Overview

Special Assignment 099, as its code number's "0" prefix shows, is a subgroup of Special Assignment 0, Weapon Zero. Its members are not publicly known to be members of the International Police; quite a few of them are, in fact, believed to be dead, or even mythical. Many members of Special Assignment 099 are adventurers whose careers pre-date the Wedge Defense Force era, making them some of the most experienced and skilled people the IPO has to call upon. Today they work in secret, shadowy figures half real and half mythological, opposing the enemies of decency anywhere and everywhere. They are The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Key Members of the League

Allan Quatermain - Hero of H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines and other two-fisted Victorian adventure tales, Quatermain is commonly believed to have been a fictional character. He was, in fact, quite real, but the stories of his adventures were presented as fiction, as was the custom of the day, and posterity has come to think of him as mythical. (This is a common thread in the histories of many SA099 members.)

Quatermain died in 1899 and went to Valhalla, where he eventually became the de facto leader of the Returnists, a group of the Einherjar who chose to return to corporeal life to contribute to the defense of Midgard from Surtur's revenge following the Ragnarok. He was the first of the Returnists to cross back to the mortal plane and quickly made contact with IPO Chief Benjamin "Gryphon" Hutchins. The two men became the architects of Special Assignment 099, though Quatermain professes not to think much of the codename Gryphon gave it.

Allan Quatermain remains as he always was, an old-fashioned, two-fisted man of action. Apart from learning to drive a car, he hasn't modernized much; he still does his business with his fists, an antique Webley revolver (albeit one modified by the Valkyrie armorer Skuld Ravenhair, who is also IPO Chief Technologist), and the wits that served him for decades in the African bush, overlaid with all the lore and knowledge a man can pile up in five centuries of being one of the most noted figures in Valhalla.

Dr. Henry Jekyll, M.D. - Another Returnist, Henry Jekyll began as a physician and biochemist in London in the late 1800s. His life changed when he developed a chemical formula which released the dark side of his personality, eventually developing a full-blown multiple personality disorder accompanied by an actual physical change into another person. Jekyll and his alternate personality, Edward Hyde (which see below), battled for domination of the shared body for years; the struggle lasted for years, encompassing at least one suicide attempt by each personality, until they at last struck a sort of balance.

Jekyll and Hyde, having learned to cooperate, went to work as secret agents for the British government. In order to achieve a more lasting inner peace and balance, as well as hold his own in the adventures he and Hyde undertook for Britain, Jekyll studied Eastern martial arts, eventually becoming a master of kung fu. The interchanging duo together made an excellent agent: Jekyll, refined, handsome, and skillful, mastered infiltration and information-gathering, and when they got into scrapes, Hyde could always let his fists do the talking. The two eventually perished in Germany, having come out of retirement at an advanced age to undertake one last mission against Nazi occultists in 1939.

When the pair went to Valhalla, they discovered that that they had become separate entities. Jekyll continued his martial studies under no less a personage than Aeryn Stonefist, the Valkyrie empty-hand specialist. He also kept his medical skills current with the help of the Valkyrie medic, Kijana Whitestaff.

Master Sergeant Edward Hyde, 12th Troll Heavy Infantry (ret.) - Edward Hyde was originally quite a repulsive character, a distillation of all Henry Jekyll's repressed vices and darker urges. Ironically, with those vices and urges separated entirely from his psyche, Jekyll became weak and ineffectual, while without Jekyll's self-control, Hyde became dangerously reckless, exposing himself to the danger of discovery and destruction. Eventually the two personalities struck a healthier balance - Jekyll is the intellectual, calculating, technical side, while Hyde represents boldness and physical power.

On his own in Valhalla, Hyde put his massive size and superhuman strength and durability to good use as a member of Asgard's elite troll infantry brigade, the only standing force of trolls outside Jotunheim. There he was regarded as a bit of a weakling (indeed, he was nicknamed "the Shrimp") until he proved himself as a warrior. Eventually he rose to the rank of Master Sergeant and achieved widespread recognition as one of the 12th Troll Heavy's top heavy weapons specialists. Though he is not as intelligent as Jekyll (who is a genius), Hyde is a cunning tactician and an expert in the use and maintenance of a wide range of modern Midgardian and Asgardian weaponry.

When Allan Quatermain, an old acquaintance, floated the idea of going back to Midgard to take up what he referred to as "the sporting life" again, Jekyll and Hyde both jumped at the chance, but there was a catch - to return to corporeal life, they had to accept being combined into a single entity again, existing one at a time. After considerable soul-searching, they agreed. Today they apply their uniquely complementary abilities to the problems of the IPO.

Originally, the transformation from Jekyll to Hyde and back again was accomplished with the ingestion of a chemical formula. That limitation no longer applies, and either can now choose to give control to the other at will. Since their minds are in constant low-level telepathic contact (rather like a Lens conversation), they can also attempt to wrest control from each other, but this is a contast which Jekyll, with his highly trained mind and martial concentration, almost always wins.

Tom Sawyer - An agent of the United States Secret Service at the turn of the 20th century, Sawyer participated in the special mission which ended in the death of Allan Quatermain in 1899. He went on to become the father of American special intelligence, influencing such later figures as William "Wild Bill" Donovan, founder of the Office of Strategic Services in World War II, and is virtually unique among his contemporaries for having died at home in bed.

Unlike Quatermain, Sawyer has kept up with the times. In Valhalla he studied extensively the methods and devices used by more modern agents as they entered the Warriors' Hall, amassing a comprehensive understanding of galactic politics and keeping his tradecraft skills and technical knowledge up to date. As a Returnist member of the League, he uses the latest cutting-edge gear available on the interstellar black market. Sawyer's trademark is his arsenal of military-grade blaster weapons, some of them not yet available to civilians (such as the new GENOM DC-15, the replacement for the venerable E-11 as standard issue to the White Legion).

The two men are similar in the fact that they are dynamic men of action who prefer deeds to words. Their differences in approach lead them to bicker occasionally, but they are a tremendously effective team and should not be underestimated.

Rodney Skinner (The Invisible Man) - A Victorian gentleman thief in the style of the late Arsene Lupin, Skinner stole the details of a process for rendering animal life forms invisible from a deranged scientist, thinking invisibility would make him invincible in his profession. Instead, he quickly discovered what the process's creator had learned to his chagrin - that irreversible invisibility is as much a limitation as an asset. He made the best of it, turning his thieving skills and invisibility to the service of his country as a special government agent.

Skinner was killed in 1939, on the same mission which claimed the lives of Jekyll and Hyde. In Valhalla, he found himself visible again; undaunted, he did what any master thief would do. He researched matters alchemical and learned of the existence of the greatest stealth preparation in the Nine Worlds - the Draught of the Unseen, a potent potion owned by the Goblin King of Niflheim and used to make his agents undetectable. Then, after six months of careful study of the Goblin King's palace and intricate, detailed planning of his approach and exit, he stole it, becoming the first person ever to steal from the Goblin King and live.

Infused with the Draught of the Unseen, Skinner has the power to make himself not only invisible to the human eye, as he was before, but also to most other detection methods. He can be heard, but reflects no electromagnetic or sonic energy and does not show up on an infrared or thermographic scan. Coupled with his highly refined skills as a sneak thief and cat burglar - which he has kept scrupulously up to date with the advance of technology - this ability makes him an almost unbeatable intelligence agent.

Captain Nemo - A mysterious figure even to his friends and colleagues, Nemo is not a Returnist, for he never went to Valhalla. An apparent contemporary of Quatermain and the others, Nemo looks just the same now as he did then, which may imply that he is indeed very much older. He reveals nothing about where he came from or what he has done in the years since his Victorian acquaintances fell out of touch with him.

All that is known for certain is that Captain Nemo is today the captain of the independent vessel Nautilus, a powerful warship utilizing advanced technologies of unknown origin. He has a loyal, closemouthed crew of spacers gathered from the far corners of the galaxy and answers fully to no authority but his own conscience. He is a brilliant scientist and engineer with an encyclopedic knowledge of outer space and its wonders and dangers, and seems to be a man deeply in love with the void - not because he is a nihilist, but because he is in tune with the beauty, harsh and dangerous though it is, of the heavens. He often refers to Nautilus as "The Sword of the Cosmos".

Nemo placed himself at the disposal of Special Assignment 099 for his own reasons, reasons just as inscrutable as his history. He is trusted and vouched for by many of the other members, including Quatermain and Jekyll, but even they admit that they have never truly understood what drives the man.

Gennai Hiraga - One of the few pre-Victorian figures among the Returnists, Gennai Hiraga died in 1779. In life he was a sort of Japanese Renaissance man - samurai, herbalist, physician, artist, satirist, engineer, inventor, student of the West, and more. He is credited with the invention of Japan's first electrostatic generator and the invention of new styles of art and satire. It is not generally known that he was also the first Earthman to identify and harness the exotic form of cosmic energy known as Getter radiation, nearly 400 years before its appearance in the scientific mainstream of the galaxy.

In death, he only broadened his horizons. By the time of his return to corporeal life in 2402, Hiraga was a disciple of Skuld Ravenhair and a master of most modern technologies. He ranks as one of the greatest scientists and engineers in the galaxy today - and has also found time to become an expert in galactic history and the pre-Salusian epochs of galactic civilization, a speaker of over 200 languages, and a keen student of modern politics.

Hiraga is also a powerful warrior, having refined his samurai techniques in Valhalla as well. In battle, he employs a number of high-tech weapons of his own creation, chief among them a portable Getter ray generator (worn as a belt) and a cybernetic control system which lets him manipulate the energies thus created. With this device, Hiraga can fly, generate blasts of destructive energy, shield himself with forcefields, and energize a specially-prepared sword with Getter rays, making it function in a manner similar to a Jedi lightsaber.

Otto Liliental - The 19th-century Glider King, Liliental designed and flew gliders years before the Wright brothers, developing technologies later used in the pioneering powered aircraft, such as wing warping and the traditional empennage found on most twentieth-century airplanes. Liliental died in 1896 in a glider crash. Like Gennai Hiraga, whose friend he became in short order, Liliental kept his knowledge up to date while in Valhalla, and upon his return, he reasserted his claim to the title "King of the Air".

Liliental is a brilliant aerospace engineer whose creations utilize the latest technology, but tend to have a distinctively retro slant. His main craft, which he simply calls "Rocket Glider Number 17", features a modern fusion microturbine and super-composite construction, giving it a toughness and power which belie its frail, primitive appearance. In the hands of the master, No. 17 is a terrifyingly effective weapon, capable of outmaneuvering a thrusterpacked jump infantryman and outshooting many modern light aerospace fighters.

The King of the Air is an expert pilot who can fly anything with thrusters (and many things without), but he prefers his own creations. On the ground, he is considerably less powerful, but not completely helpless, being an excellent pistol shot and having some training in hand-to-hand combat.

Other Members or Affiliates of the League

Kent Allard (The Shadow) - A mystic avenger from the early twentieth century, Allard - usually under the alias "Lamont Cranston" - waged a secretive war against crime and evil for years before disappearing mysteriously during World War II. Though it is not generally known, he was involved in the 1939 incident which cost the lives of Jekyll, Hyde, and Skinner. Allard was also killed, but thanks to the occult nature of the incident, he did not pass to one of the normal afterlives. Instead, he lingered on the material plane for centuries, eventually possessing Gryphon for a brief period before being separated from his host by the Norns and sent to Valhalla.

Allard, always an iconoclast, slipped away from Valhalla on numerous unauthorized expeditions to other realms, including the forbidden Tenth World, Cephiro. It was inevitable that he would eventually become a Returnist and a member of the League, though he remains at heart a loner and only joins the group when he is greatly needed.

The Shadow is the archetype of the dark, avenging hero, with the Power to Cloud the Minds of Men and numerous other psychic or metapsionic gifts. His time in Valhalla and the other realms was spent in picking up more arcane knowledge and power, but his roots in the early 20th century are strong; even when employing Cephirean shadow magic, he lets his .45 automatics do the talking while he laughs his chilling laugh. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?

Wilhelmina Harker - Mina Harker is unusual among the members of the League in that she is, well, not a gentleman. Also, although she is not a Returnist, she is also the only one among them whose adventuring career began with her death. In the late 1800s, Mina was killed by Dracula, the infamous vampire prince of Wallachia, and transformed into a vampire herself. She assisted the famous vampire hunter Abraham Van Helsing in the destruction of Dracula, then became a special agent for the British government, using her special powers to serve the greater good (and, not incidentally, soothe the boredom and ennui which threatened to overtake her). A century later she was recruited into the special branch of the Wedge Defense Force by then-Supreme Commander MegaZone, who has a well-documented fondness for the undead.

Today, Mina is primarily a member of the CID's Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense, walking the galaxy's shadowy backstreets and watching for occult and mystic threats, but several members of the League are old friends, and she can be counted on to assist them in any way that won't blow their cover.

John "Lobster" Johnson - Another hero of The Shadow's era, Johnson is another of the League members who is not a Returnist. As he discovered early in his career as a crimefighter, Lobster Johnson cannot die - at least, not permanently. The source of this ability is unknown, even to Johnson; all he knows is that if he is killed, even if his body is completely destroyed, he will return. Johnson possesses no other superpowers, but is a master tactician and expert hand-to-hand combatant. His trademark is a device built into his glove which can burn the symbol of the Lobster's Claw on most surfaces, including the foreheads of his victims. A loner like Kent Allard, Johnson has joined the League for a few adventures but remains primarily a free agent.

Bernard Quatermass - Chief of the British Rocket Group in the mid-twentieth century, Quatermass was responsible for the prevention of several alien invasions of Earth in the pre-Contact era. A brilliant scientist and engineer as well as a man of action, Quatermass serves as the League's liaison with the IPO's Technical Division. No relation to Allan Quatermain, though apparently in Valhalla people were forever mixing them up.

Arsene Lupin III - Grandson of the famed gentleman-burglar turned detective of the early twentieth century, Lupin the Third is primarily known for having stolen the gift of eternal life itself. Lupin's grandfather remains in Valhalla - he intends to return one day, but first he has to roll up all his operations in the Celestial Realms, which will take years to do neatly - and the younger man, also a Weapon Zero operative, is considered by the Leaguers to be a sort of honorary member in his grandfather's place. Aided by his crew of confederates, Arsene Lupin III is a master thief and man of action with a surprisingly honest heart. He and Rodney Skinner, recognizing each other's greatest achievements, jokingly share the title "Duke of Thieves".

End of Text Data Extract
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Dr. Heckyll works late at the laboratory
Where things are not as they seem
Dr. Heckyll wishes nothing more desperately
Than to fulfill his dreams
Letting loose with a scream in the dead of night
As he's breaking new ground
Trying his best to unlock all the secrets
But he's not sure what he's found

Dr. Heckyll is his own little guinea pig
'Cos they all think he's mad
Sets his sights on the search of a lifetime
And he's never, never sad

Whoa oh, its off to work he goes
In the name of science and all its wonders

This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive
They are a person who feels good to be alive
This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive
Believes the underdog will eventually survive

Not long now till the ultimate experiment
He's breaking all the rules
He wants to cure all matter of imbalance
In this world of fools

He locks the door and looks around nervously
He knows there's no one there
He drinks it down and waits for some reaction
To all his work and care

Hey, hey he fumbles for what to say
He loves the world except for all the people

This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive
They are a person who feels good to be alive
This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive
Believes the underdog will eventually survive

Whoa, oh, its out at night he goes
He sips easily into conversation
Hey hey, he's cool in every way
Sometimes he likes to sing that old black magic

This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive
They are a person who feels good to be alive
This is the story of Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive
Believes the underdog will eventually survive

- Men at Work
"Dr. Heckyll and Mr. Jive"
Cargo

	Chad Collier J. Random Pixel Pusher Digital Domain The Captain of the Gravy Train

Have you read the original Alan Moore comic, or just seen the movie?

The interpretation of Mina Harker is... ahem... rather different in the movie. So, for that matter, is the Invisible Man -- a completely different character, in fact.

Zox

And, is there a Special Assignment 00# (IE, Agent 002, Agent 003, etc.)?

Blessed be.
-n

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter
My LiveJournal
Everything goes better with Ninja

Good to see some of the coolest of the Ijin on the screen on the right side. Especially Ginnai. Even if he does have the most inapporpriate sense of archetecture around.

It'd be amusing to see wether or not he has that nagging habit of mistaking archetecture.

Gennai: *looks back at smouldering remains of the White House* Was this a library?
Secret Service Suit: N-NO!
Gennai: Ah. Oh well.

>Rodney Skinner (The Invisible Man) - A Victorian
>gentleman thief in the style of the late Arsene Lupin,

Um, wasn't this guy a it of a prick and a rapist to boot? Or was that another Moore invention?

>Captain Nemo - A mysterious figure even to his friends and
>colleagues, Nemo is not a Returnist, for he never went to Valhalla.

Um...I'm willing to believe that Nemo is the most underappreciated and underrated genius ever spawned by Victorian literature (after all, how many non-Anglo heros are there in Victorian literature). But immortal or semi-immortal? Surely Nemo wouldn't have stood idly by as India went through it's revolutions. I can't imagine him tamely taking a back seat and lurking in the shadows...particularly if his technology and knowledge were valuable. Unless of course, he's the secret force behind the sudden domination of the software industry by Bangalore....

He often refers to Nautilus as "The Sword
>of the Cosmos".

Hmm? I can't place the reference...did you create it?

>Kent Allard (The Shadow)
Wicked.
> even when employing Cephirean shadow magic,

Ooh, this I gotta see...

>Wilhelmina Harker - Mina Harker

She kept her name? I would have thought that Jonathan would have freaked out and she would be still Mina Murry.

>(and, not incidentally, soothe the
>boredom and ennui which threatened to overtake her).

Interesting, was she an active agent when recruited by the WDF. And was this part of the WDF superheros recruiting that included Jackie Chan?

nifty, but aren't you starting to feel that you've recruited just about the known universe into the IPO? We've already cataloged what, 100 some characters. What about the IPO's enemies? What's with all the friends?

t.
who isn't complaining but is starting to wonder if this might disolve into the Universal Fanfiction Parody. I trust the writing and the plots will hold it all together, but this cast of thousands thing...tends to distract from the main characters, don't y'a think?

Trigger Argee
trigger_argee@hotmail.com
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"These guys are as obvious as a weasel on acid." - Corwin Ravenhair

Static-Pulse
6E65 7665 7267 726F 7065 6173 6C65 6570
696E 676D 7573 6500
http://www.darkbeast.com/

Okay, this just plain and simple broke me, Gryph. I spilled an
entire bottle of Dew on my pants. ^_^

(It's particularly ironic, as the first women I fell for, back
in 1981, was a goth who insisted she really _was_ a vampire
which resulted in my developing a taste for gals like that).

Out of curiosity (I haven't seen LXG yet, it hasn't come
anywhere near the "blink once and you'll miss it" town that
I live in), have either UF-you or UF-Zoner dealt with the
problem most vamps have with sunlight? Mina would be at a
bit of a disadvantage if she crumbles to dust at the touch
of a sunbeam.

Edward A Becerra

>Bernard Quatermass - Chief of the British Rocket Group in the
>mid-twentieth century, Quatermass was responsible for the prevention
>of several alien invasions of Earth in the pre-Contact era. A
>brilliant scientist and engineer as well as a man of action,
>Quatermass serves as the League's liaison with the IPO's Technical
>Division. No relation to Allan Quatermain, though apparently in
>Valhalla people were forever mixing them up.
>
Was there a source for this one otehr than poking fun at the LXG movie's goof? 8)

I'd suggest The Phantom/The Ghost who Walks for League membership, but there's been so many of them over the years that they'd pretty much be a league all by themselves. 8P

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Lead me not to temptation, for I can find it myself.