| From: | Jeffrey Mach <mach@****.CALTECH.EDU> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Re: Pet Hates |
| Date: | Wed, 11 Mar 1998 16:58:42 -0800 |
> I'm aware of the general hatred from many concerning ED crossovers, and
> I'm in full agreement with that, but I would like to know of any others.
> Part of it is for the web site - sort of an "Anti reference", and part
> of it is for personal reference (I've got a few ideas for a couple of
> upcoming plot lines to tie into existing stuff, and I'll probably be
> trying to involve a few listmembers in it all <g> in regards to that,
> I'm curious to see where everyone has a vision of the boundries of SR
> lunacy.
>
> So what do we have so far.
>
> Mark N :- Dragons, Giant Bug Spririts...
> Avenger:- ED crossover & Immortal Elves, Dragons.
> ...
>
> any more?
Hmmm.
Add to it any good guys or bad guys that look like they came from a Steven
Segal movie. You know the type: major antagonists that are so paper thin
as characters they are nearly blown away in the wind, "Boss badguys" that
are such transparent strawmen that they are leaking hay at the seams, good
guys that are taking a bullet in the shoulder one minute and are doing
funky martial arts (using the same arm) the next. Dis'in' the military,
and other big players. Which is not to say that the major players can't
be part of stories, heck, I've done it a bit myself. But, when you want
to pull in something major, give it the kind of respect that it deserves.
But I think that is more a writing pet peeve than a specific SR peeve.
See, I don't mind the Military (although my concept of their level of
"toys" rightfully falls outside what FASA have been willing to describe),
Dragons, Invae, Wraiths, etc. _BUT_ I do mind when one minute they are
laying waste to cities, and the next some punk runners are facing them
mano-y-mano and not simply being toasted like a marshmellow in a
blast-furnace. Most countries should have militaries, that's the way of
the world, and I can see the extra-terratorial Mega-corporations, in order
to protect themselves having some millitary-class security forces. But to
have them being thwarted by a handful of runners, especially the loud and
violent kind is pretty bogus, IMNSHO. Fine, Dragons existed in
mythologies around the world, and have come to life in the Sixth world.
Sure. I'll buy that. That they'll have talkshows and attempt to run for
President is a little harder to stomache, since I would belive such a
creature to be a lot more alien than they are usually portrayed. That the
invae are nasty is without question. That they would be everywhere and
yet noone would know about them is something I can't buy. That some have
seen Wraiths as interesting baddies for runners to face off against, and
seem to forget that they can grow in power nearly exponentially (sure, it
is theoretically harder for them to grow in force as they get to higher
and higher levels, but their capacity for chaos which gives them power
grows with each level as well).
More or less, I am less conscerned about FASA's use of major baddies, than
what people plan on doing with them.
I haven't spoken out a lot about some of these, because, on the whole the
need to speak on them hasn't come up. Also, there are some things that I
am unclear of that I want to know before I am really adamant about some of
them.
#1. What has been the fallout of the whole Universal Brotherhood/Bug
City/Invae thing?
So the CZ has been lifted, but many here are working under the assumption
that quite a few bugs have scurried off into the shadows. But, what is
FASA's party line on the current status of that or the UB for that matter?
I thumbed through the UB campaign book a long time ago, and found it to be
a little over the top (Scientology meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers).
So, did anybody ever _publicly_ find out the connection, and what was done
about it? I would have thought that this thing would have made the "Red
Scare" look trivial, but I never heard any mention of it.
#2. How, exactly are Immortal Elves immortal?
I have read about the "clockwork gene" studies in ShadowTech. Okay, if
you want someone with no biologically set time span, I guess that makes
sense, and I am mostly willing to buy that. Problems then are mostly ones
of population dynamics. And even if you don't age, you have all that more
time to die by disease, accident, or other fun things like cancer. Genetic
damage accumulates over time, which is a pretty good reason for animals to
have a finite life-span.
On the other hand, I have read things that suggest it goes way beyond
lack of aging. What's the scoop?
--My two yen
Jeff
