Welcome to the Shadowland IC thread for the Living in the Shadows campaign. Any character approved to be in the Living in the Shadows: World IC game is allowed to post here. Please realize that as such, anything you say or do here is IN CHARACTER, and as such will have the appropriate consequences, for better and for worse, in the World IC thread. It is our hope that this thread will provide additional enjoyment to the campaign due to additional information and flavor, as well as adding still more realism to the campaign. Enjoy!

Due to his outstanding diligence and effort in making this happen, Ditaki will be the primary Shadowland SysOp (Read: Matrix World GM). Following this brief explanation (credit to Ditaki for writing it) is an excellent introduction as to what Shadowland is, what it’s for, and how to use it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask one of the GMs. Welcome to the team Ditaki!


Synopsis

The sixth world's got three distinct parts, chummers. The “real” world, where you, me, and all the other wage-slaves and runners stumble around in. The astral world, where wizheads and their spirits zoom around, and then you've got the Matrix.

Anybody who says that the Matrix isn't a part of their world either lives under a rock or's dead. Simple as that. Just like air, the Matrix is everywhere.

Greatest thing about the Matrix is that anybody can jack in and try and find what they want.

Worst thing about the Matrix is that anybody can jack in and try to find what they want.

Name's Fly-by. I'm gonna give you guys just a taste of the world of the Shadowlands: Seattle.


Information

More than nuyen, it's information that makes the world go round. When you need to know the guard-shift schedule for that giant S-K run coming up, or need to know where and when that teleporting SAN for the Mitsuhama system'll pop up, you can find it here. Names, numbers, locations, anything and everything can be found here, for a price.

Just remember, people can find just as much (and sometimes more) about you as you can about them. Remember that when you piss off the decker.


Shopping

Sure. You could find anything to buy on the Matrix for the right price. Frag, you could buy your groceries here (try seeing how much it costs to get 'em delivered to the Barrens first, chummer.) But when you need that extra clip of APDS that your fixer can't find for you, or need somebody to sell you some wheels ASAP, look here. And remember the golden rule: nuyen talks.


Contacting

Cell phones? P-Secs? Out of date, my friends. Why use an easily traceable phone call when you can hop into an LTG that'll last just long enough for your Johnson and yourself to get all buddy-buddy (not in that context...though it's easy to do that too). Why sit someplace where you can get gunned down or screwed over in person when you can talk to 'em from the comfort of your home? SOTA, chummers. SOTA.


Recreation
Any thing that tickles your soft spot, you can find on the Matrix. Women? Thousands. Chats? Covered. Chips? Just ask (and get some nuyen to back you up.) Any kind of guilty pleasure can usually be arranged and delivered, with a fragging bow if the nuyen's right.


Shadowland: Seattle (in particular)

Chummers, from the smallest ganger to Damien Knight himself, everybodys been around. Just ask. Long as you got the cred and the rep to back you up, you're beautiful. Information at your fingertips if you've got the skills and the deck to grab it. Anything you could find within the Matrix, but focused, and usually only the cream of the crop.


Structure

Basically, the Shadowlands are the Matrix-side of the Living in the Shadows world. Like the World threads, there's both an IC and an OOC thread.

Now, OOC is fairly simple. Ask questions, make rolls, all that jazz.

IC is slightly different. There are three kinds of posts that could (and probably will) happen in the Shadowland: IC threads.

-Information Gathering – Posted as a character from log-in. Describe how the Matrix looks to your character (Shadowland: Seattle is a pretty generic place for the most place, as it's mostly dedicated to storing data) while making Etiquette: Matrix tests in the OOC thread. The Matrix World GMs will coordinate with your World IC GM, and answer with what happens, and you'll either get your information or you won't.

-Fixing – This is a mix between Information Gathering and Shadowtalking. If your character is looking to find work, jobs, dropping off information to somebody or something else with a clear objective, this is the format to take. Your first post should mimic Information Gathering, but, if your characters got what's needed, soon they'll start chatting it up with an NPC.

-Shadowtalk – Sometimes NPCs (or even PCs, if you've got the goods) will post up a juicy tidbit of news for all to see. Posting it this is easy: make the news itself a different color. If you're replying to a bit of Shadowtalk, all you need to do is put your reply within QUOTE tags.

Basic Posting Guidelines:

-No Signatures, just like in other IC threads.
-Start each post with an entry like this:
0900, January 1, 2063 – Location (Location is optional)
Character (Decking Alias)
-Use colors and different fonts! This is the Matrix, anything can (and usually does) happen here. Use colors and fonts to help illustrate how your character would seem.

What the Shadowland: Seattle is:
-A place to interact with NPCs
-A place to write Shadowtalk and learn about the LitS World.
-A way to contact fixers, Johnsons, and other players.
-A place to buy information.

What the Shadowland: Seattle is not:
-A place for making actual Matrix runs (this should take place in an individual Jobs thread)
-A place to meta-game and such (Basically, if your character had the smarts to not post a secret that would incur Lowfyrs wrath, don't post it in this thread (or in the OOC thread for that matter.)
-A replacement for the Real World of LitS.
-A place only for Deckers. Everybody can go into the Shadowlands...maybe not far, but they can.
-Because it must be stressed again, the Shadowland is NOT only for Deckers.

Again, remember that this thread is an IN CHARACTER thread, and as such, is a part of what happens in the World IC thread. Just a reminder, because it's important.

Anything from Target: Matrix can be used. If your Bear Shaman wants to visit MagickNet for a new focus, we can do that. Just realize that the location is assumed to be the Shadowland: Seattle unless you say otherwise (as a favor, shoot a PM off to the World GM to let us know first.)

Please, feel free to e-mail and ask questions, and don't be afraid to take charge and shape bits and pieces of the world.

Sayounara, chummers. Remember: anything can happen here.

General LITS Information

Living in the Shadows: Guidelines
Living in the Shadows: Recruitment 1 (closed; see LITS: Recruitment 2)
Living in the Shadows: Recruitment 2
Living in the Shadows: Special Projects

Main LITS Threads

Living in the Shadows: SR 3 OOC
Living in the Shadows: SR 4 OOC
Living in the Shadows: IC Jan 1st - Jan 7th
Living in the Shadows: IC Jan 8th - Jan 14th
Living in the Shadows: Shadowland OOC
Living in the Shadows: Shadowland IC

Useful LITS-related Links

Living in the Shadows: Story Index Page
Useful Calendar Link for 2063
Seattle Sprawl Map

LITS Run Index

Living in the Shadows: The Warehouse Job OOC 1 (closed)
Living in the Shadows: The Warehouse Job IC 1 (closed)
Living in the Shadows: Running Over the Edge OOC 2 (closed)
Living in the Shadows: Running Over the Edge IC 2 (closed)
Living in the Shadows: Salvation OOC 3
Living in the Shadows: Salvation IC 3
Living in the Shadows: A Short Victorious War OOC 4
Living in the Shadows: A Short Victorious War IC 4

(Credit to Ditaki for writing this intro)

An ethereal hand rested upon the unremarkable wall, the color filtering through it. That hand was connected to an arm and to the rest of the body, a softly-glowing human shape, like a London fog contained within a man-shaped glass jar.

“Good to see you again, Severex.”

The hand jerked, and the head rose up.

“You have something for me, don't you?”

The voice was calm, authoritive. It belonged to a man in a tuxedo, with a black cape pulled over his body and a wide-brimmed hat concealing his face.

Severex trembled, and spoke.

“Seven hundred nuyen. We agreed, didn't we?”

“Already delivered. Check.”

The voice left no room for discussion. Severex's ethereal hand paused, and slowly, like smoke entering into a room, floated up before his eyes. Colors flickered within the mist. All too soon, the mist became his hand again.

“All right. Here.” whispered Severex. A tendril of gas floated forth from his fingers, to be quickly swept over by the man's cape, disappearing instantly.

The man tipped his hat. A dark hole opened in the floor, and he descended into it, and was gone.

In Seattle, a Shadowrunner by the name of Hairy Jerry smiled. Hairy never messed with the Matrix much, but sometimes it was more help then a fully loaded Ares Predator with a Smartlink II, and to a Street Samurai, that was something. The info he'd just recived would make a key part of their run against Ares happen.

In Washington DeeCee, an Ares decker jacked out and smiled too. Though he hadn't really the slightest idea what made an Ares Predator better than any of the other excellent AresArms products, he knew that the Matrix was his life. Thanks to the bogus info he'd just delivered, a certain group of shadowrunners wouldn't be running for too much longer.

Welcome to the Matrix, chummers. Just 'cause it ain't real don't mean it can't kill you.

1811 January 2, 2063
Lady Cheng

It had taken Cheng a substantial chunk of time to weave her way through the null-data nodes, false trails, and auto-redirect datastreams that warded the current location of Shadowland Seattle, and it was only because of the information Harmony had provided that she'd been able to follow the datatrail so quickly. That girl's got a talent for sniffing out addresses better than a MCT Hound-v8.1. I think I'll drop a little extra bonus in her mailbox for the good work -- maybe that slick backstage sim-tour chip of the Jersey Angels' that she was sighing over last week...

Despite all the false trails she'd tracked past, she was fairly certain now that she'd finally found the access node she was searching for. It was hidden in plain sight, after a fashion -- some wageslave's family portrait-corridor, with the walls sheathed in ReelWud™ textures and the floor with a generic Persian rug pattern, complete with UMS doors linking to said family members' own Matrix nodes. Typical node assembled by someone with a touch of nuyen and no real coding skills at all. But in the near corner, underneath the end table that huddled in the corner behind where the entry door to the node opened and half-concealed by the edge of the rug, her Analyze utility had turned up the the faint outline of a trapdoor.

She offered up a quick prayer to ancestors long in the ground, and slipped surreptitiously through the portal. Pixels swirled around her in a digital blizzard as she fell

no, not a blizzard, a rain of ash, dark grey mixed with white, the heat surrounding her, singeing her exposed flesh

the vaguely sweet scent of meat roasting nearby

the crackling roar of a spreading fire

nothing solid beneath her feet, free-fall, disconcerting, unsettling

tinges of reddish-orange light seen through the haze, as though a fire lurked just out of sight, and dark silhouettes slipping by in her peripheral vision

the sensation that something was standing right behind her, breathing on her neck

Cheng's mouth quirked in a half-smile. It was damned nice chokepoint design, overall -- confusing to the senses to throw off those expecting a particular motif, no simple visual clues to provide an obvious way out, and high-rating IC undoubtedly lurking nearb--

identification. now.

A rumbling male voice, deeper than any but the most testosterone-laden troll's. spoke merely those two words from what sounded like a foot behind her. Despite her confidence, Cheng jumped just the slightest bit.

Right. Play node critic later. She quickly retrieved a stick of incense and a blank rice-paper scroll from her satchel, and forged a passcode from a combination of pregenerated hack-codes, her math SPU's best algorithms, and a touch of inspired intuition. She fed it to what she assumed to be the gatekeeper, then leashed her thoughts, ready to evade detection or attempt a graceful logoff if things went awry. This should work, if my guess was right, but...

passcode accepted. entry granted. welcome to shadowland seattle.

I'm in.

1813 January 2, 2063
Lady Cheng

The dark expanse of Shadowland's central node spread out before her, a twilight hemisphere filled with portals, discussion board links, topic folders, classified posting lists, and more in a enormous variety of glimmering colors. Dozens of persona-icons of all different motifs, appearances, and qualities roamed through the space, individually and in clusters, interacting and sampling the available information like a buffet table.

I might as well do the same. Calmly, she tried to access the data-search functions that she expected to be present. Her incense-stick left a smoky pictogram in midair as she gave it instructions and details about what to look for. First things first. Let's see if I can backtrack whoever set the Triad gunmen on that meeting of mine eight days ago. There are rumors that Wuxing's got some kind of surreptitious connections with the Triads... maybe I slotted off tangential parties when I made some justice of my own for those he chu-sheng he za-jiao de zan-huo that murdered my mother.

1813 January 2, 2063
Lady Cheng

On the other hand, it might be completely unrelated to my actions against Wuxing. She considered possibilities for a moment, then sketched another character in midair with new search parameters -- to locate and identify the primary Triad factions operating in the Seattle area, and to report on recent activity they might have been involved in. I may have merely stepped on some local toes. If that's the case, they might be more willing to leave me alone if I don't interfere with their concerns in the future.

The two translucent pictograms hovered in midair near her left shoulder, indicating the ongoing searches and amount of information gathered. Meanwhile, I might as well explore on my own and see who and what might be found here.

1216 January 1 - 2063

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> CFS

Ork Extremist Shot by Saito Police Force

0644 January 1 - 2063 - San Francisco

On the dawn of the new year, General Saito put into effect his new policy, TEDO1-B. TEDO1-B is a plan to protect those cursed with metahumanity from those members of society that would cause them harm. TEDO1-B works by setting apart city blocks in which metahumans are invited to live, protecting them until human-metahuman relations can improve.

However, some metahumans are standing up against this policy. The police force has released details of metahuman plots to strike back against humans, killing innocents to exact revenge from the slight loss of property and the hassle of moving to a safer location. Professer Yukiko Tanagawa of Berkely's Psychology department had this to say:

"Sometimes, when a pet is faced with a change of lifestyle, it grows hostile, and will strike back, even at the family that has cared for it all of it's life. It's important to treat the animal with kindness and trust, to, as it would be, allow it to come out of it's shell. In this case, these metahuman extremists are just like the scared pet."

One such metahuman, an Ork by the name of William Beyes, fought against police forces early this morning. When told about TEDO1-B, Beyes grew furious. He exchanged several shots with police forces, who finally put him down, though not without injury. Micheal Hienid, 24, a new member of the Police Forces, was struck in the leg. He will have to spend weeks in physical therapy to return him to the police forces. General Saito, when he recieved the news, offered a few words of hope and encouragement to Micheal.

1819 January 2, 2063
Lady Cheng

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> CFS

Arson Suspected in Fire at Extremist's Residence
1941 January 1 - 2063 - San Francisco

Early this morning, Police Forces aided the San Francisco Fire Department in the extinguishing of a serious house fire which had sprung up without warning in Noe Valley, a suburb of San Francisco proper. The blaze began in the residence of known ork extremist William Beyes, who just a few hours before had been shot and killed after a confrontation with Police Force officers.

"It is fortunate that the damage wasn't more severe," said Lt. Ikiyo Matsumoto. "We have found evidence of a substantial number of pyrotechnic devices stored within the residence, which could have wreaked untold damage on innocents."

The conclusion currently being drawn by police is that Beyes, knowing he would soon be confronted by Police Forces, set a timer on several devices, meaning to destroy any evidence of his plans should he be taken into custody.

When asked for further comment, Lt. Matsumoto replied, "It is only through the heroic efforts of the San Francisco Fire Department and the Police Force that this fire did not spread any further. The residents of Noe Valley owe them a debt of thanks."

2016 January 1, 2063

Shadowland Seattle -> Unexplained Phenomenon -> The Barrens

Streaming Tears of Blood
-Sister Perkins

It looks like '63 is opening up with a bang.

I opened up the kitchen today to find one of the regulars on the steps. She was abandoned at an early age and has been one of the “lucky” ones to have survived until now. She won't tell us her real name, but we call her Julia.

Well, today, something was different. She was crying. But it wasn't regular tears. She was crying blood.

She was in fine health. I fed her as well as I could, wrapped her up in a blanket, and put her in the back. She's been crying a steady stream of blood for a few hours. She's not in any pain, she says she feels fine.

Unfortunately, word got out about her tears of blood. Some of the more religious of the people have been lining up outside of her door, waiting for blessings. Even more strange, Julia is giving them. In Latin.

As I finish this, she's gone to sleep. There's a small puddle of blood by her face, but she doesn't seem to mind. She's muttering in her sleep...still Latin. Word's spreading fast, though, and there's a few people already camped outside, waiting for her blessings...

01030 January 3rd, 2063
Virgil

"After seeing the story about the girl that Sister Perkins found I knew that I had seen this event somewhere before. Turns out that in 2001 a women named Julia Kim owned a statue of the Virgin Mary that wept tears of blood for 700 days corresponding to a period in which Julia recieved prophetic visons about world events. Read on . . . "

Julia Kim - Naju, Korea

On June 30, 1985, Our Lady's statue owned by Julia began weeping tears, and on October 19, 1986 it began weeping tears of blood. Until January 14, 1992, the statue wept for a total of exactly 700 days. The tears of blood were tested and found to be human blood. Many people, including priests witnessed that the Sacred Host Julia received was turning light brown first and then being covered with blood. Many people began firmly believing in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because of these miracles.

Since then, she has brought many messages and other miraculous signs, urging all her children in the world to hurriedly repent their sins and return to God, His Church, His Truth, and His Love, so that He may heal their sinful souls and restore supernatural life to them. She has especially implored us to be loyal to the Heritage of the Faith that Christ entrusted to His Church two thousand years ago and to love and forgive one another. She has also asked us to respect human lives from the moment of conception in the mother’s womb. Our Lady wants everyone to convert from a self-centered life to a life of serving God, defending and spreading His Truth, and passing on His Love to everyone on earth.

Julia also often undergoes severe pains for the conversion of others and in reparation for abortions and other sins in the world. Several times, she received the Stigmata while suffering the pains of Crucifixion. She has been allowed to experience Eucharistic miracles. Many people, including priests witnessed that the Sacred Host Julia received was turning light brown first and then being covered with blood. Many people began firmly believing in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Holy Eucharist because of these miracles.


"Very weird, but interesting. Do with it what you will chummers"

2145 January 4th, 2063
Dragon

<<Aw hell. Virgil, don't tell me you're seeing a link between the two. Actually, I don't care about that. Just tell me we ain't gonna try finding said link.>>

<<Hey Cheng, didn't realize you were Chinese. You a FOB, or a UCASBC, if you don't mind me asking?>>

2230 January 4th, 2063

Grail

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> Grail's Corner

In July, police were summoned to an upscale office building in west Bellevue on a report of a man roaming the halls with a gun, and on arrival, officers found some workers hiding under desks and in closets and others having fled the building. Police concluded that two lawyers, Gary Burger and Mark Cantor, were once again playing their game in the hallways, stalking each other with BB guns and occasionally firing. (Most workers did not know that the men were playing, but one did because she had been shot in the finger and shoulder after walking into a previous battle.) Police said they intend to file charges of waving a dangerous weapon, and one officer said the men would be tried as adults.

* * * * *

The University of Washington

received much negative publicity in the last year about allegations that its football coach and some players had sexually assaulted or harassed female students, and it fell upon the school's president, Elizabeth Hoffman, to try to minimize the damage, and she apparently took that task seriously at a deposition in a federal sexual harassment lawsuit. According to a leaked copy of the deposition, reported in August by KSAF (Tacoma), Hoffman denied that what some call "the C-word" (a vulgar reference to women) is necessarily "filthy and vile." "It is all in the context," she strained to explain. Asked for an example of a "polite" context, Hoffman said, "I've actually heard (the word) used as a term of endearment."

* * * * *

Catholic priest Zivko Kustic told an unnamed trid reporter in September that his church would lobby the Governor Lindstrom's office for an exemption to a tough drunk-driving law being debated, on the ground that priests have to drink wine in as many as three masses a day and sometimes in three different parishes and often cannot meet the safe blood-alcohol level of under 0.05.

* * * * *

Two men arrested in Pacifica in October and charged with robbing a Bank One branch, were done in by a glitch in their getaway plan. They had hopped on mountain bikes to make their exit (which bank robbers have used with success from time to time), but they were apparently unfamiliar with the concept of a gearshift, and both men rode away in first gear (or perhaps second), so slowly that one witness followed them easily on foot, and a bank guard got close enough to shoot one of them in the arm. They were quickly arrested.

* * * * *

Landscape contractor Blair Davis, who lives in a Renton suburb and whose own yard's flora includes the Texas Star hibiscus, was the object of a SWAT-type raid by the UCAS-Seattle Organized Crime and Narcotics Task Force in November. A neighbor had reported Davis as having drugs, in that the Texas Star hibiscus somewhat vaguely resembles the marijuana plant, and the prestigious Task Force didn't know any better. Davis said that an agent also asked him warily what he planned to do with the watermelons and cantaloupes that were growing in his back yard.

2202 January 4, 2063
Lady Cheng

0601 January 5th, 2063
Grail

Seattle Gov. Ivar Lindstrom is holding a rummage sale to dispose of unwanted state property from aircraft engines to jewelry.

The "Seattle Garage Sale" will take place today and Saturday at the Seattle Federal Building, and some of the items will also be offered by Matrix auctioneer M-Bay.

The items include office furniture -- most of the city's furniture is made by prisoners -- 30 pounds of scissors, forklifts, knives, expired color film, computers, jewelry, a red 2059 SAAB Dynamit and even baseball cards.

"Some of the stuff may have been confiscated in confiscations, by the Department of Justice, or local jurisdictions," said Fred Aguiar, who is overseeing the sale as Seattle-UCAS State and Consumer Services Agency secretary. "Like the red Dynamit, that was part of an asset seizure, forfeiture, sort of, thing."

Some items at the sale, said to be the first of its kind for the state, were confiscated at airports. Yet much of what is on offer was purchased by government agencies and eventually fell into misuse or was forgotten about.

Although state officials are hoping to bring in millions of nuyen in a larger program to dispose of unused assets including property, they would not estimate how much the garage sale would generate.

Aguiar says desks would sell for as low as 2 :nuyen: , pocket computers for as little as 20 :nuyen: , and bargaining would be allowed. As of this story, the Dynamit has attracted an M-Bay bid of 5600 :nuyen: .

"Eliminating surplus property is just one way we can work together to clean out the cobwebs of government," said Governor Lindstrom in a statement. "I am calling on the citizens of Seattle to particpate in this historic opportunity to help us eliminate the excess."

The mayor-turned-governor is seeking to maximize revenues in the cash-strapped district to keep his pledge of no new taxes.

0639 January 5th, 2063
Grail

Shadowland Seattle -> Unexplained Phenomena -> Grail

0735 January 5th, 2063
Grail

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> The Corner of Grail

VANCOUVER, S-S Nan. - A hungry squirrel has been blamed for a power outage that snarled rush-hour traffic in this border city north of Portland, TT.

Electricity was cut for about an hour this morning to about 5,145 residential and business customers after the rodent caused a short circuit at a substation.

The outage also affected traffic lights, including one busy intersection, where westbound traffic was backed up for about a mile, S-S patrol trooper Garvin March said.

A substation worker found the remains of a walnut lying nearby, Clark Public Utilities spokesman Mick Shutt said.

0741 January 5, 2063
Lady Cheng

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> CFS

--------------------------
Suspect in beating arrested
8:12 pm January 4, 2063.

Police Forces said they have arrested a metahuman man in connection with the beating of a detective in a protest Wednesday night.

Officers grabbed ork Jamal Holiday, 19, during another in a string of anti-TEDO1-B demonstrations Thursday night proceeding up San Francisco's Market Street. TEDO1-B, implemented earlier in the week by General Saito, is a plan to protect those cursed with metahumanity from those members of society that would cause them harm. TEDO1-B works by setting apart city blocks in which metahumans are invited to live, protecting them until human-metahuman relations can improve.

The night before, police said, Holiday was in a rally outside the SF City Hall. A group of more than 1,000 people had walked west on Turk Street towards Golden Gate Park, where there was a clash with police.

Detective Suzuki Ichiro was riding through the demonstration on a motor scooter when he was attacked. A freelance photographer caught a man on camera, pushing Suzuki off the scooter, pummeling him with his fists and then delivering a kick to his head.

Suzuki was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital and then released late Thursday.

"He is home recovering," said Detective Yamashita Asami.

The suspect's picture repeatedly had been shown on local newscasts. He was arrested without incident, police said.
--------------------------

Just now, coming down 6th Avenue, I witnessed a fearsome sight. The police had stopped the traffic at the intersection of Market and circled around a group of protesters. Here were armed officers on foot and on motorcycles, standing in the center of the street halting drivers, sitting in vans with flashing lights, not even squad cars, but fifteen-passenger vehicles, ready to arrest anyone and everyone.

This protest march Wednesday was mighty but fairly small, about 50 or so health food store clerks and massage therapists, commercial artists and bike messengers, mostly white kids with dreadlocks and black kids holding up signs with slogans urging onlookers to protest the latest indignities being shovelled on metahumans. One sign I saw more than once was "Remember William Beyes". They held together and went down the street in tight formation, flanked by cops on all sides.

The presence of obviously hostile law enforcement, combined with a gathering crowd of onlookers, about to jump into the protest themselves made the volume of the chant louder. "Saito Lies, People Die!"

The ridiculous number of police was due to a too well publicized incident last night, where a protester attacked an officer at the end of an otherwise uneventful and peaceful demonstration. What the news reporters neglected to focus on was the fact that the attack was provoked by the cop, who was repeatedly verbally harassing pedestrians and running over and into protesters with his scooter.

They'd rather focus on the protester getting angry and fighting back than tell the entire story.

0742 January 5, 2063
Grail

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> CFS

0745 January 5, 2063

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> Entertainment

0918 January 5, 2063
Terminator X

Shadowland Seattle -> Unexplained Phenomena -> CFS

SAN FRANCISCO (KSAF) - Having sex with corpses is now officially illegal in the California Free State after the governor signed a bill barring necrophilia, a spokeswoman said on Friday.

The new legislation marks the culmination of a two-year drive to outlaw necrophilia in the state and will help prosecutors who have been stymied by the lack of an official ban on the practice, according to experts.

"Nobody knows the full extent of the problem. ... But a handful of instances over the past decade is frequent enough to have a bill concerning it," said Tyler Ochoa, a professor at Santa Clara University School of Law who has studied California cases involving allegations of necrophilia.

"Prosecutors didn't have anything to charge these people with other than breaking and entering. But if they worked in a mortuary in the first place, prosecutors couldn't even charge them with that," Ochoa said.

The state's first attempt to outlaw necrophilia, in response to a case of a man charged with having sex with the corpse of a 4-year-old girl in Southern California, stalled last year in a legislative committee.

Lawmakers revived the bill this year after an unsuccessful prosecution of a man found in a San Francisco funeral home drunk and passed out on top of an elderly woman's corpse.

The new law makes sex with a corpse a felony punishable by up to eight years in prison.

0920 January 5, 2063

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events ->

2318 January 4, 2063
Sheepdog

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> Seattle

POLICE DIGEST for January 4, 2063

Teens arrested for stealing wallet

Two ork teenagers have been charged with robbery after allegedly taking a man's wallet in downtown Seattle. Police said the man was waiting outside Dante's Inferno Thursday night when the two teens approached him and demanded his hat, NBA basketball jersey and wallet. He escaped into the club after they pushed him against a wall and took his hat. Police arrested the two youths soon after.

Lone Star makes drug bust in Bellevue

Local police have charged a 46-year-old male elf after they found Zone, Crash, and other street drugs and prescription medication at an unspecified location. The drugs had a street value of 16,000 :nuyen: .

Pot plants found in backyard garden

Hidden among other tall plants in the --[/break code]

Cigarette thieves caught on video

First, caught on video; now Tacoma department police are hoping to catch them for real. Police released video images yesterday of the three orks believed to have broken into the Emerald City Tire and Gas Bar early Thursday. The orks were captured on video pulling up to the gas bar in an early 2050s blue Ford Amiercar, breaking the kiosk window and leaving with cartons of cigarettes. Police are also looking for people who broke into a nearby car wash between Tuesday night and Thursday morning and stole the contents of two cash boxes.

Wheelchair bus stolen in Everett

Someone has stolen an Everett man's wheelchair-equipped bus. Lone Star police with the Everett detachment said the van was taken from an 18th Street home sometime Thursday. It's similar to a municipal wheelchair-transit bus with a lift on the right side, and is white with a blue stripe.

0830 January 5, 2063
Socialite

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> Entertainment

Friday's Lineup

Rise and shine, chummers, because it's going to be one amazing weekend on the Seattle entertainment scene. So get your sleep regulators and find someone to get physical with, because you don't want to miss a bit of it. And before you ask, chummers, I've heard those Firesong rumours too, and that's all I've heard. If he's even halfway what the music's like, I seriously want to get into that guy's pants. Still, if he's booked Seattle, I haven't heard anything fixed about it. Soon as I hear something solid, I'll let you know.

Club Penumbra

They're so classic, they don't need to be alphabetical. The music begins at 1930 with the Dixie Salt Review, opening for Darkvine. Not a combination I would have booked, but hey, what do I know? If I owned the Penumbra, I'd be Marla, and I wouldn't be doing these helpful reviews. (Donations always appreciated.)

The Black Bouquet

This little number has booked in Punk Rose. Can't say when exactly the gig begins, that's a place that sways to its own rules. Wear black. Lots of black.

Crusher 495

What can I say about this place? Janus Koskey is a real country fan, and predictably they've got Twang for tonight, but I heard a rumour that they might be bringing in the Ten Tenors. It's too wild not to have something behind it. Just goes to show that you never can tell.

Dante's Inferno

It's the annual "Take Back The Decade" weekend at Dante Passini's place, and you all know what that means. Yes, it's an all music, all the time extravaganza, with mystery acts booked solid from 2300 on Friday until 0500 Sunday. Ordinances? Who cares!

Eye of the Needle

Well, the restaurant will still always be what Gynt has brought us to know and love, but after midnight the place to hit is Sparkles. Sorry, folks, the rumours about Til Es Haut turned out not to be true after all, but Celtic Currents won't disappoint. Meltdown electric combined with Gaelic sound: makes my heart go boom-diddy-boom.

Fenris Nacht

We all know why you chummers go to hang out here, and if you don't know, I'm not about to spill. Let's just say, in the urban jungles, you're either the predator or the prey. Tonight, they're bringing you the German techno-sounds of Achtung!

The Kingdome

It's the Jersey Angels, live and in person -- and if you don't have your tickets yet, forget it (or hire a real good decker), because they're sold out.

Matchsticks

Jazz is what you come for here, and jazz is what Carl Steward brings you with the smoky sounds of Forever Grace, starting at 2100.

The Murdered Mime

No idea who's booked in here tonight, Giancarlo either doesn't know yet, or he isn't telling. You fellow metas out there already know to watch your step in Renton, so I'll not repeat myself. Wait. I'm not.

The Palace of China

Hip-hop, done medieval Chinese style. Weird, but different strokes for different folks. Tonight Dustin Kein's doing one of his patented illusion shows. If you haven't caught one yet, it's worth seeing. Once. Well, maybe twice. Starts at 1900, if you're going, and he doesn't let in latecomers.

Paradigm Shift

What can I say about this place? They bought, they decked (the other kind, you terms!), they opened, and they did it well. Too soon to say what kind of sound you can expect, but for sure it's going to be rad. The word's spread (no thanks to yours truly -- that's called irony, chummers), and the lines are getting longer. Come early.

The Rubber Suit

If you like classic Japanacorp music, go. That's all I'm saying.

The Skeleton

The Slavic sounds of Sokornik open at 2000, followed by Moja Druzava at 2200. You pronounce the J as a Y, chummers. It means "My Country". Don't know what that means for music. I'm thinking they've got to be halfway decent, because the place is smoking.

Sovoril

Just off the Bazaar, this place is real easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for, and if you don't, you probably don't belong there anyway. Tonight they feature SophysticOrk, starting at 2100, with some unknown opening at 1900. Chummers, you know as much about them as I. This place has been seriously hit or miss in the past in the stuff they book. Well, you pays your nuyen and you takes your chances.

The Spirit Focus

They've booked in the jazz sounds of Seven Sisters, a Billie Holliday tribute, starting at 1900. Wear a tie.

Underworld 93

Ooo, I hear the surprise booking's going to be Jetblack. Go. Now.

0915 January 5, 2063
Kiki

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> Entertainment

Who Was That Masked Man?
0330 January 5, 2063

Rumours are flying after the mysterious Red Man made an appearance last night at the Paradigm Shift. Eyewitnesses say that after jumping the line, he went straight through the club and into a back room. No one seems to have seen him leave.

The Red Man has variously been identified with personalities ranging from CorpDeVo golden boy Paris Sendor to Damien Knight to the return of Dunkelzahn. This reporter thinks that crimefighting by night seems to pay a whole lot more than it used to.

Eyewitnesses do agree on one thing however: without his mask, he was hot.

0920 January 5, 2063
NRA4EVR

Shadowland Seattle -> Current Events -> Entertainment

For all you fellow gun nuts out there

0140 January 5, 2063

Shadowland Seattle -> CFS -> California Protectorate SIG