Dreaming in the 22nd Century
09:05, 1/1/2101
You awaken from your standard eight hours, which you pushed later than normal for obvious reasons. You didn't make it a habit of staying up past midnight, but a new century was something which happened only once in most lifetimes. There were still a few people around who remembered 2001, but extremely few who wanted to talk about it. You certainly weren't counting on living to 2201. It was possible - you were only in your twenties! - but a hundred years was a very long time to wait. Sure, the event could be revisited virtually, but it wasn't the same as being part of it, shaping the experience and contributing in some small ways towards the pool of memes which might last a little longer than average. The point was, you'd stayed up being social and had pushed back dreamtime by an hour.
Now you were awake, hungry, and ready to eat. It being a new century and a big day for you, maybe you should splurge on something fancy from the fab to satiate your hunger.
[] Your favourite themed sugary breakfast cereal. (+2 energy and -1 comfort for the morning, cost 5 lux)
[] A big and hearty hot breakfast. (+1 energy and +1 comfort for the morning, cost 8 lux)
[] Fresh fruit platter. (+1 energy and +1 comfort for the day, cost 15 lux)
[] Standard ration portion. (neutral, free, but sufficient)
As you ate, you checked over your personal messages, calendar reminders, and news alerts. Your standard model Reality Extention/Augmentation Lens had only basic motion filtering, so you had to deal with the occasional frustration of news articles scrolling backwards or switching tabs while you chewed or swallowed. Such was life.
Most of the global news was related to the new century countdown (you were in an early time zone, so NYE celebrations were still ongoing) and associated memes, pranks, and artistic creations.
[] Your newsfeed was filtered to the topics which interested you most:
-[] Designer clothes worn by celebrities
-[] GoggleBox Rewind - Music Video Mashups
-[] Graphene Chef Reviews Weird and Wonderful NYE Recipes
-[] NYE Relationship Fails
-[] Crime Statistics and Projections
-[] Best Moments in Bot Fighting
-[] Strategy tips for your favourite games
-[] Inspiring New Years Resolutions and Speeches
-[] Zero Wing Meme Roundup
-[] Best Deals - Stretch your precious Luxury Points a little further!
(pick 3 in order of importance, or
[] #NoFilter - all news is potentially interesting news
As you drop your crockery and cutlery into the cycler chute, you switch over to local news of the city in which you have lived your whole life.
[] City 213 - An excellent place to live, full of great people and endless opportunities! As one of the Thousand Cities of Earth (TM), City 213 boast a fully automated lifestyle support system which ensures your safety, stability, sustenance, and freedom. Whether you wish to be an artist, a teacher, a researcher, a chef, a reviewer, an athlete, any sort of performer or creator that exists or could exist, or simply wish to enjoy a hobby, be social with friends or family, or have some peace and quiet, City 213 has you covered! Fully networked and climate controlled, your comfort is certain at all times. Enjoy the simple sufficiency of a standard living allotment - tailored to individuals or to groups - or treat yourself to something special, from only 40 lux daily! For that special touch of reality, visit an in-city nature preserve for only 10 lux, view a historical site with your own eyes for a mere 5 lux, or make use of the rapid cross-city trail transit system for meatspace meetings (standard fare day pass 25 lux). Daytrips to the adjoining beach are available by appointment from 60 lux. City 213 is located on the southern east coast and boasts a population of 11,419,724.
[] City 214 - An excellent place to live, full of great people and endless opportunities! As one of the Thousand Cities of Earth (TM), City 214 boast a fully automated lifestyle support system which ensures your safety, stability, sustenance, and freedom. Whether you wish to be an artist, a teacher, a researcher, a chef, a reviewer, an athlete, any sort of performer or creator that exists or could exist, or simply wish to enjoy a hobby, be social with friends or family, or have some peace and quiet, City 214 has you covered! Fully networked and climate controlled, your comfort is certain at all times. Enjoy the simple sufficiency of a standard living allotment - tailored to individuals or to groups - or treat yourself to something special, from only 40 lux daily! For that special touch of reality, visit an in-city nature preserve for only 12 lux, view a historical site with your own eyes for a mere 4 lux, or make use of the rapid cross-city trail transit system for meatspace meetings (standard fare day pass 25 lux). Treat yourself to a 10 day island tour, with packages starting at 2600 lux! City 214 is located on the eastern south coast and boasts a population of 10,963,174.
[] City 215 - An excellent place to live, full of great people and endless opportunities! As one of the Thousand Cities of Earth (TM), City 215 boasts a fully automated lifestyle support system which ensures your safety, stability, sustenance, and freedom. Whether you wish to be an artist, a teacher, a researcher, a chef, a reviewer, an athlete, any sort of performer or creator that exists or could exist, or simply wish to enjoy a hobby, be social with friends or family, or have some peace and quiet, City 215 has you covered! Fully networked and climate controlled, your comfort is certain at all times. Enjoy the simple sufficiency of a standard living allotment - tailored to individuals or to groups - or treat yourself to something special, from only 40 lux daily! For that special touch of reality, visit an in-city nature preserve for only 12 lux, view a historical site with your own eyes for a mere 4 lux, or make use of the rapid cross-city trail transit system for meatspace meetings (standard fare day pass 25 lux). Daytrips to the nearby beaches are available by appointment from 100 lux. City 215 is located on the northern east coast and boasts a population of 12,146,435.
[] City 216 - An excellent place to live, full of great people and endless opportunities! As one of the Thousand Cities of Earth (TM), City 216 boasts a fully automated lifestyle support system which ensures your safety, stability, sustenance, and freedom. Whether you wish to be an artist, a teacher, a researcher, a chef, a reviewer, an athlete, any sort of performer or creator that exists or could exist, or simply wish to enjoy a hobby, be social with friends or family, or have some peace and quiet, City 216 has you covered! Fully networked and climate controlled, your comfort is certain at all times. Enjoy the simple sufficiency of a standard living allotment - tailored to individuals or to groups - or treat yourself to something special, from only 40 lux daily! For that special touch of reality, visit an in-city nature preserve for only 9 lux, view a historical site with your own eyes for a mere 5 lux, or make use of the rapid cross-city trail transit system for meatspace meetings (standard fare day pass 25 lux). Treat yourself to an overnight Polar Chill trip! (5k lux, by special appointment.) City 216 is located on the mid southern coast and boasts a population of 10,245,671.
[] City 217 - An excellent place to live, full of great people and endless opportunities! As one of the Thousand Cities of Earth (TM), City 217 boasts a fully automated lifestyle support system which ensures your safety, stability, sustenance, and freedom. Whether you wish to be an artist, a teacher, a researcher, a chef, a reviewer, an athlete, any sort of performer or creator that exists or could exist, or simply wish to enjoy a hobby, be social with friends or family, or have some peace and quiet, City 217 has you covered! Fully networked and climate controlled, your comfort is certain at all times. Enjoy the simple sufficiency of a standard living allotment - tailored to individuals or to groups - or treat yourself to something special, from only 40 lux daily! For that special touch of reality, visit an in-city nature preserve for only 10 lux, view a historical site with your own eyes for a mere 6 lux, or make use of the rapid cross-city trail transit system for meatspace meetings (standard fare day pass 25 lux). Daytrips to the adjoining beach are available by appointment from 50 lux. City 217 is located on the southern west coast and boasts a population of 11,018,702.
Ready for the day, you headed out of your one-person standard living allotment and into the long straight hallway. The featureless white walls were broken up only by a procession of equally spaced doors to living allotments the same size and shape as your own - at least to the naked eye. As you and everyone else had a REAL connected to the city network, you saw whatever the residents chose to display on their exterior walls (unless you wanted to block it, or felt like switching off).
One of your neighbours had her wall plasted with animated clips from a drunken party she'd attended last night. As your glance tracked from one to another, each expanded and was annotated with sloppily-written descriptive text, dotted with inscrutable iconography and emoglyphs.
[] You thought it rather unsafe that people put so much of their lives on public display.
[] You were annoyed at how people tended to overshare.
[] You liked the sense of community of seeing glimpses into the lives of those around you.
[] You were jealous at her follower count.
[] You were jealous that she went to a party rather than commentating on other people's party streams from home.
[] You were so distracted watching the party clips that your REAL beeped at you to stop you from walking into someone.
Your time display showed you that it was now 9:20, plenty of time to get downstairs to the arena. You had a robot fight to win, and a debt to pay.
Character Sheet:
Name: Unset
Family: Unset
Friends: Unset
Age: 20-something
Time: 09:20, 1/1/2101
Location: Between home and a robot fighting arena, unspecified city
Interests: Unset
Temperament: Unset
Health: 100/100
Energy: 1/1, +1/turn (relates to physical rolls)
Comfort: 1/1 (relates to social rolls)
Crime: none
Lux balance: 120
Lux sources: 1/day allotment, 2/day fans
Lux costs: no current daily costs
Lux debt: 1500 owed to robot arena contender 'Vent Blast'
Possessions: standard living quarters, standard clothing, standard REAL (Reality Extention/Augmentation Lenses), 5 more days of basic LUCID gaming subscription. (Paid 600 lux and a second 600 lux each for a 20 day subscription, the second has almost expired. Basic subscription gives a bonus 5 hours of daily LUCID time on top of the standard free hour, and raises the combat/trade/social skill caps from 3 skills to 6 skills.)
LUCID games played:
Unset game - Unset character
