The Initiative for Greater Good was founded in 2009. After superheroes fought off the alien invasion of 2008, private investors formed the Initiative to keep superheroes on standby, should a crisis ever happen again.

What started as only a precaution became an all-powerful organization. The Initiative never reached for power, but a crisis did happen again--and then again, and again, and again. As superheroes went public, so too did supervillains, a new kind of criminal that typical law enforcement couldn't even hope to combat. The world needed heroes, and that need provided donations and recruits to the Initiative until it became the most dangerous private army in the world.

Perhaps the biggest downer of joining the Initiative is that they require registration. Once registered, information on the hero is released to the world, which includes their real name and photos of their face for identification. While the need transparency is obvious, many heroes are hesitant to unveil their secret identities.

A fresh recruit gets a generous package: a living stipend of $2,000/mo, bonuses for every heroic deed, free housing at the compound, and access to the Initiative's unparalleled information network. Also, they provide extraplanar accident insurance and dental coverage. How cool is that?

In stark contrast, a hero highly valued by the Initiative might receive a salary as high as $25,000/mo, unlimited funding for their projects, personal assistants, fancy tools and gadgets, tons of good PR, and first dibs on world-saving missions.

The Initiative will stop funding and politely fire any recruits that are either inactive or incompetent. For established heroes that go inactive (or incompetent), they'll reduce salary, but they'll never demote or let go of a declining hero as a matter of respect and gratitude.

Otherwise, the Initiative only asks that their heroes do a PR event or two every year. Most such events are fairly painless, such as attendance at a public ceremony or an interview with a talk show.

There's an unspoken rule to follow the Initiative's orders, but the Initiative rarely makes hard line demands of their heroes. The Initiative has so many heroes under its command that it only needs to be pushy in truly dire situations.

The Initative's not perfect,. While it presents a united front, it's full of factions and infighting inside. Due to the ranking system, limited funds, and even blatant nepotism, heroes compete against each other for favor within the Initiative.

It's common for heroes to form teams among themselves. Teams are treated as a single unit, which can make a weak but useful superhero into a big earner. Yet these teams vie for favor among the mission dispatchers, who like to play favorites and take bribes. If the dispatchers don't like you, you won't get the good missions. If you don't get good missions, you'll never get that promotion.

Even outside the petty infighting, there's major factions. The Justicars believe that the ends justify the means. Typically, they're willing to stoop as low as necessary to ensure the betterment of society. On the other hand, the Defenders won't excuse collateral damage. It happens, but it's something that should be mourned, not disregarded.

Not joining the Initiative is a pretty bad idea. Vigilantes are treated essentially the same as villains: they're supposed to be arrested and captured. The only difference is that superheroes aren't authorized to use lethal force against vigilantes. Still, that means vigilantes are fighting against superheroes and villains. Some heroes are lenient and turn a blind eye, but others actively pursue vigilantes as traitors to the cause.

If you're ever taken in as a vigilante, you have three options: 1) register, 2) retire, or 3) become a villain.