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Many changes have wrought Nippon Tech over the years, but the biggest has been the death of Ryuucihi Kanawa, the High Lord, and the expanding of the tech axiom. Nippon Tech has lost ground in the possibility wars, but it has some new technology to experiment with, and the drive to come ahead in the race.
Contents:
Nippon Tech since the Possibility Wars
Nippon Tech has gone through chaos since the death of Ryuichi Kanawa, Prompty afterward, as if expecting it, 7734 took his place and ruled Nippon Tech with her own vicious style. However, only four months passed before she was found dead in her car with a hose running from the exhaust. Officially, it was suicide, but nearly everyone in Nippon Tech knows better.
The arena was ripe for 7734’s competition, a recruit from a rival company who had his eyes set on the top: Teiji Ito, known in the company as 4861. He has taken the Kanawa corporation in new directions, introducing exciting new technologies to the populace and actually raising the tech level by one by the very advancement of new technology!
For a while, it looked like Nippon Tech was out of the Possibility Wars, as these shifts in corporate standings and a horrible depression forced the once hostile cosm to focus inward for a while. When the Gaunt Man returned, and was looking for help in his revenge scheme, he naturally went back to the cosms of his former allies and investigated their remaining strength. He saw much potential in 4861’s new Kanawa corporation and how he was running Marketplace, so he decided to give 4861 a boost: he would allow Nippon Tech to enter the Possibility War scene again, using the obscure Monolith technology. He would only have a small zone to work with at first, more when he proved himself. 4861 accepted, and along with the High Lord of Tharkold, became the first pseudo-Highlord to invade a realm without a Darkness Device.
World Laws and Axioms
Nippon Tech has changed enough that the axioms should be reexamined.
Technological: 25
Social: 22
Spiritual: 7
Magical: 2
The only axioms to change are the tech axioms and the spirit axiom. Spiritually, Nippon Tech is dying a slow death. It is harder to get intervention or miracles from the gods of Marketplace, as they are dying as well. The ruthless battle to be in top is depleting humanity’s natural love, hence the drop in the spiritual axiom. A result of this that can be plainly seen is the increase in street violence. Nippon Tech has always been clean on top and dirty underneath, but now it is even more so. It greatly resembles the movie Blade Runner down in the poorer sections of town.
Technologically, Nippon Tech is now very close to where the Cyberpapacy was before the Great Collapse which followed the
death of ther Cyberpope. Artificial Intelligence is partially perfected: they now can transfer a living mind into a silicon
body, but not create an entire new thinking creature. Self awareness, then is possible, but so expensive, it still is used
rarely. Cyberware shows the biggest advance, allowing most types found in the former Cyberpapacy. Nanotech is still in need of
perfection, but can be used to fight weak diseases and repair some forms of bodily damage. Memory chips are fully operational.
A “Net” called Kikai (Machine) is up now, and the Kanawa corporation has figured out how to use it to subdue the populace
with cheap mind-blowing entertainment. It works like the Godnet did from the Cyberpapacy; the user connects to it with
connections to the brain, allowing them to move through it in their own minds in real time. It isn’t as complex as the Godnet
was, nor is it as beautiful, but its flaws are being worked on. It can still be accessed through three dimensional television.
The Law of Intrigue: This Law is stated fully in the World Book. Briefly, it affects Nippon Tech poeples in the following ways:
1. Stealth bonus +3.
2. Charm using lies or deceit get +3, as do Persuasion attempts to force the target to believe a lie. Possibility-rated characters get +3 to trick attempts.
3. Drop attempts to see through disguise by one success level.
4. For every 100 persons in an organization, one will be a spy or a psychopath witha separate agenda.
The Law of Profit: Briefly, goods and services cost less when purchased by those with wealth than those without. >6,000,000 yen/year = -10%, and >100,000,000 yen/year = -25%. Exclusive shops only.
The Law of Vengeance: +6 possibilities at the end of an adventure where the desire for vengeance is stated. The
vengeance must be bad enough to warrant an entire adventure. Serious wrongs only, and there is a wait of 48 hours required.
The High Lord, 4861
Even though he isn’t technically a Highlord, 4861 has the dream and the ambition necessary. Nobody is sure where he came from, since he has had all records purged from the public eye except those he keeps specifically to cast a benevolent light on him and his new company.
4861 is of medium height and not particularly impressive physically, but he does have a charisma that people envy. He is of typical Asian stock, that is to say, black haired and of olive skin. He, unlike Kanawa, has no physical features to mark him apart form others. This is something he likes and uses to his advantage. In fact, his nondescriptness gives him an additional drop of one success level when he uses his diguise skill.
Also, there are six clones of 4861 with whom he swaps duties on occasion. It is likely a person, thinking they are addressing 4861, is truthfully addressing one of his clones.
4861, Teiji Ito
DEXTERITY 9
Dodge 12, Energy Weapons 12, Fire Combat 15, Lock Picking 14,
Maneuver 10, Melee Weapons 11, Prestidigitation 10, Stealth 12,
Unarmed Combat 12, Martial Arts (Karate) 14
STRENGTH 8
TOUGHNESS 9
PERCEPTION 13
Evidence Analysis 18, Find 18, Land Vehicles 17, Language 19,
Scholar (Stock Market) 23, Scholar (Accounting) 22, Trick 20,
Disguise 20, Demolition 19, Forgery 19
MIND 13
Test 19, Willpower 19, Business 25, Cybertech 15, Meditation 20,
Psychology 20, Hypnotism 20
CHARISMA 13
Charm 19, Persuasion 18, Taunt 15
SPIRIT 13
Intimidation 18, Reality 23
Possibilities: 40
Equipment: 13mm Chunyokai (tech 24, dam. 18)
Cyberware: Chipholder 3 [1]: Unarmed Combat +2, Fire Combat
+2, Dodge +2. Shima cyberarms [4]: +2 to STR in arms. NeuraCal
[1]. Subdermal Kevlar [2], TOU+5/25. Narichi SkinShaper [1], +2
to Disguise.
Cyber Rating: 9
Since Nippon Tech has no Darkness Device it can call its own, it is limited to using Gospog left over from 3327’s rule. The stelae still appear as teller machines, and the maelstrom bridge is still a beam of light inside the Kanawa Corporation’s HQ building.
Cyber Technology invades Nippon Tech
Note: this section is incomplete.
During the original Possibility Wars, one of Kanawa's biggest goals was to acquire Cyberpapacy technology, specifically cyberware, and learn how to use it. He had the notion that it would raise the tech limitations in his world, and it did. Since then, Nippon Tech has changed dramatically, growing in technological ability fast. A character from the Cyberpapacy would feel more at home here, now, and their cyberware would not cause a contradiction (unless it also used spiritual power, like some of the Inquisition's weapons did.)
Running Nippon Tech in Torg 2000
Nippon Tech has changed somewhat from the purely business-like attitudes it had before. Now, the streets are becoming more and more dangerous, as the haves and have-nots grow farther and farther apart. The advent of a major, three-dimensional web has led to a general malaise about upkeep of buildings and streets, etc., as the populace log onto the 'net. Things are swiftly going downhill.
Recommended Materials: Movies: Blade Runner Rising Sun Black Rain Johnny Mnemonic Freejack Strange Days Books: (Anything I missed? Send me an e-mail with your suggestions!)
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