Unsolved Mysteries #2, Where does over 34 Billion Dollars disappear to? Options

[Acme]

(My standard Disclaimer:

One big NOTE: This isn't a wheedling plea to people like Hardy and Adam for explanations or an accusation that they screwed up on x plot point. I appreciate the hard work that everyone who's ever penned the game has put in and understand the difficulties that it takes. If someone who works/worked on Shadowrun WANTS to give a "official" explanation, great. Or they can put their own speculation in. biggrin.gif It's all for fun.
SECOND NOTE: If the Unsolved Mysteries have in fact been explained, please provide reference, not just go "This already got solved!" I may own a LOT of the books, but maybe there's one I didn't get to yet. Danke schoen.)


There have been a few dozen things that just seem to have blipped off the radar here and there, either never to be brought up again or just simply shelved. The obvious answer is change in direction for the game due to new staff shuffling in and out, and frankly 20 years of canon will cause many a headache of loose ends and frayed edges. Just ask any Trekkie. There have been three major causes of UM: The end of FASA, the sweeping of 3e storylines due to System Failure/4e, and the recent financial problems making many freelancers quit.

Will they get worked out? I don't know. Maybe some of them were left intentionally vague in order for enterprising GMs to work out in their own games, or for future freelancers to gather together for their proposals. But that's what this thread series is about. The chance for we 'Runners to discuss and speculate about those things that are unsolved. If anything, it makes for a good collection for theories and explanations.

Since the Nadja Daviar one seemed to provide quite a good discussion, I present another recent Unsolved Mystery of the Sixth World:

Art Dankwalther's Money.


As most of us know, Mr. Dankwalther received 34.5 billion UCAS Dollars from Dunklezahn's will. For five years he spent it on the high life and also working out a personal vendetta against Richard Villiers, through corporate raiding of Novatech, eating two other Megacorps on his way up. (One happened to be the AA Gunderson Corporation, well known in Cyberpirates and the main bad guy in the "novel" Shadowboxer, causing J.J. Harvin to move over to Aztech with what was left.) He then focused his energy on fracturing Novatech, causing the IPO that leads to System Failure. This is not to lament him, he got a full and interesting storyline that ended with a nasty Thor Shot right to his cranium.

But what happened to his cash? The Omega Order did mess with his assets and Novatech did a hostile takeover on most of them. But that's largely his holdings, and theoretically his estate would still have benefited from the actual taking over. Also, you can't assume he dumped all 34 billion into his project, and he would have made a lot of money being a shark in order to work his next level up. He would have to have socked away a reserve in case his current scheme didn't work out. Even say, putting away a billion or two to live off of and have in reserve.

So, let's assume the other 33 billion and later assets were seized by Novatech and the Corporate Court in general when they Thored him. (That's my biggest thought is that the money just went into the CC and got split up, with Villiers bitching for the lion's share.) Would Art have left a will himself or instructions to divide up his estate? Or did he leave some other projects cooking on the side in case he got blowback from his scheme?

While a billion wouldn't really tweak with a AAA or some higher governments, it could still have severe ramifications for everything else below that..

Thoughts?

[CanRay]

Well, it all depends on how he had that money.

If it was in cash or valuables, then it could be anywhere, including decimated by a Thor Shot.

If it's in stocks, then the Corporations might just be trucking along not even realizing their major shareholder is dead. There are still some Fuchi Orphans around after all.

If it's in the hands of various lawyers/fixers/ex-lovers around the world, waiting for Richard Villiers to let his guard down, waiting to strike at any moment... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

[Martin_DeVries_I...]

If it's in the hands of various lawyers/fixers/ex-lovers around the world, waiting for Richard Villiers to let his guard down, waiting to strike at any moment... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/devil.gif)

Which raises another question. Art had (in his mind, anyway) an ironclad reason for going after Villiers and messing with him. If he was smart enough to leave some of his money behind to continue striking at Villiers from beyond the grave, then good for him... but would the people in charge of those assets care enough to actually do it? These various fixers/lawyers/whomever don't have the burning urge for revenge that Dankwalther did; are they going to put their necks on the line to strike at one of the most slippery and resilient corporate personae of the Sixth World?
Maybe some of that money has been "misappropriated" to fund whatever pet causes those people have, instead...

[Abstruse]

Please note that $34 billion UCAS is under ¥9 billion. A lot, but not enough to take out a AAA. He probably made more after he took out the A and AA he used as target practice though, and I'm betting most of that was put into the most conservative investments he could get his hands on that he could easily liquidate. I'd put good money that at least a tenth of it was in bearer bonds to kill any attempted trace of his activities, which would be a very nice little score if someone could find them.

[Acme]

Wonder if he put it into metals. Given six years since he popped it, you could imagine the increase of even a million UCAS dollars in platinum or gold would prove to be an interesting find. You'd have to think that Art wouldn't have holed out in his main place when they blew him, so that means his main house might have 2-3 million UCAS bucks in metals in its basement... Or maybe in Swiss or Carib League banks. (Which would make a quite interesting idea for someone doing a Geneva run during the technomancer siege..)

[Daylen]

if its an oh shit stash we're talking about then its probably a mix of metal, cash (of various nations) corp scrip, electronic dollars, and real assets not bonds or stocks. If it was me I'd have multiple stashes with monies and useful gear gear for runners and lots of communication gear. Vehicles of the fast kind could be useful as well. Why this mix? easy. If shit hits the fan and its time for plans L through Z then its probably time for immediate flight or fight followed by hiding and new planning.

[CanRay]

Yeah, too bad he couldn't outrun a Thor Shot, now, could he?

"Don't play Dodge The Bullet... Unless you're really good!" - Red Green.

[Daylen]

seems he wasn't as awesome as he thought.

[hobgoblin]

(Which would make a quite interesting idea for someone doing a Geneva run during the technomancer siege..)

now thats a place i want to know more about, the writeup so far have been limited.

hell, i wonder what puck got mixed up in.

[CanRay]

hell, i wonder what puck got mixed up in.

I wonder if he glowed blue on a pass, and red on a shot on goal, myself. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

[Daylen]

now thats a place i want to know more about, the writeup so far have been limited.

hell, i wonder what puck got mixed up in.

Hockey.

[Acme]

now thats a place i want to know more about, the writeup so far have been limited.

hell, i wonder what puck got mixed up in.

Well if the implications in Corp Guide are correct, what's left of him is probably floating in a beaker right now...

[Sengir]

Wonder if he put it into metals.

He was a corp raider and not some "the world is going to end" nutter, why would he use something immobile as metals? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

The idea of some funds to strike at Villiers from the grave sound interesting, though. Art could expect to become the victim of random gang violence at any time, so it would really have made sense for him to take precautions.

[Acme]

He was a corp raider and not some "the world is going to end" nutter, why would he use something immobile as metals? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

The idea of some funds to strike at Villiers from the grave sound interesting, though. Art could expect to become the victim of random gang violence at any time, so it would really have made sense for him to take precautions.

Now now, not everyone who invests in metals is a nutter. Metals can often be more mobile than other investments, especially if you're holding certificates and not actual bullion. He could have diversified his investments, keeping some of them out of the stock market in case his assets got seized or the company he invested in went under because of his manipulations.

[CanRay]

The thing about investing in metals is that Gold will always be GOLD. Banks fail, governments fall, but gold... Gold is always gold.

Or, if you don't mind something that isn't as portable, but will be much more useful in a "Oh drek, the world has gone TOTALLY to hell!" then Iron and Steel are better choices.

[EKBT81]

Well, some of Art's money might have "disappeared" by way of expired options, I guess he also used a lot of assets as collateral for leveraged transactions. Those assets were probably seized by the banks after his demise.

[hobgoblin]

Well if the implications in Corp Guide are correct, what's left of him is probably floating in a beaker right now...

crap, time to go page hunting again.

ouch, this is going to be nasty...

[Sengir]

Now now, not everyone who invests in metals is a nutter. Metals can often be more mobile than other investments, especially if you're holding certificates and not actual bullion. He could have diversified his investments, keeping some of them out of the stock market in case his assets got seized or the company he invested in went under because of his manipulations.

Investing in raw materials from oil and gold to grain is a good idea, but guys who keep physical gold stashed in their cellars (for the sake of stashing money, not bling bling) are a different story. The main disadvantage for Artie would be that you can buy stocks with gold mine shares or a loan using physical gold as a collateral, but you can't walk into UCAS National Bank with a jack full of bullion bars and say "hey, I'd like to buy some Novatech stock". Which sucks if you want to wage a financial war against Novatech...

[hobgoblin]

The thing about investing in metals is that Gold will always be GOLD. Banks fail, governments fall, but gold... Gold is always gold.

except if your in south america, where gold is tableware and jade is the thing to have.

btw, gold because the currency token of choice for it not rusting, being rare (at the time of hand tools) and being a soft metal (easy to melt, reshape and so on). Other then that, gold holds no special "power" that makes it especially valuable.

[Daylen]

except if your in south america, where gold is tableware and jade is the thing to have.

btw, gold because the currency token of choice for it not rusting, being rare (at the time of hand tools) and being a soft metal (easy to melt, reshape and so on). Other then that, gold holds no special "power" that makes it especially valuable.

oh silly sod yes it does! although its current price is a fair amount above its industrial price. The not rusting and being easy to work and melt along with its conductivity and optical properties make it very useful in many technologies.

[Doc Chase]

crap, time to go page hunting again.

ouch, this is going to be nasty...

Read the lead-in regarding MCT's writeup.

[Kraegor]

What ever happened to the billions of dollars of gold inside fort knox? Thats what I wanna know.

[CanRay]

What ever happened to the billions of dollars of gold inside fort knox? Thats what I wanna know.

Well, it's in the UCAS... But it's really close to the CAS too.

[hobgoblin]

Read the lead-in regarding MCT's writeup.

the second line is directly related to me reading it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

tho the claim that puck is by now spare parts in a vat is perhaps a bit premature.

[Doc Chase]

the second line is directly related to me reading it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

tho the claim that puck is by now spare parts in a vat is perhaps a bit premature.

I was rather inebriated when I read your post and in a mood to be incredibly helpful. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/nyahnyah.gif)

The Rose Garden project sounds incredibly scary.