So a long campaign ended recently and we planned to start up a new one.

I asked my players where they'd want to explore...and to my surprise they ALL wanted to play a campaign in Iceland.

I went over several books and to my knowledge the only canon mention of Iceland is in Shadows of Europe stating the debate about whether to add them to the Scandinavian Union.

So as far as I can tell I have a pretty blank slate here, does anyone know any other sources that mention affairs in Iceland, or even just have some general ideas about how Iceland could of fared for 60yrs?

Well, for one thing it's called Thule now. It is a protectorate of the Trans-Polar Aleut.

Iceland is actually part of the Trans Polar Aleut Council. There is a very small blurb about it in Shadows of North America (I know I thought it was weird when I read it too). SoNA more deals with all of the TPA then just Iceland but I imagine that most of the Shadowrun activity would be the native Icelanders trying to gain back their independence from the TPA and the NAN. So hits against government facilities, military posts, shipping routes, etc.

Any details on how this came about? Seems kind of weird since there wasn't any "Native" tribes of Iceland when it was founded 1300 years ago that got displaced, how did the TPAC lay claim to a high-tech first world country like Iceland(Iceland pretty much had to roll over for them)? How do they enforce it?

Also there's no ice. That's Greenland.

In third edition, Target:Wastelands did cover the Trans Polar Aleut, with some attempt by Kzeentch IIRC, to address that odd association with the NAN.

I guess that shows the true power of of a magical society vs a tech only society.

"Why does my gun keep jamming?"

Thanks! Found it, though it's still called Iceland and not Thule

Still seems kinda arbitrary(I know, it's SR, you have to accept it sometimes ) , collapse of the fishing industry in 20-30yrs wouldn't have as big an effect as that I'd think, following economic trends by 2029 Fishing will only be 10% or less of GDP compared to 80% 40 years ago.

Though just this much information has been a big help, thanks!

[img]http://www.darusgrey.org/iceland.PNG[/img]

The main information is in Target: Wastelands which is from 2062 so it's about a decade out of date for Fourth Edition but that just lets you do what you want with the place.

Edit: Too slow, should never get distracted by something else when in the middle of replying.

I think the best explanation would be to see it the other way 'round : the Trans-Polar aleut is not some fringe component of the SAIM taking over Greenland and later Iceland. Just as it recently did, Greenland would get independent from Denmark once they figured out they'd better keep for themselves the remaining fishing ressources and the foreseable mining opportunities (the ressources rush in SR timeline being just the good incentive for that).

Then, here comes the Denver Treaty. Athabaskan council is going to get most if not all of Northern America, and is involved in the SAIM just as much as the Sioux, Ute, Pueblo, and the likes. And you have all those inuits and eskimos, loosely tied to the SAIM and spread from Canada to Alaska and Russia. Would the US and Canada leave control of the so-called northwest passage to the Athaskan ? Would Russia leaves part of its territories to a confederation, no matter how loose, whose political center is in Denver, Colorado ? And you have Greenland. At least nominally an native amerindian nation. Plus, it has established diplomatic relations with US, Canada, Russia, Europe, and a government with a prime minister and a parliament, not some fancy tribal council led by feathered shamans. All you have to do is let the US State Department getting creative during the Denver Treaty negociations, and make up a country. They put the capital in Inuvik to make it like the TPA is a North American nation, but Greenland/Thule would be leading the show.

Once you consider Greenland to be the core of the TPA, no matter where the capital is, Iceland joining looks a bit less odd.


T:WL quotes both the collapse of its fishing industry and the 2029 Computer Crash as the reasons behind the move. Current figures has fishing products making up to 40% of Iceland exports, so the collapse still wouldn't be good news. The Crash would devastate the rest, especially the banking sector (for that one, just look at what is currently happening in Iceland).

Just for flavor purposes, but if you players set up shop on any permanent basis in Iceland and are not native, according to current law, they will have to change part of their name to something distinctly Icelandic. At least this is what my friend from Iceland tells me. He went from Alexander to something I can't spell nor pronounce in it's true form, but the short version sounds like "Alyeh" instead of Alex.

Don't forget that Iceland is sitting quite nicely in the middle of the North Altantic - a prime shipping lane watch post. Its also heavily geothermal - one heck of a research location for harmonious clean energy which goes a long way in the NAN good books.

I imagine that Iceland would be a great centre of magical energy (most environmental rich locations are). I seem to remember somewhere that there was a lea line going through Iceland (along the fault line) (can some one confirm I think it was in Awakenings, Shadows of Europe, or New Magic).