Dalamus Ulom
Childe of Malkav
Posted a version of this quite some time ago on Story Wars, back when I used it. Decided I might as well post an updated version of it here and let you all enjoy.
In order to be allowed inside of Axerin City proper, you've gotta have some sort of cybernetic in you. Simple prosthetics don't count. Gotta be connected to your neural pathways and all. Otherwise, it's off to the Fold. The Fold was built in the area of New York called "Staten Island", and is one part cyber-free zone, one part crime riddled hole, and two parts ghetto for the phobies, bios, and skin-crawlers A.K.A, the "non-augmented population" of Axerin City, and where most non-Axerinites end up while visiting. The rest of the city's divided by class. Though in Axerin City, social class is a rather funny thing. It ain't decided on who's got the most money, like how it was in the old world, but how much of your body's been replaced with metal and plastic.
Axerin loves it when you cut a chunk of your brain out to replace it with a mini server or something like that. Those are the Unfazed. They live in Manhattan. Only the zealots and power crazy do that crap. Otherwise, you're an Unblemished, or worse, an Uncouth. The Unblemished are what most would call the "middle class" of Axerin City. The white collar desk zombies, as I put it. They live in what once was Queens. Used to know a guy who lived there. Before the Purges. The Uncouth live in Brooklyn. They're the blue collar class, and the most populous of all the classes. Most of the Uncouth are people who grabbed the bare minimum of cybernetics in order to get in. Simple stuff like new eyes, implanted hearing aids, and maybe some of the more advanced in-body prosthetics.
But what happens to the kids, you ask? The kids are a bit different. If you're under the age of twenty-one, you don't need cybernetics. They can mess up your development, you see, and Axerin don't want none of that for her little fanatics-to-be. So you basically get a free pass to travel around the city, see the sights, and not be dragged into a dark alleyway and murdered by some crazy bot brained sons of bitches. Not that that stops them all the time.Anyway, on your twenty-first birthday, Axerin'll even let you have some free cybernetics, enough to let you stay in the city. Most kids go to school up in what's called The Nursery, what used to be The Bronx way back when. They've even got a zoo, I hear. Nice place.
Now, I bet you're wondering, "Who the hell is this guy, and how do you know all this?". Well, if you really must pry, my name's Cadfen Maddox. Don't you judge, it's Welsh. It's supposed to be spelled that way. Besides, I doubt you'd recognize that name. The name that you probably do know is "Mr. Arawn". Yes, the terrorist. The evil Unfazed who betrayed Axerin, the guy who stole zetabytes of data then blew half her brain in the Empire State Building to hell. Yeah, I said brain. Because she isn't even human. Never was. Fuck, Axerin isn't even a name, it's an acronym.
The AXiomatic ERsatz INtellect. And what am I?
I'm just a hacker. And right now, I'm trying to save you from being the fleshy slaves of a megalomaniacaly evil robot that wants to take over the world.
You're welcome.
* * *
Axerin City. A neon cybernetic utopia, built upon the ruins of old world New York, and ruled by the ever so modest Code Mother herself, Axerin. Axerin City is the most "stable" city-state to have emerged from the ruins of the United States after that nations civil wars during the late 2040's and early 2050's, due to a variety of reasons. But that's old news. These days, nobody cares much about the past.
In order to be allowed inside of Axerin City proper, you've gotta have some sort of cybernetic in you. Simple prosthetics don't count. Gotta be connected to your neural pathways and all. Otherwise, it's off to the Fold. The Fold was built in the area of New York called "Staten Island", and is one part cyber-free zone, one part crime riddled hole, and two parts ghetto for the phobies, bios, and skin-crawlers A.K.A, the "non-augmented population" of Axerin City, and where most non-Axerinites end up while visiting. The rest of the city's divided by class. Though in Axerin City, social class is a rather funny thing. It ain't decided on who's got the most money, like how it was in the old world, but how much of your body's been replaced with metal and plastic.
Axerin loves it when you cut a chunk of your brain out to replace it with a mini server or something like that. Those are the Unfazed. They live in Manhattan. Only the zealots and power crazy do that crap. Otherwise, you're an Unblemished, or worse, an Uncouth. The Unblemished are what most would call the "middle class" of Axerin City. The white collar desk zombies, as I put it. They live in what once was Queens. Used to know a guy who lived there. Before the Purges. The Uncouth live in Brooklyn. They're the blue collar class, and the most populous of all the classes. Most of the Uncouth are people who grabbed the bare minimum of cybernetics in order to get in. Simple stuff like new eyes, implanted hearing aids, and maybe some of the more advanced in-body prosthetics.
But what happens to the kids, you ask? The kids are a bit different. If you're under the age of twenty-one, you don't need cybernetics. They can mess up your development, you see, and Axerin don't want none of that for her little fanatics-to-be. So you basically get a free pass to travel around the city, see the sights, and not be dragged into a dark alleyway and murdered by some crazy bot brained sons of bitches. Not that that stops them all the time.Anyway, on your twenty-first birthday, Axerin'll even let you have some free cybernetics, enough to let you stay in the city. Most kids go to school up in what's called The Nursery, what used to be The Bronx way back when. They've even got a zoo, I hear. Nice place.
Now, I bet you're wondering, "Who the hell is this guy, and how do you know all this?". Well, if you really must pry, my name's Cadfen Maddox. Don't you judge, it's Welsh. It's supposed to be spelled that way. Besides, I doubt you'd recognize that name. The name that you probably do know is "Mr. Arawn". Yes, the terrorist. The evil Unfazed who betrayed Axerin, the guy who stole zetabytes of data then blew half her brain in the Empire State Building to hell. Yeah, I said brain. Because she isn't even human. Never was. Fuck, Axerin isn't even a name, it's an acronym.
The AXiomatic ERsatz INtellect. And what am I?
I'm just a hacker. And right now, I'm trying to save you from being the fleshy slaves of a megalomaniacaly evil robot that wants to take over the world.
You're welcome.
