Our special miniseries presenting thedragons of other game worlds continueswith a very traditional dragon with verynontraditional interests. . .

The streets are dark in the SHADOWRUNfirole-playing game, and the masters of thosestreets are the shadowrunners. Deckers,elves, mages, dwarves, riggers, mercenaries,trolls, samurai, orks, and shamans take onthe jobs that the megacorporations dontwant to dirty their hands with. Its a hardworld, and it takes more than strength tosurvive. It takes guts.

In the SHADOWRUN game, magic andtechnology exist side-by-side in a gamemade for them both. In the year 2054,megacorporations rule, magic has re-turned to change the world forever, andnothing is what youd expect. Rememberthe street proverb: Shoot straight, con-serve ammo, and never, ever, deal with adragon.

>>>>>[lnformation dissemination being the soulof the Shadowland electronic network, it failsto me as its local controller to post informationof interest and watch the fur fly. The followingprofile is excerpted and abridged from the far-too-hip-for-its-own-good online edition of theinfozine Meta Trends (January 2054). Some ofthe information presented in the article hasbeen disputed by various sources. Believe it atyour own risk. As always, electronic readers ofthis file are invited to post their own commentsand observations. Believe them at your ownrisk as well.]

Captain Chaos 08:21:51/2-23-54

If dragons are beasts of legend, why is itthat modern Man can periodically flip acable channel and find one alternatelybabbling good-naturedly on some fascinat-ing (to him) facet of human society orhaving an equally good-natured chat witha celebrity of the moment? Why is it that adragon, once the bane of Saint George, thenear-consumer of darling/annoying Bilbo,and the quarry of knights-gallant has hisown talk show? The answer, very simply,is ratings and power.

>>>>>[Yeah, when a great dragon asks for hisown trideo show, are you gonna be the one totell him no?]

X-VP 02:13:1312-25-54

To understand Dunklezahn even some-what, one must look back to his first ap-pearance. The dragons arrival in Denveron January 27, 2012, only weeks after thefirst appearance of others of its kind, was

80 NOVEMBER 1993

notable not only for his examination andinspection of that steel-and-concretesprawl, but for the exuberance he dis-played in doing so. The handful of dragonsseen to that date had been aloof, elusive,and the subject of fevered and often reac-tionary public and media debate. Sudden-ly, there was this great beast of mythologyutterly and completely fascinated by theconcept and workings of a simple automo-bile. The impact was tremendous.

Quickly, the great media machine spranginto action. While the military tried to sealup the area around Cherry Creek Lakewhere the great dragon snoozed, re-porters from all over the globe battled foran interview with him. The winner wasthen-neophyte and local second-string,early-evening weekend anchorwomanHolly Brighton. Through not without sometechnical hitches, the resulting interview,12 hours and 16 minutes of mind-bogglingquestions and answers, give and take,banter and blather, between the quasi-intellectual Brighton and the toweringdragon Dunklezahn gave humanity its firstreal clues to the breadth and depth of theAwakening. The kicker was that Dunkle-zahn, amazed and befuddled at the worldin which he had awakened, was still savvyenough to insist on an above-the-line cut ofthe profits from the sale of the interviewtapes. It is estimated that those sales alonenetted the dragon over $13 million dollars,tax-free.

It was also at that time that Dunklezahnbegan his association with the first of histhree interpreters. Though the dragonwas able to quickly learn to communicatein English (with the assistance of magic, heexplained), getting his comments recordedonto videotape proved a tremendous task.Dragons, it was discovered, do not speakin the way that humans do, expelling airacross a constantly changing landscape oftongue, teeth, and lip, but instead througha thought-voice clearly understandableby all those to whom the dragon choosesto speak. Unfortunately, microphones areimmune to thought-speak.

The solution was found in a local Denverresident, a young black man named JohnTimmons, who agreed to speak for thedragon and relate the words spoken intohis head. Together, the unearthly presenceof the dragon and the carefully modulatedwords of the young divinity student cap-tured the imagination of millions. Manysociologists today agree that were it notfor the powerful but calming presence ofDunklezahn in the early days of the Awak-ening, mankinds reaction to the changesto the world and humanity itself mighthave been far more traumatic.

Dunklezahn maintained an informational-business relationship with Holly Brightonuntil her retirement from media in 2042,and he allowed her exclusive access for thattime. The dragon gave Brighton status andrespectability, and she in turn gave himhumanity. Timmons remained the voice ofthe dragon in the media and in public. In

return, Timmons own words became amajor voice in Post-Awakened North Ameri-can Protestantism, where he preached toler-ance and clear-mindedness against a tide ofreligious reactionism. The exact relationshipbetween the three has been hotly argued,but what is clear is that the three neededand used each other to achieve their individ-ual goals. Brighton and Timmons both want-ed notoriety for their own reasons. AndDunklezahn the dragon, like a great mytho-logical Willy Loman, simply wanted to beliked.

Timmons relationship with the dragonended in 2022 when he was killed by aassassin with connections to the burgeoninganti-metahuman movement. Police wereunable to question the killer because hemade the mistake of taking his shot in thepresence of Dunklezahn. The dragon, eye-witnesses reported, reduced the gunman tohis component flaming atoms with aglance. Critics of the dragon were harsh,questioning why with all his power Dunkle-zahn had been unable to stop the assassina-tion from occurring. Normally verbose,Dunklezahn remains silent on the matter.

>>>>>[Of course he has; he arranged for thehead-shot. Timmons, though hed been a valu-able mouthpiece, was starting to feel his realpower as part of the chaotic Post-AwakenedProtestant Church. Word is that he was prepar-ing to end his relationship with the dragon andreveal all.]

>>>>>[This is a fraggin great dragon were talk-ing about! First off, you dont think he could havekept Timmons quiet if hed wanted to? (Assum-ing there was a reason in the first place.) Sec-ond, if youre one of the most powerful magicalbeings on the face of the planet, why rely onsome goon with a cheap hunting rifle? Timmonsnearly survived, you know.]

Untouchable 11:28:42/3-1-54

>>>>>[What, dragons dont know healingmagic??]

Doctor Dave 10:19:27/3-5-54

Dunklezahn remained without a voiceuntil 2028 (resulting in some bizarre one-sided interviews between Holly Brighton andthe dragon.) In the spring of that year, thedragon began using a young woman namedTerri Ann Riberio. Riberio, like Brighton, wasa neophyte reporter when discovered bythe dragon. A perky and personable voicefor the dragon, Riberio proved popularenough even without Dunklezahn that shemoved on to a somewhat successful, if notnoteworthy, acting career in 2039.

>>>>>[Its also interesting to note that Riberio hasto date refused, despite offers of tremendoussums of money, to create a tell-all program abouther years with the dragon, let alone be inter-viewed about the subject. Integrity, or somethingelse?]

Publisher 03:17:15/2-26-54

>>>>>[Yeah, fear of getting on a great dragonsdrek list. Makes sense to me.]

Carnival Barker 10:27:50/3-1 -54

Gossip Hound 08:22:09/2-24-54

>>>>>[Ah, but such a manuscript does exist, Iunderstand. Riberio keeps it as insurance. If shedies oddly, it goes public. A fairly common andusually successful insurance technique. Ofcourse, should Dunklezahn find it. . . .]

Winner 12:01:57/3-1-54

During the five years prior to that,Dunklezahn had begun spending vast sumsto create his current laira sprawlingretreat on the shores of Lake Louise in theAthabaskan Council, southwest of Edmon-ton. It serves not only as a tourist attractionand high-technology entertainment resort,but as the dragons personal feudal domain.Though the legal basis for Dunklezahnsclaim to the land is still unclear, there is littledoubt that the great dragon is lord and kingover all he surveys. (And, considering thephenomenal destructive power displayed bythe great eastern dragon Aden when itrazed Teheran in 2020, it is doubtful thatanyone in the Athabaskan Council has everseriously considered attempting to reclaimthe land, let alone collect taxes.)

The Lake Louise resort is known not onlyfor its quasi-medieval splendor, but for theincredibly sophisticated virtual reality (VR)technology available there. Guests can partic-ipate in incredible adventures, witness stun-ning real and imagined vistas, and generallyrisk life and limb without leaving the com-fort of their recliner. The resorts technologyis operated by VisionQuest, the former AresMacrotechnology VR lab purchased byDunklezahn in 2037. Today, the continuallyadvancing technology of the VisionQuesthardware is considered state-of-the-art for adirect-feed VR experience. The dragon him-self seems fascinated by the concept ofvirtual reality, its applications and implica-tions. Dragons, he is quoted as saying, havea unique understanding of reality, and any-thing that claims to create or define reality isof great interest to him.

>>>>>[Ive heard that Dunklezahn himself hasattempted a direct neural-tap VR feed with nosuccess. Guess hes stuck using those stupidarchaic helmets and gloves. Quite an image,eh?]

Bowman 07:26:30/3-1-54

>>>>>[VisionQuest is very aggressive aboutmaintaining its technological lead. I understandits about to begin another expansion and will belooking to increase its staff. Since the wiz-kingswith the real skill are as protected as an orbitalbanking system, you can expect some ratherviolent recruiting. High on this list: Dr. MichaelDenaris of Fuchi, Dr. Ellen Brand Koch of Renra-ku, and Dr. Estaban Wallech of Brilliant Genesis.]

The dragons current voice is one NadjaDaviar, an Eastern European elven beautywith a mesmerizing voice and no personalhistory on record. She has held that positionsince 2039 and reigns over the Lake Louiseresort like its queen. Holly Brighton, whoresides in retirement at the resort and stillwields considerable power within the drag-ons sphere of influence, is frequently atodds with Daviar. Brightons greatest influ-

DRAGON 81

Insider 10:18:51/3-4-54

ence seems to be over Dunklezahns periodic the production studio is that Dunklezahn and each other. Whats got him upset (thoughtalk-commentary trideo program WyrmTalk.

>>>>>[lts been continually reported that Daviarhas some connection to the Polish intelligencecommunity, though no information beyond thathas ever surfaced. Ill bet that Brighton wouldpay mucho dinero for that kind of paydata.]

Ex-Pat 03:02:09/3-12-54The dragon began the semi-annual pro-

gram the year following Brightons retire-ment from media and has produced overtwo dozen editions of the program. Topicsrange from trite celebrity interviews andprofiles to frighteningly insightful commen-tary on culture and society. The dragonscurrent program is overdue, and word from

remains undecided about its scope or sub-ject. However, no one on the productionstaff even knows the topics the great dragonis considering. Regardless, the choice andresult will undoubtedly be fascinating onsome level, as well as a ratings bonanza.

>>>>>[Im on the production staff for Wyrm Talk(yes, you could see my name on the credits ifyou knew where to look) and undecided is anunderstatement for the Big Ds (as hes referredto in the studio) state of mind these days. Angst-ridden is more like it. At the heart of who andwhat Dunklezahn is is his fascination with hu-manity, specifically human interaction. Hesamazed by how we relate to each other, or dont.The whole VR setup in Lake Louise is designedso that he can observe people reacting to things

that may be too strong a word for a dragon) isthat he knows something he thinks everyone(read: humanity) should know about. Whydoesnt he just say? I dont know. Will he say? Idont know either.]

More Than Best Boy 07:17:16/3-10-64

>>>>>[Maybe hes silent because others dontthink humanity is ready to know everything andhave warned him against it. If so, just who outthere is powerful enough to tell a great dragonwhat to do? Think about it-itll keep you up atnight.]

Frosty 05:10:12/3-12-54

Copyright 1993 Tom Dowd/FASA Corporation.SHADOWRUN is a trademark of FASA Corporationand used with permission.

Dunklezahn (SHADOWRUNfi game statistics)

Body: 22/12 Charisma: 10Quickness: 11 3 Intelligence: 9Strength: 48 Willpower: 12Initiative: 9 +2D6 Threat Rating: 10Attack Code: 16D, + 3 Reach Level of Initiation: 12 +Areas of Knowledge: Magic, Media, Technology

Essence: 12Magic: 20Reaction: 9

Type of Magic: shamanic

Powers: Enhanced Senses (wide-band hearing, low-light vision, thermal sense), Hardened Armor, InfluenceDescription: Dunklezahn is a silver- and blue-scaled great western dragon (Draco sapiens (occidentalis)), approximately 48 meters longincluding a 17-meter tail. He stands just under 3 meters in height at the shoulder and has a wingspan in excess of 30 meters. His weight hasbeen estimated at approximately 2,000 kilograms.

(Note: This information is an approximation based on casual observation and limited secondary intelligence.)

82 NOVEMBER 1993