[center][b][h1][color=red]Richard Dragon[/color][/h1][/b] 45 Years Old, Born on October 1923
[i][sub]World-renowned Martial Arts Master and International Man of Mystery
Surviving since 1941[/sub][/i]

[img]https://i.imgur.com/RzcxrFZ.png[/img][/center]
[h3]Character Concept[/h3][hr]
[color=999999]The man that would be Dragon was born a boy in the British colony of Hong Kong to a family of trade moguls and diplomats. The rough streets of the Fragrant Harbour treated the young Briton worse than your average Johnny Chinaman due to his limited ability to interact with the locals, having been tutored by a private instructor in the British curriculum which purposely excluded Cantonese and Mandarin. After an alarming rise of muggings by street gangs due to strained government resources, Richard's parents had reluctantly agreed to include a self-defence instructor for their son's studies though they couldn't even find a boxer fit to tie the shoes of an upstart Blackpool pugilist.

They had to settle for an Oriental practitioner but God help them if they used the same fighting style of the ill-repute Kowloon gangsters. Searching high and low, the family had found an Okinawan karate sensei that had just arrived in the city that needed work and housing, which they could easily provide. The Japanese were generally reputed to be the most superior in matters of war among the Asian races his parents reasoned and though they could hardly communicate, the teacher-student pair clicked instantly through a mutual admiration of kicks and grapples. He started slow as a tortoise but was just as determined as the one in Aesop's fables. The next few years showed how much of a prodigy Richard truly was, exceeding in most of the metrics expected of him. He wasn't limited to drills and dummies either as he would sneak out during certain nights to get in street brawls that saw his diplomatic immunity put in to good use. While his parents disapproved, this was clearly all the fault of that damned Easterner!

For Richard though, it was basically a boyhood fantasy come true - fighting bad guys at night and being a bourgeoisie dandy by day. This idyllic dream, however, would be abruptly interrupted by the horrors of war as the Marco Polo bridge incident in the north east of China saw the Middle Kingdom be attacked by the belligerent Empire of the Rising Sun. Days after his 15th birthday, the Canton Operation had successfully given the invading Imperial soldiers a base in Guangzhou, which caused a major wave of refugees to flee to Hong Kong. Though the war was limited to China and Japan at this time, everyone could see the writing on the wall and braced themselves for the worst. Stubbornly, Richard's family had decided to stay in the city to protect their assets but they could no longer harbor the sensei that Richard had come to consider family. Hastily expelled, the Okinawan karate sensei had vanished into the night without a trace. Bitterness and anger had gripped the young Dragon's heart though he could not explain exactly why - was it because he could not save his sensei from expulsion or because he could but did nothing?

Three years later on Christmas day, Hong Kong had fallen to the Japanese Imperial Army. However, the occupying garrison soon found that the city would not be easily subjugated. 

[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/jDuhxwi.jpg[/img][/center]

Richard had become part of an underground resistance cell that slipped into the sullied streets' shadows, hid in hollow house walls, and concealed their crews in the crevices of Canton's coves. His own reputation grew as the resistance grew bolder. Richard had dug deep into the psyche of the invaders with his brutal ambush methods which left his targets hacked to bloody bits and viscera. They began to call him a monster, a demon but his favourite was [i]byakko[/i] - the White Tiger. 

Yet, instead of giving in to fear, the Japanese occupiers simply got angrier as the attacks continued. Civilians would be publicly executed and displayed in market squares every time after the resistance struck, usually fifty for every one soldier killed. This arms race of bloodshed was horrifying but both sides stuck to their ideals - with the average citizen not being able to do anything but suffer. With no end to the brutality in sight, Richard grew weary of the extreme approaches he had initially taken and resolved to lead his small faction of fighters among the cell to more subtle subterfuge such as stealing supplies and damaging infrastructure so that retaliatory killings would be less common. Though he could not do much, what he did was done with careful precision. 

Four years of senseless death would pass before peace would grace the land. Yet, it is always darkest before the dawn. Frustrated by the perceived betrayal by their civil government's surrender, the vengeful garrison soldiers took it upon themselves to do one last massacre before their surrender treaty would take effect. Three hundred villagers had been captured and taken to the Silver Mine district of Lantau island in order to be tortured and executed. Word quickly reached the resistance's ears; it was a race to rescue the soul of Hong Kong. While he himself was still adverse to direct conflict, all of Richard's comrades had thrown caution to the wind and supported a direct attack. 

On a gamble, Richard had devised a plan to kidnap the commander of the garrison from his headquarters in order to force the soldiers to stand down. Well, it wasn't a plan per se as it was an impulse that he followed on a whim. To his surprise security at the headquarters was quite light due to their imminent defeat or, worse, because those soldiers were already at Lantau. Met with little resistance, Richard was quick to knockout the guards who had remained behind and hogtie the commander with the same ease as one would have when wrapping a bow around a present. As he carried him to a fishing boat in the nearby Victoria Harbor, the commander simply told him it was too late. Richard refuted, telling him that there was no way they could kill hundreds of villagers in a few hours. 

[center][quote]"Not too late for death. Too late to reason."[/quote][/center]

Those words stay with Richard even to this day. The cold splashes of water on his hands every time he rowed the oars, the scent of fish guts tucked away in the corners of the dingy dinghy, and the racing beat of his heart. All of these he can never forget. 

As he landed in Lantau's shores, a wildfire illuminated the nearby underbrush. What little light was on the island was enough to show that it truly was a massacre. Men, women, children... And his comrades and the enemy soldiers. Much to his surprise a shadowy figure with long hair had emerged from the direction of the flames, followed by a few men that he recognized as part of the resistance cell and finally around twenty civilians. That figure was undoubtedly that of their leader - the greatest fighter among their ranks - and that figure now beckoned Richard to hand over the garrison commander.
 
He recalls objecting to do so on that night many moons ago. He doubts his words were understood but what followed was clear to anyone as their leader got into a fighting stance. Initially reluctant to defend the man that was his enemy, Dragon was caught offguard as his opponent rushed him and knocked him down with a single open palm strike to his chest. Before he knew it, Richard would be knocked out cold as a follow-up foot stomp landed on his face.

The next time he woke up, Richard had found himself in a makeshift hospital staffed by Commonwealth soldiers. He was informed that the locals had brought his unconscious body from a drifting fishing boat out on the harbour. A broken nose, bruised ribs, malnutrition, and a whole slew of minor lacerations had plagued his body. He would spend the next two weeks in the company of the British Navy's nurse corp before reuniting with his family. Though thinner and more wrinkled, his parents were indeed as spirited as they were before the war. Their home was bombed out by air raids along with some parts of the city but they were determined to rebuild.

US president Truman's announcement of the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki came as a surprise to Richard. The Japanese surely must have known that such a weapon was in development yet even in the face of total annihilation, his enemies still chose to fight to the death. Such fanaticism was the true revolutionary weapon developed in this war and there was no sealing it away. 

It was now late 1945. While peace had come to Hong Kong, the Chinese civil war raged on across the border as the remnants of the Communist PLA and the Nationalist KMT battle for the future of the Middle Kingdom. A letter arrives at the Dragon estate addressed to Richard. It simply reads "Nanda Parbat" along with a set of coordinates. The letter is signed by one O-Sensei. Like his master before him, Richard Dragon disappears into the night without a trace.

It was now late 1952. The Land of the Azure Hills is bathed crimson as United Nations and Comintern forces clash in the 38th parallel for the future of the Hermit Kingdom. A Douglas C47 has landed with a batch of Commonwealth special forces on the tarmac of Daegu Gukje Gonghang military airport. Among them is a man with a fiery mane as majestic as that of the mythical phoenix's feathers. No visible rank could be seen on his person though a piece of vibrant jade could be seen hanging next to his dog tag. Immediately, he would be shipped to the front and placed under the command of Lieutenant Edmund Dorrance and his artillery corp. While his marital prowess was on limited display due to peace talks already underway, the man known as Dragon had impressed many soldiers from his first to last day. Just like the amazing Captain America before him, Dragon was quick to jump into danger and subdue his enemies with near superhuman reflexes. While he was merely one of many heroes in the front, wartime journalists attended many of his fighting exhibitions and his peers expressed to the press how amazed they were by his swiftness and skill. 

A ready made celebrity by the time the war had ended, Richard Dragon entered the public consciousness as an inspiring master of the martial arts and struck big as he entered into the British and American film industries as the go to actor for the wise eastern teacher trope. With his new found fame Richard Dragon had become not only a war hero but also a sought after trainer to all those interested in - and could afford - his skills. Oddly enough, wherever the Dragon goes gangsters always seem to turn themselves in to the local police. Often with blackeyes and bruises, sometimes handcuffed to a street lamp outside the station. 

As the 50s ended, he would steadily lose relevance in the public consciousness but this did not stop his true purpose. Richard Dragon's public persona was merely a cover for his activities as a largely autonomous intelligence agent under an MI6 and Republic of China joint-sponsored organization based out of Hong Kong  - The Guomindang Organization for Order and Defense. Now, just as before, he travels the globe as an agent of Scotland Yard in their struggle against the changing tide of the times. 

[hr]

[center][youtube]https://youtu.be/u2cMBZlsQlY[/youtube][/center]
[center][url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYjo__4COIo&list=PLyUFrVPNK6-j5yA2GWJj-7a-PbUv7O1_q&index=1]Songs Of The Dragon[/url][/center]

A new take on Richard Dragon that hopefully does him more justice than the New 52, this version of the character sees a young Hong Kong Briton who grew up in the tough streets of Kowloon bring his mastery of martial arts to the global stage. Richard Dragon stories are few and far between but with a late 60s setting, I intend to create new ones that are themed around the issues of decolonization and proxy wars but flaired with elements of martial arts and spy thrillers.[/color]

[h3]Key Notes[/h3][hr]
[color=999999][hider=Rough Timeline][b]1923[/b]
[list][*]Richard Dragon is born to a British family living in the colony of Hong Kong[/list]
[b]1935[/b]
[list][*]Richard's parents hire an Okinawan karate instructor to teach him self-defense.[/list]
[b]1941[/b]
[list][*]The Japanese invade Hong Kong. Richard becomes part of the underground resistance against the invaders.[/list]
[b]1945[/b]
[list][*]The war in the Pacific is over. Richard disappears without a trace from public life.[/list]
[b]1952[/b]
[list][*]Richard re-emerges as a special operations officer for the Commonwealth forces operating in Korea. Becomes an overnight celebrity due to his amazing unarmed martial skill and bravery during the war.[/list]
[b]1959[/b]
[list][*]An autobiographical movie about Richard Dragon titled "Seoul Dragon" premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, starring himself. Gaining moderate success, it is criticized for its wild depictions of Dragon's feats during the Korean War. Dragon claims that they actually had to tone down what had actually happened in the war.[/list]
[b]Present Day[/b]
[list][*]Experiencing a resurgence in popularity due to cultural adjacency with the rock and roll British Invasion, Richard begins a touring circuit for his martial arts exhibitions as a cover to bust up suspected triad cells all over the continental US. [/list][/hider]

[hider=Rogues Gallery][b][url=https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Bak_Mei_(New_Earth)]Bak Mei The Priest[/url][/b] - Mythical leader of a martial arts cult who may not even exist. Suspected of triggering instability across Asia, causing extreme paranoia in the CCP and newly independent nations' leadership.

[b][url=https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Guano_Cravat_(Earth-One)]Guano Cravat[/url][/b] - A gangster who's branched out into the international arms exporting business. Rumour has it that he has links to Communist cells in Asia and South America.


[b][url=https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Swiss_(Earth-One)]The Swiss[/url][/b] - An enigmatic individual who was working for Guano Cravat. Actively pursued by Lady Shiva. 

[b]The Kowloon Triad[/b] - an international Hong Kong gangster outfit operating out of the Walled City in Hong Kong and other enclaves around the world. While relatively unimportant in the grand scheme of things, their headquarters' geographical position being close to the Communist border is a possible flash point for international nuclear conflict.[/hider]

[hider=Supporting Cast][b][url=https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Barney_Ling_(Earth-One)]Barney Ling[/url]:[/b] A Chinese-born British businessman who owns shipping lines in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Secretly, Barney is an MI6 handler for espionage operatives in the Pacific theatre. Richard usually receives directives from Barney either through obscured documents or protected communication lines. 

[b][url=https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Sandra_Wu-San_(New_Earth)]Lady Shiva[/url]:[/b] The leader of the Hong Kong resistance during the Japanese occupation. The only fighter to have soundly defeated Richard. 

[b][url=https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Edmund_Dorrance_(Prime_Earth)]Sir Edmund Dorrance[/url]:[/b] A semi-retired English special forces commando who had trained martial arts under Richard during and after the Korean War. While Edmund was technically once his commanding officer, they enjoy a relaxed relationship now that he believes Richard is no longer actively serving. While Edmund is unaware that Richard works as a spy for MI6, he is still eager to share military intelligence and sell military surplus equipment to him when he can.[/hider]
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[h3]References / Sample Post[/h3][hr]
For your consideration, DCU:Genesis - Justice For All's Animal Man

[indent][indent]
[i][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5161574]#1.01: Meat and Greet[/url][/i]
[i][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5166122]#1.02: The Crimson Room[/url][/i]
[i][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5169395]#1.03: Skullduggery[/url][/i]
[/indent][/indent]