Countess Crey was born Clarissa van Dorn and grew up in Paragon City. The orphan heir to a modest family fortune, she spent most of her high school and college years at various private schools in Europe. She first came to the public's attention when she married Count Alphonse Crey, a man widely recognized as the world's wealthiest and most eligible bachelor. At the tender age of twenty-three, she joined together with her new husband to form Crey Biotech, a pharmaceutical company based in Switzerland. Just a year after their marriage, Count Alphonse fell into tragic coma, a condition that still persists fourteen years later.

The Countess moved her business back to her hometown of Paragon City, along with the corporate headquarters for the still growing Crey Industries. She publicly swore to devote her company's resources to finding a cure for her stricken husband, but proceeded to use her amazing and daring business acumen to expand her company at an astonishing rate. Through a series of buyouts, hostile takeovers, and key personnel acquisitions, the countess turned her small research firm into an economic juggernaut.

However, rumor has it that there is a darker side to Crey Industries. It is an established fact that there have been several government investigations into Crey's sometimes controversial drug testing techniques. However, no formal charges have ever been filed. There have also been widespread rumors of blackmail, intimidation, and other unsavory business practices involved in the various takeovers and acquisitions of the early nineties. More recently, reports indicate that Crey Industries might be operating it's own, secret cadre of super powered security troops, allegedly using advanced and entirely illegal cloning processes.

 Rumors of truly evil goings on emerged in the wake of the Rikti Invasion. Although no solid proof has yet surfaced, some have claimed that Crey Biotech employees stole the corpses of many dead heroes who fell during the war. Over a hundred super powered heroes are missing and presumed dead as a result of the alien attack. Whether the Rikti or Crey has the bodies remains a mystery. Towards the end of the war, reports surfaced that uniformed and helmeted super soldiers were protecting Crey facilities from attack, and one member of the Freedom Phalanx swears she recognized one of the mystery guards use the signature attacks of one of her fallen comrades. Still, no undeniable evidence of wrongdoing has ever been found.

Five months ago, a team of heroes associated with The Dawn Patrol uncovered a secret laboratory right in the heart of Paragon City. The facility was guarded by power armor clad soldiers and scientific personnel using Crey Industries made equipment. Within the heart of the underground lab sat a pair of hibernation tanks, each with the body of a MIA hero from the Rikti Invasion. The Dawn Patrol recovered the heroes, but both were long dead. When confronted with this evidence the Countess Crey herself made a rare public appearance. She provided ample proof that the lab personnel were rogue ex-Crey Industries employees who had used stolen scientific equipment for their own ends. Although many skeptics remain, no one has yet been able to find any positive proof that the Countess or any of her employees knew about the operation. For the moment Crey Industries remains the most influential and respected corporation in Paragon City, but many of the city's heroes are keeping a watchful eye on the Countess and her future plans.