Bloody Petals Musings Part 4
May. 17th, 2021 10:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madimpossibledreamerDid I forget to flail at the internet at the fact that Lost Judgment is a thing that exists? I think I forgot to flail at the internet that Lost Judgment is a thing that exists?
Re-watching Yakuza, I’m getting the idea that the irezumi I design are more elaborate than most in Bloody Petals, but then, there’s an in-universe explanation for this. Even minus secondary invocations, more spirit ink is more power. It does mean that amount of ink probably = rank.
Traditionally, no one in the Amaya-kai is supposed to have an oni in their irezumi, at least not as their main spirit. It’s why there’s some lingering distrust for Hattori, even while she’s pretty respectable, if a bit stuffy.
The Amaya-kai tend to portray it as the Osato-kai, or “Oni Alliance”, are the only ones with ties to the Underworld, but it’s not near as clear-cut as that. The difference is more a matter of goals, rather than joining forces. The Osato-kai are more focused on strength, ruling by force, which is why they tend to interact diplomatically more with the Oni and similar Underworld groups. The Amaya-kai are more similar than they’d like to think, but tend to focus on less straightforward means of power, building up diplomatic networks, especially with the Kami. Just as in Buffy canon, some demons want to play nice, some don’t. The Yakuza and the alliances they make help hold back a demonic invasion—there is actually an open Hellmouth in Japan, as well as some sort of ‘portal to the afterlife’, and a gate to the World of Spirits. The Amaya-kai guard one, the Osato-kai guard the other, and there’s a long-standing agreement that neither tries to restrict access to the ‘portal to the afterlife’—both Clans have a right to try to bring back fallen officers. Both have at one point or another threatened to try to block access, but that would be a breach of the gokudo ‘way of life’/code of conduct.
The Watcher’s Council, alarmed after the encounter with Buffy, looked into the Yakuza more, and everything they found made them even more worried. This is a group with power that can wreck theirs, if they wanted. Also, their working theory is that using the spirit ink for the irezumi serves as a contract with a Primal, which also makes them even more concerned about what the Yakuza are up to. Never mind that they’re helping keep a Hellmouth, ‘portal to the afterlife’, and gate to the World of Spirits closed, or keeping the local demon, spirit, etc population in check. They can’t be controlled, they’re “messing with things they don’t understand” (like the Council doesn’t do that), and (probably mostly, though they don’t admit it), it’s a dent on their pride. They’re probably not out of the running by a long shot, though it might take them some time to figure out a plan of attack.
Building on a past description, the Watcher’s Council probably has both more and less influence than canon. The Celts probably did all they could to try to limit their control, particularly with their dubious “control a powerful girl who could save the world” scheme. So they might show up or something. Who knows.
They don’t show it a lot in the Yakuza games, but having two “Captains” makes sense. I think it briefly got mentioned in Yakuza 5, translated as Chief of Headquarters, but there’s usually a fighting-type Captain and an administrative/legal Captain. Still trying to figure out which is which between Inoue and Hayama. Hayama (Aura) in Slayer’s Mad Whelp is going to be kind of the logistics one, so it’d make sense for her to be the administrative one, but Inoue (Andrew) doesn’t strike me as a big fighter, just a big cook. Then again, the Miyamoto are kind of non-traditional in several ways which will be the topic of a future story (with being open to gender/sexuality differences, which is very not traditional in the Yakuza, but then, Miyamoto and probably her entire Family are probably taking the Majima approach that anyone who’s not on board with you being your authentic self are owed a beating). Also, I get the feeling that these characters are just going to keep surprising me, so it’s entirely possible I won’t know until I’m in the middle of writing and words will just flow and I’ll sit back and go “oh, okay, that makes sense” and move on.
Re-watching Yakuza, I’m getting the idea that the irezumi I design are more elaborate than most in Bloody Petals, but then, there’s an in-universe explanation for this. Even minus secondary invocations, more spirit ink is more power. It does mean that amount of ink probably = rank.
Traditionally, no one in the Amaya-kai is supposed to have an oni in their irezumi, at least not as their main spirit. It’s why there’s some lingering distrust for Hattori, even while she’s pretty respectable, if a bit stuffy.
The Amaya-kai tend to portray it as the Osato-kai, or “Oni Alliance”, are the only ones with ties to the Underworld, but it’s not near as clear-cut as that. The difference is more a matter of goals, rather than joining forces. The Osato-kai are more focused on strength, ruling by force, which is why they tend to interact diplomatically more with the Oni and similar Underworld groups. The Amaya-kai are more similar than they’d like to think, but tend to focus on less straightforward means of power, building up diplomatic networks, especially with the Kami. Just as in Buffy canon, some demons want to play nice, some don’t. The Yakuza and the alliances they make help hold back a demonic invasion—there is actually an open Hellmouth in Japan, as well as some sort of ‘portal to the afterlife’, and a gate to the World of Spirits. The Amaya-kai guard one, the Osato-kai guard the other, and there’s a long-standing agreement that neither tries to restrict access to the ‘portal to the afterlife’—both Clans have a right to try to bring back fallen officers. Both have at one point or another threatened to try to block access, but that would be a breach of the gokudo ‘way of life’/code of conduct.
The Watcher’s Council, alarmed after the encounter with Buffy, looked into the Yakuza more, and everything they found made them even more worried. This is a group with power that can wreck theirs, if they wanted. Also, their working theory is that using the spirit ink for the irezumi serves as a contract with a Primal, which also makes them even more concerned about what the Yakuza are up to. Never mind that they’re helping keep a Hellmouth, ‘portal to the afterlife’, and gate to the World of Spirits closed, or keeping the local demon, spirit, etc population in check. They can’t be controlled, they’re “messing with things they don’t understand” (like the Council doesn’t do that), and (probably mostly, though they don’t admit it), it’s a dent on their pride. They’re probably not out of the running by a long shot, though it might take them some time to figure out a plan of attack.
Building on a past description, the Watcher’s Council probably has both more and less influence than canon. The Celts probably did all they could to try to limit their control, particularly with their dubious “control a powerful girl who could save the world” scheme. So they might show up or something. Who knows.
They don’t show it a lot in the Yakuza games, but having two “Captains” makes sense. I think it briefly got mentioned in Yakuza 5, translated as Chief of Headquarters, but there’s usually a fighting-type Captain and an administrative/legal Captain. Still trying to figure out which is which between Inoue and Hayama. Hayama (Aura) in Slayer’s Mad Whelp is going to be kind of the logistics one, so it’d make sense for her to be the administrative one, but Inoue (Andrew) doesn’t strike me as a big fighter, just a big cook. Then again, the Miyamoto are kind of non-traditional in several ways which will be the topic of a future story (with being open to gender/sexuality differences, which is very not traditional in the Yakuza, but then, Miyamoto and probably her entire Family are probably taking the Majima approach that anyone who’s not on board with you being your authentic self are owed a beating). Also, I get the feeling that these characters are just going to keep surprising me, so it’s entirely possible I won’t know until I’m in the middle of writing and words will just flow and I’ll sit back and go “oh, okay, that makes sense” and move on.
