So is there any good information on the CAS?, A discussion about a seemingly information-lacking area Options

[Pepsi Jedi]

I've always wondered about the really weird ideas I've run across that people have about the south.

I can tell you a couple of things about the CAS though:
There will be sweet tea.
Theres no way in hell someone took their guns away from them.
Still some damned fine shade tree mechanics round about.

Oh Dragon, I love you. lol

But yes. There WILL be Sweet Tea.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I miss sweet tea. I moved to the UP of MI 8 years ago and I miss Sweet tea terribly. If you order sweet tea here, they bring you unsweetened tea and two sugar packets. Which, if you've grown up in the south, know, is NOT the same thing.

[Triggvi]

I can see a redneck street sam with his sin on his belt buckle and a gun rack in his pickup truck. Home that is mobile and three cars that aren't. Don't have no smart-guns, I like my guns real dumb. Bad stereotype, I know but fun.

[hermit]

For what it's worth, the CAS also received more extensive coverage in Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America.

[Angelone]

Oh Dragon, I love you. lol

But yes. There WILL be Sweet Tea.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I miss sweet tea. I moved to the UP of MI 8 years ago and I miss Sweet tea terribly. If you order sweet tea here, they bring you unsweetened tea and two sugar packets. Which, if you've grown up in the south, know, is NOT the same thing.

For what it's worth Arizona makes pretty good sweet tea. You should be able to find it at a gas station.

I would love to see the Duke brothers all cybered up.

[Pepsi Jedi]

For what it's worth Arizona makes pretty good sweet tea. You should be able to find it at a gas station.

I would love to see the Duke brothers all cybered up.

It usually has lemon in it. I like my Sweet tea with out. but thank you. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

They did "Calvin and Hobbes" in SR before. not "Southern" but still funny.

[The Dragon Girl]

Oh Dragon, I love you. lol

But yes. There WILL be Sweet Tea.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I miss sweet tea. I moved to the UP of MI 8 years ago and I miss Sweet tea terribly. If you order sweet tea here, they bring you unsweetened tea and two sugar packets. Which, if you've grown up in the south, know, is NOT the same thing.

I've run into this problem! But I know a fix for it, get them to bring you four packets of sugar, a glass of ice -and this is important - some -hot- tea, mix the sugar into the hot tea then pour it over the ice. ^.^

[The Dragon Girl]

I can see a redneck street sam with his sin on his belt buckle and a gun rack in his pickup truck. Home that is mobile and three cars that aren't. Don't have no smart-guns, I like my guns real dumb. Bad stereotype, I know but fun.

-.^ Smartguns are cheating, you know. A real man shoots using his own danged skill.

(says the southern girl who prides herself on being able to hit a empty shot gun shell off a post at 300 feet)

[Darkeus]

For what it's worth, the CAS also received more extensive coverage in Neo-Anarchist's Guide to North America.

Very true but man is that info dated!

And it is very true, sweet tea in Virginia is totally different than sweetened tea in Ohio where I am from...

[Red-ROM]

yea, sweat tea here is really sugar water with maybe a twist of lemon. good though. I missed it when I moved to Washington state for a few years.

[hermit]

Very true but man is that info dated!

Yes, which is why I am very much with Patrick Goodman in that it needs an update. Still, for a basic and comprehensive overview of the CAS, this is the place to look. I for one would love to know more about the major CAS cities, like Atlanta or Houston.

[Darkeus]

Yes, which is why I am very much with Patrick Goodman in that it needs an update. Still, for a basic and comprehensive overview of the CAS, this is the place to look. I for one would love to know more about the major CAS cities, like Atlanta or Houston.

I totally agree. The CAS is woefully detailed. I mean it provides enough info for me to make my own ten year sequence of events from 2062 (last date in Shadows of North America) to 2072 but that is about it.

Virginia needs a big piece of that update as well.. A disputed border near DC, a feeling that they should be the capital state of the CAS, smuggling on Interstates 81 and 64.

The CAS is so full of good runs and I am having to make everything up... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[hermit]

Virginia is split, actually? Into North and South Virginia (a couple other states split, too). The CAS once tried to stage a coup in the UCAs and get the North back (novel Just Compensation).

Not to mention the True Americans, the New Revolution, and how the Bible Belt dealt with the Awakening (with thier ecstatic and intuitive aproach towards faith, they might even have fared better than the Church, but who knows).

Who is even president there? What became of the Texas-based anti-Aztlan movements? What about Austin? How do the conquered Texans deal with Aztlan occupation? I have a hard time imagining Texans taking shit from Mexicans ...

What about the Midwest? The Midwest, bordering the NAN? That is a region where the UCAs is really, really lacking detail, too.

[Darkeus]

Virginia is split, actually? Into North and South Virginia (a couple other states split, too). The CAS once tried to stage a coup in the UCAs and get the North back (novel Just Compensation).

Oh yeah, I know. The suburbs of DC like Arlington and Manassas and Alexandria make up North Virginia, which is a UCAS state. I would imagine someone would try another coup druing crash 2.0 but since no UCAS sources say they lost that area, I would assume it would fail again.

The other states that are split in the CAS is Texas, Missouri, and Florida.

I have been researching what is out there... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Just trying to expand on that a little. I don't see the Almanac or Atlas or whatever it is going to be called coming soon.

I would assume the True American Coalition would still be in control. They had policies that were a bit nicer to Megacorps (The CAS is still kind of isolationist) and I assume that these policies would have helped economically. I am sure this also pissed off the local Southern corps that had been getting all of the favors thanks to the Southern Democrats.

There was a policlub called the Sons of the Alamo that was starting to get major pull for taking back Austin and the rest of Texas. With the Azzies all screwed up after crash 2.0 and all of their problems. Well, what if a policlub that favored military action and secession from the CAS took back parts of Austin after Crash 2.0? The CAS and the Azzies would be nigh powerless to stop them it seems...

[hermit]

Me neither. Which is very sad. Aside from an update on the Elf states (which I dread as much as I am hoping for it), the CAS is what I'd most like to see expanded upon. Especially since, for me as a European, this is a foreign and largely unknown country to begin with. Little to go with to make stuff up myself, I'm afraid.

Right, Missouri split, too. Thanks.

[Darkeus]

Wow, I have even found another significant gap in information about the CAS and maybe an inconsistency. For one, the political parties are a third edition creation as they have no mention of them in TNAGtNA (The Neo-Anarchist Guide to North America) but go into great detail in SoNA (Shadows of North America). That isn't really a problem but in the timeline and the point of contention back in 2050 was the Bennett murder trial. In 2048 the Secretary of State at the time was found murdered with his elven mistress. She is accused of the crime and the CAS government puts a gag order on the whole investigation. Of course, the press screams cover-up...

Anyway, the timeline ends off in typical Shadowrun fashion with a trial that has already been declared a mistrial once about to be restarted and thousands of metahumans converging on Atlanta. They also mention a militant group called MOR or Metahuman Organized Rebellion. The rest is up to the GM to decide.

This is fine and dandy except for one thing, no mention of the political parties. The Democratic Reform party supposedly split from the Southern Democrats in 2040 after the CAS's inaction during the Night of Rage. Wouldn't these guys be VERY involved in the so-called "Racial Revenge" trial? Why isn't this mentioned in SoNA?

The CAS is both a GM paradise and curse. So much space to expand on but so little clues on what way to go. Oh well, we know they will have sweet tea... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

So I guess I will keep working on this CAS timeline...

[hermit]

For someone not living in the southern US, it's a curse.

Yes, very good point. I found the lack of mention of any political party in the NAGNA ... curious. I even toyed with the idea of a president-dictator as in Cybergeneration, but then scrapped it because it would be both to cliché'd and not really fit with the other stuff.

Pity SoNA was written without tying in the older stuff, though. I dislike such gaps.

[Triggvi]

-.^ Smartguns are cheating, you know. A real man shoots using his own danged skill.

(says the southern girl who prides herself on being able to hit a empty shot gun shell off a post at 300 feet)

My grandmother from Kansas could hit the eye of a chicken a 50 yards with a 22 rifle. She was one hell of a shot. I can see the CAS being a lot of fun to play in.

The general lee would be a real kickass ass car in SR4A. Specially with rigging, VR, guns and armor. Talk about having fun in the country. Bootlegging and smuggling. Then at the end of the run back at the boars nest with some nationally famous country star singing.

[Whipstitch]

I've always wondered about the really weird ideas I've run across that people have about the south.

Yeah, Flannery O'Connor once wrote that "Anything that comes out of the South is going to be called grotesque by the northern reader, unless it is grotesque, in which case it is going to be called realistic." Southern stereotypes really have one helluva hold on us outsiders, and in a lot of circles that means that if it's in the South the run has to turn into Deliverance (I'm a Northerner, although I have lived in Texas, which mostly taught me that I'm really not remotely Texan).

Anyway, I think my biggest problem with crossing the South and some of the Midwest states with cyberpunk and Shadowrun is the whole pervasive corp culture idea. I have a real damn hard time believing that Texans in particular are liable to start thinking of themselves as Mitsuhama men first and foremost. It causes me some major cognitive dissonance and even the whole "Well, it's been 60 years!" thing makes it real hard for me to do. I have a slightly easier time of it with my own home state simply because Minnesotans are so laid back that I could almost imagine us just sitting back making hotdish as our corporate overlords make the big decisions. We have a strong cultural heritage and all, but acting like our cultural identity is a big deal is almost considered kind of unseemly up here. Our civic pride is practically passive aggressive. When big market sports writers started calling the Metrodome a dump we responded by putting up a banner that said "We like it here." That's about as defiant as we get (in public).

[hermit]

I have a real damn hard time believing that Texans in particular are liable to start thinking of themselves as Mitsuhama men first and foremost.

Not MCT, but what about a native corp? Bell? Ares? Novatech? Non-American corps have little foothold in the CAS anyway, has been established from the get-go.

It causes me some major cognitive dissonance and even the whole "Well, it's been 60 years!" thing makes it real hard for me to do.

Where I live, 60 years ago, people considered Stalinism a splendid idea. 60 years can see a load of change.

Our civic pride is practically passive aggressive. When big market sports writers started calling the Metrodome a dump we responded by putting up a banner that said "We like it here." That's about as defiant as we get (in public).

So people in Minnesota really are that weird kind of calm and polite we see them being in Fargo?

[Whipstitch]

Let me put it this way: Minnesota is a cold state primarily populated by people from really cold countries. It's like even the the climate says "No whiners." Even whining about whiners is kinda rude. We're sorta tough to read that way.


Anyway, I totally accept the notion that the South could end up quite a bit like the rest of 2070's North America-- I just don't know how you'd establish that very well while still letting the South have a distinct flavor from the UCAS sprawls, which is something I definitely think it should have or else there's really rather little point in bothering. I really believe there's parts of the South that would make great settings for Shadowrun-- New Orleans just begs for a noir tinged run crossed with an extra dash of houngans, for example. And check out Missouri! St. Louis is split in half and is described as a smuggling hub. You could probably do a source book there with enough imagination. Just please don't make it into Seattle-Lite with less Yakuza and more hicks.

[last_of_the_grea...]

I imagine the culture of the CAS would be heavily influenced by the Aztlan border and Aztechnology. Maybe a seige mentality has taken hold, the feeling that Aztlan could invade at any moment and wouldn't it be better to invade them first? I know, the relative sizes of the countries keeps that second option from happening but I can sure envision a heavy "Join the military" program in schools and a certain social advantage to being in the reserves. "What? You're not in the reserves? You wouldn't fight to defend the last bastion of the good ol' U.S. of A.? Jerk!"

[Whipstitch]

Also, another question that really comes to mind: Shadowrun kinda handles skin color largely by saying "Well, it matters less than if you're a meta." Which, you know, is fine. It's easier to go weird places with race relations and prejudice when you're talking about pretend minorities, even if orks and "orxploitation" take pretty direct and obvious parallels with what's gone on in the past with African Americans. But with that said, it kinda pushes blacks onto the periphery. That makes me somewhat curious as to what the locals are like in a place like Atlanta, which is both the capitol of the CAS and home to a big chunk of the country's black population. After all the outsized impact blacks have had on American history did they just hop along for a trip on the corp monoculture as well? Are a lot of blacks involved in running the show now? Hell, we already have a black president, after all, so it's definitely possible. Like I said, I think the South would be an interesting place in the 2070s, but man, am I brimming with questions.

[The Dragon Girl]

My grandmother from Kansas could hit the eye of a chicken a 50 yards with a 22 rifle. She was one hell of a shot. I can see the CAS being a lot of fun to play in.

The general lee would be a real kickass ass car in SR4A. Specially with rigging, VR, guns and armor. Talk about having fun in the country. Bootlegging and smuggling. Then at the end of the run back at the boars nest with some nationally famous country star singing.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) I think I like your grandma.

[hermit]

Anyway, I totally accept the notion that the South could end up quite a bit like the rest of 2070's North America-- I just don't know how you'd establish that very well while still letting the South have a distinct flavor from the UCAS sprawls, which is something I definitely think it should have or else there's really rather little point in bothering.

Point taken. I just meant to say that 60 years CAN see a lot of change. They don't have to.

I really believe there's parts of the South that would make great settings for Shadowrun-- New Orleans just begs for a noir tinged run crossed with an extra dash of houngans, for example. And check out Missouri! St. Louis is split in half and is described as a smuggling hub. You could probably do a source book there with enough imagination. Just please don't make it into Seattle-Lite with less Yakuza and more hicks.

I agree 100% (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I imagine the culture of the CAS would be heavily influenced by the Aztlan border and Aztechnology. Maybe a seige mentality has taken hold, the feeling that Aztlan could invade at any moment and wouldn't it be better to invade them first?I know, the relative sizes of the countries keeps that second option from happening but I can sure envision a heavy "Join the military" program in schools and a certain social advantage to being in the reserves. "What? You're not in the reserves? You wouldn't fight to defend the last bastion of the good ol' U.S. of A.? Jerk!"

I actually think the attitude towards Aztlan in the CAs is as toxic as towards France in 1920s Germany. The South got it's asses handed to them by Mexico. I don't think there is much that would humiliate the Southerners worse. There'll be Revanchism, talk about saving those in Aztlan-occupied Texas, Schoolbooks where the old texan border is shown, with the occupied part being indicated as "currently Aztlan occupied", and Latinos would always have to underline how patriotic they are,kind of how Muslims faced general suspicion after 9/11.

And any Native might well be shot on sight in the wrong parts of the country. The KKK or like-minded organisations probably have a very anti-Native attitude. I could even see Black and White join forces to bash Red. I also could se an underlying suspicion towards Magic, exempting christian-slanted "White" magic. Of course, Hermeticism easily can be given such a slant, and most Shamans would be Idolists who'd follow a Christian interpretation of their Idol. That could even work for many animal Totems, actually.

And yes, a certain Starship Trooper-ish attitude towards armed service might also be present. I'd be careful not to make the CAS too protofascist - there's plenty of that to go. Emphathise the community sense and growing acceptance of Metahumans, too. Maybe there's a second civil rights movement?

The border with Aztlan has been canonically established to be a DMZ like the Korean border. Make of that what you will.

But with that said, it kinda pushes blacks onto the periphery. That makes me somewhat curious as to what the locals are like in a place like Atlanta, which is both the capitol of the CAS and home to a big chunk of the country's black population.

Or, you know, DC.

But yes, Blacks (and Hispanics) really got pushed to the side in SR. That treatment strikes me as kind of odd, since, as you said, Blacks have had an enormous, very disproportionate cultural impact in the past. Of course so have Irish in the past, and now they're just one assimilated white minority among many. Maybe Blacks just split up and assimilated themselves once mankind mutated into metahumanity, who knows.

[Darkeus]

I imagine the culture of the CAS would be heavily influenced by the Aztlan border and Aztechnology. Maybe a seige mentality has taken hold, the feeling that Aztlan could invade at any moment and wouldn't it be better to invade them first? I know, the relative sizes of the countries keeps that second option from happening but I can sure envision a heavy "Join the military" program in schools and a certain social advantage to being in the reserves. "What? You're not in the reserves? You wouldn't fight to defend the last bastion of the good ol' U.S. of A.? Jerk!"

To a point. The Azzies have been pretty beat up in the 2060's. The major defeats in the Yucatan, getting kicked out Denver and replaced with the CAS and finally Crash 2.0 would have finally weakened the Azzie threat completely for the moment. In fact, I kind of see the CAS starting to get the one up on the Azzies on the border. In fact, I have in the timeline I am drawing up that a policlub takes a swath of territory in the confusion of the Crash. In SoNA, there is a policlub that fits this use, the Sons of the Alamo.

Now just add in some corp backing and BAM! The CAS and the Azzies are caught of guard by a policlub now in control of disputed territory... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

I just saw the post above mine. The True American Coalition in the CAS has a pro-metahuman slant. You have a point here.

The CAS is nowhere near a fascist state and, if you go by what established fluff there is, is coming out of the isolationist and semi-racist policies of the Southern Democrats and the Southern Conservatives. I don't see the Starship Trooper theme working here at all.

In fact, the TAC has a reunification slant to it... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)