it’s been a few days of more laziness, but I’ve decided to put the work pants back on and further work on this location since its got the most development.
what I’ll mainly focus on in this post is general info and factions located within the Nothern Quarantine (soon to be known as the Ishin ward/Ishin-ku).
here’s the introduction:
During the Time of the Red in Tokyo, a large area consisting of the northern wards of Itabashi, Kita and Arakawa were struck with MaMpox-12, a weaponised plague released from Millitech’s bombing of Arasaka’s covert biological weapons labs.
This promptly triggered the government to wall off and quarantine the area, posting patrols and guards to make sure nobody gets in and out. Once the Fourth Corporate War came to an end, Arasaka saw nationalisation, and the Japanese government had them lead the cleanup unit for the area as a form of reparations.
Within the 50 or so years since, the quarantine has gone through rapid change and chaos. With the introduction of various factions and gangs, alongside Arasaka’s Purification Unit and rival corps fanning the flames, the area, soon dubbed the Ishin ward was turned into a lawless and independent walled-off city.
that’s the general sich, Arasaka’s stuck cleaning up, but ready to soon take the reigns. They call it an investment, and other corps call it a way to kick a dying horse, particularly Fujiwara, who’ll soon be gunning on the area for some sweet sweet real estate development.
but these ideas need some brainstorming, so heres a little messy one i did:
call me Dr. Kazimir. Let’s break it down from the top right, clockwise with some simple notes:
- Arasaka’s Purification Unit
corpo janitors with guns. their job? “cleanse” the zone. real job? dig up and reclaim their old buried bioweapon data and prototype tech before anyone else does. Then annex the place for Arasaka’s Tokyo takeover.
Art from Death Stranding and CoD Concepts. Top right im unsure.
- Scrappers
bousouzoku (Japanese biker gang) who turned the abandoned highways into their personal raceway. Jury-rigged bikes, duct-tade cyberware, and a love for loud. known for stealing arasaka patrol drones to make guns and the occasional rice cooker.
Art by Fernando Correa
Art by Inkthinker
- Kang Tao’s little helpers (Shimizu Medicine Ltd)
Kang Tao’s too chicken to poke arasaka directly, so they sent a subsidiary (a Yakuza family with official license for pharmaceuticals) to loot prototype tech. Their agents pack Kang Tao weapons, wear lab coats, and take no prisoners. An initiative set up by Shiming Xu as his little “trial shift” before taking the reigns.
weirdly enough, Arasaka won’t pay them much mind till it’s too late.
- Fujiwara’s real estate hustle
secretly funding gangs to destabilize arasaka. Why? they want to turn the area into luxury condos. Current strategy: arm scrappers with anti-cyberware EMPs and watch the fireworks. Though they take a backseat till the plague dies down a little.
- Outsiders
dropped the nomad idea and instead went for immigrant labor crews that Arasaka imported to rebuild the zone. They rebelled, stole construction mechs, and now a bunch of em run a pacifica-esque enclave. Working on smuggling, mech-jacking, and throwing raves in half-built skyscrapers. Though this also happens a while after the whole plague thing.
- The Bird Bois (BBs)
plague doctor posergang with a 17th century London themed chambara twist. Bird beak plague doctor masks, knives (a London staple), and a theater kid obsession with “purifying” the zone (stabbing people, another London staple).
rumor has it they’re utlising MaMpox vials for their own fucked-up experiments to find “cures”. Side hustle: black market deals with metalmaxers (mecha-obsessed posers who help run and protect pop-up black markets).
Art by Fernando Correa, Katerina Argonskaya, Ann Kurzakova, Joby Dorr
what insanity (work) does this bring?
tons of yet-to-be unearthed Arasaka techs and relics lying about, with a army’s worth of treasure hunters clawing through busted-up ruins. Psychotic bird-headed maniacs running smuggling and trafficking rings, while flashy mechs guard their black markets.
let’s not forget the loud and proud mad-max bikers setting up marathon-like street races and stripping any bleeding-edge tech just to make a styish exhaust pipe.
i think that gives the Ishin ward/Northern Quarantine more than enough character to work with, keep in mind there are many more smaller groups doing rounds. And these mentioned already are not always as active or in their prime, some come and go at different times, create break-off groups, or may rename or die to make comebacks later.
Kang Tao will eventually become a very poweful rival, maybe triggering Arasaka’s scorched earth operation. Which in turn would get Fujiwara even more interested in the then barren land to build some ivory towers on.
anyway, that’s it for now. After posting this, I’ll soon update the Tokyo 2077 page too.
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