London Vignette Options

[Wesley Street]

I worked this up as part of an unsolicited proposal for a Shadowrun London eBook-type project. When I realized my take only offered a new perspective but not the new twist on the location that I think it needs I decided to table it. Before I relegate the files to my morgue I thought I'd share part of the writing sample:

Ladyboy arrived at Stamford Bridge as the baggies were setting up. Flanks of truncheon wielding Dinos ran from the Tube station at Fulham to the stadium entrance. A Yellowjacket circled above.

First came the song, "Liverpool, la-la-la, Liverpool, la-la-la," followed by the chanting young men and their shaved heads and red and white scarves. A beer bottle went over the cordon line at a middle-aged geezer, probably on his way to his mystery book club meeting. This breach of civilized conduct was rewarded with the hooligan tackled, his arms wrenched behind him, then handcuffed.

A few of the young toughs caught a glimpse of Ladyboy. She received the usual calls of "fuckin' poofter!" and "fuckin' bastard!" She ignored them as she leaned casually against a lamppost, hands in her pink Zoe jacket.

The mark was among the last of the Merseysprawlers to arrive via Tube. Some poor BritRail sod was going to be working double overtime fixing up the cars the thugs had trashed. As if the Tube wasn't banged up enough as it was. After tasking a watcher spirit to keep an eye on him, she walked into the stadium.

An hour was spent at one of the sticky concession stand tables, coating her nails with clear polish. The stomping of feet and shouts of "fuckin' bastard!" echoed through the halls beneath the East Stand. Her mojo kept the increasingly drunk crowds from noticing her. There were the usual "Trogs out! Trogs out!" chants that ended with the slaps of fists on soft body parts as a meta or a sympathizer took offense.

The watcher informed her the mark was on his way down. Staggering, a bent cigarette in his mouth and an empty paper cup in his hand, he was a pathetic sight. She followed him into the toilets. He had already dropped trou and was about his business. Hiking up her skirt, Ladyboy let the invisibility spell go and joined him at the adjoining urinal. "Think you could help me out with a zip-up love?" she asked. "My nails aren't dry yet." This was the part she liked best.

The mark looked at her, startled. "Fuckin' poo-" he began as she jammed her index finger in his ear. The little shit wasn't worth wasting mojo on and a shock glove jolt to the tympanum worked as well as a bullet to the cranium. He fell; trousers around his ankles, and his life ended twitching on the scummy floor of a football stadium bog.

As she walked out, she smacked her lips at a pair of Chelsea loyalists on their way in. "He's all yours, mates," she cooed.

Fog had rolled into the streets outside The Bridge and dark was falling on The Smoke. Her heels clicked on the sidewalk. She pulled out her 'link. When Buffalo Soldier answered she told him the job was done. "Ta for this," he told her. "The Old Firms will be pleased. The boy was getting mouthy. Fancy a pint later?"

"Can't do it love," she replied. "I've got a date with a curry and a Ken at the Jabberwok."

"Go easy on him, eh?"

Ladyboy just laughed.

Comments are welcome.

[crizh]

Nice stuff, I like it.

I've never really liked London. It feels very oppressive, much like Glasgow. We stopped in London on our way to Paris a couple of years ago and the difference is palpable.

I crawled through some of the old sourcebooks for the meet that we're currently playing in Fields of Fire and thought it might be a nice twist if the ruling Greens and the Druids had done something about that.

I imagine Central London's Astral was pretty nasty when they took power 20+ years ago and I can see all the sensitives in positions of power not really wanting to have to endure that all day every day.

I envisioned a massive project to take the aura's of all the parkland and strengthen them with Rituals and push them out and merge them all together by Cleansing and Aspecting the corridors that separate them. Creating an island of idyllic calm for the 'haves' to undertake the running of the 'Green and Pleasant Land' without actually having to see the real dystopian wasteland they ruled over.

[Synner667]

Love it !!

London is a very good place for all sorts of action, so nice to see something set there.

Anymore ??

I might be in the Market for tales of a twisted London.

[Backgammon]

Mmm, excellent sir. Very flavourful, very well written, easy to read and understand.

My only comment would be it lacked a bit of 2070 techno glitz. It felt like a scene I could have seen today. I'd stick in some gratuitous AR, maybe some drones, etc. The football setting is a good place to insert some flash. The spectators might have techno-glitz equivalent of horns, banners, etc. Make it feel like it's 2070.

[Wesley Street]

I imagine Central London's Astral was pretty nasty when they took power 20+ years ago and I can see all the sensitives in positions of power not really wanting to have to endure that all day every day.

I envisioned a massive project to take the aura's of all the parkland and strengthen them with Rituals and push them out and merge them all together by Cleansing and Aspecting the corridors that separate them. Creating an island of idyllic calm for the 'haves' to undertake the running of the 'Green and Pleasant Land' without actually having to see the real dystopian wasteland they ruled over.

You make some interesting points. I had an idea of a London that isn't getting better and isn't growing worse as the Greens, Druids and everyone else keep each other in check... it's just getting old and falling backward in time. Shadows of Europe brought the idea of the neo-Victorian movement in upper society and I wanted to explore that a bit with Bryan Talbot's Heart of Empire/1890 World's Fair Crystal Palace inspired AR scapes and steampunk as mainstream wear. There are also city-spanning pollution control domes that have ruptured and failed from plastic consuming bacteria which could house gravity-defying SINless populations of their own a la K.W. Jeter's Farewell Horizontal.

I've been reading Bill Buford's Among the Thugs and I like the idea of an empowered SINless population. Squatters in other cities seem like pathetic targets for cop boot-kickings but I'd like to see the disenfranchised of London taking on a soccer hooligan approach. "Yeah, I ain't gots no money. Fuck you, wanker!" *head butt*

The UK should be very nationalistic extending into xenophobia toward non-Brits as is reflected in its violent SINless. Megacorps, unless they're from the UK, have only a minor presence. The police are still run by the government and The Lord Protector's Office is filled with evil James Bond-esque "Triple-Oh" agents. And I thought it would be delightfully anachronistic to have an island nation composed of, not only anti-metas, but anti-non-Caucasians. I think it's a cop-out to say "well, you've got a British accent so even though you're eight feet tall and have horns, you're okay in my book." Please. If you're going to go racist, go racist.

I'd stick in some gratuitous AR, maybe some drones, etc.

Heh! I actually had Met drones mentioned along with the Yellowjacket but I pulled them to keep the word count down. Good point though! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Prime Mover]

I always thought London would make a great missions setting if they ever did an overseas city. Ton of plot hooks that could stand to be revisited from old London source book and of course all the threads left open in European source book. Cities of Intrigue visit maybe...almost miss big location splat books.

[crizh]

Funny thing is that Nationalism in the UK isn't necessarily related to race. It is often about being British more than anything else, it don't matta' what colour you are innit?

So long as you can spell colour properly....

[Wesley Street]

True, extreme nationalism doesn't necessarily extend to racism and I wouldn't mean to imply it does so today.

After reading The Independent's "A brief history of British racism" and Stephen Dorril's Blackshirt: Sir Walter Mosely and British Facism (along with the Brit stuff in Shadowrun sourcebooks) I thought hyper-xenophobia from the elite would make for an interesting post-Awakening reaction; as well as a nice parallel to the anti-Anglo/anti-pinkskin sentiments of the extremist Native American Nations as portrayed in Shadows of North America. How does one get through working in a society where, if you don't look like Paris Hilton, you're a suspect? It would be a lot easier to stick on some fake ears and pass as an elf in the Tirs.

From Shadows of Europe:

As a former colonial power, a significant portion of Britain's population descends from various ethnic origins - Indian, African and Chinese being the most prevalent. Surprising to many visitors is that while many such groups have established their own distinct communities, they are still seen as British and accepted as such. They have assimilated the local attitudes and mannerisms and many converse fluently with the regional accents.

>Well the ones who've been here a couple of generations anyway.
>Blank

And from London Sourcebook:

The British police are hard to bribe, hard to bluff, and generally do not overlook minor misdemeanors. They are corrupt in more fundamental ways. Racism is endemic (both anti-metahuman and anti-ethnic) and so is a genuine dislike for people at the bottom of the social ladder. The British police are not nice people, but they don't express their prejudices too overtly most of the time.