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13:32, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

The Setting.

Posted by ChakanFor group 0
Chakan
GM, 1 post
Sat 2 Jun 2012
at 20:54
  • msg #1

The Setting

We did it to ourselves

The speed at which technology outpaced humanity’s ability to keep up continued to grow throughout the 21st century.  This led to dire trends that had begun as far back as the industrial revolution and were pervasive throughout the Ages of Information, including uncontrolled population increases matching that of the Baby Boom as well as governments lending themselves to corruption as is often the pattern of those who are the “haves”, but moreover those who make the rules.  The babies being created were many times unwanted or unexpected, and following the pattern began in the late 20th century these babies were neglected and forgotten, left to underdeveloped lives of crime or miserable misdirection who continued the cycle of perpetuating accidental births and furthering the lack of direction onto their own unwanted children.  The height of this type of population increase coincided with a peak of technological advancement in the beginning of the 22nd century, and the first decade of the 2100’s saw a catastrophic civil war commence between uneducated minds armed with the internet and bad ideas facing increasingly greedy government officials trying to ignore the problem.

A solution stepped up

The problem called for a hero, and one reluctantly took the position.  Robert Adam Cole began rallying masses to his cause after being convinced that he was the only able soul to take on the job.  An English major and language aficionado making his way through corporate America with a broadcasting network as a supplemental income/hobby, his fans and friends finally convinced him to try to make some real changes.  In the first-ever-in-history budget-less campaign for presidency, Cole used his built in platform to spread his call for common sense and pragmatics through a hungry populace starving for reason and logic.   When he took on the role of president of the sole-super power United States, he was almost stunned to inaction for the first few weeks.  The changes he set out to make would be for much needed reform of common thought and action and would be the best thing to happen to the country since the American Revolution, but ultimately being too little and too late would lead to some of the greatest tragedy in history.

Some changes of note that led to monumental reform included a country-wide sterilization at birth initiative that would force a surgery if a couple wanted a child rather than the other way around; a technological assessment of crime that guaranteed accuracy of guilt for committers which led to quicker sentences, executions and avoidance of the appeal system for undeserving criminals; a withdrawal from the affairs of opposing nations and incorporating a true business relationship with interested parties combined with military protection to create a “keep the honest, honest” policy; and others.  These kinds of revolutionary modifications to society over the course of several decades saved billions of dollars, removed the American debt, reduced crime exponentially… and unfortunately angered many powerful people.  With the public on his side, Cole was so successful that his reforms began to spread to the secondary powers of the world and he was able to continue the reparations world-wide while narrowly avoiding death several times by assassination attempts from opposing groups.

Too heavy a burden

Robert Adam Cole died of natural causes in his old age thanks to a lifestyle of hefty security, constant vigilance, smart maneuvering and foresight.  However his death led to the implosion of the utopia he had spent half a lifetime to create.  The void his passing left could not be filled by any who tried, and those angry parties and their next generation ilk set about to regain their financial power through exploitation once again.  Infiltrating the ranks of existing government they purposefully separated the collective conscience again into at least two sides, causing argument and subterfuge.  As Cole’s implementations were attacked and picked apart, loyal supporters of his regime rose against the bombardment with all too much protestation.  This had a two pronged affect: the in-fighting that was singularly unlike Cole’s actual methods caused the ostracization of those who tried to maintain the positive work he had done; simultaneously created a philosophy that would come to be known as Coleiansm, the Coleian logic having shadows of the Greek Stoics mixed with modern paradigms.

Coleians were shunned as fanatics and lost their foothold in places of power; seen as volatile heretics while their views became twisted in the media.  For instance the purposeful slowing of population growth was manipulated into something evil and life-hating, or elitist.  Eventually, as throughout history when disagreements reach a crescendo, war ensued.  Having the technology to wipe out life as we know it, those in power foolishly set out to do so.

The results

In 2280 much of the Earth is scorched.  However life persists in the form of Mega-cites; giant metropolises spotting the globe where people congregate en masse to live together to share the dwindling resources of the planet.  Nuclear war destroyed much of what man knew: open habitable land, road travel, exotic vacations, California… though in the city life still holds great similarities to the 21st century.  The major differences include an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor, inner-city gardening and available technology.  The political landscape is another major difference altogether.

Law and government

Technically, there isn’t really a government anymore.  There is a self-elected group in place to try to maintain order and prevent total anarchy, called Stasis.  The funding for Stasis is unknown since they do not tax the public, however their resources seem limitless.  They respond to calls for help, investigate crime, maintain structure and some semblance of order and can facilitate a military if one were suddenly needed.  However so soon after the collapse of the original Coleian economy, there isn’t much interaction with the world at large from Mega-city to Mega-city, and no organization at all from country to country.  Stasis is shrouded in mystery as it exists in every major Mega-city, none knowing how or why they formed other than their motto “We are needed”.  They patrol streets like police, keep secrets like a government agency, and stay out of the affairs of the people like elected officials.  Nobody knows who’s behind it or why they don’t attempt to take control with their superior technology and manpower, but most are thankful that it exists as it seems to at least be protecting humanity from itself.

- The Military

The contacts and relationships between the lands, created by Cole himself, remain some version of intact today.  In fact it is rumored that a great many of these contacts are Coleian in their belief system which lends itself to the prevailing mystery in the existence of a formed military today.  "The military" is itself a misnomer; there is no one branch or group that runs even in a single country.  Instead there are multiple groups, called "Micro-militaries", that were formed by the tentative relationships created when Cole cemented business contracts with foreign affairs; third parties established to- what he called- "keep the honest, honest".  These third parties have adhered closely to the original tenets of their creation and have formed entire armies based on a neutral and careful disjointedness from the affairs of world leaders.  In short they are privately owned, for lack of a better term, self-sustained and internally managed so that they are not used to create new world orders.  They seem to have no connections to any in positions of power including any relation or dealings with Stasis.  There is a board comprised of the 20 highest ranking officers that consult to make decisions based on importance and danger to the largest amount of populace.  They welcome applications for recruits who go through a strange but thorough screening process as well as a reach-out program for gifted individuals when they appear on the proverbial radar.  Each Micro-military is responsible for dividing its resources into separate branches based on need- not all have an Air Force, for instance.  Most, however, are in several areas on the globe and this cross-coverage is part of what sustains the current peace world-wide, precarious though it may be.  Most groups will work with members from other groups, as their collective goals tend to stay similar.  Rank and file remain as it was in the past, each group varying slightly depending on the original regions of creation.  The known existent Micro-Militaries today are (in descending order of size):

American Intel Alliance
Pan Asian Slavic Collective
Euro-Arab Central Organization
Pacific Mobile Task Force
Atlantic Sea To Air


Money and Technology

Tech advancement imploded along with the economy when the world became scorched, but really only set it back a century.  Most of what is available today is available in the Mega-cities with the additions of hover tech, laser usage, micro and nano tech, and other things that were right around the corner.  However the best technology is really only available to the wealthy, thus the increasing gap between rich and poor.  It’s not out of the ordinary to see a flying car, but because only some can afford them there is neither a “freeway in the sky” situation nor a need for one.  If two hover-cars crash into each other, it’s investigated like a crime, but mostly left to the consequences of the responsible parties.

City cleanup is handled by private organizations, and areas are cleaned much like the mob of the old days used to protect.  Businesses can “buy in” to have their land cleaned, and some business owners own entire blocks, so those that can afford the services generally prosper.  It is even harder to open a business because if you cannot afford the city cleanup services, your business is likely to quickly look like a dump, turn away prospective customers or attract the wrong kind, and therefore close its doors.

A man named Stan Rivers invented a means of tracking and keeping currency that served the world greatly just before the war era began.  His method was so effective that it remains post-war, and has effectively made him an absurdly wealthy individual.  Money is now data, it’s backed by nothing tangible and lives in the ether.  Rivers' system is an army of unbreakable servers whose locations throughout the world are incredibly secretive and, legends tell, additionally protected with deadly means.  All humans are assigned a basic datac, a device that looks like a cell phone which holds and transmits data among other operations.  To spend money, one would scan their datac over another’s, or a business might have a datac scanner to receive the information and “bank” it at the owner’s designated database or datac.  The encryption systems in place have proved impregnable for decades, and thus Rivers was given the title of “mystic genius”.  Datacs are available from storefront outlets or designated sponsored businesses, and activation must be done with a fingerprint.  Upgrades and advanced versions can be purchased, but all basic models are free.  The software can detect when a datac has been destroyed, and thus will allow a person to have another, as all individuals are only allowed one.  If somebody claims one is lost, their old one is destroyed when the new is activated and all data is transferred immediately.

Two things are unknown: if Rivers is still alive and how he is connected to Stasis.  There are systems in place, though not perfect, that can detect certain types of monetary based crime.  For instance many criminals have discovered the hard way that severing a victim’s thumb and using it to activate or scan that owner’s datac  to transfer funds to their own has resulted in dire consequences when they were apprehended by Stasis agents.

- The Ubiquitous Datac
Rivers' genius did not stop at the movement of money, it was even further showcased by the method in which he integrated his invention seamlessly into everyday life: the datac.  At first the device was incorporated simply as a digital wallet, however its ability to transmit data infallibly along with its impervious resistance to hacking made it a prime candidate for the "everygadget" as it soon became marketed.  It is unclear whether Stan himself had this idea or whether he was approached to make it so, what is clear is the device soon became everything it promised.  A cell phone, an e-planner, a pocket computer (albeit with limited memory), an ID, an information scanner and more.  The freebie didn't come with all the bells and whistles, but every datac came standard as a basic mobile communication device, an ID and of course its original intented operation as a wallet; a very cheap software download would convert it to a scanner of any data from as simple as allowing access like a key or things as complex as analyzing DNA.  A simple upgrade from the basic model would provide a much more useful mobile communications tool, the equivalent of purchasing the latest and greatest iPhone of previous centuries.  In most cases the datac was what the consumer made it... as long as they had the credits to do so.
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:05, Mon 05 Nov 2012.
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