Strike Force Zero logo
Strike Force Zero (also known as SF0) is an elite, top-secret demon hunting agency of the Japanese government. Unlike the Shih, Strike Force Zero does not believe that shen have any place in the natural order: they are a threat and must be destroyed before they have a chance to destroy humanity.
History[]
Strike Force Zero was founded by Geichin Okamoto, a scion of one of Japan's few remaining ninja families. Encounters with a flock of Tengu and a hsien assassin near the end of World War II persuaded Okamoto that the shen posed an existential threat to humankind. In secret, he also used the organization for industrial espionage. He turned the entire resources of his family into funding Strike Force Zero and a shell company, Dynamic Technology International, to fund it. SF0 was able to first operate in 1989 and quickly became secretly funded by the government as a covert agency.
SF0 operates in several Asian countries, nominally pursuing international criminal activity such as terrorism, drug trafficking, the sex trade, and serial killers. But their real targets are the shen who frequently hide behind these criminal activities.
Membership[]
The original SF0 agents were recruited from the police and the military, usually those with violent, anti-social tendencies. However, these individuals proved to be poor at coping with the realities of the shen. Later recruit classes drew more heavily on social awkward nerds, people already prone to flights of fantasy, as they had the mental resilience to cope with demons in their midst. They also recruit occasionally from the Yakuza and from professional occultists. In very rare cases, psionics are discovered and integrated into the group.
All members of SF0 are declared legally dead and given a new identity. The organization goes so far as to stage an elaborate funeral, and agents undergo radical cosmetic surgery to ensure the truth cannot be uncovered. They also frequently receive cutting-edge medical implants from DTI, such as prosthetic limbs or artificial eyes, to correct physical disabilities that might prevent them from doing field work.
Technology[]
Strike Force Zero makes use of special cutting edge technology like cybernetics. These technologies are powered by the chi of the agent. The technology has certain similarities with technomantic magic, but is immune against paradox backlashes. It is provided by benefactors from the Zaibatsu, the asian branch of the Technocracy. The Zaibatsu want to use SF0 to police Reality Deviants, but the group has proven to be increasingly difficult to control.
Time of Judgement[]
In World of Darkness: Time of Judgement, one scenario reveals that the secret benefactor behind SF0 is, in fact, the Yama King Mikaboshi. The enhancements are revealed to slowly turn the agent into a kind of enhanced bakemono, with several high-ranking agents having been akuma all along.
References[]
- WOD: Demon Hunter X, p. 33-43, 71, 80-84
- WOD: World of Darkness: Time of Judgement, p. 165