Some companies have a difficult time adapting to new
markets, and in the aftermath of the Talinz war, Hana Electrics was one. A primary
military contractor during the war, Japan’s neutrality turned the country into
an island bastion against a ravaged world. Hana used the safe haven as an
excuse to sell arms to both sides.
In the wake of the Baku Treaty, the company collapsed in on
itself. Their massive expansion required governments that were willing to pay
billions out in defence contracts, and with demand severed overnight, it was
unsustainable. Hana was never part of the conclave that founded the Talinz
fighting league, and whilst they stabilised around a small collection of
factories in and around Sendai and Yamagata, they looked set to forever be
minor players, a footnote in history.
Frequent poor business decisions plagued the company for the
following years. It seemed as if misfortune followed the board of directors,
for every time they committed to a project, diversified into a new market or
embarked on new research, the market would fall though, the project would break
down, and research labs would suffer some catastrophe or another. It made those
in charge of the company quite rightly rather paranoid.
When Wakahisa Hikari took over the company from her father,
she made it very clear what she thought was wrong. They had tried to follow
market trends, and only caught on when the bubbles burst. To succeed, they
would need to forge new ground. To start, they would begin to manufacture
domestic servants. Talinz with the sole purpose of serving a home. Completely loyal
and perfectly designed to cook, clean, remember important family dates and take
children to school. Hana would become a family company. A name you could trust.
The genius was really in the price, though. Cheap enough to be considered
affordable by the middle class, expensive enough that a family would want to
show it off to their neighbours. Butlers and maids for a new generation, the perfect
status symbol.
At the same time, to pad sales, they would sell unassembled
Talinz frames. Japan especially was nurturing a growing Talinz fandom.
Distribute frames to schools at cheap prices to teach children electrical
engineering, and advertise the robustness and reliability of Hana products at
the same time. Distribute parts to the electrical shops in Akihabara and
elsewhere for adult fanatics that wanted to take apart and rebuild their own
units from scratch, rather than merely fit more modular parts to their frames.
Considering the money saved in labour due to the lack of assembly, profits
skyrocketed.
It wasn’t long, too, before publishers and producers began
to approach Hana Electrics. A recent trend had begun to emerge amongst the
general public. Individuals were writing personality files for Talinz with the
aim of making them behave like fictional characters they were particularly
invested in. For publishers and producers, this usage of their copyrighted
material was, they viewed, a lost attempt to monetise. Hana leapt on the offer
and began to accept contracts to license and manufacture frames with parts
specifically designed for the appearance and behaviour of popular figures from
television and literature. Research budgets were diverted towards making frames
that looked as realistic as possible. Skin-like polymers were patented by the
company that blurred the line between robot and human.
This gave them another idea. Approaching diplomats and
dignitaries at first, and never openly, Han Electrics gave them an option. When
such important political figures were so frequently at risk, why not build an
imposter that they could pilot remotely? The Kagemusha series was born.
By the time Wakahisa Hikari retired two years ago, passing
the company to her daughter Wakahisa Jun, she had turned two factories in the north
of Japan into one of the most profitable institutions on the planet.
Wakahisa Jun, the current CEO of Hana Electrics is notable
for one thing only, currently. Her legion of 102 Kagemusha. It has been suggested, perhaps, that nobody has truly
seen her face at all, and there are certainly no documented pictures of her
past a family holiday at the age of 8 that could ever be confirmed as Jun. If
Jun does exist, however, the only legacy that she is likely to pass on is one
of consolidating her mother’s power. Few people know what Wakahisa Jun can do,
or, indeed, if she is even still a person…
In the stat blocks below, I have given one for Jun, and one
for Jun’s Kagemusha. If you want that in your game, Jun prime is a Talinz frame
herself, or maybe she never shows her face for another reason, that is awesome.
Tell me more about it!
Wakahisa Jun, CEO of Hana Electrics
High Concept: Stone-faced, distant delegator
Aspect: I must step out of my mother’s shadow
Skills: Great (+4) Insightful, Good (+3) Intimidation, Fair (+2) Willpower, Average (+1) Popular culture
Stunts: Best for the job: Whenever you make an Insightful check to ascertain somebody’s capabilities, you gain a +2 to the roll, and automatically learn one of their most proficient skills.
High Concept: Stone-faced, distant delegator
Aspect: I must step out of my mother’s shadow
Skills: Great (+4) Insightful, Good (+3) Intimidation, Fair (+2) Willpower, Average (+1) Popular culture
Stunts: Best for the job: Whenever you make an Insightful check to ascertain somebody’s capabilities, you gain a +2 to the roll, and automatically learn one of their most proficient skills.
Wakahisa Jun, Talinz replicant (The / designates the differences
between model specifics. They tend to be equipped for purpose)
High concept: Flawless Kagemusha
Aspects: No sense of self
Skills: Great (+4) Willpower, Good(+3) Notice/Fight, Fair(+2) Notice/Fight, Average (+1) Endurance
Stunts: Only the mistress matters: Attempts to coerce the Jun replicant series to act in a way that would be injurious to Wakahisa Jun’s reputation or existence are unthinkable to them. If such coercion is attempted, even if the replicant’s own existence is threatened, they gain a +2 bonus to any Willpower rolls.
High concept: Flawless Kagemusha
Aspects: No sense of self
Skills: Great (+4) Willpower, Good(+3) Notice/Fight, Fair(+2) Notice/Fight, Average (+1) Endurance
Stunts: Only the mistress matters: Attempts to coerce the Jun replicant series to act in a way that would be injurious to Wakahisa Jun’s reputation or existence are unthinkable to them. If such coercion is attempted, even if the replicant’s own existence is threatened, they gain a +2 bonus to any Willpower rolls.