The Fables
The Fable Gang, one of the largest supervillain teams in Europe, operates primarily as a mercenary company. The team started in 2004 when the Snow Queen, aided by an unknown benefactor dubbed the Storyteller (actually Direktor X in a new identity), executed a prison break for the release of Helmut Leblanc and his wife Carola. Helmut, driven by his lycanthropic curse, had committed a series of murders in Dusseldorf. His wife, a former army marksman, had attempted to cover them up.
Dubbing the pair the Big Bad Wolf and Red Hood, the Snow Queen also teamed up with Andreas Niehaus, a former Overthrow engineer who received the former Iron Watchman’s armor from the Storyteller. With Niehaus as the Tin Soldier, the team began to operate as mercenaries in Europe.
Over the years, the gang accepted new members: the Frog Prince (Alexandre Taillard de Würms, a former French diplomat turned into a Deep One by an Atlantean artifact), Godfather Death (Gino Bazzatti, a non-powered Italian crime-boss), Rapunzel (Nirida Shyr, a lunar refugee whose weird telekinetic powers manifest as strange hair-like tendrils of psionic force), the Wild Man (an exiled Morlock, feral and devilishly cunning mutant), Thumbelina, the Mermaid, and others.
The new members are usually reluctant to use identities based on children stories, but a pact struck between the Snow Queen and the Winter Court fairies requires member of the teams to use easily-identifiable “archetypes” in order to benefit from extraordinarily good luck. Most of the team members don’t believe this, but they’ve been quite successful and the money is good. Goofy names seem a small price to pay.
The team operates from an abandoned asylum near Dresden, formerly used by the Stasi as a clandestine interrogation facility. It has since been converted into a operations center. The above-ground installations include living quarters and recreational areas, while the underground complex provides communications, technological, and scientific facilities.
The team usually finds contracts through the Storyteller (who then contacts the team from his/her own hiding place) or underworld contacts provided by the Frog Prince or Godfather Death.
They’ve talked about joining forces with The Looking Glass Gang, but the Snow Queen is unwilling to let White Rabbit lead the combined group because he doesn’t seem to care about making money, and White Rabbit won’t allow Snow Queen to lead because she has no sense of fun and is so materialistic. Regardless, the two talk from time to time, which sometimes leads to them working together and sometimes sets them at odds.
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