The Elite

For the group of Japanese heroes, see Sentai Elite{{#if:| and [[{{{3}}}]]}}.

The Elite is the largest villain organization and arguably the second-largest parahuman organization in the United States.

Modus operandi

The Elite do not pursue traditional villainous enterprises, instead seizing an area on the economic or political level before undermining local opposition using sabotage, connection to organized crime and blitzkrieg-style strikes while remaining consistently off the public’s radar by subterfuge or careful manipulation of the media.

The Elite than forces other villains and villain groups to be beholden to the Elite and nobody else. Rogues are folded into the organization to function as performers, Thinkers, designers and innovators, while the Elite also control a lot of corporate 'hero' teams from behind the scenes.

As the Elite take control of an area, resistance is systematically crushed. Once an area is firmly under control, resources are leveraged to expand elsewhere.

Structure

The Elite consists of a loose pyramid-style structure of cells, with the top cell managing interests on the national scale from San Francisco. Each established cell is independent and able to operate however it sees fit. Some, such as the one headed by Uppercrust, are strictly corporate ventures. Others, such as Bastard Son’s are considered only slightly better than the Slaughterhouse Nine.

The Elite control territories across the Western seaboard, maintaining presences in:

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States where the Elite control territory in red.

The states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Florida.
Tentatively, the state of New York.
Tentatively, various cape cities, including the city of Anchorage.

The Number Man speculated that the Elite would reach Brockton Bay around June 2010.

PRT Response

While the PRT designates the Elite as hostile, the Elite and PRT are not open adversaries. In fact, interaction with the Elite, or even cooperation, is a hotly debated subject within the PRT, from the lowest to the highest levels; the Elite do reduce crime numbers where they are active, but they also aggressively target rogues and powerful parahumans the PRT would rather support. The PRT’s current stance is to address the Elite on a case by case basis.

History

The Elite started in San Francisco as Uppermost, an organization composed of rogues, involved in production and entertainment. In 1998, Uppermost asked the PRT for assistance in managing the NEPEA-5 bill, which sought to curtail parahuman involvement in business and media, and was arguably targeted directly at Uppermost.

After a great deal of consideration, the PRT’s head office turned down the offer for assistance. NEPEA-5 was passed, and Uppermost disbanded. Many former members of Uppermost joined either the Protectorate or Wards to manage the fines and fees that followed the bill’s passage and avoid bankruptcy.

However, Uppermost’s core group took a different course. They divided themselves, and set up their own businesses within the new laws, while keeping in contact outside the PRT’s and public’s knowledge. By the time this became apparent, the members had combined assets, employees and businesses as a loose confederation, under the banner new group dubbed the Elite, quintupling Uppermost at its peak. Many core members have since been supplanted by a more ruthless leadership, titling themselves after elements of aristocracy, combined with ostentatious as possible costume choices.

During Golden Morning, the Elite attended the meeting at Cauldron’s headquarters, but decided to spend resources to build a new society gather than fighting Scion. The Undersiders set Leviathan on them in retaliation, leading to their demise.

Anchorage

In a bid to finalize their hold on the western coast of North America, the Elite send a small team to Anchorage, rooted in the company Estrella.

Members

Name	Description
Leadership
Agnes Court	Attended Cauldron's meeting. Could grow organic structures that hardened to stone, able to build a city in two and a half days. Killed by Leviathan.
Bastard Son	Runs one of the more violent cells, called only slightly better than the Slaughterhouse Nine. Speculated to operate in Las Vegas.
Blueblood	Attended Cauldron's meeting.
The Gentleman	Speculated to operate in Las Vegas.
Nonpareil	Attended Cauldron's meeting.
Patrician	Attended Cauldron's meeting.
Regis Rex
Uppercrust	Operating from New York, but is dying from the same medical problem that led to his trigger event. Runs one of the least violent cells.
Anchorage
Entourage (Gabriella Vargas)	CEO of Estrella. A young Hispanic woman with long-range duplication abilities.
Erik Granholme	A low level member R&D personnel employed by Estrella. A Tinker with an emphasis on drones and remote tanks with a crystal core.
Speaker of the House (Marion Dirks)	Human resources director of Estrella. A former singer and actress with unknown powers.
Upperhand (Don Fraser)	Financial manager of Estrella. A Trump that can copy the general nature of powers with an output, and produces his own output in form of powerful hyper-gravity.

Trivia

Both Parian and Panacea are mentioned as possible targets for the Elite by Wildbow.
The Elite featured in an early draft of Worm, titled Circus and the Elite.

References