Kadō

Kadō

Shintoist Magician
Previously a Fixer
Knows People
Discord	@ezene
Reddit	onomatopus
Metatype	Human? (Elf)
Street Cred	4
Notoriety	0
Public Awareness	1
D.O.B.	August 14th, 2055
Age	29
Folder	Drive
Priority	Metatype - D Attributes - E Magic/Resonance - A Skills - B Resources - C
#Max IGs/Ascension	3

Character Information

Summary

Kadō is a young human woman who nearly matches the traditional Japanese ideal. With a petite figure, pale skin, and long, black hair, only her vivid green eyes separate her from the image of a yamato nadeshiko. Equally at home in street chic as in the dress of high society, she excels at captivating attention, knowing just how to speak and move to leave the impressions she wants.

For those with wider information sources, Kadō has operated for a few years in Neo-Tokyo as a fixer with rumored connections to EVO. More recently, she's moved to Seattle for some reason - and despite having only been around a year, she's found her name in an impressive number of circles. This time, however, rather than setting herself up as a fixer, she's decided to take jobs herself as a runner while preparing to attend the University of Washington.

Her specialty is social combat. Whether squeezing every bit of value out of a deal, running circles around a security guard's expectations, or convincing a group of workers she's one of their friends without having ever met who she's mimicking, any time Kadō is allowed to speak, she can work. This even holds true in a firefight - rather than ineffectually firing a gun (and risking snapping those thin arms with recoil), she stays back and observes the situation. Her vantage point gives her the chance to urge allies, using that talent for manipulation to cut past their hesitations and prod their instinctive reactions at just the right times. At least one rumor states she pulled off such an accurate 'drill instructor' voice that a number of corpsec jolted up to stand at attention... in the middle of a firefight.

Goals

• Short-Term: Start doing jobs, both for money and for reputation. Establish herself as someone who can keep up with running rather than just networking.
• Mid-Term: Accumulate soft and hard power to leverage for her continued... not freedom, but relatively loose leash.
• Long-Term: Figure out a long-term goal. What does she even want? What does it really mean to want things of your own, and why?

Background

Yamamoto Miho is 'adopted', in a sense - she never had parents to begin with, but commissioners, in the form of Yamamoto Kasumi, Yamamoto Kenji, and Fujimori Hideo.

The Yamamotos were in the more Japanese-centric aspects of EVO, which look back to its original roots as Yamatetsu. Despite that, their biases against metahumanity were limited to the lingering momentum of peer pressure.

As wealthy executives, they had more than enough resources to draw on to immerse themselves in their culture's spiritual elements - particularly in the lavish membership of the Ordo Maximus. Mundane themselves, they were happy to have their power and wealth purchase the trappings of Shintoist and Onmyodo spirituality, distracted from reaching anywhere deeper than the outer circle.

It was one of these Shintoists, a proper member, who sought to make a deal with them. Yamamotos Kasumi and Kenji held power over a significant biotech R&D subsidiary, and Fujimori Hideo wanted access to those resources. Miho was thought up as a project to both make use of those resources and establish stronger connections, posed as a way to help make each side of EVO's base a bit more palatable to the other... and to further their own hopes.

For the metahuman-resistant end, she would be, on paper, genetically a metahuman - but with none of the signs of it to immediately reject as foreign or a threat to them. By also being raised heavily in her home culture's less objectionable aspects, she could present a face for accepting and integrating it despite how prevalent prejudices are in that culture. For the Yamamotos themselves, they remained well aware that they would never themselves truly touch the world of the kami - but that the secretive works of the Ordo Maximus could, combined with their own labs, ensure one of their line is accepted.

Aside from the attempt to grab power through a mouldable apprentice, Hideo's goal in designing Miho was to create a particularly unusual case for ghilani vrykolakiviridae - or HMHVV Strain 1. When the Infection takes, it can have drastically different results keyed to metatype, and can even forcibly cause an Awakening in the right circumstances. Miho's chimeric genetics were to, essentially, 'confuse' the virus... and thus, through close observation, gain new insights into how it decides on what to do with its hosts.

Other tweaks were included for practical reasons. The ability to entirely ignore pain - useful both for preventing interrogation from leaking secrets, and for enhancing her training by letting her push magic well past the point others would be left unconscious. Vastly improved memory - to allow her to better handle learning for both business management and magical practices simultaneously. Reduced need for sleep - to add more time in the day for that learning, and later, for managing the two. A significantly weakened immune system - to help ensure Infection would take. And lastly, an added node in the brain to allow conscious signalling to autonomous emotional reactions.

Miho was raised between the three in Japan, her parents and Hideo as primary tutor, much like a homeroom teacher is considered a de-facto 'third parent' for most Japanese, albeit with half of that raising being done by employees to free up her parents' time. The tutoring included spiritual aspects despite her lack of early Awakening, aiming to give her a head-start. Eventually, she was enrolled in a private school alongside others of her age - to both encourage forming connections and handling diverse groups of people. She took to matters of expression and manipulation more naturally than a fish to water, though a sense of derealization gradually grew to plague her from the start.

With so much direct control and understanding of her own emotions and expressions, she never had the chance to understand what it meant to be genuine - when all of it is a choice she needs to make, what of it isn't manipulation? When she can influence her own feelings by feedback from microexpressions, a far more advanced form of the idea of improving mood by smiling, then what of her feelings are real rather than allowed by choice for personal benefit? When so much of what she hears and sees is clearly lies to her mind, yet with everyone denying it, how far can she trust anything she's told?

By the time Miho had reached eighteen, she still showed no signs of Awakening on her own. Of age now, she was to be inducted using whatever mysterious methods their Shintoist sponsor had - which was really just killing her via draining and hoping it worked.

Set up to be observed very thoroughly, Miho was Infected by a nosferatu member. The concept appeared to work, and the 'seed' strain adapted along three separate paths: some of the virus expected to infect an elf as a banshee, some of it expected to infect an elf as a vampire, and some of it expected to infect a human as a nosferatu. The 'debate', in a manner of speaking, made the process extend slightly longer than a normal Infection should - but it ultimately resolved on reconfiguring her into a banshee. All of this was meticulously recorded, Hideo's lab eagerly grasping for any new insights into their condition and how biology might guide it.

She was successfully Awakened during the process, albeit with no sure proof if it was the virus or simply magical stimulation activating late talents. Nonetheless, her magical education properly began across the next decade - after a thorough binding to ensure any darker secrets she picked up on wouldn't be allowed to leak out to her family.

Her business management education shifted into practical work, meanwhile. Her own desire to loosen her leash for safer self-discovery led her more towards the criminal elements, using her apparent status as a pureblooded Japanese human to minimize rejection from yakuza clans. The years saw her as a somewhat accomplished human resources manager, as well as a fixer in Neo-Tokyo specialized in networking.

Miho's move to Seattle in the later end of that was presented mainly as a way to experience a more diverse set of cultures. No matter their intentions, it's hard to be surrounded and steeped in the cancerous xenophobia of Japan without taking it on - and so, the near-free-city of the UCAS was chosen as direct opposition, while not entirely removing her from exposure to her roots. Enrollment in the University of Washington was chosen as much for continued education as cover... and, unknown to her parents, for an Ordo agent working there to act as her handler.

For Miho herself, the relative chaos combined with its separation from the rest of the world meant Seattle in particular would offer her both familiarity, yet distance from her family. That want to have more personal freedom was easily expected, and encouraged - no corporate kid is going to survive in the long term without personal ambitions, after all. What was less seen through is that this freedom was also to be a test. Pushed from so early on to become what was wanted, yet having no sense she could trust of what she wanted for herself, she wants to find and understand what that means on her own.

Narrative Significant Qualities

Positive

• Infected (Banshee): Kadō doesn't drink... wine.
• Prototype Transhuman: Miho was designed and biologically constructed, not conceived and born. Part of this has blended human and elven genetics; her natural state is one that appears, externally, to be a perfectly normal human.

Negative

• SINner (Corporate) (EVO): Kadō is one of the elites, born in an ivory tower with everything she could want served to her through the suffering of regular people... or so many in the shadows might think, anyway.
• Code of Honor (Speak No Ordo): Kadō is bound by magical compulsion never to divulge any secrets she may know of the Ordo Maximus to the uninitiated.

Run History

Name	GM	Metaplot	Date of Run
Sanctum Sundered	Eva		3 April 2085
Fish in a Bucket	Anumati	Deep Hunting	30 March 2085
Plucking A Bird	Anumati	Deep Hunting	18 March 2085
The Bill Comes Due	Archtmag		12 March 2085
Dear Helena	Asmodeus		1 March 2085
Runnin' from the Dock of the Bay	LHOG		27 February 2085
Chain Mail	Sleevey	La Famille Du Peintre	10 February 2085
Alea Ecta Est	Fangblade_		30 December 2084
Party Balloon	Syphilen		29 December 2084
Hot Potato (Chips)	Sample Text		9 December 2084
Tying A Yoke to Yamada	LHOG		30 November 2084

Affiliations

Contacts

Contact	Connection	Loyalty	Archetype	Profession	Aspects	Chips
Irena Tachikov	6	3	Gear	EVO Acquisitions Expert	Workaholic, EVO Acquisitions Specialist, Vory Connection, On Trend, Shadier side of the Court, It fell off a truck, Meet my Doctor, Gang Detail, Information Broker	Even
Hanzō Furukawa	6	2	Legwork	Arcanotronics Professor	The Ordo Watches, Onmyoji, Profession: Professor, Arcane Pipeline, Failed Experiments Aren't Useless, The Spirit is Willing, The Machine is Strong, The Flesh is Weak, Some Say, Towards Divinity	Even
Ryuichi Umezawa	6	2	Fixer	Gang Leader	Armorer services, Fake SIN, Drugs, Cyberdecks, Equipment brand: Shiawase, Blackmail, Vehicles	Even
Kakei Steve	6	1	Fixer	Fixer	Lawyer, Legal Connections, I Know Many Things, Weeb Swordsfan, Yakuza Networker, Deltaware Dealer, I Know The Best Cyberware	-1
Karahashi Atsutada	4	3	Fixer(G,N,K,A)	Mita-gumi Lieutenant	Mita-Gumi Lieutenant, Yakuza Supplier - Armor, Yakuza Supplier - Weapons, Friends in all places, Talislegger, "Friend" of Renraku, Unquestionable Loyalty	Even
Yoshinaga Chikara	3	1	Fixer(N,A,K,G)	Yoshinaga-gumi Oyabun; Fixer	Hard To Reach, Tech-savvy, Japanocorp connections, Hidden Technomancy, Veteran Yakuza, Bellevue Based	Even
Fiendest	2	3	Fixer	HMHVV Fanatic	Wanted, Infected Organizer, Lavawalker, Terrordome, Darkdweller	Even
Bulldog Black	2	2	Fixer	Semi-retired Security Professional	Security, Street Docs, Tenacious Investigating	Even
June Sano	4	2	Legwork	Psionic Instructor and Parazoologist	Psionic, Scholarly, Yakuza, Parazoologist, Master Conjurer	Even
Liam Montgomery	4	2	Service	Lawyer	Cui Bono, Bona Fide, Bona Vacantia, Corpus Delicti, Habeas Corpus, Amicus Curiae	Even
'Doc' Mortimer	5	2	Custom(G,A,K,N)	Street Doc	Biotechnologist, Advanced 'Ware, Black Market Pipeline, Forbidden Gear, Cybertechnologist, Cyberlimbs	Even
Smith	4	1	Gear	Talismonger	Reagent Harvester, Initiation Room, Warded Panic Room, Foci Customizer, Shinto Tradition	Even
C1ph3r	3	3	Legwork	Decker	Infobroker, Decker, Nerd, Conspiracy Theorist	Even

Organizations

Contact	Position	Connection	Faction Rep	Archetype	Health	Location
Ordo Maximus	Asset	4	12	Vampiric Arcane Society	Maintaining	Worldwide

Allies

Organization	Faction Rep	Archetype	Related Runs
Ancients	5	Gang	Alea Ecta Est

Enemies

Organization	Faction Rep	Archetype	Related Runs
Ares Macrotechnology	​-5	AAA Megacorporation	Alea Ecta Est

In Character Information

Matrix Search Table

Threshold	Result
1	'Kadō' refers to the traditional Japanese art of flower arrangement. As opposed to the more modern word 'ikebana', this roughly translates to "the way of flowers," much like how 'iaido' does as "the way of present awareness."
3	A fixer going by the name of Kadō was active in Neo-Tokyo, Japan, until sometime in 2079 when she began winding down her operations. By 2080, she had left the scene. A local runner and networker, also called Kadō, entered Seattle's scene later in 2080; her reputation for negotiation and people management was steadily built, and is likely what prompted an invitation to the ShadowHaven.
6	The Kadō of Neo-Tokyo is definitively the Kadō of Seattle - her face and figure haven't changed a bit, even if her fashion has. Lingering, obscure gossip references friction between her and the yakuza clans she dealt with over conservative attitudes towards sex and metatype, but also implies she kept respect through observing traditions and properly entreating the kami. The earliest recorded sign of her appearance is having negotiated a deal with a clan on behalf of a company suspected to be a front for EVO interests, sometime in 2074.

Shadow Community Table

Threshold	Result
1
3
5

Assensing Table

Threshold	Result
1	Subject is Awakened. (If successful vs. 7 Masking) Subject is present on the Astral Plane.
2	No used/omegaware, standard, or greyware cyberimplants found. The class of magical subject is Mystic Adept. Can successfully recognize the subject's aura.
3	No alphaware cyberimplants found. (If successful vs. 7 Masking) The subject suffers from the disease known as HMHVV. (If day) The subject has an astral signature present.
4	No used/omegaware, standard, alphaware, or betaware bioimplants found. No betaware cyberimplants found. (If not successful vs. 7 Masking) The subject's Essence is 6. (If successful vs. 7 Masking) The subject's Essence is 11. The subject's Magic is 6. (If day) The cause of the astral signature is a Health Spell.
5	No deltaware implants found. No geneware found. No nanotech found. (If successful vs. 7 Masking) The subject is fully positive for ghilani vrykolakiviridae adapted to the homo sapiens nobilis form. The subject is not a technomancer.

Character Plot Hooks

Here are characteristics of the character that GMs may take advantage of to add complications to runs, or to otherwise use when in use. If you want to use them in unrelated to runs, please ask first.

Aspect	Information	Related Run(s)
Speak No Ordo	Kadō is bound by rituals engraved upon her body and spirit never to divulge any secrets of the Ordo Maximus she may know to the uninitiated, using the same process by which Triads bind their members into service. This is a compromise between the fact that she has been exposed to the inner circle to a degree since 'birth', and the fact that all of the value she can provide while safely locked away has been expended.
Genetics? Or...	Kadō appears to be a human girl aged, at the most, twenty. Despite this, with a wide enough network of information, she is confirmed to have been active in Neo-Tokyo for at least five years - and possibly up to ten. Just excellent genetics, provided by the good breeding of the higher classes? Someone older with access to Leónization, going under a new name? An elf, bio-modified to blend in with humans? Or... something else?
Original SIN	Kadō is still an active member of EVO. She isn't looking to leave, either - she's loyal to them, even if more out of habit and the circumstance of having being born into it than an active, philosophical loyalty. Runs against EVO interests might not be rejected, but the info will at least find its way to EVO's hands, and at worst, she might attempt to sabotage it.