So what's become of the illustrious Chernobyl and it's exclusion zone in the Sixth World? There's surprisingly little about it that I can find, even about Ukraine itself.

Are there any books that have info on it?

In the 2070s the radiation levels in Chernobyl are probably much lower than in many other parts of the world. If you want a Stalker-like environment, the SoX is a far better choice.

As for Ukraine itself, they annexed Moldova and a third of Romania during the Euro-Wars. You can find information about it in SoE and SoA. And since it was more or less the center of the game world in Earthdawn there are some archaeological work done there by the Atlantean Foundation.

SoX? Sorry I'm not very knowledgeable about SR back story.

The Saar-Lorraine-Luxembourg Special Administrative Zone, is a strip of land between France and Germany that's covered I believe in both the Germany Source-book, and Shadow's of Europe. You may be able to find it on the wiki as well.

Basically it's an irradiated toxic waste land that's gone a little savage to boot, that may or may not have a bunch of secret corporate research and development facilities, and one or more prisons in it.

Edit

Link

Thank you for that. Very interesting.

I vaguely remember reading something about what happens if you summon a fire spirit in Chernobyl...shadowtalk in a pre-4th book IIRC, possibly German...

But in general, the Ukraine in general and Chernobyl in specific is pretty much a white spot. Some random conjecture: As a place which has become iconic for the suffering it caused, it's safe to assume that Chernobyl has a Background Count of at least three, and for similar reason should be somewhat of a pilgrimage site for toxics.

Especially considering the terror that permeated the area with all the people that used to live there. I saw pictures of the city that used to be there. It's quite... Post Apocalyptic.

Also one of the best missions in a FPS took place in that place. They did a damned good job on the place, with even some very subtle sound effects to mess with your head even more.

That's actually exactly what I was going for, thanks

A toxic area between Germany and France huh? I see a future mission that can summed up as The Sound of Music + The Hills Have Eyes. Hmmm, this should be interesting.

The hiilllllss are aliiiiiive and they're eating peeeople

What do you call a problem like Maria?
Lunch.

If you can read French or German, there are SoX books in both languages. They each have their own adventure but the rest of the book (which describe the SoX) is the same.

A vain hope, but I dont suppose those books have ever been translated to English.

Not that I know of.

The old Target Wastelands book does indicate that a number of sites where nuclear accidents took place have been "reclaimed" by megacorps by building a new nuke power plant on them. On the theory that, well, it's already an irradiated dump, what else are you gonna put there? Pro-nature advocates are less than enthused by this, of course, especially the magically inclined. And yes, the astral plane and background count in those sites are horrific.

Could make for some corp or eco-group shadowrunning opportunities.


-k

Or some Toxic Shaman-Stopping duties that come across the 'Runners path that they're forced to do without fiscal reward.

It might actually surprise you. Right now it's sort of a wild preserve. Tons of animals and stuff live there now. in real life mutation doesn't give you superpowers or turn you into a monster. It usually just kills you. (( or is so minor you live ok with out it, if not better, rarely in between. Evolution is basically just minor mutation 'for the better' passed on)) Alot of animals that are endangered or such around the country, live in the Chernobyl area jut fine. It's one of the oxymoronic results of the accident. By 2073, It could be even more so, perhaps a higher percentage of para-animals. I could totally see them making it a wild life preserve, or a dragon claiming it or the like.

Seriously? Now I'm going to have to crack open Google Earth and take a look!

Did the Ukraine take the Rumanian oil fields?

The Transfagarian highway-and does that connect anything?

Two factor are at play there : most animals are relatively short-lived compared to humans, so they don't have the time to add too much radiation damage, and second a severe mutuation usually means the involved animal dies before gettign achance to pass it to any sort of progeniture. Which means the surviving animals cope rather well with the problem.

The 35 years passed since the disaster have also cleared a lot of the short-lived isotopes, who tends to be the most radioactive of teh lot. Some of the long-lived trash as also been washed out by rain.

and the rain washed radioactive sludge went... where?

"Who cares as long as it is away from us and towards the capitalists who wish to steal the food from the very bellies of the workers of the world!"

Just a guess.

A lot of it is probably now lying into riverbed muck - hopefully spread and diluted enough to be relatively harmless. The rest is likely to have moved down into the ground - which will act as a shield. And fortunately most plants don't suck heavy metals to fix them, so it will tend to stay there.

But i'd rather avoid fish downriver from Chernobyl and wouldn't recommend the area for agriculture.

Great Dragon Alamais should still claim the area as his own (Chernobyl or Чорнобиль is also the Ukrainian name of Artemisia vulgaris, a plant also called Wormwood in English ; this, along with Chernobyl location north of Ukraine/Barsaive, should ring a bell with people knowledgeable about Earthdawn era lore).

Or the Book of Revelation.

They've got elves there?

Revelation 8:10-11: "And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter."

Not a lot of elves, but a poisoned system of waters from radiation certainly comes to mind. At least, that's some people's theories.

EDIT: King James version, BTW.

In the Book of Revelations, the name of the star is "Apsinthos" in ancient greek, and "Absinthium" in latin. Artemisia Absinthium, or great Wormwood, is different from Artemisia vulgaris, or common wormwood (as far as I understand, only the later is called Чорнобиль in Ukrainian). In French, Absinthe is also the name of an alcoholic drink made from the plant. Which gives a whole different meaning to "le tiers des eaux fut changé en absinthe". That sure makes it bitter, and can possibly makes you blind (just like radiation poisoning) if badly distilled.

So Jesus makes water to wine, an apocalyptic angel makes water to absinthe...I see a pattern there

The divine are French boozers?

Now I'm glad I didn't let my Father talk me into trying Absinthe. Of course, it wasn't the "Real Stuff", just similarly made and sold in Canada... He's had the pure quill once-upon-a-time.

Nonetheless, many artists have gone dancing with la fée verte.

Hm, might get me past this writer's block, come to think of it...

Hey Paul (and everyone else jumping to find Chernobyl on Google Maps) -

You're not going to find it by inputting "Chernobyl" into the search bar. Even if you plug in the lat / long of it, it'll still take you to an entirely different section of Russia.

The trick is to start finding roads and following them. It's there, and it hasn't been blacked out.

My wife likes to play on Google Maps sometimes

Once you've seen the green fairy, chances are you're not going to be able stop drinking.

-Tir:)

So, my wife is pretty awesome and has been reading this thread on the sly.

When she saw that I'd mentioned her digging around on Google Maps, she decided to be helpful and mark out not only Chernobyl, but some of the better sights as well.

This map helped along by the awesome photo journal of a helpful Russian citizen.

Thanks honey!

Interesting stufff about being possible to walk through there as long as you don't step out of the road. I sincerely have the curiosity of going there one day and see it by myself.

I've drank some absinth (Czech, the real bitter stuff, not the Anis-flavored one you find in France) and it's actually pretty good. It's strong (70° to 80°) and it's bitter (that's why you put sugar in a spoon, with some absinth, put in on fire, wait for the absinth to burn and pour the sugar in the drink) but it's got a very nice flavor. And it never made me blind.