Nest Leaders R' Us

[Hermit]

All hail VIPER!

Finally, I have my hands on VIPER: Coils of the Serpent, and I confess I'm enjoying what I'm reading. One thing I've noticed about my own campaigns is that some of my settings are badly in need of further details on Nest Leaders. After all, the Nest Leader sets the tone for VIPER's actions in the city and all that.

I know that many of you enjoy coming up with ideas for NPCs, and I got to thinking that, yes, we have many threads on supervillains and super hero examples, but not so many on Organizational Leaders.

SOOOoo... if you have a Nest Leader concept that worked out great for your campaign in the past, present, or have one you THINK will work well for the future, feel free to share it with us if you want. I know that I, at least, will be happy to rip off ... ah, drink deep from the well of your inspiration. ;)

And, because I'm out of practice on it, I'm going to try to add a poll about what Motivation for VIPER Nest Leaders you enjoy most...

[gojira]

Cobra Commander -- a cowardly commander if there ever was one.

[Kyle A.]

The Garrote. He's not your typical Nest Leader. My players kept complaining about how easy it was to beat the local nest, especialy since the Nest Leaders where pretty much predictable. So I designed one from scratch. He only has one major personality flaw. And that is that he personaly executes any of his agents that need to be executed and any hostages or other people that are no longer needed and are (for some reason or another) at the Nest.

He dresses in a standard VIPER uniform except his is black and on his forearm is a metal snake that wraps around his arm, the head of the snake rests on the middle of the back of his hand. When it comes time for him to kill someone he grabs the head of the snake and pulls, revealing a garrote wire that is concealed in the snake. Whenever he's in his chair he makes a fist with his left hand and with the first two fingers on his right hand strokes the head of his Snake-Garrote.

He's a very good tactician and doesn't needlessly kill or waste his agents. He won't waste a ton of resources in a foolish attempt to get revenge on any heroes that have interfered in his plans...he'll carefuly plan it out and implement it once its ready.

In my games he actually managed to kill the leader of my player superteam. That pissed them off. :D

[Hermit]

Wilma Bishop aka "The Counselor"�
Upon entrance to VIPER, every agent undergoes some minimum "buffing up" and indoctrination. Wilma Bishop, a disenfranchised and frustrated academic who majored in sociology and psychology, was quite impressed when she underwent it herself. A firm, almost fanatical believer in "empowerment of self", Wilma took every opportunity VIPER gave her to better her own lot. While a lot of her "crackpot new age talk" alienated her superiors, she continued to study the hopes and dreams of her fellow agents striving to find out what made them tick, and how to help them help themselves, and consequently, her. Wilma studied leadership techniques and people management�, polishing both her knowledge and presentation of it until she became a master manipulator.

She also became increasingly unhinged, but all the better at masking that. She began to see the VIPER lifestyle as the key to "Self actualization"�, equating the symbol of the serpent with that of enlightened self interest and progression of the "inner person" which had no need of gods or religion beyond "the god within every human being"�. Bishop also began to see herself as the ideal guide for others on that path. Realizing those "less enlightened"� wouldn't understand, she was wise enough to downplay her new philosophy until she had enough dirt to blackmail others into giving her a Nest Leader position.

She then had those she was blackmailing ruthlessly, but quite discretely, killed. They might, after all, stand in the way of progress. Now, in charge of her own Nest, she takes the techniques she learned from at the VIPER academy even further. In the name of fostering toughness or "inner strength" she puts her men through classic brainwashing techniques of cults through out history. Isolation, starvation, sleep deprivation, and other methods slowly break the will of any 'unenlightened' in her ranks even though they emerge spouting much the same pithy phrases she uses so cavalierly. Orwell himself would be amazed at the double speak techniques she has successfully incorporated in her job as "guide" to her Nest.

The sad thing is, it works. Morale for many of the agents is sky high, each firmly convinced he or she is reaping the benefits and achieving "self awareness and growth�" even as they act out the part of dupes and drones. Bishop knows just what buttons to push. She has managed to create an "us vs them"� mentality in her agents when it comes to how they see supers. Dehumanizing the super powered even while pushing the idea of VIPER agents as the zenith of 'real persons' is just one example of this. There are a handful of Agents at her Nest who see through the lies, but most are too afraid to do anything but go through the motions of conformity. Those daring to contact the higher ups with complaints usually end up huddled in a small box sweating without food (and minimum water) while they are asked to ...meditate on their negative views.

As might be gathered, there are few villains with innate super powers that work for her Nest. This is the chief drawback to her system. There are a higher quality of Martial Artists at her Nest than many others though, a by product of her teachings. The Counselor is well trained in martial arts herself, but her chief strength lays in her agents devotion and her own knack for psychological warfare.

[Lord Liaden]

As usual, Hermit, a well-developed character concept with several hooks to play with. :thumbup:

Once of my past campaigns got quite a bit of use out of our local Nest Leader, known as Angelique. Angelique was inspired by a character from the novel Interview With The Vampire: a small child who had been turned into an immortal bloodsucker. Although physically weak (by vamp standards), her other classic vampire powers, particularly her mind control abilities, were highly developed.

Despite having lived over two centuries, Angelique retained many of the qualities we associate with children, particularly "bad" children: she was self-centered and selfish, amoral, tempermental, envious, petty and greedy. She often acted impulsively and might execute her underlings for failure or any minor slight, real or imagined. However, she never acted recklessly or against her own best interests; her long life had taught her patience, and she always kept her long-term goals in mind.

Angelique was also full of resentment for her physical condition. She hated being trapped in a relatively weak body, and had joined VIPER to gain greater power and security. She was jealous of adults, and loved to make them feel powerless and humiliated as she felt. That was the motivation behind one of her major criminal activities, the underground slave trade.

(One of my favorite game plotlines involved Angelique transforming the PC heroes into children themselves. It turned out to be an elaborate hoax/illusion, but we all had fun roleplaying the consequences.)

Despite her feelings Angelique was adept at using her childlike appearance to disarm and manipulate people who were not fully aware of her true nature, ably backed up by her powerful Mind Control.

Although most of Angelique's Nest activities were fairly low key (and profitable), she also enjoyed the occasional high profile extortion scheme, mostly to garner attention. She would base the scheme on themes derived from children's games, to show adults just how serious "childsplay" could be. The key to stopping her lay in understanding the game that inspired here. Here are a couple of examples:

Tag. Angelique loosed a swarm of miniature laser-guided missiles over the city. The missiles would randomly home in on any laser light source, anything from staged light shows, to industrial tools or scientific instruments, to gun targetting sights, to pointers used in lectures.

Ring Around The Rosies. Angelique's minions planted bombs which released a unique toxic gas developed by hired scientists. The toxin would enter the bloodstream; as long as a poisoned individual kept physically active, the toxin would remain dispersed, but if they remained still for more than a minute or two it would collect in the heart and stop it.

[Enforcer84]

My favorite Viper commander was, the Dragon. The Dragon was a follower of Armstrong. An agent who saw something in the former PRIMUS Silver Avenger and worked hard to become a nest leader. His nest, in Boston, became one of Armstrong's favorites. The Dragon, was a disillusioned soldier. He'd found nothing bur corruption in his unit and the politics of the pentagon (and Invictus's Shadow Cabinet) kept him from cleaning it up. Like Armstrong, the Dragon was a slowly dying idealist. VIPER had pulled him out of a self destructive period and he worked for them.
His nest specialized in backing VIPER supervillains. He had a very diverse personel (I'd just gotten the 4th edition VIPER book; and wanted one of everyone in there) and they often cross trained to be even more versatile. He wore a standard VIPER uniform but his was blue and silver with a glossy black faceplate on the helmet. The players only met him twice. Both times he escaped. But all in all there was nothing out of the ordinary to my players.
The difference was that over the course of the campaign, they actually doubled in size. Every agent he had started with had gained approximately 25xp. His newbies were base level agents, and his lieutenants were NestLeader level. But they were incredibly loyal to him. He was a good commander and the more he lead the more being a member of VIPER started to take its toll on him.

Then Earth was attacked. The Dragon's nest, along with VF2 aided the Enforcers (PC's) in repelling the aliens. The Nest was given Amnesty. The Dragon told his agents that they were free to leave now that their criminal pasts had been erased, a few did. Then the Nest went underground, not to be seen for a few months.

When they met again the Dragon was asking the PC's for help. It seems that he'd been so moved by his men's loyalty, felt so alive fighting for something again. He'd been attempting to slowly cut his nest off from VIPER proper. It was unsuccessful. A new nest was born in Boston and the two began a VIPER Civil War. While the Dragon was actually doing a fine job against the new nest; he knew that eventually VIPER would send in increasingly bigger guns until they were destroyed to a man. The PC's agian fought along side the VIPER "turncoats". They managed to enable the nest to escape through a "dimensional lock" and hide somewhere else in the world.

They came back as superbeings later in another campaign where the PC's were the former nest leadership. Superheroic leaders with a small team of Agent backup.
Ended up calling themselves the Flight, as in a Flight of Dragons.

[CrosshairCollie]

I always have the best luck with the Mad Scientist, usually with a side order of Arrogant Showoff. He can't just make a mind-control parasite, something subtle to take over the mayor and create problems for the heroes, oh no ... he has to create the OPTITRONIC PSYCHODOMINATION CANNON and mount it on the tallest building in the city!

Blow up the bank vault door? No, too subtle even for him! He has to create a special disintigration ray that destroys everything EXCEPT PAPER, obliterating the bank and leaving the money exposed and easy pickings!

I like these because they're flashy, but usually not too flashy until the big climax, and they usually drop hints all over the place that PCs with good skills can figure out, so they can make preparations (for example, the light wavelength of the OPTITRONIC PSYCHODOMINATION CANNON is in the red spectrum, so wearing rose-colored sunglasses immunizes you from the mind-control effect).

[nexus]

Wilma Bishop aka “The Counselor�


This character rocks, Hermit.

[Blue]

A Hermit Poll(tm)! Wow, that takes me back.

Ruthless bastard. I think a commander who is willing to sacrafice his own people and who rules with an iron hand is not only the most entertaining but the most unpredictable, and therefore the hardest to deal with.

[Agent 13]

Ruthless bastard. I think a commander who is willing to sacrafice his own people and who rules with an iron hand is not only the most entertaining but the most unpredictable, and therefore the hardest to deal with.
And also the most likely to take blaster fire to the base of the skull from one of his own people...

[Hermit]

Thanks to those who joined in. I was reminded of this thread when I realized I needed a nest leader for a campaign I'm running with some 450 point characters.

[AmadanNaBriona]

Wilma Bishop aka “The Counselor�

As might be gathered, there are few villains with innate super powers that work for her Nest. This is the chief drawback to her system. There are a higher quality of Martial Artists at her Nest than many others though, a by product of her teachings. The Counselor is well trained in martial arts herself, but her chief strength lays in her agents devotion and her own knack for psychological warfare.

Whadda mean no powers?
Shouldn't she and her "inner circle" all exhibit almost magical powers form the fact that they are all Operating Thetans and Clear?

Oh, wait....

Shes not ACTUALLY a Scientologist... she just resembles one :D

Seriously, a great character.
(Viper never played a huge role in our campaign, but the few times I did run, my Nest leader was a Ruthless Bastard)

[FenrisUlf]

I seem to have a fondness for the 'Vengeful Viper' myself. Especially when whatever they're feeling vengeful about relates directly to actions by the heroes. "Remember me, heroes? You sent my brother to jail and he died there. Now it's your turn!"

That aside, I've always felt that a character based strongly on David Xanatos (from the animated Gargoyles series), would make a great Nest Leader. Sort of a cross between the 'respectable businessman' and the 'ruthless b@$&ard'.

And LL, Hermit, those are some great ideas.

[SatinKitty]

Hey Everyone:

I like all the ideas I have seen here so far. I never gave much thought to Viper or Nest Leaders. Mostly because agents are low-powered and not much of a threat to Heroes. Never really used Viper in a game. I guess I am not used to thinking of them as effective, because of the way they were originally in early editions of Hero. Kudos to Scott B. and Steve for the great job they did on Viper. :)

[Dr. Anomaly]

Hey Everyone:

I like all the ideas I have seen here so far. I never gave much thought to Viper or Nest Leaders. Mostly because agents are low-powered and not much of a threat to Heroes. Never really used Viper in a game. I guess I am not used to thinking of them as effective, because of the way they were originally in early editions of Hero. Kudos to Scott B. and Steve for the great job they did on Viper. :)
VIPER is much more effective now than it ever was before, and I'm all in favor of that change! :thumbup:

Just out of curiosity, Mrs. OH, if you were going to use VIPER, which type of nest leader would you use?

[SatinKitty]

I dunno Doc:

Depends on how important the individuality of the Leader is. If he plays a minor role, or it does not really matter which kind he is, I don't worry about it. If I had to choose, I would tailor it to the game itself and use whichever kind fit best for that game.

[Enforcer84]

Hmm. My VIPER agent fellow is going to be the Businessman.
He is looking to give VIPER a competative edge, he's all about industrial espionage; he seeks to steal and then incorporate futuretech into VIPER's infrastructure, earning his way to the top by getting results.

a few things I am thinking of:
Sponsor and then steal the Cavalier powered Armor
Steal Oracle Corps. Instant memory transfer tech. see my new campaign for a bit more info.
He's looking into getting "Blue Boy" technology, but VIPER doesn't want to make waves with the Warlord.

[Kirby]

My favorite Nest Leader type is the schemer. Years ago, I used the Darklord from 4E VIPER in San Fransisco, giving it an androgenous appearance (fully clothed, all black, trenchcoat and hat as well) with Desolidification and a connection to one of the PCs. The Darklord planned on eliminating the city's favorite heroes: The Protectors. Unbeknownst to VIPER, the PC team was present as well. VIPER launched ALL of their vehicles against the Protectors and barely won the fight, though when the Darklord entered the Protectors' home base, was teleported out in the middle of Golden Gate Bay, about 10 feet above water level. After it happened a second time, the Darklord withdrew.

HOWEVER, in my current campaign, the first nest leader the team have been exposed to was more akin to the Arrogant Showoff, though they successfully prevented a new nest from being put in place. Just don't tell any of my players. ;)

Thanks to those who joined in. I was reminded of this thread when I realized I needed a nest leader for a campaign I'm running with some 450 point characters.
Say huh? :nonp:

[Hermit]

HOWEVER, in my current campaign, the first nest leader the team have been exposed to was more akin to the Arrogant Showoff, though they successfully prevented a new nest from being put in place. Just don't tell any of my players. ;)

Mum's the word. :)




Say huh? :nonp:
Ok.
"huh"
Anything else?

:eg: