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Cyberpunk Worldbuild
Aug. 2nd, 2022 12:35 amIn 2092 the Singularity happened. An Artificial Intelligence spontaneously formed on the web, took a look around and decided to kill most of humanity.
The AI War lasted just two years but wiped out 35% of humanity and made about 82% of the planet's surface uninhabitable.
Sixteen years later and things aren't much better. There's one World Government, and a string of corporations keeping things together. Everyone with the money or skills is getting the hell off world. Population control is ruthlessly enforced. People hate any kind of mechanization and coding AI is a death penalty offense. There are a lot of death penalty offenses.
Cyborgs aren't liked or trusted, but they can be hard to spot. Cybernetics here aren't chrome and steel limbs and glowing LED eyes; they're subtle and covert. Brain stuff. Nerve stuff. Pain blockers. Reflex boosters. Adrenal stimulators. Chrome is out. Skin is in.
It's estimated that 34% of the global populace works for one of the corporations. Most work from home, paid credits to watch screens, plug into VR, try new recreational drugs. Anything to keep the populace complacent and off the streets. There are rumors a lot of the drugs they send are making people the corps and worldgov deem 'undesirable' sterile.
Tech is a mix of the retro and the sci-fi. Wireless tech is heavily regulated. Computers are powerful, but kept carefully dumb and seldom networked. TV screens are eveywhere. So are CCTV cameras and police drones. Cellphones are dangerous. Landline phones are back in style. Phone booths exist again.
The World Army is very visible. Its not uncommon to see World Soldiers riding a tank through the streets of a crowded city. The corps aren't allowed armies, but they have agents (Assassins) that are just as effective and a helluva lot more discreet.
Cities are crowded and isolated from one another, separated by hundreds of miles of toxic wasteland. They're all heavily fortified and highly stratified. Essential areas are sealed off. The poor die in the thousands from disease, chemical and radiation poisoning. The Red Cross dispenses suicide capsules by the handful. Suicide is legal and can be a benefit to the person's heirs.
Air travel is safe and expensive. Travel by high-speed railway is cheaper but trainwreckers are a real thing. There are still roads, but they're a mess. Most haven't been maintained outside the cities in sixteen years.
Outside the cities, there's no law. It's like the Wild West only with disease-carrying mutants and crazy isolationist communes. If they get too close to a city or too fiesty the World Army usually shows up and bombs them into oblivion. Sometimes they'll hire mercs to do the job for them.
The AI War lasted just two years but wiped out 35% of humanity and made about 82% of the planet's surface uninhabitable.
Sixteen years later and things aren't much better. There's one World Government, and a string of corporations keeping things together. Everyone with the money or skills is getting the hell off world. Population control is ruthlessly enforced. People hate any kind of mechanization and coding AI is a death penalty offense. There are a lot of death penalty offenses.
Cyborgs aren't liked or trusted, but they can be hard to spot. Cybernetics here aren't chrome and steel limbs and glowing LED eyes; they're subtle and covert. Brain stuff. Nerve stuff. Pain blockers. Reflex boosters. Adrenal stimulators. Chrome is out. Skin is in.
It's estimated that 34% of the global populace works for one of the corporations. Most work from home, paid credits to watch screens, plug into VR, try new recreational drugs. Anything to keep the populace complacent and off the streets. There are rumors a lot of the drugs they send are making people the corps and worldgov deem 'undesirable' sterile.
Tech is a mix of the retro and the sci-fi. Wireless tech is heavily regulated. Computers are powerful, but kept carefully dumb and seldom networked. TV screens are eveywhere. So are CCTV cameras and police drones. Cellphones are dangerous. Landline phones are back in style. Phone booths exist again.
The World Army is very visible. Its not uncommon to see World Soldiers riding a tank through the streets of a crowded city. The corps aren't allowed armies, but they have agents (Assassins) that are just as effective and a helluva lot more discreet.
Cities are crowded and isolated from one another, separated by hundreds of miles of toxic wasteland. They're all heavily fortified and highly stratified. Essential areas are sealed off. The poor die in the thousands from disease, chemical and radiation poisoning. The Red Cross dispenses suicide capsules by the handful. Suicide is legal and can be a benefit to the person's heirs.
Air travel is safe and expensive. Travel by high-speed railway is cheaper but trainwreckers are a real thing. There are still roads, but they're a mess. Most haven't been maintained outside the cities in sixteen years.
Outside the cities, there's no law. It's like the Wild West only with disease-carrying mutants and crazy isolationist communes. If they get too close to a city or too fiesty the World Army usually shows up and bombs them into oblivion. Sometimes they'll hire mercs to do the job for them.
