This is a Science-Fantasy roleplay set in a near-future fictional universe in which cybernetics, magic and fantasy creatures co-exist. It combines genres of cyberpunk, urban fantasy and crime, with occasional elements of conspiracy fiction, horror and detective fiction.
This world is cross-genre, incorporating elements of both cyberpunk and urban fantasy. Unlike in a purely cyberpunk game, in this world, magic exists and has "worked" since 2011. Among other things, this split humankind into subtypes, also known as metatypes/metahumans. Some of these metatypes take the form of common fantasy races. Likewise, some animals have turned into familiar monsters of past fantasy and lore and both monsters and human magicians have regained magical powers. By the second half of the 21st century, in the time the game is set, these events are accepted as commonplace. Man, machine, and magic exist in a world where the amazing is among the most common and technology has entered into every facet of human (and metahuman) life.
Characters can be humans, orks, trolls, elves, dwarves, as well as certain diverging subspecies (known as metavariants) such as gnomes, giants, minotaurs, etc. In the early days, when magic returned to the world, humans began to either change into, or give birth to elf and dwarf infants, a phenomenon called Unexplained Genetic Expression (UGE). Later, some juvenile and adult humans "goblinized" into other races (mostly orks, but also some trolls). The term "metahuman" is used either to refer to humanity as a whole, including all races, or to refer specifically to non-human races, depending on context. With the return of Halley's Comet new human variants called "changelings" arose. Two of the metahuman races have fictional languages.
The game is set 62 years in the future, following a great change that has returned magic to the world. The emergence of magic, the outbreak of the VITAS plagues, the Computer Crash of 2029, the Euro-Wars, and the fevers for independence of Amerindian tribes, Chinese provinces, and everything else that came with the many struggles that ravaged Europe and Asia left the world's governments tumbling and falling. The United States was broken into substates. Monetary value was lost. The world had to rebuild, and rebuild they did, this time in the image of the Mega-Corporations that seized power. Taking advantage of the laws that had been passed years ago, and using their new found freedom, the Mega-corps began impressing their power on the failing governments. Before long the world was transformed. Boundaries were redrawn, and the political landscape was changed forever.
A basic premise of the setting is that as the world endured the string of state-changing events and conflicts, the political landscape fragmented and reformed. In North America, for example, some nations broke apart and reformed, as was the case with the Confederation of American States and the United Canadian and American States; others became havens for specific racial or ethnic groups, like the councils of the Native American Nations, the Native Americans having used their new found magical abilities to regain massive tracts of land; or the Elvish principality of Tír Tairngire, that encompasess all of the state of Oregon. Some, like the California Free State, simply declared independence, or became de facto corporate subsidiaries like Aztlan (the former Mexico) to Aztechnology Megacorp. Despite the new role of megacorporations, many nations still hold considerable sway through economic, social and military means. For some, getting by means taking advantage of whatever the corps, or the government might bring their way.
The monolithic "enemies" of the Shadowrun world (borrowing heavily from cyberpunk mythos) are the corporations, dubbed "megacorporations", "megacorps", or simply "megas" or "corps" for short. Megacorporations in the 21st-century are global, with all but the smallest corps owning multiple subsidiaries and divisions around the world. They are the superpowers of the Shadowrun universe, with the largest corporations having far more political, economic, and military power than even the most powerful nation-states.
In Shadowrun, corporations are effectively "ranked" by the amount of assets under their control, including material, personnel, and property, as well as profit. These ranks are A, AA, and AAA; AAA corporations are top tier. Most corporations in the AA and AAA level are immune to domestic law, responsible only to themselves, and regulated only by the Corporate Court, an assembly of the ten AAA-rated corporations. All AAA-rated and most AA-rated corporations exhibit a privilege known as "extraterritoriality", meaning that any land owned by the corp is sovereign territory only to the corp and immune to any laws of the country within. Corporate territory is not foreign soil but corporate soil, just like its employees are corporate citizens, though dual citizenship in a corporation and a nation is common. The AAA corps, as well as numerous minor corporations, fight each other not only in the boardroom or during high-level business negotiations but also with physical destruction, clandestine operations, hostile extraction or elimination of vital personnel, and other means of sabotage. Because no corporation wants to be held liable for damages, it has to be done by deniable assets, or shadowrunners, invisible to the system where every citizen is tagged with a System Identification Number (SIN).
Despite the Crash which caused much data corruption, technology in the game is advanced. Cyberware (technical implants) and Bioware (genetically engineered implants which enhance a person's abilities) emerged. Characters can also augment their bodies with nanotechnology implants.
In earlier editions, direct neural interface technology enabled humans and metahumans to directly access computers and the Matrix, the ingame global computer network restructured after the 2029 Crash. Access to the Matrix was accomplished by "deckers": individuals that have "cyberdecks". These interface machines are connected to the brain through a Datajack generally located at the temple or behind the ear.
After the second Matrix crash in 2064, Matrix technology was moved away from the wired network and led into a wireless technology. The most noticeable difference between the Matrix in the 2070s and the earlier editions is that wireless technology has become completely ubiquitous. Communications and Matrix access is provided through wi-fi nodes placed throughout the infrastructure of just about every city on Earth, fulfilling a service similar to contemporary cell towers - but as these nodes are as numerous as telephone poles, only a tiny percentage of their range is necessary. The nodes of all electronic devices a person carries are connected in a similar manner, creating a Personal Area Network (PAN). People access their PAN with their Commlink, a combination personal computer/cell phone/PDA/wireless device available either as an implant or a head-mounted display. This access can be the total sensory immersion common to cyberpunk fiction, or a sensory enhancement by which the virtual features of one's physical surroundings can be perceived and manipulated. The Matrix of the 2070s is thus not only a virtual reality, but an augmented or mixed reality. Cyberdecks are obsolete, so "deckers" have once again become "hackers". In turn, the otaku of previous versions (deckers who did not need decks to access the Matrix) have been reworked into technomancers, who possess an innate connection to the Matrix that permits them to access the wireless network without hardware.
Those able to actively interact with the magical energies of the Sixth World are known as "awakened". An awakened character's power in magic is linked to their Magic attribute. A magic user's approach to working with mystic energy is called their Path. The Awakened fall into three general Paths: magicians, adepts and mystic adepts. Broadly speaking, magicians focus their magic outward, actively affecting the world around them, while adepts focus their magic inward, passively enhancing their bodies and minds.
Magicians are able to cast spells, summon spirits, and create magical artifacts called "foci". All magicians follow traditions that determine their understanding of magic, including hermetic mages (whose control of magic comes through study and manipulation of magical energy or mana, and who summon and bind elementals in lengthy and expensive rituals to be called on later) and shamans (whose magic derives from a connection to nature via a totem spirit, and who can summon the nature spirits associated with a particular place). Adepts use magic internally in order to accentuate their natural physical abilities. Adepts can run on walls, use mundane objects as deadly thrown projectiles, shatter hard objects with a single unarmed blow, and perform similar feats of incredible ability. All adepts follow a very personal path (Path of the Warrior, Path of the Artist, etc.) that normally determines their abilities which might be very different for any two adepts (while one might demonstrate increased reflexes and facility with firearms, a second might possess unparalleled mastery of the katana, and a third might be able to pull off incredible vehicular stunts). Mystic adepts, also known as physical mages, are part magician and part adept who distribute their magic power between the abilities of both aspects.
You're a group of free-lance Shadow-runner's, you all have been running together for a long time. Crack a terminal here, waste some poor ass hole there, doing the dirty work that only the low men on the totem pole get. A mysterious job offer came to you in a weird way, in the package were siz individual twenty nuyen credsticks. Under the cred-sticks was a holocorder, when you turned it on it said come to the Red barrens in Seattle if you'd like to start making more creds. The flight was planned for you and (when we start) you're in a large van being driven over there. You're headed there to take your swing at the big time.
Name:
Race:
Age:
Appearance:
Job Title: (Deckers hack your stuff, Street Samurai's are muscle, Riggers work with machines, Faces are your talky types, Shamans and Mages use magic.)
Cyberware: (Any Cyberware you have.)
Bio:
03-17-2013
Alphakoka
Goddammit, I would've joined if I'm not on limit of RPs.
03-17-2013
Turtlicious
Oh I'm sure one more wouldn't hurt Mr. Koka.
03-17-2013
Foster
I'm in 20.
I'll make it 21 if I have to.
03-17-2013
HellOfALife
Interested :)
03-17-2013
Turtlicious
I just realized I basically have everything I want for an OOC post there, so if people are interested, I'll just leave this up for CS's and move to the OOC when everyone's posted and stuff.
03-17-2013
Alphakoka
Quote:
Originally Posted by Turtlicious
Oh I'm sure one more wouldn't hurt Mr. Koka.
Sorry already used that reasoning for the arena fight.
and adding one more for whatever reason hurts me in RL.
03-17-2013
Turtlicious
Posting in the Arena does that to people. (I'M JOKING RILLA, PLEASE DON'T HURT ME.)
03-17-2013
Vena Sera IV
All of my yes. I'll have a CS up soonish :3
- - - Updated - - -
What does "talky types" mean persay? And would making one that fights as well be outlandish?
03-17-2013
Turtlicious
Everyone and their mother knows how to use a gun when you do this line of work. A "Face" just has Cyberware to make him or her more attractive, whether it be pheremone deposits around the shoulder blades, or a special extra-metabolic gland to make sure they always have the "perfect figure" your Face is the kind of gal who knows how to waggle her tail feathers and get what she wants.
She also probably knows how to use standard fire arms, though it may be outlandish for someone with that kind of tech to also have say, Military training. The time that would be spent learning weapons, would instead be spent figuring out the neural interface for your implants, and how to use it to the best of your ability.
Or just have a data-jack, and load "Weapons Training" skillsofts. It's up to you.
