House of Usher

Over the centuries, the Ushers of Freedom League traded slaves, swindled Native American land, viciously broke strikes, ran bootleg liquor, and traded with Nazi Germany to maintain the affluent lifestyle to which they’re accustomed. Ostracized from Freedom City society for generations because of their unrepentant wickedness, the Ushers maintained their line only through inbreeding, adding to their madness and degeneracy.
Beginning in 1960, the moneyed Ushers grew wealthier still under family patriarch Alister by providing blood sports, courtesans, slaves, and narcotics to Freedom City’s upper crust, who proved eager to indulge in the forbidden. Too few were bothered by such venality, and Alister’s ventures grew into a criminal empire.
After nearly a decade of shuttering the family’s various illicit enterprises, the original Raven's ultimate confrontation with the Ushers occurred on November 12, 1969. On that night, the Usher mansion was set completely ablaze, and the large number of bodies found afterwards burned beyond recognition seemed to mark the House’s fall.
In truth, some of the clan survived, and now after decades in hiding, a new generation of Ushers—Alister’s teenaged grandchildren—is active in Freedom City. Despite their youth, they are as devoted as their progenitors to vengefully debasing the city’s “respectable” types.

Structure

ANTHONY USHER

Raised in the shadows to which his clan fled, Anthony Usher was inspired by tales of his grandfather Alister, and he yearned to someday fulfill the depraved dream of his forbearer. Though a talented larcenist nearly from birth, Anthony’s befouled genes cursed him with necrotizing, insensate flesh and preternaturally heightened senses. But confined to the quiet darkness, he embraced his perceived destiny.
In his own relations, Anthony observed the depths of greed within the human heart, and in time mastered the art of manipulating the avarice of others. Before reaching the age of majority, Anthony stole and loan-sharked a sizable fortune. As his pockets overflowed, so did his heart, as a deep, abiding, and disturbing love developed between him and his sister Vivian. Emboldened by her affections, Anthony’s growing self-confidence drew the other young Ushers under his influence.
When his teenage passions could rest no more, Anthony led the current generation of Ushers back to Freedom City to reclaim the family legacy. Despite his youth, Anthony has surreptitiously rebuilt the family’s criminal empire of the 1960s using 21st century know-how, and made it larger, richer, more influential, and more depraved than ever.

VIVIAN USHER

Vivian was born beautiful, and was thus a pariah amongst the deformed, outcast Ushers. Spurned, she grew quiet and withdrawn, and only her lonely brother Anthony—isolated by his hypersensitivity—took notice of her. They grew closer, until their bond became a deep, abiding, and disturbing love. Vivian was at Anthony’s side as he studied just how greed governs many, and she similarly learned how lust rules over others. Though her heart belongs only to Anthony, she became adept at using her body for enthralling, exaction, or killing.
Among her victims was a scientist working for the terrorist group SHADOW, who shared with her the secrets of the “toxic nano” he’d perfected, just prior to becoming her chosen test subject for the murderous, microscopic, self-replicating machines. It has since become her signature method of disposing of those who are no longer useful or interesting to her.

BERNARD USHER

An eager pupil, Bernard Usher flourished under the tutelage of relatives who’d mastered every criminal art. From the time he could talk, he deceived people out of their fortunes. From the time he could write, counterfeit currency, stocks, bonds, and documents flowed from his pen. From the time he could walk, he stole the priceless gemstones he coveted above all.
There was nothing Bernard couldn’t have if he wanted it, and the resulting boredom mixed with his self-confidence led him to drugs, then to addiction. He continued to steal king’s ransoms, then quickly have them vanish up his nose or into his veins. Looking for new marks and chemical thrills, Bernard followed Anthony to Freedom City, and there his addiction found its perfect match in the designer drug Zoom. Now Bernard really is untouchable, and even his jaded tastes are sated by the rush of near-death.

FRANCIS USHER

Just as untainted families pass along loves of cooking or baseball through the generations, the Ushers teach their young how to murder. From the ancient techniques of the ninja to the blunt methods of the mob, the Ushers know all about killing. Young Francis proved himself a lethal prodigy, eliminating those who’d wronged his kin or threatened to expose the family’s survival, from an age when other children learn to ride bicycles.
As the youngest House member, Francis looks up to his cousin/brother Anthony, and eagerly followed him to Freedom City. There, he serves as the personal bodyguard of Anthony and Vivian, as well as the family’s preferred agent of vengeance when a slight is deemed personal. As his skills continue to grow, Anthony foresees Francis—bolstered by doses of the designer drug Max—becoming a highly paid killer for hire, ruthlessly accepting any job against any target and furthering the moral decay of Freedom’s upper class.

DAVID USHER

Being greedy or covetous of power is de rigueur amongst the Ushers. With Anthony the better criminal entrepreneur and Bernard the superior thief, David had to carve out his own foul niche amongst his teen relations. He began as a smuggler, specializing in items only the basest traffic, like endangered animals for trophy hunting or forcibly-harvested human organs for transplant. As a matter of course, he developed a penchant for casually killing those whose death either profited or amused him.
David came into his nefarious own once he shed the last of his humanity and became a trader of human beings, serving the unspeakable needs of the most monstrous of the House of Usher’s clientele. He’s grown quite rich, well traveled, and happy as a result, and become a favorite of his cousin/brother Anthony. While David does not share in Anthony’s corrupting vision, he nonetheless does much to further it in pursuit of personal profit.

TACTICS

Anthony’s adopted vision of catering to and corrupting the rich via the vilest means possible is the key to the House’s success. For instance, while others deal drugs, only the Ushers traffic in the fearsome hallucinogen adrenochrome—called chrome, silver, or car on the streets—fatally drawn from the adrenal gland of a living donor.
Adrenochrome raves, gladiatorial bumfights, prostitutes of all varieties, human auctions via smartphone app, and other iniquitous attractions are profitable in and of themselves. They also draw potential victims for the family’s other criminal activities: embezzlers and gamblers needing a loan from Anthony, lonely influential people vulnerable to Vivian’s charms and extortion, the wealthy and careless with baubles for Bernard to steal, and the rich but inhuman who need the unholy services Francis and David offer.
Like a casino, the House of Usher is designed to render its patrons as penniless as possible before they depart. The Ushers, however, want them to forfeit their soul as well.

Public Agenda

Like his grandfather Alister, Anthony Usher resolved to prove that the hypocrites who judge and persecute his family are the ones who are truly wicked and depraved. To this end, the House of Usher is a criminal operation supplying the lowest of vices to the highest of bidders, transforming polite Freedom City society into a latter day Sodom and Gomorrah. The present-day teenage Ushers particularly delight in corrupting those their own age, such as the sons and daughters of the privileged and super-heroic.
Within the Usher clan, Vivian and Francis zealously share Anthony’s aim, while Bernard and David merely enjoy the considerable profits. As of yet, this crack in the House’s foundation has not fractured into a more serious divide.

Assets

Under Anthony’s close supervision, the colonial-era House of Usher was rebuilt in exacting detail upon the ashes of the original. It once again serves as the family residence, and by Anthony’s calculations, a vengeful monument to the original Raven’s ultimate failure. The House itself is also a showy distraction for would-be crime busters, as the Ushers’ criminal activities take place almost entirely in hidden locations elsewhere in the city.
In addition to its criminal employees, the modern House has ties with several other nefarious groups. The services of the infernal law firm Cabot, Cunningham & Crowley are retained to legally quash investigations into the Ushers’ activities and defend them when need be. Similarly, the notorious outlaw motorcycle gang The Devil's Advocates serves as security for the House’s organized debaucheries in exchange for beer and free admission. The hedonistic supervillain Purple Haze is both a frequent customer and freelance enforcer for the Ushers.

Type

Family