Upon the Precipice [A Cyberpunk Drama] For Literate Writers

RolePlayer's Notes:

• The human civilization on Earth, even in its enlightened state, is starting to tare at the seams. Measures to maintain peace, namely the existence of totalitarian rule, have incited a sense of invasion in some. Internal strife between the governments and its people threatens the illusory fabric of peace.
• Story is mainly science-fiction, though presence of supernatural themes exist in abundance throughout.
• This is a story, a drama to be precise, so the focus is on how the authors choose to tell it. Action will be a inferior element of the story, a tool, not an alternative.
• The story (role-play) aims to touch on ethical/moral dilemmas, existential questions, and philosophical conundrums.
• This role-play has been posted in the casual and the advanced section to reach a wider audience.

Premise:

New Berlin?, 2137. It has been nearly a century since the Great Misery: a series of wars which predicated the near apocalypse of mankind. The international body count amounted to some number just beyond 2.5 billion men and women: civilians, soldiers, children, and politicians alike. Nuclear technology never meant to be unsheathed, were dusted off and augmented, dropped haplessly from the sky above 76 separate countries. The ravaging of these countries--most of them having been cornerstones for their respective theaters-- resulted in the political and economical upheaval of their subsidiary bodies. Eventually, conventional warfare won the day, but the cost was far graver than any one country could imagine; NATO, the EU, and the UN rendered to mere figments of the past; over half of America transformed into a nuclear wasteland; the Middle East thoroughly devastated; unsurprisingly Africa suffered from minor involvement comparatively. Both Europe and China in their larger scopes suffered gravely, though through the decades have taken successful measures at reversing the fragmentation they endured.

As the remnants of mankind lumbered towards death, even here there shone a beacon of light. The old powers are gone, the old authorities obliterated, the old rules now obsolete. From the ashes of those once mighty empires rose a new World Authority, a rejection of ancient hatreds and ignorant peoples, an embrace of technology, belief, personal will, freedom and above all the future. The American Consortium, Syncretic Union, African Alliances, and the Theatre of the East serve as our contemporary powers to be; each an amalgamation of several countries and a combination of their social, political, and economical infrastructures. After the war, each superpower begrudged and embittered by the devastation of the war, an international coalition was forged on the notion that any matter of conflict could be solved only through strict diplomacy and any approach deemed hostile or militant would be met with a collective surge. Upon the construction of this treaty, titled Tranquil's Law, was based the following century of enlightenment and defining technological evolution.

Technological Renaissance:

In the 21st century mankind entered a second renaissance. The dawn of a new age, a revival of learning and culture, was marked by the commercial use of fusion power and the possibility of effective solar energy. In 2034, a revolutionary concept for harnessing solar energy was introduced; a truly renewable, uninterrupted energy supply powered by the sun. Today, the solar arrays are fully-articulating, in-orbit monolith constructs composed of thin polymer with polycrystalline silicon distribution, supplying the world with constantly renewable power. Furthermore, the discovery of fusion power led to tremendous advancement in power distribution; a fusion generator can power an entire grid in one of the largest cities of the world with limited maintenance. The fusion reactors generate steady Terawatt levels of power, without pulse, making power delivery more replete and efficient. Systems powered by fusion generators have blackout percentages at less than 0.01%.

During this time, the field of medicine and health care saw marvelous advancements in many of its primary and sub-fields. One of the most valuable early discoveries was the cure for cancer. Pharmaceutical and genetic advancements improved life-expectancy of a human being by half a century, at minimum; the average life-expectancy of a human is nearly a hundred and fifty years. Furthermore, rapid response treatment, through precise, minute electrical innervation, awakens dormant neurons in the brain tissue of deceased or dying patients; effectively bringing recently deceased back to life. Additionally, and perhaps the most prominent advancement was robotic prosthesis, which was initially designed for the disabled, however, now also an augmentation in human capabilities. The use of robotic prostheses as an augmentation has in contemporary times become the means for acquiring above-human physical capabilities. Replacing an arm, for example, with an augmented prosthesis will vastly improve all means of resistances and strength within that limb to super-elevated levels. However, this process is extremely painful in many regards, and expensive, especially after the operation when most subjects must continuously medicate themselves to suppress pain.

Towards the end of the second renaissance, often referred to as its peak, people with extrasensory perception began to emerge. The origin of paranormals as a species could never be definitively established, though the census of our time maintains that extrasensory powers are a product of the body's attempt to cope with the mental effects of cybernetic implantation. This was a substantial leap in human evolution, however, received with conflicting views. Today, less than 10% of the human population has extrasensory perception, often referred to as ?paranormals?. The magnitude of their ?power? is very limited and far from accordance with fictional variations of extrasensory perception; while there is potential for further developments, most doctors and theorists believe that humans are still in the early stages of this new evolution. The very first paranormals that emerged were immediately confiscated and proclaimed property of the government. They were trained to become military assets, as part of the development of weapons technology; the perfect weapon. However, during heated humanistic riots and protests the protocols were released by mandated authority of Tranquil's Law , effectively freeing all paranormals from government supervision.

New, highly sophisticated, means of transportation emerged. The requirement for gasoline to power cars was eliminated and replaced by Zero-Loss Lithium Ion batteries; composed of traditional lithium with rare metal cathodes and nano-layered silicon anodes, Lithium Ion Batteries have ultra-low internal resistance and zero memory loss. This revolutionary energy storage became the prime standard for most technology requiring a portable energy source. Furthermore, the emergence of holographic controls and interfaces gave the workflow with computers, and the everyday access to information a much needed overhaul. Additionally, top of the line, highly sophisticated, new weaponry was developed; fabricated from heat-resistant micro-perforated titanium, usually with satellite-guided targeting detection, and variations of uranium carbide spin-stabilized cartridges.

With the vast advancements on Earth, it finally became apparent that mankind was ready to spread life to the rest of the Galaxy. The concept of Terraforming became reality, and the primary solution for the ever increasing human population. In 2056, the Atmosphere Processor was deployed on Mars to begin Terraforming the planet; this system creates a localized environment in the lowest atmospheric strata by mining the surrounding air and delivering electrostatic charge to correct the chemical composition of the planetary atmosphere. The system does this by converting toxic compounds into a breathable air ratio of approximately 1:3.1 oxygen-to-nitrogen ratios. Once stable equilibrium is achieved, the AP continually monitors environmental gas compositions and corrects imbalances. Furthermore, an Atmospheric Pressurizer creates a locally adapted micro-pressurized environment to prevent injury, illness or discomfort on off-world colonies with either marginal or oppressive stratospheric hold. In most cases, a standard atmospheric pressure of approximately 1.0 atmosphere at sea level can be achieved, reducing the need for decompression treatments and additional medical personnel in the early stages of terraforming. By the year 2098, Mars was ready to fulfill its primary purposes of large-scale agriculture, production, and Earth population control.

It was the dawn of a new era for mankind, indicating the birth of an elevated form of life, evolution, and war. And now, it's being threatened.

The Precipice of Total Control:

Despite the international understanding that peace should be absolute and the memory of the Great Misery burning not too subtly in the minds of the nations, humans have a tendency to seek and incite conflict. Governmental institutions have taken extreme measures in establishing a universal rule to maintain peace; their greatest measure is arguably the reconstruction of the United Nations. Like its predecessor, the UN exists as a means of communication and diplomatic interaction for the nations of the world; though has redirected its efforts into mainly being a presence of international security. It has truly become a police-force of the world, creating its own international military with organizations situated in every major theater and are utilized to recruit new officers. For all intents and purposes, the UN is its own nation, a collective entity who establishes absolutes that all must adhere to. The spectrum of politics has been minimized under the word of the UN and it is the UN's law that is upheld not that of the governments.

---

OOC Address

Good reading ladies and gentlemen, if you've read through the above information and premise, I'll take that as a compliment and commend you for reading it in its entirety. As you've hopefully gathered at this juncture, this will be a cyberpunk drama with great emphasis on the individual characters and their effects on the political makeup of the story. What does that mean for you, exactly? Well, really only one very important thing: I'm looking for authors who are dedicated to their craft and who have been at it long enough to appreciate and reciprocate quality writing and storytelling. This isn't just a science-fiction; or a political drama; or a gunslinging epic; it's a combination of the three and much more, if you can see that at this point than I welcome you with open arms.

I will be playing a variety of characters all central to the story-line and acting mainly as the conductor of this show by providing you all with characters, events, and random acts of mischievousness to make the experience all the more enjoyable. I want you guys to read the story, get a sense for the world, and then approach me with your own individual character ideas; I'll give you the options of either the traditional path or the Director's path. Traditionally, you'd think of a character design that you prefer, try to define him/her in a brief sheet, and play them out through the story. This is the safe approach and one I recommend for most of you who are either new to the genre or tier of writing or have reserved interest in the story. The second approach for you guys is a bit more active and requires that you have a little more than interest invested into the story. As the GM, I have already created the main story-line somewhat, but there is an alternative where you as authors help me write it as well; you can do this by creating and incorporating you own characters or taking those NPCs that I create and making them your own. With the traditional path you have much more individual creative license and aren't required to run much by me, though for the latter option, I will be muddling and putting my hands into places I think they need to be.

As far as limitations: there aren't any. You can be whoever you want, with whatever story you can imagine, with a purpose entirely their own. Just be creative. I will require a certain level of writing to participate, and will turn away anyone I'm not confident can meet those arbitrary requirements. If you have any questions, be sure to run them by me.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/Z9evMRdJ0HI/viewtopic.php

kate upton ups Aj Mccarron Girlfriend linkedin linkedin CES 2013 joe budden