MercuryAngel
New Member
The reality of Neo Metro diverges from our own in several ways. In the history of Neo Metro, the cold war between the United States and the Soviet Union went hot in the late 1950’s, resulting in nuclear bombings in both countries, Asia, and even parts of the middle east and Africa as a whole. The results were devastating. The United States claimed victory, but at a hefty cost. The country was united under a single party, authoritarian in nature, that called itself the Neo American Party.
With most of the country in ruins, the process of urbanization and industrialization was particularly dehumanizing. Most food is synthetic and contains traces of radiation still. What was once many vibrant cities with unique cultures meshed into what is now the hugely expansive Neo Metro, where virtually all residents of the New United States live, cut off and censured from the world beyond its borders. The government operates in the shadows. Democracy is an illusion.
Still, the rate of technological progress was rapid after the war, as a result of necessity. The internet exists, but is massively censured for many citizens, with the exception of those who have cybernetic enhancements, allowing them to access an underworld of online activity that includes black markets and alternative credit systems.
Robotics are far beyond what our reality has realized. Androids come in many forms, from lifelike pleasure and companionship models to basic labor droids programmed to do recon and farm work outside the borders of Neo Metro. Some models have achieved a degree of lifelike machine intelligence that makes them virtually indistinguishable from humans, save for the government enforced brandings that are required: droids of all forms are legally required to at the very least have a series of barcode tattoos that will make them distinguished from ordinary citizens. Android rights movements are beginning to form, but due to the necessity of cheap labor outside habitable radiation zones, these efforts are doomed to fail. Neo Metro, in many ways, depends on cheap droid labor.
Middle Crutch makes up several miles of tenement housing within the city, near the industrial district. Because of nearby factories, thick smog chokes the air. This is where William Zeign’s father made his fortune. Middle Crutch is in severe disrepair and everything is below safety standards, which are rarely upheld in lower income parts of the city. Inhabitants are at risk of severe health problems relating to pollution and communal disease.
Victor Gardens is a tower community built by William Zeign using his father’s fortune as well as borrowed funds from the criminal underworld. The standard of living in tower communities is much higher than in tenement communities like Middle Crutch, but crime is still high on the lower levels where working families and street hustlers rent studio apartments that are closer to what we today think of as a college dorm style layout: bunk beds, group showers, a dining hall. In the upper levels, life is much different. Apartments look more like luxury pent house suites, and between living spaces are high class shopping outlets.The clientele at this level drive luxury cars through an indoor garage that allows them to simply drive many levels up. Even when it is necessary that they leave Victor Gardens, they aren’t rubbing shoulders with anyone on the lower levels. Between the two is Zeign’s security force: mostly ex-military types in swat gear doing everything from parking enforcement to no-knock midnight raids through the lower levels.
Finally, one of many crime syndicates operating within Neo Metro is The Phantoms. On the outside,The Phantoms appear to be mostly involved in street level crimes: selling narcotics and fencing stolen goods, but in recent years the group has expanded into politically motivated crime, stealing and reprogramming a huge shipment of government androids, and performing illegal cybernetic enhancements. The leader of secretive group remains unknown to most.
With most of the country in ruins, the process of urbanization and industrialization was particularly dehumanizing. Most food is synthetic and contains traces of radiation still. What was once many vibrant cities with unique cultures meshed into what is now the hugely expansive Neo Metro, where virtually all residents of the New United States live, cut off and censured from the world beyond its borders. The government operates in the shadows. Democracy is an illusion.
Still, the rate of technological progress was rapid after the war, as a result of necessity. The internet exists, but is massively censured for many citizens, with the exception of those who have cybernetic enhancements, allowing them to access an underworld of online activity that includes black markets and alternative credit systems.
Robotics are far beyond what our reality has realized. Androids come in many forms, from lifelike pleasure and companionship models to basic labor droids programmed to do recon and farm work outside the borders of Neo Metro. Some models have achieved a degree of lifelike machine intelligence that makes them virtually indistinguishable from humans, save for the government enforced brandings that are required: droids of all forms are legally required to at the very least have a series of barcode tattoos that will make them distinguished from ordinary citizens. Android rights movements are beginning to form, but due to the necessity of cheap labor outside habitable radiation zones, these efforts are doomed to fail. Neo Metro, in many ways, depends on cheap droid labor.
Middle Crutch makes up several miles of tenement housing within the city, near the industrial district. Because of nearby factories, thick smog chokes the air. This is where William Zeign’s father made his fortune. Middle Crutch is in severe disrepair and everything is below safety standards, which are rarely upheld in lower income parts of the city. Inhabitants are at risk of severe health problems relating to pollution and communal disease.
Victor Gardens is a tower community built by William Zeign using his father’s fortune as well as borrowed funds from the criminal underworld. The standard of living in tower communities is much higher than in tenement communities like Middle Crutch, but crime is still high on the lower levels where working families and street hustlers rent studio apartments that are closer to what we today think of as a college dorm style layout: bunk beds, group showers, a dining hall. In the upper levels, life is much different. Apartments look more like luxury pent house suites, and between living spaces are high class shopping outlets.The clientele at this level drive luxury cars through an indoor garage that allows them to simply drive many levels up. Even when it is necessary that they leave Victor Gardens, they aren’t rubbing shoulders with anyone on the lower levels. Between the two is Zeign’s security force: mostly ex-military types in swat gear doing everything from parking enforcement to no-knock midnight raids through the lower levels.
Finally, one of many crime syndicates operating within Neo Metro is The Phantoms. On the outside,The Phantoms appear to be mostly involved in street level crimes: selling narcotics and fencing stolen goods, but in recent years the group has expanded into politically motivated crime, stealing and reprogramming a huge shipment of government androids, and performing illegal cybernetic enhancements. The leader of secretive group remains unknown to most.
