My DCU - League of Assassins Redesigned

 

Dating back to the earliest days of the Achaemenid Empire, the League of Assassins was created as a secret cabal of the deadliest warriors from the eastern world. Their goal was simple – to prevent invasions from the west and guard their divine Lazarus Pits through careful political sabotage and silent assassinations.

 

Though they have suffered many victories and losses over the centuries, it was under the leadership of the charismatic Ra’s al Ghul that they entered into a new era of greatness. Amassing a following of thousands, Ra’s founded the hidden city of Nanda Parbat and began recruiting the greatest warriors around the world.

 

This new League understood his vision of a greener world, free of the corruption and pollutants brought on by wars made in the name of greed and religion. Unfortunately, Ra’s’ abuse of the Lazarus Pits has weakened his mind and made him a much more tyrannical ruler. Realizing that his time is drawing near and that he can no longer sustain himself on the dwindling resources of the Lazarus Pits, Ra’s must name his successor if the League is to live on.

 

 

The Merlyn family has long been at war with their rivals the Queens, as a result of land disputes and power struggles in Scotland back in the 13th century. Their conflict has gone from feudal swordfights to calculated business finagling, which has bled into the lives of the young Thomas Merlyn and Oliver Queen.

 

Learning the value of deceit and manipulation from his parents, Thomas helped to orchestrate the murder of his rival Oliver Queen’s parents and his subsequent exile onto an island in the north pacific. For years, Thomas surveilled his rival and was dismayed to find him flourishing on the island. To better enact his schemes, Thomas ventured to the island with the intention of torturing Oliver.

 

Instead, Thomas was intercepted by the League of Assassins, who maintained a stronghold on the island. Sensing the fury deep within Thomas, the faction’s leader Lady Shiva recruited the young man into the League and has since personally seen to his transformation into the Dark Archer.

 

Thomas rose through the ranks to become part of Ra’s al Ghul’s inner circle. As the Dark Archer, his specialty is archery and uses this skill to deliver devastatingly precise kills.

 

 

As Ra’s al Ghul’s pet project, Jade Nguyen was taken from her home in Vietnam as a child and was experimented upon by top scientists within the League of Assassins. Using properties from the Lazarus Pits, the scientists were able to manipulate Jade’s genetics. The experiments strengthened her nails and toughened her skin, while she further developed the ability of camouflage and limited teleportation.

 

Pleased with these developments, Ra’s fast-tracked Jade’s training. Given the codename Cheshire, the young assassin earned her stripes by becoming a silent killer, unseen by all of her victims.

 

Having become one of Ra’s’ favourites, Cheshire was sent to personally investigate the arrival of Oliver Queen on one of their islands in the north pacific. She found the one-time playboy to be fascinating and began a passionate love affair with him. Realizing she had compromised her position within the League, Cheshire arranged for Oliver to join their ranks.

 

Things quickly unraveled when she returned to Nanda Parbat. In her absence, Ra’s had found himself a new favourite in the daughter of Cain and Lady Shiva. Furious at having been ousted from Ra’s’ attentions, Cheshire began developing a plan to eliminate her young rival. Before she could act on anything, her relationship with Oliver suffered from irreparable setbacks. The presence of Oliver and Thomas within the League created a schism, fostering distrust between League members. To make matters worse, Oliver had embarked on an affair with the Black Canary.

 

Desperate to regain some semblance of balance within her life, Cheshire made an alliance with Merlyn to oust Oliver and her romantic rival from the League. The duo were successful and, following Cassandra Cain’s departure from the League, this ushered in a new sense of security for them within Ra’s’ empire.

 

 CAIN

 

British-born David Cain is a man drawn to the intrigue and thrill of international assassination. After failing the necessary psychological assessments to join MI-6, Cain operated independently and built a name for himself within the criminal underworld for his murderous talents.

 

When Cain was offered the opportunity to join Ra’s’ League of Assassins, he accepted in spite of his fleeting concerns of losing his freedom. This move opened up a new world of techniques and tools to the Brit, allowing him to become more dangerous than ever. This impressed Ra’s and, for a time, led him to believe that Cain would be the perfect mate for his daughter Talia. Cain was flattered and was eager to bed the young beauty, but she rebuffed his advances and refused to accept her father’s arrangements.

 

Fuming at being rejected, Cain considered leaving the League to save face. That was until he met Lady Shiva. As one of Ra’s’ foreign generals, Shiva had been away from Nanda Parbat for years taking care of their interests in the far east. With her return, Cain sensed an opportunity to gain favour with Ra’s. If he and one of his prized generals could conceive a child, then this would grant him greater control within the League.

 

Sure enough, Cain managed to seduce Shiva and the two enjoyed a passionate affair that led to the conception of their daughter Cassandra. Together the pair trained her in the deadliest arts from the youngest age possible. Despite their efforts, Cassandra would eventually go rogue, leaving Cain’s fate within the League in doubt.

 

 

The origins of the man known as Ra’s al Ghul have been lost to the annals of time. His ancestry is largely unknown and it is presumed he came into power during the time of the Ottoman Empire, though this is mere rumour due to his having outlived anyone who could verify his early history. He is effectively immortal and has been able to prolong his life through the use of the magical Lazarus Pits.

 

His actions have become more pronounced at the onset of the 20th Century, due to the industrial revolution and its effects on the environment.  It was then that the League of Assassins announced themselves as shadowy champions for the preservation of the planet. They made calculated hits against royalty, politicians and businessmen, all under the orders of Ra’s al Ghul.

 

With the number of Lazarus Pits remaining on Earth dwindling and his health deteriorating, Ra’s has become more focused on the domestic in recent years. With two daughters to his name, one being illegitimate, he’s become obsessed with ensuring the survival of his legacy. After many attempts to wed his legitimate daughter off to suitable mates, Talia left the League out of frustrating leaving Ra’s with the task of either convincing her to return or seeking out the daughter he abandoned long ago.

 

 

Sandra Wu-San is known as the most dangerous woman on Earth. She is a living weapon who has trained since childhood to be the deadliest assassin in the world. Born in China, Sandra was abandoned by her parents after the birth of her younger brother. Her perseverance proved almost inhuman as she survived off the lands and traversed the globe in search of purpose.

 

By the time she reached adulthood, Sandra had trained under the most powerful martial artists and mystics in the world. She was so terrifying that locals dubbed her Lady Shiva when she was travelling in India.

 

It was with this reputation that she came to the League of Assassins. Her skills and instincts proved so great that Ra’s almost immediately assigned the rank of General to her, granting her total control over all of their factions and assets in the east. Though many have seen this as an act of faith or trust, those within Ra’s’ inner circle recognize it was a move of appeasement out of fear that Shiva may usurp his power.

 

More recently, Shiva has become concerned with passing on her knowledge to future generations. This led her towards taking Dinah Lance under her wing, dubbing the young woman the Black Canary, and was the primary reason she conceived a daughter with Cain (though she allows him to believe it was a result of his seduction). With both her daughter and Canary’s departures from the League, Shiva has begun to consider expanding her hold beyond the far east.

 

 

Grad student Pamela Isley felt like the luckiest girl in the world when her professor, Jason Woodrue, invited her on a scientific trip to the Middle East to study rare plants. This gave the aspiring botanist an opportunity to see plantlife many others would never get the chance to see. Unfortunately, her enthusiasm was cut short when she realized the trip was an elaborate scheme set up by Woodrue in an attempt to woo the impressionable student.

 

Though she was initially able to evade his attack, Pamela fled into the desert where she became lost and faced the risk of succumbing to the terrain. Thankfully, she was found by a teenage Talia al Ghul while on a daytrip with her security detail. She brought the student back to Nanda Parbat to be rehabilitated.

 

With their secret exposed to Pamela, Ra’s made the decision to transform her into an asset. He had his scientists and mystics alter her DNA and genetics to become a plant-like warrior, able to commune with and control the elements of the earth.

 

Now dubbed Poison Ivy, Ra’s unleashed the deadly beauty on the world in a series of strategic missions in the west.  Her continuous successes eventually led towards her promotion to being one of his generals, gaining control of his operations in Western Europe and North America.

 

 

Ra’s al Ghul and his inner circle are forced into uneasy alliances with one another. They each are faithful to their leader, but they also desire to have more control than they already do. Merlyn and Cheshire are the youngest in the group, as evidenced by their unpredictable behavior and penchant to act on their desires. They are also the closest, due to their shared hatred for Green Arrow and Black Canary (respectively). However, this friendship is strictly platonic. This dynamic is mirrored in a way by Lady Shiva and David Cain. They have a mini alliance due to their past relationship that led to the birth of their daughter, though David continues to believe it was an instance of passion where Shiva believes it to be an instance of necessity. Cain is more ambivalent towards the inner workings of the League and is mostly happy to work under Ra’s al Ghul, whereas Shiva has come to desire more. Furthermore, Shiva has little trust for Cheshire and would be glad to see her removed from the League. Poison Ivy is the wildcard of the bunch. She’s impossible to read and appears to have an unwavering dedication to Ra’s and his ideals. The rest within the inner circle fear her due to her inhuman qualities and also due to her closeness with their leader. As for Ra’s himself, he trusts no one save for his precious Poison Ivy. He recognizes he created a monster in Cheshire and sees nothing but ambition and rage behind Merlyn’s motivations. He knows Cain is far too fickle, while he’s become more despondent over Shiva due to her failures to keep her daughter and Black Canary within their ranks. 

SHOUT-OUTS

Cheshire and Lady Shiva were characters you voted for in a series of polls I conducted. As such, I wanted to personally give shout-outs to all of you who voted for these ladies. So, I'd specifically like to say a big thank you to Andster11, Steelpoodle, Curia-DD, Weighrightthere, Leumasy, ImdaBatman, K-Jounin, ParisNJones, iliowahine, NSM-superherofan, s-carter, AzureVirgo and Kmon13. 

As always, I love hearing from you all so please feel free to leave a comment below to let me know what you think of this piece and of the characters in it.

Enjoy!