Lore Request
Lore: Document, redacted document.
This would change how Imperial is played to normal players. I'd rather not spoil it for any opposing parties who may kidnap me at some point, so I'll spoiler it. Please don't snoop if you want to find out in character! When Imperial gets her katana stripped from her, over time she will get more and more unresponsive. Her movements will become sluggish, she will respond less and less to any form of physical or psychological torture, her skin will grey, and she will basically start looking like a zombie. It takes ~20 minutes for her to go completely unresponsive. This can be sanctified by simply returning her katana to her, which will nearly immediately bring her out of this state back to usual. To be clear, I will make it clear in character that she requires her Katana. I do not intend for this to be a way out of interrogation RP.
Her "interacting" with objects through her katana is nothing more than /mes and /its, with a sprinkling of perhaps some funky visual effects and text through the GMSwep. It will be mostly people who Imperial has a strong emotion towards (anger, joy, envy, the lot) just basically sensing that from the sword. Nothing gameplay changing with this, just to enhance passive RP.
I am aware the officer and commander ones look close to one another. If needs me, I can probably figure out a way to get the commander beret onto my PAC, but I'd rather avoid that if I can.
I do not think "swordplay" would be something IJAMEA would teach outright maybe it would be part of a Cultural sorta indoctrination program as the Imperial Japanese Army didn't really use them for actual Combat it was more a ceremonial sorta thing or a way to denote high rank.
Additionally the swords forged during the Second World War ( with non traditional techniques ) are not widely regarded as high quality or even as "True Japanese Swords". I am however subject to be wrong ( I do not research Japan in the second world war very much )
" In Japan, shōwatō are not considered to be true Japanese swords, and they can be confiscated. " You could do some cool stuff where their sword is a family heirloom or you could have the sword be a mark of shame for something your character did wrong ( failure in battle, cowardice & etc | Just an idea, no need if you don't feel it fits to the character )
I am reading through this and I am not really finding a reason she would want to join the Foundation - The Imperial Japanese Army did a lot of indoctrination and I haven't seen anything that would make her want to join the Foundation even post-war outside of War Fatigue. Even then there is a high chance she would first be found by Allied Occult Initiative Forces or even the Early GRU-P ( if she was involved with holding back the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo )
But if the War ended before she was able to be put onto frontline there is a solid chance the Foundation would have found her.
If she was on the frontlines when the war ended was the repatriation program able to find her abilities while moving back home and if so would that mean that both the Foundation and Allied Occult Initiative would know of her?
Sorry for going wayyy too deep into this thing but I like over analysing.
Another thing I could bring up is did the character participate in Warcrimes? And if so do you think the character would have some measure of guilt over it? If you do go with the idea of the sword being a mark of shame you could have that shame be them carrying the weight of their crimes during World War 2 on them and refusing to discard the sword until she got forgiveness from the; families, souls and etc of the people she wronged.
Probably a stupid idea anyways but I like putting depth onto characters :c
I do not think "swordplay" would be something IJAMEA would teach outright maybe it would be part of a Cultural sorta indoctrination program as the Imperial Japanese Army didn't really use them for actual Combat it was more a ceremonial sorta thing or a way to denote high rank.
Additionally the swords forged during the Second World War ( with non traditional techniques ) are not widely regarded as high quality or even as "True Japanese Swords". I am however subject to be wrong ( I do not research Japan in the second world war very much )
" In Japan, shōwatō are not considered to be true Japanese swords, and they can be confiscated. " You could do some cool stuff where their sword is a family heirloom or you could have the sword be a mark of shame for something your character did wrong ( failure in battle, cowardice & etc | Just an idea, no need if you don't feel it fits to the character )
I am reading through this and I am not really finding a reason she would want to join the Foundation - The Imperial Japanese Army did a lot of indoctrination and I haven't seen anything that would make her want to join the Foundation even post-war outside of War Fatigue. Even then there is a high chance she would first be found by Allied Occult Initiative Forces or even the Early GRU-P ( if she was involved with holding back the Soviet invasion of Manchukuo )
But if the War ended before she was able to be put onto frontline there is a solid chance the Foundation would have found her.
If she was on the frontlines when the war ended was the repatriation program able to find her abilities while moving back home and if so would that mean that both the Foundation and Allied Occult Initiative would know of her?
Sorry for going wayyy too deep into this thing but I like over analysing.
Another thing I could bring up is did the character participate in Warcrimes? And if so do you think the character would have some measure of guilt over it? If you do go with the idea of the sword being a mark of shame you could have that shame be them carrying the weight of their crimes during World War 2 on them and refusing to discard the sword until she got forgiveness from the; families, souls and etc of the people she wronged.
Probably a stupid idea anyways but I like putting depth onto characters :c
So, I'm going to yap a little bit in response to some of these points you've brought up.
"I do not think "swordplay" would be something IJAMEA would teach outright [...]" - You're correct. I wouldn't expect this to be a part of any kind of schooling IJAMEA itself did. Imperial was taught it by her parents because they were huge suck-ups for Japanese culture and deemed it a crucial part of learning about history. I can't think of the word for it off the top of my head, but her parents were basically Japanese supremacists in a way? The katana that she carries is, and always has been, ceremonial. It has drawn blood once, and that time it was used as an absolute last resort - when the lore had already happened so it was natural she had it on her.
"[...] swords forged during the Second World War ( with non traditional techniques ) [...]" - I... I said "traditional Japanese methods" did I not? That... kind of rules out this entire point. Admittedly, I did not deep-dive my research into this, but creative liberties are allowed, no? Again, her sword is, and never was, intended for combat. It is ritualistic. To add on the the previous point, "It holds a cutting edge, though is a decorational piece and is not meant to be used in combat" is literally in the personnel file...
"[...] shōwatō are not considered to be true Japanese swords, and they can be confiscated [...]" - A quick google search leads to this: "It's important to note that "Shōwatō" (昭和刀, Syouwatou) is a different concept, typically, when referring to "Shōwatō," it doesn't just mean swords produced during the Shōwa period, but specifically refers to military swords (Guntō) produced by Japan during World War II" (source). Again. Reference her lore. "A sword forged by traditional Japanese methods. It holds a cutting edge, though is a decorational piece and is not meant to be used in combat". I mean genuinely no disrespect, but did you read it?
For the second half of the points you brought up;
"The Imperial Japanese Army did a lot of indoctrination and I haven't seen anything that would make her want to join the Foundation even post-war." - *Inhales*. Alright. So, to begin with, Imperial was never a part of the IJA. I'm not sure where you drew that conclusion from, but she was a part of IJAMEA not IJA. The closest she came to that was being a part of the Youkai Battalion, which was IJAMEA's attempt to assist the IJA during WW2. This was manned and operated by IJAEMA, just working alongside the IJA. Now, I'm sure IJAMEA also did quite some indoctrination for it's members, given their nationalism attitude, but Imperial never liked them from the get-go and had no interest in fighting "for her country" or any of that malarkey. She wanted a clean way out of IJAMEA since she joined. The reason she didn't leave on her own steam is due to the Japanese cultural values. Respect, and especially familial respect, is huge. Her parents always impressed on her the importance of living up to their family name, joining them as a ranking officer in IJAMEA. Her even attempting to leave them would be a horrible betrayal. Imperial was so relieved when WW2 was over and IJAMEA was dissolved, that her parents trying to force their ideals on her again was the straw that broke the camel's back.
"[...] there is a high chance she would first be found by Allied Occult Initiative Forces or even the Early GRU-P [...]" - I... don't really know what you're on about with this. When IJAMEA was dissolved after WW2 the governments around the world agreed to transfer 95% of it's assets and documentation and what-not into Foundation custody because they were the best equipped to deal with it at the time. A lot of IJAMEA's staff also went into other anomalous companies, e.g. SCP Foundation, GOC, GRU-P, the lot. It was never a "finders keepers" moment with individuals from IJAMEA.
"If she was on the frontlines when the war ended was the repatriation program able to find her abilities while moving back home [...]" - I'm not going to pretend to know more than you, especially when it comes to specific things such as a "repatriation program" (which I had to google the definition of). Yes, Imperial was likely on the frontlines at some point during the war. For the sake of lore-accuracy, whichever answer to "Was she on the frontlines when the war officially ended?" is whatever causes the least strife and ends up with her in Japan, getting corralled by her parents to join a divergent sect of IJAMEA.
"[...] did the character participate in Warcrimes?" - Being a part of the Youkai Battalion for its short tenure in the war means the automatic answer to this is "probably". Do I know exactly what the Youkai Battalion did? No. Do I know exactly what kind of war crimes Japan as a whole did? Also no. If I err on the side of caution and say "yes", then Imperial would 100% feel guilt about it. She didn't want to be a part of IJAMEA from the get-go, so being forced to do horrible things in its name would weigh extremely heavily on her shoulders. Having pressure from both her parents, her rank, her cultural obligations, all resulted in her carrying out what IJAMEA told her to do. She's a very spiritual person too, so it would probably wrack her with even more guilt.
I'm choosing not to comment on what you suggested the sword could stand for, as I believe I've already more than explained it's presence within her lore and elaborated on it here. I don't feel like over-explaining it would have any benefits.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
Administrator
SCP-RP Staff
Content Team
Game Master
)