Earth no.742 | Codename: CYBERPUNK DYSTOPIA

Status: ONGOING

Reports indicate Earth no.742 is still being written.

Premise

Codename: CYBERPUNK DYSTOPIA is a more advanced, alternate version of the year 2024. Wrought by war throughout the 70s and 80s, the United Kingdom has split with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland becoming independent countries. This has lead to England now being known as New England and many other countries going through their own splits.

Technological development after wartime

Both the discovery of technology left behind by a now extinct intelligent species (considered the indigeanous species of earth and refered to as Facechangers) and the wars of the late 1900s, engineering and computer engineering has had a significant boom. This boom has led to the invention of self-aware, emotionally intelligent machines akin to robots, refered to as IMLOS (Intelligent Machine Learning Opperating System). IMLOS are not powered by artificial intelligence, but by systems left behind by the Facechangers which allowed the conciousness of the dead to be stored as data. Big companies figured out how to produce these and uploaded willing donor's conciousness as data and into machine bodies.

Donors were told that this would allow them to continue living as long as the machine body they inhabited continued to function, but this was a lie. The memories, personalities and experiences of these people were wiped so that the blueprint for a blank mind remained, which would then be replicated and mass produced. Most of the brains donated after the discovery of this process were instead cremated. This information, while widespread knowledge, isn't critisised publicly as anyone who tries is either paid off or, failing to meet the bribe, never seen again. As well as this, many people have friends who are IMLOS due to the companies who produce them wanting them to become a part of peoples daily lives, and for a lot of IMLOS their origins are a sore subject.

IMLOS and society

IMLOS are not produced as products, but rather as members of society. During wartime early IMLOS were created for the purpose of labour and after they were no longer needed for this purpose they were set free into the world. Production of modern IMLOS is slightly diferent in that an IMLOS's freedom is paid for by being able to be called upon at any time to be apart of research studies for both companies and students, paid or unpaid labour of any description and mechanical upgrades to their bodies, which will then be paid for either by them or a close friend. This part of the IMLOS experience is tolerated by some and actively protested by others, though protests are usually met by riot police and put to a forced stop.

Modern London: Jubilee City

London, renamed to Jubilee City in the aftermath of the war, is the capital city of New England. Very little of it's old stone architexture still exists as it has been replaced by high rise buildings and company warehouses. The renaming and rebuilding of Jubilee is seen by many as the begining of New England being Americanised. Some see this as an improvement and others see it as old English history being stripped away.

The city is notorious for the glow of neon blue lights which you can see from miles away. LED lighting has become the most common form of lighting up the massive city due to to its efficient use of electricity and it's cheap price. Jubilee is also well known for it's next-to-nothing crime rate with the decline being well doccumented as begining around the same time as the rebuilding. It is theorised, however, that this is due to innapropriate behaviour from the Neo-Metropolitan Police force, though there is no outright proof that any corruption has occured.

Whatever method the Neo-Met use, they claim to have heavily reduced discrimination. However, while this is true for many marginalised groups it isn't for IMLOS or the Facechangers. Most Facechangers disguise themselves as humans in wider society and only reveal themselves in their communities or to humans or IMLOS they believe to be trustworthy. IMLOS have limited rights in society due to them being able to be called upon for work, studies or mechanical upgrades. There are many claims that the lack of protest is down to police violence.

Nocturna Industries

This company was formed just as the technological boom began, capitalising on the founding of mind storage technology. It has sectors pertaining to almost every STEM field which has made it a hub for university graduates looking for their first job in their field. Nocturna is often the first and final step for those wanting to branch into a STEM subject as it has essentially taken almost every other avenue out of the market. It is also where Trinity, Melody and Archer work.

Nocturna was founded by Dr Megan Myers, born to Joseph and Elise Myers in 1976. in 2000, Megan began Nocturna as a small startup after recieving her degree in Phsycology using a small loan from her mother and Father. This small startup boomed into the nation wide standard for what a STEM institution should be.

The underground community of the Facechangers

The Facechangers were considered extinct but this was only believed because, as humanity evolved, they wiped out the majority of the population for their land. Only a couple thousand now exist. One of the largest communities exists in the underground punk music scene of Jubilee.