Any info on the coptic pope and his decision to invite and protect technomancers. Real conviction/philantrophy or a shrewd trick to acquire a new power base?
As far as I remember, the topic never received more attention than this, so this is left unanswered.
- The Almanac refers to “traditional egyptian magic” several times. What exactly is that? Are we looking at a shamanistic tradition with its own canon of “totems” in form of the egyptian gods or something else entirely?
It depends on the edition you are playing. I think first and second editions had none. Third edition's
Magic in the Shadows introduces Egyptian Magic, page 25, with Heka magicians as "pantheistic shamans" (shamans with no totem, who receive a random bonus each lunar cycle). Fourth edition's
Street Magic doesn't treat Egyptian magic as a distinct tradition, but does give page 184 suggestion for mentor spirit to use for several gods (if you ask me, hermeticism with optional mentor spirit seems the more consistent with actual Egyptian lore). Fifth edition has no rules that I know of.
As far as I know Egypt didn´t participate in any alliances that started the second round of the Eurowars, but faced an invasion itself. How did that work out and how could it resist annexation? Simple military might or some kind of political compromise?
It's complicated, because almost every single book that ever gave information about the second Eurowar happened to gave a different version.
The German sourcebook
Deutschland in der Schatten, which originally introduced it, mentions Pakistan attacking India, Arabian peninsula attacking Egypt, Morroco attacking Algeria, Iran attacking Turkmenistan, Turkey attacking Greece and Bulgaria, and everyone attacking Israel.
The
Germany Sourcebook, which supposedly was a translation of
Deutschland in der Schatten, actually contains slightly altered material: it only mentions the Turkish attack on European countries. The German sourcebook
Walzer, Punks und Schwarzes Ice also only refer to the Turkish attack.
Shadows of Europe, whose conception involved a number of people who took the original version for granted, reintroduced the multiple fronts.
SoE was the first to mention an attack launched from Morocco into Spain. It also described a divide between muslim countries, between the Alliance of Allah that included Turkey, and a short-lived Federation of Islamic States including Morocco, Kuwait, Egypt, Jordan and others, with Morocco and Jordan leaving soon after their governments were overthrown.
Shadows of Asia, which covers Middle East but not North Africa, this doesn't mention Egypt (or Morocco, for that matter).
Euro War Antiques was the first sourcebook to completely overturn Egypt role, mentioning Egypt as a recruitment and training ground for the Alliance for Allah, the launching of missiles from Egypt onto Israel, an attack by the Italian navy against Alexandria, and an unconfirmed attempt to intercept a British air raid in Morocco.
- Which cons are active in Egypt? I guess when it comes to the big 10 probably all of them to a certain extent, but I would like to know which of them have the bigger market share, what noteworthy investments they made and what industrial installations they maintain.
- Also, which foreign AA-rated cons have a presence there and are there any cons of egyptian origin of note? (Like Global Sandstorms in the Caliphate)
The only independant Egyptian corporation I know is the Apep Consortium, a A-rated multinational corporation focused on archeological-magical research with very shadowy backing - see
Loose Alliances.
Shadows of Asia says Arabian corporations Xenel-Oman and Ifrit Services are active in Egypt.
Corporate Guide stays Neonet has the contract to run the Egyptian Matrix, and Horizon one to revamp their educational system.
The Frankfurter Bankverein used to have a subsidiary called United Nile Insurance Company.
- Is the regular police still in the hands of the state of handed over to a con like Knight Errant, Lone Star etc?
According to
Shadows of Asia, Ifrit Services "boasts major policing contracts with sprawls in Egypt, ...".
I have a hard time to determine which of the international crime crime syndicates could play a major role in Egypt. From the usual suspects in SR canon (TAriads, Vory, Yakuza, Mafia) none seems to stick out as a natural fit.
Shadows of Europe introduced the Al-Akhirah Aswad Mayid as a criminal organization active in Southern Spain and North Africa, primarily Morocco. It wasn't specified how far in the east they spread, but
Ghost Cartels mentions AAAM members meeting with Olaya Cartel in Cairo.
The Knights of Rage used to be a street gang from London, created by persons of African descent, including Sudanese Nubians. Celedyr used them as a recruitment pool for operatives, and supported their development of criminal operations in Wales (with a now sizeable number of Welsh and Irish gang members), Egypt and Australia. Knights of Rage working as operatives for Celedyr were also sent to support the Nubian rebels against the Egyptian government in the 2060ies.
