IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

 
Reply to this topicStart new topic
> Gibraltar, Anyone with SoE able to fill me in?
Witness
post Jul 5 2006, 03:16 PM
Post #1


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 681
Joined: 28-February 06
From: UK
Member No.: 8,319



Can anyone with Shadows of Europe tell me what the deal is with Gibraltar, according to canon? I've had a quick search here at DS and I get the impression that it's still independent from Spain. Is that true? Is there anything else said about it?

I ask because I've just been over there for a holiday, and all the time (how sad am I?) I couldn't help thinking it'd make a great, if slightly unusual, little SR location. I have a number of specific ideas, but I'll keep them to myself for now.


Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
stevebugge
post Jul 5 2006, 08:44 PM
Post #2


Neophyte Runner
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 2,026
Joined: 23-November 05
From: Seattle (Really!)
Member No.: 7,996



I'll look it up when I get a chance. I agree that Gibralter would make a great location for a Run, a little small to base a camapign and a team out of in my opinion. I would expect that it's strategic location has probably made it a much more active military center in 2065-70. Also I wonder if the monkeys awakened :)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
SL James
post Jul 5 2006, 10:11 PM
Post #3


Shadowrun Setting Nerd
*******

Group: Banned
Posts: 3,632
Joined: 28-June 05
From: Pissing on pedestrians from my electronic ivory tower.
Member No.: 7,473



It's still British.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Witness
post Jul 5 2006, 11:11 PM
Post #4


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 681
Joined: 28-February 06
From: UK
Member No.: 8,319



QUOTE (stevebugge)
I'll look it up when I get a chance.  I agree that Gibralter would make a great location for a Run, a little small to base a camapign and a team out of in my opinion.  I would expect that it's strategic location has probably made it a much more active military center in 2065-70.  Also I wonder if the monkeys awakened :)

Yeah I think the size and the whole character of the place would lend itself to a single mid-to-high-powered run, or possibly an unusual campaign. It certainly wouldn't be a gritty locale, but could be an interesting one. Particularly if you expand the scope of it out to the surrounding area (maybe even as far as Tangiers on the other side of the straits, which I like to think has been half drowned by the magically growing Sahara).

Thanks SL. I was hoping that was the case.

Well what the hell. Here are the beginnings of my thoughts on the matter:

QUOTE
BAY OF GIBRALTAR, by Xpat

Let me be honest. I don’t much want you to come to Gibraltar. It’s a small place, and there’s only so much room in the shadows. But at the same time I’ve gotten real fond of this place, and I’d like a few more people to know about it.

The first thing you’ll see when you step off the plane is the Rock. One of the pillars of Hercules, so they say. You’ll be wowed. It’ll be much bigger and more imposing in real life than it seemed in the pictures and mapsofts. But you’ll get used to it. You’ll have to, because it’ll tower over you everywhere you go. As will its new megacorp owner, NeoNET.

A short history lesson is needed here. Gibraltar, on a peninsula near the southern tip of Spain, was Britain’s prize for helping out the First German Empire against the French in the War of Spanish Succession back at the beginning of the 18th century. The Brits then turned this tiny ‘overseas territory’ into a major port and naval base.

Because of its strategic importance, guarding the straits between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the Spanish have spent most of the subsequent years trying to get Gibraltar back, one way or another. I’m happy to say that they have yet to succeed, and Gibraltar has developed and retained its own unique atmosphere, culture, and tax status.

Then, back in 20XX, the Great Dragon Celedyr did a little deal with the ailing UK government to buy up the old naval base and the Rock itself (along with all those marvellous tunnels inside it) as an extraterritorial domain for his pocket corporation Transys-Neuronet (which already owned Gibtelecom, as it happens).

The takeover was skilfully handled. There were assurances that the rest of the territory would retain its own government and identity (and it did). Transys-Neuronet also shamelessly played up its ‘Britishness’ to please the locals, who have for some time enjoyed the idea that they are more British than Britain (even the many Gibraltans of Spanish or Moroccan descent).

Needless to say, other megacorps weren’t too thrilled to see T-N gain such influence over a major shipping route and port, so after various deals with the Spanish government, other sections of the (already heavily industrialized) coast around the Bay of Gibraltar were sold off lock stock and fuel barrel.

On the north side of the bay, only three miles away from Gibraltar’s land border, Saeder-Krupp built up an absolutely huge and incredibly dirty refinery and industrial yard. On the west side of the bay, large sections of Algeciras were ceded to other corps, in particular Ares, Yamatetsu, Renraku and Novatech. And you thought there wouldn’t be any work for shadowrunners!

Anyway that was then and this is now. As we all know, the United Kingdom has been through hell and back; upheavals that Gibraltar has been somewhat insulated from. Meanwhile Novatech, Transys-Neuronet and Erika have merged to form NeoNET, which inherited the Rock and those mysterious research facilities inside it, as well as Novatech’s Algeciras land.

The locals are a little less pleased by this recent turn of events, because the distinctly global NeoNET isn’t trying quite so hard to flatter their self-image, and because NeoNET has been a lot more visible than T-N was. Happily Celedyr still seems disproportionately fond of his Mediterranean retreat (he has a sort of ‘holiday lair’ in the southern end of the Rock), and over the years has become regarded as a sort of unofficial figurehead of Gibraltar (and I gather this irks the official head of state, King George VIII, no end).

Having said this, it might amuse you to hear that there is a resistance movement, of sorts, in Gibraltar. I won’t name names, even though it is something of a joke. Suffice it to say that a handful of monarchist Gibraltan intelligentsia meet up every now and then, in the upstairs room of a certain local pub, to discuss ways that they can stick it to the increasingly authoritarian NeoNET. They treat it as a light-hearted game, on the whole, but the ‘Gibraltan Round Table’ have been known, on occasion, to give a warm welcome and some hearty advice to teams intending to breach NeoNET facilities.

So on that note, what does it mean to be a shadowrunner in a rather pleasant city with a population of only 50,000 or so? Well it’s miles better than poisonous Seattle, I can tell you. Infinitely more civilized, but also a good deal more complicated.

The fact is that there is only a small pool of shadowrunners in the Gibraltar area. Most of us know each other by reputation, and we work hard to keep our identities and homes a secret (from each other and from everybody else). We are, after all, competing for a limited number of operations. A lot of us have day jobs, to tide us over, and as cover for our less legal activities. If you want to break in to the shadow scene here (and believe me there is money enough to make it worthwhile trying) then you're going to have to worry about your competitors as much as your employers and your targets.

And you can’t expect to just fade into the background either. There are no SINless hoards to hide amongst. There’s barely enough population to hide amongst! If you’re caught running shadow operations in the Gibraltar area, and you survive the tender cares of whichever corp you pissed off, then you will probably have two realistic options. Either leave and don’t come back. Or, if your target was sufficiently impressed with your work, accept the offer to turn coat and work for them against your former employer. I’ve heard it can happen. But be aware that you will be diving into one horrendous pit of intrigue and treachery.


I might change things, or add more as it comes to me (including notes on the thriving smuggling scene, and what might really be going on in the biggest target of them all: the inside of the Rock itself). But go ahead and chip in if you want to.

P.S. Awakened monkeys? Well you've just got to, haven't you!
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
stevebugge
post Jul 5 2006, 11:21 PM
Post #5


Neophyte Runner
*****

Group: Members
Posts: 2,026
Joined: 23-November 05
From: Seattle (Really!)
Member No.: 7,996



There is alegend surround ing the Monkeys that live up around the old artillery batteries on top of the rock stating that if the monkeys ever are gone the rock will fall from British Control, it seems they should figure in to some sort of post awakening intrigue.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
Witness
post Jul 5 2006, 11:23 PM
Post #6


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 681
Joined: 28-February 06
From: UK
Member No.: 8,319



Ah yes. That legend should definitely feature in the setting!
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
FlakJacket
post Jul 6 2006, 01:03 AM
Post #7


King of the Hobos
*****

Group: Dumpshocked
Posts: 2,117
Joined: 26-February 02
Member No.: 127



According to Shadows of Europe it's still British territory. During the early days of the EuroSB project, which eventually turned into Shadows of Europe, the general consensus was that Spain gave up their claims in return for British help in staging the counter-coup that restored the Moroccan King against the fundamentalists and helped end the Alliance for Allah invasion of southern Spain. At least that's what I argued for since I wanted us to keep the place. :)

The place is just way to useful and strategically located to let it go. You get to keep and eye on the comings and goings through the straits, get to station troops and ships in the region, it's the perfect place for SIGINT spying on southern Europe and the Maghreb and tapping the undersea communications cables.

Edit: Teach me to get up and wander off mid-reply. :)
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
FanGirl
post Jul 6 2006, 03:52 AM
Post #8


Moving Target
**

Group: Members
Posts: 684
Joined: 8-April 06
From: My dorm room
Member No.: 8,438



I sympathize with you, Witness. Our family went to Normandy for vacation last month, and when we were visiting the gun battery at La Pointe du Hoc, all I could think was: "How awesome would it be to have a team holed up in one of these bunkers?" Many of the bunkers the Germans built in Normandy are still intact, even after sixty years - you can blow up land mines inside them without causing any damage. The old living quarters, though they are dark, dank, and smelly, are virtually impregnable - but once locked inside, the only way you can defend yourself from beseigers is to pump gas out through the ventilation ducts. I really want to work it into the campaign I hope to run one day: if I couldn't talk a group into letting me run a France-oriented campaign, I'm pretty sure they'd let me work in a seige of Normandy. :D
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 12:16 PM

Topps, Inc has sole ownership of the names, logo, artwork, marks, photographs, sounds, audio, video and/or any proprietary material used in connection with the game Shadowrun. Topps, Inc has granted permission to the Dumpshock Forums to use such names, logos, artwork, marks and/or any proprietary materials for promotional and informational purposes on its website but does not endorse, and is not affiliated with the Dumpshock Forums in any official capacity whatsoever.