For Fun And Profit: Issue 1, Outline Options

[Grinder]

To save us from having everything piled up in one thread, here's the coordination thread for #1.

Issue 1

0) Shadowland login screen. This is one of the touches that will make this document feel like an SR4 publication.

1) Introduction The Real Story Of The War (written up as a a classic in-game Shadowland writeup, maybe with some references to War!, but nothing contradicting it)
- An introduction to the war as we see it, and a short out-of-world writeup what this adds to War!, why it makes sense to own both War! And this and what our mission writing this is.

[meat 2 to 4: an overview of the entire Am/Az conflict as an Argus document that got leaked onto the shadow boards. They got hired to give a comprehensive overview of the war (probably by UCAS or CAS) - that'll let us give an objective view on everything without having to rely on making 'runners to tell the stories]

2) God’s Eye Perspective: An overview of the conflict
2.1 Aztlan: The only thing better than power is more power
2.2 Amazonia: Over our cold, dead bodies
2.3 UCAS/Ares: The enemy of my enemy still is my enemy (but seeing them kill each other is priceless)
2.4 Saeder-Krupp: War is business. More war is more business.
- Horizon: Food for the World, and pleased love us!
- Colombian freedom fighters: Viva Colombia!

3) The Front Lines! (What happened in the war, and who did what where. All the stuff we miss. This is where a timeline goes!)
3.1) Timeline of the war
3.2) Maracaibo (urban warfare in all it’s gory glory)
3.3) Caracas (If this isn’t the biggest mess in South America, it’ll do till the real biggest mess arrives)
3.4) Bogota (venture point, occupied city, dense atmosphere, but no massive battles)

4) Military Organizations involved
4.1) AZT - War on 5,000 Nuyen a soldier or less
4.2) AMZ - Magical guerillas
4.3) UCAS/CAS - High Tech, Low Numbers
4.4) Ares/S&K - Who do you think /makes/ the High tech toys
4.5) Mercs - A range of Merc units. From those barely better than a shadowrun team, to highly trained, highly equiped special forces mercs.

5) Modern Warfare 2073 (meat: a document compiled by the CAS armed forces for CAS Marine officer trainees at [whereever their Marines academy is].)
5.1) Different Strategies for different people (an introductionary essay on different types of armies in the 6th world and what that means)
5.1.1 The 6 Million Nuyen Soldier (High Tech, Low Numbers: Examples UCAS, CAS, Ares, SK, MCT; essay by one of these or maybe an analyst of another corp)
5.1.2 Do you want to live forever? (Quantity over quality. Examples: AZT, Russia; an essay by a former Russian or Aztlaner soldier)
5.1.3 The new ways of War (magic-heavy armies. examples: AMZ, TT, Yakut. An essay on fighting those from the perspective of a CalFree soldier?)
5.1.4 Down and dirty (Asymmetrical Warfare. Examples: African Armies, Terrorists and Insurgents. An essay by a veteran of the Polish freedom fighters)
5.1.5: Oh My God Is That A Dragon? An essay on what combat does look like when your air force faces Wyverns and Dragons. Probably an in-game
5.2 The Matrix on the Battlefield
5.2.1: The combat hacker. What does Hacking for the military look like and how does it differ from hacking for corps?
5.2.2 Digital Frontlines: What is fought in the Matrix in War and why. Securing commsats, encryption/decryption, infiltration/guarding of tacnets, recon, disinformation. How do Hackers work in the Combat Zone The HQ Hacker, the OpCom haker, the descendants of the comms guy, Rigger platoons and Cyberwar Brigades
5.2.3 The Resonant Side Of War: Combat Technomancers, AI and Sprites versus Tactical Hackers and Agents. Also an essay on The Military fighting AI and Sprites, possibly written up as a report from UN forces fighting to take back Geneva.
5.3 Magic on the battlefield (an Intro by a hardened Merc about Magic on the Battlefield and how it changed everything, a brief outline of magic in wars from the Ghost dance War to the Euro Wars to the Az/Yuc-War.)
5.3.1 to 5.3.3 Three essays on magic on the battlefield, each in-character: one by a member of the Tir Tairngire armed forces (magical combined troops), one by a Yakut shapeshifter (magical guerilla) and one by an UCAS combat mage (Magic in a technicised army). Each with it’s own flavor and varied use of magic)

6) Faces of War: Sample Units (meat: a collection of documents accumulated by the Ares' Inteligence Services, formerly part of the Seraphin network, who want to study how these militaries work to know more about their competitors, and as a for-sale guide for 'military counselors'.)
Aztlan Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas (Aztlan’s parachutist regiment)
La Legion Étrangère, 1er Régiment étranger de cavalerie, 1er REC (mobile light armored cavalry)
The King’s Own Royal Gurkha Rifles (formerly Royal Gurkha Rifles, British Gurkha regiment)
Henan People’s Liberation Army 19th Infantry Division (organised much like a Chinese PLA regiment from the Korean war)
MET 2000 Einsatzgruppe 3 (A heavily cybered combined arms troop)
The units should feature fully statted example NPCs as well as unit organization and rank charts.

7) Gear and coolshit (meat: an exposé by the Lagos Arms Fair, written for prospective customers; downloaded is the English version, but there could be others in all kinds of languages mentioned somehow)
- Revisions of the gear in War!.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif) Game Info Errata’d rules from War! That are not totally batshit.

9) Shadowland Open Forum. An open forum where we can have our talkers go nuts. good, old-fashioned shadowtalk, rumors, discussions drifung. We can dump anything that does not fit anywhere else here.

[Grinder]

Notes to 2. (Reasons for the war between Atzlan and Amazonia):

Ancient Power Sites
Magical Ingredients and components for making Foci
Minerals

//warning delving into Earthdawn cross over crap//
Maybe the Amazon is a source of True Wood? and possibly True Water?
It's possible that deep inside the Basin are things AZT knows about that their Great Dragons want?

It's possible that the whole war is a power-play between the 5 Great Dragons involved in this thing?
The Horrors are coming back, perhaps theres resources in the Amazon Basin needed for 'something'

This all kind of fits into the Power-Sites idea, actually.

//end of Earthdawn Cross over crap//

Yeah, I get why Aztlan would want the basin.

But they have to want it bad enough to try and wipe out Amazonia, or at least large chunks of it, and to go up agaisnt A Great Dragon and his friends (There are 3 Dragons involved in Amazonia.. Though they might not all be Greats)

That's a serious War. And maybe that is AZT's final plan down the line. AZT is kind of a weird place, they're run by a pair of Corrupted Great Dragons, so who knows how crazy they're willing to get.

The question remains, why is Amazonia fighting a siege on a city that is
a) completely out of their comfort zone
b) along incredibly narrow, easily destroyed supply lines
c) of no strategic interest to them

Now, if you make Bogota the central military hub for AZT in the south, and they're doing combat missions into the heart of the Basin. I guess that's a bit better. I think I see it going like this:

Azt has major hunting/retreival operations going on out of Bogota. It's fairly safe for them. It's a major airport.
They hire Mercenaries and Big Game hunters to go into Amazonia and bring back magical lucre. Naga hides, Giant Spider poison sacs, what ever. They also do Dune like "lumber runs" where they have special LAVS. They fly in, clear a section of forest, and fly back out. They then turn around and use that wood for "Authentic Amazon Forest Furniture™" or some such crap.

The Amazonians are none too pleased, but they're facing a REAL war in Venezuela. With tanks, massive troop movements, etc. So they've got mostly guerrila and merc units that are based from forward camps in the Jungle. Rules of Engagement for the Mercs are seriously restricted from the Amazonian side.

The Amazonians are running small guerilla units into the mountains and trying to attack Bogota.

That could work...

[Grinder]

Post all relevant links into this thread, please (i.e. shadowtalkers, drafts).

[hermit]

Shadowtalker List (global): here
Maracaibo draft: here
Combat First Aid: here
1er REC ragiment of the French Foreign Legion: here
Personal Equipment: here
Metahumans in the Army: here
Maracaibo map: here
Yakut War draft: here

[CanRay]

Can I make a suggestion?

Desert Wars should take up a part on this as well. While I know it's just a Bloodsport that's dealt with like any other sporting event, it is warlike in it's nature. Even if it is a method of Corporations showcasing their newest weapons and equipment...

I started thinking ideas about it earlier today.

[Doc Chase]

Can I make a suggestion?

Desert Wars should take up a part on this as well. While I know it's just a Bloodsport that's dealt with like any other sporting event, it is warlike in it's nature. Even if it is a method of Corporations showcasing their newest weapons and equipment...

I started thinking ideas about it earlier today.

I think Desert Wars and other corporate-sponsored acts of violence(televised, natch) are going to entirely comprise Issue 3.

[sabs]

That is the plan, we actually plan on having a Blood Sport Extravaganza! Issue.

Big Money! Big Prizes! Big Death!

[CanRay]

Working on what I can write for this in my head... So far I'm getting ideas about Ares (Which I've subtitled: "We practically are the military", in the infamous RoboCop quote) as written by my Mary Sue, er, favorite NPC: Jon "Money" Johnson. He's a shareholder of Ares.

Also having ideas for lesser military Corps, as well... NeoNet: "We don't build weapons, we build the software that makes them work and unhackable" and Horizon: "If you're going to fight, do it with style! And ratings!".

Well, hopefully that gives people some ideas. I can't really trust myself to write any longer. (Four bloody month hiatus...).

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

While i'm waiting for final approval of Maracaibo, I wanna know what is not being worked yet.
If there is no one working on 4.2 and 5.1.3 yet, I'm volunteering for them.

[sabs]

5.1.3 and 4.2 are yours.

[Doc Chase]

While i'm waiting for final approval of Maracaibo, I wanna know what is not being worked yet.
If there is no one working on 4.2 and 5.1.3 yet, I'm volunteering for them.

I'm rolling through Maracaibo. I know we're bumping up against our EOM deadline so I'll try to get something back on it by tomorrow.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

So, some questions emerged while I was writing. Am I supposed to talk about the history of the amazonian military or just describe how is the hierarchy and structure involved in the conflict or both?

Also, while talking to Garou he mentioned and I think it is a good idea, that we should re-write the Genebre Convention, given Awakening and stuff. For instance, he suggested that FAB-III should be considered a bilogical weapon and forbidden, what you guys think?

[Doc Chase]

Do both. Quick blurb on its history but focus on its makeup. Try to explain how the standing militaries in the South American countries that are now Amazonia transitioned to the 'GLA-style' fighters by 2072.

As for the Geneva Convention...eh. I think rewriting it would also require an overhaul of national power and the UN, and a more detailed explanation of what we've got. Let's allude to the notion that there's talk in the UN of classifying it as a WMD (if it hasn't already) and leave it at that.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Still writing on Amazonian military, here is the document for critique

[Doc Chase]

I'll shuffle through it when I'm not at work. I've got class starting tonight too, but with luck I'll have the first edits on Maracaibo done and back tonight, and the Military doc by Friday.

[Fatum]

Still writing on Amazonian military, here is the document for critique

Don't shapeshifters mature much faster than humans, basically roughly as fast as their original species? Running Wild supports that.

Minding that both Amazonia and Yakut are awakened nations concerned with environmental preservation and such, I though that Russo-Yakut war could see some Amazonian volunteers and weapons; what do you think about that?

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Yes they do, they grow as fast as Orks.

Correction, once they achieve "adulthood", they live as long as Orks.

But, as Garou had talked to me, better don't draft them too young, they better learn a little bit about the metahuman civilization a bit.

[Fatum]

Well, in Running Wild, wolf shifters are said to mature at three.
Your call, really; but refusing to enlist them unless they spend ten more years elsewhere just seems like a sloppy move to me, reducing possible manpower reserves for the army.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Shapeshifters are rare, they are not significant manpower. Orks on the other hand, are.

But while harpies and jaguars are considered adults by the age of 3, their shapeshifter counterpart would still live with their parents for a much longer time. I could reduce their age of enlistement, but I think I'll drop to 10 years for them.

[Fatum]

Shapeshifters are rare, they are not significant manpower. Orks on the other hand, are.

But while harpies and jaguars are considered adults by the age of 3, their shapeshifter counterpart would still live with their parents for a much longer time. I could reduce their age of enlistement, but I think I'll drop to 10 years for them.

Again - your draft, your call. You could also just drop the explanation in there for everyone to see.

Also, are you writing up Amazonia-produced weapons?

[hermit]

I don't think Amazonia would have much of a weapons industry (entirely unlike Brazil!), but some local flavor there would be nice and small arms they'd certainly produce themselves, if in license maybe.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Well, we have Taurus right now, they produce a lot of pistols and revolvers, also a few SMG's and shotguns, but their main focus is on sidearms.
Also, if I recall, Amazonia is not a signatary of the Corporate Business Accord, meaning that while the corporations could really have an interest in installing facilities here, Hualpa may do as it pleases and kick them out.

I'll try finish the fluff and start some crunch today.

[hermit]

Taurus is a brazilian company? Didn't know that. They are even named in SR novels.

Also, if I recall, Amazonia is not a signatary of the Corporate Business Accord, meaning that while the corporations could really have an interest in installing facilities here, Hualpa may do as it pleases and kick them out.

And can also earn money by producing knockoff products and being a tax haven.

[sabs]

I think it makes a certain amount of sense that Amazonia would have maintained it's small arms manufacturing.

Look, there's a GIANT sprawl in Amazonia, with modern buildings, and favalas and all that crap. For that to happen, there has to be social and economic forces causing the Sprawl to not only exist, but be sustainable.

There has to be jobs.
There has to be wealth.
Even for the SiNNless residents of the favalla's there has to be some way to make some kind of living, or they would have all died out of starvation.

Amazonia has to have industry. It's almost certainly low scale, and very eco friendly. But it has to be there.

[Brazilian_Shinob...]

Taurus is a brazilian company? Didn't know that. They are even named in SR novels.

And can also earn money by producing knockoff products and being a tax haven.

I think it makes a certain amount of sense that Amazonia would have maintained it's small arms manufacturing.

Look, there's a GIANT sprawl in Amazonia, with modern buildings, and favalas and all that crap. For that to happen, there has to be social and economic forces causing the Sprawl to not only exist, but be sustainable.

There has to be jobs.
There has to be wealth.
Even for the SiNNless residents of the favalla's there has to be some way to make some kind of living, or they would have all died out of starvation.

Amazonia has to have industry. It's almost certainly low scale, and very eco friendly. But it has to be there.

Agreed, I'm just saying that I don't think the corps would invest too much in amazonia. Cheap products? Sure, specially because the most famous corp for producing cheap products is Aztechnology and I would bet that Aztechnology products is embargoed or at least HEAVILY taxed by Amazonia.

Local small companies? Heck, I'm almost sure that Embraer is mentioned somewhere in Shadowrun and they could still be producing aircraft (civilian and military)