Bureau 17

Comments

• bulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User

  June 2016 edited June 2016

  The PnP breakdown of Bureau 17 takes up a chapter in the Monster Island source book. While that book was written before Cryptic Studios had made its final design choices for the zone, and so contains several differences from what appears in the MMO, there's no evidence to date that the description of the Bureau would differ substantially between the two games.
  
  Per the source book, Bureau 17 (named for obscure bureaucratic reasons) was started by the Japanese government in the late 1940s, to deal with the paranormal fallout from the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Over the decades it fought mutant people and animals, restless ghosts and other mystic monsters, supervillains, and aliens. After the defeat of the first Qularr invasion in 1965, and the United Nations quarantine of Monster Island, Bureau 17 was given primary oversight of the island and the research into the surviving monsters and Qularr technology.
  
  But by the mid-1970s the organization was being stretched to its limits, so it was split into three groups with separate responsibilities. Bureau 17 remained responsible for Monster Island and giant monsters generally, as well as any alien threats. Bureau 18 was created specifically to deal with supervillains and related menaces. Often called "Japan's UNTIL," it's the largest and most heavily armed of the three organizations. The last group, Bureau 19, is colloquially known as "the Occult Police," because it deals with magical and supernatural dangers. Its agents are made up more of scholars than weapon-toting field operatives. Obviously there's sometimes overlap in the groups' responsibilities, occasionally leading to resentment and rivalry; but for the most part the three cooperate well.
  
  Bureau 17 experienced a severe corruption scandal in 1994, which included another villain-directed rampage by the Monster Island monsters. In its wake the Bureau was reorganized and streamlined. Today it's officially a military unit -- a brigade of the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force -- but in practice it acts more like a law-enforcement agency. Its leader holds the rank of Colonel in the JGSDF, but is referred to as "Commander." As of 2008 the commander was Ishimaki Yoshihisa, called "Yoshi" by most of his colleagues. Below him are six Lieutenant Commanders (with the military rank of Major): one for each of the Japanese islands, one for Monster Island, and one in charge of specialized units as well as research and development. The remaining ranks, in descending order, are Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant, and Agent.
  
  (The organization of the other Bureaus isn't specified, but it would seem reasonable to utilize the pattern above for all of them.)
  
  Bureau 17 employs a variety of formidable "supertech" weapons, vehicles, and robots, particularly to keep the Monster Island creatures under control. The most heavily-armed and -equipped unit in the organization is Rapid Response Force Sakura, made up of elite agents with training equivalent to military special forces.
  
  There are no "superhuman assets" mentioned, but some of the group's tech verges into that category, not to mention their robots. But there's also nothing to say they couldn't employ some, particularly since Champions Japan's society is very pro-superhero. But Monster Island was set up primarily for heroes with contacts in B17 or UNTIL to be drawn there to help against the various threats to the island, or from it.

  Post edited by bulgarex on June 2016

  0
• bulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User

  June 2016 edited June 2016

  Actually, I have to amend that last above. The Japanese scientist-hero known as Gadget Boy has been spending a lot of time on Monster Island, helping Bureau 17 in its research and in containing the various threats on the island. He's not an employee of B17, active there more out of scientific interest and security concerns.

  0
• ninjapiff Posts: 283 Arc User

  June 2016

  For the sake of nitpicking (something I love to do), I want to point out that UNTIL is the "United Nations Tribunal on International Law" and therefore basically world-wide (or at least spans across all countries that belong to the UN). I don't actually know which countries aren't and are in the UN in the Champions Universe, but I'd say Bureau 18 and the like are more similar to PRIMUS than UNTIL.
  
  If I remember correctly, the reason you fight the Bureau 17 robots in Monster Island was because there were corrupted/hacked by someone, though I forget who. They're one of the enemy groups I kinda feel bad about senselessly slaughtering, though I suppose it's unknown if the Bureau 17 robots really had any sort of sentience before they were controlled by the evildoer. Really do feel sorry for the mind-controlled prison guards I've beaten up, though.

  It makes sense, if you don't think about it.
  __________________________________________________
  Most often Slice N Dice@zap-the-eradicator in-game.

  0
• bulgarex Posts: 2,310 Arc User

  June 2016

  As long as we're nit-picking, I think I'll pick a few nits of my own. The description of Bureau 18 as "Japan's UNTIL" is from the Monster Island source book; but if you'll pardon my saying so, your observation suggests a bias toward an American perspective. It's doubtful many CU Japanese know or care about PRIMUS, since it has nothing to do with them. But Japan is one of the signatories to the Tribunal Treaty, and UNTIL is very active there -- in fact UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom p. 49 notes that several Japanese anime are based on UNTIL. So that would be the organization they would naturally compare Bureau 18 to.
  
  Since UNTIL and PRIMUS perform many of the same functions, but UNTIL is older, bigger, and covers a much wider area, PRIMUS could be legitimately described as "America's UNTIL."
  
  The B 17 security robots as described in the PnP book are pre-programmed, definitely not sapient. They're just expendable firepower.

  0