Ok I know some of this is redundant but here is my current draft for the setting guide I am going to give to my players. Comments, Suggestions and Advice are all welcome.

Campaign Information
The year is 2063. This is just after Haley's Comet and before the Matrix Crash in the cannon time line. Most of what is cannon history can be considered to have happened in the campaign world. The place is the Raleigh area in the CAS, a place not covered too much in cannon. Remember the CAS is a confederation not a confederacy. Getting the two mixed up is a faux-pas, and in the wrong company can start a brawl.

The piedmont area of North Carolina, especially the Raleigh area is much like it is now RL in economic terms. There are several major universities in a fairly close proximity to one another, along with a high concentration of IT, and tech research businesses.

However go out from the developed areas and you quickly hit rural countryside with farming and agriculture as the primary business. During the Awakening the forests and swamps of the Carolinas and lower Virginia awoke and regrew similarly to the way the Black Forest did in Germany and the forest in Northern Spain. Along with VITAS and the unrest over goblinization, this caused much of the new development in the central part of NC during the first decade of the century to be abandoned and revert either to small farmland or to forest. Once outside of the developed areas awakened nature quickly takes hold of the land she has reclaimed since the awakening, and travelers are best if they are aware that such domains don't belong to metahumanity.

Miscellaneous Information Rumors & Lore
This section is devoted to general topics that your characters might happen to know about. Stuff that hits the papers, matrix boards, and gossip.

Bridge Breakers
This is a phenomena that takes place in the Carolina and Virginia regions of the CAS as well as up into the UCAS on occasion. Bridges crossing rivers, inlets or other flowing bodies of water have been reportedly demolished by some unknown force. There have been very few witnesses and even fewer who were able to give a clear description of what might be the creature behind the demolitions. Each bridge is demolished when no one is on or near the bridge by from the few reports available are near humanoid giant figures seen through a fog. The figures are reportedly as tall as twenty to twenty five feet and move with a slow slouching gate. However, close investigation of the demolition sites have rendered no foot prints, even in areas with soft marshy ground, and no physical evidence of these beings has ever been captured, except that the bridges themselves seem to have been smashed by a series of large impacts. Most local authorities in areas where these occurrences are more common take the beings as a nuisance pest but not a major worry, as they seem not to be hostile to metahumans directly. There is even one fairly reliable report of a passed out drunk being moved off of a bridge before it was smashed.

The phenomena has documented cases going back to about five years after the Awakening, with smaller rural bridges being the first targets. The areas effected seem to be between the barrier islands and the Southern Appalachian mountain range. Most jurisdictions now post warning signs for motorists to be sure to check the bridge ahead including solar powered flashing yellow lights at night. Some areas have taken to constructing the bridges so that the spans will collapse in a controlled manner making them easier to repair; while others have taken to building bridges with mobile spans that can be connected or pulled back, leaving sections open during non-peak travel times. Some large interstate and very active bridges have had 24 hour guards posted so that there will always be an awake metahuman on the span.

>>As far as the new draw bridges and guarded bridges go you have to watch out if you are running away from the authorities. The Star and local law uses em as quick blockade points. Then again, hack into a draw bridge's system and you can use that trick yourself.
TarHeeled
Transmission: 03 October, 2061

License to Drink
--From Rebeca Martin: News Stream 12
Well the votes have been tallied and the tests were taken now behind me Madras Abbras, Hencie Williams and Bill Kater are about to have their first drinks. Madras and Hencie are both Orks 18 and 17 and Bill is a 19 year old troll, all who due to their metatype have grown up faster than most of the population. Before this law had passed they wouldn't be able to drink till they turned 21 even though their bodies had matured to the point where they could handle the alcohol, but now with the Consumption Licensing Act they have gone to their doctors, taken the tests and are now having their first drinks legally in the CAS.

>>You don't even have to be a CAS citizen. Have a legal sin (or one that can stand a tough check) take the tests, pay the fee (costs more for non-citizens) and they'll give you a “visitor's” version of the License. I got mine just in time for Mardi Gras down in N'orleans!
DCork
Transmission: 12 March, 2062

>>One thing to watch out for is that these licenses are not yet fully CAS wide. While in theory each state should respect the license given by another state but in practice some states do not recognize these licenses at all. The idea was first brought up in North Carolina, with Louisiana Texas and the CAS section of Denver soon following. South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee all have similar laws and recognize the licenses from other states. Alabama and Mississippi both are known for not recognizing these licenses or at least not accepting them until a good lawyer shows up. I doubt the squabbling over these things is going to end anytime soon as the politicians find it to be too good for whipping up a conservative base.
BigEasyRider
Transmission: 13 March 2062

>>Why don't those states just lower the drinking age? Seems to me it'd be a lot simpler.
Jink
Transmission: 13 March 2062

>>And give up a new revenue source? These licenses are not exactly what I'd call cheep. Also the Temperance Movement never really died in either the CAS or UCAS and the subject is still a very sticky situation. Why take a hard stance when there is a compromise that allows you to shirk from making a decision?
BigEasyRider
Transmission: 14 March 2062

Pirates!
--By Clifford Wilkes of The Wilmington Observer: March 24, 2060
The outer banks of North Carolina and other states of the CAS are once again safe harbor for a fleet of semi-legal pirate ships. Because of the CAS's openly hostile relations with Aztlan ships attacking Aztlan national ships heading to Northern American, European or Mediterranean ports often come to CAS waters for safety with the Outer Banks being a favorite in particular. Because, there is no extradition treaty between the two nations there is little chance of a crime in Aztlan or international waters being held against someone in the CAS. While never openly condoned by CAS authorities the practice of “privateering” is on the rise due to a blind eye given to it by the CAS government.

However would be privateers must be careful to make sure the marks they take are indeed Aztlan in operation. There are also reports of other nations shipping being hit; with the UCAS in particular accusing the CAS government of turning a blind eye to piracy. We asked Xavier Marshell, Chief Operations Officer of the LoneStar Wilmington's Harbor Patrol Unit what he had to say about accusations that pirates are being given safe harbor in CAS waters. In his words “We [LoneStar] enforce the laws to the best of our abilities and must abide within our jurisdiction and mandate given to us by the local government. If the boats have illegal arms or good on them then you can bet we'll catch them, ma'am, but we can't prosecute on mere suspicion that they might have done something illegal somewhere outside our jurisdiction. We, the men and women of LoneStar do not condone piracy, but we must obey the law ourselves even in enforcing the law.”

Most of these new buccaneers use relatively small fast submersibles hunting in packs of up to twelve ships. Often riggers are on board commanding submersible and air drones adding even more small units into the fight. A standard tactic is to jam all outgoing signals from a ship, disable their steering and propulsion systems, and then board. Target ships are rarely sunken or taken, and crew are not generally killed unless they put up a strong resistance. Valuable cargo is quickly taken from the ship and then the pack disperses. Sometimes cargo will even be just thrown overboard and then picked up by submersible.

>>The Outer Banks might take a bit longer to get to, but they provide a very nice place to hide and set in to port. The residents are friendly to pirates, as long as you don't make trouble in their waters, and there is no better place to fence loot. Though if you think of setting up shop in the area, make sure you get someone who knows the waters on board.
Teach's Disciple
Transmission: 30 July 2060

>>Disciple made an understatement. The waters around the Outer Banks have an average of 50 cases of reported disappearing and lost boats and aircraft each year. That is not just boats that lose transponder contact unexpectedly but craft that are lost for at least 48 hours or more. Missing time, phantom islands, and ghost ships are all common reports in the local logs. Fact is with all the awakened activity in those waters instrument navigation just isn't reliable enough, you need someone who knows the waters.
Sandshark
Transmission: 30 July 2060

The Devil's Tramping Ground
--Verge, Transmitted: 13 April 2059
It is one of the oldest NC ghost stories (and our state has quite a few) and this one at least I think may be more than a little true. You see me and my buddies where laying low after a job we pulled out in the UCAS, and we needed a place to go so this time we decided to go to where I grew up, a little town near Chapel Hill, North Carolina, called Pittsboro. Our decker had a fun time dragging me and the troll to all the little antique shops in town getting new old furniture to fill a new apartment to replace the one that had been firebombed(complications from a previos run—Sorry guys we really didn't know that you were going to break in on the same night!). Anyway, we had to keep low for a good three months so you can bet antiquing only our decker, Lani, entertained for the first month, and the rest of us less than a week. So after that we decided to do some sightseeing. Well the first round of hitting the local sights,lasted all of one week; there are some decent art museums in the area, but nothing spectacular as far as sightseeing goes unless you goto the mountains or the coast.

Anyway around the second week, Ren, our adept, got the idea of looking up all the ghost stories in the area and searching out the stranger sights. One of the first that we fell on, after a couple of dull haunted houses (neither actually haunted), was an old legend called the Devil's Tramping Ground. Looking back through the history of this thing we found that it went back a long long way, all the way back to the first European colonials to visit the area. The ground was a circle a few meters wide of a patch of barren ground that would not grow anything out in the middle of the woods. Legend claimed that the Devil came up from hell and paced the circle while thinking of ways to torment mankind. Also lots of reports of strange happenings, that nothing left in the circle over night would be there the next day and that no one had ever spent a night in the circle. Then our research also showed that the place where the ground was had been apparently paved over and developed into a suburban community.

We thought that was that but then asking some of the locals we learned that the community had been abandoned for many years and the forest regrown, and that the circle was still there. So the next day we piled into a van with some camping gear out to the edge an ironically named town Siler City in Chattham county. The road going close to the spot had been pretty much destroyed with the awakening and regrowth of the surrounding forest; so we had a bit of a hike to get to the spot. Sure enough there were several abandoned and collapsing suburban houses in the area, most only having their concrete foundations to show that they had been there. Soon we were standing in front of a forty foot wide circle of bare ground, with a path of bare dirt a food wide running the circumference. The place felt a little spooky, but the place didn't seem to have that high of a background count. Slightly higher than average yes, but nothing really unusual, especially for a previously inhabited area. Looking over the astral the first thing I noticed is that the circle was present there in the terrain, though it didn't look like a dual construct, just the depression in the ground-probably indicating that it had been there for an especially long time.

Lani set our campfire up smack in the middle of the circle, while the others set up our tents around the perimeter. Max set out a few sensor drones to watch for wild critters, and a few sensors recording the circle itself for heat, sounds and other strange phenomena. Then once things were set up it was dinner time. Good times, as I had gotten some real beef from an old high school friend of mine who kept a small cattle herd in the area. Lani had never had the real thing herself and the look on her face was priceless when she learned what she had been missing. Things went like that for most of the evening till around 1 am.

Of coarse everyone was still awake by then, we'd been pigging out and sitting around the fire all evening and I don't think any of us where sober enough to drive safely by that point, but no one was really drunk. Max was making some comment on how the last of the soychips had just ran out when I felt something odd. On a hunch I took a peek into the astral space and nearly jumped into the fire when I saw that on the astral the ring was burning! I was coughing and sputtering when I got back into my body, and was about to tell everyone what I saw when the fire went out. It had been a full bonfire one moment and it went cold the next, I mean no coals nothing. Max was poking around at it even as Ren and Clark were packing our gear up, having decided that this was not a place to go camping, and then things got really strange. I don't remember what happened but we made it back to the van by the next morning. I only remember the feeling of being terrified and being chased, and then we were staggering out of the forest to our van. The clock on the dash said it was 8 am and we just sat in the van till noon when Max finally convinced us that we should go back and grab our stuff. When we got their our camp was in ruins. Tents shredded, drones smashed, and the ring was completely bare (We had put some rather heavy logs on it for seating.). Well we left and decided not to come back.

>>I've been doing some investigating of this place myself, at least until one very close call, and have found that the place chases off visitors around a different time each night depending on the phase of the moon and season. I've never found any reliable record of the ground ever killing anyone, but have woken up with runes carved into my chest apparently by my own hand (the close call I mentioned).
GhostWatcher
Transmission: 17 April 2059

The North Carolina Star
--TarHeeled, Transmitted: 04 October 2062
North Carolina has always been slightly out of beat with the rest of the South culturally. Sure we're Southerners all right, but in a way we've always been a little separate. This all goes back to the colonial days when the US of A was just thirteen British colonies. You see the way the rivers run through NC made travel difficult, none of them were navigable really, and they were fairly difficult to cross, making North/South travel and more importantly trade very difficult. Add to this the difficulties of navigation in the Outer Banks and the lack of deep sea ports for the state NC developed a bit isolated from the rest of the south, with poor rural farmers and relatively few plantations. What does this have to do with how the state and LoneStar get along you ask? Well it means that NC doesn't necessarily follow trends, we are not called “Tar Heels” for nothing, especially if it clashes with a certain point of state pride.

While Texas is known for their rangers and rough and ready lawmen, that doesn't mean that other states don't have their own traditions when it comes to Law Enforcement. North Carolina's is of the local small town officer, made popular in an old black and white television show called Andy Griffith. A later show, staring the same actor, reinforced this idea called Matlock, of the lawman (this time a defense attorney) country boy with an open countenance belying a sly intelligence. It may be a myth, but it is a myth that North Carolinians love of the local lawmen and one that keeps the Star out, largely, of our fair state's law enforcement agencies. Now, you'll still find the Star working for corporate facilities and providing services to private high security areas, but when it comes to municipal law enforcement Raleigh, Charlotte and most all of the other cities and towns in NC still keep their own cops on the beat.

Don't think that this means that law enforcement is lax in the Tar Heel state. There is a much higher than average percentage of awakened officers in the Raleigh PD as well as throughout the various local districts across the state, and a tradition of recruiting from the former military as well. I've heard more than one account from friends of mine in lock-up how they were politely asked to “please” hand over their guns, by a calm smiling NC officer with either a couple of high power spirits behind him, or in one case over half a platoon of off-duty soldiers from the nearby Airforce base and an Abrams tank sitting there backing up the guy.

>>Beware Chummers! The Star is still around in NC, mostly as private security (You know the ones that DON'T have to pretend to respect your legal rights!) and their officers DO have something to prove. The Star has a fairly large presence in the state, higher than average for most places throughout North America, and often provides “backup” officers for other firms, and even a few municipalities. They also help staff the highway patrol, along with several other smaller firms; all under the command of State employed officers.
BrickyardMage
Transmission: 05 October 2062

>>In NC (and other states) it pays to look into who exactly built, staffs, and provides backup for the facilities you might be planning on going into. For instance, several firms, such as DiSec, MaxI, and Novis, only install and maintain on-site drones and hardware with other firms, like the Star, providing the warm bodies to actually guard and respond to the alarms. Other similar firms, offer deckers, riggers and on-site personnel but call in local law enforcement, or have a contract with other firms for backup and arrest services.
Dithorn
Sticked Yah!

>>The Star has an even bigger chip on their shoulders in NC than usual because of a recent disgrace and the comments of one Karl Leonard Jenson, that had made it to the major news feeds. His firm, Vector Watch Inc. captured a runner team at one of the facilities they guarded and then turned them over to the Star. The team overpowered the Star officers and came back to the facility in the LS citymaster, but were caught again. “Not once in the forty years since my grandfather started this company have we dropped the ball and allowed a successful break-in, and I find it repugnant that we have to call in these Star clowns just to pick up the garbage once we are done.” was Karl's response and then a couple days later mentioned on international broadcast that “The Star's a shadowscum's best friend.” I'd like to note that Karl's company is also planning on branching out into arrest services.
Kleen
Transmission: 12 December 2062

College Spirits?
--By Marc Casey for the NCSU Technician: 16 January 2063
If you are one of the fifteen percent or so of students who are sensitive to the you probably have noticed all the new wards and guardian spirits around campus. If you are not among those students who possess that particular gift you've probably noticed the new metal circles inscribed in the brickyard and throughout each of the school's campuses. These new precautions are due to last year's incident where students calling themselves the Blue Ram Lodge sent over twenty air elementals to paint buildings on our campus in UNC's colors. While most students took the impromptu paint jobs in stride as just another prank that was just taken too far. In previous years UNC students commonly painted the Free Expression Tunnel Carolina Blue, and the prank was just an expansion of that one. Now while I don't like our campus getting painted in other schools' colors the expansion of astral security around campus has, in many areas, become stifling. School officials have claimed that the increased security was necessary due to the escalation of such pranks and that these measures will not hinder legitimate school and student recreational astral activities.

Many awakened and non-awakened students faculty and staff have been surprised at the extreme measures that have been taken for increasing security, as well as against the UNC students who perpetrated the prank. While most believe that some action was necessary many have expressed their feelings that the new security goes too far. Many dislike the fact that new watcher spirits seem to be everywhere on campus and not only report astral and magical happenings but mundane things as well. In response the Redwolf Magical Association has begun to circulate a petition to have some of these new measured eased and most of the watcher spirits released.

>>Many of the free spirits that live on and around campus are not too thrilled about this either and more than a couple of the astral barriers have been smashed. A well established college campus will have at least a dozen or so strong free spirits roaming about and you can triple that figure if the place has a well established sports team. If it is a college that is more than a century old, there really is no telling how many spirits are floating around. In researching my book I've encountered no less than fifty spirits on UNC's main campus, and many of them would be more than willing to pull a prank on a rival college.
Tobin
Transmission: 17 January 2063

>>For those of you thinking about running on a college campus keep this in mind. While the free spirits probably woln't bother you if you don't bother them, many of them consider themselves guardians, patrons or alumni of the university in question, and will be bothered if you start doing things that they think will hurt their campus. A friend of mine found out the hard way when his vehicle was skewered on a forty foot long giant blue pitchfork. Thanks to which the authorities caught up with him. With good behavior he'll be out of lockup in five years.
Dithorn
Sticked Yah!

Looks like some good starting stuff.

On the subject of alcohol, I would not be surprised if they lowered the drinking age for the entire country. Plus, in places like the Piedmont, I imagine home-brewing will continue its fine tradition. With the fall of real alcohol, that means moonshine is now one of the few remaining sources of quality alcohol.

The piracy thing though... If someone is attacking Atzlan shipping, why are they hiding all the way up in NC? Unless they're sailing around UCAS waters looking for said shipping.

Looks good so far.

You might want to consider making the area around the universities astrally odd. In canon, some of the university city have had the astral tainted by heavy, wild magic use by the colleges in their rivalries. Then again, you could say most of that is limited to the campuses because the locals were much less tolerant of young mages throwing spells all over town.

Historical battlefields could also be places of interest. Canon states that battlefields would be emotionally charged for some time and would have a background count. That would probably only be a level 1 or 2 given how old the they are. I'm thinking Civil War, Revolutionary War and even the Indian Wars.

However, there are also accounts of oddities on battlefields in RL. There are reports of a shades and full on ghosts. One battlefield in England reportedly replayed the battle for several nights following the actual battle itself. In SR, it is entirely possible that on aniversaries of the battles, that weird things could happen. That could range from intense emtions, to battle noises. to manifested spirits replaying the actual battle in all its glory.

I also recall tales of mystic places, and have actually seen some of them in the Appalachains. An example of these would be the odd spots on the mountains. Those are barren or grassy patches near or on the tops of certain peaks even though nearby peaks are forested and often have trees right up to the edge. There is probably a rational explanation for this, but in SR, they could be power sites or blasted zones from past, powerful magic use or the presence of evil beings.

Indeed all kinds of historic haunts could be used, the older the better. The usual ghost of someone dying in a house should be avoided though, but very old legends, especially Indian ones, could be the basis for interesting things.

I edited the post adding more to the Pirates! section.

I plan to add more discussion to the License to Drink section explaining that the standard drinking age was not lowered through out the CAS due to political infighting and morallists' objections. The licenses were a compromise.

Added more to the Licence to drink, pirates, and a new entry for the Devil's tramping ground

Nice, I liked the Devil's tramping ground entry.

Don't forget the Brown Mountain Lights (that would be those spooky mountains y'were talking about).

I don't think it's been addressed directly, but is the rail system even still in *use*? It'd be incredibly efficient if railroads were actually run by competent corps who focused on the shipping ability. If it is still in use - then Maco Station is another solid ghost story to use - or at least bring up if anyone ever relays that series of tracks.

You *know* NCSU and UNC would have tossed some spells at each other (and I'm betting on NCSU winning that one, but that may just be my personal bias speaking).

Re: Piracy and people hiding up here. NC's waters really *are* ideal for pirates - not as hunting grounds, but as a hiding place. Historically speaking piracy has been a local 'thing' here, and so long as you don't bring your 'work' home with you and share the loot - you'll be pretty much golden. We're close enough to the action to get there promptly even if you're using a sailing ship, but far enough away with a complex enough coastline between the Outer Banks and the actual coastline, that you can *vanish* if the locals are giving officials the stone wall. Anytime a sizable storm comes in, all the sandbars will shift - making it hard for a captain who's not very familiar with the area to avoid running aground. There's a reason Mr. Edward Teach was fond of us.

The biggest thing to worry about in an Awakened setting is that I'd think it would take some serious balls to use NC as a hiding place for a long time. We're one of the three corners of the Bermuda Triangle, and we're not called the 'Graveyard of the Atlantic' for nothing.

There's a story simliar to the Devil's Tramping Ground up here too. Supposedly a plantation owner asked the Devil to make his plantation prosperous and the devil suggested a dancing contest. The contest lasted all night but the man won. The plantation was indeed prosperous, all save for a patch of land where nothing would grow, not even weeds. That is supposed to be where the contest took place, and it does have an odd feeling to it. One of my friends also felt it, but most of the others didn't.

If I remember correctly, there was a related story about a Red Orb that would appear now and then. Sometimes it would be around or in the house. Sometimes it would prowl the fields and woods. It has supposedly also killed a few people. A couple of times it is reported to have chased down people walking the fields or roads at night and burst into flames all over them, consuming them. Might be something to consider.

Trust me - I understand the gripe - competency in our rail service would be so *very* nice to have from an economic point of view.

Maco Station? googling it up right now... ah, that one. I remember reading other stories similar to that one but where you have the light of the wrecked RR train coming down the tracks... well, you get the idea.

Yep. Maco station though is one of the more famous ones - in no small part b/c for a mere ghost story, it sure did force a regulatory change with the train systems to use a different light pattern. North Carolina has a ridiculous number of ghost stories - we aren't as concentrated as Savannah or New Orleans, but we certainly match in numbers.

Added article "The North Carolina Star"

Hey Gerzel, this is a little OT, but I'm moving to Raleigh (Morrisville, to be exact) this weekend (2/25/07). You wouldn't happen to live in that area, would you? I'm losing all my tabletop SR players, and would love to get into a local game up there. Let me know. Thanks!

All I know is that, at some point, there must be something reminiscent of a scene from Deliverance but with half the cast being orcs or trolls.

Which half?

Ah, I didn't realize this bit was only about NC, as we have nearly nothing about the CAS anyway. I guess I just really liked the idea of hillbilly trolls.

Deliverance, eh? Yeah, that's Georgia. Yeee-haw! Squeal, boy! Squeal like a pig! Yeah, we do joke about that while growing up in Georgia because it's so crazy... now Alabama on the other hand...

Anyway, depends on what part of the state you're talking about anyway since Atlanta itself is very urban and different from the rest of the state.

Added some IC comments to tramping ground and NC star.

A neat thing about North Carolina is that things get very rural, very quickly once you leave the cities. On one side of my development is archtypical urban sprawl. At least 3 separate shopping centers, 1 apartment complex (more under construction) and a major outlet mall.

There are working farms on two other sides...

Added College Spirits?

Heh, reminds me of the good old days at Georgia Tech and our rivalry with University(sic) of Georgia. I can see it getting a bit uglier with magic involved, especially since in Shadowrun, it's GIT&T...

I can all sorts of fun between the schools especially when football season starts or during March Madness. Fun potentials.

I can see NCSU being a hermetic college vs. UNC being shamanic easily... though it would be nice if college mascots showed a tendency to manifest as city spirits upon awakening. So yes - there *should* be a greater spirit Wolf wandering around campus. And no - he shouldn't be bound.

Hmm, greater spirits with the fired up energy of college sports fans. Sounds like a hefty contract in the offing for a magical security company to keep them in line on game day. Remind me to stay home and watch the antics on the Trid.

Added comments to the College Spirits section

I know, I was just ribbing him about it. I was gonna make a crack about the difference between NC and GA's school rivalries with that remark.