Shemarrian Sourcebook

[Danger]

The title says it all.

Care to give any teasers, Josh? Or are you allowed to?

[Thinyser]

The title says it all.

Care to give any teasers, Josh? Or are you allowed to?

/Austin Powers voice/ They've got machineguns in their jubblies!!! /end Austin Powers voice/

[The Galactus Kid]

um...shemarrians? I bet thats whats in it. lol

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

The title says it all.

Care to give any teasers, Josh? Or are you allowed to?

Teasers?

I dunno what I can give, though this older post of mine sums it up (originally intended to answer the question "why?"):

I believe that many of you are underscoring the importance of the Shemarrians. It's cool by me if they are not your cup of tea, but at least understand how important they are...

...and that's pretty damn important.

Despite their small numbers, or perhaps because of them, they are a major player in the East, the stuff of folktales and legends as far as the wilderness folk are concerned. To those living north of the Carolinas, the Shemarrians are very often much more famed than Reid's Rangers or the Cyber-Knights, the Amazonian Androids very often saving the comparatively helpless from the Splugorth and Horune...veritable boogie men of the Eastern Wilds.

More than that though, the Shemarrians have become Archie's Phantom right arm (his left being Titan Robotics), a mask, or rather a glove, that he wears when dealing with those around him in an aggressive or semi-aggressive posture. Take a look at Aftermath and see how the machine entity has re-emphasized these warriors.

At the exact same time they are there to flick at the nose of Splugorth Expansion and keep as many people as possible out of Maryland and southern Pennsylvania. Unlike the Coalition States or Free Quebec, Archie cannot simply state "stay out" himself, thus he has his Shemarrians to do that for him. The genius of the whole matter is that he has claimed 1600 km as part of the Shemarrian Nation, which is little more than a ruse to prevent people from realizing that the Shemarrians are really only cordoning off a small portion of the so-called nation.

So why have a book? Well, Archie's carefully laid web of subterfuge hinges all on one factor: people think the Shemarrians are real flesh-and-blood creatures. If he looses that edge he is screwed. Free Quebec, the Coalition and the Splugorth will immediately sit up and notice. "The Shemarrians are robots?" Such an epiphany will result in the realization that a puppet master is at work..and with three of the most powerful nations on Earth looking...Archie's days would be numbered.

So, in order to guarantee his survival and the proper unfolding of his plan, Archie with Hagan's help needs to make sure that everyone believes that the robotic femme fatales are real. Hence the improvements mentioned in Aftermath. This also means that a much more believable (if confusing) faux Shemarrian culture has to be produced. To any observers, the ultimately false Shemarrian culture needs to look and feel real. Basically, Archie and Hagan are rationalizing out a theoretical culture. And how exactly they have achieved this is one of the main points of the book.

And this is the providence of the Adventure Sourcebooks, by the way: taking a closer look at things that have already been covered...more closer looks that Word Books just can't allow (if they do than they are viewed as crappy by the fans like England or most notably: Africa). Should there be one for the Shemarrians? I think so, especially when one considers that the Shemarrians are one of Archie's public facades...a point that will become ever more salient once the Updated Sourcebook One hits the shelves and you guys find out just what the hell the Republicans are and how they relate to Archie (and by association the Shemarrians).

Note though that the book won't just be all filler...and no killer. There will be stuff that you can use (i.e. it won't be just "Setting Information")...and all of it should fit. In fact, I have typed 8 pages or more (at 10 point font) on more than one occasion and realized they didn't fit...and thus removed them... I hated to do it, but it needed to be done.

Some are you are probably going: "Well why not do an Adventure Sourcebook about X." Well: 1. I only have two arms and am already working on two books simultaneously, and 2. I pitched two other books along with the Shemarrian ASB...Palladium liked all three...but wanted the Shemarrian ASB right away.

Hopefully one of those two, one of which fleshes out further a group that many posters will find worthy of such an honor, will be approved in the future.

Peace.

~ Josh

Note: Believe it or not, I gave away little of the Shemarrian ASB above...much of that one can gather themselves from other already published Rifts Material.

Production is stalled at the moment BTW, as my attention has been called to much more urgent projects. However, it's almost done, even though stalled.

~ Josh

[Danger]

So, which comes first? Shemarrian, or Delta Blues?

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

So, which comes first? Shemarrian, or Delta Blues?

AFAIK, Delta Blues, as Delta Blues has been finished for awhile and is now in the editting process...while the Shemarrian Sourcebook is sitting on my computer.

Nothing is definite though.

~ Josh

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

what's in the sourcebook about shemarrian?

See my post above.

~ Josh

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

You aure expanding that will fill 64 pages?

Definitely.

Like I said, it won't just be "fluff text."

~ Josh

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

okay! If it's fit for printing, I'll definitely buy one.

I apologize in advance on behalf of the US Postal Service on how long one would take to reach you, if you do indeed buy one.



~ Josh

[Josh Sinsapaugh]

Oh, don't worry about it. I have had to wait longer for posts before.

It took a cheque just past 3 weeks to reach me from within Australia.

6 weeks for something good is always worth waiting for. Didn't live to thos day without learning to be patient.

Your Buddha Avatar makes even more sense.

What's that adage? Patience is a virtue.

~ Josh

[BookWyrm]

Is there anything in this proposed Shemarrian sourcebook about rogue Shemarrians? Ones who have abandoned Archie-3, somehow broke though their programming & become more independent? Just a thought....

[grandmaster z0b]

Is there anything about the Shemarrian's fighting blind warrior women of the sploog's in the rain in an open muddy field where there clothes get ripped to shreds and they start to get all le. . . . . . I need a moment to myself.

No that's another planned sourcebook tentatively titled : Shemarrian's Spring Break! or Warrior Women Run Wild!.

There's also talk of a new adult magazine Double D-Bees.

[Danger]

Is there anything in this proposed Shemarrian sourcebook about rogue Shemarrians? Ones who have abandoned Archie-3, somehow broke though their programming & become more independent? Just a thought....

Is there any mention of this in current text?

[tenakafurey]

Is there anything in this proposed Shemarrian sourcebook about rogue Shemarrians? Ones who have abandoned Archie-3, somehow broke though their programming & become more independent? Just a thought....

Unfortuantely, that's (next to) impossible.

At the end of the day, Shemarrians are robots. With programming. The Shemarrians are not an AI. Robots defying programming is called being bug-ridden.

It's not going to happen.

Further, in this case, rogue Shemarrians cannot be allowed by Archie. As stated, his success depends on hiding the fact that they are robots. A rogue unit puts that in jeopardy, so if one were to go rogue, it would be hunted down.

However, rogue Shemarrians may be out there.

They'll just still be under Archies control.

EJL