The Lukka Crime Clan (Inspired by the Vigilante's Handbook) (Patreon)

After a long, strange trip, Green Ronin Publishing's Vigilante's Handbook is finally out today!

Inspired by the release of that volume (though systems-agnostic, so not restricted at all to just M&M content), I present the Lukka Crime Clan!

Lukka Crime Clan

The Lukka Crime Clan is designed as a street-level threat for modern settings, but an extensive and pervasive threat that's unlikely to be completely defeated. A single member of the Crime Clan might be able to derail the plans of an occult investigator, vigilante, neophyte vampire, private eye, rover reporter, influencer, or band of kids seeking a mythical lost treasure to save their homes from foreclosure, but is no match for a full superhero, retired special forces commando, or full-blood werewolf. However, even major heroes who have no problem dealing with several members of the Crime Clan at once will have significant difficulty eliminating the Clan as a whole.

As written, many of the Lukka Crime Clan has minor powers. These can be a result of weird genetically-gained powers in a superhero setting, illegal and/or experimental wetware and hardware in a cyberpunk setting, supernatural gifts gained from being descendants of Barabbas in a witches or werewolves game, or just whispered superstitious rumors on the street in a game with no beyond-the-normal elements.

The Lukka Crime Clan is strongly geographically based in the Big City. Originally a branch of a more powerful mafia organization, when that controlling structure collapsed 30-40 years ago, the Lukkas were one of the sub-groups that expanded and seized power in their neighborhood. They have been expanding ever since, and are involved in smash-and-grabs, running numbers, cybercrime, prostitution, drugs, smuggling, identity theft, high-end heists, protection rackets, money laundering, blackmail, bribery, counterfeiting, and anything else the senior Crime Clan members can be convinced offers a good profit-to-risk ratio. On top of their traditional criminal enterprises, the Lukkas have a number of well-established businesses (especially real estate and, separately, high-cash/low-regulation businesses).

Crime Clan Rules

The Lukka Crime Clan has a few rules all members are supposed to operate under, though some push the boundaries more than others.

The Clan's Business is Money. Keep Your Business Out of Clan Business.If you are using Clan resources, calling on Clan allies, or otherwise involving the Clan in something, that something best well make money. There's nothing wrong with personal scores to settle, but those are PERSONAL scores. Keep the Clan out of it.

The Juice Has Got To Be Worth the SqueezeThe Clan doesn't put effort into an operation unless it makes enough money to justify that effort.

You Can Look The Fool. The Clan Can't. The Clan doesn't care about your personal reputation or level of respect... unless that blows back on the Clan as a whole. But if you take actions on behalf of the Clan's stature, you had best hope the Clan's higher-ups agree it was necessary.

Family Can Do Time, But Blood Is Paid With BloodThe Clan won't lift a finger to keep a member out of jail for some reasonable amount of time. But if a member of the Clan is maimed, incapacitated, or killed? The Clan leadership will respond in an eye-for-an-eye manner.

War Is Only Good For Business If You Aren't The One Fighting ItThe Clan doesn't care if the streets run with the blood of the innocent as other factions shoot it out, but does its best not to be in long-term violent conflicts with other noteworthy factions... even if that means compromising some of its other rules.

(The Lukkas don't control the whole city. But they sure control some blocks of it, and can influence events in a much larger area. Art by BreakerMaximus)

Members

Eliza "Lucky" Lukka is the eldest of the Crime Clan. She officially doesn't run things. But her sons do and they never cross mom. Usually, Lucky lets her sons handle various day-to-day operations, and she oversees strategic-level planning.Eliza's lucky. She has no control over it, but if a thing might go in her favor, it usually does. Except with gambling. Much to her annoyance.Eliza has survived numerous attempts to entrap, murder, or blackmail her, earning her significant street cred. She to operate with lots of options in any given situation to maximize her chances of something going her way.Lucky is driven by greed, a desire to be respected, and a protective urge regarding her family... mostly in that order.

James "Juice" Lukka is Lucky Lukka's eldest son, and generally acknowledged as the Clan's primary boss (though officially he shares that duty with brothers Chalk, Rathole, and Big Eleven). Juice can generate taser-level electrical shock on contact, but his nickname comes from the fact he is expert at making criminal allies and corrupting cops, judges, Aldermen, workmen, and so on. Anytime something needs to get done, James "has the juice" to accomplish it.

Charles "Chalk" Lukka was shot to death at age 11. His mother Lucky refused to accept he'd been killed, and kept his body in his bed, in his room, for weeks. His body grew pale, but did not rot. And the bullet wounds slowly healed. Four months after his death, Charles sat up, corpse-white skin, sullen-eyed, and a deep hunger for raw meat. But to everyone's relief, he did not crave human blood or anything weirder. He's taken serious wounds several times since then, and so far always heals, though it often taken him months to do so... though he has also gotten more and more gaunt, quiet, and grim over the years.

Richard "Rathole" Lukka can talk to rats. Sometimes they do what he asks them to. Sometimes they don't. He has a few family lines of rats that he has befriended over the years who are pretty reliable, and who he actively cares for. Many of those rats live with him in his apartment in the basement of his family's oldest tenement.

Leven "Big Eleven" Lukka is a senior bruiser of the Crime Clan. He defeated the minor hero "Ten Man" (who has the strength and durability of ten prize fighters) in a 1-on-1 fight, allowing Leven to claim he has the power of 11 men.Leven cheated. He has no powers, but is a fit and trained killer with actual combat experience.

(While most members of the Lukka Crime Clan go with fashionable suits, or modest casual clothes unlikely to attract attention, Big Eleven has his own sense of style, and everyone in the city just accepts that's who he is, even at formal gatherings, weddings, and funerals. Art by sanchezz111)

Ulvie "Elevator" Lukka is Lucky's niece and the daughter of The Handicapper. Elevator is 7'6" tall, but claims to be 7'8". She is just-behind world record ability in sprinting and power-lifting, and is a trained MMA fighter. She dislikes actually committing crimes, and largely acts as defensive muscle for the family.

Gabin "The Handicapper" Mayone is Lucky Lukka's younger sister who moved to a neighboring city and married into the Mayone drug cartel. Gabin has both a supernatural (though imperfect) sense for what courses of action are likely to go well for her (and which aren't), and a vicious streak when it comes to revenge. Both traits resulted in her being called The Handicapper. Though she does not run the Mayone cartel, she is a major player within it.Gabin sent her daughter the Elevator away after getting a sense it would go very badly to keep her nearby. Gabin and Lucky don't get along, but both of them feel protective toward everyone ELSE in the family. Gabin can be called on for help, and has access to a number of typical cartel thugs, hitmen, and resources, but insists on limiting her help to things she senses won't go badly for her, which PISSES OFF Lucky.

Dagan "Uncle Dragon" Selanov is a fairly distant cousin to the Lukka family, but the blood connection is well-known and well-respected. Uncle Dragon is almost Luck's age, and does not involve himself in crimes anymore, but he DOES loan people money. Mostly, that is done through a chain of Check Cashing/Payday Loan stores (which also sell prepaid cell phones). But for any Lukka in good standing, Uncle Dragon will hand over up to fifty thousand dollars on a signature and an verbal agreement to the terms--30% APR, paid monthly. There is no discussion about what would happen if a Lukka couldn't pay him back, because Lucky would never allow that to happen. She'd cover any short, and then deal with punishing the borrower herself.

Breaker Lukka has said more than once he was doomed by the fact his parents named him 'Breaker,' and jokes his street name is Bennie.No one calls him Bennie.Breaker is a Lukka Cousin, the grandson of one of the 12 brothers and sisters that included Lucky Lukka's father. He has extremely thick leathery pads over his knuckles and bones that are both extremely strong and just a tiny bit elastic. A trained boxer and MMA fighter, he can punch as hard as someone with brass knuckles and, given time, punch through concrete.Break is serving 15-to-life on Federal charges. He runs an extensive gang, the Dead Men, inside the prison and coordinates heavily with the Crime Clan.

Wyatt "The Wyvern" Selanov shares Uncle Dragon's last name, but isn't closely related to that elder Crime Clan scion. However, most people--both inside and outside the Clan--are unsure just how close The Wyvern is to Uncle Dragon, and err on the side of respecting The Wyvern.

Argun "Ackerman" Lukka, a cousin, is a masterclass getaway driver. He claims to have no powers, but can extend his sense of touch through any machine he is touching.He keeps this secret from his family for fear of being pushed into higher-risk crimes.

Sacha Lukka is Ackerman's younger brother. Sacha is truly huge, nearly 8 feet tall and extremely broad-shouldered and barrel-chested. Sacha is x2-x3 stronger than he should be even at peak strength for his size, and is tough enough to be bullet-resistant. But Sacha has no interest in committing crime himself, or getting into fights. He runs an entirely legitimate tow-tuck and repair service, and an adjacent junkyard. He treats the Crime Clan well, but never breaks or even bends the law for them... with the exception of Akerman. Sasha does anything Acjerman needs, which MOSTLY means sourcing and souping up getaway cars, which Sasha always does in his junkyard, never letting them anywhere near his garage.

Paula "Palsgravine" Lukka married into the family, and her husband died in a bank heist. She has no powers but is a brilliant, meticulous, and creative crime planner. And psychopathic.She planned the heist that got her husband killed. No one in the Clan trusts her, exactly, but as long as she is well-rewarded and protected for her work for the family, Palsgravine is happy to make plans for the Clan's operations. And backup plans... and contingencies...

Quentin "Templar" Rousseau is the nephew of both Elise "Lucky" Lukka and Gabin "The Handicapper." He is the son of Elise and Gabin's youngest sister Maddie, who died when Templar was a child. Templar has a natural gift for sword-fighting, and carries an arming sword on his motorcycle, which most people just see as part of his cycle gang persona.Templar runs the Gauls outlaw motorcycle gang, who operate in an area that overlaps both Lucky and The Elevator's home turf. Templar has a soft spot for his two aunts, but can't even admit that around the Gauls. When Lucky and the Handicapper aren't on speaking terms, he sometimes acts as a go-between for them. He does run jobs and make partnerships with both the Lukka Crime Clan and the Mayone Drug Cartel, which the Gauls see as a useful aspect of his leadership.

Whosit claims to be a Lukka cousin... and it's hard to disprove. He can change his appearance to look like entirely different people. But has no control over what he looks like (though it is always within the range of human possibility, and very rarely moves more than a few percentages from his current height/weight/coloration). But he can't ever go back to a previous look. Not even his original one.

Sheela "Shush" Lukka can absorb noise. She can make an area within 20 feet of her totally silent, and cut down decibels by 50% out to another 20 feet of range. But this requires both exertion and focus. She has no taste for fighting, and tries to restrict her activities to those where confrontation is unlikely, often breaking and entering gigs.

Cheylik "Champers" Lukka has hyper-developed jaw muscles, and unbreakable gums, teeth, and skull. He can bite through padlocks, thick chains, handcuffs, and so on. He can also deflect bullets with his forehead, though his SKIN breaks and bleeds and he's generally concussed. He's loyal, quiet, and unambitious, but not at all dumb.

Antonia "Baddie" Lukka is married into the Crime Clan as the wife of Girsan. She is a very attractive, intelligent, charismatic woman who is expert at distracting people and getting them to reveal more than they think they are in a conversation. She is also a fair shot with a firearm, and though she (and Lucky, and Palsgravine) work to keep Baddie away from any direct fighting, she shoots to kill without hesitation or remorse.

Gary "Girsan" Mellows is the youngest Lukka being sent on capers. He can project kinetic force of gunshot-level power from his index fingers.He is a hothead, and wants to be an international assassin.The family wants him to break locks and cash registers.

Ivy "Railbird" Lukka, Rathole's daughter, can see and hear through the eyes and ears of birds within about a mile of her... but she can't control where the birds go or what they look at or even talk to them. She is trying to learn to train and hunt with raptors, but lacks the dedication needed to make much progress. Still in her mid-teens, she is not allowed to go on any illegal caper, but is sometimes allowed to help case joints beforehand.

Amuary "Kicky" Groult isn't related to the Lukka Crime Clan by blood or marriage, but no one in the clan thinks of him as anything but family. He grew up in the building next to Lucky Lukka's, and ran errands for her as a kid. He also set the clock on her DVR, set her smart phone's answer message, and programmed her universal remote. As he got older, Lucky paid for him to attend technical schools focused on computers and digital technology. He is now the unquestioned head of all computer-related concerns for the Crime Clan, and seen as one of Lucky's most trusted, most beloved, most effective Crime Clan members.Kicky sticks to designing and advising on cybercrime, but doesn't run any of those crimes himself. He also oversees computer and communciation security

Mr. Aimeric Bellamy, Esquire, is the Lukka Clan's lawyer, and has been since Lucky's grandfather ran things 60 years ago. In his late 90s, Aimeric doesn't look a day over 70. He is shrewd, ruthless, respected within the legal community, and loyally extends both legal services and advice to the Crime Clan. He is the attorney of record for all the Lukkas. Aimeric employs security from Darkwater Private Military. Beyond carrying messages a lawyer shouldn't, and giving illegal advice, Aimeric and his guards never break the law.

#StreetLevelVillains

#CrimeClan