Monastery Outreach Projects

It has been a while since I posted anything, so I thought I would share some of the background information I have been working up for the Power Cycles universe.

This time, we see my views on how VIPER was affected by the loss of super powers, and what they did about it.

VIPER
Aliases

None

Leader

The Supreme Serpent?

Founded

Not generally known.

Basic Goal

Crime. Organized by VIPER. Profiting VIPER. Empowering VIPER. Any questions? Yes. You there. What is your question.

Yes, I'd like to know how -- BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

Any other questions? No? Good.

Public Activities

None. Not yet, anyway.

Hidden Activities

They are the "secret masters" of the organized crime world. As far as anyone knows, VIPER has not existed for at least 20 years. However, they have practised the art of subtle manipulation from within the criminal organizations that rose after the downcycle removed supers from the world.

Theme Music

"Union of the Snake" by Duran Duran?
"Cold Hearted Snake" by Paula Abdul?

Notes

• VIPER was once the premier criminal organization in the world. A position gained, and maintained, by the use of super-powered agents under their control and super-tech weapons for their mundane agents. Then came the down cycle. Without their super-powered enforcers, they were no more than a large organized crime syndicate. More importantly, they did not have the mundane weapons and equipment to be competitive anymore (because they depended upon super villains and super-tech that no longer worked reliably).
  
• Their leaders were not stupid, however. They knew that they would not be able to be the "800-pound gorilla" of the criminal underworld anymore, but they could still be a controlling influence. They went underground.
  
• Publicly, the entire VIPER organization just dissolved. There are some public clashes between VIPER agents and mundane criminals, usually going badly for the agents. There are fewer and fewer sightings of VIPER agents, then none at all.
  
• Many of the agents were specifically or serendipitously scattered into the remaining criminal organizations. With their experience with large criminal organizations, many of these rose to positions of power in those organizations. Or, if not power, at least influence.
  
• When they recognize the up cycle, they will move quickly to try to recruit any criminally-inclined supers. They will not generally leap into the public eye, however. They learned hard lessons from their fall at the down cycle, and are not going to depend fully upon supers to maintain their power. It is in their best interests to stay hidden for as long as they can.