Eosin

Re: Shadow Angelus On the way back from the gym this morning I was thinking about conflict in the setting. Some very interesting thoughts (to me anyway). BENELOVENT Humanists: Those who look to mankind for answers [use science, knowledge, and adaptability to confront the enemy. Includes espers.] Transcendents: Those who seek to become more than human [use technology and cyber to augment mankind. Includes cyborgs.] Adherents: Those who look to outside forces [use magic and faith to battle the enemy. Includes wizards and crusaders] SELFISH Traditionalists: Gain power through traditional paths of greed and exploitation on the masses. Includes Corporations. Machinists: Those who feel that the human condition is limiting and only through a total embrace of technology can we become more than human. Includes Cyborgs, Androids, and Computer freaks. Zealots: Reject the earthly rewards to enforce religious doctrine. Minions: Seek to bring forth the entities to gain power or to serve. Other "evils" would include the addicted, psychopaths,etc... people who do evil to further a personal need rather than a philosophical goal. Few people fall entirely into one category... A Minion may use Traditionalist means to place people under their power but the money and influence is a path to the goal not the actual goal.

Re: Shadow Angelus Note that an Android could be made to look like a Clade. They could be made to look like a Rancor or Jabba the Hutt - that would depend on their mission. A military issue clade would look human for a multitude of reasons but mist specifically so that command and control doesn't just nuke the site from orbit when they hit the battlefield. You don't advertise officers for the same reason. And Android built for pleasure would most likely look human unless it was being custom built for a specific customer who wanted something different. Mission profile would determine appearance.

Re: Shadow Angelus It think we are all mixing up terms. Clades: beings grown from DNA. Clones. Organic beings. Cybergrafts/Cyborg: once organic beings who have had bio or mechanical cyberware added to for enhancement, recreation, or medical reasons. Some fraction of them remains organic. Androids/Bioroids/Replicants/Megadyne: Biosynthetic beings. They may appear to be human or machine but they have no DNA. Kiddy was a cyborg. Wire was an Android. Android is the original term which is why I am using it. Data was an android, Cylons are androids, and Terminators are androids. Kiddy is NOT an android. In Appleseed the Bioroids are Androids but Briareos is a Cyborg. So, to my understanding K5, Angelus, and Silent Mobius all have Androids - they just like to call them different names. They each have cyber-enhanced individuals that I will call cyborgs but other terms may be applicable such as cybergraft. I'll use android in my descriptions to keep unified terminology that is clear in meaning but in game Edsel may decide to call them "Pink Daffodils" for all I know. I have not read Watson's outline of Angelus - just Edsels.

Re: Shadow Angelus I got that Wire and the 200 megadynes were pure machine. Kiddy, who wasn't in their league, was an upgraded human who called herself a megadyne but she had a human brain (and maybe more). She was never in Wire's league. I changed the term here to "android" because other words are fuzzy. We all know Android and I'd wager that most of us know Replicant. I think they are a staple of this type of fiction and generally speaking far cooler than clades. After all, Roy Batty is the best character evar! and Bishop isn't far behind. Data is cooler than beans. The Gunslinger (Westworld for the very young) is OMG awesome. Asomov's Giskard dang near invented the trope. The Terminator, who can live without Terminators? You could run a whole campaign with skin job Cylons and I won't even talk about what we could do with Six. I can see where clades and androids overlap. Heck, that is why I themed everyone up above so that they felt distinct instead of a different brand white bread. I'll just quote it for easy reference.

Re: Shadow Angelus Android.

Re: Shadow Angelus I mentioned some villains for Angelus to Susano in another thread. Nero Four years ago a new syndicate rose in Zeta Sector based under the charismatic leadership of a newcomer named Nero. Few gave the fresh faced young man the credit he deserved for his ruthlessness and savvy. Some say his smile is enchanting while his enemies say it is the smile of a shark on the hunt. Whatever the case, bodies began to pile up in high tech areas. Known criminals, informants, and even police officers were killed whenever they opposed Nero or those working for him. Today, Nero controls much of the hightech crime in Zeta Sector working with cyberdocs and black markets to offer some of the hottest upgrades in cyberware. His men have extensive combat upgrades and many suspect Nero has dabbled in cyberware himself. Things have stabilized but police fear that Nero may simply be getting ready for another push to take over more territory. The organization also leases muscle to other criminal elements when more than guns are needed. GMs Only Mr. Stitch Mr. Stitch is a freak. Even in a city full of purple and white hair he stands out in a class of oddness all his own. Body modifications, scarification, and implants have altered his looks until he only vaguely resembles the young Latino of his youth. Santa Muerte and magic consumed him even before his body hit puberty. He sacrificed his first victims before he had kissed a girl. Mr. Stitch runs one of the most vile vice cartels in Rho Sector. His stable includes every twisted perversion that man can imagine if not for the pleasure of others then for himself. His clients include men and women from all stations whose fetishes stray into the illegal and immoral. Mr. Stitch has held dominance for so long because of his connections to the Santa Muerete cults and because of his own dark wizardry. He prefers to avoid violence and combat which isn't hard since so few would willing engage a man who so obviously feels no pain. But one should not mistake him for a pushover, Mr. Stitch got his name for his skill with blades rather than his penchant for self mutilation. GMs Only

Re: Inceptum Terminus Magick System Interesting system. I'll have to think a few things through and come back at some point to comment.

Re: Advice: detecting magic from a distance I use Noisy and a campaign rule on "exceptionally loud magic" based on AP. Instead of increasing the perception penalty it increases the unit of measure. Less than 30 AP = Meters 31 to 60 AP = hundred meters 61-90 = kilometer 91-120 = ten kilometer 121+ = hundred kilometers i.e. a 60 to 90 AP power is detected at 1-4 kilometers without penalty, 5 to 8 kilometers at a -2 penalty, 9-16 kilometers at -4 penalty, 17-32 kilometers at a -6 penalty, and so one. A 135 AP power would be at no detection penalty for 400 kilometers and a -2 at 500-800 kilometers. I don't use teleport so this balances things out but if you have insta-travel you'd need to really watch the disad or the players will go up in smoke once they have a powerful enough enemy.

Re: Shadow Angelus

Re: Shadow Angelus Major Tom brought a salient point back to the table - the original argument of what purpose does element XX serve? Here's my thoughts on the subject and a little bit of the guiding force behind design. Themes Cybernetics: the price of power. Clades: the struggle for equality. Genetic Alteration: the pursuit of perfection. Androids/Megadynes: search for meaning/ what makes one human? Espers: what is our future? What will man become? Wizardry: the power of the past. Unlocking the mysteries. Entities: fear of the unknown, forging ones own destiny. Each "class" if you will comes with its own built in conflict. The city design -- I hope -- will reflect those themes. First, the skeleton has to come into place and then the fantastic can be infused.

Re: Shadow Angelus I prefer Replicant myself. And there are several ways to take them. Appleseed with its utopic bioroids looking to make a better world... Bladerunner with Replicants searching for life and meaning. Terminator like models serving humanity while preparing to eradicate mankind. Bicentenial Man or Star Trek (Data) with robots seeking to become human. Cylon Skin job seeking the perfection of mechanism rather than the weakness of flesh. Cylon Skin jobs seeking to reproduce. Dozens of sources with skin jobs that don't know they are skin jobs. I'd go with the following: the majority of androids are of the Bishop model - loyal and protective of mankind. Some unscrupulous corporations have created assassin and hunter killer type androids who perform impossible kills or no return missions (Terminators, Magna-Guards). A small number of androids fall into the other categories (looking for meaning, reproduction, to become human, to become machine, and so on) but this is an overall small number. Some significant androids might not follow all that is good and healthy at the urging of their masters they may enter and dominate the criminal underworld.

Re: Shadow Angelus So, the Great Clade Revolt of '72 works to achieve the end result. It also solves the Clade vs Megadine issue since the Clades are now slightly more "free agent" than corporate asset. Some companies will still engineer them, some will kidnap them and force them into labor, some nations will have elite clade military units, but many will have given them up for more reliable megadines/bioroids. However, the genie is out of the bottle and clades are here to stay.

Re: Shadow Angelus My original idea would work but I tend to think Susano is right in that the corps would try to ensure sterility. So, we just need a way for them to have bypassed that... If they did it 20-30 years ago there should be no problem with largish numbers of clades running around Rho demanding freedom and equality. How about a clade revolt that resulted in a few thousand escaping. Since then they've freed clade slaves all around the world in an underground railroad sorta way. The freed clades wind up in Angelus because they are hard to track and Angelus has issue with forcible deportation (even of clades). You'd end up with several thousand (40-50) free clades in Angelus most of them living in Rho Sector. They were likely sterilized with a minor surgical procedure which is very reversible. Sound advice. However, I am an overthinker which is why I've sank a huge amount of time figuring out how all this stuff might plausibly work (food, energy, population, City Sectors, travel, etc...). It isn't enough to pass a peer-review but the lines are mostly painted over so that the seams don't just explode in your face. It is my own curse that I cannot play in a game that doesn't have some semblance of trying to make things jive. I spend more time thinking about the setting flaws than I do on my character or the plot.

Re: Shadow Angelus I like the idea of them being sterile but we have insane numbers of them in Rho Sector. Was there a mass escape? I can't imagine more than a few hundred actually escaping over a decade (say 400?). I get the impression of thousands.

Re: Shadow Angelus Dang, I can't rep you right now for that but it made me laugh something fierce. I miss the distinction between anime catgirl and anthro but Edsel makes the decisions either way. I am just looking for something that I can use to make them make sense in the setting. The whole betamax vs vhs issue. It's like Highlander... there can only be one! What we need is something that separates them distinctively so that they are each the "one" for their field. megadines/bioroids/replicants/cyberdroids: very expensive. superhuman capability. pure machine. advanced robotics instead of medicine (they don't heal). no intuition. no breeding. clades: expensive start-up. beyond human ability. medicine works. intuition. breeding is possible. Maybe an idea could be that Clades were perfected first before a full megadine was operable. Since they can breed and likely would breed -- they've escaped population control of the corporations. Previously they were billed as property because they were all "tubers" but now they are reproducing on their own outside of the control of the corps and this 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) generation is the one seeking freedom and equality. They weren't conditioned by corporations to be slave labor. They were born free in the slums but many of their friends get picked up on corporate raids. Forced labor in high risk jobs. Corporations rarely pursue clade tech any longer they simply coerce captured slaves into the chain gangs. Russia and maybe a few other corps still have active clade programs but they are essentially soldier clades bred and trained to be killers. Would something like that work?

Re: Shadow Angelus Urbanography Angelus is a floating city located in the shallows of the Pacific Ocean along the US and South American coast. The slow travels of the city never come too close to national waters which could lead to jurisdictional disputes. The city is divided into twelve self governing Sectors answerable to the City Coordinator and to their constituency. Each Sector might have as many as a dozen clearly identifiable neighborhoods that maintain a coherent identity but have very little authority over many of the workings of the actual infrastructure. The most immediate thing that comes to mind when visiting Angelus is that it is a city that sprawls upward, rather than outward. The skyline is immense and filled with thousands of highrise buildings. Under all of the lights and glitter of 100 story buildings, the city also sprawls down into the depths below street level. Steam tunnels, maintenance, sewage, and power corridors all project below the surface of the ocean. TRAVELING THE BIG CITY The most common form of transportation in Angelus is the Mag-Lev train system called Maggie by the locals. Maggie reaches every neighborhood in every sector with 24 hour service. Unlike many other modern cities Angelus considers safety on the train a priority. If less people took the train then the already congested streets would buckle under the traffic snarls. A train derailment would leave thousands dead and in some places risk critical infrastructure so care is taken to keep the system in immaculate condition. To date their have been no major incidents with Maggie that have led to a loss of life. The streets themselves are an asymmetrical patchwork of major thoroughfares and secondary roads. Many of the secondary roads are one way. The City Positioning System helps to navigate the many twists and turns of Angelus while also providing notification of alternate routes required because of construction or accidents. Bridges abound in a city of channels. Many of the streets are actually suspended even when they aren’t traveling over an open span of water. Significant travel within Angelus will require the navigation of several bridges. In addition to the auto and Mag-Lev systems Angelus has a less congested system of air travel. The city maintains one international airport capable of accommodating most commercial aircraft while some corporate buildings have VTOL facilities for officials returning from abroad. A second airport services the factories in the Delta Sector but sees little other traffic. Angelus has also embraced Spinner traffic which is a type of privately owned air car. Like ground traffic, Spinners travel in lanes at specified heights and directions. Air travel isn’t random free range joy riding. Those with licenses for air travel are expected to obey traffic laws. The City forbids travel at certain lower altitudes which it reserves for emergency response. Police and XSWAT spinners roar along just above the swaying skyline to attend various emergent situations. Surprisingly, for an oceanic city navel traffic is the least utilized. Fishing boats and large freighters ply the city docks day and night all year long but few are commuter vehicles. LAND MARKS Blah, blah, blah,… landmarks go here. DRESSED FOR THE WEATHER Angelus is a nomadic city traveling the US Pacific Coast as directed by the City Coordinator. Much of the time the city navigates to mild climates to avoid oppressive heat or frigid temperatures. Year round temperatures rarely dip into the 50s even during the coldest months nor do they peak above the high 80s during the summer. Angelus would have a perfect climate save for the rain. Few people understand why but Angelus has significant rain virtually every day. Common thoughts include all manner of wild theories but the truth is that the mechanisms which keeps the city afloat also vaporizes a tremendous volume of water each day. That water is vented through steam tunnels into the atmosphere where it condenses to form rain. Only on very windy days does Angelus escape its own humidity and those days usually bring rain of the natural variety. Extreme bad weather is unusual in Angelus owing to a variety of factors including significant advances in meteorology. Also, the city employs specialists who have extra-logical means of divining future weather patterns allowing the city plenty of forewarning. Still, the city occasionally gets nipped by fast moving tropical storms and the like which are too big to readily escape. THE STEAM TUNNELS Not everything under the street is devoted to the venting of steam, in fact very little of it is actually used for that purpose but that does not stop people from referring to the underground access ways as “the steam tunnels.” Under the Angelus platform or street level lies a maze-like hive of interconnected tunnels, passageways, crawl spaces, and utilities. The breadth of them is truly vast. They are beyond the ability of the city to monitor or even accurately map. Construction continues year around in Angelus on new buildings, corrosion repair, and the cities relentless expansion. Power feeds need to be increased, water supplies rerouted, and sub-oceanic infrastructure must always be strengthened to maintain the structural integrity of the city. This leads to thousands of active construction sites on any given day and overwhelms the office of city planning. Some areas are intentionally “lost” from the City Planners due to bribes or malfeasance while others are simple clerical errors. Whatever the reason, a second city thrives beneath the highrises of Angelus.

Re: Shadow Angelus Still exploring the setting and tropes a little bit. Which led me to wonder why clades and megadines would both be used? They seem to serve the exact same purpose - rugged workers for inhuman conditions where people with rights and OSHA would freak. Both have no rights. Both are engineered to work ungodly difficult and dangerous jobs. One is mechanical and one is biological. It seems to be a case of Betamax vs VHS or Blue Ray vs HD-DVD. Surely one would or will edge out the other? Full Disclosure: I dislike Clades. I am just not into anthropomorphic critters. It is also hard to find art matching the feel of the art pool we have for Angelus. Anyway, this may just be a case of my own bias coloring my perceptions.

Re: How about anime Campaigns? To the OP: Dark Champions: The Animated Series should work and I don't see any reason why it would not be supported but you won't see the sourcebook for awhile. I think Susano mentioned Kazei 5 as a sourcebook for a dark champions/esper/cybernetics style game.

Re: The Distinctive, The Special, The Cool Combat Engine: Martial Arts, Maneuvers, and tactics. Pure elegance while allowing the cat to be skinned a dozen ways. BODY/STUN/PD/rPD: Simple equation. Awesome effect. KS/SS/AK/CK: Sweet nectar for my soul. Skills: Perfect Balance. Neither too much nor too few. Perfectly priced.

Re: Shadow Angelus ALPHA SECTOR In the heart of the Oldest parts of Angelus everything is new and majestic. This is Alpha Sector rebuilt and expanded from the original platform to shelter the most exclusive citizens in town. Alpha is a marvel of modern engineering with open spaces, engineered terrain, golf courses, and to the south the amazing Lake Angelus. Alpha is one of the few Sectors to have several parks where children can play but it is strictly residents only. Major thoroughfares are open for any citizen of Angelus but many other streets lead into the private domain of celebrities and moguls. These streets are typically closed and operate on a pass card system to prevent the unwanted masses from mingling with the superrich. The Sector has become synonymous with rich and powerful that many refer to its residents not as Angelean but as Alphas. Ironic. Neighborhoods Harbor Park: Fanning out due north of Lake Angelus is one of the finest luxury shopping districts in the world. While many grouse at the extensive security everyone loves the five star dining, the day spas, and designer clothing offered to those with smartcards deep enough to pay the prices. Harbor Park is a retail neighborhood catering to the unique wants of the wealthy. The experience includes everything from personal shopping attendants and valet parking to made by design discussions with some of the finest jewelers in the profession. Patrons expect their every need to be attended in prompt and subservient fashion. The Halcyon Building: This building and the surrounding area is the home to the most exclusive residential area for the young and jet-set crowd. Most of the residents are single and set on enjoying life to its fullest with the backing of substantial bank accounts. The Halcyon and Staff work deliriously hard to provide entertainment that is notorious for its glitz and attractions. The Halcyon is actually six interconnected buildings all sharing the same massive plaza on the first dozen floors. The plaza has nearly everything one would expect from nightclubs to personal trainers and salons. The residency turns over quicker at the Halcyon than most buildings in part because the extracurricular are geared towards singles and people without too much responsibility. Occasionally this creates opportunity for wealthy middle class business types to secure a foothold in the Alpha Sector. Sakura: This neighborhood is named after the Japanese word for cherry tree. Like its namesake, Sakura is a wonder. Gone is the ever present oppressiveness of the highrise, while lawns and trees bloom outside of smaller buildings rarely reaching more than 10 stories. The gated community has its own golf course, park, and security team. A community charter requires work on landscape and the building exteriors be provided by Sakura LTD which ensures that the whole area appears as if it was strait from a photograph. Despite its name, the neighborhood is ethnically blended with residents from all over the world. Highlights: The Von Riemann Opera House, in Harbor Park, is world-renowned as one of the finest and most opulent theaters ever constructed. Rumors abound that secret passages and hidden trapdoors are scattered throughout, but for the majority of visitors prefer merely to attend gala events held monthly.

Re: Shadow Angelus I spoke with Edsel last night about the city ethnic & religious breakdown. I think there are some adjustments needed. "China Town" should be rather large - like sector sized large. Angelus is a true poly-ethnic city with Asians making nearly 1/3 of the total population. I have an idea on how I'd like to break that down. Edsel and I both agree that Asians [Japanese and Chinese] would migrate towards the shore line. I seem them taking the coastal half of Iota and most of the coast in Epsilon Sector. I'll work out some of the other details this evening. One other "Asian" comment is that I'll work in a Taiwan Neighborhood where many fled before the Chinese occupation of their own island. Comments?

Re: Shadow Angelus City Statistics Size: 710 square miles Altitude: Sea Level Climate: Jan 56-68F Feb 60-72F March 64-76F April 68-80F May 70-82F June 72-84 July 75-87 August 72-84 September 70-82 October 66-78 November 60-72 December 58-70 Transportation Maggie: contained maglev system provides transportation to most areas of Angelus at 2 CU per trip. Private Ground Vehicle: Angelus, like any modern city, has ample roads. [note: future safety devices] Spinner/VTOL: Numerous vertical lift vehicles are operated within the city limits. License includes airway navigation. Like streets vehicles are required to move at specific speeds and altitudes depending on what direction they are traveling. [Police probably have their own altitudes and directions] Residents Population: 61 million Density: 85,000 per square mile Working: 48 million Unemployed: 13 million [many in Rho] Racial Background Caucasian [Euro/American]: 24% Asian [China/Japan]: 29% Hispanic [indigenous S. American]: 19% Black [African/American]: 16% Other: 12% Extra Human Backgrounds Extra Human Backgrounds Cyber Implants: 2.2 million Cyborg: 19,000 Replicants: 16,000 Esper: 17,000 Wizard: 12,000 Clades: 2 million Genetically Enhanced: 1.8 million Religious Background Christianity: 22% Secular/Agnostic/Atheist: 15% Buddhism: 13% Chinese traditional religion: 12% Islam: 7% Spiritism: 5% Hinduism: 5% Judaism: 4% Shinto: 3% Transcendence: 2% Neo-Paganism: 1.2% Rastafarianism: 0.8% Other: 10% Sports Working... Edsel will adjust numbers as needed. The numbers reflect ethnic concentrations (high pacific folk) but may not go high enough. I think we need to raise the numbers of Chinese/Japanese religious percentages but I didn't want to get totally skewed. These are just my best guess. EDIT: Changed some numbers after a little thought. EDIT II: I think the numbers will fly now.

Re: Shadow Angelus Another Tech Point... I was working on the city vital statistics and needed currency values. So, I ended up researching the future of fund exchange. Most of this is already happened or is probable in the near future. CHIPS – Clearing House Interbank Payment System. Created by Russians & Europeans at a time when they were worried about the US ability to freeze their accounts. The CHIPS system succeeded because American banks were prohibited from paying interest on checking accounts. As a result, US money had already began moving overseas. It became a new type of currency, stateless money. CHIPS is now the greatest mobile pool of capital in the world and it is beyond the control of any one government. The funds are held on DNA encoded smartchips developed just prior to the Mega-Quake by the EU. Angelus uses the CHIPS system to conduct transactions. Notes: The CHIPS already exists and is already stateless money for exactly the reasons described. This is just taking it a step further and merging it with Smartcards. I don't particularly like the name but the acronym works and it sounds like money. "Credit CHIPS" "CHIPS"

Re: Shadow Angelus GLOBAL INITIATIVES The world of Angelus is dramatically altered from the one we know. The drama, as always, begins with disaster. The United States was nearly destroyed as an entity after the Mega-Quake. Recovery and rebuilding took over forty years and even now the US lags behind China and Japan as a superpower but is determined to once again assert itself. In part, Angelus owes its success to the near death of the US. It was the oppressive taxes, regulations, and government seizure of science during the depression that drove the Corporations to consider Angelus as a viable entity. It was massive unemployment, lack of health care, and food riots that drove the people to Angelus. Some say it was the quake that caused magic to surge, drawing the wizards to the platform. Dozens of different events in the US culminated in Angelus gaining power at the expense of its ailing father. The US has a much reduced footprint in 2112. It isn’t the undisputed titan of the world looking backwards at those who might be gaining. He is the ambitious and ruthless upstart seeking to win at all costs in the game of world politics. US foreign agents work hard to ensure that Uncle Sam will soon find himself dictating policy instead looking to make inroads when China isn’t looking. China weathered the Mega-Quake and following collapse of the global economy better than many nations. The first decade after the Mega-Quake the world was in a stupor and most countries were unable to exert themselves further than their own border. China put an end to that with the annexation of Taiwan in 2045. Since then China has steadily dominated nearly every field save for the tech industry and genetic engineering. Japan reigns in technological development while Russia and the US continue to lead in genetic engineering. Chinese Corporations exert tremendous influence in Angelus and hope to eventually force the city under their authority as they did with Taiwan and the Philippines. Only extensive rebellions in subject states and small wars with both India and Russia have prevented China from approaching with a more militaristic stance. Japan endured the Mega-Quake thanks to excellent city planning and wave baffles that lessened the impact of the Tsunamis. Economically, however, they were crushed. The Japanese industry sectors were destroyed but world demand for high tech systems filled the void caused by the loss of other industry. With their infrastructure intact Japan was able to quickly tool up, even going so far as to bring in thousands of American and Indian high tech workers. Their quick and complete dominance of the tech sector has catapulted them into the position as China's greatest rival. Like China, Japan is heavily invested in Angelus where the tech sector has slowly relocated over the last three decades. Japan would like Angelus to become a protectorate but spends most of its efforts preventing Chinese initiatives in the city. South America was largely unchanged by the Mega-Quake. Poverty, disease, and rampant corruption were in place prior to the depression and certainly did not get better after. With the rise of magic there has been a shift in the balance of power. Even as early 2010 Santa Muerte cults and Aztec cultists were heavily involved in the drug wars. Once magic actually became a reliable tool they quickly swept aside more traditional cartels. They are not the undisputed lords of vice but that owes more to infighting between temples more than any other reason. These are the major players in Angelus. There are other factions working to gain influence but they are of far less significance. Plot Points: Sets up a dance of politics between China, Japan, and US. A dance that can turn violent at whim. Establishes another layer to the Corps. Sure, Benthic is nasty but is it nasty in an effort to thwart some Chinese plot? Everybody wants to control Angelus to some degree. With the US crippled for 2-3 decades it seems to make sense that China would surge to the fore as the world power. They've made claims on Taiwan based on historical claims. As always, these are my thoughts. Edsel has the final call.

Re: Shadow Angelus History At First Blush The history of How Angelus came to be... the second try. The big quake. It finally happened but not the way they expected it to happen. California was lost, and the numbers of the dead did not stop with the folks who fell into the Pacific ocean. Millions more died in the aftermath that was as widespread as building collapses in Texas and volcanic out gassing in Montana. Estimates vary but most historians believe that between 2035 and 2040 more than 18 million Americans lost their lives due to the effects of the Mega-Quake. America the beautiful was in shambles. The mighty giant slain in one fell blow; however, like the death-throes of a rattler there was still some venom in the teeth. Numerous "hush-hush" projects had disappeared in the quake including some experimental weapons that still seem like science fiction sixty years later. In a way, these weapons were the impetus for the development of Angelus. The United States was in the middle of a financial and social tsunami while the rest of the world reeled from the loss of America as a super-power. Shorelines were devastated across the world and several island nations simply disappeared in the massive tidal waves generated from the quake. Hawaii and many other Islands were among the missing. The loss of life from Pacific nations was nearly as great as Americas. [note: this was 80 years ago and rebuilding is likely to have taken place] Naval power was decimated across the globe. There was little hope for those places where communications suddenly stopped after the mega-quake. Still, some effort had to be made. The United States formally declared a state of emergency welcoming any and all aid in the rescue of civilians. The ever tumultuous South American nations responded with gusto, even though several were sufficiently antagonistic towards the US to be on watch lists. It was the small nation of San Alto [fictional nation] that got everyone's attention. They dispatched aid and food supplies accompanied by military and exploratory vessels. It quickly became apparent that they were trying to map the ocean floors in search of lost military bases - specifically the San Diego Naval station where many believed that the U.S.S. Coranado was stationed when the quake occurred. The Coranado was equipped with the latest weapons system and the surface to space missile system known as Mjölner [Experimental Weapons Systems could include: Quantum bomb facilities, Seismic Inducers, Apollo the first AI, Lexion Chemicals Reactive Armor Systems, to name a few..] The US, like a drunken prize fighter, dispatched nearly every remaining war vessel in its power. It was enough to hold off interlopers but not enough to do anything more. Recovery efforts would have to wait. The next several months were a tense stand off between the US military and canny pirates looking to cash in on Americas disaster. In New York, when it wasn't in the grip of riots, the UN heard the case of granting rights to stake claims in what were now International Waters. Over the loud protests of the US, the UN noted that by Maritime Law the United States could not enforce a no sail zone in international waters. Legally handcuffed, the US turned to its own industrious people for a solution. They did what Americans are so good at, they outsourced the recovery effort. At this point, several years had passed since the quake. News agencies picked up reports of naval vessels suddenly sinking in the ocean without sufficient time to issue a distress call. At first, many accused the US of waging piracy on the high seas but when the US lost a carrier class vessel few harbored such suspicions any longer (although some still did). The theories explaining the losses were even more bizarre than the actual losses themselves. Some speculated that ancient creatures had awoken from pre-historic hibernation while others talked about the increasing presence and potency of those capable of channeling magic. Esper super-weapon conspiracies were one of the favored scare tactics used by news outlets to drive ratings. Tidal Subsidiaries, the company charged with recovery efforts on behalf of the US, began a ocean mapping program to get an idea of where, what had shifted; however, several large swathes of terrain were unimaginable by conventional radar mapping. One location, called the *Caldera proved to be an entirely new phenomena to modern science. Conventional wisdom and theories failed to accurately describe it but wizards speculated that it was a well of arcane energy empowered by the mass death that had occurred during the quake, a theme that would prove resilient over the years. [Note on Caldara: A magical nexus site that may or may not be around 75 years later. You could use all sorts of background for this location – maybe wizards used a spell to create the Mega-Quake and this is where they cast the ritual or perhaps an Esper Weapon caused the quake and his soul is leashed to this spot as some kind of superghost. It could be a hereto unknown site like Stonehenge that was just waiting for activation. Whatever it is or was, it demands to be studied. Scientists scrambled to study what Newtonian Laws could not explain. The location of a nearby nuclear reactor breached in the Mega-Quake was nearby, enabling some to stretch science to allow the reactor to “plausibly explain” the Caldara. Pacific Science, an ecologically friendly science think tank, set out to study the Caldara and assess its impact on marine life. The true science and environmental sampling phase was never finished. The initial results showed no link between the reactor and the Caldara. Tidal Subsidiaries brought in the Oil Platform Angelus to house their own scientists and those of Pacific Science. They would be here as long as it took to figure out what caused the Caldara. The scientists from Pacific Science remained on the Angelus platform as well. Little did anyone realize that they had witnessed the birth of the greatest city in mankind’s history. Tidal Subsidiaries spent two years on the Angelus Platform researching the Caldara. It wasn’t the results of the study that were what brought attention to the Angelus, it was the number of wizards who were inexplicably drawn to the platform. Thankfully, on a ship of scientists it was quickly noticed. Scientific curiosity mixed with wizardry to explore the strange tugging that many felt to come to the Angelus Platform. Additional multinational corporations sent research teams including Hexion Industries, Viratech, Stain Pharmaceuticals, and Benthic Petroleum. Viratech was denied residency on the Angelus platform. Instead, they brought a refitted floating hospital. The SS Clarion had been partially gutted and refitted for science research. The new corporate researchers had little interest in oceanic research, they were interested in the emergent power of wizardry. A three year study demonstrated an independent force was activating visions in mystics world wide and all of them concerned the Angelus Platform. The source of said visions was not able to be determined and each factions of mystics all offered contradictory theories associated with their paranormal beliefs. The flood gates to Angelus opened but it was not by a human hand. Locke Securities, a private firm specializing in unique security needs, was brought in to keep the peace by Tidal. Although Locke employed some of the best trained paramilitary personnel in the world (including Esper weapons and enhanced humans) there was quite a stink raised by many of the other firms who claimed that Tidal had violated contracts. There just didn’t seem to be a better alternative. The Angelus was inundated with divergent, sometimes hostile, wizards from multiple sects. Thomas Croft a multi-billion dollar corporate news mogul added fuel to the fire when he purchased three additional platforms and brought them to moor near the Angelus Platform. After this, news stories featuring wizards became common place, fueling the obsession many felt for the burgeoning craft of magic. Food and space were both priority issues during these year, so many wizards and arcane cultists (wizard groupies) had smuggled themselves on board that the malnourished dead were found daily. Others died attempting to swim to the Angelus during the dark of night. Riots broke out when food boats arrived. Angelus and her sister platforms were closer to a high tech battlefield than a city. And behind all of the civil unrest the corporations played another, far more dangerous, game. Assassination and scientific theft were common. The corporations controlled esper weapons, cyborgs, clades, and bioroids, it seemed to them that there was a way to harness this new and unpredictable power. When traditional asset allocation means failed they turned to more dubious methods, like extortion, torture, and kidnapping. All of this led to a dramatic increase in security. There were more security guards than there were scientists and wizards combined. The situation reached a head when an armed conflict raged for two days on board the Vladokov Platform between corporate security companies and a rogue sect of wizards called the Nagual (Arcane Enemies). When it was over nearly 200 were dead or wounded. Mediation was requested by Tidal since the situation was clearly beyond the control of one corporation or faction onboard the Angelus. Dozens of corporate and community interests met with UN arbiters on board the Angelus. A binding agreement was reached that established Angelus as a chartered city with rights of self governance. The office of the City Coordinator was established as well as rules for electing the City Council. A police force was commissioned that was answerable to the City Coordinator and the Council. Interestingly, the first laws since the Inquisition were enacted governing the use of magic. Taxes, fines, and residency fees along with corporate penalties for the war fought on the Vladakov supplied the city with its initial funding. Corporate Partnerships proved to be the most manageable source of steady income during the early years since there were few corporations that did not want a stake in Angelus. Once again, space and food were to prove to be critical factors in spurring further development. Angelus hired engineers, horticulturists, oceanographers, and structural engineers to meet their growing problems. They also hired lawyers. Soon, the UN recognized the sovereignty of Angelus (which had already expanded beyond the original four platforms). The United States launched a vigorous protest but was once again unable to exert the might that it had once possessed. Angelus became an independent entity with territorial rights including the rights to its’ waters. Civil Suits were launched against many of the errant corporations who had sponsored and profited from underwater recovery efforts near Angelus. Billions of dollars flowed into the City Treasury, just as cutting edge science flowed from its laboratories. Structural Engineers had little faith that the current city could survive a major storm. The city population was nearing the 50,000 mark if you counted the Orthan Deep Sea farm (Lilypad) and most of those citizens shared sleeping space in shifts because there was nowhere on the Angelus to stay. Something had to be done [this is a bad period of about 10 years before Angelus blooms]. The funds were spent on a gamble but it was a hedged bet. Wizards claimed to have foreseen the outcome. Evan Danzig had developed the anti-grav devices used in the first generation of flying cars and was one of the only men in the world who understood gravatetics. His company, Dyna-Grav, was based in New Mexico at the Private Space Center built just after the turn of the century. The City Coordinator met with him in a private meeting and offered to relocate his whole company to Angelus if Danzig would help with the platform issue. The specifics of the deal, including whatever prompted Danzig to accept the offer are considered state secrets but Dyna-Grav enjoys a near monopoly in some fields. Within five years the first hydrolizer is produced but not before Tropical Storm Claudia kills 7,000 citizens of Angelus despite the efforts of espers and wizards to control the worst damage of the storm. The newly designed Angelus platform was capable of housing buildings up to 20 stories and an auction was held for the 18 sites open to the public. Angelus used these funds to build additional, more powerful hydrolizers. The metropolis of Angelus had been born. Note: This is just another way we could take things. It sort of establishes the rock star image of wizards with news coverage and groupies. It keeps many of the mysteries and implies a few more. I figure the mystical attraction to Angelus remains something of a mystery. Maybe Angelus just has a Danger Sense trigger? Maybe it was forewarning of the Entities? Maybe it was the Caldara (maybe call it the Charybdis Event?). So, I can take this either way (Psi or Arcane) incorporating the suggestions from last night. There are still many other paths that are possible.