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scarius
hey guys,

incase people didnt know allready:

i am working on updating target: awakened lands. to 4th ed

here is some of the stuff that i have been working on, any comments or criticisms are welcomed.

Sydney:
The world went wireless, Sydney followed suit, then one day a big mana storm came rolling into town, the Sydney matrix crashed, Sydney reverted back to a hard-lined matrix. Everything important in Sydney has a hard-lined matrix feed, the wireless network is still up and running, but because of the randomness of the mana storms and the fact that they interfere with anything remotely wireless, Sydney decided that it was better to have some “old and out of date tech” that worked then something that would drop out every time that they had a storm.
The Sydney harbor bridge was once a drawing card for the tourism industry, now it is a hive of scum and villainy. If you need to get your hands on something the harbor bridge is a good place to start, the black market is so well established there that it has become a permanent fixation, this is good and bad at the same time. Good because it creates a healthy market for trade and buying items at a “cheaper” price. Bad because it has become its enclave which includes its own “police” and security, and trying to sell things that you no longer require means that you won’t get to good of a price for it. Loan star, knight errant, and the Australian police don’t go near the harbor bridge, they have an exclusion zone of about 2-3 blocks around both of the on ramps to the bridge that they tend not to go into either (unless they are heavily armed or have a very very good reason). The security that is employed by the black markets on Sydney harbor bridge tends to be one of the higher paying jobs, this attracts some of the older runners who have been in the game for a long time or special forces types (many of the commandos in the defence force have been seen moonlighting there) but because of the nature of the job and area, the people who are getting employed are told to shoot first then ask questions (but because of the high level of training that is seen in the position they tend to be non fatal shots). The two entrances to the harbor bridge are set up like a boarder check point, they have heavy machine gun emplacements (hidden) and guys in armor with assault rifles, most people are not checked on the way in by these people because of the serious security measures in place. A bunch of deckers are paid to keep an eye on everything 24/7, they scan the income and outgoing people and let the security on the ground know what to do.
A biker gang has control of a 3-5 block radius near the harbor bridge, they are called the harbor boys. They are a very tough gang, with a majority of the members heavily cybered (supplied by the many ripper docs and street docs on the bridge for cheap) they tend to get a cut of any big job going on in their area and if people need to go through their turf.
The Jake
Good start. I always felt that with specific mentions of the size of the insect hives in Sydney, the mana storms enroaching and second Matrix crash, Sydney was really, really going to feel the brunt of it (PS: I live in Melbourne so some bias will show here smile.gif.

I think that Melbourne would be well on the way to becoming the business capital of Australia - going from memory the PPG was already well entrenched in Melbourne and I can see Horizon being very well established here in Melbourne, buying up the local A rated telco (that consumed Telstra, forget the name) to complete it's Matrix assets, compete with Aztechnology and build up the local film industry. Asian companies will have a very strong focus here too, in particular those closer to Australia than Japan. Japanacorps would be established, but not as entrenched as their Chinese counterparts. It's imperative to remember that our economy is always more closely tied to Asia and less so to Northern America, no matter what anyone tries to tell you.

Re: organised crime. Bikie gangs would be bigger than ever. Organised crime syndicates could easily lose ground to some of these gangs. Also gangs like the Desolation Angels would have a field day with the bugs here, so I'd imagine they'd have a presence too. During the tempo war, the Olaya would most likely have supplied to them in an effort to help tip the scales of power over the more powerful and more established syndicates. Of the Syndicates with the largest presence I'd say - in order - Greek Mafia, Italian Mafia, Triads, Seolpa Rings and Vory.

- J.
Tiralee
Melbourne, being a melting-pot, would have a ton of odd-ball different "ethnic" (I hate the word) gangs.
LOTS of cyber and matrix crime in Melbourne - the stock exchange and Sydney's lack of stability would really push the datasteal envelope further south, as it were.

I get the feeling that Sydney's going to toughen the fuck up and lash out at something, don't know what - there's a lot of fear and anger and skill in that enclave and it's going to be messy when it's unleashed.

Agree on the Bikie Gangs - mobile splinter groups, some wired, some not, roaming/smuggling/clashing.

WA? Vorzy all the way with quite a few home-grown humanis whackjobs under the banner of "civilized nationhood". Lots of heavy-metal moved, both as a commodity and as goods (Vehicles, boats) Possible signs of a second resource rush, but with intensifying mana-storms and hostile...everything, good luck stumbling across your motherlode.

Canberra - bad place to be. You don't want runs in there, out of there or even near there, the men in suits will find you when you sleep and make sure you tell them all you know. Toxic spirits of man, mind-control, reprogramming and rampant corruption; even the joy boy/girls know the score and the rules of the game...it's not a healthy place.

Brisbane - Bugs, goddamned insect spirits interfering in your god-given right of a beer and a suck at the bocket-bong on a friday arvo. It's also a very open, weird place, more of a staging point for runs rather than a city of shadows. Go inland and it's inbreds and manastorms. North, and it's inbreds and company enclaves and insect hives. South, and you're in smuggler/corperate zones until you hit the Sydney Manastorm Ring and sail east and south until that delightful presence is far behind you.

Up North - Company lands, abandoned towns, "Affiliated towns" (Hint: the locals don't like insect repellent), Battlers (Name given to residents too stuborn or stupid to give up and leave what they have. May even create small pockets of calm in the wild north this way) and tourism showcasing the wonders of the awakend world. Remote islands and exotic beaches fenced off by monowire nets and armed attack subs for the very well-too-do. Reef species that may be a little too smart to like your hook, but think you're looking tasty...it's a weird, wild place.

Top-End: unfriendly natives (Aboriginal and otherwise) and even less-friendly corporate interests. Shipping, remote facilities and no back up.

The Territory: Like now, but with more trolls and orks. Darwin's an armed camp where the weapons and BTL's run hot, things run fast and loose and there's always the option of legging it into the swamps and bush and hoping you can make it back without too many limbs lost.

Northern WA: Badlands. Beautiful beaches with awakened sealife that will flay an armoured grunt to his bones in minutes while paralysed vocal cords gasp into a dead comlink. Wyrms. Naga. Bunyips. Spirits - every weird and deadly torpical paranormal varient should be on call and
hungry...

South Australia?

Someome else can have a go - I've been 'most everywhere else:)
-Tir
scarius
thanks for the help guys, it good to see some other aussies getting on board.

i have a bit of a rough outline for a lot of the citys, but as sydney seems to be the "default" setting for an australian game i am starting there. im using the old book for a outline in general, but i have also got a hold of sixth world almanac so i can refer to what the powers that be sort of have.

i also have a bunch of other stuff that i have been writing up. i have done a random table for mana storms, some quailtiys, an outline of a pricing system, a couple of sentient creatures, and some information on the current defence force.

if you guys want i can post up the other stuff that i have done
Shortstraw
Well Adelaide is called the city of churches so the combined background count might have staved off the mana storms and para-critters?

They went ahead with the transformation of Olympic dam into a super-pit and it is now home to a exceptionally powerful toxic (radiation) free spirit.

Lake Eyre never dries out and no-one knows why.
The Jake
Saeder-Krupp bought up BHP Billiton back in 2022. WA is largely a corporate city in the dragon's talons and by and large his satellite city of Germany in Asia-Pac. The local populace to talk of succession away from the Australian Federal Govt into it's own nation state due to disproporationate allocation of federal funds to WA. They receive may 20% at most of Federal budget and yet generate 40% of overall income. The city has grown rather substantially and proven to become the economic bedrock for Australia, helping to cope with two Matrix crashes. This would suit Lofwyr quite comfortably as he's got a good chunk of the politicians in his pocket. Biker gangs are quite strong in WA too. I'd be suprised if the Vory tried pushing them around.

- J.
AKSA
Sydney has a strong Corp element so I doubt there would be much encroachment from the bridge community into the CBD. Has the tunnel been claimed as well or is that still in use for vehicles? With the encircling mana storm I doubt Sydney has many random events as compared to the rest of the country: isolation as opposed to uncertainty. Could be wrong, down to GM.

Sydney is also the only area with private law enforcement, Knights Errant (I believe) due to Ares being one of the major players in town. Everywhere else it's the Government and that's an element I think people overlook.

Queensland is also Japland, when the Japanese Corps fled Sydney and other cities they came here.
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