Art by Humanity has always defined itself by its ability to adapt; its ability to augment itself and its surroundings. From fire to the arrowhead, the light bulb to the atomic bomb. Exponential technological progress has come to define the structure of humanity's story. Yet there was a time, when even the brightest of minds believed the story was reaching its denouement.
In the early 1990s, the ГКЧП's Аugust Coup would succeeded in overthrowing Mikhail Gorbachev; Cold War tensions would flash white hot. In a few short minutes the world would turn upside down; analysts would later refer to the events as lucky as only a "limited exchange" had occurred. Despite such "luck", the various nation-states began to collapse beneath the newfound weight. Some, such as the United States, fell apart all together splintering along sectional divides. Others, such as France, saw a new reliance upon corporations that offered to privatize peace and security. It would be these corporations that would shape the decades to come.
Pulling back up from the edge; a new world order arose. Once the police force, the power grid, telecommunication network and legal systems were all privatized, it was only a matter of time till the corporations started running entire cities. The 20th century nation-state replaced with its slicker and more fashion-foward cousin: corporatocracy. People accepted it of course, anything to bring back normalcy to their lives after years of chaos. They wake up in their corporate run housing, take the corporate run mass transit, work at a corporate paid job, and go home to do it all again in the morning.
All the while, a golden age of innovation and advancements seems to have sparked. Without government restrictions to keep things in check, new technologies emerge fast. Only thing stopping somebody from making the new hot thing being somebody else doing it quicker and cheaper. The titular new hot thing currently is cybernetic augmentation technology. As robots became more lifelike and able to perform more complex tasks so did augs. But most people aren't hulking robocops. Today's cyborgs are stylish and sleek. Besides augs humanity has other toys in the toybox: self-driving cars, "better than life" virtual reality programs, gene-spliced babies, and even orbital collectives with a moon base on the way. Whatever you imagined chances are somebody is making it somewhere.
Behind close doors, in back alleyways, and the parking lot down the block; these corporations wage a quiet war amongst themselves. Some of its soldiers are on payroll, most are freelancers. Call them whatever you desire: freelancers, street samurai, console cowboys, thugs, or idiots. Marking a strange intersect of high and low culture - where the glitz of the movers and shakers meets the dark and turbulent undercurrent. This story focuses in upon one such group of individuals.
Our story begins in the Far East. Here in the southern reaches of China, where the Pearl River empties into the South China Sea, lies the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong. The city remains ever in prominence as a hub of trade and innovation, a prominence which has only increased in recent years. Many resting on the laurels of its largest benefactor Auyong Medical and its various subsidiaries. Folks from all over travel to Hong Kong, to use their state of the art medical clinics and do business, and as a result the city thrives.
Here in this melting pot of East and West, embraced by the sea, a handful of wandering destinies begin to be woven together. A job offering by Loingsech Solutions - a corporate giant whose best known for its continued advances in pursuing AI technology. The job is what those in the "biz" would call asset transportation, getting something from point A to point B, in one piece. Point A being a Loingsech lab in Hong Kong and Point B being their headquarters in Dublin. The asset in question, a rather unassuming fifteen year old girl with one hell of an attitude. One problem though, for some reasons or another the client has prohibited the use of air travel for "security reasons." So you're gonna be long hauling it.
Better get some rest, the ferry leaves in the morning.
In the early 1990s, the ГКЧП's Аugust Coup would succeeded in overthrowing Mikhail Gorbachev; Cold War tensions would flash white hot. In a few short minutes the world would turn upside down; analysts would later refer to the events as lucky as only a "limited exchange" had occurred. Despite such "luck", the various nation-states began to collapse beneath the newfound weight. Some, such as the United States, fell apart all together splintering along sectional divides. Others, such as France, saw a new reliance upon corporations that offered to privatize peace and security. It would be these corporations that would shape the decades to come.
Pulling back up from the edge; a new world order arose. Once the police force, the power grid, telecommunication network and legal systems were all privatized, it was only a matter of time till the corporations started running entire cities. The 20th century nation-state replaced with its slicker and more fashion-foward cousin: corporatocracy. People accepted it of course, anything to bring back normalcy to their lives after years of chaos. They wake up in their corporate run housing, take the corporate run mass transit, work at a corporate paid job, and go home to do it all again in the morning.
All the while, a golden age of innovation and advancements seems to have sparked. Without government restrictions to keep things in check, new technologies emerge fast. Only thing stopping somebody from making the new hot thing being somebody else doing it quicker and cheaper. The titular new hot thing currently is cybernetic augmentation technology. As robots became more lifelike and able to perform more complex tasks so did augs. But most people aren't hulking robocops. Today's cyborgs are stylish and sleek. Besides augs humanity has other toys in the toybox: self-driving cars, "better than life" virtual reality programs, gene-spliced babies, and even orbital collectives with a moon base on the way. Whatever you imagined chances are somebody is making it somewhere.
Behind close doors, in back alleyways, and the parking lot down the block; these corporations wage a quiet war amongst themselves. Some of its soldiers are on payroll, most are freelancers. Call them whatever you desire: freelancers, street samurai, console cowboys, thugs, or idiots. Marking a strange intersect of high and low culture - where the glitz of the movers and shakers meets the dark and turbulent undercurrent. This story focuses in upon one such group of individuals.
Our story begins in the Far East. Here in the southern reaches of China, where the Pearl River empties into the South China Sea, lies the bustling metropolis of Hong Kong. The city remains ever in prominence as a hub of trade and innovation, a prominence which has only increased in recent years. Many resting on the laurels of its largest benefactor Auyong Medical and its various subsidiaries. Folks from all over travel to Hong Kong, to use their state of the art medical clinics and do business, and as a result the city thrives.
Here in this melting pot of East and West, embraced by the sea, a handful of wandering destinies begin to be woven together. A job offering by Loingsech Solutions - a corporate giant whose best known for its continued advances in pursuing AI technology. The job is what those in the "biz" would call asset transportation, getting something from point A to point B, in one piece. Point A being a Loingsech lab in Hong Kong and Point B being their headquarters in Dublin. The asset in question, a rather unassuming fifteen year old girl with one hell of an attitude. One problem though, for some reasons or another the client has prohibited the use of air travel for "security reasons." So you're gonna be long hauling it.
Better get some rest, the ferry leaves in the morning.
Hello! This is the interest check for Rectifier. By now, you should have already gathered that this is a roleplay set in a dystopic cyberpunk future inspired by the works of William Gibson, Mamoru Oshii, and Katsuhiro Otomo among others. In the same vein of these stories, it's a story blending high technology with low living. Famously these stories whether novel, film, or comic all follow similar design beliefs: the aim to capture a certain style/feeling, than tell a story, and finally make characters that fit to that story. With this roleplay, I'm aiming to find a closer blend between style and substance with a more heavy focus on character development and moments. To that end, I aim this to be a more narratively structured RP than most cyberpunk RPs I've seen on the site, which seem to skew towards a more sandbox feel.
Beyond a cyberpunk story, its also something of a road trip story. For a contemporary idea think maybe Final Fanatasy XV or maybe The Muppet Movie. This idea, to combined cyberpunk and road trips together is something I shamelessly ripped from NeoScum: a Shadowrun actual play podcast by terrible people for terrible people, I highly recommend you give it a listen. Basically what I've found is that the road trip structure allows for a healthy balance of more action heavy scenes that can be interspersed with more quieter character driven scenes. Thus allowing people that like writing about action and doing cool stuff their time to shine, and those more interested in collabs and dialogue heavy posts some love as well. As well as allowing more player agency in the story, as there are about 9,832 km between Dublin and Hong Kong, allowing players to deiced how they want to exactly approach that journey. That and the road trip genre lends itself to themes of found family, which as a trope I'm a sucker for.
In the end though, I also want players to feel like they had a hand helping create a breathing world. I have a brief outline of the history of this alt-history Earth, but not much beyond vague snippets of detail here and there. As a result this allows players to make things up and express themselves as they desire. You want to be a Molly Millions style razor girl? Sure. A suave hacker down on their luck? A bright kid trying to pay off their college loans? A corporate samurai that lives and dies by their honor? A cyborg? A martial artists. All of that's possible, so long as you can come up with a reasonable reason for their existence in this world.
So if any of this has caught your eye, or if you have any questions why don't you pop in and say hi?
Some art that fits the feel I'm aiming for: Josan Gonzalez, Nick Bray, Arsenyer, Nivanh Chanthara, Mikko Kautto
Some tunes as well: All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated, New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, Chromakey Dreamcoat, Love Theme, Music Sounds Better With You
Beyond a cyberpunk story, its also something of a road trip story. For a contemporary idea think maybe Final Fanatasy XV or maybe The Muppet Movie. This idea, to combined cyberpunk and road trips together is something I shamelessly ripped from NeoScum: a Shadowrun actual play podcast by terrible people for terrible people, I highly recommend you give it a listen. Basically what I've found is that the road trip structure allows for a healthy balance of more action heavy scenes that can be interspersed with more quieter character driven scenes. Thus allowing people that like writing about action and doing cool stuff their time to shine, and those more interested in collabs and dialogue heavy posts some love as well. As well as allowing more player agency in the story, as there are about 9,832 km between Dublin and Hong Kong, allowing players to deiced how they want to exactly approach that journey. That and the road trip genre lends itself to themes of found family, which as a trope I'm a sucker for.
In the end though, I also want players to feel like they had a hand helping create a breathing world. I have a brief outline of the history of this alt-history Earth, but not much beyond vague snippets of detail here and there. As a result this allows players to make things up and express themselves as they desire. You want to be a Molly Millions style razor girl? Sure. A suave hacker down on their luck? A bright kid trying to pay off their college loans? A corporate samurai that lives and dies by their honor? A cyborg? A martial artists. All of that's possible, so long as you can come up with a reasonable reason for their existence in this world.
So if any of this has caught your eye, or if you have any questions why don't you pop in and say hi?
~~~
Some art that fits the feel I'm aiming for: Josan Gonzalez, Nick Bray, Arsenyer, Nivanh Chanthara, Mikko Kautto
Some tunes as well: All That You Love Will Be Eviscerated, New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down, Chromakey Dreamcoat, Love Theme, Music Sounds Better With You
1x Thank