A player in my up coming shadowrun game is using the night of rage and the Ork Undergound in her backround and was wondering how long metahumans were kept in concentration camps for their own protection. The book doesn't specifically say when they were released. Anyone know?

They were releaseed? I hadn't heard about that part. I thought those filthy trogs were still locked up. or, that they'd finally stopped wasting my money and just done something else with them.

The Hand of Five firebombed all the warehouses where they were being kept before they were to be shipped off to the camps outside San Francisco. There were three days of rioting and then the mayor, who was suspected of being a member of the Hand of Five was murdered in his office.

I imagine the Seattle metas fled to the streets the same night as they were rounded up. Folks don't usually stick around long when they're being shot and burned to death.

By the way, this was '39, so any ork still around from that time would be pretty old for a greenskin.

Could've just as well been a Dwarf though, couldn't it? Or did the Dwarves only start playing a role in development of the Underground after the Night of Rage?

evilgoattea: The metas-- all metas, not just Trogs and Tuskers, if that detail matters to your player-- were rounded up on Goblinization day and held for 15 months, gaining their freedom in the summer of '22 after it was established that Goblinization wasn't contagious.

It was only 33 years ago so if she had been a little girl on the night 3 years old, it would have afftected her. If she was born human to Ork parents and then goblinized at pueberty she would have a humans lifespan so that would not be too out of place.

Otherwise I think they were rounded up and broke out pretty much in one really bad night.

While a popular line of thought on Dumpshock, I don't think you'll find any evidence that this is canon in 4e. The only references to this that I am aware of come from novels that are quite out of date and were barely attached to any of the rules.

Sorry, guess I got a little technical. Yeah, they were in concentration camps for 15 months, but that was a few years before the night of rage. They were only penned up in those warehouses for 1 night.

...does that matter, though? I get it when we default back to RAW when trying to unravel a sticky rule situation, but are we really going to deny a character background because the details are only implied to be true? I can tell you've been around a while, Daze, and I don't mean to accuse you of anything, nothing but respect for ya.

Still...doesn't story trump rules?

And it does not HAVE TO BE cannonical in 4th ed as long as it is NOT. most of the fluffy stuff from earlier eds live on.