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The first of the villainous groups is the Circle of the Scarlet Moon, an organization of heroic level mystics that use dark rituals to aid their quest for secular power. A few example members of the various ranks are given, specifically, ones linked to Witchcraft and Talisman's origin story. Personality-wise, the writeups are not bad, though perhaps a bit dark for a silver age game. However, do not expect them to engage in superfights with your players. The Circle has two ways to deal with superheroes: harm them using their resources ( media connection, political power, money, etc ), or perform nasty ritual magics on them. In addition, they are rather low on the mystic totem pole; it requires some finessing to explain why they have not been taken over or wiped out by one of the other factions. For a heroic level game, or a low powered mystic game, they are perfect, though.
The second group is the Devil's Advocates, a fairly low level mystic supervillain team. Their overall goal is to establish a "Dark Renaissance," with the ascendancy of magic over the world. However, their individual goals are often diffferent, leading to interesting dynamics. The group is definitely suitable as nemeses for a beginning level mystic-oriented superteam; however, their flexibility ( half the team have VPPs of moderate size ) makes them useful as "event trigger" villains, capable of challenging even higher powered heroes with the right situation. In terms of overall capability, I would compare them to Eurostar, but with more interesting members.
The third section discusses the Kings of Edom, and Qlippothic creatures in general. Basically, think Lovecraft. The King's themselves are not really meant as direct opponents; the one given stats is only statted for while it is weak from escaping its prison. Fully freed Kings of Edom basically means the campaign is over. However, there are plenty of other, lesser critters to add some Lovecraftian weirdness to a campaign. My favorite is the Angler, a creature formed of odd-dimensional angles, that moves along surfaces in bizarre ways. These creatures are somewhat unusual, in that magic is not necessarily required for their presence; thus, even a non-mystic campaign could encounter Edomite critters, with appropriate superscientific background.
Fourth group discussed is the Sylvestri family, a dynasty of Satanists and Dragon-worshippers; in fact, the most powerful Western servants of the Dragon. Definitely an important element of the setting, given what the Dragon is. However, overall, the membership as characters don't really inspire me much, save Giacomo Sylvestri, the patriarch of the clan. The rest aren't bad, just not as fun as, say, the Devil's Advocates. In addition, they seem useful primarily for campaigns with a mystic focus.
The last group discussed is the Vandaleur family, another occult dynasty. Unlike the Sylvestris, the Vandaleur family is not inherently evil; they are linked only by a common ( and immortal, and lecherous ) ancestor. Thus, its equally viable a background for mystic heroes as villains. The characters statted are an eclectic bunch, including only two outright unadulterated villains, with the rest being annoying meddling bastards, sympathetic antagonists, or potential information sources. More interesting than the Sylvestri family, in my opinion.
The last section covers a wide range of solo mystic villains. They range in power from "starting character level" to "megavillain." In addition, quite a number of them link to various other elements of the Champions Universe mystic world ( two of them are connected to the deceased sorceror Archimago, for instance ). My favorite of the bunch would probably be Lamplighter, a spiritual vampire who acts as an "advisor" for various dictators, in exchange for ready access to tormented souls. Overall, I consider the characters in this section to be the most interesting, and most useful for a relatively normal Champions game, second only to the Devil's Advocates.
Arcane Adversaries has its weaknesses. The biggest is how quite a few of the characters within are somewhat "specialized"; they are useful in heroic level games, or mystic-focused games, but nowhere else. On the other hand, this does not mean they are bad characters, and if anything, adds some additional utility to the book outside of Champions. Regardless, there are still plenty of mystic villains that *are* generally useful in a Champions game, and almost all of those are of high quality. Thus, if you wish to throw mystic villains at your players, Arcane Adversaries is a worthwhile purchase.
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