This was an idea for a Champions Villain-esc group that I was working through with other posters in the HERO chat last night and I thought I would post it on here so that we can continue that conversation. It will also be a great way to reference back to it as the HERO chat will eventually delete everything. For those Interested in the earlier parts, please view the Midnight (CST) posts on 7-19-09 (of course your time may vary ).
L.O.V.E.
Loyal - Order - of - Virtue's - Excelse
Excelse is a late Middle English - Early Modern English word that means: adj. / n. Lofty, high; rare in lit. sense; fig. of high rank, character, or quality. --- Beseeching his excelse, high, and great Majesty, that... --- Same root word as Excel.
Over the last few months you and your Hero comrades have been doing battle with the villains of the world; Viper, Demon, Eurostar, and countless other villains. Recently though, you have had an unknown and well trained force come to your aid when you were most in need. They show up wielding amazing weapons and on occasion a powered armor suit. Each time they get you to the finishing line in the battle and then disappear just as quickly as they came. Reports of them have not just been limited to you and your city, but throughout the nation and even across the globe. Well trained para-military fighters that come and go without a trace.
The PCs, although curious, have come to trust this group. Even the mayor wants to give them a commendation, despite the police chief's intentions. He has put out several press releases saying he wants to meet with them, but to no avail. This goes on for several months until one day. While your PCs are distracted and having to deal with a threat just outside town (perhaps a trap set up by VIPER), Viper agents rush into a bank. They intend to rob it and make off clean while the PCs are distracted. As the 7 man squad enters the bank and starts to round people up, there pops up the para-military group; and they were prepared for them. Gun fire goes on for just but a second before the Viper agents are rounded up and give up. Viper agents have grown accustomed to the routine and put their guns down and hands up; heck, their lawyers will have them back out on the streets in a couple days. Not this time, though. As the troops go to stand behind the agents in what should be an attempt to cuff them, the raise their guns and the leader looks to the crowd and says ”Evil and its protectors infest this world and can no longer be tolerated; so stand with us, for to stand against us is to side with those that prey upon a helpless world. LOVE shall prevail.” And before a captive audience the seven man team is dragged out in body bags.
A couple reporters got the exclusive from some of the former hostages. Two report that after hearing the speech that one of the people refers to the man giving the speech as “Excelse.” In the coming days there have been a handful more executions by the same style group, each giving the same speech. Public opinion is mixed but there is major support fort his new vigilante group. As one reporter managed to catch on camera, “About time we had someone looking out for us. These [bleep] go to jail just to be let out the next day and our cops and heroes don't do squat!”
What is L.O.V.E.?
--A brief quick history
They are a Secret Organization to rival any other on the word. They have been around in one form or another since before recorded history. The Five Member Council that leads the organization has a simple objective: Promote the rise of Humanity and defend against its downfall and degradation into sin. Its works have been seen throughout time and have been responsible for eradicating some of the worst pits of scum and sin the world has known. And although its membership is a secret, history has left clues to their existence. The earliest confirmable report of them is Brutus of Rome. Rumors ran wild in the wake of Julius' death, and one such story reported a tale of the last words that Brutus said to his former friend, "Excelse has judged you." Stories of correspondence between Caesar Augustus and his newly formed Praetorian Guard refer to the gift and responsibilities of the Excelse in maintaining the a virtuous Emperor. A more contemporary example was when Free Mason Franklin mentions in one letter a debt of gratitude to the Virtuous Order for helping to saving their rebellion and wished them continued luck in their European affairs.
---Leadership
At its core is the Great Cabinet of Excelsitude that dictates the path of the group. It's a 5 member cabinet that draws its origin to the beginning of the group. There are two permanent members on the council, on Atlantian and one Lemurian that have watched what happens to civilizations that fall into sin. Vowing to never let that happen again, they joined with several humans to help Humanity realize its future. Two other members are direct decedents and hold their station by birth right. These two are commonly the public face of the organization and handle making sure that they are funded and remain anonymous. One tends to be a leader of industry like Stark, and the other normally belongs to a major political family, like the Kennedys. The last member of The Council and the only non permanent (by immortality or birth right) seat is that of the Excelse. The five members choose among all their people the one that displays the greatest virtue and ability and seat him as the chair of the council. The Excelse, although intelligent and capable, is wholly devoted to the organization and takes his station with great pride.
---General Structure and recruitment
Although L.O.V.E. has existed for several thousand years, it has formalized a lot of its actions in the past few centuries. One of the biggest of these changes is the establishment of L.O.V.E. Boarding schools. Currently the US has half a dozen of these schools with each of them servicing a few hundred students in each. Originally started as a way to train their member's children it has evolved to be more 'open' and accepts children from all the elites of society. Grooming them to be initiates in the society and to help expand on their goals. Unlike some of their counterparts like Viper, This organization's members don't just exist in small cells that occasionally work together, but rather the entire school is trained cohesive unit. The headmaster of each school is individually selected by the Council to carry out their training regime. With the exception of the Headmaster and certain staff, no one else knows which other schools are in the network. Each class of students is sent off to work in a wide array of fields that benefit the society, from advanced warfare equipment design companies, university research projects, to even working in other secret groups like VIPER or DEMON. Indeed, this is the one thing that gives them such a great advantage over those groups; they have been at this longer and managed to get their people into the ground floor of many of these groups.
---Just a bit more
L.O.V.E., kind of like VIPER, is mostly filled with high tech and highly trained agents. It, however, does have more readied access to the top of the line material because of their extensive network and relative unknown status. There have been a fair share of crates that are stolen by 'viper' that even the leadership of VIPER is unaware of. Likewise, the two permanent members have given their insight in ancient tech and powers to help outfit their organization. LOVE does have their own small team of supers, whose leader is the current Excelse and chair of the Cabinet. Among these actual supers are a range of powers, but most of them are out in the open saving people. They don't announce who they are working for and work inside the law, for now, but when L.O.V.E. makes themselves know, they will announce their connections as a way to bolster PR support.
---Usage:
L.O.V.E. can be of a varying level of power. The concept that I'm operating under puts them as being more capable and powerful, albeit smaller, than Viper. With the hand full of supers that are members already and a few that join up with them after they make themselves know, they can even tangle with some of the highest threats on the planet. Their primary objective is to eradicate groups like Viper and Demon but have also made attempts to defeat major super villains too.
The main conflict for the PCs is trying to determine how they will react to the presence of L.O.V.E.. Do they allow a vigilante group that openly kills? Reports seem to be showing that they are beginning to hamper various organization's power bases and may even be able to cripple / destroy Viper. But what happens when they do that? Complicating the matter even more was a incident in Italy with a three man super team. They managed to get to the scene in time to try and stop L.O.V.E. agents from killing the DEMON operatives but LOVE then turned their weapons on the Supers with devastating effect. The team, now injured was simply reminded of the speech, “for to stand against us is to side with those that prey upon a helpless world. This is your final warning.”
Must the PCs put aside their differences and work with Viper to stop L.O.V.E. or work with L.O.V.E. to finally stop Viper? They know that if they oppose L.O.V.E. that it will end in a PR nightmare and even the citizens they are sworn to protect might turn on them. Same with DEMON, if even one PC is magically inclined and acts to stop the executions, the newspapers will headline with “Occult 'HERO' sides with DEMON!” or “True colors revealed, [name] works with DEMON!”
An even more terrifying thought is what happens if the groups at the top of L.O.V.E.'s list see what is coming and start to branch out and ask for aid? Will this unite Viper and Demon? Will Eurostar, knowing that their up next join with them? Even Dr. D. hasn't remained unaffected; with key members in his organization going missing he is starting to be closed in on. Will he come out of hiding and join the fray?
Truly L.O.V.E. will change the dynamics of the Game world. The real question is, will the PCs be able to make sure it favors them?
Please feel free to add to this and make suggestions.
La Rose
