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At some point in the year 2020, you volunteered for a brain-machine interface trial. You were assured that it would all be completely safe, but the technology was still very new and unpredictable. Something went horribly wrong while you were hooked up, and you were presumed dead.
The year is now 2130.
How can humanity forgive itself for all of the things that it never became?
The inevitable march of technology carried endless potential to improve the lives of everyone in society, but instead we found ourselves nostalgic for the futures that we imagined so long ago.
Haunted by what never was, this new world reeks of grime and greed. A small handful of uncaring megacorporations have a monopoly on the last of the earth’s resources, and allowed a thick black smog to creep over it as they profited. They treat entire city districts like private property, and their shareholders have altered themselves with so many genetic and bionic enhancements that they are beginning to resemble a new species entirely. If you don’t have money, you’re on your own, and there isn’t a lot of money to go around when most of the jobs are taken by robots. The majority of the population rely on a pittance of UBI or are forced into petty crime.
You wake up in a lab, terrified, as nothing but a bunch of cheap sensors hooked up to a computer system. The cluttered room contains a team of researchers who quickly gather around you looking thrilled. They very calmly explain that although the contract you signed a few decades ago means you have waived your right to sue the company, as a gesture of goodwill you are to be awarded a 5% discount on all NeuraCorp products for the next six months. You try to scream but you have no mouth.
Salvaging your data was an effortless PR stunt, but still probably the only kind thing anyone will do for you again in a while. After a couple of hours, you are allowed to pick a new body of your favourite aesthetic out of a lineup of deceased un-augmented convicts from NeuraCorp’s own private prison, given a citizenship ID, and are then practically kicked out of the door onto unfamiliar city streets. The NeuraCorp logo sits tattooed on your neck. It’s raining.
Welcome to Vitaria, a metropolis that seems to sprawl endlessly in every direction. No matter where in the city you are, you’re never really far from noise and mayhem, poverty and violence, and a thousand neon billboards echoing harsh light into your vision. Every type of thing and every type of person can be found here if you look hard enough, but don’t expect anything for free. People have to look out for themselves, to the point where even the crowds carry a sense of loneliness about them.
You have to make your own way in the world for now.
How to play.
Allocate 8 points between INTELLIGENCE, STRENGTH, and AGILITY.
Each stat must always be at least 1 in order to maintain basic life functions, so the most you will be able to allocate to any one category right now is 6 points. Through genetic and bionic enhancements on later sections, you can raise your stats far beyond the limits of an un-aug human. The most you will ever need in any category is 10.
You receive 1500 starting credits as your yearly UBI payment. You can imagine that this CYOA covers the first year of your adventure.
In later sections, there will be further opportunities to make money, as well as plenty of things to spend it on.
basic mode: if you can’t keep track of too many numbers right now, or want a much shorter story, you could skip the recording of points. scroll down to cybernetics- transhuman living and assume you have 2000c.
You’ll probably need somewhere to stay. Not everyone here can afford to live in anything much better than squalor, but the quality of accommodation varies a lot, and the city’s richest live in abundance and luxury. Here’s an overview of places you could rent. The prices listed will cover you for the entire year.
The level of surveillance, as well as the value of the property, may affect a number of things down the line. For example, it is much harder to be a criminal if you’re constantly being watched, much easier if you’re not, and certain companies will only take people on if they can pass credit checks to confirm that they’re not economically vulnerable.
You should purchase one of these options immediately, but can return here later to upgrade after earning some more money. If you do this, you may subtract 50% of the cost of your previous home out of the total cost of your new home.
THE WALLED CITY
Cost: 500c
The walled city is one of the city’s slums, and one of the most densely packed in the entire world. It’s a chaotic construction, with new buildings being built atop old ones with no oversight. Disease and lawlessness run rampant, as few there can afford medical attention or the help of the police. This would be an incredibly dangerous place to live, but always the best choice for anyone who just needs to disappear. It won’t cost too much at all to shack up here.
[SURVEILLANCE: LOW]
TUNNEL BUNKER
Cost: 750c
Many years ago, people were lucky enough that one of their biggest worries in life was the threat of nuclear war. A vast tunnel network was built by a now-defunct government in order to keep the population of Vitaria safe in case of an attack. Now, the tunnels are full of hazards and in partial disrepair. It’s still safer to live here than in than the slums, and you’ll be able to have more space to yourself. Some areas can even seem lonely. The rent isn’t too bad if you don’t mind the rats, or the muta-rats, who seem to be getting bigger.
[SURVEILLANCE: MED]
MEGATOWER ONE
Cost: 1200c
The Megatowers are standard accommodation for people subsisting on UBI. Individual towers can hold tens of thousands of people in near-identical apartments, and these towers are spread out all over the city. You won’t have an abundance of anything here, but some love and attention might eventually make what you do have feel like a real home. You’ll at least be safe and have space to yourself to relax, maybe a good view.
[SURVEILLANCE: MED]
ALLWELL HOUSE
Cost: 1750c
Despite the ever-present cameras and ominous-looking security guards, living in an Allwell House is a dream come true for a lot of people. As long as you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about here. Your apartment will be spacious, completely safe from outside threats, and comes with an integrated AI butler who can take care of all the smart-home basics, as well as cleaning and meal prep.
[SURVEILLANCE: HIGH]
LUX TOWER
Cost: 2500c
There are only a few towers in the city like the Lux. Residents here tend to be the minority with high-paying jobs, and they’re made to feel like royalty for it. Apartments are huge, safe, and elegant, with state-of-the-art AI butlers and on-balcony jacuzzis. You’ll have a lot of choice over the aesthetic, as the Lux tries to accommodate differences in taste.
[SURVEILLANCE: HIGH]
THE AIRSHIP
Cost: 3250c
The real upper-class, the people with enough money to have a stake in Vitaria’s major-player corporations, like to avoid mingling at all with those below them. That’s both figuratively and literally, as they have taken their mansions, gardens, and luxury boutiques to the sky. You could relax comfortably here forever if you wanted to, but there is a free sky-ferry for residents to and from the airship.
[SURVEILLANCE: LOW]
Earn credits through any of the below opportunities. Your payment, as in the real world, doesn’t necessarily correspond to the difficulty of the tasks listed.
Each opportunity can only be accessed once per game, including the sale of limbs. None of the opportunities are mutually exclusive, however, and you can pick as many as you want.
This CYOA is partially non-linear. When you improve your stats in the Cybernetics section, you may then return here to make the most of any new opportunities that have opened up.
Sell What You’ve Got
These might be good for some fast creds, being available to just about anyone, even if they have some drawbacks. The negative effects of these can be negated for a price on the Cybernetics section, Bodily Restoration section.
Job Opportunities
These are gigs that will each last from a few weeks to a month, with the rewards listed being your total pay. Credit checks for certain jobs require you to live in classier neighbourhoods, where other certain jobs are unwelcome.
BARTENDER
Req: 4 INTELLIGENCE
+200c
Bartenders are strangely very respected in Vitaria. They need a level of intuition about what drinks patrons really want. A lot of people don’t have anywhere else to look to for advice other than their local bar.
WHITEHAT HACKER
Req: 6 INTELLIGENCE
+175c
You can earn a few credits by testing for vulnerabilities in information systems, then informing the organisations of where they could improve.
NEURACORP RESEARCHER
Req: 10 INTELLIGENCE, 1200c or greater accommodation
+700c
You have to be hyper-intelligent to work at NeuraCorp, but they offer good money. Assist them on a research project.
MACHINIST
Req: 8 INTELLIGENCE, 5 STRENGTH, MINIFORGE
+350c
There’s a flourishing market in machinery, especially newly burgeoning droid and mech technology. You’ll need to be talented to come up with anything that can affortably compete with BepisCo’s cheap and mass produced alternatives, and it might require a bit of heavy lifting too.
BOUNCER
Req: 6 STRENGTH
+175c
Your job is mainly just to look scary, but that doesn’t come free from competition in this city. You’ll at least have to be capable of taking out even the toughest un-aug humans.
ALLWELL SECURITY GUARD
Req: 8 STRENGTH, 1200c or greater accommodation
+400c
Your job is partially just to look scary, but also to keep careful watch over Allwell’s camera feeds, to discreetly review incoming mail, and to harass slum-dwellers who get too close to their properties.
SANGUINE GLADIATOR
Req: 10 STRENGTH, 6 AGILITY
+600c
The Sanguine Association built a massive coliseum to revive the blood sports of ancient times. The strongest of the strong compete for prize money.
ESCORT
Req: 3 AGILITY, 1200c or lower accommodation
+300c
This isn’t something everyone will be comfortable doing, but it’s as honest a job as any other.
DANCER
Req: 5 AGILITY, 1200c or lower accommodation
+200c
The bar is seedy, and you have to be able to put up with people ogling your body, but this is fairly easy work for anyone agile enough.
Crime & Cruelty
Some of these options are dangerous, others are just evil, but it turns out that most good ways of making money fall into one of those two categories. These are single missions that should take a few days at most.
SELL DEATHSTICKS
Req: Low surveillance accommodation, 3 AGILITY, 300c
+200c
Sell some of the most dangerous drugs around, deathsticks. These things are responsible for destroying people’s entire lives. You must have some startup capital and be able to evade the law. Make sure your apartment isn’t being watched.
SMUGGLE SMALL ARMS
Req: Low surveillance accommodation, 5 AGILITY, 500c, STORAGE COMPARTMENT
+325c
If you have a storage compartment, and you’re savvy enough, you could make some money moving illegal weapons around the city for the crime families. These are small guns, grenades, and unassembled parts.
SMUGGLE HEAVY WEAPONRY
Req: Low surveillance accommodation, 7 AGILITY, 600c, 200c or better vehicle
+400c
You’ll need a car to move around larger articles of contraband, and it will need to be something expensive enough to make people assume that searching you isn’t worth the legal fees. These are things like lascannons. Whenever guns like these are pulled out, it’s never without civilian casualties.
PERFORM A HIT
Req: Any kind of offensive weapon, 5 AGILITY or 5 STRENGTH
+350c
An anonymous individual, presumably a rival for power, is offering a neat reward for taking out a BepisCo board member.
HIGH-SPEED BIKE RACING
Req: SHREDDER BIKE, 10 AGILITY
+250c
These events are dangerous, and it’s not at all unheard of for people to die during them. You’ll need to be an expert at handling your bike to even compete.
SANGUINE ANNUAL GAMESHOW
+350c
The Sanguine Annual Gameshow is an annual glorification of sadomasochism that is watched by millions. Some watch purely for the spectacle of it, but interests of the mega-rich who fund it go far beyond that in their enjoyment of violence. You can win prize money here, but only if you’re willing to stomp a puppy to death for it, or something you can think of that’s similarly grotesque.
MEMORY THIEF
Req: DATASPIKE, 6 INTELLIGENCE, 7 AGILITY.
+300c
Knowledge is power, nothing matters as much as good intel, and the best source of intel is often a dataspike jammed into the neck of your enemies. Your job is to target vulnerable people who might have information sought by your secretive employers. You are not to read the memories, merely extract and deliver them.
Gambling Opportunities
This city is full of casinos offering you the chance to gamble away your life, sometimes literally.
GAMBLE MONEY (200)
Req: 200c
This one isn’t too risky.
Flip a coin. You make 200c if it’s heads, lose 200c if it’s tails.
GAMBLE MONEY (400)
Req: 400c
The risk is a little bigger here.
Flip a coin. You make 400c if it’s heads, lose 400c if it’s tails.
GAMBLE BLOOD
The megacorporation known as the Sanguine Association run a particularly strange game in this casino.
Roll a die. If the number is 1, 2, or 3, subtract it from your STRENGTH. If the number is 4, 5, or 6, you make 300c.
These are offered both for your personal satisfaction as well as for opening up new opportunities. Feel free to purchase an upgrade, return to the Earning Money section, and then proceed with any new paths that have become available. You may wish to save some credits until you have looked at the Technology section, where you will also be able to spend.
Each option can only be picked once.
Bodily Restoration
If you sell a limb or a lung under ‘Sell What You’ve Got’, you can use this section to find a replacement. Your new parts might work better or worse than your old ones.
Transhuman Living
Transcend the limits of your human condition. These are various technological enhancements, both bionic and genetic, that will improve the way your body functions.
MEMORY BANK
Cost: 300c
This implant sits in your hippocampus and provides long-term memory storage. It isn’t unlimited in capacity, but it’s much more efficient than an un-aug brain at sorting which information is important to keep and which isn’t. You will be less likely to forget things in general, and almost never forget things that matter a lot.
Add 2 points to INTELLIGENCE.
COGBOOSTER
Cost: 300c
An implant that speeds up your brain and helps it create efficient connections. It will provide a mild boost to practically all areas of cognitive functioning, including fast-thinking, focus, and even motivation. It's almost a necessity if you want to appear smart to others in Vitaria.
Add 2 points to INTELLIGENCE.
CEREBRAL CONSOLE
Cost: 150c
This allows you to fluidly write and read text files in your mind, as well as to write and run code. A port in your neck can be used to transfer the results onto a portable storage device, which can then be given to someone else or used with a matching port on a computer.
Add 1 point to INTELLIGENCE.
DATASPIKE
Cost: 150c
Req: CEREBRAL CONSOLE
A dataspike in your finger skips the need for a portable storage device and allows you to upload code directly from your mind and into a machine, simply by sticking it inside. You could also stick it directly into someone’s neck and steal data from their cerebral server or memory bank implants. This is a staple pick for hackers.
NETCONNECT
Cost: 150c
Connect to the wired with your mind! Read web pages, news articles, and watch microTube videos. Combine this with the cerebral console, camera implant, or audioplus to directly upload information without having to transfer it to a wired connected computer using a portable device or dataspike first.
Add 1 to your INTELLIGENCE.
CAMERA IMPLANT
Cost: 175c
Record video and take high-resolution photographs with your eyes. You can view them at any time, or make copies of them to trade with other people, though you should note that this may not always work for gathering compelling evidence for a thing in a world where deep fakes are so easily created. If you get a close enough look at another person’s eye, it is actually possible to use this to hack retinal scanners where they have authorisation to pass. This also comes with a flash photography option that could be used for self-defence purposes.
WIKIVISION
Cost: 75c
Req: CAMERA IMPLANT, NETCONNECT
Just with a glance at an object or person, you can attempt to match the image to an online database that will display any relevant information. This is fast, and doesn’t take you out of what you’re doing with extra steps. Examples of what it could bring up for you are encyclopedia pages, dictionary entries, similar images, or public social media profiles.
Add 1 to your INTELLIGENCE.
AUDIOPLUS
Cost: 100c
Your hearing will be improved beyond normal human capabilities. You will be able to listen to conversations taking place on the other side of thick concrete walls, hear a 20% wider range of frequencies, and choose to record audio clips and play them inside your ear at later dates. On command, you can also shorten the range of frequencies you're able to hear. This is an excellent tool for a spy.
SUBDERMAL MESH
Cost: 300c
Getting a mesh underneath your skin can protect you from a lot of dangers, and will look entirely discreet. The mesh is stab-proof, and is also designed to deflect bullets away from vital organs. A few tiny holes exist in the mesh just in case you ever require emergency medical intervention.
Add 2 points to STRENGTH.
BONE PLATING
Cost: 175c
Your bones can be hardened to a point that will make them incredibly difficult to break. This important for anyone who expects to take a lot of bumps. Your whole body will feel slightly weightier, more resilient, and you'll also hit harder in melee combat.
Add 1 point to STRENGTH.
ADRENALINE CONTROLLER
Cost: 150c
This implant lets you control your adrenaline, inhibiting or encouraging the hormone at will. A rush of adrenaline can be used to increase blood flow to your muscles and make you stronger and more durable, filtering out pain. Adrenaline suppression can help you keep calm and avoid stress.
Add 1 point to STRENGTH.
ENHANCED BREATHING
Cost: 175c
With these gene edits, your blood will acidify much more slowly than that of other people, and staying alive won’t actually require you to breathe much at all. This upgrade will make you capable of holding your breath for an additional ten minutes with no discomfort. You could use this to go underwater.
Add 1 point to AGILITY.
ENHANCED BALANCE
Cost: 150c
Your balance can be improved by the placement of a special gyroscope into your inner ear. As well as helping you navigate tight ledges and rooftops, it will allow you to more easily make complex and hyper precise movements.
Add 1 point to AGILITY.
HYPER-REFLEX
Cost: 175c
Super-fast reflexes will improve your ability to move around quickly, whether it's to dodge a punch, quickdraw a gun, or catch objects as they fall. This provides an obvious boost to your agility.
Add 1 point to AGILITY.
HYDRAULIC LIMBS
Cost: 175c
Hydraulics make you capable of massive jumps. Given how densely packed buildings are in Vitaria, you will easily be able to move from rooftop to rooftop, window to window, or maybe even hovercar to hovercar.
Add 1 point to AGILITY.
GECKO GRIPS
Cost: 200c
Special lining makes your bare hands and feet able to grip onto almost anything. You will be capable of climbing up walls and ceilings until your muscles wear out, and grabbing objects very tightly and easily even with your feet.
Add 1 point to AGILITY.
TRACHEAL FILTER
Cost: 75c
With the tracheal filter, you are essentially immune to all common inhaled poisons. As the air quality has become so incredibly bad in Vitaria, this is very common for anyone with any money to spend on this sort of thing. Un-aug people often resort to respirators and gas masks.
STORAGE COMPARTMENT
Cost: 175c
Get a storage compartment implanted with the dimensions of 5 inches by 5 inches. Through a discrete hatch in your skin, items are easy to deposit and withdraw. Though security checkpoints exist with cameras that can detect this kind of thing, it will work in most situations for hiding small objects from people.
SEROTONIN CONTROLLER
Cost: 175c
Allwell developed this, and it is now mandatory for most of their employees as a way of increasing productivity. The implant monitors your emotions and can be set to automatically prevent your serotonin levels from falling too low or getting too high, allowing you to maintain a comfortable emotional standard.
SLEEP BOOSTER
Cost: 175c
Your sleep will be more effective and you will be able to stay awake for much longer before feeling the effects of tiredness. 8 hours of sleep will now be enough to keep you awake for about 32 hours. This should let you get a lot more done with your day, mitigate some of the effects of selling your dreams, and make sure it easier to be alert and on-guard more of the time.
SEDATIVE SALVA
Cost: 75c
At will, secrete a poison from your mouth that can put people to sleep. This is good for a more subtle approach to your problems, as you can poison your target by, for example, kissing them passionately, or spitting in their drink. You are immune to your own poison.
ACID SPIT
Cost: 125c
At will, secrete a poison from your mouth that will burn like acid. It won’t kill anyone unless it’s ingested in large quantities, but spitting in somebody’s eye could potentially blind them, and would definitely injure and distract them. A bite with a lot of acid saliva in it would really burn. You are immune to your own poison.
RETRACTABLE RAZORS
Cost: 200c
Razors with a nano-atomic edge, 3cm in length and shaped into viscous spikes. These can be implanted underneath your fingernails and hidden with nail polish. They can cause serious damage to a person up-close and then be retracted very quickly.
FLAMER PALMS
Cost: 175c
Tiny flamethrowers can be added to your wrists, allowing you to shoot small jets of fire from your palms. These are near invisible to anyone who isn’t looking specifically for them, making them a good weapon for catching people by surprise, even if they are very showy and prone to causing collateral damage from time to time.
TAILORED PHEROMONES
Cost: 100c
This won’t force anyone to like you as a person, but it will make you naturally more attractive on a subconscious level. You’ll smell good and people will be more likely to be drawn to you and to enjoy being around you.
VOICE CHANGER
Cost: 100c
You will be able to mimic the voice of anyone you have listened to. The more you listen to them, the better the mimicry will be, but even a short conversation or audio clip should be enough to give you pretty good results.
FILTERED VISION
Cost: 175c
This enables you to see in the dark by switching to a night vision mode that collects and amplifies available light. This also enables you to switch to a thermal vision mode that captures and displays infrared.
THERMAL REGULATION
Cost: 100c
With this, you will rarely be too hot or too cold. You will be able to sit comfortably naked in the snow, or wear a big winter coat into a desert. Due to climate collapse, the city often faces extreme weather situations where this could just passively make your life more comfortable, but it could have other uses too.
SMART-MONITOR
Cost: 125c
Get a smart-monitor implanted into your forearm that can display any sort of numerical information that it would ever be relevant to discuss with your doctor, such as heart rate, blood pressure, and hormone levels. The smart-monitor can also perform any basic function that you would expect the average phone to be able to do, such as sending texts, playing minesweeper, or telling the time.
KEMONOMIMI AUG
Cost: 200c
This option can get a pair of animal ears, a tail to match, and a little pair of fangs. These become as much a part of your body as any other bit of you. The ears are optionally hyper-sensitive to touch, and optionally replace your human ears entirely. For some reason, this package is very popular with the anarchist Automat faction.
BEASTMORPH AUG
Cost: 300c
With this, you can essentially take on the appearance of an anthropomorphic animal. You think, walk, and talk like a human still, but you appear far more like an animal than someone with a kemonomi augmentation. You can be covered head to toe in fur, or even in scales if that’s more to your liking. With this package, the fangs can be considered decent weapons.
REMOVE THE NEURACORP TATTOO
Cost: 100c
Logo tattoos are specially designed to be difficult to remove, but it’s still not impossible. If the NeuraCorp branding bothers you, you can pay someone to make it look like it was never there.
This won’t keep you safe or make your body any better, but it might be necessary for peace of mind, if you can’t stand being a walking NeuraCorp advertisement.
Note on aesthetic augs: Only the more major of the primarily aesthetic augments are covered above, you can obviously still get small aesthetic changes like tattoos, piercings, contacts, and dyed hair. This is mentioned here because you can even use modern inks and dyes that are metallic, change colour based on your mood, emit a subtle glow, or even cause transparency. All of this is relatively inexpensive.
Note on dataspikes, and brain digitization: While it is possible to digitize brains and upload them to bodies, as shown by NeuraCorp’s experiment in the introduction, this is still very new technology. It’s not possible to transfer your consciousness into someone else’s body using just a dataspike, you would need NeuraCorp’s machines. One could even, in theory, use these machines to duplicate a mind and place the copies in several different bodies. Stacks are a concept that exist, but there are no working examples yet.
This section covers technology that doesn’t directly change your body. These are things that might be useful or enjoyable to own. Each option can only be picked once.
Guns & Gadgets
There are more of these in the world than there are on the below list, but it should provide an idea of common technology and price ranges.
EMP STUNGUN
Cost: 150c
A hit from this feels at first like being punched in the chest really hard, and then like a full-body shock. This can stun you and shut off all of your implants for a few seconds, sometimes corrupting data files. It’s not supposed to be lethal, but it can be to people who are extensively augmented. It could also be used to briefly shut down machines.
COMPACT AUTOPISTOL
Cost: 100c
Semi-automatic pistol that fires 12 low calibre rounds. This also folds up, making it easily concealable or placed inside a storage implant.
BLAST-500 REVOLVER
Cost: 175c
Repeating handgun with 6 chambers that fires high calibre rounds. This can cause a lot of damage even to the strongest enemies and mechs, if you can get up close.
GM70 SUBMACHINE GUN
Cost: 225c
This SMG has a bullpup design with an integrated and tritrium-illuminated reflex sight and fully ambidextrous controls. It fires 50 small calibre, high velocity rounds.
YT-738 SNIPER RIFLE
Cost: 250c
Sniper rifle that fires high calibre rounds with a muzzle velocity of over 900, and an expected firing range of over 2 kilometres. Its scope allows you to place high-visibility markers on targets, and has night and thermal camera options.
LASRIFLE
Cost: 275c
The lasrifle uses a small portable capacitor powerpack to fire pinpoint laser shots. The power of these shots can be adjusted to levels between soup warmer and the ability to tear right through a person and then immediately cauterise the injury. At max power, it requires recharging after 200 shots. Hacking these weapons can overcharge them, turning them into makeshift grenades.
LASCANNON
Cost: 325c
Req: 6 STRENGTH to use solo
The lascannon is a very big and very heavy gun capable of tearing into most vehicles, mechs, and even buildings. This requires a lot of strength to wield and fire. At max power, it requires recharging after 15 shots. Hacking these to overcharge them can cause large explosions. Maybe someone could mount it onto a vehicle for you if it’s not something you can carry around easily.
GRIP MINES
Cost: 100c
These are versatile explosives with a variety of settings. They can grip tightly to objects or people. They can be exploded by pressure, remotely, or set to a timer. They can be set up for use as small breaching charges or to maximize their explosive damage potential.
GAS BOMBS
Cost: 50c
Poisonous gasses won’t cause much damage to anyone with a tracheal filter, but could completely shred up an un-augmented person’s internal organs. The DARKSUN terrorist faction make regular use of these to cause massive damage in the city slums. These can otherwise be used as harmless smoke grenades, obscuring the vision of anyone without filtered vision.
LASER KATANA
Cost: 125c
The sharp edge of this sword can be ignited, making it capable of cutting through subdermal meshing as though it were never there, and instantly cauterising injuries where chunks or limbs are cut from a person. Unignited, it’s still a sharp and lightweight sword. It’s recommended that you have a high agility stat to use this.
PACK OF STIMS
Cost: 100c
These are controlled and expensive. They’re commonly used as recreational drugs, overloading all your senses and emotions and riling you up, but they’re important in medicine too. One shot will cause your body to massively accelerate its natural healing processes. A small calibre bullet, for example, could be totally gone before the day is out. The pack carries enough for multiple combat missions.
DISRUPTION NET
Cost: 250c
This material can be put on a person or an equally sized object and provide partial invisibility. The net is designed to mess with people’s heads when they glance at it, making them default to not consciously noticing anything. It can’t fool filtered vision, or trick someone who stares directly at it when it’s kept in place for more than a moment.
MINIFORGE
Cost: 250c
A very precise and fast 3D printer. Any template you can find on the wired is for use with this type of machine. Making parts for small weapons is possible, and it’s also great as a hobbyist tool.
HOLOPOD
Cost: 150c
Get a holopod to play out simulations that feel real in every possible way. You can even switch on realistic pain and pleasure! All of the best games are holopod games, and it can be used for training and recreation too. There’s unlimited possibility in exploring fantasy worlds.
CHAMELI-SUIT
Cost: 50c
Clothing that automatically adjusts based on weather conditions and local formalities. It could let you go straight from a run-down bar to a high class restaurant, and it could put a coat on you moments after it starts to rain. You can control the colors and broad aesthetic details, but can't use it to copy uniforms.
TRUE CHAMELI-SUIT
Cost: 225c
Stolen tech, so you don't want the megacorps to catch you owning this. It's capable of copying uniforms thanks to a complicated machine learning system. It can even automatically work out what is considered fashionable within specific subscultures and gangs just by you spending lots of time near them, making infiltration easy.
WARSUIT
Cost: 325c
Req: 6 STRENGTH
This heavy suit of armor basically turns you into a one-person tank. A bullet from most non-energy weapons will be practically unnoticable, and even a grenade is unlikely to seriously harm you. The helmet also provides the effects of Trachael Filter and Filtered Vision.
AI CHIP
Cost: 125c
This chip contains an AI personality. You can insert it into a vehicle, gun, warsuit, or even a cebrebral console to add virtual assistant functionality. They will be able to have conversations, report key details about the state of the machine, and follow simple verbal commands as long as it is nearby.
PAL-BOT
Cost: 150c
This is a robot available as a purchased companion, optionally in the shape of an animal, sized between a rat and large dog. It can play music, query the internet, record audio and video, fetch items for you, or follow the behavioural patterns of a common household pet. You will need to charge it every other day.
AERIAL PAL-BOT
Cost: 225c
This does the same things as a regular PAL-BOT, but sized between a mosquito and a large bird, and now with flight capabilities. This has become a very popular tool for anyone interested in espionage.
Vehicles
All of these vehicles come with inbuilt GPS, and optional self-driving to your destinations. Self-driving by default tends to be very careful, though restrictions can be bypassed even by amateur hackers.
There are private businesses offering transport service alternatives in Vitaria. There’s a subway system under the city, though it tends to be dirty and overcrowded. There are elevated monorails in the city center that, for some stops, travel between the upper levels of the district’s skyscrapers. And BepisCo offer self-driving taxis, as well as it being legal for anyone to operate a taxi without any kind of special license. Each one of these options are fairly expensive to use on a daily basis, and guarantee that your face will get scanned by camera somewhere.
CONTROL RIG
Cost: 75c
This is a vehicle related implant that will allow you to link your mind with any vehicle that you buy from this section. You will be capable thereafter of controlling every aspect of the vehicle remotely. Unlike with an AI chip, there is no range limit and you can be very precise with your intentions.
BEPISCO MINIBIKE
Cost: 100c
Taking a bike, and lane splitting at every opportunity, is probably a ground-dweller’s best strategy for quickly navigating the busier districts of the city. The BepisCo Minibike is very cheap, and thus a very common sight wherever you go. It doesn’t look flashy, it doesn’t go fast, and it doesn’t handle well, but it’s better than walking.
SALVAGED TRUCK
Cost: 125c
You might question why this ever was designed, or why anyone would ever think it a good idea to salvage it, or whether it was repaired well enough to be safe for you to drive, but you can’t ignore that it’s a lot of truck for a low, low price! You can 6 people inside the vehicle, and it has a small bed capable of carrying a payload of up to 3,500 pounds. The steel is durable.
SUNBEAM CLASSIC
Cost: 150c
Some people consider its neon light fixtures to be a bit too much, but many more consider the Sunbeam Classic to be a real staple of Vitaria's colorful city center. This car isn't great for high-speed chases, but it handles well and is certainly nothing to be ashamed of. You can fit in easily with this, and it can seat two people very comfortably.
VESPERTILIO
Cost: 200c
This luxury car is fast, classy, and comes with tinted bulletproof glass as well as four bulletproof tyres. There's an optional fingerprint or retina activation lock, and full-personality AI already installed. You can even have it in any color you want as long as it’s black! It's a favorite of Lux Tower residents and upper-middle level corporate workers. The car can seat five people with ample legroom for everyone inside.
SHREDDER BIKE
Cost: 225c
This viscious-looking bike was designed and sold by Sanguine. It’s fast, loud, and angry, making its presence known wherever it goes. You can optionally set it up to be activated by your fingerprints as they touch the handles, and to eject sharp knives from them if they are touched by anyone else. The only people who own this kind of bike are Sanguine agents, very wealthy thrill-seekers, and people at the very top levels of biker gangs and crime syndicates.
STANDARD HOVERCAR
Cost: 275c
This can fly high above the streets, and allow you to cross large sections of the city very quickly. Hovercars are much superior to ones that move on the ground when you want to cross longer distances, or for the convenience of being able to part directly atop a skyscraper. This car has restrictions built into it, however, that prevent you from getting too high and reaching the airship. Perhaps a skilled hacker might be able to disable that? Seats four.
CYGNET HOVERCAR
Cost: 325c
This vehicle is typical of people who live in the airship. The Cygnet branding and in-fashion design guarantee you that your vehicle will impress just about anyone. It’s luxurious and free of built-in restrictions, you could even safely take it high above the airship to get an amazing view. It’s also much faster than a standard hovercar, capable of participating in air races. Optional fingerprint or retina activation, and full-personality AI. Five luxury seats with a lot of legroom.
Eventually, even in the midst of chaos, someone will stand out to you, or you’ll stand out to someone. In times like these, when you find a person who you feel like you can trust, you should keep them very close. You’ll probably have to do things to help their causes, but they’ll help you in return, so just make sure that your goals aren’t opposites.
You may pick two allies for free from the below list.
If you would like to pick more than two allies, then for every subsequent pick you must also pick one person to be your enemy. Enemies will end up with a strong reason to want you gone or dead, and you should expect them to act on it to the best of their ability.
Where a character is an established member of a major faction, this is stated next to their name in brackets. You don’t need to pick any specific ally in order to join any specific group, but you can consider them to be potential routes in. Skip to Appendix: Faction Lore and back if you would like to read some more notes about the factions mentioned.
HOLDEN CASE
Holden is an incredibly talented computer hacker who used to work for NeuraCorp before he was caught stealing from them. His punishment was some kind of torture, and he refuses to say much about the specifics of it, but his crippling addiction to death sticks clearly didn’t come out of nowhere. He lost his wife as a result, and had to move from Allwell House to the tunnels below the city, where he is rarely willing to leave his residence. At this point, most jobs he takes come from the city’s crime lords. He knows just about every major player in Vitaria’s underworld, even if he doesn’t like to believe that he has much in common with them.
As a person, Holden is jaded and neurotic, obsessively in need of control in the spaces around him, and mostly preferring to be alone. There is more to this, however, and if you’re willing to put up with him for long enough then you might eventually start to see glimpses of a more endearing personality. There’s a loveable nerd still alive somewhere underneath the drugs and beyond his emotional walls.
RAIN
Rain is a stealth operative with a wide range of talents. She is quick on the draw with her handguns, an amateur hacker, and knows more unmapped alleyways and secret passages through the city than anyone else you’re likely to meet. Her real talent, however, is her charisma. She is sassy and flirty, a social chameleon who can expertly take on different identities and personalities to get what she wants.
She will take work from absolutely anyone, as her only real allegiance is ever going to be to her own pockets, and you can never be sure if she’s using you for an ulterior motive or not. You will have to constantly prove your usefulness to her as an ally, and never know if any of the emotions that she expresses to you are genuine, but her assistance on any mission could be invaluable.
She seems to have some kind of obsession with jazz music, and could tell you just about anything you ever needed to know about it.
DISTANCED YURI
Yuri was a low-level biotech research assistant just a few years ago, but tragedy forced him down a very different path. He has honed his art as the most deadly sniper in the city, vowing to find and kill every leading executive of the Sanguine Association. He is certain that they are responsible for the disappearance of his husband and daughter after his family fell into debt with them. Revenge is the only motivator he has now.
He lives a monkish life, keeping himself totally focused on his goal. A single bonsai tree is the sole piece of aesthetic decoration in his Megatower apartment. He talks very little about anything beside the mission at hand, and fully intends to end his own life once Sanguine is ruined. There is probably very little that you can do to change his mind about any of this.
LEAH RIVERS
Leah is an investigative journalist who was born in the Walled City, but now lives in a Megatower. She believes stubbornly that something needs to be done to improve the lives of the people at the bottom of society, and has devoted herself to finding and exposing injustices perpetrated by those at the top. It is her dream to make real, positive change. She supports the aims of a group called the Freedom and Justice Movement, which seeks the restoration of an elected government, but is wary of the political aspirations of the movement’s charismatic leader, David Oberon.
Finding out people’s darkest secrets and blending into social situations expertly are her primary skills, and it’s only a matter of time before she stumbles across some information that somebody will want her dead just for knowing. She can wield a gun, but that might not keep her safe if she’s on her own in this.
JYNX
Jynx is a mechanic who regularly does work for biker gangs, and people involved in death racing. They can take any vehicle and do something to improve it, whether it’s adding speed, handling, armour plating, rams, spikes, caltrops, is or mounting weapons. They can hack to a decent level when it comes to machinery, and are also pretty talented at both driving and melee combat.
Their favourite part of their job is experimenting with new ideas, and they love it when people come to them with something interesting in mind. One of their bigger hobby projects is the creation of an armed spider-walker mech from scratch. They’re hyperactive, finding it difficult to focus on many things outside of their interests, but they’re also friendlier than most. They always seem to be in a good mood, and don’t have much time for people who are dark and brooding. The best way to impress them is with junk food and energetic conversation.
CAEL NOVA
Cael is the older and more mature Nova brother. He takes all manner of mercenary work for megacorporations and private individuals. For the right price, he will do almost anything, but he prefers to get in and out of jobs with as little collateral damage as possible. He does not think of himself as a person who causes more harm than is necessary. Cael is highly respected in his field. It’s for this reason that he no longer teams up with his younger brother Blitz, whom he has come to resent for his reckless and sociopathic attitude towards carnage.
He loves guns, and has a very extensive collection. Though it may take a long time for him to trust you enough with his weapons, he might eventually open up to the idea of letting you borrow something from time to time. He also likes to drink, which is probably the only time his steely front gives way to big smiles and dirty jokes.
BLITZ NOVA
Blitz is the younger and less stable Nova brother. He is extensively augmented, taking even the shadiest implants if he thinks they will make him better at what he does. Mercenary work from anyone is good enough for him, and he has almost no regard for human life. Even the people who pay work are terrified of being in the same room as him for too long. He seems to care more about causing destruction and death than he does any of the monetary rewards of his jobs. He is over-sensitive, and has a big inferiority complex regarding his older brother Cael, sometimes fantasizing about taking him out for good.
He specialises in explosives and demolition, enjoying every bit of chaos that ensues. He has a flamethrower in each palm, and tends to kit up with a lascannon and a pile of grip mines even for the simplest of missions. Though he isn’t a reliable friend to anyone who won’t pay him lip-service, he bends incredibly easily to flattery. He will be overjoyed to help you with anything that carries the potential for a fight, and he’s more than capable too.
KITTY KRIMSON (AUTOMAT)
Kitty is an anarchist, and a dedicated member of a political group and terrorist cell known as Automat. Her augments include kemonomimi edits to give herself cat ears and a tail, as well as retractable razors on both hands. Her core role with the group is as a hacker, but she has also been taught the basics for a large range of different weapons and gadgets. On the other side of things, she is clumsy, can’t do any heavy lifting, and gets distracted easily by balls of yarn. She tries to be caring and kind to anyone who comes to her for support, but she is uncompromising in her Automat values. Kitty is also one of the few vegetarians in the city, refusing to eat even synthetic meat.
Many people are prejudiced against ‘catgirls’, quoting them as a sign of degeneracy and moral decay, but society is mostly opening up. A few people, conversely, fetishise catgirls to an unhealthy and disrespectful level. A ‘catgirl rights’ movement exists in Vitaria that aims to fight against discrimination. ‘Kitty Krimson’ isn’t the name that she got at birth, it was originally conceived as an Automat pseudonym, but she has since made it her true identity.
WASP NIMBLE (DARKSUN)
Wasp is a chief organizer for a political group and terrorist cell known as DARKSUN, who believe in drastic action to restore centralized power and order. He is an expert leader, stoic when it comes to carrying out the will of the group, and he has done unspeakable things to advance their cause. His thin, agile body is stronger than it looks, with subdermal meshing and plated bones. His mind is as sharp as the nano-atomic edge of his knife, which he wears visibly at all times as a threat. His gun of choice is the BLAST-500 revolver.
He can be impressed by the principles of aggression, dominance, and a reverence for leadership. More than that, however, he values aesthetics. He will want very little to do with you if you are not beautiful, and nothing to do with you if you don’t know how to dress smartly, even if that’s not common in DARKSUN’s lower ranks. He likes fine wine, expensive restaurants, esoteric literature, and the hedonistic pursuit of bodily pleasures. A number of people in DARKSUN see him as something of a degenerate, but it is kept quiet because he has become an irreplaceable part of the group.
STORM PIG (ANTERRA FAMILY)
Storm is a henchperson for the Anterra family. They’re not high up in the chain of command, and have little influence on the group, but their size and strength leads them to being chosen often as security for the most dangerous and important meetings. They get to listen in on many interesting conversations, and at least get the chance to speak to people all throughout the underworld. A long time ago, they used to participate in Sanguine’s bloodsports arena, and very nearly took home the top prize. Those years weren’t good for Storm’s long-term health, but they’re still capable of crushing almost anyone in close combat. Their gun of choice is a blast-500 shotgun, which is usually always overkill.
They know that Anterra do evil things, but they’re used to a standard of living that no other available line of work can provide them. They at least believe Anterra to be morally superior to Promaris, as well as the biker gangs, who they see as prejudiced, uncivilized, and unreasonable. Storm is actually a big fan of rom-coms and musicals.
ANDY YU (CAPSULE BIKER)
Not many people can drive a bike better than Andy, and not many people can aim their guns better while moving at full speed. They are agile, precise, and will make everything they do look stylish and cool. They can mod bikes, but don’t know much about other vehicles or machines at all, and mainly focus on flashy appearances. Other Capsule Gang bikers often pay them to convert plain bikes into levbikes that can move slightly above ground, avoiding dangers of direct contact with the road such as caltrops.
They’re in the gang partly just for the thrill of racing, but also to better care for their sick sister who needs a lot of expensive medications. They will do anything for their family, and anything for their friends. In very quiet moments, they can get a little weepy and sentimental, but they’re generally regarded as the life of the party and the center of attention. Their biggest flaw is that their hotheadedness towards authority puts them at a big risk for getting into trouble.
Andy knows all the best parties and raves in the city.
OSCAR FITZ (BEPISCO)
Oscar is a businessman who works for BepisCo. His job is his life, and he doesn’t know how to think of himself as anything other than his position in the company. It consumes the vast majority of his time, as he has to do a lot of bureaucratic work even while 'resting' at home. He lives in the Lux tower, and aspires to climb the corporate ladder and make it to the airship someday. He has never fired a gun, he can barely operate a computer, and it’s really not clear if he has any serious talents at all. He does, however, have money and connections.
He’s just your average guy, enjoying the most popular TV shows, sports, and holopod games. When he’s waving his cash around, he seems happiest, and he’s constantly buying gifts and drinks for the small number of friends that he has. He would probably be very grateful to meet anyone outside of the ordinary for once. You might say that his life is a bit boring right now.
Z4 (SANGUINE)
Z4 had something special done to her neural implant by the Sanguine Association. She has some kind of strangle telekinetic ability that allows her to manipulate objects from a distance, cause piercing head pain, and even affect people’s thoughts and vision. Z4 is ruthless in her use of these powers, and works to improve them while advancing Sanguine’s goals. She almost always wears a mask, as her mods have made her intolerant to sunlight.
These abilities are a way of life. She has lost a lot of the individuality she once had as a girl who found herself struggling against menacing thoughts from a young age. If you are willing to follow the dark path that she did, perhaps her abilities could eventually be yours too, and then maybe you’ll get along. Until then, Z4 will always view you as a lesser creature and a tool.
KAZUO
Kazuo is more machine than human flesh. They no longer relate to most people anymore, wanting almost nothing, and caring little for social norms. Somehow though, they still seem more human than most people, as they prefer to help rather than cause harm. They will go out of their way to do good things when they see opportunities to. If forced into combat, they always have a new trick weapon augment to pull out and surprise their opponent with.
They feel enlightened on some level by their connection to the cybernetic, as though each augment pushes them closer to some ultimate mechanical truth of the universe. They are inspired by what could be seen as a religious fervour for post-humanism. They have built themselves a one-of-a-kind intelligent droid as a companion and lover.
CHEUNG
Cheung owns a tiny restaurant nestled into a busy part of the city. They serve very cheap, very tasty, but very unhealthy food. He employs a small number of staff, and gives them each a direct cut of the profits from the business. He likes to get to know everyone who comes in regularly, and has built a lot of friendships in low places as a result. He seems to get along with everyone and laugh at just about any joke.
As a friend of Cheung, his restaurant will become a safe haven for you no matter what trouble you’re in, and he will always be happy to listen to your stories and your grievances. He is good at giving advice, wanting what’s best for you, even if he has few practical skills to add to your cause besides cooking.
CELESTE VILLENEUVE
Working as an augmentation technician at GeneForce, a NeuraCorp subsidiary, Celeste genuinely believes in the power that transhumanity has to improve people’s lives. She isn’t happy about the level of control that the megacorps have over the rest of society, or the concentration of augments in the hands of the rich, but she believes that she can do little to change it. She just hopes that her work will one day be used for the common good. Her dream is of a world where nobody ever has to age or die.
In her personal life, she’s quite lonely. Most of her time is spent with old movies, and her cat. While she has a small group of friends who she goes out with sometimes, and loves dearly, they care for little outside of their careers and their families, and have fallen prey to the vapid materialism of Vitaria’s city center. She wears expensive clothes in order to fit in, but her heart isn’t really there.
JOANDRA WOLFF
Joandra is a distinguished mech pilot for the Vitarian Merchants Association, although she has been stationed in Vitaria without a combat assignment for the past two years. Her real job nowadays is just to show her mech off to civilians at events, make working for the VMA seem like a cool thing to do, and let people know that Vitaria’s megacorps have some serious firepower at their disposal. She prefers this kind of work to actually fighting, as the VMA are rarely fighting for anything beyond monetary gain.
She smokes a lot, tells snarky jokes, and tends to get along with anybody who isn’t full of themselves. She has a messy apartment with two large dogs, where she sometimes creates watercolor art. If she could do anything, it would be to travel the world for a reason other than war.
The mech is a bulky NOMAD FIVE model. It’s humanoid, and six meters tall. It has two arms, two cannons, a heavy machine gun, and jump rockets on the legs.
YARA ZOLIERE
Yara is a hologame streamer, and an up-and-coming pop sensation who has achieved a lot of success with her debut single. As the daughter of an Allwell security guard, she didn’t have a poor upbringing, but she was never exposed to large amounts of wealth before either. She’s reckless with her new fortune, splashing out on clothes, parties, drugs, and paying off the debts of even her most distant friends. She’s bubbly, excitable, and full of life, treating the city as her personal playground.
She genuinely believes that she will soon become one of Vitaria’s top celebrities, and won’t let anybody tell her otherwise. Most people would say that her outlook on life is incredibly naive, as although it may be working out for her so far, it’s unlikely to work out for her forever. While she is talented, if she’s going to avoid falling prey to music industry vultures, she’ll definitely need somebody to look out for her.
JESPER AHMED
Jesper is one of the most wanted men in Vitaria. He has been called a brutish thief, a drugged-up psychopath, and a madman serial killer who slaughters with impunity. He has been involved in countless heists, assassinations, death races, and smuggling operations. And while it’s true that he has murdered a lot of people, and it’s also true that he has done so in particularly brutal and gory ways, most of the claims against him are still false.
Growing up in the eastern slums, and witnessing more than one Darksun terror attack go uninvestigated by Allwell, Jesper learned to hate the rich and powerful. He fought back in the only way he knew how to, with a Gek-99 SMG and a bag full of grip mines. Those who actually know him on a personal level are aware that he treats his friends very well, and never intends to cause any harm to the people at the bottom. Every fortnight, he secretly visits his grandmother with food and medical supplies for distribution amongst the poor.
AIMEE SLAZAK
Aimee was a quiet romantic until her boyfriend, an important Capsule Gang member, was found brutally murdered by Nexro bikers. She underwent some kind of mental break, violently lashing out against the world and herself, before eventually mellowing into the stylish and street savvy killer that she is today. She does mercenary work, but never for corps, just for individuals and small gangs. Most of the people that she works with view her as sadistic and unstable, but she is yet to cross a line that can’t be uncrossed. While she isn’t formally a member of the Capsule Gang, they have a lot of sympathy for her, and try to keep her safe.
She loves cars, and is deeply involved in street racing. She modifies all of her vehicles, outfits, and weapons to be as flashy as possible. Her other interests are with the occult, which tends to surprise many people. It’s obvious when you take a good look, however, as a lot of the tattoos on her body, and stickers on her car, are actually sigils and protective charms.
DURSTAN KURELL
Durstan is entirely synthetic, a mixture of the highest quality lab grown and factory built parts, but he was raised in the dark about this. He grew up as the son of a Cygnet executive, and was 27 before he finally realized the truth of his creation. In the ensuing argument with his father, he learned that he was little more than a “silly little pet project”, and one that achieved weaker results than were hoped for. He left the airship for the first time and never once looked back.
Wealthy, hyper-intelligent, and fully disillusioned, Durstan mostly wastes his time with mind games, opera, and fine dining. Huge bookshelves are spaced all throughout his Lux Apartment, which he lives in alone. He uses his powerfully augmented 6’7 body for little more than consuming large quantities of expensive drugs that would kill the average person. He feels empty most of the time.
While he hasn’t been in many firefights, he can move faster, hit harder, and take more damage than most people. He even ages about half as quickly as everybody else.
Once you’ve saved up a few credits, augmented yourself, made a few friends, and settled in to the city, you might want to dedicate yourself to a greater goal. It is up to you how many things you want to achieve, and what exactly you want to achieve, but below is a list of examples along with some exposition about these paths. They are causes to which you can dedicate all of the resources, allies, and auguments you have accumulated thus far.
FIGHT THE MEGACORPORATIONS
There are many ways to approach this, and many people who would be willing to help for different reasons. You will probably need to forge alliances with some of them, if not join their movements, as nobody can reasonably challenge the corporate hegemony alone. This will be a hard battle to fight.
Direct conflict will mainly put you in battle with Allwell Security Services, and various assassins sent after you by the other groups. Automat strongly insist that the best thing to do is to cut the head off of the snake by destroying the airship, but it could easily result in collateral damage, and might be very hard to pull off. You could also target factories and offices, or take an approach based on infiltration.
They’re an obvious enemy, the source of a lot of the suffering in the city. But if you want to destroy them, you’ll have to also think about what replaces them, and how you’re going to get there. What happens to the concentration of power, manufacturing, and goods? You can’t have a successful revolution without a very good plan for what comes next.
MAKE LIFE BETTER FOR ORDINARY PEOPLE
It will be difficult, but there are plenty of ways to make the city a better place for everyone. It’s up to you what you decide to do, whether it’s campaigning for change, handing out useful supplies, researching the diseases in the slums, or getting miniforges and weapons into the hands of the masses. Most heavily augmented people have something to offer to those at the bottom, even if it’s just heavy lifting or design for construction projects, it’s just that most heavily augmented people don’t generally do anything to help out. It can seem futile to try and alleviate suffering in a world with so much of it, but it’s still a noble goal.
If it agrees with you, one thing to tackle is rising anti-tech sentiment. Many of the poorest people in the city are being convinced slowly that technology itself is the problem with the world, that they should avoid augmentations and even vaccines. At the forefront of this movement are a number of high-profile preachers who believe that a natural body carries an inherent goodness, but they’re all connected to very wealthy anonymous donors who have almost certainly received extensive augmentation.
JOIN THE RULING CLASS
Maybe you have little interest in changing the way society works, and think people should always take care of themselves before taking care of anyone else. You wouldn’t be the first person in this world to act on the idea of rational self-interest. It’s certainly possible for you to rise to the top if you are talented, shrewd, and ruthless. You may have to suck up to a few people, you may have to pay a heavy price to get on to the airship, and you will probably need to save thousands upon thousands of credits to invest in the megacorporations, but there is a way. You could live a life of luxury with your every whim catered to. There would be very few consequences for anything you chose to do, and you would have immense control over the lives of those below you. Just remember that what lifts you up to the sky will almost certainly be a pile of corpses.
Of course, once you’re at the top, it might not be the end of your journey. You could just choose to relax in luxury and let your businesses manage themselves, try and rise to the very peak of the corporate hierarchy, or put all your resources into a more ambitious goal. Engineer social movements, start massive construction projects, fund research into technologies you find interesting.
THE PATH OF SANGUINE
Of course, one can invest in Sanguine and even work for them without ever getting too deep into their secrets, but they have more to teach than any other megacorporation. They’re looking for people who demonstrate a complete lack of humanity, and who can devote themselves to a cult-like system of beliefs sometimes referred to as ‘The Sacred Blood’. The Sanguine Annual Gameshow may have been conceived for this reason. If you are truly soulless, and few people are, there is a world of potential here. Sanguine operate secretive labs where they build technology that they are hoarding for themselves. Psychic abilities, remote aneurysms, mind reading, brainwashing, agelessness, all of these are rumoured to be Sanguine abilities. You could potentially acquire unique powers by performing missions for Sanguine, mainly espionage and assassination.
BECOME A HIRED GUN
Call this morally grey, it’s up to you if you want to take any care with who you accept work from. There’s an abundance of work from megacorporations, political organisations, crime lords, wealthy individuals, and families in need. You might decide to focus on working only with one, building up a reputation with them. If you’re good with a gun, you’ll be able to find something to do. Maybe you’ll be rescuing a hostage from a gang of criminals, shooting the ever-growing number of muta-rats and other strange creatures in the sewers, raiding a lab working on dark and illicit technology, providing backup for a heist, acting as security for a political rally, watching over two megacorporations who are trading assets, or sabotaging such a trade.
FIGHT CRIME
Many see crime as the city’s biggest problem. Even if you convince someone that systemic inequality does more damage in the long-run, and encouraging the crime in the first place, they have little time for caring about that when it always feels like criminals are about to kick down the door. It’s up to you if you want to target specific types of crime, or specific groups. It’s up to you if you view yourself as a kind of superhero, or want to take a more subtle approach based on infiltration and sabotage.
There is some relevant information about some of the city’s larger criminal organisations in Appendix: Faction Lore. They’re not equally as good and bad, or equally as rational. Perhaps some groups could be played against others, or even reasoned with?
HACK THE PLANET
The world is so reliant on technology now, and nobody has a very comprehensive view of all of it. There are security flaws in just about everything, from the mods installed in people’s own bodies, to the forgotten nuclear silo hidden somewhere below the city’s toxic sewers. If you’re dedicated enough to it, you could find some interesting ways to bend the entire city to your will. This won’t just mean hacking, you’ll probably need to do some espionage too in order to figure out how people’s augments work, or to access key and confidential locations where burgeoning technology such as battle mechs might be stored. You’ll probably also need a talented and willing teacher who is okay with what you plan to do.
T311T413
In one of the city’s most densely populated districts, a slum turned megatower cluster, there is a mysterious thumping sound that can be heard at night. The thumping is like a heartbeat, maddening, and seems to be coming from underground. The T311T4L3 survives only through rage for promises broken and love betrayed. Many years ago, someone here committed a great atrocity, something far more extreme than the everyday evils of the city. Whatever they did and whoever they are, it’s up to you to find out, investigating the secrets of the neighbourhood and its residents.
A private investigator firm called Incog are also working on this case, though it’s up to you if you want to work with or against them. They seem particularly interested in getting a look at an abandoned lab with unclear ownership.
CULT OF THE VOID
There’s a cult at work in Vitaria. People’s homes are being marked with strange symbols, and they have been disappearing, usually forever, but sometimes returned babbling and psychotic. The cult seems to be collecting something, possibly some aspect of the human brain itself, for a ritual. They believe that our universe is a parasite attached to a host, a parallel universe where beings who defy comprehension make up the very fabric of reality. They perhaps intend to weaken the boundary between this world and the great void, allowing someone or something to cross over.
Some things might be better left unseen, but there will always be a curious few. Perhaps there are nightmares in this universe that go beyond the scope of human comprehension.
There are many factions working within Vitaria. Here is a list of some of them, with further explanation given about who they are. You’re not obligated to work with anyone, but you may choose to as part of your adventure. You could even play different factions against each other.
Megacorporations
Below are the five biggest corporations in the city. Every major company has its fingers in many different markets, and almost every market has been monopolised.
The megacorporations are usually always at each other’s throats, competing in one way or another, but they can come together to protect shared interests. The UBI is paid for by a partnership of the top 100 local companies, to prevent mass riots, and companies relying on the same international resources jointly operate ‘peacekeeping’ military forces to secure them.
NEURACORP
NeuraCorp were responsible for many of the first cybernetic augments that are in widespread use today, mainly focusing on technology that interfaces with and enhances the human brain. Any augmented human probably has at least something made by NeuraCorp. Their executives claim that they are the true pioneers of the modern era, and that nobody else has ever before spearheaded the march of technology as much as they have. They imply resentment towards the other megacorporations for giving less to the world.
They're aiming to create stack technology within the next couple of decades, and sell "immortality" to the super rich.
BEPISCO
BepisCo started out over three centuries ago, selling food, snacks, beverages, and vital medicines. They have now expanded into many different markets, with a strategy of offering budget options wherever they are not the dominant force. As a result, BepisCo products are generally lacking in sign value, not seen as having any kind of associated prestige. There are many people who live in absolute poverty and squalor, but will still look down on their neighbours who pick BepisCo over classier alternatives.
The small subculture of people who intentionally seek out BepisCo products as an act of irony refer to themselves as ‘Beppers’.
ALLWELL GROUP
The Allwell Group are well-known for their hired guns. Most private police forces, mercenary groups, and security organisations fall under the Allwell umbrella. They also manufacture a large number of weapons, and run housing projects that they claim are the safest towers in the city. Company policy is incredibly strict, requiring strict monitoring and reporting of every detail, including the emotional states of their employees. Their top level of leadership, however, suffers from constant bickering as everyone there wants nothing less than total control.
CYGNET COMMITTEE
The Cygnet Committee is a megacorporation responsible for many luxury products, including the ‘Lux’ branded towers. Cygnet products carry a level of prestige that other products rarely achieve, and are sought out by the rich, as well as anyone who wants to appear rich. They are shameless about their high prices, as they are always reliable and in-fashion. The higher-ups in Cygnet resemble human beings less than the higher-ups of any other megacorporation, and are the most prejudiced towards the poor. Some of them haven’t walked on the ground level of the city in their entire lives.
SANGUINE ASSOCIATION
The Sanguine Association are the oldest of the megacorporations, though their story involves many name changes, relocations, and refocusings, making it quite difficult to follow the exact history of their shadowy journey to the top. They’re known for having especially ruthless and cold-hearted leadership, reviving the ancient tradition of bloodsports and setting up many cruel and unusual gameshows. They own all of the major casinos in Vitaria as well as all of the major loan agencies. Many rumors float around of their elites receiving unique genetic alterations that cause strange health conditions, but allegedly grant psychic abilities and near agelessness.
It has been reported that they are constructing an underwater city that will be capable of housing millions of people. The ocean is thick and toxic, so it’s unclear what Sanguine plans here.
Political Organisations
A number of organisations seek to change the city and challenge the control of the megacorporations. Each one has its own unique ideology and goals.
MOVEMENT FOR FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
The Freedom and Justice Movement believe that you shouldn’t only be able to vote with your wallet, but also with your vote! They seek to restore a system of centralized power where a government, much like the one that sold off the city to the megacorporations, is formed of elected representatives from each ward. The government could create rules and laws to target poverty, violence, and climate collapse. This movement is spearheaded by David Oberon, an Allwell Group executive with presidential aspirations. He is fast becoming the most influential man in the city, with a massive personality cult behind him. This group is not considered a terrorist threat by anyone.
DARKSUN
The aims of this group are the restoration of centralized power structures who will be able to restore balance to the megacorporations, and bring order and population controls to the city slums. They claim that drastic action is needed to stop Vitaria’s criminals, and to prevent ecological collapse from overpopulation. They think that people should try and better themselves with augmentations, but not give in to the search for pleasure alone, people must have a higher calling. Despite being responsible for a number of violent attacks, they are not universally treated as a terrorist group as they have strong support from members of Allwell’s security forces. They sometimes join Allwell in hunting down Automat cells.
AUTOMAT
Automats are anarchists who believe that the violent destruction of the megacorporations is necessary, and that their manufacturing technology must be made freely available to the public to put an end to what they see as artificial scarcity. They claim that technologies such as automation can be used in a way that benefits the many instead of the few. Everyone should own the robots, and everyone should benefit from them. There is no inner hierarchy and no leader. They would like to organize society into a system of autonomous communes, confederated based on a system of contracts for mutual aid. Automats are considered terrorists, and heavily cracked down on by Allwell at every opportunity. Nothing will stop them in the pursuit of the greater good.
THE RETURN
The Return believe that the industrial revolution and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race. Technology is now subjecting people to widespread indignity and psychological suffering, it has inflicted irreparable damage on the environment, and things will only get worse. They believe that though society’s collapse will be painful initially, it will save people a lot of pain in the long run. People must return to a more ‘natural’ state of being, living off the land and rejecting automation, transhumanism, and the concentration of power. They regularly attack factories, and are thus thought of as terrorists, though they are seen more as a nuisance rather than a real threat. They try very hard to cause no human casualties.
Criminal Groups
Criminal groups operate all over Vitaria, and even these have a lot of diversity in their ideologies and methods. A few of the most high profile organisations are listed.
ANTERRA FAMILY
Anterra are a controversial group, having many family members who are high-profile execs and celebrities. They publically engage in projects to help impoverished communities, and claim to keep to a strict and honourable system of rules, but everyone is aware that they are involved in violent crime all over the city. Family members must maintain high standards of attractive appearance and good manners.
PROMARIS CRIME SYNDICATE
Promaris believe that some people are just better than others. The world is about always one-upping the person next to you, and survival of the fittest. They believe that the poor are literally genetically inferior. Everyone should seek to upgrade their bodies and minds, and to rise to the top. People who aren’t interested in competition are a waste of flesh. Anyone is considered a fair target by Promaris, though they prefer large and organized heists, and protection rackets, to ‘lower-class’ violence. Their members are heavily and visibly augmented, often choosing to look as menacing and violent as possible.
CAPSULE BIKER GANG
The Capsule gang are known for petty crime, street racing, and flashiness. Most of its members are good people, just low-income kids and young adults who are in it for the excitement, or due to peer pressure. There is no special philosophy behind them, but they do form strong familial bonds with each other that are mostly at odds with how coldly the rest of society treats them. For many, the gang is the only kind of family or comfort that they’ve ever had. Members of the Capsule gang can be easily identified by their brightly coloured leather jackets and heavily modded vehicles.
NEXRO GANG
The Nexro are a bloodthirsty biker gang whose members rarely go a second of their lives without a deadly cocktail of hallucinogenic drugs in their bloodstreams. They have no instinct for self-preservation, living only for their sadistic urges as they hurtle towards annihilation. At some point, there was a kind of philosophy underlying all of this, though most members won’t be able to explain it to you. The Nexro believe that this world is hopeless, that the systemic evils of the city will forever do much more harm to society than they ever could, and that the only reason one still has to exist is to search for limit-experiences at the very edge of intensity and possibility. They make the city a much more dangerous place, and are almost universally reviled, but nobody is willing to spend the resources necessary to wage war against them. Their members tend to wear terrifying masks when they go out looking for blood.
Below is a map with some of the major roads and landmarks of the ground level of Vitaria.
It is a sprawling and densely populated city, with skyscrapers visible from just about anywhere. The city center is full of bright and colourful lights, and features many examples of architectural genius, with hundreds of local and international companies eager to show each other up. The north features luxurious and modern buildings, and is the safest part of the city, with a large Allwell presence. The south has a lot of older buildings, remnants of the nation that once made its capitol here. The river Dawn flows through the city, though it’s questionable whether its black sludge can still be considered water or not. If you cross it to the east, you will find a massive industrial zone, almost all of it automated, churning out a thick black smog. Slum neighborhoods circle Vitaria, but the largest areas of squalor are all in the south, including the Walled City, and a large area currently under total lockdown due to disease. The north has two massive desertified zones, a former weapons testing site called The Crater Field, and a giant landfill full of scrap parts that are ready for pillaging. Futura mountain is the only free and public area with much natural vegetation left. Vertical farms are spaced all throughout the city, making food self-sufficiency possible.
Underground are several layers of tunnels spread across most of the city, from the subway, to the bunker tunnels, to the sewers, all of which are inhabited. The tunnels tend to be a little dangerous, as creatures such as muta-rats have evolved unnaturally rapidly, though they are still generally safer than many areas of the ground level slums. The population density is much lower here.
In the sky is the luxurious and spacious airship, a technological marvel, with everything the mega-rich need to live comfortably in the air. It’s designed with a hint of art nouveau, covered in vegetation and life. The airship hosts Cygnet University, the only school that doesn’t make you negotiate an indentured servitude contract in order to graduate. The population density is lower here than any core district of the city. There are some small farms on the airship for exotic crops, but they still mostly rely on produce being flown up to them. The airship is armed with a number of massive lascannons, capable of destroying even entire districts of the city below.
If you were to drive outside of Vitaria, through the expanse of the slums and beyond into the rest of the world, it would be a while before you saw much life. The environment is desolate, and few people still live outside of cities. Many abandoned structures and ghost towns can be seen or explored, some once capable of housing hundreds of thousands of people. One neighbor, Daybreak, was technically in a state of civil war for over a hundred years, with Vitaria benefitting from the arms trade there much more than any other nation. Vitaria is the largest and most influential city in its region by far, a world-famous hub of life, science, and commerce.
