War in Tarislar Options

[Gabriel (Argus #...]

A little story, and a few questions.

One of the major events/themes in my current Shadowrun game is a large gang war in Tarislar. It started as (more or less) a race riot, when a extremely racist anti-meta gang called the "Full Metal Jackets" fired RPGs, activated IEDs , and blew up several hundred elven civillians during a gathering in Tarislar. The reaction to the attack was Knight Errant and the local meta gangs (Tarislar chapter Ancients, Princes) to start sweeping Pullayup for any FMJs members and killing them. This proved to be difficult, however, as the FMJs are a large gang with strong leadership, masterful tactics and strategies, and are extremely well armed and trained. Furthermore, the attack drew other violent anti-meta groups (Night Hunters, maybe Alamos 20,000 or Hand of Five) into Pullayup and Tarislar to support the FMJs and "clear out that nest of pointy-ears once and for all". The reaction to this was meta gangs (Ragers, Spikes) to attack the anti-meta gangs moving into Pullayup.

So basically, it's a war in Tarislar.

This developed into one big gun-show/testing ground for corporations. Many new weapons are seeing a trial-by-fire in the hands of gang members.

Also, it has become another battleground for Knight Errant and LoneStar to butt heads. Knight Errant has provided security to Tarislar for a long time, and they take it upon themselves to end the war and restore peace to the elven community. LoneStar does security for the entire 'plex, though, and the violence, chaos, and crime that this "war" is creating is spreading beyond Tarislar and southern Pullayup. It threatens to engulf the entirety of south Seattle. To prevent this, LoneStar has set up a containment zone around the elven community and its outlying areas. No one goes in, nothing goes out. Make-shift barricades and walls, road blocks, barricades, fortified defensive positions, drone and spirit patrols keep the madness from spreading beyond the slums (and makes the 'Star look like they're doing something productive).

Knight Errant has responded to this by escalating their efforts to get people off the streets and get the gangs back into their respective corners of the 'plex. Their strategy thus far has been uninspired; to kill anyone in violation of curfew or found carrying weapons on the street. Also, they target and kill important gang members and disrupt shipments of weapons and vehicles.

The major difficulty with being in the combat zone is aquisition of weapons and supplies. RPGs, IEDs and other anti-vehicular weapons are prevalent (the FMJs had many, and have taken to selling them for other supplies) and any vehicles moving through the area have a good chance of getting blown-up or hi-jacked.

So basically, what started as an act of hatred and racism has escalated into an "eye for an eye" between gangs, a chance to wipe either meta or racist gangs out, a testing ground for corporations, and a contest bewteen K-E and Lonestar.

Questions...

Is this viable/reasonable? Are there reasons this wouldn't work?

Who would get involved? I don't know nearly enough about the gangs in Seattle to know who would be interested in this. What about the various pro/anti meta groups? Who would get involved, and on what level? Sinserach, Tir Taingire, Sons of Sauron, Hand of Five, Humanis, etc.

How would K-E try and handle this? I know even less about K-E, or what their methods are. All I know is shiney black armor, owned by Damien Knight/Ares, and they are the security in Tarislar. How would Ares Firewatch spec forces teams get involved? What would they do?

Comments, questions, or suggestions?

I created the FMJs, so I can answer any questions that you might have on them, why they're doing what they do, and where they came from.

[JonathanC]

If that gang is surviving a purge from K-E, they must have some serious firepower...Knight Errant makes Lone Star look like a pack of rent-a-cops. They've got top of the line Ares weapons.

But yes, this could happen. And there could be a lot of money in it for Shadowrunners.

[Lagomorph]

It sounds like an interesting set up for your game, I'm a little confused on how the corps are getting weapons in with Lone Star doing a full blockade. So you may need to decide how thats working.

[7.62]

[Critias]

It sounds like The FMJ's might be a little over the top. The Ancients alone are supposed to be a top-tier gang (perhaps the most powerful in the 'plex), and these guys are still a-okay after getting the A's all riled up and genocidal-like? Plus the Princes, then KE, etc? All from a no-name gang that just sprouted up outta nowhere?

I mean, it sounds as plausible as anything else in Shadowrun, but you'd better have an explanation for the FMJ's being as badass as they are. Why is some random gang so uber? Top notch gear, top notch training, top notch tactics, etc? Tie it into something. Explain it away somehow, 'cause that's a pretty big loophole, otherwise. It's taken multiple editions and writer/fanboy-spoogefests to make the Ancients as super-ninja-cool as they are (hell, they're more badass and politically stable than the Tir, right now) -- so it'll take some sort of explanation for these FMJ's to be even more badass, y'know?

[Fix-it]

[Shrike30]

RPGs and IEDs aren't exactly high-end weapons.

[Gabriel (Argus #...]

Thanks for all the feedback; always useful and appreciated. If you like this idea feel free to steal it or make it a screamsheet story or whatever. Ideas are free.

The impression I'm getting about Knight Errant is "maximum overkill". Just blowing the crap out of anything that gets in the way with the latest and greatest ways to blow the crap out of stuff. The kind of mentality that spawned the Cermak Blast. While this is probobly a good mentality to have in surviving a huge gang war, it's definately not going to help end the war anytime soon. Look at it this way...

...Ares macrotech would get to show off all their brand-new super-guns in Tarislar, blowing the shit out of degenerate gang members and terrorists - weapon sales sky rocket. This isn't good for other corps, so they're going to try and arm the opposition the best they can, and show off their stuff.

Corps would have trouble sneaking expensive and prototypical military hardware into the Pullayup Containment Zone. Fortunately, the PCZ is a relatively new development and they managed to get some toys in Pullayup before the doors closed. Besides, like mentioned, money makes the world go 'round; more than a few cops are taking corporate bribes. Never forget... when you need to accomplish the impossible, and it has to be done over-night, you can always call shadowrunners.

The FMJ's are a special gang, and quite a mystery. They alone are not more powerful than the Ancients or Knight Errant, but it's not a simple as two on one. Knight Errant has an entire southern end of the plex to police, and it is sheer and utter chaos down there; they deal with complete anarchy, war on the street, and fifty years of pent-up racial tension. Knight Errant has their hands full at the moment, and this gives the FMJ's the opportunity to hit-and-run. Also, the Ancients aren't providing an organized attack, either. They have to deal with other racist gangs sieging the elven community. Also, Tarislar was Princes territory (at least in my game), so the full fury of the world-spannnig Ancients gang wasn't felt in the retaliation attacks.

Also, like I said, the FMJ's aren't what they look like. No gang springs up overnight with several hundred well-trained racist zealots, armed to the teeth with explosives and assault weapons. They may not have the most wiz toys on the block, but they have huge stockpiles of ammo and explosives, and they use them effectively. Almost none of their gear is wireless enabled, making their mines, traps, and IED's very difficult for modern combatants to detect. They seem to have a wealth of knowledge about the local area, numerous underground support routes, weapon and vehicle manufacturing capability, and plenty of other secrets. They were more than capable of starting a war in Tarislar, and they pulled it off.

Even if Knight-Errant and the Ancients teamed up to end the fighting and restore peace to the southern slums (or what passes for peace), they have a lot of opposition. It seems like every other gang and corp in the 'plex has seized this opportunity to make a name for themselves and carve out a niche. Gangs are wiped out, decimated, and reformed overnight. Gangs swell in size until several splinter gangs break off. besieged civilians band together and form new gangs. Everything is up for grabs at the moment, and when the powers-that-be finally get the dust settled, there will be some new names in Seattle.

I hope I answered your questions/challenges and maybe provided some entertainment. It's true, some things don't add up yet, but when my players do some investigating, maybe they can find out why 2+2=5 in Pullayup these days.

I might start another thread where I reveal all, away from the prying eyes of my players... so if you're interested, look for that.

[Slump]

Suggestions for breaking the containment blockade:

1) This isn't a hive we're looking at (perhaps), so I doubt Lonestar is going to be covering all the routes, including the sewers and abandoned maintenence/subway tunnels. Smuggling through tunnels isn't uncommon.

2) As said before, bribes and finding Star personel who want the barrens to be made ... well ... bare.

3) Air drops. The airspace probably is a bit safer than ground traffic. Get some decent ECM and radar jamming, and you've got yourself an air drop. I would recommend this for more humanitarian groups dropping food and medical supplies past the blockade, simply to explain why every doesn't get starved out inside a few weeks. The gangs can, of course, get to the supplies before the civvies can, but whatever.

4) Hire runners, which will probably do any of the 3 above items for you.

-----------------

If I were intent on ensuring the violence continued for a good long time, I would do this:

Ibtain 500 handguns of a calibur. Obtain 500 handguns of a different calibur. Drop each set on opposite sides of the barrens, with 2 reloads for each gun. Drop 20 reloads for each gun with the opposite set. Provide this information in the crates that the guns were delivered in.

That way you have hundreds of armed people who, if they want more ammo, will either need to kill someone with the other gun type and use it, or fight your way across the barrens to get their supply of worthless ammo.

If civilians get ahold of both sets of guns/ammo, then they could probably trade the ammo for foodstuffs and other items they need, fueling the gang wars even more.

[Gabriel (Argus #...]

A little nutty (and seemingly the plot for every resident evil game), but I can't argue against your logic. That would definately create a large body count. I'm just going to bank on normal gang violence funded by corporate greed to create a horrible conflict.

[knasser]

[Gabriel (Argus #...]

I really like the sound of resistance fighters; I think I'll see to it that K-E does something horrible to some innocents. Thanks.

Eventually, this has to come to end, though. How? Who will back out? I imagine at some point "survival of the fittest" will leave a few large and strong gangs in Puyallup. After this, perhaps some sort of agreement could be made to cease fire, and then K-E and the Star would leave, and business could go back to normal. Or what passes for normal in 2070.

[knasser]