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| Leadership | Liu Ye and Song Ye |
| Headquarters | Golden Luck Dragon Restaurant, Chinatown |
| Staff Contact | Manhattan |
The Chinese Triad are represented on String-Theory by New York's most powerful triad organization, the Flying Dragons.
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Table of Contents
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About the Triads
Hong Kong's triads are more powerful than most people might expect. Like some of the biggest international drug dealers who have their own armed forces, Hong Kong triads pursue and maintain significant resources such as their own stockpiles of ammunition. Like Western Mafia, they usually limit violence to among themselves rather than inflict it on the public at large.
There is no father-figure in the Hong Kong triads to control all other members in illegal activities via a hierarchy. On the contrary, Hong Kong triads are generally composed of several independent groups. Although they form and organize themselves with similar ceremonies and hierarchical systems, they do not function under an absolute and strict dominion-and-compliance plan. For example, the "King Yee" is a subsidiary branch of the "Sun Yee On", but members of the King Yee do not take orders from the "supremacy".
The actual power of triads lies at the ground level of the hierarchy. Usually, a triad "official" ("Red Pole") leads a group of 15 active members (soldiers), and wields aggression on a turf, a leader with apparent hegemony may not be able to command other leaders; and leaders may sometimes wage war against one another for more benefits.
Triads also use numeric codes to differentiate the ranks and positions inside a gang. For example, 426 would mean "fighter". Another code 49 would denote a rank-and-file member. 489 is the code for "the mountain master", 438 for the "deputy mountain master", 415 for "the white paper fan", and 432 for the "straw sandal". The code 25, an undercover/spy of the gang, has entered common usage in Hong Kong to mean a "traitor".
As the Hong Kong economy progresses, triads barely provide "satisfying" social and pecuniary conditions to foster absolute loyalty among their members. One consequence is that the current triad structure has become more flexible: the customary eight-ranking system has changed into one that consists of four ranks (refer to the diagram below). Also, the sophisticated ceremonial rituals for new members have simplified: the most commonly practiced is "hanging the Blue Lantern" (i.e. following the leader), which is an oral agreement with little formality. The degree of autocracy within the organization has fallen; members have higher tendency to prioritize their personal interests. Should a member discover that there is little advantage in remaining in the group, he might transfer himself to another one which is more socially robust and potent: the traditional principles of triad moral beliefs have been disregarded under such personal benefits first stance.
The Flying Dragons are one such Hong Kong triad that sprouted up in New York city in the 1900s. They are involved in smuggling illegal immigrants from East Asia into the USA, and have moved heavily into heroin trafficking after the Civella crime family collapsed under the weight of Daniel Linderman's influence.
Leadership
The boss of the Flying Dragons, Johnny "Onionhead" Eng, was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for running a heroin distribution ring in 1993, which led into the more modern era of the Flying Dragons' history. An old advisory to Eng came to become the right hand of the next boss of the Flying Dragons, a young man named Kim Yeoh. However, during the events of the 2006 Bomb, Kim suffered from massive radiation poisoning and was hospitalized, leaving Chang in charge of the group in the interim.
When Kim finally passed away in late 2008, Chang ascended to take control of the Flying Dragons in the wake of the Civella family's criminal empire collapsing under the weight of the NYPD and the Linderman group. In Early 2009, Chang Ye was killed in a raid on a triad storefront by an operative of the Department of Homeland Security.
In his stead, Chang's young son Liu Ye and his sister Song have risen to co-control of the Flying Dragons, and feel that in order to truly be successful in the new world that the Evolved have created, the Evolved must be the ones in control.
Initiation
Triad members are subject to initiation ceremonies, much like the Mafia or the Yakuza. A traditional ceremony would take place at an altar dedicated to Guan Yu, the Taoist god of brotherhoods, with incense smoke and a sacrifice of an animal, such as a chicken, pig, or a goat. After drinking a potion composed of wine and the blood of the animal or of the candidate, he would pass beneath an arch of swords while reciting the Triad oaths. The paper on which the oaths are written would then be burned on the altar, to confirm the duty of the member to perform his duty to the gods. Three fingers on the left hand would then be raised as a binding gesture.
In modern culture many of these esoteric traditions have fallen out of practice, the sophisticated ceremonial rituals for new members have simplified: the most commonly practiced is "hanging the Blue Lantern" (i.e. following the leader), which is an oral agreement to obey the triad and its brotherhood with little formality involved. Under Liu Ye, some of the traditional rituals of the past have been revived, but only as much as it amuses he and his sister, and he has not been consistent with its application.
Joining the Flying Dragons
Once the Flying Dragons were a racially select and closed organization, and most Hong Hong triad still are. However, under Liu Ye's leadership this has begun to become lax. While still outright refusing full membership to those not of Chinese descent, exceptions have been made for those of mixed heritage, especially if they possess an Evolved ability.
Despite membership being racially divided, Liu has begun to forge an umbrella of alliances far outside of the normal scope of triad activities with other Evolved individuals.
Refrain
Beginning in August of 2009, the Flying Dragons are actively pushing a psychoactive drug known as Refrain on the streets.
