Super-grungy cyberpunk

[Dave]

Now, this is less of an interest check in the conventional sense, and more of an invitation to help me build this setting into something that a plot hook for an RP could conceivably be pulled from. I guess by replying it's implied that you're interested to some degree. K it's still an interest check whatever. Main point is that this is undeveloped and I want to workshop it with some people.

I'm thinking something a few decades into the future in Southeast Asia, or India, somewhere in that area. Basically countries that are developing now and would theoretically have advanced a great deal in infrastructure and general tech by, say, 2070. Now, if you've heard anything about the collateral social damage that comes from such rapid development in places like Dubai and Kuwait, namely an extreme division of wealth between those who administrate and partake in the new economy, and the menial workers who are mercilessly exploited in the name of such advancement, you'll understand the kind of situation I'm thinking of. In this RP, Malaysia or Thailand or someplace close has rapidly become a respectable economic player globally, but that's not exactly what's important. In this RP I'd like to focus on that culture of disadvantaged workers. That isn't to say that all the characters have to be construction workers or bellhops or something. It'll be a group of people with ties to this class of citizen, whether they actually are one or not.

Now, things in whatever slums this disadvantaged class live in are hard. Typical cyberpunk template; squalor and constant crime and violence surrounded by glittering skyscrapers. Leather jackets. Blades coming out of people's arms. Millions of pills with stupid names ending in "-stim". Okay, no. Probably more realism than that. But we can talk about it.

Now, as far as plot goes, I'm open to anything. Criminal caper to get enough cash or bitcoins or whatever to escape the slums, trying to survive in the wake of violent union riots, aliens, whatever. Let's just try to give it some plausibility in the setting we end up with.

[GrandDM2]

Definitely interested in this.

Ideas:

Bio-Technology: recently, scientists have discovered how to lab-grow organs and bio-implants, and how to code genetic sequences effectively. However, they require raw material for this, and people in the slums are liable to be "harvested". However, black-market enhancements are big, big business and many slum dwellers have augments of some sort or other.

Toxicity: as a side-effect of the excessive development, huge amounts of fuels have been burnt and waste dumped. This has raised the level of pollution in the air, water etc. to dangerous levels. The rich and powerful can afford water filtration, bio-implants that get rid of the toxins and so on, but for the average poor Joe life expectancy is thirty if you're lucky and even then you'll be ridden with sores, coughs and other pollution-induced injuries.

People Farms: The working-class people are no longer produced by conventional means. They are grown in huge batches of pods, like in the Matrix, and sterilized at birth, with their eggs and sperm harvested to produce the next generation. This allows the upper-class to precisely control the amount of workers and the resources they have to spend on those workers.

Matrix: While we're on the topic of the Matrix... there's an AR system in place for the upper class. They have access to holographic computer panels wherever they are and never need to move an inch to do their work. For relaxation, they can plug into a VR system and be transported to a fictional world of their own or someone else's devising. Black-market VR is another big business, with gangs running "pod spots" where, for a price, you can spend an hour or two in another reality. However, the pilfered technology is dangerous and can have all manner of side effects.

Automation: Vast computer systems run public transport, building systems such as heating and air conditioning, lifts and fire alarms. It's impossible to go anywhere in the upper levels (where the rich live) without being logged. In comparison, the lower levels (where the poor are) have no such systems, and most conveniences are unreliable at best. However, this allows unregistered movement.

How do these sound?

[Dave]

Hmhmhmhm. I do like the sound of most of those, except for the people farms. I was thinking that the slums would be populated with more of a cosmopolitan immigrant culture, lots of ethnic tension, mostly people taken from developing nations with the promise of good, well-paying work that is actually neither of those things. Basically this situation.

Biotech: yes, but what kind of augmentations are we talking? I'm thinking basic physical ones for construction work(reinforced bones, synthetic muscle for climbing 2-mile-high skyscrapers, et cetera), maybe shady retractable guns and blades for criminals, and Google glass-type HUDs, usually implanted into the retina, for most people. Personal computing could be done through neural interface if you've got a little bit of cash, but if you don't it's still ridiculously cheap to get a little business-card-sized computer and a contact lens display/retina implant.

Matrix: I think there's a lot of potential to this idea aside from just VR. I think it could serve as a habitat for artificial intelligences leaked from finance firm databases and the like, and kind of have a weird economic/information ecosystem of its own, one based more on data than money or material goods. A rogue AI that previously worked with law enforcement might hack someone's neural implant for you and make them lose all motor control long enough to fall down a flight of stairs, for the right info in return.

Automation sounds good as well, and I like the idea of the slums being kind of a relatively lower-tech unsupervised jungle of sorts.

Other things...

Whatever country this is is basically ruled by an oligarchy of corporations at this point, in classic cyberpunk fashion. Maybe they're private companies that somehow emulate the functions of a normal government? A private prison system, private security forces, privately owned transit companies; you get the idea. Point is that the actual government is just a figurehead. Maybe it's a shell company.

What country is this? Maybe it's an agglomeration of Southeast Asian states.
Okay, maybe just southern Thailand and then all of Cambodia. There was a war. Thailand got split up and then the southern half annexed Cambodia somehow. ...We can discuss this. So maybe we've got big coastal cities that all kind of sprawl together into a big smoggy mess, with some countryside up north that's mostly dominated by wind and solar farms, as well as some more reasonably-sized cities and quaint little villages. That's not really what's important here. The big industry's at the coast.

What's the state of space travel? Could the characters end up in space if they so desired? In ~2070 I imagine there'll be a moon base of some kind, if not a colony. Maybe there are some good-sized residential space stations. Space travel's still a bit of a big luxury, probably roughly equivalent to flying around the world first-class today.

Yes? No? Maybe?

[GrandDM2]

Biotech would be that sort of thing, although enhanced musculature would be primarily a street upgrade. For climbing, I'd suggest tiny hairs like spiders and geckos use. For computing, I'd actually say that it should be "you can't access the Net without an PNI". PNI is for Personal Network Interface, a name I'm suggesting for the retinal-HUD thing. That would provide another distinction between the upper and lower classes - the uppers can get a PNI easily, and indeed have them even as young children, but the lowers can't, which just helps to keep them lower-class.

I like your ideas for the Matrix.

Corporate rule... I'd say actually that we still have a "traditional" government, it's just completely under the control of the corporations. That way, you still get politicians running for elections and so on, and it still looks good in the international community, but in reality the big companies pick and choose who gets in (and often put up their own candidates).

As for space travel, that could be interesting, but I think again it would depend on where they're from. Upper-class people can probably get into space whenever they like, but the lower class have to either be sent there by their upper-class employers or go on illegal black-market flights that are unreliable, incredibly expensive and often try to ransom the passengers. That could make a good plot hook, actually - character X has to rescue one of their relatives.

[RoadRash]

This sounds like it could be fun. I'll keep an eye on it, and maybe throw in if it garners more interest.

[Dave]

STICK AROUND ROADRASH WE'RE GOIN PLACES

Yes I think an actual government that just happens to be completely under corporate rule makes more sense.

And I do like the space travel idea. Rickety cast-off Chinese spaceplanes are very much this aesthetic, I think.

...I'll probably return to this post later with more ideas.

[RoadRash]

Corporate government...

Also, would characters have to be FROM that region? Because I've got a thug of a character from London's East End I've been itching to try out, and nothing says "gritty dystopia" like a belligerent Cockney debt-collector.

[Dave]

The characters don't have to be native at all. It's very much a melting pot culture.

[GrandDM2]

I might play something of an anti-hero... I'm drawn to perhaps a disillusioned government biotechnician who disappears into the slums with all his gear. That would let me have cool biotech upgrades while still giving me freedom to do whatever the RP throws my way without having to find a way to get around the government any more than the others.

[Ser Coffee]

I'm interested in the Biotech / matrix idea.

Give me some time and i'll see what i can add to the mix.
Need to get some things done this afternoon though, so i'll check back later tonight or tomorrow.

[Silly Cybin]

Have you given thought to the typical method of power in this future? Fossil fuels would add a layer of grittiness and realism I guess, but maybe we've managed to find a new but equally harmful form of energy, just in a different way? Something with a higher power yield the Government is citing as clean and revolutionary, but we see the physical consequences in the slums? If it's a consumable energy source then presumably it must have some kind of waste, maybe scattered throughout the slums are highly toxic dumping grounds for this stuff? You could see the effects on the extremely disadvantaged citizens (disease, corruption of water sources, even crippling/deforming mutations), maybe robbing them of the jobs they rely on to eat? It might be a bit too videogamey, I'm not sure.

I quite like the idea of mega-propaganda, also. Maybe something about dehumanising the proletariat, making the middle-class and comfortable actively resent them? Spun news stories, manipulation of pop-culture, etc. I agree with RoadRash about it being a corporate government, it's always a decent idea when forming a dystopia. An interesting way to portray the exploitation of the masses might be incredibly restricting working contracts, to the point of them being paid slavery? Their families get fed and they're paid SOMETHING, but it's back-breaking labour that severely restricts their human rights. An alternate way to portray this could be like the Finkton system in Bioshock Infinite, in which the poor have to bid for their jobs, bidding against each other by increasingly lowering their proposed salary. Maybe. Maybe maybe maybe maybe.

BASICALLY I'M SUPER INTERESTED.

[shadowkiller912]

I am very interested of this. Thinking of playing as a Byronic-Hero type Hacker.

[Pluto]

I'd be up for this ;) still planning a character. Might have to have some fun with this and discuss it in private :3

[RoadRash]

Getting some interest going. That's awesome. What kind of format were you looking for in Character Sheets? Did you have a specific template you prefer?

[Malan]

I read the title as super-granny cyberpunk. So I'm interested if I can make a badass grandmother.

[The Narrator]

I would be interested. I was thinking about a kind of terrorist, anarchist or left-winged anti government guy.

[Ser Coffee]

Where did the OP disapear to?

[Dave]

YES HELLO I'M BACK MIDTERMS ARE OVER

Sorry about disappearing like that. If you guys are still interested put a post up and we'll keep this going.

whoever said this said Have you given thought to the typical method of power in this future? Fossil fuels would add a layer of grittiness and realism I guess, but maybe we've managed to find a new but equally harmful form of energy, just in a different way? Something with a higher power yield the Government is citing as clean and revolutionary, but we see the physical consequences in the slums? If it's a consumable energy source then presumably it must have some kind of waste, maybe scattered throughout the slums are highly toxic dumping grounds for this stuff? You could see the effects on the extremely disadvantaged citizens (disease, corruption of water sources, even crippling/deforming mutations), maybe robbing them of the jobs they rely on to eat? It might be a bit too videogamey, I'm not sure.

I quite like the idea of mega-propaganda, also. Maybe something about dehumanising the proletariat, making the middle-class and comfortable actively resent them? Spun news stories, manipulation of pop-culture, etc. I agree with RoadRash about it being a corporate government, it's always a decent idea when forming a dystopia. An interesting way to portray the exploitation of the masses might be incredibly restricting working contracts, to the point of them being paid slavery? Their families get fed and they're paid SOMETHING, but it's back-breaking labour that severely restricts their human rights. An alternate way to portray this could be like the Finkton system in Bioshock Infinite, in which the poor have to bid for their jobs, bidding against each other by increasingly lowering their proposed salary. Maybe. Maybe maybe maybe maybe.

I was actually thinking that power would be farmed out to the rural areas dominated by solar farms, which I think i mentioned awhile back, though that's me just trying to satisfy a desire for realism. Though there certainly would still be pollution, considering how ubiquitous computing equipment has become and how many environmentally-harmful chemicals go into manufacturing that. Vehicles would probably run on hydrogen cells.

Propaganda yes. Work conditions also yes. uhhh
yeah

[RoadRash]

I dig the idea of mega-propaganda. Kinda has a They Live feel to it. Definitely cool.

As for worker exploitation, what about "company stores" like the mines and logging companies used to use in the early 1900s? Basically the mining company would provide housing for the workers that they and their families were required to live in, then charged them exorbitant rates for the rent. This effectively ate the miner's paycheck every month, so he couldn't afford to feed his family. The company then provided a commissary (like a super-walmart with everything from groceries to clothing and furniture), but all of the food provided was bought with credit rather than money.

Since the workers couldn't pay off their commissary tab with the company, they were essentially slaves, unable to leave and seek employment elsewhere because of the massive debt that would crush them financially if they tried.

Just a thought.

[Feanor]

Holy smokes I am very interested in this if its still open. Assuming it is would it be too Mary Sue to play a hacker punk working in the black market? Maybe for a triad type organization forging VPIs or illegally integrating shady biotech upgrades? Also love the idea of the company store slave system and it'd fit with the corporate government quite well.
Also I kiiiinda love the idea of being revolutionaries. Called terrorists by the higher ups but hailed (in secret) as heroes of the people. This could have the impact of our actions backfiring and the upper class increasing pressure on the impoverished.