Answers under individual questions.
Questions: (or possible errata fodder)
1. What's this "China" place?
Page 56, which China was Ahi a slave to? Page 100, what parts of China do the NPL operate in? Which China does does the CBA operate in?
China is like the US of A. It doesn't exist in Shadowrun. The area is now Shaanxi, the Canton Confederation, Henan, etc. etc. Recommended reading, Shadows of Asia.
There is no nation called "China" in 2073, but that does not mean people don't use it as a regional designation (note that in baseball, there is an NAL, the North American League, despite the fact that there is no "North America" nation). Ahi might not be clear on where she was precisely when she was rescued, so she uses the regional descriptor
Also, allow me to point out that the author of the sports section was one of the co-writers of the southeast Asia portion of
Shadows of Asia, so I'm pretty sure he's aware of that book's existence.
2. Regarding CrimeTime:
Page 50:
> it’s not total rumors. Poor bastard has been fed BtLs from the Vory for some time. it was the leash that led Crimetime around to shit gigs, smuggling for the puppet masters. or’zet was his path to break the habit.
> Red anya
Page 142, Red Anya's entry on CrimeTime:
There are essentially two narratives. In one, he is nothing more than a poser and a moneymaking machine for the Vory. He’s actually doubly pro table, because his music and touring makes Hez Music good money, and CrimeTime spends a good portion of his share of the dough on Vory-supplied BTLs and narcotics. In the other narrative, CrimeTime is exactly as tough as he says he is, and he is one the Vory’s most trusted negotiators. When he’s touring, he uses his downtime to make the rounds in whatever city he’s in and works to settle disputes the Vory may have with local individuals and business owners.
It would seem that Red Anya is having difficulty making up her mind as to whether CrimeTime is a beetle head or not. So is he or isn't he?
When posting a shadowtalk comment, JackPointers generally vocalize their own personal opinions; when writing body text, they often strive to move beyond their own opinions and present more of an overview. In the latter section, Red Anya points out that there are varying opinions about CrimeTime, which is important to know in any overview of a person; in the former section, we see which side of the debate she falls on.
3. Pirate or independent?
On page 108, we're introduced to Hillary Rodregaz who published an amazing feminist manifesto, Portrait of Woman in the 21st Century. Horizon rejects it though an editor secretly tells her to continue writing as it was amazing. So she went through an independent publisher (who apparently trafficked in stolen intellectual property to subsidize its income, but I think that's beside the point) who distributed it as a freebie. The section says this action was illegal. How, exactly, was publishing something for free (I'm assuming Rodregaz gave the pirate [or are they independent?] publisher permission) illegal? I'm assuming Horizon pressured local governments to ban her work because she rejected them after the fact, but how is what she was doing before that illegal?
The fact that the publisher is trafficking in stolen intellectual property is entirely
not beside the point. Let's look at the whole text:
She found a publisher who had a profitable line of stolen ebooks that they use to fund their own publications. They started packaging her book in with bundles of older, similar books. So the savvy book reader looking for an old copy of Tolstoy or Kerouac would be pleasantly surprised to find they got a bonus copy of something they may well like, and they’d take a look at it. Through these illegal avenues, Rodregaz built a fan base and eventually started outselling some of her legitimate competitors.
When her books were sold, they were packaged with stolen intellectual property. The selling of the stolen intellectual property is what is referred to as "these illegal avenues."
I'll start an official errata thread for future comments so that I can know when to find them when compilation time comes.
Jason H.