[Aryeonos]

Hey guys, been under a rock for the last 18 months, how ya'll been? Good? Great.

So, my husband is running a game in Berlin, and I gotta say source material we've been able to unearth is sparse at best. I've been mostly going off material from the 6th world almanac and shadows of Europe, 3rd ed. From what I can tell east Berlin is still a pseudo-anarchist state, but its power has been curbed by the corps and it's been walled off into little more than a ghetto.

Any good Source material anyone can link me to, or recaps rundowns anyone wants to offer?
I couldn't find much specifically here on the forums, but I'm probably not using the best parameters with what limited info I have.

[Crimsondude]

The problem is that the source material that the 6WA update is based on is entirely in German. Pegasus published Deutscheland en den Shatten 2, which was a sequel to the Germany SB, set in the mid-60s. For the 70s there is a Berlin sourcebook.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Aryeonos]

I think I saw the Berlin sourcebook on Drivethru, but it's in germ'an, I suppose I could... some sort of adobe with translation options in it? I figured asking you guys would be easier and less expensive.

Who's the mane anarchist faction in East Berlin? From how it's been painted to me by my husband it's more of a feral gang controlled ghetto than the sort of ramshackle ad-hoc city state it appears to be in Shadowrun Returns Dragonfall, though I read there was some sort of corp backed upheaval/ cleanup, I can't seam to get a grasp on the results of that.

[Crimsondude]

Back in the 50s it was a free-for-all like in Dragonfall. Around 2063-64 the corps decided to reclaim the city, and took a bit more than half of it. So now there's a West/East Berlin divide again, like he describes.

It's been a while, so I can't really remember how it's broken down. I know some people have written summaries you can search for or google, but it's kind of a pain. As for translating, I guess it depends on how much work you want to do. I had to translate about twenty pages from the Pegasus-written content added to their translation of Street Legends, and it was a bit of a pain. At least some of the words are German cognates of American Shadowrun word, but surprisingly not as many as I'd expected. I also wasn't going for a super-accurate translation so much as just making sure of what was in it for when I was writing my material for The Clutch of Dragons (The Pegasus additions were two great dragons, a drake, and an anarchist  hacker collective). Translating a 200-page Berlin sourcebook would take some effort, but it's doable.

[Aryeonos]

Hrm, I'll put on my Gi and headband and delve the search engines, any outstanding keywords you think would help? I'll try and link anything I find back here.

I added the google translate version of the berlin website, way too lazy to fix all the grammar, but you get the point. Probably the most informative chunk of english text on eastern Berlin I've read so far.

[Crimsondude]

That ZIP file didn't work for me, but I know where to look.

Check this:
http://forums.shadowruntabletop.com/index.php?topic=14125.0

http://forums.dumpshock.com/lofiversion/index.php/t17087.html

I have an e-mail from one of the writers explaining the Berlin situation a bit for when I was writing my proposal for what became Dirty Tricks (He was pitching me on Berlin when the idea was for a location book like Runner Havens or Feral Cities instead of what the book idea transitioned to and ultimately  became). If I can sanitize it, I'll see about sharing it.


Google Translate gave me this when I entered the text in from the main article of their latest Nova Puls newsletter.
http://www.pegasus.de/shadowrun/spielhilfen/novapuls/

Berlin crisis intensified further BERLIN

Berlin district and mayoral brings no relief:

Two and a half weeks after the re-election Mayor Yilmaz Wojenko wrestle the Berlin Council members continue to move closer in the power struggle. The introduction of new matrix protocols should improve safety for all citizens in the network. At least in Berlin, she has led to a deterioration of the security outside the network: The ever by civil rights groups and police clubs again sharply attacked "secret" conversion of the global matrix security protocols has around the globe to sometimes violent protests led. While elsewhere but well nine months later come to terms with the new matrix and the improved use of options has grown to love, Berlin seems increasingly becoming the focal point of the protest movement degenerating against the new matrix. For decades, no longer unknown riots the first of May, violent Clashes with the security forces on the otherwise always peaceful CSD Parade, riots in almost all districts of the Day Berlin's reunification on 3 October and again spontaneously formed foci of violence - Berlin is ever to save? "The media coverage of Berlin is not always correct," appeased the 6 October in the Official confirmed Berlin Mayor Yilmaz Wojenko: "With the slogan of, matrix protests' can be any public Debates, which we naturally have some in Berlin - and more open, as one is accustomed to outside Berlin - to Riots stylize to privacy and surveillance. "It is certainly true that the number of demonstrations as well as the Have violent offenses in Berlin in 2075 reached a sad high. However, many of the underlying conflicts turned to local issues, one of which is the distribution of power between the districts and the state level of the currently difficult. The ongoing budget debate to claims of star protection for a hazard pay for the special department SST and a thorough increase in the total output for the Berlin police service burden, according to Yilmaz Wojenko the current situation greatly in Berlin. Nevertheless, persistent rumors of an impending failure of the Berlin Settlement attempt by renowned Berlin politicians vigorously denied. "Nonsense," says about the last year re-elected deputy mayor Morek Pflügler: "No one with even a little common sense in your head has the resolution of the Berliner unit expected that this could be accomplished in only one or two years. We all knew that on the way to a coexistence of such different populations and interest groups, such as we find in Berlin, considerable Conflict mass is. "The introduction of new matrix protocols came unexpectedly and was fuel to the fire of those who do not Peace in Berlin want, and thus an issue that "some" of Berlin "used very calculated and instrumentalized" will. Nevertheless just revealed the voting results of this and the last term, that the majority of Berlin would stick to the agreement: "I can not a rejection of the idea of ​​Berlin recognize the fact that so far all of Berlin Mayors were re-elected by a large majority. " On the contrary, the current situation was a "great moment of Intermediary ", as well as the ADL ambassador in Berlin Dr. Isabelle Jandorf reiterated at a press conference on Saturday: "We are sticking to the Berlin unit. The alternative would be too horrible to picturing them. "The threat of Abyss open doors that were previously closed firmly: "There is a new quality of dialogue," said Jandorf concluded.

Interestingly, from another article in that PDF, I was reminded that the AGS Chancellor is Annika Beloit, the daughter of Mina-Graff Beloit and one of Lofwyr's old enemies.

[Aryeonos]

As of 2075 a chancelor (presiding over berlin?) is the daughter of one of lofwyr`s many enemies? That could prove interesting for politics, and potential running material.

[Crimsondude]

Presiding over the confederation government of most of Germany.

[Aryeonos]

I dont suppose she has liasons to shadowrunners? What book is her info in, or relating info?

[Crimsondude]

http://www.shadowhelix.de/Anikka_Beloit

The only thing in English is a reference to her in Dragons of the Sixth World, and not much of one. It seems most of what I know is from internal discussions. Anyway, her links to runners can be through official channels like the BIS (Office of Confederate Internal Security), but more likely it'd come from her party functionaries and lackeys.




Here's the Helix wiki entry on Berlin, which seems pretty helpful: http://www.shadowhelix.de/Berlin

[Sengir]

Long story short, the corps invaded in 2055 under the guise of smashing the Universal Brotherhood. The anarchists beat them to a standstill in the eastern parts of town, so the corps simply decided to wall off the holdout and concentrate on turning what they had into a nice little company town. Apart from a few flare-ups and an unsuccessful attempt to starve the east in 2062, that was the status quo until April '72.
In April 72, a sprawl guerrilla cell called UV-X used Surtr (the nanoweapon) in an attack, which the corps took as a good casus belli to finally "liberate" the anarchist sectors, and this time they succeeded. (Given how rapidly the troops were assembled and that no further nanoweapons were to be found, there's  theories of a false flag operation abound)
Due to public outcry over the brutality and with a look on their bottom line the victors didn't keep their spoils, instead the new law of the land basically is a federation of semi-autonomous districts. Each district determines representatives for the city council which plays the role of the federal government, inside their own territory the districts do their own thing (including the determination of representatives, obviously the corp sectors do not bother with a general vote), within limits. Map from Shadowhelix. "Alternative" districts are black, extraterritorial districts yellow, the neither-nors grey.