This is obviously for the OOC banter, rolls, musings, rulings etc.

Now that the basic concepts and sheets have been accepted, lets fine tune them a bit.

To start with (if I hadnt already asked you to do this) add x3 your charisma score in contacts.

Add: Kenjiro Takasuki "Aniki" Connection 4 Loyalty 2 [FREE] This is who you report to.

A discussion on honor:

Honor will buy you things money can not in this world. It will mean more to you than karma or money in the long run. You gain honor by completing tasks (missions of importance), doing the honorable thing and acting honorable.

What Honor will buy you:[Remember to keep a total and a spent total]

Every 5 points a Tattoo (or addition to it) [you do not spend points for]
2 points will buy you an introduction to a person (contact)
1 point is worth 5000 yen in a loan (you get half honor back when repaid)
1 point is worth 5000 yen in equipment/resources (get half back if returned ok)
Increase in Loyalty is 2x current in honor points (for Yakuza contacts)
25 points buys you 2d6 kobun for a single mission
50 points buys you 'a piece of the action'

{More will follow as I come up with them}

What your tattoo (Irezumi) does:

Identifies your clan, status, and commitment.
Some tattoo designs have a special lesson for you to remember
Every addition to tattoo adds 1 die to intimidate.
Special rules:
Must be visible (no armor on omaes)
Must be higher than someone elses Irezumi (levels cancel eachother out)

Keragi "Musouka" Nakamura checking in.
BTW: Musouka mean daydreamer.

Hyo` Shikuza "Panther" checking in as well.

I sent my revised sheet to you with the new contacts on it.

Hyo` means Panther and Shikuza means Silent.

~.~.~.~

Reporting for duty kobun-san, what does Shotozumi-sama require of me?

Shigeda-sama I believe you mean

Yeah..that guy...

I believe he means your Charisma times 3 in free BP to use on contacts. My Cha is 2, so I received 6 free BP for use only on contacts.

Heh thanks, sorry the twink got the better of me, haha.

Masaru Tsuneoka checking in.

I'm glad I actually got my charisma up to a decent level now, I'm going to be rolling in contacts.

Tenchi Nagisa up and ready to go.

Kin "Yukio" Himura, updated and sent in.

Kin (Golden), Himura (Scarlet Village)
Yukio (Snow Boy/Boy who will walk his own path)

If you use the tat's to intimidate, they must be completely visible...no clothes (shirt) or armor.

I would wear armor unless you are an adept with 6 points in Mystic armor (then I quess it'd be just optional to you)

There is a line in New Seattle (i think) that talks about young yakuza flashing their tats to tourist in the International district but, traditionally they are usually shown just as you had mentioned, plus at traditional bath-houses in areas (that is how the common man in the past has found/had access to the yakuza)

No tats on face or neck

Yukika (Snow Flower) Nakamura, Tea House Hostess.

All of us know each other or not?

You know each other, or to the point you know of each other (i'll leave any friendships to you all to figure out amongst yourselves)

Clarification on Honor and tattoos

Let's say I've accumulated 50 honor and buy a "piece of the action" does that also mean I have ten tattoos as well?

e.g. You don't buy tattoos with honor, they are simply a marker of the amount of Honor you have?

Exactly correct.

The tattoos are free, just an accumulation of honor in a visual medium. (an honor guage sort of)

Raiju Aosaginohi "Night Heron" checking in.

Musouka is the nickname given to him by the neighborhood children. He is a young man, early twenties at the oldest. He tends to be very quiet; People are usually not sure if he is day dreaming, distracted by AR or just a little off.

He has a non-descript Suzuki Mirage he rides on occasion. His com, links and VR rig are all internal and must be cutting edge by the code he weaves. Though his native language is Japanese he is very fluent in English as well as dabbling in a number of other languages.

What Everyone knows
Yukika (Snow Flower) Nakamura is a no longer young bakuto who is a lead hostess for the popular Golden Tiger Garden, a Tea House and gambling den. Snow Flower splits time as a greeter, and as the house dealer in the traditional card, stone, and paper games.

What Everyone Knows:

Masaru Tsuneoka is known in Yakuza circles as an ambitious young Kobun with perhaps more ambition than intelligence. He's mainly been seen collecting debts from various people who owe money to the Yakuza, and checking up on their various holdings. He has not been in Seattle for very long, three months at the most, but no one seems to know where he came from, although Japan would be a good guess.

Also, I haven't given Masaru a nickname yet because I usually like it a lot better if they come up during play, or one of the other players gives him a nickname. I find that whenever I try to come up with witty nicknames for my characters they just sound forced, after all, in RL, no one really gives themselves nicknames that stick for long, do they?

Ah, Tenchi. Family line once dedicated to the virtures of the samurai, now dedicated to self and their ideals of loyalty. He's the professional fighter, bodyguard, trouble-shooter. He's easy going, but takes his job seriously, not because he'll be missing fingers but because he's a professional.

What is commonly known:

Kin Himura is a all-together new face to the Yakuza, however Himura is name that is known to it. (Any further detail of how much is up to Syndicate.)

Common Knowledge on Hyo`:

Hyo` is a fresh transfer from Japan. He is often seen dressing in exceedingly dark colors and he often disappears or appears when least expected. His eye glow a slight yellow under black locks and they are slitted like a cat's. He doesn't talk very much and some rumors go around that he may be mute. It is also said that he may have been trained at the school in the Koga Mountains in Japan, but there is no confirmation to that claim.

Definately no conformation lol

In fact all those witnessing a school in the Koga Mountain have been dealt with... You have been warned, don't mess with people who don't talk a lot. Especially in animes!

There's a school in the Koga Mountains?! I heard that it was the home to twenty free great form spirits, a pack of vicious paranimals, a horde of mojo slinging ghouls, and Ryumyo.....I wonder why the government would put a school there when they say there is so danger up there???

Okay, unless someone feels like contacting me about somehow being buddies, here is what you all would know about my character -
Aniki probably calls him "Kawahara-kun" but you all know him only as "Match" - probably for the ever-present wooden match in his mouth.
He is tall for a Japanese, and wiry. Early twenties. Dresses very flashily - hand-tooled shoes, bright colored dress shirts (solid - no patterns), with animal-skin-patterned ties. Very chic real leather dull-black duster. Expensive shades always worn. Hair in an understated pompadour, lightly chappatsu (dyed brown). A razor-thin moustache adorns his upper lip.
You know that he rides a black rice-rocket and lives in a very upscale apartment building in the posh Norma Beach neighborhood of Everett.
You probably can't tell whether English or Japanese is his first language, but you know he has been in Seattle for quite a while. You know he was a biker, and that now his job is holding the leash on the various bosozoku connected to the Shigeda-gumi in Everett, Snohomish, and Redmond. He's no "face" however - he keeps them in line through force and also because you know he is something of a legend among them - the superstar that graduated into the big leagues of the Yakuza.

I am working on a sketch of Hyo` right now that I will post to give you guys a feel of what he looks like. I will have it up tomorrow most likely.

We will be officially in game mode shortly so, I have a few more details to add.

First as (semi) paid employees you recieve a stipid of 5000 yen a month. This is your base pay as it were for the duties you perform for the Gumi. This does not include any 'bonuses' for good work, or uhhmm your own 'sideline' businesses that may bring in cash. Establishing your own business is part of rising in the ranks. Your senior on the gang (crew) still gets a cut and partial credit (ok all the credit) but, you will collect a healthy cut, and enjoy the protection of the Gumi in this endeavor.

[some of you have already worked an angle to this in your background, and is one of the reasons why you were chosen]


The next order of business is that you will report to Aniki a few days after your "adoption" to the Gumi.

"In this strict world of the Yakuza, If the Boss says white is black....you will set aside your personal reason and agree." this was said before you shared a bowl of sake with the Oyabun in a traditional ceremony.

What everyone does not know...
Whether or not any of you others choose to know Yukika, she will remember you if you have ever visited the Golden Tiger Garden while she was working there.

While Snow Flower does not personally gamble with customers at the Golden Tiger Garden (Other then using house money to run a game or act as a shill), she will gamble with her own money with other yakuza off shift.

Masaru has been affiliated with the Shigeda in Seattle for almost two months now, so if anyone else has been with the Seattle Yaks for a while, they'd most likely have at least met him. He was also formerly a member of several bōryokudan in Japan, so if anyone else has that kind of background then they might know each other, although they'd know him under a different name, and that's not a name that Masaru wants too many people to know.

Masaru is about 5'8 and is broad-shouldered, with high cheekbones and a sharp jawline. He has close-cropped black hair, and is always clean shaven. He always wears black suits, impeccably pressed and dry-cleaned, and occasionally wears a black duster overtop. He usually sports dark sunglasses to hide what are obviously cybereyes. He drives a very new (a couple of months old at most) Mercury Comet.


Also:
I'm sure you're going to post this, syndicate, but I was just wondering what the rules as far as posting formats are going to be?

At least we are all well dressed!

I actually like the format layed out in RedJacks game....Golden shower project...i mean golden fountain project.

Hyo` has been in Seattle for a little while now, arriving from Japan about a month ago. After arriving he directly starting working for Kobun Shizemi, a middle ranked member of the Shigeda-gumi. But Shizemi was who he was intended to always work with and he has since been transferred to Aniki.

Unlike the rest of you, Hyo` does not tend to dress in high fashion or go to any length to make himself look chic or stylish. He prefers to wear slightly loose street clothes most of the time, more towards wearing athletic wear than anything else. His long hair is usually in a well tended disarray, looking unkempt while never getting in the way of vision. He has yet to move into any sort of business venture besides working for Aniki and he does not know what he may or may not want to do.

my bust, its gobo's game

Alright here are a couple of sketches of Hyo` to give you a feel for him.

Hyo` Portrait Sketch

Hyo` Street Clothes

Hyo` Ninja Gear....for the dirty work

I will be opening the IC thread tomorrow, I'm sure we're all anxious to get this rolling.

Jammin'!!

Can't wait!

Game on...this post is short so that you may interject your "world view/life" of your life in the service of the clan.

Hey - cool that we are up and running.

I am going to try to not be obnoxious too much and "teach" people stuff too much about things Japanese, but - and I am sure everyone already knows this - but Aniki is not really a name, but means Big Brother.
I just wanted to make that clear since my character referred to him as "elder brother" and I didn't want anyone to think Match was actually related to the bossman.

Also, to do this dark khaki color, it's not on the list - so do I have to keep typing it in?

Wow - those are some mighty sociable responses.

Okay, so I won't hold back when I see a chance to point out something useful. Truth in advertising, though, while I do speak and read Japanese fairly well (though nothing like a native, and certainly not real Yakuza Japanese, which is practically a separate dialect), have an advanced degree in Japan Studies, and have lived here for about eight years --- I am by NO MEANS an expert on the Yakuza. (And what I do know is far too mundane and creepy to fit with our current campaign.)

As for whether this guy also uses Aniki for a street name or is simply known as that to us lowlings I have no idea - that's for the GM to decide - which is another big reason I am reluctant to be throwing out a lot of "this is the way Japan in real life is" stuff - that can really step on a GM's toes, and Syndicate Killer has obviously already put a lot of study, thought, and work into this campaign.

As for how we would address him - aniki is a fairly traditional and somewhat familiar term. My wife thinks kobun would address their immediate superior as Nii-san, which is simply a much more polite way to say Big Brother. People higher than Aniki I would definitely at least refer to as X-sama, or X-dono for anyone REALLY high up.

But again I stress that if any of this is at odds with Syndicate Killer's vision, then I hope it will be duly ignored.

Adamu you are correct. He goes by Aniki, not really a street name(but is) but one he is quite happy with you using to address him or speak of him by. Many actually call him that...in fact it seems the whole clan (minus the Oyabun) calls him this.

If you are really interested in why, it may be something to investigate.


Another short post....not sure if you all wanted to do some IC chit-chat between yourselves (this is normally the meet in the back of a bar to accept a job from a fixer/mr. J phase of a storyline that serves as an intro to your character)