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Seattle Street News 58, End of an Era

Announcement:

[Dear Tipster Army, I need to make a sad announcement. I’m afraid to tell you all that this is the last issue of the Seattle Street News. I have lived in Seattle for many years. I made it my chosen home and it is the place that I love with all my heart. I have served this city and its denizens in the shadows to the best of my ability for as long as I could. I have made some wonderful contacts and I love the Tipster Army. But my time in the city has unfortunately come to an end. I have never told you all my name, and I still won’t. However, I will tell you this. I am a citizen of Tir Tairngire. Yes, that’s right, I have a national SIN. But my relationship with my family’s legacy was not something I wanted. Instead, I wanted to be here with you all. And I figured I could live here with you all doing good. And I think I did that.

But I just learned that my older sister has been assassinated, leaving me the only one to carry on my family’s obligations. I was told I have a “choice.” Come home and do good for the people of Tir Tairngire voluntarily, or be kidnapped and brought back to Tir Tairngire against my will. I negotiated being able to remain here these last few weeks so I could finish up my business in the Metroplex. But now I must go back.

So farewell Emerald City, as I go on to take on the leadership position I was born into but never asked for, know that I have been forever changed by serving you all. I hope it will make me a better leader. Know that you will always have a strong advocate and ally in Tir Tairngire.

Thank you for being in my Tipster Army. I am always at your service.

--The Seattle Street News elf]

International News:

Space Station Battle

Something was launched out of that mysterious facility at Sekondi. It is now clear what that was: a space station. Whatever this space station is, it seems to be very important.

This became clear when a number of different competing corps space forces all attacked this space station at once. There was a pitched battle between a number of corporate forces and after the battle was over, Saeder-Krupp held a press conference saying that the space station was now theirs. This itself might be odd but not particularly noteworthy…except for one other element of the press conference. Without prompting, the SK press secretary stated that the space station had nothing to do with the demise of the dragon Brennus. That denial raises quite a few questions. Specifically, what exactly does that space station have to do with the death of Brennus? Note the next story.

 Dragon Council Declares the Demise of Brennus

This week, the Dragon Council put out a short press release announcing that Brennus, the dragon formerly known as Prince, who carved a swath of destruction through Seattle a few months ago and who was perhaps connected to a fringe cult known as the Hand of Dusk, met its demise. They noted that the dragon either died or was forever trapped in an unknown metaplane and that it will never be seen again. They did not take any questions.

 Corp News:

Cheer Up—(by 8)

This night was NeoNET’s annual Thank you party for its Seattle execs. DoughNET donuts were a success, NeotenIQ had managed the double feat of creating no scandals and sticking with NeoNET. Guests were welcomed at NeoNET’s Blast from the Past club by bouncers and other security staff. Their fluorescent blue wigs and formal suits adorned with BeyonZ’s signature multicolored ribbons were great for BeyonZ fans, ridiculous otherwise.

All the familiar faces were there: Gaeaca and her security detail, Donnie “Top Gun” Deckard  at his bar, the X Will “brothers”, Sagetopian retelling the events of his short-lived electoral campaign. Getting reacquainted with coworkers not seen in months, exchanging news of XOGirlWonder who’d left since last time. The excellent champagne was from 2069, the last decent year for French wines, and there was still a stack of cases in Donnie’s office.

It had been a pretty good year for NeoNET but the atmosphere at the Blast from the Past was gloomy. The arcade in the back was broken, sure, but Techiecarer was on it. The Red Gods were supposed to play music and they were late, but the reruns of the latest Matrix Competition more than made up for it. Recent rumors of a run on Pacific Rim by a dragon-led anti-corporation group could mean impending danger for NeoNET. Could even this explain the end-of-the-world mood?

The sudden grating of chairs dragged on the floor drowned the chatter. NeoNET employees were standing up and turning their heads toward BeyonZ as he climbed onstage: “Please welcome my friends, The Red Gods. Tonight we are raising funds for the wife of their lead singer Larry, whose charred body… Well, we all know what happened. It was so heartbreaking when I told Lily on our second meeting... THE RED GODS.”

The man who had accepted that I sit at his table interrupted our small talk mid sentence and told me in his French accent: “It’s funny. Ze story about zem on Kappa reminded me of something my young étudiante told me…” His student was a friend of Ma1nfram3’s and the Blast from the Past star had easily got him access to the private event. Go figure why he was curious about a NeoNET corporate night, though. “By ze way, she just passed her GED”, he added, proud.

The four musicians who were ushered into the bar and replaced BeyonZ under subdued applause were clearly recognizable from the security footage featured on BeyonZ’s show. While they kneeled down and opened their instrument cases, their leader addressed the patrons gathered in a wide semi-circle around the stage: “Thanks for inviting us tonight. This performance is brought to you by... VORACK.” The hail of bullets that followed was more heard than seen through the dense smoke of a grenade thrown at the crowd.

Light clapping turned into screams. Tables and chairs became shields. Glass shattered and a few bodies collapsed in a matter of seconds that felt like an hour. The BeyonZ lookalikes, springing into action, staved off the panic, restored order in the nascent chaos. Three of them ditched their festive attire and assisted the bleeding victims. The Red Gods, having made their bullet point in 7.62 font, disappeared into the night. They were definitely more in their element running in the shadows than singing in the spotlight. The French guy was too busy taking notes on his pad to freak out while I recorded everything with my eye, the two of us drawing bravery from the other’s behavior.

A live, eerily silent, Kappa stream replaced the Corporate motivational fare and cheesy music nobody had given attention to in a while: four guys running toward a waiting van, smokin AKs in hand; a platoon of blue-haired orks and buff humans running after them. They were led by led by Angel Mallet, the famous troll captain I had winked at when seeing him posing as a waiter.

The trid followed the ruckus, passed over half a dozen puzzled youngsters clad in black jackets adorned with a flaming pumpkin. On a sign of their leader, who was wearing a weird mask combining a skull and bunny ears, an assortment of bats and light guns went poof in a flash. By the time the van’s roars and screeching tires made all present in the bar wince and instinctively look at the stream, this Halloweener detachment, their thunder stolen from them, had dispersed and vanished. Whatever they had been up to would be left for another day.

Minutes later. The puddles of blood caused by cuts on glass shards as much as bullets had dried up. NeoNET’s top brass had regrouped. The unflappable Techiecarer had fixed the arcade in the commotion. Except for the prominent bandage on Gaeaca’s arm, none seemed injured. They were giving reassuring news to the Corporate News guy, who had just put on his emergency uniform in front of us: a formal navy blue jacket, crisp white shirt and black tie over short, light blue distressed pants. My new friend said these jorts, as he called them, were “all ze rage in France, ze summum of elegance.” Donnie emerged from his office, beaming, dancing to Galaga’s 8-bit tune. Two cases were tucked under his arms. If Saeder-Krupp was still after NeoNET, if his beloved bar could still live wild nights, then the world was not ending after all and it was time to celebrate: “This champagne will not drink itself, guys”, he said as I was leaving.

 City News:

Mysterious Battle in the Barrens; The Death of a Becky

Something odd happened yesterday. There was a large firefight in the Barrens. That itself is not so odd considering firefights happen all the time in the Barrens. What was odd this particular fight was who the combatants were. Three opposing, enemy gangs, The Red Hot Nukes, The Rusted Stilettos, and Crimson Crush all inexplicably teamed up to assault warehouse that was being guarded by a few different shadowrunning teams. The details of the fight are shrouded in mystery—no one is talking. It was clearly important, with a lot of resources being spent over this abandoned warehouse. People wanted in, and other people wanted to make sure they didn’t get in. The warehouse is now all abandoned as if nothing ever happened. I imagine whichever Corps hired those runners have moved on and no one cares anymore about this warehouse. Isn’t that always how these pitched battles take place? Mad violence that is life and death, and then when the mission is over, everyone moves on. But in matters of life and death, sometimes people die. And in this particular instance, one of our shadowrunners died.

Scarlet Fyre has long been one of our favorite runner teams. The AAA runners who intrigue with their low profile mystique. Who doesn’t love the Twins, or Legs? Well, yesterday, the leader of Scarlet Fyre, who we’ll call Becky—because she had such great hair—died in that battle. It is unclear how she died, but the SSN learned that she died in battle high up in her sniper’s perch. Not a lot is known about her, but fixer contacts had only the best things to say about her professionalism and reliability. One thing that was said multiple times by multiple fixers: Becky was honorable in all of her dealings. She never played corps against each other just to make extra money. If her Scarlet Fyre were bought, they stayed bought and they always completed their mission with excellence and discretion. People often think of runners as criminals and trash or as menaces, but the best runners are experts and professionals. They may be doing a dirty job, but you can do it well and honorably or you can do it shoddily or in an underhanded way. Scarlet Fyre played hard, but they always were professional, much of that was down to Becky.

The SSN pours a drink out to you. The shadows will be less interesting without you in it.

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Seattle Street News 57, He Lived To Serve

Shadow News:

MMFEC Loses Muscle Amidst Attack on the Rapid Rabbit

Last week the SSN reported that it looked like the Cutters and the Merlyns had teamed up for an unknown reason, though they had been seen out on the street looking for members of the Showdowrunner team, MMFEC. This conflict seemed to have come to a head with the destruction of the Merlyns’s hangout, The Wizard’s Hat, and a fight at the old military base in Discovery Park. Tipsters placed MMFEC at both locations, and it seemed as if the gangs and the runners were in a full conflict.

That conflict erupted again last night.

Initial witness tips included reports of gunshots coming from within the Rapid Rabbit, and then reports of rocket launcher attacks. This reporter arrived on the scene and was confronted with a chaotic war zone. Smoke from smoke grenades billowed out of the broken windows, shattered from the bullets being fired from within. There were screams and shouts on the inside and after a few moments, people began to stream out of the bar. The people stumbling out included a Johnson from an AA corp, street celebrity CyberDrunkly carrying the unconscious decker Bacon King, and a few different fixers we all know. The fighting inside the bar became more intense, and soon Cutters were escaping the bar. It became clear that the Cutters were the ones behind the attack, and as Magic, Firepower, Electronics, and Conversationalist rushed out it also became clear the Cutters had attacked the bar to get at the shadowrunners MMFEC.

Most of the people who read the Seattle Street News already know the code, because this is the paper of the shadows. However, there are some corp members, looky-loos slumming, and other citizens who don’t understand the rules of the shadows. So for those of you who don’t know, let me tell you: a runner’s bar is off limits. You might get into a firefight on a freeway, or you might start a fire in a storage facility, but if there is one thing you don’t do, you don’t attack runner bars. Runners often don’t have homes to speak of or places where they can feel safe and find a sense of community. Runner bars become that one place where a cohort of heavily armed, highly trained, and very violent street warriors relax…and last night the Cutters attacked one of those homes, the Rapid Rabbit. Two of the last people to make it out were Oz and Molly, the bar’s owners. And then, we all watched in horror as the Cutters exploded that bar. As per their usual MO, they had placed explosives around the bar and then they detonated them, destroying our home. Molly and Oz watched their livelihood burn, and no one moved. Everything was eerily silent, except for the sound of a home burning to the ground. And as we watched, we all knew. The Cutters are dead. That gang, and every member of them, are now marked. There is an entire metroplex of runners who will murder every one of those gangers for crossing that one line. I would not want to be a Cutter right now. And soon there will be no more Cutters anywhere.

In the aftermath of the explosion, we learned that MMFEC’s Muscle didn’t make it out of the Rabbit. Muscle, whose real name was Magnuson Cromwell, was a troll of uncommon valor and conviction. As a child, Cromwell was confined to Yumi Island where he suffered abuse until he was able to make it out. Sometime later, the troll became trained as a butler. What happened in Cromwell’s life between Yumi Island and the Metroplex is unknown to many, and not the business of others. Though, he emerged from that time with impeccable taste and a surprising grace from someone so large and muscular. His life in the Metroplex as a member of MMFEC is what most impacts us here. He was not just a runner, only out for himself or the nuyen. He was a troll of integrity, vision, and honor. The Metroplex owes a great debt to MMFEC. Cromwell fought for equality and justice for the SINless and the metahumans of the Metroplex. He battled Trollkillers. He helped escort orks and trolls to polling places and kept them safe when people tried to stop them for voting. After his ward, Ellie Hawthorne, MMFEC’s first Conversationalist, died during a run, he dedicated himself to protecting children. He created the Magnuson Cromwell Foundation, dedicated to helping the SINless children. Along with MMFEC, they exposed the Ares Squires splinter group responsible for kidnapping and doing unethical medical experimentation on our children. It is said that Cromwell died saving an innocent child at the Rapid Rabbit.

Muscle lived his entire life a hero. With every action he helped not only the SINless of Seattle, but also all of us. I cannot imagine how the members of MMFEC are dealing with their loss. But know that the Seattle Street News and all the Tipster Army are mourning with you right now. And know that there are people who know all the good you are responsible for, including things that have not been reported in this paper for your own safety. But we know, and we all mourn the loss of Cromwell this evening. And we all thank you. 

We pour out a glass of tea for Magnuson Cromwell, Muscle.

 City News:

Mysterious Submarines Seen Off the Coast of Seattle

A dapper tipster contacted the SSN to let us know of rumors of a number of submarines being launched from a Lursenn Mobius just off the Western Coast near Seattle. One of the SSN’s reporters made down to the area and caught a few shots of the Lursenn, but wasn’t able to see any evidence of the submarines. However, that reporter thought they saw children on the decks. They asked the Salish-Shidhe council for a comment on the maritime activity, but the council refused to answer questions and denied the existence of anything out of the ordinary. Any other tipsters have any news?

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Seattle Street News 56, The Shadow Knows

City News:

Pacific Rim Telecommunication Attacked; Company Denies Everything

Two nights ago, Pacific Rim Telecommunications had some sort of problems—problems that resulted in spotty Matrix service for those of us without access to fancy corp Matrix services. When asked about it by corporate news outlets, Pacific Rim Telecommunications representatives blamed the disruptions on a Hellhound attack on their facilities out in Puyallup and insisted “rumors of devices that may or may not have been attached to our mainframes are not at all true.” We here at the Seattle Street News don’t take the press releases of corporate lackeys at face value, especially words that are so clearly lies, so of course we dug a little deeper. Connections on the streets say this was no Hellhound attack rather it was a run. Who were the runners? Who were the Johnsons? Why would anyone commission a run against PacRim Telecom? Anyone have any details? Send them to the SSN Tipster Army!

 Shadow News:

Merlyn and Cutter Team Up Gets Explosive

When you keep your ears to the ground in the shadows, sometimes mysterious tips come to a reporter. We’d been getting word that Merlyns had been out and about outside of their normal territory asking about members of our favorite shadowrunners MMFEC. Considering some of the trouble those two groups had a year ago, this would not be a good portent, and indeed it didn’t. Last night, there was a large attack on the Merlyns’s hangout, The Wizard’s Hat. And when this reporter says a large attack, I mean a large explosion. The entire top of floor of The Wizard’s Hat was destroyed in what witnesses say was a rocket launcher attack, which came after minutes of gunfire. No deaths have been confirmed, but the bar has been completely destroyed in the attack and will need to be completely rebuilt. Some say members of MMFEC were seen on the scene.

Not too long after, there were reports of another firefight in Discovery Park in the Barrens, near the abandoned military base. SSN got word from a trusted tipster that the hideout in the park was being used by both the Merlyns and the Cutters. In a surprise, all indications are that the Cutters and the Merlyns have teamed up for some reason. The Seattle Street News doesn’t know just yet why these two are working together, but it looks like they have it out for some of our shadow celebrities. If any tipsters see any Cutters or Merlyns out of their normal territory, let the SSN know.

 Corp News:

Draco Moves On

Word on the street says that Draco Foundation Johnsons (whoever they might be), have been putting out feelers for new runner teams—although, like all big time entities deny they ever use runners. But fixer contacts say they only want ethical runners who are more than adequate. Viking Lasses, could that be you?  

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Seattle Street News 55, Crimes of Passion/Fashion

Runner News:

Our Favorite Runner Team On the Outs

Bad News for fans of one of our favorite runner teams. Sources tell me that MMFEC, who used to be on retainer for a certain charitable organization, is no longer on retainer for that organization. What happened? Some people say that it had to do with too much publicity after the Horizon Technomancer Kidnapping Scandal. Turns out having your faces all over CorpNews when you should be in the shadows is the definition of MM-FEC’ing it up. But look all you Fixers and Johnsons, SSN knows that MMFEC has done more in the shadows for the city than many of our other runner teams out there. And if you know what I’m talking about, then you know how valuable a team MMFEC is. Throw them some work!

 City News:

Cybersnatcher Update…Looks like we have a Ripper!

Last issue of the SSN detailed a rash of attacks that indicated the possibility of a cybersnatcher on the loose in the Barrens. However, the SSN has gotten exclusive vid from a loyal tipster that indicates there might be a ripper on the loose. The feed we received was from an ATM camera across the street from the clinic Fragilé! not too far from the Body Mall. The footage [attached below] shows an Ork woman emerge from the alleyway next to the clinic wearing a long coat and rubbing her neck in pain. She enters the clinic and that is the last the ATM camera catches her. Our tipster provided us with video from inside the clinic where the ork woman enters and takes a seat in the waiting room. She kept rubbing her neck and seemed to draw within herself. She had been bouncing her knee like she was bored, but suddenly it seemed like her whole body began trembling. With no warning, the ork put her hand inside her deep coat pocket and froze. In a flash she leapt up and withdrew her hand from her pocket revealing a Butcher's Knife. She lunged to attack people, who were scrambling to leave, and that is where the camera feed cut off with only a warning from Knight Errant's Cyber Security division about tampering with evidence.

We have not been able to get any comments from Knight Errant about the incident other than some threatening questions about how we even know about it. Reporters have gone to the clinic, but it is shut up tight behind KE security. Why so much security for a back alley cyber clinic? Who is the ork woman? Above is a photo taken from the video. If anyone knows her, or knows anyone who was in the clinic at the time of the attack, contact the SSN!

 Terminal Light—(by demmalition1)

It’s just past 4:30AM this morning, time to let these demons out to wreck havoc upon the slumbering Emerald City.  They’re purring right now, waiting for their masters to slam their foot to the floor and let them roar to life with a furious anger.  The nightlife in Seattle will never cease to amaze me.  It truly won’t.

The crowds these events attract are some of the most eclectic people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.  There have to be at least thirty people here gathering under the various banners of their respective corners of the city.  There’s a gang of ghouls, orks, humans, a multiracial group, and even a clan of dwarves under the name of the V 0.8’s (a reference to the fact that they’re only 0.8 meters tall between them, which is short even for a dwarf).

Then you’ve got Apollo, he’s been racing for a little over three years as he tells it.  His bright green ork skin is about to be caked in an orange powder before he gets into his souped up dragster.  A dragster that he claims to have custom built from various parts “scavenged throughout the city,” his deep Tennessee accent reverberating through every last word.  His assistants come up to him and take handfuls of powder, throwing them across his body.  Wham.  Wham.  Wham.  Each handful thrown harder than the last.  His entire body is surrounded by an orange haze that glows slightly under the dim streetlight hanging above him.  It crowns him like a god about to mount their chariot, wreathed in warpaint and flames, out to conquer the world.  He enters his car and lights it up.  Flames spew out the dual side-mounted exhausts, licking the sides of his chrome warbeast.  The demon inside the hood roars to life as he does several donuts to warm up the tires and test the engine for faults.  Once ready he takes his place alongside his other combatants.  The chariot of fire and blood is ready to claim another championship.  The countdown begins.  Three... two... one...

And they’re off!  The sound is deafening as the demonic hellscape begins to roar and reverberate throughout the quiet streets of the Seattle outskirts.  They’re all racing towards the center of the metroplex many kilometers away from here, a journey that should take about half an hour to reach.  As they fade into the distance and round the first corner marked in AR small vidscreens begin to pop up among the crowd.  It’s a livefeed from every possible angle thanks to the nanocam systems hooked into each vehicle.  You can hop from the hood of one car to the eyes of the second driver and see the rear bumper of the third car all in a flash.  For those special members with a DNI Control Rig or other means of interfacing they can even passively jump into the cars themselves!  Hearing the screech of the tires and feeling the weight of your own body shift as you round the next corner leaving your opponents in the dust is truly an exhilarating experience!

About fifteen minutes into the race the ghoul car takes a corner too tight and flips over itself several times.  A trail of wreckage lies in its wake as a pile of twisted neon and metal create an amalgam of failure.  A few freaks in the crowd even jump into the car as it flips and begin replaying the moment over and over, it’s as if reliving their own death makes them feel alive.  The driver of the now desecrated beast of burden is alive, but his shins are broken in three places requiring a hospital visit.  Foul play is called by his crew but is dismissed almost immediately by everyone there.

The final stretch is approaching, Apollo is in the lead, but only just as the elf, human, and dwarf drivers are hot on his tail.  The sun is starting to creep up now turning the sky from its former pitch black to a soft hue of deep blues and purples.  The racers know they don’t have much time left as the finish line draws near.  The dwarf of the V 0.8’s pulls ahead, slamming his pedal to the floor in a great and furious anger.  His demonic beast, however, is startled by this and over revs, causing a minor stall in the car and even busting a gasket, knocking him out of the race!  The human driver’s car cannot keep up either as he is slowly left behind when they enter the cavernous twists and turns of the concrete jungle.

Now it’s just Apollo and the elf.  Neck and neck.  Racing against themselves and the rising sun which is now a blood red.  The sky itself is seemingly burning in conflagration, setting the scene for a showdown of cataclysmic proportions.  At the very last second Apollo deploys his nitrous boosters and pulls well ahead of the elf, setting a clear path to salvation!

And then it happens.  Apollo crosses the finish line.  His chariot of fire pulling the sun behind it like tales of old.  The god of the Emerald City can claim his rightful throne.  Victory!  Victory at last! Back at the starting line the crowd erupts in a great and uproarious cheer as Apollo exits his car.  Libations are had and hands are shook.  There is much talk about the race, some of the more chromed individuals among us replay Apollo’s victory to relive secondhand glory.  But just as the excitement reaches its peak the jubilant crowd begins to fracture.  The sun is almost up now, and each person heads off in their own individual directions to go sleep off the nightlife.  The electricity in the air subsumes and the neon lights power down.  The streetlights power down and give way to the great inferno in the sky.  Some earlybird wageslaves can be seen commuting in their plainly colored rust buckets.  Apollo, I’m told, is going to head to some upscale club downtown to celebrate his victory.

The sun is awake and has slain the nightlife of this city with a blinding light.  The nightlife that writhed in ecstasy is now departed from this land to slumber.  An entire culture rises to the surface and falls to the ground in the span of a few hours as the beat of the nightlife fades away.  They’ll be back tonight, and I plan to see them again soon.

The day passes.  The sun sets and shadows lengthen.  Darkness spreads as pinpoints of light begin to dot the streets and spread down the line like a snake.  It is dark now.  Time to light up the night.

 Aurora U-Storage On Fire…Again

You all know that storage warehouse in Aurora? The one where corp types and shadow denizens like to store things that they don’t want anyone else to know about? You know that warehouse with the utmost discretion? The one that was set on fire a few months ago in some sort of shadowrun related shenanigans? Yeah, well, that warehouse was set on fire again, quite mysteriously. On the plus side, Aurora U-Storage seems to have installed some impressive anti-arson upgrades to the warehouse. On the down side, runners keep targeting that place. I ask you all, is this really where you want to store your secret goods?

 Entertainment News

Lightning Doesn’t Strike Twice, But Thunder Does!

In 2071 four orks found they all liked a fusion of garage metal and​ classical music, and the band Golden Dumpster Fire was born from that interest: Cellists​ Ford Arkash, and Barash Furysong, vocalist J'mee Thunder, and percussionist Thur Canaan. They spent two years playing small clubs before they got a paying job for a Mr Pendleton, who fronted for their first album, ghost dragon, which placed fifth on billboard for three months. They worked in studio for a year and brought out their second album, permanent vacation, which did better, but the clan wars brought the group to a standstill and “permanent vacation” became prophetic. Fans of the group clamored for more from the group for years, and it seemed that desire would never be fulfilled. Just another band with a lot of promise that fell to obscurity.

However, there is reason for Golden Dumpster Fire fans to rejoice! J'mee Thunder has returned with a self titled album, J’mee Thunder, and he plans to start his world tour in the Seattle Metroplex. And don’t tell anyone I told you, but rumor has it he’ll be doing a secret unplugged show just for fans the day before the big concert. Where will it be? Let me put it this way: it will be in the same club, where Arkash used his bow as a weapon to defend Thunder from an overzealous fan strung out on Bliss. Fans called this the Errol Flynn Incident. If you know where that happened, you know where the concert will be. Look out for it. Brought to you by the Crowne.

 BeyonZ, Kappa, and Exploitation: The Case of Lawrence Stock

By now you’ve all seen the footage on Kappa. A small apartment living room. The Space Needle visible through the open window, far away in the background. Gray weather, the smell of rain coming to mind, instinctively, as if transmitted by the trid. The picture moved a meter to the right, focusing on a grave boyish face. The fluorescent blue hair, the outrageous makeup are those of none other than NeoNET’s famous host and entertainer, BeyonZ.

He turned to the middle-aged lady on his left and said with a look of concern, “Lily I mean Mrs. Stock... I may call you Lily, right?”

She answered the question thrown at her with a nod.

BeyonZ: “Lily, by now our viewers are probably familiar with your emotional plea on Kappa. Your husband Lawrence has been missing for a month, now. The last time you saw him, he was going on a tour…”

It is true, we have all seen the footage…the emotional plea. Lily Stock was clearly upset and Kappa new that was ratings gold.

The woman raised her head, slowly, a faint smile on her lips. The camera focused on her face, making sure all of her emotions were on display. The perfect makeup she wore contrasted with her tattered clothes, making her look like an extra on Horizon’s Les Miz ‘77.  

Lily: “Yes, sir. He’s lead singer for Larry and the Red Gods. They’re a small indie band. All locals. Larry was so excited, that day. All smiles. Humming ‘Roses are red…’ He got a call. His friends were there. He gave me a peck on the cheek and the next instant I heard him running down the stairs. The elevator was broken. I went to the window, watched him greet his band mates. They were all set, with their cello and guitar cases strapped to their shoulders. They looked happy. Their driver must have shouted something, because at some point the five of them all turned their head toward a black van and climbed onto it.” 

The video went back to BeyonZ who asked, “So, the black van left and you’ve not had any news since?”

Lily: “Well, he called me later in the afternoon. They were at the warehouse where their gig was taking place… Larry, if you hear me, call me, call us.”

The picture moved to the right, toward another room after hearing some dog barks in the background. The dog must have been there in the back, invisible.

Then Lily cried, “See, Larry? Skippy has been so sad since you left. And the children too. Oh, Larry, please, come back soon,” before breaking into uncontrollable sobbing. The lady buried her face in her hands.

When the picture moved back to BeyonZ, all of us who weren’t fooled by the corporate glitz, could see that he was trying to hide his glee. This is a story about a man who went missing, a man whose family wonders where he is. And how does Kappa’s BeyonZ respond to this tragedy? He turns and her and says, in front of all the world, “Lily, are you ready to face the truth? We have exclusive pictures of your husband with a young lady. We’ll be back after these commercials.” Of course, the dramatic music swelled as the camera zoomed in on a last glimpse of Mrs. Stock, looking at the camera, clearly taken aback.

Is this what viewers of corp media want? Exploitation of people’s pain? Larry and the Red Gods were a decent indie band (though my sources say that they ran in the shadows more than they played on stage, if you know what I mean), and his family seems to be in pain and need help rather than be put on display. This is a situation that should be taken care of by us. You denizens of the shadows, have you heard what happened to Larry and the Red Gods? Good or ill, Lilly Stock deserves to know. Send in your tips.

 Features:

Once More 15--(by Breach)

If you’re reading this, you’re probably already familiar with the Corporate Court’s relaunch of the Wireless Matrix, an initiative headed by Danielle de la Mar.  You may not know all the details, or the history, however - we’re not all Matrix-wired desk jockeys, after all - so I’ve decided to devote a bit of time to education in the regard.

On December 1, 2074, de la Mar announced the new Matrix protocols that would be rolled out over the next month, with a launch date of January 2075.  On January 1, the new protocols came online, along with the new grids and a new Matrix.  Three years in and it’s starting to feel normal, but our new Grid Overwatch Division overlords didn’t always have such a tight hand on the reins.

In the wake of Crash 2.0, distribution was the watchword - a travesty like the Crash should never be allowed again, and making sure there was no centralised network was the way to get there.  The Wireless Matrix was born of desperation and need, built roughly and slapshot in an effort to get the world running again.  While the Grid Overwatch Division existed, its authority was limited and the scope under which it could operate was small; there existed no overarching grids to monitor and every host and commlink was left on its own to negotiate the new Matrix.  

It was a golden age for those that run the shadows.

Of course, de la Mar and GOD were able to spin this into a need for more control and more constraint; information was free, and the Corporations hate that.  So new protocols were rolled out and all the old tricks and devices were cut off from the whole.  Hackers had to find new tools to access the new systems (though GOD did make the mistake of asking some prominent hackers to test the new systems, so they didn’t fall too far behind), and hacking became far more serious a crime than it had before - punishable by death in many cases.

Instead of one big open playground, the new Matrix has been divided into grids - ten global grids operated by the ten Court Megacorporations, individual regional and national grids operated by various governments across the globe (like Seattle’s very own Emerald City grid, which many of you access this paper from), and even an eleventh official global grid, operated by charity and legacy and, much like the pre-de la Mar Matrix, open to everyone, though somewhat removed from the new protocols and systems.  Operating on the public grid is a bit like decking through molasses - possible, but slow and unpleasant.  I don’t recommend it for any serious Matrix work.

The new Matrix holds secrets that even GOD doesn’t fully understand, though.  The Foundation - the ultraviolet, hyper-real underlayer that rests beneath every host and device in the new Matrix - is poorly understood, even by the architects that craft hosts from its essence.  And then we have Technomancers that speak of Resonance Realms, similar in some ways to the Metaplanes Magicians speak of.  Our new Matrix has brought us new frontiers to explore.

Frontiers that may be connected to next week’s topic, the new plague on everyone’s lips: CFD.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Fashion News?

Crimes of Fashion or Good Samaritan?

Reports on the street are that people are getting spontaneous, and probably magical, fashion makeovers as they are walking down the street minding their own business. So it seems there is a good Samaritan turning people’s dreary togs to something more interesting. The only thing is…that the new togs seem to be very fashionable in cut and design, but somewhat...unconventional in color choice. Are these new clashing colors a sign of fashion to come or are they crimes of fashion? Or is this some sort of reality show that has yet to be announced? Have you been given a make-over? Contact the SSN and give us the info!

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 54, On The Town

City News:

Invasion of the Cyber Snatchers?

One of the Tipster Army sent in a disturbing tip. The tipster, who works as a Doc Wagon medic, was wandering out in the Barrens at night after an evening of blowing off steam and headed into an alley to relieve himself. What did he find there? A dead body. That isn’t a big deal, it happens all the time. The body belonged to an unidentified human male, age unknown. The man had nice, expensive clothes, something a bit rare in the Barrens, and that is what caused our tipster to take a closer look. The man was certainly dead, and hadn’t been dead long. He was also missing an arm, a leg, and an eye, all on the same side. The body parts were not ripped off as if by some berserker, but carefully and precisely cut off. The tipster had to leave quickly because the sounds of Knight Errant sirens where quickly approaching. For a body in the Barrens.

We all know what this means. First off, the victim probably had a SIN. But more importantly for SSN readers: There is a probably a cybersnatcher in town. If you have cyberware, be careful, there seems to be someone dangerous on the loose.

 In Three Seconds—(by demmalition1)

It’s cold up here.

I’m alone above this city, sitting over the roof looking down on people as I write this. The wind is biting over 10 stories up, and the ledge that this neon billboard hangs off of isn’t the greatest. The crisp night air crackles with the hustle and bustle of Seattle’s nightlife community. I see so many people below going about the night, perusing through the numerous vices that entrap us in our daily loop.

One person below me stands out from the crowd, her bright pink mohawk cuts through the crowd with a dazzling display of bio-fiber patterns shifting through her spiky mane. She meets a man and goes around the corner to buy a few hits of bliss “for a friend.”

I see a man walk into a well known strip club, my AR display flashes his SIN in front of my eyes, showing he’s married with two kids. A bit of digging shows he visits here at least once a week,  he’ll be out a few hours from now hammered with his best buds.

The store below me a few doors down has kicked a couple out from their shop. Attempted shoplifting apparently, but the couple had money and was willing to pay for the items they had in their hands. The shopkeep goes on to claim that their money was no good there, he needed cold hard nuyen and their corp scrip wasn’t enough to buy the items. They’re going to go home to their kids empty handed again.

A block and a half down a woman screams out of view from an alleyway. Looking over I see a small crowd forming, looking on and shooting trids with their commlinks or cybereyes. After tracking their feeds I see the woman, she’s just been mugged and blood runs down her face and is pooling on the ground below. No one is going to help her, no one has thought to comfort her or call Knight Errant. The reason why?  She’s SINless and likely can’t pay for their help. After all, why would anyone have any decency in their hearts to help someone in need?  It’s not their commlink that got stolen, it’s not their credsticks that got lifted. She would be lucky to make it home tonight. I do the responsible thing and pay for DocWagon to cart her away. They arrive 15 minutes late, no rush to help someone who’s not even considered a person in the eyes of some.

On the other side of town a police raid on an “abandoned” apartment complex is being formed. This is a well known Cutter territory and, officially, no one lives there. Word has it on the street that illegal BTLs are being moved through here, with personafixes being wired into the heads of some bad men as they beat on bunraku puppeted people. It’s all well and good that Knight Errant go in and rescue the people there, but their actions in doing so are the crux of the problem. See, all this torture stuff happened on the top floor of the complex, and the tenants there knew to stay away in exchange for not being roughed up in their shithole “apartments”. Well when the cavalry went in and saw no SIN on “John Q. Public” they shot them dead for being in a “gang controlled zone”. In total 6 gangers were killed and 19 bodies were sent to the furnace. The bunraku puppets had their personafix chips taken out then sent on their way. No SIN, no support. They will live with these memories for what's left of their lives, all they could do was watch and feel pain.

Next up on the chopping block of this fair city is a man by the name of Miles Coltrane Parker. He was too poor to afford anything of value and often walked throughout the city at night to take in the sights and sounds. He wasn’t homeless, he wasn’t mentally ill, and he wasn’t a troublemaker. He just walked everywhere he went. Well, reports say that he was killed on the spot when he crossed into unmarked corp territory, their land their laws as is provided in their extraterritoriality agreement. A little talking to a PR rep later and she said he walked past multiple warning signs and might have been a runner. That’s right everyone, you read that correctly. The man who had no electronics, no team, no magical aura, and no sense of urgency in his step was a potential runner!  I ask where I could go to see the warning signs and I was directed to a warehouse a bit outside of town near his place. I walk up and, what do you know, no warning signs!  You can do this yourself readers, just walk up and see the complete lack of warning signs. Oh, wait, you got to turn on your AR feeds to see them. See, Miles was too poor to afford an AR overlay for his daily life and he was legally barred from purchasing one due to his lack of SIN. That’s right folks, he was too poor to see his own death. Many SINless can’t legally buy or afford AR displays and thus can’t see the warning until it’s too late. I wonder how many bodies they put away with this little trick. After all, those they legally kill aren’t legal people according to the law.

The final story for tonight concerns an ork kid, I’m using the letter “X” to protect his identity. X couldn’t be more than 8 years old and was walking home to his parents after spending a night out playing hooky with his friends. X, like his parents, has a SIN and is a legal member of society. The police report released the next day tells it from his point of view and the slightly blurred traffic cam footage released backs him up as well. As X was rounding a corner a group of four kids grab him and shove him into an emptied out trash bin before slamming the lid shut on top. They then take a set of pre-placed baseball bats and crowbars and proceed to beat on the can over and over for a few minutes, scattering like a breath in the wind when they see a car rounding the corner. Knight Errant agents tracked the boys down and drag them in for formal booking and interrogation. Guess what?  All four kids have parents who belong to the Humanis Policlub. As of press time no formal charges have been filed.

All of this happened in three seconds one cold night in Seattle.

 Entertainment News:

Garfield High Production of Les Miz opens this Friday

Garfield High’s production of Les Miz opens this Friday and will star a number of children who are part of our community. Look out especially for young Gavrosh, a star on the rise if there ever was one.

 Aztechnology’s PR Image Dips after Aztech-Cola Ad Debacle

Last week Aztech-Cola released a new ad. It was tailored specially for us. It was supposed to catch the zeitgeist of Dzhugashvili’s Seattle. A hologram of now deceased megastar Christy Daee was inserted into the Aztech-Cola commercial. The scene was of a crowd of SINless protesting and Knight Errant advancing. It was reminiscent of the SINless protest that took place a few months ago (See SSN 44), but rather than violence, Christy Daee presents the Knight Errant forces with Aztech-Cola and everyone bursts into song…a newly remixed version of her hit “Sunny Daee.” The ad immediately caused outrage. On one hand, SINless rights activists found the ad trivializing of their struggle for equality as well as the violence they have had to endure in that fight, on the other hand, Sunny Daee fans found the use of her image and remix of her song disrespectful to their beloved, departed star.

The ad was almost immediately taken down and Aztechnology issued a prompt apology. But will it make a difference?

 Features:

Once More 14--(by Breach)

Aztlan now possesses technology capable of killing the Great Dragons, and some of you might be wondering “Why didn’t the Dragon Council do anything about this?”  Well, they were a little busy with a problem of their own.

I don’t think any metahuman could possibly claim to understand just how the Dragon Council works, but what we do know is that it is headed by a position called “Lorekeeper”, who has traditionally been the dragon that possesses the Jewel of Memory, a record of the collective history of dragonkind. Dunkelzahn possessed this artifact until his death, when his Will bestowed it upon the Great Dragon Lofwyr (perhaps hoping to teach the ambitious golden wyrm some wisdom?)  Lofwyr held the title of Lorekeeper from that point on - until recently.

The Dragon Civil War is complicated, and scholars debate over when it actually started, but I’m going to cover only the most important parts. Sirrug’s attacks on Aztlan were one opening salvo, which was followed by Hestaby’s address to the UN on July 23, 2073 in a speech where she spoke of things dragons do not speak to metahumans of, and condemned Sirrug’s actions as war crimes, which helped lead to his condemnation and escalation of the Amazonia/Aztlan war.

Hestaby’s speech contained a lot of suggestions, both on the part of dragons and metahumanity, but few listened to the whole and chose to focus on only the parts that most enraged them; for the dragons, it was her concessions to metahumanity—most of dragonkind, particularly the Great Dragons, view metahumanity as pawns and playthings, pets at best, unworthy of a seat at the negotiation table. Her condemnation of Sirrug was a betrayal of dragonkind.

The strife between Hestaby and Lofwyr was the greatest; I’ve heard rumours that Hestaby actually defeated Lofwyr in some sort of draconic test of strength and would have claimed the Jewel of Memory for herself, but she rejected the continuation of dragonkind’s old ways and allowed Lofwyr to keep the Jewel and the title. If this rumour is true, Lofwyr has been stewing over the humiliation for years; there’s nothing more dangerous than a humiliated dragon.

Immediately after her speech, the head of Hestaby’s Shasta Shamans, Elliot Eyes-of-Wyrm, was killed by a sniper. While no one is sure who called the hit, Lofwyr was a prime suspect, and clearly the one Hestaby blamed; a week later, Hestaby and a veritable army of spirits appeared in Dubai over Saeder-Krupp’s Middle-Eastern headquarters and disassembled the entire complex - without a single metahuman fatality and only a few minor injuries to the staff there.

This led to a year of shadow warfare between the Great Dragons, with alliances being fostered and formed and attention being focused away from other affairs; Saeder-Krupp’s businesses have suffered for Lofwyr’s distraction, and in the wake of the chaos, a greater threat would emerge when Lofwyr’s brother, Alamais, seized the GeMiTo sprawl as his personal demesne. Believing dragons the true rulers of Earth, Alamais and his followers turned GeMiTo into a feeding ground, beginning a year of terror for all those metahumans unable to flee.

Despite his disagreements with Hestaby, open warfare with metahumanity was not part of Lofwyr’s agenda, and the Lorekeeper’s attention switched instead to the predation of his brother; gathering an alliance of dragons and metahumans to oppose Alamais. As typical in draconic battles, they started with his hordes, raiding the wealth of Alamais with the help of most of the Dragon Council. Attacks against the allies of the Loremaster escalated in response.

In early November, 2074, it was reported by magical experts that a great accumulation of magical power was detected around Mount Shasta; at 0139 on November 3rd, the energies released; at the same time, a massive explosion occurred in Alamais’s GeMiTo compound, though the Great Dragon himself survived. Shortly the same day, Alamais’s loyalists descended upon GeMiTo; what had been hunting for sustenance became retaliation as the dragons wreaked wanton destruction upon the life and property of GeMiTo’s residents.

This was the final straw for Lofwyr, who had to bring his brother to heel. Gathering an army of mercenaries and shadowrunners, as well as the efforts of several dragons including, reportedly, the Great Dragons Lung and Arleesh, Lofwyr descended upon GeMiTo. In a battle spanning two days (November 5 and 6), Lofwyr’s forces made their way towards Alamais’s lair, where the two brothers engaged in open battle above their gathered loyalists. Lofwyr came out triumphant, tearing his brother’s heart from his chest and securing his place in the hearts and minds of the world. Lofwyr had saved the world from Alamais.

The aftershocks were largely political; for two months the Dragon Council met in secret and the world was free of draconic meddling. The repercussions of this assembly are still being felt: Sirrug was imprisoned away from the world as punishment for his open warfare on metahumanity; Hestaby was banished from the affairs of dragonkind, her horde forfeit, as punishment for defying the traditions of dragonkind; and the Black Lodge, a secret society in Germany, was unanimously condemned and its destruction vowed by the Council.

The hordes of Hestaby and Alamais were divided among the Council, with Lofwyr’s loyalists receiving the bulk of the largess and Hestaby’s friends receiving the least. But one more shock was left - Lofwyr surrendered the position of Loremaster (though not, as best I can tell, the Jewel of Memory), recommending Celedyr as his replacement. The Council, eventually, agreed.

Celedyr’s first act was to call a truce upon violence between dragonkind and metahumanity; giving a year for affairs to be settled (and a bloody year it was), since December 26, 2075, the dragons of the world have been forbidden by the power of the Loremaster and the Council from waging open warfare upon metahumanity.

By decree of the Council, dragonkind has no further conflict with metahumanity, and the Great Dragon Civil War is behind us. Hestaby has not been seen since January 9, 2074, when she was spotted conducting one final survey of Mount Shasta, now empty and lifeless.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Corp News:

Kidnapped NeoNET Exec Rescues Herself

SSN got a special tip with a video attached. My tipster sent this message:

"Seen this trid on Kappa yet? A dog running after a mouse in a park. After thirty minutes it starts chasing its own tail instead, running in circles. The rest of the trid is just three hours of this scene interspersed with three-second sequences of a small planet rotating around a giant K. Boring stuff right?

It’s the story behind it that’s interesting. According to my source, it shows the VR battle between NeoNET’s Gaeaca and Pluto, the rogue NeoNET AI that had got her abducted for her own protection. Looks like she managed to jack into the Matrix from her isolated gilded prison. Then she hacked into Pluto and harnessed the resources of NeoNET’s Kappa host to get Pluto to literally run after itself. It helped that Kappa is as much a piece of Gaeaca’s mind as can be.

It was just a matter of time, after that, for Gaeaca to bring her guards back to their senses and for NeoNET Security to shut Pluto down. Gaeaca’s current status is a close-kept secret but I was assured she's alive and recuperating from her ordeal." 

It looks like we have one of our kidnapped Execs back in Seattle, and it looks like this one was kidnapped by her own company, or at least a part of it. But the bigger news is that NeoNET has a Rogue AI kidnapping its execs. What is happening over there at NeoNET?

 Aztech Promises Increased Security at Their Gyms

In light of the footage revealing the attack on Krund Yuste Alfonso in the downtown Aztechnology gym, Aztechnology PR reps held a press conferenece addressing the embarrassing incident. Their RP rep insisted the attack was an isolated incident and that they are having their top security expert Grace Castillo retrain all Aztechnology gym security personnel. Seattlites and been assured that Aztechnology gyms are completely safe and an excellent place for all of your fitness needs.

 Gang News:

Lone Wolf Attacks on Gangs on the Rise

One of the Co-Leaders of the gang Iberis, “Flower” and two other gang members were attacked recently by an unknown cybered-up assailant, reportedly with razor fingers. Flower was badly injured, but a hospital tipster says she is recovering quickly and will be back in action shortly. A tipster familiar with Iberis told SSN that Flower and her lieutenants were attacked by an elite professional, but were still able to hold their own, evidence of the strength and power of new gang Iberis. Members of The Lost Boys were also rumored to be attacked by the Razor-fingered Attacker.

In another part of town, near the newly renovated Crowne Hotel, there has been reports of an “Angel in a Black Duster” murdering gang members on a massive scale. Tipsters note that bodies have been found scattered like so many toys, shot, burned and beaten. This angel seems to be some sort of mage, with reports that they merely point at gang members and they catch fire.

There are continued reports of a troll and an orc ambushing and attacking Trollkiller gang members.

This is a lot of violence against gang members including death. I think it is time that the SSN says a few words about gangs. Gangs, like runners, fixers, blackmarketeers, and all the rest, are denizens of the shadows. They are part of our community and they are not all the same. Sure, some are Trollkillers, sociopathic racists who don’t contribute to the community, but not all of them are. Some are just SINless kids trying to find community in the middle of a crappy situation. Gangs are sometimes violent and sometimes they are blights. But sometimes, they keep the community safe when Knight Errant wouldn’t dream of entering the neighborhood. Sometimes, they are the only after school program these kids have.

All you Lone Rangers, before you go off murdering gang members, remember, some of them are children just trying to make it in the 6th World.

 Runner News:

On the Town and In the Shadows

This was a great week for Shadow Watchers, many of our favorites were out and about on the town, and tips were coming in at a furious pace. Disgraced underground fighter 'Pretty Boy' Floyd was spotted around the Columbia area. Plotting a return to the ring perhaps? The runner Legs was seen smoking cigarettes and drinking vodka at Le Chat Noir. She was cynical as usual. MMFEC was out an about: Firepower was seen boxing at the Renton gym (a gym that seems to have some serious management problems), Electronics was on a date with one of our favorite VR personalities…one we’ll call “Princess” (we hope that went well, what potential power couple!), Conversationalist was seen at the Frozen Yogurt place where the Faces meet…all the Faces? They are one good-looking group! But isn’t that always the case? Lastly, one VR tipster told us the Cloud was seen at a new VR hangout: Studi0 54. Word has it, Studi0 54 is the new hotspot for the denizens of the shadows. SINless are welcome.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 53, The Krund Issue

City News:

Broken News—(by demmalition1)

Sitting in a small roadside diner, nice place with a retro 2020’s vibe called “Hindsight”. Throwback places are never really accurate, I can spot at least three memorabilia from the 1990’s in there, but no one else is giving a shit so why should I?  Food’s good though, plate of warm soy-shrimp with soy-noodles and real garlic, plate of real bruschetta, and some wine to wash it down. You’d think they’d have soy-burgers and beer, but I’m not complaining.

Seating’s good and the waitress is flirting with me trying to get those extra few percentage points on her tip, probably to cover for this month’s rent based on how hard she’s pushing it. I ignore her and flip through the AR news feeds trying to catch up on what I missed after finishing my last report. Seems like most of the debris fell into the ocean harmlessly, one or two pieces on the outskirts of Japan, and a few scattered pieces on the UCAS/Tir Tairngire border. Hopefully nothing to worry about, but I’m still on guard for anyone asking me if I’ve heard the good word of our Lord and Savior <prog.Monads.exe>.

Anyways, I’m getting off track here, let’s flip through the minor news here... Oh yeah...

Corporate News shill Meta RyRy has been kidnapped live on air!  That’s right folks, the persona of poison and corporate deceit has been deposed from his throne of lies in front of several thousand viewers. So far public reaction has been one of sadness and shock tempered by a solemn resignation of “it was bound to happen sooner or later”. I’m fairly certain a large percentage of active viewing participants were simply corp execs looking at their egregiously narcissistic ads or sniping other corps with insults, and are more dismayed at the loss of a soapbox than of the person reading off their corp scripts. Sure, some of this might’ve been useful or for the public good, but can you take a man seriously when he says that there’s no public health risk from the satellite debris or that a manastorm isn’t brewing until it’s too late?  Can you trust the man who constantly gave “the finger” to us at the SSN (including me personally on one occasion) or others who tried to help the SINless?

Frankly, I’m glad to see him go, he spread corp propaganda right up to the night of the “Concert Freefall” wherein the Seattle Metroplex marketplace lost a combined ¥200 billion in value overnight. That’s right, the shadow war between Horizon and Saeder-Krupp in which various other corps banded together finally came to a head. A joint concert held by both sides to promote unity was actually a cover for their more duplicitous actions involving multiple runner teams, industrial sabotage, and an all-out assault on both Horizon Media and SK-Aerospace. In its wake thousands will lose their jobs, even many executives at the top are not safe, as I hear the Corporate Court is taking action and reshuffling their decks as I write this. Expect to see many “Will Oppress Masses For Food” signs out in the streets in the following weeks.

So where does this leave us?  A corporate shill and his corporate lies have disappeared from the face of the Metroplex. Can’t say I’ll miss the propaganda, but the show did have a certain unabashed bravado in its brazenness, it was very entrancing and at times even humorous. The corps are hurting badly, but they will recover like they usually do. The SINless will continue to suffer in the short term until Governor Dzhugashvili’s progressive legislation gets passed.

But that’s that, there’s nothing to go back to. No system to salvage and the events that occurred over the past week are sure to galvanize many people in the coming months. Already there are fissures in the underground that are creeping to the surface, a new cracked and fragmented society awaits us in this brave new world of the damned.

All About Krund Yuste Alfonso!

Footage has recently leaked (See exclusive video HERE!) of the attack on gubernatorial candidate Krund Yuste Alfonso that occurred a few months ago at the Aztechnology Emerald City Fitness gym. I’m sure you all remember the incident! Krund Alfonso was running for mayor when a naked British troll accosted him in the shower room. At the time, Krund Alfonso insisted to the SSN (See Issue 36), that this was no attack at all, but a simple mix-up with an over-eager fan. But the video footage reveals that Krund Alfonso was downplaying what was clearly an attack. Although the footage we have does not give a clear look at the British troll nor the reported homeless dwarf, what we are seeing is a clear assault by an unknown assailant. The assailant wrestled with the candidate and then fled.

This video raises many questions that all of the citizens of the Metroplex should be asking. If Aztech, one of the most security and militarily powerful Megacorps can’t keep its execs safe in the most vulnerable of moments—naked in the gym—can any corp exec be safe? Is any gym safe from intrusion? Krund Alfonso, a kind and conscientious figure, clearly lied about the assault in order to protect Aztechnology’s reputation in light of their shamefully inadequate security. But why was Krund Alfonso really assaulted? And does this assault have anything to do with the fact that Krund Alfonso is currently missing and has been since the revelation that he was an Arislen clone? Where is Krund Alfonso now? Is it true the Horizon might know the answer and they are hiding that information from the rest of us? Why would they do that? What do they have to hide? The corps have been trying to distract the public from the disturbing implications of this news by bringing up other so-called stories that mostly consist of trying to attack their favorite scape goats: SINless runners, the heroes of the streets. Don’t fall for that! Keep your eyes on the prize! Speaking of prizes…

The video also revealed quite a few other things to the Seattle masses. One of the major things it revealed is that Krund Alfonso, ex UCAS marine, still cuts a dashing figure. People on the streets have said that he is the most physically fit ex-gubernatorial figure in decades, and everyone is talking about Krund Alfonso. Looks like there is a bit of a fashion war going on between two powerful forces over Krund Alfonso’s body. Sources tell me that both Spinrad Industries’s fashion division and up-and-coming fashion designer Arzu Kaprol want Krund Alfonso to model their fashions for the upcoming season. And why wouldn’t they? Krund Alfonso has become this season’s It-Boy. He is fit, he is polite, he cares about the SINless, he is a sex symbol, he is a mysterious Arislen clone…and more importantly, he is missing! Where is he? Was he kidnapped? After so many missing execs, is he another one?

People of Seattle, the corporations are clearly unsafe, not only to the SINless and the UCAS citizens, but also to their own citizens! Let your voices be heard! Tell Governor Dzhugashvili to pressure the Megacorps for more transparency. Let’s find out what the truth is! And let’s find out where Krund Alfonso has gone!

Keep your eyes open for Seattle’s own Troll and send in tips!

 Entertainment News

SpiceBOT Concert

Last week the SpiceBOT reunion concert co-sponsored by Saeder-Krupp and Horizon was a huge, if odd success. Tens of thousands of people crowded downtown to see the wildly popular band perform all their hits. The Metroplex was transformed into a SpiceWorld. In the Virtual, the Saeder-Krupp band concert was broadcast by Horizon Media. Except, halfway through the concert, Horizon’s media feeds failed, leaving people frustrated throughout the world. Saeder-Krupp’s new Media subsidiary heroically saved the day and was able to finish broadcasting the show for the grateful viewers. Good job SK! We all want to zig-ah-zig-ah.

 Features:

Once More 13--(by Breach)

War is a complicated thing, and the more recent the war, the harder it is to break down, especially in the space I have here at SSN. JackPoint compiled a 26-page dossier on the event and it still doesn’t cover everything, but the fallout of this one is big enough that I think we all need to understand it, even as removed as we are from the battleground here in Seattle.

The official declarations came in early 2072, though tensions had been building long before - Aztlan has ever been an expansionist empire, and has been long-stymied to the north by the mutual defense agreement between the CAS and PCC, so south it has looked, swallowing up the nations of Central America until it became once again stymied in South America by the Awakened State of Amazonia; the combined power of Hualpa and Sirrug was enough to curb even the mighty Aztechnology - for a time.

I’m going to leave out most of the details - get your hands on JackPoint’s Storm Front data file if you want those - but to give a broad overview, the war was between not just two nations, but two megacorporations as well; Aztlan and Aztechnology are virtually inseparable, the welfare of one being intrinsically tied to the other, but Amazonia had Corporate aid as well, from Aztechnology’s decade-long PR rival, Horizon.

The war was an actual war, have no doubt of that, but it was not fought solely in the jungles and streets of South America; it was fought also on the global stage, in the hearts and minds of the world.

Horizon won early victories, casting Aztlan as the villains and sullying the good press Aztechnology usually enjoys with the masses, leading to painful UN sanctions that still affect us all to this day (ever wonder why the price of soycaf went up? This is why.) But in the end, Aztechnology’s PR branch won out, because when you can trumpet the defeat of a Great Dragon, it’s pretty easy to get the people on your side.

The fact that Horizon couldn’t find any real evidence and had to trump up their charges instead - and that AZ could prove that - didn’t hurt either.

Sirrug. The Destroyer. A dragon so powerful he almost single-handedly crippled the Aztlan military and turned what might have been a brief border-conflict into an all-out guerrilla war - and the first Great Dragon since the alleged death of Feuerschwinge to be felled by metahumanity (perhaps the actual first, if some of the whispers I hear in the shadows are true.)

Sure, there were some border changes (the Free City of Bogota is no longer quite so free, Aztlan enjoys a few hundred kilometres more of Amazonian jungle, and Aztlan Texas belongs to the Pueblos now, giving Aztlan only one northern neighbour instead of two), but Sirrug’s the major fallout of the war, the big takeaway - the Great Dragons might actually be killable. Now, there’s debate over whether Sirrug is actually dead - his body was never retrieved - but he has not been seen since, and was at the very least severely wounded.

Aztlan may possess the technology to rival the Great Dragons themselves, and that’s going to have lasting effect on the world.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Gang News:

There Has Never Been a Story of More Woe, Than This of JuL33T and her MEO

Tragedy! No one was able to get ahold of MEO and the worst has happened. Ancient Street Sam JuL33T, it turns out hadn’t died, but had taken a dose of Slab, insiders tell me that she has secretly married Chula MEO and used the Slab to fake her death and get out the gang life and set up a new happy-ever-after with MEO somewhere else. But MEO never got the message. He went to see her body, resplendent in her armor, chromed up cyber and katanas. There, holding her hand, MEO took the dose of Seven-7 he bought from you-know-who. He died immediately. But according to my insider, it wasn’t much longer after that JuL33T’s Slap wore off. Seeing MEO slain, she took her own life with the katana she was never without.

This tragedy could have been avoided. We need to stop the gang hostility in Puyallup.

 Corp News:

Horizon Kidnapping Technomancers

It seems that Horizon is at it again! Sources report that the Megacorp had been holding some Technomancers prisoner in the Metroplex biodome. These Technomancers were able to escape from their harrowing ordeal and make it to safety. Sources say that Horizon, in a fit of corruptions, bad sportsmanship, and the way they are prone to coverups, have been trying to deflect attention away from their unethical and illegal behavior onto some shadowrunners who, last I heard, were visiting family in Europe. Don’t let Horizon deflect! Demand to know if they are continuing their abuse of Technomancers!

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 52, Shakeup

International News:

Starfall—(by demmalition1 & Seattle Street News) 

A WARNING TO ALL RESIDENTS OF THE SEATTLE METROPLEX, THE NORTH AMERICAN WEST COAST, JAPAN, AND VARIOUS PACIFIC OCEAN LOCATIONS

Any areas where you see debris, wreckage, or other signs of damage from the explosion are possibility contaminated with CFD.

Be on  the lookout for falling orbital debris, TAKE COVER if any is     spotted.  Look for flaming streaks in the night sky, airplanes making     wild maneuvers, or light gray streaks across the sky of smoke or liquids.

If you  see a crash site DO NOT APPROACH and evacuate the area IMMEDIATELY.  You should then contact your nearest local authority to     clean up the “CLASS 5 BIOHAZARD SITE”.  Give them your  name, location, and the location of the debris site.

If you  are near the debris site and believe you are covered in any kind of smoke,  liquid, or other form of contamination IMMEDIATELY contact     local authorities.

If you  know of someone who has been near a debris site or someone they know has  been in contact with a debris site IMMEDIATELY contact local  authorities.

Last week, star watchers noticed two strange happenings in the sky: Mitsuhama’s Mars base launched back into orbit from the red planet and began moving back towards Earth; at the same time Evo’s space station began moving out of its regular location. The result of these strange movements happened explosively this week. Telemetry experts determined that MCT’s Mars base was heading towards Japan. Official corporate sources claimed no knowledge of why MCT’s Mars base was moving towards Japan, but we would never officially find out, because in an epic explosion, EVO’s space station rammed the base, destroying them both. The destruction resulted in a large debris field in space that will likely cause a Kessler Syndrome in orbit as well as raining huge amounts of debris onto our planet. 99% of the debris burned up in the atmosphere, but not all of it. Some of those man made shooting stars landed across the Pacific, from Japan to the North American West Coast. Our corporate overlords were silent on this incident, noting only that everything would be fine.

But everything is not fine.

Heroic reporting by our reporter demmalition1 has revealed a terrible corporate conspiracy and ongoing danger to us all. It began after Mitsuhama Computer Technologies (MCT) bought the Watney-Hellas Mars base from Evo last year. Readers will remember that the base was largely abandoned when it was overrun by CFD, resulting in a large number of Monads. As Mitsuhama corp PR put it, they were cleaning up the base and making it useable again. That is all we heard of the base for some time. MCT was mostly quiet. There was some trouble with sabotage of MCT space ships, sabotage that Ares was implicated in. That incident culminated in the explosion of the MSS Miyazaki and a space race between MCT and Ares to recover the wreckage. Again, MCT went quiet, with only a few bits of PR noting that they developed the New Dawn Suit, protective suits for first responders that also protects the wearer from CFD. This, along with previous reporting that MCT had been working secretly on a cure for CFD set the stage for what would happen, a conspiracy so heinous that MCT deserves to be removed from the Corporate Court.

As discovered by demmalition, through heroic undercover reporting, the MCT Mars base had been turned into a biological weapon by MCT and aimed right at Tokyo. MCT had filled that base with containers full of CFD—containers stolen from Evo. Then they sent this death bomb towards Tokyo. Their plan was to kill millions of people and infect millions more with CFD, all so they could then swoop in and “save the day” with their New Dawn suited first responders and their possible cure for CFD. They would in turn secure lucrative contracts in billions of nuyen as well as gain massive PR for their efforts. As an added bonus, they get to discredit EVO, one of their hated competitors.  

But this didn’t happen. Instead, EVO’s space station crashed into the Mars base before it could destroy Tokyo saving millions. What happened? Who was the hero who saved us all? As demmalition1 wrote, it was a madman who unwittingly saved us all.

Sillysonny was one of the slew of candidates who ran for Governor of the Metroplex. Sillysonny, who lived on the EVO space station, gave an interview insisting that he would be the best for the job. Unfortunately, as a person without UCAS citizenship, he was not eligible for the job and was one of a number people disqualified from the race. Then we didn’t hear from him. Maybe we forgot about him. But he did not forget about us. Up in space he stewed and brooded. And he went mad. And last week, he decided to get his revenge in a spectacular act of suicide and spite. He decided to take over the space station and crash it into MCT’s Mars base. As the space station careened towards the Mars base, he sent out a last transmission to the SSN: “You should have voted for me.  I could have saved you all.  Now there is only one option left.”

And then he crashed into the Mars base destroying it. He didn’t know the base was a CFD bomb. He didn’t know he was saving the planet. He just wanted to punish. It was an opportunity target. But that opportunity target, that madness, that spite, saved us all.

Well, he saved us from the worst. We are still in danger. Demmalition1 reports that we are not yet safe. The debris in space may possibility affect satellites and space stations worldwide. The debris that is landing across the Pacific, despite what Corporate News may say (or fail to say), contains some  CFD containers as well as infected debris from the wreckage.  In addition, some CFD clouds, which are invisible and tasteless may roam around the massive debris field for a month or more.  This debris field will stretch from Tokyo in the East to Seattle and Los Angeles in the West. It is highly recommended that all readers follow the above warning and take precaution for the next few months while this is cleaned up.

Features:

Once More 12--(by Breach)

We come now to living memory for most of you, but in case you’ve been off-the-grid a while, let’s review.

Emergence is what Technomancers call the process of awakening to their power. It’s similar to Awakening, I am told, but altogether different at the same time.  Resonance, like Magic, is tied to Essence, the theoretical measure of a person’s “wholeness”, but the two are incompatible; there are no examples of an Awakened Technomancer - in fact, Technomancers who have become infected by HMHVV and become Awakened have all reported the loss of their connection to Resonance - the are no Infected Technomancers.  It’s one or the other, it seems.

2070 could be called the Year of Emergence; it’s not like Technomancers just suddenly appeared, but after MIT&T’s paper, the public finally knew about them and started seeing them everywhere, even where they were not.  A hospital in Hong Kong explodes in June, and Mitsuhama blames it on terrorist Technomancers, introducing the idea of virtuakinetics to the public and spreading fear of their abilities.  Mitsuhama would seize the opportunity to become the world’s leader in Technomancer research - research that was fueled largely by hefty bounties being paid on any Technomancers brought to the corporation for dissection or autopsy.  

The dissections were not always done on deceased subjects.

Before Crash 2.0, “AI” was a rarely heard phrase, and the only true AIs in the Matrix were god-like entities capable of reshaping entire networks. The battle between the three seems to have wiped them all out, however, and there has been no sign of Deus, Megaera or Mirage since.  However, within the distributed wireless Matrix, a new breed of AIs have developed - truly sentient, sapient programs with personalities and lives all their own.  Their battle for rights closely mirrors that of Technomancers - a fight to be recognized as people, and as people deserving the same life, liberty and happiness the rest of us enjoy.  

In 2071, the Pueblo Corporate Council granted the first SIN to a “Digital Intelligence”, and Evo and Horizon both quickly followed on their heels.  These entities also remain the best refuge for virtuakinetics, even despite Horizon’s bad press after the Las Vegas incident (a protest turned riot turned deadly).

2071 also saw the rise and fall of Tempo, a horribly addictive street-drug that plagued most of the world (it hit Seattle especially hard).  It took a coordinated effort from the Corporate Court and strategic strikes into Columbia and Amazonia to destroy the drug’s source, and LoneStar’s inability to keep the drug off the streets of Seattle cost them their contract for law enforcement in the metroplex.

The strikes into Bogota were very likely the ultimate root of one of the biggest stories of the 2070s: the Aztlan/Amazonia war - but we’ll get into that next week.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Gang News: 

BLAST: Has Anyone Seen Meo?

Chula Meo has been in hiding ever since he killed Ancient Street Sam TIB and was put on the Most Wanted by Mayor Lon Campa. No one has seen him at all…except a tipster. One of my tipsters in saw Meo buying some Seven-7 from Shamanic Medical Practitioner jNN. What does he need that for? Nothing good. But here’s the blast. MEO! If you are seeing this, don’t do anything stupid! Contact Shaman Law-Rents immediately! He has really, really important news about someone you care about. Not everything is what it seems! If anyone sees Meo, get them to contact SSN or Law-Rents right away.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 51, Green Flame Disease

Local News:

The Saeder-Krupp Screw Up:  How One Of The Largest Corps In The World Nearly Killed The Entire Seattle Metroplex—(by demmalition1)

[As a preface to these words I’m about to write, I should be clear and state that DutchTeddy and I are friends. This friendship shall not cloud my judgement at all, and no facts shall be altered or omitted in this piece out of respect for those who have died. Crimes of this magnitude cannot go unpunished.]

The sheer incompetence and ineptitude that radiate from the festering cancer known as Saeder-Krupp knows no bounds it seems. Some on the Matrix call members of this zombified corp corpse “the korrupt”, words that I cannot agree with more. The great golden dragon will not be satisfied until he has every sector of the market under his firm grasp, another thing to add to his hoard of valuables. They have a combined market value of over ¥300 billion and have two “Level 10” divisions in Heavy Industry and Robotics. They will leverage their industrial and financial might to move Heaven and Earth to accomplish their goals, no matter how many innocents they kill along the way. They are a brutal, vicious, and remorseless monster that is rampaging its way throughout Seattle and no one can stop them.

This beast of burdensome negligence employs some of the most monstrous people in the Sprawl. From one with connections with a high-powered mercenary crime syndicate to another with an information dragnet to rival the best of them (who also happened to crash the stock market for a day a few years back), they have little in the way of moral integrity. However, they employ a mass murderer as well. The personality known as DutchTeddy (real name: Henk Van Bolhuis) has now killed more people than the Mayan Cutter and will get away with it because of his corporate connections. A formal investigation into Saeder-Krupp should be launched immediately by both UCAS and the Corporate Court. Don’t let them pass off some of PeanutButterBabe’s cookies and pies as a heartfelt apology through their crocodile tears. Let them know that they must punish DutchTeddy for his crimes against the entire Seattle Metroplex. He is the source for the Green Flame incident that just ravaged the Seattle Ork community. But let’s start from the beginning.

In my earlier piece “Burned Out” (SSN-45), I personally witnessed DutchTeddy kill seven innocent civilians when he called in his “Black Saeder-Krupp Combat Bot Voltron”. He demolished the wall of a nightclub killing six innocent civilians and then inflicted fatal third degree burns upon Knight Errant Sgt. Gregory Snow.

But back to Green Flame, the disease that recently swept through the ork community. There is irrefutable proof that the bear DutchTeddy is responsible for it from leaked internal memos and comms chatter. He took a latent strain of the common influenza virus and modified it to inject a bacterium with various magically-enhanced genetic markers, vastly increasing infectivity and turning it into the highly deadly bioweapon “Green Flame Disease”. This process is known as “virus based genetic modification” and was used as far back as the Fifth World. Though he put the four individual genetic samples into their correct stoppers, he did not label them correctly, missing one that must have fallen into his hazmat suit pocket. When the suit was disposed of down the laundry chute, a worker took the vial he found in the pocket with him. This worker (who for privacy’s sake shall remain unnamed) then shared the vial with his friends over a beer, believing it to be a drug that the upper class execs would take. When it did nothing, the five went home to their friends and families, unaware that they just drank one of the deadliest bioweapons in the entire world.

Over the next five days nothing major happened. No severe symptoms outside of a bad headache. Little did they know that the virus was mutating within them to piggyback on “ghilani vrykolakiviridae”, also known as HMHVV Strain I. This might be why their symptoms were less severe than later cases since their bodies acted as the factories for the original strain and not the mutated one. Later, they only expressed the end-stage symptom of the disease’s namesake when they began to projectile vomit magic-based green flames from their mouths. Subsequent cases after these would feature more telltale symptoms of:

Headache, fever, chills, coughing, green vomit  (after initial 72 hours)

Converts essence to pure energy (more essence = longer time to die)  (72-84 hours)

Veins glow green, hard to breathe (bronchospasms), chest pain  (84-96     hours)

Breathe/vomit magical green fire  (96 hours +)

Death (~96-100 hours)

This would be the end of it were it not for the fact that the disease was contagious. These 5 friends (Patient Zero group) each passed it onto their families and friends who then passed it on themselves. This process repeated itself for seven days, and a sizeable segment of the ork populace was infected with GFD by then.

At this point SKHQ is notified of a potential breach, and DutchTeddy, along with Saeder-Krupp’s entire biological research division begins to work on a cure for a disease that they themselves have made. William “Security” Masters, head of SKHQ Matrix division, shuts down all reports of the incident for a few days. Saeder-Krupp will probably claim that it was meant to contain hysteria, but in reality it was no different than the VITAS outbreak in Hermosillo. This action prevented an informed populace from knowing the truth of what’s going on, needlessly exacerbating the problem and costing more lives in the process. Some, like Saruhashi Kogane of MCT tried to organize a coalition of other corps to combat the disease, but nothing materialized. It is likely at this point that various high level officials are notified of the L3/L4 biological hazard outbreak. This could have had the potential to turn into a small-scale outbreak mimicking the VITAS outbreaks of 2010 and 2022 which claimed a combined 2.9 billion people were it not for the quick actions of Saeder-Krupp.

After 26 hours with rapidly accelerated human/metahuman trials, the vaccine was ready for mass production. They pinned down the exact symptoms and began a distribution campaign to various ork hospitals, community centers, and other public places. 48 hours later GFD-IV was contained with no new cases reported. A noted uptick of HMHVV I turned metatypes has appeared around the ork community following the outbreak, probably people who haven’t died from the flames nor lost their essence entirely. It is speculated that the original group of Patient Zero is among them due to having a delayed reaction and no bodies having been recovered from the ashes of their houses. Furthermore, any awakened individuals with the disease are noted to have supercharged magical abilities. They have a much easier time controlling the flow of mana and spirits, with the disease seemingly slowing to a crawl and no visible symptoms besides the ability to breathe fire. The disease still progresses, but might take months to fully consume the person as compared to days.

DutchTeddy’s final body count will likely tally in the low hundreds as the ashes and bodies keep piling up. He got away with it too with a relatively light sentence compared to the immense magnitude of the crime. He still has his job, he still has his pay, he is not in jail for his crimes. Any sense of satisfaction that he may receive from curing the disease that he created must be countered with the ever growing list of casualties.

A few days later he was at a “free pie and pictures day” at a local restaurant near the Ork Underground—had a promotion for kids too. This obvious ploy of marketing whitewash placated the locals there, possibility because they had no idea of the person they were meeting. Those kids were standing right next to a mass murderer who will likely walk away from this scott-free.

A few things I want to note here as I wrap this up:

Why the hell was the head of aerospace allowed into a BSL-4 containment area without supervision, let alone allowed in there at all?  He was in there for SEVERAL HOURS ALONE even though he was still on probation for his previous screw-ups. He just waltzed on in there with no one stopping him at all. No guards to shock him and subdue him, no cameras reporting the breach to security, no technicians logging his actions. Nothing!

Why was the cure also not created at the same time?

How was there no pat-down of the employee to spot the vial of death he had on his person?

How can they complete “human/metahuman level” clinical trials in under 12 hours? Were SINless forcefully pulled from the streets for     vaccinations? What if the vaccines didn’t work or had other side     effects?

Corp News:

Top NeoNET Exec Gone Missing

Word on the street is that a top NeoNET exec named GaeaCa has gone missing. A witness, a homeless dwarf, noted the exec walking down an alley late last Monday night with two bodyguards. An expensive black corp car pulled up and the exec got in. That was the last time anyone saw GaeaCa. I was able to get some info on the tangled web around this kidnapping (?) from a contact sent in this message:

"My contact there has just told me that a task force of top notch NeoNET intelligence officers has been investigating the intense, puzzling chatter of Saeder-Krupp executives in the Matrix. What seemed innocuous, if not nonsensical, may turn out to be coded language related to the apparent abduction of GaeaCa. Just look at this message by S-K’s DutchTeddy as Exhibit A: Seasoning my life with his words, Killing me softly with his breath, Roasting me softly with his breath, Grilling my whole bod' with his breath, Eating me crunchy with his maw… NeoNET’s crack team has also been investigating the communications between Loofoel E. Will and an entity calling itself only GaeaCa. The latter apparently just came from nowhere last year and has been a very discreet presence on the NeoNET Corporate Matrix ever since. Would it be surprising if Loofoel Eugene Will had resented being passed over for the top job at NeotenIQ by his clone Alpha and sharing the board with Beta and Gamma? He could certainly have joined an internal conspiracy against a NeoNET exec. The irony if clones actually had nothing to do with this abduction... The other lead NeoNET seems to pursue is a Halloweener known as Trixter. She was seen talking with Deckard at Blast from the Past just a few weeks ago. Who knows what the Halloweeners are up to these days? Sometimes you have to wonder, these corps what wouldn't they do to be in the news?"

My contact points to a flurry of activity over at NeoNET to get their exec back. Could this be connected to the Hand of Dusk? Or could it be something more? Anyone with tips, contact the SSN!

Reflections on the Medicine and Pharma Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Medicine and Pharma market. This may be the last market analysis article in the Seattle Street News, stay tuned for larger developments.

The Medicine and Pharma market is the lower half of the markets in the Metroplex by size with a value of 118.2¥B shared by four megacorps. The market is led by Shiawase with 34.5% of the market followed by Evo (28.3%), Wuxing (25%) and Aztechnology (12.3%). Medicine and Pharma can cover a wide variety of technologies and medications. It is an industry desperately important to all of us, even though SINless tend to be forced to interact with this market through illegal back alley docs or veterinarians. Not everyone has access to a DocWagon contract, but everyone needs health care.

SSN reached out to the four corps with a Medicine and Pharma presence, we got comments from Shiawase, who have been excellent in their public relations and media outreach:

“Shiawase Omnicare, our Medicine & Pharma subsidiary, is comprised of many different companies resulting in a vast global network of healthcare available to each individual. In the fields of personal healthcare and elderly care our Reblossom Centers and Shady Pines Retirement Homes are top of the line. Thanks to our swift medical services, in the form of Shiawase Medical Response & Rescue, our company saved over a billion lives to date.

Together with our Diagnostics branches, euroGenetix, myGene and Senpaitek, Shiawase is a major player on the front of gene therapy and diagnosing and combatting viruses, bacteria and numerous other potential outbreaks.

As Shiawase, we continue to develop new technologies advocating cooperation within the corporation. Therefor Omnicare has worked together with our different Biotech branches to enhance our dominance in the sector. Last year we announced, in a partnership with Vasocon, a division of Shiawase Laboratories, that we’ve managed to enhance and speed up the Type O System used to grow cultured and non-allergenic organ transplants using the individuals own genetic code to completely prevent organ rejection. The same enhanced system is now also used for bioware thanks to further development.

Through another cooperation with Shiawase Biotech we’ve recently launched a brand new medical device that speeds up the recovery time for a broken spine. This has been on the market for the past two weeks and, while its usage isn’t as high as our medication, it has already been deemed a success in growing our market share.

We are currently looking into ways to enhance our presence in the Medicine & Pharma field, where we continue to dominate over our direct competitors.”

SSN is happy to have our regular market analyst Vorack back for his take on the vital statistics of the Medical and Pharma market.

"Time for me to inform the masses about Medicine and Pharma eh? Being healthy sounds great, who doesn’t want that? Medicine and Pharma will help you with that. You get injured or maybe just have a sickness, you go and get treated. Sadly it’s not that easy and even as a "Wageslave" or "Corpy" as I have been called in the past, I can say that I’m not a fan of this industry at all. If it all worked how you originally thought it would, then it would be great. Sadly, it does not. Even being in SK, a massive corporation, if I am feeling a bit out of it and head to the local clinic, I have to sit there for hours at most times and wait for the most basic service just because it’s a Wuxing clinic and they always seem to help other executives first—even if I had been there for forty-seven minutes already and they arrived there all of two minutes ago. (I swear I get refused proper treatment because they dislike us here at SK and so they make us wait as punishment) And don’t even get me started at the amount of blood samples I have to give whenever I go to an Aztec center, you don’t need 6 vials of my blood just because I have the sniffles! As a non corp member, I have no idea how bad it must be for those who are looking for treatment. People like you Seattle, or even demm and all the others who might slip through the cracks, it must be so much harder. The prices are insane and I have no idea how you all can cover it, and I can only imagine wait times are so much worse. So all in all, I think this industry is a joke, it’s around to make corporations look like they care about everyone and how much they are willing to help and take care of everyone's well being but its all just a sham. It is just another way to control the people but it’s sadly something we have to deal with.

So now to talk about the actual market and how it’s doing. It’s a strong four corp market, with no real leader in the pack. Officially Shia is ahead, Evo in second, Wuxing coming in strong at third and then poor little Aztec in last (I think people realize the amount of blood they take is weird and refuse to keep going there). Wuxing actually joined the segment a ways back and looks to be trying to push EVO back and take that second position and personally, even with the biased treatment I get from Wuxing, I would go to them every single time compared to EVO so I can see why it looks like they are gonna overtake them. The entire Medicine and Pharma division hasn’t seen to much aggression with only a few notable attacks against EVO. They said one was against a children's hospital or something, but I never really believed them. My personal guess is it was probably some lab where they were trying to weaponize some sort of disease. EVO seems the type who would do that, I hear they are "evil". Other than that, the entire segment seems to continue to grow even if it is rather slowly. Shia and Wuxing are always coming out with some new product that will help us out in some way or another so I can’t complain about that whatsoever. As a final statement, I will say that all corps and maybe even the unaffiliated, if able, should head to your nearest clinic and do some tests. Ask for what SK got done as we made it overly public. With this clone epidemic going on, it’s never too late to just check to see if everyone is who they say they are."

What say you readers with SINs, have you found Aztech’s clinics take too much blood? What are your experiences with wait times? For the SINless, if you don’t have a doctor, talk to the virtual flower seller in the private network you can access from the housing block in the Barrens where 1EyedJack had that epic fail with the block party last year.

 Features:

Once More 11--(by Breach)

In the aftermath of Crash 2.0, the world changed.

An assassin’s bullet made Nadja Daviar President of UCAS as a coup attempt by the terrorist group Alamos 20,000 was bloodily thwarted. The Tsmishian nation fell in a civil war and Sioux forces were required to stabilize the country, which became a protectorate of the Salish-Sidhe Council. Tir Tairngire’s government capitulated before collapsing into full anarchy, making the Council of Princes elected positions for the first time; Larry Zincan, a Tir Ork, was the first elected High Prince.

At a corporate level, Novatech merged with Transys-Erika to become NeoNET - once again, despite decades of disaster surrounding him, Villiers managed to save his seat on the Corporate Court. The Great Dragon Celedyr, major shareholder of Transys Neuronet, was named head of R&D at the new megacorp. NeoNET even managed to secure the bulk of the work to set up the Wireless Matrix Initiative, whose need was hastened by Crash 2.0.

Lucien Cross, CEO of Cross Applied Technologies - at the time a member of the Corporate Court - died in Crash 2.0, and his death sent ripples that destroyed the company; by March of 2065, CAT had lost its AAA status and his Court seat. Months later, Horizon, a media group formed after PCC’s takeover of Los Angeles, was granted the tenth and final seat on the Corporate Court. Two years later, Yamatetsu restructured, renaming itself Evo and giving us the Corporate Court we all know and loathe today.

By 2066, the Wireless Matrix was in place, and commlinks hit the market, forming the backbone of the Matrix we all inhabit today. AR became more pervasive than ever, with AR glasses and gloves becoming all-but-a-necessity for modern life (for those without implanted DNI, anyway).

The NAN thumbed their noses at the Corporations in late 2066, with the Gaeatronics Geothermal Power Plant Network coming online, making the PCC, the Sioux nation, and the Salish-Sidhe Council completely energy-independent. Representing the vast bulk of native power, the move sparked protests throughout the NAN as corporate-run power plants were decommissioned and disassembled. The PCC would even go as far as to ban Aztechnology from its territory altogether, as tensions with Aztlan grew. (The absorption of the Ute nation into the PCC in early 2067 only further exacerbated tensions, as Aztlan for the first time began to worry about its northern border.)

2069 brought more destruction to Los Angeles as the earth quaked twice, while near Seattle, Mount Rainier erupted once more, making regular ashfall a common occurrence. NAN efforts focused on maintaining order in and rebuilding the beleaguered city.

The end of 2069 also brought MIT&T’s “Virtuakinetic Phenomenon”, a paper revealing the existence of Technomancers. Their “Patient V” disappeared soon thereafter. Knowledge is power.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 50, Mind Control

Local News:

Clone Crisis Connected to Dragon Prince

Reporting and tips have led to some new revelations in the ongoing clone crisis. There seems to be an organization called the “Hand of Dusk” which is behind not only the proliferation and infiltration of clones, but also the summoning of the purple dragon we are calling Prince a few months ago. Sources say this “Hand of Dusk” is some sort of dangerous and deranged dragon cult. What are they up to?

Tipsters! All you tipsters in meat space or in the Matrix, send more tips on the Hand of Dusk. Send in any information you have no matter how small or innocuous. Only by working together can we stop this scourge, and since our corporate overlords don’t seem to be interested in working together, we have to do it ourselves outside of normal channels.

Corps! Get your members tested for clones and let the SSN know your results. But it isn’t just clones you need to look out for. Sources have indicated that Hand of Dusk cultists have infiltrated multiple Seattle megacorps. This conspiracy is extensive and it threatens not just the corps, but also the citizens and SINless. Don’t let your corp arrogance blind you to the dangers affecting us all.

More importantly, Citizens!, there is a conspiracy growing like a poison that is threatening us all, in the form of a dragon cult, a dragon, and the attempted undermining of our democracy. This conspiracy has only been able to thrive because it has used the megacorps, with their extraterritoriality and lack of accountability, and with their secrecy and lack of transparency, to grow, to gain resources, and to threaten us all.

This is the fault of cultists. But Megacorp negligence and unchecked power is what enabled it. Tir Tairngire has more oversight of megacorps, maybe it is time for UCAS to take more of an oversight role in corporate doings. For all our safety.

 Crime Up at the Docks After Barghest Attacks

Two weeks ago, the Knight Errant precint near the docks, was attacked by a pack of Barghests. An HTR response team went into the precinct to help, but in the subsequent battle to destroy the barghests, the entire precinct was burned down. Later investigations noted that before the destruction, the precinct had had all of its equipment stolen. Knight Errant’s incompetence in being able to a) stop the barghest attack, needing to rely on HTR and b) having their precinct completely destroyed is an embarrassment. And the result? All my tipsters tell me that crime and smuggling is up in the docks area in the absence of the Knight Errant precinct.

This leads SSN to suspect that the barghest attack was probably a deliberate attack, but was it orchestrated by corps or by gangs? We’ll continue on with our investigations on the matter—tipsters send in information. Dock workers? Are you still safe?

 Corp News:

Event Horizon:  An Exploration Into The Morally Bankrupt And Culturally Genocidal Monoculture Of The Horizon Media Empire—(by demmalition1)

The Horizon Group is one of the most depraved and homicidal groups of mad men to ever walk upon God’s Green Earth. They take all that is good in life and the artistic pursuit of creativity and distill it into a microcosm of what they want you to see and hear. You will see the pictures of the valiant executive and the scary technomancer. You will hear the screams of a goody-two-shoes corp employee before she is rescued by the noble officers of Knight Errant. You will get some variations on this from time to time, but all in all they are the monotheistic monoculture that you all put in place for better or worse. Yes, I’m putting the blame of their meteoric ascendancy to godhood firmly on your shoulders, dear readers. You choose to watch their crap, to soak in their controlled and sterile messages of corp dominance each and every day of your routine lives. Their toothless criticisms of any misdeeds on their parts are swept under the rug. Even the slightest scent of criticism will send the beast into a blinding bloodthirsty fury as it hunts down the ne’er-do-well and rips them asunder in order to keep the public on their side.

They take all that is good and chew it up, only to regurgitate it back into your mouths as revolting and vile trash that you happily lap up since you know no better. You’ve only tasted the creative vomit that’s got a flavor of bleach, worried that anything that might form even the slightest agitation to your diet would overwhelm your delicate digestive tract. You’ll then regurgitate the same thing to your friends and family, spreading the corporate line just as they planned, removing any thought of questioning their lordship over the domain of your supposedly-critically-thinking-mind.

Anything taken as unique like the hit show “Hammer and the Fang” is eventually diluted to its basest elements and repackaged for the widest audience out there. Nope, we clearly don’t want an engaging story about the overreach of power by the police and the (previously) inherent thought of basic rights for all beings, not just those with SINs. You want them to hunk off another formless blob of aggressively indistinguishable gray blocks as “Hammer defeats Nails in this thrilling Season 1 midseason finale!”  Nope, anything else would be too hard hitting for you.

Horizon is one of the few corps that knows what they’re doing. Starting small in 2061 as a high-level think tank to help earthquake and gang stricken Los Angeles, they hit it big in 2063 after scoring several extremely lucrative PR contracts. Their successful fending off of Aztechnology with the help of the PCC secured their spot to solidify themselves as “The Horizon Group” soon after while restoring LA and UCLA along with their two big spin-offs: Singularity (Matrix) and Charisma Associates (PR). When the Crash 2.0 hit, they were mercifully spared as the rest of the world was ravaged by the fallout, emerging soon after to help rebuild much of the California Free State. After seizing CATco’s Corporate Court seat in 2065, they became the unstoppable AAA that we all know and hate. There’s been a push as of late by the corp to go into my hometown of Chicago (aka Cee Zee, the Noose, Hell on Earth) and replicate LA. All I can say is... you can’t do worse than Ares, those pigfucking whoremongers deserve whatever’s coming to them.

Despite CEO and President Gary Cline’s repeated talks of cleanliness, all is not well in the land of the never-setting-sun. His use as a puppet to dance and wave in front of the public with his larger-than-life lifestyle to razzle-dazzle and distract them from the whisper of a shade’s shadow is truly troubling. They’re the corp so concerned about their public image that there is something hiding behind the smiler’s false face of deceit. A smile and a handshake to distract you from the pickpocket of your mind, wallet, and whatever else he may purvey to your bounty of information. For each awakened team-building exercise in “cross relational synergy workshops” we get a Bogota defeat. For each meta and AI friendly act, we get a Las Vegas Massacre. Even their well-touted P2.0 Social Network and LMG(U56) programs had and still have horrible consequences for everyone involved (remember Christy Daee?). Don’t even get me started on their Cal-Hot sim systems addictiveness and dubious legality or their amazingly absurd abuse of skilljacks.

Their internal voting system is known as “Consensus 2.0”, a way for all employees to provide individual input and vote on the direction that they think the corporation should head. Though this may seem like a good idea, a direct democracy can have disastrous consequences as is showcased by the Las Vegas Massacre of a group of protestors (mostly Technomancers) who were fighting for equal rights. Safeguards were put in place after this allowing “The Board” to reject any proposal that they think would undermine their public image. And God forbid their public image should be hurt. They do perform a lot of charity work, I’ll give them that, but the nefarious duplicity behind their motives of control is not something to be shirked off the minds of the people so easily. Rumors of involuntary kidnappings and medical experimentation on possibility hundreds of Technomancers should not be taken lightly. Nor should self-generated war crimes in order to build public support for manufactured wars be forgotten lest we revert to pliable semi-sentient slime for them to mold. An attractive succubus is still a demon no matter how eloquently it speaks or how beautiful it looks.

“We Know What You Think” is not just a phrase that they toss around lightly. They say it with confidence because they tell you what to think, no independent thought required. Another, unofficial motto of theirs I see mentioned around in the Matrix is “Better Living Through Copyright”. Can’t really blame them, they got laws in place that make the old Fifth World “Mickey Mouse Laws” look like a joke (that they will then patent, trademark, and copyright before suing to death you or anyone else who dares repeat it for a fraction of a nuyen). They’re the guys who’s Spec Ops teams don’t go in guns blazing. Good ol’ Richard (an unofficial internal name for the Dawkins Group) will instead infiltrate the offending corp and through power memetics and industrial-scale cultural engineering persuade them to stop. They’ll then buy only Horizon branded goods and services. Freedom of Thought be damned.

I’m going to propose something, dear reader. Let’s all go down to the same Stuffer Shack and buy the same burger and gush over the same show with the same revelations as everyone else. Let’s also pass by the SINless beggar on the street who was born and will die alone all because she had the misfortune of having a SINless mommy and daddy. Let’s keep filling our minds with mush and our bellies with chemically altered food designed to placate us and keep all the cattle in line as we go to the slaughterhouse of mainstream media. We’ll wear our little ear-tags of “Team Jorge” or “Team Kelly” and argue over the banal nothingness of the modern media zombie empire we’ve allowed to be constructed in front of our very eyes. We could turn the channel, but Horizon owns damn near 70% of all media in the greater Seattle Metroplex. Good luck finding anything of value anyways, it’s all corp owned (except us at the SSN). It’s amazing what ¥225 billion will buy you. Don’t complain, remember, you made this.

Now tune in, zone out, and pray to the altar of your media overlords. You better hurry up, I hear this episode’s the one where Hammer gets his trick knees fixed.

I wonder where all of this will lead us. Hope the ending is a good one, this story sucks so far.

 Entertainment/Supernatural News:

(Angelyne Billboard sighting in the Barrens)

Angelyne Sighting in Downtown!

Last week, a tipster in the Barrens noted an Angelyne billboard sighting. It showed up out of nowhere, as they normally do, a portent and an omen of an impending possible sighting. And sure enough, last night, Angelyne The Undying was seen driving her pink convertible downtown! This has been the first Seattle sighting of The Undying in ten years. What is she up to? Why did she show up in the Metroplex this week after such an absence? Might she be releasing a new album sometime soon? Who was she visiting? What was she doing here? Any tipsters with information on Angelyne the Undying, send in tips!

 Features:

Once More 10--(by Breach)

Although Renraku had claimed to have SCIRE under control by mid-2061, in 2063 the UCAS military seizes control of the arcology and declares it “officially” liberated of the AI’s influence. But while the arcology was cleared, the world was not.

Official history will never tell you the story I am about to.

Deus survived Renraku’s assault and even the UCAS “cleansing”; somehow, in its experimentation on the arcology’s residents, the AI had discovered a way to write its source code into the minds of people, and engineered its escape through a thousand of these meat-drones, who would be numbered among the “otaku” who could connect to the Matrix without need for cyberdecks to process the sensory input.

Unfortunately for Deus, and fortunately for the rest of us, a second AI named Megaera, which Renraku had employed to combat Deus, was uploaded into the Network as well. The two factions of the Network fought a years-long shadow war among each other, each side recruiting more otaku into its ranks to replace losses.

Pax, one of the leading figures in Deus’s faction, made an alliance with the terrorist group Winternight, and plots were hatched. Winternight, with the aid of Deus’s Network, secured weapons of mass destruction both biological and nuclear; Sioux military forces foiled what appeared to be a nuclear attack, but it takes many months for a Corporate Court-sponsored team of counter-intelligence and shadowrunners to fully bring Winternight to heel.

And it was all too late.

Early in 2064, Novatech - Villiers’ megacorp du jure - announced an IPO of 20% of their stock for public sale to commence on November 2. The UCAS stock exchange undertook a massive upgrade project to prepare for the IPO - and this all played into Deus’s plans, which was to upload himself across the entire Matrix, taking over every connected device on the planet. And he very nearly succeeded.

Fortunately, Megaera had known of this plot and together with the Matrix’s first AI, the program Mirage (part of the Echo Mirage team from the first Crash, if you remember) they managed to stop Deus and thwart his plans - but the fallout of their struggle would ruin the entirety of the Matrix, bringing down the entire world network in what would come to be called Crash 2.0.

This time, it was not just networks, however - because Winternight was part of the plot as well. The Winter of ‘64, which started in August, was later proven to be the result of Winternight rituals, meant to cripple the world. As the three AIs battled in the IPO launch, Winternight launched its own attacks, unleashing a Crash-like virus named Jormungand that trapped many in the Matrix (some of whom would go on to become e-Ghosts), and killing many more.

The second prong of the Winternight strike is in the physical realm, as EMPs were set off to further cripple the worldwide network, and nuclear warheads detonated at fault-lines around the world in an attempt to tear the very land itself apart. The warheads, however, fail to detonate with the force science would expect, and the damage and fallout is largely contained locally.

Someone is responsible for saving the world that day - it could have been much worse. I hope they know our gratitude.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Gang News: 

Ancient JuL33T Murdered!

Shocking news out of Puyallup gangland! Ancient Street Sam JuL33T was found poisoned in her quarters the morning of her wedding of mobster Enzo Gianelli. Belial is on the warpath and expect there to be a lot of gang violence over the next few days. Also expect runner teams to be dispatched to find out her murdered the Street Sam.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 49, Don’t Know Much Biology

Features:

Once More 9--(by Breach)

2060 opens with a quarantine around Renraku’s SCIRE arcology in Seattle as the AI Deus gets the decade going with a bang.  Official reports give other reasons, but the Shadowlands reports have spread and most of us know the truth now - especially after Crash 2.0.  Deus’s legacy is one of death and despair, and we still live with its aftershocks.

But the 60s weren’t satisfied to leave us with AIs and Matrix terror; 2061 brought the return of Halley’s Comet and what the UN dubbed “The Year of the Comet” - not knowing at the time what their appellation would come to mean. By the end of the year, global mana levels spiked higher than ever before as the comet became visible to the naked eye, punctuated by devastating mana storms and the advent of SURGE - SUdden Recessive Genetic Expression.

While SURGE was nowhere near the scale of Goblinization, the diversity and complexity of the changes it caused were greater than ever before.  Anthropomorphic beings of all stripes were born or transformed during this period, and that brought with it a trend of gene-tailoring that we still see today; one local megacorporation branch even has what appears to be a walking, talking teddy bear on its board! (I don’t even know if this individual is SURGE or gene-tailored.)

SURGE took many forms, not just animalistic; in India, thousands were transformed into the subrace now known as “Nartaki”, four-armed people resembling the Hindu god Vishnu (complete with unusual skin tones, typically blue or gold). Around the Mediterranean, hundreds of trolls transformed into one-eyed Cyclopses, while in the Amazon, SURGE proved to affect more than metahumanity as the grotesque Sangre del Diablo trees were born.

SURGE was not the only side-effect of spiking mana levels; as with all mana spikes (including the Awakening), the earth itself moved, quite literally - volcanoes erupted around the world, including the Pacific Ring of Fire; casualties of the many eruptions throughout the Pacific include the entire Japanese Imperial family except for the young Yasuhito, who would be officially crowned in 2062. In the wake of the devastation in Japan, Yasuhito would rescind the Yomi Island Decree, ending nearly 40 years of metahuman segregation. The aid of Japanese metahumans in the rebuilding would do much of the work to end 40 years of prejudice as well, but bigotry never truly dies.

In North America, the mana spikes had two major political effects; an earthquake devastated Los Angeles in early December, and lack of response from the California Free State led the rioting city to turn to the Pueblo Corporate Council for support - nearly doubling the population of what was already the NAN’s super-power, and forever changing the racial mix in the PCC as well.  In DeeCee, the Great Dragon Ghostwalker emerges from the astral rift left behind by Dunkelzahn’s death, and soon claims the Treaty City of Denver as its personal fiefdom.

The comet finally passed on April 1, 2062, and mana levels returned to normal, but the changes that came in its wake remain.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Corp News:

Event Horizon--(by Demmalition1)

I received an anonymous tip from a person claiming knowledge of a secret project going on within Horizon.  After thorough analysis of the algorithmic patterns within the code provided, I have determined that this person backed up their claim with solid evidence.  Horizon is doing something odd with their search engine QuerryJeeves beyond the pale of normal.  Though it’s backed by military-grade security in their host environment, this brave traveler was able to infiltrate and disseminate some information that terminated at their cyber division.  When I pressed a representative from Horizon on this issue I received this boilerplate response:

"In regards to our cyberware division. Primarily we use it for developing AR feedback for analyzing behavioral patterns, facial cues, surface body temperature and other markers for judging the current mental state of a person a user is talking to, this is combined with our pheromone enhancement research suite, we've already talked to one of your journalists about to provide cutting edge, real time feedback in intense social and business face to face meetings. Giving you an edge over your competition. Aside from this, we also use it to develop and house products in development to be used with our matrix properties, including our QuerryJeeves product we released a few months ago. Products such as upgrades to our existing Horizon Comm-links for the poor that will give them real time access to QuerryJeeves, for any questions or matrix searches they might need, without the need to be connected to the matrix, a lot like early twenty first century phone directory operators."

Standard corporate drek that’s a clear coverup.  Call me back when the SINless can afford to buy this.  You know what?  Call me back when they’re ALLOWED to buy it legally.

 Reflections on the BioTech Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex BioTech market.

The BioTech market is one of the larger markets in the Metroplex with a value of just 160.9¥B. Although it is large, it currently only has three megacorps in it. The market is led by Shiawase with 51.7% of the market followed by Evo (38.8%) and Horizon (9.6%). NeoNET once bought into the BioTech market with the acquition of NeoPets, but that particular venture did not work out well and NeoNET sold their BioTech interest to Evo. Although, a letter to the editor indicates that NeoNET might be back in the BioTech game soon. But what is BioTech?

BioTech traditionally covers the area of science that deals with incorporating scientific research with living things. The field includes a wide variety of research areas from genetically engineered plants and animals and synthetic chemicals based on natural derivatives to the implantation and development of Bioware. For those who don’t know what Bioware is, it involves cloning organs, then enhancing them, and then implanting the enhanced organs into the body. Bioware also involves modifying the body itself for cosmetic and beneficial effect. It is not surprising that Shiawase leads the Metroplex, as they are the overwhelming leader in BioTech globally.

SSN reached out to the three corps with a BioTech presence, we got comments from Horizon and Shiawase. As the largest corp in BioTech, it is only fitting that Shiawase gives the largest statement:

“Shiawase prides itself in being the market leader in Biotechnology. Having a strong and proud heritage in biology and the cooperation with other branches within the corporation we’ve made many breakthroughs in technology used for personal health, security and energy.

Only recently we have, in conjunction with our Medicine and Pharmaceuticals department, devised a way to significantly shorten the healing process for individuals who’ve had their spines broken or severed. And within our Biotech division we’re already looking into several other ways to speed up said recovery or even apply to other parts of the body.

With Shiawase having a presence in Law Enforcement since last year, and the acquisition of NeoPets from NeoNet, we’ve made headway into biodrone research for use in security and safety. Our first biodrone, the Cybertooth Tiger, was not long ago and a big success for those who were chosen in the first wave we deployed. There is more news to follow on the biodrone front.

Last year Shiawase also made several breakthroughs in the universal Type O System, allowing us to further enhance the speed, quality and effectiveness of cultivating brand new organs. Next to that, we also introduced a brand new set of ocular and aural enhancements, not just for our mainly human customers, but also available for metahuman use.

As you can clearly see, Shiawase Biotech is on the forefront of new technology while continuing to support our other divisions. In comparison, our Biotech division is stronger than the ones of our direct competitors. For example, EVO Corporation has had severely underwhelming breakthroughs in the past, including stealing a generation of out of date Shiawase Technology and Horizon has only been a small blip on the radar that is biotechnology, with no new advancements to speak of. 

In the field of biotechnology, being at a standstill only means you’ll suffer a setback. Shiawase is proud it is a market leader in this prominent field as we continue to lead into the future.

Shiawase: Advancing Life”

In contrast, Horizon, the smallest corporation in the market, offered a relatively shorter statement:

Biotech is a promising segment of the Horizon market that focuses specifically on our pheromone enhancement research suite to improve crucial communicators's natural abilities across all spheres of their lives. We understand that everyone has problems with tense negotiation and social interaction experiences. Horizon can provide the edge you need to get the deal you deserve or the social outcome you desire.

Horizon believes that competition drives success and inspires great breakthroughs in our products. We wish our competitors the best successes in their endeavors, but not too much success. (laughs) -Adira Meyer Chief Science Advisor

There is clearly a lot happening in BioTech, though is all of it good for Seattle? The experimentation in BioTech has brought us the current scourge of clones--a scourge that not only was implicated in the birth of the dragon Prince, but also involves the unethical and dangerous treatment of the clones themselves. In addition, biodrones themselves are not uncontroversial. BioTech raises many ethical issues and it is something that we should all pay attention to. It may bring great wonders, but what things more sinister can it bring? Remember, the illegal experiments done on the metahuman children of Seattle by the Fitzgeralds was also a form of BioTech.

 Kane, Enabled--(by Demmalition1)

A curious transmission went out only a few days before the death of Soltysiak Kane.  It was lightly encrypted and contained an even more curious message hidden inside of it.  Readers might remember SSN-47 which announced his “death” (read: murder) following a fall from grace for his former institution of Galahad Academy.  The revelations against Margret and Foster Fitzgerald and the damning evidence of their anti-metatype-motivated modification of children to make weapons of war have placed a permanent black mark on the facility.  There are further revelations in the previous story should you wish to read it.  But with regards to the encrypted message: 814-57.1857-758.4825 175-7145.587-1854-517 187.174-487-4.741 175.147.4.18754.571 1587.4 7.7851-875.74581/715 8452.254. 8451 574-57.48 7415-184.75-5471.2417 84-87-57-418 7.1547-75.5871 75.57-785.75 875.245 0-00.0-000.00 000-000

This translates to two separate codes.  One is morse code telling the person they have the wrong cypher.  The other is in braille and must be cracked using a pad to descramble the numbers to put them into letters and symbols.  The decrypted transmission reads as follows:

Send word to MLF, LOL, QON, and QOW their services are needed.

Just who these individuals or organizations are I have no idea.  But whoever they may be I suspect a terrible series of events will follow them and the runner team that leaked the info.  Good luck to you all, stay safe out there.

 International News:

Potential Bioweapon Threatens Tokyo--(by Demmalition1)

I had a nice story on Horizon for you, dear readers, but recent breaking news has forced me to scrap that in favor of this.  There is a potential highly contagious and lethal bioweapon attack under the name “Operation Cerberus” set to go off soon within a month.  I only received an encrypted but foolishly wide-band transmission but less than an hour ago.  A contact that I spoke to says they have been following the development of this for months, but have not been able to pin down who is funding this horrid weapon of mass destruction.  

There is a name of the person in charge of the weapon development by the name of Dr. Alexander Stein (from the University of Köln), who developed the weapon in Osaka over a period of months.  The contact also had a CI in the program who has lead them to believe a series of these weapons has been developed, but evidence of this is scarce at the moment.  The contact’s team has strong reason to believe that the weapon may be used to target dense urban centers.  The CI has dropped off a partially encrypted medium that is being decrypted at the moment, more developments to come.

 Gang News:

Gangland Wedding On

Ancient leader, Belial has got magic in his silver tongue. Ancient Street Sam JuL33T has done a 180 and has declared that she is not only ready to marry mobster Enzo Gianelli, but that she is quite excited to do so. Word on the street has it that they will be married in the next few days. Expect a great party!

 Letters to the Editor:

Seattle Street News readers may be interested in NeoNET’s latest foray in Biotech. After the NeoPET GMO killer pets debacle and the too-good-to-be-true announcement that their short-lived ADNeo would have made Orks and Trolls live longer, they’re at it again. My sources at NeoNET tell me they will soon unveil yet another Biotech subsidiary.

What are they up to this time? Is it a sign they don't even pretend it will last longer than the others any more that this Biotech sub of the month of theirs is just called “3” internally and that this name may even stick?

--A fed up Troll who’ll never eat at NeoNET’s trough no matter how many freaking shades of soy they hype.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 48, Explosive Information

ALERT:

Explosive Information: SSN Recommends All Corps and Government Agencies Test Employees for Clone Possibility

Clones have been cropping up all over the news recently. The two most visible and explosive moments? 1) The revelations reported in SSN 41 that candidates for governor, Aztechnology Exec Alphonse Krund and “Arislen” as well as the naked man found in Seattle and then subsequently kidnapped were all clones of the reportedly murdered Shiawase executive Arislen. 2) The reporting by demmalition1 in SSN 43 that a collection of men battling a local runner team who were trying to stop the Seattle mana storm that eventually gave birth to the new indigo dragon Prince, also seemed to be clones of Arislen. We know that these Arislen clones had memories magically imprinted on them, and we know that Shiawase, with the help of Saeder-Krupp had been working on trying to clone Arislen, though they insisted that these clones cropping up all over Seattle were not their doing.

This reporter has been working on some deep investigation for well over a half year now and with the discovery of some new information, it is time to publish a small bit of that investigation for the good of all the citizens of the Metroplex. This investigation has taken so long in part because the megacorporations of the Metroplex not only do not work with each other, they also jealously hide any and all information. It is this distrust and secrecy that has allowed a third party to take advantage and threaten all of us. Hopefully publishing this partial story will encourage the megacorps to, at the very least, contact this reporter in order to try and piece together the larger story.

But let me begin at a beginning.

Shiawase was not the only corporation interested in cloning. Mitsuhama had a top secret team of scientists working on cloning. One member of that team was a scientist named Demur. Mitsuhama’s reason for working on cloning, from all my research, had to do with looking for humanitarian and medical advances. They were not able to finish their work, however, because that team of scientists went rogue. No one knew where this team of scientists went or what their goals were. My suspicion, based on my investigations, is that this team of scientists set up a research facility in the city of Sekondi and hid their tracks by misdirecting their actions onto a variety of megacorporations. What were they doing in Sekondi? Some of what they were doing ominously involved sending something into space…but that is not all they were up to.

Megacorps gain new execs every day. Over six months ago, Renraku got a new executive named Demur. When I discussed with Renraku contacts the strange coincidence of the Renraku Demur’s name being spoken out by a Mitsuhama space ship the Kurosawa before it exploded in an act of sabotage, Renraku security did a full range of tests on Renraku Demur. The result of those tests was that Renraku Demur was in fact a clone. Renraku transferred the Renraku Demur to a facility in Tir Tairngire where he could do his research while minimizing any sort of damage Renraku Demur might do to Renraku if he became unstable. Renraku dropped the matter. They didn’t ask follow up questions along the lines of: Of whom is this person a clone? Who made this clone? Why? Why was this clone sent to infiltrate their corporation? I suspect this lack of follow up had to do with the loss of Renraku’s security chief shortly after the incident.

Around the same time that the Renraku Demur showed up in Seattle, there were a rash of kidnappings of megacorp executives, including Saeder-Krupp’s Vorack and an Aztechnology exec. Both execs were able to be rescued by their respective corporations, and both of those kidnappings had connections to the clone saga. Vorack was found in a warehouse that couldn’t be confirmed to be owned by any corporation alongside an Arislen body in cryo storage. The group that kidnapped the Aztech exec? Investigations revealed that group was funded out of that mysterious facility in Sekondi.

Months later, an Arislen clone was on the streets of Seattle naked before being picked up by an unmarked van, a van that was set up to frame Renraku in the kidnapping.

A few months after that, someone tried to infiltrate the Seattle gubernatorial election with Arislen clones.

Shortly after that, Arislen clones were involved in trying to bring a brand new Great Dragon into the world in the midst of a mana storm—a Great Dragon that did devastation to Seattle and killed numerous people.

Most recently, Renkaru discovered that their Demur was missing from his work station in Tir Tairngire. Where did the Renraku Demur show up? Sources close to me indicate that Renraku Demur ended up in that base in Sekondi. There are other details about this incident that are more lurid, but that it isn’t time yet to share of that.

What I want to share is this. It is very clear that there has been a very powerful rogue operation creating clones of Arislen (that Arislen himself is apparently himself involved with in some way), altering those clones magically and surgically, infiltrating those clones into megacorporations and governments, implicated in the release of a Great Dragon onto Seattle, and then framing the various megacorporations in order to sow distrust and make it less likely that the megacorps would work together to unravel their schemes while they fight each other or hoard information.

I do not have all the answers as to the full extent of this shadowy Sekondi Group’s membership, goals, or location. I don’t have all the information on the relationship between Arislen and Demur, between Alphonse Krund and Prince the Indigo Dragon. But I do know this: it is now clear to me that the Sekondi Group has been systematically infiltrating our institutions for reasons unknown and their reach is wider and deeper than anyone has yet suspected. I do not write this to panic anyone. I write this for as an alert.

I recommend that all megacorps and all Seattle Government institutions get their employees tested right away to determine if they might be clones.

Hopefully, there are no other clones. However, considering what I have learned, I think it important that we undergo medical examinations to make sure. I know that megacorporations are loath to trust each other. I do ask however, that if any governments or megacorps discover clones in their midst to contact me with this information. I would keep your information anonymous, but I would like to determine the extent to which the Sekondi Group has infiltrated Seattle. Perhaps, as an outside observer, I can help bring together the distrustful in a way that can help all of us.

I do not normally like to publish before having all the answers, but learning of the extent to which the Sekondi Group may have infiltrated us all has prompted me to publish early. I call on those who have access to hiring shadowrunners to investigate seriously. I am willing to consult and would like to get to the bottom of this. Not just for the scoop for the Seattle Street News, but to protect the people of Seattle. The people on the streets don’t need anymore dragon attacks. No one needs any more kidnappings. Let us work together.

 Features:

Once More 8--(by Breach)

The Election of 2057 was unusual in many ways - the most obvious being the year. 2057 was not a normal election year; those happen every 4 years, and the last election happened in 2056. That election was rife with controversy, however, and amid allegations that the vote had been rigged, President Steele and Vice President Booth are both impeached, leaving Speaker Betty Jo Pritchard to become the first female president of UCAS.

It was short-lived, however, as Pritchard did not wish to preside over a nation wracked with controversy, and soon after the impeachment, Congress called for a new election in August. Several candidates announced their intent to run - a name familiar to Seattle Street News, Kenneth Brackhaven, first among them. A few other candidates are worth mention: Franklin Yeats, notable as he was assassinated by a bug-infested FBI agent, and, of course, the Great Dragon Dunkelzahn, who announced his candidacy on the March 15th episode of Wyrm Talk.

In a tight, narrow election, Dunkelzahn and his running mate, Kyle Haeffner, won the election. They were sworn in at noon on August 9th, and at 22:23 that evening, the Presidential limo was engulfed in a fireball, reportedly killing President Dunkelzahn. His would be the shortest Presidency on record, lasting only 10 hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds.

An Astral Rift opened in the wake of the explosion, and eye-witness reports saw Dunkelzahn’s spirit departing the conflagration into it. The Watergate Rift will come up again next week, so we’ll come back to that.

There are rumours in the shadows that Dunkelzahn’s death was not an assassination, but a suicide, as the Big D sacrificed himself to save the world from something much worse. I cannot verify these whispers, but I choose to believe them; they fit the Dunkelzahn I knew, and sometimes we need something good in the world to cling to. I cling to the goodness of Dunkelzahn.

After a brief investigation clearing him of involvement in the attack, Kyle Haeffner is sworn in as President of UCAS and, in a surprise move, he nominates Nadja Daviar, Dunkelzahn’s then “Voice”, to be his Vice President. He also nominates a full slate of Cabinet chairs (breaking from the tradition of offering names one-at-a-time) that includes a great diversity of metatypes and gender - a hope of many of Dunkelzahn’s voters.

About a week after his death, Dunkelzahn’s Will was read, leading to the foundation of the Draco Foundation to carry out its varied and complex bequeathments. The Foundation still exists today largely because many of the stipulations of Dunkelzahn’s Will have yet to be fulfilled - a non-metahuman source for ghoul sustenance is a trick that yet eludes corporate science, for instance.

Requiescat In Pace, Dunkelzahn. Your legacy lives on.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Corp News:

Reflections on the Military Hardware Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Military Hardware.

The Military Hardware market is one of the smallest markets in the Metroplex with a value of just 86.5¥B. Not only is it a small market, there are also only three megacorps competing in this market. The market is dominated by Ares with 57.7% of the market followed by Saeder-Krupp (33.65) and Aztechnology (8.7%). Military Hardware is used by nations and corporations alike to engage in hot wars rather than cold ones, and sometimes, as with Aztechnology, they are used to defeat a Great Dragon. But very often they are also used in the hands of Law Enforcement to oppress the average citizen, or to keep corp wageslaves from escaping their compounds. The great shiny swords are double edged. What does the market tell us?

SSN reached out to the three corps with a Military Hardware presence we got a comment from Aztechnology as well as our regular analysis from Vorack.

Aztechnology, the smallest company in the market, provided us with its understanding of its place in the market replying emphasizing their cross-promotional research and developement: Aztechnology is very proud of its advancements in military technology. Our major subsidiary in the field is of course Espirit, though Dassault has offered up many military advancements in the past as well, and we look forward to many new contributions from them in the future as well. We also look to coordinate efforts between various subsidiaries such as Espirit working with Tres Chic Clothing to produce a line of armored clothing or MageWerks working with Espirit to produce the Third Eye battle visor. Of course the most recent piece of new hardware to hit the market is Espirit’s Real Destroyer missile designed for use with the Aztechnology Striker. And while the plans Dassault has regarding military technology are not public knowledge at this time, rest assured they have a grand plan for helping to secure a safer tomorrow. Which is the most important take away from Aztechnology’s efforts in military technology. The devastation caused by Sirrurg, as well as the recent dragon attack on several corporations in Seattle, are just two of the numerous examples as to how dangerous the sixth world has become. Aztechnology is afterall the way to a better tomorrow, and in this case we are also the way to a more secure tomorrow. As the threats to our world grow so too must our innovations, and Aztechnology will forge the razor edge of innovation needed to preserve our safety.

Aztechnology speaks of the 6th World larger dangers, while market analyst Vorack discusses dangers closer to home:

Military Hardware, don't even need to explain it really. Military hardware encompasses many different types of equipment, be it explosives, firearms, surveillance, traditional vehicles like APC's or even something a bit more exotic like mechs. They all find their use and it seems like they are needed more and more due to the recent events. Now don't get paranoid, everything is going well and the world isn't gonna crumble apart but it seems like the law enforcement segment could take notice of what the Military is doing and maybe change things up. Everyone knows of Knight Errant and how effective they are, and it just makes sense as Ares actually seems to be competent with their military as well. They are able to supply their own officers with better equipment so they can actually perform their job to the highest standard, they use their own investments to help and boost other segments of their company. If Renraku were to do this, then maybe their own officers could of investigated and recovered Demur which hasn't seemed to of happened as of yet. I was kidnapped as I'm sure the readers know and I was recovered by SK because they used resources to find me, military hardware is just one of the contributing factors to being able to do so.

I wish well for Demur, I hope he is okay and I will go on record saying that us at SK actually helped Renraku with their investigation in tracking down the Chairman as we gave Renraku his last known location, which we knew, due to our own surveillance system spread throughout Charlotte. ( I personally have a soft spot for any kidnapped and missing executives and will help in any way I can. I just want any and all corporations to know this. Even if we are competitors, some things even transcend that and I will be there to help) Military seems to be a bit of a safe market though, I guess no one is dumb enough to attack the corp that makes the big guns. Ares has never once been attacked in their market though their announced market value has dropped 15B through its lifetime. I'm not exactly sure what this means but that kinda money just vanishing is odd and I might be wrong here but I think I've reported about vanishing funds from Ares as a corporation before. SK was attacked once in our military segment but we easily held them off with minor damage. And if I am going to be transparent here, us at SK did lower our Market Value by only 5B as well at one point. Ill even tell you what we did, something I doubt Ares will ever do, and if they do tell you, it will be a cover up.

We were preparing for our assault on NeoNET back when we were in a full CorpWAR with them. We made sure to spend that money in making sure our own people would be safe, that only NeoNET was damaged and that no innocents were harmed at all. It was a worthy investment and it’s one I would happily make again to make sure only those who deserve our retribution are the one who feel it. Now the only other known attack was against Aztec. This attack was by far the most damaging of the two attacks though and it does make sense as they are the underdog in the militaristic side of things. No corp has ever joined the race to arms as it were, which is kind of odd. Almost all sectors have a new corp joining in at some point but not this one. I guess it’s up to these three Corps to defend the whole world or so it seems, Ares easily being the strongest of them all, SK doing what we can to help out in any way, and Aztec, while not doing much at all (like anything really) they are at least trying and for that they should have our respect. It’s these three that sacrifice for you all, it’s these three that watch over you all and do what they can to keep you truly safe and it’s these three that seem to actually care about you enough to be prepared for when the worst happens and I hope you all remember that. It’s not EVO that cares, Horizon only wants you to watch their shows and Wuxing is only interested in your money. When something goes wrong, you know you will be calling us for defense.

 City News:

Explosion in Downtown Warehouse District Reveals Corrupt Detective

Last night, close to midnight, there was a large explosion in the warehouse area of Downtown controlled by the Cutters. The explosion follows the MO of Cutter cut and run operations in the face of Law Enforcement raids on their stash houses. The Cutters, one of the main suppliers of Tempo in the Metroplex, are known for rigging the warehouses they use as their Tempo distribution centers with explosives and blowing them on their way out if threatened with discovery. The Cutters usually accomplish two goals with this this, they destroy all evidence and will sometimes take down some Knight Errant in addition.

Last night, however, something went wrong. The explosion seemed to go off early for some reason, causing the death of over a dozen Cutters. Also caught in the explosion, was well known and decorated Knight Errant detective Akshara Nundri, formerly with Lone Star. Detective Nundri had established herself as an expert on Tempo, and it seems she gained her expertise by being in league with Cutters. She was arrested on site by Detective Lance Pendleton, who retired at midnight after decades of service.

In the wake of the explosion, there was some tension when a Saeder-Krupp executive tried to invade the crime scene ostensibly for “relieve services,” though they were rejected by Knight Errant. This may indicate a coming larger conflict between Ares and Saeder-Krupp or it might have been a failed power play.

 Wireless to the Underground—(by FooBar)

Hello digital denizens, time for the snoop on the wild waves of the wireless. Speaking of wireless, with the rise of Josephine Dzhugashvili to her position as governor, she’s made some great promises to bring free wireless access to all the people, and let the flow of information spread to everyone.

Infrastructure has already begun to proceed in the Ork Underground's infamous Mall district, as surveyors have started planning different ways to create wireless access to the people down below. “One of the main difficulties,” a spokesman for the city states, “is solving the noise issue. How do you connect the upper city to the underground when it’s separated by feet of concrete? Several ideas are in the works, but we’re not able to disclose that information until we’ve been able to weigh our options. It’s still too early solidify anything.”

Surge, a local born to the underground had this to say on that subject: “We’s never known what it’s like to have true wireless. Best we’s ever been able to got was rigging hard wires up to the surface, you know, them old rigs them’s used to use before the crash, and let me tell you, workin’ with tech that old’s bad for the brain pan. Un’liable them thing; almost fried me eggs from dumpshock. Don’t never bother going in hot no more. Gots to rely on them’s fancy AR techs to do what I needs to. Hope Them gets things goin’ soon. Knowin’ them Gov’ment types, I’ll be long dead before they gets us ‘liable access.”

So, what are the government’s plans to bring an entire underground to the light of information? If you have any comments or snoops on this or any other subject, make sure to ping old FooBar, your Marquis of the Matrix.

Keep discovering, and stay Jacked in, Jackrabbits.

 Underground Traveler—(by demmalition1)

January 2078 brought the newly elected Governor of Seattle Josephine Dzhugashvili into office. One of her first acts was to introduce a set of sweeping laws and proposals through the Legislature collectively known as the SINless Acts. These are laws and policies meant to help the poorest of the poor by giving access to education and medical services. Finally the SINless have a chance to rise up.

Ms. Dzhugashvili grew up an only child of Russian immigrants to UCAS, a child prodigy that graduated from Harvard at 17 and attained her Masters from Kennedy School of Government at 23. Despite her dumpshock induced stroke during Crash 2.0 in 2064 and loss to Brackhaven in the 2070 Governor's Race (where he revealed she suffered from AIPS), she has done more for the SINless than any person I know. With her help Prop 23 passed in 2074, legitimizing the Ork Underground as an official district of Seattle. This decision was fraught with contention at the time, as it was seen by quite a few people as a power grab which would allow the jackbooted thugs of Knights Errant to legally enter the Underground and give everyone down there a nice and shiny Criminal SIN. Luckily, that never came to pass and the Fools Errant remain confined to mostly tourist areas around The Big Rhino and Lordstrung’s.

This story will concentrate on one particular aspect of the SINless Acts: their work to help the Underground modernize and develop into a fully functional city district. Planned Matrix expansion will take years and completion will be difficult in these crowded tunnels and burrows, just look at the Alaskan Way Viaduct tunnel, a project that has taken so long that it started in the Fifth World!  Now, dear readers, let's take a walk together through the Underground so you can see what it’s really like down here in the dark and damp.

---

Note 1:

I’m currently sitting in Trollstack, a pancake and breakfast establishment in the Ork Underground that smells of syntheggs and “authentic” maple syrup. The plates are the size of car hubcaps and the foot-thick stack of warm and golden heavenly delights with melted soy-butter will delight even the most battle-hardened troll with their aroma. The lighting is adequate and I’m trying to flip through the AR feeds waiting for the birth of a Greater Unicorn. It’s been more than a week so far, and this one has a uniquely long horn for their species and neon pink hooves to boot. I say trying because Matrix access in the Underground is spotty as Hell, probably because they’re that much closer to Hell compared to the well-off denizens of the surface world.

---

Note 7:

I’m growing hot under the collar here like Brackhaven in a courtroom; the AC’s cut out again. “Damn it Jeff!  The air’s stopped movin’ AGAIN!  Fix it or I’ll crack your skull open and use it to store the pretzels at the bar!” says a burly grey-skinned ork behind the counter. The purple neon sign behind him is assaulting his skin like a corp exec on basic human rights, changing his hue to a soft pinkish mix as the light dances across his expressionless face, a face that only a blind mother could love. His name’s Zed, he tells me, and he won’t take kindly to me and my kind down here so deep in the Underground. I’m too “snooty” apparently, that’s a new compliment.

I’ve been asked by Zed to try some Hurlg or he’ll throw me out of the place. He gets me a pitcher of it with no glass. With a look of half murder and half humor he slides the pitch dark ale to my face. The stench of nutmeg is fermenting its way into my nostrils as the 180 proof alcohol labeled “Brute Beer”, a Celtic subset of Hurlg known by “Fomorian Usquebaugh” sits in front of me, taunting me. I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge.

---

Note 8:

Oh God, I should’ve backed down.

The irate hobo out back doesn’t like me, I think. I’m sure he’ll forgive me once he wipes my vomit off of his decomposing home and forgets the heavy insults we traded with each other. I think I’m starting to trip from all of the alcohol, hallucinating down here is not a good thing to do when you’re an elf who looks better off dead than alive.

---

Note 11:

Stayed at “Drac’s Coffin”, a Transylvanian themed coffin hotel. Lord knows I’ve slept at enough of these back during my days with Richard. Movie selection was very good, if you’re into horror. Watched a Fifth World flatvid starring some long dead man by the name of Bela Lugosi. It was in Italian and had subtitles, didn’t need most of them. I’m getting rusty, need to brush up once I get decent Matrix service again.

---

Note 15:

Took “The Underground Railroad” as the locals put it. I don’t know if they did it out of poor irony or simply didn’t know enough to care about the history to care. The electric tram moves along smooth enough, but not as fast as my liking in these dark cavernous mazes. Guy on the tram with me claimed to be from the Creeps and offered to sell me the ashes of “the original founder of the Underground” Bill Speidel for the low price of 1,000 nuyen. A steal!  Possibility literally knowing a few of those types.

When I inquired further he launched into a 15 minute tirade on the history of the Underground starting all the way back to Seattle’s founding as a logging town. A fire in 1889 by a worker heating glue (the West Coast’s O’Leary cow) set most of the city to the torch, and reconstruction left most of the city’s swamp foundation to the dustbin. Filled with a variety of rabble and criminal until “Great Father Bill Speidel” saved Pioneer Square in 1965. It’s grown ever since The Awakening and The Night of Rage, with many nooks and crannies being made and destroyed daily.

I was so captivated I missed my stop and had to scare off a few Skraachas who mistook me for a Humanis member. They ran pissing their pants and crying for mommy, apparently they never saw or heard an Ares Predator V before.

---

Note 23:

Stayed at the Jericao Inn Mission, met a guy who claimed to be best buds with Frank Hardy. He doesn’t know that I know my history, he didn’t last long under pressure being only 19 years old with the IQ of a peanut. Had a comm on him that was stolen from the October raid on Knight Errant in 2074.

---

Note 27:

Sometimes I just stop and have no words for the beauty of the Sixth World. Sure, you have murderous corporate overlords who kill seven innocent civilians at a nightclub, but you also have the wondrous awe of magic and society coming together. The Cavern of Waterfalls opens up to show a dazzling display of fluorescent lighting provided by the local mosses and fungi. Cascades of blue, pink, purple, green, and yellow bounce and scatter off of one another, providing a deep complex rhythm of stunning opulence unlike anywhere else in the world. Local shamans down here set up lodges to tap into the innate magic that flows from the cavern. The water mains that let out here, damaged by the earthquakes of years past, flow out into the Sound through various drainage systems set up in the area. Fungitek harvests a few more specimens for culturing.

I think I could live down here given the chance. Life itself gives pause, and for a brief moment, reminds me why I love this city and its people, why I’m fighting for their rights in the face of oppressive corporate action. The sound fades back in, the tempo and chatter of the Dwarven Mennonite family on vacation behind me mix in with the crowd of people around them. I snap back into my body like a rubber band pulled too tight and look down at the sea of people around me. I’m but a face in the crowd once more. The ethereal feeling of oneness fades, the grit returns with the stench of flesh. I dance to the rhythm of the masses.

---

Note 29:

A troll takes out his combat knife and carves another three notches into his thick dermal skin. By my count he’s up to 11 now, the crimson blood dripping down his pale green skin. I inquire what they symbolize, he responds with “thirty-second, so far...” before he removes his shirt showing the scars of battle. There are other notches, but they’re above a large set of cuts and deep scars that adorn his chest and abdomen. A strong and proud fighter, a good man. “They never stood a chance, beat up some ork kid on his way home from school on the surface”. He turns around and I see tattoos of his family, their dates of birth and a singular date of death below their crying portraits. Words are scrawled below them:

Never Forget

        February 7, 2039

He cried in my arms a broken man that night.

---

Note 32:

Stopped by “The Home of Kham”, a tourist trap claiming to be “the official residence of Kham”, a lie if there ever was one. Took a few pictures. Was butted into by a group of snooty Elven tourists from the surface. Rude. Is this how they see us down here?  How I am starting to see the surface dwellers as they intrude on sacred ground without a care in the world. Makes you think.

---

Note 35:

SUNLIGHT! 

The air is pure and the light unmolested by the contemptuous hum of fluorescents. There is wind on my face and a biting cold of snow as I trudge through the park back to the beating heart of the city. The hum of the internal combustion engine roars to life as tires screech and machines of man race as beasts along roads of asphalt and blood. I pause in the middle of the street to listen to the woman singing Carmen from her apartment window as she rehearses for her open-air play down in the park. My breath frosts up a glass display as I look into the lounge of a nice diner offering refuge from the cold. I feel ALIVE!  There is a charm to this city that I miss, but there is something fundamentally lacking within these walls of concrete. God may shine his gaze down upon this city, but His face is grim with respite and sadness.

After being down in the dark and damp for more than 3 weeks I’m starting to grow an aversion to the surface life. I can see why the cloistering cells are loved, why the cubbyhole of warmth is held sacred above the oppressive monotheistic architecture of the surface world. I can see ACHE a few blocks away towering over the skyline, a festering boil that’s blighting the cityscape and threatening to burst at any moment. Might go down to see an improv show, heard that they’re taking on an old classic called “War of Stars” or something like that.

This world is full of grime and dirt and disease and starvation. A kid will die of exposure tonight out in the streets. This world is also full of beauty, however fleeting as a woman in red walks by and for a second I fall smitten. We walk past and never speak, but share a lifetime together through a simple glance into each other’s eyes. The depths of our souls laid bare as we grow old and die together for an instance in time before returning down our paths, diverging, never to return again.

Just stop and enjoy life.

Who knows, you might like it.

 Classifieds:

Famous company recruits awakened individual for a well-compensated part-time job in entertainment. All metatype and gender identities welcome. Ability to summon a shark spirit is a must, good Matrix skills are appreciated. Contact SPTFB on the Matrix to apply.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 47, Last Wishes

Corp News:

Ares Squires Exec Soltysiak Kane Dies Under Mysterious Circumstances

Late yesterday, Ares set up a press conference to announce the death of Soltysiak Kane:

Ares Macrotechnology, Knight Errant, and The Squires of Galahad are deeply saddened today to announce the passing of Former President of the Galahad Academy Soltysiak Kane. It was often said that guiding the Squires and helping them grow was his true purpose in life. Sadly, it seems that his heart never fully recovered from the pain of the Fitzgerald Revelations and his subsequent stepping down. Mr. Kane retired to his bed Saturday evening and after falling asleep, went to join his beloved Winnifred in the great beyond. In accordance with his wishes, he shall be cremated and his remains scattered around the campus of Galahad Academy, so that he may forever be a part of the hallowed institution. A small Remembrance service will be held at the Avalon Chapel in Bay City; in lieu of flowers, a small donation to your local Squire Order would be the best way to honor the late Soltysiak Kane.

SSN readers will remember that Mr. Kane was the President of the Galahad Academy and Order Master of the Squires of Galahad during the shameful and embarrassing scandal involving unethical kidnapping and experimentation on metahuman SINless children by Ares Execs Margret and Foster Fitzgerald. While there is no evidence that Kane was aware of the experimentation, Kane seemed to be the sacrificial lamb used by Ares to save face while there has been no public word from Ares about what has become of the actual perpetrators of the experiments, the Fitzgeralds. After sacrificing Kane figuratively, have they sacrificed him literally?

Official sources insist there is no mystery here and nothing to see. A completely healthy man just happens to die in his sleep for no particular reason right after an embarrassing scandal. Forgive me dear readers, but dying of heartbreak might be a convention in romantic literature, but doesn’t happen in real life—especially in not so convenient a way.

This reporter was able to contact a source close to Mr. Kane who I’ll call WhaddyaKnowJoe, who told a slightly different story. Joe says that right after the news broke, Kane made a number of phone calls, one to his lawyer, but three could not be traced. The call to the lawyer seemed to have been to change his Will. Joe was able to provide this reporter with a copy. Kane had just set up an endowment to make payments to Squires who “could prove they were part of the Fitzgerald’s program.” There was digital handwriting on the initial copy of the remade Will, and the handwriting evidenced “no trembles, or other signs of duress.” Strange that the confident and competent handwriting would belong to someone so close to dying of “natural causes.” The day after writing that new Will and those three mysterious phone calls, Kane made three withdrawals of 10K nuyen. Where did that nuyen go? Was Kane hiring a runner team for something? Perhaps a mission that someone else did not want to succeed? Who could that other person have been? One thing I’d like to leave this story with is a quote from WhaddyaKnowJoe, who know Kane well, “I can't say what happened that Saturday after he went to bed, but between you and me the weight of the guilt he felt about the situation wouldn't have been enough to stop his heart.”

Something happened to Soltysiak Kane the corps don’t want us to know. I think we should find out. If anyone has any info on Kane, including where that money went, or on the Fitzgeralds, contact the SSN.

Reflections on the Cyberware Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Cyberware.

The Cyberware market is one of the larger markets in the Metroplex with a value of 145.6¥B, just edging out Robotics in revenue. However, unlike Robotics, Cyberware is a fairly densely populated market. Six out of the ten megacorps have cyberware subsidiaries and no one has overwhelming dominance: Evo leads with 26.3% of the market, followed closely by NeoNET (23.1%), Renraku (18.4%), Horizon (17.9%), Mitsuhama (9.6%), and Ares (4.7%). Cyberware is used by all sorts of members of the 6th World as a form of enhancement, but must of us in the shadows are used to seeing cyberware on the bodies of our Street Sams and other runners. Cyberware makes an impact from high to low. So what does the market data tell us?

SSN reached out to all the corps with a Cyberware presence and responses we got are interesting. A NeoNET contact offered some overall analysis in the absence of Vorack’s, noting that:

Cyberware is an interesting market: not big by any measure, but the biggest market with more than 5 players. None of the corps involved have it as their main market either. And still it boasts exciting products with very different uses. Like the tattoo industry that only became hot when it could brand itself as art rather than a mark of infamy.

Virtually all the players could at any time use their share as currency in a deal to grow one of their core markets instead, or become the clear market leader in one move. It is therefore only a matter of time before it consolidates.

Last but not least: Saeder-Krupp is nowhere to be seen here, but they can be relied on to foment a coup and pounce as soon as the numbers work. That is, if Vorack hasn't choked on confectionery baked with impromptu cooking implements by the time it happens. 

This analysis of the market as being one that might start moving towards consolidation seems to be borne out by comment by a tipster who works with Ares, the corp with the smallest subsidiary, who leaked the explosive news that Ares is in negotiations to sell their Cyberware holdings. A deal seems imminent and could result in interesting changes in that market. Let’s hope it will not result in layoffs for workers connected to Ares’s cyberware division.

A Mitsuhama spokesperson responded to questions about their Cyberware presence in s seemingly more corporate approved way noting, “In the vein of Cybernetics, or Cyberware, Mitsuhama has taken the approach of overcoming the growing dependencies to magic several of our competitors have taken. We're excited to see this area grow as further development of the Dawn Suits continue. Just yesterday a colleague of mine told me a story of a woman who worked in Health & Safety and was able to quickly, on her own, remove layers of rubble that had trapped a puppy and child who was in the wrong place as a magical experiment went awry. Quite terrible." Mitsuhama seemed to attribute their success in cyberware, despite their small market share, to their experience in magically diminished locations, “As you know, Mitsuhama has rebuilt much of the lost colony on Mars, where magics dwindle, making it ideal for technological enhancement and prime for research and development. We believe Cybernetics will only improve much of what we already do, including Matrix Services, Robotics, and Aerospace allowing us to better connect with whomever tries to integrate with our technologies in a holistic manner." This reporter pushed the Mitsuhama representative on its rhetoric that seemed to distance itself from magic and the Magical Goods market, and the source let slip some interesting news, saying, "Of course, we don't completely disregard magic and its importance on Earth; as such plan to dive into that area again to remain competitive and empathetic to those who want to dip into both realms. For instance, Cyberware that doesn't impact those of a spiritual nature; attempting to keep our spirits clean. We try to remain inclusive at Mitsuhama." The Mitsuhama rep indicates that perhaps Mitsuhama might enter into the Magical Goods market. Are they planning to create a new subsidiary or buy someone else’s?

This week’s market analysis has revealed some interesting information for investors and workers alike. The market seems to be on the verge of mergers and consolidation while Magical Goods might be on the verge of expansion and more job opportunities. What will this mean for our street sams and runners? Only time will tell! Additionally, let’s see what will develop with the rivalry between SK analyst Vorack and my currently anonymous NeoNET analyst.

 City News:

Meet the saddest guy in Seattle—(by 8)

Top Gun, that’s what he goes by at “Blast from the Past”, the trendy NeoNET-owned club where he spends his days and his nights. Not that he has a choice in the vintage Bomber jacket that projects the tough-guy image his thin frame and old bean counter uniform used to repress, and original Aviator sunglasses.

Top Gun is grieving, he misses the funky smell, the chaotic ethos, the graffitied 1980’s-inspired murals and random nihilistic slogans whose successive layers used to read like a people’s history of Seattle, written by hackers high on sleeplessness after a pizza-and-beer fueled coding session on their laptop succeeded by groggy deckers just out of stim-patch inspired fantasies lived out in VR.

He turns his sight to his left, briefly, like he fears being caught. “Donnie, manager. Keep out.”, reads the sign on the door behind the saloon bar, the pride of the former owner. Leaving the bar here is one of the few promises he, Donnie “Top Gun” Deckard, has been able to keep since he got his employer, NeoNET, to buy the place and let him run it. “I’ll make Blast great again”, that’s what he had told Barry White over a dinner at the Space Needle as they were shaking hands to seal the sale.

It had only taken Donnie two months to understand the sad smile on old Barry’s face that had taken him aback. Two months of ego stroking and veiled threats by higher ups to rip the soul of the place out, down to the minutest scrape of paint, to shed light on every shadow where the SINless used to be at home.

Smelly Petra climbs downs the stage amid polite clapping, gives him a smile and a thumbs up as she approaches. He rises from his chair, they hug for a second. A smile, a discreet tear he wipes from his cheek. I have known them both forever, but I resist the urge to join them. I only came here to watch Donnie, tonight, to reckon what’s left of my friend behind the familiar leather shell. She leaves and Donnie seats again.

A brief rustle, the crowd turns their brand new seats to the screen behind them. Kappa’s Orkinary is about to begin. Before the excitement and noise crank up one level or two, the brief respite allows the weird Galaga music, the tugging and yanking at the joystick to reach Donnie’s hears. I know why he just breaks down now, I was there with him twenty years ago when he answered Barry’s call for an expert in arcane arcade technology. We fixed whatever was wrong with the machine. I’m sure Donnie remembers the serial number of the original replacement part he brought with him that day.

What was just an odd job in a smelly, dirty deserted place, turned into a life-changing experience as we tried to make our way back through the crowd that had come for Annie Linux. She was in the middle of her signature “Sweet dreams are made of this.” We just stopped in our tracks, intrigued by that unfamiliar sound, the microphone Annie was holding, her silly clothes. We stayed another four hours, singing, shouting, clapping with them, these strangers that became our new family, just like that. We returned, night after night, until we parted ways and started on our nice corporate jobs. Sweet dreams indeed…

Familiar images from the stupid incident between the weird ork clone known as Krund and an unidentified troll are greeted by loud cheers. Orkinary has just started. Showing popular Kappa fare to the new faux Bohemian patrons is one of the awful compromises Donnie has had to make. This abysmally void show in particular promises to reach even lower with a mysterious trid they already advertise for next month and call Bang Fang!

He sure is sad, Donnie, right now, but when he rises again and returns to the office behind the bar, I see a new resolve in his eyes and know my buddy is finally going to fight back.

Reds in Town?

Tipsters on the street have reported a number of sightings of Renraku’s elite military special forces, the Red Samurai out and about in Seattle. Why? They are not brought out for no reason. If they are around, Renraku is up to something, and something big. What are they up to? Anyone have any more information, send it to the SSN!

 Features:

Once More 7--(by Breach)

2050 saw the rise of what we would really recognize as shadowrunners, when the truly portable cyberdeck was introduced to the market.  Before then, cyberterminals were bulky and hard to transport - ranging from desk-sized cocoons down to bulky desktop tower units - but in 2050 the keyboard-sized cyberdeck was released and deckers hit the streets.  Corporate warfare had always been a shadowy affair, but the ability to carry your hacking tools with you changed the rules of the game.  

The early 2050s also saw the spread of the Universal Brotherhood and other neo-communist movements, preaching a philosophy of unity, equality, and belonging.  They opened their doors to the SINless, and the SINless flocked to them like flies to honey - and in the end, it turns out that’s not a metaphor.  

By 2055, the hives were widespread and the problem came to a head. The first obvious outbreak was in Chicago, where insect spirits moved boldly and openly and swarmed the city, leading the UCAS government to quarantine the city (citing “a new strain of VITAS” as the official reason.)  In the shadows, we know that Seattle almost had a similar outbreak a few months earlier, but a team of shadowrunners investigating a seemingly unrelated murder managed to destroy the hive before its queen got started - the news reported the camps closed for “health reasons”.

Chicago was bad. I was there.

The city was cut off from the Matrix (nominally - some entrepreneurs set up illegal satellite hubs), and the world.  Relief goods had to be shipped in from outside as access to food and medical supplies quickly dwindled.  Gangs took over entire neighbourhoods and Knight Errant set checkpoints and roadblocks across the city.  They even tried to nuke the hive, to no avail - the bomb didn’t even explode properly, contained somehow by who-knows-what. When the nuke didn’t work, they walled us in, and left us largely to fend for ourselves - fights over relief drops were common, and sometimes complete shipments were hijacked and sold off to the highest bidder by whatever corp or gang managed to get ahold of it.

Fortunately, we managed to get the word out and expose the cover-up.  Once the world knew about the bugs, it was harder to write off the city as another disease outbreak and action was actually taken, though not often to the benefit of the people trapped there. The quarantine was lifted in 2058 after Strain III, an engineered bacterium that targeted the spirit-infected, was released.  While the bugs were stopped, HMHVV-infected individuals were killed by the bacteria as well, and it never saw widespread use.  

Chicago remains “Bug-Town”, a shell of its former self and still largely cut off from the world.

Next week we take a pit-stop to talk about the election of 2057.  There’s a lot to unpack there.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Gang News:

Gangland Engagement in Trouble?

Tipsters with an “in” with the Ancients tell me that the engagement between Street Sam JuL33T and Enzo Gianelli might be in trouble. JuL33T is apparently inconsolable over the death of her cousin Street Sam TIB and it not in the mood to get married to anyone. Belial is reportedly not at all pleased.

Letters to the Editor:

Dear SSN editor,

Mr. Vorack, his qualities as an analyst notwithstanding, made unsubstantiated, libelous claims against my employer, NeoNET, in your latest issue.

I know that NeoNET management won’t stoop to his level but I, a simple employee, hereby kindly demand that Mr. Vorack just put up or shut up.

Yours truly,

--b.

P.S.: I will wholeheartedly concede that NeoNET robots are not meant to be used for cooking in the way Mr. Vorack did. But maybe Mr. Vorack’s marshmallows simply did not taste great because they were a Saeder-Krupp product?

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 46, New Model Army

Announcement:

I, your trusty editor, am happy to welcome a new reporter, FooBar, into the Seattle Street News family. FooBar is an experienced digitally based reporter who’ll give us the skinny on the streets and back alleys only found in the Matrix. Welcome FooBar!

Corp News:

Ghost of Arislen the Sexiest Ghostie in the 6th World?

We all know the digital rag, the Weekly Wuxing Enquirer: your place for celebrity gossip and irregular sightings of Bat Boy. Everybody seems to read it…legally or not. It is ubiquitous. If you want to know if the lead singer of SuperUniverse is still dating Trid Star Alpha Omega, the Weekly Wuxing Enquirer is the place to go. If you want to know if the brain of Elvis (some 5th World Trid Star) has been uploaded into a biodrone that also looks like Marilyn Monroe (some other 5th World Trid Star), the Weekly Wuxing Enquirer is the place to go.

Every year the Weekly Wuxing Enquirer also has the Sexiest Entity in the 6th World competition. Now, I think we all knew who was most likely to win the competition this year: Alpha Omega. Alpha Omega has been everywhere this year. She was the star of the year’s biggest blockbuster trid: 52 Fast 52 Furious—Bourne’s Impossible Mission 92: The Revenge of Electric Boogaloo. She also had 13 hit singles, including “Love Song #87: Buy This Song! (The Very Edgy Remix).” In a mainstream digital rag? We all figured she was a lock for the win. If not her, then maybe Lofwyr again. Dragons always seem to win these things.

But when the announcement came out…it was not what you’d think. The Sexiest Entity in the 6th World turned out to be former gubernatorial candidate: The Ghost of Arislen. Now this is clearly absurd. The Ghost of Arislen is clearly not the Ghost of Arislen, that much was clear from the election. Who is the cyberjocky that is maintaining the Ghost of Arislen persona and spent their time trolling everyone during an election? Doesn’t really matter, does it? Don’t get me wrong, I do indeed want to know who the Matrix troll is, but that is not relevant to this moment. What is relevant to this moment is that after the Matrix, a bunch of hackers, deckers, and SINless became fans of Arislen. For people who couldn’t vote in the election, a clearly fake candidate trolling the norms, something so very absurd, became one of the few things that made sense in this broken city. Not exactly a gang, but more an anarchist fanclub. And they have been active posting ghostie graffiti all over town…you’ve seen the images. 

And it seems, they’ve pulled off the ultimate troll. They have somehow hacked the Sexiest Entity Competition. And so now, the Sexiest Spirit of the 6th World is none other than Arislen’s Ghost. What does it mean in the end that such absurdities come to pass? Perhaps when they have nothing else and no other power, only the absurd makes sense. It may seem like a small victory, but think about it. Arislen’s Ghosties got “The Ghost of Arislen” named the Sexiest Spirit in the 6th World on the cover of the Weekly Wuxing Enquirer. Sometimes that sort of victory is enough.

Reflections on the Robotics Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Robotics. 

The Robotics market is a medium sized market in the Metroplex with a value of 137.3¥B. It is much bigger than Agriculture and almost as important. Food, the Matrix, Housing, and Robots. These are the cornerstones of 6th World survival. Similar to Agriculture, Robotics isn’t a very crowded field. The four corps with presence in Seattle’s Robotics are the dominant Saeder-Krupp (43%), second place Renraku (29.8%), Shiawase (19.3%), and finally Horizon (7.8%). Robotics covers so much of our lives, from SK’s Kegbots, to Renraku’s new wolf drones, to Horizon’s innovative use of robotics in entertainment and news, from their journalism drones to their film effects robots.

SSN reached out to all the corps with a Robotics presence but could get no comment from official sources—however, we are lucky to get a rather different sort of market analysis from one of Seattle’s premier financial analysts, Saeder-Krupp executive Vorack. Gentle readers will be asked to remember that Vorack is a brilliant analyst but also a member of Saeder-Krupp, and that offers special insight, but also a bit of a SK slant:

Vorack: Good ol Robotics, it’s used for a whole lot more than you would think! Of course there are your typical bipedal humanoid types, the ones you use as a chauffeur to drive you around or even that certain tutor-bot who can actually stand your brat of a child, and maybe someday will teach them how to be more than a god damn good for nothing nerfherding dwarf! Sorry about that, I personally recommend the KLERM as it is an amazing tutor. Then of course you got your fun bots, the ones used for more recreational goods and that just make lives easier. Be it keeping your brew nice and cold and bringing it to you while called, the ones you set up for Halloween for pranks and used to scare anyone that passes by! Or even the ones who can self ignite, throw on a batch of amazing sausages on itself, get em all nice and crisp and crackling and then serve them out, without you even needing to think about lighting a grill, and then having people complain because maybe just maybe you would like to socialize instead of paying full attention to a grill full of BeccaWurst, I’m sooooo sorry that they came out a little overcooked, I was busy being a good host for everyone else! Sorry again, that was uncalled for, but seriously that KEGbot is perfect at what it does, chilled to perfection. And then of course there are companion bots for those who just need a little extra companionship in their life. There is nothing wrong with having a bot sitting around that you can talk to and bounce ideas off of maybe sing you a song or two. There are so many other types of bots out there that I could write this whole article and still not mention even a fraction of them, that's what is so great about them. A good team of engineers can figure out a new way to make your robo act and then figure how to design them to make it work and Bam!, just like that, your life just got slightly easier as now you will never need to fold laundry again!

It’s weird to say but I owe my life to a robot, I can’t give out too many details but it was a certain group of individuals piloting some KEGbots, they were heading out to a party to keep it going and they found me and rescued me from that warehouse after I was kidnapped. If it wasn't for those bots, who knows if I would have been found and I hate the idea of that. [Editor’s Note: SSN Reporting indicated that Vorack was not rescued by a group of individuals heading out to a party, but a S-K Special Forces team using modified Kegbots as combat Mecha.] So ya the Robotics industry is kinda important. We make robots all the time to do tasks that are either way to dangerous for us to do ourselves or so repulsive that even an Ork won’t do! (That's a joke, I don't know if it came across right but I didn't mean anything by it, I mean no disrespect to the Ork community.) [Editor’s Note: Vorack’s views are Vorack’s and do not reflect the views of the Seattle Street News.] I guess it’s time I get to talking about the division and its players then huh? As of right now there are four corps in the Robotics market but there used to be another, sadly their products were of such low quality that we felt bad for them and bought them out entirely so they wouldn't cause any more harm. Right now us at SK are leading, followed by Renraku, Shiawase and then bringing up the rear is Horizon but they are newcomers to the field so that's to be expected. It has always been a growing industry with very few setbacks in general. There seemed to be an attack on a Renraku factory of some sort months back and while SK was attacked twice by NeoNET, one of those time NeoNET’s own robots, who they were using as the attacking force, ended up turning on each other and it was hilarious to watch and report on, man that was a good time. I was actually there for that strike, we actually roasted marshmallows over the burning wreckage of their robots, the wreckage they caused themselves! (The marshmallows didn't taste that great, I don't recommend cooking anything over a NeoNET product) God I love telling that story, I wish I had a Vid of it.

But no aside from those few issues and the one time a Horizon product backfired and went around broadcasting how corrupt their corp was and how they are using the media to control the masses, there have been almost no problems in robotics, just always going up and it doesn't look like it’s gonna stop. I personally wanna see more corporations get into robotics, maybe come up with some new fun ideas that will change up everything but as of now it’s just a really strong subsidiary with very little downside. Who doesn't want a robotic pet Stegosaurus, I know I wanted one as a little kid and now because of SK and their robotics division I have one and let me tell you, Snappy is an amazing pet.

Robotics are central to everything we do. Sometimes that might be good when it is a hacked medbot in that one alley in the Barrens where SINless can get a bit of aid, but sometimes it might be bad when it is a new fleet of oppressive Robocops stomping on SINless.

 City News:

Galahad Academy Front for Child Kidnapping Ring?

The rash of SINless kidnappings, that caused so much outrage in the community, seems to have gotten some answers, and they aren’t pretty. The positive side is that they weren’t murdered by some serial killer. The down side is that they were preyed upon by some Ares scientists for immoral experimentation. Brother of one of the missing kids Sam Ortega, contacted SSN the other day to share some information.

It turns out a pair of Ares scientists, Margret and Foster Fitzgerald were enticing SINless metahumans with promises of SINs and scholarships to the Galahad academy, one of the infamous Ares Squire academies. Rather than a pathway to a new life, what they got instead was destructive experimentation. These Fitzgeralds seemed to be conducting surgeries on the children to make them seem human, suppressing their metatype. Rumors have it that it had to do with some sort of human supremacist program. Details are still forthcoming, but all signs are that this was about destroying these children’s selfhood, what made them special and beautiful, in exchange for…what? For the chance to be forever owned by some shadow organization hidden inside Ares?

Is this why Knight Errant was so slow in investigating the rash of kidnappings—because it was an inside job? I think it is not coincidental that Lt. Monroe, one of the most honest Knight Errant I’ve ever met was sidelined throughout the entire situation. Indeed, where is he now?

Fallout information on the scandal is very hard to find. Ares has moved into damage control mode. They have denied any knowledge of the experiments the Fitzgeralds were involved in, they certainly denied approving the program—indeed, they condemned the program in the strongest possible language. This is something we know. Things we don’t know? What happened to the Fitzgeralds and all the children deceived into their secret program. But we also know that Ares is cleaning house in the aftermath of the scandal. Soltysiak Kane, the President of the Galahad Academy and Order Master of the Squires of Galahad released a press release earlier today announcing that he would be stepping down from his position. He, in his press release, announced, “It has been my utmost pleasure over the past eighteen years to guide this prestigious Academy forward. However, in light of the recent revelations of Doctor Fitzgerald's reprehensible activities it has become clear that I am no longer fit to serve as your Order Master and President. It was my signature that allowed them into our Order, and my lack of oversight that allowed them to carry out their experiments on your fellow Squires. It's at times like these, that Squire Orders are most important. Though I shall be leaving this Academy in an Official capacity, I am now, and shall ever be, a Squire of Galahad.” The new President of Galahad and Master Squire is one Maritza Quartermane. Maritza Quartermane is a very symbolic choice. There are things about Quartermane you would expect. They are a graduate of the Galahad Academy. After graduation they distinguished themselves in service of Knight Errant, holding a variety of positions but being most well known for their work in Information Security. This is what Ares would tell you about Maritza Quartermane. What I’ll tell you about them is that they are an Ork. After a scandal involving human supremacy and unethical experimentation to suppress someone’s metahumanity, Ares has placed an Ork in charge of the Galahad Academy and the Squires Program. Is this an indicator of a more significant change in Ares? Let us hope so.

But for the moment, for Seattle, the most important thing is Liam has his brother back.

Emerald Rainbows—(by Demmalition1)

While walking along the streets pondering my next piece for this column I saw the most peculiar thing.  I saw a man in a bright red shirt fidgeting with his commlink and sweating profusely, mumbling to himself about God knows what.  I know this because that’s who he was mumbling to, God.  He was having an argument with the most supreme being in the cosmos about his life and the direction that he took to land himself there.  That’s right, God himself was standing over his shoulder shouting into his ear, and he being only a mere mortal was mumbling back what best he could.  As the devout among us know, you don’t say “no” to Him, the one above all who created the Heavens and the Earth, the one who gave the breath of life into this universe and allowed mankind to degrade itself into its present state of corporatocracy and crony capitalism.  However, you might give pause to what you’re being told if you were asked to “kill yourself for the betterment of mankind, you loser fuck.  Just jump into traffic already!”.

Zachary DeWitt was a human who led a normal life for the first 30 or so years.  He had a stable job with a loving troll husband and an adopted ork rescue child who supposedly was born in Germany near the SOX region.  He was an analyst for some small-time accounting firm, going over numbers to find evidence of fraud and coverups.  One day Zachary decided to go out with his friends after work to a dive bar for a few drinks.  While there they all had a bit too much to drink, and too much alcohol can lead to some bad life decisions.  Though the punishment varies, the decision Zachary was about to make would have ramifications far beyond his own life.  He decided to slot a BTL chip in for the first time.  It went downhill from there.

I sat down with Zachary at a nearby diner, a bit rundown but it was the closest thing not near a major intersection.  Under the dim and flickering bulbs and over a hot bowl of soup he told me just what it was like to be a whole other person for a little while.  He told me how amazing the high was, and how his ability to experience snowboarding down a mountainside grew to feeling the victory of his first underground heavyweight boxing championship.  When he threw the knockout punch in the 8th round it was like being the king of the world, like being a dragon lording over a hoard of gold that was yours and yours alone.  This progressed rapidly to wanting to know what the female orgasm felt like, to him experiencing the macabre thrill of his first robbery, to feel the joy of hurting someone, and finally culminating in the hollow revelry of killing an innocent person point-blank with a shotgun, taking glee as his victim’s guts splattered against the wall.  But the high was fleeting, and Zachary was running out of money.  The repeated trips down memory lanes not of his own were growing tiresome, and he needed something more, something of pure and utter passion.

That's when Zachary turned to other drugs, other drugs that would expand his mind and experiences: novacoke, cram, jazz, and even nitro.  But even that wasn’t enough.  The repeated exposure to the various personalities he inhabited and the false lives he lived started to make him paranoid, and he was developing the early stages of dissociative identity disorder even when not slotted in.  His husband took their daughter after a while, he soon after lost his job and subsequently his UCAS SIN.  These events caused him to plunge into the deep end of the drug trade to find the meanest, baddest drug around.  Nitro wasn’t enough, he needed something more, something so permeable in its euphoric tendencies that not even Zachary himself could handle it.  He turned to a new drug, a drug given the street name of “Little Apple”.

You may remember Little Apple was featured way back in SSN issue no. 32 when it started to inject its way into the bloodstream of the city.  It has gone unchecked since then and has grown a small cult following in various underground circles.  Users within this following are referred to as ‘fluffies’ on account of the fact that they appear outwardly friendly and sociable before degrading rapidly.  The drug causes a euphoric feeling much like bliss, but has the added side effects of causing neurologically-based visual and auditory hallucinations.  Users see lights, rainbows, and unicorns accompanied by friendly music before flipping on a dime and going into ranting manic episodes.  The drug is highly addicting and causes these episodes to get worse and worse with each use.  These episodes eventually reach a crescendo of constant depression, hallucinations, and even death by suicide, most commonly by people wandering into traffic with a glazed look in their eyes.  Some, like Zachary, willingly throw themselves off of rooftops or into speeding traffic in order to stop the voices in their heads.  And Little Apple, coupled with Zachary’s previous BTL-induced side effects was right at the cusp of snuffing his life as well.

Nothing is being done to help Zachary and the other SINless in Seattle.  To those of you who are SINless and read this column, know that I care for and am fighting for you.  You are powerless to change your situation, with no legal means of voting or working in this oppressively kleptocratic oligarchical corporatocracy.  Something must be done for you.  But for the rest of you with SINs, I know sure as Hell that you don’t give a damn about Zachary.  If you did care for him you’d be calling your representative right now to complain.  After all, Zachary is just one among the crowd of assholes who populate our homeless shelters eating up your hard-earned tax dollars.  It’s Zachary’s fault he got into this, let him find his own way out in front of a bus going at high speeds.  Yeah, that’ll end the drug problem one deranged person at a time.  They don’t need our support, fuck em.  But don’t say that about Uncle Earl, he needs all the support he can get, he’s just going through a rough patch is all.  It’ll all work out in the end, I just know it.

If any of you SINners got out and looked at the state of our city, and I mean REALLY looked, you’d be outside your local Representative’s office screaming at the top of your lungs for reform.  You’d want to help those who can’t help themselves, but you know what?  Most people with SINs don’t go out and fight for a better tomorrow.  They’d rather stay in the blissful reality of their lives going about their daily loop, aiming for the next big and juicy promotion.  It’s the drug of choice, their promotion being the next hit to get high on life and ignoring all that’s wrong around them.  They’d rather have life go around and around like a merry-go-round, distracted by the colorful lights and cheerful music until they grow old and drop dead.  The only difference between life and Little Apple is that Little Apple does what it says on the tin, just a lot faster.

God help us all.

 Ares Rolls Out Jack Booted RoboThugs To Invade Our Homes

Ares/Knight Errant recently announced something very disturbing for the SINless and their fellow travellers. In a press release Ares/Knight Errant have announced the roll out of a new product: the Lancer Humanoid Security Drone. It is a heavily armored “law enforcement” drone that is meant to keep the well off SINners “safe” from those of us protesting for justice and representation. They cited the rise of a protest movement that brought our new government and our new hopes as the reason they brought out these new inhuman and frightening forces of intimidation and violence. A representative said the purpose was to “keep us safe from protestors and anarchists.” But who is the “us”—certainly not unarmed and peaceful protester Pedro Tanaka who was shot by Knight Errant officer Augustus Ivan Polk. Certainly not me and certainly not you. They are labeling us all anarchists because we want to be able to walk down the street like anyone else.

The forces of backlash are rising and now a metal army is coming to our neighborhoods. Keep safe chummers. But keep inspired and keep empowered. Nevertheless, we will persist. Once awakened, we will not fall back to sleep.

 Features:

Feedback Loop: Activity in the Arcology—(by Foobar)

Hello Digital Denizens; this is FooBar, your Sultan of Systems, coming to you from the heart of the Matrix. I’m here to bring you all 411 from the 0s and 1s, scoping the systems, and keeping an eye on the digital.

The now government run arcology known as ACHE has been a topic of a lot of debates, It’s walls being closed off, and its imports and inhabitants controlled. Nothing goes in and out of the arcology without the government’s notice.

Or so we thought.

Though information is obfuscated for anything within the arcology itself, import records show there is more need for supply within the closed system. Looking deeper, digital transactions within the arcology seems to be on the rise.

What’s more, connecting the data points paints an interesting picture. Over the last few weeks, there have been identical transactions to several of the arcology’s more independently run stores on a regular basis. What does this mean for the arcology? Is there a third party at play here, or just a coincidence of one of the more wealthy of the closed system’s regular habits?

If this is the work of an unknown benefactor we commend your actions toward the lesser man, trapped within a system they’re unable to escape. That’s all for your wave across the matrix today. Stay jacked in Jackrabbits, and keep an eye on the data.

 Once More 6--(by Breach)

The 14th Amendment to the UCAS Constitution, ratified on September 4, 2036, gives birth to the System Identification Number - the SIN that we are SINless without.  Some are SINless by choice. Some run SINless to escape the legacy of their SIN.  Some are SINless because the system has failed them, ignored them, forgotten them. Other world governments would soon follow (some few preceded, though not in quite the same way), but many found themselves unable to avail themselves of the rights promised them.

Metahumans - especially orks and especially trolls - were often denied access to the procedures to register for a SIN, and on February 7th, 2039, the collected rage of the mass of metahumanity spilled over into the Night of Rage.  The protests were global, unorganized, and sometimes messy.  Hundreds died in the Seattle Metroplex, and I still remember watching, three days later, as the Sears Tower was destroyed in Chicago.  Tens of thousands died in the attack and the fires that followed.  Metahumans involved in the protests were framed for the attack - shadow sources know it was the work of the terrorist group Alamos 20,000, but official records have yet to be cleared.

In the decade that follows, metasapient rights would slowly grow. The Athabaskan Council, a member of the NAN, was one of the first nations in the world (and the first that is majority human) to recognize metasapients, declaring sasquatches to be a sapient species deserving of rights and citizenship.  A rebirth of Eugenics in southern Germany was quickly squashed in a day by apparently magical intervention as yet another dormant volcano awakens.  Yamatetsu, the Japanese megacorp that will later become Evo, gained a seat on the Corporate Court the same day Buttercup, a free spirit, became its largest single shareholder. The Great Dragon Dunkelzahn started the show Wyrm Talk, bridging the gap between dragons and metahumanity.

We all miss you, Big D. Rest in peace.

National power sees perhaps its last stand in the 40s; starting in 2044, Aztlan nationalized all resources and holdings, seizing corporate lands and claims from other nations (but not from Aztechnology.)  Aztechnology’s position as a founding member gives it a veto on the Corporate Court, and it takes years of legal wrangling to get around it, but by 2048, the Court finally authorized Operation Reciprocity, allowing the other megacorporations to strike at Aztlan and Aztechnology with impunity in retaliation for the nationalization of assets.  After just three days, Aztlan capitulates, and Aztechnology pays billions in reparations to the other megacorporations.  Never again would a nation attempt to bar corporations from operating in their territory - sanctions have still been enacted against individual corporations, even the megas, but private industry proves its primacy over the public trust forevermore.

We didn’t know it at the time, but the foundation of the Universal Brotherhood in the California Free State in 2043 would send another shock to the world.  It took a decade before we saw what was coming, and we’ll talk about that next week.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 45, A Fire Bug’s End

City News:

Burned Out—(by Demmalition1)

The club was hot, bright, and loud. Streams of neon colors and flashing strobes pierced the black veil of darkness, only to subdue in the sublime and eerie glow of the fluorescent paint illuminated under the blacklight over my table. Had a drink of neat whisky backed by a few toppers of unascertainable origin, good stuff. The crowd inside The Downward Spiral was under the thrall of ‘the mixer’, a person whose entire consciousness was jacked into the club’s entertainment system. He controlled the lights, music, and even the temperature of the room on a whim, an improvisation like no other. Not even he knew what sound he would play next, he was entirely in the moment. To say that this was a crowd of peculiar tastes would be a vast understatement, as illicit materials and services changed hands every second of every hour. The perfect place to dig up some dirt and meet a few contacts.

While waiting for my contact I saw an old friend known as DutchTeddy tearing up the dancefloor. Dressed in the most gaudy dance suit possible, he would seem to be set to ‘burn down the house’ in a fury of fur. However, the dancing orange bear was not what caught my eye as an old flame, Molotov, walked into the room and ordered two whole bottles of whisky. I would later be told by the bartender that he ordered them “for a good friend”. He stumbled around throughout the crowd spilling some of the alcohol along the way, finally shattering both near the entrance. I alerted Knight Errant immediately, this would not be a good night for anyone.

Getting up from my vibrant table in the corner I made my way to the back room to warn the manager of a potential security breach. As I made my way towards the back and opened the door to the office another door that lead out to the alley slammed open. Molotov stepped through in full costume with a crimson bloodsoaked ax in hand. Reacting immediately as my training taught me to I tossed a smoke grenade into the room and booked it to the set of stairs nearby to the upper floor. Readying my self-defense pistol I saw him exit the back room, smoke billowing forth like a demon come straight out of the bowels of Hell itself. He lit his flamethrower and set the club on fire in a flash of rage.

The flames, hastened by the accelerant laid down before as well as a copious lathering of neon paint and flammable clothing spread quickly through the crowd, engulfing many almost instantly. The crowd screamed as the flames flowed over them like water in a river. The smell of burnt flesh and the sound of sizzling sinew still haunt me as I write this, dear reader. He spotted me up top and chucked an incendiary grenade in my direction, prompting me to loose off a few rounds of Stick-n-Shock and dart towards the upper floor manager’s office. Luckily, the door was ajar and I slammed the screams of the damned behind me. I moved toward and through a nearby window in one smooth motion, landing on the connecting rooftop and checked that my recording gear was still running. Molotov burst through the door, chucking of a few more grenades behind him, providing me an ample opening to pop him twice more, knocking him on his ass. This was swiftly followed up by a flashbang and a quick descent down the ladder to the alleyway below.

The night air was crisp and my man DutchTeddy was the only soul out back here, panting and singed from the flames. He touched something in his suit and not a minute later a loud roar was heard in the sky. Another dragon?  No, it was something else entirely, “Black Saeder-Krupp Combot Bot Voltron!” he announced triumphantly in his thick Dutch accent. Absconding into the semi-translucent and gaping maw of the beast he engaged a cloaking mechanism. To be clear, this is something that was NOT supposed to see the light of day!  I made my way across and down the street as his Saeder-Krupp built and branded behemoth of destruction began to malfunction almost immediately after engagement. It shot several hundred live rounds of Vindicator-fed ammunition into the surrounding buildings and smashed into a wall to the club, resulting in the death of six people found huddled together away from the flames beneath the rubble during the cleanup. It then engaged a flamethrower, scorching the building even further.

Knight Errant police show up at this time and surround the murderous piece of corp hardware, exiting their vehicles and drawing their weapons as their training had taught them. An explosion goes off next to the bot from Molotov having lobbed a grenade at it, engaging the emergency escape protocol. The machine then leapt into the air and engaged its afterburner jet engines, scorching Sgt. Gregory Snow with severe third-degree burns across 88% of his body, he would die an hour later at the Blessed Mercy hospital. Once the dust cleared a pack of previously unseen Hellhound bikers were in the alley shooting at the roof and Molotov, who began to scramble for cover. The forces of Knight Errant, still shook up by dealing with a rampaging corp mech, began to pursue the bikers with reckless abandon. Most returned to their squad cars while calling in for backup, going around the still smoldering building and avoiding the other emergency services that had arrived to combat the flames and help the injured.

What they didn’t notice at first was Molotov, who tried to slink away down the roof, away from the crowds, bikers, and police. Molotov was severely injured by the shots from both I and his former comrades of the Hellhound biker gang. I pursued, tucking my pistol away for now as I ran around the far end away from the crowds. What I saw next would go on to be replayed over a million times in the first hour alone. Officers Pusateri and Clemens of the Knight Errant forces had surrounded Molotov, weapons drawn and telling him to get down. Molotov, the mad dog of the inferno, started to raise his flamethrower at them, only to be dropped by Stick-n-Shock ammo. He was then stripped, cuffed, and hauled away. What remained of the crowd from earlier cheered them on, but there was a melancholy pallor about them as the thoughts of the dead came haunting back. A harsh glow of dozens of souls trapped in the building bathed the battered crowd in a red glow. The hollow exuberance of earlier had been replaced with the somber sorrow of those lost. The smell of burnt flesh is still with me.

The next few days would tell all as the rubble was sifted through to retrieve the charred corpses. 53 people had died in the club from the flames, another 12 trampled by the crowds attempting to get out, six were crushed by the rubble from the Saeder-Krupp bot, one officer was scorched by the Saeder-Krupp bot, one waiter was killed by Molotov’s ax. Another four innocent bystanders, 2 Knight Errant officers, and 2 Hellhound would lose their lives in the chase away from the club. This would bring us to a total of 81 dead and another 88 injured or severely injured in one night. Property damage to surrounding buildings is estimated to be in the low millions due to both the fire and the Saeder-Krupp bot malfunctioning. Molotov will face a rather severe sentencing, with life in prison a near guarantee.

I’m so sorry Maki Adsida, I’m sorry a man you loved chose to tarnish his name in your memory. In the process he took over 100 lives with him over the course of several months. He will know nothing but anguish and pain, and not your loving grace. I’m sorry.

Personally, I hope he burns in Hell.

 In a Telling Moment, Blast From the Past Matrix Dance Crowns a New Winner

A few weeks ago, the Matrix haunt Blast from the Past held its annual Matrix dance competition again. It was a very different than the ones underground Seattle’d seen before. Blast from the Past used to be one of those Matrix places, you know the sort, frequented by the three S’s, those in the shadows, the SINless, and slumming SINners. It was a place with old arcade games and lots of neon. Someone even programmed a funny smell in the bathrooms. It was a quirky sort of place, but it was comfortable for people who often wouldn’t find other places all that comfortable. Every year they would hold a Matrix dance competition. It was always a glorious sort of thing. Last year, the winner was Ma1nfram3, and this year she was back to defend her crown. But Blast from the Past was not the same.

Between last year and this year, our underground hangout has been acquired by MegaCorp NeoNET. The now corp-owned Blast from the Past still has a funky smell in the bathroom, but it is a focus group tested funky smell that you can buy as a cologne. Blast has always been a bit hodge podge in its Matrix visual design, as if it had been coded and recoded by different hacker-owners over time. It had a design that couldn’t be planned, it was a beautiful chaos. But it has been remodeled. Experts in design crafted the perfect Bohemian underground hacker club look. It is the sort of look that just screams gentrification. But everyone came to check out the scene anyway.

The crowd was bigger than it ever had been before, and they were a paying crowd with corp sins and they were in all their expensive 5th World 80s designer clothes. The now NeoNET owned Blast from the Past will certainly be a cash cow for them. But it probably won’t be a shadow hang out anymore. And the moment when it became clear it wasn’t our club anymore was when the winner was crowned.

There were about 20 contestants this year, up from the 12 number of contestants last year. Smelly Petra, who has competed every year for the last ten years, wasn’t there this year. She never wins, and it is doubtful she ever would, but she was a regular and her presence was definitely missed. As a matter of fact, most of the regulars weren’t competing—replaced by a new crop of SINers who were slick, but with no substance. I’m sure NeoNET knew that their revamped competition would never have legitimacy if there were none of the greats from the pre-NeoNET days so they made sure to have some of our favorite there. Last year’s champ Ma1nFram3 was there, as were Annie Linux and The Terminator. The rest of the twenty were all new people. Though they did bring back MC HoverBored to host the proceedings as they have done every year.

The competition was fierce. Highlights were Annie Linux’s dance to “Sweet Dreams Are Made of This” (there were cows involved), The Terminator’s amazing Robot routine to “Intimacy” (great articulation), the group 1814’s massive group routine to “Rhythm Nation,” and W(3)IR(e)D Albano’s mashup dance to “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” and “Like a Surgeon.” Of course the top 2 routines were Ma1nFram3’s “Opposites Attract” and BeyonZ’s “Careless Whisper.” BeyonZ had a technically excellent routine, but it seemed all pre-programmed with almost no improvisation. It was like the new Blast From the Past: slick, but lacking the rough edges that makes it feel living and breathing. There is a moment when perfection becomes a liability. Ma1nFram3 knew exactly how to play to the crowd. She improvised moments and was the most authentic to 5th World presentation out of everyone. When it was all over, lots of the old crowd were cheering for Ma1nfram3 and Annie Linux, while the new crowd were cheering for BeyonZ—who, sources tell me (surprise, surprise) is either a member of NeoNET or sponsored by NeoNET.

It should come to no one’s surprise that the winner of NeoNET sponsored Blast From the Past was NeoNET sponsored BeyonZ. The highest ranking dancer from the old crowd was Ma1nfram3, who only placed 6th. Perhaps sensing that the old crowd wasn’t pleased, Ma1nfram3 was given a special award, the “Space-time continuum rift” award for historical authenticity, it was less than she deserved. It seemed clear to this reporter that the award was an attempt to pacify the older crowd over the injustice of losing one of our home away from homes. Perhaps Ma1nfram3 will compete again next year, perhaps Smelly Petra will be back…a bit drunk and doing interpretive dance to something from slightly the wrong decade. Maybe we’ll see Cloud 9 in the arcade section again trying to beat Peter Winther’s high score on Galaga.

But I wouldn’t count on it.

 Features:

Once More 5--(by Breach)

The Crash had wide-ranging repercussions. Once mighty governments toppled, and more and more separatist groups arose, seeking to found their own nations. At the end of 2030, the United States and Canada form a treaty to merge as the United Canadian-American States, while the post-Crash dissolution of the European Union erupts into full-fledged war in 2031. While the Euro Wars don’t build into a full-fledged World War III, it’s largely because the rest of the world is too busy with its own problems to get wrapped up in Europe’s this time; life wasn’t exactly peaceful for the rest of us either.

The fledgling UCAS has its own internal problems, as the Southern states, long-dissatisfied with the political realities of their union, walk out of the proceedings unifying the two nations. Two years later, in 2034, the Confederated American States would formally secede from the UCAS - this time without war.

2034 saw the rise of other nations as well; Awakened forces, led by the Great Dragons Hualpa and Sirrug, would seize Brasilia, leading to the foundation of the jungle-nation of Amazonia. At the end of the year, Ireland would declare itself an elven homeland, forming the kingdom of Tir na Nog. Soon after, in early 2035, Tir Tairngire was born, following a short but decisive war with the Salish-Sidhe Council. 2036 would see the birth of the California Free State, as the UCAS reacts to the state’s demands for increased investment by kicking it out of the union. The Seattle Metroplex remains UCAS’s sole west coast holding.

Much of the world as we know it now was born in the wake of the Crash; not only nations, but corporations as well. Soon after the Crash, the Corporate Court would successfully takeover Global Financial Services, seizing the corporations’ major debtor; it would then move GFS to its orbital habitat (one of the few to survive the Crash), bringing us the Zurich-Orbital Gemeinschaft Bank we all “know and love” watching over us today.

This time also brought the rise to many of the Corporations we still have today. The collapse of Keruba International following the death of its CEO in a Crash-related plane accident would allow the rise of Renraku to the seat of the Corporate Court, and the fallout of the Crash would also give rise to Richard Villiers - CEO of a series of erstwhile corporations currently collected as NeoNET - and Damien Knight, long-time autocrat of Ares Macrotechnologies. Lofwyr also seizes control of BMW in a merger that creates Saeder-Krupp during this period.

With Shiawase, Mitsuhama, and Aztechnology (once ORO) already seated on the Corporate Court, we now begin to see the Court as it exists today. These seven corporations are those that hold the “golden tickets” (SK through BMW, NeoNET through Villiers’ ownership of JRJ International, and Renraku through ownership of Keruba) - the founding corporations of the Court, and thus those guaranteed seats. The Court has seen little change from this core, with only a few additions coming to the scene over the next several decades.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Corp News:

Reflections on the Agriculture Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Agricultural Services.

The Agricultural Services market is one of the smallest markets of the Metroplex, right above military hardware with a value of 75.2¥B. Everybody in the Metroplex needs to eat, but there are only three megacorporations who have a major presence in Agricultural Services: Shiawase (42.2%), Saeder-Krupp (33%), and Aztechnology (24.8%). Agriculture, despite (or perhaps because of) its crucial role in the feeding of the people of Seattle, as well as being an engine that can accelerate growth for all other markets, has never been a contested market. It is quiet, stable, and provides us with food. Corporate Wars seem to leave this market alone.

SSN reached out to Shiawase, Saeder-Krupp, and Aztechnology for comment on their view of the market. Contacts within Shiawase gave a very brief comment, “Aboritech, a subsidiary of Shiawase Envirotech are the quiet leaders in the agricultural sector. We pride our selves not on being the flashy brand or the fast food of Seattle, we provide the food you eat every day from basic Soy products to super luxury goods.” Aztechnology never responded to our requests for comment.

SSN was able to get another installment of insight and analysis from one of Seattle’s premier financial analysts, Saeder-Krupp executive Vorack. Gentle readers will be asked to remember that Vorack is a brilliant analyst but also a member of Saeder-Krupp, and that offers special insight, but also a bit of a SK slant:

Vorack: Time for agriculture, and sadly if you are looking for some exciting stuff, I think I'm gonna disappoint both you and the readers about this one. Only three corps have ever been interested in feeding the people of Seattle, it seems like the other Corporations will let us do all the work or let the masses starve. The unsung heroes of this subsidiary are Aztechnology, Saeder-Krupp and Shiawase, so while other corps may tell you that they care about you, its only these three that actually care enough to make sure you get something on your plate. I can’t undersell how important Agriculture is to everyone and I don't think I really need to explain it to you. We need food, and these three pillars provide it. Each does it in their own way, Aztec knows how to get you more for less and if you go somewhere for a quick bite to eat, it’s probably them who are providing it. SK knows what the people like and we make sure you get it, be it the hugely successful BeccaWurst (Still the highest grossing product ever released aside from a single product from Horizon) our Florenten Draco Hops used in our most popular Ol' Chummers Pale Ale or all the delicious creations being made and personally handed out by our delightful PeanutButterBabe and a mix of everything in between that you might desire.

Shia on the other hand took an interesting choice but it’s working for them as they are currently leading in the segment and that's just selling you whatever is left and have you pay whatever they choose. You could buy a meal that costs a grand total of 20 Nuyen or a luxury feast that will cost you 10K, they might tell you they are the only corp that can get you real coffee or real chocolate as well. (I personally know PBB only uses the highest ingredients and wouldn't never use fillers in her cookies so don't worry, it’s real chocolate for everyone). That's sadly really all that I can report on Agriculture at this point, the three corps have never been attacked and I think in total only seven new products have ever really been researched or developed (four of which are from SK).

No matter where you get your food, from Shia, Aztech, SK, or from those back alley food stalls in the Barrens, it is one of the things we really need. Let us hope that the peaceful nature of Agriculture remains peaceful.

 Gang News

Gangland Engagement?

Belial announced that Enzo Gianelli and Ancient Street Sam JuL33T are set to be married. None of my sources have heard any confirmation from JuL33T about this however.

 Runner News

One of our favorite runners, the Russian we like to call “Legs” was seen at the club TechNoir cutting a rug…or maybe just cutting up a guy in a bad toupee.

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 44, Crying For Freedom

City News:

Rally for SINless Recognition Marred by Police Violence

This Saturday the SINless and their allies gathered in Westlake Park for a rally and protest. The event brought together numerous community organizers, spoken word poets, VR artists, musicians, and even Redmond Mayor Sonya Scholl spoke briefly about the need for SINless protection and recognition. It wasn’t just a general desire for recognition that brought the SINless together this day, however. It was the crisis surrounding the kidnapping of SINless children and Knight Errant’s Law Enforcement’s lack of response paired with hope that the new administration might change things for the better of all that brought everyone together. There was an estimated three thousand protesters and rally-goers. There were young children and senior citizens. The crowd were at times outraged, at times anguished, at times inspired and full of hope. They spoke of what they hoped to accomplish.

Knight Errant presence was heavy, but local SINless community security force The Knights of Red were also on hand to keep the protesters safe. But it wasn’t enough. Someone in Knight Errant got mad and decided to start shooting at the protesters. It started with Knight Errant officer Augustus Ivan Polk, a man with a reputation for alcoholism and multiple citations for insubordination, who somehow still has a corporate badge, who shot Ork Pedro Tanaka in the belly. Pedro was doing nothing but protesting peacefully, but that didn’t matter to Officer Polk. Polk’s regular partner Patrick Oliver Mahon in “defense” of Polk also shot an unarmed peaceful protester.

The situation threatened to become a riot but the work of KE mages who cast a calming ritual alongside some moving words and song by Ork Underground activist Sarah Brown who led the crowd in a version of the song “Crying for Freedom in the Metroplex,” stopped any further escalation of violence.

Pedro Tanaka’s wife, human Aki Tanaka, well loved tattoo artist in the Barrens spoke passionately and with steely determination before the crowd in the wake of her husband’s shooting.

A Transcript of her speech:

"My husband is an Ork. So he never had a SIN. My parents didn't have SINs so I never had one either. We live in the Barrens. And we are honest people who work hard. I do tattoos and he works on a fishing boat. We have never hurt anyone in this city. We get up, trade for the things we need. We were excited for this last electionl. We couldn't vote, but we had friends in the Underground that finally could. We felt like the future might mean something good for us finally.

"We dreamt that maybe we might be able to walk in the streets outside of the Barrens without fear. That maybe we could go to one of those fancier places and get all the things we only dreamed about getting one day. Nicer food. Nicer clothes. "

"I work out of the burned out building where we live. And I babysit the building’s kids for their parents while they are out doing whatever they can do to survive. But lately some kids have gone missing. There was no one to turn to. Our babies are being kidnapped. And we don't know who's doing it.

“Is it some maniac serial killer cuttin' up us SINless because no one cares? Is it some corp kidnapping us for experiments...again? I don't know. But I've had moms and dads in my tattoo studio crying at night in pain over their missing kids and frustration that no one would listen.So that's why we came here. Because they don't think the lives of our babies matter. And then what happens?

"Some jack-booted corporate thug shoots my man. Sees him only as a SINless piece of trash that can be abused with no consequence. But we have a new governor now, there will be consequences. They took my husband off in a med wagon. But he has no SIN, so he has no medical records. I don't know if they'll actually treat him or if they'll dump him in an alley to die.

"His name is Pedro Tanaka, he is my husband and he is not trash to be dumped. He is SINless, but he is a person.

"This just can't go on anymore."

Although the police violence threatened to turn this protest into a tragedy, SSN is happy to report that, thanks to the work of some good Samaritans, Pedro Tanaka was able to get medical care and he is currently at home recovering. He isn’t able to work while recovering and so the Tanaka family could use help. Any help for the Tanaka family can be delivered to SSN, Sarah Brown, or the Knights of Red.

Despite this violence, the call for SINless recognition will not be silenced. Knight Errant, find out what is happening to our children. Governor Dzhugashvili, start a program to get the SINless recognition.

 Open Letter from Lt. Salazar Monroe Concerning the Recognition Rally Violence

Lt. Monroe was not assigned to the protest, had he been, I imagine it would have turned out differently. That said, Monroe is a man of honor and he has taken it on himself to make a statement about the Recognition Rally violence:

Dear citizens of the Seattle Metroplex,

I come to you, in one of our darkest moments, to condemn the actions of two fellow Knight Errant officers. From what I have heard from their sergeants and colleagues on the scene is that they’ve been dealt with and disciplined on-site, but my sources refuse to elaborate. I can only hope that our hands have not shed any more blood than what we have already done today. I trust that the officers who serve under me and were also present understand that we must hold ourselves to a higher standard of ethics. The city has placed a lot of trust in us and we must do everything we can to ensure that everyone in Seattle knows that it is not misplaced. They’ve been burned before, and they’re not eager to find out that they’ve made that mistake again.

What these two officers have done has irrevocably shaken all of us to the core, surely, but please know that this isn’t the Knight Errant I enlisted in, the Knight Errant that trained me, shaped me, molded me into the man I am today. These bad apples must be culled swiftly and precisely before they spoil the rest of the barrel, and though it might already be too late, it’s better late than never.

I didn’t set out to change Knight Errant from the inside, nor did I set out to single-handedly save Baltimore or Seattle from themselves. I enlisted into Knight Errant because I was sick and tired of seeing criminals of all stripes getting away with their schemes while the common man suffered. I set out to ensure that everyone had their dues, from the SINless down in Dundalk to the hotshot corporate types Downtown. Everyone gets their day in court, as it was back in the Fifth World, and as it should be in the Sixth.

I’m on personal leave right now due to...excruciating circumstances that are regrettably beyond my control, but as soon as I come back into the office tomorrow, things are going to change for the better not just for the executives but for the SINless and everyone in-between, I can promise you that. And if you think I can’t live up to that boast? There are a few people in Baltimore who can vouch for me.

Sincerely, Lieutenant Salazar Timothy Monroe

 Stoking the Fires—(by Demmalition1)

Eustace Zhalang died the moment she put the revolver in her mouth and pulled the trigger.  She’s going to die for a second time in the press tonight after they get ahold of her financial records and skewer her fresh corpse over the burning coals of public opinion.  Molotov was after her, you see, and when he sets his sights on something, he won’t stop until it’s dead or close to it.  She chose the quick way out, as opposed to being burned alive at the hands of him and his henchmen.  Oh, you didn’t know?  Yes, he’s recruiting followers like the night of the Christmas tree burning a while back.  But back to Ms. Zhalang.

As a citizen of the venerable corporation of Wuxing and a prominent name in many a circle of high society, one would think she had it all.  Money and fame were synonymous with her name, and her presence was hard to escape from even when she wasn’t in the room.  But she will forever remain a black mark on the face of Wuxing, for she was not a good woman.  She destroyed the lives of countless people by running sham charities in the names of noble causes in order to rake in funds from a gullible public.  These stolen funds were then used to prop up a multitude of failing businesses, all under her name or the Wuxing banner.  When Wuxing found out they let her go and sent her home with a generous package to placate her duplicitous ways.  They killed any investigation into her dealings as well in order to quell any negativity against a high ranking executive of the board.  Better to hide your sins under the carpet than deal with them openly, I guess.  Shortly after her forced retirement she developed lung cancer, it progressed until she turned into a bedridden grey husk at 88 years old.

She was very good at tugging at the heartstrings you see, pulling in money for orphans, SINless, even disease research.  Therein lies the rub, the roaring spark that would turn into an inferno.  She syphoned research funding that was meant for whichever disease Molotov’s wife had.  A horrible woman’s greed and depravity lead to the indirect creation of a monster who seeks nothing but revenge at the crucible of the flame.  This money would not have cured his wife, she was too far along and the time too short, but it was enough to grab his attention.  She would be an easy hit.  After all, who would care about a little old woman who never left her estate?  She was going to die soon anyways, might as well finish the job before the reaper could drag her screaming soul down to Hell.

Molotov began the hit by driving in through the front gate with a few accomplices disguised as a catering crew.  Once near the front door their decker attacked the cameras and they burst out of the van guns ablaze. Their decker did not, however, destroy the cameras as they had thought.  Their actions were all caught on tape.  They killed three guards at the front door, one at the gatehouse, and another who came outside soon after.  Once inside, the first accomplice, Bai Zhao, is dropped by a drone.  Another, Choi Zhao and sibling of Bai, was killed by a guard with an antique spear from a display (bricked smartgun).  Nearing Eustace’s last redoubt, she shoots herself before they could get inside and do the deed themselves.  I guess that would rob Molotov of some of his satisfaction. Good.  When the door was smashed open, a third accomplice, Agnes Peterson, was killed by uzi fire from a guard rushing down the hall.  Molotov then burned Eustace’s corpse and killed all staff inside be they butler or cook.  He burned their bodies as well before looting the place and escaping with two other then unidentified accomplices. After that he  burned the van a mile away from the mansion.  A total of 16 people lost their lives that night. The identities of his two surviving Hellhound accomplices are known: one is a female decker by the handle 5t@1k3r (Maria Stoyanova) and another a brute named Charles Whiteman.  Investigators already found most of the fenced goods which had tracking RFIDs and were sold well below their street value.

Here’s what we know:  all accomplices were members of the Hellhound gang, all were human, and all had a history of violence against the better angels of society.  I warned the police over 2 weeks ago of Molotov’s movements, but nothing was done because there was no concrete evidence.  13 innocents and 3 assailants died because of this.  The forces of Knight Errant did nothing, in fact they did less than nothing despite the heavily detailed but incomplete information I gave them.

I guess this is what Molotov wanted, to get Eustace’s story out there.  Well congratulations you monster, you won.  But here’s the thing, you don’t get away with the killing of someone so recklessly in both deed and message.  You are going down, Knight Errant has partnered with Wuxing to form a special task force sent out just for you, you special little firebug.  I got your home, your hideout in the Cedar Rim Apartments, and your current hideout in the Hellhound Den.  I’m watching you right now as I type this.  You will not escape The Truth, for it is a fire so pure that it will engulf you and incinerate you until not even ash is left.  You will go out dying in agony or in the deepest pit they can throw you in as a broken man.

I spoke to your sister-in-law, Rachael. She spoke of you in a spiteful fashion usually reserved for the tyrants of history.  She said you defiled Maki Adsida’s memory with your actions, and how she would be ashamed of you and what you have become.  Maki has died a second time.  She would kill herself again without hesitation had she known that the monster that she married bombs and burns innocents in her memory.  So I’ve decided to do something.  You know that picture of you and her that you had in your apartment?  The one on the mantle that I saw the night I went there, the one that was conspicuously missing?  I’ve burned it.  I’ve also destroyed the empty urn you left in her memory after you scattered her ashes.  I’m erasing anything that may associate her to you besides this article.  That will be her legacy with you: nothing.  You are a wretched man who will end up in the annals of history as a monster.  You will not make it out, you will not honor her memory, you will not win.

Come find me, I dare you.

The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.

--  Ernest Hemingway, A Call to Arms  --

 Corp News:

Reflections on the Matrix Services Market

The article is one of a series looking at the current state of individual corporate subsidiaries in the Seattle Metroplex. This particular issue focuses on the Metroplex Matrix Services.

The Matrix Services market is the second largest Market of the Metroplex, right behind media with a value of 219.9¥B. Matrix Services are the life blood of modern society and this life blood is controlled by four megacorporations in Seattle: NeoNET (39.9%), Mitsuhama (36.0%), Horizon (16.7%), and Renraku (7.4%). Matrix Services, unlike Media, has historically been more volatile, with NeoNET viciously attacking Saeder-Krupp’s Matrix division, back in August (See Issue 24) when they still had one, and a flurry of anonymous, not as effective attacks against NeoNET’s Matrix Services two weeks later (See Issue 26). In the months since then, the Matrix Wars seem to have calmed down, but with such an important market sector one never knows what the future will bring.

SSN reached out to NeoNET, Renraku, Mitsuhama, and Horizon for comment on their view of the market, only NeoNET returned any commnent by the time of publication, though if you want a comment by anyone in Matrix Services, it is NeoNET. An executive in NeoNET responded:

Matrix services is a big, boring and, frankly, thankless business. Big, as everyone relies on it and it takes huge capital expenditures to become a significant player. Boring because it generates steady revenues with limited room to grow. Thankless, as customers only remember what company sends the Matrix bill when it stops working for them. Thankless, also, when a longtime customer such as the Seattle Metroplex unfairly terminates a contract. The current state of the market, with two leading companies and two comparatively minor players, reflects the characteristics on which it depends: reliability, to avoid a repeat of the two catastrophic crashes that took place in the last fifty years; resilience, with built-in redundancies; and fairness, as ensured by the monitoring of the recently created Grid Overwatch Division. As a whole, the Matrix services business is second only to Media, which relies heavily on it. Though remarkable for what is seen as just another utility, this fact points to the path for real growth: deliver compelling contents on the Matrix infrastructure. Which is exactly what NeoNET set out to do and why it sponsors events such as the Blast from the Past competition that spotlight the best of both worlds. Coming from the opposite direction, Horizon used the cash generated by its huge Media business to start its in-house Matrix division. Mitsuhama’s big share of the market points to Japan’s long tradition of self-reliance and defiance of foreign meddling. It is difficult to say whether there is more to it for them in the doldrums where they currently are.

Finally, Renraku’s looming presence in Law Enforcement suggests its involvement in both Media and Matrix services may have more to do with surveillance than customer satisfaction. To conclude, NeoNET can be relied on to keep doing its share in preventing a new crash of the Matrix for the foreseeable future and to deliver the best contents on it.

Again, SSN was able to get insight and analysis from one of Seattle’s premier financial analysts, Saeder-Krupp executive Vorack. Gentle readers will be asked to remember the…complicated…relationship Saeder-Krupp and NeoNET have had in the past, especially surrounding Matrix Services:

Vorack: Oh man it’s Matrix time eh, guess its time to ask a simple question. What is the Matrix? The answer is out there, readers, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to. We at SK are no longer in Matrix at all but that is mainly because of one certain corp trying to push us out in particular, but we will talk about that later. First of all we should talk about matrix as a whole, it pretty much connects the entire world and if you don't use the matrix.... well you're a liar. Look at anything and you'll find a link to the matrix in some way. It might be a product that you bought off the matrix, and let’s say you got it physically, well the person you bought it from probably filled out an order and used the matrix to make that initial purchase, and even if they didn't do that, the person who first wanted the product to be made, oh they connected with the producer through it for sure. This little interview, that's able to happen because of the matrix, all the research I do on all the corps and subs, matrix. That advertising Horizon does, oh the matrix was involved in that. You could say we are all tapped into the matrix, even if we don't think about it. As someone who personally taps into it regularly, looking for information I find it kinda weird, since unfortunately, no one can be told what the matrix is. You'll have to see it for yourself, and its something special. [SSN editor: I thought the Matrix was a series of tubes, no?]

So let’s talk about our history in the matrix, about what’s happened to it and what looks like will continue to happen to it. It started off with four corps investing in it, Mitsuhama, NeoNET, Renraku and Horizon. Us here at SK joined in at one point but we were pretty much pushed out by some heavy opposition and completely bought out later on, I swear I’ll go into details about this later. All in all, Matrix has been a safe industry to be in, as profits continue to raise and the market value seems to be constantly rising with very little infighting, well except for what happened to us, but that's another story. The first big event in this industry happened to be SK dipping our toes into the segment, but mainly using it as a platform to show off what we had been working on, show off our products and maybe help recruitment in some way. And I just want it known that SK was the first corp to do this! Matrix had never been used to specifically promote an entire AAA Corporation up to that point, we were trend setters and other companies ended up copying us later on and maybe this is why we were so unjustly targeted, but anyways. Then before we knew it Renraku and Mitsuhama did something massive, something drastic. Clearly Mitsu wanted to be the big boys when it came to Matrix as they traded everything they had in Law and Heavy Industry to Renraku for 40B worth of their Matrix division. (I gotta say this seemed to end up being a good deal for Renraku, they are one of two Corps left in Heavy industry aside from ourselves, and in Law enforcement they are only beaten out by Ares and only by a small amount). All of a sudden it was a competition to see who would be the larger force, was it NeoNET or was it Mitsuhama? NeoNET always seemed to be a bit behind and even to this day they are still playing second to Mitsu. [SSN editor: Fact Check. NeoNET is the current market leader and have been consistently in the Matrix Services market segment.]

I guess this is where I should mention the act that I've been hinting at, the unjust and outrageous attack NeoNET did against our Matrix division. Where NeoNET tried to completely reduce and destroy 100% of our industry all because we defended ourselves from them and perhaps they were jealous. I am happy and proud to say that they were ineffective at doing so and in the end they just hurt themselves. They might have destroyed 67% of our entire Matrix segment but we were able to hold them off and the entire time this transpired, we had a secret going on with their own division. I’ll admit it here for the first time, SSN you are getting one hell of an exclusive in this, I am damn proud to say we had a team of SK workers inside NeoNET's entire matrix R&D crew for well over a month and easily learned their secrets, more than enough to pay for 116% of any damage they ever caused us. The real kicker here is that us at SK apparently traded our 5.7B matrix division (which was mainly valued that high because of the work NeoNET had done and we had taken) to NeoNET for their Robotics segment which was estimated to be worth over 15B. Though I was "occupied" at this time and can’t confirm this. Seems like we clearly pulled ahead as the winners at that one.

One other main event has happened in Matrix, and it happens to feature our good friends over at NeoNET yet again. Two weeks after they attacked us, it seems karma decided to show her fickle head and something happened to them. They were attacked, over and over again and it was glorious. To this day I don't know who did this, I don't know which of the corps decided to stand up against them and in doing so, defend SK in their own way, but I have to say thank you. Be it Renraku our long time allies and friends, Mitsuhama a generally unknown and quiet competitor or maybe even Horizon the Media powerhouse, I send my thanks personally to whoever took NeoNET down a peg and reduced their market value by a noticeable 28% or a large 24B Nuyen. I don't usually condone these sort of attacks, but for this one, you have my respect and my appreciation. So who knows what’s gonna happen with Matrix, which of the two corps, be it NeoNET or Mitsu, stays ahead. There could be more attacks as it seems to have been awhile since the last major event. I know I personally have no idea what will happen. As a whole, SK seems uninterested in rejoining the division, but I would be lying if I didn't say I use Renraku's services for my own needs and I hope they continue to do well.

Vorack broke some interesting news and my own research corroborates that indeed NeoNet’s Matrix Services had been plagued by espionage problems around the time that Vorack claims SK had been spying on NeoNET. As for Vorack’s claims that they had nothing to do with the flurry of attacks that NeoNET suffered two weeks after they attacked SK (it should be noted NeoNET claims that round of attacks were retaliatory for an ealier SK transgression)? Well, maybe they didn’t attack NeoNET or maybe they did. That is something that only the attackers know. That said, will Matrix Services remain quiet? Or might it become the next battleground in the Corporate Wars?

 Features:

Once More 4--(by Breach)

On February 8th, 2029, computer systems around the world began to fail - sometimes spectacularly, actually burning out hardware in the process - as an unknown virus ravaged world networks.  Within months, the Internet - the precursor to our Matrix - lay in ruins, and distrust of communication and computers ran rampant.  Seattle’s Redmond district, once home to the greatest technological companies in the world, was especially ravaged by the virus and the subsequent riots against technology’s masters.  Now, over forty-five  years later, it still has not recovered; it’s hard to believe the Barrens were once one of the richest and most luxurious parts of the city.

The Crash Virus did more than destroy computers, as those computers ran systems that the world depended on. Safety protocols were breached globally, causing outbreaks of once-contained pathogens and experiments in population centers, as well as sabotaging the control systems of the many orbital platforms surrounding the Earth; the direct, immediate death toll of February 8th was in the tens of thousands, with the long-term death toll reaching the millions.  

The United States government organized a response to the virus; a team, dubbed “Echo Mirage”, was formed from leading computer scientists and military cybersecurity specialists.  The team utilized then-revolutionary cyberterminal technology to enter the Internet and computer systems to combat the virus directly in cyberspace.  

They failed completely.

A month later, Echo Mirage was reformed using less conventional expertise; fringe theorists, white-hat hackers, conspiracy nuts and wide-eyed dreamers were recruited instead.  Today, we’d recognize the attributes of most of the people, and it’s widely accepted that Echo Mirage was the first team of “Shadowrunners”.  

Cyberterminal technology continued to advance, and at the end of August, the new Echo Mirage team once again attempted to battle the Virus and save the Internet; and while not a complete failure, they were once again rebuffed by the destructive computer worm.  Four members of the team were killed by lethal biofeedback - destructive impulses sent to their bodies through the ASIST interfaces of their cyberterminals.  

By the end of the year, Echo Mirage has mastered their cyberterminals and discovered new ways to defend against the Virus’s biofeedback, and over the course of the next few years, they actually managed to isolate and contain the Crash Virus.  The Internet never truly recovered, but enough infrastructure was eventually saved to allow the creation of the first Matrix.  

The Corporate Court would spearhead this initiative in 2032, finishing the transition of our communication infrastructure from its government-sponsored beginning to our modern corporate-owned reality.

Questions about history? Ask Breach! breach.ssn@gmail.com

 Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Seattle Street News 43.5, Extra Breaking News: Protest on Saturday

[This is a supplemental Breaking Newsflash]

City News:

Have You Seen Me?: Let They Without SIN Cast the First Stone

Her friends call her Twiggy for her hair, build, and penchant for mod fashion. She is an elf and she is 15 years old. And she went missing last week. There have been a lot of children gone missing recently. But Law Enforcement doesn’t lift a finger. Because the missing children are SINless. 

SIN…the System Identification Number. It was brought into being first in the UCAS in 2036, and everyone else adopted the idea. Nations gave SINs to their citizens. Megacorps, who have become nations themselves, gave SINs to their own citizens. The SIN is assigned to each person in society and you need to have one to be accepted in security systems and government databases and pretty much any computer anywhere that authenticates people’s identities. A SIN identifies a person in the global information system and is attached to every piece of information generated about you, from where you go on the Matrix, if you have cavities, what brand of cigarettes you smoke, what sort of health insurance you have—and note, your health insurance is going to see that you smoke and hold it against you. Your SIN must always be legally be broadcast. So when you are walking down the street, your SINner status is always on display for Law Enforcement or Advertisers to see. It may seem Orwellian, but it puts you in society. If you don’t have a SIN, you are a not a person in society. You are on the edges and in the shadows. You can’t get a job. You can’t buy food. Without your SIN beamed to all, you can’t get into fancy museums. You might be picked up by Law Enforcement for just walking down the street. Some corp types don’t even see you as a person. You do not exist. You are not seen.

If you don't have a SIN, you can’t get a bank account. This means your access to money is precarious. A legal SIN is required for all legal purchases, which means getting food, paying rent, all of that is done illegally. You are at the mercy of slumlords who won’t ask, but who gouge your prices and won’t do anything about the exposed wiring or the lead in the paint. You can’t just go get tickets for the SuperUniverse concert. You can’t buy shoes legally. You can’t get on a plane, because airport security checks your SIN and you can’t get a passport. You can’t take long train trips that pass through different jurisdictions, because there will be border controls…and they check your SIN. Even without the border controls, just buying a bus ticket is hard with no SIN. So your mobility, your ability to leave, to go somewhere else is precarious. You are stuck in the barrens. You need licenses for everything. You need a license to practice magic. You need a license for pepper spray. No SIN? No license. Again, maybe someone will sell you something without a SIN, but if they get caught doing it? They get in trouble.

If you don’t have a SIN, you don’t exist in the system. You can’t go to a legal doctor. Because they check your SIN and neither you nor any of your medical information is in the Global SIN Registry. So if you get sick? Hopefully there is a street doctor out there who’ll treat you…and who is actually a qualified doctor and not just wanting to do unethical testing on people who don’t officially exist so they have no one to complain to. Going to school? You have to have a SIN for that, too. Some underfunded schools in poor neighborhoods will look the other way and let some SINless kids in…but if you are SINless, you can’t get a legal job and you can’t go to college, so many people think, what’s the point?

If you don’t have a SIN, you can’t vote. You aren’t a citizen. You don’t have civil rights. And society doesn’t feel it has any civil responsibilities to you. You know what you also can’t do if you don’t have a SIN? That number that says, “I exist?” You can’t go to Law Enforcement with your child goes missing. Well, you can, but they won’t do anything. You have no number to put in their box. Your child doesn’t exist in their system, so there is no one to look for.

It was only a few years ago that the Mayan Cutter was terrorizing the streets of Seattle. Murdering people. Sorry, not people, SINless. When the first victim turned up in 2969, a homeless Caucasian male elf, Lone Star filed away the report as low priority and didn’t follow up on the matter because that elf had no SIN. The Mayan Cutter killed 12 people and no one cared. Not Lone Star; not Corporate News. The only people who cared were friends and family of those victims…all SINless…and they had nowhere to turn. The 13th victim had a SIN, and then people cared. Then it was on the news and then Law Enforcement took it seriously. Eventually Lone Star lost the Law Enforcement contract and Knight Errant picked it up because they could catch the killer who went on a two-year killing spree. But if the Cutter had stuck to SINless only? Probably nothing would have happened and he’d be killing to this day.

Right now, children are being kidnapped. Our own Vox Umbra has been inundated by reports by SINless parents and family and friends complaining that their 8 year old or 12 year old or 15 year old has vanished. Why are they talking to a street reporter? Because going to Knight Errant results in nothing. Because going to Corporate News results in nothing. These SINless kids don’t have System Identification Numbers. They don’t exist. You can’t go missing if you don’t exist in the first place.

One of those who went missing is Twiggy. And no one is looking for her. No one except our heroes, the shadowrunners. One of our favorite runner teams has taken up the call and will look for these children pro bono through what they are calling the Runners for Runts program. Because no one else will. Because no one else will see her.

But that isn’t enough. We have a new administration and it may be time for change. We should not rely solely on the runners to stand up for us. We must stand up for ourselves as well. I call on all people of good conscious to join a Seattle Street News sponsored protest at Westlake Park this Saturday at noon. We will be seen.  We will pressure Law Enforcement to see us and to protect our children just as they protect the children with SINs. If Law Enforcement continues to let an entire population of people be nothing but prey for the nefarious parts of the Metroplex, then we shall no longer stand for it. Governor Dzhugashvili, DA Oaks, pressure Law Enforcement to give us justice. If Knight Errant won’t do it, pull their contract and put in Law Enforcement who will. Law Enforcement needs to step up their game. Right now they are an embarrassing joke who are criminally negligent.

If we don’t get justice there will be no peace. I say, let those without SIN cast the first stone. We will be seen.

Seattle Street News is an independent activist news source released weekly on Tuesdays or Wednesdays

[Watch CorporateSINs on every Wednesday, 6pm PST or on Youtube at, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h11c7BLFQtc&list=PLHKocVDXoWBtzze1SGGUnU6KB5UFrDLFo]

[srseattlestreetnews]

Our own Vox Umbra delivers another update...and a special call to Shadowrunners.