The Blood Dragons - Oathbound Division

誓約師団

The Blood Dragons
Oath Bound Division - Information

ID / IFF: Blood Dragons
Faction Tag: bd]-
Point of Contact: @Saitо̄

Overview
The Blood Dragons
The history of the Blood Dragons goes back to the fourth century. The founding members of the group were the Shogun’s Royal Guard during the Hideyoshi family dynasty. In a bloody coup during the celebration of the revived Sakura festival in 321 AS, the Shogun was surrounded in the palace by Samura-backed elements of the military and asked to surrender, along with the Royal Guard. The Shogun, humiliated by the shame he had brought his family, committed suicide. The guards, headed by Kozue Okamura, did not acquiesce so easily. In a bloody battle, they fought their way out of the palace and retreated into the darkness of northern Kusari space. Here they regrouped and began a long guerrilla campaign aimed at overthrowing the Samura-controlled Kusari government.

The Blood Dragons are a tight group who hold the sympathy and support of individuals in the highest levels of Kusari government. They periodically launch surgical strikes and commando raids from their Kyoto base designed to destabilize the current government to the point where sympathetic officials could potentially seize power. Blood Dragons prefer to target Samura and Kusari Naval Forces bases and ships, although they occasionally attack other House shippers for supplies.

The group is loosely allied with the Golden Chrysanthemums, who provide refuge and a forward tactical base for assault crews in the Hokkaido system. The Golden C. also provide many of the essential Commodities that the Blood Dragons need, a critical function given the complete lack of Blood Dragon landing rights within the rest of Kusari space. The group also played small role during the Nomad War, collaborating with Order agents to infiltrate Heaven's Gate and eliminate the infected Governor Tekagi. The two groups were brought together by Lord Hakkera, a sympathizer from the Kusari government, and have remained allies until the present day.

Objectives
1. Unify and restore the Blood Dragon movement.
2. Eliminate Samura Heavy Industries and their puppets.
3. Reestablish a legitimate Kusari government.
4. Remove corporate influencers from Kusari politics.
5. Contain the nomad threat in Tohoku.

The Oath Bound
Kozue Okamura was a man of great strength and immense resolve. He by all accounts possessed a great intellect, capable of seeing not only strategy in a depth that rendered him peerless, but the shape of things to come. Carving a way through traitors and finding refuge, albeit in exile, would account for the survival of the last vestiges of loyalists and the birth of the Blood Dragons as they would come to be known. But he knew all too well that he could not be trusted with absolute power over the infantile movement, lest he desire a dynastic and decadent clique of would-be nobles as opposed to warriors. And so, after the major hurdles had been surmounted, Kozue Okamura in all his wisdom relinquished all his power over the generations that would fleet by.

Centuries may have passed, long enough that the name Okamura became an item of obscurity, a navigational hazard that helped conceal the beating heart that is Kyoto. While not a symbol of authority, all descendants that bore the name were burdened with the most monumental of responsibilities. To allow their Brethren to organize themselves as they wished, so long as the core tenets upon which the Dragons were formed remained a pivotal focus. Sons would pass on this would-be responsibility to the next of kin, along with the knowledge and skills necessary to ensure survival of not only oneself but of the movement. A contingency that seemed born out of paranoia more than intuition, or so was thought by those encumbered with the associated regimental lifestyle. At least until the cause was met with perversions. Greed, of several varieties and authoritarianism that felt all too familiar. The once committed resistance had been mutated into a mirror image of the enemy. An insult to centuries of legacy, one too great to simply be ignored. It would be now that the Oath sworn by every descendant of the Okamura family would be invoked. Though marred by the passing of centuries, the family standard would be held aloft once more and the mission for reformation to what once was put in motion.

The Oath-Bound is not technically a name that applies to a sect of Blood Dragons, but rather to a single person. Through the actions of the standard-bearer, those of like-minded natures rallied to the cause, seeing the folly in playing with the roots of what truly made the movement different in contrast to the enemy. Disdain for the misguided nature of those that had seen fit to give themselves titles and lord over Kyoto turned into concrete urges for reformation. While Kusari languishes under the shackles of corruption and the excess of a few, the daunting task of ensuring a better replacement can be provided is undertaken by those rallying under the Okamura standard. These people, though not bound by the family Oath, would go on to be recognized as the Oath Bound of the Blood Dragons. A source of pride and a stigma for the hopeful and the dynasts respectively. Though much information regarding them is either in dispute, or simply not known, what can be taken as a certainty is that the proud tradition that birthed the Dragons through the blood spilled during the coup lives on in these Guardsmen.

The Oath Bound while inherently no different from the rest of their brethren are treated with the fundamental distinction of what they represent. For these men, the mission is far more crucial than the weight of a name and lure of power. And that is what they must tirelessly struggle to accomplish, the cost of failure simply being too high to pay. Though faced with the daunting task of not only internal but external reformation, the only option left is to persevere in the hopes that the fires of rebirth do not fade.

Attitudes

Partnership

Golden Chrysanthemums - despite numerous ideological differences, the Blood Dragons have been allied with the Golden Chrysanthemums for many years. They provide the Blood Dragons with refuge and supplies in return for protection.

Camaraderie

Gas Miners Guild - the guild has secretly supported the Blood Dragons due to poor relations with Samura and the reparations demanded by the Kusari government since end of the Eighty Years War, training many of their best pilots.
The Order - the connections to the Order that were forged during the Nomad War have remained largely intact. While the two groups rarely operate alongside one another, there have been many opportunities for scientific collaboration.

Sympathy

Bundschuh - while only maintaining a distant relationship, the Blood Dragons and the Bundschuh possess a shared desire to root out corruption from their respective governments. Both groups also have connections with the Order.
Red Hessians - although prone to favor piracy over their political ideals, the Red Hessians are nonetheless allies of the Bundschuh and share their desire to free Rheinland from government corruption.

Suspicion

Lane Hackers - indirect suppliers of the Blood Dragons through their trade with the Golden Chrysanthemums, the Lane Hackers are a group of pirates masquerading as political dissidents. The Blood Dragons have done business with them in the past, but see little reason for a closer relationship at this time.
Unioners - another revolutionary group from Rheinland, the Unioners are less well known to the Blood Dragons. Rumours of their alliance with the Corsairs has lead many in Sirius to treat them with suspicion, and the Blood Dragons are no exception.
Outcasts - a clique of drug lords that feed the habits of the depraved, despite this they sustain our closest regional ally and are allowed a degree of tolerance for the time being.

Disapproval

Kishiro Technologies - Kishiro is not the primary concern of the Blood Dragons, however the movement is not blind to their political influence and is aware that they are next in line should Samura ever lose control of the government.
Farmers Alliance - a terrorist movement that opposes foreign corporate influence in Kusari. The Blood Dragons are sympathetic to their plight, but the farmers are funded by Samura and represent an attempt to consolidate their domination of the food market.
Deep Space Engineering - since the abandonment of the Chugoku Gate contruction project the Blood Dragons have stopped actively hunting Deep Space Engineering vessels. However many have not forgotten the threat they once represented to the movement.
Liberty Rogues - uncultured thieves from Liberty that occasionally cross the border into Kusari. The Blood Dragons do not approve of the Rogues, but are largely unconcerned with their activities unless they stray too far into Kusari.
Bounty Hunters Guild - a mercenary organization operating in numerous systems across the Sirius Sector. The guild has a presence in Kusari, although to a lesser extent than Liberty or Bretonia, and are not thought to be a serious threat.
The Coalition - an oppressive authoritarian state based in the far Omega systems. Many Blood Dragons disapprove of the Coalition's attempts to spread their influence in Kusari and will no longer tolerate their subversion.

Animosity

Hogosha - a state sponsored criminal syndicate with control over the artifact trade and other unlawful enterprises in Kusari. The Blood Dragons view them as little more than Samura employed thugs.
Interspace Commerce - a Liberty based trans-sirius corporation with great influence over other houses due to the prior monopoly Liberty held over trade lane and jump gate technology. While the arrival of Gallia has lessened their grip over the colonies, the Blood Dragons still resent the role Interspace played in the rise of corporate powers in Kusari.

Warfare

Samura Heavy Industries - the traitorous and opportunistic swine that sponsored the coup that ostracized us from our rightful place in Kusari. They are subject to termination with extreme prejudice, they owe us a debt of blood and we will readily collect until they are no more.
Kusari Lawful Forces - hordes of the misguided, most of which benefit under Samura's tainted payrolls. While we receive token support from some sympathizers within these organizations, they are for the most part, acting according to Samura's behest and should be treated as enemies.
Nomads - enemy of humanity.

Structure

General - 大将 Taishō
Guard Captain - 侍衛長 Jieichō
Guardsman - 護衛 Goei
Standard-Bearer - 旗本 Hatamoto

Technology
Fiercely proud of their heritage, the Blood Dragons largely produce and use their own technology with few exceptions.

Fighter Craft

J90 "Tanto" Blood Dragon Light Fighter
B50P "Katana" Blood Dragon Heavy Fighter
B05-S "Tachi" Blood Dragon Very Heavy Fighter
B69-R "Nodachi" Blood Dragon Bomber

Capital Craft

"Hachiman" Blood Dragon Gunboat
"Kagutsuchi" Blood Dragon Cruiser
"Togo" Blood Dragon Battleship