Felt like I'd cross post this here and open myself up to ridicule for my utterly naive and unacademic view on land ownership as presented. Let the mocking commence!


The concept of Land Ownership is an old one. Despite the long years of tradition behind it, however, it remains a somewhat controversial one as well. A stereotypical example of this debate is the old 'barb wire wars' of the American West, where Farmers and Cattlemen warred over wether or not the ranges were free, or if the farmer could lay claim to fallow feilds. Another is the traditional view of the nomadic tribes of Native Americans, who thought, as most Nomadic peoples do, that no one could 'own' land.

They have a point, of course. In Lone Wolf and Cub a Japanese saying was revealed to me. 'Half mat seated, full mat sleeping, fist full of rice." By thise they mean that no matter how powerful and rich a man is, he can only really claim the space he occupies and can only eat so much food.  

But what does this all mean for Shadowrun? How is it relevant?

It is of paramount relavence for the Shadowrun setting. Consider: The NAN used, in addition to a successful guerilla war backed by magic, the idea that their 'lands' had been stolen from them and they were simply reclaiming what was theirs by right.  This had a massive effect on the geopolitical landscape that, by rights, is still unsettled in the setting to some degree.

Yet, with equal relevance: The elves of the NA Tir took Oregon by force, pushing south to Mount Shasta, where, if I recall my lore correctly, Hestaby said 'um... no.', and ended their push for lands. Now, technically, the Tir is part of the NAN by virtue of the Salish-Shide council, but in reality, the Elves merely took land that didn't really belong to them, by virtue of force.

Now, as I stated in the 'Trolls' thread, we can go back endlessly through history and find all manner of people and nations that have lost 'their land' to some conquerer.  By some lights the current Israeli/Palestinian conflict is unimportant if some group claiming descent from the Canaanite shows up and says 'Hey! It was ours FIRST', as absurd as it may be.  

Now, from a purely practical standpoint, land only truly belongs, aside from legal fiction, to the people using it 'right now'. USING it, mind you. Simply owning it, and fencing it in, is not important.

This brings us to the truly relevant, rather than incidentally relevant, portion of the post.

Trolls.

Let us review the facts: Trolls are massive. On the order of twice as large as a big human or an average orc, though not quite twice as tall. They need, therefore, twice as much space to be remotely comfortable, their houses and even sidewalks must be twice as big. No one is providing these things for Trolls, not in any meaningful way.

Concurrently, there are also two massively lawless, ownerless chunks of real estate in the Seattle metroplex. You might know them as 'The barrens'.

True, the land IS occupied. But there are a lot of trolls out there, many of the already IN the barrens. And coincidentally, trolls are worth two or three times their numbers in a fight, possible more if limited to scavanged melee weapons and light pistols.

What happens when a hundred, maybe two hundred trolls stomp into a 'neighborhood' in the barrens and order everyone else out? What happens when they tear down existing structures and ruins and begin building 'troll sized' accomodations, businesses and infrastructure on a troll scale? Who is gonna stop them? You think the local street gangs will? Gangs are bullies, like any other opportunisitic predator they avoid fights they can't easily win. Organized Crime? Why? Why not cut a deal with the newly minted 'Trolltown', sell them building materials and other goods they can't easily get, barter for muscle.

It only takes one 'charismatic' visionary troll to put it together.  One troll who is tired of cramped spaces and flimsy furniture. One troll who knows other trolls that work in those hard labor jobs like construction and the like who also are tired of living in a small world.  And when it happens, how many other trolls, trolls that had heard of it but dismissed it, or who hadn't heard at all, are going to drift in and expand this 'Trolltown' until almost all of Seattle's 11,000 trolls are spending at least a part of their time in what was once viewed as unlivable shantytown lands, until you start seeing entire industries springing up, By Troll, For Troll (BytFot, the hot new fashion trend, specializing in 'Urban Trollwear'... in troll sized, and later in Humansize for all the troll rock fans out there...)...

Then the only question becomes: Why did it take 50 years to happen?

Because Trolls, while not exactly stupid, are very slow.

Very cool. I wanna be a Troll.

...wait a minute...