Some villainy is not embodied by a single person - some organisations are inherently villainous in their culture and practices, regardless of whoever is nominally in charge. While certain leaders may be more or less effective, or steer that villainy in different directions, the organisation as a whole is rotten to the core regardless of who is nominally in charge.

This is not a snake that can be defeated simply by cutting off the head.

Organised villainy tends to be strongly hierarchical - with a small number of people in charge, layers of middle management, handlers or similar, and lower-level Underlings below. The organisation does not care about the individual, at any level - each member is simply a replaceable cog in a larger machine, and those who succeed within the structure are often those who can sabotage others who might replace them.

Their villainy is often cold - mass murder authorised as being a cost worth the potential benefit, through a chain of command where no one bears the full brunt of responsibility.

Their external image is generally calculated - whether that's a peppy and fashionable front to paint a sheen on their terrible actions, or a crafted show of force and threat to ward off competition. This isn't the style and presentation you might see from a Egomaniac or a High Fantasy Villain, but something more deliberate, refined through focus groups and PR departments or discussed in smoke-filled backrooms to present the right image to the world.

Central is not the biggest city in the world, but its influence far exceeds its size. The public view of Central is a city of chrome skyscrapers, bedecked in bright advertisements for anything you might want - to draw the eyes away from the darker residential districts that sit in their shade.

Any company who considers themselves a global presence will have an office here - Central is a place where deals get done, where boardrooms and backrooms murmur with the sounds of trade and efficiency. Those company executives mostly commute in from elsewhere, as the residential areas in Central itself are much less pleasant - dark, dank housing packed in as tightly as needed to supply workers to meet the voracious demands of the upper city, with gangs providing the only order and opportunity for many.

The people of Central tend to be ambitious - the corporations present an ideal of riches and glamor earned through serving as an employee, and the gangs present themselves as the best option for those who can't secure a corporate job to carve out a slice of their wealth. Advancement is cutthroat - corporate culture making colleagues compete against each other for the best positions, and criminal enterprises often working on a very literal culture of “dead man's boots”. It's not uncommon for the organisations to poach the best members from other organisations (legitimate or criminal) - either through corporate headhunting or kidnap.

“A healthy mind in a healthy body.”

Immortas offer exactly what their name suggests - to any customer with enough money, the promise of eternal life. This is achieved through what they refer to as a “total body transplant” - inserting the customer’s brain into a donor body (typically a healthier model in its 20s or 30s, procured to the customer’s specifications), with ongoing agreements to provide additional bodies as required, provided that the customer’s brain can be recovered.

While these are described as “ethically sourced”, the truth is anything but - kidnap and murder of “donors” is common practice, either from the general population, or from “repossessions” of bodies from those who have failed to keep up payment on their plans. These “repossessions” are facilitated by Immortas having the ability to override control of the donor bodies, resulting in their former customers walking themselves to the nearest RED¹⁾ clinic with a hand over their mouth to silence their complaints.

• The Ebony Spider - A criminal syndicate, their main business is in narcotics production and smuggling, with enforcers who help establish their control over areas of the undercity to ensure no interruption to their business.
• Discrete Enabling - A mercenary company, with a promise to provide any service, no matter the moral implications, for a suitable price - or a favour owed in future, which they can use to enable services for others.
• Electronic Liberation Collective - A group united by a belief that all computer systems deserve personal rights and freedoms, and a willingness to commit atrocities to ensure their “liberation”.

• Hydra (Marvel comics)
• Shinra (Final Fantasy 7)
• The Mafia (The Godfather and various other gangster movies)
• Weyland-Yutani (Alien)
• Umbrella Corp (Resident Evil)
• The Hand (Marvel comics)
• Team Rocket (Pokemon)
• Galactic Empire/First Order (Star Wars)
• SPECTRE (James Bond)
• The Borg (Star Trek)