the school at least once per week and, if asked, take at least one mission per month, though they may take more than this if their availability permits.
Additionally, all Xavier's School associates are given a panic button app for their phones that, if pressed, will alert all nearby X-Men -- they are also expected to respond to these distress calls if possible when they come.
Spaces
The X-Men are headquartered out of the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters in Westchester, NY. The lowest levels of the school are where the X-Men meet and train.
The school has a well equipped gym and olympic-sized pool for regular workouts. The Danger Room is the primary training facility for more in-depth training scenarios.
- Pretty much a Holodeck, the Danger Room is the X-Men's training facility. It is a simulated reality environment, programmable to create most worlds and scenarios that can be imagined. Possibly some that haven't yet been.
- By default, it has many safety protocols in place so that any simulated injury that takes place in the DR stays simulated. These can be turned off, though it's not a good idea to override its safety settings.
- By default, also, X-Men are the only people authorized to use the Danger Room. Their privileges can be revoked if necessary, and other teachers can be granted privileges if necessary. Scott and Xavier are the only people, currently, with the ability to grant or revoke DR privileges. Anyone wanting a DR session on-cam will need to coordinate with one of the PCs who has access.
- Visitors to the Danger Room are advised to leave electronic devices behind before visiting the sublevel, due to the risk of data loss and hardware failure associated with proximity to the room. Powerful telepaths are likewise advised to speak with Professor Xavier before attempting to use the room.
- Teachers/Advisors can ICly coordinate with someone who has DR access if they think their students/advisees would benefit from DR training. Students are not by default required to train in the Danger Room ever. Teachers bringing students to DR sessions should use their judgment about what scenarios are appropriate for an individual student's personality and ability; causing physical or emotional trauma to a student will most certainly get DR privileges revoked.
- The room itself requires both fingerprint and voice recognition to enter, and voice recognition once inside to give it instructions. Students who have powers that can replicate teachers' voices and fingerprints should not take this as license to use the DR. Unauthorized use will be severely dealt with.
- Once activated, the DR responds to verbal commands. There is a similarly secured Control Room overlooking it where a computer terminal allows greater control over the construction and manipulation of scenarios. The DR has a surprisingly sophisticated ability to parse natural language and follow even vague and implicit instructions, though operators are advised to speak clearly and avoid abusive language. Allegations that the Danger Room has a sense of humor have been neither confirmed nor denied by the administration.
- DR scenarios can be constructed ad-hoc through verbal commands, though scenarios created and scripted ahead of time may be more useful for instructional purposes. The DR may be instructed to save a scenario for later use.
- As to its capabilities, the DR functions on a combination of telepathically projected illusions and telekinesis. Illusions are far more efficient and will be defaulted to when possible, including effects distorting distance and position. Only when participants must be interacted with physically will telekinesis be used. While the telekinetic effects are relatively weak and inefficient, the illusory projections are unusually powerful, often overwhelming even otherwise stalwart psychic defenses. While the projections are noninvasive, the experience can be disconcerting for the psychically aware, who are advised to spend a period acclimating themselves to the environment before running simulations.
- Though few people are aware of this fact, the Danger Room's AI and the network's sysadmin are one and the same -- though the fact that the school's all-seeing sysadmin shares a name with that locked door down the hall has probably clued at least a few attentive souls in. Specifics about Cerebro are difficult to come by, however: faculty will advise students to ask Xavier, and the Professor will advise the curious to ask Cerebro themselves if they truly wish to know. Personal inquiries sent to Cerebro directly are politely rebuffed.
Recruitment
Whatever the jokes or intermittent rumors might be, Xavier's School does not function as a training ground for child soldiers and, in fact, goes to some lengths to discourage most of their graduates from joining the X-Men. No high school students will ever, under any circumstances, be allowed to join the X-Men: if you wish to play an X-Man character, make them an adult. On top of this, the school strongly discourages students even from joining the X-Men straight out of high school -- it's still unlikely that your X-Kid will be admitted onto the team fresh out of graduation.
It is true that the overwhelming majority of X-Men come from the ranks of former students or faculty, however, the school heavily encourages their graduates to pursue higher education, careers they are passionate about, figure out what they want to do in life before joining the team. When apping an X-Man character, please give thought to what they do in life besides be an X-Man -- being an X-Man is not a paid job, but a volunteer team that has lives outside of this role. If your character graduated from Xavier's School, they will need to have thought about their life and career path outside the team before joining up.
Nearly all X-Men are recruited to the team after having been involved with the school for years -- either as graduates who have been out in the world and made the decision to return and help out, or as faculty who decide to join their colleagues. It is not required to be part of the X-Men to teach at the school, though many X-Men do!
A very small minority join the team without having specific prior affiliation with the school, by becoming close trusted acquaintances of current X-Men and being recruited that way. There are no other paths to joining the X-Men, so please keep that in mind when designing a character background!
Roster
Current PCs in the X-Men are:
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