The Hermitcraft Heroes & Villains AU (HHVAU)
Heyyy it's me Ben back with another hermitcraft au I'll never write but could talk endlessly about! This time we hit the ground running with a classic (or not-so-classic) heroes and villains AU :D
TW/CW: hermitshipping, medical gore (non-graphic description), implied child abuse, mind control, cults, aliens & fungi/mould, alchohol/drinking
Disclaimer: I've read quite a few hero/villain stories in this fandom, so some of these ideas might not be super original! Thank you to the lovely folks on discord who helped with this!
Premise: In the city of Blackstone, heroes and villains take to the streets to fight, engaged in a constant battle for control. The Hero Bureau, overseen by the mysterious Watchers, takes in powerful individuals and trains them to protect the city, while villains and vigilantes are free agents.
Despite the fighting, most heroes and villains have a few key rules they try not to break. Revealing someone's secret identity is a total no-go. Even upon arrest villains' identities are often kept quiet. The city must remain standing, also, so most villains do not aim for utter destruction. It is a careful balancing act of an ecosystem, some may say, that keeps the city afloat.
Pssst. Send me asks to get writing snippets. More (long descriptions) under the cut!
Villains
Grian "The Mother Spore"
Powers: flight, mind control, mycelium spores, mushroom & mould manipulation
Started as an ordinary bird hybrid and architecture student before becoming infected, chosen to be The Mother Spore for an infectious and invasive alien fungus
The mycelium controls his mind, though he is lucid, it simply convinced him to protect and spread the fungus to take over the world, and now he acts on that one goal
Used to be very driven and have a big plan for his life, has no personal goal now, using his creativity and energy entirely to provide for the spores
Lives in a secret hideout in a dense forest outside the city, has grown mushrooms and mycelium around the base to keep unwanted people out
Tends to target small isolated towns, wiping them out overnight
Some have called him the 'angel of death' because of his wings and general death-omen vibes
Kills people to use their bodies as mushroom food
Can control people's minds by connecting them to the mycelium network, an alien hivemind
Occasionally becomes lucid and is afraid of what he has become
Still yearns for something, some kind of human connection, despite his thoughts being basically erased and replaced by the mycelium, it's complicated
Fun fact: as a civilian and in his personal life, Grian uses he/him, but as The Mother Spore, she uses she/her
Ren "The Dog" / "The King"
Powers: shapeshifting, enhanced smell, sight, strength and hearing
Former member of the Hero Bureau, turned villain
A dog hybrid with the unique ability to shift his form into a huge wolf creature
Now works with villain GOAT (Doc)
Mostly focussed on kicking butt and doing thievery but also intent on stopping the Hero Bureau and associated people, big on revenge
Not a fan of The Mother Spore but content on leaving her alone so long as she doesn't descend onto the city (he values his life)
Shifted from dog theming to king theming when going from hero to villain, hates being called ‘dog’ or anything like that
Monster form can go out of control / feral and hurt people
Monster form side-effect of killing his energy + damaging his ‘human’ form
Fun fact: he likes shiny things and good music, and has a collection of (mostly stolen or thrifted) trinkets in his house
Doc "GOAT"
Powers: he's just really good with technology and genetics… like, weirdly good, everything else is part of his own experiments
Unethically experimented on himself, stole expensive tech from high-security labs
Comprehensive list of Doc’s unethical self-experiments:
Hybridization (goat) - an illegal practice used to gain hybrid features, by messing with his own genetics using new tech to give himself goat horns, patches of fur, goat ears + hoof hands
Cybernetics (failed) - tried to attach cybernetic modifications but his body rejected them and caused them to malfunction badly, paralysing his arm and half of his face
Cybernetics - replaced his paralysed arm + parts of his face with new cybernetics now created from materials his body wouldn’t reject, the tech is woven into his body making the two inseparable and dangerous to damage
Chemical Alteration (failed) - drank a serum meant to make him stronger but it failed, instead colouring his fur green
Hybridization & Cybernetics (butterfly) - gave himself part-organic part-cybernetic butterfly wings, because he wanted to fly and this was the most sensible solution
Started out as a curious science nerd, became a criminal through illegal experimentation, resorted quickly to stealing tech to aid his curiosity and further experiment on himself
Once labelled a criminal he turned to more high-profile crime, revelling in being a ‘supervillain’
Refers to a ‘Hivemind’ occasionally when conducting experiments, assumed to be something to do with his cybernetics- an inherent mental connection to the internet due to the cybernetics connected to his brain?
Hates HotGuy. Wants to know HotGuy’s secret identity so bad. Actually a little bit obsessed with HotGuy. Hey man why have you got all that HotGuy merch.
Ren is his bestie / partner in crime / actual partner.
Swears HotGuy started this weird nemesis thing they have going on. Will not elaborate when asked.
Actively wants to murder The Mother Spore. Because she's annoying and gross.
Fun fact: he does not get along well with other scientists. Kind of like a really hostile cat.
Cub
Powers: blessing of the Vex
He was raised in a cult which worshipped the Vex, kidnapped as a baby with his parents murdered
Raised alongside Scar, who defended him a lot as a child- they had a close relationship but it never went anywhere before Scar left at 17
The cult was very manipulative and unethical, with Cub killing his first person at age 18- he was outspokenly against it as a child but grew to accept the cult
The cult disbanded when he was around 30 (ish) after the supposed 'day of blessing' from the Vex passed with no apparent payoff- Cub fled the following chaos and ended up in Blackstone
With a lot of skewed morals and fascination with the human body, he begins tricking or straight up kidnapping civilians in order to test the limits of their lives. He approaches this all quite clinically, cutting people up and experimenting on them
Fun fact: Cub is blessed by the Vex, it just doesn't 'show'- he has an array of magical qualities that make his work and life easier without him realising
Cleo "Zombie"
Powers: zombie curse
Former powerless hero
She was once best friends with Pearl when they were in the Hero Bureau together, but everything changed after Pearl accidentally read her future and told her
Pearl insisted that Cleo would be cursed, and begged them not to go out on a mission, but this only angered Cleo, hating the fact that their future might be set in stone
To change the road of fate, Cleo sought out the curse themself, only to fulfil the prophecy and become cursed
In a last, desperate attempt at getting one up over Pearl, she publicly revealed her secret identity, forcing Pearl to live in fear
Now a minor villain, mostly just set on taking down the heroes out of spite
Fun fact: besties with Joe Hills, occasionally guts him for fun (this will make more sense later...)
Tango “Architect” / “Baffler” / “Dungeon Master”
Powers: spacebubble creation, magical architecture, games!
He just likes to play silly games!
The silly games in question are murder games, he creates them in pocket universes and picks civilians up from the street to play
They die a lot
Secretly friends with Zedaph and Impulse, who run through his games (death-free) for fun
Generally seen as a poor excuse for a villain, being referred to as the "Baffler", which he hates
Fun fact: can make beasts. Keeps making beasts.
Heroes
Scar "HotGuy"
Powers: … he can shoot arrows real good and has a cool utility belt, never-ending optimism
He's HotGuy!
Your friendly neighbourhood superhero (if, by neighbourhood, you mean city and surrounding districts)
Is a vigilante and not affiliated with the Hero Bureau but works with them a lot
Has a gay thing going on with Grian despite all the spores…
Has another gay thing going on with Cub
Yet another gay thing going on with Mumbo
Please stop trying to kiss villains, Scar
Tragic backstory: was raised in the Vex cult alongside Cub, who he became friends with very quickly. He stopped the cultists from hurting Cub, receiving his scars in the process. Cub also protected him, refusing to allow the cultists to sacrifice him once his disabilities made themselves known, but Scar left the cult and became a hero at age 18 after refusing to sacrifice someone
Does not trust the Hero Bureau because of the cult stuff
He’s very popular with civilians, but nobody knows his secret identity- he is scared of being tracked down or stopped by government / local authorities because of his vigilante nonsense
Fun fact: he is an ambulatory wheelchair user who also utilises crutches and leg braces on the battlefield, allowing him to be stealthy and quick when it matters most at the cost of his energy and pain in his personal life
Pearl “Moonwitch”
Powers: can see someone’s future by touching their skin- most powerfully during the new, full, and half stages of the moon phase, trained in combat, debated ability to change the future / contact otherworldly fate beings
Part of the Hero Bureau, one of the higher ranked heroes
Very good with animals, to the extent that people thought she had animal powers
Her hero persona started out as a very goth / witchy type, but she switched to a more cozy theme when she became more popular
Doesn’t often go into the field to fight villains, but is sometimes needed for backup- usually she stays at the Bureau and uses her powers on captured villains and occasionally on heroes before they go out on missions
Her identity is no secret, unfortunately revealed in a pretty dramatic fight with Cleo which led to Cleo becoming a villain
Due to her identity being revealed, Pearl is very careful and never travels alone unless she has to, and she moved out of her apartment to live at the Bureau, making her extra protective of it
Good friends with heroes Gem and Impulse (they call themselves ‘soup group’- no one knows why)
Does not like using her powers, she has been forced to witness a lot of bad stuff that she then had no ability to stop / change
Fun fact: Used to be friends with Grian before he became The Mother Spore, tried to convince him to apply for sidekick tryouts at the Bureau (after seeing his... quite bad future accidentally) but he refused, claiming he wanted to focus on his studies and that the mysterious Watchers creeped him out
Gem "Life-bringer"
Powers: healing, injury absorption, invincibility
Despite having healing powers, she absolutely kicks ass in a fight, which she keeps trying to explain to the Watchers (they do not listen)
Tends to be sent into battle after a fight is over to help heal civilians and heroes (though she will heal villains too)
Can't die from using her powers but is hit with the pain of the injuries she absorbs
Part of the soup group! They get soup on Thursdays.
Xisuma "Voidwalker"
Powers: walking through walls, turning invisible in shadows
I just included him here because he has a weird thing going on with Keralis
One of the higher-ups in the Hero Bureau, simultaneously knowing too much and not enough- doesn't necessarily agree with how things are run
Impulse “Gargoyle”
Powers: demonic, stone skin, electricity powers
Lots of friends, some of them not so heroic, some of them like soup
Really just a hero for the pay benefits
False “Golden Eagle”
Powers: highly skilled in combat, flight
Weird little friendship with Ren, which often evolves into them fighting in the middle of the city
Has very sharp talons, but isn't actually a golden eagle hybrid- she's a red-tailed hawk
Zedaph
Just the Hero Bureau's local mad scientist!
He is not normal
Neutral/Civilian
Mumbo
Powers: he is a vampire. Sorry.
Acts like he was turned in the 60s, but in reality he was turned only a decade ago, just really into both hippie and suit-and-tie aesthetics
Drinks blood, I mean he is a vampire what more do you want… but generally against killing people (yay?)
Weak in the sun and gets sunburned very easily so he has a parasol, holy water and silver burn him too, and stakes are deadly
Best friends (...) with Grian, knew him before the whole Mother Spore business and stuck with him despite it- stays in the forest with Grian a lot because of the excellent levels of tree coverage that blocks out the sun
By virtue of being a third wheel, he knows Scar too, and often has to act as a messenger between the two when they get into arguments (this happens often.)
He is really into travelling and often leaves the city to go to see other towns and such, brings back souvenirs for his friends
Due to being genuinely undead, he is immune to Grian’s alien mycelium- yippee!
Mumbo buddy can you please talk about your feelings we can all see you staring at HotGuy and fawning over Mother Spore come on dude
Fun fact: a really good engineer- he was doing that as his career and stuff before the whole vampire thing. Still loves to geek out about engineering nonsense every once in a while and also likes to invent things (that rarely work)
Joe Hills
Powers: immortal, can sense when someone else with powers is nearby (NOT a spider-sense…)
He has lived several lifetimes, by this point, usually skipping town after a few decades so as to not seem suspicious
Always says ‘well this life is my favourite by far’
However, he has a pretty poor memory, so don’t ask him about any life but this one
Runs a live podcast which covers the daily goings on of heroes and villains across the city- made easier by his inexplicable ability to be in the right place at the right time, always first to the scene of a battle ready to record
Used to be an informant for the Hero Bureau, but wasn’t officially part of their ranks, more like an anonymous tipper
Has some insane gay thing going on with Cleo, let’s just call them friends for now
They’re roommates
Knew Cleo before the whole curse thing, stuck with them when they became a villain, cut all ties to the Bureau and started leaning his content slightly against the Bureau (but still in favour of vigilantes and against outright murder)
There is something wrong with him I think
Fun fact: when he’s at the scene of a fight, he makes silly quips and commentary at the parties involved, while safely standing to the side, often live recording his podcast. No one likes this. Multiple villains have tried to kill him for being annoying, but y’know… immortality. Death doesn't hurt him as he has no evolutionary need to feel pain.
Keralis
Powers: hypnosis
Runs a bar/club in the middle of the city which heroes and villains frequent (though it tends to be more popular with villains)
The club is a neutral zone, no fights can happen there- if someone tries to start something, Keralis can and will use his hypnosis on them
Club might be a front for a mafia don’t worry about it
Fun fact: do not look him in the eyes
Beef “Butcher”
No powers
Works cleanup jobs for villains, referred to as “Butcher” both because it’s his day job and because of how many bodies he disposes of
Beef… is probably not his real name, anyway
Heroes dislike him generally, but he makes a lot of problems disappear
Known to take up any cleanup job if the pay is right, but has a rule against killing anyone- bodies are perfectly fine, he’s even down to help with kidnappings and hostage situations, but he will not kill- believes killing is the last straw before a person becomes a monster
Bull hybrid. Yes, his day job is awkward. He enjoys it, though, the little weirdo
Has been called on by some less-moral heroes to help with cleanups that are too much of a mess to fix the ethical way
Fun fact: good friends with xB and Keralis, regularly calls on them to help him with cleanups, but does most of the messiest work himself. Though Keralis is very helpful for dealing with living witnesses
Main Plot
The main story follows HotGuy as he attempts to make the Hero Bureau look bad by solving more crime and catching more bad guys than they can. He also wants his friend, Grian, to come back from the 'bad' side. However, when Cub shows up in the city, all hell breaks loose and HotGuy ends up getting captured.
Once Cub finds out who Scar is, a lot of conflicting feelings happen (Cub still tries to cut him open, but he puts him back together again) and HotGuy is left unconscious in an alley. There, he's picked up by Mother Spore, whose murderous (but also gay) advances on HotGuy worry Grian enough to seek out Cub himself, willing to go under the knife to remove the spores from his body.
Meanwhile, after her fight with Cleo, Pearl starts to doubt the Hero Bureau. She begins to question the Watchers, no longer trusting them, especially when they tell her she can't leave because her powers are too strong. She enlists the help of some friends, Impulse and Gem, to get to the bottom of the mystery and expose the Watchers.
Subplots
Tango feels shunted, labelled as a 'villain of the week' for his rather ineffectual traps and tricks, so he takes it upon himself to steal other people's powers to make his games more deadly and terrifying
Ren and Doc are doing classic supervillain things, like, building freeze rays and stuff
Joe Hills keeps picking up vital information on his podcasts, and soon a fanbase arises trying to figure out the mystery- this later becomes helpful information for Pearl & Scar
Keralis' many adventures in dealing with drunk-off-their-arse heroes and villains (he has many stories to tell)
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