[Sir_Prometheus]

Anybody have an idea with what's going in there?  Mostly interested in the physiological changes the infected seem to be going through -- increased sensitivity to sunlight, more ghouls going feral. And it all seemed to start July of '73, wtf?  What could be causing that?

[Critias]

I've got my own theory, but it won't see print for a while.   

[martinchaen]

Ghostwalker closed the rift in DC in July of '73. Other noticeable events of that year include Sirrurg expending vast amounts of mana to lay waste to cities in Aztlan, and that whole mess with the artifacts.

Could it be as simple as increased mana levels? It's stated that HMHVV achieves full virulence in a magic-rich environment; there's certainly been an increase in mana levels all over, and I for one don't know what effects the expenditure and/or shaping of mana has on the ambient mana levels.

[Sir_Prometheus]

Yeah, but July '73 is really specific. And wouldn't closing the rift reduce magic levels?

[martinchaen]

Not necessarily. An astral rift is described in Street Magic as simply bridging the gap between the physical world and astral space, as well as potentially some metaplanes.

Closing the rift definitely cut off the link to the Shedim metaplane, though very little else is known about the effects of the closure. As such, this is just speculation on my part as it just happened to occur at the same time.

The mana levels argument was actually a separate thread from my point of view; while the Astral Rift in DC was certainly unique, I doubt it would have influenced mana levels world wide. I just think mana levels are on the rise in general, which could explain why the HMHVV are experiencing the odd symptoms that are described. Higher mana levels = more potent HMHVV.

That's my theory, anyway.

[Crimsondude]

All sorts of crazy magical/mana things happened around the time of the closure around DeeCee. So it was clearly the site of the most pronounced effects, but not necessarily the only one, assuming that any effects were localized and not global.

[Mirikon]

Detonate a bomb underwater, and the effects can be felt much further than the immediate vicinity of the bomb. We already know that there was a massive backlash of energy caused by the closing of the rift. However, that was only one effect, the most visible one. We're basically dealing with the magical equivalent of a nuke, which was forcibly contained by blood magic. We've already met the threshold for 'crazy drek could have happened because of this'. It could very well be that a kind of 'background radiation' from this event is affecting the Infected. If so, the question is why is it ONLY affecting the Infected? Are they simply more susceptible to it due to their 'change'? Will other awakened creatures start seeing effects as time goes by?

[psycho835]

Will it create another mana spike (please, say yes)?

[Patrick Goodman]

*grabs a bag of popcorn and a Dr Pepper and watches with great interest*

[Sir_Prometheus]

That's all you guys got?

[Patrick Goodman]

It's all I can talk about at the moment.

Except to say that July 2073 was when obvious signs started to show up. It's not out of the realm of the possible that it's been going on longer and it just took a while to show up overtly, where people noticed. Hard to say when things really got started on this path, and in all honesty, no one may ever really know (at least in-game).

But I will tell you that it was mostly a random date on my part, that fit the needs of the story. That there was a lot going on in Shadowrun at the time was a wonderful little bonus.

[Sir_Prometheus]

tease

[martinchaen]

Interesting. Time to take a closer look at the timeline going further back, then.

To be edited...

As promised:
2072:
Nothing really strikes me as potentially related; lots of politics, space age nanotech and space elevator, Az-Am war breaks out

2071:
Again, nothing really strikes me as potentially related; politics as usual, the tempo crisis (seems like a stretch that tempo would be "the" cause, but could it be contributing?)

2070:
Same as before; the Emergence, new AIs appearing, Seattle election (booo, Brackhaven!)

2069:
Major earthquakes mess up California; could be related to increased magic, perhaps? Another byproduct, same as HMHVV power increasing?

2068:
ESUS arcology meltdown in the SOX; more toxic energy/mana in the world?

I don't really recognize anything that could be related until 2064:
As part of their Operation Jormungand (and/or Firnbul) Winternight managed to seize control of and use several mana nexi around the world for ritual magic. They also set off a nuclear physics lab, as well as 6 conventional nuclear weapons, fifteen EMP bobms, and one of their members commit "magical suicide.

New Revolution stirs up a lot of bad juju across the UCAS.

Ibn Eisa turns out to be a Master Shedim; who knows what kind of horrors he and his kind have set in motion.


To my mind, Winternight's orchestrations, along with the Shedim menace, stand out as the most significant "taints" on mana, at least on a massive, maybe even global, scale.

[cantrip]

There are a lot of mana/ley lines that have been becoming active. As well as other "once magical" sites. I was reading through Shadows of Europe the other night and was like "Whoa!"

ParaGeology has a lot of info in this area.

Lastly, not only are old sites becoming active there are a lot of individuals and organizations actively trying to control or bring more online! 

[edit - one more comment]

Heck -  check out Australia!

[Namikaze]

I'm wondering if that "dragon killer" that Aztechnology Aztlan used on Sirrurg has anything to do with either the spike for Infected, or the CFD outbreak?