Shadow Fists
Encyclopedia
The Shadow Fist Society is the name of a fictional criminal organization in the Wild Cards
book series. They were created by John J. Miller
, and featured in many of his Wild Cards short stories, but have also been used by other Wild Cards writers. The Shadow Fists are composed of three major gangs: the Immaculate Egrets, the Werewolves, and the Jumpers. United under one leader and backed by powerful Aces, the Shadow Fists oppose and eventually overpower the Italian Mafia, becoming the preeminent criminal syndicate of the Wild Cards universe.
, who poses as a legitimate businessman, owning a chain of cleaners, restaurants and other businesses. A native of Vietnam
, Kien rose from the ambitious son of simple shopkeeper to the rank of General in the ARVN. Selling information to the Viet Cong, Kien first attracted the enmity of Daniel Brennan, who continued to hound Kien years later as the vigilante Yeoman
. Kien prefers to operate only through his trusted lieutenants, thus maintaining the public illusion that his hands are clean. The reptilian joker Wyrm acts as his personal bodyguard. Gaining access to the brain-switching powers of the Jumpers
, Kien fakes his own death in order to flush out traitors within his organization.
based group specializing in drugs and extortion. Known by a variety of street names including the Snowboys, and Snowbirds, the Egrets begin exerting pressure on the neighboring Jokertown
as they move in on extortion rackets operated by the Italian Mafia. Most members of this gang can be identified by the snow white egret
depicted on the backs of their jackets. The Egrets are run by Kien's sister Sui Ma ("Little Mother")-- like Kien, her real name is unknown - - and operate out of various Chinese restaurants such as the Twisted Dragon. The aces Lazy Dragon
and Fadeout act as their super-powered spies and enforcers.
, they are too conspicuous to be useful. Their leader is called Warlock, a joker/ace who claims to have the power to curse people to die; actually, he is a precognitive who can foresee the death of another, only "cursing" those who he knows will die soon. Another high-ranking Werewolf is the Whisperer, whose body generates all manner of infectious disease, making him the perfect assassin. The Werewolves all wear masks of celebrities' faces, changing every few days to match whatever the Warlock is wearing. Among some of the masks mentioned are two fictional politicians, Rev. Leo Barnett and Sen. Gregg Hartmann
, and real life celebrity Michael Jackson
. Prior to the Werewolves association with the Shadow Fists the major gang operating in Jokertown was the Demon Princes. The Werewolves primarily operate out of an abandoned hotel in Jokertown. Warlock's study is decorated with various occult paraphernalia and a large portrait of Aleister Crowley
.
series. A group of mostly teenage criminals with the ability to swap bodies with other people, the Jumpers are created by Edward St. John Latham
, a prominent attorney and secretly a major operative of crime lord Kien Phuc
. When Latham is exposed to a new strain of Wild Card virus spread by The Sleeper
in his "Typhoid Croyd" phase, he becomes the Ace called Prime, leader of the Jumpers. Possessing no innate powers in and of himself, Latham could, through sexual contact with others, spread a stable mutation of the virus that endows the recipient with the power to exchange bodies with another. The victims of this power are typically stunned by the psychic transfer and lay in a state of semi-conscious as the jumper runs amok in their stolen body. The jumpers operate out of the Rox (a street name for Ellis Island
), protected by Bloat's Wall
.
, drug designer Quinn the Eskimo, a minor ace mercenary named Christian, Tachyon's
grandson Blaise Andrieux
during his brief stint as leader of the Jumpers
, and a small army of crooked cops and politicians who are on the take. The Cannibal Headhunters, a smaller gang of criminals whose members could be easily identified by ritual scars and facial piercings, were absorbed by other, more powerful gangs in the Shadow Fist food chain following the death of their leader, a teleporting ace known as Scar, at the hands of the vigilante Yeoman
. The joker revolutionary Bloat
was associated with the Shadow Fists, through the Jumper branch of the organization, making his own bid for power after the Fists were finally dismantled in Jokertown Shuffle, the ninth book of the series.
Wild Cards
Wild Cards is a science fiction and superhero anthology series set in a shared universe. The series was created by a group of New Mexico science fiction authors, but it is mostly pulled together and edited by best-selling author George R. R. Martin with assistance by Melinda Snodgrass, also a...
book series. They were created by John J. Miller
John J. Miller (author)
John Joseph Miller is a science fiction author known for his work in the Wild Cards shared universe. He has published four novels, as well as a handful of short stories. He also wrote GURPS Wild Cards, a supplement for the GURPS role-playing system published in 1989...
, and featured in many of his Wild Cards short stories, but have also been used by other Wild Cards writers. The Shadow Fists are composed of three major gangs: the Immaculate Egrets, the Werewolves, and the Jumpers. United under one leader and backed by powerful Aces, the Shadow Fists oppose and eventually overpower the Italian Mafia, becoming the preeminent criminal syndicate of the Wild Cards universe.
Kien Phuc
The Shadow Fists are the umbrella organization of millionaire Kien PhucKien Phuc (Wild Cards)
for the historical figure see Kien PhucKien Phuc is a fictional criminal from the Wild Cards anthology book series. He was created by John J. Miller in the short story Comes a Hunter, in the first book of the series, Wild Cards....
, who poses as a legitimate businessman, owning a chain of cleaners, restaurants and other businesses. A native of Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
, Kien rose from the ambitious son of simple shopkeeper to the rank of General in the ARVN. Selling information to the Viet Cong, Kien first attracted the enmity of Daniel Brennan, who continued to hound Kien years later as the vigilante Yeoman
Yeoman (Wild Cards)
Yeoman is a fictional character in the Wild Cards series of books. He was created by John J. Miller and first appeared in the short story Comes a Hunter in the first book of the series...
. Kien prefers to operate only through his trusted lieutenants, thus maintaining the public illusion that his hands are clean. The reptilian joker Wyrm acts as his personal bodyguard. Gaining access to the brain-switching powers of the Jumpers
Jumpers (Wild Cards)
The Jumpers are a fictional criminal gang in the Wild Cards anthology series, first appearing in One-Eyed Jacks, the eighth book of the series. Various jumpers continue to play a major role in the next three volumes of the series, Jokertown Shuffle, Double Solitaire, and Dealer's Choice...
, Kien fakes his own death in order to flush out traitors within his organization.
Immaculate Egrets
Kien's major organized crime operation is called the Immaculate Egrets, a mostly ChinatownChinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
based group specializing in drugs and extortion. Known by a variety of street names including the Snowboys, and Snowbirds, the Egrets begin exerting pressure on the neighboring Jokertown
Jokertown
Jokertown is a fictional neighborhood in the Wild Cards anthology series.In the Wild Cards universe, it is an area of Manhattan. After the Wild Card virus was released over New York in 1946, many Jokers, those deformed by the virus, began to filter into this largely abandoned area, which was nearly...
as they move in on extortion rackets operated by the Italian Mafia. Most members of this gang can be identified by the snow white egret
Egret
An egret is any of several herons, most of which are white or buff, and several of which develop fine plumes during the breeding season. Many egrets are members of the genera Egretta or Ardea which contain other species named as herons rather than egrets...
depicted on the backs of their jackets. The Egrets are run by Kien's sister Sui Ma ("Little Mother")-- like Kien, her real name is unknown - - and operate out of various Chinese restaurants such as the Twisted Dragon. The aces Lazy Dragon
Lazy Dragon
Lazy Dragon is a fictional character from the Wild Cards anthology series. He was created by William F. Wu.Lazy Dragon is an Ace with the power to project his mind into inanimate objects, with the limitation that they must be shaped like animals, and he must make them by hand...
and Fadeout act as their super-powered spies and enforcers.
Werewolves
The joker gang called the Werewolves is also a branch of the Shadow Fists. This group has power on their own turf, but outside of JokertownJokertown
Jokertown is a fictional neighborhood in the Wild Cards anthology series.In the Wild Cards universe, it is an area of Manhattan. After the Wild Card virus was released over New York in 1946, many Jokers, those deformed by the virus, began to filter into this largely abandoned area, which was nearly...
, they are too conspicuous to be useful. Their leader is called Warlock, a joker/ace who claims to have the power to curse people to die; actually, he is a precognitive who can foresee the death of another, only "cursing" those who he knows will die soon. Another high-ranking Werewolf is the Whisperer, whose body generates all manner of infectious disease, making him the perfect assassin. The Werewolves all wear masks of celebrities' faces, changing every few days to match whatever the Warlock is wearing. Among some of the masks mentioned are two fictional politicians, Rev. Leo Barnett and Sen. Gregg Hartmann
Puppetman
Puppetman, the alias of Gregg Hartmann, a U.S. Senator and Candidate for the Democratic Presidential Nomination, is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books. He first appeared in the story "Strings" by Stephen Leigh in the first book in the series, and plays an important role in...
, and real life celebrity Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
. Prior to the Werewolves association with the Shadow Fists the major gang operating in Jokertown was the Demon Princes. The Werewolves primarily operate out of an abandoned hotel in Jokertown. Warlock's study is decorated with various occult paraphernalia and a large portrait of Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
.
Jumpers
Forming the third arm of the Shadow Fist organization, the Jumpers first appear in One-Eyed Jacks, the eighth book of the Wild CardsWild Cards
Wild Cards is a science fiction and superhero anthology series set in a shared universe. The series was created by a group of New Mexico science fiction authors, but it is mostly pulled together and edited by best-selling author George R. R. Martin with assistance by Melinda Snodgrass, also a...
series. A group of mostly teenage criminals with the ability to swap bodies with other people, the Jumpers are created by Edward St. John Latham
Loophole (Wild Cards)
Loophole is a character from the Wild Cards series of books, first appearing in volume III, "Jokers Wild." Senior partner in one of New York's most successful law firms, St. John Latham represented a family of companies with their headquarters in the Bahamas and subsidiaries including CariBank and...
, a prominent attorney and secretly a major operative of crime lord Kien Phuc
Kien Phuc (Wild Cards)
for the historical figure see Kien PhucKien Phuc is a fictional criminal from the Wild Cards anthology book series. He was created by John J. Miller in the short story Comes a Hunter, in the first book of the series, Wild Cards....
. When Latham is exposed to a new strain of Wild Card virus spread by The Sleeper
The Sleeper (Wild Cards)
The Sleeper is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books.In September 1946, ninth-grader Croyd Crenson, native of an unspecified borough of the New York City metropolitan area, was one of the first victims of the alien virus dubbed "the Wild Card", which generates random mutations...
in his "Typhoid Croyd" phase, he becomes the Ace called Prime, leader of the Jumpers. Possessing no innate powers in and of himself, Latham could, through sexual contact with others, spread a stable mutation of the virus that endows the recipient with the power to exchange bodies with another. The victims of this power are typically stunned by the psychic transfer and lay in a state of semi-conscious as the jumper runs amok in their stolen body. The jumpers operate out of the Rox (a street name for Ellis Island
Ellis Island
Ellis Island in New York Harbor was the gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States. It was the nation's busiest immigrant inspection station from 1892 until 1954. The island was greatly expanded with landfill between 1892 and 1934. Before that, the much smaller original island was the...
), protected by Bloat's Wall
Bloat (Wild Cards)
Bloat is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books. He was created for the books by Stephen Leigh. An adolescent boy transformed by the Wild Card virus into a monstrous Joker, he resembles a tiny human torso atop a massively bloated sluglike body...
.
Other operatives
Others who work for Kien include a reptilian joker called Wyrm who can track people by their taste, the brain-eating ace DeadheadDeadhead (Wild Cards)
Deadhead is a fictional character from the Wild Cards book series. He is an Ace, someone granted super-powers by exposure to the Wild Card virus, but the disturbing nature of his power has driven him nearly insane....
, drug designer Quinn the Eskimo, a minor ace mercenary named Christian, Tachyon's
Dr. Tachyon
Dr. Tachyon is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. He was created for the books by Melinda M. Snodgrass. Tachyon is a geneticist from the planet Takis, whose people naturally developed various telepathic powers...
grandson Blaise Andrieux
Blaise Jeannot Andrieux
Blaise Andrieux is a character from the Wild Cards series of books. Blaise is Dr. Tachyon's grandson. Blaise's mother was Gisele Bacourt, who was Tachyon's illegitimate daughter. He was raised by a terrorist group who taught him to use his mind powers to kill...
during his brief stint as leader of the Jumpers
Jumpers (Wild Cards)
The Jumpers are a fictional criminal gang in the Wild Cards anthology series, first appearing in One-Eyed Jacks, the eighth book of the series. Various jumpers continue to play a major role in the next three volumes of the series, Jokertown Shuffle, Double Solitaire, and Dealer's Choice...
, and a small army of crooked cops and politicians who are on the take. The Cannibal Headhunters, a smaller gang of criminals whose members could be easily identified by ritual scars and facial piercings, were absorbed by other, more powerful gangs in the Shadow Fist food chain following the death of their leader, a teleporting ace known as Scar, at the hands of the vigilante Yeoman
Yeoman (Wild Cards)
Yeoman is a fictional character in the Wild Cards series of books. He was created by John J. Miller and first appeared in the short story Comes a Hunter in the first book of the series...
. The joker revolutionary Bloat
Bloat (Wild Cards)
Bloat is a fictional character from the Wild Cards series of books. He was created for the books by Stephen Leigh. An adolescent boy transformed by the Wild Card virus into a monstrous Joker, he resembles a tiny human torso atop a massively bloated sluglike body...
was associated with the Shadow Fists, through the Jumper branch of the organization, making his own bid for power after the Fists were finally dismantled in Jokertown Shuffle, the ninth book of the series.