The Story (So Far)

So you’re new around here, and you want to know the history of the Hub, eh? There’s a lot to unpack, so let’s get started. I’m gonna give you a rundown of every major event in the ‘Hub’s history. I’ll try and make it as bite sized as possible. So without further ado...

The Emergency Gubernatorial Election of 2079

10 October 2075

The story begins with the governor of Seattle and the turmoil that followed his death. In ‘Hub canon, Kenneth Brackhaven was never elected to the position of Seattle governor. That honour went to one Martin Pierce, who was assassinated in the lead up to the 2078 election. Pierce was expected to win the election, and with his death, a number of surprise candidates emerged.

Frontrunners Begin Their Campaigns

13 October 2075

Rebecca Delacroix and Andrew Mercer were the two front-runners. Delacroix was an Ares Macrotechnology figurehead running on a platform of reducing crime, while Mercer campaigned on promises to provide for the little guy, promoting a “SINs for the SINless” plan. They were followed by two others: Mitzy Harlan, a Dryad reality-trid star who recorded her entire campaign with a simrig, and Melns, a dragon with mysterious motives. For the first few weeks, things progressed as one would suspect; the politicians with a serious campaign fund pulled ahead. Then the shadows got involved…

Mercer Down, Mercer Up, & Not So Fast, Mrs. Delacroix

15 October 2075 to December 4 2075

The ‘Hub, being a budding shadow community, got down and dirty; nothing was off the table for us - still isn't. It started off with a smear campaign on Andrew Mercer, the front-runner at the time, that didn’t work. So the next logical step: Assassination. The job went off without a hitch until he got back up a few days later. To make a long story short: Body doubles, am I right?. But the damage was done with the the drugs, firearm charges and the whole “being dead for a week” thing. He couldn’t recover. All that left was an Iron-fisted ARES Authoritarian, a Dragon, and a Reality Star.

And that went as one might expect. The candidate with the biggest campaign fund and support of the shadows won, and we ushered in a new and prosperous golden age under Rebecca Delacroix for a whopping 12 hours before little Mitzy Harlan swooped in and exposed Delacroix’s blatant exploitation of the deceased to vote on her behalf. So now there was a fairy and a dragon.

Went Off So Well You Might Think It Was Scripted

8 December 2075 to 5 January 2076

The Dragon, we made sure he didn’t win. ‘Tis one of the cardinal rules: “Never, ever cut a deal with a Dragon.”. Melns got no support from the ‘Hub, and the other candidates did, but by then, our assistance wasn’t really needed; who wouldn’t vote for the Dryad heroine who uncovered the rigged ballot scheme and corrupt Governor candidate?

The Orc Underground Riots

The Calm

11 December 2076 to 12 February 2077

Things were dying down in the shadows for a little while after that, but in a few months Seattle was heating up once again. A cargo ship, the Agatha-Maersk, ran adrift off the coast of Seattle. Pirates, shadowrunners, corporate vultures and city authorities flocked to deal with the situation, and so the city’s eye was drawn away from the war bubbling under its streets. The Ork Underground was suffering from a major power struggle. The Skraacha, the unofficial ganger "neighborhood watch" of the Underground, had become fractured. A splinter group calling itself the "True Skraacha" promoted violence and independence from the greater Seattle Metroplex and began to clash with city authorities.

The Storm

8 March 2077 to 18 April 2077

The leader of this new movement was Thra’ag Druukthil, a revolutionary who preached the inevitability of violence over the oppression of metahumans in the Underground. Under his influence, a series of bombings took place among protests that brought the violence spilling onto the streets of Seattle. Riots erupted as revolutionaries, corporate security contractors, and scared citizens clashed over the bloodshed. Mitzy Harlan, having lost faith in Knight Errant and Lone Star’s abilities, turned to shadowrunners to deal with the problem.

Through our intervention, Thra’ag was revealed as a former member of Humanis, who had gone through a late-stage "goblinization", becoming an Ork, which he used to infiltrate the Skraacha. He didn’t live long after that.

The Wake

19 April 2077 to 21 April 2077

The EVO corporation stepped in alongside the Mothers of Metahumanity to expand their influence in the Underground via charity efforts. EVO even recruited talented individuals into their ranks and provided limited SINs to those “lucky” few. Knight Errant retained its hold on the Metroplex security contract, and despite the estimated 200 (SINner) deaths resulting from the riots, Seattle was calm again…

A Dragon Never Forgets

Predator, or Prey?

8 August 2077 to 15 August 2077

But not for long. At least, not for the Seattle shadows; you might be seeing a trend here. Melns, the dragon whose chances at the Seattle governorship were thwarted by ‘Hub runners, returned with a plan for revenge. Using an elite security company, Monarch, as a weapon, Melns waged war on the ‘Hub. The Royal Hotel, a ‘Hub-run building that provided safe houses and hangouts for ‘Hub runners, was bombed by Monarch. Several ‘Hub runners were killed, their bodies went missing, and warnings about a “hunting season” started popping up all over the data haven.

As time went on, more and more runners began to go missing, and others reported close encounters with corporate black-bagging teams. The ‘Hub began to fight back, discovering the involvement of Monarch, and crippling their Seattle operations in their own retaliatory bombing. Eventually, Melns’ involvement was brought to light, and the ‘Hub was faced with the gargantuan task of killing a dragon.

Never, Ever Deal With a Dragon

22 September 2077

What exactly happened next is hotly debated, but Melns was drawn out into the open and was weakened significantly by an enormous ritual by the Hub’s many mages, and any magical contacts that would come forward to help. The ritual and subsequent assault on the dragon cost many lives, but he was eventually defeated. Whether he was killed or not is unknown, as his body was spotted being carried away by two dracoforms a short while later. Regardless, the hunting season had come to an end.

Biggest And Brightest: SotA Seattle & Corporate Shadow Wars

14 October 2077 to November 4th 2077

Once more the city became quiet again. Over the next few months, Seattle revelled in the “State of the Art Summit”, which brought leaders in cutting edge cyberware, bioware, geneware and advanced robotics from all over the world to Seattle. Money was poured into the shadows as a result, and soon after there was a brief period of seemingly all-out war between AAA corporations Ares, NeoNET, EVO, MCT and Wuxing. The violence did not last, however, and soon a series of Corporate Court interventions brought the war to a standstill.

Redmond Restoration Act

Mega-Corps Being Mega-Bad

Megacorporations are ever restless, and always looking for ways to make a buck. Mitsuhama Computer Technologies, newly named the world’s #1 rated AAA megacorporation, was looking to repurpose mining assets pulled from the Tsimshian Nation and had their eyes on the lava fields in Puyallup. MCT formulated a plan to attain lesser mining rights in Redmond, with the intention of causing “accidental” environmental side effects for the bordering Salish-Shidhe Council. By doing so, they planned to use the resulting political pressure to force Seattle to allow them to move their mine to Puyallup instead, a location they previously had not been able to reach due to bureaucratic red tape.

Redmond is Ravaged, to Thunderous Applause

3 October 2078 to 27 October 2078

With the help of NeoNET and Shiawase Corporation, who had their own interests in Redmond, MCT created a smokescreen. Using Governor Harlan as a puppet, the “Redmond Restoration Act” was announced, a plan to bring an influx of support, jobs, and wealth into the Redmond district. Supplies were shipped into Redmond by the truckload, with the Metroplex Guard stepping in to help keep order as it happened. Masses of SINless were displaced as corporate construction efforts were underway, many forcibly moved into temporary housing and slums along the Snohomish and Renton borders. Meanwhile, MCT quietly constructed their mine and successfully declared extraterritoriality in the process.

Hell Hath No Fury Like Mother Nature Scorned

12 December 2078 to 8 June 2079

The Redmond criminal underworld went haywire, with territories and black market pipelines being disrupted all over the district. They didn’t like this and started fighting each other and the Corps like rabid dogs and hired us to help out, which we gladly did for the right price.

MCT mining efforts quickly met resistance from the eco-terrorist organisation TerraFirst, as well as Redmond mayor Sonya Scholl, who was initially strong-armed into supporting the RRA. ‘Hub runners discovered that the temporary housing SINless were being taken to were effectively work camps. A joint TerraFirst/shadowrunner raid on an MCT facility brought proof of MCT’s plans into the shadows, and an effort was formed to destroy the mining operation before political pressure came to a head. The MCT engineer responsible for the facility’s design was extracted, taken into the facility itself by a shadowrunner team amidst a TerraFirst raid, and was forced to sabotage the mining equipment. The result caused the equipment to malfunction and detonate, and MCT’s plans were thwarted in one fell swoop.

As Governor Harlan and her band of corporate and government stooges scrambled to cover up their involvement in the previous events and peace reign over the city for five months…

Darrington: A Literal Hive of Scum and Villainy

Business As Usual, I Assure You

25 October 2081 to 19 November 2081

Seattle failed to notice a sinister plot unfolding within the city. Darrington Correctional Facility, a high-security prison in the Everett district, was the source of many mysterious, yet seemingly unconnected events. First, the head of security at the facility was murdered by Halloweeners outside a Stuffer Shack on Halloween and was replaced by Amanda Green, a retired Green Beret of the UCAS Army. After which, strange things began to happen in and around the prison.

Black Helicopters, Anyone?

23 November 2079 to 12 December 2079

Several high profile leaders in organized crime were transported to the prison, and as is to be expected, violence broke out within the walls a short while later. The riots were pacified, and all seemed calm when the prison went into lockdown with seemingly little reason. News footage showed Darrington prison guards behaving strangely on the roofs of the prison, and Lone Star Security Services sent representatives to find out what was happening there. Money was once again being pumped into the shadows at an alarming rate, and runners found jobs frequently connecting with the events surrounding Darrington. A number of ‘Hub runners decided to investigate what was really happening, and eventually, a group of shadowrunners astrally scouted the prison, discovering something dire.

Bugs?! There Ain’t No Bugs in Mah City!

26 December 2079 to 31 December 2079

Darrington was infested with Insect spirits. Amanda Green had converted to worship of a Wasp Spirit Totem, using the prison inmates and staff to create a heavily isolated, protected hive. The shadowrunners attempted to let the world know, but their message was largely ignored as a prank - until the hive erupted in retaliation. Seattle was swarmed with wasp spirits, and for a time both the military and corporate security within the city were caught unaware. The attacks were devastating; wasps targeted key locations such as the Aztechnology pyramid, the UCAS naval fleet off the coast, and most importantly the governor’s mansion. Governor Mitzy Harlan was killed in the ensuing chaos, and for a time Seattle was leaderless.

Do You Damn Dirty Apes Want To Live Forever?

27 December 2079 to 3 January 2079

Eventually, however, a joint operation by the UCAS military, Ares Macrotechnology and Aztechnology locked off and stormed Darrington, effectively eliminating the bug menace, and creating the Darrington Quarantine Zone. Natoko Munakata, Seattle’s Commissioner of Public Works, took the position of interim governor and was able to keep the city relatively stable until a special election could be held. Two front runners emerged: Nikola Taul, the mayor of Downtown, and Corrine Potter, who began as a campaign manager for Howard Cannon and took over his campaign after his death. Despite Potter’s disadvantage as a relatively unknown candidate, she managed to eke out a victory over Taul, who was seen by most to be the favourite. Only time will tell how our new governor intends to lead Seattle.

The damage from the last few months remains, however, and for many Seattleites the danger was far too close for comfort. Where Seattle will go from here, and how it will rebuild and recover is the big question on everyone’s minds. We’ll know soon enough.

New ‘Hub, New Me

Dodging GOD

30 September 2080 to 8 October 2080

The ‘Hub had been growing, gaining more business than your friendly local sysops could handle. We struggled to cover our tracks properly, and got the attention of GOD. They’ve always been looking for us - we are a pack of criminals, after all - but never got too close. We’re that good. But with the rapid, messy expansion after the big bug hunt, our presence on the Matrix was a lot louder and brighter. We played a dangerous game of cat and mouse with GOD, until they cornered us, forcing the lads behind the curtain to pull every trick in the book to avoid the end of the ‘Hub as we knew it. We bought ourselves some time, but needed a permanent solution.

All of the sysops gathered in our metaphorical smoky backroom to discuss our next play, and during that chat we discovered an old foe was trying to re-establish a presence in Seattle. They hurt us once, so we knew we’d better look into Monarch to make sure they wouldn’t be a threat.

What that brought to light was their work toward establishing a Rogue Host, which - well we could kill two birds with one stone. A sink-or-swim gambit to see a grudge through and get GOD off our backs.

Swatting Butterflies

12 October 2080 to 12 January 2081

It wasn’t long before Monarch raised their ugly heads and got back to a favourite hobby: fragging with us. They started with a series of attacks on the physical hardware that kept the lights on, so we scrambled a horde of runners to take out the strike teams and keep our hardware posts safe.

With the house locked up and secure, it was time to shake our fists and get them darn kids off our lawn. We discovered the leaders of Monarch’s shadow ops and made quick work of most of them before they knew what was happening, though some slipped the net. Monarch hit back and took some of the ‘Hub’s best out - but the underdogs came out on top. All that we had to do next was find that new rock to hide under and avoid GOD.

The Great Swap-a-roo

? 2081

So, we did a bit of housekeeping, got the kids off our lawn, and stole their newfangled tech. Now we needed the new blood on our own team to help us with moving the host to our new digs - but they’d gone dark, right around the time Monarch hit our meatspace sites. Coincidence? Maybe; either way we look after our own. Our new blood, a team of ‘trix wizards named K-OS Theory, had got themselves lost in the ethereal space magic of a Resonance Realm, so Ghostie sent a team to fish ‘em out.

With the ‘trix wizkids and the keys to the castle, the last thing to do was dump Monarch’s dirty laundry at our old gaff while moving into their new spot, in a GREAT SWAP-A-ROO that buggered Monarch and tricked the almighty GOD.

The ‘Hub once again settles down into a lull, waiting for the next tsunami of buggery to hit...

...And that’s the story so far.

- Love, Haircut & Titanhand