Hellfire Club
(X-Men enemies) (Original Sebastian Shaw era, part 2)
Context
This entry is the second half of a Hellfire Club. You can start with the first part of the Hellfire Club organisation profile (Classic era) over here.
It starts right where the previous part ended.
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History (part 2)
Rachel’s attack
Friedrich von Roehm woke up when an attractive redhead rang his door-bell. Rachel Summers easily controlled his mind to lead her to The Hellfire Club’s mansion and his mistress: Selene. There, she assaulted The Black Queen during her sleep. She was close to crushing her in her telekinetic grip when Wolverine stepped in.
Phoenix dared him to kill her if he wanted to prevent Selene’s murder: he kindly obliged and mortally stabbed her with his adamantium claws. He thus let the vampire live.
She promptly went to Central Park to feed on a mugger and his prey. She came back to the mansion and summoned The Inner Circle to report the incident. Shaw was not even hiding his displeasure. But Tessa’s analysis went ahead of The Black Queen’s statement. Phoenix had gone rogue, was out for The Inner Circle’s blood and thinking her dead was underestimating her abilities.
Selene dared Shaw to directly oppose The X-Men over Phoenix. They took a handful of guards and went after Rachel.
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Nimrod
Rachel found Selene’s victims’ remains and blamed it on Wolverine. She unleashed her power on him, giving up her location in Central Park to The Inner Circle. Selene triggered von Roehm’s lycanthropic transformation and he caught Rachel’s scent.
When he closed in for the kill, Rogue tackled him. In the ensuing battle between The Inner Circle and The X-Men, The Hellfire Club was winning… Until Nimrod showed up.
X-Men and Inner Circle agreed to a truce to defeat the ultimate Sentinel. They forced it to retreat but at the cost of von Roehm’s disintegration and Leland dying of a heart attack. There was no trace of Phoenix or Rachel’s body.
Mutants Massacre
In the aftermath of the battle against Nimrod, The Black King decided to extend the truce with The X-Men. Magneto was in charge of the school since Xavier left Earth with The Starjammers. Shaw offered Magneto the vacant position of White King, to be taken in his own name or The X-Men’s.
He presented it as a mutual survival necessity. Against increasing anti-mutants odds, opposing one another would doom both.
Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Richard Salmons, a young Hellfire Club guard, has tried to protect his Morlock lover from her relentless hunters. He invoked his masters’ name, expecting The Club’s power to be impressive enough… in vain. The Marauders killed both the protector and his charge, spilling the first mutants’ blood of The Mutants Massacre episode.
After the carnage, and the damage done to the defending X-Men, Storm saw the benefits of accepting Shaw’s offer. They could keep an eye on The Inner Circle and access their impressive network of connections. She convinced Magneto to accept. Magneto thus became The White King, beside the only three surviving members of The Inner Circle: Sebastian Shaw, Emma Frost and Selene.
Unholy alliance
As Magneto’s enthronement ceremony unfolded, Selene and Shaw already plotted to control the new White King… not together, of course.
To seal this alliance, The Hellfire Club organized a gala where both young teams, Magneto’s New Mutants and Frost’s Hellions, would show their best. See The New Mutants, team profile #2 for details of how the night turned out.
Both Selene and Shaw used any opportunity to make Magneto uncomfortable. Selene fanned the tension between her and Amara above the replica of a Nova Roman statue (see Magma’s character profile for details). And Shaw challenged Magneto to tighten his grip on Karma after she possessed Tessa (see Karma’s character profile for details).
Inferno
Shaw blamed Magneto for losing control of his students, particularly Illyana. As she was losing influence over Limbo , the other-dimensional energies spilled on Manhattan, transforming it. See The New Mutants, team profile #2 for details on The Inferno.
N’Astirh stopped by the roof of the Empire State Building to chat with The Inner Circle. He and The Hellfire Club both sought world domination. As his victory, in Limbo and Earth alike, was unavoidable, he negotiated. Manhattan for himself, the rest of the World for The Club.
After N’Astirh’s defeat, Shaw blamed Magneto for The Inferno and the loss of powerful assets like Illyana. They went physical and Magneto won. Shaw was expelled from The Inner Circle. Magneto claimed both kings positions as The Grey King.
Sentinels, again
How Shaw came back in power as Black King is untold. He tightened his influence over Senator Kelly by match-making him with one of The Hellfire Club’s maid: Sharon. He had trouble convincing the Senate to launch his own Nimrod project.
On a nearby construction site, the actual Nimrod accidentally merged with the remains of The Master Mold. The X-Men battled and defeated this formidable combination of Sentinels, but collateral damage killed Sharon Kelly. This convinced the senator to launch Shaw’s new Sentinel program.
In a bloody jailbreak, what remained of The Reavers, associated with Lady Deathstrike, freed Donald Pierce from his Kentucky prison. Pierce didn’t seek revenge on The Hellfire Club. Instead, he started his anti-mutants’ crusade by The X-Men.
Rise of The Upstarts
Night Thrasher (Dwayne Taylor) used inside help to hack The Hellfire Club’s computer system. He thus located Angelica Jones, aka Firestar and recruited her in his New Warriors.
Months later, Emma Frost picked up Dwayne Taylor’s hacking trace. She gruesomely punished the tech who helped Taylor, and launched her Hellions in a punitive strike against The New Warriors. It ended in a stalemate. Frost agreed to let her grudge go, for the hacking and Firestar’s defection. See New Warriors, year one for details on both episodes.
Under the secret impulsion of Selene, The Gamesmaster gathered The Upstarts. These were a group of young, rich and bored mutant related people. He launched them on a killing game against mutant power players. On the top of the list was The Inner Circle.
Believing they just played a high stakes game, they did her dirty work of eliminating her Inner Circle’s rivals. She went underground to avoid suspicions.
Shinobi Shaw apparently killed his father The Black King, and claimed the position for himself. Trevor Fitzroy nearly killed The White Queen, putting her into a coma. Her Hellions died defending her. The X-Men took care of her body. When she woke up, she joined Xavier’s dream.
This marked the end of this era. The bearers of The Hellfire Club’s spirit had been removed. Even Selene was out of the picture.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Mercenaries
All the Hellfire Club’s mercenaries wear dark blue and red tight suits with a hood over their skull. They have red boots, red gloves and a pink flesh colored mask covering their whole face.
Basic guard
They are the soldiers of The Club’s personal army. They are paramilitary troops, trained to work together and to follow The Inner Circle’s order. They know the mutant powers of their leaders and fear them. The White Queen is the one most using them. Thus, they greatly fear her telepathic powers and the ruthlessness with which she uses them to punish failure.
(Stats based on Spandex-clad henchmen).
| Dex: 03 | Str: 02 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 02 | Min: 03 | Occupation: Soldier |
| Inf: 02 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Wealth: 004 |
| Init: 08 | HP: 005 |
Skills:
Vehicles (Land): 03, Weaponry (Firearms, Melee): 04, One other military oriented skill (Military science or Thief subskill, other Vehicle, other Weaponry): 04.
Advantages:
Expertise (Hellfire Club’s security), Credential (Hellfire Club, Low).
Drawbacks:
SIF (White Queen).
Equipment:
- BODY ARMOR [Bod 05, Blunting: 06, Mind Field (Self only, No range): 02, Radio communication: 05, Skin Armor: 01, Limitation: Partial coverage (vest), Drawback: Real armor].
- Assault Rifle [Bod 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 08, R#02, Advantage : Autofire].
Support personnel
They are qualified personnel in charge of support missions: maintenance, transport, medicine, research, laws, interrogation. They are non fighters and will usually surrender, expecting proper armed and trained personnel will free them.
| Dex: 02 | Str: 02 | Bod: 02 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 04 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Variable |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Wealth: 006 |
| Init: 09 | HP: 005 |
Skills (pick 2-3):
Animal Handling: 04, Charisma: 04, Detective: 04, Gadgetry: 04, Medicine: 04, Military Science: 04, Scientist: 04, Thief: 04, Vehicles: 04
Advantages:
Scholar (1-2 fields), Credential (Hellfire Club, Med).
Drawbacks:
SIF (Lords Cardinal).
Equipment:
BODY ARMOR [Bod 05, Blunting: 06, Mind Field (Self only, No range): 02, Radio communication: 05, Skin Armor: 01, Limitation: Partial coverage (vest), Drawback: Real armor].
Commandos
They are The Hellfire Club’s elite forces, trained as special forces soldiers. They are scarcely deployed and only on delicate missions: spying, assassinate, kidnap, ex-filtrate. It’s the kind of personnel The White Queen attached to Firestar as a bodyguard. They’re so close to being named villains that they are actually named.
When The Club deploys Mandroid armors, they equip soldiers of this category.
(Stats based on Special forces operators).
| Dex: 04 | Str: 03 | Bod: 04 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 04 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Soldier |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 04 | Wealth: 006 |
| Init: 11 | HP: 010 |
Skills:
Acrobatics (Climbing): 04, Acrobatics (Dodging): 02, Medicine (First aid): 03, Military science (Camouflage, cartography, danger recognition, demolition, field command): 05, Vehicles (Sea, land): 04, Thief (Stealth): 04, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 04
Advantages:
Expertise (Hellfire Club’s security), Credential (Hellfire Club, Low).
Drawbacks:
SIF (White Queen).
Equipment:
- BODY ARMOR [Bod 05, Blunting: 06, Mind Field (Self only, No range): 02, Radio communication: 05, Skin Armor: 01, Limitation: Partial coverage (vest), Drawback: Real armor].
- Heavy High-tech Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 07, Ammo: 20, Telescopic vision: 03, Ultra-vision: 06, R#02, Recommended STR: 03]].
- MANDROID ARMOR (see below).
Cybernetic Commandos
Before leaving The Lords Cardinal, Donald Pierce operated on several Hellfire Club’s mercenaries to make them cyborgs. We know he did it on Macon, Reese and Cole to save their lives after Wolverine maimed them.
We can assume he also did it on other valuable mercenaries, who suffered disabling, if not life threatening, wounds. The Hellfire Club thus demonstrates that, in spite of its severity toward its personnel, it rewards loyalty.
These are likely to be exceptional elements, mostly from the ranks of the Commandos above. They are scarce and are deployed to face super-beings.
| Dex: 05 | Str: 05 | Bod: 06 | Motivation: Responsibility of Loyalty to The Hellfire Club |
| Int: 04 | Wil: 04 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Soldier |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 04 | Spi: 05 | Wealth: 005 |
| Init: 15 | HP: 015 |
Skills:
Acrobatics (Climbing): 05, Acrobatics (Dodging): 02, Medicine (First aid): 03, Military science: 05, Vehicles (Sea, land): 04, Thief (Stealth): 04, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 05
Advantages:
Expertise (Hellfire Club’s security), Credential (Hellfire Club, Low), Lightning Reflexes.
Drawbacks:
SIF (White Queen, Donald Pierce).
Equipment:
- BODY ARMOR [Bod 05, Blunting: 06, Mind Field (Self only, No range): 02, Radio communication: 05, Skin Armor: 01, Limitation: Partial coverage (vest), Drawback: Real armor].
- Heavy High-tech Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 07, Ammo: 20, Telescopic vision: 03, Ultra-vision: 06, R#02, Recommended STR: 03].
Hellfire Club’s staff
They serve in The Hellfire Club’s mansion in New York.
Servant in livery (Male)
They are trained to grant a flawless and discreet service to the guests. They are also trained in basic close quarter combat so they can provide discreet security if the need arise to bounce uninvited or troublesome guests.
They are dressed in 18th century liveries, and thus maintain the public image of The Club. They obey The Lords Cardinal’s orders. They comply to the guests’ requests as long as it doesn’t infringe upon the former. They know The Club is involved in subversive activities but not the details.
We can assume they are former basic mercenaries who no longer assume active, covert duty (either after an injury, old age, or may be as a reward for good service).
(Stats based on the Basic guards above, but with more social skills).
| Dex: 03 | Str: 02 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 03 | Min: 03 | Occupation: Servant/Bouncer |
| Inf: 02 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Wealth: 004 |
| Init: 08 | HP: 005 |
Skills:
Charisma (Intimidation, Persuasion): 04, Vehicles (Land): 03, Weaponry (Firearms, Melee): 04
Advantages:
Connoisseur, Expertise (Hellfire Club’s etiquette), Credential (Hellfire Club, Low).
Drawbacks:
MIF (Lords Cardinal).
Equipment:
- Sap [Bod 03, EV: 02 (03 w/Str)]. That was the discreet equipment of the servants in the 1980s. A modern days’ version would equip them with :
- Stun gun [Bod 01, Lightning: 04 (No Range), Ammo: 12, R#3].
Maids (Female)
They are a symbol of The Club’s sulphurous reputation: attractive women dressed as French maids with short black dresses (dress is overrated), white aprons, fishnet stockings and high heels.
They serve in the more private salons of the mansion, usually under the supervision of male servants (The Club has a tradition of patriarchal management). They are trained to provide more personal and carnal services to the (male, exclusively, we were in the 1980s) guests. But they are not just escorts. They also are spies trained in the art of conversation… to get people to talk.
| Dex: 02 | Str: 02 | Bod: 02 | Motivation: Mercenary |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 03 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Servant |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Wealth: 004 |
| Init: 08 | HP: 005 |
Skills:
Artist (Actor): 04, Charisma: 04, Thief (Stealth)*: 02
Advantages:
Attractive, Connoisseur, Expertise (Hellfire Club’s etiquette), Credential (Hellfire Club, Low).
Drawbacks:
SIF (Lords Cardinal).
Guests and members
Guests and members are always likely to be present in the Hellfire Club’s mansion. If a party is ongoing, they will mostly be in the main halls, where they can be seen. Otherwise, they will be meeting their peers in private salons, or in rooms with a lady friend.
All the guests are successful actors in finance, industry or politics. They are all rich and influential. If a scene takes place in the mansion, the Player Characters are likely to interact with them. Some of the guests will take sides against the Player Characters if they act too brash.
| Dex: 02 | Str: 02 | Bod: 02 | Motivation: Power Lust |
| Int: 05 | Wil: 04 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Baron in the industry, finance, politics or media |
| Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 04 | Wealth: 010 |
| Init: 11 | HP: 010 |
Skills:
Charisma: 05, Detective (Law): 04, at least one in Artist (Actor or Music): 06, Detective: 06, Medicine: 06, Military Sciences: 06, Scientist: 06, Vehicles: 06
Advantages:
Connoisseur, Expertise/ Scholar/ Credential/ Connections (Politics, Finance, Industry, Media, Military, Sports, Showbiz), Rich Friend (Enterprise), (Popularity).
Drawbacks:
Authority Figure/ Limelight.
Advantages
In addition to the mansion in New York, The Hellfire Club has numerous facilities and hideouts all over the World, usually hidden behind perfectly legitimate fronts:
Advantages:
Expansive Headquarter (Mansion on the 5th avenue in New York), Expansive Headquarters (many facilities around the World).
The Hellfire Club’s purpose is to concentrate power and influence. Members and guests meet there, where The Hellfire Club can introduce them to the proper partners required to launch new ventures:
Advantages:
Omni-Connection.
The Hellfire Club has its own financial assets. Most of them are legal, laundering the illegal ones:
Wealth:
15.
Additional notes
A GM introducing The Hellfire Club in his campaign may assume that any player character with at least 10 AP of Wealth is a formal member of The Hellfire Club. Then, player characters with High level credential in Government, Military, Police or Media are either formal members or were introduced as part of a former venture. Characters with the Authority figure drawback are also eligible.
This is how The Hellfire Club gets the Omni-Connection advantage (High for members, Low for guests). Use it to involve your player characters in The Club’s scheming.
A Low Connection to The Hellfire Club costs 30 HP and means the character is not only a formal member, but also an actor of the network (providing/laundering money, foreman…). As any member, he can attend their parties and use their public facilities. He can also use the Club’s Omni-connection advantage (the character pays the HP fee).
A High Connection costs 45 HP and means the character is closer to The Inner Circle and aware of the true purpose of the Club. He might get support from the secret part of the Club (para-military, equipment…).
The Hellfire Club is eligible to be a Very Rich Friend. However, calling upon this kind of favor will have a price.
Equipment
The Hellfire Club, through Shaw’s armament industry, has access to top of the line weaponry:
- MANDROID ARMOR SUIT [/STR/ 06 BODY 09(Hardened), Cold Immunity: 02, Energy Blast: 07 (Range: 03), Flame Immunity: 02, Growth (already factored): 01, Mind Field (Self only, No range): 02, Radio Communication: 06, Running: 03, Sealed System: 06, Shade: 02, Thermal Vision: 04, Skin Armor: 06 (caps to RV 10 max), Sonic Beam: 07 (Range: 03), Snare: 09 (No Range, Ammo 1), Adv: Remote Control, Disadv: Real armor].
(Based on Secbot). - KEVLAR BODY ARMOR [BODY 05, Blunting: 06, Mind Field (Self only, No range): 02, Radio communication: 05, Skin Armor: 01, Limitation: Partial coverage (vest), Drawback: Real armor].
(Based on the body armor of many stock writeups, like Stock soldiers’ Shock trooper). - Regular High-tech Assault Rifle [Bod 04, Projectile weapons: 06, Ammo: 10, R#02, Advantage : Autofire].
(Based on Weapons Locker – Modern Firearms – Chapter #2 – Small Arms, part 1 – Assault Rifle). - Heavy High-tech Assault Rifle [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 07, Ammo: 20, Telescopic vision: 03, Ultra-vision: 06, R#02, Recommended STR: 03].
(Based on Weapons Locker – Modern firearms – Chapter #2 – Small arms, part 2 – High-Tech Heavy Assault Rifle).
The Club has its own long range mutants detection device:
MULTIVAC [BODY 6, INT 8, WILL 8, Detect (Mutants): 18, Recall: 15].
They also use advanced vehicles: helicopters, jets, hi-tech AFV…
Source of Character: Uncanny X-Men (#100-247), The New Mutants (Graphic novel and #7-75), X-Men: Hellfire club (2000 mini-series).
Helper(s): Darci.
Writeup completed on the 18th of October, 2017.