There’s a Villains and Vigilantes official campaign universe that’s been around for decades, but my knowledge of it begins and ends with the short descriptions of a number of people, places, and organizations that exist within that universe in the later sections of the Mighty Protectors manual. So though my campaign is built loosely on top of that universe, everything V&V that I make use of will probably end up looking almost nothing like the concepts expressed in those previous published adventures.
One of the V&V groups I’ve begun to incorporate into my world is the Complex High Energy Selective Surveillance group, formerly a high-tech intelligence-gathering wing of the secret service, but now a large and powerful organization (whose name hasn’t changed because they like the acronym). CHESS now comprises a quasi-military wing headed by a decorated and enhanced general (call sign “King”) and a significant espionage operation headed by its experienced secret-agent leader (call sign, of course, “Queen”.)
CHESS has recently acquired a small amount of advanced alien technology; though they still don’t understand it well, it has enabled them to create several experimental sets of powered armor which have been deployed to the field. Reporting to the King are a pair of strong and heavily armored soldiers called Rooks and a pair of flying agents called Knights. The Queen has two cloaking-field-equipped Bishops under her command.
Some in government are concerned with CHESS’ increasing political power, and there are rumors of infighting and corruption within the organization.
