Minwha of Tiger and Magpie. Relevant to one of the factions, inspired by my discussion with Gearoong
I love New York City. I've wanted to live here for many years, and despite Covid, I am glad to have been here for nearly two years so far (holy crap!). A lot of life goals have been accomplished here, it's been fulfilling in ways that go beyond the scope of this post. Normally, I prefer to play in entirely Weird, unconstrained settings. But in mid-pandemic world, I am finding it cathartic and inspiring to play my campaign in New York City, a version that simultaneously reflects the real place that I love, but tints it with the magical Weirdness that reflects something more authentic to how I actually feel when I walk the streets of New York than the objective reality. There are so many cultures and subcultures either unique to New York or born here; not hiding per se, but drowned out from the sheer mainstream noise. There is a reason why so many stories of Magical Realism are set in New York and other cities- because that magic truly does exist, in a fashion. A MRD campaign does not have to be set in New York City, but my current campaign is set here, and given how much this setting is an expression of my personal beliefs, sensibilities, and feelings, it seems fitting to focus on New York for this setting, at least for now.
New York is diverse, and Weird, in all the best ways. There are cultures from around the world, and those cultures intermix and transform and become something unique unto themselves. It's not a melting pot- a watered-down, dumbed-down, flavorless homogeny of cultures, nor, and I can't stress this enough, is it a "wonderland", a fetishism of the "exotic" and "other", that exists for the amusement of a white American like myself. The factions in MRD are meant to reflect the diversity of New York, in all senses of the word, to play into some of the themes and tropes of New York's history and media representations such as crime dramas, pulp adventures, noir, superhero stories, and so on, to reflect various aspects of the real world as it exists today, and to express the almost magical realism I describe above, but also to express that these cultures don't exist in a vacuum. There is no one Italian Mafia or Yakuza in this setting- it isn't the Black gang in one neighborhood and the Mexican gang in another. There's the faction of Black Twitter - Seneca Village activists - Mindan Korean Japanese Americans, and another faction of TikTok Gamergate White Nationalists - outcast Deseret Extremists - Uruguayan American Conservatives. It's a mix of things that do exist (or a version of them), and things that don't exist but one could imagine existing- that seem strange but have an internal logic to them which is as much due to chance as anything else. They are decidedly fictional but demonstrate how Weird reality and culture can actually be.
But, again, I'm a white American, so I want to be very careful about appropriation, about misrepresenting real cultures, or being insensitive in any way. So I hope the above sufficiently explains my thought process, I hope it succeeds at expressing the magical realism I am describing, and I hope it does so in a way that is generally reasonable and decent from a liberal perspective.
Also WARNING there are some heavy topics explored in these factions, especially in the links, so trigger warning on that. I personally want MRD to be more of an escapist experience, but also, it is core to the idea of MRD that we have to face the bad things- both in ourselves and in the world. So these factions do reflect that, to some extent, but that doesn't mean that these issues have to be at the core of a MRD campaign.
In regards to the Kickstarter: I plan to do a short series of Faction posts for MRD, this being the first. I don't know how much of this will actually wind up in the book, but much of this comes from developments within my MRD campaigns / playtests. I hope to weave some of these NPCs and concepts into the module for the first issue in some implied fashion, but I don't think these explicit writeups will make it into the first issue. If people appreciate these Faction writeups, cleaning them up and commissioning art for them would be something I would potentially like to do for a subsequent issue of the MRD "Zine".
Seneca Village Collective
This faction began as a Black Twitter movement that formed after an act of police brutality against an African American in Central Park went viral, followed by the mainstream awareness of the historical Seneca Village. A Bronx-based band known as the K-Pop Orchestra, known for their jazz covers of K-Pop music, contributed to the popularity of this movement. The K-Pop Orchestra also shed light on the racism of Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and the ways in which the Korean Japanese experience relates to that of the African American experience, which then led to the cross-cultural Seneca Village Collective as it exists today. While the Collective is both intranational and international, The Bronx and K-Town in New York are generally seen as the focal places of the Collective.
While the Collective mostly focuses on awareness campaigns and charity drives, the vigilante Recurser Seneca Tiger, most well known for fighting against police brutality and supporting Black and other minority communities in the city, has spearheaded a more active group within the Collective. While Seneca Tiger generally promotes social activism and volunteer work over reactionary efforts and violence, she states in no uncertain terms that America requires radical change and that radical change may require radical action. Seneca Tiger's true identity is unknown. It has been speculated that the Tiger part of her vigilante identity is a subversion of the Tiger in Korean folklore as a symbol of the historical Korean ruling class, leading some to believe she is of Korean or Korean Japanese descent. Another theory is that she is actually an African American drag queen who performs at the Dromedary Urban Tiki Bar.
Notable NPCs
Seneca Tiger: Rogue vigilante who advocates against, and directly subverts, police brutality, particularly towards minority communities. The Seneca Collective does not acknowledge her as part of the organization for legal reasons, but it is generally understood that she leads the extra-legal operations of the Collective. Her vigilante costume is a form-fitting, full-body leather suit, in the general appearance of a tiger. The costume is colorful and flamboyant and has large, asymmetrical eyes and a stretched smile, like a tiger minwha. It is unknown what, if any powers she has, but she is nonetheless formidable.
Pro-Fane: Popular African American drag queen, primarily located in Bushwick. Her style is like if a Japanese horror girl became a ganguro TikTok influencer. While not technically part of Seneca Collective leadership, she serves as one of several public faces of the group and is deeply involved, to the point that some even believe she is secretly Seneca Tiger. Moon Marine is in a feud with Pro-Fane and attempting to dox her as Seneca Tiger, in retaliation for believing Pro-Fane responsible for "The Platypussy Leak".
Rick Barrett: The founder of the K-Pop Orchestra and also the Seneca Collective. An intelligent, articulate, thoughtful person, passionate, and excellent performer. Very much a renaissance man for the 21st century. Some have accused him of using the Seneca Collective as a means to promote his formerly obscure K-Pop Orchestra, but those who know him understand that this is not true, or at least not so simply.
Baek Yesu: K-Pop star of Korean Japanese descent, who repatriated to South Korea. His music is known for being especially political, dealing with issues of racism towards Korean Japanese, and more recently collaborating with the K-Pop Orchestra performing about racism towards African Americans. He is considered one of the co-leaders of the Seneca Collective, alongside Rick Barrett, and has been spending more time in New York.
Deseret Avengers
The name is somewhat of a misnomer. The movement started as an online White Nationalist hate group proclaiming to be the anti-Zion, a play on the racist and misogynist beliefs present in the redpill/blackpill movements and a reference to the film The Matrix and the Marvel superhero group The Avengers. However, ironically, a counterculture of punk/skinhead Mormons in the Slavic/Germanic European country Ruritania, and conservative Mormons of Uruguayan descent, identified with the movement, in some cases due to a misunderstanding of its roots. As a result, the Deseret Avengers are decentralized and lack any singular goal or leadership. While online they are primarily young male gamers, their New York presence has been more so driven by upwardly mobile Uruguayan immigrants, and separately the Ruritanian immigrant community.
The Uruguayan faction holds up Mateo Silva, an executive of a financial firm with ties to the White Party in Uruguay, as their champion. While he is not believed to be a member of the Deseret Avengers per se, some internet conspiracy theorists believe he has been sending them coded messages in various televised appearances.
The online (and to a lesser extent, Ruritanian) faction has rallied behind Moon Marine, a vigilante Recurser, TikTok and Instagram Influencer, and self-proclaimed anti-feminist gamer-girl. Besides promoting her brand and "recking the libs", it's unclear what, if any, broader agenda she has. She has done actual good as a vigilante, and many of her fans are entirely unaware of her political affiliation, which has been carefully manicured to attract vulnerable individuals who may be influenced by the online conspiracy/hate groups associated with the Deseret Avengers (or in some cases, genuine Mormon missionaries who are themselves unaware of the full breadth of the hate group, but who generally support Conservative values).
Notable NPCs
Moon Marine: Famous superhero who got her start as a viral TikTok star. Despite having marketed herself towards kids, preteens, and teens, some have criticized the not so subtle degree to which she's leveraged sexuality towards her success (made doubly complicated by the fact that her age is not known, as she keeps a secret identity). She has also been criticized on many occasions for casual racism and promoting traditional gender roles, and while her marketing team has largely kept it undercover, she is known to associate with the Deseret Avengers online. Nonetheless, she has saved NYC several times, and she has done advocacy work as a role model for young women. Her costume is like a blue US Marine dress uniform with a platypus theme, such as the bill on her hat.
Mateo Silva: Uruguayan immigrant, ardent Republican, dedicated member of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and classic American success story. Despite celebrating himself as American, he has made a point of also advocating for Uruguayan culture and making it known that Uruguay is a high-income and democratic nation, while also condemning (and inadvertently promoting) its social progressivism. Despite his political associations, he is sometimes considered a proponent of Latin American diversity and awareness. Nonetheless, he is also criticized for his religious extremism, as well as his exploitative business practices. He does not directly associate with the Deseret Avengers, but many Mormon Uruguayans identify him as such.
Clara Cocksure: NYPD Detective who is paradoxically a cussing, no-nonsense hardass, and also a wait-until-marriage conservative Christian. After a recent incident of police brutality, it was discovered that she publicly associates with the Deseret Avengers on social media.
Alexei Strauss: Ruritanian immigrant from Queens who committed a mass murder-suicide at his high school. An investigation uncovered that he was deeply embedded in the Deseret Avengers online community under the pseudonym XP, and had expressed extremely dark and hateful sentiments. His surviving classmates and teachers claim that he was socially awkward, bullied, and struggling in school. His Numberless Courts of Hell case record has gone missing and he is classified as a rogue poltergeist. As such, he has become the center of many extremist conspiracy theories within the Deseret Avengers.
