User blog:SPARTAN 119/The Order (Silent Hill) vs The Sonozaki Family (Higurashi)

=Combatants=

The Order
The Order are a doomsday cult based in Silent Hill, Maine that are one of the primary antagonists of the Silent Hill series, particularly Silent Hill Homecoming. The Order worship the mysterious phenomena and entities that exist around Silent Hill, specifically, the Order believes that the world was a land of chaos and disorder before their primary deity, a goddess often depicted as a woman in red, arrived on Earth in answer to the prayers of one of the residents of the miserable primeval earth, and in response, created the world as we know it today. However, the goddess died before she could create a paradise, however, the Order believe their goddess will return one day, and have been known to make human sacrifices in order to hasten the day of her arrival, and have viewed several particularly powerful monsters that appear in the Silent Hill games to be the embodiment of their "God".

The Sonozaki Family
The Sonozaki Family are one of the three "Great Houses" of Hinamizawa are, along with the Furude and Kimiyoshi, the most influential in the secluded mountain village. Of the three "Great Houses", the Sonozaki were most powerful as of June 1983, when the events of Higurashi take place. According to ancient legend, all three of the "Great Houses" have demonic blood, and the Sonozaki are said to have it in the greatest quantity. However, it is suggested by Miyo Takano in her research on the village that this is a newer legend, and the Sonozaki were originally the least powerful of the three houses. While they have gained influence over the years, what has not changed is the fact that the Sonozaki were considered the enforcers of the traditional laws of Hinamizawa, often through brutal torture and murder.

As of 1983, the Sonozaki family was highly involved with the Yakuza, and are known are suspected of a number of crimes, including the kidnapping of the son of the Japanese Minister of Public Works after a dam project threatened to inundate Hinamizawa. The dam project was canceled after a construction worker was brutally murdered. This murder, along with a series of murders and disappearances that occur on the date of the Watanagashi festival. In June 1983, one of the twin daughters of the Sonozaki family, Shion committed a number of brutal murders, driven by a local, insanity virus known as the Hinamizawa Syndrome, as well as the delusion that several of her friends and relatives were responsible for the death of her friend and possible love interest, Satoshi Houjou.

=Weapons=

Ceremonial Dagger (Order)
The Ceremonial Dagger is a knife found in Silent Hill Homecoming, presumably used by the Order for ritual sacrifices. The weapon has a double-edged blade similar in appearance to a spear point, along with a straight handle and no real guard to speak of.

Hunting Knife (Sonozaki)
Shion Sonozaki uses a KA-BAR-styled hunting knife similar in appearance to a military combat knife for a number of her killings. The weapon has a clip point and a serrated edge.

119's Edge
The Sonozaki's hunting knife, as it closely resembles a combat knife, which is actually designed for fighting.

Tonfa-Blade (Order)
The tonfa-blade is an unusual weapons wielded by a boss monster in Silent Hill 3 implied to actually be human, but to appear as a monster through Heather Mason's eyes, so I will be including it as an Order weapon. The weapon is similar to an Okinawan tonfa, with the exception that attached to the end of the wooden part of the tonfa is a large metal blade mounted in such a manner that it can swing freely as the weapon is swung. The overall length of the weapon is about three feet, and about half of it is a blade. NOTE: The ability of the Missionary to block handgun bullets will be assumed to be an artifact of Heather's delusions, and will NOT be possible in this battle.

Katana (Sonozaki)
The Katana is a curved, single edged sword originating from Japan, and are one of the nation's most iconic weapons. Originally used by the Samurai of Feudal Japan, the weapon has also come to be commonly known as a "Samurai Sword". The length of the blade is often somewhere between 60 to 73 centimeters in length. The metal of the blade is created from Tamahagane, a hard, high carbon steel for the cutting edge and sides, and the tough, low carbon steel for the core and back, giving the blade a hard edge, while allowing it to absorb blows without shattering. The gentle curvature of the blade adds to the weapons cutting power by focusing the force of the blow on a smaller area. This curve is achieved during quenching: the sword maker coats the blade with several layers of a wet clay slurry, putting a much thinner layer on the front of the blade. When the blade is thrust in water, the front of the blade cools more quickly and hardens, while the slower cooling in the back of the blade reduces lattice strain on the spine, causing the blade to curve backwards. The Katana was not designed at all for penetrating armor. It was designed to make quick and decisive slashes at weak points in armor. Specifically the throat.

119's Edge
The tonfa blade may look intimidating, but it is, in the end, too clumsy and difficult to operate with it's swiveling blade which may spring back to hit an unskilled user. In the end, I must give the edge to the proven lethality of the katana.

Beretta Model 92 (Order)
The Beretta 92 is not actually seen in the hands of Order members, but it is found in their hideout, so it will be included as one of their weapons. The Beretta is a series of 9x19 Parabellum firing pistols developed by the Italian company, Beretta. Based around older Beretta pistols, the 92 was first produced in 1975. The pistol has been modified to accompany larger rounds like the .40 S&W and fire in three round bursts, featured in the Beretta 93R. Dozens of countries have adopted the pistol and have been used by their police departments and armies. The M9 was specifically designed for the United States military and is popularly used because of its light weight, low recoil, accuracy, and fast rate of fire. For the purposes of this match, weapon will have a 10-round magazine like the one in the game, chambered for 9mm rounds.

Tokarev TT-33 (Sonozaki)
The Tokarev TT-33 was a Soviet-designed 7.62 x 25mm semi-automatic handgun designed in 1930 as a replacement for the old M1895 Nagant revolver. The weapon saw service in the Second World War with the Red Army and by various other factions afterwards. The weapon is still in used by various factions around the world even though it was replaced by the Makarov in Soviet service starting in 1952. The weapon fires from a seven-round magazine and has a range of about 50 meters.

119's Edge
The Order's Beretta 92 for its greater capacity.

Winchester Model 1912 (Order)
OK, I'm cheating a bit on this one, but shotgun shells can be found in the Order compound in Silent Hill: Homecoming, so one would assume they would have the gun for it! The Winchester Model 1912 (also commonly known as the Model 12, or M12) is an internal-hammer pump-action, shotgun with an external tube magazine. Popularly-named the Perfect Repeater at its introduction, it largely set the standard for pump action shotguns over its 51 year high-rate production life. The Winchester in Silent Hill has a four-round internal tube magazine.

Ithaca Model 37 (Sonozaki)
The Ithaca 37 is a pump-action shotgun made in large numbers for the civilian, military, and police markets. It utilizes a novel combination ejection/loading port on the bottom of the gun which leaves the sides closed to the elements. In addition, the outline of the gun is clean. Finally, since shells load and eject from the bottom, operation of the gun is equally convenient for both right and left hand shooters. This makes the gun popular with left-handed shooters. The Ithaca has a four-round tubular magazine as standard. The Ithaca seen in the hands of the Sonozaki group has a pistol grip and now stock. The barrel also appears to be shorter, possibly sawed off.

119's Edge
The two weapons are similar enough to be called even. The Orders shotgun might have slightly greater range, and the Sonozaki's slightly more useful in close quarters, but in the end, it still evens out in my opinion.

M14/Springfield M1A (Order)
The M14 is a 7.62mm battle rifle used by the US Military from 1959-1970. An M14 rifle appears in Silent Hill: Homecoming in the hands of Order members, and as a weapon used by game protagonist Alex Shepherd. However, the M14 used by Shepherd is semi-automatic only, and fires from a five-round magazine instead of the 20-round magazine of the military M14. This suggests that it is actually an M1A, civilian version of the rifle.

AK-47 (Sonozaki)
The AK-47 is an Russian assault rifle designed by Mikhael Kalashnikov in 1947. Since then, millions of AK-47s and other weapons derived from the AK-47, such as the AKM, AK-74, and RPK, have been produced and used by numerous militaries, paramilitary organization, terrorist groups, criminals, and other armed organizations. Because of its ubiquitousness, the AK is probably the best known assault rifle in the world, having been used in countless armed conflicts since its introduction and appearing in numerous forms of media, including films, TV shows, print media, video games, and even on the national flag of the African country of Mozambique. The weapon fires 7.62mm Soviet rounds from a 30-round magazine, with an effective range of 400 meters in semi-automatic and 300 meters in full auto. The weapon has a rate of fire of 600 rpm.

119's Edge
The Sonozaki's AK-47 for its superior rate of fire and capacity.

Explanations
In terms of training, the Sonozaki take an edge as many of them practice martial arts, and presumably shooting as well, while the Order have less combat training. The Order also do not engage in combat as often as the Sonozaki, who presumably fight with other Yakuza syndicates, and at least some of the Sonozaki have fought the Yamainu, whereas the Order only fight when an outside force threatens their existence, which presumably happens less often. In terms of firepower, the Sonozaki's AK-47 gives them a definite advantage, however, the typical Sonozaki enforcer wears a black suit and often sunglasses, but no body armor, unlike the Order, who use improvised body armor. However, this armor is likely to only be effective against melee weapons, thus the low score. As for the intelligence, I rate the Sonozakis slightly higher due to their thinking not being as clouded by cult fanaticism, and because of their mastery of planning covert assassinations and kidnappings. As for brutality, the two groups both have committed brutal murders, The Order for the intent of human sacrifices and the Sonozaki making examples of enemies and inspiring fear by propagating the myth of Oyashiro-sama's curse.