THEOPHAGY.

in october of 2049,  kurosawa ryōta is born.  he is the third child of kurosawa arata,  head of the kurosawa-gumi,  and the only child of lau dàiyù,  a cantonese expat and ripperdoc.  his father is unloving and absorbed in his work. his mother goes back to hong kong following a series of domestic conflicts between arata and arata’s actual wife;  she doesn’t bring ryōta with her.

his childhood is dull,  all things considered.  ryōta isn’t raised with the same privileges as his half-brothers yasu and shion,  but they are plenty aware of what the men in his family do.  they grow up listening to their father discuss blood money with the corpos and politicians in his pocket,  and they don’t need to see their father kill in order to understand the power he has.  when they are fourteen years old and desperate to amount to something useful,  they find fellowship with the gang’s netrunners,  and they utilize what will eventually become their greatest asset.  his work branches out when his father isn’t looking,  and he lies about his age when he begins to pick up freelance jobs.

BLUE SPRING.

at fifteen years old,  they meet ishida kaiyō—  his best and only friend.  kaiyō and ryōta meet when they are paired up for a job,  and after they are nearly fried by another netrunner,  the two become friends.  kaiyō is his world;  the only good thing among his indifferent and loveless family,  and the two discussed running away from their homes once they gathered enough money. only one of them would see that dream come true.

when ryōta is nineteen,  arata decides that ryōta has the drive he’s been looking for,  and decides to make him prove it.  after days of kaiyō’s silence,  ryōta discovers where he had gone when his father drags him to a warehouse at midnight.  kaiyō,  who had been gathering incriminating evidence against kurosawa benefactors,  was apprehended and made to pay the price for his interference.  dreading the worst,  ryōta’s fears are confirmed when arata shoves a gun in his hand and orders them to kill him.  ryōta begs for him be set free,  but his father is a terrifying man,  and he knows what could happen if he refuses to do anything.  in the end,  kaiyō dies a quick death,  and ryōta is grateful that kaiyō wasn’t awake for his final moments.  nevertheless,  the guilt eats him alive—  so much so he decides there was nothing left for him in tokyo.

the next day,  ryōta does what kaiyō couldn’t do:  blow the whistle.  numerous corpos,  politicians,  and public figures connected to the kurosawa are left to the mercy of the justice system,  and the scandal is outrageous.  several are prosecuted and jailed.  others get off with a slap on the wrist.  corporate pawns can be replaced,  but there is no amending the effects on the kurosawa—  the loss of several allies and bankrollers shake its foundations,  and hell breaks loose once it was discovered who sounded the alarm.  a civil war breaks out amongst the organization,  and it wouldn’t be until 2073 that things resolve.

DEAD OR ALIVE.

meanwhile,  ryōta evades their father’s wrath.  they run off to the new united states,  picking up jobs until they settle in night city.  they establish themself as a private investigator and informant,  climbing night city’s food chain until they have cliente of all backgrounds eating from the palm of their hand.  it’s a dangerous life,  but it’s what they’re good at,  and eventually they find themself becoming comfortable.  

in 2077,  ryōta is given a job:  find who’s responsible for the death of their client’s cousin.  eventually,  they find their suspect,  break into his home,  and look for more evidence.  they find what they’re looking for,  but they find it at the wrong time.  the suspect arrives home alongside two other people and ryōta waits until he can sneak away without raising any alarm.  instead,  he witnesses the murder of his suspect and finds himself face to face with a man who wants him dead.  now on the run,  ryōta must do two things.  the first:  discover the identity of his pursuer.  the second:  survive or die.

RE: THE KUROSAWA-GUMI.

infamous among east asia’s criminal underworld.  like most yakuza groups,  the kurosawa has its roots in japan’s working class and outcasts,  but it was not among the first crime organizations to live.  instead,  the kurosawa-gumi was born from the ashes of another yakuza organization after it had caved in on itself from infighting and treachery.  the group would operate under the name of its previous head until kurosawa arata assumed control during the 2020s.

unlike most of night city’s gangs,  arata understood the importance of corporate allies,  and when an arasaka representative employs him to kill one of their employees,  he accepts it with open arms.  what begins are the kurosawa’s wonderful business arrangement with arasaka,  as well as a gateway for kurosawa bankrollers to find gangsters they can rely on.  on mainland japan,  the kurosawa would act as its faithful proxies,  killing on behalf of their corporate overlords all while arasaka claimed deniability.

while recognized as a violent organization with a plethora of power,  locals in the kanto region—although wary of their members—know that as long as you do not bother one of the kurosawa,  they will not bother you.  some kurosawa have even aided their respective communities during times of crisis,  but this does not at all negate their criminal acts.  the kurosawa have engaged in crimes such as extortion,  murder,  drug trafficking,  and civil unrest thanks to their endless conflicts with other groups during their formative years—among others,  of course.

following ryōta’s treachery in 2068,  the organization finds itself in chaos.  numerous high ranking members—all of whom had grievances with arata and his corporate bootlicking—reached their limit,  and decided to do something about it.  the organization splits in half,  then splits further,  and suddenly you have a house divided and criminal royalty facing guns in all directions.  the civil war is fucking terrible,  to say the least.  combined with the loss of their bank rollers,  arasaka’s watchful silence,  and endless violence,  the kurosawa-gumi almost collapsed entirely.  arata is assassinated in the winter of 2070 alongside his son,  shion,  and kurosawa yasu steps up in place of his father.  somehow,  someway,  he annihilates those that want him dead,  and assumes control of a broken organization.

by the 2070s,  arasaka reigned supreme in night city,  and although they knew how to influence the city’s gangs,  they do not have a hand on their necks to guide them in the right direction.  furthermore,  with the constant threat of a fifth corporate war looming on the horizon—and kurosawa netrunners being valuable assets—arasaka executives agreed there needed to yet another layer of control in night city.  so,  they resumed kurosawa alliance through a simple command:  expand kurosawa influence in night city,  and the benefits would be endless.  entrusting operation in the mainland to a trusted associate,  yasu arrives in night city in 2077,  and quietly sets up shop.

regarding members.  ‧‧‧ the kurosawa harbor a plethora of skilled netrunners among their faculty,  several of whom were trained by arasaka.  if you want to find a good netrunner,  chances are you’ll find the best among them. the kurosawa have also been notorious for their members’ extreme cyberware enhancements, making the strongest of them incapable of being overcome by law enforcement and vulnerable to cyberpsychosis.

regarding businesses.  ‧‧‧ aside from illegal casinos,  bars,  and clubs,  the kurosawa also have their hand in loan and real estate agencies.  these legal businesses operate as a front for extortion or money laundering.  they also own a variety of ripperdoc clinics.

regarding night city.  ‧‧‧ the kurosawa-gumi’s presence is not explicitly known in night city. so far, only the tyger claws and maelstrom have recognized that something is wrong in westbrook and watson.

RE: NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS.

⁽  黒澤新,  ⁾  KUROSAWA ARATA. born 1998.  hails from a working class family from sendai,  then entered the criminal underworld for monetary stability.  arata assumed control of what would eventually become the kurosawa-gumi at the young age of twenty-eight.  arata was notoriously firm as far as crime bosses went,  and he had no tolerance for treachery or any action that could compromise his beloved group—a prerogative that would eventually lead to his own downfall.

⁽  黒澤速水,  ⁾  KUROSAWA HAYAMI. born 2009.  the matriarch of the kurosawa-gumi as well as the closest thing ryōta had to a mother.  once a published writer,  ryōta remembers hayami as quiet and keeping to herself,  and he cannot remember a moment where hayami and arata acted like a married couple outside of social events.  although not cruel to ryōta,  she did not display maternal love or offer them any comfort;  she did the same for her biological children.  out of everyone in the family,  hayami is the one of the only ones they believe deserve sympathy.  following the death of her husband,  she disappeared.  it is rumored she was the one who tipped off arata’s killers.

⁽  黒澤康,  ⁾  KUROSAWA YASU. born 2044.  his father’s oldest and current head of the kurosawa-gumi.  from the start,  yasu was going to be heir to his father’s isolated empire and therefore was the perfect object for arata to project on.  yasu and ryōta were never close,  and he remembers their relationship being hostile due to how often yasu verbally berated him.  following his father’s death,  yasu inherited his father’s position and reassembled the kurosawa with an iron fist.

⁽  黒澤志穏,  ⁾  KUROSAWA SHION. born 2047.  second oldest of arata’s three children,  and far too soft to be born in a family like his own.  although shion complied with his father’s wishes,  his passions lied elsewhere in a life he knew he’d never be able to pursue.  despite wanting to be a netrunner for the mere convenience of being away from firefights,  his father never let that be possible.  out of everybody in their family,  shion and ryōta held an amicable relationship at best and held no hostilities towards each other.  shion even showed ryōta brief moments of kindness.  he died at the age of twenty-three while protecting his mother from gunfire.

⁽  石田海陽,  ⁾  ISHIDA KAIYŌ. born 2049.  a young netrunner and rebellious youth.  kaiyō dropped out of school after he and his aunt are made homeless after they being extorted by kurosawa loan sharks,  an act that would result in the retribution that gets him killed.  the more he lingered on the street and witnessed what the kurosawa could get away with,  the more his resentment grew.  he lived his teenage years quietly compiling evidence that would be sure to ruin the group’s investors,  but his fatal mistake would be flatlining a kurosawa netrunner in self-defense.  while he had many acquaintances,  the only one he exposed his heart to was ryōta.

OTHER NOTES.

unless plotted otherwise, your muse will not know of ryōta’s previous identity or their past connections, as this is something they’ve gone to great lengths to conceal and refuse to speak of unless necessary.