The millennium turned, and with it, society did too.

The shadow war of the sorcerers was dragged out into daylight when the Sessho-seki shattered 22 years ahead of schedule, bringing forth a host of evil spirits that rampaged through a peoples still feeling the effects of the Lost Decade. The Imperial Cabinet, a cabal of supernaturally-gifted samurai who had pledged loyalty to Emperor and Government, fought bitterly to contain this incident with their own strength, but ultimately, they were overwhelmed. As spiritual catastrophes cascaded over the nation, ancient lineages stepped out into the daylight and earned legitimacy in the eyes of the people for purifying their local territories. Within one year, the disaster that the government could not contain was handled by these families, and while the Imperial Cabinet was exhausted, the Lineages obtained public positions of power and influence.

But these were not good people.

With the truth of sorcery brought to light, there was no longer any need to observe old traditions of clandestine operations. Wars were waged in public streets, dissenting citizens cut down or cursed. Local police prefectures were ill-suited for dealing with wielders of the supernatural. The nation was fragmented in the wake of disaster, and battles were fought with neither honor nor humanity. Some sought control of the Dragon Veins, others sought control of Power Spots. Some assimilated the yakuza and pursued commerce and capital, others accepted subservient Lineages and accumulated unnatural materials for their aberrant rituals. Foreign mafias and triads joined the market, while the citizenry could only bear the burden of this new order in silence. The Imperial Family went into hiding, protected still by the Cabinet. The Government, after much negotiating and concession-making, could only ensure that the Lineages treated their territories with a semblance of civility and that they would submit to reviews and investigations by a new agency established for this very purpose.

And as for what that agency was?

Not all sorcerers belonged to a Lineage. Not all sorcerers even possessed proper sorcery, only an abundance of spirit energy. Bloodlines dilute, and are forgotten. Modernity dulls a sense of the supernatural, and the humdrum of daily life doesn't require any particular capacity for magic. Even if one catches a glimpse of a spirit, even if one were particularly fit or fortunate in their regular life, there was no way to learn how to use one's innate sorcerous talents without tutelage. There was no way to know, even, that it was an option.

Not, of course, until the demons paraded, the Lineages conquered, and the fabric of society changed as the secret of sorcery was laid out into the air. Those seeking to join their oppressors became the grunts and scapegoats of the Lineages, hoping that their own latent talents may allow them to rise and become truly a member of a Lineage. And for those who could not stomach the barbarity that had infected their society?

They joined the Hirasaka Agency instead.

Lead by a former member of the Imperial Cabinet, it is an agency meant to serve as watchdogs and investigators, snipping away at the most blatant cruelties and atrocities of the Lineages so that the peoples may believe still in some form of justice. After a two-year training period, elite squads of agents are formed and sent out across the nation, stationed at various prefectures to keep the peace and enact the justice of the government. But, of course, they are outmatched, outnumbered. Two years cannot stand up to a lifetime of study, and the moniker of 'elite squad' is just that, a name. Most squads end up losing at least one member after three months. 70% of squads are dissolved after four years. The more seriously you take your job, the more righteously you view your cause, the worse your chances are of surviving. At most, an elite squad of the Hirasaka Agency could be viewed as bonsai pruners. They snip and trim and cut, all to beautify a plant that was poisonous from the onset.

But you'd be the exception.

You'd have to believe that to be the case. You signed up, after all.

Azumato State claims the northernmost region of what used to be the Ibaraki prefecture, a mountainous territory that largely depends on imported agricultural goods from nearby states in order to sustain its populace. Due to its general inability to be self-sustaining beyond the fish that can be harvested off the coast, it would be considered undesirable, if not for the recent construction of the Koyama Dam, which provides water both for household usage as well as industry, of which neighbouring flatlands require much of. As such, Azumato State, as it currently is, only recently came to being after a bloody affair seven months prior, between the Un-Ga Han-Dan Ikka and the Tatsumori-Kai, where the former was forced to pledge fealty to the latter after the assassination of their then-clan head, Kanehira Nasu. The Tatsumori-Kai, of course, was only interested in Azumato State for its dam and its defensible position in the mountains. Thus, beyond leaving an elite detachment of sorcerers to ensure that the vassal-lineages did not consider revolt, they returned southwards to their throne of power in Mount Tsukuba.

As it stands, Azumato State is home to a four individual forces, most of which are subservient to varying degrees to the Tatsumori-Kai.

The Tatsumori-Kai, of course, are a regional powerhouse that can be traced back to a bloodline association with the legendary blacksmith, Sanjo Munechika. Though only a small detachment of the Tatsumori-Kai remained to oversee the comings and goings of the Azumato State, they are undoubtedly peerless swordsmen and sorcerers, possessing blades craft of consecrated steel. While the patriarch and heirs of the Tatsumori-Kai possess the Iron Quill Technique, this particular detachment of the Tatsumori-Kai are known to utilize the Vile Exchange Technique instead, a self-sacrificial curse that applies the same wound upon the caster's body onto their target. Despite such a dark nature, they abide strictly by the directives of the Patriarch in how Azumato State must be run.

The Un-Ga Han-Dan Ikka, on the other hand, had held Azumato State all the way from the start until their recent ousting by the Tatsumori-Kai. Well-respected by the local citizenry despite their roughshod nature, they were a motley gang of hooligans that had been drawn in by the charisma of their now-deceased clan head, Kanehira Nasu. Without his presence, various factions have popped up within the family, everyone having different ideas of how they should approach their new position beneath the Tatsumori-Kai. Some lash out at those that had supported the creation of the Koyama Dam. Others curry favour, trying to integrate into the Tatsumori-Kai even to the point of relinquishing the extensively gaudy outfits that once was the trademark of the Un-Ga Han-Dan. Without a unifying leader, they are no more than attack dogs let loose. But they are many. And they are hungry.

The Stone Blossom Orchard are the guard dogs of the Tatsumori-Kai. Cultivators of physical strength and mass, they trace their own origins back to the stable of the famed rikishi Raiden Tameemon, possessing a fine-tuned understanding of how one could amplify their physical capabilities with spirit energy. Their presence serves as the main form of deterrent within Azumato State, but they are also actively recruiting promising citizens to join them, all for the purpose of bolstering their forces to expand northwards, pushing into former Fukushima. Around Azumato State, they deal mostly in racketeering and smuggling, driving trucks to-and-fro. Little thought is given to the Un-Gan Han-Dan, who used to be the ones that profited off those two tasks less than a year ago.

The Tien Tao Meng are foreigners to Azumato State, having slipped in via fishing vessels to establish a foothold for the mainland triad that they represent, as well as simply viewing the current situation in Japan as an opportunity to gain crucial combat experience. Dressed in plainclothes, they pose as day laborers or administrative staff, even as they quietly make the moves to 'merge' with various businesses within Azumato State. But of course, they consider themselves to be legitimate businessmen, here to make peace and keep profits going, even if they need to execute some people along the way.

Little is understood of the specifics of sorcery. The supernatural is a nebulous, ambiguous thing, after all, with what knowledge that is obtained often ending up being gatekept by the Lineages that uncover them. What is understood, however, is that one cannot have 'flesh' without 'bones'.

That is, there is a baseline level of ability one needs to obtain before they are able to utilize whatever natural-born technique their blood affords them. Without that, even the scion of a powerful Lineage would be utterly incapable of utilizing the gifts that the fortune of their birth has granted them. Therefore, at the very least, every sorcerer in any Lineage is capable at least of superhuman feats of strength, speed, and endurance, and can magically reinforce held or worn objects to similar degrees of unnatural sharpness, lightness, and toughness. Alongside that, they would possess a technique too that enables them to affect reality in anomalous, often-destructive manners. Perhaps the remote detonation of previously-charged objects, perhaps the summoning of great and vile beasts, perhaps a further enchantment upon their bodies that clads them in various elements. Though some focus on 'bones' and others focus on 'flesh', any modern-day sorcerer affiliated with a Lineage would have at least five years, often more, to become a fully-rounded combatant.

The agents of the Hirasaka Agency do not have such luxuries. Two years is fundamentally a crash course, and only those who focus on refining their sorcery to the detriment of other professional skills may end up developing their techniques to a usable level before they are sent out to the field.

While most Lineages may have differing perspectives, the Hirasaka Agency's Sorcery Research Division has settled on a handful of 'facts' and 'best practices' regarding sorcery: