The Tsang

The Tsang were a powerful Triad family from Hong Kong who were notorious for their cruel methods of torture and xenophobic views of non-Han natives, and often fought against the British rule of Hong Kong for decades. They were split into various factions within the Triads and claimed to be currently the leaders of every faction across the world with the family pooling vast recourses, money and properties. Many Tsang claim they *"are* the Triads" and part of the Tiandihui.

The Tsang were particularly known to be aware of the magic community, and despite some members being magi, were abhorrently against magic and general superhero culture including neohumans, cybrids and alts, with many having particularly extreme religious views and links to Redemption, many Tsang were moreso Catholic and Christian than Buddhist and may have been enemies of the House of Seasons; as such the Tsang were known to hunt, steal and collect relics that may have magic potential, not for their use, but to keep them out of the hands of magic users or even try to destroy them, although the latter is usually easier said than done; though often they are kept intact due to their intrinsically priceless nature.

### **History**

The Tsang are a powerful crime family dating back several centuries, although the exact time when the family became woven with their Triad affiliation is uncertain, but have been one of the top and most controlling Triad members for a long time, rivalled only by other families within the Triads, specifically the Shěn, who they had a close relationship with as many Shěn and Tsang married into each other's families in the past.

It was known that during the Vietnam War the Tsang profited from it's spoils with the Shěn, but feuded with them when neohuman Shěn Gan took various assets for himself from the Tsang in 1959. When the Tsang blamed the Shěn, and accused them of heresy, using an "immoral creature" to dishonour their relationship and steal from their allies who saw eachother as family in many ways, but the Shěn claimed he was acting of his own accord and working for Redstar, along with many other defectors of each family, but the Tsang would not believe them.

While the Tsang have always had an negative reaction of magi over the centuries, claiming themselves "faith purists", since Vietnam the Tsang have seen superhumans of any kind in such a bad light that actively try to hunt them down when they can, seeing them as "Yaoguai" and something negative, forming alliances with religious crusaders, particularly the Catholic extremists who later became the Redemption cult.

In 1980's and 90's they were behind various targeted attacks on westerners and western organisations in Hong Kong, selling weapons, drugs and carrying out assassinations if need be, although they welcomed faith-based organisations as purity movements while they also attained businesses and organisations across the city, eventually becoming the most powerful crime entities in the city to the point where every aspect of crime in Hong Kong was eventually, in some form, part of a Tsang deal. Their name became synonymous with crime and other unrelated families called Tsang were sometimes used as scapegoats.

When the Japanese Aoi family brought down the SHADO organisation, of which the Shěn were a leading part of and which the Tsang disagreed with, the Shěn lost their sway in the criminal underground of China and the Tsang began dominating the Triad markets with a wild fury and by the 2000's became the most powerful and richest crime family in China.

### **The Shěn**

The Shěn and Tsang have always had a tight and complex relationship, likely for more years than are on record, and both share common ancestry and marriage traditions that have been the saviour of each family's seats of power and honour for centuries, the Shěn, however have always been several steps ahead, and at times looked down on their Tsang family members, often giving priority and more opportunities and even freebies to those who bear the Shěn name.

But when the rifts widened during the Vietnam War the families grew apart like never before and the Tsang became contempt and vengeful and when the opportunity to move against the Shěn after SHADO was taken down, something they'd seemingly been planning for years, the Tsang became the ruling family within the Triad dynasties.

### **The Yakuza**

All Triad families seem to have have a deadly rivalry with clans of the Yakuza, while in the past there have been coalitions and one-off deals where both have benefited from some kind of activity without the need to resort to violence, particularly in overseas territory where multiple gangs run areas of cities, protection rackets and street feuds can get out of hand, and despite these alliances, codes of honour and respect can be forgone under the greater loyalty to their group.

The Tsang were known to be particularly unfriendly towards various Yakuza clans regardless, they had very little interest in working with them unless they knew they'd get a better deal, many Tsang would happily betray any deals made for the benefit of their family and making the Triads look stronger.

They and the Kamakiri Clan often fought for territory in New York and in Miami, the Aoi family, though not officially Yakuza, did work for them, and the Tsang owned a Chinese restaurant, the Golden Flame, near Club Blue that the local Tojo Clan wanted off their block.

### **Against Supersamurai**

In 2015 the Tsang were thought to have brought Redemption to Japan for a series of deals and influence, and because of their link with the growing Imperia Dominus group, Kōdona Fuan to Kyūjo were tasked with finding and eliminating the Tsang operations in Tokyo, finding several warehouses of illegal weapons shipments, drugs and exports of advanced technology stolen from Jigoku Arms.

### **Organisation and Factions**

Many older Tsang were staunch and stoic traditionalists known for their old-fashioned views, some of them often xenophobic towards non-Asian or even specifically non-Han Chinese, but younger members of the family were more concerned with a global effort, that they admitted this fear of the world outside of China was the only thing preventing them from excelling past their Shěn as rivals; although the older family leaders would often sight long-standing honour and respect, despite past betrayals, as a reflection on their honour then the Shěn.

Like any member of the Triads the Tsang exist within both major types of the organisation: dark forces (loosely-organized groups) and black societies (more-mature criminal organizations). Two features which distinguish a black society from a dark force are the ability to achieve illegal control over local markets, and receiving police protection. The Hong Kong Triad refers to traditional criminal organizations operating in (or originating from) Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and south-east Asian countries and regions, while organized-crime groups in mainland China are known as "mainland Chinese criminal groups" and it was the Tsang's mainland organisation that led the Triads within China and Hong Kong and the Shěn's work overseas that united these efforts.

In the early 1980's the Shěn became part of a global secret society and mysterious crime coalition that existed above the even Triads known as SHADO, with Shěn He being the "S" in the acronym, the Tsang despised the idea of a permanent coalition with other mafia and disrespectful to the idea of the Triad in the first place, but when Sun was killed and the SHADO society seemingly disabled, many Shěn went into hiding and the Tsang came to dominate the Triad hierarchy.

Eventually, out of necessity for sustaining their power, the Tsang did branch out with the rest of their brethren within the Triad post-2001, and did so quite well, forming coalitions and sub-groups of the Triads in other nations.

#### **Italiad**

The "Italiads" or "Triad Italia" were a faction of the Triads who were created by the Tsang and parts of the Alessi family, who were also against their American brethren, notably Tony Alessi joining SHADO, to the point where lives were taken should anyone speak up about it. The Cosa Nostra, who owned a signifigent percentage of the Italian-American and Sicilian crime families under their sway, were major enemies of the Italiads who clamed the Alessi sold their souls to the Chinese. The Italiads were often religious and a strong link to Redemption was noted, which brought a Redemption chapter to Hong Kong in 2008 under the guise of a catholic missionary known as the Hong Kong Catholic Aid Mission, but was mostly a front led by notorious and powerful lady of crime Jeni Tsang known as "the Zǔmǔ" (lit. "the grandmother") who was a supporter of Redemption herself and had relatives in both Italy and China.

Despite being a strong catholic and Redemption member, Jeni was actually a tune-capable magi, but who had mostly repressed her connection to magic to appease her beliefs, but when pushed does delve into what little she learned including pyromancy and illusion casting and various mind-altering potions and spells, using an home-made war fan imbued with magical markings as a focus. In 2016 she used these skills to capture Aurora in Italy and turn her against her friends after she began investigating Redemption for the independent newspaper Britannica and falsely claim that neohumans attacked her.

When Volt got word he and Robin fought her while Rob eventually managed to snap her out of her trance; during which time Jeni escaped. When Volt tracked her, she was forced to use her magic against him, outing her to Redemption and her own family, who banished her and disconnected from the Italiads, using them as a distraction.

The event made a worldwide headline for Britannica.

#### **Tsangoz**

Also known as "Sandfire", they were Australian Tsang faction derived from "Tsang Oz", they are very secretive and claim to be fighting against the Yakuza Yamaguchi-gumi family, and several small towns in the outback were thought to be under Tsangoz occupation for the development of new forms of drugs and Protepogen, and a supposed biological weapon known as "Project Black December" and were regular enemies of Ace and Trace. They used several superhuman assets to secure their territories, but didn't like their presence, seeing them as little more than tools.