| From: | Gurth <gurth@***.NL> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | Southern Europe (was: Re: atlantis) |
| Date: | Tue, 13 Dec 1994 09:49:13 +0100 |
>It's all a part of Europe and such, which is also considered to be
>within the Western Hemisphere. ANd this business of Egyptian artifacts
Huh? I though the western hemisphere started on the west side of the
meridian that passes through Greenwich (alright, London). That puts just
about all of Europe on the eastern hemisphere, except for parts of the UK,
Spain, and Portugal. But we digress.
>Butback to teh Med cultures. Thsoe
>cultures were instrumental in the formation of the Western world.
Yes, they were, but the local cultures of the time were also influential,
especially in areas such as Scandinavia, where no Romans ever came.
>The Greeks still live side by side with ruins going back to 1500 BC. There
>are small towns in Greece that still have not forgotton that during the
>Bronze Age their town was important, and they still know where the ruins are.
As a side note, IMHO that is one of the sources of all the shit going down
in Bosnia and surrounding areas: people saying "sixteen centuries ago, you
guys did this and that. We're gonna get you!" (So maybe I am generalizing a bit)
>The peoples of the Med are very in tune with their history, something we as
>Americans have never been very good at.
I'm not an American (and quite frankly [and _not_ meant as an insult], I
feel lucky I'm not), but it seems to me like you don't _have_ much of a long
history, do you? 200 and something years, as opposed to, say, 20,000+ years
for the native Americans. I don't blame them for wanting their land back,
even though I just said I think it's rather stupid to pull cows that old out
of the ditch. The re-emerging of magic, especially combined with something
like "re-education camps," would be very likely to make them try to realize
such ambitions.
>Now, these are generalisations, but I
>think they work well enough. And given the modern politics of the
>region, why shouldn't Greece revert to a loose collection of
>city-states? Or Egypt attempt to return to its former Imperial glory?
>Seems rather plausible to me.
FASA does indicate that southern Europe fragments into the sort of
city-states it consisted of centuries before. I don't know how they get
along with each other (they probably don't), because I don't think FASA ever
really worked that out. And I also don't think they ever will... I have a
feeling not many gamers live down there (not that I know many up where I
live :( ), and FASA being a corp and everything, they do things (write
books) to make money: I think sourcebooks sell best in the area they
portray, because the people in that area want to know what their country
looks like in their favorite game system. Except, of course, for sourcebooks
on North America (Seattle, and now Denver, in particular), because FASA
designated those "official" Shadowrun cities. I know I've got almost all
sourcebooks for North America, despite never having been there. But I also
know that, if a sourcebook for my country comes out, I'll buy it (hell,
maybe I'll even write one :)
Anyways, yes, southern Europe would probably fragment while northern Europe
wouldn't. Where I live, "we" fought a war of independance centuries ago,
uniting against a religious oppressor and forming an independant country in
1588 (OK, the war went on until 1648, but...), at the same time southern
Europe (Italy, mainly) was one big mess of city-states. I don't see
countries that existed for 450 years split up overnight, no matter how much
magic returns. On the other hand, in less-stable areas, people could use
magic to get things their way... imagine ex-Yugoslavia but with magicians
(let alone dragons) roaming the battlefield. Not fun, and when added to
long-standing "ethnic" suspicion and propaganda-induced racial hatred, you
have one of the best ingredients for a wars between neighboring cities and
towns, I feel.
BTW, hasn't the same thing all but happened to California in Shadowrun? From
NAGNA, I read that just about nobody listens to the central government, and
cities often go to war with each other...
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