Confused on: Bunraku, One word, multiple meanings? Options

[Cardul]

OK, to begin with: I had thought that Bunraku parlours were just a Japanese way of saying "Brothel." However, in the "really pissed off yaks" thread, some comments made them sound more like just "strip clubs." However, when I did a search on Bunraku...all I found were references to a form of Japanese puppetry with 3 puppetteers for each puppet.

So, since I had never heard the term Bunraku, let alone of a Bunraku parlour before 4th Edition...can someone please explain exactly what one is?

[Fortune]

Basically, they are brothels where the 'hosts' and 'hostesses' are implanted with Skillwires and the like, then fed persona chips for all (and I mean all) occasions and perversions. Typically some amount of cosmetic surgery is also involved.

Hence the name 'Meat Puppets'.

I am sure that somebody else can do the tradition as it appears in the Sixth World more justice.

[Ancient History]

Imagine prostitutes made up to look like movie stars. And government officials. Or your ex-wife. Now imagine they think and act and talk like them too. That's a bunraku parlor. It's not a strip club, and the word does come from the Japanese puppeteer. I believe the first real description of something like it was in Neuromancer and the preceding short story Burning Chrome.

[Ed_209a]

There is also a extra flavor of dehumanization in bunraku parlors, because sometimes (often?) the puppet is unwilling or even unknowing. It is one thing to be forced to _do_ it, it is another to be forced to _like_ it, and not even remember what it was you liked.

[FriendoftheDork]

I thought it had something to do with puppets, but the 3 puppeteers makes sense - 1 is the skillwire, 1 the personafix, and 1 cosmetic surgery. All required to make the puppet move well and please the audience :)


OK seriously this is perhaps the most disturbing aspect of Shadowrun....

[Ed_209a]

[hobgoblin]

turning humans into machines, if thats not a core of cyberpunk i dont know what is...

[knasser]

[BishopMcQ]

It's not just Shadowrun, but the cyberpunk genre. I've played a character who was the Face and was a runaway from one of the bunraku parlors. Damaged goods was probably the kindest way to describe the baggage she had about sex and most interpersonal relationships.

Personally, I understand how a lot of people can separate themselves from what happens to their bodies with the Memory Filter blocking out what actually happened. By not having any recollection of the events, it becomes easier to justify as having happened to someone else or just a piece of meat not actually to one's self.

[Method]

IIRC there are descriptions of bunraku in the yakuza section of the Underworld Sourcebook.

[Stahlseele]

something i'd probably worry more about . . you basically have an army of mindless killing machines, if you feed them the right chips O.o
granted their attributes may be low, but heck, you just slot sniper-rifles or assault-rifles and sick em at whomever . .

[imperialus]

I seriously debated making my current PC (a former yak) have a thing for Bunraku parlors. Decided against it for the same reason as Knasser. It's just too twisted.

[cryptoknight]

[X-Kalibur]

[Fortune]

[JonathanC]

[mfb]

the concept springs at least partially from Molly Millions, who spent time as a sex worker with a memory cutout, saving up money to pay for the combat implants she wanted. she found out later that during the memory cutouts, they were forcing her to do really rough stuff.

i like the bunraku concept because it allows me to introduce some really dirty, nasty concepts to the game--real stuff, but with a little fantasy twist that makes it easier to accept.

[MYST1C]

[hyzmarca]

I imagine that some bunraku parlors are classier than others.

In my mind a "true" bunraku parlor is very much live a modern day host(ess) club. Patrons sit down, eat over priced food, and drink overpriced drinks while flirting with a replica of a famous person or character. Sometimes, they sing karaoke together. Sex is never mentioned and may the parlor has a policy against sexual activity on the premises. The customer isn't paying for sex, he's paying for the experience of having drinks and singing karaoke with a famous person. Still many would allow a customer to rent a private room, ostensibly for more intimate dining, but usually for a chance to have sex with the bunraku hostess. Most such bunraku parlors would operate openly and semi-transparently, avoiding prostitution charges because there is never a direct quid-pro-quo, and some would even be respectable enough to to serve as a location for a meeting with a Big 10 CEO. In these, it can be expected, but not guaranteed, that the employees are being paid a commission, have their P-fixes removed at the end of the work day, and signed up without duress. It can also be expected that the employees get tested for STDs regularly.

There might be some based around the no-pan kisa concept, where there is no sex, just waitresses with p-fixes and cosmetic surgery serving dinner without underwear. And some would resemble a health club, with popular characters giving relaxing sensual massages which may involve below-the-waist massaging.

The low-rent brothel version staffed entirely by p-fixed sex slaves who live and work in 5x10 rooms furnished with heavily stained mattresses are often referred to as bunraku parlors by laymen but are generally looked down upon by real bunraku workers and owners, who should be eager to point out the difference.

[bibliophile20]

[hobgoblin]

for some reason i would park both bug spirits and deus below bunraku, but halberstam above it.

bug spirits, its how the "live". there are many real life bugs that reproduce by planting their eggs into another being, the bugs just take this to a whole different level.

deus, say hello to the amoral machine...

the are more or less just another dragon, just another reminder that humans are no longer the top of the food chain.

but the next two are humans doing to humans, with no other gain then money and/or knowledge.

that just scares me on a whole different level, as it reminds me how easy it is for humans to regard their own with lesser value if they can gain something from it.

[hyzmarca]

Knowledge is a laudable goal unto itself. The techniques pioneered by Halberstam can save countless lives in the future and possibly give humanity a fighting chance in the inevitable war against sentient machines and then again in the inevitable Scourge.

[knasser]

[mfb]

compassion and respect make the species weak. everybody will live in peace and harmony--until some species that doesn't live in peace and harmony comes along and eats the peaceful species.

granted, a total lack of compassion and respect also weakens the species, because it will be too busy with infighting to unify against external threats. but still, depending on the Care Bare Stare for defense is a really bad idea.

[JonathanC]