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[color=silver][i]2012, the year of flame. The geopolitical chess matches and realpolitik that took center stage during the era of the Iron Curtain gave way to the explosive violence of the Second World War. North Korea's leader, Tae Jeong-Mun, emboldened by pride and made desperate by China's move away from their alliance made a drastic decision. Tokyo was nuked in a first strike that precipitated a three year ground war, dug in North Korean forces pushed back from the DMZ to the border with China by NATO troops along with soldiers from partnered nations. When the war ended Korea had been reunified and was beginning the process of rebuilding.

Japan would attempt to do the same. Now having suffered three nuclear attacks in its history the nation soldiered on as best it could. Nearly half of Tokyo had been rendered uninhabitable or outright destroyed by the attack. The cleanup process was fueled by an economic boom as the cybernetics industry went from catering only to elites looking for the ultimate accessory to providing models for a range of budgets. Construction crews equipped with strength-enhancing limb braces built massive glass spires to house the hordes of salarymen and executives attracted to the city like pigs to a trough. Foreign talent in finance, cybernetics and all branches of industry came to get in on the ground floor, followed by masses of people willing to serve as the labor needed for growth in return for better opportunities than they had back home. Ground zero of the second Japanese economic miracle was NeoTokyo, a neon-drenched city of dreams representing the hopes of a nation and the world.

But with every batch of entrepreneurs taking advantage of a changing situation comes those seeking to profit in less legal but perhaps equally as moral ways. In 2011 National Diet was debating the introduction a number of laws aimed at curtailing the Yakuza by cracking down on their business partners and freezing some of their assets. The question of whether or not this was an effective strategy would go unanswered when war broke out. With the public eye squarely drawn away from their crimes the families were able to sink their claws in deeper into society, making payoffs to the right politicians so that the right companies got the contracts for the rebuilding of Tokyo. Foreign gangs became more prominent as well, groups as diverse as the Russian mob to the 14k and Sun Yee On triads encroaching on the edges of Yakuza territory.

As NeoTokyo became the city of the future with all its slick nightlife and seedy dealings Japan slid back into the twin traps of jingoism and xenophobia. The "Korean attack" of 2012 and the influx of outsiders saw a dramatic rise in right-wing nationalism and the striking of Article 9 from the Japanese Constitution. With the No War clause removed the Japan Self-Defense Forces begin to build up their strength following the lead of the newly formed [b][url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/6/6f/Jinrai.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/128?cb=20120621180826&path-prefix=en][color=orange]Jinrai[/color][/url][/b]. Formed as an elite wing in charge of special operations and espionage the Jinrai was composed of men and women dedicated to extending Japan's reach through any means possible. Its growth was rapid and by 2025 it was the guiding light for the entirety of the JSDF.

All that power came with dreams of forging a new identity for Japan. One where instead of sitting on the sidelines until war came to its shores it would flex its muscles on the global stage take part in the constant power struggles. The Jinrai threw its hat into the ring in an attempt to gain control of the government through the political process, taking part in an extremely contentious election wracked by infighting on the right, left and center. There were allegations of corruption, political violence, known gangsters seen in meetings with members of election committees. When the dust cleared the new Prime Minister was the Moderate Party championed [url=https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/cf_images/20080809/3208LD2.jpg]Konno Mashai[/url], elected less by virtue of merit than  the other main parties simply being split by inter-party squabbles.

What resulted was a time of bitter political strife. The Jinrai attempted to keep forging ahead but quickly came into conflict with the Mashai government, Jinrai-aligned councilors and representatives engaging in harsh back-and-forth debates with their Moderate counterparts. Meanwhile citizens were made disenfranchised by the rapidly growth gap between themselves and the wealthy not to mention the flood of drugs and human trafficking brought by the rising Yakuza clans and those of their foreign rivals who were attempting to gain a foothold. Some of these people formed supposed "self-defense societies", cells of vigilantes armed with weapons supplied by the booming black market and often with having military or police experience. Political groups, terrorist organizations, agitators from outside governments and fringe religious movements sprouted up and took to violence to achieve their goals, fighting amongst themselves and getting civilians caught in the crossfire.

The situation came to a head in 2030 when the Jinrai attempted a coup, striking at the Prime Minister's residence in an attempt to behead the snake while nationalist-aligned forces of the JSDF attacked those loyal to the government. The first strike came close to succeeding but was fought off in the end, the Jinrai melting into the shadows to continue the civil war in the dark. Faced with an enemy consisting of highly driven specialists Prime Minister Mashai ordered the creation of a special force to investigate and eliminate all threats to Japan's sovereignty, be they internal or external. 

The National Security Force, better known as the [b][url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/half-life/images/7/74/NsfSymbol.svg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/180?cb=20100417142621&path-prefix=en][color=0E70BC]NSF[/color][/url][/b], served as an active service replacement for the largely advisory National Police Agency, deploying agents in cities across Japan with the majority stationed in NeoTokyo. But there was a problem. With most of JDSF's special forces and intelligence services having defected to the Jinrai along with many police and regular army personnel Japan's defense forces were suffering from a lack of highly qualified agents. Attempting to wage war on the Jinrai as well as the entirety of the Yakuza while trying to suppress each and every gang and cult that popped up would see the NSF lose by way of being pulled in a thousand different directions.

The Prime Minister felt that some groups could be reasoned with, even convinced to cooperate with the government in order to further their own aims. Groups like the Yamaguchi-gumi, the largest of the Yakuza families and the one more concerned with retuning to the old way of doing things than attempting to ride the Jinrai's lightning, or the multinational Deft Defense corporation with its literal corporate warriors and a vested interest in keeping its Japanese branch in good standing. Intelligence operatives from other countries who remembered the outcome of a far-right aligned Japan could be called in as well, some there simply off the books and others technically gone rogue. Mashai called in favors owed from all walks of corporate, civilian, military and criminal life and sat down with the movers and shakers of Japan and beyond to forge a deal with a multitude of devils. 

The end result was that while the NSF's agents would serve in the public eye as defenders of the Constitution, brave officers detaining those who would attempt to violate the law by day, it would also engage in operations too sensitive and distasteful to ever reach the public eye. Assassination, illegal operations in foreign jurisdictions, routine violation of civil rights and the rule of law, all of these would be undertaken by a wing known as the [b][color=darkred]Special Service[/color][/b] that answered directly to the Prime Minister, Mashai's own personnel Jinrai of sorts.

It is now 2032, two years since the Jinrai's attempted coup. The NSF and the Jinrai are locked in stalemate while the dozens of minor groups of interest go about their business. There is talk in the Diet of removing the four year term limit so that the current government can man the helm until the conflict is over and the Special Service takes part in missions backed by Yakuza ground intel, foreign supplied SIGNINT and funded by corporate blood money. Its ranks include decorated officers of the JDSF and NeoTokyo police, gangland assassins and street samurai with matching records of violence and silence, hotshot deckers that could be enticed or threatened into switching their sights from bank mainframes to enemy communications networks and steely eyed agents that served in a dozen corporate wars. Time will tell if this unholy alliance will be enough to save a nation at risk of being consumed by this brave new world.[/i][/color]
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Howdy folks, and welcome to NeoTokyo Revive! This is a reboot/reimagining of an RP that [LetMeDoStuff] was running a while ago based off the NeoTokyo mod for Half-Life 2 and is open to previous players and newcomers alike. Any knowledge of the mod or the previous iteration of the RP is totally unnecessary as this version will have some major changes in story and setting.

First and foremost, this RP is set in the early days of the cyberpunk era. Advanced cybernetics and rudimentary AI are fairly common but not totally ubiquitous, megacorporations have yet to totally displace governmental law and society isn't quite at the point of implosion. Technology is like what was envisioned in the early 80s and 90s, advanced yet clunky and cumbersome. The only people accessing the Net on the go are those with the money to buy expensive portable cyberdecks or the know-how to make their own.  
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