[WellSpokenRunner]

What happened with the shake up at Evo?  Is there a new Russian CEO?  What happened to Saru Iwano and Newton Chin?  I'm just curious because I kinda dug the Evo storyline (ran several missions in Vladivostok back when I got Smuggler Havens) and even made up some back story for the characters.

[Angelone]

From what I remember the CEO okayed a plan to create ghosts in the machine one of these being chief justice Hino. Buttercup found out and wasn't pleased.

Afaik no change in CEO.

[Mirikon]

In Corporate Intrigue, the Giggling Assassin chapter, it makes clear that Buttercup feels it was a moral lapse on the CEO's part to experiment on e-ghosts, but that moral lapses could be corrected. What got her more displeased was him using the Dickens program to make a power play in the company. And for that he must be punished.

And when a powerful free spirit decides you should be punished, you can be sure that nothing good will come of it.

[CitizenJoe]

When a powerful free spirit with the Wealth power is displeased in a capitalist society, you're gonna have a bad time.

[Wakshaani]

As we saw in her write-up in Street Legends Supplimental, Buttercup is a fickle fortune. Those that she aids often end up worse than where they started from. She's also a tad vinditive.

Just a smidge.

A wee bit.

[Angelone]

I've been thinking lately about a variation of the wealth power that turned people into valuable objects ala Midas' touch.

[Mirikon]

Well, a 'Turn to Gold' spell is simple enough. Take Petrify or Turn to Goo, change 'stone' or 'goo' to 'gold', and increase the duration to permanent. As long as you sustain it long enough for it to become permanent, the target will be gold until the spell is disrupted somehow.

Hmm. Makes me have an idea for a mage assassin...

[CanRay]

Turn to Glod spell makes for one hell of a cranky Dwarf.

[Valashar]

Makes for a whole lot of cranky dwarves.

[Angelone]

I don't want it to be a common thing is the real problem, not looking to really mess with the world's economy like that. I'd probably limit it to a free spirit power.

[Mirikon]

Ah, but this is Shadowrun! If someone is threatening to destabilize the economy *cough*Art*cough*, then someone will eventually step in and solve the problem. Afterall, those megas aren't going to want to see their bottom lines affected like that. Anyone who used such a spell for financial gain would have to be sparing and circumspect about using it to avoid some not so friendly inquiries. The IRS, if no one else, would step in.

[JustADude]

I don't want it to be a common thing is the real problem, not looking to really mess with the world's economy like that. I'd probably limit it to a free spirit power.

Actually, it says in the "Wealth" power that people are already wary of accepting mineral wealth with a magical aura, since the Wealth power can already generate a lot of "fake" wealth every day and "real" wealth only every Month. I don't think having people hustle suckers with fake gold and gems would be any different.

[RelentlessImp]

Ah, but this is Shadowrun! If someone is threatening to destabilize the economy *cough*Art*cough*, then someone will eventually step in and solve the problem. Afterall, those megas aren't going to want to see their bottom lines affected like that. Anyone who used such a spell for financial gain would have to be sparing and circumspect about using it to avoid some not so friendly inquiries. The IRS, if no one else, would step in.

Shadowrun currency isn't run on the gold standard. One thing everyone in the shadows (and outside of them) agree on is that currency is just bits and bytes, and it only has value because society agrees it has value, because otherwise anarchy erupts and consumes the world in fire.

Producing a bunch of material wealth out of thin air isn't going to destabilize the Shadowrun economy. Now hacking into Zurich Orbital and changing all the 1s to 0s, however...

Besides, the only currency that has any real weight is information - and unless you're a tabloid reporter you're not creating that out of thin air.

[Sichr]

I almost always hear about this "Art" with "Thor shot" in the same sentence. Can somebody point me at the right book so I can learn more?

[Nath]

Art Dankwalther was financial mathematician working Fuchi with delusion of grandeur and then fired during a layout (when you think about, there's was a kind of foresight in making him a bad guy...). In his Will, Dunkelzahn bequested him an insane amount of money, 34 billions of UCAS dollars, officially to repay for a gold coin an ancestor lend him.
At that point, Dankwalther was a junkie on the brink of madness, lost in the barrens of some city (Boston I think). He didn't hear about the president, his death or his will, and the Draco Foundation was unable to find him. When he heard about Richard Villiers creating a new company in 2059, Novatech, Dankwalther somewhat came to believe he could get his job back. He got access to a computer and send an e-mail.
That was enough for the Draco Foundation to find him, verify his identity, clean him from his drugs habit and hands him the money. Dankwlather started a life of partying, until he meet Richard Villiers. Dankwlather shoke hands with his former boss, who had no idea that guy ever worked for him. Dankwalther got mad. Fired all his new employees, sold the house, boats and cars, and started working on his revenge.
What you had was a financial mathematician with billions of dollars of leverage and no search for final profits. Yet, he used a part of the money to make more money. Another part went to fund black ops. And the bulk of it would be engaged in massice stock market manipulations. He made a first test by crushing A multinational Tokugawa Technologies. A cakewalk. Then another test targeted AA megacorporation Gunderson of Miami. Dankwalther teams were able to down a megacorporation. But the ultimate target always had been Novatech.
Dankwalther actions hurt Novatech a lot. He is the main reason Novatech needed fresh funds and was forced to engage in an IPO (which Dankwalther failed to predict actually). Villiers also became aware of Dankwalther existence (thanks to Shadowland) and tried to fought back, including a ¥5 millions bounty on his head. The story came to end during during the 2064 or shortly after, when the Corporate court ordered a Thor shot on Dankwalther know position.

Threats 2 and System Failure are the main sources, with some traces of Dankwalther apparition showing up in SOTA:2064 news articles.