The Deterrents & Their Enemies

Prominent Members of The Deterrents

The Deterrents have had over sixty different members over the decades; even today they have over twenty active members. Here are some of the most famous;

The current Dandy is the successor of the successor of Gielgud; they have adopted a more highwayman-like look and serious, brooding manner, but are still instantly recognisable as the Fighting Fop themself. Like Gielgud, this Dandy draws their power from “the ultimate Privilege equation”; as long as the Dandy is white, male, able-bodied, cisgendered, straight, and substantially richer than 99% of the population, they are gifted with dramatically enhanced strength, toughness, speed & dexterity. The Dandy's unknown secret identity is evidently filthy rich, as they help pay for the cutting-edge technologies used by the Deterrent; among these are the Dandy's trademark plasma-flintlocks, able to change their destructive capabilities from body stunning shots to wall-melting salvos.

Now known as simply The Lady, the Victorious Valkyrie is world recognised figurehead for feminism, as well as civil rights and hope world wide. She has changed her look many times over the decades, but nowadays wears her dyed hair short, and has eschewed opera-costume for a leather jacket. She identifies as a lesbian. She still wields the might spear Gungnir.

La Renard is the same French Trickster Hero from The Matinee; as of 2014, they identify as gender neutral, using zhey pronouns.

The New Yorker was created as a response to the success of The Dandy; essentially an American fop complete with pince-nez, he draws his power from the artificial ley-lines created by the New York Subway system, and must recharge by travelling monthly on the D Line. His abilities include enhanced strength, dexterity, speed & stamina. A troubled patriot, the New Yorker has also been known as The UnAmerican, ‘Hattan Man, The New Amsterdamned & Captain Republican.

Cicacda Singing In August is the codename of ex-Chinese-Government spy Xiang Ah Kum, originally sent to destroy the Deterrents but eventually defected. Ah Kum is an expert markswoman, hand to hand combatant, strategist, cryptographer, escapologist, tracker and pilot. She is the team's leader.

Italian child-genius Greta Di Raphaella was the product of a Vatican breeding program to create the most gifted bloodline in the world, combining traces of genetic information taken from Leonardo Da Vinci, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Donatello and Botticelli among others. Escaping the incredible security of her Vatican schooling program by building the David armour, she joined The Deterrents hoping to put her genius to good use. The David armour is the most advanced weapon on Earth, combining several different AI, force-fields, personal mini-jets capable of flight, and countless energy weapons built into the gauntlets alone. She has often butted heads with the New Yorker.

Dr Columbia is a Magician who draws power from the street plans of US cities; he dresses in late 18th century formal dress, but with a rubber pigeon mask. As well as powerful magical abilities, like levitation and scrying, Dr Columbia is an accomplished surgeon, as well as able to summon hordes of pigeons, cockroaches and rats.

Andora, The Kitsch Witch, is a powerful sorceress, who draws her powers from universal appreciation of “the camp, the pink, and the offensively inoffensive”. Modelling herself after 1950's US sitcoms, Andora has conjured all kinds of powerful magics, from teleporting via Lisa Frank paintings, summoning constrictive feather boas, or conjuring enormous burning effigies of John Waters. Andora is a transwoman, and has a healthy long-standing relationship with fellow Deterrent Tapeworm Jones.

When a team of archaeologists were trapped in a collapsed Mexican temple, a statue of the deceased Aztec Moon Goddess Coyolxauhqui spoke to the lone female member, and lent her her strength and form to save her friends. Today, Coyolxauhqui is the Deterrents’ resident warrior Moon Goddess, dedicated to feats of female strength, women's rights, protector of children & those with gender dysphoria, and challenging the patriarchy. Naturally, she and The Lady get along. She has a love of sports, especially Professional Wrestling & American Football, and is a colossal jock.

Tapeworm Jones was an accomplished burglar, due to his gangly, flat, worm like limbs and features. Recruited by the Dandy to steal back the President's All-seeing Silver Dime from the Neo-Bavarian Illuminati, Tapeworm proved himself a hero and despite enormous distrust from his peers, was ultimately accepted. Tapeworms Parahuman abilities render him near unkillable, as well s able to slip through spaces as small as one millimetre square.

The Chronotoddler is a ginormous baby, as large as a house, floating in space alongside GREGOR1. Once an astronaut pulled into distant space by a wormhole, they returned as the omnipotent Chronotoddler, a childlike intelligence present in every moment across time and space, and dedicated to preserving universal balance in the favour of good. When the Chronotoddler wakes, it is for some universally important moment. They also possess immense empathic powers.

Prominent Enemies of The Deterrents

The trickster deity Coyote was the Deterrents official first enemy, and continues to plague the team to today; a spirit of American soil intent on causing the questioning of morality and social norms, Coyote has eschewed any noble pretences in favour of causing chaos worldwide, an elaborate way to test the Deterrents’ cause. Fickle and mercurial, the Coyote seemingly shifts their moral stance on a daily basis; sometimes, life is precious, and any disaster caused is purely for show, while other times hundreds can die to make a point.

When they want to take physical form, The Coyote appears as person of Native American heritage, stained in dirt and blood, white gashes tracing Skeletal features like a Basquiat painting, hair unkempt and teeth yellowed. They possess incredible strength, dexterity, the ability to conjure illusions, defy the senses, and unleash the chaos of the wild elements. It is truly unknown if Coyote is doing this for moral reasons, considering the strained friendship between them and Coyolxauhqui, or if they are something malevolent claiming to be the animal spirit...

Claiming to be the inheritor of The Guide's powers and legacy, Der Ohle Gelte is the owl-masked leader of neo-fascist movement *NAME REDACTED*, whose vulgar, offensive name tells you everything about their beliefs and morals. Der Ohle's mask is permanently bonded to their face, following a devastating battle with The New Yorker, with whom the fascist shares a burning animosity. Der Ohle is searching for The Crook, still missing, and as such has no powers of their own, except exemplary strength, speed, dexterity and stamina, and their natural charisma and clever publicity campaigns sadly makes them almost as popular and persuasive as their role model...

Resembling an enormously obese Harlequin upon a motley palanquin, the monstrous artificial intelligence CLOWN, aka Computer Lifeform Operated Weapon Network, runs Il Carnival D’Infernale, a circus-themed terrorist organization dedicated to obtaining, creating, selling and using devastating new weapon technology. CLOWN is terrifyingly intelligent, able to out-think Greta di-Raphaella while simultaneously fighting off both the New Yorker and Dandy; that said, his taste in humour could stand to be funnier, and his voice less a thousand parrots being consumed by a hellish python.

Perhaps the most famous villain worldwide is wolf-pelt-cloak-clad Countess Caterina Cagliostro, despot and benevolent dictator of the European micronation of Cagliostro. Protected by diplomatic immunity, The Countess has waged a war against The Dandy, La Renard and The Lady for decades, following their exposure of her country's production of 94% of the world's counterfeit money, constantly protected by the political power of Ambassadorship. Operating from her ancient pre-Etruscan fortress, The Countess studies both science and magic, involving herself in both the metaphysics of the universe and the politics of the more mundane world. Like The Alpha, the “Brazen Baroness” has aided The Deterrents almost as many times as she has clashed with them.

Although not an actual villain or enemy (depending on your point-of-view), the current United States President, Cult-of-Personality media-star-businessman Charlton Keel is constantly trying to rein in The Deterrents, and seems to think they are his personal task force of celebrity superheroes. Willing to court controversy and standing on a fringe extreme right-wing line, the troublesome world leader continues to cause divides within the group, as some are unwilling to do what the team has always done, oppose evil, now that it appears to be growing in the shadow of their ignorant President...