newuniversal

Four powerful extra-dimensional glyphs (which manifest as tattoos) confer superhuman powers on different sentient beings (who often take on the names of these glyphs). Originally the Starbrand was the only extra-dimensional glyph, but Warren Ellis' re-imagining broadened the concept to allow others to exist: Justice, Cipher, and Nightmask. The purpose of glyphs is to aid in the transition of any given world through the inevitable paradigm shift caused when it comes into contact with the "newuniversal structure", which is a web of strange matter wherein normal physical laws operate differently. Whenever a world enters the web, it can become unstable, taking thousands of years before it finishes traveling along one of its many strands, thus contact implies the danger that any given world could be destroyed if its transition period is not guided.

• Nightmask Glyph: Izanami Randall is a sarcastic Chinese-American woman living in San Francisco. After the White Event, Randall obtains the Nightmask glyph and is contacted by an alien communications station within the superflow, and believed her encounter with it, being the first, to be a dream or drug-induced hallucination.[10] This station explains the nature of the White Event and informs her of the Nightmask's role in the changes that will follow for her world.[9] Her ability to enter and leave the superflow at will lets her travel vast distances, and it is hinted that the superflow's role in human dreaming and creativity allow her power over that domain - periods of scientific and creative growth or stagnation are described as the results of "weather changes" in the universal system.
• Cipher Glyph: Dr. Jennifer Swann is a scientist employed by Project Spitfire, working on a powered exoskeleton battle suit that's intended to enable its wearer to combat superhumans. Prior to the White Event, the work is encountering difficulties and the suit is only partially functional. Swann herself is transformed into a superhuman by the White Event, and now possesses the ability to interface with some types of technology remotely[11] - something which she conceals from her employers. Once Project Spitfire becomes aware of the Starbrand, Dr. Swann is briefed and informed that superhumans have resurfaced, the H.E.X suit must be built and working, and the new superhumans must be hunted down and killed.[9] Her newfound superhuman abilities let her immediately fix the numerous problems with her H.E.X suit, enabling the creation of a machine designed to hunt superhumans like herself.
• Justice Glyph: John Tensen is a NYPD detective, a man with no family, who is described as "living for the police". The night before the White Event, Tensen is left hospitalized and comatose after a gunshot wound to the head. When the White Event occurs, he suddenly wakes, healed and marked with the lightning-bolt 'Justice' glyph. Tensen immediately realises that he possesses superhuman powers, including the ability to sense a person's guilt and "see" their sins superimposed over his vision. His first act is to execute the nurse who was about to euthanise him.[10] He then tracks down and kills the gang members who shot him,[11] before embarking on a crusade as a vigilante, going so far as to slaughter a crowd of outwardly innocent people after determining that their sins outweigh their lives, and showing no apparent remorse over this act.[8] He has demonstrated marked delusions, stating repeatedly that he believes he is in hell and that the people he kills are merely disguised demons.
• Starbrand Glyph: Kenneth Connell wakes after the White Event to find that his right palm now bears the Starbrand glyph, and that his girlfriend, Maddie, who was with him at the time of the White Event, has been killed as a side-effect of his transformation.[10] Connell is arrested and Maddie's father, the town sheriff, then attempts to execute him, believing that he is responsible for Maddie's death. Connell's abilities activate and he kills the sheriff in self-defense. After escaping, razing the jail in the process, a shocked and half-awake Connell flies to a mountain. He then encounters two Starbrands from alternate universes and a future version of himself.[9] The three explain Connell's new role and Maddie's accidental death, then reveal that he can choose to leave his universe behind or can make a stand against the forces who intend to kill him, and those like him, in order to maintain the status quo.[12]

• Philip L. Voight is the presiding officer of Project Spitfire, part of a government project tasked with monitoring and killing superhumans. He was originally a field operative and later the Director of the project. Before the White Event the government had only encountered three superhumans, created by the "Fireworks" in the 50s. In 1959, Voight was responsible for the deaths of these three, and also killed a baby, the child of two superhumans, in case he had inherited his parents' abilities.[6] He believes that superhumans are inherently a different species, so different from normal humans that there is no hope of a dialogue, and that by their very nature, they will kill humanity and thus must be sterilized to the last.
• Dr Leonard Carson, Dr Hannah Ballad and Jim Braddock are archaeologists, first seen investigating unexplained ancient ruins in Latvia. Later working at an archaeological dig discuss the white event and a landslide, which occurred at the same time, revealing a huge complex tomb.[10] Inside, they find the skeletal remains of the legendary warrior, Starr the Slayer, and numerous artifacts from the technologically advanced Shining City, including a primitive electric arc light.[11]
• Dr. Emmett Proudhawk is a Native American CIA consultant who, while on a vision quest, is contacted by the Superflow, just as Izanami Randall was.[13]
• Jack Magniconte is a quarterback for the New York Smashers Football team who strikes and kills an opposing player with a single blow during a charity exhibition game.[14] This display of superhuman strength brings him to the attention of Project Spitfire and Philip L. Voight attempts to kill him by detonating a bomb left in a suitcase. It is not known if Magniconte survived the explosion, or if any civilians were harmed in the detonation.[15]