In the Beginning there was Light, but then followed Darkness..
Mishima
The Brotherhood sayeth:
As the populace grew along with the Mishima dynasty, the rulers' control over the vassals decreased at the same pace as the disappointment among the people increased. Demands for the abdication of the Overlord were loud, mayhem and revolt ruled and held Mishima at bay.
And so it happened at Cardinal Randolph's elevation that the Overlord proclaimed that the Mishima dynasty and all its work and all its land and all its assets would for eternal time no longer be administrated by the Overlord, but by his three Lord Heirs and the Lord Heirs of the future Overlords. Great rejoicing followed and the corporation was prosperous and happy under the new rule of the Lord Heirs.
But soon our glorious Inquisitors in their infinite wisdom saw the Darkness fall over the Mishima corporation. Feuds among the Lord Heirs could no longer be solved in the gathering halls, but resulted in hostilities leading to grief among the stock holders and the mothers of many young men. The Overlord warned against the Evil in order to end the conflict. but the Lord Heirs no longer respected their Master and put him in exile on Luna, while they hemselves continued their petty wars and hostilities on the sacred planet in Cardinal Randolph's visions-the blessed planet of Mercury. And this blood-feud became the most obvious sign that the Darkness from within was a greater threat than the threat from its Legions-when the son raised hand against his father and rejected him.
The First Chronicle, The Arrival of the Darkness and the Call of the Cardinal
Alexander Horatio
Mishima - Death before dishonor
The Mishima corporation has since their founding been a family company, administrated and ruled by the Mishima dynasty. At the top as chairman and president had been the Overlord, usually the family head. But eventually the corporation expanded far beyond what one person could effectively control, which forced the Overlord to split the empire into three separate divisions, each headed by one prominent family member, the Lord Heirs. Today the Lord Heirs, the two sons and daughter of the Overlord, govern all Mishima business on Mercury, Venus and Mars respectively. Lord Moya, Prince of Soil and Governor of Mercury, is held highest of the three and unofficially functions as the family head. There is open rivalry going on between the three Lord Heirs, manifesting itself in hostile take-overs, assassinations, broken promises; everything short of open war. Since their respective divisions are nearly self-sufficient and geographically separated, the conflict isn't very obvious to the outside world. And of course the worst debate is over who will be the next Overlord The sibling chosen will hold the true sword of power over his family and be in total control of Mishima.
Mishima is not really a single corporation. It is a huge mass of sub-corporations, called Keiretsu, allowing allegiance to the single core megacorporation owned by the Mishima dynasty. In theory, all of Mishima's assets are owned by the Overlord and his family. The heads of the Keiretsu merely hold them in trust. The revenues they gain are, in theory, a stipend for managing their fiefdoms. Every Keiretsu is an industrial fiefdom, ruled by a Samurai family. Each Keiretsu has many sub-divisions which are held in fiefby lower status Samurai families. Each of these sub-divisions will be subdivided in turn and given to Samurai families of still lower rank. The smallest and lowest status corporate families owe allegiance to larger and more powerfull ones. Eventually this chain of allegiance can be traced all the way up to the Lord Heirs and the Overlord himself. Within the Mishiman corporation, Kieretsu compete with Keiretsu and lesser fiefdoms compete with lesser fiefcloms. Some outside observers claim that it also encourages wasteful duplication of effort. There would be a lot of waste if Mishima spent a lot of money on research and devplopment, but it does not. It prefers stealing and refining other corporations' best ideas rather than developing its own.
Many of the oldest and most powerfull Samurai clans have held their Keiretsu since the founding of the Corporation and are as well entrenched in their status as the Overlord and his heirs. The lesser fiefdoms within Keiretsu are not quite so stable. The lowest tier of Samurai can be stripped of their status and have their fiefs reassigned to others at the whim of their liege Lord. This happens often as the liege rewards and/or punishes his vassals. It is quite common for an unsuccessful retainer to have his fiefdom taken away and given to a more favoured subject.
The great corporate lords who rule are Keiretsu are known as Daimyos. Within their Keiretsu, they can assign fiefs to their chosen retainers. These fiefdoms provide the Samurai with the revenues to equip his army of retainers and maintain his network of spies and informers. The larger the fiefdom the more powerful the armies an overlord can maintain and the greater his influence is within corporate politics. In ancient days, the Overlord was the supreme head of the corporation. His word was law, his decisions were unchallengeable. After him the most powerfull of all the Corporations rulers were the I.ord Heirs, of whom one will succeed the present Overlord. As with all Mishiman families, if an Overlord had no heirs he can adopt an outsider, usually a favoured retainer, into his family. and the adopted child will be granted all the privileges, rights and obligations of a child of the blood.
Traditionally, each Lord Heir was given overall responsibility for Mishiman operations on the the three major worlds where the corporation had holdings (Mercury, Venus and Mars) while the Overlord oversaw the ruling of the corporation from his palace on luna. In the past, the Overlord chose the ablest Lord Heir to succeed him on his death. The new Overlord would appoint his own successor to inherit his own fiefdom. Recently this inhcrently unstable political system has at last brought Mishima to the verge of disaster. The Overlord's power has eroded as the power of the Lord Heirs has grown. The Overlord has been reduced to being a symbolic head of the corporation while the real power rests with the Lord Heirs. The present Overlord, Nagoya. is a powerless old man partially crippled and slightly weak of mind. He is surrounded by a court of scheming advisors many of whom are in the pay of one or the other of the Lord Heirs. No one knows who he will pick as his successor, or whether he might even do the unthinkable and not chose any successor at all.
The three current Lord Heirs hate each other passionately. This enmity has expressed itself in countless, intrigues, skirmishes and assassination attempts and has brought the proud Mishima corporation to the verge of civil war. The Lord Heirs openly despise their father, and ignore his pleas for unity. The rest of the megacorporations do their best to foment this rivalry and secretly interfere in Mishima's internal affairs, backing their own claimants to the throne of the Overlord. Each corporation hopes that the time has come when this mighty corporation can be broken up. Only Mishima's traditions of loyalty and unity in the tace of outside aggression have so far prevented civil war from happening. How much longer this will continue is anybody's guess. When the present Overlord dies, his chosen successor will endeavor to retain both the powers and privileges (not to mention armies) of his fiefdom as well as all the prerogatives of the Overlord. It is quite conceivable that this will lead to open civil war with the other two Lord Heirs.
While a ruler is responsible for the maintenance of law and order within his domains boundaries, he is also responsible for protecting his own borders. There are often bitter territorial disputes among Mishiman rulers which result in skirmishes, and small battles. These skirmishes rarely come to all out war, since most rulers prefer diplomacy and assassination to actually committing troops against their fellow Mishimans. Because most lords do not want to appeal for help from their lieges, most conflicts remain localized and in small scale. Most overlords respect their vassals' rights and will only interfere if a dispute threatens the stability of the Keiretsu.
The Overlord
The Overlord Mishima himself is but a crippled shadow of his ancestors, put in exile in the Luna palace, without any real power but still in position as the corporation's figurehead. Formally, he is the ONE AND ONLY Mishima ambassador, it is he who negotiates in the Cartel and it is he who dictates the corporate guidelines, but it is the Lord Heirs and their vassals who make all the decisions. Even though he is treated with due respect by ambassadors of other corporations, the dealings with him are only ceremonial, and simultaneous with the real dealings with the Lord Heirs. And so it is that Overlord Mishima, Emperor of Thousand Suns, the Prince of Fire, the Father Above All has become a bitter relic, unwanted by his heirs, unknown by the populace, secretly mocked by his peers, and vainly struggling to mediate in the conflict between the Lord Heirs. His only vassals are a court of ten thousand and a bodyguard of one thousand, the Hatamoto. These servants hold the highest honored positions within the entire corporation and they are always handpicked by the Overlord himself.
Business Strategy
Some say the moral decline of the once proud Mishima organization has showed in its business policies. Others call the Mishima management economical geniuses, smart and ruthless, well adapted to the current circumstances. In any case, the rise of the Mishima business empire has been astonishing. In a short time, they had managed to become the second largest corporation after Capitol, producing absolutely EVERYTHING, and often at lower cost and with a more appealing design. The recipe-ruthless business methods, low development costs (plagiarism), the largest industrial espionage budget of all the corporations, and of course, the inherent CRAFTMANSHIP, and the WILL that is absolutely essential when you have an ambition to be the best. This strategy results in the fact that their own product developers can concentrate on finishing up and improving existing models and products, and thereby gain an advantage over their competitors. Also, by literally stuffing the store shelves with their own goods-maybe even with the same product packaged in many different ways-they make sure that they secure the most exposure. Mishima are renowned for always sticking to a deal, but they are even more renowned for their shrewdness in deal-making. Their business lawyers are only matched by Cybertronic's in this area-and it is difficult to make really good deals with Mishima partners (unless they want you to, for strategic reasons).
Craftmanship and Competition
The weapon that has made Mishima a force to be reckoned with is the ability to produce large quantities of
high tech equipment at low costs. This gives the buyer cheaper alternatives to Capitol's or Bauhaus' equipment, but they have one drawback. The design and technology involved have resulted in Mishima producing equipment that is more expensive to repair than to manufacture. This has a wide appeal to the massmarkets but has given Mishima a somewhat bad reputation within the military industry, especially with freelancing mercenaries who need to be able to fix equipment themselves in battle. A Mishima employee will in every situation do his utmost for his employer, not necessarily Mishima, but his Lord Heir and his vassals Most would even sacrifice their lives if necessary. There are many explanations:
Family
To a great extent, the Family is what keeps the Mishima society together. You must never, ever, give your family a bad name, and you are supposed to follow in your family's footsteps and preferably also improve your name's reputation.
Tradition
"It has always been like this, and it always will be It has always worked, and those in
opposition have quickly come to regret it"
Loyality
Mishima employees are born into the organization, and from their first day they are taken care of. For free.
And from the first day of his life, the Mishima subordinate is taught that he has the organization to thank for everything. Everything is only borrowed. And the organization has the right to collect on the loan-at any time.
Glory
The Corporation remembers sacrifices. For example, soldier's salaries are low, but survivor's pensions are generous. Every day, memorials are held for those who died in service of the corporation, and they are honored above all others.
The Military
As in all megacorporations, the Mishima military corps is an elite group very much living under their own laws and ethics It doesn't hold the same prominent position as in Bauhaus or Imperial. "Friendly methods", non-violent means, are preferred when having to defeat someone. Warfare is too costly and unpredictable. The military commanders and the corporation managers are formally synonymous, even if the military advisors, the administrators, hold the real military power.
The military organization of Mishima is composed of three divisions, and the separate armies have altogether different purposes and organization. It is only on Mercury that the military has a prominent and highly preferred position; on Venus and Mars they are used for defense purposes. This is a great relief on Lord Maru's and Lady Mariko's finances-warfare is extremely expensive-and this makes them economically competitive with Lord Heir Moya considering their limited budgets. The military forces of Mercury mostly consist of lightly armed and armored infantry units. The light equipment is a consequence of the rough Mercurian underground terrain, where the soldiers might be forced to crawl through narrow cracks or flooded tunnels.
Mishima's motto "Destroy or Defend" describes the core in the strategy very well-if they can't destroy an enemy right away, they hold fast on the spot until reinforced, alternatively until they die. No glory is greater than dying in service of the Corporation. Another internal motto is "Never give an inch"-no one wants to be remembered as the one who surrendered to the enemy. This makes Mishima units dreaded enemies-you can never attack them without being certain of success, and since they can rely on quick and large reinforcements, you'd better wipe them out quickly, which is easier said than done when they always fight to the last man.
"Assistance is never far"
The Samurai
The finest warriors in the Mishima organization are promoted to personal Samurai of the Lord Heirs and their vassals In other corporations, they are called elite guards, with the task to do the work of the special forces. In reality, a military commander's only special forces are his personal body of samurai, maybe reinforced with a couple of cuirassiers. Usually, a Lord Heir has five or six hundred samurai, a loyal general might have some two or three hundred at his call Each samurai is worth ten standard soldiers.
Equipment
The Mishima foot-soldier somewhat suffers from the business philosophy of Mishima craftsmanship, but spare parts are in good supply and the technicians are many. So this is not a major problem Mishima have developed two unique weapons systems especially well suited to the Mercurian underworld the Warheads and the Combat Cuirass.
Warheads
Semi-intelligent, self-sufficient and self operated weapons platforms, the warheads are used for missions that are considered suicidal. They are very advanced robots with sophisticated mechanisms Extremely tough and with lots of weapons, but also very rare and expensive. There are rumors that warheads are not controlled by computers but by soldiers, following the long tradition of "kamikazee".
Combat Cuirass
These imposing mechanical suits of armor provide the cuirasses with a fair amount of body protection and heavy weapons, while improving their mobility. In short they are hydraulic-enhanced suits of armor with built in heavy weapons They are used by elite units and assault regiments.
The Triads
Triads are found everywhere in the Mishiman system. Each Triad has its own territories and its own
secret signs and codes. They are criminal conspiracies of terrifying power and immense wealth. Triads are perhaps the oldest and most successful organizations of their type in the Solar System. Triads control their interests through thousands of agents scattered allover the universe. They are legendaly for their viciousness and rapacious greed. Each Triad has a distinguishing symbol. For example, this symbol could be a Black Dragon, a Golden Eye or a Crimson Lotus. A member of the Triad will have this tattoo inscribed somewhere on his person in psychoactive inks. These inks render the tattoo invisible until the wearer wills it and then it serves as an identifying mark to other members of the Triad. The Brotherhood has perfected a chemical bath technique which renders all such tattoos visible when the subject is immersed but this intricate process doesn't help until the criminal is caught first.
Every Triad is completely unique. Each Triad has its own area of expertise in which it trades. The Black Dragon deals almost entirely in arms and industrial secrets. The Golden Eye owns sinhouses. The Black Poppy controls drugs and gambling. Each Triad is controlled in a different manner. The Black Dragon is ruled by one man, who is only ever referred to by his title, Black Dragon. The Golden Eye is run by a council of its supreme bosses. The Black Poppy is controlled by a hereditary family. In addition to the major Triads, there are many smaller ones operating in more limited geographical areas. Each Triad has many sub-divisions. These are organized into territories each with its own boss. This boss sub-divides his territories into many smaller fiefdoms which are divided up among his henchmen. Within these territories, the bosses' attempt to monopolize whichever particular area of crime their Triad specializes in. In any geographical area you can thus have representatives of all three major Triads. Divisions between the Triads are by no means clear cut and often one Triad will attempt to muscle in on another Triad's specialized area. When one Triad encroaches on another, terrible gang wars ensue until both sides are exhausted or one side is destroyed. If one side is wiped out then its Triad will eventually send a new and ambitious boss into the area to attempt to claim back its turf. Then the war will pick up again. What makes tile Triads so successful is the way they operate hand in glove with the Mishiman authorities, often acting as unofficial intelligence agencies for the local rulers. Triads often perform tasks for rulers who would rather not dirty their hands; such as, robbely, murder, sabotage, industrial espionage. The other thing that makes the Triads so successful is the total loyalty their members show. Joining a Triad is being adopted into a family. You put our old allegiances aside and you swear totalloyalty to your Triad by the most binding of oaths. Breaking these oaths will result in you being hunted down by the Triad's feared assassins, the Tattooed men. These individuals have their entire bodies covered in the most ornate and intricate tattoos and are among the best-trained killers in all the worlds of mankind. The Triads are also skilled in the ancient techniques of brainwashing so that members are conditioned not to give away their secrets except under any circumstances. This conditioning will hold up against all but the most extreme forms of torture or mind-probe. Triads teach their members all sorts of secret martial arts, and expect all their members to be proficient at dealing in violence. Triad tatooed fighters are among the best unarmed combatants known to humanity. Because Triads are so involved with the darker side of Mishiman society, Triads make the perfect front for the cults of the Dark Apostles. Since the Brotherhood has sensed the Dark Symmetry within some Triads, the Second Directorate of the Brotherhood has a whole department assigned to monitoring and eradicating them.
The Partners
Most outsiders tend to look on Mishimans with suspicion. To an outsider, Mishimans do not follow the same code of ethics to which other corporations adhere. Mishimans view outsiders as litte better than honorless beasts, though they generally hide theis disgust with a polite exterior. This makes business sometimes difficult. Mishimans tolerate non-Mishimans because it goes against the Way to activly destry antoher sentinet being without due cause. But Mishimans are very adept at finding a due cause.
Capitol
Relations are as good as might be expected between Mishima and Capitol; namely there is a lot of treachery, intrigue, backbiting and double-dealing. Capitol favours dealings with Lord Heir Moya, probably because it has no real conflict of interest with him. Capitol's forces have fought over the Craveton Archipelago on Venus against Maru's forces, and are constantly embroiled in territorial struggles with Mariko's forces on South Mars. Mishima is still Capitol's biggest trading partner but there are many points of stress. The Capitolians particularly hate Mishima's unlicensed use of Capitolian designs and the difficulty they have in selling into Mercury's huge but closed markets. The Mishimans see the Capitolians as lacking in honor, discipline, courage and ruthlessness. Lord Heirs Mariko and Maru resent the way Capitol favours Lord Heir Moya and meddles in their domains. They have responded with force, increased espionage and industrial piracy.
Bauhaus
The Mishimans have more respect for the Homebuilders than for the Capitolians. Samurai understand the martial spirit, the sense of honor and the determined leadership that the Bauhaus aristocracy gives to their corporation. However, they do not understand the Homebuilder nobility's concern for their people's welfare, which they see as simple weakness. They also covet the Homebuilders technical superiority. Bauhaus suffers more than any other corporation from the efforts of Mishima's industrial espionage cadres. Protests about this through Cartel channels have done the Homebuilders no good. The Lord Heirs simply point out the fact that each of their vassals has his own spy network and that these networks often act without the knowledge and approval of their superiors. They will of course have their vassals commit ritual suicide if they are caught as much as a punishment for their incompetence as to appease the Homebuilders. The Homebuilders favour Lord Heir Mariko simply because they lack any real territories on Mars and consequently have no real conflict of interest with her. They also favour her because the Brotherhood favours her more than her rivals. The lector Dukes really loath Lord Heir Maru because he is constantly attacking their Venusian domains.
Cybertronic
Mishima and Cybertronic are natural allies. Both have earned the enmity of the Brotherhood and both have deviated far from the Cardinal's teachings. Mishima has access to the natural resources that Cybertronic needs. Cybertronic manufactures the high tech components that make both Mishima's high tech consumer goods and the Samurai's battlesuits possible. This ensures that the two corporations are on relatively good terms. On the other hand, Cybertronic and its high tech secrets are tempting targets for Mishima's huge system of intelligence networks. If only Mishima could get its hands on Cybertronic's designs, there would be no more need to do business with the smaller corporation. However Cybertronic has proven remarkably resistant to Mishimall penetration so relations must be amicably maintained. The only real fly in the ointment is that individual Daimyos often take it into their heads to raid Cybertronic installations for themselves. Cybertronic is starting to suspect that these attacks might just be a cloak for Lord Heir's own schemes. Cybertronic is totally neutral in its position to the three competing Lord Heirs. The Lord Heirs return the favor, except for Lord Moya, who opposes Cybertronic and forbids its presence on Mercury. Because Moya needs Cybertronic components to compete with the other Lord Heirs, he purchases them through intermediaries on Luna, Venus and Mars.
Imperial
Imperial performs a difficult balancing act with Mishima. They are the only other megacorporation with a significant presence on Mercury, thanks to their licensing of the free city of Fukido. Fukido generates a lot of revenue for Her Serenity's offers and exists only on sufferance of Lord Heir Moya who could wipe it out with his huge armies. On the other hand the lease only runs for 99 years and then the territory can be reclaimed. On Mercury Imperial tries its best to placate Lord Heir Moya while letting him know that they will defend Fukido to the last man if he tries to take it. Moya has too much respect for the prowess of Imperial's military to jump into an armed conflict with them. On Mars and Venus, Imperial raids the settlements of the other Lord Heirs as a favour to Lord Moya. Lord Moya favours Imperial and encourages it to strike at his rivals. Mariko and Maru would cheerfully eradicate all the holdings of Imperials within their spheres of influence .
Brotherhood
Officially the Brotherhood respects Mishima's customs and heritage and acknowledges its status as one of the great powers of the Solar System. Unofficially the Brotherhood hates Mishima which it sees as a hotbed of heretics, schismatics and deviants dating back to the best-forgotten Neronian Heresy. It also hates the way all high ranking Mishimans pay lip-sel-vice to their Brotherhood advisors while completely ignoring the Brotherhood's suggestions. The Brotherhood fears and hates how some Mishimans utilize psychic powers outside Brotherhood control. In return, Mishimans resent what they see as the Brotherhood's unwarranted interference in their internal affairs. It is unofficial policy that all Brotherhood observers are cut out of the decision making loop when anything important is under consideration. The Lord Heirs believe, perhaps wrongly, that the Brotherhood might be feeding sensitive information to theis business rivals. The Brotherhodd supports Lady Mariko's claim to the throne since she is the only Lord Heir who appears devout and devoted the Cardinal's way.
Mishima is not really a single corporation. It is a huge mass of sub-corporations, called Keiretsu, allowing allegiance to the single core megacorporation owned by the Mishima dynasty. In theory, all of Mishima's assets are owned by the Overlord and his family. The heads of the Keiretsu merely hold them in trust. The revenues they gain are, in theory, a stipend for managing their fiefdoms. Every Keiretsu is an industrial fiefdom, ruled by a Samurai family. Each Keiretsu has many sub-divisions which are held in fiefby lower status Samurai families. Each of these sub-divisions will be subdivided in turn and given to Samurai families of still lower rank. The smallest and lowest status corporate families owe allegiance to larger and more powerfull ones. Eventually this chain of allegiance can be traced all the way up to the Lord Heirs and the Overlord himself. Within the Mishiman corporation, Kieretsu compete with Keiretsu and lesser fiefdoms compete with lesser fiefcloms. Some outside observers claim that it also encourages wasteful duplication of effort. There would be a lot of waste if Mishima spent a lot of money on research and devplopment, but it does not. It prefers stealing and refining other corporations' best ideas rather than developing its own.
Every Triad is completely unique. Each Triad has its own area of expertise in which it trades. The Black Dragon deals almost entirely in arms and industrial secrets. The Golden Eye owns sinhouses. The Black Poppy controls drugs and gambling. Each Triad is controlled in a different manner. The Black Dragon is ruled by one man, who is only ever referred to by his title, Black Dragon. The Golden Eye is run by a council of its supreme bosses. The Black Poppy is controlled by a hereditary family. In addition to the major Triads, there are many smaller ones operating in more limited geographical areas. Each Triad has many sub-divisions. These are organized into territories each with its own boss. This boss sub-divides his territories into many smaller fiefdoms which are divided up among his henchmen. Within these territories, the bosses' attempt to monopolize whichever particular area of crime their Triad specializes in. In any geographical area you can thus have representatives of all three major Triads. Divisions between the Triads are by no means clear cut and often one Triad will attempt to muscle in on another Triad's specialized area. When one Triad encroaches on another, terrible gang wars ensue until both sides are exhausted or one side is destroyed. If one side is wiped out then its Triad will eventually send a new and ambitious boss into the area to attempt to claim back its turf. Then the war will pick up again. What makes tile Triads so successful is the way they operate hand in glove with the Mishiman authorities, often acting as unofficial intelligence agencies for the local rulers. Triads often perform tasks for rulers who would rather not dirty their hands; such as, robbely, murder, sabotage, industrial espionage. The other thing that makes the Triads so successful is the total loyalty their members show. Joining a Triad is being adopted into a family. You put our old allegiances aside and you swear totalloyalty to your Triad by the most binding of oaths. Breaking these oaths will result in you being hunted down by the Triad's feared assassins, the Tattooed men. These individuals have their entire bodies covered in the most ornate and intricate tattoos and are among the best-trained killers in all the worlds of mankind. The Triads are also skilled in the ancient techniques of brainwashing so that members are conditioned not to give away their secrets except under any circumstances. This conditioning will hold up against all but the most extreme forms of torture or mind-probe. Triads teach their members all sorts of secret martial arts, and expect all their members to be proficient at dealing in violence. Triad tatooed fighters are among the best unarmed combatants known to humanity. Because Triads are so involved with the darker side of Mishiman society, Triads make the perfect front for the cults of the Dark Apostles. Since the Brotherhood has sensed the Dark Symmetry within some Triads, the Second Directorate of the Brotherhood has a whole department assigned to monitoring and eradicating them.
