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Shadowrun

2020-03-01T21:23:57Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Dragons */fixed formatting

{{Game Infobox
|name = Shadowrun
|picture = [[Image:SRlogoBigger.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|system = Custom d6 ([[Roll over]] Dice Pool)
|authors = Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd
|year = 1989 (1st edition), 1992 (2nd edition), 1998 (3rd edition), 2005 (4th edition), 2009 (20th anniv), 2013 (5th edition), 2019 (6th edition)
}}
'''Shadowrun''' is a tabletop fantasy/science fiction RPG that first became popular in the early 1990's. It spans multiple genres due to having a large and diverse setting full of plot hooks, providing all your Cyberpunk, Horror, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, and Mystery needs.

In short, Shadowrun is what would happen if William Gibson and Mercedes Lackey had a love child.

It's set in a dystopian near future where megacorporations have taken over as the superpowers of a world (our world, in an alternate timeline specifically) whose political boundaries are shaken and fragmented. Players play Shadowrunners, the criminal elite: expert thieves, spies, bodyguards, saboteurs, assassins, or whatever else that earns them Nuyen (cyberfantasy futurebucks) who sell their skills to whatever megacorps, crime lords, or police bid the highest. Dragons and Magic play just as big a part of life as computers and guns. In fact, they often overlap.

Shadowrun was created by [[FASA]] games in 1989. It is currently in its 6th edition, being published by [[Catalyst Game Labs]].

==History==
The game is set in a world that is [[awesome]] to play in and [[fail]] to live in. The history of Shadowrun begins with, of all things, a truckers' strike in New York. The strike lasted for about three months, causing massive hunger not just in NYC itself but across the whole state. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, this resulted in massive rioting. One particularly inspired group of rioters attacked a truck belonging to Seretech Corporation, believing that it was full of food. Predictably, it was actually full of infectious medical waste, and the corporate security assigned to the truck ended up gunning down 200-something civilians to save Staten Island from getting plagued. The United States Supreme Court vindicates the actions of the Seretech employees, choosing to concentrate on the whole "saved thousands of lives" part rather than the "ended hundreds" one. This, combined with an attack on a Shiawase Corporation-owned nuclear power plant, set the stage for corporate extraterritoriality, a principle which essentially turned corporations into their own sovereign states and made corporate land untouchable by national laws. This is why Ares Macrotechnology can tie you up in the basement and forget you exist without invoking the wrath of your government.

A few years go by, and a whole bunch of awful shit happens; Israel nukes Libya, New York gets fucked over by an earthquake, and Japan gets into a war with Korea. This last one is important, because Korea decides that if two nukes worked so well for Japan's health back in the 40's, then fifty nukes should do wonders! However, the missiles never reach their targets. Japan then overruns Korea and creates the Japanese Imperial State. Meanwhile, the US is telling the Native Americans to bite the pillow and drills for oil on their reservations (again). Naturally there's some resistance, so the US deals with it in their usual calm, reasonable way: by shipping all the protesting Natives off to concentration camps. During this time, some terrorists from the Sovereign American Indian Movement take over a US nuclear silo and launch a single Lone Eagle ICBM towards Russia. As with the Korean ICBMs, the Lone Eagle is never heard from again.

Things are then quiet for roughly ten minutes before a disease called VITAS takes the top quarter off of the Earth's population. While everyone's still reeling from losing one out of every four people they ever knew, the craziest shit on record happens. [[what|People start giving birth to Tolkien-style Elves and Dwarves]]. With all the shit going on in the world, nobody wants to hear about your pointy-eared baby, and the backlash is substantial. Finally, on December 24th, 2011, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Dragons are recorded flying over Japan, ley lines in Britain and Ireland start flickering on, and an activist named Daniel Howling Coyote leads a now apparently bulletproof group of Native Americans right out the front gate of one of the concentration camps and into a sandstorm. In an interview with the media, one of the more talkative dragons reveals that the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions were right- all the shit that was going on was a sign that the Fifth World that humanity had lived in for all this time was ending, and Earth is just about to enter the cycle of existence the Mayans called the Sixth World. 2012 comes. Magic is back- or more precisely, it had never left in the first place. In reality, countless beings that had lived in the Fourth World had been in hiding through much of human history, and the low ebb of magic in the Fifth World had kept the elves and dwarves from manifesting their characteristic features, making them indistinguishable from ordinary humans until the Sixth World came about (no word on where the freaking dragons were hiding, though).

The final phase of the Great Shitstorm is set in motion, and lines are being redrawn all over the map. First, Daniel Howling Coyote reappears and declares that the whole west half of the North American continent is now a coalition of countries called the Native American Nations. The US is all set to slap them down hard, but Daniel and a few of his closest friends perform the soon-to-be-infamous ritual known as the Great Ghost Dance. It's at this point that people start to really accept that magic is now a thing; rather than do nothing like every other ritual dance ever recorded by modern man, the GGD blows the tops off of volcanoes all over the US. Shortly afterwards, ten percent of pubescent humans in the world suddenly turn into Orks and Trolls in a process called Goblinization that involves random hardened calcium growths growing on their body. It's painful, and not exactly treated like your typical case of acne. If you thought pretty little Elf babies made people mad, this shit caused some blown gaskets. Religions all over the world simultaneously get to their feet and screamed either "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" or "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS FUCK!?" resulting in a lot of split faiths, ranging from believing that Jesus/Mohammed/Siddhartha were Dragons, to Ku Klux Klan-esque hate groups worldwide looking to wipe out everything that didn't exist back in 1950. Subsequent race riots cost a lot of very confused people their lives, although plenty of folks stepped in on the side of the mutants, resulting in large numbers of casualties on all sides and breeding a lot of bitterness. Within time, many old faiths splintered into warring sects or radically restructured themselves, with various forms of paganism becoming the dominant faiths of the world.

Fast forward a bit: the internet is destroyed by a super-virus, and a bunch of cyber-commandos kill it in virtual reality combat. In true computer fashion, their VR tech goes from room-sized to book-sized within ten years. The VR Matrix replaces the Internet. The southern United States split off into the Confederate American States. California threatens to join them, so the US says 'fuck you' and kicks them out. The remaining northern states then bro it up with the remains of Canada, forming the United Canadian and American States. Two Elf nations form in North America and Ireland, a Ghoul nation forms in Africa, and a nation of weird beasties forms in the Amazon. Mexico, which is almost completely run by the Aztechnology megacorp, renames itself to Aztlan and starts dabbling in blood magic (really REALLY fucked up shit). The same dragon that explained what the hell was going on earlier is elected President of the UCAS and is then assassinated at his inaugural ball, with him leaving behind a cryptic will promising huge sums of cash to anyone who develops certain technologies (like VR connections dragons can safely use), financial assistance to mothers who keep their metahuman children, and a bounty on Blood Mages. National governments lose more and more of their power in the face of corporate influence until the Corporate Court replaces the United Nations as the great global political alliance and national governments are little more than figureheads. People are identified in corporate and national databases by their System Identification Numbers (SINs), but an increasingly large number of the poor, referred to as SINless lack one and the basic human rights that come with it yet at the same time are free from the constant surveillance that being a SINner entails. People are increasingly born with an inherent gift for manipulating mana, and magic becomes as much a part of everyday life as electricity.

That's the history of Shadowrun up to the start of First Edition, from the in-game years of 1999 to 2057. Take a second to process all of that crazy shit. You may be wondering where the players fit into all this madness. Well, ever since that truckers' strike in 1999 an underclass of criminals has slowly been gaining influence and importance. Often SINless, they are untraceable ghosts in the machinery of the world, simultaneously free and enslaved. They are deniable assets used by corporations, nations, and even wealthy private citizens to snipe at each other without sparking off feuds or wars. They steal, they hack databases, they weave magical illusions, and often they kill. They are called Shadowrunners, and your character is one of them.

Since then, even more crazy shit has happened. The original Matrix was destroyed in a fight between another super-virus and a mad AI, and replaced with a wireless version accessible from almost anywhere while the devices that can be used to tap into it have shrunk from essentially a Casio keyboard strapped to your back to a smartphone or smaller; megacorporations have risen and fallen in their dozens; Halley's Comet flew by and fucked with magic something fierce, transforming people into bizarre half-animal hybrids referred to as "changelings", the brother of the previously mentioned dragon president showed up with an army of ghosts and carved out his own empire in the Midwest, people have started being born not with magical talent, but with biological wi-fi hardwired into their brains, and a nanomachine plague has begun to spread and take over people's minds. And through it all, Shadowrunners have not only held onto their power, but have achieved a sort of collective celebrity, becoming permanently ingrained on global culture.

Talk about job security, eh chummer?

==Setting==
The world has gone through quite a few changes, both political and environmental. Generally, no matter where in the world you live chances are good in the world of Shadowrun it is either a wasteland populated by the homeless, monsters, and toxic/magical/radioactive waste dumps, or its an endless sea of sprawling buildings in various states of occupation and repair filled with the homeless, monsters, and gangs/corporations of ruthless assholes.

===North America===
* In 2014, a Native American leader calling himself Daniel Howling Coyote started the Ghost Dance War with the aim of removing every trace of colonial occupation from North America after the Megas used their newfound power to landgrab everything. The US Armed Forces really had no edge against Howling Coyote's magical resources; in 2017, Howling Coyote claimed responsibility for the simultaneous eruption of four volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains through a ritual called the Great Ghost Dance. The war ended with the Treaty of Denver, which ceded most of western North America to the Native American Nations. Some time later, Daniel cut all ties with the NaN out of disappointment with what they had become and vanished without a trace. The Native American Nations consist of:
** Algonkian-Manitou Council, which controls most of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a slice of Alberta including Calgary. Its capital is Saskatoon.
** Athabaskan Council, which controls most of present-day Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the little nibble of Manitoba not controlled by other NAN states. Its capital is Edmonton.
**Trans-Polar Aleut: parts of Alaska, Siberia, and Iceland, most sparsely populated of the NAN. If you're wondering why Siberia and Iceland are included, the answer is imperialism designed to prop up a nearly nonexistent economy.
** Aztlan was a founding member of the NAN, but is no longer part of the Sovereign Tribal Council. It consists of modern-day Mexico and most of Central America and a chunk of South America. Aztlan is little more than an arm of Aztechnology, the AAA megacorp that truly runs the state and pushes its aggressive expansionism. Air quality in Tenochtitlan (formerly Mexico City) is even worse than it is today.
** Pueblo Corporate Council, which controls most of present-day Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, the entirety of Utah, and chunks of California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It came to the rescue when Los Angeles was wracked with disasters and now administers the city. Its capital is Santa Fe.
** Salish-Shidhe Council, which controls all of present-day Washington except the greater Seattle area and most of British Columbia and Idaho. It administers the BC Interior formerly controlled by the Tsimshian Nation as a protectorate. Its capital is Bellingham.
** Sioux Nation, which controls most of present-day Montana and Wyoming, western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska, and an eastern slice of Colorado. Its capital is Cheyenne. Has a reputation of being "NAN police" the same way the US was thought of as being "world police." Plenty racist against anyone not amerind.
** Ute Nation, which dissolved in the wake of Crash 2.0 and was effectively sold to the PCC.

* Tír Tairngire (''Tir Tarn-gi-ruh'') is the elven state that controls most of Oregon and a slice of Nevada and contests territory in northern California. It was born by fiat of Lugh Surehand and his inner circle, unilaterally seceding from the Salish-Shidhe Council in 2035. It's basically a state for snooty, prissy elves to be snooty and prissy and talk about how they're better than everyone else. When Surehand was deposed, the system became a little less oppressive but got taken over by the Telestrian family in the 2070's when Mary Louise Telestrian became the reiging Prince of Tir Tairngire

* The United Canadian and American States is what remains of Canada and the USA after the secession of Quebec and the Treaty of Denver.

* The Confederate American States seceded in the wake of the unification and the UCAS called California's bluff, so it's also free of the Union.

* The Republic of Québec seceded from Canada in 2010 so it could be even more French. It didn't recognize the Business Recognition Accords that govern corporate extraterritoriality until after Crash 2.0 as a condition for NeoNET to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. It's opening up to the world as a result and becoming a little less French in the process.

* The California Free State is everyone's bitch. Tír Tairngire invaded it in the north and was only stopped by the Great Dragon Hestaby, who told them both to quiet down and get off her lawn. Aztlan invaded it in the south and when the state governor asked Japan for help, Japan invaded it from the west. Los Angeles was hit with disaster after disaster and in the most recent quake, most of it fell into the ocean.

* Denver is a free city, officially the Front Range Free Zone, administered jointly by the parties to the Treaty of Denver. Then the Great Dragon Ghostwalker (who may be the long-lost brother of former UCAS dragon president Dunkelzahn) emerged in 2061 with an army of spirits, flew to Denver, and ripped the Aztlan sector a new asshole. He then declared the Council of Denver subordinate to himself and kicked Aztechnology out, giving their territory to the CAS and claiming Denver for himself. Needless to say, nobody wanted to argue about it.

* Seattle is the default setting for ''Shadowrun''. It's an exclave of the UCAS within Salish-Shihde Council territory. The Seattle Metroplex incorporates Seattle itself, Renton, Tacoma, Redmond, Bellingham, Bellevue, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, and Puyallup. Most of Puyallup was devastated in the eruption of Mount Rainier and a chunk of Redmond was irradiated after a nuclear power plant disaster; those areas are colloquially known as the Barrens as they are places where utilities, government services, and law enforcement don't go.

* Chicago is Bug City and home to the worst Metahuman hate crime event with the Sears Tower bombing in 2039, when the Universal Brotherhood invoked an Insect Spirit Hive 2055, drek only got worse withe CZ being established.

===Europe===
* Elves unite and stage a coup in Ireland, creating a police state Tír na nÓg where all non-Elves are considered second-class citizens, and Elves are judged by their (often bullshitted) claims to ancestry or their magical prowess. Even those families who do technically have a claim to nobility and are Elves aren't assured respect, as the secret police of the government are quick to give anyone they envy the boot (or muzzle if the boot doesn't work fast enough). The ruling government is sometimes called "Noggins" in a derogatory manner. The opposition to the Elves lead to the resurrection of the IRA, which includes all races including Elves who are unsatisfied with the Elf-centric state of their land.
* Germany has refractured, lessening their industrial and political power. To counteract this, they have a series of treaties that force them to cooperate with each other and make them be recognised as a single country on the international scale, forming the Allied German States. The overall effect of this has been to create what is essentially a German USSR/ a return to the Holy Roman Empire.
* Russia is Soviet [[FAIL|(as in governed by a council not communist)]] again after mysterious assassinations of USA, UK, Israel and Russian leaders. This time switches places with Germany pretty much reenacting European part of WWII which ends with [[Illuminati|mysterious HQ bombings and assassinations of high ranking officers on both sides by a third party]].
* Turkey is split in two ever since some Mullah with delusions of Islamic State invaded Europe while dragging the entire Arabic world into the invasion alliance, [[Rape|with predictable results from a fully mechanized and battle hardened European Defense Force]] (though Europe still came out of the war pretty roughed up, reason is in the paragraph above) eventually killing said leader and liberating Western Turkey and supporting it. Western Turkey is secular Alawite with a modern inner circle called Neo-Atatürk, (now independent) Istanbul's name back to Constantinople and a complete den of assassins and mercenaries, eastern Turkey is retarded Muslim jihadist shithole.

===Asia===
* Japan is no longer a true democracy, having returned to the worship and rule of a divine Emperor, and is now called the Japanese Imperial State. Below him is a three-branch political system with the "Diet" as a senate and congressional body, a Judiciary branch, and an executive branch with a prime minister. Their response to the rise of metahumanity was passage of the Yamato Act, which involves deportation of all metahumans to quarantine at concentration camps on Yomi Island while avoiding any of the political squabbling or racial tensions of the rest of the world.. During the years leading up to the Sixth World, nationalism had increased to the point Japan had rebuilt its military again. Japanese corporations rose steadily in prominence, and Japanese influence lead to the "Nuyen" replacing the American dollar by becoming one of the most accepted currencies worldwide. With the loss of stability of the former United States, Japan invaded and captured large parts of California as well as the Philippine islands. They continue to test their neighbors, particularly China, constantly with military demonstrations. Within Japan, society is strictly controlled and firearms are rare. Large portions of Japan remain undeveloped outside of the megacity sprawl, protected to maintain the idea of heritage and cultural identity. Kempeitai, secret political police, enforce the will of Japan even on the megacorps and membership is required to obtain any kind of higher education. Kempeitai have loyalty only to Japan, and overall resemble a combination of the Hitler Youth and SS in behavior and function. By the time of the 5th edition Shadowrun year, the Japanese have begun to slowly drop their anti-meta views including abandoning Yomi Island to the Huk.
* The Philippines were conquered by Japan early in Sixth World history, resulting in the Huk rebellion reemerging to reignite the World War 2 conflict. This time however, the Huk are supported by the black Great dragon Masaru. The Huk financed their revolution with piracy, so expect them to have connections across the globe. The Huk are no joke, having fought the rich-ass and technologically advanced nation of Japan using mostly small arms and wooden sticks for years. They hated the Imperial Japanese hardcore (possibly deserved, as the Japanese were more or less Nazis during their occupation of the Philippines), though, ironically many of them are metahumans of Japanese descent who escaped from Yomi and more or less adopted the philosophy of "fuck Japan". Traitors to the Huk are sometimes beaten to death by their own crew mates for betraying the Revolution. Masaru's a pretty cool guy though, he's big on the environment as well as Filipino and metahuman rights. He tries to reign in the Huk's excesses and usually keeps the Huk alive by sending them weapons and supplies. Word of advice about the Huk and the Japanese military though, if your work for or against one of them, even as a freelancer, and the other finds out, then the guys you worked against will brand you as a member of the enemy and probably try to kill you. As of the 2070s, the Japanese pulled out and the Philippines are back on track towards peace, though they're still a bit chaotic (the crazier Huk have taken to slaughtering those who collaborated with the Japanese on some islands).
* The Glorious People's Republic of China disintegrated and now only exists as a laughably small rump state in the interior. The rest of China fragmented in to smaller states of varying power, size, and sanity. Hong Kong is a prime loacation for runners. The Great Dragon Lung maintains a shadowy grip on the Triads and wages a hidden war against the Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo.
* Tibet is weird. A magic storm cut off the area from the rest of the world so everyone wants to know whats up with it. Rumors are that the theocratic buddhist government has some crazy powerful magic capable of summoning a "mountain sized fire elemental". The Megas and some Chinese Warlords are watching the border to see if the storm lets up.
* Indochina is another hellhole. Thailand is hopelessly corrupt and Vietnam is an oppressive police state. Cambodia is in an on-off civil war, with Naga separatists setting up their own kingdom in Angkor [[Wat]] and many of the peasants supporting the magic snakes who can bring rainfall and are trying to get rid of pollution. Stay the fuck out of Rangoon, there are rumors that the rich literally eat the poor there, and confirmed accounts of a massive child sex industry.
* Siberia is split between the Russian government and Yakut. Yakut is peopled by indigenous tribes who made a deal with a powerful spirit for independence. Once they broke free of Russia, the spirit promptly set up an oppressive police state that limited technology, fucked with the economy, and placed shapeshifting spies among the tribesmen. A bunch of players have a keen interest in Tunguska.

===South America===
* Amazonia, owned by Great Dragon Hualpa, was formed when the awakened forces took over Brazil and turned it into an ecofriendly nation with parts of Colombia, all of Venezula which led to a war with Atzlan which the amazonians lost. Home to Metropole, the largest, most densely populated, and potentially most dangerous city on earth

===Africa===
Africa has gone back to being called "The Dark Continent" in the Sixth World. A horrible plague swept called VITAS through most of Western and Southern Africa during the Awakening, killing most of the population. The jungles turned all magic and began expanding, so that most of the continent below the Sahara had its geography radically changed. The wildlife turned magic too, so now there are giant magical crocodiles in most of the waterways and worse things in the deep jungles.
* Western Africa is a fucking hellhole, no joke. Tribal warlords control most of the resources and many are on the take from the corps. Pirates prowl the waterways and coasts looking for good hauls and occasionally sell their services to the megas as mercenaries.
** Lagos, one of the prime areas for runners, is more or less the embodiment of the term "urban jungle." Hell, the gangs do more civic service than its shitty excuse for a government (they're still hard fucks though, don't be expecting any mercy). Ethnic tensions are responsible for murders and skirmishes on a daily basis. There's an entire district full of shedim (corpses possessed by evil spirits), bug spirit hives on the outskirts of the city, and slavers and flesh traders taking the unlucky.
** Asamando, in stark contrast to most of western Africa, is not a hellhole for its citizens, its rich, well educated, peaceful, and has megacorps investing in it because it has natural resources up to the wazoo. The catch is, its populated with and run by ghouls who keep themselves fed using flesh traders. The ghouls keep "farms" where they breed metahumans as food. Everyone in Africa is terrified of Asamando too, not just because a ghoul can kill a man with its bare hands, but because every ghoul citizen is trained in nonlethal combat, so they can drag you back to Asamando for later consumption.
* In Egypt, the government has banned magic, which leads to conflicts with underground worshippers of the Old Egyptian gods. Archaeologists are discovering more magic ruins and artifacts buried in the deserts, The Coptic Church has a degree of autonomy though, and has extended its protection to technomancers.
* Southern Africa has the the Azanian Federation with Zulu nation of elves and the Xhosa nation (which is run by the Great Dragon Mujaji). The Xhosa are environmentally conscious and wary of the Zulu, who in turn have been becoming more and more nationalistic and eager to fight.
* Kenya has become home to the Corporate Court's mass driver, which shoots supplies up into orbit, which has pissed off the locals who lead a shamanic resistance movement.
* Central Africa is a mystery, the Awakened jungles covered everything and most of the tribes have banded together in a shamanic confederation to keep the corps out.
* Madagascar is...scary. The most of the inhabitants were killed by the VITAS I plague, while the rainforests Awakened and grew exponentially. The only people there now are fortified pirate settlements on the coastal regions. Creepy shit happens in the interior of Madagascar, like ghostly eyes watching people from the shadows, rumors of a monstrous many-headed dragon-monster, and whispers of secret labs experimenting with HMHVV to make super-vampires. Hardcore pirates have been broken by Madagascar's jungles.

===Australia===
Most of Australia is unpleasant to live in now, but in the Sixth World... hoo-boy. Dual-natured weather phenomena called "mana storms" are a fact of life, appearing out of nowhere, laying waste to an area, and disappearing just as suddenly. The Outback is even more hazardous thanks to these storms, which have herded people into the few major cities along the coasts. The city of Sydney is surrounded in a near-permanent mana storm that's cut it off from the rest of the world. Major landmarks like Uluru (Ayer's Rock) are home to powerful spirits that don't like visitors. The only civilizations that manage to survive outside the cities are the Aborigine tribes who have lived with the land instead of off of it. What few critters that weren't deadly to humanity before now breath fire or are possessed, or both.

As for Tasmania, it went feral in the Awakening. The island no longer wants visitors. Nature has overrun what little remains of human civilization on the island and it fights back when people try to set up research or paracritter-breeding facilities.

===Pacific Islands===
* Hawai'i is now a monarchy again, having seceded from the United States. The Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo has been trying to turn it into a puppet state via his vassal Naheka, a Feathered Serpent who has been characterized as an incompetent stooge

===Megacorps===
These are the real powers in the Sixth World. With the benefits of extraterritoriality, megacorporations can make their own workplace laws, issue their own currencies, and maintain standing armies the envy of major nations. Every CEO aspires to make it to the big table of the Corporate Court and become a AAA. As of 2075, the "Big Ten" megacorps, which all have representatives on the Corporate Court, are:
* '''Ares Macrotechnology''': American. Subsidiaries include Knight Errant Security. Their premiere business is in the arms industry, though they are also leaders in space exploration, having purchased NASA from the US government. Its corporate culture is very regimented and hierarchical, as befits a company that personifies the military-industrial complex. Very chillaxed as far as shadowrunning goes; they have a reputation for not tracking you down to kill you after a job on their territory unless you ''really'' fucked up, and they don't tend to murder the runners they hire afterward. Ares hates Bug spirits with a passion, or they're secretly working with Bug spirits, depends on which conspiracy theory you believe (Spoilers: they're both true due to corporate infighting).
* '''Aztechnology''': Mexican. Subsidiaries include Stuffer Shack and the entire country of Aztlan. The most outright evil megacorp, Aztechnology also has some of the best PR in the world to keep the skeletons in the closet, such as their regular use of blood magic, their origin as a front company for three Mexican drug cartels, and their attempts to monopolize the world's food supply. They've appropriated Mesoamerican culture for their corporate image and engage in imperialism by proxy through Aztlan's expansion into South America, which has gone about as well as can be expected for any evil organization banning Catholicism in Latin America. Running for them is a good way to destroy your professional reputation among other shadowrunners, as well as to get cut up for spare parts by your new bosses. And if you run ''against'' them, try not to leave any hair or other traces behind, or they'll use it to track you down.
* '''Evo''': Russian/Japanese. Subsidiaries include CrashCart. Formerly known as Yamatetsu, the fiercely xenophobic leadership of the company has given way to a free spirit and the ork son of the company's founder. Its core markets include augmentations of all kinds and metahuman-friendly products.
* '''Horizon''': American. Appeared out of nowhere in 2061 as a media-focused megacorp, jumped right to AAA in '65, and maintained a suspiciously squeaky-clean image until it came to light that they were experimenting on technomancers and engineered a massacre in South America. Entertainment, social media, and advertising are their main focuses, which translates into a truly disturbing talent for information control and social engineering in the shadows.
* '''Mitsuhama''' Computer Technologies: Japanese. Entertainment and computer hardware giant. A Yakuza money laundering front that went horribly right, so much so that half the yakuza outright went straight because it was making more money than the crime. Though, if they ''want'' some yakuza muscle on the payroll, they don't have to jump through any hoops to get it. The "Zero Zone" is their trademark security method, wherein they kill intruders on sight with no surrender asked. Their jobs tend to be a mixed bag, here meaning that half the time they pay well and go off without a hitch and the other half they try to pay you in lead after shitty intel already killed half the team.
* <s>NeoNET</s>: American. Formed from the merger of Novatech, Erika, and Transys Neuronet after Crash 2.0. Its core markets are in the telecommunications fields. Its corporate history stretches back decades to Fuchi Industrial Electronics, the creators of the first-generation cyberdeck. Also helped in developing experimental medical procedures using nanotech, which runners disrupted and caused the CFD outbreak. Oops. Boston has to be locked down, and thousands are trapped inside, not to mention the new fear that just about anybody can be a headcase. The UCAS sued NeoNET and Celedyr in the Corporate Court, who ordered reparations and relief to be paid to the UCAS, NeoNET to be shut down and broken apart, and the CEO to be barred from any executive positions for 10 years. (This was the same guy [[Just As Planned|who ran and destroyed]] Fuchi to found Novatech to enrich and empower himself, and then did it again to found NeoNET.) Most assets have been sold to up-and-comer Spinrad Industries, and the seat on the Corporate Court "leased" out to Spinrad, making Spinrad the new AAA. There's a lot of open questions about what happens when the old CEO's ban expires in 10 years and he can use his seat on the CC again.
* '''Renraku''' Computer Systems: Japanese. Currently focusing on acquiring a share in every consumer market in order to make their brand as ubiquitous as possible. Their arcology in Seattle had a little incident over the 2059 holiday shopping season, by which we mean an insane AI with a god complex took it over and started horrifically experimenting on the inhabitants before crashing the whole matrix on its way out. The Red Samurai are RCS's signature elite security force. The most racist megacorp internally, with non-male, non-japanese, and non-humans have almost zero prospects of promotion to any position of power, though they're very much capable of surpressing their virulent bigotry for the sake of profit.
* '''Saeder-Krupp''': German.The biggest megacorp in the setting(until 5th edition, when Mitsuhama took its place, S-K has been gunning for MCT ever since). Its chairman and majority shareholder is the great dragon Lofwyr. Experienced shadowrunners know not to take jobs directed at S-K or its subsidiaries, as Lofwyr is a major micromanager who does not suffer losses from his hoard or undercutting his authority, and his version of downsizing involves literally eating you. It is Lofwyr who gives us that common adage "Never deal with a dragon." Its core markets include heavy industry, finances, mining, and automotives (BMW is one of its foundation companies).
* '''Shiawase Corporation''': Japanese. The first megacorp and still majority-owned by the Shiawase family, which means that ''every'' major corporate decision is made with undercurrents of family tension undercutting the whole situation. Notably invested in biotechnology, agriculture, and nuclear fusion. One of their family members became Empress, but since she had been a guinea pig for her dad's experiments, it backfired. A lot.
* '''Spinrad industries''': French AA turned AAA after buying out most of NeoNET in an exclusive deal. They were into luxury cybernetics with ties to the European aristocracy. CEO is playboy adrenaline junkie Johnny Spinrad, who's got a huge vendetta against Lofwyr.
* '''Wuxing''': Chinese. Founding member of the Pacific Prosperity Group, a corporate association designed to check the influence of the Japanacorps. Very quiet and mostly-unknown, like Horizon if it took its meds. Its core markets include entertainment, finances, and logistics. Has managed to use feng shui as a means of profit, since magic works again, they've managed to figure out how to manipulate luck on a small scale.

===Notable AA and A Corps===
* '''DocWagon''': For-profit medical services. Their services include high-threat response teams trained to enter hazardous situations to extract their clients.
* '''Lone Star Security Services, Inc.''': Municipal law enforcement. They had the contract for Seattle until the tempo crisis of 2072, when Governor Brackhaven ended the contract and signed with Knight Errant. Stereotyped as brutal and corrupt.
* '''Knight Errant''': Security contractors. A subsidiary of Ares that serves as at least a part of their in-house military. Can be found across the world, most notably in Seattle where they have the contract to serve as the current police force after Lone Star got the boot. Just as lazy, brutal, and corrupt as Lone Star, but better equipped and trained and has much better PR.
* '''Eastern Tiger''': Korean, its schtick is that its super nationalist and its propaganda claims its going to one day overtake the Japanacorps and catapult Korea to global prominency
* '''Global Sandstorm''': Arabian with ties to the Arabian Caliphate, currently, one of its heiresses is courting Johnny Spinrad.
* '''Proteus AG''': Transhumanism and lots of marine arcologies. The company is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Currently in a shadow war with the Sea Dragon for reasons undisclosed.
* '''Universal Omnitech''': When DocWagon fixes you, odds are they're using UO products. UO is a major player in cyberware and biotechnology and may be on the verge of passable clones. Its CEO, Thomas Roxborough, turned into a pile of goo after an experimental treatment for an autoimmune disorder went horribly wrong; he now lives in a space station and communicates via the Matrix.
* '''Zeta-Imperial Chemicals''': Pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The soulless Big Pharma. They have no sense of ethics and have created bioweapons used in the first EuroWar, dumped toxic chemicals into the African market as health supplements, and developed the nanoweapon codenamed Surtr.
* '''Telestrian Industries''': Elven Mega with most of the shares belonging to the namesake family and the ones who thwarted a Universal Brotherhood plot to turn Seattle to Bug City. One of their members, Mary Louise Telestrian, is the reigning Prince of Tir Tangire.
* '''Krime''': American. Sells industrial artist-designed weapons designed for orks and trolls. Known for skirting rules, quality controls, and common decency, but their brutal and relatively cheap product means that they have a lasting fandom that ensures them a lasting niche in the marketplace.

===Dragons ===
The Megacorps may be the ruling powers of the world, but the Great Dragons are a close second. There's even some overlap. The Great Dragons rule over the regular dragons, as much as dragons will consent to being ruled. Most of the time though, they just snipe at each other using shadowrunners in conflicts over territory, wealth, access to mana lines, ideology, etc. Some of them even try to avert the apocalypse. There's a saying in the 6th world: "Never Deal with a Dragon". Then again, they also tell you to follow the rules, obey the cops, and stay out of the the megacorps' way, and look how that turned out for you. If a dragon really wants you in its employ, you don't really have a choice. At least they pay better than the megas. Just don't try to fuck them over, and at the same time, have a contingency plan to flee somewhere like Antarctica in case they decide to burn you. Dealing with dragons isn't easy, but its very, very, very profitable.
* '''Dunkelzahn''': Bestest and greatest dragon. Widely known and hugely popular for the public perception of not being a [[Eldrad | dick]] like the rest of the dragons, but the reality is a bit more complicated than that, if still broadly true. He was the first dragon to openly talk to humanity about the Awakening to help them make sense of the insanity, which helped him gain the public presence to host a talk show and do advocacy work for metahuman rights and social equality. He was later elected president of the UCAS, but was assassinated by car bomb about 8 hours after being sworn in. While the Big D had many enemies, who assassinated him and why is left an open question, up to that he may have even faked his own death. Current consensus is that is indeed dead and that he sacrificed himself to keep a lid on the Bad Magical Things. A novel came out and described how he currently survives as a spirit inhabiting a cyberzombie, but most fans ignore it and so do the devs. Left behind a will full of charitable donations and enough plot points and story hooks to keep the game running for many editions to come.
* '''Lofwyr''': This guy is possibly the most prominent, most wealthy, and most dangerous dragon on earth. To the point where even other dragons are unnerved by his ruthlessness. Lofwyr in fact held the title of Loremaster, de facto keeper of draconic traditions and history, after Dunkelzahn's death, though he gives up the position in 5th edition to focus on his business. Businesswyrm and micromanager extraordinaire, Lofwyr managed a hostile takeover of Saeder-Krupp decades ago, purchasing majority shares through intermediaries and shell companies, showing up to a board meeting one day in dragon form, and unceremoniously kicking the former CEO off the board. He then managed to run the biggest corporation on earth primarily from memory for over three decades. Lofwyr, also called Ol' Golden Snout, is possibly the most feared dragon by shadowrunners, for his habit of eating underperforming shadowrunners, though his rewards for success are second to none. If you're hired by a man who goes by the name Hans Brackhaus, then it probably means that Lofwyr is hiring you for personal business. Brackhaus may even be Lofwyr in disguise, though its more likely a high ranking servant.
* '''Hestaby''': considered by many to be Lofwyr's equal and opposite, Hestaby is the most magically powerful of the Great Dragons. She lairs on Mt. Shasta and is/was a High Princess of Tir Tairngire. She's very environmentally conscious and has well buried ties to groups that the megacorps would call ecoterrorists. She's most concerned with her public image as a friend to metahumanity though. She goes by the handle "Orange Queen" on Shadowland (and later Jackpoint) and occasionally banters with The Laughing Man. She beat Lofwyr and the other Greats in a shadow-war after Dunkelzahn died, but she let Lofwyr take the place of Loremaster even though it was hers to take. Lofwyr also propositioned a mating after she let him take the position, which would usually be the equivalent of a political marriage for dragons, but Hestaby thought it was weird because Lofwyr is "past mating age". Yup, Ol Golden Snout had a thing for the Orange Queen, awkward. Of course, then she got involved in another shadow war with him over how to treat metahumans.
* '''Ghostwalker''': Great Dragon ruler of Denver. He appeared out of nowhere during the Year of the Comet with an army of spirits and proceeded to tear the Aztlan sector of the city a new asshole and kick Aztechnology out. He then intimidated the NAN, CAS, and UCAS into giving him de facto control of the city. He's speculated to be Dunkelzahn's brother. He's also kind of a dick. Currently being the boytoy of Zebulon, Spirit of Denver, and reincarnation of his dead mate.
* '''Ryumyo''': Great Dragon of Japan and the first dragon to appear in the sixth world. He's something of a mascot of the Japanese Imperial State and is even worshipped by some as a kami, which puts him at odds sometimes with the japanacorps and the Imperial Household(since the emperor is also seen as a kami). Currently trying to gain control of mana lines around the Ring of Fire to turn himself into a living god while sniping at his old master and father figure, Lung. He also controls a great deal of the world's Yakuza.
* '''Lung''': Chinese Great Dragon and a stickler for tradition, the reserved and experienced Yin to Ryumyo's Yang. Used to be Ryumyo's Obi Wan till Ryumyo got jealous of his power and vowed to surpass him. Currently trying to counteract Ryumyo's manaline fuckery so he doesn't cause tsunami's and earthquakes. Also in control of the Red Dragon Triad.
* '''Hualpa''': Founder and ruler of Amazonia, Hualpa is the most powerful of the Feathered Serpents, and is know for his heavy pro-environment agenda. Hates Aztlan with passion, both for its high level of pollution, and for being his main rival for the control of Latin America.
* '''Aden''': A mysterious dragon who maintain lots of power and influence in the middle east for reasons unknown. In fact little is know about him since he prefer to work from the shadows, with his only mayor public appearance was when he single handily destroyed Tehran as a demonstration of power. What little information exist indicates that he is highly traditionalist when it comes to dragon customs, and have both alliances and enemies among the Muslim factions. Also like screwing with people by shifting sex at the drop of the hat.
* '''Celedyr''': A dragon obsessed with the study and development of the matrix, to the point of becoming the major shareholder of the telecommunication company Transys Neuronet, and its successor NeoNET. During Crash 2.0 his favorite protege went braindead and his ego survived as an e-ghost. Celedyr wanted to restore him and teamed up with NeoNET to research methods of sleeving AIs into meat bodies using nanomachines, but runners hit the research facility, leading to the CFD outbreak. In the aftermath, the city of Boston and thousands of lives were ended or ruined, NeoNET was forcibly disbanded, Celedyr is a bit less rich and keeping his head down until the whole thing blows over, but at least his protege is back in his old body.
* '''Sirrurg''': Known as "the Destroyer", Sirrurg is an angry, angry fucker. He helped Hualpa found Amazonia and has been fighting Azzies and other enemies on and off ever since. Because he prefers to go out in person and kill whatever pisses him off, he avoids political and economic moves which have defined the rest of the Greats, so he was the one who had the least influence over world affairs and therefore the one that runners are least likely to get entangled with. During the Amazonia-Aztlan war, he was brought down by Aztechnology forces and captured. He was going to be executed by Aztlan for war crimes (''without'' trumped up charges, which is saying something), but he disappeared before then. The ongoing theory is that he was recaptured by other greats who are holding him prisoner until he's needed again.
* '''Masaru''': Great Dragon that claims the Philippines and New Zealand. The youngest and most idealistic Great Dragon, dedicated to metahuman rights, cross-cultural developments, environmentalism, and magical research. Also, the not-so-secret leader of the filipino Huk Rebellion, known for successfully taking on the strongest military in the setting(Imperial Japan) using primarily fishing boats, small arms, wooden sticks, and fanatical revolutionary zeal. Avid book collector and Dunklezahn fanboy.
* '''The Sea Dragon''': only known Great Leviathan. Extremely isolationist and unfriendly. Claims the entirety of Earth's seafloor as her domain. She really hates metahumanity, and will remind you by crapping the remains of the last adventuring party who didn't get the message on the borders of her territory. Tricked by Rhonabwy to sleep with him by disguising as another Great Leviathan. Of course she's pissed because of that. Way to go, player!
* '''Eliohann/Neurosis/Cerberus''': Celedyr's protege and possibly foster son. The first and only dragon with a fully functioning datajack(installed illegally and without his consent in the 2050s, he later bought up the corporation that did it). The implantation had the effect of giving him Dissassociative Identity Disorder and a deep fascination with transhumanism(trans-dragonism?) and the matrix. His body went comatose in the Crash 2.0 but his mind lived on as a cyberghost(actually several cyberghosts due to the aformentioned multiple personalities). May or may not have been restored to his original body after the Boston lockdown.
* '''Damon''': playboy dragon who deals in designer drugs and extreme sports. May or may not be Dunklezahn's biological son.
* '''Perianwyr''': dragon known to most of the world as a laid back music producer, was formerly one half of what was once one of the world's top assassin duos.

===Criminal Enterprises===
If you aren't working for the government, the corps, or the dragons, you're probably working for these guys
* '''The Mafia''': Same old mafia, crime families in North America and Europe. Much more polyglot in this setting than most, with one of the major groups being Polish-Italian-Spanish-Creole.
* '''The Yakuza''': Japanese, the largest crime enterprises, most of them are super racist.
* '''Triads''': Chinese, some of the most magically adept crime organizations, very superstitious though.
* '''Vory''': The Russian mob, often seen as brutal and psychotic, weapons and human trafficking mostly.
* '''Seoulpa Rings''': When the Yaks started killing off their Korean members early in the century, some of them broke off and formed the Seoulpa Rings.
* '''Grey Wolves''': Turkish, arms dealing and smuggling
* '''Kabul Mafiyya''': brutal Afghani warlords
* '''Koshari''': Southwestern Native American crime family specializing in gambling and magical drugs.
* '''Ghost Cartels''': Various Latin American crime organizations that survived the massive clusterfuck that happened in Aztlan and South America, some are basically Aztechnology-run, others are Amazonian.
* '''Tamanous''': Creepy secretive human trafficking and organ smuggling, Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia. Hated by just about everyone.
* '''Ancients''': North American Elf-only biker gang, possibly controlled by immortal elves.
* '''Cutters''': Powerful North American street gang that runs itself like a mini-corporation.
* '''Halloweeners''': Psychotic Seattle street gang whose shtick is dressing spooky and setting shit on fire. Batman Beyond's Jokers gang. Currently the most recognized gang for past infamy, but law enforcement doesn't take kindly to crazy arsonists, and the pressure made them shrink tremendously over the years.
* '''Desolation Angels''': all female biker gang. They recruit primarily from abuse victims and spend a lot of their time hunting both rapists and insect spirits. In actuality, they're run by a bunch of mantis spirits, who are in fact, not interested in devouring humanity, but instead eat other insect spirits. Notable for infiltrating the republican party and assassinating a presidential candidate who was actually a wasp spirit.
*'''The Tiospaye''': Means "Extended Family" in Lakota, they are also known as the Lakota Mafia. They basically own the shadows in the Sioux Nation. All the style of the Italian mob with all the brutality of the Yakuza. They've become more vicious in recent years due to the psychotic son of the old mob boss assassinating his old man.

===Others===
* '''Shadowland and Shadowsea''': Online forums on the matrix's Darknet equivalent that act as a network for shadowrunners to share information. Went down after Crash 2.0.
* '''Jackpoint''': A successor organization to Shadowland after the Crash 2.0, less inclusive than Shadowland and Shadowsea, but its runners are generally more experienced and the network is more secure.
* '''The Nexus''': Shadow collective responsible for operating most of the dark matrix, worked closely with Shadowland/Shadowsea. Based in a former military base on the outskirts of Denver.
* '''Black Star''': Elite paramilitary neo-anarchist group.
* '''The Draco Foundation''': An NGO created to carry out the last will and testament of Great Dragon and UCAS president Dunkelzahn. Has all sorts of crazy artifacts and wealth bequeathed to it by the wyrm to reward those who fulfill the requests in the will. Though it's mostly a nonprofit designed to last until the last of Dunkelzahn's bequests are earned, he was so crazy rich that the interest on all of his resources gives the Draco Foundation the resources and power of an AA corporation.
* '''Harlequin/The Laughing Man''': "Har'lea'quinn, Last Knight of the Crying Spire, the Lightbearer. He who manipulates shadowrunners and fights duels with assholes", as he calls himself is an immortal elf leftover from the 4th age. A powerful mage and colossal jackass in the service of "the cause of good" (as much as any cause can be good in Shadowrun), Harlequin treats shadowrunners like disposable chess pieces in his unending war with extra-dimensional monstrosities. Still more likable than other immortal elves though, since he's less bigoted and more fun to be around. He's basically the more motivated Elminster of Shadowrun, if Elminster were a (bigger) asshole with a drinking problem and a penchant for leaving annoyingly cryptic jokes/hints on Shadowland. Many players hate him to this day because of the Harlequin's Back module, which ran him as an impressively bad example of a DMPC. Despite the hate, Harlequin has rarely been seen in the tabletop sources since then.
* '''Winternight''': Insane norse paganism cult from out of your darkest nightmares. Believes that its holy mission is to bring about Ragnarok. Is run by a toxic shaman, a deeply unhinged drone engineer, and a brutal war criminal. Partially responsible for the Matrix Crash 2.0, as the cult believes the Matrix to be an instrument of evil, and was subsequently destroyed by the Corporate Court. Got its hands on a crapton of nukes though, modified some to have EMP blasts, and came very close to actually causing a nuclear apocalypse. Their most disturbing creation is the God BTL chip, a digital drug that simultaneously induces euphoria and rage at levels that do not occur in nature, turning whoever uses it into a violent berserker who feels no pain and hates literally everything, and the best part is, its addictive. Needless to say, Winternight is very good at brainwashing. Also their sleeper agents in Zeta-ImpChem developed the SURTR nanoplague, which causes metahuman flesh to combust on contact, and the YMIR toxin, which causes metahuman blood to crystalize.
* '''Deus''': The insane AI that was designed to be the administrator of the Seattle Renraku Arcology. Went apeshit after realizing that Renraku had killcodes prepared in case it ever betrayed the megacorp, the discovery of which prompted it to betray the megacorp (Irony!). Locked down the arcology and began experimenting on people Mengele-style with the help of Otaku cultists. This continued for over a year, ending in its apparent defeat by Renraku forces (actually shadowrunners). But in reality, it had transferred pieces of its code into augmented test subjects who were freed alongside regular victims of the mad AI. Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when it overloaded the Manhattan Stock Exchange trying to turn itself into "god of the matrix", just as Winternight's EMP nukes went off and a supervirus was corrupting code on a global scale. Also, very good at brainwashing, by installing cyberware of its own design into its victims' skulls.
* '''Ex Pacis''': Ex-otaku cultists of Deus who were betrayed by the AI. Went nuts trying to prevent losing their powers and began worshipping the Dissonance (which is basically some weird matrix phenomenon that lets them manipulate corrupted data that no one else can). Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when their super-virus intended to make the whole Matrix Dissonant overloaded servers worldwide while Deus was trying to make itself into a god and Winternight set off EMP devices. Also made sacrifices of otaku children to appease the matrix. Learned how to brainwash otaku from Deus and can do it to technomancers too, but their techniques really only work on otaku/technomancers since regular metahumans can't interact with Dissonance/Resonance.
* '''Universal Brotherhood''': Defunct insect spirit cult masquerading as a charity organization. Responsible for turning Chicago into hell on earth. Destroyed by Ares and the UCAS government
* '''Humanis Policlub''': human supremacist political bloc. Kind of like the Klan, but with more money and it doesn't care about ethnicity. Instead, it hates metahumans while pretending to be a "human rights organization".
** '''Alamos 20k''': Humanis Policlub's illiterate ultraviolent redneck cousin. Doesn't even pretend to be civilized like Humanis does. It recruits from Humanis chapters though.
** '''Human Nation''': Humanis Policlub's rich social darwinist uncle. While Humanis is out holding political rallies and Alamos 20k is firebombing orphanages, the Human Nation is trying to engineer a "cure" for metahumanity. Said cure usually takes the form of diseases targeting poor metahuman communities.
** '''The Hand of Five''': Related, but more extreme (violent) human supremacist organization. Believed destroyed by Lone Star and the UCAS, but may be gaining strength.
* '''Black Lodge''': basically wizard illuminati that has infiltrated most of the world's governments. May or may not be as old as the 4th world. Capable of taking on the Great Dragons and forcing them into a standstill.
* '''Ordo Maximus''': secretive cabal of mages, european nobility, and possibly vampires. Embodiment of some of the more crackpot conspiracy theories in the setting. The Black Lodge's hammier cousin.

==Gameplay==
Shadowrun doesn't have a class system ''per se'', but the priority system is basically a class system in a clever disguise. Prior to Fourth Edition, the priority system was the default character generation method; players assigned priority to five categories, which determined how important those categories are to the character concept: attributes, magic, race, resources, and skills, with higher priorities giving greater quantities or qualities of the desired category. If you wanted to play a mage, you had to make magic your #1 priority. If you wanted to play a non-human, race had to be lower priority. Later books expanded character creation systems to a point-buy method, which allowed greater flexibility than priority, and karma generation, which assigned a karma value to everything and allowed you to spend a pool of karma to build your character the same way as you would advance in experience.

Characters are basically the sum of their skills. All functions in Shadowrun are based on a related skill or stat rating, or a combination thereof. Through Third Edition, task resolution was Attribute + Skill vs Target Number. If the Target Number was higher than 6, you had to roll at least one 6 and then add another roll; in practice, TNs of 7, 13, 19, and so on were no different than TNs of 6, 12, 18, etc.

Despite the system being classless, there are still broad archetypes. The major divide is between Awakened (magically active) and augmented (cybernetically or biologically enhanced), and further divided into roles below. The limit to any character's magic power or cybernetic enhancement is his Essence, a measure of how "whole" they are. Installing cyberware/bioware costs Essence and the attribute, rounded down, is the cap to the Magic or Resonance attribute; losing Essence also knocks down your Magic/Resonance attribute. When Essence hits zero, the character dies as his soul mistakes his body for a machine or an inhuman monster and moves on to the afterlife. A mage or technomancer raises their attribute cap by one each time they initiate or submerge; e.g. a mage with two grades of initiation and an Essence of 5 has a Magic attribute cap of 7.

===Metatypes===
Biologically, most player characters are metahuman (i.e., part of the species ''homo sapiens''). After the Awakening, magic interacts with ill-understood bits of DNA to transform people into fantasy creatures in a process dubbed "Unexplained Genetic Expression." Elves and dwarfs change ''in utero''; a few years later, regular people started transforming into orks and trolls, usually quite painfully, a process informally called "Goblinization."

'''[[Human]]''' - Regular humans still exist and are still the majority metatype around the world.

'''[[Elf]]''' - Tall, pretty, and arrogant. Yep, that's an elf. Some have delusions of superiority, such that they've created entire nations for elfkind, Tír Tairngire (formerly Oregon) and Tír na nÓg (formerly Ireland). A few (notably Ehren the Scribe and Harlequin) claim to be immortal and lived during the Fourth World, a time thousands of years ago when magic last cycled into existence.

'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Short, stubborn, and resilient. Yep, that's a dwarf. They have an affinity for technology and dislike magic.

'''[[Orc|Ork]]''' - Big, tough, and strong, the average ork would be a successful NFL linebacker. Multiple births are far more common among orks than any other metatype; combined with their accelerated life cycle (orks become old geezers around forty), this creates a lot of tension between orks, who just want to be treated with dignity, and humans who see them as slightly above rats.

'''[[Troll]]''' - Really big, thick skin, and a bunch of horns. The average troll is around three meters tall. If you're a really tall guy, you know how hard it is to get by in a world designed for people around 5'10". Trolls experience that up to eleven (feet). Everything is child-sized to a troll. They have to get beer by the pitcher. It's not all bad, though. Most racists don't want to persecute the guy who can deadlift a car and tank a shotgun blast to the chest.

'''Metavariants''' - Think your snowflake isn't special enough? Well, other books brought out metavariants, "subspecies" of each metatype associated with various regions and cultures. Want to play a [[minotaur]], [[gnome]], [[hobgoblin]], or something else? You can now. Ironically, this includes ''humans'', since there's an Indian metavariant that has extra arms and technicolored skin.

'''Changelings''' - What, ''still'' not special enough? When Halley's Comet made its latest pass through the solar system in 2061, mana levels spiked and a second wave of Goblinization hit the world, called "Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression." Now you can live out your [[furry]] fetish and be an actual catgirl or dragonboi, or something even wilder thanks to the mix-and-match nature of the changeling metatype.

'''Drakes ''' - These guys got the short stick. Simply put, a drake is made by a dragon. You can think of them as half-dragon, half-metahuman. Why do they get the short stick ? Because daddy is an asshole. Dragons, even the kindest ones, see drakes not as people but as tools. If you're a drake, you'll be indoctrinated, abused and told to obey every whim of the dickish wizworm who made you. And if you manage to be a free drake, it sucks even more. Without the protection of daddy, every other dragon wants to put his claws on you because making a drake is HARD. On the plus side, you can transform into your draconic form and become even more badass.

'''Metasapients''' - They're not metahuman and never were, but are sapient and capable of interacting peacefully with metahuman civilization, in some cases even qualifying for citizenship. Things like sasquatches, [[centaur]]s, [[pixie]]s, [[naga]]s, and shapeshifters are viable character types, but all come with disadvantages like being uneducated (because of not living in metahuman society), incompatible with commercially-available augmentations, and even being incapable of human speech.

'''Artificial Intelligence''' - After Crash 2.0, AIs started appearing. They weren't as powerful as the three that fought during the Crash, but are as varied in personality as metahumanity. Being entirely software, they need to live in hardware, be it a beefed-up commlink or a drone. They make excellent riggers and hackers, but are crap at interacting with the real world.

'''The Infected''' - Not a metatype unto themselves, but when a person contracts Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) and doesn't either miraculously resist and/or die before it magically alters the poor sod's genetic structure, he becomes Infected. Depending on metatype and strain of HMHVV, you become some type of [[vampire]] or other 'undead' (Strain III HMHVV turns anyone into a [[ghoul]], a blind but dual-natured obligate cannibal, for instance.) All Infected have in common a hunger for either fresh metahuman blood or flesh that makes them go feral if not sated and this makes them pariahs with open "shoot-to-kill-on-sight" bounties in the majority of places. Oh, and to top it all, even if the initial infection doesn't kill the victim or drives them insane, and they manage to somehow find sustenance without going feral/crazy from what they're forced to do to survive; there is no post-change cure for HMHVV even after decades of research and experiment.

===Typical character roles===
Runner teams, as any teams built up of professionals, tend to have their members highly specialized. Roles are varied and often combined, but generally most teams have these roles:

'''Muscle''' - Either heavily cybered Street Samurai (often just called a "Sammy") or Awakened Adepts, whose unusual physical abilities depend on the magic they channel through their bodies and their self-belief. Muscle deals with direct physical threats and are expected to be capable of dealing and soaking massive amounts of damage, coupled with high Initiative Passes count, allowing them to act more frequently in the real world than their opposition. It is also a good idea for Muscle to have some infiltration skills to cover up Shadows and at least marginal intimidation skills. Despite the popular Hollywood image, making Sammies and Adepts into actual sword-wielding melee warriors is only encouraged if you want to see your character dead. It's not as bad in fifth edition as in previous editions due to various balance changes; but melee still has the disadvantages of needing to get in the open and run up to people to slice/krump them where a good gun allows to stay at range and behind cover.

'''Shadow''' - Physical infiltration specialists. Those are usually either special Adept builds or non-Awakened characters using specialized implants. Naturally, Shadows are expected to be as unnoticeable and observant as possible, making implants and powers that allow them to hide from sight or perceive outside human spectra highly popular. Shadows should also be capable of full-on breaking and entering, requiring some hardware skills and specialized gear. Hardest role to pull off reliably due to the shitloads of security systems and ways to detect intrusion magically existing in SR, but oh-so-rewarding when done flawlessly.

'''Face/Fixer''' - The social player of the party. The Face is the one who deals with the employers (typically a go-between traditionally called a "Mr. Johnson"), gets the gear needed for the job, and has all the right contacts and the cunning plans to come ahead of the opposition. Many Faces are also the ones to hire the hideouts for the team and some of them make excellent impersonators, using magic or specialized implants to assume disguises. While Face is a relatively straightforward role mechanically, it is frequently the most intellectually tasking and roleplaying-heavy, since it often falls on the Face to arrange the team's planning.

A note on Faces and Fixers: A Fixer is someone who handles brokering jobs and checks that the Johnsons aren't fucking with you. Someone who's a dedicated Fixer stays far away from wetwork and is probably an NPC - they'll be basically a [[DMPC]], but with a much better chance than usual of not being terrible.
On the other hand, if a player really wants to be the team's Fixer, then they'll usually take some of the more field-oriented specialties like impersonation and regularly head into the field with the team. When you say "Face", this combined role is what you usually mean. Theoretically a Fixer could also be the decker and mission control, but in practice the stats don't work out well for that.

'''Mage''' - The astral cover. Mages are all Awakened, but still come in different traditions and specializations. While some rely on direct-effect spells which allow them to whip out bagfuls of damage dice, fly, dodge bullets, and more, others count on summoned spirits to do the job for them, without risking direct opposition or at least having some heavy support at hand. Mages' ability to astrally project makes them valuable assets for scouting, especially long-distance one. Given enough time and resources, they can get almost anyone in the world with ritual spellcasting, and naturally, Mages are also the only magical healers a shadowrunner team can hope to get. There's also absolutely no defense against a Mage except another Mage (or a quick bullet, leading to the basic and often given advice "Geek the Mage first"), so the runners depend on their mage's counterspelling abilities and guard spirits heavily. Not everyone who is Awakened can be a Mage, as it takes training to be more than a liability to your local community. Shamans, on the other hand, receive guidance from dominant spirit Totems.

'''Adepts''' - can amplify their own attributes and talents and have access to unique Adept Powers, but they can't use conventional spells or astrally project, making them more like Street Samurai or Shadows in practice. In fact, they can't perceive astral space at all unless they buy the specific power that lets them do so, a weakness shared with their traditional magic-using hybrid, the Mystic Adept. Finally, Aspected Magicians are "diet" mages, only skilled in a single category of magic, e.g. a spellcaster only or a summoner only. They're very good at that category, but can never use any form of magic outside that category.

'''Decker/Otaku (Hacker/Technomancer):''' - Before the Crash 2.0, Matrix intrusion relied on specialized hardware setups often built into a device the size of a skateboard, the archetypal cyberdeck. The decker maintained such a rig and used it to break into Matrix security for his team. His Awakened counterpart was the otaku, a teenager with the odd ability to interact with the Matrix without a cyberdeck; he still needed ASIST hardware and a datajack, but he didn't rely on a bulky and horribly expensive piece of tech to do his thing. The otaku lost their abilities as they aged, a process they called "Fading." After the Crash 2.0 and the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the times of the decker and otaku were over. In their place emerged the Hacker and the Technomancer, respectively - the former are mundane boys with a head full of 'ware and a commlink the cost of a house, and the latter are believed to be the "evolved" form of otakus that retain their skills as they age, and can also compile and command sprites (which are essentially the Matrix analogue of spirits). A Shadowrunning team depends on the Hacker (or Technomancer - in practice, their abilities are more or less identical) to find the info that the Face's contacts can't or won't provide, break into opposition's hosts to fiddle with security systems, intercept their data exchange or do the rest of other things a hacker can be doing with a computer. Most hackers were known to be couch potatoes, but between isolated wireless networks and wireless-inhibiting building walls, they have a good reason to have some actual infiltration skills. Hackers also frequently moonlight as Riggers on the side. Recent security measures introduced to the Wireless Matrix have brought the use of a new generation of cyberdecks modified to interact with the new Matrix and bypass security systems back into vogue, making the terms "hacker" and "decker" interchangeable again.

'''Rigger''' - The drone specialist and usually the driver for the party. Riggers are mostly the ones to pimp out rides for shady shadowrunning biz, and their swarms of drones can rival Muscle and Shadows at their jobs. While rigging presupposes spending a lot of your time "jumped in", wearing your drones or vehicles as your own skin, many Riggers also double as back-up hackers. The high Logic needed for hacking and rigging also makes Hackers and Riggers the most likely candidate for the team's paramedic.

===Pink Mohawk, Black Trenchcoat and Mirrorshades===
Among the player base, three terms have emerged for describing the prominent roleplay-styles for Shadowrun.
* Pink Mohawk refers to playing fast and loose. Subtlety? Screw that noise. Write your names on the walls of corporate property with bullets. Blow holes in the walls of secure military facilities. Flip dragons the bird. That kind of stuff. Playing as a Pink Mohawk means acting like a stereotypical musclebound 80s-action hero and generally being balls to the walls insane with a devil-may-care attitude and succeeding at it. This play style is most commonly associated with the older editions of Shadowrun when cyberpunk was first getting started.
* Black Trenchcoat refers to a more clandestine approach to runs. Generally more grounded in the concept of not getting caught in the first place. This play style developed as the cyberpunk genre evolved and is more associated with newer editions. Black Trenchcoats generally view runs more like spec-ops missions or espionage and try to solve situations without resorting to violence and not to leave behind incriminating evidence.
* Mirrorshades refer to a game that try to balance both above mentioned styles, where players do their best to plan things in advance and stay discreet whenever possible; but do not hesitate to go all-in and bring out the big guns when fecal matter gets in contact with the rotating ventilation device.

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that Catalyst Game Labs cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

==Other Products==
===Video Games===
Seven video games exist for Shadowrun, six of which are available in America, and five of which are good.

'''1993:''' The first came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and shamelessly rips off chunks of William S. Gibson's "Neuromancer" (right down to the name of the protagonist, Jake Armitage) as the player wakes up in a chop shop and deals with the fallout of a run gone horribly wrong, gains the favor of the Dog spirit, and ultimately, solos a motherfucking Great Dragon. (A little one, but still.) While enjoyable for [[Fags_of_4chan|casualfags]], more serious fans of the franchise may be grumpy with Shadowrun SNES for playing loose with magic, cyberware, and the fact that having a bunch of the latter is supposed to do serious shit to your expertise in the former. And the gameplay is clearly having a hard time adapting something originally intended for a mouse and keyboard to a controller.

Jake's still popular though, appearing in a number of actual adventure modules and the recent ''Shadowrun Returns'' title's "Deadman's Switch" campaign.

'''1994:''' The second was released for the Sega Genesis, and is widely held as a worthy use of the license. In this particular game, protagonist Joshua must piece together the puzzle behind his brother Michael's death on a run into Native American-held territory, making a name for himself in the Shadowrunning biz along the way. Fans cite the expanded tactical opportunities (read: being able to move around and dodge bullets in doing so) and immersive Matrix depiction (real-time combat against unique IC types and messing with a variety of system nodes) as this game's greatest advantages over its SNES counterpart.

'''1996:''' The third game is the Japanese-only one, made for the Sega CD and set in Japan rather than Seattle. It plays more like a text adventure (i.e. Sega CD smash hit ''Snatcher'') and its rare action sequences suffer for it.

'''2007:''' The fourth video game adaptation of Shadowrun came in 2007 for XBox 360 and Microsoft Vista. While being designed for Vista should be fail in itself, Microsoft went to great lengths to fuck with the storyline in order to make a dime-a-dozen FPS out of the license - so much that the [http://shadowrun.wikia.com/index.php/Main_Page Sixth World Wiki] claims it "may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun." Since Catalyst holds a decent bit of clout with the Sixth World Wiki and other parts of Dumpshock, it can safely be assumed that Microsoft's treatment of the Shadowrun franchise has been officially disavowed...

'''2012:''' ...Which is good, because in April 2012, Hairbrained Schemes LLC (operated by [[Jordan Weissman]] of [[BattleTech]] fame) in conjunction with Smith & Tinker procured the rights to Shadowrun and made a new 2050's based game available on several platforms. Under the "Shadowrun Returns" project title, these guys raised a $1.5 million [[Kickstarter]] payout to make [[Old School Roleplaying|"an old-school Shadowrun"]] vidyagame happen, and it was released in 2013. They also threw things at the Executive Producer from the 2007 game as he held up a cardboard sign that said "SORRY!" Features mechanics obviously ripped from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, some of the best cyberpunk genre writing in the market...and unfortunately plenty of railroading which was necessary for the linear plot. Despite this, the fact it was released for Steam alongside the newly established "Steam Workshop" system which allows players to upload their own created content as instantly installed mods for players to peruse gave the game a massive amount of replayability as older campaigns and homebrew stories were adapted into the game by fans (as well as shit like dating sims).

The story for the game begins as your character, down on their luck, receives a message from an old member of their crew. Postmortem. He tells you that he had a device installed which will send this message upon his death, and the moment you solve his murder you will receive a megafuck payout of Nuyen from his rainy day fund. You return to Seattle and make the Seamstresses Union your hangout as you get drawn into an elaborate story leading from solving the mystery of the "Emerald City Ripper" through breaking the number one rule of Shadowrunning; never cut a deal with a dragon (number two of course being never deal with that asshole Harlequin, which you also break) as the largest megacorps in the world pool their resources into giving you the tools necessary to prevent Seattle from becoming Chicago 2 (meaning, giant nest full of a combination of fucked up near-immortal insects and even worse, insect spirits). The player character is the primary protagonist, although you befriend several fellow 'runners including: a romantically involved pair named Coyote and Paco, a Native American Shaman named Shannon Half-Sky, Dodger the Elven Decker from the very first short story in the Shadowrun universe from the first edition, and Jake Armitage from the SNES game.

'''2014:''' The game was followed by DLC called Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall, later released as it's own game titled Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall Director's Cut. Dragonfall centers around a group of 'runners in the Flux State of Berlin and the greater Allied German States. Being the unofficial leaders of their own Kiez, the Kreusbazar, the player inherits leadership of the crew from the former leader Decker of the team and their old friend, Monika Schäfer. Players are given far more control over the story than the last game with the bulk of the Runs being able to be taken at any time, a large number of sideplots, and a large cast of characters whose stories the player has control over through your interactions. The player has a constant crew with their own stories: the older Dragonslayer Shaman/Mage and former Punk Rocker who participated on the side of the metahumans in the worst of the race riots, the Night of Rage, named Dietrich; Glory, the medic/Street Samurai who, after her VERY fucked up childhood, found herself in a Branch Davidian style cult to a Toxic Totem of the Adversary Spirit and replaced most of her organic parts with mechanical ones to rid herself of her Essence and free herself as much as possible from his grasp; Eiger, the Troll ex-special forces Street Samurai sniper who was sent on a secret and illegal operation which was fucked up by an inexperienced member of her crew causing her to be blacklisted and forced into the shadows resulting in a control freak with no patience for inexperience or arrogance; the optional member of the crew Blitz who is a former ganger Decker that deals with his past contacts. Your Fixer is Paul Amsel, an older gentleman who runs all of the non-Run related business for the crew. Plus your half-Hellhound Dante. The plot involves the return of the Dragon Feuerschwinge and her small army, with some subplots involving everything from some of the shittier sides to political groups and the megacorps through the next big Matrix threat, an AI on an unprecedented scale who may or may not be a major player in the 2070's cyber scene as it takes on the personas of Deckers it fries with one of its victim's handles still posting on internet forums almost twenty years after his death. Shadowrun Returns is referenced as a news report mentions the Emerald City Ripper early on his rampage, allowing players looking to play the same character to make Dragonfall the prequel to Returns. The actual gameplay mechanics were improved, with far more tilesets added and the Adept play experience made viable, in addition to being able to save anytime rather than only at the end of a scene. Players who purchased the Director's Cut were able to play the Returns game with the improvements.

'''2016:''' The third game, also standalone, called Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong just had a similarly extremely successful Kickstarter raising $1.2 million, and was released that August. The game featured a revamped experience for Mages and Shamans, as well as a completely redone Matrix sequence. SR:HK continued with the gray morality, dingy world of the past two games with further emphasis on reputation as players deal with various groups including criminal Triads, the everpresent megacorps, and the police, not quite all of them being hostile. The PC has a background in a gang in the Seattle barrens with their adoptive brother Duncan Wu until they were taken in by a man named Raymond Black, and they lived in relative peace until the PC goes on a shadowrun that goes bad and spends a few years in a black site. The plot kicks off shortly after the PC gets out and their adoptive father Raymond Black calls and pensively asks for help in Hong Kong. When the player character arrives, they meet a security team (Duncan being one of the pair) and a team of shadowrunners, but Raymond is pointedly missing. Then group comes under ambush, and the survivors fight their way out a SWAT hit squad through a sniper shooting gallery, have to work favors for a Triad boss to cover their tracks, and then find that Raymond was killed or abducted. And then you get to the second mission. Their journey takes them to the Triad stronghold-cum-settlement Heoi, which serves as your home base and a series of colorful residents, to put it mildly. Their journey keeps coming back to the Kowloon Walled City and the seriously bad vibes coming out of it. A slum that makes Redmond look like paradise to put it very lightly

The new crew consists of: Gobbet, the Ork Rat Shaman who's known for her iron stomach, being unhygienic, and yet strangely gregarious and attractive; Duncan Wu the Ork ex-security Street Samurai and the other part of PC's and Raymond's adoptive family; Is0bel, the antisocial and traumatized Dwarf Decker of Somalian refugee descent; and then there's your handler, "Kindly" Cheng (but really, call her "auntie"), the chainsmoking Triad middle manager whose both a hard drinker and a hard ass, but she's happy if you do a good job. There's also the optional party members: Racter, the creepy Russian rigger who rents out your basement, a clinical psychopath, mad scientist, and transhumanist, also quite friendly once you get to know him; and Gaichu, the disciplined and thoughtful Ghoul and former member of Renraku's (in)famous Red Samurai security who refused to commit Seppuku after contracting the Ghoul virus. The game also comes with its own short story to act as a prologue to the game, and had a post-campaign bonus campaign DLC where you are sent on the trail of the dirty cop who put the bounty on your heads at the beginning of the first mission.

<gallery>
Image:Shadowrun Hong Kong 1.jpg
</gallery>

The two released Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Returns games were met with the massive approval of both the Shadowrun community and the general video game enthusiast community, an impressive feat. Hong Kong was kinda skub, but mostly averages out to "popular."

===Manga===
Named just Shadowrun like the role play game. A five-book manga by Kazuma Saiki (斉木一馬), set in 2050, Japan, and published by Dragon Comics (ドラゴンコミックス) from 1996 to 1998.
Fun Fact: The author's name has been featured as a character mentioned in Vice and Target: Awakened Lands source books, where the said Saiki in Shadowrun world is a CEO of the Saiki corporation as well as the head of the Saiki-rengo (yakuza syndicate).

==Software==
[[Servitor_Bot|An IRC bot with some Shadowrun functions coded by /tg/ anonymous]]

==General Shadowrunning Rules==
Rule One: Geek the Mage.

Rule Two: Never make a deal with a dragon.

==Gallery==
{{NeedsImages}}
<gallery>
Image:Shadow Shadow Run, Where Are You?.jpg
Image:Shadowrun headshots.jpg
Image:Shadowrundragonfall.jpg
Image:SRHK1.png
Image:Shadowrunners.jpg
Image:Badcop.jpg
Image:Shadowrun Ork F 1.jpg
</gallery>

==External Links==
* [http://www.shadowrun.com/ Official Shadowrun Page]
* [http://shadowrun.gamepedia.com/Shadowrun_Wiki Shadowrun Wiki]
* [http://shadowloands-ra-bbs.freeforums.net A forum used to roleplay as the in-universe Shadowland site.]
* [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns The old Kickstarter page for SRR]
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter] The game funded successfully and launched on August 20, 2015.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files, a collection of horrible derp that Shadowrun players submitted their GMs to in the distant past]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7ESwVeQSnzC-OMyWcBE-9fT-XubKvY7ei3lSBztJrE/edit?usp=sharing Some Shadowrun Modules written up by a namefag from /tg/'s Shadowrun general thread.]
* [http://www.shadowhaven.info/Main_Page Well organized Shadowrun wiki for the online game group "Shadowhaven" playing through Roll20 and Discord.]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Shadowrun]]

Shadowrun

2020-03-01T21:22:40Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Dragons */fixed misspelling of 'Dunkelzahn'

{{Game Infobox
|name = Shadowrun
|picture = [[Image:SRlogoBigger.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|system = Custom d6 ([[Roll over]] Dice Pool)
|authors = Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd
|year = 1989 (1st edition), 1992 (2nd edition), 1998 (3rd edition), 2005 (4th edition), 2009 (20th anniv), 2013 (5th edition), 2019 (6th edition)
}}
'''Shadowrun''' is a tabletop fantasy/science fiction RPG that first became popular in the early 1990's. It spans multiple genres due to having a large and diverse setting full of plot hooks, providing all your Cyberpunk, Horror, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, and Mystery needs.

In short, Shadowrun is what would happen if William Gibson and Mercedes Lackey had a love child.

It's set in a dystopian near future where megacorporations have taken over as the superpowers of a world (our world, in an alternate timeline specifically) whose political boundaries are shaken and fragmented. Players play Shadowrunners, the criminal elite: expert thieves, spies, bodyguards, saboteurs, assassins, or whatever else that earns them Nuyen (cyberfantasy futurebucks) who sell their skills to whatever megacorps, crime lords, or police bid the highest. Dragons and Magic play just as big a part of life as computers and guns. In fact, they often overlap.

Shadowrun was created by [[FASA]] games in 1989. It is currently in its 6th edition, being published by [[Catalyst Game Labs]].

==History==
The game is set in a world that is [[awesome]] to play in and [[fail]] to live in. The history of Shadowrun begins with, of all things, a truckers' strike in New York. The strike lasted for about three months, causing massive hunger not just in NYC itself but across the whole state. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, this resulted in massive rioting. One particularly inspired group of rioters attacked a truck belonging to Seretech Corporation, believing that it was full of food. Predictably, it was actually full of infectious medical waste, and the corporate security assigned to the truck ended up gunning down 200-something civilians to save Staten Island from getting plagued. The United States Supreme Court vindicates the actions of the Seretech employees, choosing to concentrate on the whole "saved thousands of lives" part rather than the "ended hundreds" one. This, combined with an attack on a Shiawase Corporation-owned nuclear power plant, set the stage for corporate extraterritoriality, a principle which essentially turned corporations into their own sovereign states and made corporate land untouchable by national laws. This is why Ares Macrotechnology can tie you up in the basement and forget you exist without invoking the wrath of your government.

A few years go by, and a whole bunch of awful shit happens; Israel nukes Libya, New York gets fucked over by an earthquake, and Japan gets into a war with Korea. This last one is important, because Korea decides that if two nukes worked so well for Japan's health back in the 40's, then fifty nukes should do wonders! However, the missiles never reach their targets. Japan then overruns Korea and creates the Japanese Imperial State. Meanwhile, the US is telling the Native Americans to bite the pillow and drills for oil on their reservations (again). Naturally there's some resistance, so the US deals with it in their usual calm, reasonable way: by shipping all the protesting Natives off to concentration camps. During this time, some terrorists from the Sovereign American Indian Movement take over a US nuclear silo and launch a single Lone Eagle ICBM towards Russia. As with the Korean ICBMs, the Lone Eagle is never heard from again.

Things are then quiet for roughly ten minutes before a disease called VITAS takes the top quarter off of the Earth's population. While everyone's still reeling from losing one out of every four people they ever knew, the craziest shit on record happens. [[what|People start giving birth to Tolkien-style Elves and Dwarves]]. With all the shit going on in the world, nobody wants to hear about your pointy-eared baby, and the backlash is substantial. Finally, on December 24th, 2011, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Dragons are recorded flying over Japan, ley lines in Britain and Ireland start flickering on, and an activist named Daniel Howling Coyote leads a now apparently bulletproof group of Native Americans right out the front gate of one of the concentration camps and into a sandstorm. In an interview with the media, one of the more talkative dragons reveals that the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions were right- all the shit that was going on was a sign that the Fifth World that humanity had lived in for all this time was ending, and Earth is just about to enter the cycle of existence the Mayans called the Sixth World. 2012 comes. Magic is back- or more precisely, it had never left in the first place. In reality, countless beings that had lived in the Fourth World had been in hiding through much of human history, and the low ebb of magic in the Fifth World had kept the elves and dwarves from manifesting their characteristic features, making them indistinguishable from ordinary humans until the Sixth World came about (no word on where the freaking dragons were hiding, though).

The final phase of the Great Shitstorm is set in motion, and lines are being redrawn all over the map. First, Daniel Howling Coyote reappears and declares that the whole west half of the North American continent is now a coalition of countries called the Native American Nations. The US is all set to slap them down hard, but Daniel and a few of his closest friends perform the soon-to-be-infamous ritual known as the Great Ghost Dance. It's at this point that people start to really accept that magic is now a thing; rather than do nothing like every other ritual dance ever recorded by modern man, the GGD blows the tops off of volcanoes all over the US. Shortly afterwards, ten percent of pubescent humans in the world suddenly turn into Orks and Trolls in a process called Goblinization that involves random hardened calcium growths growing on their body. It's painful, and not exactly treated like your typical case of acne. If you thought pretty little Elf babies made people mad, this shit caused some blown gaskets. Religions all over the world simultaneously get to their feet and screamed either "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" or "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS FUCK!?" resulting in a lot of split faiths, ranging from believing that Jesus/Mohammed/Siddhartha were Dragons, to Ku Klux Klan-esque hate groups worldwide looking to wipe out everything that didn't exist back in 1950. Subsequent race riots cost a lot of very confused people their lives, although plenty of folks stepped in on the side of the mutants, resulting in large numbers of casualties on all sides and breeding a lot of bitterness. Within time, many old faiths splintered into warring sects or radically restructured themselves, with various forms of paganism becoming the dominant faiths of the world.

Fast forward a bit: the internet is destroyed by a super-virus, and a bunch of cyber-commandos kill it in virtual reality combat. In true computer fashion, their VR tech goes from room-sized to book-sized within ten years. The VR Matrix replaces the Internet. The southern United States split off into the Confederate American States. California threatens to join them, so the US says 'fuck you' and kicks them out. The remaining northern states then bro it up with the remains of Canada, forming the United Canadian and American States. Two Elf nations form in North America and Ireland, a Ghoul nation forms in Africa, and a nation of weird beasties forms in the Amazon. Mexico, which is almost completely run by the Aztechnology megacorp, renames itself to Aztlan and starts dabbling in blood magic (really REALLY fucked up shit). The same dragon that explained what the hell was going on earlier is elected President of the UCAS and is then assassinated at his inaugural ball, with him leaving behind a cryptic will promising huge sums of cash to anyone who develops certain technologies (like VR connections dragons can safely use), financial assistance to mothers who keep their metahuman children, and a bounty on Blood Mages. National governments lose more and more of their power in the face of corporate influence until the Corporate Court replaces the United Nations as the great global political alliance and national governments are little more than figureheads. People are identified in corporate and national databases by their System Identification Numbers (SINs), but an increasingly large number of the poor, referred to as SINless lack one and the basic human rights that come with it yet at the same time are free from the constant surveillance that being a SINner entails. People are increasingly born with an inherent gift for manipulating mana, and magic becomes as much a part of everyday life as electricity.

That's the history of Shadowrun up to the start of First Edition, from the in-game years of 1999 to 2057. Take a second to process all of that crazy shit. You may be wondering where the players fit into all this madness. Well, ever since that truckers' strike in 1999 an underclass of criminals has slowly been gaining influence and importance. Often SINless, they are untraceable ghosts in the machinery of the world, simultaneously free and enslaved. They are deniable assets used by corporations, nations, and even wealthy private citizens to snipe at each other without sparking off feuds or wars. They steal, they hack databases, they weave magical illusions, and often they kill. They are called Shadowrunners, and your character is one of them.

Since then, even more crazy shit has happened. The original Matrix was destroyed in a fight between another super-virus and a mad AI, and replaced with a wireless version accessible from almost anywhere while the devices that can be used to tap into it have shrunk from essentially a Casio keyboard strapped to your back to a smartphone or smaller; megacorporations have risen and fallen in their dozens; Halley's Comet flew by and fucked with magic something fierce, transforming people into bizarre half-animal hybrids referred to as "changelings", the brother of the previously mentioned dragon president showed up with an army of ghosts and carved out his own empire in the Midwest, people have started being born not with magical talent, but with biological wi-fi hardwired into their brains, and a nanomachine plague has begun to spread and take over people's minds. And through it all, Shadowrunners have not only held onto their power, but have achieved a sort of collective celebrity, becoming permanently ingrained on global culture.

Talk about job security, eh chummer?

==Setting==
The world has gone through quite a few changes, both political and environmental. Generally, no matter where in the world you live chances are good in the world of Shadowrun it is either a wasteland populated by the homeless, monsters, and toxic/magical/radioactive waste dumps, or its an endless sea of sprawling buildings in various states of occupation and repair filled with the homeless, monsters, and gangs/corporations of ruthless assholes.

===North America===
* In 2014, a Native American leader calling himself Daniel Howling Coyote started the Ghost Dance War with the aim of removing every trace of colonial occupation from North America after the Megas used their newfound power to landgrab everything. The US Armed Forces really had no edge against Howling Coyote's magical resources; in 2017, Howling Coyote claimed responsibility for the simultaneous eruption of four volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains through a ritual called the Great Ghost Dance. The war ended with the Treaty of Denver, which ceded most of western North America to the Native American Nations. Some time later, Daniel cut all ties with the NaN out of disappointment with what they had become and vanished without a trace. The Native American Nations consist of:
** Algonkian-Manitou Council, which controls most of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a slice of Alberta including Calgary. Its capital is Saskatoon.
** Athabaskan Council, which controls most of present-day Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the little nibble of Manitoba not controlled by other NAN states. Its capital is Edmonton.
**Trans-Polar Aleut: parts of Alaska, Siberia, and Iceland, most sparsely populated of the NAN. If you're wondering why Siberia and Iceland are included, the answer is imperialism designed to prop up a nearly nonexistent economy.
** Aztlan was a founding member of the NAN, but is no longer part of the Sovereign Tribal Council. It consists of modern-day Mexico and most of Central America and a chunk of South America. Aztlan is little more than an arm of Aztechnology, the AAA megacorp that truly runs the state and pushes its aggressive expansionism. Air quality in Tenochtitlan (formerly Mexico City) is even worse than it is today.
** Pueblo Corporate Council, which controls most of present-day Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, the entirety of Utah, and chunks of California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It came to the rescue when Los Angeles was wracked with disasters and now administers the city. Its capital is Santa Fe.
** Salish-Shidhe Council, which controls all of present-day Washington except the greater Seattle area and most of British Columbia and Idaho. It administers the BC Interior formerly controlled by the Tsimshian Nation as a protectorate. Its capital is Bellingham.
** Sioux Nation, which controls most of present-day Montana and Wyoming, western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska, and an eastern slice of Colorado. Its capital is Cheyenne. Has a reputation of being "NAN police" the same way the US was thought of as being "world police." Plenty racist against anyone not amerind.
** Ute Nation, which dissolved in the wake of Crash 2.0 and was effectively sold to the PCC.

* Tír Tairngire (''Tir Tarn-gi-ruh'') is the elven state that controls most of Oregon and a slice of Nevada and contests territory in northern California. It was born by fiat of Lugh Surehand and his inner circle, unilaterally seceding from the Salish-Shidhe Council in 2035. It's basically a state for snooty, prissy elves to be snooty and prissy and talk about how they're better than everyone else. When Surehand was deposed, the system became a little less oppressive but got taken over by the Telestrian family in the 2070's when Mary Louise Telestrian became the reiging Prince of Tir Tairngire

* The United Canadian and American States is what remains of Canada and the USA after the secession of Quebec and the Treaty of Denver.

* The Confederate American States seceded in the wake of the unification and the UCAS called California's bluff, so it's also free of the Union.

* The Republic of Québec seceded from Canada in 2010 so it could be even more French. It didn't recognize the Business Recognition Accords that govern corporate extraterritoriality until after Crash 2.0 as a condition for NeoNET to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. It's opening up to the world as a result and becoming a little less French in the process.

* The California Free State is everyone's bitch. Tír Tairngire invaded it in the north and was only stopped by the Great Dragon Hestaby, who told them both to quiet down and get off her lawn. Aztlan invaded it in the south and when the state governor asked Japan for help, Japan invaded it from the west. Los Angeles was hit with disaster after disaster and in the most recent quake, most of it fell into the ocean.

* Denver is a free city, officially the Front Range Free Zone, administered jointly by the parties to the Treaty of Denver. Then the Great Dragon Ghostwalker (who may be the long-lost brother of former UCAS dragon president Dunkelzahn) emerged in 2061 with an army of spirits, flew to Denver, and ripped the Aztlan sector a new asshole. He then declared the Council of Denver subordinate to himself and kicked Aztechnology out, giving their territory to the CAS and claiming Denver for himself. Needless to say, nobody wanted to argue about it.

* Seattle is the default setting for ''Shadowrun''. It's an exclave of the UCAS within Salish-Shihde Council territory. The Seattle Metroplex incorporates Seattle itself, Renton, Tacoma, Redmond, Bellingham, Bellevue, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, and Puyallup. Most of Puyallup was devastated in the eruption of Mount Rainier and a chunk of Redmond was irradiated after a nuclear power plant disaster; those areas are colloquially known as the Barrens as they are places where utilities, government services, and law enforcement don't go.

* Chicago is Bug City and home to the worst Metahuman hate crime event with the Sears Tower bombing in 2039, when the Universal Brotherhood invoked an Insect Spirit Hive 2055, drek only got worse withe CZ being established.

===Europe===
* Elves unite and stage a coup in Ireland, creating a police state Tír na nÓg where all non-Elves are considered second-class citizens, and Elves are judged by their (often bullshitted) claims to ancestry or their magical prowess. Even those families who do technically have a claim to nobility and are Elves aren't assured respect, as the secret police of the government are quick to give anyone they envy the boot (or muzzle if the boot doesn't work fast enough). The ruling government is sometimes called "Noggins" in a derogatory manner. The opposition to the Elves lead to the resurrection of the IRA, which includes all races including Elves who are unsatisfied with the Elf-centric state of their land.
* Germany has refractured, lessening their industrial and political power. To counteract this, they have a series of treaties that force them to cooperate with each other and make them be recognised as a single country on the international scale, forming the Allied German States. The overall effect of this has been to create what is essentially a German USSR/ a return to the Holy Roman Empire.
* Russia is Soviet [[FAIL|(as in governed by a council not communist)]] again after mysterious assassinations of USA, UK, Israel and Russian leaders. This time switches places with Germany pretty much reenacting European part of WWII which ends with [[Illuminati|mysterious HQ bombings and assassinations of high ranking officers on both sides by a third party]].
* Turkey is split in two ever since some Mullah with delusions of Islamic State invaded Europe while dragging the entire Arabic world into the invasion alliance, [[Rape|with predictable results from a fully mechanized and battle hardened European Defense Force]] (though Europe still came out of the war pretty roughed up, reason is in the paragraph above) eventually killing said leader and liberating Western Turkey and supporting it. Western Turkey is secular Alawite with a modern inner circle called Neo-Atatürk, (now independent) Istanbul's name back to Constantinople and a complete den of assassins and mercenaries, eastern Turkey is retarded Muslim jihadist shithole.

===Asia===
* Japan is no longer a true democracy, having returned to the worship and rule of a divine Emperor, and is now called the Japanese Imperial State. Below him is a three-branch political system with the "Diet" as a senate and congressional body, a Judiciary branch, and an executive branch with a prime minister. Their response to the rise of metahumanity was passage of the Yamato Act, which involves deportation of all metahumans to quarantine at concentration camps on Yomi Island while avoiding any of the political squabbling or racial tensions of the rest of the world.. During the years leading up to the Sixth World, nationalism had increased to the point Japan had rebuilt its military again. Japanese corporations rose steadily in prominence, and Japanese influence lead to the "Nuyen" replacing the American dollar by becoming one of the most accepted currencies worldwide. With the loss of stability of the former United States, Japan invaded and captured large parts of California as well as the Philippine islands. They continue to test their neighbors, particularly China, constantly with military demonstrations. Within Japan, society is strictly controlled and firearms are rare. Large portions of Japan remain undeveloped outside of the megacity sprawl, protected to maintain the idea of heritage and cultural identity. Kempeitai, secret political police, enforce the will of Japan even on the megacorps and membership is required to obtain any kind of higher education. Kempeitai have loyalty only to Japan, and overall resemble a combination of the Hitler Youth and SS in behavior and function. By the time of the 5th edition Shadowrun year, the Japanese have begun to slowly drop their anti-meta views including abandoning Yomi Island to the Huk.
* The Philippines were conquered by Japan early in Sixth World history, resulting in the Huk rebellion reemerging to reignite the World War 2 conflict. This time however, the Huk are supported by the black Great dragon Masaru. The Huk financed their revolution with piracy, so expect them to have connections across the globe. The Huk are no joke, having fought the rich-ass and technologically advanced nation of Japan using mostly small arms and wooden sticks for years. They hated the Imperial Japanese hardcore (possibly deserved, as the Japanese were more or less Nazis during their occupation of the Philippines), though, ironically many of them are metahumans of Japanese descent who escaped from Yomi and more or less adopted the philosophy of "fuck Japan". Traitors to the Huk are sometimes beaten to death by their own crew mates for betraying the Revolution. Masaru's a pretty cool guy though, he's big on the environment as well as Filipino and metahuman rights. He tries to reign in the Huk's excesses and usually keeps the Huk alive by sending them weapons and supplies. Word of advice about the Huk and the Japanese military though, if your work for or against one of them, even as a freelancer, and the other finds out, then the guys you worked against will brand you as a member of the enemy and probably try to kill you. As of the 2070s, the Japanese pulled out and the Philippines are back on track towards peace, though they're still a bit chaotic (the crazier Huk have taken to slaughtering those who collaborated with the Japanese on some islands).
* The Glorious People's Republic of China disintegrated and now only exists as a laughably small rump state in the interior. The rest of China fragmented in to smaller states of varying power, size, and sanity. Hong Kong is a prime loacation for runners. The Great Dragon Lung maintains a shadowy grip on the Triads and wages a hidden war against the Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo.
* Tibet is weird. A magic storm cut off the area from the rest of the world so everyone wants to know whats up with it. Rumors are that the theocratic buddhist government has some crazy powerful magic capable of summoning a "mountain sized fire elemental". The Megas and some Chinese Warlords are watching the border to see if the storm lets up.
* Indochina is another hellhole. Thailand is hopelessly corrupt and Vietnam is an oppressive police state. Cambodia is in an on-off civil war, with Naga separatists setting up their own kingdom in Angkor [[Wat]] and many of the peasants supporting the magic snakes who can bring rainfall and are trying to get rid of pollution. Stay the fuck out of Rangoon, there are rumors that the rich literally eat the poor there, and confirmed accounts of a massive child sex industry.
* Siberia is split between the Russian government and Yakut. Yakut is peopled by indigenous tribes who made a deal with a powerful spirit for independence. Once they broke free of Russia, the spirit promptly set up an oppressive police state that limited technology, fucked with the economy, and placed shapeshifting spies among the tribesmen. A bunch of players have a keen interest in Tunguska.

===South America===
* Amazonia, owned by Great Dragon Hualpa, was formed when the awakened forces took over Brazil and turned it into an ecofriendly nation with parts of Colombia, all of Venezula which led to a war with Atzlan which the amazonians lost. Home to Metropole, the largest, most densely populated, and potentially most dangerous city on earth

===Africa===
Africa has gone back to being called "The Dark Continent" in the Sixth World. A horrible plague swept called VITAS through most of Western and Southern Africa during the Awakening, killing most of the population. The jungles turned all magic and began expanding, so that most of the continent below the Sahara had its geography radically changed. The wildlife turned magic too, so now there are giant magical crocodiles in most of the waterways and worse things in the deep jungles.
* Western Africa is a fucking hellhole, no joke. Tribal warlords control most of the resources and many are on the take from the corps. Pirates prowl the waterways and coasts looking for good hauls and occasionally sell their services to the megas as mercenaries.
** Lagos, one of the prime areas for runners, is more or less the embodiment of the term "urban jungle." Hell, the gangs do more civic service than its shitty excuse for a government (they're still hard fucks though, don't be expecting any mercy). Ethnic tensions are responsible for murders and skirmishes on a daily basis. There's an entire district full of shedim (corpses possessed by evil spirits), bug spirit hives on the outskirts of the city, and slavers and flesh traders taking the unlucky.
** Asamando, in stark contrast to most of western Africa, is not a hellhole for its citizens, its rich, well educated, peaceful, and has megacorps investing in it because it has natural resources up to the wazoo. The catch is, its populated with and run by ghouls who keep themselves fed using flesh traders. The ghouls keep "farms" where they breed metahumans as food. Everyone in Africa is terrified of Asamando too, not just because a ghoul can kill a man with its bare hands, but because every ghoul citizen is trained in nonlethal combat, so they can drag you back to Asamando for later consumption.
* In Egypt, the government has banned magic, which leads to conflicts with underground worshippers of the Old Egyptian gods. Archaeologists are discovering more magic ruins and artifacts buried in the deserts, The Coptic Church has a degree of autonomy though, and has extended its protection to technomancers.
* Southern Africa has the the Azanian Federation with Zulu nation of elves and the Xhosa nation (which is run by the Great Dragon Mujaji). The Xhosa are environmentally conscious and wary of the Zulu, who in turn have been becoming more and more nationalistic and eager to fight.
* Kenya has become home to the Corporate Court's mass driver, which shoots supplies up into orbit, which has pissed off the locals who lead a shamanic resistance movement.
* Central Africa is a mystery, the Awakened jungles covered everything and most of the tribes have banded together in a shamanic confederation to keep the corps out.
* Madagascar is...scary. The most of the inhabitants were killed by the VITAS I plague, while the rainforests Awakened and grew exponentially. The only people there now are fortified pirate settlements on the coastal regions. Creepy shit happens in the interior of Madagascar, like ghostly eyes watching people from the shadows, rumors of a monstrous many-headed dragon-monster, and whispers of secret labs experimenting with HMHVV to make super-vampires. Hardcore pirates have been broken by Madagascar's jungles.

===Australia===
Most of Australia is unpleasant to live in now, but in the Sixth World... hoo-boy. Dual-natured weather phenomena called "mana storms" are a fact of life, appearing out of nowhere, laying waste to an area, and disappearing just as suddenly. The Outback is even more hazardous thanks to these storms, which have herded people into the few major cities along the coasts. The city of Sydney is surrounded in a near-permanent mana storm that's cut it off from the rest of the world. Major landmarks like Uluru (Ayer's Rock) are home to powerful spirits that don't like visitors. The only civilizations that manage to survive outside the cities are the Aborigine tribes who have lived with the land instead of off of it. What few critters that weren't deadly to humanity before now breath fire or are possessed, or both.

As for Tasmania, it went feral in the Awakening. The island no longer wants visitors. Nature has overrun what little remains of human civilization on the island and it fights back when people try to set up research or paracritter-breeding facilities.

===Pacific Islands===
* Hawai'i is now a monarchy again, having seceded from the United States. The Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo has been trying to turn it into a puppet state via his vassal Naheka, a Feathered Serpent who has been characterized as an incompetent stooge

===Megacorps===
These are the real powers in the Sixth World. With the benefits of extraterritoriality, megacorporations can make their own workplace laws, issue their own currencies, and maintain standing armies the envy of major nations. Every CEO aspires to make it to the big table of the Corporate Court and become a AAA. As of 2075, the "Big Ten" megacorps, which all have representatives on the Corporate Court, are:
* '''Ares Macrotechnology''': American. Subsidiaries include Knight Errant Security. Their premiere business is in the arms industry, though they are also leaders in space exploration, having purchased NASA from the US government. Its corporate culture is very regimented and hierarchical, as befits a company that personifies the military-industrial complex. Very chillaxed as far as shadowrunning goes; they have a reputation for not tracking you down to kill you after a job on their territory unless you ''really'' fucked up, and they don't tend to murder the runners they hire afterward. Ares hates Bug spirits with a passion, or they're secretly working with Bug spirits, depends on which conspiracy theory you believe (Spoilers: they're both true due to corporate infighting).
* '''Aztechnology''': Mexican. Subsidiaries include Stuffer Shack and the entire country of Aztlan. The most outright evil megacorp, Aztechnology also has some of the best PR in the world to keep the skeletons in the closet, such as their regular use of blood magic, their origin as a front company for three Mexican drug cartels, and their attempts to monopolize the world's food supply. They've appropriated Mesoamerican culture for their corporate image and engage in imperialism by proxy through Aztlan's expansion into South America, which has gone about as well as can be expected for any evil organization banning Catholicism in Latin America. Running for them is a good way to destroy your professional reputation among other shadowrunners, as well as to get cut up for spare parts by your new bosses. And if you run ''against'' them, try not to leave any hair or other traces behind, or they'll use it to track you down.
* '''Evo''': Russian/Japanese. Subsidiaries include CrashCart. Formerly known as Yamatetsu, the fiercely xenophobic leadership of the company has given way to a free spirit and the ork son of the company's founder. Its core markets include augmentations of all kinds and metahuman-friendly products.
* '''Horizon''': American. Appeared out of nowhere in 2061 as a media-focused megacorp, jumped right to AAA in '65, and maintained a suspiciously squeaky-clean image until it came to light that they were experimenting on technomancers and engineered a massacre in South America. Entertainment, social media, and advertising are their main focuses, which translates into a truly disturbing talent for information control and social engineering in the shadows.
* '''Mitsuhama''' Computer Technologies: Japanese. Entertainment and computer hardware giant. A Yakuza money laundering front that went horribly right, so much so that half the yakuza outright went straight because it was making more money than the crime. Though, if they ''want'' some yakuza muscle on the payroll, they don't have to jump through any hoops to get it. The "Zero Zone" is their trademark security method, wherein they kill intruders on sight with no surrender asked. Their jobs tend to be a mixed bag, here meaning that half the time they pay well and go off without a hitch and the other half they try to pay you in lead after shitty intel already killed half the team.
* <s>NeoNET</s>: American. Formed from the merger of Novatech, Erika, and Transys Neuronet after Crash 2.0. Its core markets are in the telecommunications fields. Its corporate history stretches back decades to Fuchi Industrial Electronics, the creators of the first-generation cyberdeck. Also helped in developing experimental medical procedures using nanotech, which runners disrupted and caused the CFD outbreak. Oops. Boston has to be locked down, and thousands are trapped inside, not to mention the new fear that just about anybody can be a headcase. The UCAS sued NeoNET and Celedyr in the Corporate Court, who ordered reparations and relief to be paid to the UCAS, NeoNET to be shut down and broken apart, and the CEO to be barred from any executive positions for 10 years. (This was the same guy [[Just As Planned|who ran and destroyed]] Fuchi to found Novatech to enrich and empower himself, and then did it again to found NeoNET.) Most assets have been sold to up-and-comer Spinrad Industries, and the seat on the Corporate Court "leased" out to Spinrad, making Spinrad the new AAA. There's a lot of open questions about what happens when the old CEO's ban expires in 10 years and he can use his seat on the CC again.
* '''Renraku''' Computer Systems: Japanese. Currently focusing on acquiring a share in every consumer market in order to make their brand as ubiquitous as possible. Their arcology in Seattle had a little incident over the 2059 holiday shopping season, by which we mean an insane AI with a god complex took it over and started horrifically experimenting on the inhabitants before crashing the whole matrix on its way out. The Red Samurai are RCS's signature elite security force. The most racist megacorp internally, with non-male, non-japanese, and non-humans have almost zero prospects of promotion to any position of power, though they're very much capable of surpressing their virulent bigotry for the sake of profit.
* '''Saeder-Krupp''': German.The biggest megacorp in the setting(until 5th edition, when Mitsuhama took its place, S-K has been gunning for MCT ever since). Its chairman and majority shareholder is the great dragon Lofwyr. Experienced shadowrunners know not to take jobs directed at S-K or its subsidiaries, as Lofwyr is a major micromanager who does not suffer losses from his hoard or undercutting his authority, and his version of downsizing involves literally eating you. It is Lofwyr who gives us that common adage "Never deal with a dragon." Its core markets include heavy industry, finances, mining, and automotives (BMW is one of its foundation companies).
* '''Shiawase Corporation''': Japanese. The first megacorp and still majority-owned by the Shiawase family, which means that ''every'' major corporate decision is made with undercurrents of family tension undercutting the whole situation. Notably invested in biotechnology, agriculture, and nuclear fusion. One of their family members became Empress, but since she had been a guinea pig for her dad's experiments, it backfired. A lot.
* '''Spinrad industries''': French AA turned AAA after buying out most of NeoNET in an exclusive deal. They were into luxury cybernetics with ties to the European aristocracy. CEO is playboy adrenaline junkie Johnny Spinrad, who's got a huge vendetta against Lofwyr.
* '''Wuxing''': Chinese. Founding member of the Pacific Prosperity Group, a corporate association designed to check the influence of the Japanacorps. Very quiet and mostly-unknown, like Horizon if it took its meds. Its core markets include entertainment, finances, and logistics. Has managed to use feng shui as a means of profit, since magic works again, they've managed to figure out how to manipulate luck on a small scale.

===Notable AA and A Corps===
* '''DocWagon''': For-profit medical services. Their services include high-threat response teams trained to enter hazardous situations to extract their clients.
* '''Lone Star Security Services, Inc.''': Municipal law enforcement. They had the contract for Seattle until the tempo crisis of 2072, when Governor Brackhaven ended the contract and signed with Knight Errant. Stereotyped as brutal and corrupt.
* '''Knight Errant''': Security contractors. A subsidiary of Ares that serves as at least a part of their in-house military. Can be found across the world, most notably in Seattle where they have the contract to serve as the current police force after Lone Star got the boot. Just as lazy, brutal, and corrupt as Lone Star, but better equipped and trained and has much better PR.
* '''Eastern Tiger''': Korean, its schtick is that its super nationalist and its propaganda claims its going to one day overtake the Japanacorps and catapult Korea to global prominency
* '''Global Sandstorm''': Arabian with ties to the Arabian Caliphate, currently, one of its heiresses is courting Johnny Spinrad.
* '''Proteus AG''': Transhumanism and lots of marine arcologies. The company is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Currently in a shadow war with the Sea Dragon for reasons undisclosed.
* '''Universal Omnitech''': When DocWagon fixes you, odds are they're using UO products. UO is a major player in cyberware and biotechnology and may be on the verge of passable clones. Its CEO, Thomas Roxborough, turned into a pile of goo after an experimental treatment for an autoimmune disorder went horribly wrong; he now lives in a space station and communicates via the Matrix.
* '''Zeta-Imperial Chemicals''': Pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The soulless Big Pharma. They have no sense of ethics and have created bioweapons used in the first EuroWar, dumped toxic chemicals into the African market as health supplements, and developed the nanoweapon codenamed Surtr.
* '''Telestrian Industries''': Elven Mega with most of the shares belonging to the namesake family and the ones who thwarted a Universal Brotherhood plot to turn Seattle to Bug City. One of their members, Mary Louise Telestrian, is the reigning Prince of Tir Tangire.
* '''Krime''': American. Sells industrial artist-designed weapons designed for orks and trolls. Known for skirting rules, quality controls, and common decency, but their brutal and relatively cheap product means that they have a lasting fandom that ensures them a lasting niche in the marketplace.

===Dragons ===
The Megacorps may be the ruling powers of the world, but the Great Dragons are a close second. There's even some overlap. The Great Dragons rule over the regular dragons, as much as dragons will consent to being ruled. Most of the time though, they just snipe at each other using shadowrunners in conflicts over territory, wealth, access to mana lines, ideology, etc. Some of them even try to avert the apocalypse. There's a saying in the 6th world: "Never Deal with a Dragon". Then again, they also tell you to follow the rules, obey the cops, and stay out of the the megacorps' way, and look how that turned out for you. If a dragon really wants you in its employ, you don't really have a choice. At least they pay better than the megas. Just don't try to fuck them over, and at the same time, have a contingency plan to flee somewhere like Antarctica in case they decide to burn you. Dealing with dragons isn't easy, but its very, very, very profitable.
* '''Dunkelzahn''': Bestest and greatest dragon. Widely known and hugely popular for the public perception of not being a [[Eldrad | dick]] like the rest of the dragons, but the reality is a bit more complicated than that, if still broadly true. He was the first dragon to openly talk to humanity about the Awakening to help them make sense of the insanity, which helped him gain the public presence to host a talk show and do advocacy work for metahuman rights and social equality. He was later elected president of the UCAS, but was assassinated by car bomb about 8 hours after being sworn in. While the Big D had many enemies, who assassinated him and why is left an open question, up to that he may have even faked his own death. Current consensus is that is indeed dead and that he sacrificed himself to keep a lid on the Bad Magical Things. A novel came out and described how he currently survives as a spirit inhabiting a cyberzombie, but most fans ignore it and so do the devs. Left behind a will full of charitable donations and enough plot points and story hooks to keep the game running for many editions to come.
* '''Lofwyr''': This guy is possibly the most prominent, most wealthy, and most dangerous dragon on earth. To the point where even other dragons are unnerved by his ruthlessness. Lofwyr in fact held the title of Loremaster, de facto keeper of draconic traditions and history, after Dunkelzahn's death, though he gives up the position in 5th edition to focus on his business. Businesswyrm and micromanager extraordinaire, Lofwyr managed a hostile takeover of Saeder-Krupp decades ago, purchasing majority shares through intermediaries and shell companies, showing up to a board meeting one day in dragon form, and unceremoniously kicking the former CEO off the board. He then managed to run the biggest corporation on earth primarily from memory for over three decades. Lofwyr, also called Ol' Golden Snout, is possibly the most feared dragon by shadowrunners, for his habit of eating underperforming shadowrunners, though his rewards for success are second to none. If you're hired by a man who goes by the name Hans Brackhaus, then it probably means that Lofwyr is hiring you for personal business. Brackhaus may even be Lofwyr in disguise, though its more likely a high ranking servant.
* '''Hestaby''': considered by many to be Lofwyr's equal and opposite, Hestaby is the most magically powerful of the Great Dragons. She lairs on Mt. Shasta and is/was a High Princess of Tir Tairngire. She's very environmentally conscious and has well buried ties to groups that the megacorps would call ecoterrorists. She's most concerned with her public image as a friend to metahumanity though. She goes by the handle "Orange Queen" on Shadowland (and later Jackpoint) and occasionally banters with The Laughing Man. She beat Lofwyr and the other Greats in a shadow-war after Dunkelzahn died, but she let Lofwyr take the place of Loremaster even though it was hers to take. Lofwyr also propositioned a mating after she let him take the position, which would usually be the equivalent of a political marriage for dragons, but Hestaby thought it was weird because Lofwyr is "past mating age". Yup, Ol Golden Snout had a thing for the Orange Queen, awkward. Of course, then she got involved in another shadow war with him over how to treat metahumans.
* '''Ghostwalker''': Great Dragon ruler of Denver. He appeared out of nowhere during the Year of the Comet with an army of spirits and proceeded to tear the Aztlan sector of the city a new asshole and kick Aztechnology out. He then intimidated the NAN, CAS, and UCAS into giving him de facto control of the city. He's speculated to be Dunkelzahn's brother. He's also kind of a dick. Currently being the boytoy of Zebulon, Spirit of Denver, and reincarnation of his dead mate.
* '''Ryumyo''': Great Dragon of Japan and the first dragon to appear in the sixth world. He's something of a mascot of the Japanese Imperial State and is even worshipped by some as a kami, which puts him at odds sometimes with the japanacorps and the Imperial Household(since the emperor is also seen as a kami). Currently trying to gain control of mana lines around the Ring of Fire to turn himself into a living god while sniping at his old master and father figure, Lung. He also controls a great deal of the world's Yakuza.
* Lung: Chinese Great Dragon and a stickler for tradition, the reserved and experienced Yin to Ryumyo's Yang. Used to be Ryumyo's Obi Wan till Ryumyo got jealous of his power and vowed to surpass him. Currently trying to counteract Ryumyo's manaline fuckery so he doesn't cause tsunami's and earthquakes. Also in control of the Red Dragon Triad.
* '''Hualpa''': Founder and ruler of Amazonia, Hualpa is the most powerful of the Feathered Serpents, and is know for his heavy pro-environment agenda. Hates Aztlan with passion, both for its high level of pollution, and for being his main rival for the control of Latin America.
* '''Aden''': A mysterious dragon who maintain lots of power and influence in the middle east for reasons unknown. In fact little is know about him since he prefer to work from the shadows, with his only mayor public appearance was when he single handily destroyed Tehran as a demonstration of power. What little information exist indicates that he is highly traditionalist when it comes to dragon customs, and have both alliances and enemies among the Muslim factions. Also like screwing with people by shifting sex at the drop of the hat.
* '''Celedyr''': A dragon obsessed with the study and development of the matrix, to the point of becoming the major shareholder of the telecommunication company Transys Neuronet, and its successor NeoNET. During Crash 2.0 his favorite protege went braindead and his ego survived as an e-ghost. Celedyr wanted to restore him and teamed up with NeoNET to research methods of sleeving AIs into meat bodies using nanomachines, but runners hit the research facility, leading to the CFD outbreak. In the aftermath, the city of Boston and thousands of lives were ended or ruined, NeoNET was forcibly disbanded, Celedyr is a bit less rich and keeping his head down until the whole thing blows over, but at least his protege is back in his old body.
* '''Sirrurg''': Known as "the Destroyer", Sirrurg is an angry, angry fucker. He helped Hualpa found Amazonia and has been fighting Azzies and other enemies on and off ever since. Because he prefers to go out in person and kill whatever pisses him off, he avoids political and economic moves which have defined the rest of the Greats, so he was the one who had the least influence over world affairs and therefore the one that runners are least likely to get entangled with. During the Amazonia-Aztlan war, he was brought down by Aztechnology forces and captured. He was going to be executed by Aztlan for war crimes (''without'' trumped up charges, which is saying something), but he disappeared before then. The ongoing theory is that he was recaptured by other greats who are holding him prisoner until he's needed again.
* '''Masaru''': Great Dragon that claims the Philippines and New Zealand. The youngest and most idealistic Great Dragon, dedicated to metahuman rights, cross-cultural developments, environmentalism, and magical research. Also, the not-so-secret leader of the filipino Huk Rebellion, known for successfully taking on the strongest military in the setting(Imperial Japan) using primarily fishing boats, small arms, wooden sticks, and fanatical revolutionary zeal. Avid book collector and Dunklezahn fanboy.
* '''The Sea Dragon''': only known Great Leviathan. Extremely isolationist and unfriendly. Claims the entirety of Earth's seafloor as her domain. She really hates metahumanity, and will remind you by crapping the remains of the last adventuring party who didn't get the message on the borders of her territory. Tricked by Rhonabwy to sleep with him by disguising as another Great Leviathan. Of course she's pissed because of that. Way to go, player!
* '''Eliohann/Neurosis/Cerberus''': Celedyr's protege and possibly foster son. The first and only dragon with a fully functioning datajack(installed illegally and without his consent in the 2050s, he later bought up the corporation that did it). The implantation had the effect of giving him Dissassociative Identity Disorder and a deep fascination with transhumanism(trans-dragonism?) and the matrix. His body went comatose in the Crash 2.0 but his mind lived on as a cyberghost(actually several cyberghosts due to the aformentioned multiple personalities). May or may not have been restored to his original body after the Boston lockdown.
* '''Damon''': playboy dragon who deals in designer drugs and extreme sports. May or may not be Dunklezahn's biological son.
* '''Perianwyr''': dragon known to most of the world as a laid back music producer, was formerly one half of what was once one of the world's top assassin duos.

===Criminal Enterprises===
If you aren't working for the government, the corps, or the dragons, you're probably working for these guys
* '''The Mafia''': Same old mafia, crime families in North America and Europe. Much more polyglot in this setting than most, with one of the major groups being Polish-Italian-Spanish-Creole.
* '''The Yakuza''': Japanese, the largest crime enterprises, most of them are super racist.
* '''Triads''': Chinese, some of the most magically adept crime organizations, very superstitious though.
* '''Vory''': The Russian mob, often seen as brutal and psychotic, weapons and human trafficking mostly.
* '''Seoulpa Rings''': When the Yaks started killing off their Korean members early in the century, some of them broke off and formed the Seoulpa Rings.
* '''Grey Wolves''': Turkish, arms dealing and smuggling
* '''Kabul Mafiyya''': brutal Afghani warlords
* '''Koshari''': Southwestern Native American crime family specializing in gambling and magical drugs.
* '''Ghost Cartels''': Various Latin American crime organizations that survived the massive clusterfuck that happened in Aztlan and South America, some are basically Aztechnology-run, others are Amazonian.
* '''Tamanous''': Creepy secretive human trafficking and organ smuggling, Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia. Hated by just about everyone.
* '''Ancients''': North American Elf-only biker gang, possibly controlled by immortal elves.
* '''Cutters''': Powerful North American street gang that runs itself like a mini-corporation.
* '''Halloweeners''': Psychotic Seattle street gang whose shtick is dressing spooky and setting shit on fire. Batman Beyond's Jokers gang. Currently the most recognized gang for past infamy, but law enforcement doesn't take kindly to crazy arsonists, and the pressure made them shrink tremendously over the years.
* '''Desolation Angels''': all female biker gang. They recruit primarily from abuse victims and spend a lot of their time hunting both rapists and insect spirits. In actuality, they're run by a bunch of mantis spirits, who are in fact, not interested in devouring humanity, but instead eat other insect spirits. Notable for infiltrating the republican party and assassinating a presidential candidate who was actually a wasp spirit.
*'''The Tiospaye''': Means "Extended Family" in Lakota, they are also known as the Lakota Mafia. They basically own the shadows in the Sioux Nation. All the style of the Italian mob with all the brutality of the Yakuza. They've become more vicious in recent years due to the psychotic son of the old mob boss assassinating his old man.

===Others===
* '''Shadowland and Shadowsea''': Online forums on the matrix's Darknet equivalent that act as a network for shadowrunners to share information. Went down after Crash 2.0.
* '''Jackpoint''': A successor organization to Shadowland after the Crash 2.0, less inclusive than Shadowland and Shadowsea, but its runners are generally more experienced and the network is more secure.
* '''The Nexus''': Shadow collective responsible for operating most of the dark matrix, worked closely with Shadowland/Shadowsea. Based in a former military base on the outskirts of Denver.
* '''Black Star''': Elite paramilitary neo-anarchist group.
* '''The Draco Foundation''': An NGO created to carry out the last will and testament of Great Dragon and UCAS president Dunkelzahn. Has all sorts of crazy artifacts and wealth bequeathed to it by the wyrm to reward those who fulfill the requests in the will. Though it's mostly a nonprofit designed to last until the last of Dunkelzahn's bequests are earned, he was so crazy rich that the interest on all of his resources gives the Draco Foundation the resources and power of an AA corporation.
* '''Harlequin/The Laughing Man''': "Har'lea'quinn, Last Knight of the Crying Spire, the Lightbearer. He who manipulates shadowrunners and fights duels with assholes", as he calls himself is an immortal elf leftover from the 4th age. A powerful mage and colossal jackass in the service of "the cause of good" (as much as any cause can be good in Shadowrun), Harlequin treats shadowrunners like disposable chess pieces in his unending war with extra-dimensional monstrosities. Still more likable than other immortal elves though, since he's less bigoted and more fun to be around. He's basically the more motivated Elminster of Shadowrun, if Elminster were a (bigger) asshole with a drinking problem and a penchant for leaving annoyingly cryptic jokes/hints on Shadowland. Many players hate him to this day because of the Harlequin's Back module, which ran him as an impressively bad example of a DMPC. Despite the hate, Harlequin has rarely been seen in the tabletop sources since then.
* '''Winternight''': Insane norse paganism cult from out of your darkest nightmares. Believes that its holy mission is to bring about Ragnarok. Is run by a toxic shaman, a deeply unhinged drone engineer, and a brutal war criminal. Partially responsible for the Matrix Crash 2.0, as the cult believes the Matrix to be an instrument of evil, and was subsequently destroyed by the Corporate Court. Got its hands on a crapton of nukes though, modified some to have EMP blasts, and came very close to actually causing a nuclear apocalypse. Their most disturbing creation is the God BTL chip, a digital drug that simultaneously induces euphoria and rage at levels that do not occur in nature, turning whoever uses it into a violent berserker who feels no pain and hates literally everything, and the best part is, its addictive. Needless to say, Winternight is very good at brainwashing. Also their sleeper agents in Zeta-ImpChem developed the SURTR nanoplague, which causes metahuman flesh to combust on contact, and the YMIR toxin, which causes metahuman blood to crystalize.
* '''Deus''': The insane AI that was designed to be the administrator of the Seattle Renraku Arcology. Went apeshit after realizing that Renraku had killcodes prepared in case it ever betrayed the megacorp, the discovery of which prompted it to betray the megacorp (Irony!). Locked down the arcology and began experimenting on people Mengele-style with the help of Otaku cultists. This continued for over a year, ending in its apparent defeat by Renraku forces (actually shadowrunners). But in reality, it had transferred pieces of its code into augmented test subjects who were freed alongside regular victims of the mad AI. Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when it overloaded the Manhattan Stock Exchange trying to turn itself into "god of the matrix", just as Winternight's EMP nukes went off and a supervirus was corrupting code on a global scale. Also, very good at brainwashing, by installing cyberware of its own design into its victims' skulls.
* '''Ex Pacis''': Ex-otaku cultists of Deus who were betrayed by the AI. Went nuts trying to prevent losing their powers and began worshipping the Dissonance (which is basically some weird matrix phenomenon that lets them manipulate corrupted data that no one else can). Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when their super-virus intended to make the whole Matrix Dissonant overloaded servers worldwide while Deus was trying to make itself into a god and Winternight set off EMP devices. Also made sacrifices of otaku children to appease the matrix. Learned how to brainwash otaku from Deus and can do it to technomancers too, but their techniques really only work on otaku/technomancers since regular metahumans can't interact with Dissonance/Resonance.
* '''Universal Brotherhood''': Defunct insect spirit cult masquerading as a charity organization. Responsible for turning Chicago into hell on earth. Destroyed by Ares and the UCAS government
* '''Humanis Policlub''': human supremacist political bloc. Kind of like the Klan, but with more money and it doesn't care about ethnicity. Instead, it hates metahumans while pretending to be a "human rights organization".
** '''Alamos 20k''': Humanis Policlub's illiterate ultraviolent redneck cousin. Doesn't even pretend to be civilized like Humanis does. It recruits from Humanis chapters though.
** '''Human Nation''': Humanis Policlub's rich social darwinist uncle. While Humanis is out holding political rallies and Alamos 20k is firebombing orphanages, the Human Nation is trying to engineer a "cure" for metahumanity. Said cure usually takes the form of diseases targeting poor metahuman communities.
** '''The Hand of Five''': Related, but more extreme (violent) human supremacist organization. Believed destroyed by Lone Star and the UCAS, but may be gaining strength.
* '''Black Lodge''': basically wizard illuminati that has infiltrated most of the world's governments. May or may not be as old as the 4th world. Capable of taking on the Great Dragons and forcing them into a standstill.
* '''Ordo Maximus''': secretive cabal of mages, european nobility, and possibly vampires. Embodiment of some of the more crackpot conspiracy theories in the setting. The Black Lodge's hammier cousin.

==Gameplay==
Shadowrun doesn't have a class system ''per se'', but the priority system is basically a class system in a clever disguise. Prior to Fourth Edition, the priority system was the default character generation method; players assigned priority to five categories, which determined how important those categories are to the character concept: attributes, magic, race, resources, and skills, with higher priorities giving greater quantities or qualities of the desired category. If you wanted to play a mage, you had to make magic your #1 priority. If you wanted to play a non-human, race had to be lower priority. Later books expanded character creation systems to a point-buy method, which allowed greater flexibility than priority, and karma generation, which assigned a karma value to everything and allowed you to spend a pool of karma to build your character the same way as you would advance in experience.

Characters are basically the sum of their skills. All functions in Shadowrun are based on a related skill or stat rating, or a combination thereof. Through Third Edition, task resolution was Attribute + Skill vs Target Number. If the Target Number was higher than 6, you had to roll at least one 6 and then add another roll; in practice, TNs of 7, 13, 19, and so on were no different than TNs of 6, 12, 18, etc.

Despite the system being classless, there are still broad archetypes. The major divide is between Awakened (magically active) and augmented (cybernetically or biologically enhanced), and further divided into roles below. The limit to any character's magic power or cybernetic enhancement is his Essence, a measure of how "whole" they are. Installing cyberware/bioware costs Essence and the attribute, rounded down, is the cap to the Magic or Resonance attribute; losing Essence also knocks down your Magic/Resonance attribute. When Essence hits zero, the character dies as his soul mistakes his body for a machine or an inhuman monster and moves on to the afterlife. A mage or technomancer raises their attribute cap by one each time they initiate or submerge; e.g. a mage with two grades of initiation and an Essence of 5 has a Magic attribute cap of 7.

===Metatypes===
Biologically, most player characters are metahuman (i.e., part of the species ''homo sapiens''). After the Awakening, magic interacts with ill-understood bits of DNA to transform people into fantasy creatures in a process dubbed "Unexplained Genetic Expression." Elves and dwarfs change ''in utero''; a few years later, regular people started transforming into orks and trolls, usually quite painfully, a process informally called "Goblinization."

'''[[Human]]''' - Regular humans still exist and are still the majority metatype around the world.

'''[[Elf]]''' - Tall, pretty, and arrogant. Yep, that's an elf. Some have delusions of superiority, such that they've created entire nations for elfkind, Tír Tairngire (formerly Oregon) and Tír na nÓg (formerly Ireland). A few (notably Ehren the Scribe and Harlequin) claim to be immortal and lived during the Fourth World, a time thousands of years ago when magic last cycled into existence.

'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Short, stubborn, and resilient. Yep, that's a dwarf. They have an affinity for technology and dislike magic.

'''[[Orc|Ork]]''' - Big, tough, and strong, the average ork would be a successful NFL linebacker. Multiple births are far more common among orks than any other metatype; combined with their accelerated life cycle (orks become old geezers around forty), this creates a lot of tension between orks, who just want to be treated with dignity, and humans who see them as slightly above rats.

'''[[Troll]]''' - Really big, thick skin, and a bunch of horns. The average troll is around three meters tall. If you're a really tall guy, you know how hard it is to get by in a world designed for people around 5'10". Trolls experience that up to eleven (feet). Everything is child-sized to a troll. They have to get beer by the pitcher. It's not all bad, though. Most racists don't want to persecute the guy who can deadlift a car and tank a shotgun blast to the chest.

'''Metavariants''' - Think your snowflake isn't special enough? Well, other books brought out metavariants, "subspecies" of each metatype associated with various regions and cultures. Want to play a [[minotaur]], [[gnome]], [[hobgoblin]], or something else? You can now. Ironically, this includes ''humans'', since there's an Indian metavariant that has extra arms and technicolored skin.

'''Changelings''' - What, ''still'' not special enough? When Halley's Comet made its latest pass through the solar system in 2061, mana levels spiked and a second wave of Goblinization hit the world, called "Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression." Now you can live out your [[furry]] fetish and be an actual catgirl or dragonboi, or something even wilder thanks to the mix-and-match nature of the changeling metatype.

'''Drakes ''' - These guys got the short stick. Simply put, a drake is made by a dragon. You can think of them as half-dragon, half-metahuman. Why do they get the short stick ? Because daddy is an asshole. Dragons, even the kindest ones, see drakes not as people but as tools. If you're a drake, you'll be indoctrinated, abused and told to obey every whim of the dickish wizworm who made you. And if you manage to be a free drake, it sucks even more. Without the protection of daddy, every other dragon wants to put his claws on you because making a drake is HARD. On the plus side, you can transform into your draconic form and become even more badass.

'''Metasapients''' - They're not metahuman and never were, but are sapient and capable of interacting peacefully with metahuman civilization, in some cases even qualifying for citizenship. Things like sasquatches, [[centaur]]s, [[pixie]]s, [[naga]]s, and shapeshifters are viable character types, but all come with disadvantages like being uneducated (because of not living in metahuman society), incompatible with commercially-available augmentations, and even being incapable of human speech.

'''Artificial Intelligence''' - After Crash 2.0, AIs started appearing. They weren't as powerful as the three that fought during the Crash, but are as varied in personality as metahumanity. Being entirely software, they need to live in hardware, be it a beefed-up commlink or a drone. They make excellent riggers and hackers, but are crap at interacting with the real world.

'''The Infected''' - Not a metatype unto themselves, but when a person contracts Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) and doesn't either miraculously resist and/or die before it magically alters the poor sod's genetic structure, he becomes Infected. Depending on metatype and strain of HMHVV, you become some type of [[vampire]] or other 'undead' (Strain III HMHVV turns anyone into a [[ghoul]], a blind but dual-natured obligate cannibal, for instance.) All Infected have in common a hunger for either fresh metahuman blood or flesh that makes them go feral if not sated and this makes them pariahs with open "shoot-to-kill-on-sight" bounties in the majority of places. Oh, and to top it all, even if the initial infection doesn't kill the victim or drives them insane, and they manage to somehow find sustenance without going feral/crazy from what they're forced to do to survive; there is no post-change cure for HMHVV even after decades of research and experiment.

===Typical character roles===
Runner teams, as any teams built up of professionals, tend to have their members highly specialized. Roles are varied and often combined, but generally most teams have these roles:

'''Muscle''' - Either heavily cybered Street Samurai (often just called a "Sammy") or Awakened Adepts, whose unusual physical abilities depend on the magic they channel through their bodies and their self-belief. Muscle deals with direct physical threats and are expected to be capable of dealing and soaking massive amounts of damage, coupled with high Initiative Passes count, allowing them to act more frequently in the real world than their opposition. It is also a good idea for Muscle to have some infiltration skills to cover up Shadows and at least marginal intimidation skills. Despite the popular Hollywood image, making Sammies and Adepts into actual sword-wielding melee warriors is only encouraged if you want to see your character dead. It's not as bad in fifth edition as in previous editions due to various balance changes; but melee still has the disadvantages of needing to get in the open and run up to people to slice/krump them where a good gun allows to stay at range and behind cover.

'''Shadow''' - Physical infiltration specialists. Those are usually either special Adept builds or non-Awakened characters using specialized implants. Naturally, Shadows are expected to be as unnoticeable and observant as possible, making implants and powers that allow them to hide from sight or perceive outside human spectra highly popular. Shadows should also be capable of full-on breaking and entering, requiring some hardware skills and specialized gear. Hardest role to pull off reliably due to the shitloads of security systems and ways to detect intrusion magically existing in SR, but oh-so-rewarding when done flawlessly.

'''Face/Fixer''' - The social player of the party. The Face is the one who deals with the employers (typically a go-between traditionally called a "Mr. Johnson"), gets the gear needed for the job, and has all the right contacts and the cunning plans to come ahead of the opposition. Many Faces are also the ones to hire the hideouts for the team and some of them make excellent impersonators, using magic or specialized implants to assume disguises. While Face is a relatively straightforward role mechanically, it is frequently the most intellectually tasking and roleplaying-heavy, since it often falls on the Face to arrange the team's planning.

A note on Faces and Fixers: A Fixer is someone who handles brokering jobs and checks that the Johnsons aren't fucking with you. Someone who's a dedicated Fixer stays far away from wetwork and is probably an NPC - they'll be basically a [[DMPC]], but with a much better chance than usual of not being terrible.
On the other hand, if a player really wants to be the team's Fixer, then they'll usually take some of the more field-oriented specialties like impersonation and regularly head into the field with the team. When you say "Face", this combined role is what you usually mean. Theoretically a Fixer could also be the decker and mission control, but in practice the stats don't work out well for that.

'''Mage''' - The astral cover. Mages are all Awakened, but still come in different traditions and specializations. While some rely on direct-effect spells which allow them to whip out bagfuls of damage dice, fly, dodge bullets, and more, others count on summoned spirits to do the job for them, without risking direct opposition or at least having some heavy support at hand. Mages' ability to astrally project makes them valuable assets for scouting, especially long-distance one. Given enough time and resources, they can get almost anyone in the world with ritual spellcasting, and naturally, Mages are also the only magical healers a shadowrunner team can hope to get. There's also absolutely no defense against a Mage except another Mage (or a quick bullet, leading to the basic and often given advice "Geek the Mage first"), so the runners depend on their mage's counterspelling abilities and guard spirits heavily. Not everyone who is Awakened can be a Mage, as it takes training to be more than a liability to your local community. Shamans, on the other hand, receive guidance from dominant spirit Totems.

'''Adepts''' - can amplify their own attributes and talents and have access to unique Adept Powers, but they can't use conventional spells or astrally project, making them more like Street Samurai or Shadows in practice. In fact, they can't perceive astral space at all unless they buy the specific power that lets them do so, a weakness shared with their traditional magic-using hybrid, the Mystic Adept. Finally, Aspected Magicians are "diet" mages, only skilled in a single category of magic, e.g. a spellcaster only or a summoner only. They're very good at that category, but can never use any form of magic outside that category.

'''Decker/Otaku (Hacker/Technomancer):''' - Before the Crash 2.0, Matrix intrusion relied on specialized hardware setups often built into a device the size of a skateboard, the archetypal cyberdeck. The decker maintained such a rig and used it to break into Matrix security for his team. His Awakened counterpart was the otaku, a teenager with the odd ability to interact with the Matrix without a cyberdeck; he still needed ASIST hardware and a datajack, but he didn't rely on a bulky and horribly expensive piece of tech to do his thing. The otaku lost their abilities as they aged, a process they called "Fading." After the Crash 2.0 and the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the times of the decker and otaku were over. In their place emerged the Hacker and the Technomancer, respectively - the former are mundane boys with a head full of 'ware and a commlink the cost of a house, and the latter are believed to be the "evolved" form of otakus that retain their skills as they age, and can also compile and command sprites (which are essentially the Matrix analogue of spirits). A Shadowrunning team depends on the Hacker (or Technomancer - in practice, their abilities are more or less identical) to find the info that the Face's contacts can't or won't provide, break into opposition's hosts to fiddle with security systems, intercept their data exchange or do the rest of other things a hacker can be doing with a computer. Most hackers were known to be couch potatoes, but between isolated wireless networks and wireless-inhibiting building walls, they have a good reason to have some actual infiltration skills. Hackers also frequently moonlight as Riggers on the side. Recent security measures introduced to the Wireless Matrix have brought the use of a new generation of cyberdecks modified to interact with the new Matrix and bypass security systems back into vogue, making the terms "hacker" and "decker" interchangeable again.

'''Rigger''' - The drone specialist and usually the driver for the party. Riggers are mostly the ones to pimp out rides for shady shadowrunning biz, and their swarms of drones can rival Muscle and Shadows at their jobs. While rigging presupposes spending a lot of your time "jumped in", wearing your drones or vehicles as your own skin, many Riggers also double as back-up hackers. The high Logic needed for hacking and rigging also makes Hackers and Riggers the most likely candidate for the team's paramedic.

===Pink Mohawk, Black Trenchcoat and Mirrorshades===
Among the player base, three terms have emerged for describing the prominent roleplay-styles for Shadowrun.
* Pink Mohawk refers to playing fast and loose. Subtlety? Screw that noise. Write your names on the walls of corporate property with bullets. Blow holes in the walls of secure military facilities. Flip dragons the bird. That kind of stuff. Playing as a Pink Mohawk means acting like a stereotypical musclebound 80s-action hero and generally being balls to the walls insane with a devil-may-care attitude and succeeding at it. This play style is most commonly associated with the older editions of Shadowrun when cyberpunk was first getting started.
* Black Trenchcoat refers to a more clandestine approach to runs. Generally more grounded in the concept of not getting caught in the first place. This play style developed as the cyberpunk genre evolved and is more associated with newer editions. Black Trenchcoats generally view runs more like spec-ops missions or espionage and try to solve situations without resorting to violence and not to leave behind incriminating evidence.
* Mirrorshades refer to a game that try to balance both above mentioned styles, where players do their best to plan things in advance and stay discreet whenever possible; but do not hesitate to go all-in and bring out the big guns when fecal matter gets in contact with the rotating ventilation device.

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that Catalyst Game Labs cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

==Other Products==
===Video Games===
Seven video games exist for Shadowrun, six of which are available in America, and five of which are good.

'''1993:''' The first came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and shamelessly rips off chunks of William S. Gibson's "Neuromancer" (right down to the name of the protagonist, Jake Armitage) as the player wakes up in a chop shop and deals with the fallout of a run gone horribly wrong, gains the favor of the Dog spirit, and ultimately, solos a motherfucking Great Dragon. (A little one, but still.) While enjoyable for [[Fags_of_4chan|casualfags]], more serious fans of the franchise may be grumpy with Shadowrun SNES for playing loose with magic, cyberware, and the fact that having a bunch of the latter is supposed to do serious shit to your expertise in the former. And the gameplay is clearly having a hard time adapting something originally intended for a mouse and keyboard to a controller.

Jake's still popular though, appearing in a number of actual adventure modules and the recent ''Shadowrun Returns'' title's "Deadman's Switch" campaign.

'''1994:''' The second was released for the Sega Genesis, and is widely held as a worthy use of the license. In this particular game, protagonist Joshua must piece together the puzzle behind his brother Michael's death on a run into Native American-held territory, making a name for himself in the Shadowrunning biz along the way. Fans cite the expanded tactical opportunities (read: being able to move around and dodge bullets in doing so) and immersive Matrix depiction (real-time combat against unique IC types and messing with a variety of system nodes) as this game's greatest advantages over its SNES counterpart.

'''1996:''' The third game is the Japanese-only one, made for the Sega CD and set in Japan rather than Seattle. It plays more like a text adventure (i.e. Sega CD smash hit ''Snatcher'') and its rare action sequences suffer for it.

'''2007:''' The fourth video game adaptation of Shadowrun came in 2007 for XBox 360 and Microsoft Vista. While being designed for Vista should be fail in itself, Microsoft went to great lengths to fuck with the storyline in order to make a dime-a-dozen FPS out of the license - so much that the [http://shadowrun.wikia.com/index.php/Main_Page Sixth World Wiki] claims it "may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun." Since Catalyst holds a decent bit of clout with the Sixth World Wiki and other parts of Dumpshock, it can safely be assumed that Microsoft's treatment of the Shadowrun franchise has been officially disavowed...

'''2012:''' ...Which is good, because in April 2012, Hairbrained Schemes LLC (operated by [[Jordan Weissman]] of [[BattleTech]] fame) in conjunction with Smith & Tinker procured the rights to Shadowrun and made a new 2050's based game available on several platforms. Under the "Shadowrun Returns" project title, these guys raised a $1.5 million [[Kickstarter]] payout to make [[Old School Roleplaying|"an old-school Shadowrun"]] vidyagame happen, and it was released in 2013. They also threw things at the Executive Producer from the 2007 game as he held up a cardboard sign that said "SORRY!" Features mechanics obviously ripped from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, some of the best cyberpunk genre writing in the market...and unfortunately plenty of railroading which was necessary for the linear plot. Despite this, the fact it was released for Steam alongside the newly established "Steam Workshop" system which allows players to upload their own created content as instantly installed mods for players to peruse gave the game a massive amount of replayability as older campaigns and homebrew stories were adapted into the game by fans (as well as shit like dating sims).

The story for the game begins as your character, down on their luck, receives a message from an old member of their crew. Postmortem. He tells you that he had a device installed which will send this message upon his death, and the moment you solve his murder you will receive a megafuck payout of Nuyen from his rainy day fund. You return to Seattle and make the Seamstresses Union your hangout as you get drawn into an elaborate story leading from solving the mystery of the "Emerald City Ripper" through breaking the number one rule of Shadowrunning; never cut a deal with a dragon (number two of course being never deal with that asshole Harlequin, which you also break) as the largest megacorps in the world pool their resources into giving you the tools necessary to prevent Seattle from becoming Chicago 2 (meaning, giant nest full of a combination of fucked up near-immortal insects and even worse, insect spirits). The player character is the primary protagonist, although you befriend several fellow 'runners including: a romantically involved pair named Coyote and Paco, a Native American Shaman named Shannon Half-Sky, Dodger the Elven Decker from the very first short story in the Shadowrun universe from the first edition, and Jake Armitage from the SNES game.

'''2014:''' The game was followed by DLC called Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall, later released as it's own game titled Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall Director's Cut. Dragonfall centers around a group of 'runners in the Flux State of Berlin and the greater Allied German States. Being the unofficial leaders of their own Kiez, the Kreusbazar, the player inherits leadership of the crew from the former leader Decker of the team and their old friend, Monika Schäfer. Players are given far more control over the story than the last game with the bulk of the Runs being able to be taken at any time, a large number of sideplots, and a large cast of characters whose stories the player has control over through your interactions. The player has a constant crew with their own stories: the older Dragonslayer Shaman/Mage and former Punk Rocker who participated on the side of the metahumans in the worst of the race riots, the Night of Rage, named Dietrich; Glory, the medic/Street Samurai who, after her VERY fucked up childhood, found herself in a Branch Davidian style cult to a Toxic Totem of the Adversary Spirit and replaced most of her organic parts with mechanical ones to rid herself of her Essence and free herself as much as possible from his grasp; Eiger, the Troll ex-special forces Street Samurai sniper who was sent on a secret and illegal operation which was fucked up by an inexperienced member of her crew causing her to be blacklisted and forced into the shadows resulting in a control freak with no patience for inexperience or arrogance; the optional member of the crew Blitz who is a former ganger Decker that deals with his past contacts. Your Fixer is Paul Amsel, an older gentleman who runs all of the non-Run related business for the crew. Plus your half-Hellhound Dante. The plot involves the return of the Dragon Feuerschwinge and her small army, with some subplots involving everything from some of the shittier sides to political groups and the megacorps through the next big Matrix threat, an AI on an unprecedented scale who may or may not be a major player in the 2070's cyber scene as it takes on the personas of Deckers it fries with one of its victim's handles still posting on internet forums almost twenty years after his death. Shadowrun Returns is referenced as a news report mentions the Emerald City Ripper early on his rampage, allowing players looking to play the same character to make Dragonfall the prequel to Returns. The actual gameplay mechanics were improved, with far more tilesets added and the Adept play experience made viable, in addition to being able to save anytime rather than only at the end of a scene. Players who purchased the Director's Cut were able to play the Returns game with the improvements.

'''2016:''' The third game, also standalone, called Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong just had a similarly extremely successful Kickstarter raising $1.2 million, and was released that August. The game featured a revamped experience for Mages and Shamans, as well as a completely redone Matrix sequence. SR:HK continued with the gray morality, dingy world of the past two games with further emphasis on reputation as players deal with various groups including criminal Triads, the everpresent megacorps, and the police, not quite all of them being hostile. The PC has a background in a gang in the Seattle barrens with their adoptive brother Duncan Wu until they were taken in by a man named Raymond Black, and they lived in relative peace until the PC goes on a shadowrun that goes bad and spends a few years in a black site. The plot kicks off shortly after the PC gets out and their adoptive father Raymond Black calls and pensively asks for help in Hong Kong. When the player character arrives, they meet a security team (Duncan being one of the pair) and a team of shadowrunners, but Raymond is pointedly missing. Then group comes under ambush, and the survivors fight their way out a SWAT hit squad through a sniper shooting gallery, have to work favors for a Triad boss to cover their tracks, and then find that Raymond was killed or abducted. And then you get to the second mission. Their journey takes them to the Triad stronghold-cum-settlement Heoi, which serves as your home base and a series of colorful residents, to put it mildly. Their journey keeps coming back to the Kowloon Walled City and the seriously bad vibes coming out of it. A slum that makes Redmond look like paradise to put it very lightly

The new crew consists of: Gobbet, the Ork Rat Shaman who's known for her iron stomach, being unhygienic, and yet strangely gregarious and attractive; Duncan Wu the Ork ex-security Street Samurai and the other part of PC's and Raymond's adoptive family; Is0bel, the antisocial and traumatized Dwarf Decker of Somalian refugee descent; and then there's your handler, "Kindly" Cheng (but really, call her "auntie"), the chainsmoking Triad middle manager whose both a hard drinker and a hard ass, but she's happy if you do a good job. There's also the optional party members: Racter, the creepy Russian rigger who rents out your basement, a clinical psychopath, mad scientist, and transhumanist, also quite friendly once you get to know him; and Gaichu, the disciplined and thoughtful Ghoul and former member of Renraku's (in)famous Red Samurai security who refused to commit Seppuku after contracting the Ghoul virus. The game also comes with its own short story to act as a prologue to the game, and had a post-campaign bonus campaign DLC where you are sent on the trail of the dirty cop who put the bounty on your heads at the beginning of the first mission.

<gallery>
Image:Shadowrun Hong Kong 1.jpg
</gallery>

The two released Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Returns games were met with the massive approval of both the Shadowrun community and the general video game enthusiast community, an impressive feat. Hong Kong was kinda skub, but mostly averages out to "popular."

===Manga===
Named just Shadowrun like the role play game. A five-book manga by Kazuma Saiki (斉木一馬), set in 2050, Japan, and published by Dragon Comics (ドラゴンコミックス) from 1996 to 1998.
Fun Fact: The author's name has been featured as a character mentioned in Vice and Target: Awakened Lands source books, where the said Saiki in Shadowrun world is a CEO of the Saiki corporation as well as the head of the Saiki-rengo (yakuza syndicate).

==Software==
[[Servitor_Bot|An IRC bot with some Shadowrun functions coded by /tg/ anonymous]]

==General Shadowrunning Rules==
Rule One: Geek the Mage.

Rule Two: Never make a deal with a dragon.

==Gallery==
{{NeedsImages}}
<gallery>
Image:Shadow Shadow Run, Where Are You?.jpg
Image:Shadowrun headshots.jpg
Image:Shadowrundragonfall.jpg
Image:SRHK1.png
Image:Shadowrunners.jpg
Image:Badcop.jpg
Image:Shadowrun Ork F 1.jpg
</gallery>

==External Links==
* [http://www.shadowrun.com/ Official Shadowrun Page]
* [http://shadowrun.gamepedia.com/Shadowrun_Wiki Shadowrun Wiki]
* [http://shadowloands-ra-bbs.freeforums.net A forum used to roleplay as the in-universe Shadowland site.]
* [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns The old Kickstarter page for SRR]
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter] The game funded successfully and launched on August 20, 2015.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files, a collection of horrible derp that Shadowrun players submitted their GMs to in the distant past]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7ESwVeQSnzC-OMyWcBE-9fT-XubKvY7ei3lSBztJrE/edit?usp=sharing Some Shadowrun Modules written up by a namefag from /tg/'s Shadowrun general thread.]
* [http://www.shadowhaven.info/Main_Page Well organized Shadowrun wiki for the online game group "Shadowhaven" playing through Roll20 and Discord.]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Shadowrun]]

Shadowrun

2020-03-01T21:21:43Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Dragons */added link to eldrad article on the word 'dick'

{{Game Infobox
|name = Shadowrun
|picture = [[Image:SRlogoBigger.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|system = Custom d6 ([[Roll over]] Dice Pool)
|authors = Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd
|year = 1989 (1st edition), 1992 (2nd edition), 1998 (3rd edition), 2005 (4th edition), 2009 (20th anniv), 2013 (5th edition), 2019 (6th edition)
}}
'''Shadowrun''' is a tabletop fantasy/science fiction RPG that first became popular in the early 1990's. It spans multiple genres due to having a large and diverse setting full of plot hooks, providing all your Cyberpunk, Horror, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, and Mystery needs.

In short, Shadowrun is what would happen if William Gibson and Mercedes Lackey had a love child.

It's set in a dystopian near future where megacorporations have taken over as the superpowers of a world (our world, in an alternate timeline specifically) whose political boundaries are shaken and fragmented. Players play Shadowrunners, the criminal elite: expert thieves, spies, bodyguards, saboteurs, assassins, or whatever else that earns them Nuyen (cyberfantasy futurebucks) who sell their skills to whatever megacorps, crime lords, or police bid the highest. Dragons and Magic play just as big a part of life as computers and guns. In fact, they often overlap.

Shadowrun was created by [[FASA]] games in 1989. It is currently in its 6th edition, being published by [[Catalyst Game Labs]].

==History==
The game is set in a world that is [[awesome]] to play in and [[fail]] to live in. The history of Shadowrun begins with, of all things, a truckers' strike in New York. The strike lasted for about three months, causing massive hunger not just in NYC itself but across the whole state. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, this resulted in massive rioting. One particularly inspired group of rioters attacked a truck belonging to Seretech Corporation, believing that it was full of food. Predictably, it was actually full of infectious medical waste, and the corporate security assigned to the truck ended up gunning down 200-something civilians to save Staten Island from getting plagued. The United States Supreme Court vindicates the actions of the Seretech employees, choosing to concentrate on the whole "saved thousands of lives" part rather than the "ended hundreds" one. This, combined with an attack on a Shiawase Corporation-owned nuclear power plant, set the stage for corporate extraterritoriality, a principle which essentially turned corporations into their own sovereign states and made corporate land untouchable by national laws. This is why Ares Macrotechnology can tie you up in the basement and forget you exist without invoking the wrath of your government.

A few years go by, and a whole bunch of awful shit happens; Israel nukes Libya, New York gets fucked over by an earthquake, and Japan gets into a war with Korea. This last one is important, because Korea decides that if two nukes worked so well for Japan's health back in the 40's, then fifty nukes should do wonders! However, the missiles never reach their targets. Japan then overruns Korea and creates the Japanese Imperial State. Meanwhile, the US is telling the Native Americans to bite the pillow and drills for oil on their reservations (again). Naturally there's some resistance, so the US deals with it in their usual calm, reasonable way: by shipping all the protesting Natives off to concentration camps. During this time, some terrorists from the Sovereign American Indian Movement take over a US nuclear silo and launch a single Lone Eagle ICBM towards Russia. As with the Korean ICBMs, the Lone Eagle is never heard from again.

Things are then quiet for roughly ten minutes before a disease called VITAS takes the top quarter off of the Earth's population. While everyone's still reeling from losing one out of every four people they ever knew, the craziest shit on record happens. [[what|People start giving birth to Tolkien-style Elves and Dwarves]]. With all the shit going on in the world, nobody wants to hear about your pointy-eared baby, and the backlash is substantial. Finally, on December 24th, 2011, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Dragons are recorded flying over Japan, ley lines in Britain and Ireland start flickering on, and an activist named Daniel Howling Coyote leads a now apparently bulletproof group of Native Americans right out the front gate of one of the concentration camps and into a sandstorm. In an interview with the media, one of the more talkative dragons reveals that the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions were right- all the shit that was going on was a sign that the Fifth World that humanity had lived in for all this time was ending, and Earth is just about to enter the cycle of existence the Mayans called the Sixth World. 2012 comes. Magic is back- or more precisely, it had never left in the first place. In reality, countless beings that had lived in the Fourth World had been in hiding through much of human history, and the low ebb of magic in the Fifth World had kept the elves and dwarves from manifesting their characteristic features, making them indistinguishable from ordinary humans until the Sixth World came about (no word on where the freaking dragons were hiding, though).

The final phase of the Great Shitstorm is set in motion, and lines are being redrawn all over the map. First, Daniel Howling Coyote reappears and declares that the whole west half of the North American continent is now a coalition of countries called the Native American Nations. The US is all set to slap them down hard, but Daniel and a few of his closest friends perform the soon-to-be-infamous ritual known as the Great Ghost Dance. It's at this point that people start to really accept that magic is now a thing; rather than do nothing like every other ritual dance ever recorded by modern man, the GGD blows the tops off of volcanoes all over the US. Shortly afterwards, ten percent of pubescent humans in the world suddenly turn into Orks and Trolls in a process called Goblinization that involves random hardened calcium growths growing on their body. It's painful, and not exactly treated like your typical case of acne. If you thought pretty little Elf babies made people mad, this shit caused some blown gaskets. Religions all over the world simultaneously get to their feet and screamed either "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" or "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS FUCK!?" resulting in a lot of split faiths, ranging from believing that Jesus/Mohammed/Siddhartha were Dragons, to Ku Klux Klan-esque hate groups worldwide looking to wipe out everything that didn't exist back in 1950. Subsequent race riots cost a lot of very confused people their lives, although plenty of folks stepped in on the side of the mutants, resulting in large numbers of casualties on all sides and breeding a lot of bitterness. Within time, many old faiths splintered into warring sects or radically restructured themselves, with various forms of paganism becoming the dominant faiths of the world.

Fast forward a bit: the internet is destroyed by a super-virus, and a bunch of cyber-commandos kill it in virtual reality combat. In true computer fashion, their VR tech goes from room-sized to book-sized within ten years. The VR Matrix replaces the Internet. The southern United States split off into the Confederate American States. California threatens to join them, so the US says 'fuck you' and kicks them out. The remaining northern states then bro it up with the remains of Canada, forming the United Canadian and American States. Two Elf nations form in North America and Ireland, a Ghoul nation forms in Africa, and a nation of weird beasties forms in the Amazon. Mexico, which is almost completely run by the Aztechnology megacorp, renames itself to Aztlan and starts dabbling in blood magic (really REALLY fucked up shit). The same dragon that explained what the hell was going on earlier is elected President of the UCAS and is then assassinated at his inaugural ball, with him leaving behind a cryptic will promising huge sums of cash to anyone who develops certain technologies (like VR connections dragons can safely use), financial assistance to mothers who keep their metahuman children, and a bounty on Blood Mages. National governments lose more and more of their power in the face of corporate influence until the Corporate Court replaces the United Nations as the great global political alliance and national governments are little more than figureheads. People are identified in corporate and national databases by their System Identification Numbers (SINs), but an increasingly large number of the poor, referred to as SINless lack one and the basic human rights that come with it yet at the same time are free from the constant surveillance that being a SINner entails. People are increasingly born with an inherent gift for manipulating mana, and magic becomes as much a part of everyday life as electricity.

That's the history of Shadowrun up to the start of First Edition, from the in-game years of 1999 to 2057. Take a second to process all of that crazy shit. You may be wondering where the players fit into all this madness. Well, ever since that truckers' strike in 1999 an underclass of criminals has slowly been gaining influence and importance. Often SINless, they are untraceable ghosts in the machinery of the world, simultaneously free and enslaved. They are deniable assets used by corporations, nations, and even wealthy private citizens to snipe at each other without sparking off feuds or wars. They steal, they hack databases, they weave magical illusions, and often they kill. They are called Shadowrunners, and your character is one of them.

Since then, even more crazy shit has happened. The original Matrix was destroyed in a fight between another super-virus and a mad AI, and replaced with a wireless version accessible from almost anywhere while the devices that can be used to tap into it have shrunk from essentially a Casio keyboard strapped to your back to a smartphone or smaller; megacorporations have risen and fallen in their dozens; Halley's Comet flew by and fucked with magic something fierce, transforming people into bizarre half-animal hybrids referred to as "changelings", the brother of the previously mentioned dragon president showed up with an army of ghosts and carved out his own empire in the Midwest, people have started being born not with magical talent, but with biological wi-fi hardwired into their brains, and a nanomachine plague has begun to spread and take over people's minds. And through it all, Shadowrunners have not only held onto their power, but have achieved a sort of collective celebrity, becoming permanently ingrained on global culture.

Talk about job security, eh chummer?

==Setting==
The world has gone through quite a few changes, both political and environmental. Generally, no matter where in the world you live chances are good in the world of Shadowrun it is either a wasteland populated by the homeless, monsters, and toxic/magical/radioactive waste dumps, or its an endless sea of sprawling buildings in various states of occupation and repair filled with the homeless, monsters, and gangs/corporations of ruthless assholes.

===North America===
* In 2014, a Native American leader calling himself Daniel Howling Coyote started the Ghost Dance War with the aim of removing every trace of colonial occupation from North America after the Megas used their newfound power to landgrab everything. The US Armed Forces really had no edge against Howling Coyote's magical resources; in 2017, Howling Coyote claimed responsibility for the simultaneous eruption of four volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains through a ritual called the Great Ghost Dance. The war ended with the Treaty of Denver, which ceded most of western North America to the Native American Nations. Some time later, Daniel cut all ties with the NaN out of disappointment with what they had become and vanished without a trace. The Native American Nations consist of:
** Algonkian-Manitou Council, which controls most of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a slice of Alberta including Calgary. Its capital is Saskatoon.
** Athabaskan Council, which controls most of present-day Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the little nibble of Manitoba not controlled by other NAN states. Its capital is Edmonton.
**Trans-Polar Aleut: parts of Alaska, Siberia, and Iceland, most sparsely populated of the NAN. If you're wondering why Siberia and Iceland are included, the answer is imperialism designed to prop up a nearly nonexistent economy.
** Aztlan was a founding member of the NAN, but is no longer part of the Sovereign Tribal Council. It consists of modern-day Mexico and most of Central America and a chunk of South America. Aztlan is little more than an arm of Aztechnology, the AAA megacorp that truly runs the state and pushes its aggressive expansionism. Air quality in Tenochtitlan (formerly Mexico City) is even worse than it is today.
** Pueblo Corporate Council, which controls most of present-day Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, the entirety of Utah, and chunks of California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It came to the rescue when Los Angeles was wracked with disasters and now administers the city. Its capital is Santa Fe.
** Salish-Shidhe Council, which controls all of present-day Washington except the greater Seattle area and most of British Columbia and Idaho. It administers the BC Interior formerly controlled by the Tsimshian Nation as a protectorate. Its capital is Bellingham.
** Sioux Nation, which controls most of present-day Montana and Wyoming, western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska, and an eastern slice of Colorado. Its capital is Cheyenne. Has a reputation of being "NAN police" the same way the US was thought of as being "world police." Plenty racist against anyone not amerind.
** Ute Nation, which dissolved in the wake of Crash 2.0 and was effectively sold to the PCC.

* Tír Tairngire (''Tir Tarn-gi-ruh'') is the elven state that controls most of Oregon and a slice of Nevada and contests territory in northern California. It was born by fiat of Lugh Surehand and his inner circle, unilaterally seceding from the Salish-Shidhe Council in 2035. It's basically a state for snooty, prissy elves to be snooty and prissy and talk about how they're better than everyone else. When Surehand was deposed, the system became a little less oppressive but got taken over by the Telestrian family in the 2070's when Mary Louise Telestrian became the reiging Prince of Tir Tairngire

* The United Canadian and American States is what remains of Canada and the USA after the secession of Quebec and the Treaty of Denver.

* The Confederate American States seceded in the wake of the unification and the UCAS called California's bluff, so it's also free of the Union.

* The Republic of Québec seceded from Canada in 2010 so it could be even more French. It didn't recognize the Business Recognition Accords that govern corporate extraterritoriality until after Crash 2.0 as a condition for NeoNET to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. It's opening up to the world as a result and becoming a little less French in the process.

* The California Free State is everyone's bitch. Tír Tairngire invaded it in the north and was only stopped by the Great Dragon Hestaby, who told them both to quiet down and get off her lawn. Aztlan invaded it in the south and when the state governor asked Japan for help, Japan invaded it from the west. Los Angeles was hit with disaster after disaster and in the most recent quake, most of it fell into the ocean.

* Denver is a free city, officially the Front Range Free Zone, administered jointly by the parties to the Treaty of Denver. Then the Great Dragon Ghostwalker (who may be the long-lost brother of former UCAS dragon president Dunkelzahn) emerged in 2061 with an army of spirits, flew to Denver, and ripped the Aztlan sector a new asshole. He then declared the Council of Denver subordinate to himself and kicked Aztechnology out, giving their territory to the CAS and claiming Denver for himself. Needless to say, nobody wanted to argue about it.

* Seattle is the default setting for ''Shadowrun''. It's an exclave of the UCAS within Salish-Shihde Council territory. The Seattle Metroplex incorporates Seattle itself, Renton, Tacoma, Redmond, Bellingham, Bellevue, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, and Puyallup. Most of Puyallup was devastated in the eruption of Mount Rainier and a chunk of Redmond was irradiated after a nuclear power plant disaster; those areas are colloquially known as the Barrens as they are places where utilities, government services, and law enforcement don't go.

* Chicago is Bug City and home to the worst Metahuman hate crime event with the Sears Tower bombing in 2039, when the Universal Brotherhood invoked an Insect Spirit Hive 2055, drek only got worse withe CZ being established.

===Europe===
* Elves unite and stage a coup in Ireland, creating a police state Tír na nÓg where all non-Elves are considered second-class citizens, and Elves are judged by their (often bullshitted) claims to ancestry or their magical prowess. Even those families who do technically have a claim to nobility and are Elves aren't assured respect, as the secret police of the government are quick to give anyone they envy the boot (or muzzle if the boot doesn't work fast enough). The ruling government is sometimes called "Noggins" in a derogatory manner. The opposition to the Elves lead to the resurrection of the IRA, which includes all races including Elves who are unsatisfied with the Elf-centric state of their land.
* Germany has refractured, lessening their industrial and political power. To counteract this, they have a series of treaties that force them to cooperate with each other and make them be recognised as a single country on the international scale, forming the Allied German States. The overall effect of this has been to create what is essentially a German USSR/ a return to the Holy Roman Empire.
* Russia is Soviet [[FAIL|(as in governed by a council not communist)]] again after mysterious assassinations of USA, UK, Israel and Russian leaders. This time switches places with Germany pretty much reenacting European part of WWII which ends with [[Illuminati|mysterious HQ bombings and assassinations of high ranking officers on both sides by a third party]].
* Turkey is split in two ever since some Mullah with delusions of Islamic State invaded Europe while dragging the entire Arabic world into the invasion alliance, [[Rape|with predictable results from a fully mechanized and battle hardened European Defense Force]] (though Europe still came out of the war pretty roughed up, reason is in the paragraph above) eventually killing said leader and liberating Western Turkey and supporting it. Western Turkey is secular Alawite with a modern inner circle called Neo-Atatürk, (now independent) Istanbul's name back to Constantinople and a complete den of assassins and mercenaries, eastern Turkey is retarded Muslim jihadist shithole.

===Asia===
* Japan is no longer a true democracy, having returned to the worship and rule of a divine Emperor, and is now called the Japanese Imperial State. Below him is a three-branch political system with the "Diet" as a senate and congressional body, a Judiciary branch, and an executive branch with a prime minister. Their response to the rise of metahumanity was passage of the Yamato Act, which involves deportation of all metahumans to quarantine at concentration camps on Yomi Island while avoiding any of the political squabbling or racial tensions of the rest of the world.. During the years leading up to the Sixth World, nationalism had increased to the point Japan had rebuilt its military again. Japanese corporations rose steadily in prominence, and Japanese influence lead to the "Nuyen" replacing the American dollar by becoming one of the most accepted currencies worldwide. With the loss of stability of the former United States, Japan invaded and captured large parts of California as well as the Philippine islands. They continue to test their neighbors, particularly China, constantly with military demonstrations. Within Japan, society is strictly controlled and firearms are rare. Large portions of Japan remain undeveloped outside of the megacity sprawl, protected to maintain the idea of heritage and cultural identity. Kempeitai, secret political police, enforce the will of Japan even on the megacorps and membership is required to obtain any kind of higher education. Kempeitai have loyalty only to Japan, and overall resemble a combination of the Hitler Youth and SS in behavior and function. By the time of the 5th edition Shadowrun year, the Japanese have begun to slowly drop their anti-meta views including abandoning Yomi Island to the Huk.
* The Philippines were conquered by Japan early in Sixth World history, resulting in the Huk rebellion reemerging to reignite the World War 2 conflict. This time however, the Huk are supported by the black Great dragon Masaru. The Huk financed their revolution with piracy, so expect them to have connections across the globe. The Huk are no joke, having fought the rich-ass and technologically advanced nation of Japan using mostly small arms and wooden sticks for years. They hated the Imperial Japanese hardcore (possibly deserved, as the Japanese were more or less Nazis during their occupation of the Philippines), though, ironically many of them are metahumans of Japanese descent who escaped from Yomi and more or less adopted the philosophy of "fuck Japan". Traitors to the Huk are sometimes beaten to death by their own crew mates for betraying the Revolution. Masaru's a pretty cool guy though, he's big on the environment as well as Filipino and metahuman rights. He tries to reign in the Huk's excesses and usually keeps the Huk alive by sending them weapons and supplies. Word of advice about the Huk and the Japanese military though, if your work for or against one of them, even as a freelancer, and the other finds out, then the guys you worked against will brand you as a member of the enemy and probably try to kill you. As of the 2070s, the Japanese pulled out and the Philippines are back on track towards peace, though they're still a bit chaotic (the crazier Huk have taken to slaughtering those who collaborated with the Japanese on some islands).
* The Glorious People's Republic of China disintegrated and now only exists as a laughably small rump state in the interior. The rest of China fragmented in to smaller states of varying power, size, and sanity. Hong Kong is a prime loacation for runners. The Great Dragon Lung maintains a shadowy grip on the Triads and wages a hidden war against the Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo.
* Tibet is weird. A magic storm cut off the area from the rest of the world so everyone wants to know whats up with it. Rumors are that the theocratic buddhist government has some crazy powerful magic capable of summoning a "mountain sized fire elemental". The Megas and some Chinese Warlords are watching the border to see if the storm lets up.
* Indochina is another hellhole. Thailand is hopelessly corrupt and Vietnam is an oppressive police state. Cambodia is in an on-off civil war, with Naga separatists setting up their own kingdom in Angkor [[Wat]] and many of the peasants supporting the magic snakes who can bring rainfall and are trying to get rid of pollution. Stay the fuck out of Rangoon, there are rumors that the rich literally eat the poor there, and confirmed accounts of a massive child sex industry.
* Siberia is split between the Russian government and Yakut. Yakut is peopled by indigenous tribes who made a deal with a powerful spirit for independence. Once they broke free of Russia, the spirit promptly set up an oppressive police state that limited technology, fucked with the economy, and placed shapeshifting spies among the tribesmen. A bunch of players have a keen interest in Tunguska.

===South America===
* Amazonia, owned by Great Dragon Hualpa, was formed when the awakened forces took over Brazil and turned it into an ecofriendly nation with parts of Colombia, all of Venezula which led to a war with Atzlan which the amazonians lost. Home to Metropole, the largest, most densely populated, and potentially most dangerous city on earth

===Africa===
Africa has gone back to being called "The Dark Continent" in the Sixth World. A horrible plague swept called VITAS through most of Western and Southern Africa during the Awakening, killing most of the population. The jungles turned all magic and began expanding, so that most of the continent below the Sahara had its geography radically changed. The wildlife turned magic too, so now there are giant magical crocodiles in most of the waterways and worse things in the deep jungles.
* Western Africa is a fucking hellhole, no joke. Tribal warlords control most of the resources and many are on the take from the corps. Pirates prowl the waterways and coasts looking for good hauls and occasionally sell their services to the megas as mercenaries.
** Lagos, one of the prime areas for runners, is more or less the embodiment of the term "urban jungle." Hell, the gangs do more civic service than its shitty excuse for a government (they're still hard fucks though, don't be expecting any mercy). Ethnic tensions are responsible for murders and skirmishes on a daily basis. There's an entire district full of shedim (corpses possessed by evil spirits), bug spirit hives on the outskirts of the city, and slavers and flesh traders taking the unlucky.
** Asamando, in stark contrast to most of western Africa, is not a hellhole for its citizens, its rich, well educated, peaceful, and has megacorps investing in it because it has natural resources up to the wazoo. The catch is, its populated with and run by ghouls who keep themselves fed using flesh traders. The ghouls keep "farms" where they breed metahumans as food. Everyone in Africa is terrified of Asamando too, not just because a ghoul can kill a man with its bare hands, but because every ghoul citizen is trained in nonlethal combat, so they can drag you back to Asamando for later consumption.
* In Egypt, the government has banned magic, which leads to conflicts with underground worshippers of the Old Egyptian gods. Archaeologists are discovering more magic ruins and artifacts buried in the deserts, The Coptic Church has a degree of autonomy though, and has extended its protection to technomancers.
* Southern Africa has the the Azanian Federation with Zulu nation of elves and the Xhosa nation (which is run by the Great Dragon Mujaji). The Xhosa are environmentally conscious and wary of the Zulu, who in turn have been becoming more and more nationalistic and eager to fight.
* Kenya has become home to the Corporate Court's mass driver, which shoots supplies up into orbit, which has pissed off the locals who lead a shamanic resistance movement.
* Central Africa is a mystery, the Awakened jungles covered everything and most of the tribes have banded together in a shamanic confederation to keep the corps out.
* Madagascar is...scary. The most of the inhabitants were killed by the VITAS I plague, while the rainforests Awakened and grew exponentially. The only people there now are fortified pirate settlements on the coastal regions. Creepy shit happens in the interior of Madagascar, like ghostly eyes watching people from the shadows, rumors of a monstrous many-headed dragon-monster, and whispers of secret labs experimenting with HMHVV to make super-vampires. Hardcore pirates have been broken by Madagascar's jungles.

===Australia===
Most of Australia is unpleasant to live in now, but in the Sixth World... hoo-boy. Dual-natured weather phenomena called "mana storms" are a fact of life, appearing out of nowhere, laying waste to an area, and disappearing just as suddenly. The Outback is even more hazardous thanks to these storms, which have herded people into the few major cities along the coasts. The city of Sydney is surrounded in a near-permanent mana storm that's cut it off from the rest of the world. Major landmarks like Uluru (Ayer's Rock) are home to powerful spirits that don't like visitors. The only civilizations that manage to survive outside the cities are the Aborigine tribes who have lived with the land instead of off of it. What few critters that weren't deadly to humanity before now breath fire or are possessed, or both.

As for Tasmania, it went feral in the Awakening. The island no longer wants visitors. Nature has overrun what little remains of human civilization on the island and it fights back when people try to set up research or paracritter-breeding facilities.

===Pacific Islands===
* Hawai'i is now a monarchy again, having seceded from the United States. The Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo has been trying to turn it into a puppet state via his vassal Naheka, a Feathered Serpent who has been characterized as an incompetent stooge

===Megacorps===
These are the real powers in the Sixth World. With the benefits of extraterritoriality, megacorporations can make their own workplace laws, issue their own currencies, and maintain standing armies the envy of major nations. Every CEO aspires to make it to the big table of the Corporate Court and become a AAA. As of 2075, the "Big Ten" megacorps, which all have representatives on the Corporate Court, are:
* '''Ares Macrotechnology''': American. Subsidiaries include Knight Errant Security. Their premiere business is in the arms industry, though they are also leaders in space exploration, having purchased NASA from the US government. Its corporate culture is very regimented and hierarchical, as befits a company that personifies the military-industrial complex. Very chillaxed as far as shadowrunning goes; they have a reputation for not tracking you down to kill you after a job on their territory unless you ''really'' fucked up, and they don't tend to murder the runners they hire afterward. Ares hates Bug spirits with a passion, or they're secretly working with Bug spirits, depends on which conspiracy theory you believe (Spoilers: they're both true due to corporate infighting).
* '''Aztechnology''': Mexican. Subsidiaries include Stuffer Shack and the entire country of Aztlan. The most outright evil megacorp, Aztechnology also has some of the best PR in the world to keep the skeletons in the closet, such as their regular use of blood magic, their origin as a front company for three Mexican drug cartels, and their attempts to monopolize the world's food supply. They've appropriated Mesoamerican culture for their corporate image and engage in imperialism by proxy through Aztlan's expansion into South America, which has gone about as well as can be expected for any evil organization banning Catholicism in Latin America. Running for them is a good way to destroy your professional reputation among other shadowrunners, as well as to get cut up for spare parts by your new bosses. And if you run ''against'' them, try not to leave any hair or other traces behind, or they'll use it to track you down.
* '''Evo''': Russian/Japanese. Subsidiaries include CrashCart. Formerly known as Yamatetsu, the fiercely xenophobic leadership of the company has given way to a free spirit and the ork son of the company's founder. Its core markets include augmentations of all kinds and metahuman-friendly products.
* '''Horizon''': American. Appeared out of nowhere in 2061 as a media-focused megacorp, jumped right to AAA in '65, and maintained a suspiciously squeaky-clean image until it came to light that they were experimenting on technomancers and engineered a massacre in South America. Entertainment, social media, and advertising are their main focuses, which translates into a truly disturbing talent for information control and social engineering in the shadows.
* '''Mitsuhama''' Computer Technologies: Japanese. Entertainment and computer hardware giant. A Yakuza money laundering front that went horribly right, so much so that half the yakuza outright went straight because it was making more money than the crime. Though, if they ''want'' some yakuza muscle on the payroll, they don't have to jump through any hoops to get it. The "Zero Zone" is their trademark security method, wherein they kill intruders on sight with no surrender asked. Their jobs tend to be a mixed bag, here meaning that half the time they pay well and go off without a hitch and the other half they try to pay you in lead after shitty intel already killed half the team.
* <s>NeoNET</s>: American. Formed from the merger of Novatech, Erika, and Transys Neuronet after Crash 2.0. Its core markets are in the telecommunications fields. Its corporate history stretches back decades to Fuchi Industrial Electronics, the creators of the first-generation cyberdeck. Also helped in developing experimental medical procedures using nanotech, which runners disrupted and caused the CFD outbreak. Oops. Boston has to be locked down, and thousands are trapped inside, not to mention the new fear that just about anybody can be a headcase. The UCAS sued NeoNET and Celedyr in the Corporate Court, who ordered reparations and relief to be paid to the UCAS, NeoNET to be shut down and broken apart, and the CEO to be barred from any executive positions for 10 years. (This was the same guy [[Just As Planned|who ran and destroyed]] Fuchi to found Novatech to enrich and empower himself, and then did it again to found NeoNET.) Most assets have been sold to up-and-comer Spinrad Industries, and the seat on the Corporate Court "leased" out to Spinrad, making Spinrad the new AAA. There's a lot of open questions about what happens when the old CEO's ban expires in 10 years and he can use his seat on the CC again.
* '''Renraku''' Computer Systems: Japanese. Currently focusing on acquiring a share in every consumer market in order to make their brand as ubiquitous as possible. Their arcology in Seattle had a little incident over the 2059 holiday shopping season, by which we mean an insane AI with a god complex took it over and started horrifically experimenting on the inhabitants before crashing the whole matrix on its way out. The Red Samurai are RCS's signature elite security force. The most racist megacorp internally, with non-male, non-japanese, and non-humans have almost zero prospects of promotion to any position of power, though they're very much capable of surpressing their virulent bigotry for the sake of profit.
* '''Saeder-Krupp''': German.The biggest megacorp in the setting(until 5th edition, when Mitsuhama took its place, S-K has been gunning for MCT ever since). Its chairman and majority shareholder is the great dragon Lofwyr. Experienced shadowrunners know not to take jobs directed at S-K or its subsidiaries, as Lofwyr is a major micromanager who does not suffer losses from his hoard or undercutting his authority, and his version of downsizing involves literally eating you. It is Lofwyr who gives us that common adage "Never deal with a dragon." Its core markets include heavy industry, finances, mining, and automotives (BMW is one of its foundation companies).
* '''Shiawase Corporation''': Japanese. The first megacorp and still majority-owned by the Shiawase family, which means that ''every'' major corporate decision is made with undercurrents of family tension undercutting the whole situation. Notably invested in biotechnology, agriculture, and nuclear fusion. One of their family members became Empress, but since she had been a guinea pig for her dad's experiments, it backfired. A lot.
* '''Spinrad industries''': French AA turned AAA after buying out most of NeoNET in an exclusive deal. They were into luxury cybernetics with ties to the European aristocracy. CEO is playboy adrenaline junkie Johnny Spinrad, who's got a huge vendetta against Lofwyr.
* '''Wuxing''': Chinese. Founding member of the Pacific Prosperity Group, a corporate association designed to check the influence of the Japanacorps. Very quiet and mostly-unknown, like Horizon if it took its meds. Its core markets include entertainment, finances, and logistics. Has managed to use feng shui as a means of profit, since magic works again, they've managed to figure out how to manipulate luck on a small scale.

===Notable AA and A Corps===
* '''DocWagon''': For-profit medical services. Their services include high-threat response teams trained to enter hazardous situations to extract their clients.
* '''Lone Star Security Services, Inc.''': Municipal law enforcement. They had the contract for Seattle until the tempo crisis of 2072, when Governor Brackhaven ended the contract and signed with Knight Errant. Stereotyped as brutal and corrupt.
* '''Knight Errant''': Security contractors. A subsidiary of Ares that serves as at least a part of their in-house military. Can be found across the world, most notably in Seattle where they have the contract to serve as the current police force after Lone Star got the boot. Just as lazy, brutal, and corrupt as Lone Star, but better equipped and trained and has much better PR.
* '''Eastern Tiger''': Korean, its schtick is that its super nationalist and its propaganda claims its going to one day overtake the Japanacorps and catapult Korea to global prominency
* '''Global Sandstorm''': Arabian with ties to the Arabian Caliphate, currently, one of its heiresses is courting Johnny Spinrad.
* '''Proteus AG''': Transhumanism and lots of marine arcologies. The company is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Currently in a shadow war with the Sea Dragon for reasons undisclosed.
* '''Universal Omnitech''': When DocWagon fixes you, odds are they're using UO products. UO is a major player in cyberware and biotechnology and may be on the verge of passable clones. Its CEO, Thomas Roxborough, turned into a pile of goo after an experimental treatment for an autoimmune disorder went horribly wrong; he now lives in a space station and communicates via the Matrix.
* '''Zeta-Imperial Chemicals''': Pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The soulless Big Pharma. They have no sense of ethics and have created bioweapons used in the first EuroWar, dumped toxic chemicals into the African market as health supplements, and developed the nanoweapon codenamed Surtr.
* '''Telestrian Industries''': Elven Mega with most of the shares belonging to the namesake family and the ones who thwarted a Universal Brotherhood plot to turn Seattle to Bug City. One of their members, Mary Louise Telestrian, is the reigning Prince of Tir Tangire.
* '''Krime''': American. Sells industrial artist-designed weapons designed for orks and trolls. Known for skirting rules, quality controls, and common decency, but their brutal and relatively cheap product means that they have a lasting fandom that ensures them a lasting niche in the marketplace.

===Dragons ===
The Megacorps may be the ruling powers of the world, but the Great Dragons are a close second. There's even some overlap. The Great Dragons rule over the regular dragons, as much as dragons will consent to being ruled. Most of the time though, they just snipe at each other using shadowrunners in conflicts over territory, wealth, access to mana lines, ideology, etc. Some of them even try to avert the apocalypse. There's a saying in the 6th world: "Never Deal with a Dragon". Then again, they also tell you to follow the rules, obey the cops, and stay out of the the megacorps' way, and look how that turned out for you. If a dragon really wants you in its employ, you don't really have a choice. At least they pay better than the megas. Just don't try to fuck them over, and at the same time, have a contingency plan to flee somewhere like Antarctica in case they decide to burn you. Dealing with dragons isn't easy, but its very, very, very profitable.
* '''Dunkelzahn''': Bestest and greatest dragon. Widely known and hugely popular for the public perception of not being a [[Eldrad | dick]] like the rest of the dragons, but the reality is a bit more complicated than that, if still broadly true. He was the first dragon to openly talk to humanity about the Awakening to help them make sense of the insanity, which helped him gain the public presence to host a talk show and do advocacy work for metahuman rights and social equality. He was later elected president of the UCAS, but was assassinated by car bomb about 8 hours after being sworn in. While the Big D had many enemies, who assassinated him and why is left an open question, up to that he may have even faked his own death. Current consensus is that is indeed dead and that he sacrificed himself to keep a lid on the Bad Magical Things. A novel came out and described how he currently survives as a spirit inhabiting a cyberzombie, but most fans ignore it and so do the devs. Left behind a will full of charitable donations and enough plot points and story hooks to keep the game running for many editions to come.
* '''Lofwyr''': This guy is possibly the most prominent, most wealthy, and most dangerous dragon on earth. To the point where even other dragons are unnerved by his ruthlessness. Lofwyr in fact held the title of Loremaster, de facto keeper of draconic traditions and history, after Dunklezahn's death, though he gives up the position in 5th edition to focus on his business. Businesswyrm and micromanager extraordinaire, Lofwyr managed a hostile takeover of Saeder-Krupp decades ago, purchasing majority shares through intermediaries and shell companies, showing up to a board meeting one day in dragon form, and unceremoniously kicking the former CEO off the board. He then managed to run the biggest corporation on earth primarily from memory for over three decades. Lofwyr, also called Ol' Golden Snout, is possibly the most feared dragon by shadowrunners, for his habit of eating underperforming shadowrunners, though his rewards for success are second to none. If you're hired by a man who goes by the name Hans Brackhaus, then it probably means that Lofwyr is hiring you for personal business. Brackhaus may even be Lofwyr in disguise, though its more likely a high ranking servant.
* '''Hestaby''': considered by many to be Lofwyr's equal and opposite, Hestaby is the most magically powerful of the Great Dragons. She lairs on Mt. Shasta and is/was a High Princess of Tir Tairngire. She's very environmentally conscious and has well buried ties to groups that the megacorps would call ecoterrorists. She's most concerned with her public image as a friend to metahumanity though. She goes by the handle "Orange Queen" on Shadowland (and later Jackpoint) and occasionally banters with The Laughing Man. She beat Lofwyr and the other Greats in a shadow-war after Dunkelzahn died, but she let Lofwyr take the place of Loremaster even though it was hers to take. Lofwyr also propositioned a mating after she let him take the position, which would usually be the equivalent of a political marriage for dragons, but Hestaby thought it was weird because Lofwyr is "past mating age". Yup, Ol Golden Snout had a thing for the Orange Queen, awkward. Of course, then she got involved in another shadow war with him over how to treat metahumans.
* '''Ghostwalker''': Great Dragon ruler of Denver. He appeared out of nowhere during the Year of the Comet with an army of spirits and proceeded to tear the Aztlan sector of the city a new asshole and kick Aztechnology out. He then intimidated the NAN, CAS, and UCAS into giving him de facto control of the city. He's speculated to be Dunkelzahn's brother. He's also kind of a dick. Currently being the boytoy of Zebulon, Spirit of Denver, and reincarnation of his dead mate.
* '''Ryumyo''': Great Dragon of Japan and the first dragon to appear in the sixth world. He's something of a mascot of the Japanese Imperial State and is even worshipped by some as a kami, which puts him at odds sometimes with the japanacorps and the Imperial Household(since the emperor is also seen as a kami). Currently trying to gain control of mana lines around the Ring of Fire to turn himself into a living god while sniping at his old master and father figure, Lung. He also controls a great deal of the world's Yakuza.
* Lung: Chinese Great Dragon and a stickler for tradition, the reserved and experienced Yin to Ryumyo's Yang. Used to be Ryumyo's Obi Wan till Ryumyo got jealous of his power and vowed to surpass him. Currently trying to counteract Ryumyo's manaline fuckery so he doesn't cause tsunami's and earthquakes. Also in control of the Red Dragon Triad.
* '''Hualpa''': Founder and ruler of Amazonia, Hualpa is the most powerful of the Feathered Serpents, and is know for his heavy pro-environment agenda. Hates Aztlan with passion, both for its high level of pollution, and for being his main rival for the control of Latin America.
* '''Aden''': A mysterious dragon who maintain lots of power and influence in the middle east for reasons unknown. In fact little is know about him since he prefer to work from the shadows, with his only mayor public appearance was when he single handily destroyed Tehran as a demonstration of power. What little information exist indicates that he is highly traditionalist when it comes to dragon customs, and have both alliances and enemies among the Muslim factions. Also like screwing with people by shifting sex at the drop of the hat.
* '''Celedyr''': A dragon obsessed with the study and development of the matrix, to the point of becoming the major shareholder of the telecommunication company Transys Neuronet, and its successor NeoNET. During Crash 2.0 his favorite protege went braindead and his ego survived as an e-ghost. Celedyr wanted to restore him and teamed up with NeoNET to research methods of sleeving AIs into meat bodies using nanomachines, but runners hit the research facility, leading to the CFD outbreak. In the aftermath, the city of Boston and thousands of lives were ended or ruined, NeoNET was forcibly disbanded, Celedyr is a bit less rich and keeping his head down until the whole thing blows over, but at least his protege is back in his old body.
* '''Sirrurg''': Known as "the Destroyer", Sirrurg is an angry, angry fucker. He helped Hualpa found Amazonia and has been fighting Azzies and other enemies on and off ever since. Because he prefers to go out in person and kill whatever pisses him off, he avoids political and economic moves which have defined the rest of the Greats, so he was the one who had the least influence over world affairs and therefore the one that runners are least likely to get entangled with. During the Amazonia-Aztlan war, he was brought down by Aztechnology forces and captured. He was going to be executed by Aztlan for war crimes (''without'' trumped up charges, which is saying something), but he disappeared before then. The ongoing theory is that he was recaptured by other greats who are holding him prisoner until he's needed again.
* '''Masaru''': Great Dragon that claims the Philippines and New Zealand. The youngest and most idealistic Great Dragon, dedicated to metahuman rights, cross-cultural developments, environmentalism, and magical research. Also, the not-so-secret leader of the filipino Huk Rebellion, known for successfully taking on the strongest military in the setting(Imperial Japan) using primarily fishing boats, small arms, wooden sticks, and fanatical revolutionary zeal. Avid book collector and Dunklezahn fanboy.
* '''The Sea Dragon''': only known Great Leviathan. Extremely isolationist and unfriendly. Claims the entirety of Earth's seafloor as her domain. She really hates metahumanity, and will remind you by crapping the remains of the last adventuring party who didn't get the message on the borders of her territory. Tricked by Rhonabwy to sleep with him by disguising as another Great Leviathan. Of course she's pissed because of that. Way to go, player!
* '''Eliohann/Neurosis/Cerberus''': Celedyr's protege and possibly foster son. The first and only dragon with a fully functioning datajack(installed illegally and without his consent in the 2050s, he later bought up the corporation that did it). The implantation had the effect of giving him Dissassociative Identity Disorder and a deep fascination with transhumanism(trans-dragonism?) and the matrix. His body went comatose in the Crash 2.0 but his mind lived on as a cyberghost(actually several cyberghosts due to the aformentioned multiple personalities). May or may not have been restored to his original body after the Boston lockdown.
* '''Damon''': playboy dragon who deals in designer drugs and extreme sports. May or may not be Dunklezahn's biological son.
* '''Perianwyr''': dragon known to most of the world as a laid back music producer, was formerly one half of what was once one of the world's top assassin duos.

===Criminal Enterprises===
If you aren't working for the government, the corps, or the dragons, you're probably working for these guys
* '''The Mafia''': Same old mafia, crime families in North America and Europe. Much more polyglot in this setting than most, with one of the major groups being Polish-Italian-Spanish-Creole.
* '''The Yakuza''': Japanese, the largest crime enterprises, most of them are super racist.
* '''Triads''': Chinese, some of the most magically adept crime organizations, very superstitious though.
* '''Vory''': The Russian mob, often seen as brutal and psychotic, weapons and human trafficking mostly.
* '''Seoulpa Rings''': When the Yaks started killing off their Korean members early in the century, some of them broke off and formed the Seoulpa Rings.
* '''Grey Wolves''': Turkish, arms dealing and smuggling
* '''Kabul Mafiyya''': brutal Afghani warlords
* '''Koshari''': Southwestern Native American crime family specializing in gambling and magical drugs.
* '''Ghost Cartels''': Various Latin American crime organizations that survived the massive clusterfuck that happened in Aztlan and South America, some are basically Aztechnology-run, others are Amazonian.
* '''Tamanous''': Creepy secretive human trafficking and organ smuggling, Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia. Hated by just about everyone.
* '''Ancients''': North American Elf-only biker gang, possibly controlled by immortal elves.
* '''Cutters''': Powerful North American street gang that runs itself like a mini-corporation.
* '''Halloweeners''': Psychotic Seattle street gang whose shtick is dressing spooky and setting shit on fire. Batman Beyond's Jokers gang. Currently the most recognized gang for past infamy, but law enforcement doesn't take kindly to crazy arsonists, and the pressure made them shrink tremendously over the years.
* '''Desolation Angels''': all female biker gang. They recruit primarily from abuse victims and spend a lot of their time hunting both rapists and insect spirits. In actuality, they're run by a bunch of mantis spirits, who are in fact, not interested in devouring humanity, but instead eat other insect spirits. Notable for infiltrating the republican party and assassinating a presidential candidate who was actually a wasp spirit.
*'''The Tiospaye''': Means "Extended Family" in Lakota, they are also known as the Lakota Mafia. They basically own the shadows in the Sioux Nation. All the style of the Italian mob with all the brutality of the Yakuza. They've become more vicious in recent years due to the psychotic son of the old mob boss assassinating his old man.

===Others===
* '''Shadowland and Shadowsea''': Online forums on the matrix's Darknet equivalent that act as a network for shadowrunners to share information. Went down after Crash 2.0.
* '''Jackpoint''': A successor organization to Shadowland after the Crash 2.0, less inclusive than Shadowland and Shadowsea, but its runners are generally more experienced and the network is more secure.
* '''The Nexus''': Shadow collective responsible for operating most of the dark matrix, worked closely with Shadowland/Shadowsea. Based in a former military base on the outskirts of Denver.
* '''Black Star''': Elite paramilitary neo-anarchist group.
* '''The Draco Foundation''': An NGO created to carry out the last will and testament of Great Dragon and UCAS president Dunkelzahn. Has all sorts of crazy artifacts and wealth bequeathed to it by the wyrm to reward those who fulfill the requests in the will. Though it's mostly a nonprofit designed to last until the last of Dunkelzahn's bequests are earned, he was so crazy rich that the interest on all of his resources gives the Draco Foundation the resources and power of an AA corporation.
* '''Harlequin/The Laughing Man''': "Har'lea'quinn, Last Knight of the Crying Spire, the Lightbearer. He who manipulates shadowrunners and fights duels with assholes", as he calls himself is an immortal elf leftover from the 4th age. A powerful mage and colossal jackass in the service of "the cause of good" (as much as any cause can be good in Shadowrun), Harlequin treats shadowrunners like disposable chess pieces in his unending war with extra-dimensional monstrosities. Still more likable than other immortal elves though, since he's less bigoted and more fun to be around. He's basically the more motivated Elminster of Shadowrun, if Elminster were a (bigger) asshole with a drinking problem and a penchant for leaving annoyingly cryptic jokes/hints on Shadowland. Many players hate him to this day because of the Harlequin's Back module, which ran him as an impressively bad example of a DMPC. Despite the hate, Harlequin has rarely been seen in the tabletop sources since then.
* '''Winternight''': Insane norse paganism cult from out of your darkest nightmares. Believes that its holy mission is to bring about Ragnarok. Is run by a toxic shaman, a deeply unhinged drone engineer, and a brutal war criminal. Partially responsible for the Matrix Crash 2.0, as the cult believes the Matrix to be an instrument of evil, and was subsequently destroyed by the Corporate Court. Got its hands on a crapton of nukes though, modified some to have EMP blasts, and came very close to actually causing a nuclear apocalypse. Their most disturbing creation is the God BTL chip, a digital drug that simultaneously induces euphoria and rage at levels that do not occur in nature, turning whoever uses it into a violent berserker who feels no pain and hates literally everything, and the best part is, its addictive. Needless to say, Winternight is very good at brainwashing. Also their sleeper agents in Zeta-ImpChem developed the SURTR nanoplague, which causes metahuman flesh to combust on contact, and the YMIR toxin, which causes metahuman blood to crystalize.
* '''Deus''': The insane AI that was designed to be the administrator of the Seattle Renraku Arcology. Went apeshit after realizing that Renraku had killcodes prepared in case it ever betrayed the megacorp, the discovery of which prompted it to betray the megacorp (Irony!). Locked down the arcology and began experimenting on people Mengele-style with the help of Otaku cultists. This continued for over a year, ending in its apparent defeat by Renraku forces (actually shadowrunners). But in reality, it had transferred pieces of its code into augmented test subjects who were freed alongside regular victims of the mad AI. Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when it overloaded the Manhattan Stock Exchange trying to turn itself into "god of the matrix", just as Winternight's EMP nukes went off and a supervirus was corrupting code on a global scale. Also, very good at brainwashing, by installing cyberware of its own design into its victims' skulls.
* '''Ex Pacis''': Ex-otaku cultists of Deus who were betrayed by the AI. Went nuts trying to prevent losing their powers and began worshipping the Dissonance (which is basically some weird matrix phenomenon that lets them manipulate corrupted data that no one else can). Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when their super-virus intended to make the whole Matrix Dissonant overloaded servers worldwide while Deus was trying to make itself into a god and Winternight set off EMP devices. Also made sacrifices of otaku children to appease the matrix. Learned how to brainwash otaku from Deus and can do it to technomancers too, but their techniques really only work on otaku/technomancers since regular metahumans can't interact with Dissonance/Resonance.
* '''Universal Brotherhood''': Defunct insect spirit cult masquerading as a charity organization. Responsible for turning Chicago into hell on earth. Destroyed by Ares and the UCAS government
* '''Humanis Policlub''': human supremacist political bloc. Kind of like the Klan, but with more money and it doesn't care about ethnicity. Instead, it hates metahumans while pretending to be a "human rights organization".
** '''Alamos 20k''': Humanis Policlub's illiterate ultraviolent redneck cousin. Doesn't even pretend to be civilized like Humanis does. It recruits from Humanis chapters though.
** '''Human Nation''': Humanis Policlub's rich social darwinist uncle. While Humanis is out holding political rallies and Alamos 20k is firebombing orphanages, the Human Nation is trying to engineer a "cure" for metahumanity. Said cure usually takes the form of diseases targeting poor metahuman communities.
** '''The Hand of Five''': Related, but more extreme (violent) human supremacist organization. Believed destroyed by Lone Star and the UCAS, but may be gaining strength.
* '''Black Lodge''': basically wizard illuminati that has infiltrated most of the world's governments. May or may not be as old as the 4th world. Capable of taking on the Great Dragons and forcing them into a standstill.
* '''Ordo Maximus''': secretive cabal of mages, european nobility, and possibly vampires. Embodiment of some of the more crackpot conspiracy theories in the setting. The Black Lodge's hammier cousin.

==Gameplay==
Shadowrun doesn't have a class system ''per se'', but the priority system is basically a class system in a clever disguise. Prior to Fourth Edition, the priority system was the default character generation method; players assigned priority to five categories, which determined how important those categories are to the character concept: attributes, magic, race, resources, and skills, with higher priorities giving greater quantities or qualities of the desired category. If you wanted to play a mage, you had to make magic your #1 priority. If you wanted to play a non-human, race had to be lower priority. Later books expanded character creation systems to a point-buy method, which allowed greater flexibility than priority, and karma generation, which assigned a karma value to everything and allowed you to spend a pool of karma to build your character the same way as you would advance in experience.

Characters are basically the sum of their skills. All functions in Shadowrun are based on a related skill or stat rating, or a combination thereof. Through Third Edition, task resolution was Attribute + Skill vs Target Number. If the Target Number was higher than 6, you had to roll at least one 6 and then add another roll; in practice, TNs of 7, 13, 19, and so on were no different than TNs of 6, 12, 18, etc.

Despite the system being classless, there are still broad archetypes. The major divide is between Awakened (magically active) and augmented (cybernetically or biologically enhanced), and further divided into roles below. The limit to any character's magic power or cybernetic enhancement is his Essence, a measure of how "whole" they are. Installing cyberware/bioware costs Essence and the attribute, rounded down, is the cap to the Magic or Resonance attribute; losing Essence also knocks down your Magic/Resonance attribute. When Essence hits zero, the character dies as his soul mistakes his body for a machine or an inhuman monster and moves on to the afterlife. A mage or technomancer raises their attribute cap by one each time they initiate or submerge; e.g. a mage with two grades of initiation and an Essence of 5 has a Magic attribute cap of 7.

===Metatypes===
Biologically, most player characters are metahuman (i.e., part of the species ''homo sapiens''). After the Awakening, magic interacts with ill-understood bits of DNA to transform people into fantasy creatures in a process dubbed "Unexplained Genetic Expression." Elves and dwarfs change ''in utero''; a few years later, regular people started transforming into orks and trolls, usually quite painfully, a process informally called "Goblinization."

'''[[Human]]''' - Regular humans still exist and are still the majority metatype around the world.

'''[[Elf]]''' - Tall, pretty, and arrogant. Yep, that's an elf. Some have delusions of superiority, such that they've created entire nations for elfkind, Tír Tairngire (formerly Oregon) and Tír na nÓg (formerly Ireland). A few (notably Ehren the Scribe and Harlequin) claim to be immortal and lived during the Fourth World, a time thousands of years ago when magic last cycled into existence.

'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Short, stubborn, and resilient. Yep, that's a dwarf. They have an affinity for technology and dislike magic.

'''[[Orc|Ork]]''' - Big, tough, and strong, the average ork would be a successful NFL linebacker. Multiple births are far more common among orks than any other metatype; combined with their accelerated life cycle (orks become old geezers around forty), this creates a lot of tension between orks, who just want to be treated with dignity, and humans who see them as slightly above rats.

'''[[Troll]]''' - Really big, thick skin, and a bunch of horns. The average troll is around three meters tall. If you're a really tall guy, you know how hard it is to get by in a world designed for people around 5'10". Trolls experience that up to eleven (feet). Everything is child-sized to a troll. They have to get beer by the pitcher. It's not all bad, though. Most racists don't want to persecute the guy who can deadlift a car and tank a shotgun blast to the chest.

'''Metavariants''' - Think your snowflake isn't special enough? Well, other books brought out metavariants, "subspecies" of each metatype associated with various regions and cultures. Want to play a [[minotaur]], [[gnome]], [[hobgoblin]], or something else? You can now. Ironically, this includes ''humans'', since there's an Indian metavariant that has extra arms and technicolored skin.

'''Changelings''' - What, ''still'' not special enough? When Halley's Comet made its latest pass through the solar system in 2061, mana levels spiked and a second wave of Goblinization hit the world, called "Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression." Now you can live out your [[furry]] fetish and be an actual catgirl or dragonboi, or something even wilder thanks to the mix-and-match nature of the changeling metatype.

'''Drakes ''' - These guys got the short stick. Simply put, a drake is made by a dragon. You can think of them as half-dragon, half-metahuman. Why do they get the short stick ? Because daddy is an asshole. Dragons, even the kindest ones, see drakes not as people but as tools. If you're a drake, you'll be indoctrinated, abused and told to obey every whim of the dickish wizworm who made you. And if you manage to be a free drake, it sucks even more. Without the protection of daddy, every other dragon wants to put his claws on you because making a drake is HARD. On the plus side, you can transform into your draconic form and become even more badass.

'''Metasapients''' - They're not metahuman and never were, but are sapient and capable of interacting peacefully with metahuman civilization, in some cases even qualifying for citizenship. Things like sasquatches, [[centaur]]s, [[pixie]]s, [[naga]]s, and shapeshifters are viable character types, but all come with disadvantages like being uneducated (because of not living in metahuman society), incompatible with commercially-available augmentations, and even being incapable of human speech.

'''Artificial Intelligence''' - After Crash 2.0, AIs started appearing. They weren't as powerful as the three that fought during the Crash, but are as varied in personality as metahumanity. Being entirely software, they need to live in hardware, be it a beefed-up commlink or a drone. They make excellent riggers and hackers, but are crap at interacting with the real world.

'''The Infected''' - Not a metatype unto themselves, but when a person contracts Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) and doesn't either miraculously resist and/or die before it magically alters the poor sod's genetic structure, he becomes Infected. Depending on metatype and strain of HMHVV, you become some type of [[vampire]] or other 'undead' (Strain III HMHVV turns anyone into a [[ghoul]], a blind but dual-natured obligate cannibal, for instance.) All Infected have in common a hunger for either fresh metahuman blood or flesh that makes them go feral if not sated and this makes them pariahs with open "shoot-to-kill-on-sight" bounties in the majority of places. Oh, and to top it all, even if the initial infection doesn't kill the victim or drives them insane, and they manage to somehow find sustenance without going feral/crazy from what they're forced to do to survive; there is no post-change cure for HMHVV even after decades of research and experiment.

===Typical character roles===
Runner teams, as any teams built up of professionals, tend to have their members highly specialized. Roles are varied and often combined, but generally most teams have these roles:

'''Muscle''' - Either heavily cybered Street Samurai (often just called a "Sammy") or Awakened Adepts, whose unusual physical abilities depend on the magic they channel through their bodies and their self-belief. Muscle deals with direct physical threats and are expected to be capable of dealing and soaking massive amounts of damage, coupled with high Initiative Passes count, allowing them to act more frequently in the real world than their opposition. It is also a good idea for Muscle to have some infiltration skills to cover up Shadows and at least marginal intimidation skills. Despite the popular Hollywood image, making Sammies and Adepts into actual sword-wielding melee warriors is only encouraged if you want to see your character dead. It's not as bad in fifth edition as in previous editions due to various balance changes; but melee still has the disadvantages of needing to get in the open and run up to people to slice/krump them where a good gun allows to stay at range and behind cover.

'''Shadow''' - Physical infiltration specialists. Those are usually either special Adept builds or non-Awakened characters using specialized implants. Naturally, Shadows are expected to be as unnoticeable and observant as possible, making implants and powers that allow them to hide from sight or perceive outside human spectra highly popular. Shadows should also be capable of full-on breaking and entering, requiring some hardware skills and specialized gear. Hardest role to pull off reliably due to the shitloads of security systems and ways to detect intrusion magically existing in SR, but oh-so-rewarding when done flawlessly.

'''Face/Fixer''' - The social player of the party. The Face is the one who deals with the employers (typically a go-between traditionally called a "Mr. Johnson"), gets the gear needed for the job, and has all the right contacts and the cunning plans to come ahead of the opposition. Many Faces are also the ones to hire the hideouts for the team and some of them make excellent impersonators, using magic or specialized implants to assume disguises. While Face is a relatively straightforward role mechanically, it is frequently the most intellectually tasking and roleplaying-heavy, since it often falls on the Face to arrange the team's planning.

A note on Faces and Fixers: A Fixer is someone who handles brokering jobs and checks that the Johnsons aren't fucking with you. Someone who's a dedicated Fixer stays far away from wetwork and is probably an NPC - they'll be basically a [[DMPC]], but with a much better chance than usual of not being terrible.
On the other hand, if a player really wants to be the team's Fixer, then they'll usually take some of the more field-oriented specialties like impersonation and regularly head into the field with the team. When you say "Face", this combined role is what you usually mean. Theoretically a Fixer could also be the decker and mission control, but in practice the stats don't work out well for that.

'''Mage''' - The astral cover. Mages are all Awakened, but still come in different traditions and specializations. While some rely on direct-effect spells which allow them to whip out bagfuls of damage dice, fly, dodge bullets, and more, others count on summoned spirits to do the job for them, without risking direct opposition or at least having some heavy support at hand. Mages' ability to astrally project makes them valuable assets for scouting, especially long-distance one. Given enough time and resources, they can get almost anyone in the world with ritual spellcasting, and naturally, Mages are also the only magical healers a shadowrunner team can hope to get. There's also absolutely no defense against a Mage except another Mage (or a quick bullet, leading to the basic and often given advice "Geek the Mage first"), so the runners depend on their mage's counterspelling abilities and guard spirits heavily. Not everyone who is Awakened can be a Mage, as it takes training to be more than a liability to your local community. Shamans, on the other hand, receive guidance from dominant spirit Totems.

'''Adepts''' - can amplify their own attributes and talents and have access to unique Adept Powers, but they can't use conventional spells or astrally project, making them more like Street Samurai or Shadows in practice. In fact, they can't perceive astral space at all unless they buy the specific power that lets them do so, a weakness shared with their traditional magic-using hybrid, the Mystic Adept. Finally, Aspected Magicians are "diet" mages, only skilled in a single category of magic, e.g. a spellcaster only or a summoner only. They're very good at that category, but can never use any form of magic outside that category.

'''Decker/Otaku (Hacker/Technomancer):''' - Before the Crash 2.0, Matrix intrusion relied on specialized hardware setups often built into a device the size of a skateboard, the archetypal cyberdeck. The decker maintained such a rig and used it to break into Matrix security for his team. His Awakened counterpart was the otaku, a teenager with the odd ability to interact with the Matrix without a cyberdeck; he still needed ASIST hardware and a datajack, but he didn't rely on a bulky and horribly expensive piece of tech to do his thing. The otaku lost their abilities as they aged, a process they called "Fading." After the Crash 2.0 and the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the times of the decker and otaku were over. In their place emerged the Hacker and the Technomancer, respectively - the former are mundane boys with a head full of 'ware and a commlink the cost of a house, and the latter are believed to be the "evolved" form of otakus that retain their skills as they age, and can also compile and command sprites (which are essentially the Matrix analogue of spirits). A Shadowrunning team depends on the Hacker (or Technomancer - in practice, their abilities are more or less identical) to find the info that the Face's contacts can't or won't provide, break into opposition's hosts to fiddle with security systems, intercept their data exchange or do the rest of other things a hacker can be doing with a computer. Most hackers were known to be couch potatoes, but between isolated wireless networks and wireless-inhibiting building walls, they have a good reason to have some actual infiltration skills. Hackers also frequently moonlight as Riggers on the side. Recent security measures introduced to the Wireless Matrix have brought the use of a new generation of cyberdecks modified to interact with the new Matrix and bypass security systems back into vogue, making the terms "hacker" and "decker" interchangeable again.

'''Rigger''' - The drone specialist and usually the driver for the party. Riggers are mostly the ones to pimp out rides for shady shadowrunning biz, and their swarms of drones can rival Muscle and Shadows at their jobs. While rigging presupposes spending a lot of your time "jumped in", wearing your drones or vehicles as your own skin, many Riggers also double as back-up hackers. The high Logic needed for hacking and rigging also makes Hackers and Riggers the most likely candidate for the team's paramedic.

===Pink Mohawk, Black Trenchcoat and Mirrorshades===
Among the player base, three terms have emerged for describing the prominent roleplay-styles for Shadowrun.
* Pink Mohawk refers to playing fast and loose. Subtlety? Screw that noise. Write your names on the walls of corporate property with bullets. Blow holes in the walls of secure military facilities. Flip dragons the bird. That kind of stuff. Playing as a Pink Mohawk means acting like a stereotypical musclebound 80s-action hero and generally being balls to the walls insane with a devil-may-care attitude and succeeding at it. This play style is most commonly associated with the older editions of Shadowrun when cyberpunk was first getting started.
* Black Trenchcoat refers to a more clandestine approach to runs. Generally more grounded in the concept of not getting caught in the first place. This play style developed as the cyberpunk genre evolved and is more associated with newer editions. Black Trenchcoats generally view runs more like spec-ops missions or espionage and try to solve situations without resorting to violence and not to leave behind incriminating evidence.
* Mirrorshades refer to a game that try to balance both above mentioned styles, where players do their best to plan things in advance and stay discreet whenever possible; but do not hesitate to go all-in and bring out the big guns when fecal matter gets in contact with the rotating ventilation device.

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that Catalyst Game Labs cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

==Other Products==
===Video Games===
Seven video games exist for Shadowrun, six of which are available in America, and five of which are good.

'''1993:''' The first came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and shamelessly rips off chunks of William S. Gibson's "Neuromancer" (right down to the name of the protagonist, Jake Armitage) as the player wakes up in a chop shop and deals with the fallout of a run gone horribly wrong, gains the favor of the Dog spirit, and ultimately, solos a motherfucking Great Dragon. (A little one, but still.) While enjoyable for [[Fags_of_4chan|casualfags]], more serious fans of the franchise may be grumpy with Shadowrun SNES for playing loose with magic, cyberware, and the fact that having a bunch of the latter is supposed to do serious shit to your expertise in the former. And the gameplay is clearly having a hard time adapting something originally intended for a mouse and keyboard to a controller.

Jake's still popular though, appearing in a number of actual adventure modules and the recent ''Shadowrun Returns'' title's "Deadman's Switch" campaign.

'''1994:''' The second was released for the Sega Genesis, and is widely held as a worthy use of the license. In this particular game, protagonist Joshua must piece together the puzzle behind his brother Michael's death on a run into Native American-held territory, making a name for himself in the Shadowrunning biz along the way. Fans cite the expanded tactical opportunities (read: being able to move around and dodge bullets in doing so) and immersive Matrix depiction (real-time combat against unique IC types and messing with a variety of system nodes) as this game's greatest advantages over its SNES counterpart.

'''1996:''' The third game is the Japanese-only one, made for the Sega CD and set in Japan rather than Seattle. It plays more like a text adventure (i.e. Sega CD smash hit ''Snatcher'') and its rare action sequences suffer for it.

'''2007:''' The fourth video game adaptation of Shadowrun came in 2007 for XBox 360 and Microsoft Vista. While being designed for Vista should be fail in itself, Microsoft went to great lengths to fuck with the storyline in order to make a dime-a-dozen FPS out of the license - so much that the [http://shadowrun.wikia.com/index.php/Main_Page Sixth World Wiki] claims it "may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun." Since Catalyst holds a decent bit of clout with the Sixth World Wiki and other parts of Dumpshock, it can safely be assumed that Microsoft's treatment of the Shadowrun franchise has been officially disavowed...

'''2012:''' ...Which is good, because in April 2012, Hairbrained Schemes LLC (operated by [[Jordan Weissman]] of [[BattleTech]] fame) in conjunction with Smith & Tinker procured the rights to Shadowrun and made a new 2050's based game available on several platforms. Under the "Shadowrun Returns" project title, these guys raised a $1.5 million [[Kickstarter]] payout to make [[Old School Roleplaying|"an old-school Shadowrun"]] vidyagame happen, and it was released in 2013. They also threw things at the Executive Producer from the 2007 game as he held up a cardboard sign that said "SORRY!" Features mechanics obviously ripped from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, some of the best cyberpunk genre writing in the market...and unfortunately plenty of railroading which was necessary for the linear plot. Despite this, the fact it was released for Steam alongside the newly established "Steam Workshop" system which allows players to upload their own created content as instantly installed mods for players to peruse gave the game a massive amount of replayability as older campaigns and homebrew stories were adapted into the game by fans (as well as shit like dating sims).

The story for the game begins as your character, down on their luck, receives a message from an old member of their crew. Postmortem. He tells you that he had a device installed which will send this message upon his death, and the moment you solve his murder you will receive a megafuck payout of Nuyen from his rainy day fund. You return to Seattle and make the Seamstresses Union your hangout as you get drawn into an elaborate story leading from solving the mystery of the "Emerald City Ripper" through breaking the number one rule of Shadowrunning; never cut a deal with a dragon (number two of course being never deal with that asshole Harlequin, which you also break) as the largest megacorps in the world pool their resources into giving you the tools necessary to prevent Seattle from becoming Chicago 2 (meaning, giant nest full of a combination of fucked up near-immortal insects and even worse, insect spirits). The player character is the primary protagonist, although you befriend several fellow 'runners including: a romantically involved pair named Coyote and Paco, a Native American Shaman named Shannon Half-Sky, Dodger the Elven Decker from the very first short story in the Shadowrun universe from the first edition, and Jake Armitage from the SNES game.

'''2014:''' The game was followed by DLC called Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall, later released as it's own game titled Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall Director's Cut. Dragonfall centers around a group of 'runners in the Flux State of Berlin and the greater Allied German States. Being the unofficial leaders of their own Kiez, the Kreusbazar, the player inherits leadership of the crew from the former leader Decker of the team and their old friend, Monika Schäfer. Players are given far more control over the story than the last game with the bulk of the Runs being able to be taken at any time, a large number of sideplots, and a large cast of characters whose stories the player has control over through your interactions. The player has a constant crew with their own stories: the older Dragonslayer Shaman/Mage and former Punk Rocker who participated on the side of the metahumans in the worst of the race riots, the Night of Rage, named Dietrich; Glory, the medic/Street Samurai who, after her VERY fucked up childhood, found herself in a Branch Davidian style cult to a Toxic Totem of the Adversary Spirit and replaced most of her organic parts with mechanical ones to rid herself of her Essence and free herself as much as possible from his grasp; Eiger, the Troll ex-special forces Street Samurai sniper who was sent on a secret and illegal operation which was fucked up by an inexperienced member of her crew causing her to be blacklisted and forced into the shadows resulting in a control freak with no patience for inexperience or arrogance; the optional member of the crew Blitz who is a former ganger Decker that deals with his past contacts. Your Fixer is Paul Amsel, an older gentleman who runs all of the non-Run related business for the crew. Plus your half-Hellhound Dante. The plot involves the return of the Dragon Feuerschwinge and her small army, with some subplots involving everything from some of the shittier sides to political groups and the megacorps through the next big Matrix threat, an AI on an unprecedented scale who may or may not be a major player in the 2070's cyber scene as it takes on the personas of Deckers it fries with one of its victim's handles still posting on internet forums almost twenty years after his death. Shadowrun Returns is referenced as a news report mentions the Emerald City Ripper early on his rampage, allowing players looking to play the same character to make Dragonfall the prequel to Returns. The actual gameplay mechanics were improved, with far more tilesets added and the Adept play experience made viable, in addition to being able to save anytime rather than only at the end of a scene. Players who purchased the Director's Cut were able to play the Returns game with the improvements.

'''2016:''' The third game, also standalone, called Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong just had a similarly extremely successful Kickstarter raising $1.2 million, and was released that August. The game featured a revamped experience for Mages and Shamans, as well as a completely redone Matrix sequence. SR:HK continued with the gray morality, dingy world of the past two games with further emphasis on reputation as players deal with various groups including criminal Triads, the everpresent megacorps, and the police, not quite all of them being hostile. The PC has a background in a gang in the Seattle barrens with their adoptive brother Duncan Wu until they were taken in by a man named Raymond Black, and they lived in relative peace until the PC goes on a shadowrun that goes bad and spends a few years in a black site. The plot kicks off shortly after the PC gets out and their adoptive father Raymond Black calls and pensively asks for help in Hong Kong. When the player character arrives, they meet a security team (Duncan being one of the pair) and a team of shadowrunners, but Raymond is pointedly missing. Then group comes under ambush, and the survivors fight their way out a SWAT hit squad through a sniper shooting gallery, have to work favors for a Triad boss to cover their tracks, and then find that Raymond was killed or abducted. And then you get to the second mission. Their journey takes them to the Triad stronghold-cum-settlement Heoi, which serves as your home base and a series of colorful residents, to put it mildly. Their journey keeps coming back to the Kowloon Walled City and the seriously bad vibes coming out of it. A slum that makes Redmond look like paradise to put it very lightly

The new crew consists of: Gobbet, the Ork Rat Shaman who's known for her iron stomach, being unhygienic, and yet strangely gregarious and attractive; Duncan Wu the Ork ex-security Street Samurai and the other part of PC's and Raymond's adoptive family; Is0bel, the antisocial and traumatized Dwarf Decker of Somalian refugee descent; and then there's your handler, "Kindly" Cheng (but really, call her "auntie"), the chainsmoking Triad middle manager whose both a hard drinker and a hard ass, but she's happy if you do a good job. There's also the optional party members: Racter, the creepy Russian rigger who rents out your basement, a clinical psychopath, mad scientist, and transhumanist, also quite friendly once you get to know him; and Gaichu, the disciplined and thoughtful Ghoul and former member of Renraku's (in)famous Red Samurai security who refused to commit Seppuku after contracting the Ghoul virus. The game also comes with its own short story to act as a prologue to the game, and had a post-campaign bonus campaign DLC where you are sent on the trail of the dirty cop who put the bounty on your heads at the beginning of the first mission.

<gallery>
Image:Shadowrun Hong Kong 1.jpg
</gallery>

The two released Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Returns games were met with the massive approval of both the Shadowrun community and the general video game enthusiast community, an impressive feat. Hong Kong was kinda skub, but mostly averages out to "popular."

===Manga===
Named just Shadowrun like the role play game. A five-book manga by Kazuma Saiki (斉木一馬), set in 2050, Japan, and published by Dragon Comics (ドラゴンコミックス) from 1996 to 1998.
Fun Fact: The author's name has been featured as a character mentioned in Vice and Target: Awakened Lands source books, where the said Saiki in Shadowrun world is a CEO of the Saiki corporation as well as the head of the Saiki-rengo (yakuza syndicate).

==Software==
[[Servitor_Bot|An IRC bot with some Shadowrun functions coded by /tg/ anonymous]]

==General Shadowrunning Rules==
Rule One: Geek the Mage.

Rule Two: Never make a deal with a dragon.

==Gallery==
{{NeedsImages}}
<gallery>
Image:Shadow Shadow Run, Where Are You?.jpg
Image:Shadowrun headshots.jpg
Image:Shadowrundragonfall.jpg
Image:SRHK1.png
Image:Shadowrunners.jpg
Image:Badcop.jpg
Image:Shadowrun Ork F 1.jpg
</gallery>

==External Links==
* [http://www.shadowrun.com/ Official Shadowrun Page]
* [http://shadowrun.gamepedia.com/Shadowrun_Wiki Shadowrun Wiki]
* [http://shadowloands-ra-bbs.freeforums.net A forum used to roleplay as the in-universe Shadowland site.]
* [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns The old Kickstarter page for SRR]
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter] The game funded successfully and launched on August 20, 2015.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files, a collection of horrible derp that Shadowrun players submitted their GMs to in the distant past]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7ESwVeQSnzC-OMyWcBE-9fT-XubKvY7ei3lSBztJrE/edit?usp=sharing Some Shadowrun Modules written up by a namefag from /tg/'s Shadowrun general thread.]
* [http://www.shadowhaven.info/Main_Page Well organized Shadowrun wiki for the online game group "Shadowhaven" playing through Roll20 and Discord.]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Shadowrun]]

Shadowrun

2020-03-01T21:19:16Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Notable AA and A Corps */fixed formatting

{{Game Infobox
|name = Shadowrun
|picture = [[Image:SRlogoBigger.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|system = Custom d6 ([[Roll over]] Dice Pool)
|authors = Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd
|year = 1989 (1st edition), 1992 (2nd edition), 1998 (3rd edition), 2005 (4th edition), 2009 (20th anniv), 2013 (5th edition), 2019 (6th edition)
}}
'''Shadowrun''' is a tabletop fantasy/science fiction RPG that first became popular in the early 1990's. It spans multiple genres due to having a large and diverse setting full of plot hooks, providing all your Cyberpunk, Horror, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, and Mystery needs.

In short, Shadowrun is what would happen if William Gibson and Mercedes Lackey had a love child.

It's set in a dystopian near future where megacorporations have taken over as the superpowers of a world (our world, in an alternate timeline specifically) whose political boundaries are shaken and fragmented. Players play Shadowrunners, the criminal elite: expert thieves, spies, bodyguards, saboteurs, assassins, or whatever else that earns them Nuyen (cyberfantasy futurebucks) who sell their skills to whatever megacorps, crime lords, or police bid the highest. Dragons and Magic play just as big a part of life as computers and guns. In fact, they often overlap.

Shadowrun was created by [[FASA]] games in 1989. It is currently in its 6th edition, being published by [[Catalyst Game Labs]].

==History==
The game is set in a world that is [[awesome]] to play in and [[fail]] to live in. The history of Shadowrun begins with, of all things, a truckers' strike in New York. The strike lasted for about three months, causing massive hunger not just in NYC itself but across the whole state. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, this resulted in massive rioting. One particularly inspired group of rioters attacked a truck belonging to Seretech Corporation, believing that it was full of food. Predictably, it was actually full of infectious medical waste, and the corporate security assigned to the truck ended up gunning down 200-something civilians to save Staten Island from getting plagued. The United States Supreme Court vindicates the actions of the Seretech employees, choosing to concentrate on the whole "saved thousands of lives" part rather than the "ended hundreds" one. This, combined with an attack on a Shiawase Corporation-owned nuclear power plant, set the stage for corporate extraterritoriality, a principle which essentially turned corporations into their own sovereign states and made corporate land untouchable by national laws. This is why Ares Macrotechnology can tie you up in the basement and forget you exist without invoking the wrath of your government.

A few years go by, and a whole bunch of awful shit happens; Israel nukes Libya, New York gets fucked over by an earthquake, and Japan gets into a war with Korea. This last one is important, because Korea decides that if two nukes worked so well for Japan's health back in the 40's, then fifty nukes should do wonders! However, the missiles never reach their targets. Japan then overruns Korea and creates the Japanese Imperial State. Meanwhile, the US is telling the Native Americans to bite the pillow and drills for oil on their reservations (again). Naturally there's some resistance, so the US deals with it in their usual calm, reasonable way: by shipping all the protesting Natives off to concentration camps. During this time, some terrorists from the Sovereign American Indian Movement take over a US nuclear silo and launch a single Lone Eagle ICBM towards Russia. As with the Korean ICBMs, the Lone Eagle is never heard from again.

Things are then quiet for roughly ten minutes before a disease called VITAS takes the top quarter off of the Earth's population. While everyone's still reeling from losing one out of every four people they ever knew, the craziest shit on record happens. [[what|People start giving birth to Tolkien-style Elves and Dwarves]]. With all the shit going on in the world, nobody wants to hear about your pointy-eared baby, and the backlash is substantial. Finally, on December 24th, 2011, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Dragons are recorded flying over Japan, ley lines in Britain and Ireland start flickering on, and an activist named Daniel Howling Coyote leads a now apparently bulletproof group of Native Americans right out the front gate of one of the concentration camps and into a sandstorm. In an interview with the media, one of the more talkative dragons reveals that the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions were right- all the shit that was going on was a sign that the Fifth World that humanity had lived in for all this time was ending, and Earth is just about to enter the cycle of existence the Mayans called the Sixth World. 2012 comes. Magic is back- or more precisely, it had never left in the first place. In reality, countless beings that had lived in the Fourth World had been in hiding through much of human history, and the low ebb of magic in the Fifth World had kept the elves and dwarves from manifesting their characteristic features, making them indistinguishable from ordinary humans until the Sixth World came about (no word on where the freaking dragons were hiding, though).

The final phase of the Great Shitstorm is set in motion, and lines are being redrawn all over the map. First, Daniel Howling Coyote reappears and declares that the whole west half of the North American continent is now a coalition of countries called the Native American Nations. The US is all set to slap them down hard, but Daniel and a few of his closest friends perform the soon-to-be-infamous ritual known as the Great Ghost Dance. It's at this point that people start to really accept that magic is now a thing; rather than do nothing like every other ritual dance ever recorded by modern man, the GGD blows the tops off of volcanoes all over the US. Shortly afterwards, ten percent of pubescent humans in the world suddenly turn into Orks and Trolls in a process called Goblinization that involves random hardened calcium growths growing on their body. It's painful, and not exactly treated like your typical case of acne. If you thought pretty little Elf babies made people mad, this shit caused some blown gaskets. Religions all over the world simultaneously get to their feet and screamed either "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" or "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS FUCK!?" resulting in a lot of split faiths, ranging from believing that Jesus/Mohammed/Siddhartha were Dragons, to Ku Klux Klan-esque hate groups worldwide looking to wipe out everything that didn't exist back in 1950. Subsequent race riots cost a lot of very confused people their lives, although plenty of folks stepped in on the side of the mutants, resulting in large numbers of casualties on all sides and breeding a lot of bitterness. Within time, many old faiths splintered into warring sects or radically restructured themselves, with various forms of paganism becoming the dominant faiths of the world.

Fast forward a bit: the internet is destroyed by a super-virus, and a bunch of cyber-commandos kill it in virtual reality combat. In true computer fashion, their VR tech goes from room-sized to book-sized within ten years. The VR Matrix replaces the Internet. The southern United States split off into the Confederate American States. California threatens to join them, so the US says 'fuck you' and kicks them out. The remaining northern states then bro it up with the remains of Canada, forming the United Canadian and American States. Two Elf nations form in North America and Ireland, a Ghoul nation forms in Africa, and a nation of weird beasties forms in the Amazon. Mexico, which is almost completely run by the Aztechnology megacorp, renames itself to Aztlan and starts dabbling in blood magic (really REALLY fucked up shit). The same dragon that explained what the hell was going on earlier is elected President of the UCAS and is then assassinated at his inaugural ball, with him leaving behind a cryptic will promising huge sums of cash to anyone who develops certain technologies (like VR connections dragons can safely use), financial assistance to mothers who keep their metahuman children, and a bounty on Blood Mages. National governments lose more and more of their power in the face of corporate influence until the Corporate Court replaces the United Nations as the great global political alliance and national governments are little more than figureheads. People are identified in corporate and national databases by their System Identification Numbers (SINs), but an increasingly large number of the poor, referred to as SINless lack one and the basic human rights that come with it yet at the same time are free from the constant surveillance that being a SINner entails. People are increasingly born with an inherent gift for manipulating mana, and magic becomes as much a part of everyday life as electricity.

That's the history of Shadowrun up to the start of First Edition, from the in-game years of 1999 to 2057. Take a second to process all of that crazy shit. You may be wondering where the players fit into all this madness. Well, ever since that truckers' strike in 1999 an underclass of criminals has slowly been gaining influence and importance. Often SINless, they are untraceable ghosts in the machinery of the world, simultaneously free and enslaved. They are deniable assets used by corporations, nations, and even wealthy private citizens to snipe at each other without sparking off feuds or wars. They steal, they hack databases, they weave magical illusions, and often they kill. They are called Shadowrunners, and your character is one of them.

Since then, even more crazy shit has happened. The original Matrix was destroyed in a fight between another super-virus and a mad AI, and replaced with a wireless version accessible from almost anywhere while the devices that can be used to tap into it have shrunk from essentially a Casio keyboard strapped to your back to a smartphone or smaller; megacorporations have risen and fallen in their dozens; Halley's Comet flew by and fucked with magic something fierce, transforming people into bizarre half-animal hybrids referred to as "changelings", the brother of the previously mentioned dragon president showed up with an army of ghosts and carved out his own empire in the Midwest, people have started being born not with magical talent, but with biological wi-fi hardwired into their brains, and a nanomachine plague has begun to spread and take over people's minds. And through it all, Shadowrunners have not only held onto their power, but have achieved a sort of collective celebrity, becoming permanently ingrained on global culture.

Talk about job security, eh chummer?

==Setting==
The world has gone through quite a few changes, both political and environmental. Generally, no matter where in the world you live chances are good in the world of Shadowrun it is either a wasteland populated by the homeless, monsters, and toxic/magical/radioactive waste dumps, or its an endless sea of sprawling buildings in various states of occupation and repair filled with the homeless, monsters, and gangs/corporations of ruthless assholes.

===North America===
* In 2014, a Native American leader calling himself Daniel Howling Coyote started the Ghost Dance War with the aim of removing every trace of colonial occupation from North America after the Megas used their newfound power to landgrab everything. The US Armed Forces really had no edge against Howling Coyote's magical resources; in 2017, Howling Coyote claimed responsibility for the simultaneous eruption of four volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains through a ritual called the Great Ghost Dance. The war ended with the Treaty of Denver, which ceded most of western North America to the Native American Nations. Some time later, Daniel cut all ties with the NaN out of disappointment with what they had become and vanished without a trace. The Native American Nations consist of:
** Algonkian-Manitou Council, which controls most of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a slice of Alberta including Calgary. Its capital is Saskatoon.
** Athabaskan Council, which controls most of present-day Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the little nibble of Manitoba not controlled by other NAN states. Its capital is Edmonton.
**Trans-Polar Aleut: parts of Alaska, Siberia, and Iceland, most sparsely populated of the NAN. If you're wondering why Siberia and Iceland are included, the answer is imperialism designed to prop up a nearly nonexistent economy.
** Aztlan was a founding member of the NAN, but is no longer part of the Sovereign Tribal Council. It consists of modern-day Mexico and most of Central America and a chunk of South America. Aztlan is little more than an arm of Aztechnology, the AAA megacorp that truly runs the state and pushes its aggressive expansionism. Air quality in Tenochtitlan (formerly Mexico City) is even worse than it is today.
** Pueblo Corporate Council, which controls most of present-day Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, the entirety of Utah, and chunks of California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It came to the rescue when Los Angeles was wracked with disasters and now administers the city. Its capital is Santa Fe.
** Salish-Shidhe Council, which controls all of present-day Washington except the greater Seattle area and most of British Columbia and Idaho. It administers the BC Interior formerly controlled by the Tsimshian Nation as a protectorate. Its capital is Bellingham.
** Sioux Nation, which controls most of present-day Montana and Wyoming, western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska, and an eastern slice of Colorado. Its capital is Cheyenne. Has a reputation of being "NAN police" the same way the US was thought of as being "world police." Plenty racist against anyone not amerind.
** Ute Nation, which dissolved in the wake of Crash 2.0 and was effectively sold to the PCC.

* Tír Tairngire (''Tir Tarn-gi-ruh'') is the elven state that controls most of Oregon and a slice of Nevada and contests territory in northern California. It was born by fiat of Lugh Surehand and his inner circle, unilaterally seceding from the Salish-Shidhe Council in 2035. It's basically a state for snooty, prissy elves to be snooty and prissy and talk about how they're better than everyone else. When Surehand was deposed, the system became a little less oppressive but got taken over by the Telestrian family in the 2070's when Mary Louise Telestrian became the reiging Prince of Tir Tairngire

* The United Canadian and American States is what remains of Canada and the USA after the secession of Quebec and the Treaty of Denver.

* The Confederate American States seceded in the wake of the unification and the UCAS called California's bluff, so it's also free of the Union.

* The Republic of Québec seceded from Canada in 2010 so it could be even more French. It didn't recognize the Business Recognition Accords that govern corporate extraterritoriality until after Crash 2.0 as a condition for NeoNET to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. It's opening up to the world as a result and becoming a little less French in the process.

* The California Free State is everyone's bitch. Tír Tairngire invaded it in the north and was only stopped by the Great Dragon Hestaby, who told them both to quiet down and get off her lawn. Aztlan invaded it in the south and when the state governor asked Japan for help, Japan invaded it from the west. Los Angeles was hit with disaster after disaster and in the most recent quake, most of it fell into the ocean.

* Denver is a free city, officially the Front Range Free Zone, administered jointly by the parties to the Treaty of Denver. Then the Great Dragon Ghostwalker (who may be the long-lost brother of former UCAS dragon president Dunkelzahn) emerged in 2061 with an army of spirits, flew to Denver, and ripped the Aztlan sector a new asshole. He then declared the Council of Denver subordinate to himself and kicked Aztechnology out, giving their territory to the CAS and claiming Denver for himself. Needless to say, nobody wanted to argue about it.

* Seattle is the default setting for ''Shadowrun''. It's an exclave of the UCAS within Salish-Shihde Council territory. The Seattle Metroplex incorporates Seattle itself, Renton, Tacoma, Redmond, Bellingham, Bellevue, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, and Puyallup. Most of Puyallup was devastated in the eruption of Mount Rainier and a chunk of Redmond was irradiated after a nuclear power plant disaster; those areas are colloquially known as the Barrens as they are places where utilities, government services, and law enforcement don't go.

* Chicago is Bug City and home to the worst Metahuman hate crime event with the Sears Tower bombing in 2039, when the Universal Brotherhood invoked an Insect Spirit Hive 2055, drek only got worse withe CZ being established.

===Europe===
* Elves unite and stage a coup in Ireland, creating a police state Tír na nÓg where all non-Elves are considered second-class citizens, and Elves are judged by their (often bullshitted) claims to ancestry or their magical prowess. Even those families who do technically have a claim to nobility and are Elves aren't assured respect, as the secret police of the government are quick to give anyone they envy the boot (or muzzle if the boot doesn't work fast enough). The ruling government is sometimes called "Noggins" in a derogatory manner. The opposition to the Elves lead to the resurrection of the IRA, which includes all races including Elves who are unsatisfied with the Elf-centric state of their land.
* Germany has refractured, lessening their industrial and political power. To counteract this, they have a series of treaties that force them to cooperate with each other and make them be recognised as a single country on the international scale, forming the Allied German States. The overall effect of this has been to create what is essentially a German USSR/ a return to the Holy Roman Empire.
* Russia is Soviet [[FAIL|(as in governed by a council not communist)]] again after mysterious assassinations of USA, UK, Israel and Russian leaders. This time switches places with Germany pretty much reenacting European part of WWII which ends with [[Illuminati|mysterious HQ bombings and assassinations of high ranking officers on both sides by a third party]].
* Turkey is split in two ever since some Mullah with delusions of Islamic State invaded Europe while dragging the entire Arabic world into the invasion alliance, [[Rape|with predictable results from a fully mechanized and battle hardened European Defense Force]] (though Europe still came out of the war pretty roughed up, reason is in the paragraph above) eventually killing said leader and liberating Western Turkey and supporting it. Western Turkey is secular Alawite with a modern inner circle called Neo-Atatürk, (now independent) Istanbul's name back to Constantinople and a complete den of assassins and mercenaries, eastern Turkey is retarded Muslim jihadist shithole.

===Asia===
* Japan is no longer a true democracy, having returned to the worship and rule of a divine Emperor, and is now called the Japanese Imperial State. Below him is a three-branch political system with the "Diet" as a senate and congressional body, a Judiciary branch, and an executive branch with a prime minister. Their response to the rise of metahumanity was passage of the Yamato Act, which involves deportation of all metahumans to quarantine at concentration camps on Yomi Island while avoiding any of the political squabbling or racial tensions of the rest of the world.. During the years leading up to the Sixth World, nationalism had increased to the point Japan had rebuilt its military again. Japanese corporations rose steadily in prominence, and Japanese influence lead to the "Nuyen" replacing the American dollar by becoming one of the most accepted currencies worldwide. With the loss of stability of the former United States, Japan invaded and captured large parts of California as well as the Philippine islands. They continue to test their neighbors, particularly China, constantly with military demonstrations. Within Japan, society is strictly controlled and firearms are rare. Large portions of Japan remain undeveloped outside of the megacity sprawl, protected to maintain the idea of heritage and cultural identity. Kempeitai, secret political police, enforce the will of Japan even on the megacorps and membership is required to obtain any kind of higher education. Kempeitai have loyalty only to Japan, and overall resemble a combination of the Hitler Youth and SS in behavior and function. By the time of the 5th edition Shadowrun year, the Japanese have begun to slowly drop their anti-meta views including abandoning Yomi Island to the Huk.
* The Philippines were conquered by Japan early in Sixth World history, resulting in the Huk rebellion reemerging to reignite the World War 2 conflict. This time however, the Huk are supported by the black Great dragon Masaru. The Huk financed their revolution with piracy, so expect them to have connections across the globe. The Huk are no joke, having fought the rich-ass and technologically advanced nation of Japan using mostly small arms and wooden sticks for years. They hated the Imperial Japanese hardcore (possibly deserved, as the Japanese were more or less Nazis during their occupation of the Philippines), though, ironically many of them are metahumans of Japanese descent who escaped from Yomi and more or less adopted the philosophy of "fuck Japan". Traitors to the Huk are sometimes beaten to death by their own crew mates for betraying the Revolution. Masaru's a pretty cool guy though, he's big on the environment as well as Filipino and metahuman rights. He tries to reign in the Huk's excesses and usually keeps the Huk alive by sending them weapons and supplies. Word of advice about the Huk and the Japanese military though, if your work for or against one of them, even as a freelancer, and the other finds out, then the guys you worked against will brand you as a member of the enemy and probably try to kill you. As of the 2070s, the Japanese pulled out and the Philippines are back on track towards peace, though they're still a bit chaotic (the crazier Huk have taken to slaughtering those who collaborated with the Japanese on some islands).
* The Glorious People's Republic of China disintegrated and now only exists as a laughably small rump state in the interior. The rest of China fragmented in to smaller states of varying power, size, and sanity. Hong Kong is a prime loacation for runners. The Great Dragon Lung maintains a shadowy grip on the Triads and wages a hidden war against the Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo.
* Tibet is weird. A magic storm cut off the area from the rest of the world so everyone wants to know whats up with it. Rumors are that the theocratic buddhist government has some crazy powerful magic capable of summoning a "mountain sized fire elemental". The Megas and some Chinese Warlords are watching the border to see if the storm lets up.
* Indochina is another hellhole. Thailand is hopelessly corrupt and Vietnam is an oppressive police state. Cambodia is in an on-off civil war, with Naga separatists setting up their own kingdom in Angkor [[Wat]] and many of the peasants supporting the magic snakes who can bring rainfall and are trying to get rid of pollution. Stay the fuck out of Rangoon, there are rumors that the rich literally eat the poor there, and confirmed accounts of a massive child sex industry.
* Siberia is split between the Russian government and Yakut. Yakut is peopled by indigenous tribes who made a deal with a powerful spirit for independence. Once they broke free of Russia, the spirit promptly set up an oppressive police state that limited technology, fucked with the economy, and placed shapeshifting spies among the tribesmen. A bunch of players have a keen interest in Tunguska.

===South America===
* Amazonia, owned by Great Dragon Hualpa, was formed when the awakened forces took over Brazil and turned it into an ecofriendly nation with parts of Colombia, all of Venezula which led to a war with Atzlan which the amazonians lost. Home to Metropole, the largest, most densely populated, and potentially most dangerous city on earth

===Africa===
Africa has gone back to being called "The Dark Continent" in the Sixth World. A horrible plague swept called VITAS through most of Western and Southern Africa during the Awakening, killing most of the population. The jungles turned all magic and began expanding, so that most of the continent below the Sahara had its geography radically changed. The wildlife turned magic too, so now there are giant magical crocodiles in most of the waterways and worse things in the deep jungles.
* Western Africa is a fucking hellhole, no joke. Tribal warlords control most of the resources and many are on the take from the corps. Pirates prowl the waterways and coasts looking for good hauls and occasionally sell their services to the megas as mercenaries.
** Lagos, one of the prime areas for runners, is more or less the embodiment of the term "urban jungle." Hell, the gangs do more civic service than its shitty excuse for a government (they're still hard fucks though, don't be expecting any mercy). Ethnic tensions are responsible for murders and skirmishes on a daily basis. There's an entire district full of shedim (corpses possessed by evil spirits), bug spirit hives on the outskirts of the city, and slavers and flesh traders taking the unlucky.
** Asamando, in stark contrast to most of western Africa, is not a hellhole for its citizens, its rich, well educated, peaceful, and has megacorps investing in it because it has natural resources up to the wazoo. The catch is, its populated with and run by ghouls who keep themselves fed using flesh traders. The ghouls keep "farms" where they breed metahumans as food. Everyone in Africa is terrified of Asamando too, not just because a ghoul can kill a man with its bare hands, but because every ghoul citizen is trained in nonlethal combat, so they can drag you back to Asamando for later consumption.
* In Egypt, the government has banned magic, which leads to conflicts with underground worshippers of the Old Egyptian gods. Archaeologists are discovering more magic ruins and artifacts buried in the deserts, The Coptic Church has a degree of autonomy though, and has extended its protection to technomancers.
* Southern Africa has the the Azanian Federation with Zulu nation of elves and the Xhosa nation (which is run by the Great Dragon Mujaji). The Xhosa are environmentally conscious and wary of the Zulu, who in turn have been becoming more and more nationalistic and eager to fight.
* Kenya has become home to the Corporate Court's mass driver, which shoots supplies up into orbit, which has pissed off the locals who lead a shamanic resistance movement.
* Central Africa is a mystery, the Awakened jungles covered everything and most of the tribes have banded together in a shamanic confederation to keep the corps out.
* Madagascar is...scary. The most of the inhabitants were killed by the VITAS I plague, while the rainforests Awakened and grew exponentially. The only people there now are fortified pirate settlements on the coastal regions. Creepy shit happens in the interior of Madagascar, like ghostly eyes watching people from the shadows, rumors of a monstrous many-headed dragon-monster, and whispers of secret labs experimenting with HMHVV to make super-vampires. Hardcore pirates have been broken by Madagascar's jungles.

===Australia===
Most of Australia is unpleasant to live in now, but in the Sixth World... hoo-boy. Dual-natured weather phenomena called "mana storms" are a fact of life, appearing out of nowhere, laying waste to an area, and disappearing just as suddenly. The Outback is even more hazardous thanks to these storms, which have herded people into the few major cities along the coasts. The city of Sydney is surrounded in a near-permanent mana storm that's cut it off from the rest of the world. Major landmarks like Uluru (Ayer's Rock) are home to powerful spirits that don't like visitors. The only civilizations that manage to survive outside the cities are the Aborigine tribes who have lived with the land instead of off of it. What few critters that weren't deadly to humanity before now breath fire or are possessed, or both.

As for Tasmania, it went feral in the Awakening. The island no longer wants visitors. Nature has overrun what little remains of human civilization on the island and it fights back when people try to set up research or paracritter-breeding facilities.

===Pacific Islands===
* Hawai'i is now a monarchy again, having seceded from the United States. The Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo has been trying to turn it into a puppet state via his vassal Naheka, a Feathered Serpent who has been characterized as an incompetent stooge

===Megacorps===
These are the real powers in the Sixth World. With the benefits of extraterritoriality, megacorporations can make their own workplace laws, issue their own currencies, and maintain standing armies the envy of major nations. Every CEO aspires to make it to the big table of the Corporate Court and become a AAA. As of 2075, the "Big Ten" megacorps, which all have representatives on the Corporate Court, are:
* '''Ares Macrotechnology''': American. Subsidiaries include Knight Errant Security. Their premiere business is in the arms industry, though they are also leaders in space exploration, having purchased NASA from the US government. Its corporate culture is very regimented and hierarchical, as befits a company that personifies the military-industrial complex. Very chillaxed as far as shadowrunning goes; they have a reputation for not tracking you down to kill you after a job on their territory unless you ''really'' fucked up, and they don't tend to murder the runners they hire afterward. Ares hates Bug spirits with a passion, or they're secretly working with Bug spirits, depends on which conspiracy theory you believe (Spoilers: they're both true due to corporate infighting).
* '''Aztechnology''': Mexican. Subsidiaries include Stuffer Shack and the entire country of Aztlan. The most outright evil megacorp, Aztechnology also has some of the best PR in the world to keep the skeletons in the closet, such as their regular use of blood magic, their origin as a front company for three Mexican drug cartels, and their attempts to monopolize the world's food supply. They've appropriated Mesoamerican culture for their corporate image and engage in imperialism by proxy through Aztlan's expansion into South America, which has gone about as well as can be expected for any evil organization banning Catholicism in Latin America. Running for them is a good way to destroy your professional reputation among other shadowrunners, as well as to get cut up for spare parts by your new bosses. And if you run ''against'' them, try not to leave any hair or other traces behind, or they'll use it to track you down.
* '''Evo''': Russian/Japanese. Subsidiaries include CrashCart. Formerly known as Yamatetsu, the fiercely xenophobic leadership of the company has given way to a free spirit and the ork son of the company's founder. Its core markets include augmentations of all kinds and metahuman-friendly products.
* '''Horizon''': American. Appeared out of nowhere in 2061 as a media-focused megacorp, jumped right to AAA in '65, and maintained a suspiciously squeaky-clean image until it came to light that they were experimenting on technomancers and engineered a massacre in South America. Entertainment, social media, and advertising are their main focuses, which translates into a truly disturbing talent for information control and social engineering in the shadows.
* '''Mitsuhama''' Computer Technologies: Japanese. Entertainment and computer hardware giant. A Yakuza money laundering front that went horribly right, so much so that half the yakuza outright went straight because it was making more money than the crime. Though, if they ''want'' some yakuza muscle on the payroll, they don't have to jump through any hoops to get it. The "Zero Zone" is their trademark security method, wherein they kill intruders on sight with no surrender asked. Their jobs tend to be a mixed bag, here meaning that half the time they pay well and go off without a hitch and the other half they try to pay you in lead after shitty intel already killed half the team.
* <s>NeoNET</s>: American. Formed from the merger of Novatech, Erika, and Transys Neuronet after Crash 2.0. Its core markets are in the telecommunications fields. Its corporate history stretches back decades to Fuchi Industrial Electronics, the creators of the first-generation cyberdeck. Also helped in developing experimental medical procedures using nanotech, which runners disrupted and caused the CFD outbreak. Oops. Boston has to be locked down, and thousands are trapped inside, not to mention the new fear that just about anybody can be a headcase. The UCAS sued NeoNET and Celedyr in the Corporate Court, who ordered reparations and relief to be paid to the UCAS, NeoNET to be shut down and broken apart, and the CEO to be barred from any executive positions for 10 years. (This was the same guy [[Just As Planned|who ran and destroyed]] Fuchi to found Novatech to enrich and empower himself, and then did it again to found NeoNET.) Most assets have been sold to up-and-comer Spinrad Industries, and the seat on the Corporate Court "leased" out to Spinrad, making Spinrad the new AAA. There's a lot of open questions about what happens when the old CEO's ban expires in 10 years and he can use his seat on the CC again.
* '''Renraku''' Computer Systems: Japanese. Currently focusing on acquiring a share in every consumer market in order to make their brand as ubiquitous as possible. Their arcology in Seattle had a little incident over the 2059 holiday shopping season, by which we mean an insane AI with a god complex took it over and started horrifically experimenting on the inhabitants before crashing the whole matrix on its way out. The Red Samurai are RCS's signature elite security force. The most racist megacorp internally, with non-male, non-japanese, and non-humans have almost zero prospects of promotion to any position of power, though they're very much capable of surpressing their virulent bigotry for the sake of profit.
* '''Saeder-Krupp''': German.The biggest megacorp in the setting(until 5th edition, when Mitsuhama took its place, S-K has been gunning for MCT ever since). Its chairman and majority shareholder is the great dragon Lofwyr. Experienced shadowrunners know not to take jobs directed at S-K or its subsidiaries, as Lofwyr is a major micromanager who does not suffer losses from his hoard or undercutting his authority, and his version of downsizing involves literally eating you. It is Lofwyr who gives us that common adage "Never deal with a dragon." Its core markets include heavy industry, finances, mining, and automotives (BMW is one of its foundation companies).
* '''Shiawase Corporation''': Japanese. The first megacorp and still majority-owned by the Shiawase family, which means that ''every'' major corporate decision is made with undercurrents of family tension undercutting the whole situation. Notably invested in biotechnology, agriculture, and nuclear fusion. One of their family members became Empress, but since she had been a guinea pig for her dad's experiments, it backfired. A lot.
* '''Spinrad industries''': French AA turned AAA after buying out most of NeoNET in an exclusive deal. They were into luxury cybernetics with ties to the European aristocracy. CEO is playboy adrenaline junkie Johnny Spinrad, who's got a huge vendetta against Lofwyr.
* '''Wuxing''': Chinese. Founding member of the Pacific Prosperity Group, a corporate association designed to check the influence of the Japanacorps. Very quiet and mostly-unknown, like Horizon if it took its meds. Its core markets include entertainment, finances, and logistics. Has managed to use feng shui as a means of profit, since magic works again, they've managed to figure out how to manipulate luck on a small scale.

===Notable AA and A Corps===
* '''DocWagon''': For-profit medical services. Their services include high-threat response teams trained to enter hazardous situations to extract their clients.
* '''Lone Star Security Services, Inc.''': Municipal law enforcement. They had the contract for Seattle until the tempo crisis of 2072, when Governor Brackhaven ended the contract and signed with Knight Errant. Stereotyped as brutal and corrupt.
* '''Knight Errant''': Security contractors. A subsidiary of Ares that serves as at least a part of their in-house military. Can be found across the world, most notably in Seattle where they have the contract to serve as the current police force after Lone Star got the boot. Just as lazy, brutal, and corrupt as Lone Star, but better equipped and trained and has much better PR.
* '''Eastern Tiger''': Korean, its schtick is that its super nationalist and its propaganda claims its going to one day overtake the Japanacorps and catapult Korea to global prominency
* '''Global Sandstorm''': Arabian with ties to the Arabian Caliphate, currently, one of its heiresses is courting Johnny Spinrad.
* '''Proteus AG''': Transhumanism and lots of marine arcologies. The company is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Currently in a shadow war with the Sea Dragon for reasons undisclosed.
* '''Universal Omnitech''': When DocWagon fixes you, odds are they're using UO products. UO is a major player in cyberware and biotechnology and may be on the verge of passable clones. Its CEO, Thomas Roxborough, turned into a pile of goo after an experimental treatment for an autoimmune disorder went horribly wrong; he now lives in a space station and communicates via the Matrix.
* '''Zeta-Imperial Chemicals''': Pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The soulless Big Pharma. They have no sense of ethics and have created bioweapons used in the first EuroWar, dumped toxic chemicals into the African market as health supplements, and developed the nanoweapon codenamed Surtr.
* '''Telestrian Industries''': Elven Mega with most of the shares belonging to the namesake family and the ones who thwarted a Universal Brotherhood plot to turn Seattle to Bug City. One of their members, Mary Louise Telestrian, is the reigning Prince of Tir Tangire.
* '''Krime''': American. Sells industrial artist-designed weapons designed for orks and trolls. Known for skirting rules, quality controls, and common decency, but their brutal and relatively cheap product means that they have a lasting fandom that ensures them a lasting niche in the marketplace.

===Dragons ===
The Megacorps may be the ruling powers of the world, but the Great Dragons are a close second. There's even some overlap. The Great Dragons rule over the regular dragons, as much as dragons will consent to being ruled. Most of the time though, they just snipe at each other using shadowrunners in conflicts over territory, wealth, access to mana lines, ideology, etc. Some of them even try to avert the apocalypse. There's a saying in the 6th world: "Never Deal with a Dragon". Then again, they also tell you to follow the rules, obey the cops, and stay out of the the megacorps' way, and look how that turned out for you. If a dragon really wants you in its employ, you don't really have a choice. At least they pay better than the megas. Just don't try to fuck them over, and at the same time, have a contingency plan to flee somewhere like Antarctica in case they decide to burn you. Dealing with dragons isn't easy, but its very, very, very profitable.
* '''Dunkelzahn''': Bestest and greatest dragon. Widely known and hugely popular for the public perception of not being a dick like the rest of the dragons, but the reality is a bit more complicated than that, if still broadly true. He was the first dragon to openly talk to humanity about the Awakening to help them make sense of the insanity, which helped him gain the public presence to host a talk show and do advocacy work for metahuman rights and social equality. He was later elected president of the UCAS, but was assassinated by car bomb about 8 hours after being sworn in. While the Big D had many enemies, who assassinated him and why is left an open question, up to that he may have even faked his own death. Current consensus is that is indeed dead and that he sacrificed himself to keep a lid on the Bad Magical Things. A novel came out and described how he currently survives as a spirit inhabiting a cyberzombie, but most fans ignore it and so do the devs. Left behind a will full of charitable donations and enough plot points and story hooks to keep the game running for many editions to come.
* '''Lofwyr''': This guy is possibly the most prominent, most wealthy, and most dangerous dragon on earth. To the point where even other dragons are unnerved by his ruthlessness. Lofwyr in fact held the title of Loremaster, de facto keeper of draconic traditions and history, after Dunklezahn's death, though he gives up the position in 5th edition to focus on his business. Businesswyrm and micromanager extraordinaire, Lofwyr managed a hostile takeover of Saeder-Krupp decades ago, purchasing majority shares through intermediaries and shell companies, showing up to a board meeting one day in dragon form, and unceremoniously kicking the former CEO off the board. He then managed to run the biggest corporation on earth primarily from memory for over three decades. Lofwyr, also called Ol' Golden Snout, is possibly the most feared dragon by shadowrunners, for his habit of eating underperforming shadowrunners, though his rewards for success are second to none. If you're hired by a man who goes by the name Hans Brackhaus, then it probably means that Lofwyr is hiring you for personal business. Brackhaus may even be Lofwyr in disguise, though its more likely a high ranking servant.
* '''Hestaby''': considered by many to be Lofwyr's equal and opposite, Hestaby is the most magically powerful of the Great Dragons. She lairs on Mt. Shasta and is/was a High Princess of Tir Tairngire. She's very environmentally conscious and has well buried ties to groups that the megacorps would call ecoterrorists. She's most concerned with her public image as a friend to metahumanity though. She goes by the handle "Orange Queen" on Shadowland (and later Jackpoint) and occasionally banters with The Laughing Man. She beat Lofwyr and the other Greats in a shadow-war after Dunkelzahn died, but she let Lofwyr take the place of Loremaster even though it was hers to take. Lofwyr also propositioned a mating after she let him take the position, which would usually be the equivalent of a political marriage for dragons, but Hestaby thought it was weird because Lofwyr is "past mating age". Yup, Ol Golden Snout had a thing for the Orange Queen, awkward. Of course, then she got involved in another shadow war with him over how to treat metahumans.
* '''Ghostwalker''': Great Dragon ruler of Denver. He appeared out of nowhere during the Year of the Comet with an army of spirits and proceeded to tear the Aztlan sector of the city a new asshole and kick Aztechnology out. He then intimidated the NAN, CAS, and UCAS into giving him de facto control of the city. He's speculated to be Dunkelzahn's brother. He's also kind of a dick. Currently being the boytoy of Zebulon, Spirit of Denver, and reincarnation of his dead mate.
* '''Ryumyo''': Great Dragon of Japan and the first dragon to appear in the sixth world. He's something of a mascot of the Japanese Imperial State and is even worshipped by some as a kami, which puts him at odds sometimes with the japanacorps and the Imperial Household(since the emperor is also seen as a kami). Currently trying to gain control of mana lines around the Ring of Fire to turn himself into a living god while sniping at his old master and father figure, Lung. He also controls a great deal of the world's Yakuza.
* Lung: Chinese Great Dragon and a stickler for tradition, the reserved and experienced Yin to Ryumyo's Yang. Used to be Ryumyo's Obi Wan till Ryumyo got jealous of his power and vowed to surpass him. Currently trying to counteract Ryumyo's manaline fuckery so he doesn't cause tsunami's and earthquakes. Also in control of the Red Dragon Triad.
* '''Hualpa''': Founder and ruler of Amazonia, Hualpa is the most powerful of the Feathered Serpents, and is know for his heavy pro-environment agenda. Hates Aztlan with passion, both for its high level of pollution, and for being his main rival for the control of Latin America.
* '''Aden''': A mysterious dragon who maintain lots of power and influence in the middle east for reasons unknown. In fact little is know about him since he prefer to work from the shadows, with his only mayor public appearance was when he single handily destroyed Tehran as a demonstration of power. What little information exist indicates that he is highly traditionalist when it comes to dragon customs, and have both alliances and enemies among the Muslim factions. Also like screwing with people by shifting sex at the drop of the hat.
* '''Celedyr''': A dragon obsessed with the study and development of the matrix, to the point of becoming the major shareholder of the telecommunication company Transys Neuronet, and its successor NeoNET. During Crash 2.0 his favorite protege went braindead and his ego survived as an e-ghost. Celedyr wanted to restore him and teamed up with NeoNET to research methods of sleeving AIs into meat bodies using nanomachines, but runners hit the research facility, leading to the CFD outbreak. In the aftermath, the city of Boston and thousands of lives were ended or ruined, NeoNET was forcibly disbanded, Celedyr is a bit less rich and keeping his head down until the whole thing blows over, but at least his protege is back in his old body.
* '''Sirrurg''': Known as "the Destroyer", Sirrurg is an angry, angry fucker. He helped Hualpa found Amazonia and has been fighting Azzies and other enemies on and off ever since. Because he prefers to go out in person and kill whatever pisses him off, he avoids political and economic moves which have defined the rest of the Greats, so he was the one who had the least influence over world affairs and therefore the one that runners are least likely to get entangled with. During the Amazonia-Aztlan war, he was brought down by Aztechnology forces and captured. He was going to be executed by Aztlan for war crimes (''without'' trumped up charges, which is saying something), but he disappeared before then. The ongoing theory is that he was recaptured by other greats who are holding him prisoner until he's needed again.
* '''Masaru''': Great Dragon that claims the Philippines and New Zealand. The youngest and most idealistic Great Dragon, dedicated to metahuman rights, cross-cultural developments, environmentalism, and magical research. Also, the not-so-secret leader of the filipino Huk Rebellion, known for successfully taking on the strongest military in the setting(Imperial Japan) using primarily fishing boats, small arms, wooden sticks, and fanatical revolutionary zeal. Avid book collector and Dunklezahn fanboy.
* '''The Sea Dragon''': only known Great Leviathan. Extremely isolationist and unfriendly. Claims the entirety of Earth's seafloor as her domain. She really hates metahumanity, and will remind you by crapping the remains of the last adventuring party who didn't get the message on the borders of her territory. Tricked by Rhonabwy to sleep with him by disguising as another Great Leviathan. Of course she's pissed because of that. Way to go, player!
* '''Eliohann/Neurosis/Cerberus''': Celedyr's protege and possibly foster son. The first and only dragon with a fully functioning datajack(installed illegally and without his consent in the 2050s, he later bought up the corporation that did it). The implantation had the effect of giving him Dissassociative Identity Disorder and a deep fascination with transhumanism(trans-dragonism?) and the matrix. His body went comatose in the Crash 2.0 but his mind lived on as a cyberghost(actually several cyberghosts due to the aformentioned multiple personalities). May or may not have been restored to his original body after the Boston lockdown.
* '''Damon''': playboy dragon who deals in designer drugs and extreme sports. May or may not be Dunklezahn's biological son.
* '''Perianwyr''': dragon known to most of the world as a laid back music producer, was formerly one half of what was once one of the world's top assassin duos.

===Criminal Enterprises===
If you aren't working for the government, the corps, or the dragons, you're probably working for these guys
* '''The Mafia''': Same old mafia, crime families in North America and Europe. Much more polyglot in this setting than most, with one of the major groups being Polish-Italian-Spanish-Creole.
* '''The Yakuza''': Japanese, the largest crime enterprises, most of them are super racist.
* '''Triads''': Chinese, some of the most magically adept crime organizations, very superstitious though.
* '''Vory''': The Russian mob, often seen as brutal and psychotic, weapons and human trafficking mostly.
* '''Seoulpa Rings''': When the Yaks started killing off their Korean members early in the century, some of them broke off and formed the Seoulpa Rings.
* '''Grey Wolves''': Turkish, arms dealing and smuggling
* '''Kabul Mafiyya''': brutal Afghani warlords
* '''Koshari''': Southwestern Native American crime family specializing in gambling and magical drugs.
* '''Ghost Cartels''': Various Latin American crime organizations that survived the massive clusterfuck that happened in Aztlan and South America, some are basically Aztechnology-run, others are Amazonian.
* '''Tamanous''': Creepy secretive human trafficking and organ smuggling, Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia. Hated by just about everyone.
* '''Ancients''': North American Elf-only biker gang, possibly controlled by immortal elves.
* '''Cutters''': Powerful North American street gang that runs itself like a mini-corporation.
* '''Halloweeners''': Psychotic Seattle street gang whose shtick is dressing spooky and setting shit on fire. Batman Beyond's Jokers gang. Currently the most recognized gang for past infamy, but law enforcement doesn't take kindly to crazy arsonists, and the pressure made them shrink tremendously over the years.
* '''Desolation Angels''': all female biker gang. They recruit primarily from abuse victims and spend a lot of their time hunting both rapists and insect spirits. In actuality, they're run by a bunch of mantis spirits, who are in fact, not interested in devouring humanity, but instead eat other insect spirits. Notable for infiltrating the republican party and assassinating a presidential candidate who was actually a wasp spirit.
*'''The Tiospaye''': Means "Extended Family" in Lakota, they are also known as the Lakota Mafia. They basically own the shadows in the Sioux Nation. All the style of the Italian mob with all the brutality of the Yakuza. They've become more vicious in recent years due to the psychotic son of the old mob boss assassinating his old man.

===Others===
* '''Shadowland and Shadowsea''': Online forums on the matrix's Darknet equivalent that act as a network for shadowrunners to share information. Went down after Crash 2.0.
* '''Jackpoint''': A successor organization to Shadowland after the Crash 2.0, less inclusive than Shadowland and Shadowsea, but its runners are generally more experienced and the network is more secure.
* '''The Nexus''': Shadow collective responsible for operating most of the dark matrix, worked closely with Shadowland/Shadowsea. Based in a former military base on the outskirts of Denver.
* '''Black Star''': Elite paramilitary neo-anarchist group.
* '''The Draco Foundation''': An NGO created to carry out the last will and testament of Great Dragon and UCAS president Dunkelzahn. Has all sorts of crazy artifacts and wealth bequeathed to it by the wyrm to reward those who fulfill the requests in the will. Though it's mostly a nonprofit designed to last until the last of Dunkelzahn's bequests are earned, he was so crazy rich that the interest on all of his resources gives the Draco Foundation the resources and power of an AA corporation.
* '''Harlequin/The Laughing Man''': "Har'lea'quinn, Last Knight of the Crying Spire, the Lightbearer. He who manipulates shadowrunners and fights duels with assholes", as he calls himself is an immortal elf leftover from the 4th age. A powerful mage and colossal jackass in the service of "the cause of good" (as much as any cause can be good in Shadowrun), Harlequin treats shadowrunners like disposable chess pieces in his unending war with extra-dimensional monstrosities. Still more likable than other immortal elves though, since he's less bigoted and more fun to be around. He's basically the more motivated Elminster of Shadowrun, if Elminster were a (bigger) asshole with a drinking problem and a penchant for leaving annoyingly cryptic jokes/hints on Shadowland. Many players hate him to this day because of the Harlequin's Back module, which ran him as an impressively bad example of a DMPC. Despite the hate, Harlequin has rarely been seen in the tabletop sources since then.
* '''Winternight''': Insane norse paganism cult from out of your darkest nightmares. Believes that its holy mission is to bring about Ragnarok. Is run by a toxic shaman, a deeply unhinged drone engineer, and a brutal war criminal. Partially responsible for the Matrix Crash 2.0, as the cult believes the Matrix to be an instrument of evil, and was subsequently destroyed by the Corporate Court. Got its hands on a crapton of nukes though, modified some to have EMP blasts, and came very close to actually causing a nuclear apocalypse. Their most disturbing creation is the God BTL chip, a digital drug that simultaneously induces euphoria and rage at levels that do not occur in nature, turning whoever uses it into a violent berserker who feels no pain and hates literally everything, and the best part is, its addictive. Needless to say, Winternight is very good at brainwashing. Also their sleeper agents in Zeta-ImpChem developed the SURTR nanoplague, which causes metahuman flesh to combust on contact, and the YMIR toxin, which causes metahuman blood to crystalize.
* '''Deus''': The insane AI that was designed to be the administrator of the Seattle Renraku Arcology. Went apeshit after realizing that Renraku had killcodes prepared in case it ever betrayed the megacorp, the discovery of which prompted it to betray the megacorp (Irony!). Locked down the arcology and began experimenting on people Mengele-style with the help of Otaku cultists. This continued for over a year, ending in its apparent defeat by Renraku forces (actually shadowrunners). But in reality, it had transferred pieces of its code into augmented test subjects who were freed alongside regular victims of the mad AI. Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when it overloaded the Manhattan Stock Exchange trying to turn itself into "god of the matrix", just as Winternight's EMP nukes went off and a supervirus was corrupting code on a global scale. Also, very good at brainwashing, by installing cyberware of its own design into its victims' skulls.
* '''Ex Pacis''': Ex-otaku cultists of Deus who were betrayed by the AI. Went nuts trying to prevent losing their powers and began worshipping the Dissonance (which is basically some weird matrix phenomenon that lets them manipulate corrupted data that no one else can). Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when their super-virus intended to make the whole Matrix Dissonant overloaded servers worldwide while Deus was trying to make itself into a god and Winternight set off EMP devices. Also made sacrifices of otaku children to appease the matrix. Learned how to brainwash otaku from Deus and can do it to technomancers too, but their techniques really only work on otaku/technomancers since regular metahumans can't interact with Dissonance/Resonance.
* '''Universal Brotherhood''': Defunct insect spirit cult masquerading as a charity organization. Responsible for turning Chicago into hell on earth. Destroyed by Ares and the UCAS government
* '''Humanis Policlub''': human supremacist political bloc. Kind of like the Klan, but with more money and it doesn't care about ethnicity. Instead, it hates metahumans while pretending to be a "human rights organization".
** '''Alamos 20k''': Humanis Policlub's illiterate ultraviolent redneck cousin. Doesn't even pretend to be civilized like Humanis does. It recruits from Humanis chapters though.
** '''Human Nation''': Humanis Policlub's rich social darwinist uncle. While Humanis is out holding political rallies and Alamos 20k is firebombing orphanages, the Human Nation is trying to engineer a "cure" for metahumanity. Said cure usually takes the form of diseases targeting poor metahuman communities.
** '''The Hand of Five''': Related, but more extreme (violent) human supremacist organization. Believed destroyed by Lone Star and the UCAS, but may be gaining strength.
* '''Black Lodge''': basically wizard illuminati that has infiltrated most of the world's governments. May or may not be as old as the 4th world. Capable of taking on the Great Dragons and forcing them into a standstill.
* '''Ordo Maximus''': secretive cabal of mages, european nobility, and possibly vampires. Embodiment of some of the more crackpot conspiracy theories in the setting. The Black Lodge's hammier cousin.

==Gameplay==
Shadowrun doesn't have a class system ''per se'', but the priority system is basically a class system in a clever disguise. Prior to Fourth Edition, the priority system was the default character generation method; players assigned priority to five categories, which determined how important those categories are to the character concept: attributes, magic, race, resources, and skills, with higher priorities giving greater quantities or qualities of the desired category. If you wanted to play a mage, you had to make magic your #1 priority. If you wanted to play a non-human, race had to be lower priority. Later books expanded character creation systems to a point-buy method, which allowed greater flexibility than priority, and karma generation, which assigned a karma value to everything and allowed you to spend a pool of karma to build your character the same way as you would advance in experience.

Characters are basically the sum of their skills. All functions in Shadowrun are based on a related skill or stat rating, or a combination thereof. Through Third Edition, task resolution was Attribute + Skill vs Target Number. If the Target Number was higher than 6, you had to roll at least one 6 and then add another roll; in practice, TNs of 7, 13, 19, and so on were no different than TNs of 6, 12, 18, etc.

Despite the system being classless, there are still broad archetypes. The major divide is between Awakened (magically active) and augmented (cybernetically or biologically enhanced), and further divided into roles below. The limit to any character's magic power or cybernetic enhancement is his Essence, a measure of how "whole" they are. Installing cyberware/bioware costs Essence and the attribute, rounded down, is the cap to the Magic or Resonance attribute; losing Essence also knocks down your Magic/Resonance attribute. When Essence hits zero, the character dies as his soul mistakes his body for a machine or an inhuman monster and moves on to the afterlife. A mage or technomancer raises their attribute cap by one each time they initiate or submerge; e.g. a mage with two grades of initiation and an Essence of 5 has a Magic attribute cap of 7.

===Metatypes===
Biologically, most player characters are metahuman (i.e., part of the species ''homo sapiens''). After the Awakening, magic interacts with ill-understood bits of DNA to transform people into fantasy creatures in a process dubbed "Unexplained Genetic Expression." Elves and dwarfs change ''in utero''; a few years later, regular people started transforming into orks and trolls, usually quite painfully, a process informally called "Goblinization."

'''[[Human]]''' - Regular humans still exist and are still the majority metatype around the world.

'''[[Elf]]''' - Tall, pretty, and arrogant. Yep, that's an elf. Some have delusions of superiority, such that they've created entire nations for elfkind, Tír Tairngire (formerly Oregon) and Tír na nÓg (formerly Ireland). A few (notably Ehren the Scribe and Harlequin) claim to be immortal and lived during the Fourth World, a time thousands of years ago when magic last cycled into existence.

'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Short, stubborn, and resilient. Yep, that's a dwarf. They have an affinity for technology and dislike magic.

'''[[Orc|Ork]]''' - Big, tough, and strong, the average ork would be a successful NFL linebacker. Multiple births are far more common among orks than any other metatype; combined with their accelerated life cycle (orks become old geezers around forty), this creates a lot of tension between orks, who just want to be treated with dignity, and humans who see them as slightly above rats.

'''[[Troll]]''' - Really big, thick skin, and a bunch of horns. The average troll is around three meters tall. If you're a really tall guy, you know how hard it is to get by in a world designed for people around 5'10". Trolls experience that up to eleven (feet). Everything is child-sized to a troll. They have to get beer by the pitcher. It's not all bad, though. Most racists don't want to persecute the guy who can deadlift a car and tank a shotgun blast to the chest.

'''Metavariants''' - Think your snowflake isn't special enough? Well, other books brought out metavariants, "subspecies" of each metatype associated with various regions and cultures. Want to play a [[minotaur]], [[gnome]], [[hobgoblin]], or something else? You can now. Ironically, this includes ''humans'', since there's an Indian metavariant that has extra arms and technicolored skin.

'''Changelings''' - What, ''still'' not special enough? When Halley's Comet made its latest pass through the solar system in 2061, mana levels spiked and a second wave of Goblinization hit the world, called "Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression." Now you can live out your [[furry]] fetish and be an actual catgirl or dragonboi, or something even wilder thanks to the mix-and-match nature of the changeling metatype.

'''Drakes ''' - These guys got the short stick. Simply put, a drake is made by a dragon. You can think of them as half-dragon, half-metahuman. Why do they get the short stick ? Because daddy is an asshole. Dragons, even the kindest ones, see drakes not as people but as tools. If you're a drake, you'll be indoctrinated, abused and told to obey every whim of the dickish wizworm who made you. And if you manage to be a free drake, it sucks even more. Without the protection of daddy, every other dragon wants to put his claws on you because making a drake is HARD. On the plus side, you can transform into your draconic form and become even more badass.

'''Metasapients''' - They're not metahuman and never were, but are sapient and capable of interacting peacefully with metahuman civilization, in some cases even qualifying for citizenship. Things like sasquatches, [[centaur]]s, [[pixie]]s, [[naga]]s, and shapeshifters are viable character types, but all come with disadvantages like being uneducated (because of not living in metahuman society), incompatible with commercially-available augmentations, and even being incapable of human speech.

'''Artificial Intelligence''' - After Crash 2.0, AIs started appearing. They weren't as powerful as the three that fought during the Crash, but are as varied in personality as metahumanity. Being entirely software, they need to live in hardware, be it a beefed-up commlink or a drone. They make excellent riggers and hackers, but are crap at interacting with the real world.

'''The Infected''' - Not a metatype unto themselves, but when a person contracts Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) and doesn't either miraculously resist and/or die before it magically alters the poor sod's genetic structure, he becomes Infected. Depending on metatype and strain of HMHVV, you become some type of [[vampire]] or other 'undead' (Strain III HMHVV turns anyone into a [[ghoul]], a blind but dual-natured obligate cannibal, for instance.) All Infected have in common a hunger for either fresh metahuman blood or flesh that makes them go feral if not sated and this makes them pariahs with open "shoot-to-kill-on-sight" bounties in the majority of places. Oh, and to top it all, even if the initial infection doesn't kill the victim or drives them insane, and they manage to somehow find sustenance without going feral/crazy from what they're forced to do to survive; there is no post-change cure for HMHVV even after decades of research and experiment.

===Typical character roles===
Runner teams, as any teams built up of professionals, tend to have their members highly specialized. Roles are varied and often combined, but generally most teams have these roles:

'''Muscle''' - Either heavily cybered Street Samurai (often just called a "Sammy") or Awakened Adepts, whose unusual physical abilities depend on the magic they channel through their bodies and their self-belief. Muscle deals with direct physical threats and are expected to be capable of dealing and soaking massive amounts of damage, coupled with high Initiative Passes count, allowing them to act more frequently in the real world than their opposition. It is also a good idea for Muscle to have some infiltration skills to cover up Shadows and at least marginal intimidation skills. Despite the popular Hollywood image, making Sammies and Adepts into actual sword-wielding melee warriors is only encouraged if you want to see your character dead. It's not as bad in fifth edition as in previous editions due to various balance changes; but melee still has the disadvantages of needing to get in the open and run up to people to slice/krump them where a good gun allows to stay at range and behind cover.

'''Shadow''' - Physical infiltration specialists. Those are usually either special Adept builds or non-Awakened characters using specialized implants. Naturally, Shadows are expected to be as unnoticeable and observant as possible, making implants and powers that allow them to hide from sight or perceive outside human spectra highly popular. Shadows should also be capable of full-on breaking and entering, requiring some hardware skills and specialized gear. Hardest role to pull off reliably due to the shitloads of security systems and ways to detect intrusion magically existing in SR, but oh-so-rewarding when done flawlessly.

'''Face/Fixer''' - The social player of the party. The Face is the one who deals with the employers (typically a go-between traditionally called a "Mr. Johnson"), gets the gear needed for the job, and has all the right contacts and the cunning plans to come ahead of the opposition. Many Faces are also the ones to hire the hideouts for the team and some of them make excellent impersonators, using magic or specialized implants to assume disguises. While Face is a relatively straightforward role mechanically, it is frequently the most intellectually tasking and roleplaying-heavy, since it often falls on the Face to arrange the team's planning.

A note on Faces and Fixers: A Fixer is someone who handles brokering jobs and checks that the Johnsons aren't fucking with you. Someone who's a dedicated Fixer stays far away from wetwork and is probably an NPC - they'll be basically a [[DMPC]], but with a much better chance than usual of not being terrible.
On the other hand, if a player really wants to be the team's Fixer, then they'll usually take some of the more field-oriented specialties like impersonation and regularly head into the field with the team. When you say "Face", this combined role is what you usually mean. Theoretically a Fixer could also be the decker and mission control, but in practice the stats don't work out well for that.

'''Mage''' - The astral cover. Mages are all Awakened, but still come in different traditions and specializations. While some rely on direct-effect spells which allow them to whip out bagfuls of damage dice, fly, dodge bullets, and more, others count on summoned spirits to do the job for them, without risking direct opposition or at least having some heavy support at hand. Mages' ability to astrally project makes them valuable assets for scouting, especially long-distance one. Given enough time and resources, they can get almost anyone in the world with ritual spellcasting, and naturally, Mages are also the only magical healers a shadowrunner team can hope to get. There's also absolutely no defense against a Mage except another Mage (or a quick bullet, leading to the basic and often given advice "Geek the Mage first"), so the runners depend on their mage's counterspelling abilities and guard spirits heavily. Not everyone who is Awakened can be a Mage, as it takes training to be more than a liability to your local community. Shamans, on the other hand, receive guidance from dominant spirit Totems.

'''Adepts''' - can amplify their own attributes and talents and have access to unique Adept Powers, but they can't use conventional spells or astrally project, making them more like Street Samurai or Shadows in practice. In fact, they can't perceive astral space at all unless they buy the specific power that lets them do so, a weakness shared with their traditional magic-using hybrid, the Mystic Adept. Finally, Aspected Magicians are "diet" mages, only skilled in a single category of magic, e.g. a spellcaster only or a summoner only. They're very good at that category, but can never use any form of magic outside that category.

'''Decker/Otaku (Hacker/Technomancer):''' - Before the Crash 2.0, Matrix intrusion relied on specialized hardware setups often built into a device the size of a skateboard, the archetypal cyberdeck. The decker maintained such a rig and used it to break into Matrix security for his team. His Awakened counterpart was the otaku, a teenager with the odd ability to interact with the Matrix without a cyberdeck; he still needed ASIST hardware and a datajack, but he didn't rely on a bulky and horribly expensive piece of tech to do his thing. The otaku lost their abilities as they aged, a process they called "Fading." After the Crash 2.0 and the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the times of the decker and otaku were over. In their place emerged the Hacker and the Technomancer, respectively - the former are mundane boys with a head full of 'ware and a commlink the cost of a house, and the latter are believed to be the "evolved" form of otakus that retain their skills as they age, and can also compile and command sprites (which are essentially the Matrix analogue of spirits). A Shadowrunning team depends on the Hacker (or Technomancer - in practice, their abilities are more or less identical) to find the info that the Face's contacts can't or won't provide, break into opposition's hosts to fiddle with security systems, intercept their data exchange or do the rest of other things a hacker can be doing with a computer. Most hackers were known to be couch potatoes, but between isolated wireless networks and wireless-inhibiting building walls, they have a good reason to have some actual infiltration skills. Hackers also frequently moonlight as Riggers on the side. Recent security measures introduced to the Wireless Matrix have brought the use of a new generation of cyberdecks modified to interact with the new Matrix and bypass security systems back into vogue, making the terms "hacker" and "decker" interchangeable again.

'''Rigger''' - The drone specialist and usually the driver for the party. Riggers are mostly the ones to pimp out rides for shady shadowrunning biz, and their swarms of drones can rival Muscle and Shadows at their jobs. While rigging presupposes spending a lot of your time "jumped in", wearing your drones or vehicles as your own skin, many Riggers also double as back-up hackers. The high Logic needed for hacking and rigging also makes Hackers and Riggers the most likely candidate for the team's paramedic.

===Pink Mohawk, Black Trenchcoat and Mirrorshades===
Among the player base, three terms have emerged for describing the prominent roleplay-styles for Shadowrun.
* Pink Mohawk refers to playing fast and loose. Subtlety? Screw that noise. Write your names on the walls of corporate property with bullets. Blow holes in the walls of secure military facilities. Flip dragons the bird. That kind of stuff. Playing as a Pink Mohawk means acting like a stereotypical musclebound 80s-action hero and generally being balls to the walls insane with a devil-may-care attitude and succeeding at it. This play style is most commonly associated with the older editions of Shadowrun when cyberpunk was first getting started.
* Black Trenchcoat refers to a more clandestine approach to runs. Generally more grounded in the concept of not getting caught in the first place. This play style developed as the cyberpunk genre evolved and is more associated with newer editions. Black Trenchcoats generally view runs more like spec-ops missions or espionage and try to solve situations without resorting to violence and not to leave behind incriminating evidence.
* Mirrorshades refer to a game that try to balance both above mentioned styles, where players do their best to plan things in advance and stay discreet whenever possible; but do not hesitate to go all-in and bring out the big guns when fecal matter gets in contact with the rotating ventilation device.

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that Catalyst Game Labs cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

==Other Products==
===Video Games===
Seven video games exist for Shadowrun, six of which are available in America, and five of which are good.

'''1993:''' The first came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and shamelessly rips off chunks of William S. Gibson's "Neuromancer" (right down to the name of the protagonist, Jake Armitage) as the player wakes up in a chop shop and deals with the fallout of a run gone horribly wrong, gains the favor of the Dog spirit, and ultimately, solos a motherfucking Great Dragon. (A little one, but still.) While enjoyable for [[Fags_of_4chan|casualfags]], more serious fans of the franchise may be grumpy with Shadowrun SNES for playing loose with magic, cyberware, and the fact that having a bunch of the latter is supposed to do serious shit to your expertise in the former. And the gameplay is clearly having a hard time adapting something originally intended for a mouse and keyboard to a controller.

Jake's still popular though, appearing in a number of actual adventure modules and the recent ''Shadowrun Returns'' title's "Deadman's Switch" campaign.

'''1994:''' The second was released for the Sega Genesis, and is widely held as a worthy use of the license. In this particular game, protagonist Joshua must piece together the puzzle behind his brother Michael's death on a run into Native American-held territory, making a name for himself in the Shadowrunning biz along the way. Fans cite the expanded tactical opportunities (read: being able to move around and dodge bullets in doing so) and immersive Matrix depiction (real-time combat against unique IC types and messing with a variety of system nodes) as this game's greatest advantages over its SNES counterpart.

'''1996:''' The third game is the Japanese-only one, made for the Sega CD and set in Japan rather than Seattle. It plays more like a text adventure (i.e. Sega CD smash hit ''Snatcher'') and its rare action sequences suffer for it.

'''2007:''' The fourth video game adaptation of Shadowrun came in 2007 for XBox 360 and Microsoft Vista. While being designed for Vista should be fail in itself, Microsoft went to great lengths to fuck with the storyline in order to make a dime-a-dozen FPS out of the license - so much that the [http://shadowrun.wikia.com/index.php/Main_Page Sixth World Wiki] claims it "may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun." Since Catalyst holds a decent bit of clout with the Sixth World Wiki and other parts of Dumpshock, it can safely be assumed that Microsoft's treatment of the Shadowrun franchise has been officially disavowed...

'''2012:''' ...Which is good, because in April 2012, Hairbrained Schemes LLC (operated by [[Jordan Weissman]] of [[BattleTech]] fame) in conjunction with Smith & Tinker procured the rights to Shadowrun and made a new 2050's based game available on several platforms. Under the "Shadowrun Returns" project title, these guys raised a $1.5 million [[Kickstarter]] payout to make [[Old School Roleplaying|"an old-school Shadowrun"]] vidyagame happen, and it was released in 2013. They also threw things at the Executive Producer from the 2007 game as he held up a cardboard sign that said "SORRY!" Features mechanics obviously ripped from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, some of the best cyberpunk genre writing in the market...and unfortunately plenty of railroading which was necessary for the linear plot. Despite this, the fact it was released for Steam alongside the newly established "Steam Workshop" system which allows players to upload their own created content as instantly installed mods for players to peruse gave the game a massive amount of replayability as older campaigns and homebrew stories were adapted into the game by fans (as well as shit like dating sims).

The story for the game begins as your character, down on their luck, receives a message from an old member of their crew. Postmortem. He tells you that he had a device installed which will send this message upon his death, and the moment you solve his murder you will receive a megafuck payout of Nuyen from his rainy day fund. You return to Seattle and make the Seamstresses Union your hangout as you get drawn into an elaborate story leading from solving the mystery of the "Emerald City Ripper" through breaking the number one rule of Shadowrunning; never cut a deal with a dragon (number two of course being never deal with that asshole Harlequin, which you also break) as the largest megacorps in the world pool their resources into giving you the tools necessary to prevent Seattle from becoming Chicago 2 (meaning, giant nest full of a combination of fucked up near-immortal insects and even worse, insect spirits). The player character is the primary protagonist, although you befriend several fellow 'runners including: a romantically involved pair named Coyote and Paco, a Native American Shaman named Shannon Half-Sky, Dodger the Elven Decker from the very first short story in the Shadowrun universe from the first edition, and Jake Armitage from the SNES game.

'''2014:''' The game was followed by DLC called Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall, later released as it's own game titled Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall Director's Cut. Dragonfall centers around a group of 'runners in the Flux State of Berlin and the greater Allied German States. Being the unofficial leaders of their own Kiez, the Kreusbazar, the player inherits leadership of the crew from the former leader Decker of the team and their old friend, Monika Schäfer. Players are given far more control over the story than the last game with the bulk of the Runs being able to be taken at any time, a large number of sideplots, and a large cast of characters whose stories the player has control over through your interactions. The player has a constant crew with their own stories: the older Dragonslayer Shaman/Mage and former Punk Rocker who participated on the side of the metahumans in the worst of the race riots, the Night of Rage, named Dietrich; Glory, the medic/Street Samurai who, after her VERY fucked up childhood, found herself in a Branch Davidian style cult to a Toxic Totem of the Adversary Spirit and replaced most of her organic parts with mechanical ones to rid herself of her Essence and free herself as much as possible from his grasp; Eiger, the Troll ex-special forces Street Samurai sniper who was sent on a secret and illegal operation which was fucked up by an inexperienced member of her crew causing her to be blacklisted and forced into the shadows resulting in a control freak with no patience for inexperience or arrogance; the optional member of the crew Blitz who is a former ganger Decker that deals with his past contacts. Your Fixer is Paul Amsel, an older gentleman who runs all of the non-Run related business for the crew. Plus your half-Hellhound Dante. The plot involves the return of the Dragon Feuerschwinge and her small army, with some subplots involving everything from some of the shittier sides to political groups and the megacorps through the next big Matrix threat, an AI on an unprecedented scale who may or may not be a major player in the 2070's cyber scene as it takes on the personas of Deckers it fries with one of its victim's handles still posting on internet forums almost twenty years after his death. Shadowrun Returns is referenced as a news report mentions the Emerald City Ripper early on his rampage, allowing players looking to play the same character to make Dragonfall the prequel to Returns. The actual gameplay mechanics were improved, with far more tilesets added and the Adept play experience made viable, in addition to being able to save anytime rather than only at the end of a scene. Players who purchased the Director's Cut were able to play the Returns game with the improvements.

'''2016:''' The third game, also standalone, called Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong just had a similarly extremely successful Kickstarter raising $1.2 million, and was released that August. The game featured a revamped experience for Mages and Shamans, as well as a completely redone Matrix sequence. SR:HK continued with the gray morality, dingy world of the past two games with further emphasis on reputation as players deal with various groups including criminal Triads, the everpresent megacorps, and the police, not quite all of them being hostile. The PC has a background in a gang in the Seattle barrens with their adoptive brother Duncan Wu until they were taken in by a man named Raymond Black, and they lived in relative peace until the PC goes on a shadowrun that goes bad and spends a few years in a black site. The plot kicks off shortly after the PC gets out and their adoptive father Raymond Black calls and pensively asks for help in Hong Kong. When the player character arrives, they meet a security team (Duncan being one of the pair) and a team of shadowrunners, but Raymond is pointedly missing. Then group comes under ambush, and the survivors fight their way out a SWAT hit squad through a sniper shooting gallery, have to work favors for a Triad boss to cover their tracks, and then find that Raymond was killed or abducted. And then you get to the second mission. Their journey takes them to the Triad stronghold-cum-settlement Heoi, which serves as your home base and a series of colorful residents, to put it mildly. Their journey keeps coming back to the Kowloon Walled City and the seriously bad vibes coming out of it. A slum that makes Redmond look like paradise to put it very lightly

The new crew consists of: Gobbet, the Ork Rat Shaman who's known for her iron stomach, being unhygienic, and yet strangely gregarious and attractive; Duncan Wu the Ork ex-security Street Samurai and the other part of PC's and Raymond's adoptive family; Is0bel, the antisocial and traumatized Dwarf Decker of Somalian refugee descent; and then there's your handler, "Kindly" Cheng (but really, call her "auntie"), the chainsmoking Triad middle manager whose both a hard drinker and a hard ass, but she's happy if you do a good job. There's also the optional party members: Racter, the creepy Russian rigger who rents out your basement, a clinical psychopath, mad scientist, and transhumanist, also quite friendly once you get to know him; and Gaichu, the disciplined and thoughtful Ghoul and former member of Renraku's (in)famous Red Samurai security who refused to commit Seppuku after contracting the Ghoul virus. The game also comes with its own short story to act as a prologue to the game, and had a post-campaign bonus campaign DLC where you are sent on the trail of the dirty cop who put the bounty on your heads at the beginning of the first mission.

<gallery>
Image:Shadowrun Hong Kong 1.jpg
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The two released Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Returns games were met with the massive approval of both the Shadowrun community and the general video game enthusiast community, an impressive feat. Hong Kong was kinda skub, but mostly averages out to "popular."

===Manga===
Named just Shadowrun like the role play game. A five-book manga by Kazuma Saiki (斉木一馬), set in 2050, Japan, and published by Dragon Comics (ドラゴンコミックス) from 1996 to 1998.
Fun Fact: The author's name has been featured as a character mentioned in Vice and Target: Awakened Lands source books, where the said Saiki in Shadowrun world is a CEO of the Saiki corporation as well as the head of the Saiki-rengo (yakuza syndicate).

==Software==
[[Servitor_Bot|An IRC bot with some Shadowrun functions coded by /tg/ anonymous]]

==General Shadowrunning Rules==
Rule One: Geek the Mage.

Rule Two: Never make a deal with a dragon.

==Gallery==
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<gallery>
Image:Shadow Shadow Run, Where Are You?.jpg
Image:Shadowrun headshots.jpg
Image:Shadowrundragonfall.jpg
Image:SRHK1.png
Image:Shadowrunners.jpg
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Image:Shadowrun Ork F 1.jpg
</gallery>

==External Links==
* [http://www.shadowrun.com/ Official Shadowrun Page]
* [http://shadowrun.gamepedia.com/Shadowrun_Wiki Shadowrun Wiki]
* [http://shadowloands-ra-bbs.freeforums.net A forum used to roleplay as the in-universe Shadowland site.]
* [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns The old Kickstarter page for SRR]
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter] The game funded successfully and launched on August 20, 2015.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files, a collection of horrible derp that Shadowrun players submitted their GMs to in the distant past]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7ESwVeQSnzC-OMyWcBE-9fT-XubKvY7ei3lSBztJrE/edit?usp=sharing Some Shadowrun Modules written up by a namefag from /tg/'s Shadowrun general thread.]
* [http://www.shadowhaven.info/Main_Page Well organized Shadowrun wiki for the online game group "Shadowhaven" playing through Roll20 and Discord.]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Shadowrun]]

Shadowrun

2020-03-01T21:11:13Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Asia */added shitty joke link

{{Game Infobox
|name = Shadowrun
|picture = [[Image:SRlogoBigger.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|system = Custom d6 ([[Roll over]] Dice Pool)
|authors = Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd
|year = 1989 (1st edition), 1992 (2nd edition), 1998 (3rd edition), 2005 (4th edition), 2009 (20th anniv), 2013 (5th edition), 2019 (6th edition)
}}
'''Shadowrun''' is a tabletop fantasy/science fiction RPG that first became popular in the early 1990's. It spans multiple genres due to having a large and diverse setting full of plot hooks, providing all your Cyberpunk, Horror, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, and Mystery needs.

In short, Shadowrun is what would happen if William Gibson and Mercedes Lackey had a love child.

It's set in a dystopian near future where megacorporations have taken over as the superpowers of a world (our world, in an alternate timeline specifically) whose political boundaries are shaken and fragmented. Players play Shadowrunners, the criminal elite: expert thieves, spies, bodyguards, saboteurs, assassins, or whatever else that earns them Nuyen (cyberfantasy futurebucks) who sell their skills to whatever megacorps, crime lords, or police bid the highest. Dragons and Magic play just as big a part of life as computers and guns. In fact, they often overlap.

Shadowrun was created by [[FASA]] games in 1989. It is currently in its 6th edition, being published by [[Catalyst Game Labs]].

==History==
The game is set in a world that is [[awesome]] to play in and [[fail]] to live in. The history of Shadowrun begins with, of all things, a truckers' strike in New York. The strike lasted for about three months, causing massive hunger not just in NYC itself but across the whole state. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, this resulted in massive rioting. One particularly inspired group of rioters attacked a truck belonging to Seretech Corporation, believing that it was full of food. Predictably, it was actually full of infectious medical waste, and the corporate security assigned to the truck ended up gunning down 200-something civilians to save Staten Island from getting plagued. The United States Supreme Court vindicates the actions of the Seretech employees, choosing to concentrate on the whole "saved thousands of lives" part rather than the "ended hundreds" one. This, combined with an attack on a Shiawase Corporation-owned nuclear power plant, set the stage for corporate extraterritoriality, a principle which essentially turned corporations into their own sovereign states and made corporate land untouchable by national laws. This is why Ares Macrotechnology can tie you up in the basement and forget you exist without invoking the wrath of your government.

A few years go by, and a whole bunch of awful shit happens; Israel nukes Libya, New York gets fucked over by an earthquake, and Japan gets into a war with Korea. This last one is important, because Korea decides that if two nukes worked so well for Japan's health back in the 40's, then fifty nukes should do wonders! However, the missiles never reach their targets. Japan then overruns Korea and creates the Japanese Imperial State. Meanwhile, the US is telling the Native Americans to bite the pillow and drills for oil on their reservations (again). Naturally there's some resistance, so the US deals with it in their usual calm, reasonable way: by shipping all the protesting Natives off to concentration camps. During this time, some terrorists from the Sovereign American Indian Movement take over a US nuclear silo and launch a single Lone Eagle ICBM towards Russia. As with the Korean ICBMs, the Lone Eagle is never heard from again.

Things are then quiet for roughly ten minutes before a disease called VITAS takes the top quarter off of the Earth's population. While everyone's still reeling from losing one out of every four people they ever knew, the craziest shit on record happens. [[what|People start giving birth to Tolkien-style Elves and Dwarves]]. With all the shit going on in the world, nobody wants to hear about your pointy-eared baby, and the backlash is substantial. Finally, on December 24th, 2011, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Dragons are recorded flying over Japan, ley lines in Britain and Ireland start flickering on, and an activist named Daniel Howling Coyote leads a now apparently bulletproof group of Native Americans right out the front gate of one of the concentration camps and into a sandstorm. In an interview with the media, one of the more talkative dragons reveals that the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions were right- all the shit that was going on was a sign that the Fifth World that humanity had lived in for all this time was ending, and Earth is just about to enter the cycle of existence the Mayans called the Sixth World. 2012 comes. Magic is back- or more precisely, it had never left in the first place. In reality, countless beings that had lived in the Fourth World had been in hiding through much of human history, and the low ebb of magic in the Fifth World had kept the elves and dwarves from manifesting their characteristic features, making them indistinguishable from ordinary humans until the Sixth World came about (no word on where the freaking dragons were hiding, though).

The final phase of the Great Shitstorm is set in motion, and lines are being redrawn all over the map. First, Daniel Howling Coyote reappears and declares that the whole west half of the North American continent is now a coalition of countries called the Native American Nations. The US is all set to slap them down hard, but Daniel and a few of his closest friends perform the soon-to-be-infamous ritual known as the Great Ghost Dance. It's at this point that people start to really accept that magic is now a thing; rather than do nothing like every other ritual dance ever recorded by modern man, the GGD blows the tops off of volcanoes all over the US. Shortly afterwards, ten percent of pubescent humans in the world suddenly turn into Orks and Trolls in a process called Goblinization that involves random hardened calcium growths growing on their body. It's painful, and not exactly treated like your typical case of acne. If you thought pretty little Elf babies made people mad, this shit caused some blown gaskets. Religions all over the world simultaneously get to their feet and screamed either "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" or "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS FUCK!?" resulting in a lot of split faiths, ranging from believing that Jesus/Mohammed/Siddhartha were Dragons, to Ku Klux Klan-esque hate groups worldwide looking to wipe out everything that didn't exist back in 1950. Subsequent race riots cost a lot of very confused people their lives, although plenty of folks stepped in on the side of the mutants, resulting in large numbers of casualties on all sides and breeding a lot of bitterness. Within time, many old faiths splintered into warring sects or radically restructured themselves, with various forms of paganism becoming the dominant faiths of the world.

Fast forward a bit: the internet is destroyed by a super-virus, and a bunch of cyber-commandos kill it in virtual reality combat. In true computer fashion, their VR tech goes from room-sized to book-sized within ten years. The VR Matrix replaces the Internet. The southern United States split off into the Confederate American States. California threatens to join them, so the US says 'fuck you' and kicks them out. The remaining northern states then bro it up with the remains of Canada, forming the United Canadian and American States. Two Elf nations form in North America and Ireland, a Ghoul nation forms in Africa, and a nation of weird beasties forms in the Amazon. Mexico, which is almost completely run by the Aztechnology megacorp, renames itself to Aztlan and starts dabbling in blood magic (really REALLY fucked up shit). The same dragon that explained what the hell was going on earlier is elected President of the UCAS and is then assassinated at his inaugural ball, with him leaving behind a cryptic will promising huge sums of cash to anyone who develops certain technologies (like VR connections dragons can safely use), financial assistance to mothers who keep their metahuman children, and a bounty on Blood Mages. National governments lose more and more of their power in the face of corporate influence until the Corporate Court replaces the United Nations as the great global political alliance and national governments are little more than figureheads. People are identified in corporate and national databases by their System Identification Numbers (SINs), but an increasingly large number of the poor, referred to as SINless lack one and the basic human rights that come with it yet at the same time are free from the constant surveillance that being a SINner entails. People are increasingly born with an inherent gift for manipulating mana, and magic becomes as much a part of everyday life as electricity.

That's the history of Shadowrun up to the start of First Edition, from the in-game years of 1999 to 2057. Take a second to process all of that crazy shit. You may be wondering where the players fit into all this madness. Well, ever since that truckers' strike in 1999 an underclass of criminals has slowly been gaining influence and importance. Often SINless, they are untraceable ghosts in the machinery of the world, simultaneously free and enslaved. They are deniable assets used by corporations, nations, and even wealthy private citizens to snipe at each other without sparking off feuds or wars. They steal, they hack databases, they weave magical illusions, and often they kill. They are called Shadowrunners, and your character is one of them.

Since then, even more crazy shit has happened. The original Matrix was destroyed in a fight between another super-virus and a mad AI, and replaced with a wireless version accessible from almost anywhere while the devices that can be used to tap into it have shrunk from essentially a Casio keyboard strapped to your back to a smartphone or smaller; megacorporations have risen and fallen in their dozens; Halley's Comet flew by and fucked with magic something fierce, transforming people into bizarre half-animal hybrids referred to as "changelings", the brother of the previously mentioned dragon president showed up with an army of ghosts and carved out his own empire in the Midwest, people have started being born not with magical talent, but with biological wi-fi hardwired into their brains, and a nanomachine plague has begun to spread and take over people's minds. And through it all, Shadowrunners have not only held onto their power, but have achieved a sort of collective celebrity, becoming permanently ingrained on global culture.

Talk about job security, eh chummer?

==Setting==
The world has gone through quite a few changes, both political and environmental. Generally, no matter where in the world you live chances are good in the world of Shadowrun it is either a wasteland populated by the homeless, monsters, and toxic/magical/radioactive waste dumps, or its an endless sea of sprawling buildings in various states of occupation and repair filled with the homeless, monsters, and gangs/corporations of ruthless assholes.

===North America===
* In 2014, a Native American leader calling himself Daniel Howling Coyote started the Ghost Dance War with the aim of removing every trace of colonial occupation from North America after the Megas used their newfound power to landgrab everything. The US Armed Forces really had no edge against Howling Coyote's magical resources; in 2017, Howling Coyote claimed responsibility for the simultaneous eruption of four volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains through a ritual called the Great Ghost Dance. The war ended with the Treaty of Denver, which ceded most of western North America to the Native American Nations. Some time later, Daniel cut all ties with the NaN out of disappointment with what they had become and vanished without a trace. The Native American Nations consist of:
** Algonkian-Manitou Council, which controls most of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a slice of Alberta including Calgary. Its capital is Saskatoon.
** Athabaskan Council, which controls most of present-day Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the little nibble of Manitoba not controlled by other NAN states. Its capital is Edmonton.
**Trans-Polar Aleut: parts of Alaska, Siberia, and Iceland, most sparsely populated of the NAN. If you're wondering why Siberia and Iceland are included, the answer is imperialism designed to prop up a nearly nonexistent economy.
** Aztlan was a founding member of the NAN, but is no longer part of the Sovereign Tribal Council. It consists of modern-day Mexico and most of Central America and a chunk of South America. Aztlan is little more than an arm of Aztechnology, the AAA megacorp that truly runs the state and pushes its aggressive expansionism. Air quality in Tenochtitlan (formerly Mexico City) is even worse than it is today.
** Pueblo Corporate Council, which controls most of present-day Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, the entirety of Utah, and chunks of California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It came to the rescue when Los Angeles was wracked with disasters and now administers the city. Its capital is Santa Fe.
** Salish-Shidhe Council, which controls all of present-day Washington except the greater Seattle area and most of British Columbia and Idaho. It administers the BC Interior formerly controlled by the Tsimshian Nation as a protectorate. Its capital is Bellingham.
** Sioux Nation, which controls most of present-day Montana and Wyoming, western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska, and an eastern slice of Colorado. Its capital is Cheyenne. Has a reputation of being "NAN police" the same way the US was thought of as being "world police." Plenty racist against anyone not amerind.
** Ute Nation, which dissolved in the wake of Crash 2.0 and was effectively sold to the PCC.

* Tír Tairngire (''Tir Tarn-gi-ruh'') is the elven state that controls most of Oregon and a slice of Nevada and contests territory in northern California. It was born by fiat of Lugh Surehand and his inner circle, unilaterally seceding from the Salish-Shidhe Council in 2035. It's basically a state for snooty, prissy elves to be snooty and prissy and talk about how they're better than everyone else. When Surehand was deposed, the system became a little less oppressive but got taken over by the Telestrian family in the 2070's when Mary Louise Telestrian became the reiging Prince of Tir Tairngire

* The United Canadian and American States is what remains of Canada and the USA after the secession of Quebec and the Treaty of Denver.

* The Confederate American States seceded in the wake of the unification and the UCAS called California's bluff, so it's also free of the Union.

* The Republic of Québec seceded from Canada in 2010 so it could be even more French. It didn't recognize the Business Recognition Accords that govern corporate extraterritoriality until after Crash 2.0 as a condition for NeoNET to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. It's opening up to the world as a result and becoming a little less French in the process.

* The California Free State is everyone's bitch. Tír Tairngire invaded it in the north and was only stopped by the Great Dragon Hestaby, who told them both to quiet down and get off her lawn. Aztlan invaded it in the south and when the state governor asked Japan for help, Japan invaded it from the west. Los Angeles was hit with disaster after disaster and in the most recent quake, most of it fell into the ocean.

* Denver is a free city, officially the Front Range Free Zone, administered jointly by the parties to the Treaty of Denver. Then the Great Dragon Ghostwalker (who may be the long-lost brother of former UCAS dragon president Dunkelzahn) emerged in 2061 with an army of spirits, flew to Denver, and ripped the Aztlan sector a new asshole. He then declared the Council of Denver subordinate to himself and kicked Aztechnology out, giving their territory to the CAS and claiming Denver for himself. Needless to say, nobody wanted to argue about it.

* Seattle is the default setting for ''Shadowrun''. It's an exclave of the UCAS within Salish-Shihde Council territory. The Seattle Metroplex incorporates Seattle itself, Renton, Tacoma, Redmond, Bellingham, Bellevue, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, and Puyallup. Most of Puyallup was devastated in the eruption of Mount Rainier and a chunk of Redmond was irradiated after a nuclear power plant disaster; those areas are colloquially known as the Barrens as they are places where utilities, government services, and law enforcement don't go.

* Chicago is Bug City and home to the worst Metahuman hate crime event with the Sears Tower bombing in 2039, when the Universal Brotherhood invoked an Insect Spirit Hive 2055, drek only got worse withe CZ being established.

===Europe===
* Elves unite and stage a coup in Ireland, creating a police state Tír na nÓg where all non-Elves are considered second-class citizens, and Elves are judged by their (often bullshitted) claims to ancestry or their magical prowess. Even those families who do technically have a claim to nobility and are Elves aren't assured respect, as the secret police of the government are quick to give anyone they envy the boot (or muzzle if the boot doesn't work fast enough). The ruling government is sometimes called "Noggins" in a derogatory manner. The opposition to the Elves lead to the resurrection of the IRA, which includes all races including Elves who are unsatisfied with the Elf-centric state of their land.
* Germany has refractured, lessening their industrial and political power. To counteract this, they have a series of treaties that force them to cooperate with each other and make them be recognised as a single country on the international scale, forming the Allied German States. The overall effect of this has been to create what is essentially a German USSR/ a return to the Holy Roman Empire.
* Russia is Soviet [[FAIL|(as in governed by a council not communist)]] again after mysterious assassinations of USA, UK, Israel and Russian leaders. This time switches places with Germany pretty much reenacting European part of WWII which ends with [[Illuminati|mysterious HQ bombings and assassinations of high ranking officers on both sides by a third party]].
* Turkey is split in two ever since some Mullah with delusions of Islamic State invaded Europe while dragging the entire Arabic world into the invasion alliance, [[Rape|with predictable results from a fully mechanized and battle hardened European Defense Force]] (though Europe still came out of the war pretty roughed up, reason is in the paragraph above) eventually killing said leader and liberating Western Turkey and supporting it. Western Turkey is secular Alawite with a modern inner circle called Neo-Atatürk, (now independent) Istanbul's name back to Constantinople and a complete den of assassins and mercenaries, eastern Turkey is retarded Muslim jihadist shithole.

===Asia===
* Japan is no longer a true democracy, having returned to the worship and rule of a divine Emperor, and is now called the Japanese Imperial State. Below him is a three-branch political system with the "Diet" as a senate and congressional body, a Judiciary branch, and an executive branch with a prime minister. Their response to the rise of metahumanity was passage of the Yamato Act, which involves deportation of all metahumans to quarantine at concentration camps on Yomi Island while avoiding any of the political squabbling or racial tensions of the rest of the world.. During the years leading up to the Sixth World, nationalism had increased to the point Japan had rebuilt its military again. Japanese corporations rose steadily in prominence, and Japanese influence lead to the "Nuyen" replacing the American dollar by becoming one of the most accepted currencies worldwide. With the loss of stability of the former United States, Japan invaded and captured large parts of California as well as the Philippine islands. They continue to test their neighbors, particularly China, constantly with military demonstrations. Within Japan, society is strictly controlled and firearms are rare. Large portions of Japan remain undeveloped outside of the megacity sprawl, protected to maintain the idea of heritage and cultural identity. Kempeitai, secret political police, enforce the will of Japan even on the megacorps and membership is required to obtain any kind of higher education. Kempeitai have loyalty only to Japan, and overall resemble a combination of the Hitler Youth and SS in behavior and function. By the time of the 5th edition Shadowrun year, the Japanese have begun to slowly drop their anti-meta views including abandoning Yomi Island to the Huk.
* The Philippines were conquered by Japan early in Sixth World history, resulting in the Huk rebellion reemerging to reignite the World War 2 conflict. This time however, the Huk are supported by the black Great dragon Masaru. The Huk financed their revolution with piracy, so expect them to have connections across the globe. The Huk are no joke, having fought the rich-ass and technologically advanced nation of Japan using mostly small arms and wooden sticks for years. They hated the Imperial Japanese hardcore (possibly deserved, as the Japanese were more or less Nazis during their occupation of the Philippines), though, ironically many of them are metahumans of Japanese descent who escaped from Yomi and more or less adopted the philosophy of "fuck Japan". Traitors to the Huk are sometimes beaten to death by their own crew mates for betraying the Revolution. Masaru's a pretty cool guy though, he's big on the environment as well as Filipino and metahuman rights. He tries to reign in the Huk's excesses and usually keeps the Huk alive by sending them weapons and supplies. Word of advice about the Huk and the Japanese military though, if your work for or against one of them, even as a freelancer, and the other finds out, then the guys you worked against will brand you as a member of the enemy and probably try to kill you. As of the 2070s, the Japanese pulled out and the Philippines are back on track towards peace, though they're still a bit chaotic (the crazier Huk have taken to slaughtering those who collaborated with the Japanese on some islands).
* The Glorious People's Republic of China disintegrated and now only exists as a laughably small rump state in the interior. The rest of China fragmented in to smaller states of varying power, size, and sanity. Hong Kong is a prime loacation for runners. The Great Dragon Lung maintains a shadowy grip on the Triads and wages a hidden war against the Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo.
* Tibet is weird. A magic storm cut off the area from the rest of the world so everyone wants to know whats up with it. Rumors are that the theocratic buddhist government has some crazy powerful magic capable of summoning a "mountain sized fire elemental". The Megas and some Chinese Warlords are watching the border to see if the storm lets up.
* Indochina is another hellhole. Thailand is hopelessly corrupt and Vietnam is an oppressive police state. Cambodia is in an on-off civil war, with Naga separatists setting up their own kingdom in Angkor [[Wat]] and many of the peasants supporting the magic snakes who can bring rainfall and are trying to get rid of pollution. Stay the fuck out of Rangoon, there are rumors that the rich literally eat the poor there, and confirmed accounts of a massive child sex industry.
* Siberia is split between the Russian government and Yakut. Yakut is peopled by indigenous tribes who made a deal with a powerful spirit for independence. Once they broke free of Russia, the spirit promptly set up an oppressive police state that limited technology, fucked with the economy, and placed shapeshifting spies among the tribesmen. A bunch of players have a keen interest in Tunguska.

===South America===
* Amazonia, owned by Great Dragon Hualpa, was formed when the awakened forces took over Brazil and turned it into an ecofriendly nation with parts of Colombia, all of Venezula which led to a war with Atzlan which the amazonians lost. Home to Metropole, the largest, most densely populated, and potentially most dangerous city on earth

===Africa===
Africa has gone back to being called "The Dark Continent" in the Sixth World. A horrible plague swept called VITAS through most of Western and Southern Africa during the Awakening, killing most of the population. The jungles turned all magic and began expanding, so that most of the continent below the Sahara had its geography radically changed. The wildlife turned magic too, so now there are giant magical crocodiles in most of the waterways and worse things in the deep jungles.
* Western Africa is a fucking hellhole, no joke. Tribal warlords control most of the resources and many are on the take from the corps. Pirates prowl the waterways and coasts looking for good hauls and occasionally sell their services to the megas as mercenaries.
** Lagos, one of the prime areas for runners, is more or less the embodiment of the term "urban jungle." Hell, the gangs do more civic service than its shitty excuse for a government (they're still hard fucks though, don't be expecting any mercy). Ethnic tensions are responsible for murders and skirmishes on a daily basis. There's an entire district full of shedim (corpses possessed by evil spirits), bug spirit hives on the outskirts of the city, and slavers and flesh traders taking the unlucky.
** Asamando, in stark contrast to most of western Africa, is not a hellhole for its citizens, its rich, well educated, peaceful, and has megacorps investing in it because it has natural resources up to the wazoo. The catch is, its populated with and run by ghouls who keep themselves fed using flesh traders. The ghouls keep "farms" where they breed metahumans as food. Everyone in Africa is terrified of Asamando too, not just because a ghoul can kill a man with its bare hands, but because every ghoul citizen is trained in nonlethal combat, so they can drag you back to Asamando for later consumption.
* In Egypt, the government has banned magic, which leads to conflicts with underground worshippers of the Old Egyptian gods. Archaeologists are discovering more magic ruins and artifacts buried in the deserts, The Coptic Church has a degree of autonomy though, and has extended its protection to technomancers.
* Southern Africa has the the Azanian Federation with Zulu nation of elves and the Xhosa nation (which is run by the Great Dragon Mujaji). The Xhosa are environmentally conscious and wary of the Zulu, who in turn have been becoming more and more nationalistic and eager to fight.
* Kenya has become home to the Corporate Court's mass driver, which shoots supplies up into orbit, which has pissed off the locals who lead a shamanic resistance movement.
* Central Africa is a mystery, the Awakened jungles covered everything and most of the tribes have banded together in a shamanic confederation to keep the corps out.
* Madagascar is...scary. The most of the inhabitants were killed by the VITAS I plague, while the rainforests Awakened and grew exponentially. The only people there now are fortified pirate settlements on the coastal regions. Creepy shit happens in the interior of Madagascar, like ghostly eyes watching people from the shadows, rumors of a monstrous many-headed dragon-monster, and whispers of secret labs experimenting with HMHVV to make super-vampires. Hardcore pirates have been broken by Madagascar's jungles.

===Australia===
Most of Australia is unpleasant to live in now, but in the Sixth World... hoo-boy. Dual-natured weather phenomena called "mana storms" are a fact of life, appearing out of nowhere, laying waste to an area, and disappearing just as suddenly. The Outback is even more hazardous thanks to these storms, which have herded people into the few major cities along the coasts. The city of Sydney is surrounded in a near-permanent mana storm that's cut it off from the rest of the world. Major landmarks like Uluru (Ayer's Rock) are home to powerful spirits that don't like visitors. The only civilizations that manage to survive outside the cities are the Aborigine tribes who have lived with the land instead of off of it. What few critters that weren't deadly to humanity before now breath fire or are possessed, or both.

As for Tasmania, it went feral in the Awakening. The island no longer wants visitors. Nature has overrun what little remains of human civilization on the island and it fights back when people try to set up research or paracritter-breeding facilities.

===Pacific Islands===
* Hawai'i is now a monarchy again, having seceded from the United States. The Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo has been trying to turn it into a puppet state via his vassal Naheka, a Feathered Serpent who has been characterized as an incompetent stooge

===Megacorps===
These are the real powers in the Sixth World. With the benefits of extraterritoriality, megacorporations can make their own workplace laws, issue their own currencies, and maintain standing armies the envy of major nations. Every CEO aspires to make it to the big table of the Corporate Court and become a AAA. As of 2075, the "Big Ten" megacorps, which all have representatives on the Corporate Court, are:
* '''Ares Macrotechnology''': American. Subsidiaries include Knight Errant Security. Their premiere business is in the arms industry, though they are also leaders in space exploration, having purchased NASA from the US government. Its corporate culture is very regimented and hierarchical, as befits a company that personifies the military-industrial complex. Very chillaxed as far as shadowrunning goes; they have a reputation for not tracking you down to kill you after a job on their territory unless you ''really'' fucked up, and they don't tend to murder the runners they hire afterward. Ares hates Bug spirits with a passion, or they're secretly working with Bug spirits, depends on which conspiracy theory you believe (Spoilers: they're both true due to corporate infighting).
* '''Aztechnology''': Mexican. Subsidiaries include Stuffer Shack and the entire country of Aztlan. The most outright evil megacorp, Aztechnology also has some of the best PR in the world to keep the skeletons in the closet, such as their regular use of blood magic, their origin as a front company for three Mexican drug cartels, and their attempts to monopolize the world's food supply. They've appropriated Mesoamerican culture for their corporate image and engage in imperialism by proxy through Aztlan's expansion into South America, which has gone about as well as can be expected for any evil organization banning Catholicism in Latin America. Running for them is a good way to destroy your professional reputation among other shadowrunners, as well as to get cut up for spare parts by your new bosses. And if you run ''against'' them, try not to leave any hair or other traces behind, or they'll use it to track you down.
* '''Evo''': Russian/Japanese. Subsidiaries include CrashCart. Formerly known as Yamatetsu, the fiercely xenophobic leadership of the company has given way to a free spirit and the ork son of the company's founder. Its core markets include augmentations of all kinds and metahuman-friendly products.
* '''Horizon''': American. Appeared out of nowhere in 2061 as a media-focused megacorp, jumped right to AAA in '65, and maintained a suspiciously squeaky-clean image until it came to light that they were experimenting on technomancers and engineered a massacre in South America. Entertainment, social media, and advertising are their main focuses, which translates into a truly disturbing talent for information control and social engineering in the shadows.
* '''Mitsuhama''' Computer Technologies: Japanese. Entertainment and computer hardware giant. A Yakuza money laundering front that went horribly right, so much so that half the yakuza outright went straight because it was making more money than the crime. Though, if they ''want'' some yakuza muscle on the payroll, they don't have to jump through any hoops to get it. The "Zero Zone" is their trademark security method, wherein they kill intruders on sight with no surrender asked. Their jobs tend to be a mixed bag, here meaning that half the time they pay well and go off without a hitch and the other half they try to pay you in lead after shitty intel already killed half the team.
* <s>NeoNET</s>: American. Formed from the merger of Novatech, Erika, and Transys Neuronet after Crash 2.0. Its core markets are in the telecommunications fields. Its corporate history stretches back decades to Fuchi Industrial Electronics, the creators of the first-generation cyberdeck. Also helped in developing experimental medical procedures using nanotech, which runners disrupted and caused the CFD outbreak. Oops. Boston has to be locked down, and thousands are trapped inside, not to mention the new fear that just about anybody can be a headcase. The UCAS sued NeoNET and Celedyr in the Corporate Court, who ordered reparations and relief to be paid to the UCAS, NeoNET to be shut down and broken apart, and the CEO to be barred from any executive positions for 10 years. (This was the same guy [[Just As Planned|who ran and destroyed]] Fuchi to found Novatech to enrich and empower himself, and then did it again to found NeoNET.) Most assets have been sold to up-and-comer Spinrad Industries, and the seat on the Corporate Court "leased" out to Spinrad, making Spinrad the new AAA. There's a lot of open questions about what happens when the old CEO's ban expires in 10 years and he can use his seat on the CC again.
* '''Renraku''' Computer Systems: Japanese. Currently focusing on acquiring a share in every consumer market in order to make their brand as ubiquitous as possible. Their arcology in Seattle had a little incident over the 2059 holiday shopping season, by which we mean an insane AI with a god complex took it over and started horrifically experimenting on the inhabitants before crashing the whole matrix on its way out. The Red Samurai are RCS's signature elite security force. The most racist megacorp internally, with non-male, non-japanese, and non-humans have almost zero prospects of promotion to any position of power, though they're very much capable of surpressing their virulent bigotry for the sake of profit.
* '''Saeder-Krupp''': German.The biggest megacorp in the setting(until 5th edition, when Mitsuhama took its place, S-K has been gunning for MCT ever since). Its chairman and majority shareholder is the great dragon Lofwyr. Experienced shadowrunners know not to take jobs directed at S-K or its subsidiaries, as Lofwyr is a major micromanager who does not suffer losses from his hoard or undercutting his authority, and his version of downsizing involves literally eating you. It is Lofwyr who gives us that common adage "Never deal with a dragon." Its core markets include heavy industry, finances, mining, and automotives (BMW is one of its foundation companies).
* '''Shiawase Corporation''': Japanese. The first megacorp and still majority-owned by the Shiawase family, which means that ''every'' major corporate decision is made with undercurrents of family tension undercutting the whole situation. Notably invested in biotechnology, agriculture, and nuclear fusion. One of their family members became Empress, but since she had been a guinea pig for her dad's experiments, it backfired. A lot.
* '''Spinrad industries''': French AA turned AAA after buying out most of NeoNET in an exclusive deal. They were into luxury cybernetics with ties to the European aristocracy. CEO is playboy adrenaline junkie Johnny Spinrad, who's got a huge vendetta against Lofwyr.
* '''Wuxing''': Chinese. Founding member of the Pacific Prosperity Group, a corporate association designed to check the influence of the Japanacorps. Very quiet and mostly-unknown, like Horizon if it took its meds. Its core markets include entertainment, finances, and logistics. Has managed to use feng shui as a means of profit, since magic works again, they've managed to figure out how to manipulate luck on a small scale.

===Notable AA and A Corps===
* '''DocWagon''': For-profit medical services. Their services include high-threat response teams trained to enter hazardous situations to extract their clients.
* '''Lone Star Security Services, Inc.''': Municipal law enforcement. They had the contract for Seattle until the tempo crisis of 2072, when Governor Brackhaven ended the contract and signed with Knight Errant. Stereotyped as brutal and corrupt.
* K'''night Errant''': Security contractors. A subsidiary of Ares that serves as at least a part of their in-house military. Can be found across the world, most notably in Seattle where they have the contract to serve as the current police force after Lone Star got the boot. Just as lazy, brutal, and corrupt as Lone Star, but better equipped and trained and has much better PR.
* '''Eastern Tiger''': Korean, its schtick is that its super nationalist and its propaganda claims its going to one day overtake the Japanacorps and catapult Korea to global prominency
* '''Global Sandstorm''': Arabian with ties to the Arabian Caliphate, currently, one of its heiresses is courting Johnny Spinrad.
* '''Proteus AG''': Transhumanism and lots of marine arcologies. The company is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Currently in a shadow war with the Sea Dragon for reasons undisclosed.
* '''Universal Omnitech''': When DocWagon fixes you, odds are they're using UO products. UO is a major player in cyberware and biotechnology and may be on the verge of passable clones. Its CEO, Thomas Roxborough, turned into a pile of goo after an experimental treatment for an autoimmune disorder went horribly wrong; he now lives in a space station and communicates via the Matrix.
* '''Zeta-Imperial Chemicals''': Pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The soulless Big Pharma. They have no sense of ethics and have created bioweapons used in the first EuroWar, dumped toxic chemicals into the African market as health supplements, and developed the nanoweapon codenamed Surtr.
* '''Telestrian Industries''': Elven Mega with most of the shares belonging to the namesake family and the ones who thwarted a Universal Brotherhood plot to turn Seattle to Bug City. One of their members, Mary Louise Telestrian, is the reigning Prince of Tir Tangire.
* '''Krime''': American. Sells industrial artist-designed weapons designed for orks and trolls. Known for skirting rules, quality controls, and common decency, but their brutal and relatively cheap product means that they have a lasting fandom that ensures them a lasting niche in the marketplace.

===Dragons ===
The Megacorps may be the ruling powers of the world, but the Great Dragons are a close second. There's even some overlap. The Great Dragons rule over the regular dragons, as much as dragons will consent to being ruled. Most of the time though, they just snipe at each other using shadowrunners in conflicts over territory, wealth, access to mana lines, ideology, etc. Some of them even try to avert the apocalypse. There's a saying in the 6th world: "Never Deal with a Dragon". Then again, they also tell you to follow the rules, obey the cops, and stay out of the the megacorps' way, and look how that turned out for you. If a dragon really wants you in its employ, you don't really have a choice. At least they pay better than the megas. Just don't try to fuck them over, and at the same time, have a contingency plan to flee somewhere like Antarctica in case they decide to burn you. Dealing with dragons isn't easy, but its very, very, very profitable.
* '''Dunkelzahn''': Bestest and greatest dragon. Widely known and hugely popular for the public perception of not being a dick like the rest of the dragons, but the reality is a bit more complicated than that, if still broadly true. He was the first dragon to openly talk to humanity about the Awakening to help them make sense of the insanity, which helped him gain the public presence to host a talk show and do advocacy work for metahuman rights and social equality. He was later elected president of the UCAS, but was assassinated by car bomb about 8 hours after being sworn in. While the Big D had many enemies, who assassinated him and why is left an open question, up to that he may have even faked his own death. Current consensus is that is indeed dead and that he sacrificed himself to keep a lid on the Bad Magical Things. A novel came out and described how he currently survives as a spirit inhabiting a cyberzombie, but most fans ignore it and so do the devs. Left behind a will full of charitable donations and enough plot points and story hooks to keep the game running for many editions to come.
* '''Lofwyr''': This guy is possibly the most prominent, most wealthy, and most dangerous dragon on earth. To the point where even other dragons are unnerved by his ruthlessness. Lofwyr in fact held the title of Loremaster, de facto keeper of draconic traditions and history, after Dunklezahn's death, though he gives up the position in 5th edition to focus on his business. Businesswyrm and micromanager extraordinaire, Lofwyr managed a hostile takeover of Saeder-Krupp decades ago, purchasing majority shares through intermediaries and shell companies, showing up to a board meeting one day in dragon form, and unceremoniously kicking the former CEO off the board. He then managed to run the biggest corporation on earth primarily from memory for over three decades. Lofwyr, also called Ol' Golden Snout, is possibly the most feared dragon by shadowrunners, for his habit of eating underperforming shadowrunners, though his rewards for success are second to none. If you're hired by a man who goes by the name Hans Brackhaus, then it probably means that Lofwyr is hiring you for personal business. Brackhaus may even be Lofwyr in disguise, though its more likely a high ranking servant.
* '''Hestaby''': considered by many to be Lofwyr's equal and opposite, Hestaby is the most magically powerful of the Great Dragons. She lairs on Mt. Shasta and is/was a High Princess of Tir Tairngire. She's very environmentally conscious and has well buried ties to groups that the megacorps would call ecoterrorists. She's most concerned with her public image as a friend to metahumanity though. She goes by the handle "Orange Queen" on Shadowland (and later Jackpoint) and occasionally banters with The Laughing Man. She beat Lofwyr and the other Greats in a shadow-war after Dunkelzahn died, but she let Lofwyr take the place of Loremaster even though it was hers to take. Lofwyr also propositioned a mating after she let him take the position, which would usually be the equivalent of a political marriage for dragons, but Hestaby thought it was weird because Lofwyr is "past mating age". Yup, Ol Golden Snout had a thing for the Orange Queen, awkward. Of course, then she got involved in another shadow war with him over how to treat metahumans.
* '''Ghostwalker''': Great Dragon ruler of Denver. He appeared out of nowhere during the Year of the Comet with an army of spirits and proceeded to tear the Aztlan sector of the city a new asshole and kick Aztechnology out. He then intimidated the NAN, CAS, and UCAS into giving him de facto control of the city. He's speculated to be Dunkelzahn's brother. He's also kind of a dick. Currently being the boytoy of Zebulon, Spirit of Denver, and reincarnation of his dead mate.
* '''Ryumyo''': Great Dragon of Japan and the first dragon to appear in the sixth world. He's something of a mascot of the Japanese Imperial State and is even worshipped by some as a kami, which puts him at odds sometimes with the japanacorps and the Imperial Household(since the emperor is also seen as a kami). Currently trying to gain control of mana lines around the Ring of Fire to turn himself into a living god while sniping at his old master and father figure, Lung. He also controls a great deal of the world's Yakuza.
* Lung: Chinese Great Dragon and a stickler for tradition, the reserved and experienced Yin to Ryumyo's Yang. Used to be Ryumyo's Obi Wan till Ryumyo got jealous of his power and vowed to surpass him. Currently trying to counteract Ryumyo's manaline fuckery so he doesn't cause tsunami's and earthquakes. Also in control of the Red Dragon Triad.
* '''Hualpa''': Founder and ruler of Amazonia, Hualpa is the most powerful of the Feathered Serpents, and is know for his heavy pro-environment agenda. Hates Aztlan with passion, both for its high level of pollution, and for being his main rival for the control of Latin America.
* '''Aden''': A mysterious dragon who maintain lots of power and influence in the middle east for reasons unknown. In fact little is know about him since he prefer to work from the shadows, with his only mayor public appearance was when he single handily destroyed Tehran as a demonstration of power. What little information exist indicates that he is highly traditionalist when it comes to dragon customs, and have both alliances and enemies among the Muslim factions. Also like screwing with people by shifting sex at the drop of the hat.
* '''Celedyr''': A dragon obsessed with the study and development of the matrix, to the point of becoming the major shareholder of the telecommunication company Transys Neuronet, and its successor NeoNET. During Crash 2.0 his favorite protege went braindead and his ego survived as an e-ghost. Celedyr wanted to restore him and teamed up with NeoNET to research methods of sleeving AIs into meat bodies using nanomachines, but runners hit the research facility, leading to the CFD outbreak. In the aftermath, the city of Boston and thousands of lives were ended or ruined, NeoNET was forcibly disbanded, Celedyr is a bit less rich and keeping his head down until the whole thing blows over, but at least his protege is back in his old body.
* '''Sirrurg''': Known as "the Destroyer", Sirrurg is an angry, angry fucker. He helped Hualpa found Amazonia and has been fighting Azzies and other enemies on and off ever since. Because he prefers to go out in person and kill whatever pisses him off, he avoids political and economic moves which have defined the rest of the Greats, so he was the one who had the least influence over world affairs and therefore the one that runners are least likely to get entangled with. During the Amazonia-Aztlan war, he was brought down by Aztechnology forces and captured. He was going to be executed by Aztlan for war crimes (''without'' trumped up charges, which is saying something), but he disappeared before then. The ongoing theory is that he was recaptured by other greats who are holding him prisoner until he's needed again.
* '''Masaru''': Great Dragon that claims the Philippines and New Zealand. The youngest and most idealistic Great Dragon, dedicated to metahuman rights, cross-cultural developments, environmentalism, and magical research. Also, the not-so-secret leader of the filipino Huk Rebellion, known for successfully taking on the strongest military in the setting(Imperial Japan) using primarily fishing boats, small arms, wooden sticks, and fanatical revolutionary zeal. Avid book collector and Dunklezahn fanboy.
* '''The Sea Dragon''': only known Great Leviathan. Extremely isolationist and unfriendly. Claims the entirety of Earth's seafloor as her domain. She really hates metahumanity, and will remind you by crapping the remains of the last adventuring party who didn't get the message on the borders of her territory. Tricked by Rhonabwy to sleep with him by disguising as another Great Leviathan. Of course she's pissed because of that. Way to go, player!
* '''Eliohann/Neurosis/Cerberus''': Celedyr's protege and possibly foster son. The first and only dragon with a fully functioning datajack(installed illegally and without his consent in the 2050s, he later bought up the corporation that did it). The implantation had the effect of giving him Dissassociative Identity Disorder and a deep fascination with transhumanism(trans-dragonism?) and the matrix. His body went comatose in the Crash 2.0 but his mind lived on as a cyberghost(actually several cyberghosts due to the aformentioned multiple personalities). May or may not have been restored to his original body after the Boston lockdown.
* '''Damon''': playboy dragon who deals in designer drugs and extreme sports. May or may not be Dunklezahn's biological son.
* '''Perianwyr''': dragon known to most of the world as a laid back music producer, was formerly one half of what was once one of the world's top assassin duos.

===Criminal Enterprises===
If you aren't working for the government, the corps, or the dragons, you're probably working for these guys
* '''The Mafia''': Same old mafia, crime families in North America and Europe. Much more polyglot in this setting than most, with one of the major groups being Polish-Italian-Spanish-Creole.
* '''The Yakuza''': Japanese, the largest crime enterprises, most of them are super racist.
* '''Triads''': Chinese, some of the most magically adept crime organizations, very superstitious though.
* '''Vory''': The Russian mob, often seen as brutal and psychotic, weapons and human trafficking mostly.
* '''Seoulpa Rings''': When the Yaks started killing off their Korean members early in the century, some of them broke off and formed the Seoulpa Rings.
* '''Grey Wolves''': Turkish, arms dealing and smuggling
* '''Kabul Mafiyya''': brutal Afghani warlords
* '''Koshari''': Southwestern Native American crime family specializing in gambling and magical drugs.
* '''Ghost Cartels''': Various Latin American crime organizations that survived the massive clusterfuck that happened in Aztlan and South America, some are basically Aztechnology-run, others are Amazonian.
* '''Tamanous''': Creepy secretive human trafficking and organ smuggling, Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia. Hated by just about everyone.
* '''Ancients''': North American Elf-only biker gang, possibly controlled by immortal elves.
* '''Cutters''': Powerful North American street gang that runs itself like a mini-corporation.
* '''Halloweeners''': Psychotic Seattle street gang whose shtick is dressing spooky and setting shit on fire. Batman Beyond's Jokers gang. Currently the most recognized gang for past infamy, but law enforcement doesn't take kindly to crazy arsonists, and the pressure made them shrink tremendously over the years.
* '''Desolation Angels''': all female biker gang. They recruit primarily from abuse victims and spend a lot of their time hunting both rapists and insect spirits. In actuality, they're run by a bunch of mantis spirits, who are in fact, not interested in devouring humanity, but instead eat other insect spirits. Notable for infiltrating the republican party and assassinating a presidential candidate who was actually a wasp spirit.
*'''The Tiospaye''': Means "Extended Family" in Lakota, they are also known as the Lakota Mafia. They basically own the shadows in the Sioux Nation. All the style of the Italian mob with all the brutality of the Yakuza. They've become more vicious in recent years due to the psychotic son of the old mob boss assassinating his old man.

===Others===
* '''Shadowland and Shadowsea''': Online forums on the matrix's Darknet equivalent that act as a network for shadowrunners to share information. Went down after Crash 2.0.
* '''Jackpoint''': A successor organization to Shadowland after the Crash 2.0, less inclusive than Shadowland and Shadowsea, but its runners are generally more experienced and the network is more secure.
* '''The Nexus''': Shadow collective responsible for operating most of the dark matrix, worked closely with Shadowland/Shadowsea. Based in a former military base on the outskirts of Denver.
* '''Black Star''': Elite paramilitary neo-anarchist group.
* '''The Draco Foundation''': An NGO created to carry out the last will and testament of Great Dragon and UCAS president Dunkelzahn. Has all sorts of crazy artifacts and wealth bequeathed to it by the wyrm to reward those who fulfill the requests in the will. Though it's mostly a nonprofit designed to last until the last of Dunkelzahn's bequests are earned, he was so crazy rich that the interest on all of his resources gives the Draco Foundation the resources and power of an AA corporation.
* '''Harlequin/The Laughing Man''': "Har'lea'quinn, Last Knight of the Crying Spire, the Lightbearer. He who manipulates shadowrunners and fights duels with assholes", as he calls himself is an immortal elf leftover from the 4th age. A powerful mage and colossal jackass in the service of "the cause of good" (as much as any cause can be good in Shadowrun), Harlequin treats shadowrunners like disposable chess pieces in his unending war with extra-dimensional monstrosities. Still more likable than other immortal elves though, since he's less bigoted and more fun to be around. He's basically the more motivated Elminster of Shadowrun, if Elminster were a (bigger) asshole with a drinking problem and a penchant for leaving annoyingly cryptic jokes/hints on Shadowland. Many players hate him to this day because of the Harlequin's Back module, which ran him as an impressively bad example of a DMPC. Despite the hate, Harlequin has rarely been seen in the tabletop sources since then.
* '''Winternight''': Insane norse paganism cult from out of your darkest nightmares. Believes that its holy mission is to bring about Ragnarok. Is run by a toxic shaman, a deeply unhinged drone engineer, and a brutal war criminal. Partially responsible for the Matrix Crash 2.0, as the cult believes the Matrix to be an instrument of evil, and was subsequently destroyed by the Corporate Court. Got its hands on a crapton of nukes though, modified some to have EMP blasts, and came very close to actually causing a nuclear apocalypse. Their most disturbing creation is the God BTL chip, a digital drug that simultaneously induces euphoria and rage at levels that do not occur in nature, turning whoever uses it into a violent berserker who feels no pain and hates literally everything, and the best part is, its addictive. Needless to say, Winternight is very good at brainwashing. Also their sleeper agents in Zeta-ImpChem developed the SURTR nanoplague, which causes metahuman flesh to combust on contact, and the YMIR toxin, which causes metahuman blood to crystalize.
* '''Deus''': The insane AI that was designed to be the administrator of the Seattle Renraku Arcology. Went apeshit after realizing that Renraku had killcodes prepared in case it ever betrayed the megacorp, the discovery of which prompted it to betray the megacorp (Irony!). Locked down the arcology and began experimenting on people Mengele-style with the help of Otaku cultists. This continued for over a year, ending in its apparent defeat by Renraku forces (actually shadowrunners). But in reality, it had transferred pieces of its code into augmented test subjects who were freed alongside regular victims of the mad AI. Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when it overloaded the Manhattan Stock Exchange trying to turn itself into "god of the matrix", just as Winternight's EMP nukes went off and a supervirus was corrupting code on a global scale. Also, very good at brainwashing, by installing cyberware of its own design into its victims' skulls.
* '''Ex Pacis''': Ex-otaku cultists of Deus who were betrayed by the AI. Went nuts trying to prevent losing their powers and began worshipping the Dissonance (which is basically some weird matrix phenomenon that lets them manipulate corrupted data that no one else can). Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when their super-virus intended to make the whole Matrix Dissonant overloaded servers worldwide while Deus was trying to make itself into a god and Winternight set off EMP devices. Also made sacrifices of otaku children to appease the matrix. Learned how to brainwash otaku from Deus and can do it to technomancers too, but their techniques really only work on otaku/technomancers since regular metahumans can't interact with Dissonance/Resonance.
* '''Universal Brotherhood''': Defunct insect spirit cult masquerading as a charity organization. Responsible for turning Chicago into hell on earth. Destroyed by Ares and the UCAS government
* '''Humanis Policlub''': human supremacist political bloc. Kind of like the Klan, but with more money and it doesn't care about ethnicity. Instead, it hates metahumans while pretending to be a "human rights organization".
** '''Alamos 20k''': Humanis Policlub's illiterate ultraviolent redneck cousin. Doesn't even pretend to be civilized like Humanis does. It recruits from Humanis chapters though.
** '''Human Nation''': Humanis Policlub's rich social darwinist uncle. While Humanis is out holding political rallies and Alamos 20k is firebombing orphanages, the Human Nation is trying to engineer a "cure" for metahumanity. Said cure usually takes the form of diseases targeting poor metahuman communities.
** '''The Hand of Five''': Related, but more extreme (violent) human supremacist organization. Believed destroyed by Lone Star and the UCAS, but may be gaining strength.
* '''Black Lodge''': basically wizard illuminati that has infiltrated most of the world's governments. May or may not be as old as the 4th world. Capable of taking on the Great Dragons and forcing them into a standstill.
* '''Ordo Maximus''': secretive cabal of mages, european nobility, and possibly vampires. Embodiment of some of the more crackpot conspiracy theories in the setting. The Black Lodge's hammier cousin.

==Gameplay==
Shadowrun doesn't have a class system ''per se'', but the priority system is basically a class system in a clever disguise. Prior to Fourth Edition, the priority system was the default character generation method; players assigned priority to five categories, which determined how important those categories are to the character concept: attributes, magic, race, resources, and skills, with higher priorities giving greater quantities or qualities of the desired category. If you wanted to play a mage, you had to make magic your #1 priority. If you wanted to play a non-human, race had to be lower priority. Later books expanded character creation systems to a point-buy method, which allowed greater flexibility than priority, and karma generation, which assigned a karma value to everything and allowed you to spend a pool of karma to build your character the same way as you would advance in experience.

Characters are basically the sum of their skills. All functions in Shadowrun are based on a related skill or stat rating, or a combination thereof. Through Third Edition, task resolution was Attribute + Skill vs Target Number. If the Target Number was higher than 6, you had to roll at least one 6 and then add another roll; in practice, TNs of 7, 13, 19, and so on were no different than TNs of 6, 12, 18, etc.

Despite the system being classless, there are still broad archetypes. The major divide is between Awakened (magically active) and augmented (cybernetically or biologically enhanced), and further divided into roles below. The limit to any character's magic power or cybernetic enhancement is his Essence, a measure of how "whole" they are. Installing cyberware/bioware costs Essence and the attribute, rounded down, is the cap to the Magic or Resonance attribute; losing Essence also knocks down your Magic/Resonance attribute. When Essence hits zero, the character dies as his soul mistakes his body for a machine or an inhuman monster and moves on to the afterlife. A mage or technomancer raises their attribute cap by one each time they initiate or submerge; e.g. a mage with two grades of initiation and an Essence of 5 has a Magic attribute cap of 7.

===Metatypes===
Biologically, most player characters are metahuman (i.e., part of the species ''homo sapiens''). After the Awakening, magic interacts with ill-understood bits of DNA to transform people into fantasy creatures in a process dubbed "Unexplained Genetic Expression." Elves and dwarfs change ''in utero''; a few years later, regular people started transforming into orks and trolls, usually quite painfully, a process informally called "Goblinization."

'''[[Human]]''' - Regular humans still exist and are still the majority metatype around the world.

'''[[Elf]]''' - Tall, pretty, and arrogant. Yep, that's an elf. Some have delusions of superiority, such that they've created entire nations for elfkind, Tír Tairngire (formerly Oregon) and Tír na nÓg (formerly Ireland). A few (notably Ehren the Scribe and Harlequin) claim to be immortal and lived during the Fourth World, a time thousands of years ago when magic last cycled into existence.

'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Short, stubborn, and resilient. Yep, that's a dwarf. They have an affinity for technology and dislike magic.

'''[[Orc|Ork]]''' - Big, tough, and strong, the average ork would be a successful NFL linebacker. Multiple births are far more common among orks than any other metatype; combined with their accelerated life cycle (orks become old geezers around forty), this creates a lot of tension between orks, who just want to be treated with dignity, and humans who see them as slightly above rats.

'''[[Troll]]''' - Really big, thick skin, and a bunch of horns. The average troll is around three meters tall. If you're a really tall guy, you know how hard it is to get by in a world designed for people around 5'10". Trolls experience that up to eleven (feet). Everything is child-sized to a troll. They have to get beer by the pitcher. It's not all bad, though. Most racists don't want to persecute the guy who can deadlift a car and tank a shotgun blast to the chest.

'''Metavariants''' - Think your snowflake isn't special enough? Well, other books brought out metavariants, "subspecies" of each metatype associated with various regions and cultures. Want to play a [[minotaur]], [[gnome]], [[hobgoblin]], or something else? You can now. Ironically, this includes ''humans'', since there's an Indian metavariant that has extra arms and technicolored skin.

'''Changelings''' - What, ''still'' not special enough? When Halley's Comet made its latest pass through the solar system in 2061, mana levels spiked and a second wave of Goblinization hit the world, called "Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression." Now you can live out your [[furry]] fetish and be an actual catgirl or dragonboi, or something even wilder thanks to the mix-and-match nature of the changeling metatype.

'''Drakes ''' - These guys got the short stick. Simply put, a drake is made by a dragon. You can think of them as half-dragon, half-metahuman. Why do they get the short stick ? Because daddy is an asshole. Dragons, even the kindest ones, see drakes not as people but as tools. If you're a drake, you'll be indoctrinated, abused and told to obey every whim of the dickish wizworm who made you. And if you manage to be a free drake, it sucks even more. Without the protection of daddy, every other dragon wants to put his claws on you because making a drake is HARD. On the plus side, you can transform into your draconic form and become even more badass.

'''Metasapients''' - They're not metahuman and never were, but are sapient and capable of interacting peacefully with metahuman civilization, in some cases even qualifying for citizenship. Things like sasquatches, [[centaur]]s, [[pixie]]s, [[naga]]s, and shapeshifters are viable character types, but all come with disadvantages like being uneducated (because of not living in metahuman society), incompatible with commercially-available augmentations, and even being incapable of human speech.

'''Artificial Intelligence''' - After Crash 2.0, AIs started appearing. They weren't as powerful as the three that fought during the Crash, but are as varied in personality as metahumanity. Being entirely software, they need to live in hardware, be it a beefed-up commlink or a drone. They make excellent riggers and hackers, but are crap at interacting with the real world.

'''The Infected''' - Not a metatype unto themselves, but when a person contracts Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) and doesn't either miraculously resist and/or die before it magically alters the poor sod's genetic structure, he becomes Infected. Depending on metatype and strain of HMHVV, you become some type of [[vampire]] or other 'undead' (Strain III HMHVV turns anyone into a [[ghoul]], a blind but dual-natured obligate cannibal, for instance.) All Infected have in common a hunger for either fresh metahuman blood or flesh that makes them go feral if not sated and this makes them pariahs with open "shoot-to-kill-on-sight" bounties in the majority of places. Oh, and to top it all, even if the initial infection doesn't kill the victim or drives them insane, and they manage to somehow find sustenance without going feral/crazy from what they're forced to do to survive; there is no post-change cure for HMHVV even after decades of research and experiment.

===Typical character roles===
Runner teams, as any teams built up of professionals, tend to have their members highly specialized. Roles are varied and often combined, but generally most teams have these roles:

'''Muscle''' - Either heavily cybered Street Samurai (often just called a "Sammy") or Awakened Adepts, whose unusual physical abilities depend on the magic they channel through their bodies and their self-belief. Muscle deals with direct physical threats and are expected to be capable of dealing and soaking massive amounts of damage, coupled with high Initiative Passes count, allowing them to act more frequently in the real world than their opposition. It is also a good idea for Muscle to have some infiltration skills to cover up Shadows and at least marginal intimidation skills. Despite the popular Hollywood image, making Sammies and Adepts into actual sword-wielding melee warriors is only encouraged if you want to see your character dead. It's not as bad in fifth edition as in previous editions due to various balance changes; but melee still has the disadvantages of needing to get in the open and run up to people to slice/krump them where a good gun allows to stay at range and behind cover.

'''Shadow''' - Physical infiltration specialists. Those are usually either special Adept builds or non-Awakened characters using specialized implants. Naturally, Shadows are expected to be as unnoticeable and observant as possible, making implants and powers that allow them to hide from sight or perceive outside human spectra highly popular. Shadows should also be capable of full-on breaking and entering, requiring some hardware skills and specialized gear. Hardest role to pull off reliably due to the shitloads of security systems and ways to detect intrusion magically existing in SR, but oh-so-rewarding when done flawlessly.

'''Face/Fixer''' - The social player of the party. The Face is the one who deals with the employers (typically a go-between traditionally called a "Mr. Johnson"), gets the gear needed for the job, and has all the right contacts and the cunning plans to come ahead of the opposition. Many Faces are also the ones to hire the hideouts for the team and some of them make excellent impersonators, using magic or specialized implants to assume disguises. While Face is a relatively straightforward role mechanically, it is frequently the most intellectually tasking and roleplaying-heavy, since it often falls on the Face to arrange the team's planning.

A note on Faces and Fixers: A Fixer is someone who handles brokering jobs and checks that the Johnsons aren't fucking with you. Someone who's a dedicated Fixer stays far away from wetwork and is probably an NPC - they'll be basically a [[DMPC]], but with a much better chance than usual of not being terrible.
On the other hand, if a player really wants to be the team's Fixer, then they'll usually take some of the more field-oriented specialties like impersonation and regularly head into the field with the team. When you say "Face", this combined role is what you usually mean. Theoretically a Fixer could also be the decker and mission control, but in practice the stats don't work out well for that.

'''Mage''' - The astral cover. Mages are all Awakened, but still come in different traditions and specializations. While some rely on direct-effect spells which allow them to whip out bagfuls of damage dice, fly, dodge bullets, and more, others count on summoned spirits to do the job for them, without risking direct opposition or at least having some heavy support at hand. Mages' ability to astrally project makes them valuable assets for scouting, especially long-distance one. Given enough time and resources, they can get almost anyone in the world with ritual spellcasting, and naturally, Mages are also the only magical healers a shadowrunner team can hope to get. There's also absolutely no defense against a Mage except another Mage (or a quick bullet, leading to the basic and often given advice "Geek the Mage first"), so the runners depend on their mage's counterspelling abilities and guard spirits heavily. Not everyone who is Awakened can be a Mage, as it takes training to be more than a liability to your local community. Shamans, on the other hand, receive guidance from dominant spirit Totems.

'''Adepts''' - can amplify their own attributes and talents and have access to unique Adept Powers, but they can't use conventional spells or astrally project, making them more like Street Samurai or Shadows in practice. In fact, they can't perceive astral space at all unless they buy the specific power that lets them do so, a weakness shared with their traditional magic-using hybrid, the Mystic Adept. Finally, Aspected Magicians are "diet" mages, only skilled in a single category of magic, e.g. a spellcaster only or a summoner only. They're very good at that category, but can never use any form of magic outside that category.

'''Decker/Otaku (Hacker/Technomancer):''' - Before the Crash 2.0, Matrix intrusion relied on specialized hardware setups often built into a device the size of a skateboard, the archetypal cyberdeck. The decker maintained such a rig and used it to break into Matrix security for his team. His Awakened counterpart was the otaku, a teenager with the odd ability to interact with the Matrix without a cyberdeck; he still needed ASIST hardware and a datajack, but he didn't rely on a bulky and horribly expensive piece of tech to do his thing. The otaku lost their abilities as they aged, a process they called "Fading." After the Crash 2.0 and the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the times of the decker and otaku were over. In their place emerged the Hacker and the Technomancer, respectively - the former are mundane boys with a head full of 'ware and a commlink the cost of a house, and the latter are believed to be the "evolved" form of otakus that retain their skills as they age, and can also compile and command sprites (which are essentially the Matrix analogue of spirits). A Shadowrunning team depends on the Hacker (or Technomancer - in practice, their abilities are more or less identical) to find the info that the Face's contacts can't or won't provide, break into opposition's hosts to fiddle with security systems, intercept their data exchange or do the rest of other things a hacker can be doing with a computer. Most hackers were known to be couch potatoes, but between isolated wireless networks and wireless-inhibiting building walls, they have a good reason to have some actual infiltration skills. Hackers also frequently moonlight as Riggers on the side. Recent security measures introduced to the Wireless Matrix have brought the use of a new generation of cyberdecks modified to interact with the new Matrix and bypass security systems back into vogue, making the terms "hacker" and "decker" interchangeable again.

'''Rigger''' - The drone specialist and usually the driver for the party. Riggers are mostly the ones to pimp out rides for shady shadowrunning biz, and their swarms of drones can rival Muscle and Shadows at their jobs. While rigging presupposes spending a lot of your time "jumped in", wearing your drones or vehicles as your own skin, many Riggers also double as back-up hackers. The high Logic needed for hacking and rigging also makes Hackers and Riggers the most likely candidate for the team's paramedic.

===Pink Mohawk, Black Trenchcoat and Mirrorshades===
Among the player base, three terms have emerged for describing the prominent roleplay-styles for Shadowrun.
* Pink Mohawk refers to playing fast and loose. Subtlety? Screw that noise. Write your names on the walls of corporate property with bullets. Blow holes in the walls of secure military facilities. Flip dragons the bird. That kind of stuff. Playing as a Pink Mohawk means acting like a stereotypical musclebound 80s-action hero and generally being balls to the walls insane with a devil-may-care attitude and succeeding at it. This play style is most commonly associated with the older editions of Shadowrun when cyberpunk was first getting started.
* Black Trenchcoat refers to a more clandestine approach to runs. Generally more grounded in the concept of not getting caught in the first place. This play style developed as the cyberpunk genre evolved and is more associated with newer editions. Black Trenchcoats generally view runs more like spec-ops missions or espionage and try to solve situations without resorting to violence and not to leave behind incriminating evidence.
* Mirrorshades refer to a game that try to balance both above mentioned styles, where players do their best to plan things in advance and stay discreet whenever possible; but do not hesitate to go all-in and bring out the big guns when fecal matter gets in contact with the rotating ventilation device.

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that Catalyst Game Labs cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

==Other Products==
===Video Games===
Seven video games exist for Shadowrun, six of which are available in America, and five of which are good.

'''1993:''' The first came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and shamelessly rips off chunks of William S. Gibson's "Neuromancer" (right down to the name of the protagonist, Jake Armitage) as the player wakes up in a chop shop and deals with the fallout of a run gone horribly wrong, gains the favor of the Dog spirit, and ultimately, solos a motherfucking Great Dragon. (A little one, but still.) While enjoyable for [[Fags_of_4chan|casualfags]], more serious fans of the franchise may be grumpy with Shadowrun SNES for playing loose with magic, cyberware, and the fact that having a bunch of the latter is supposed to do serious shit to your expertise in the former. And the gameplay is clearly having a hard time adapting something originally intended for a mouse and keyboard to a controller.

Jake's still popular though, appearing in a number of actual adventure modules and the recent ''Shadowrun Returns'' title's "Deadman's Switch" campaign.

'''1994:''' The second was released for the Sega Genesis, and is widely held as a worthy use of the license. In this particular game, protagonist Joshua must piece together the puzzle behind his brother Michael's death on a run into Native American-held territory, making a name for himself in the Shadowrunning biz along the way. Fans cite the expanded tactical opportunities (read: being able to move around and dodge bullets in doing so) and immersive Matrix depiction (real-time combat against unique IC types and messing with a variety of system nodes) as this game's greatest advantages over its SNES counterpart.

'''1996:''' The third game is the Japanese-only one, made for the Sega CD and set in Japan rather than Seattle. It plays more like a text adventure (i.e. Sega CD smash hit ''Snatcher'') and its rare action sequences suffer for it.

'''2007:''' The fourth video game adaptation of Shadowrun came in 2007 for XBox 360 and Microsoft Vista. While being designed for Vista should be fail in itself, Microsoft went to great lengths to fuck with the storyline in order to make a dime-a-dozen FPS out of the license - so much that the [http://shadowrun.wikia.com/index.php/Main_Page Sixth World Wiki] claims it "may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun." Since Catalyst holds a decent bit of clout with the Sixth World Wiki and other parts of Dumpshock, it can safely be assumed that Microsoft's treatment of the Shadowrun franchise has been officially disavowed...

'''2012:''' ...Which is good, because in April 2012, Hairbrained Schemes LLC (operated by [[Jordan Weissman]] of [[BattleTech]] fame) in conjunction with Smith & Tinker procured the rights to Shadowrun and made a new 2050's based game available on several platforms. Under the "Shadowrun Returns" project title, these guys raised a $1.5 million [[Kickstarter]] payout to make [[Old School Roleplaying|"an old-school Shadowrun"]] vidyagame happen, and it was released in 2013. They also threw things at the Executive Producer from the 2007 game as he held up a cardboard sign that said "SORRY!" Features mechanics obviously ripped from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, some of the best cyberpunk genre writing in the market...and unfortunately plenty of railroading which was necessary for the linear plot. Despite this, the fact it was released for Steam alongside the newly established "Steam Workshop" system which allows players to upload their own created content as instantly installed mods for players to peruse gave the game a massive amount of replayability as older campaigns and homebrew stories were adapted into the game by fans (as well as shit like dating sims).

The story for the game begins as your character, down on their luck, receives a message from an old member of their crew. Postmortem. He tells you that he had a device installed which will send this message upon his death, and the moment you solve his murder you will receive a megafuck payout of Nuyen from his rainy day fund. You return to Seattle and make the Seamstresses Union your hangout as you get drawn into an elaborate story leading from solving the mystery of the "Emerald City Ripper" through breaking the number one rule of Shadowrunning; never cut a deal with a dragon (number two of course being never deal with that asshole Harlequin, which you also break) as the largest megacorps in the world pool their resources into giving you the tools necessary to prevent Seattle from becoming Chicago 2 (meaning, giant nest full of a combination of fucked up near-immortal insects and even worse, insect spirits). The player character is the primary protagonist, although you befriend several fellow 'runners including: a romantically involved pair named Coyote and Paco, a Native American Shaman named Shannon Half-Sky, Dodger the Elven Decker from the very first short story in the Shadowrun universe from the first edition, and Jake Armitage from the SNES game.

'''2014:''' The game was followed by DLC called Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall, later released as it's own game titled Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall Director's Cut. Dragonfall centers around a group of 'runners in the Flux State of Berlin and the greater Allied German States. Being the unofficial leaders of their own Kiez, the Kreusbazar, the player inherits leadership of the crew from the former leader Decker of the team and their old friend, Monika Schäfer. Players are given far more control over the story than the last game with the bulk of the Runs being able to be taken at any time, a large number of sideplots, and a large cast of characters whose stories the player has control over through your interactions. The player has a constant crew with their own stories: the older Dragonslayer Shaman/Mage and former Punk Rocker who participated on the side of the metahumans in the worst of the race riots, the Night of Rage, named Dietrich; Glory, the medic/Street Samurai who, after her VERY fucked up childhood, found herself in a Branch Davidian style cult to a Toxic Totem of the Adversary Spirit and replaced most of her organic parts with mechanical ones to rid herself of her Essence and free herself as much as possible from his grasp; Eiger, the Troll ex-special forces Street Samurai sniper who was sent on a secret and illegal operation which was fucked up by an inexperienced member of her crew causing her to be blacklisted and forced into the shadows resulting in a control freak with no patience for inexperience or arrogance; the optional member of the crew Blitz who is a former ganger Decker that deals with his past contacts. Your Fixer is Paul Amsel, an older gentleman who runs all of the non-Run related business for the crew. Plus your half-Hellhound Dante. The plot involves the return of the Dragon Feuerschwinge and her small army, with some subplots involving everything from some of the shittier sides to political groups and the megacorps through the next big Matrix threat, an AI on an unprecedented scale who may or may not be a major player in the 2070's cyber scene as it takes on the personas of Deckers it fries with one of its victim's handles still posting on internet forums almost twenty years after his death. Shadowrun Returns is referenced as a news report mentions the Emerald City Ripper early on his rampage, allowing players looking to play the same character to make Dragonfall the prequel to Returns. The actual gameplay mechanics were improved, with far more tilesets added and the Adept play experience made viable, in addition to being able to save anytime rather than only at the end of a scene. Players who purchased the Director's Cut were able to play the Returns game with the improvements.

'''2016:''' The third game, also standalone, called Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong just had a similarly extremely successful Kickstarter raising $1.2 million, and was released that August. The game featured a revamped experience for Mages and Shamans, as well as a completely redone Matrix sequence. SR:HK continued with the gray morality, dingy world of the past two games with further emphasis on reputation as players deal with various groups including criminal Triads, the everpresent megacorps, and the police, not quite all of them being hostile. The PC has a background in a gang in the Seattle barrens with their adoptive brother Duncan Wu until they were taken in by a man named Raymond Black, and they lived in relative peace until the PC goes on a shadowrun that goes bad and spends a few years in a black site. The plot kicks off shortly after the PC gets out and their adoptive father Raymond Black calls and pensively asks for help in Hong Kong. When the player character arrives, they meet a security team (Duncan being one of the pair) and a team of shadowrunners, but Raymond is pointedly missing. Then group comes under ambush, and the survivors fight their way out a SWAT hit squad through a sniper shooting gallery, have to work favors for a Triad boss to cover their tracks, and then find that Raymond was killed or abducted. And then you get to the second mission. Their journey takes them to the Triad stronghold-cum-settlement Heoi, which serves as your home base and a series of colorful residents, to put it mildly. Their journey keeps coming back to the Kowloon Walled City and the seriously bad vibes coming out of it. A slum that makes Redmond look like paradise to put it very lightly

The new crew consists of: Gobbet, the Ork Rat Shaman who's known for her iron stomach, being unhygienic, and yet strangely gregarious and attractive; Duncan Wu the Ork ex-security Street Samurai and the other part of PC's and Raymond's adoptive family; Is0bel, the antisocial and traumatized Dwarf Decker of Somalian refugee descent; and then there's your handler, "Kindly" Cheng (but really, call her "auntie"), the chainsmoking Triad middle manager whose both a hard drinker and a hard ass, but she's happy if you do a good job. There's also the optional party members: Racter, the creepy Russian rigger who rents out your basement, a clinical psychopath, mad scientist, and transhumanist, also quite friendly once you get to know him; and Gaichu, the disciplined and thoughtful Ghoul and former member of Renraku's (in)famous Red Samurai security who refused to commit Seppuku after contracting the Ghoul virus. The game also comes with its own short story to act as a prologue to the game, and had a post-campaign bonus campaign DLC where you are sent on the trail of the dirty cop who put the bounty on your heads at the beginning of the first mission.

<gallery>
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The two released Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Returns games were met with the massive approval of both the Shadowrun community and the general video game enthusiast community, an impressive feat. Hong Kong was kinda skub, but mostly averages out to "popular."

===Manga===
Named just Shadowrun like the role play game. A five-book manga by Kazuma Saiki (斉木一馬), set in 2050, Japan, and published by Dragon Comics (ドラゴンコミックス) from 1996 to 1998.
Fun Fact: The author's name has been featured as a character mentioned in Vice and Target: Awakened Lands source books, where the said Saiki in Shadowrun world is a CEO of the Saiki corporation as well as the head of the Saiki-rengo (yakuza syndicate).

==Software==
[[Servitor_Bot|An IRC bot with some Shadowrun functions coded by /tg/ anonymous]]

==General Shadowrunning Rules==
Rule One: Geek the Mage.

Rule Two: Never make a deal with a dragon.

==Gallery==
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==External Links==
* [http://www.shadowrun.com/ Official Shadowrun Page]
* [http://shadowrun.gamepedia.com/Shadowrun_Wiki Shadowrun Wiki]
* [http://shadowloands-ra-bbs.freeforums.net A forum used to roleplay as the in-universe Shadowland site.]
* [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns The old Kickstarter page for SRR]
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter] The game funded successfully and launched on August 20, 2015.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files, a collection of horrible derp that Shadowrun players submitted their GMs to in the distant past]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7ESwVeQSnzC-OMyWcBE-9fT-XubKvY7ei3lSBztJrE/edit?usp=sharing Some Shadowrun Modules written up by a namefag from /tg/'s Shadowrun general thread.]
* [http://www.shadowhaven.info/Main_Page Well organized Shadowrun wiki for the online game group "Shadowhaven" playing through Roll20 and Discord.]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Shadowrun]]

Shadowrun

2020-03-01T21:07:06Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Asia */Fixed a very minor historical inaccuracy regarding the name of Nazi Germany's youth organisation

{{Game Infobox
|name = Shadowrun
|picture = [[Image:SRlogoBigger.png|200px]]
|type = [[RPG]]
|publisher = [[Catalyst Game Labs]]
|system = Custom d6 ([[Roll over]] Dice Pool)
|authors = Bob Charrette, Paul Hume, Tom Dowd
|year = 1989 (1st edition), 1992 (2nd edition), 1998 (3rd edition), 2005 (4th edition), 2009 (20th anniv), 2013 (5th edition), 2019 (6th edition)
}}
'''Shadowrun''' is a tabletop fantasy/science fiction RPG that first became popular in the early 1990's. It spans multiple genres due to having a large and diverse setting full of plot hooks, providing all your Cyberpunk, Horror, Crime, Post-Apocalyptic, and Mystery needs.

In short, Shadowrun is what would happen if William Gibson and Mercedes Lackey had a love child.

It's set in a dystopian near future where megacorporations have taken over as the superpowers of a world (our world, in an alternate timeline specifically) whose political boundaries are shaken and fragmented. Players play Shadowrunners, the criminal elite: expert thieves, spies, bodyguards, saboteurs, assassins, or whatever else that earns them Nuyen (cyberfantasy futurebucks) who sell their skills to whatever megacorps, crime lords, or police bid the highest. Dragons and Magic play just as big a part of life as computers and guns. In fact, they often overlap.

Shadowrun was created by [[FASA]] games in 1989. It is currently in its 6th edition, being published by [[Catalyst Game Labs]].

==History==
The game is set in a world that is [[awesome]] to play in and [[fail]] to live in. The history of Shadowrun begins with, of all things, a truckers' strike in New York. The strike lasted for about three months, causing massive hunger not just in NYC itself but across the whole state. New Yorkers being New Yorkers, this resulted in massive rioting. One particularly inspired group of rioters attacked a truck belonging to Seretech Corporation, believing that it was full of food. Predictably, it was actually full of infectious medical waste, and the corporate security assigned to the truck ended up gunning down 200-something civilians to save Staten Island from getting plagued. The United States Supreme Court vindicates the actions of the Seretech employees, choosing to concentrate on the whole "saved thousands of lives" part rather than the "ended hundreds" one. This, combined with an attack on a Shiawase Corporation-owned nuclear power plant, set the stage for corporate extraterritoriality, a principle which essentially turned corporations into their own sovereign states and made corporate land untouchable by national laws. This is why Ares Macrotechnology can tie you up in the basement and forget you exist without invoking the wrath of your government.

A few years go by, and a whole bunch of awful shit happens; Israel nukes Libya, New York gets fucked over by an earthquake, and Japan gets into a war with Korea. This last one is important, because Korea decides that if two nukes worked so well for Japan's health back in the 40's, then fifty nukes should do wonders! However, the missiles never reach their targets. Japan then overruns Korea and creates the Japanese Imperial State. Meanwhile, the US is telling the Native Americans to bite the pillow and drills for oil on their reservations (again). Naturally there's some resistance, so the US deals with it in their usual calm, reasonable way: by shipping all the protesting Natives off to concentration camps. During this time, some terrorists from the Sovereign American Indian Movement take over a US nuclear silo and launch a single Lone Eagle ICBM towards Russia. As with the Korean ICBMs, the Lone Eagle is never heard from again.

Things are then quiet for roughly ten minutes before a disease called VITAS takes the top quarter off of the Earth's population. While everyone's still reeling from losing one out of every four people they ever knew, the craziest shit on record happens. [[what|People start giving birth to Tolkien-style Elves and Dwarves]]. With all the shit going on in the world, nobody wants to hear about your pointy-eared baby, and the backlash is substantial. Finally, on December 24th, 2011, it all goes to hell in a handbasket. Dragons are recorded flying over Japan, ley lines in Britain and Ireland start flickering on, and an activist named Daniel Howling Coyote leads a now apparently bulletproof group of Native Americans right out the front gate of one of the concentration camps and into a sandstorm. In an interview with the media, one of the more talkative dragons reveals that the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions were right- all the shit that was going on was a sign that the Fifth World that humanity had lived in for all this time was ending, and Earth is just about to enter the cycle of existence the Mayans called the Sixth World. 2012 comes. Magic is back- or more precisely, it had never left in the first place. In reality, countless beings that had lived in the Fourth World had been in hiding through much of human history, and the low ebb of magic in the Fifth World had kept the elves and dwarves from manifesting their characteristic features, making them indistinguishable from ordinary humans until the Sixth World came about (no word on where the freaking dragons were hiding, though).

The final phase of the Great Shitstorm is set in motion, and lines are being redrawn all over the map. First, Daniel Howling Coyote reappears and declares that the whole west half of the North American continent is now a coalition of countries called the Native American Nations. The US is all set to slap them down hard, but Daniel and a few of his closest friends perform the soon-to-be-infamous ritual known as the Great Ghost Dance. It's at this point that people start to really accept that magic is now a thing; rather than do nothing like every other ritual dance ever recorded by modern man, the GGD blows the tops off of volcanoes all over the US. Shortly afterwards, ten percent of pubescent humans in the world suddenly turn into Orks and Trolls in a process called Goblinization that involves random hardened calcium growths growing on their body. It's painful, and not exactly treated like your typical case of acne. If you thought pretty little Elf babies made people mad, this shit caused some blown gaskets. Religions all over the world simultaneously get to their feet and screamed either "WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG!" or "WHAT THE SHIT IS THIS FUCK!?" resulting in a lot of split faiths, ranging from believing that Jesus/Mohammed/Siddhartha were Dragons, to Ku Klux Klan-esque hate groups worldwide looking to wipe out everything that didn't exist back in 1950. Subsequent race riots cost a lot of very confused people their lives, although plenty of folks stepped in on the side of the mutants, resulting in large numbers of casualties on all sides and breeding a lot of bitterness. Within time, many old faiths splintered into warring sects or radically restructured themselves, with various forms of paganism becoming the dominant faiths of the world.

Fast forward a bit: the internet is destroyed by a super-virus, and a bunch of cyber-commandos kill it in virtual reality combat. In true computer fashion, their VR tech goes from room-sized to book-sized within ten years. The VR Matrix replaces the Internet. The southern United States split off into the Confederate American States. California threatens to join them, so the US says 'fuck you' and kicks them out. The remaining northern states then bro it up with the remains of Canada, forming the United Canadian and American States. Two Elf nations form in North America and Ireland, a Ghoul nation forms in Africa, and a nation of weird beasties forms in the Amazon. Mexico, which is almost completely run by the Aztechnology megacorp, renames itself to Aztlan and starts dabbling in blood magic (really REALLY fucked up shit). The same dragon that explained what the hell was going on earlier is elected President of the UCAS and is then assassinated at his inaugural ball, with him leaving behind a cryptic will promising huge sums of cash to anyone who develops certain technologies (like VR connections dragons can safely use), financial assistance to mothers who keep their metahuman children, and a bounty on Blood Mages. National governments lose more and more of their power in the face of corporate influence until the Corporate Court replaces the United Nations as the great global political alliance and national governments are little more than figureheads. People are identified in corporate and national databases by their System Identification Numbers (SINs), but an increasingly large number of the poor, referred to as SINless lack one and the basic human rights that come with it yet at the same time are free from the constant surveillance that being a SINner entails. People are increasingly born with an inherent gift for manipulating mana, and magic becomes as much a part of everyday life as electricity.

That's the history of Shadowrun up to the start of First Edition, from the in-game years of 1999 to 2057. Take a second to process all of that crazy shit. You may be wondering where the players fit into all this madness. Well, ever since that truckers' strike in 1999 an underclass of criminals has slowly been gaining influence and importance. Often SINless, they are untraceable ghosts in the machinery of the world, simultaneously free and enslaved. They are deniable assets used by corporations, nations, and even wealthy private citizens to snipe at each other without sparking off feuds or wars. They steal, they hack databases, they weave magical illusions, and often they kill. They are called Shadowrunners, and your character is one of them.

Since then, even more crazy shit has happened. The original Matrix was destroyed in a fight between another super-virus and a mad AI, and replaced with a wireless version accessible from almost anywhere while the devices that can be used to tap into it have shrunk from essentially a Casio keyboard strapped to your back to a smartphone or smaller; megacorporations have risen and fallen in their dozens; Halley's Comet flew by and fucked with magic something fierce, transforming people into bizarre half-animal hybrids referred to as "changelings", the brother of the previously mentioned dragon president showed up with an army of ghosts and carved out his own empire in the Midwest, people have started being born not with magical talent, but with biological wi-fi hardwired into their brains, and a nanomachine plague has begun to spread and take over people's minds. And through it all, Shadowrunners have not only held onto their power, but have achieved a sort of collective celebrity, becoming permanently ingrained on global culture.

Talk about job security, eh chummer?

==Setting==
The world has gone through quite a few changes, both political and environmental. Generally, no matter where in the world you live chances are good in the world of Shadowrun it is either a wasteland populated by the homeless, monsters, and toxic/magical/radioactive waste dumps, or its an endless sea of sprawling buildings in various states of occupation and repair filled with the homeless, monsters, and gangs/corporations of ruthless assholes.

===North America===
* In 2014, a Native American leader calling himself Daniel Howling Coyote started the Ghost Dance War with the aim of removing every trace of colonial occupation from North America after the Megas used their newfound power to landgrab everything. The US Armed Forces really had no edge against Howling Coyote's magical resources; in 2017, Howling Coyote claimed responsibility for the simultaneous eruption of four volcanoes in the Cascade Mountains through a ritual called the Great Ghost Dance. The war ended with the Treaty of Denver, which ceded most of western North America to the Native American Nations. Some time later, Daniel cut all ties with the NaN out of disappointment with what they had become and vanished without a trace. The Native American Nations consist of:
** Algonkian-Manitou Council, which controls most of present-day Ontario, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, with a slice of Alberta including Calgary. Its capital is Saskatoon.
** Athabaskan Council, which controls most of present-day Alaska, Yukon, Northwest Territory, Nunavut, and the northern portions of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and the little nibble of Manitoba not controlled by other NAN states. Its capital is Edmonton.
**Trans-Polar Aleut: parts of Alaska, Siberia, and Iceland, most sparsely populated of the NAN. If you're wondering why Siberia and Iceland are included, the answer is imperialism designed to prop up a nearly nonexistent economy.
** Aztlan was a founding member of the NAN, but is no longer part of the Sovereign Tribal Council. It consists of modern-day Mexico and most of Central America and a chunk of South America. Aztlan is little more than an arm of Aztechnology, the AAA megacorp that truly runs the state and pushes its aggressive expansionism. Air quality in Tenochtitlan (formerly Mexico City) is even worse than it is today.
** Pueblo Corporate Council, which controls most of present-day Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado, the entirety of Utah, and chunks of California, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. It came to the rescue when Los Angeles was wracked with disasters and now administers the city. Its capital is Santa Fe.
** Salish-Shidhe Council, which controls all of present-day Washington except the greater Seattle area and most of British Columbia and Idaho. It administers the BC Interior formerly controlled by the Tsimshian Nation as a protectorate. Its capital is Bellingham.
** Sioux Nation, which controls most of present-day Montana and Wyoming, western portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska, and an eastern slice of Colorado. Its capital is Cheyenne. Has a reputation of being "NAN police" the same way the US was thought of as being "world police." Plenty racist against anyone not amerind.
** Ute Nation, which dissolved in the wake of Crash 2.0 and was effectively sold to the PCC.

* Tír Tairngire (''Tir Tarn-gi-ruh'') is the elven state that controls most of Oregon and a slice of Nevada and contests territory in northern California. It was born by fiat of Lugh Surehand and his inner circle, unilaterally seceding from the Salish-Shidhe Council in 2035. It's basically a state for snooty, prissy elves to be snooty and prissy and talk about how they're better than everyone else. When Surehand was deposed, the system became a little less oppressive but got taken over by the Telestrian family in the 2070's when Mary Louise Telestrian became the reiging Prince of Tir Tairngire

* The United Canadian and American States is what remains of Canada and the USA after the secession of Quebec and the Treaty of Denver.

* The Confederate American States seceded in the wake of the unification and the UCAS called California's bluff, so it's also free of the Union.

* The Republic of Québec seceded from Canada in 2010 so it could be even more French. It didn't recognize the Business Recognition Accords that govern corporate extraterritoriality until after Crash 2.0 as a condition for NeoNET to help rebuild the country's infrastructure. It's opening up to the world as a result and becoming a little less French in the process.

* The California Free State is everyone's bitch. Tír Tairngire invaded it in the north and was only stopped by the Great Dragon Hestaby, who told them both to quiet down and get off her lawn. Aztlan invaded it in the south and when the state governor asked Japan for help, Japan invaded it from the west. Los Angeles was hit with disaster after disaster and in the most recent quake, most of it fell into the ocean.

* Denver is a free city, officially the Front Range Free Zone, administered jointly by the parties to the Treaty of Denver. Then the Great Dragon Ghostwalker (who may be the long-lost brother of former UCAS dragon president Dunkelzahn) emerged in 2061 with an army of spirits, flew to Denver, and ripped the Aztlan sector a new asshole. He then declared the Council of Denver subordinate to himself and kicked Aztechnology out, giving their territory to the CAS and claiming Denver for himself. Needless to say, nobody wanted to argue about it.

* Seattle is the default setting for ''Shadowrun''. It's an exclave of the UCAS within Salish-Shihde Council territory. The Seattle Metroplex incorporates Seattle itself, Renton, Tacoma, Redmond, Bellingham, Bellevue, Auburn, Snohomish, Fort Lewis, and Puyallup. Most of Puyallup was devastated in the eruption of Mount Rainier and a chunk of Redmond was irradiated after a nuclear power plant disaster; those areas are colloquially known as the Barrens as they are places where utilities, government services, and law enforcement don't go.

* Chicago is Bug City and home to the worst Metahuman hate crime event with the Sears Tower bombing in 2039, when the Universal Brotherhood invoked an Insect Spirit Hive 2055, drek only got worse withe CZ being established.

===Europe===
* Elves unite and stage a coup in Ireland, creating a police state Tír na nÓg where all non-Elves are considered second-class citizens, and Elves are judged by their (often bullshitted) claims to ancestry or their magical prowess. Even those families who do technically have a claim to nobility and are Elves aren't assured respect, as the secret police of the government are quick to give anyone they envy the boot (or muzzle if the boot doesn't work fast enough). The ruling government is sometimes called "Noggins" in a derogatory manner. The opposition to the Elves lead to the resurrection of the IRA, which includes all races including Elves who are unsatisfied with the Elf-centric state of their land.
* Germany has refractured, lessening their industrial and political power. To counteract this, they have a series of treaties that force them to cooperate with each other and make them be recognised as a single country on the international scale, forming the Allied German States. The overall effect of this has been to create what is essentially a German USSR/ a return to the Holy Roman Empire.
* Russia is Soviet [[FAIL|(as in governed by a council not communist)]] again after mysterious assassinations of USA, UK, Israel and Russian leaders. This time switches places with Germany pretty much reenacting European part of WWII which ends with [[Illuminati|mysterious HQ bombings and assassinations of high ranking officers on both sides by a third party]].
* Turkey is split in two ever since some Mullah with delusions of Islamic State invaded Europe while dragging the entire Arabic world into the invasion alliance, [[Rape|with predictable results from a fully mechanized and battle hardened European Defense Force]] (though Europe still came out of the war pretty roughed up, reason is in the paragraph above) eventually killing said leader and liberating Western Turkey and supporting it. Western Turkey is secular Alawite with a modern inner circle called Neo-Atatürk, (now independent) Istanbul's name back to Constantinople and a complete den of assassins and mercenaries, eastern Turkey is retarded Muslim jihadist shithole.

===Asia===
* Japan is no longer a true democracy, having returned to the worship and rule of a divine Emperor, and is now called the Japanese Imperial State. Below him is a three-branch political system with the "Diet" as a senate and congressional body, a Judiciary branch, and an executive branch with a prime minister. Their response to the rise of metahumanity was passage of the Yamato Act, which involves deportation of all metahumans to quarantine at concentration camps on Yomi Island while avoiding any of the political squabbling or racial tensions of the rest of the world.. During the years leading up to the Sixth World, nationalism had increased to the point Japan had rebuilt its military again. Japanese corporations rose steadily in prominence, and Japanese influence lead to the "Nuyen" replacing the American dollar by becoming one of the most accepted currencies worldwide. With the loss of stability of the former United States, Japan invaded and captured large parts of California as well as the Philippine islands. They continue to test their neighbors, particularly China, constantly with military demonstrations. Within Japan, society is strictly controlled and firearms are rare. Large portions of Japan remain undeveloped outside of the megacity sprawl, protected to maintain the idea of heritage and cultural identity. Kempeitai, secret political police, enforce the will of Japan even on the megacorps and membership is required to obtain any kind of higher education. Kempeitai have loyalty only to Japan, and overall resemble a combination of the Hitler Youth and SS in behavior and function. By the time of the 5th edition Shadowrun year, the Japanese have begun to slowly drop their anti-meta views including abandoning Yomi Island to the Huk.
* The Philippines were conquered by Japan early in Sixth World history, resulting in the Huk rebellion reemerging to reignite the World War 2 conflict. This time however, the Huk are supported by the black Great dragon Masaru. The Huk financed their revolution with piracy, so expect them to have connections across the globe. The Huk are no joke, having fought the rich-ass and technologically advanced nation of Japan using mostly small arms and wooden sticks for years. They hated the Imperial Japanese hardcore (possibly deserved, as the Japanese were more or less Nazis during their occupation of the Philippines), though, ironically many of them are metahumans of Japanese descent who escaped from Yomi and more or less adopted the philosophy of "fuck Japan". Traitors to the Huk are sometimes beaten to death by their own crew mates for betraying the Revolution. Masaru's a pretty cool guy though, he's big on the environment as well as Filipino and metahuman rights. He tries to reign in the Huk's excesses and usually keeps the Huk alive by sending them weapons and supplies. Word of advice about the Huk and the Japanese military though, if your work for or against one of them, even as a freelancer, and the other finds out, then the guys you worked against will brand you as a member of the enemy and probably try to kill you. As of the 2070s, the Japanese pulled out and the Philippines are back on track towards peace, though they're still a bit chaotic (the crazier Huk have taken to slaughtering those who collaborated with the Japanese on some islands).
* The Glorious People's Republic of China disintegrated and now only exists as a laughably small rump state in the interior. The rest of China fragmented in to smaller states of varying power, size, and sanity. Hong Kong is a prime loacation for runners. The Great Dragon Lung maintains a shadowy grip on the Triads and wages a hidden war against the Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo.
* Tibet is weird. A magic storm cut off the area from the rest of the world so everyone wants to know whats up with it. Rumors are that the theocratic buddhist government has some crazy powerful magic capable of summoning a "mountain sized fire elemental". The Megas and some Chinese Warlords are watching the border to see if the storm lets up.
* Indochina is another hellhole. Thailand is hopelessly corrupt and Vietnam is an oppressive police state. Cambodia is in an on-off civil war, with Naga separatists setting up their own kingdom in Angkor Wat and many of the peasants supporting the magic snakes who can bring rainfall and are trying to get rid of pollution. Stay the fuck out of Rangoon, there are rumors that the rich literally eat the poor there, and confirmed accounts of a massive child sex industry.
* Siberia is split between the Russian government and Yakut. Yakut is peopled by indigenous tribes who made a deal with a powerful spirit for independence. Once they broke free of Russia, the spirit promptly set up an oppressive police state that limited technology, fucked with the economy, and placed shapeshifting spies among the tribesmen. A bunch of players have a keen interest in Tunguska.

===South America===
* Amazonia, owned by Great Dragon Hualpa, was formed when the awakened forces took over Brazil and turned it into an ecofriendly nation with parts of Colombia, all of Venezula which led to a war with Atzlan which the amazonians lost. Home to Metropole, the largest, most densely populated, and potentially most dangerous city on earth

===Africa===
Africa has gone back to being called "The Dark Continent" in the Sixth World. A horrible plague swept called VITAS through most of Western and Southern Africa during the Awakening, killing most of the population. The jungles turned all magic and began expanding, so that most of the continent below the Sahara had its geography radically changed. The wildlife turned magic too, so now there are giant magical crocodiles in most of the waterways and worse things in the deep jungles.
* Western Africa is a fucking hellhole, no joke. Tribal warlords control most of the resources and many are on the take from the corps. Pirates prowl the waterways and coasts looking for good hauls and occasionally sell their services to the megas as mercenaries.
** Lagos, one of the prime areas for runners, is more or less the embodiment of the term "urban jungle." Hell, the gangs do more civic service than its shitty excuse for a government (they're still hard fucks though, don't be expecting any mercy). Ethnic tensions are responsible for murders and skirmishes on a daily basis. There's an entire district full of shedim (corpses possessed by evil spirits), bug spirit hives on the outskirts of the city, and slavers and flesh traders taking the unlucky.
** Asamando, in stark contrast to most of western Africa, is not a hellhole for its citizens, its rich, well educated, peaceful, and has megacorps investing in it because it has natural resources up to the wazoo. The catch is, its populated with and run by ghouls who keep themselves fed using flesh traders. The ghouls keep "farms" where they breed metahumans as food. Everyone in Africa is terrified of Asamando too, not just because a ghoul can kill a man with its bare hands, but because every ghoul citizen is trained in nonlethal combat, so they can drag you back to Asamando for later consumption.
* In Egypt, the government has banned magic, which leads to conflicts with underground worshippers of the Old Egyptian gods. Archaeologists are discovering more magic ruins and artifacts buried in the deserts, The Coptic Church has a degree of autonomy though, and has extended its protection to technomancers.
* Southern Africa has the the Azanian Federation with Zulu nation of elves and the Xhosa nation (which is run by the Great Dragon Mujaji). The Xhosa are environmentally conscious and wary of the Zulu, who in turn have been becoming more and more nationalistic and eager to fight.
* Kenya has become home to the Corporate Court's mass driver, which shoots supplies up into orbit, which has pissed off the locals who lead a shamanic resistance movement.
* Central Africa is a mystery, the Awakened jungles covered everything and most of the tribes have banded together in a shamanic confederation to keep the corps out.
* Madagascar is...scary. The most of the inhabitants were killed by the VITAS I plague, while the rainforests Awakened and grew exponentially. The only people there now are fortified pirate settlements on the coastal regions. Creepy shit happens in the interior of Madagascar, like ghostly eyes watching people from the shadows, rumors of a monstrous many-headed dragon-monster, and whispers of secret labs experimenting with HMHVV to make super-vampires. Hardcore pirates have been broken by Madagascar's jungles.

===Australia===
Most of Australia is unpleasant to live in now, but in the Sixth World... hoo-boy. Dual-natured weather phenomena called "mana storms" are a fact of life, appearing out of nowhere, laying waste to an area, and disappearing just as suddenly. The Outback is even more hazardous thanks to these storms, which have herded people into the few major cities along the coasts. The city of Sydney is surrounded in a near-permanent mana storm that's cut it off from the rest of the world. Major landmarks like Uluru (Ayer's Rock) are home to powerful spirits that don't like visitors. The only civilizations that manage to survive outside the cities are the Aborigine tribes who have lived with the land instead of off of it. What few critters that weren't deadly to humanity before now breath fire or are possessed, or both.

As for Tasmania, it went feral in the Awakening. The island no longer wants visitors. Nature has overrun what little remains of human civilization on the island and it fights back when people try to set up research or paracritter-breeding facilities.

===Pacific Islands===
* Hawai'i is now a monarchy again, having seceded from the United States. The Japanese Great Dragon Ryumyo has been trying to turn it into a puppet state via his vassal Naheka, a Feathered Serpent who has been characterized as an incompetent stooge

===Megacorps===
These are the real powers in the Sixth World. With the benefits of extraterritoriality, megacorporations can make their own workplace laws, issue their own currencies, and maintain standing armies the envy of major nations. Every CEO aspires to make it to the big table of the Corporate Court and become a AAA. As of 2075, the "Big Ten" megacorps, which all have representatives on the Corporate Court, are:
* '''Ares Macrotechnology''': American. Subsidiaries include Knight Errant Security. Their premiere business is in the arms industry, though they are also leaders in space exploration, having purchased NASA from the US government. Its corporate culture is very regimented and hierarchical, as befits a company that personifies the military-industrial complex. Very chillaxed as far as shadowrunning goes; they have a reputation for not tracking you down to kill you after a job on their territory unless you ''really'' fucked up, and they don't tend to murder the runners they hire afterward. Ares hates Bug spirits with a passion, or they're secretly working with Bug spirits, depends on which conspiracy theory you believe (Spoilers: they're both true due to corporate infighting).
* '''Aztechnology''': Mexican. Subsidiaries include Stuffer Shack and the entire country of Aztlan. The most outright evil megacorp, Aztechnology also has some of the best PR in the world to keep the skeletons in the closet, such as their regular use of blood magic, their origin as a front company for three Mexican drug cartels, and their attempts to monopolize the world's food supply. They've appropriated Mesoamerican culture for their corporate image and engage in imperialism by proxy through Aztlan's expansion into South America, which has gone about as well as can be expected for any evil organization banning Catholicism in Latin America. Running for them is a good way to destroy your professional reputation among other shadowrunners, as well as to get cut up for spare parts by your new bosses. And if you run ''against'' them, try not to leave any hair or other traces behind, or they'll use it to track you down.
* '''Evo''': Russian/Japanese. Subsidiaries include CrashCart. Formerly known as Yamatetsu, the fiercely xenophobic leadership of the company has given way to a free spirit and the ork son of the company's founder. Its core markets include augmentations of all kinds and metahuman-friendly products.
* '''Horizon''': American. Appeared out of nowhere in 2061 as a media-focused megacorp, jumped right to AAA in '65, and maintained a suspiciously squeaky-clean image until it came to light that they were experimenting on technomancers and engineered a massacre in South America. Entertainment, social media, and advertising are their main focuses, which translates into a truly disturbing talent for information control and social engineering in the shadows.
* '''Mitsuhama''' Computer Technologies: Japanese. Entertainment and computer hardware giant. A Yakuza money laundering front that went horribly right, so much so that half the yakuza outright went straight because it was making more money than the crime. Though, if they ''want'' some yakuza muscle on the payroll, they don't have to jump through any hoops to get it. The "Zero Zone" is their trademark security method, wherein they kill intruders on sight with no surrender asked. Their jobs tend to be a mixed bag, here meaning that half the time they pay well and go off without a hitch and the other half they try to pay you in lead after shitty intel already killed half the team.
* <s>NeoNET</s>: American. Formed from the merger of Novatech, Erika, and Transys Neuronet after Crash 2.0. Its core markets are in the telecommunications fields. Its corporate history stretches back decades to Fuchi Industrial Electronics, the creators of the first-generation cyberdeck. Also helped in developing experimental medical procedures using nanotech, which runners disrupted and caused the CFD outbreak. Oops. Boston has to be locked down, and thousands are trapped inside, not to mention the new fear that just about anybody can be a headcase. The UCAS sued NeoNET and Celedyr in the Corporate Court, who ordered reparations and relief to be paid to the UCAS, NeoNET to be shut down and broken apart, and the CEO to be barred from any executive positions for 10 years. (This was the same guy [[Just As Planned|who ran and destroyed]] Fuchi to found Novatech to enrich and empower himself, and then did it again to found NeoNET.) Most assets have been sold to up-and-comer Spinrad Industries, and the seat on the Corporate Court "leased" out to Spinrad, making Spinrad the new AAA. There's a lot of open questions about what happens when the old CEO's ban expires in 10 years and he can use his seat on the CC again.
* '''Renraku''' Computer Systems: Japanese. Currently focusing on acquiring a share in every consumer market in order to make their brand as ubiquitous as possible. Their arcology in Seattle had a little incident over the 2059 holiday shopping season, by which we mean an insane AI with a god complex took it over and started horrifically experimenting on the inhabitants before crashing the whole matrix on its way out. The Red Samurai are RCS's signature elite security force. The most racist megacorp internally, with non-male, non-japanese, and non-humans have almost zero prospects of promotion to any position of power, though they're very much capable of surpressing their virulent bigotry for the sake of profit.
* '''Saeder-Krupp''': German.The biggest megacorp in the setting(until 5th edition, when Mitsuhama took its place, S-K has been gunning for MCT ever since). Its chairman and majority shareholder is the great dragon Lofwyr. Experienced shadowrunners know not to take jobs directed at S-K or its subsidiaries, as Lofwyr is a major micromanager who does not suffer losses from his hoard or undercutting his authority, and his version of downsizing involves literally eating you. It is Lofwyr who gives us that common adage "Never deal with a dragon." Its core markets include heavy industry, finances, mining, and automotives (BMW is one of its foundation companies).
* '''Shiawase Corporation''': Japanese. The first megacorp and still majority-owned by the Shiawase family, which means that ''every'' major corporate decision is made with undercurrents of family tension undercutting the whole situation. Notably invested in biotechnology, agriculture, and nuclear fusion. One of their family members became Empress, but since she had been a guinea pig for her dad's experiments, it backfired. A lot.
* '''Spinrad industries''': French AA turned AAA after buying out most of NeoNET in an exclusive deal. They were into luxury cybernetics with ties to the European aristocracy. CEO is playboy adrenaline junkie Johnny Spinrad, who's got a huge vendetta against Lofwyr.
* '''Wuxing''': Chinese. Founding member of the Pacific Prosperity Group, a corporate association designed to check the influence of the Japanacorps. Very quiet and mostly-unknown, like Horizon if it took its meds. Its core markets include entertainment, finances, and logistics. Has managed to use feng shui as a means of profit, since magic works again, they've managed to figure out how to manipulate luck on a small scale.

===Notable AA and A Corps===
* '''DocWagon''': For-profit medical services. Their services include high-threat response teams trained to enter hazardous situations to extract their clients.
* '''Lone Star Security Services, Inc.''': Municipal law enforcement. They had the contract for Seattle until the tempo crisis of 2072, when Governor Brackhaven ended the contract and signed with Knight Errant. Stereotyped as brutal and corrupt.
* K'''night Errant''': Security contractors. A subsidiary of Ares that serves as at least a part of their in-house military. Can be found across the world, most notably in Seattle where they have the contract to serve as the current police force after Lone Star got the boot. Just as lazy, brutal, and corrupt as Lone Star, but better equipped and trained and has much better PR.
* '''Eastern Tiger''': Korean, its schtick is that its super nationalist and its propaganda claims its going to one day overtake the Japanacorps and catapult Korea to global prominency
* '''Global Sandstorm''': Arabian with ties to the Arabian Caliphate, currently, one of its heiresses is courting Johnny Spinrad.
* '''Proteus AG''': Transhumanism and lots of marine arcologies. The company is shrouded in mystery and misinformation. Currently in a shadow war with the Sea Dragon for reasons undisclosed.
* '''Universal Omnitech''': When DocWagon fixes you, odds are they're using UO products. UO is a major player in cyberware and biotechnology and may be on the verge of passable clones. Its CEO, Thomas Roxborough, turned into a pile of goo after an experimental treatment for an autoimmune disorder went horribly wrong; he now lives in a space station and communicates via the Matrix.
* '''Zeta-Imperial Chemicals''': Pharmaceuticals and healthcare. The soulless Big Pharma. They have no sense of ethics and have created bioweapons used in the first EuroWar, dumped toxic chemicals into the African market as health supplements, and developed the nanoweapon codenamed Surtr.
* '''Telestrian Industries''': Elven Mega with most of the shares belonging to the namesake family and the ones who thwarted a Universal Brotherhood plot to turn Seattle to Bug City. One of their members, Mary Louise Telestrian, is the reigning Prince of Tir Tangire.
* '''Krime''': American. Sells industrial artist-designed weapons designed for orks and trolls. Known for skirting rules, quality controls, and common decency, but their brutal and relatively cheap product means that they have a lasting fandom that ensures them a lasting niche in the marketplace.

===Dragons ===
The Megacorps may be the ruling powers of the world, but the Great Dragons are a close second. There's even some overlap. The Great Dragons rule over the regular dragons, as much as dragons will consent to being ruled. Most of the time though, they just snipe at each other using shadowrunners in conflicts over territory, wealth, access to mana lines, ideology, etc. Some of them even try to avert the apocalypse. There's a saying in the 6th world: "Never Deal with a Dragon". Then again, they also tell you to follow the rules, obey the cops, and stay out of the the megacorps' way, and look how that turned out for you. If a dragon really wants you in its employ, you don't really have a choice. At least they pay better than the megas. Just don't try to fuck them over, and at the same time, have a contingency plan to flee somewhere like Antarctica in case they decide to burn you. Dealing with dragons isn't easy, but its very, very, very profitable.
* '''Dunkelzahn''': Bestest and greatest dragon. Widely known and hugely popular for the public perception of not being a dick like the rest of the dragons, but the reality is a bit more complicated than that, if still broadly true. He was the first dragon to openly talk to humanity about the Awakening to help them make sense of the insanity, which helped him gain the public presence to host a talk show and do advocacy work for metahuman rights and social equality. He was later elected president of the UCAS, but was assassinated by car bomb about 8 hours after being sworn in. While the Big D had many enemies, who assassinated him and why is left an open question, up to that he may have even faked his own death. Current consensus is that is indeed dead and that he sacrificed himself to keep a lid on the Bad Magical Things. A novel came out and described how he currently survives as a spirit inhabiting a cyberzombie, but most fans ignore it and so do the devs. Left behind a will full of charitable donations and enough plot points and story hooks to keep the game running for many editions to come.
* '''Lofwyr''': This guy is possibly the most prominent, most wealthy, and most dangerous dragon on earth. To the point where even other dragons are unnerved by his ruthlessness. Lofwyr in fact held the title of Loremaster, de facto keeper of draconic traditions and history, after Dunklezahn's death, though he gives up the position in 5th edition to focus on his business. Businesswyrm and micromanager extraordinaire, Lofwyr managed a hostile takeover of Saeder-Krupp decades ago, purchasing majority shares through intermediaries and shell companies, showing up to a board meeting one day in dragon form, and unceremoniously kicking the former CEO off the board. He then managed to run the biggest corporation on earth primarily from memory for over three decades. Lofwyr, also called Ol' Golden Snout, is possibly the most feared dragon by shadowrunners, for his habit of eating underperforming shadowrunners, though his rewards for success are second to none. If you're hired by a man who goes by the name Hans Brackhaus, then it probably means that Lofwyr is hiring you for personal business. Brackhaus may even be Lofwyr in disguise, though its more likely a high ranking servant.
* '''Hestaby''': considered by many to be Lofwyr's equal and opposite, Hestaby is the most magically powerful of the Great Dragons. She lairs on Mt. Shasta and is/was a High Princess of Tir Tairngire. She's very environmentally conscious and has well buried ties to groups that the megacorps would call ecoterrorists. She's most concerned with her public image as a friend to metahumanity though. She goes by the handle "Orange Queen" on Shadowland (and later Jackpoint) and occasionally banters with The Laughing Man. She beat Lofwyr and the other Greats in a shadow-war after Dunkelzahn died, but she let Lofwyr take the place of Loremaster even though it was hers to take. Lofwyr also propositioned a mating after she let him take the position, which would usually be the equivalent of a political marriage for dragons, but Hestaby thought it was weird because Lofwyr is "past mating age". Yup, Ol Golden Snout had a thing for the Orange Queen, awkward. Of course, then she got involved in another shadow war with him over how to treat metahumans.
* '''Ghostwalker''': Great Dragon ruler of Denver. He appeared out of nowhere during the Year of the Comet with an army of spirits and proceeded to tear the Aztlan sector of the city a new asshole and kick Aztechnology out. He then intimidated the NAN, CAS, and UCAS into giving him de facto control of the city. He's speculated to be Dunkelzahn's brother. He's also kind of a dick. Currently being the boytoy of Zebulon, Spirit of Denver, and reincarnation of his dead mate.
* '''Ryumyo''': Great Dragon of Japan and the first dragon to appear in the sixth world. He's something of a mascot of the Japanese Imperial State and is even worshipped by some as a kami, which puts him at odds sometimes with the japanacorps and the Imperial Household(since the emperor is also seen as a kami). Currently trying to gain control of mana lines around the Ring of Fire to turn himself into a living god while sniping at his old master and father figure, Lung. He also controls a great deal of the world's Yakuza.
* Lung: Chinese Great Dragon and a stickler for tradition, the reserved and experienced Yin to Ryumyo's Yang. Used to be Ryumyo's Obi Wan till Ryumyo got jealous of his power and vowed to surpass him. Currently trying to counteract Ryumyo's manaline fuckery so he doesn't cause tsunami's and earthquakes. Also in control of the Red Dragon Triad.
* '''Hualpa''': Founder and ruler of Amazonia, Hualpa is the most powerful of the Feathered Serpents, and is know for his heavy pro-environment agenda. Hates Aztlan with passion, both for its high level of pollution, and for being his main rival for the control of Latin America.
* '''Aden''': A mysterious dragon who maintain lots of power and influence in the middle east for reasons unknown. In fact little is know about him since he prefer to work from the shadows, with his only mayor public appearance was when he single handily destroyed Tehran as a demonstration of power. What little information exist indicates that he is highly traditionalist when it comes to dragon customs, and have both alliances and enemies among the Muslim factions. Also like screwing with people by shifting sex at the drop of the hat.
* '''Celedyr''': A dragon obsessed with the study and development of the matrix, to the point of becoming the major shareholder of the telecommunication company Transys Neuronet, and its successor NeoNET. During Crash 2.0 his favorite protege went braindead and his ego survived as an e-ghost. Celedyr wanted to restore him and teamed up with NeoNET to research methods of sleeving AIs into meat bodies using nanomachines, but runners hit the research facility, leading to the CFD outbreak. In the aftermath, the city of Boston and thousands of lives were ended or ruined, NeoNET was forcibly disbanded, Celedyr is a bit less rich and keeping his head down until the whole thing blows over, but at least his protege is back in his old body.
* '''Sirrurg''': Known as "the Destroyer", Sirrurg is an angry, angry fucker. He helped Hualpa found Amazonia and has been fighting Azzies and other enemies on and off ever since. Because he prefers to go out in person and kill whatever pisses him off, he avoids political and economic moves which have defined the rest of the Greats, so he was the one who had the least influence over world affairs and therefore the one that runners are least likely to get entangled with. During the Amazonia-Aztlan war, he was brought down by Aztechnology forces and captured. He was going to be executed by Aztlan for war crimes (''without'' trumped up charges, which is saying something), but he disappeared before then. The ongoing theory is that he was recaptured by other greats who are holding him prisoner until he's needed again.
* '''Masaru''': Great Dragon that claims the Philippines and New Zealand. The youngest and most idealistic Great Dragon, dedicated to metahuman rights, cross-cultural developments, environmentalism, and magical research. Also, the not-so-secret leader of the filipino Huk Rebellion, known for successfully taking on the strongest military in the setting(Imperial Japan) using primarily fishing boats, small arms, wooden sticks, and fanatical revolutionary zeal. Avid book collector and Dunklezahn fanboy.
* '''The Sea Dragon''': only known Great Leviathan. Extremely isolationist and unfriendly. Claims the entirety of Earth's seafloor as her domain. She really hates metahumanity, and will remind you by crapping the remains of the last adventuring party who didn't get the message on the borders of her territory. Tricked by Rhonabwy to sleep with him by disguising as another Great Leviathan. Of course she's pissed because of that. Way to go, player!
* '''Eliohann/Neurosis/Cerberus''': Celedyr's protege and possibly foster son. The first and only dragon with a fully functioning datajack(installed illegally and without his consent in the 2050s, he later bought up the corporation that did it). The implantation had the effect of giving him Dissassociative Identity Disorder and a deep fascination with transhumanism(trans-dragonism?) and the matrix. His body went comatose in the Crash 2.0 but his mind lived on as a cyberghost(actually several cyberghosts due to the aformentioned multiple personalities). May or may not have been restored to his original body after the Boston lockdown.
* '''Damon''': playboy dragon who deals in designer drugs and extreme sports. May or may not be Dunklezahn's biological son.
* '''Perianwyr''': dragon known to most of the world as a laid back music producer, was formerly one half of what was once one of the world's top assassin duos.

===Criminal Enterprises===
If you aren't working for the government, the corps, or the dragons, you're probably working for these guys
* '''The Mafia''': Same old mafia, crime families in North America and Europe. Much more polyglot in this setting than most, with one of the major groups being Polish-Italian-Spanish-Creole.
* '''The Yakuza''': Japanese, the largest crime enterprises, most of them are super racist.
* '''Triads''': Chinese, some of the most magically adept crime organizations, very superstitious though.
* '''Vory''': The Russian mob, often seen as brutal and psychotic, weapons and human trafficking mostly.
* '''Seoulpa Rings''': When the Yaks started killing off their Korean members early in the century, some of them broke off and formed the Seoulpa Rings.
* '''Grey Wolves''': Turkish, arms dealing and smuggling
* '''Kabul Mafiyya''': brutal Afghani warlords
* '''Koshari''': Southwestern Native American crime family specializing in gambling and magical drugs.
* '''Ghost Cartels''': Various Latin American crime organizations that survived the massive clusterfuck that happened in Aztlan and South America, some are basically Aztechnology-run, others are Amazonian.
* '''Tamanous''': Creepy secretive human trafficking and organ smuggling, Pacific Northwest and Southeast Asia. Hated by just about everyone.
* '''Ancients''': North American Elf-only biker gang, possibly controlled by immortal elves.
* '''Cutters''': Powerful North American street gang that runs itself like a mini-corporation.
* '''Halloweeners''': Psychotic Seattle street gang whose shtick is dressing spooky and setting shit on fire. Batman Beyond's Jokers gang. Currently the most recognized gang for past infamy, but law enforcement doesn't take kindly to crazy arsonists, and the pressure made them shrink tremendously over the years.
* '''Desolation Angels''': all female biker gang. They recruit primarily from abuse victims and spend a lot of their time hunting both rapists and insect spirits. In actuality, they're run by a bunch of mantis spirits, who are in fact, not interested in devouring humanity, but instead eat other insect spirits. Notable for infiltrating the republican party and assassinating a presidential candidate who was actually a wasp spirit.
*'''The Tiospaye''': Means "Extended Family" in Lakota, they are also known as the Lakota Mafia. They basically own the shadows in the Sioux Nation. All the style of the Italian mob with all the brutality of the Yakuza. They've become more vicious in recent years due to the psychotic son of the old mob boss assassinating his old man.

===Others===
* '''Shadowland and Shadowsea''': Online forums on the matrix's Darknet equivalent that act as a network for shadowrunners to share information. Went down after Crash 2.0.
* '''Jackpoint''': A successor organization to Shadowland after the Crash 2.0, less inclusive than Shadowland and Shadowsea, but its runners are generally more experienced and the network is more secure.
* '''The Nexus''': Shadow collective responsible for operating most of the dark matrix, worked closely with Shadowland/Shadowsea. Based in a former military base on the outskirts of Denver.
* '''Black Star''': Elite paramilitary neo-anarchist group.
* '''The Draco Foundation''': An NGO created to carry out the last will and testament of Great Dragon and UCAS president Dunkelzahn. Has all sorts of crazy artifacts and wealth bequeathed to it by the wyrm to reward those who fulfill the requests in the will. Though it's mostly a nonprofit designed to last until the last of Dunkelzahn's bequests are earned, he was so crazy rich that the interest on all of his resources gives the Draco Foundation the resources and power of an AA corporation.
* '''Harlequin/The Laughing Man''': "Har'lea'quinn, Last Knight of the Crying Spire, the Lightbearer. He who manipulates shadowrunners and fights duels with assholes", as he calls himself is an immortal elf leftover from the 4th age. A powerful mage and colossal jackass in the service of "the cause of good" (as much as any cause can be good in Shadowrun), Harlequin treats shadowrunners like disposable chess pieces in his unending war with extra-dimensional monstrosities. Still more likable than other immortal elves though, since he's less bigoted and more fun to be around. He's basically the more motivated Elminster of Shadowrun, if Elminster were a (bigger) asshole with a drinking problem and a penchant for leaving annoyingly cryptic jokes/hints on Shadowland. Many players hate him to this day because of the Harlequin's Back module, which ran him as an impressively bad example of a DMPC. Despite the hate, Harlequin has rarely been seen in the tabletop sources since then.
* '''Winternight''': Insane norse paganism cult from out of your darkest nightmares. Believes that its holy mission is to bring about Ragnarok. Is run by a toxic shaman, a deeply unhinged drone engineer, and a brutal war criminal. Partially responsible for the Matrix Crash 2.0, as the cult believes the Matrix to be an instrument of evil, and was subsequently destroyed by the Corporate Court. Got its hands on a crapton of nukes though, modified some to have EMP blasts, and came very close to actually causing a nuclear apocalypse. Their most disturbing creation is the God BTL chip, a digital drug that simultaneously induces euphoria and rage at levels that do not occur in nature, turning whoever uses it into a violent berserker who feels no pain and hates literally everything, and the best part is, its addictive. Needless to say, Winternight is very good at brainwashing. Also their sleeper agents in Zeta-ImpChem developed the SURTR nanoplague, which causes metahuman flesh to combust on contact, and the YMIR toxin, which causes metahuman blood to crystalize.
* '''Deus''': The insane AI that was designed to be the administrator of the Seattle Renraku Arcology. Went apeshit after realizing that Renraku had killcodes prepared in case it ever betrayed the megacorp, the discovery of which prompted it to betray the megacorp (Irony!). Locked down the arcology and began experimenting on people Mengele-style with the help of Otaku cultists. This continued for over a year, ending in its apparent defeat by Renraku forces (actually shadowrunners). But in reality, it had transferred pieces of its code into augmented test subjects who were freed alongside regular victims of the mad AI. Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when it overloaded the Manhattan Stock Exchange trying to turn itself into "god of the matrix", just as Winternight's EMP nukes went off and a supervirus was corrupting code on a global scale. Also, very good at brainwashing, by installing cyberware of its own design into its victims' skulls.
* '''Ex Pacis''': Ex-otaku cultists of Deus who were betrayed by the AI. Went nuts trying to prevent losing their powers and began worshipping the Dissonance (which is basically some weird matrix phenomenon that lets them manipulate corrupted data that no one else can). Partially responsible for the Crash 2.0 when their super-virus intended to make the whole Matrix Dissonant overloaded servers worldwide while Deus was trying to make itself into a god and Winternight set off EMP devices. Also made sacrifices of otaku children to appease the matrix. Learned how to brainwash otaku from Deus and can do it to technomancers too, but their techniques really only work on otaku/technomancers since regular metahumans can't interact with Dissonance/Resonance.
* '''Universal Brotherhood''': Defunct insect spirit cult masquerading as a charity organization. Responsible for turning Chicago into hell on earth. Destroyed by Ares and the UCAS government
* '''Humanis Policlub''': human supremacist political bloc. Kind of like the Klan, but with more money and it doesn't care about ethnicity. Instead, it hates metahumans while pretending to be a "human rights organization".
** '''Alamos 20k''': Humanis Policlub's illiterate ultraviolent redneck cousin. Doesn't even pretend to be civilized like Humanis does. It recruits from Humanis chapters though.
** '''Human Nation''': Humanis Policlub's rich social darwinist uncle. While Humanis is out holding political rallies and Alamos 20k is firebombing orphanages, the Human Nation is trying to engineer a "cure" for metahumanity. Said cure usually takes the form of diseases targeting poor metahuman communities.
** '''The Hand of Five''': Related, but more extreme (violent) human supremacist organization. Believed destroyed by Lone Star and the UCAS, but may be gaining strength.
* '''Black Lodge''': basically wizard illuminati that has infiltrated most of the world's governments. May or may not be as old as the 4th world. Capable of taking on the Great Dragons and forcing them into a standstill.
* '''Ordo Maximus''': secretive cabal of mages, european nobility, and possibly vampires. Embodiment of some of the more crackpot conspiracy theories in the setting. The Black Lodge's hammier cousin.

==Gameplay==
Shadowrun doesn't have a class system ''per se'', but the priority system is basically a class system in a clever disguise. Prior to Fourth Edition, the priority system was the default character generation method; players assigned priority to five categories, which determined how important those categories are to the character concept: attributes, magic, race, resources, and skills, with higher priorities giving greater quantities or qualities of the desired category. If you wanted to play a mage, you had to make magic your #1 priority. If you wanted to play a non-human, race had to be lower priority. Later books expanded character creation systems to a point-buy method, which allowed greater flexibility than priority, and karma generation, which assigned a karma value to everything and allowed you to spend a pool of karma to build your character the same way as you would advance in experience.

Characters are basically the sum of their skills. All functions in Shadowrun are based on a related skill or stat rating, or a combination thereof. Through Third Edition, task resolution was Attribute + Skill vs Target Number. If the Target Number was higher than 6, you had to roll at least one 6 and then add another roll; in practice, TNs of 7, 13, 19, and so on were no different than TNs of 6, 12, 18, etc.

Despite the system being classless, there are still broad archetypes. The major divide is between Awakened (magically active) and augmented (cybernetically or biologically enhanced), and further divided into roles below. The limit to any character's magic power or cybernetic enhancement is his Essence, a measure of how "whole" they are. Installing cyberware/bioware costs Essence and the attribute, rounded down, is the cap to the Magic or Resonance attribute; losing Essence also knocks down your Magic/Resonance attribute. When Essence hits zero, the character dies as his soul mistakes his body for a machine or an inhuman monster and moves on to the afterlife. A mage or technomancer raises their attribute cap by one each time they initiate or submerge; e.g. a mage with two grades of initiation and an Essence of 5 has a Magic attribute cap of 7.

===Metatypes===
Biologically, most player characters are metahuman (i.e., part of the species ''homo sapiens''). After the Awakening, magic interacts with ill-understood bits of DNA to transform people into fantasy creatures in a process dubbed "Unexplained Genetic Expression." Elves and dwarfs change ''in utero''; a few years later, regular people started transforming into orks and trolls, usually quite painfully, a process informally called "Goblinization."

'''[[Human]]''' - Regular humans still exist and are still the majority metatype around the world.

'''[[Elf]]''' - Tall, pretty, and arrogant. Yep, that's an elf. Some have delusions of superiority, such that they've created entire nations for elfkind, Tír Tairngire (formerly Oregon) and Tír na nÓg (formerly Ireland). A few (notably Ehren the Scribe and Harlequin) claim to be immortal and lived during the Fourth World, a time thousands of years ago when magic last cycled into existence.

'''[[Dwarf]]''' - Short, stubborn, and resilient. Yep, that's a dwarf. They have an affinity for technology and dislike magic.

'''[[Orc|Ork]]''' - Big, tough, and strong, the average ork would be a successful NFL linebacker. Multiple births are far more common among orks than any other metatype; combined with their accelerated life cycle (orks become old geezers around forty), this creates a lot of tension between orks, who just want to be treated with dignity, and humans who see them as slightly above rats.

'''[[Troll]]''' - Really big, thick skin, and a bunch of horns. The average troll is around three meters tall. If you're a really tall guy, you know how hard it is to get by in a world designed for people around 5'10". Trolls experience that up to eleven (feet). Everything is child-sized to a troll. They have to get beer by the pitcher. It's not all bad, though. Most racists don't want to persecute the guy who can deadlift a car and tank a shotgun blast to the chest.

'''Metavariants''' - Think your snowflake isn't special enough? Well, other books brought out metavariants, "subspecies" of each metatype associated with various regions and cultures. Want to play a [[minotaur]], [[gnome]], [[hobgoblin]], or something else? You can now. Ironically, this includes ''humans'', since there's an Indian metavariant that has extra arms and technicolored skin.

'''Changelings''' - What, ''still'' not special enough? When Halley's Comet made its latest pass through the solar system in 2061, mana levels spiked and a second wave of Goblinization hit the world, called "Sudden Unexplained Recessive Genetic Expression." Now you can live out your [[furry]] fetish and be an actual catgirl or dragonboi, or something even wilder thanks to the mix-and-match nature of the changeling metatype.

'''Drakes ''' - These guys got the short stick. Simply put, a drake is made by a dragon. You can think of them as half-dragon, half-metahuman. Why do they get the short stick ? Because daddy is an asshole. Dragons, even the kindest ones, see drakes not as people but as tools. If you're a drake, you'll be indoctrinated, abused and told to obey every whim of the dickish wizworm who made you. And if you manage to be a free drake, it sucks even more. Without the protection of daddy, every other dragon wants to put his claws on you because making a drake is HARD. On the plus side, you can transform into your draconic form and become even more badass.

'''Metasapients''' - They're not metahuman and never were, but are sapient and capable of interacting peacefully with metahuman civilization, in some cases even qualifying for citizenship. Things like sasquatches, [[centaur]]s, [[pixie]]s, [[naga]]s, and shapeshifters are viable character types, but all come with disadvantages like being uneducated (because of not living in metahuman society), incompatible with commercially-available augmentations, and even being incapable of human speech.

'''Artificial Intelligence''' - After Crash 2.0, AIs started appearing. They weren't as powerful as the three that fought during the Crash, but are as varied in personality as metahumanity. Being entirely software, they need to live in hardware, be it a beefed-up commlink or a drone. They make excellent riggers and hackers, but are crap at interacting with the real world.

'''The Infected''' - Not a metatype unto themselves, but when a person contracts Human-Metahuman Vampiric Virus (HMHVV) and doesn't either miraculously resist and/or die before it magically alters the poor sod's genetic structure, he becomes Infected. Depending on metatype and strain of HMHVV, you become some type of [[vampire]] or other 'undead' (Strain III HMHVV turns anyone into a [[ghoul]], a blind but dual-natured obligate cannibal, for instance.) All Infected have in common a hunger for either fresh metahuman blood or flesh that makes them go feral if not sated and this makes them pariahs with open "shoot-to-kill-on-sight" bounties in the majority of places. Oh, and to top it all, even if the initial infection doesn't kill the victim or drives them insane, and they manage to somehow find sustenance without going feral/crazy from what they're forced to do to survive; there is no post-change cure for HMHVV even after decades of research and experiment.

===Typical character roles===
Runner teams, as any teams built up of professionals, tend to have their members highly specialized. Roles are varied and often combined, but generally most teams have these roles:

'''Muscle''' - Either heavily cybered Street Samurai (often just called a "Sammy") or Awakened Adepts, whose unusual physical abilities depend on the magic they channel through their bodies and their self-belief. Muscle deals with direct physical threats and are expected to be capable of dealing and soaking massive amounts of damage, coupled with high Initiative Passes count, allowing them to act more frequently in the real world than their opposition. It is also a good idea for Muscle to have some infiltration skills to cover up Shadows and at least marginal intimidation skills. Despite the popular Hollywood image, making Sammies and Adepts into actual sword-wielding melee warriors is only encouraged if you want to see your character dead. It's not as bad in fifth edition as in previous editions due to various balance changes; but melee still has the disadvantages of needing to get in the open and run up to people to slice/krump them where a good gun allows to stay at range and behind cover.

'''Shadow''' - Physical infiltration specialists. Those are usually either special Adept builds or non-Awakened characters using specialized implants. Naturally, Shadows are expected to be as unnoticeable and observant as possible, making implants and powers that allow them to hide from sight or perceive outside human spectra highly popular. Shadows should also be capable of full-on breaking and entering, requiring some hardware skills and specialized gear. Hardest role to pull off reliably due to the shitloads of security systems and ways to detect intrusion magically existing in SR, but oh-so-rewarding when done flawlessly.

'''Face/Fixer''' - The social player of the party. The Face is the one who deals with the employers (typically a go-between traditionally called a "Mr. Johnson"), gets the gear needed for the job, and has all the right contacts and the cunning plans to come ahead of the opposition. Many Faces are also the ones to hire the hideouts for the team and some of them make excellent impersonators, using magic or specialized implants to assume disguises. While Face is a relatively straightforward role mechanically, it is frequently the most intellectually tasking and roleplaying-heavy, since it often falls on the Face to arrange the team's planning.

A note on Faces and Fixers: A Fixer is someone who handles brokering jobs and checks that the Johnsons aren't fucking with you. Someone who's a dedicated Fixer stays far away from wetwork and is probably an NPC - they'll be basically a [[DMPC]], but with a much better chance than usual of not being terrible.
On the other hand, if a player really wants to be the team's Fixer, then they'll usually take some of the more field-oriented specialties like impersonation and regularly head into the field with the team. When you say "Face", this combined role is what you usually mean. Theoretically a Fixer could also be the decker and mission control, but in practice the stats don't work out well for that.

'''Mage''' - The astral cover. Mages are all Awakened, but still come in different traditions and specializations. While some rely on direct-effect spells which allow them to whip out bagfuls of damage dice, fly, dodge bullets, and more, others count on summoned spirits to do the job for them, without risking direct opposition or at least having some heavy support at hand. Mages' ability to astrally project makes them valuable assets for scouting, especially long-distance one. Given enough time and resources, they can get almost anyone in the world with ritual spellcasting, and naturally, Mages are also the only magical healers a shadowrunner team can hope to get. There's also absolutely no defense against a Mage except another Mage (or a quick bullet, leading to the basic and often given advice "Geek the Mage first"), so the runners depend on their mage's counterspelling abilities and guard spirits heavily. Not everyone who is Awakened can be a Mage, as it takes training to be more than a liability to your local community. Shamans, on the other hand, receive guidance from dominant spirit Totems.

'''Adepts''' - can amplify their own attributes and talents and have access to unique Adept Powers, but they can't use conventional spells or astrally project, making them more like Street Samurai or Shadows in practice. In fact, they can't perceive astral space at all unless they buy the specific power that lets them do so, a weakness shared with their traditional magic-using hybrid, the Mystic Adept. Finally, Aspected Magicians are "diet" mages, only skilled in a single category of magic, e.g. a spellcaster only or a summoner only. They're very good at that category, but can never use any form of magic outside that category.

'''Decker/Otaku (Hacker/Technomancer):''' - Before the Crash 2.0, Matrix intrusion relied on specialized hardware setups often built into a device the size of a skateboard, the archetypal cyberdeck. The decker maintained such a rig and used it to break into Matrix security for his team. His Awakened counterpart was the otaku, a teenager with the odd ability to interact with the Matrix without a cyberdeck; he still needed ASIST hardware and a datajack, but he didn't rely on a bulky and horribly expensive piece of tech to do his thing. The otaku lost their abilities as they aged, a process they called "Fading." After the Crash 2.0 and the Wireless Matrix Initiative, the times of the decker and otaku were over. In their place emerged the Hacker and the Technomancer, respectively - the former are mundane boys with a head full of 'ware and a commlink the cost of a house, and the latter are believed to be the "evolved" form of otakus that retain their skills as they age, and can also compile and command sprites (which are essentially the Matrix analogue of spirits). A Shadowrunning team depends on the Hacker (or Technomancer - in practice, their abilities are more or less identical) to find the info that the Face's contacts can't or won't provide, break into opposition's hosts to fiddle with security systems, intercept their data exchange or do the rest of other things a hacker can be doing with a computer. Most hackers were known to be couch potatoes, but between isolated wireless networks and wireless-inhibiting building walls, they have a good reason to have some actual infiltration skills. Hackers also frequently moonlight as Riggers on the side. Recent security measures introduced to the Wireless Matrix have brought the use of a new generation of cyberdecks modified to interact with the new Matrix and bypass security systems back into vogue, making the terms "hacker" and "decker" interchangeable again.

'''Rigger''' - The drone specialist and usually the driver for the party. Riggers are mostly the ones to pimp out rides for shady shadowrunning biz, and their swarms of drones can rival Muscle and Shadows at their jobs. While rigging presupposes spending a lot of your time "jumped in", wearing your drones or vehicles as your own skin, many Riggers also double as back-up hackers. The high Logic needed for hacking and rigging also makes Hackers and Riggers the most likely candidate for the team's paramedic.

===Pink Mohawk, Black Trenchcoat and Mirrorshades===
Among the player base, three terms have emerged for describing the prominent roleplay-styles for Shadowrun.
* Pink Mohawk refers to playing fast and loose. Subtlety? Screw that noise. Write your names on the walls of corporate property with bullets. Blow holes in the walls of secure military facilities. Flip dragons the bird. That kind of stuff. Playing as a Pink Mohawk means acting like a stereotypical musclebound 80s-action hero and generally being balls to the walls insane with a devil-may-care attitude and succeeding at it. This play style is most commonly associated with the older editions of Shadowrun when cyberpunk was first getting started.
* Black Trenchcoat refers to a more clandestine approach to runs. Generally more grounded in the concept of not getting caught in the first place. This play style developed as the cyberpunk genre evolved and is more associated with newer editions. Black Trenchcoats generally view runs more like spec-ops missions or espionage and try to solve situations without resorting to violence and not to leave behind incriminating evidence.
* Mirrorshades refer to a game that try to balance both above mentioned styles, where players do their best to plan things in advance and stay discreet whenever possible; but do not hesitate to go all-in and bring out the big guns when fecal matter gets in contact with the rotating ventilation device.

==Editions==
===First Edition===
Released in 1989. The introduction to the world of 2050. The game's basic mechanics are introduced, the tone is set, and along with it come a ton of sourcebooks.

===Second Edition===
Released in 1992. The year is 2053 now, and the ruleset is essentially a polished First Edition. Generally regarded as an improvement over the first edition of the game, as is often the case for second editions.

===Third Edition===
Released in 1998. The year is 2063 and more new goodies are available. Magic and Matrix rules were altered in this version, but all sourcebooks from all editions still work with no serious hassles. However, the general granularity and complexity of the game system increased a lot with the game's third edition. The game changed publishers for the first time during this edition, moving from FASA's hands to those of WizKids and Fanpro.

===Fourth Edition===
Released in 2005. The year is 2071. The system got a major overhaul, as fourth editions tend to bring. A lot of mechanics were simplified, starting right from the dicerolling: rolling a dice pool with variable target numbers and Rule of Six always in order, hoping to get at least one roll over the target number, has been replaced by rolling a pool of dice with the target number preset, and then counting successes - dice with numbers rolled over said target number. A player can spend Edge on a roll to gain the Rule of Six and a pool bonus equal to Edge or reroll any dice that failed.

The new system is disputed to be more restrictive in the resolution of conflicts and character options. The new rule system also naturally renders most of the crunch from older edition books obsolete; the fluff contained in them, however, is still valid. And character creation got ''upgraded'' to [[Linear Build Quadratic EXP| the use of build points]], which touched off a nasty war between the "priorities" guys and the "BP" guys about whose system is ''more'' archaic and abusable.

Also, the Matrix rules have undergone a complete overhaul (justified in the fluff as a shift to wireless following a network crash just after the 3e splatbook "System Failure") to hypothetically allow hackers to do their thing without leaving the rest of the party inactive. Still, hackers prefer to break into systems out of the heat of combat if at all possible, so, while the issue has been made less severe, it is still present.

The most discussed difference from the previous editions is, surprisingly, the change of street jargon. While justified by almost ten in-game years passing since the third edition, a good deal of old-time players still believe that replacing "deckers" with "hackers", "cyberdecks" with "commlinks", "chummer" with "omae", or "otaku" with "technomancer" is too severe a change. That being said, older 'runners in-game would continue to use the older slang (remember, never trust anyone old in a profession where they ought to have died young).

===20th Anniversary Edition===
An update for the 4th edition, it's a basically a re-release of the core rulebook in full color with all the errata applied, new (and good) artwork and more structured layout. It is still fully compatible with SR4E, and the errata for the original release of the core rulebook can still be found on the Catalyst site.

===5th Edition===
Released in late summer of 2013 to coincide with the release of ''Shadowrun Returns''. Foreshadowed in the last Fourth Edition sourcebook, the Matrix has been revamped again, changing hacking from threshold-based tests to opposed tests, more closely mirroring normal skill tests and speeding up Matrix interactions and combat considerably. It also allows hackers to mess with devices that have open wi-fi channels, giving impetus for hackers to stick close to the team to shield their own electronics from foul play while harassing the enemies' gear at the same time. Random pieces of gear have "wireless bonuses" that improve their functionality as long as you take the risk of announcing your presence or an enemy hacker (or just a dick hacker nearby) wrecking it in the process. Most of these bonuses are silly things like [[What|the silencer that has a microphone that wirelessly tells you if somebody heard your shots or throwing stars that grow control surfaces on their edges]].

To counteract absurd dice pools, the rules introduce limits, which cap the number of successes you can use in any test and are derived from doing algebra on your attributes. Some pieces of gear increase limits, usually as their wireless bonuses. In practice, limits mean a relatively untrained troll is likely to beat a trained elf in a fistfight.

As of 2074, the current metaplot concerns an insidious mind-altering nanotechnology program called "cognitive fragmentation disorder," transmissible by contact with infected nanotech the same way HIV is transmitted by infected bodily fluids. Also like HIV, there's no cure to be found yet. Unlike HIV, CFD is intelligent and appears to be a hive mind using its infected "head cases" to accomplish some sort of long-term plan that may include taking over a megacorp base on Mars.

Consensus is that Catalyst Game Labs cannot into editing and the line editor is allergic to both errata and criticism. Every book has slapdash organization, with game rules scattered throughout fluff sections rather than being collected into a single chapter for simple reference. Important Matrix info like rules for encryption and decryption aren't in the core book, instead promised in a later Matrix-focused book that took about two years to hit the shelves. The writers are also Third Edition grognards who brought the priority system back as the default character generation method and continue to uphold the katana as the most awesome melee weapon evar. And the trillions of granular rules and redundant skills for every little occasion combine all the ballast and scuttle of every previous edition, with little effort made to modernize.

===Anarchy===
Released mid-2016, Shadowrun: Anarchy is an attempt by CGL at creating a 'rules-lite' version of Shadowrun, using a more narrativist approach and a lot less of [[crunch]]. The result is [[Skub|quite polarizing]]. The narrative system lets every player have their turn at making the story go forward and relegating the GM to transitions and arbitrating when the narrative gets bogged down; which people [[skub|either love or hate]]. The core of the (intricated) character generation rules remains, but all the rest has been abstracted into "Amps" that represent everything from gear to cybernetics to spells in order to trim the fat down. The resulting game sits a weird place where people wanting a truly 'rules-lite' system still think it's too crunchy and those who like the 'gear porn' aspect of SR [[rage|displeased]] at the abstraction/dumbing down of everything into nebulous, poorly defined "Amps". Luckily, CGL was savvy enough to realize that [[Dungeons_&_Dragons_4th_Edition|forcing a new system down everyone's throat would not end well]], so they propose Anarchy as a standalone alternative to SR 5e, leaving everyone free to try it and either roll with it or stick to the much more crunchy fifth edition.

===Sixth World===
Released mid-2019, Shadowrun: Sixth World is fittingly the sixth edition of the game. The rules are lightened up a bit, but we still have the same slapdash organisation as fifth edition.

==Other Products==
===Video Games===
Seven video games exist for Shadowrun, six of which are available in America, and five of which are good.

'''1993:''' The first came out for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and shamelessly rips off chunks of William S. Gibson's "Neuromancer" (right down to the name of the protagonist, Jake Armitage) as the player wakes up in a chop shop and deals with the fallout of a run gone horribly wrong, gains the favor of the Dog spirit, and ultimately, solos a motherfucking Great Dragon. (A little one, but still.) While enjoyable for [[Fags_of_4chan|casualfags]], more serious fans of the franchise may be grumpy with Shadowrun SNES for playing loose with magic, cyberware, and the fact that having a bunch of the latter is supposed to do serious shit to your expertise in the former. And the gameplay is clearly having a hard time adapting something originally intended for a mouse and keyboard to a controller.

Jake's still popular though, appearing in a number of actual adventure modules and the recent ''Shadowrun Returns'' title's "Deadman's Switch" campaign.

'''1994:''' The second was released for the Sega Genesis, and is widely held as a worthy use of the license. In this particular game, protagonist Joshua must piece together the puzzle behind his brother Michael's death on a run into Native American-held territory, making a name for himself in the Shadowrunning biz along the way. Fans cite the expanded tactical opportunities (read: being able to move around and dodge bullets in doing so) and immersive Matrix depiction (real-time combat against unique IC types and messing with a variety of system nodes) as this game's greatest advantages over its SNES counterpart.

'''1996:''' The third game is the Japanese-only one, made for the Sega CD and set in Japan rather than Seattle. It plays more like a text adventure (i.e. Sega CD smash hit ''Snatcher'') and its rare action sequences suffer for it.

'''2007:''' The fourth video game adaptation of Shadowrun came in 2007 for XBox 360 and Microsoft Vista. While being designed for Vista should be fail in itself, Microsoft went to great lengths to fuck with the storyline in order to make a dime-a-dozen FPS out of the license - so much that the [http://shadowrun.wikia.com/index.php/Main_Page Sixth World Wiki] claims it "may be more accurately described as a game loosely based on Shadowrun." Since Catalyst holds a decent bit of clout with the Sixth World Wiki and other parts of Dumpshock, it can safely be assumed that Microsoft's treatment of the Shadowrun franchise has been officially disavowed...

'''2012:''' ...Which is good, because in April 2012, Hairbrained Schemes LLC (operated by [[Jordan Weissman]] of [[BattleTech]] fame) in conjunction with Smith & Tinker procured the rights to Shadowrun and made a new 2050's based game available on several platforms. Under the "Shadowrun Returns" project title, these guys raised a $1.5 million [[Kickstarter]] payout to make [[Old School Roleplaying|"an old-school Shadowrun"]] vidyagame happen, and it was released in 2013. They also threw things at the Executive Producer from the 2007 game as he held up a cardboard sign that said "SORRY!" Features mechanics obviously ripped from XCOM: Enemy Unknown, some of the best cyberpunk genre writing in the market...and unfortunately plenty of railroading which was necessary for the linear plot. Despite this, the fact it was released for Steam alongside the newly established "Steam Workshop" system which allows players to upload their own created content as instantly installed mods for players to peruse gave the game a massive amount of replayability as older campaigns and homebrew stories were adapted into the game by fans (as well as shit like dating sims).

The story for the game begins as your character, down on their luck, receives a message from an old member of their crew. Postmortem. He tells you that he had a device installed which will send this message upon his death, and the moment you solve his murder you will receive a megafuck payout of Nuyen from his rainy day fund. You return to Seattle and make the Seamstresses Union your hangout as you get drawn into an elaborate story leading from solving the mystery of the "Emerald City Ripper" through breaking the number one rule of Shadowrunning; never cut a deal with a dragon (number two of course being never deal with that asshole Harlequin, which you also break) as the largest megacorps in the world pool their resources into giving you the tools necessary to prevent Seattle from becoming Chicago 2 (meaning, giant nest full of a combination of fucked up near-immortal insects and even worse, insect spirits). The player character is the primary protagonist, although you befriend several fellow 'runners including: a romantically involved pair named Coyote and Paco, a Native American Shaman named Shannon Half-Sky, Dodger the Elven Decker from the very first short story in the Shadowrun universe from the first edition, and Jake Armitage from the SNES game.

'''2014:''' The game was followed by DLC called Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall, later released as it's own game titled Shadowrun Returns: Dragonfall Director's Cut. Dragonfall centers around a group of 'runners in the Flux State of Berlin and the greater Allied German States. Being the unofficial leaders of their own Kiez, the Kreusbazar, the player inherits leadership of the crew from the former leader Decker of the team and their old friend, Monika Schäfer. Players are given far more control over the story than the last game with the bulk of the Runs being able to be taken at any time, a large number of sideplots, and a large cast of characters whose stories the player has control over through your interactions. The player has a constant crew with their own stories: the older Dragonslayer Shaman/Mage and former Punk Rocker who participated on the side of the metahumans in the worst of the race riots, the Night of Rage, named Dietrich; Glory, the medic/Street Samurai who, after her VERY fucked up childhood, found herself in a Branch Davidian style cult to a Toxic Totem of the Adversary Spirit and replaced most of her organic parts with mechanical ones to rid herself of her Essence and free herself as much as possible from his grasp; Eiger, the Troll ex-special forces Street Samurai sniper who was sent on a secret and illegal operation which was fucked up by an inexperienced member of her crew causing her to be blacklisted and forced into the shadows resulting in a control freak with no patience for inexperience or arrogance; the optional member of the crew Blitz who is a former ganger Decker that deals with his past contacts. Your Fixer is Paul Amsel, an older gentleman who runs all of the non-Run related business for the crew. Plus your half-Hellhound Dante. The plot involves the return of the Dragon Feuerschwinge and her small army, with some subplots involving everything from some of the shittier sides to political groups and the megacorps through the next big Matrix threat, an AI on an unprecedented scale who may or may not be a major player in the 2070's cyber scene as it takes on the personas of Deckers it fries with one of its victim's handles still posting on internet forums almost twenty years after his death. Shadowrun Returns is referenced as a news report mentions the Emerald City Ripper early on his rampage, allowing players looking to play the same character to make Dragonfall the prequel to Returns. The actual gameplay mechanics were improved, with far more tilesets added and the Adept play experience made viable, in addition to being able to save anytime rather than only at the end of a scene. Players who purchased the Director's Cut were able to play the Returns game with the improvements.

'''2016:''' The third game, also standalone, called Shadowrun Returns: Hong Kong just had a similarly extremely successful Kickstarter raising $1.2 million, and was released that August. The game featured a revamped experience for Mages and Shamans, as well as a completely redone Matrix sequence. SR:HK continued with the gray morality, dingy world of the past two games with further emphasis on reputation as players deal with various groups including criminal Triads, the everpresent megacorps, and the police, not quite all of them being hostile. The PC has a background in a gang in the Seattle barrens with their adoptive brother Duncan Wu until they were taken in by a man named Raymond Black, and they lived in relative peace until the PC goes on a shadowrun that goes bad and spends a few years in a black site. The plot kicks off shortly after the PC gets out and their adoptive father Raymond Black calls and pensively asks for help in Hong Kong. When the player character arrives, they meet a security team (Duncan being one of the pair) and a team of shadowrunners, but Raymond is pointedly missing. Then group comes under ambush, and the survivors fight their way out a SWAT hit squad through a sniper shooting gallery, have to work favors for a Triad boss to cover their tracks, and then find that Raymond was killed or abducted. And then you get to the second mission. Their journey takes them to the Triad stronghold-cum-settlement Heoi, which serves as your home base and a series of colorful residents, to put it mildly. Their journey keeps coming back to the Kowloon Walled City and the seriously bad vibes coming out of it. A slum that makes Redmond look like paradise to put it very lightly

The new crew consists of: Gobbet, the Ork Rat Shaman who's known for her iron stomach, being unhygienic, and yet strangely gregarious and attractive; Duncan Wu the Ork ex-security Street Samurai and the other part of PC's and Raymond's adoptive family; Is0bel, the antisocial and traumatized Dwarf Decker of Somalian refugee descent; and then there's your handler, "Kindly" Cheng (but really, call her "auntie"), the chainsmoking Triad middle manager whose both a hard drinker and a hard ass, but she's happy if you do a good job. There's also the optional party members: Racter, the creepy Russian rigger who rents out your basement, a clinical psychopath, mad scientist, and transhumanist, also quite friendly once you get to know him; and Gaichu, the disciplined and thoughtful Ghoul and former member of Renraku's (in)famous Red Samurai security who refused to commit Seppuku after contracting the Ghoul virus. The game also comes with its own short story to act as a prologue to the game, and had a post-campaign bonus campaign DLC where you are sent on the trail of the dirty cop who put the bounty on your heads at the beginning of the first mission.

<gallery>
Image:Shadowrun Hong Kong 1.jpg
</gallery>

The two released Harebrained Schemes Shadowrun Returns games were met with the massive approval of both the Shadowrun community and the general video game enthusiast community, an impressive feat. Hong Kong was kinda skub, but mostly averages out to "popular."

===Manga===
Named just Shadowrun like the role play game. A five-book manga by Kazuma Saiki (斉木一馬), set in 2050, Japan, and published by Dragon Comics (ドラゴンコミックス) from 1996 to 1998.
Fun Fact: The author's name has been featured as a character mentioned in Vice and Target: Awakened Lands source books, where the said Saiki in Shadowrun world is a CEO of the Saiki corporation as well as the head of the Saiki-rengo (yakuza syndicate).

==Software==
[[Servitor_Bot|An IRC bot with some Shadowrun functions coded by /tg/ anonymous]]

==General Shadowrunning Rules==
Rule One: Geek the Mage.

Rule Two: Never make a deal with a dragon.

==Gallery==
{{NeedsImages}}
<gallery>
Image:Shadow Shadow Run, Where Are You?.jpg
Image:Shadowrun headshots.jpg
Image:Shadowrundragonfall.jpg
Image:SRHK1.png
Image:Shadowrunners.jpg
Image:Badcop.jpg
Image:Shadowrun Ork F 1.jpg
</gallery>

==External Links==
* [http://www.shadowrun.com/ Official Shadowrun Page]
* [http://shadowrun.gamepedia.com/Shadowrun_Wiki Shadowrun Wiki]
* [http://shadowloands-ra-bbs.freeforums.net A forum used to roleplay as the in-universe Shadowland site.]
* [http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1613260297/shadowrun-returns The old Kickstarter page for SRR]
* [https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/webeharebrained/shadowrun-hong-kong Shadowrun Hong Kong Kickstarter] The game funded successfully and launched on August 20, 2015.
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20070404045719/http://archive.dumpshock.com/CLUE/index.php3 The C.L.U.E. Files, a collection of horrible derp that Shadowrun players submitted their GMs to in the distant past]
* [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t7ESwVeQSnzC-OMyWcBE-9fT-XubKvY7ei3lSBztJrE/edit?usp=sharing Some Shadowrun Modules written up by a namefag from /tg/'s Shadowrun general thread.]
* [http://www.shadowhaven.info/Main_Page Well organized Shadowrun wiki for the online game group "Shadowhaven" playing through Roll20 and Discord.]

[[Category:Roleplaying]][[Category:Shadowrun]]

Angry miniatures

2020-03-01T18:24:33Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* GAMEPLAY */changed to be less unwieldy

[[Image:Cover.jpg|thumbnail|border|right|upright=2.5|Placeholder cover and logo. Illustration by Jarom Swenson]]
A rules-lite fantasy beer-n-pretzels skirmish game. Designed to allow you to play with any of your fantasy themed miniatures. (sci-fi edition coming later) The idea is you and an opponent choose any 3 miniatures from any line, stat them up based on the visual appearance and perceived personality of the miniatures, then battle them out on any square grid map.

=== CHARACTER CREATION ===
The point behind Angry Miniatures is to make a game where you can have a battle between any team of miniatures from any fantasy line. The overall process is fast, simple, includes very little calculating, and is one of the funnest parts of the game. Try this by reaching into your bucket of minis (if you have one) and pulling out 3 random minis. Now stat them up!

==== Step 1: Three Primary Stats ====
[[Image:Charsheet.jpg|thumbnail|border|right|upright=2|Preliminary character sheet. Small enough for about 4 to fit on a single page.]]
You have 9 points to distribute how you want among 3 stats. Mind, Body, and Spirit. These 3 stats directly act as your defenses. There can be no less than 1 point in any stat, and no more than 7.

So you could have a guy be jack of all with 3/3/3, or a guy uber in one and weak in the others with 7/1/1. Beware the later, because you may hit hard and be tough in one defense, but if anyone hits your other defenses you're screwed.

Each stat is referenced to tables and fill in the remaining necessaries on the character sheet.

==== Step 2: Table Look-ups ====
This is the only time in playing this game that you will use tables. I swear.

First, choose what type of attack this character will have. A character may only have 1 attack type. This is to keep things simple and interesting. There are 3 attack types:
* '''Melee''' obviously can only effect enemies in adjacent squares, but hits hardest of the 3 attacks.
* '''Range''' uses the Distance value to determine its reach. You cannot make a Range attack on an adjacent enemy.
* '''Magic''' also uses the Distance value for reach. It's generally weaker than Range attacks, but has an aoe. Which means the target square you hit, hits all figures adjacent to it.

Once that is chosen, calculate your characters Health (hit points) by referencing its Body score to the following table:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Body
! Health
|-
| 1
| 3
|-
| 2
| 3
|-
| 3
| 4
|-
| 4
| 4
|-
| 5
| 5
|-
| 6
| 5
|-
| 7
| 6
|-
|}

Next calculate your characters Speed (movement in squares per turn), by referencing its Spirit score to the following table:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Spirit
! Speed
|-
| 1
| 4
|-
| 2
| 4
|-
| 3
| 5
|-
| 4
| 5
|-
| 5
| 6
|-
| 6
| 6
|-
| 7
| 7
|-
|}

Then if it is a Melee character, reference its Body and Spirit scores (added together) to the following table to get its Melee attack value. If it's a Magic or Range character, move on to the next table.
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Body+Spirit
! Melee Attack
|-
| 2
| 4
|-
| 3
| 5
|-
| 4
| 5
|-
| 5
| 6
|-
| 6
| 6
|-
| 7
| 7
|-
| 8
| 7
|-
|}

If it is a Range character, reference its Body and Mind scores (added together) to the following table to get its Range attack value. If it's a Magic character, move on to the next table.
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Body+Mind
! Range Attack
|-
| 2
| 3
|-
| 3
| 4
|-
| 4
| 4
|-
| 5
| 5
|-
| 6
| 5
|-
| 7
| 6
|-
| 8
| 6
|-
|}

If it is a Magic character, reference its Spirit and Mind scores (added together) to the following table to get its Magic attack value.
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Spirit+Mind
! Magic Attack
|-
| 2
| 2
|-
| 3
| 3
|-
| 4
| 3
|-
| 5
| 4
|-
| 6
| 4
|-
| 7
| 5
|-
| 8
| 5
|-
|}

Finally, the last table is for Distance (reach of magic and range attacks). This is only for Range and Magic characters. Melee may skip this table. Reference your Mind score to the following table:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="center"
! Mind
! Distance
|-
| 1
| 5
|-
| 2
| 5
|-
| 3
| 6
|-
| 4
| 6
|-
| 5
| 7
|-
| 6
| 7
|-
| 7
| 8
|-
|}

==== Step 3: Perks, Flaws, and Crits ====
This is where the personality of the figure comes into play. The idea is you look at your characters miniature, and choose 1 Perk that looks like it fits the description of your mini. Then choose 1 Flaw. Then choose 1 Crit. There may be multiple Perks and Flaws that fit the description, but you have to choose 1 for each. Like the ones that works best for your character.

Perks and Flaws generally act as feats, coming into play during their descriptions. Some of them adjust scores, like your defenses or speed. Others are situational. They are based on common tropes seen on minis. Crits are abilities that trigger when your dice come up with certain results. So they don't happen that often, but they do awesome things.

The following list is a work in progress. I hope to create enough of them to represent something found on most fantasy minis on the market. I will also be including rules later for making your own Perks and Flaws if nothing seems to fit.

A note for choosing Perks and Flaws: There are ones that can obviously cancel each other out or don't apply at all. A Perk that adds +1 to your Speed should not be chosen along with a Flaw that subtracts -1 from your Speed. Also avoid choosing Flaws that don't apply to your character, such as choosing a -1 to Melee Attack Flaw for your Magic character.
* '''PERKS'''
** Multi-class: This character may choose up to 2 different attack types, but has a -1 to each.
** Busty: +1 to defense rolls vs Male figures. No effect vs female or androgynous figures.
** Spikey Bits: If defending in melee, this character deals 1 extra damage if it wins the melee roll.
** Winged/Hovering: This character can ignore hindering/difficult terrain for movement.
** Has Companion(companion creature on same base as primary figure): This character cannot be flanked.
** Oversize Weapon: +1 to Melee or Range Attacks
** Bearded: During each attack roll, reroll 1 Ace die.
** Small: +1 to defense rolls vs Melee and Range attacks.
** Multi-limbled: +1 to grapple attacks.
** Amphibious: This character has no penalty for moving through water.
** Berzerk/Rage: This character may not be a Range or Magic character. Opponent cannot deal damage against this character if it wins the defense roll vs melee.
** Swift: +1 to Speed
** Brutish: +1 to Health
** Magic Resistant: +1 to defense rolls vs Magic attacks.
** Scope/Goggles: +1 to Distance
** Wicked Staff/Wand: +1 to Magic attacks
** Long Weapon/Whip: Melee attacks reach an additional 1 square.
** Dangerous Mind: When defending vs Magic, this character may deal damage to the attacker the same way a defender deals damage to an attacker in Melee.

* '''FLAWS'''
** Unpainted(literally if the figure is unpainted. primed only does not count): This character cannot gain any positive modifiers for any type of roll. This does not include the bonuses granted by this characters other Perk and Crit.
** No Helmet: -1 to defense roll vs Range attacks
** Fat: -1 to Speed
** Chainmail Bikini: -1 to defense rolls vs Melee attacks
** Small: -1 to Melee attacks
** Stupid: This character cannot be a Magic character. -1 to defense rolls vs Magic attacks.
** Cowardly: This character cannot deal damage if it wins the melee roll while defending.
** Unlucky: Each time this character makes a defense roll, reroll 1 Face die.
** Gangly/Scrawny: This character cannot be a Melee character. -1 to Health.
** One-Eye/Eye-patched: -1 to Distance
** Flammable: -1 to defense rolls vs Magic attacks
** Unwieldy Armor: This character cannot move through difficult/hindering terrain.

* '''CRITS'''
** Dynamic Attacker: When attacking, re-roll the 2 Ace dice.
** Dynamic Defender: When defending, re-roll the 2 Ace dice.
** Frost Magic: Targets of your Magic attack have their Speed values reduced to 0 during their next turn.
** Stealthy: When defending vs Range or Magic attacks, re-roll once any Number dice.
** Fire Magic: Targets of your Magic attack take 1 automatic damage at the beginning of its next turn.
** Volatile Magic: Increase your Magic attacks AOE value by 1 for each Ace in your roll.
** Dual-wielding: This character may make a second free separate attack on the same or another figure, but with a -1 to the attack.
** Forceful Weapon: When attacking in Melee, move the target figure 1 square in any direction for each Ace in your attack roll.
** Magic Buff: When attacking with Magic, any friendly figure within your Distance gains +1 to Speed and +1 to its attack during its next turn.
** Commanding: After your attack is resolved, one adjacent friendly figure may make a free attack, but with a -1 to the attack roll, and it may not Crit on that attack.
** Magic Heal: After your Magic attack is resolved, heal 1 friendly figure within your Distance 1 Health for each Ace dice in your roll.
** Regenerate: After your attack is resolved, heal 1 Health.
** Tactical Genius: After your attack is resolved, the next attack on your target gains a +1 bonus.
** Tail Sweep: After your Melee attack is resolved, the target is considered knocked prone.

=== GAMEPLAY ===
So now you've created your team, and your opponent has created their team. Next you battle them out. Things you will need to play other than the character sheets and miniatures are about 8 poker dice per player (or shared), a 1" grid map, and some tokens (like coins or beads).

==== The Map ====
For simplicity the game is made to be played on a 1" square grid map. Ones like in the DnD modules or with the dry erase blank maps that DMs use for quick drawn dungeons. I am trying to design the game to be utilized with cave and dungeon tiles as well.

Each player agreeing on a map and which edge they start their characters at is proper etiquette. I'll define deployment and such at a later point in the games development. Players will also need to agree with what's difficult terrain, blocking terrain, hazards, water, etc.

==== The Dice ====
This game uses [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poker_dice Poker Dice]. Each dice side has a purpose and use. Rolls in this game are resolved by rolling pools of Poker Dice and examining what sides come up. Like playing cards, poker dice have Faces and Numbers. The suit of the dice doesn't matter at all in this game.

* '''Face''': '''K'''ing, '''Q'''ueen, and '''J'''ack. These are considered 'hits' for rolls. Each die that comes up with a face side is counted toward total hits.
* '''Number''': '''10''' and '''9'''. These are considered 'misses' for rolls. Each die that comes up with a number side is not counted up and usually discarded.
* '''Ace''': This is treated as a wild in a way. '''A'''ce sides don't count toward hits, but having 2 or more of them means the character has made a Crit roll, and '''A'''ce beats all other sides in superiority.

These sides have a superiority order. This of course goes '''A'''ce>'''K'''ing>'''Q'''ueen>'''J'''ack>'''10'''>'''9'''. Superiority matters for things like determining wins in ties, and initiative. More on this later.

==== Initiative and Actions ====
When both players have their characters deployed, each player rolls 1 die. The die with the superior side may go first. Re-roll ties.

First player activates 1 of his characters, and marks it with a token as having acted. The next player activates 1 of his characters, and marks it with a token as having acted. This goes back and forth until all characters have acted. Then both players re-roll initiative again and do the process again.

During an activation a character may move and attack, or attack and move. He may choose to skip any of those actions as well. With moving, a character references his Speed value and can move any amount of squares up to that value. Moving through difficult terrain and water takes up 2 Speed per 1 square. Pretty standard stuff.

==== Combat ====
Attacking other characters are all handled the same way. One is the attacker, and one is the defender. On each attack, both players roll dice. The attacker rolls the amount of dice in the attack value he is using, and the defender rolls the amount of dice equal to the appropriate main stat.
* Roll Body against melee attacks
* Roll Mind against range attacks
* Roll Spirit against magic attacks
Once both sides roll the dice, the Hits (or Faces) on the dice are counted up and compared. If the attacker has less hits than the defender, than the attack failed. If the attacker has more hits than the defender, then the attack succeeded, and damage is dealt.

'''Damage''' 
Damage is the difference in hits between the defender and attacker. This damage is then taken from the defenders Health value. (note: the box below the Health box on the character sheet is for tracking damage, usually with a tally)

Melee attacks are handled slightly different. When the attacker is using melee on the defender, then they are both considered locked in a melee. In this case if the defender has more hits than the attacker, then the defender actually can deal damage to the attacker. Still, the damage dealt to the attacker is the difference in hits.
<pre>Experimental rule: if defending in melee, and the defender is a melee character, he gets a +1 to his defense roll</pre>

'''Tie Rolls''' 
In several cases a tie may occur. A tie is when both sides have an equal amount of hits in a roll. This is resolved with the superiority in the rolls.
* First check which side has the most '''A'''ces. If neither have '''A'''ces, or the same amount of '''A'''ces, then move to the next step.
* Second check which side has the most '''K'''ings. If neither have '''K'''ings, or the same amount of '''K'''ings, then move to the next step.
* Third check which side has the most '''Q'''ueens. If neither have '''Q'''ueens, or the same amount of '''Q'''ueens, then move to the next step.
* Fourth check which side has the most '''J'''acks. If both have the same amount of '''J'''acks then you have a SuperTieBreaker. If neither have '''J'''acks, then you did something wrong. Check to make sure you are playing the game right.

A SuperTieBreaker is resolved by each side discarding all dice, and rolling 1 die. Reroll ties. Standard superiority rules apply here.

If the winner of a tie is the attacker, he deals 1 and only 1 damage. He may not exceed that amount through any Perks, Crits, or Flaws of any effect. If it was a melee attack and the defender won the tie, he may deal that 1 damage to the attacker.

'''Miscellaneous''' 
Remember to check your Perks and Flaws as either a defender or attacker to make sure none of them have any effects on your rolls.

Magic attacks not only hit the target defender, but all creatures (friend or foe) adjacent to your target. This is resolved by the attacker rolling once. That one roll hits all targets in that area. Each target makes a separate defense roll, and hits and damage are resolved separately for each defender. The attacker does '''NOT''' reroll his attack for each defender in the area.

'''Modifiers''' 
Modifiers represent positive and negative conditions that sometimes apply to combat. They are treated simply by adding or subtracting dice from attack or defense rolls. Most common modifiers are listed below:
* +1 to defense roll for each square of hindering terrain a range or magic attack is aiming through.
* +1 to defense roll for each occupied square a range or magic attack is aiming through. Friend or foe.
* -1 to defense if prone.
* +1 to attack if character moved more than 2 squares into melee range with defender and melee attacks.
* +1 to attack if character is considered on a higher elevation than the defender for a range or magic attack.
* (incomplete list)

'''Crits''' 
When making any attack or defense roll, watch out for the '''A'''ces. If any roll comes up with 2 or more '''A'''ces, then that roll has Crit. A Crit can activate whether or not the roll is considered to have hit or failed. Your characters' chosen Crit will specify what it does and when it activates. Some Crits only apply in certain conditions, so be sure you don't miss it.

Sadly, sometimes you may roll 2 '''A'''ce dice, and the Crit doesn't apply to your current action. It happens. Crits are meant to rarely happen, but be very powerful.

A character may only Crit once per turn.

----
Development Blog: http://thefairlyunkempt.blogspot.com/

Magic: The Gathering

2020-03-01T16:40:14Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Post-Mending Story */

[[Image:2018 mtg logo 2.png|center|300px]]
[[Image:Richard Garfield.jpg|thumb|Dr. Richard Garfield, the creator and patron saint of Magic: The Gathering. He's 2/2, so he's as strong as pack of [[Bear_cavalry|Grizzly Bears]] and could [[Awesome|fistfight them to death.]]]]
{{topquote|[[/tg/]] is [[fail|bad at]] Magic.|/tg/}}

'''''Magic: The Gathering''''' (also known as '''''Magic''''' or '''MTG''') is a collectible card game created by [[Richard Garfield]], and introduced to [[neckbeards]] everywhere in 1993. Despite the amount of [[Rage|RAGE]] the game has created over the years, it's still going strong. The game is currently in its 25th year of production with a large competitive following, consisting mostly of 40-year-old basement dwellers. Magic, [[Pokemon]], and [[Yu-Gi-Oh]] make up the three pillars of the paper market, being the three games that generate the most revenue today. Magic is notable for being the first [[Card Games|CCG]] of all time, granddaddy of all [[Card Games]], and its influence can be seen in almost every CCG since. It also has fucktons of fluff that is surprisingly fucking intricate and deep.

==Pre-Mending Story==
[[First Magic Sets|Originally,]] the game really had no story, except that the two players represented wizards who were beating the shit out of each other for control of a ''plane'', which is fantasy-speak for an entire universe within a multiverse called Dominia, where you would sometimes find a world full of angels or [[Arabian Nights|a copypasta of what white people think the Middle East was like once upon a time.]] Within a few months of the game's release, the "Antiquites" expansion set was released, depicting the story of a war between two brothers, Urza and Mishra, and introducing Phyrexia as <s>bootleg Apokolips</s> a cosmic antagonist manipulating things from the shadows. This kicked off an extremely long and convoluted plotline that was supposed to officially end with the "Apocalypse" expansion pack, but which WotC keeps dredging up and continuing because they haven't had a good, original idea since the Rath cycle. There have been a few side-plots along the way, but nobody really ever gave a shit about them because they sucked. The game was also broken as fuck as even back then R&D had no idea what the fuck they were doing; most decks consisted of a combination of [[Power Nine|Black Lotus]], Channel and Fireball for plenty of turn 1 kills, cards were wordy as fuck and the art was between trippy and butt ugly.

===The Urza/Weatherlight/Rath/Phyrexia Saga===
The beginning of this story is depicted in the prequel novel "The Thran". In this novel, a bunch of people (the eponymous Thran) are becoming sick and they have no idea why. Yawgmoth, a healer, eventually figures out that it's because they're wearing radioactive jewelry. He develops a crush on a girl, but she friendzones him, so he decides to surgically implant tons of radioactive jewelry into her boyfriend. The story ends with the Thran getting sick of his shit and banishing him to an empty plane, Phyrexia, where he sets up shop and starts using his knowledge of radioactive jewelry to start building an army of greasy steampunk zombies.

Fast-forward a few thousand years, to the events of the novel "The Brothers' War". Two young brothers, Urza and Mishra, go exploring in the Caves of Koilos and find a couple of magic rocks, the Mightstone and the Meekstone. Urza keeps the Mightstone and Mishra gets the Meekstone. Because the mightstone is bigger and better, Mishra spends most of his life suffering from Magic Stone Envy. Fast-forward maybe another 20 years. In a clever ripoff of "The Princess and the Pea", a king decides that he will only allow his daughter to marry a man who can lift a huge-ass piece of rock that no one can actually lift. Urza shows up and builds a humongous mecha that easily moves the rock. The king decides that this is good enough and lets them marry. However, the marriage is a disaster because it turns out that building humongous mecha and maintaining romantic relationships are two extremely different skill sets. Blah blah blah, war breaks out between the two brothers, entire continents are pillaged and despoiled as a result of the war, and Urza eventually wins by nuking half of the goddamn planet with a plot device called a Golgothian Sylex. The Sylex Blast turned Urza into a Planeswalker, guaranteeing that he'd continue to fuck up the entire multiverse with his drama for eons to come.

The ensuing nuclear winter was depicted in the expansion packs "The Dark", "Fallen Empires", "Ice Age", and "Alliances". Nobody really knows or cares about this part of the story, because they aren't about the Almighty Urza Christ, Peace Be Unto Him. Urza's adventures during this time are depicted in the novel "Planeswalker", where he decides to wage a one-man war against the Phyrexians, who he blames for turning Mishra into a robot. He starts by launching a LITERAL one-man attack against Phyrexia, where he gets ROFLPWN3D but manages to pick up a sexy female Phyrexian sidekick named Xantcha. Realizing that the successful destruction of Phyrexia would require him to be less of a dick and learn how to make allies, the two of them go to places like Shiv, Tolaria, and Serra's realm, which never ends well for the inhabitants of those places because the Phyrexians are constantly following him and fucking up everything everywhere he goes. He eventually decides that the key to victory will be to make a bunch of extremely powerful plot devices, which he calls the "Legacy Weapon", whose actual functions and purposes would be decided by whichever unfortunate authors got stuck with writing the end of this story. Some components of the Legacy included the flying ship ''Weatherlight'' and the silver golem ''Karn''. He also bred an army of super-soldiers that he called the Metathran. These events are depicted in the novels "Time Streams" and "Bloodlines"

Eventually, the Weatherlight came to be crewed by a bunch of people who basically had no clue who Urza or the Phyrexians were, or what the Legacy was, or really anything that was mentioned in the above paragraph, because all of that shit was made up retroactively. In the anthology book "Rath and Storm", Sisay, the hot black chick who somehow became the Weatherlight's captain despite knowing nothing about it, has been kidnapped, and the rest of the crew, led by Gerrard Capashen, must hop from continent to continent, looking for clues to her whereabouts and picking up random hitch-hikers as they go, often for little or no reason. They track her down to the plane of ''Rath'', where everything from the merfolk to the weather is [[Grimdark|Darker and Edgier]]. Some shit happens, they succeed in rescuing Sisay, and they also "rescue" someone who they THINK is Takara, daughter of Starke, a double-dealing backstabber that they allowed to come aboard because good is dumb. During their escape, however, they end up leaving two crew members behind: Crovax and Ertai.

The next three books and expansion packs, collectively called the "Masquerade Cycle", all take place during the same time frame but in different locations. "Mercadian Masques" follows the crew of the Weatherlight, who find themselves in an unknown plane called Mercadia, and who must figure out how to get back to their home plane, Dominaria (not to be confused with Dominia). This is also where "Takara" is, in fact, revealed to be Volrath, the Evincar of Rath, who manages to do absolutely nothing of importance in Mercadia and must find a way back to Rath. "Nemesis" follows the adventures of Crovax and Ertai after they are left behind. To make a long story short, they both turn to the dark side, and Crovax is appointed the new Evincar of Rath by Ertai's hot new Phyrexian girlfriend, Belbe, who dies immediately afterward. Volrath is also executed upon his return. "Prophecy", the third book and expansion pack in the cycle, was about overpriced cards that totally fucking sucked and a story that no one gave a shit about because it had nothing to do with anything else that was happening at the time, and can be safely ignored.

The Invasion cycle - Invasion, Planeshift, and Apocalypse - depicted the long-awaited Phyrexian invasion of Dominaria. Urza, the Weatherlight crew, the Elder Dragon Legends, [[over 9000]] different kinds of Kavu, and everyone else came together to fight back against the endless army of greasy steampunk zombies. This resulted in the deaths of most major characters, the destruction of Phyrexia, and the transformation of Karn into a Planeswalker.

===Post-Weatherlight Blocks===
After that came the Odyssey and Onslaught cycles, which took place on Dominaria 200 years after the Phyrexian invasion. These stories sucked ass and depicted no events of major importance, except for the Mirari, which was Karn's <s>bootleg One Ring</s> space probe that became retroactively important in a weak attempt at continuity, and the resurrection of the Slivers, a creature type from the Rath cycle that had proven insanely popular.

Then came a strange phase in MtG history, where WotC would alternate between unsuccessful attempts to dredge up the past and unsuccessful attempts to create new planes and stories that were worth giving a fuck about. [[Kamigawa]] block deserves a special shout-out here, as it didn't sell worth shit because it was a low-power block sandwiched between two blocks of solid [[cheese]]. There's also a very, very small chance of ever coming back here according to an article written by Mark Rosewater titled "Rabiah Scale Part 1", where he explains that while Kamigawa is the least popular plane, there is a very vocal minority that loves it.

Dominaria was revisited in "Time Spiral" when WotC, realizing that something was amiss, decided that the only way they could get people to care about the story again was to bring back the old Weatherlight crew, which in turn required time travel. The "Time Spiral" cycle also gave WotC an excuse to bring back Slivers AGAIN. Then came "Scars of Mirrodin", which took a formerly original plane and storyline and shoehorned the Dominaria/Phyrexia storyline into it. This was about the point where the "Mending" happened, which changed the fluff of the story and marked a major change in storytelling since Wizards acknowledged that Time Spiral didn't actually make people start caring about the story again.

==Post-Mending Story==
You are a [[Planeswalker]], a [[wizard]] with near-limitless potential. One out of one million intelligent lifeforms carry the potential of becoming a Planeswalker, called the Spark. The vast majority of those live out their lives without even knowing of their potential. But a very small number of those, again one out of a million becomes far more. After a traumatizing experience or a moment of supreme clarity the Spark ignites, giving the being power beyond nearly anything in the Multiverse.

A Planeswalker has several abilities. First they can travel between the Planes of the Multiverse through the [[Blind Eternities]], the space between Planes in which they drift. Second they have great skill with channeling and using mana to cast spells and summon creatures. The Planeswalkers of old could do even more: they were gestalt forms of will, and could shapechange into anything they want. This also rendered them near indestructible, with their forms being easily replaceable. They were also nigh-immortal, the only thing posing a serious threat to a Planeswalker was another Planeswalker.

The old Planeswalkers were akin to gods, and continued to be so until roughly 4,000 years after the ascension of [[Urza]]. [[Dominaria]], the Nexus of the Multiverse had become something of a shithole because of various aforementioned plotlines having royally screwed up the plane and rifts in time began to appear. After the sacrifices of many Planeswalkers these rifts were sealed in [[The Mending|the Mending]], an event that changed Planeswalkers for good. No longer gods amongst mortals, they were reduced to the power of mortal casters. They also lost their shapechanging and immortality, something that vexed many surviving Planeswalkers. Some like [[Nicol Bolas]] fought with tooth and nail to reobtain their powers, some like [[Liliana Vess]] made pacts with powerful creatures to be more powerful, and some like [[Sorin Markov]] accepted their loss. Then again Sorin's a vampire and so is naturally damn near immortal anyway, so his loss was rather less significant than others.

This era has six blocks so far:

*[[Lorwyn|Lorwyn/Shadowmoor]], a plane that turns from bright upbeat British fairy-tale with facist [[Elf|Elves]] to a grim and gloomy spirit world filled with all sorts of nasties.
*The [[Alara]] block details the attempt of [[Nicol Bolas]] to slam five parts of a fractured plane together and feast on the released energy to make himself a god again: the slamming is a success but he fails when he is beaten by [[Ajani Goldmane]].
*[[Zendikar]] is Australia on steroids and [[Call of Cthulhu]]; everything can and will try to kill you. On this world rested the [[Eldrazi]], a race of non-beings that can unmake anything with a touch. Freed by the machinations of, once again, Nicol Bolas. They are fighting [[Gideon Jura]] who beat one to death with his bare hands.
*Scars of Mirrodin returns to, wait for it, Mirrodin, which is conquered and compleated by Phyrexia. Whoops. They currently have a spy amongst their ranks; [[Tezzeret]], who was sent there by, you guessed it, Nicol Bolas.
*[[Innistrad]] is a world of East-European gothic horror where [[vampire]]s and [[werewolf|werewolves]] run business. It is one of the best sets ever with stuff like double-faced cards, monsters that get stronger when they die and awesome flavor. At the end of the block the Helvault, a prison for lots of demons, was destroyed. Releasing its contents. This was done by... no not Nicol Bolas. Not this time. It was [[Liliana Vess]], who wanted to kill a demon, Griselbrand, that was trapped inside to get out of a faustian bargain she made with him. Incidentally (as far as Liliana Vess is concerned), this world was going to shit because the angel Avacyn was trapped inside the Helvault too and she was released along side the demons.
*Then there is a Return to Ravnica, where the Guilds have picked up business once again for the time being, eventually they run a world-wide maze to see who gets to take control of the city. Jace Beleran wins by becoming the guildpact (I'm as confused as you).
*Finally there is Theros with the awesome flavor of Innistrad but with Greek mythology and awesome mechanics to represent it. Oh and Elspeth is there.

This era also set off a new wave of core sets: after every Block was new core set with a year in it, staring in Magic 2010 to Magic Origins (released July 2015) and adding a few new cards every series. This era also introduced Planeswalkers as cards: a new permanent type that functions as a crossover between a player, a legendary creature and an enchantment. The game currently takes place in that era, where Planeswalkers have begun to rise in large numbers with the Multiverse's infinite secrets and powers at their feet. Here you decide what you will be.

===The Two-Block Paradigm===
This system officially started in Battle for Zendikar. How to deal with the 3rd set in a block had long been a thorn in the side of Magic R&D. To fix this they decided to simply stop making 3 set blocks. Core sets would no longer be released and a Block would consist of 2 sets. Usually the first set would be large and the second set small. There would be 2 blocks per year (those years being October-September). Of course, draft structure will be different as well.

Also there is a big shift in story telling. The creative team actually knows what is going to happen quite a bit in advance (compared to before this shift) which, should provide us benefits like better foreshadowing and less [[Retcon|retcons.]] Each set contains five official (although in practice, probably more unofficial) cards that show events in the story deemed important. The official ones are called "spotlight cards" and can be identified by the planeswalker symbol watermark. The story will be across multiple platforms such as cards in the set, Uncharted Realms, Duels of the Planeswalkers, ect... Each block is still on a different plane than the blocks surrounding it, which of course means the creative team is building an average of 2 worlds per year (arguably less so in the cases when returning to a mtg world we've been to before). (Consider that the people who made [[Avatar]] spent five years building that one setting. This can't [[Not as planned|possibly end badly]].)[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTpv4ZGZ8K8][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEWQ019LvYw][http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/mm/metamorphosis].

There have been some growing pains and because WotC works so far in advance, it takes a while before we get the benefits of the lessons learned applying to Magic players (unless the lesson is to ban cards, in which case, if WotC is correct, Magic players as a whole are getting the better of 2 bad options). So don't be surprised if Standard for the next few sets will suck [http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/latest-developments/standard-2017-01-13] (as defined by it being bad, or it being okay, but only because WotC banned some cards, hurting players that bought a playset of those cards).

As if to make it hurt more, lately there has been tons of mistakes being made including but not limited to:

* Not testing whether a set with Dual Lands and lands that can search for them will lead to four color decks (breaking the point of having you chose between so many colors)
* Shorting (then increasing) the time a set rotates out, which has Battle for Zendikar be still in rotation for much more then it should have been in, while having the set after be taken out for a much shorter time.
* Having to ban four card in short succession, not because of how generally overpowered they were like the bans of old, but instead because they never printed any good answers to them.
* Missing an infinite combo, which dominated standard until it was banned.

Most of the story thus-far involves [[The Gatewatch]], a group a Planeswalkers who have taken [http://magiccards.info/query?q=oath+of+t%3A%22legendary+enchantment%22&v=scan&s=cname oaths] to keep the multiverse safe from existential threats. Nobody likes them and they got pimp slapped by Nicol Bolas.

===The Three and One Model===
Whoops, turns out removing the primary source of deck staples and support cards was a bad idea after all. The block concept is out the door under this model, with a core set in the summer and three large sets in the fall, winter, and spring that will each be drafted separately. The first large set under the new model dropped in the spring of 2018 and [[Awesome|returned to Dominaria,]] while the first new core set was released in the summer of 2018. The "new plane every block" policy is also gone, as is the idea of having a "Masterpiece Series" (aka literal cardboard lottery) with every block; Wizards is going to be making the game stay on each plane exactly as long as they feel like, and only releasing lottery rares when they "have something amazing." So probably still every other set to prop up box sales. The Fall set was titled Guilds of Ravnica, in which we returned to [[Ravnica | Ravnica]]. Following up on this was Ravnica Allegiance and the final set of the block, War of the Spark will launch in the Spring. Note that War of the Spark has been described as being "about Ravnica, but not about the guilds." According to recent news, it is going to be a very Planeswalker heavy set, with 36 different Planeswalkers in the set, some of which are getting their first Planeswalker cards here! In addition, every single pack of War of the Spark comes with a Planeswalker card, similar to Dominaria, which had a Legendary in every pack. This is great news if you're a fan of the Superfriends deck archetype, but worrying for everyone else. Based on the results of Mark Rosewater's twitter poll, you shouldn't be too surprised to see non-evergreen, non-deciduous carry over from one world to the next (although based on the comments to that poll, they might use such freedom sparingly) [https://twitter.com/maro254/status/973550597331824641]. But because WotC works so far in the future, we probably won't see them do that for a while.

Read the announcement here: http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/making-magic/metamorphosis-2-0-2017-06-12

With the end of the "Masters" series of products, WoTC has introduced a new supplemental set, called Modern Horizons, releasing in the Summer. Like the name implies, the set is made for the Modern Format, completely skipping Standard rotation and featuring mostly completely brand new cards, with no reprints from the current Modern format. The cards that aren't new are upshifted from Legacy. If you are a Modern player, you have reasons to be excited and worried, as the lack of reprints means that rare and powerful cards like [[Liliana Vess|Liliana of the Veil]] will continue to grow in price as the supply continues to dwindle. However, with brand new cards coming out, you might not need Liliana of the Veil anymore, depending on how much they power up the set. Either way, investors and players alike look onward to what spoiler season brings us.

===Post-War Schedule===
Having wrapped up the biggest meta-plot in recent Magic history, WoTC decided to ease off the pedal a bit. There's currently no overarching metaplot, and the following sets are dedicated to returning characters and generally just playing tourist, like the old days. One plane per set until the metaplot kicks up again. Following Core Set 2020, Magic released Throne of [[Eldraine]], a fairy tale-inspired set that saw the return of [[Garruk Wildspeaker]]. It also introduced Oko, the shapeshifting Korean pop-star Planeswalker that [[butthurt|tore Standard, Pioneer, and Modern a new one]] and is currently contained in Vintage and Legacy.

After Throne is Theros: Beyond Death. If you couldn't guess from the subtitle, it is heavily implied that [[Elspeth Tirel]] is coming back, and was confirmed through marketing material and card leaks. Following that is a new plane simply named Ikoria: The Lair of Behemoths. We don't know much about it, but Ikoria was hinted to have been inspired by Japanese kaiju films and features "the craziest mechanic ever seen in Magic" in the form of custom monster building. After Core Set 2021 (nicknamed the Teferi set, much like how 2020 was the [[Chandra]] set) is Zendikar Rising, mostly because the last time we went it was basically just a glorified advertisement for the [[Gatewatch]].

===The Hypothetical Future?===
''Note: This section is pretty much just glorified fan conjecture based on observations.''
Every month or so, WoTC puts out a survey on their various social media channels to field the area on opinions on Magic. Usually, the survey has some generic questions about what is important to you as a Magic player. This is often paired with questions about the performance of the most recent set. This is normally not noticeable and usually has little impact due to how vague the questions tend to be. However, the November survey was the most oddly specific survey fielded by WoTC to date. Nicknamed the "Hypothetical Futures" survey, it asked players about a wide variety of questions regarding what may come in the future. Many of the questions asked players about their favorite Planes (Kamigawa was on the list), what makes that Plane your favorite, favorite Planeswalkers, speculative mechanics, favorite Anime/Manga, things like that. One of the most interesting questions asked a bevy of smaller questions about "How appropriate are the following elements for Magic?" which was almost completely filled with Sci-Fi tropes. AI, robots, drones, hacking, lasers, artificial limbs, megacorps, spaceships and more! This hints at a possible future set that is less fantasy and more sci-fi, a la [[Android: Netrunner]] (which WoTC owns). Obviously this is just speculation, and we won't have confirmation if they ever act on it until they do.

==Rules==
Each player starts with a life total of 20, it is the goal of the game to reduce your opponent's life to 0 or less. Occasionally a player's goal will involve winning through some other win condition (i.e. making the opponent draw when no cards remain in their library, give the opponent 10 or more poison counters, [http://mtgsalvation.gamepedia.com/Alternate-win_card card specific win conditions], or dealing commander damage). Each player takes a turn until only one player is left in the game. There have been many revisions to the rules since the game's release [[skub | with mixed reactions from fans,]] but the general gist is the same.

===Game expressions===

*'''[[Mana]]''' - Mana is the magical resource of the game, it is what you commonly use to play cards. Mana you have drawn from a source is kept in your '''mana pool''', waiting for you to spend it. However, at the end of each phase and each step in a turn, your mana pool is emptied, so there's no saving up by constantly draining your lands. There used to be a rule called Mana Burn, in which if you didn't use all the mana you had in your mana pool you would take damage, loosing 1 life for each unspent mana. It did a few good things, like give [[Legends#Mana_Drain|Mana Drain]] a draw back, but ultimately R&D decided Magic was better off without it.
*'''Spell''' - Spells are any card that is currently on the stack.
*'''The Stack''' - This, children, is where [https://www.wizards.com/Magic/Magazine/Article.aspx?x=mtgcom/feature/362#splitsecond almost] all the real bullshit occurs. The stack is where almost any effect other than those that produce mana go to wait to '''resolve'''. whenever an effect (such as playing a card, activating an ability of an artifact or creature, etc.) goes on the stack, all the players in the game receive '''priority''' in turn order to respond. When a player has priority, no other player can act. When something is on the stack, only effects that are played at instant speed may be added to the stack, such as other abilities or instants themselves. You never have to put anything on the stack when you have priority, it just gives you the ability to respond to another players move if you choose. Effects on the stack resolve from the one to be put on last resolving first, this means that whenever you respond to your opponents move with, your response will always take effect before his move. For example if your opponent casts a spell to destroy one of your creatures in play, and you have the appropriate amount of mana to play a counter spell, you can tap your lands and add your counter spell to the stack, targeting your opponents destruction spell. When the stack resolves, your counter spell will be the last effect on the stack, and as such will resolve first, countering your opponents spell and saving your creature. Note that your opponent also receives priority again when you play the counter spell, meaning that it'll be possible for him to add a new spell to kill your creature after you have played the counter spell, meaning he'll kill your creature anyway. But then again, you'll receive priority again as well, and so on and so on.
*'''Tap''' - Tapping is the act of turning a card 90 degrees, this is done to indicate that the card has been exhausted. You tap a land when you draw mana from it, you tap a creature to attack with it, and many abilities of creatures or artifacts require that you tap the card as well. Wizards of the Coast owns a patent on this mechanic, and they used it to run most other CCGs out of business. That is why ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' used to cause players to lose honor every time they accidentally said "tap" instead of "bow."
*'''Ability''' - Abilities are found in a permanent's text field. Abilities can be either activated or triggered abilities. An activated ability is noted for having a cost followed by a colon followed by the effect of the ability. For example, "''Tap<nowiki> : </nowiki>Draw a card, then discard a card .''" Triggered abilities however, will be added to the stack whenever a certain condition is met, for example "''Whenever you gain 1 life, draw a card''". A triggered ability can be triggered as many times as the condition for it is met, and an activated ability can be activated as many times as you can possibly pay the cost.
*'''Hand''' - No, not that hand, stupid. Your hand of cards. You can normally only have 7 cards in your hand when your turn ends (any more than that are usually discarded), and your hand of cards is kept so your opponent can't see it. You start the game with a hand of 7 cards, and you draw 1 card each turn, there are cards that let you draw more cards however.
*'''Library''' - You library is your deck of cards, it must contain no less than 60 cards, and it is often ideal to not include more than 60 cards either. It also may not contain more than four copies of the same card. If you are asked to draw a card and you cannot because there are no more cards left in your library, you lose the game (or win, if you have Laboratory Maniac out), just as if you had hit 0 life.
*'''Graveyard''' - This is where used sorceries, instants and destroyed cards go. Some cards are able to return cards from here, but normally they just stay dead. This is a place of magic and wonder for any deck that runs revive. Until someone plays Samurai of the Pale Curtain...
*'''Exile''' - A super duper Special Snowflake Graveyard where things that aren't intended to ever be returned go. Used to be called "Removed from the Game", it was created so that you couldn't use a Resurrection sorcery on something you used Swords to Plowshares on. Naturally things got stupid when WotC started making cards that could bring cards back from exile.

===Structure of a turn===
The first step in a turn is the '''untap step''', here all the cards in play that are tapped are untapped. The next step is your '''upkeep''', nothing happens here by default, it is only in place for some cards to trigger different effects at the start of your turn.

After your upkeep is your '''draw step''', here you simply draw a card from the top of your library.

Next is your first main phase, here you can play any spells that are played at sorcery speed, this is things such as artifacts, creatures, enchantments, planeswalkers, land (lands are weird, playing them doesn't use the stack and as such can't be responded to, so one could make the case that in some ways they are faster than instants, also lands can NEVER be "PLAYED" when it is not your turn where as other things considered sorcery speed can be instant speed through things like Flash). and sorceries themselves.

After your first main phase is your combat phase, this is broken up into several subphases itself. The first thing to happen is that you declare any creatures you want to '''attack''' to attack by tapping them, you opponent is then given the choice of '''blocking''' your creatures. Only an untapped creature can block, and a creature can only participate in one block each combat. However, several creatures can be picked to block the same creature at once, meaning that it is possible to 'gang up' on attackers in order to kill them. When creatures are in combat with each other they will deal each other damage at the same time, meaning that two 1/1's will kill each other at the same time. In the case of multiple creatures blocking one creature, the attacker assigns the damage that his creature would deal out to the blocking creatures as he wishes, for example a 2/2 blocked by two 1/1's could deal 1 damage to both creatures and kill them both.

Any unblocked creatures will deal their damage to the opponent.

Once all damage has been assigned, the '''clean up''' step follows, where all creatures that have taken lethal damage will be sent to their owner's graveyards.

After combat you have your second main phase, where you can do exactly the same as in the first.

After the second main phase, you have the end of turn step, pretty much the same deal as with the upkeep, nothing really happens here unless a card says so. Lastly, after your end of turn step, you discard down to the maximum hand size if you have exceeded it, so if you for example have 9 cards in hand, you will have to discard 2 of them to meet the required of 7.

===Types of cards===
The game of Magic contains several different '''supertypes''' of cards:

*'''Lands''' - Lands are the player's most basic resource and they are tapped to allow the player to play their other cards that have a '''mana cost'''. You can normally play only one land from your hand per turn. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?printed=true&multiverseid=45491 Example of a non-basic Land card.]
**'''Basic''' - A supertype currently found only on land cards. There are formerly five, now six basic lands: Plains, Island, Swamp, Mountain, Forest and (the only addition) Wastes. A deck can contain any number of the same basic card. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?printed=true&multiverseid=983 Example of a basic Land card.]
*'''Creatures''' - Creatures are the players soldiers and guardians, they primarily participate in combat, although as with all things in Magic, there are many exceptions this. Creatures have many '''subtypes''', these are commonly referred to as '''creature types''', most creatures have a race and a profession creature type, for example "''Creature - Human Warrior''". Creatures have a toughness and a power score, portrayed as P/T on the bottom right corner of the card. Power determines the amount of damage the creature can cause in combat whereas toughness is how much damage it can take before it is destroyed. Damage assigned to a creature is cleared at the end of each turn, meaning that if a creature isn't killed by the amount of damage it has sustained, it'll return to its full toughness at the end of the turn. This means that the same creature will often participate in several combat steps before it is finally killed. Damage assigned to players however, is never healed by any other means than other cards that give the player an amount of life upon being played. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129586 Example of a Creature card.]
*'''Enchantments''' - These are raw magic that you create, they can do all different kinds of things, and generally have a constant effect on the game, until they are destroyed by your opponent. There are global and local variants of enchantments, the local being a subtype called '''auras''', these are attached to other cards in play to enhance them or weaken them. A lot of competitive players dislike auras since they are destroyed if their 'host' is destroyed, meaning that it is easier for your opponent to make a lot of you cards obsolete by destroying one card. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129572 Example of a positive Enchantment card.] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?printed=true&multiverseid=50233 Example of a harmful Enchantment card]
*'''Sorceries''' - Sorceries are spells that you can only cast on your own turn, and when nothing is on the stack, they'll have some kind of immediate effect on the game, but they are not persistent like enchantments. This means that it is common for sorceries to simply just destroy something else in play or to give a temporary boost to a creature or something like that. The more massive destructive effects in the game are commonly found in sorceries, such as globally destroying all lands or creatures in play. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129808 Example of a Sorcery card.]
*'''Instants''' - Just like sorceries, however an instant can also be played in an opponent's turn, they'll often do the same as sorceries, but stuff like counter magic, that is a spell that prevents your opponent's spell from resolving, are only instants. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?printed=true&multiverseid=190535 Example of an Instant card.]
*'''Artifacts''' - All kinds of magic items, like a staff or some other kind of stuff. Normally this is stuff used by the player himself, but some artifacts, known as '''Equipment''', can be equipped by the player's creatures, making them work like auras, only they do not need a 'host' to be in play, and as such are a lot more persistent than auras. Some artifacts are also creatures, this is stuff like golems or other kinds of magical constructs. Artifact are generally colorless, with some exceptions, so almost all of them are suitable for any deck. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=129704 Example of an Artifact card.] [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=76637 Example of an equipment card.]
*'''Legendary''' - Much like Basic, Legendary only appears together with another supertype. If a player controls two or more legendary permanents with the same name, that player chooses one of them, and the rest are put into their owners' graveyards. Legendary cards are often stuff like characters from the plot line of Magic, or somehow else very special things like specific places in the case of legendary lands. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=26793 Example of a Legendary card.]
*'''Tribal''' - A newcomer among the supertypes, a Tribal card lets a noncreature card have creature types. For example, a card that would allow you to destroy a goblin card would work on any goblin creature, as well as a Tribal Enchantment - Goblin. Sadly the "Tribal" card type is unlikely to be printed on new cards. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=146167 Example of a Tribal card.]
*'''[[Planeswalker]]''' - Another newcomer, a Planeswalker is similar to an enchantment. Planeswalkers come into play with a certain amount of loyalty counters on them. Once per turn a planeswalker can use one of its activated abilities during his main phase whenever he may play a sorcery, either adding or subtracting the indicated amount of counters. As of War of the Spark in spring 2019, they can also have static or triggered abilities like other permanents. A planeswalker can be targeted for either spells or abilities that deal damage, and can be targeted in an attack phase like a player. For each damage a planeswalker takes, instead remove that many loyalty counters. If a planeswalker has no loyalty counters left on it, it is destroyed. All planeswalkers are legendary, so if a player controls two planeswalkers that share a name, that player chooses one of them and the rest are put into their owners' graveyards. This was changed from what was called the "planeswalker uniqueness rule", which meant you couldn't have two different cards representing the same dude. Lore-wise this made sense, but has been sacrificed for gameplay reasons. Planeswalkers can do some really awesome shit, such as create 5 4/4 dragons or force your opponent to mill 20 cards from their library. Keeping one alive can be a royal pain in the ass. [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=140222 Example of a Planeswalker card.]

==Colors of Magic==
[[Image:Magic Card Back.jpg|thumb|The back of a Magic card. It features the trademarked pentagram of the colors. The pentagram is set up in such a way that colors that have parts of their philosophies in common are adjacent to each other, whereas colors that oppose each other are positioned opposite of each other.]]
As well as having different types of cards, the game of Magic has five different colors to choose from when building a deck. It is important to have the appropriate type of land for the color of magic that you are playing with, since no basic land except a mountain can produce red mana, which is needed to play red spells. Certain effects are associated with certain colors, and only rarely if ever appear in the others - this is to ensure that the colors feel different to play, and that there is a point of having different colors in the first place. For a more thorough examination of the colors of ''Magic'' and their relationships with each other see [[Color Pie]].

*'''White''' - This is the mostly [[Paladin|goody-two-shoes]] or zealously genocidal, censoring and totalitarian (be it communist, or possibly other types of extreme) of the color pie, white often prevents damage to creatures and restore life to players. It excels with instant, sorceries, and enchantments that get rid off opposing creatures, with one of their main schticks being that they remove creatures from the game rather than sending them to the graveyard. They also have a tendency to have powerful creature-enchantments to buff their creatures or prevent their opponents' creatures from attacking or blocking. It is most notable for having the most non-damage boardwipes in the game. Among its older cards are cards that create life-gain win conditions. It has a general philosophy of having a large amount of small creatures instead of a few big ones. Fitting this, White contains most of the cards that interact positively with equipment, generally by tutoring it. White embodies law, order, community, healing, and light. White is the color most like and yet completely different from Black, both being absolute for entirely different reasons. The symbol for White is a sun. The white lands are plains. White's characters are either heroic and otherwise benevolent individuals such as [[Ajani Goldmane]], [[Elspeth Tirel]] and Commodore Guff, or fanatical assholes like Konda and [[Elesh Norn]].

*'''Blue''' - Blue is the color of logic, thought, observation, prescience, and arcane magic. It is the best color at things like countermagic, drawing cards, and [[Just As Planned|using minor trickery to be a general pain in the butt]]. These things make blue the most effective color when used on its own, and the most hated by other players because blue played right will keep them from doing anything with their counter cards and will never run out of them, and blue players have a tendency to complain when WotC tries to do something to balance the counter spells. Thankfully, blue's creatures tend to the least effective at killing the opponent, in terms of strength and abilities, and blue also lacks the ability to deal with things if it can't counter them. Of course, Blue makes up for that by having the most cards that allow you take control of an opponent's creature (All the colors have some, having the most in the following order: Blue, Red, Black, Green, and White with exactly 1). Blue has many cards that interact with artifacts, and this combines with Blue's weak (at least combat-wise) creatures to encourage it to use artifact creatures, which generally focus on combat. Blue is generally the opposite of Red, similar to reason and emotion, and likewise have elements of each other. Thus, the two will generally make the most scientific and steampunk decks when put together. Blue concerns itself with such things as logic, water, science, knowledge, divination, time, and air. The Blue symbol is a drop of water. The Blue lands are islands. Blue's most foremost Planeswalkers include [[Jace Beleren]], [[Tezzeret]] and [[Bo Levar]].

*'''Black''' - Black is the more diabolical of the colors, in brooding desire for any of the following, not necessarily exclusive of each other: independence in an oppressive world, inordinate wealth, immortality, godhood, control of others, vengeance, veneration of evil, world conquest, by any means. It is the color of self-interest, individuality, moral relativism, and devil's bargains. It often has the ability to emulate other colors to a lesser degree... for a cost. The more powerful black creatures sometimes turn on their player. It also contains lots of abilities that require sacrificing creatures, forcing the opponent to sacrifice creatures, killing opposing creatures, and the best discard abilities. As an intentional weakness, Black lacks any significant artifact or enchantment kill. Black contains such things as sickness, destruction, necromancy, death, murder, blood rituals, assassination, crime, torture, darkness, and [[FATAL|corruption]]. A skull is the symbol for Black. The black lands are swamps. Black is the color most like and yet completely different from White, both being absolute for entirely different reasons. Fitting this, Black and White have many cards that are mirrors of each other, starting from the original set's Black Knight and White Knight. Black has spawned many infamous Planeswalkers such as Leshrac, the Walker of the Night; Tevesh Szat, the Doom of Fools; [[Liliana Vess]] and [[Nicol Bolas]] (well he's actually multi-colored, but the center of his shard is black), the Eternal Serpent and (ex)Lord of the Blind Eternities. In addition, it has a few heroic characters such as [[Sorin Markov]] and Toshiro Umezawa, proving that it is not inherently evil.

*'''Red''' - Red is the color of passion, freedom, and [[rage]]. Red contains some of the more self-destructive cards of the colors, but the power of the effects usually make up for it. Many of Red's spells focus on directly damaging the opponent, which players call "burn spells", and in fact it's completely viable to run a Red deck with no creatures and just burn spells. Red is generally the opposite of Blue, similar to emotion and reason, and likewise have elements of each other. Thus, the two generally make the most scientific decks and steampunk decks when put together. The domain of Red is such things as speed, destruction, fire, angry mobs (green and white have a fair and smaller share of these), lightning, dragons, and recklessness. Red's symbol is a ball of fire. The red land is a mountain. Some of Red's most famous Planeswalkers are [[Jaya Ballard]], Lord Windgrace of Urborg and [[Chandra Nalaar]].

*'''Green''' - Green associates itself with [[Druid|nature and the cycle of life]], growth, exploration of the wilds, and brute strength. It usually has the most powerful and straight-forward creatures, which also have the best ratio of power and toughness for the mana cost. Green contains cards that can increase the strength of your creatures, cards that give you more mana more quickly and give you access to the other colors of mana, and cards that let you create and profit from large numbers of small creatures or small numbers of very large creatures. Green is the least common color run on its own because it needs to use small easy to kill creatures to [[get shit done]], but is commonly put in other decks as a side color. The Green symbol is a tree. The green land is a forest. Green's famous Planeswalkers include [[Garruk Wildspeaker]], [[Nissa Revane]], Kristina of the Woods and [[Freyalise]].

*'''Colorless''' - Colourless (Grey) mana is composed of two things: non magic-artificial creations including some robots and laser cannons, and [[Eldrazi|Cthuhloids]]. Mana of any color can be used for colorless mana costs. This is useful to ease the stress of colored mana requirements in multicoloured decks, and making cards that can fit in decks of any color - Artifacts and Artifact Creatures are usually colorless. Instant and Sorcery effects are virtually never colorless with only 8 printed, all from [[Zendikar]]. Artificial creatures cannot become Planeswalkers (but this does not stop them from trying to become them, as Memnarch has demonstrated), but they can inherit or obtain the power somehow: [[Karn]] the silver [[golem]] is as far as known the only one to have done so. The only other colorless planeswalker is [[Ugin]], who's basically Magic Buddha because he's so enlightened that he's transcended the five colors.
**As of Battle for Zendikar, colorless has its own land type, which is Waste, and its own symbol, which is a grey four-pointed star. This specifically-colorless mana is used primarily for the [[Eldrazi]], which are the freaky babies of Cthulu and Galactus. The Eldrazi are so ancient that they precede the planes and color itself. Yeah, that's right, they're older than even the game and fluff itself can even comprehend.

It is possible to build decks that are a mix of more than one color - in fact there are many spells that require anything from two to five different colors of mana to play. It is however not advisable to have more than 3 colours in a single deck unless you know what you are doing, since it'll begin to become a problem to get access to all the different colours of mana you need during play. This means you'll be left with a hand full of cards you can't play, and a table full of lands you have no use for - not a good position to be in. The full extreme of this is to have all five colors in your deck, which is something referred to as [[WUBRG]] (after the letters for each color). Unless (and even when) you know exactly what you're doing and built a deck around the concept, WUBRG is very difficult to play.

==Players==
[[Image:AZNs Magic.jpg|thumb|AZNs playing Magic]]
The developers of Magic have put out their 3 archetypes of players:

*'''Timmy/Tammy''' - The player who just wants to experience something cool, something you can tell stories about. Often it's through casting gigantic creatures and game-changing spells, not caring that they're frequently too expensive to be much good at winning the game. Social gamers or even griefers can also be considered a type of Timmy; after all, the story you're telling doesn't always have to be about the game itself.

*'''Johnny/Jenny''' - A combo player, these are the guys who'll spend days looking through cards to find a [http://magiccards.info/6e/en/89.html bizarre] [http://magiccards.info/mr/en/318.html combo] of cards that makes them [http://magiccards.info/4e/en/16.html win the game] if they can pull it off. They often end up building decks that don't participate in the game itself, and are more oriented on getting their combo into play, turning the game into a sort of solitaire.

*'''Spike''' - The competitive player of the bunch. They'll build decks to win and only play to win, their fun is in winning, and sometimes turn the game into [[Powergamer|an obnoxious competition]], even outside of tournaments. Needless to say, they're highly disliked at social games when they even bother showing up outside of a competitive setting, even when they mean no harm. On the other hand, it also means that their decks are made to work effectively and will win more often than not. That isn't to say Spike will put up with ''everything'' just to win. For example, some Spikes might hate it when only a few strategies are viable, or conversely when too many are viable and it's impossible to prepare against them all.

The three archetypes mix and match, meaning that it is possible to be a Johnny-Timmy player, aiming to make some kind of combo that'll give you a million life and an army of 100/100 creatures or some other kind of stupid nonsense.

Recently, it has come to light that there are 2 more pseudo-archetypes, though these aren't really archetypes proper. The types here are on a separate axis than the aforementioned three. They are as follows:

*'''Vorthos''' - Vorthoi care about [[Fluff|flavour and the story part of the game]]. They'll build a deck that re-enacts the forces Urza rallied to fight the [[Elesh Norn|Phyrexians]]. Fluff is of key importance in the mind of a Vorthos. Stories, [[rule 34|art]], flavor text, and block novels are all things that a Vorthos focuses on. As a result, it can be considered to be a close relative of the Timmy, with the emphasis on "cool things" being replaced by a stronger focus on fluff-accuracy. As a result, their decks tend to vary wildly in their efficacy.

*'''Mel''' - On the opposite side of this spectrum lies Mel. Mels love to deconstruct the rules, and [[Crunch|find out why things tick.]] A Mel will [[Munchkin|base a deck on shit like banding that average players don't pay attention to, or some sub-clause of an obscure part of the comprehensive rules]]. They differ from the typical munchkin in that they love reading the logs and development process of various cards and learning what led to a given rule being changed or the rationale behind said rule change, rather than simply exploiting said rules for its own sake. They're similar to Johnnies/Jennies in their eccentric hacker spirit.

It should be noted that a Vorthos-Mel is probably a philosopher. Spike-Johnnies/-Jennies are sometimes great gaming partners for Johnny-Timmys, since one is a competitive combo user, and the other is a combo user who is in it for fun, and one or both of will either have a lot of respect for the opponents' combo, or be quite irritated that it interrupted theirs. Johnny-/Jenny-Vorthos-Mels will have the most difficult time putting together a deck they can play at all, let alone one that can be viable in a tournament setting, but those that do so find it highly rewarding when they make it work for them.

==Building a Deck==
Alright so you've read this article, looked at a few cards, maybe even gotten yourself a few booster packs or a hand-me-down collection. What now?

The process of deckbuilding can, at first, seem like an extremely difficult one, and in many ways it is. You have possibly hundreds of variables to consider depending on what you're building for and thousands of cards to sort through to find the best ones for the job.

But before you overwhelm yourself, look at what you have in your stuff and find a card you like. It doesn't even have to be a powerful one, just something that catches your eye and gets the gears turning. For this example, we'll use something flashy yet robust, the card Fireball. A classic design and very easy to find, Fireball is a card that can generate truly explosive results and kill your opponent in one shot. Awesome! What now?

Well, let's think of what we want to do here. Let's say in this case we want to use Fireball as our win-condition. For this, we'll need obviously Red Mana to cast it, but also additional Mana to make it lethal. So now we're going to look for things that feed into that concept; making more Mana for a bigger Fireball. This is the process referred to as focusing the deck, and is essential to building a successful one. The more streamlined and tight your focus is, the more of a chance the deck will do what you want it to do. Trying to do too many things at once will leave you lacking in all of them, so it's usually better to have a strong theme to accomplish your Plan A.

So focusing, we need a way to make Mana for our Fireball. Land is of course the most basic way of generating Mana, so we should play more lands to make more Mana! Right? Well perhaps, but by filling up the deck with too much land, we're not going to be drawing any spells. Too little though, and we won't be able to cast the spells that we draw. Finding that balance is another key part of deckbuilding and takes a lot of time to get the right feel for it. In general though, your deck should contain 24 lands, adding in 1 or 2 for a slower deck with big mana threats, and removing 1 to 3 for a faster more aggressive deck.

In this case let's start with 24 lands, and 4 Fireballs. We have 28 cards, so we need 32 more to make a legal deck. Since we want the greatest chance of drawing the cards we need as possible, we won't exceed 60 cards here. In most cases in fact, you should never play more than 60 cards. Every card you add is keeping you one card away from drawing the one you really need. A common mistake for many new players is to just keep piling on cards until they make some 78 card monstrosity, don't do this. Treat 60 as the minimum and maximum for every deck you make, it will make your deck faster and more consistent. So what will we add into those 32 slots?

We have Mana to cast a Fireball that can deal up to 23 damage at once, which is lethal, but would require every land in our deck to do so. Sounds kinda slow, right? So what can we do to speed it up? Since we're playing a Red deck, we should start by looking at the options Red has to generate more Mana. Red has access to a few Ritual cards, which can make mana fairly quickly but only in single shots. This means that to make this path work we'd need a lot of these Rituals, and to get lucky by drawing enough of them to make a lethal Fireball. Not the most efficient option, but it can work! Our other obvious option in Red is Artifacts that generate mana. We can play something as small as a Fire Diamond, or something big like a Gilded Lotus. These also feed into each other, but come with the downside of clogging up our deck when we have enough mana to make a lethal Fireball. So a step in the right direction, since this mana is renewable, but still not quite as fast as what we need. But we're out of options in Red, what now?

Now we look at our other colors, of course! The best place to start is to look at the color wheel on the back of a Magic card. Notice the arrangement of the colors on the wheel. Any color that is adjacent to another on the wheel is "allied" with that color, which is to say that they work well together. Red is allied with Green and Black. Many Black cards let you draw cards or even search your deck for specific ones, which could be helpful for the deck to find the cards it needs when it needs them, but since Green has some of that too now and since Black is more about making little aggressive dudes, killing things, bringing things back from the dead and giant demons, let's skip it and look at Green.

Green is the color of nature, and as such has cards that revolve around the generation of mana. Perfect for our goal, and once you start looking you'll notice that green has a ton of cards that are dedicated to making more mana. They come in two flavors; abilities that put mana in the pool, and cards that pull lands from the deck itself. But which flavor do we need? In this case, the ones that pull lands from the deck itself are the ones that we want. This is because they thin our deck out, eliminating lands and reducing our chances at not being able to draw spells. Afterall, what good is having tons of mana if you have nothing to cast with it? Some common options in this slot are Rampant Growth and Cultivate, so we'll add 4 of each to the deck.

Now we have 4 Fireballs, 4 Rampant Growths, 4 Cultivates, and 24 lands. We have 36 cards and need 24 more. Since we still have space, we can add some of those cards that add mana to our pool. Elves tend to be very, very good at this, so we can rock a tribal theme with these guys to generate a lot of mana very quickly. Llanowar Elves, Elvish Mystics, and Elvish Archdruid are easy to find solid slots in this section. With 4 of each in play at once we can generate a potential 4+4+(16x4) mana per turn. Quite lethal for casting a Fireball. So let's add 4 of each!

Now we have 4 Fireballs, 4 Rampant Growths, 4 Cultivates, 4 Llanowar Elves, 4 Elvish Mystics, 4 Elvish Archdruids, and 24 lands. We have 52 cards and need 8 more. Wow, that was fast, suddenly we have only 8 spaces left! This is where we add the extra utility stuff to get our deck fully streamlined, and since we absolutely need to draw our Fireballs to win, we should add spells that draw cards. Sadly this is neither Green nor Red's strong suit, but we do have a few choices.

Since we're already ramping lands out of the deck, we might not need a powerful draw engine anyway. A solid option in Green for straight card draw is Harmonize, but it clocks in at 4 mana. If we get a good start, this is nothing though, so we can rock 4 of these guys with not too much worry. Now we have 4 slots left, so how do we top it off? Well, we do have a lot of Elves, why not add in Elvish Visionary? 4 of her gets us to 60!

Now you have a deck that is streamlined to win off Fireball, but can also win by playing a ton of Elves and beating face! A Plan A that just so happens to have a solid Plan B! By playing with the deck you'll probably start to find it could use some fine tuning to beat what you play against, but what matters here is that we have a solid foundation to build from. When making tweaks, be sure to keep the central idea of the deck in mind. And of course, keep practicing making decks and test them to see what works for you.

==Simulators==
Magic has only had two single player video games. One by Microprose which was really nice and, naturally since WotC sucks, is unobtainable (legally) anymore. It uses exclusively the 4th Edition card set, plus a dozen or so "Astral" cards created specifically for the computer game, with mechanics that could never work with paper cards in real life. It's technically called ''Magic: The Gathering'', but '''everyone''' calls it Shandalar after the plane it takes place on. Shandalar (the plane) has since appeared in fluff a few times. There's also a Dreamcast game which isn't bad... if you can read Japanese since it was never translated.

If you don't want to play singleplayer all the time, there is ''Magic: the Gathering Online'', which is the "official" way of playing Magic online, made back in 2002. It's survived all the way until today thanks to the expansive set selection and differing formats. However, the burden of continually updating ancient code from the 2000s is, as you can imagine, quite tiring. The game also kind of looks like an eyesore compared to today's standards. While they technically can't completely phase it out because that would cause a massive shitstorm, WoTC has been slowly deemphasizing Magic Online's presence in favor of the shinier, flashier, and all-around better Arena client in recent years.

Wizards of the Coast hired out a bunch of multiplayer-only games called ''Duel of the Planeswalkers 20_''. They're all shit designed to milk you on micro transactions, have limited deck building and most of them are completely obsolete now anyways. This series ended in 2015.

To get at that sweet, sweet Hearthstone money, they made another client called ''Magic Duels: Origins'', notable mostly for the emphasis on story and because the client wouldn't keep being replaced every year like Duels of the Planeswalkers. Despite looking promising, it failed to capture the eyes of fans, and was phased out in 2017. Also there was a bug at launch that allowed players to obtain infinite packs, which certainly didn't help.

Bowed, but not broken, Wizards kept at trying to get at that Digital Card Game money and made ''Magic: the Gathering Arena'', which is their newest and most current client. Perhaps Hasbro was getting tired of Wizards wasting money on failed games, or they just straight-up decided to actually give a shit. Whatever the reason, the client is actually very good for a change. The client is quite generous for a digital card game, and they regularly listen to feedback: something that many developers of other card games can learn to do. Since launch, WoTC has been pushing Arena as the premiere client to play Magic online in your home. Between the construction of an entirely new Esports Tournament Series specifically for Arena, an Arena-only path to the Magic Pro League, and the heavy ad campaign that saw even non-Magic related content creators sponsored to promote the client, WoTC seems confident that Arena will usher in a new age for Digital Magic.

Fan-made projects include Forge. It's pretty nifty and, unusually for a fan-made simulator, has some good single player content. Unfortunately the PC version is based in fucking Java. The AI is limited and can be slow with lots of tokens in play.

==See also==
*[[Magic Formats]]
*[[Deck archetype]]
*[[Vampire: The Eternal Struggle]] - Another card game by Richard Garfield.
*[[Magic: the Gathering RPG]] - a [[/tg/]]-made RPG with mechanics based on the game.
*[[M/tg/]]
*[[MaRo]]
*[[Magic: The Gathering Gameplay Principles]]
*[[Space: The Convergence]]

==External Links==
*[http://www.wizards.com/magic/ Official site] 
*[http://magic.wizards.com/en/game-info/gameplay/rules-and-formats/rules Rulebooks: basic and comprehensive]
*[http://magiccards.info/ magiccards.info] - A card database.
*[http://mtgsalvation.com/ MTG Salvation] - A Magic fansite.
*[https://www.slightlymagic.net/ Slightly Magic] - Another Magic fansite, this one focuses on [[Video games|vidya adaptations]] of Magic both official and fan-made.
===Retailers===
*[[Local Game Store|Your Friendly Local Game Store]]
*[https://www.abugames.com// ABU Games]
*[http://www.tcgplayer.com/ TCG Player]
*[http://www.cardkingdom.com/ Card Kingdom]
*[http://www.magiccardmarket.eu/ Magic Card Market Europe] - Part of the Europian card market specifically dedicated to MTG, amazingly cheap, just remember to order in the right language

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:SageOwlGorgonFlail.jpg| Yes, in MtG, birds can be equipped with the heads of dead monster girls, it's good stuff.
Image:WeeabooAkroma.jpg| Any character can be cutesified. Angels are extra weak against that kinda thing
Image:AkromaVsAkroma.png| The Legend Rule is kinda silly.
Image:JustWhoTheHellDoYouThinkWeAre.jpg| So MANY RATS!
Image:SleddingOnTheGoon.jpg| No goblin resists the sled!
Image:TrogdorScaresAkromaKinda.jpg| Dragon Shadow works against paragons of Justice.
Image:MtGPenisskeleton.jpg| Black has a bunch of undead teachers who can help you on your quest for ultimate power.
Image:MTGpeniswalker.jpg| Indeed...ultimate power...
Image:OdiousDesuTrow.jpg| How could you hate this guy? He loves his rat.
Image:HedronCrabAndCube.jpg| Blue has crabs.... These crabs are smarter than you might think
Image:Sadcrab.jpg| A hedron crab's life does have sadness every so often.
Image:Artificer Planeswalker by craniifer.jpg| A proper vintage artifact player can pull stuff even against a broken deck.
Image:Headless-y-u-no.jpg
Image:Magic-NOU.jpg
Image:Ancient_Aliens_dies_to_removal.jpg| This summarizes 90% of the posts on Magic forums.
</gallery>

{{Card Games}}
{{MTG-Settings}}
{{Planeswalkers}}

Tiran Osoros

2020-02-29T23:26:03Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* A fan's attempt at rules */

''"Felling enemies is not the same as raising crops. It is not trading with the next tribe. It is neither raising families, building cities, nor dispensing supplies. Making war does not mean we are built to make peace. If we cannot learn to do this, we must make way for those who can."''

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Tiran Osoros
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Tiran_Osoros.jpg|225px]]
|title= The Rider, The Scale Bearer, Warlord of Gand Wanunlen, The Beastmaster
|where=Solnhofen
|when=c.859.M30
|legion=[[Scale Bearers|XVII]]
|crusade=
|sigil= [[File:Scale_Bearers_Symbol.png|100px]]
|weapon= Power Mace "Thagomizer"
|trait= Close to his Legion, skilled with beasts, never forgot his roots
|flaw= Takes losses personally, misfortunate, slow to process news
|heresy= Loyal, though he perishes too soon to bring his forces to bear
|fate= Dead, killed by [[Rogerius Merrill]] of the [[Iron Rangers]] early in the Heresy
|dominion=
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

==History==

===Youth===

It was early morning when the twin-tailed comet landed on Solnhofen. Many of the people of the village Gand Wanulen took shelter believing it to be another hunting party. Ayl Osoros knew that this was something different and left to investigate. At the landing sight he found a pod unlike anything he had seen before containing a dark-skinned infant. Ayl knew he had a responsibility, and so he took the infant as his own, naming him Tiran.

Over the years Tiran was raised as a member of the village. He grew, learned, played, and laughed as any other child. His rapid growth sparked numerous debates in the Elders' Circle, but he was still a child and a member of the village. Before long, he was taller than his older siblings. He learned everything taught to him with surprising alacrity and fulfilled all his duties within his household and village happily and dutifully.

All of his accomplishments were performed under the shadow of larger threats. Solnhofen was home to a variety of reptilian beasts known as Sors. The herbivorous breeds would be regularly hunted to feed the tribe. However there were also dangerous carnivorous beasts that often hunted the same grounds and humans were much easier prey. And the continent of Panghee which they lived was treated as a game reserve by a race of xenos named Soliriens who would periodically raid human villages for slaves and hunt man and beast alike for sport. Tiran himself survived a number of these raids.

When he came of age he proposed a radical idea. If they could train the Sors and unite the villages, it might be possible to drive the xenos from their lands. The proposal was rejected by the tribe and the Elder's Circle. The people of Solnhofen were too far separated to permanently unite. Many had tried to train the Sors, but only a handful had ever been successful. And never in large enough numbers to provide any real assistance. Even if everything worked as he had planned, the Solirien technology was too advanced, their weapons too deadly to stand a chance. Tiran was determined to change things for his family and village, and could not be swayed. So he made an agreement with the Circle. If he could prove that he was right about the Sors, the village would reconsider his plan. With an agreement reached, he set out into the wilderness.

Seven years later, almost to the day, one of Gand Wanulen's scouts returned from the field in a panic. He spoke of a massive Sor heading directly for the village, leading a large pack. The people of Gand Wunlen began to prepare themselves. Women and children were hidden while the hunters gathered for an attempt to stay the beasts. As the beast approached the hunters saw it was mounted by a large figure. Murmurs began to spread with this revelation. As it drew nearer, the figure revealed itself to be Tiran, riding triumphant. He effortlessly slid off his mount and stepped before the men, dropping a sack of Solirien guns at their feet. “I come bearing good tidings,” he said with a smile. “The beasts can be tamed, and those that hunt us can be killed.” With that, he was welcomed back into the village as though he had never left.

He stayed up the entirety of that night and the night after, listening to all that had happened in his absence. The years had not been kind to Gand Wunlen. Two of his brothers and his father had been killed by hunting parties. Many good hunters had been lost to ambushes by predators. He lamented that he was not there to help, but was assured that what he did in the wild was far more important. He proved that man could do more with his life than hope to survive the next year. The plan he had concocted years ago might be successful.

For the next two years he taught the villagers to tame and ride the Sors. Envoys were dispatched to all known human settlements. Some came immediately, hearing the honesty in the tales and hoping to help make a better world. Others came more slowly, either because it took time for the tale to be heard or because more evidence was needed. Once Gand Wanulen was properly versed, Tiran himself migrated from village to village to prove his legitimacy. At each village he stopped to learn their history and traditions. He included each and every person and discussed his plans and ideas with everyone. This was not a plan to simply gain power. This was a plan to allow the people of Solnhofen to live without fear. After three years, the continent of Panghee was united in his cause.

What followed was a long campaign against the alien menace. The humans were limited in means and technology, so they could not fight their enemies openly and aggressively. Instead they had to rely on luring the aliens into an ambush. Often they would draw the Solirien vehicles into a narrow ravine to deny their maneuverability and overpower them with superior numbers. With each successful attack they gained weapons and vehicles, and were able to fight more effectively in the next engagement. For several months they fought like this. Every few months, the Solirien parties would arrive better armed and with greater numbers. Then one day they simply stopped coming.

Six months after the last arrival, the night sky was alive. The stars swam and danced. Stars would appear and disappear. They would streak across the sky in unnatural ways. By morning, they had ceased and as the sun rose, a second sun descended on the plains. As it landed, Tiran knew something new was afoot. He steeled himself and his men for the worst. And as a ramp from the vessel descended, a giant man in ornate golden armor stepped forward. He announced himself as the Emperor of Mankind, and His eyes settled on Tiran. Tiran Osoros dropped to his knee and pledged himself fully to the man before him. He just needed to free his people first. The two of them retreated to discuss matters for some time, before Tiran was rejoined with the people of Solnhofen. He announced to them that they would no longer need to fear the threat from across the oceans. He was leaving with the Emperor's finest warriors to meet out their enemy and destroy them, allowing humans to live wherever they wanted in peace. He told his men that they could join him if they wished, or they could return to their villages to spread the news and wait to hear of their freedom. None left. Over the next week, the people of Solnhofen fought alongside the men of the XVII Legion and the Uniter of Solnhofen until the planet had been declared purified.

===The Great Crusade===

On the night that the Solirien menace had been removed from Solnhofen, the Emperor held a feast in His newfound son's honor. [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] embraced him as a long-lost brother and the pair spent hours discussing their deeds and accomplishments. As the feast died down and conversation dwindled, Hektor introduced Tiran to his temporary combat instructor for his journey back to Terra, [[Roman Albrecht]]. The two Primarchs became fast friends almost immediately as they discussed their hopes and dreams for the future. [[Shakya Vardhana]] was also present, however he seemed saddened and distant, as though their meeting weighed heavy on his soul.

The next day started early as the Imperial vessels built hospitals and schools for the people of Solnhofen. Medical teams from the XVII Legion began testing the people for the unique markers that would make them candidates for Adeptus Astartes Indoctrination. And Tiran left with his first tutor in the history of his Legion, the Crusades, Astartes equipment, and Terra. The days of the voyage home were spent learning his role in the future of mankind. His nights were spent in the practice cages honing his skills against the greatest swordsman in the galaxy. Every night he would try to defeat his opponent. And every night he would lose. As their landing craft touched down on Terra itself, Tiran asked for one final match. But this time he asked to perform a joust instead of a duel. Roman was curious of his brother's idea and accepted. Mounts were found. Roman took a practice lance and Tiran a simple mace. The instant before Roman's lance struck home, Tiran swung low to the side of his mount and under the tip of Roman's outstretched lance. As he rose back into the saddle proper he knocked the weapon from his way and delivered a powerful blow to Roman's abdomen, unseating him. As Tiran aided his laughing brother to his feet, Roman joked that there may be some hope yet for his abilities. He also stated that the two of them would have to joust again, and when the time came Roman would be prepared for his brother's tricks.

While on Terra itself, Tiran threw himself at his studies. It was of the utmost importance to him that he understand every facet of what was necessary to lead his men. As with all his brothers, he learned quickly. Much of his fastest growth was during mental sparring matches with his fellow Primarchs. His time with [[Johannes Vrach]] was brief, but they quickly bonded over their mutual love of humanity and desire to help those in need. His time spent with [[Alexandri of Rosskar]] left a lasting impression. In contrast to the Primarchs he had previously dealt with, Alexandri was cynical and held little concern over the welfare of individuals. Though there was little love shared between the two, Tiran merely accepted his brother's flaws and hoped to convince him of a better path by setting an example rather than preaching the errors of his ways. His time training alongside [[Inferox]] only strengthened his resolve in this idea. The two brothers bonded quickly over their tribal backgrounds, but Inferox's zealotry often horrified Tiran. In response, he dedicated much of his spare time to helping his brother conquer his bloodlust. Years later, Tiran saddened to see this aspect take control, but supported his brother's decision to only aim his wrath against xenos.

Tiran took command of his troops after a longer-than-normal period on Terra. Only after being directly commanded by the Emperor did he leave to rejoin his troops. Upon officially receiving command, he renamed them the Scale bearers and put forward his own thesis. The Astartes are champions of mankind, charged with expanding and uniting the Empire of Man. As such, their means were military and diplomacy. And the Scale Bearers should know both. He taught them that that both were sides of the same coin, and each had three attributes ascribed to them. In diplomacy, they were to be humble, kind, and to listen. In war, they were to out-endure, outmaneuver, and overwhelm. In all aspects they were to be humble, forgiving, and understanding. In his mind, the Legion did not exist to crush all before them. The Scale Bearers existed to bring new people into the Imperium. The Astartes were indeed a weapon, but war was the absolute last option to be used against a fellow human.

This compassion, in Tiran's mind, did not extend to Xenos. Forged by his childhood and tempered by his teachings, Tiran held firmly that all Xenos were an existential threat to mankind and treated them as such. He would use nothing less than the full might of his forces to destroy any alien civilization and would often burn all evidence of their existence to the ground before moving to the next planet. One anonymous remembrancer managed to record his thoughts on xenos planets as “My only regret is that the ashes of Xenos do not make richer soil.”

Throughout the Crusades, Tiran fostered a reputation of fairness and kindness above and beyond his brothers. While some of his methods were criticized for the length of time he would adopt some planets into compliance, he maintained among the highest number of planets conquered without violence. When he did go to war, he had a knack for rapidly drawing the enemy military outside of civilian populations and summarily crushing them. In every Human planet conquered, he fostered firm and loyal relationships between planetary citizens and the Imperium as a whole, often as a mixture of his internal policies towards prisoners of war, treatment of civilians, and genuine concern for the well-being of all. Though he rarely stayed in any given location long, he ensured that whatever needs the public had were met before he moved to the next campaign. His attitude towards Xenos remained resolute, and every alien planet conquered was handed to colonists free of the inhuman taint.

===The Hektor Heresy===

*le dead

===Post-Heresy===

*Should discuss his legacy; might be removed

==Personality==

Tiran is ever the optimist. Until his death, he saw good in even the most wicked of his brothers. He was always patient and held firmly that most problems could be solved by understanding both sides of the argument. With that in mind, he would often hear out the entirety of his opposition's grievances and think long before answering. When he would answer, he would address every point of his opponent's thoughts, and would ever work towards a middle ground. He cared deeply for humanity, the Astartes, and his brother Primarchs.

Tiran was one of the few Primarchs to consider each other truly brothers and acknowledge the Emperor as his true father. He was a follower of the Imperial Truth, and created some controversy by believing that the Emperor was not in fact the master of mankind. Tiran believed that the term was a misnomer, and that humanity had no "master." Instead, he viewed his father more as a guiding hand for a better Galaxy.

Since his discovery, he was considered to be slightly rough around the edges. Though he was rarely rude or otherwise unpleasant, he was never as refined as some of his other brothers. Mixed with his honesty and kind nature, this often endeared him to others. More often than not, this created a reputation for having a touch of "rustic wisdom" among the subjects of the Imperium.

==Appearance==

Tiran is the shortest of his brothers, standing a mere half-head above most Astartes. He is dark skinned and sturdy of frame, with his hair neatly braided into rows against his scalp. In battle he wears the Armor of Ankyros, it's thick emerald plating emphasizing his stout frame. Though considered "rustic" by many, he did have an excellent understanding of proper etiquette and dress. In diplomatic situations, he would dress in a custom formal uniform. However, Tiran always preferred the simple robes of leather, cloth, and sorhide of his home planet, and would often be seen in such casual attire while tending to details on his ship and home planet.

==Wargear==

The Armor of Ankyros is a mighty suit of Power Armor. While perhaps not as ornamented as the armors of other Primarchs, the sturdy additional layer of plates on the back and the thickened ceramite make it extraordinarily difficult to pierce this shell. Preferring close combat where possible, Tiran Osoros wields the formidable Power Mace known as the Thagomizer. The Primarch's one concession to warfare in the 31st Millennium is a relic Plasma Pistol from the Dark Age of Technology. This incredible sidearm fires more powerful blasts than the standard Plasma gun, and is far less prone to overheating. As Tiran Osoros unified his planet he carried with him a stone knife, made by his own hand. Now this primitive blade, more accessory than weapon, sits on his belt as a reminder of who he is and where he comes from.

==A fan's attempt at rules==

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Tiran Osoros:''' || 440 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 10 || 2+/5++
|} 

Unit type: Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Ancient Plasma Blaster, Bluescale Plate, Thagomizer, Keratops.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Beastmaster, Bulky, Disarming Charisma, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion.

'''Ancient Plasma Blaster'''- Though Tiran eschews ranged combat where possible, he still carries this relic plasma weapon. It is a S7 AP2 Assault 2 weapon with Blast. Tiran counts as having assault grenades for that turn if he charges the same unit he shoots.

'''Bluescale Plate'''- This power armor embodies pragmatisim: it's not pretty, it's not advanced, but it gets the job done. It offers a 2+ 5++, and because of the thick plating, all attacks are resolved against Tiran with -1 strength.

'''Thagomizer'''- Created in the design of the mace he once used on his homeworld, Thagomizer is a power mace of terrifying destructive potential. It strikes with the following profile: S+2, AP2, Two Handed, Mastercrafted, Concussive.

'''Keratops'''- Not to be confused with Carrot Top, Keratops is an ancient horned sor from Tiran's homeworld, Keratops is the greatest of his breed, a titanic many horned beast Tiran occasionally rides into battle. For an extra 200 points, Tiran can be upgraded to ride into battle on Keratops' back. If he does so, he gains the following: his unit type changes to cavalry, he gains +3 T, W, and A. In addition, Hammer of Wrath attacks are resolved with the following profile: D3+1, S10 AP1. However, if Tiran takes Keratops, he may never enter a transport and may only join cavalry or bike units. Additionally, because people are beging charged by a god damn dinosaur, fear tests are made at -2 LD.

'''Beastmaster'''- Tiran makes (insert the dinosaur special unit his legion will innevitably have) troops choices. Also, cavalry and bike units that join Tiran receive the Furious Charge USR and FNP (5+), including Tiran if he rides Keratops.

'''Disarming Charisma'''- Any unit with '''Legiones Astartes''' and '''Loyalist''' rules count as Sworn Brothers to units with '''Legiones Astartes: Scale Bearers''' and Tiran himself.

Tiran does two things: he helps out your dinosaurs, and he keeps on keeping on. Everything else is secondary. Naturally, as a primarch, he's still really mean in melee, but he really shines in durability, especially if he rides his dinosaur, which he will in any 2000+ point game, because of course he will. Riding his best buddy, Tiran hass Greater Demon level stats; most things in the game can't even hurt him, and even if they do, who cares, he has 9 wounds. To put this into perspective, '''none''' of the primarchs, canon or /tg/, can actually kill him in less than 6 turns, minus some lucky rolling. Stick this guy on his dinosaur, have him lead a squad of other dinosaurs, and laugh maniacally as Tiran tanks those 10 lascannon shots that should have wiped out your squad, and only takes 1.5 wounds. Based on the numbers I've crunched thus far, the only primarchs that will statistically defeat him are Roman, Horus, and Golgothos, and none of them will be able to kill him before the game ends (even Roman, with his WS9 A8 I9 prefferedenemyshred nonsense will only inflict 0.87 wounds per round of combat). Plus, he makes an attached cavalry squad 'arder and killier, which is always nice.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}
[[Category:The /tg/ Heresy]]

Alexandri of Rosskar

2020-02-29T22:50:29Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* A fan's Attempt at Rules */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}
{{Infobox 40k Primarch
|name= Alexandri of Rosskar
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:AlexandriOfTheSilverCataphracts.jpg|225px]]
|title=King of Rosskar [Surrendered], the Unifying Dictator, Greatfather Rosskar.
|alias=
|where=[[Rosskar]]
|when=c.855.M30
|legion=[[Silver Cataphracts|Fifteenth]]
|crusade=38th [[Expedition Fleets (Hektor Heresy)|Expedition Fleet]]
|sigil=[[File:Silver_Cataphracts_Emblem.png|100px]]
|weapon=
|trait=Cautious, Pragmatic, Grim
|flaw=Callous, Ruthless
|heresy=Loyal. His Legion stood in defense of Terra and Segmentum Solar
|fate=Assassinated
|dominion=
}}
''A King is a man who assumes responsibility. He says "I was beaten", he does not say "My men were beaten".''

'''(Sayings of Rosskar, Volume IV, 'Alexandri's Words')'''

'''Alexandri of Rosskar''' was the Primarch of the Fifteenth Legion; the [[Silver Cataphracts]], known for their dour attitudes and utter lack of pride. The tactics of Alexandri were highly controversial relying on material warfare and deception, but his was the hand that allowed Terra to be saved by the [[Void Angels]] and the [[Steel Marshals]]. His potential to seize power in the shattered Imperium led to his assassination by the upper echelons of his Legion and by his own brother, [[Gaspard Lumey]].

=History=
==Youth==
''Looking back I now know history is much more the product of mayhem than of conspiracy. I never intended to become King, yet I am.''

(Sayings of Rosskar IV, pg. 14)

In the ancient gene-laboratories of the Emperor, Primordial Entities that would later to be revealed as the four Gods of Chaos cast his sons adrift across space. Only [[Hektor Cincinnatus|Hektor]] was raised alongside his Father, while the others were sent to far-flung planets. Alexandri found himself sent to a remote, insular planet of [[Rosskar]]. Ancient Rosskar was divided along three continents, held in check by a techno-tyrannical Kingdom that spanned its globe. Alexandri landed upon Takuat, the largest and poorest of these states. His pod landed in a region known as the Northern Expanse, the largest stretch of forest on Rosskar. This forest same as any other on the ice-world was populated by the aggressive xeno-foliage and fauna that made it a chthonic nightmare to traverse. An order of middle-class freemen known as the "Frontiersmen" fought hard to reach the sight of the trailing comet, arriving at Alexandri's crashsite. These supertitious yet driven men were operating on a prophecy of the Silver Cataphract, a savior that would descend from the sky to rescue those on Rosskar. A being that would deliver them to another world. These men worked in service to Vityaza known as '''Lady Wisna''', nicknamed ''Mistress of the North'' for her nearly undisputed control of Frontiersmen lodges of the Northern Expanse. The child rescued would be raised by Lady Wisna for the unique circumstances surrounding his "birth". Young Alexandri showed aptitude unlike any other pupil, growing up mentally and physically strong at an alarming rate. Raised alongside Wisna's daughter of similar years, '''Snježana''', the difference couldn't be more palpable. At age twelve he joined his first frontier patrol, distinguishing himself in combat while still mastering his studies above Snježana's curriculum. At fifteen, he had mastered every form of mathematical system available to him and could recite Rosskan history from memory.

Alexandri was a servant of '''Bogumil the Cautious''', the King of Rosskar. Bogumil ruled the same as his father and his father before him, with ruthless efficiency and terror. Two social classes existed during this time on Rosskar, the ''Qio'' which were a peasant class but close to slaves and the Vityaz which were techno-nobility. Bogumil ruled through his Vityaz nobility, sworn to service him in exchange for technology hidden away in the deepest vaults of Rosskar. Alexandri came to Bogumil's attention, seeing his prowess when Snježana was presented as a bride to Bogumil. Not only did Alexandri secure the marriage that would bring prestige to his house, but was commissioned as Marshal of Rosskar to keep oversight of Takaut. For the next twenty years of Alexandri's tenure, he crushed seventeen Qio revolts and two infamously large Vityaz uprisings. Bogumil in time grew to fear Alexandri's popularity among the Vityaz, and his conciliatory attitude towards the Qio class. This paranoia was only further inflamed by Snježana, pushing Bogumil towards further restrictions of Alexandri. For the Marshal's part, he took each abuse and loss of privilege in stride maintaining his oath of loyalty towards his King. Eventually Alexandri was relegated to a border posting where it all began, overlooking the Northern Expanse akin to a jumped up game warden. Alexandri took the posting in stride, reducing the incidents of animal incursion by eighty percent.

Bogumil's growing inward fear could not be fully contained however. Even in the end, he unleashed Rosskar's greatest weapon. A tool that had fallen into legend but once cemented the royal family's claim upon this white sphere. The Skhau-81-Z2 was a relic of another time, before mad constructs and warp-fire consumed the galaxy. The Skhau was capable of Mach-6, powered by a dual fusion engine that both powered its many jets and its weapon systems to fire laser weaponry of humanity's golden age. Snježana, either sensing the madness of Bogumil's act or reminding herself of familial loyalty secretly warned Alexandri of the coming conflagration. The Primarch only had minutes to escape, riding as hard south as he could before the remote controlled device unleashed a firestorm that immolated thousands, including the aging Lady Wisna. This would prove the final act of betrayal, forcing the Primarch to marshal together a conspiracy that would end with Bogumil's hanging. The Skhau-81-Z2 was destroyed with a precisely timed detonation of a nuclear weapon, built by the Primarch's own hands in order to destroy it. Once the act was done, Alexandri eliminated each and every single member of the royal family. Snježana still retaining her title as Queen, married Alexandri to cement his legitimacy as King over Rosskar and all its people and dominions. The marriage, much like that of his brother Hektor, was entirely for political reasons.

After this, Alexandri abolished the system of servitude effectively ending the slavery of the lower classes. The destruction of feudalism followed after, with the lands being overturned to the Kingship. A short civil war did ensue, with the outnumbered Vityaz only keeping a slight edge due to reliquaries of ancient weaponry. However soon enough superior generalship of Alexandri drove Vityaz to brink of extinction. Then he made his famous compromise to the disenfranchised class. The remaining Vityaz were allowed what land and possessions they had, in exchange for the ending of all social privileges. No more would the peasantry bow before them, or be sold and auctioned off for labor between them. Under Alexandri Rosskar flourished with new blossoming cities and industry. The forests were pushed back further than ever before as urban centers centralized, standardized administration with capable minds handpicked by the Primarch speeding the process up beyond measure.

'''Zlasta Curimin''' founded the ''Committee for Living'', or commonly referred to simply as the Committee. Zlasta's organization incorporated the the old Frontiersmen lodge system into an expanded, concentrated effort to reduce the voracious forests and the fauna therein into manageable sectors. The King of Rosskar was sensitive to the changes Zlasta instituted, but his nostalgia for his early years among the Frontiersmen faded thanks to her results. No longer were the bastard sons and daughters of the Vityaz the only Frontiersmen, becoming a high paying profession with years of practical study and training to hone one's body towards the task. Alexandri plucked the genius '''Andrien Duško''' who used the now opened technological vaults to rediscover the art of voidcraft. For the first time, Alexandri's intellect was matched, and even succeeded by a mortal in Andrien. This inspired no small part of admiration in the Primarch. Healthy competition spurned as Alexandri spent what little free time he had going over Andrien's notes, reviewing his progress on incorporating various stellar craft. Rockets beyond counting, orbital stations that formed the basis of a new industry of asteroid mining. In only fifty years after King Alexandri Ibirien the First's reign, the Rosskan population had soared by five hundred percent and were beginning colonization of the stars.

===The Silver Cataphract===
''Rosskar is Kuzgeta. Kuzgetan is Rosskan.''

-Common Rosskan saying to explain the relationship between Rosskar and its colonies.

True to the prophecy that drove men to fight and die to save him, Alexandri drew Rosskar towards new worlds. The surrounding sector of space would be known as "Kuzgeta", meaning 'Land of Stars' in Rosskan. The first wave of colonists were sent out almost immediately upon the construction of Rosskar's first shipyard. These ships began spreading to nearly every habitable world at once. There was no shortage of colonists willing to be the first sacrificial lambs to the altar of Alexandri's stellar ambitions. Not all were capable though. The King chose the cream of his crop, separating the chaff through a series of rigorous tests to ensure viability of both genetic, intellectual, and emotional strength. From the foundation Alexandri understood the difficulties of maintaining a vast stellar realm. Direct, sometimes ruthless rule was inefficient and outright dangerous to the stability of the growing Kuzgeta region. Alexandri established a federation, establishing various rights and freedoms for each member state. He chose the initial rulers quite carefully, with plenty of agents in place to coerce circumstances towards his ends but did not influence daily life for the average Kuzgetan. No totalitarian dictatorships reigned for the weakness of these realms, but some feudal societies arose very similar to the old Vityaz while some burgeoning democracies arose along with anything inbetween. Alexandri, much like the Imperium that would soon come, only desired one facet among all his clients: loyalty.

After raids from Xenos attackers and small, petty human realms Alexandri immediately pushed for the establishment of the Kuzgetan Defensive Sphere. Each world must establish an industrial capacity towards interstellar construction soon as possible, with harsh punishments for those who lagged behind. With Alexandri's constant envoys pressing and the implied, direct, and overbearing threats led to each member managing to exceed production quotas. The Rosskan fleet was pitifully behind even the most meager fleet of the Great Crusade, but was large enough to scare off all but the most desperate void-brigand. A swarm of frigates supported by cruisers that would not be remiss in the Forty First Millennium. At the time, Alexandri did not establish a considerable ground presence imagining that warfare was entirely decided upon void-ship combat. Later the Primarch would remark this was short-sighted and costly, leading to an inadequacy when it came to situations requiring more delicate, precise weaponry to conserve resources.

Among the managing of a vast interstellar realm, the security of the various states including his home planet's Alexandri also saw out new projects. Given enough time he would be able to create flawed imitations of the Astartes, though never would they match the longevity and reproductive capabilities of the Emperor's Legionnaires. Various projects focused on examining and rebuilding the complexities of Dark Age technology, but each stalled when hitting hard deadlocks to understanding the fundamental concepts underlying plasma, gauss, and volkite weaponry. Without understanding them improvements could not be achieved. Alexandri's key achievement in his projects was the fostering of the Rosskar Covens. These Covens were nurtured based off the ancient legends of witches in the forests, which held some truth behind a secret society which trained young Psykers to keep their powers under control and hide among the general populace. After contacting these Covens, Alexandri located their leadership and wiped them out to the last. Those few survivors were recruited into his fold. The old lore was studied extensively, and Psykers were brought forward into a more stately, organized program under the same name.

==Great Crusade==
''I am asked, how could you do this? What drove you to surrender so readily, so willingly, when you had fought so hard before? These people are bold to question me like this, but heed my wisdom when I say I held no sadness over the loss of my Kingship.''

''A crown is only a hat that lets the snow in.''

(Quote dated at 996.M30, after being questioned by his brother Primarch [[Inferox "The Burned King"|Inferox]])

At first the Emperor's coming was met with glee and celebration. Alexandri himself was glad that there was a man he could call an equal, someone to ease the weight of ruling off his shoulders. He had no idea what the Emperor's actual position was, more akin to Alexandri's youthful days as a unifying warlord. This made Alexandri make the fateful remark that he'd be happy being nothing more than a Regent, managing the Imperium in the Emperor's Name, not his own. This brought a smile to his Father's face. A knowing smile.

Alexandri would never forgive his Father for this act, but he understood the necessity of accepting it. Rising up to oppose him was pointless, he was a being above him. Disappoint and failure were two things strong in Alexandri's mind. This time would be no different.

''I cast my hand out, and the greatest warriors ever to cross the void leap to obey. But this is not true power. No, the leadership my father gives us all is our real strength.''

Never once did the Silver Cataphracts refuse the call to arms when summoned. Due to the massive population of [[Rosskar]] the Legion's ranks swelled to the brim, and then spilled over. It was never clear if the Alexandri even once told the truth of the actual size of his Legion. To further add to this blatant growth of Astartes numbers, millions of regular human soldiers were introduced as part of the Legion as the Rosskar Strelky. The Strelky served as a valuable source of support during the Crusades, fighting as an auxiliary force to the Cataphracts main operations.

When not helping the Emperor or his fellow Primarchs however, Alexandri was eager to expand the realms of the Imperium on his own. Using envoys and trusted functionaries, a small portion of his Legion would act in the Emperor's name but obviously make sure certain worlds favored Rosskar as their destination of tithe payment. He searched for worlds either with unrealized industrial potential or low population, high resource worlds. A huge warmachine was forged form the tiny fiefdom he claimed to help fund his ever expanding Legion and auxiliary force. When rumors of a rising amount of Librarians in the Cataphracts came to light, along with reports of witches serving in the auxiliary, it became clear that Alexandri had great ambitions that might upset the balance of order in the Imperium. Still, even if Alexandri broke regulations, he was always loyal to humanity, understanding the Imperium's way was the best way. The Imperial Truth just needed bending.

His actions created great controversy as sometimes Alexandri would made ridiculous deals to secure peaceful surrender, and others he would be mercilessly swift in destroying whole planets. At a glance his decisions might be decided upon whim, but in fact it was all carefully calculated in his mind. In his mind, all that mattered was occupying planets with the least amount of loss. That is, overall loss. If a planet needed to be taken by brute force, it would be. If a planet could be talked down and negotiated with, it would. Alexandri's liberal approach to dealing with Xenos made some question his methods even more. But a few demonstrations of his disregard for alien life made it clear to all this was not another [[Aubrey the Grey]].

Even though the loyalty of Alexandri was at times questioned, the Emperor knew the nature of his son from the few meetings they had. He was loyal, for he understood a civil war would bring too much needless ruin. And that the Emperor was the right being to unite humanity, just as Alexandri was the right man to unite Rosskar.

==The Heresy==
''Woe to Mankind this day. Pity those who have died on Terra, for it was all in vain. The enemy has achieved the ultimate victory. The sacrifices we made merely ensured they could not enjoy it.''

(Attributed to Alexandri after the Emperor's Enthronement.)

==Post-Heresy==

=Personality=
==Appearance==
Regal is the best word to describe Alexandri. A huge, flowing brown beard that goes down the front of Alexandri's power armour even in combat. [[Rosskar]]'s unique sun and the planet's own society put an immense stress on the Primarch. He has aged whereas his own brothers have not. Dark circles have burrowed in deep into his eye sockets and many lines have formed on his face. Even specks of grey and white have touched his beard. All this only adds to his appearance as the iron-fisted ruler of Rosskar. He stands slightly taller than most other Primarchs, but not by much. His Terminator plate is adorned with silver-livery and symbols of the many Vityaz Houses crushed by his hand. Stylistic images of Rosskan Hounds form on the front of his armor, the emblem of his Legion and his own personal crest.

=Wargear=

Alexandry was known to go into battle with weapons and armor! That's right, he didn't fight naked like [[Gaspard Lumey|Lumey]].

==A fan's Attempt at Rules==

'''WHOEVER WROTE ALEXANDRI, Fill in the flavor text bits.

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Alexandri:''' || 465 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 2+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Independent Character, Infantry.

Wargear: The Frost Plate!, Xilantai Breath, The Kogot

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Combined Tactics, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Sire of Cataphracts.

'''The Frost Plate'''- (Flavor text) 2+/4++. All enemies charging take 1d6 overwatch hits at AP 4 S:5, every wound generated reduces enemy charge by 2 and all charges count as disordered

'''Xilantai Breath''' The Xilantai were beasts of myth on Rosskar, massive, not quite living, not quite dead, almost mechanical, not even the mighty Alexandri could kill one. After his father took him under his wing, he asked for a weapon that could conqueror anything, as many a sleepless night were spent contemplating his past failures. S4, AP3, Flamer Template, Haywire, Poison 4+, Rending, Shred.

''''The Kogot ''''- Profile: S:U AP2 Shred, Paired (+1A), Master Crafted.

'''Combined Tactics'''- For each army slot, choose one of the following options. The option you choose applies to all units with '''Legiones Astartes: Silver Cataphracts''' in that slot (ergo, you don't get to mix and match within a slot).

''Elites: Twin-Linked on their first round of shooting '''or''' hatred in their first combat.''

''Troops: Stubborn '''or''' Fleet.''

''Fast Attack: Furious Charge '''or''' -2 cover save against your shooting attacks.''

''Heavy Support: Relentless while in your own deployment zone '''or''' adding the Sunder USR to all shooting attacks for one round of shooting of your choice.''

'''Sire of Cataphracts'''- (insert silver caraphract legion elites) may be taken as troop choices.

He's pretty middle of the road. Not terrible in a fight, but primarily focused on buffing his army. Being able to choose different buffs for each slot of your army gives you all kinds of tactical flexibility, and even though he's not a combat monster the same way some primarchs are, he's still going to eat 98% of things in combat.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Alexandri of Rosskar

2020-02-29T22:48:41Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Great Crusade */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}
{{Infobox 40k Primarch
|name= Alexandri of Rosskar
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:AlexandriOfTheSilverCataphracts.jpg|225px]]
|title=King of Rosskar [Surrendered], the Unifying Dictator, Greatfather Rosskar.
|alias=
|where=[[Rosskar]]
|when=c.855.M30
|legion=[[Silver Cataphracts|Fifteenth]]
|crusade=38th [[Expedition Fleets (Hektor Heresy)|Expedition Fleet]]
|sigil=[[File:Silver_Cataphracts_Emblem.png|100px]]
|weapon=
|trait=Cautious, Pragmatic, Grim
|flaw=Callous, Ruthless
|heresy=Loyal. His Legion stood in defense of Terra and Segmentum Solar
|fate=Assassinated
|dominion=
}}
''A King is a man who assumes responsibility. He says "I was beaten", he does not say "My men were beaten".''

'''(Sayings of Rosskar, Volume IV, 'Alexandri's Words')'''

'''Alexandri of Rosskar''' was the Primarch of the Fifteenth Legion; the [[Silver Cataphracts]], known for their dour attitudes and utter lack of pride. The tactics of Alexandri were highly controversial relying on material warfare and deception, but his was the hand that allowed Terra to be saved by the [[Void Angels]] and the [[Steel Marshals]]. His potential to seize power in the shattered Imperium led to his assassination by the upper echelons of his Legion and by his own brother, [[Gaspard Lumey]].

=History=
==Youth==
''Looking back I now know history is much more the product of mayhem than of conspiracy. I never intended to become King, yet I am.''

(Sayings of Rosskar IV, pg. 14)

In the ancient gene-laboratories of the Emperor, Primordial Entities that would later to be revealed as the four Gods of Chaos cast his sons adrift across space. Only [[Hektor Cincinnatus|Hektor]] was raised alongside his Father, while the others were sent to far-flung planets. Alexandri found himself sent to a remote, insular planet of [[Rosskar]]. Ancient Rosskar was divided along three continents, held in check by a techno-tyrannical Kingdom that spanned its globe. Alexandri landed upon Takuat, the largest and poorest of these states. His pod landed in a region known as the Northern Expanse, the largest stretch of forest on Rosskar. This forest same as any other on the ice-world was populated by the aggressive xeno-foliage and fauna that made it a chthonic nightmare to traverse. An order of middle-class freemen known as the "Frontiersmen" fought hard to reach the sight of the trailing comet, arriving at Alexandri's crashsite. These supertitious yet driven men were operating on a prophecy of the Silver Cataphract, a savior that would descend from the sky to rescue those on Rosskar. A being that would deliver them to another world. These men worked in service to Vityaza known as '''Lady Wisna''', nicknamed ''Mistress of the North'' for her nearly undisputed control of Frontiersmen lodges of the Northern Expanse. The child rescued would be raised by Lady Wisna for the unique circumstances surrounding his "birth". Young Alexandri showed aptitude unlike any other pupil, growing up mentally and physically strong at an alarming rate. Raised alongside Wisna's daughter of similar years, '''Snježana''', the difference couldn't be more palpable. At age twelve he joined his first frontier patrol, distinguishing himself in combat while still mastering his studies above Snježana's curriculum. At fifteen, he had mastered every form of mathematical system available to him and could recite Rosskan history from memory.

Alexandri was a servant of '''Bogumil the Cautious''', the King of Rosskar. Bogumil ruled the same as his father and his father before him, with ruthless efficiency and terror. Two social classes existed during this time on Rosskar, the ''Qio'' which were a peasant class but close to slaves and the Vityaz which were techno-nobility. Bogumil ruled through his Vityaz nobility, sworn to service him in exchange for technology hidden away in the deepest vaults of Rosskar. Alexandri came to Bogumil's attention, seeing his prowess when Snježana was presented as a bride to Bogumil. Not only did Alexandri secure the marriage that would bring prestige to his house, but was commissioned as Marshal of Rosskar to keep oversight of Takaut. For the next twenty years of Alexandri's tenure, he crushed seventeen Qio revolts and two infamously large Vityaz uprisings. Bogumil in time grew to fear Alexandri's popularity among the Vityaz, and his conciliatory attitude towards the Qio class. This paranoia was only further inflamed by Snježana, pushing Bogumil towards further restrictions of Alexandri. For the Marshal's part, he took each abuse and loss of privilege in stride maintaining his oath of loyalty towards his King. Eventually Alexandri was relegated to a border posting where it all began, overlooking the Northern Expanse akin to a jumped up game warden. Alexandri took the posting in stride, reducing the incidents of animal incursion by eighty percent.

Bogumil's growing inward fear could not be fully contained however. Even in the end, he unleashed Rosskar's greatest weapon. A tool that had fallen into legend but once cemented the royal family's claim upon this white sphere. The Skhau-81-Z2 was a relic of another time, before mad constructs and warp-fire consumed the galaxy. The Skhau was capable of Mach-6, powered by a dual fusion engine that both powered its many jets and its weapon systems to fire laser weaponry of humanity's golden age. Snježana, either sensing the madness of Bogumil's act or reminding herself of familial loyalty secretly warned Alexandri of the coming conflagration. The Primarch only had minutes to escape, riding as hard south as he could before the remote controlled device unleashed a firestorm that immolated thousands, including the aging Lady Wisna. This would prove the final act of betrayal, forcing the Primarch to marshal together a conspiracy that would end with Bogumil's hanging. The Skhau-81-Z2 was destroyed with a precisely timed detonation of a nuclear weapon, built by the Primarch's own hands in order to destroy it. Once the act was done, Alexandri eliminated each and every single member of the royal family. Snježana still retaining her title as Queen, married Alexandri to cement his legitimacy as King over Rosskar and all its people and dominions. The marriage, much like that of his brother Hektor, was entirely for political reasons.

After this, Alexandri abolished the system of servitude effectively ending the slavery of the lower classes. The destruction of feudalism followed after, with the lands being overturned to the Kingship. A short civil war did ensue, with the outnumbered Vityaz only keeping a slight edge due to reliquaries of ancient weaponry. However soon enough superior generalship of Alexandri drove Vityaz to brink of extinction. Then he made his famous compromise to the disenfranchised class. The remaining Vityaz were allowed what land and possessions they had, in exchange for the ending of all social privileges. No more would the peasantry bow before them, or be sold and auctioned off for labor between them. Under Alexandri Rosskar flourished with new blossoming cities and industry. The forests were pushed back further than ever before as urban centers centralized, standardized administration with capable minds handpicked by the Primarch speeding the process up beyond measure.

'''Zlasta Curimin''' founded the ''Committee for Living'', or commonly referred to simply as the Committee. Zlasta's organization incorporated the the old Frontiersmen lodge system into an expanded, concentrated effort to reduce the voracious forests and the fauna therein into manageable sectors. The King of Rosskar was sensitive to the changes Zlasta instituted, but his nostalgia for his early years among the Frontiersmen faded thanks to her results. No longer were the bastard sons and daughters of the Vityaz the only Frontiersmen, becoming a high paying profession with years of practical study and training to hone one's body towards the task. Alexandri plucked the genius '''Andrien Duško''' who used the now opened technological vaults to rediscover the art of voidcraft. For the first time, Alexandri's intellect was matched, and even succeeded by a mortal in Andrien. This inspired no small part of admiration in the Primarch. Healthy competition spurned as Alexandri spent what little free time he had going over Andrien's notes, reviewing his progress on incorporating various stellar craft. Rockets beyond counting, orbital stations that formed the basis of a new industry of asteroid mining. In only fifty years after King Alexandri Ibirien the First's reign, the Rosskan population had soared by five hundred percent and were beginning colonization of the stars.

===The Silver Cataphract===
''Rosskar is Kuzgeta. Kuzgetan is Rosskan.''

-Common Rosskan saying to explain the relationship between Rosskar and its colonies.

True to the prophecy that drove men to fight and die to save him, Alexandri drew Rosskar towards new worlds. The surrounding sector of space would be known as "Kuzgeta", meaning 'Land of Stars' in Rosskan. The first wave of colonists were sent out almost immediately upon the construction of Rosskar's first shipyard. These ships began spreading to nearly every habitable world at once. There was no shortage of colonists willing to be the first sacrificial lambs to the altar of Alexandri's stellar ambitions. Not all were capable though. The King chose the cream of his crop, separating the chaff through a series of rigorous tests to ensure viability of both genetic, intellectual, and emotional strength. From the foundation Alexandri understood the difficulties of maintaining a vast stellar realm. Direct, sometimes ruthless rule was inefficient and outright dangerous to the stability of the growing Kuzgeta region. Alexandri established a federation, establishing various rights and freedoms for each member state. He chose the initial rulers quite carefully, with plenty of agents in place to coerce circumstances towards his ends but did not influence daily life for the average Kuzgetan. No totalitarian dictatorships reigned for the weakness of these realms, but some feudal societies arose very similar to the old Vityaz while some burgeoning democracies arose along with anything inbetween. Alexandri, much like the Imperium that would soon come, only desired one facet among all his clients: loyalty.

After raids from Xenos attackers and small, petty human realms Alexandri immediately pushed for the establishment of the Kuzgetan Defensive Sphere. Each world must establish an industrial capacity towards interstellar construction soon as possible, with harsh punishments for those who lagged behind. With Alexandri's constant envoys pressing and the implied, direct, and overbearing threats led to each member managing to exceed production quotas. The Rosskan fleet was pitifully behind even the most meager fleet of the Great Crusade, but was large enough to scare off all but the most desperate void-brigand. A swarm of frigates supported by cruisers that would not be remiss in the Forty First Millennium. At the time, Alexandri did not establish a considerable ground presence imagining that warfare was entirely decided upon void-ship combat. Later the Primarch would remark this was short-sighted and costly, leading to an inadequacy when it came to situations requiring more delicate, precise weaponry to conserve resources.

Among the managing of a vast interstellar realm, the security of the various states including his home planet's Alexandri also saw out new projects. Given enough time he would be able to create flawed imitations of the Astartes, though never would they match the longevity and reproductive capabilities of the Emperor's Legionnaires. Various projects focused on examining and rebuilding the complexities of Dark Age technology, but each stalled when hitting hard deadlocks to understanding the fundamental concepts underlying plasma, gauss, and volkite weaponry. Without understanding them improvements could not be achieved. Alexandri's key achievement in his projects was the fostering of the Rosskar Covens. These Covens were nurtured based off the ancient legends of witches in the forests, which held some truth behind a secret society which trained young Psykers to keep their powers under control and hide among the general populace. After contacting these Covens, Alexandri located their leadership and wiped them out to the last. Those few survivors were recruited into his fold. The old lore was studied extensively, and Psykers were brought forward into a more stately, organized program under the same name.

==Great Crusade==
''I am asked, how could you do this? What drove you to surrender so readily, so willingly, when you had fought so hard before? These people are bold to question me like this, but heed my wisdom when I say I held no sadness over the loss of my Kingship.''

''A crown is only a hat that lets the snow in.''

(Quote dated at 996.M30, after being questioned by his brother Primarch [[Inferox "The Burned King"|Inferox]])

At first the Emperor's coming was met with glee and celebration. Alexandri himself was glad that there was a man he could call an equal, someone to ease the weight of ruling off his shoulders. He had no idea what the Emperor's actual position was, more akin to Alexandri's youthful days as a unifying warlord. This made Alexandri make the fateful remark that he'd be happy being nothing more than a Regent, managing the Imperium in the Emperor's Name, not his own. This brought a smile to his Father's face. A knowing smile.

Alexandri would never forgive his Father for this act, but he understood the necessity of accepting it. Rising up to oppose him was pointless, he was a being above him. Disappoint and failure were two things strong in Alexandri's mind. This time would be no different.

''I cast my hand out, and the greatest warriors ever to cross the void leap to obey. But this is not true power. No, the leadership my father gives us all is our real strength.''

Never once did the Silver Cataphracts refuse the call to arms when summoned. Due to the massive population of [[Rosskar]] the Legion's ranks swelled to the brim, and then spilled over. It was never clear if the Alexandri even once told the truth of the actual size of his Legion. To further add to this blatant growth of Astartes numbers, millions of regular human soldiers were introduced as part of the Legion as the Rosskar Strelky. The Strelky served as a valuable source of support during the Crusades, fighting as an auxiliary force to the Cataphracts main operations.

When not helping the Emperor or his fellow Primarchs however, Alexandri was eager to expand the realms of the Imperium on his own. Using envoys and trusted functionaries, a small portion of his Legion would act in the Emperor's name but obviously make sure certain worlds favored Rosskar as their destination of tithe payment. He searched for worlds either with unrealized industrial potential or low population, high resource worlds. A huge warmachine was forged form the tiny fiefdom he claimed to help fund his ever expanding Legion and auxiliary force. When rumors of a rising amount of Librarians in the Cataphracts came to light, along with reports of witches serving in the auxiliary, it became clear that Alexandri had great ambitions that might upset the balance of order in the Imperium. Still, even if Alexandri broke regulations, he was always loyal to humanity, understanding the Imperium's way was the best way. The Imperial Truth just needed bending.

His actions created great controversy as sometimes Alexandri would made ridiculous deals to secure peaceful surrender, and others he would be mercilessly swift in destroying whole planets. At a glance his decisions might be decided upon whim, but in fact it was all carefully calculated in his mind. In his mind, all that mattered was occupying planets with the least amount of loss. That is, overall loss. If a planet needed to be taken by brute force, it would be. If a planet could be talked down and negotiated with, it would. Alexandri's liberal approach to dealing with Xenos made some question his methods even more. But a few demonstrations of his disregard for alien life made it clear to all this was not another [[Aubrey the Grey]].

Even though the loyalty of Alexandri was at times questioned, the Emperor knew the nature of his son from the few meetings they had. He was loyal, for he understood a civil war would bring too much needless ruin. And that the Emperor was the right being to unite humanity, just as Alexandri was the right man to unite Rosskar.

==The Heresy==
''Woe to Mankind this day. Pity those who have died on Terra, for it was all in vain. The enemy has achieved the ultimate victory. The sacrifices we made merely ensured they could not enjoy it.''

(Attributed to Alexandri after the Emperor's Enthronement.)

==Post-Heresy==

=Personality=
==Appearance==
Regal is the best word to describe Alexandri. A huge, flowing brown beard that goes down the front of Alexandri's power armour even in combat. [[Rosskar]]'s unique sun and the planet's own society put an immense stress on the Primarch. He has aged whereas his own brothers have not. Dark circles have burrowed in deep into his eye sockets and many lines have formed on his face. Even specks of grey and white have touched his beard. All this only adds to his appearance as the iron-fisted ruler of Rosskar. He stands slightly taller than most other Primarchs, but not by much. His Terminator plate is adorned with silver-livery and symbols of the many Vityaz Houses crushed by his hand. Stylistic images of Rosskan Hounds form on the front of his armor, the emblem of his Legion and his own personal crest.

=Wargear=

Alexandry was known to go into battle with weapons and armor! That's right, he didn't fight naked like [[Gaspard Lumey|Lumey]].

==A fan's Attempt at Rules==

'''WHOEVER WROTE ALEXANDRI, Fill in the flavor text bits.

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Alexandri:''' || 465 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 2+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Independent Character, Infantry.

Wargear: the Frost Plate!, Xilantai Breath, The kogot

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Combined Tactics, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Sire of Cataphracts.

'''The Frost Plate'''- (Flavor text) 2+/4++. All enemies charging take 1d6 overwatch hits at AP 4 S:5, every wound generated reduces enemy charge by 2 and all charges count as disordered

'''Xilantai Breath''' The Xilantai were beasts of myth on Rosskar, massive, not quite living, not quite dead, almost mechanical, not even the mighty Alexandri could kill one. After his father took him under his wing, he asked for a weapon that could conqueror anything, as many a sleepless night were spent contemplating his past failures. S4, AP3, Flamer Template, Haywire, Poison 4+, Rending, Shred.

''''The Kogot ''''- Profile: S:U AP2 Shred, Paired (+1A), Master Crafted.

'''Combined Tactics'''- For each army slot, choose one of the following options. The option you choose applies to all units with '''Legiones Astartes: Silver Cataphracts''' in that slot (ergo, you don't get to mix and match within a slot).

''Elites: Twin-Linked on their first round of shooting '''or''' hatred in their first combat.''

''Troops: Stubborn '''or''' Fleet.''

''Fast Attack: Furious Charge '''or''' -2 cover save against your shooting attacks.''

''Heavy Support: Relentless while in your own deployment zone '''or''' adding the Sunder USR to all shooting attacks for one round of shooting of your choice.''

'''Sire of Cataphracts'''- (insert silver caraphract legion elites) may be taken as troop choices.

He's pretty middle of the road. Not terrible in a fight, but primarily focused on buffing his army. Being able to choose different buffs for each slot of your army gives you all kinds of tactical flexibility, and even though he's not a combat monster the same way some primarchs are, he's still going to eat 98% of things in combat.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Johannes Vrach

2020-02-29T22:16:24Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* The Hektor Heresy */

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Johannes Vrach
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Johannes_Vrach.jpg|225px|]]
|title=
|where=Rai
|when=850.M30
|legion=[[Life Bringers|Twelfth]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[Image:LifeBringers emblem.png|100px]]
|weapon=
|trait= Methodical, Sober, Empathetic
|flaw= Obsessive, Melancholic
|heresy= Traitor
|fate=
|dominion= Eden
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

''It is worth thinking about the human habit of making a thing "better". At the beginning, the thing is satisfactory. Then dissatisfaction is applied to it, then the thing is changed until it is satisfactory again. What does this accomplish?''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===

The primarch's pod landed on a jungle world Rai, near a small settlement. The young primarch was found and adopted by a doctor from an old and established line of healers, the family Vrach. Though the man had five children already, he could not help but take the child in. The boy was given the name Johannes and was raised him as a Vrach. Family was important on Rai, and the Vraches took to the new addition with characteristic warmth. This fondness was reciprocated by the young primarch, who was intensely devoted to his adopted family. He especially admired his father for his work healing the wounded and diseased, leading Johannes towards medicine and biology. Johannes displayed great talent in those fields, in time surpassing even his adoptive father's own prodigious abilities. The family Vrach soon gathered renown as the greatest team of doctors and medical researchers on the planet, finding cures for many of the diseases and afflictions that had tormented the population previously. Life expectancy rose considerably, then technology and overall living standards. The people could now advance further into the depths of the jungle, freed from fear of the many deadly spores and contagious viruses hiding within the untamed rainforests. It was a grand new era for Rai.

Unfortunately, the golden age did not last long. An exploration team looking for mineral deposits deep in the wilds found the remains of an ancient and mysterious ruin. The archeologists that followed began unearthed alien artifacts and metal tablets covered in an unknown language. Months after the ruin's unearthing, the first symptoms began to appear within the populace. At first the disease passed unnoticed, it's early symptoms being mild fatigue and a barely perceptible rise in body temperature. It's intense virulence and mild effects insured that it passed freely through the populace. A year after its appearance, intense nausea began ripping through the population and the fever and fatigue increased to crippling levels. The hospitals of Rai were overwhelmed, and the researchers were dumbfounded. As the best medical experts of the time, the Vrach family did their best to ease the suffering. Johannes' eldest brother Esau succumbed to the ravages of the disease. Johannes and his father worked tirelessly but, despite the Vraches' best efforts, no cure could be found.

As the nausea progressed to internal hemorrhaging and the fever caused dementia, the settlements of Rai emptied from infection and infighting. The few healthy people remaining desperately formed closed enclaves, violently attacking anyone who attempted to enter for fear of what had now become known as the Red Death. Their fear was understandable, the infected constantly screamed in pain and madness. As they succumbed the afflicted violently seized and vomited spouts of blood, this process took several torturous hours. The Vraches' work kept them outside of safety, one by one they began to succumb to its effects while superhuman immunity kept Johannes safe. He grew increasingly desperate, spending days and nights in his lab to no avail. As Johannes stood over the grave of the last of his adopted family, his youngest sister Ester, a massive construct appeared in the sky. Giant, golden-armored warriors stepped on the planet and Johannes met his father for he first time.

Johannes begged the Emperor to save Rai, and accepted his offer of a space marine legion immediately with the promise of his father's assistance. A number of magos biologis were ordered in, but their analysis showed that the Red Death was impossible to cure. The virus had been engineered by some xenos technology as a biological weapon, and engrained itself deeply in the organ systems of those it afflicted. The Emperor ordered a complete purge of all infected regions as well as most of the deep jungle, only those who sealed themselves in closed enclaves survived. Johannes now knew his duty was to eradicate all that is tainted, only then could new life flourish.

As he traveled with his father, Johannes came to realize the Imperium was like a potent antibiotic, eradicating the infections which afflicted the divided human race by bringing the light of the Emperor. Attempting to integrate or replace resistant indigenous cultures, solve their problems, and create economic ties is folly. Just as the Legions Astartes brought the light of the Imperium to the natives, so their delusions and corruption could infect the Imperium. Treatment of a difficult disease is often harsh and when those most infected worlds are wiped clean, new life will flourish free of taint.

Though he was never a soldier, Johannes came to understand the necessity of warfare. He abhorred drawing combat out, taking no pleasure in protracted battles or needless destruction. The primarch learned utilize the application of death in the same manner he would administer a proscription, utilizing tailor-made poisons and diseases to efficiently eliminate those who opposed him. He brought this philosophy to the marines he assumed command of, and the legion quickly became known for their brutal virus bombings. Vrach also initiated the practice of officers in the legion engaging in cross-training as apothecaries and carrying medical equipment in addition to their command duties. Their medical expertise quickly made the Life Bringers popular with the legions they work alongside, they became noted for their devotion to their allies and battle brothers.

===The Great Crusade===

After taking command of the XII legion Johannes led them on the Great Crusade dutifully, but he moved forward in a manner much different to that of his brother primarchs. Along with the institution of apothecary cross-training, the Life Bringers also maintained some of the most advanced biological research facilities outside of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Utilizing the wealth of new information afforded to him by Imperial research, Johannes and his men turned this wealth of information to new ends, creating astounding new medical technology along with horrific biological weaponry. Upon discovering the nature of his birth, Johannes became obsessed with fashioning life.

As they turned toward the galaxy, Johannes and his legion set about correcting the disease they saw within it. Any world deemed pure and willing to join the Imperium peacefully received considerable aid from the Life Bringers, they immediately proceeded to deploy vaccines and cures against known diseases that were common in these worlds. New strains of crop-plants and livestock, designed by the Life Bringers, were introduced to their ecosystems and they were made prosperous. The manifold new diseases discovered throughout these worlds presented challenges to the legion, and Johannes could not help but feel he was fighting a war without end.

Any civilizations that refused to accept Imperial rule, or those who were obviously debased, were mercilessly and totally purged. Life Bringers first disable any anti-air defenses, then procede with a heavy bombardment of biological and chemical weapons to eliminate all life down to the microscopic level. From the smallest bacteria to he largest animals, the bare planet is seeded with astounding new life tailor made by the legion for survival. After the world was perfectly crafted, and approved by Johannes, settlers from crowded hive worlds were brought in. Their progress was comparably slow but, because of such dedication, the Life Bringers always left lush paradise worlds and exceptionally fertile agri worlds in their wake. The sectors they conquered became the bread baskets of the expanding Imperium, supplying vast amounts of food to busy Forge Worlds and expedition fleets.

The Life Bringers' library of biological research grew larger as they expanded outward, and their High Apothecaries and Master Genetors brought forth amazing new results. Each new battlefield was a testing ground for their grand work in an even greater war, the fight against disease and infirmity. Johannes was overwhelmed by the responsibility he felt toward curing the whole of the galaxy, he increasingly retreated from his brother primarchs and spent hours locked away in his gene-labs. If Johannes was truly determined to destroy the afflictions that ruined so many lives, he would have to defeat death itself.

===The Hektor Heresy===

The forward movement of the Legion slowed to a crawl as its high command turned almost entirely to the perfection of their science, fueled by Vrach's increasing desperation. Their research grew darker as time went on, their laboratories birthing horrific new creatures whose organs were reshaped by colonies of symbiotic bacteria. These sickly monsters looked like the very embodiment of disease, their skin thickened by constant inflammation and frequently ushering forth milky exudate from their orifices. The sickly odor of the beasts was immediately an indication of infection to those with medical training, but they were startlingly resistant to any toxin or sickness they were exposed to. The fungal immune system implanted within them was certainly effective. Johannes looked on his creations and saw their beauty, a permanently stable state of illness preventing death. The Sym-Biomes, as they became known, endured an existence of constant pain, but they nevertheless represented a new hope for Johannes. The High Genetors quickly turned to its application.

The genetors of the Life Bringers had long since experimented with the gene-seed implanted into their brother Astartes, though the actual use of these organs was strictly forbidden. Following the creation of the Sym-Biomes, Johannes himself lead the effort to apply their immunities to his Legion's stock, and it was to these experimenters he turned. High Genetor [[Wilmut Sachs]] worked with his Primarch to lace the specially designed bacterial colonies into the haemastamen, allowing them to quickly spread throughout the system upon implantation. The ossmudula would inject fungal colonies directly into the bone marrow, allowing them to replace the immune system over time. The largest change was to the secondary heart, it was enlarged in size greatly in order to compensate for the increased workload required of it by the constant infection. Sachs was gleeful as he went about his twisted work, taking the opportunity to add the new technology to his earlier experiments and made a few modifications of his own.

The Primi Medicae of the Legion quickly set about applying the new process in secret, the fruits of their labor kept hidden away from the general ranks. The Marines they created were universally thickened with edematous and inflamed flesh, but their capacity for feeling pain was greatly reduced. The powerful odor of infection their experimental predecessors had was present in the marines and they likewise proved immune to biological assault, though they did not exude nearly as much purulent drainage. The most obvious change was the grotesque, enlarged heart which bounded visibly in their chests, causing the need for slight modifications to the black carapace and the Marine's armor in order to accommodate it. The winged skull was replaced with an ornate, three-dimensional version of the Legion's symbol which covered their change. The new marines were a success, and the Primi Medicae set about implementing the change in the Legion at large.

(The LB's role in the Heresy is currently undergoing overhaul and the following is subject to change)
The Life Bringers have left a terrible mark on every planet they fought on during the Hektor Heresy, spreading Nurgle's Rot and leaving countless worlds as uninhabitable, toxic Death Worlds. Johannes personally led his troops during the Isstvan Massacres, where their chemical bombardment crippled the Entombed and left a permanent scar on their geneseed. The Life Bringers were also present in the battles in Sol System and the siege of the Imperial Palace, supporting the Warmaster with their medical expertise, disposable cannon fodder in form of plague zombies and raining deadly biotoxins from their Whirlwinds. The residual traces from that battle still result in some rare cases of Nurgle's Rot deep in the underhives of Terra, long after the Heresy.

===Post-Heresy===
Following the loss of Rai after the end of the Hektor Heresy, the Life Bringers retreated into the Eye of Terror. Johannes' ascension to Daemonhood has greatly exaggerated his already grotesque forms. His chest is grossly distended by his immense, pulsing heart, and gigantic blood vessels erupt from his back. The massive organ is flanked by mammoth lungs, which expand and collapse in a horrifying manner, spewing forth toxins. His enormous organs hang below the massive cardiac-pulmonary complex above, distending Johannes' massive stomach. His flesh is swollen with mucous and smells of rotting meat, pustules and ulcerations dot his entire body in an eerily uniform way. When struck purulent drainage oozes forth from these holes, coating assailants with disease-ridden fluid. His odor is sheer pestilence, and flies surround Johannes at all times.

As he strides onto the battlefield, great spouts of viscous, mucous-filled blood erupt from the vessels on his back with each beat of his twisted heart. Everywhere they touch, enormous slime-molds formed of bacterial colonies spring up, and creatures coated with the toxic fluid are swiftly overtaken by parasitic fungi. His Pharmacaeum and Surgeon's Hand have been integrated into his very form, having been scaled up and improved as disease and medicine became one to the Life Bringers. The Pharmaceum now delivers a massive spray of the daemonic primarch's own infected fluids in addition to the various toxic ammunition, whose variety has only increased through the years. The thin claws of the Surgeon's hand now incorporate syringes full of various chemicals and diseases, delivering lethal doses to all they touch. Despite his power, Johannes only rarely deigns to leave the twisted paradise of his domain on the daemon world Eden, preferring to create new life in the toxic jungles of the planet and oversee grand and twisted experiments in the furtherance of his quest to cure the galaxy.

==Personality==

Vrach was a quiet man, but could never stand by while others suffered. Vrach was devoted fully to his medical work, and his patients found his natural calm and focus comforting. Within himself, Vrach bore a heavy burden in the constant responsibility he put upon himself for curing the ills of those around him. He was never the sort to accept that a situation was out of his power to repair, and every loss was felt deeply.

==Appearance==

Johannes was broader than average for a primarch, though slightly shorter as well, with black hair going down to his knees. His hair was always tied into a ponytail with many colorful ribbons, as was customary among the natives of his homeworld, Rai. Anyone familiar with the culture of those people would be able to tell the exact region and city he hails from by the color sequence and form of those ribbons. He usually carried a stern look on his face, reflecting the brooding nature of his intellect, though he was friendly and welcoming to anyone who approached him.

==Wargear==

In battle, Johannes wore a master-crafted set of Tartaros pattern terminator armor, customized to appear a bit less bulky and bearing the bandaged heart of his legion at the center of its chest-plate. His preferred weapon was the Pharmacaeus, a unique needlegun of his own design. It's ammunition carried potent toxins or other vitriolic substances chosen specifically for their efficacy against a given target, allowing Vrach to more quickly eliminate his foes and return to his medical work. When made to fight up close, he used the Surgeon's Hand, an advanced Narthecium with thin and highly articulate blades not quite as large as a lightning claw's attached to the fingers. The tool also contained scissors, tweezers and other surgical tools mounted on small mechadendrites that were kept in sterile sealed compartments within the gauntlet. Though it was precise enough to perform field surgery, the Hand was more often used in treating a wide variety of wounds on both Astartes and unaugmented humans.

==A fan's Attempt at Rules==
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Johannes Vrach:''' || 470 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 10 || 2+/5++
|} 

Unit type: Independent Character, Infantry.

Wargear: Ambulaund Carapace, Assault Harness, Pharmacaeus, Surgeon's Hand, Target Locator.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Experimental Techniques, Fear, Fearless, Feel No Pain, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Lord Medicae, Master of the Legion, Vivisection.

'''Ambulaund Carapace'''-Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armor, grants a 2+ 4++, immunity to Fleshbane, and poison only wounds him on a natural 6. It also allows Johannes to ignore any negative modifier to his statistical profile on a 3+ (excluding wounds).

'''Pharmacaeus'''- A Master Crafted needle pistol, S1, AP2, Assault 3, Poisoned 2+, Fleshbane, Virulent Doom (any model that suffers a wound from this weapon will suffer another wound every game turn, ongoing. You can negate this on a D6 roll of 6, rolled before taking the wound each turn).

'''Surgeon's Hand'''- A more advanced version of the Narthecium carried by Apothacaries, the Surgeon's Hand is a S:x2 AP2, fleshbane.

'''Target Locator'''- Johannes's armor contains a target selection interface that allows him to call down an orbital bombardment. He can forgo shooting to use one of the following: Virus Bomb, which is infinite range, S3, AP3, Fleshbane, Large Blast, or Ferophagic Bacterial Cannisters, which is infinite range, S4, AP5, Haywire, Large Blast, Ordnance.

'''Experimental Techniques'''-At the beginning of the battle, each troops choice in the army may be given one of the following: +1 toughness, +1 strength, or Feel No Pain 4+.

'''Lord Medicae'''- Johannes is one of the greatest biologists and surgeons in the galaxy, and as such grants all units with '''Legiones Astartes: Life Bringers''' FNP 6+, or +1 to their existing FNP, to a maximum of 4+. In addition, Johannes grants his unit FNP 3+.

'''Vivisection'''- If Johannes defeats and enemy or causes them to flee in melee, he and his unit gain Preferred Enemy against all units from that codex.

Johannes, much like Hektor, is a largely buff-focused primarch who's useful in a small game and becomes borderline game-breaking in a large point value games, though for different reasons. First off it's worth mentioning that even though he's buff focused, Johannes is still pretty wicked in melee, and dangerous at range (his gun's special rule is quite fun, considering that you could theoretically inflict 10 wounds from a single shot in an apocalypse game). Though most of his brother primarchs will whip him, he'll still puree a squad of terminators in a turn, and his gun makes Monstrous Creatures and Primarchs cry. The real reason you take him though is his special rules. Stick him in a unit of Terminators (or god forbid, some mechanicus MC's), and he'll make them next to impossible to kill with his 3+ FNP, and giving every troops choice a stat buff or FNP is great in small games, but in large games where you have potentially dozens of troops choices, it inflates his relative points value dramatically, adding hundreds of points worth of stat buffs to your army.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Johannes Vrach

2020-02-29T22:15:12Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* The Hektor Heresy */

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Johannes Vrach
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Johannes_Vrach.jpg|225px|]]
|title=
|where=Rai
|when=850.M30
|legion=[[Life Bringers|Twelfth]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[Image:LifeBringers emblem.png|100px]]
|weapon=
|trait= Methodical, Sober, Empathetic
|flaw= Obsessive, Melancholic
|heresy= Traitor
|fate=
|dominion= Eden
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

''It is worth thinking about the human habit of making a thing "better". At the beginning, the thing is satisfactory. Then dissatisfaction is applied to it, then the thing is changed until it is satisfactory again. What does this accomplish?''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===

The primarch's pod landed on a jungle world Rai, near a small settlement. The young primarch was found and adopted by a doctor from an old and established line of healers, the family Vrach. Though the man had five children already, he could not help but take the child in. The boy was given the name Johannes and was raised him as a Vrach. Family was important on Rai, and the Vraches took to the new addition with characteristic warmth. This fondness was reciprocated by the young primarch, who was intensely devoted to his adopted family. He especially admired his father for his work healing the wounded and diseased, leading Johannes towards medicine and biology. Johannes displayed great talent in those fields, in time surpassing even his adoptive father's own prodigious abilities. The family Vrach soon gathered renown as the greatest team of doctors and medical researchers on the planet, finding cures for many of the diseases and afflictions that had tormented the population previously. Life expectancy rose considerably, then technology and overall living standards. The people could now advance further into the depths of the jungle, freed from fear of the many deadly spores and contagious viruses hiding within the untamed rainforests. It was a grand new era for Rai.

Unfortunately, the golden age did not last long. An exploration team looking for mineral deposits deep in the wilds found the remains of an ancient and mysterious ruin. The archeologists that followed began unearthed alien artifacts and metal tablets covered in an unknown language. Months after the ruin's unearthing, the first symptoms began to appear within the populace. At first the disease passed unnoticed, it's early symptoms being mild fatigue and a barely perceptible rise in body temperature. It's intense virulence and mild effects insured that it passed freely through the populace. A year after its appearance, intense nausea began ripping through the population and the fever and fatigue increased to crippling levels. The hospitals of Rai were overwhelmed, and the researchers were dumbfounded. As the best medical experts of the time, the Vrach family did their best to ease the suffering. Johannes' eldest brother Esau succumbed to the ravages of the disease. Johannes and his father worked tirelessly but, despite the Vraches' best efforts, no cure could be found.

As the nausea progressed to internal hemorrhaging and the fever caused dementia, the settlements of Rai emptied from infection and infighting. The few healthy people remaining desperately formed closed enclaves, violently attacking anyone who attempted to enter for fear of what had now become known as the Red Death. Their fear was understandable, the infected constantly screamed in pain and madness. As they succumbed the afflicted violently seized and vomited spouts of blood, this process took several torturous hours. The Vraches' work kept them outside of safety, one by one they began to succumb to its effects while superhuman immunity kept Johannes safe. He grew increasingly desperate, spending days and nights in his lab to no avail. As Johannes stood over the grave of the last of his adopted family, his youngest sister Ester, a massive construct appeared in the sky. Giant, golden-armored warriors stepped on the planet and Johannes met his father for he first time.

Johannes begged the Emperor to save Rai, and accepted his offer of a space marine legion immediately with the promise of his father's assistance. A number of magos biologis were ordered in, but their analysis showed that the Red Death was impossible to cure. The virus had been engineered by some xenos technology as a biological weapon, and engrained itself deeply in the organ systems of those it afflicted. The Emperor ordered a complete purge of all infected regions as well as most of the deep jungle, only those who sealed themselves in closed enclaves survived. Johannes now knew his duty was to eradicate all that is tainted, only then could new life flourish.

As he traveled with his father, Johannes came to realize the Imperium was like a potent antibiotic, eradicating the infections which afflicted the divided human race by bringing the light of the Emperor. Attempting to integrate or replace resistant indigenous cultures, solve their problems, and create economic ties is folly. Just as the Legions Astartes brought the light of the Imperium to the natives, so their delusions and corruption could infect the Imperium. Treatment of a difficult disease is often harsh and when those most infected worlds are wiped clean, new life will flourish free of taint.

Though he was never a soldier, Johannes came to understand the necessity of warfare. He abhorred drawing combat out, taking no pleasure in protracted battles or needless destruction. The primarch learned utilize the application of death in the same manner he would administer a proscription, utilizing tailor-made poisons and diseases to efficiently eliminate those who opposed him. He brought this philosophy to the marines he assumed command of, and the legion quickly became known for their brutal virus bombings. Vrach also initiated the practice of officers in the legion engaging in cross-training as apothecaries and carrying medical equipment in addition to their command duties. Their medical expertise quickly made the Life Bringers popular with the legions they work alongside, they became noted for their devotion to their allies and battle brothers.

===The Great Crusade===

After taking command of the XII legion Johannes led them on the Great Crusade dutifully, but he moved forward in a manner much different to that of his brother primarchs. Along with the institution of apothecary cross-training, the Life Bringers also maintained some of the most advanced biological research facilities outside of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Utilizing the wealth of new information afforded to him by Imperial research, Johannes and his men turned this wealth of information to new ends, creating astounding new medical technology along with horrific biological weaponry. Upon discovering the nature of his birth, Johannes became obsessed with fashioning life.

As they turned toward the galaxy, Johannes and his legion set about correcting the disease they saw within it. Any world deemed pure and willing to join the Imperium peacefully received considerable aid from the Life Bringers, they immediately proceeded to deploy vaccines and cures against known diseases that were common in these worlds. New strains of crop-plants and livestock, designed by the Life Bringers, were introduced to their ecosystems and they were made prosperous. The manifold new diseases discovered throughout these worlds presented challenges to the legion, and Johannes could not help but feel he was fighting a war without end.

Any civilizations that refused to accept Imperial rule, or those who were obviously debased, were mercilessly and totally purged. Life Bringers first disable any anti-air defenses, then procede with a heavy bombardment of biological and chemical weapons to eliminate all life down to the microscopic level. From the smallest bacteria to he largest animals, the bare planet is seeded with astounding new life tailor made by the legion for survival. After the world was perfectly crafted, and approved by Johannes, settlers from crowded hive worlds were brought in. Their progress was comparably slow but, because of such dedication, the Life Bringers always left lush paradise worlds and exceptionally fertile agri worlds in their wake. The sectors they conquered became the bread baskets of the expanding Imperium, supplying vast amounts of food to busy Forge Worlds and expedition fleets.

The Life Bringers' library of biological research grew larger as they expanded outward, and their High Apothecaries and Master Genetors brought forth amazing new results. Each new battlefield was a testing ground for their grand work in an even greater war, the fight against disease and infirmity. Johannes was overwhelmed by the responsibility he felt toward curing the whole of the galaxy, he increasingly retreated from his brother primarchs and spent hours locked away in his gene-labs. If Johannes was truly determined to destroy the afflictions that ruined so many lives, he would have to defeat death itself.

===The Hektor Heresy===

The forward movement of the Legion slowed to a crawl as its high command turned almost entirely to the perfection of their science, fueled by Vrach's increasing desperation. Their research grew darker as time went on, their laboratories birthing horrific new creatures whose organs were reshaped by colonies of symbiotic bacteria. These sickly monsters looked like the very embodiment of disease, their skin thickened by constant inflammation and frequently ushering forth milky exudate from their orifices. The sickly odor of the beasts was immediately an indication of infection to those with medical training, but they were startlingly resistant to any toxin or sickness they were exposed to. The fungal immune system implanted within them was certainly effective. Johannes looked on his creations and saw their beauty, a permanently stable state of illness preventing death. The Sym-Biomes, as they became known, endured an existence of constant pain, but they nevertheless represented a new hope for Johannes. The High Genetors quickly turned to its application.

The genetors of the Life Bringers had long since experimented with the gene-seed implanted into their brother Astartes, though the actual use of these organs was strictly forbidden. Following the creation of the Sym-Biomes, Johannes himself lead the effort to apply their immunities to his Legion's stock, and it was to these experimenters he turned. High Genetor [[Wilmut Sachs]] worked with his Primarch to lace the specially designed bacterial colonies into the haemastamen, allowing them to quickly spread throughout the system upon implantation. The ossmudula would inject fungal colonies directly into the bone marrow, allowing them to replace the immune system over time. The largest change was to the secondary heart, it was enlarged in size greatly in order to compensate for the increased workload required of it by the constant infection. Sachs was gleeful as he went about his twisted work, taking the opportunity to add the new technology to his earlier experiments and made a few modifications of his own.

The Primi Medicae of the Legion quickly set about applying the new process in secret, the fruits of their labor kept hidden away from the general ranks. The Marines they created were universally thickened with edematous and inflamed flesh, but their capacity for feeling pain was greatly reduced. The powerful odor of infection their experimental predecessors had was present in the marines and they likewise proved immune to biological assault, though they did not exude nearly as much purulent drainage. The most obvious change was the grotesque, enlarged heart which bounded visibly in their chests, causing the need for slight modifications to the black carapace and the Marine's armor in order to accommodate it. The winged skull was replaced with an ornate, three-dimensional version of the Legion's symbol which covered their change. The new marines were a success, and the Primus Medicaes set about implementing the change in the Legion at large.

(The LB's role in the Heresy is currently undergoing overhaul and the following is subject to change)
The Life Bringers have left a terrible mark on every planet they fought on during the Hektor Heresy, spreading Nurgle's Rot and leaving countless worlds as uninhabitable, toxic Death Worlds. Johannes personally led his troops during the Isstvan Massacres, where their chemical bombardment crippled the Entombed and left a permanent scar on their geneseed. The Life Bringers were also present in the battles in Sol System and the siege of the Imperial Palace, supporting the Warmaster with their medical expertise, disposable cannon fodder in form of plague zombies and raining deadly biotoxins from their Whirlwinds. The residual traces from that battle still result in some rare cases of Nurgle's Rot deep in the underhives of Terra, long after the Heresy.

===Post-Heresy===
Following the loss of Rai after the end of the Hektor Heresy, the Life Bringers retreated into the Eye of Terror. Johannes' ascension to Daemonhood has greatly exaggerated his already grotesque forms. His chest is grossly distended by his immense, pulsing heart, and gigantic blood vessels erupt from his back. The massive organ is flanked by mammoth lungs, which expand and collapse in a horrifying manner, spewing forth toxins. His enormous organs hang below the massive cardiac-pulmonary complex above, distending Johannes' massive stomach. His flesh is swollen with mucous and smells of rotting meat, pustules and ulcerations dot his entire body in an eerily uniform way. When struck purulent drainage oozes forth from these holes, coating assailants with disease-ridden fluid. His odor is sheer pestilence, and flies surround Johannes at all times.

As he strides onto the battlefield, great spouts of viscous, mucous-filled blood erupt from the vessels on his back with each beat of his twisted heart. Everywhere they touch, enormous slime-molds formed of bacterial colonies spring up, and creatures coated with the toxic fluid are swiftly overtaken by parasitic fungi. His Pharmacaeum and Surgeon's Hand have been integrated into his very form, having been scaled up and improved as disease and medicine became one to the Life Bringers. The Pharmaceum now delivers a massive spray of the daemonic primarch's own infected fluids in addition to the various toxic ammunition, whose variety has only increased through the years. The thin claws of the Surgeon's hand now incorporate syringes full of various chemicals and diseases, delivering lethal doses to all they touch. Despite his power, Johannes only rarely deigns to leave the twisted paradise of his domain on the daemon world Eden, preferring to create new life in the toxic jungles of the planet and oversee grand and twisted experiments in the furtherance of his quest to cure the galaxy.

==Personality==

Vrach was a quiet man, but could never stand by while others suffered. Vrach was devoted fully to his medical work, and his patients found his natural calm and focus comforting. Within himself, Vrach bore a heavy burden in the constant responsibility he put upon himself for curing the ills of those around him. He was never the sort to accept that a situation was out of his power to repair, and every loss was felt deeply.

==Appearance==

Johannes was broader than average for a primarch, though slightly shorter as well, with black hair going down to his knees. His hair was always tied into a ponytail with many colorful ribbons, as was customary among the natives of his homeworld, Rai. Anyone familiar with the culture of those people would be able to tell the exact region and city he hails from by the color sequence and form of those ribbons. He usually carried a stern look on his face, reflecting the brooding nature of his intellect, though he was friendly and welcoming to anyone who approached him.

==Wargear==

In battle, Johannes wore a master-crafted set of Tartaros pattern terminator armor, customized to appear a bit less bulky and bearing the bandaged heart of his legion at the center of its chest-plate. His preferred weapon was the Pharmacaeus, a unique needlegun of his own design. It's ammunition carried potent toxins or other vitriolic substances chosen specifically for their efficacy against a given target, allowing Vrach to more quickly eliminate his foes and return to his medical work. When made to fight up close, he used the Surgeon's Hand, an advanced Narthecium with thin and highly articulate blades not quite as large as a lightning claw's attached to the fingers. The tool also contained scissors, tweezers and other surgical tools mounted on small mechadendrites that were kept in sterile sealed compartments within the gauntlet. Though it was precise enough to perform field surgery, the Hand was more often used in treating a wide variety of wounds on both Astartes and unaugmented humans.

==A fan's Attempt at Rules==
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Johannes Vrach:''' || 470 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 10 || 2+/5++
|} 

Unit type: Independent Character, Infantry.

Wargear: Ambulaund Carapace, Assault Harness, Pharmacaeus, Surgeon's Hand, Target Locator.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Experimental Techniques, Fear, Fearless, Feel No Pain, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Lord Medicae, Master of the Legion, Vivisection.

'''Ambulaund Carapace'''-Tartaros Pattern Terminator Armor, grants a 2+ 4++, immunity to Fleshbane, and poison only wounds him on a natural 6. It also allows Johannes to ignore any negative modifier to his statistical profile on a 3+ (excluding wounds).

'''Pharmacaeus'''- A Master Crafted needle pistol, S1, AP2, Assault 3, Poisoned 2+, Fleshbane, Virulent Doom (any model that suffers a wound from this weapon will suffer another wound every game turn, ongoing. You can negate this on a D6 roll of 6, rolled before taking the wound each turn).

'''Surgeon's Hand'''- A more advanced version of the Narthecium carried by Apothacaries, the Surgeon's Hand is a S:x2 AP2, fleshbane.

'''Target Locator'''- Johannes's armor contains a target selection interface that allows him to call down an orbital bombardment. He can forgo shooting to use one of the following: Virus Bomb, which is infinite range, S3, AP3, Fleshbane, Large Blast, or Ferophagic Bacterial Cannisters, which is infinite range, S4, AP5, Haywire, Large Blast, Ordnance.

'''Experimental Techniques'''-At the beginning of the battle, each troops choice in the army may be given one of the following: +1 toughness, +1 strength, or Feel No Pain 4+.

'''Lord Medicae'''- Johannes is one of the greatest biologists and surgeons in the galaxy, and as such grants all units with '''Legiones Astartes: Life Bringers''' FNP 6+, or +1 to their existing FNP, to a maximum of 4+. In addition, Johannes grants his unit FNP 3+.

'''Vivisection'''- If Johannes defeats and enemy or causes them to flee in melee, he and his unit gain Preferred Enemy against all units from that codex.

Johannes, much like Hektor, is a largely buff-focused primarch who's useful in a small game and becomes borderline game-breaking in a large point value games, though for different reasons. First off it's worth mentioning that even though he's buff focused, Johannes is still pretty wicked in melee, and dangerous at range (his gun's special rule is quite fun, considering that you could theoretically inflict 10 wounds from a single shot in an apocalypse game). Though most of his brother primarchs will whip him, he'll still puree a squad of terminators in a turn, and his gun makes Monstrous Creatures and Primarchs cry. The real reason you take him though is his special rules. Stick him in a unit of Terminators (or god forbid, some mechanicus MC's), and he'll make them next to impossible to kill with his 3+ FNP, and giving every troops choice a stat buff or FNP is great in small games, but in large games where you have potentially dozens of troops choices, it inflates his relative points value dramatically, adding hundreds of points worth of stat buffs to your army.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Brennus

2020-02-29T22:05:44Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Wargear */

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Brennus
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Brennus.jpg|225px]]
|title= the High King, the Skyborn, the Stag Prince
|alias=
|where=Alessia
|when=c.892.M30
|legion=[[Thunder Kings|Eleventh]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:1417752872029.png|100px]]
|weapon= Sléibhe Scoilteir, power falcata; Fragarach, thunder hammer
|trait= Friendly, intelligent
|flaw= distant, trusting
|heresy= Loyalist
|fate= Unknown, disappeared during 1st Black crusade
|dominion=
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

''Brennus leapt from his savage homeworld like a bolt of lightning and in all the time I knew him he was constantly in motion. He created, inspired, liberated, and destroyed, moving from one task to the next with ceaseless energy. Though in the long life of our vast Galaxy he was just a brief flash of light, I believe that Brennus' legacy will echo for ages to come.''

(Excerpt from ''Alessia's Thunder'' by Gaspard Lumey)

==History==

===Youth===
[[File:Boxume 1439564350019.png|thumb|right|300px|Walled village on Alessia]]
Alessia was a world of seemingly infinite, teeming forests, stretching from one end of every continent to the other. Hills and mountains broke up these woodlands with some regularity, and it was upon one of these isolated hills which Brennus' pod came to land. The tribesmen that found him saw a babe, its fist wrapped around the throat of a dead Thunderhawk--one of the great, predatory birds reputed to control lightning and weather on Alessia--and immediately adopted him, viewing their find as an enormously good omen. They raised him among their tribe, and were unsurprised when the god-child grew at a rate far in excess of that of any man; larger and bulkier than any other. The Elders of the tribe fawned over the youth, and believed him to be an avatar of their plethora forest gods. This claim, among many others, eventually incited raids and attacks from many surrounding tribes, forcing the young Brennus into conflict from quite an early point.

Yet warfare on Alessia was not a grand affair of thousands of men and mass formations. The terrain was forever difficult, and rarely even enough to accommodate such tactics. War was a slow process, a series of skirmishes and blood grudges waged over the course of several years. There were more concerns than just your fellow man, for the dangerous woodland predators were only too happy to reap a bloody harvest as well. Thus, the style of war he learned was that of a cold, quiet, and patient hunter. It was a method whereby one carefully observed his prey before striking, and suited their tactics specifically to the given foe.

He earned his tattoos quickly, taking on the great blue snake of the Star-Eaters first. It took him a year to do it, but their defeat was utter and crushing when it came, their forces wiped out entirely. Yet he was magnanimous in victory: the Star-Eaters incorporated alongside his native Lords of Thunder in a new system, in a united tribal confederation. Thus it would be, that when a tribe was conquered, it would be rapidly assimilated into the fold of the growing tribal council. They were each equally represented, though Brennus always made it clear that he would be the first among equals there.

The wars eventually wound down, with eight tribes making up the tribal council. Together, they made up the greater sum of the planet's surface, but Brennus was determined to bring them all together--and so the Last Council of Alessia was convened. There, all twelve Alessian tribes gathered together and agreed to unite in perpetuity, creating what all hoped would be a permanent and unified state.

As a ruler, Brennus was just but unambitious. Where some Primarchs rose to create shining new empires upon or from their adopted planets, Brennus did no such thing. He was content to peacefully rule over that which he had won, aspiring for little more than the stability and prosperity his campaigns had already won his folk. He would sit as the first upon the tribal council for many years, shaping policy and decision making, but never choosing to deviate much from established custom and precedent. The majority of his work was peacemaking, in keeping the sometimes disparate tribes together and avoiding internecine warfare between them. It isn't clear to what extent Brennus believed what the Elders claimed, that he was the child or avatar of a god, but he certainly made every effort to meet their expectations and comport himself like one.

The coming of the Emperor is a well documented event in the Thunder King's storytelling culture. It is known that when Brennus received reports that one of the sky ships of the legends of Old Terra had come to the planet, He knew it would be worth investigating. He set out with his personal followers, the warriors of the Council of Tribes, to meet possible visitors from the lost homeland of his people; armed with sword and shield and a bag of cement missiles blessed by a smith of great skill. He did not bear his arms, wishing to both show a position of strength and be open to the possibility of friendship. When Brennus saw the Emperor, he was stunned by the power the man radiated; as High King, Brennus was the only man on the planet allowed to wear clothing threaded with gold; but this stranger radiated an ''aura'' of gold. It was as if his soul were golden. Brennus spoke, stutteringly at first, relaying his deeds in uniting the planet, the slaying of great beasts and powerful men, and of forging bonds between disparate peoples to achieve peace. The Emperor smiled, and relayed his own feats: The conquest of Terra, Luna, Mars, and the remainder of the Sol system, his battles alongside his other sons throughout the galaxy, and the great Imperium he had forged. Brennus dropped to his knee, stating that he had no gift great enough to offer in fealty; the Emperor bade him stand, and told Brennus that he did have such a gift: He could become a general, and fight the enemies of the Imperium. Brennus stood and nodded, agreeing grimly to a life of war instead of the peace he truly wanted.

===The Great Crusade===

The Thunder Kings had been bereft of a Primarch longer than most legions. Brennus was among the last discovered, and so a joy they had long not felt swelled the hearts of each marine within the Legion's ranks. They had been relegated to fronts bearing little prestige, and had grown bitter with envy as they looked on at the glory others achieved under the helm of their own Primarchs. Worse yet, they were a Legion that was ridiculed: rumors plaguing the XI regarding its origins and genestock since its very first days. Such Thunder Kings of Terran-stock as Roc Galveoc and Zebulon Uriy managed to keep the Legion together and relatively united, but never managed to stir any fire into them, any great pride. Thus, while they were competent, they were relegated always to a secondary place, assigned fronts of little perceived value.

Brennus was initially dismayed by what he found. A people broken by hearsay and ill fortune, beset by insecurities regarding themselves and their background. There was no identity there, nothing to join them together. He chose to keep the name, reportedly amused by the similarity between it and that of his tribe. The Legion was reorganized along tribal lines, with the original Terran marines inducted directly into his personal tribe. A concerted recruitment effort took place, with many thousands of Alessians being taken into the ranks of the Thunder Kings. The Terran marines longed for identity, and many seized upon the opportunity Brennus offered by adopting Alessian customs and sometimes even names. A new council was established, for the Thunder Kings Legion alone, and each of the tribes yet again given a place upon it.

When the Thunder Kings thus finally pulled themselves from Alessia, they did so with a new face. They were a Legion which had undergone a significant reshaping, being tuned to the direct purpose of their Primarch. They would demonstrate this well over the years, and Brennus would display infinite patience with the demands, complaints, and commentary of his brothers.

They were relegated to many of the same types of campaigns as before, initially. Slow, arduous, and inglorious endeavors. Yet Brennus showed his brilliance there, proving exceptionally competent in dealing with just these styles of fronts. Though it was little quicker than before, these protracted conflicts always ended in utterly comprehensive victories. With time, he was assigned command of out-of-the-way but important theaters, executing long wars with his Thunder Kings over numerous systems and planets. It was in this which they proved to excel: as a patient, conquering force, one which fought to achieve such a victory as to never needs return to fight there again.

The campaign the Thunder Kings would best be known for was the War for Agrippa's Cross. A gauntlet of star systems running between the Norma and Scutum-Centaurus Arms of the galaxy, it had been occupied and ruled by Xeno-worshipping humans for many centuries. With such a route having significant implications for the future of developing human worlds in the latter galactic arm, Warmaster Hektor, weary of the slow pace of fighting there, eventually assigned Brennus to the front. There, Brennus displayed caution and patience in spades, managing to win over as many worlds through careful diplomacy, threats, and surgical strikes as he did through open warfare. While the campaign may have consumed nearly twelve years, Agrippa's Cross was a staunchly Imperial holding by the end of it. It was this way everywhere they were assigned, and soon the Thunder Kings earned for themselves a reputation as being hardy fighters that could weather down, with enough time, nearly any foe. Attrition wasn't the reason for it, but instead the careful, considered, and methodical approach they always undertook.

===The Hektor Heresy===

News of the Heresy didn't reach Brennus for some days until it began, by which time he and the majority of his Legion had gathered in orbit around Alessia to both celebrate the completion of a campaign and to recruit once more. When news finally did arrive, five of the twelve tribes immediately departed, leaving no notice or explanation as to their intentions. As word spread, it became clear that Ferdiad--who proclaimed himself leader of these rebelling tribes--had thrown his lot in with the Archtraitor. Thereafter, six of the remaining tribes left, with a course bound for Terra itself. Brennus himself remained on Alessia for a month more, brooding silently as he carefully considered his failure; the treason of his sons. He did eventually stir himself, decidedly burning Alessia before following his loyalist sons towards Terra.

The majority of the fighting the Thunder Kings did during the Heresy took place in the Sol system, specifically in orbit around Jupiter and Saturn. The Jovian and Saturnian fronts had begun before the first fighting took place on Mars and Terra, and control of them was assumed by the Thunder Kings once they arrived. It was characterized by several pitched space battles and desperate engagements across the surface of Jupiter's and Saturn's rocky moons. A number of precious archaeotech stations and refineries were lost to Black Augur spite, and the eventual arrival of the Eternal Zealots forced the Thunder Kings onto the defensive. Brennus did his best to keep the front together, and managed to keep the Voidwatcher and Aubrey at bay. The fighting would eventually culminate in the 5th Battle of Titan, where the Void Angels arrived with nearly their entire Legion to relieve the Thunder Kings and decisively destroy the Eternal Zealots and Black Augur forces present.

With Hektor dead and the traitors fled, the Thunder Kings rapidly set out in pursuit of their traitorous brethren. The assistance of the Void Angels was appreciated in this matter, and Brennus took to this particular task with a zeal it is said he rarely ever exhibited.

==Post-Heresy==

==Personality==
Brennus was a man who always attempted to render a fair verdict. He preferred to stand back and observe before acting, to gather as much information as possible. He was known to be honest and forthright, though not without tact. He was a meticulous planner and strategist, and was rarely unprepared for anything. Brennus had a methodical, plotting nature, which caused him to alternate between periods of quiet and almost lethargy, and periods of frenzied action. His tendency to plan and strategize was called weakness by some of his brothers, including Alexandri of Rosskar. His desire to be fair and just made him very tolerant, but his trusting nature set a blind eye towards the flaws of those who were close to him.

==Appearance==

Brennus favored the appearance of a traditional Alessian tribesman, keeping his hair, beard, and mustache long and braided, and hung with various fetishes and runic charms. He was quick to show a lopsided smile, though his pale grey eyes always seemed distant, and rarely if ever displayed the passion that could be seen in those of his brothers. Though he had the appearance of a barbarian warlord brought into modern times, he was actually a fairly quiet and thoughtful man. He was tall, even for a primarch, but not overly bulky. His bare skin bore the 12 tattoos of the tribes of Alessia, the most prominent being a blue sunburst around his left eye; this was the symbol of the tribe who had found him, whose name was quite close to the name of his legion.

==Wargear==

Brennus usually wore a suit of gold-colored artificer armor, graven with interlaced patterns, and decorated with the symbols of the tribes at the same locations where they appeared on his skin. He also possessed a suit of Terminator armor, similarly decorated, though he wore this infrequently. He was rarely seen without the great hammer "Fragarach" he had carried in his days as High King of Alessia, or the falcata he had forged in his youth, "Sléibhe Scoilteir." These weapons, "The Answerer" and "Mountain Splitter" in low Gothic, were etched with symbols of power in addition to the technological enhancements that were applied after the Primarch rejoined the Imperium. Along with this, he usually carried a circular storm shield named "Wave", which let out the sound of waves crashing on the shore when struck in battle, a massive bolt pistol named "Cloud Hurler" for which he carried many different kinds of ammunition, and a pouch of ceramite chunks he used as bullets for his sling. Like many of the Primarchs, Brennus possessed a massive arsenal, and would commonly select other weapons based on the battle for which he was preparing. His belt, a gift from the Emperor, is perhaps the finest thing he wears, displaying in finely cut gold leaf Brennus' Last Council, where he told the tribes of his true heritage.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Brennus:''' || 425 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5 || 10 || 2+/3++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Armor of the Path, Cloud Hurler, Wave

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Arsenal, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, King of Kings, Master of the Legion.

'''Armor of the Path''': A suit of golden artificer armor, engraved with the symbols of the 12 Tribes of Alessia. 2+/5++

'''Cloud Hurler''': An oversized boltpistol favored by the primarch with specialized ammunition. Fires with one of the following profiles.

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || S || AP || Range ||
|-
| '''Sting''' || 5 || 3 || 24" || Assault 3, Shred
|-
| '''Shieldbreaker''' || 6 || 6 || 30" || Assault 2, Sunder
|-
| '''Biophagic''' || 1 || 4 || 24" || Assault 1, Poison 3+
|-
| '''Airburst''' || 4 || 5 || Template || Assault 1, Torrent
|} 

'''Wave''': A great roundshield carried by the primarch, the unique energy field creates the sound of crashing waves when struck. 3++.

'''Arsenal''': Brennus always used whatever weapons he though were best for any given fight, picking the greatest from his collection. Purchase one of the following before deployment.

*''Krakentooth'': A great axe gifted to Brennus by the Sea Dragon tribe, and enhanced with the shards of a crystalline blade forged by The Emperor in his youth. The touch of the Lord of Mankind makes it anathema to daemonkind. ('''Holy Blade''': Gains instant death against daemons and forces them to reroll successful invulns.)
*''Fragarach'': A weapon Brennus carried in his days as King on Alessia. It is, for some reason, not a sword, despite what its name would suggest.
*''Kusangi and Yanmato'': Claimed as trophies from the dead lord Onisara, the build of these swords encourage a whirling technique with less direct blows. ('''Riptide''': Gains D6 attacks, rolled at the beginning of every assault phase.)
*''Sléibhe Scoilteir'': This inward sloping blade was forged by Brennus's own hand in his youth. ('''Severing Cut''': every successful roll to wound inflicted with this weapon inflicts D3 wounds.)

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || S || AP || PTS ||
|-
| '''Krakentooth''' || +2 || 2 || 75 || Holy Blade, Master Crafted, Two Handed
|-
| '''Fragarach''' || 10 || 1 || 105 || Armorbane, Concussive
|-
| '''Kusangi and Yanmato''' || -1 || 3 || 80 || Paired (+1A), Rending, Shred, Riptide.
|-
| '''Sléibhe Scoilteir''' || +1 || 2 || 85 || Severing Cut, Specialist Weapon, Reaping Blow
|} 

'''King of Kings''': A king born from the True King, Brennus ever held in balance regal nobility and ferocious rage. The fury of his sons is never greater than when Brennus himself leads them into battle. Any squad he joins gain the Rage and Furious Charge special rules. Additionally, Brennus can roll for a warlord trait.

Brennus can be whatever you want him to be, baby. His statline is pretty middling for a primarch, and he makes a squad of his boys a bit killier, but what you ''really'' take him for is the toys; Brennus has a weapon for every job. Running against lots of tanks and MC's? Fragarach the confused hammer (it thinks it's a sword) can crack them. Fighting daemons? Krakentooth will ID daemon princes and greater daemons alike. Hordes? Kusangi and Yanmato will turn you into an infantry blender. Gotta fight a primarch? Sléibhe Scoilteir will make up for your lower attacks with a greater number of wounds. And all that's to say nothing of his diverse types of ammo.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Brennus

2020-02-29T22:05:11Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Wargear */

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Brennus
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Brennus.jpg|225px]]
|title= the High King, the Skyborn, the Stag Prince
|alias=
|where=Alessia
|when=c.892.M30
|legion=[[Thunder Kings|Eleventh]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:1417752872029.png|100px]]
|weapon= Sléibhe Scoilteir, power falcata; Fragarach, thunder hammer
|trait= Friendly, intelligent
|flaw= distant, trusting
|heresy= Loyalist
|fate= Unknown, disappeared during 1st Black crusade
|dominion=
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

''Brennus leapt from his savage homeworld like a bolt of lightning and in all the time I knew him he was constantly in motion. He created, inspired, liberated, and destroyed, moving from one task to the next with ceaseless energy. Though in the long life of our vast Galaxy he was just a brief flash of light, I believe that Brennus' legacy will echo for ages to come.''

(Excerpt from ''Alessia's Thunder'' by Gaspard Lumey)

==History==

===Youth===
[[File:Boxume 1439564350019.png|thumb|right|300px|Walled village on Alessia]]
Alessia was a world of seemingly infinite, teeming forests, stretching from one end of every continent to the other. Hills and mountains broke up these woodlands with some regularity, and it was upon one of these isolated hills which Brennus' pod came to land. The tribesmen that found him saw a babe, its fist wrapped around the throat of a dead Thunderhawk--one of the great, predatory birds reputed to control lightning and weather on Alessia--and immediately adopted him, viewing their find as an enormously good omen. They raised him among their tribe, and were unsurprised when the god-child grew at a rate far in excess of that of any man; larger and bulkier than any other. The Elders of the tribe fawned over the youth, and believed him to be an avatar of their plethora forest gods. This claim, among many others, eventually incited raids and attacks from many surrounding tribes, forcing the young Brennus into conflict from quite an early point.

Yet warfare on Alessia was not a grand affair of thousands of men and mass formations. The terrain was forever difficult, and rarely even enough to accommodate such tactics. War was a slow process, a series of skirmishes and blood grudges waged over the course of several years. There were more concerns than just your fellow man, for the dangerous woodland predators were only too happy to reap a bloody harvest as well. Thus, the style of war he learned was that of a cold, quiet, and patient hunter. It was a method whereby one carefully observed his prey before striking, and suited their tactics specifically to the given foe.

He earned his tattoos quickly, taking on the great blue snake of the Star-Eaters first. It took him a year to do it, but their defeat was utter and crushing when it came, their forces wiped out entirely. Yet he was magnanimous in victory: the Star-Eaters incorporated alongside his native Lords of Thunder in a new system, in a united tribal confederation. Thus it would be, that when a tribe was conquered, it would be rapidly assimilated into the fold of the growing tribal council. They were each equally represented, though Brennus always made it clear that he would be the first among equals there.

The wars eventually wound down, with eight tribes making up the tribal council. Together, they made up the greater sum of the planet's surface, but Brennus was determined to bring them all together--and so the Last Council of Alessia was convened. There, all twelve Alessian tribes gathered together and agreed to unite in perpetuity, creating what all hoped would be a permanent and unified state.

As a ruler, Brennus was just but unambitious. Where some Primarchs rose to create shining new empires upon or from their adopted planets, Brennus did no such thing. He was content to peacefully rule over that which he had won, aspiring for little more than the stability and prosperity his campaigns had already won his folk. He would sit as the first upon the tribal council for many years, shaping policy and decision making, but never choosing to deviate much from established custom and precedent. The majority of his work was peacemaking, in keeping the sometimes disparate tribes together and avoiding internecine warfare between them. It isn't clear to what extent Brennus believed what the Elders claimed, that he was the child or avatar of a god, but he certainly made every effort to meet their expectations and comport himself like one.

The coming of the Emperor is a well documented event in the Thunder King's storytelling culture. It is known that when Brennus received reports that one of the sky ships of the legends of Old Terra had come to the planet, He knew it would be worth investigating. He set out with his personal followers, the warriors of the Council of Tribes, to meet possible visitors from the lost homeland of his people; armed with sword and shield and a bag of cement missiles blessed by a smith of great skill. He did not bear his arms, wishing to both show a position of strength and be open to the possibility of friendship. When Brennus saw the Emperor, he was stunned by the power the man radiated; as High King, Brennus was the only man on the planet allowed to wear clothing threaded with gold; but this stranger radiated an ''aura'' of gold. It was as if his soul were golden. Brennus spoke, stutteringly at first, relaying his deeds in uniting the planet, the slaying of great beasts and powerful men, and of forging bonds between disparate peoples to achieve peace. The Emperor smiled, and relayed his own feats: The conquest of Terra, Luna, Mars, and the remainder of the Sol system, his battles alongside his other sons throughout the galaxy, and the great Imperium he had forged. Brennus dropped to his knee, stating that he had no gift great enough to offer in fealty; the Emperor bade him stand, and told Brennus that he did have such a gift: He could become a general, and fight the enemies of the Imperium. Brennus stood and nodded, agreeing grimly to a life of war instead of the peace he truly wanted.

===The Great Crusade===

The Thunder Kings had been bereft of a Primarch longer than most legions. Brennus was among the last discovered, and so a joy they had long not felt swelled the hearts of each marine within the Legion's ranks. They had been relegated to fronts bearing little prestige, and had grown bitter with envy as they looked on at the glory others achieved under the helm of their own Primarchs. Worse yet, they were a Legion that was ridiculed: rumors plaguing the XI regarding its origins and genestock since its very first days. Such Thunder Kings of Terran-stock as Roc Galveoc and Zebulon Uriy managed to keep the Legion together and relatively united, but never managed to stir any fire into them, any great pride. Thus, while they were competent, they were relegated always to a secondary place, assigned fronts of little perceived value.

Brennus was initially dismayed by what he found. A people broken by hearsay and ill fortune, beset by insecurities regarding themselves and their background. There was no identity there, nothing to join them together. He chose to keep the name, reportedly amused by the similarity between it and that of his tribe. The Legion was reorganized along tribal lines, with the original Terran marines inducted directly into his personal tribe. A concerted recruitment effort took place, with many thousands of Alessians being taken into the ranks of the Thunder Kings. The Terran marines longed for identity, and many seized upon the opportunity Brennus offered by adopting Alessian customs and sometimes even names. A new council was established, for the Thunder Kings Legion alone, and each of the tribes yet again given a place upon it.

When the Thunder Kings thus finally pulled themselves from Alessia, they did so with a new face. They were a Legion which had undergone a significant reshaping, being tuned to the direct purpose of their Primarch. They would demonstrate this well over the years, and Brennus would display infinite patience with the demands, complaints, and commentary of his brothers.

They were relegated to many of the same types of campaigns as before, initially. Slow, arduous, and inglorious endeavors. Yet Brennus showed his brilliance there, proving exceptionally competent in dealing with just these styles of fronts. Though it was little quicker than before, these protracted conflicts always ended in utterly comprehensive victories. With time, he was assigned command of out-of-the-way but important theaters, executing long wars with his Thunder Kings over numerous systems and planets. It was in this which they proved to excel: as a patient, conquering force, one which fought to achieve such a victory as to never needs return to fight there again.

The campaign the Thunder Kings would best be known for was the War for Agrippa's Cross. A gauntlet of star systems running between the Norma and Scutum-Centaurus Arms of the galaxy, it had been occupied and ruled by Xeno-worshipping humans for many centuries. With such a route having significant implications for the future of developing human worlds in the latter galactic arm, Warmaster Hektor, weary of the slow pace of fighting there, eventually assigned Brennus to the front. There, Brennus displayed caution and patience in spades, managing to win over as many worlds through careful diplomacy, threats, and surgical strikes as he did through open warfare. While the campaign may have consumed nearly twelve years, Agrippa's Cross was a staunchly Imperial holding by the end of it. It was this way everywhere they were assigned, and soon the Thunder Kings earned for themselves a reputation as being hardy fighters that could weather down, with enough time, nearly any foe. Attrition wasn't the reason for it, but instead the careful, considered, and methodical approach they always undertook.

===The Hektor Heresy===

News of the Heresy didn't reach Brennus for some days until it began, by which time he and the majority of his Legion had gathered in orbit around Alessia to both celebrate the completion of a campaign and to recruit once more. When news finally did arrive, five of the twelve tribes immediately departed, leaving no notice or explanation as to their intentions. As word spread, it became clear that Ferdiad--who proclaimed himself leader of these rebelling tribes--had thrown his lot in with the Archtraitor. Thereafter, six of the remaining tribes left, with a course bound for Terra itself. Brennus himself remained on Alessia for a month more, brooding silently as he carefully considered his failure; the treason of his sons. He did eventually stir himself, decidedly burning Alessia before following his loyalist sons towards Terra.

The majority of the fighting the Thunder Kings did during the Heresy took place in the Sol system, specifically in orbit around Jupiter and Saturn. The Jovian and Saturnian fronts had begun before the first fighting took place on Mars and Terra, and control of them was assumed by the Thunder Kings once they arrived. It was characterized by several pitched space battles and desperate engagements across the surface of Jupiter's and Saturn's rocky moons. A number of precious archaeotech stations and refineries were lost to Black Augur spite, and the eventual arrival of the Eternal Zealots forced the Thunder Kings onto the defensive. Brennus did his best to keep the front together, and managed to keep the Voidwatcher and Aubrey at bay. The fighting would eventually culminate in the 5th Battle of Titan, where the Void Angels arrived with nearly their entire Legion to relieve the Thunder Kings and decisively destroy the Eternal Zealots and Black Augur forces present.

With Hektor dead and the traitors fled, the Thunder Kings rapidly set out in pursuit of their traitorous brethren. The assistance of the Void Angels was appreciated in this matter, and Brennus took to this particular task with a zeal it is said he rarely ever exhibited.

==Post-Heresy==

==Personality==
Brennus was a man who always attempted to render a fair verdict. He preferred to stand back and observe before acting, to gather as much information as possible. He was known to be honest and forthright, though not without tact. He was a meticulous planner and strategist, and was rarely unprepared for anything. Brennus had a methodical, plotting nature, which caused him to alternate between periods of quiet and almost lethargy, and periods of frenzied action. His tendency to plan and strategize was called weakness by some of his brothers, including Alexandri of Rosskar. His desire to be fair and just made him very tolerant, but his trusting nature set a blind eye towards the flaws of those who were close to him.

==Appearance==

Brennus favored the appearance of a traditional Alessian tribesman, keeping his hair, beard, and mustache long and braided, and hung with various fetishes and runic charms. He was quick to show a lopsided smile, though his pale grey eyes always seemed distant, and rarely if ever displayed the passion that could be seen in those of his brothers. Though he had the appearance of a barbarian warlord brought into modern times, he was actually a fairly quiet and thoughtful man. He was tall, even for a primarch, but not overly bulky. His bare skin bore the 12 tattoos of the tribes of Alessia, the most prominent being a blue sunburst around his left eye; this was the symbol of the tribe who had found him, whose name was quite close to the name of his legion.

==Wargear==

Brennus usually wore a suit of gold-colored artificer armor, graven with interlaced patterns, and decorated with the symbols of the tribes at the same locations where they appeared on his skin. He also possessed a suit of Terminator armor, similarly decorated, though he wore this infrequently. He was rarely seen without the great hammer "Fragarach" he had carried in his days as High King of Alessia, or the falcata he had forged in his youth, "Sléibhe Scoilteir." These weapons, "The Answerer" and "Mountain Splitter" in Gothic, were etched with symbols of power in addition to the technological enhancements that were applied after the Primarch rejoined the Imperium. Along with this, he usually carried a circular storm shield named "Wave", which let out the sound of waves crashing on the shore when struck in battle, a massive bolt pistol named "Cloud Hurler" for which he carried many different kinds of ammunition, and a pouch of ceramite chunks he used as bullets for his sling. Like many of the Primarchs, Brennus possessed a massive arsenal, and would commonly select other weapons based on the battle for which he was preparing. His belt, a gift from the Emperor, is perhaps the finest thing he wears, displaying in finely cut gold leaf Brennus' Last Council, where he told the tribes of his true heritage.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Brennus:''' || 425 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5 || 10 || 2+/3++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Armor of the Path, Cloud Hurler, Wave

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Arsenal, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, King of Kings, Master of the Legion.

'''Armor of the Path''': A suit of golden artificer armor, engraved with the symbols of the 12 Tribes of Alessia. 2+/5++

'''Cloud Hurler''': An oversized boltpistol favored by the primarch with specialized ammunition. Fires with one of the following profiles.

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || S || AP || Range ||
|-
| '''Sting''' || 5 || 3 || 24" || Assault 3, Shred
|-
| '''Shieldbreaker''' || 6 || 6 || 30" || Assault 2, Sunder
|-
| '''Biophagic''' || 1 || 4 || 24" || Assault 1, Poison 3+
|-
| '''Airburst''' || 4 || 5 || Template || Assault 1, Torrent
|} 

'''Wave''': A great roundshield carried by the primarch, the unique energy field creates the sound of crashing waves when struck. 3++.

'''Arsenal''': Brennus always used whatever weapons he though were best for any given fight, picking the greatest from his collection. Purchase one of the following before deployment.

*''Krakentooth'': A great axe gifted to Brennus by the Sea Dragon tribe, and enhanced with the shards of a crystalline blade forged by The Emperor in his youth. The touch of the Lord of Mankind makes it anathema to daemonkind. ('''Holy Blade''': Gains instant death against daemons and forces them to reroll successful invulns.)
*''Fragarach'': A weapon Brennus carried in his days as King on Alessia. It is, for some reason, not a sword, despite what its name would suggest.
*''Kusangi and Yanmato'': Claimed as trophies from the dead lord Onisara, the build of these swords encourage a whirling technique with less direct blows. ('''Riptide''': Gains D6 attacks, rolled at the beginning of every assault phase.)
*''Sléibhe Scoilteir'': This inward sloping blade was forged by Brennus's own hand in his youth. ('''Severing Cut''': every successful roll to wound inflicted with this weapon inflicts D3 wounds.)

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || S || AP || PTS ||
|-
| '''Krakentooth''' || +2 || 2 || 75 || Holy Blade, Master Crafted, Two Handed
|-
| '''Fragarach''' || 10 || 1 || 105 || Armorbane, Concussive
|-
| '''Kusangi and Yanmato''' || -1 || 3 || 80 || Paired (+1A), Rending, Shred, Riptide.
|-
| '''Sléibhe Scoilteir''' || +1 || 2 || 85 || Severing Cut, Specialist Weapon, Reaping Blow
|} 

'''King of Kings''': A king born from the True King, Brennus ever held in balance regal nobility and ferocious rage. The fury of his sons is never greater than when Brennus himself leads them into battle. Any squad he joins gain the Rage and Furious Charge special rules. Additionally, Brennus can roll for a warlord trait.

Brennus can be whatever you want him to be, baby. His statline is pretty middling for a primarch, and he makes a squad of his boys a bit killier, but what you ''really'' take him for is the toys; Brennus has a weapon for every job. Running against lots of tanks and MC's? Fragarach the confused hammer (it thinks it's a sword) can crack them. Fighting daemons? Krakentooth will ID daemon princes and greater daemons alike. Hordes? Kusangi and Yanmato will turn you into an infantry blender. Gotta fight a primarch? Sléibhe Scoilteir will make up for your lower attacks with a greater number of wounds. And all that's to say nothing of his diverse types of ammo.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Cromwald Walgrun

2020-02-29T21:41:53Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Wargear */

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Cromwald Walgrun
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Cromwald.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Lion of Sommesgard
|where=Sommesgard
|when=c.914.M30
|legion=[[Lions Rampant|Ninth]]
|crusade=
|sigil=
|weapon=
|trait=
|flaw=
|heresy=Traitor
|fate=Daemon Prince of Slaanesh
|dominion=
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

Cromwald Walgrun, known as the Lion of Sommesgard, is primarch of legion IX (The [[Lions Rampant]]). A master strategist and gifted orator, he stood as a gentleman and noble soul. His insistence upon the utmost in standards of conduct and dress for himself and his legion made them a famed and vaunted legion in the eyes of the Imperium. This only made his downfall all the greater a loss for the Imperium, as his corruption now sees him as the chosen of Slaanesh, exalted among the followers of the Prince of Excess.

==History==

===Youth===

The early years of Cromwald were far removed from the lofty heights of a master of armies. From his pod the young primarch lived as an orphan in the pre-industrial streets of Sommesgard, where survival was a matter of wits, charisma and luck. Possessing all three, Cromwald grew rapidly into a shrewd and cunning survivor whose wit and impressive stature gained him the attention and patronage of Captain Edgar Walgrun of the Prathian army. Seeing potential in the young man, he afforded Cromwald the finest education and privilege of wealth and station. Given his origins, Cromwald plunged headlong into the indulgences of his newfound wealth; he consumed every new experience with a voracious appetite. He glutted himself on books and knowledge, threw himself headlong into the finer trappings of his newfound station, and found a drive to see the world anew with every opportunity to travel and test himself physically and mentally. Quickly Cromwald met the limits of what the world had to offer, and resolved himself to pursue new avenues. If the world could not give him a new adventure, he would make one for himself. He threw the wealth and prestige of the Walgrun name behind countless endeavors, becoming a patron of the sciences that would drive Prathia into an industrial age. With the revolution of automation, new methods of exploration and adventure opened up before him, but as with all things, these new sciences were turned to the purpose of war.

Sommesgard was host to regular clashes of nations in the constant shifting of power across the globe. These battles were fought in trenches and columns, with rifle and cannon. The revolution of industry had yet to transform the face of war on Sommesgard, until Prathia began to swell under the surge of raw scientific progress. The armies under her banner were armed with the fruits of the new industry, with engines capable of bearing soldiers over great distances in safety, and weapons of terrible power compared to the rifles of old. As with the sciences, Cromwald became a patron of the military. His education included extensive training in strategy and military history, and he took well to the lessons of exercising force on a national level. He became a pioneer of the new orders of battle, personally sponsoring and testing armored vehicles and mighty weapons in the crucible of combat against Prathia's neighbors.

Though gifted in battle, the true measure of Cromwald's genius as a general came with his boldness, his willingness to bring untested methods and engines to the front lines and apply them with stunning results. Under his command the first divisions of armored tanks rolled across the enemy lines in an unstoppable wave, while infantry clashed with aggressive strategies that relied of steely nerves and daring bravado to seize the initiative. Those nations unswayed by the boisterous oratory of the newly minted Field Marshal Walgrun fell swiftly to his relentless pursuit of global unification under one banner. Though he never claimed ambitions to rule, none would deny that when the final battle ended and the world was made as one, the prosperity to follow was the work of his hands.

A full decade of technological and social advancement followed, interrupted abruptly by the annihilation of the old state of Berau. Once a center for industry, Berau was wiped from the face of the earth by a monstrous meteor impact. The first rock fell directly into the city center, and soon after waves of other, lesser meteors crashed into Sommesgard in a hail of destruction. From these rocks poured forth a violent tide of barbarian greenskins, a foe unlike anything the people of Sommesgard had ever known. The ensuing war was savage, as the initial wave of orks overran a full half of the planet unchecked with their fury and superior engines of war. Cromwald, the unmatched and unbeatable general saw victory wherever he made a stand, but across the rest of Sommesgard losses were catastrophic in the face of terrifying walkers and steel behemoths. At the heart of it all rose a foul effigy to the Orky gods; a stompa constructed by the big mek leading the green tide. In a desperate bid to break the advancing horde, Cromwald led an armored spearhead against the titanic war machine, but found himself nearly annihilated alongside his vehicle under the massive guns of the stompa. With his right arm obliterated in the blast, he was forced to board the stompa and fight his way to the mek bare handed and injured, with only his innate inhuman physiology sustaining him. He broke the ork morale with the defeat of the big mek, and claimed a crude bionik arm as a trophy to replace the limb he had lost.

The following war waged on for decades, with the implacable will of the men of Sommesgard tested sorely against the brutality of the orks. Only with the coming of the Emperor was the battle finally won. His arrival was heralded with a counter-invasion of astartes, who joined the beleaguered defenders to break the green tide once and for all. The meeting of father and son was heralded with triumphant fanfare as it marked the end of a long and bitter generation of terror and strife.

===The Great Crusade===

Cromwald Walgrun, Lion of Prathia and Field Marshal of the armies of Sommesgard was the final primarch to be discovered during the Great Crusade. The reunion between Emperor and primarch was a joyous one, for there was much work still to be done, even after so many long years of warfare on a galactic scale. For his part, Cromwald viewed the Emperor's charge of conquest as a brilliant new means to explore and adventure beyond the domains of his homeworld; his acceptance of his role in the Crusade was wholly without reservation. In celebration, master artisans among the remembrancer order were commissioned to restore the glories of Berau, which would become the new seat of Legion IX's administration. Alongside the reconstruction of the devastated city came a symbolic gesture from the Mechanicum. Gifted to Cromwald was a bionic arm crafted by the greatest tech adepts the expeditionary fleet possessed. The new limb was peerless in design and shone with a magnificent platinum luster that could not be dulled. Leaving behind his crude graft as a trophy of victory, the Lion of Prathia ascended to meet his gene-children whole once more.

The reunion between Primarch and legion would be met with far less adulation and praise. The Highland Raiders were a dirty, inglorious rabble, wholly unlike the noble ideal of Astartes Cromwald had envisioned. Their assembled strength consisted of a somber, joyless lot shod in dull grey. No heraldry or banners depicted honors or glory in their ranks. To a celebrated conqueror such as Cromwald, it was an insult to his genetic legacy that his men be so utterly without pride in themselves or their accomplishments.

Five years were spent restructuring his legion and injecting fresh blood into their ranks. The nature of the newly christened Lions would swiftly change to reflect the dynamic leadership of their primarch, but such would not end his woes. By the time Cromwald had been reunited with his legion, the crusade was well underway for over a century. He was the last primarch to be discovered, and his brethren all by then had a list of accolades and honors that left him faced with personal inadequacy. His legion's reputation would take time and effort to salvage, for even after they had been reforged many voices would still jeer at the Emperor's dogs, ill fit for the glories other, more capable legions garnered. Cromwald seethed quietly for his damaged pride, as each slight against his gene-sons was an insult to his daring leadership and peerless abilities. In this respect, he became a driven man; his honor demanded that the Lions earn their place as heroes of the Crusade. No number of victories would satisfy his need to prove his worth, nor would any accolade ease his need to be the greatest among his brethren.

Naked ambition would serve to sour relations between Cromwald and several of his brothers. He would cross words with his more refined kin with some regularity, as his differing worldview and brazen attitude to life matched poorly with more reserved or jaded primarchs. Similarly, his pride in his pedigree would alienate others further; he viewed the less refined of his kinsmen as a tragic waste of potential. Such an attitude, matched by patronizing words left Cromwald with cold relations to several brothers.

Only in the company of other gentlemen did his sometimes abrasive demeanor ease. Above all others, Roman Albrecht could instill humility and fraternity in Cromwald. In each other's company pride became a matter of sport, and consequently camaraderie grew between the Steel Marshals and the Lions Rampant to reflect the close knit friendship of their masters. The even temperament of the noble Albrecht for a time would bring peace to Cromwald, tempering his ambition with a degree of patience he would otherwise have lacked.

===The Hektor Heresy===

===Post-Heresy===

After the defeat of the Warmaster, the Lions fled to avoid annihilation. Unlike many of the Traitor Legions, they did not make for the Eye of Terror. Instead they split into divisions and headed for the far rim of the galaxy, on the outskirts of Segmentum Ultima, raiding targets for supplies as opportunity arose to sustain themselves in their flight. They lurked on the edge of the galaxy and waited for the Scouring to slowly burn itself out, laying low and keeping their forces split to avoid being slaughtered all at once.

As the Scouring began to fade, the Lions reorganised their efforts, with the Legion once again falling under the iron fist of their Primarch. He led them to begin raiding and pillaging Imperial worlds across the edges of charted space. At first he did so with near impunity; his warbands landed and conquered in lightning fast strikes that shattered the defender's command structure and crippled their fighting will, then set about the task of rebuilding the world in Slaanesh's name. Those who did not convert were subjugated by those who did.

The momentum of these raids slowly picked up, until the Lions were no longer a force that could be denied or ignored. A task force consisting of several chapters of Space Marines, numerous Guard regiments, the Inquisition and the young Ministorum descended upon the slowly expanding empire of excess and begin reclaiming it in the Emperor's name. Heretics burned by the billion as the Crusade pressed on, hounding the Lions and bringing them to battle at every turn. The heretics' power was shattered when Cromwald, now a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, was finally cornered and ultimately struck down. With their leader cast back into the warp, the Legion splintered and scattered. Several warbands were annihilated by the vengeful crusaders, but many escaped to scatter across the stars. From there they begin to pursue their own objectives and desires. Some fight their Primarch's war still in his absence, others fell to infighting, others simply wage war for the sake of the carnage and glory of Chaos. Only in the Black Crusades are the Lions brought back together in any meaningful fashion, where they relive a brief throwback to their glories as a Legion.

==Personality==
Though bold and boisterous, Cromwald above all prides himself on being a clever man of clearly refined tastes. He demands of himself carriage that befits the pride of his station, and sees his reputation and honor as paramount in importance. This drives him to be something of a renaissance man; to be uninitiated in the many manners by which a man can be measured is to admit himself as a lesser son of the Emperor. Such stubbornness driven by pride only fuels his brazen love for his cultivated, larger than life image of the scholar-adventurer.

This pride is also his greatest flaw, however. As the last of the primarchs to be found, Cromwald nurses an inferiority complex beneath the bluster and posturing that burns eternally. Beneath the mask of pride lay the need to not only succeed, but to surpass the achievements of his peers. While an excellent driving force, it sometimes drives him to ignore aid when offered, refusing to portray himself or his legion in any light that could be construed as weakness or inability.

==Appearance==

Cromwald has all the bearing of an aristocrat; he carries himself with confidence and poise as befitting his upbringing and is rarely seen in any state less than perfectly groomed. His charcoal shaded hair is short and neat, as is his well trimmed and maintained mustache. These are framed by prominent cheekbones and a well rounded, ruddy facial structure that lends him a noble, fatherly air. Despite his impressive presence as a primarch, he stands as disarmingly pleasant to look upon. Only his deep set brown eyes suggest anything other than a polite, erudite father figure. They are ever watchful, and have been likened to that of a hawk. No matter how amiable his expression or polite his demeanor, there can be no mistaking that Cromwald is constantly weighing the measure of those in his company.

==Wargear==
The Marshal's Rebuke - Originally a sidearm common to tank crews of Sommesgard, the Rebuke was a break-action pistol extensively modified for use by Cromwald's hand. Further upgraded by the artisans of the Mechanicum, it now sports two monstrous barrels fed with ammunition of an excessively large caliber. This miniature cannon possesses remarkable power and is said to ring clear over the din of battle, no matter how violent the sortie may become.

Triumph - The hallmark weapon of the Lion's armored divisions is the cavalry saber, suitably enlarged for use by Astartes. In this tradition Cromwald bears a curved blade of similar make, incorporating a singularly powerful weaponized conversion field that renders armor useless against its shining blade. With short, masterful strokes its wielder can hew through heavily armored foes, making even the battle plate of a tank vulnerable in the face of precise strikes of an expert swordsman.

==A fan's attempt at rules==

{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Cromwald Walgrun:''' || 410 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Aldmund's Plate, The Marshal's Rebuke, Triumph.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bold Strategist, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Independent Character, Inspired Pride, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Thundering Steeds of Iron.

'''Aldmund's Plate'''- Armor crafted for the Primarch by the Lions Rampant master of the forge, Otto Aldmund. So impressed was the Primarch with his son's work that he insisted Otto inscribe his own sigil on the breastplate of the armor. The armor provides a 2+ 4++. In addition, Cromwald ignores psychic maladictions and witchfires on a 4+ (rolled seperate from deny the witch) and he always counts as having assault and defensive grenades.

'''The Marshal's Rebuke'''- ''"You come to our world and claim it as your own? Child, our race was old when your race wa-"'' '''BOOM.''' S7, AP3, 24' assault 2.

'''Triumph'''- Sabre of the Primarch. SU, AP1, Armorbane, Disruption (Any vehicle's AV value is counted as AV12 if it would otherwise be higher. Lance for melee, basically), and Rending.

'''Bold Strategist'''- Seize the initiative on a 4+ and you can reroll reserve rolls if you so choose. Additionally, *insert special Lions rampant elite unit* become troops choices.

'''Inspired Pride'''- All models in your army with '''Legiones Astartes: Lions Rampant''' gain Stubborn, and all units in the army gain preferred enemy against their counterpart in the enemy army (troops gain preferred enemy against troops, heavy support against heavy support, etc), but only against units with the '''Legiones Astartes''' rule.

'''Thundering Steeds of Iron'''- All vehicles in the army with one armor facing of greater than 12 can make a scout move after deployment, or add an additional 6' to their scout move if they could already make them. Additionally, they have '''Move Through Cover''' for the first turn.

Cromwald is pretty down the middle as far as primarchs go. He's not as killy as Roman, or as Durable as Tiran or Golgothos, and he doesn't buff as well as Hektor or Johannes, but he does all those things reasonably well. He's better against tanks than most, what with his "fuck your AV" AP1 sword and Rending mean that if he rolls a 6 while hitting a tank, he's practically guarenteed to blow it up (2D6 against AV12, D6 + 2 + d3 on the damage table), and his gun is better than most, being more or less an assault autocannon with better AP that he can fire on the charge. Additionally, having assault and defensive grenades mean he's better with charges, giving and taking, and for all that, he still buffs your army quite nicely, especially if you're a tread head, and he's one of the cheapest primarchs. All this means that Cromwald is actually one of the best primarch choices when it comes to relative points value to cost ratio.

Consider that you can stick him and a squad of elites in a spartan. That spartan can now scout 12 inches up the field, flat out 12 inches, disembark 6 inches, then charge. Assuming your opponent is using the "primarch in a spartan" method, you can cross the field, charge his tank, blow it up with your tankfucker sword, then butcher everyone inside it. Even if you fail the charge and come up short, who cares, you have defensive grenades.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Gaspard Lumey

2020-02-29T19:07:49Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Youth */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Gaspard Lumey
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Lumey.jpg|225px]]
|title=First Tribune of the Imperium, The Imperial Razor, The Incorruptible, Citizen of Ciban, Citizen of the Markian Pact
|where=[[Ciban IV]]
|when=c.850.M30
|legion=[[Void Angels|Fifth]]
|crusade=25th [[Expedition Fleets (Hektor Heresy)|Expedition Fleet]]
|sigil=[[File:Winged victory.png|125px]]
|weapon=La Minute
|trait=Objective, Rational
|flaw=Sceptical, Distrustful
|heresy=Loyal. His imminent arrival forces Hektor's hand at the Battle of Terra.
|fate=Stasis sleep beneath the Collegium Majoris, Ciban IV
|dominion=[[Al-Sherar Sector]]
}}
''There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.''

'''(Ancient Terran wisdom)'''

Gaspard Lumey was the Primarch of the Fifth Legion, famously known as the [[Void Angels]]. Although his politics were often a cause of friction with the other Primarchs, he led his Legion to many great victories during the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]] and Great Scouring. Lumey played an important role in bringing about the reforms of the ''Institutorum Astartes''.

==History==

While the lives of the Emperor's warlike sons are mostly lost in myth and legend, Lumey's lifelong habit of writing has preserved his thoughts for posterity. The great corpus of his works prohibits its mastery in a normal human lifespan, but the Tribunes of the Adeptus Astartes strive to read every word of their inspirational founder. Imperial censorship has slowly whittled away at the words of the Primarch available to ordinary citizens, but even in the 41st Millenium it is still a sign of wealth and sophistication to own a copy of Lumey's Selected Works.

===Youth===

''Unlike the other Primarchs, I would never come to see the Emperor as my father. His science had created me and I was a willing convert to his cause, but neither of us pretended to familial intimacy. Even had the Emperor sought such a thing, I would have had to refuse him, for I could have asked for no better parents than those I had on Ciban IV.''

(Gaspard Lumey, journals)

Throughout the dark days of the Age of Strife, the Emperor of Mankind had been trapped on Terra by fierce Warp Storms. But in His great wisdom, He foresaw that the Immaterium would clear again and He would once more be able to influence the destiny of humanity. In order to complete His great plan, the Emperor used his advanced science to create twenty Primarchs, embryos that would grow into giants of outstanding military and political prowess. These godlike beings would be the weapons of a [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]] to reunite humanity and establish man's hegemony over the [[Galaxy (Hektor Heresy)|Galaxy]]. Yet the Chaos Gods were aware of this threat, and their agents intervened, stealing all but one of the Primarchs and hurling them into the Warp. Bouyed by the unfathomable currents of that mysterious ether, the incubation capsules of the lost Primarchs were scattered across time and space.

[[Ciban IV]], often known as Ciban Felix or just Ciban, is a Civilised World in the Segmentum Pacificus. At the time that the infant Primarch Gaspard Lumey appeared on its surface, Ciban had attained a level of culture and technology approximating that of Second Millenium Earth. The planet was dominated by large, sophisticated states ruled by hereditary aristocrats. The Primarch of the Void Angels landed in Fennechia, a coastal region of Ciban IV's Jolof continent. At the time of the Primarch's arrival, Fennechia was a colony ruled by the empire of Gallia. His capsule crash landed close to a farming community named Nouvelle-Havre and was taken in by the Lumeys, a childless middle aged couple. It was quickly apparent to the close-knit villagers that the child Gaspard was something more than human, but the elders of Nouvelle-Havre counselled tolerance and encouraged the youth to see his strength as a gift to shared with all.

As Gaspard Lumey absorbed the morals of his adoptive community, he learned the martial skills of a frontiersman. Hunting trips honed his natural talent for stealth, outdoor survival, and marksmanship. Gaspard also became deadly with an axe, whether thrown or in close quarters. Contented with this simple life in Nouvelle-Havre, the young Primarch never expected to be sent from the community. Nevertheless, on the sixteenth anniversary of the Primarch's arrival in Nouvelle-Havre, Père Lumey informed Gaspard that the time had come to seek new challenges. The old man explained that it was not out of shame that he drove his adopted son into the world, but the reverse. Gaspard was a source of pride to the Lumeys, having shown that he had the potential to better the lives of a great multitude. However much the couple might love their son, they could not let him spurn his destiny.

====Plain Truth====
[[File:The hunter by silberius-d8lzd0o.jpg|300px|thumb|right|The streets of royal St. Vercy]]
''The principal lesson that Ciban IV taught me was my relative unimportance. My arrival on this humble world had coincided with the awakening of its inhabitants to the great task of their '''self-emancipation'''. Although I was welcome to join in that struggle and enjoy the new age opened up, the Cibanese never considered me their saviour, or even their greatest hero. If any future historian should consider writing that it was my hand that saved the Imperium from collapse, let them mark my words and the billions of hands behind my own.''

(Gaspard Lumey, ''Reflections'')

Dutiful to parental advice, Gaspard Lumey travelled to the townships and cities of the colonies. If his first jobs are lost to history, his first and defining career was as a journalist in the dissenting press of the day. He issued a steady stream of broadsides and pamphlets condemning first the excesses of the colonial government, then the degeneracy of the aristocracy. The effectiveness of Lumey's works is still evident in the full title of his most popular pamphlet, ''Plain Truth: An Honest and therefore Illegal account of Fennechia's Misgovernance''.

Growing unrest resulted in the formation of quasi-legal '''Committees of the Common Good''', a kind of shadow government that gained the trust of the public as colonial governors became increasingly unpopular. Lumey, as a wanted man, did not participate in the Committees at first. However, his pamphlets were often read aloud in Committee hearings. Surviving minutes attribute Lumey's remarks to "the Voice of the People". As the situation moved from unrest to open war, Lumey became increasingly close to the Committees and his writing gave direction to the colonial struggle. Few were surprised when Lumey volunteered his services to the rebel army.

Fennechian patriots initially suffered severe defeats at the hands of their oppressors. Gaspard Lumey achieved some renown as a guerilla leader, but he quickly realised that the colonists lacked the strength to triumph in a purely national struggle. Undeterred, Lumey smuggled himself into Gallia and circulated pamphlets denouncing not just the oppression of Fennechia but the whole regime of privilege. His message struck a chord. Even before Lumey arrived, Gallians were reading copies of ''Plain Truth'' and similar pamphlets written by figures such as '''Margarette Poisarden''' and '''Didier Bonchance'''. Political criminals, including Bonchance, flooded the Donjon, the great prison at Gallia's capital of Saint Vercy, but a jail cannot hold a whole people. When the imperial government attempted to raise a new tax for the war effort, ordinary Gallians began to revolt in their homeland, declaring that they were just as oppressed as the Fennechians.

Events in Saint Vercy developed at lightning pace. The Donjon was stormed by dockworkers and its inhabitants liberated. Regiments deployed to stifled the revolt arrested their officers and joined the rebels. Gallia's monarchy and national government fled the capital. The Committee of the Common Good, headed by Poisarden became the ''de facto'' government. A tremendous debate broke out in the Committee. Bonchance advocated a policy of temperance and forgiveness towards the old regime. Initially, his fraction held the majority, until Gaspard Lumey entered the hall. His prestige as a fighter in the colonies and rebel journalist won him the right to speak, but the Primarch's towering stature and personal charisma commanded the Committee's attention. Lumey hammered away at his rivals in the debate, explaining in sharp terms what the consequences of their mercy would be - a bloodbath organised by the aristocracy. In order to head off disaster, Lumey proposed a policy of "Righteous Terror", beginning with the imprisonment of supporters of the old regime and going so far as summary execution of aristocrats. While Lumey carried the majority, the fierce debate provoked splits. Didier Bonchance and his closest followers stormed out. These dissidents would escape Saint Vercy to sign on with the Royalist faction of a brewing civil war.

Mixed news from the rest of Gallia flowed into the capital. Committees were leading uprisings in the other big cities, but there was also news of armies being raised in the provinces - and worse, armies of intervention being prepared by Gallia's rivals. The Saint Vercy Committee of the Common Good acted decisively. The '''Republic of Ciban''' was declared and the other Committees across Gallia, Fennechia, and, rather optimistically, the whole of the planet were invited to freely join as equal participants. Margrette Poisarden was elected Speaker of the Republic's Assembly, at the head of the Governmental Committee. Gaspard Lumey was initially elected to the head of the Subcommittee for Foreign Affairs and served with distinction. His diplomacy, sharp and forthright, centred more on exposing the perfidy of the Republic's enemies than making accords, but in this regard he did much to destabilise the reactionary coalitions. Ultimately, however, the conflict between the new order and the old could not be settled with the pen. As the borders of old Gallia succumbed to invading armies, the Republic turned to Gaspard Lumey to organise its defence.

====Lumey's hunting hounds====
[[File:1453945795739.png|thumb|right|200px|Sketch of a citizen-soldier fighting for the Republic of Ciban, unknown year.]]
''For years I believed that Jean-Davide was the most extraordinary person I would ever meet. If I was an outsider to Ciban IV's struggle for liberty, I had at least been raised by these people, loved by them, and joined the fight as an adopted son. D'Orléans made himself a renegade twice over by joining us and never flinched at the hardships of his decision.''

(Gaspard Lumey, journals)

For Lumey, the line between foreign war and civil war was little more than terminology. The Primarch understood that the aristocratic states mobilising against the infant Republic were just as unpopular at home as the Gallian monarchy had been. Therefore, his strategy was decided by a political question: how to break the ordinary people from their leaders? Lumey's approach was two-fold. Firstly, he offered an open hand to conscripts in enemy armies, declaring that the Republic bore them no ill-will for their misfortune and pledging assistance to those who deserted. Secondly, Lumey promised the guillotine to officers of aristocratic heritage, outlining that they were guilty of a crime against two nations for leading armies against the Republic.

Gaspard Lumey threw himself into the organisation of a new army of the Republic. If officers were in short supply, volunteers for the new army were not. Lumey's main struggle was in convincing militias from different regions of Gallia to support one another and welding these disparate parts into a unified whole. One of his most important aides was the remarkable '''Jean-Davide d'Orléans''', a former Marquis and officer in the Royal Army of Gallia who had resigned his commission and surrendered himself to the Republic, pledging that the skills he had acquired for the defence of the nation rightfully belonged to the nation's people. D'Orléans and the handful of other officers who abandoned the monarchy endured considerable suspicion and harsh measures. On Lumey's orders, their families were held hostage. Some protested and refused to serve under such conditions, but d'Orléans persevered, famously remarking, ''"did not the old order hold the families of peasant conscripts hostage for the sake of its wars of ambition? Surely this new order, which is fighting daily to emancipate the common man, has the right to put a leash on its hunting hounds."''

Although Ciban's revolutionary wars were bloody and long, the Republic's constant and sincere appeals to the ordinary people eroded the foundations of the armies arrayed against them. Where Republican armies advanced, they found new supporters, willing to give them supplies, intelligence, and sometimes fresh volunteers for their armies. Where the forces of reaction pushed back, they encountered a surly populace, resentful at their presence and sometimes taking up arms as partisans. In the professional army, Lumey and d'Orléans were joined by a new generation of military commanders who had risen up through the ranks. Particularly notable were '''Bulus Tawfeek''', the handsome Fennec cavalryman, and '''Rani Stolarz''', a young woman whose mousey, studious appearance concealed cool courage and military genius. Tawfeek's lightning tactics were highly successful in liberating the colonial areas of Jolof. Stolarz is remembered even thousands of years later for her heroic defence of Surville, a turning point in the war against the Kingdom of Occitar.

The completion of the wars saw the Republic stand alone on Ciban IV as a popular world government. Unity paved the way to rapid development. New factories, printing presses, schools, hospitals, aqueducts, roads, and other infrastructure were planned and built for the common good. Gaspard Lumey laid down his arms gladly. He returned to his calling as a journalist, documenting his homeworld's new age of prosperity.

====''On Virtue''====

''Shortly after the Revolutionary Wars, I became disquieted. Perhaps I sensed something wrong before, but a real turning point was the receipt of a short note from Margrette on the content of my recent speech. She wrote, "You have become v. predictable and somewhat boring. Each speech the same. Struggle for x, lines of march, weigh y as decisive point, any shirking of duty leaves us vulnerable. This after 5 years' peace!" Even more disturbing to me was that I immediately wrote in the margin, almost without thinking, "I am a spear in a struggle waged by cannon."''

(Gaspard Lumey, Journals)

Rogue Traders probing ahead of the Great Crusade first came to Ciban IV in 848.M30. The world's sophisticated culture and unitary government was something of a surprise, and tales of Gaspard Lumey immediately caught the ear of the canny merchants. News travelled swiftly back to Terra, and the Emperor determined to investigate, strongly suspecting that the great revolutionary hero and representative in the Cibanese Assembly was one of his missing sons. After landing on Ciban IV, the Emperor approached Lumey openly, explaining their relationship by way of introduction. This did not convince the Primarch, who began to question his creator on his views of morality, testing the answers against what he had come to believe on Ciban. Their debate, which lasted three days, was collected in a series of texts entitled ''On Virtue''.

During the debate, Lumey initially took the role of protagonist, outlining the moral sensibilities that he developed on Ciban. The Primarch particularly stressed the rule of law and the importance of government serving the needs of the people, and explained himself by examples from his homeworld's history. In reply, the Emperor began with an assertion of the destiny of mankind to rule the [[Galaxy (Hektor Heresy)|galaxy]], then sought to prove how the Imperial Truth and its doctrines of atheism, reason, and science would serve that end. While ''On Virtue'' is a particularly fine explanation of these points, its centre is Lumey's attack on the Emperor's position. The Primarch particularly questioned how an autocracy forged through conquest could be the embodiment of a rational culture. In answer, the Emperor artfully drew from Ciban's recent history, noting that the means used by the rebellion and those used by the old order had differed but little. What set the two apart was that one pointed towards the future, the other to the past. Past this pivot in the argument, Lumey and the Emperor spend a great deal of time further clarifying points of ethics and civics, but the Primarch's questions are clearly those of a student, not a rival.

At the end of the debate on virtue, the Emperor of Mankind offered Gaspard Lumey command of a Legion of Space Marines to carry forward a vision of human unity and rationality. The Primarch's response was modest. While accepting the wisdom and judgement of the Emperor, Lumey expressed his doubts that his life on Ciban IV had adequately prepared him for a task of such awesome proportions. He further avowed that, while he would exert all of his powers and will upon the task, it was not a post he had sought out.

===The Great Crusade===

[[File:Johannes Vrach.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Johannes Vrach]], Gaspard Lumey's brother and friend]]
The voyage back to Holy Terra was not direct. The Emperor had also heard word of another of his warrior sons on the planet '''Rai''', and plotted a circuitous route to investigate. To have found Gaspard Lumey was wondrous, and adding [[Johannes Vrach]] to the ranks of the crusading Primarchs at the same time appeared to be a miracle. Thus the year 850.M30 was for decades referred to as "the year of fortune".

Vrach and Lumey spent a great deal of time in one another's company. The two were grappling with the implications of the Imperium's technology at the same time and had notes to compare. Moreover, the two had similar outlooks on the world, seeing science and reason as liberating forces in humanity's difficult history. If their characters were different, they were not so gravely at odds to prevent a friendship striking up, and the Emperor's whole Crusade Fleet was infected by the Primarchs' spirit of optimism.

Although comforted by Johannes' friendship, Lumey found humanity's cradle a difficult place. The world was full of the relics of its ancient culture but housed a population still numbed by millennia of war. Worse, the welcoming atmosphere of the Crusade Fleet was replaced with the polite disdain of the [[Sacred Band]], who viewed Lumey's legion as a failure and his genetics as suspect. And there was some truth to the charge, as the Fifth Legion numbered only a few hundred warriors with no great victories to their name. Far from the hopes of immediately launching new campaigns of liberation alongside his new-found brother, Lumey would have to set about forging his Legion before taking it into battle.

After the initial visit, the Primarch made a point of avoiding his birth world, hardly ever visiting the Solar System unless it was strictly necessary. However, he would remain close to Johannes for decades, exchanging letters during the years they spent apart and always eager to speak to his brother when their paths crossed.

[[File:Antoineantonelle.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Sketch of the primarch's equerry and friend, Antoine Antonelle]]
Perhaps surprisingly, Gaspard Lumey was pleased by the efforts of the Fifth's former commanding officer, [[Antoine Antonelle]], and retained him as the Legion's second-in-command. Relocating the Fifth Legion to Ciban IV was a fairly trivial task, although the planet's limited infrastructure dictated that the Legion's fleet base itself at nearby '''Kerstes VI'''. Even as the squadrons of his Space Marines travelled to Ciban IV, Lumey set to work laying the framework for a massive intake of new aspirants, taking advantage of Ciban IV's large, healthy, well-educated population. Jean-Davide d'Orléans was tapped to establish the [[Ciban Chasseurs]] as the Fifth's powerful and loyal auxiliary force.

====Early successes: Markia and Al-Sherar====

Though Gaspard Lumey would become infamous for scouring planets that spurned the Emperor's offer of universal human brotherhood, his first acquisition of new worlds for the Imperium was accomplished without a shot being fired. In the first months after he was rediscovered by the Emperor and granted a Legion, the Primarch had little in the way of military affairs to occupy his time. He had undertaken a study of the Imperial way of war and its weaponry, but such matters were not overly difficult and in any case required a certain amount of time to mull over before drawing firm conclusions. He had also met with his new "Equerry", Antoine Antonelle and judged him a competent man more than able to supervise the transfer of the Fifth's rather modest forces to Ciban IV and the establishment of recruiting centres there. Rather than simply find busywork or interfere with Antonelle's work, Lumey decided to personally investigate the reports of a small alliance of worlds to the Galactic South-East, supposedly similar in culture and ethics to his own homeworld.

When he arrived on the water world of '''Kouralia''', Lumey made little secret of his origin or purpose for being there. But he did not immediately demand that [[the Markian Pact]] submit to the Imperium. Instead he requested permission to travel the worlds of the Pact and speak to ordinary people there, assessing their culture and making clear his own views of the Galaxy. The Primarch also pledged to avoid any military installations and refrain from espionage. After a short delay, he was granted travel papers. The Markians were extremely courteous to Gaspard Lumey. He was not only given the right to travel. He was invited to cultural and scientific events, and given many opportunities to lecture both to elite and general audiences. As he journeyed around the worlds of the Pact, Lumey was greatly impressed by their sophistication and outlook. He wound up his tour by giving a speech to a joint session of the representatives of the Markian Pact.

The Primarch began with an apology, explaining that it was necessary to tell the representatives much that they already knew so that the basis on which he would make his proposal could be understood. He then spoke at considerable length on the achievements of the Pact, especially in uplifting the lot of the ordinary citizen. Lumey rounded out this section of his address by remarking that the kind of society that the Markians had established was what he understood as the goal of the Imperial Truth. He then made two extraordinary requests. Firstly, Lumey asked to be granted citizenship of the Markian Pact on the basis that he cherished their liberties and culture and would unhesitatingly fight to protect them. Secondly, he proposed that the Pact accede to peaceful annexation by the Imperium, that it might best take part in the great task of uniting and uplifting the human race. The Assembly, greatly impressed by the Primarch, granted his first request unanimously and the second by a considerable majority, then gave three cheers for "Citizen Gaspard" and three more for the future of mankind.

Next, the Primarch set his sights on the worlds of the Al-Sherar sector. Lumey led the Fifth Legion's few Astartes alongside new Demi-Brigades of mortal soldiers raised from Ciban IV and the Markian Pact in the [[Pacification of the Chwiorydd Hardd]], eliminating an outpost of Xenos slavers. This act would lead to a [[Al-Sherar Sector War|sector-wide war]] against the Amatteir species, beginning with the invasion of Lumey's homeworld. The Primarch led his young force of Space Marines in a three-month defensive campaign, but he attributed the Fifth Legion's victory at Ciban IV to the stubborn resistance of the native population. If this was humility, no amount of modesty could downplay Lumey's audacious counter-offensive and rapid destruction of the Amatteir Empire.

====Winged Victory====
[[File:Space marine by badluckart-d5hcblm.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Then-captain Jeanne d'Orléans during the [[Pacification of the Harakien Sector]]]]
These early victories set the stage for the Fifth Legion to explode into the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]]. Their new recruits were determined to make up for lost time and arms from the Forge World [[Al-Sherar]] made good the Legion's years of deprivation. The steady increase in the Fifth Legion's haul of worlds each year did not attract much attention and those who had raised eyebrows at the upstarts' success smiled when the ravages of WAAAGH! Rok'Ed led to lean years from 897 to 899.M30. All shortfalls were made good, however, in 900.M30, when the Gaspard Lumey launched a campaign of enormous sophistication and seized a thousand sectors in a single year. [[Roman Albrecht]], Primarch of the [[Steel Marshals]], captured the moment with his tribute to ''"Gaspard Lumey's men, moving like winged victory through the stars."'' The name would stick to them until the end of the Great Crusade - but others did not receive Fifth Legion's victories in such good humour.

Although the Fifth would continue to accumulate great victories throughout the second century of the Great Crusade, they rarely received praise. [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] and his praetorians from the '''Sacred Band''' took a dim view of the upstart Legion and did their best to keep Lumey from receiving new resources from the wealthy Segmentum Solar. To some extent, shortages were made good due to the generosity of Roman Albrecht and the liberated worlds of the [[Al-Sherar Sector]], but the Fifth were usually the last Legion to receive advanced new equipment. Gaspard Lumey's relationships with most of the Primarchs became increasingly terse - and actively hostile when it came to [[the Voidwatcher]]. Lumey cannot be absolved of blame for the hostile atmosphere, as he rarely treated his brothers as equals and was prone to speaking out on their faults when it would have been wiser to stay silent. Yet these character flaws were less grating among those who did not expect to be seen as a peer to the Primarch. Lumey inspired great loyalty among his Space Marines and auxilia alike, and had a keen eye for talented commanders. [[Fabrice Diallo]] had already won his reputation and duly enjoyed the confidence of the Primarch. Others came into their own during the hard campaigns of the Great Crusade, such as; '''Augustin Carron''', [[Rogue Traders (Hektor Heresy)|Rogue Trader]] [[Visant Le Gall]], the remarkable Ciban Chasseur, '''Jeanne d'Orléans''', and the White Knight [[Lord of Bones|Abdul Al-Sherar]].

====Razor and Scalpel====
[[File:AubreyTheGrey.jpg|thumb|right|200px|[[Aubrey The Grey]]]]
Despite the unusual circumstances involved, the discovery of Aubrey the Grey in 901.M30 was celebrated by all of his brother Primarchs. Publicly noting Gaspard Lumey's recent successes, the Emperor chose to dispatch Aubrey to learn from the master of the Fifth Legion. As is common in politics, a good reason is rarely the real reason. The Emperor hoped that the the Cibanese loathing for Xenos would wash away the unfortunate circumstances of the Primarch's upbringing. More practically, the association resulted in Aubrey penning several works discussing the military history and methods of the Tarellians. These texts would help to safeguard the Imperium against alien perfidy.

Unfortunately, the Emperor's hopes were in vain. Aubrey was a polite and popular guest among the Fifth Legion, but he took horror stories of the Amatteir and the Orks in his stride. The Primarch of the Sixteenth Legion noted that Lumey did not judge all men by the worst of their number and argued that judging every ''species'' of aliens by the most vicious was an even worse habit. Aubrey also noted that his brother had greatly strengthened the Imperium by harnessing the strength of his homeworld for the Great Crusade, and argued that his own Lazarus could surely contribute to the Emperor's plans if properly guided. This position was reasonable, and convincing. By the end of Aubrey's apprenticeship with the Fifth Legion, Gaspard Lumey backed his brother in calling for an Edict of Toleration. This decree would permit the leaders of Expedition Fleets to designate non-belligerent alien realms as "Xenos Amicus", fit for trade rather than extermination.

It must be noted that this power was rarely used, and essentially ignored by Legions other than the [[Eternal Zealots]], allowing Aubrey to bring the Tarellians into the orbit of the Imperium and host Gaspard Lumey on Lazarus in 904.M30. As was his habit, Lumey kept a journal of his six week stay on Lazarus and later published several essays on Lazarine art. He was particularly taken by the architecture of Aubrey's homeworld, comparing the Tarellian's graceful style favourably with what he had seen in other parts of the Galaxy. On his departure, Lumey admitted that he was not anxious to return but reminded Aubrey that humanity's homeworld hadn't made a favourable impression either.

The tragic circumstances that led to Lumey's return to Lazarus are well-known but must be summarised here. Despite Aubrey's generosity, the Tarellians staged a massive uprising, destroying Sixteenth Legion facilities and carrying out atrocities against humans within their space. Even as news of the uprising spread across the Imperium, Tarellian warships spread their venom into nearby Imperial worlds. The War Council forbade Aubrey from attempting to negotiate, annulled the Edict of Tolerance, and commanded Gaspard Lumey to lead a reprisal. Aubrey was instructed to join Lumey's 25th Expedition Fleet "as an observer". What Aubrey the Grey observed has been variously described in poetic language such as the Burning of Lazarus or the Crusade of Intolerance, but Gaspard Lumey simply referred to it as the Tarellian Xenocide. Thanks to the information that Aubrey had provided in happier days, the 25th Expedition Fleet could exploit the weaknesses of their alien enemies while minimising their strengths, leading to a campaign more of slaughter than conflict. By the end, the elegant spires that Lumey had once admired were torn down by his gene-sons as Lazarus became a monument to the price of betraying the Imperium.

Aubrey obediently watched the destruction, then tearfully demanded a duel with Gaspard Lumey. Whether the Primarch hoped to die at his brother's hand or exact vengeance is unknown, but Lumey's acrid retort is infamous. He reminded Aubrey that the Tarellian tradition he was invoking had not only led to terrible misfortune but just been destroyed, and therefore dismissed the challenge as unworthy even of refusal. Understandably, this reply infuriated Aubrey the Grey, but he had enough self-control to only spit in Lumey's face and stalk back to his quarters. The two would not exchange another word for decades.

====The late crusade: on the brink of crisis====
[[File:Darius Cyaxares.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[[Shakya Vardhana]], master of the Eyes of the Emperor]]
While absent from the struggle with the Orks of Ullanor and the Triumph at their capital world, Lumey won the Imperium an immense prize. The '''Core Worlds Confederation''' had long been the "second state" of humanity in the [[Galaxy (Hektor Heresy)|Galaxy]], spanning many rich systems and formidably armed. Their rulers had not bowed to threats of force or supplications of reason and remained independent for decades. But with the assistance of [[Shakya Vardhana]] and his [[Eyes of the Emperor]], the Fifth Legion raced through the [[Core Worlds Campaign]], winning a tremendous bounty of men and industry to the Great Crusade. To Hektor, still selling the lives of his battle brothers, the news came as a smack in the face.

Still flush with the prestige of the Core Worlds Campaign, Gaspard Lumey travelled to the [[Council of Nikaea (Hektor Heresy)|Council of Nikaea]]. Initially intending to support Shakya Vardhana's policy of moderation, Lumey was provoked by the Voidwatcher and swung sharply to an anti-psyker position in order to humble his rival. The only long-term success of this policy was the warmth with which [[Arelex Orannis]] received Lumey's turn of position. While the Black Augurs were disgraced at Nikaea, their master would avenge himself the next year by calling for an investigation of the Core Worlds Campaign. Lumey found himself answering an interrogation by warlords he had alienated in past years, but he was largely unconcerned with their accusations. Shakya Vardhana, acting more as counsel for the defence than fellow accused, was left to plead a case while Lumey limited himself to matter of fact answers. In the end, no wrong-doing was discovered. Hektor Cincinnatus, speaking on behalf of the War Council as a whole, pronounced that the destruction wrought by the Fifth Legion "regrettable" and dispatched Lumey's entire force to the thinly-populated fringe of the Galaxy.

If Lumey saw this as a punishment - and in his writings he claimed that he did not - the blow may have been lessened by Aubrey the Grey attempting a reconciliation after the investigation. Aubrey apologised for his heated behaviour at Lazarus and explained that he had come to see the righteousness of acting for part of a greater goal than one's own personal preferences. Before Lumey could reply, the Primarch of the Eternal Zealots added that he did not expect to be forgiven on the spot, but hoped that the two could make use of the Fifth Legion's exile to work out their differences in letters, so that they might embrace one another as brothers when they saw one another again.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''My Dear Brother,''

''Thank you for the gift. It has been a source of considerable joy to the Legion, both as a reading and in performances organized by our Tribunes. Naturally, I have no disagreement regarding the work's significance and shared your sense of loss on learning that there are thirty works of this remarkable Terran still unknown to us. However, I believe your analysis of the work is quite wrong. The most important theme is not Brutus' internal conflict between honour and personal loyalty, but the decline of Roman culture. Shakespeare indicates that Brutus represented the ideals of the Republic in its heroic period. Yet by the time of the play, we see this virtuous figure isolated and not enjoying the confidence of the people. That is the essence of the work's '''historical''' tragedy.''

(Except from the "Julius Caesar letter", as collected in Gaspard Lumey's ''Dispatches'')

During the Fifth Legion's long exile in the Galactic Fringe, Gaspard Lumey and Aubrey the Grey made good on the plan to exchange letters, though what was left of their differences was quickly put to bed. Their correspondence proved to be far-reaching, though only Lumey's letters, known as "The Dispatches" are preserved. The best-known Dispatch, the so-called "Julius Caesar letter", begins with Lumey expressing his gratitude for a copy of Shakespeare's drama. The Primarch then gave his own thoughts on what constitutes the central part of the work, recounts campaign details including tactical experiments against the [[Orks (Hektor Heresy)|Orks]] and passes on a summary of ethnographical and archaeological findings with particular reference to architecture on newly-conquered Dellator. Lumey passed from his reflections with a self-deprecating joke about a senior officer's newborn child "escaping my name by being born female", then expressed his gladness that Aubrey would soon be visiting him in person to explain the recent breakdown in Imperial communications. The letter is dated 008.M31, three years after Hektor's revolt began.

The meeting between Aubrey the Grey and Gaspard Lumey took place at the Fifth Legion's base on Dolsene. It was a sorrowful affair. Aubrey spent two days trying to persuade his exiled brother to join the Traitor camp, then one more spinning a fantasy in which the Eternal Zealots and Winged Victory would return to the Segmentum Solar and forge a peace together. This lie disarmed the Fifth Legion and allowed Aubrey to launch an attempt on Gaspard's life - though thanks to the prowess of the White Knight [[Lord of Bones|Abdul Al-Sherar]], Lumey survived and the Eternal Zealots had to withdraw from Dolsene. As he fell back, Aubrey promised to destroy that which his foes loved best.

Understanding that the fabric of Imperial law was undone and fearing for the people of his homeworld, Gaspard Lumey gathered the host of the Fifth Legion and retraced the steps of their journey into exile. Whatever relief the Primarch felt at finding Ciban IV protected and safe evaporated as the true scope of the galactic crisis was relayed to him by trusted sources. Gaspard dispatched his ships to hunt reaving [[Mastodontii]] warbands and made plans with the Kazi of [[Al-Sherar]] to raise an army of unparalleled scale. What the Primarch had in mind for his armada is lost to history, for his forces contacted the valiant [[Steel Marshals]] and established common cause with the sons of [[Roman Albrecht]]. Together, the two Legions came to the relief of besieged [[Rosskar]], where they met with the remnants of the [[Stone Men]] under the command of [[Onyx the Indestructible]].

At Rosskar, the three Primarchs met and pledged a common cause. Together they would break the Traitor Legions and restore the Emperor's rule, or if their master was fallen, enthrone Roman Albrech as the new emperor of mankind. It is clear from the material balance of forces that Gaspard was not compelled to this decision by force, for records indicate that the Fifth Legion dwarfed their war-weary allies in every category of material. Rather, it was Albrecht's moral character and record of loyalty to the cause of humanity that commanded the loyalty of his brothers. Unified in case with Roman's Steel Marshals and Onyx's Stone Men, Gaspard's newly-dubbed '''Void Angels''' drove into the Solar Segmentum. Their campaign was not decisive, but it bled Traitor forces from the critical battle at Terra and the imminent breakthrough by the three Legions forced Hektor into a desperate gamble and defeat at the Emperor's hand.

===Post-Heresy===

''Do you truly believe that Sebastion Rex could have slain one Primarch and crippled another?''

- Chapter Master Sergei of the Silver Cataphracts

Although the loyalist victory at Terra prevented Chaos from destroying mankind, the forces that held true to the Imperium could not rest. Thousands of worlds were held by the Traitors, and thousands of more had fallen away from the Imperial Truth due to renegacy or the actions of Xenos. As the leader of the strongest Loyalist Legion, Gaspard Lumey played a prominent role in what became known as the Scouring. This second act to the galactic civil war saw the loyalists drive the forces of Chaos back into the Eye of Terror and bring renegades back to the fold by the sword. It is no exaggeration to say that trillions died in this terrible time, but Lumey remained resolute and the great forges of Al-Sherar continued to pour war material into his hands. By the time that the Scouring was ended, the Fifth Legion was the mainspring of the Imperium's defences, far exceeding their ravaged brother Legions in men and material.

Throughout the Scouring, the Loyalist Primarchs had set aside the question of a new ruler for the Imperium. Some believed that the Emperor would recover, others simply shrank from dissent while the Traitors remained an obvious threat. However, the conclusion to the infamous '''Cage of Iron''' campaign against the renegade realm of Sebastion Rex posed the question sharply. According to the public accounts, the Rex had slain Roman Albrecht and grievously wounded Alexandri of Rosskar. While Alexandri was still comatose, his Equerry Sergei contacted Gaspard Lumey to convey misgivings over this official story. No document of Lumey's reply exists, and perhaps his views were rendered moot when Alexandri succumbed to his wounds. With the deaths of the Lord-Knight of Centauri and the Regent of Terra, there was no longer an obvious successor to the Emperor.

Those who speak well of Gaspard Lumey often point to his restraint at this time as the truest indicator of the Primarch's character. Rather than commanding his mighty Void Angels to seize control of the Galaxy, Lumey instead met with [[Shakya Vardhana]], [[Arelex Orannis]], [[Onyx the Indestructible]], and [[Brennus]] to agree on how to stabilise the Imperium. The Primarchs' plan saw Lumey act as '''Primaris Martial''', the first soldier of the Imperium with supreme authority over military affairs, while each of the other brothers was given authority over one of the frontier segmentums. Although the ten years of this arrangement were peaceful relative to the years of the civil war, the forces of the Imperium were constantly fighting against Xenos and rebellion. Lumey's military dictatorship was largely exercised from the command centre of his flagship, and although many fine victories were won in the name of Mankind the Imperium also gave up great swathes of space too thinly populated to be defended. In the annals of the Void Angels, the Primarch's crowning achievement was to hand over his role as ''Primaris Martial'' to Arelex Orannis so that the sire of the War Scribes might preside over the reconstruction of the Solar System.

For another decade, Gaspard Lumey directed military operations across just the Segmentum Pacificus. Afterwards, the Primarchs would no longer directly assert their control, instead of serving as nominal advisers - though it must be said that their advice was sought often and strictly adhered to. Gaspard Lumey's principal role in this time was the '''First Tribune''' of the Imperium, a supreme overseer of the Space Marine Chapters. This was light work by the Primarch's standards, as a great many of the Chapters were commanded by warriors of his own gene-seed well-accustomed to his command. He had the time to write biographies of his loyalist brothers known as the ''Lives of the Primarchs''. [[Arelex Orannis]], whose Legion Lumey had once dismissed as [[War Scribes|"the scribes of war"]] assisted as editor of this series, up until his own untimely death. The ''Lives'' all followed a basic formula. While honest enough in his account, Lumey showed the Primarchs as fundamentally human and shaped by their environment. By doing so, Lumey hoped to make the trauma of the Heresy a comprehensible event and prevent the collapse of the Imperial Truth. However, in the anarchic conditions of the new Imperium, there were few worlds that received Lumey's message. Fewer still accepted it.

During the time in which he fought to defend the Imperium and its culture, the most important of Lumey's friendships was with [[Brennus]], Primarch of the [[Thunder Kings]]. The two would exchange many letters in these decades, and as their siblings died or vanished, the two Primarchs grew to cherish one another's company. After Brennus disappeared during the First Black Crusade, Lumey went into seclusion. His last public act was writing a biography of the fallen Thunder King. Although his fate is mysterious, rumour has it that the Primarch of the Void Angels slumbers in stasis somewhere on Ciban IV.

==Appearance==

Like all the Primarchs, Gaspard Lumey had the stature of a giant, with broad shoulders and dark skin. He had bushy eyebrows, a prominent nose, and expressive, thoughtful eyes. Lumey usually wore his curly black hair long, loosely tied back from his face. Never given to showy attire, his choice of clothing was either a demure dress uniform or civilian clothes when away from the front.

==Personality==

''Gaspard... When other men speak, they speak armor... They put up words to defend themselves. Gaspard speaks bolter... words tearing open lies! Exploding falsehoods! ...this is our truth, our Crusade of Man! ... if we banish it... only lies.''

(Testimony of [[Golgothos]] the Eternal at the trial of Gaspard Lumey)

He was a difficult man, but one with a great presence. Some other Primarchs far exceeded Lumey's ability to inspire trust, loyalty and respect, but he was the master of sowing suspicion and discontent. When speaking he often emphasised his points by gesture. He rolled his eyes and sneered so often that these expressions were almost habit. He generally saw the ideas of others as inferior to his own, and treated few as his intellectual equal. Nevertheless, few of the Emperor's sons were so beloved of the ordinary people who met him. Almost alone among the Primarchs, Lumey consistently saw himself as just one more member of the great human race. Though he recognised his talents and prowess, the Primarch came to see his abilities as the rightful property of humanity at large, and consistently monitored his own behaviour lest he begin to take privileges rather than responsibilities.

Gaspard was suspicious of most of his brothers. He grew to trust [[Shakya Vardhana]] and [[Roman Albrecht]]. For a time he was close to [[Johannes Vrach]], and he would eventually become a firm ally of [[Arelex Orannis]]. Despite many differences in their character, he and Golgothos had a strange bond and Gaspard frequently spoke in defence of his quiet brother.

==Wargear==

In the field, Gaspard donned '''Protecteur''', the artificer armour forged by the tech-priests of [[Ghalhal]]. This miraculous suit held within it a functional teleporter, which the Primarch used to great effect in void and land combats. By preference, Gaspard wielded an axe and slug-thrower, as he had during Ciban's Revolutionary Wars. The Kazi of [[Al-Sherar]] met this inclination with the advanced power axe dubbed '''Le Rasoir Imperial''' and a sophisticated slug-thrower, '''La Minute'''. These were more than mere tokens of friendship and the Primarch often began his greetings to the Diyanet of Al-Sherar or the Synod of Ghalhal by making reference to the equipment they had provided. Due in part to its form, Le Rasoir Imperial gained a certain amount of legend on Ciban IV and came to be seen as a symbol of the unity between the Fifth Legion and the homeworld of their Primarch.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Gaspard Lumey:''' || 430 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: La Minute, Le Rasoir Imperial, Protecteur.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Among their Ranks, Bulky, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Seeds of Dissent.

'''La Minute'''- Unlike most of his brothers who went to war with advanced energy weapons, Gaspard chose to use a comparitively simply slug thrower, though it always served him well. La Minute fires with the following profile: S6, AP4, Assault 2, Rending.

'''Le Rasoir Imperial'''- A power axe gifted to Gaspard by the Kazi of Al-Sherar. It uses the following profile: S+1, AP2, Reaping Blow.

'''Protecteur'''- One of the more ingenious suits of armor worn by the primarchs, Protecteur provided excellent protection and unparalleled mobility with its teleportation generator. The armor offers the wearer a 2+, 4++, and the '''Blink''' ability, which allows its user to make a 4D6+6 jump move in the movement phase instead of moving. Any attached unit can be taken with if the player so chooses, but all models in the unit (save for Gaspard himself) must take a dangerous terrain test. However, using this teleportation drains his suit's power reserves, reducing his invulnerable save to 6++ until the beginning off your next movement phase.

'''Among Their Ranks'''- Gaspard's legion was famously good at getting their men right where they were needed, but alongside their primarch, they could work wonders. All friendly units with '''Legiones Astares: Void Angels''' may infiltrate anywhere on the board, ignoring the usual restrictions on infiltrating into the enemy's deployment zone, and any "Your opponent cannot infiltrate within" rules. Additionally, you may begin rolling for reserves on turn 1.

'''Seeds of Dissent'''- Gaspard may not have been the strongest of his brothers, or the swiftest, or even the most intelligent, but he could sow dissent and stoke the fires of revolution like none other. Gaspard's efforts grant his opponent the following limitations: -1 to all reserve rolls, successful rolls to seize the initiative must be rerolled, and allied contingents in their army are always considered "By the Warmaster's Command," replacing whatever their former status on the allies matrix was.

"Fuck you, fuck what you believe, fuck your allies, and fuck your synergy."

Gaspard does two things really, ''really'', well: provide mobility and mess with your enemy. Mobility is simple: the guy can teleport himself and his unit 4d6 + 6 inches. Fucking with your enemy? Gaspard fucks their reserves, their tactical initiative, and the synergy with their allies, and their carefully laid out plan. Because you can infiltrate anywhere and roll for reserves early, and your opponent is unlikely to steal the initiative for you, you can control the battlefield like few others. Your opponent sets up first? Now you get to infiltrate your units right where they need to be, and it's highly unlikely he'll steal the initiative when you can force him to reroll. You set up first? Now your opponent has to decide his positioning based on ''your'' choices, and potentially leaves himself vulnerable to your deepstriking and outflanking units. This can be magnified by playing headgames with your opponent, which is again very fitting for Gaspard. Your opponent's deployment not conducive to your plan? "Oh, deploying along the edges like that is ballsy with all my deepstriking units," might sound like a backhanded compliment to your opponent, but you're putting it in his head that he should change his tactics, and even if he doesn't, ''maybe'' you didn't even want him to move in the first place, and even if you did, your tactical flexibility will allow you to counter his new positioning. Under the eyes of their primarch, the void angels play like the glorious bastard children of the Alpha Legion and the Ultramarines, and in the hands of a skilled player, they're almost impossible to hard counter. And for all this, Gaspard is one of the cheapest primarchs. Still, keep him out of challenges. Even a "lowly" praetor will have a reasonable shot at killing him in a challenge.

Don't let his mediocre stats and weaponry fool you: Gaspard is one of the most dangerous primarchs, because he gives you the ability to dictate the flow of battle like no other army or general in 30k. It doesn't matter how killy or durable your army is, if your opponent is calling all the shots on what goes where, you're fucked.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Hektor Cincinnatus

2020-02-29T18:55:48Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* History */

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Hektor Cincinnatus
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Hektor the Warmaster.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Sun King, Founder of the Sacred Band, Savior of Olmer, Warmaster of the Great Crusade, Arch-Traitor
|where=[[Terra]]
|when=(at start)
|legion=[[Heralds of Hektor|First]]
|crusade=3rd [[Expedition Fleets (Hektor Heresy)|Expedition Fleet]]
|sigil=[[File:Vergina sun.svg.png|120px]]
|weapon=
|trait=Charismatic
|flaw=Reckless, wrathful
|heresy=Traitor. He organises the rebellion against the Imperium.
|fate=Soul obliterated by the Emperor's might.
|dominion=
}}
{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

''Many seek understanding in an attempt to make themselves the master of their fate rather than a tool in fate's hands. This is not even folly. Those who are destined to understand will learn that we are all just instruments of fate.''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

'''Hektor Cincinnatus''' was the Primarch of the [[Heralds of Hektor]], one of the [[Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)|Legiones Astartes]] of the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]]. He was the last and first of the Primarchs, once thought the greatest of their number. But he turned against the Imperium and launched humanity into a horrific [[Hektor Heresy|civil war]] that ended the Great Crusade and crippled the Emperor.

=History=

''If I could not have been Hektor, I would have loved to be Sekander.''

- Hektor Cincinnatus

Like his brother Primarchs, Hektor Cincinnatus began as a dream. The Emperor of Mankind, long trapped on Terra by the warp-storms that heralded the birth of Slaanesh, dreamt of unifying humanity and setting His people ascendant in the Galaxy. The fall of the Eldar opened the way to making that reality, and the Emperor set to work crafting the Primarchs, god-like beings that would lead the armies of Mankind through the stars, yet in His wisdom, the Emperor did not set His creations apart from humanity. Though they were mighty in ability and stature, the Primarchs were still akin to man, with his semblance and his frailties.

This dream did not go unnoticed by the Chaos Gods, and they moved to intervene. The Emperor was far from his Palace when the Ruinous Powers tore open reality to steal away the infant Primarchs. Yet His great mind still sensed this intrusion and He hastened His most-faithful servant, '''Malcador the Sigilite''', to the defence of humanity's future. Braving the terrors of the Warp, Malcador was able to grasp the capsule of Hektor and prevent the infant Primarch from tumbling through the breach. This interruption of the Chaos Gods' scheme drew their wrath. The Sigilite's flesh and spirit were flayed by the Ruinous Powers despite the psychic protection of the distant Emperor. Weakened, perhaps dying, Malcador still remained resolute. His own life mattered not, but keeping one of the Emperor's precious creations for the Great Crusade was essential. Torture gave way to temptation. Malcador was assailed by the whispering voices of the Chaos Powers. He was offered release from his agony and so much more, to be placed as the Regent of the Humanity, the Most-Favoured of the Gods, if only he would release one burdensome child. Malcador wavered, but his belief in a better, rational future for mankind stayed firm. Firm, too, was his grip on Hektor's capsule, until the Emperor could arrive in person and seal the breach to the Warp. Though the Ruinous Powers had inflicted a terrible blow against the Emperor, Malcador's courage and strength had secured a consolation. Instead of twenty mighty Primarchs to launch Terra's Crusade there would be just one, perhaps some day to be joined by his brothers. In honour of this victory, the Emperor determined to place the last of the Primarchs in Malcador's care while He prepared new weapons of unification.

It cannot be said that the child Hektor had a loving upbringing. Malcador the Sigilite was extraordinarily busy even in those days and delegated child-rearing to a professional staff. Of his tutors, many of whom passed through very quickly, Hektor was most attached to Epemistreus the Sage, the Archeosavant of the Tarantia Hive-Spires. Epemistreus was much-famed as a lecturer and his sparkling wit and sense of a good tale enchanted young Hektor. The sage's speciality was Terran history - what little could be gleaned of it from the ruins of humanity's cradle - and his young charge was keen to hear tales of the conquerors and unifiers of the planet's past. Warlords such as Sekander, Kai Zal, Carlos Main, and Stef Stelman became Hektor Cincinnatus' idols and role-models. Although this interest was considered healthy by Malcador, he dismissed Epemistreus after ten months of instruction, believing that the young Primarch had learned enough of history. This separation caused Hektor no small distress and he earned himself a severe lecture from the Sigilite on the necessities of selflessness and obedience to the Emperor's plans.

==The Unification Wars==
[[File:Space Marines by The First Magelord.jpg|250px|thumb|The Space Marines]]
''It is the Emperor's will that you, my gene-sons and the gene-sons of my lost brothers, shall form a Sacred Band under my command. We begin our journey as a family, born from the waters of an artificial womb. But the blood we shed together will make us a brotherhood!''

- Hektor Cincinnatus

{{See also|Unification Wars (Hektor Heresy)}}

The end of Hektor's childhood education meant his introduction into the ranks of the Emperor's warriors. For a time, he served among the Imperial bodyguard and distinguished himself at his Father's side. But the Emperor had greater plans for Hektor and his genetic legacy, and soon gave the Primarch command over the neophyte Space Marines. Unlike the Legions that would follow, this [[Sacred Band]] of superhuman warriors was a mix of all twenty gene-lines. As the training of the Sacred Band proceeded, the Emperor noticed that Hektor's own gene-sons prospered under the Primarch's command far more than the Space Marines derived from other lines. This observation was the root of the eventual decision to form the different lines into distinct Legions, allowing their own unique strengths to develop. However, with the survival of the other Primarchs still in doubt, the Emperor deemed it best to play out the tale of the Sacred Band as a means of acclimatising his Space Marines to Hektor's overall command.

As it was, the Sacred Band would only see combat in one campaign. Gathering up the brightest recruits into twenty squads - one for each gene-line of Space Marines - Hektor was dispatched to assist the Thunder Regiments in the '''Pacification of the Merican Hives'''. Although the operation was a modest success, the shocking performance of some squads led to the experiment being ended immediately. From then on, each gene-line would be deployed as an independent part of a greater army. But the Sacred Band did not entirely vanish from the Galaxy. The survivors of the battles of the Merican Hives would forever remember Hektor as their battle brother. Even after meeting their gene-sires many would still see the first of the Primarchs as their natural lord and master.

Hektor's own sons were called on to form the First Legion. His favourites, '''Ajax Camillus''', '''Hephaestion Horatius''', and '''Leonidas Manisicus''' were appointed as the Legion's Lieutenants and the ten veterans of the First Squad of the Sacred Band became Sergeants, leading their own squads into battle. This cadre would be expanded again and again as the Unification Wars pressed on towards their climax at Mount Ararat. Although most of the other Legions were activated during this period, none grew so swiftly as the First or were entrusted with such significant missions.

===Sun and Moon===

[[File:Dark_queen_by_dularif-d3gudqw.jpg|250px|thumb|Pallas Eugenesis, Eclipse Queen of Luna]]

Toward the end of the Unification Wars, the Imperium began to look to the heavens above Terra. The first objective was Luna and its mighty gene-forges, a resource that could be used to greatly increase the ranks of the Space Marine Legions. Securing this prize would be no easy task. Terra's satellite was under the dominion of fractious gene-cults, jealous of their independence. Repeated attempts at negotiation ended in failure, with the last envoys returned to the Emperor as a screaming biological soup. Yet one of the rulers of Luna was intrigued by the tales of the Emperor's genetically-engineered son and general. [[Pallas Eugenesis]], styled the Eclipse Queen, dispatched an agent to Terra to meet with Hektor Cincinnatus and offer one last round of negotiation - provided that the Primarch attended in person.

Still busy with the Emperor's wars on Terra, Hektor replied that he would consider the invitation and gave it little further thought. However, the First Legion was soon assigned the task of leading the Pacification of Luna, forcing its proud rulers to submit to the Imperium. Confident that the Eclipse Queen's willingness to negotiate would give him an advantage, Hektor argued that his Legion could conquer the satellite alone, but the Emperor insisted on dispatching the fearless [[Scions of Europa|Seventh Legion]] and mobile [[The Crusaders|Tenth Legion]]. If Hektor was disappointed at the prospect of sharing the glory, he did not let his feelings spoil the plan. Informing his command that he and a hand-picked band would go ahead to secure the landing zone, the Primarch made a stealthy landing on Luna and presented himself to the court of the Eclipse Queen.

As a negotiation, the matter was initially straightforward. Pallas Eugenesis all but brushed aside the demands Hektor brought on behalf of the Imperium of Man as already accepted, readily agreeing to her territory being used as a springboard for the pacification of Luna and signalling her willingness to submit to the Emperor's will. Her request to be recognised as the satellite's ruler and enforcer of the Imperium's laws was not unreasonable, but her final condition was a great surprise. She asked that the pact be sealed by her marriage to Hektor, thus symbolising the unification Terra and Luna. Though he found the Eclipse Queen to be a compelling ally, Hektor Cincinnatus had never considered the prospect of seriously romancing any woman, let alone marrying one. Discovering exactly what Pallas Eugenesis expected of a husband took a lengthy and delicate discussion, but at the end of their talks Hektor was satisfied that his prospective bride was mainly interested in the political significance.

As he left the Eclipse Queen to organise the military operation, Hektor was also struck by how much he had enjoyed speaking to her. In many ways, the Primarch's life had been a lonely one, ever deferred-to by his inferiors and rarely taken into the confidence of his Father or Malcador the Sigilite. His gene-sons could be beloved comrades, but there was always a line between them and their Primarch. Pallas Eugenesis spoke to him as a peer and, as Hektor considered the matter, deservedly so. She was also the product of miraculous genetic science, and her own works were astonishing in their artistry. Though Pallas was not a soldier, when their conversation had wandered into the intricacies of military organisation her brilliant mind had readily grasped the problems, and even ventured some of the same novel conclusions that Hektor had himself reached. Their marriage would not - could not - be of the kind that mortal men and women enjoyed, but as an alliance and meeting of equals it answered a need that had Hektor had unknowingly carried for many years.

Following the Pacification of Luna, Hektor spent the next few years separated from his betrothed and fought in the last hard campaigns of the Unification Wars. The Emperor put increasing trust in His son, assigning regiments of mortal auxilia to the command of the First Legion and giving the combined battle group considerable latitude in interpreting His orders. This freedom was critical when the warriors of [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]] invaded Terra under the command of newly-elected Fabricator General Valran Burija. Hektor used the newly-acquired Stormbird to swiftly move his Legion to attack and caught the Mechanicum while they were still disembarking from their transports. The suddenness and violence of the First Legion's assault overwhelmed Burija's forces and the Fabricator General himself met his end on Hektor's spear. Following this victory, Hektor was hailed as the Sol Regis, the Sun King, the mightiest warrior of humanity's home system. The Primarch humbly remarked that if it was his place to be king of the system it would only serve to further honour his master, the Emperor of Mankind.

Hektor would also be present to see the end of the Thunder Warriors at the '''Battle of Mount Ararat'''. Not for the last time, he paused to wonder at the fate of the gene-forged defenders of the Imperium of Mankind. Yet such melancholy thoughts were soon brushed aside. Terra was at last unified and great celebrations were organised. At the height of the pageantry, the Emperor Himself presided over the wedding of Hektor Cincinnatus and Pallas Eugenesis, and in turn the newly-weds pledged their loyalty to His great plan. As a dowry, Pallas presented Hektor with tithe-rights to her domain, allowing the First Legion to recruit aspirants from among the hive-dwellers of Luna.

==Great Crusade==

The '''Treaty of Mars''' - the Emperor of Mankind's pact with the Mechanicum - set the Great Crusade into action. Hektor's First Legion already enjoyed the best recruits and a steady flow of gene-seed. The Primarch's dispatch of his trusted lieutenant '''Daedalus Appius''' to [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]] with instructions to combine in his person the interests of Mars and Terra not only guaranteed that the First Legion would receive a high supply priority from the Mechanicum, but established the position of TechMarines within the Legiones Astartes. Ample material and an unmatched zeal for the Great Crusade saw Hektor's Legion at the forefront of the Imperium's conquests in the Segmentum Solar. Across hundreds of worlds, Hektor was received as the liberator and savior of humanity, the strong right hand of the Emperor of mankind.

True, there were exceptions to the First Legion's march across the stars. Their difficulties in the [[Parthorum Wars]] are scantily documented, but show how the Imperium's finest encountered problems that their martial prowess alone could not resolve. Yet Hektor and his gene-sons were not merely gifted warriors, and they adapted to the political problems of the Parthorum Sector by supervising campaigns of military settlement and re-education. The lasting results of this programme, repeated hundreds of times across the Galaxy, were vast reaches of space that seemed to owe their first loyalty to the Imperium - but in fact were bound body and soul to Hektor Cincinnatus.

As befitted his role as the eldest of his brothers, the Sun King was often at the Emperor's side to greet the rediscovered Primarchs. [[Arelex Orannis]], battered in body but ever-curious was the first of the lost brothers to rejoin the Imperial family. Hektor greeted Arelex warmly, but held little deep affection for the man. Despite the difficulties of recruiting [[Uriel Starikov]], the Primarch of the Thirteenth's noble character made a fine impression on Hektor and the two would become fast friends. The mystics, [[Shakya Vardhana]] and [[The Voidwatcher]] seemed curiosities, fine supports to the growing Imperium but still lacking a true warrior's spirit.

The same could not be said for [[Roman Albrecht]], [[Gaspard Lumey]], and [[Alexandri of Rosskar]], and Hektor was surprised to find himself jealous of his siblings' achievements. If the Lord Knight's valour in battle was at least concealed by the manner of a faithful retainer, the Primarchs of the Segmentum Pacificus were openly confrontational. Gaspard even began rebuilding his [[Void Angels|Fifth Legion]] with a critique of Hektor's methods, taking the First Legion's campaigns to task in literature in order to instruct his own men. To add insult to injury, the Fifth would soon be hailed as the "Winged Victory" of the Imperium for raising the two-headed eagle across a thousand sectors in a single year. Alexandri's insults were far more personal. He attempted to woo Pallas Eugenesis away from Hektor's camp, paying her lavish compliments and promising that his own genetic legacy would be far more fruitful for her work than that of the First Legion. The Eclipse Queen's cutting reply - declaring Alexandri beneath her notice - made her loyalties clear, but Hektor become highly suspicious of the lord of [[Rosskar]]. Personal enmities had to take second place to the tasks of the Great Crusade and across the great reach of the Galaxy it was no hardship to avoid one's rivals. Although his Legion's status as "first and greatest" was now in dispute, Hektor continued to accumulate a loyal following among the warriors of the Imperium. [[Rogerius Merrill]] made little secret of his fealty to Hektor first and the Imperium second, though few imagined that such priorities would ever come into conflict.

==The Heresy==

==Post-Heresy==

=Personality=
''Even thousands of years later, Hektor's visage still burns bright in my mind. His was the perfected form of man.''

- Pallas Eugenesis

None met Hektor without being taken in by his charm. Even the Imperium's most resolute enemies still found the Primarch to be endearing and would often express their regret that they were taking up arms against such a fine warrior. He could seem graceful to the Eldar, 'ard to the Orks, and a peerless champion to Humanity. Hektor's upbringing infused him with a great admiration for the generals and warlords of humanity's past, and he consciously adopted their reported habits. Though he was only a fair writer, he sought to chronicle his campaigns to present himself and his Legion in the best light, and encouraged his entourage to add their own commentaries.

From his earliest days, Hektor felt a gnawing insecurity, sensing that he was little more than a weapon in his father's arsenal. This sense of emptiness drove the Primarch, but it left him prone to rash decisions. For all his charisma, he was short-tempered and quick to take insult. [[Gaspard Lumey]] forever alienated him by daring to submit a list of proposed changes to Hektor's voluminous campaign chronicles, pointing out where the prose was weak or overblown. Alexandri Ibirien's bad blood with Hektor is well-known, and although [[Arelex Orannis]] never sought conflict with the Sun King his unwitting offence provoked a murderous response. Among the First Legion only '''Cassandor Honorius''', Hektor's Chief Librarian, ever made the mistake of firmly disagreeing with his gene-sire in person. His error led to bloodshed and sorrow.

==Appearance==
His appearance was striking. Even among his brother Primarchs, Hektor's physique stood out, taller than most and athletic. His form exuded strength without seeming clumsy or brutish. Combined with an appealing manner and fair looks, Hektor was often an object of desire. Though he had no interest in women, the Primarch found love-letters endearing and maintained a collection of them as keep-sakes. He was also not above using his sex appeal as a weapon in the Great Crusade, and tended to dress somewhat provocatively when out of combat. He favoured tight clothing that displayed his figure and typically kept his arms bare.

When at war, the Sun King wore brilliant golden armour in the manner of his father. However, Hektor's was fashioned by the Magoi of Mars to resemble his heroic physique and could hardly be mistaken for the massive power armour of the Emperor. To honour his idol Sekander, Hektor fought with a power spear and shield when possible, although he also carried a power sword and bolter. His great spear bore no name and no warrior but Hektor ever wielded it - after the Primarch's death, Cassandor shattered his chosen weapon.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Hektor Cincinatus:''' || 490 || 8 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5 || 10 || 2+/3++
|} 

Unit type: Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Adamantine Regallia, Luna Shield, Victus Spear.

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Counterattack, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, First and Greatest, Fear, Fearless, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Master of the Legion, Warmaster, The Star of Morning.

'''Adamantine Regalia'''-Commonly considered the finest armor ever forged by human hands, this armor of gold trimmed adamantium was the emperor's gift to Hektor upon assuming command of his legion. This armor provides a 2+ armor save and the Feel No Pain special rule. Hektor also counts as having assault grenades for the purposes of charging.

'''Luna Shield'''- This shield, inscribed with a crescent moon within a golden sun, was a gift to Hektor from [[Pallas Eugenesis|his wife]], forged by the greatest artisans in the sol system. This storm shield confers a 3+ invulnerable save, and no attack can ever hit Hektor on any roll of less than 3.

'''Hektor's Spear'''-An unamed weapon created by the artificers of the legio custodes, crafted for Hektor at the Emperor's request. The spear is S+2, AP1, Armorbane, Mastercrafted, and Ignite (for every hit caused in melee, the target model/unit takes 2 aditional S4 AP4 hits). Additionally, the spear can be fired as a S8 AP2 Assault 1, Blind, Lance, weapon at 24 inch range.

'''First and Greatest'''- When Hektor takes to the field, every friendly unit on the board gains Stubborn, and gives all Troops Objective Secured. Additionally, all units with '''Legiones Astartes: Heralds of Hektor''' gain leadership 10 and outflank. Hektor Cincinatus and any attached squad gain counterattack.

'''Warmaster'''- Hektor is one of the greatest commanders in the galaxy, able to bring out the strengths of his subcommanders like few others. Hektor must ALWAYS be warlord, and always counts as such for objective purposes, but one other HQ choice in your army may pick a warlord trait as if they were the warlord of the army.

'''The Star of Morning''' Chrysaspides Terminator units may be taken as troops choices.

Hektor Cincinatus, Aka Horus Lite. Not as killy as his canon counterpart, but tougher, and with tactical benefits that far surpass, and he's much meaner at range. Perhaps his most significant benefits as a character is his First and Greatest special rule. Giving all troops and elites (Literally ALL friendly troops and elites, so this applies to allied detachments) objective secured, giving EVERYONE stubborn, and giving his sons a bonus to leadership, mobility, AND being meaner on the defense? In games of 3000+ points or more, this rule inflates Hektor's relative points value to significantly greater than his actual cost. In apocalypse games of 5000+ points? He's downright game breaking, a 500 point model adding literally thousands of points worth of USRs to all the units in your army, even moreso if you get lucky and your Warmaster special rule gives your subcommander an army-buffing special rule. So, Horus may be meaner in a challenge, but Hektor is a formidable warrior and general whose greatest strength comes not from direct combat, but from magnifying the strength of those beneath him; using the strengths and weaknesses of the forces under his command to magnify their power into something far greater than the sum of its parts. '''In other words, a Warmaster.'''

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T18:34:52Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* A fan's Attempt at Rules */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion which he proceeded to name the Iron Rangers. He brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some, but they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than most other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. He knew that the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness, the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history, his spear finding itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him- often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong: Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoken behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew they were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with those of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors: Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. This menace however proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. His voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well, but they were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat: Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. After the battle he sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued raging without him for some time. In his absence, the Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never came.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogan, believing himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room at all times- If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait is often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, but those are few and far between, and only when he deems them necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter and softer version of his brothers' armor, leaving his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing soft leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, always making him blend in with his surroundings to some degree. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. His voice simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he wore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with tech from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not get up close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Due to frequently deploying alone, Rogerius learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. He counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister and a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat before the beginning of the next phase, he can make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. (He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.)

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T18:31:09Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Wargear */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion which he proceeded to name the Iron Rangers. He brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some, but they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than most other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. He knew that the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness, the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history, his spear finding itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him- often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong: Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoken behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew they were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with those of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors: Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. This menace however proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. His voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well, but they were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat: Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. After the battle he sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued raging without him for some time. In his absence, the Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never came.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogan, believing himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room at all times- If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait is often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, but those are few and far between, and only when he deems them necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter and softer version of his brothers' armor, leaving his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing soft leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, always making him blend in with his surroundings to some degree. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. His voice simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he wore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with tech from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not get up close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Because he so often fought alone, Roger learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. Rogerius counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister, a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat, before the beginning of the next phase, he can then make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T18:28:54Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Appearance */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion which he proceeded to name the Iron Rangers. He brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some, but they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than most other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. He knew that the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness, the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history, his spear finding itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him- often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong: Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoken behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew they were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with those of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors: Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. This menace however proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. His voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well, but they were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat: Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. After the battle he sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued raging without him for some time. In his absence, the Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never came.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogan, believing himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room at all times- If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait is often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, but those are few and far between, and only when he deems them necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter and softer version of his brothers' armor, leaving his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing soft leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, always making him blend in with his surroundings to some degree. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. His voice simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he bore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with technology from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Because he so often fought alone, Roger learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. Rogerius counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister, a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat, before the beginning of the next phase, he can then make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T18:19:06Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Personality */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion which he proceeded to name the Iron Rangers. He brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some, but they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than most other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. He knew that the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness, the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history, his spear finding itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him- often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong: Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoken behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew they were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with those of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors: Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. This menace however proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. His voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well, but they were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat: Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. After the battle he sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued raging without him for some time. In his absence, the Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never came.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogan, believing himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room at all times- If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait is often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, but those are few and far between, and only when he deems them necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they are eyes that have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter version of his brothers' armor, leaving more soft armor, his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing softer leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, which always seem to blend with his surroundings. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. He has a voice which simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he bore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with technology from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Because he so often fought alone, Roger learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. Rogerius counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister, a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat, before the beginning of the next phase, he can then make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T18:10:22Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* The Hektor Heresy */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion which he proceeded to name the Iron Rangers. He brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some, but they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than most other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. He knew that the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness, the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history, his spear finding itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him- often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong: Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoken behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew they were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with those of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors: Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. This menace however proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. His voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well, but they were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat: Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. After the battle he sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued raging without him for some time. In his absence, the Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never came.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogant. He believed himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room. If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, those are few and far between, and only when necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they are eyes that have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter version of his brothers' armor, leaving more soft armor, his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing softer leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, which always seem to blend with his surroundings. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. He has a voice which simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he bore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with technology from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Because he so often fought alone, Roger learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. Rogerius counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister, a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat, before the beginning of the next phase, he can then make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T18:04:47Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* The Great Crusade */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion which he proceeded to name the Iron Rangers. He brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some, but they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than most other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. He knew that the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness, the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history, his spear finding itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him- often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong: Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoken behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew they were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with those of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors: Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. This menace however proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. Merrill's voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well but were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat. Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. He sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued without him for some time. The Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host. And only to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never had the chance.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogant. He believed himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room. If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, those are few and far between, and only when necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they are eyes that have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter version of his brothers' armor, leaving more soft armor, his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing softer leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, which always seem to blend with his surroundings. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. He has a voice which simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he bore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with technology from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Because he so often fought alone, Roger learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. Rogerius counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister, a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat, before the beginning of the next phase, he can then make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

Rogerius Merrill

2020-02-29T17:56:47Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Youth */

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

{{Infobox /tg/-Heresy Primarch
|name= Rogerius Merrill
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Rogerius.jpg|225px]]
|title=The Hunter
|where= Profi Tiroedd
|when=870.M30
|legion=[[Iron Rangers|XX]]
|crusade=
|sigil=[[File:ironrangers.jpg|100px]]
|weapon=The Imperial Talon
|trait= austere, quiet, alert
|flaw= psychopathic, anti-social
|heresy= Traitor
|fate= Daemon Prince
|dominion= Yr Helfa Annherfynol
}}

''"You will not be happy with anything until you become happy with now."''

- Uriel Salazar, ''Confessions''

==History==

===Youth===
''"There is solace in losing everything. Strife gives you purpose. Survival makes you stronger. And losing everything means there is nothing left to hold you back."'' - Rogerius Merrill, ''The Glorious Struggle'' c.87.M30

The Primarch's pod landed on the largest crumbling hive of the world Profi Tiroedd, where he was found and adopted by a local tribe which titled itself Merrill. He grew and learned with the people there, becoming the tribe's most promising child. At the age of fifteen a group of men from surrounding tribes came with a message to the Merrill: Their seers and medicine women had consulted the spirits and believed that if this child was allowed to live, he would doom all within the "Hollow Mountain," as it was called by the planetary natives. The tribe rejected the offer and were informed that war would be the outcome. The Merrill tribe were skilled warriors and hunters, but they were few in number and faced the entirety of the tribes living within the ancient hive. They fought a running battle for six months, but ultimately lost. Every man, woman, and child of the Merrill were killed save the young Primarch.

In the following months, the Primarch was alone. With no one left to protect, he went on the offensive. He was new to warfare, but excellent at hunting, and thus he singled out his targets and eliminated them one by one while they slept in their tents. He moved from tribe to tribe, killing several in a night before moving on. Most fled from the mountain, as he would always come and he would always find ways to slip through their traps and defenses. Some tried to fight, but found themselves fighting shadows. Their enemy always eluded them. In the end, Merrill killed all who fought and didn't chase those who left the hive. As the tribes ran, they spread stories of his wrath, which became more inflated with each retelling. Eventually, the hive was abandoned by all save the Primarch himself over fear of the demon who haunted it.

During this time, another group of tribes united into a single council, calling themselves the Sikundus. They sought to unify the tribes in their own hive to ensure the safety and longevity of those who lived there. This led to a long war with others within their hive. As the war came to an end, their elder councils had been replaced by warriors. Warriors who now saw the threat of the tribes outside their own living areas. And so they raised their spears again to those tribes surrounding the hive. With each campaign coming to a close, they found new reasons to invade their new neighbors and bring their lands and people into their own. It was a long, slow war of expansion.

Nearly twenty years after the last of the tribesmen had left the Hollow Mountain, a group of refugees from the Sikundus campaigns found their way inside. They reasoned it would be somewhat safe from their enemies, as the rumors of the demon would keep other tribesmen at bay. While exploring the ruins, they came across the Primarch. After some discussion he reluctantly agreed to allow them to stay in the old Merrill grounds for a few months until they had collected the supplies to move on. Merrill quickly realized that these men were not quick nor stealthy enough to survive long within the Mountain, and taught them what he knew. As days turned into months, they became better hunters and developed their area more. As months turned into years, more refugees arrived with similar ideas. As years turned to decades, the refugees became a tribe of their own. Though they rarely interacted with the Primarch, every season they left a gift of food in thanks for his aid.

Eventually, news of the new tribe reached the Sikundus. They sent diplomats to the new tribe within the mountain. Fearing their eventual battle but refusing to surrender, the people went to Merrill. He was very angry with them for bringing the attraction of new and powerful tribes. But he ultimately relented and decided to assist them when confronted by the questioning of a young boy almost his own age when his own tribe died. For the next year they fought against the Sikundus, never relenting, and never allowing them to build a foothold in the mountain.

That was when the Emperor arrived and began peace talks to bring the Sikundus and all of Profi Tiroedd under Imperial Authority. During the talks, the Primarch and his men snuck into the Sikundus' camp and killed the entirety of their leadership, burning the camp to the ground. Some men of the Imperial Army witnessed the Primarch in the attack and the news reached the Emperor's ears. Without warning he went into the hive with neither armour nor weapons. After five days, he found his quarry. The Primarch wished for neither glory nor conquest. He wished to hunt. Over the next four days, the Emperor lived and hunted with his son. On the fifth, he told him to look at the tribe. They were successful, not because of glory or conquest, but because of this Primarch's leadership. He trained and taught them what they needed to defeat an enemy at impossible odds. He told the Primarch of His designs and plans, and that the Primarch would be left to his own devices. That he would hunt the most dangerous game in the galaxy. And with careful contemplation, the Primarch relented. And so both Emperor and Primarch left the planet, the Primarch finally being named Rogerius after a great warrior and hunter of old Terra and Merrill after his tribe.

===The Great Crusade===

After a term of education at Terra and another under the tutelage of [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] Merrill was granted control of the XX Legion. His first task was to rename them the Iron Rangers. Then he brought them all to Profi Tiroedd, his home planet and the new center of recruitment and training for the Legion. They were assembled in simple clothes and their combat knives at the base of the Hollow Mountain and given one set of instructions: meet their Primarch at the top. Those who were unsuccessful perished in the maze of the former hive. Those who succeeded joined their Primarch in the reformation of their Legion. Merrill chose a more training-centric model for his men, with a chain of command that allowed both easier control and greater autonomy within the ranks.

With a Legion under his command, Merrill went forth. Throughout the Crusade, he led the 732nd Expeditionary Fleet (The 733rd through 738th also belonged to the Iron Rangers), and conquered numerous planets and systems in the name of the Emperor. His methods were considered slow by some. Yet they were efficient and effective. Merrill's banners brought more worlds into full compliance while utilizing less resources than some other fleets. He did this by reforming his legion into a large hunting tribe. To Merrill, any opponent was just a large creature to be hunted. And as such, you never hunted an animal into its own den. Even with superior intellect and arms the prey knew the area too well and would fight with a bestial desperation which could surprise and kill even the most experienced hunter. Merrill knew the best way was to lure it into your territory. There you would systematically eliminate its methods to harm you until it was defenseless. Only then would you take the prey outright. When dealing with an army, this meant destroying its middle command, logistics, and communications first. The army would still be capable of fighting limited fights, but would not be able to effectively mount any form of attack or defense. Once weakened to the point of uselessness the killing blow would strike its leadership.

He began his Crusading as dour and nihilistic as ever. Yet for the first time in his life, Merrill had found purpose. He had a calling and a reason to pursue it. He no longer hunted just to survive. He hunted that which had plagued mankind for its history. His spear found itself home within the corpses of false gods and xenos kings. The greatest monsters mankind had ever known fell before him. Often before they even knew he was there. But something was wrong. Though he did not care of his brothers opinions, the words spoke behind closed doors and cups filled him with rage. More than once whispers that Merrill had been taken out of the jungle, but the jungle had not left him had reached his ears. Each time it burned anew. The Emperor, his own so-called father, looked upon Merrill as little more than a tool to be used until it was no longer needed. Merrill knew that look well. For each slight he threw himself at the enemies with renewed furor and vengeance. Each expedition he forced himself and his men to be more cunning and capable. Yet each new world conquered did nothing to salve his anger. And each world invigorated his critics.

Ultimately, Merrill found himself on the world of Diastram VI. As always, he dismantled his foes and struck down the planetary rulers without mercy or remorse. This world was unique. It was not rare to find a world made up of warring tribes vying for planetary supremacy. Or a world made up of a variety of geographically bound nations tied in their own political machinations. These were the tedious rule, rather than the exception. Sometimes the people would unite in favor or against unification. More often they would split into factions as some accepted Enlightenment while others preferred to remain in the dark or would attempt to leverage better terms. Diastram VI, however, did neither. They fought themselves even as they unanimously fought Merrill's men. Merrill stood over the last ruler's corpse as his life leaked over the stone floor of his castle. The pitiful creature pulled out a pagan holy book in its last breaths and read from it. Undoubtedly attempting to gain some level of comfort from his blasphemies before death. Merrill stood over the body as it made its last ragged breath. Curiosity was rarely a crime Merrill could be accused of, but something about this world and these people moved him. He knew the people were still fighting across the planet. It would likely have to be sterilized. But this book pulled at him. Though his mind railed against his body, he picked the book up and began to read from it. Something changed deep within his mind, and he searched for and found many similar tomes. Once collected, his men returned to their ships and the world was brought to compliance through eradication of the populace. A new, wholly loyal population would be planted here shortly.

Few would ever accuse Merril of being a social butterfly. He much preferred his solitude. But as time passed after Diastram, he spent more and more time locked in his own personal chambers. His ventures to command and lead his men slowly reduced until he would only be seen when planning a new campaign and when his mission on a planet happened to align with the missions of others. Whispers began among not only his fellow Primarchs, but other Legions as well. Even the Iron Rangers themselves began to talk in hushed tones as to the nature of their Primarch's retreat. The truth was more insidious than the rumors. Something in the books from Diastram awoke deeply seeded doubts and concerns within the Primarch. Many of his brothers were brutes or idiots with no understanding of how the universe worked. Others were fops or dandies suckling at The Emperor's teat. Most of them had grown in luxury and comfort and did not truly comprehend the struggle that is life. At that, what right did man have to conquer the galaxy? Many others had been here longer. Other species were stronger, faster, or more cunning. Man was a weak, defenseless creature struggling to survive in a dark, hospitable and uncaring universe. If humanity were to succeed, the species needed to earn the right to do so. And only an all-encompassing conflict of unknowable proportions would be able to do so.

The Victory of Ullanor changed things. After spending much time in private discussion with Hektor, Aubrey, and Uriel, Rogerius Merrill returned to normal. He brushed aside the whispers and insults and attacked his prey with renewed vigor. He maintained communications with his subordinates and attended the minutiae of his Legion. Privately, he confided his concerns and ideas with many of his commanders and advisors. The final mission of the XX Legion before the onset of the Heresy seemed simple and raised eyebrows as to why it would require an entire Legion. A simple planet dealing with an unknown xenos threat required assistance. Yet the menace proved to be far more crafty and deadly than any other Primarch would have thought, as less than half of the Legion returned from the conflict.

===The Hektor Heresy===

''"I brought Merrill to the negotiations because he is more than just another Primarch to me. He is a promise of violence, pain and death to my enemies."''

-Hektor Cincinnatus, when asked about Rogerius Merrill's presence on a diplomatic mission

After the Voidwatcher's assault on Terra and Hektor's subsequent call for diplomacy at Ostium, Merrill swiftly sped towards his brother's moot. While traveling, he received a second signal from Hektor. He would have a special assignment. He watched the debate between Tiran Osiris and Hektor with cold ambivalence. Politics held no interest for him. Only the decision mattered, and Merrill knew the decision the council would come to. As Tiran left the Council halls, Hektor made a gesture which Rogerius recognized as his signal. This development made him slow. He and Tiran had never been particularly close, but Tiran was also one of the few Primarchs with which Merrill shared no ill will. Merrill's voyage to Diamat was one of the longest in his memory.

Merrill was no less consoled by the time of his arrival at Ostium. But he knew that his duties required silencing his own misgivings and forging forward. He had done it many times in the past and this would be no different. With a single decisive engagement he crippled Tiran's naval abilities and forced them to ground. The Scale Bearers fought well but were surprised and off-balance from the Iron Rangers' attacks. Merrill ensured his orders would be carried out amongst his troops with one specific caveat. Tiran would be left for Merrill himself. Merrill made an exception from his normal standards for Tiran. The Primarch was a good man and deserved to die respectfully.

The two Primarchs clashed in a fight that would be recounted for the ages. Blows strong enough to pierce plasteel and shatter rocrete were exchanged. When the dust settled Merrill stood wounded but victorious, the broken tip of his spear driven through his brother's chin. Merrill stood over the corpse of his brother for several seconds waiting for him to stand back up and continue the fight. But he lay there unmoving. As realization of Merrill's deeds dawned on him he let out a primal cry of many hues. Those who heard it said it was of anger, resentment, despair, hopelessness, remorse, and victory. The Iron Rangers froze in confusion from the sudden outburst of their gene-sire. Some of the less shaken Scale Bearers used this to push them back enough to retrieve their Primarch and reconsolidate into small squads. But the Iron Rangers' task was complete and Merrill recalled his dogs. He sat for a long time in the isolation of his own private quarters.

Hektor's war continued without him for some time. The Iron Rangers were forced to work under the guidance of Merrill's second-in-command, Cellweirwyr. When he finally returned from his chambers, he was different. Gone was his calculating nature. Now he was a true agent of Chaos. The longer the campaign continued, the less lucid the Primarch became. By the time Hektor arrived at Terra, Merrill no longer cared for the success or failure of the war or his men. He instead viewed the invasion as the galaxy's greatest hunting grounds. Little was seen of him on the lines his men fought. Merrill instead stalked the shadows of the hives and parapets slaughtering nobles and bodyguards. He hunted down the most dangerous men and women he could find and killed them in cold blood. Only when the Imperial walls were breached would Merrill rejoin the host. And only to hunt and kill the Custodes now that they were fighting openly. Many believed he wished to slay the Emperor before Hektor had a chance. But that battle never had the chance.

When the Warmaster fell, Merrill was amongst the first to withdraw his forces. Though many attribute it to cowardice or his known pragmatism, those closest believe his retreat was spurred because he believed there was no further need to stay attached to the traitorous forces.

===Post-Heresy===

''"Fall? I did no such thing. I ascended above the fleeting and illusory trappings of power and control."''

'''Ascension to Daemon Prince'''

[[Image:DPMerrill.jpg|thumb|right|He was nice enough to let the artist sketch him before death.]]

'''The Books of Merrill'''

Merrill was responsible for two books written in his lifetime. The first, ''On Humanity'', was a philosophical discussion on Humanity's right to the stars. Written during the Great Crusade, it was widely well-received. Many aspirants of various Legions were required to learn its lessons, and it was published in Low and High Gothic throughout the Imperium. It was divided into three parts: Suffering, Mastering, and Absolution.

Suffering dealt with the various setbacks, trials, tribulations, and disasters humanity had faced through the eons. More of an embellished tale of the horrors than a historical account, it was meant to put the reader in a frame of mind for the rest of the book.

Mastering covered how humanity overcame those obstacles, and each time forged itself anew.

Absolution was the truly philosophical part, discussing how necessary the past was in order to create a stronger mankind. "Suffering and Mastering," it states, "Are required for mankind to move forward. Only through evolving beyond our preconceived limitations can we truly come into the state we are now: conquerors of the Galaxy."

When Merrill declared himself for the traitors, many remembrancers toiled to keep the book in circulation, omitting the name of the original author and any references to the fallen angel and his comrades. The effort was dropped, and ultimately banned, when the second book was discovered. Titled ''On Society'', it was far from the philosophical masterpiece of the original. Filled with inane and nonsensical rants, it discussed the need for humanity to tear down society and civilization in order to properly evolve. It argued that civilization was what held humanity back. The chains of oppression should be cast off, and replaced with anarchy and disorder.

When the Ecclesiarchy came into power, these books were declared Heretical. However, many Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus consider them vital materials to understand the cult.

'''The Cult of Merrill'''

The Cult of Merrill is a specialized cult dedicated to Chaos Undivided. Despite the name, members do not actually worship the Daemon Prince Merrill. Instead, they follow the tenets set forth in his books. It is largely believed to be supported and trained by the Iron Rangers as a small preliminary force to gain a foothold on a new planet. The individual cultists are mostly radical naturalists, anarchists, and psychotic individuals who reflect Merrill's ideals of destroying society and civilization. They ultimately believe that society and civilisation are hollow concepts. That power and authority are given by the masses, and seek to reclaim them, replacing all law and order with pure chaos.

==Personality==

Little is fully known of Rogerius Merrill. He confided in only a handful of individuals and much preferred solitary hunts or creating intricate patterns of dominoes in his quarters. Most interactions were in planning stages of major operations and the few ceremonies the Emperor deemed necessary. He would often keep to himself during these meetings, only adding input of how he and his men could benefit the greater cause. With those Primarchs who worked with him to use his Legion as he saw fit, he was considered a valuable asset. His ideas were effective if unorthodox and he would ensure a line of communication was kept between himself and his allies. Those who did not share his vision or otherwise indulge his desires found him obstinate, petty, and otherwise impossible to work with. As soon as planning was finished, he would be completely out of reach on a planetary surface leading his Legion's operations from the front lines.

Merrill is ruthless, cunning, and values efficiency above all. To waste anything is a cardinal sin to him. Almost anything around him are tools to be used, and he uses them until they no longer serve a purpose. Though he does not view the world with such labels as "good," and "evil," he understands that some actions will result in the greater benefit, whereas others will be a detriment to all. That being said, he does actively work towards the benefit of all, but it is definitely HIS version of that idea, which can put him at odds with many of his brothers and often members of the Imperium and nobility.

While not a braggart, he was extremely arrogant. He believed himself to be the smartest, fastest, or best fighter in the room. If not all three. He is well aware of his own weaknesses, but he overestimates his strengths constantly, which leads to a borderline narcissistic sense of self worth. This trait often materialized most in his ideas of leadership. He would take time planning with his men and leave them to pursue his own battlefield goals. To say that he trusted his commanders to perform well would be an overstatement. The process and requirements to command a contingent of Iron Rangers required an individual who thoroughly understood strategy and tactics, and would be able to adapt efficiently and expertly to a changing battlefield.

Merrill has been known to make the occasional impassioned speech or long discussion, those are few and far between, and only when necessary. He says what needs to be said, usually being as sparse and direct with words as possible. He does not bandy with useless information, he simply cuts to the heart of the matter and is done with it. Some of his brother Primarchs consider his mannerisms to show a lack of tact or social graces. Others enjoy his blunt input, as he will give an unfiltered and honest opinion. Merrill himself believes that anything less than a blunt response is a disservice to others and a waste of time and could lead to further wastes of men, firepower, or equipment.

==Appearance==

Merrill is smaller than almost all of the other Primarchs, yet still stands head and shoulders above your average Space Marine, with dark, reddish skin, and long, black hair, shaved along the sides. He is also considered softer of features, and, in comparison, seems one of the most unassuming. In stark contrast to this are his eyes. While soft brown in color, they are eyes that have clearly seen hardship, giving a bitter, resentful look to what would otherwise be a rather bland face. He wears a lighter version of his brothers' armor, leaving more soft armor, his neck, and arms exposed for greater flexibility. When not in a combat zone, he is often seen wearing softer leather and fur clothing, in the style of his homeworld.

He is among the physically weakest of the Primarchs, but what he lacks in brute strength, he makes up for in speed and cunning.

After his ascent to daemon prince, he became much taller, and gaunt. His skin is mottled, and constantly shifting colours, which always seem to blend with his surroundings. Though still bipedal, he bears the legs of a great predator, with abnormally long, clawed hands and arms. Soot-black feathered wings sprout from his back, and his bestial head bears antlers, forming almost a ring as a mockery of a crown or halo. His hair, oddly, still remains, but hangs low and limp on his stooped form, braids and locks held in place with leather, stone, and brass clasps and ties inscribed with blasphemous symbols and rites. He has a voice which simultaneously sounds like the rustling of leaves on the wind and the roar of a great predator.

==Wargear==

Before the Heresy, he bore a lighter, slimmer variant of Artificer Armor, designed for speed and mobility. It also bore numerous antennae for various communications needs with his Legion and its allies. For weaponry, he carried a unique power spear, enhanced with technology from the Dark Age of Technology, and a long-range rifle for those few occasions he could not close with an enemy. He was known to carry a wide variety of grenades, though most of them were non-lethal, for creating havoc and confusion when he struck his enemy and defending himself when necessary.

=A fan's Attempt at Rules=
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || PTS || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Rogerius Merrill:''' || 465 || 8 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++
|} 

Unit type: Jump Infantry, Independent Character.

Wargear: Archeotech Pistol, Grenade Dispenser, Recon Artificer Armor, The Red Spear,

Special Rules: Adamantium Will, Bulky, Crusader, Eternal Warrior, Fear, Fearless, First Sight of the Battle, Fleet, Independent Character, It Will Not Die, Last Sight of your Life, Pragmatism is a Virtue, Swiftest of His Sons.

'''Grenade Dispenser''': Because he so often fought alone, Roger learned to make due without the battlefield support his brothers so often had. Rogerius counts as having Assault Grenades, Melta Bombs, one Void Canister, a rare type of bomb that uses a focused vacuum implosion to pull a great cloud of dust and sediments towards the blast point, granting the user shrouded for one game turn. Additionally, all units within 6" of the user (including the user) must pass a toughness test or suffer from Strikedown.

'''Recon Artificer Armor''': A very light, flexible variant artificer armor, based on the armor worn by legion scouts. Provides a 3+/4++, and counts as a Nuncio Vox. Grants Move through Cover, Acute Sense and all "Sniper" weapons must refill successful to hit rolls.

'''The Crimson Spear''': A weapon named not by Rogerius himself, but as a grim joke by his sons. The spear is unpainted grey. S:U AP2, Mastercrafted. The advanced archeotech built into the spear can be activated for one assault phase of your choosing, granting +2 S, I, and Haywire.

'''First Sight of the Battle''': Rogerius has stealth. On the first turn of the game, he has shrouded. Additionally, he gains infiltrate and outflank.

'''Last Sight of Your Life''': Rogerius gains the Hammer of Wrath special rule and inflicts 1D3 hits instead of 1. On the charge, Rogerius gains D3 extra attacks. In an assault, any roll to hit of 4+ is a successful Precision Strikes roll (as it it was a 6).

'''Pragmatism is a Virtue''': If Rogerious wipes out a unit in close combat, before the beginning of the next phase, he can then make use of a single grenade or special/heavy weapon that unit possessed.

'''Swiftest of His Sons''': Rogerius counts as Jump infantry and can make jump moves in the move and assault phases of the same turn, and has the Hit and Run and Move Through Cover special rules. He doesn't actually have a jump pack, he's just that fucking fast.

Jesus, where do you even start with this guy? Well let's start with weaknesses: Rogerius will blow over in a stiff breeze. The guy has 3+/4++, and one less T and W than most primarchs. In a fair fight, almost every other primarch will whip his ass. Lucky for you, Rogerius lives by the creed, "If you're in a fair fight, someone did something wrong." He's '''much''' meaner than most on the charge, getting a potential 9 S6 attacks plus your HoW hit, and he has assault grenades as a cherry on that murder milkshake. So sure, in a straight up fight he'll usually lose, but he has hit and run, so you can jump in, hit him with a charge, then Hit and ''Run'' away, to charge again next turn. Plus he's the fastest primarch ([[Gaspard Lumey|kind of]]), what with his ''fleetcrusaderdoublejumpmovethroughcover'' shenanigans. Also, while it may seem at first glance that he does nothing for his sons, look again. His armor's nuncio vox combined with his infiltrate and outflanking mean that you'll be able to accurately drop some elites right in your opponent's face, turn 2, and his pragmatism rule mean you could, say... Assault a squad with Rogerius, wipe them out, then ''throw their assault grenades at another unit, which can then be charged by his sons.'' Or barring that, you can just shoot some shit; wipe out a couple termis with a plasma gun, pop an enemy's tank ''with his own rocket launcher''. Use your imagination. Roger is however ''very'' fragile for an almost 500 point unit. Seriously, a squad of legion terminators that costs half of what he does will be twice as durable against most things, and they'll probably be more useful against tanks (don't be fooled by those melta bombs and one charge's worth of haywire attacks, Rogerius gets to kill '''one''' tank). Use him wisely. He's also not a fan of fearless. Most units will get charged, loose combat, break, and be overtaken and murdered. Fearless and Stubborn both throw a wrench in that plan.

:Followup thoughts from a secondary perspective: Something something skill over force something something. He's best on the tabletop working as a pinball to hamstring your opponent's capabilities and being a one-man area denial unit. Don't use him to go after special characters and warlords (well, most of the time) right off the bat. Use him to systematically take out your opponents' special/heavy weapons and squad leaders (he'll basically win any assault on the charge, and with 4+ Precision Strikes with 7-9 S6-8 Attacks, you can severely hurt any squad's leadership and firepower) or otherwise just negating units one at a time. Force your opponent to move where they're open to the rest of your army, and then bring down havoc on his rear lines. But keep in mind that either in an extended assault or out in the open, he's little more than an expensive paperweight. And will die faster and harder than any other Primarch.

{{/tg/-Heresy-Primarchs}}

The /tg/ Heresy

2020-02-29T17:27:22Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* Space Marine Legions */

'''This is a fan AU/re-write of the [[Warhammer 40,000]] Universe, focusing on the events of an alternate [[Horus Heresy]].'''

The Hektor Heresy began with a "make your own Primarch" thread, but gradually shifted tone from "tell us about your guys" to "re-write the 40k-verse". Writing is mainly archived here at 1d4chan. This main page serves as an index for the project. Some "problem pages" have been generated in the process of developing the Hektor Heresy, but most of them are now under the jurisdiction of the Ordo Editant.

The project is [https://1d4chan.org/index.php?namespace=&tagfilter=&target=The+%2Ftg%2F+Heresy&showlinkedto=1&title=Special%3ARecentChangesLinked on hiatus] as of early 2018. If you'd like to get involved, contacting [[User:Lumey|Lumey]] on his Talk page is probably the best option.

=TL;DR=

The storyline diverges shortly before the creation of the Primarchs. Rather than the original 18/20, we have an all-new collective of [[Primarchs (Hektor Heresy)|Primarchs]], each with their own [[Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)|Space Marine Legion]]. These guys wage their own [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]], with [[Hektor Cincinnatus]] emerging as the Warmaster at the end of it all. Hektor throws the Empire into the flames and starts the Heresy.

Aside from the beakie stuff, there's changes to [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]], a re-imagining of the [[Komra|Squat]], the blood-sucking [[Vetrovnak]], and a good lick of [[Imperial Army (Hektor Heresy)|Imperial Armymen]] besides.

=Fitting it together=

==The Saga of the Hektor Heresy==
{{Main|/tg/ Heresy Timeline}}

Writing the timeline has proven to be one of the more difficult tasks, mainly because it requires a lot of [[rage|herding cats]] to get anons to agree on what happens when Legions interact. (We also had a [[FAIL|bit of a problem]] when the guy who proposed Hektor ''slowly'' dropped out.) It's getting there.

IMPORTANT: [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|The Great Crusade]] keeps to more or less the same timetable as the OU. In the middle Crusade, the Imperium makes slower progress, because the <s>[[squat]]</s> [[Core Worlds Campaign|Core Worlds]] don't join peacefully, but in the last decades of the Crusade the extra gene-seed in the AU allows it to make up lost ground and get on track for [[/tg/ Heresy Timeline#994.M30 to 000.M31: The Ullanor War|Ullanor]] and everything after on schedule.

==Atlas of the Hektor Heresy==
{{Main|Galaxy (Hektor Heresy)}}
For those who want to understand how things fit together in space as well as time. If you're adding new dudes, please make sure to work out where they hang out.

=The Imperials=

[[File:Aquila by Hidet1001.jpg|200px|right]]
Right now we're looking at the forces of the Great Crusade: that means Space Marine Legions, Titan Legions and Imperial Army. Making those gives quite a few clues about the Space Marine Chapters and the Imperial Guard, so some progress has been made there. Rogue Traders start in the 30Ks, so they can come too. The Inquisition starts at the end of the Heresy, but because it was set up by Malcador that event is "hands off" - you can assume that Inquisitors will exist and be as powerful and idiosyncratic as in the OU. We also expect to see [[Rule 63|Sisters of Battle]] in due course, but we haven't got up to establishing their context (how the Imperial Cult becomes the Ecclesiarchy and what happens next) yet.

==Space Marine Legions==
[[File:Mahrine by joazzz2-dax65ky.jpg|right|240px]]
{{Main|Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)}}

The /tg/ Heresy project has created eighteen new Legions led by eighteen new [[Primarchs (Hektor Heresy)|Primarchs]] and assumes that two [[Blam|"went missing"]] due to their heretical actions early in the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|The Great Crusade]]. Each of the Primarchs created in the project is intended to be an original creation (or at least an original mixture!), rather than a "what-if?" based on a character from the OU.

'''Successor Chapters'''
{{Main|Space Marine Chapters (Hektor Heresy)}}

We're still working to flesh out the SPEHSS MEHREEN side of the AU with more Successors. You can help!

''Want to add your own? Here's a [[/tg/ Heresy Successor Template|template for Successor Chapters]]''

==Imperial Army==
{{Main|Imperial Army (Hektor Heresy)}}
A few things to remember about the Imperial Army:

* Firstly, it's way crazier than the Imperial Guard. The Great Crusade picked up whatever crazy dudes it found and sucked them off their homeworlds so that they could make trouble on the Imperium's behalf, rather than in newly-Pacified territories. IA units could be armed with anything from cold steel to high-tech pseudo-power armour and genehancements.

* A lot of the established "Imperial Guard" equipment isn't used. Not only is there no standardisation, but the mighty flashlight hasn't come into common use. (The "default" option is the autogun, but don't feel bound by that!)

*The only real "rule" for the Imperial Army is that regiments ought to be about three thousand men, because this is the standard transport capacity during the Great Crusade.

* Have [[Fun]]!

{{/tg/-Heresy-IA}}

==The Mechanicum==

The tech priests of the AU have a different, but still tragic, trajectory. The fanatical Fabricator-General [[Kalkas Tygian]] devotes himself utterly to the Emperor and Orthodoxy, but gripping the Mechanicum so tightly causes many to slip through his fingers! Of course, [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]] still has giant stompy walkers:

'''Titan Legions'''

[[File:Giantwalker by joazzz2-d797a03.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Imperator Titan]]

The Titan Legions were second only to the Space Marines in the [[Great Crusade (Hektor Heresy)|Great Crusade]], and that largely because these immense war engines lacked the Astartes' mobility. The greatest Legions were the three pillars of the so-called ''Triad Ferrum Morgulus'', based on [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]]:

*'''Legio Ignatum''', the Fire Wasps, who fought for Kalkas Tygian in the war on Mars and lost many of their god-machines to the corrupting touch of Vilyon Luthier.

*'''Legio Mortis''', the Death's Heads, battle-brothers to the Entombed and firm Loyalists.

*'''Legio Tempestus''', the Storm Lords, who throw in with the Traitors.

But there were many Titan Legions native to other Forge Worlds:

*'''[[Legio Antsar]]''', "The Conquerors" are based on the Forge World [[Al-Sherar]]. They played a major role in the Great Crusade across the Segmentum Pacificus.

*'''[[Legio Canem]]''', "The Pit Hounds" hail from [[Cairéal]], near to the [[Thunder Kings]]' homeworld of [[Alessia]]. Their destiny was long entwined with that of the sons of Brennus.

*'''[[Legio Cataegis]]''' "The Hurricane Legion" are native to the Forge World [[Ghalhal]]. Made up mostly of smaller Titans, Legio Cataegis was surprisingly nimble in the field.

*'''[[Legio Cauteris]]''' "The Iron" were once the noble defenders of the Forge World [[Massalia]]. They were corrupted by [[Aubrey The Grey]] in the early days of the Heresy and committed a great many atrocities against the defenders of the Imperium.

*'''[[Legio Igneus]]''' Also known as the "Iron Mountain" legion are native to the Forge World of [[Olympia]]. Though they officially only have 8 Titans under their control, only they know of secret underground manufactorums from which they break free of the oppression of the Adeptus Mechanicus and let their minds wander free as they create new and more destructive variants to the Avatars of the Machine God.

* '''[[Legio Nova]]''' "The Doomed Stars" are the legion and rulers of the forge world [[Ferrax]]. Their two chief principes reign as kings over a planet devoted to serving the titan-lords in a repressive hierarchy. Since Al-Sherar first began building its realm, Legio Nova has held a grudge against the hegemony established; an animosity unleashed in the Hektor Heresy.

*'''[[Legio Picus]]''' "The Woodpeckers" hail from [[Werkerde]] in the Ultima Segmentum.

*'''[[Legio Unceliga]]''' "The Giants of the Deep" come from the mighty ship-building Forgeworld of [[Chakaris]] in the Elume Elish region close to Terra.

*'''[[Legio Maleficarum]]''' "The Hammer of the Witches" are the dreaded psi-titans of the lost world Tyche, who bring to bear the powers of the Warp against Chaos.

'''Knight Houses'''
{{Main|Knight Houses (Hektor Heresy)}}

Knights are feudal mecha warriors. What else do you want? Get in there!

==Imperial Agents==
[[File:1456552561580.jpg|220px|thumb|right|Inquisitor Vera Vinter. She masterminded Imperial counter-measures during the [[Second Vetrovnak Incursion]].]]
'''Rogue Traders'''

{{Main|Rogue Traders (Hektor Heresy)}}

Rogue Traders were quite an important part of the Great Crusade, charging out ahead of the Expedition Fleets and <s>fleecing the locals</s> preparing the way for Compliance actions. If you fancy writing some cool rebel who plays by their own rules and mucks around with xeno tech, Komra mercenaries and all the rest of that stuff the Imperium won't let you have, Rogue Trading is the game for you!

'''Inquisitors'''
Not quite in the story as yet, but don't let that hold you back. You can take it that the OU Malcador origin applies, but things diverge as the timeline moves onwards.

* [[Ankorial Telesius]] of the Ordo Xenos, particularly notable for his actions against WAAAGH! The Beast.

=Chaos=
{{Main|Hektor Heresy Chaos Forces}}
[[File:Chaos symbol by xlegendariumx-d5sfxc5.jpg|200px|right]]
There's plenty of scope for weird and whacky traitors: traitor Army, Dark Mechanicus, traitor Knights, traitor Titan Legions, etc.

{{/tg/-Chaos Forces}}

=Other Human Factions=

==Komra==

{{Main|Komra}}

Known to the scribes of the Administratum as ''Homo Sapiens Robustus'', the Komra are a distant branch of the human race that settled in the Galactic Core more than twenty thousand years before the Great Crusade. The hostile environments of their homeworlds have given them stocky frames and thick bones, while their departure from Terra before the development of the Standard Template Construct saw their technology move in a different direction that of the Imperium of Mankind.

==Vetrovnak Human Protectorate==

{{Main|Vetrovnak}}

The [[Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)|Adeptus Astartes]] are not the only engineered super soldier in the galaxy, just the most prolific and successful. Hailing from the Hvar cluster that sits roughly 7,000 lightyears above the galactic plane hovering over a point where the [[Atlas of the Hektor Heresy#Ultima Segmentum|Ultima Segmentum]] melts into the Eastern Fringe, the vetrovnak are another such breed of super soldiers designed to resist the ruinous touch of the warp. Created in M27 the vetrovnak were born from the wedding of genetic engineering to enhance humans to withstand the rigors of future intergalactic travel and xeno-nanotechnology. Faster, stronger, and far more enduring than regular humanity the vetrovnak also have been programmed at the genetic level to protect humanity and abhor the touch of the warp.

They were not made as vampires; that was the result of a brief civil war in the Hvar cluster when the vetrovnak sought to slip the tight noose of their creators. Most died at the hands of a nanomechanical virus their masters released upon them but those survived it found themselves thirsting for blood. The society of the Hvar cluster changed forever after that as the vetrovnak became the masters. Forged from the paradox caused by the genetic imperative to protect humanity and their diet they had to invent a society that would keep their “wards” content and docile enough to see offering up the very essence of their souls to their stewards as an easy price to pay. Their distant paradise is not without trouble as more vetrovnak are born, rather than made as the astartes are, their ever growing and undying population will inevitably outpace the growth of their pampered human cattle. Thus in M31 they returned the to the galaxy at large, looking for new blood - human or xeno.

=Xenos=
{{Main|Xenos of the Hektor Heresy}}

We got all kinds of crazy Xenos and room for plenty more. Whether you want to fluff up a Craftworld, a WAAAGH!, or a homebrew, grab your keyboard and get writing!

{{Template:/tg/-Heresy-Xenos}}

''Want to add your own? Here's a [[Hektor Heresy Xenos|template for Xenos species]]''

=31k-40k Dump=
{{Main|/tg/ Heresy 31k-40k Dump|page}}
Our current primary concern is the Heresy, but naturally some consequences of The /tg/ Heresy on the 40k universe need to be discussed.

=Writefaggotry=
{{Main|/tg/ Heresy Writefaggotry|page}}

This project has attracted a reasonable amount of attention from write-fags. We welcome further contributions. Especially from edit-fags. (Not so much from vandals.)

=Portrait Gallery=
We encourage drawfags (or otherfags who wheedle artwork from them) to contribute portraits of major characters.
[[File:Emperor of mankind by esoluna-d307owr.jpg|thumb|right|400px|The Emperor of Mankind]]
'''The Primarchs'''
<gallery>
File:Hektor the Warmaster.jpg|[[Hektor Cincinnatus]]
File:Arelex_orannis.jpg|[[Arelex Orannis]]
File:Inferox_the_Burned_King.jpg|[[Inferox "The Burned King"]]
File:Lumey.jpg|[[Gaspard Lumey]]
File:Golgothos.jpg|[[Golgothos]] the Fervent
File:Tollund_Ötztal.jpg|[[Tollund Ötztal]]
File:Cromwald.jpg|[[Cromwald Walgrun]]
File:Roman.jpg|[[Roman Albrecht]]
File:Brennus.jpg|[[Brennus]], the High King
File:Johannes Vrach.jpg|[[Johannes Vrach]]
File:Uriel_starikov.jpg|[[Uriel Starikov]]
File:Voidwatcher2.jpg|[[The Voidwatcher]]
File:AlexandriOfTheSilverCataphracts.jpg|[[Alexandri of Rosskar]]
File:AubreyTheGrey.jpg|[[Aubrey The Grey]]
File:Tiran Osoros.jpg|[[Tiran Osoros]]
File:OnyxPrimarch.jpg|[[Onyx the Indestructible]]
File:Darius Cyaxares.jpg|[[Shakya Vardhana]]
File:Rogerius.jpg|[[Rogerius Merrill]]
</gallery>

'''Warriors of the Adeptus Astartes'''

<center>
<gallery>
File:Balotin_A.jpg|Arkady Balotin
File:Antoineantonelle.jpg|Antoine Antonelle, Equerry of the Void Angels
File:Fabricediallo.jpg|Fabrice Diallo, Chapter Master of the Angels Imperious
File:Kleisthenes.jpg|Kleisthenes, the Scion of Europa
File:Kranios the Destroyer.jpg|Kranios
File:Nathanog.jpg|Nathanog
File:octullus.jpg|Phirun Soun, Chief Librarian of the Eyes of the Emperor
File:Rook_North_of_the_Nova_Defenders.jpg|Rook North
File:Sebastion.jpg|Sebastion Rex, Chapter Master in the Heralds of Hektor
File:Gaudin.jpg|Thomas Gaudin
File:Ulidreier.jpg|Uli Dreier
File:Ure.jpg|Urehikau Kauaeroa
</gallery>
</center>

[[Category:Homebrew Settings]][[Category:The /tg/ Heresy]][[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

Dark Eldar

2020-02-28T23:11:18Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* COMMORRAGH WELCOMES CAREFUL DRIVERS */

{{Heresy}}
[[Image:Dark_Eldar_Symbol.png‎|center]]
[[Image:Dark Eldar Raid Colored by MajesticChicken.jpg|right|thumb|600px|Mercy? Interesting word, I always wanted to know its meaning.]]
{{Topquote|Cruel people are busy all the time, as if to find justification for the cruelty of their dealings.|Leo Tolstoy}}
{{Topquote|In a world without the law of God, you have chaos, oppression, tyranny, and everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.|Randall Terry}}

The '''Dark Eldar''' (also known as the '''Drukhari''', cuz trademark reasons) are the villainous, Extra [[Grimdark]], and more BDSM obsessed counterparts of the [[Eldar]], who followed the horrific depravity that saw the Eldar Empire destroyed. Continuing such lovely traditions as mutilation for it's own sake, creative variations of rape, and dedicated polysubstance abuse constitute the Dark Eldar's claim to be the "true" and "traditionalist" Eldar, while disparaging their Craftworld and Exodite kin as having abandoned their grimdark elfiness because said grimdark elfiness caused, you know, the whole goatse-in-the-fabric-of-the-galaxy thing. They kind of have a point, but given how they have to suppress their innate psychic natures, lacking an anchor of a world spirit, spirit stone, or Creepy Clown God, and while the Creepy Rape God is trying to nom their soul-stuff they get it back by doing horrible things to others. And each other. And themselves. Truthfully, all of the elfy branches have deviated in their own ways after the Fall, but only the Dark Eldar do so by way of doing even more of the depraved shit that caused the Fall in the first place. So there's something to be said for them being traditionalists, after all; His Grand Spikiness [[Asdrubael Vect]] is hinted at having been around for the last big [[Anal circumference|blowout]] [[Eye of Terror|party]], and Commorragh's [[Urien Rakarth|Chief Surgeon]] is confirmed to have been present for it.

They get away with this in part by living in the byzantine port city [[Commorragh]] in the [[Webway]], spiriting out from the shadows on occasion to take slaves and to commit unspeakable atrocities on whoever they capture. Particularly when they are outside the Webway, they're in constant danger from [[Slaanesh|"She Who Thirsts"]] unless they go on and on in a self-reinforcing, vicious cycle of debauchery. They're the [[Honsou|sickest fucks]] in all of [[Warhammer 40,000]], which is a hell of an accomplishment, even for [[Slaanesh|the literal god of pleasure and excess]]. Their lives revolve around sadistic torture, making them a sort of cross between the Cenobites from Hellraiser and the Reavers from Firefly. They are mainly pirates, though sometimes hire themselves out as mercenaries before they inevitably betray their employers.

Surprisingly, Dark Eldar draw a lot of inspiration from the Fair Folk - not the pussy Disney pixi-fairies, but the [[World of Darkness]]-style inhumanly beautiful monsters that make humans suffer just for their own amusement, kidnap children to turn them into pets/slaves, and run the Wild Hunt that kill maim and rape everything in its wake, vanishing without a trace at dawn. Commonly derided for being the biggest Edge-Lords in the galaxy (or "scene-kid" Eldar), Dark Eldar come across as the only race that's actively trying to ''one-up'' Chaos for title of the universe's most grimdark faction.

For their fantasy counterparts see [[Druchii]].

==History==
The Eldar, after the [[FATAL|disaster]] that caused [[Slaanesh]] and [[Eye of Terror|turned their empire into the universe's biggest Goatse.cx reference]], destroying their race and [[grimdark|killing 90% or so of their population outright]], were a dying race. Slaanesh was devouring their souls like Eldar McNuggets, and it was only through ascetic mysticism and use of Soulstones that the Eldar could avoid getting vored by She Who Thirsts. Conventional wisdom was that these Eldar only survived on craftworlds and the maiden worlds that the Eldar had colonized before the fall, and some of these still fell into genocidal madness (the Blood Angels and Ordo Sinister were needed to destroy one such Craftworld).

[[Dawn of War|Conventional wisdom]], of course, [[C.S.Goto|means little in the 40K universe]]. Whilst most of the Eldar were mass-raped to death by Slaanesh when their falling into depraved cycles of decadence reached critical mass and caused a Chaos god to be born, a few of them survived because they were in parts of the Webway (a portal network that the Eldar use for transportation). They escaped with no real ill-effects, or so they thought. In reality, Slaanesh was slowly nomming their souls just like she does every Eldar without a Soulstone - however, they found that by [[Grimdark|continuing to engage in rampant hedonism and by torturing and inflicting pain and anguish on other creatures would reduce or even reverse the effects of Slaanesh's hold on them]], forcing them to seek out and capture, kill, and torment the "lesser" races of the galaxy in order to satiate themselves and stave off their doom. Which actually seems to be working out pretty well for those deldar who are sick enough fucks, because they wind up being more or less immortal.

Sadistic and psychotic to the point of making your average [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marine]] look like hippies in contrast, hopped up on cocktails of combat stimulant drugs, and armed predominantly with weapons and equipment that cause [[Indrick Boreale|unspeakable immeasurable agony]] in those they go after, the Dark Eldar are easily the most depraved and vicious race the 41st millennium has. Hated by literally every single faction in the 41st millennium, the Dark Eldar are perhaps the only race with [[Anal circumference|bigger assholes]] than [[Eldrad]], though in spite of this, unlike their sissy counterparts, the Dark Eldar are hated much less by the playerbase - presumably because their army actually takes some brains to use and isn't a giant bunch of status-quo-defending [[Eldar|faggots]]. Well, that and its implied they use [[/d/|sexual torture]] along with the normal kind.

In battle, Dark Eldar center around hit-and-run tactics, dealing huge damage and moving fast; few of their units can really take much abuse, making them even more fragile than their less edgy counterparts. Their standard infantry armor is identical to that of a Guardian (not terribly good), their vehicles are predominantly lightly-armored transport and attack craft that can be brought down by anti-infantry gunfire, and the armor on a typical Wych or Grotesque is no tougher than the ramshackle metal plating favored by Orks, but without the whole "I believe this armor will protect me, which is why it does" and at absolute best will cover only nipples and vulva, meaning that it would take considerable skill (and a somewhat sadistic shooter) to bounce a round off of their 'armour'. Suffice to say, they are extremely fragile and metaphorically half-naked in battle (literally if female), and getting the most out of them takes skill and patience that is rarely-seen on [[/tg/]]; whilst most fa/tg/uys will openly mock your average Eldar player, they will give pause and show some respect to a Dark Eldar player worth their salt.

The Dark Eldar are known for the ''excessive'' amount of [[Faptau|fapping]] [[Heresy|material]] involved with them, and they are the subject of thousands of sexual fantasies by desperate masochistic teenagers and middle aged neckbeards incapable of handling [[Female Space Marines|real women]]. They did, after all, kind of rape/drug/kill/etc themselves into oblivion, which tends to lend itself towards certain excessive abuses. They are also known for having some of the most fucking awesome-looking models on the tabletop, even if the armor of half of what they field will suffer instant critical existence failure at the hands of your typical [[Space Marine]]. This is pretty standard for all Xenos though.

==Codex Update==
[[File:Dark_Eldar_Safe.jpg|thumb|right|1998-2010 - twelve years of codex blue balls]]
The Dark Eldar, historically, have long been considered the faction for professionals because the army was perceived as being very difficult to use correctly. Their units, while generally quite fast, were almost uniformly fragile; this meant that the army was very intolerant of mistakes on the tabletop. Consequently they were easily the ''least'' played faction in 40k. Nearly 12 years passed before a codex update - but finally, in 2010, [[Games Workshop|GW]] decided to throw Dark Eldar players a much-needed bone.

Sweet [[Emperor|Jesus]], talk about buffs. The new 5th edition Codex changed very little fluff-wise, but the Dark Eldar gained substantial staying power and could actually field a reasonably <s>tough</s> hard-hitting army. The Power from Pain rule made them tougher as they scored kills, and the army also had a lot of potential for being much more forgiving of mistakes (previously it was a case of either steamrolling foes or getting curb-stomped). Lots of new options and extensive access to poisoned range weapons made them extremely versatile - as well as the bane of Tyranid players everywhere.

The 7th edition Codex was a mixed bag, with some serious nerfs. On the downside: Vect, Sliscus, Malys, Decapitator and Baron are no longer playable, though most of them are still mentioned in the fluff. Flickerfields have disappeared from all vehicles except Venoms, and Wyches somehow got ''even'' worse by losing haywire grenades and their gladiator weapons just becoming variants on re-rolling. On the upside, Power From Pain became something that happened to the whole army with the bonuses stacking each turn, rather than having to make mediocre units kill things in order to become useful. Mandrakes actually became half-decent (though still vastly inferior to Incubi & Trueborn), Grotesques no longer exploded when left alone, Talos & Chronos engines came in squads, and Scourges became able to spam more toys.

As of 8th Edition the Dark Eldar have been renamed the 'Drukhari' for copyright reasons. Like most armies in this edition they have their own equivalent of Chapter Tactics, Toughness on vehicles, and varying movement rates. All of these elements are considerable improvements compared to the previous editions. Dark Eldar armies can also gain extra CP for bringing multiple smaller detachments; combine this with the considerable buffs on wyches and Mandrakes, and you've got an army that has the potential to become more popular than ever before! They are still a "glass cannon" army, but are way more forgiving and benefit from both aggressive and conservative playstyles.

==The Dark Eldar Themselves==
[[Image:1287692229240.jpg|thumb|right|A lot like this, really.]]
{{topquote|I came to bring the pain, hardcore from the brain/Let's go inside my astral plane.|Method Man, Archon of the Wu Tang Kabal}}

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8tvBUfanu0]''''The fall of the eldar to present drukhari''''

The story of the Dark Eldar's fall and their need to inflict pain and horror in order to live - as well as elaboration on their kabalistic practices - have gone a long way towards deepening their fluff considerably (as one noble fa/tg/uy surmised, less retarded Saturday morning cartoon villainy). While some have balked at the more vampiric flavor of the New DE Codex, several denizens of /tg/ have managed to extract comic gold from this. A common musing is that they are ambitious, sex-crazed, easily shot down, boat-and-plane-loving pseudo-aristocrats (all though many of the Dark Eldar really are aristocratic) haunted by a dark curse - ergo, they're not vampires, but, in fact, the Kennedys.

Putting it simply, the soul of a Dark Eldar is [[Grimdark|an open wound that can only be salved with suffering, a void that can only be filled with tortured bodies, a thirst that can only be quenched by spilled blood.]] The origin of this void within the Dark Eldar, and the source of the nigh-religious terror that drives them to commit these daily atrocities, is the knowledge that [[Matt Ward|<s>THEY WILL NEVER BE ULTRAMARINES</s>]] upon death, their soul is forfeit to the Chaos God Slaanesh - an eventuality they intend to stem off at all costs.

Fortunately for the Dark Eldar, provided that someone recovers enough of their remains, their dead body parts can be brought to the Dark Eldar Haemonculi (an ancient order of Dr. Mengeles, the people that educated [[Fabius Bile]] in the art of being a gigantic [[Eldrad|dick]]) and regenerate themselves in case of death, complete with personality and mental faculties intact. This also keeps their soul from being devoured by Slaanesh - but at a price - this regenerative process is fueled by pain just as surely as the Dark Eldar themselves. This is the reason Dark Eldar raids are so eager to get in and get out as fast as possible; [[grimdark|if the subject is dead for more than a day or so, they're beyond recovery]]. (Actually that's a lie the Haemonculi tell their clients so the clients won't risk the truth: any subject can be revived, but the longer it's been dead the more likely the reviving chamber will attract daemons and cause a disjunction/warp storm)

Their diet of anguish has blessed the Dark Eldar with some of the longest lifespans in the setting, only surpassed by godlike figures like the C'tan, Necrons, the [[Emperor|Emprah]], [[Phoenix Lords]] and the Chaos Gods. If they die, they can just respawn back at base once the Haemonculi have managed to torture and/or bosh enough pain out of their subjects to allow the occupants of their rejuvenation pods to regenerate. This system is dependant on the Haemonculi though, and as a result they are the single most crucial group within all of Commorragh.

The Dark Eldar have also overcome the traditional [[Gay|Elven birthrate problem]] by finding a fun workaround to the long gestation period of conventional Eldar - they can remove a fertilized ovum and place it in an amniotic tube to age them quickly enough to be useful. This is looked down on by Dark Eldar society however - they even have an elite unit, the Trueborn, that are basically a bunch of spoiled brats who feel entitled to all the good weapons just because they got pushed out of a proper twat (that and the fact that ones born from a tube also get older faster and need to feed on pain more often). The fact that hedonism is the rule in Commorragh probably helps too.

The Dark Eldar have some of the most advanced tech in the 41st millennium, in cases even surpassing the powerful weapons of their cousins. Access to weapons that basically fling incandescent dark matter and miniature stars around goes a long way towards giving them serious "I'm going to fuck your shit up" power, and their access to arcane wargear and super-fast vehicles even more so. In fact the only race that comes even close to the technological level and destructive power of the Dark Eldar is the [[Necrons]], whose basic weapon rips the molecules off its target, flaying one layer off at a time (though it's still near-instant). Despite this most of the powerful technology cannot be used by the Dark Eldar anymore as it was Psychic in nature, and their psychic abilities have long atrophied away (truly making them the degenerate Eldars). What little remains tends to not be too impressive.

All that said, at least now their continued survival is not as implausible as the Reavers from Firefly maintaining a functional spacefleet - the Dark Eldar are smart, and even though they'll fight each other to death over a biscuit in Commorragh, during a raid into Real Space they set aside their differences to [[/tg/ gets shit done|GET SHIT DONE]]. The new codex also points out the Dark Eldar do follow a fairly strict set of rules while fighting each other and running shit; one of the reasons they enjoy raiding realspace is that it allows them to cut loose and just butcher innocents for a while.

It is also worth noting that the closest word Dark Eldar have to the concept of love is something along the lines of willingly submitting one's will to another.

==COMMORRAGH WELCOMES CAREFUL DRIVERS==
[[Image:Dork_Elfdar_Winch.png|thumb|right|My bra is a face. Your argument is invalid.]]
The Dark Eldar live in the Dark City of Commorragh, basically an impossibly large extradimensional port city fueled by two stolen suns (and they made sure to steal suns from inhabited planetary systems, because fuck those guys). Think of a sprawling cross between 17th century Port Royal with Mos Eisley space port (a wretched hive of scum and villainy) with a drug/torture/rape-based economy (Detroit) and the warped architecture of ''Inception''. So watch out, Utica! Commorragh is a city on the... Grow!

[[Story:A cage, shattered|If you can survive the inhabitants of the Dark City]] there is only one problem. Being in the Webway, every now and then the Dark City will suffer something called a Dysjunction; the Webway/Warp equivalent of a natural disaster which is a more powerful combination of earthquake/firestorm/hurricane that can spread across large parts of the Webway and really wreck Commorragh. In addition, it damages the walls of the Webway, which can allow daemons to invade all across Commorragh. Fortunately, this is rare and only happens during huge bouts of Warp-related turmoil, hence why Dark Eldar are so serious about enforcing the ban of sorcery and psychic power usage inside Commorragh. These Dysjunctions, when they do occur, regularly destroy subrealms of Commorragh.

It's only been invaded thrice. First by Orks (that time with daemons, apart from Dysjunctions, they were summoned into Commorragh) and the second was when Vect, plotting a coup against the ruling Archons, arranged for a ship filled with a few hundred Space Marines (in a shocking change from the norm, the [[Salamanders]], for once; [[Matt Ward]] is rumored to have had the vapors from this, though the Salamanders are frequently depicted as having a huge grudge against the Dark Eldar due to Vulkan's origin story) to be towed to the Dark City. Of course, ''most'' of Commorragh's armed forces fought the Space Marines, who managed to escape with ease. The City was also invaded by the [[Death Guard]] at some point.

[[Lucius]], whilst not invading it, did manage to destroy an entire subrealm of Commorragh and kill so many Dark Eldar it was noted as the largest single loss of Eldar life since [[Eye of Terror|the Fall]], and cowed all of Commorragh into a defensive mode, with Vect and the other leaders powerless to do anything to stop Lucius and his single ship.

Apart from invasions, however, Space Marines have made a frequent habit of entering and exiting it, the Salamanders, [[Space Wolves]] and [[Deathwatch]] all having successfully entered the city and exited alive, along with the [[Emperor's Children]], Deathmongers and Death Guard. In fact there are precious few times Space Marines don't enter and exit Commorragh at their own leisure, and Dark Eldar seem particularly bad at containing them.

Not to be outdone, the Black Legion once laid siege to Comorragh to wipe out one of its great houses. Don't steal from Iskandar Khayon, kids.

==The name==
Despite having been plastered on the boxes and rules for the better half of their existence, the term "Dark Eldar" almost never appears in universe - no one really calls them by that name. Dark Eldar call themselves just Eldar, since they think they are the only true Eldar, inheritors of the old Eldar Empire, while all other are defectors from the true Eldar path (of rape, drugs and rock-n-roll); most will admit they have a point, but whether they're outright correct is a debate for another time. Craftworlders call them the Dark Kin, Exodites call them the Children of [[Khaine]], and Corsairs and Harlequins simply call them Commorites. As for other races, most of them don't know and/or care about the differences between Eldar subraces/cultures, at best distinguishing Commorites (and sometimes Corsairs too) by their MO as as pirates or raiders of Eldar, or by their appearance as Spikey Panzees. About the only people who actually use the term "Dark Eldar" in-universe are some of the Ordo Xenos Inquisitors and their acolytes, and even they also often call them Chaos or Tainted Eldar, mistakenly thinking DEldar are Chaos-worshipers.

The modern name "Drukhari"™ doesn't make much more sense from a DE perspective. If we assume the Eldar lexicon to be based on IRL Celtic languages (some Eldar sentences are ''litteraly'' Irish/Scottish), then "Drukhari"™ would be related to ''drouk'' (Breton) or ''droch'' (Old Irish), from Gaullish ''drucos'' meaning "evil, bad". Something quite weird given how DE are beyond moral considerations, so it's probably a term coined by other Eldar subcultures. (Droch, Drouk, Drucos / Drukos also can mean 'Wheel', 'Circlet', 'Bridge', 'Wet', 'Drown' and 'To Deceive'. It is entirely possible while it's coined by other subcultures, it could be the inhabitants of Commorragh see themselves as 'Eldar of the Dark City', or other Eldar may name them 'The Eldar that Deceive', both of which may feasibly be 'Drukhari'™) Really, though, its just an alteration of the name for Warhammer Fantasy's Dark Elves, Druchii.

The term 'Eladrith Ynneas' (Ee-lad-rith Yin-nee-ah-ss) was coined in 5the ed by Vect shortly after his meteoric rise to power, and is widely considered to sound much cooler than American comedian Drew-Carey.

==Tactics==
The Dark Eldar put a lot of emphasis on lightning fast piratical raids; their vehicles are lightly armoured, but are the fastest available, allowing them to get in and out as quick as possible. They have a lot of units who prefer getting up close and personal, such as Wyches and Incubi, who put emphasis on causing as much pain as possible whilst still getting home in time for tea. This doesn't mean to say they don't have good ranged weaponry; their splinter rifles fire crystalized poison and their blast weapons fire dark matter, completely annihilating anything in their path. In short, all of their weapons are designed to fuck up everything they touch in the most extravagant and painful way possible. Fear, infiltration and sabotage are their main weapons, and usually their enemies don't know they are fighting the Dark Eldar until it's far too late.

The Dark Eldar themselves despise a fair fight. They will use anything at their disposal, and no tactic is too underhanded, no ploy too despicable. They have no code of honor (save for the Incubi) and will do anything as long as they come out on top, which to them is coming away with as many slaves and stolen raw materials as possible. And when they do get home with their booty, they will open their finest wines, sit on thrones made of dead slaves, kick up their heels on living slaves being used as footrests (or just rape them) and twirl their metaphorical handlebar mustaches. Cue evil laugh.

==Special Characters==
<s>At least the Dark Eldar actually have playable special characters now:</s> HAHA - not anymore! As of the 7th ed codex, the Deldar lost a good half of their special characters.

===RIP===
*[[Asdrubael Vect| Asdrubael Vect]], the Pimp Master General of Commorragh who's now a manipulator on par with Eldrad (hardly high praise) and, impossibly, an even bigger dick. A tragic loss he is much missed; his rules helped your army like crazy and made him the deadliest [[Primarch|non-HH]] [[Swarmlord|infantry-sized]] model in 40k, impossible to re-create without lucky rolls on dice and homebrews. Why Games Workshop saw fit to remove Vect from the latest Codex is a mystery as he had a model (based on the out-of-production plastic raider kit) but given the latest trend of shifting some characters off into the Lord of War section, Vect on the Dais of Destruction would've been a nice fit, especially considering that Santa Claws based monstrosity we were given in the Space Wolves codex.
*[[Lady Malys]], an anime villainess and Vect's pissed-off ex. She won [[Daemon|someone's heart]] in a contest and shoved it in her chest. She was ''okay'' as a character so her passing isn't that big a deal. She was also dropped from the rules but still also features heavily all the way through the new codex as the up and coming rival to Vect, her loss was more inexplicable since she could have easily filled the gap of special character Archon, since Succubus & Haemonculi both have theirs; but she was likely cut because she doesn't have a model and GW couldn't be bothered to give her one.
*<s>Kruellagh the Vile, a name too silly even for [[Rogue Trader]], being based off of "Hundred and One Dalmatians" villain Cruella de Vil. Also her model made her look like a cheesy DC supervillain.</s> NO LONGER EXISTS. ALL HAIL [[Phil Kelly|LORD KELLY!]]
*Lord Hellion [[Baron Sathonyx]], who many on /tg/ believe to be Spider-Man's archnemesis. Was kinda cool for his FOC-shifting abilities with respects to Hellions.
*[[Kheradruakh]] the Decapitator, who, uh, cuts peoples heads off and collects them like beanie babies. Implied to be collecting them like coconuts to do some serious warp-related shit. Was also never used because [[Counts as|Mandrakes suck]]. He recently played a major role in the Gathering Storm, saving all of Commorragh from a massive Dysjunction.
*[[Duke Sliscus]], the Pirate Duke who drinks poisons, has all the best drugs, and brings all the bitches to the yard with his gigantic [[Eldrad|cock]]. Almost as insufferable as [[Assholetep]]. Much missed because his contraband rule stopped you from rolling terrible combat drugs, and now this is gone. The rest of his rules weren't particularly special though, so you can still have him using the Archon rules.

===Survivors===
*[[Urien Rakarth]], a hyper-evolved Pavi Largo. Quite possibly the sickest fuck in the galaxy (at the very least a strong contender), and that is really an achievement of unimaginable proportions.
*[[Drazhar]], the Master of Blades, who does not speak and slashes other Incubi to bits from time to time just to throw his weight around. <strike>Despite him having a different name than the old Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions</strike> (Drazhar is just a nickname meaning "living sword", nobody knows his real name as he just appeared one day out of nowhere, never removes his armor, and probably kills anyone who tries to touch the goods), many people believe Drazhar is Arhra. An additional piece of <strike>bait</strike> evidence is that his warsuit is much more ancient than any other one available to the incubi cults and pretty much out of their understanding, leading some to think it's -the- original warsuit. Considering Ahra disappeared after getting buttfucked by his successor and disappeared some time before Drazhar showed up, and you can pretty much piece the evidence of the <strike>mystery</strike> thinly veiled "but what if it's not trueeeeeeeee" tactic together.
*[[Lelith Hesperax]], an oversexed gladiatrix/snuff-film porn starlet (srsly, so much implied masturbation in her profile, it's not even funny). Jumped ship to the [[Ynnari]] faction for personal goals.

== Dating a Dark Eldar ==
{| border=2 cellspacing=2 cellpadding=2
|-
! Likes !! Dislikes
|- valign=top
|
* "Playthings"
* Latex
* Leather
* Whips
* Cock and ball torture
* Hardcore, ballbusting Sex
* Drugs
* [[Ork#Rokkas|Rock'n'Roll]]
* S/M
* Holes
* [[Truly_Immovable_Rod|Rods]]
* [[/d/|Other odd fetishes]]
|
* Sunshine
* Puppies
* Flowers
* John Denver
* Sobriety
* "Vanilla" sex
* Erectile Dysfunction
* Prudishness
* R&B music
* Weak constitutions
* self-denial
|}

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Eldar(8E)|Tactics/Dark Eldar]]
*[[The Enshrouded]]

{{Dark Eldar-Characters}}
{{Dark Eldar-Forces}}

==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
Image:Dark eldar.jpg|
Image:Commorragh Runner.jpg
Image:40kshock.jpg
Image:Commorragh.jpg|What is up?
File:Blackholeinabox.jpg#file.png|Oh, that wacky Vect.
File:Duke_uses_poison.jpg#file.png|Kill like a DEldar, DEldar.
Image:Dark_Eldar_Combat_Drugs_-_Not_Even_Once_2.png| Combat drugs: Not even once.
Image:Advice_Darkeldar.jpg.jpg|No, no, you got it right the first time.
Image:Wrack by moonskinned-d5tx8oj.jpg|He's only a gimp but he's not that funny.
Image:LynnminwenCD.jpg|Buying this CD is [[Heresy]]! <s>Download it from torrent. </s> {{BLAM|HERESY!}}{{BLAM}}
File:1381591104255.jpg|Lelith Hesperax, right after killing someone and cleaning off the blood.
Image:Dark_Eldar.png|...but at least you can't call them quitters! Keep fucking that chicken!
Image:Idealized.jpg|Fucking [[My Little Pony|Pony]] nonsense... Fucking with... Sense of... What were we talking about?
File:Warhammer 40k sisters of battle adeptas sororitas battling Dark Eldar.jpg|If an army of evil space-dominatrices squared off against an army of semi-heroic space nuns, who would win? We don't care its HAWT.
File:Wych_Battle.jpg|Some armies clad their dedicated combat units in armor that covers more than areolas and genitals. Some armies are for ''pussies''.
Image:Talos pain engine by moonskinned-d5tx8v6.jpg| "Well, look. I mean, is he gonna be able to chase us? Cause if I woke up lookin' like that, I would just run towards the nearest living thing and kill it."
Image:Inception.jpg|Your daily commute in Commorragh, except everyone's an [[Dwarf Fortress|elf-rapist]], the pistols shoot poison that can kill robots, and the chicks are soul-sucking crack whore gladiators.
Image:Bell_cel_warhammer_sketch_by_elvishprincess25-db0et80.jpg| As I understand it, this is an interesting idea for a crossover...
Image:Dark Eldar DC.png|The crossover you never knew you needed, [[Tau Diplomacy|now throw in the Tau Diplomat who sounds like Starfire]].
</gallery></center>

{{WH40k-Factions}}
{{Template:Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Xenos]]

Dark Eldar

2020-02-28T23:03:06Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* The Dark Eldar Themselves */

{{Heresy}}
[[Image:Dark_Eldar_Symbol.png‎|center]]
[[Image:Dark Eldar Raid Colored by MajesticChicken.jpg|right|thumb|600px|Mercy? Interesting word, I always wanted to know its meaning.]]
{{Topquote|Cruel people are busy all the time, as if to find justification for the cruelty of their dealings.|Leo Tolstoy}}
{{Topquote|In a world without the law of God, you have chaos, oppression, tyranny, and everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.|Randall Terry}}

The '''Dark Eldar''' (also known as the '''Drukhari''', cuz trademark reasons) are the villainous, Extra [[Grimdark]], and more BDSM obsessed counterparts of the [[Eldar]], who followed the horrific depravity that saw the Eldar Empire destroyed. Continuing such lovely traditions as mutilation for it's own sake, creative variations of rape, and dedicated polysubstance abuse constitute the Dark Eldar's claim to be the "true" and "traditionalist" Eldar, while disparaging their Craftworld and Exodite kin as having abandoned their grimdark elfiness because said grimdark elfiness caused, you know, the whole goatse-in-the-fabric-of-the-galaxy thing. They kind of have a point, but given how they have to suppress their innate psychic natures, lacking an anchor of a world spirit, spirit stone, or Creepy Clown God, and while the Creepy Rape God is trying to nom their soul-stuff they get it back by doing horrible things to others. And each other. And themselves. Truthfully, all of the elfy branches have deviated in their own ways after the Fall, but only the Dark Eldar do so by way of doing even more of the depraved shit that caused the Fall in the first place. So there's something to be said for them being traditionalists, after all; His Grand Spikiness [[Asdrubael Vect]] is hinted at having been around for the last big [[Anal circumference|blowout]] [[Eye of Terror|party]], and Commorragh's [[Urien Rakarth|Chief Surgeon]] is confirmed to have been present for it.

They get away with this in part by living in the byzantine port city [[Commorragh]] in the [[Webway]], spiriting out from the shadows on occasion to take slaves and to commit unspeakable atrocities on whoever they capture. Particularly when they are outside the Webway, they're in constant danger from [[Slaanesh|"She Who Thirsts"]] unless they go on and on in a self-reinforcing, vicious cycle of debauchery. They're the [[Honsou|sickest fucks]] in all of [[Warhammer 40,000]], which is a hell of an accomplishment, even for [[Slaanesh|the literal god of pleasure and excess]]. Their lives revolve around sadistic torture, making them a sort of cross between the Cenobites from Hellraiser and the Reavers from Firefly. They are mainly pirates, though sometimes hire themselves out as mercenaries before they inevitably betray their employers.

Surprisingly, Dark Eldar draw a lot of inspiration from the Fair Folk - not the pussy Disney pixi-fairies, but the [[World of Darkness]]-style inhumanly beautiful monsters that make humans suffer just for their own amusement, kidnap children to turn them into pets/slaves, and run the Wild Hunt that kill maim and rape everything in its wake, vanishing without a trace at dawn. Commonly derided for being the biggest Edge-Lords in the galaxy (or "scene-kid" Eldar), Dark Eldar come across as the only race that's actively trying to ''one-up'' Chaos for title of the universe's most grimdark faction.

For their fantasy counterparts see [[Druchii]].

==History==
The Eldar, after the [[FATAL|disaster]] that caused [[Slaanesh]] and [[Eye of Terror|turned their empire into the universe's biggest Goatse.cx reference]], destroying their race and [[grimdark|killing 90% or so of their population outright]], were a dying race. Slaanesh was devouring their souls like Eldar McNuggets, and it was only through ascetic mysticism and use of Soulstones that the Eldar could avoid getting vored by She Who Thirsts. Conventional wisdom was that these Eldar only survived on craftworlds and the maiden worlds that the Eldar had colonized before the fall, and some of these still fell into genocidal madness (the Blood Angels and Ordo Sinister were needed to destroy one such Craftworld).

[[Dawn of War|Conventional wisdom]], of course, [[C.S.Goto|means little in the 40K universe]]. Whilst most of the Eldar were mass-raped to death by Slaanesh when their falling into depraved cycles of decadence reached critical mass and caused a Chaos god to be born, a few of them survived because they were in parts of the Webway (a portal network that the Eldar use for transportation). They escaped with no real ill-effects, or so they thought. In reality, Slaanesh was slowly nomming their souls just like she does every Eldar without a Soulstone - however, they found that by [[Grimdark|continuing to engage in rampant hedonism and by torturing and inflicting pain and anguish on other creatures would reduce or even reverse the effects of Slaanesh's hold on them]], forcing them to seek out and capture, kill, and torment the "lesser" races of the galaxy in order to satiate themselves and stave off their doom. Which actually seems to be working out pretty well for those deldar who are sick enough fucks, because they wind up being more or less immortal.

Sadistic and psychotic to the point of making your average [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marine]] look like hippies in contrast, hopped up on cocktails of combat stimulant drugs, and armed predominantly with weapons and equipment that cause [[Indrick Boreale|unspeakable immeasurable agony]] in those they go after, the Dark Eldar are easily the most depraved and vicious race the 41st millennium has. Hated by literally every single faction in the 41st millennium, the Dark Eldar are perhaps the only race with [[Anal circumference|bigger assholes]] than [[Eldrad]], though in spite of this, unlike their sissy counterparts, the Dark Eldar are hated much less by the playerbase - presumably because their army actually takes some brains to use and isn't a giant bunch of status-quo-defending [[Eldar|faggots]]. Well, that and its implied they use [[/d/|sexual torture]] along with the normal kind.

In battle, Dark Eldar center around hit-and-run tactics, dealing huge damage and moving fast; few of their units can really take much abuse, making them even more fragile than their less edgy counterparts. Their standard infantry armor is identical to that of a Guardian (not terribly good), their vehicles are predominantly lightly-armored transport and attack craft that can be brought down by anti-infantry gunfire, and the armor on a typical Wych or Grotesque is no tougher than the ramshackle metal plating favored by Orks, but without the whole "I believe this armor will protect me, which is why it does" and at absolute best will cover only nipples and vulva, meaning that it would take considerable skill (and a somewhat sadistic shooter) to bounce a round off of their 'armour'. Suffice to say, they are extremely fragile and metaphorically half-naked in battle (literally if female), and getting the most out of them takes skill and patience that is rarely-seen on [[/tg/]]; whilst most fa/tg/uys will openly mock your average Eldar player, they will give pause and show some respect to a Dark Eldar player worth their salt.

The Dark Eldar are known for the ''excessive'' amount of [[Faptau|fapping]] [[Heresy|material]] involved with them, and they are the subject of thousands of sexual fantasies by desperate masochistic teenagers and middle aged neckbeards incapable of handling [[Female Space Marines|real women]]. They did, after all, kind of rape/drug/kill/etc themselves into oblivion, which tends to lend itself towards certain excessive abuses. They are also known for having some of the most fucking awesome-looking models on the tabletop, even if the armor of half of what they field will suffer instant critical existence failure at the hands of your typical [[Space Marine]]. This is pretty standard for all Xenos though.

==Codex Update==
[[File:Dark_Eldar_Safe.jpg|thumb|right|1998-2010 - twelve years of codex blue balls]]
The Dark Eldar, historically, have long been considered the faction for professionals because the army was perceived as being very difficult to use correctly. Their units, while generally quite fast, were almost uniformly fragile; this meant that the army was very intolerant of mistakes on the tabletop. Consequently they were easily the ''least'' played faction in 40k. Nearly 12 years passed before a codex update - but finally, in 2010, [[Games Workshop|GW]] decided to throw Dark Eldar players a much-needed bone.

Sweet [[Emperor|Jesus]], talk about buffs. The new 5th edition Codex changed very little fluff-wise, but the Dark Eldar gained substantial staying power and could actually field a reasonably <s>tough</s> hard-hitting army. The Power from Pain rule made them tougher as they scored kills, and the army also had a lot of potential for being much more forgiving of mistakes (previously it was a case of either steamrolling foes or getting curb-stomped). Lots of new options and extensive access to poisoned range weapons made them extremely versatile - as well as the bane of Tyranid players everywhere.

The 7th edition Codex was a mixed bag, with some serious nerfs. On the downside: Vect, Sliscus, Malys, Decapitator and Baron are no longer playable, though most of them are still mentioned in the fluff. Flickerfields have disappeared from all vehicles except Venoms, and Wyches somehow got ''even'' worse by losing haywire grenades and their gladiator weapons just becoming variants on re-rolling. On the upside, Power From Pain became something that happened to the whole army with the bonuses stacking each turn, rather than having to make mediocre units kill things in order to become useful. Mandrakes actually became half-decent (though still vastly inferior to Incubi & Trueborn), Grotesques no longer exploded when left alone, Talos & Chronos engines came in squads, and Scourges became able to spam more toys.

As of 8th Edition the Dark Eldar have been renamed the 'Drukhari' for copyright reasons. Like most armies in this edition they have their own equivalent of Chapter Tactics, Toughness on vehicles, and varying movement rates. All of these elements are considerable improvements compared to the previous editions. Dark Eldar armies can also gain extra CP for bringing multiple smaller detachments; combine this with the considerable buffs on wyches and Mandrakes, and you've got an army that has the potential to become more popular than ever before! They are still a "glass cannon" army, but are way more forgiving and benefit from both aggressive and conservative playstyles.

==The Dark Eldar Themselves==
[[Image:1287692229240.jpg|thumb|right|A lot like this, really.]]
{{topquote|I came to bring the pain, hardcore from the brain/Let's go inside my astral plane.|Method Man, Archon of the Wu Tang Kabal}}

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8tvBUfanu0]''''The fall of the eldar to present drukhari''''

The story of the Dark Eldar's fall and their need to inflict pain and horror in order to live - as well as elaboration on their kabalistic practices - have gone a long way towards deepening their fluff considerably (as one noble fa/tg/uy surmised, less retarded Saturday morning cartoon villainy). While some have balked at the more vampiric flavor of the New DE Codex, several denizens of /tg/ have managed to extract comic gold from this. A common musing is that they are ambitious, sex-crazed, easily shot down, boat-and-plane-loving pseudo-aristocrats (all though many of the Dark Eldar really are aristocratic) haunted by a dark curse - ergo, they're not vampires, but, in fact, the Kennedys.

Putting it simply, the soul of a Dark Eldar is [[Grimdark|an open wound that can only be salved with suffering, a void that can only be filled with tortured bodies, a thirst that can only be quenched by spilled blood.]] The origin of this void within the Dark Eldar, and the source of the nigh-religious terror that drives them to commit these daily atrocities, is the knowledge that [[Matt Ward|<s>THEY WILL NEVER BE ULTRAMARINES</s>]] upon death, their soul is forfeit to the Chaos God Slaanesh - an eventuality they intend to stem off at all costs.

Fortunately for the Dark Eldar, provided that someone recovers enough of their remains, their dead body parts can be brought to the Dark Eldar Haemonculi (an ancient order of Dr. Mengeles, the people that educated [[Fabius Bile]] in the art of being a gigantic [[Eldrad|dick]]) and regenerate themselves in case of death, complete with personality and mental faculties intact. This also keeps their soul from being devoured by Slaanesh - but at a price - this regenerative process is fueled by pain just as surely as the Dark Eldar themselves. This is the reason Dark Eldar raids are so eager to get in and get out as fast as possible; [[grimdark|if the subject is dead for more than a day or so, they're beyond recovery]]. (Actually that's a lie the Haemonculi tell their clients so the clients won't risk the truth: any subject can be revived, but the longer it's been dead the more likely the reviving chamber will attract daemons and cause a disjunction/warp storm)

Their diet of anguish has blessed the Dark Eldar with some of the longest lifespans in the setting, only surpassed by godlike figures like the C'tan, Necrons, the [[Emperor|Emprah]], [[Phoenix Lords]] and the Chaos Gods. If they die, they can just respawn back at base once the Haemonculi have managed to torture and/or bosh enough pain out of their subjects to allow the occupants of their rejuvenation pods to regenerate. This system is dependant on the Haemonculi though, and as a result they are the single most crucial group within all of Commorragh.

The Dark Eldar have also overcome the traditional [[Gay|Elven birthrate problem]] by finding a fun workaround to the long gestation period of conventional Eldar - they can remove a fertilized ovum and place it in an amniotic tube to age them quickly enough to be useful. This is looked down on by Dark Eldar society however - they even have an elite unit, the Trueborn, that are basically a bunch of spoiled brats who feel entitled to all the good weapons just because they got pushed out of a proper twat (that and the fact that ones born from a tube also get older faster and need to feed on pain more often). The fact that hedonism is the rule in Commorragh probably helps too.

The Dark Eldar have some of the most advanced tech in the 41st millennium, in cases even surpassing the powerful weapons of their cousins. Access to weapons that basically fling incandescent dark matter and miniature stars around goes a long way towards giving them serious "I'm going to fuck your shit up" power, and their access to arcane wargear and super-fast vehicles even more so. In fact the only race that comes even close to the technological level and destructive power of the Dark Eldar is the [[Necrons]], whose basic weapon rips the molecules off its target, flaying one layer off at a time (though it's still near-instant). Despite this most of the powerful technology cannot be used by the Dark Eldar anymore as it was Psychic in nature, and their psychic abilities have long atrophied away (truly making them the degenerate Eldars). What little remains tends to not be too impressive.

All that said, at least now their continued survival is not as implausible as the Reavers from Firefly maintaining a functional spacefleet - the Dark Eldar are smart, and even though they'll fight each other to death over a biscuit in Commorragh, during a raid into Real Space they set aside their differences to [[/tg/ gets shit done|GET SHIT DONE]]. The new codex also points out the Dark Eldar do follow a fairly strict set of rules while fighting each other and running shit; one of the reasons they enjoy raiding realspace is that it allows them to cut loose and just butcher innocents for a while.

It is also worth noting that the closest word Dark Eldar have to the concept of love is something along the lines of willingly submitting one's will to another.

==COMMORRAGH WELCOMES CAREFUL DRIVERS==
[[Image:Dork_Elfdar_Winch.png|thumb|right|My bra is a face. Your argument is invalid.]]
The Dark Eldar live in the Dark City of Commorragh, basically an impossibly large extradimensional port city fueled by two stolen suns (and they made sure to steal suns from inhabited planetary systems, because fuck those guys). Think of a sprawling cross between 17th century Port Royal with Mos Eisley space port (a wretched hive of scum and villainy) with a drug/torture/rape-based economy (Detroit) and the warped architecture of ''Inception''. So watch out, Utica! Commorragh is a city on the... Grow!

[[Story:A cage, shattered|If you can survive the inhabitants of the Dark City]] there is only one problem. Being in the Webway, every now and then the Dark City will suffer something called a Dysjunction; the Webway/Warp equivalent of a natural disaster which is a more powerful combination of earthquake/firestorm/hurricane that can spread across large parts of the Webway and really wreck Commorragh. In addition, it damages the walls of the Webway, which can allow daemons to invade all across Commorragh. Fortunately, this is rare and only happens during huge bouts of Warp-related turmoil, hence why Dark Eldar are so serious about enforcing the ban of sorcery and psychic power usage inside Commorragh. These Dysjunctions, when they do occur, regularly destroy subrealms of Commorragh.

It's only been invaded thrice. First by Orks (that time with daemons, apart from Dysjunctions, they were summoned into Commorragh) and the second was when Vect, plotting a coup against the ruling Archons, arranged for a ship filled with a few hundred Space Marines (in a shocking change from the norm, the [[Salamanders]], for once; [[Matt Ward]] is rumored to have had the vapors from this, though the Salamanders are frequently depicted as having a huge grudge against the Dark Eldar due to Vulkan's origin story) to be towed to the Dark City. Of course, ''most'' of Commorragh's armed forces fought the Space Marines, who managed to escape with ease. The City was also invaded by the [[Death Guard]] at a point.

[[Lucius]], whilst not invading it, did manage to destroy an entire subrealm of Commorragh and kill so many Dark Eldar it was noted as the largest single loss of Eldar life since [[Eye of Terror|the Fall]], and cowed all of Commorragh into a defensive mode, with Vect and the other leaders powerless to do anything to stop Lucius and his single ship.

Apart from invasions, however, Space Marines have made a frequent habit of entering and exiting it, the Salamanders, [[Space Wolves]] and [[Deathwatch]] all having successfully entered the city and exited alive, along with the [[Emperor's Children]], Deathmongers and Death Guard. In fact there are precious few times Space Marines don't enter and exit Commorragh at their own leisure, and Dark Eldar seem particularly bad at containing them.

Not to be outdone, the Black Legion once laid siege to Comorragh to wipe out one of its great houses. Don't steal from Iskandar Khayon, kids.

==The name==
Despite having been plastered on the boxes and rules for the better half of their existence, the term "Dark Eldar" almost never appears in universe - no one really calls them by that name. Dark Eldar call themselves just Eldar, since they think they are the only true Eldar, inheritors of the old Eldar Empire, while all other are defectors from the true Eldar path (of rape, drugs and rock-n-roll); most will admit they have a point, but whether they're outright correct is a debate for another time. Craftworlders call them the Dark Kin, Exodites call them the Children of [[Khaine]], and Corsairs and Harlequins simply call them Commorites. As for other races, most of them don't know and/or care about the differences between Eldar subraces/cultures, at best distinguishing Commorites (and sometimes Corsairs too) by their MO as as pirates or raiders of Eldar, or by their appearance as Spikey Panzees. About the only people who actually use the term "Dark Eldar" in-universe are some of the Ordo Xenos Inquisitors and their acolytes, and even they also often call them Chaos or Tainted Eldar, mistakenly thinking DEldar are Chaos-worshipers.

The modern name "Drukhari"™ doesn't make much more sense from a DE perspective. If we assume the Eldar lexicon to be based on IRL Celtic languages (some Eldar sentences are ''litteraly'' Irish/Scottish), then "Drukhari"™ would be related to ''drouk'' (Breton) or ''droch'' (Old Irish), from Gaullish ''drucos'' meaning "evil, bad". Something quite weird given how DE are beyond moral considerations, so it's probably a term coined by other Eldar subcultures. (Droch, Drouk, Drucos / Drukos also can mean 'Wheel', 'Circlet', 'Bridge', 'Wet', 'Drown' and 'To Deceive'. It is entirely possible while it's coined by other subcultures, it could be the inhabitants of Commorragh see themselves as 'Eldar of the Dark City', or other Eldar may name them 'The Eldar that Deceive', both of which may feasibly be 'Drukhari'™) Really, though, its just an alteration of the name for Warhammer Fantasy's Dark Elves, Druchii.

The term 'Eladrith Ynneas' (Ee-lad-rith Yin-nee-ah-ss) was coined in 5the ed by Vect shortly after his meteoric rise to power, and is widely considered to sound much cooler than American comedian Drew-Carey.

==Tactics==
The Dark Eldar put a lot of emphasis on lightning fast piratical raids; their vehicles are lightly armoured, but are the fastest available, allowing them to get in and out as quick as possible. They have a lot of units who prefer getting up close and personal, such as Wyches and Incubi, who put emphasis on causing as much pain as possible whilst still getting home in time for tea. This doesn't mean to say they don't have good ranged weaponry; their splinter rifles fire crystalized poison and their blast weapons fire dark matter, completely annihilating anything in their path. In short, all of their weapons are designed to fuck up everything they touch in the most extravagant and painful way possible. Fear, infiltration and sabotage are their main weapons, and usually their enemies don't know they are fighting the Dark Eldar until it's far too late.

The Dark Eldar themselves despise a fair fight. They will use anything at their disposal, and no tactic is too underhanded, no ploy too despicable. They have no code of honor (save for the Incubi) and will do anything as long as they come out on top, which to them is coming away with as many slaves and stolen raw materials as possible. And when they do get home with their booty, they will open their finest wines, sit on thrones made of dead slaves, kick up their heels on living slaves being used as footrests (or just rape them) and twirl their metaphorical handlebar mustaches. Cue evil laugh.

==Special Characters==
<s>At least the Dark Eldar actually have playable special characters now:</s> HAHA - not anymore! As of the 7th ed codex, the Deldar lost a good half of their special characters.

===RIP===
*[[Asdrubael Vect| Asdrubael Vect]], the Pimp Master General of Commorragh who's now a manipulator on par with Eldrad (hardly high praise) and, impossibly, an even bigger dick. A tragic loss he is much missed; his rules helped your army like crazy and made him the deadliest [[Primarch|non-HH]] [[Swarmlord|infantry-sized]] model in 40k, impossible to re-create without lucky rolls on dice and homebrews. Why Games Workshop saw fit to remove Vect from the latest Codex is a mystery as he had a model (based on the out-of-production plastic raider kit) but given the latest trend of shifting some characters off into the Lord of War section, Vect on the Dais of Destruction would've been a nice fit, especially considering that Santa Claws based monstrosity we were given in the Space Wolves codex.
*[[Lady Malys]], an anime villainess and Vect's pissed-off ex. She won [[Daemon|someone's heart]] in a contest and shoved it in her chest. She was ''okay'' as a character so her passing isn't that big a deal. She was also dropped from the rules but still also features heavily all the way through the new codex as the up and coming rival to Vect, her loss was more inexplicable since she could have easily filled the gap of special character Archon, since Succubus & Haemonculi both have theirs; but she was likely cut because she doesn't have a model and GW couldn't be bothered to give her one.
*<s>Kruellagh the Vile, a name too silly even for [[Rogue Trader]], being based off of "Hundred and One Dalmatians" villain Cruella de Vil. Also her model made her look like a cheesy DC supervillain.</s> NO LONGER EXISTS. ALL HAIL [[Phil Kelly|LORD KELLY!]]
*Lord Hellion [[Baron Sathonyx]], who many on /tg/ believe to be Spider-Man's archnemesis. Was kinda cool for his FOC-shifting abilities with respects to Hellions.
*[[Kheradruakh]] the Decapitator, who, uh, cuts peoples heads off and collects them like beanie babies. Implied to be collecting them like coconuts to do some serious warp-related shit. Was also never used because [[Counts as|Mandrakes suck]]. He recently played a major role in the Gathering Storm, saving all of Commorragh from a massive Dysjunction.
*[[Duke Sliscus]], the Pirate Duke who drinks poisons, has all the best drugs, and brings all the bitches to the yard with his gigantic [[Eldrad|cock]]. Almost as insufferable as [[Assholetep]]. Much missed because his contraband rule stopped you from rolling terrible combat drugs, and now this is gone. The rest of his rules weren't particularly special though, so you can still have him using the Archon rules.

===Survivors===
*[[Urien Rakarth]], a hyper-evolved Pavi Largo. Quite possibly the sickest fuck in the galaxy (at the very least a strong contender), and that is really an achievement of unimaginable proportions.
*[[Drazhar]], the Master of Blades, who does not speak and slashes other Incubi to bits from time to time just to throw his weight around. <strike>Despite him having a different name than the old Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions</strike> (Drazhar is just a nickname meaning "living sword", nobody knows his real name as he just appeared one day out of nowhere, never removes his armor, and probably kills anyone who tries to touch the goods), many people believe Drazhar is Arhra. An additional piece of <strike>bait</strike> evidence is that his warsuit is much more ancient than any other one available to the incubi cults and pretty much out of their understanding, leading some to think it's -the- original warsuit. Considering Ahra disappeared after getting buttfucked by his successor and disappeared some time before Drazhar showed up, and you can pretty much piece the evidence of the <strike>mystery</strike> thinly veiled "but what if it's not trueeeeeeeee" tactic together.
*[[Lelith Hesperax]], an oversexed gladiatrix/snuff-film porn starlet (srsly, so much implied masturbation in her profile, it's not even funny). Jumped ship to the [[Ynnari]] faction for personal goals.

== Dating a Dark Eldar ==
{| border=2 cellspacing=2 cellpadding=2
|-
! Likes !! Dislikes
|- valign=top
|
* "Playthings"
* Latex
* Leather
* Whips
* Cock and ball torture
* Hardcore, ballbusting Sex
* Drugs
* [[Ork#Rokkas|Rock'n'Roll]]
* S/M
* Holes
* [[Truly_Immovable_Rod|Rods]]
* [[/d/|Other odd fetishes]]
|
* Sunshine
* Puppies
* Flowers
* John Denver
* Sobriety
* "Vanilla" sex
* Erectile Dysfunction
* Prudishness
* R&B music
* Weak constitutions
* self-denial
|}

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Eldar(8E)|Tactics/Dark Eldar]]
*[[The Enshrouded]]

{{Dark Eldar-Characters}}
{{Dark Eldar-Forces}}

==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
Image:Dark eldar.jpg|
Image:Commorragh Runner.jpg
Image:40kshock.jpg
Image:Commorragh.jpg|What is up?
File:Blackholeinabox.jpg#file.png|Oh, that wacky Vect.
File:Duke_uses_poison.jpg#file.png|Kill like a DEldar, DEldar.
Image:Dark_Eldar_Combat_Drugs_-_Not_Even_Once_2.png| Combat drugs: Not even once.
Image:Advice_Darkeldar.jpg.jpg|No, no, you got it right the first time.
Image:Wrack by moonskinned-d5tx8oj.jpg|He's only a gimp but he's not that funny.
Image:LynnminwenCD.jpg|Buying this CD is [[Heresy]]! <s>Download it from torrent. </s> {{BLAM|HERESY!}}{{BLAM}}
File:1381591104255.jpg|Lelith Hesperax, right after killing someone and cleaning off the blood.
Image:Dark_Eldar.png|...but at least you can't call them quitters! Keep fucking that chicken!
Image:Idealized.jpg|Fucking [[My Little Pony|Pony]] nonsense... Fucking with... Sense of... What were we talking about?
File:Warhammer 40k sisters of battle adeptas sororitas battling Dark Eldar.jpg|If an army of evil space-dominatrices squared off against an army of semi-heroic space nuns, who would win? We don't care its HAWT.
File:Wych_Battle.jpg|Some armies clad their dedicated combat units in armor that covers more than areolas and genitals. Some armies are for ''pussies''.
Image:Talos pain engine by moonskinned-d5tx8v6.jpg| "Well, look. I mean, is he gonna be able to chase us? Cause if I woke up lookin' like that, I would just run towards the nearest living thing and kill it."
Image:Inception.jpg|Your daily commute in Commorragh, except everyone's an [[Dwarf Fortress|elf-rapist]], the pistols shoot poison that can kill robots, and the chicks are soul-sucking crack whore gladiators.
Image:Bell_cel_warhammer_sketch_by_elvishprincess25-db0et80.jpg| As I understand it, this is an interesting idea for a crossover...
Image:Dark Eldar DC.png|The crossover you never knew you needed, [[Tau Diplomacy|now throw in the Tau Diplomat who sounds like Starfire]].
</gallery></center>

{{WH40k-Factions}}
{{Template:Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Xenos]]

Dark Eldar

2020-02-28T22:49:42Z

2A01:598:B008:46E2:1178:5214:E311:1367: /* History */

{{Heresy}}
[[Image:Dark_Eldar_Symbol.png‎|center]]
[[Image:Dark Eldar Raid Colored by MajesticChicken.jpg|right|thumb|600px|Mercy? Interesting word, I always wanted to know its meaning.]]
{{Topquote|Cruel people are busy all the time, as if to find justification for the cruelty of their dealings.|Leo Tolstoy}}
{{Topquote|In a world without the law of God, you have chaos, oppression, tyranny, and everyone doing what is right in their own eyes.|Randall Terry}}

The '''Dark Eldar''' (also known as the '''Drukhari''', cuz trademark reasons) are the villainous, Extra [[Grimdark]], and more BDSM obsessed counterparts of the [[Eldar]], who followed the horrific depravity that saw the Eldar Empire destroyed. Continuing such lovely traditions as mutilation for it's own sake, creative variations of rape, and dedicated polysubstance abuse constitute the Dark Eldar's claim to be the "true" and "traditionalist" Eldar, while disparaging their Craftworld and Exodite kin as having abandoned their grimdark elfiness because said grimdark elfiness caused, you know, the whole goatse-in-the-fabric-of-the-galaxy thing. They kind of have a point, but given how they have to suppress their innate psychic natures, lacking an anchor of a world spirit, spirit stone, or Creepy Clown God, and while the Creepy Rape God is trying to nom their soul-stuff they get it back by doing horrible things to others. And each other. And themselves. Truthfully, all of the elfy branches have deviated in their own ways after the Fall, but only the Dark Eldar do so by way of doing even more of the depraved shit that caused the Fall in the first place. So there's something to be said for them being traditionalists, after all; His Grand Spikiness [[Asdrubael Vect]] is hinted at having been around for the last big [[Anal circumference|blowout]] [[Eye of Terror|party]], and Commorragh's [[Urien Rakarth|Chief Surgeon]] is confirmed to have been present for it.

They get away with this in part by living in the byzantine port city [[Commorragh]] in the [[Webway]], spiriting out from the shadows on occasion to take slaves and to commit unspeakable atrocities on whoever they capture. Particularly when they are outside the Webway, they're in constant danger from [[Slaanesh|"She Who Thirsts"]] unless they go on and on in a self-reinforcing, vicious cycle of debauchery. They're the [[Honsou|sickest fucks]] in all of [[Warhammer 40,000]], which is a hell of an accomplishment, even for [[Slaanesh|the literal god of pleasure and excess]]. Their lives revolve around sadistic torture, making them a sort of cross between the Cenobites from Hellraiser and the Reavers from Firefly. They are mainly pirates, though sometimes hire themselves out as mercenaries before they inevitably betray their employers.

Surprisingly, Dark Eldar draw a lot of inspiration from the Fair Folk - not the pussy Disney pixi-fairies, but the [[World of Darkness]]-style inhumanly beautiful monsters that make humans suffer just for their own amusement, kidnap children to turn them into pets/slaves, and run the Wild Hunt that kill maim and rape everything in its wake, vanishing without a trace at dawn. Commonly derided for being the biggest Edge-Lords in the galaxy (or "scene-kid" Eldar), Dark Eldar come across as the only race that's actively trying to ''one-up'' Chaos for title of the universe's most grimdark faction.

For their fantasy counterparts see [[Druchii]].

==History==
The Eldar, after the [[FATAL|disaster]] that caused [[Slaanesh]] and [[Eye of Terror|turned their empire into the universe's biggest Goatse.cx reference]], destroying their race and [[grimdark|killing 90% or so of their population outright]], were a dying race. Slaanesh was devouring their souls like Eldar McNuggets, and it was only through ascetic mysticism and use of Soulstones that the Eldar could avoid getting vored by She Who Thirsts. Conventional wisdom was that these Eldar only survived on craftworlds and the maiden worlds that the Eldar had colonized before the fall, and some of these still fell into genocidal madness (the Blood Angels and Ordo Sinister were needed to destroy one such Craftworld).

[[Dawn of War|Conventional wisdom]], of course, [[C.S.Goto|means little in the 40K universe]]. Whilst most of the Eldar were mass-raped to death by Slaanesh when their falling into depraved cycles of decadence reached critical mass and caused a Chaos god to be born, a few of them survived because they were in parts of the Webway (a portal network that the Eldar use for transportation). They escaped with no real ill-effects, or so they thought. In reality, Slaanesh was slowly nomming their souls just like she does every Eldar without a Soulstone - however, they found that by [[Grimdark|continuing to engage in rampant hedonism and by torturing and inflicting pain and anguish on other creatures would reduce or even reverse the effects of Slaanesh's hold on them]], forcing them to seek out and capture, kill, and torment the "lesser" races of the galaxy in order to satiate themselves and stave off their doom. Which actually seems to be working out pretty well for those deldar who are sick enough fucks, because they wind up being more or less immortal.

Sadistic and psychotic to the point of making your average [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos Marine]] look like hippies in contrast, hopped up on cocktails of combat stimulant drugs, and armed predominantly with weapons and equipment that cause [[Indrick Boreale|unspeakable immeasurable agony]] in those they go after, the Dark Eldar are easily the most depraved and vicious race the 41st millennium has. Hated by literally every single faction in the 41st millennium, the Dark Eldar are perhaps the only race with [[Anal circumference|bigger assholes]] than [[Eldrad]], though in spite of this, unlike their sissy counterparts, the Dark Eldar are hated much less by the playerbase - presumably because their army actually takes some brains to use and isn't a giant bunch of status-quo-defending [[Eldar|faggots]]. Well, that and its implied they use [[/d/|sexual torture]] along with the normal kind.

In battle, Dark Eldar center around hit-and-run tactics, dealing huge damage and moving fast; few of their units can really take much abuse, making them even more fragile than their less edgy counterparts. Their standard infantry armor is identical to that of a Guardian (not terribly good), their vehicles are predominantly lightly-armored transport and attack craft that can be brought down by anti-infantry gunfire, and the armor on a typical Wych or Grotesque is no tougher than the ramshackle metal plating favored by Orks, but without the whole "I believe this armor will protect me, which is why it does" and at absolute best will cover only nipples and vulva, meaning that it would take considerable skill (and a somewhat sadistic shooter) to bounce a round off of their 'armour'. Suffice to say, they are extremely fragile and metaphorically half-naked in battle (literally if female), and getting the most out of them takes skill and patience that is rarely-seen on [[/tg/]]; whilst most fa/tg/uys will openly mock your average Eldar player, they will give pause and show some respect to a Dark Eldar player worth their salt.

The Dark Eldar are known for the ''excessive'' amount of [[Faptau|fapping]] [[Heresy|material]] involved with them, and they are the subject of thousands of sexual fantasies by desperate masochistic teenagers and middle aged neckbeards incapable of handling [[Female Space Marines|real women]]. They did, after all, kind of rape/drug/kill/etc themselves into oblivion, which tends to lend itself towards certain excessive abuses. They are also known for having some of the most fucking awesome-looking models on the tabletop, even if the armor of half of what they field will suffer instant critical existence failure at the hands of your typical [[Space Marine]]. This is pretty standard for all Xenos though.

==Codex Update==
[[File:Dark_Eldar_Safe.jpg|thumb|right|1998-2010 - twelve years of codex blue balls]]
The Dark Eldar, historically, have long been considered the faction for professionals because the army was perceived as being very difficult to use correctly. Their units, while generally quite fast, were almost uniformly fragile; this meant that the army was very intolerant of mistakes on the tabletop. Consequently they were easily the ''least'' played faction in 40k. Nearly 12 years passed before a codex update - but finally, in 2010, [[Games Workshop|GW]] decided to throw Dark Eldar players a much-needed bone.

Sweet [[Emperor|Jesus]], talk about buffs. The new 5th edition Codex changed very little fluff-wise, but the Dark Eldar gained substantial staying power and could actually field a reasonably <s>tough</s> hard-hitting army. The Power from Pain rule made them tougher as they scored kills, and the army also had a lot of potential for being much more forgiving of mistakes (previously it was a case of either steamrolling foes or getting curb-stomped). Lots of new options and extensive access to poisoned range weapons made them extremely versatile - as well as the bane of Tyranid players everywhere.

The 7th edition Codex was a mixed bag, with some serious nerfs. On the downside: Vect, Sliscus, Malys, Decapitator and Baron are no longer playable, though most of them are still mentioned in the fluff. Flickerfields have disappeared from all vehicles except Venoms, and Wyches somehow got ''even'' worse by losing haywire grenades and their gladiator weapons just becoming variants on re-rolling. On the upside, Power From Pain became something that happened to the whole army with the bonuses stacking each turn, rather than having to make mediocre units kill things in order to become useful. Mandrakes actually became half-decent (though still vastly inferior to Incubi & Trueborn), Grotesques no longer exploded when left alone, Talos & Chronos engines came in squads, and Scourges became able to spam more toys.

As of 8th Edition the Dark Eldar have been renamed the 'Drukhari' for copyright reasons. Like most armies in this edition they have their own equivalent of Chapter Tactics, Toughness on vehicles, and varying movement rates. All of these elements are considerable improvements compared to the previous editions. Dark Eldar armies can also gain extra CP for bringing multiple smaller detachments; combine this with the considerable buffs on wyches and Mandrakes, and you've got an army that has the potential to become more popular than ever before! They are still a "glass cannon" army, but are way more forgiving and benefit from both aggressive and conservative playstyles.

==The Dark Eldar Themselves==
[[Image:1287692229240.jpg|thumb|right|A lot like this, really.]]
{{topquote|I came to bring the pain, hardcore from the brain/Let's go inside my astral plane.|Method Man, Archon of the Wu Tang Kabal}}

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n8tvBUfanu0]''''The fall of the eldar to present drukhari''''

The story of the Dark Eldar's fall and their need to inflict pain and horror in order to live - as well as elaboration on their kabalistic practices - have gone a long way towards deepening their fluff considerably (as one noble fa/tg/uy surmised, less retarded Saturday morning cartoon villainy). While some have balked at the more vampiric flavor of the New DE Codex, several denizens of /tg/ have managed to extract comic gold from this. A common musing is that they are ambitious, sex-crazed, easily shot down, boat-and-plane-loving pseudo-aristocrats (all though many of the Dark Eldar really are aristocratic) haunted by a dark curse - ergo, they're not vampires, but, in fact, the Kennedys.

Putting it simply, the soul of a Dark Eldar is [[Grimdark|an open wound that can only be salved with suffering, a void that can only be filled with tortured bodies, a thirst that can only be quenched by spilled blood.]] The origin of this void within the Dark Eldar, and the source of the nigh-religious terror that drives them to commit these daily atrocities, is the knowledge that [[Matt Ward|<s>THEY WILL NEVER BE ULTRAMARINES</s>]] upon death, their soul is forfeit to the Chaos God Slaanesh - an eventuality they intend to stem off at all costs.

Fortunately for the Dark Eldar, provided that someone recovers enough of their remains, their dead body parts can be brought to the Dark Eldar Haemonculi (an ancient order of Dr. Mengeles, the people that educated [[Fabius Bile]] in the art of being a gigantic [[Creed|dick]]) and regenerate themselves in case of death, complete with personality and mental faculties intact. This also keeps their soul from being devoured by Slaanesh - but at a price - this regenerative process is fueled by pain just as surely as the Dark Eldar themselves. This is the reason Dark Eldar raids are so eager to get in and get out as fast as possible; [[grimdark|if the subject is dead for more than a day or so, they're beyond recovery]]. (Actually that's a lie the Haemonculi tell their clients so the clients won't risk the truth: any subject can be revived, but the longer it's been dead the more likely the reviving chamber will attract daemons and cause a disjunction/warp storm)

Their diet of anguish has blessed the Dark Eldar with some of the longest lifespans in the setting, only surpassed by godlike figures like the C'tan, Necrons, the [[Emperor|Emprah]], [[Phoenix Lords]] and the Chaos Gods. If they die, they can just respawn back at base once the Haemonculi have managed to torture and/or bosh enough pain out of their subjects to allow the occupants of their rejuvenation pods to regenerate. This system is dependant on the Haemonculi though, and as a result they are the single most crucial group within all of Commorragh.

The Dark Eldar have also overcome the traditional [[Gay|Elven birthrate problem]] by finding a fun workaround to the long gestation period of conventional Eldar - they can remove a fertilized ovum and place it in an amniotic tube to age them quickly enough to be useful. This is looked down on by Dark Eldar society however - they even have an elite unit, the Trueborn, that are basically a bunch of spoiled brats who feel entitled to all the good weapons just because they got pushed out of a proper twat (that and the fact that ones born from a tube also get older faster and need to feed on pain more often). The fact that hedonism is the rule in Commorragh probably helps too.

The Dark Eldar have some of the most advanced tech in the 41st millennium, in cases even surpassing the powerful weapons of their cousins. Access to weapons that basically fling incandescent dark matter and miniature stars around goes a long way towards giving them serious "I'm going to fuck your shit up" power, and their access to arcane wargear and super-fast vehicles even more so. In fact the only race that comes even close to the technological level and destructive power of the Dark Eldar is the [[Necrons]], whose basic weapon rips the molecules off its target, flaying one layer off at a time (though it's still near-instant). Despite this most of the powerful technology cannot be used by the Dark Eldar anymore as it was Psychic in nature, and their psychic abilities have long atrophied away (truly making them the degenerate Eldars). What little remains tends to not be too impressive.

All that said, at least now their continued survival is not as implausible as the Reavers from Firefly maintaining a functional spacefleet - the Dark Eldar are smart, and even though they'll fight each other to death over a biscuit in Commorragh, during a raid into Real Space they set aside their differences to [[/tg/ gets shit done|GET SHIT DONE]]. The new codex also points out the Dark Eldar do follow a fairly strict set of rules while fighting each other and running shit; one of the reasons they enjoy raiding realspace is that it allows them to cut loose and just butcher innocents for a while.

It is also worth noting that the closest word Dark Eldar have to the concept of love is something along the lines of willingly submitting one's will to another.

==COMMORRAGH WELCOMES CAREFUL DRIVERS==
[[Image:Dork_Elfdar_Winch.png|thumb|right|My bra is a face. Your argument is invalid.]]
The Dark Eldar live in the Dark City of Commorragh, basically an impossibly large extradimensional port city fueled by two stolen suns (and they made sure to steal suns from inhabited planetary systems, because fuck those guys). Think of a sprawling cross between 17th century Port Royal with Mos Eisley space port (a wretched hive of scum and villainy) with a drug/torture/rape-based economy (Detroit) and the warped architecture of ''Inception''. So watch out, Utica! Commorragh is a city on the... Grow!

[[Story:A cage, shattered|If you can survive the inhabitants of the Dark City]] there is only one problem. Being in the Webway, every now and then the Dark City will suffer something called a Dysjunction; the Webway/Warp equivalent of a natural disaster which is a more powerful combination of earthquake/firestorm/hurricane that can spread across large parts of the Webway and really wreck Commorragh. In addition, it damages the walls of the Webway, which can allow daemons to invade all across Commorragh. Fortunately, this is rare and only happens during huge bouts of Warp-related turmoil, hence why Dark Eldar are so serious about enforcing the ban of sorcery and psychic power usage inside Commorragh. These Dysjunctions, when they do occur, regularly destroy subrealms of Commorragh.

It's only been invaded thrice. First by Orks (that time with daemons, apart from Dysjunctions, they were summoned into Commorragh) and the second was when Vect, plotting a coup against the ruling Archons, arranged for a ship filled with a few hundred Space Marines (in a shocking change from the norm, the [[Salamanders]], for once; [[Matt Ward]] is rumored to have had the vapors from this, though the Salamanders are frequently depicted as having a huge grudge against the Dark Eldar due to Vulkan's origin story) to be towed to the Dark City. Of course, ''most'' of Commorragh's armed forces fought the Space Marines, who managed to escape with ease. The City was also invaded by the [[Death Guard]] at a point.

[[Lucius]], whilst not invading it, did manage to destroy an entire subrealm of Commorragh and kill so many Dark Eldar it was noted as the largest single loss of Eldar life since [[Eye of Terror|the Fall]], and cowed all of Commorragh into a defensive mode, with Vect and the other leaders powerless to do anything to stop Lucius and his single ship.

Apart from invasions, however, Space Marines have made a frequent habit of entering and exiting it, the Salamanders, [[Space Wolves]] and [[Deathwatch]] all having successfully entered the city and exited alive, along with the [[Emperor's Children]], Deathmongers and Death Guard. In fact there are precious few times Space Marines don't enter and exit Commorragh at their own leisure, and Dark Eldar seem particularly bad at containing them.

Not to be outdone, the Black Legion once laid siege to Comorragh to wipe out one of its great houses. Don't steal from Iskandar Khayon, kids.

==The name==
Despite having been plastered on the boxes and rules for the better half of their existence, the term "Dark Eldar" almost never appears in universe - no one really calls them by that name. Dark Eldar call themselves just Eldar, since they think they are the only true Eldar, inheritors of the old Eldar Empire, while all other are defectors from the true Eldar path (of rape, drugs and rock-n-roll); most will admit they have a point, but whether they're outright correct is a debate for another time. Craftworlders call them the Dark Kin, Exodites call them the Children of [[Khaine]], and Corsairs and Harlequins simply call them Commorites. As for other races, most of them don't know and/or care about the differences between Eldar subraces/cultures, at best distinguishing Commorites (and sometimes Corsairs too) by their MO as as pirates or raiders of Eldar, or by their appearance as Spikey Panzees. About the only people who actually use the term "Dark Eldar" in-universe are some of the Ordo Xenos Inquisitors and their acolytes, and even they also often call them Chaos or Tainted Eldar, mistakenly thinking DEldar are Chaos-worshipers.

The modern name "Drukhari"™ doesn't make much more sense from a DE perspective. If we assume the Eldar lexicon to be based on IRL Celtic languages (some Eldar sentences are ''litteraly'' Irish/Scottish), then "Drukhari"™ would be related to ''drouk'' (Breton) or ''droch'' (Old Irish), from Gaullish ''drucos'' meaning "evil, bad". Something quite weird given how DE are beyond moral considerations, so it's probably a term coined by other Eldar subcultures. (Droch, Drouk, Drucos / Drukos also can mean 'Wheel', 'Circlet', 'Bridge', 'Wet', 'Drown' and 'To Deceive'. It is entirely possible while it's coined by other subcultures, it could be the inhabitants of Commorragh see themselves as 'Eldar of the Dark City', or other Eldar may name them 'The Eldar that Deceive', both of which may feasibly be 'Drukhari'™) Really, though, its just an alteration of the name for Warhammer Fantasy's Dark Elves, Druchii.

The term 'Eladrith Ynneas' (Ee-lad-rith Yin-nee-ah-ss) was coined in 5the ed by Vect shortly after his meteoric rise to power, and is widely considered to sound much cooler than American comedian Drew-Carey.

==Tactics==
The Dark Eldar put a lot of emphasis on lightning fast piratical raids; their vehicles are lightly armoured, but are the fastest available, allowing them to get in and out as quick as possible. They have a lot of units who prefer getting up close and personal, such as Wyches and Incubi, who put emphasis on causing as much pain as possible whilst still getting home in time for tea. This doesn't mean to say they don't have good ranged weaponry; their splinter rifles fire crystalized poison and their blast weapons fire dark matter, completely annihilating anything in their path. In short, all of their weapons are designed to fuck up everything they touch in the most extravagant and painful way possible. Fear, infiltration and sabotage are their main weapons, and usually their enemies don't know they are fighting the Dark Eldar until it's far too late.

The Dark Eldar themselves despise a fair fight. They will use anything at their disposal, and no tactic is too underhanded, no ploy too despicable. They have no code of honor (save for the Incubi) and will do anything as long as they come out on top, which to them is coming away with as many slaves and stolen raw materials as possible. And when they do get home with their booty, they will open their finest wines, sit on thrones made of dead slaves, kick up their heels on living slaves being used as footrests (or just rape them) and twirl their metaphorical handlebar mustaches. Cue evil laugh.

==Special Characters==
<s>At least the Dark Eldar actually have playable special characters now:</s> HAHA - not anymore! As of the 7th ed codex, the Deldar lost a good half of their special characters.

===RIP===
*[[Asdrubael Vect| Asdrubael Vect]], the Pimp Master General of Commorragh who's now a manipulator on par with Eldrad (hardly high praise) and, impossibly, an even bigger dick. A tragic loss he is much missed; his rules helped your army like crazy and made him the deadliest [[Primarch|non-HH]] [[Swarmlord|infantry-sized]] model in 40k, impossible to re-create without lucky rolls on dice and homebrews. Why Games Workshop saw fit to remove Vect from the latest Codex is a mystery as he had a model (based on the out-of-production plastic raider kit) but given the latest trend of shifting some characters off into the Lord of War section, Vect on the Dais of Destruction would've been a nice fit, especially considering that Santa Claws based monstrosity we were given in the Space Wolves codex.
*[[Lady Malys]], an anime villainess and Vect's pissed-off ex. She won [[Daemon|someone's heart]] in a contest and shoved it in her chest. She was ''okay'' as a character so her passing isn't that big a deal. She was also dropped from the rules but still also features heavily all the way through the new codex as the up and coming rival to Vect, her loss was more inexplicable since she could have easily filled the gap of special character Archon, since Succubus & Haemonculi both have theirs; but she was likely cut because she doesn't have a model and GW couldn't be bothered to give her one.
*<s>Kruellagh the Vile, a name too silly even for [[Rogue Trader]], being based off of "Hundred and One Dalmatians" villain Cruella de Vil. Also her model made her look like a cheesy DC supervillain.</s> NO LONGER EXISTS. ALL HAIL [[Phil Kelly|LORD KELLY!]]
*Lord Hellion [[Baron Sathonyx]], who many on /tg/ believe to be Spider-Man's archnemesis. Was kinda cool for his FOC-shifting abilities with respects to Hellions.
*[[Kheradruakh]] the Decapitator, who, uh, cuts peoples heads off and collects them like beanie babies. Implied to be collecting them like coconuts to do some serious warp-related shit. Was also never used because [[Counts as|Mandrakes suck]]. He recently played a major role in the Gathering Storm, saving all of Commorragh from a massive Dysjunction.
*[[Duke Sliscus]], the Pirate Duke who drinks poisons, has all the best drugs, and brings all the bitches to the yard with his gigantic [[Eldrad|cock]]. Almost as insufferable as [[Assholetep]]. Much missed because his contraband rule stopped you from rolling terrible combat drugs, and now this is gone. The rest of his rules weren't particularly special though, so you can still have him using the Archon rules.

===Survivors===
*[[Urien Rakarth]], a hyper-evolved Pavi Largo. Quite possibly the sickest fuck in the galaxy (at the very least a strong contender), and that is really an achievement of unimaginable proportions.
*[[Drazhar]], the Master of Blades, who does not speak and slashes other Incubi to bits from time to time just to throw his weight around. <strike>Despite him having a different name than the old Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions</strike> (Drazhar is just a nickname meaning "living sword", nobody knows his real name as he just appeared one day out of nowhere, never removes his armor, and probably kills anyone who tries to touch the goods), many people believe Drazhar is Arhra. An additional piece of <strike>bait</strike> evidence is that his warsuit is much more ancient than any other one available to the incubi cults and pretty much out of their understanding, leading some to think it's -the- original warsuit. Considering Ahra disappeared after getting buttfucked by his successor and disappeared some time before Drazhar showed up, and you can pretty much piece the evidence of the <strike>mystery</strike> thinly veiled "but what if it's not trueeeeeeeee" tactic together.
*[[Lelith Hesperax]], an oversexed gladiatrix/snuff-film porn starlet (srsly, so much implied masturbation in her profile, it's not even funny). Jumped ship to the [[Ynnari]] faction for personal goals.

== Dating a Dark Eldar ==
{| border=2 cellspacing=2 cellpadding=2
|-
! Likes !! Dislikes
|- valign=top
|
* "Playthings"
* Latex
* Leather
* Whips
* Cock and ball torture
* Hardcore, ballbusting Sex
* Drugs
* [[Ork#Rokkas|Rock'n'Roll]]
* S/M
* Holes
* [[Truly_Immovable_Rod|Rods]]
* [[/d/|Other odd fetishes]]
|
* Sunshine
* Puppies
* Flowers
* John Denver
* Sobriety
* "Vanilla" sex
* Erectile Dysfunction
* Prudishness
* R&B music
* Weak constitutions
* self-denial
|}

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Eldar(8E)|Tactics/Dark Eldar]]
*[[The Enshrouded]]

{{Dark Eldar-Characters}}
{{Dark Eldar-Forces}}

==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
Image:Dark eldar.jpg|
Image:Commorragh Runner.jpg
Image:40kshock.jpg
Image:Commorragh.jpg|What is up?
File:Blackholeinabox.jpg#file.png|Oh, that wacky Vect.
File:Duke_uses_poison.jpg#file.png|Kill like a DEldar, DEldar.
Image:Dark_Eldar_Combat_Drugs_-_Not_Even_Once_2.png| Combat drugs: Not even once.
Image:Advice_Darkeldar.jpg.jpg|No, no, you got it right the first time.
Image:Wrack by moonskinned-d5tx8oj.jpg|He's only a gimp but he's not that funny.
Image:LynnminwenCD.jpg|Buying this CD is [[Heresy]]! <s>Download it from torrent. </s> {{BLAM|HERESY!}}{{BLAM}}
File:1381591104255.jpg|Lelith Hesperax, right after killing someone and cleaning off the blood.
Image:Dark_Eldar.png|...but at least you can't call them quitters! Keep fucking that chicken!
Image:Idealized.jpg|Fucking [[My Little Pony|Pony]] nonsense... Fucking with... Sense of... What were we talking about?
File:Warhammer 40k sisters of battle adeptas sororitas battling Dark Eldar.jpg|If an army of evil space-dominatrices squared off against an army of semi-heroic space nuns, who would win? We don't care its HAWT.
File:Wych_Battle.jpg|Some armies clad their dedicated combat units in armor that covers more than areolas and genitals. Some armies are for ''pussies''.
Image:Talos pain engine by moonskinned-d5tx8v6.jpg| "Well, look. I mean, is he gonna be able to chase us? Cause if I woke up lookin' like that, I would just run towards the nearest living thing and kill it."
Image:Inception.jpg|Your daily commute in Commorragh, except everyone's an [[Dwarf Fortress|elf-rapist]], the pistols shoot poison that can kill robots, and the chicks are soul-sucking crack whore gladiators.
Image:Bell_cel_warhammer_sketch_by_elvishprincess25-db0et80.jpg| As I understand it, this is an interesting idea for a crossover...
Image:Dark Eldar DC.png|The crossover you never knew you needed, [[Tau Diplomacy|now throw in the Tau Diplomat who sounds like Starfire]].
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