The Ancient Files

Atomagic

It has been said that the rise in magic has somehow affected the stability and reliability of
nuclear reactions.  Certainly, many more meltdowns and "incidents" have been reported
since the Awakening began, even as some nuclear weapons failed to detonate...in total,
some 18 meltdowns have occurred since 2001, and the only recorded successful detonations
of nuclear weapons is Libya and the Cermak Blast.  The warheads during the Second Korean War
and the Lone Eagle Incident didn't go off when launched at Japan or Russia, respectively.

I shall note that many, if not all, of these meltdowns are physically impossible without the aid of magic.

2004     A partial meltdown resulting in fallout around Dungeness, UK.  Nearly a third of 800 gamers
              gathered there for a convention died!
             Libya and Israel went to war.  Ten minutes later, three nuclear weapons from Israel turned
               Libya into a radioactive corpse.  Making a beautiful stage fro the Desert Wars.  Nice.
             As Germany attempts to shut down all of it's nuclear power plants, Biblis, near Mannheim in
               southern Germany comes within a hair's breadth to meltdown and releases a quantity of
               radioactive gas into the atmosphere.
2008     The Cattenom-GAU French nuclear reactor fractures and releases radioactive gas into the
                atmosphere, creating whatwould be the SOX.  Rumors put Feuershwinge the Great Dragon
                in Cattenom at the time of the meltdown.
2009     "The Lone Eagle Incident"  A group of AmerInds gain control of the Shiloh Launch Facility
              in northwest Montana; and launch one 16-warhead "Lone Eagle" MIRV missle at Russia.
              The missle's warheads did not detonate.
           Mar. 4th-A meltdown of a French nuclear plant causes the radioactive contamination of
                             the entire Saarland, province of Lorraine, and the tiny kingdom of Luxembourg.
2011     Eight Meltdowns occurred, including the Sizewell nuclear power plant in England as well as
              the Dounrey nuclear power plant in Scotland.
2013     The Trojan-Satsop nuclear power plant suffers a partial metldown in Redmond, Seattle.
                 Kilometers of contaminated land surrounding the plant, including Beaver Lake, become
                 known as Glow City.
2014     Redondo Peak erupts due to the Great Ghost Dance, burying the nuclear research facility near
                 there.
2027     The Los Angeles Power and Water company pioneers the first use of cold fusion technology.
2028     Shiawese Atomics opens a new nuclear power plant in Glow City, right next to the rusting
              hulk of the previous one.
             Rumors abound of damage to reactors and extensive leaks among the Los Angeles fusion plants,
              following the earthquake that destroyed LAX.
2035     The meltdown of the Yarrow reactor complex creates the Northern Toxic Zone in northern
              England.
2037     Shiawese patents fusion reactor technology
2045     The Green Tide-a reactor overload at an automated research station of the coast of Los
                 Angeles caused a radioactive tidal wave that rocked the surrounding city and county.  The
                 sickly green glow, called the "Green Tide" still covers southern Caliornia beaches from Ventura
                 to Oceantide.
2050   Samuel Verner uses the Great Ghost Dance to neutralize several nuclear weapons.
2055   Sep. 1st-The Cermak Blast-A sub-tactical nuclear weapon is detonated inside a
              multi-species insect hive, within a powerful ward/barrier, as roughly a thousand new
              insect spirits were being invested.  A mana warp is created at the site of the blast.
 A short note: The nuke was Ares'.  Most megacorps have nuclear capability, few have more than a token: Ares, Saeder-Krupp and Mitsuhama. 
2056  UCAS Army SAD tracks down eight of Winternight's nuclear weapons covered
              with magical inscriptions lined with orichalcum.  (okay not exactly the stated purpose,
               but I figured it was worth mentioning.)
2057   To Gaeatronics’ Seattle laboratories, Dunkie leaves 250 million nuyen for the purpose of research
              into Dr. Dawn Crowfeather’s treatise, "On the Relationship between Mana and Nuclear Energy."
2059   A Bathotech geothermal powerstation in the Trans-Polar Aleut is abandoned after a heat tap explodes,
              causing the release of radioisotopes.
2060   A shaman named Burning Bones is sighted living in Glow City; protected by "spirits of the
              invisible fire" Can we say "Toxic Shaman" boys, girls, and that thing in the back with tent...
              ...oh, it's just Gunny.
2062   Reports of the Atomic Kiva and toxic Radiation shamans near old US atomic testing facilities, especially in Pueblo.

Where to Find It
A note: while most developed nations use fusion as a source of power, several regressing
  and developing nations require amounts of plutonium and uranium to power their fission
  plants, which create nuclear waste.  Likewise, when fusion plants need to be decomissioned
  (due to continuous neutron bombardment weakening the core), certain materials remain
   radioactive (dangerously so) for 17,000 years or so.
 
Uranium Deposits:
   Cascade Ork lands, Salish Shide Council, near Peshastin.  A routine survey in 2036 turned up
      an astounding concentration of Uranium.
   Ivory Coast, North Africa, in the North.  Aztechnology mines and enriches uranium for fissile material.
   Kakadu, Australia.  Shiawese was mining uranium here until the Manastorms drove 'em out.
   Olympic Dam Uranium reserve, Australia.  Shiawese has exclusive rights to mine here.
Irradiated Zones and Hot Spots:
    The Green Tide-a reactor overload at an automated research station of the coast of Los
                 Angeles caused a radioactive tidal wave that rocked the surrounding city and county.  The
                 sickly green glow, called the "Green Tide" still covers southern Caliornia beaches from Ventura
                 to Oceantide.  The color is caused by a mildly radioactive phospherescent fungus.
    The North Sea-polluted by radioactive waste from Britain, Scotland and Germany due to meltdowns,
                 among other nasty and sundry things.
    Vaughn, Pueblo Corporate Council-A site where the USA had a nuclear waste processing plant, visited by
        members of the Atomic Kiva.
    Trinity, Pueblo Corporate Council-Site of the first atomic blast, and of a cult called the Atomic Kiva, led by
        a toxic shaman named Sejuaro Protonés, who claims to follow the Atom totem.
    Scottish Irradiated Zone, Scotland, UK.  Created by the Dourney meltdown of 2011.
    SOX, German Alliance, Europe.  Remains of Luxembourg, Saarland and Lorraine; ruined by the
        meltdown of a nuclear power plant.  Saeder-Krupp and other companies set up research facilities
        there.  It has been officially classified as a Mana Warp.  Also notable for a breed of chimerae
        immune to radioactivity.
    Redondo Peak, Pueblo Corporate Council-The whole eastern portion of the PCC is was subtly altered by
        the nuclear weapons research of the past century, as well as by the after-effects of the Great Ghost Dance.
        Here, the two combine: the Dance buried a nuclear research facility...a facility that the PCC has secretly
        excavated and put to work.  The combination of radiation and Ghost Dance magic...maybe.
    Paguate, Pueblo Corporate Council-An old uranium mine visited by the Atomic Kiva.
    Northern Toxic Zone, England, UK.  Created by a reactor meltdown; radioactivity continues to
       drift out into the Irish Sea.
    Maralinga and Emu Junction, Australia-sites of atomic testing, each site is a Rating 6 Mana Warp.
    Los Alamos, Pueblo Corporate Council-the infamous birthplace of the atomic bomb, this area has a
        background count of 2 and is aspected toward Nuclear spirits (i.e. Toxic Spirits of the Flames)
    Libyan Desert, North Africa-the remains of the 2004 Israeli nuclear strike, and setting of the Desert Wars,
        which doesn't help the background count any.
    Kent Irradiated Zone, England, UK.  Created by a partial meltdown around Dungeness.
    Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan-The physical effects of the nuclear devices detonated her are nearly gone,
        but the damage to the Astral remains.
    Cermak Crater, Chicago, UCAS-site of the infamous Big Bug Blast, this area is a Rating 7 Mana Warp.
    Bathotech Geothermal Powerstation, Under the Polar Ice Cap, Trans-Polar Aleut Nation-A heat tap
        exploded and released a number of radioisotopes, causing a great deal of ecological damage.
    Antarctica-The hole in the ozone layer allows a great deal of UV rays to hit Antarctica, which is responsible
        for the increased cancer rates and probably has something to do with the mana surge affecting the whole
        continent.

Notes on the interaction of Magic, Nuclear Weapons and Radiation.
Theory and Suppostition
     Magic is effected by radiation.  The reason why is the question: it could be that the use of nuclear weapons
and reactors is an unnatural act, or it could be that radiation kills and pollutes lifeforms, thus warping the mana
on the astral plane.  Perhaps the reason outer space is one big mana warp is due to the presence of radiation as
much as a lack of life.  Or maybe the psychological or symbolic impact of a nuclear weapon is more damaging to
the Astral than radiation.  Nobody knows.  Likewise, the numerous meltdowns of nuclear plants and failure of
nuclear warheads to detonate is suspected by some to be a side-effect of the Awakening changing nuclear reactions
in some way, but nothing has been proven.
      What I do know, however, is that radiation is physical.  The effects it has on the Astral may be severe, but no
one whose astral form sits at ground zero in the Cermak Blast Crater will receive any amount of radiation sickness.
Now, whether they can survive the mana warp there is another thing entirely.  Radioactive pollution is reflected on the
Astral, but not present there.  As a physical thing, magic can provide some protection from radiation, in the form of the
spells Radiation Shield and Radiation Barrier.
       As with other sites of astral pollution, physical pollution and negative emotions, the spirits in these areas can
become tainted, and may be summoned by toxic shamans who embrace such corruption.
       It is suspected that the larger number of mutant critters is the result of gene damage due to radiation and toxic
substances that active metatraits, hence giving the critters paranatural abilities.

Critters
     The genetic aftermath of radiation and pollutants may result in a mutant critter, which may have paranatural
powers; toxic critters, which will definately have paranatural powers (more than it started with), and toxic
spirits.  Peculiar to sites of radioactive waste and destruction are Toxic Spirits of the Flames; glowing humanoids
of sickly light and radioctive might, summoned by toxic shamans.

The Cermak Blast
     On September 1st, 2055, a subtactical nuclear weapon was detonated within a massive multi-species
insect spirit hive in Chicago.  At the time of the blast, nearly a thousand spirits were being invested in hosts;
and an incredibly powerful magical barrier was being erected over the hive via ritual magic.
      The resulting detonation destroyed all flesh-forms within the hive; as well as all cocoons and shamans
present.  Spirits throughout Chicago went into a coma-like sleep on the Astral Plane; awakened only by
magical and/or astral activity.  At the site of the blast, damage and radius of effect  was considerably less than
normal for a weapon of it's magnitude.  As one approached the final location of the bomb, however, the crater
appears to be much deeper than normal, and the amount of radiation increases to several times greater than
normal for a bomb of that type.  Additionally, a magical background count is present beginning at the edge of the
blast, and growing stronger as one approaches the center until it becomes a mana warp.
       The question of why the Big Bug Blast had such an effect is that, again, nuclear weapons are purely physical.
It seems obvious that any physically manifested or flesh-form spirit should be destroyed, but any astral form should
have been (relatively) unharmed, with the exception of being caught in a sudden mana warp.
 

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