Wyvern

Wyvern is a mercenary organization in the City of Heroes MMO, often seen in the Rogue Isles.

History

(From the City of Heroes website)

According to public record, Wyvern is a private security agency hired by Paragon’s wealthiest families. Yet the public face, upheld by owner Delia Huntley, masks the true nature of this dangerous strike force.

Behind the facade, Wyvern is in fact the dark arm of Manticore’s crusade for justice.

Justin Sinclair, aka Manticore, was increasingly frustrated by the limitations placed upon the heroes of Paragon City, and so he created Wyvern to carry out those ambiguous tasks that even Freedom Corp's Longbow division were unwilling to carry out.

As firm believers in the notion that the ends justify the means, Wyvern agents walk the line between hero and mercenary.

However, Wyvern is no typical mercenary force simply in it for the money. It draws its ranks from around the globe, searching for those whose lives have been shattered at the hands of evil.

While most certainly heroic in their goals, Wyvern’s recruits fight with dark motives, driven by a desire to annihilate that which has destroyed them.

With unlimited funds and a willingness to bend the law to suit their ultimate goals, it remains unclear the extent to which Wyvern would go to bring down the villains of Arachnos.

Manticore keeps his role in the activities of Wyvern well hidden from Statesman and the Freedom Corps, knowing that many of them would never sanction Wyvern’s “eye for an eye” approach to justice. While firmly on the side of good, Manticore’s own past has given him a different perspective on the nature of evil. After watching Protean murder his parents in cold blood, Manticore became convinced that there are times when evil must be confronted in a way they can understand, with cold, calculating force. Although other members of the Freedom Corps might agree to some extent, Statesman is adamant that true heroes never use deadly force, no matter the situation. And thus, Manticore’s beliefs put him at odds with many of the core values promoted by Statesman.

Organization

(From the City of Heroes website)

Organized as a paramilitary force, agents of Wyvern work their way up the ranks, gaining better weaponry and being assigned to more prestigious missions as they advance.

Wyvern soldiers begin their training as Talon agents where they receive extensive training in close combat knife fighting as well as basic archery skills. Talon agents who prove themselves are promoted to Fang rank, gaining access to Wyvern’s special Fang Poison that slows the reflexes of anyone injected with it.

By the time an agent has advanced to become a Sting Agent, they have achieved Wyvern’s complete trust and begin to specialize in armor piercing arrows. The veteran Wing Agents are eventually granted jet packs allowing them to rain damage from the skies with their deadly arrow attacks.

Finally, the most elite arm of Wyvern are the Raptor Agents, trained masters of Archery, deadly accurate with their array of specialty arrows.

All Wyvern agents focus on two things, extraditing criminals back to Paragon City and targeting villains early in their career so that they are taken down before they get too powerful.

With these goals their only directive, it is no surprise that Wyvern agents often resort to illegal and perhaps questionable actions to fulfill their one true desire – the ultimate destruction of evil.

Legal Authority

As a private paramilitary organization, Wyvern has no legal power or authority, although they have been used for peacekeeping purposes.

In the two-part "Guardians of the Dawn Spotlight" story Limelight, MidKnight X commented that Wyvern was prohibited from operating inside the United States. The explanation behind that was revealed in "Tales from Paragon City" #4, it was shown that Major Cain Catastrophe, an officer for Wyvern, took it upon himself to murder what he believed was a known Arachnos agent. In truth, however, he murdered a pop superstar who also happened to be the twin sister of that same Arachnos agent. Worse yet, this was done during a live television broadcast of a public event. The incident was a serious blow to Wyvern, and the only way to resolve the matter was to discharge Catastrophe from Wyvern and exile him to the one place he hated being in... the Rogue Isles.

It was also mentioned that Wyvern currently maintains a blockade around the Rogue Isles, supposedly to isolate the Isles from all trade, although the blockade is somewhat porous, especially in recent years with warming relations between the Isles and the United States.

Related Information

(See their Paragon Wiki entry for more information.)