POWER PLAYERS: The Annotated Aztlan 
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Full text of Aztlan annotations
[WORDSMYTH] Such ignorance ...These comments can only be understood in the context of the interview and shadowtalk preceding them. The segment of interview can be summarised briefly: the journalist is trying to discover whether the Amazonians use spirits, magic, and blood magic in their fight; Pobre confirms this, qualifying that both sides use it ("One must fight fire with fire"); and the editor overwrites to deny the existence of blood magic. In contrast, the shadowtalk quickly shifts to a discussion of the nature of blood, of which three posts (of the four) are cited here:[THE BIG 'D'] Part of my point. How are they to know, except by slowly discovering for themselves? And by then, it is too late.
The Great Ghost Dance is the symbolic opposite of blood magic. The Dance was an act of sacrifice; Dancers gave their lives willingly, gladly, for a greater purpose. Blood magic, as Pobre uses the word, is a perversion in which oppression and exploitation replace willing sacrifice.So in what lies the ignorance Ehran perceives, and the lack of knowledge seen by Dunkelzahn? All of this shadowtalk is speculation, certainly, but it does seem to cover the moral spectrum, voluntary and involuntary sacrifice: and it certainly does emphasise that there was at least an ethical difference between the Great Ghost Dance and what the Aztlaners are practicing, and possibly also in what the Amazonians are practicing.
- Man-of-Many-Names (22:18:07/5-11-56)(Many-Names? He's Baa-aaack ...) Beg to differ, white-hair. Technically speaking, the Dance was a form of blood magic, with all its attendant consequences. (I've spoken with a couple of runners who have personal knowledge of that fact.) Live with it. You and your shaman pals aren't much different from the Azzie priests who rip out hearts.
- Magister (03:16:04/5-12-56)Take your flames to another forum, boys. Strictly speaking, you're both right. The Dance was related to blood magic because it drew its power from the life-force of a donor (in this case, many). But because the donors were voluntary, it's different from Azzie-style blood magic. Saying the two are identical is the same as saying an ambulance is identical to a tank because they're both land vehicles.
- The Ref (16:07:22/5-12-56)
Ignorance, here, does not lie in the absence of any conventional morality.
None of those present have any particular qualms over killing to achieve an end. Each and every one of them -- with the possible exception of LADY OF THE COURT -- has done it. Because they have been around so very long their personal moralities have become somewhat Nietzschean: centred around that which is stronger than they, and which has the ability to force its will upon them.
Faith is a tricky thing in the Nietzschean universe. There being no objective evidence of the existence of God (and thus no objective measure defining "good"), Nietzsche argues that all faith constructs can only ever be an expression of power moralities: strong forcing their will upon the weak (and it is good); weak in turn defining their morality by what the strong shouldn't do (and that too is good). I don't touch upon this topic further in the real world. However, in the Earthdawn-Shadowrun universe, there do exist deic powers, both gods and devils (Passions and Horrors), and they very much are objectively real. Regardless of personal faith, the Horrors did come, and they did scour the earth ... and they will come again. Perhaps the primary morality, here, must then become survival.
In Worlds Without End, Aina's use of blood magic to destroy Ysrthgrathe creates a mana spike:
By the way, I've been keeping track of these things, and on the night you told me about, there was a spike at Crater Lake.There are also other references within Aztlan itself: "You denied the danger of the Spike Point" (p.84). The suggestion is that any exceptionally powerful use/management of magic could create such a spike -- and also that blood magic seems more effective at creating such a spike than most. The Dragonheart trilogy makes it absolutely clear that such spikes can more quickly narrow the chasm separating the Horrors from the earth, or even be used to build a bridge.
- Dunkelzahn (pp.246-47)
Optimising chances of survival, then, would seem to dictate not creating such spikes, or at least minimising the mana impact of any major act of magic (per JUNGLE CAT's "You will not have to repeat your actions because of us" [p.114]).
The ignorance suggested by Ehran and Dunkelzahn, then, might refer not to morality of blood magic per se, but rather to the reckless use of any magic which brings the Horrors closer more quickly than must happen anyway. And by the time the mortals perceive that all the time their actions were bringing the Horrors closer and closer, the Horrors will already be here ... and it will be too late.
A secondary possible connection with blood magic, not mentioned anywhere within these commentaries but possibly relevant in light of previous publications (EDH, CT), might be Aztechnology's known practice of cybermancy and the CT implication of purposes to which it is put? [link the telephone call]
[JUNGLE CAT] The obvious is such a potent weapon.A reference to the eager shadowtalk deciphering the location of the secret camps, based on an analysis of the meaning of their names. As Bourne tells us:
You should have glossed the code names too, Cap'n. Quite often, the connotations of a code name will tell you something about the op in question -- or at least how the Powers That Be view the op in question. (That's why ConsOps always picks its code names randomly from a computer-generated list.) For example, "libertad" means "freedom." Kinda telegraphs the rebels view on things, doesn't it?The shadowtalkers then go on to decipher the locations of Camp Entraņas (Heart, set in Zone Ghost [Espiritu]), Camp Templo ("Temple"), and Camp Naranja ("Orange").
Could be, Tish. If you're right, this could well be the next hot spot of the civil war.Brilliant. And, as JUNGLE CAT says, obvious. And the obvious is a weapon, right?
- Arctic White (08:22:28/5-13-56)Particularly if the Azzies read this board.
Hey, wait a tick. We know Espectro is an Azzie asset, right? Then the Azzies already know about Camp Templo and Zone Lagos, don't they? Whitey, I got the feeling that spot is going to get real hot real fast ...
- Argent (10:56:01/5-13-56)
Wait a tick.
If JUNGLE CAT -- who is probably working with the rebels -- thinks it appropriate to mention that the obvious is a weapon in this context ... might the whole thing in fact be an obvious ruse, designed to lure the Aztlaners into precisely the same "obvious" deductions the shadowposters just made? It would make for one potent ambush.
For some reason I have a feeling the places mentioned are about to get hot, all right ... but not for the rebels.
As is rapidly becoming standard for this set of annotations, there might be yet another point to this exchange, direct from the writer to the readers: take nothing here at face value. Not "facts". Not interpretations.
To end this section, I find a (final?) level of meaning: a warning direct from the writer to the readers never to blindly trust the so-called experts (such as Argent), who, here and elsewhere in Aztlan, are shown to have a notorious tendency to underestimate the abilities, insight, interpretive and tactical knowledge, and even intelligence of those they consider inferior to themselves.