Welcome to the world of Shadowrun, world complex and difficult to work with, considering the many, many changes in history that have taken place in this role-playing game's background.
This game's historic divergence point is in the 1990s, when the power of corporations within the world started to grow so much that they developed their own private security forces, which were pretty much paramilitary groups. The great event that made everything go to hell was the New York Food Riots of 1999, when a great truckers' strike left the city without fresh foods for a month. In the middle of these riots, a truck from a corporation called Seretech Med-Research, which contained infectious residues, crossed the city, and it was assaulted by people that believed it had food. The fight ended in a bloodbath, and Seretech got charged with negligence, but they got away with it when they argued that their security forces' actions had prevented worse consequences (although it is believed that Seretech organized the attack themselves). Later, an attack against a Shiawase Corporation nuclear plant by a radical ecologist group led to the US Supreme Court to give extraterritoriality to the main corporations (which meant that all terrains owned by those corporations would be considered foreign land), but it turned out it had been a false flag operation carried out by Shiawase, something that the ecologists were unable to prove as they were attacked and all proof destroyed. Meanwhile, several Japanese corporations sparked the resumption of fighting in the Korean Peninsula, with victory going to South Korea. However, the Japanese influence ended up helping restablish the Japanese Empire, which would soon begin to establish great influence in the world (so much, that the Japanese coin ended up becoming the most accepted tender in the whole world) thanks to its solar energy production satellites, which were then sent to microwave receptors in the terrestrial surface.
The 2010-2019 period was one of the most convulse to ever be seen. The problems caused by the concession of resources in Indian reserves led to the interning of thousands of Native Americans in "re-education centers", pretty much concentration camps in all but name, but the natives would soon get revenge within the same decade, starting a guerrilla war against the American government. 2010 also saw the beginning of an epidemics called VITAS (standing for Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome) led to the death of a quarter of humanity, particularly in India, China, Africa and Mexico, which, in January 2011, saw the official dissolution of its own government.
2011 was also the year of the UGE (Unexplained Genetic Expression) when babies all over the world started to be born with deformities that turned them in elves and dwarves. On December 24th, the Awakening happened, and while the great dragon (yes, dragon) Ryumyo appeared over Mount Fuji, weather and geographic pattern suddenly changed everywhere (many forests started to rapidly grow in Ireland, stone circles appeared in Great Britain and the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Denmark suffered toxic floods as the North Sea pushed into the Elbe). These problems were explained by great dragon Dunkelzahn on January 25th 2012 during an interview that lasted twelve hours: magic had returned to the world.
In 2015, Mexico was refounded as Aztlan (with the support of the Corporation ORO, which would remake itself as Aztechnology), forcing also the return of the nation to the customs of the bloodiest days of the Aztec civilization. Finally, 2018 saw the Treaty of Denver, which put an end to the war against the Amerindian tribes, giving them the independence and property of a good part of the Midwest, breaking the United States in two.
The next years were not better: development of cybernetic limbs was quite good for those that had lost a leg or an arm, but it was soon discovered that could have bad effects for the patients' mental health; ten percent of the living adults suffered a metamorphosis that turned them into trolls and orks; another VITAS epidemic killed even more people; the Lone Star private security company was created, and ended up being hired to act as the police corps for many cities; the Crash of '29 Virus, which required months of fighting in cyberspace and caused the death of several of the fighting hackers (the Matrix-style connection was just beginning at the time), the unification of the United States and Canada and later secession of California (actually, they were kicked out from the Union after dithering too many on whether to become independent or not, and ended up being invaded by all the surrounding nations) and that of the Confederate States; the Euro-Wars; the formation of the Awakened nations of Amazonia (in Brazil), Tír na n'Óg (in Ireland) and Tír Tairngire (seceded from the previously mentioned Amerindian nation; the Acts of Wrath against the metahuman population (elves, dwarves, orks and trolls) and, finally, the appearance of the Universal Brotherhood, which is actually a front for a group of insect spirits that wanted to come to our world and possess all humans; the reaction to this last event ended up with the "life" of the city of Chicago in the year 2056.
Things also got really messy from the year 2036, when the UCAS (United Canadian and American States) passed an ammendment that forced all of its citizens to register and obtain a SIN, turning (System Identification Number), turning anyone that did not have one into second-class citizens. This would end up being a headache when, in 2057, Dunkelzahn decided to present himself as candidate to the Presidency of the UCAS, which required him to have a SIN assigned. Dunkelzahn ended up winning the elections, but he was not able to enjoy his victory for too long, as he was murdered on Inauguration Day by an unknown person.
2061 also brought great changes. Many places in the world suffered storms of variable strength, the vulcanic Ring of Fire exploded, particularly affecting California, the Philippines and Japan, which lost control over a good part of its empire, and a new dragon appeared in the place where Dunkelzahn had died. In 2064, the Matrix (name given to the Internet in this universe) crashed again, so it was replaced with a new, wireless version, and in 2068 General Angela Colloton was voted in as President of the UCAS.
Now, it is the year 2070. Shadowrun is a role-playing game, so the players have to create their own characters, who are the shadowrunners that give name to the game, people capable of remaining between the shadows and do the dirty work other entities (corporations, governments and even individual people) do not wish to have traced back to them. Their potential abilities are legion, among them magic and technomancy (a branch of magic based in the use of the Matrix), but also abilities that can go from robbery (or destruction) of information to kidnapping or murder, but there are missions that are about helping people, defend a place from criminals or even saving a kidnapping victim from other shadowrunners. A problem they have is that they normally do not have their own SIN, which lets them remain hidden among the population but does not allow them to have access to basic services, such as a house or a hospital, but they can always get themselves a fake SIN to access to all of that without a problem.
The ten most important corporations of the world, the AAA (the only ones that have extraterritoriality) are these:
- Ares Macrotechnology (Detroit, UCAS): specialized in security corps and technology related to the military, space, entertainment and vehicles.
- Aztechnology (Tenochtitlán, Aztlan): specialized in consumer and magical goods, owner of the Nicaragua Canal. Good reputation, but every shadowrunner knows they are neck-deep into the blood sacrifices practiced in Aztlan.
- Evo Corporation (Vladivostok, Russia): bioengineering and nanotechnology, as well as products for metahumanity. They have a base in Mars.
- Horizon (Los Angeles, Pueblo Corporate Council): the newest of the AAA, they are specialized in public relations, marketing and social networking.
- Mitsuhama Computer Technologies (Kyoto, Japan): a computer company, also related with robotics, heavy industry and magical goods. Related with the Japanese Yakuza.
- NeoNET (Massachussetts, UCAS): the creators of the Wireless Matrix following the Matrix Second Crash (which they were partially responsible of), they are also expanding into other fields.
- Renraku Computer Systems (Chiba, Japan): the world's main data repository, as well as owner of most telecommunication grids in Asia, although they have sufferd several setbacks in the last few years.
- Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries (Essen, Germany): related with heavy, chemical, financial and aerospatial industry, its owner is the great dragon Lofwyr.
- Shiawase Corporation (Osaka, Japan): the oldest of the AAA, and the one that set precedent for corporative extraterritoriality, it is a zaibatsu (traditional Japanese company) with its fingers in all dishes.
- Wuxing Incorporated (Hong Kong Free Enterprise Enclave): its rising to the rank of AAA is owed to Dunkelzahn, who left them a lot of money in his will. Although previously concentrated in finances, they are now working in magical-related servicies.
See you!
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