Hellfire Club Villain Team
BLACK KING (Sebastian Shaw) Active X-MEN # |
WHITE QUEEN (Emma Frost) Active X-MEN # |
BLACK QUEEN (Selene Gallio) Active X-MEN # |
BLACK BISHOP (Harry Leland) Active X-MEN # |
 WHITE BISHOP (Donald Pierce) Active X-MEN # |
BLACK ROOK (Friedrich von Rohm) Active X-MEN # |
WHITE ROOK (Wilson Fisk) Joined DAREDEVIL # |
TESSA Assistant to Sebastian Shaw Active X-MEN # |
To the general public, the Hellfire Club is a social club for society's elite. Its membership includes the rich and famous, celebrities, corporate executives, and politicians. The Club is best known for throwing lavish and decadent parties on a regular basis at its Central Park mansion headquarters, during which many back room deals are made. Membership is usually inherited, but quite often the Club extends membership to those who have recently gained positions of wealth and power, and has been known to strip membership from those who lose their positions in ignominious ways.
The acknowledged leaders of the Hellfire Club are known as the Inner Circle, and use the names of chess pieces – Rook, Knight, Bishop, and King/Queen – as their ranks. Publicly, the role of the Inner Circle is to host and preside over the Club's public gatherings. Secretly, however, the goal of the Inner Circle is to guide and manipulate the world politics and economy for their own benefit and power. Traditionally, the Inner Circle is ruled over by a King and a Queen; in times past when two Kings or two Queens have reigned, power struggles inevitably erupted. The two colors used are White and Black; usually when a King or Queen is deposed the usurper takes the opposing color.
The Hellfire Club was founded in the early 17th Century by nobles who were fleeing the English Civil War. It was at this time the original mansion was built. Since then, many of the notable figures in American history have been members of the Hellfire Club. Ben Franklin, in particular, was said to have been the White Bishop during the American Revolution, and Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr were both Kings when their infamous duel took place.
Recently, the Inner Circle has been composed primarily of superhumans, with mutants composing the majority of the Circle. This trend towards promoting mutants into positions of power began when Sebastian Shaw and Emma Frost, both secretly mutants, were inducted as the Black Rook and White Rook, respectively. The two formed a secret partnership and quickly moved up the ranks, using Frost's telepathy and Shaw's connections to induce scandal after scandal with those above them. As they rose, they tended to stack the Inner Circle with their allies. Only recently, however, they managed to depose the reigning White King, with Shaw becoming the Black King; the position of Queen had been conspicuously empty, and Frost took the title White Queen. The former Black Bishop, Selene Gallio, has recently assumed the title of Black Queen; a power struggle between the two Queens is expected to erupt at any time.
Of the current known members of the Inner Circle, only the White Bishop and White Rook are not mutants. Mining magnate Donald Pierce, the White Bishop, has managed to maintain and even increase his own power base inside the Circle despite being openly critical of Shaw, while the newly elected White Rook, criminal entrepreneur Wilson Fisk, is the self-proclaimed Kingpin of Crime. The identities of the Knights of either color are currently unknown.
Members of the Hellfire Club's Inner Circle use mercenaries for their off-the-books operations. Most of the mercenaries come from private military companies owned by Pierce; most of the Inner Circle are uncertain as to whether the mercenaries are loyal to Pierce over the Club, and hesitate to use them extensively. So far, the Inner Circle has only come into conflict with the X-Men over Shaw's role in the creation of the Sentinels.
In addition to the Inner Circle, other known members of the Hellfire Club – who are either unaware of or apathetic toward the Inner Circle's criminal and subversive dealings – include industrialists Warren Kenneth Worthingon, Jr, father of the X-Man known as Angel, Tony Stark, and Norman Osborn; SHIELD director Henry Peter Gyrich; and debutantes Candy Southern and Janet van Dyne.
First Post-Reboot Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #
Membership Roster
Black King – The current acknowledged head of the Hellfire Club, Shaw has a powerful personality. He also possesses the ability to increase his strength, speed, and durability with repeated physical blows.
White Queen – A powerful telepath and long-time ally of Shaw's, Frost is believed to be responsible rise to power.
Black Queen – This ancient mutant sorceress is making her play to take over the Club.
White Bishop – An anti-mutant bigot and cyborg, Pierce is biding his time and waiting for the opportunity to oust Shaw.
Black Bishop – A mutant with the ability to increase the weight of anyone around him, Leland is a supporter of Shaw and Frost. He isn't ambitious for power, preferring to be a manipulator behind the scenes.
Black Rook – Von Rohm is a mutant with the ability to take the form of a dragon-like creature. He is a supporter of Selene's.
White Rook – Fisk has accepted his position with an eye for eventually taking over the role of the King, but for now he's patiently studying how things work in the Club. He'll side with whoever he sees as the inevitable winner in Pierce's eventual bid for leadership.
Tessa – This woman does not have a rank inside the Club, being Shaw's executive assistant. Her computer-like mind, said to be a mutant talent, lets her formulate plans and predict the actions of others.
Typical Hellfire Club Mercenary
78 points
| ST: 11 [10] | HP: 11 [0] | Speed: 5.50 [0] |
| DX: 11 [20] | Will: 11 [0] | Move: 5 [0] |
| IQ: 11 [20] | Per: 11 [0] | |
| HT: 11 [10] | FP: 11 [0] | SM: 0 |
| Dmg: 1d-1/1d+1 | BL: 24 lbs. | |
| Dodge: 9 | Parry: 10 | DR: 12/4* (armor) |
Languages: English (Native) (Native Language) [0].
Cultural Familiarities: Western (Native) [0].
Advantages: Combat Reflexes [15]; Fit [5]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Military Rank 0 [0].
Disadvantages: Code of Honor (Soldier's) [-10]; Duty (Hellfire Club PMCs) (12) [-10]; Secret (Subversive) (Imprisonment) [-20].
Skills: Brawling (E) DX+1 [2] – 12; Climbing (A) DX+1 [4] – 12; Fast-Draw/TL8 (Ammo) (E) DX+1 [1] – 12*; Gesture (E) IQ+1 [1] – 12; Guns (LMG, Rifle, or SMG) (E) DX+1 [2] – 12; Hiking (A) HT+1 [2] – 12; Savoir-Faire (Military) (E) IQ+1 [2] – 12; Soldier/TL8 (A) IQ+0 [2] – 11; Stealth (A) DX+1 [4] – 12; Throwing (A) DX+1 [4] – 12; Wresling (A) DX+1 [4] – 12.
Starting Spending Money: $4,000 (20% of Starting Wealth).
Equipment: Most Hellfire Club mercenaries use the same or similar equipment as the US Army special forces: M4A1 carbine or MP5 SMG, assault vest with trauma plates, ballistic helmet, etc.