The so-called “Five Emperors” are a group of five S rank villains who essentially rule the war-torn American city of Seattle, Washington.
During World War III (1981-1983), all of Seattle’s heroes were killed by the forces of the New Order, who then occupied the city. However, five local supervillains - Mephistopheles, The Drake, Queen Cobra, Megablood and Thorn, Jr - stood against the New Order and successfully liberated the city after killing thousands of New Order troops and villains. The First Battle of Seattle (May 25th - September 20th 1981) and Second Battle of Seattle (February 5th - March 18th 1982) devastated the city, and attempts to establish a semblance of order turned up very mixed results. The fact that federal troops withdrew from Seattle during the first battle to prioritize Pacific City, and a bunch of criminals stepped up to do their job for them in the second - that ended up lending a great deal of trust and support to the five villains, who in many ways were all that kept Seattle afloat from the mid-80’s into the 90’s.
As gang warfare and widespread government corruption tore up Seattle and out-of-town villains started coming in to exploit the chaos, the “Five Emperors” became a stabilizing force. Through their drug and prostitution empires, they were able to fund infrastructure projects that got the electricity back on and clean water flowing again. Additionally, after some brutal gang warfare in the early 90’s, the situation stabilized, with the Five Emperors essentially regulating gang activity through tribute and enforcement of peace treaties. With the Five Emperors serving as kingmakers for the Mayor of Seattle, it became clear that they weren’t going away any time soon.
In 1996, the federal government and the State of Washington agreed to what is now known as the 1996 Agreement. Essentially, the Five Emperors would get a free pass in exchange for never leaving the city, keeping their criminal activities confined to Seattle, and cooperating with authorities when the need arose - clear red lines were drawn and if those were violated, all bets were off, and a “Third Battle of Seattle” would ensue. Though controversial at the time, the alternative would have involved sending federal troops into Seattle, and, given the continuing chaos in California and other regions of the United States in the 90’s (and indeed, around the globe), it was a pragmatic solution, not an ideal one.
However, beginning in 2008, the Five Emperors began to see their reign as coming to an end. With the exception of Queen Cobra, all of the Emperors are very old (Cobra, for her part, is bored and wants to retire to Khimipur), and none of them have viable successors. As such, they have begun taking steps to transition Seattle into an ordinary American city again. This year, in 2014, the first genuinely democratic mayoral elections since before World War III will begin, taking Seattle down the path of ending the rule of crime lords. Negotiations are underway with federal and state authorities to allow for amnesty to be granted to the Emperors’ henchmen, and Paladin Force (the largest superhero organization in the Pacific Northwest, based in neighboring Pacific City) is working to establish a new branch in Seattle; for now, six superheroes are operating in a city of villains. However, the process is complicated by renewed gang conflicts, sibling rivalries, and the fact that a private security company has been contracted to oversee the revamping of law enforcement in post-Emperors Seattle.
Time will tell if Seattle can live without its noble demons.
The Five Emperors are:
Mephistopheles: able to rot, decay, rust or disintegrate anything he touches, and then control whatever sort of dust, sludge or other debris is produced by that decay. Ex: he can destroy a car by just touching it, and then create a sword from the rust particles, and by vibrating each individual particle, he can turn it into an almost unstoppable blade.
Erudite and well-read, Mephistopheles was the one who (along with The Drake) first came up with the idea of benevolently ruling Seattle. Easily the most restrained and genuinely honorable of the Emperors, Mephistopheles is more willing than most to cooperate with establishment powers. He’s also the most willing to step aside and let the city govern itself. For years, Morgan Brooks served as Mephistopheles’ bodyguard and favored hitman; Mephistopheles was the one who gave teenage Brooks his moniker, “Kerberos”. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Mephistopheles’ pet project in rebuilding Seattle was promoting literacy to the public, with the largest public library in Seattle named after him. Indeed, he encourages his henchmen to read Chaucer, Shakespeare, Poe and Milton, if only so that they might understand what he’s saying half the time.
The Drake: able to create and manipulate molecule-thin, nearly-indestructible strings generated by his body. The Drake uses these strings to slice opponents in half, take control of nervous systems and manipulate people or things like marionettes, and uses them as whips, lassos, nets, cages, tracking devices and more.
The Drake is easily the most cruel of the Emperors, though he’s not unrestrained in his sadism; if you do right by him, he’ll do right by you. But betray him or lie to him or break a promise or violate the ‘96 Agreement, and he’ll dice you into a million little cubes without hesitation and feed you to the dogs while your family watches. The Drake has an affinity for white suits, cigars and gold amulets dangling against his exposed, hairy chest - evoking the image of the decedent 1980’s gangster. The Drake’s criminal organization is governed primarily by his children, wives and mistresses, who he doesn’t trust with power very much - they’re stupid and most of them don’t know how to fight or make hard or long-term decisions. In his old age, a lack of sufficient successors has led him to agree with the others that the reign of the Five Emperors needs to end peacefully or everything they’ve built will mean nothing.
Thorn, Jr: able to sprout sharp spikes from his body, which can serve as armor, weapons or be shot at enemies as projectiles. Additionally, he can “seed” his thorns in things or people, and have spread and sprout at geometric rates, destroying anything in their path at his command.
After serving in Vietnam, the man who would become Thorn, Jr took over from his father the title of “Thorn”. He tried to be a hero like his father, but he’d seen too much overseas, and became disillusioned with the behavior of the Seattle Police Department. His path to villainy was a downward spiral of increasing brutality and conflict with law enforcement, culminating in him becoming a public enemy. However, always a patriot, Thorn, Jr took a decidedly “I might be a criminal, but I’m an American criminal” stance against the New Order. Personality-wise, as Thorn, Jr has gotten older, he’s delved deeper into depression and PTSD from both Vietnam and World War III. He has bouts of crying and panic attacks that last hours, but Thorn, Jr always makes sure to break down in a soundproof room, because he makes a point never to show any weakness in front of his henchmen. In truth, his inner suffering is an open secret of sorts, but his minions have too much respect for their boss to break that to him - likewise, the other Emperors choose not to bring it up.
Queen Cobra: a reptilian zooanthrope, Queen Cobra’s reptilian physiology gifts her with venomous fangs and nails, tough protective scales and the ability to sense body heat. She also has a form of biological immortality whereby she can molt and rejuvenate her body. And by simply making eye contact with others, she can kill, seduce, paralyze, mind-hack or brainwash.
Elegant and deceptive, Queen Cobra has, post-war, been the foremost patron of the arts in Seattle. Rejected by her Baseline parents for her reptilian features, Cobra had to struggle on the streets throughout the 60’s and 70’s. As such, she appreciates the finer and more exquisite things in life. Though she hasn’t really aged badly like the other Emperors, she has over the years grown bored and wishes to leave the rainy confines of Seattle to see the world. However, in order to break away from the terms of the ‘96 Agreement, she would have to relinquish her throne, as it were. Cobra might be haughty, but she’s not one to simply cut and run - she knows what hardship is and doesn’t wish to let the people of Seattle live through what she had to.
Megablood: standing 14 feet tall, Megablood is a monstrous, skinless beast of a man, with exposed muscles that ripple and simmer with power. He can punch through solid granite and can manipulate his muscles and bones to a limited extent.
Originally a professional wrestler, Megablood always sought ever-greater strength, and turned to mad science to enhance himself beyond the limits of his powers. He was born without skin and already had the ability to turn his knuckle bones into spikes - the modifications just turned everything up to eleven. Then he forgot that wrestling is fake and killed his opponent in the ring. Becoming lost in a new wrestling storyline that he was convinced was real, he treated his confrontations with various heroes in Seattle as events and matches, and innocent bystanders as an audience - confusing their screams for cheers. However, in 2015, all that self-tinkering has caught up to Megablood. The old man now spends most of his time sitting on a huge metal throne, hooked up to breathing and dialysis machines. He’s still obscenely powerful, but he has only two or three serious fights left in him. Aware that he doesn’t have very long to live, the anger that defined his younger self has left him and now all Megablood cares about is making sure everything turns out well for his squads of minions, who all view him as “Heavyweight Champion of the Universe”.
Submitted July 23, 2018 at 03:23AM by NK_Ryzov https://ift.tt/2uEi9tA
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