The Union of Dire Ambition
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| Union of Dire Ambition | |
| Founder: The Monarch I | |
| Basics | |
| Side: | Villain |
|---|---|
| Motto: | Evil You Can Depend Upon |
| Leader(s): | The Monarch |
| Logo: | Emblem Fist |
| Group Colours: | Black and Dark Red |
| Playerbase | |
| Levels: | All |
| Play style: | Casual |
| Roleplay: | NPC group and background element |
| Timezone(s): | Any |
| Recruiting: | None, NPC group |
| Contact: | @davpa |
| ' | |
Contents |
History
The Union of Dire Ambition (UoDA or just The Union) is, outside of Archanos, the largest organized labor group representing supervillains. Its direct competitors are The Peril Partnership and the Fraternity of Torment, both of which control less than a tenth of organized havoc to the Union's overwhelming majority. The Union was founded in 1916, and it is "the recognized leader in organized havoc." They credit their large numbers to the fact that they offer protection from authorities and benefits such as health and dental insurance to all members, as well as access to henchmen and other technology to help villains commit crimes. In exchange, Union members are required to follow a code of honor.
The Union approves heroes, or teams of theme-appropriate colleagues, to be assigned their very own certified super-villains. A "villain screening" may be scheduled to allow the hero to select a villain. Having a member of The Union as your own "arch-enemy" is a highly sought after status symbol for some heroes in Paragon City. The Union even assigns potential arch-enemies to its members, but do not approve killing them on the first day.
The Union of Dire Ambition's policy of "controlled costumed aggression" has led to some popularity and acceptance in society, even with law enforcement. This is seen in The Union's official motto: "Evil You Can Depend Upon." Through at least the 1990s, both the public at large and major intelligence agencies believed The Union did not exist, dismissing the concept of the organization as "the bad guys from the old Toby Mission TV show." Such secrecy keeps people from objecting to The Union's existence, so its own covert agents have also worked to keep it hidden from the public eye.
Key members
Monarch
The highest ranking individual in The Union goes by the title Monarch. Should something happen to the current Monarch to prevent them from fulfilling their duties the next highest ranking member takes over the title and duties of Monarch.
The Monarch usually communicates with fellow Union members over a "tele-screen", appearing as a heavily distorted, blue tinted image with a modulated voice.
The current identity of the Monarch has been revealed to be Gary Sinise to a select few. His identity as the Monarch is not publicly known.
The Assembly of 13
A group of super-villains whose actual position in the Union's hierarchy is unknown, though they seem to be high up. They seem to act as judges within the Union, using video footage that was secretly recorded by the Union for evidence. They are only seen in shadowy robes, and constantly argue with each other. Despite this, when they are presiding over trials and passing judgment on Union members, the Assembly can only be viewed through separate monitors, and they don't seem to know where each member's individual chamber is located.
Known Individuals of the Assembly of 13
- unknown
- Abe Vigoda, the Monarch's Sergeant-at-Arms and principle field coordinator of large scale operations. Known as a tactical genius.
- Betty White, she deals with many of the recruitment and policies of members and groups within the Union.
- Harrison Ford, but was the main contact with the Legion regarding SNAKE issues
- Morgan Freeman
- Lucy Liu
- unknown
- Humphrey Bogart, is known to have tried shaking his/her hand very fast as a substitute for vibration powers.
- Audrey Hepburn, is known for the powerful Rum Punch served at the Union Holiday parties.
- Bradley Cooper
- Woody Allen
- unknown
- unknown
Honor Code
What separates the Union from most villainous organizations is the complex Honor Code by which its members abide. The code was partially conceived as a set of rules and outlined in the Union of Dire Ambition's official handbook and has since been expanded over the years with the signing of various treaties between major heroes, such as Statesman, and unspoken "gentlemen's agreements" forged with various law enforcement organizations. These involve the Union providing resources such as new police cruisers to local precincts, and banning its members from harming local cops under any circumstances, in exchange for the police turning a blind eye to the crimes committed by Union members.
Following the Honor Code is required by all Union members as a condition to join the group. While some members willingly follow these rules and don't question them, others see the rules as a bothersome formality that must be followed so as to ensure that they can still receive the Union's very generous health and dental plans as well as a level of immunity from local law enforcement groups.
The code of conduct is complex; among the rules enforced are:
- Villains and their henchmen are severely limited in their choice of weapons, according to the severity of their situation and their target.
- Crimes such as rape and sexual assault are forbidden and result in expulsion from the Union
- In the case of some crimes the Union will allow the member to continue as a member of the Union but suffer a penalties under law, such as restraining orders against members who engage in inappropriate behavior.
- Any hero who is associated with the Union through its "Arch-Nemesis Assignment Program" will be paired off with a villain of approximately equal power and inclination, and this is often decided via an interview process.
- Local law enforcement officers are off-limits and can not be harmed under any circumstances. In turn, they seem content to occupy themselves with "regular crimes" and not "super-crimes."
- Conflicts may not take place on any hallowed ground.
- Conflicts can not take place on major holidays
- "If protagonist aggression exceeds Level 8, the antagonist, in case of survival or escape, is granted Extended Vengeance. This includes Union sanctioned immediate relatives."
- A New Mental Health Clemency Clause of the Union's rules (called "a Section 8" or "pulling a Section 8"), a villain must release his arch if they have to receive psychiatric help as long as the arch has a note from their doctor.
Furthermore, all Union members are required to follow and honor all treaties signed with the super-hero community, a number of which were negotiated personally by the Statesman. These include treaties banning Union members from attacking heroes on holidays. Another treaty, "Toby's Law" states that a Union member must allow a hero and their children to leave their custody in the event that the hero's child becomes injured during the hostage situation to receive medical treatment (though apparently, the hostages are then required to voluntarily return to their captor's custody once the injury has been treated).
Despite their honor code and rules the Union does encourage and/or tolerate certain behaviors, one such behavior they encourage is the double-cross (likely because it is viewed as part of the villainous lifestyle).
Breaking these rules and/or acts that leave the Union no choice but to abandon a member can result in expulsion and revocation of any form of immunity from law enforcement.
The Union's rules, regulations, code, and treaties lead it to function far differently than one would expect a criminal organization to do. Most Union actions involving violence seem to involve villain-on-hero conflict - regular civilians are left alone, or at worst knocked out harmlessly with such things as paralytic agents. The exception to this are those associated with heroes.
Union Representation
Many villains are represented by the Union of Dire Ambition. This is a small list of known members of the Union:
Union Enemies
A small list of known adversaries of the Union:
- Hyperion Force
- Skelros
- 5th Column
- Freedom Phalanx
- PPD
- Dr. Tobias Mission
Trivia
The UoDA is Virtueverse spin of The Guild of Calamitous Intent from the Adult Swim program, The Venture Bros.
The Union is used to facilitate ridiculous script ideas. While the Union can be used for serious plot ideas, mostly it is used for light-hearted and the silly side of the superhero genre.
The idea is that the Union is a parallel dimension counterpart to the Guild of Calamitous Intent. While they are similar in many respects, like the alternate universe genre, it is slightly different and its own entity.
Like the Guild, the Virtue universe has it's own alternate versions of major characters:
- Dr. Tobias "Toby" Mission = Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture = Dr. Benton Quest
- Jack Armstrong = Brock Samson = Race Bannon
- Doug "Wild" Mission = Hank and Dean Venture = Johnny Quest
