[BallPtPenTheif]

I've been trying to develop a richer background for my Yakuza Street Samurai but my knowledge of the Shadowrun cannon isn't deep enough to create a background with some depth. Any help would be appreciated....



Kanbara "Fumetsu" Ueda

BACKGROUND
During the reign of  Hanzo Shotozumi, during the Seattle Yakuza wars of 2057, Kanbara's gang was "bought out" and subsequently dismantled. As each family member was gradually killed off or killed themselves Kanbara stayed on surviving each subsequent ambush attempt by the skin of of his teeth earning his nickname, Fumetsu (Immortal). As he survived each attack he continued to augment his own body making himself stronger in anticipation for the next attack.

Eventually, he was the only one left standing and subsequently the existence of his gang was no more. He then went into exile as a Street Samurai Assassin, travelling wherever his pocket book demanded. Time has passed though and now Kanbara has returned back to Seattle.

[Shadowjack]

Sounds like a cool background story so far. One thing you might like is to add some history working in an elite security force called the Renraku Red Samurai. They're a very renowned and deadly force which I believe guards the Arcology and probably other Renraku places of interest. It could be neat if after your gang life ended you took a job as part of this security force and then something bad happened. Maybe you stole something valuable to fund your desire for more ware, or perhaps you were framed for an assassination or theft etc and escaped captivity once you learned you would be executed by the team leader. That's why you left Seattle, but now Renraku has been searching for your loved ones and they're getting close, so you've come back to put an end to it.

You could take qualities like: Wanted, Enemy, Vendetta and I'm sure many more would fit this story. If you don't like it I could come up with others. Let me know

Btw, there is suit of armor in Arsenal called Red Samurari armor that you might like. Also, there are some sample stats for this force on page 283 of the fourth edition anniversary core book if you're interested.

[BallPtPenTheif]

Pretty cool idea. I like how it sort of fills in the timeline gap after he leaves Seattle.

Do you happen to know the Sourcebook for the Red Samurai background? Also, you wouldn't happen to know some Yakuza family names within Shadowrun would you? Right now the backgroud info is written in fairly broad strokes but it would be fun to get more specific so that it would effect my character's contacts and enemies lists.

Thank you for the feedback.

[Shadowjack]

Shotozumi, Shigeda, Komatsu would be a few. You can run a search in Seattle 2072 to learn more about these names and probably find more. About the Red Samurai, I am not sure which book would be your best bet. Perhaps someone else here knows? And you're welcome Good luck!

[BallPtPenTheif]

What book does the acronym "CP" usually refer to? The shadow wiki seems to reference this book for a bunch of Yakuza data.

I also read up on the Red Samurai's, it would give him a good background for his skill sets and training but I think he would make more sense as a Red Samurai drop out, leaving during training at the Forge, since the Red Samurai units run like small families and I doubt he would abandon them after after years of working security since they seem to be indoctrinated against that kind of behavior.

What are the seedy aspects of the Renraku that would put somebody into a moral or ethical cunundrum?

[Novocrane]

If you don't have access to Vice, Runner Havens or Shadows of Asia, this might be useful to browse through. I'd think about the Yagyu Ryu, myself.

[BallPtPenTheif]

Awesome.

This should be helpful and well as an enjoyable read. Thanks Novocrane.

[Shadowjack]

In the core book it mentions the areas of expertise of Renraku as a megacorp. You could associate any of those activities with crime and they could all be quite nefarious.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

If I may speak from a purist's point of view ...

... you aren't going to become Red Samurai.

Red Samurai are the super-snootiest of the super-snooty-Japanese-corporate-bodyguard, created specifically by the CEO and kept by him as a pet project for the longest time.  Considering the origins of your background - born and raised in Seattle, minor Yakuza gang thug (not even a full-bore Yak yourself), it really isn't the sort that would be allowed to even try out for the Reds, much less be accepted.

The Red Samurai are some of the most loyal corporate security that exists - on par with the Jaguar Guards for Aztechnology, or as the Seraphim were for Cross Applied Technology.  (Sorry; I can't think of any others with that level of loyalty.)  They were born in Renraku of loyal Renraku citizens, were raised in Renraku day-care, went to Renraku gradeschool, graduated from Renraku high school, dated a Renraku girl, think metahumans are stinky-poo-poo (though they're allowed to actually look in the direction of elves without pulling the trigger these days), went to Renraku security, married a Renraku sweetheart, had Renraku children, and proved that they bleed Renraku red and preface every thought with 'Renraku!'

Get it?

I'm a little iffy on the whole 'Yakuza gang' thing, and 'being bought out'.  A member of the Yakuza, sure.  And I can imagine that he and a double handful of age-mates stuck together, got their tats together, went through the ceremonies together, but during one or another of the wars - the Mob War in 2058, perhaps, as you suggested - one by one the rest of his 'gang' got killed in action against the Mafia, Triads, or other syndicates or support groups, with Fumetsu getting 'cheaper' cyber replacements (as compared to fleshy ones) in order to recover from injury each time.  This 'resistance to death' would earn him the nickname, I'm sure.  And afterwards, as the last man standing ...

... does he have to be wanted by the Yakuza?  Shotozumi wanted to break free of Tokyo, to create his own rengo; perhaps you were a Watada loyalist, and chose to instead go 'back' to Japan.  That move could have gotten you in place for improvements and trade-ups on your implanted cyberware as your slightly-American way of looking at things allowed you to get the job done just a bit better than the next guy; that sort of thing gets you noticed.  And with that, you got harder assignments, especially as your talents as a kick-artist, wetwork specialist, hit man, assassin (a rose by another name...) got you recognized.  This put you in place to be a major hitter during the two-year war (2066-68) between the Watada-gumi (home sweet home) and the Mita-gumi, one which (apparently) eventually broke the Mita-gumi's back and kept them as part of the Watada-rengo.  (Reading between the lines in Vice, it sounds like the Oyabun of the Mita-gumi was assassinated, leaving as his heir a child - which event would 'calm things down' considerably.)

So why are you then out of Japan?  Maybe you did something that put you into disfavor.  Maybe you expressed an opinion that, while not so dishonorable as to require a 'token of apology', meant that you were better off 'sent away for a time'.  Serving the Shotozumi-rengo in Seattle would be somewhat dishonorable too, or at least leave a bad taste in your mouth (considering they might, in your mind, still be traitors of a sort), so you're currently on your own, with only a contact or two who preferred the Watadas to the Shotozumis.

And now, to make ends meet and to fill the time until you get called back to Japan, you take the 'odd job or two', i.e. shadowrun for a living.  And really, even if you are hired to target one of the local Yak operations, it isn't as though they don't deserve it for breaking away back in '58 ...

[BallPtPenTheif]

Haha.. that's amazing.

Maybe I'll just copy and paste that (j/k).

Thank you for taking the time to write such a well thought out response. It definitely has the sort of Yakuza hierarchy politics that I was looking for. As I was reading about the Red Samurais, that was the gap I couldn't really develop, was how does he even get his foot in the door at Renraku? As you suggested, he probably can't.

From you perspective, would the lineage that you described make him a more racist and sexist Yakuza or would he fall more in line with the new wave Yakuza that is less racist?

[Aryeonos]

As far as corp relations, the Yakuza and Mitsuhama are in one way or another petty tight nit. Though I'm pretty bad at most the japan corps politics, I could see room for him working for MCT whacking Yaks they don't so much agree with, or working for other Yakuza doing the same to MCT. But I'm the farthest thing from an expert on MCT or the Yakuza, so I'd wait for someone else to weigh in on that one.

[Black]

As far as corp relations, the Yakuza and Mitsuhama are in one way or another petty tight nit. Though I'm pretty bad at most the japan corps politics, I could see room for him working for MCT whacking Yaks they don't so much agree with, or working for other Yakuza doing the same to MCT. But I'm the farthest thing from an expert on MCT or the Yakuza, so I'd wait for someone else to weigh in on that one.

MCT and the Yakuza used to be really tight.  Who controlled who was always the question.  Even the original Mecurial adventure had the Yakuza up to bad stuff on behalf of a MCT subsidary (real estate issue I think..)  So its perfectly possible to graduate from the Yakuza into a MCT 'security' force... or vis versa.  Wether MCT would ever 'target' Yakuza who didn't toe the line, or wether they would just lean on a oyabun and get the same result..  I suspect that would just call a favour to deal with the black sheep of the gang...

But going from Yakuza enforcer to MCT company man to Shadowrunner is plausable... but you may have made a few enemies on the way out...

[Shadowjack]

With a little finesse almost any kind of background is possible. Rules change fast when large sums of money are involved, and that's what makes the Shadow world go round'

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Haha.. that's amazing.

Maybe I'll just copy and paste that (j/k).

Thank you for taking the time to write such a well thought out response. It definitely has the sort of Yakuza hierarchy politics that I was looking for. As I was reading about the Red Samurais, that was the gap I couldn't really develop, was how does he even get his foot in the door at Renraku? As you suggested, he probably can't.

From you perspective, would the lineage that you described make him a more racist and sexist Yakuza or would he fall more in line with the new wave Yakuza that is less racist?

Thank you.  Go read Pananagutan. 

In regards to the MCT thing suggested by Aryeonos and Black, well - I'd stick with the Yakuza.  That's already a huge bone on your plate.  Pick up 'Made Man' (but maybe that's it) to represent the fact that you DO have backup if you really need it, but that you're here in the sticks where even your backup is ... questionable.  Not incapable, just 'disloyal'.  Pick up 'Big Regret' to represent the fact that anyone seriously in the know about what you said thinks you're a total twit, and to represent the fact that you're going to have to do something in the future to resolve the situation.

As for the racism/sexism thing, well, you can go two ways on that, and it's a flavor thing.  While in Neo-Tokyo, you could have either become MORE racist and sexist, to super-emphasize the "I'm loyal to Watada-san!!" thing, or you could have gone with the 'yeah, whatever' and show little to no racism to highlight your own personal diversity, and give yourself another spotlight.  Going that way, in fact, could be the way you got the 'go somewhere else until this blows over'.  Someone was telling a racist/sexist story or joke, and you - out of everyone - didn't laugh.  This time it's negatively noticed, because Watada-san was there, and though he wasn't the joke-teller he noticed.  Or you quietly offer an opinion along the lines of 'oh, they aren't THAT bad' to your table-mates, but it just so happens to be within the hearing of the wakagashira.  Same result either way - it won't require suicide or a finger-cut, but you get banished to the Outer Darkness until they forget about it, or you make it up to them.

As for the copy/paste, well - okay.    But that means I get to use your character's name and concept in any story I write. 

[Novocrane]

There's another quality that might be appropriate; Code of Conduct: Sworn Soldier. It doesn't provide a group contact, but it sets up the fact that other yakuza are usually friendly (as per the social modifier), and that you have *some* black market contacts. Downsides are that you need a composure (3) test to work with law enforcement or opposing syndicates. (which could mean mafia, vory, et al, or also yak groups that aren't friendly with yours)