Harlequin: It's a series of conspiracies, conflicting agendas and petty jealousies, all building upon, feeding upon, and excreting into an unending web of drek that people wade through every day and call it Life. If there was one Dark Lord controlling everything and we could drive a magic sword through his heart to free the world, that would be grand. Such clarity! Such focus! Alas.
Player Character: So what's the lesson in all of this? That I did all of it for nothing?
Harlequin: Just the opposite, schmuck. The lesson is this - the game is rigged. The cards are stacked. The dice are loaded. It's the same as it always was. Every cycle. People in power exert power. Little people cower in their homes, think what they're told to think, and buy whatever product will help them forget how horrible their lives are for another day. And that's why we don't *play* their fragging game. We don't swallow their drek sandwich and politely ask for another. It's why we run the shadows. That's where real life is, kiddo. Reality's living in the places no one wants you to see.
Player Character: So what's the lesson in all of this? That I did all of it for nothing?
Harlequin: Just the opposite, schmuck. The lesson is this - the game is rigged. The cards are stacked. The dice are loaded. It's the same as it always was. Every cycle. People in power exert power. Little people cower in their homes, think what they're told to think, and buy whatever product will help them forget how horrible their lives are for another day. And that's why we don't *play* their fragging game. We don't swallow their drek sandwich and politely ask for another. It's why we run the shadows. That's where real life is, kiddo. Reality's living in the places no one wants you to see.
Dead Man's Switch
Allow me to share a truth with you, Shadowrunner. The truly powerful do nothing themselves unless they absolutely have to. Instead, they delegate. Others do the work for them, and they reap the benefits.
Hans Brackhaus aka The Great Dragon, Lofwyr, Dragonfall
He is a man doing a job, just as we are. We are not enemies - the great and powerful are, safe in their steel towers.
Gaichu, describing the Plastic-Faced Man, Hong Kong
“Our Hour”
When the long shadows fall on Hong Kong,
Neon lights pierce the coming night.
Tread with me the velvet blackness;
Let no lamp shine on our deeds.
When the long shadows fall on Hong Kong,
Neon lights pierce the coming night.
Tread with me the velvet blackness;
Let no lamp shine on our deeds.
T3nn1s0n, Shadowland Poetry Slam
