Shadows of Eastern [and Central] Europe, Fishing for ideas/help/collaborators. Options

[Lugburz]

So, remember that "The Rest of Europe" section in Shadows of Europe? (p. 40-42)

For the past year or so, I've been digging through about all I can find on the countries mentioned there. Came up with a little less than I would have liked, especially when it comes to what's happened in the last ten years of the SR timeline. (Cripes, that includes the second crash, too.) Really was looking forward to 6th World Almanac, but it didn't contain much on Central and Eastern Europe.

So I took to making things up. Started running a game this year- it's taking place in one of the more stable nations in the neighbourhood. (Ukraine) My plan is to eventually compile a write-up on the entire area, (Poland/Slovakia/Hungary/Romania/Moldova/Ukraine/Belarus/Free Constantinople/Brasov-Covasna Enclave) complete with current and historical maps (like the ambiguous eastern front of EuroWar II) and some information on the various factions, locations, and gear that I've been adding for flavour. Any canon information that I might have missed would be most welcome, as well as things other GMs have written for their own use- as long as you don't mind sharing them with me. In the ideal situation, we could make a decent group project of this- Maybe we could include Greece, Bulgaria, and the disputed areas of former Yugoslavia while we're at it. Otherwise, I'm just going to post my own stuff here when it's done, and the rest of you can have at it.

Cheers.

[Fatum]

So, yeah, the Poland bit.
It's in System Failure.

[Lugburz]

Fantastic. That one was (and still is) pretty far back on the list, so it's unlikely that I would've found it anytime soon. Thanks, man.

And thanks for posting the answer here, since the other thread is all about L.A. right now. Oh, Dumpshock. : D

[pbangarth]

Here's material on Hungary ("Shadow Hungary"):

A'rnye'kmagyarorsza'g : Shadowrun ja'te'kkiege'szito" / szerk.
Na'dori Gergely. - Budapest : Beholder, 1996. - 166 p. ill., 29 cm.
ISBN 963-85454-9-

... if you can read Hungarian, and find it. A copy was on eBay a while back.

[Kyoto Kid]

...I spent a fair amount of time working up the Northern Balkans (primarily Croatia and Serbia) for a campaign I ran as there was nothing more than a passing mention about the region on p. 42.

[warrior_allanon]

"WAR" had a section on both poland and the balkans as hotspots, but not much other than some game blurbs,

[Stahlseele]

Anybody thought to ask Frank Trollman yet?
He lives in Eastern Europe right now and might have some information to share, which, of course, he can't post to Dumpshock.

[Kyoto Kid]

"WAR" had a section on both poland and the balkans as hotspots, but not much other than some game blurbs,

...The way they make the Balkans sound in their references, one would think it would be a good region full of plot hooks.

In my scenario the Balkans were part the ongoing ethic struggle in the region and part "covert" version of the televised Desert Wars. Mercs were there not just because of the pay, but, often hired and equipped by arms makers who wanted to conduct a more real "live" test of their new toys in real battlefield situations with real soldiers. In particular, Serbia and Croatia, two of three nations (Slovenia was the other) to actually rise out of the post Euro War mess and foster stable governments were put at each others' throats (not very difficult considering the history between these two - see below). Oh, the Serbian regime in particular thought they were in total control but were it not for corps like Yamatetsu (before the crash) and Ares, their notion of a "New Yugoslavia" would have flickered out years ago.

This is part of the reason why movements to forge a lasting peace never made it beyond political rhetoric...

...at least until the campaign.

-----

In RL history, the Zagreb DinamoSK - Red Star Beograd football riot of 1990 is seen by many in Croatia as the beginning of the their fight for independence. A week prior to the match, Croatia held elections which ousted the communists in favour of a multi party style of government. This of course was opposed by the Beograd regime under then president Slobodan Milošević (who in the years following waged his campaign of "ethnic cleansing" in the region). The two teams were always at the top of the Yugoslav league and had a history of bitter tensions between each other.

On the day of the match, 3,000 Red Star Delije ("Heroes") (the Beograd Ultras* group) led by the Serbian war criminal, Zeljko Raznjatovic (who later became known as the Warlord "Arkan") travelled to Zagreb's Maksimir stadium with the intent to stir up trouble. In the early stages of the match, the Serbian fans set out to provoke the local crowd chanting how "Zagreb is Serbian" and that they would kill Franjo Tudjman (the newly elected president of Croatia). They then started tearing up the seats and began throwing them at the Zagreb fans, after which they charged the home crowd (using acid they brought to burn through security fences). The police, which were heavily dominated by Serbians, stood by and did absolutely nothing. This prompted the home team's Ultras (named the Bad Blue Boys) to storm the field resulting a a mass brawl which lasted over an hour of course halting the match.

In the end more than 60 people were injured.

The Red Star players quickly returned to the dressing room, after which they were airlifted out buy helicopter. Meanwhile the Dinamo team and some of the staff remained on the pitch. During the brawl, Dinamo captain, Zvonimir Boban, landed a kick on a police officer in defence of a Zagreb fan after which he left under a protective BBB escort (the fan incidentally was able to get away because of Boban's intervention). He was later vilified for his act by the Central Government (still in Beograd), and banned from the league for six months, just long enough to keep him out of the forthcoming World Cup.

In Croatia, he is regarded as a national hero.

A year later, members of both the BBB and Delije were at the front lines of the fight on the battlefields as members of their nation's respective armies.

Today there is a statue of soldiers in front of Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb with a plaque that reads, "To the fans of the club, who started the war with Serbia at this ground on May 13, 1990".

That's how strong the underlying hatred between these two nations is and how deep nationalistic pride in the region runs.

*[Ultras are a type of sports fan organisation primarily in Europe and Central/South America who are fanatically loyal to their team and often put on elabourate displays of support]

-----

...if in RL, a footy match could be considered the opening shot for a war for independence, I saw little reason in a fictional campaign why the rescue of a child like Croatian refugee and virtuoso musician couldn't be the catalyst to possibly bring an end to years of occupation and bloodshed.

I did a study of the 1990's conflict in preparation for the the campaign. The most eye opening writings were not by journalists or political/military analysts, but by doctors who travelled to Croatia to offer humanitarian aid who witnessed much of occurred that the news media refused to report. Hollywood could not have produced a more gut wrenching and horrific script.

...it was a very dark and dangerous scenario which was inspired by a very dark and dangerous time.

The Serbs hate the Croats
and the Croats hate the Serbs
It's a mixed up tumbled up
drekked up world.

...now where is Leela?

[Stahlseele]

Well, one could do it with Urban Brawl for example . . stray shots hitting some big wig from an AA or AAA corp for example.
Or the Combat Bikers could go with the ultras and hooligans and have one complete sprawl go over to feral state because of civil war like stuff happening.
This was one of my favourite ideas/books from the battletech novel line.
Illusions of Victory
Basically, it's a bit like one complete city being divided more or less equally between all the AAA Corps.
And the complete city being there to do combat biking and/or urban brawl.
And in the last match of the championship, SOMEBODY plays wrong. And it all goes from just a sports match to civil war between the teams and their allied fangroups with basically everybody else.
And of course on the outside, the AAA Corps are all acting like they are trying to stop this, but on the shadow side they try to take over the rest of the city or at least increase their share of the pie.

More or less a complete all out shadow/corp war for one single megasprawl.

Edit: and yes, i do realize who wrote that story . .

[Kyoto Kid]

..unfortunately in my scenario, the Serbian occupation force has a stranglehold on Croatia so sport was the last thing on the minds of most Croatians. Just avoiding the Blacksuits (the local nickname for Serbia's secret police) and not being taken to a "conversation room" was enough of a concern.

In spite of the heavy handedness of the Beograd regime, the NH - Nevezan Hrvatski (Croatia's underground resistance movement) managed to remain a thorn in the occupation force's side. Again, it is not known (well to the PCs) exactly who was assisting the resistance and considering the apparent disadvantage they (the NH) were at, they were not about to ask a gift horse any questions.


...and yes, there were members of the BBB involved in the movement.

[Lugburz]

Man, this is some good stuff. Thanks again for your responses, everyone. Gotten way more interest from the community than last time. Wow. So a couple things:

-Thanks for the tip-off about FrankTrollman. I'll ask him.
-If any of you want to contribute short write-ups about setting, I can compile them as-is or paraphrase them when adding it to my own stuff. Ought to be a community project, anyway.
-The Serbia stuff sounds like fun. Mind if I use some of it in my own game sometime?

So, a rep from the Dumpshock Data Haven has requested any info I can provide, priority being Serbia and environs. Unfortunately, my game takes place in Ukraine, so that's about all that I've studied so far. (And competition for slot 1 on the reading list is fierce.) If I can write anything now, it would revolve around Ukraine, semi-autonomous Crimea, and former Moldova and Romania. Here's a quick run-down of what I've established in my game. Feel free to provide as much constructive criticism as you please. (The regular kind of criticism is fine, too.)

Ukraine:
After breaking free of Russian rule, Ukraine rapidly re-organised itself under reforms orchestrated by a series of strong leaders. The transition wasn't any rougher than one would expect- people were unfortunately accustomed to chaos and upheaval by now. Getting them to work together was another matter- this was complicated by the lack of overall cultural identity, (most notably the split between eastern and western Ukraine) plus the ongoing fallout from the awakening, the crash, the EuroWars, and everything else that had happened. Thus came the 'Green Revolution' agricultural project. Instead of becoming a nation of peasants or a nation of industry, Ukraine was steered onto a comfortable middle path. Utilising a broad mix of private, state-owned, collective, and family farms, Ukraine not only attended to the immediate needs of its own people, but eventually set itself firmly in the position of the largest exporter of foodstuffs in Europe. (And these are REAL foodstuffs, mind. Premium products in many parts of the world,) The Green Revolution also spurred a number of environmentally-focused public works projects. Naturally, the corps would like a piece of the action. Unfortunately for them, Ukraine has declined wholesale NEEC membership, preferring only to politely cooperate with trade, international infrastructure projects, and regional peace-keeping, while managing its own affairs internally. The 'Philike Heitara' (Friendly Society) mentioned in Shadows of Europe is still very much active and has contributed to the fragile stability of the area. (Although it is still much to the chagrin of NEEC and Russia. Moscow and Kyiv play a game with each other- Kyiv occasionally sends "care packages" to Polish and Georgian resistance groups, and Russia does the same for separatists in Ukrainian territory. Whether it's a deadly serious game or an international pissing contest is unknown.) In spite of the stability and comfort of life in Ukraine, the government has since grown paranoid, and the nation is a pseudo police state, kid-gloved but no less jack-booted. Media sanitation and harsh repression of dissidents is very much in evidence.

Moldova and Northern Romania:
Left in shambles during the early decades of the 21st century, these nations were occupied by Ukrainian military forces and cooperating mercenary groups/guerrilla forces during EuroWar II. They managed to keep AFA forces at bay, but the Ukrainians never really got around to leaving. Moldova is currently stable, but fiercely divided over independence issues. The northern portions of Romania (known as the Ukrainian Protectorate) are somewhat less so, owing to the proximity to less-stable areas. (The Balkans, Poland, Slovenia, and what remains of Romania.

Romania:
Politically and economically, Romania is hurting quite badly right now. The weakened central government is at the mercy of the larger regional power players: Megacorps, NEEC, the Mafiya, etc. Bucharest is the safest spot inside its borders, and that's not saying much. Otherwise, it's a haven for criminals, smugglers, human traffickers, treasure hunters, and para-critters.

Braşov-Covasna Corporate enclave:
In the early 2010s, a cabal of corporations, (mostly Romanian and Hungarian) cited a laundry list of grievances and decided to set up a comfortable home for themselves. They moved their respective headquarters to the comfortable city of Braşov, nestled in a spur of the Southern Carpathians, and built a new home for themselves. Isolated from Russia's advance across Central Europe in the early 30s and bolstered by the immediate loss of competition from German businesses, things were looking good. Then the AFA began to advance from the south. Fortunately, the Enclave corps were producing a wide range of military hardware. Their fortifications held, and after the AFA withdrew, they declared national sovereignty. No-one was in any position to argue. The Enclave is busy and fruitful today, much in contrast to the lands outside its walls. NEEC has never requested the Enlcave's membership, and little, if any Megacorps regard Enclave corps with any degree of seriousness. The Enclavers are understandably bitter about this, but they have better things to do, like pull Romania's strings. They've been doing good business lately- even Lofwyr has written off most of Eastern Europe as unprofitable for the time being. But for people of power who understand the area, life is good.

Break-away territories:
Crimea exists much as it does now in the real world: part of Ukraine but basically autonomous. Russia meddles in their affairs occasionally, just to piss off the bureaucrats in Kyiv. The Gaugaz Turks still live in their enclaves in the now-former Moldova, and are content to be left alone. Transnistria still exists, now surrounded by Ukraine on all sides. They are also left alone, except by Russia, who comes calling regularly, always bearing gifts. (The various movers and shakers of the black economy are also frequent visitors.) Igor Smirnoff died valiantly during Eurowar I, in the middle of his eleventh term as President. One of his sons was elected to the office in 2032 and has won every election since. Transnistria still remains a bogeyman to the layman, but is essentially harmless. (However, since this is Shadowrun, any rumor or creepy story you hear about this place is true in my setting. Sorry, Transnistria.)


There you have it. The game as a whole is still quite young, and a lot of things are not yet fleshed out. The players have only just stepped outside of their home country- I sent them off to the Braşov-Covasna Corporate Enclave for a heavily re-skinned incarnation of Divided Assets. Poland is supposedly liberated by now, but I'm bumping the time-table back on that so they can have some manner of involvement in those events.

Fire away.

[Kyoto Kid]

...I can work up a short overview of Serbia and Croatia and the ongoing conflict. I'll let you know when it is ready. Keep in mind it is pre crash 2.0 so I hope that will work.

[Lugburz]

Sounds great- and of course it'll work. This is OUR (the community's) project, not mine.

[Kyoto Kid]

...cool. Fortunately I printed off most of the notes from the campaign as the notebook computer I wrote them on died.

Give me about a week to compile and type things up. The only thing is I don't have a website and don't do social networking sites so I'm not sure where I can post it.

[Lugburz]

That's cool; don't social network myself. *shrug* Semi-Luddite, I guess. As for space to put this stuff, warrior_allanon with the Data Haven originally approached me, so that's probably the intended destination for anything we eventually deliver. Otherwise I could handle it.

[Kyoto Kid]

...PM me your email addy and I can send it as a Word attachment when it's finished.

[Fatum]

That's how strong the underlying hatred between these two nations is and how deep nationalistic pride in the region runs.

Frankly, I believe this link makes for better understanding of the region's story than the Ultras fights.

[Kyoto Kid]

...very true. Croatia's role in the Second World war was a definite dark point in the nation's history.

The ethnic rift however goes back further to the post World War I era and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which centralised it's power in Beograd while effectively abolishing Croatia and Slovenia as national entities in 1921. The years that followed were a time of political corruption by the Yugoslav government under Serbian PM Nikola Pasic who used police pressure and election rigging to keep the opposition (primarily the Croatian Peasant Party) in the minority. His belief was that the nation should be centralised as much as possible and to that end created a "Greater Serbian" concept with all power concentrated in Beograd.

By the end of the decade, Yugoslav King Aleksandar had effectively turned Yugoslavia into a dictatorship, abolishing all political parties, imprisoning members of the Peasant Party and waging a campaign of persecution against Croatian nationalists. This wasn't without repercussions though as it lead to growing support of an extremist named Ante Pavelić, who was one of the primary founders of the fascist Ustaša movement.

In 1941, the leader of the Croatian Peasant Party rejected offers by the Nazis to lead a new government in what was now occupied Yugoslavia. Four days later Slavko Kvaternik, the senior member of the home based Ustaša took control of the Zagreb police force and proclaimed the formation of the Independent State of Croatia. Less than a week after that, Pavelić along with several hundred Ustaša arrived in Zagreb to effectively "seal the deal" giving himself the title of "Poglavnik" or "Head Man" (and synonymous with "Fuhrer").

For the next five years, Croatia had become what it had opposed a dozen years earlier, a dictatorship, though this time under the hands of the Ustaša and German Reich. While paying lip service to his Nazi supporters, Pavelić used his position to effectively wage his personal campaign of extermination against Serbian citizens living within the newly designated Croatian State's borders.

...What Pavelić did was inexcusable and it is sad that he and his associates were not prosecuted as war criminals for their acts.

With the emergence of Slobodan Milošević in the 1990s, the inhumanity of ethnic cleansing reared it's ugly head again (but that is another story).


...and in the (20)50's - early 60s Secretariat General Rita Kovek looked to pick up where Pasic, King Aleksander and Milošević left off while taking a page from Pavelić's book and twisting it to her needs (and that is yet, another story).

[Vilda]

I think that one could successfully argue, that ethnic and especially religious tensions in this area dates much much further to times of Ottoman Empire and their expansion, which stopped at gates of Vienna in 1683. Inhabitants of conquered lands were "persuaded" through discrimination to accept Islam, thus creating many rifts in society.

[warrior_allanon]

actually it goes back all the way to the fall of Constantinople to the turks and the Crusades. With the initial fall of Constantinople in the 1230's (if memory serves) it put pressure on the balkan states and led to the rise of figures like Vlad Dracul of Wallachia. We know him better as Dracula