Superhuman

A superhuman is a human possessing supernatural abilities, obtained from birth by the superhuman gene or developed later in life by other external means. Those who become superhumans the latter way are often referred to as Atypical Superhumans.

The Superhuman Gene
Many thousands of years ago, all humans once possessed supernatural abilities, but their materialistic desires led them to lose their connection to the astral plane and thus lose their abilities. The human race was completely devoid of supernatural abilities until humans suddenly began being born with powers around the seventeenth century. This event is what scientists describe as the random mutation of an extremely rare "superhuman gene".

The gene tends to skip generations, so if someone possesses it, their children will likely not possess it, but their grandchildren likely will. There are of course exceptions to this, but it is a general trend.

Generational Abnormalities
Extraordinarily rarely, a superhuman will be born into a family with absolutely no history of superhuman genes. Frank Harrison is an example of this.

Atypical Superhumans
Superhumans who are born as regular humans and obtain their supernatural abilities through other means are known as Atypical Superhumans. Draco Taller is an example of this, having been granted Pyrokinesis by Phoenicious the dragon. There has been some debate over whether these people should be considered superhuman, as they don't actually possess the gene.

Treatment by Society
It is unknown how human society functioned before humans lost their connection to the astral plane. There is some speculation that great ancient civilizations such as Atlantis were able to be constructed with the help of supernatural abilities. However, since the reappearance of the superhuman gene, there has been a lot of discrimination against superhumans, most of which can be sorted into one of three waves. The first wave of superhuman persecution began in the late 17th century, and it is more commonly known as the Witch Trials. This was only several decades after the gene reappeared, so those with the gene were scared and confused as to why they could perform supernatural feats. Those without the gene were even more confused, and, vastly outnumbering those with it, decided to try them as witches and have them hanged. Many people escaped this persecution and eventually settled the superhuman community of Waterstone.

The second wave of superhuman persecution, known as the "Anti-super movement" began in the late 19th century, and reached its climax when Waterstone was attacked and destroyed in a hate crime against its inhabitants (most of which weren't even superhumans at the time). Survivors of the attack eventually founded the city of Belle Riviere.

The third wave began when the organization TEA was founded by Yetolyx in the late 20th century with the misguided goal of enslaving every superhuman on Earth to cleanse it of its percieved evil nature. Yetolyx, an extraterrestrial being, saw nothing but suffering when he arrived on Earth, and soon blamed it on the people he believed to possess the most power, the superhumans. He soon created TEA with several people who shared his world view, and the organization gained members through lies and distortion of the truth. As time went on, Yetolyx's goal evolved from enslaving superhumans to recruiting them, becoming more focused on taking over the world than "cleansing" it. When Yetolyx was killed by his son Bradey, TEA disbanded and the world became much more accepting of superhumans.