Infinite worlds: The Earth of Shadowrun

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by walkir

Unless one of them looks like, say, fastjack. ;)

Or a Certain Dog Shaman....

[Jasonft]

(My apologies for any mangling of the story in question. Right about when this incident became official Canon was when I stopped reading the new sourcebooks...)


A minor but from the perspective of the IW powers important incident, and one that would *guarantee* the highest levels of interest and surveillance possible:

A Great Dragon was seen, and I think even filmed, coming out of (and manipulating?) a semi-permanent and probably inter dimensional Gate. This incident made the news planet-wide and could easily be picked up even by casual orbital surveillance that picks up news broadcasts.

I forget the name, but the death of Dunkelzhan (sp?) after he/ it became President left a literal hole in the Aether. There was a great deal of curiosity about said hole, especially as the Dragons weren't talking. A Dragon came through this hole FROM THE OTHER SIDE.

To the IW powers, this incident more than any others would make them crap their collective pants. It proves beyond a reasonable doubt that Dragons (at the very least Dragons, and possibly others) have extra-planar travel capabilities.

Once they realize just how capable Dragons are they might just nuke the whole planet if they think they could get away with it...

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by walkir

In the wilderness, perhaps, yes. But you can't insert people into an urban area, even in the 2020s.

Why not? Have your probe find someplace in the Barrens that's consistently unoccupied. It shouldn't be too hard - there are squatters there, sure, but I don't imagine it's anywhere near the population density of the non-hellhole parts of Seattle. :-)
Build a conveyor into a semi-trailer or similar, and move it across into the abandoned area, with the team and their gear. The team gets their gear out, moves out, and the conveyor automatically returns to Homeline, leaving no evidence. The team gets in contact with some locals, spreads some money around, and gets a fixer to get them some fake SINs.

[Flyndaran]

People disappear all the time in the real world... why not also in a distopian high tech/magic mess? This isn't TS ya' know?

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

A Great Dragon was seen, and I think even filmed, coming out of (and manipulating?) a semi-permanent and probably inter dimensional Gate.

You're thinking of Ghostwalker. Frankly, though, I don't think it would bother the Patrol any more than a lot of other stuff that goes on in Shadowrun. If they're already aware of the world, they would know about the metaplanes and the potential to travel there. And that great dragons can do freaky, dangerous things. :-)

[walkir]

Originally Posted by Jasonft

A minor but from the perspective of the IW powers important incident, and one that would *guarantee* the highest levels of interest and surveillance possible:

A Great Dragon was seen, and I think even filmed, coming out of (and manipulating?) a semi-permanent and probably inter dimensional Gate. This incident made the news planet-wide and could easily be picked up even by casual orbital surveillance that picks up news broadcasts.

I forget the name, but the death of Dunkelzhan (sp?) after he/ it became President left a literal hole in the Aether. There was a great deal of curiosity about said hole, especially as the Dragons weren't talking. A Dragon came through this hole FROM THE OTHER SIDE.

And then he flew away on the astral, picked up his body he conveniently stored elsewhere and wrecked Denver, yes. But that was in the 2060s. I want to keep this Earth in her own 2020s.

Once they realize just how capable Dragons are they might just nuke the whole planet if they think they could get away with it...

I think they simply close the door behind them, melt the keys and use the molten metal to close the lock before declaring this world as top secret+, black, or whatever you call it.

@Kelly: Air insertion may function, yes. But as I said, the patrol would never, ever put parachronic devices in that world for longer as necessary.
Well, they might get an old every day transport/trailer, get it into a parachronic transporter and refit it on Homeline. But they would never build a station on a TL9-world with magic and dragons...

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by walkir

But as I said, the patrol would never, ever put parachronic devices in that world for longer as necessary.

Oh, I definitely agree. Any conveyor going to Merlin-6 would have a mission profile of "jump in, load/unload, and get the heck out". No hanging about!

Originally Posted by walkir

Well, they might get an old every day transport/trailer, get it into a parachronic transporter and refit it on Homeline. But they would never build a station on a TL9-world with magic and dragons...

Hmm. Actually, I would say that a safehouse would be the first priority. It's safer to own a big warehouse with room for a conveyor to jump in than to rely on always jumping into a burned-out shell in the Barrens that you can't control access to. Obviously, they wouldn't keep a big database of "How to Build Conveyors" in the base, though. :-)
But given that the Patrol apparently has bases on worlds like Shikaku-Mon and Caliph, I can't imagine they'd be that leary of Shadowrun. Get a Patrolman mage learning this "summoning" business, and put up some watcher spirits of your own, and put up some security.

[walkir]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Hmm. Actually, I would say that a safehouse would be the first priority.

Definitely. I meant bas as in "base with projector".

It's safer to own a big warehouse with room for a conveyor to jump in than to rely on always jumping into a burned-out shell in the Barrens that you can't control access to. Obviously, they wouldn't keep a big database of "How to Build Conveyors" in the base, though. :-)
But given that the Patrol apparently has bases on worlds like Shikaku-Mon and Caliph, I can't imagine they'd be that leary of Shadowrun. Get a Patrolman mage learning this "summoning" business, and put up some watcher spirits of your own, and put up some security.

...keep White star small enough no Mega considers it interesting, prepare against shadowrunners anyway (hiring LoneStar, KnightErrant or whatever would be the best, I think).
And/or just buy stocks from every Mega that sells them and simply use that cash flow.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by walkir

...keep White star small enough no Mega considers it interesting,

I think you deal with the shadow economy only. Especially considering the size of that and the interlinked and continual monitoring of the aboveground economy.

I think White Star would actually have a pretty hard time dealing with the IRS in the 2009 real world much less a totally wired place like the SR world.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by walkir

Definitely. I meant bas as in "base with projector".

Oh, yeah. Totally. Actually, unless you assume that SR is world number three that's at the exact same time as Homeline, there's really no reason to assume that a projector would work there anyway. They generally don't.