Hideout Book Concepts: Factions

In spite of its massive hero population, the city has its share of criminal groups. While the supervillains tend to work as individuals, some prefer the safety and authority of being part of a larger whole. Here is a quick breakdown of the multiple back alley hustlers and shadow agencies about the city.


The Raiderz

The gang that Geiger and Rage once belonged to came under new management in the form of Crank, a dwarf, built like a brick house, and a genius in the field of engineering. Easily recognized by his inordinately tall, neon green Mohawk and handlebar mustache and the pipewrench the size of a sledgehammer he wields, he dethroned Geiger as the Raider King and rebranded the niche apocalypse themed gang into a more traditional motorcycle gang, albeit with way more power under their hoods. He also opened up admission and brought in more of his kind of muscle: orcs, demons, yokai, and his personal body guard, Robo-zombie, or as some of the goons jokingly call him, Crankenstein's Monster, a lumbering undead cyborg with tesla coils lining his physique and a mini reactor powering his body. Despite leading the gang, Crank's also the mechanic, and superpowers their vehicles, especially his own; a custom made dragster simply named Leeroy. Though still on the lower end of the totem pole, they're top tier smugglers, and are responsible for most black market merch coming in and out of the city. Crank usually commands the gang from his auto body shop, but indulges in some street racing when the mood strikes him.


The Mercenaries Guild

Not every gang is necessarily illegitimate. The Merc Guild was originally named the Assassin's Guild, but went under some rebranding when they came under fire by various concerned groups. Their specialties cover the gamut of bounty hunting, body guarding, and butt kicking. The guild was founded by Stefan Knights, and is managed by the android, Prometheus. Stefan is a swordsman who favors the path of the ninja, wearing tactical stealth gear and wielding a kunai grappling hook and throwing knives in addition to his katana. He's skilled and tactical, but cocky and overly serious, with his gravelly voice and scowling demeanor. Prometheus is a twelve foot tall, fifteen ton mech designed by Chimera for hunting meta-humans. He gained sentience when his power core was replaced with magic crystals, becoming the first of two technology based entities who successfully incorporated magic into their being. Despite his height, weight, and the fact he's a living weapon, Prometheus is quite astute, and is usually the most levelheaded of his piers. The last senior member, Dominic Goodspeed, became a member after the shift in direction. Goodspeed was abducted into the same program that created Geiger, but chose to give him limitless strength instead of durability. Dom's strength is beyond superhuman, described by Dark Devil as "more powerful than saitama, but less than superman", Dominic became a merc after racking up too much collateral damage as a hero. Being the organization's muscle, he has gone toe to toe with heroes, villains, and even gods. His body, unfortunately isn't unbreakable, and he often hurts himself through overexertion. Most of the other members of the guild are jobbers looking for pay checks... Albeit some with exceptional power. Mostly on the side of good, but morally bankrupt and only concerned with their paychecks, their allegiance always lies with the highest bidder.

The Vici Crime Syndicate

Anthony Vicino, Devon Midori, and Jim Moore make up the heads of Hob Enterprises, with Vicino Investment Brokers, Midori Imports, and Moore Pharmaceuticals. They are loyal to their shared shareholder, Damian Hob, and are incredibly affluent and charitable figures in the community... Or so it seems. Behind closed doors, these three are crime lords who have managed to maintain the only successful mafia in the city, under the names Vici, Green Dragon, and Moriarty.
- Vici, obviously, leads the mafia after wresting control from his father, Giovanni, the infamous Angelous Mortis. Legend has it that Vici killed his father while quoting the infamous line of Julius Caesar, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" and that's how he got his name.
- Devon was a child of the infamous Dragon clan, and cousin of Stefan Knights. After the destruction of their clan, young Devon and the surviving Dragon Clan formed a new gang in the criminal underworld of the City, eventually coming under the employ of Vici as assassins, spies, and informants.
- Finally, Jim Moore is an enigma. All records of him only date back to when he founded Moore Pharmaceuticals and no Jim Moore on record matches him in the slightest. Those who know he is secretly a crime lord believe his secret identity is a play on the inspiration for his criminal name as well, Professor James Moriarty. Regardless, he's a genius in technological development and chemistry, with a bizarre fascination with electricity. Anything Vici or Green Dragon need, Moriarty can design and perfect in an afternoon. Allegedly a meta-human, bragging his mental calculations run faster than a supercomputer, and able to out think every opponent. He's never been seen in real life, prefering to use robotic doubles he pilots remotely.

The Dragon Clan

A sad Aesop for villains about flying too close to the sun. The Dragon Clan or the Shadow Shoganate were a world renowned society of Samurai and Shinobi. They even furthered their power after the arranged betrothal of Zane Knights and Mako Murasakino, combining the Knightslayer assassin clan and the Dragon clan under one power. Stefan was the product of that union. With the combined powers of the two clans, they formed The Ryu Niji, or Rainbow Dragons, eight warriors blessed with supernatural powers as well as an affinity for a specific weapon. The Shadow Shogun of the clan, and head of the Ryu Niji, was Satoshi Shiro, white Dragon of the Bow. His brother, Shigeru Kuro, black dragon of the katana, however, challenged him to a duel and killed him to gain control of the clan. With his victory, he also gained his brother's powers, and became the first Gray Dragon. In the states, he was called the Silver Serpent and often presented himself as a samurai decked out in chrome armor. With the ambitious and power hungry Kuro in charge, the Dragon Clan started putting more and more arrogant and risky plans into motion. The new Shogun committed many dastardly acts of terrorism, but eventually drew the attention of the Alpha Squadron, an international military outfit that fought such problems. They obliterated all of the Clan's hideouts in Europe and Asia, and eventually, the only sanctuary left was in the City, and after many days of fighting, it too was burned to the ground. Devon Midori, son of the then Green Dragon of the Sai, Sasuke Midori, escaped with the rest of the school age children into the sewers right before the final attack. The only known survivor was Stefan, then a toddler. He was conscripted into Alpha Squad as a "penance" for the sins of his grandfather, Shigeru. As for the old man, Kuro was not found in the pile of bodies, nor did he escape with Devon. Some say he was burned alive by the clan for leading them to their doom, others say he committed sepuku in a hidden bunker. As for the Ryu Niji, it lives on in Stefan and Devon. Stefan inherited his mother's kunai and telepathy and even found his grandfather's sword, while Devon inherited his father's sai and superhuman agility.

Chimera

If Cobra and Hydra joined forces, Chimera would be the result. Led by the fascist company president, Johann Schroeder, they were as powerful as Alpha Squad and more secretive than even the Dragon Clan, with legions of cut throat soldiers of fortune and scientists of every field. Fronted as Chimera Technologies, C-Tech, as it was called, manufactured top of the line energy weapons at rock bottom prices for the world. With their weapons in every nations' hands, C-Tech could rob and ravage whatever they wanted with no resistance at the push of a button. It wasn't until strategists at Alpha Squadron decided to switch back to physical munitions that the true culprit became obvious. Remnants of these weapons have become collectibles, and modders have even removed the glitch chips from them, making them valuable and deadly in an age that had long abandoned laser ware. After their nature was revealed, Chimera took to the skies in a hover-carrier. While on the lam, they continued their perverse research, creating genetic abominations with Dragonoid and Arachnoid, and attempted to distill super human formulas in test subjects they'd abducted, including Rainn Geiger, Melvin Downes, and Dominic Goodspeed. These metahumans became known as Mutates, due to the inalterable changes made to their DNA. Chimera's demise came shortly after the creation of Geiger. Schroeder ordered the ship to fly over the city so Alpha Squad wouldn't shoot them down, but something went wrong with the engines, and the skyscraper sized ship crashed into the city. Survivors abandoned ship in escape pods and went to ground. The two closest to Schroeder, Intelligence Officer Wolfe and Colonel Corona, founded an agency booking supervillain gigs. Wolfe received severe injuries in the crash and ended up losing both a leg and arm. The rest went into various lines of work. Some even joined Alpha Squad. Schroeder died on the ship. He was found restrained to his chair with horrific burn marks. Rumor has it Wolfe and Corona did it, but all surveillance burned up in the inferno, so no one can say. Several gangs baring similarly jingoistic and eugenic agendas have claimed to be the last pieces of Chimera, but all C-Tech operatives have been accounted for one way or another.

Alpha Squadron

The guardians of freedom and prosperity. The Alpha Squad were the best of the best, elite soldiers who kept the world safe from supervillains. Founded by former soldiers concerned with the world's reliance on Meta Human intervention, Alpha Squad is humanity's answer to any large threat, and at its peak, numbered in the thousands. Led by General Solomon Malcolm and his second, Commander Krieg, they defeated both the insidious Chimera and the reviled Dragon Clan. However, their shining exterior only hid a dark underbelly. After the Chimera incident, it came to light that Krieg had been torturing prisoners for information, forged the search warrants for Dragon Clan hideout raids, and ordered the pilots to shoot down the hover carrier despite the risk to civilians. His collateral damage ranked up in the billions in property damage and hundreds in loss of life. He was executed for his crimes, and Solomon, disheartened, disbanded Alpha Squad. It was, however, refounded by ex-Chimera operatives looking to atone for their sins, including Solomon's own son, Jack. The new Alpha Squad, now literally just a squad, operates from the Jameson World History Museum, acting as security for Ben Jameson and the artifacts he holds. Ex-members of the Squad still in operation include Derrick DeVille who was a pilot, Leslie Castle who acted as a government liaison, and James Gray, a Chimera defector who was key in taking them down.

The Bureau of Meta-Human Affairs

The Bureau of Meta-Human Affairs, or the Agency, as they're called, is a not-so-secretive government program dedicated to locating, studying, training, and especially containing meta-humans. For years, they were a dark organization who sought to only contain and restrain the super powered population, however, after his early retirement, Jameson struck a deal with them to help advance Meta-Human rights, in exchange for improved technology for catching and keeping villains who were otherwise couldn't be caught. The modern Agency is more open and progressive, trying to acclimate society to superhumans rather than suppress them. Many agents are themselves metas of some form, including Agent Castle, though her powers are more of an occupational hazard as she aquired them on the job.