Rather nice guide. Thanks for writing it 
Anyway...
The Minions of Igneous hasn't been explained enough to warrant a guide. My guess is, they are somehow given form and purpose by the magic surrounding the area of the Hollows (Transcendence area).
Same goes with the Rularuu.
Doom.
Yep.
This is really doom.
Wow, great guide! That answered many questions I had and helpled the loose ends fall together nicely. Well done and well written!
In the Vazhilok section, you mention "...He's assembled legions of zombies, as well as some human followers plus the eidolons, dying humans who agreed to let him modify them...."
I believe the eidolons are actually "composed" of superhero parts, but I can't give you the exact source for that.
Great reading. 
█ Players Guide to the Cities
[ QUOTE ]
In the Vazhilok section, you mention "...He's assembled legions of zombies, as well as some human followers plus the eidolons, dying humans who agreed to let him modify them...."
I believe the eidolons are actually "composed" of superhero parts, but I can't give you the exact source for that.
Great reading.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks. But it's the Abominations who are made of hero parts...a stronger version of basic Cadaver, if you will. The Eidolons actually LET the good doctor transform them...
This is a very nice guide. Thank you for putting it together.
Something I think you missed about the Malta/Sky Raiders - In a high level mini-arc, they are linked together. Tyrone Lockhart is actually a malta boss in one mission. As I remember, the sky raiders are actually a subgroup of the Malta, although they probably don't realize that.
Also, for information on the Rularuu, its a bit cryptic. The best that I know of is the Shadow Shard task forces, which are listed in detail on the nofuture website Here
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
In the Vazhilok section, you mention "...He's assembled legions of zombies, as well as some human followers plus the eidolons, dying humans who agreed to let him modify them...."
I believe the eidolons are actually "composed" of superhero parts, but I can't give you the exact source for that.
Great reading.
[/ QUOTE ]
Thanks. But it's the Abominations who are made of hero parts...a stronger version of basic Cadaver, if you will. The Eidolons actually LET the good doctor transform them...
[/ QUOTE ]
I stand corrected.
█ Players Guide to the Cities
[ QUOTE ]
Something I think you missed about the Malta/Sky Raiders - In a high level mini-arc, they are linked together. Tyrone Lockhart is actually a malta boss in one mission. As I remember, the sky raiders are actually a subgroup of the Malta, although they probably don't realize that.
Also, for information on the Rularuu, its a bit cryptic. The best that I know of is the Shadow Shard task forces, which are listed in detail on the nofuture website Here
[/ QUOTE ]
Tyrone Lockhart actually turns out to be a leuitenant in the Nemesis Army, as discovered in The Eternal Nemesis, and we also learn "that Lockhart often used the Sky Raiders to do jobs for Nemesis, but the Sky Raiders didn't know who was really pulling the strings for the most part. Seems Nemesis was trying to either absorb them or set them up as fall guys."
Btw, this is a great guide, I'm actually half way through creating something very similar, but with the links in it to all the missions where the information is uncovered too - I may 'borrow' some parts of this guide that I'd missed out in mine
Unfortunately that's been on the backburner for a while now and my hero builder project has leapfrogged it on the todo list too lately.
Awesome post. Stars for you! 
Excellent guide, well done.
Wow. This was a very nicely put-together guide and fun to read, too!
As the sort of player who usually street-hunts or backs up others in the pursuit of their missions, I don't usually get to catch a whole lot of the story. This gives me a newfound respect for the detail of the game's background.
Thank you for taking the time to put this together. Hopefully soon we'll have some more info on the Igneus. I'm curious about them.
~Khenti
Crey Cryostorm Lvl 19 Ice/Storm Controller on Pinnacle
Kataore Lvl 17 Fire/Energy Blaster on Pinnacle
Iden Lvl 21 Kinetics/Radiation Defender on Freedom
In the "info" on Eidolons, it says that they are augmented by super-human parts which is why they have varying powers.
Nit-pick: Hmongs are from the mountain area along the border between Vietnam and Laos. I substantial number of them fled to the United States because they were allied with the US in the Vietnam War.
Very nice!!
[ QUOTE ]
Tyrone Lockhart actually turns out to be a leuitenant in the Nemesis Army, as discovered in The Eternal Nemesis, and we also learn "that Lockhart often used the Sky Raiders to do jobs for Nemesis, but the Sky Raiders didn't know who was really pulling the strings for the most part. Seems Nemesis was trying to either absorb them or set them up as fall guys."
[/ QUOTE ]
I guess I was wrong then. Its just as good that I didn't try to write a guide like this since I have such a poor memory of such things.
Well done and very thorough. I haven't done the TFs in the shard yet, but as near as I can tell, the Rulaaru are a dimension-hopping army, bent on conquest. (natch )
Furio--Lvl 50+3 Fire/Fire/Fire Blaster, Virtue
Megadeth--Lvl 50+3 Necro/DM/Soul MM, Virtue
Veriandros--Lvl 50+3 Crab Soldier, Virtue
"So come and get me! I'll be waiting for ye, with a whiff of the old brimstone. I'm a grim bloody fable, with an unhappy bloody end!" Demoman, TF2
Great guide...the most comprehensive one I have come across so far.
I will post an edited version of this on my website with a link back here and credit given to you. I fear the Devs might decide to delete this post because it contains so many spoilers.
Bravo! Well done!
I read this over lunch and I just want to say how impressed I am with how thorough this is. Especially the details of all the alternate dimensions. I have been grabbing scraps of CoH lore anywhere I can over the last year, but a lot of this is stuff I have not seen before.
I also like how well written it is. This almost reads like it could have been written by Crypic.
This is highly cool, and needs to be stickied somewhere.
Jerk 4 Life
In brightest day, in blackest night/No evil shall escape my sight/Let those who worship evil's might/Beware my power ... Green Lantern's light!/(Meowth, that's right!)
My Arcs: #4827: Earth For Humans. #6391: Young Love.
Thanks for all the kind words, people.
One thing to note about the Clockwork King is he's not actualy a mechanical genius- he's merelly a incrediblly powerful psychotic delusional psychic with an incredibly interesting manifestation of Multiple Personality Disorder.
You see, several Clockwork story arcs mention that the clockwork shouldn't function as they do- at best, they're mildlly interesting clockwork toys, at worst they're piles of junk that shouldn't be able to move.
As one person comments in a story arc. "They're not robots! There's no power source, no weapons, no computer! They shouldn't be able to do any of the things they do!" The truth of the matter is that every single clockwork is animated and guided by the King's psychic powers, Each acting like an independant being, a fraction of the King's personality fractioning off as an being that, while independant, are fanaticalyl loyal to him. the king, ignorant of their true nature, continues to labor under the delusion he's a master machinist, when the truth is he's a nut with mental powers.
Tygara - 50 Claws/Regen/Power Scrapper, Virtue- Member of Kitties on the Prowl.
Shadeburn - Dark/Rad Defender, Virtue- Member of Catch 'Em Crew
Nature Boy' - Elec/Ice Blaster, Virtue - Member of Young Phalanx
Yeah, that was the impression I got too. They arnt really robots. They're puppets.
Nemises really IS a genius though...he invented steam-powered body armor in an era before electronics!
[ QUOTE ]
The truth of the matter is that every single clockwork is animated and guided by the King's psychic powers, Each acting like an independant being, a fraction of the King's personality fractioning off as an being that, while independant, are fanaticalyl loyal to him.
[/ QUOTE ]
Which is why the Clockwork are especially vulnerable to psychic attacks.
Dude...
This is now my bible.
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, that was the impression I got too. They arnt really robots. They're puppets.
Nemises really IS a genius though...he invented steam-powered body armor in an era before electronics!
[/ QUOTE ]
Speaking of which...
Something not heavily mentioned in his review of Nemesis, all of his technology is based on Steam and chemical power, and clockwork machinery, brass and the like- He finds electronics, circuitry, synthetic materials and computers and the like to be uninspired- however this is not to say any of his devices are primitive! His steam powered weaponry can deal more damage than most modern weapons, and he's managed to do things like realistically-behaving robots, imitate psychic powers and build complex life-support systems with his technology- Nemesis's level of genius is frightening, despite his eccentricies.
Tygara - 50 Claws/Regen/Power Scrapper, Virtue- Member of Kitties on the Prowl.
Shadeburn - Dark/Rad Defender, Virtue- Member of Catch 'Em Crew
Nature Boy' - Elec/Ice Blaster, Virtue - Member of Young Phalanx
Warning: The following is my attempt to put together all attained knowledge of the various villainous factions in the game, and the stories surrounding them. It's choke-full of spoilers.
I'm getting most of my information out of my own gameplay. If anyone finds something incorrect in this guides, or knows of a bit that it's missing, please inform me and I'll add it.
The Gang War: There are three gangs currently trying to take control of Paragon City's underworld: The Family (with controls the Skulls and Trolls, and sometimes hires the Sky Raiders), the Warriors (who control the Outcasts and Hellions), and the Tsoo. The remaining big gang in town, the Freakshow, aim at chaos and destruction rather than
power, and stay out of those power-plays (though they obviously enjoy beating up various mobsters as much as they enjoy beating up anyone else).
The Family are the Mafia of Paragon City. They've been around since the times of the Prohibition, and they've adapted to the town, acquiring superpowers along the way (though it's never mentioned HOW). They center around Independence Port, and control the superadine trade (though it isn't clear if they invented it, or just got on the bandwagon. I have my suspicions as to who the inventor really is ). They sell superadine to the Trolls using the Skulls as intermediaries, and sometimes employ the services of the Sky Raiders. They seem relatively well-connected in the city, albeit not on the level of Crey
The Skulls form some kind of death-worshipping cult in addition to being a gang. They've got some minor powers involving negative energy, and are at war with the Hellions over the control of Perez Park.
The Trolls are superadine addicts. The drug twists them into brutish monsters some have argued that in a sense, the Trolls are the true victims of the superadine connection.
The Warriors, based in Talos Island, seem to take their inspiration from Roman gladiators and ancient Greek fighters, relying mostly on ancient or medieval-type weaponry. How much of their fighting abilities come from training and how much from magic is unclear. They seem to have some form of honor code, though they don't necessarily follow it. They often dabble in magic (though some evidence suggests they can easily get over their heads), and, for unknown reasons, are currently using the Outcasts and Hellions to smuggle as many magical objects as they can into Paragon City.
The Outcasts are mutants who consider themselves heroes, but are anything but. They try to recruit young mutants into their gang, and get magical artifacts from the Warriors.
The Hellions are a gang of demon-worshippers, obtaining minor fire powers from demons, and minor magical artifacts from the Warriors and Outcasts. At war with the Skulls in Perez Park.
The Tsoo are relative newcomers to Paragon City. Recruiting among the Hmong community (a small ethnicity from China), they rely on a combination of martial arts and magic, both in the form of ancestor spirits and tattoos made with magical inks. Their leader is a cunning ex-convict named Tub Ci, and, more than any other gang, they
distinguish themselves by their deviousness and ruthlessness. Their attempts at eliminating the other gangs showcase both qualities perfectly.
The Family and the Warriors are at war with each other, though it seems most of the fighting is done through proxies the gangs under their control. Both of them fight the Tsoo directly, though.
There is also a dimension where the Family has seemingly taken over the town, and gotten far more powerful.
The Vahzilok: Dr. Vahzilok seems to be a former surgeon trying to defeat death and, with that purpose in mind, reanimates dead bodies. That in itself wouldn't be so bad if it didn't often involve killing them in the first place, or harvesting organs from innocent victims. He's assembled legions of zombies, as well as some human followers
plus the eidolons, dying humans who agreed to let him modify them. While Vahzilok is completely insane, it does appear he actually means well.
Clockwork never dies: The clockwork robots are the creations of the Clockwork King a powerful, psychic villain who was critically injured by one of the heroes in the past, and only survived by putting his brain in a vat attached to a mechanical body. Who he was prior to that is unknown. Nowadays, he uses his immense psychic abilities to
control and power his countless machines, as he sends them forth to build even more robots a true pyramid scheme. The Clockwork King is a brilliant inventor, but his madness never allowed him to reach his full potential as a psychic. There is another
dimension whose Clockwork King did reach his full potential, creating the Psychic Clockwork the fact that the dimension has been reduced to a wasteland might be due to that. There are also (two kinds of) Clockwork on Praetorian Earth, but there, they seem to be "normal" robots designed by Anti-Matter and Neuron (the equivalents to our
Positron and Synapse).
The Sky Raiders: Most of the Sky Raiders used to be member of the Joint Command Special Threat Response Battalion (nicknamed Vigilance), a military unit under the command of Colonel Virgil Duray, specializing in super-powered threat. After most of the unit was killed in the Rikti war, the survivors, blaming the war on the heroes,
went rogue and formed the mercenary Sky Raiders (while remaining, in their minds, loyal to the USA). With the support of Tyrone Lockhart, head of Lockhart Aerotech, they obtained advanced technology; they sometimes work for the Family, but senator Gil Armand, secretly a Sky Raider, has been trying to get the government to hire the Sky Raiders for deniable black ops in third world countries.
Some evidence suggests that the Sky Raiders are actually being manipulated by Nemesis the technology given to them by Lockhart Aerotech, at least, is based on his designs.
The Devouring Earth: This peculiar faction is the result of the experiments of Hamidon Pasalima, a molecular biologist. A fervent environmentalist, he created something called "the Will of the Earth": A colony of sentient, telepathic bacteria that could warp matter on a molecular level. The Will of the Earth turned Hamidon into a
fantastically powerful monster (it's unclear whether he was insane before, or if it warped his mind), and he set to "devour" the world with it, remaking it into his idea of an ecological paradise. He used the Will of the Earth on rocks and trees, creating monsters; on insects, creating the swarms; on humans, creating the devoured. The
whole of the Devouring Earth is one single being, with Hamidon its nucleus; it won't rest until the whole world has been thusly assimilated. In the meanwhile, they also oppose all forms of actions that hurt the environment.
There are dimensions where the Devouring Earth has succeeded in eliminating mankind.
There's a vague possibility that Crey is somehow working with the Devouring Earth In one mission, they help the Devouring Earth brainwash heroes into supporting their eco-terrorist agenda. The purpose of such a mismatched alliance is unknown.
The Crey Conspiracy: The whole sad deal begins with a woman called Julianne Thompson. An idealistic youth, she was framed and imprisoned in her early twenties by a crooked politician she was trying to expose. After that, she made plans for improving the world (some of them well thought-out, it seems), and tried to get some heroes to help
her but discovered that her criminal record prevented them from trusting her. Growing desperate, she decided that the ends justified the means and set on to acquire the resources to implement her ideas. At a certain point, she murdered Clarissa Von Dorn, and assumed her identity. That allowed her to marry Count Alphonse Crey, a wealthy
man with whom she proceeded to create Crey Biotech. With a new kind of drug designed by her labs, she made him fall into a coma, remaining the true power behind Crey Biotech. She has since then relied on every dirty trick in the book (and several new ones) to turn Crey into a financial powerhouse, and obtain all the power she could Crey has
top-notch technology, scavenged Rikti machines, mind-control systems, and, last but not least, the Revenant Hero Project, which consists in the creation of clones of superheroes. The clones, loyal to Crey, put identity-concealing uniforms and form the Paragon Protectors officially a group of heroes Crey often hires, but in reality the
company's super-powered force (it is possible that some of the Paragon Protectors are not clones, but brainwashed heroes). For all of their technology, Crey's true power remains conspiracy their influence over the city ensures that the population at large
remains ignorant of Crey's true nature. Also, despite all the suffering she causes, Countess Crey remains convinced that she could make the world a much better place once in charge and her servants are completely loyal to her.
As mentioned earlier, there is a possible connection between Crey and the Devouring Earth. They also sometimes work with Malta, show some interest in the Shadow Shard, and have a peculiar, secret alliance with the Freakshow
There is a dimension where, after Nemesis conquered the world, Julianne Thompson became the leader of the resistance.
The Freakshow: originally just a small street gang, the Freakshow changed when they hijacked a Crey convoy transporting an experimental drug called Excelsior. They tried it, and discovered it made them nearly-unstoppable, as well as resistant enough to survive the graft of cybernetic parts. A gang member named Dreck, who used to be a Crey employee called Daniel Watson, fought his way into becoming the true leader (one may wonder if these events could somehow have been planned by Crey ).
Dreck turned the Freakshow into the most violent gang in town, based on some anarchist philosophy though often enough, they didn't really bother to be consistent with the ideas they preached. For all the talks about freedom and anti-materialism, Dreck needed to get more and more cybernetic parts to keep his party going, and in order to do
that, he and the Freaks most loyal to him would secretly do mercenary jobs for those who could give them the technology they needed groups such as the 5th Coloumn and Crey Biotech. Most Freakshow members are unaware of these actions.
The Freakshow may seem stupid, and the drugs they take certainly haven't improved their brain condition, but most of them actually used to have (unsatisfying) white-collar jobs, and many of them have a knack for technology.
Rikti, Lost, and Hydra, oh my! : Despite their alien looks, the Rikti are actually pretty close to us as a matter of fact, they are actually genetically-modified humans. What drove the humans of Rikti Earth to transform themselves is unknown, but the power of their technology is undeniable (Just consider the fact that, during the short Rikti War, they managed to exterminate most of Earths superheroes. Also consider what happened to Baumtown and the Rikti Crash Site).
The Riktis actual reasons for invading the Earth are a mystery in themselves. According to Portal Corp, they werent particularly hostile when their world had been discovered, a few years prior to the invasion. The current government on the Rikti Earth, the Lineage of War, decided for some reason or another to take over our world one might suspect that Nemesis had a hand in that (more on that in the Nemesis section).
Back on their home world, the Rikti exterminated all those who believed in any gods, thus starving the gods of the faith that sustained them, resulting in the gods death (apparently, they would love to do the same thing on our Earth hence at least some of their hostility toward the Circle of Thorns, who worship Ermeeth). Perhaps because of that, the Rikti are not familiar with magic; the Rikti war ended when the Omega Team, composed mostly of magicians, went to the Rikti world and created a magical barrier that prevents inter-dimensional travel in or out of it.
The Rikti on Earth have been splitting into two political factions: The Traditionalists and the Retructurists. The former intend to rebuild Rikti society on Earth, while the latter are thinking of a more militaristic society.
The Hydra are beings from another dimension (not the Rikti one) whom the Rikti have captured and brought to Earth. They are slaves to the Rikti here, forced to fight a war for them.
The Lost are humans who are undergoing the treatment that can turn them into Rikti the Riktis way of recruiting additional forces on Earth. If the treatment is completed, they become fully Rikti in mind and body though even then, theyre not considered truly equals by the Traditionalists.
Nemesis: Quite possibly the greatest evil genius of all times, the Prussian Prince of Automatons has been around at least since the first half of the 19th century. Extremely charismatic, a technological genius, and an unequaled plotter, he supported the Confederacy during the American Civil War until General Sherman somehow defeated him. He returned several times, however, always using multiple complex plots simultaneously before disappearing again for a while.
Nemesis himself, in order to survive the ravages of time, replaced most of his body with a mechanical armor; lesser versions of that armor, the fake Nemeses, are often used for deception and leading troops. His Nemesis Army comprises fanatical human followers, automatons, and combinations of the two; he is also capable of making human-looking automatons that he uses to infiltrate various organizations.
Nemesis has perfected many highly advanced inventions, ranging from mind-control grids to weather-control machines to doomsday devices to portal technology and has apparently made use of the latter to escape from our dimension some time ago before returning (it is possible that the dimension he fled to was the Rikti dimension). He holds a strategic interest in inter-dimensional travel, and has troops in the Shadow Shard.
There are multiple dimensions that have been conquered by their respective Nemesis through various means, including a successful version of Nemesiss use of nerve gas in 1945, blotting out the sun, weapons of mass destruction, and addicting the whole world to superadine (considering how superadine sometimes allows people to see other dimensions, one might wonder if perhaps the Prussian Prince of Automatons might have had a hand in the original creation of the drug). Theres currently an inter-dimensional war going on between the various Nemeses, who consider each other rivals in the quest of global domination.
Beside his military forces and technology, Nemesis relies a lot on manipulation, and often tricks heroes and villains alike into serving his purpose. The Sky Raiders appear to be his pawns More importantly, there is evidence that Nemesis created automatons capable of impersonating Rikti before the Rikti were even discovered by Portal Corp, and used them to infiltrate Rikti society; it is possible, maybe even likely, that it was Nemesis who engineered the rise to power of the Lineage of War and the Rikti Invasion, using the Rikti to take over the world for him (or at least weaken the heroes). If thats true, then he is by far the most dangerous of all villains.
Of Gods and Magic: The gods, according to Azuria, were nature spirits who evolved into something greater, and subsist on human worship. One pantheon, led by Lughebu, took to feeding on human pain and fear; the goddess Tieleku, the first to discover magic, led other gods against them, and banished them to the spirit world. They became the Banished Pantheon, and are currently in the process of returning to our world.
Tieleku taught magic to other gods. One of them, Ermeeth, decided to teach magic to humans which would have meant the humans wouldnt have needed to worship the gods anymore to get magic. This was considered unacceptable by Tieleku and others, who fought against Ermeeth; he was forced to flee, taking his surviving disciples with him. He had them build a city on the Eastern coast of North America called Oranbega. Oranbega was a peaceful city-State until Hequat, Tielekus best student and Ermeeths former lover, discovered its existence. She believed that mortals place was obeying gods in all things, and as such, she hated the Oranbegans; she created the nation of Mu in the middle of the Atlantic, dabbled in eugenic breeding to ensure its population had a natural affinity for magic, and kept its society a theocracy of fanatics. Once Mu was ready, Hequat sent it to wage war on the peaceful Oranbega; the leaders of Oranbega, the Circle of Thorns, sunk the city beneath the ground to protect it, but it wasnt enough. That was when an envoy came from Hell, offering help that the Circle reluctantly accepted Then bigger and bigger deals were made. With the demons help, Oranbega destroyed Mu, but refused to slay its fleeing people to the last as the deal specified. In response, the demons turned on the Oranbegans, who had to sacrifice the mortal forms; they remained disembodied spirits within underground Oranbega for eons, most of them going insane with time. Hequat has disappeared, though we know she is still alive and might be active currently (it is possible that she has a connection to the Knives of Artemis). The survivors of Mu, retaining their genetic predisposition to magic, have been dispersed over the Earth, and comprise a very important part of magic-users nowadays.
The ancient Oranbegans became twisted and evil from their ordeals, and discovered how to take over the bodies of victims by driving special thorns into their hearts, opening gateways that sucked the victims souls into prison crystals, and allowed the spirit of the Oranbegans to take over. They used that strategy for centuries, but their first massive use of it and the true debut of the Circle of Thorns as a villain group was during the 1920s, when the mystic Baron Zoria and his followers, having discovered that the legendary Oranbega was beneath Paragon City, contacted the Oranbegans. The latter convinced them that, by driving the thorns into their hearts, they would gain immense magical powers; in reality, it gave their bodies to the millennia-old villains, and they have been using that same strategy ever since, both on victims snatched on the streets and followers who join them willingly, fooled by their lies like Baron Zoria was.
In their home dimension, the Rikti starved the gods to death by killing all those who worshipped them. This proves that the gods powers and presence do not cross through dimensions.
Portal Corp has discovered a dimension where the Circle of Thorns has all but eliminated mankind, one where the Banished Pantheon was never banished and rules over mankind mercilessly, and a dimension where Oranbega defeated Mu without sinking into corruption; in that dimension, Oranbega still exists, and its inhabitants espouse a belief in non-violence.
The Aliens and the Nazis: The Kheldians are energy beings; they seem to have no particular home world in the galaxy. They are capable of merging with material beings, and retain abilities from species their ancestors merged with in the past (the nova form and dwarf form are both based on such ancient hosts).
The normal lifespan on a Kheldian (not counting merging with a material being) is about ten years; some Kehldians, desiring immortality, turned themselves into the Nictus, vampirizing normal Kheldians. This led to war, and the Nictus hope to use Earth for strategic purpose:
Merger with a host allows Kheldians to extend their lifespan. On Earth, they formed a secret society known as the Path of the Dark, which was active at least since the 5th century the last Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was still part of it in the early 20th century (and might still be now). In 1926, Ridolfo Uzzano, a functionary in Mussolinis government, contacted the Path of the Dark and merged with a Nictus, becoming Requiem. During WWII, he became the leader of the 5th Column, and after the war ended, kept leading the unit on. While still claiming to follow Hitlers ideology, it was in reality world domination alone that interested him; as for his superiors in the Nictus hierarchy, they only saw the 5th Column as a tool for conquest.
Requiem has recruited the inventor Othman Doul (known today as Vandal) to improve the factions technology, and the scientist Nosferatu to develop super-soldier programs (resulting both in the superhuman resilience of 5th Column officers, and the vampyri, who have been transformed even further). He also has dark seeds (Nictus shards) implanted in some soldiers, turning them into warwolves.
The 5th Column spent decades trying to conquer the world, but, recently, the Nictus leadership has come forward. Requiem was pressed to organize a coup within his own organization, getting rid of most of the connection to WWII, and leaving only a group dedicated to world domination: The Council of Nictus. The supreme leader of the organization is known as the Center, but it appears that Requiem resents playing second fiddle to other Nictus
More Kheldians have become active on Earth as a result of the Councils actions: The Peacebringers, who originally drove off the Nictus, have been merging with humans in the hope of stopping them here; some Nictus have left their organization and are trying to make amends as the Warshades.
The Council uses the same tools as the 5th Column did, but has added some new weapons to its arsenal: Using Nictus fragments, they can turn their soldiers into Galaxy troopers (with negative energy powers) or Void Hunters (who have special abilities that allow them to defeat Kheldians easily). In order to fight the Peacebringers and Warshades, the Council has been hiring out the Void Hunters as mercenaries to other factions, and sold Quantum Guns (weapons that are, too, particularly effective against Kheldians) to factions that didnt want to recruit the Councils mercenaries into their ranks.
There have been instances where the 5th Column and the Council have hired the Freakshows muscle, paying them with cybernetic enhancements.
There is a dimension where the world was conquered by the Third Reich, in parts thanks to the Reichsman (an evil, alternate Statesman). When the founder of Portal Corp, Dr. Brian Webb, explored their dimension, Reichsman killed him and came to Paragon City with his men. They were defeated by the Freedom Phalanx, and the Reichsman imprisoned in ice beneath the Phalanxs HQ, but the dimension remained under fascist control until the Kheldians (who must have been infiltrating since WWII, as they did on our Earth) took over, turning it into the Council Empire. There is also a dimension where Requiem unleashed the Shadow Seed on Paragon City, hoping he could turn numerous soldiers into warwolves; the plan didnt work well, and instead turned ALL of humanity into warwolves.
The Carnival of Shadows: The story of the Carnival begins with Giovanna Scaldi, a powerful 17th century Venetian psychic. In 1698, while awaiting her execution for several crimes, she faked her death by transferring her soul into a porcelain mask. She remained there for three centuries, until, in 1998, the mask was bought by an American art student named Vanessa DeVorre. When Vanessa put on the mask, Giovanna attempted to take over her mind, and barely failed because of a fluke. For years, Vanessa didnt touch the mask again until the Rikti invasion. Wanting to help, and knowing Giovanna had immense powers, she put the mask on, then used the psychics powers to help coordinate Earths defenders against the alien invasion. After the war ended, Giovanna used her powers to create the Carnival of Shadows: By putting tiny fragments of her soul in masks she gave to her followers, she could give them a bit of her power; by feasting on the souls of their victims, she replenished the power. Some male victims had their souls eaten, and their bodies turned into super-strong puppets the Carnivals strongmen. The female members of the Carnival were under the head villainess psychic sway, thanks to the masks.
The Carnival has slowly grown, but over time, the power dynamic between Vanessa and Giovanna has changed: Vanessa has come to master psychic powers equal to those of Giovanna, and is now the true mistress of the Carnival of Shadows.
Perhaps because of the original reason Vanessa put on the mask, the Carnival is often at odds with the Rikti. The organization is also protective of women when its not eating their souls or twisting their minds, that is.
On Praetorian Earth, the organization is known as the Carnival of Light, and is fighting against the Praetorians tyranny.
The Malta Group and the Knives of Artemis: After the end of WWII, many in America and the rest of the Western block feared that the communist block might get the advantage in the Cold War through the use of meta-humans, as it could draft them from its population. To counter this, America passed in 1956 the Might for Right Act, which allowed its military to draft any American citizen with superpowers. The Might for Right Act was declared unconstitutional in 1967, allowing the communist block to gain a temporary advantage; several high-ranking members of Western intelligence agencies, including John Vrabel (head of the CIAs Project: Titan, which controlled covert meta-human operations) and Neil McIntosh (then leader of the MI6) secretly met on the island of Malta, and, together, formed an illegal intelligence conspiracy: The Malta Group.
The Malta Groups idea was simple: Since meta-humans are citizens of their countries, it is their duty to serve those countries; as such, their powers belong to their countries; as such, they are to use their powers as their countries order them to, and it is the Malta Groups purpose to ensure that they do. As such, Malta relies on every tactic imaginable bribery, threats, attacks on loved ones, blackmail and mind-control to ensure the cooperation of the countless meta-humans it captures.
For the remaining duration of the Cold War, the Malta Group fought against the USSR and its allies with a ferocity and viciousness no intelligence agency could match. In the groups mindset, they are always right, and thus, anyone who opposes them deserves whatever they do to them a mindset that has made the Malta one of the most cruel villain group in the world.
After the fall of the USSR, the Malta Group had to find new justifications for its existence. Nowadays, they are officially trying to spread freedom and capitalism to the world, though in reality they are usually working toward some form of tyranny more than once, Malta members have spoken (with a straight face) of giving the world a new age of freedom under their control, completely oblivious to the contradiction in terms. The list of atrocities committed by the group is all too long enslavement of meta-humans, toppling of uncooperative governments, destruction of businesses that competed with the groups sponsors, and more; countless crimes committed by men who remain convinced, beyond a shadow of doubt, that theyre the good guys.
The Malta Groups aim is the enslavement of all meta-humans; as such, their troops are trained and equipped specifically to combat super-powered people. That puts them among the deadliest foes a superhero can encounter.
The Malta Group has shown some interest in dimensional travel. They sometimes work with Crey.
The Knives of Artemis are an all-women mercenary force, considered the very best in the world. They are so capable that some postulate their abilities are not entirely due to training, but also partly magical. They regularly work for the Malta Group.
The Praetorians: While the phalanxes were military units led by Alexander the Great, the praetorians of old were an elite unit of legionnaires assigned to the emperors protection in ancient Rome. The Praetorians of Praetorian Earth are an evil version of Paragon Citys Freedom Phalanx, and rule their world with an iron fist. Tyrant is their Statesman, and has taken over Praetorian Earth. Their Sister Psych, Mother Mayhem, controls her minions by driving them to madness (including their Malaise). Their Synapse, Neuron, has obtained his powers by experimenting on himself, and has garnered Tyrants favor by creating their Bastion/Citadel, Siege. Their Numina, Diabolique, controls spirit minions, and has pulled their Infernal all the way to the dark side. Their Positron, Anti-Matter, has built Nightstar, their Luminary, who is rumored to get her energy from a galaxy she contains. Their Manticore, Chimera, is a deadly, silent killer. Their Woodsman, Shadowhunter, loathes humanity. Their Minx, Bobcat, has gone feral from the experiments that gave her her powers. Their Valkyrie, Battle Maiden, comes from another dimension named War Earth. Their Swan, Black Swan has a connection to a world called Shadow Earth. Their Miss Liberty, Dominatrix, has killed her heroic mother and serves Tyrant loyally. Their Back Alley Brawler, Marauder, lives for fighting.
Anti-Matter has recently invented portal technology; with it, the Praetorians are preparing themselves to invade Paragon City.
Im not yet making a section on the Minions of Igneous and the Rularu, as I dont yet understand what they are.