We know that the Conspiracy to restore the USA already has their people in power in the UCAS. We also know that they have plenty of sympathizers in the CAS, who see themselves as the "true heirs" to the USA anyway.

But what about Pueblo? It seems to me that there might be quite a few people sympathetic to the idea in the PCC as well - they always seemed to be less ideological and more welcoming of non-Natives than the other NAN nations. And the way they gobbled up the Ute recently can't help but work in the Conspiracy's favor. So maybe they engineered the whole thing?

The way I see it, the Conspiracy will try to strengthen their hold on the UCAS, CAS, and PCC in the coming years, all the while trying to (further) destabilize the Sioux and Tir Taingire, the biggest threats to their dominance. And sooner or later, they will try to topple the Sioux once and for all...

Thoughts?

One major problem, the megacorps. They would stand to lose more financial ground than almost anyone if a world superpower re-emerged (considering they are the world superpowers). If any major political or military group tried to unite anything as large as North America under one governmental aegis then I could see the megas try and put the kibosh on them with a great deal of prejudice. Without corporate support modern governments would collapse, no defense contracts, warranty support, or financial aid. Also, would they be willing to risk Desert Wars North American-style? The corp militaries are powerful enough to lay a serious hurtin' on anyone.

Also, don't forget the Great Dragons, Ghostwalker and Hestaby, as well as others all have their own stakes in North America. Though I doubt either of them alone could withstand a combined military assault, together with their minions and spirit allies would present enough of a threat to make any military commander wince.

Pueblo Corporate Council is more a corporation and less a nation. If they do anything, it's with the tacit approval of the Corporate Court... otherwise, the Corporate Court would just Omega Order their ass. Still, I don't think the megacorps would necessarily prevent the "reunification of the US", if it was good for business.

Hestaby's sphere of influence is mostly in CalFree, at the Oregon/California border. I'm sure she would make sure that there are provisions to maintain her little domain, but that would be the extent of her meddling. Same with Ghostwalker and Denver. I doubt that either would be proactive for/against reunification without some other personal agenda.

Personal agendas? Ghostwalker laid siege to a major metropolitan city without a second thought as part of his personal agenda. If any of the greats have no qualms about taking on something that irks them then Ghostwalker is at the top of the pack, followed closely by Aden and Sirrurg (and never count out Lofwyr). But back to the thread, there are WAAYY to many divergent agendas going on in North America to not cause a mass reaction if someone tried to bring back the US. The corps, the NAN (they put the kibosh on the US once, now that they're fully nations, who says they couldn't do it again?), Aztlan/Aztechnology ('nuff said, blood magic for everybody!), Tir Tairngire (you try and bully the little brother, the big brother Tir na nOg is definitely gonna' get involved), CalFree/Hestaby/Saito is a mess no one would want to mess with. If The Conspiracy wants to try it they can try but I honestly don't think they could pull it off.

is it just me, or does it not mention that the whole re-unification plan thing failed according the history between 2065 and 2070 in the book.

more specifically, the right column of page 34, at the top, under "General Colloton for President", it mentions the New Revolution tried and failed to do it's thing.

at least, i think that's the group you were referring too. if not, then i suppose i've just horribly sidetracked your thread

but anyways, if they are the group you were thinking of... well, i guess that would more or less clarify what happened with them (although, interestingly, it says nothing about stuff happening in the CAS, the NAN, Tir Tairngire, or Cal(not-very)Free.

Except Gen. Collton is PART of the conspiracey.

Edit: Double post.

The ancient powers and megas pushed balkanization early in the awakening so they could more easily influence smaller countries to grant them the rights they wanted. Now that they are entrenched they probably believe they can deal better with larger countries... they have the leverage to assert their rights, and common sets of laws/tarrifs are starting to look more attractive.

Regard the conspiracy... the way I read System Failure was that Gen. Colton is part of the conspiracy, except at the last minute she backstabbed her partner to take the lead role for herself.

Regarding PPC, you can read it either way. Either they are part of the conpiracy, or they are independent. Much of the internal fighting in the PPC described earlier could have been read as a struggle between the conspiracy and the SAIM aligned insterests within the country.

Pel

The only real narrative explanation for breaking up the U.S. would be so that forming Tir Tairngire would be easier against a country like Salish versus the entire United States. It's not like justice, empathy, or nobility played a part in anyone helping SAIM, and the megas... Jesus, that's a joke, right? They already had the Seretech and Shiawase Decisions. They had the Presidents, Congress and Supreme Court they wanted, but hadn't seen since the robber barons of the late 19th century. There is nothing in the balkanization of the U.S. and Canada that made their existence easier with the creation of a dozen or so countries with their own law, tariffs, languages, economies, and not to mention the fact that the NAN was formed because SAIM was protesting the injustices heaped upon native peoples when corporations were raping their land and resources during the Resource Rush. Under the U.S., to get access to those resources means dealing with an indifferent to hostile (to Indians) Cogress and Interior Department. With the NAN it means dealing with people directly who just said in quite stark terms that they are not welcome. While that changed over time, the cost-benefit calculations don't bear out a convincing reason why the corps would support the balkanization of the U.S. and Canada.

So, yeah. Balkanization was just a delightful outcome for the megacorps. It certainly wasn't just a cool idea and a characteristic motif of cyberpunk settings in the 1980s... Oh, wait. It was. No one has ever accused FASA, R. Tal, or even GURPS of thinking too hard when they made radical changes to the political landscape. Immortals are just a convenient ex post facto excuse.

As for the General, it may have been last minute to Senator Braddock and the people following him, but I cannot believe for a second that she decided halfway through the coup d'etat that Braddock had to go. I mean, why else would she be in DeeCee the day after the Crash which was linked to Deus and Otaku and would involve application of considerable JTF Seattle resources to assist the Metroplex Guard and Lone Star in quelling the insurgency in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest as well as the fallout from the effective collapse of civilization. She is the most successfully Machiavellian actor in the Shadowrun melodrama since Lofwyr.

As for PCC... Personally, I find it hard to believe there would be anyone in the country who'd want to see them under the thumb of Washington any further. Maybe if Santa Fe was the new capital it'd be one thing, but it's not like the people living here now are big fans of the federal government or anything East Coast. The only benefit to PCC might be more direct access to UCAS markets, but that's really an inconseqential benefit compared to the loss of sovereignty, the political change which would cripple an economy whose growth is comparable to modern day China, and the treatment of PCC as a backwoods dumping ground instead of as the most powerful economy in North America behind only Japan.

That's not to say there wouldn't be any people, but if they were that powerful and successful, PCC wouldn't exist. As it stands, there is no feasible reason for the people to want to have anything to do with the UCAS politically.

The problem is that there is no rational reason for anyone in power in PCC to support a reintegration into a new U.S. See above.

Likewise, the fact that the megacorps and even an alliance of just two NA countries (Salish and UCAS) can batter Tir Tairngire economically proves my point why the balkanization was necessary for it to exist, but had no appreciable benefit for the corps.

Anyway, why not Sioux? "Though defeated, the New Revolution has an impact in North America’s political landscape. Some countries are severely bruised (UCAS, Sioux Nation) or experience radical change (Tir Tairngire, Ute). A few pretend it’s business as usual (California, CAS)" (107). As written, the book suggests that the Sioux got it in the ass as badly as the UCAS, which would suggest a similar level of insurgency and pervasiveness of the NR. But the Tir... Wow. When I read the plot hook about Lugh Surehand I just about shit myself.

Well, the explanation that an immortal elf and a dragon were the ones behind the unrests in Tir always was... too easy.

So, any guesses on who is in charge of Tir Tairngire now?

What form of government, etc...

'Democracy', of course.

Well nothing I've heard from the Tir suggests an overthrow of the entire council of princes. So one of them will be in charge now. I'm betting Jenna N'Farra and probably the slitch who is probably Alachia in disguise.

That's not saying much since what we've heard is precisely jack shit.

Yeah, I would like to see a sort bullet point list of changes in the world.

Some stuff to cover.

Changes in Draco
Big Players dead or alive
Changes in countries
Status of ongoing stuff - mostly the situation of the Arc at the mo

Why should Renraku allow that squatters, ghosts and worse inhabit parts of the Arc? What would that do to their reputation? That's so stupid.

The loss of face by admitting a defeat like that would even bigger than the event itself.
In fact, that would not only cost them way more than getting it up nice and shiny, but would cause an open season on Renraku.

The point is not about Joe Citizen - its about Business.
If the shadow community knows, many other corps will know... and weakness isn't something you want to demonstrate when you are not that well indeed.

Cross' example should have demonstrated that well enough.

Given Deus' complete and total penetration of the arcology's computer network, they're going to have to sterilize the entire system which will take months, if not years.

Renraku's going to slip further and further down the megacorp totem pole while they deal with this...

Didn't the City of Seattle take over responsibility for the Arcology at some point?

That was handed back to Renraku in SotA64, IIRC.

Ah, ok. I knew that Seattle had it for a while, but wasn't sure whether they gave it back or not.

No idea, but Huang's in prison for super-duper embezzlement.

HAHAHAHHAHAA

That's frickin' karma right there!

Quite.

The fact that he didn't just embezzle for the hell of it, but that he did it with purpose makes it so much funnier.

Personally, I'd use the fucker for target practice if I was a Director. But that's me. I'm a dick like that.