Yakut Shuffle: questions, ideas, criticism Options

[Fatum]

Uploaded the religions chapterettes.

[NeoJudas]

-- I actually like the throwback elements of SR5 (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Yeah, I admit some of them have been very nice actually.

-- It probably doesn't need to be described in any detail, nor do you really need to get into inconvenient stuff like rivers freezing and such (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Freezing Water isn't a major problem actually, especially in confined zones or if you stay away from the surface enough. In order for a whole river, surface to bed, to freeze you have to be talking MASSIVE cold, the kind of which only hard-core science or magical intervention produce. The flow-turbines themselves also adjust some of this to their favor in that they keep water moving, which while it doesn't change the freezing temperatures, it does alter the ability for Ice to form up a solid enough matrix to form.

-- Maintaining rail and road with concrete and wooden ties is hard enough. I'm going to stay cynical on large scale rollouts of this kind of thing.

I not too long ago had a client whom used an entirely different outlook on materials. Neither concrete nor wood, and three to ten times stronger. Infused fiber with various plastics. Resistance to weather. Loads more durable. Recyclable. Colorable. Investable. Yup, I can readily resolve the entire problem in little to no time actually and that's using again, real-world products.

-- Yeah, there's a lot of "something for nothing" in the rules. My current favorite is explosive power generation using the crazy "chunky salsa" rules, as the casing only needs to withstand the initial blast wave.

I've always loved the "chunky salsa" rules myself, more often as a GM story-telling element but on a rare occasion as an actual trick. We always argued that the maximum damage could never exceed twice the base barrier rating of the confining area though. This lent itself to one hell of a scared group the day that an augmented Golem walked through a chunky-salsa trap they had set. Golem wasn't scratchless mind you ... but the fact it kept moving had them up in arms instantly.

[NeoJudas]

First of all, I'd like to note I'm writing stuff on religion, but left my draft at work :3

I will get to it as I can.

It's always nice to hear someone's reading all that gibberish.
On a side note, I met an enthusiastic Russian Shadowrun player off this site by chance - turns out she's read my fan supplements! I'M A SUPERSTAR!

Tell me about it. When you reach the point than an entire gaming community questions you and your "dislike or LARPS" ... come and talk to me. (Yes, I'm *THAT* "K")

Yeah, the port facilities in RL Yakutsk had a lot of dredging done on Lena as it is.

I couldn't remember whom had done this, but thought I remembered reading it somewhere before. What have been their problems/hangups with this operation?

Ha, yeah, that's an example of a popular set of ideas on seemingly free energy production in Shadowrun. I've referenced that idea in my write-up of Novosibirsk, with an experimental powerplant burning out the mana in its vicinity and becoming a void used by the UGB to store dangerous magical artifacts it comes across.

Want some fun? Seriously. Use the Hydro-Dynamic rules or Thermo-dynamic rules for Water flow and apply it to mana. I also love how people always say it drains the ambient mana-field. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Shadowrun is a LONG WAY from becoming another Dark Sun World.

Do you mean the military-industrial complex, or the conscript army? Because if it's the former, well, Russia's not the one with the largest one around, and it's acting as a drive for the high-tech industry in the country. If it's the former, well, we have a hilariously low population density, so when the generals explain we need a conscript army to have everyone prepared for defense should the worst come to worst, I can see the logic behind it. Or maybe it's just WWII PTSD.

I think I'm more relating to the conscript idea, but maybe not. Can you explain to me what you are inferring with the WWII PTSD consideration?

I am not so sure about Yakutian forces, because they're not really a well-oiled machine, either. What I plan for the actual campaign is a lot of fighting with little progress made, then the Russian army grinding forward slowly, only to be stopped by various setbacks and covert operations. You can see parts of those plans in the draft (in red). I'm not planning on writing up anything final and definitive, instead leaving the fate of the war up to the GMs (and runner actions) to decide.
Why would Russia take on Evo? Evo is a megacorp, not a military organization, it's exercising a whole other type of soft power, which basically already lands Russia in its pocket, especially now after SK role in Poland debacle.

No Comment ... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

I'm not exactly sure how Putin became so rich, especially minding that we have no definitive proof of him personally being rich to begin with :ь

Ah, isn't power wonderful?

Well, it's an idea I picked from older books - remember those had legality tables, border crossing tables, price adjustment tables? I'm not going for all of those, but I'm going to mention.
It seems to you that ammo is harder to get because you're on a free market, used to open supply. I can assure you that had ammo been illegal to acquire (or even requiring a difficult to acquire license), it'd be much harder to find and buy.
Heck, for a license-only stuff, you can still just walk into a shop and get some for a fake SIN/license. With illegal stuff, or if you want the license-only stuff without the record, you have to resort to dealing in the underworld - and it's much harder a task than just buying from an established shop. So naturally it raises Availability.

Actually, while you are without question partially correct, you aren't entirely so. Yes, it's somewhat of an "open market" ... however, in the states super-huge quantities of ammunition were being acquired in numbers that have not been seen since the Korean or Vietnam Wars. But mostly of a particular caliber (the .22 LR). It is without question the caliber of ammo with the widest usage, but it literally vanished. No amount of investigation ever surfaced with a real answer as to why. Common Answer(s) frequently circulated along the lines of "the government is buying it up". Turns out FEMA was in fact buying up super-huge volumes (tens of millions, enough to wipe out the population of the US in a per bullet/per person comparison). But the manufacturers were simply unprepared for these numbers, and could not keep up with the demand. Combine the governmental purchases with the then inspired paranoia/conspiracy circles going gun-crazy, and I would only add that when people are buying up ammo privately in numbers I have personally only before seen IN A SHADOWRUN GAME ... yeah, well.

I remember sharing it for the whole net, but apparently I reconsidered some time in the past. I'll give you access as soon as you give me your mail address, though.

Sent ;

[Backgammon]

Wondering if you two picked up The Vladivostok Gauntlet. Might be some interesting elements for your discussions in there.

[Fatum]

Yeah, I admit some of them have been very nice actually.
Freezing Water isn't a major problem actually, especially in confined zones or if you stay away from the surface enough. In order for a whole river, surface to bed, to freeze you have to be talking MASSIVE cold, the kind of which only hard-core science or magical intervention produce. The flow-turbines themselves also adjust some of this to their favor in that they keep water moving, which while it doesn't change the freezing temperatures, it does alter the ability for Ice to form up a solid enough matrix to form.

I will honestly say that I don't know how the Siberian hydroplants work in winter, when the temperatures drop to -50 routinely or even -60 in some places. Or rather, for dam-based hydroplants, it's likely that the depth of the reservoir does not let it freeze entirely (but the output still drops); for in-flow plants in rivers, I have no idea. Let's just not focus on this too much in the text.

I not too long ago had a client whom used an entirely different outlook on materials. Neither concrete nor wood, and three to ten times stronger. Infused fiber with various plastics. Resistance to weather. Loads more durable. Recyclable. Colorable. Investable. Yup, I can readily resolve the entire problem in little to no time actually and that's using again, real-world products.

If it's so good, why's everyone still using the good old sand, concrete, and asphalt?

Tell me about it. When you reach the point than an entire gaming community questions you and your "dislike or LARPS" ... come and talk to me. (Yes, I'm *THAT* "K")

I am not aware of that story, frankly, but isn't the American community much larger than Russian one? Ours is pretty insular, frankly.

I couldn't remember whom had done this, but thought I remembered reading it somewhere before. What have been their problems/hangups with this operation?

The Soviets did it, for all I know. Lena's not too deep a river, so they had to do a lot of dredging to make the port workable.

Want some fun? Seriously. Use the Hydro-Dynamic rules or Thermo-dynamic rules for Water flow and apply it to mana. I also love how people always say it drains the ambient mana-field. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Shadowrun is a LONG WAY from becoming another Dark Sun World.

Frankly, we know preciously little on how mana works. Does spellcasting simply move ambient mana, or burn it up? If the former, where does the energy come from for a scrawny mage to produce balls of fire?
I'm using the good old conservation of energy principle in my idea. Nothing appears out of nothing, or into nothing dissipates. So burning mana for extended periods of time producing a mana shallow or a mana void makes sense to me: same as if you light a pool of oil on fire, the areas where the fire has burned the longest will have the least oil left.

I think I'm more relating to the conscript idea, but maybe not. Can you explain to me what you are inferring with the WWII PTSD consideration?

The WWII PTSD consideration is simple: after being caught off guard by a foreign invasion that cost us some 10 million soldiers and some 20 million civilians, I'd say it's hardly surprising that the population places a lot of expectations in the government in what comes to being prepared for another one - or better yet, having a military strong enough to prevent it altogether.
As for the conscripts - well, as I said, Russia has one of the world's lowest population densities, so if conventional war was to break out, a small professional army would just not be enough to protect the extent of its borders.

Ah, isn't power wonderful?

Sure is, especially minding that as a ruler of a country you live as a, well, ruler of a country. And once you retire from the presidential post in Russia, you also get massive benefits. So frankly, I don't see much incentive for Putin to amass personal wealth.

Turns out FEMA was in fact buying up super-huge volumes

Why would FEMA even need ammo? Much less in huge volumes?

tens of millions, enough to wipe out the population of the US in a per bullet/per person comparison

Well in a real conflict a single death is per tens of thousands bullets fired, if I remember (hundreds of artillery shells, dozen of rockets, and so on, and so for).

Anyway, isn't it a temporary shortage, not a long-term availability issue? Self-regulating market will self-regulate, and everything will be fine again! :3

Sent ;

Allowed you access.

[Fatum]

Wondering if you two picked up The Vladivostok Gauntlet. Might be some interesting elements for your discussions in there.

I am not sure what you're referring to, since I can't really remember any major plot hooks in the existing canon books left hanging for Vladivostok (except for the Mosaic datahaven debacle, and a simmering gang war). So my writeup's here.

[Backgammon]

The most relevant bit would be that Bloody Otsana is now the sole ruler Vory of the city. The other two are out. Also focuses on Yakut Shapeshifters.

[Fatum]

Uh, source? Last I remember, the situation was as follows:

Sergei Byelmodin, the nominal leader has been unable to control the other two Vors in the area. Now, Burugar Yunggart, a Siberian sympathizer who runs the smuggling operations, has clashed with “Bloody” Otsana Kovalenko, a nationalist boss. Byelmodin has tried calling for a strelka but the other sides
have ignored him. While they bicker like old women, the Rings and Triad have secured nearly all the wireless crime and made in roads to the smuggling. Kovalenko has been seen meeting with Triad leaders. She says to give them a fi nal warning, but an alliance of practicality could be afoot.

Has anything changed since then?

[Backgammon]

Uh, source? Last I remember, the situation was as follows:
Has anything changed since then?

Yes.

So, what happened is I wrote a Vladivostok chapter for the ill-fated Border Runners sourcebook. In that chapter, things changed considerably, with Bloody Otsana actually winning a war against the other two and becoming sole Vory empress of Vladivostok. Now, Border Runners doesn't exist and neither does that chapter. BUT, while writing the Vladivostok Gauntlet, I operated under the assumption everything I wrote for Vladivostok was going to be released prior to the story being published, and so all would make sense. Things didn't work out that way - we have the story, but not the sourcebook.

So while a lot of the explanation from the sourcebook are missing, Vladivostok Gauntlet does firmly state - though without going into too much detail about how that happened - that Bloody Otsana is now the sole Vory leader of Vladivostok.

[Fatum]

Sweet. What's your date set in that book?

[Backgammon]

No date is mentioned, but it would be "present", so 2075

[Fatum]

I'm down with a fever, so I'm not reading this cover to cover, but please say, if you decided you can retcon Otsana's name, why did you change the surname (incorrectly) instead of the first name?

UPD: nah, I still got into it. I'll just say it'd benefit immensely from half an hour of research and someone who knows SR Russia fluff proofreading it. As it is, there's about one and a half blunder per page.

[NeoJudas]

Wondering if you two picked up The Vladivostok Gauntlet. Might be some interesting elements for your discussions in there.

Thank You... I don't always get to the new short stories or novels the way I once did.

[NeoJudas]

I will honestly say that I don't know how the Siberian hydroplants work in winter, when the temperatures drop to -50 routinely or even -60 in some places. Or rather, for dam-based hydroplants, it's likely that the depth of the reservoir does not let it freeze entirely (but the output still drops); for in-flow plants in rivers, I have no idea. Let's just not focus on this too much in the text.

I wasn't going to, I was just pointing it out for future debates.

If it's so good, why's everyone still using the good old sand, concrete, and asphalt?

That's like asking why we are still a fossil fuel world when alternative fuels and options now exist in abundance. Power. Social, Political, Economic, who cares ... as for the company producing this, there are a couple here in the states but most of their work is concentrated on the Residential and Light Commercial Markets. And since here in the USA, the whole "rail industry is fixed" situation won't let something like this out of the bag so far.

The Soviets did it, for all I know. Lena's not too deep a river, so they had to do a lot of dredging to make the port workable.

Hrm, is there a chance we can get some Mapping benefits to the document soon ™?

Frankly, we know preciously little on how mana works. Does spellcasting simply move ambient mana, or burn it up? If the former, where does the energy come from for a scrawny mage to produce balls of fire?
I'm using the good old conservation of energy principle in my idea. Nothing appears out of nothing, or into nothing dissipates. So burning mana for extended periods of time producing a mana shallow or a mana void makes sense to me: same as if you light a pool of oil on fire, the areas where the fire has burned the longest will have the least oil left.

I would like to give a sort of view on this based upon interpretations from Core Books and Novels of Shadowrun over the years. Magicals in Shadowrun are like Circuits not quite touching the power supply all the time. When they do utilize (actively) the power, the circuit touches down (or into, your choice) the reservoir of power and with the aid of genetics, spell formulations, magical foci, etc... the energy is shaped/transformed into a manifesting magical effect. As per Core Books, the Astral Plane (and the imbuing Mana) is insofar as earthlings are concerned, Infinite. Corruption, Degredation, Mutation, Toxification are all due to prolonged damage to the surrounding environment by harmful factors on a persistent level well above and beyond the natural (or even paranatural) norm. It's a debatable issue that keeps the interest of hard core Shadowrun players going.

The WWII PTSD consideration is simple: after being caught off guard by a foreign invasion that cost us some 10 million soldiers and some 20 million civilians, I'd say it's hardly surprising that the population places a lot of expectations in the government in what comes to being prepared for another one - or better yet, having a military strong enough to prevent it altogether.
As for the conscripts - well, as I said, Russia has one of the world's lowest population densities, so if conventional war was to break out, a small professional army would just not be enough to protect the extent of its borders.

Understand that causality and effect. I've often wondered that given the "Living Memory" effect of VITAS I & II and how that makes people around the planet respond to "innoculations".

Sure is, especially minding that as a ruler of a country you live as a, well, ruler of a country. And once you retire from the presidential post in Russia, you also get massive benefits. So frankly, I don't see much incentive for Putin to amass personal wealth.

That's because *YOU* do not possess any of it. It's a terrible psychological trap of sorts. And when you have a global interaction zone like Putin does, you do not want to appear "lesser" than any of the other peers that are also playing/engaging in that field.

Why would FEMA even need ammo? Much less in huge volumes?

Ah, the 300 Million Round question ....

Well in a real conflict a single death is per tens of thousands bullets fired, if I remember (hundreds of artillery shells, dozen of rockets, and so on, and so for).

You are correct, but the point I was trying to make perhaps you missed. It's the consideration that an amount of ammunition now exists that exceeds a population of "First World Nation" in a new terms. Not just older stockpiles, but NEW AMMO.

Anyway, isn't it a temporary shortage, not a long-term availability issue? Self-regulating market will self-regulate, and everything will be fine again! :3

Yeah, the factories and manufacturers are catching back up, but the market has been permanently altered (or so it seems for now) in that price adjustments have been made to what was previously very inexpensive items to obtain now are not so inexpensive.

Allowed you access.

Thanks... haven't done anything yet, waiting until I see some areas that I have something truly compatible with your work before tossing stuff up and out for review.

[NeoJudas]

Yes.

So, what happened is I wrote a Vladivostok chapter for the ill-fated Border Runners sourcebook. In that chapter, things changed considerably, with Bloody Otsana actually winning a war against the other two and becoming sole Vory empress of Vladivostok. Now, Border Runners doesn't exist and neither does that chapter. BUT, while writing the Vladivostok Gauntlet, I operated under the assumption everything I wrote for Vladivostok was going to be released prior to the story being published, and so all would make sense. Things didn't work out that way - we have the story, but not the sourcebook.

So while a lot of the explanation from the sourcebook are missing, Vladivostok Gauntlet does firmly state - though without going into too much detail about how that happened - that Bloody Otsana is now the sole Vory leader of Vladivostok.

Soooo, here's my bundle-of-karma question for you. What are you allowed to state regarding that material? What else could possible be used to enrich Fatum's project?

[Backgammon]

Yeah, I feel ya... not much I'm afraid, NDA still holds as far as I know. Last I checked there were some tentative plans to get part of Border Runners, including Vladi, in some sort of published form.

Going from memory, the elements from the sourcebook that made it to the story are first and foremost the change in Vory leadership and how this affects the Yakut rebel movement. Aside from that, it gets a little more fluffy with stuff like the "Stalin Industrial Complex" and Stalin's Cough, which is an interesting aspect. The idea actually originated from DSF's own Redjack, to give credit where it's due. But the entire thing plays on Evo's image. Evo is one of the Megas you don't hear that much about, and they almost seem like good guys. All meta friendly and all that stuff. I thought it'd be nice to show the ugly side of them, how some of the by-products of their genetech are nano dust and weird bacteria and god knows what else, messing up the health of workers in the industrial park. Of course, the also happen to make replacement lungs and tracheas and stuff, so it all works out pretty well... so long as you don't mind being indentured. The story of Yuri's mother is a good personalization of that problem, the angle that when it opened up it seemed like an answered prayer, good paying jobs that anyone could get into. But, it ends up all so terrible...

Another tip-of-the-iceberg are the Vladi Neo-anarchists. The Border Runner write-up goes into a LOT more detail about Vladi's Neo-A community and introduces a very large and vibrant tangantly related hacker community. I couldn't think of a good way to fit in the hacker community, but they were a big part of the Vladi scene. The Neo-As are again summarized in Vladivostok Gauntlet by Yuri's thoughts about them - wide eyed dreamers with a ferocious death rate. Vladi doesn't seem like the sort of place where Neo-As scrounging off "the system" would actually live very well, considering the harsh climate and the sparse population, though the prresence of Evo facilities would help.

Anyway, I'm sorry that's all pretty vague, I'm not at liberty to get into much of the true crunch.

[Fatum]

I wasn't going to, I was just pointing it out for future debates.

I guess it'd make sense to add the stuff in Yakutsk chapterette. Plus the in-flow hydropower has the added benefit of being pretty much sabotage-resistant, unlike dam-based hydroplants.

That's like asking why we are still a fossil fuel world when alternative fuels and options now exist in abundance. Power.

Actually, price/benefit analysis covers the "alternative fuels". When biofuel requires eleven liters of fuel to produce ten, yeah, the world is not switching any time soon.
I think the idea that the established companies hold the innovation back is a fundamentally flawed one, because in reality the more established players are usually the first to go after anything that's giving them an edge over the competition.

Hrm, is there a chance we can get some Mapping benefits to the document soon ™?

Depends. I hoped to get fexes into it once the writing's done. I feel that at least the largest sprawls of both countries deserve a map each, but we'll have to decide how detailed those are (as in - are only districts marked? Or maybe roads, sights, military bases, corporate HQs, what have you?)

Corruption, Degredation, Mutation, Toxification are all due to prolonged damage to the surrounding environment by harmful factors on a persistent level well above and beyond the natural (or even paranatural) norm. It's a debatable issue that keeps the interest of hard core Shadowrun players going.

Well, I'd argue that enslaving a fire elemental to power a powerplant is one such prolonged harmful effect.
This is a fan supplement, so nothing I'm writing is canon - if some GMs don't like this idea, they can simply drop it.

Understand that causality and effect. I've often wondered that given the "Living Memory" effect of VITAS I & II and how that makes people around the planet respond to "innoculations".

Minding ZIC projects in Africa, Japanacorps stelilization of metahumans, and samesuch, I figure there's a lot of paranoid people in the Sixth World. Then again, in what comes to Russia in the 70ies, there must be a bunch of revanchists after losing the Euro War, losing the Border Wars acquisitions, being thrown out of Poland, and losing half the country. Actually, it's the same for the UCAS and NAN, but UCAS suffered much more than Russia, so they have less incentive to act out their revanchist plans.

That's because *YOU* do not possess any of it. It's a terrible psychological trap of sorts. And when you have a global interaction zone like Putin does, you do not want to appear "lesser" than any of the other peers that are also playing/engaging in that field.

So what you're saying that everyone at the head of the state is using the power invested in them for amassing personal wealth? While that theory sounds natural, I find it hard to believe, minding the kind of intricate power balance present at such levels.

Ah, the 300 Million Round question ....

No, seriously now, I was under the impression they were something like our EMERCOM, no?

Thanks... haven't done anything yet, waiting until I see some areas that I have something truly compatible with your work before tossing stuff up and out for review.

Please don't take any criticism, should it happen, personally.

[Fatum]

Soooo, here's my bundle-of-karma question for you. What are you allowed to state regarding that material? What else could possible be used to enrich Fatum's project?

The fact that SR Russia is suddenly a Federation now, while it hasn't ever been? The fact that Yakutian shapeshifters are limited to wolves (while SoA openly claims otherwise), and there's a Wolf King at the head of the nation? *fp*

Another tip-of-the-iceberg are the Vladi Neo-anarchists. The Border Runner write-up goes into a LOT more detail about Vladi's Neo-A community and introduces a very large and vibrant tangantly related hacker community. I couldn't think of a good way to fit in the hacker community, but they were a big part of the Vladi scene. The Neo-As are again summarized in Vladivostok Gauntlet by Yuri's thoughts about them - wide eyed dreamers with a ferocious death rate. Vladi doesn't seem like the sort of place where Neo-As scrounging off "the system" would actually live very well, considering the harsh climate and the sparse population, though the prresence of Evo facilities would help.

I figure if they have a datahaven, there's bound to be a hacker community around it, otherwise it just wouldn't be viable.

[NeoJudas]

The fact that SR Russia is suddenly a Federation now, while it hasn't ever been? The fact that Yakutian shapeshifters are limited to wolves (while SoA openly claims otherwise), and there's a Wolf King at the head of the nation? *fp*

Big change from the Runner's Companion information on the Bear. I get the idea of Wolves being pack oriented, more able to coordinate, yada yada yada ... but I don't get it on other facets. This isn't about one species, this would be on several.

I figure if they have a datahaven, there's bound to be a hacker community around it, otherwise it just wouldn't be viable.

One would think so, yeah.

[Fatum]

Big change from the Runner's Companion information on the Bear. I get the idea of Wolves being pack oriented, more able to coordinate, yada yada yada ... but I don't get it on other facets. This isn't about one species, this would be on several.

Simply put, I won't use Vladivostok Gauntlet as a canon source of far-reaching consequence.
The locations like that one entertainment street? That I might pick up.
Kovalenko winning the Vory war in the city? Sure.
Wolves everywhere and the Wolf King? Nah, I'm cool.

[Fatum]

I've completely rewritten the section on the Red Navy, moving from specifics, vessel names and project numbers towards a more general overview approach.

[Fatum]

Okay, unless a car hits me any time soon, the first full draft Volume I might be finished in a reasonable amount of time.

[NeoJudas]

I *finally* finished the Gauntlet now myself. Interesting fiction, and as a short-story, not so bad. I appreciate having the statistics with the "Enhanced Fiction" materials like this. It does help a bit. Doesn't always seem to make sense to me, but oh well.

Pros :
"Infectious" and "Daydov's", definitely keeping both of those.
Otsana winning Vladivostok and "the Far East"... I can see that even (gang wars are gang wars, regardless).

Cons :
"the Wolf King"... I have to admit, it's not as inspiring an idea as I might have liked, but it's also extremely thin on that regard. I can certainly see various Wolf Packs (and other Yakutians) having territories certainly ... but there is a scary reason to remember to that Vladivostok's Patron Animal is the Siberian Tiger......
The story needed better resolution. I understand it was part of a larger work at one time, but it would never have made a larger work complete. It needed to have a tad bit more to it IMO.

I'm still glad I bought it, and I can always be inspired by new material. This didn't let me down personally.

[Backgammon]

Thanks

The Wolf King... I don't consider that an "official" thing, but I don't think I managed that well in the story. I think I meant to elaborate on this but kinda didn't and moved on to other things. Basically, it's not clear exactly what Soren stole from whom. She is no expert in Yakut affairs and neither is Yuri, despite his days as a soldier. He wasn't Intelligence, know what I mean. Perhaps Otsana knows more (she almost is certainly very well versed in Yakut affairs) but she didn't comment one way or another. So, yeah. Feel free to ignore the "Wolf King" whoever that is.

It's ok if you don't like the shapeshifter agents in the city. I liked that angle though. Little underground war going. Was probably better explained in the sourcebook though.

[Fatum]

Well, for what's it worth, I can just mention that wolf shifter have their own hierarchy, and leave the rest up to the GMs.
You have to realize everything written in books with stats is canon, though. Even Russian Federation.
I like the idea of shapeshifters being spies, but there are a few shifters better for that than wolves.