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the team,has two street sams,a rigger with drones(mainly spy),and a shaman.

Now,I would like to know who the canon movers and shakers are.More of the private sector,the political one is covered.Well,at least the native politics.

I know,that Ares, DF,and Nova have their power bases near there,so I would think that not many of of the other corp,have resoures on par with them,in that area.I would gather that Ares,and Nova tech basically "own the play ground",and let others play there.

Do,SK,Aztlan, or Cross have large holdings there as well?

What nations have close ties to DC?I am sure a few nation really care about the well being of the UCAS.Some of them,may even like the UCAS!
Nath
Well, the main reason for anything to happen in DC are the interactions with the political world or the militaries. So you'll have Ares and Boeing selling weapons and satellites. Reporters from Ares-NBS, Mitsuhama-CBC, Saeder-Krupp - ABS and Hisato-Turner - NewsNet would be snopping around. The oil companies are no longer locals, there in the CAS, but you'll still have the automotive manufacturers (Ares-GM, Ford, Chrysler-Nissan) or the pharmaceutics industry (Yakashima, Zeta-ImpChem, Bristol-Meyer-Squibb).

Also, the presence of the Draco Fundation, the Dunkelzahn Institute, the Illuminates of the New Dawn and Manadyne Corporation suggests DC is a center for magical research.

Saeder-Krupp is more present in the CAS than in the UCAS. Cross tends to keep its facilities concentrated in a few cities, but that may or not include Washington. At least the Seraphim would be here, since you can't keep an eye on Ares whereabouts without watching DC. A singular corporate presence would be the Lone Star: FDC police force is still public, but there's a federal contract for the activities previously handled by the DEA.
Crimsondude 2.0
Well, consider first that the Mexican Embassy is about three blocks from the White House on Penn. I have Aztechnology controlling the entire block in a national/corp embassy role. Also, consider that there are very strict federal zoning regulations in Washington itself, and that in my world they enforce them without much regard to extraterritoriality. As it is now, any arcologies. pyramids, skyrakers are going to be across the Potomac in Virginia or southern Maryland. See Minority Report for what this would look like. Perfect, perfect description. People who live in the city are shit, except for the people who live on the right side of Connecticut Ave and Dupont Circle.

The CAS took the Canadian Embassy at the end of Constitution within spitting distance of the Capitol. It's called "Little Oxford" because of the columns and structure of the building. And because the Ambassador's from Mississippi and an Ole Miss grad, but YMMV.

I also combined the IMF and World Bank buildings on/around Penn--also two-three blocks from the White House Complex--into the Corporate Court Embassy to the UCAS (see CD). Actually, they are essentially across the street from each other. The Mexican/Aztlan Embassy is across the street from the PEPCO building, which is (IMW) run by Shiawase.

Shiawase Atomics also has its HQ in Washington, which I decided to mean that when the Energy Department disappeared, the US or UCAS sold their assets, including the Forrestal Building, to Shiawase Atomics (Irony... on line three). They now control a good chunk of Southwest, including L'Enfant Plaza.

Also the military presence in DeeCee is going to be insane, as well as the federal law enforcement presence. I'd basically revert it to (and as much as I'd prefer not to be droll) to the month after 9/11--which it does look like: National was shut down to all but security flights, the military presence is increased including a 24/7 no-fly zone around the city enforced by DC Air National Guard and Air Force pilots, soldiers and guardsmen (er... FedPols, same difference) with heavy weaponry and SAMs all over southern Washington (viz. the Mall), Humvees parked at every intersection in Foggy Bottom and into Downtown (That was the creepiest part, no doubt) with 2-3 guys with ARs inside at least as far north as K or M street and all along Penn on both sides of the WHC, constant policie patrols in the "good" part of the city (Secret Service Uniformed Division, FedPols, WMATA cops, corpsec, private security, and "other"), people who look even slightly magical and not a cop or corper eyed suspiciously if not hassled on sight by said cops, and an aura of outright paranoia on Virginia Avenue in front of the Watergate where the Rift bunker is, which is also in Foggy Bottom (A AA or AAA rated zone in NAGNA, already).

However, you go east of the Capitol (basically anywhere where the roads end in SE or most of NE), and you're on your own. The military sometimes goes in for target practice, and the FedPols are armed to the teeth and completely unhesistant to blast someone for looking at them funny (this is the same PD that now frequently detains and searches in public view people for random or false misdemeanors). If you've ever been there, think of New York or Florida Aves. when you driving out/into Washington to the B-W Parkway. SE has a lot of the older industrialized areas that no one gave a damn about demolishing, and is when the Barrens would be. And the Anacostia is toxic. But stay away from Bollings AFB (home of the DIA and Marine One) because they will kill anyone who doesn't look right hanging around, and the FedPols protect the roadways around the Wilson Bridge (which 60 years from now will be even more congested and an pain in the ass) because it's a main commuter artery. However, between there and the roads to the B-W parkway, "accidents" happen, especially after dark. This extends out of ther city into Prince George's County, too.

The NIH is in Bethesda, and if Cross has a presence, it's probably there. Same with Aztechnology (namely, through UO). There's a major health library there, which would make it useful. And the remnants of JHU's programs (now JHIH) are still going to be around there.

The DF bought the Washington Harbour building in Georgetown, because it has a direct LOS to the Watergate and the Rift.

The IOND has their HQ off Foxhall Road, which is most asssuredly in Georgetown and not Foggy Bottom. It'd be very close to Georgetown University, and this would put it between the U and the reservoir and Teddy Roosevelt Island. Manadyne's offices would also probably be in Georgetown on the backside where there... uh... what's it called... nature. Same with T99 (owned by Novatech).

The NRO is based very close to Dulles, and AresSpace, Novatech and others (S-K) would have facilities out there. Ares has a massive part of Arlington all to itself, as well as good amounts of Crystal City and Pentagon City (guess why).

The other thing is that most corporate presence is, however, very white collar and boring. Government vendors, contract specialists, and lawyers--my god there are going to be a lot of lawyers. Espionage is also a fun game to play, and DeeCee has been a prime place for it for decades. Corporate espionage is going to be very prevalent and the UCAS is also going to be involved in spying against its contractors, and others. Poaching is mad, but civil, limited to information mostly, because, really, why extract lawyers regularly?

There are several universities in DeeCee, but the biggest is going to be in College Park, formerly the University of Maryland. The only way that place would stay intact is for Maryland to maintain some amount of control over it, and an amount of reciprocity for MD residents to go to "their" school. Having it be a UDC campus would probably be met with no shortage of constant protest (lots of "MARYLAND Terps" items for instance). All of them are also corporate whores, but the biggest one, without doubt, is The George Washington University. They have sold out to all of the Big Ten and the FedGov. It's into everything and has campuses and operations spread across the city working with everyone. I have gone back and forth between making it part of one corp, but I prefer it like Cuba--the President can't make a decision without calling up a dozen people. AresSpace owns the Space Policy program, for instance, and their Information Security programs probably split evenly between the NSA, Cross, Novatech and Renraku. Also consider that in light of the Dean of the Business School stating, “The business school will remain true to its heritage of emphasizing the relationship between business and government, that’s only natural given our location and partnerships in Washington.” cite

All in all, DeeCee is remarkably un-Sprawl. There's actually vegetation in the city, and it's one of the few places that didn't go to the corps in the Resource Rush (something about sh*tting in your own backyard). It's also a small city surrounded by larged counties. It's still probably very heavily black, as well as the MD counties, and very Southern. JFK said it was a city of northern hospitality and southern efficiency. I'd contest that with the fact that I always felt it was a rather friendly city.

The British are always going to be there. The French will still be there. Quebec and CAS are constant presences and probably on generally friendly terms, and TT less so given the recent embargo, but there is the trade agreement and the UCAS" dependence on the magical security expertise. The Russians aren't going anywhere--the Embassy on Mt. Alto is too useful to give up (I'm sure S-K gathers most of the benefits from the embassy and its unbelievably great location). Japan has had a long, positive presence in the city. I really don't think much will change as far as the composition of Embassy Row aside from renaming some of the buildings. The Saudi Arabian Embassy is next to the Watergate and Kennedy Center, and depending on where exactly the Rift is (I assume on Virginia Ave), it may have been condemned to put up the bunker. Aside from that, I don't know if the Arabian government would want an embassy next to that thing. But there are a lot of countries making up Arabia, and they are all big and gaudy and serve the same purpose.
Crimsondude 2.0
Any feedback re: my post would be nice, just so I can get an impression of how useful, helpful, or playable it is/isn't.
toturi
QUOTE (Crimsondude 2.0)
The British are always going to be there. The French will still be there. Quebec and CAS are constant presences and probably on generally friendly terms, and TT less so given the recent embargo, but there is the trade agreement and the UCAS" dependence on the magical security expertise. The Russians aren't going anywhere--the Embassy on Mt. Alto is too useful to give up (I'm sure S-K gathers most of the benefits from the embassy and its unbelievably great location). Japan has had a long, positive presence in the city. I really don't think much will change as far as the composition of Embassy Row aside from renaming some of the buildings. The Saudi Arabian Embassy is next to the Watergate and Kennedy Center, and depending on where exactly the Rift is (I assume on Virginia Ave), it may have been condemned to put up the bunker. Aside from that, I don't know if the Arabian government would want an embassy next to that thing. But there are a lot of countries making up Arabia, and they are all big and gaudy and serve the same purpose.

Not sure about the rest. But I think the Russian Embassy is de facto Yamatetsu(you did know Yamatetsu was based in Russia now, right?) rather than SK. And (Saudi) Arabia Embassy is probably playing "who's the boss today?" between Aden and Lowfyr.
FlakJacket
SK and Yamatetsu seem to be in the middle of a tug-of-war over Russia. With Yamatetsu being located more in the Pacific and SK being more concentrated in the European area and being up to their eyeballs in the government for a fair bit longer than the relavent newcomer Yamatetsu, I figure SK has the embassy but could be feeling the pinch from Yamatetsu.
CircuitBoyBlue
Crimsondude 2.0 is right on the money with most of it. I would just add that I don't necessarily think the British WILL be around in the SR world as much as they are in the real world. I think they would move at least half of their assets to their new CAS embassy and keep most of their efforts in Canada up there in the form of consulates for the purposes of attending to the needs of any residual British population. Also, I definitely don't see GW as the university to sell out to the gov't and corps. I think American would beat them to that punch (selling out is one of the very few things AU is better than GW at). And I think the "no buildings taller than the statue on top of the Capitol" rule might be done away with by the time of SR. I could be wrong about that, but it just seems like one of the easiest ways to appease tenants in the city and ease the congestion that will probably exacerbate anti-meta sentiments. And honestly, I think everyone would agree that taller residents (orks and trolls) warrant taller buildings. I could be totally wrong, though. Also, I seem to remember Minority Report depicting DC as having tall buildings, like in the scene with the jetpack cops (though I could be wrong about that; their depcition of Woodley Park was right on the money). I have a run set up for my runners that was going to take place in Tenley Town, but I've been screwed up because in the past few months, the area has changed a bit with the addition of a Best Buy/apartment complex. Here I design a run focusing on the lack of anything interesting in a neighborhood, and they go and build a mini-arcology...

Another thing anyone planning to GM a run in DC might want to think about is the possibility of toxic shamans in the National Zoo. Not too long ago there was a bit about them accidentally poisoning a lot of their rarer animals like pandas when they tried to get rid of pests. Seems to me like fertile grounds to mix toxic magic with ghosts and paracritters. I know, it's really scary, but if you're throwing the runners into an environment where EVERY character they meet is going to be a spy, military soldier, federal cop, or politician (don't lie, we all know why you're planning a run in DC), toxic para-ghosts are the least of your worries (though possibly the most hilarious).

Crimsondude 2.0
I don't know. Did you ever read Steven Joel Tachtenberg's (who's the chair of the D.C. Chamber of Commerce, too) article in the Washington Business Journal where he flat out states that the existence of universities revolves around money? Plus, the goddamn school is so expensive (just $46,000 a year for incoming freshman, but at least it's a flat rate for four years).

OTOH, it's not like they renamed a school because an alum gave them $30 million (that would be, of course, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown).

Doesn't the DHS also have it's HQ at the naval facility in Tenleytown?
CircuitBoyBlue
Yep. Every now and then 20 police cars and unmarked SUVs will come speeding out in the middle of rush hour, fun stuff. I don't think they will be there by the 2050s, however. I keep hearing things about Congress setting aside money for a lot of land out in Virginia, but I'm never sure what's going on with that. It could be interesting for the HS department HQ to be in the CAS. Of course, it would also be interesting for it to stay in the Naval District, a place I ACCIDENTALLY wandered onto once (post 9-11 security, my ass!). The thing is, there is a little stretch of Rock Creek Park behind it, and one day I wandered up a hill, before I knew it I was in the middle of a cluster of buildings. Security guard gave me a weird look as I waved to him on the way out. But proximity to Rock Creek Park could lead to lots of mayhem in SR, now that I think about it...

Oh, and if you think Georgetown is a bunch of whores with their buildings, American University is currently looking to rename it's most prominent buillding because it's currently named after a historical figure, not a donor. It's obnoxious when the come to sandblast a name away. And AU used to have a building named after a Saudi arms dealer that had given them lots of money. An ARMS DEALER!!
Crimsondude 2.0
Ah, Khashoggi Campus Center. I remember hearing about that. But hey, at least he wasn't a bin Laden.

HAHAHA. I'm not surprised about walking onto the post. I used to walk to my internship an remark how pathetic secuirty was around the Hill. Kind of reminded me of 1983 Lebanon. Rock Creek should just be interesting altogether, too.

Heh. I was just thinking that one of the things that you were supposed to do at GW was avoid being run over by a Presidential motorcade rolling down 23d. It happened to me twice (I blame Sony for inventing the Discman).

But at least none of the AU buildings are called "New Hall." smile.gif

I'd love to do a real run in DeeCee though, because it seems like a really good opportunity to emphasize subtlety, and because D.C. is a fun environment.
FlakJacket
QUOTE (CircuitBoyBlue)
And AU used to have a building named after a Saudi arms dealer that had given them lots of money. An ARMS DEALER!!

And? What's so bad about arms dealers?
CircuitBoyBlue
They tend to be responsible for explosions.

And I think the bottom line is, GW is great at buying everything in sight, AU is great at whoring itself off and squandering the proceeds on flowers. You know, now that I think about it, by the time of SR, AU has probably started renting itself out to GW...
FlakJacket
QUOTE (CircuitBoyBlue @ Apr 22 2004, 05:43 AM)
They tend to be responsible for explosions.

Really? I always thought it was the person pulling the trigger/pushing the button that was responsible for things like that. :o/
Nath
"Learn how to sell cigarettes and weapons and you will be able to sell anything..."
Dax
I have to say Crimsondude. That was one heck of a kick ass description for DC in 2063, I do beliv e I'll incorporate it into my game as well.
Crimsondude 2.0
QUOTE (CircuitBoyBlue @ Apr 21 2004, 10:43 PM)
They tend to be responsible for explosions.

And I think the bottom line is, GW is great at buying everything in sight, AU is great at whoring itself off and squandering the proceeds on flowers. You know, now that I think about it, by the time of SR, AU has probably started renting itself out to GW...

Well, I still find it amazing that one greedy bastard of a U (USC) sold it's School of Policy, Planning & Development Washington campus to AU instead of the other greedy bastard U (guess). But actually, in an old description, I had Johns Hopkins sell off SAIS (following the whole "experimenting on metas" scandal that led them to disincorporate as a University and form JHIH) to GW (for various reasons). However, between SAIS, the UC Washington Center and the turmoil facing both of their parent institutions (i.e., why would UC need a center in D.C. when California is sovereign?) plus whatever lasting hostility exists in College Park after U of Md. became part of UDC (I figure the sentiment is kind of like Cleveland after it got "Modelled"), I figure there are some good backstory shadowruns that would come out of them, and residual runs that could still exist today.

Meanwhile, Georgetown has the Illuminates of the New Dawn... the poor bastards. smile.gif

That is one thing that I can't really change (or see a reason to want to); is that if you're magical in DeeCee, you're intimately familiar with Georgetown. I also think that given that there are several major magical groups in DeeCee all clustered in one area, that the whole university neighborhood is going to have a hell of a weird vibe to it. One of the things is that for all I can tell (and IEs aside), it's going to be a very Hermetic area (and city, in all fairness) I could definitely picture a bunch of 2060-era goth-looking Hermetics crossing Red Square to get to their Magic and Occult Studies classes. Actually, my impression just reeks of Romantic-era imagery (or Harry Potter. Whichever is more cheesy). I also don't doubt that the influence has spilled into Dupont Circle and Adams-Morgan. But I don't expect something like the whole USC-UCLA (eh, and CalTech, etc. But who are we kidding?) Magic Wars feud between them because, frankly, everyone else is going to be really outgunned by Georgetown (And being in the middle of the capital of a slightly magic-hating/fearing country doesn't help).

One of the interesting things about those articles FASA used to post on its website was the bio of Dr. Frazer Williams: Chairman of the Occult Studies department at GU, and member of the Scott Commission. Quote: "Dr. Williams runs free classes for magically talented kids in some of Georgetown's poorer public school districts. He also works as a volunteer forensic magican for the Georgetown Police Department." Ignoring the idea that there are "poor" school districts in Georgetown (Williams grew up in the Harbor Barrens in L.A.--think poorer) and it has its own PD (although possible), it would easily be resolved for him to be teaching kids in Trinidad or Shaw or PGC or somewhere not too bad (but not Kalorama), which would make for an interesting situation to run into him and whatever sycophant students who might tag along.
CircuitBoyBlue
Yeah, the idea of poor schools in Georgetown is ludicrous. But I can see them having a police department. The cops that knocked on my door the other day said something about not knowing whether or not the Georgetown cops were planning on stopping by. I kinda gathered that the Georgetown district of the MPD is a little more autonomous than other districts, even if its just by informal customs. Also, I notice sometimes they have different cars.

You're definitely right on about hermetics ruling the universities and settling mainly in Georgetown, as well as about them hanging out in Adams Morgan and Dupont. I can definitely see a lot of shamans coming out of SouthEast, though. Seems like with that dense a population, you're bound to come up with a certain amount of awakened activity through means other than hermetic schooling. Also, SE would probably provide one of the best havens in the city for shamans to escape persecution from the "shamans are uncouth" crowd that dominates DeeCee. So you'd have a lot of home-grown, plus an influx from the rest of the city.
Snow_Fox
Any run in DC is dominated by politics. Corp facilities are limited to public faces. Security should make extractions and wet work almost unknown. The closest major port is Baltimore.
Out of the city proper things get better.
There are some VERY expensive neighborhood south of the potomac in Arlington and Georgetown, and into Nrothern Virginia it gets kind of rural quickly- drive down to Mt Vernon and you'll see.

North of DC into Maryland it's suburban sprawl in the ugliest way.
Also with the Northern Virgina/CAS border there is probably NO smuggling but probably lots of probing, just to see how good the other side's stuff is.
CircuitBoyBlue
according to the NeoAnarchist's guide, the Virginia border with DC is actually one of the more common smuggling routes. I'm not entirely sure why.
Crimsondude 2.0
Ditto with SoNA.

I assume it's because 1-95 starts in Miami and ends in Maine, hitting every major city on the east coast--including D.C. Sure, Denver and the Azzie border are great for jamming t-birds at NOE at 150kmh, but realistically there is now and will be plenty of smuggling going on right up 1-95 in trucks (guns, cigarettes, etc.). It's a well-worn, established, safe route.

The border isn't like the 38th parallel; people do occassionally cross between Virginia and North Virginia, and it's an important trade route. Chances are, if a CAS product is sold in NEMA, it got there in a truck coming through Washington.

I also spent several hours lst night into this morning rewriting what I've written above and expanded into the rest of the city itself, describing parts of Northeast and basically painting it as the last place where most of the people who live in Washington reside and live, and how it's become more meta as many of the black residents leave for the outer counties, and many of the metas who aren't forgotten about in Southeast make a living in neighborhoods that are outside of historically black communities like U St. and Shaw/Howard U. Not to say that there aren't black residents left. There is also the likelihood of expansion of corp presence into the northeast edge of downtown northeast of THomas and Logan Circles down to Mass. (before you reach Union Station) where the corps went in and just gutted and gentrified the neighborhoods (including Mt. Vernon Square) when the corps encouraged employees to stay in the city (shorter commute time, etc.) would probably put up their own housing here since it's cheaper than Georgetown, safer than across the Anacostia (which I wrote last night was a "Maginot Line" separating the city from the Barrens). White-collar holding pens, basically.
CircuitBoyBlue
Ah, yes. I forgot about I-95's history of cigarette smuggling. I remember when I was in high school, they caught Hamas doing it. Remember kids, if you smoke, you're supporting terrah.
Kanada Ten
In regards to smuggling, I also imagine a steam of lobbists and diplomates from both sides travelling between the CAS and DeeCee might help in the smuggling of information and smaller goods.
Snow_Fox
Small stuff maybe, but we're talking about a data file or something, not large goods. Sure I-95 goes from Boston to Florida but have you ever driven it through DC? It's a nigthmare NOW without a border crossing. I've given up hitting Virginia through the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.
Crimsondude 2.0
I did briefly mention the Wilson Bridge.

"Through" is a relatively loose term in the context of the entire Federal District where any manner of passing through on 95 or one of the highways that make up the Beltway would suffice.

Also, while I focused on the District of Columbia itself and less on the outer counties that make up the Federal District, once we expand out from there the likelihood for mischief increases. Like I mentioned in the first long post, the Bethesda area is pretty hot for biomedical science and technology (Canon biosciences is moving out there soon) and I could easily see Cross Biotech, UO, and others, as well as "local" (UCAS or A rated corps) in the region. Also, when the CDC became independent of the U.S. government, the UCAS would have to act to ensure that some programs that the CDC ran which they wanted, or at least wanted to take care of themselves, remained in their hands. Right now there is no such eqv. in Canada, there is no assurance that if it even began that it wouldn't be in NAN lands, and even so it is likely to be different than the CDC. In that instance, there would be a good chance that the NIH would pick up the slack or that some other program was established nearby to help further the expansion of biomedical sciences in the region along with NIH, JHIH, Howard Hughes, etc.

Similarly, to the south is the information technology sector which has grown out of northern Virginia and D.C. The sheer amount of advertising for IT services and products in D.C. has been remarkable, but in the context of the sheer amount of information traffic which currently moves through northern Virgina computers, I'm not surprised (last I heard, it was about half of all Internet traffic). With the recreation of everything and the birth of the Matrix, I do not doubt that a large, existing community would still be present and active in southern FDC and North Virginia. Plus UCASOL is based there, which is just begging to be hit.
FlakJacket
QUOTE (CircuitBoyBlue)
I would just add that I don't necessarily think the British WILL be around in the SR world as much as they are in the real world. I think they would move at least half of their assets to their new CAS embassy and keep most of their efforts in Canada up there in the form of consulates for the purposes of attending to the needs of any residual British population.

Any reason why you think that the UK would ignore the remnants of one of their longest allies? Just wondering. Generally I figure they'd just downgrade the Ottawa embassy to a consulate whilst keeping the core people for their local contacts/knowledge but at the same time shuffling some down to Washington, keep the US/UCAS embassy mostly as is and start the CAS one from scratch- moving anyone with good relations with the southern states officials down their from Washington.

Here's a map of the Virginia/North Virginia, CAS/UCAS border that Jon Szeto and Raygun put together. Since it's just south of the Washing area I figure it might be useful.
CircuitBoyBlue
I think British presence in DeeCee will be diminished for a few reasons.

A) The CAS embassy will have to be built almost entirely out of the DeeCee staff, because nobody else in the British foreign service has any experience with diplomacy in the region at all.

B) In the SR world, intergovernmental relations have become less and less relevant, because things such as international trade agreements are no longer matters for governments to decide, that's what we have megacorps for.

C) A large part of the theme of SR is that people are afraid of the world at large. This doesn't translate well into a lot of people wanting to go into foreign relations, let alone to a city on a border with a hostile nation that doubles as the capital of the nation that spawned the Great Ghost dance, which heralded the awakening. The UCAS must seem like an extremely tragic fairy tale told to keep kids from acting up, now that I think about it.

D) With so many new countries in the world, what little diplomatic resources remain among the world's governments are going to have to divide themselves among a larger number of posts. Not only will the US staff have to be split between the NAN, UCAS, CalFree, CAS, and Tir Tairngire, you also have to throw in places like Amazonia, the numerous German states, everything tha China became, etc.
Nath
QUOTE ("CircuitBoyBlue")
The CAS embassy will have to be built almost entirely out of the DeeCee staff, because nobody else in the British foreign service has any experience with diplomacy in the region at all.

A part of the needed staff would be found in the British consulates in Atlanta, Houston, Dallas, Orlando and Miami. That goes for all the people working on visa, British residents, and micro-economic relations. You'd only need to split DC staff on the highest levels affairs, diplomacy, military and intelligence cooperation. Important, but not necessarily consuming most of the human ressources. If there's a problme of manpower, they don't even have to bother finding people who speak the local language. Just need a one month course to learn how to properly write center, color, et caetera and understand the Southerner accents. Not that much a big deal.

If the CAS got away with a part of the US/UCAS administrations, there will be so much of a mess that experience will be useless. The American staff would have a hard time to find where their own offices are that week, so a British diplomat wouldn't have much of a clue, no matter how experienced he is. The same goes for military attachés, who'd better sit and wait to see who got what. If the CAS created from scratch a new administration, nobody at the British embassy has an experience with it, so there's no point.

Anyway now we're in 2063, the secession is almost thirty years away, three quarters of the experts working at British Foreign Affairs studied the UCAS and CAS split at university. The UK can have as much staff as it wants or needs in Washington or Atlanta. The only limitation would be budgets, but I guess there are dozens of embassies in the world that the UK could be completely close rather than under-staffing the UCAS embassy.

QUOTE ("CircuitBoyBlue")
With so many new countries in the world, what little diplomatic resources remain among the world's governments are going to have to divide themselves among a larger number of posts. Not only will the US staff have to be split between the NAN, UCAS, CalFree, CAS, and Tir Tairngire, you also have to throw in places like Amazonia, the numerous German states, everything tha China became, etc.

Again, all those changes did not occured overnight. The UK Foreign Affairs had more than a decade Denver Treaty in 2017, CAS secession in 2034) to recruit young graduates and form new staff. If the British staff in Brazil is not enough to handle affairs with Amazonia, they can still rapatriate a part of those who served in Venezuela or Colombia, two countries that ceased to exist. As far as I remember, the Allied German States still maintain a single facade in defense and diplomacy, so there's not a lot more need than in today's Germany. Chinese states can be more of an issue, as far as this area of the world is critical to UK foreign policy, which mean, not that much. Even nowadays, UK get away with the fact it doesn't have an embassy in every country (AFAIK, only US and France make a point in having one in every but the tiniest insular micro-states)
Crimsondude 2.0
Just because this wasn't (likely) politically motivated, doesn't mean it couldn't have been, especially with a Court that has doubtless seen a lower turnover rate than this Court will (9 years, 9 mos. and counting).
CircuitBoyBlue
Suddenly FDR's court-packing plan seems downright innocent.
Crimsondude 2.0
I just remembered to mention that SoNA mentions DeeCee has one of the highest concentrations of shedim activity in North America along with Vancouver.

I can't imagine why. wink.gif
PBTHHHHT
hello (yeah, just registered to post, had to pipe up since I live in the DC area)

The discussion of universities in the area has piqued my interest. Don't forget Catholic University of America (CUA), they're located in northeast DC, the campus is home to the Basilica. There's also numerous groups located near the school like the Franciscan monastery. Why do I mention all these? Why, Threats 2, the Knights Templar, the New Jesuits and the Order of St. Sylvester. All of these can be pulled into the DC area game quite easily. Additionally, CUA has a law school and some research, but I imagine in 2060, if the school still exists, there'll be quite a following in magic (particularly of the hermetic and spiritual studies) on the campus. The law school takes pride in their communications law specialty and in fact there's quite a few alumni who work in the Securities are of the gov't.... If that trend continues.... hmm....

Other stuff of interests. What is the state of the patent system in the world of Shadowrun 2060? The US patent office has just moved from it's location in Crystal City (right by National Airport) to new facilities on Duke St in Alexandria (right by the lower end of the beltway). Since instituting the new way of applying patents via online, I imagine that the patent office would have a matrix presence for patent applications. More of a decker adventure there? Thing is for patents it's all supposed to enter public domain which is great for gaining protection for some items, but a lot of other stuff may be retained as trade secrets for a megacorp. Hmmm...

Crimsondude 2.0 wrote:
QUOTE
I just remembered to mention that SoNA mentions DeeCee has one of the highest concentrations of shedim activity in North America along with Vancouver.


DC has one of the largest concentrations of lawyers in the world.... undead essence sucking creatures that poses as the living? nah.... wink.gif


PS- yes, I work full time at the patent office and yes, I also attend CUA law school. And yes, I love lawyer jokes. grinbig.gif
Kanada Ten
I can confirm Patents exist and that corporations still sue over them via information in SotA:63 about Simcasting technology.
PBTHHHHT
Cool, then there's lots of cool runs that may be pulled between the megacorps and on inventors over patent rights and who invented. Depending on the system (the US uses the first to invent system and the rest of the world utilizes the first to file system in determining who is the first inventor), you can have some interesting runs. Either planting evidence or wiping out evidence, etc... to help bolster or discredit an invention prior to or after it receives a patent.

The Federal Circuit, is a specialized appeals court that handles all the patent cases along with other cases that deal with gov't. But, I'm sure there are interesting runs that a GM can create concerning this and the law firms (or in house counsels if one of the parties happen to be a corp). One thing would be figuring out ahead of what their verdict might be, could affect stocks....
CircuitBoyBlue
Speaking of Shadowrun in DeeCee, do you know of any place in the District or nearby where one can get SR books? I used to be able to get them at the Wizards of the Coast in Pentagon City, but there was an altercation after the guy that worked there informed me that they were no longer allowed to sell anything that hadn't been converted to the d20 system, and then taunted me by lying and saying that he'd have some brand new SR books in the next month. Man, I hate that guy. They didn't ban me from the store or anything, but there's just no point in going back now...

I've also been checking comic shops in Georgetown, but so far no luck. If I'm stuck 400 miles away from my normal SR group, I'd at least like to be able to drool over new sourcebooks. Stupid city, doesn't cater to my needs...
Crimsondude 2.0
Oooooh. I think you're screwed then. I knew a guy who grew up in the D.C. area who could never find anything.

Try this

They did used to sell some SR stuff at the Borders across the street from the Fashion Centre mall, but I think they only had novels last I checked (I assume due to the whole FASA dying thing). They also had stuff (after FASA died) at the Borders in D.C. on 17th and L (under the Bank of America bldg., one block west of Farragut North Metro station). Or you can ask these guys

BTW, it's not that I have anything against CUA (or Howard, or anywhere else). I've even been there a couple of times (Can't say I prefer the main library to Gelman, though) and had a HS classmate go there. I just limited myself to mainly NW and places I was more intimately familiar with. Specifically, since I went to GW and I had some run-ins with Georgetown I felt slightly more at ease discussing them (esp. given CBB's experience). However, saying that, I also wrote out a description of DeeCee that was a lot longer and described much more of the city. However, the problem is that 1) I don't want to try and transcribe it all, and 2) I've been away for 2 years (to the week) and a lot of the city seems to have changed more than I'd expect. For instance, I had a whole section on the land where the Soldier & Airmen's Home is located up in northern D.C., and the fact that it's a nice, big chunk of real estate that I can imagine would be very appealing to some people. The other is that I would like to see (because I'm a prick) a lot more people in the city and the outer District, including the Compensation Army folks who didn't leave even after the events of August, 2055.

It'd be a nice project, but I have something else planned (hopefully) to work on right now.

Plus I'm doing my mandatory clinic this summer.
CircuitBoyBlue
Thanks for that link. One of the only 2 people on there in the DC area has the same screenname as someone on one of the local AU forums. This could be good, or it could be bad. If it's the same kid, I sat on a committee that impeached him in absentia from student government. I voted against it, but the records are sealed. Anyhow, I guess I have to track down a complete stranger when school starts back up if I still live here.
PBTHHHHT
I usually grab my books at this one place in the suburbs of DC. It's Dream Wizard's over by White Flint Mall. It has a decent selection of materials.

Also isn't Wizards of the Coast closing down? I thought there was some more store closings and other things, some friends of mine bought about 4 or so board games because they were 50% off.

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Crimsondude:
Yeah, no prob, there's just too much in DC to put down in text. I just wanted throw out the CUA angle because it would tie in neatly with one of the organizations in the Threats 2 book.

CUA main library bites, some parts in that place would make even a dwarf claustrophobic. The new student center they built is really nice though.

CircuitBoyBlue
I wouldn't know. Like I said, there's bad blood between me and one of the guys that works there. d20 Shadowrun, my ass! When you say up near Whiteflint mall, do you mean it's metro accessible?
PBTHHHHT
yes, it is metro accessible. Anyway, now we're getting offtopic. If you have any further questions, just email me or IM me. Plus, I have a Shadowrun group in the DC area, there might be room if you're interested.
Crimsondude 2.0
So I'm reading the Washington Business Journal last night, and what do I find, but that the U.S. government is trying to seel 49 acres of land which currently belongs to the Soldiers & Airmen's Home in Washington, D.C. to the Catholic University of America, which is right next door.

And then I think to myself, my god, wouldn't it be... Oh, excuse me. I thought, didn't I write this as a plot hook in my notebook? Yes. And did I post it on DS? Maybe, but if I didn't then I will now.

Intrigue, especially because Senator Crapstain himself is involved in trying to get the sale approved.

Hmm.
CircuitBoyBlue
That's funny. He's usually against "sealing the deal."
Crimsondude 2.0
Only when it's with gays or animals.
CircuitBoyBlue
You're wrong, actually. Check into his definition of "sodomy." It doesn't just include homosexuality and bestiality. He's against oral sex (in ALL cases).
Crimsondude 2.0
I can't even begin to say something that isn't obscene.

So... How would this whole Washingtonienne episode be exploited in SR?
KillaJ
Oh man, so many angles here. Well there is all the Senators, all their wives, all their opponents trying cover up, expose, exploit. Pissed off senior party members, junior party members, crooked party members, honest (yeah right) party members all trying to spin, upstage, blackmail, expose respectively. Uh...every congressional watchdog group, special interest lobby, man the list goes on. How about every one in Washington?
CircuitBoyBlue
Actually, the Washingtonienne episode would probably only be about as big in SR as it is in real life. If you think about it, once she spilled the beans, any cover up is basically pointless. Nothing to be done about it. I think the sex scandals that a shadowrun would be built around would be the ones where both (or all) parties involved were a bit too slick to be hopping around Georgetown and Adams Morgan. At one point she mentions going to Pizza Mart in Adams Morgan, and EVERYONE goes there (and for good reason--best deal in Washington, not counting the country's natural resources, which they'll pay you to take off their hands). If you want to dig up dirt on people that un-slick, you don't hire shadowrunners, you friggin' ASK THEM.

But as far as blackmail goes, there's countless possible scenarios, same as always.
KillaJ
I have to admit that I dont know a helluva lot about the whole incident. Basically some Senators secretary whores herself out to a few other Senators wasn't it? I just assumed they were trying to cover their tracks. Man, if I have the basics right (please tell me if I dont) I would think they would make a bigger stink about it. Look what happened with Clinton.

Edit- Also I was thinking those were possible angles, not necessarily everyone at once, I should have made that clear, my mistake.
CircuitBoyBlue
You've got the basics almost right. She wasn't with anyone that important, mostly just Senators' aides. My main point was that the manner in which the scandal broke (she was keeping a blog) meant that no coverup or blackmail was feasible. By the time it happened, the genie was out of the bottle.

With Clinton, it was a different story. Once Drudge broke it, there was the possibiliity of fighting it. It eventually all came out anyway, but the key difference is the possibility.

On any normal scandal, you're absolutely right about all those possible angles, though.

holy crap, I used the term "normal scandal," and it felt perfectly natural. It's a world gone mad...
KillaJ
Thanks for the heads up. I didnt realize she never did anybody important. Man why bother telling the whole world you prostituted yourself to a bunch of nobodys. Congratulations sweetheart, your a whore...

QUOTE
holy crap, I used the term "normal scandal," and it felt perfectly natural. It's a world gone mad...

Aint it the truth.
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