"Fist of the North Star," blah blah's 1985 manga (that is, Japanese graphic
novel) of bloodshed and bitter hate in the post-apocalyptic wasteland of our
tomorrow, provides an inviting platform for this exposition in epistomology.
It is, in that strictest sense, a cartoon--though I shudder to do it that
disservice.

The sordid tale, in judiciously condensed format, went something like this...

The Beginning (Sb):
The world and all things therein operate under the constraints of the Ying and
the Yang; thus are the arts of assassination also so divided.  That of the Ying
we call the Sacred Martial Art of the Great Bear and he who wields it the Fist
of the North Star; this is the art of Tsubo (pressure points), by which one
externally prompts a body to annihilate itself from within.  That of the Yang
we call the Yang the Revered Martial Art of the Bloody Cross and he who wields
it the Fist of the Southern Cross; this is the art of invasion, by which one
externally thrusts into a body to annihilate it from without.

In Teaching (St):
In the present day somewhere, there resides a Master privy to both such arts.
To his first pupil, his son Kenshiro, he bequeths the Fist of the North Star;
to his second pupil, the boy Shin, he bequeths the Fist of the Southern Cross.
Both pupils share in their childhood a fated friend, the girl Yuria.
Interestingly, 'shin' in Japanese bears the ill connotation of death.

In the present day somewhere, there also resides a military infirm in sloth.
To amend their weakness, they employ (and are inevitably consumed by) the
final solution: nuclear holocaust.  The world, now but simmering ash and fear,
emerges into the dark twilight of a Darwinistic survivalism.  In Hell, the
weak and poor are like livestock to those with the means of dominating them.

Of Yuria (Sy):
The Master soon dies of the seething radiation.  His parting request is that
their respective halves of the art be preserved, but never misused.  Shin,
finding folly in his words, soon turns a bitter jealousy to reflexive action.
Kenshiro, recently engaged and now in company of Yuria, is walayed near the
grave of their Master by Shin and his newly formed gang of miscreants, whom
he promptly dubs the Kingsmen and himself the King.  Yuria, in supplication to
a covetous Shin, hollowly agrees to leave Kenshiro that his life be spared.
Suffering a mere 7 scars on his chest for the debacle, Kenshiro dedicates
himself to the recovery of that past happiness.

On the first anniversary of that occasion, Kenshiro finds the first of Shin's
henchman and in the sparing of a town his wrath finds as well the first of his
companions: Bat and Lynne.  Bat, a jovial sort of comedic relief, quickly
takes up watch as Kenshiro's proverbial eyes and ears; Lynne, meanwhile,
desperate for the allure of a better place, distantly follows in the clocked
secrecy of one unable to wait but yet unwilling to be found.

In Revenge (Sr):
The Great Bear and Bloody Cross soon do battle at the seat of the Southern
Cross, home city to Shin's empire whose bloodthirsty fires he still stokes.
It resounds in Shin's seeming murder of Yuria, dispassionately displayed on
a queen's throne, and Kenshiro's subsequent rage.  The residual of his anger
was the eventual death of Shin, who now beaten and blooded hurls himself
from the precipice in spread-eagled fashion.

Of Lynne (Sl):
Kenshiro and Bat, quick to leave the lonely place, head to the nearest oasis,
where Lynne has unknowingly already been enslaved as breeding stock for the
plan of Providence.  When the obscene cage in which she and similar slaves are
traveling in is halted by a disconent band of local peasants, Bat is sharp in
directing Kenshiro to dispatch her possessors.  We find the Provident to be
the remains of the American Red Berret who, dispossessed from the gratuitous
excess and fat luxury of the former bureaucracy, vainfully perceive their
collective destiny to be the chosen inheritors of a newly reformed Earth.

Though purportedly capable of killing entire platoons unaided in the old wars,
the Red Berrets are summarily judged by Kenshiro and just as swiftly executed.
Truly, he lives now only that the innocent be spared the tears he spurns.

The End (Se):
To be discussed as the author Brian purchases the rest of the series.


-.  Preface

In the logic that follows, only those constructs that are duly complex enough
will be provided English elicitation.  All other Predicates, Functions,
Variables and Constants are assumed to already be self-explanatory.

Where not defined, any Term is presumed to return the Constant Undefined.

'?' corresponds to conjuction, '?' to disjunction, '?' to universal
quantification, '?' to existential quantification, '<=>' to equivalence,
'=>' to implication, and '~' to negation.


0.  Situations

"Fist of the North Star," in the 16 translated chapters under my possession, is
decidely linear in its storytelling.  As such, Situation Calculus is employed
(where appropriate) in the First-order Predicate Calculus that follows after.

-Result is a function that, given an Action, returns the resulting Situation.
-After is a function that, given a Situation, returns the conjuct of all
Situations that occur in time after (but not including) this Situation.
-Before is a function that, given a Situation, returns the conjuct of all
Situations that occur in time before (but not including) this Situation.

Result(Birth(Kenshiro)) = St
Result(Death(Master)) = Sy
Result(Death(Yuria)) = Sr
Result(Death(Shin)) = Sl
Result(Death(Colonel)) = Se


1.  Characters

-Scar is a function that, given first a location on the body and then the
number of scars, returns a FeatureType object.
-Allegiance is a function that, given first a Character and then a Situation,
returns the character or organization to which this character owes allegiance.
It is included here, though it might as well under Relationships, for it does
allow allegiance to an organization as a whole.

[miscellaneous definitions]

TalentType(FistoftheNorthStar) = Assassination
TalentType(FistoftheSouthernCross) = Assassination

TalentType(DoubleKnifeGambit) = Guerilla
TalentType(ExtraSensoryPerception) = Guerilla

?a Assassin(a) <=> Type-Of-Talent(Talent(a)) = Assassination
?a RedBerret(a) <=> Type-Of-Talent(Talent(a)) = Guerilla

[character 1: kenshiro]

Gender(Ken) = Male
Feature(Scar(Chest, 7), Kenshiro, After(St))
Motivation(Kenshiro, St) = Learning
Motivation(Kenshiro, Sy) = Tenacity
Motivation(Kenshiro, Sr) = Rage
Motivation(Kenshiro, Sl) = Tears
Allegiance(Kenshiro, St) = Master
Allegiance(Kenshiro, After(St)) = Kenshiro
Talent(Kenshiro) = FistoftheNorthStar

[character 2: shin]

Gender(Shin) = Male
Feature(Hair(Head, Long, Blond), Shin, After(St))
Motivation(Shin, St) = Learning
Motivation(Shin, After(St)) = Love
Allegiance(Shin, St) = Master
Allegiance(Shin, After(St)) = TheKingsmen
Talent(Shin) = FistoftheSouthernCross

[character 3: yuria]

Gender(Yuria) = Female
Feature(Eyes(Soft, Lilting), Yuria, St)
Feature(Eyes(Sad, Lifeless), Yuria, Sy)
Motivation(Yuria, St) = Learning
Motivation(Yuria, After(St)) = Love
Allegiance(Yuria, St) = Kenshiro
Allegiance(Yuria, Sy) = Shin

[character 4: the master]

Gender(Master) = Male
Feature(Hair(Chin, Long, White), Master, St)
Mastery(FistoftheNorthStar, Master)
Mastery(FistoftheSouthernCross, Master)
Motivation(Master, St) = Teaching

[character 5: bat, kenshiro's companion]

Gender(Bat) = Male
Feature(Clothing(Neck, RaggedScarf), Bat, After(St)))
Motivation(Bat, After(St)) = Idealism
Allegiance(Bat, After(St)) = Kenshiro
Talent(Bat) = Bartering

[character 6: lynne, kenshiro's companion]

Gender(Lynne) = Female
Feature(Clothing(Forehead, DingyHeadband), Lynne, After(St)))
Allegiance(Colonel, After(St)) = Kenshiro
Motivation(Lynne, After(St)) = Fear

[character 7: heart, shin's righthand-man]

Gender(Heart) = Male
Feature(Weight(Large), Heart, After(Result(Birth(Heart))))
Motivation(Heart, Sy) = Respect
Allegiance(Heart, Sy) = TheKingsmen
Talent(Heart) = FleshEncasement

[character 8: club, shin's henchman]

Gender(Club) = Male
Feature(Hair(Head, Mohawk, Brown), Sy)
Skill(GreatClaws, Club)
Motivation(Club, Sy) = Loyalty
Allegiance(Club, Sy) = TheKingsmen
Talent(Club) = RangeExtension

[character 9: colonel, founder of providence]

Gender(Heart) = Male
Feature(Scar(Face, 2), Colonel, Sl)
Feature(Clothing(LeftEye, EyePatch), Colonel, Sl)
Skill(SwiftBoomerangs, Colonel)
Skill(SmallClaws, Colonel)
Motivation(Colonel, Sl) = Shame
Allegiance(Colonel, Sl) = TheProvident
Talent(Colonel) = ExtraSensoryPerception

[character 10: sergeant, inheritor of providence]

Gender(Sergeant) = Male
Feature(Height(Tall), Sergeant, After(Result(Birth(Heart))))
Skill(BloodStraws, Sergeant)
Skill(HandKnives, Sergeant)
Motivation(Sergeant, Sl) = Sanctimony
Allegiance(Sergeant, Sl) = TheProvident
Talent(Sergeant) = DoubleKnifeGambit


2.  Relationships

[relationship axioms]

?p,q,s Friend(p,q,s) <=> Friend(q,p,s)
?p,q,s Enemy(p,q,s) <=> Enemy(q,p,s)

?p,q Father(p)=q <=> Son(p,q)
?p,q,s Teacher(p,s)=q <=> Student(p,q,s)
?p,q,s Leader(p,s)=q <=> Lackey(p,q,s)

[relationships, kenshiro]

LovedOne(Kenshiro, Before(Sr)) = Yuria
LovedOne(Kenshiro, After(Sr)) = Lynne
Father(Kenshiro) = Master
Teacher(Kenshiro) = Master
Friend(Shin, Kenshiro, St)
Enemy(Shin, Kenshiro, After(St))
Enemy(Heart, Kenshiro, After(St))
Enemy(Club, Kenshiro, After(St))
Enemy(Colonel, Kenshiro, Sl)
Enemy(Seargent, Kenshiro, Sl)

[relationships, shin]

LovedOne(Shin, Before(Sr)) = Yuria
Teacher(Shin) = Master

[relationships, yuria]

[relationships, kenshiro's friends]

Protector(Yuria, St) = Kenshiro
Protector(Yuria, Sy) = Shin

[relationships, kenshiro's enemies]

Protector(Bat, After(St)) = Kenshiro
Protector(Lynne, After(St)) = Kenshiro

Leader(Heart, After(St)) = Shin
Leader(Club, After(St)) = Shin

Leader(Sergeant, Sl) = Colonel


3.  Example Statements

[miscellaneous definitions]

?a,b Assassin(a,b) <=> Assassin(a) ? Battle(b) ? Participant(a,b)

[statement 1: the victor]
This proclaims the victor of any battle to be the assassin, if there is only
one assassin participating in that battle; otherwise, the victor is the
assassin motivated by rage.

?a,b,s Assassin(a,b) ? (
		 ~(?z Assassin(z,b) ? ~(a=z)) ?
		 (Motivation(a,s)=Rage ?
			~(?z Assassin(z,b) ? ~(a=z) ? Motivation(z,s)=Rage)
		) => Victor(a,b)

[statement 2: the unharmed]
This proclaims that all those who are protected in battle by an assassin
whose motivation is tears shall be unharmed in that battle.

?a,b,s,i Assassin(a,b) ? Protector(i,s)=a ? Motivation(a,s)=Tears
		=> ~Harmed(i,b)

[statement 3: the kingsmen]
This more strictly defines what it is to owe allegiance to the Kingsmen,
including the association of one's tattoos with one's rank.

?p,s Allegiance(p,s)=TheKingsmen <=>
		Headquarters(p,s)=SouthernCross ?
		(?t Feature(Tattoo(Face,t),p,s) ? Rank(p)=t
		 Type-Of-Tattoo(t)=Type-Of-Rank(Rank(p))=PlayingCardSuite)

[statement 3: the kingsmen]
This more strictly defines what it is to owe allegiance to the Provident,
including the close correspondence to military rank.

?p,s Allegiance(p,s)=TheProvident <=>
		Headquarters(p,s)=Providence ?
		Feature(Clothing(Head,RedBerret),p,s) ? Mastery(GuerillaWarfare,p) ?
		Type-Of-Rank(Rank(p))=Militaristic