Case No. 0008-GCF
Golden Jade Triad

The Brief

From the original brief handed to agents Cummings and Tate of the West Coast Team in 1996: Triad activity in the San Francisco area seems suspiciously inward looking since the arrival of new grandfather, Mao Sei Ben. He arrived two weeks ago carrying a valuable offering to the funeral of Hao Chen - one of the four fathers of the Twisted Way Triad. The other three fathers (Fu Pi, Nushen Zeinshen and Yo Yo Chan) saw this as a reason to start a gang war with a ritualistic and twisted fashion. Bodies were mutilated and left at odd locations.

Update (1): Slayings at each location involved the removal of vital organs and the mutilation of specific chakra points. According to Madame Zenbuki (San Francisco based contact of Alan Cummings), the Triad see San Francisco as some sort of living being, and the murder sites represent the coming together of dragon power lines.

Update 2 (September 1998): A police report has it that Mao Sei Ben was killed on Friday and that there is now peace between the San Francisco triads. Mao's body was taken to the morgue but were stopped when they drove into the middle of of a shoot out between the New Dawn and Golden Way triads. The police shut the road and cowered until the shooting stopped.

Update 3 (October 1998): You can't keep a ninety year old Chinaman down!

The west coast team were working on this case prior to their death on 13 December 2004. The mid-west team took up investigation of this case the following day, reasoning that it was directly linked to the murder of their colleagues. The following is their understanding of what transpired:

The Jade Pendants

The world is criss-crossed with dragon lines (aka ley lines). Where they cross they form pools of negative and positive energy (chi) or void. This energy is neither good nor evil it simply is. This energy is always in balance, but can be tapped and channelled. The perfect focus for this energy is jade.

In 500 BC Mao Sei Ben created four jade pendants to channel chi energy into specific chakra points in the human body. These pendants were Confidence (linked to the brain), Strength (linked to the heart), Talent (linked to the gut) and Skill (linked to the hands). As an immortal taoshih, Mao Sei Ben had the power to defy death. These pendants also have the power to return the dead to life, although at the expense of the subject's will power.

At some point between the pendant's creation and the twentieth century, Mao Sei Ben lost the pendant of Talent. It eventually turned up in the emporium of Wilson Lee in Chinatown in San Francisco(see case SF211). The pendants of Confidence, Strength and Skill were given by Mao Sei Ben to three of the four fathers of the Twisted Way Triad - namely: Yo Yo Chan, Fu Pi and Hushen Zeinshen. These individuals are under Mao Sei Ben's control.

Following a time travelling adventure the Midwest team managed to duplicate the pendant of Talent. Whether this has any bearing on the dragon lines has yet to be seen.

The Triads of San Francisco

There are five triads operating in San Francisco. Collectively they are known as the House of the Five Fortunes. This information was volunteered by Benedict Oaxaca who used to work in San Francisco, and augmented by Madame Zenbuki.

The Twisted Way: This triad has no grandfather and was instead ruled by the four fathers: Hao Chen, Fu Pi, Hushen Zeinshen and Yo Yo Chan. When Hao Chen died in 1996 the remaining three fathers continued to run the triad (and still called themselves "the four fathers"). The Twisted Way run protection rackets, although they have become extremely more aggressively and violent. The word on the street is that something very peculiar is going on with the four (three) fathers. This triad is currently based in a depot that stores electronic goods, on fifteenth and west off Jefferson Avenue. The three fathers are subservient to Mao Sei Ben thanks to the power of the pendants they wear. Mao Sei Ben effectively runds this triad as well as his own.

The New Dawn: A traditional triad. It makes a great deal of money from prostitution.

The Golden Jade: Although the Golden Jade used to have its hands in the transport of illegal goods and computer crime, for the last five years it has been involved in the much more traditional Chinese end of the market - such as powders and potions. This change of emphasis comes from the time (circa 1996) that Mao Sei Ben took over running the triad from a masked leader. Mao Sei Ben was shot and killed in October 1998 but survived his autopsy and returned to the triad a month later. The Golden Jade are scared - probably of Mao Sei Ben. The triad is currently based above a restaurant called the Golden Jade Palace.

The Walkers of the Eastern Path: The triad specialises in gambling and drugs racketeering.

The Hu Ban Ancestry: This triad controls the docks in San Francisco and specialises in people smuggling and slavery.

The Facts

During their investigation into case SF211, the west coast team came across two links to Mao Sei Ben. The first was the jade pendant of talent, the second was the mirror ghost of an ancient Chinese courtesan called Plum Blossom. Her spirit has been imprisoned in the mirror by Mao Sei Ben long ago, and she wanted revenge.

The name Mao Sei Ben came to the attention of the west coast team in 1996 when he came to America from China and took over the Golden Jade Triad. He used three remaining jade pendants to possess and control the surviving fathers of the Twisted Way triad. He began a number of killings that looked to be a gang war from the outside, but were in fact cleverly orchestrated ritualistic killings at points in San Francisco where dragon lines cross. Mao Sei Ben is attempting to alter the balance of San Francisco's chi by killing at the city's effective chakra points. He hopes to be able to summon and command the Dragon - a spiritual creature made of this energy. What he will do if successful remains unknown.

Mao Sei Ben became aware of the interference of the west coast team, and also became aware that they had the mirror containing Plum Blossom. On 11 December 2000, the west coast agents removed the mirror from their HQ and hid it in an abandoned warehouse far from intersecting dragon lines where Mao Sei Ben was thought to be weaker. However, Mao Sei Ben found them there on 13 December and killed them all.

The mid-west team became involved soon after. They realised the link between their colleagues' deaths and Mao Sei Ben (see case LA10749). In a battle in which the team employed a stinger missile, the Joker and Plum Blossom herself against Mao Sei Ben they were eventually able to kill him. It is hoped that his death means an end to his plots.

Outstanding Leads

• Summers's book of "I-Ching" has been found to be a complicated computer programme. What does it do, and how was it the key to stopping Mao Sei Ben?
• Will Mao Sei Ben's death spark a triad war in San Francisco?
• What was Mao Sei Ben actually trying to do? What was the dragon he was trying to summon? Will anyone else take over his work? Is there still something to worry about?
• How is Madame Zenbuki related to the yakuza in San Francisco?
• There is a great similarity between the effect of the jade pendants and the green mineral posted to Artemis Black in Casper, Wyoming. Are these the same? If so, what is the connection?

Related Cases

• Case LA10749 - murder of west coast team.
• Case CS1463-IND - Academy Final Year Assessment
• Case 0008-GCF - A Room with a View
• Case LA0007 - Handless Corpse Found in Sewer

See Also

• Artemis Black's Grand Conspiracy
• Time Travel