Week 7 Story: The Epics of V
Night City was a breeding ground for legends, both good and evil. No matter the time period, they would rise and fall, continuing this cycle like a natural order of the universe. The next legend of Night City would start this cycle anew when he entered the scene, his future uncertain but great. One meeting with his opposite would change his path forever.
Enter Yorinobu Arasaka, son and heir to the Arasaka empire. A rebellious youth with no respect to his father's values and visions of the future, his reputation was already notorious and widespread after the mistakes of his youth. Breaking away from the family at one point, Yorinobu led a gang known as the Steel Dragons, made up of ten trusted associates nicknamed the Ten-Necks of Yorinobu. Their time as an organization was short, but one filled with terror as Yorinobu led them to be quick, effective, and ruthless in their work.
Yorinobu did not care for the corporate world the way his father did, and the source of his rebelliousness was unknown. But while he did not care for the corporation, he did long for power. One could assume Yorinobu turned out the way he did due to the influence his father had over him growing up, making his every achievement pale in comparison to his father's shadow.
The young Arasaka wanted to be invincible. But he did not have the fortitude to carry that strength himself. Instead, he went and found an old legend of Night City, Adam Smasher, a half-human half-mech metal monster of a man. When he went looking for him, Adam found him and slammed Yorinobu against the wall. "What do you want?", he growled into Yorinobu's face. "I want to be protected from those who wish to hurt me, and I can pay you well to do it", Yorinobu said calmly. Adam simply grunted and dropped Yorinobu. An agreement had been made.
Author's note: My source material was the first two stories from the Tiny Tales compilation, going over Ravana's birth and his search for invincibility. Ravana was born under the name Dashagriva, meaning Ten-Necks. Later, he would become invincible by petitioning the god Brahma to grant him this power. In my tale set in Cyberpunk, Yorinobu is Ravana's equivalent. Rather than being named Ten-Necks, he controlled a gang with that moniker. His search for invincibility would be replaced by a bodyguard who had the strength to protect him from almost everything.
Web source: Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs
Hi Aaron!
ReplyDeleteI am not entirely familiar with Cyberpunk (is it a video game?), but I thoroughly enjoyed your take on Ravana’s origin story. The original story is so cut and dry, like this and that happened, and there’s the entire story, but your version of Ravana’s/Yorinobu’s story brought it to life. You provided background on the main character and incorporated details and dialogue that really helped to make this story a lot more interesting. I also like that you did not make Adam Brahma’s counterpart per se, instead creating an entirely new character based on Brahma from the epic and Adam from Cyberpunk. And having a bodyguard makes more sense with your storyline and setting than mirroring the tales from the epic point for point.
Hey Aaron!
ReplyDeleteI wasn’t expecting to see Cyberpunk show up as one of the stories I read. I enjoyed how you were able to expand on the characters from the game and give them a backstory in order to bring your source material into a completely different setting. I think you did a great job at giving just enough background information to setup the story without diving too far into the weeds.