Brutus! there lies beyond the Gallic bounds

An island which the western sea surrounds,

By giants once possessed, now few remain

To bar thy entrance, or obstruct thy reign.

To reach that happy shore thy sails employ

There fate decrees to raise a second Troy

And found an empire in thy royal line,

Which time shall ne'er destroy, nor bounds confine.

The Goddess Diana to Brutus of Troy

Geoffrey of Monmouth, Historia Regum Britanniae

London is an ancient city. Legend speaks of Brutus of Troy who defeated the giants of Albia and founded the city of Troia Nova, from whose halls he ruled as the first King of Britain, naming the island in his honour. All that is known is that a settlement has existed on the bank of the Thames in some form or another since before the days of Imperial Rome, when this city came to be called Londinium and it served as the seat of authority in the province of Britannia. But Rome fell, and the city stayed. It stayed through the defeat of the Britons at the hands of the Angles and the Saxons, it stood firm amidst the Viking invasions until Æthelstan, King and Chief of the whole realm of Albion, brought together all the realms of the south in Imperial union. These walls of Roman stone proved unmatched even when the armies of Duke William the Bastard began to bear down upon the city, and the Norman took up the name King William the Conqueror. But this Conquering hero, who killed King Harold Godwinson on the fields of Hastings, saw the towering walls of London, built of Roman stone, and knew that he could not defeat the city. And so, he drew up a contract that would stand for millennia. London stands a part of England, but separate from the whole. Though the walls of Roman stone have long since been overshadowed, and the city has spread like a tumour from its original foundries, the sacred square mile still stands independent from the rest of the British state, an inviolate sanctuary that even the monarch must ask permission to cross.

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This ancient city has stood its ground amidst struggles and civil wars, surviving the Anarchy of King Steven and Queen Matilda, the Wars of the Roses between Tudor and Lancaster, even the Military Government of the Commonwealth left the city alone whilst they cut off the King’s head. Kings and tyrants come and go, but the city must survive. No deal is too great, no price too high, as long as the ancient privileges are maintained. In all its vast history, only once has London fallen to a military power, when General Monck marched on the city, destroyed the walls of Roman stone and saw the restoration of King Charles II to his rightful throne. Even then, the new King chose to respect the privileges of the city that had turned on him.

Such is the power of London, and such is its nature. It is a fickle place, ruled over by Guilds and Corporations that look to their own interest above all others. If London is the heart of Albion, then it is a fickle engine indeed. Even William the Conqueror, who first placed London upon its preeminent position, recognised the terrible danger it could pose. His rule was defined by Castles, great bastions built to cement the position of his invaders as the true rulers of England, and the greatest of these castles was the Tower of London, built on the city’s doorstep.

The Tower is as old as England, and played many roles over those thousand years. It has been the seat of Royal Authority, where William the Conqueror first set about writing the Domesday Book. It has played host to conspiracies and murder, as when King Richard III cemented his right to rule through the murder of the young princes in the Bloody Tower. It has been a prison reserved for the vilest traitors and enemies of the crown, where treasonous nobles would meet the headsman’s sword in the shadow of the White Tower. It has been a military Armoury, storing first black powder and then the shells of the Royal artillery, and home to the defenders of the realm. Now the Tower once again projects its power into the streets of Greater London. It holds the protectors of the Crown Jewels, the guardians of this vast metropolis, the defenders of its people and the wonders of the modern world.

It holds superheroes.