The Argent Specters: heirs to a heroic legacy once thought lost.

During what this group calls "The Gemstone Ages" which proceed the "Platinum Age", (and which in turn was allegedly preceded by "The Ages of Energy" but there's no concrete evidence of his being around at that point,) there was a member of the early days of isolated super heros who tended to become more religious figures than superheroes in the modern sense. This one however didn't do that, because they were a series of people instead of one person empowered by a mysterious artifact called "The Shroud of Argentium", a sliver cloth which could grant enhanced abilities to whomever carries it: IF they are deemed "Worthy" by whatever mysterious forces give the shroud itself it's power.

One key difference between them and most other supers is they can and do kill, but not deliberately, they typically fight with weapons and immense ****, yet their victims almost always make astounding and miraculous full recovery from injuries that they shouldn't have survived let alone been able to recover from completely: however, if the The Shroud of Argentium's mystical backers decide the victim is "Utterly Irredeemable", they will die instead. (Something which is known to universally happen to anyone that habitually harms children.)

During the "Golden Age" of superheroes in the 1920s & 30s the bearer of The Shroud of Argentium was a dapper detective known only by the title of the artifact itself which he wore folded around his neck like a scarf, the only thing on his person which wasn't black save the bright silver Tommy Gun he used as his favorite weapon. He persisted into the 40s, being killed during World War II by a Nazi supervillain called "The Fhurer's Wrath" during a pivotal confrontation at the Battle of the Bulge, and they tore up The Shroud of Argentium to demonstrate the superiority of the Nazis. However, this was a fatal mistake, and a bolt of silver lightning struck out of the clear sky and killed The Fhurer's Wrath instantly when they had torn it into pieces no bigger than a pocket handkerchief. These pieces were gathered up by allied troops, and many were smuggled back to the USA and other countries in various places, while some were secured by governments immediately or later and experimented upon during the years since, with many more simply vanishing from history, possibly unrecognizable and/or unrecorded, still sitting in some attic even now.

There are those in superheroic academia who date the start of the Silver Age of superheroes to the **** of The Shroud of Argentium on the battlefield, as it was one of the last times during the war that a hero or heroine was killed in the line of duty. Even more especially, almost the only one that simply could not be resurrected at some point afterwards. No matter what was tried, even things that should rightfully be unstoppable, all attempts to return him to life failed utterly, or, in a few cases, those who possess such power simply REFUSE, saying that "The Bearer of the Shroud must be allowed his ****." and they then decline to elaborate further.

Another date tied to these events is the silver age's ENDING: because around the time that is generally agreed to have happened, the known scraps of The Shroud of Argentium began to regenerate, and after several years most of them are now roughly equivalent in size to the original. With this regeneration, has come a return of their powers as well, but not quite as before.

The Original gave a fairly consistent set of abilities to it's Bearers: invisibility or something else similar for concealment: heightened perception and intelligence: the capacity to intuitively sense any deliberately false statements or accusations, (but not omission, misdirection, or saying what you think is true when you are misinformed: only what the Catholic Church would call a "Lie of Commission"), and things of a similar nature, (when it comes to staged crime scenes for a crime which didn't actually happen as it's meant to appear that it did as an example, or a bookcase that is secretly actually a doorway: but not if someone has done things unintentionally which makes a crime scene look like a robbery-gone-wrong instead of the coldly calculated **** of a rival in romance it actually was): a near-indestructible physique, (provided that you are not captured and restrained, and your assailant isn't also a super, both of which negate it completely): and an uncanny ability to succeed in business whenever you are in your "Secret Identity".

The new shrouds often gives powers similar to the original, but with one or two variations, such as granting no concealment, but instead giving super-human strength to the bearer, or removing the ability to decern lies, but instead giving the power to fly, while a few grant the old power in every particular, and another segment gives powers which appear to be almost utterly random, yet can still be used for achieving heroic deeds and feats of daring-do.

The individuals who have these regenerated shrouds have all reported finding themselves contacted in dreams by "The Silver Gaze" and told to find others and establish a working relationship with their fellow "Argent Specters" for fighting evil: some have formed teams of superheroes and heroines, others work alone most of the time, whilst many joined the local community/team of superheroes, pursuing justice in their own ways.

Never-the-less: all find themselves irresistibly drawn into the loose alliance of the Specters, the heirs to a fallen legend who's absence rather than their presence, in many ways defined the Silver Age.