#hyper_rpg

Corp News:

Ares Squires Exec Soltysiak Kane Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

Late yesterday, Ares set up a press conference to announce the death of Soltysiak Kane:

Ares Macrotechnology, Knight Errant, and The Squires of Galahad are deeply saddened today to announce the passing of Former President of the Galahad Academy Soltysiak Kane. It was often said that guiding the Squires and helping them grow was his true purpose in life. Sadly, it seems that his heart never fully recovered from the pain of the Fitzgerald Revelations and his subsequent stepping down. Mr. Kane retired to his bed Saturday evening and after falling asleep, went to join his beloved Winnifred in the great beyond. In accordance with his wishes, he shall be cremated and his remains scattered around the campus of Galahad Academy, so that he may forever be a part of the hallowed institution. A small Remembrance service will be held at the Avalon Chapel in Bay City; in lieu of flowers, a small donation to your local Squire Order would be the best way to honor the late Soltysiak Kane.

SSN readers will remember that Mr. Kane was the President of the Galahad Academy and Order Master of the Squires of Galahad during the shameful and embarrassing scandal involving unethical kidnapping and experimentation on metahuman SINless children by Ares Execs Margret and Foster Fitzgerald. While there is no evidence that Kane was aware of the experimentation, Kane seemed to be the sacrificial lamb used by Ares to save face while there has been no public word from Ares about what has become of the actual perpetrators of the experiments, the Fitzgeralds. After sacrificing Kane figuratively, have they sacrificed him literally?

Official sources insist there is no mystery here and nothing to see. A completely healthy man just happens to die in his sleep for no particular reason right after an embarrassing scandal. Forgive me dear readers, but dying of heartbreak might be a convention in romantic literature, but doesn’t happen in real life—especially in not so convenient a way.

This reporter was able to contact a source close to Mr. Kane who I’ll call WhaddyaKnowJoe, who told a slightly different story. Joe says that right after the news broke, Kane made a number of phone calls, one to his lawyer, but three could not be traced. The call to the lawyer seemed to have been to change his Will. Joe was able to provide this reporter with a copy. Kane had just set up an endowment to make payments to Squires who “could prove they were part of the Fitzgerald’s program.” There was digital handwriting on the initial copy of the remade Will, and the handwriting evidenced “no trembles, or other signs of duress.” Strange that the confident and competent handwriting would belong to someone so close to dying of “natural causes.” The day after writing that new Will and those three mysterious phone calls, Kane made three withdrawals of 10K nuyen. Where did that nuyen go? Was Kane hiring a runner team for something? Perhaps a mission that someone else did not want to succeed? Who could that other person have been? One thing I’d like to leave this story with is a quote from WhaddyaKnowJoe, who know Kane well, “I can't say what happened that Saturday after he went to bed, but between you and me the weight of the guilt he felt about the situation wouldn't have been enough to stop his heart.”

Something happened to Soltysiak Kane the corps don’t want us to know. I think we should find out. If anyone has any info on Kane, including where that money went, or on the Fitzgeralds, contact the SSN.

Reflections on the Cyberware Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Cyberware.

The Cyberware market is one of the larger markets in the Metroplex with a value of 145.6¥B, just edging out Robotics in revenue. However, unlike Robotics, Cyberware is a fairly densely populated market. Six out of the ten megacorps have cyberware subsidiaries and no one has overwhelming dominance: Evo leads with 26.3% of the market, followed closely by NeoNET (23.1%), Renraku (18.4%), Horizon (17.9%), Mitsuhama (9.6%), and Ares (4.7%). Cyberware is used by all sorts of members of the 6th World as a form of enhancement, but must of us in the shadows are used to seeing cyberware on the bodies of our Street Sams and other runners. Cyberware makes an impact from high to low. So what does the market data tell us?

SSN reached out to all the corps with a Cyberware presence and responses we got are interesting. A NeoNET contact offered some overall analysis in the absence of Vorack’s, noting that:

Cyberware is an interesting market: not big by any measure, but the biggest market with more than 5 players. None of the corps involved have it as their main market either. And still it boasts exciting products with very different uses. Like the tattoo industry that only became hot when it could brand itself as art rather than a mark of infamy.

Virtually all the players could at any time use their share as currency in a deal to grow one of their core markets instead, or become the clear market leader in one move. It is therefore only a matter of time before it consolidates.

Last but not least: Saeder-Krupp is nowhere to be seen here, but they can be relied on to foment a coup and pounce as soon as the numbers work. That is, if Vorack hasn't choked on confectionery baked with impromptu cooking implements by the time it happens. 

This analysis of the market as being one that might start moving towards consolidation seems to be borne out by comment by a tipster who works with Ares, the corp with the smallest subsidiary, who leaked the explosive news that Ares is in negotiations to sell their Cyberware holdings. A deal seems imminent and could result in interesting changes in that market. Let’s hope it will not result in layoffs for workers connected to Ares’s cyberware division.

A Mitsuhama spokesperson responded to questions about their Cyberware presence in s seemingly more corporate approved way noting, “In the vein of Cybernetics, or Cyberware, Mitsuhama has taken the approach of overcoming the growing dependencies to magic several of our competitors have taken. We're excited to see this area grow as further development of the Dawn Suits continue. Just yesterday a colleague of mine told me a story of a woman who worked in Health & Safety and was able to quickly, on her own, remove layers of rubble that had trapped a puppy and child who was in the wrong place as a magical experiment went awry. Quite terrible." Mitsuhama seemed to attribute their success in cyberware, despite their small market share, to their experience in magically diminished locations, “As you know, Mitsuhama has rebuilt much of the lost colony on Mars, where magics dwindle, making it ideal for technological enhancement and prime for research and development. We believe Cybernetics will only improve much of what we already do, including Matrix Services, Robotics, and Aerospace allowing us to better connect with whomever tries to integrate with our technologies in a holistic manner." This reporter pushed the Mitsuhama representative on its rhetoric that seemed to distance itself from magic and the Magical Goods market, and the source let slip some interesting news, saying, "Of course, we don't completely disregard magic and its importance on Earth; as such plan to dive into that area again to remain competitive and empathetic to those who want to dip into both realms. For instance, Cyberware that doesn't impact those of a spiritual nature; attempting to keep our spirits clean. We try to remain inclusive at Mitsuhama." The Mitsuhama rep indicates that perhaps Mitsuhama might enter into the Magical Goods market. Are they planning to create a new subsidiary or buy someone else’s?

This week’s market analysis has revealed some interesting information for investors and workers alike. The market seems to be on the verge of mergers and consolidation while Magical Goods might be on the verge of expansion and more job opportunities. What will this mean for our street sams and runners? Only time will tell! Additionally, let’s see what will develop with the rivalry between SK analyst Vorack and my currently anonymous NeoNET analyst.

 City News:

Meet the saddest guy in Seattle—(by 8)

Top Gun, that’s what he goes by at “Blast from the Past”, the trendy NeoNET-owned club where he spends his days and his nights. Not that he has a choice in the vintage Bomber jacket that projects the tough-guy image his thin frame and old bean counter uniform used to repress, and original Aviator sunglasses.

Top Gun is grieving, he misses the funky smell, the chaotic ethos, the graffitied 1980’s-inspired murals and random nihilistic slogans whose successive layers used to read like a people’s history of Seattle, written by hackers high on sleeplessness after a pizza-and-beer fueled coding session on their laptop succeeded by groggy deckers just out of stim-patch inspired fantasies lived out in VR.

He turns his sight to his left, briefly, like he fears being caught. “Donnie, manager. Keep out.”, reads the sign on the door behind the saloon bar, the pride of the former owner. Leaving the bar here is one of the few promises he, Donnie “Top Gun” Deckard, has been able to keep since he got his employer, NeoNET, to buy the place and let him run it. “I’ll make Blast great again”, that’s what he had told Barry White over a dinner at the Space Needle as they were shaking hands to seal the sale.

It had only taken Donnie two months to understand the sad smile on old Barry’s face that had taken him aback. Two months of ego stroking and veiled threats by higher ups to rip the soul of the place out, down to the minutest scrape of paint, to shed light on every shadow where the SINless used to be at home.

Smelly Petra climbs downs the stage amid polite clapping, gives him a smile and a thumbs up as she approaches. He rises from his chair, they hug for a second. A smile, a discreet tear he wipes from his cheek. I have known them both forever, but I resist the urge to join them. I only came here to watch Donnie, tonight, to reckon what’s left of my friend behind the familiar leather shell. She leaves and Donnie seats again.

A brief rustle, the crowd turns their brand new seats to the screen behind them. Kappa’s Orkinary is about to begin. Before the excitement and noise crank up one level or two, the brief respite allows the weird Galaga music, the tugging and yanking at the joystick to reach Donnie’s hears. I know why he just breaks down now, I was there with him twenty years ago when he answered Barry’s call for an expert in arcane arcade technology. We fixed whatever was wrong with the machine. I’m sure Donnie remembers the serial number of the original replacement part he brought with him that day.

What was just an odd job in a smelly, dirty deserted place, turned into a life-changing experience as we tried to make our way back through the crowd that had come for Annie Linux. She was in the middle of her signature “Sweet dreams are made of this.” We just stopped in our tracks, intrigued by that unfamiliar sound, the microphone Annie was holding, her silly clothes. We stayed another four hours, singing, shouting, clapping with them, these strangers that became our new family, just like that. We returned, night after night, until we parted ways and started on our nice corporate jobs. Sweet dreams indeed…

Familiar images from the stupid incident between the weird ork clone known as Krund and an unidentified troll are greeted by loud cheers. Orkinary has just started. Showing popular Kappa fare to the new faux Bohemian patrons is one of the awful compromises Donnie has had to make. This abysmally void show in particular promises to reach even lower with a mysterious trid they already advertise for next month and call Bang Fang!

He sure is sad, Donnie, right now, but when he rises again and returns to the office behind the bar, I see a new resolve in his eyes and know my buddy is finally going to fight back.

Reds in Town?

Tipsters on the street have reported a number of sightings of Renraku’s elite military special forces, the Red Samurai out and about in Seattle. Why? They are not brought out for no reason. If they are around, Renraku is up to something, and something big. What are they up to? Anyone have any more information, send it to the SSN!

 Features:

Once More 7--(by Breach)

2050 saw the rise of what we would really recognize as shadowrunners, when the truly portable cyberdeck was introduced to the market.  Before then, cyberterminals were bulky and hard to transport - ranging from desk-sized cocoons down to bulky desktop tower units - but in 2050 the keyboard-sized cyberdeck was released and deckers hit the streets.  Corporate warfare had always been a shadowy affair, but the ability to carry your hacking tools with you changed the rules of the game.  

The early 2050s also saw the spread of the Universal Brotherhood and other neo-communist movements, preaching a philosophy of unity, equality, and belonging.  They opened their doors to the SINless, and the SINless flocked to them like flies to honey - and in the end, it turns out that’s not a metaphor.  

By 2055, the hives were widespread and the problem came to a head. The first obvious outbreak was in Chicago, where insect spirits moved boldly and openly and swarmed the city, leading the UCAS government to quarantine the city (citing “a new strain of VITAS” as the official reason.)  In the shadows, we know that Seattle almost had a similar outbreak a few months earlier, but a team of shadowrunners investigating a seemingly unrelated murder managed to destroy the hive before its queen got started - the news reported the camps closed for “health reasons”.

Chicago was bad. I was there.

The city was cut off from the Matrix (nominally - some entrepreneurs set up illegal satellite hubs), and the world.  Relief goods had to be shipped in from outside as access to food and medical supplies quickly dwindled.  Gangs took over entire neighbourhoods and Knight Errant set checkpoints and roadblocks across the city.  They even tried to nuke the hive, to no avail - the bomb didn’t even explode properly, contained somehow by who-knows-what. When the nuke didn’t work, they walled us in, and left us largely to fend for ourselves - fights over relief drops were common, and sometimes complete shipments were hijacked and sold off to the highest bidder by whatever corp or gang managed to get ahold of it.

Fortunately, we managed to get the word out and expose the cover-up.  Once the world knew about the bugs, it was harder to write off the city as another disease outbreak and action was actually taken, though not often to the benefit of the people trapped there. The quarantine was lifted in 2058 after Strain III, an engineered bacterium that targeted the spirit-infected, was released.  While the bugs were stopped, HMHVV-infected individuals were killed by the bacteria as well, and it never saw widespread use.  

Chicago remains “Bug-Town”, a shell of its former self and still largely cut off from the world.

Next week we take a pit-stop to talk about the election of 2057.  There’s a lot to unpack there.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! [email protected]

 Gang News:

Gangland Engagement in Trouble?

Tipsters with an “in” with the Ancients tell me that the engagement between Street Sam JuL33T and Enzo Gianelli might be in trouble. JuL33T is apparently inconsolable over the death of her cousin Street Sam TIB and it not in the mood to get married to anyone. Belial is reportedly not at all pleased.

Letters to the Editor:

Dear SSN editor,

Mr. Vorack, his qualities as an analyst notwithstanding, made unsubstantiated, libelous claims against my employer, NeoNET, in your latest issue.

I know that NeoNET management won’t stoop to his level but I, a simple employee, hereby kindly demand that Mr. Vorack just put up or shut up.

Yours truly,

--b.

P.S.: I will wholeheartedly concede that NeoNET robots are not meant to be used for cooking in the way Mr. Vorack did. But maybe Mr. Vorack’s marshmallows simply did not taste great because they were a Saeder-Krupp product?

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

City News:

Rally for SINless Recognition Marred by Police Violence

This Saturday the SINless and their allies gathered in Westlake Park for a rally and protest. The event brought together numerous community organizers, spoken word poets, VR artists, musicians, and even Redmond Mayor Sonya Scholl spoke briefly about the need for SINless protection and recognition. It wasn’t just a general desire for recognition that brought the SINless together this day, however. It was the crisis surrounding the kidnapping of SINless children and Knight Errant’s Law Enforcement’s lack of response paired with hope that the new administration might change things for the better of all that brought everyone together. There was an estimated three thousand protesters and rally-goers. There were young children and senior citizens. The crowd were at times outraged, at times anguished, at times inspired and full of hope. They spoke of what they hoped to accomplish.

Knight Errant presence was heavy, but local SINless community security force The Knights of Red were also on hand to keep the protesters safe. But it wasn’t enough. Someone in Knight Errant got mad and decided to start shooting at the protesters. It started with Knight Errant officer Augustus Ivan Polk, a man with a reputation for alcoholism and multiple citations for insubordination, who somehow still has a corporate badge, who shot Ork Pedro Tanaka in the belly. Pedro was doing nothing but protesting peacefully, but that didn’t matter to Officer Polk. Polk’s regular partner Patrick Oliver Mahon in “defense” of Polk also shot an unarmed peaceful protester.

The situation threatened to become a riot but the work of KE mages who cast a calming ritual alongside some moving words and song by Ork Underground activist Sarah Brown who led the crowd in a version of the song “Crying for Freedom in the Metroplex,” stopped any further escalation of violence.

Pedro Tanaka’s wife, human Aki Tanaka, well loved tattoo artist in the Barrens spoke passionately and with steely determination before the crowd in the wake of her husband’s shooting.

A Transcript of her speech:

"My husband is an Ork. So he never had a SIN. My parents didn't have SINs so I never had one either. We live in the Barrens. And we are honest people who work hard. I do tattoos and he works on a fishing boat. We have never hurt anyone in this city. We get up, trade for the things we need. We were excited for this last electionl. We couldn't vote, but we had friends in the Underground that finally could. We felt like the future might mean something good for us finally.

"We dreamt that maybe we might be able to walk in the streets outside of the Barrens without fear. That maybe we could go to one of those fancier places and get all the things we only dreamed about getting one day. Nicer food. Nicer clothes. "

"I work out of the burned out building where we live. And I babysit the building’s kids for their parents while they are out doing whatever they can do to survive. But lately some kids have gone missing. There was no one to turn to. Our babies are being kidnapped. And we don't know who's doing it.

“Is it some maniac serial killer cuttin' up us SINless because no one cares? Is it some corp kidnapping us for experiments...again? I don't know. But I've had moms and dads in my tattoo studio crying at night in pain over their missing kids and frustration that no one would listen.So that's why we came here. Because they don't think the lives of our babies matter. And then what happens?

"Some jack-booted corporate thug shoots my man. Sees him only as a SINless piece of trash that can be abused with no consequence. But we have a new governor now, there will be consequences. They took my husband off in a med wagon. But he has no SIN, so he has no medical records. I don't know if they'll actually treat him or if they'll dump him in an alley to die.

"His name is Pedro Tanaka, he is my husband and he is not trash to be dumped. He is SINless, but he is a person.

"This just can't go on anymore."

Although the police violence threatened to turn this protest into a tragedy, SSN is happy to report that, thanks to the work of some good Samaritans, Pedro Tanaka was able to get medical care and he is currently at home recovering. He isn’t able to work while recovering and so the Tanaka family could use help. Any help for the Tanaka family can be delivered to SSN, Sarah Brown, or the Knights of Red.

Despite this violence, the call for SINless recognition will not be silenced. Knight Errant, find out what is happening to our children. Governor Dzhugashvili, start a program to get the SINless recognition.

 Open Letter from Lt. Salazar Monroe Concerning the Recognition Rally Violence

Lt. Monroe was not assigned to the protest, had he been, I imagine it would have turned out differently. That said, Monroe is a man of honor and he has taken it on himself to make a statement about the Recognition Rally violence:

Dear citizens of the Seattle Metroplex,

I come to you, in one of our darkest moments, to condemn the actions of two fellow Knight Errant officers. From what I have heard from their sergeants and colleagues on the scene is that they’ve been dealt with and disciplined on-site, but my sources refuse to elaborate. I can only hope that our hands have not shed any more blood than what we have already done today. I trust that the officers who serve under me and were also present understand that we must hold ourselves to a higher standard of ethics. The city has placed a lot of trust in us and we must do everything we can to ensure that everyone in Seattle knows that it is not misplaced. They’ve been burned before, and they’re not eager to find out that they’ve made that mistake again.

What these two officers have done has irrevocably shaken all of us to the core, surely, but please know that this isn’t the Knight Errant I enlisted in, the Knight Errant that trained me, shaped me, molded me into the man I am today. These bad apples must be culled swiftly and precisely before they spoil the rest of the barrel, and though it might already be too late, it’s better late than never.

I didn’t set out to change Knight Errant from the inside, nor did I set out to single-handedly save Baltimore or Seattle from themselves. I enlisted into Knight Errant because I was sick and tired of seeing criminals of all stripes getting away with their schemes while the common man suffered. I set out to ensure that everyone had their dues, from the SINless down in Dundalk to the hotshot corporate types Downtown. Everyone gets their day in court, as it was back in the Fifth World, and as it should be in the Sixth.

I’m on personal leave right now due to...excruciating circumstances that are regrettably beyond my control, but as soon as I come back into the office tomorrow, things are going to change for the better not just for the executives but for the SINless and everyone in-between, I can promise you that. And if you think I can’t live up to that boast? There are a few people in Baltimore who can vouch for me.

Sincerely, Lieutenant Salazar Timothy Monroe

 Stoking the Fires—(by Demmalition1)

Eustace Zhalang died the moment she put the revolver in her mouth and pulled the trigger.  She’s going to die for a second time in the press tonight after they get ahold of her financial records and skewer her fresh corpse over the burning coals of public opinion.  Molotov was after her, you see, and when he sets his sights on something, he won’t stop until it’s dead or close to it.  She chose the quick way out, as opposed to being burned alive at the hands of him and his henchmen.  Oh, you didn’t know?  Yes, he’s recruiting followers like the night of the Christmas tree burning a while back.  But back to Ms. Zhalang.

As a citizen of the venerable corporation of Wuxing and a prominent name in many a circle of high society, one would think she had it all.  Money and fame were synonymous with her name, and her presence was hard to escape from even when she wasn’t in the room.  But she will forever remain a black mark on the face of Wuxing, for she was not a good woman.  She destroyed the lives of countless people by running sham charities in the names of noble causes in order to rake in funds from a gullible public.  These stolen funds were then used to prop up a multitude of failing businesses, all under her name or the Wuxing banner.  When Wuxing found out they let her go and sent her home with a generous package to placate her duplicitous ways.  They killed any investigation into her dealings as well in order to quell any negativity against a high ranking executive of the board.  Better to hide your sins under the carpet than deal with them openly, I guess.  Shortly after her forced retirement she developed lung cancer, it progressed until she turned into a bedridden grey husk at 88 years old.

She was very good at tugging at the heartstrings you see, pulling in money for orphans, SINless, even disease research.  Therein lies the rub, the roaring spark that would turn into an inferno.  She syphoned research funding that was meant for whichever disease Molotov’s wife had.  A horrible woman’s greed and depravity lead to the indirect creation of a monster who seeks nothing but revenge at the crucible of the flame.  This money would not have cured his wife, she was too far along and the time too short, but it was enough to grab his attention.  She would be an easy hit.  After all, who would care about a little old woman who never left her estate?  She was going to die soon anyways, might as well finish the job before the reaper could drag her screaming soul down to Hell.

Molotov began the hit by driving in through the front gate with a few accomplices disguised as a catering crew.  Once near the front door their decker attacked the cameras and they burst out of the van guns ablaze. Their decker did not, however, destroy the cameras as they had thought.  Their actions were all caught on tape.  They killed three guards at the front door, one at the gatehouse, and another who came outside soon after.  Once inside, the first accomplice, Bai Zhao, is dropped by a drone.  Another, Choi Zhao and sibling of Bai, was killed by a guard with an antique spear from a display (bricked smartgun).  Nearing Eustace’s last redoubt, she shoots herself before they could get inside and do the deed themselves.  I guess that would rob Molotov of some of his satisfaction. Good.  When the door was smashed open, a third accomplice, Agnes Peterson, was killed by uzi fire from a guard rushing down the hall.  Molotov then burned Eustace’s corpse and killed all staff inside be they butler or cook.  He burned their bodies as well before looting the place and escaping with two other then unidentified accomplices. After that he  burned the van a mile away from the mansion.  A total of 16 people lost their lives that night. The identities of his two surviving Hellhound accomplices are known: one is a female decker by the handle 5t@1k3r (Maria Stoyanova) and another a brute named Charles Whiteman.  Investigators already found most of the fenced goods which had tracking RFIDs and were sold well below their street value.

Here’s what we know:  all accomplices were members of the Hellhound gang, all were human, and all had a history of violence against the better angels of society.  I warned the police over 2 weeks ago of Molotov’s movements, but nothing was done because there was no concrete evidence.  13 innocents and 3 assailants died because of this.  The forces of Knight Errant did nothing, in fact they did less than nothing despite the heavily detailed but incomplete information I gave them.

I guess this is what Molotov wanted, to get Eustace’s story out there.  Well congratulations you monster, you won.  But here’s the thing, you don’t get away with the killing of someone so recklessly in both deed and message.  You are going down, Knight Errant has partnered with Wuxing to form a special task force sent out just for you, you special little firebug.  I got your home, your hideout in the Cedar Rim Apartments, and your current hideout in the Hellhound Den.  I’m watching you right now as I type this.  You will not escape The Truth, for it is a fire so pure that it will engulf you and incinerate you until not even ash is left.  You will go out dying in agony or in the deepest pit they can throw you in as a broken man.

I spoke to your sister-in-law, Rachael. She spoke of you in a spiteful fashion usually reserved for the tyrants of history.  She said you defiled Maki Adsida’s memory with your actions, and how she would be ashamed of you and what you have become.  Maki has died a second time.  She would kill herself again without hesitation had she known that the monster that she married bombs and burns innocents in her memory.  So I’ve decided to do something.  You know that picture of you and her that you had in your apartment?  The one on the mantle that I saw the night I went there, the one that was conspicuously missing?  I’ve burned it.  I’ve also destroyed the empty urn you left in her memory after you scattered her ashes.  I’m erasing anything that may associate her to you besides this article.  That will be her legacy with you: nothing.  You are a wretched man who will end up in the annals of history as a monster.  You will not make it out, you will not honor her memory, you will not win.

Come find me, I dare you.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

--  Ernest Hemingway, A Call to Arms  --

 Corp News:

Reflections on the Matrix Services Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Matrix Services.

The Matrix Services market is the second largest Market of the Metroplex, right behind media with a value of 219.9¥B. Matrix Services are the life blood of modern society and this life blood is controlled by four megacorporations in Seattle: NeoNET (39.9%), Mitsuhama (36.0%), Horizon (16.7%), and Renraku (7.4%). Matrix Services, unlike Media, has historically been more volatile, with NeoNET viciously attacking Saeder-Krupp’s Matrix division, back in August (See Issue 24) when they still had one, and a flurry of anonymous, not as effective attacks against NeoNET’s Matrix Services two weeks later (See Issue 26). In the months since then, the Matrix Wars seem to have calmed down, but with such an important market sector one never knows what the future will bring.

SSN reached out to NeoNET, Renraku, Mitsuhama, and Horizon for comment on their view of the market, only NeoNET returned any commnent by the time of publication, though if you want a comment by anyone in Matrix Services, it is NeoNET. An executive in NeoNET responded:

Matrix services is a big, boring and, frankly, thankless business. Big, as everyone relies on it and it takes huge capital expenditures to become a significant player. Boring because it generates steady revenues with limited room to grow. Thankless, as customers only remember what company sends the Matrix bill when it stops working for them. Thankless, also, when a longtime customer such as the Seattle Metroplex unfairly terminates a contract. The current state of the market, with two leading companies and two comparatively minor players, reflects the characteristics on which it depends: reliability, to avoid a repeat of the two catastrophic crashes that took place in the last fifty years; resilience, with built-in redundancies; and fairness, as ensured by the monitoring of the recently created Grid Overwatch Division. As a whole, the Matrix services business is second only to Media, which relies heavily on it. Though remarkable for what is seen as just another utility, this fact points to the path for real growth: deliver compelling contents on the Matrix infrastructure. Which is exactly what NeoNET set out to do and why it sponsors events such as the Blast from the Past competition that spotlight the best of both worlds. Coming from the opposite direction, Horizon used the cash generated by its huge Media business to start its in-house Matrix division. Mitsuhama’s big share of the market points to Japan’s long tradition of self-reliance and defiance of foreign meddling. It is difficult to say whether there is more to it for them in the doldrums where they currently are.

Finally, Renraku’s looming presence in Law Enforcement suggests its involvement in both Media and Matrix services may have more to do with surveillance than customer satisfaction. To conclude, NeoNET can be relied on to keep doing its share in preventing a new crash of the Matrix for the foreseeable future and to deliver the best contents on it.

Again, SSN was able to get insight and analysis from one of Seattle’s premier financial analysts, Saeder-Krupp executive Vorack. Gentle readers will be asked to remember the…complicated…relationship Saeder-Krupp and NeoNET have had in the past, especially surrounding Matrix Services:

Vorack: Oh man it’s Matrix time eh, guess its time to ask a simple question. What is the Matrix? The answer is out there, readers, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. We at SK are no longer in Matrix at all but that is mainly because of one certain corp trying to push us out in particular, but we will talk about that later. First of all we should talk about matrix as a whole, it pretty much connects the entire world and if you don't use the matrix.... well you're a liar. Look at anything and you'll find a link to the matrix in some way. It might be a product that you bought off the matrix, and let’s say you got it physically, well the person you bought it from probably filled out an order and used the matrix to make that initial purchase, and even if they didn't do that, the person who first wanted the product to be made, oh they connected with the producer through it for sure. This little interview, that's able to happen because of the matrix, all the research I do on all the corps and subs, matrix. That advertising Horizon does, oh the matrix was involved in that. You could say we are all tapped into the matrix, even if we don't think about it. As someone who personally taps into it regularly, looking for information I find it kinda weird, since unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is. You'll have to see it for yourself, and its something special. [SSN editor: I thought the Matrix was a series of tubes, no?]

So let’s talk about our history in the matrix, about what’s happened to it and what looks like will continue to happen to it. It started off with four corps investing in it, Mitsuhama, NeoNET, Renraku and Horizon. Us here at SK joined in at one point but we were pretty much pushed out by some heavy opposition and completely bought out later on, I swear I’ll go into details about this later. All in all, Matrix has been a safe industry to be in, as profits continue to raise and the market value seems to be constantly rising with very little infighting, well except for what happened to us, but that's another story. The first big event in this industry happened to be SK dipping our toes into the segment, but mainly using it as a platform to show off what we had been working on, show off our products and maybe help recruitment in some way. And I just want it known that SK was the first corp to do this! Matrix had never been used to specifically promote an entire AAA Corporation up to that point, we were trend setters and other companies ended up copying us later on and maybe this is why we were so unjustly targeted, but anyways. Then before we knew it Renraku and Mitsuhama did something massive, something drastic. Clearly Mitsu wanted to be the big boys when it came to Matrix as they traded everything they had in Law and Heavy Industry to Renraku for 40B worth of their Matrix division. (I gotta say this seemed to end up being a good deal for Renraku, they are one of two Corps left in Heavy industry aside from ourselves, and in Law enforcement they are only beaten out by Ares and only by a small amount). All of a sudden it was a competition to see who would be the larger force, was it NeoNET or was it Mitsuhama? NeoNET always seemed to be a bit behind and even to this day they are still playing second to Mitsu. [SSN editor: Fact Check. NeoNET is the current market leader and have been consistently in the Matrix Services market segment.]

I guess this is where I should mention the act that I've been hinting at, the unjust and outrageous attack NeoNET did against our Matrix division. Where NeoNET tried to completely reduce and destroy 100% of our industry all because we defended ourselves from them and perhaps they were jealous. I am happy and proud to say that they were ineffective at doing so and in the end they just hurt themselves. They might have destroyed 67% of our entire Matrix segment but we were able to hold them off and the entire time this transpired, we had a secret going on with their own division. I’ll admit it here for the first time, SSN you are getting one hell of an exclusive in this, I am damn proud to say we had a team of SK workers inside NeoNET's entire matrix R&D crew for well over a month and easily learned their secrets, more than enough to pay for 116% of any damage they ever caused us. The real kicker here is that us at SK apparently traded our 5.7B matrix division (which was mainly valued that high because of the work NeoNET had done and we had taken) to NeoNET for their Robotics segment which was estimated to be worth over 15B. Though I was "occupied" at this time and can’t confirm this. Seems like we clearly pulled ahead as the winners at that one.

One other main event has happened in Matrix, and it happens to feature our good friends over at NeoNET yet again. Two weeks after they attacked us, it seems karma decided to show her fickle head and something happened to them. They were attacked, over and over again and it was glorious. To this day I don't know who did this, I don't know which of the corps decided to stand up against them and in doing so, defend SK in their own way, but I have to say thank you. Be it Renraku our long time allies and friends, Mitsuhama a generally unknown and quiet competitor or maybe even Horizon the Media powerhouse, I send my thanks personally to whoever took NeoNET down a peg and reduced their market value by a noticeable 28% or a large 24B Nuyen. I don't usually condone these sort of attacks, but for this one, you have my respect and my appreciation. So who knows what’s gonna happen with Matrix, which of the two corps, be it NeoNET or Mitsu, stays ahead. There could be more attacks as it seems to have been awhile since the last major event. I know I personally have no idea what will happen. As a whole, SK seems uninterested in rejoining the division, but I would be lying if I didn't say I use Renraku's services for my own needs and I hope they continue to do well.

Vorack broke some interesting news and my own research corroborates that indeed NeoNet’s Matrix Services had been plagued by espionage problems around the time that Vorack claims SK had been spying on NeoNET. As for Vorack’s claims that they had nothing to do with the flurry of attacks that NeoNET suffered two weeks after they attacked SK (it should be noted NeoNET claims that round of attacks were retaliatory for an ealier SK transgression)? Well, maybe they didn’t attack NeoNET or maybe they did. That is something that only the attackers know. That said, will Matrix Services remain quiet? Or might it become the next battleground in the Corporate Wars?

 Features:

Once More 4--(by Breach)

On February 8th, 2029, computer systems around the world began to fail - sometimes spectacularly, actually burning out hardware in the process - as an unknown virus ravaged world networks.  Within months, the Internet - the precursor to our Matrix - lay in ruins, and distrust of communication and computers ran rampant.  Seattle’s Redmond district, once home to the greatest technological companies in the world, was especially ravaged by the virus and the subsequent riots against technology’s masters.  Now, over forty-five  years later, it still has not recovered; it’s hard to believe the Barrens were once one of the richest and most luxurious parts of the city.

The Crash Virus did more than destroy computers, as those computers ran systems that the world depended on. Safety protocols were breached globally, causing outbreaks of once-contained pathogens and experiments in population centers, as well as sabotaging the control systems of the many orbital platforms surrounding the Earth; the direct, immediate death toll of February 8th was in the tens of thousands, with the long-term death toll reaching the millions.  

The United States government organized a response to the virus; a team, dubbed “Echo Mirage”, was formed from leading computer scientists and military cybersecurity specialists.  The team utilized then-revolutionary cyberterminal technology to enter the Internet and computer systems to combat the virus directly in cyberspace.  

They failed completely.

A month later, Echo Mirage was reformed using less conventional expertise; fringe theorists, white-hat hackers, conspiracy nuts and wide-eyed dreamers were recruited instead.  Today, we’d recognize the attributes of most of the people, and it’s widely accepted that Echo Mirage was the first team of “Shadowrunners”.  

Cyberterminal technology continued to advance, and at the end of August, the new Echo Mirage team once again attempted to battle the Virus and save the Internet; and while not a complete failure, they were once again rebuffed by the destructive computer worm.  Four members of the team were killed by lethal biofeedback - destructive impulses sent to their bodies through the ASIST interfaces of their cyberterminals.  

By the end of the year, Echo Mirage has mastered their cyberterminals and discovered new ways to defend against the Virus’s biofeedback, and over the course of the next few years, they actually managed to isolate and contain the Crash Virus.  The Internet never truly recovered, but enough infrastructure was eventually saved to allow the creation of the first Matrix.  

The Corporate Court would spearhead this initiative in 2032, finishing the transition of our communication infrastructure from its government-sponsored beginning to our modern corporate-owned reality.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! [email protected]

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[This is a supplemental Breaking Newsflash]

City News:

Have You Seen Me?: Let They Without SIN Cast the First Stone

Her friends call her Twiggy for her hair, build, and penchant for mod fashion. She is an elf and she is 15 years old. And she went missing last week. There have been a lot of children gone missing recently. But Law Enforcement doesn’t lift a finger. Because the missing children are SINless. 

SIN…the System Identification Number. It was brought into being first in the UCAS in 2036, and everyone else adopted the idea. Nations gave SINs to their citizens. Megacorps, who have become nations themselves, gave SINs to their own citizens. The SIN is assigned to each person in society and you need to have one to be accepted in security systems and government databases and pretty much any computer anywhere that authenticates people’s identities. A SIN identifies a person in the global information system and is attached to every piece of information generated about you, from where you go on the Matrix, if you have cavities, what brand of cigarettes you smoke, what sort of health insurance you have—and note, your health insurance is going to see that you smoke and hold it against you. Your SIN must always be legally be broadcast. So when you are walking down the street, your SINner status is always on display for Law Enforcement or Advertisers to see. It may seem Orwellian, but it puts you in society. If you don’t have a SIN, you are a not a person in society. You are on the edges and in the shadows. You can’t get a job. You can’t buy food. Without your SIN beamed to all, you can’t get into fancy museums. You might be picked up by Law Enforcement for just walking down the street. Some corp types don’t even see you as a person. You do not exist. You are not seen.

If you don't have a SIN, you can’t get a bank account. This means your access to money is precarious. A legal SIN is required for all legal purchases, which means getting food, paying rent, all of that is done illegally. You are at the mercy of slumlords who won’t ask, but who gouge your prices and won’t do anything about the exposed wiring or the lead in the paint. You can’t just go get tickets for the SuperUniverse concert. You can’t buy shoes legally. You can’t get on a plane, because airport security checks your SIN and you can’t get a passport. You can’t take long train trips that pass through different jurisdictions, because there will be border controls…and they check your SIN. Even without the border controls, just buying a bus ticket is hard with no SIN. So your mobility, your ability to leave, to go somewhere else is precarious. You are stuck in the barrens. You need licenses for everything. You need a license to practice magic. You need a license for pepper spray. No SIN? No license. Again, maybe someone will sell you something without a SIN, but if they get caught doing it? They get in trouble.

If you don’t have a SIN, you don’t exist in the system. You can’t go to a legal doctor. Because they check your SIN and neither you nor any of your medical information is in the Global SIN Registry. So if you get sick? Hopefully there is a street doctor out there who’ll treat you…and who is actually a qualified doctor and not just wanting to do unethical testing on people who don’t officially exist so they have no one to complain to. Going to school? You have to have a SIN for that, too. Some underfunded schools in poor neighborhoods will look the other way and let some SINless kids in…but if you are SINless, you can’t get a legal job and you can’t go to college, so many people think, what’s the point?

If you don’t have a SIN, you can’t vote. You aren’t a citizen. You don’t have civil rights. And society doesn’t feel it has any civil responsibilities to you. You know what you also can’t do if you don’t have a SIN? That number that says, “I exist?” You can’t go to Law Enforcement with your child goes missing. Well, you can, but they won’t do anything. You have no number to put in their box. Your child doesn’t exist in their system, so there is no one to look for.

It was only a few years ago that the Mayan Cutter was terrorizing the streets of Seattle. Murdering people. Sorry, not people, SINless. When the first victim turned up in 2969, a homeless Caucasian male elf, Lone Star filed away the report as low priority and didn’t follow up on the matter because that elf had no SIN. The Mayan Cutter killed 12 people and no one cared. Not Lone Star; not Corporate News. The only people who cared were friends and family of those victims…all SINless…and they had nowhere to turn. The 13th victim had a SIN, and then people cared. Then it was on the news and then Law Enforcement took it seriously. Eventually Lone Star lost the Law Enforcement contract and Knight Errant picked it up because they could catch the killer who went on a two-year killing spree. But if the Cutter had stuck to SINless only? Probably nothing would have happened and he’d be killing to this day.

Right now, children are being kidnapped. Our own Vox Umbra has been inundated by reports by SINless parents and family and friends complaining that their 8 year old or 12 year old or 15 year old has vanished. Why are they talking to a street reporter? Because going to Knight Errant results in nothing. Because going to Corporate News results in nothing. These SINless kids don’t have System Identification Numbers. They don’t exist. You can’t go missing if you don’t exist in the first place.

One of those who went missing is Twiggy. And no one is looking for her. No one except our heroes, the shadowrunners. One of our favorite runner teams has taken up the call and will look for these children pro bono through what they are calling the Runners for Runts program. Because no one else will. Because no one else will see her.

But that isn’t enough. We have a new administration and it may be time for change. We should not rely solely on the runners to stand up for us. We must stand up for ourselves as well. I call on all people of good conscious to join a Seattle Street News sponsored protest at Westlake Park this Saturday at noon. We will be seen.  We will pressure Law Enforcement to see us and to protect our children just as they protect the children with SINs. If Law Enforcement continues to let an entire population of people be nothing but prey for the nefarious parts of the Metroplex, then we shall no longer stand for it. Governor Dzhugashvili, DA Oaks, pressure Law Enforcement to give us justice. If Knight Errant won’t do it, pull their contract and put in Law Enforcement who will. Law Enforcement needs to step up their game. Right now they are an embarrassing joke who are criminally negligent.

If we don’t get justice there will be no peace. I say, let those without SIN cast the first stone. We will be seen.

Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

City News:

(DA Dana Oaks)

DA Dana Oaks Delivers Fair Elections To Seattle; Josephine Dzughashvili Elected Governor

Josephine Dzughashvili, Independent candidate, has been elected the next Governor of Seattle.

This was an historic election that came out of nowhere, hot on the heels of a corruption and murder scandal that forced the former governor Kenneth Brackhaven out of office.  With such a short runtime before the election, the corporations had little time to bribe their stooges into office. But it wasn’t just the short turnaround that got us free and fair elections for the first time since Megacorps gained extraterritoriality and became above any law but their own. It was also the work of a number of heroes of Seattle. First and foremost is District Attorney Dana Oaks. Dana Oaks is the youngest District Attorney in Seattle’s history and was the lone survivor of the massacre ordered by Brackhaven that killed every other person in the DA’s office. That she survived spelled Brackhaven’s end and a new beginning for Seattle. She used evidence turned over by heroic shadowrunners implicating Brackhaving as successfully forged his resignation and prosecuted him for his crimes. If that weren’t enough, a number of candidates were revealed to be clones created by corporations to act as Megacorp Trojan Horses in the election. Oaks, aided by others, found them out and disqualified them. Next, Oaks dumped NeoNET from the contract running the elections after it was revealed that NeoNET was donating huge amounts of money to one of the candidates. Finally, when corporate security was suspiciously lax in protecting metahuman voters from the Ork Underground, Oaks and her associates organized a citizen escort program that stopped new voters from being harassed.

After all of this work, for the first time we have a candidate for the people and of the people, not for the corps and of the corps. Thank you Dana Oaks.

And now we have Josephine Dzughashvili as our Governor. Governor, you have a bit job ahead of you and lots of people who will want you to fail. But we, the people, want you to succeed. We need you to succeed.

And so let me ask that your first act as Governor be to grant UCAS SINs to all the SINless. Let us all come into recognition and citizenship. Your motto was “Seattle for the Seattlites.” The SINless are Seattlites, too. Let us usher in a new age of equality, recognition, and fairness. Governor Josephine Dzughashvili, the ball is in your court. Make us proud and live up to the faith we’ve put in you.

 (Photo of the New Dragon by Reporter Thoth)

Purple Reign--(by Demmalition1)

There’s no feeling in this world quite as good as a full slab of ribs with extra sauce on Election Day. The taste of the delicate blending of spices and herb with the smooth texture of the meat ripping from the bone as you tear the sinew apart, gnashing and gnawing until you can’t eat another bite. The locals at the Big Rhino on Seneca St and 1st Ave were apprehensive of me at first. I mean, I look like the ghost of Christmas Future had one too many benders and hadn’t ate or seen sunlight in a year, a far cry from the raucous revelry that defined the gathered crowds there. The libations flew out of the tap faster than the barkeep could keep up, the rip-roaring crowds were eying to have my head before I had even sat down at the wooden communal long tables. But I’m a journalist, and money talks. Soon I was hanging out with Bot’Khams and Skraachas singing songs and folk tales with the little Orz’et I knew. I think I swore at a guy at some point and broke his nose, it all was a little hazy in there getting interviews for this of all historic elections. I learned quite a bit about the Ork Underground, the stuff that most normal people don’t know. Sure, you know of the 22 official entrances and the 35-50 square blocks of the cityscape that comprise the Underground (depending on measurement). You may even know of the roughly 100,000 residents that reside within her dark and damp womb of a civilization still trying to stumble into society. But do you know of the unofficial entrances?  Of the best way to get from Pike Place to 4th Street?  Do you know of the culture that has truly built in the dark corners of society?

After it’s official creation in the early 1900’s when the city decided to raise the street levels and how the Underground’s culture was seminally birthed in the hellfires of the Night of Rage in 2039. Born out of distrust and fear, it hasn’t fared well since then despite the great strides taken in having its own arts, shopping malls, and police force alongside those of Knight Errant who dare not venture past any official entrance like Lordstrung’s Department on 5th and Pine. After the elves left of their own accord and the dwarves evicted some time after, the trolls, orks and other HMHVV metatypes who make up this city beneath a city finally have the first official chance for their voices to be heard. The passage of Prop 23 in 2074 with the help of current candidate Josephine Dzhugashvili made the Ork Underground an official district within the city. Thus, they are now a people who will finally have a chance to steer their own future as they see fit alongside the rest of society on the surface basking in the glow of the warming sun.

This story would go on about how the election went smoothly, and how the rightful candidate eventually won in an election, which showed the righteous prospects of the democratic system that we have chosen to live under. But this is the Sixth World omae, and it’s not that simple here, is it?  As I was exiting the Seattle Utilities Building where the Big Rhino is located, I heard the loud BANG! BANG! BANG! of several grenades not too far from my present location. Gunfire had erupted in our fair city as those who could not tolerate tolerance had decided to suppress the vote. Scanning the newsfeeds, I saw several reports of runner teams being contracted out by a certain political activist to escort vulnerable Ork Underground voters to their polling stations. The only way to keep the vote in the way of Brackhaven’s legacy and his Troll Killer friends was to kill those who disagreed with them. For ruling through fear and tyranny is so much easier than earning the trust and support of those you govern. It’s easier to silence the voices of those who choose to dissent with bullets and bombs than it is through reasoned discourse. And when talking fails and one is backed into a corner against the relentless march of progress, the only answer that these monsters know is to lash out and hurt as many people as they can. Filthy beasts.

Later I would learn that those explosions came from the Pike Place Market on Pike and 1st, just a block or so away from our location. Arriving at the scene there was a pile of bodies on the ground nearby with a sign that said “EVIDENCe”. Ares drone footage recovered shortly after the incident had shown Seattle’s favorite runners MMFEC on the scene, or at least that’s the word going around these days, some of them are difficult to make out. Many of the bodies in the pile were dead... good. They have no right in attacking the truly innocent who for the first time in their lives can cast a vote for change. Locals say that the polling bus drove a short ways away next to that public health hazard known as ‘The Gum Wall’ in Post Alley to continue voting. I chose not to pursue, they had been through enough that day without one more mentally insane nutjob hounding them.

On my drive back from some investigative legwork a few hours later, a heavy rain began to blanket the city, drenching it to its bones. A cold pallor had hung over the events from earlier today with all the violence inflicted upon it during a most momentous of occasions. So what was all the tension from? Reports soon came flooding in of a second attack on a crowd of protesters on University and 4th. The 405 Hellhounds and the Halloweeners had met up and started massacring a crowd of local protestors, but they were fought off by a team of runners. Security camera footage shows expert level sniping, spirit use, combat hijacking, and AoE lightning spell use taking out all enemy combatants. It’s odd how the Hellhounds, a group out of Bellevue that is harboring Molotov in the the Cedar Rim Apartments in New Castle, would be all the way out on University St. which is at least 30-45 minutes away on a decent day without this election gridlock. They clearly weren’t fighting the Halloweeners over turf, no matter what the corporate shills might tell you on the nightly news. All signs pointed to trouble both ways. There’s clearly more to play here than at first glance, and this reporter will say that they were meant to distract and rile up emotions for what is to come later. Protesters aren’t the Blood Mountain Boys, they aren’t Renraku, and they aren’t deserving of the ire of Nightmare’s gang. So what is it?

I arrived to the scene of ganger attack, standing outside Dassurn Securities and Investments trying and see if I could glean anything from the locals or law enforcement nearby. Security cam footage was monitored at the time, and all I could get was small fragments of The Truth. Not good. Tensions were rising all over the city as the peaceful protests from earlier had turned heated despite the cool November air. I then started to make my way towards the bulk of the crowd to get more information for a better angle on the story.

The streets were stifling and the crowd was growing restless. The storm was vastly picking up in both intensity and sheer terror as there was something in the air even I could feel. Pure, unbridled hatred for everyone and everything swelled within me, as usual. But this was something else entirely, something unsettling in its tempo as if the music of a thousand choirs had started shouting to the heavens to strike down the heathens and bring about the apocalyptic end times. The crowds were bathed in the floodlights and vidscreen adverts from high above like New York’s Time Square. The air was cool with the collective breath of hundreds wafting above. The sewers beneath were steaming, adding to the ambiance of a night about to go horribly wrong. The rain-slicked pristine uniforms of Knight Errant Riot Control bathed in an unsettling glow against the crowd. The crowd itself seemingly incited by the high winds and the drenching rain, an election soon to not be forgotten no matter the outcome.

I made my way to a safe spot just outside the riotous crowd at 405 Pine St. right outside the mall. Police had erected barricades cordoning off the rioters into a large and unruly section of brutal and primitive peoples. They were no longer themselves, I could see it in their eyes as they swayed and thrashed in the dirge of human emotion coursing itself through their bodies. The bullet had hit the bone, shot through, and lodged itself in the sternum of the people. The tepid stalemate where the air seemed to hold still but for a brief moment had been shattered into a thousand pieces as an unquenchable rage had began to wash over everyone. It was going to get ugly.

Suddenly, the crowd was bathed in a sea of red and white, mimicking their rage as a flash briefing was shooting across all vidscreens in the area: MANASTORM! WARNING!  SEEK COVER IMMEDIATELY!  This was meant to help the people, not incite them to their next stage of panged frenzy and hysteria. It was as if a switch had been activated in all their brains at once, with violence erupting from every man, woman, and child there. Someone within the crowd threw thermal smoke grenades and lit the powderkeg.

The Knight Errant police force who was there to protect had given into their baser instincts as they began to move in with rubber bullets, tasers, smoke, tear gas, shields, truncheons, and boots at the ready. Like the Carthaginians encircling the Romans at the Battle of Cannae, the police locked rank and began to systematically move in and beat the ever-loving shit out of every head not behind the protection of a security officer’s helmet. I saw one man beg for mercy as a policeman hit him hard enough to knock out some teeth and the proceed to brutally stomp on his head with his heavy iron boots to the point where the man couldn’t be recognized even by his own mother. But something else, something interesting was happening in the pits of the Seattle Police Command Unit: the Hannibal of this slaughter was trying to prevent it!  I saw Lt. Salazar Monroe barking over the horn trying to calm his own men, one of whom went by the name of Falstoff. Through careful handling of the explosive situation Lt. Monroe was able to reign in his own men and stop the tasing, beating, and outright assault of the innocents currently underneath the jackboot of cruel men. A swift and brutal punishment will be incoming I hope, Lieutenant, the same as in Boston. However, as you all know by now, that wasn’t the end of the night, not by a long shot.

From the heavens above erupted a loud CRACK as lightning struck the spire of the Shiawase Corporate tower on Thomas and Westlake near the Telestrian Industries building, a branch of Shiawase’s Seattle headquarters in Tacoma. This was immediately followed by more loud cracks, each increasing in intensity as if the gods above were punishing the city by whipping it into submission. I wouldn’t blame them after all of the horrid atrocities we had visited upon ourselves. Each crack increased with intensity again and again, bathing the crowds with the glowing light of a long overdue Rapture meant to smite the damned and wash this city clean of all its SINs. The final crack is what brought about an Eldritch horror from beyond the metaplanes and is the closest anyone will ever get to an honest to God religious experience. A goddamned dragon had ripped a hole straight out of its own physical realm and entered ours. With a glistening purple, teal, and indigo hue to its scales it roared into existence, defying all before it and looking with absolute menace at the civilization below with its ants scurrying along the electric highways and streets. It had the look like royalty of old, which often used the color purple in their dyes to denote their status above all others. For that reason I’ve decided to nickname it ‘Prince.’  Prince was not alone however, as it was fighting with viscous determination from being dragged back in by other creatures of the metaplane. Vines were constantly sheared off and rethrown on in a poor attempt to lasso it in. Further, giant metallic glowing bladed legs like those of a spider were trying to stab and drag it in to be consumed by whatever abominable horror existed from the great beyond.

Prince began to glow with the fury of a thousand suns as it charged up its foreboding spinal spikes. The air around it seemed to vibrate as a terrible sound filled the air. It launched a devastating ball of lightning at the Evo Corporate store, shattering the building and causing untold damage to both property and people. However, just as suddenly as Prince had appeared, it disappeared into the night. The rage that seemed to have everyone in its firm grasp subsided substantially, but not all the way. Many were coming to grips with what they had done, and police-coordinated busses had arrived to get the civilians out of the danger zone, protocol be damned. Chatter over unofficial channels indicated that a relief effort had been set up several blocks away from the danger zone, enough distance to process everyone and the events surrounding this crisis safely.

There was still much debate over the dragon, was it actually there?  Or was it a trick of the mind of the people trying to process what was going on in one of the most intense recorded manastorms in recent memory. A certain signal floated across the Matrix, as I saw a certain someone modify the base code that was currently controlling the loudspeakers surrounding the event. Normally reserved for adverts and other corporate drek, it now was used to pipe soothing music through the speakers from a central mainframe in an attempt to calm everyone down. It succeeded, but not as much as this person may have wanted. The mall was now emptying out, with many people deeming it safe to exit and get away from others who had just moments ago rioted with reckless abandon. Amusingly, a rather funny mixture of Christmas music from the mall was being mixed in with the soothing loudspeakers, creating a rather unique harmony. This music, of course, was contrasted with the anguished wailing of the crowd which just moments ago had been violated by police brutality. Though I will say that in the end the music did its job, even if it took longer than usual to register.

Prince reappeared in all its splendorous glory a short while later, I but the onlooker. It charged up once more, horrible spines glistening behind the heavy sheath of rain, the cackle of electricity visible from far away via overhead drones. It launched again, hitting Saeder Krupp and blasting off the top 10 floors in a hail of rubble and glowing energy. An all-hands call went out on a wide-beam commlink channel from a protected source that requested any and all experienced personnel help deal with the dragon with a hefty payday in store for all involved. I had to get to Shiawase Tower to cover the events. The background count was increasing again, I think. It could just be me having to enter the lair of the beast once more.

On my way there, Prince circled above the city like a bird of prey looking for its next meal. It locked on to something, I could tell. Its gaze unmoving and its eyes unblinking it tucked in its wings and dive bombed the Mitsuhama shipping and receiving warehouse, obliterating both it and all the poor souls trapped inside. Whoever summoned this thing will pay, I’ll make sure of it. The last thing they will know is that this city does NOT forget any attacks brought upon it by atrocious people with demonstrable motives. Luckily, Prince was now being reigned in by an ent and what I can only guess is the horrible manifestation of a mind so depraved that Satan himself would shudder in fear. The all consuming rage seemed to lessen as well, all but confirming my theory that Prince is tied to the manastorm.

Arriving at the Shiawase building was quite the sight to see. Magic ebbed and flowed through the air, giving it an energy unfelt but by a select few of the population. A rhythmic humming seemed to vibrate from every raindrop and every pore of my body; very powerful magic was at hand here. Entering inside and taking the elevator to the 35th floor allowed me enough time to formulate a plan, but what does one do against a dragon?  I decided to take as many photos as I could, hoping that this could be enough to land a few people in jail. I noted a suspicious lack of security personnel inside.

While taking the stairwell the rest of the way to the 50th floor plaza where the ritual was being cast, I heard a loud cackling again, much more ominous now that I was so close to the source. Prince let loose another attack, hitting the local Horizon Matrix and radio tower in the area, sending an overload signal across the entire network; increasing both background Matrix noise as well as the background mana count significantly. Reaching the 50th floor I got a ping from a local feed from a fellow reporter showing drone cam footage of a closeup of Prince. It really was beautiful with all its colors in full regalia on display. I peeked through the 50th floor stairwell door seeing what could only be described as an all out war between the runner team known as MMFEC and several men.

What’s most interesting is that these were no ordinary men opposing these runners, and a quick matrix search for their identification confirmed my suspicions that these three men looked like departed Shiawase executive Arislen, a little TOO much like him. These men were definitely clones of the departed ex-executive. The Shiawase motto of ‘Advancing Life’ holds up well, even if they have to ruin many other lives in the process it seems. These human favoring semi-metaist magic fetishists will stop at nothing to obtain power, being both the first megacorp and the last megacorp if they had their way.

With the battle raging at the top of the Shiawase building, I helped out where I could, lending a hand to Ma1nfram3 to gain control of the Stick-n-Shock turrets inside. A second person ran past with a package in hand, running back out just as quickly like a rabbit on novacoke. During the battle, even the Shiawase building itself was rocked as Prince seemingly knew it was being attacked and swiped at the building, showering glass onto those below. I knew when to leave, and exited the building as quickly as I could. About the time I got to the 38th floor I heard a final loud CRACK and went to the large picture window to peer out across the vast Sprawl. Prince had fought back the vines and blades tying it to the other side, cutting the umbilical cord and breaking free...

Now that Prince broke free, the rage from earlier was replaced with a calming and serene presence. Like a soothing massage, a wave of good vibrations went through my and many other bodies; it was simply unexplainable. The rain died down to a gentle trickle of water droplets and the mana subsided. But it was not over dear readers, not by a long shot. From the distance a bright orange dragon, Hesteby, appeared from behind the clouds, roaring and screaming her way to our newly birthed dragon. They ferociously clashed with one another and got lost in the rain clouds, lightning providing brief silhouettes of the two combatants. I made my way to the main floor lobby to a murder of runners at the base, all of whom were wondering what was happening above.

Finally, our favorite runners MMFEC exited the stairwell, entranced with the blunt of the calming spell which radiated out earlier. None of us among the crowd besides MMFEC knew exactly what had transpired above, but we knew that whatever had occurred was going to upend everything we thought we knew about the Sixth World. I wanted to probe them for information, but the haze that clouded their minds was far too powerful to penetrate. Any inkling of The Truth that I might get out of them would be too tarnished. The cool night air dissipated all sense that something momentous had occurred, leaving only the remains of a freezing rain. I stopped by ‘The Edge’ on 9th and Denny before heading back to the local watering hole in the Metroplex and returning home soon after.

And this is where I am now, dear readers. I wish I could say that I have all the answers to just what has happened tonight. I do not. I know nothing, unfortunately, save for this: we will not cower in fear going forward, for that is not what we residents of Seattle do. We do not lay down our arms and throw up our hands when tragedy strikes during what is supposed to be a time of jubilation. We will not go quietly into the night. We will not go without a fight. We will fight on. We will mend our wounds and rebuild our structures. We will bury our dead with a solemn grace that they deserve in remembrance. Tragedy strikes, so we will strike back twice as hard under the new leadership of Dzhugashvili and then strike back twice as hard again. For we are Seattleites, all of us. From the lowest SINless to the highest executive we will band together. We are the human, the elf, the troll, the dwarf, the ork, and all other metatypes that live within our city. Yell at the face of fear, turn away the face of anger, and spit upon the face of death himself.

Do not give up, ever.

 Corp News:

Renraku Enters the Corporate Wars?

Renraku had long prided themselves on staying above the violent conflicts between other corporations. Renraku was so well thought of within corporate culture, that their corporate retreat facilities would often be chosen as the location for negotiations between corporations in conflict. This relative time of peace for Renraku was broken a few weeks ago when Renraku’s Heavy Industry was attacked. In the subsequent weeks, Renraku’s Red Samurai, in cooperation with Ares’s Knight Errant, have been busy investigating the attack and this week the results of their joint investigations have been made public. According to Renraku and Knight Errant the culprit is none other than Wuxing Incorporated.

In the immediate aftermath of the revelations, a Renraku spokesperson reacted, “We are a peaceful company, built on honor and tradition. We have done nothing but reach out to other companies to make a better future for all of us. This attack will not go unnoticed. Because we are an honorable company, we will not resort to attacking others like assassins in the night. We will face you head on, sword in hand, and you will know as you lie bloodied on the battleground that it is us you fought. It is what a man of honor would do.” Not much later Wuxing suffered violent attacks against both its Shipyards and Heavy Industry factories. Should one assume those attacks were co-ordinated by Renraku?

Of course there is one problem. Wuxing vehemently denies they were behind the Heavy Industry attacks, but the evidence does not look good for Wuxing. A Renraku executive with knowledge of the Red Samurai investigations gave this statement, “We are very concerned about our heavy industry sector, and when we were attacked we took immediate action. We made a formal and thorough investigation into the matter in collaboration with governmental officials and the help of the Ares Knight Errant. Or findings concluded Wuxing had attacked us. Our personal history with the AAA corporations back this investigation. While it is true we have reached out to Wuxing to collaborate in the past, we have never heard back from them. Nonetheless, while we were never allied with the Hong Kong base company, we have also never wished them ill will until we found them sneaking around in the night with their daggers aimed at our backs.”

Ares corroborated what Renraku reported, with an Ares Public Relations representative giving this terse response: Thank you for your interest, SEATTLE STREET NEWS! As I'm sure you know, Knight Errant is devoted to maintaining Peace and Order in the Seattle Metroplex. In the interest of this, Knight Errant was contacted by RENRAKU'S RED SAMURAI with evidence of WUXING's attacks against them. As this is an OPEN investigation, I'm afraid we cannot disclose the specific details of said evidence. The investigation's findings were bolstered by the fine work of LIEUTENANT MONROE's subordinates, who conducted all interviews with the Shadowrunnners in our custody, in accordance with the law. We are aware that WUXING has plead their innocence, as is often the case in matters such as these. Regardless of how WUXING chooses to portray themselves in the Public's eye, it should be remembered that Justice is blind. No further comment is available at this time.

Inside tipsters gave more information on the Knight Errant/Red Samurai investigative task force letd by Lt. Monroe. Monroe apparently has found initial success through the apprehension of a runner team called Griffin’s Fear, made up of Blue Papa Delta and X-Ray. It was apparently this team of runners who attacked Renraku’s Heavy Industry, and sources inside Knight Errant have leaked that Griffin’s Fear has sold out their employers and implicated Wuxing as the ones that hired them. In the immediate aftermath of Renraku’s declaration, an unnamed member of Wuxing had this response:  “The inaccuracy of your investigations only reveal the inadequacy of your corporation.” But it did not take much digging to get more detailed and more official responses from Wuxing: Normally Wuxing is happy to comply with Knight Errant investigations, however given the fact that at the time of the start of this recent investigation Wuxing did not have a Heavy Industries subsidiary it causes one to wonder whether it is incompetence or corruption that prompted such an investigation. It is sad to see such a shameful showing as Knight Errant generally does a good job at keeping the peace. That being said Wuxing had no part in any attacks on Renraku's Heavy Industry so as long as assurances can be made that any investigation will be handled unbiasly we are happy to aid in whatever way we can to discover the ones truly responsible for the attacks in question.”

Wuxing claims that because they had no Heavy Industry presence at the time of the attacks, that they could not have launched the attacks against Renraku. This is a compelling argument, however, it is possible to launch attacks in a sector one does not have a presence it…it is just more expensive to do so. In response to the leaks from the taskforce and Wuxing’s protestation of innocence, taskforce leader Lt. Monroe, replied, "Sounds like someone jumped to conclusions about who did what. Or that these contractors are covering. Either way, when I get back, I will have a very long discussion with whoever got this collar."

How will all of this shake out? It is unclear. However, Wuxing doubled down on their claims of innocence. “In response to the accusations that Renraku made regarding the attacks on their Heavy Industries subsidiary Wuxing had no part in them in any way. We don't know if these accusations are due to treachery on the part of another Corporation or if Renraku is intentionally spreading these lies to further some agenda of their own. In your accusations you mentioned honour yet your actions have shown none, Wuxing however will show you true honour in that we will refrain from retaliation this once. We recommend that in the future you work on improving your investigatory abilities to hopefully avoid any further embarrassments such as this.”

Wuxing opened up the possibility of burying the hatched, and maybe Renraku will accept? A Renraku exec responded, “As to what is next? That is solely up to Wuxing. We are, of course, always amenable to peace, but they must know that we will not lay down and take any attacks that come our way.”

What will happen in this corporate war? Is it over almost as quickly as it began? Or will it continue? Let’s hope that there won’t be anymore casualties on the streets of Seattle.

 Reflections on the Shipping Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Shipping.

The Shipping market is not a particularly large market in Seattle with a value of 94.2¥B, yet it is one that continuously draws a lot of interest. There are five megacorporations with major shipping presence in Seattle: Wuxing (31.9%), Renraku (25.4%), Evo (16.1%), Shiawase (13.5%), Ares (12.1%). Shipping, which is crucial to any corporation’s ability to function globally, has traditionally been a small market in Seattle, yet it has generated a lot of interest. Ares, which had a shipping division, sold it to Shiawase, only to create a new shipping division not much later. Renraku is also a new megacorp in the Shipping market. However, even if a corp doesn’t have a Shipping division, everyone seems invested in Shipping one way or another.

SSN reached out to Wuxing, Renraku, Evo, Shiawase, and Ares for comment on their view of the market. Ares had little to say, though remarked “Considering the thought and care and effort that Ares puts into all of its products, preparing them for delivery around the world and handing them off to strangers is simply not an option. We all remember what happened aboard the Wuxing Cargo Container vessel not so long ago.” For Ares, its Shipping division is a way to keep control over its own destiny, and it seems to be that way for most megacorps.

The newest corp on the shipping dock, Renraku, focused on the way that their investments in shipping help Renraku remain diversified and successful between the different parts of its megacorp: “If Heavy Industry is the backbone of a corporation, shipping is the blood. It feeds production, and feeds research. Through shipping we are able to take locally produced materials and create a global market. It is how we take raw ore and minerals from the Americas and turn it into processors and Trideo machines on the opposite end of the globe.

Because of this important aspect, not only does shipping help create jobs across the globe, through making global trade easier, shipping brings people together.

On a personal level, shipping has been a large boon to us recently. While we at Renraku can not claim to be the largest in any specific sector, we can claim a diverse portfolio, coming in second in five separate sectors. Shipping has been integral in maintaining such a portfolio, and sacrificing some capital to it shipping in the short term has allowed us to maintain our diversity in the long term. It allows us to transfer goods from one sector to another in the most efficient manner, making breakthroughs in research easier.”

Wuxing, one of the oldest and most established shipping Megacorps, had another take on the matter. Most especially interesting, considering the recent accusations made by Renraku that Wuxing was responsible for the attacks against their Heavy Industry, is the shade Wuxing throws against Renraku in this statement: “We have had a long history in shipping. It’s where we started and what led to us being able to do many of the things that we do today. While other corporations shipping focused on internal matters, we have had a lengthy relationship with smaller businesses and have strong ties to the smaller corporations of the world. This is not something to be taken lightly. It requires trust and the ability to work amicably with direct competitors. Our family approach has helped us in this portion of the shipping business, and is the cornerstone of what our other businesses ventures are based on. We are currently focused on finding new and innovative ways to secure our shipments from outside forces and better ways to ship internationally in general. Our short foray into heavy industry was part of this development and we learned much to further advance our shipping industry.

We are aware that other corporations are trying to expand their shipping subsidiaries and that it is becoming a closely contested market. We were intrigued by Ares return after abandoning its previous shipping subsidiary. The most noticeable development is Renraku’s continued growth. While others have had subsidiaries and may occasionally increase their market share, Renraku has made a concerted effort that the others have not. Given Renraku’s history with collecting extensive data on its consumer base and previous track record within the Seattle metroplex, most notably of course the Renraku lockdown, we wonder what shipping with Renraku might lead to for those who choose to use their services.”

SSN was able to discuss the Shipping market with one of Seattle’s premier financial analysts, recently rescued Saeder-Krupp executive Vorack, who had the following analysis to impart:

Vorack: Time for a quick little analysis on shipping as overall it’s been rather dull. It started off with just three corps interested in it at all. Ares, Shia and Wuxing but Ares suffered a massive catastrophe and quickly sold off their entire division off to Shia, my guess is this is the start of that little alliance the two of them share though. What’s impressive about this, and I think Shia would probably be a little upset about me saying this, is I know for certain that Shia actually had teams inside Ares espionaging them at the time, so good job for Shia and being sneaky. What seems odd, is shortly after Ares sold off their sub both Wuxings and Shias own segments got attacked, and they were only the two corps left, so who would do the attacking and what did they have to gain from it?

The only thing I can think of is maybe it was Evo trying to weaken the entire segment as they were the first corp to join in and just one month after the attacks, you could say they happened to get in just in time for the Shipping Wars™. That same week Shia was attacked repetitively in all of their segments, seems like an odd coincidence considering the history behind those two megacorps. Since then, you could say its been smooth sailing... he he he. Renraku joined up and Ares decided to get back into the shipping game a couple weeks after them. I can see why everyone wants to be part of Shipping, its necessary in everyday life. I have no problem admitting that us here at SK have recently used Wuxing as our primary corp when we need to move our projects or resources.

Though after last weeks announcement from both Ares and Renraku that Wuxing was the one that attacked our Heavy Industry, maybe we will be switching to a more honorable corporation. But think of us here in Seattle, we are a very long way from SK's main hub back in Essen and without a strong link between the two, we of course would be weaker as a whole. Shipping is needed in life and I’m happy to see that the time I considered the Shipping Wars™ has seen to come to an end.

Is Vorack correct? Are the Shipping Wars over or will the problems in Heavy Industry find its way back into Shipping? It seems not if this weeks attacks on Wuxing are any indication. Even if the Megacorps have calmed down in Shipping, that doesn’t mean that everyone is safe who sails the high seas or the highways. It is important to note that it isn’t just Megacorps who have violent intentions towards Seattles shipping lanes. It was only a few months ago that a Wuxing ship was attacked—most likely by organized crime and only a few weeks ago that our highways were plagued with magic fire and gun fire. Shipping is life blood to any city, and it is also a career path for many regular people without fancy educations. Let’s keep our shippers safe.

 Features:

Once More 3--(by Breach)

Having followed Howling Coyote on his magical path to power, the world is a very different place than it was in 2000, but we haven’t run out of surprises yet. With mana levels still rising, in 2021 some critical threshold is passed, and on April 30th, one-in-ten humans (which means elves and dwarves were exempt) transformed into either an ork or a troll.

The media dubbed it “Goblinization”, and many feared a new disease outbreak was on its way - the scars of VITAS had yet to heal. Global responses varied, but by far the most common was fear, revulsion, and anger. Orks and trolls were rounded up and interned away from “normal” people (some places, not even elves and dwarves avoided this fate).

It is rumored that the death of Great Britain’s King George VII is due to his Goblinization and subsequent execution by the British military. 

The worst of these “camps” would probably be Yomi Island, in part because of its longevity - it was not until 2062 that Japan would allow its metahuman population to live among them, and the scars of Yomi can still be felt today. 

To add insult to injury, in the autumn of 2022, VITAS did return, killing another ten percent of the population - with deaths being disproportionately among humans and elves, as dwarves, orks and trolls all enjoy an increased natural immunity to the virus. The outbreak would likely have been worse, but magical treatments practiced by traditional medicine men in the poorer regions of the world proved incredibly successful in containing the worst of the disease.

In the wake of Goblinization and VITAS 2.0, world governments continue to crumble, many ceding power to private corporations in a desperate bid to remain relevant. Once public-trust functions, such as policing, increasingly get bid out to private contractors, leading to the rise of entities such as Lone Star and Knight Errant across the globe.

As governments collapse, corporate power continues to rise; ASIST has brought simsense to the world, and having bridged the gap between mind and machine, cyberware becomes increasingly common; the rich and privileged even look towards artificial prosthetics to enhance their natural abilities, not just replace lost functions.

Alongside this great technological advancement, magic becomes mainstream; on the back of the Great Dragon Schwartzkopf accepting a professorship at the University of Prague, more and more institutions around the globe start offering professional degrees in magic studies. In 2022, the term “Awakened” is first used to describe the magically active, and a field of studies follows in its wake.

But the worst was to come, because 2029 held another pivot point in our path: the first Crash.

We’ll talk about that next week.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! [email protected]

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

Emergency Update

Manastorm and Dragon Downtown

While we are waiting for the results of the election, a dangerous situation has developed. The heavy storm we are encountering has turned into a mana storm. The storm is causing anger among all people and is causing distress among awakened individuals. A Wuxing representative has contacted SSN with the following message: "With the sudden appearance of this Mana Storm Wuxing is setting up mana barriers at our Tranquility Clinics and offering shelter to anyone who might be caught out in the storm."

But more importantly, there are multiple reports of a Dragon appearing in Downtown Seattle near the Shiawase building. Tipsters have noted that it is indigo scaled and that it matches no known Great Dragon. Everyone who is downtown, try to get out of downtown or find shelter, perhaps Wuxing’s Tranquility Clinics. If you are not downtown, stay out of downtown.

Don’t cast spells until the mana storm is over.

 City News:

A is for Arcology—(Demmalition1, Field Reporter)

Hello, dear readers! Today’s rant about this sniveling morass of a city is on its arcologies. Remember, these are those two massive buildings in the Metroplex shaped like pyramids, one currently owned by Aztechnology and the other by the UCAS government. An arcology is basically one giant interconnected building which can be completely self-reliant and have everything one needs to live a full and productive life. At the bequest of their corporate overlords, of course. This hyper-efficient way of living comes from the fact that since everything is interconnected with multiple redundant backups, there will never be any perceived problems. There is no need to go down 20 stories, cross the street, and go up another 20 stories to see the hooker you’re banging while your husband is at work. You can simply leave your stacked skyscraper and walk down the way to the door instead. On your way back, why not enjoy some adverts floating in your AR feed or shop at the outlet store right outside your door? Life’s pretty sweet, yeah? Like there is never anything wrong with your little gilded cage. Why, all of those bad people with their bad problems are just outside these reinforced steel and concrete walls. Nothing bad will ever enter here, why should I give two wags of a dead dog’s tail about them? They chose to be in poverty, they just need to try harder then they might have a spot in the queue to enter. We’ll just screen out those who don’t meet our standards anyways...

People like you make me sick enough to vomit blood and join Molotov in a righteous bonfire of the corps.

To grow up in one of these monstrosities is like the corp du jour telling you that all is well. All is well, and you don’t need to change anything about it. Never mind the fact that you’re in a company town with company laws and company services. When you’re useful, you get pampered and patted on the head like the good little obedient animal that you are. When you trip and fall, it’s ok! A company man will be there to help you. A company man who uses company tools and is paid company money to buy company things. He’ll go into debt at the company bank to pay the company rent on the company’s housing. Watching company trids on company grids with company food and company drugs. Then sleep on the company bed, only to awaken to the morning cattle feed call and start over his daily company life on company scheduling.

Oh, is something the matter? Is the company life too stifling? Is our company food too much like soy? Are the daily company drug regimens that are pushed into your thick skull by company adverts not enough for you, company man? What’s that? We’re doing something wrong? Illegal you say? Oh, my my my, we’ll fix it right up. You do like the food in your belly, the roof over your head, and the school your daughter goes to, right? Certainly, you wouldn’t want to hurt her, would you? Now be a good dog and go back to your cage, supper will be at the company-mandated time. It never changes. Ever.

When people live and die by the whims of those in power, never wanting to challenge the course of their own destiny, that’s a problem. Those who pay you also clothe you and feed you, taking any money you have that was given to you. The perfect closed loop. You may as well be paid in funny money, since that’s about all that you’re worth to them. You’re no higher than semi-sentient pond scum to those with the keys to the kingdom, ready to be tossed aside and discarded at the slightest whiff of disobedience. If you complain, you lose your SIN, your friends, your family, and everyone else in that little isolated pristine bubble of a community. You’re shunned, burned, and left forgotten in only the bitter memory of someone who would dare violate the pretty little bubble of monotony and soul sucking depravity that is your arcology.

People can ‘live’ and die in there, never setting foot out into the real world of the suffering and the damned. There’s no rumspringa to see those who are swept up in the wastebasket of society and left to be crushed the next time the trashman comes knocking. The SINless will never enjoy comfort of this level because they will never have the inkling of an opportunity to rise up and surmount the impossible barriers that are erected to keep them out of society. Go on, go and leave those monolithic monstrosities you call arcologies and go to the Redmond Barrens. Travel along the 405 to New Castle and meet some real hardcore assholes. They’ll show you what life is really like outside of your high tower. A tower that is unquestionable and absolute in its authority and control over you. Because that’s what you’re giving up to live there. Control. Control over your life to do as you want, voluntarily pulling the veil over your rose-tinted contacts in order to be coddled and cooed into submission. When the majority of the populace is little more than brain dead slugs to be commanded lest the salt be poured on them, it’s no more than enjoying the security blanket of societal solitude.

Now then, why am I ranting like a madman on the street corner who just ran out of coherent things to say? Because I’m here to educate your sorry sacks of brain matter with so much of The Truth that you might actually do something besides waiting for the next spinoff of Hammer and the Fang. Time for a history bomb on your sorry asses. Back in the day, the Renraku-funded “Self-Contained Industrial-Residential Environment” (SCIRE) was built in downtown Seattle to house its various employees. Glistening on the bay, a beautiful jewel that shined far and wide for all to see. Like the Egyptian Pyramids of years past, it was meant to stand the test of time and be a punch in the face of God himself. A model of efficiency and dedication to the corporate life; a shining beacon for all to gaze upon the magnanimous lustor of the corporate way. The complex was designed to be self-contained, with no need for the outside world, for good or for ill. This massive center of commerce, research, industry, and corp lifestyle would be the be-all-end-all of society. A place that could be replicated over time until the entire Seattle Sprawl was one giant arcology. A computer-controlled, perfect, well-oiled machine of corporate dominance. It was a model that could be reminiscent of Peach Trees or Synecdoche, NY. 

This self-sufficiency came at a price, however; on December 19, 2059, the evil mastermind AI known as Deus took control and sealed off the SCIRE from all outside influence. He took a population of 90,000 down to less than 1,600 by the time the arcology was “fully unsealed” in May, 2061. Runner teams had shut him down beforehand, but his murderbots remained behind to finish what he started. Those who perished within were subject to horrific experiments by the deranged AI, many being tied to the fact that SCIRE was an UltraViolet host. For the uninitiated, a UV host is a hyper-realistic VR program so in tune with reality that any decker who enters will experience dumpshock upon exiting. It’s the ultimate drift between a dream and reality, more inception of the mind’s eye than the mind can handle.

As it currently stands, SCIRE is now renamed the “Arcology Commercial and Housing Enclave” (ACHE). Owned wholly by the UCAS military with a bustling 5-floor mall, an off-limits pair of fusion reactors below and a blocked off 200 floors above. They shop in the graveyard of the damned. The mall has the scars of the past whitewashed out and plastered over with ads. The past be damned, as the housing that previously occupied the former hedonistic lifestyles of corp pets is now for the truly poor and damned. It’s Cabrini Green or Cluny Square all over again. Going from a clustered 90,000 residents, it’s currently bursting at the seams with more than 150,000 residents on welfare with nothing more to their names than their names. However, some of them don’t even have the luxury of that as BTL chip addiction or pseudo-indentured slavery takes the rest. It’s no better than “voluntary inmates of a gigantic self-contained low-security prison” by one person’s account. Signing up condemns those who do to a life of inescapable servitude.

Yes, it may be a step up for some, but it sets you in a little box that you can never leave. You get three things of gruel for food, cardboard shoes, and basic trideo programming. You want a job outside of the roach hotel? You can’t, as having an address here in this government housing is basically a death sentence to any resume sent out, even if you could be the one to eradicate VITAS. The people here have fallen off the face of the Earth and you couldn’t be happier, could you? A nice and tidy place to stuff the stuffers of the world, the people who you’d cross the street to avoid. The people who need your help the most. The people who, if they wanted to change their situation, couldn’t. They can’t earn a wage, they can’t vote for change, they can’t leave. They can scream all they want inside these former gilded cages, but now the cage has been cemented over and a one-way funnel is instituted and the only exit being insanity or a body bag - if you’re lucky.

Renraku will tell you that this was no more than a landgrab by the UCAS military, that their citizens perished in a horrific accident. An official statement from a contact within Renraku reads as follows: “We were maliciously attacked by powers beyond our control, and while we were able to regain control, it is a shame so many lives were lost do to a security system that was, perhaps, a little too efficient.”  This completely whitewashes the deaths of thousands in order to keep their the bottom line plump and fat. The rotting, festering boil in the city will remain and degrade over time. It will reach the point where the people inside have no other recourse but to revolt. How many Molotovs will this spawn? Police enter in groups if they have to stop someone from irritating the outside world. The 5 ground floors are a mere facade to the pressure cooker building above. There’s even rumor swirling that there are sections of the upper floors which remain in control by the robotic remnants of Deus, the military too weak and limp-dick ineffective to take control. The people who need the most help will receive the least, just as you wanted, while also keeping these corporate overlords in power. Those above you are force feeding you grenades and telling you not to open your mouth or the spoon will pop open. Detonation will be imminent. You will not survive.

When someone is thrown in jail, an animal often used in metaphor is the lion, which is meant to show the plight of the human spirit. They’d tell you that the look in a lion’s eyes fades over time as it became more docile, defeated and subjected to the cruel inequities that mankind had thrust upon it. I firmly reject that thinking. Mankind knows of a far worse animal... man itself. A lion roams free in the jungles, the king of his domain, to eat and sleep and do as he pleases. He must forcefully be dragged out of his native habitat by men with guns and enough tranquilizers to make him want to think that Johnny Nuclear and the Isotopes is an okay band. The lion will fight you until the very end, when you throw him in a cage and gawk his broken visage for 20 nuyen a pop and some popcorn. Man, on the other hand, has a far more insidious nature to his being, for he is both smart enough to talk to his captors and work the handle to his cage to free himself. But instead, all he needs to be lead voluntarily into the cage is three hots, a cot, some porn, and a vidscreen allowing him to gawk at the other humans in their cages while being pumped with ads and junk. Oh, and the popcorn will be ¥40. He will be pacified and doped up of his own accord, never questioning why he is in the cage or wanting to leave, for being in a drug-addled stupor is far less taxing on his mind than to think critically for himself. He can mentally pleasure himself with the thought of “one day, I’ll be just like those people on TV, I’ll have money and power and people will like me for who I am!” But that is a farce, for he is in a cage of his own design, where food and comfort are hard-fought and little-earned. Where all he needs to be docile is a pat on the back and the promise of a better tomorrow that will never come for him, a company man.

Man is fucking stupid.

 Molotov Strikes Again; Keep Eyes Peeled

Last night there was a massive fire at the Downtown Grand Christmas tree. The tree and all presents underneath were destroyed. Two elves and a Santa who were working nearby were injured in the fire as well as three small children. Investigations by field reporter Demmalition1 indicate that the notorious arsonist Molotov is responsible. Not a big surprise, unfortunately. What is surprising is that Molotov apparently has recruited allies, at least one Latino orc, with indications that he is assembling a gang of like-minded individuals. He seems to be using vans to keep mobile as well as disguises. There is every indication that Molotov plans to target the Seattle Macy Star and any location that he sees as centers of corporate commerce. He is a person in pain and anger. He cannot stand to see anyone happy or with joy and so he will target anything that might bring anyone hope or happiness. While you are out in Seattle this season, keep your eyes peeled for danger. You do not want to be caught in his inferno of rage and hatred. He does not care who gets burned. All indications are that he would be happy for everyone to suffer as he is suffering. He is a narcissist and he cannot see love; he cannot see that other people’s lives have value. I value you, fellow Seattlites. Keep safe. I want to see you on the streets, in the shadows and in the lights. I want to see you struggling and surviving. I want to see you finding beauty in small things. I want to see you finding love and warmth. I want to see you have successes, large and small. I want you to give me a nod as we pass on the streets. So keep safe. Don’t let the Corps or Madmen destroy you.

 Corp News:

Mitsuhama Discovers Water Reserves on Mars

There has been an announcement by Mitsuhama representatives that they have discovered deep underground reserves of frozen water on Mars which they plan on using to help develop the red planet. Mitsuhama has also indicated that they are in friendly discussions with the Monad community there. Monads, for those who don’t know, are people who have been afflicted with CFD. Mitsuhama representatives have said that they are in complete support of Project Exodus, a monad plan to take all the CFD infected into deep space and leave the solar system by 2080, and they plan on helping the monads with this endeavor. Lastly, Mitsuhma representatives have made the claim that their new Dawn Suits are somehow able to give protection to wearers from CFD. If this is true, it could be a potential breakthrough for all of metahumanity. Mitsuhama, give us more details!

 Features:

Once More 2--(by Breach)

Last week, we traced the path from extraterritoriality up to the Awakening. The world as we know it has already had its seeds planted, but there is much yet to come.

First let me lead off with this: the Awakening was not a light switch, a flood gate, or any other metaphor for a sudden and abrupt change. The Awakening was a simmering pot finally breaking to boil. Magic had been returning for some time – if it ever truly left altogether. There are reports of “spike” babies (almost all elves) being born as early as the 1990s (or even sooner, if claims are to be believed), and certain “immortal” elves claim to have been around since the so-called “Fourth World”, possibly as much as ten thousand years ago.

But back to the Awakening; in 2011, the pot had been simmering long enough that it finally boiled over, and the traces of magic that had been increasingly appearing over the years finally broke over into something we could no longer deny. Human couples found themselves parents to elven and dwarven babies, clearly different from the human norm and in too great a quantity to be written off as mere genetic mutation or defect.

Other signs of magic began to appear as well: mana storms started in Australia (the Dreamtime may be such a strong manifestation of magic that it survived the entire Fifth World), stone circles and mana lines begin to re-exert their presence, and, by the end of 2011, the clearest sign of all: Dragons.

But although Dragons may be the most visible manifestation of magic’s return, they were not the most impactful. That distinction belongs to Daniel Howling Coyote, who is probably the first human mage to Awaken and certainly the most influential (and arguably powerful).

Daniel Howling Coyote was an Ute tribesman and a member of SAIM (remember the Lone Eagle incident?). His power shaped the world we now live in in ways we may not even yet fully understand, but it started when his magic allowed him and his followers to walk free from their internment camp in the old United States. Though he only touched the world stage a few times, what he did shook the very foundations of the world – literally.

In 2014, Howling Coyote issued an ultimatum to the world: North America belonged to the native tribes, and all foreigners must leave. The world ignored him, until he made them listen. In 2017, the Great Ghost Dance was performed – a magical ritual based on the traditional ceremonies of the native tribes. The immediate result was the eruption of volcanoes across the continent, as Hood, Ranier, St. Helens and Adams simultaneously spewed destruction upon the continent. Nature itself fought back against the government and the corporations, and in April of 2018, the United States, Canada and Aztlan all signed the Treaty of Denver, recognizing the power and sovereignty of the Native American Nations (NAN).

The tribes had their land back, and magic had proven itself a new player on the global stage.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! [email protected]

 Gang News

Bloodshed in Puyallup!

After Ancient Street Samurai TIB called out Chula Meo for a duel on Jackpoint. It seems that conflict has finally come to pass. Earlier today, there was a large firefight between Chulo and Ancient gang members on the streets of Puyallup. Chula pretty boy Meo was walking the streets with his best friend HermeZ and a few other Chulos, when he came across Ancient TIB and some of his crew. TIB taunted Meo, who apparently didn’t want to fight…probably because of his “secret” marriage to a particular Ancient. HermeZ and TIB went at it, firing at each other with katanas. According to a tipster, Meo was trying to stop the fight, but in the chaos, TIB was able to kill HermeZ. This enraged Meo who attacked TIB. The fight some time and involved both blades and rocket launchers. In the process of the fight two market stalls were destroyed. Ultimately TIB was killed by Meo who promptly fled the scene. Earlier this morning, Mayor Lon Campa held a press conference, flanked by Ancient leader Belial. It have been clear for quite some time that Campa has been in the pocket of the Ancients, but this press release confirms it. Campa stated that because of the damage and the violence, Meo is now wanted and no longer welcome in Puyallup. He also said that Puyallup was committed to lessening crime and violence and would be focusing on the Chulo threat. Mayor Campa made no comment about the Ancients and seemingly they are going to suffer no repercussions for their part in this violence.

Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays