The year is 2052 C.E. Governments have largely made room for corporation-run jurisdictions, with only nostalgia and habit marking certain parts of land as their former identities as countries or states. Most of humanity has organised into densely packed megalopoles, where crime and corruption run rampant, poverty and inequality are seen as normal and abuse of power is expected. The corporate oligarchies have shaped society into a brutal meritocracy with a ceiling of matte glass of promised but obviously unattainable riches and success.
Technology has come a fair way the last few decades. Space travel has evolved due to the large increase of large satellites hosting hotels and stratospheric brothels, as well as the enormous strip mining endeavours on Mars and Venus. Computer technology and body and mind-enhancing cybernetics are freely available, but costly. Illegal (read: unsanctioned by any corporation) cyberwalla's and neurojackers provide any service one can dream of. From Neuro-VR experiences to full out mechanisation of the human body into cybersoldiers.
In this cyberpunk setting, we find the megapolis generally referred to as 'the Sprawl'. While nothing is ever well in this day and age, even less is well at this very moment. Ever since the chemical fire on the Docks laid waste to six acres of warehouses, people have been going missing. Corporate street security has been unable (and largely unwilling) to find and identify the cause of these disappearances, and for most denizens of the Sprawl, this is met with a grunt and a shrug. Same shit, different day.
For a few, however, it has become personal. A friend, family member or loved one has been mysteriously erased from your life overnight. All that was left were acid burns in the walls and floors, and perhaps some trinket or other belonging of the person. Normally, people would blame the syndicates, corp sec or perhaps offworld press gangs. Not this time, though. Not you, at any rate. This time, it's something else. This time, it might not even be human.
For this I am basically planning a scifi/cyberpunk whodunnit. I will leave the makeup of the Sprawl up to you, to accomodate your origin and preferences as much as possible. I am not planning to play a main character myself, but will run a few secondary characters who will interact with the mains and of which some will have their own perspectives of the goings on to provide a trickle of interesting hooks and ideas.
The character sheet will be composed of the following:
Name: Go crazy.
Age: (anything goes, really. Do keep in mind that very young or old people will generally have mental/emotional or physical limitations)
Race: Human only. Cybernetically enhanced is fine, of course.
Personality: Whatever you feel summarizes your character effectively. Short or long doesn't matter. What matters is usefulness to others to interpret what you are about.
Appearance: a description at least. Picture entirely optional.
Bio: what did you do before? How do you fit into the world (social and economic standing, profession, etc.)? Who did you lose? What are they to you?
Abilities: I suggest we take three umbrella ability terms to define characters: Mental, Social and Physical. One can be Strong (adept in anything that involves it within reason) and two will be Fair (moderately trained or talented).
Skills: name three relatively normal skills that you would consider useful. Being trained in a skill that you connect with a Strong ability will make you an expert in it. In combination with a Fair ability, you will consider yourself familiar with it. In case of a combination with a Lacking ability (see below), consider yourself a novice. All this does not mean your theoretical acquaintance, but rather how effective you are at putting said skill to use.
Your character will of course have other skills, but these will not impact the way you narrate them in conjunction with your abilities.
Feat: every main character will get one feat that defines them. Consider yourself an expert at the feat, regardless of your skills and abilities. You can take this pretty far, but try to make it something niche to account for its strength, as well as aiding you in making your character stand out. You may choose two more feats, at the cost of lowering an ability from Strong to Fair, or from Fair to Lacking.
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