[Mirikon]

By 2075, Renraku is recovering from the Shutdown like ExxonMobil is recovering from the Valdez oil spill, which is to say it's occupying about 1% of their time and resources. Maybe. And in both instances only because the victims don't have the decency to die off so the lawsuits go away.

Well, yes and no. They've recovered financially and are in the business of making money hand over fist again, but they haven't recovered the same standing they had before the shutdown. They aren't back to the same Renraku that would put out a shiny new product every three months, and was constantly pushing the bleeding edge of tech just that much further. There is still a perception problem (at least in North America) that connects Renraku to that big building that used to have their logo on the side in downtown Seattle, and is now a glorified homeless shelter/prison. The smear on their reputation from trying desperately to cover up the shutdown as long as they could is still there. They designed the Manservant drone to be deliberately slow and clunky so people knew that it couldn't become a threat to them. Meanwhile, Mitsuhama has the sleek cyborg bodies out. That alone says how very far Renraku has left to go.

But it has been a decade since the Crash, and if they could start bringing out the big products again, then unless something happens to bring that incident back to light, they may really be able to put it to bed. An updated version of the Nadeshiko drone, for instance. Or maybe the hottest new cybersuite? A heavy pistol version of the old Fubuki, that can hold its own against Ares and it's vaunted Predator? Products designed for Technomancers? There are a lot of possibilities out there, plenty of underserved markets that could be captured almost instantly if a name like Renraku comes out saying that it is going to 'turn the page'. They've been keeping their nose to the grindstone, and making money, while keeping off the radar. But the last real thing anyone remembers about Renraku is the Shutdown, especially since it got released to the public during the TM/AI scare that Deus and the otaku who served him in the Arcology were majorly to blame for the Crash. They've weathered that storm, but they need something big to really create a new narrative. Of course, the biggest thing they could do is to find a 'cure' (or at least an 'immunization') for Sybil.

[Opti]

16) Arthur Vogel - from what I can find he was an environmentalist. But Dunky tells him in his will to give up the Toxic stuff. Seems to contradict. Anyone have source material or explanation/story for Mr. Vogel?

[Crimsondude]

From his introduction in Super Tuesday! His legal and advocacy background involved dealing with eco-terrorists and other less pleasant elements of the environmental movement.

[Mirikon]

Vogel was a lawyer for TerraFirst! and other such groups, IIRC. Which is effectively the same as being consiglieri for a Mafia don. Sure, you don't go killing people yourself, but you do help shield them from the law, and other 'consequences'. The thing about the environmental groups is that the awakened types in them got to see a bunch of environmentally damaged areas, and felt really strongly about such things. So it wasn't surprising to see a rising tide of toxics in the eco-terrorist movement.

[Opti]

17) Regarding EVO's Yuri Shibanokuji, does anyone know how he REALLY overcame his Methuselah's disease in 2065? I have heard plastic surgery, cloning, leonization, spirit magic. Nothing seems to add up...

[Mirikon]

No one knows for sure. The three most likely theories I've heard are:
1. The 'Shibanokuji Yuri' people think they know is actually an actor with plastic surgery, possibly a 'jumping jack' or metahuman biodrone like the Proteus board uses, controlled by the real Yuri.
2. Buttercup laid some mojo on him. Whether this mojo cured the disease or just suppressed it until she doesn't feel like doing it any more is unknown.
3. Early test case of Leonization.

[Agonar]

10) in Missions, Season 4-00 (Back in Business), the runners are sent to find (among other things) something called a "morel stone." My runners kept it, sensing that it was worth more than they were being offered. Is there any properties or stats or further hints as to what this artifact does, or what it can do?

opti.

Not much about what it does spelled out in Shadowrun, but it seems to definitely be an Earthdawn link.  In Parageology, P. 19, they talk about Fiona Craig finding a "morel sael" or Morel Stone.. Morel being Sperethiel for Life, and this being basically a shard of a Liferock.  The stone didn't have a magic aura, but sort of a living aura.

In Earhtdawn, Liferocks were the souce of life/energy/etc that spawned the Obsidamen.

So, this could have been a bone to indicate that if magic keeps rising, then Obsidamen might return in some fashion.

[Reaver]

10) in Missions, Season 4-00 (Back in Business), the runners are sent to find (among other things) something called a "morel stone." My runners kept it, sensing that it was worth more than they were being offered. Is there any properties or stats or further hints as to what this artifact does, or what it can do?

opti.

Not much about what it does spelled out in Shadowrun, but it seems to definitely be an Earthdawn link.  In Parageology, P. 19, they talk about Fiona Craig finding a "morel sael" or Morel Stone.. Morel being Sperethiel for Life, and this being basically a shard of a Liferock.  The stone didn't have a magic aura, but sort of a living aura.

In Earhtdawn, Liferocks were the souce of life/energy/etc that spawned the Obsidamen.

So, this could have been a bone to indicate that if magic keeps rising, then Obsidamen might return in some fashion.

Given that SR and earthdawn are now owned by separate companies and SR has made a move away from Earthdawn connections in recent years, I think this is a really big leap. (legally speaking)

As to what the stone actually does? that might come up in a later book or mission.... many of the artifacts recovered required very specific rituals to unleash their power... Knowledge that you can either use to keep the stone as a mysterious trinket, or let your imagination run wild and have the ritual unlock some fantastic ability.........

[Agonar]

Given that SR and earthdawn are now owned by separate companies and SR has made a move away from Earthdawn connections in recent years, I think this is a really big leap. (legally speaking)

As to what the stone actually does? that might come up in a later book or mission.... many of the artifacts recovered required very specific rituals to unleash their power... Knowledge that you can either use to keep the stone as a mysterious trinket, or let your imagination run wild and have the ritual unlock some fantastic ability.........

I don't see it as that big of a leap.  It is presented in the section of Parageology that discusses True Elements, also another Earthdawn Port.

excerpts...
[spoiler]
.who specializes in pre-Awakening magical artifacts . . . a shard of obsidian. . .theorized was a piece of a larger stone she found references to called a “morel sael,” or morel stone. Unlike most magical artifacts, the item doesn’t have a magical aura. . .appears to have a faint aura similar to that of living being, hence the Sperethiel name for “Life Rock.” When compared to primal stones, there are similarities, but the morel stone is a natural formation and of such a large size that it implies that it is not a derivative of longpi.[/spoiler] longpi being the sperethiel (I guess) for True Earth.  So, the Earthdawn link is not much of a leap at all.

Unless you mean the hinting of Obsidamen.  In that case, yeah, I doubt it'll ever happen, unless particular GMs want it to happen, but this section of the book deals with Earthdawn material brought forward into the Shadowrun universe.

But, Parageology doesn't say the morel stone does anything, it's just an artifact from another time...

[Opti]

18) Looking for info on the "D-Team," Dunklezahn's shadowrunner team. Who are they, what did they do? Sources?

[Opti]

19) Also, looks like something went down in 2054 when the Elves put Crater Lake on Lockdown. Big D and Harley seem to have had something to say about it on Shadowland, but can't find anything concrete. Thoughts?

[Angelone]

18) Looking for info on the "D-Team," Dunklezahn's shadowrunner team. Who are they, what did they do? Sources?

Sources are mainly novels that I don't have on hand right now. There was Ryan Mercury aka Quicksilver (who is still around as of 10 Mercs), Axler, Grinder, Jane-in the Box, a whole bunch of dead mages, and Talon who left to form his own team in Boston and is still around as of Street Legends. Axler was mentioned somewhere as working for the UCAS government fairly recently IIRC. I'll try to dig it up.

[Opti]

Thanks, chummer. I am literally going to start holding my breath... now!

[ProfGast]

longpi being the sperethiel (I guess) for True Earth.

For the record it's not sperethiel, but Chinese.   "Longlei" is documented as a "natural water radical" (true water) that Wuxing discovered in 2064 or true water.  It translates literally into "dragon tears"

Longpi, following the same translation would be an earth radical, (true earth) that just as literally translates into "dragon skin"

[Sendaz]

In Fraterese, the international language of frat boys, Longlei and Longpi have a much different and more humour meanings.