Modern heroics demand attention to detail, and both powers and appearance need to be custom-made if a hero is going to rise to the multifarious challenges that lie out there in the great unknown. If there’s a place to get to grips with all aspects of being a champion of freedom, then it’s the sun-drenched malls and highways of Steel Canyon. Paragon City’s business and leisure hub is an all-in-one brawling ‘n’ malling location. Shop, fight, or just hang out, Steel Canyon has it all.

Your first visit to the big SC should coincide with your first visit to our public relations official. As everyone should know in these media-savvy times, a hero is only as a heroic as his reputation, so make sure to pay a flying visit the Hero Corps Field Analyst in Blyde Square to have your reputation taken care of by a professional.

Blyde Square, a spectacular open space amid the forest of stunning Steel Canyon strato-scrapers, is also the meeting place for heroes who want to offer their services to Positron, who regularly visits Steel Canyon on the lookout for Task Force members. He is responsible for some of the most dangerous missions a hero can face, so if you really want to know what it is to be a hero in Paragon City, this is the place to find out. These are challenges that can’t be faced alone, so be prepared to find allies if you want to gain Positron’s favor.

As Paragon City fashionistas will attest, the local Steel Canyon menace, the Outcasts, are one of the trend-setting gangs. They often recruit wealthy troublemakers with a history of superhuman powers, so expect them to deploy powers against you in arrest situations - they give heroes no quarter, but look good while they’re bending the law. And who can blame them? Steel Canyon is the fashion catwalk without parallel (at least in this dimension). Visiting heroes will definitely want to visit the Icon boutique, where custom-made costumes are tailored to your needs and wishes by the ever-present Serge and his staff. Sure, the price tags might be high, but you pay for quality.

And that’s not all that Steel Canyon offers in terms of super-powered dalliance. You also get to browse rare and powerful enhancements designed to cater specifically for your powers in stores across Steel Canyon. The famed branch of Cooke’s Electronics, for example, can be found just off Blyde Square, and stocks some of the most desirable technological enhancements for the up and coming hero. Sell off your junk and buy in the latest tech: this is where you make the most of those laser eyes.

For the magically inclined we have the original (and some say best) branch of Pandora’s Box, on the south west side of town, then cross town towards the green-line monorail there’s a branch of Subgenetics, The Corporation That Caters For Any Mutation.

Speaking of monorails, it’s worth mentioning that Steel Canyon is also the best-connected district in the entire city, with a link to the green line in the south, and the exclusive yellow line in the north. Of course such ease of travel comes at a price, and you can expect to encounter both the oriental mysticism of the Tsoo and the unsubtle influence of the Family, Paragon’s most feared crime cartel. Steel Canyon might glitter like gold, but is also rich in danger.

And rich in culture: the alternative music scene in the offbeat clubs of Kings Row might provide a lure for the young and curious, but for heroes there’s a far better heroes-only SuperClub in Steel Canyon and Independence Port, Pocket D, home of the Paragon Dance Party. There’s no better place to strut your stuff or just enjoy a few vitamin-enhanced cocktails. This is a venue that is simply magical. Just don’t expect to come out of the door you came in through, if you get our meaning…