[mcv]

What big corporate plots were going on between 2070 and 2075? I'm mostly interested in the Seattle area, but global plots can have local effects, and it's certainly fine if it connects to other places in North America. Any books I should check out for more details?

I believe there's something up with Ares and bugs, right? I know practically nothing about it. Is that already taking place before 2075, or is that later?

The whole CFD thing is mostly after 2075, and I'm aware of the Boston Lockdown and problems with NeoNET and Evo, but when did this start? Did Storm Front kick it off? It plays some role in Splintered State which I intend to run at some point in the future, and I think it'd be cool if my players have already come across a few other vague hints related to this.

Of course this is the period and location of the Ork Underground and Brackhaven plots (and I'm basing the start of my campaign around the season 4 missions), but are there are corporations involved in that? I know some corporations really want to keep Brackhaven around, while others oppose him. Can someone give me a rundown on that?

Aztechnology is of course involved in the war in South America. Would that have any impact in North America?

Any other corporate plots I should be aware of? What are Mitsuhama, Shiawasa, S-K and the others up to at this time?

This question comes inspired by reading Blood in the Boardroom, about the breakup of Fuchi and tons of other corporate shenanigans, and I would love to run that, but it's too far in the past, so I'm looking for inspiration to do something similar in the 2072-2075 period.

Edit: I'm not entirely sure what I was thinking when I wrote this. When I want to know more about corporations in this time period, obviously I should buy Corporate Guide and Corporate Intrigue rather than Bloody Business and Market Panic. I bet there's plenty of plots and intrigue there.

[Beta]

FWIW, 2076 Olympics were in Seattle.  I don't know if any books covered it but there were bound to be low level corp shenanigans going on, between building facilities and recruiting top athletes.

[FastJack]

Below are all the books as they were published in-universe from 2070 through 2075. In particular, take note of the Artifacts Unbound, The Clutch of Dragons, Conspiracy Theories, Corporate Guide, Corporate Intrigue, Spy Games, Storm Front, The Twilight Horizon, Vice, and War!.

Book	In-Universe Date
Gun H(e)aven 3	December 19, 2075
Coyotes	November 30, 2075
*The Assassin's Primer	November 11, 2075
Parazoology 2	August 3, 2075
10 Mercs	June 15, 2075
*Rigger 4	April 1, 2075
Euro War Antiques	February 20, 2075
Storm Front	January 18, 2075
The Way of the Samurai	January 12, 2075
Sim Dreams & Nightmares	December 27, 2074
Montreal 2074	December 13, 2074
Parageology	November 23, 2074
Dirty Tricks	November 2, 2074
The Land of Promise	September 11, 2074
MilSpecTech 2	July 27, 2074
The Clutch of Dragons	July 20, 2074
Magical Societies	May 28, 2074
Gun H(e)aven 2	May 10, 2074
Hazard Pay	April 28, 2074
*Street Legends: Home Edition	April 1, 2074
Parabotany	March 21, 2074
The Twilight Horizon	March 6, 2074
Used Car Lot	February 28, 2074
Safehouses	February 28, 2074
Jet Set	February 7, 2074
Street Legends Supplemental	December 21, 2073
State of the Art: 2073	December 14, 2073
Corporate Intrigue	December 13, 2073
Conspiracy Theories	October 26, 2073
Artifacts Unbound	September 2, 2073
Street Legends	August 14, 2073
Deadly Waves	July 23, 2073
Runner's Black Book	July 23, 2073
Gun H(e)aven	June 15, 2073
Spy Games	May 19, 2073
Attitude	March 21, 2073
MilSpecTech	February 20, 2073
War!	February 6, 2073
*Sixth World Almanac	November 10, 2072
The Rotten Apple: Manhattan	October 4, 2072
Unfriendly Skies	September 19, 2072
The Way of the Adept	August 30, 2072
This Old Drone	July 30, 2072
Running Wild	July 3, 2072
10 Jackpointers	March 5, 2072
Vice	February 28, 2072
*Corporate Guide	January 1, 2072
*Seattle 2072	January 1, 2072
Ghost Cartels	November 27, 2071
Feral Cities	October 13, 2071
Runner's Companion	July 15, 2071
Unwired	May 9, 2071
Arsenal	April 20, 2071
Corporate Enclaves	February 17, 2071
*10 Gangs	January 1, 2071
Augmentation	August 20, 2070
Emergence	August 7, 2070
Street Magic	April 11, 2070
Runner Havens	February 3, 2070

[mcv]

Below are all the books as they were published in-universe from 2070 through 2075. In particular, take note of the Artifacts Unbound, The Clutch of Dragons, Conspiracy Theories, Corporate Guide, Corporate Intrigue, Spy Games, Storm Front, The Twilight Horizon, Vice, and War!.

Thanks! But Clutch of Dragons? I have that one, and I don't remember there being much about corporate plots or corporations, except for the ones related to Lofwyr and Aztlan.

I would imagine Corporate Guide and Corporate Intrigue to be the primary books about to corporate plot lines. I know Catalyst has a tendency to spread these plots thinly through many books, but I'm not going to buy all of these. Which ones, apart from Corporate Guide/Intrigue, would be the most relevant? Is there a place where I can find a rundown of which of these books deal with which aspects of the metaplot?

[Wakshaani]

Hoo boy, there is a lot to unpack there. That's, like, 8 years of stuff.

But I'll try to do some small cuts here.

ARES
There have been a few plotlines spiraling around here. The first is the massive infighting between the assorted powers in Ares, with Nadja Daviar, Damien Knight, Auerelias (I can never spell that one!) and Arthur Vogel all having an agenda and wanting to pull the corp in one direction or another. They've been hiring Shadowrunners against one another for nearly a decade now, undercutting one another, moving pieces around, dropping stock values here to buy up things in their personal profile, and so on … this is made more complicated by all four having assorted powers behind them that have THEIR own agendas and use the big four as proxies to get it.

Second is the bug problem. No one knows how badly the infiltration is (yet) but the paranoia from it has been *massive* and accusing one person or another of being a bug has been a way to remove rivals. The paranoia's kept workers from working together, shattered comraderie, and in general turned the corporation from a well-oiled machine with a great spirit de corps to a giant pile of individuals who won't trust anyone else. The actual damage that the bugs have inflicted has been pretty minor but fear of more has been devastating.

Thirdly is the ongoing rift with the UCAS, the #1 customer for Ares. President Colloton has had issues with Ares since back when she was 'just' a general and carried that with her. Over her terms in office, she's tried to do battle with the Pentagon (who are pretty much all paid for by Ares) and cut contracts for other suppliers, but the inertia inside the DOD is massive and it's been a huge battle for her. That Ares has a powerful political arm and PR machine hasn't helped.

Lastly is Ares losing market share all over. Once *the* dominant space corp, S-K and Evo have swooped in and snagged gobs of contracts, the Space Elevator's up and running, as is the Kilimanjaro Mass Driver, giving people far more lift options than before. Arms manufacturers have stepped up in the wake of Ares' Excaliber debacle and grabbed market share, with Aztechnology reaping the lion's share of that. The struggle with UCAS has hurt sales and other corps have moved in as well. With so much PR being tied up in damage control, the media side hasn't been able to really promote new products and, in general, they've had a financial slide across the board.

(I'll do these one at a time, Ithink. Make life easier.)

[Wakshaani]

Aztechnology got *hammered* on the food side thanks to picking a fight with Sirrurg the Destroyer. A Great Dragon who just doesn't play well with others, Sirrurg slaughtered an entre city, made frequent raids against the nation, then upped his game even more by going after NatVat, the subsidiary that made over three quarters of Aztechnology's food products, and razing it to the ground (and destroying much of Puerto Rico in the process) … as this happened, a blight struck the corn crop and even stored corn was found to be infected and dissolving. Amassive famine broke out, leaving the nation of Aztlan to import food at high prices, money that did NOT go to Aztechnology, who found a prime sector of their business suddenly invalid as they had no food to sell. it took several years to recover from this state and they still haven't replaced NatVat (it was a total loss) so while the nation of Aztlan is eating again, Aztechnology's food production is around half of what it was … the facilities that are still open (like the grain fields in Canada) are being pushed to the brink of destruction to try and keep up.

The war with Amazonia ended with modest gains and they've been doing lots of research into the plant life in their new territory to see if there's anything that they can use.

The war with Sirrurg ended in a big (if costly!) win, with footage of their military forces battling a Great Dragon being a huge hit. Now being able to market themselves as 'Dragonslayers', the Aztechnology weapons side has been doing huge business, giving everyone a proven alternative to Ares weaponry. Sure, lots of these weapons are just knock-offs with "Ares" sanded off and "Aztechnolgy" painted on, but, that marketing edge is just enormous in the wake of a Great Dragon having gone Godzilla for a while.

The corp as a whole has been focused on making money for a while and the Smoking Mirror/Blood Magic side of things looks to be an afterthought these days. The leader of that movement (Darke) is gone and the Blood Gestalt went away at the same time … while there are certainly still practitioners of the dark arts inside the corp, the general view is that the goal for them now is to make money, not do evil for evil's sake, where before they'd lose money to advance the Darke agenda.

They're certainly still working on more anti-dragon options, both in technology and in magic, and are known to be the big foe of Ghostwalker. It remains to be seen if they'll try to take down a second Great or not.

Politically, the nation of Aztlan gave a big chunk of land to the Pueblo Corporate Council, turning them from warm enemies to lukewarm allies, cutting off the best ally the CAS had in a potential war with Aztlan. Sirrurg, who attacked all three nations, agitated the region something awful but the shift in loyalty seems to have prevented war from opening up … so far. The CAS might be behind the ships that keep vanishing from both Aztechnology, and Aztlan, fleets, but there's no proof of this.

[Cappa101]

ARES
There have been a few plotlines spiraling around here. The first is the massive infighting between the assorted powers in Ares, with Nadja Daviar, Damien Knight, Auerelias (I can never spell that one!) and Arthur Vogel all having an agenda and wanting to pull the corp in one direction or another.

(I'll do these one at a time, Ithink. Make life easier.)

Arthur Vogel is dead! Damien Knight confirmed it after an explosion. How convenient for Damien Knight. Arthur Vogel's body was never recovered but oh well, Mr. Knight already said he was dead so case closed! No need to look any further, I don't see how Chekov's gun could go off here!

Thirdly is the ongoing rift with the UCAS, the #1 customer for Ares. President Colloton has had issues with Ares since back when she was 'just' a general and carried that with her. Over her terms in office, she's tried to do battle with the Pentagon (who are pretty much all paid for by Ares) and cut contracts for other suppliers, but the inertia inside the DOD is massive and it's been a huge battle for her. That Ares has a powerful political arm and PR machine hasn't helped.

(I'll do these one at a time, Ithink. Make life easier.)

Im hoping to see the rise of the UCAS as a real power with their recent legal victory over NeoNet and their evermore egragious attempts to strongarm themselves out of ARES sphere of influence. I am aware it is unlikely, but I still would be happy to see the rerise of the UCAS.

[Wakshaani]

EVO

The new Naga CEO is still settling into the job. Where she's going with it, no one knows yet.

The Monad situation wound up giving Evo a bunch of new tech. How much of it is ultimately usable is unknown, but it's been going through the corp in chunks as they try to figure out what they can do with it and if they can make it without Monad aid.

The loss of the Mars base was a big hit but the overall growth in Evo's space industry due to Ares faltering has made them at least break even.

Evo's role in the Monad situation seems, to most people, to be that they accepted them as part of Evo's overall "We accept you" culture, which earned them some more loyalty from "those who are different" even if it scared off some anti-technologists who, honestly, weren't going to be backing Evo anyway.

Evo's corporate court justice had been ruling oddly for a while, and it was revealed that she'd been replaced by a virtual copy. Her replacement is fully flesh-and-blood but court watchers have noted that they've still made some unusual rulings. Nothing that would hurt Evo, of course, but in support of a few areas that would help rivals. Since there's been no move to replace them (again), they figure that Evo's new CEO has some kind of agenda that makes sense to a Naga if not Metahumans and they're just waiting to see what unfolds.

[Wakshaani]

HORIZON

They've been largely quiet the past few years … the Blood Rain incident in Las Vegas, and "the Great Technomancer Betrayal" did a number on them and backing the losing horse in the Az-Am war didn't help.  Rumors abound about other Sceret Projects that they've been up to but details of tehse are sketchy at best and from unreliable sources.

There's been a lot of work between Horizon and Ares of late, with Horizon moving in to handle PR duties while Ares does internal damage control. This teamwork was largely done by Truman (Of Truman Technologies and Truman Distrubution Network fame), a rabidly anti-bug recluse who used to live in Chicago before it became Bug City. There are those who think it shows a disloyalty to Ares and would love to get rid of him, while others think he's the only person thinking of the greater corporation while the Big Four play tug of war. Is he a potential #5 in the game? Regardless, Horizon's work for Ares has been going well and the two look to do more teaming up in the future.

Horizon's biggest 'get' has been in, of all things, agribusiness. With Aztechnology's collapse, Horizon's underground farm complexes have taken off and they're now the #1 agricultural producer in North America and are quickly threatening the bigger food producers, like Renraku and Shiawase. The Japancorps seem to be making some early moves to head this off at the pass having grown quite fond of the huge profits that the famine gave them.

Overall, Horizon's been resting for most of the decade, settling in to the AAA life and having to generate more physical, instead of virtual, assets. They're bound to explode into action again at some point... or maybe they have been and no one's seen what they're up to...

[Wakshaani]

MCT

Mitsuhama's been riding high on the hog, having taken over the position of largest Megacorporateion in the world from Saeder-Krupp. This is largely due to their having a massive investment in the current Matrix and how it's spread to every corner of the globe as *the* most important thing, ever. They've made a lot of sacrifices to get here … and now they have to defend that position.

The company's founder recently died (said to be of natural causes) on the Zuric Orbital station. This means that his shares of the corporation have gone to the Corporate COuncil itself, to be sold off or redistributed as they see fit. The main shareholders of the corp, all of him were said to have great respect and personal loyalty to him (and, if you believe the rumors, were Yakuza lords) have sold off their stock upon his death as well, floating roughly half of MCT stock on the general market while it's never had a higher price. Where these shares wind up is anyone's guess.

Korin Yamana had been moving to buy a significant number of them, moving to make himself the largest shareholder and, possibly, angling to be the new CEO (Retirement has not got well for him) … he went to the Kingdom of Hawa'ai to celebrate... and his yacht was eaten by a megaldon. As of this time, no survivors have been found, nor his body. The legal battle for his fortune looks to be a long, and very bloody, one. Assuming that he's actually dead of course.

MCT has otherwise been chugging along, focused on traditional areas, like the Matrix, heavy machinery, and resource extraction, as well as media and magic. They're the one Japancorp that didn't get a big boon from the food shortage a few years back. They *have* made large inroads into Africa, along with Renraku, where they've been enjoying poor regulation and ample resources to feed  the ravenous corporate maw. They've also been a major player in the retaking, and rebuilding, of Chicago.

The Japanacorps have been working together under a new spirit of cooperation outside the island, but within Japan proper, the fighting between them and Shiawase has been gathering strength. It remains to be seen how long before this rivalry tears the unified front apart or if the greater spirit will overcome the fracture.

[Wakshaani]

NEONET

Dead.

Transys Neuronet, and Erika-Nokia, are active as AA-rated corps themselves, but NeoNET is as dead as dead can be. Richard Villers' golden ticket is in the hands of Johnny Spinrad for the next decade while Villers is banned from being in control of a corp, leaving ol' Richard free to do … something. Nobody knows what he'll be up to but the COmeback King should never be counted out as long as he's breathing.

[Wakshaani]

Have to hit thedayjob shortly. I'll have to finish this up when I get back. Anyone else wants to jump in while I'm out, of course, feel free!

[RiggerBob]

Speaking of Johnny... Has there been an official SpinGlobal logo anywhere in the recent books that i missed?

[Beta]

Just a quick note that Wakshaani's awesome summaries above are coming up the current date, not cutting off at 2075.  (I feel like they should get copied into the current metaplots thread, maybe?)

[mcv]

Wow, that's some amazing summaries. But yeah, much of it sounds post-2075 to me, though there's also some stuff that's probably still relevant to the 2070-2075 era. In particular the famine caused by Sirrurg.

I honestly had no idea about Ares. I'm vaguely familiar with Knight and Vogel, but there's a lot more going on. With that kind of internal rivalry, it sounds like they might end up going the way of Fuchi. What are the best books with more info about this?

How exactly did MCT surpass S-K as the largest megacorp? Just the Matrix stuff? Because I thought that was mostly NeoNET territory. I'm obviously not surprised that NeoNET has been overtaken, but if I'm not mistaken, the CFD shit didn't hit the fan until after 2075, so in the 70-75 period, NeoNET would still be king, right? (Didn't NeoNET cut up some technomancers, by the way? Or was that Horizon?)

What is "the Monad situation"? I don't think I've heard of that before.

I'm also interested in Aztechnology's shift away from blood magic. I know them primarily as deeply evil blood magic users with possible horror ties that has a positive public face because they provide all the food and other stuff most people actually need.