The Femmes Fatale are a group of female mercenaries that work along the Pacific Rim. They can be hired to do almost anything, but prefer industrial espionage and counter-espionage jobs. The one thing you can't hire them to do is kill, the Femmes Fatale have made it quite clear they are not assassins. Other than that, they are willing to tackle almost any job, and are noted for being one of the few independent groups that will actually fight such organizations as Viper and Raven.
Sofia Borisovna (leader), Blue Mary, Hsien-ko, Matrix, Roomi, Sakura Kasugano.
[Note that the following text presumes it is circa 1992-1994. Details may need to be altered to fit the team into your specific game setting.]
The Femmes Fatale first appeared in the early 1990's, soon after the fall of Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Originally they were made of up three women; Blue Mary, a former American intelligence agent; Matrix, an East German army officer; and Sofia Borisovna, an ex-KBG operative. The trio performed a number of jobs in and around the Far East, including industrial espionage, industrial sabotage, assaulting Triad and Tong properties and safe houses, bodyguard work, kidnapping (although they liked to call it "extraction"), and even acting as guards for areas they required defense versus paranormal threats.
Shortly after completing a serious of assignment in the Hong Kong area, they were joined by a new member, the blue-skinned woman known as Hsien-ko. The newest addition greatly increased the team's firepower, but was only seen very rarely and then at only at night.
The next addition was the young martial arts wizard Sakura Kasugano, a Japanese native and the youngest known master of Shotokan karate. Her impressive (and destructive) Chi-channeling powers, backed by her incredible hand-to-hand combat skills where an invaluable asset to the team. Interestingly enough, after the arrival of Sakura the team's tone changed slightly. The Femmes Fatale were less inclined to take extraction and sabotage jobs and were more willing to oppose other criminal groups.
The last member to join the team is bouncing bundle of energy known as Roomi. Roomi is very fast, very strong and very brainless. Her main use to the team seems to be direct hand-to-hand combat, as well as zooming about the battle field getting into trouble. It's unknown where the Femmes Fatale found Roomi, but Viper has certainly increased their interest in the team since Roomi's appearance.
The Femmes Fatale have one very simple goal: to make money. They are not interested in political power, or controlling a criminal empire, in general they simply want to make a sufficient amount of money that they can support themselves in a reasonable manner.Granted, acting a super-powered mercenaries isn't exactly the most optimum choice of careers, but for most of the team's members it is all they know. A secondary goal for many of the members of the Femmes Fatale is to keep themselves (and each other) safe from their various enemies. Naturally, this is a far more difficult goal to both understand and fulfill, but the team tries the best they can.
Before any confrontation with an opposing force, Sofia and Blue Mary will try to draw up some for of attack plan, using whatever intelligence can be gathered about the surrounding area. As they have no real special senses or other power suitable for scouting, they two make do with information they can find out for themselves of data provided by the company.
Once the fighting starts, Blue Mary and Matrix will team up, working together to take down foes as quickly as possible. Hsien-ko will act as fire support, and will try and disrupt the enemies' movements as much as possible. Sakura will usually enter directly into the fray, putting her impressive martial arts skills to good use, and backing them up with her Chi powers. Sofia will often stand back, directing the others, and engaging those that get past her front line.She will also direct Roomi to tackle super-speedsters, and enemy martial artists. Roomi, meanwhile simply tears about the battlefield, looking for someone to "play" with.
The Femmes Fatale are both close-knit and divided. One one hand, they are a team, and a good team, and fight well together. The team also respects Sofia a great deal and listen to her commands. But, there is also several divisions within the team. Mary, Matrix and Sofia are all former military and intelligence operatives, while Hsien-ko, Roomi and Sakura are not. Matrix isolates her self from everyone, while most of the team shun Hsien-ko. Sakura dislikes killing, and Sofia doesn't want her team to kill anyone (bad for their image and relations with others), while Roomi only wants to play.Blue Mary, Hsien-ko and Matrix are willing to ignore this rule if it seems impractical to the situation or (in the case of Mary and Matrix) they can get away with it.
With regards to other groups, it depends on what groups exist in the game world. Sofia wouldn't want to work with such groups as Terror Inc. or Eurostar and disagrees both with their ideology and methods. It is known that the Femmes Fatale have clash with Viper more than once, and don't care for that group at all. Raven they would see the same way. It is possible that Dr. Destroyer would use them, but through a puppet organization. U.N.T.I.L. certainly would be aware of them, but it is doubtful that they have clashed, Sofia isn't stupid. They team could have fought the Zen Team (and in the author's opinion, stomped Zen Team flat), especially if Zen Corp sent them outside of Japan, or another Japanese corporation hired the Femmes Fatale to assist in some project. At the moment, it is unlikely that any super-team based in the United States has encountered the Femmes Fatale.
The Femmes Fatale are known to be a group of odd-balls. For starters, they are an all-female team, which has created some unflattering theories in Viper's bunkrooms (among others). There is also the matter of Hsien-ko and Roomi. Neither looks quite right (Hsien-ko is bluish, while Roomi looks, well... elf-like). Sakura's sheer power is just incredible and her command of certain martial techniques amazes and even frightens some martial arts masters. To put it simply, most other super-teams keep the Femmes Fatale at arm's length. They are very much in it for themselves, and don't care to cooperate with others. Groups like Viper and Raven consider them a danger, UNTIL lists them as a possible threat and/or menace, while Eurostar ignores them.
The Femmes are basically a team of "super neutrals." They are a mix of good and bad, and aren't in the business for power, or massive wealth or to accomplish some major objective.For them it is basically a job of sorts, abet a most unusual one. They are more of a diversion from fighting supervillains, and can be used as a counter to the heroic corporate team such as Zen Team.
Naturally, the group can be divided up and each character used separately as well. Blue Mary works well in Dark Champions games; Hsien-ko can be used in any game featuring the occult or the supernatural, wild martial arts games and Fantasy Hero games; Matrix can be used in Cyber Hero and Star Hero games; Roomi works well in regular Champions games and some of the more unusual Cyber Hero games; Sakura is a natural for really wild Ninja Hero games and makes a good novice superheroine; and Sofia is perfect for Dark Champions games.
The Femmes are always on the move and have no set residence. They usually stay in whatever quarters are provided by their sponsoring company. When traveling, they take what public transportation they can, unless they can get a special trip via corporate jet or something similar. It is thought by some that they have a permanent home located somewhere in Southeast Asia or New Zealand.
Now that you've read everything, allow me to explain how this team came about. A friend of mine had started a teen-aged superheroes game, and had asked me to develop a team of super-mercenaries for him. The only stipulations where that he wanted the team to be all female video fighting game characters, and that Sofia, a character from the Battle Arena Toshinden video game, had to be on the team. Armed with this knowledge, I then went to town, sorting through various characters and titles until I had uncovered ones that I liked and thought would make good team members.
Sofia (naturally) came first, quickly followed by Sakura and Hsien-ko. I liked Sakura's look and attitude and thought that a 16 year-old street fighter would make a good foil and/or in for the Player Characters to interact with the team. It also helped that one of the players was running a 17 year-old mistress of kung fu. Hsien-ko was picked for her costume and the fact she was a ghost. I thought the possibilities there were to interesting to pass up.
At this point I was stuck, and asked around on a mailing list I frequent for suggestions. Justin Golden, master of every fighting game known to man, suggested Matrix and Blue Mary. At this point I recalled Roomi, who had been demonstrated to me some time earlier. Now that the team members were selected, I went on a web-hunt, searching for game FAQs (which list all the character's moves) as well as game art and character bios.
Armed with this data I started designing material. Sakura came first, and was specifically geared interact with the team. The bit about the General was thrown in to allow her to have something in common with one of the players and made an easy in for the Femmes Fatale into the campaign. Blue Mary was next, followed by Hsien-ko and Roomi. Matrix and Sofia came last. With each character I evaluated their use for the team, their probable origin, and their relationship with everyone else. Things that didn't make sense were pitched, and new origins were created. The team quickly became dived into halves, with the main division being the three cold-warriors (Blue Mary, Matrix and Sofia) and the three "supers" (Hsien-ko, Roomi and Sakura). I have tried to bridge that gap by making the team feel very loyal to Sofia, as well as softening some of the relation ships across the barriers—for example, most of the team leaves Hsien-ko alone, while Matrix avoids the rest of the team).
About the only thing the team doesn't have personality wise is romantic entanglements. None of them are involved with each other (this isn't that sort of game), or with any outsiders. Naturally this provides a great "in" for a Game Master. Hsien-ko for example, has had mortal lovers before (she is solid when she manifests), and Mary certainly strikes me as the type to engage in a one night stand from time-to-time. Matrix has no interest in romance, while Sofia has wisely decided to avoid the question for the time being. Sakura, well, she is so driven with her training that the idea of boys as anything but sparring partners hasn't probably crossed her mind yet.
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