[K5pbem] What happened between 2034 and 2039

Fri Dec 16 14:33:35 CST 2005

Wow. 

  Read much Walter Jon Williams? 

  I'm reminded of how, in "Hard Wired", the goal wasn't to "take down" the orbitals, so much as to get someone _within_ said corporate zone promoted to CEO who would owe the protaganists favors and be someone that they could actually negotiate with. 

  In the end, he turned on Cowboy, but Cowboy had an ace in the hole in the form of a friend who'd been killed and reborn in Cyberspace as an AI, and a Black ICE program that allowed said AI to "write" himself over the mind of the traitorous SOB. Think of Agent Smith from the Matrix if Smith was one of the good guys and actually had a consience. Nasty way to go, but the bastard had it coming. He was a pederast and Cowboy was just looking for an excuse to waste him.

  Anyway, your way of thinking reminds me of that book. Remind me never to share a dark alley or a corporate boardroom with you. ^_^;;;

  -Logan

David at antolovich.com wrote:

Quoting Mike Surbrook :

> This is a rough draft of my ideas for events after the end of the 1st 
> campaign and the start of the new one. Suggestions and additional 
> ideas welcome.

> The attack of the Nightsky Dragons, while impressive, was Jinsei's 
> undoing. The amount of money to operate three of them over the Zone was
> staggering, not to mention all the men, material, and cyberdroids they

Hmm... I am good up to here, not sure on the economics though. Bloody 
expensive maybe, but if they were that staggering to run by themselves, then 
why did they have the things in the first place? How about modifying it to 
something like... To buy victory against an entrenched / guerilla defenses 
Jinsei was faced with expending large quantities of expensive ammunition, or 
of suffering ruinous losses to their security forces. Losses that would leave 
them open to offensives by competitors. And so, munitions were expended for 
the rapidly predicted victory over the disorganized rabble of the zone.
Sadly for Jinsei, the battle ran on long after the projections for victory 
had passed - twice - and both material and human costs were much higher than 
predicted, regardless of tactics used. Several high ranking execs were forced 
to stake their reputations on a rapid turn around. And, in a final bid to 
take all the zero zone, three night sky dragons were brought in. At first teh 
pure fire power of the Nightsky's looked like they might tip Jinsei's way. 
But the successful evac of the espers, and the downing of a night sky (by 
Shion and crew) were the last straws for a project not only well over budget 
but also with goals looking increasingly less likely.
Jinsei stock was down 8% and under some continued pressure, and then there 
were the rumors of a dividend cut circling the street. The normally 
complacent shareholders were pissed at the damage to the next few quarter’s 
results, and worried about the rumors. Growth, market share and return on 
investment were mostly all down slightly over projections (as heavy handed 
tactics had finally started to cost Jinsei in bad PR, and that trend looked to 
continue. Added to that, competiors were using teh batel to dvance thier own 
agendas and steal amach on jinsei at teh same time by covettly funding all 
sorts of actions in the Zone. Oh, and even the US government at all levels 
was beginning to demand a quick resolution to a highly visible (and 
embarrassing!) situation in an approaching election year. 
Needless to say, the writing was on the wall. The internal Jinsei alliance 
between the security forces (in disgrace for their failure), black ops 
divisions (lost hope of getting the espers - but only in that manner: they 
will beee baaaack ;-) ), and the construction division collapsed as their 
goals and profit/loss evaluations no longer meshed. Ass covering, and early 
retirements (some quite final) ensued. Even a board seat changed hands.
Still, at the end of the day, Jinsei was whole. For such a large 
corporation could indeed suffer a large setback and still survive. But, it 
was left with a black eye, some changed directions, and perhaps even a secret 
hankering for revenge against the 'scum' that had brought such loss of face.
As for the NY zero zone itself? Well, it has received somewhat of a 
renaissance as other companies and NGOs have tentatively moved in to 'help.' 
A good thing, since large portions were completely leveled (or so I imagine). 
Of course, not all of these re-organizations are altruistic, and some have (or 
are backed by) players with far shadier goals. After all, sometimes it is 
best to use a fly swatter, other times honey is called for. Nor, are all zone 
residents happy to see more outside interference. In short, life in the zone 
goes on, different, and yet the same. And yes, just perhaps, maybe a little 
bit better. 

Part of the real question here is just how much continuity do we want as far 
as plot lines and so forth? In this version the NY zero zone was just the 
opening chapter in a sometimes battle between Jinsei and the PCs. We could 
always go the other route, say Jinsei collapsed, folded, or went off to lick 
its wounds - and we can start with a completely fresh slate as well. 

IMHO the nice things. . .

* Jinsei is still there for a re-occurring bad guy, and some plot lines remain 
for continuity/easy pick up: esper kids, zero zones, etc...

* Parts of Jinsei have some reason to be upset with certain individuals, and 
it is still a big player so can do something about it. After all, not 
everyone associated with the failure will be flushed after all 

* Jinsei has reasons to actually be grateful to those who caused grief. After 
all, a whole lot of promotions just took place. So some might be sought out 
to help finish the old guard ,or just because they are competent. And, such 
assets can be burned too if things go wrong for an added career boost in 
rounding up such a known trouble maker when division so-and-so could not get 
them with the entire might of Jinsei behind them 

* All of which open up a lot of possibilities. Including those for 
interaction between new and old players. What if some newbies are hired 
to 'find/harm/co-opt' some of the original trouble makers? What if they 
decided to switch allegiances (or not! ;-) ), What if some of the newbies are 
hired by the old timers to 'spy/harm/co-opt parts of Jinsei? 

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