[Welshman]

Afk (moving my stuff to fragging MARS!)

We're sorry but Mars has been lent to another game system and is currently unavailable for use. You can try Luna, but we here that the Dragon's rather like Luna.

[The_Gun_Nut]

Well... the Passions actively fought the Horrors during the last Scourge (some went mad over that, some died...), but if they are around this time to help metahumanity again is unknown.

In the base Earthdawn setting (Barsaive) none of the Passions fought the Horrors.  Three of the twelve for Barsaive went mad (and there are, of course, theories as to why) but the bulk of them are ok.

In another province of the Theran empire, Vasgothia, the Passions there actively fought the Horrors with their worshippers.  And were torn to bits as a result.  In the forests there, one can stumble across such "Fruit of the Passions" every so often.  Eating one (yuck) gives the character some pretty interesting powers.  Quite variable, however, so one never knows what one will get.

There are also "Fruits of the Horrors" scattered about.  These are pieces of major Horrors (god-like in power, comparable to great dragons or even stronger) that were slain by the Passions and their followers.  Eating one of those...well, do I need to go into details?  The problem is that the two "Fruits" look exactly alike.  Good luck with that...

The overall mana level is what allows the Horrors to enter the world.  However, when the mana in a specific location has been drastically altered/increased (such as the spike point from the Great Ghost Dance) then it can create a narrow tunnel or bridge between the worlds to allow some of the Horros to enter early.  The big ones can't spread out far from the spike; they need the higher mana level just to exist within our world.  Some of the minor ones can still cause damage, but without sufficient numbers, the threat would be contained to a limited region.

The problem there, of course, is that the major Horrors will be doing all the can to increase the ambient mana level in the area surrounding the spike.  Once you give them a toe hold, the only thing I can think of that would stop them would be a nuke.  And due to the second major use of the Great Ghost Dance in 2049-50, nuclear weapons are problematic (see what happened in Chicago for more information).

[BlackMyron]

 The Cermak Blast was special, though - the nuke went off inside a powerful magic shield being erected by the insect hives, and was "concentrated" because of that.

  The Second Great Ghost Dance was designed to neutralize specific nukes, which is why the teams had to go to the physical locations of the nukes they were destroying, as well as to limit Spider.

  (And as Harlequin's Back implied, it probably also helped along Mr. Darke's plans by increasing the magic levels at the Ghost Dance site even more).

[anotherJack]

Whatever, mana and radiations interactions are impredictable, not sure it would be a great idea to nuke horrors, they could like it 

[FastJack]

Whatever, mana and radiations interactions are impredictable, not sure it would be a great idea to nuke horrors, they could like it 

Or, to put it another way...

[anotherJack]

Very good example 
Made me think that Horrors' humour might be terrific.

[BlackMyron]

 Or the old joke from the Cthulhu Now setting for CoC:

  "What happens if you nuke Cthulhu?  He reforms twenty minutes later, and now he's radioactive!"

[Doc Chaos]

Yeah, because "The end of the world" jokes have never been more funny than when it's really right around the corner

[bobo69]

Yeah Vasgothia, epic battle there, the horrors got smashed also in the process.

[Turtletron]

Well... the Passions actively fought the Horrors during the last Scourge (some went mad over that, some died...), but if they are around this time to help metahumanity again is unknown.

In the base Earthdawn setting (Barsaive) none of the Passions fought the Horrors.  Three of the twelve for Barsaive went mad (and there are, of course, theories as to why) but the bulk of them are ok.

In another province of the Theran empire, Vasgothia, the Passions there actively fought the Horrors with their worshippers.  And were torn to bits as a result.  In the forests there, one can stumble across such "Fruit of the Passions" every so often.  Eating one (yuck) gives the character some pretty interesting powers.  Quite variable, however, so one never knows what one will get.

There are also "Fruits of the Horrors" scattered about.  These are pieces of major Horrors (god-like in power, comparable to great dragons or even stronger) that were slain by the Passions and their followers.  Eating one of those...well, do I need to go into details?  The problem is that the two "Fruits" look exactly alike.  Good luck with that...

The overall mana level is what allows the Horrors to enter the world.  However, when the mana in a specific location has been drastically altered/increased (such as the spike point from the Great Ghost Dance) then it can create a narrow tunnel or bridge between the worlds to allow some of the Horros to enter early.  The big ones can't spread out far from the spike; they need the higher mana level just to exist within our world.  Some of the minor ones can still cause damage, but without sufficient numbers, the threat would be contained to a limited region.

The problem there, of course, is that the major Horrors will be doing all the can to increase the ambient mana level in the area surrounding the spike.  Once you give them a toe hold, the only thing I can think of that would stop them would be a nuke.  And due to the second major use of the Great Ghost Dance in 2049-50, nuclear weapons are problematic (see what happened in Chicago for more information).

Do you think that a few of those "fruits" could still exist in the Shadowrun setting? maybe in another form?

[anotherJack]

Like a fruitcake ?

[FastJack]

Like a fruitcake ?

Adds a whole new level to the fruitcake Dunkelzahn and Alamais sent back and forth, for sure.

[Turtletron]

It would be a super fruitcake

[Stormdrake]

I have been using the Cthulhu "Old Ones" in my game as the remnents of Passions and and their followers twisted by the Horrors in previous upswings in the magic cycle.  This way I leave the Horrros as undefined while having all sorts of wonderful descriptive abominations making life unpleasent for my players.  

I find using the various Cthulhu races and entities in this way adds to the terror of the Horrors because they don't just kill you, they twist you into new forms and unleash them on the world to create the very emotions the Horros need/want to feed on.

Just my two cents.

PS. Will have to go look up my copy of HB and see what the two listed Horrors are like.

[The_Gun_Nut]

That's what the Horrors do, too.  Except that they do it for a reason, other than not being interested in the affairs of mortals...oh, wait.  If they aren't interested in the affairs of mortals, then why do they bother in the first place?  Cthulhu mythos falls apart a little bit there.

The Horrors have a clear reason to twist and mutilate and terrorize humanity:  They feed on the pain and suffering it causes amongst humanity.  That makes tons more sense than "you are beneath my notice, I shall not even bother with you NOWDIEDIEDIE!"