[Michael Chandra]

Monad is CFD people afterwards suffices as very rough summary. Many have gone into space now. All I know.

[Wakshaani]

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?)

Some of it is, yeah. I confess that I have some trouble pinning down exact dates when tossing out a bunch of stuff at once. My mouth gets ahead of me.

[Wakshaani]

RENRAKU

Playing refree between MCT and Shiawase in general, reminding them (And the AA-rated Japanacorps) that there's more money to be made by sticking together than by breaking apart. This has lead to them both getting magical aid from Shiawase, in exchange for helping them with some computer tech, and being in MCT's wake, snapping up contracts all over Chicago. Renraku further steps up as the 'ambassador' between the Japanacorps and the other corps, and, indeed, is often calle don as a neutral voice when other corps are having issues … Ares and Aztechnology (hypothetical example) having a row? Renraku will serve as a place for the eventual peace conference, making sure that everyone's comfortable and nobody being betrayed.

Beyond this, their own agenda is, in general, “Stay quiet, make money.” They're very good at blending in to local culture, slowly inserting themselves into the general functions of government and society, then being almost impossible to dislodge.

The big events in the era were the suicide of their CEO and replacement by Nakamura's hand-picked guy, the allowance of religion into their facilities, the elevation of Inazo Aneki to being a “Corporate Kami”, and taking over the Kilamanjaro Mass Driver (buying out the other corps for a fraction of the cost) once the Space Elevator came on line.

Renraku, as the third-largest food-producing corp, made ALL THE MONEY during the famine and, at the same time, traded that money in large part to MCT in return for several advantages … one was the purchase of the Confederate Broadcast Network (CBN) but what looked like a bum deal that turned out to be huge was buying GridGuide (tm) or, rather, getting the rights to use it and operate it while MCT technically still owned it. Taking ove rthis operation, when combined with their near-monopoly on SINs, has given them unprecedented levels of data, which grew even greater as they rolled out HarborGuide ™ and SkyGuide ™, for controlling ships and flying drones, respectively. There's been an absolute explosion in drone usage since 2070 and Renraku knows where they all are at all times.

Oh, and the expansion of their Skillwries Broadcast Network has also been a hit, going head to head with Horizon's own version.

[Wakshaani]

S-K
They've been doing stuff. Most of it's in German books which I can't read, so … somebody else will have to handle that one.



SHIAWASE
Teh family drama continues! Korin Yamana was running the show and his “Yamana Method”, combining what he learned of American business practices picked up from Richard Villers (when they were in Fuchi together) with advanced Japanese methods made Shiawase a lean, mean, corporate machine... but cut out the old hands, geriatric retirees who were given seats of honor and respect (and who drew significant salaries) while not adding anything to the bottom line. Cutting these old hands go did NOT go over well and started a pushback against his run.

And then there's Empress Hitomi. As Chairman of the Board, she allowed the Yamana Method to go through over the cries of much of the board and, further, some lobbied against her position as being unsuited for one of her married station. If anyone in the corp did something bad it would, by extension, land on her head. Further, lots of the old guard weren't comfortable with a woman in charge and wanted her out, so several forces aligned during her second pregnancy to get her to step down from her seat. She still owns stock and has an unofficial advisory capacity (That is to say, she sends someone to vote her stock for her, but they don't ever say that they speak with her full authority) … Yamana windsup being forced out as well, several Shiawase family members die, there's a giant reshuffling, until it all finally works out.

Shiawase is generally steady in this time period, taking over as world's largest food producer when Aztechnolgy breaks, raking in gobs of cash in the process. They also found out that the current Leonization method (Leonization Type II) had a hidden cost... it didn't impact your Essence but devoured your mind. They decalred it DOA and stopped its use, which lead to everyone else stopping it as well, and returned to the old Type I method … which is owned by Ares. D'oh.

Shiawase rumbles with Horizon a bit, primarily in an attempt to score the indoor farms (Wind River) before they come online but fail to pull it off. They're otherwise at the forefront of the new Yamato Damashii movement of Japancorp unity and are very much the definitive pro-Japan corporation. Quite a lot goes on with the assorted soap opera players in the upper eschelons of the corp, however, a continuous family squabble on every level.

[Wakshaani]

WUXING
Largely quiet. They have a small alliance with Evo and Aztechnology to counteract the power of the Japancorp bloc, but Aztechnology betrayed them during Crash 2.0 and the trust levels aren't as high as they shoul dbe. They've poked at Shiawase the most, since they wear the JAPAN!!! badge so proudly, but they don't really cross over with any of the Japanacorps major areas of power, like computer tech, media, resource extraction, agribusiness, genetics, or drones. As such, they don't really clash that much so much as cut eyes at one another and make snarky comments at cocktail parties.

There's a LOT of cultural stuff that rolls out of Wuxing, however, as the Quints get older, first going through their tween years (and setting trends galore),  then growing into full-blown teenagers, generating a whole new level of fan following. In the process, their father succumbs to old age and possibly senility and steps aside, leaving California-born-and-raised Sharon Wu in command a sthe new CEO near the end of the decade. Sharon quickly starts moving the corporation into a much more aggressive form.

The corp as a whole focuses on banking and shipping, but there's a constant expansion in the magical side thanks to Dunklezahn's gift to them as well as the Coins of Luck. They wind up entering into a major deal with the Shao-Lin Temple to produce weapon and Qi foci, some of which wind up in some very interesting hands (such as many rebels looking to fight against the remnants of Darke in Aztlan … in particular, several bands of Catholic luchadors turn out, fighting against cape-wearing vampires)

Oh, and Wuxing starts making some inroads into North America, making a deal with Wal-Mart (thus the “Kong Wal-Mart” signs seen in some places) to sell more Wuxing consumer products.

[Wakshaani]

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.

Teh famine's a big one, yeah. Food prices go crazy, real food vanishes from many tables at middle lifestyle or lower, soy gets big again, and there are several crackdowns in cities as the agricorps start going after urban farms … they don't want the competition and this give sthem an excuse. Quite a few people start raising small herb gardens in windowsills or raising chickes on rooftop coops, only to have police bust in and have a corporate lawyer impound the stuff. It's a VERY rough couple of years for Aztechnology until Sirrurg goes down. (If you want to see the whole thing start, take a look at Dirty Tricks for the lowdown.)

Info on Ares is scattered all over, but the 4th edition Corporate Guide will give you a large chunk of it, with market Panic the update several years later. It gets real ugly in there.

MCT was going up, along with NeoNET, but the Monads hurt NeoNET more, and then Boston blew everything to smithereens. Until then, tho, S-K stays on top (So, yeah, that's a few years after the 70-75 period you were asking about) … and, yes, MCT cut up quite a few Technomancers when no one knew what they were. Horizon took a bunch in, but wound up betraying them, so they turned against them, HARD. Shiawase's since taken the Technomancers in again, with Empress Hitomi herself making a decree about a school in Japan and how she was giving them her personal protection … and ain't nobody wants to go against her word, so it looks like they'll be safe there for a time.

Monads are … tricky. Short form? A bunch of Ais were rounded up and tortured, but manage dto escape via infecting some nanobots that were being made in the same facility. They gradually got installed into people, rebuilt their bodies, then took ove rtheir brains, erasing the original owners and making a new home for themselves in the meat world. This new race of former-digitals called themselves Monads and wound up taking over Evo's base on Mars, then buying a spacecarft from Evo and most gathered up and flew off to Mars, to be with their own kind. Some remain on Earth, but no one knows how many they are. They're tied in with Boston. Boston … was bad.

As for Axtechnology? The blood magic seems to have been mostly at the behest of one person, Mr. Darke, aka Oscuro, and his Blood Mage Gestalt (Around a dozen blood mages who were linked to one another with tubes, which pumped blood from each of them through the next one in line, being in essence a giant organism with massive magical power)  he died around 2060, around the same time as President Dunklezahn, and the breaking of the bridge from the Deep Astral and Earth that was being made by some rather terrible astral entities. With his death, the rathe rterrible subordinates he had were either fragged by their corporation mates or went into hiding, leaving a path clear for more traditional, “We're here to make money” sorts to move in. Indeed, as they've since been at the forefront of the “Defend Metahumanity from dragons” movement, they're being seen by some runners as, believe it or not, the GOOD guys! 

[Michael Chandra]

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?

At this point, I don't know how well-involved companies are with Brackhaven, because the dirty evidence on him is only revealed in 2075. He only got pushed out by 2078.

The new Matrix is end 2074, apparently the failure of Aztech crops is 2074 as well, and the Dragon War ended in 2074 with the banishment of Hestaby, after in 2073 she was busy attacking S-K. The timeline might help a bit: https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowrun_timeline

[DeathStrobe]

Which book has luchador vampire hunters? That sounds so amazing! I need to know more.

Another thing I can recall that are also fun meta plot fact, but may never come up ever again, MCT has dissonant technomancer brain-in-a-jar cyborgs that somehow didn't loose their resonance (probably has something to do with that dissonant part) even though they ain't got no essence or body. They were talked about in Lockdown, but I don't think they ever came back in any capacity.

Also, the wiki's page on CFD has a relatively complete view of the CFD meta plot. There were even a few things in SR4 that hinted at it, like in Corporate Intrigue with Miles Lanier (Head of Corporate Security in NeoNET) hiring runners to hit Transys Neuronet (which just so happens to be the T in NeoNET). Also Hazard Pay was starting to show bad things happening on Mars. And Fastjack left security holes in Jackpoint which cause Horizon to get access to Jackpoint, which is possible a sign of his AI personality actually being the one to leave holes in Jackpoint.

[Wakshaani]

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?

At this point, I don't know how well-involved companies are with Brackhaven, because the dirty evidence on him is only revealed in 2075. He only got pushed out by 2078.

The new Matrix is end 2074, apparently the failure of Aztech crops is 2074 as well, and the Dragon War ended in 2074 with the banishment of Hestaby, after in 2073 she was busy attacking S-K. The timeline might help a bit: https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowrun_timeline

Oh man, that timeline is great.

And would have save me ALL THE TYPING.

Harumph.

[Wakshaani]

Which book has luchador vampire hunters? That sounds so amazing! I need to know more.

That's a good question! I honestly don't remember. *probably* Forbidden Arcana, but I'm not 100% sure on that one.

[Michael Chandra]

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?

At this point, I don't know how well-involved companies are with Brackhaven, because the dirty evidence on him is only revealed in 2075. He only got pushed out by 2078.

The new Matrix is end 2074, apparently the failure of Aztech crops is 2074 as well, and the Dragon War ended in 2074 with the banishment of Hestaby, after in 2073 she was busy attacking S-K. The timeline might help a bit: https://shadowrun.fandom.com/wiki/Shadowrun_timeline

Oh man, that timeline is great.

And would have save me ALL THE TYPING.

Harumph.

It's only events, so nothing that goes deeply into a lot of things, but eh.

[Wakshaani]

It's only events, so nothing that goes deeply into a lot of things, but eh.

Yeah, but I have the memory of a mayfly.

(Well, it's actually photographic, but I usually forget to load film. SUPER annoying.)

[mcv]

S-K
They've been doing stuff. Most of it's in German books which I can't read, so … somebody else will have to handle that one.

Does S-K not have a global impact anymore? Or does Pegasus have the exclusive rights to develop them, leading to them getting ignored in the CGL products?

Also, is there anything S-K did wrong that lead them to finally lose their top spot as the largest megacorp?

SHIAWASE
...
They also found out that the current Leonization method (Leonization Type II) had a hidden cost... it didn't impact your Essence but devoured your mind. They decalred it DOA and stopped its use, which lead to everyone else stopping it as well, and returned to the old Type I method … which is owned by Ares. D'oh.

I got the impression from Storm Front that Leonization treatment was somehow related to CFD. Is it? Or was that a red herring?

[mcv]

Teh famine's a big one, yeah. Food prices go crazy, real food vanishes from many tables at middle lifestyle or lower, soy gets big again, and there are several crackdowns in cities as the agricorps start going after urban farms … they don't want the competition and this give sthem an excuse. Quite a few people start raising small herb gardens in windowsills or raising chickes on rooftop coops, only to have police bust in and have a corporate lawyer impound the stuff. It's a VERY rough couple of years for Aztechnology until Sirrurg goes down. (If you want to see the whole thing start, take a look at Dirty Tricks for the lowdown.)

I am definitely getting Dirty Tricks, also because it seems to be related to the Backhaven plot that SRM4 is partially about.

I'm surprised that police would crack down on urban farms in the middle of a famine, though. That can't be good for your popularity.

Monads are … tricky. Short form? A bunch of Ais were rounded up and tortured, but manage dto escape via infecting some nanobots that were being made in the same facility. They gradually got installed into people, rebuilt their bodies, then took ove rtheir brains, erasing the original owners and making a new home for themselves in the meat world. This new race of former-digitals called themselves Monads and wound up taking over Evo's base on Mars, then buying a spacecarft from Evo and most gathered up and flew off to Mars, to be with their own kind. Some remain on Earth, but no one knows how many they are. They're tied in with Boston. Boston … was bad.

I know about Boston primarily from the Shadowrun Chronicles computer game, thouh I think they were called headcases there. I guess monads are when their personality has stabilised in its new personality? Storm Front had a scene with some people suddenly talking with completely different personalities, which sounds like something I'd like to use. (Maybe after first confronting my players with Shedim, just to throw them off.)

As for Axtechnology? The blood magic seems to have been mostly at the behest of one person, Mr. Darke, aka Oscuro, and his Blood Mage Gestalt (Around a dozen blood mages who were linked to one another with tubes, which pumped blood from each of them through the next one in line, being in essence a giant organism with massive magical power)  he died around 2060, around the same time as President Dunklezahn, and the breaking of the bridge from the Deep Astral and Earth that was being made by some rather terrible astral entities. With his death, the rathe rterrible subordinates he had were either fragged by their corporation mates or went into hiding, leaving a path clear for more traditional, “We're here to make money” sorts to move in. Indeed, as they've since been at the forefront of the “Defend Metahumanity from dragons” movement, they're being seen by some runners as, believe it or not, the GOOD guys!

On the one hand I kinda liked Aztechnology as the deeply into evil blood magic company, on the other hand, presenting them as good guys is really going to screw with people's heads. (I've got a player who has all the 2nd edition stuff.) But maybe it's most important that all megacorps have both a good and a bad side. And a bunch of grey ones.

[Michael Chandra]

Headcase is a slur, Monad is how they call themselves.