[Dragons6thW] Nachtmeister, WTF? Options

[moosegod]

I have DotSW and know the stuff therein.

Is there anything else? I'd think a dragon, especially a great, competing with Lofwyr would have showed up elsewhere.

[FlakJacket]

I'm not sure, but I think that may have come up in some of the older German language FanPro sourcebooks. And with their taking over and things being combined, it gets grandfathered in as it were.

[Ancient History]

's in the German sourcebooks. I get questions/corrections about it now and then. See especially "Shockwaves."

[Synner]

The thing to remember is that no matter what American shadowrunners would like to think, Lofwyr's powerbase is Europe not America (and Nachtmeister even more so) and in fact they are only ever exposed to the fringes of his influence and plots - afterall Seattle is almost on the other side of the world. While there are still 24-hour media channels around, the sort of shadowdeals these dragons get involved in aren't common knowledge and their involvement is often filtered by layers of deniability anyway (especially if it's everyday runs and blackops). Distance is still a barrier to information no matter what anyone says because there is an unconcious filter in any media that prioritizes on what will affect you locally, this becomes doubly relevant when you're dealing with inherently secretive critters like Great Dragons. Think about it - what did you actually know about Lung, Aden or Hualpa for that matter before DotSW?

That being said, Nachtmeister did make an appearance and was profiled in the book (in English language) that introduced the AGS - the Germany sourcebook - where his ongoing quarrel with Lofwyr over control of certain parts of Germany's economy and states was introduced in the Frankfurt chapter as well as his control of Germany's second biggest corp, the Frankfurt Bankenverein (This was in fact a condensed version of the material in the original German-language DidS sb).

Nachtmeister and the conflict would continue to be revisited (briefly) by German writers in both sourcebooks and novels. In English language books you can go back and find mentions of the FBV/FBA (or Frankfurt Bank Association) in such unlikely places as Target: Smuggler Havens and Target: Wastelands so it's nothing truly new. Its suggested in at least one of those books that Nachtmeister had some sort of involvement with Proteus AG too (although the true depths of this is only revealed in Shockwaves). Not to mention the suggestion in DotSW that Nachtmeister might have misused a familiar title in PoaD .

However, German material definitely had tensions escalating between the two during the CorpWar (nobody wondered why Lofwyr wasn't around on the American scene during the CorpWar?) and eventually led to the "Lofwyr 1 - Nachtmeister 0" chapter of DidS2 a couple of years back. In that book, Lofwyr called out Nachtmeister for a full dragon ritual duel-to-the-death in the skies over Frankfurt (it's actually on the cover of the book IIRC). The long fight ended with Lofwyr's victory and Nachtmeister's demise. Strangely enough, as you will find in DotSW a lot of the tridbroadcasts of the fight coming out of Germany were jammed or corrupted...

While the fight was never covered in any depth in FanPro US canon, it had to be referenced because of the importance it has on Lofwyr, his plots and his foes - not to mention the unexpected Shockwaves which are felt. In Lofwyr's chapter of DotSW you should get an idea of why Lofwyr uncharacteristically decided to make the fight so public and remove Nachtmeister once and for all - ie. he'd begun to discover the true extent of Nachtmeister's alliance with Widow and Weaver, and the allies plans to undermine his next big move... (more on that soon)

Regardless of that particular plot thread, the end result was that Nachtmeister's demise left a huge vacuum at the top of Germany's Number 2 corp - the FBA. This is where the German campaign Shockwaves takes off. Proteus AG - for unknown reasons - makes a grab for control of the FBA... and learns the hard way that Nachtmeister was every bit as cunning as Lofwyr.

[Skarn Ka]

[252]

Wow, and that is so cool. I have to learn German, I got to figure out how to read some of this stuff. This is just so cool.


As stated before:

WOW.

Is that enough said. Please tell us more Synner?

[Kanada Ten]

I wonder about the relationship between Widow and Nachtmeister. They die almost at the same moment, which points to three main possibilities.

One: Widow watched the battle (somehow) and emotion led to over stimulation.

Two: Lofwyr had her killed, and did it symbolically at the same time he killed Nachtmeister.

Three (and the more interesting): Widow and Nachtmeister had some kind of bond. The bond might have allowed Lofwyr to strike Widow through Nachtmeister, it allowed shared <knowledge> with a negative effect of death be severing, or it was keeping Widow alive.

I like option 3 with the latter. I would also have a symbolic "chain" item that linked them... one that the PC's have to retrieve... hummm...

[Synner]

[Kanada Ten]

Johnny certainly thinks (or hopes) someone "friendly" will get control of the Frankfurter Bankverein (FBV) before the dust settles (if I read "Weaves" Shadowtalk comment correctly). We can hope SoE mentions who rises to the top and sort out their connections as need be.

One thing I noticed is the Proteus has a tentative link to Winternight (Wake of the Comet)... which might put Natchmeister's agents among them... but doesn't Alamais have links to Winternight? Which might put Alamais in the camp too - but that could just be a red herring.

Also, put down Victoria Zai (Meynt-Zai Industries) as my choice for a member. No good reason ;)

[shadd4d]

[Synner]

The only significant English language material on Proteus can be found (strangely enough) in Target: Smuggler Havens. There is also incidental but interesting material in the adventures in Wake of the Comet and Corporate Punishment.

Shockwaves is definitely worth the effort - it's a very cool campaign which blows the lid off Proteus and explains what the heck's been going on behind the scenes at that corp for years (and answers that mysterious question: what the hell does it do to make money?). If you have the time and patience to do the work I honestly suggest getting it.

And just to plug another FanPro product, Shockwaves has a couple of chapters which take place in Europe but outside the AGS. The upcoming Shadows of Europe will be useful to provide further context (and at least one major "shockwave" from the events in the campaign carries through).

[shadd4d]

[Synner]

You are correct Proteus does get a mention in M&M in both Genetech and Chemicals. However all of the ones I quoted above are larger than those single passages.

[mfb]

to sum up, Proteus is building arcoblocks. they tried for the prize in Dunk's will, but someone clearly forgot to RTFM--the will clearly states "completely underwater", and all of the arcoblocks have above-water portions.

meetings. because none of us is as stupid as all of us.

[L.D]

The claim for the will was just a big smokescreen to draw away attention from the space launch pad taht they where building off the cost of South America. But not only the launch pad, they were using the pad to build Treffpunkt Raumhafen Space Station located at LaGrange point one.

Edit: Am I the only one annoyed (to say the least) that all information about this mysterious corporation can only be found in German made sourcebooks? *mutters* Not only to they get all of that ED-SR trilogy novels, but those Germans get a lot more cool stuff that we don't! *mutters* Maybe I should just learn that stupid language...

This post has been edited by L.D: Apr 11 2004, 08:13 AM

[shadd4d]

Probably. Then you too can read and understand the Fanpro Forums.

Don

[shadd4d]

[Synner]

Nice twist wasn't it? And that's only the proverbial tip of the arcology...

[Skarn Ka]

[L.D]

Meh... forgot the joke-smilie. :)

Joy... another stoopid language to learn... one that I almost knew ten years ago. What's wrong with english! Or even better: swedish. :D ;)

My problem isn't with the languages themsleves, but rather that I don't understand them.

But it still feels like the germans (or rather the german speaking crowd) get a much better deal. (except for those novels in french...)

*walks away muttering swedish curses*

*walks back*
@Synner(and others that know) Is it possible to get the most important parts of Shockwellen in english somehow? I'd love that. :D

[Skarn Ka]

[Ancient History]

I do have one question: when Nachtmeister dissapeared after his draco-a-draco avec Lofwyr, were there any signs of Nachtmeister's actual death?

Such as, but not limited to:

--A corpse

--Lofwyr using his dragon breath to reduce Nachtmesiter to ash

--A flight of dragons over the spot Nachtmeister fell

--increased shadow activity around Nachtmeister's holdings, besides Lofwyr's.

[Synner]

[FlakJacket]

Will? Seems that Dunkie was quite the trend setter. :)

[Nath]

Still, the existence of a will would be quite incoherent when you consider how Nachtmeister reacted to Dunkelzahn's own will with his flame posting on Shadowland under the login Loremaster (in PoaD).