Shadowrun General > The Secret History

2070-2075 corporate plots?

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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:

--- Quote from: Wakshaani on ---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.)

--- End quote ---

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!


--- Quote from: Wakshaani on ---
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.)

--- End quote ---

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.

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