History WMG / Shadowrun

After the awakening of magic, humanity subconsciously conjured spirits with the ability to [[DemonicPossession possess]] people, the thing is that the spirits are limited to {{Metamorphosis}} and/or BalefulPolymorph

It's repeatedly pointed out in multiple sources how HMHVV breaks the fundamental rules of magic as it's known; any victim, however mundane, will be given awakened powers by it, something that shouldn't be possible otherwise. The way the virus mutates, the effects it has on its host, the various horrible expressions of it are all ''wrong'' in one way or another. Many infected remark that even in cases where they don't go feral and retain their identity, they undergo very real personality changes that even they aren't sure can simply be attributed to the shock & trauma, both emotional & physical, of the transformation, or if they're really the same person at all. If they haven't been possessed by something, and rather than being the person they were, they're really the thing that killed that person, inhabiting it's meat & inheriting it's memories. Then Dark Terrors comes along & shows us what happens when ghouls engage in regular cannibalism of other ghouls; it's as if they become possessed by a greater power - a Horror - and are capable of magical feats that shouldn't be possible. Both Red and Hannibelle observe that the goal of the experiment may have been to 'concentrate' whatever was already inside of them. Those ghouls didn't become possessed, they had always been possessed, and all that had happened was that the presence possessing them finally manifested & asserted dominance over the original personalities.

An alternative theory goes that Shadowrun occurs BEFORE Earthdawn; unknown to the people of Earthdawn, it's now the year 5000 and the past 2000 years have been "things" coming through, kicking the planet and people over until it has managed to return to the state it's found in Earthdawn.

[[WMG: The 'car bomb' that killed Dunkelzahn was based on the designs of [[VideoGame/ShadowrunReturns Adrian Vauclair]].]]

** ''Complete Trog'', I believe, has Bull reveal that he has a medical condition that, according to him, affects less than 1% of the ork and troll population, that gives them a normal human life span and maturation rate. The book also includes a positive quality that trog characters can take at character creation to reflect this. The book also has a section suggesting that the whole, orks live forty years thing, might not be natural, as there are apparently first generation trogs in the Congo area who are pushing 70. I suspect this retconning of the ork life span, from a meta perspective, is being done at least partly because they do like Bull and want to keep using the character even though he should be retired or dead by now. Also it's possible that they don't think they'll get the Earthdawn license back anytime soon so they don't feel as beholden to it's established rules

It's repeatedly pointed out in multiple sources how HMHVV breaks the fundamental rules of magic as it's known; any victim, however mundane, will beg given awakened powers by it, something that shouldn't be possible otherwise. The way the virus mutates, the effects it has on its host, the various horrible expressions of it are all ''wrong'' in one way or another. Many infected remark that even in cases where they don't go feral and retain their identity, they undergo very real personality changes that even they aren't sure can simply be attributed to the shock & trauma, both emotional & physical, of the transformation, or if they're really the same person at all. If they haven't been possessed by something, and rather than being the person they were, they're really the thing that killed that person, inhabiting it's meat & inheriting it's memories. Then Dark Terrors comes along & shows us what happens when ghouls engage in regular cannibalism of other ghouls; it's as if they become possessed by a greater power - a Horror - and are capable of magical feats that shouldn't be possible. Both Red and Hannibelle observe that the goal of the experiment may have been to 'concentrate' whatever was already inside of them. Those ghouls didn't become possessed, they had always been possessed, and all that had happened was that the presence possessing them finally manifested & asserted dominance over the original personalities.

It's repeatedly pointed out in multiple sources how HMHVV breaks the fundamental rules of magic as it's known; any victim, however mundane, will beg given awakened powers by it, something that shouldn't be possible otherwise. The way the virus mutates, the effects it has on its host, the various horrible expressions of it are all ''wrong'' in one way or another. Many infected remark that even in cases where they don't go feral and retain their identity, they undergo very real personality changes that even they aren't sure can simply be attributed to the shock & trauma, both emotional & phsyical, of the transformation, or if they're really the same person at all. If they haven't been possessed by something, and rather than being the person they were, they're really the thing that killed that person, inhabiting it's meat & inheriting it's memories. Then Dark Terrors comes along & shows us what happens when ghouls engage in regular cannibalism of other ghouls; it's as if they become possessed by a greater power - a Horror - and are capable of magical feats that shouldn't be possible. But Red & Hannibelle observe that the goal of the experiment may have been to 'concentrate' whatever was already inside of them. Those ghouls didn't become possessed, they had always been possessed, and all that had happened was that the presence possessing them finally manifested & asserted dominance over the original personalities.

<<|WildMassGuessing|>>

[[WMG: The 'car bomb' that killed Dunkelzahn was based on the designs of [[ShadowrunReturns Adrian Vauclair]].]]

* Share a love of comics. (Read Dunkelzahn's will.)
* America (or, in the case of Dunk, the UCAS) was in trouble at the time of their election. (Then again, [[WorldHalfEmpty America's always in trouble.]])

* And why so many of the authors had a hard time remember that decking does not equal Astral Projection...

[[WMG: [[AWizardDidIt Spirits are responsible for Meta-Humanity and changelings]]]]
After the awakening of magic humanity subconsciously conjured spirits with the ability to [[DemonicPossession possess]] people, the thing is that the spirits are limited to {{Metamorphosis}} and/or BalefulPolymorph

An alternative theroy goes that Shadowrun occurs BEFORE Earthdawn unknown to the people of Earthdawn it's now the year 5000 and the past 2000 years have been "things" coming through, kicking the planet and people over until it has managed to return to the state it's found in Earthdawn.

[[WMG:Dunkelzahn is BarackObama.]]