This may have already been covered. But you know those dragon bones that D mentioned in his will? Those may have been the body of Ghostwalker. D may have been planning to use them for his own return but GW got there first.
1. Dunkelzahn returns in the mid to late 2070's, restored by some weird Artifact or other that the Draco Foundation located. What would he do? How would the other GD's react?
This may have already been covered. But you know those dragon bones that D mentioned in his will? Those may have been the body of Ghostwalker. D may have been planning to use them for his own return but GW got there first.
1. Dunkelzahn returns in the mid to late 2070's, restored by some weird Artifact or other that the Draco Foundation located. What would he do? How would the other GD's react?
I can tell you one thing. Dunkelzhan in the White House means the New Revolution would NOT have made a play for DeeCee during the Crash.Oh, you can't stop extremists. Just means they'd have been eaten and the Oval Office would need to have been rebuilt.
1. Dunkelzahn returns in the mid to late 2070's, restored by some weird Artifact or other that the Draco Foundation located. What would he do? How would the other GD's react?It would probably depends a lot on how the other dragons would consider the magic used. If "tainted" in any way, Dunkelzahn would be an outcast, and would thus likely keep a low profile rather than face an alliance against him. Either way, Dunkelzahn may not be the first dragon to pull such a trick: Dunkelzahn may be the most powerful dragon of the modern era, he is not the only to ever have lived and died.
2. Dunkelzahn's death was faked, and he has been behind the Draco Foundation all along. What has he been doing all this time?You give the answer to your own question here: he did lead the Draco Foundation all along. Except maybe for some behind-the-scene magic stuff, the Draco Foundation wouldn have had everything Dunkelzahn wanted done.
3. Dunkelzahn's death never happened. He either survived the explosion, or the explosion never happened. What would an active, public Dunkelzahn with the might of the UCAS behind him have done? How might the 2070's look differeng if this occurred?Kyle Haeffner retained an unprecedentely high popularity at the end of his second term, and there is no limit to the number of term a president may serve in the UCAS. Had Dunkelzahn enjoyed similar levels of popularity, there would probably have been a growing fear among political opponents of a dragon ruling UCAS for millenias to come. I can see him possibly serving a third term (as there are human precedents for that), but too many people would feel uncomfortable with a dragon becoming the first president of the union to serve four terms.
Dunkelzahn death near the Watergate left no body. He edited his Will to bequest the Dragonheart to Ryan Mercury, showing he considered it could end this way, but he nonetheless left the article bequesting his body to the Dunkelzahn Institute.Maybe it's possible to discover his body? I remember hearing some kind of theory that he was alive and somewhere in the Metaplanes, fighting the Horrors.
His physical body was vaporized in the explosion.Which means we all know he isn't dead. No body, he's still alive, just waiting to come back. ;D
In Artifacts Unbound, Harlequin says that Dunkelzhan used a nuke to kill himself (and likely kept the blast contained by means of a powerful ward).Why would he bother getting elected President if he was going to kill himself on his inauguration night? Seems weird.
Any explosion sufficient to atomizing a fully-grown Great Dragon, bones and all, should have caused WAAAAY more collateral damage.If I remember, the description made in the Stranger Souls novel suggests the explosion range was somehow limited by a magical effect of some sort, leaving Nadja Daviar, Carla Brooks and the other persons standing in fron of the Watergate shocked by unharmed.
Why would he bother getting elected President if he was going to kill himself on his inauguration night? Seems weird.The Dragonheart was an emergency contingency plan if the Aztlan blood mages were to find an artifact called the Locus and started a ritual with it. It's not clear when Dunkelzahn learnt about the locus, the blood mages effort to find it, their goal, and when he created the Dragonheart. All we know from Stranger Souls is that he learnt (from Ryan Mercury) that they had found the locus just minutes before his death.
Long story short, Aztech is a bunch of dicks, and their continued existence is why we can't have nice things.Horizon might have things to say about that as they're now king of the PR Pile...
Alright, how about "They fill an important niche." Without AZT, all your computer stuff would be much more expensive. You probably wouldn't have those fancy commlinks either. People in the north would have starved. Your opinion that making money while doing good is... well, I'll stop there because it would become a massive political socioeconomic rant.
Corporations are not "Teh Evulz". They do stuff for the bottom line because they have to answer to their stock holders. Since stock holders just get a short notice, all they really care about is the bottom line. If shareholders could somehow share in the sunshine and lollipops, then corporations would be more interested in being nice nice.
Corporations are not "Teh Evulz". They do stuff for the bottom line because they have to answer to their stock holders. Since stock holders just get a short notice, all they really care about is the bottom line. If shareholders could somehow share in the sunshine and lollipops, then corporations would be more interested in being nice nice.All right. Who are the stockholders of AZT?
Long story short, Aztech is a bunch of dicks, and their continued existence is why we can't have nice things.LOL!!! Oh, +1 to you! I might have to sig this one of these days!!
No, Joe. Just no. AZT has its well deserved reputation for evil for a reason. Cabals of blood mages, and using living people as sacrifices?Sacrifice magic is not evil. An entire religion was built around that. And those people volunteered to sacrifice themselves. Corporations kill people every day, thousands of people through improper safety measures in cars, toxic chemicals in foods, etc. At least the Azzies are using deaths for something rather than just throwing it away.
Being so quick to doublecross people that the word becomes synonymous with AZT? Evil.That sounds like sour grapes. If they really double crossed people that much, nobody would deal with them. And yet we keep hearing about more people being double crossed. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.
Making Sangre del Diablo trees? Evil. And those are just the evils the running world knows about.Pfft! You act like dragons weren't spawned from the Horrors in the first place. That's like saying that great dragon has a sweet tooth.
AZT is evil to the core, and it isn't a bunch of feathered serpents running it, but a Horror-touched great dragon.
Long story short, Aztech is a bunch of dicks, and their continued existence is why we can't have nice things.LOL!!! Oh, +1 to you! I might have to sig this one of these days!!
I see no hard evidence that blood magic is bringing the Horrors any sooner.Aside from that being the whole plot of The Dragonheart Saga and why Dunkelzahn offed himself to empower the Dragonheart.
I see no hard evidence that blood magic is bringing the Horrors any sooner. If I'm going to bitch about AZT it will be about the ridiculous amount of quantifiable pollution they are doing rather than the 1 in a hundred thousand people that use sacrifice magic. Of course, they might be the misunderstood good guys and their pollution strategy is a tactic to make manaspace so polluted that the Horrors can't survive in it.1) Read Harlequin's Back, House of the Sun, Worlds Without End, and the Dragonheart Trilogy. Then we'll talk.
1) Read Harlequin's Back, House of the Sun, Worlds Without End, and the Dragonheart Trilogy. Then we'll talk.But the Blood Elves survived didn't they? And why did they have to go through the Ritual? Because they refused the perfectly suitable Rites of Passage the Therans offered. Those books were written from the perspective or bias of renegades. Thera was founded on the notion of surviving the Scourge. Yes, they charged a lot for their Rites, but the people that paid did survive.
2) The Blood Elves tried something like that, too. The medicine was worse than the disease.
Well then, what if Dunkelzahn was actually behind Aztechnology this whole time so that he could play the adversary and also the savior. Lead everyone up to the edge so that they can see the danger, then pull them away so they think you're helping.Got any evidence?
How about the ritual D used at the Watergate was blood magic and the only people studying that intensively are the Azzies?This is not true. They're the most obvious about it, but they're hardly alone.
Dunkelzahn first came into the 6th World out of Cherry Creek Lake in Denver... in what became the Aztlan Sector... and yet he didn't kick them out?He was never much for overt shows of force.
Dunkelzahn would have known full well that a nuke wouldn't take out bugs, and yet he let Knight set it off in Chicago when he had a significant pull in the board room.How would he have known that? It's not like he had done extensive tests of Ares nuclear weapons.
The Draco foundation bounty on Blood Mages is for LIVING blood mages only, i.e. they might not be killing them.You can't put a bounty on dead blood mages, because people would just start killing random dudes and saying "hey, I caught this guy doing blood magic".
Well then, what if Dunkelzahn was actually behind Aztechnology this whole time so that he could play the adversary and also the savior. Lead everyone up to the edge so that they can see the danger, then pull them away so they think you're helping.
Got any evidence?
Very often, evil is determined by which end of the sword you're looking at.I've always disliked extreme moral relativism. If we can't agree on some kind of definition of evil, then the word has no meaning. This is ridiculous enough when applied to reality, but in the context of a fictional gaming world, it is completely unnecessary.
Anyway, I vote we stop discussing 'Evil' because alignment debates will rage on for countless pages with absolutely no payoff.
Cutting people's chests open to feed bloodthirsty "gods" in order to increase share value is evil, m'kay? ;DI must disagree with this extremely relativist point of view.
Then they're cutting people open for dreks and giggles?Cutting people's chests open to feed bloodthirsty "gods" in order to increase share value is evil, m'kay? ;DI must disagree with this extremely relativist point of view.
Aztechnology being a private corporation, its share are not publicly traded and thus have zero Market Value. Even if you were to account for an increase of share Fair Value, it would include subjective factors.
Surgeons cut people open all the time.
Street Samurai cut people open all the time. Soldiers cut people open (with bullets) all the time.
All of that is ok, but magicians aren't allowed to do that. Now the thing is, all those other things are called evil depending on the society in question. So if you consider the Aztlan blood magic evil, it is because your society says so, not because it is inherently evil.
Also you aren't answering the whole "enslavment of another persons spirit" thing.Never heard of wage slavery?
Evil is based on perception, I think we all agree on that. However, there are actions that are pretty universally considered evil.No, we can't. If you want my agreement, you have to stop using the term 'Evil' as it applies to a corporation. You can use callous disregard for the sanctity of human life. You can use unethical business practices. You can use environmentally irresponsible. But you're not allowed to use 'evil'.
Perfectly valid reasons to haite/strike against Aztlan/Aztechnology that have nothing to do with them being evil.9. You're a Shadowrunner with more morals than Kane or Clockwork. ;D (And, honestly, even I think Kane feeds them "Poison Pills" for his money.).
1. You're a Texan.
2. You're a Southern Californian
3. You're from the Yucatan
4. You're a Carribean drug runner
5. You're Amazonian
6. You belong to a competing megacorp
7. You can't pronounce most of their cities and it pisses you off
8. It is Tuesday
Perfectly valid reasons to haite/strike against Aztlan/Aztechnology that have nothing to do with them being evil.9. You're a Shadowrunner with more morals than Kane or Clockwork. ;D (And, honestly, even I think Kane feeds them "Poison Pills" for his money.).
8. It is Tuesday
Let me make this easy for you. I will refute any magic basis for applying evil to Aztechnology. Magicians account for less than 1 person in 100,000 people. I can easily write off any magic as experimental or rogue events. If you're going to get any traction, you need an argument based off of the mundane aspects of the corporation.
Evil is acting against a moral code. There are lines of thought that say that people can't be evil, just actions. There are also philosophies that state that some evil is good and in fact necessary. But going back to the definition there, notice how vague and potentially all encompassing it is... acting against A moral code. Since there are countless moral codes, many mutually exclusive, calling something evil is much akin to the pot calling the kettle black. And that is pretty much my point.(Emphasis mine.)
*snip*(emphasis mine, of course)
Using this central tenet of virtually every known religion and society (murder being just about the one thing that is illegal throughout the world), we must now review the actions of Aztechnology and Aztlan for egregious violations of this tenet.
*snip*
Gotta disagree, Can. Duty is well known in the Sixth World. Sure, a redneck CSA corporal may not like some of his higher ups if the are a minority he has a bias against, but it is his duty to yell "How high, sir!" when his commanding officer says to jump. He will just whine and bitch about it when he's off-duty. Honor, well, you find honor in the oddest places, and it's always subjective. A paladin from Charlemagne's court would not see anything honorable about a Yakuza oyubun, but the people under the oyubun would gladly disagree heartily. It's perspective in that sense. As far as good... We can't even define "evil" in the Sixth World, how can we figure out what good is? Is it a full belly and a warm place to sleep? Is it 'hooding for the local community? Is it even driving your enemies before you, and hearing the lamentations of their women? Again, perspective. Lots of great role-playing to be had just finding those perspectives in the Sixth World.Sorry Lacynth40, you're right.
I refute magic claims because even by your estimates, it is one person in a thousand. And of those, far fewer are performing the blood magic. Statistically speaking, it is an anomaly.
Aztlan combat mages do not have a sack of babies that they sacrifice for casual spells, they have volunteers... probably well paid, but still... who are there to support the magician while he is defending his country.
I refute magic claims because even by your estimates, it is one person in a thousand. And of those, far fewer are performing the blood magic. Statistically speaking, it is an anomaly.
Aztlan combat mages do not have a sack of babies that they sacrifice for casual spells, they have volunteers... probably well paid, but still... who are there to support the magician while he is defending his country.
Man eating trees are just one more example of governments using plants and animals in a military role. This goes back to the day after man discovered horticulture. There are hedges and briars, the British once made an 'impenetrable' thicket of thorns that spanned all of India to control the salt trade. They still use thorny acacia walls to protect settlements in Africa. Poisonous plants are used in various roles too. Ignoring that, Nature has created its own man killing trees. There is a species of Eucalyptus indigenous to Australia that grows to over 300 feet tall and during droughts will shed limbs half the diameter of the trunk. There are trees which exude a toxin into the surroundings so that it doesn't have to compete with other plants for sunlight, there's a company that planted acres of this stuff for pulp wood and wiped out entire ecosystems.
I think that you are missing a more important fact with the man eating trees. Aztlan created a magic tree... take a moment to really let that sink in. They created a magic organism. This is not just a one off quirk, they made enough of it that they can deploy it as a defense mechanism. If they can make a magic tree, what else can they make?
"Inflict no harm" ... alright you completely missed my point. Everyone inflicts harm. So by that logic, everyone is evil. If everyone is evil, what's your justification for action against any specific group?
I didn't make up that definition of evil, I pulled it right off of Wikipedia, and before you poo poo wikipedia, it has been shown to be 98% accurate compared to college texts.
When I see things like 99% of people consider such and such evil, I think that they are severely overestimating their case. First of all, the Aztlaners don't think its evil, that's a big chunk of the population right there. Then if you go overseas, Asia doesn't care, particularly the Bhudists. The NAN can't acknowledge blood magic is evil because they were founded on it (the Great Ghost Dance). Africa is in no position to be the moral high ground... That leaves CAS, UCAS, Europe and Amazonia... and CAS and Amazonia are biased for political reasons. Which leaves the UCAS and Europe... which means that Blood Magic is evil in the opinion of the Puritanical Western philosophy... big shock.
This is what I want you to take away from this discussion:
Cardboard evil is fine for a Saturday morning cartoon where you need to clearly show who to root for within the half hour time slot, but you can do better than that when telling a bigger grander story where other people can interact with it. Yes, Aztechnology is a bad guy, but just one of many. Yes, Aztechnology has in the past and will in the future be involved with horribly unpalatable things, but these things are not the ends, they are the means to accomplish some greater goal. As a Runner, have actionable evidence before you act against any megacorp, of course that evidence could be a 10K nuyen deposit.
Trollolololololol U Mad?
I agree not all Azzie mages should be blood mages, but there are enough in places of power where they can't be discounted. The Vicar General for instance is in charge of the state religion or at least the path of the sun, which is a very high ranking position.The Church exists because it is a tool of the State. That doesn't mean that the influence moves up the power chain.
Blood mages do not run Aztechnology. They are a tool that exists to serve Aztlan and Aztechnology. The ability to throw a nasty fireball is something every two bit lieutenant in the armed forces has with a simple radio call. That isn't what lets you run a company.
Let me make this clear, I'm not saying that they are good guys, on the contrary they are bad, but evil is not the term I put on corporations. Also, other corporations do far worse on a grander scale than the little pockets of magical assault that the rest of you are harping on. Aztechnology does far worse stuff on a mundane scale than it does magically.
My stance is that actions can be evil but people and corporations can't [be evil].
*SNIP*
I personally don't think that anyone capable of putting together an organization like Aztechnology is foolish enough to have that as a goal.
For the record, he was definitely trolling, and he did a good enough job to kill my thread.
Thanks, dick.
Growing up with old Marvel comics, I have a special place in my heart for "What If?" scenarios, so I was wondering: What if Dunkelzahn never died?
Now, I know that his death was related somehow to trying to stop the Horrors through something called the Dragonheart, but let's examine a few alternate scenarios:
1. Dunkelzahn returns in the mid to late 2070's, restored by some weird Artifact or other that the Draco Foundation located. What would he do? How would the other GD's react?
2. Dunkelzahn's death was faked, and he has been behind the Draco Foundation all along. What has he been doing all this time?
3. Dunkelzahn's death never happened. He either survived the explosion, or the explosion never happened. What would an active, public Dunkelzahn with the might of the UCAS behind him have done? How might the 2070's look differeng if this occurred?
For the record, he was definitely trolling, and he did a good enough job to kill my thread.
Thanks, dick.
Threads can be resurrected.
Now... hmmm...
1. This is hard, things have changed and his place in the world is well and truly gone. Retake control of the Foundation, maybe a public role in the United Nations (ambasador for peace or somesuch). He might use his shares in Ares (via Nadia) to begin to bring balance and sanity back to the corp... or he may end up with a seat on the board of a different corp (maybe Evo?). Of course this assumes that he can abandone his place in the metaplanes. Would upset the current dragon maneuvers a lot. Even 'allies' like hestiby or ghostwalker may not react favourably...
2. Metaplanes stuff. Maybe gathering artifacts to strengthen the barriers, building a safe haven somewhere for when the horrors arrive, laying eggs and raising baby dragons... building an army of drakes... travelling the world disguised as a normal guy, helping people randomly as he drifts from town to town.
3. Assumes that he didn't need to sacrifice himself... A more stable UCAS, one in which Ares has been kept sane, in which there was no new revolution coup attempts. Perhaps one which has built alliances with strange friends around the world. Possibly even reincorporated some of the successor nations like Quebec (A dragon actively playing politics can do anything...) Maybe a UCAS which is far more active on the international stage, particularly with magical threats. Maybe even actively intervening in the Amazonia/Aztlan conflict..... however, people would become tired of him, and begin to fear the President who never gets old. The constant media scrutiny (particular by the press working for his political enemies) would find examples of his 'alien' mindset. Dunky may even struggle to achieve his goals with so much public spotlight and gracefully retire so that he can actually get things done... Actually that fits Point 2 quiet well...
1. Dunkelzahn returns in the mid to late 2070's, restored by some weird Artifact or other that the Draco Foundation located. What would he do? How would the other GD's react?Following much of the Shedim incidents, raising the dead was declared illegal. So whoever did it would be in hot water legally. Also, once dead, you lose all rights. At best, he would be a secret tool of whoever brought him back.
2. Dunkelzahn's death was faked, and he has been behind the Draco Foundation all along. What has he been doing all this time?This is major insurance fraud. Again very illegal.
3. Dunkelzahn's death never happened. He either survived the explosion, or the explosion never happened. What would an active, public Dunkelzahn with the might of the UCAS behind him have done? How might the 2070's look differeng if this occurred?
Personally, I find it dubious for a dragon to be allowed to run for President of the UCAS.Dunkelzahn citizenship was a political move that sort of backfired. President Thomas Steele and his political allies had the popular dragon granted full citizenship by a special act of the Congress, overcoming the specie issue.
I find it even more dubious for him to win the election (screw the popular vote, there's an electoral congress for just this sort of reason.).
The Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North AmericaNo electoral college so. Also, Dunkelzahn won "by a narrow margin" over Kenneth Brackhaven, and there was as much as six candidates. So the dragon's actual result may have been anywhere from 50 to 20%.
The president and vice president are elected to four-year terms, but by a simple majority of the popular ballot. The UCAS has no electoral college. There is also no limit on the number of terms a president may serve.
Shadows of North America, page 168
The president and vice president are elected to four-year terms by a simple majority of vote of the popular ballot (the UCAS has no electoral college). There is no limit to the number of terms a president may serve.
The "naturel-born-citizen" clause would likely not prevent Dunkelzahn from running. The seven first presidents of the United States were born in places that would be part of the US territory, but they couldn't be citizen of something that didn't exist at the time. The issue was even more complicated when the UCAS formed, since part of the UCAS population (and UCAS politicians) were born in places that would not be part of the UCAS as they were given to the NAN in 2018.He used the loophole that was created to allow Canadians to run for President when the UCAS was founded, IIRC.
Dunkelzahn was not born in a place that is part of the UCAS (Europe probably). But he was already residing in Colorado when it became part of the United States. So it would depend a lot on the exact wording of the UCAS Constitution.
Also, Dunkelzahn won "by a narrow margin" over Kenneth Brackhaven, and there was as much as six candidates. So the dragon's actual result may have been anywhere from 50 to 20%.
Here are the official election results, finalized by the UCAS gummint its own self. Dunkelzahn: 47,827,746 votes, or 37%. Brackhaven: 38,754,731 votes, or 30%. Vogel: 23,200,993 votes, or 18%. Yeats/Penchyk: 12,831,834 votes, or 10%. Hernandez: 5,054,964, or 4%. Booth: 1,166,530, or 1%. Other freaks and weirdoes got 777,687 votes. Click here for more useless breakdowns.
Was it ever mentioned why The Big D wanted Lars J. Matthews dead so bad?No.
Also, Dunkelzahn won "by a narrow margin" over Kenneth Brackhaven, and there was as much as six candidates. So the dragon's actual result may have been anywhere from 50 to 20%.
From Underworld, the Shadowland v2.1 News page (Page 7)QuoteHere are the official election results, finalized by the UCAS gummint its own self. Dunkelzahn: 47,827,746 votes, or 37%. Brackhaven: 38,754,731 votes, or 30%. Vogel: 23,200,993 votes, or 18%. Yeats/Penchyk: 12,831,834 votes, or 10%. Hernandez: 5,054,964, or 4%. Booth: 1,166,530, or 1%. Other freaks and weirdoes got 777,687 votes. Click here for more useless breakdowns.
The UCAS has the worst system possible for electing the President, a simple winner-take-all system based solely on the highest number of votes combined with six major political parties.
Growing up with old Marvel comics, I have a special place in my heart for "What If?" scenarios, so I was wondering: What if Dunkelzahn never died?
Now, I know that his death was related somehow to trying to stop the Horrors through something called the Dragonheart, but let's examine a few alternate scenarios:
1. Dunkelzahn returns in the mid to late 2070's, restored by some weird Artifact or other that the Draco Foundation located. What would he do? How would the other GD's react?
2. Dunkelzahn's death was faked, and he has been behind the Draco Foundation all along. What has he been doing all this time?
3. Dunkelzahn's death never happened. He either survived the explosion, or the explosion never happened. What would an active, public Dunkelzahn with the might of the UCAS behind him have done? How might the 2070's look differeng if this occurred?
That's over 75% voter turnout. About a third higher than typical for presidential elections. And that was after the population went through another voter fraud election. Now if you factor out the votes for Dunklezahn, it comes right back in line with the typical voter turn out. Seems legit...Especially with an election where you have a dragon actually running for office. When Obama ran in '08, there was an increased turnout as well, for similar reasons. First of its kind, historic run, and all that. I'd imagine there was fairly high voter turnout when Colloton ran, as well, being the hero of both the Arcology and stomping on the New Revolution.
CanRay did you just toss your hat into the ring for President or Mayor or whatever y'all have up there? ;)Leader of a Party, and possible Prime Minister or Loyal Opposition Leader.
That's over 75% voter turnout. About a third higher than typical for presidential elections. And that was after the population went through another voter fraud election. Now if you factor out the votes for Dunklezahn, it comes right back in line with the typical voter turn out. Seems legit...
A lot of good ideas in here. And great thoughts as well. I have to agree wholeheartedly with #1. The other great dragons, even his allies, have been forced to deal with the Draco foundation ordeal and then move their own plans forward. Having Dunkelzahn back would certainly toss some spanners in some engine works, for which they may not be wholly thankful.
I like your take on #2, roughly what I saw as likely in the event of a fake-out as well. Gonna have to chew on #3 a bit. I agree the media would eventually latch onto his Draconic traits as the means to crucify his terms but really have not thought about what his terms may have been like..
Alexis
*smiles*
I wonder what Big D would actually do in power as well... you known, the more mundane things that a President does, like.. policy. Does the UCAS become more efficent, does he reform health care? curb corporate power? rebuild the military (maybe, maybe not), improve education (most certainly I think). What was his policy platform beyond, 'I'm a Dragon, I care, and oh, I'm not the other guys'. Is he an international president, travelly the world and bring peace to... somewhere war-torn (shouldnt be hard to find). (Actually, I think not, because to do so would bring conflict with other Dragons, however indirectly). Or does he show up in small cities (do they have towns anymore?) and do the whole town hall thing that Americans seem to like? Open a factory and things like that? Does he recruit that dwarf eco-activist (forgotten his name for the moment) to his cabinet?
Oh, do UCAS (or USA for lack of information) politicians need to declare their financial interests? To avoid conflicts of interests and such? And do they need to move ownership from themselves, like give to their partners or a trust they dont manage? Because he had a lot of stock and a lot of potential conflicts of interests. Specially when your involved in foreign policy and the country your in negotiations is Aztlan and your a board member of the national corporation Aztechnology...
Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*
And you believed the Recruiting Officer??? ::)Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*Actually, I thought it was one full tour and you get your SIN at the end of it whether you re-up or not.
Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*
Actually, I thought it was one full tour and you get your SIN at the end of it whether you re-up or not.
Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*
Actually, I thought it was one full tour and you get your SIN at the end of it whether you re-up or not.
I never thought about this but it would be an interesting game where the premise is you have some semi experienced shadowrunners that for different reasons decide or are recruited into the UCAS military as a specialist "government shadowrun" military unit. I actually think after I get my feet wet playing a bit I'm going to run that campaign it would be rather fun I think. Imagine something like Mission Impossible or Division(Nikita) in the world of shadowrun. It wouldn't be as freelance as normal runs but you would also get more resources.
Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*
Actually, I thought it was one full tour and you get your SIN at the end of it whether you re-up or not.
I never thought about this but it would be an interesting game where the premise is you have some semi experienced shadowrunners that for different reasons decide or are recruited into the UCAS military as a specialist "government shadowrun" military unit. I actually think after I get my feet wet playing a bit I'm going to run that campaign it would be rather fun I think. Imagine something like Mission Impossible or Division(Nikita) in the world of shadowrun. It wouldn't be as freelance as normal runs but you would also get more resources.
Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*
Actually, I thought it was one full tour and you get your SIN at the end of it whether you re-up or not.
I never thought about this but it would be an interesting game where the premise is you have some semi experienced shadowrunners that for different reasons decide or are recruited into the UCAS military as a specialist "government shadowrun" military unit. I actually think after I get my feet wet playing a bit I'm going to run that campaign it would be rather fun I think. Imagine something like Mission Impossible or Division(Nikita) in the world of shadowrun. It wouldn't be as freelance as normal runs but you would also get more resources.
My suggestion here would be to give them something like 450 BP or 900 Karma. Allow a rank or two of initiation/submersion, but don't let them spend any BP/Karma on Nuyen. Instead, give them something like 250,000¥* each for equipment and set the Availability cap at a flat 30 or 35, no Restricted Gear possible. Then, throw in "squad equipment" (vehicles and drones) and "consumables" (bullets, explosives, medkits, etc) for free as part of the unit's "operating budget".
That means that they, like the real Military, won't have to worry about the price-tag of the ordinance they're throwing down range, as long as they don't go overboard. Combine that with being able to skip the "baby steps" in gearing up, and that will put them squarely in the "Elite Commando" category, while still leaving them room to grow.
*If anyone wants to play a Technomancer, the only type that gets kinda screwed by this starting arrangement, I'd probably let them "buy" extra BP/Karma (1 BP/Karma for 5,000¥/2,500¥) out of their gear budget since they're the only ones without much in the way of tech or Foci to buy.
Why wouldn't the technomancer just get a lot of drones? Machine sprite in military biodrones.Bah! The SINless can get a SIN, all they have to do is a few stretches in the Military! What's 20-years of your life for citizenship for your family? :P *Cough*Orc's Lifetime*Cough*
Actually, I thought it was one full tour and you get your SIN at the end of it whether you re-up or not.
I never thought about this but it would be an interesting game where the premise is you have some semi experienced shadowrunners that for different reasons decide or are recruited into the UCAS military as a specialist "government shadowrun" military unit. I actually think after I get my feet wet playing a bit I'm going to run that campaign it would be rather fun I think. Imagine something like Mission Impossible or Division(Nikita) in the world of shadowrun. It wouldn't be as freelance as normal runs but you would also get more resources.
My suggestion here would be to give them something like 450 BP or 900 Karma. Allow a rank or two of initiation/submersion, but don't let them spend any BP/Karma on Nuyen. Instead, give them something like 250,000¥* each for equipment and set the Availability cap at a flat 30 or 35, no Restricted Gear possible. Then, throw in "squad equipment" (vehicles and drones) and "consumables" (bullets, explosives, medkits, etc) for free as part of the unit's "operating budget".
That means that they, like the real Military, won't have to worry about the price-tag of the ordinance they're throwing down range, as long as they don't go overboard. Combine that with being able to skip the "baby steps" in gearing up, and that will put them squarely in the "Elite Commando" category, while still leaving them room to grow.
*If anyone wants to play a Technomancer, the only type that gets kinda screwed by this starting arrangement, I'd probably let them "buy" extra BP/Karma (1 BP/Karma for 5,000¥/2,500¥) out of their gear budget since they're the only ones without much in the way of tech or Foci to buy.
Why wouldn't the technomancer just get a lot of drones? Machine sprite in military biodrones.
Also, Dunkelzahn won "by a narrow margin" over Kenneth Brackhaven, and there was as much as six candidates. So the dragon's actual result may have been anywhere from 50 to 20%.
Underworld, Shadowland v2.1 News (Page 7):QuoteHere are the official election results, finalized by the UCAS gummint its own self. Dunkelzahn: 47,827,746 votes, or 37%. Brackhaven: 38,754,731 votes, or 30%. Vogel: 23,200,993 votes, or 18%. Yeats/Penchyk: 12,831,834 votes, or 10%. Hernandez: 5,054,964, or 4%. Booth: 1,166,530, or 1%. Other freaks and weirdoes got 777,687 votes. Click here for more useless breakdowns.
Also remember that election was a "special election" too, it was an election to fix the massive amount of e-vote tampering in the normal election.
The UCAS has the worst system possible for electing the President, a simple winner-take-all system based solely on the highest number of votes combined with six major political parties.
Anyway, it doesn't matter where he was born because the natural born citizen requirement isn't in the UCAS Constitution. However it applied to Dunkelzahn, it was made absolutely clear when Nadja Daviar became Vice President (and then President, maybe :-X ) because she was born in Estonia.
Also remember that election was a "special election" too, it was an election to fix the massive amount of e-vote tampering in the normal election.Indeed.
Why wouldn't the technomancer just get a lot of drones? Machine sprite in military biodrones.
Oh, they would. Thing is, "Squad Equipment" isn't part of the 250,000¥ budget, and both drones and vehicles count as "Squad Equipment" since they're robotic support for the whole squad, even though one player controls them. That also means Rigger types (Machine Sprite + Drone = TechnoRigger) can use proper military-grade hardware.
Essentially, for a game like this your missions are going to end up divided between "Sensitive Situation" missions, where stealth and discretion are of the utmost importance, and "Assault" missions.
"Sensitive Situation" missions check the players because you can't use the really nasty toys without screwing the pooch.
"Assault" missions, on the other hand, are going to be the pinkest and most mohawk-y of Pink Mohawk scenarios. The kinds of scenarios where using a swarm of Chameleon-Coated Dragonfly C12 drones to blow up a building would be a reasonable course of action.
Also remember that election was a "special election" too, it was an election to fix the massive amount of e-vote tampering in the normal election.Indeed.
How about indubitably?
Not necessarily true. They might sing it -- and then you've got a fan of Schoolhouse Rock and you're in real trouble...How about indubitably?Only if they can pronounce it out loud without stumbling. Anyone who can do that is 'evil genius' material.
+1 for you. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZzG1jg4Ifo#t=2m54s)Not necessarily true. They might sing it -- and then you've got a fan of Schoolhouse Rock and you're in real trouble...How about indubitably?Only if they can pronounce it out loud without stumbling. Anyone who can do that is 'evil genius' material.
Here's a lesson I learned many years ago on Shadowland, which became an iron-hard Law a week into law school:
Never trust anyone who says "Indeed."
Indeed.Here's a lesson I learned many years ago on Shadowland, which became an iron-hard Law a week into law school:
Never trust anyone who says "Indeed."
Teal'c would find that attitude/rule . . . irritating. ;)