Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

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LostOne
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Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by LostOne »

Before I go creating my own thing for a game, is there anything in the books that establishes a strongly asian based community in North America? I'm looking to introduce a Yakuza type organization but was hoping for something already established if possible.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by Blue_Lion »

I do not recall of reading any Asian based communities but there is evidences they exists. Perhaps one of the families in the black market could be yakuza based.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by eliakon »

Nothing in canon per se.
Though the canon is pretty hit or miss on demographic information.

That said there were a lot of major ethnic communities in the US. I would suggest finding a nice large China Town or Little Korea or the like today... and figure out what post-rifts city it became. After all those towns were founded by survivors... so if you have 20,000 ethnic Chinese in your city that gives you a nice pool for an ethnicly Chinese community later on.
You can pretty safely ignore cultural drift since it doesn't seem to happen in the world of Palladium. Most cultures seem to exist virtually unchanged for centuries, if not millennia... so
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

The first question I'd ask myself if I were going to write up an organization like this is if or how I want it to interact with other Black Market organizations. It's a little silly to extrapolate from the most recent census, but a sizable part of the current population in areas controlled by the Chicago Network, Le Marche Noir and El Oculta is Asian-American. Most of the Eastern Seaboard is subsumed by the Shemarrian Nation, New York City is out, and Caliornia has no real description.

If you don't want to make this group part of an established organization, Vancouver Island is where I'd stick this new community. Vancouver has one of the largest and most diverse populations of East/Southeast Asian heritage in N.America, and the adjacent island is described as being shrouded by mists from which explorers don't return. Give it the same treatment as Madhaven and shove in some Tongs. I'd describe them as establishing tentative business relations with the Ixion Cyber-Horsemen, non-traditionalists of the Water Point Reserve, and the newly western ranging Psi-Stalker tribes. I'd also have the group make a tidy sum providing some industry for Bandito Arms, with established drop-off points near the Nimipu preserve, but that's partly because the Black-Winged Monster Men don't seem to get much use.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Curbludgeon wrote:The first question I'd ask myself if I were going to write up an organization like this is if or how I want it to interact with other Black Market organizations. It's a little silly to extrapolate from the most recent census, but a sizable part of the current population in areas controlled by the Chicago Network, Le Marche Noir and El Oculta is Asian-American. Most of the Eastern Seaboard is subsumed by the Shemarrian Nation, New York City is out, and Caliornia has no real description.

If you don't want to make this group part of an established organization, Vancouver Island is where I'd stick this new community. Vancouver has one of the largest and most diverse populations of East/Southeast Asian heritage in N.America, and the adjacent island is described as being shrouded by mists from which explorers don't return. Give it the same treatment as Madhaven and shove in some Tongs. I'd describe them as establishing tentative business relations with the Ixion Cyber-Horsemen, non-traditionalists of the Water Point Reserve, and the newly western ranging Psi-Stalker tribes. I'd also have the group make a tidy sum providing some industry for Bandito Arms, with established drop-off points near the Nimipu preserve, but that's partly because the Black-Winged Monster Men don't seem to get much use.


An Island completely shrouded in a permanent, impenetrable supernatural fog, and the island itself is basically completely overran with powerful supernatural monsters; where few who enter ever return, even fewer return sane, and the waters about are positively teeming with even more supernatural sea monsters; is prehaps not the best place to stick the headquarters of Organized Crime. I mean...sure, it'd keep the cops out, but transporting anything to-from is going to be challanging, as is the constant defenses required.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by Curbludgeon »

"Give it the same treatment as Madhaven" was intended as reference to the Curtain surrounding the Garden: an illusory defense so as to lend credence to any explorers' failure to return as being supernatural in cause, instead of a deliberate act by the island's residents. Perhaps if I had phrased it as "Garden of the White Rose" instead there would have been less potential for miscommunication. There is no quote suggesting that the island itself is actually overrun, nor anything suggesting localized effects on sanity; rather the opposite, there are only explicitly unconfirmed rumors of objects seen in the mist and loud noises at night. As for sea monsters, that the Cadborosaurus which congregate around the island are stated to never go onto dry land is a solid element of home defense for a criminal organization that forgoes boats.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Curbludgeon wrote:"Give it the same treatment as Madhaven" was intended as reference to the Curtain surrounding the Garden: an illusory defense so as to lend credence to any explorers' failure to return as being supernatural in cause, instead of a deliberate act by the island's residents. Perhaps if I had phrased it as "Garden of the White Rose" instead there would have been less potential for miscommunication. There is no quote suggesting that the island itself is actually overrun, nor anything suggesting localized effects on sanity; rather the opposite, there are only explicitly unconfirmed rumors of objects seen in the mist and loud noises at night. As for sea monsters, that the Cadborosaurus which congregate around the island are stated to never go onto dry land is a solid element of home defense for a criminal organization that forgoes boats.


"Give it the White Rose" would have probablly lead to more confusion as I would be really confounded as to what they would be doing there--but allright. you've chosen to assume it's mostly smoke and mirrors, not an interpretation I would go with, but certainly a valid one that doesn't contradict anything in cannon, so it works.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by taalismn »

Indeed....having a well-established 'chinatown' in a city, especially one that trades extensively with Asia, would be a good historical jumping-off point for a later Asian-based community, especially if it's built around a core of magic-users whose ancestors discovered in the Dark Years, that some of the artifacts and antiques their ancestors brought over from the Old World actually had some magical zip to them(for example, near Salem, Mass, there's an entire transplanted Chinese generational HOUSE that might have had some deep-rooted mystical zing if the Rising of Atlantis didn't wipe out most of the East Coast). Using those artifacts and associated Old World knowledge would be a good binder for a community of refugees to preserve their ethnic and cultural roots, rather than be assimilated into a piecemeal survivor culture.

In any event, Ninjas and Superspies: Mystic China can be a good resource of already RPG-formated ideas that can be salted into your setting.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by Blue_Lion »

What if it was not hidden but removed phased into a pocket dimension.

It is also possible to that it an astral domain built as a escape way when Asians lucked acrossed a way to physically travel there and every person there born gives up some ppe to add to it. Just recently opened a portal back to rifts earth and the yakuza are going to move in and start a turf war with the black market.

hmmm that has a lot of option to play with. A campaign where around a mob turf war.
The Clones are coming you shall all be replaced, but who is to say you have not been replaced already.

Master of Type-O and the obvios.

Soon my army oc clones and winged-monkies will rule the world but first, must .......

I may debate canon and RAW, but the games I run are highly house ruled. So I am not debating for how I play but about how the system works as written.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by ShadowLogan »

LostOne wrote:Before I go creating my own thing for a game, is there anything in the books that establishes a strongly asian based community in North America? I'm looking to introduce a Yakuza type organization but was hoping for something already established if possible.

Community not that I can think of, but there various elements that point to one existing:
-Japanese and Chinese are languages known in North America (Archie's bots are programmed with their spoken language, suggesting some communities in his sphere of influence)
-WB8 mentions that ancient "Rune" Katanas might be in North America pre-GC (Chicago IIRC), not "community" but a possible link/justification for X
-SoT4 has a Japanese Dragon (forget the species) present, so maybe Tolkeen
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by SolCannibal »

Well, i know you are looking for already mentioned stuff, but no real problem with some people from Japan or some other southeast asian country setting up homes in North America due to random rift mishaps. One can use groups from related worldbooks or any variety of parallel earths (HU, TMNT, After the Bomb, Robotech, Ninjas & Superspies) for the sake of entertainment/surprise.

Like a feudal kingdom ruled by a Sikh warrior-queen and her knights dealing and fighting against/alongside Camelot for an Rifts: England game, for one example. :wink:

Cultural drift x preservation is a thing that happens and can be a great dynamic to play with.

A criminal fraternity with asian trappings could relate to the Yakuza or Tongs as we know them, some form of peculiar post-cataclysmic hybrid, evil ninja clans like Marvel's the Hand or TMNT's Foot Clan or some HU, Ninjas & Superspies, Mystic China or others equivalent, not to mention societies of accidental exiles from the current states in Japan or China, all of these and more are certainly possible... options are many indeed and could produce quite varied groups.

Ah, it's pretty minor actually, but just remembered something - Juicer Uprising mentions in passing some (un-statted) leading figures of the Grim Reapers cult beside Aramis Knight. One of them is Memtar the Destroyer, 8th level witch of the Death entity, that happens to be, as i would later find out through a friend, a female first name of thai origin. Can be made as relevant or not as you feel like.
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Re: Strongly Asian Influenced Communities in North America?

Unread post by taalismn »

SolCannibal wrote:Well, i know you are looking for already mentioned stuff, but no real problem with some people from Japan or some other southeast asian country setting up homes in North America due to random rift mishaps. One can use groups from related worldbooks or any variety of parallel earths (HU, TMNT, After the Bomb, Robotech, Ninjas & Superspies) for the sake of entertainment/surprise.

Like a feudal kingdom ruled by a Sikh warrior-queen and her knights dealing and fighting against/alongside Camelot for an Rifts: England game, for one example. :wink: .


Yeah, why should North American explorers have all the fun? :bandit:
(Though one of the Rifters has a Russian shock trooper cyborg war lording it over a desert community).
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"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
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