A very important detail about the Denver stuff was that Ghostwalker knew Harlequin was going to be coming down on him with everything he had. He knew it, and knew that he'd have done the same thing. I suspect he arrested Perianwyr, who'd been a sort of pseudo-vassal for him, to keep him from being a target. As for wanting to get the people to safety, he may well be trying to change his image (corresponding, perhaps, with a shift in draconic politics; let's remember that he's not going to be allowed to rule with violence anymore without crossing the Loremaster). It's also possible that Zebulon wanted him to protect "her" people - a city isn't a city without its people.

It's also important to note that the thing Frosty was so sure Harley wouldn't do was specifically the Alamos 20K bombing of Wonderland club, and the general endangering of massive numbers of innocents, and for that matter how direct he was being.

It's also completely inaccurate to say that NetCat was aying paragons in general are first gen AI's. The specific statement:



Note, specifically, the "somehow", implying that this is an exceptional case and that she has no idea how it's possible. That kind of runs against your theory - for your theory to be true, this cannot be an exceptional case.

This one's a problem. The Alpha document said '64 (I'd been working from the 6WA instead of the Comet, an error I caught early on, but did initially make.) but the Beta corrected it to the proper 2061. Either I transpowed a number, or it flickered during being retyped, or an edit just got misplaced. I'm not sure. This did mess with my 64-74 band by 3 years, but 'Ghost Decade' still worked, showing a slow build in the early 70's before really getting a few steps past. In essence, it technically ended in '71, but you didn't really have the nation feeling it for a few more years. That was caught and corrected, but the edit didn't "take" for some reason. My apologies on this one... I'll have to watch pages I send in a bit tighter in the future. And teh 20 year comment makes me want to ... hang on, lemme open up the PDF.

I don't see the note of 20 years ago, other than the "When working for Japanacorps back in the 50's", which is a nod to the 2050-55 era of Shadowrun, where the majority of teh Big Eight were based out of Japan and the culture was omnipresent. If you can show me where I missed it, I'll see if we can get those errors corrected for the print release. It's **probably* too late in the process to do that, but I'll ask.



Gah, Tadashi/Tadeshi is everywhere. I have no idea what happened there. That's a legit screwup that's in my final doc. Crap. That's pure weaksauce on my part.

Hitomi most certainly didn't step down to be a good mother. There's a lot going on there that you have to read between the lines of. "I want to concentrate on raising a baby" might be the official line, but everyone should know better than that. Yamana does sell his stock ... but, again, there should be some thoughts about why. You also have to wonder if a multi-billionaire that's been teh CEO of several of the world's largest corporations might not be someone that could be hired in the future in another, or who might use his Art Dankwalther-like wealth to take care of old rivalries, or, well, there's all kinds of ways that this story can go.

Soko's wealth has been mentioned in the past (Such as the previous Corporate book), noting that she could easily buy more Shiawase stock, but no one was selling. When Yamana sold his, she was first in line to buy it. Her daughter's married to Yamana, by the by, and is being left out in the cold. She went from being one of the three Orchids and a serious power player with a pushing-100 year old husband that'd die soon and leave her tons of stock to being forced to sell everything, her husband de-aged and far from death, and kicked out of her own family, left virtually nothing by her own mother. Someone's gonna be PISSED.

Shiawase was the second-largest EuroCorp as of Corporate Download (The second of the three corp books out there) having gathered up all of Fuchi's Euro assets. The "Passed up S-K" is a misread of what the line indicates, but, I can see how it confuses. With Aztechnology's current problems, Shiawase is now the largest food producing corporation in the world, with Saeder-Krupp and Horizon nipping at their heels. S-K makes more food in Europe, but Shiawase makes more worldwide. If Shiawase could scoop up some os S-K's EuroAg, then they'd start stretching their lead at the cost of their natural rival, taking advantage of Lofwyr's weakened state. It's a very Yamana-style gamble, but Tadashi backed off of it. That could be wise, that could be foolish, we'll see. Regardless, Shiawase's been leveraging their food surplus for several months, and is looking to expand it.

As for the Emperor... you have an interesting read on it. He's growing up, but there's still some power struggles between himself and the Megas. Shiawase is now solidly allied with him, but, well, there's an old saying about riding a tiger that should be remembered. A new wave of nationalism can work to his favor, but could work against him. Of course, with it is a rise of Shintoism and related religions, which hold the Emperor as a revered figure. Again, there's more going on here than at face value.



Loyal opposition, yes. You simply can't stand up and say, "The Emperor is wrong! Screw his laws! We do it my way!" You'll get crucified by the public. You have to demonstrate being loyal, even while working to undercut policies that hurt you. Hiring deniable assets, then lamenting the death of public figures, or producing documents/photos that can swing a vote in private, etc etc etc. It's the sawn approach ... serene and peaceful on the surface, feet are churning underneath to make it move. MCT, same thing ... in public, they use careful wording and delays to fend off the Emperor's laws and "suggestions", while in the shadows, knives are bloody.

Renraku's section draws heavily from the third corporate book, where it talks about how Renraku has slid into South America and carved out a strong niche for itself, as well as a plan to try and bring the Southern Hemisphere up a bit. They took a serious hit in terms of tech, falling from the #1 computer corp to *barely* the third, and probably not even that after Crash 2.0 ... they needed time to lie low, rebuild, then have a comeback. They run the SIN database in most of the nations of the world, and are now taking over GridGuide, giving them unmatched access to data... building on their traditional strengths and adding a new flavor. There's more to them to come. Renraku essentially took 4th edition off ... it's time for them to get back in the game. (Oh, and Renraku buying up land all over Seattle was mentioned in Dirty Tricks, by another author, and I felt that it was a great way to start getting them back in Seattle and, by extension, the showcase city of Shadowrun. Always read previous books, always research, and run with things other authors introduce. I'm just a caretaker of the universe, not the owner. Vital to show it respect.)




Baka Dabora was chosen for a reason: He's a lifetime salaryman of Japanese birth. That he's "Drunk the Kool-Aid" and is getting swept up in the Yamato-Damashii should be seen more as it being a serious movement and less "Mr Miyagi". It's a cultural force with strength, and people are buying into it, even some who argueably should know better. Compare it to the 80's in America vs the malaise of 70's America. 2072, Japan started stumbling out of a decade-long recession, and is now starting to roar as they refill with pride and start to look at regaining lost glory. The Exceptionalism bit was added after I was worried that someone might read it as an anti-Japan rant, so I added more examples, to showcase that, in history, when this happens, well, I shouldn't have to say more. I didn't add America, but I also didn't add facism. If you read this as "America, AW YEAH!", well, that's certainly not the words on the page, nor the intent behind them. It's essentially saying, "These people believe that they're the best in the world and that they can do anything better than those who currently have things." It's the belief, not the people who have the belief, which is the central issue here.

There's also some infordump in here for newer players who haven't seen much of the 2050-55 stuff, where Japanese culture was amplified and sprayed around the setting. Prepping new players for some flavors that might start rolling out is never a bad idea. Someone, somewhere, will read this and go, "Wait... you don't get a pass for failing? What's up with that?" which can lead to research and reading, an exposure to a new mindset, and maybe, just maybe, a new outlook on things. I hope to expand on this more in the future, exploring the modern Samurai mindset and code, Bushido, and a few other concepts in the future.

So, right now, looking at the document printed and what came out of my notes process, it looks like some fixes didn't get in. That's on me, and afte rthe book's been in print for a month, I'll see if the higher-ups will let me give out some corrections. The original Word files aren't mine to give, obviously, but I can walk through some fixes. Where my original says "As everyone knows, when Halley's Comet flew by in '64" and the corrected text reads "On October 27th, 2061," it's a different read. I won't blame it on editing because it's more my job to have it right in the pass than it is for them to change things afterwards. The error was caught in proofing but the mistake made it through. It shouldn't hav ebeen there in the first place.

Grf.

So, I disagree with some of your comments, as noted, but I conceed a few as well. Tadashi/Tadeshi, in particular, is going to bug me for a while. Next asignment, I'm going to be watching even closer.

Okay, so this is an editing thing then, and not lack of interest in research. Apologies on my part, but I tend to take books at face value. *sigh* So it is another case of "whoops, I sent the first draft to the printers". At least with this, no errata were invalidated for Missions games ...

I meant: "they want to present a unified front to the rest of the world and are showing levels of cooperation not seen in twenty years." Okay, I seem to have misread that then.


What I was getting at is that there's a number of Eurocorps who are in teh Agribusiness too. There's Zeta-Imp Chem (via Nestlé), there's AG Chemie (via Nestor, Modern Foods, though they have sunk low), there's Meridional Agronomics, there's Regulus Joint Enterprises (via Regal Foods), and Fuchi Europe was not all that invested in Agritech (they had electronics plants and arcologies all over the place though). It seems a bit odd that, in this setup, Shiawase just becomes one of the largest food producers. I'm not saying it's impossible, but something about that should be mentioned at least.

Yeah, baggage. Knowing that requires having read the first two corp guides (Download and Shadowfiles), Shadows of Europe and I don't know But that's what you get in a setting running this long. Maybe a relaunch of the Shadowrun wiki, with official support and all, would be helpful there? It'd probably make research easier.


Haha, you caught me on that. I wrote this over the course of a week, while reading the PDF. It actually WAS Morbus Schletz, so acting out of character is in character there.


When Yasuhito ascended to the throne after the Ring of Fire breakout in '61, he ordered an end to japanese Imperialism, pulled out of all colonies, leaving the Megas hanging to dry, and at the same time shamed/coerced them into rebuilding Japan after the quakes. He also made the New Way - acceptance of metas' rights to exist, closing Yomi, opening Japan up to foreigners a bit - official doctrine, turning from the Yamato doctrine to a new one he calls the Yasuhito doctrine. I've not been a particular fan of this magical child ruling Japan and flowers sprouting everywhre back in the day but there it is. It would have been nice to see soem explaining why Yasuhito turned from his ideal. Influence from the Shiawase? The Kami telling him otherwise? I don't say it's impossible, and he IS growing up and changing, but it could have used a sentence or two in explanation.

And, hm, I find calling the office Tenno more interesting, but that's a matter of taste entirely.


Ah, we just mean different things with 'loyal opposition'. To me, that's nominally opposing parties or groups who really toe the government's line in every way ('independent' parties in some Eastern Block states, for instance). Groups pretending to be opposition while actually being another arm of the ruling group, and not pretending to toe the party line while backstabbing the government and it's loyalists whom you loathe if you think you can get away with it.


Well, yes. They needed a purpose for most of 4th. And I'm fairly okay with it, though maybe not a return to seattle in all openness (and taking back the arcology) just yet. But hm. So you guys do not consider Shadows of Latin America (the drafts) canon anymore?


No offense, but it needs more malaise. It's been a creeping and, I think, subconscious process, but it's got far too many shinies by now. Four Mega HQs, the UCAS with an Army that rivals modern America, and then all this MarySue Corps stuff ...


Well, America is the current example of this kind of exceptionalism - "We're an Empire now, we make our own reality, and all you can do is watch in awe" (P. Wolfowitz, IIRC, quote from memory). At least, that's the States seen from the outside. And while a touchy subject, Hitler's and Mussolini's fascism would have been good counterpoints (which were a lot more agressive - "we're great because YOU suck so much!"). I'd probably have come down less on this if it hadn't been for chapters 1 and 2 and a general trend.


Uhm, where do you get a simple pass for failing a run ...? Hm. Here our different cultural backgrounds might play into the perception of the writing. But yes, prepping new players with flavor isn't a bad thing. Japanocorp flavor back in the game would be nice, but don't focus all on the AAA megas; some AA (Monobe) are larger than some AAA (Horizon).


*sigh* So nothing has changed. This has been plaguing CGL for a long time now. Blunders like this happen again and again, and often with more high-profile, important titles (see the reprint of the core expansions disaster). And frankly, mistakes happen when writing, especially when writing aside other occupations. This is where editiing comes in. This is why the editor exists at all. While you may not want to blame editing, I do. This should not happen so often.

Maybe more later, gotta run now, got a train to catch.

I guess it's just a gamer'S sensitivities speaking there. I think everyone who has been in the RPG scene for some time has experienced the super-GMPC who just walk all over the adventure, make the players feel entirely redundant and are the GM's precious pet. Maybe I'm reacting harshly there, but it's there. Also, I like Bull as an NPC, have used him often when running the Missions (I'll second Bannock there, the tie-in between Missions and book is awesome for someone who played them). He's pretty far from being a Mary Sue just now, gets knocked down a lot (haha for CanRay's second story btw), and yes, tends to explode and lose limbs (I even played that, haha!). And in-game, he's a logical choice for Admin on Jackpoint sans Jack.

Just checking, but does it somewhere address the fact the fact Ares bugs program was already underway in 2062, according to Threats 2, while Nicholas Aurelius had been at Cross for three years, and he only returned to Ares in 2072, according to Corporate Guide, on the Draco Foundation's behalf (thus, at the time, Aina's) ?

Laughed at the Ultima bit. And the blood magic did work, reflecting the Ultima right back at him. It's pretty obvious from the text that this was what got him.

That's my biggest issue with the whole War plot, as well. Much ado about nothing.

Who's Morbus Schletz? Otherwise we have discussed this chapter in detail in this thread already.
It's Great Dragon etiquette, lel!