Koryu

Koryu

Yakuza Face & Novice Mage
Breaks Morale, Not Kneecaps
Not Actually a Drake
(Actually a Drake)
Discord	@ezene
Reddit	Onomatopus
Metatype	Elf
Street Cred	0
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	0
CDP	0
D.O.B.	September 3rd, 2055
Age	30
Folder	GDrive
Priority	Metatype - B Attributes - E Magic - A Skills - B Resources - E
#Max IGs/Ascension	1

Character Information

Summary

Koryū is a Japanese elven Changeling with long, black hair and a draconic appearance. The antler-like horns, teal scales running from just past her elbows to her fingertips like long gloves, and a long, partly-furred tail all make her look like what a layperson might imagine a drake as. To anyone who actually knows anything about drakes, however, she's obviously not - a drake wouldn't be maintaining partial features permanently or while unconscious. Combine that with the imagery of Eastern dragons being far more associated with spirits of rivers than with beasts, and her own willingness to donate her verifiably-non-drake scales to be tested (after disrupting material links, natch), and any interest in the possibility of her being related to an actual dragon tends to die as quickly as it pops up. Just an odd quirk in a massive sprawl of far more oddities than that. (She is secretly a drake, but drakes are built for being spies whose cover can hold under the awareness of a great dragon. Unless she chooses to dracomorph, there's simply nothing to find.)

Most of the time, Koryū wears normal clothing for the streets - much more about protection and concealment than fashion. She owns a better dress and suit for more formal occasions, though they're clearly dated and of lower-quality brands, the sort of things someone with little money wears to try to show respect for an occasion.

Her alias, Koryū, can interchangably refer to traditionalist practices and arts, or to a young dragon. Apparently this is ironic - as she is neither of those things despite some appearances. Though she admits it to very few, the choice was reflective of her real name: Mai, written to mean unconditional love, who was ironically thrown onto the streets the moment conditions changed.

Goals

• Long: Research and experiment for ways to leverage her dracoform for more power, without it becoming known she has one.
• Medium: Learn how some yakuza and most triads inscribe magic onto skin with ink. Foci, she can make - but they're only of value if they're a part of her, something she cannot be deprived of by others.
• Short: Finish setting up her workshop for magical research and production.

Background

Growing up as an elf in Japan isn't exactly a fun time nowadays. Back when Nakagawa Mai did it, it was even worse. Her parents were at least national citizens with employment, if harsh and not-well-paying, and could afford to raise her. For a pair of elves, that was already a great deal of fortune. Unfortunately for her, when she was six years old, Mai was one of the many affected by the passing of Halley's Comet's first wave of mana during the week of September 6th through 13th. The surge of magic is also where her dracomorphosis first triggered, though it went unnoticed in the mass of changes happening and being otherwise affected, and she wouldn't learn the significance of it until much later.

Still, in a place as conservative and afraid of the foreign and unknown as Japan, it was little surprise when she was thrown out to fend for herself on the streets. Willful despite it, she managed to scavenge and hide well enough to survive on her own, past the panic and chaos regarding SURGE... at least until the Second Crash struck just after turning nine. The loss of electronic infrastructure and economic disruption were as much a boon as a bane, for her. Mai's SIN being lost might have meant cutting off future opportunities, but with the need to survive right now, being far harder to track and trace meant stealing was a better option. And with so many more people being more desperate, discrimination waned - even Japan's conservative culture couldn't stop most people from putting their own lives ahead of their bigotry when it came down to that choice.

Mai joined up with a group who saw the value in her unusual talent for acrobatics and handling heights, as well as her small size for squeezing into places, and this lasted her through the economy swinging up. As prosperity rose again, so too did the demand for illicit goods - and partway into her teens, Mia experienced her Awakening, now knowing the world of mana proper. The drive to understand and explore this force led her to more sources of money to pay for materials, and thus, to that demand for illicit goods. She was far too visible to be a smuggler, mind; rather, her group helped her become an illicit good herself, seeing it as a sacrifice to make for improving her station in life. Underaged prostitution was already an unspoken practice, and Mai's unusual, exotic traits drew special attention. After all, past any propaganda, absent any morals, and underneath any repression, metahumanity's amorous desires know few boundaries, so clients were not terribly difficult to find.

Sex work, as it inevitably does, led to more organized crime, and thus to making some contacts in a local yakuza clan. Mai would never be a member herself, not among the old-fashioned clans, though what she made in pay, tips, and leaked secrets made her at least a worthwhile enough resource to pay some mind to. As she grew up and transitioned into more of an escort, knowing her prospects in this line of occupation would narrow year by year, Mai decided to plan her escape to another country. Somewhere that could be familiar, with a notable Japanese presence, yet just as diverged from traditional JIS culture to give her more freedom to become someone that matters... and ideally with a shipping industry, to get herself smuggled there. Seattle sounded like it would do.

Thus, using what lines she had open to local criminals, in her twenties, Mai was able to pay for and arrange to be stowed away on a ship. Luckily, neither the meistersingers nor the Leviathan took umbrage with this particular vessel, and her comfortable quarters in a mostly-full shipping container with nothing but a bag of stuff and her clothes kept her safe all the way there. Sneaking out of the docks, she made through the adjacent slums to lose herself in the city, and find a place to remain.

Mai ended up in Puyallup. While a more precarious place than the streets of Neo-Tokyo, as an adult she had much better options and personal power to work with. Finding a relatively tolerable neighborhood to hole up in with the remainder of her funds, she started allowing the bond to the land she'd been unconsciously suppressing and moving around too much to permit.

Between her ability to provide some magical services and defense, her skill at handling people, and her preternatural awareness of problems in her neighborhood the moment they happened, Mai became a notable figure quickly. Within a year, she had organized her community into a gang for mutual protection and to back up any sales they might make with force. The increased stability alone made a valuable commodity - providing new routes for smugglers to tread without worry for only a small cut.

Of course, being in Puyallup and involving herself in syndicates, as a Japanese person, she inevitably came into the sights of the Kenran-kai. They saw her as an opportunity to easily annex another area of territory; she saw them as an opportunity to integrate herself into a greater power. While there might have been some grumbling at letting in a 'mutant nonhuman woman', the leadership with actual brains saw plenty of value in a mage with good people skills. She helped transfer the neighborhood into clan protection, and in so doing, got herself a spot in the clan as well.

By the current point, Mai is a full member of the Kenran-kai with some measure of authority. Nothing like a proper head or leader, but she has the pull to be listened to when she talks and have her words considered. Rather than focusing on developing her connections and social manipulation further, however, she's chosen to take a path more based around enforcement and independent action. She feels a strong need to learn how better to reshape the world through the talent ever-present in her soul.

Narrative Significant Qualities

• Changeling (Class III SURGE): Koryū is very visibly a mutant. In her case, one with traits reminiscent of Eastern dracoforms.
• Dracoform (Eastern Drake): She is also an Eastern Drake, hiding it under the cover of suspicions about her metahuman form proving false.
• Made Man: Koryū is a fully accepted member of the Kenran-kai.

Run History

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Affiliations

Kenran-kai

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Kenran Hanzo	4	3	Fixer	Fixer	Yakuza, Personnel Management, A Man is His Oath, Street Warfare, Fort Lewis' Neighbor	Even
Gojira Gaki	4	3	Gear	Yakuza Enforcer	Yakuza, Terror of the Roads, "Atomic" Breath, Coming Out of the Sea, Big Scary Troll	Even
June Sano	4	3	Legwork	Psionic Instructor and Parazoologist	Psionic, Scholarly, Yakuza, Parazoologist, Master Conjurer	Even
Goro Mazamoto	3	2	Legwork	Yakuza Enforcer	The Gambler Rolls The Dice, Good Old Underworld, Foot In The Shadows, Veteran Yak	Even

Organizations

Contact	Position	Connection	Faction Rep	Archetype	Health	Location
Kenran-kai	Enforcer	2	1	Organized Crime Syndicate	Maintaining	Seattle

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

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Shadow Community Table

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Assensing Table

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