Viva Italia, In 2071 Options

[ravensmuse]

So we're working on a project tonight and need to know all you can give us about Italy without having to go out and purchase Sixth World Atlas or Shadows of Europe at 8:30pm.

Specifically, Milan. What's going on with GeMiTo? How about Rome or Palermo?

A thank you.

[Bigity]

I don't know what the spoiler tags are so, spam incoming.


Shadows of Europe:


GEMITO SPRAWL

GEMITO SPRAWL
The Spedal Administrative Zone of Genoa-Milan-Turin
(GeMiTo) was written off as a catastrophe zone when the authorities
lost control following the Five Days of Milan. The collapse of
central government and the end of the Republic left close to ten
million people abandoned to their fate. The region degenerated
into a lawless territory of burned-out office blocks and run-down
husks of buildings, ranging for hundreds of square kilometers.
Anarchy ruled and people made do as they could; thousands
died in those first years.

• It's hard to believe, but GeMiTo is a barrens the size of a small
country. Doesn't anybody give a damn about the waste?
• Fantosl

• Have you any idea how much it would cost to rebuild? Who's
going to foot the bill without any immediate benefits? Nah, the
corps like things as they are. Gives them a playground to do as
they please without interference.
• Skaven


Unlike their political counterparts, the corporate powers
weren't ready to write off a huge part of their manufacturing and
administrative assets in northwestern Italy. Companies like
Renault-Fiat, Fuchi PanEuropa, AG Chemie, Olgitech and Renraku
fortified and isolated their assets behind barbed wire and walls.
Guards patrolled these endaves to keep the masses out, but most
came under siege from the desperate people on the outside.
As months passed, the corps realized the situation couldn't
be sustained indefinitely. They struck a deal with some of the
various local powers emerging from the chaos. In return for
being left alone within their "domains," the gangs, slum barons
and dtizen groups are allowed to leech power, water and supplies.
Despite the truce, though, the endave walls have stayed
up. Today the corporate neighborhoods and industrial fadlities
are still patrolled by APCs and corpsec in milspec armor with
orders to shoot any trespassers. They get away with a lot
because they maintain the basic roadways and services evel}'body
else leeches from.

GeMiTo itself has changed, becoming an unwashed hive of
humanity with its own laws and rules. Rural areas are farmed by
small armed groups, while the derelict urban and industrial landscapes
are ruled by different gangs, family dans, centri socia/i
(collective sodal centers) and whatever organizations sprang up
spontaneously, each making do as they can.


Port of Genoa
Though the GeMITo coastline is ruined by pollution and the
derelict remains of real estate speculation, the port of Genoa is
still active, especially in "free trade" and piracy. The port is under
the firm control of the Cam orr a, who also run several sweatshops
and auto-hack facilities here.

• You'll hear praise for Naples and Trieste, but Genoa has no
security or customs at all except Camorra soldatl. The downside
is It's a buyers market.
• Gottardl

Socleta Thaumaturglca
Turin's old town center remains remarkably undamaged
despite the burnt-out ruins mere blocks away. Some say this is
thanks to what's hidden in the catacombs of the Grande Madre
Church, others daim the Holy Shroud still resides in the Guarini
Chapel protecting the area, while yet others wonder stranger
things. What is known, however, is that the center of Turin houses
the Societa Thaumaturgica, a free school for the Gifted run by
Sylvestrine friars.

• Many a street witch and mage has been tutored by the
Sylvestrines, and most alumni try to pay back the debt of gratitude
to the Societ6 by helping out when they can.
• Botolo

The Markets
Markets, known as Fiere, take place eve!}' three weeks,
alternating between what used to be central Milan, Genoa and
Turin. During the Fiere, market-goers are protected by a ceasefire
agreed upon by all the various factions. The markets themselves
use an amazing mix of barter and currency to sell a huge
variety of products needed to keep GeMiTo going. Enough
business is still conducted in and out of GeMiTo for euros to be
in use, but stick with the physical currency if you can. Few parties
carl}' a credchecker here. If you're looking for fuel,
firearms, basic medical supplies, water filtration gear, agricultural
produce from the outlying farmlands or even just information,
this is where to go.

• Most transactions are bartered. There's even a barter system In
place for labor. Real simple: an hour's medical treatment for an
hour's worth of a mechanic's work. Fail to pay up and you're
kicked from the system by word of mouth.
• Giovanni

If you known where to look or have a local guide, there's
also a lot of exotic merchandise for sale. These markets are the
only place I know, for example, where you can find telesma and
handcrafts from the Valle d' Aosta. The only thing you won't tend
to find are body parts and (meta)human slaves-the anarchists in
the area tend to disfavor trading in (meta)humans, and there's
enough of them that such business has been pressured out.

• The Valle d' Aosta is a meta-friendly but isolationist member of
the Confederation that broke away when GeM iTo crashed. Nestled
on the Franco-Swiss border in the Alpine valley of the same
name, Aosta later joined with the seceding Swiss Canton of Tielno
to form a thriving, yet Insular, metahuman community.
• Carabas

Managing the peace at some (but not all) markets and taking
a cut is the GeMITo branch of the N'dranghetta. The local
n'drise holds allegiance to Donna Allegra. They're the true
power brokers in many rough parts of the sprawl, enfordng their
deals with brutal force. Their bloody MO fits particularly well with
the lawless factions of GeMITo.

• Ultraviolence is their trademark. I saw a crew drop a fully armed
seven-man AG Chemie squad that strayed onto N'dranghetta
turf. They ambushed the squad close quarters, moving like
greased lightning. A bloody massacre it was. The N'dranghetta
didn't fire a shot and came out without a scratch. I for one am
not forgetting to pay my pizza!
• Skaven

• Yeah, but In other markets the N'dranghetta aren't even
allowed In-the other factions cooperate to keep them out and
arrange their own local justice. So check up on the local situation
before you do anything foolish.
• Antagonist


NewVara
NewVara is the largest of the various tendopoli (tent towns)
with almost 500,000 inhabitants. It abuts the neighborhood
where the Grande Fiera is held in the old Milan train station. It is
collectively managed by one of the more benign powers in the
sprawl, an anarco-leftist group called the "Leonkavallo."

• There are a bunch of these centri soclali in GeMiTo, dating
back more than a century. Who would have thought these anarchist
and leftwlng squatter communes and collectives would
ever amount to anything!
• Pierrino

The Hole
This hilly district is a triangle between three corporate oases:
Renault-Fiat Complex 1, AG Chemie's processing plant and Shiawase
Industrial Facility IX. The area is a scavenger's paradise,
since all three corps use it as a dumping ground for the materials
they're supposed to be recycling and disposing of under other
countries' environmental laws. The corp-run enclaves are beyond
any government control and anything goes here. I'm sure most
of the horror stories you hear aren't entirely true, but sometimes
you'll find the byproducts of illegal experimentation, failed production
runs and just plain toxic waste thrown "into the hole."

• Trash-diving heaven, if you're willing to take the risks. Half the
stuff that gets dumped is actually still useful in some way, but
there are also fun things like biohazard waste. The devil rats that
prowl the Hole are bigger than corpsec cybermutts, not to mention
the other mutant critters that have survived "disposal" or just
found the place an inviting spot to live.
• Skaven

ROME

ROME
Rome is known as the Eternal City, an expression that
means little until you've been there. This is a place where the
cobblestones are steeped in age-even if SOTA fiberoptics now
run underneath them. The city breathes history with its old architecture,
museums, historic sites and an omnipresent sense of
nostalgia. Even the corp districts among the old city streets are
completely integrated; strict city planning limits modern construction
in central Rome. The city's low-built buildings hug the
rolling landscape, giving the impression that the city sprawls for
kilometers in every direction when in fact it is smaller than many
modern metroplexes. The narrow streets of the older quarters
make traffic a nightmare.

• Roman traffic laws are more like optional guidelines-no one
uses GridGuide unless they have to. Don't be surprised if parked
cars block In your getaway vehicle, or if your shortcut down a
one-way is suddenly blocked by someone going the wrong way.
• Charioteer

Rome has a thousand sites to visit and not all of them are
the mundane tourist stuff. The Coliseum, for instance, appears
complete and lit from within on some nights of the year. A mage
acquaintance of mine tells me St. Peters' Chapel is a religious
experience if seen on the astral.

• Sunday mornings in Rome are amazing. Everybody goes to
church and the city looks empty until about noon, and then the
doors open and the crowds flow out after Sunday Mass. Enterprising
sinners know when to make the best of the situation.
• Gea


The most powerful corporations, and those that can afford
them, keep their head offices in the prestigious downtown districts
surrounding the Piazza di Spagna. Given the limited space
available, corps keep the bulk of their high-rise offices and miniarcologies
beyond the dty center. In the downtown districts,
many of which are closed off to traffic you'll find the headquarters
of the Agnelli group, Renault-Fiat, lndex-Axa but also Renraku,
Ares and Shiawase (inherited from Fuchi).
There's also both a sense of peacefulness and urgency on
the streets of Rome during the day; probably the sight of saranmen
dodging crowds of tourists and the troupes of priests and
nuns that you seem to come across every few minutes.
By night, all bets are off. Red light districts spring up round
unexpected corners, places where the Mafiosi keep their own
violent peace and dealers and joytoys sell their wares within
walking distance of St. Peter's. Rome seems to thrive on this
seedy underworld and it's not uncommon to see the dty's rich
and powerful among the darker types that populate the night.
The influence of the Camorra and the Cosa Nostra is eveiYWhere
in the shadows, their tentacles reaching all levels of sodety, from
street dealers to bishops.

• The Camorra's top dog in Rome is Luigi Cattani. Note no use of
the term Don-Cattani dislikes the title, as he's a self-styled modern
Mafioso. He leads the families within the Roman branch and
has ambitions regarding the rest of the syndicate.
• Never

• I'd heard the rumors, but thanks for the heads up. It explains why
Don Feretti's been courting Bonelli and the Neapolitan branch.
It's in his best interests that the Camorra doesn't come together.
• Buscettino

[Bigity]

Shadows of Europe:

PALERMO

SICILY
The Mediterranean island state is blooming, especially along
its eastern coastline. I've heard the weather changes in the
Mediterranean are due to the seasonal proximity of the Erebus
maelstrom in the Adriatic, and they've impacted most of southeastern
Italy. This has started to change the sleepy and serene
landscape, adding greener, vivid colors to the island's traditional
desolate pastels.

• The Erebus is a strange phenomenon that sprung up off the
coast of Greece after the Awakening. It's a seasonal storm front
that migrates from the Aegean to the Adriatic every six months
following some arcane route. It has changed weather patterns in
the Central Mediterranean, but it's better known for falling on
unsuspecting ships with gale-force winds and raging storm
clouds, making them vanish without a trace.
• Weatherman One

White-walled Palermo, capital of the island and nominal
seat of government. lies on the northwestern coast, though true
power resides among the south coast villas of the Cosa Nostra
families. Several resorts, hotels and marinas occupy the same
coastline, providing the backbone of the island's legal economy;
the rest remains pastoral- or maritime-based. "Legal" is the
operative word, however. An inordinate number of specialty
banks, import/export houses and offshore holdings make Sicily
their home. The bulk are legitimate businesses cashing in on the
fiscal paradise the mafia has made of Sicily, but a large number
are shells for Cosa Nostra and Alta Commissione holdings. used
to launder proceeds from their operations and facilitate transnational
ventures.
Sicily's independence simply allowed it to fall under the
complete control of the Cosa Nostra. Not only does the Cosa
Nostra keep the peace and sponsor the civil authorities, but it is
quite popular with the Sicilian people. Members of the Famiglias
are treated as aristocracy.

• And if they aren't some heads gonna be broken. Right!
•Bung

The Mafiosi couldn't have asked for a safer base of operations.
It's a well-known fact that Don Feretti has convinced the
other members to hold Alta Commissione meetings on the
island. As Capo di tutti i Capi of the Cosa Nostra, Don Feretti also
conducts his own syndicate's Cupola business from his fortified
villa. Apparently Feretti hasn't been off the island or seen in public
in more than two years, delegating all "foreign" matters to
trusted lieutenants.

• Italy's entrance into the NEEC has stirred up the hornet's nest
real good. Sicily and Mezzogiorno were dead set against It In the
Confederation Council. but Serenissima sided with the Papal
states and Central Republics to swing the vote. How the Italian
authorities are going to handle EuroPol intervention is anyone's
guess, but some of the syndicates are gearing up for war.
• Lupin

• I know of at least one not-so-friendly attempt by the Camorra
to change the Papal States position-my guess is there were
others.
• Never

[Wakshaani]

A long, long time ago, when Europe was fully a fan-based project and was in its infancy, there was a writer for Italy.

He bailed.

So another writer was found.

He also bailed.

I volunteered, which was odd as I live in the US and everyone else lived in the country that they were writing about, but, nobody seemed interested and, hey, it was just a fan project.

After a few weeks of work, I caught a nasty virus, my system died a terrible death, and it was *months* before I was back online (And for an info-junkie like myself, that was friggin deadly.)

By the time I was back in the real world, the head writer had gone ahead, sighed (One or two more would-be writers flamed out after my crash-out), and shouldered it himself. You might note that it's a terribly short part of the book?

Yeah.

He was a wee bit heavily burdened by that point.

One of these days, I'll have to tap out what I had *planned* for Italy and share it.

The country had broken in half, essentially, with a north and south that didn't get along (North was urban and 'refined', south was poor and rural), and the parliment was a mess. Since 2000, they were averaging a new government every ten months. (The same basic style of governing, but no confidence votes in the PM, throw out new elections, etc ... you know the drill.) Lofwyr was trying to solidify the nation to get it under his control, the mob was pulling strings, the Church was involved, plus the usual corrupt politicians, megacorp money, and the rare fellow who genuinely wanted to help the common man. It was chaos, and no one could tame the place, but it kept going in general due to a city-state like effect, where the federal power level was crazy so the local government had to be strong to make up for it.

From there, you had the usual plot points, Shadowtalk, the powerhouse electronics region in the NE of Italy, a nice Ork and Troll Underground in the Italian Alps, where they'd been driven from the racist south, through the racist north, and wound up in the mountainous region where it was too much work to root 'em out ... the eventual softening of the Church's stance on Metahumanity made them a non-hunted people, just strongly disliked, but, they still mostly stuck to their own.

There's a thing on deckers (Well, it was an edition ago!), and then a big section I was working on about riggers ... the connection between rider and car was literal in some places in Italy, with some choosing a lifetime behind the wheel, embracing speed as a lifestyle. It was a tad odd and transhuman-y, but, it was still an early draft and could have come out if it didn't sit well with the other fan-writers.

Alas, it was never to be, but, it could have been keen.

[ravensmuse]

I gotta say, thank you Bigity! Much appreciated!

Wak - give Tehana a ping. She's going to drop you an email.

[Wakshaani]

Wak - give Tehana a ping. She's going to drop you an email.

On it like ketchup. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Regcod]

On it like ketchup. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Hoi,

this is a really old topic, but I wish to know if it had luck or the project is dead, because I live close (really close) to Milan and I know a few legend that could be useful to 'draw' better the magic power zone around and inside the city. If you're interested, let me know.

p.s. If you have already developed this project, I would be interested to read something, thank you!!

Bye bye

[Wakshaani]

Holy cats! Never thought I'd see this again!

I should probably stick it all together sometime. Never know, might come up in the future. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Sengir]

Don't forget that GeMiTo was temporarily turned into a dragon feeding ground, which nobody noticed. Or maybe DO forget it as good as you can (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Regcod]

Holy cats! Never thought I'd see this again!

I should probably stick it all together sometime. Never know, might come up in the future. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

As you wish (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Anyway it's a pity to see a zone so 'magic' and full of spirituality so 'empty' of that and described only as a devastated zone and without any hint about the true legend of Tarantasio, the dragon that lived inside the disappeared Gerundo lake out of Milan, and all the holy wood inside and around the ancient Celtic city.

But after Alamis demise, GeMiTo is a feeding dragon ground yet?

[Megu]

Kind of curious about this as well; working on a streetsam who's a disgraced soccer player and was going to use AC Milan's academy system as part of the background, since it's the club I know most about. I'd love any thoughts on Milan and surroundings.

[Sengir]

But after Alamis demise, GeMiTo is a feeding dragon ground yet?

Alamais and his horde of malcontents were beaten, so I guess not

[Ixal]

But after Alamis demise, GeMiTo is a feeding dragon ground yet?

There was an update of GeMiTo (of sorts) on Shadowrun.com during the 5E previews.

http://www.shadowrun.com/2070/2013/03/29/a...agons/#more-201

[Regcod]

Kind of curious about this as well; working on a streetsam who's a disgraced soccer player and was going to use AC Milan's academy system as part of the background, since it's the club I know most about. I'd love any thoughts on Milan and surroundings.

Hoi,

If you're asking me about the surrounding of AC Milan's academy system, I can't help you because I know only those of Inter Milan (because they have been my customer for computer assistance year ago), I can only say to you that both are almost 50 Km from Milan on the north-west part of the city. Inside Milan itself there is only the stadium where, for now, both time play their home match.

If you want to know the surrounding of Milan present day, that's a bit various becuase can change from the farming landscape (more on the south, south-west, south-east of the city with a lot of rice field), to the wooden one (west, north-west, north) to the industrial one (north-east and a bit to east). The land presents a lot of small river, stream, irrigation canals and water sources that give a green view of the whole landscape. I moved from Milan to an outside small town with my family because we love the nature.

Milan today is a frenetic city, for your standard I suppose that is only a small city compared to the bigger american and european one, but many districs are different between them. The center of the city is the ancient one, where you can find old palace, but you must consider that a lot of them have been rebuilt after the second world war. The most important building is the big cathedral gothic style, and the castle, the external protection wall have been used in the past for building the house and aren't anymore present today sadly. Some track of the older canals that crossed the city are visibile and only a part of them is yet open and navigable. Somewhere you can see yet the DaVinci's locks for the canals built between 1506 and 1513 (I don't know if I translated very well locks, thery are a system for control the water flowing inside the canals anyway). But there are also esoteric place where legends are born and survived today in the hearth of Milan.
Having the city a circular form, more you move outside, more you find newer building, with some exception where for Expo 2015 have built a whole new district where there was the older fair of Milan (the new one, bigger than previous will be used for Expo 2015 and it's outside the city) and the futuristic fashion district close an ancient zone of Milan.

I wrote to you only a few things how it's today Milan that is likely more european than italian, but is the past that's more interesting and is what was I trying to pass to Shadowrunner developers, because could shed other point of view for the whole region (until Turin and Genoa) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

Bye bye

[Regcod]

There was an update of GeMiTo (of sorts) on Shadowrun.com during the 5E previews.

http://www.shadowrun.com/2070/2013/03/29/a...agons/#more-201

Yes I read this news, and I have also a lot of idea how to 'develop' this part knowing the 'magic' that could be awakened between the cursed city of Turin and the shamanic landscape surrounding Milan (and including a part of the city itself). I could also retrive some info about Genoa (no so fast now but with a bit of patience (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ), but I don't know how the developer would 'expand' the history of this land (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)