From:	Mongoose m0ng005e@*********.com
Subject:	"Desert Wars" ?
Date:	Sun, 7 Feb 1999 16:25:51 -0600

:> last night I was fleshing out a (rare) mercenary character with one of
:> my players, and I wondered.
:
:> the "Desert Wars" are something I've heard alluded to many times,
:> but I don't believe I've ever heard any actual information on it, where
:> it was, or who the conflicting sides were in it.
:
:> I [don't] happen to have a particularly staggering array of out ot
print
:> sourcebooks, so maybe I'm missing out on some information I don't
:> have access too. but can anyone give me a general idea of what
:> the "Desert Wars" were?


:I'm not sure which sourebook and/or novel Desert Wars was mentioned in,
but
:it's where the megacorps play.

I'm pretty sure corp shadowfiles discusses Desert Wars. FoF does
also, and the SRC might (as part of merc campaign info), as might
Shadowbeat. Corporate security handbook might also.

:From what I
:remember, quite a bit of it is like exercises military forces currently
do.
:No war shots, and computers to govern kills, etc. But now and then,
:somebody does something silly/someone deliberately lets a war shot go,
and
:it's on for young and old for a while. When the dust settles, everyone
:takes stock, looks for lessons to be learnt etc.

I don't recall them even being mentioned as anything but live fire
battles. Basically, a televised proxy war is arranged, generally fought
to decide some issue that would lead to actual corporate war. The faction
that can field the best troops would (theoretically) win anyhow, but with
a desert war, no valuable property is destroyed, and you make money off
the broadcasting, to boot.
I'm not sure its a formally recognized deal- the mercs in FoF make it
sound like it is, but I'd more expect that (officially) the corporations
would be fighting over some actual (but unimportant) remotely located
assets, just to test the others strength, and sending in cameras for
"field testing evaluation and promotional purposes". The loser would then
conceede other assets, perhaps if confronted for war actions in corporate
court.

Mongoose