A Dragon for President? Options

[Erebus]

Born in th UCAS? Check.
Over 40? Check.
I guess I'm eligible to run for president?

Ello chummers,

Got a bit of a problem, I was wondering if someone could help me out... See I'm trying to get my wife into shadowrun, and I just can't seem to get her past the whole Dragon for President thing. Goblinization, Magic, Megacorps are all making sense to her, but she just can't seem to fathom people voting a dragon into office...

Now my book collection only goes back to about Shadows of the Underworld with a few other random books besides that, but not including Super Tuesday.

Could anyone fill me in on how Dunk was able to run for, and able to win the UCAS Presidency, and what sources I can find that info in?

Thx,

Erebus

[RedmondLarry]

When the remnants of Canada merged with what was left of the USA, the rule that the president be born in the US was dropped.

Personally, I think a lot of people felt that Dunkelzahn would not be business as usual in the White House, and that the people running the major political parties were all beholding to special interests, so having a non-person might be good for a change.

There were enough political parties, which split the vote from a lot of normal voters between different candidates, such that the candidate that was really different stood out from the crowd, and beat out the next nearest candidate by a narrow margin.

[Large Mike]

Basically, he did it the same way the governator became the governator. He was a celebrity beforehand and everybody loved him. I think your wife is probably just having trouble with the 'dragons aren't neccicerily evil' bit. Granted, they usually are, but everyone usually is in SR.

[SomeGuy]

Hey, couldn't ol' Big-D shape change into a human (or metahuman i forget)? i was pretty sure it said some thing about that in the shadowrun main book under the Great Dragons.

[mfb]

yeah. i'd go with the Governator as an example.

[Kagetenshi]

He can. It's a power all Dragons have, though most tend to keep that knowledge quiet.

~J

[mfb]

i'm pretty sure only GDs have it by default. non-greats must rely on spells.

[RedmondLarry]

If I remember right, the Big-D had a TV or radio show for some time before running for president.

[The Canterbury T...]

That and there was a poll in one of the adventures (it may have been Super Tuesday) where the GM and players could vote back to FASA on who they thought should be president. Most people picked Dunklezahn (probably for a laugh) and he won because of that. Now explaining this in the game world is a bit more troublesome, but I'll leave that for others (as I'm not sure).

[The Canterbury T...]

[Large Mike]

It was Wyrm Talk. There's a new Wyrm talk, as well. I think it features Masaru, but don't quote me on that. Definatly one of the asian dragons.

[tisoz]

Just look at some of the recent elections. I'd vote for Dunkie as the lesser evil.

[Connor]

I thought Hestaby had started a show or taken one over... Whatever the case I think it's mentioned in DotSW.

[Abstruse]

Masaru started the new show, but it wasn't called Wyrm Talk, and I think it may have been a one-off thing.

But Dunkelzahn was elected because the public were fed up. They saw corrupt corporations, corrupt politicians, corrupt police, corrupt everything. They saw that their economy sucked, the government wasn't doing anything to fix major problems (Bug City, etc), and things were just all-round bad. Then add in that the president had been elected by cheating, and they wanted someone new. Someone they could trust. Someone who had the power to fix things. Who else but that loveable dragon on the TV? Hell, your daughter has a plush toy of him she sleeps with every night!

Did you know that Mickey Mouse gets between 400 and 1000 votes every presidential election? Imagine if Mickey Mouse were real and actually decided to run...

The Abstruse One

[Digital Heroin]

On a tangented note: something like 40,000 people in the UK answer that their religion is Jedi on each census...

[Frag-o Delux]

Mickey Mouse was drafted during Veitnam. My uncle has the Stars and Strips that had a reprint of the draft notice and the letter from Disney telling the Army, sorry but Mickey Mouse is not real and being over 40 years old at the time was not eligible for the draft, but if he were he would gladly sign up as he has already served his country in WWII and Korea he would be happy to serve in Vietnam.

[kevyn668]

[Firewall]

The version I heard was that either Australia or New Zealand had a compulsory census and entering 'Jedi' would be considered defacing your census form, as it was not a recognised religion. Apparently, once enough people listed it, it became a valid answer and no longer a criminal act.

[Foreigner]

kevyn668:

I'll go that one one better. :)

I can't be certain, because I've forgotten where I read it, but I *THINK* there is a small international religious organization whose members call themselves "Jedi Knights". Apparently, the whole thing started as a joke after several people in the United Kingdom listed "Jedi Knight" as their religion on their Census forms in 2000.

However, there appear to be branches in Canada and possibly in the U.S. as well.

Of course, they style themselves after the Jedi Knights from the STAR WARS films and the novels they inspired. They stress harmony between body and mind, abstinence from sex (I believe there's an exemption in the membership agreement if members are already married when they join) and alcohol, and train their members to defend themselves or others, usually using hand-to-hand combat training (after all, light sabers don't exist yet--unless you count the rather elaborate (and EXPENSIVE!) replicas being built by some specialty shops), and a person carrying a sword would attract a great deal of attention in today's climate.

I believe they do practice a form of kendo, but they use it primarily for exercise rather than as a means of defense.

--Foreigner

[Firewall]

I was almost interested in joining the Jedi Knights there... right up to the word 'abstinence'. No way, no how... Then again, being married, I suppose it does not count...

Where do I sign up???

[Erebus]

Thanks all, So Ka.

Contributing factors:

1. Dunk was a major celebrity/cultural icon since the Awakening interview.
2. He had his own TV show. (Wyrm Talk)
3. He had his own line of marketable cuddly dolls...
4. The UCAS was a multiparty system.
5. All of the parties were controlled by one mega-lobbyist or another.
6. The last election was rigged.
7. Leading to the last president being impeached
8. And an emergency election to be held. (Think California)
9. People were fed up with the recent corruption, and a Dragon seemed impervious to that sort of lobbyist corruption.
10. Culminating in the FASA Poll (from "Super Tuesday"?)


Well... that definetly puts things into perspective. I'm willing to bet the Humanis Policlub (and all their little friends) weren't too please about that....

Slot yer stick for some cred

[Guest_Crimsondude 2.0_*]

Just tell her that it wasn't really their choice. FASA decided it was going to abide by the results from the "absentee ballots" sent in by SR players, and the SR players voted overwhelmingly (and by overwhelmingly, I mean about 95% of all the ballots cast) for Dunk for various reasons--amongst them being a joke, because they wanted the freebies (people won things for voting), or because they actually thought he'd make a good President compared to the other five candidates (well, 4 1/2 since I don't count Anne Penchyk as a full candidate since she was a VP nominee who became the nominee when the Republican Party nominee was assassinated).

I just think it's cool that it's been close to 8 years since the election, and there are still loose ends floating aroudn affecting the metaplot.

[Shockwave_IIc]

[gknoy]

[Kanada Ten]

Well, because I happen to have them in front of me, here are the election results:

Dunkelzahn - 47,827,746 - 37%
Brackhaven - 38,754,731 - 30%
Vogel - 23,200,993 - 18%
Yeats/Penchyk - 12,831,834 - 10%
Hernandez - 5,054,964 - 4%
Booth - 1,166,530 - 1%
Other - 777,687

I think another reason the Big D got elected has to do with his slogan which was basically, "Let's live the American dream."