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Message no. 1
From: Dvixen <dvixen@********.COM>
Subject: A Brief History of Vietnam in the Sixth World
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 1997 22:18:03 -0800
This came to me from a friend. He's interested in everyone comments,
both good and bad. You can either mail him direct:
raven@****.spydernet.com , or post to the list, and I'll forward to him.

Thanks!
-Dv.

-----Begin quoted text-----

This is the history of Vietnam in the Shadowrun universe I sent to Eric
for his game. It's not finished, but it addresses some main events.
Enjoy.

A Brief History of Vietnam in the Sixth World
1954 - 2054

The end of 1954 saw the beginning of a brief period of peace in
Vietnam's
already war-torn first half of the twentieth century. Having been freed
from Japanese occupation during World War II, Vietnam found itself under
attack from France, trying to reassert colonial rule on the former
Indochina
region. Rallying under the leadership of Communist Party leader Ho Chi
Minh,
the Vietnamese drove off the invading French in the early fifties. Not
satisfied with that success, however, the communists attempted to assert
its
control over the entire country. An international tribunal, held in
Geneva
in 1954, directed the temporary measure of dividing Vietnam into the
communist North and democratic South.

The peace only lasted a decade. In the 1960's, the communist leadership
of
North Vietnam began a campaign to reunite the country by force, as a
communist nation, with the backing of the communist rulers of Russia and
China. South Vietnam, meanwhile, had moderate support from other
democratic
nations but found an unexpectedly staunch ally in the United States of
America, which sent hundreds of thousands of troops to help fight back
the
North Vietnamese Army. Beginning a long tradition of getting themselves
killed for the sake of democracy in other countries, the U.S. Army found
themselves fighting a losing battle. After years of conflict and
thousands
of casualties on both sides, the Americans had only succeeded in
fighting to
a standstill.

In 1973, all sides in the conflict agreed to a cease-fire, and the
United
States withdrew its forces in the wake of exceptional political
unpopularity
back in Washington. Almost as soon as the Americans had left, however,
the
North Vietnamese Army flooded into South Vietnam and took over. The
communist party declared a reunified People's Republic of Vietnam in
1975.
Hanoi, capital of North Vietnam during separation and all of Vietnam
prior,
remained the capital of the new Vietnam. South Vietnam's capital city,
Saigon, was renamed Ho Chi Minh city in honour of the late Communist
leader
of the fifties.

United and relatively peaceful, Vietnam changed little over the next
four
decades. Lacking significant natural resources, save some petroleum
reserves, Vietnam's economy remained largely agricultural, with much of
the
population living in rural villages, growing staple crops at the
direction
of the Communist government.

Like the rest of the world, Vietnam became a turmoil of fear and panic
in
2011, when the Awakening hit with a vengeance. In the major cities of
Vietnam, rioting was the order of the day as millions feared the end of
the
world, or worse. Thousands of people found in the throes of
goblinization
were butchered by fearful mobs, expecting to be overrun by hostile
spirits.
The occupants of Ho Chi Minh city had an even ruder shock, when an
oriental
dragon was spotted flying in the direction of Cambodia. The communist
government responded by calling in the Armed Forces to keep the peace,
but
they were relatively ineffectual, as confusion in the ranks was caused
by
several army members goblinizing as well. The rage was then extended to
the
hundreds of 'deformed' newborns who had been born in the previous months
with distinctly pointed ears. Only dwarf children, virtually
indistinguishable from human children until later in their growth and
development, survived the initial slaughter. To this day, dwarves are
the
most common metahuman seen in Vietnam.

Paradoxically, many rural villagers remember the Awakening fondly as the
day
they paid tribute to their honoured ancestors, and for the first time,
were
thanked in person by them.

Finally purged (so they believed) of the threat, Vietnam gradually
returned
to normality, aided by martial law. The rioting, however, had created
something of a food shortage in the major cities, and food prices
soared.
This was further compunded when, in 2013, Communist party leaders
ordered
many farmers to switch their crops from rice and other staples to
soybeans,
with the intention of selling the processed bean curd to now seriously
overpopulated countries suffering from wide-spread famine. While this
served
to make certain Communist party members and many farmers comfortably
affluent, it caused food prices to rise even further. Staple foods were
rare, and fishermen couldn't keep up with the demand. Thousands of rural
villagers starved to death when their soybean crops were sold to the
government, and then even their new found wealth couldn't keep them fed.

During the following four years of this policy, many Vietnamese who
could
afford to, left the country. Many large corporations in neighboring
oriental
countries, Japan in particular, regarded Vietnam as a source of cheap
labour. These corporations would offer Vietnamese training, an
attractive
income, food, and lodging, in exchange for a minimum length of service
contract. The Communist government of Vietnam tolerated this practice,
as
the corporations paid handsomely for the privilege, and the corporations
lost little money, due to the extrememly favourable exchange rate
between
the Japanese Yen and Vietnamese Dong. Although workers from rural
Vietnam
found themselves working in what amounted to glorified sweat shops, they
found it little hardship because of the heavy work load of rural life,
and
the perks, relatively speaking, were incredible. Some Vietnamese from
urban
areas who had some degree of business training had the opportunity to
rise
somewhat in the hierarchy, and, driven by the lure of wealth from the
west
and the richer Asian nations, left Vietnam altogether to work in other
branches of their corporations.

Finally, in late 2017, as many Vietnamese faced the prospect of another
bleak and hungry winter, tensions broke. The Communists had long had the
policy of discouraging religion, and although they never went so far as
to
outright persecute the country's Buddhist majority, they perceived an
increasing threat from among the country's newly awakened population of
magically active persons. Of particular concern were those who followed
the
Shamanic tradition, whose relationship with their totems held many
religious
trappings in the eyes of the Party leaders. The Party began first a
propaganda campaign against the magically active, followed by a campaign
to
exterminate those mages and shamans who didn't agree to serve the Party
directly. The general population, however, saw this as an attack against
those who spoke for their honoured ancestors (not entirely untrue,
either,
as some shamans in Asian nations claim people rather than animals as
their
totems). This latest outrage, coupled with a starving population, caused
general civil unrest among the population, including many of the
country's
militia, which outnumbered the Regular Army. In six days of fighting
between
the military and the militia and civilians of Vietnam, during early
December,
2017, the Communist party was forcibly removed from power after over 70
years in power. Although a few managed to escape from the country, many
were detained and tried, or summarily executed. When the situation
looked
hopeless for the Communist party leaders, many members of the Communist-
backed National Assembly did an abrupt turn-around and supported the
civilian movement. After the last of the Party's leaders were arrested,
and
the remainder of the Party's lower echelons fled for fear of their
lives,
President Pak Ho Ng ordered the military to cease fire and place itself
under the command of the National Assembly. The outnumbered and
backer-less
military complied immediately. Ng remained a figure of stability during
the
transitions of the next few weeks, and eventually, by a unanimous vote
of
the Assembly, the office of President moved from being a Communist
figurehead to the recognized Head of State of Vietnam. Ng himself went
on
to serve in that capacity for two more consecutive terms, until his
retirement in 2029.

It was almost as a footnote to the successful uprising that, in April of
2018, the City Council of Ho Chi Minh City, with the support of the
people
as polled in a referrendum, renamed the city to its pre-Communist name
of
Saigon.
Message no. 2
From: Gurth <gurth@******.NL>
Subject: Re: A Brief History of Vietnam in the Sixth World
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 13:35:46 +0100
Dvixen said on 22:18/31 Mar 97...

> Like the rest of the world, Vietnam became a turmoil of fear and panic
> in 2011, when the Awakening hit with a vengeance. In the major cities of
> Vietnam, rioting was the order of the day as millions feared the end of
> the world, or worse. Thousands of people found in the throes of
> goblinization were butchered by fearful mobs

Goblinization (orks and trolls) was in 2021, UGE (dwarfs and elves)
happened in 2011, and only consisted of metahuman children being born to
human parents.

Apart from that, it looks pretty good.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
Every breath you take, every move you make, every cake you bake...
-> NERPS Project Leader & Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
-> The Plastic Warriors Page: http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/plastic.html <-

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Message no. 3
From: Scott Taylor Spencer <sts100z@****.ODU.EDU>
Subject: Re: A Brief History of Vietnam in the Sixth World
Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 15:37:21 -0500
On Mon, 31 Mar 1997, Dvixen wrote:

> This came to me from a friend. He's interested in everyone comments,
> both good and bad. You can either mail him direct:
> raven@****.spydernet.com , or post to the list, and I'll forward to him.
>
> Thanks!
> -Dv.
>
> I really thought it was interesting. I especially like the Dwarven
Majority. It needs some work, corp names, details of shadow culture, 2029
to 2058, etc. All in all neat.

Scott


"The sights on this gun must be off all I keep hitting are coffee
mugs." -John Cleese

Further Reading

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