The Future is Here
Humanity marches ever forward into the 21st century, the thin line between man and machine having been inexorably blurred as humans continue to rely on the enhancements of cybernetics and robots are continually upgrade to become more life like. This web of connectivity grows vaster by the day as common day occurrences like the internet have become even more engrossing do to advances in neurological and virtual reality technologies, that have made the dreams of "cyberspace" closer to reality. Humanity seems to have arrived at a golden age of innovation and advancements as new tech is released everyday making the augmentation outdated within weeks, but social tensions continue to bubble beneath the shining exterior.
It all began on March 30, 1981 at 2:27 PM, John Hinckley, Jr. successfully kills US President Ronald Reagan a mere 69 days into his presidency. As John Hinckley, Jr. is killed before he can be questioned, a media blitz occurs portraying Hinckley as a Soviet Spy. The Death of President Reagan leads to a massive surge in American patriotism and Nationalism leads to the subsequent rise in Cold War tensions as Regan's planned doctrine of no compromise with the USSR is put into full effect. The destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983 by the Russian Military when it ventured into Russian airspace only serves to further increase these tensions and eventually leads to full blown war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact on December 24th, 1983. The Russians soon after launch Операция: Славный молот, a plan to deploy an EMP capable nuclear weapon above the US with the resulting Nuclear electromagnetic pulse knocking out all telecommunications and electronics on the mainland US preventing a counterattack.
Operation Glorious Hammer succeeds beyond exceptions on Christmas Day 1983. Following a series miscalculations the resulting EMP wave did not just wipe out all electronics in America but across Earth in an event known as Silent Christmas. While power would not be restored to full functionality for 60 days after the blast, the world was plunged into anarchy. In the aftermath of Silent Christmas, the world is a changed place. With the failure of governments to maintain order in the chaos, it was the big corporations with their own private security forces that were able to maintain order. In the aftermath of this many world government's including the United States and most of mainland Europe, grant many powers and executive privileges to these corporations to maintain their existence.
These corporations, these faceless entities moving in the shadows wage a quiet war against one another and it is not uncommon for everyday citizens to be caught in the crossfire of two different enforcer groups. Rebellions and protest are crushed as quickly as they are formed, the instigators vanishing into black bags slick with rain never to be seen again. But even these revolts few and far between don't cause many waves if any. The people have become complacent to what is now everyday life for them. You wake up in your corporation paid for apartment in your crappy tenement housing, you go to your corporation paid for job where you worked like a drone for most of the day and face the ever constant danger of being fired if you move two seconds too slow with that filing report, and then you come home to watch your television who constantly remained you whose in charge. And they don't question a thing because how could they?
Yet new technology would also be birthed from the chaos. The greatest of these discoveries would come in the form of the neurochip. Created from a mixture of a polystyrene substrate and coated in neuro-fibers stimulated by a galactose-based compound. In function these neurochips can act as a self-growing cybernetic "brain" of sorts. Quickly followings its development corporations would start using neurochip platforms in robotics and AI development. However it was discovered that by allowing the neurochip freedom to write its own code it would naturally given time and input, that the neurochip could create its own self, the basic foundations for an artificial soul. Soon afterwards the mega corporations of the world made a gentlemen's agreement to restrict the development of neurochip technology by making hardwired instructions required to preventing chips from going around and creating souls.
The world like any has a darker undercurrent. Those forgotten by the corporate society above, deep in the ghettos and the back alleyways, a different world can be seen. Here is a land that no even the CEOs and officials don't dare to enter without armed escorts and vans with ten inch thick windows. Those homeless and without work scavenge for what little they could to survive. Most fell into one of the many street gangs that roamed the back alleys and stalked the roads on cyber cycles. Holding strong control on many more illicit dealings such as drugs, prostitution and, black market dealings. But even they are still subject to the wills of the powerful as many have become little more than puppets for the bigger corporations to deal with threats and monopolize on illegal trade. And it is not uncommon for some of the bigger corporations to have multiple gang leaders on their payroll.
Our story proper begins in New Jisei, what was once an abandoned artificial radiation scrubbing island off the coast of Hokkaido which over the years has evolved into a sprawling metropolis of over three million people in a space only 2,755 km2 forcing this construct of metal and earth to rise higher and higher into the sky. Classified as a Free Economic Zone by the Government of Japan, New Jisei is a cooperate haven where money speaks louder than anything else. But all is not well in this shining utopia as a recent string of brutal attacks have taken place across the city by artificial life-forms posing as members of the human populace.
The world has changed from what we know it to be. Unchecked climate change caused global temperatures to increase by four degrees centigrade. Crops that weren't already genetically modified to withstand the increase would begin to fail at rates of up to 40%, Forests began to die and brush fires become more and more prevalent. As the coral reefs and rain forests slowly vanished biodiversity began to decrease at startling rates. Droughts became more common as the age old flows of rivers and streams began to be effected and water shortages are common in more less off areas. But most importantly the change came with the floods. As the ice caps began to melt and sea levels began to rise coastal cities began to be washed away one of the most prominent being the eventually entire submergence of the American Eastern Seaboard as well as many islands from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. This has lead to many land reclamation projects and the creation of a plethora of artificial islands and floating cities such as New Jisei.
This tech can be found everywhere, and without it you get left behind in the dust. From the self driving cars, virtual reality programs, rail guns and the rich being able to make genetically perfect babies through modifications and gene splicing prior to birth. But the most prominent of the new technologies are of course cybernetic augmentations. These augmentations were supplement by the boom in the robotics and biomedical fields. As robots became more lifelike and able to perform more complex tasks so did our own cyber limbs. But most people aren't big old walking destruction machines. Today's cyborgs are stylish and sleek. Cybernetics are designed to be streamlined for that high mover lifestyle. Whither it is a simple plugin to make you better at judging stocks or cataloging files or hydraulic piston in your legs so that you can crush a man's chest with one kick. The man of today is defined by high tech living. It's addicting, it's exciting and it's all the rage.
A melding of flesh and steel, cybernetics are the style of the day. At the current all cybernetics are directly controlled by the brain to decrease latency issues, as a result levels of augmentation are dependent on how much of the brain itself has been replaced/integrated with circuitry. In essence the more a brain undergoes cyberisation, the more augmentations that a body can handle with Limited rigs being able to support basic implants and upgrades such as cybernetic eye implants and Extreme classifications being able to support entire new artificial bodies.
Limited:
This is the most common and the least intrusive of opreations. The Cerebrum and Corpus Callosum remain essentially unchanged, while micro-machine bio-neural electronics are interfaced with the Cerebellum. Utimately, the micromachine matrix integrates with a larger-scale microcircuitry interface. This in turn outputs to interfaces, which are installed immediately below the cerebellum of the user. Typically inclusion are wideband wireless connections in order to access the internet. Physically, the brain differs from the natural brain with the addition of a thin metal shell. These shells are a common feature, and may further contain additional shielding, such as lead and glass for workers in environments contaminated with radioactive material. The sell is customized for each user, and will have apertures (in cases of minimal cyberisation) for the ocular nerves, and the olfactory bulb.
Enhanced:
This form of cyberisation now sees users have increasingly more of their brains replaced and/or enhanced with highly advanced and specific-application neurocircuitry. In most cases, the minimum of brain tissue retained throughout the cortex is approximately 30%, In addition, subjects of advanced cyberisation gain many advanced technological abilities, such as the ability to address more than one cyborg body simultaneously, rapid learning capabilities, and the incorporation of computational elements not found in most normal human beings.
Extreme:
As noted above, advanced cyberisation generally does not exceed 70% of the brain's volume in the process of optimization, for safety reasons. But in some very rare cases, far more of the brain may be replaced, and in almost all cases, this will be as the result of disease and medical treatment, as opposed to personal preference. The ratio of replacement can approach up to 95.2% of the brain with neurocircuitry. People with this form of cyberisation show a strong tendency to drift away from normal humanity in terms of their skills in interfacing with technology, and yet perversely display heightened emotions, as with the very high level of cyberisation, the brain is less responsive to physiological dampening of emotion. As a result many subjects that have undergone such processes are prone to psychotic breakdowns and generally the pressure upon the remaining parts of the brain more often than not leads to brain failure and eventual death with the longest ever suriving patient lasting no more than three years post operation.
To be added in the OOC: More in depth look at PubSec and New Jisei, quality of life improvements including better organization and pretty pictures, character sheets, and other things.
It all began on March 30, 1981 at 2:27 PM, John Hinckley, Jr. successfully kills US President Ronald Reagan a mere 69 days into his presidency. As John Hinckley, Jr. is killed before he can be questioned, a media blitz occurs portraying Hinckley as a Soviet Spy. The Death of President Reagan leads to a massive surge in American patriotism and Nationalism leads to the subsequent rise in Cold War tensions as Regan's planned doctrine of no compromise with the USSR is put into full effect. The destruction of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983 by the Russian Military when it ventured into Russian airspace only serves to further increase these tensions and eventually leads to full blown war between NATO and the Warsaw Pact on December 24th, 1983. The Russians soon after launch Операция: Славный молот, a plan to deploy an EMP capable nuclear weapon above the US with the resulting Nuclear electromagnetic pulse knocking out all telecommunications and electronics on the mainland US preventing a counterattack.
Operation Glorious Hammer succeeds beyond exceptions on Christmas Day 1983. Following a series miscalculations the resulting EMP wave did not just wipe out all electronics in America but across Earth in an event known as Silent Christmas. While power would not be restored to full functionality for 60 days after the blast, the world was plunged into anarchy. In the aftermath of Silent Christmas, the world is a changed place. With the failure of governments to maintain order in the chaos, it was the big corporations with their own private security forces that were able to maintain order. In the aftermath of this many world government's including the United States and most of mainland Europe, grant many powers and executive privileges to these corporations to maintain their existence.
These corporations, these faceless entities moving in the shadows wage a quiet war against one another and it is not uncommon for everyday citizens to be caught in the crossfire of two different enforcer groups. Rebellions and protest are crushed as quickly as they are formed, the instigators vanishing into black bags slick with rain never to be seen again. But even these revolts few and far between don't cause many waves if any. The people have become complacent to what is now everyday life for them. You wake up in your corporation paid for apartment in your crappy tenement housing, you go to your corporation paid for job where you worked like a drone for most of the day and face the ever constant danger of being fired if you move two seconds too slow with that filing report, and then you come home to watch your television who constantly remained you whose in charge. And they don't question a thing because how could they?
Yet new technology would also be birthed from the chaos. The greatest of these discoveries would come in the form of the neurochip. Created from a mixture of a polystyrene substrate and coated in neuro-fibers stimulated by a galactose-based compound. In function these neurochips can act as a self-growing cybernetic "brain" of sorts. Quickly followings its development corporations would start using neurochip platforms in robotics and AI development. However it was discovered that by allowing the neurochip freedom to write its own code it would naturally given time and input, that the neurochip could create its own self, the basic foundations for an artificial soul. Soon afterwards the mega corporations of the world made a gentlemen's agreement to restrict the development of neurochip technology by making hardwired instructions required to preventing chips from going around and creating souls.
The world like any has a darker undercurrent. Those forgotten by the corporate society above, deep in the ghettos and the back alleyways, a different world can be seen. Here is a land that no even the CEOs and officials don't dare to enter without armed escorts and vans with ten inch thick windows. Those homeless and without work scavenge for what little they could to survive. Most fell into one of the many street gangs that roamed the back alleys and stalked the roads on cyber cycles. Holding strong control on many more illicit dealings such as drugs, prostitution and, black market dealings. But even they are still subject to the wills of the powerful as many have become little more than puppets for the bigger corporations to deal with threats and monopolize on illegal trade. And it is not uncommon for some of the bigger corporations to have multiple gang leaders on their payroll.
Our story proper begins in New Jisei, what was once an abandoned artificial radiation scrubbing island off the coast of Hokkaido which over the years has evolved into a sprawling metropolis of over three million people in a space only 2,755 km2 forcing this construct of metal and earth to rise higher and higher into the sky. Classified as a Free Economic Zone by the Government of Japan, New Jisei is a cooperate haven where money speaks louder than anything else. But all is not well in this shining utopia as a recent string of brutal attacks have taken place across the city by artificial life-forms posing as members of the human populace.
Welcome
Critical Space is a cyberpunk inspired RP, but you probably already know that. Inspired by the likes of Deus Ex, Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, The Sprawl Trilogy, and probably most clearly Hideo Kojima's Snatcher. Thematically it aims to address a "simple" question is AI the next step in evolution and if so what does that mean for everybody else? So if you like some strange sociological pondering along with your high pitched gun battles and corporate intrigue this might be the RP for you! Player Roles
You the players will be taking on the role of officers of Public Security or PubSec for short. PubSec serves as the official police force of New Jisei. PubSec is understaffed and lacking in basic funding. Much of these problems stems from the Corporate Council that acts as the regulatory body in the city and who would much rather have their own private security task forces deal with any problems that arise. This makes PubSec very ineffective at their jobs so much so that they are more or less laughing stocks, who can't even convict a crook half the time because of some corporate red tape. And yet this band of merry misfits must somehow overcome these troubles if they are to save their home and possibly the world. The World
The world has changed from what we know it to be. Unchecked climate change caused global temperatures to increase by four degrees centigrade. Crops that weren't already genetically modified to withstand the increase would begin to fail at rates of up to 40%, Forests began to die and brush fires become more and more prevalent. As the coral reefs and rain forests slowly vanished biodiversity began to decrease at startling rates. Droughts became more common as the age old flows of rivers and streams began to be effected and water shortages are common in more less off areas. But most importantly the change came with the floods. As the ice caps began to melt and sea levels began to rise coastal cities began to be washed away one of the most prominent being the eventually entire submergence of the American Eastern Seaboard as well as many islands from the Pacific to the Mediterranean. This has lead to many land reclamation projects and the creation of a plethora of artificial islands and floating cities such as New Jisei.
Technology
In the world of Critical Space there has been many technological advances, including advances in the fields of cybernetics, bioengineering, biomechanics, prosthetics, bionics, robotics and artificial intelligence.This tech can be found everywhere, and without it you get left behind in the dust. From the self driving cars, virtual reality programs, rail guns and the rich being able to make genetically perfect babies through modifications and gene splicing prior to birth. But the most prominent of the new technologies are of course cybernetic augmentations. These augmentations were supplement by the boom in the robotics and biomedical fields. As robots became more lifelike and able to perform more complex tasks so did our own cyber limbs. But most people aren't big old walking destruction machines. Today's cyborgs are stylish and sleek. Cybernetics are designed to be streamlined for that high mover lifestyle. Whither it is a simple plugin to make you better at judging stocks or cataloging files or hydraulic piston in your legs so that you can crush a man's chest with one kick. The man of today is defined by high tech living. It's addicting, it's exciting and it's all the rage.
Cybernetics
Build a new you today.tmA melding of flesh and steel, cybernetics are the style of the day. At the current all cybernetics are directly controlled by the brain to decrease latency issues, as a result levels of augmentation are dependent on how much of the brain itself has been replaced/integrated with circuitry. In essence the more a brain undergoes cyberisation, the more augmentations that a body can handle with Limited rigs being able to support basic implants and upgrades such as cybernetic eye implants and Extreme classifications being able to support entire new artificial bodies.
Limited:
This is the most common and the least intrusive of opreations. The Cerebrum and Corpus Callosum remain essentially unchanged, while micro-machine bio-neural electronics are interfaced with the Cerebellum. Utimately, the micromachine matrix integrates with a larger-scale microcircuitry interface. This in turn outputs to interfaces, which are installed immediately below the cerebellum of the user. Typically inclusion are wideband wireless connections in order to access the internet. Physically, the brain differs from the natural brain with the addition of a thin metal shell. These shells are a common feature, and may further contain additional shielding, such as lead and glass for workers in environments contaminated with radioactive material. The sell is customized for each user, and will have apertures (in cases of minimal cyberisation) for the ocular nerves, and the olfactory bulb.
Enhanced:
This form of cyberisation now sees users have increasingly more of their brains replaced and/or enhanced with highly advanced and specific-application neurocircuitry. In most cases, the minimum of brain tissue retained throughout the cortex is approximately 30%, In addition, subjects of advanced cyberisation gain many advanced technological abilities, such as the ability to address more than one cyborg body simultaneously, rapid learning capabilities, and the incorporation of computational elements not found in most normal human beings.
Extreme:
As noted above, advanced cyberisation generally does not exceed 70% of the brain's volume in the process of optimization, for safety reasons. But in some very rare cases, far more of the brain may be replaced, and in almost all cases, this will be as the result of disease and medical treatment, as opposed to personal preference. The ratio of replacement can approach up to 95.2% of the brain with neurocircuitry. People with this form of cyberisation show a strong tendency to drift away from normal humanity in terms of their skills in interfacing with technology, and yet perversely display heightened emotions, as with the very high level of cyberisation, the brain is less responsive to physiological dampening of emotion. As a result many subjects that have undergone such processes are prone to psychotic breakdowns and generally the pressure upon the remaining parts of the brain more often than not leads to brain failure and eventual death with the longest ever suriving patient lasting no more than three years post operation.
To be added in the OOC: More in depth look at PubSec and New Jisei, quality of life improvements including better organization and pretty pictures, character sheets, and other things.
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