TEXT: CREDITS
  Writing: Kenneth Peters
  Art: Tim Kings-Lynne,  
  Arndt Dreschler, Ian Llanas
  Layout: Matt Heerdt
  Shadowrun Line Developer: Jason M. Hardy
  Development: Peter M. Andrew, Jr.
  Art Direction: Brent Evans, Kat Hardy
  © 2014-15 The Topps Company, Inc. 
  All Rights Reserved. Shadowrun and 
  Matrix are registered trademarks and/or 
  trademarks of The Topps Company, Inc., in 
  the United States and/or other countries. 
  Catalyst Game Labs and the Catalyst Game 
  Labs logo are trademarks of InMediaRes 
  Productions, LLC.
  
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  > “I had many enemies among the Sioux; I would be running considerable risk in meeting them.”
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  Welcome back to JackPoint, OMAE:
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  Today’s Heads Up
  > Something new for you all. It’s a big world, and there are opportunities 
  to work in all corners of it. We’re preparing a series of briefings about 
  some of the hottest spots that we haven’t covered enough lately. 
  We’ll start with an overview of a nation, then profile some cities in 
  that nation. Up first in what we’re calling Shadows in Focus: the Sioux 
  Nation. If you haven’t checked in with the Sioux since the Ghost Dance, 
  it’s time to find out what’s going on over there, what kind of work you 
  might be able to get, and what might kill you. –Glitch
  Incoming
  > The Matrix has become the home of a number of different “friends”. 
  [Tag: 10 AIs]
  > There are a lot of strange things in the shadows, let’s show you some 
  options. [Tag: Run Faster]
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  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    3
  FACTS AT A GLANCE
  THE SIOUX NATION
  The CIA Factbook, 2075
  Geography: Mostly flat to rolling high elevation plains; high 
  mountain ranges in west.
  Area: 1,834,280 sq km
  Border Countries: Algonkian-Manitou Council, Pueblo 
  Corporate Council, Salish-Shidhe Council, United Canadian and 
  American States
  Climate: Semi-arid; cold winters and hot summers
  Maritime Claims: None
  Natural Resources: Coal, copper, geothermal, gold, 
  petroleum, rare earths, telesma, timber
  Government: Constitution-based tribal council
  Administrative Divisions: None; there are no first-order 
  administrative divisions as defined by the UCAS government.
  Capital: Cheyenne
  Independence: 25 April 2018 (from United States)
  Legal System: Mixed legal system of civil law based on US 
  model and customary law.
  Suffrage: 16 years of age; universal and compulsory
  Population: 6,950,000 (January 2075 est.)
  Metahuman Demographics: Human 63%; ork 17%; troll 9%; 
  elf 5%; dwarf 5%; other 1%
  Education: Less than twelve years 11%; high school 
  equivalent 50%; college degree 30%; advanced degrees 9%
  Education Expenditures: 6.2% of GDP (2074)
  Estimated SINless: 15%
  Languages: English (official), Siouxian dialects, Cherokee, 
  Navajo, numerous but minor tribal dialects
  Literacy: 97%
  Major Urban Areas: Cheyenne (capital) 2.9 million; Billings 
  245,000; Rapid City 225,000; Fargo 195,000; Casper 80,000; Butte 
  61,000.
  Urbanization: 80% of total population (2072)
  Economy (rank ordering): Agroindustry, software 
  and information services, food processing, machinery, 
  microelectronics, petroleum and natural gas production, mining, 
  lumber and wood processing
  Corporate Affiliation: 35%; not a signatory to the Business 
  Recognition Accords
  Currency: Nuyen; mints physical currency under a special 
  license from the Corporate Court.
  Per Capita GDP: 31,000¥
  Population Below Poverty Line: 15% (2073 est.)
  Communications: Advanced, multipurpose communication 
  system; participant in Grid Overwatch Division security 
  partnership
  Matrix Users: 6.52 million (2074)
  Notable Local Grids: Eagle City Grid (Cheyenne), 
  SCEnet (cellular system for rural communities)
  Regional Telecommunication Code: NA/NAN/SN
  Military: Sioux Defense Force (SDF): Sioux Army, Sioux Air 
  Force, Sioux Special Forces (“Wildcats”); Scouts (paramilitary 
  youth organization)
  Service Age and Obligation: 18 years of age for compulsory 
  military service; all genders are obligated to military service; 
  conscript service obligation—12 months; active reserve service 
  obligation—48 months; inactive reserve obligation to age 40.
  Military Expenditures: 7.9% of GDP (2073)
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    4
  THE LAND
  POSTED BY: LANCHEK
  At first glance, the lands of the Sioux Nation are seem-
  ingly endless hectares of farmland or restored prairie 
  stretching off into the distance. Back in the days of the old 
  US this was considered “flyover country,” with few peo-
  ple, and only a handful of locations of any significance. A 
  glance at a map of population density for North Ameri-
  ca makes it hard to argue with that assessment, even in 
  2075. After all, it’s true that in the north of the country 
  you travel for hours without seeing a single metahuman, 
  and the population of the entire country would fit in a 
  suburb of any UCAS metroplex. Even the capital metrop-
  lex of Cheyenne is home to less people than Seattle. But 
  look a bit closer, chummer, and you’ll start to see that 
  things are not what they appear to be.
  One reason you don’t see people in the outback is 
  because, frankly, they don’t need to be there. The farms 
  are maintained by hundreds of small drones that dutifully 
  remove pests and apply nutrients to the genetically 
  engineered 
  grains. 
  Automated 
  truck 
  convoys 
  and 
  unmanned cargo zeppelins carry goods across the open 
  expanses of the country. Satellite surveillance keeps a 
  close eye on the waters, prairies, and forests. Tribal bands 
  that reject technology and live according the ancient 
  lifestyles also travel across the Great Plains, following the 
  ever-growing buffalo herds. You may come into contact 
  with the tribal isolates—those who try to find a balance 
  between technology and ancient ways but prefer to avoid 
  the hustle, bustle, and dangers of modern urban life. You 
  may even stumble across one of the Anglo reservations, 
  where descendants of the Americans who stayed behind at 
  the end of the Ghost Dance War live.
  > 
  Ah yes, the reservations. Open-air prisons that exist only 
  because the Sioux are sticklers for the provisions of the Treaty 
  of Denver. Provisions they have pointedly left out of the Third 
  Treaty drafts.
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  The traditionalist and Anglo groups living in the Sioux wildlands 
  are surprisingly friendly with each other, if just because they both 
  face discrimination at the hands of the national police and other 
  agents of the government. The traditionalists are exceptional, if 
  rather slow, smugglers of Anglo black-market goods that don’t 
  offend their strict religious and ethical standards, and the Anglos 
  provide backup firepower or broker shadowrunner support 
  when bows-and-arrows won’t suffice against the Awakened 
  threats hiding in the outback.
  > 
  Cyclone
  > 
  The tribal bands that turn their back on Amerind cultural 
  innovations made after the introduction of the horse are 
  considered a bit odd by most Sioux. Their friendly relations with 
  the Anglos and close connections with other back-to-nature 
  tribes in the SSC and PCC make the mainstream tribal leaders 
  rather nervous about their true loyalties.
  > 
  Smugsly
  AETHERPEDIA:  
  TRIBAL DEMOGRAPHICS
  As of the 2070 census, 65 percent of the registered (SINner) 
  population are enrolled with one of the twenty recognized 
  tribes, 15 percent declined to reply, 3 percent listed tribes that 
  are not recognized or fictitious, and 2 percent are members 
  of recognized NAN tribes that remained in the Sioux Nation 
  after 2018 with special citizenship exemptions. The remaining 
  15 percent are classed as Official Residents.
  “Official Residents” is a legal status that includes the 
  Anglo reservation population and skilled immigrants who 
  have not yet (or never will) apply for full citizenship. With the 
  legal revisions of 2067, Official Residents have full franchise 
  but are barred from service in the Sioux Defense Force and 
  employment by the Bureau of National Security. 
  Yellowstone
  Bear’s Tower
  PUEBLO          
     CORPORATE
        COUNCIL
  SIOUX
  ALGONKIAN-MANITOU COUNCIL
  SALISH-
  SHIDHE
  COUNCIL
  C.A.S.
  U.C.A.S.
  Santa Fe
  Cheyenne
  Denver
  Las Vegas
  Pueblo
  Colorado Springs
  Boulder
  Idaho Falls
  Salt Lake City
  Calgary
  Helena
  Butte
  Billings
  Rapid City
  Regina
  Weyburn
  Bismark
  Cypress Hills
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    5
  ACCESS
  The Sioux are justifiably proud of their transportation infra-
  structure, which they inherited from the old United States 
  and have expanded ever since. You can imagine their ex-
  asperation with outsiders who have the notion that there 
  are no paved roads and everyone gets to work on horse-
  back. In fact, the Sioux Nation has thousands of kilometers 
  of well-groomed roads, modern airports, and a rail system 
  that is the envy of the Native American Nations.
  > 
  The roads even get plowed in the winter! Quite a rarity in the 
  rest of the NAN.
  > 
  Turbo Bunny
  > 
  The excellent road network means that the Sioux Army 
  can travel anywhere there is trouble quickly and efficiently. 
  And they can do double-duty as airfields during a war. You 
  can sometimes see the hardened shelters sitting near road 
  segments designated for that purpose. They’re normally empty, 
  but go-gangers and even the nomadic bands sometimes take 
  them over as temporary housing.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  VISITATION RIGHTS
  Applying for a travel visa is easy! Simply provide your 
  SIN to the Sioux embassy and you’ll be cleared in no time. 
  Unless you’re from Aztlan, CAS, UCAS, or a megacorpo-
  rate citizen, in which case you may experience significant 
  delays in processing due to additional security checks. 
  Visitors are encouraged to review the Legal Primer that 
  is sent along with visa clearances and submit their pack-
  ing lists to the Sioux Defense Force Travel Office to avoid 
  any unfortunate misunderstandings and delays. All visi-
  tors need to be aware that tobacco and some telesma are 
  prohibited within the Sioux Nation.
  > 
  For runners, the level of scrutiny you can expect upon entry to 
  the Sioux Nation depends on where you enter the country more 
  than what they see in your background check. The airports are 
  the most routinely intrusive, with random physical searches and 
  even mind probes of suspicious individuals. At the opposite end 
  of the spectrum, the border crossings with the UCAS and Denver 
  FRFZ are so busy that you may get waved across with only a 
  basic chemsniffer and license check, as long as your broadcast 
  SIN (with appropriate visa attachment) and vehicle tags are clean.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  > 
  The Sioux Defense Force counter border incursions with a 
  shoot-first-and-inspect-the-wreckage-later policy. But their 
  resources are not limitless; maintain a healthy respect for your 
  opponent, be aware of the terrain, and keep a finger on top of 
  your countermeasures release, and you’ll be fine.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  Employees of non-NAN security agencies and foreign active-
  duty military personnel from any country, even on leave, are not 
  issued visas except by personal invitation of an Elder or Chief.
  > 
  Henry Wildshadow
  > 
  Smugglers should avoid the border checkpoints themselves, 
  unless they are confident that their paperwork will check 
  out. All Sioux checkpoints operate under elevated security 
  conditions, with military personnel and war shamans assigned 
  even at the borders with nominally friendly countries. If you 
  check out the Coyotes resource we mirrored from JackPoint, 
  Sioux crossings are classed as Hard: don’t get geeked for 
  underestimating these guys.
  > 
  Walks through Tall Grass
  AIR
  The Sioux Nation’s largest international airport is located 
  in Casper, not in Cheyenne as many would expect. The 
  Casper airport is a full-service aerospace port that serves 
  as a transportation hub for the entire northwest and offers 
  semi-ballistic and suborbital routes to most major cities 
  around the world. The Cheyenne facility is currently under-
  going a massive expansion at the expense of Warren Air 
  Force Base that will more than double its current size and 
  expand the country’s links to Imperial Japan and Europe.
  Billings, Fargo, Helena, and Rapid City host smaller 
  airports that offer high-speed commercial airliner service 
  throughout North America, as well as regional cargo and 
  passenger zeppelin services. The Sioux lack space-launch 
  facilities, despite hosting the STC’s Native American Space 
  Agency offices.
  > 
  SiouxAir was behind the push to finally expand the Cheyenne 
  airport into something more modern and befitting a capital 
  city. In fact, an entire wing of the new airport will be for their 
  exclusive use. But a little warning for those trying to get eyes 
  on the building plans—the Office of Military Affairs owns the 
  company lock, stock, and, barrel. And any facility they build is 
  going to have all sorts of interesting secrets worth killing for.
  > 
  DangerSensei
  > 
  International passenger service is limited until the Cheyenne 
  expansion comes on line. For the moment, you can only get 
  direct semi-ballistic flights outside of North America from 
  Casper to Brasília (Amazonia), Honolulu (Hawai’i), Tokyo 
  (Imperial Japan), and Sydney (Australia).
  > 
  Rigger X
  Small airports and heliports are found in or near most 
  large towns, and the government mandates minimal levels 
  of amenities such as autopilot navigation beacons and the 
  ability to process and store aviation-grade biofuels on-site. 
  Cheap fuel and the distances between inhabited areas have 
  created a huge market for civil aviation. Roughly a quarter 
  of the Sioux citizenry have some sort of pilot’s license, and 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    6
  the Sioux Nation has two hundred licensed short-hop car-
  riers—more than all other Native American Nations com-
  bined. Companies such as Eagle Feather Transit, Plains Sky-
  cab, Sky-High Cargo Services, and Table Top Travel provide 
  everything from courier services to fresh fruit delivery.
  > 
  Most Sioux pilots are licensed to operate in the Salish-Shidhe 
  Council (and vice-versa), so there’s a lot of back-and-forth traffic 
  by private parties that are not closely monitored. It’s a little 
  dodgier dealing with the AMC and PCC due to paranoia about 
  smuggling and tense political relationships.
  > 
  Miles Mayhem
  > 
  Sky-High? More like Sky-Fall with their recent accident record. 
  Either their pilots suddenly forgot how to fly, or one of the other 
  carriers is looking to push them out of the lucrative Missoula-
  Cheyenne business.
  > 
  Smugsly
  > 
  It could just be a string of bad luck. The Sioux civil air-traffic-
  control system is antiquated, which exacerbates the problem 
  of so many aircraft being operated by rudimentary autosofts 
  and barely qualified pilots. The system may be useful in a 
  cyberwar with the UCAS, but mid-air collisions and other 
  accidents between private aircraft are shockingly routine. Either 
  they need to bulk up pilot certification requirements (which 
  the independent carriers will fight tooth and nail) or finally 
  implement a modern AirLink system.
  > 
  Henry Wildshadow
  > 
  Bare-knuckle manual control in sketchily controlled airspace 
  builds character.
  > 
  Rigger X
  HIGHWAY
  The Sioux Nation possesses one of the best-maintained 
  road networks in North America and is at the cutting-edge 
  of environmentally conscious road surfacing and mainte-
  nance technologies. Fuel and electricity is cheap in the 
  Sioux Nation, and many residents are affluent enough to 
  own a vehicle so they can commute to work in the cities 
  from outlier towns, or take road trips. Those that cannot 
  afford their own vehicle can take advantage of free in-
  ter-city shuttles and light rail if they live in the communi-
  ties around Casper and Cheyenne. 
  The major east-west routes are Route 80 to the south, 
  which connects Omaha (UCAS), Cheyenne, and Salt Lake 
  City (PCC), and Route 94 in the north, which ties togeth-
  er Bismarck (UCAS), Billings, Butte, and Missoula (SSC). 
  North-south we have Route 15 that runs from Calgary 
  (AMC) to Butte, then continues down to Idaho Falls (SSC), 
  and the Highway 87 link that goes from Cheyenne straight 
  into Denver (FRFZ).
  > 
  Manual driving is a popular hobby, but the most crowded urban 
  areas have traffic controlled by GridGuide. GridLink services are 
  only available in Cheyenne and Casper.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  Criminals on a tight budget should know that regularly 
  scheduled and affordable commercial bus service to and from all 
  Sioux cities and neighboring countries is available from Falcon 
  Express, Screaming Eagle Overland, Sioux National Transit, and 
  Whippet Bus Lines. Whippet even offers a “first class” premium 
  service that shuttles those with time on their hands through the 
  scenic route between Seattle and Cheyenne.
  > 
  DangerSensei
  RAIL
  Four rail lines travel through the Sioux Nation, but it’s the 
  Big Loop Railroad near the northern border that’s most 
  important. This is the main maglev arterial that crosses 
  the entirety of the former United States and is the un-
  sung workhorse that moves a healthy percentage of all 
  cross-country freight at discount prices. The railroad’s 
  neutrality is guaranteed as part of a rather obscure sec-
  tion of the Denver Treaty, and the tracks are technically 
  not Sioux land; the Sovereign Tribal Council is the operat-
  ing agency. This isn’t much of an advantage to smugglers, 
  but it means that Sioux authorities are forbidden from in-
  terfering or inspecting trains passing through the country 
  without explicit authorization from the STC.
  > 
  No passengers allowed. If you want to hitch a ride you need to 
  first catch a train, and they’re traveling at 160+ kph. Despite what 
  you see in the trids, casually running alongside those suckers 
  and jumping aboard is not something most people, or any 
  people, can do. And if you somehow manage to get on board? 
  You have to hack the control system swarming with spiders from 
  a half-dozen nations so that the weight and balance sensors 
  don’t trigger the armed “bull” drones that roust stowaways by 
  perforating them with hypervelocity slugs.
  > 
  Lawnfellow Mobo
  TERRAIN
  Most of the Sioux Nation is characterized by flat and gen-
  tly rolling terrain in the Great Plains, with the Black Hills 
  being a notable exception. There is greater topograph-
  ic complexity as you move from east to west, until you 
  reach the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. The flat areas 
  of the country are characterized by shortgrass prairie and 
  extensive dryland farming. 
  > 
  Cribbing from Danchkekker’s Primer on the Native American 
  Nations (2073 Edition, Revised)? For shame!
  > 
  Slice
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    7
  > 
  Can one crib his own work?
  > 
  Lanchek
  For smugglers, this makes Sioux territory a nightmare 
  to travel through, unless you can hug the Rocky Moun-
  tains north-south. That’s not an option on the Big Sky/
  Long Weekend smuggling route, which in most cases 
  skirts the country entirely, in order to avoid the rather 
  aggressive Sioux Air Force. Luckily, most of their atten-
  tion is focused to the east and south. In recent years, it’s 
  common to run thunderbirds no further than Billings, with 
  trucks carrying the cargo back and forth over the Plains to 
  and from Bismarck. This is slightly slower and less exciting, 
  but the increase in trade with the UCAS has swamped the 
  customs agents on the east. If your truck is sealed against 
  chemsniffers it’s unlikely you will face a full inspection, 
  whereas a LAV appearing on radar is going to have the 
  Army breaking out surface-to-air missiles post haste.
  > 
  The big cartels stick to the established routes, but the Rockies 
  provide a lot of cover. Independent smugglers have made 
  fortunes both on the Salt Lake City to Calgary runs, and the 
  semi-legitimate “triangle trade” between the Shoshone in Idaho 
  Falls, the Anglos in Butte, and the Blackfoot in Kalispell.
  > 
  Lawnfellow Mobo
  > 
  There’s a new route opening up from Boise to Calgary that 
  takes advantage of the Rockies on the last leg. Only problem? 
  Tamanous, Ghost Cartels, and the Lakota Mafia are all trying to 
  monopolize it.
  > 
  Rigger X
  CLIMATE AND WEATHER
  Most of the Sioux Nation is classified as having a cold 
  semi-arid climate, which puts it in the same illustrious 
  category as most of Spain and Iran. This means that you’ll 
  be in for hot summers and cold winters, with only limit-
  ed precipitation all year and high winds. The long-term 
  trends are pointing towards more moderate summer 
  temperatures and colder but wetter, winters, and the re-
  gion has already experienced a significant shift in climate 
  since the early 21st century, with temperature dropping as 
  low as -25 °C (not accounting for wind chill) in the winter 
  months, and the summer high temperatures averaging 
  about 25 °C. There’s considerable regional diversity, as 
  you would expect, but the temperatures don’t range into 
  huge extremes from that 50 degree band, despite several 
  distinct microclimates and increasingly turbulent trends 
  in the weather.
  > 
  For non-climatologists: Weather is the day-to-day atmospheric 
  conditions at a specific place and time. Climate is average 
  conditions over large areas and longer spans of time.
  > 
  Woppler
  > 
  The west of the country, including Cheyenne, often has 
  extended warm spells during the winter months, created 
  by warm chinook winds blowing down off the slopes of the 
  Rockies. These warming events are often coincident with severe 
  mana storm activity and flash floods.
  > 
  Metropolis
  As far as most Sioux are concerned, there are only two 
  seasons: summer and winter. Weather patterns during the 
  hot and cold seasons are relatively predictable, but over 
  the last thirty years (or fifty, according to some meteorolo-
  gists) the variability within those two seasons has become 
  increasingly pronounced—with some areas experiencing 
  temperature shifts of several degrees within a few days, 
  and unsettled atmospheric conditions that have exacer-
  bated the occurrence of snap freezes and flooding in the 
  winter, or hailstorms and tornadoes in the summer. The 
  culprit appears to be an anomalous north-south wind cur-
  rent that pulls subarctic air from the Trans-Polar Aleut up 
  and over the Algonkian-Manitou Council, and then dumps 
  down right in the northwest corner of the Sioux Nation. 
  This “Arctic-Plains Conveyer,” as the science wonks call it, 
  doesn’t make any meteorological sense. Worse, in addi-
  tion to carrying an unexpected amount of moisture, the 
  conveyer appears to be closely linked to the ever-increas-
  ing scale and power of the mana storms and mundane 
  thunderstorms seen in the Glacier Park region.
  > 
  Which means that storm clouds you see on the horizon could 
  be perfectly innocuous, or they could be a runaway mana storm 
  crackling with energy. Both are dangerous and unpredictable in 
  their own way.
  > 
  Woppler
  The weather instability has affected the entire region, 
  making a mockery of weather forecasts and significantly 
  damaging the region’s agricultural potential. For shadow-
  runners traveling in the north, carry both winter coats and 
  tank tops, and keep an ear out for the weather alerts. Sioux 
  meteorologists may not be able to predict the tempera-
  ture, but their sensors and models do a good job of pick-
  ing up tornadoes or storms that appear and determining 
  where they will do the most damage.
  > 
  Freak weather and unpredictable manadynamics are both 
  reasons that the Sioux have been pushing hydroponics facilities 
  and prairie restoration. The new facilities are protected from 
  storm damage, and it’s hoped that natural grasslands will help 
  heal whatever damage is causing the unstable mana levels.
  > 
  Woppler
  > 
  Decades of restoration work and the weather gets worse every 
  year. I hope prairie restoration is not their only plan.
  > 
  Slice
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    8
  > 
  Helena had three days of snow last July. It wasn’t as fun as it 
  sounds. They should let the hermetics over in Butte handle this 
  problem. The shamans are either incompetent or complicit.
  > 
  Butteane
  SITES OF POWER
  The Plains Amerinds were attuned to the magical potential 
  of their land long ago and had identified several loci of 
  power (wakan, in the Lakota tongue) that could be tapped 
  for potent rituals. In the Sixth World, these sites have been 
  closely studied and mapped, along with the ley networks 
  that tie them together in ebbs and flows of mana.
  > 
  Echoes of the Great Ghost Dance wash across the land, 
  causing unpredictable ebbs and flows that disturb spirits best 
  left sleeping. Worse, the wakan attract malign spirits and foul 
  creatures who twist nature’s gift to their own ends. With patience 
  and the blessings of the spirits we will correct these imbalances 
  and return the worlds to harmony.
  > 
  Tachnechdorus
  > 
  Translation: The shamans are praying that the problem works 
  itself out, since they don’t have a clue what’s going on.
  > 
  Raygun
  DEVIL’S TOWER
  Also referred to as Bear’s Lodge (Mataó Thípila), the name 
  given to the monument by its Lakota caretakers, the Tower 
  is a striking column of volcanic rock that stands in stark 
  contrast to the surrounding plains. After the passing of 
  Halley’s Comet in 2061, the Tower grew several dozen me-
  ters, without any detectable seismic activity or immediate 
  notice by those camped nearby. The growth was accom-
  panied by a significant jump in the local mana level, which 
  shifts the Tower area from a strong domain to mana warp 
  at unpredictable intervals.
  > 
  The Lodge itself isn’t any taller. The entire mesa on which it lies 
  has been uplifting. The Lakota don’t allow any high technology 
  around the site, and even the University of Cheyenne stopped 
  pushing the issue after a few lethal “accidents.” Everyone’s 
  crossing their fingers it’s not another Yellowstone time bomb.
  > 
  Metropolis
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    9
  > 
  The Blackfoot and Dakota are not waiting for disaster to strike. 
  Both tribes are hiring intrepid parageologists to do surreptitious 
  surveys. They’ll need backup; the Lakota warrior society radicals 
  protecting the site shoot to kill—and they don’t give a frag if you 
  have official papers.
  > 
  X-Lander
  The Lakota’s most important Sun Dance ritual contin-
  ues to take place here every year during the Summer Sol-
  stice, with several thousand attendees supporting doz-
  ens of Dancers with prayer and emotional support over a 
  two-week period. The Dancers undergo physical ordeals 
  (intense dancing, fasting, piercing, etc.) as a sacrifice to 
  ensure good fortune for their family and tribe, which, as 
  a result of the extremely high mana level, triggers strong 
  visions among Awakened and mundane alike. This makes 
  the Tower a very popular destination for Dancers, and 
  small Sun Dance ceremonies are continuously being per-
  formed at the site by family groups and clans, supported 
  and protected by a devout group of shamans and warrior 
  society members camped there year-round. Non-Lako-
  ta are absolutely forbidden from approaching the Tow-
  er, and even Lakota require explicit permission from the 
  tribal elders.
  > 
  The visions must be something out of this world, because you 
  see the same Dancers returning year after year. Exactly what 
  they see at the Tower is a matter of intense speculation. The 
  current rumor is that the visions are too cloudy or abstract to 
  quite make out what the spirits are saying, but each Dance 
  makes the message a bit clearer. Make of that what you will.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  > 
  Strange visions from a ceremony with strong overtones of 
  blood magic, conducted at a mana flux. What could go wrong?
  > 
  Why Sioux Serious
  > 
  The Lakota have a reason to stall investigation for as long as 
  they can: If it’s discovered that many of the Dancers “camped” 
  at Bear’s Lodge are actually in comas or flat-out missing, the 
  drek would well and truly hit the fan.
  > 
  Tachnechdorus
  CHIEF’S MOUNTAIN
  Also referred to as Great Chief (Nínaiistáko) among the 
  Blackfoot, this striking mountain sits at the edge of the 
  Rocky Mountains, overlooking the Great Plains like a 
  massive watchtower. Like Devil’s Tower, the location is 
  a volatile power nexus and a site of special religious sig-
  nificance in Sun Dance rituals. However, the Blackfoot 
  consider themselves guardians of the site, not its owners, 
  and do not interfere with any tribe that wishes to conduct 
  ceremonies. The increase in dangerous magical phenom-
  ena does greatly concern the Blackfoot, however, and 
  they prevent tourists and other casual passer-byes from 
  approaching too close. So far there have been few direct 
  fatalities from the storms, but they interfere with air and 
  road travel in the area, in addition to the occasional flood 
  and property damage from hailstorms and fiery or acid 
  rain. The Blackfoot are more overtly aggressive about 
  preventing rock climbers, tribal shamans, and thrill seek-
  ers from ascending the mountain itself.
  > 
  It’s only a matter of time until the storms become too 
  common and powerful for even the wisest and greatest to 
  visit the holy site.
  > 
  Ehawee
  The dangers surrounding the site would be impossi-
  ble to conceal in any case, as the formation is often sur-
  rounded by a several-kilometers-wide mana storm, which 
  manifests as dark storm clouds that flash with iridescence 
  lightning. The peak itself is a bubble of calm, but the size, 
  intensity, and durations of the mana storms have been 
  growing each year, despite attempts at mitigation, such 
  as adjusting the local ley lines. Smaller storms have also 
  begun appearing in the area, raising new worries about 
  grassland fires and damage to the surrounding communi-
  ties from random elemental emissions.
  > 
  The local medicine lodges have been blocking attempts to 
  get foreign researchers out to the mountain to see if there is 
  AETHERPEDIA: 
  BLACKGATE PRISON
  Constructed in 2035 on top of a particularly powerful mana 
  warp near the town of Sydney, Blackstone Prison is owned 
  and operated by Mitsuhama Computer Technologies, under 
  special license from the Sioux Bureau of Justice, as a “mage 
  prison” to house particularly dangerous Awakened. Exposure 
  to Blackstone’s mana warp induces depression and near-
  catatonia, with particularly pronounced effects on full mages. 
  Long-term psychological effects make it too dangerous even for 
  mundane guards, and the prison is almost entirely automated.
  > 
  It’s located right next to the UCAS border. Which should 
  make escape relatively simple, if you could shut down the 
  nasty automated security system. But so far no one has 
  been in a hurry to break out the nasty fraggers chained up 
  in that hole.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  It’s not just a mana warp. Whatever Blackstone is sitting 
  on also plays havoc with wireless communications and 
  scrambles up technomancers that find themselves caught 
  in it. Bad news all around.
  > 
  Notch
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    10
  anything that can be done to mitigate the storms. But they’ll be 
  overruled as soon as a tribal gets geeked by an errant acid bolt. 
  I’m sure some broad-minded Blackfoot wouldn’t mind a grisly 
  accident that can be blamed on the storms befalling some ne’er-
  do-well who won’t be missed.
  > 
  Tachnechdorus
  > 
  The mana current screwing up the regional weather drops 
  right on top of Chief’s Mountain. The interaction between the 
  phenomena and Chief’s Mountain is bad and getting worse, but 
  we should be thankful that the mountain prevents the energy 
  from extending further to the south. I don’t need to do a paint-
  by-numbers for what could happen if the already unstable 
  Yellowstone area got another massive kick of power.
  > 
  Woppler
  YELLOWSTONE  
  WILDERNESS REFUGE
  The Yellowstone Wilderness Refuge is famous for its di-
  versity of wildlife, striking landscapes, and Awakened 
  sites, such as Yellowstone Lake. The Refuge’s many nota-
  ble geothermal features are a result of the beating “heart” 
  of Yellowstone: a massive magma chamber that lays hun-
  dreds of meters below the surface. The expansion and 
  collapse of magma pockets and small tectonic shifts cre-
  ates the Yellowstone Pulse: tiny, but measurable, rising 
  and falling of the land within the Wilderness Refuge, ac-
  companied by thousands of minor earthquakes.
  The possibility of the Yellowstone magma pocket 
  erupting as a massive supervolcano was of some concern 
  even to Daniel Howling Coyote, and a large contingent of 
  shamans from various tribes have resided in the park since 
  2017, reputedly to pacify the massively powerful spirits 
  who slumber deep underground and prevent the after-
  shocks from the Great Ghost Dance from disturbing their 
  rest. Even so, his memoirs make clear the Great Ghost 
  Dance Prophet wasn’t entirely sure that his Great Ritual 
  wouldn’t cause the entire northern hemisphere to disap-
  pear under an ash cloud. 
  The Yellowstone shamans kept the site quiescent until 
  late 2074, when mana lines around the Wilderness Refuge 
  surged in power. Possibly linked to the Aztlan ritual that 
  brought down Sirrurg, the mana lines around the site have 
  become extremely active and unstable; several locations 
  around the park have shown signs of what may be alchera 
  and other novel astral formations. It remains to be seen if 
  this influx of energy will be permanent, and what effect it 
  will have on the surrounding area.
  > 
  Are you serious? Chummer, the Refuge is now closed to 
  everyone but medicine lodge shamans with serious mojo, and 
  the military has been deployed to enforce a safety cordon with 
  extreme prejudice. The Yellowstone dragon line is now visible 
  to the naked eye. Awakened critters have been fleeing the 
  Yellowstone area like it’s on fire. “Remains to be seen” my well-
  toned ass. I’m on vacation in Hawai’i until things settle down.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  If avoiding death by magically triggered superheated magma is 
  not in your plans, Hawai’i wouldn’t be my vacation destination.
  > 
  DM
  > 
  The caldera activity is of particular concern for Gaeatronics, who 
  operate six geothermal power plants around the edges of the 
  Wilderness Refuge. Losing even a single one of these facilities 
  would have dire consequences for the region; the Pahaska 
  plant just east of Yellowstone Lake generates half the electricity 
  consumed in the Sioux Nation, and the Gannet facility is a major 
  electrical provider for southeastern SSC.
  > 
  Metropolis
  > 
  That explains the renewed interest in Shiawase’s plan to build a 
  fusion plant near Rapid City. Though if a supervolcano goes off, 
  there won’t be anyone alive to care about backup power. Or to 
  say “told ya so.”
  > 
  Miles Mayhem
  URBAN AREAS
  POSTED BY: SMUGSLY
  The majority of Sioux live in or near towns and cities, the 
  rural areas are the home of traditionalists, the Anglos, 
  and the occasional retirement community or isolates. The 
  majority of urban areas are inhabited by more-or-less law 
  abiding corporates and tribal citizens who won’t need 
  the specialized services of countersecurity professionals 
  such as yourselves. Danchekker provides a decent tour-
  ist-level view of every city. Did you know that Helena has 
  not one, not two, but three yoga centers? Riveting stuff, 
  chummer, but you’re not reading this document looking 
  for an auto-body shop or the closest Stuffer Shack. You 
  are planning to find yourself in these adventurous locales 
  doing who knows what, so we’ve assembled a brief prim-
  er on the major cities you may visit when trying to kill or 
  maim that very special someone.
  BILLINGS
  Where dreams go to die in the Sioux Nation—or was that 
  Fargo? I forget. Billings is the trade and transportation 
  hub for the entire northern half of the country, and is so 
  corporate that it makes my teeth hurt. It’s a nice enough 
  town: relatively friendly police, orderly, nice golf course, 
  clean air and water, etc. But there’s absolutely noth-
  ing that will get your blood pumping, unless managing 
  warehouse inventory and trans-shipment timing is your 
  idea of adventure. There’s no dive bars, only juice bars. 
  No flop houses, only bed and breakfasts. No BTL dens, 
  only illegal tobacco smokerooms. No gangs, just some 
  local kids who think shooting paintballs at your car is the 
  height of criminal schemes. Boring. As. Drek.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    11
  > 
  Smugsly has sour grapes because he doesn’t get to play the big 
  boy games here in Billings. The locals like a higher class of talent 
  than he represents. Mirrorshades and tailored suits will get you 
  into the Johnson’s office, synthleather jackets and day-glo hair 
  will get your hoop thrown to the curb.
  > 
  Ehawee
  > 
  The business of the city is all about transporting goods from 
  source point A to demand point B as cheaply and quickly as 
  possible; whether that’s shuttling tourists in and out of the 
  Yellowstone area or organizing transshipment from the rail 
  lines, dirigibles, aircraft, and truck convoys. In the shadows, the 
  name of the game is big-time talislegging. This isn’t mom-and-
  pop bulldrek where you sell a shoebox full of colorful rocks and 
  twigs to Joe Talismonger down the street. I’m talking tons of 
  telesma gathered illegally from across the NANs and shipped 
  all over the world.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  Both the tourist and talislegging businesses took it in the chin 
  with the closure of the Yellowstone Refuge. If the rumors of 
  true elements and alchera appearing in the Refuge are true, 
  then both businesses may have a rebound when the cordon is 
  rescinded.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  On a sad note, poaching of white buffalo for use as telesma is 
  on the rise, as some of the talislegging groups turn to other 
  sources of supply. The rangers, traditionalist bands and SNP 
  have been stepping up patrols, but there’s only so much they 
  can do against mechanized despoilers swooping down in LAVs 
  and ripping entire herds apart.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  CHEYENNE
  The bright lights and big city! It’s not that impressive if 
  you’re from the eastern UCAS, but this is the biggest me-
  tropolis you’re going to find this side of the UCAS bor-
  ders until you hit the coast. The current downtown is built 
  using the latest in high-density urban construction tech-
  niques, with mini-arcologies sprouting trees and gardens 
  from plasteel and stone—much like Vancouver and other 
  “green” cities—while the old town is a gentrified mix of 
  buildings kept for their charm or historical significance. 
  Everywhere you look something is being built or remod-
  eled; even the “slums” looks fresh from a showroom floor. 
  This is the heart of a wealthy and strong county, and the 
  Sioux rub your nose in it.
  The University of Cheyenne (U of C): The Sioux education 
  system orbits around the U of C, and it’s the only place 
  in the country where you can get a graduate degree in, 
  well, anything. The country pours an absolutely ridicu-
  lous amount of nuyen into the campus each year, and it 
  shows. They even have a small research fusion reactor, 
  for Ghost’s sake. U of C has state-of-the-art facilities for 
  everything from archaeology to zoology, but the invest-
  ments really shine in the physics, engineering, and micro-
  tronics departments, where new miracles in nanofabrica-
  tion, optronics and Matrix algorithms are brought to life 
  and licensed to the corporations that hover like vultures 
  around the campus.
  > 
  Sioux have clear boundaries between “natural” and “unnatural” 
  they don’t like to see crossed, and for all their cosmopolitan 
  attitude the Cheyenne residents are no different. And no, the 
  students at U of C are not terribly enlightened in their attitudes 
  either. Changelings in particular are singled out for crazy 
  theories and rumors. Rioters burned down part of the city back 
  in 2061 during the SURGE hysteria, and many are still of the 
  opinion that changelings are either toxic mutations or linked 
  to the shedim in some way. So be careful if you have obvious 
  mutations or don’t look like a “normal” metahuman. 
  > 
  X-Lander
  > 
  The Great Ghost Dance Prophet didn’t mention anything about 
  accepting Comet-spawned body-snatching mutants.
  > 
  Otaktay
  > 
  Just a word of warning: don’t even joke about insect spirits 
  unless you want your hoop probed by every nearby magician 
  and an immediate takedown by the SNP, corporate security or 
  even average citizens. Hives are still being uncovered in the 
  Rockies, and the public thinks they’re making a big comeback.
  > 
  DM
  > 
  You saw a lot more stories about the insect spirits, and a much 
  more visible campaign to locate and destroy their hives, after 
  Roger Soaring Owl retired from Knight Errant and resettled in 
  the Sioux Nation. The SDF also started taking the threat of the 
  bugs a lot more seriously after he volunteered for service in the 
  Reserves. Hell, now the Scouts have badges for insect spirit lore, 
  supposedly modeled on Firewatch training guides. Doesn’t take 
  a genius to see clear cause and effect.
  > 
  Akecheta
  > 
  And where are the other NANs in the fight against the bugs? Oh 
  yeah, sticking their heads in the sand while expecting the Sioux 
  to protect their exposed hoops.
  > 
  17-321
  RAPID CITY
  Part armed camp, part trade hub, Rapid City is a case 
  study of the sometimes-schizophrenic Sioux psyche. 
  One the one hand you have the largest military base in 
  the country straddling the city, dedicated to defending 
  the country from a UCAS invasion that the Chiefs in Chey-
  enne seem to think is coming any minute. On the other 
  hand you have the Route 90 link and trucking bypass that 
  pipes food and manufactured goods back and forth from 
  that very same Evil Empire. The inhabitants of the city try 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    12
  to have it both ways; benefiting from the military defense 
  force, as well as trying to expand trade with the foe the 
  troops are prepared to fight. The residents could fight the 
  UCAS Army in the fields and in the hills until the bitter 
  end; but wouldn’t it be better if they could sell those dev-
  ilish UCAS folks all these fine Sioux goods and avoid such 
  unpleasantness?
  > 
  Neither side does much cross-border troublemaking these days 
  due to how close they came to war during the New Revolution 
  machinations. Both the Chiefs and the Pentagon are paranoid 
  as hell about false-flag attacks, as well as false false flags. And 
  false-false-flag-double-reversal sneak attacks. It’s ridiculous. So 
  both sides will lob high explosives at any unidentified vehicles 
  or aircraft trying to cross the border, just in case.
  > 
  Mika
  > 
  It’s like being a kid standing between two drunken, angry adults. 
  Duck and weave, and get out of there fast. You’re not going to 
  manipulate the situation to your advantage.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  Rapid City is 200 kilometers from the border, but most of the 
  Sioux towns to the east were abandoned after the Ghost Dance 
  War. They never bothered to tear anything down, so it’s just a 
  string of decaying ruins. Creepy as hell.
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  “Last seen traveling east from Rapid City” comes up a lot in 
  Sioux missing persons reports.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  Not going to tell the group what you told me, Slice? Guess your 
  bravery begins and ends when you have a Firewatch team at 
  your back.
  > 
  Ehawee
  > 
  Not to speak ill of Iya’s security precautions, but I know for a fact 
  at least one of you is a bug. Keep your big mouth shut for the 
  time being, old man.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  Stop trying to poison the well of discussion here, Slice. You 
  damn well know the risks inherent in the Shadowland system.
  > 
  Iya
  THE PEOPLE
  POSTED BY: LANCHEK
  It’s well known that the Sioux Nation comprises twenty 
  major tribal groups, but many of these are actually alli-
  ances between culturally unique sub-tribes and bands. 
  Several tribes that inhabit the Sioux Nation have no cultur-
  al, historical, or linguistic connection with each other, or 
  have homelands far from the Great Plains on which they 
  currently reside. Resettlement policies by the U.S. gov-
  ernment drove many tribes to near extinction and splin-
  tered others along family lines even before the genocidal 
  campaign against them was kicked off following the Lone 
  Star crisis. No tribe could claim to be intact and unaltered 
  when the Sovereign American Indian Movement was 
  formed, and some tribes were reformed in name only af-
  ter the end of the conflict, as their members died in the 
  internment camps or during the war.
  But the internment program brought many of these 
  tribes together in shared hardship, and the Ghost Dance 
  War welded them together in the fires of battle. Despite 
  their differences and often-incompatible cultural outlooks, 
  the various tribes have put their animosities behind them 
  and stand united against a hostile world.
  > 
  You forgot to add “just kidding” after this copy-and-paste from 
  Danchekker’s pablum. The smaller tribes are constantly at risk of 
  cultural extinction in the Sioux melting pot, and petty historical 
  grudges and animosities are a constant fact of life at the lower 
  rungs of society.
  > 
  Otaktay
  THE GREAT GHOST  
  DANCE PROPHET
  It’s impossible to overstate the importance of Daniel 
  Howling Coyote, the Great Ghost Dance Prophet, to the 
  self image of the Sioux people and its government. Sioux 
  treat the words of Daniel Howling Coyote as the basis of 
  all legitimacy and law in the Native American Nations, 
  and they work hard to align their national priorities with 
  the guidance he left behind. It’s no coincidence that the 
  Sioux have more scholars devoted to studying and argu-
  ing about the NAN founder’s opinions and intent than 
  every other country combined. This speculation on his 
  intent for the NAN only increased after he left the public 
  eye in 2037. 
  > 
  Not even going to touch on the mystery surrounding his death 
  in 2050? Whispers in the dark say that insect spirits were 
  involved. And this was right after an enormously powerful ritual 
  was conducted in Denver by parties unknown.
  > 
  Smugsly
  > 
  He died as he lived: working to make the world a better place.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  > 
  For all his talk about “brotherhood, unity, and Native American 
  rights,” Coleman was happy to abandon tribes when it was 
  expedient. Where was the great messiah when thousands lost 
  everything with the secession of Tír Tairngire and Aztlan? The 
  Sioux worship this “prophet,” but they’ll find out how empty his 
  words are soon enough. Our brothers in the <2.7 Mp deleted by 
  SYSOP>
  > 
  <Account Not Found>
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    13
  > 
  This isn’t a free-for-all political discussion forum. Watch it.
  > 
  Iya
  > 
  To provide context for runners from the UCAS and CAS: Daniel 
  Coleman is held in the same level of regard by Sioux patriots 
  as are the Founding Fathers by ultranationalist U.S. unification 
  folks. Schoolchildren recite passages of his speeches every 
  morning. Sioux laws and legal opinions cite his war memoirs. 
  It would be a serious mistake to flippantly mock his name or 
  deeds within the Sioux Nation.
  > 
  SxSioux
  METAHUMANS
  Daniel Howling Coyote was clear in his belief that the 
  Awakening was a great gift to the native peoples, a sign 
  that the world would be returning to its true stewards. 
  This included accepting the children of the Great Spir-
  it’s blessing, namely orks, dwarfs, trolls and elves. They 
  would all have to come together in the Sioux nation as 
  tribes, not races, to create a perfect union of the tradi-
  tional, the magical, and the modern. Not all agreed, 
  including many in the Sioux tribes. It was not until the 
  Tsimshian schism in 2035 that it became clear the NAN 
  would fail without internal unity and acceptance of trivial 
  physical differences, both of which Howling Coyote had 
  left as his legacy.
  > 
  A positive side effect of the Sioux investing themselves in 
  Howling Coyote’s philosophy and traditional Amerind ethics is 
  that metahuman prejudice is almost nonexistent. Brotherhood 
  is a matter of sharing family and culture, not the arrangement of 
  base-pair DNA. A Blackfoot ork and a Blackfoot elf are Blackfoot; 
  but no Sioux would expect a Crow elf and an Apache elf to 
  have kinship just because they look similar. That’s just common 
  sense!
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  > 
  Metahuman-based gangs are practically unheard of in the Sioux 
  Nation. A gang will have orks, elves, humans, naga, or whatever, 
  all from the same tribe. Mixed-tribe gangs are vanishingly 
  rare and tend to fracture within a few years over one issue or 
  another. Most of the mixed gangs that survive tend to be led by 
  Anglos, either openly or behind the scenes.
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  Outsiders seem to think that this means Sioux don’t have 
  prejudice. They couldn’t be more wrong. The Sioux took 
  all the worst parts of the old U.S. hyper-patriotism, broke 
  it up between twenty tribes, and turned the arrogance dial 
  to eleven. A Sioux bigot won’t judge you because of your 
  metatype, but she can be just as hateful as the worst Humanis 
  goon when it comes to your tribal membership. Prejudice and 
  outright hostility based on tribal affiliation is seen as perfectly 
  understandable, even laudable!
  > 
  DangerSensei
  THE TRIBES
  The tribes form strong sub-cultures within the greater Sioux 
  Nation and serve as a combination of exclusive social net-
  work, political party, jobs agency, health insurance program, 
  and welfare office. From cradle to grave, the tribes influence 
  their member’s lives through peer pressure, patronage and 
  legal enforcement of traditional customs.
  > 
  “Traditional customs” depend on the tribe and are often 
  moralistic rather than based on actual historical practices. 
  They can include things like requiring a certain portion of your 
  estate to be added to communal property, the approval of the 
  AETHERPEDIA: TEACHINGS  
  OF THE PROPHET
  The original Ghost Dance was a late 19th century religious 
  movement that promised a reunion of the living and the dead, 
  and a new age of peace and prosperity, through careful practice 
  of a ritual group dance that the Paiute prophet Wovoka was 
  taught in a vision. The Ghost Dance teachings combined native 
  shamanic practices and Christian symbolism, but there was no 
  unified doctrine or “church” of the Ghost Dance—every tribe 
  modified aspects of the ritual to fit their own beliefs.
  Although Howling Coyote claimed that, like Wovoka, he 
  was taught the Ghost Dance in a vision to answer the prayers 
  of his people in their time of greatest need, he had a secular 
  interpretation of what the spirits asked of him in return. Howling 
  Coyote pointedly ignored both the Christian elements of the old 
  teachings and Wovoka’s emphasis on peaceful coexistence 
  and spiritual understanding. In his final great work, the book 
  Howling in the Wilderness, Daniel Howling Coyote provides no 
  explanation for discrepancy between the two interpretations of 
  the Ghost Dance, but his book describes a cogent political theory, 
  emphasizing the shared spiritualist traditions of the Native 
  American people while attempting to provide a justification for 
  his use of lethal force and devastating magical rituals during the 
  insurrection, despite his later appeals for peace and limited use 
  of magic. Many of these arguments are couched in metaphor 
  and terminology used to organize traditional Amerind round 
  dances, and the convoluted arguments and subject matter have 
  led to comparisons with everything from Hitler’s Mein Kampf to 
  Castaneda’s Yaqui Way of Knowledge.
  Howling Coyote’s revised Ghost Dance philosophy has been 
  interpreted as supporting (in order of importance):
  Righteous struggle and self-sacrifice.
  Unity of effort, but diversity in viewpoints.
  Clarity of purpose and flexibility of methods.
  Harmony with the natural order.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    14
  elders for your child’s name, lashings for performing religious 
  rituals without proper training, or fines for riding your horse 
  without a helmet.
  > 
  Why Sioux Serious
  No tribe dominates the nation, though there are still 
  strong tribal cliques, and many Sioux companies are al-
  most completely controlled by one or more tribal-affiliat-
  ed groups of managers and investors. Tribal animosities 
  and affiliations can influence a citizen’s choice of career, 
  and of course, it’s assumed that the tribes will look out for 
  their own with small favors and mentoring, but outright 
  bias or nepotism is socially frowned upon. Social stratifi-
  cation based on tribal origin still exists, but the weakening 
  of tribal bonds caused by inter-tribal marriage has done 
  more for equality than any pronouncement of the Elders 
  or anti-discrimination policies.
  > 
  The tribes have little impact on day-to-day life outside the mono-
  tribe small towns. I’m proud to be Blackfoot, but really it’s just 
  like being a fan to a sports team you didn’t choose, and can’t 
  change. Certainly nothing like the identity-defining allegiances 
  of my cousins in the SSC.
  > 
  Smugsly
  > 
  The youth do not care about the opinions of the tribal elders and 
  councils, but old disagreements and tribal grudges are alive and 
  well among the older generation. It’s why the Cherokee still have 
  trouble reaching management positions in the civil sector, and 
  politicking by Cree war chiefs has skewed their representation in 
  the upper ranks of the Sioux Defense Force.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  > 
  The two posters above me are either Anglos or hilariously out 
  of touch. Every tribe has warrior societies full of kids who take 
  tribal loyalty and identification deadly seriously. And who holds 
  their leash? Why, the medicine societies of course. Perhaps 
  you’ve just blinded yourself to their increasing influence?
  > 
  Akecheta
  FAMILY AND BAND
  Though tribal identity is important, the most basic build-
  ing block of Sioux society is the extended family—not the 
  nuclear family, as in the UCAS. When a large group of 
  related family members live in proximity to each other 
  they are referred to as a band, and they work together as 
  a support network separate from the larger tribe they be-
  long to. Some bands are de-facto tribes themselves, with 
  thousands of members and strong internal cohesion. 
  Others are allied only against outside threats, with each 
  family otherwise at each other’s throats over old rivalries 
  and incompatible interpretations of tribal law.
  > 
  The Sioux Nation isn’t a democracy and doesn’t have “political 
  parties” as such. But they do have multi-family alliances and 
  band feuds that amount to basically the same thing.
  > 
  Metropolis
  > 
  The Anglo groups are well placed to harness the tribal fault lines 
  for their own profit. By exploiting those divisions the Anglos 
  form a “shadow tribe” that influences local politics more than 
  many Sioux imagine.
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  Remember: Sioux can’t claim dual tribal membership. Family 
  squabbles over the affiliation of children are the root cause 
  of a lot of abductions, domestic assaults, and murders (often 
  committed by relatives). I’ve been hired to extract children 
  from their own parents to ship them off to another NAN to 
  avoid tribal registration, or even to prevent them from being 
  raised by a different band within the same tribe. Dirty business, 
  but nuyen is nuyen.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  It’s even uglier if one parent is an Anglo and the other is a tribal. 
  Needless to say, the child is forced to enroll with a tribe, and the 
  Anglo parent is shit out of luck in any custodial proceedings.
  > 
  SxSioux
  GOVERNMENT
  POSTED BY: STANLEY LEFT HAND
  On Aetherpedia, our system of government is simply list-
  ed as “Constitutional.” Which is a rather broad definition 
  that simply means the Sioux Nation’s laws and political 
  arrangement traces their legitimacy and authority to a 
  document—in this case, the treaty and supplementary 
  compacts that joined the founding five tribes during the 
  Ghost Dance War. This treaty established the Council of 
  Elders as the ultimate authority of the assembled tribes 
  and presented our claim to the ancestral lands that had 
  been usurped by the Anglo powers. Other tribes later 
  joined our righteous struggle and added their own com-
  pacts, but the core of the treaty has remained unchanged.
  > 
  The Sovereign American Indian Movement wasn’t about a bunch 
  of self-appointed medicine men getting together and forcing 
  their tribes into an undocumented alliance, with themselves as 
  the unaccountable leaders. But all notions of tribal democracy 
  went out the window when Howling Coyote walked out of 
  Aberdeen with the spirits at his back and the shamans pulling 
  the strings. Hell, only the Council of Elders has actually seen 
  the original Sioux Nation treaty, and it’s forbidden to record or 
  directly quote the “sacred words” it contains. So, basically we 
  have to trust the Elders that it says what they say it does.
  > 
  Otaktay
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    15
  > 
  The treaty isn’t a physical thing, like a scroll or book. It’s an Oath. 
  A sacred pact between our ancestors and the Elders.
  > 
  Stanley Left Hand
  > 
  That sure is convenient, because the treaty seems to mean 
  whatever the Elders needs it to mean at the time.
  > 
  Why Sioux Serious
  After the War, the first Council of Elders assembled in 
  Cheyenne to celebrate their victory and hammer out the 
  specifics of the new nation. One of their first actions was 
  to create a Council of Chiefs to perform the mundane tasks 
  of keeping the nation in order, so the Elders could concen-
  trate on their duties as spiritual mediators and advisors. 
  There have been changes and additions made over time, 
  such as in 2027, when the Chiefs were granted authority 
  to appoint new Elders after a rancorous deadlock between 
  rival medicine lodges, but the wisdom of our founders is 
  clear to this day.
  > 
  Fun fact: The Sioux Nation’s government type used to be listed as 
  “Constitutional Oligarchy” in the CIA’s Factbook. They changed 
  it to “Tribal Council” in the public version after the Sioux cried 
  about it.
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  The UCAS are the last ones who should be snide about the gap 
  between their official and actual form of government.
  > 
  Butteane
  Our founders understood that only by standing togeth-
  er as a single Nation would we embody the ideals of the 
  Great Ghost Prophet. Tribal diversity with national unity 
  remains the bedrock principle on which our people have 
  built one of the most powerful nations on the continent. 
  Our governing bodies remain strong and united, free of 
  the divided loyalties and political compromises that have 
  plagued other Native American Nations. 
  > 
  Translation: Step out of line and you’ll be squashed by the 
  powers of the status quo.
  > 
  SxSioux
  FOREIGN RELATIONS
  The Sioux are the first to help our NAN brothers in the face 
  of hardship, contributing troops and finances to bring bal-
  ance back to the land and further the aims of our people’s 
  long struggle. Today the Sioux remain actively involved in 
  the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the Tsimshian lands, 
  support the AMC government in their suppression of crime 
  by foreign-supported terrorist groups, and provide guid-
  ance for our neighbors who have strayed from the precepts 
  laid down by the Great Ghost Dance Prophet. We must not 
  allow the members of the Sovereign Tribal Council to lose 
  focus and fall under our foes’ ruinous influence.
  > 
  The Council of Chiefs just released a fiery condemnation of the 
  recent STC delays in finalizing proposed changes to the Third 
  Treaty of Denver. It says, and I quote: “Our brothers and sisters 
  will walk with us, as proud Native Americans, or they will crawl 
  on their bellies beneath the boot of our enemies.” Ouch. Guess 
  their border-correction amendments weren’t accepted.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  You mean the other representatives finally grew a backbone 
  and Task Force Sioux: STC Police may start doing some navel 
  gazing before “helping” other Native American Nations when 
  they don’t toe the hallowed words of Howling Coyote? Color 
  me shocked!
  > 
  Otaktay
  > 
  We’ll be missed when our foolish brothers and sisters wake up 
  and realize their weak-willed chiefs made one too many deals 
  with the foreign devils. Pain is the best teacher for children.
  > 
  17-321
  > 
  It’s kept out of the news, but the Sioux Nation has very close 
  relationships with both Imperial Japan and Amazonia. Hell, 
  they have more ambassadors serving in Amazonia than the rest 
  of the NAN combined. Most of their business dealings are in 
  agriculture, exports to Japan, and research agreements with 
  Amazonia. The Sioux keep on very good terms with the Salish-
  Shidhe Council partly so they can maintain these profitable 
  foreign relationships via Seattle.
  > 
  Metropolis
  THE COUNCIL OF CHIEFS
  The Sioux Nation does not have a supreme executive (high 
  prince, king, prime minister, president, or whatever) who 
  serves as a chief of state or head of government. The day-
  to-day activities of the government are instead jointly man-
  aged by the Council of Chiefs. Each of the twenty recognized 
  tribes has a Chief who represents their interests for a single 
  five-year term. Members are appointed once, but former 
  members serve as influential advisors for their successors 
  and have great influence in nominating future candidates. 
  New Chiefs are selected by the Council of Elders from a list of 
  candidates submitted by each tribe’s leadership. The Elders 
  rarely disagree with the wisdom of these choices.
  > 
  Which is pretty wiz if you’re a corporation. Just one example: The 
  last three Shoshone Chiefs have all been former executives of 
  the Wind River Corporation. You can imagine how they vote on 
  agricultural issues and who they push as Bureau of Agriculture 
  appointments.
  > 
  Slammer
  > 
  This is being blown way out of proportion. There is influence 
  to be sure, but no country can claim to be truly independent of 
  the Corporate Court and the power of the multinationals. Take a 
  deep breath and step out of your tinfoil-lined basement.
  > 
  Stanley Left Hand
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    16
  The Council of Chiefs conducts business year-round, 
  with most routine meetings conducted over the Matrix. 
  Important national security meetings require physical at-
  tendance, with Chiefs who are abroad on state functions 
  receiving updates via courier. On average, the full Council 
  of Chiefs meet 140 days out of the year, but at least one of 
  the leadership’s working groups is active year-round. Edit-
  ed recordings of meetings are available for viewing by the 
  public, but most Chiefs are selected for their managerial 
  skills, not charisma, and viewership remains low.
  > 
  Watching meetings of the Council of Chiefs. Forever. I’m sure 
  that’s a metaplanar hell deep in the bowels of the astral.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  The Council of Chiefs needs a two-thirds majority to agree on 
  anything more important than what to order for lunch. Getting 
  fourteen Chiefs to agree on a new law or bureau appointment 
  means executive inaction at a scale even the UCAS Congress 
  shake their heads at. It also results in fireworks behind closed 
  doors as the Chiefs hammer out alliances and secure votes by 
  any means necessary.
  > 
  Metropolis
  > 
  It was incompetence by design. But when the Elders made 
  important decisions by fiat everything worked well enough. Not 
  so much of that these days so it’s unending political gridlock.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  > 
  Not complaining about the extra business!
  > 
  Butteane
  Each year, at Midsummer, members of Council of Chiefs 
  assemble in Cheyenne for two week in order to make offi-
  cial rulings on legal cases, deliver a written record of their 
  suggested legal amendments and laws to the Council of 
  Elders for ratification, and attend private briefings with the 
  most influential medicine and warrior societies. By con-
  vention, the Council also names new heads of the govern-
  ment bureaus during their stay in the capital. 
  > 
  The ugly secret of the Council is that nine of the Chiefs represent 
  a fraction of one percent of the total Sioux population, combined. 
  Each tribe gets one representative; it’s not apportioned by 
  population or economic power. It lets the Chief of a few hundred 
  citizens hold millions hostage until they get sweetheart deals.
  > 
  Smugsly
  GOVERNMENT BUREAUS
  The Council of Chiefs is responsible for appointing the 
  heads of the government bureaus, which are roughly 
  equivalent to UCAS cabinet-level appointments. Each 
  bureau is autonomous, and their head administrators 
  serve terms ranging from one year (Cultural Preservation) 
  to ten years (National Security). By design, each bureau 
  has a diverse remit that brings them into direct conflict 
  with one another; presumably to prevent over-powerful 
  bureaucracies from forming. In reality it means that each 
  bureau is eternally at war with each other over responsi-
  bilities and personnel; institutional loyalty and expansion 
  of the bureau’s domain is considered more important 
  than the best interests of the country.
  > 
  Sioux bureaus do not play nice when defending their fiefdoms. 
  Imagine if the UCAS Postal Service would conduct hostile 
  takeovers of CIA branch offices, which in turn would assassinate 
  IRS agents who are actually double agents for the Highway 
  Administration. That’s what happens every day in the funhouse 
  world of bureau politics.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  As above, so below.
  > 
  Ehawee
  There are ten major bureaus, as well as subsidiary or-
  ganizations formed on an ad-hoc basis by the Chiefs when 
  there is no obvious bureau to perform that aspect of ad-
  ministration. These smaller groups are invariably absorbed 
  into the larger organizations after fierce bureaucratic in-
  fighting, often helped along by a few convenient deaths or 
  record-keeping snafu.
  Agriculture: Manages farm subsidy and insurance pro-
  gram. Monitors food processing and imports for alteration 
  or failure to meet Sioux quality standards. Inspects farms 
  for environmental and safety violations. Enforces national 
  laws related to biotech crop growing and processing.
  Civil Enforcement: Controls the national police. Li-
  censes private security firms and issues gun permits. Is-
  sues marriage licenses. Conducts asset seizures and sales 
  authorized by the Bureau of Immigration and Revenue.
  Cultural Preservation: Reviews operations licenses 
  for all magical groups. Authority to censor media broad-
  casts if they “disparage cultural norms.” Can issue special 
  exemptions from Sioux law to “heritage groups” and in-
  dividuals to allow “traditional and accustomed activities,” 
  including tobacco shipment and use, or immunity to tres-
  passing laws. Also acts as the civilian personnel manage-
  ment service for the SDF.
  Health and Welfare: Licenses all medical professionals 
  operating in the country. Regulates hospitals and emer-
  gency medical services such as Doc Wagon. Coordinates 
  tribal health services to ensure they meet national stan-
  dards and regulates nanotechnology and biotechnology 
  products sold in the country. Updates the national SIN 
  registry and synchronizes with the Global SIN Registry. 
  Responsible for enforcing national environmental qual-
  ity laws, but monitoring is conducted by the Bureau of 
  Resource Management. Conducts medical and genetic 
  screening of citizens during their SDF enrollment.
  Native Heritage: Designates cultural landmarks and 
  native species that require preservation, which removes 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    17
  them from Agriculture or Resource Management control. 
  Operates all museums and graveyards. Possesses final 
  approval authority on iconography used for Matrix icons. 
  Can bring defamation lawsuits on behalf of tribal authori-
  ties directly to the Bureau of Justice.
  High Technology: Licenses patents created at the Uni-
  versity of Cheyenne and national research centers. Reg-
  ulates foreign investment in companies deemed strate-
  gically significant, which are all Sioux corporations in the 
  biotech and cybertronic sectors. Supervises subcontrac-
  tors that run the national Matrix grid and monitors key 
  nodes on SCEnet.
  Immigration and Revenue: Reviews immigration re-
  quests. Submits SIN enrollment data for newborns and 
  immigrants to Bureau of Health and Welfare. Conducts na-
  tional census every five years. Collects sales and income 
  taxes. Sets trade tariffs and collects fines levied by other 
  bureaus. Inspects authorized liquor manufacturers. Oper-
  ates national SIN authorization system. Monitors habitat 
  and migration of critters recognized as sapient or of spe-
  cial traditional importance, such as buffalo.
  Justice: Judgment and sentencing of accused crimi-
  nals. Sets terms of contracts with private prisons. Licenses 
  all legal practitioners. Responsible for creating, updating, 
  and attaching criminal SINs to existing registry entries. 
  Mediates disputes between tribes.
  National Security: Conducts background investiga-
  tions of SDF and bureau staff. Processes all security clear-
  ance applications (though these are now checked against 
  OMI-controlled datastores). Provides security for the 
  Council of Chiefs, but not the Elders, who are guarded by 
  warrior society members. Has final approval authority for 
  all visa applications, but can only advise on citizenship re-
  quests. Refers cases of espionage to the Bureau of Civil 
  Enforcement.
  Resource Management: Oversees leasing of all pri-
  vate and government land used for resource extraction. 
  Controls physical components of national Matrix infra-
  structure, including the SIN registry datastores. Conducts 
  national geological and parageological assessments. Re-
  sponsible for performing a census of environmental qual-
  ity every five years and managing all national parklands. 
  Operates the office for sapient critter relations.
  THE COUNCIL OF ELDERS
  The Council of Elders is the repository of our great na-
  tion’s wisdom, and the guardians of the sacred treaty that 
  binds our people. The Elders, in addition to their duties as 
  teachers and advisors for their tribe, serve as mentors to 
  the Council of Chiefs. With some notable exceptions, the 
  Elders are also powerful shamans who have been initiat-
  ed into many mysteries, allowing them to serve as inter-
  mediaries between the medicine lodges and the wider 
  spirit world, balancing the Sioux Nation’s spiritual, men-
  tal, and physical well-being.
  > 
  All of the Council of Elders are Awakened, but one or two are 
  adepts or aspected, meaning they don’t count as real shamans 
  to some people. Make no mistake: non-Awakened are just cogs 
  in their metaplanar games.
  > 
  Otaktay
  > 
  Name a single magical disaster that was averted by the Council 
  of Elders. Or, hell, was even influenced by them. Yeah, thought 
  so. Our Masters of the Metaverse at work, ladies and gentlemen.
  > 
  Cyclone
  The Council of Elders rarely intercedes on the daily 
  business and activities of the Council of Chiefs, except 
  when they are needed to approve a tribe’s candidate when 
  a Chief’s position is vacated. It’s not known precisely how 
  the Elders agree on candidates, but it is a fair assumption 
  that a simple majority vote is needed, as there is rarely 
  any noticeable disagreement with the tribal candidates. 
  Another theory holds that the final decision is up to the 
  Elder of the tribe in question, and is based on tradition and 
  family connections.
  > 
  The original Elders were veterans of the Ghost Dance War and 
  had a deep loyalty to each other and the new Sioux Nation. The 
  current Elders are brought together more by shared geography 
  than any real common interests or shared heritage. They’ve 
  twisted their shamanic lodges into little more than Awakened 
  policlubs jockeying for political influence, access to power sites 
  and control of powerful spirits.
  > 
  X-Lander
  > 
  Deep loyalty? Howling Coyote himself couldn’t get those fools 
  to agree on anything without twisting their arms off or outright 
  assassinating the more vocal independents during the Ghost 
  Dance War. Some things never change.
  > 
  Slammer
  CRIME AND 
  PUNISHMENT
  POSTED BY: X-LANDER
  The Sioux Nation’s founders believed that their country 
  should be held together by reciprocal bonds of loyalty to 
  the tribes, and the tribes to each other, not codified laws 
  and contracts. For this reason, the actual legal system is 
  bare bones and informal, as enforcement of the laws and 
  punishments was something to be worked out equita-
  bly between the affected tribes. In theory, every citizen 
  would be enmeshed in obligations that kept them out of 
  trouble and loyal to their tribe, without requiring compli-
  cated laws and coercive systems for maintaining order.
  > 
  “In theory.” Famous last words of many a social engineer.
  > 
  Otaktay
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    18
  Tribal bonds remain strong in the rural areas, but urban 
  citizens owe their loyalty to family first, the Sioux Nation 
  second, and their tribes a distant third. This has destroyed 
  the arbitration and social bonds necessary for the old legal 
  system, but a more impersonal system has not replaced it. 
  In the old way, every crime, even murder, had a price; bal-
  anced by attention to social justice and structured hierar-
  chies of power among and between the tribes. Now every 
  crime has a list price, and you negotiate for discounts.  In 
  the place of the representatives who would have worked 
  out deals that usually ensured fairness and justice, you 
  have the tribe of the credstick and its expert negotiator, 
  the almighty nuyen.
  > 
  You’re painting a very biased view of the situation. It’s a few 
  well-publicized rotten apples who make the system look bad. 
  Pure media sensationalism.
  > 
  Stanley Left Hand
  > 
  Fraggin’ sellout. How’s that sweet gig on Laramie’s governance 
  board treating you? The system is a joke for the eastern tribes 
  that got stuck here after the Ghost Dance War. You know, the 
  ones that you step on every day before you sing the praises of 
  Amerind unity and brotherhood.
  > 
  Cheyenne Pepper
  > 
  A shadowrunner with your street rep trying to lecture me on 
  loyalty? Your cognitive dissonance is worrying. Seek help.
  > 
  Stanley Left Hand
  LAW ENFORCEMENT
  The Sioux National Police (SNP), derisively known as 
  “snipes,” are responsible for investigating and apprehend-
  ing criminals as part of their duty as agents of the Bureau 
  of Civil Enforcement. Black-uniformed SNP officers with 
  their white body armor and SMGs are a common sight 
  in most urban areas, and their aggressiveness and lack of 
  regard for civilian casualties is almost as famous as their 
  corruption. Though the media trumpets their efficiency, 
  with perpetrators often apprehended mere minutes after 
  a crime is reported, the fact is, they are often too aggres-
  sive with arrests; cases can take weeks, or even months, 
  until they go to trial by the Bureau of Justice.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    19
  > 
  Don’t mistake arrest rates with actually catching criminals. The 
  SNP are true masters at rounding up a crop of usual suspects 
  and then seeing how little work they can do to pin the crimes 
  on them. The shadiest Lone Star goon on the planet would 
  be embarrassed at their crime-fighting tactics. Caught red-
  handed as a cannibal murderer? A few certified credsticks and 
  a kind word from a tribal leader should clear up the obvious 
  misunderstanding.
  > 
  Miles Mayhem
  > 
  Corruption in the SNP is so blatant that it’s indistinguishable 
  from comedy. I actually saw a guy in Cheyenne get a speeding 
  ticket for a parked car. And it wasn’t even his, he just happened 
  to be walking by when the cop showed up. 
  > 
  Turbo Bunny
  > 
  But get with the lingo, or you might hurt a snipe’s feelings. It’s 
  never a bribe, it’s “a considerate gift.”
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  Foreign Awakened and technomancers should avoid extended 
  stays in a Sioux holding cell if they don’t have diplomatic or 
  financial backup. Faceless nobodies with useful traits are fast-
  tracked to Blackstone Prison for rather … experimental … 
  rehabilitation programs. 
  > 
  Mika
  JUDICIARY COUNCILS
  Judiciary Councils are the judgment and sentencing arm 
  of the Sioux legal system. Judges are appointed, not 
  elected, by the Bureau of Justice, and they hold the po-
  sition for life. Sioux trials are adversarial, similar to the 
  UCAS system, but judges have great freedom in inter-
  preting the law and are not bound by precedents. There 
  are also prosecutors and defense counsels, but there is 
  no right to a legal representative, and there is nothing like 
  the UCAS concept of a plea bargain that would bind the 
  judge’s sentencing. Judgments are ostensibly final, with 
  no appeals process, even if the death penalty is invoked. 
  While there are no formal appeals, the complicated sys-
  tem of bureau and tribal politics often comes into play, 
  and the Bureau of Justice can be overruled for a whole 
  host of technicalities.
  > 
  No bail if you’re swept up in the SNP dragnet, chummer. You’re 
  stuck in a holding cell until you can see a judge. And wonder of 
  wonders, the Sioux justice system doesn’t foot the bill for your 
  incarceration—you do. The corporations who run the holding 
  facilities make you earn your keep while awaiting “justice.” 
  And you can even pay extra fees that make your temporary 
  (?) stay more comfortable, just like a medieval jail. A true 
  microtransaction-based prison-industrial complex.
  > 
  Lanchek
  > 
  Don’t knock it until you try it. It can be cheaper to camp out in a 
  prison cell with a decent amenities package than trying to rent 
  an apartment in Cheyenne these days. I have a Silver benefits 
  package at all the Cheyenne lockups, which includes high-speed 
  Matrix service, access to the staff eatery, and fast-pass checkout 
  with complimentary limo service to the airport.
  > 
  Butteane
  THE LAW
  The Sioux Nation doesn’t have the sheer volume of rules 
  that the UCAS or PCC does, but the government regu-
  lates a wide variety of activities and makes it their busi-
  ness to intrude on its citizen’s personal lives in the name 
  of morality and safety. And, like always, there are areas of 
  the law that shadowrunners can exploit.
  SINs: Citizenship requires proving a direct connection to 
  any one of the tribes. This connection doesn’t need to be 
  genetic. For example, Awakened bison and other critters of 
  special cultural significance are automatically granted citi-
  zenship with their associated tribe, and they even receive a 
  SIN. All ID information is stored with the NAN SIN Registry 
  at STC headquarters, located just outside Cheyenne, which 
  is then synced with the Global SIN Registry.
  > 
  What a joke. Bison can be citizens, but most metahumans can’t. 
  Even if you’re tribal, the Sioux and Cherokee cabals who run the 
  Immigration and Revenue Bureau ensure only their applicants 
  get approved.
  > 
  DangerSensei
  > 
  We have enough carpetbaggers. Fight for your own homeland.
  > 
  Otaktay
  Armor: Armored clothing and accessories can be 
  purchased in most major retail outlets. The average citizen 
  likes to consider themselves ready for a UCAS invasion or 
  other crisis even when shopping at the mall or attending 
  a fancy dinner, so armor jackets and lined coats are 
  ubiquitous.
  > 
  No synthetics will touch this temple, omae. Take some pride in 
  your appearance and stop looking like up-jumped gangsters or 
  Seattle gutter-runners. Natural leather and fibers are cheap and 
  readily available in the Sioux Nation. Use them.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  Weapons: The laws on firearms are lax compared to 
  most countries, though there are exceptions shadowrun-
  ners should be aware of. Most important is that it’s nearly 
  impossible to get concealed-carry permits for firearms, 
  but open-carry of light and heavy pistols is perfectly legal, 
  and a pistol purchase does not require a license of any 
  sort, just an ID check. Semi-automatic longarms can be 
  acquired with a license, but their use is restricted to home 
  defense and recognized hunting areas. Fully automatic 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    20
  weapons are illegal except for the government and corpo-
  rate-security forces.
  > 
  Strangely, hold-out pistols are illegal. They’re “destabilizing to 
  the peace,” you know.
  > 
  Traveler Jones
  > 
  I always get a good chuckle at the shocked faces of the visiting 
  rich and powerful from other countries when they go to a fancy 
  restaurant in Cheyenne and all the snooty Sioux are wearing 
  armored tuxedoes and packing elegantly engraved pistols.
  > 
  Why Sioux Serious
  > 
  A word of warning to visitors: Unless you want to be at the 
  receiving end of a long-winded speech about their (overstated) 
  combat acumen and the (unrealistic) possibility of attack by 
  the UCAS Army, don’t question why Sioux feel the need to be 
  packing heat at all times.
  > 
  SxSioux
  Electronics: Carrying a cyberdeck is not considered 
  noteworthy in Cheyenne or Laramie, and at worst will 
  invite some curious looks and requests to check out the 
  system if carried in the smaller towns and cities. The soft-
  ware and electronics industries are major employers in the 
  Sioux Nation, and most citizens have passing familiarity 
  with the technology and its legitimate applications. It’s 
  technically still restricted gear, but you have to be acting 
  really suspicious before a cop will ask for your paperwork.
  > 
  Paranoid hackers from outside the country who don’t know the 
  local culture can make stupid mistakes that draw attention to 
  them and have the snipes ask the dreaded “license, please” 
  question. For example, a Sioux decker wouldn’t think anything 
  of a curious SNP officer wanting to scope out his Fairlight 
  Caliban and make small-talk about how her cousin is a hot-drek 
  security spider working for High Plains Coding, or what the 
  decker thinks about the latest smartgun firmware patch that got 
  rolled out by Ares. Play it cool, talk shop, and the cop will be on 
  her way without even thinking to check permits.
  > 
  Malmahka
  Augmentation: Most Sioux find mechanical augmen-
  tation distasteful, even if they recognize its utility or med-
  ical necessity. Sioux prefer to use clonal replacements for 
  medical treatments and subtle bioware for their augmen-
  tation needs. Flashing chrome will attract a lot of unde-
  sirable attention, ranging from kids running up to touch 
  your limbs on a dare, to tribal shamans targeting you for 
  lectures on how invasive modification damages spiritual 
  integrity or other moralist garbage.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    21
  > 
  This bias hasn’t done the local cybertronic industry any favors. 
  Sioux cyberware was synonymous with “shoddy” throughout 
  the 2050s, and efforts to restart research and development of 
  neural interfaces at U of C as part of their Matrix R&D has been 
  a train wreck.
  > 
  Cyclone
  > 
  To be fair, there’s more than one outside party keenly 
  interested in making sure that industry never gets back on its 
  feet. And they pay plenty of nuyen to keep hitting the reset 
  button at the University.
  > 
  Slice
  Stimulants: The Sioux government, at the direction 
  of the Council of Elders, takes an exceptionally hardline 
  stance against intoxicants and mindbenders of all kinds. 
  Most stimulants and intoxicants are illegal in the Sioux Na-
  tion, except for carefully delineated medical reasons. Pen-
  alties for possession and private use of even recreational 
  drugs rival those for out-and-out dealing. This includes to-
  bacco. Even Elder shamans need to be vetted and licensed 
  to use it for ritual purposes, and transporting unlicensed 
  tobacco nets the same prison sentence as BTL smuggling. 
  Booze is not banned, but hard liquor can only be pur-
  chased from government outlets, and the alcohol content 
  is heavily regulated.
  > 
  The concept of criminal smoking lounges and police shootouts 
  with cigarette smugglers may seem bizarre, even laughable, but 
  it’s both a reality in the Sioux Nation and a business opportunity. 
  Legal Sioux booze is terrible and tobacco is a surprisingly 
  common vice; you do the math.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  Runners beware: Favorite accessories like the stim patch 
  fall under the drug bans unless used by licensed medical 
  professionals. 
  > 
  SxSioux
  THE MILITARY
  It has been said that the Sioux never stopped fighting 
  the Ghost Dance War; they just entered a temporary ar-
  mistice. Up until the 2060s, war with the UCAS seemed 
  not only plausible, but imminent. Every year, like clock-
  work, there were antagonistic war games, suspicious de-
  struction of border surveillance outposts, cancellation of 
  diplomatic talks, or unjustified incarceration of unlucky 
  citizens. Even the most trivial provocation got both coun-
  tries’ trigger fingers twitching and generals revising their 
  invasion plans.
  Of course, that was before the UCAS became em-
  broiled in a series of existential crises with insect infesta-
  tions and coups, and the Sioux invested itself in a series of 
  costly political quagmires by meddling with Tsimshian and 
  Algonkian-Manitou Council politics. The New Revolution 
  crisis, by trying to force a war, actually ended up reducing 
  tensions once it became clear that neither side truly want-
  ed to fight when the chips were down. These days, troops 
  posture on the border to appease old generals who want 
  to hash out their grandfather’s wars, but there’s not the 
  same palpable sense of tension there was in decades past.
  > 
  There’s still border issues and distrust, but it’s become more of 
  a one-sided Cold War. The Sioux aggressively patrol the eastern 
  border looking for signs of Anglo malfeasance while many of 
  the UCAS bases in the Dakotas are practically mothballed, their 
  troops reassigned for bug hunting and metroplex guard duty.
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  Let’s not ignore the elephant in the room that gives the war 
  chiefs nightmares. President Colloton threatened to steamroll 
  right through the Sioux to get at Ghostwalker during the big 
  showdown a few months ago, and there’s not a damn thing 
  the Sioux Defense Force could have done to stop it. The Sioux 
  strategy is for defense-in-depth and long-term guerrilla action. 
  They’re not prepared to deal with an enemy that doesn’t plan on 
  occupying their territory, and the Pentagon knows it.
  > 
  Henry Wildshadow
  > 
  And Ghostwalker knows it. A few quick wing-flaps and he’ll be in 
  downtown Cheyenne …
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  He’ll huff and he’ll puff. Then we’ll shoot his scaly ass down. 
  Aztlan showed it could be done, and the SDF is far more 
  organized than the clusterfrag that fought Sirrurg.
  > 
  17-321
  THE SERVICE COMMITMENT
  The Sioux are the only nation in North America to have 
  a draft, which mandates a year of service with the Sioux 
  Defense Force (SDF) for all full citizens at the age of 
  eighteen, followed by four more years of reserve duty. 
  Reserve duty incurs a yearly training requirement and 
  meeting fitness standards, but it is paid and provides op-
  portunities to travel, so many elect to remain in this status 
  for a decade or more. Scholarships and other incentives 
  are offered to those who accept a longer tour of active 
  duty. This gives the Sioux a large pool of competent 
  combatants should they need to be recalled in a nation-
  al emergency and provides a shared life experience that 
  helps tie the otherwise competing tribes together.
  Paper strength of the SDF ranges into the tens of 
  thousands for active duty combatants, with hundreds of 
  thousands more in the reserves.
  > 
  Some citizens are so woefully out of shape, incompetent, 
  or unmotivated that they “test out” of conscription during 
  screening. Testing out gets you a black mark almost as bad as 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    22
  holding a criminal SIN when it comes to employment. This 
  gives a lot of incentive to shape up before being drafted, but 
  also means the SDF has its share of dodgy recruits with mental 
  and health issues they’re hiding.
  > 
  Raygun
  The downside is that the one-year commitment pro-
  vides enough time for training and orientation, but little 
  else. After the eight month training period, in which the 
  draftees learn infantry and unconventional warfare skills, 
  they are assigned to posts around the country to patrol 
  the border, stand guard at airports and custom stations, 
  and assist in natural disaster recovery efforts. This duty is 
  unpopular and is mostly boring make-work to decompress 
  after the intensive training.
  > 
  The draftees rarely get much experience with SOTA military 
  hardware, which is operated by the long-service professional 
  core of the SDF. There’s only so much you can do in a single year, 
  even with draftees in good physical shape and the equivalent of 
  UCAS Army basic training through their Scout experience.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  Pacifists and ultra-traditionalists who don’t want to sully 
  themselves with high-tech can escape service by completing 
  two years of social work (most often as forest rangers) without 
  a reserve commitment. This is considered highly disreputable 
  by most Sioux, and there are constant challenges to the legality 
  and morality of such exemptions.
  > 
  Notch
  SIOUX DEFENSE FORCE (SDF)
  The SDF is the largest, best-equipped, and most inten-
  sively trained military in the NANs. Unlike the rest of 
  the NAN, which has followed a gendarmerie, or “Peace 
  Force,” model of using military units primarily for internal 
  security, the SDF is a conventional combined-arms force 
  with no police duties. It has two main branches, the Sioux 
  Army and the Sioux Air Force, and is headed by a council 
  of ten war chiefs. War chiefs are appointed by the Council 
  of Chiefs and serve for five-year terms before retiring into 
  an advisory capacity. 
  > 
  The Sioux military is closely patterned on that of Israel—
  particularly with its unitary command structure and universal 
  conscription. That’s clearly not by accident, but there’s no known 
  formal connection between the SDF and the Israel Defense 
  Forces.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  Take a look at the Bureau of National Security visa application 
  datastores, keyword “security advisors.” Awful lot of “Spanish” 
  applicants with the same names as former IDF and Mossad 
  operatives.
  > 
  DM
  Though larger than all of the other NAN militaries by 
  a significant margin, the Sioux war chiefs are well aware 
  that they are outmanned and outgunned by the UCAS mil-
  itary. Sioux strategy in the case of UCAS invasion centers 
  on conducting fighting withdrawals into the west, coupled 
  with large-scale insurgent actions both in occupied terri-
  tories and Anglo urban areas to tie down invading forc-
  es while a Ghost Dance is organized. The bulk of the SDF 
  draftees are trained to operate asymmetrically with little 
  direct oversight, while the SDF’s conventional forces de-
  grade the enemy’s conventional military forces and strike 
  at sites of strategic significance; which in the UCAS are air 
  bases, command-and-control centers, and Washington 
  DC itself.
  > 
  Well, that’s the plan. It remains to be seen if this would work in 
  a toe-to-toe fight against the UCAS, Ghostwalker, or anything 
  more threatening than a few smugglers. Most of the SDF hasn’t 
  fired a shot in anger since 2018.
  > 
  Riflepunk
  > 
  “Asymmetrically” is just a nice way of saying that the bulk of 
  the SDF are trained to operate as glorified terrorists in the event 
  of war. They don’t plan on fighting fair, and they’ll make any 
  invasion costly and politically painful well before the hammer 
  of the Great Spirit comes down. With every Sioux citizen being 
  a trained partisan, the planned UCAS countermeasure was 
  obvious. Nasty business all around.
  > 
  Raygun
  OFFICE OF MILITARY 
  INTELLIGENCE (OMI)
  An independent branch of the Sioux Defense Force, 
  OMI controls the intelligence and counter-intelligence 
  assets of the Sioux Nation, protecting the country from 
  foreign powers and terrorists. Unofficially the OMI is 
  a power unto itself, a shadow government with nearly 
  limitless powers to spy on the populace in the name of 
  “national security” for their mistress, the mysterious di-
  rector of the OMI known only by her code name, Sinopa 
  (Blackfoot for “fox”).
  AETHERPEDIA: SCOUTS
  The Scouts are a paramilitary youth organization that 
  teaches basic military tactics, firearms handling, and survival 
  skills. Their more benign public role is helping old ladies cross 
  the street, selling cookies at fundraisers and planting trees. 
  Most Sioux children, even Anglos and other Official Residents, 
  are enrolled in the organization when they start school.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    23
  > 
  OMI just moved into a fancy new headquarters in Cheyenne. 
  The locals have already nicknamed it The Dark Tower due to its 
  rather foreboding shape and matte-black color.
  > 
  Metropolis
  > 
  She may be murderous, paranoid to the point of obsession, 
  treacherous and quite possibly insane. But Sinopa gets 
  results; just ask the remains of the insect queens she’s 
  smashed like the fist of the Great Spirit. Or the cell of Iroquois 
  separatists she blasted into a red mist last January. Just pay 
  no attention to her personal death squads or the sprawling 
  bureaucracy that doesn’t answer to anyone despite a budget 
  second only to the SDF. Because we all know a mysterious 
  control freak with delusions of grandeur would never, ever, 
  abuse their unlimited power.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  I doubt the Fox really knows the difference between bugs and 
  insurgents. Or even cares. Any success the OMI has against the 
  insect spirits is because of their head of metamagical security, 
  codenamed Udolanvsdi.
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  “Preying mantis?” Well, that’s certainly not ominous at all.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  OMI’s obsession with internal security means that that their 
  foreign intelligence capabilities have withered on the vine. 
  When the Sioux inevitably get shellacked in the final round of 
  the Third Treaty of Denver negotiations, it may be a watershed 
  moment that forces a changing of the guard.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  What are the chances Sinopa will meekly fade into obscurity like 
  her predecessor? Zero, or less than zero?
  > 
  Slice
  MATRIX SECURITY  
  TASK FORCE
  The Matrix Security Task Force is a special division of the 
  SDF that handles the security and stability of the Sioux 
  grids, in cooperation with the Corporate Court’s Grid 
  Overwatch Division. So yes, that makes them the Sioux 
  demi-GOD. Their organization and mission is pretty much 
  the same as G-men everywhere as the Sioux consider all 
  Matrix malfeasance to be a national security threat, not a 
  standard law enforcement problem. Luckily for Sioux run-
  ners, the Task Force’s assets are limited, and GOD keeps a 
  tight rein on any attempts to militarize the various agen-
  cies under their aegis.
  > 
  The Task Force is technically under SDF command, but their 
  true masters are the Corporate Court. They get a paycheck 
  from the Sioux Nation, but all of their hardware, training, and 
  indoctrination is run by the Grid Overwatch Division. And make 
  no mistake, most believe they’re working for the greater good of 
  the entire Matrix, and not the Sioux’s little part of it.
  > 
  Metropolis
  > 
  The original cyber security team, known as the Matrix Warband, 
  was disbanded about five years ago. Most of their members 
  went freelance, as their backgrounds were too shady for OMI 
  or corporate recruiters. The Warband recruited talent where they 
  could find it, and that included bringing in foreigners and Anglos. 
  Most are not on friendly terms with their successors, either. 
  Good contacts to have if you need access to old backdoors and 
  network spikes on the Sioux grid.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  The Task Force spiders are mostly kids who test for a high Matrix 
  aptitude before their year of service and then get rammed 
  through a cookie-cutter training program and set to work. 
  To make up for their relative lack of skill, they work in large 
  groups and have a much friendlier working relationship with 
  other North American cyber-security groups than is typical for a 
  Sioux agency. Most talent move on after a year or two to much 
  better jobs in the private sector, so the long-term members are 
  bottom-of-the-barrel slackers who couldn’t hack it (literally and 
  figuratively) anywhere else. Don’t be complacent when dealing 
  with the Sioux demi-GODs though—the kids have a lot of power 
  at their fingertips, have yet to learn caution or subtlety, and are 
  eager to count coup on deckers to pad their résumés.
  > 
  Notch
  SPECIAL FORCES
  The Sioux Special Forces, commonly referred to as “Wild-
  cats,” have a number of official roles, including long-range 
  reconnaissance, assassination of high-value military and 
  political targets, and training Amerind insurgents in the 
  event of war. In practice, units operate under OMI control 
  to conduct undercover reconnaissance in foreign coun-
  tries and sensitive counter-terrorism operations with-
  in the Sioux Nation. To this end all Sioux Special Forces 
  personnel are extensively trained in survival and evasion 
  in every terrain (including metroplexes), disguise, and fa-
  miliarity with an impressive variety of military equipment. 
  They also make extensive use of magic, and Wildcats are 
  well versed in magical theory and practical countermea-
  sures against spirits and wards.
  > 
  Despite the Wildcat’s reputation, their recent track record 
  isn’t very impressive. Don’t get me wrong—Wildcats are 
  good, very good, at ambushes and raids, but they’ve never 
  had the political subtlety of masters like the Mossad’s Kidon, 
  or the raw combat power of UCAS Delta Force. Their talents 
  are wasted by the OMI, who use them as a glorified wetwork 
  unit instead of leveraging their skill in integrating magic and 
  tactical networks for guerrilla warfare.
  > 
  Raygun
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    24
  > 
  OMI is going to regret not keeping a short leash on these guys 
  during their in-country counter-terrorism and interdiction ops. 
  Wildcats live to kill and don’t return from missions without 
  having geeked someone—anyone. They’re not the kind of folks 
  you want running around in your own borders.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  Here’s an interesting bit of trivia. The founding members of the 
  Wildcats were all members of the USMC “Scalpel” team back 
  in the 1990s. Among their alumni were the SAIM commandos 
  that secured the Shiloh Launch Facility, the head of Echo Mirage 
  security, and the first commandant of the CAS Marine Corps. 
  Their reunions must have been pretty interesting.
  > 
  Why Sioux Serious
  > 
  Wow, thanks for that hot tip. Let me get in my time machine to 
  travel back to when someone cared.
  > 
  Magnificent Edward
  Wildcats deploy as eleven-man squads, consisting of two 
  five-man combat teams and a squad leader/communica-
  tions specialist. Each combat team is assigned at least one 
  mage, usually a shaman or summoning adept, and roughly a 
  quarter of the other members will be Awakened or possess 
  special skills in hacking, electronic warfare, or surveillance. In 
  contrast to many of their peers, the Wildcats eschew heavy 
  augmentation, instead relying on their extensive training, es-
  prit de corps, and bloodthirsty reputation to complete mis-
  sions. They’re also not expected to remain Wildcats forever, 
  and veteran operators often rotate back to SDF units to take 
  up leadership and training roles. This diffuses their combat 
  power, but also means the Wildcats could be reconstituted 
  even if every active member was killed.
  > 
  Many Wildcats carry extremely powerful foci and alchemical 
  mixtures crafted for their use by militant medicine lodges. The 
  stuff of nightmares made real, if the rumors are to be believed.
  > 
  Running with Clouds
  Recently, the independence of the Sioux Special Forces 
  has been challenged after several teams were lost while 
  executing special missions during the craziness down in 
  Denver. The Wildcats are blaming OMI, while claiming 
  they have no records of what the teams were doing. OMI 
  is claiming that it didn’t order the missions and is hinting 
  that the teams went rogue. And then there’s the SDF, who 
  had no idea what either the Wildcats or OMI were doing, 
  and looked like a pack of incompetent fools when the 
  Council of Chiefs demanded a report from the war chiefs. 
  Needless to say, emotions are running high.
  > 
  And the other shoe has now dropped. Roger Soaring Owl 
  has been officially recalled to active duty by the Council of 
  Chiefs to take command of the Sioux Special Forces. Why, 
  a suspicious individual might even say this was the plan all 
  along: manufacture a crisis that the Chiefs could use to bring 
  the Wildcats to heel, and simultaneously negate a powerful 
  resource of Sinopa. Nah, that’s crazy talk!
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  Sinopa’s been recruiting in the NAN shadows for years. My 
  take is that a bunch of dead ‘Cats with inconvenient ideas 
  about patriotism and honor just means less competition for her 
  personal crew.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  SDF scuttlebutt is that Soaring Owl was given special remit by 
  the Elders to dig into records of Wakinyanmaza ops before the 
  whole Denver fiasco, which had the Wildcats sweating bullets. 
  Maybe skeletons fell out of the closet and teams rushed to tie up 
  loose ends?
  > 
  Butteane
  > 
  Wakinyanmaza? That’s Lakota for “Iron Thunder.” Sounds like a 
  glam-rock band.
  > 
  SxSioux
  > 
  Well, Wakinyanmaza teams certainly know how to go loud. 
  They’re Wildcats assigned to babysit the Sioux’s nukes and pack 
  them into the UCAS heartland in the event of war. You know, 
  the tactical weapons of mass destruction everyone knows they 
  smuggled out of Europe after the Euro Wars, but the government 
  plays dumb about because the STC would throw a fit. Super 
  hush-hush stuff.
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  Idle hands and all that.
  > 
  Why Sioux Serious
  CORPORATIONS
  POSTED BY: SLAMMER
  The Corporate Court doesn’t own the soul of the Sioux, 
  but they certainly rent it from time to time. Corporations 
  are given wide latitude of action both under the limited 
  laws of the country and by the population at large—who 
  have not experienced any significant business-related di-
  sasters in their backyard. The largest multinationals also 
  enjoy preferential tax status and immunity from some 
  of the more onerous labor laws, despite the Sioux Na-
  tion not being a signatory to the Business Recognition 
  Accords. In practice, large corporations are only loosely 
  monitored and enjoy de-facto immunities through nego-
  tiation with the government and outright corruption.
  > 
  That may be true, but even limited enforcement of the laws is 
  enough to keep all but a handful of the megacorps out of the 
  country. The AAs and AAAs that have stuck their toes in the local 
  market mostly operate in Cheyenne and Casper, where they 
  have even more latitude to be their rapacious selves.
  > 
  X-Lander
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    25
  > 
  Megacorps don’t have extraterritoriality, but all large businesses 
  are given significant legal protection and privileges. For 
  example, large corporations can afford to get their security 
  forces licensed and bonded by the SNP. This means they can 
  protect their property with deadly force and operate equipment 
  up to and including light-armored vehicles with only minimal 
  oversight. Corporations are also very difficult to sue, and there 
  is no such thing as a class-action lawsuit in the Sioux legal code. 
  In the end, the Corporate Court seems reasonably happy with 
  the status quo.
  > 
  Magnificent Edward
  ARES
  District HQ: Cheyenne
  The average Sioux citizens’ perception of Ares has al-
  ways been complicated, with a mix of suspicion that the 
  company is actually a front for the UCAS military and a 
  genuine appreciation for the quality of their products and 
  front-line approach to dealing with the insect spirits. Their 
  public falling-out with President Colloton actually boosted 
  Ares’ reputation in the Sioux Nation, and their presence 
  in the Sioux market has continued to grow. With restric-
  tions on their activities lessened, Ares secured a number 
  of profitable government contracts in the 2073 bid cycle, 
  including a multi-billion nuyen project to launch a constel-
  lation of surveillance satellites for OMI and a refit of the 
  SDF air defense network.
  > 
  The higher-ups in the Sioux government took the departure of 
  Roger Soaring Owl from his leadership position in Knight Errant 
  hard, though it obviously didn’t affect Ares’ competitive clout in 
  the country.
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  The district manager, Selena Redfoot, is responsible for a 
  great deal of Ares’ continued successes in the Sioux nation. 
  Unfortunately for Shiawase and Mesametric, she’s too loyal to 
  be extracted and too smart to fall victim to a most unfortunate 
  accident. Some shadowrunners may be called upon to check on 
  her health.
  > 
  Magnificent Edward
  DOC WAGON
  District HQ: Billings
  Doc Wagon is the de-facto national health care provid-
  er for the Sioux Nation, with full national coverage and a 
  guaranteed response time of thirty minutes or less. The 
  company leases or outright owns most hospitals outside 
  the major cities, giving it a near-monopoly on emergency 
  care services and an unusually large stake in the overall 
  health-care system. Considering the fractured and inef-
  ficient system that Doc Wagon replaced, most Sioux are 
  more than happy to have them in charge.
  > 
  Doc Wagon emergency air vehicles are a common sight and are 
  allowed to fly pretty much anywhere in the country with bare-
  bones flight plans. With a Doc Wagon IFF (good luck getting that) 
  a canny rigger can hide almost in plain sight.
  > 
  Rigger X
  > 
  Their headquarters in Billings is a Tier V hospital that is on the 
  absolute bleeding edge of combining magical and traditional 
  medical care. Up to a quarter of the city’s visitors are actually 
  medical tourists, undergoing treatments that they can’t get 
  anywhere else in North America.
  > 
  Butteane
  > 
  The Midewiwin Society medicine lodge has a special 
  partnership with Doc Wagon in Billings. I would be very careful 
  about making any runs on the hospital for that reason alone. 
  Midewiwin are not shy about using combat magic to protect 
  their patients. 
  > 
  Tachnechdorus
  HIGH PLAINS CODING
  HQ: Cheyenne
  CEO: Daniel O’Malley
  Jokingly referred to as “Cronus Inc” due their penchant 
  for devouring other software development firms in the 
  country on the way to becoming an A-level corp, High 
  Plains Coding (HPC) is a recognized leader in several fields, 
  most notably embedded operating systems for a range of 
  consumer goods—most kitchenware runs their code—and 
  pilot programs. Most of their work is under contract for 
  other companies, but in recent years they have expanded 
  their high-profile offerings, particularly with their propri-
  etary NanTek suite having become the de-facto standard 
  for generating nanoforge templates. Although the com-
  pany is a high-profile acquisition target, HPC has fought 
  off every attempted takeover attempt through convoluted 
  legal machinations, shadowruns, and well-timed financial 
  strategies. Being able to hide behind the armed might of 
  the Sioux Nation doesn’t hurt, either.
  > 
  HPC has an internship program, but they don’t put out job 
  applications or accept résumés. They seek the talent they 
  need and make them offers they can’t, or won’t, refuse. Some 
  are moved to the Sioux Nation with an expedited Official 
  Citizenship process if there is a risk of re-extraction or their 
  work is very sensitive, but others work from wherever they 
  wish, over (very) secure Matrix links. Sweet deal, if you make 
  their list.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  Here’s a bit of strangeness to consider: Not a single one of their 
  recent talent acquisitions had a family when they joined HPC. 
  And most of them are not programmers at all—they’ve been 
  actively poaching geneticists, theoretical thaumatologists and 
  mathematicians. The shadows are buzzing with crazy rumors, 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    26
  but it could be they plan on breaking into the extremely 
  lucrative knowsoft market.
  > 
  Metroplex
  > 
  You don’t program nanoforge templates any more than 
  you could hand-code a genome. Every single one must be 
  “grown” from a set of seed code that is pruned and re-ran over 
  millions of generations. The original seeds come from material 
  recovered from Renraku Arcology. Yeah, feel that chill in the air? 
  The big buzz was that HPC had created new seeds back in 2064, 
  which was thought to be impossible, but they never officially 
  announced anything. Andrew Boyce, the old CEO, “retired” to 
  a consulting position with the firm and is supposedly still the 
  brains behind the nanoforge seed program.
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  Digging into this company is like looking into a hall of mirrors. 
  The more you find, the less anything makes sense. The 
  company is good, really good, at covering their tracks and 
  throwing out red herrings to keep every snoop busy for the next 
  hundred years. Many Sioux (even those with high positions in 
  the bureaus) think they’re an OMI front and give them special 
  perks accordingly, the OMI believes HPC is a personal project of 
  Sinopa so doesn’t keep an eye on them, but after a recent hack 
  we learned that Sinopa believes they’re a hidden subsidiary of 
  Novatech and is following a trail I learned was a dud years ago!
  > 
  Iya
  MESAMETRIC
  HQ: Laramie
  CEO: Marcus Ten-Cloud 
  This homegrown corporation had been producing con-
  struction, agricultural, and military utility vehicles for the 
  North American market for decades before it struck gold 
  with the Kodiak excavation drone in 2058. The Kodiak pro-
  pelled Mesametric from a profitable minor corporation to 
  a major player in the global construction industry and pro-
  vided the capital to rapidly expand its markets and prod-
  uct lines. Recent innovations include their pioneering of 
  anthropomorphic work drones (and their associated con-
  trol software), restarting of magrail locomotive production 
  in North America, and, surprisingly, a new line of electron-
  ic warfare thunderbirds and electromagnetic artillery.
  > 
  Starting with this year’s military offerings, they’re offering 
  electronics and weapon systems supposedly developed and 
  manufactured in-house. That’s new, and it’s not clear where or 
  how they are sourcing the components.
  > 
  Raygun
  > 
  The new CEO of Mesametric dreams big, perhaps too big. As 
  part of his long-term plan to turn Mesametric into a NorthAm 
  version of S-K, Ten-Cloud has greatly expanded the company’s 
  interests in the CAS, including the acquisition of several 
  moribund steel mills and a small marine engineering firm. Not 
  the best timing, considering Mesametric’s close ties to the PCC 
  and the ongoing border disputes.
  > 
  Turbo Bunny
  > 
  On the plus side, both Ares and Saeder-Krupp are busy with 
  their own problems, giving the company breathing room it 
  never had before.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  WARPDRIVE SYSTEMS
  District HQ: Denver
  A small company with a long history in the Sioux Na-
  tion, Warpdrive Systems is the second Matrix company 
  founded by the renowned entrepreneur and programmer 
  Steven Ridgemont. His first company, FTL, was bought out 
  from under his and the Bureau of High Technology’s nose 
  over a decade ago, but the canny dwarf has not rested 
  on his laurels. Ridgemont is one of the few people who 
  can legitimately claim to have benefited from the Denver 
  upheaval, as he is now in de-facto control of the Anasazi 
  Holding Company (AHC), a financial vehicle created by 
  Ghostwalker to fund his university projects. Unfortunate-
  ly for Ridgemont, AHC was filled with assets that Ghost-
  walker seized from Aztlan during his takeover. So far, the 
  Azzies haven’t pushed their luck trying to reclaim what re-
  mains, but it’s only a matter of time. With Ghostwalker un-
  able or unwilling to force them out Denver a second time, 
  Warprive is in a tenuous position.
  > 
  Ridgemont is a major benefactor of colleges in the region and 
  is a rare example of someone who commands considerable 
  respect both within the Sioux hacker community and the 
  Bureau of High Technology. He’s been leaning on these 
  contacts pretty heavily in the last few months, working angles 
  to protect his investments before Aztlan starts to throw their 
  influence around.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  Warpdrive Systems has a large number of technomancers 
  working as spiders. This isn’t because Ridgemont goes out 
  of his way to recruit them; he’s actually ambivalent about 
  technomancers since there’s no easy way to reverse engineer or 
  commercialize their abilities. But compared to the exploitive or 
  downright murderous attitudes of other companies, Warpdrive 
  looks like the Promised Land.
  > 
  Lawnfellow Mobo
  WIND RIVER CORPORATION
  HQ: Laramie
  CEO: Franklin Wirasaup 
  The largest business sector of the Sioux Nation’s econ-
  omy is agriculture, and the Wind River Corporation (WRC) 
  is the biggest player, having bankrupted and absorbed 
  most other agribusiness interests in the country after their 
  massive hydroponic and aeroponic facilities came online 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    27
  in 2062. Although it has not applied for status with the 
  Corporate Court, WRC would be classed as a multinational, 
  with operations in most NAN countries and wholly owned 
  subsidiaries in the Caribbean League and Amazonia. With-
  in the Sioux Nation, it operates five massive hydroponic/
  aeroponic facilities that grow everything from genetically 
  enhanced wheat to pineapples, and it touts a string of suc-
  cessful patents and technology innovations in high-densi-
  ty farming that are widely licensed throughout the world. 
  These complexes are heavily automated and environmen-
  tally sealed, allowing them to grow crops year-round, free 
  of diseases, harmful insects, and the notoriously fickle 
  Sioux weather.
  > 
  For the last decade WRC has been investing in acquisitions of 
  agri-businesses and farming rights in the Salish-Shidhe Council, 
  Athabaskan Council, and California Free State. It’s only a matter 
  of time until they go toe-to-toe with Horizon and Aztechnology 
  on the world food market, and they’re going to get their noses 
  bloodied without the Sioux Defense Force underwriting security.
  > 
  DangerSensei
  > 
  Genetique, the core of the Azzies’ agricultural empire in the 
  AMC, is on the hit list for WRC ops, but the local tribes are less 
  than enthusiastic about a Sioux company getting their hooks 
  in the country. WRC would normally have good intelligence 
  on Aztechnology’s defensive plans through an arrangement 
  with Henequen Enterprises, but their “friendship” has cooled 
  recently. 
  > 
  DM
  > 
  WRC’s superstar executive research director, Martin Darkhorse, 
  is responsible for their spat with Henequen. Darkhorse nurses 
  a grudge with the dragon for sinking his old company, and 
  Franklin may have to personally step in to patch things up 
  between the two super-sized egos.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  Wirasaup’s company is a bigger fish on the world stage 
  than many suspect, and his influence only grows as the 
  megacorporations stumble from one food security disaster 
  to another. Once he gets permission to openly operate in the 
  UCAS and CAS, WRC will be impossible to ignore. That means 
  the big boys will be forced to try to bring the hammer down 
  sooner rather than later, even if it means a disruption in North 
  America’s food supply that will make the disasters at Borinquen 
  look minor.
  > 
  Lanchek
  THE SHADOWS
  Tribal allegiances, a small national population, and a 
  robust legitimate economy mean that there are not as 
  many cracks to crawl into or shadows to hide in within 
  the Sioux Nation. It also means that corporations don’t 
  have the same level of paranoia regarding freelance trou-
  blemakers, or a large enough talent pool that would let 
  them get away with double-crosses.
  > 
  The underworld of the Sioux Nation isn’t the biggest around, 
  and many local runners know each other personally, to some 
  degree; outsiders will need to navigate the web of friendships 
  and rivalries before they make any hires. The tribe of shadows 
  also looks after its own—if only for the cynical reason that you 
  might need that particular runner’s expertise for a job down 
  the road.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  > 
  Looks after our own? I think you mean “rat out our own.” I don’t 
  trust a single one of you fraggers.
  > 
  Miles Mayhem
  > 
  Are you still holding a grudge about that? Pro tip: Don’t start a 
  Tamanous franchise in my hometown and try to play the tired 
  “it’s just business, chummer” card.
  > 
  Magnificent Edward
  LAKOTA MAFIA
  The largest and most influential crime syndicate in the 
  country is the Tiošpaye (simply “extended family” in La-
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    28
  kota). Usually referred to as the “Lakota Mafia” due to 
  their superficial resemblance to La Cosa Nostra’s organi-
  zation, the “family” is a ruthless criminal empire forged 
  from disparate group tribal gangs, originally to protect 
  themselves from the depredations of outside syndicates. 
  The Lakota Mafia focuses on controlling the extremely 
  lucrative smuggling routes through the country, but they 
  also have an interest in everything from gambling and 
  prostitution to software piracy and paydata brokerage.
  Under the leadership of its founder, William Whiteclay, 
  the Lakota Mafia had a strict code of honor, which lim-
  ited their dealings in the drug and BTL trade. But the or-
  ganization got a major reorganization when William was 
  killed—poisoned, decapitated, shot, heart attack, pick 
  your theory—during the tempo wars a few years ago. The 
  family business was taken up by his son, Charlie, who had 
  his own ideas on how to run and expand a major criminal 
  syndicate. Charlie is far more savage and less discerning 
  about sources of profit than his old man. If there’s nuyen 
  to be made, no matter how depraved the means, Charlie is 
  happy to stake a claim. 
  > 
  The old man was vicious when necessary, but he had a sense of 
  honor and reined in the gang when he thought they might cause 
  actual harm to the nation. Charlie doesn’t care who or what gets 
  destroyed as long as his fortune keeps growing. Nothing is off 
  limits: tempo, BTLs, snuff personafixes, buffalo poaching, you 
  name it. Charlie would sell his own mom to an insect shaman if 
  it paid market price.
  > 
  Lanchek
  > 
  Sinopa used to have a working relationship with the Lakota 
  Mafia, trading information for legal cover, but Charlie isn’t the 
  cooperative sort. The agents she sent to scare him back into her 
  web wound up in plastic baggies dropped on OMI’s doorstep. 
  But until she finds a way to get rid of Charlie and put a more 
  amenable gangster in charge, the Sioux police will learn the 
  hard way what dealing with real criminals is like.
  > 
  X-Lander
  STREET GANGS
  The Sioux do not have as many, or as violent, predators 
  of its concrete jungles as other nations, but it has its share 
  of the young and the rebellious that form themselves 
  into gangs to terrorize neighborhoods with drug and BTL 
  smuggling, robbery, and professional thuggery. The law 
  is surprisingly lenient about “displays of youthful exuber-
  ance,” and most gang members end up getting real jobs 
  and becoming semi-productive members of the citizen-
  ry. Enforcement takes a harder line, however, on what are 
  broadly defined as “terrorist acts,” so most gangs stick 
  with what they call “counting coup,” which means a quick 
  beating or petty vandalism, and then they’ll move along 
  to harass or rob someone else. Usually.
  > 
  Some gangers have done their SDF stint, so be aware they may 
  have somewhat better marksmanship and small-unit tactics 
  than you are used to seeing in petty crooks.
  > 
  Cheyenne Sam
  GO-GANGS
  Dozens of go-gangs, ranging in size from a handful of 
  members to hundreds of bikers organized into qua-
  si-family bands, claim the Sioux roads as their turf. Many 
  of the rank-and-file are weekend warriors, otherwise 
  law-abiding middle-aged corporate drones and kids who 
  raise hell on vacation by smuggling small packages and 
  harassing citizens, but the core members of the club are 
  always neck-deep in drug running, kidnapping, murder 
  for hire, and gun smuggling on behalf of one of the major 
  syndicates. To them, the hangers-on are simply dispos-
  able bodies they can throw in the way of trouble. 
  Don’t underestimate their capabilities—many go-gang 
  leaders are retired SDF riggers who are capable of orga-
  nizing their crews to tackle even the SNP if necessary. 
  The savviest gangs are more than capable of setting up 
  counter-roadblocks and hacking police communication 
  networks so they can perform dangerous stunts or shake-
  down motorists in peace.
  > 
  The largest go-gang is the Concrete Sidewiders, one of the few 
  pan-tribal gangs. They control the entire stretch of I-80 and kill 
  any competitors who challenge their claim to that stretch of 
  blacktop. Who leads the Sidewinders? Good question.
  > 
  Miles Mayhem
  > 
  The Sidewinders are relatively innocuous, compared to mobile 
  rippergangs like the Redjackets who cruise I-90. Sidewinders 
  avoid dealing permanent damage to vehicles when counting 
  coup and are (outwardly) patriotic. Locals find them a colorful, 
  if annoying, part of the landscape, and the SNP turns a blind 
  eye to their more outrageous traffic-stopping sideshows. The 
  Redjackets occasionally get so out of hand they have to call in 
  the SDF. But somehow they keep attracting new members to 
  replace their losses.
  > 
  Lyran
  When in large groups, Sioux go-gangers become fa-
  mously unruly, turning off ID broadcasts and hiding their 
  features to do their own version of counting coup—riding 
  down the highways at maximum speed and marking pas-
  senger vehicles and trucks by smashing windows, slashing 
  tires, or by pulling off ridiculously dangerous stunts and 
  riding into oncoming traffic. The most violent gangs take 
  even bigger risks, firebombing motorists or businesses 
  while dodging civilian small arms fire in order to draw out 
  response teams so they can truly test their skills.
  > 
  Several million tons of cargo travels through the Sioux Nation 
  each year on its way between the western NANs and UCAS. 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    29
  What can’t be flown or shipped by rail ends up on caravans of 
  automated trucks that travel back forth across the Great Plains 
  like great herds of metal mules. Occasionally you hear of a go-
  gang who vanished in a hail of bullets and magic when they 
  underestimated the corporate HTR teams that monitor these 
  convoys. Don’t be a statistic if you plan on robbing one.
  > 
  Rigger X
  HENEQUEN ENTERPRISES
  Owned by a dragon, watched by a fox, and employing 
  the most dangerous vipers this side of the Mississippi. 
  The feathered serpent Henequen got his scaly ass boot-
  ed out of Denver years ago, but he found a second home 
  in Cheyenne and didn’t waste any time sinking his claws 
  into the underworld. Though based in the Sioux Nation, 
  as far as anyone can tell the dragon’s real interests lie in 
  reclaiming his lair in Denver and attacking Aztlan inter-
  ests whenever possible. Considering the low opinion that 
  most Sioux have of both Ghostwalker and Aztlan, even 
  OMI didn’t seem to mind him taking up residence.
  > 
  There was that little issue of him pretending to be a human and 
  having forged citizenship papers. I guess the Sioux didn’t get 
  the memo about making deals with dragons, because that’s 
  exactly what they did.
  > 
  Slice
  > 
  True Sioux don’t obsess over every twitch of a dragon’s tail 
  like the Anglos. They’re just another group of foreigners with 
  dreams of oppressing our people and stealing our land.
  > 
  17-321
  Legally speaking, Henequen Enterprises is a diversi-
  fied minor corporation that specializes in temporary staff-
  ing and organizing internships for Sioux citizens looking 
  to work outside the country. Pretty milquetoast stuff, and 
  boring enough that it’s hard to get the media interested in 
  taking a closer look. In the shadows, the dragon operates 
  a brokerage service matching shadowrunners with John-
  sons, maintains a payment escrow system, and runs the 
  largest fencing ring in the region for stolen goods and pay-
  data. Everyone with two brain cells to rub together knows 
  Henequen is using both his legal and illegal operations in 
  the country as some sort of front to plot against Ghost-
  walker and continue his one-dragon crusade against Az-
  tlan, but I doubt anyone knows how far down the rabbit 
  hole he can reach.
  > 
  You can’t argue with success. Henequen is as close as you 
  can get to a neutral third party in the Sioux, and he’s as one 
  dimensional in motives as a dragon can possibly get. He’s built 
  a solid reputation as a fair dealer and hasn’t double-crossed 
  anyone who lived to tell the tale. Which is a damn sight more 
  than I can say for some of you snakes.
  > 
  Miles Mayhem
  > 
  Henequen doesn’t directly control the various Matrix 
  shadownets, but he makes it his business to know everything 
  that’s going on in them, including Darknet. It’s no secret he’s 
  interested in acquiring contacts and informants in the foreign 
  nets, particularly Amazonia and the PCC. Those with Aztlan 
  connections need not apply. Or, well, you can apply, but I 
  wouldn’t want to place bets on surviving the interview process.
  > 
  DM
  > 
  I would pay a bit more attention to how Henequen is using his 
  legitimate business to draw in and employ Anglos. By bringing 
  them under his wing he also influences their family and friends. 
  He’s been working on this for over a decade chummers, creating 
  his own personal army based out in the Black Hills.
  > 
  17-321
  > 
  Private dragon army? Guess I didn’t get the membership 
  application!
  > 
  SxAnglo
  > 
  Army of Anglos or not, he’s certainly up to something. The open 
  question is whether it will take another decade for his plans to 
  come to fruition, or if the recent dragon infighting is going to 
  force his hand. Certainly Ghostwalker and Aztlan have never 
  been more vulnerable, but Henequen hasn’t lifted a claw yet.
  > 
  Cyclone
  > 
  Oh?
  > 
  Henequen
  > 
  Ha ha. Very funny, Iya.
  > 
  Turbo Bunny
  > 
  Not me. But I would hope a dragon would be a little more 
  circumspect.
  > 
  Iya
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    30
  RUNNING START
  Good news, chummer! The Sioux shadow community has 
  new openings for talent, including exciting freelance positions in 
  metahuman resource management and tactical economics. Several 
  teams got themselves forcibly retired or found greener pastures after 
  the latest shenanigans down in Denver, but you’re too smart and 
  skilled to be worried about that, right? Right! Here’s a few of the latest 
  milkruns posted to Darknet that a group with your inestimable talents 
  should breeze through:
  • An outside party wants a full listing of the names and SIN’s of the 
  employees of Henequen Enterprises. Might be the serpent testing 
  his own security, Ghostwalker preparing to slap the claws of the 
  impudent newt, or one of the criminal syndicates needing intel. 
  Who cares, the nuyen is worth the risk!
  • The old head of the OMI, Sheila Wolffriend, has poked her head out 
  of whatever rock she was hiding under for two decades. She was 
  last sighted in Seattle meeting with—depending on the source—
  aliens, producers for a tell-all trideo series, a Corporate Court 
  troubleshooter, the UCAS DIA, or one of Sinopa’s deadliest agents. 
  She’s uncharacteristically brazen, and several old grudges will pay 
  handsomely for a gruesome end to her mysterious new career.
  • A light plane just crashed about thirty kilometers west of Missoula, 
  and two Sioux Johnsons are already offering competing jobs. The 
  first wants the site turned into a crater and every survivor and 
  witness dead. The other wants the cargo recovered and delivered 
  to an empty shed outside Helena and every survivor and witness 
  dead. The cargo? Some chained-up drekhead from Tsimshian. 
  Both Johnsons assure me that “it” was drugged and on ice from a 
  Hibernate spell. Scout’s honor.
  • In a shocking turn of events (this is my shocked face), Mary 
  Cat Dancing has jumped ship from Shiawase to take a position 
  with Aztechnology as an advisor for the Third Denver Treaty 
  negotiations. Shiawase would like a civic-minded group to 
  escort her back to their property so they can properly discuss the 
  particulars of the corporate non-disclosure agreement and health 
  plan. If that’s not possible, they would like her to give them a hand 
  with some unfinished work. In particular, they want her left hand 
  (wrist optional) with all the jewelry intact and untouched.
  • The small Anglo community in Lincoln (about an hour’s drive 
  northwest of Helena) hasn’t bothered anyone in years, but someone 
  has been bothering them. One of their “arts and crafts” groups 
  (talisleggers, for those who need it spelled out) has gone missing 
  in the mountains to the north. It may be a group of poachers or drug 
  smugglers operating in the area, or perhaps one of the various 
  aggressive Awakened critters that find the unsettled magic to their 
  liking. Lincoln isn’t taking any chances and will pay in advance for 
  some armed reconnaissance. They’ll also arrange traveler’s visas 
  and weapon permits if you’re coming from the SSC.
  • A Johnson, who claims to be a PhD student at MIT&T, needs some 
  data on the Shoshoni Hydroponics Farm. Specifically, any and all 
  files related to their aquaculture project and its nitrification system 
  (i.e., their bacteria). Pay is terrible, but you can pat yourself on 
  the back for helping either a budding scientist or some low-level 
  corporate spook in desperate need of a more interesting job.
  • Our wonderful and wise Council of Chiefs has a new opening for the 
  Chickasaw representative after an unreported case of 9mm lead 
  poisoning. The most likely person to get the job is Harold Fox Black 
  Shield, current head of the Resource Management Bureau (and 
  former shadowrunner—hi Iris!), as the other Chickasaw nominees 
  are busy stuffing skeletons back into closets and stitching up loose 
  lips. Black Shield’s lovely wife is an Anglo corporate executive 
  working for Horizon (and often travels to the UCAS, no less!), so 
  you can imagine his consternation when the OMI started asking 
  some rather threatening questions about his loyalties. He’s looking 
  for a few discreet but heavily armed troubleshooters to tear up a 
  bit of our Spider-in-Chief’s web by going after one (or more, he’s 
  not picky) of Sinopa’s relatives as a warning to frag off. None of 
  the Chiefs has dared challenge Sinopa before, so the shadows are 
  buzzing as to what will happen next. Buzzing, yes, but they’ll let 
  foreign talent have the lead in case it all goes south.
  • The go-gangers who roam Route 90 have made at least one 
  motorist or company exceptionally unhappy. If you’re an aspiring 
  road warrior, all you have to do is follow one of the automated road 
  caravans from Rapid City to Billings—specifics to be forwarded 
  after your rep checks out—and kill or disable everyone who takes 
  a crack at it. The job poster assures us that miscreants will have 
  a keen interest in the caravan, and the local SNP patrols will be 
  conveniently indisposed, so pack extra ammo. As a personal 
  incentive, I’ll have 100 kilos of the finest Kobe beef delivered 
  straight to your door if you cripple or kill at least five members of 
  the Redjacket go-gang during the trip.
  • Interested in smuggling anti-aircraft missiles to the Manitou rebels 
  in exchange for hand-rolled cigarettes? The job is simple: Pick up 
  the missiles that “accidentally” fall of the back of a nondescript 
  Sioux Army truck you’re told to watch outside of Helena. Take the 
  sealed crates up to the AMC border, across from Medicine Hat, and 
  wait for the daisy eaters to show up. Straight trade, missile case for 
  cigarette case. Take the smokes back down to Helena and let them 
  fall out of the back of your truck. The circle of life is completed, 
  and you’ll find a fat paycheck waiting in your account. One catch: 
  tobacco smuggling carries a sentence of fifty years to life in the 
  Sioux Nation, and the AMC has threatened to strike at rebel camps 
  across the border even if it pisses off the SDF.
  • It turns out the Sioux are not the only ones concerned about 
  events in Yellowstone. Gaeatronics and the Shoshone-Bannock 
  tribe in Idaho Falls have chipped in several million nuyen to 
  hire freelance “field research assistants” who may happen to 
  wander into the park. You’ll be planting seismic sensors, guarding 
  geologists, mapping locations where longqi has appeared and 
  taking hyperspectral readings of soil samples in between fending 
  off enraged elemental spirits and hiding from SDF patrols. Oh, and 
  if a few vials of water from Yellowstone Lake find their way into PO 
  Box 2912C at the Butte Post Office, you may be owed a favor or two 
  by friends in low places.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    31
  GAME INFORMATION
  TIMES CHANGE
  Shadowrun is a dynamic setting in which time marches 
  on. Plots unravel. Key players retire or get themselves 
  killed. Entire nations have been swallowed up and cast 
  down. The Sioux have endured, but even they must adapt 
  to the fickle winds of fate.
  THE WORLD HAS CHANGED
  The Sixth World was always subtly different from our own, 
  with shadowy forces from long-forgotten ages meddling 
  in the affairs of mortals while they waited for the world 
  to inevitably turn in their favor. Places and people that 
  did not exist in our history made their marks long ago, 
  and the fate of tribes and nations was changed. This book 
  can be a useful guide and a reference, but in the end the 
  gamemaster is free to decide exactly how his or her Sioux 
  Nation lives and breathes, what tribes populate it, and the 
  traditions they follow.
  THE LAND HAS CHANGED
  The cultural and political landscape of North America has 
  irrevocably changed in the half-century since the arrival 
  of the Sixth World. Keep in mind that when your shadow-
  runners cross the border into the Sioux Nation they are 
  not in Colorado or Montana, and it’s been generations 
  since people knew those names as anything but foot-
  notes in history books or names on old buildings.
  For example, Cheyenne is a metroplex of almost two 
  million citizens that grew rapidly as the capital of a new 
  and powerful nation after the United States fell apart in 
  2018. Helena is not a state capital; it’s a large city near the 
  borders of two friendly trading partners, through which 
  thousands of tons of food and manufactured goods pass 
  each year. From Great Falls you can see massive mana 
  storms roiling the skies to the north, raining down hail or 
  purple flames on the countryside. Yellowstone seethes 
  with magical power that the nation’s shamans seem help-
  less to control, and strange things skitter and leap in the 
  forests of the Rockies. This is the Sixth World, and things 
  can be quite strange in these shadows.
  THE SIOUX NATION HAS CHANGED
  The Sioux Nation has changed since it was described 
  in Native American Nations, Volume 1 (set in 2052) and 
  Shadows of North America (set in 2062). The Sioux have 
  rarely been troubled by the tempests that rocked their 
  neighbors and were content to stay in their borders and 
  extend helping hands to their NAN brothers and sisters, 
  asked for or not. But with the events in Denver exposing 
  the powerlessness of the Sioux Nation against new Sixth 
  World threats, and old allies revealed to be fair-weath-
  er friends, the Council of Chiefs is faced with a political 
  dynamic they no longer understand and cannot control. 
  Their advisors, the shamans of the Council of Elders, are 
  consumed by their internal politics and schemes to con-
  trol the nexuses of power in the country, even as venge-
  ful spirits and corrupted magicians glut themselves on 
  the uncontrolled power flowing into the land.
  LOCATIONAL QUIRKS
  The following are optional special rules that can apply to 
  runners operating in the Sioux Nation.
  TALISLEGGING
  The Sioux Nation is awash with magical power. Much 
  of this is “flared off” in dramatic mana storms and other 
  displays, but some of the wild magic flows into the land 
  itself, making the country one of the richest sources of 
  telesma on the planet. After collecting a dram of telesma 
  from a location near a site of power, the land renews it-
  self in one day (see p. 316-318, SR5, for additional rules). 
  Some locations, such as the area within Yellowstone, re-
  new even faster. On the downside, the telesma may have 
  undesirable side effects, and they rest in areas crawling 
  with nasty critters.
  THE GRID
  Although under military command, the Sioux demi-GODs 
  are completely under the thumb of the Grid Overwatch 
  Division and work in total cooperation with their cousins 
  in other countries. Standard rules apply for building an 
  Overwatch Score (p. 231-232, SR5), despite government 
  propaganda about Sioux sovereignty over their grids. The 
  gamemaster may play with this expectation when inter-
  nal machinations within the government temporarily dis-
  rupt their cooperation with the Corporate Court, and it 
  could mean that a separate Overwatch Score would be 
  calculated for actions on the Sioux grids. The threshold 
  for demi-GOD intervention (p. 232, SR5) may also vary 
  in the Sioux Nation, depending on the security situation 
  and current quality of conscripted G-men, from as low as 
  30 to as high as 50.
  FALSE FACES
  The use of sacred masks for rituals has been widely ad-
  opted by Sioux medicine societies, including those that 
  traditionally did not use such artifacts. The most famous 
  users are the False Face Society, but few have their level 
  of reverence for the masks themselves (see p. 81, Threats 
  2). The Great Ghost Dance Prophet himself pioneered the 
  use of power foci in the form of masks, but many consid-
  er this a perversion of their traditional use as Spellcasting 
  (Healing) foci.
  Foci masks are made of wood and are elaborate-
  ly carved and painted, but masks made of woven grass 
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    32
  or cornhusks are used in alchemical preparations. Mun-
  dane masks in traditional styles are worn by professionals 
  during certain functions that mix practical and ceremoni-
  al roles. For example, Sioux doctors often wear a healing 
  mask when conducting physical exams, and a building in-
  spector may wear a spirit mask and burn sweetgrass when 
  conducting a building inspection. For the Sioux it is com-
  mon sense to be aware of the Awakened world at all times; 
  wearing masks is a way to ensure spirits take note of the 
  respect people have for their influence.
  SIOUX SHADOWRUNNERS
  A Sioux shadowunner is a little different from her team-
  mates and competitors in Berlin or Seattle. At a mini-
  mum, her perspective and operational experience will 
  reflect the traditions of her tribe, the relative peace and 
  prosperity of the Sioux Nation, and the particular quirks 
  of the regional shadow community. Standard game rules 
  apply, but the following backgrounds and roleplaying 
  suggestions help create a distinctly Sioux runner.
  Most tribal Sioux, Awakened or not, have a guardian 
  spirit discovered, or simply selected, during their youth as 
  a part of coming-of-age ceremonies. Though mentor spir-
  its do not directly interact with non-Awakened, the Sioux 
  consider it obvious that they still try to help and direct the 
  lives of those they favor. In return, the Sioux honor their 
  guardians by offering prayers, wearing items sacred to the 
  spirit, giving thanks to their guardian after particularly aus-
  picious events, and engaging in a taboo against harming 
  any animals connected to the spirit.
  To reflect this, players may wish to select a mentor spirit 
  (usually an animal) for Sioux shadowrunner characters that 
  corresponds to their personality. There is no benefit or draw-
  back to this for mundane characters; they do not purchase 
  the Mentor Spirit quality, but at the gamemaster’s discretion, 
  the spirit may show its presence when Edge is expended, or 
  color the interpretation of other positive qualities.
  STYLE
  “Casual wear” for a Sioux tends to be more militaristic than 
  in most countries, and the relaxed weapon laws mean that 
  you’ll see most adults packing firearms and large knives 
  even at family get-togethers and in high-class restaurants! 
  It can be difficult for an outsider to understand, but Sioux 
  consider themselves a nation under siege. Citizens do not 
  pack assault cannons for a visit to Stuffer Shack, but being 
  armed and armored at all times is not unusual. Armor jack-
  ets and lined coats (p. 437, SR5), usually made with real 
  leather (p. 436, SR5) and decorated with tribal motifs or 
  abstract imagery of their guardian spirit, is the go-to armor 
  for shadowrunners and citizens alike. It’s ubiquitous, rela-
  tively inexpensive, and still stylish enough to not detract 
  from a professional appearance.
  Sioux avoid synthetic fibers, and genetically engi-
  neered cotton and linen is quite cheap. This also means 
  that Sioux clothing lacks many of the embedded electron-
  ics and features found elsewhere, such as haptic feedback 
  or electrochromic threads (p. 437, SR5). Cattle- and bi-
  son- hide leather is inexpensive, but there is a strong de-
  mand for more exotic vatgrown or imported leathers as 
  well. Oddly, synthleather tends to be more expensive in 
  the Sioux Nation, because only exotic styles will stand out. 
  Typical daily wear for a Sioux consists of cotton or linen 
  shirts with collars and denim pants. Hats are not generally 
  worn, even in inclement weather. Leather cowboy boots 
  in various cuts and styles are the most distinctively Sioux 
  footwear, but many prefer to wear moccasins or even go 
  barefoot indoors. Cyberpunk staples such as mirrorshades, 
  black polymer armored jackets with glow panels, ripped 
  faux-leather jeans, and combat boots are only worn by 
  hardcore go-gangers and attract unwanted attention from 
  the authorities. Wearing telesma in the form of jewelry, 
  even if not Awakened, is common, particularly those cre-
  ated from uncut gemstones and bones from the runner’s 
  totem animal. These are usually in the form of beaded 
  necklaces and woven bracelets, many worn since child-
  hood coming-of-age ceremonies. Perfumes and cosmet-
  ics are frowned on by the Elders and the older generation, 
  but they’ve made a huge comeback in recent years, much 
  to the disgust of traditionalists.
  Sioux tribals frown on body piercings and ostentatious 
  metallic jewelry, so Anglos have adopted elaborately en-
  graved silver rings and earrings as a subtle stylistic rebel-
  lion; the more jewelry, the wealthier the Anglo considers 
  herself. Scarring is acceptable body ornamentation for 
  tribals and Anglos alike, and walk-in clinics can add or re-
  move even the most elaborate patterns of scars without 
  pain. Sioux, though, tend to avoid visible scars on their 
  chest, unless acquired from legitimate participation in a 
  Sun Dance ceremony.
  Facepaint and elaborate cosmetics are avoided except 
  for ceremonial purposes, but Sioux shadowrunners often 
  have elaborate pre-run rituals carried over from their SDF 
  training that include donning war paint in traditional tribal 
  styles. Facial tattoos are no longer in style except among 
  members of the Eastern tribes, but faint tattoos on the legs 
  and arms in circuit patterns are the latest rage among U of 
  SIOUX OFFICIAL CITIZENS
  Official Citizens have the SINner (National SIN) negative 
  quality (p. 84, SR5). They may not enlist in the SDF or acquire 
  the highest levels of national security clearance, but they are 
  also exempt from compulsory service and free from the most 
  onerous extra-legal monitoring by tribal authorities.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    33
  C students. In a tradition dating to the Ghost Dance War, 
  supposedly introduced by Daniel Howling Coyote himself, 
  many medicine societies etch elaborate tattoos using red 
  ink on the soles of their shaman’s feet during Initiation, 
  though the significance behind it is lost.
  Sioux, and Sioux Anglos, generally avoid hats (even the 
  SDF does not issue service caps) and wear their hair long, 
  woven into braids, or held by small metal or bone clasps. 
  Short hair is considered a sign of penance or self-denial, 
  which is officially why SDF personnel of both sexes are re-
  quired to keep their hair closely cropped. The old Mohawk 
  tribal style, in which all but a square patch of hair on the 
  back of the head is physically plucked out, without anes-
  thesia, is a popular alternative, especially as regenerating 
  the hair follicles is a walk-in medical procedure.
  Active-duty SDF personnel wear “honor feathers” wo-
  ven into their hair for special occasions. These are specific 
  combinations of bird feathers and beads awarded by their 
  peers and warrior society leaders for acts of conspicu-
  ous bravery and exemplary performance at elite training 
  courses. These are not official awards but are more presti-
  gious than actual medals, and they are carefully preserved 
  and stored when the warrior returns to civilian life. An un-
  official system has arisen to distinguish these military hon-
  or feathers from similar civilian and gang customs, such 
  as only Wildcats being given the privilege to wear eagle 
  feathers. Ghost help you if you are caught wearing honor 
  feathers you’re not entitled to.
  LANGUAGE
  Most Sioux are bi- or even trilingual, with English as the 
  primary language as it has been nigh impossible to adopt 
  a common Amerind language that the Elders and Chiefs 
  can agree on, though each tribe provides incentives to 
  learn their traditional tongue. Those who learn a third lan-
  guage often do so for business or military reasons, with 
  Japanese, Nahuatl, and Salish being the most common. 
  Many tribal languages are reconstructions, having been 
  poorly documented or extirpated long before the Ghost 
  Dance War, which has resulted in violent confrontations 
  between bands that champion their own, “purer,” version 
  of the ancestral tribal tongue.
  Found Languages: Sixth World languages such as 
  Or’zet and Sperethiel are rarely spoken in the Sioux Na-
  tion, and even the University of Cheyenne does not have 
  instructors on-site. However, many Sioux, particularly 
  shamans and ultra-traditionalists, are fascinated by the 
  Sasquatch language despite only a handful actually liv-
  ing in the country. In the popular imagination Sasquatch 
  is thought to be the precursor for all regional Amerind 
  tongues. Many prominent Sasquatch language research-
  ers are Sioux, and breakthroughs are widely reported and 
  commented on.
  Siouan Dialects: Although they are closely related, the 
  Sioux tribal dialects are now mostly mutually unintelligi-
  ble and are thus considered separate languages. The three 
  most common Sioux dialects are Eastern Dakota, Western 
  Dakota, and Lakota.
  Sioux Streetspeak (ka-ne-tsv): Most Sioux Nation citi-
  zens are familiar with a regional lingo (p. 150, SR5)—actu-
  ally a borderline creole—that combines English with bor-
  rowed elements from various tribal dialects, Spanish, and 
  Japanese. Sioux refer to this as ka-ne-tsv, a Cherokee term 
  for “spoken word.”
  Milspec: The technical military jargon used by military 
  personnel is spoken by the SDF training cadre and other 
  long-service professionals. Most conscripts quickly forget 
  the specifics after they return to civilian life, but elements 
  of Milspec are part of friendly banter in Sioux Streetspeak.
  PREJUDICE
  Sioux have a well-deserved reputation for tolerance of 
  metahumans and many Awakened non-sapient critters, 
  but they are equally famous for their disdain of non-Sioux. 
  In addition, the Sioux Elders and national media promote 
  a stark black-and-white view of certain Sixth World phe-
  nomena, with critters and metahuman variants originat-
  ing from outside North America categorized as alien or 
  invasive—Awakened critters such as the agropelter are 
  shot on sight for this reason. Most Sioux are also intense-
  SIOUX TRIBALISM
  Political disagreements with the Sovereign Tribal Council, 
  blamed on regressive or even traitorous elements in the other 
  NANs, and the recent setbacks in the Sioux’s position with 
  the Denver Treaty renegotiations, have inflamed nationalist 
  sentiment and strengthened the isolationist and unilateralist 
  tendencies in the Council of Chiefs and the population at large. 
  The politics, traditions, and styles of non-Sioux Amerinds were 
  never held in very high regard, but now it shades into outright 
  condescension. This has consequences for visitors to the Sioux 
  Nation that don’t make a point of trying to blend in and parrot 
  the jingoistic consensus.
  By default, treat Sioux NPCs as suspicious (see the Social 
  Modifier Table, p. 140, SR5) of foreigners in general, and hostile 
  to anyone from Aztlan or the UCAS in particular. Sioux consider 
  themselves courteous to a fault, so this disdain will usually 
  manifest as passive aggressiveness. For example, an outsider’s 
  regalia will be subtly mocked as “quaint” or “cute,” UCAS 
  visitors will be lectured on the excesses of the old U.S., and the 
  police will patronizingly remind Aztlan visitors they’re now in a 
  civilized country and need to obey the local laws and refrain 
  from “excessive” displays of piety related to the Path of the Sun. 
  In general, visitors will find the average Sioux spectacularly 
  uninterested in their opinions on cultural or political issues.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    34
  ly nationalistic, and many hold (at least according to the 
  standards of other Amerinds) a dangerously literal inter-
  pretation of the guidance espoused by the Great Ghost 
  Dance Prophet. Even Sioux shadowrunners, with their 
  more cynical view of the world, often possess the Prej-
  udiced negative quality (p. 82, SR5) against Anglos or a 
  specific rival tribe as a specific group, or all non-Sioux for 
  a common group. Racial supremacists are far less com-
  mon, and bigots of that sort usually leave the country. 
  The only “racial” intolerance that is not considered un-
  usual is against those with SURGE mutations. The Elf Pos-
  er and Ork Poser qualities will just confuse most Sioux, as 
  they won’t understand why one metatype might want to 
  pretend to be another.
  BACKGROUND
  Most Sioux shadowrunners are from a tribal background, 
  if only because that is the majority of the population. The 
  tribes form strong sub-cultures within the greater Sioux 
  Nation and can be an intrusive force in their member’s 
  lives through peer pressure and legal enforcement of tra-
  ditional customs. The shadows provide freedom from fam-
  ily and community obligations, and the ability to choose 
  one’s own job and destiny without tribal elders breathing 
  down your neck. Not every tribal shadowrunner cuts ties 
  to their extended family, and those that do often find the 
  world an unexpectedly cold and hostile place.
  A surprisingly large number of runners also come from 
  the Anglo community; the impoverished and dispossessed 
  descendants of the U.S. and Canadian citizens who could 
  not, or would not, leave their lands or find a coincidental 
  relation to the winners of the Ghost Dance War. Confined 
  to the rural hinterlands and excluded from many jobs, the 
  Anglos have found ways to make a living in the cracks of 
  Sioux society, a shadow tribe of not-quite-accepted Offi-
  cial Residents that is often overlooked and underestimat-
  ed by their proud neighbors. Semi-legitimate Anglos are 
  the unsung heroes of the shadows who maintain the lo-
  gistic networks for the smuggling routes and act as neutral 
  middleman for each tribe’s criminal community. Not sur-
  prisingly, some find themselves moving even deeper into 
  the shadows in search of bigger scores or the opportunity 
  for payback at their Amerind oppressors.
  STEREOTYPES
  Sioux runners are often typecast as the “uptight tribal 
  with a chip on their shoulder” by other shadowrunner 
  groups. This isn’t always an unfair assessment, as a life-
  time of heavy propaganda, excellent quality of life, and 
  strong social bonds tends to give most Sioux a rather ar-
  rogant attitude when dealing with outsiders. Exacerbat-
  ing the stereotypes, a string of popular semi-documenta-
  ry/quasi-reality trideo and simsense programs that dealt 
  with shadowrunners picked up on these quirks when they 
  developed their token “Amerind runner with a heart of 
  gold and mysterious affinity for one-man Ghost Dances.” 
  Now, everyone expects the Sioux runner to be a prickly 
  superpatriot always ready with a putdown about the lo-
  cal politics, and a comical rivalry with their best-friend/
  romantic interest UCAS-born teammate.
  Another popular stereotype, this time much less 
  grounded in truth, is that all Sioux runners have a back-
  ground in the military or warrior societies. Most Sioux cit-
  izens have basic training in guerrilla tactics, due to their 
  service obligation and paramilitary classes in school. But 
  the majority of citizens will be hard-pressed to remember 
  any useful skills from their training after a few years, much 
  less have found the time to be selected for initiation in an 
  elite warrior society or take refresher training in the active 
  reserves. Even so, many outsiders expect a Sioux runner 
  to be able to field strip sniper rifles blindfolded, know the 
  best way to wire a bridge for demolition, and have in-
  sight into organizations such as the Wildcats even if her 
  job during the year of service was moving boxes around a 
  warehouse. This can also be a sore subject for Anglo Sioux, 
  as they are barred from serving in the military.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    35
  ARCHETYPES
  The runner community in the Sioux is not deep, but it’s 
  broad. Outcasts and misfits to the last, there’s probably 
  a Sioux runner somewhere in the country who meets the 
  criteria of any published archetype. They may, however, 
  be based in the boonies and living in a converted missile 
  silo without Matrix access.
  Face: Many Anglo Sioux find themselves drawn to the 
  face role. After a lifetime of working the angles and avoid-
  ing the unkind attentions of the tribal police forces, they 
  know exactly what traditional narratives to milk, and what 
  stereotypes they can use to their advantage. Tribal faces 
  were often groomed as a peace-talker and communica-
  tions specialist, expected to ensure that the dirty secrets 
  of their people remained secret, or that any embarrass-
  ing incidents were shrugged off with a smile and careful-
  ly-worded press release. More than one has become dis-
  gusted at the behind-the-scenes compromises and ethical 
  failings of their tribal leaders.
  In either case, the Sioux face will be just as skillful in ne-
  gotiating in a corporate boardroom as they are in a sweat 
  lodge, and adept at adjusting their accent, demeanor, and 
  wardrobe to fit in both at the capital metroplex and the 
  small towns that dot the countryside.
  Spellcasters: Sioux Awakened are expected to live a 
  life of asceticism in the service of the nation and the tribes. 
  Those who follow the path of the shaman are removed 
  from their families and tribes, often after elaborate parties 
  and sending-off ceremonies, and sent to remote medicine 
  lodge lodges in order to learn the skills of the healer, the 
  prophet and the spirit-talker. The shaman is revered but 
  also excluded from many social activities, for fear that 
  dealing with mundane trivialities and modern society will 
  dampen their powers and taint their spiritual purity. The 
  lodges keep a close eye on their members, sometimes to 
  the point of forced confinement if there is the possibility of 
  defection to another lodge or signs of disloyalty.
  Hermetic magicians are valued for their abilities, but 
  treated as irrevocably tainted by Western paradigms and 
  logic. There are no medicine lodges for hermetics or 
  joyous celebrations when their abilities are discovered, 
  only disappointed looks from family and sterile corporate-
  sponsored training camps to prepare them for a life 
  as tools wielded  by the Sioux Nation and its business 
  partners. The steady brain drain of talented hermetics to 
  the PCC and even the UCAS is viewed with alarm by the 
  Council of Chiefs, but there is little even they can do against 
  entrenched societal prejudice and the Elders’ hostility.
  Sioux spellcasters who tire of the expectations forced 
  on them by others find that in the shadows they can 
  be free of onerous obligations and the iron grip of the 
  Sioux political elite. They also find that life outside the 
  corporations and the medicine lodges can be difficult, 
  as the authorities take a keen interest in the activities of 
  freelance Awakened and their business associations. Even 
  so, there is no shortage of work for those with magical 
  talent, and the lack of any distinct regulatory and licensing 
  system means that even expatriates from other countries 
  can find a place in the grey- and black-market sectors.
  Decker: Software development and Matrix-enabled 
  information-processing services are the second-largest 
  component of the nation’s economy, and even the agricul-
  tural business is heavily automated. Competent program-
  mers, security specialists, and data miners never lack for a 
  job in the Sioux Nation. It’s also one of the few respectable 
  job markets open for Anglos. Demand far outstrips supply 
  of qualified citizens and official residents, keeping wages 
  and incentives high. Plush opportunities in the legitimate 
  economy keep many hackers out of the shadows and em-
  ployed as security spiders working for the government 
  and corporations, but even paradise has its rebels.
  Sioux hackers have opted out of the rat race, often for 
  philosophical reasons, and tend to be outspokenly vocal 
  about defending their lifestyle choice. Even living “outside 
  the walls,” Sioux deckers maintain contacts deep within 
  the white hat community; their family, college friends, and 
  former employers occasionally need to work outside the 
  LICENSED MAGIC
  There are no magic licenses (p. 367, SR5) in the Sioux 
  Nation. Being Awakened is considered a gift by the Sioux, 
  and the Elders ensure that it’s almost impossible to fetter 
  those so blessed with mundane regulations. However, being 
  a recognized mage who can charge for her services does 
  mean acquiring the equivalent of an occupational license 
  (e.g., a certification from your shamanic lodge or a hermetic 
  thaumatological degree). The licensing procedure is simple; 
  even non-Sioux mages can be licensed in a day or two if 
  they have a clean criminal record. Awakened occupational 
  licenses include a limited right to collect telesma for personal 
  use from public areas, but strictly speaking, talismongering 
  falls in a legal grey area and enforcement varies on the whims 
  of the local SNP.
  Combat spells do not require a spell weapon license as 
  of 2076, due to deadlock by the medicine societies regarding 
  outside knowledge of sacred and secret practices, and 
  strong resistance by the SDF to dealing with the significant 
  administrative overhead it would entail. The equivalent of a 
  spell weapon license is required for every mental Manipulation 
  Spell, as these are viewed in a very poor light by the Elders (as a 
  sometimes necessary evil, but avoided as an investigative tool 
  by right-minded mages). Foreigners caught using Manipulation 
  spells face the full force of draconian espionage laws.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    36
  system, and many Sioux spiders have a penchant for in-
  dulging in minor acts of rebellion while still collecting a 
  corporate paycheck.
  Technomancer: The Sioux political elite and the tribal 
  citizenry in general have strong convictions about what is 
  part of the natural world and what is not. When dealing 
  with the novel and strange elements of the Sixth World, 
  they rely on the advice of highly traditional and conser-
  vative shamans to tell them what is right and wrong. 
  Technomancers do not fit in the spiritual realm that is 
  adjudicated by the shamans, nor are they wholly part of 
  the digital realm in which many Sioux feel comfortable. 
  They are something else, and most Sioux reject them as 
  a form of toxic spellcaster or diseased individual who 
  is best pitied and avoided. The more socially progres-
  sive bands grudgingly accept the “burden” of harboring 
  technomancers, but traditionalists exile them from their 
  communities, lest they somehow spread their unnatural 
  abilities. The government does not technically discrimi-
  nate against technomancers, but the legal system tends 
  to assume that they are deckers by default. A shocking 
  number of technomancers get the death penalty when 
  brought to trial for even trivial infocrimes, which means 
  being shipped to a corporate or government facilities for 
  dissection or other experimentation. 
  Anglo technomancers are kept well hidden and trained 
  to disguise their abilities; many Sioux mistakenly assume 
  that the rural lifestyle of the Anglos is actually helping to 
  prevent technomancer “infection!” These young techno-
  mancers find life impossibly lonely in the electronic wil-
  derness of the reservations, though they don’t face any 
  hostility from their communities and their skills are high-
  ly valued. Anglo technomancers often find contact with 
  their tribal counterparts to be an eye-opening experience, 
  as they have more in common with each other than they 
  do their original cultures.
  Riggers: The Sioux Nation is the land of open skies and 
  thousands of kilometers of paved roads. The Sioux took 
  great pains to maintain and expand the road network in-
  herited from Canada and the U.S., and its citizens are afflu-
  ent enough to afford the personal vehicles in which to en-
  joy them. There’s also a tolerance for low-level go-gangers 
  that gives many would-be riggers their first taste of adren-
  aline and thumbing their nose at authority, without the risk 
  of being peppered with machine-gun fire by the police. 
  Some graduate from the gangs and racing circuits to be-
  come wheelmen and panzergirls, operating the stealthy 
  off-road trucks and LAVs that are the lifeblood of the 
  pan-American smuggling routes. Others find a niche with 
  private security forces, defending distant outposts of cor-
  porate power with remotely operated drones or a combat 
  helicopter.
  Sioux riggers are the most worldly of their compatriots, 
  and many have spent extended periods of time outside 
  the country in the course of their work. More than one has 
  crawled out of a wrecked rigger’s pod in some distant feral 
  city. Sioux riggers are also the most likely to have cut ties 
  with their family and country; those that return do so for 
  business reasons, not sentimentality. They may still keep 
  the stylistic trappings: corporate Johnsons love the image 
  of Amerind riggers shouting war-cries from the cockpit of 
  a speeding LAV. 
  Street Samurai: The Sioux are a nation of warriors. The 
  whole country likes to pretend it’s on war footing, ready 
  to hop into action at a moment’s notice; but outside of 
  shooting down the occasional smuggler or becoming 
  enmeshed in the political games with the Sioux Special 
  Forces, there’s no opportunity to live life on the bleeding 
  edge. Having seen the outside world and been tempered 
  by real violence and war, the street samurai views other 
  Sioux “warriors” as pathetic posers whose closest brush 
  with real action was passing a physical fitness test or evad-
  ing a sexual harassment charge.
  Sioux samurai who return home to do their dirty work 
  tend to have a greater appreciation for family, which is 
  a sentimentality distinctly lacking in the shadows. Many 
  maintain a friendly but distant relationship with their rel-
  atives, holding on to them as a spot of stability and pre-
  dictability in a chaotic and bloody world. The Sioux Nation 
  shadows are crazy, but there’s something to be said for the 
  crazy family you grew up with.
  SKILL PACKAGES
  The education system of the Sioux Nation is one of 
  the best in North America, and even the second-rate 
  schools on the Anglo reservations would be consid-
  ered top-end institutions in many parts of the CAS and 
  UCAS. However, the youth are actively encouraged, or 
  outright coerced by their tribe, to join the Scouts and 
  tribal youth groups that fill their free time with “produc-
  tive” team-building exercises and training along with in-
  doctrination and paramilitary conditioning. Anglos can 
  elect to not join the Scouts, but much of their free time is 
  then taken up by family matters and doing various odd 
  jobs to help make ends meet.
  The characters education and background in the Sioux 
  may be reflected by taking one or more of the following 
  sample skill packages. Note that the skill ratings indicate 
  basic competency and understanding, and characters may 
  greatly exceed these minimums.
  SIOUX EDUCATED
  (7 SKILL POINTS)
  These are the skills that anyone who grows up in the 
  Sioux Nation should possess, both tribal and Anglo. 
  Active Skill
  Computer 2
  Etiquette 1 (Sioux +2)
  Pilot Ground Craft 1
  Pistols 1 (Semi-Automatics +2)
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    37
  ANGLO RESERVATION RAT
  (6 SKILL POINTS)
  Life on the reservations is tough, and interactions with 
  the authorities are rarely advantageous for the Anglos. 
  Prospering requires exploiting every advantage you have 
  over the uptight tribals.
  Active Skill
  Con 2 (Fast Talking +2)
  Perception 2
  Sneaking 1
  DISAFFECTED TRIBAL PRODIGY
  (12 SKILL POINTS)
  The elders of your tribe always said you were destined 
  for greatness. Little did you know they actually meant a 
  life of service as support staff for the shamans and chiefs.
  Active Skill
  Artisan 2
  Etiquette 4
  Negotiation 2 (Diplomacy +2)
  Performance 2 (Dancing +2)
  SCOUT TRAINING
  (11 SKILL POINTS)
  You were a model member of the Scouts through years of 
  membership, acquiring an impressive collection of merit 
  badges and well-read training guides.
  Active Skill
  Archery 1 (Bow +2)
  First Aid 3
  Longarms 2
  Navigation 1
  Survival 2
  Swimming 1
  SDF ONE YEAR WONDER
  (11 SKILL POINTS)
  Serving for one year in the SDF will not make you an elite 
  killer, but it provides training in a range of skills that could 
  prove very handy in fighting a war from the shadows.
  Active Skill
  Automatics 3 (Assault Rifles +2)
  Demolitions 1 (Improvised Explosives +2)
  Disguise 1 (Camouflage +2)
  Sneaking 1
  Unarmed Combat 2
  ULTRATRADITIONALIST RUNAWAY
  (14 SKILL POINTS)
  You were a member of one of the tribal bands that have 
  returned to the old ways, eschewing technology and the 
  corrupted mockery of Sixth World society. But for some 
  reason you had to leave that world behind. Some simply 
  become disenchanted with the compromises and lim-
  itations, and others want to experience the wider world 
  before returning to their band with valuable new skills 
  and contacts.
  Active Skill
  Animal Handling 3
  Archery 1 (Bow +2)
  Blades 1 (Axes +2)
  Etiquette 1 (Tribal +2)
  Navigation 1 (Celestial +2)
  Tracking 3
  PRECOCIOUS GO-GANGER
  (10 SKILL POINTS)
  You felt the need for speed from a young age. You may 
  not run with the old crew these days, but you’re still a 
  terror on the blacktop and in a bar brawl.
  Active Skill
  Automotive Mechanic 1
  Clubs 1
  Etiquette 2 (Street +2)
  Intimidation 1 (Physical +2)
  Pilot Ground Craft  
  3
  SIOUX ARMY VETERAN
  (25 SKILL POINTS)
  After  mandatory service you re-enlisted and joined the 
  Army as a full-time professional. You traded the skills of 
  an insurgent for the much more rewarding task of an ar-
  mored cavalry and training officer.
  Active Skill
  Automatics 1 (Assault Rifles +2)
  Demolitions 1
  Disguise 1 (Camouflage +2)
  Electronic Warfare 2 (Communications (+2)
  Etiquette 2 (Military +2)
  Gunnery 3
  Heavy Weapons 2
  Instruction 2
  Leadership 2 (Command +2)
  Pilot Ground Craft 4
  CODE OF HONOR:  
  NATIONALIST (COUNTRY)
  This is a new form of Code of Honor (p. 79-80, SR5). The My 
  Country, Right or Wrong positive quality (p. 17, The Assassin’s 
  Primer) may be a more appropriate choice in some extreme cases.
  Nationalist (Country): The character has an unwavering 
  belief in the rightness of his country’s policies, and seeks to 
  advance its agenda even if it would hinder his current goals. 
  The character loses 1 Karma per agent of the government 
  they kill, including contractors, or knowingly allow to be killed, 
  even in self-defense. Note that nationalism does not include 
  penalties for simply breaking the law, which can be justified 
  through mental contortions great and small.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    38
  EQUIPMENT
  Sioux shadowrunners will be practically indistinguishable 
  from any other heavily armed criminal while operating in 
  Berlin, London, or Seattle. But there are a few legal pecu-
  liarities that all runners in the Sioux Nation would be wise 
  to remember.
  Armor: Due to a notorious episode involving the “Or-
  ange Mob” gang in Rapid City, urban explorer jumpsuits 
  are 6R in the Sioux Nation. However, anyone with a valid 
  hunting license can purchase chameleon suits as if they 
  were only Availability 10 (not Restricted). Note that the 
  SNP and SDF are quick to load magazines of APDS and 
  break out rocket launchers if they spot potential saboteurs 
  tooling around in full body armor or other mil-spec en-
  sembles. See p. 437, SR5, for more information.
  Weapons: It is extremely difficult to get con-
  cealed-carry permits for firearms in the Sioux Nation, 
  but open carry of light and heavy pistols is perfectly 
  legal and socially acceptable. In addition, all automatic 
  weapons are illegal to own without explicit authoriza-
  tion, meaning no licenses as such are available. To rep-
  resent this, all Light Pistols and Heavy Pistols are Legal, 
  but Hold-Outs are Forbidden (see (Il)legality, p. 419, 
  SR5). All firearms with BF or FA fire modes are also For-
  bidden. This does not affect the weapons Availability 
  rating. Bonded corporate security forces and their legal 
  designates have free rein to carry heavy weapons but 
  must follow strict escalation of force laws. Private secu-
  rity forces are held responsible for damage outside their 
  designated security areas, even that caused by the folks 
  NICE GUN
  Current fashion and politics mean no Sioux will be caught 
  dead using trash from Aztechnology and its subsidiaries, no 
  matter how technically good it may be, but Ares weapons are 
  common. In fact, the best-selling weapon in the Sioux Nation for 
  three years running has been the Ares Light Fire 70 (p. 425, SR5). 
  Ares even markets a custom LF70 just for the Sioux market; 
  this Howling Coyote Special Edition, with orichalcum inlay and 
  redwood grips, is backordered for months.
  
  >> SHADOWRUN <<
  << SHADOWS IN FOCUS: SIOUX NATION    39
  they are shooting at, which makes most high-explosives 
  not worth the legal complications.
  Outsiders visiting the Sioux Nation on travel visas 
  and people with criminal SINs may not legally acquire or 
  possess any firearms, but light pistols are considered ex-
  empt by social convention. Possessing a concealed-carry 
  license (p. 443, SR5), fake or not, will attract the attention 
  of SNP officers using Rating 5 verification systems to de-
  termine validity.
  Weapon Accessories: 
  It’s 
  considered 
  somewhat 
  gauche to carry heavily modified weapons, so most wear 
  their weapons clean with no weapon attachments or styl-
  ing. One notable exception is the smartlink, which is com-
  mon—even when the user doesn’t have a smartgun implant 
  or goggles. Smartgun systems are Legal in the Sioux Na-
  tion. Sioux law frowns on concealed weapons of all kinds, 
  even knives, and the SNP comes down hard on accessories 
  intended to make weapons harder to detect; for this reason, 
  concealable holsters are 5F and hidden arm slides 7F. Sioux 
  shadowrunners avoid carrying these “criminal implements” 
  with streetwear unless absolutely necessary.
  Electronics: Carrying a cyberdeck (p. 439, SR5) may 
  attract fellow deckers, mostly white hats, and dabblers 
  looking to make casual conversation, but it is not consid-
  ered notable in the Sioux Nation due to the importance 
  and influence of the software industry. Cyberdecks are still 
  Restricted because of the high-intensity simsense signals.
  Augmentation: Cyberware is far from ubiquitous in the 
  Sioux Nation, and actual stores where it can be purchased 
  and implanted are few and far between. The Essence-con-
  scious market doesn’t accept anything below betaware 
  quality (used cyberware is not typically available), and only 
  low-impact headware implants enjoy any kind of popular-
  ity. Bioware and nanoware are more readily accepted by 
  the public. Health-related augmentations, such as Patho-
  genic defense and Symbiotes (p. 459, SR5), are even sub-
  sidized by medical insurance.
  Chemicals: Stim and tranq patches (p. 451, SR5) are 
  Restricted in the Sioux Nation due to the draconian drug 
  laws. Tobacco and most other recreational substances 
  (including everything listed on p. 411, SR5) are Forbid-
  den without special exemption by the Bureau of Cultural 
  Preservation.
  GET RUNNING
  Running Start (p. xx) provides several plot hooks to kick off a run, but 
  that’s only the tip of the iceberg! There are even more opportunities for 
  adventure and double-crosses that help tie the Sioux Nation into the wider 
  world of Shadowrun and hint at plots bubbling beneath the surface:
  • Acquiring samples of the heavily polluted water at Butte’s Berkeley 
  Pit for the Dunkelzahn Institute of Magical Research.
  • Protecting a researcher at the University of Cheyenne who has 
  rediscovered a technology to block the effects of Black IC.
  • Assassinating a Chief from one of the minor tribes who goes “off 
  script” during pivotal negotiations with the UCAS.
  • Stealing a medicine mask from the False Face Society vaults for a 
  Seattle art collector.
  • Providing overwatch for a Wildcat team extracting an Anasazi 
  shaman from a PCC firebase.
  • Stopping a terrorist attack on one of the Wind River hydroponics 
  facilities.
  • Breaking into the Sioux Defense Force’s records to find out how 
  thirty pilots died during the New Revolution coup attempt.
  • Infiltrating the Sun Dance ritual at Devil’s Tower to record the sacred 
  ceremonies.
  • Investigating the defection of a well-known Sioux war chief to 
  Ghostwalker’s personal army in Denver.
  • Placing surveillance sensors around a dozen guarded, but 
  supposedly empty, decommissioned missile silos around Great Falls.
  • Kidnapping two small children from their parents and smuggling 
  them to their maternal grandparents in the AMC.
  • Infiltrating Ellsworth AFB outside Rapid City in order to confirm the 
  rumor of an underground vault entrance inside Hangar 11.
  • Researching the origin of images that show etched Futhark runes 
  on a large metal cylinder that appear to be transliterated Lakota 
  prayers.
  • Locating and recovering a basalt column in Yellowstone that is 
  surrounded by enraged spirits of beasts.
  • Observing the Chief Mountain mana storm while the Siksika tribe 
  conducts a ritual in the AMC.
  • Recovering a shard of radioactive glass originating from the Trinity 
  nuclear test site that was stolen from the Montana Tech and 
  Geomancy campus in Butte.
  • Training otherwise technology-adverse traditionalist warriors in the 
  use of surface-to-air missiles for their shadow war against bison 
  poachers.
  • Subtly keeping one of the Council of Elders under surveillance and 
  recording her sleepwalking habits.
  • Sabotaging field trials of a wheat smut treatment at a guarded 
  agricultural field station in Laramie.
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shadowrun [multi]/5th Edition/Shadowrun Shadows in Focus/Shadows in Focus - Sioux Nation.pdf