RDS
From Cowboy Bebop: Space Cowboy
Like the White Tiger Syndicate WTS, the Red Dragon Syndicate is an organized crime society with roots in Ancient China. There, however, the similarities stop. The RDS is a highly professional group of killers, con-men and other shady characters driven by a lust for money and power.
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History: 2021 to 2071
After the gate incident, surviving members of the original Chinese syndicate headed to the Mars colonies and established a new Red Dragon Syndicate (RDS) in Tharsis City. The leaders of this group decided to use a traditional 3-leader system of government commonly used in the Chinese Triad of old. This body, called the Van, was made up of the oldest and most respected members of the Syndicate. Decades passed under this leadership with relatively little internal strife. The last leading members of the Van were Wang Long, Ping Long and Sou Long.
RDS had to broaden its horizons for recruitment after the Gate Incident, so the syndicate is no longer made up purely of Chinese people--in fact, nearly half of its members were Caucasian by the year 2071. With this, it lost much of the tradition that syndicates like WTS retained. Having not been raised under a Confucian Philosophy, many of the young "western" members became upstarts and rebelled.
History: 2071 - The Turning Point
One of the upstarts was a ruthless man by who went by the name of Vicious. Vicious was detained by the Van for organizing a coup, but shortly thereafter the RDS who supported him broke him free, and Vicious personally killed the entire Van, cementing his self as the sole leader of RDS. Though there were some who opposed this move, they were quickly silenced by the majority backing Vicious. The general consensus of the syndicate was that the Van had become too slow, clumsy, and weak.
Vicious' personal life, however, ended up plaguing him early in his reign. Several years prior to his ascent to power, he attempted the assassination of his partner and equally ranked Syndicate Member, Spike Spiegel, because his mistress, Julia had fallen in love with the man. Spike, who was much more popular within the Syndicate than Vicious due to his more compassionate human nature, ended up confronting and killing Vicious after the coup in the RDS headquarters in Tharsis City after the assassination of Julia.
History: 2071 to Present
Spike, though greatly injured in his fight with Vicious, ended up being thrusted into Vicious' position. Reluctantly, he accepted to stay with the syndicate behind the scenes, as an advisor. His heart broken by the death of Julia, however, he became a shadow of his former self. For the past few years he has controlled the direction of the syndicate silently in the background as several different commanders have executed his orders.
Nearly completely destroyed in Spike's fight with Vicious, the RDS headquarters were moved to Zephyr City from Tharsis, into a smaller office building. Spike's policy of keeping the syndicate smaller, but more tightly knit, was a controvesial one, but in the long run it has proved to be very effective. During its confrontations with the WTS and ISSP in the past years, it has gotten its terms far more often than not. While due to their inferior numbers RDS typically loses large-scale battles (and thus tends to avoid them at all costs), they frequently execute small scale guerilla attacks with a high rate of success and precision, eventually overcoming the enemy with frustration.
Former Leaders
This is an (incomplete) list of the past and present stand-out leaders of the Red Dragon Syndicate, in chronological order.
