The Alternate history of Shadowrun... Options

[Larsenex]

Greetings again. I must admit I really love the history on how the world came to be. I dont know if I am mis-remembering the wrong game (twilight 2K maybe), but I thought that during the early 2010's to 2020 that there was someone who detonated a nuke in France. This act was not claimed by anyone. I also thought there was a limited exchange of nukes at this time as the world was collapsing from the onslaught of VITAS and UGE.

Maybe I am completely wrong and just mixing up twilight2k with Shadowrun. Both had pretty cool alternate histories in the books.

[Sendaz]

You may be thinking of 2009 in the SR timeline when the French nuclear plant at Cattenom, on the German border, suffers a meltdown, contaminating Luxembourg, French Lorraine and German Saarland.

If you can read German or French, there was also a publication put out with the title SOX and had more about this region and I think the German one had some shenanigans going on down there making the SOX more toxic.. so again this may be related.

[Larsenex]

That is what I was thinking. Was there a limited exchange or that was not at all in the history? I do remember the meltdown. That must be in the 1rst edition.

[hermit]

I must admit I really love the history on how the world came to be. I dont know if I am mis-remembering the wrong game (twilight 2K maybe), but I thought that during the early 2010's to 2020 that there was someone who detonated a nuke in France.

No, that was a nuclear plant exploding, which generally has far worse effects than a nuke (nukes burn relatively completely, while a burning power plant is a pure irradiation source). That event created a Tchernobyl-like forbidden zone between France and Germany, the SOX, which is far less pristine than the actual zone because mutants, magic and ... things that would massively spoiler the plot of Shadowrun Returns Dragonfall (the CG).

I also thought there was a limited exchange of nukes at this time as the world was collapsing from the onslaught of VITAS and UGE.

There were, in fact, two.

Firstly, the War on Terror, in Shadowrun, happened on US soil against US minorities (mainly Native Americans but also Latinos and Blacks). It was started by an American Indian terror group named SAIM - over massive land-grabs and fracking known as the Ressource Rush (like today, but causing more of a stir-up) - basically doing this, except not as an audit, but an actual attack. When the US government refused to negotiate, they threaten to and actually launch some missiles before US commandos wipe the SAIM commando out. The missiles go for Russia, which decides not to retaliate, and miraculously don't explode (never explained why).
Later, after the Shadowrun War on Terror ended with concentration camps and massive amounts of magic wiping out roughly a tenth of the US military, the US government stands defeated and loses the West. The War on Terror eventuelly is known as Ghost Dance war, and the US separates into confeds and North soon after, over the US' unification with the sorry remainders of Canada (half of Ontario and New England, basically) because too many liberals.

Secondly, India and Pakistan went for it over Kashmir. India survived barely and then was hit by VITTAS. Pakistan scraped by barely, even less intact than India. Neither has recovered fully as of 2070. Also, this war made much of the non-Tibet Himalayas is irradiated wasteland. Also, the war prompted Tibet to hide under an impenetrable magical cloud (or at least it did so at rougjly the same time, the late 10s). Nobody has much of an idea what has happened there since.

[Larsenex]

That was a great read.
Where can I follow up on that? I would love to read it and show it to my group.

[hermit]

Uhhh .. all the Fluff Books? There are some decent Shadowrun Wiki out there. And Disclaimer: Nobody ever called it the War on Terror back in 89, but in effect, the prelude to the Ghost Dance War was exactly that.

[Sengir]

Secondly, India and Pakistan went for it over Kashmir. India survived barely and then was hit by VITTAS. Pakistan scraped by barely, even less intact than India. Neither has recovered fully as of 2070. Also, this war made much of the non-Tibet Himalayas is irradiated wasteland. Also, the war prompted Tibet to hide under an impenetrable magical cloud (or at least it did so at rougjly the same time, the late 10s). Nobody has much of an idea what has happened there since.

As far as I remember it, the war between India and Pakistan was a very limited exchange of tactical weapons. And Tibet hid not because of that war, but because China was kinda unwilling to let their colony go...

There also were some other uses of nuclear weapons:
- North Korea launching against Japan. again, the missiles apparently vanished (although that might just due to be North Korean tech)
- Libya launching chemical weapons against Israel. Those weapons did come through, as did Israel's nuclear counterstrike. Libya is reduced to a post-apocalyptic setting for the Desert wars
- Knight errant dedtonated a small nuke in a huge bug spirit hive in Chicago. The explosion had some effect, but caused less damage than anticipated and somehow screwed up the astral space at the site pretty badly. Implied reason is interference with a powerful astral barrier the bugs were putting up when the bomb went off.
- Winternight's plan to bring about Ragnarök involved nuclear weapons at tectonic fault lines. According to System Failure, those which were not disarmed in time had far less effect than anticipated


Where to find all that: The timeline in the wiki is a good start (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[lokii]

Actually as far as I know, there are two contradicting dates for the Kashmir incident. State of the Art: 2064 p.15 places it in the 2020s, Shadows of Asia p.53, 66 says 2030. So not much apart but also not connected to Tibet. Regarding the Maya Cloud it's not clear the Tibetan people or their leaders had anything to do with it. They were just the "beneficiaries" of its effects. (Given that some kind of military occupation appears to have continued even after Tibet was sealed off, it might not have been that beneficial after all.)

[hermit]

- Libya launching chemical weapons against Israel. Those weapons did come through, as did Israel's nuclear counterstrike. Libya is reduced to a post-apocalyptic setting for the Desert wars

Ah damn, yes, I forgot the Seven Minute War.

Regarding the Maya Cloud it's not clear the Tibetan people or their leaders had anything to do with it.

Actually, the Maya Cloud was built by a lesser known Eastern Great Dragon whose name eludes me, but who is adressed as Sunset Blossom in SoA. The author said as much in a past thread on dumpshock. The cloud is a king-sized version of the Veil of Tir na nÓg (for reference: elven-dominated IReland and the Seelie Court which will get its own sourcebook apparently). Also, that dragon is somehow connected to the Despoiler, who was also confirmed to be the ghostly undead dragon monster from SoA.

[Larsenex]

Wow, thanks again for such great info. I will head over to the wiki for more!

[binarywraith]

SR's fluff is really, really amazing like that. SR Germany especially fascinates me, and I wish I read the language so I could spend more time with the German-language sources.

[hermit]

There's also all kinds of stuff in the novels. In fact, on some areas of the game world - such as all of New York that isn't Manhattan - novels are the only viable source.

[Johnny Zen]

Read this old Thread S.O.X. in english for a summary of the German and French parallel SOX campaigns...

[Ophis]

Actually, the Maya Cloud was built by a lesser known Eastern Great Dragon whose name eludes me, but who is adressed as Sunset Blossom in SoA. The author said as much in a past thread on dumpshock. The cloud is a king-sized version of the Veil of Tir na nÓg (for reference: elven-dominated IReland and the Seelie Court which will get its own sourcebook apparently). Also, that dragon is somehow connected to the Despoiler, who was also confirmed to be the ghostly undead dragon monster from SoA.

Dvilgaynon (sp) I think, Eastern Great as you say, also appered in Earthdawn connected to the Ork Nation Cara Fahd. The Despoiler? I missed that one were can i find it?

[Prime Mover]

Some info here. Page 3 mention of Vestrivian the Despoiler.
http://forums.dumpshock.com/index.php?showtopic=40243

[hermit]

I missed that one were can i find it?

Shadows of Asia, somewhere about the Black Sea. A sailor saw a zombie dragon monster, and Orange Queen and Harlequin comment "Oh, the Despoiler, what do you want to do about it?" "That's sunset blossom'S problem, not mine."

[Sengir]

Read this old Thread S.O.X. in english for a summary of the German and French parallel SOX campaigns...

Man, you can really tell I lost interest halfway through writing the summary (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)