Basic History

As the civil unrest that marked the end of the millennium intensified, corporations became alarmed at the state of social and political affairs. Fearing to trust their assets to governmental military forces, they began arming their own security personnel with the finest equipment available and hiring professional mercenaries. As the tide of civil disobedience and urban violence began to engulf every nation on the globe, the corporations began transferring their paramilitary assets wherever needed.

Food riots of the late 1990's reach their peak in New York City, during the three month truckers' strike. Thousands are injured as violence spreads through the city.

* A 3-month truckers' strike causes food riots in New York.
* A Seretech truck hauling infectious medical wastes on Staten Island, is attacked by a mob in the mistaken belief that it carries food. Seretech security forces use lethal force to protect it. 20 Seretech employees and 200 rioters are killed.
* The Supreme Court upholds Seretech's actions as responsible for saving thousands of lives, rather than costing hundreds.

A precedent-setting ruling on The United States vs. Seretech Corporation, the Supreme Court upheld Seretech's right to maintain an armed force for the protection of its own personnel and property.

Scientist are surprised to discover a distinct new species of ferret in North America. Dubbed the Century Ferret due to the time of discovery, it is later concluded to be a "Spike Baby", a premature awakening.

In a landmark case, the Shiawase Decision (The Nuclear Regulatory Commission vs. The Shiawase Corporation) firmly established the extraterritoriality of multinational corporations in international law, by giving them the same rights and privileges as foreign governments.

* The Shiawase court decision establishes extraterritoriality for megacorps when a radical eco-group called TerraFirst! attacked a Shiawase nuclear power plant. Though the attack was repelled, the corporation used the incident to convince the Supreme Court that major multinational corporations need the ability to protect themselves. To this end, the Supreme Court granted major companies extraterritoriality. (TerraFirst! manages later to acquire evidence that the attack was in fact a setup with the intent to force the courts into granting sovereignty. However, before the group can act on said information, their headquarters is destroyed and key members killed in what is considered to be one of the first shadowruns.)
* Aug-Oct: NASA Mars probes photographs pyramids and a skeleton on the surface of Mars. The information is given the highest classification (Top Secret: Veil).

New technology makes it possible to construct the first optical chip that is proof against electromagnetic pulse effects.

2002-2008
The Resourse Rush, United Oil, and other major corporations demand and get licenses to exploit oil, mineral, and land resources on U.S. federal lands, including designated Indian lands. Radical Amerindians respond by forming the Soverign American Indian Movement, (SAIM).

* Libya attacks Israel with chemical weapons.
* Nuclear meltdown at Dungeness in Kent (England) creates a localized irradiated zone.

A major earthquake in New York City kills more than 200,000 people, with damage at 20 million dollars. It will take 40 years to rebuild the city.

* Israel retaliates against Libya with nuclear weapons.
* A major earthquake hits New York City on 12 August, killing 200,000 and causing 200 billion in damage. It will take 40 years to rebuild.
* United Nations moves to Geneva.
* East Coast Stock Exchange moves to Boston.
* Conservative government in the United Kingdom establishes regional parliaments in Scotland and Wales.

Japan announces the creation of a new Japanese Imperial State. The Japanese deploy the first solar-powered collector satellites to beam microwave energy to receptors on the Earth's surface.

* Japanese megacorps push the Republic of Korea into a war with the Democratic Peoples' Republic of Korea
* Early 2006: DPRK launches a nuclear attack at Japan, but the missiles do not reach their targets.
* Late 2006: DPRK is overrun. Japan proclaims Japanese Imperial State.

Angry that the government has leased additional Indian lands to United Oil, SAIM commandoes capture the Shiloh missile facility. They launch a Lone Eagle missile towards the Soviet Union, bringing the world to the brink of nuclear war. The crisis ends when the warheads mysteriously fail to detonate.

* The resource rush
* May 5: United Oil receives rights to 25% of national parklands and 10% of Indian lands.
* Sovereign American Indian Movement (SAIM) seizes the Shiloh launch facility in Montana. Delta Team retakes the site, but not before the terrorists launch a Lone Eagle ICBM at Russia. The missile never arrives at its destination. The reasons for this are unknown by the public.
* Re-Education and Relocation Act (Nepean Act in Canada) round up Native Americans into "reeducation centers".
* Native Americans are spared the worst of VITAS because of this internment, ironically.
* King Charles III is crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In retaliation for the Shiloh affair, the U.S. government passes the Re-Education and Relocation Act, authorizing the detention of thousands of Native Americans in concentration camps (euphemistically known as "reeducation centers.")

First outbreak of Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome (VITAS), which kills 25 percecnt of the world's population before the year's end.

The Year of Chaos. Governments began to topple, famine stalks the world, nuclear power plants suffer meltdown, with extensive radiation fallout. The dawn of the "Awakened world" begins.

The first mutant and changeling children are born, signaling he start of the UGE (Unexplained Genetic Expression) Syndrome. The news media dub these new beings as "Elves" and "Dwarves."

On December 24, thousands of Japanese witness the first Dragon, Ryumyo, to reemerge from dormancy on Mt. Fuji. The same day, Daniel Howling Coyote, Prophet of the Great Ghost Dance, leads his followers out of the Abilene Re-EducationCenter.

Beginning this year, political chaos begins to engulf the planet. In 2011, the Federal government of Mexico dissolves in riots, while Tibet regains indepenence as magical defences seal it off from invasion and render the region incommunicado.

* Pope John Paul IV denounces metahumans as abominations in the eyes of God.
* England's Sizewell B nuclear power station suffers critical meltdown, resulting in a total death count of 17,000.
* A nuclear power plant in Dounreay, Scotland suffers a meltdown, creating the Scottish Irradiated Zone.
*July: Operation Discovery, an 8-man Mars Mission, makes planet-fall and begins its survey.

* Jan 27: The great western dragon Dunkelzahn's first appearance at Cherry Creek Lake in Denver.
o Grants exclusive 12-hour interview with Holly Brighton during which he explains the Awakening. (Restoration of Magic to the world.)
* The great western dragon, Lofwyr, appears in Germany and becomes a corporate player.
* England's King Charles III abdicates in favor of his only surviving son, George.
* Formation of Hildebrandt-Kleinfort-Bernal (HKB) megacorporation in England, an increasingly major power in world financial affairs.

First televised of Combat Biker sport match in (Baton Rouge, LA).

Daniel Howling Coyote announce the formation of the Native American Nations (NAN), with the Sovereign Tribal Councel at its head. The Dancers claim responsibility for the eruption of Redondo Peak in New Mexico; Los Alamos is buried under 100 meters of ash. A federal force sent in to retaliate is destroyed by tornadoes called down by the Ghost Dancers.

The United Free Republic of Ireland is established, while the white-controlled government of Africa collapses.

* May 5: Francisco Pavón of the Azatlán party becomes first directly elected president of Mexico.
* Mexico becomes Aztlan, backed by ORO corporation (Aztechnology).
* Hong Kong breaks free from mainland China and proclaims independence. The British government uses its influence to protect Hong Kong, but is duped by megacorporations and loses face over the incident.
* Schism splits the Irish Republican Army (IRA) into two factions: the Provisional IRA (led by Liam O'Connor, a "spike baby" elf) and the Official IRA.
*The Provisional IRA is incorporated into the state security apparatus, where it counters Protestant paramilitaries. It would grow into the core of the Tir Republican Corps (TRC).

# Daniel Howling Coyote declares war on the United States in order to reclaim Native American land for the formation of the Native American Nations.
# Redondo peak erupts and buries Los Alamos, New Mexico.

In a period of three weeks
*President Garrety is assassinated by William Springer (never captured).
* The following world leaders are also assassinated: Russian President Nikolai Chelenko, Prime Minister Lena Rodale of the United Kingdom and Minister Chaim Schon of Israel.

# Vice President William Jarman passes Executive Order 17-321, the extermination of the Native American tribes.
# The defence and aerospace megacorp, Ares buys NASA.
# A major oil spill in the North Sea creates the Scottish Fringe Toxic Zone.

New U.S. President William Jarma issues the infamous Resolutions Act, sanctioning the extermination of all Native American tribes. In responce, the Indians began the Great Ghost Dance. Freak weather and other uncanny events destroy or disrupt U.S. military bases hosting troops slated for use in the Resolution Action. On August 17 in responce to the Ghost Dancers' growing power, Mount Hood, Mount Ranier, Mount St. Helens, and Mount Adams erupt simultaneously just as government troops are finally about to begin their attack.

First-generation ASIST (Artificial Sensory Induction System Technology) is created by Dr. Hosato Hikita of ESP Systems in Chicago.

The Treaty of Denver is signed. With this agreement, the federal governments of the United States, Canada, and Mexico acknowledge the sovereignty of NAN over most of western North America. The document outlined a ten-year population adjustment plan, that would relocate all non-Indians off lands belonging to NAN. Seattle remains as an extraterritorial extension of the U.S. as does most of California. Denver itself was set aside as the "Treaty City," under joint administration by the signing parties.

The U.S. spaceplane, America, with its secret military payload, disintegrates in orbit. The wreckage lands in Australia, killing 300 in the small town of Longreach.

* Aztlan invited to join the new Sovereign Tribal Council (STC) of the Native American Nations (NAN). As a member nation, it participates in the Treaty of Denver.
* The Treaty Of Denver resolves the dispute between the United States of America and the Native American Nations.
*Denver is divided between the US and four members of the NAN: Aztlan, Peublo Corporate Council, Sioux Nation, and Ute Nation.
*Denver and the surrounding territory becomes the Front Range Free Zone, a technically sovereign state governed by the Council of Denver.
* 1st-generation ASIST developed by Dr Hosato Hikita, ESP systems, Chicago.
* Civil war in China results in yet another fractured nation: Manchuria, Xinjiang, Guangxi, the Canton Confederation.
* The spaceplane America disintegrates in orbit, crashing in Longreach, Australia and killing 200.

The violinist Leonora Bartoli becomes the first to have a cyberlimb successfully implanted.

* Aden destroys Tehran in response to the Ayatollah's declaration of jihad against the metahuman races.
* Ares launches Apollo space program.

Shiela Blatavska establishes the Atlantean Foundation.

Goblinization. On April 30, 10 percent of the world's population suddenly began to metamorphose into new racial types, known today as Orks and Trolls. This transformation, popularly known as Goblinization, marks another threshold point in the reemergence of magic on Earth. Humans react violently to the presence of the metahuman races in their midst.

* Martial law and concentration camps in the US.
* Yomi Island (Philippines) in the Japanese Empire.
* England's King George VII is declared dead, rumors persist that he was killed when he began changing into a troll.


Québec declares its independence, receiving immediate recognition from France.

Severe race riots continues all over the world in responce to the phenomenon of Goblinization. The U.S. governemnt declares martial law for several months, while reports trickling out of the Soviet Union indicate deaths on a mass scale. Many changed beings go into hiding or withdraw into separate communities.

Only another outbreak of VITAS quells the radical violence, leaving another 10 percent of the world's population dead in its wake.

The term, "Awakened Beings" is coined to describe the metahumans and other emerging life form

* Cuba, Jamaica, Grenada, Bermuda and the Virgin Islands join together to form the Caribbean League.
* Los Angeles is rocked by gang warfare, eventually suppressed by National Guardsmen. The city's worst slums are walled off, soon renamed "El Infierno" by local residents.

* Humanis policlub founded. (Racist Human Club)
* US Supreme Court grants equal rights to metahumans.
* Riots over hoarded VITAS 2 serum level the LA neighborhood of Watts.

* First commercial simsense. (Addictive virtual reality computer chip)
* After a prolonged succession dispute, George Edward Richard Windsor-Hanover becomes King George VIII in England.
* President Jarman is reelected U.S. President in a landslide victory, based on the first use of the remote-vote system. Opposition parties claim fraud

Several prestigious U.S. universities establish the first undergraduate programs in occult studies.

* UCLA establishes first undergraduate program in occult studies.
* Followed by Texas AMM (Agriculture, Medicine, and Magic) and MITT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Thaumaturgy).
* Cyberware enters professional sports (NFL).
* Lone Star takes over law enforcement in Seattle.
* Pope John XXV issues In Imago Dei encyclical:
* Metahumans have souls and are capable of salvation.
* Magical abilities are not inherently evil.
* Spirits are manifestations of nature (gray area).
* The United Kingdom Constitution Act is passed in the United Kingdom, creating the office of Lord Protector.