Life in the Sixth World

by waywardshepherd

This is a series of short in-character responses to various aspects of life in the Sixth World that were discussed on our Shadowrun group's mailing list. The character doing all the talking here is Rake, a 50-year-old elf sharpshooter/face-man with a law degree and a checkered past. Standard disclaimer: Shadowrun ain't mine, Rake is.

3. Chapter 3 - Insect Spirits

Bugs are bad news, you say? Is understatement a new "thing" or something on the Matrix now? 'Cause if so, you've mastered it, chummer.

Seriously, though: is understatement a thing now? I never can keep up with Matrix trends. You wired hacker youths and technomantic babes keep the trends here in optoelectronic-Toyland moving at breakneck speeds. Don't ask me if I'm too old for this drek, because then I'll have to answer...

Anyways, yeah, this node's sysop oracle nailed it: bugs are way bad news, kiddos.

Let me tell you from personal experience, working for Ares during the late '50s was made extra fun by all the bad PR from the Bug City fiasco. Fortunately, I was in the Ares Arms division, so the fallout on us was limited. Those chummers over in the Knight Errant security arm, though... Well, let's sum it up like this: rumor was that they had to use the latest therapeutic boosted simsense to "reset" their Assistant VP for PR after each press conference. Medically-sanctioned BTL, folks - nothing but the finest in drek that will fry your brain for the top brass!

But that's about all the personal knowledge I have of insect spirits and all the horror they cause. This sort of mojo is best left to the Awakened, but they are also the most likely to be seduced and corrupted by it. Something about an easier path to greater power - sounds like the same tagline used to push anything addictive, if you ask me. I may have run across something "bug-like" once while working with the comrades, but they had sent along Svetlana, who had something she liked to call "special old country magic" for dealing with spirits she couldn't control. It looked like a waste of a perfectly good bottle of vodka to me, but I guess tossing in some Awakened salmon eggs and lighting it on fire makes it extra dangerous, magically-speaking. Strangest Molotov cocktail ever...

Somebody with some wiz mojo know-how should add some informed perspective to the discussion here, because old man Rake is nearly tapped-out on all things bug. I leave you slots with a couple of parting thoughts that might save your hoop one day:

1. Bug spirit exterminating is best left to the magical types (unless they tell you otherwise).

2. Keep a close eye on your team's mage/shaman/witchdoctor/houngan/etc. after the fact to make sure they haven't been "convinced" to switch sides mid-game.

-Rake