[X] My Assistant

[ting-bu-dong]

Hi,
my knowledge on magic theory is not too vast, but a thought popped up in my head just now: would such a ward be affected by the presence of a high background count or a low mana warp such as it is created by genocide and similar acts? What about blood magic?
Another thought: Wouldn't a powerful magical threat like a large bug spirit hive be in some way able to weaken the barrier so a couple of initiates could open something like a gate large enough to allow troops to pass through?
Maybe the warlord is insane enough to make a pact with a toxic shaman in order to accomplish his goal. Maybe the shaman seeks an ancient artifact from a buddhist monastery to increase his power? Maybe the warlord does?
Thoughts?

tbd

[mfb]

i think the best answer is probably a simple 'the warlord found some magic thingie that lets him pass troops through'.

[ting-bu-dong]

Hi,
@mfb: I agree, since the runners probably won't have much chance to investigate the nature of the ward breaking, it would indeed be too much effort to come up with a paralogical solution.
@ all: Is somebody here familiar with Chinese, Tibetan or Buddhist mythology? Is there a myth about something (a relic, a temple, something) that would be worth going through all the trouble for?
The remaining problem is that why the warlord would first try to attack the warded Tibet if there are dozens of other provinces he could conquer first. Or maybe it's just that he wants to wait for Lung and Ryomyo to keep each other busy before the tries to mess with Lung (which would be inevitable if it concerns the reconstruction of China).

tbd

[Ancient History]

[toturi]

[Senor 187]

Tibet has vimana UFOs with nuclear lasers so I wouldn't mess with them.

[mfb]

this page is a good starting place for any religious queries.

[Velocity]

[Shockwave_IIc]

Personally i wouldn't mess with Tibet or any of the monks with their funky new and cool flaming fists of doom.

Nor would i let any of my players have their cool powers either :noflame:

[mfb]

the seal itself isn't necessarily an artifact of any great power, any more than a given key has anything to offer beyond the ability to open it's mated lock. maybe there's a secret to creating the seal, which someone may have discovered and used to make more seals.

[Grey]

[ting-bu-dong]

Hi,
to those interested in it: I started the campaign today, and this is what I made of the brainstorming:

Shiawase, one of the biggest Bio- and Geneware corps, has experimented with modifying orcs into cheap mercenaries, taking advantage of their good physical qualities, their tendency to reproduce in large numbers, and their short childhood, augmenting them with something like bioware.
The runners were hired by Ares to steal the development files, destroy all remains of them in the lab's computer and if possible extract one prototype (a 2 meter tall, overly muscular and tough orc to be exact).
The facility itself was not very original and the runners succeeded. After some weeks their Johnson called back, saying that they had gone through the files and found out that 300 of these orcs had been sold to Qinghai, a former province in western China.
The runners, as they already had background information and experience with the prototypes, were hired to investigate the impact of the orc sale on the balance of power in Qinghai.
They were flown there, rented a van and started to investigate. Their fixer contact was a Chinese dwarf named Yao Qian ("wants money" - a stereotype greedy fixer).
In Qinghai, a local Warlord, general Ai, had been corrupted by the toxic Ant shaman Mayi ("ant") into believing that if he found an ancient buddhist artifact in Tibet, he would be able to restore China to its former power and glory.
The shaman's objective was to find this artifact for himself, to quicken and strengthen the building of the ant spirit hive. He had from some source obtained an artifact that allowed a small unit to pass through the Tibet barrier.
After the runners had run into a patrol of general Ai (see the Shadowrun D20 thread, page 14), they were given a side quest by Yao Qian. Their operations were based in the large city of Lanzhou, which got its power from several dams very close to the city. The nearest dam had stopped sending status reports etc. some days ago and militia patrol that were sent there to investigate never returned. Some ant spirits had taken control of the dam to use it as a weapon against Lanzhou so the city could be flooded if Mayi's plans would fail.
After the runners had succeeded at cleaning the dam from the ant spirits (there were not too many of them), they are now working on preparing observations of a meeting between Ai, Mayi and several other warlords, triad members and Wuxing representatives, negotiating a coup and founding of a western Chinese nation under Ai's rule and strong triad and Wuxing influence.
However, all this is a plot by Mayi to create a huge ant hive in Qinghai and if possible even larger. Also, Lung will be quite concerned about this as Ai actually has quite good chances of succeeding if he is backed by ant spirits, the triads and Wuxing.

Comments on the previous events or ideas for further plot development?

tbd

[Reaver]

[sable twilight]

[Austere Emancipa...]