Hinomaru

Superhuman agents of the Empire of Japan are fewer during the Second World War than their Nazi counterparts. For one thing, the Japanese lack the scientific expertise and insight of the infamous Dr. Geistmann and the secrets of the Ultima (doled out sparingly by Kal-Zed). For another, the mysterious Japanese Green Dragon Society is more sparing in its use of magic to empower super-soldiers, although most Japanese superhumans do have magical powers.
Although no one in the world knows it for certain (and only a few suspect), the strong mystical forces of the Japanese islands also limit the number of other types of superhumans there compared to the United States or Europe. The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki changes the status quo: wiping out many Japanese mystics and forever altering the balance of supernatural forces there.
The Japanese super-agents of the Empire are known collectively as Hinomaru, “the Circle of the Sun,” also the name used for the Japanese rising sun flag. Despite the collective name, the Hinomaru rarely operate as a group and are more independent than their Nazi counterparts. Generally, they operate as spies and occasionally assassins, although some, such as Crimson Katana and Kamikaze, see action on the battlefield. Overall, their conflict with the Allies tends to be more of a chess game of espionage, move, and counter-move.

Structure

Crimson Katana

Asano Ranaga grew up in poverty in turn of the century Nagasaki, where he eventually became an accomplished thief working for the local Yakuza. He graduated from pickpocketing and petty thievery to second-story work and burglary, relying on his natural athletic talents and an eye for valuables. He developed a taste for the finer things in life, although he only rarely had the money to indulge in them.
Things changed when Ranaga managed to steal the mystic Three Flames Katana and several other trinkets. The Katana found a potential wielder in him, and Ranaga decided to keep it. When his former Yakuza associates came to administer an object lesson, both they and Ranaga learned of the blade’s powers first-hand. The former thief wisely sought the protection of the Emperor and was put to work by the military hierarchy of the Empire.
For almost a decade, the Crimson Katana was one of the most feared men in east Asia, the merciless hand of the Emperor and Prime Minister Tojo. He served a dual role as the Emperor’s ceremonial bodyguard, but also as a spy and assassin. He also received many gifts from his patrons, not the least of which was a wife, whom he largely ignored (although they had one son, Toshiro). Crimson Katana served in the Pacific Theatre of war and was known for the merciless slaughter of soldiers and innocents alike. It seemed the longer he wielded the Three Flames Katana, the greater his bloodlust became. Some whispered that the sword was cursed, driving its wielder to greater and greater acts of brutality.
The Crimson Katana survived the fall of Japan and fled rather than commit seppuku. While fleeing occupied Japan, Asano Ranaga committed one last act of savagery. Using his mystic blade, the Crimson Katana murdered the Human Tank and Gunner in their sleep. He then fled to the Asian mainland and disappeared. Authorities later learned that he fled to Nepal, where he laid the foundations of what would later become the Katanarchist cult, led by his son Toshiro, the second Crimson Katana.

Geisha

Keiko Ishido wanted to be a good wife to her husband, to keep a proper household and to please him, but Maseo Ishido was never satisfied and frequently took out his frustrations on his young wife. Keiko suffered in silence for as long as she could, but one night she lashed out at Maseo, berating him. His sense of shame was so overwhelming that he killed himself that night, leaving Keiko a young widow, with no means to support herself.
She found her way into working as a “hostess” for the Yakuza, where her unusual talents came to the fore. Keiko discovered a talent for manipulating people. She realized that Maseo felt terrible shame because she wished him to, and that her clients also felt as she wanted. Initially uncertain, Keiko found herself using his talent more and more, until she all but ran local organized crime behind the scenes.
That was when her gifts came to the attention of the Green Dragon Society, men protected against her manipulation by mystic wards. They offered Keiko the opportunity to serve Nippon. She became the mysterious “Geisha,” a shadowy and manipulative secret agent. Few could deny her anything; she operated behind the scenes, finding the challenge exciting and the power intoxicating.
Although confronted by Allied agents on occasion, Geisha was never captured during the war. After the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, she disappeared into the Japanese underworld, becoming an almost mythic figure and operating behind the scenes of the Yakuza clans for decades. Her last known appearance to anyone was in the 1980s during some dealings with AEGIS, although it remains possible she is still alive and secretly pulling strings in Japan or elsewhere.

Irezumi

Tadashi Aoyama grew up in the ranks of the Yakuza, joining a gang as a teenager and serving as a thug and enforcer during his initial years. He drew the attention of a member of the Green Dragon Society. They offered him power, which Tadashi accepted without reservation. As he progressed in the ranks of the Yakuza, certain rituals were arranged, involving the lengthy traditional tattooing process used by the syndicate. Tadashi’s mentor and patron ensured these rituals included certain secret ingredients and chants, and promised that the pain Tadashi endured was a small price to pay.
Not long after the attack on Pearl Harbor and the declaration of war between Japan and the United States, the work was complete. Tadashi was covered in elaborate tattoos, a man of influence within the ranks of the Yakuza, and the rites of the Green Dragon Society were finished. The Yakuza found himself with the power to “awaken” his tattoo designs, summoning creatures from within to obey his commands. He used that power in the service of the Emperor and the Green Dragon Society, taking the name Irezumi from the traditional tattooing practice.
Irezumi’s criminal connections served him well as a spy and agent for the Empire. He even operated on American soil on a few occasions, maintaining an uneasy cooperation with Geisha (who disliked his chauvinist and superior attitude) until the two of them were driven off and their operations disrupted by The Liberty League. Despite the power of his mystic tattoos, Irezumi was no match for most of the western heroes in a direct confrontation, and so avoided them whenever possible.
After Japan surrendered to the Allies, Irezumi made arrangements to flee the country. He could not escape his erstwhile mentors in the Green Dragon Society, however. The Hinomaru’s flayed body was discovered sometime later, alongside the corpses of some Society acolytes. Irezumi’s tanned and preserved skin became a tool and artifact of the Katanarchist cult, still retaining its mystic properties. It was later bound into the pages of a mystic book of summoning that now resides in the safekeeping of the mystics of the Shambala Temple.

Kamikaze

Although Miko Ishikawa’s father was a military man, she did not expect to be a soldier. Still, her father considered it important for his daughter to know how to protect herself in a dangerous world. Miko studied martial arts at a young age, and she was perhaps more forceful than was proper for a young girl in Japanese society at the time. She also loved the outdoors and in particular the wind: climbing hills and mountains to enjoy the heights, visiting isolated Shinto shrines, and watching storms from the shelter of her family’s porch, feeling the electric tingle across her skin.
That her parents had no other children was a misfortune, Miko knew. Although her father adored his daughter, she also knew that he would have liked a son to follow in his footsteps and carry on the family name. She was always faintly aware of a family legacy kept by her father and hidden from her and her mother. Only after her father’s death in battle and her mother’s by her own hand did Miko learn of it. Her father was associated with the Green Dragon Society, and carried a legacy from the ancient kami, the spirits of nature.
Miko sought out the Society and claimed the rights to her father’s legacy. Although they balked initially, she would not be denied. The rites were all prepared; Ishikawa’s death left them with no other choice. The magicians agreed and invoked the power of the kami slumbering in Miko’s blood and spirit. She was invested with power over the winds; at the height of the ritual, she rose laughing into the sky, borne on a whirlwind. She took the name kamikaze, the “divine wind” and swore vengeance against all Americans for the deaths of her family.
Kamikaze clashed on several occasions with members of the Liberty League, some of whom were hindered by a reluctance to hit a woman, making Kamikaze’s most common sparring partners Siren I or Lady Liberty II. She remained unwavering in her hatred for all Americans and was prepared to raise storms and typhoons to assault the American coast (which Siren helped to prevent) and to defend Japan against invasion. She never got the opportunity for the latter—she was in Hiroshima when the first atomic bomb was dropped and was killed instantly by the blast.

Assets

The Green Dragon Society

The prime mover behind the Hinomaru and Japanese superhumans is the mysterious Green Dragon Society, an alliance of Japanese sorcerers united behind the Emperor and the cause of Imperial Japan. The Green Dragons are strong supporters of Japanese traditionalism and the expulsion of gaijin and their ways from Japan. While the Society doesn’t go so far as to disdain modern technology, they strongly favor the mystical, leaving technological matters to others.
Individual members of the Green Dragon Society do not possess the kind of power wielded by sorcerers like Adrian Eldrich or Malador the Mystic; their magic is generally limited to that provided by various elaborate arcane rituals. Still, working as a group, the Society is capable of accomplishing a great deal, and they are at least indirectly responsible for empowering most Japanese super-agents in the Golden Age, as well as recruiting and training them.

Type

Government, Secret Service

Alternative Names

The Circle of the Sun