Division 1 Report, File 1001134286995.53.55
The Blue Nights Syndicate is NewEdo’s most infamous sex work cartel. Sex work is not illegal in the Empire but it is heavily regulated. The Blue Nights are known to operate on the fringes of legality, offering services and spectacles that may not fall into the parameters of standard societal expectations. Their employees can, of course, adhere to the conforming tastes of their clients, but the Blue Nights pride themselves on delivering experiences beyond the mandate of what is considered safe and normal by the Court of the Moon.
The Syndicate is made up of three independent entities: the Koen family, Clan Hunnim, and the gang known as the Unnaturals. Run, respectively, by Big Father Koen, Hunnim of Handakawa, and the being referred to as Oversee, these three organizations operate under a complicated set of turf- and service-based laterals that attempt to keep competition between them to a minimum. The Syndicate has maintained their peace for half a century.
A prime motivating factor in the unification of the Blue Nights families is the strength of the okiya network built by Usu Kiiro, Master of the Sunflower Garden. Kiiro has run NewEdo’s traditional pleasure industry for more than a hundred years out of her home base at the Sunflower Garden okiya in Ginbashi. The Sunflower Garden caters primarily to traditional tastes and norms but, more importantly, trains its graduates to be independent operators rather than employees of the house. Operator independence is seen as a risk to the profits and control of the Blue Nights Syndicate, and that contrasting business model has set the Syndicate and the Sunflower Garden at odds.
The Blue Nights run most of the northern half of the city, including Downtown, Kabuki (their home base), Shinjoko, and Akiba. Kiiro runs everything south of Glittertown, and her historical influence continues to hold sway in the estates of Kitoshi despite the Blue Nights’ best efforts to cut off her access to that old money enclave. In the Metropolitan Special Ward, the center of NewEdo, the conflicting influences of money, technology, change, and tradition have left it a neutral territory with an unspoken peace accord - one no doubt reinforced by the unsubtle implications of antagonizing the judicial powers of the city. But other than the delicate ceasefire in Metro, there is no peace between the Syndicate and the Sunflower Garden. Territorial and ideological competition between the two entities is active and unwavering.
That competition led, recently, to a showdown between Usu Kiiro herself, and the scion of the Koen family, Tommy “Fast Guns” Ko. With uncertain goals, Fast Guns had ventured into Ginbashi and was recorded antagonizing Sunflower Garden operators. The incident was not his first sortie into Kiiro’s turf. Kiiro responded quickly and arrived on scene, challenging Fast Guns to leave or duel. The Syndicate gangster is understood to have acknowledged the duel. Usu Kiiro decapitated Fast Guns on the street, in front of two dozen spectators. Kiiro was within her legal rights under the terms of a civil duel and no judicial action has or is expected to follow.
Tensins between the two groups have, unsurprisingly, been mounting.
