Bork Lazer

Bork Lazer's Storage Bunker

Barnabum Yerickford

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Barnabum Yerickford

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Character Summary

Name: Barnabum Yerickford the IV
Aliases: Barney, Old Man Barnes, Barmey Yerickford
Age: 89
Species:Gnome
Gender:Male
Occupation/Position:Mechanic
Alignment: Chaotic Good

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Appearance

Height: 4'1.
Build:Stocky, stout and strong with a hefty gut of sky-forged steel with spindly and spry limbs.
Eyes: Barney has one milky cataract with a wicked grooved scar slicing through the lid and one brilliant blue eye that twitches maniacally with
Hair: Stress, experimentation with various banned illegal substances within the United Planet Science Academy and his family's genetic propensity towards albinism have resulted in the most spherical bald head in the galaxy. It's so bald that mindflayer mathematicians have written several proofs and conjectures for its perfection. This is accompanied by a less than remarkable frayed ring of singed white hair and a bushy beard of bone.
Skin Tone: Barney's rough and wrinkled skin is always sooty and stained, looking as if he hasn't showered for the last decade or so.
Tattoos/Scars/Piercings: A marked brand of the United Planets Science Academy Official Planar Extra-Galactic Periodic Table of Mundane and Magical Elements version 3.5.
Personal Style: Style? Style is a secondary priority to Barnabum compared to science. Barnabum favors wearing open and loose clothing that helps prevent him from fainting due to heat stroke such as his tacky overalls and oil-splattered work jeans. He can be always found with a pair of round, thick mismatched googles that magnify his eyes to a ridiculous extent.

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Personality:

Genius * Kooky * Scientist * Enthusiastic * Curious * Obsessive

Relationship Status: Married to Science

Questionnaire: This is going to be a little different. Instead of a typical personality summary, you get to pretend your character is answering a questionnaire! Just answer the following in character.

What first impression do you make?

Ah, yes, impressions, impressions, the most important activity of the day, yes, impressions. People give me that strange look whenever I talk 'bout something important, like the 32 uses of pixie wing dust as a lubricant! Would you be intereted in knowing some by any chance? But, I digress. Like, I said, if they think I'm strange, I think they're even stranger, going about like everything's normal. I'm telling you, it's NOT!

What are you like in a high stress situation?

Ha ha, high stress! High STRESS?! Oh boy, stress runs in my blood. Every second of my life is a high stress situation. Can you feel your heart beating in your chest? The wind in your lungs? Your brain burning like a supernova? That's me!

What are your best and worst qualities?

My best quality is that I never give up on a task, no matter what. If I set mah mind to it, I'll get it done in a quick or slow jiffy! Science is a fickle mistress that requires courage and the will to see things through. I'm also open minded! It doesn't matter where ye come from. If you can offer me something, then, it don't matter whether you're a 100 foot tall cosmic dragon, a dark elf, an orc or a Demon from the Infernal Planes, you're adamantite in my books.

My worst qualities? Well, some folks say that I can get a wee bit para- Look out! KILL IT! KILL IT! Hold there, right still, stop trying to duck, it's only a little bit of dragonfla- Wait a second. It's a butterfly. Sorry fer pointing mah cannon at yeh. Heh heh.

Oh, fine, I do also admit that I might be a little hasty when it comes to my inventions. My brother never did forgave me for transmorgifying his head into a minotaur back in college........

What is something about yourself that you would never admit to anyone?

Secrets?! No one told me this was going to be about spilling my beans! Who'd sent you? The Guild of Internal Investigations? Some United Planets stooge? You're out for me, aren't you?

Oh, yah don't mean something illegal. Not about the buried - Zip it, Yerickford. Zip it.

Now, what was I saying? Ah, right. Something that I wouldn't want to admit to anyone in this crew is that, well......

I'm lonely, you see. Sometimes, I try to bury myself under so much inventing, tinkering and gadgeteering so that I don't think of these here thoughts. Keep myself busy instead of thinking philosophically. What happens when I can't invent anymore? Everyone knows me fer meh inventions but I've never actually made any friends.....

Bah, enough of those bad thoughts. You must have sneaked some mind altering substance into this here room to get me talking like that! Got any more questions fer me?

What are your dreams?

The only good dreams I get ar' tah colorful ones I see whenever I smoke my fungus cigars. Oh, you'll never believe the things you can imagine when you take a puff o' one of these.

Oh, sleeping? Please, sleeping is far dah week. A gnome can stay awake for at least ten days before experiencing any fatal heart attacks. I once stayed awake for an entire month during a university project, although, it took over ten clerics to convince my soul to return back to my body.

But, when I do need to sleep, I dream of numbers. Of inventions. Of mechanisms. Like a fragmented map or puzzle with some of the pieces taken out. Makes inventing all the more challenging. That's what I dream of, yes, mathematical dreams.

How do you want to be seen by others?

I don’t wanna be seen as anything by other people! Why'd I care about how other people think of my unique dietary habits or my collection of moonstones? I want mah inventions to be seen. To be used by other people and to help those who would use it. Ya think I just make gizmos and whatchamacallits for the heck of it?!

Well, somewhat but that’s besides the point. I’m not just some crazy old buffoon who was dropped on a stalagmite! I’m also a certified scientist with a degree at that! I didn't study 10 years at a United Planets Institution only to get excommunicated by the rest of the scientific community! Yeesh, what is it going to take to get some recognition out in these quadrants…..

How do you see yourself?

Me? I see myself as the only sane person round these parts! Why aren’t these people more excited about science and tinkering? It’s what my entire life’s been about! I discover, I explore, I prod things to see how they react, I push the envelope, I fight boredom with brains!

Do you tend to make snap judgements, or stop and think about things?

Eh, I sometimes can be a lil’ hasty when it comes ta safety during experimentation. I’ve had ta deal with da consequences, literally. Just look at this eye.

O’er the years, I’ve learned to take things more slowly but of course, the joy of discovery and scienterrific innovation gets to my head sometimes, clouds mah judgement until I can’t see what’s in front of me.

What haunts you?

Are we alone? Good. This topic requires a great deal of sensitivity.

I see it. They called me insane! Out of the corner of my eye, oh they told old Barney that he was a fool, but one day, I saw it. I did, yes, it broke my Tielvalan crucible, you see. They told me, oh no, Barney, your left eye must be seeing ghosts but it was a ghost! The ghost of the Dread Unicorn itself!

I hear its hooves at night. That damn neighing. It's out for me, I know it......

What is your philosophy on life?

Mah philosophy on life is science! Science is mah philosophy. There ain’t nothing that can’t be understood or deciphered that hasn’t. Always question your surroundings and knowledge will be ripe for yer taking! I’m a seeker of truth and all of you fools are still here, head in the sands like armadillos, sunk in the lies of the newspapers and radios.

The truth's out there. Believe me.

(Note: You do not have to fill out every single bullet point, as long as you have at least one filled out on each topic).
Habits:

• Smoking lichen cigars
• Muttering incessantly under his breathe.
• Blabbering out random scientific trivia.

Hobbies:

• Tinkering
• Inventing
• Sampling flora and fauna from alien environments.
• Experimentation

Fears:

• Losing his inventions
• Misuse of his inventions
• Being alone
• The Dread Unicorn

Likes:

• Inventing
• Scientific Discovery
• Reading academic papers
• Innovation
• Fawning over machinery
• Mushrooms
• Explosions
• Pickled onions

Dislikes:

• Malfunctions
• Uncooperative machinery
• Quiet
• Showers and soap
• Oranges

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Information:

General Skills:

• Journeyman Scientist - With over five decades of experience in a large range of academic fields from owlbear yodelling to arithmantic calculus, Barney has an encyclopaediac knowledge of most things in the known galaxy, although some of it may be out of date.
• Tinkerer - Having received a Masters in Dwarven Engineering from the United Planets Institute of Smiths, Barney is a master mechanic and engineer, able to build, repair and modify a wide variety of contraptions. Whether or not these contraptions are up to United Planets code is subject to review.
• Sky Ship Maintainence - Barney knows the ins and outs of the anatomy of sky-ships, from how to repair them, what solar sails are the best in the market to the type of specific hull oil needed to give them the best shine. If you need a Sky Ship repairman, he’s your guy.
• Alchemist - Everyone learns a little bit of alchemy in Artificer College and Barney is no different. Whilst medicinal mushrooms are his forte, he’s got more than enough experience to whip up a quick healing potion or two.
• Skilled at playing the Gnomish panpipes and triangle.
• Able to speak fluent Gnomish, Common and is passable in most dialects of Deep Speech.

Magical/Speciality Skills:

• Artificer - Barney’s most volatile and underdeveloped skill that he learned during an elective. The ability to enchant or infuse magic into objects. Due to Barney’s complete lack of magical ability or aptitude, his ability to artifice ranges from turning bags of holding into void rifts or boots of speed into shoes that curse you to walk forever.
• Possesses darkvision, a key trait among all subterranean races that allows them to see objects 60 feet away from them clearly in low light conditions as if it were day. The acuity of darkvision varies among most species and individuals. Barney's dark

Inventory:

• Lichen Cigars - A box of 24 oven-dried lichen cigars. Smoky yet delectable.
• Enchanted Googles of Augmented Perception - The prescription on these is so high that you could damage your eyes if you look into it for too long. However, Barnabum appears to not notice anything when wearing these goofy little things.
• Blunderbeholder - A mishmash of gears, sprockets, brass and steel molded together into a vague impression of a giant rifle with the eyeball of an Pygmy Beholder strapped to the front of the barrel. Don't ask him how he got the eye in the first place. This weird invention allows Barney to harness the magicks of the infamous creature by firing high powered beams of arcane energy.
• An assortment of various tools - Spanners. Screwdrivers. Clippers. Pipe wrenches. Ball-peen hammers. If you can find it in your local DIY shop's toolbox, it's bound to be in Barney's arsenal.
• Holy Adamantite Wrench - When you wanna whack someone, there is no better tool than this dented 10 inch indestructible wrench. Blessed by an Illithid Clerics of Kog-Sahoth during a tavern run, this wrench is a beacon of light that warms those who do good and damns those who are evil.
• Pipe - An old fashioned smoking pipe.
• A Big Old Sack of Mechanical Junk - A big load of random mechanical items and small little knick knacks that Barney brings around with him.

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History:

Woowee, a story! Yeesh, no one’s ever bothered to ask me fer a story. It all began ten thousands year ago during the birth of the galaxy itself, when the rock accreted to form my plane-

In the interest of time and the fact that Barnabum’s own accounts are riddled with contradictions and factual inconsistencies, we’ll post an abridged version.

Barnabum Yerickford grew up the third son of a Gnomish family on Oerrol. Oerrol was a quiet, pastoral agri-planet that was only famous for its two things: its country sized onion fields and boasting the largest gnome population this side of the western galactic quadrant. At a young age, Barnabum distinguished himself from his other siblings in his precocity when he managed to burn down his family’s lesser green drake coop with a matchstick. His pyromania soon evolved into a fascination with science and engineering when he travelled with his uncle to his planet’s local sky-ship port. Fascinated by the sight of the amazing vessels, Barnabum looked up at the stars every night, into the depths of the void and vowed to himself that he would spend all of his life uncovering the mysteries of the universe.

At the ripe old teen age of 20 gnome years (16 in human years), Oerrol immediately applied. Out of all the choices he had, he chose the backwater United Planet Institute of Smiths over prestigious academic universities such as Gillyhearst or KragFortress because, quote unquote, in his own words, they had a “ good price on their fried pickled onion stew in the cantina”. For the next 50 years, Barnabum became a multi-disciplinary graduate that was renown among the scientific and magical community for his unorthodox and unusual ways of pushing the fields of artificery and smithing, often disappearing into the far reaches of space for months before returning to strike out the mortuary that had been made for him.

His days would be numbered, though. During one of his live experiments involving a prototype generator that could harness the blood of basilisks as a renewable energy source, a catastrophic malfunction occurred causing everyone who was witness in the event to be transformed into abyssal amoebas, with the exception of Barnabum himself. The ethics board of the United Planets Science Academy was all too happy to use the incident as an excuse to sack Barnabum from his professorship and slander his name in the scientific community.

Barnabum would not have any of it. Believing his experiment to have been sabotaged and the United Planets Science Academy to be bureaucratic fascists, he quickly abandoned his laboratory, leaving only a tacky note for the campus police to find and hijacking a sky-ship for him to ride off into the cosmos.

Finding himself without any financial resources to fund his experiments, he signed up for the Consortium in search of adventure, science, money and more science.

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Extras

Character Quote: That's absolutely scienteriffic!
Anything Else:

Forsaken

“ Annoying? Annoying? The food was a crime against nature! Annoying was understating it! I - “ Lak Lok stopped mid sentence when he noticed every patron in the restaurant was pointedly looking at him with stares of confusion and fear.

Ah.

He might have gotten too ahead of himself here.

“ Though…..., I may have caused a scene. I realise that not everyone appreciates my tastes for cuisine.” Lak Lok’s slitted nostrils flared in resignation before glumly speaking. “ Fine. Very well. I will do my best to reign in my temper. I’m sorry.”

As a gesture of apology, Lak Lok begrudgingly deposited one coin of his own on top of the tab before sliding off the stool. “ Let us be off, then. We have places to be, things to do, delicacies to sample, mysteries to - ”

Lak Lok paused as he was walking out of the tavern, sniffing the air for a few moments. His head then turned almost 360 degrees towards a troll who was slowly cutting into a grilled cavefish. The troll stopped cutting when he took a look at Lak Lok’s mortified expression. Without explanation, the kobold scrambled towards the troll hurriedly and slapped the knife out of his hand, sending it clattering over the floor.

“ The cavefish is still undercooked.” Lak Lok then dipped his claw into the flesh of the fish and showed the ruby red blood still visible underneath. He then shook himself out of his stupor and then, smiled sheepishly. “ Just trying to help you.”

He then leaped off the table and then walked towards the entrance, waving for the members of the group to come over.

Writing the taboo

I'll be the first one to say that the execution of a taboo always matters. Rape, mental illness, war crimes, genocide or slavery can be depicted or executed in a manner that can help contribute to the enjoyment and engagement of a roleplay. However, the way you approach it matters. The tone and how you ultimately convey this taboo matters. How do you frame the taboo within your RP? Does it play an important role in your narrative or story? Are you deliberately focusing on the merits of this taboo in any way? If so, why?

Luckily, we do have a good public case study example of how not to approach a taboo topic with nuance on RPGO. The GM hasn't been on this site for 3 years so I'm confident I won't be engaging in any harassment or character attacks in any manner whatsoever.

https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/92294-the-rape-of-nanking/ooc

The link above demonstrates all of the common problems when writers fail to understand taboo topics in a way.

1) Not treating a sensitive topic with maturity or respect.
2) Deliberately including game-play mechanics or encouraging players to engage with the taboo topic in a disrespectful manner.
3) Deliberately glorifying the taboo in an almost celebratory manner or conveying it in such a way that is disturbing to say the least.

All of these factors contribute to making the RP above absolutely ignorant and lacking in nuance of how it chooses to approach the taboo in manner. I think if you want to know how not to tackle taboos on this forum, the baseline has already been set by this roleplay concept.

It's already been repeated above but I'll say it again. The difference between writing taboos in a novel of your own making and a roleplay is that roleplay first and foremost is collaborative writing and therefore, requires an unspoken consent between involved parties on what taboos they are comfortable with including within the RP. There's also the fact that whilst RPGO is primarily dominated by people living in the US, each and every person will be raised in different backgrounds with different values. What may be considered taboo for others will be considered normal for other people to discuss. Different cultures, societies and religions will have different taboos and different perspectives on how they engage with these taboos.

That said, the big 'no no' for me is if a roleplayer or writer attempts to gleefully justify or advocate within the text for taboo topics such as racism, rape, genocide or violence, where it imparts upon other roleplayers or readers a positive message about these things in particular. Note that there is a world of difference between in-text justifications or writing characters that justify or advocate these beliefs.

Anyway, that's all I have to say on this subject matter.

UNTOLD STORY: Final Dungeon

Tyroden sighed disappointedly, like a child who had his toy taken away, when his spell burst apart the squid like overripe fruit. His mournful frown was replaced by a grin of exhilaration when he saw that the skysquid had reformed into smaller versions of itself. Yes. More to rip and tear. More to destroy. More flesh to savor.

“ You!” Tyroden pointed a finger towards one tiny sky squid. “ You think you can escape the wrath of - “

That was when the explosion hit him. It felt as though the ground had crumbled beneath his feet, the wind knocked out of his sails as he landed on the grass. Instead of one singular pixie dictator puppet, it was five different finger puppets that stood up. The Penta Posse had seized control of Nick Nack's platypus thrall who was now limping along.

“ Enough grandstanding from the warlord.” One of the fingers proudly announced. “ It’s now my time to shine.”

The clouds darkened as the platypus raised both of his hands in a T-pose. The five fingers began contorting and twisting into odd shapes and symbols, an eldritch language erupting forth from the platypus bard's maw.

“ I cast Ritual of the King! Arise from the pits of the Potato Planes! Arise the Bane, The Hamburglar of the Infernal Fryer!”

There was a crackle of aetheric energy surrounding the pentagram. The smell of corn syrup and artery clogging death suffused the air, the walls of reality began to crumble around them deliciously. An enormously large hand the size of a Arobrean mountain giant pushed through the crack, widening it open. Mailed in hamburger meat, the hand clawed its way through and stepped into the material realm, a head that suspiciously looked like a large chicken nugget poking through. Whatever the Penta Posse had casted, it was something nightmarish indeed, something to spook the minds of elvish vegans and dietary professionals alike.

Well, it was horrifying for five seconds. The opening quavered in place for a moment, the energy emanating from it carving trenches into the pastoral landscape. Like a blooper reel, it then collasped on itself, just as the torso of the Hamburglar was beginning to emerge. A brackish spray of jaundiced blood soaked the soil, the Hamburglar crying out in sheer agony. Its guts were strewn about, distended from its bisected torso. Instead of a monument to the sins of fast food, it was an abortion of high cholesterol proportions. It looked towards Clara and raised a meaty hand towards her in a begging motion, pleading with her.

“ K-kkiilll…...me……...please…….” it warbled, coughing out globs of fry oil. Meanwhile, the Penta Posse stood in silence before one of them spoke out.

“ Bob, did you forget to charge your mana this morning?!”

"YOU IDIOT!" The index finger glared at the thumb. " LOOK AT HIM! LOOK! How is this supposed to inspire fear into our opponents."

“Ah, never mind that.” The Penta Posse strode over to the twitching and wracking body of the dying Hamburglar, taking cover underneath his body, the stench of ketchup and soggy french fries suffusing the air. They then shouted towards both the ratfolk and the necromancer. " we'll be taking cover under him if you don't mind! If you want to get hit by the next volley, be our guest!"

The Worst Writing Advice

Wow, this thread blew up really fast! I hope I didn't offend anyone with my comments on -

The Worst Writing Advice

Honestly, most of the writing advice here people post here are either people misconstruing what are meant to be guidelines towards writing and instead, taking them to heart in a draconian manner. None of the rules mentioned here are necessarily wrong, per se, barring a few minor wishy-washy platitudes. When mishandled improperly or misinterpreted, that's when the problems begin.

A L I E N : Tales from the Frontier

The Worst Writing Advice

Alright, I feel like I'm going to slay a sacred cow here.

" Show, don't tell." should be changed to " Show and tell."

Yes, it's the number one golden rule of writing. It's what every English Lit teacher tells us in middle or high school whenever we get a creative writing assessment. I think the problem right now, barring first-time fanfiction writers who robotically write out every single line, is too much showing and not enough telling. In fact, I believe this rule is the ultimate source of purple prose that has plagued an healthy amount of literature. Summary and brevity can have its own dramatic effect as well and serves an essential role. There should be a balance between both. Obviously, this will vary depending on what type of genre you want to write and so forth but it's not something that you should follow dearly to your heart.

The Night Shift - Gas Station Horror Simulator (OPEN)

Well, fellas, it’s safe to say that I’m shutting down this RP for good. I might try it again some point in the future but at the current rate of posts, I don’t see this RP progressing.

Sorry if you were in the middle of writing up a post or if you were planning one but all of you now have more room for roleplays, better ones than this one.

Bork Lazer's Storage Bunker

//THE SESE FTZ AND NEW MALACCA

After decades of border disputes, military standoffs and proxy wars between China and the ASEAN coalition of South-East Asian countries, the Dark Crash of 2035 was the death knell of the Chinese mainland power structure. Having transitioned most of its infrastructure to A.I firmware, the massive EMP effectively knocked out most of China’s economic and social capabilities. The civil war between the ROC and PROC, along with internal strife and corruption compounding the rot, only served to sink the knife deeper. With their position untenable and most of South East Asia’s infrastructure left unscathed by the global cataclysm, China’s political bargaining power was a pinprick of its former self. All other options exhausted, the only choice left was that of a diplomatic route with ASEAN. The negotiations almost failed when Taiwan and the Autonomous Region of Hong Kong were involved as parties but the Chinese government reluctantly agreed.

In the year that followed, negotiations followed more easily given that China’s political power was fractured and the economic prosperity of ASEAN's member countries outweighing that of China. Therefore, the SESE (South East Special Economic) Free Trade Zone was drawn up to allow a single exclusive economic trade zone which every country had the ability to use. When China dissolved its disingenuous territorial and historical claims, the SESE was signed almost immediately with countries bound to never once again engage in direct warfare with one another. Unfortunately, having been moderated by parties bought out by corporate interests, the SESE gave a huge leeway. Thus, the wars in the SESE shifted from international tensions to outright corporate warfare.

The effects were immediate. Corporations almost immediately made investments in the region in the form of natural gas mining, oil drilling and the building of aquaplexes - new habitable cities that were the new trend given the irradiated nature of most major cities after the Dark Crash and the lopsided battle against rising sea levels. Now, the SESE is a landscape of corporate wars, floating aqua plexes and piracy, a darwinistic terrarium of growth and greed.

Key Zones of New Malacca

1) West Bengal Port - The primary docking and processing bay for all arrivals from the East Indian Ocean and one of the densely populated areas in New Malacca outside of the Tradeplex. The section is dominated by a large number of Indians and Pakistanis who fled the region during the Kashmir Inferno along with the odd Bangladeshi. Most of New Malacca’s blue collar workers and laborers live here due to the low income rent.

2) Hibiscus Lane - Serving as both a place of cultural heritage and a tourist trap, Hibiscus Lane is a slice of Indo-Malaysia directly in the heart of New Malacca. Hover rickshaws stroll along the pavements whilst floating markets travel along the banks, selling both legal and illegal wares of all shapes and sizes.

3) Canton Canal - Considered a parallel to Hibiscus Lane, the Canton Canal is its opulent and clinically perfect counterpart. Luxury, gambling, sin and vice can be found within their famous mahjong casinos. An old trick to remember around these parts is to never gamble on a game of Go. Considered to be the territory of the Triads.

4) The Triangle-What was meant to be an public ecological terrarium project by the Corporate Council has now secretly become the headquarters of the new and improved Golden Triangle. The former drug trafficking highway was hit hard by Filipino PMCs and the rise of cyber warfare. However, instead of being destroyed, it underwent dormancy, feigning death and waiting for the right conditions to proliferate once again. Ruled by an eclectic collection of Thai, Burmese and Cambodian diasporas, the Triangle is New Malacca’s center of its thriving underground synthetic drug trade, using the integrated hydroponics infrastructure to grow, manufacture and distribute their products across most of South East Asia.

5) Shin Ryushu Dockings -Although the nations of Japan and Korea survived the Dark Collapse and the climate storms well, the lower lying islands didn’t fare better during Typhoon Otachi. If you want to know a place where you can hire the best razors or street samurais, Shin Ryushu Dockings has your back. Be careful of walking around the wrong street light, lest, you wake up in the hands of a posse of Yakuza.

6) East Sino Corporate Tradeplex - Everywhere, you see holo-ads blotting out the sky, blurting out brand names. Tzu. Verge. Saewung. Tenaga Ultra. Welcome to the big leagues. This is the megacorp capital of New Malacca. Sleek, brutalistic spires of plexi-alloy and reinforced syncrete dot the skyline here. Gleaming plazas, overcompensating company buildings and crowded stock exchanges are populated by corporate stooges and beleaguered office mice, scuttering around mindlessly.

7) The Undertow - Within here are the only entrance points to the Undertow, a deep complex of underwater corporate facilities located deep underneath the superstructure of the city via elevator. The New Malacca City Council says that it's strictly being used for municipal purposes but everyone really knows that those underwater tunnels hide more than they let on......

8) Braziltown-Ah, those westerners just want to get their hands on everything, don’t they? Braziltown is an architectural tumor on New Malacca’s landscape, a shambling grotesque stack of haphazardly built containers, a reminder of the massive refugee crisis that occurred during the aftermath of the Dark Collapse.

9) The Flot Slums -The Great Flood and Dark Collapse shattered the back of most high income countries in two. Out here is No Man’s Land. An eclectic collection of minorities from every part of the globe live out here in light of the increasing lack of residential space within New Malacca. Considered to be the main location of the Temple By the Sea.

Straits of Steel is set in the gigantic, burgeoning aquaplex of New Malacca, the self-proclaimed pearl of South East Asia that’s on the precipice of sinking yet always managing to just float above the waves.

Situated south of the Paracel Line and the Spratly Islands, New Malacca started as a simple ImperialChem refueling station built for tanker ships in 2000. Slowly over time though, it evolved into a self-sufficient environment as more and more of the corporation’s tasks would be outsourced to the station for greater efficiency, ImperialChem continual remodelling transforming it into a miniature city.

During the Nine Mile Dispute in 2010, the refueling station fell into disarray as ASEAN countries forced strict economic sanctions on Chinese exports. This effectively resulted in ImperialChem selling the remaining assets of its refueling station over to an ambitious startup company specialising in land development known as Baharu Developments. Its CEO, Kwan Chen, envisioned it as a corporate haven for ASEAN, where trade would flourish, free from governmental bureaucracy or urban rot.

Kwan set to work straight away, offering lucrative corporate welfare packages to ensure investment. Like a pack of moths, every rookie startup and corp in the Pacific and South East Asia flocked over towards Kwan’s. Putting their stock into Kwan’s ludicrous idea, New Malacca became more and more of a reality with each buoyant hull, syncrete panelling and high-fibre cable installed into the superstructure. By 2025, New Malacca was officially booming.

As economic growth ensued, growth of urban inequality and crime increased. Cyber gangs, yakuzas, drug traffickers and more lurked and grew in power as more and more ships illegally entered the borders of New Malacca. Finally deciding enough was enough, the Malacca Corporate Committee assembled their private security forces and began a war to stamp out gang influence within New Malacca. This resulted in the establishment of corporate owned public institutions in New Malacca such as a police force, firefighting force and social support services.

Since then, corruption, economic growth and crime have bloomed within the confines of New Malacca. It’s survived all the way through the Dark Collapse, the Nine Mile Dispute and the South China corporate scuffles while still remaining what it is. A beacon to all those looking for an unattainable dream.

Regions of the SESE FTZ

The People’s Republic of China

There is often a massive confusion of what the PRC exactly is. Some view it as an authoritarian regime looking to extend its hegemonic influence on the rest of the world. Some say it is a mire of corruption and instability, a bomb waiting to go off.

The truth, as always, is far more complicated than usual. The PRC is a region that is defined by war: war with itself and war with others. As of 2099, the PRC still remains the autocracy wearing the trappings of communism. that it is, although with a higher degree of capitalistic influence within its economic framework, more than the higher ups of the PRC would be comfortable with. Increasing privatization of China’s industrial and manufacturing services along with politicians lining their coffers with corporate bribery led to these incr

In the mid 2020s, China unveiled progress on the One Citizen Network publicly: an attempt to fully integrate government economic and social services together under a revolutionary A.I wireframe network that would span from the Gobi Desert to Shanghai. By the 2030s, the project was undergoing regional testing when the Dark Crash hit, sinking hundreds of billions of government funds into incomprehensible bytes of glitchy data. It had effectively put a stop gap in China’s plans of economic expansion through the southern hemisphere, their Neo-Silk Road project being put on halt as the world fell into chaos.

Following a decade of internal party purges, civil disputes and rooting out of corruption, the Chinese Imperial Government rose out of the muck and mire and plunged themselves yet into another bloody conflict for control of the South China Sea in 2049 during the Nine Mile War. Unfortunately, for them, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the rest of South East Asia had prospered during the Dark Crash. When it was clear that control of the South China Sea would be unattainable, the government settled for a detente instead and thus, SEAZO was born.

In 2099, China is the biggest and wields the most geopolitical influence with its sizable military. As such, most military and war-tech corporations nest comfortably by primarily selling to chinese buyers. A heavy rural-urban divide still remains in China’s society today, with most of the population making up a sizable labor force. Everyone knows that social engineering and Orwellian policies are China’s bread and butter but as long as you know who to bribe and where, you can live comfortably as long as you don’t end up in one of their ‘reeducation’ camps.

The Pacific Orient
In 2099, Japan and Korea are the economic powerhouses of the Pacific and have become a near corporatocracy, dominated by family owned zaibatsus and chaebol in the aftermath of the Dark Crash. The Pacific Orient is the birthplace of cybernetics and the modern mega-corporation as we know it, with a census estimating that over 90% of its citizens from young to old are implanted with cybernetics.

Japan still maintains its constitutional monarchy, even near the advent of the 22nd century, but Korea’s politics have been a mixup ever since the Dark Crash. Pyongyang’s slow technological advancement had spared its population most of the ensuing chaos, although their forays into nuclear power resulted in an incident not seen since Chernobyl. Some historians theorised that sabotage by foreign powers occurred but no one seemed to care about pointing fingers enough. Reunification of the North and South happened but at a heavy humanitarian cost.

New ASEAN

It’d only taken 30 years for a new power bloc to rise up in South East Asia. The youngest contender and perhaps the most diverse, New ASEAN is a coalition of over 10 countries within South East Asia. The climate storms and the Dark Crash only strengthened the diplomatic ties of the coalition as they began to shift from becoming an intergovernmental organisation to a political and economic union similar to that of the EuroZone. This path towards a multigovernmental union accelerated further when Taiwan and Hong Kong, now fully autonomous from China’s influence after the Nine Mile Dispute, joined as members.

New ASEAN, in comparison to the South Orient and China, is wracked with corruption, infighting and diplomatic issues. Unlike the relatively mono-ethnic societies of the PRC and the South Orient, ASEAN society is extremely diverse with over hundreds of different and distinct subcultures, religions and ethnic groups within its borders. However, racial tensions are often a common occurrence within its territories.

//GROUPS OF INTEREST

Political Groups

Whilst New Malacca is essentially a de facto corporatocracy, the initial riots and the uncontrolled wave of crime that plagued New Malacca in its infancy made it clear to the NMCC that whilst public institutions were undesirable, a puppet was still needed. Thus, the New Malaccan Mayoral Democracy was born. The current mayor of New Malacca is Azman Yokgan, a member of the South Orient Party.

South Orient Party - Having been around since the inception of New Malacca in its early stages, the South Orient Party holds the most political power and are strictly allied to the interests of New ASEAN and the preservation of New Malacca’s sovereignty. Strictly speaking, the South Orient are the remnants of the original parties that founded New Malacca and have shifted heavily from their neoliberal policies in the inception of New Malacca’s government. The South Orient nowadays primarily operates on a platform of staunch protectionism alongside favoring pro-ASEAN relations and corporate regulation - or what counts as regulation in this day and age. Wary of the growing influence of the megacorps in New Malacca along with the fact that they are part of its foundations, the South Orient have attempted to reverse privatization of public assets, to limited success. Many have accused them of rigging the supposedly democratic elections in their favor, despite what their PR officials say.

United People’s Party - Still licking their wounds after the Dark Crash, the Chinese Imperial Government is still contesting their claims to the South China Sea through piecemeal treaties over scraps of land and oil reservoirs. Their latest dispute is New Malacca which they believe to have historical claim to. The United People’s Party advocates for close diplomatic ties with the Chinese government along with the possibility of making New Malacca a Special Administrative Region. However, the United People’s Party is distinctly fractured

Young Frontier Party - Contesting the South Orient Party for the most seats within the corporate council, the Young Frontier Party advocates for full deregulation of all illegal technologies and reexamination of all bioware and cyberware legislation to bring humanity to the next stage of their evolution. By far, their most dangerous goals are to explore the far reaches of the Deep and communicate with the rogue artificial intelligences still trapped beneath its depths which could have far reaching consequences not only for New Malacca but for the world itself.

Fisherman Party - Give a man a fish and he’ll be full for one day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll never be hungry again. The Fisherman Party is a anarchocommunist party that has gained ground thanks to the staggering socioeconomic inequality that plagues most residents of New Malacca. In spite of the secular laws in New Malacca, they have close ties with major religious groups ranging from Islam, Taoism, Christianity and Hinduism. The Fisherman Party have been suspected of corporate sabotage and organising the massive public demonstrations and protests that have risen in New Malacca in the last two decades, although they deny all accusations.

The Board of Seven

The NMCC or the Board of Seven, as they are known colloquially, are the eight governing mega corporations that are essentially the biggest fish in the pond, easily worth trillions in value and are Triple A rated. Representatives from each mega-corporation are chosen and occupy a chosen number of seats on a bi-annual basis. These eight corporations out of the dozens that occupy New Malacca’s trade zone have set the precedent for nearly 50 years.

Platine-Takahashi Cooperative - The conglomerate of an Italian fashion corporation and a Japanese zaibatsu, the media moguls of the Platine-Takahashi Cooperative owns the radio waves, TV programmes and VR sims. Platine Takahashi’s has its hands in the service industry, entertainment, social media, news, whatever it can use to drive the souls and minds of the masses. Whenever you tune in to listen to your favorite K-Pop, watch your Bollywood dramas or dive into a custom made VR film, the Platine-Takahashi Cooperative is responsible for it. Unlike most corporations, Platine-Takahashi has marketed themselves to the public as consumer friendly, using grandiose acts of philanthropy as their main method of calming the masses. In recent years,Platine-Takahashi has expanded towards fashion cybernetics, luxury automobiles, biotech and many other fields.

Hongyang Expansions - Soy cereal. Rust displacement sprays. Electromagnetic lifting weights. Almost every consumer good on the market is a product of one of Hongyang’s various subsidiaries. Although their products aren’t considered to be as high quality versus other megacorporations, the amount of startups, sub-corporations and assets that they have dwarfs every other megacorporation. It’s said that Hongyang Expansions isn’t a nation unto itself, it owns several nations. However, its size is its own weakness as corporate bureaucracy and scheming keeps itself from rising to the top.

Tenaga Ultra - Renewables. Nuclear. Fossil. Tenaga keeps the lights on in New Malacca and for a good portion of most countries within the ASEAN bloc, being one of the oldest corporations that has managed to survive to this day. Once a producer of palm oil, Tenaga Ultra has expanded into other energy industries as fossil fuels were shunned in favour of synthetic biofuels and renewables, particularly hydroelectricity and solar which powers New Malacca’s electric grid.

Saewung - Computers. Personal modems. Holo-displays. If it’s something high-tech and electronic, Saewung has your back. Although they lack the giant PMCs that other megacorporations wield like a blunt cudgel, their fearsome army of Deep Net security specialists, encryption software and combat droids are nothing to scoff at. Numerous famous hackers have met their end attempting to crack into their servers.

Paradigm Organics - Did you know that over 60% of New Malacca’s locally imported food is produced by Paradigm Organics? Of course, you didn’t know that. You’re too busy eating your algae udon to tell the difference. Paradigm Organics made headlines in the 2030s with its halophytic seaweed and algae crops that were perfectly made to survive their new saltwater inundated environments and they’re still making headlines today. Unlike most other corporations, Paradigm spends most of its budget on RnD projects, pushing the boundaries of genetics and biotechnology one crime against humanity at a time. The recent clone crisis has pushed Paradigm Organics into scrutiny by the media and other biotechnology competitors who are eager to push down their most biggest competitor in any way possible.

Verge - Considered to be a direct competitor towards Paradigm Organics, Verge offers an annual line of cutting edge next-generation cyberware, cybernetic implants and personal exo-skeletons that’s always the number one priority on every punk and paddler’s shopping list. In spite of their popularity, Verge has suffered its fair share of storms that have plummeted their stocks. Numerous lawsuits have been lobbied against Verge and their products based on allegations of integrating spyware into their cybernetics which Verge always denies. I mean, it’s not like there’s a reason that all of their employees are required to integrate mandatory neuralware as part of their application process. Right?

Tzu Peace Solutions - Tzu’s trademark of death has seen action across numerous wars and civil conflicts that have erupted in the 21st century. Operating on a nationalistic slogan of jingoism and appealing to the public’s sense of insecurity, Tzu Peace Solutions has more defense contracts in Asia than any other defense corporation on the market. Now, they’re currently occupied with making in-roads into the western market which is dominated by their competitors. Primarily specialising in defense, Tzu has branched out into law enforcement, security, automotive, aerospace and robotics.

Startups

New Malacca’s corporate tradeplex has been a lucrative location for many venture businesses and startups to start running on their two legs, before they’re bought by a corporation. These startups are the hottest and most promising players on the market.

Kaleidoscope - Before Kaleidoscope, AR was virtually non-existent in New Malacca. After Kaleidoscope entered the market, AR emerged from its hibernation in small, underwater followings of AR graffiti artists and spread across its districts. In the 2040s, Kaleidoscope’s AR network blossomed with multiple corporations buying patents for AR adverts and chips to integrate within their technologies. However, many AR users argue that Kaleidoscope’s monopoly over the local AR market in New Malacca has driven all other competitors and stifled innovation. Kaleidoscope is known for showcasing public AR projects as publicity stunts to boost sales.

Poly-Fab Solutions - In an age where manufacturing has shifted from manual to automation, Poly-Fab’s proprietary 3-D fabricators take the once laughable concept of applying mass scale 3-D printing and pushes it to the next level. Headed by former Verge think tank member, Han Lewis, Poly-Fab’s 3-D fabricators allow a higher degree of efficiency and faster speed than most models with the ability to manufacture highly complex industrial parts in just a matter of minutes. The key issue preventing Poly-Fab Solutions is their lack of open source blueprints which 3-D enthusiasts say is preventing them from making landmark sales.

Chimera - Chimera is just another one of the many ‘splicing’ startups to have emerged in the 2080s after the discovery of base pair stabilisation. Chimera’s gene splicing and enhancement programmes are touted to be able to cure hereditary diseases, remove cancer cells and mutations along with the usual fare of body modifications that everyone is interested in. Chimera is currently undergoing a PR battle with alleged footage showing splicing users seemingly dying on the sidewalk mere hours after undergoing gene therapy.

Gangs and Criminals

The Poppy - The unofficial lords of the Golden Triangle district, The Poppy have a stranglehold over the illicit drug trade within New Malacca, holding a monopoly on production and trafficking of synthesised opiates, amphetamines and concentrated narcotics. All inbound drug flow from Japan, South Africa, Russia and China goes directly straight to them. Members of their gang are outfitted with cybernetic implants that directly inject stimulants and combat drugs intravenously. With the lack of automobile roadways in New Malacca, trafficking is mainly done through airborne delivery drones rather than in person exchange.

404 - In the aftermath of the Dark Crash, numerous hacker groups sought to take advantage of the chaos, pilfering through old government files and backdoors within encrypted corporate files. The most notorious of these groups is 404, styling themselves after the term used to describe dead servers in the pre-Deep days. 404’s main objectives are to reveal the truth of the megacorps and peel back away layers of corruption for the public by stealing and publishing top secret files online along with deliberately destroying and hacking corporate servers. Most mega-corps would have laughed them off as a minor nuisance if it wasn’t for the fact they were responsible for Armalance’s declaration of bankruptcy in 2060. Now, every megacorporation is out for their blood.

The Heralds - Whilst most gangs in New Malacca embrace transhumanism, only one actively goes against the grain. The Heralds are an outspoken group of militant vigilantes that are against the spread of cyberware and bioware, believing them to be a violation of the natural order. They are the criminals that all other gangs in New Malacca despise as they regularly declare war on gangs that they deem impure. The group has suffered a recent splintering with the more moderate elements excising themselves from the more extremist sects who believe that public campaigns and seeding distrust in cyberware products is the key to victory rather than just blowing a hole in any layman with a cybernetic implant.

The Ambassadors - Mercenaries. Wetworks. Assasination. Bounty hunting. When you need something done discreetly,The Ambassador’s network of spies and assassins will have you covered. Composed of ex-corporate security officers and retired soldiers from Cambodia, Ambassadors, as they are called, are willing to do any job for any price, as long as the client does not betray them and that payment is always provided after the job. Their main base of operations is in a luxuriant hotel known as Le Chateau De Ambassador, where their assassins are able to rest, relax and recuperate after every job. It is considered sacred ground in the criminal world.

Black Yangtze - Tracing their origins from Tokyo yakuzas and Chinese triads that initially populated New Malacca in the 2020s, the Black Yangtze operate multiple criminal fronts in New Malacca in the form of night clubs, casinos, cock fighting, prostitution rings and bars. The Black Yangtze operate on a strict honor system in an attempt to differentiate themselves from the rest of the rabble. Government and corporate officials alike are within their pockets and they occupy a considerable amount of territory in both the Canton Canal and Hibiscus Lane.

Religious Groups

The Consecration of Salt - When the climate floods plagued the world, religious extremists and doomsday cults rose up in its wake to take advantage of the population’s gullibility. The Consecration is an example of just one of these groups. Universally condemned by the majority of Christian groups in 2099, the Consecration of Salt have found a new home in New Malacca, believing the next great flood to arrive soon and wash away the unworthy of this world, which is everyone except those who are part of their flock. Although their relentless hogging of AR ads and daily preachings of predictions about the next flood are little more than a nuisance, their recruitment methods leave a lot to be desired.

Precipice - As technology advanced into the realm of transhumanism, superstition adapted to the present in the form of technopaganism or technoshamanism. Though their ideology varies from group to group, their core tenets involve believing technology is inhabited by spirits and that one must equilibrate themselves with technology in order to ascend to a higher plane of existence. Most tend to view technopagans as fringe groups and chem-crazed lunatics that got hopped up on one too many hallucinogens. However, in New Malacca, technopaganism has gained ground here in the form of a group known only as Precipice.

The followers of Precipice believe in shedding their physical bodies for ones made of ones and zeros: code in order to pass into the Deep and into a haven whereby all of their minds will be united in a single intelligence. Thus, most of Precipice’s followers are AR and VR addicts, slaving their minds away 24/7 to modems and AR goggles in an attempt to experience nirvana. However, their devotion to worship of the Deep has led to them developing a third eye or sixth sense for manipulating Deep code better than most hackers ever could. In spite of the seemingly unsettling nature of their ideology, Precipice followers are deeply pacifistic in nature and only harass the public in the form of AR grafitti murals that they spread across property.

//TECHNOLOGY

Cyberware

The melding of machines with man. Cyberware was first commercially available in the 2030s as a means of addressing the physical ailments of countries with severely ageing populations such as Italy and Japan, with the effort being mainly spearheaded by Vinci Dynamics. Due to this, the largest cyberware conglomerates are based in the Euro-Zone and Asia Pacific.

Cyberware can be used to augment the users physical capabilities, bestow them with technological weaponry, allow them to interface with the Deep and accomplish feats beyond the scope of human physiology. Unfortunately, the proliferation of illegal, cheap cyberware on the black market and spread of improper implantation practice has led to the surge of neural instability and psychosis among users who are unable to pay for top-shelf cyberware. Phantom pains, dementia and neural degradation are just some of the more common syndromes that these users face.

The new trend on the markets today are full-body conversions, otherwise, known as borging up. This involves the near complete conversion of a user’s body into a cybernetic equivalent, becoming the machine instead of interfacing with the machine. Only a few select corporations offer this process, though, and god knows what else they put inside you that you’re not aware of yet.

Bioware

In the 2010s, CRISPR was the first brick in the golden road towards the dream of flawless genetic engineering. As pollution poisoned the environment and the world plunged into climatic chaos in the 40s, the agriculture industry was soon forced to resort to buying gene patents on genetically modified crops that could survive and thrive in this new world. Eventually, the multiple gene editing systems and techniques were categorised in one singular word: bioware.

Unlike cyberware, bioware isn’t just only found within organ transplants and splicing modifications. Algae vat farms are dotted throughout the landscape, supplying cheap and easy food for the growing populous. Muscle bound guard dogs, armed with the ability to detect a man’s blood type, guard entrances to pristine casinos. Gangers use aerosol-delivered viruses to assassinate specific targets. The use of self-enhancing bioware does come with a drawback however. The instability of most gene mods coupled with the high chance of cellular rejection means that users must consume a cocktail of hormones, nucleotide stabilisers and modified microorganisms to maintain themselves lest they die a slow and agonising death.

The current crisis with bioware is the clone crisis. Whilst corporate legislations have outlawed it entirely outside of research labs, there have been many reports of rogue clones managing to break out and assimilate into nearby cities.

The Deep

In the 2020s, the World Wide Web as we know it began the step forward towards integration into city-wide infrastructure and the development of public A.Is that would supervise control of these networks. In 2030 to 2031, a series of coordinated virus attacks completely disabled these networks, splintering them into malformed chunks and scattering it behind a maze of unstable servers and broken computer systems. The virtual intelligences that once patrolled the net became berserk and insane.

In the aftermath of the Collapse, countries began to reorganise and reinvest the remnants of the Highway, forming large segregated Data-Zones. Countries took their own methods of building their own servers, most going the traditional route, some via underwater submersible servers, others via airborne hover servers. Most of the Deep is still locked off from the public via a series of layered encryption firewalls by megacorporations and various countries.

Analogous to the ascension of the Deep was the rise of Augmented Reality or AR. Cities began adopting AR like a second skin to disguise the decaying and rotting buildings of old. Broken remnants of old AR can be found moldering inside abandoned alleyways. The combination of AR and the Deep led to the rise of a new subculture of hackers, tech warriors , code shamans, digital cartographers and more individuals attempting to forge their own way in this broken world.

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