SHIGEKO'S DOSSIER: Bayushi Korechika I like less than almost every Scorpion in the city, and yet I feel strangely comfortable around him. He seems so much the typical Scorpion; venal, slippery, dishonest and selfish. I feel that I know exactly what to expect.
Korechika came into power as the local head of the Bayushi family during the first year I was in office. He immediately took the stable and sedate Bayushi network of merchants and began gathering more merchants, and taxing others until they begged to be allowed to find new patrons. He is constantly jockeying for position among the merchants of Ryoko Owari, and has become a significant force in a short period of time.
He seems to have little time for personal concerns, except for his hobby of collecting rare foreign birds. I don't even think he keeps a mistress.
I suspect that his real concern is opium. He already has substantial rural holdings which grow the opium poppy; I believe his city holdings and merchant connections are being used to process the poppies into smokable or liquid form, and then distribute them throughout Rokugan.
I was able to successfully charge one of his craftsmen with possession of liquid opium, but before I could have him questioned, Korechika showed up with Yogo Osako (P10) and a writ signed by the Governor (G9, P1). They claimed that the craftsman was planning to distribute the opium locally, and that therefore it was a matter for the Governor's magistrate (Osako) instead of the Emerald Magistrate. It took all my willpower not to curse loudly as they took him away "for questioning': I know he died that sameday, and my interrogator (P55) assures me that the prisoner was never taken to the torture hall.
It is clear to me that Korechika killed that craftsman, not for being a criminal, but for being an inept one and for putting his smuggling operation in jeopardy.
I believe Korechika learned from that mistake. I now suspect that most of his dirty work is arranged by a merchant named Sharp (P40). I have arrested three of Sharp's workers, but Korechika's protection has stymied my attempts to question the man himself.