The Matriarchy

The Matriarchy

(The goal of this is basically trying to make them less “Straw-Women” and more an accurate reflection of the flaws but relatively sympathetic goals of social justice, while at the same time being more interesting/fun)

Despite what others may think, the Matriarchy is a lot less united in goals or actually organized than one’d think. They’re more a fractious association of friends in a “We are struggling together” sense, and despite what their leader has stated publicly about generally “Taking over the city,” their agenda is vague and less about actually running shit and more about making the bad shit stop.

Because, each of them came from a different dystopian world, and each of them has a different thing they’re absolutely terrified of happening/taking over in full and a feeling they have to not only nip it in the bud from both the hero and villain sides, and there’s a general feeling that crime is the best means of doing so. Though they do at least have some principles of no first blood; no personal property damage (Public and private/corporate property is a different story however), and no crimes that involve capitalist exploitation (IE, they sell a loooooot of tools for making soft drugs, even the sci-fi kind, and tools for media piracy)

They’re less “pure evil” and more a nuisance, and sometimes reluctant allies, at best; and they’re right shockingly often in terms of who they fight. (In other words, they’re more anti-villains at worst), and also despite the rumors they don’t really have brainwashing tech. That’s just kind of a joke that got out of hand in terms of public perception, and disputes over political actions tend to be less smashing-o-dissent and more shouting matches. Which is probably yet another reason “efficiency” is not one of their strongest suits.

(Showing that the whole “SJWs” as you call them are less a conspiracy/police and more a disorganized group with common but also often clashing goals and wildly different beliefs on how to get there)

The Matriarch’s world is mostly-unknown, because it has been essentially sealed off from the rest of the multiverse because of how hideous conditions are there. From what little we know, mostly from the Matirarch herself in her entertainingly-kistchy comic-book “tracts” she distributes obnoxiously widely, the place is essentially a mix between The Handmaiden’s Tale and the Imperium of Man, a hirearchial nightmare that is the result of every reactionary trend taken to its worst possible extent and then given supertech to sustain itself long beyond when it should.

She was one of the few freedom fighters that almost succeeded, though stories vary on whether she ended up in Sargasso because she lost and was exiled or because she realized she couldn’t do it without resources from elsewhere. She is of course loud with an acidic personality and a reputation as a killjoy, but she is surprisingly kind to those who have suffered; even to cis men on occasion; surprisingly accepting if you get past the acidic personality, and weirdly supportive of struggling artists from marginalized groups. A comical amount of artists have had their profiles boosted by her, which even her non-defenders grudgingly admit is a good thing. In fact, her trademark mace comes from the early works of one of the city’s lady weapon designers.

(Note, she’s based on the fact that the most hardline elements in mainstream SJ movements tend to have experienced the very worst of the opposite and want to prevent others from getting hurt by such)

Matchmaker is from a world where love is essentially dead, replaced by power games and social obligations, like a mix between Ayn Rand and the worst matchmaking excesses of the royals of Europe. She essentially ended up as a magical girl for that world, to try and bring love to it, but was interfered with in what could have been her greatest triumph by being sucked into the Sargasso for an unknown reason.

She’s bright and bubbly; and almost obnoxiously Polyanna-levels of optimistic, and despite what others rumor, her “love inducement” powers cannot add anything that wasn’t already there, but rather bring out the loves deep in their soul. It’d be useful if it wasn’t A) Relatively temporary and B) Prone to going hilariously wrong. But, it’s useful at moments, and some others have even had a change of heart due to their temporary experiences.

(I just think the idea of a goofy Magical-Girl-cupid leftist is funny, and also deconstructing the idea that it’s about trying to “make people be who they’re not” and making it more “let people be more honest with themselves/allow writers to try more interesting things with characters’ attractions” like the folks you mentioned actually seem to be)

Freeze Peach, real name Peach Adorno; comes from a world where the Nazis won, and they solidified their reign via media, with Mojoworld-levels of bread-and-circuses and propaganda mixing and mingling, and in fact she ended up stuck on Sargasso trying to find a secret broadcasting satellite for said Naziworld todestroy it.

She mostly tends to “no-platform” others via messing with electrical equipment and via. She tends to be stubborn and rigid to an obnoxious degree; often unwlling to give the benefit of the doubt when one might deserve it or to assimilate new information that might allow for tactical/strategic modification,  , and tends to chill relations between the matriarchy and those who might be sympathetic to them more often than is useful.

But, on the plus side, this also means she has a finely-tuned detector for bullshit and lies, to the point where it’s speculated that she might have “lie detection” as an ability unbeknownst to her, and a strong set of principles for which she’s willing to stand even when supervillains of a far worse caliber try to do “the enemy of my enemy” shenanigans.

(She’s based on why the leftist issues with the purity of “free speech” and the strategy of no-platform-ing evolved,  and while I cannot stand a lot of the classism in Adorno/Horkehimer’s points about mass culture/speech, there’s a reason why their views developed how they did)

 Hyperstar and Nevermore’s deal are essentially being created as the top-tier of powered super-enforcers for a reactionary regime, perhaps even a precursor to another universe’s version of the hellshow the Matriarch came from, and they ended up running away in the hopes of collapsing said regime, after Nevermore found out what it was doing to her sister.

Nevermore has never been seen outside of her suit, essentially being a pure energy being contained in the grid, and she’s often the most level-headed of the group; the “voice of reason” if you will that keeps them from both breaking up and going truly evil, and even the Matriarch admits she’s vital in that regard.

Hyperstar did leave, but oddly enough they seem to respect that, perhaps because of the fact that fighting the patriarchy is not the best for one’s mental health and Hyperstar with her grotesque flesh-warping bio-powers (Think a friendlier Eve from Parasite Eve) has ended up saddled with several disassociative identities made from said flesh-warping powers thanks to various traumas; and the fact that said identities tend to be activated by odd and depressingly common PTSD-triggers

(Both trying to help worldbuild/give the team a “heart”, and also trying to integrate the correct definition of Trigger, which doesn’t mean “politically annoyed” but rather “thing that sets of PTSD,” like the beginning of First Blood. It bugs the christ out of me when people use that word wrong, given that I’ve heard a fair few PTSD survivors say that makes it harder to talk about their issues)

Their “minions” for lack of a better term tend to be whatever cheapo mass-produced golems; robots; bio-blobs they can buy in bulk and dress up in whatever costume bits they can afford. There has been some experimentation though, with extra bulk parts, in trying to make more members of the team using  the cast-away remnants of supervillainous power...