The Book Of Water/Groups
The Flying Tiger Security Company is a family-owned business operating in the River Province. Specializing in the transport of people and goods through highly dangerous stretches of wilderness in record time at affordable cost, the company has made a name for itself throughout the Scavenger Lands. Flying Tiger has little compunctions about the sorts of jobs they will take, though they prefer to leave the transfer of drugs and slaves to the Guild (as does the Guild itself). They have been known to transfer dangerous criminals, condemned rebels and cultists, enormous sums of Jade and powerful 1st age Artifacts, and have rarely lost (or failed to recover) their haul. The strong spirit power and thaumaturgy of the corporation means that it dares to take shortcuts through Wyld Zones and Shadowlands, and therefore, has few rivals when it comes to escorting something safely and on time.
History: Flying Tiger was founded decades ago by the five Fan brothers. Growing up in the Marukani territories, they all learned to ride almost before they could walk. The eldest of the siblings, Grey Fan, saw more prospects in their herds of well-bred horses than simply breeding and selling them, and convinced his younger brothers to pool their resources with him in a business venture. They began by doing favors for local folk, establishing a reputation for riding to and fro through the kingdom, and agreeing to take people and things in exchange for basic favors. Before long, people began to expect their regular rides, and didn't object too much when they began charging for them.
It was a natural step to expand the business beyond the Marukani lands, and Grey did so by sending three of his brothers out to set up subsidiary outposts from which they could recruit workers and publicize the family business. Even mindful of trouble, they were always careful to avoid attracting the ire of the Guild by keeping their heads down and offering Guildsmen generous discounts. Before long, business was booming.
It was around this prosperous time, that the brothers had an adventure that set the course of the family's future. They accepted a commission from a powerful spirit called the Sultana of Shale to escort her daughters to their betrothed. Along the way, amid many close calls and narrow escapes, love bloomed between the brothers and their charges. With the girls' help, they successfully slew the groom at the wedding, and made off with the women themselves. Due to the complex entanglements of the spirit courts involved (who really didn't want the match to go forward anyway, as it would have given the Sultana far too much influence), they were allowed to wed, which gained them the lasting enmity of the Sultana. From these unions, a strong strain of spirit blood entered into the Fan family's bloodline, which continues to breed true to this day...
Grey eventually retired, passing on stewardship of the family business to his son, Mica. As fairly powerful God-Blooded, Mica and his cousins were extraordinarily successful in dealing with threats both mundane and supernatural, including negotiating treaties of passage among rapacious Fair Folk, outrunning Wyld barbarians and dealing with bored and greedy spirits that seek to waylay travelers. Bandits and brigands soon learned to give them a wide berth, and business was more profitable than ever. Only the never-ceasing schemes of Mica's grandmother continued to give the family major setbacks and threaten all that they had gained...
Today, the Flying Tiger Security Company is still doing well. Mica still runs the company with a steady hand and eye from the family compound in the Marukani highlands, occasionally consulting his aged father for some bit of advice. The Time of Tumult concerns him, even as it offers incredible chances for prosperity, but his real concern is internal. Mica has kept a close eye on the next generation of Fans to see who might be worthy to choose as successor, but so far none measure up. They are either all good and reliable workers, but without the spark of ingeniuity or imagination, or far too wild and rambunctious to trust with much responsibility. This problem vexes him more than the Guild or the return of the Exalted...
Flying Tiger Organization: The uppermost rank of the family business are the five founding brothers and their spirit wives, with Grey in charge, though nominally retired. Mica runs things openly, with the aid of his 3 siblings and 11 cousins. The generation below this numbers about 25, most young adults or teens, none married as yet. The Fan family is extended throughout the Confederation of Rivers, and only gathers together every five years, both to celebrate and to plan future business. The youngest members are now of age to accept more responsibility in running the Flying Tiger outposts, a prospect which quietly worries Mica.
Flying Tiger also employs many not related to the family, in positions ranging from file clerks to craftsmen to bodyguards to savants, tho most of the truly important positions are given to family members, either related by blood or marriage. Most of these people are ordinary mortals, tho Heroic Mortals and God-Blooded are always given a good chance to prove themselves and many have married into the family based on exceptional performance in the line of duty.
Members of the Fan family are likely to have the following Traits: God-Body, Awakened Essence, various Elemental Powers (Earth), Backing (Flying Tiger), Inheritance 3, Patron (Thaumaturge version) 1-3, Experience 1-3
The Flying Tiger Organization as a whole has the following MeritsThe_Book_Of_Water/Flaws: Favor (5), Cache (5), Dynasty of Inheritance, Sire's Enmity (Sultana), Resources 5, Connections 5, Reputation 3, Artifact 5
