A Certain Scientific Group of Espers

Premise
The year is 20XX and the PCs are all student Espers living, attending school, and taking part in the ongoing Power Curriculum Program in the technologically-advanced Academy City, a landlocked sovereign city-state whose territory consists of a walled enclave within Western Tokyo. For whatever reason you came to Academy City at a very young age to take part in the experiment aimed at unlocking psychic abilities in human beings. The process, while backed up by credible science, does not always produce significant results. In fact, most of Academy City's young population who take part in the Program either develop weak powers or no powers at all.

But not you! You are one of the lucky ones who have managed to gain significant abilities that you have been able to develop as you learn and grow within the city's walls. And all that hard work has paid off, making you a Level 4 Esper! Congratulations! Pretty sweet, eh? No matter how you feel about the ranking system -- which starts of Level 0 (those with no powers) to Level 5 (the cream of the crop so to speak) -- part of you has to admit that you're pretty damn amazing to have made it this far. And to top it all off, you're also a member of Judgment, the student-volunteer disciplinary force that strives to maintain order within the city alongside its adult-volunteer counterpart, Anti-Skill. With your own two hands (and your awesome powers) you keep Academy City safe and the wheels of justice well-oiled.

...Though for all the wonder and splendor of Academy City, it does possess a dark side. Shady scientists toil away in secret (mostly underground) labs, performing not-so-ethical experiments that quite often involve young Espers who don't exactly have a choice in the matter. The Academy City Board of Directors turn a willfully blind eye to this as long as it produces credible results that further their agendas. And don't forget the gangs comprised of angry individuals for whom the Program did not reward amazing powers, frustration and failure driving them into such unsavory circumstances.

Furthermore, the mere existence of Academy City has greatly changed the socioeconomic and political climate of the world, making it a veritable "Superpower" in its own right. As such, Academy City is quite used to being in the spotlight on the international stage, accepting all of the good and bad that comes from such recognition. World governments smile and talk about cooperation in public, though behind closed doors they remain envious and even threatened by the scope of influence the city-state commands. It's a precarious balancing act that everyone seems intent on playing until it is no longer convenient. Like serpents poised to strike at the earliest sign of weakness, these political powerhouses bid their time while scheming and gathering useful intel from covert agents who have managed to infiltrate the city's walls through various forms of trickery.

Stranger still, there are others who possess powers and abilities that aren't Esper-related. They keep to the shadows, perpetuating a secret network of individuals and groups that wield ancient and carefully crafted energies that they refer to as Magic. They too have eyes on Academy City for various reasons, some of them utterly esoteric and incomprehensible to most. Religious organizations fall within this category as well, suspicious and outright indignant of the scientific marvels the city has produced -- especially Espers. They, like the world governments, have clandestine agents willing to do whatever is necessary to keep Academy City "in check".