Fans of urban fantasy or cyberpunk (Shadowrun)
10-28-2012, 09:27 AM
Shadowrun was invented back around 1990 (I think a year before or after) and evolved into a very complex setting that combined urban fantasy & cyberpunk (and a few other themes). For anyone who'd like to know about the setting I've explained it below under the triple X.
The reason I'm sharing is because I just found out Tommy Talon is gay. I've been a fan of this character for years now, and hadn't realized that (but then he's so busy staying alive from all the forces trying to kill him as well as taking care of his crew who have given him the rarest of gifts in that world called Trust). Even in our world he would be an admirable character who shows the best of masculinity but in the grim and cynical world of Shadowrun where nothing is pure he's practically a saint who is aware just how bad the world can be but determined to remain good himself, and thus a rare altruist who doesn't come off as an idiot, and likewise he's caring without being weak or submissive. (In contrast, most heroes in Shadowrun are actually antiheroes who's main difference from the bad guys is just how dirty they're willing to play to win.)
I've read multiple books featuring Talon but I just discovered this book in which it explores his homosexuality:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Burning-Time-S...XZWXKHAJC9
I haven't read this one yet, but I can say already that this gay character is refreshing, he's a successful leader who keeps the high ground in a dirty world and being gay is something that he happens to be but not something that defines him (as I say I didn't even know he was until now, but oddly I feel as if I should've known in retrospect
).
Anyway, in case anyone wanted a character who, IMO, is a good role model then I'm letting you know. I've never known him to have any kind of sexual or romantic affair, however (kinda hard when dodging dragons, megacorps, and cops after unlicensed mages like him), and I expect the details of such will be sparse (though obviously it's important to the plot, and I'm also intrigued to find that Talon had, in his youth, summoned a spirit to avenge the death of his lover, an action I wouldn't have expected from him, and maybe this novel will help explain why he became determined to be better than the world).
XXX
Anyway, for those who'd like to know more about the setting:
VERY short & sweet, magic came back in 2011/12 (the books with Talon in them range from like 2050-2060) so that it had spectacular effects and quickly became incorporated into the culture (though the shamans, witches, and others were well ahead of the curve and drastically reshaped national borders before the governments of the world could catch up, for example several Native American tribes took Mexico and over half of America & Canada while Russia lost most of Siberia to shamans and the Were, such as weretigers, werebears, and werewolves). Magic also activated certain genetics so that many critters from myth & legend came to be (and the returned dragons could fly even though they shouldn't be able to), and in humans this created various mythical races as well, from elves to trolls.
Even viruses mutated, one strain that turned humans into vampires, elves into banshees, etc, and a similar one that turned people into ghouls and even affecting critters (the magical nature causes the afflicted to lose essence, or psychic energy, so has to feed off others which may spread the infection, and to facilitate the taking of another life force they generally have to terrify, seduce, or even drink blood or eat living flesh off someone charged with this essence).
And magic itself came from the Gaiasphere (so it was deadly for the few who could astrally project to go up into orbit, or for one of the "Awakened" to open up to astral space while in orbit) and also created natural astral barriers that were difficult to impossible to astrally get through. Likewise, pollution has warped magic and created toxic spirits (and toxic shamans) that are major threats (just one of many new magical threats that make themselves known) as well as sometimes disrupting those who open themselves astrally in such a place (very emotionally toxic or soul crushing places can have the same result).
Of course science worked on all this as well, and they developed microbes and plants that could detect and even attack astral forms. There has been an effort to to create a "cure" for those changed, but these experiments have often been extremely cruel & barbaric.
Meanwhile technology continued its march and humanity is expanding into orbit and even to Mars (not a good place for the Awakened) and the scene has become very cyberpunk with a very cynical view of governments and the "megacorps" that are practically governments & nations in their own right. The Matrix and those who can join their mind to it are as powerful as mages in the astral in their own way. The melding of mind & machine has created some deadly security that can actually cause lethal biofeedback reactions to "deckers" (hackers). But magic comes into play again here as everyone has essence, or psychic energy, that is generated by living cells (similar to the Gaiasphere itself) which people need to live (and that force that vampires and such need to feed off of to stay alive), and without enough essence they die. And each time a person gives up some of their meat body to have cybernetic enhancements they lose more essence until eventually their bodies can no longer hold life (in addition, this loss of essence also damages someone who can use magic from using their abilities, the less essence they have the less magical energy they can channel). Of course some find ways to minimize essence loss so a body can take even more cybertech (or a mage can sacrifice as little power as possible to benefit from it), but it's even more expensive and only slowly developed. Aztlan (formerly Mexico) is said to have overcome this, but the unconfirmed reports of those with an impossible amount of cybertech are said to be utterly insane with implants that can control them (at least to a point), a technique they're still trying to perfect (along with their very scary blood magic that alienated them from the other Native American Nations).
The technology that melded mind to machine also allowed for a new form of "simsense" in which one could experience the memories, and later the emotions, of others (once recorded by entertainers with the appropriate implants to record it which was then edited and marketed to others with the simsense players to use it, though those with datajacks got the most use out of them) which not only opened new areas of entertainment but could also prove useful teaching aids. But the darker side is that they could become addictive, especially the "moodchips" (which gave intense emotions) and porn simsense, and thus came BTL (Better Than Life, the street slang being "beetle") addiction...they were also useful in brainwashing and torture, and intelligence agents found ways to create the ultimate deep cover agents using the tech but at the expense of creating very unstable (and unpredictable) agents who lost their own identities in the process. The most terrifying (to me anyway) are the "bunraku" ("meat puppet") parlors where those caught in the sex trade are given illegal simsense implants that create the perfect sexual toy for paying clients (and when the simsense is removed the sex slaves have no memory of what happened).
As computers became advanced in ways that would seem magical to us many people came to be identified by SINs (System Identification Numbers) which could be issued by a government or megacorp, and one reason they came about was to deny certain undesirables (like metahumans) rights. If you didn't have a SIN (otherwise known as as "SINner") then you didn't exist, and if you didn't exist then you had no rights under law, and megacorps could even conduct horrid experiments on you, and of course the cops abused this as well (they could torture you and then shoot you in the head but since you didn't exist then no crime had been committed). Those without SINs were forced into the shadows of society, and those who learned to thrive in the shadows (and who made the perfect deniable assets in demand by many factions, especially megacorporations) became known as Shadowrunners (and thus the name of the series/universe).
Religion adapted surprisingly well, though at first there was a huge freak out (and fundie Muslims continue to threaten the world, but even they use magic themselves, at least some factions do, even if they tend to think "metahumans" like elves are demonic scum to be eradicated), and the Pope initially declared all the UGE (Unexplained Genetic Expression) babies that formed elves & dwarves as demons, but this caused a backlash as the church demanded people harm their own children (as a result the Catholic Church lost Ireland, for example, a place where a great many were born elves and the parents chose their children over the church).
But some super plagues that affected human and metahuman equally got many of the religious to worry about much greater things than the shape of someone's ears, and the frightened metahumans needed a god, too, so the churches adapted (granted, some truly hate-filled churches wage a war in these "last days" just as violent as the Islamic Jihad, but they only overtly rule in a few areas...one reason being that those who reject magic find themselves helpless before those who wield it and so learn to hide or accept inevitable martyrdom, neither of which is attractive to most people, and furthermore these fanatic fundies also reject SINs as the Number of the Beast which means they have no rights and TPTB treat them accordingly). After a few decades the Catholic Church even created magical orders as well as definitions on the proper use of magic for members of their church.
Meanwhile, the harsh treatment many metahumans receive have led to secession in some cases (though usually they're just outcasts, possibly gangs or pirates), the elves being the most well known for 2 small but powerful nations of their own (they have more than that, but not many know of them). In places like the UCAS (United Canadian and American States), CAS (Confederate American States, members known as CASers), and the Free State of California the "new racism" is a big problem (often egged on by fundie Christians), though that didn't stop a dragon from winning a presidential election of the UCAS (but he was a popular media figure and his competition was reviled, and he was mysteriously assassinated within like hours of assuming office). Africa has the one ghoul nation in the world, and their ownership of diamond mines has made it so many surrounding nations will trade criminals (or anyone they don't like) to the ghouls in exchange for diamonds. Other countries handle it better, such as Russia which treat Russian elves & trolls better than foreign humans (or foreign elves & trolls).
Russians don't trust magic itself, however, as the shamans took Siberia, there was a massive propaganda campaign against the Awakened by Moscow that blamed them for everything while recruiting as much magical talent they could find so that anyone openly a mage is almost certainly working for the government (or a desperado who will do anything to remain free), particularly the more feared government agencies in Russia that can invade (and control) your mind at will, among the other usual stuff, which of course makes many citizens wonder who's controlling whom, does the government control the mages as claimed, or do the mages control the minds of their supposed masters in Moscow? Nevertheless, the Russian Orthodox has a long mystical tradition so that some magic that conforms to that religion is sometimes tolerated, though other Russian Orthodox see all magic as a tool of the devil that will eventually doom Russia.
Germany (now a confederation of several smaller states) is one of the few places where one can find racism based on skin color still active, though at the same time Germany also has elven, dwarven, and troll lands as well. Another radical contrast is one member state is one of the rare places where a medieval like church backed by modern technology wages a war on most metahumans and magic, and women as well, even though they hypocritically learned to develop their own magical style as they attempt to get through the "last days." Yet Germany also holds one of the largest collection of Wiccans who wield powerful magic (plus gypsies and others), has one of the finest colleges of Hermetic magic in the world (though they tend to be male-dominated and don't like Wiccans), and the secret society of Sie ("She") attempts to end patriarchy (while other secret magical groups, from worshipers of the Germanic pagan gods to Hermetic mages, seek to strengthen the patriarchy and remind women of their place, perhaps why so many women with magic flocked to Sie in response), often through extreme (and sometimes violent) feminism. During the "Night of Rage" that swept the world in anti-metahuman riots Berlin was also one of the only cities in the world where metahumans (aided by radical anarchists who were opposed to the racist and Fascist Humanis group leading the assault against metas) came out on top and the city existed in a functioning anarchy for decades, with metahumans being able to walk without fear for about 15 years before Humanis, along with a radical Christian gang who considered themselves Crusaders to wipe out any taint of magic as well as the Jihad built up enough of a power base in the anarchic city (ultimately creating something similar to Somalia)...though Berlin's anarchy would nearly come to a close (they still have East Berlin which was again separated by a wall) when several megacorps led by a great dragon took most of Berlin back. Talon gets involved in this in the novel Ragnarok.
And btw, this IS the short & sweet version (as I said, it's a very complex setting).
There was a page that summed up world history to like 2060 (I think the universe is currently in year 2072) but it's down right now. If I can find it again later I'll post it.
The reason I'm sharing is because I just found out Tommy Talon is gay. I've been a fan of this character for years now, and hadn't realized that (but then he's so busy staying alive from all the forces trying to kill him as well as taking care of his crew who have given him the rarest of gifts in that world called Trust). Even in our world he would be an admirable character who shows the best of masculinity but in the grim and cynical world of Shadowrun where nothing is pure he's practically a saint who is aware just how bad the world can be but determined to remain good himself, and thus a rare altruist who doesn't come off as an idiot, and likewise he's caring without being weak or submissive. (In contrast, most heroes in Shadowrun are actually antiheroes who's main difference from the bad guys is just how dirty they're willing to play to win.)
I've read multiple books featuring Talon but I just discovered this book in which it explores his homosexuality:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Burning-Time-S...XZWXKHAJC9
I haven't read this one yet, but I can say already that this gay character is refreshing, he's a successful leader who keeps the high ground in a dirty world and being gay is something that he happens to be but not something that defines him (as I say I didn't even know he was until now, but oddly I feel as if I should've known in retrospect
). Anyway, in case anyone wanted a character who, IMO, is a good role model then I'm letting you know. I've never known him to have any kind of sexual or romantic affair, however (kinda hard when dodging dragons, megacorps, and cops after unlicensed mages like him), and I expect the details of such will be sparse (though obviously it's important to the plot, and I'm also intrigued to find that Talon had, in his youth, summoned a spirit to avenge the death of his lover, an action I wouldn't have expected from him, and maybe this novel will help explain why he became determined to be better than the world).
XXX
Anyway, for those who'd like to know more about the setting:
VERY short & sweet, magic came back in 2011/12 (the books with Talon in them range from like 2050-2060) so that it had spectacular effects and quickly became incorporated into the culture (though the shamans, witches, and others were well ahead of the curve and drastically reshaped national borders before the governments of the world could catch up, for example several Native American tribes took Mexico and over half of America & Canada while Russia lost most of Siberia to shamans and the Were, such as weretigers, werebears, and werewolves). Magic also activated certain genetics so that many critters from myth & legend came to be (and the returned dragons could fly even though they shouldn't be able to), and in humans this created various mythical races as well, from elves to trolls.
Even viruses mutated, one strain that turned humans into vampires, elves into banshees, etc, and a similar one that turned people into ghouls and even affecting critters (the magical nature causes the afflicted to lose essence, or psychic energy, so has to feed off others which may spread the infection, and to facilitate the taking of another life force they generally have to terrify, seduce, or even drink blood or eat living flesh off someone charged with this essence).
And magic itself came from the Gaiasphere (so it was deadly for the few who could astrally project to go up into orbit, or for one of the "Awakened" to open up to astral space while in orbit) and also created natural astral barriers that were difficult to impossible to astrally get through. Likewise, pollution has warped magic and created toxic spirits (and toxic shamans) that are major threats (just one of many new magical threats that make themselves known) as well as sometimes disrupting those who open themselves astrally in such a place (very emotionally toxic or soul crushing places can have the same result).
Of course science worked on all this as well, and they developed microbes and plants that could detect and even attack astral forms. There has been an effort to to create a "cure" for those changed, but these experiments have often been extremely cruel & barbaric.
Meanwhile technology continued its march and humanity is expanding into orbit and even to Mars (not a good place for the Awakened) and the scene has become very cyberpunk with a very cynical view of governments and the "megacorps" that are practically governments & nations in their own right. The Matrix and those who can join their mind to it are as powerful as mages in the astral in their own way. The melding of mind & machine has created some deadly security that can actually cause lethal biofeedback reactions to "deckers" (hackers). But magic comes into play again here as everyone has essence, or psychic energy, that is generated by living cells (similar to the Gaiasphere itself) which people need to live (and that force that vampires and such need to feed off of to stay alive), and without enough essence they die. And each time a person gives up some of their meat body to have cybernetic enhancements they lose more essence until eventually their bodies can no longer hold life (in addition, this loss of essence also damages someone who can use magic from using their abilities, the less essence they have the less magical energy they can channel). Of course some find ways to minimize essence loss so a body can take even more cybertech (or a mage can sacrifice as little power as possible to benefit from it), but it's even more expensive and only slowly developed. Aztlan (formerly Mexico) is said to have overcome this, but the unconfirmed reports of those with an impossible amount of cybertech are said to be utterly insane with implants that can control them (at least to a point), a technique they're still trying to perfect (along with their very scary blood magic that alienated them from the other Native American Nations).
The technology that melded mind to machine also allowed for a new form of "simsense" in which one could experience the memories, and later the emotions, of others (once recorded by entertainers with the appropriate implants to record it which was then edited and marketed to others with the simsense players to use it, though those with datajacks got the most use out of them) which not only opened new areas of entertainment but could also prove useful teaching aids. But the darker side is that they could become addictive, especially the "moodchips" (which gave intense emotions) and porn simsense, and thus came BTL (Better Than Life, the street slang being "beetle") addiction...they were also useful in brainwashing and torture, and intelligence agents found ways to create the ultimate deep cover agents using the tech but at the expense of creating very unstable (and unpredictable) agents who lost their own identities in the process. The most terrifying (to me anyway) are the "bunraku" ("meat puppet") parlors where those caught in the sex trade are given illegal simsense implants that create the perfect sexual toy for paying clients (and when the simsense is removed the sex slaves have no memory of what happened).
As computers became advanced in ways that would seem magical to us many people came to be identified by SINs (System Identification Numbers) which could be issued by a government or megacorp, and one reason they came about was to deny certain undesirables (like metahumans) rights. If you didn't have a SIN (otherwise known as as "SINner") then you didn't exist, and if you didn't exist then you had no rights under law, and megacorps could even conduct horrid experiments on you, and of course the cops abused this as well (they could torture you and then shoot you in the head but since you didn't exist then no crime had been committed). Those without SINs were forced into the shadows of society, and those who learned to thrive in the shadows (and who made the perfect deniable assets in demand by many factions, especially megacorporations) became known as Shadowrunners (and thus the name of the series/universe).
Religion adapted surprisingly well, though at first there was a huge freak out (and fundie Muslims continue to threaten the world, but even they use magic themselves, at least some factions do, even if they tend to think "metahumans" like elves are demonic scum to be eradicated), and the Pope initially declared all the UGE (Unexplained Genetic Expression) babies that formed elves & dwarves as demons, but this caused a backlash as the church demanded people harm their own children (as a result the Catholic Church lost Ireland, for example, a place where a great many were born elves and the parents chose their children over the church).
But some super plagues that affected human and metahuman equally got many of the religious to worry about much greater things than the shape of someone's ears, and the frightened metahumans needed a god, too, so the churches adapted (granted, some truly hate-filled churches wage a war in these "last days" just as violent as the Islamic Jihad, but they only overtly rule in a few areas...one reason being that those who reject magic find themselves helpless before those who wield it and so learn to hide or accept inevitable martyrdom, neither of which is attractive to most people, and furthermore these fanatic fundies also reject SINs as the Number of the Beast which means they have no rights and TPTB treat them accordingly). After a few decades the Catholic Church even created magical orders as well as definitions on the proper use of magic for members of their church.
Meanwhile, the harsh treatment many metahumans receive have led to secession in some cases (though usually they're just outcasts, possibly gangs or pirates), the elves being the most well known for 2 small but powerful nations of their own (they have more than that, but not many know of them). In places like the UCAS (United Canadian and American States), CAS (Confederate American States, members known as CASers), and the Free State of California the "new racism" is a big problem (often egged on by fundie Christians), though that didn't stop a dragon from winning a presidential election of the UCAS (but he was a popular media figure and his competition was reviled, and he was mysteriously assassinated within like hours of assuming office). Africa has the one ghoul nation in the world, and their ownership of diamond mines has made it so many surrounding nations will trade criminals (or anyone they don't like) to the ghouls in exchange for diamonds. Other countries handle it better, such as Russia which treat Russian elves & trolls better than foreign humans (or foreign elves & trolls).
Russians don't trust magic itself, however, as the shamans took Siberia, there was a massive propaganda campaign against the Awakened by Moscow that blamed them for everything while recruiting as much magical talent they could find so that anyone openly a mage is almost certainly working for the government (or a desperado who will do anything to remain free), particularly the more feared government agencies in Russia that can invade (and control) your mind at will, among the other usual stuff, which of course makes many citizens wonder who's controlling whom, does the government control the mages as claimed, or do the mages control the minds of their supposed masters in Moscow? Nevertheless, the Russian Orthodox has a long mystical tradition so that some magic that conforms to that religion is sometimes tolerated, though other Russian Orthodox see all magic as a tool of the devil that will eventually doom Russia.
Germany (now a confederation of several smaller states) is one of the few places where one can find racism based on skin color still active, though at the same time Germany also has elven, dwarven, and troll lands as well. Another radical contrast is one member state is one of the rare places where a medieval like church backed by modern technology wages a war on most metahumans and magic, and women as well, even though they hypocritically learned to develop their own magical style as they attempt to get through the "last days." Yet Germany also holds one of the largest collection of Wiccans who wield powerful magic (plus gypsies and others), has one of the finest colleges of Hermetic magic in the world (though they tend to be male-dominated and don't like Wiccans), and the secret society of Sie ("She") attempts to end patriarchy (while other secret magical groups, from worshipers of the Germanic pagan gods to Hermetic mages, seek to strengthen the patriarchy and remind women of their place, perhaps why so many women with magic flocked to Sie in response), often through extreme (and sometimes violent) feminism. During the "Night of Rage" that swept the world in anti-metahuman riots Berlin was also one of the only cities in the world where metahumans (aided by radical anarchists who were opposed to the racist and Fascist Humanis group leading the assault against metas) came out on top and the city existed in a functioning anarchy for decades, with metahumans being able to walk without fear for about 15 years before Humanis, along with a radical Christian gang who considered themselves Crusaders to wipe out any taint of magic as well as the Jihad built up enough of a power base in the anarchic city (ultimately creating something similar to Somalia)...though Berlin's anarchy would nearly come to a close (they still have East Berlin which was again separated by a wall) when several megacorps led by a great dragon took most of Berlin back. Talon gets involved in this in the novel Ragnarok.
And btw, this IS the short & sweet version (as I said, it's a very complex setting).
There was a page that summed up world history to like 2060 (I think the universe is currently in year 2072) but it's down right now. If I can find it again later I'll post it.
![[-]](https://gayspeak.com/images/duende_v3_local/collapse.png)
mile:
Virgo
i love skyrim at the moment 
cyberpunk is how i dress in real life on a daily basis
