The Crystal Dragons

This organization represents the most technically affluent and expansionist clan of the Japanese Yakuza. While the rest of the Yakuza have integrated themselves so thoroughly into the Japanese business community that it's difficult to determine where the clans end and the corporations begin (and are content running their sectors of Asia's criminal economy), the Crystal Dragons aggressively make use of Variant technology in an effort to expand their sphere of influence outside of Japan. Their end goal is apparently a stake in criminal activity in all countries touching the Pacific Ocean. This may seen an excessive goal, but they have the technology and organization to make an excellent attempt at it.
    The group called the Crystal Dragons has an extensive history—at least if popular investigative reporting is to be believed: an 'expose' of their history and activities was published by Karin Cless, a reporter for the LA times, in early 1981. Since the crystal Dragons took no apparent action against Mrs. Cless, the veracity of the report is questionable. If her theories are to be believed, the Crystal Dragons started as the agents of Sa Hud, the legendary Asian crime lord. Sa Hud claimed that he was immortal, and had developed his organization over the centuries. Sa had repeated clashes with the American adventurer J.T. Mariner and his Windjammers during the 1950's and 1960's, and the group apparently destroyed him and his organization in November 1962.
    According to Mrs. Cless, Sa Hud's organization managed to survive without its leader for some time (or perhaps the immortal Sa Hud wasn't truly dead) by lying low and staying out of the public eye. Indeed, the Yakuza activity that Dolphin fought when he first appeared was apparently one of the 'hidden' activities of the now headless beast that re-christened itself the Crystal Dragons. Shortly after assuming that name the Dragons became a silent, pervasive underground force, exerting greater and greater control over the Yakuza and other Pacific Rim crime organizations such as the Tong and the Triads.
    The Dragons managed this apparently on pure organization, and through a series of unlikely, almost inexplicable alliances with other international criminal groups. The Dragons simply out-thought and outmaneuvered their opposition until they were the de factos rulers of the Asian underworld, reclaiming the reins they had held under Sa Hud. This control lasted until the mid 70's, when what must have been a combination of internal and external betrayals revealed critical operational information about the Dragons activities to key Asian police agencies. The resulting raids left the Crystal Dragons' power base shattered once again, and its leaders scheming just to stay ahead of the authorities.
    In the 1980's the Crystal Dragons had managed to stabilize themselves. After finding their position roughly analogous to where it had been directly after Sa Hud's death in '62, they used the same tactics: stay out of sight while they rebuilt. By 1980 they started their plans to restore themselves to their twice held former glory. This repeatedly brought them into contact with Asian and American criminal organizations—who had become more belligerent and less controllable in since the Dragon's last collapse—as well as The Host, the Southern Cross and a variety of other variant teams.
    Against these enemies the Crystal Dragons have relied almost entirely on their development of advanced variant technology. They disdain conventional human agents (yes, that's right, they don't use Ninja), preferring to either corrupt from within or temporarily replace people with lifelike robotic duplicates. They have a variety of robotic soldiers, including their dreaded 'Little Japanese Man' robots, which are disturbingly innocuous while carrying around devastating firepower. The Crystal Dragons are experts at making their weaponry seem like something ordinary—from bombs that look like microwaves to giant attack robots that can masquerade as pick-up trucks.
    One reason for their reliance on technology is their singular inability to recruit or maintain variant forces. Despite their repeated attempts to bring variants into their fold, the Crystal Dragons have yet to succeed. There is at least one prominent cases where the Host has prevented them from doing so, as well as several where they lost potential recruits to the ubiquitous Flight of 1000 Cranes 'recruiters' in China. Their position is not aided by their leadership's well-documented arrogance and self-superiority, which has alienated potential recruits. It's entirely likely that the Dragons have simply abandoned the concept all together, preferring to use variant technology rather than biology to dominate their half of the world. So far they have toe-holds in most nations, including a powerful position in their home country and a dominant presence in western Canada. How far they can extend this is unknown.

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