[Sendaz]

But wasn't that actually more of a parachute out that Villiers and Lanier had ready to use once their own little search & sabotage operation to find out the source of Renraku's recent breakthroughs and possibly undermine whatever it was had run it's course?

"My stock in Renraku has always been worthless," Lanier said. "Renraku should
have been smart enough to stay where it was instead of trying to mess with the top-tier corporations."
Saigo raised an eyebrow and a slow smile dawned on his face. "So that's it,
eh? You still hold some loyalty to your former employers at Fuchi. I am
surprised, Lanier-san. You are not the honorless mercenary I thought you were.
My compliments. I originally suspected that your falling out with Villiers was
anything but genuine, but you convinced me otherwise. Those attempts on your
life made by Fuchi after your appointment to the Renraku board were ... most
convincing."
"They were meant to be."
"And Villiers allowed you to give Renraku information on Fuchi operations
simply to improve your alibi."
"Sacrifice a few pawns to capture the king," Lanier said. He didn't mention
that those Fuchi operations had most belonged to the Yamana and Nakatomi
families, who were arrayed against Villiers as well. By leaking information on
them to Renraku through Lanier, Villiers was killing two birds with one stone.
"All to allow you the opportunity to infiltrate Renraku and discover the
secret of the rapid growth threatening Fuchi's bottom line. Only you seem to
have discovered more than you bargained for."

Plus Lanier turns himself in to Fuchi forces, Renraku did not get to hand him over.
Edit: Though afterwards I am sure the Red Samurai would have loved to have had a few minutes with him before his unexpected departure.

"It seems that Miles Larder, formerly an employee of Fuchi Industrial Electronics and
a member of the Renraku Board of Directors,was responsible for the security breaches
we attributed to Renraku, and Mr.Lanier alone was the source of the information providing Renraku with product
advancements similar to developments in progress at Fuchi.
Mr. Lanier has chosen to surrender himself to Fuchi authorities and has confessed to
directing operations against us as part of an effort to test our Matrix
security measures. Fuchi has accepted Mr. Lanier 's explanation of the events,
and he wishes to make reparations for involving the Corporate Court
unintentionally."
"Just a minute," Napoli said, finding his voice. "Miles Lanier is a major
stockholder in Renraku Computer Systems. Are you saying he has continued to
work for Fuchi during this time? That's a conflict of interest! Mr. Lanier
signed numerous documents stating that he had terminated all of his
associations with Fuchi Industrial Electronics."
"That's correct," Osborne replied crisply. "It seems his testing of Fuchi
security measures from the outside was entirely Mr. Lanier's idea. He then
presented his findings to Fuchi executives. I understand they were most ... illuminating."
"And Fuchi is currently holding one of Renraku's corporate citizens? Mr. Chief
Justice, how can this outrage even be-"
Osborne cut in before Napoli could finish. "No longer a Renraku corporate
citizen, Justice Napoli. Mr. Lanier has offered to sell his shares of Renraku
stock to the Zurich Gemeinschaft Bank, at slightly under current market
value."
Napoli's jaw dropped at the announcement, which brought raised eyebrows from
many of the other justices. By selling his shares, Lanier was cutting his ties
with Renraku. By selling them to the ZGB, he was effectively giving control of
those shares to the Corporate Court, giving them additional leverage over
Renraku. And by selling the shares at below market value, Lanier would
certainly trigger concerns about Renraku's stability and growth on the world
markets, causing the corporation's stock values to drop for a while until
Renraku tried to assuage the fears of its stockholders. Renraku's rapid growth
would be brought to a shrieking halt while they cleaned up the mess, allowing
the other megacorporations time to get their own affairs in order and close
the gap behind Renraku's lead. All in all it was an elegant solution requiring
the Corporate Court to do nothing but accept it.

Edit: The agreement to sell certainly kept him out of Renraku hands once his part in this was revealed, but seeing as this was an op pretty much given Villier's blessing from the start and though they can not admit that to the court obviously so their rep presented it as Lanier on his own, it would seem like that they made good use of it and again may have been part of the plan all along because someone would have called foul one way or the other when everything came to a head and it was a real good get out of jail free card.

And it did seriously mess with Renraku. 
Maybe it was not the original intent, but Laniers and Villiers knew that such an unusual and sudden sell would have repercussions on any stock so that was a bonus on top of everything else..

Villiers listened to Lanier's entire story about the Renraku operation to gain
access to the secrets of the otaku. About how Babel, not Ronin, had turned
against his former employers and put an end to the otaku project, which
appeared to have damaged many Renraku cutting-edge technologies being readied
for the marketplace. Speculation was rife among the Fuchi execs whether or not
Renraku had acquired some of those developments from the otaku and whether they might
have been wiped out by the virus by accident.
Lanier voiced the opinion that the mysterious "Leonardo" decker allied with
Renraku was himself an otaku who passed information on to the corporation in
exchange for the money Renraku supposedly poured into his "research and
development." If it was true, then the otaku themselves had dealt with
Leonardo's indiscretions through Ronin and his virus. It was unlikely any
other otaku would be breaking ranks in the future to aid the megacorporations.
That sat just fine with Villiers, who knew first-hand how much trouble rogue
Matrix elements could be. It was better not to have bit players mucking up the
actions of the megacorporations.
Renraku was set back by the damage done by the Babel Virus (as it quickly
became known in Fuchi circles). The corp was not out of the game by any means,
but the playing field had been leveled quite a bit. Fuchi was still Renraku's
biggest competitor, but they had a better chance working against a Renraku
stripped of the advances provided by the otaku Leonardo. While Renraku
scrambled with damage control, Fuchi was working on getting some new
competitive products out on the market. They were still the number one
computer corporation, and Richard Villiers would see to it they remained that
way.
Dumping Lanier's stock on the Zurich Gemeinschaft Bank would also serve as a
firewall against Renraku's expansion for a while. Already the stock markets
were getting the first hints of a shift in the higher ranks of Renraku
Computer Systems, and word of the stock transfer was spreading out from Tokyo
and London to the exchange in Boston where it all began, just like a virus
making its way through the body of the world, spreading information and making
changes where it passed. Soon enough the world would know something big had
happened to Renraku even if they -would never really know the whole story
behind it. The corporate spin-doctors would see to that.
Of more immediate concern was the trouble brewing within Fuchi.
The Japanese families still simmered over the increased power Villiers had gained. Lanier's return to the fold did nothing
to improve the Japanese faction's opinion of Villiers.
Accusations of grand-standing covert operations concealed from the shareholders were flying
fast and furious. The only thing keeping the Yamanas and the Nakatomis from
trying to have Villiers removed outright was Lanier's success in putting the
brakes on Renraku. As far as everyone else was concerned, Villiers and Lanier
were heroes who'd pulled off a masterful scam against Renraku and got away
with it.

 

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

I'd call it 'sharp enough to take advantage of a sudden advantage', myself.  Considering I rather doubt they knew about the disbursement being in the Will before the Big D bit it ... though officially, yeah, he was 'forced'.    (Meh.  Didn't entirely like Technobabel, but I suppose I should re-read it.)

[Sendaz]

Fair enough, if Lanier had not had those shares, Villiers would have had to do something else to try and figure out how Renraku was pulling ahead and even if they had still gone with the Lanier defection/infiltration route it would have been a lot dicier getting in as deep and far messier for his exit.

Lanier took our jobs!

I agree the whole will disbursement of Renraku shares seemed awfully convenient and raises tons of questions in itself.

We know Dunkie had his claws in many pies owning stocks in several corps, but say he had not needed to pop his own scaly backside to stop a certain bridge from forming and had a nice healthy term, where would that have left Fuchi when Renraku started cranking out the new Leonardo-enhanced line? 

How would the Big D have played something else to help level the playing field?

And say Big D had died 10years later instead, wouldn't that stock bequest been pretty silly then?
How often did he revise said will?
I always wondered if the will had a program that had many computing branches that constantly revised and updated it to keep up with conditions and settings set by Big D.

I know, I know it's just a plot device, but still.

Technobabel was a decent read, especially given it was Kenson's first edit:piecenovel (forgot he was already writing sourcebooks) for the SR line. 
Some people still complain about the Talon series, but in the end it was a fun read even if there were lots of things you as a player could probably never pull off at the table yourself. And hey, who wouldn't want a spirit that turns into a sweet, sweet ride when you need it?

[CitizenJoe]

How much respect do you have for Dunkelzahn? Do you think that the fallout from his will was intentional or accidental?  Do you believe that he had other plans in place to make sure the end result happened? Like I said, how much respect do you have for him?

[witchdoctor]

How much respect do you have for Dunkelzahn? Do you think that the fallout from his will was intentional or accidental?  Do you believe that he had other plans in place to make sure the end result happened? Like I said, how much respect do you have for him?

Personally I have an immense amount of respect for the guy. He is one of the few players in Shadowrun that one could argue made himself more influential by removing himself from the board entirely.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

How much respect do you have for Dunkelzahn? Do you think that the fallout from his will was intentional or accidental?  Do you believe that he had other plans in place to make sure the end result happened? Like I said, how much respect do you have for him?

I smell a set-up.  But to answer your questions: generally intentional, because everything that happened is fallout, and not all of it was bad; one can make the argument that the majority of the fallout was good, or at least progressive as compared to regressive.  Had he lived, he would have made sure that things kept moving in the direction he wanted; death 'merely' forced him to speed up the events by sudden disbursements, revelations, etc.  In regards to your question about 'respect', quite a bit - but 'respect' does not automatically mean 'like', or even 'work for'.  But your question reminds me of a conversation in a fantastic movie, 'Grand Canyon', with Danny Glover and Kevin Kline in it:

Rocstar: I'm gonna grant you that favor, and I'm gonna expect you to remember it if we ever meet again. But tell me this, are you asking me as a sign of respect, or are you asking because I've got the gun?

Simon: Man, the world ain't supposed to work like this. I mean, maybe you don't know that yet. I'm supposed to be able to do my job without having to ask you if I can. That dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you ripping him off. Everything is supposed to be different than it is.

Rocstar: So what's your answer?

Simon: You ain't got the gun, we ain't having this conversation.

Rocstar: That's what I thought: no gun, no respect. That's why I always got the gun.

Rocstar (functionally 'random punk #1'), you see, doesn't understand that he's not the one getting the respect; the gun is.  He also doesn't understand that if he didn't have the gun, he wouldn't trying to be ripping off 'that dude' who's waiting with his car; he'd be trying to actually do something with himself.

"Yeah, fine, Wyrm, but how does this apply to the 'respect Dunkelzahn' question?"  He's a Great Dragon; love him or hate him, you have to respect the gun.

Getting into the underlying question - the one that CitJoe is trying to pounce with - no, I don't think Dunkelzahn was a jerk.  I think he had a plan, thirty or three-hundred years long, and that his pieces were moving into place slowly, subtly, and with a minimum of negative impact.  I think that he kept in mind the fact that he just MIGHT kick the bucket, and so he had that thirty/three-hundred-year plan boiled down into a bunch of large, indiscrete, relatively clumsy moves that nonetheless got a lot of what he wanted done - or at least things moving in the direction that he felt the world needed to move.  The problem with it, of course, is that the gross movements represented in the will DID cause a lot of collateral damage, as well as getting done a lot of the things he wanted done.

So again, sorry, CitJoe - your two pet theories really have neither proof nor sufficient traction to be canonical, or even to come out of any canonical character's mouth besides Plan 9's.

[CitizenJoe]

Yes, it is a bit of a setup.  The supposition is that things that happened as a result of Dunkelzahn's Will were intentional and not mere chance.  The further implication is that if things happen under his plan A, he had back up plans to make sure it happened. 

Here's one string of events... Deus, Shutdown, attack on Villiers, Novatech IPO, Matrix Crash, Novatecheck merging with Celedyr to form NeoNET, CFD....  what's the end game? Dunkelzahn's E-Ghost transplanted making him Dragon Jesus.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Uh-huh.  Because Dunkelzahn was omniscient, and knew that the dumbass head of Renraku was going to put a kink bomb into his ultra-loyal samurai computer program's head, and turn it against him for that?

Things happened as a result of the Big D's will, yes.  Not everything that happened was capable of being predicted, whether by magic or by Matrix.  As per the Will, Dunkelzahn's own plans only extended out seven years - which, not too coincidentlaly, took us to Crash 2.0, after which NOBODY knew what was going to happen.

*shrugs*  You're interesting and amusing, CitJoe, I'll give you that.  You make conspiracy theories and proposals that I don't think anybody could possibly come up with, backed up with (often literally) no proof but your own imagination, but hey, it's interesting, and fodder for someone's game, I'm sure.

[CitizenJoe]

You know Dunk had crazy stock in Renraku, he did put Lanier on the Board or something.  The rumor has it that the Renraku 'door' was a virtual one into the ultraviolet host.  Opening that door would have released Deus.  This is an example of the redundancy in his scheme.  He didn't need the kill switch, Deus was going off the rails regardless.

Do you have enough respect in Dunkelzahn to believe he COULD have pulled off this level of planning.  Is he that level of smart?

[Moonshine Fox]

You know Dunk had crazy stock in Renraku, he did put Lanier on the Board or something.  The rumor has it that the Renraku 'door' was a virtual one into the ultraviolet host.  Opening that door would have released Deus.  This is an example of the redundancy in his scheme.  He didn't need the kill switch, Deus was going off the rails regardless.

Do you have enough respect in Dunkelzahn to believe he COULD have pulled off this level of planning.  Is he that level of smart?

Deus became self aware and twisted to hate when the kill-code was implanted into his core system. He was programed as the ultimate example of Samurai loyalty, and was then betrayed by his master. He pulled a rather literal version of going Ronin and turned against his one time master. Big D was good, but that's a chain of events with too many x-factors to predict in any but the vaguest of ways. Besides, the door was to a monitoring room overlooking the SCIRE code architecture. It was kinda like the viewing are of an operating theatre.

[Moonshine Fox]

How much respect do you have for Dunkelzahn? Do you think that the fallout from his will was intentional or accidental?  Do you believe that he had other plans in place to make sure the end result happened? Like I said, how much respect do you have for him?

I respect him a fair bit because in all his sorce books and novels, he always seemed to have the best intrests of the planet and all the various peoples living on her and wanted to push them into being better then they were, to reach more of their potential as it were.

[CitizenJoe]

So the door was looking into the SCIRE code architecture, which Deus was supposed to run, if not live there... and Dunkelzahn essentially told every runner out there to hit that room for a load of money... But you don't think Dunkelzahn had any knowledge of the situation?

That shows a distinct lack of respect for the cunning nature and long term planning of dragons in general and Dunkelzahn in particular.  So, yes, you're right.  Under your perception of Dunkelzahn, he could not be a jerk.

[Moonshine Fox]

No, it shows that magic has no influence of purely matrix activities and Big D wanted to know what was going on with Renraku's big project. If he had lived he'd probably have taken a more direct hand in it's investigation, but everything got left up in the will. If he suspected anything (and to be fair, a lot of people did) he may have taken a direct claw in the matter, but with his untimely death he put the word out for the keyboard cowboys to deal with it, knowing runners (deckers usually more so) would share the information with the world, trying to prevent what happened from happening, or at least minimizing the damage.

And no, it doesn't show a lack of respect in Dunkelzahn. He might have been knowing and powerful, but neither of those are prefixed with an "all-". He didn't know everything, especially where the matrix was concerned which is why he hired people to investigate these things and report back or simply did research on them.

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Actually, CitJoe, it shows that you know absolutely nothing about the game, and have barely read anything but synposes of its books.  You're a conspiracy theorist who possesses nothing but 'popular knowledge' - like those people who believe that Oswald could not have pulled off three aimed shots in nine seconds with a bolt-action rifle, or any other of a half-dozen unbaked theories.  You really haven't any grasp of the game information at all, so please - do keep reminding us of this any time you want to bring out your theories.  I recommend using this statement: "I don't really know anything but the bare basics about Shadowrun, but What If ... ?"  It'll save people who actually read the background material an awful lot of time, because we won't need to take the time to repeat all the things that've been stated about the Shadowrun universe that prove you wrong.