Biz!

Well, I guess there could be long debate about this both on DSF and inside SR universe, especially since we don't know among other things the exact provisions of extraterritoriality and how things like the 1967 Outer Space Treaty would be interpreted for extraterritorial megacorporations. Among other things, land claims are strongly tied to the notion of sovereignity. The fact that the Corporate Court can demote a corp from its extraterritorial status suggests megacorp are not sovereign. A standard for such claim stays "use & occupation" which is not at all simple on the scale of a planet...

There are some other things that might impact this. First, the fact that Fuchi/Novatech could install a base on the Moon long after Ares and S-K did the same, suggests the same could happen on any other non-terrestrial body (Target: Wastelands). Also, the dispute between Boeing and Wuxing concerning the "unamed island" has yet to be settled by the Corporate Court as a legal precedent for land claim by megacorporations (Year of the Comet). But finally, my guess is that the agreemant reached by the Big Ten to build the Kilimandjaro magnetic rail propeller included provisions for a fair enough distribution of space conquest at least between the Big Ten.

This being said, according to Target: Wastelands, Yamatetsu is aiming to go on Mars with a launch in 2063. Ares is on the something else, namely a mission for Jupiter's moon Europa to be launched in 2064. And Saeder-Krupp is working on mining operation in the asteroids belt.

BTW, speaking of laws and that...

In spite of all the yuppie's corporate governance thingie, the Pueblo Corporate Council (or Singapore) stays a nation with attribute, the main one being a recognized sovereignity on its land, and the possibility for people to create private companies incorporated there (period, if it was possible in SR to incorporate a company within megacorporates' "territory" the system would collapse and be completely different from what we know). With the possibility to raise taxes, or the obligation for persons who want to do business to own a share, the PCC would be a can of worms for the megacorporate system. Without even speaking of AAA status, I'm not even sure it would get the AA one (or apply for it first).

It reminds me Man & Machine was planting the seed of a possible big plot, a bit forgotten since. Concerning Nanotechnology, Ares lacked the stuff to match its space ambition, and it suggested possible alliance with either Mitsuhama, worrying the UCAS Senate, or Pueblo companies. Mix in the bugs and the possible end of Haeffner-Daviar reign in 2065, there could be some big moves.

They aren't mutually exclusive, though. I can think of tons of short and simple plot hooks based around "uberplots" that don't require direct interact with the uberplot, leave plenty of control within the hands of the gaming group, and create further plot hooks to drag the players into the plot if the GM chooses.

I'm all for back to the streets, but every single Shadowrun uberplot creates falldown all the way to street level.

Did I say I used that routine? Did I say countries didn't do anything? In my games major countries have far more military might, both overt and covert, than the corps, they just also have vastly less room to use it in, resulting in them not being the "big hitters". The gummint rarely hires runners, but they do occasionally. Furthermore, the corp runs don't always want a building hit; sometimes it's a van to hijack, sometimes they want a package to get from point A to point B unobserved, sometimes they need someone to hunt down the Piasma that's been killing their researchers somewhere, sometimes they need someone to bring them the heelprint of an honest man.
If corp runs are boring, it's your fault (or your GM's)

~J

Richard Villiers precisely owns personally all JRJ shares to be sure, even if Novatech should break up, he would stays in the Court (Corporate Download page 71). Even if he should die as all his heir (I guess Samantha, Caroline and maybe Lanier would be potential heir), he's an UCAS citizen. That only let to the CAS two way to acquire JRJ: nationalization (assuming it is headquartered in the CAS) which would undoubtly result in an loss of the Corp Court seat ; or offering more money than all the other people, corps and governments in the world who'd like a permanent AAA slot and a Z-OG share.

World Weapons is a company incorporated in the Seattle state, UCAS by Diderson Ksyogy (see Seattle Guide) and later acquired by Monobe International and then by Ares Arms (both being extraterritorial). Chartering a company and doing business somewhere are two different things. To do business in a foreign country, a company can obtain a license of some sort to do business, rent or acquire a building and employ people ; or charter a local company, 100% or partially owned. Some countries only accept the second option (IIRC in SR Tir Tairngire for instance). There is nothing that says if Weapons World rent its shop placement and do business inside Renraku territory with a license or through a "local" subsidiary chartered in "Renraku-land". Then you can argue over which of these are first possible and then likely. On my own, I think it would create so much loopholes and abuses the system wouldn't resist more than a month. Think about Enron, Andersen and similar stuff, then consider a situation in which the big corps could rewrite as they want the rules of accountancy, bankruptcy and corporate governance each passing month... Even the Corporate Court wouldn't allow that.

Probably because it was explicitly stated in one of the corp books that the only reason the shadow community exists is because the corps allow them to. If the corps collectively decide to eradicate the shadow community, then the community as we know it is toast. It cannot exist without the corp's consent. Period. That was stated directly in canon. I would hate to see them take a completely implausible storyline and go against established canon to do it.

Isn't this basically Dunkelzahn's network of Watchers (many being Fixers) that was revealed in POAD: DS seven years ago?

You know, immediately after I wrote the post, I realized that too.
Well, it only proves it can be pulled off. But this time, add Evil Intent™ to the mix .