[Mirikon]

Imp, while you are technically correct, you forget that material wealth (gems, precious metals, etc.) can buy you a lot of those 0s and 1s. There's a good deal of speculation that Buttercup used a spirit power that allows one to create wealth to get all the money she used to buy her seat on Yamatetsu's board, back before it was Evo.

And yes, Sichr, Nath is correct about Art Dankwalther. Basically, the Big D left him with more money than anyone could possibly know what to do with, and he decided to take it and (after practicing with two smaller companies) set about finding a way to burn Novatech to the ground. Which is the whole reason Novatech had to have its IPO. Which leads us to Deus uploading himself into the ECSE. Which leads us to Pax and Winternight starting Crash 2.0. In the ensuing chaos, the Corporate Court called down an Omega Order on one man, and Thor shotted him because they didn't think they could get a team to his location before he could move.

Moral of the story? One man threatens to destabilize the global economy, and the Court WILL take steps to end that threat.

[CanRay]

And the remaining dead around the impact of the Thor shot is just a matter of collateral damage.

[Sichr]

Pah...even Thor shots are a bit overrated. They left no bodies for an evidence. I wont be surprised if the man appears...like many others...to cause some fun once again...

[Mirikon]

Well, you have to run really fast to get out of the 'everything is vaporized' radius to the 'instantly lethal' radius. This is one of those things where it would take a miracle for him to not be dead. The Court was VERY sure that he was at his current location, and no matter how good your spy network is, they're not going to get to you in the five minutes between the when the strike is ordered, and when the shot lands, especially if the order comes from ZO itself.

[Sichr]

I guess...future will show. But you are right. Such strike was persumably based on his real physical location...

[Wakshaani]

Art's dead, ut the bigger question was always this: If he's dead, what happened to his money?

No one's ever followed up on that one, to my knowledge, but, woo buddy, if you're a GM and need a nice arc for a group, that one's a low-hanging fruit, isn't it?

(It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad Matrix, and Art buried his money under a giant 'W' ... go!)

[Sichr]

Right. At least some of it would be in some chaches in arts pieces, artifacts and other resistent valuables...

[The Wyrm Ouroboros]

Whatever makes you think that?

Art was spending every last red cent on screwing Villiers over, with the sort of focus only a lunatic can bring to the operation.  Everything he had was in some way dedicated to the task.  Wealth would not have been in the form of art of any type; everything would have been in cash, easily-liquidated assets, stuff you could acquire electronically and then sell electronically for a profit - in order to buy out suppliers, source shadowruns, lean on clients, all that sort of thing.  The only reason that a piece of art might have been purchased would have been if he needed it to bribe someone.

My personal favorite treatment of the latter is in the Robert A. Heinlein short story "--We Also Walk Dogs", in which a priceless Ming Dynasty teacup is acquired for a scientist to bribe him into working on a problem.

[Patrick Goodman]

I'm not sure that the Draco Foundation wouldn't have found some way to reclaim that unspent fortune, what was left of it anyway. I do need to talk to some people about possibilities for that...hmmmmm....

[Sichr]

Whatever makes you think that?

Art was spending every last red cent on screwing Villiers over, with the sort of focus only a lunatic can bring to the operation.  Everything he had was in some way dedicated to the task.  Wealth would not have been in the form of art of any type; everything would have been in cash, easily-liquidated assets, stuff you could acquire electronically and then sell electronically for a profit - in order to buy out suppliers, source shadowruns, lean on clients, all that sort of thing.  The only reason that a piece of art might have been purchased would have been if he needed it to bribe someone.

My personal favorite treatment of the latter is in the Robert A. Heinlein short story "--We Also Walk Dogs", in which a priceless Ming Dynasty teacup is acquired for a scientist to bribe him into working on a problem.

Well in that case Id say it may be as good as gone forever, since Crash follows right after...or during...this episode, if I understand it right...

[CanRay]

I'm not sure that the Draco Foundation wouldn't have found some way to reclaim that unspent fortune, what was left of it anyway. I do need to talk to some people about possibilities for that...hmmmmm....

Or Arty is working for them now...

[Sichr]

or them selling Artys location to CC after he has done what he was supposed to do

[CanRay]

or them selling Artys location to CC after he has done what he was supposed to do

A person that's able to counter the abilities of AAA-Level Corporations by market manipulation?

That's a WMD against the Corporate Court...  You don't just "Get Rid" of something like that.

You keep it in a remote location that is COMPLETELY deniable to you.  He probably thinks he's working for Neo-Anarchists or something.

[Sichr]

ehh...that "marketing" word just rang the bell
Horizon...
just wild speculation...but is it possible that Art is somehow involved in Consensus algorithm creation? Because no matter what...that algorithm was probably there before Horizon become even A rated company...it was a foundation stone for Horizon...who is its father? Who had the knowledge and resources to create something like this?

[CanRay]

ehh...that "marketing" word just rang the bell
Horizon...
just wild speculation...but is it possible that Art is somehow involved in Consensus algorithm creation? Because no matter what...that algorithm was probably there before Horizon become even A rated company...it was a foundation stone for Horizon...who is its father? Who had the knowledge and resources to create something like this?

This makes more sense than anything else, actually.

And he's now practicing on taking out AAAs with AZT!  Who better than the former master of the spin and marketing?