Lao Qin
No one has seen Lao Qin. That is the point.
The Dragon's Head, the supreme tong governing the Tien Ha Wui in the Brokelands, answers to a figure who communicates exclusively through paper screens and intermediaries. Whether Lao Qin is a man, a woman, a committee, or something stranger is a question that has occupied the imaginations of every ambitious schemer in Old York. The answers vary depending on who is whispering: the strong gangster leading troops through the market, the old man sitting cross-legged before a stall, or perhaps something that was never fully alive to begin with. Some theorize the Dragon's Head is not one person at all but a hidden council operating under a single name. Others believe it may be an animated pre-fall corpse, a remnant intelligence preserved through means no one wants to examine too closely.
What is not debated is the result. The Tien Ha Wui's thirty blocks are the most orderly territory in Old York, governed with a precision that puts the Heights' political theater to shame. Failure is punished harshly. Opposition is crushed. Orders filter down through lieutenants who receive them from behind that paper screen, and not one of them has ever claimed to see the face on the other side.
The most orderly territory in the city answers to a name that may not belong to anyone at all. In the Brokelands, that passes for good governance.
The Dragon's Head, the supreme tong governing the Tien Ha Wui in the Brokelands, answers to a figure who communicates exclusively through paper screens and intermediaries. Whether Lao Qin is a man, a woman, a committee, or something stranger is a question that has occupied the imaginations of every ambitious schemer in Old York. The answers vary depending on who is whispering: the strong gangster leading troops through the market, the old man sitting cross-legged before a stall, or perhaps something that was never fully alive to begin with. Some theorize the Dragon's Head is not one person at all but a hidden council operating under a single name. Others believe it may be an animated pre-fall corpse, a remnant intelligence preserved through means no one wants to examine too closely.
What is not debated is the result. The Tien Ha Wui's thirty blocks are the most orderly territory in Old York, governed with a precision that puts the Heights' political theater to shame. Failure is punished harshly. Opposition is crushed. Orders filter down through lieutenants who receive them from behind that paper screen, and not one of them has ever claimed to see the face on the other side.
The most orderly territory in the city answers to a name that may not belong to anyone at all. In the Brokelands, that passes for good governance.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
The origins of Lao Qin are as obscured as the figure itself. No one can say when the Dragon's Head first began issuing orders from behind the paper screen, or whether the current voice is the same one that first spoke. The Tien Ha Wui operates under the tong's authority as though it has always been so, and no one within the walled community seems inclined to question the arrangement.
What is known is the consistency of the result. Under Lao Qin's direction, the Dragon's Head maintains a level of order across its thirty blocks that shames territories with far more visible leadership. Lieutenants carry out their instructions without hesitation. Those who fail or oppose the tong's interests are dealt with ruthlessly and publicly enough that the lesson carries. The identity behind the screen may be unknowable, but the consequences of crossing it are perfectly clear.
What is known is the consistency of the result. Under Lao Qin's direction, the Dragon's Head maintains a level of order across its thirty blocks that shames territories with far more visible leadership. Lieutenants carry out their instructions without hesitation. Those who fail or oppose the tong's interests are dealt with ruthlessly and publicly enough that the lesson carries. The identity behind the screen may be unknowable, but the consequences of crossing it are perfectly clear.
Shadowy master of the Dragon's Head tong, never seen in person.
Status
Unknown
Role
Presumed leader of the Dragon's Head parent tong, the supreme governin
Affiliation
The Dragon's Head
Location
Brokelands
Children
