Shadowrun
Shadowrun General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Bradd on <06-08-11/1017:56>
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What happened to the FBI Academy when Virginia seceded? Quantico is a major US government town, surrounded by a key Marine Corps base on three sides. Did the UCAS relocate its facilities, or did it hang onto the base & town (like Guantanamo Bay in Cuba)?
On a related note, does anyone have a list of the FBI's counterparts in other North American nations? I'm sure that most of the new nations have their own federal/national law enforcement. Last session, our group connected with Salish-Sidhe agents (I think), and we didn't know what to call their G-men.
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The UCAS/CAS border is somewhat dubious, and every map of North America released contradicts itself on where the UCAS/CAS border is. The older ones place it as running through central VA which allows Langley, the Pentagon, and Quantico to remain in the UCAS. The one in 6WA places it along the Potomac, putting Arlington, Langley, and Quantico in the CAS. That would suggest that the FBI Academy, DoD, and CIA relocated north to the wilds of rural MD.
Spy Games includes a list of the investigative and intelligence agancies for a small portion of the world.
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I just discovered that the UCAS includes "North Virginia." According to the Sixth World Almanac, it's part of the FDC sprawl, which suggests that the map is incorrect. It sounds like all of those counties across the Potomac from DC stuck with the UCAS as North Virginia when the rest seceded, so there's no need to relocate all of the agencies and military bases in the area.
I'll have to give Spy Games a closer look. It didn't have much information about the FBI, so I wasn't expecting much about their counterparts.
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Quantico is still in the UCAS.
Yes, the maps are incorrect. The UCAS/CAS border is the Rappahannock River.
Yes, there is a North Virginia. Even if there wasn't, Langley and the Pentagon (and every other LE/Intel agency) are headquartered well within the FDC, since the FDC is comprised of Washington and the following counties: Arlington, Fairfax, Montgomery, Howard, Prince Georges.
Spy Games doesn't have much about the FBI except for its national security (counterintel, counterterror, etc.) section.
I have compiled a list of every UCAS federal agency for the DeeCee section of Conspiracy Theories. It's considerably smaller than RL.
Anyway, the national police in Salish are the Rangers, which is a paramilitary police force that used to also serve as its military until the war with Tsimshian. There are also separate Border and Coast Guards. In Sioux it's the Sioux National Police. In PCC it's the Security Force, which is both the police (Civil) and military (Defense). Tír Tairngire has the Peace Force. CAS has the Department of Domestic Investigations, (Department is the CAS term for agencies. UCAS-eqv. depts. are Bureaus), which is a catchall federal law enforcement agency. However, the CAS Secret Service exists as a sub-agency of the DDI to perform executive protection.
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Wow, thanks, that's a huge help! Does Prince William County (FBI Academy/MCB Quantico) also belong on that list? Wikipedia lists quite a few more counties associated with the Washington DC metro area, not sure whether FDC is that big.
Do you know what the CalFree G-men are called? Are they the CBI, like on "The Mentalist"? ;)
Is this info collected in a sourcebook somewhere, or is it new stuff you're working on?
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Some of the info is in Shadows of North America, on SSC, Sioux, CAS. Some of it never made it into that book (for some silly reason), but I can't recall offhand which don't have that info. In CFS's case, there isn't a CBI anymore because CFS is a bunch of microstates all within the borders of what used to be California. The closest there is to a statewide police force, even in the CFS "proper" around Sacramento and SF are the Rangers—CHiPs who went rogue/private. They operate as a private police force in the public interest.
The official Federal District only contains those counties I mentioned above. However, the DC metro area ("Beltway") comprises quite a few more, including Alexandria, Prince William, Loudoun, Anne Arrundel. I am doing a writeup of the DeeCee Sprawl for Conspiracy Theories, which is going to be slightly different from War! and Spy Games in that it has two large setting briefs (London and Washington) instead of one major setting and a series of teasers on other settings. Because DC is such a company town where all of the FLEAs operate, I needed to make a list of who's in town.
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That's cool! Thanks for the info.
So the Salish & CalFree both have LEO forces called "Rangers"?
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Yes.
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Come to that, were the Texas Rangers absorbed into/taken over by Lone Star? I hope to have the LS sourcebook soon, but I can't remember any reference to the Texas Rangers, and shudder to think of the likes of Walker as a LS badge - Darth Chuck notwithstaning ::) ;)
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Dude.
Dude.
The Rangers show up in my Counterintelligence chapter in Spy Games.
But, no, they are still run by the state of Texas. However, the Texas Rangers are far more militarized than now after the war with Aztlan. As I described them in SG, if you take this paramilitary police/defense force and add a CI/espionage component then you get the current TRs—men and women who can and will hire/deputize/or otherwise control mercs, runners, other assets in order to do the mission of "One riot, one Ranger."
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Thanks muchly for that, Crimsondude.
I remember now, a reference to the TX Rangers in the Aztlan s/b surprised me at the time.
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Along those lines which of the Agencies does magic and/or paranatural criminal activity fall under? The reason I ask is the DEA deals with drugs. The ATF deals with Alcohol, Tobacco and fire arms. The Secret Service deals with counterfitting and the ssecurity of the President. Who would get stuck with dealing with the ramppant abuse of magic in the Sixth World? I can't see the UCAS or CAS not creating a new agency or one of the old ones grabbing it for themselves.
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According to Threats 2, page 57, UCAS has the BATTF, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Telesma, and Firearms. So they would deal with foci smuggling, possibly also spell formulas. Note that Threats 2 was released in 2001, before the US ATF officially became the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives.
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This will hopefully be addressed relatively soon because federal magic law enforcement seems kind of a big deal in the UCAS.
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Interesting. Will wait and see what comes down the pipe.
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This will hopefully be addressed relatively soon because federal magic law enforcement seems kind of a big deal in the UCAS.
Not as bad as in England, where you need a license if you're a magician. Not necessarily practicing, just a magician. :P
At least in the UCAS, it's only when you're doing healing magic that you need a license, IIRC.
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I'm not going to shock anyone to say I think Kenson was channeling the idea of the Mutant Registration Act whenever it came up in his books.
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British mages having to be registered pre-dates Kenson though. Pretty sure it's addressed in the initial novel trilogy and uh..the book about the Ripper clone/dreamchip guy. Streets of Blood?
If I misunderstood your comment I apologize ahead of time :)
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We get to see one of those characters in "Street Legends"! ;D
He happens to be one of my favorite characters, BTW.
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I mean in Target: UCAS, MitS, and some other books there's a recurring theme about a magical eqv. of the MRA always looming.
Anyway, as a general rule for the UCAS let me see ...
FBI. General federal jurisdiction for magical crimes through the Paranormal Affairs Division.
ATTF regulates telesma and one would suspect that extends to any physical items. They may come into play more often than one might expect because they'd be the ones regulating talismongers.
DEA (That would the new Drug Enforcement Agency intrduced in Runner Havens) might have a BAD division even if it involves relatively benign magical drugs (given the DEA's oversight of prescription narcotics now).
There is also the Department of Justice Magical Security Task Force. It's comprised of representatives of the FBI, KE, LS, DIMR, Tír Tairngire, NAN, a bunch of universities across the globe, and was formed to prevent more Bug Cities, etc. Since it was introduced in Target: UCAS one might expect other groups to liase with the MSTF, but it's rarely even been mentioned since that book. There may be a line in SoNA.
I think that's about it so far as canon has gone on to discuss. Anyway, some of this may come up in Artifacts Unbound. Some may come up in Conspiracy Theories since I'm writing the section on DeeCee. I have compiled a list so it's clear who's still around (which is not nearly as many as now IRL as I was reminded having just been back to D.C.), but ... Who knows. Generally speaking the only feds who are said to be around are the FBI and Secret Service (How the Secret Service is still around is a g-d miracle) with the occasional references to ATTF, DEA, Matrix Marshals, or Army CID. IRS has a law enforcement division, but it's only been listed as an intelligence agency (which is awesome) in Runner Havens. Actually, same with DEA and Homeland Security. So it's same to assume there are some that do both (FBI is a member of the intelligence community. So is DHS. DEA has a division that was admitted to the IC only like a year or two ago).
Oh oh oh.
I forgot about Interpol. Today, INTERPOL is at best a global intelligence agency or really mostly just a clearinghouse for criminal intelligence and such. Shadowrun's Interpol (note the case difference) is a full-blown SR version of SHIELD. When it was introduced, or revamped or whatever, in Cyberpirates! their agents really only operated where no one could tell them "no," or helped facilitate global efforts such as counter-WMD operations. However, they were agents, poorly supported and no going around invading countries. Ghost Cartels introduced the subsidiary, IDEA (which seems unnecessary. It could have just been a discreet division within Interpol) that eliminated any pretense that it's SR SHIELD. I'm not saying Interpol is or isn't operating (with sanction) in the UCAS (Well, I can't because I don't know.), but I am saying that I wrote the Texas Rangers so that GMs can throw them into literally any setting you can make up an excuse for them to appear—be it a police, espionage, or other role—then there isn't much stopping you from doing the same with Interpol, or even EuroPol, or C5, or the UN.
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Do they have a Heli-Carrier?
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If that aircraft on page 140 of Arsenal isn't a helicarrier, I'd be damned surprised.
I'm also certain, though I can't remember in which book, that PCC was actually developing a fleet.
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Actually... Yeah, it does look like a Heli-Carrier.
Damn. Did they have an equivalent of Nick Fury as well? This being Shadowrun, it's likely the Max version of Nick Fury, showing a Four-Star General who Daddy is when the belt comes off.
And then challenges a whole Company to bring on a fight when they get ordered to arrest the man he brought into a Covert Op that went bad. They back down and accept a long tour of duty in Iraq, it's safer there.
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Ugh. I hated MAX Fury.
IDEA's director was Majia Wright, who got fired for ... some reason I can't recall offhand. Though I'm pretty sure the similarities are there to Fury getting fired in Secret War. She hasn't been seen since.
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Who knows. Generally speaking the only feds who are said to be around are the FBI and Secret Service (How the Secret Service is still around is a g-d miracle)
Given that the other mission of the Secret Service is to investigate federal cases involving counterfitting and the like, I can easily see them being a player in federal cases involving cyberforensics, especially in regards to UCAS currency...unless they got folded into the FBI.
BTW, speaking of which, what UCAS LE branch would be at the top of the totem pole in terms of cybercrime jurisdiction?
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BTW, speaking of which, what UCAS LE branch would be at the top of the totem pole in terms of cybercrime jurisdiction?
Target: Matrix, page 11
Third, with the advent of the Matrix, the feds took computer crime out of the FBI's juridiction and handed it over to the [UCAS] Marshals. The Marshals are responsible for securing all federal grids and hosts, as well as investigating computer crimes committed in UCAS Matrix systems.
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Ugh. I hated MAX Fury.
Everyone has their own personal tastes.
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IDEA's director was Majia Wright, who got fired for ... some reason I can't recall offhand. Though I'm pretty sure the similarities are there to Fury getting fired in Secret War. She hasn't been seen since.
Officially, stress. Unofficially, for investigating Aztechnology help to David cartel to take over the tempo connection. See Vice, page 87.
While I'm here, two quotes about Interpol, which I think are the only references outside of the tempo arc.
Corporate Download, page 88
During Europe's post-war reconstruction, Lofwyr sank his talons into almost every European state agency, and he continues maintaining deep connections to most national intelligence agencies. Much of Interpol also fell into S-K's hands, and the corp has kept it alive and functionning under numerous guises.
Corporate Guide, page 29
The Grid Overwatch Division is the Matrix version of what Interpol was supposed to be—or at least, what people, especially those who watch action trids, think Interpol was supposed to be. They’re the ultra-competent big boys who step in when the local police are overwhelmed, or when a crime is too big or crosses too many jurisdictions for the locals to deal with on their own.
Also found back my first drafts of my proposal for Interpol in Loose Alliances that got turned down. Ew, so long...
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Ugh. I hated MAX Fury.
IDEA's director was Majia Wright, who got fired for ... some reason I can't recall offhand. Though I'm pretty sure the similarities are there to Fury getting fired in Secret War. She hasn't been seen since.
She got fired (in all but name) for pursuing something her superiors decided was off-limits, during the Tempo clusterf*ck. Some deal was cut with the Azzies/David cartel, but Majia wasn't letting it go, so . . .
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Never forget who the true masters of the world are, even if they do allow the Governments to have some power, it's only because they don't want to have to take out the trash.
Unless that's what they're being paid for, of course.
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There's some info on INTERPOL (classic case) in Cyberpirates!, including a profile on their ops in the Caribbean on page 51.