Blue Blood

Blue Blood (ブルーブラッド) is an organization managing a secret ranking network and exclusive services, led by a group of people with delusions about their bloodlines, who are the antagonists of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3.

Etymology
is a term used to refer to people having noble or aristocratic ancestry.

Principles
At its core, Blue Blood was a group formed by people who had delusions concerning their bloodline, the sort believing themselves to be of noble blood or famous descent rather than just a regular person. While most people with such delusions soon snap out of them when faced with reactions from others, some build theirs up to the extent of possibly beginning to convince people around them and might become unable to back out even if they wanted to. All of Blue Blood's members have delusions though there are varying levels between them, some far stronger than others who might come to their senses if given a sufficient hit from reality.

Although bloodlines and noble descent mean little in the modern day, particular in a city of science, Blue Blood viewed Academy City as a utopia, due to the fact that DNA plays a role in determining an esper's ability and growth potential, which they saw as a legitimization of their ideas that status is determined at birth and place value on noble blood. Even though DNA is only one of many factors which complexly intertwine to affect the outcome, and the basic idea of a noble bloodline guaranteeing a noble ability and a path to success is fundamentally flawed to begin with, they were set on it being true and never considered any other possibility, dismissing any scientific research saying otherwise and accepting any theories which supported their view, regardless of actual credibility.

Blue Blood's insistence on their discriminatory views would only result in them being ostracized in modern society, however they could not keep silent and had to force their views through somehow. Since arguing normally would result in them being drowned out by the more reasonable majority, they turned to less normal methods. Their system of special keys and privileged services was partially meant as a distraction to satisfy their delusions, a placebo to keep the symptoms in check, though this would only be a temporary solution.

Network
The network which Blue Blood hosts is based around a shared system of values and currency, based around items designated as 'keys' and services which can be accessed using these keys. The keys are typically valued items (such as the Stativari, being violins with a reputation for producing the world's greatest music), placed under a category and ranked numerically (e.g. Bag Rank 3, Ring Rank 2, Foreign Car Rank 4, VAiolin Rank 5 etc). The services are also given similar labels, with an item category and numerical rank. In order to access that specific service, a client must show a key with a value corresponding to the service's rank (e.g. a Violin Rank 5 key for a Violin Rank 5 service). The products sold by the Chandelier Auction House all act as keys, having been given that value without the staff's initial knowledge or consent.

Known services and facilities which are part of Blue Blood's network include:

Blue Blood has a number of agents, operating under codename, which carry out work on behalf of the group's representative to further the group's interests, allowed access to their resources to that end but also expected to follow their compliance rules. One example is Riot, an outsider tied to the group by profit who was meant to quietly handle dirty work which would snap the inside members out of their delusions if they learned of it and could be thrown away at any time. Due to the nature of some of the privileges and special services it provides, Blue Blood has at least one member inside Anti-Skill (Inoue Kasha, aka Reversible) in order to facilitate its operations, such as covering up a key holder's crimes.

Virus Plot
Following the loss of the Stativarius Ainsel in a competition, which caused one of their keys to lose their value and threatened the foundation of their network, it became clear that just having the keys and services was no longer enough to maintain Blue Blood's delusions and that they would have to take action in order to avoid losing their members and associates, and having their network unravel, forcing its representative to enact a plan which had previously been kept as hypothetical.

The plan involved infecting Zero-Day Link (specifically its corporate server), a key part of Academy City's anti-virus system, in order to slip an Academy City-level virus through the net, out of the city and into the wider world which it is 30 years ahead of. The virus would spread and randomly disable network devices across the world when the operation system, security software etc updates, causing chaos which Blue Blood would then exploit, providing aid in the aftermath in accordance with the idea of to increase their standing and bring back the respect they believed their bloodlines deserved. While the plan was motivated by nonsense and held no guarantee that they would end up in a position of nobility they sought, they believed it would create the possibility and their chances would be better than in their present situation.

Background
Blue Blood developed when people, who received services available to only a few and in a reversal started to feel chosen, joined up with one another, gathered their various rewards and developed a shared value system connecting them to build a ranking network, spreading a culture explaining how to become one of the chosen few and the keys to present in order to receive special services.

During the past year, Blue Blood turned the products of the Chandelier Auction House (among other places) into keys for its services. Chandelier's staff noticed that someone was working their way into their business, seeing their sales prices rise by more than 50%, but did not know their identity.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun SS3
Following Sakibasu Yuri and the Stativarius Ainsel's loss at a school exam, which caused the value of the Stativari to fall, Blue Blood feared that the loss of one of their keys could shake the trust in their other keys and the foundation of their network, and subsequently sought to erase the result, dispatching agents to eliminate the individuals and instruments responsible for that defeat. However, Riot failed to eliminate Misaka Mikoto and her friends,  and was eventually tracked down and captured after a pursuit through several of the properties under Blue Blood's network. Blue Blood's agent within Anti-Skill, Inoue Kasha (Reversible), was also captured after his failed attempt to silence Riot.

Around the same time, having decided that the keys and services would likely not be enough to maintain the group's delusions and keep their members and associates with them, Blue Blood's representative, Sakibasu Ryouu, initiated a previously hypothetical plot to spread an Academy City-level computer virus to the outside world by tainting Zero-Day Link, in order to create a situation which would give its members a chance at establishing themselves as nobility. Having learnt of the plot from the captives, the Tokiwadai girls moved to thwart Blue Blood's attempt to infect Zero-Day Link's corporate server.

After Blue Blood's plot was thwarted, the group's misdeeds came to light and its network was likely dismantled.

Members

 * Sakibasu Ryouu (representative)
 * Hanakawa Hinadori/Riot
 * Inoue Kasha/Reversible
 * Acid
 * Counselor
 * Engineer