That definitely helps with respect to a summary of where things stood before the thread started. It was the context I needed to be able to make some sense of the OP. (With Rook City currently Out Of Print, I can't contribute productively to the discussion, but can try to at least follow it.)
Well if you're an angsty goth-type teenager who writes poetry and you suddenly aquire two pet ravens, of course you're going to name them Muninn and Huginn.
If you get one raven, you'll call it either Quoth or Nevermore.
I named mine Poe when I was a kid... but it was a black chicken and not a real raven.
I'd love a raven, they are amazing birds. They really can talk incredibly well, have complex social relationships, use tools, solve problems, hide food from each other (and then move the food to a different spot if they think another raven observed them making the original cache) and seem to play by tumbling around in the updraft from cliffs.
Plus I once saw one distract a tourist at the Tower of London in order to steal his sandwich. Awesome.
[Edit: Check that. I'd prefer the raven to be wild in its natural environment, being a raven rather than my pet.]
Why does Poe, the Dark Chicken sound like an awesome idea for a cartoon?
((I imagine him sounding like Vincent Price, with a little mustache on his beak as he tells spooky stories using farm animals…))
Wild Cards has the Living Gods portray themselves as Egyptian godsm but they're not claiming to actually be the real Egyptian gods. At least, most of them aren't.
At least one incarnation of Black Adam (Captain Marvel (in DC universe) villain) has egyptian god themed powers: According to wikipedia: Black Adam gets his powers from Shu (stamina), Hershef (strength), Amon (power), Zehuti ( Thoth) (wisdom), Anpu (speed), and Menthu (courage).
So that makes one egyptian god villain
Black Adam still got his powers from the Wizard Shazam.
There were three heroes who appeared in Thor during the fight he had with Seth quite a few years ago. Esrth-Lord, Skyhawk and Wind something. Three people who died and the Egyptian pantheon granted them pwoers.
Plus Moon Knight and his ties to Khonshu, God of Vengeance.
Okay, so Egypt has at least been dabbled in. Much less so than Norse or Greek, though, it looks like. Even Aztec/Maya may have been represented more. Hindu and Oriental mythologies seem to still be wide open though, except for Manga in the latter case. (There was a very interesting Indian take on Spider-Man I saw once, restyled several of the villains as mythological entities. That's about all I've noticed.)
Ha. That DOES sound pretty awesome.
Happy Halloween everybody. 
So, coming a little late to the rampant speculation, but there were some cool ideas at the beginning of this thread that got me thinking. However, due to work I've been stewing over them for the last six hours or so, writing notes and going a little crazy due to lack of sleep. With that in mind read further at your own risk.
Edit: This got really long, I apologize
To begin with, I love this line of thinking. I also have felt the Matriarch has been lacking compared to some of the other villains. She should be really cool but there's just something missing to bring it up to the correct level. However, I personally still love the theory of Vanessa aka Visionary gaining her powers being the "fixed point" in the multiverse. Then I got to thinking "Can I combine them?". Just a second ago I lookedat visionary's and dreamer's bios, and had a second thought which strengthens the proposal I'm about to make. Her gaining her powers is the fixed point, not neccesarily when she gains them or what happens to her when she does. Combine this with the OP's theory about the mask and we get an intriguing scenario that allows the matriarch to be the center and vanessa's power the fixed point.
Lillian finds this mask and puts it on, this mask is an ancient relic and acts as a conduit to a great power, perhaps our cosmic entity perhaps something esle, and then she tried to pull it towards her. I tend to picture power reacting as liquid and things that contain power being containers. Even with the mask and any potential for power in Lillian I bet she pulled down more than she could actually contain, it spilled over. Add to that the next line in the bio is "...Panicked, she flung her arms outward..., if psychically she was throwing as well, even unintentionally, this could have caused the spread of the power as well. Now if Matriarch, the mask, or the power can be considered connected to "the center" than even one of them should be enough to affect the entire multiverse.
How does this affect Vanessa? Well, I'm beginning t think that defining Visionary's power as "psychic" has been a little misleading for me. When I think "psychic" I think telepathy, telekinesses, precognition, simple stuff, but Visionary is so much more than that. Her powers can warp reality itself to her whim, similiar I suppose the the X-men's Pheonix (not saying she is an x-men, just identifying the comic series). I find this further strengthend by two things. The first is a comment I saw earlier today which referenced something Christopher had said about time travel (if one of the forum gurus could find this somewhere it would be most appreciated, my forum-fu is decidely weak). He was responding to whether or not the time traveling had caused the cataclysm and his answer essentially was that the cataclysm had allowed time-traveling, because the traveling was simply being able to detect and enter rips and gaps in reality. This very closely ties visionary's most powerful and least "psychic" feat to an ability set more closely resembling the scholar's or kismet's.
Quick sidenote: Did the designer of Kismet choose the figure in the talisman or was the choice to make it a bird trickster instead of a fox or some other animal a desing choice by >G. If the latter that might have some signifigance to all this.
My second pillar comes from the bios. We are led to suspect that the chemicals given to Vanessa's parents lead to her psychic abilities. However, she is the only successful test subject and when she rescues her unborn self that vanessa still gains powers. This, as I'm positing, remains true throughout the multi-verse. Which ether means the chemical is constant as well, or the chemical has nothing to do with Vanessa devolping powers. What if, instead, she was born like Kismet or the scholar with an affinity and sensitivity to the fabric of reality. Then the matriarch pulls a big glob of power in, possibly from outside the multiverse (theories covered later). This is what causes Vanessa, a sensitive, to gain such god-like powers. And if it happens in the center, then it makes sense that it would affect all vanessas.
What else could this mean though? I will warn this is all wild speculation and probably blowing a few things way out of proportion, but hang with me for a second. If this power hits "the center" and ripples out to cause a "fixed point" which can and does use time travel, then it is not unreasonable to asusme this power, and whatever it's source may be, is not limited by time or space. Things not limited by time or space tend to come from outside of them, giving us a strog sense of our cosmic entity though maybe not. If it is him, then this might explain why he inexplicably took an interest in this world to start with. Someone called him.
If the power though is not limited by time or space, what else might it have affected as it rippled though the multiverse. Possibly the origin of the cataclysm, or at least the rifts which brought about La Capitan and Chrono-Ranger's life changing trips. Something turned an average spanish vessel into a time machine that can sail the spaces between time. Temporal energies according to the bio, but something more as well?
Another interesting possiblity, moving on from La Capitan, is Fanatic. It is more possible that her ressurection and powers are more the work of an intelligent hand rather than the random spewing of energy, but it is a fascinating possibilty all the same, especially when we consider the other side of her origin.
Qucik sidenote: just reread her bio and found something I had... missed? Are the guys adding stuff to the bios behind our backs because I never saw, and no one has before commented on this interesting tidbit "she apparently suffered severe nerve damage, which left most of her body entirely numb". That shines a different light on a lot of her artwork. She doesn't keep going because of some fanatic ignorance of the pain of her wounds. She might not be able to feel them.
Apostate claims to have created Fanatic. There are many theories to this, but we know Apostate is a powerful demonic being, capable of traveling through at least 2 worlds, so possibly able to sense some of the threads of reality neccesary for that sort of travel. What else do we know about Apostate? He deals in dangerous Relics. One of the biggest questions we can't answer is how the Mask, an object of supremely immense power it seems, ended up in a mall antique shop. What if Apostate, or an agent connected to him placed it there? Generally demonic beings can't use powerful relics like this, the being on the other side doesn't like them or the relic was designed exclusivley for humans, so maybe it is him that places it there for Matriarch to find, thus setting off a chain which does indeed create Fanatic. This is wild speculation with no supporting evidence, I realize this, but I'm moving on little sleep so it makes sense at the moment. I've also wondered if the Philosopher's stone is simply a solidified version of this same power, but that seems less likely when reviewing the scholar's bio.
On a final sidenote (while my eyes blur from exhaustion) I noticed a few things in the matriarch's deck that might aid the conversation about her signifigance. Looking at the background of Huginn and Muninn, at first I thought fire and ice, but looking again I think Muninn is ash. Possibly symbolic of Huginn (thought) being an explosive, in the moment thing, destructive in this case since it is a volcanoe erupting. Perhaps crazed inspiration from the poet angle? Muninn (memory) is then ash, the deadness and impression left afterwards that hints at what was felt in the explosive moment. If not important to the story, at least cool symbology. The matriarch's power can also be traced to a reality altering twist, her retritubtions are automatic, and most come witht the death of a fowl. Either her displeasure is immiediately grtified by lashing out at the hero at the moment of death, or she is somehow able to make the hero feel the death of the bird themselves, a linked transferrance of the exeirence? However, she cannot do this sort of thing consciously, all of them are reactions on her base card, not a card in her deck (that I found) allows her any psychic damage, it is all summoning birds, which is the first trick she learned. The masks healing might represent a constant stream or connection to whatever power she drew upon that first time. Finally, on her character card, Avian Majesty side (it's more easily seen from the expanded picture in her bio) she is wearing some ancient looking claw thing on a finger of her left hand. This does not appear any where else in her deck (and she doesn't appear anywhere else I can remember) so I don't know the signifgance, but it seemed worth noting.
Good catch on the reality-warping powers, Chaosmancer. I always thought that Twist the Ether seemed a bit out of place.
I have my own theories on this whole multiverse of powers.
Ra and the Ennead gain their powers through ancient artifacts that grant powers to their bearers, the Egyptian gods were people who were given super powers through artifacts.
Christopher has stated that the Norse gods are not active in the multiverse, yet we have hints at them from a deck of a villain that has superpowers based on. . . an artifact.
So we have ancient artifacts of power, where do they come from? I don't think they come from Aliens. I think they come from Atlantis.
Look at The Pillars of Hercules, historically they are the Rock of Gibralter and some other rock formation that marked the path from the Mediterannean to Atlantis.
In this game the Pillars are a part of Atlantis, and are shown as two pillars that grant power. Taken with the Atlantean font of Power I think it is possible that the pillars and the font are sources of powers, and the artifacts that grant powers could be from Atlantis.
The connection with the Ley Lines (which are used to find Atlantis) and the Scholar are big as well, and the Scholar gets his powers from. . . an artifact.
Atlantis in game is also clearly advanced in technology that is mixed with magic. Something happens in ancient days that causes Atlantis to sink. Maybe a few survived, and those few took artifacts from Atlantis with them. A group of them go to Egypt and are Gods there, others spread out and leave their artifacts behind.
Envisioner bringing up Fanatic and Apostate are interesting as well.
Apostate is one of the Angels kicked out for having children with Human females. The descendants of these Angels are called Nephilim and are said to be the heroes of old.
So what if Atlantis was the city of these Angels, and it was destroyed in judgement. Apostate survives, some of the Nephilim survive with artifacts of power. They are the heroes of old, and they leave their artifacts behind, creating the heroes and villains of today.
Ra, The Ennead, The Scholar, The Matriarch, The Argent Adept, Nightmist, Gloomweaver, Kismet all involve magic relics in their backstory.
A whole group of others involve genetic mutation and chemicals.
What if all this started with Apostate or some other entity even more powerful than him. It would be easy to make sure these artifacts are found without even needing direct involvement. It would be easy to lead Baron Blade and others to a few key discoveries that would unlock the genetic lines laying dormant from Nephilim ancestry (why some would survive and others not survive his experiments).
It is quite possible to me that all of this explosion of powers and magic is all part of a larger scheme to bring back the good old days by some power that remembers them. I for one really like that possibility.
Gah! You are awesome!
Here's an idea, too. Maybe Atlantis only sank because it didn't have Atlanteans anymore. They evolved and left for the stars. Obviously, without maintenance, the remains of civilisation fall apart. If their civilisation, and indeed their island, were built upon a structure of technomagic, it would make sense that it would sink.
But now they're coming back. Maybe it was their plan all along. Maybe they've heard that things are getting out of control on earth.
Goofy theory I came up with - Maybe after the Vengeful Five are defeated, Dr. Stinson will give Lilian the Friction suit and she'll become Kid Tachyon? This works best if she gets rid of the Mask of the Matriarch after finding out that it's a relic of evil, and that its maker/owner/etc. is coming to destroy the Earth.
Even goofier - maybe Expatriette will put on the Mask and gain the power to summon legions of white doves? Perhaps Lilian only summons black carrion birds because her heart is dark with resentment and teenage morbidness. We've observed the glowing white doves that seem to surround Expat, and speculated that they might be the sign of a suppressed superhuman power that neither she nor her mother ever realized she had (perhaps it didn't awaken until after she was "killed" in the scene on her incap side). The Mask might supercharge that power, or be purified by exposure to it - perhaps it's only a relic of evil when it's worn by someone who has evil in their heart
Theoretical goofiness level 9000 - Maybe what we'll actually get is a hero deck for Citizen Dusk, who plays Charlies' Angels with his daughter Expatriette, now wearing the Mask, along with the Masks's former wearer and her ex-speedster sister, who's now been crippled by Expatriette and now does science from a high-tech wheelchair? The result is a team that might call itself something along the lines of "Birds of Prey", with one powerless and slightly "dark" badass (Huntress/Lilian), one metahuman (Black Canary / the turns-out-she-actually-does-have-a-power Expat), and one behind-the-scenes hacker expert who isn't even a Target in gameplay terms (Oracle / Dr. Stinson).
The first and third are goofy, but number two is actually quite plausible...
I wonder did John Woo teach her to shoot?