Initiation !?!

I'm originally from Los Angeles, and have lived in he Atlanta, Georgia area for the last 30ish years.

Everything I 'know' about Asian culture comes from either an unholy attraction to their young women, a healthy appetite for Anime, the Oriental Adventures book from 1st edition AD&D, or Google.  In that order.

I know that there is a school of thought with 5 elements, and it breaks down the classic greek 'earth' into Wood and Metal.  I think. Sort of.  That's the more Asian take anyway.

Oddly, WuJen is kind of shoehorned into using Spirit, as Heremetics are more of a Western idea.  I took it as being more spiritual and went with Ancestors, and assume when I call Earth I'm getting either wood or metal, but I'm not a real life philosopher.  Maybe eventually I'll take Spirit Expansion: UMT (Plant), and fill out the roster.  In the mean time I can reflect it by learning the Calling ritual, which lets me summon anything, just not on the fly the way I can Elementals and Man.

Born, bred, lived in Connecticut my whole life.  Dm'd a but-ton of shadowrun back in the 90's 2nd ed, had every book.  Ended up being an amin on a MUDD after college for a few years.  Then *poof* nothing.  I looked at 3e 4e as they came and went,  then a friend showed me he had 5e and wanted to play,  but I'm not feeling dm much lately.  But love the chance to play.  It is one of my favorite settings ever.

I was born in the Bahamas, bounced around Italy and Florida for a while until I moved to Japan for 10 years. Moved back to Florida about a year ago with Japanese wife and kids in tow. Most of this setting is born out of my experiences in Japan and stories from my wife's father who is a Shinto priest that does actual exorcisms for a living and calls himself a "real ghost buster". He's a funny guy who looks like he belongs in the Yakuza (most Japanese people assume he is). Always getting drunk and getting into street brawls. I spent a lot of time with him asking about Japanese folklore. Get a beer in him and he's got a million stories.

Interestingly enough, I actually made friends with a member of the Yakuza who ran a brothel. Used to hang out at a local bar together. You would not believe what organized crime is like over there. It is the most civil thing you will ever see. Police actually make appointments with Yakuza bosses to "raid" their facilities. The Yakuza are kind enough to provide boxes of evidence for the police to cart out in front of reporters, to prove they are doing their job. When the big earthquake hit a few years back that destroyed the nuclear power plant and flooded a bunch of Japan, it was the Yakuza who showed up with helicopters and supplies to help out because the government wasn't organized enough to do it that quickly. I mean, they will mess you the hell up if you mess with them, but generally they consider themselves to be community leaders and businessmen more than criminals.

The most amazing thing I ever heard about the Yakuza was a news report a couple of years back talking about how their publicly traded shares were doing on the Japanese Stock Market, complete with an interview between Abe (their prime minister, president?  leader of somesort) and the public head of the Yakuza in the area.


I have often heard that the Japanese either go balls deep in whatever they are doing, or they don't bother doing it.

Publicly Traded Stocks in your main Organized Crime Syndicate sounds pretty damn balls deep to me.

Northern California mutt with some Japanese mixed in. I speak like I'm in kindergarten. Girlfriend is Mexicali mutt too. There's like 3/5ths of an asian between us.

Point was don't take my word for it on what a heremetic style magical structure in an Asian culture would look like.

My closest frame of reference is likely to be Avatar the Last Air Bender.  First I ever heard of the 5 elements was the movie Tank Girl.

Your Mileage may vary.

If everyone's throwing in their real life background, guess I should join... Belgian born, raised and living there. That's why during everyone's active time, it's downtime for me, and my active time is downtime for everyone else. Hope you guys don't mind! Been doing kungfu for 13 years now, if I count correctly. Doesn't mean I'm any good, just means I've been doing it for that long. Wife is Chinese, and I visited China and a few other countries in Asia several times. Aside from that, I've always had a high interest in legends, mythology, creatures, etc. Because of that, the world the GM created is like ice cream for dinner to me.

That Yakuza story... That reminds me of a movie I watched, ages ago, when I was into Yakuza movies (go look up Ken Takakura movies if you ever can, especially one aptly named: "The Yakuza") There was one movie that really shows the whole idea, while being more-or-less family friendly. I just forgot the name... It was about a small local Yakuza group that's doing its best for the neighbourhood, and a big, conglomerate Yakuza was trying to take over their turf.

WuJen wrote:Point was don't take my word for it on what a heremetic style magical structure in an Asian culture would look like.

My closest frame of reference is likely to be Avatar the Last Air Bender.  First I ever heard of the 5 elements was the movie Tank Girl.

Your Mileage may vary.

The elemental bending in Avatar is actually based on various martial arts. You can even recognize them in there. First time I saw it, I could clearly tell the different stances, and the flow from one to the next was spot-on accurate. They really took their research seriously.

Yep.  The influences are quite clear, I loved the show for that.  They had a few other things that really explained some eastern philosophy so that the intended younger audience could easily grasp it too.

All in all, it was a great show.

Maybe not enough to claim any sort of real knowledge of the culture from though.

It's a way better reference than: "I know Asia, cause I watched 500 'Notice me Senpai' animes, and know to blurt out how bad China is, based on watching half a Facebook video that came from a questionable source."

Hey, it's not like Americans are churning out those animae...

Here is what we have so far
GM can change as needed
To join we each need
5 karma 2.5kY (join cost)
1.5kY for lodge
+ # Y for the center


5 Elements Community Center

Offering the Following services
-Sports Shooting
-Fitness Instruction
-Technical Assistance/Training
-Literature Readings
-Introduction to Heremetic Magic
-Apartments upstairs for shared lifestyle ?

OK so the ritual force starts at
12
-1 for every 4 members
+4 for additional tradition (mages, adepts,shamen)
-1 material link
-1 for every 2 strictures
  Attendance (-1 branded)[monthy managment meeting]
  Fraternity (-1 branded)
-1 exclusive membership (-1 branded)
 Excluse ritual (-1 branded)
-1 dues [share of middle lifestyle w/ shop]
 Service (-1 branded)[20 hours per week shifts]

Total force 6

Torpor wrote:Here is what we have so far
GM can change as needed
To join we each need
5 karma 2.5kY (join cost)
1.5kY for lodge
+ # Y for the center


5 Elements Community Center

Offering the Following services
-Sports Shooting
-Fitness Instruction
-Technical Assistance/Training
-Literature Readings
-Introduction to Heremetic Magic
-Apartments upstairs for shared lifestyle ?

OK so the ritual force starts at
12
-1 for every 4 members
+4 for additional tradition (mages, adepts,shamen)
-1 material link
-1 for every 2 strictures
  Attendance (-1 branded)[monthy managment meeting]
  Fraternity (-1 branded)
-1 exclusive membership (-1 branded)
 Excluse ritual (-1 branded)
-1 dues [share of middle lifestyle w/ shop]
 Service (-1 branded)[20 hours per week shifts]

Total force 6

For a place big enough to be used both as a business and have room for an apartment upstairs, it will cost a medium lifestyle (which members will presumably split the costs of). If you just want the business space, you can get by with low.

RafV wrote:It's a way better reference than: "I know Asia, cause I watched 500 'Notice me Senpai' animes, and know to blurt out how bad China is, based on watching half a Facebook video that came from a questionable source."

Funny thing is Japanese really kind of hate Chinese. I heard so many of them complaining about Chinese while I was there (including my wife). But when we moved to Florida, my wife gets so excited whenever she sees any kind of Asian that she doesn't care that they are usually Chinese. If she saw the same person in Japan, she wouldn't look in their direction, but in the US it's all "HEY! You're Asian! I'm Asian! WE'RE ASIAN! Let's be friends!" with every Chinese person we meet.

I think it is worth the medium lifestyle as we will have more options available.

See, I didn't even know the Japanese hated the Chinese.

Though given history from a bit around the turn of last century I guess I should have figured that out.  For such a small place they essentially conquered China.  Twice.  When they get motivated they seriously punch above their weight class in world events.

On that note... the community center seems like a great idea.  Can we use it for a vehicle to convert the cash to Karma?  Some of us will obviously invest more heavily into it than others.

I'm not looking to get the others to subsidize my housing, but I don't see why at least I would not live there.  I'd be designating the whole place as the lodge, as per our previous discussion on lodges.  What about licensing?  I don't think we have discussed what sort of magic requires licensing, but I imagine building a magical fortress and (probably) binding a respectable force spirit to it for protection would catch somebodies eye.

For that matter, what kind of licensing to *I* need to have?  I don't toss fireballs, but I can read minds and drop cars on people, plus I carry an old hand cannon from before the days when they made everything wireless and brickable.  OH, and a a grenade...

WuJen wrote:On that note... the community center seems like a great idea.  Can we use it for a vehicle to convert the cash to Karma?  Some of us will obviously invest more heavily into it than others.

Sure. You can say you are volunteering there as an IC explanation to your conversion.

WuJen wrote:I'm not looking to get the others to subsidize my housing, but I don't see why at least I would not live there.  I'd be designating the whole place as the lodge, as per our previous discussion on lodges.  What about licensing?  I don't think we have discussed what sort of magic requires licensing, but I imagine building a magical fortress and (probably) binding a respectable force spirit to it for protection would catch somebodies eye.

For that matter, what kind of licensing to *I* need to have?  I don't toss fireballs, but I can read minds and drop cars on people, plus I carry an old hand cannon from before the days when they made everything wireless and brickable.  OH, and a a grenade...[

Officially all categories of magic need a license, but there is no real way of proving what kinds of spells you know short of you casting them. In practice, magic licenses are more used for when you purchase spells. No license, no sale. At least for the reputable places. Police won't check your licenses unless you are causing a disturbance. Anything in the book that has a R in the availability rating needs a license though. There are no official rules/prices on getting legal licenses in the book, which is kind of funny. Only fake ones. As far as I am concerned, if you have a legal SIN and no criminal record, you can just have whatever license you need for your starting gear. As for an operating license for the business, I would include that in the lifestyle cost so long as you guys don't get in trouble.

Do note that the lodge forms a mana barrier on both the physical and astral planes. This may be a slight issue for a public space. It is invisible and does nothing to mundanes, but you would have to specifically allow in people who have active foci on them. That may or may not be an issue depending on how you treat security at the place, but is something to think about.

As for living there, group lifestyles are a thing. Each person living there full time ups the price by 10%, though there has to be one person on record who is responsible for the debt if you guys fail to pay rent.

Seems reasonable. I think I'm the only one with a legal SIN, which makes me the better choice for a public property.

So I'm more or less covered on license for the spells I have. I don't mind getting a license for the gun, though I mostly carry it as a backup and as a visible warning to shady folks that might want trouble before I zap them or feed them to Rock. I'm curious as to what kind of weapons license even covers a hand grenade.

Good point on the barrier and foci,. Might be best to exclude a public space wher the more mundane stuff goes on, though cover a deeper one as a shelter, as that's part of the point. Maybe even eventually maintain 2 lodges, one public and one private.

If I find a spirit to protect the facility can it be assigned to let in people with foci? I was thinking of a Spirit of Man with a healing spell.

WuJen wrote:Seems reasonable.  I think I'm the only one with a legal SIN, which makes me the better choice for a public property.

Sam has one. He meant to have one at chargen but officially grabbed one now

WuJen wrote:So I'm more or less covered on license for the spells I have.  I don't mind getting a license for the gun, though I mostly carry it as a backup and as a visible warning to shady folks that might want trouble before I zap them or feed them to Rock.  I'm curious as to what kind of weapons license even covers a hand grenade.

Grenades have F as an availability, meaning you can't get them legally. There is no license for them

WuJen wrote:Good point on the barrier and foci,. Might be best to exclude a public space wher the more mundane stuff goes on, though cover a deeper one as a shelter, as that's part of the point.  Maybe even eventually maintain 2 lodges, one public and one private.

Yeah, I would probably have a main front room for business and a back room that is the actual lodge for whatever lodge needs you have. You probably don't want to have people just walking in while you are in the middle of a ritual or whatever.

WuJen wrote:If I find a spirit to protect the facility can it be assigned to let in people with foci?  I was thinking of a Spirit of Man with a healing spell.

I think only the people who make the lodge can let magic in and out, but I suppose if you go full out on the ritual to attract a mentor spirit avatar, I would allow it to do so on your behalf. Alternately you could bind a spirit to monitor and report to you, then you could allow them in if you wanted. That would mean you would have to keep summoning/binding them as opposed to the avatar that would always be there.

Design the building as main floor is exercise/communal room, side room for technology, side room for library, kitchen.
Basement for storage and magic lodge, 2nd 3rd floors for apartments

I didn't intend to do rituals in the public area, just cover everything in the lodge to have it be a safe place from random night critters.

Torpor wrote:Design the building as main floor is exercise/communal room,  side room for technology, side room for library,  kitchen.
Basement for storage and magic lodge,  2nd 3rd floors for apartments

That is much larger than a middle lifestyle worth of building. Remember that this is a very dense city and so space is expensive. Rooms are measured in tatami (which is slightly less than 1 meter by 2 meters or 3 ft by 6 ft-ish for those of you who prefer feet). Here is the layout of an apartment that someone with a middle lifestyle would probably have.



This is an actual apartment in Tokyo, that costs roughly 2,000 bucks a month before you start talking about water, electricity, internet, parking and other bills. The two pink areas are modest sized bedrooms (the numbers are the room measurements in tatami) while the yellow area is a combination living room, dining room and kitchen (LDK). Apartment shorthand for this would be 2LDK since it has 2 bedrooms. The two white areas on the upper left and lower right are balconies and the blue areas are toilet, bathtub/shower room, and a laundry room.

A low lifestyle would basically just be a single room, the size of which would range depending on the neighborhood anywhere from a "coffin apartment" that you literally have just enough room to lay down in, to a small studio apartment (aka a single room) of around 6 to 10 tatami.

For the purposes of a business, I figure you can get a bit more room than a home because you aren't paying for food and the other expenses that a human needs to live on, so most of the money of such a lifestyle is just going into rent and utilities. Still, something that large with that many rooms is going to be expensive. You can start small and then if you guys start finding ways of paying the rent without straining your own accounts, you can expand later.



For your business, a low lifestyle would be probably a single room thing of roughly 12 tatami that you could partition into two rooms if you wanted. Medium would be slightly larger (enough to partition into 3 small rooms or 2 larger ones), but with two floors so the bottom floor would be for business and the top as a modest apartment.

I had envisioned the bottom floor as mostly empty, mayb the size of a basketball court, with a small office area, rooms above as living space.

Set up the main area as a multi purpose area depending on what we are doing at any given moment.

Put the martial arts area smack in the middle of the shooting range. That'll make sure students learn to never stand still in a fight, and will get them used to fighting under duress