pedromvilar wrote:I'd personally be interested in all these explanations even if they don't in the end turn out to actually be directly useful or solve everything, and I think even if they're not they're probably generally helpful for the necessary worldbuilding to unpause peal time.
short form League of Assassin's [LoA] background:
some hundreds of years ago [depends on writer HOW MANY] there was a Warlord, Ra's al Ghul. he discovered a form of immortality, what he called 'Lazarus Pits', that would rejuvenate any person who bathed in it to peak condition; this worked with DEAD PEOPLE as well as live, but always caused a form of temporary insanity colloquially known as 'Pit Madness' that is really just the most extreme form of road rage ever.
he decided to take over the world.
he started taking over villages; taking their sons at young ages to brainwashed for his 'cause'.
his cause was, roughly, world-domination in a *WORLD HE UNDERSTOOD AND APPROVED OF*. sometimes this meant destroying entire populations he felt were neither convertible nor useful [like Gotham, eventually]. he doesn't have a problem with crime, per se, but with *chaos* that has no purpose. the only recognizable purpose is his own.
megalomania + immortality + fanatic brainwashed armies, na da?
Talia [until REALLY RECENTLY, comic-time] is the *ONLY* child he has ever had. she is *NOT* a son, therefor all he wants her to do is marry *THE* most worthy man, aside from himself, and give him an heir.
the *ONLY* worthy man he ever found was Bruce Wayne. from there, it gets... complicated. like, Talia is almost 2 centuries herself, often resents how she isn't 'good enough', and becomes rebellious. in theory, she REALLY DOES Bruce, but... they *DO NOT* have compatible -- anything, really. morals, ethics, ideas, wants, needs... yeah.
movie-verse differences -- the 'Leader' of the LoA is, as of movie one, Ra's al Ghul, but there is NO mention that he has enjoyed any extension of life. no clue if that's *BACKSTORY*, but if it was supposed to be, it's *NOWHERE*.
Talia is still his only child, still considered to have 'only' the job of marrying properly for an Heir. but that history is like so:
Ra's fell in love and married. enemies kidnapped his wife and threw her [pregnant] into the Pit [where Bane and various others were]
wife dies after giving birth; Bane acts as protector of Talia, until she is trained enough to escape the way that Bruce/Bats later does [she is forced to escape, in part, because she is *growing up*, lets not discuss that any further]
she *SOMEHOW* finds Ra's, convinces him of who she is, they raid the Pit. Bane is discovered, almost dead from attacks sustained while protecting Talia during her escape. Ra's declares him unfit for 'Brotherhood' in the LoA due to that damage; Talia helps him overcome this.
when Ra's is killed in the first movie, Talia decides to get vengeance. Problem; she's a guuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuurl, and a good chunk of the tradition LoA won't follow her. second problem; even if they *WOULD*, Gotham 'proved' it's right to exist by resisting the LoA's attack, they aren't going to go *back*!
so she takes her ball [Bane] and goes and makes her own game.
it takes her a decade, but her splinter-cell finally decides it's ready [and she's been posing as Miranda Tate, as part of the plan...] and the rest is, essentially, seen in the movie. you've got [essentially] the President [Talia] the General [Bane] the General's 2nd [Barsad] and the rest are nameless soldiers/mooks.
the Gotham Resistance i will type up another time; i'm losing coherency [damned meds]
is this enough? clear? coherent? [i worry, because again, damned meds]