A Question from Zelot

[DeathsOverture]

(wave)

The points made here are interesting... but really? Aliens? Samura making huge advances in technology? For centuries, Samura has relied on its corrupt hold on the government in order to stay relevent. Why should that change?

The original story writers crafted Kusari with the theme of traditionalism versus modernization. The politcal climate almost mirrors the Meiji restoration, with conservative elements (Samura) lobbying against foreign commerce and relations while liberal elements (Kishiro) are pushing for opening up Kusari to foreign markets to force technological advances in order to compete.

We as Kusari must change our traditional ways. Kishiro is an example for the future. Unfortunately, Samura wishes to preserve the past. They are too close with the Hogosha, who are far more unscrupulous than they would like to admit. Rather than reforming their agricultural production methods to resist the advance of Synth Foods, they have chosen to expend their resources on lobbying the government and backing the Farmers Alliance.

Kishiro is slowly beginning to take command of Kusari corporate power. Samura made a terrible mistake by angering the GMG. Perhaps now Kishiro will be the one that supplies Sirius with the fuel that drives all of its engines. This keiretsu is better because we are more innovative than Samura, which has grown lazy.

With the establishment of trade lanes, Samura and Kusari farmers faced heavy foreign competition in local markets. For centuries, Samura was able to lobby with the government to deter the agricultural imports (presumably with exorbitant tariffs) and essentially shut down the foreign markets and drove up food prices in Kusari, allowing Kyushu to prosper. This continued until some time after the 80-year war when Kusari and Rheinland were both in massive debt to Liberty. Using this as leverage, Liberty was able to pressure the Kusari government to reopen the markets to agricultural imports which forced many farmers out of business and eventually led to the formation of the Farmer's Alliance. (Kyushu infocard - 065664) The economical struggles continue with the crash of the consumer goods manufacturing on Kyushu, in favor of goods produced by Kishiro at Deshima using prison labor (056211 133588).

The pressures from Liberty also led to the establishment of Roppongi and the eventual general admittance of foreign traders to New Tokyo (132961), although government regulations (*cough* Samura *cough) make the import process inefficient by forcing imports to direct all commerce through Narita Outpost (132921). Additionally, Narita was intentionally designed with insufficient interior storage, and necessitating the use of external storage depots; an arrangement which allows the Hogosha to get a piece of the foreign profit margins (132925 132987).

The progressive vs conservative theme propagates further on the cultural level, with the establishment of the Golden Chrysthemums. In Kusari culture, women are expected to accept their "traditional honored role as wife and mother" (133589). The Golden C. seek to spark a revolution to overthrow the corrupt male oppressors and ultimately unite Kusari under the rule of a Kyushu-native empress (133385). The Golden C. also propagate the spread of cardamine in Kusarian society through Roppongi (056183).

Vanilla lore provides us with many accounts of corruption and betrayal between Kusari factions, right up to 801 AS. I won't detail all of them, but here are some examples:
*Kishiro contracts Bounty Hunters to destroy pirates, but with instructions to disengage any Xeno attacking a Samura shipment. (131862)
*Blood Dragons ally with the Golden C against Samura out of necessity, and mock their goals behind their backs (133378) (133383) (133430).
*In 648 AS, Yuyu Matsuda (author of Golden Chrysanthemum in Bloom) was 'implicated in the botched assassination attempt of the planetary government of Kyushu' and committed suicide to avoid imprisonment. Did Samura implicate her in the crime? Did she commit seppuku to become a martyr for the cause, instead of rot in prison? (065634)
*Hogosha cut the GMG out of the artifact trade with the Corsairs. (133005) (133342)
*GMG feels disrespected by Samura for not intervening with the artifact issue. (132803)
*GMG negotiated with Kishiro behind Samura's back. (133016)
*In response, Samura uses its influence to reduce patrols in Honshu. (133308)
*Under the guise of a 'security issue', Samura uses its influence on the government to nationalize Hokkaido and have the treasury finance jumpgates and trade lanes in order to support its own foray into gas mining. (132993 132962 132984)
*GMG provides the Blood Dragons with training in nebula tactics (133347) (133437) and financial assistance (133427) in order to deter Samura's mining efforts in Hokkaido.

Here are some broad Kusari developments that we've had so far in the mod:
4.8? introduced the Kusari-Bretonia war which was heavily pushed by Samura and Hogosha in order to secure mineral resources in the Taus and Leeds.
4.85 introduced Okinawa which the GMG and Kishiro secretly developed while Kusari was focusing on Bretonia. GMG claimed the system in such a way that Kusari could have no jurisdicition and thus Samura could not use its influence to control its development.
4.86 introduced Nagano and Rishiri. Absolutely brilliant. Samura actually managing the complete government financing of the Chugoku gate, only to have it end up pointing to Rishiri and funding its own developents instead... that is the true nature of Samura that vanilla has crafted. We also had the KNF coup some time before 4.86 which allowed a Kishiro-backed government to seize power and exhile the emperor. Planet Kyushu is essentially in a state of chaos and rebellion with most of its inhabitants defiant against the new government.

We now have a new Democratic government that controls Kusari. We have Kusari undergoing a massive cultural identity crisis as Kishiro's policies take effect and Samura's are overturned. We have the Farmers Alliance facing the possible unregulated influx of Synth Paste. We have Planet Kyushu in turmoil. We have Samura and Hogosha seeking to regain their power. We have the Blood Dragons doing everything in their power to prevent that from happening... ... does anyone know what the Golden C are doing? *cough*

So, when thinking of what direction to arc the Kusari lore for 4.87 ... introducing the 'alien energy source' while waving your hands around might intrigue some players, but will only serve to disappoint many of us veteran Kusari players. In fact, to me it would completely undermine the whole Kishiro - Samura dynamic that has been so carefully crafted by our predecessors.

Samura needs to regain control of the government. Is a civil war the solution? Heck no. Kusari's always been about backstabbing. The house is in a state of chaos right now... it wouldn't take much to shatter the people's faith in the strength of the Kusari Democratic Party and destabilize their control over Kusari... and if they can make Kogen out to be some kind of hero and rectify the chaos, they could even get some of their secret society members back in power on the High Council. This shouldn't be too difficult for a corporation that has survived entirely on these backhanded tactics for centuries.

Edit: I included the infocard/rumor ID's as they appear in FLdev.

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