[gyrobot]

First thought when I read the Omega Dawn entry was

"Oh...so the Psycho Squad from CP2020 is officially in SR?"

People wanted a bunch of corporate cocksuckers who dont just suck their not so beneviolent madster's cock but also gruesomely shoot a sinless.

Personal Favourite: Omega Dawn. There's just something inherently troubling about a bunch of security goons from different corps ganging up on undesirables. I can vividly see these guys being a real threat for a team of runners who indiscriminately kill security guards, and I find this group to be the least bat-shit crazy one. Vigilantes, sure, but not necessarily insane. I also like the comment about the lack of racism in Omega Dawn.

I also thought it was cool to get more info on the Hand of Five. There was a thread on this very forum not too long ago asking for clarification on this, so I'm sure I'm not the only one who'll appreciate this.

All in all, well worth the price of admission.

Not really . They seem like the kind that wouldnt hesistate to blow up an humanitarian societies belonging to NPOs because it serves sinless altruistically. They would probably pay off a couple of wageslaves to take their anger out on bums and homeless

[firebug]

I remember reading a friend's copy of this book and being kinda fucking offended when they decided to use my religion's symbol for the "Brotherhood of the Flesh".  AKA, "the guys who we decided needed their own Fanaticism rating of Mindless".

I loved seeing my religious symbol painted on the wall in blood, tying my religion to a bunch of beyond-insane murderers.  I get it though, the artist was probably fucking lazy as hell and just googled "satanic pentagram" in and drew the first result.  That in of itself is annoying...  But it pisses me off when someone's that lazy.

Insults aside, the book has some cool stuff in it.  The Thuggees are cool, and the Crying Masks are badass/terrifying.

[MijRai]

Uh...  Why are you offended, exactly?  I mean, some radical nuts are making their religion look bad...  Just like, say...  Winternight?  The New Islamic Jihad?  The Thuggees?  Or when the Shadowrun Pope of the Awakening labelled all UGE children as 'abominations?'  Should your religion (whatever it is, though I'm guessing some form of Satanism) get special treatment and only positive portrayal? 

The reverse pentagram with a goat head in it is used in a ton of 'evil' images, and for all you know the art notes asked for that kind of symbol on the wall.  Insulting the artist because you're offended is pretty rude, did you think of that?  Even if the art notes didn't specify and just said 'some kind of Satanic insignia...', doesn't mean it was a personal middle-finger sent your way. 

[gyrobot]

I remember reading a friend's copy of this book and being kinda fucking offended when they decided to use my religion's symbol for the "Brotherhood of the Flesh".  AKA, "the guys who we decided needed their own Fanaticism rating of Mindless".

I loved seeing my religious symbol painted on the wall in blood, tying my religion to a bunch of beyond-insane murderers.  I get it though, the artist was probably fucking lazy as hell and just googled "satanic pentagram" in and drew the first result.  That in of itself is annoying...  But it pisses me off when someone's that lazy.

Insults aside, the book has some cool stuff in it.  The Thuggees are cool, and the Crying Masks are badass/terrifying.

I like Omega and Blood and Steel. Its the Ying Yang of Evil Corporate Terrorists vs Anti Corp terrorists fighting against the Man

[Herr Brackhaus]

Uh...  Why are you offended, exactly?  I mean, some radical nuts are making their religion look bad...  Just like, say...  Winternight?  The New Islamic Jihad?  The Thuggees?  Or when the Shadowrun Pope of the Awakening labelled all UGE children as 'abominations?'  Should your religion (whatever it is, though I'm guessing some form of Satanism) get special treatment and only positive portrayal?

Could also be Wicca or Latter Day Saints if memory of religious studies serves me right. Pentacle is a widely used symbol, inverted only slightly less so.

I agree with the rest of your post, though. Inverted pentacle with a goat's head inside of it is literally a copyrighted logo of the church of Satan, which a lot of people associate with "evil". And as you say, its not like it's the first time Shadowrun has used religion in its fluff (Winternight being an excellent example of bat shit crazy).

[firebug]

Yeah, it's not just a pentagram with a goat's head.  It's the specific design, with the hebrew lettering, used as the official symbol of the Church of Satan.

The Thuggees specifically represent a "bad" part of the religion though.  Not just "they're crazy Hindu murderers".  It's different.  Look, maybe it seems minor to you, but it's different when you identify a group's religious routes and then explain that they've gone too far.  It's another when you start off first explaining how terrible the group is, then the religious connection is added in later with no explanation.

And you've misunderstood me.  I'm not saying the laziness was a middle-finger my way.  But I think everyone has a right to try and not allow laziness and lack of research on what imagery they use and references they make to become insulting.

I'm not trying to start anything, and I think the rest of the book is Grade A fluff, I just felt it was worth noting that somebody messed up.

That said, I look forwards to using the Omega Dawn as a boogeyman to anyone who thinks they can get away with just murdering corpsec willy-nilly because "it's a game lol".  While there were counters to that (beyond the most reasonable-- talking to the player, of course) it's cool to have a very tangible (from a GMing perspective) threat to have in my pocket.

[MijRai]

Yeah...  It's the symbol of the Church of Satan.  Who just so happened to take the stereotypical 'evil upside-down pentagram with a goat head in it' for their symbol.  Nobody 'messed up' by using it as a symbol for an evil, radical Satanist group.  Calling the artist lazy for using it is an insult, and I call bullshit on it. 

I mean, the Brotherhood of the Flesh is literally described in the first paragraph as a revival of medieval Satanism by insane people who, instead of acting rational, go out on debauchery and murder sprees for the fun of it.  So no, it wasn't 'these guys are terrible, by the way they're Satanists,' it is 'these radical, extremist Satanists are terrible.'  On top of that, they're all Awakened, with a powerful sponsor of some kind rewarding them for it (probably twisting them into more depraved acts with spirit pacts).  Why would they care at all if they stole the symbols they used from a moderate group of some kind?  It'd probably give them the giggles to cause problems with that. 

There is no difference between Winternight's twisted Asatru and the Thuggees that are in the very same book from this Brotherhood of the Flesh besides that of origin and exact methodology.  They're all insane groups using terror tactics and violence to achieve their goal (be it veneration of their deity, bringing around Ragnarok or getting their jollies/appeasing their sponsor). 

So I stand by my point that nobody messed up. 

[Sendaz]

I agree with MijRai that using such a symbol is perfectly legit for a group described in game as an evil, radical faction who would of course adopt something that already had brand recognition in the public eye.
And to be fair I would also have accepted an inverted cross because it's a classic two fingers to the system-style symbol, though you would then get just as many people complaining about that I suppose.

Plus if you look at the image, the artist was clever in a way.  While the inner pentacle and goat's head is public domain (that part of the image goes way back before LaVey took it for his own and adapted it by adding the outer ring and particular lettering ), the proper Sigil of Baphomet is trademarked and copyrighted by the CoS.
Probably because of this you will note that the artist has hidden 3 of the 5 symbols in the pic along with the 4th in the upper right sector being smudged at best with the painting medium (assuming blood but could be other fluids) running a bit, probably to avoid issues of infringement.

So close enough to be recognized for people to go, "hey, isn't that......" yet still potentially vague enough to go "well, it might or might not be" for issues of copyright. or trademark infringement.

[firebug]

Alright, alright, fine.  I recede my statements and offense.