But you already proved that the rul s work, Nath. In 2E, as you mentioned, it was a hypothetical potential concerning the Omega Orders. There weren't any rules set forth for them. It wasn't until latter that the rules concerning the orders were established and expounded on in 3E, by FASA who first created the idea of the Omega Order, that everything afterwards was governed by what came before. The hit on the Azzies was an Omega Order that was rescinded by the Corporate Court after the Azzies gave in and made a deal.
The game universe and ideas have to have some rules to govern, or else it would end up beings mass of contradicting ideas from multiple writers. As long as those rules are hypothetical like the original idea of theOmega Orders there is room to play with them. Once they get defined, like the golden ticket and the Omega Order after3E, then you have to try hard to stay within those rules. Sure, Catalyst could come up with a way to bypass them but it would need to have a good explanation for it and some major game event/history/plot to make it work.
It may worth reminding Operation Reciprocity was launched in 2048 - the QZE affair took place in 2042 IIRC.
Corporate Shadowfiles got out in 2054,
Corporate Download in 2061 and
Corporate Guide in 2072. So those precedents happened well before the information were released on Shadowland and Jackpoint.
Omega Order has been repeatedly described with expression like "open season" or "whatever happens" which Operation Reciprocity clearly was not. It was a limited, focused operation carried out only by AAA megacorporations. Moreover, it was kept secret in a way that did not allow any other megacorporations to participate.
As far as I remember, there was no such "warning shot" with QZE. This suggests Reciprocity may have been an
ad hoc response to the fact no one had seriously considered an Omega Order could be taken against a AAA prime megacorporation -
Aztlan does describe how court members had to made up a so-called "pan-corporate security committee" from which Aztechnology would be excluded to convene measures.
I think it could be retconed with Operation Reciprocity actually be an "Omega Order Phase 1" while the "Omega Order" people talk about actually is an "Omega Order Phase 2" (or 3, or whatever) - with protocols that could possibly allow to jumpstart to phase 2 if the court decide to.
And yes, the game universe is ending up being mass of contradicting ideas from multiples writers. According to
Corporate Shadowfiles and
Corporate Download, the Corporate Court authority was supposed to apply only to corporations. In
System Failure, it issued a killing order again a physical person: Art Dankwalther (that Richard Villiers considers an Omega Order according to a short story). "Don't overthrow a national government" and "don't go at war" are supposed to be golden rules of the court. In
War! Saeder-Krupp was waging an open war against the Nepalese government. Also, the size of megacorporate military forces have been changing from company to division levels. The NAN may recognize or deny the Corporate Court authority depending on whom is writing. And the list could go on.
SR setting is undergoing constant changes, sometimes because authors are willing to change it through events crafted for that purpose, sometimes because they don't know or don't remember what was written in the old sourcebooks, and sometimes because they are sincerely convinced it had always been like that and don't check for the source or the proper definition of a term.
Evo, or NeoNET, present surprise evidence that Corporation X is responsible for it and demand restitution or, failing that, an Omega Order to value of assets that they have lost due to the Lockdown and PR fallout. Evidence is measured, found to be accurate, and the order goes down.
Corporate Shadowfiles and
Corporate Download describe Omega Order as the case in which the court doesn't cap the extent of damage ("open season") -
Corporate Guide doesn't, because it doesn't mention such cap for any level of sanction.
