[Longshot23]

I hope someone picks up this story thread and runs with it as we could use another big metaplot nasty to replace the insect spirits as they have been kinda squished by "Bug City."

Um, no. That would be news to Man-of-Many-Names, Sticks, Bull, Roger Soaring Owl . . . oh, and the insect spirits themselves. Conspiracy Theories has quite a chunky portion about how the bugs seem to be cranking up their game. The events of Bug City were the end result of years of effort by the bugs - and it's now ~20 years after. Okay, so there's no known equivalent of the Universal Brotherhood - that doesn't mean the bugs are gonna crawl, en masse, into a corner and die.

Sure, bugs as metaplot hasn't really been touched in a good while - just means the spotlight has been trained on other parts of the metaplot. Patience . . .

[martinchaen]

Longshot23
Check the date on that post; the only new post in this thread is mine. Serves me right for thread necromancy, I guess, but Conspiracy Theories wasn't even released in book form when Stormdrake made that comment.

I merely wanted to discuss the inconsistencies regarding Evo's missions to Mars, but so far neither of the two people posting after me has even made it to the end before commenting. Tells a story, for sure...

[Belker]

I've skimmed your post, and offer another possible explanation: the newer writers were either unaware of, or had forgotten if they were once aware of, the specific details of what had been written before. Keeping track of continuity in such a sprawling milieu as the Sixth World can be tricky, and AFAIK there's no central, easily searched repository of all the "hidden story" that the writers & freelancers can utilize. (I certainly don't know, and perhaps one of them could comment.) So I think that while a retcon is possible, it's certainly not the only explanation. My experience in another game community with a huge, sprawling history written by a large cast of disconnected writers (Traveller's Third Imperium setting) indicates that either is possible.

[martinchaen]

Belker
Thanks for the insight! That is a very good point, and certainly a valid one.

I briefly flirted with Shadowrun in its first edition, and only returned in time for the tail end of 4th. Would you say that there tends to be a propensity for accepting newer material as "more" canon, or does canon simply allow for inconsistencies seeing as how a lot of it is being brought to us, the readers, from the perspective of in-game characters?

[Belker]

Would you say that there tends to be a propensity for accepting newer material as "more" canon, or does canon simply allow for inconsistencies seeing as how a lot of it is being brought to us, the readers, from the perspective of in-game characters?

I'm not nearly informed enough to judge that, as I had a long break myself between 1992-93 and 2010, when I grabbed the 20th Anniversary book.

[Iridios]

You need a full-face helmet with a integrated Faraday Cage, and hope it's not one of the NSA-Models that can work with a spinal neural interface.

Had to read that line twice as I could not envision a functioning Faraday Cape!

[Reaver]

Belker
Thanks for the insight! That is a very good point, and certainly a valid one.

I briefly flirted with Shadowrun in its first edition, and only returned in time for the tail end of 4th. Would you say that there tends to be a propensity for accepting newer material as "more" canon, or does canon simply allow for inconsistencies seeing as how a lot of it is being brought to us, the readers, from the perspective of in-game characters?

Sadly Shadowrun has been abused a bit after FASA closed its doors.... A good many of the original writers have moved on (Steve Kenson, etc) or died (Nigel Findley), or even just retired! So, a lot of "hidden" plot hooks or details have been droped, rewritten, miss-quoted, etc....

My personal take of all of the little differences is to confine it to the edition, and chalk up any glowing inconsistancies to "data loss" after all, there have been 2 major crashes, 2 major matrix upgrades, and a host of Corps and love to rewrite history so they look like heroes.... Some shit is gonna get mixed up in the retelling

[martinchaen]

That's an excellent in-game justification, Reaver, thanks!

[Bruce]

The missing gap of time for the cosmonauts (if we accept that version of events) could have another explanation.

Magic, as far as we know, doesn't work in space, or any kind of void area.  However, the technological construct of the Matrix does not labor under that restriction.  Perhaps the origins of the Sybil Virus aren't completely terrestrial?  Or maybe the tech equivalent of a 'mutation'  (I'm old enough to remember when computer viruses were considered the first step to full artificial intelligence.)

[psycho835]

Perhaps the origins of the Sybil Virus aren't completely terrestrial?

What, you mean, aliens?

[CanRay]

Perhaps the origins of the Sybil Virus aren't completely terrestrial?

What, you mean, aliens?

Investing in lasers is looking better and better all the time.

[Bruce]

Everyone imagines aliens to be sentient creatures with bodies, often interested in carrying off our women.

An alien electromagnetic field, resembling a computer virus, travelling between the stars.  It encounters our cosmonauts and downloads itself into their cyberware (hence the blackout), the ship's computers, and similar devices.  Slowly it spreads throughout the Matrix, not sentient (yet) but seeking to propogate.  Matrix researchers find and isolate the strange code, studying it to find out what it is.  And in the research, the alien gets concentrated enough, and access to enough processing power, to wake up.  Now it follows its own agenda.

[Dinendae]

Perhaps the origins of the Sybil Virus aren't completely terrestrial?

What, you mean, aliens?

Investing in lasers is looking better and better all the time.

We better get back inside; they mostly come out at night. Mostly.

[Dinendae]

Everyone imagines aliens to be sentient creatures with bodies, often interested in carrying off our women.

An alien electromagnetic field, resembling a computer virus, travelling between the stars.  It encounters our cosmonauts and downloads itself into their cyberware (hence the blackout), the ship's computers, and similar devices.  Slowly it spreads throughout the Matrix, not sentient (yet) but seeking to propogate.  Matrix researchers find and isolate the strange code, studying it to find out what it is.  And in the research, the alien gets concentrated enough, and access to enough processing power, to wake up.  Now it follows its own agenda.

You've seen Virus, haven't you? 

[Reaver]

Not a bad movie.


Not a great one either...