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How could local (country level) branch of Mitsuhama organize this? (Content Warning: suicide)

This may feel a little bit out of context, I'm cutting out a lot that I don't want to influence the ideas.

Local MCT Head of Security is supposed to commit seppuku. My players are hired to fake it and extract him. Extracting the family too is bonus pay. It is supposed to look as if he does it and family disappears. If MCT doesn't suspect anything, it won't be looking for the family afterwards.
I am wondering what are acceptable ways it could be organized but can't find the details in the books.

  • a meeting in MCT HQ - will be hard to fake and extract, but if they figure it out, MCT will not be suspecting anything
  • in their home, recorded and sent to local CEO - I think MCT should accept this as valid, making the whole thing easier, as long as nothing looks weird

Do you have any other ideas?

Of course, the question why fake it instead of just extracting the whole family at once is valid, but at this point this is a question to my players. How thorough do they want to be.

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10 comments

  • Assuming they kept the traditional style of the real-world Shogunate, then there would be a ritual in front of spectators. This is also a more realistic way for MCT to do it as even if they're not particularly suspicious, they'd still have mechanisms in place to make sure the executive actually follows through and doesn't chicken out.

    Some additional points to consider:

    • How does MCT handle corpse processing and the funeral? Possibly this wiki page might be a good place to look. The fake is gonna have to pass at each step.

    • If your average wage slave dies, then either the kids go to corporate school for mandatory brainwashing and training, or the whole family goes straight to the streets. Executive level is different. Family is expected to be cared for. Life insurance payouts to a suddenly vanished family is a loose end that needs to be accounted for.

    • there would be a ritual in front of spectators

      How many spectators are you thinking? Like MCT-wide TV broadcast and arena full of people?
      I was thinking to agree for home recording (sign of times) to make it easier on my players in case the whole "play dead" cliche doesn't click with them.

      The fake is gonna have to pass at each step

      I don't think they would be doing DNA scans every step. It's added cost. But then, if it's cremation, the sub-corp doing the service might want to cover their bottom end and log some data just in case.

      Life insurance payouts to a suddenly vanished family is a loose end that needs to be accounted for

      So even if they fled, MCT should try to find them to pay out insurance and pull them into brainwashing program?

        1. No, not a stadium. Most likely a small crowd of colleagues, a few members of his team and importantly, his direct superior. Sepukku is still the "honourable" way out, after all. Atoning for his sins in ritualistic suicide would not be done in private. If you swap out recording to a live broadcast to these people, could still make it work.

        2. Absolutely correct. They aren't insanely paranoid, but there might be some light checking at various stages, if only to verify they are taking the right body out of the morgue to cover their ass, for example.

        3. Yes. Generally speaking, once you get to that level, you and your family are expected to be in that corp for generations (especially for japanocorps). They won't send out an HTR team or anything crazy like that, but if you want it to pass the smell test then they need a good reason to leave.

  • Having the seppuku process be sort of unofficial/taboo but expected thing might be a solid theme to start with, like the official gives some sort of final-wordsy speech/document then heads off to his home alone. Everyone knows what he is doing and fully expects an obituary the next day, but nobody talks about it. The twist that involves your players might be the local CEO expecting foul play but not knowing specifics and breaking the taboo by sending either surveillance or a kill team to make sure he follows through. Players would have to find a way to either bribe or fool the CEO to ensure the official isn't hunted or convince him to fake-seppuku in a way that wouldn't leave a body, like driving off a cliff with his family or walking off into the woods. Instead of having to provide irrefutable evidence to the whole company, the players would only have to fool the CEO as long as the disappearance wasn't unusual.

    • From what I see in Market Panic, I would not expect it to be unofficial/taboo.

      But I like the idea of CEO sending a kill squad "just in case"

10 comments