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> [Plot Hook]The Dead Need Women, or: I was a Teenage Ghost-Bride
hyzmarca
post Dec 7 2007, 05:17 AM
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http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/05/world/as...ia/05china.html

Picture it: China, mid to late 21st Century. The PRC's population control policies combined with the general undervaluation of women in traditional Chinese culture led many rural families to engage in selective abortion or infanticide to ensure that they will have a male heir while still conforming with the law. The result was a severe gender imbalance in the Middle Kingdom, men greatly outnumbering women. VITAS didn't help, though the relaxation of population control measures that it necessitated did. Still, it wasn't enough. Decades after the PRC fell, men still outnumber women in the most rural parts of China by a vast margin both due to selective abortion and migration to big cities. The probability of a young Chinese farmer finding a bride is low, the probability of him being able to afford a bride is even lower. Man men die bachelors, and they're not happy about it.

Discontent dead bachelors are manifesting as Ghosts and Spectors, searching for bridge to share eternity with them. The only way to quiet these restless spirit-like beings is to marry them to eligible ladies, usually dead eligible ladies.

A businessman can make a great deal of money procuring corpse-brides for grieving families who have lost a son, even more if the son has risen from the grave to take revenge upon the living. Yet the job is fraught with peril. The fractured states of China are dangerous themselves, with occasional conflicts amongst the rival factions. Crossing boarders can be particularly dangerous, and some governments take a dim view of those who practice this form of exorcism. Worse still are the orgenleggers, vile swine who see a beautiful lady's corpse as nothing more than a collection of parts to butcher and sell. Since both bride-sellers and orgenleggers traffic in human remains, though for completely different reasons, they often run afoul of one another and such confrontations rarely end pleasantly. Ghouls need to feed on rotting metahuman flesh and a bride-carrier's cargo is often a tempting meal for such creatures. Even feral Ghouls who would usually avoid human contact are attracted by the stench of decay waffing from such brides. Triads must be dealt with, and soldiers, and police in those places which have police. And lets not forget the occasional Hopping Vampire. It is a dangerous and expensive Job, but a rewarding one.
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Daddy's Litt...
post Dec 7 2007, 01:50 PM
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It sounds like an interesting Halloween run but I do not think it would work as a campaign. The Chinese with a strong police state in 2007 are having trouble with the 1 child 1 family policy. I think when China gets fractured and the population is cut down by VITAS and war, then they will go back to the procedures that created the over population in the first place.
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CircuitBoyBlue
post Dec 7 2007, 05:04 PM
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Holy crap, I'd hoped to forget that awful movie with the hopping vampires I was forced to sit through this past Halloween.

But wouldn't this sort of thing just encourage the runners to go around shooting attractive women? That's no way to teach social skills. Plus, it would exacerbate the gender imbalance, if suddenly every woman is a prime target for poachers.
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Backgammon
post Dec 7 2007, 05:44 PM
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I read an article in the Economist that talked about this. There was 1 case of a grave robber who decided to start killing women instead of digging them up, as fresher corpses are worth more. Police got him pretty quick though.
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Sir_Psycho
post Dec 7 2007, 10:26 PM
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Is it specters or ghosts that have a "chain"? The object that binds them to the world?

Suppose you found a chain say, in a haunted house in Seattle, and you brought it to china, I suppose the female ghost that was chained to it would be forced to come with you? I wonder if the families would pay, as they do today, or the spirit would use a "wealth" power, or maybe perform some other interesting astral service, maybe severing a ritual link or protecting you against ritual sending.

Actually, that would make for a pretty cool courier run, where you have to deliver an object with a specter chained to it, and all the way through the run the specter either helps or hinders you, depending on how sympathetic you are, or other factors.

If you read the article, you'll see that it's not just women they offer to the dead. Imagine you get a run to steal a shiny Rolls Phaeton from a corp exec in Hong Kong, and have to drive it out of hong kong, through the provinces, dodging patrols and jamming across china to a plantation, where they proceed to set fire to it, and maybe some weak suggestion that "our ancestors are watching over you". :rotfl:

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Adarael
post Dec 7 2007, 10:47 PM
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QUOTE (CircuitBoyBlue)
Holy crap, I'd hoped to forget that awful movie with the hopping vampires I was forced to sit through this past Halloween.

But wouldn't this sort of thing just encourage the runners to go around shooting attractive women? That's no way to teach social skills. Plus, it would exacerbate the gender imbalance, if suddenly every woman is a prime target for poachers.

You BETTER not be badmouthing Mr. Vampire.
(There are a lot of jiang shi movies, I admit. But Mr. Vampire is the best. Totally ridiculous!)
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Snow_Fox
post Dec 8 2007, 04:58 PM
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I don't think there's anything canonical about chains and spirits, but there are enough myths. Usually though the chain is metaphysical. For example Dickens wrote that the chains were the sins of a person,
"I wear the chain I forged in life"- Jacob Marley
A japanese anime (Bleach) has the idea of a chain is what keeps a soul anchored to the world, in a good way, when it passes to the spirit world it drops away but if the chain is broken badly the soul becomes a terror.

If you're thinking of some sort of spirit anchor when you say chain, these tend to be for more aware ghosts, not just residual memories but they tend to be more active in hauntings. not something you might want to lug around the world.

It is an interesting idea though, Even if the current chinese population is more balanced there are probably a lot more male spirits out there so maybe they could use an import of western ghosts, AND that could be a whole different run- get BACK the soul of Mr Johnson's beloved wife etc.

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