This is the introduction that should have been at the top of the thread. It wasn't written at the time.

Links to other Altered States material:
Africa in 2032. Tribal spirits, marketplaces for magic, techno-tribalism.
The Destruction of Washington, D.C. The Day the NAN War ended.

###

I'm building Altered States, a Alt-History Technothriller Shadowrun. Let's break that down.

Alt-History: This doesn't occur in the canon Shadowrun timeline. Altered States has its own timeline, with many events that are similar to the canon (such as a VITAS plague) and many others that are wholly new. There are several differences, among them being:

The US still exists (but is almost Balkanized). NAN has collapsed (plus it had different boundaries in America, and never existed in Canada). There was no Resource Rush and no Seretech and Shiawase decisions, so no corporate extraterritoriality. Mexico, India, and Coastal China (the Republic of China) are the top three nations. UGE and Goblinization occurred at the same time in 2011 (an event called the Emergence). No Immortal Elves or "4th World" Great Dragons. No Toxic Shamans. And so forth.

Technothriller: Altered States is a technothriller campaign, best described as "Shadowrun, as written by Tom Clancy". Technothrillers are military- and spy-oriented. They focus on national clashes, espionage, special forces units, and bleeding edge developments. James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Evelyn Salt (from Salt) are all inspirations (as well as Clancy novels, obviously).

Player characters are specially trained agents of the government, instead of criminals. Other than that, it's pure Shadowrun.

Stealing data, blackmail, wetworks, destroying facilities, infiltrating installations, extracting people, and all the other Shadowrun goodness we've come to know and love. Instead of breaking into a Renraku gene lab, you're breaking into an Aztlan air force base.

Many of the changes in the history of the campaign are to support the themes of the campaign (countries instead of corporations) and to develop some aspects of the setting more than in the official material (such as the alt-VITAS post, above).

Shadowrun: This is a cyberfantasy setting, just like Shadowrun's. It has hermetic mages and shamans, paranatural creatures, and Orks, Trolls, Dwarves, and Elves. It has hacking, rigging, and cyberware. It is still Man meets Magic and Machine.

It isn't a -punk setting, and draws inspiration from other sources. But it is definitely Shadowrun, though different than the canon.

As I finish materials, I hope to post them here (and, indeed, have been doing so for the last couple of days). Any comments or ideas are welcome.

# # #

And the VITAS writeup itself.

I'm putting together some campaign support materials for my alt-history technothriller Shadowrun campaign. The following is a second draft writeup of VITAS, annotated in Shadowrun style (though not by the usual gang of criminal lowlifes). Apologies for length.

EDIT: This should have been much shorter. To compensate, I've put additional information—the classic Shadowrun-style comments—in spoiler tags. This should reduce the info overload.

Those who want to read the original article can, those looking for the details in the comments can do that, as well. Apologies for those who smacked too hard into the wall of text.

* * *

###Classified###

Spoiler

“De-Federalization; Causes and Consequences”
Task Group Aztlan
The Office for Strategic Analysis
24 June, 2032

> The current internal and external political and military crises are linked by a common chain of causes: VITAS - The Collapse - The Awakening - The NAN War - Defederalization - The Long Depression. The military dis-symmetry between Aztlan and the United States is a result of these events.

If the current ceasefire is broken (and projections indicate an 85% likelihood within the next 2 years), that vulnerability means the United States, in all probability, will not survive the ensuing war. Some parts will be annexed by Aztlan, the rest will become satellite states dominated by same.

Our purpose is to break this chain of events.
- The Director

File #001 - VITAS Plague (Annotated)

--begin file--
Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome (VITAS)
Source: The American Encyclopedia, 2021 Online Edition. Dr. William Kohl, MD; Pathologist, USAMRIID.

Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome (VITAS) was a deadly viral epidemic that spread world-wide in 2010. The disease was the most severe pandemic in human history, killing approximately 20% of the world’s population through direct effects (1.38 billion), and another 25% through secondary effects (such as famine, civil unrest, and consequent diseases). VITAS caused permanent allergies even in survivors, which prompted the development of advanced hypo-allergenic materials. Political after-effects of the disease included a global economic depression and the Balkanization of many large countries (including The People’s Republic of China and The United States of America).

Outbreak

VITAS began in July of 2010 in a remote region of India, near China and Burma, and spread rapidly into all three countries. The first deaths from the disease occurred 1-2 weeks later, thereafter escalating rapidly in number. The mounting death toll in the region prompted healthcare workers to notify the World Health Organization (WHO) of the possible existence of a new and more deadly strain of the seasonal flu. (At this time, neither Burma nor China had reported any deaths from VITAS, though later investigation revealed significant casualties in both countries, concurrent to the deaths in India.)

A month after the first casualties, Dr. Prasad Kapoor of India’s National Institute of Pathology in New Delhi first identified VITAS as a novel plague, unrelated to the flu virus. A report detailing his findings, and blood samples from infected patients, were provided to WHO and the Centers for Disease Control, and work on isolation and gene sequencing began immediately.

Dr. Kapoor’s report prompted the first widespread media coverage of the virus, under the names “The New Delhi Plague” or “The New Delhi Flu”. The Indian government began efforts to contain the virus, but by the time of Kapoor’s report it had already spread to Australia, Egypt, the United Kingdom, and Panama.

The disease spread quickly, and in almost all cases went untreated. Potential treatments for the disease existed, such as steroids, but there is no recorded instance of them being used.

Spoiler

> Due to its unique characteristics (many of which we still don’t understand today), VITAS moved faster than anyone could predict or cope with medically. We didn’t treat, because we couldn’t treat.

Identification of the symptoms and progression took a year. Conclusive identification of the pathogen (the first step towards developing a diagnostic test) took another year and gene sequencing another six months. Even the name “VITAS” wasn’t coined until two years after the the initial outbreak (by a pair of researchers from USAMRIID).

By the time all this was completed, the epidemic had long since burnt out. During the epidemic, those of us “on the ground” just didn’t know what the disease did, how it killed, or how to treat it.

VITAS is considered the modern Black Death for good reason: we were just as vulnerable to VITAS as Europe was to the Black Death. No prevention, no treatment, no cure.
- Broke-Down Back-Country Doc

Medical Effects

VITAS was fairly unique among infectious diseases, as it had no observable primary symptoms. Its only effect was to induce new allergies in infected patients. All other symptoms came from anaphylaxis, their own immune system’s reaction to the newly-developed allergy. Observed anaphylaxis symptoms matched those of natural allergies, and included mild reactions (syncope or loss of consciousness, rashes, shortness of breath) as well as lethal manifestations (myocardial infarction or asphyxiation).

Spoiler

> VITAS was wholly unique, in fact. No other disease prompted allergic—Type 1 Hypersensitivity—responses by the immune system, even indirectly. We know it caused allergies by modifying some part of the immune system, but which parts and how it did so are unknown.

Hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow that produce white blood cells? The white blood cells themselves, specifically mast cells and basophils? We can only speculate.
- Asclepian

> “Wholly unique.” No other natural disease operates like VITAS did. This strongly argues that VITAS wasn’t natural.
- Paranoid w/ Enemies

> Whose? Everyone got hit, everyone died at pretty much the same rate. 2010’s genetic engineering was insufficient to the task. It had to be natural.
- Lost Cause

> Or paranatural. There are a lot of unknowns in biology and medicine, a lot of mysteries and idiosyncrasies. And that was before magic entered the picture.
- Atlantean in Exile

Most people never develop allergies severe enough to be life-threatening. Prior to VITAS, only .5% to 2% of the population experienced anaphylaxis during their lifetime.

In contrast, all those infected with the disease became sensitive to a few allergens, and many became allergic to a multitude of allergens. (Common allergens being, e.g., wheat or milk, metal or vinyl, and pet dander or dust mite excretions.) The danger to specific individuals varied according to which allergens they became sensitive to and how severe their anaphylaxis symptoms were.

Spoiler

> Something not mentioned, but important: these allergies were acquired for life. The virus changed the host’s body so you became allergic, and the allergies stuck around after the disease was cured.

(There’s a reason hypoallergenic materials became a boom industry. It wasn’t just for the sake of us metahumans.)

Talk to anyone who survived the plague (70% of those who caught it survived), and ask them what’s it’s like to be allergic to half a dozen random things, like metal or vinyl. Know how many things are made out of metal? Imagine that every time you touched a spoon or a car you got a rash, or fainted, or had an asthma attack.

Plus, each time you’re exposed, there’s a good chance your reaction becomes more severe. Touch metal too much, and you can find your windpipe closing or your heart stopping.

VITAS is still killing people, decades after the disease itself went away.
- Ork Rights Crusader

> A classified Federal Task Force with multi-national participation? Glad I don’t have to police it.
- El Tee Charlie Six

> Above your pay grade. Aztlan has numerous enemies, and many have a seat at this table. Even those from former US states.
- The Director

Transmission and Progression

VITAS was an air-born contagion, transferred by bodily fluids (sneezing, speaking, coughing) and dust. Outside the body, it could survive for up to a day, in dust or on surfaces.

The disease was highly contagious. In the United States alone, it is estimated that 80-90% of the population were exposed, and 75% of the total population developed the disease.

Once contracted, the disease has a latent period of 12-24 hours, then an asymptomatic period of 3-6 days, during which the patient is infected but not symptomatic.

The first symptoms were extremely mild, consisting of a light rash, shortness of breath, or lightheadedness. Severe symptoms, present in 25%-30% of all patients, usually began 12-24 hours later. In most cases, VITAS infections lasted 5-6 weeks from the onset of first frank symptoms. During this time, those with mild or moderate symptoms were only sporadically symptomatic.

Spoiler

> The contagiousness of the virus and this progression gave VITAS its characteristic “death spike”. The disease spread quickly, as those carrying it didn’t appear to be ill. (In both the asymptomatic and symptomatic period.) Once a person became severely symptomatic, they usually died within a day.

So the progress of the disease was a fast, quiet spread through the population, followed by a quick burst of deaths, then a slower spread from those with intermittent symptoms. The disease hit hard, killing 20% of the total population, but after the sudden wave of deaths, the disease seemed to go away. Many otherwise uninfected people contracted the disease from apparently healthy people.
-Asclepian

> So where did it go? Like a lot of lethal pandemics, it just burned itself out. It spread too fast, killed too often. Evolutionarily speaking, it was just too vicious to survive. Thank God.
- Global Anarchist

Global Effects

VITAS transformed global society. It caused economic and civil disruption on a scale never before seen. It ignited civil and regional wars and lead to the creation of several new countries as larger nations Balkanized. Trans-national bodies, such as the United Nations, ceased to exist as did nearly all multi-national alliances, like the Northern Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Economic devastation lead to the Second Long Depression, and a huge increase in global poverty levels. Life expectancy, standard of living, and literacy all tumbled, in many cases to pre-Twentieth Century levels.

Cultural changes were widespread, in some instances causing a resurgence of traditional culture, in others radical changes away from pre-VITAS cultural norms. Religious observation generally increased, which had a significant impact on the later Awakening of magic.

Debate on the full impact of VITAS continues in academic circles. Most agree that a full accounting of its effects won’t be possible for decades, perhaps centuries.

Spoiler

> I guess this is where I come in. So far as vague generalities go, I have little to add to the above. Later, when we get into specifics, I’ll have more to say.

As for VITAS, Doc is right: VITAS was a modern Black Death, only more lethal and global in reach. BD caused massive political and cultural upheavals, so did VITAS. (See vague generalities above.)

For the United States, it lead directly to defederalization, effectively the same as Balkanization without the honesty of admitting it. Thus our current “internal and external political and military crises.”

The current global climate was shaped by two events: VITAS and the Awakening. And we haven’t seen the end of either’s effects.
- PoliSci Perpetrator

--end file--
###Classified###

Do you mind giving a gloss on what exactly is alt-history about this?

What I see is a detailed breakdown on a dark corner of existing shadowrun history, the VITAS plague, and that's about it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about filling in the details with long and frequently pointless ramblings. I do it all the time myself, but I'm having a hard time reconciling the thread title with its contents.

Quote from: Spike;561001Do you mind giving a gloss on what exactly is alt-history about this?

I probably should have made my first post an overview, instead of jumping directly to details. My mistake.

(Also, I worried about the post being too long. I should have listened, and broken it up into two separate posts, a day apart. Again, my mistake.)

It's an alt-Shadowrun history because much of what happens in core Shadowrun (Resource Rush, Shiawase and Seretech) didn't happen in this timeline, and much of what did happen, happened differently.

The year is 2032, and cyberware, the VR Net, and magic are all more primitive than in Shadowrun itself. Even so, they're the cutting edge, classified developments that technothrillers require (like the silent drive from Hunt for Red October).

Shadowrun is cyberpunk, and superpower megacorps are a necessary genre trope. "Altered States" isn't cyberpunk, it's a cyberfantasy technothriller.

Which means a focus on military issues, national and racial issues, and intelligence and special ops forces PC's (instead of criminal PC's). Same shadowrunning adventures, but instead of breaking into a Renraku gene lab, you break into a Tir Air Force Base.

The history of SR leads right into the play style of SR. So, the history of "Altered States" has been changed, to do the same.

AS's world was almost identical to our own, the first major point of departure is VITAS itself. And it leads to the political and military situation of AS.

Quote from: Spike;561001Don't get me wrong, I'm all about filling in the details with long and frequently pointless ramblings.

I see why this could look pointless. The pandemic is an important part of worldbuilding, as the setting's timeline starts here. The political, cultural, and military situation in the game comes from this event, and consequences.

As an example: Any character 27 or older lived through the plague, and remember something of it. It, and its after-effects, are the defining crisis of their lives. As Vietnam was to the Baby Boomers, VITAS and the Collapse were to PC's.

That has an effect on the game world and characters. And getting the details of the disease right, means I can get what comes after right.

It's not an entertaining post, was too long, and lacked an introduction. I apologize for the infodump.


EDIT: To address the info-dumpiness, I've added spoiler tags to the original post, so the original document (the encyclopedia entry) can be clearly read. Full apologies for those who smacked too hard into the wall of text.

I'm not really getting much of an 'alt history' vibe off this myself, possibly because you've mostly pushed the clock back, and the future history events you've unwritten (resource rush etc) don't really figure much into most people's conception of Shadowrun.

Regarding 'pointless': The thrust of your entire OP could be summed up in: THe VITAS Plague Hit MUCH HARDER in this timeline.

Anything beyond that is extra.  Calling it pointless seems a bit harsh, though I do mention its a self-depreciating statement as much as anything.  Sadly, almost no one I know reads the opening history of Shadowrun, and pretty much everyone agrees that it is far too long and covers far too many trivial details to be of any real value to the game... its in the way. I say this having personally read the entire chapter in three different editions.


Back to your setting: I assume that since you are scaling back the time line, and subsequently the cyberware that you are also scaling back the magic?  Circa 2032 I'd suspect an utter lack of Phys-adepts (They were supposed to be quite the new thing when introduced in the original Street Magic for 2050 as I recall...).  THere is some unfortunately necessary balancing going on there, which is a little meta-gamey, but as I said: Necessary.

I am curious to hear more about this. It seems you want to get away from the 'amoral mercenary terrorist' aspect of Shadowrun, but that doesn't necessitate moving away from the 2050-2070 timeframe so much as just altering the status quo.  Rolling back cybernetics (and presumably magic) seems like a bit heavy handed, so unless you are massively wedded to the Shadowrun system I'm not entirely sure why you'd do it in "Shadowrun' instead of a system that already delivers the play-style you are looking for in a 'shadowrun historical' setting?   Hate to pimp GURPS here, but if you want a grittier, less over the top system for espionage in a near future, it does seem to fit the bill (with on board balanced support for magic, none the less!), while requiring roughly the same prep time.

Quote from: Spike;561046I'm not really getting much of an 'alt history' vibe off this myself,

That's because you're sane. The first post doesn't contain any info about the differences (aside from some hints here and there). Even so, by 2032, things look very different from the canon Shadowrun:

The US still exists, NAN has collapsed (and had different boundaries in America, plus it never existed in Canada), Mexico, India, and Coastal China (RoC) are the top three nations, no corporate extraterritoriality, UGE and Goblinization occurred at the same time in 2011 (an event called the Emergence), no Immortal Elves or "4th World" Great Dragons, no Toxic Shamans, and more.

A lot of differences that no reasonable person could infer by reading the original message.

Quote from: Spike;561046almost no one I know reads the opening history of Shadowrun, and pretty much everyone agrees that it is far too long and covers far too many trivial details to be of any real value to the game...

The thrust of your entire OP could be summed up in: THe VITAS Plague Hit MUCH HARDER in this timeline. Anything beyond that is extra.

Here's the thing: the history of Shadowrun is needlessly detailed, in the base book. There's a lot of stuff that happen, but which have no other real effects.

Take VITAS. It kills a quarter of the globe (25%), yet it causes... little to no after-effects. You can read in some sourcebook about Madagascar, but otherwise there's no real effort to tie it into the history, to show how it matters to the setting. Maybe because, in the end, it doesn't. And there's several things like that.

For my campaign, I'm doing it differently. VITAS is the kickoff point for the campaign's history. And even though it isn't immediately apparent from the original post, the information therein leads directly to the campaign.

The history matters to the campaign. It's not something I expect players to read, but I need it for my world-building.

(Here's an example, if you want to read it. It's hidden for size purposes. Click at your own risk.)

Spoiler

VITAS kills 20% of the US. There's a general breakdown in society (something like the first season of Jericho). The economy vaporizes (5-digit inflation, companies out of business, banking system collapses) and most governments agencies collapse. The US military is called in to restore order.

The military starts an emergency program to secure supplies for itself, like food and fuel. When they have a surplus, they print ration coupons for their excess, and use it to pay people. These coupons become a de facto second currency, to replace the grossly inflated dollar.

The Guerilla War with NAN happens. The military fights back, and is being defeated. States are placed in charge of printing ration coupons; effectively each state prints its own money.

The Guerilla War is lost, the tax base no longer exists, and the Federal Government has almost no income. Government agencies remain shut down.

Plus, people are a bit peeved over being abandoned just after VITAS, so view the central government with great resentment and cynicism. They turn to their own states.

State governments take over many duties of the Federal Government. The US has become "de-federalized", reverting to the very weak government of the Articles of Confederation. (Effectively Balkanization, in all but name.)

As a result, 40 separate legal and regulatory schemes. 40 different dollars, all of which vary in value against each other. (Though currency blocs develop later.) In effect, 40 separate countries.

A global economic depression hits, but some countries come out of it. Usually, those who restored order quickly. One of whom is Mexico.

Mexico has one country, one currency, one legal and regulatory scheme. And a governing general who is harsh on crime and corruption. They emerge from the Depression in the late teens, and over the next 14 years become one of the top three countries in the world, in terms of economy and military.

The US, due to "defederalization", stays mired in a depression until 2032. It is weak economically and militarily.

Yucatan rebels sieze Mexico City and rename the country Aztlan. They nationalize... everything and combine it into Aztechnology. They attack the NAN (and California and Texas), seizing New Mexico and Arizona (the Pueblo-Navajo Coalition).

The NAN and the California and Texas armed forces push back, and eject Aztec forces from their territories. A cease fire is declared in 2029. In the wake of the war, the NAN collapses.

Aztlan turns its attentions south and conquers Central America, eventually seizing the Panama Canal. It begins to reinforce its North American borders with troops. Its hostile intentions are clear to everyone.

During the next three years, a lone government agency, the Office for Strategic Analysis (OSA), tries desperately to contrive a means for the US to survive.

Enter the PC's.

Like actual history, each event causes the next, and each event can be traced backwards to a previous cause, eventually to VITAS or the Awakening. It's intended to be a tight alt-history, where things are mentioned because they matter.

Little of that is apparent from this first post (though the Director talks about a "chain of events"). The above hidden bit is part of that chain, the most important part for the purposes of the campaign.

And it all happens because of VITAS and the Awakening.

Quote from: Spike;561046I assume that since you are scaling back the time line, and subsequently the cyberware that you are also scaling back the magic?

Yes. Why do it?

Because it's not a commonly seen time in cyberpunk literature. Cybertech is usually a pretty mature technology. Even in Deus Ex: Human Revolution, it's publicly known and reliable, if a bit controversial.

I like having it (and advanced magic) be classified, cutting edge tools that this one group of special ops soldiers has access to. It's different from the norm.

Other hackers lack DNI. PC's can have it. Other spec ops lack artificial muscle implants ("threaded musculature"). PC's can have it.

Though physadepts exist, no one realizes they're a thing. Such people seem to be just... tough fighters. The first physadept training program is instituted by DARPA and used by OSA.

So all these things are bleeding edge, unique abilities PC's (and perhaps other secret agents) can have and no one else gets.

Balance between cyber and magic is necessary. That's something I have to address.

As for a rules system, I think I'm going with Savage Worlds. The group has used it in the past, and it includes rules for pretty much everything I want to use. (Some exceptions, obviously.)

Quote from: Spike;561046It seems you want to get away from the 'amoral mercenary terrorist' aspect of Shadowrun, but that doesn't necessitate moving away from the 2050-2070 timeframe so much as just altering the status quo.

Doing something different from the typical Shadowrun criminal lowlifes is indeed the point. The reason the timeframe is 2032 is so the technology can be primitive and newly developed.

My players can play only 4-5 times in a month, then we skip a month or two. So, the campaign is going to be episodic. After the first series, I'm going to advance the timeline by 2-3 years for the next, and show the effects of their actions.

Maybe they stop Aztlan, but America breaks apart. Maybe they re-federalize the country. Maybe Aztlan wins. Their actions shape what happens (the entire goal of OSA in the first place).

Plus history keeps happening, and technology and magic advances. DNI, once classified, are now public knowledge, but very expensive. The PC's have access to better ones. Similar things happen in other areas.

(EDIT: CRK's point in the VR thread about rebuilding computers around VR concepts could be another area of change. Computers move away from nearly-Internet, more towards an SR Matrix idea.)

After each series, jump forward another few years. Gradually, the technological level (and time frame) of 2050 can be reached. Magic and cyberware is mature. And the PC's have influenced the shape of the campaign world.

I just like that idea.

What was VITAS like for people living through it?

VITAS, when it kills, is a sudden killer. A person is doing what they always do, working at a bank, driving a bus, walking their dog. Then, for no apparent reason at all, they begin to cough or choke, or have sudden heart pains. After a few minutes, they just die.

Out of the blue. For no reason at all.

You're at a bank, flirting with the pretty teller. She starts to scream, and her lips turn blue. She falls to the ground, and by the time the manager has reached her, she's dead. Any nobody can say why.

You're on a bus, going to work. The driver begins to choke, then falls unconscious. The bus crashes into oncoming traffic. If you survive the sudden impact—being thrown against seats, the ceiling, or other passengers—you find out the driver had a heart attack, for no apparent reason.

You're out for a smoke. The nice elderly lady who lives above you is coming in, leading her Lhasa Apso. Yappy dog, but harmless. You pass a few words. She smiles, but as soon as she breathes the smoke, she begins to suffocate. Her throat swells. You took CPR, you begin chess compressions and mouth to mouth. Her throat is sealed, and she suffocates despite all you can do. For no apparent reason.

That's how VITAS kills. Like a bolt of lightning out of a clear blue sky. No cause that can be predicted, no reason that an autopsy can confirm.

And this begins to happen in LA, New York, Seattle. 1 out of 5 people begin to just drop dead.

Rich and poor, white, black, asian, and hispanic, rural and city dwellers. Everyone died.

And it goes on for two weeks. "The Red Days."

You can't predict it, prevent it, or or protect against it. So, in many cases, you either flee or lock yourself up. You grab supplies, get a gun or other weapon, and quarantine yourself behind closed doors.

You got a job? F*** the job. You've got a family.

Some people buy those masks, hoping they'll protect against whatever's out there. Some people buy megavitamins or get a prescription for antibiotics. They take both, in massive doses. It doesn't help.

Nothing helps.

That was VITAS. And it did a number on just about everything.

This sounds very interesting, great job. I think if I were going to pick a system for this it'd be The Company (Openquest-based BRP) with RQ-style magic systems and a cyberware sub-system tacked on. Savage Worlds will be good too though.

Your premise sounds kinda like a Shadowrun (urban fantasy) version of Corporation, only with the countries replacing the Corporations.

Looking forward to reading more about it.

Quote from: Sigmund;561481This sounds very interesting, great job.

Looking forward to reading more about it.

Thanks. I hope to post bits and pieces as I finish them.

I've got a writeup of the Office for Strategic Analysis (the PC's patron), Small Magics of Shadowrun (some thinking I did about the very first manifestations of the Awakening), and a post about the Collapse.

None are as long as the VITAS article above, and when I can get them revised, I'll post.

Quote from: Sigmund;561481Your premise sounds kinda like a Shadowrun (urban fantasy) version of Corporation, only with the countries replacing the Corporations.

I don't know from Corporation (though I did just browse the website). It seems like the game involves Agents (who are sorta like Shadowrunners), in a Tranhumanist (and non-fantasy) setting. Looks like it could be cool.

For my part, I've tended to describe Altered States as "Shadowrun, as written by Tom Clancy". James Bond, Jason Bourne, Evelyn Salt (from Salt) are all inspirations (as well as Clancy novels, obviously).

Espionage, intrigue, wetworks, special forces operations. All the good stuff in regular Shadowrun, just in a different context. I think it could be cool.

The following is information about the patron of the PC's, the secretive Office for Strategic Analysis (OSA).

###

The Office for Strategic Analysis is an intelligence, research, and special operations directorate. In 2032, it is the only US intelligence service still functioning.

OSA was founded to predict future trends, and develop plans to address them. Gradually it shifted to dealing with the predicted crises as well.

Lead by the enigmatic Director, the OSA has a small group of highly trained agents, divided into Special Task Squads, that travel the globe protecting the interests of the nearly-Balkanized United States of America. Though the agency's focus is world-wide, the most critical oncoming crisis is the looming war with Aztlan. The agency predicts a war with former Mexico within the next two years, a war the US cannot survive.

History

In 2010, just after the Red Days began, a Pentagon planning group met with the stated purpose of either preventing or recovering from the kind of chaos that followed VITAS as it spread across the globe. It was given the unwieldy name of the Emergency Military Supplies Acquisition Program (EMSAP). EMSAP developed the redeployment plan, a plan to restore infrastructure, and the commodity rationing plan that provided much of America food, power, and warmth throughout the last few months of 2010 and nearly all of 2011.

Reclamation, as the effort became known, was transferred to state authority in Fall of 2011, just after Emergence, as the military became embroiled in fighting the NAN War. Anti-insurgency units, recalled from Afghanistan and Iraq, had been key in Reclamation, and those units formed the backbone of the Rocky Mountain assault forces. They also suffered the highest casualties.

During the conflict, EMSAP itself coordinated with various governors to keep the front-line troops supplied. As supplies of key parts ran low, they began the effort to retrieve stores from Diego Garcia, Germany, and surviving supply caches in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After the Night of Ghosts and Terror in late 2012, the President negotiated the Treaty of Denver, and the surrender to the NAN forces. In the aftermath, the impoverished Federal government was forced to demobilize the national military structure, gutted by the war. Responsibility for maintaining military forces fell on state governments, and many cashiered soldiers and officers joined the National Guard and state militias.

EMSAP transitioned into a purely predictive role, providing incredibly accurate strategic, economic, and political forecasts for governors and the President. It was during this time that the mysterious Director came to command EMSAP. Under his auspices it became the OSA, the Office for Strategic Analysis.

(continued...)

Added a real introduction to the top of the thread. For the purposes of clarity.

Seems quite well thought out and quite cool.  

I will comment (as I've been delving into the Scottish Enlightenment recently myself) that the impact on history of major events is often quite different than one would expect at first blush.  Forex: the SE grew out of the educational programs put forth by the restrictive calvanist Kirk, as well as the end of the whole 'Scottish Liberty' when they signed on to the Union of England and Scotland.  It gets quite a bit messier than that, but you'd expect 'Independence' and a more tolerant church to lead to a great intellectual modernization.

Quote from: Spike;561851Seems quite well thought out and quite cool.

Thanks. I'm trying to think through things. If it turns out it'll make me a happy DM.

Quote from: Spike;561851I will comment (as I've been delving into the Scottish Enlightenment recently myself) that the impact on history of major events is often quite different than one would expect at first blush.

I think you're correct. To quote someone rephrasing JM Keynes: "The unexpected always happens; the inevitable, never."

The Law of Unintended Consequences rules human endeavors. And I hope to include that in the history.

For example: During Reclamation the military introduced rationing coupons, as a way to recruit skilled civilian workers back to, for example, power plants. A reasonable measure, given the times.

Yet those coupons became a second currency, and indirectly contributed to the defederalization of the US, something no one could have predicted.

There's some other twists and turns buried in my notes. I've done my best to make it feel like real history, even if its all made up.

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;561548I've got a writeup of the Office for Strategic Analysis (the PC's patron), Small Magics of Shadowrun (some thinking I did about the very first manifestations of the Awakening), and a post about the Collapse.

None are as long as the VITAS article above, and when I can get them revised, I'll post.

Cool, look forward to 'em.

QuoteI don't know from Corporation (though I did just browse the website). It seems like the game involves Agents (who are sorta like Shadowrunners), in a Tranhumanist (and non-fantasy) setting. Looks like it could be cool.

Yep, your write-up made me think of it mainly, I think, because like the agents, the PCs have access to tech and equipment (and magic) that average folks or even average soldiers don't.

QuoteFor my part, I've tended to describe Altered States as "Shadowrun, as written by Tom Clancy". James Bond, Jason Bourne, Evelyn Salt (from Salt) are all inspirations (as well as Clancy novels, obviously).

Espionage, intrigue, wetworks, special forces operations. All the good stuff in regular Shadowrun, just in a different context. I think it could be cool.

Espionage is one of my fav genres, and combining it with SR (one of my fav takes on cyberpunk) is just awesome. Wish I could play in your game

The following is information about the patron of the PC's, the secretive Office for Strategic Analysis (OSA).

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The Office for Strategic Analysis is an intelligence, research, and special operations directorate. In 2032, it is the only US intelligence service still functioning.

OSA was founded to predict future trends, and develop plans to address them. Gradually it shifted to dealing with the predicted crises as well.

Lead by the enigmatic Director, the OSA has a small group of highly trained agents, divided into Special Task Squads, that travel the globe protecting the interests of the nearly-Balkanized United States of America. Though the agency's focus is world-wide, the most critical oncoming crisis is the looming war with Aztlan. The agency predicts a war with former Mexico within the next two years, a war the US cannot survive.

History

In 2010, just after the Red Days began, a Pentagon planning group met with the stated purpose of either preventing or recovering from the kind of chaos that followed VITAS as it spread across the globe. It was given the unwieldy name of the Emergency Military Supplies Acquisition Program (EMSAP). EMSAP developed the redeployment plan, a plan to restore infrastructure, and the commodity rationing plan that provided much of America food, power, and warmth throughout the last few months of 2010 and nearly all of 2011.

Reclamation, as the effort became known, was transferred to state authority in Fall of 2011, just after Emergence, as the military became embroiled in fighting the NAN War. Anti-insurgency units, recalled from Afghanistan and Iraq, had been key in Reclamation, and those units formed the backbone of the Rocky Mountain assault forces. They also suffered the highest casualties.

During the conflict, EMSAP itself coordinated with various governors to keep the front-line troops supplied. As supplies of key parts ran low, they began the effort to retrieve stores from Diego Garcia, Germany, and surviving supply caches in Afghanistan and Iraq.

After the Night of Ghosts and Terror in late 2012, the President negotiated the Treaty of Denver, and the surrender to the NAN forces. In the aftermath, the impoverished Federal government was forced to demobilize the national military structure, gutted by the war. Responsibility for maintaining military forces fell on state governments, and many cashiered soldiers and officers joined the National Guard and state militias.

EMSAP transitioned into a purely predictive role, providing incredibly accurate strategic, economic, and political forecasts for governors and the President. It was during this time that the mysterious Director came to command EMSAP. Under his auspices it became the OSA, the Office for Strategic Analysis.

(continued...)

Mission and Organization

The OSA has a reputation for uncannily accurate predictions about the future. No one knows what precise methodologies its analysts use. Rumors variously cite Artificial Intelligences, powerful divination magics, or complex sociological algorithms. (Alternately, psychic visions and alien visitors are common node-talk.) Collectively, OSA analysts are referred to as “The Oracles”.

Though the OSA provides reports to state governors (through intermediary organizations), its primary focus is to serve as the long-term strategic planning office of the Federal government, tasked with identifying emerging threats and neutralizing them. The Director reports directly to the President, no other individual has jurisdiction or oversight of its operations.

The CIA collapsed in 2010, along with nearly all the Federal government. In 2016, OSA began a foreign intelligence program, to gather information from the most likely strategic threats, including Mexico, China, and India. It soon expanded those efforts world-wide. The first regional Task Groups were founded during this period. The OSA is the only foreign intelligence service of the defederalized United States, replacing the CIA entirely.

The OSA began working closely with DARPA in 2019, providing the fruits of its industrial espionage to the research directorate, and testing and deploying DARPA’s advanced tactical and intelligence concepts (such as the semi-autonomous Expert System Drones that patrolled the NAN border). DARPA had transitioned into joint technological and magical research, and the OSA proved adept at identifying fruitful avenues of research and developing practical applications of same. The world’s first physical adept training program began at DARPA and came to fruition under OSA tutelage.

OSA began deploying special forces units in 2021, using them to help shape events in many key hotspots. They served as advisors to the Eastern Alliance during its war with the Holy Islamic Caliphate, and were suspected of the assassinations of key HIC leaders, including Turk general Asil Kaya (called “The Demon of Athens”). OSA forces operated with Indian units in the anarchic Pushtun areas of former Pakistan, helped secure Kurdistan against deserting HIC units, and worked with Israeli forces in former Syria and Iran, during the breakup of the HIC.

After the conquest of the Pueblo-Navajo Coalition in 2029, Task Group Aztlan became the primary focus of the small agency. TG-Aztlan has developed and deployed technology unknown to the rest of the world, including the Direct Neural Interface and working cybernetic implants. Novel magical weapons and countermeasures are also a key focus for TG-A.

Within the last year (2031) TG-A has increased its recruitment efforts, bringing into the OSA skilled soldiers, police officers, magicians, and other prospects from across North America and forming them into small Special Task Squads, trained in espionage and special ops. The looming war with Aztlan has focused the efforts of the Office, and the Director is determined to win the war at all costs.

Funding: As with the rest of the greatly reduced Federal government, the OSA is funded by tariffs and fees (as the Federal Income Tax has proven difficult to reinstate). It receives a disproportionate share of Federal funds, something of a sore spot with surviving Federal agencies.

Each President has continued funding the agency despite complaints, as each has relied heavily on its accurate forecasts and effective and spare use of force. No other agency could replace the OSA, and no President has ever tried. The Director has survived four Administrations, and looks likely to survive many more.