Welcome to the world where the rich rule over the poor with an iron fist, where the cities are built vertically with the rich literally living above the poor. If the elites of society are out to ruin the day of the countless impoverished, you'd better hope you're not among them. If they're feeling abnormally merciful, the sprawling slums at the bottom of every city's food chain and layout may actually have a pretty good day ahead of them. Where you live - and by effect, how well you live - is determined by the top of the top; the Chair of each different city. Why not rebel, right? Why not just round everybody up, since the rich would be easily outnumbered? Well, they've got something the poor don't, besides money. A neat little piece of technology called a Battle Chip.
What does a Battle Chip do? You see, these were weapons developed so that humans could wage war without countless casualties every single time. Different Chips are built on different Levels, rising from F all the way to S. Typically, only Chairs have S-Level Battle Chips. "But, you still didn't say what they did," you might be thinking. That's because different Chips do different things, depending on the specific model. Some Chips just enhance a person's abilities, or grant them entirely new ones that would otherwise be deemed impossible. Some Chips summon a monster to aid the user in battle. But without a Battle Deck - the thing you install your Chip in - there's no way to use it. Effectively, the owner of an S-Level Chip would be incapable of even fighting an F-Level without his Battle Deck.
How are Battle Decks distributed? At the Chair's discretion, of course. The Chair controls who gets a Battle Deck, what Level and type of Battle Chip they'll get, and this often leads to an elite few getting A or S-Level Chips who devote themselves to enforcing the local Chair's nigh-tyranny. So what about the people who don't have Battle Decks, or Battle Chips for that matter? Naturally, these are the ones put in the lowest stages of the cities, and they pretty much have no real choice but to put up with it.
That's not to say this is an invincible rule, of course. Sometimes, a person with a Battle Deck might go rogue, or lose it just for somebody on a lower stage of society to find it. There have been uprisings before, but they always go down pretty quickly. Sometimes somebody from the slums of the city can rise up through the ranks in town - typically through the local academy - and go from having no Battle Chip to being the owner of an A-Level Chip. They typically lose themselves to their newfound lives of luxury, however, and often forget about the poor they left behind. But whether you own an A-Level Chip, have no Battle Chip whatsoever, or are a personal friend of the Chair him/herself, you're a resident of this city, and a student at the local academy.
What does a Battle Chip do? You see, these were weapons developed so that humans could wage war without countless casualties every single time. Different Chips are built on different Levels, rising from F all the way to S. Typically, only Chairs have S-Level Battle Chips. "But, you still didn't say what they did," you might be thinking. That's because different Chips do different things, depending on the specific model. Some Chips just enhance a person's abilities, or grant them entirely new ones that would otherwise be deemed impossible. Some Chips summon a monster to aid the user in battle. But without a Battle Deck - the thing you install your Chip in - there's no way to use it. Effectively, the owner of an S-Level Chip would be incapable of even fighting an F-Level without his Battle Deck.
How are Battle Decks distributed? At the Chair's discretion, of course. The Chair controls who gets a Battle Deck, what Level and type of Battle Chip they'll get, and this often leads to an elite few getting A or S-Level Chips who devote themselves to enforcing the local Chair's nigh-tyranny. So what about the people who don't have Battle Decks, or Battle Chips for that matter? Naturally, these are the ones put in the lowest stages of the cities, and they pretty much have no real choice but to put up with it.
That's not to say this is an invincible rule, of course. Sometimes, a person with a Battle Deck might go rogue, or lose it just for somebody on a lower stage of society to find it. There have been uprisings before, but they always go down pretty quickly. Sometimes somebody from the slums of the city can rise up through the ranks in town - typically through the local academy - and go from having no Battle Chip to being the owner of an A-Level Chip. They typically lose themselves to their newfound lives of luxury, however, and often forget about the poor they left behind. But whether you own an A-Level Chip, have no Battle Chip whatsoever, or are a personal friend of the Chair him/herself, you're a resident of this city, and a student at the local academy.