Don't let her tats deceive you...
Cho Yamazaki was a mage and assassin for the Yakuza on New Tokyo in the Season 8 alternate Middle Kingdom timeline.
History[]
Cho and her younger sister Shoko were born to a drug addict single mom. They had different fathers and never met either of them. Living in utter poverty in the slums of New Tokyo, they girls were neglected and largely raised themselves. Cho was more of a mother to her sister than their mother was. When Cho was thirteen, her mother died of a drug overdose and Cho and her sister were shuffled around relative’s homes, no one really wanting them, until they came to live with an uncle. He was abusive and neglectful, and the next few years were characterized by constant fighting (often physically) between Cho and her uncle. Many times she wanted to run away, but always stayed because she didn’t want to leave her sister with her uncle, and she couldn’t support her sister by herself.
During this time Cho was a complete delinquent, started smoking opium, joined a street gang, and was frequently in trouble with the law for shoplifting, vandalism, and other petty crimes. It was actually while smoking up with friends (including her future apprentice, Nhut Moon) that Cho began to realize she might have unusual powers. When she hallucinated, everyone else saw them, too – including the sober people.
When she was fifteen, and her sister thirteen, Cho discovered her uncle was sexually abusing her sister. Cho snapped, confronted her uncle about it, and in the middle of an enraged fist fight, she awakened, hurling every object in the room at her uncle out of pure rage, just by her will. Unfortunately, she couldn’t shut it off, and ended up killing her uncle, bludgeoned by flying debris and crushed under heavy furniture.
Now a wanted murderer, Cho fled with her sister to the slums of Wilke’s Star. For two years she scraped out a living any way she could, legal and illegal – theft, smuggling, hired muscle, even prostitution, as well as honest work when she could find it. She used her fledgling magick skills to assist her in this criminal activity, and it was mostly self taught.
Unfortunately, the only way she could really get into a “reality is fluid” mindset was with a little chemical help. She’d smoke a lot of opium before attempting any serious spell, and the rest of the time you could usually find her puffing on a Nirvana (legal marijuana cigarette), keeping her mind slightly off-center of reality, just in case she needed to pull out some magical whoopass on short notice. Even today, she still performs magick best while mildly stoned.
Unbeknownst to her, she was a canny enough criminal for members of the local Yakuza family (Yakuza-Tanzhi) to notice her. They hired her for a few jobs, sizing her up, and when they realized part of her success was due to crude, amateur magick, they approached her with a deal she couldn’t refuse. They made it clear she was on their turf, and she could either join them, flee the area, or stay and be killed. She joined without hesitation, embracing the security of a steady income, protection, and a stable home for her and her sister.
The Yakuza-Tanzhi had a million use for magi, from recharging technomagical equipment to political assassinations. Whenever she wasn’t on a job, she was required to train with her mentor Aou Phukett, a magi master employed by the Yakuza-Tanzhi for big projects. She developed her magickal skills over the years to her current level of power, graduating from apprentice to journeyman. Cho now trains apprentices of her own (her strike group - Nhut, Usha, Yoko, and Hung), but still trains with her mentor when she gets the chance, hoping to reach a level of magickal mastery someday.
As her sister Shoko grew into a beautiful teenager, theYakuza-Tanzhi decided they wanted her to work in their strip clubs. Cho flipped out at first, refusing to let Shoko become a stripper, but her Yakuza-Tanzhi superiors convinced her (somewhat forcefully) otherwise. Shoko came to like the job and was good at it, enjoying the attention, money, and reputation. She took the next step and became a high-priced call girl, and eventually the Tanzhi bankrolled her to become a highly skilled geisha to the nobility. Eventually, Cho came to grudingly accept her sister's career choice, realizing that Shoko being the paid lover of rich and powerful men was about as high as a dirt-poor commoner with a criminal record could ever hope to rise.
Although not a part of the aristocracy, Cho's sister does interact on a regular basis with the nobility. Although wielding no power and little influence, Shoko does pick up a lot of information about the political plots and intrigues of powerful people.
Season 9 Reference[]
Cho appears as the mysterious source of the incredibly successful assassinations / sabotage in New Bisbee, Ashdown. She is taken down by William Bishop of the Raptors and killed in the ensuing battle.
Behind the Scenes[]
Cho was player/writer Ed Stasheff's player character in Season 8.