Cyborg Theory
A Tale of Men, Machines and Monsters
"
The cyborg would not recognize the Garden of Eden; it is not made of mud and cannot dream of returning to dust."
Donna Haraway, "A Cyborg Manifesto"
Under a smog-orange sky, a concrete landscape lies. Neon glows on sky-kissing edifices. Self-contained blocks jut up between the endless sprawl. Everywhere there's noise and advertising and car after car after car, on countless raised freeways. The bombs might have fallen in 1984, but capitalism survived.
Down below it's dark. Natural light is something you pay for in this place, just like clean air. It's all commoditised. If you don't want to pay, you can live by the polluted storm drains, under the smog and look up at the advertising of your betters. At least as long as you buy, you're doing what society needs of you. Pointless pay for pointless jobs maybe, but at least you can spend it.
Up above, at the tops of towers and under the plastic domes, there's clean air and plants and fresh water. The white structures there aren't smeared with exhaust fumes and acid rain. They don't have to worry about the ticking of the rad counters. They have gardens and they have retreats away from the city and they have exit passes which'll let them leave the West American Republic - if they want to. Why would they want anything else but this place?
And what of the people here? Do we speak of the decadent wealthy with their gene augs and their shining teeth and their synthskin? Do we speak of the quiet desperation of the middle classes, safe and secure with their corporate employers - for the moment, at least, because do you know how the job market is? Do we speak of the poor, living in the lower dark bits of tower blocks and in the endless sprawl, in polluted smoggy air, living on handouts and the grey market? Because wealth here is a pyramid, and it's crushing to be at the bottom.
Welcome to Los Angeles. The year is 2051.
...
The fire rises. Burning bright, it consumes the darkness and devours it whole. There was nothing before the flames, because there was no time for it to happen in. Time is change, and without the fire there could be no change.
A spark arcs between two contacts. There's a snap, and the smell of ozone. Follow the copper wires back, and they lead into the power grid of a megastructure. It is a synthetic nervous system and circulatory system combined. Within this kilometre-tall tower, thousands upon thousands upon thousands of humans scurry and crawl, living within the cells of this architectural monster. Sometimes they hook themselves up to the electricity of the machine-beast, and then the tiny currents in their brains merge with the signals in the metal in their heads and commune with the structure.
But the fire rises, up through the tower from the squalid and polluted basement, born on wings of stolen lightning. And then there is a spark, and it all begins.
Your mind is drifting. Dreaming. You know little else.
Everything hurts.
"Police say they are investigating leads, and hope to bring this case to a satisfactory conclusion" a radio crackles in the background. "Doubts are being raised about the failures of the LAPD by many senior figures, however. SynerNet CEO Gomez Ladislao has spoken out publicly after the body of his daughter was found. She was the sixth victim of the so-called Albedo Kidnapper, who has been targeting family members of the business community. Hope is fading that the other hostages will be recovered alive. We now go live to our Eye in the Sky. Paul?"
You lie there, stabbing pains shooting up and down both of your arms. Your stomach hurts, like the worst cramp ever. And there's something cold and hard at the back of your neck. You gasp.
Then the smell hits you. It's horrible. It's a mix of meat and blood and ozone. It grates at your senses, crawling into your nostrils. You can taste it creep across your tongue, hot and warm and cloying.
Under the noise of the radio, you can hear machinery. There's a steady bleep-bleep-bleep which makes you think of hospitals, and a rumbling which comes and goes which can only be a lift. The acoustics of the room are echoing and hard. There aren't many soft things in here. If any at all.
And there's someone else in here. You can feel them. You can hear them breathe. They're panting, as if they're exhausted - or maybe just fat. They sound big. Bulky. There's another noise, a sort of… of clicking noise. You're not sure what that is.
"Ahhh," says a breathy voice. It's a woman, you're fairly sure of it. She sounds… young. Excitable. Her voice is quite squeaky. You think she might be younger than you. "You're awake! And you're one thing! One thing! Wonderful thing!" She laughs to herself, in a high-pitched giggle. "Wakey-wakey! We might have to move! Now you're all better!"
All better. You… are hurting, you admit that much. But you don't remember… anything. Your head hurts, though. It hurts quite a lot. You reach up and find there are contact electrodes attached to your forehead and temples. They're all… sticky. With iron-ness.
The clicky thing shifts, and it growls, low and rumbling. It makes all the skin on the back of your neck stand on end.
"You better stop pretending," the squeaky-voiced woman says happily. "That's
bad. And being lazy isn't a good idea. Not right now."
You open your eyes, and the light is blinding.
...
C
HOOSE A FOCUS (arrange by descending importance)
[ ]
Physical - Your strength and speed, motor coordination, and capacity to survive hardship.
[ ]
Mental - Your smarts, ability to think on your feet, and determination.
[ ]
Social - Your ability to interact with others, and remain calm and clear-headed under stress
C
HOOSE A STYLE (arrange by descending importance)
[ ]
Direct
[ ]
Finesse
[ ]
Endurance
C
HOOSE A MEGACORP
You have a personal connection to one of these following megacorps. This will determine some further things about your character.
[ ] Raiden Unlimited - Clean. Efficient. Productive. This is the face that Raiden Energies wishes to display to the rest of the world. As a power provider, it runs nuclear installations across the globe, and funds research into fusion and - via its in-house arms manufacturer - energy weapons. It rebranded in 2043, from 'Atomic Energies' after a controversy over the possible release of mutagens in downtown Neo-Tokyo following a reactor meltdown which the company insists was the result of hostile corporate sabotage.
[ ] HawkCorp - A giant of the media industries, HawkCorp has a dominant market share in the West American Republic as well as major holdings in the European Federation and the Republic of Texas. It is heavily invested in advertising, public relations, propaganda and news, and its extravagant CEO has close ties to major state actors - it is widely credited with swaying the last election in the Republic of Texas to the Federalists. Controversially, it engages in massive sponsorship of state education programmes, and sells advertising space in textbooks.
[ ] Mondragon-Miledi-Mollina (MMM) - A Mexican pioneer in the fields of aquaculture and water purification, the vast concrete forms of MMM's purification facilities squat along the coast. The corporation's tendrils extend all the way up the food chain - recent purchases mean that they have added the ailing McDonalds and Burger King franchises to their portfolio. Nationalistic sentiments have raised fears that this megacorp could cut off half the water supply to the West American Republic, and has already thrown its weight around in tax disputes.
[ ] Li Metals - The Green Reformation in Communist China in the 2020s lead to widespread acceptance of capitalist dogma, as well as massive fortunes being made by well-connected families. Li Metals has built itself from a small state-sanctioned enterprise to an end-to-end megacorp rooted in its dominance of the rare earth market. Allegations of impropriety in how it has privatised several small African nations which are now run as fully-owned extraterritorial subsidiaries and its ties to the PLA are laughed off by the megacorp.
[ ] Deva Pharmaceuticals - This Indian megacorp has expanded beyond its original role as a manufacturer of off-licence drugs and catapulted itself into the premier league of biological research companies. Genetic engineering, anti-cybernetic-rejection drugs and anti-irradiation vegetation are all products coming from their pipeline. There are dark allegations about their use of unwilling test subjects in drug testing, as well as rumours that the disgraced Sanctity group was a subsidiary.
