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The Five Families, otherwise known as the Families, is a loose alliance of street militias and gangs that survived the Los Angeles Riots of 2027. Though originally a disparate group of competing criminal enterprises, the organizational skills and common purpose gained during the riots caused the groups to band together for mutual protection from what they claim is corporate oppression. After the riots their numbers swelled with refugees who had been driven from their homes by the violence. Many of these refugees stayed with The Families once the riots were quelled, as they were driven out of their homes illegally by the newly-formed CLED (Chronosoft Law Enforcement Division), in the LGL’s version of ethnic cleansing. [citation needed] They have become nomads, living along the mostly abandoned Los Angeles subway system in the deserted stations and barely functioning trains.
Origins
All of the Families began as street gangs, loosely organized criminal associations that terrorized the streets of Los Angeles as far back as the 1980’s. Though they have all gone through numerous name and leadership changes since their inception, each was formed along ethnic lines that followed their local neighborhood demographics. The riots changed that, giving diverse cultures a common enemy to band against – the corporations. The gangs joined with regular citizens driven from their homes by invading rioters or vengeful police, forming militias for neighborhood protection. The most prominent militias switched from defense to retaliation, striking out against the corporate and government entities they blamed for their troubles.
The Militias
The militias were a diverse group. The South Central Crew was largely African-American, formed to exact retribution for the Jackson 5 incident that started the riots. The Hollywood Starlets were a middle-class white organization in South Hollywood that banded together to protect their neighborhood; once the riots settled down, the Starlets disbanded. The Echos were ethnically diverse, boasting membership from all areas of Echo Park. Los Magos was a curious melding of the Hispanic street gang Eastsidez and the virtual hacker gang The Magic Men. Aided by the coordination of the hackers, Los Magos conquered most of East LA with the exception of the neighborhood in Boyle Heights protected by current Los Angeles mayor Arturo Soto. Big Asia was a short-lived and fractious gathering of the various Chinese, Korean and Japanese gangs in Central L.A.
The one thing that all of these militias had in common was their socio-economic status. Their membership was predominantly lower middle class and the poor, hard hit by the devastating effects of the 2026 Budget Crisis and the resulting riots. The Local Governance License run by Chronosoft, Inc. is determined to displace all the poor people, round them up into one neighborhood and slaughter them. [citation needed]
The Families
Of the organizations that survived the riots, five have achieved organizational cohesion and prominence. They are Los Magos, El Diablos, AsiaTown, The Bottle City Boys and The New Panthers.
Los Magos was one of the most successful militias during the riots, and they remain the leading family to this day. Led by a fabled figure named Los Reyes Magos (The Wise King), this family is mostly Hispanic and Latino. Having merged in the late teens, many of the various Hispanic gangs became politically active, empowered by their shared Hispanic heritage. The Eastsidez gang was the most powerful before the riots and when the unrest began, they contracted the hacker gang The Magic Men for logistical aid. The leaders of the two gangs recognized the awesome power of their shared assets and merged the two into Los Magos.
El Diablos were originally part of Los Magos, but disagreements about the division of profits from their illicit businesses caused them to splinter from the main group in the early days of 2028. Their ethos changed as well, with their entire structure built along the concept of leadership through survival of the fittest. As a result, their leadership has changed at least three times in the year since its founding, each time through the assassination of the leading figure. The leader of El Diablos must resign oneself to constant challenges from subordinates.
The Bottle City Boys are the most reclusive of the Families. Members of the Starlets who refused to lay down their arms saw the success of Los Magos’ use of hackers and took the concept to heart. Most of the members of Bottle City are hackers who spend the majority of their time in crèches, jacked in to the GlobalNet. The Starlets soldiers are the muscles of Bottle City, but there are precious few of them. Originally known as the Kandorians, from the citizens of the shrunken Kryptonian city of Kandor in Superman comics, the threat of a lawsuit by the owners of the Superman trademark convinced them to change their name to Bottle City Boys.
AsiaTown is the Chinese, Korean and Japanese remnants of Big Asia that stuck together after the riots. Though they are considered one family, they are in fact multiple ethnically pure gangs that represent themselves as one entity with three representatives on the Parliament.
The New Panthers are the politically motivated members of the South Central Crew who stayed together after the riots to advocate for African-American issues. Many of the members have adopted African war decorations, wearing tribal paint in public at all times. Despite the ostentatious hostility of this practice, the leadership is dedicated to a non-violent resistance to corporate oppression. [citation needed]
The Parliament
The Five Families are held together through the Parliament, a loose legislative body that settles disputes, sets regulations for business and determines profit-sharing among all the Families. Each of the Families has one vote in the Parliament, though up to five representatives determined by any method can be sent to sessions. While the Families must earn their own keep, they are required to share a certain percentage of their profits with all the other Families for the betterment of the whole organization. The majority of the Families earn their living in various criminal enterprises, from drug trafficking, to prostitution, pornography, software piracy and smuggling.
The Subway System
Due to chronic underfunding, corruption and mismanagement, the Los Angeles Subway System had fallen into significant disrepair in the years before the Riots. Only the poorest would use the services, and it had become a refuge for criminal activities. The establishment of the Chronosoft LGL administration did nothing to change this, as the company put most of its transportation investment in its new dirigible service. The Families saw their opportunity and took it, for all intents and purposes squatting on the train system and claiming it as their own. Only the bravest, poorest or most foolhardy citizens of Los Angeles would use the subway, and they must do so at the pleasure of the Families.
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
GlobalPedia 2029 - The Five Families
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
GlobalPedia 2029 - The Los Angeles Riots of 2027
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The Los Angeles Riots of 2027, otherwise known simply as the ’27 Riots, were the deadliest riots in the city’s history. They were the result of a long series of events beginning in September of the previous year. The riots lasted over a month, starting with the Jackson 5 Incident on July 19th, 2027 to the implementation of the Riot Control Act on August 20th, 2027, passed under the authority of the Chronosoft Local Governance License granted on August 17th. In all, 1358 civilians and 76 police officers were killed, over 5,000 people were wounded and more than 9,800 arrests were made. Property damage was extensive. While the total cost is still being counted, most estimate over $3 billion in both public and private assets were lost.
The Budget Crisis
On September 23rd, 2026, the United States Congress declared that the Federal Government was completely bankrupt, its deficit so massive that it was unable to secure financing to maintain government operations. All creditor nations called on the U.S. to pay all of its debts immediately. A previously undiscovered bug in the accounting software used by the General Accounting Office and the IRS caused the restatement of tax revenues for all the years since the end of the war in Guatemala. The result was that revenues had been grossly overstated, adding trillions to the already unmanageable debt. Until some form of financing or budget compromise could be reached all superfluous federal operations were suspended and all federal funds to state and local governments were immediately cut off.
The California legislature, always a contentious center of debate where budgets were concerned, immediately declared the state bankrupt. Each political faction refused to sign off on any emergency budget measures to address the shortfall. State Senator Mark Ackerman became infamous for stating “This bunch of commie hippy tree-hugging immigrant-loving pussies can spend like drunken sailors in some Mexican hump-hump bar if they want to, but not on my dime!” He was later censured and resigned in disgrace in early 2027. As state and local coffers began to dwindle, multiple ballot initiatives to raise taxes were offered to the population, each one defeated by a hefty margin. Local and state budgets were already stretched thin, and by May 1st, 2027, the state of California ordered a mandatory shutdown of all non-essential state facilities, with the commiserate arguments over which social services were essential and which were “socialist entitlement programs for illegals and deadbeats” [Sen. Ackerman]. Even those essentials were left with scraps, forcing massive layoffs. Workers were sent home without pay. Many policemen and firefighters were severely overworked.
The furloughed employees began to protest loudly, and many of the workers who remained began to strike due to the increased strain and the unfair treatment of their co-workers. The Los Angeles police force was estimated to be operating at 10% of its needed capacity by mid-June, and those officers who still showed up for work did so without pay. Their ammunition and fuel were rationed to almost unmanageable levels, and most patrols were restricted to areas no farther than three miles from their stations to conserve fuel and allow for support. The crime rate exploded overnight.
Food supplies into the city were stretched thin, especially in the poorer neighborhoods. Food programs for the impoverished were curtailed at first, but by mid-June, they were ended abruptly. A number of incidents of unrest erupted at local supermarkets as residents were informed that no form of state or federal assistance debit cards would be honored. Welfare food banks were closed for all but one day of the week. Despite having adequate food supplies for the next month, much of the food was lost to spoilage due to the offices being closed and customers turned away.
The Jackson 5 Incident
Though there had been many occurrences of violence and overt hostility due to food shortages before the Jackson 5 Incident, most agree that the killing of the so-called “Jackson 5” by white police officers on July 19th was the spark that lit the fire. Five black youths in a South Los Angeles neighborhood argued with the owner of a tiny convenience store run by a second-generation Korean-American named Bae Lee, named the Lee Grocery on Central Boulevard. The youths were proclaiming loudly that the owner had given them incorrect change, while the owner claimed that the youths had been shoplifting. When the police arrived, the argument had become extremely heated and a crowd had gathered. According to the surviving officer, one of the youths brandished a firearm, a claim the witnesses, the store owner and the police video disputes. The officers began firing indiscriminately, hitting the youths and members of the gathered crowd. While the youths were posthumously found to be unarmed, members of the crowd were, and they began firing back. One of the officers was killed and Sgt. Benson was wounded, barely managing to drive his cruiser three blocks from the scene before it ran out of gas. The angry crowd, incensed at the deaths of the five youths as well as the injuries sustained by the officers’ careless shots, set fire to the Lee Grocery. In the midst of such a dry summer, several other buildings caught fire as well. The fire department, suffering from similar workforce issues as the police, took two hours to arrive. They were also fired upon, and retreated from the area. By morning, a one-mile swath of Central Boulevard was a burned-out scar.
With the police unable to respond, the crowd grew aided by coverage on the GlobalNet from both amateur vloggers and professional reporters. Violence broke out all over the city, the message spreading like a virus. The neighborhoods of Echo Park were devastated in the first night, and Southeast Hollywood erupted a day later. Residents who did not participate barricaded themselves in their homes. Some areas banded together to fend off the rioters, the most notable being those in Boyle Heights led by current Los Angeles mayor Arturo Soto FASCIST SELLOUT [citation needed]. Due to the efforts of Soto’s defenders, Boyle Heights escaped the riots mostly unscathed.
Evolution
The first week of the riots, while spectacularly violent, were mostly unfocused outpourings of spontaneous rage, as the controversy over the Jackson 5 Incident dominated the news. But as food grew scarcer, and the government seemed less inclined to make any efforts to alleviate the situation, the rioters organized. Calling themselves urban revolutionaries, several anonymous leaders emerged to create mini-militias based along neighborhood lines. The focus of their aggression was twofold. The South Central Crew, from neighborhoods like Crenshaw and Baldwin Hills, targeted the police as retaliation for the deaths of the Jackson 5. The Hollywood Starlets, a white militia from southeast Hollywood, and the Echos, a multi-cultural militia from Echo Park, blamed the food shortages on the corporations. They targeted chain supermarkets, retail outlets, banks and anything they thought was owned by multinational corporations. Coordinated by GlobalNet cyberpunks, these militias were extremely effective. The police were outnumbered and in many cases, outgunned as the militias had no restrictions on their use of ammunition or regulations against excessive force. The culmination of the militia attacks was the burning of a Los Angeles icon, the Hollywood sign on August 4th, 2027. The burning sign could be seen all over the city, and it marked a severe escalation in the battle for Los Angeles.
The National Guard and Corporate Intervention
Before the vandalism of the Hollywood sign, the California state government had ignored the riots, able to place the blame on disorganized bad actors and cash-strapped local governments. The symbolic destruction of so visible a landmark seemed to shake them out of their complacence. The legislature turned its criticisms towards the governor, Harold Baker and the Los Angeles mayor, Creed Layton. Layton begged for National Guard support publicly, but Baker denied the requests. According to the Governor’s recently released memoirs, he ordered the National Guard to intervene and was told by the commanding general that such intervention was impossible due to the federal budget crisis. A week was lost to recriminations and “blame game” statements in the press, while the city of Los Angeles continued to burn. Mayor Layton declared martial law in the city, but was unable to enforce the proclamation.
In an unprecedented turn of events, a coalition of multinational corporations with operations in Los Angeles banded together and formed their own private militias. Participating entities included Chronosoft, Inc., Botts & Gardner, and Global Entertainment among others. The militias were coordinated by Ret. General Sam Collins, the CEO of private security firm Condor Global MERCENARIES AND ASSASSINS [citation needed]. The wealthy homes of North Hollywood, the Financial District and other key assets in Downtown Los Angeles, as well as anyone else who could pay for the privilege were patrolled by corporate forces. Many of these mercenary forces were staffed by former police officers who had been laid off. Such efforts were given their blessing by the beleaguered governor and mayor. While they concentrated on defense at first, there are unconfirmed reports that the Condor forces made offensive strikes into residential neighborhoods in an effort to quell the riots as well as rumors of the assassinations of key militia leaders. These reports are still under investigation.
The Local Governance License Act of 2027
Though the riots would continue sporadically for three days after, the end is generally considered to be August 17th, the day the U.S. Congress passed the Local Governance License Act of 2027. This act gave corporations the chance to bid for civil control of cities, counties and states. Not only were the bid winners allowed to collect local and state taxes for their LGL, they were charged with providing all civil services previously offered by government organizations, including law enforcement. A little-publicized provision in the bill granted immunity from prosecution for any agent of the LGL who might have performed illegal acts in the protection of corporate assets during the riots. This provision has been challenged unsuccessfully numerous times in lawsuits filed by victims of Condor Global.
Much of the Condor forces were immediately deputized as police officers in the newly-formed Chornosoft Legal Enforcement Division or CLED. Gen. Collins was appointed as chief of police. Los Angeles Police Department employees were allowed to interview for their old jobs, though many bristled under the new corporate culture. The last death of the ’27 Riots took place on August 20th, when an African-American teenager, Shawna Frederickson, lit herself on fire on the steps of Chronosoft Headquarters holding a sign that read “Welcome Your New Corporate Overlords! Howdy Massas!”
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008
GlobalPedia 2028: Chronosoft, Inc.
Chronosoft, Inc. is the public name for a multinational conglomerate of corporations, most of who specialize in the electronics industries. Made up of thousands of businesses both big and small, Chronosoft, Inc. has its global headquarters in the city of Los Angeles, California. The parent company of all Chronosoft entities is known as the Chronosoft Holdings Corporation. One of its subsidiaries, the Chronosoft Local Governance Administration, is in charge of the civil administration of the Los Angeles county area under the Local Governance License issued in 2027. PCE spent the 1980’s in intensive acquisition mode, gobbling up smaller software and hardware companies while never attempting to compete directly with what Willingham had correctly seen as unassailable juggernauts of the computer world, Microsoft and Apple. Through intelligent acquisitions, PCE was uniquely poised to take advantage of the technology boom of the ‘90’s. Much of the underlying technology behind the Internet was developed and licensed by PCE subsidiaries. By the year 2000, PCE had grown to be one of the largest publicly-traded corporations in the country, but with a surprising lack of public awareness. A new millennium brought with it a new direction, highlighted by a complete revitalization of the corporate brand, symbolized by the reinvention of the company as Chronosoft, Inc.
History
The company which would become Chronosoft Holdings Corporation was founded in 1948 by Jordan Pennington as Pennington Calculation & Electronics, a company specializing in early computer development for military and aeronautics research. Much of PCE’s early contracts were with the United States military, thanks to Pennington’s extensive connections from his time with the NIA and the early days of the CIA. Their equipment has served an instrumental part in the development of the Air Force’s evolving technological superiority, from the first jet plane designs to the foundation of the space program. Known in many government circles as “the most important company you never heard of,” PCE grew to be one of the largest government contractors in the military-industrial complex of the ‘50’s.
By the late 1970’s, PCE founder Pennington had begun to shift much of PCE’s focus to the nascent personal computing arena. He provided much of the funding for a number of early PC projects. Most failed in the face of competition from Apple and IBM, and in 1979, the board of PCE voted Pennington out of his post as Chief Executive Officer. He maintained a non-voting seat on the board, but never seemed to recover from what he publicly deemed a “Benedict Arnold-sized betrayal.” The new CEO, Artis Willingham, was a young, energetic turk with an eye towards finance. In a bitter twist of irony, Willingham personally steered the company towards software development despite the board’s objections. Many felt he was following “Old Man” Pennington’s failed vision. However, his gamble paid off much better than expected as the personal computing boom of the ‘80’s created a huge demand for PCE’s products.
The economic downturn of the early 21st century did little to slow Chronosoft’s growth, as it spread its reach globally. They became one of the prime movers in the Internet’s metamorphosis into the GlobalNet, a much more robust platform for the set of global applications Chronosoft had been developing. Under the direction of CEO Kato Flauvio, appointed as successor to Willingham in 2007, Chronosoft displayed more prescient business decisions by investing in the early development of cyberware. Their commercial releases of such ‘ware as the interface jack and the first crèche models were instant successes, garnering them massive sales and public fanfare.
Flauvio stepped down from his position in 2025, and was replaced with another in a long line of visionary young CEO’s, the 32-year old Sanborn Davis. A former staffer on President Benton’s successful 2024 run, Davis used his Washington connections to broker a deal in the negotiations that led to the compromise legislation credited with ending the unrest of 2027, the Local Governance License Act. Davis’s role as the public face of the company has been downplayed since the LGL’s were established. His stated intention for a reduced role was to let the Chronosoft LGL’s stand on their own without overt interference from corporate hierarchies, a move many believe has helped the LGL’s favorability among citizens.
With yearly revenues in the hundreds of billions of dollars, five LGL’s in 3 states, and offices and subsidiaries in 156 countries around the world, Chronosoft, Inc. is one of the largest corporations on the planet. Its 2028 prospectus labels the company one of the surest growth leaders in the world. The corporate slogan “Let Us Take You Where You Need to Go!” is indicative of the corporation’s aggressive attitude towards continued growth.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
GlobalPedia 2028: United States Currency
In the late 2020's, the United States consumer economy has evolved from a cash-dependent society to one almost completely based on transactions of credit. The physical dollar is still exchanged, especially among the poorer strata of society, but most transactions are accomplished with some form of electronic funds transfer. Physical currency has evolved into a wired currency as well, and multiple forms of dollar-based currency have gained acceptance in the form of corporate scrip. The reliance on electronic means of transferring and accumulating currency has led to a new twist on identity theft, the credit assassination.
Cash
The exchange of paper money for goods and services has been on a steady decline since the early '90's. By early 2020, cash was used in less than 4% of all transactions within the United States. As part of the U.S. Treasury's attempts to curtail counterfeiting operations, they began work on a new type of paper bill, called the Smart Bill. While previous series of bills had contained RFID strips for authentication purposes, the 2023 series of bills was the first to contain writable storage space along with readable information. For the first time, cash could be traced, with each bill linked to the purchaser of the bill through ATM and bank teller records. Point-of-sale systems were upgraded to register the transfer of the bills from one customer to the establishment.
The tracing program was initially a classified program of the Department of Homeland Security, ostensibly used to track the financial trail of suspected funders of terrorist activity. A group of anonymous hackers known as the Epic F@il Legion discovered the tracing properties of the bills , exposing the secret through the GlobalNet. The Treasury Secretary initially denied the program's existence, but within a year, the details were confirmed by the department. Exchange programs were instituted at all banks, offering to exchange the old bills with the new on a one-for-one basis. Response was incredibly low from the beginning, and has remained so. The Treasury Department has instituted a number of incentive programs to collect and destroy all of the untraceable currency, with little success.
Many of those who still use cash, such as low-wage workers, immigrants, criminals and black marketers prefer pre-trace currency. Dubbed “Five-Year,” the bills are hoarded. Those who wish to live “off the grid” are forced to use the slowly dwindling supply of Five-Year. A thriving industry of cash vendors has sprung up in most major metropolitan areas. Often found in convenience stores and high-interest, no credit-check loan establishments, the cash vendors will exchange all sorts of currency, including corporate scrip and new bills for the equivalent value in Five-Year, charging only a nominal percentage as a fee. The official government exchange rate for Five-Year is two old bills for one new bill, and it continues to go down as the government attempts to discourage its use.
Credit
The modern economy of the United States is built on electronic funds transfer. Most currency is called “credit” even if interest is not charged. The most important financial asset a consumer can possess is their credit score. No longer used just to determine lending worthiness, credit scores now determine employment , membership and service eligibility. Though the actual credit scores are kept anonymous, credit reporting agencies are used by businesses to refuse service to anyone whose credit score does not match the businesses minimum credit threshold.
Credcrashing
Due to the increasing reliance on credit, a nasty side-effect has been the emergence of “credcrashing” otherwise known as “credit assassin.” A crasher assassinates his target by destroying his credit score, severing all ties the target has with their funds. The target is left bereft of credit, their bank accounts drained, bills unpaid and overdue. Some severe cases have resulted in the target being arrested on charges of credit fraud for their past credit transactions, even though those transactions were legally executed at the time. Like identity theft taken to the extreme, credit assassination can be corrected, but often not without the help of the very same credit reporting agencies that allowed the crashing to take place. The GlobalNet is rife with unsubstantiated rumors that many assassinations are ordered by corporations, either as attempts to sabotage competitors through their employees, or as a recruiting tool. The corporations assassinate the credit of a competitor's employee, then offer the target a job at reduced pay when the recruit has no other options. To this date, no corporation has been charged with such a crime. None will admit to using the practice, except in cases where debt collection has repeatedly failed, which is legal in extreme cases.
Corporate Scrip
The Corporate Currency Exchange Act of 2023 instituted another form of currency in the United States, known as corporate scrip. Issued by corporations, this scrip is equivalent to money issued by the Treasury, with a variable exchange rate pegged against the dollar based upon that particular scrip's overall activity. Scrips with brisk trade can actually exchange at a greater than one-to-one ratio with U.S. Dollars, while less popular scrips can be practically worthless in dollar terms. All corporations will take their own scrip at a one-to-one ratio for their goods and services, while using the official exchange rate for other scrips.
The stock price of corporations can also affect their scrip exchange rate. Corporations with low consumer confidence find their scrips being traded in for other currency or not being used at all, while corporations with high consumer confidence will find their scrip frequently used. As a result, stock prices and exchange rates generally move in similar proportions.
Many corporate employees are paid in scrip. Corporations find this lowers their overhead and increases revenue, as those employees tend to purchase goods and services from vendors also owned by the scrip's issuer due to the favorable exchange rate. Employees are urged to “keep it in the corporate family.”
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
GlobalPedia 2028 Entry: Cyberware
Cyberware is the colloquial term used to describe cybernetic prosthetic replacement organs, limbs and other physical cybernetic enhancements. Popularized in the cyberpunk speculative fiction of the late 20th century, cyberware is an all-inclusive term that describes many disciplines of human enhancement technology utilizing the man-machine interface.
History
The first public cybernetic replacements were crude inventions such as Dean Kamen’s “Luke Arm,” made to replace lost limbs with crude movements and bulky attachments. Though prosthetics had been used for decades before the “Luke Arm,” none displayed the capabilities of this invention. It took a decade of testing and refinement before the first units were commercially available as medical prosthetics in the United States. Available in metal or faux flesh models, these versions were modular and upgradeable, but required large battery packs that limited mobility.
A parallel development track was undertaken in secret sometime in 2012 by a partnership of the Pentagon and various multinational corporations, including Chronosoft, Sony and Phillips Erickson. This project, codenamed Silver Eagle, was aimed at augmenting human capabilities through cybernetic prosthetics. Though the project lagged behind the replacement technology, its results were much more impressive. Limbs were created that doubled, tripled and even quadrupled the strength of the limb they replaced. Replacement legs allowed some of the test subjects to run in short bursts of up to 18 mph, arms were able to lift 1000 lbs. with proper spinal bracing, and replacement eyes enhanced vision range and depth, and allowed sight into the infrared and ultraviolet spectrums.
The first real-world use of cybernetic augmentation was the use of so-called “cybersoldiers” in the Chavez War of 2018. Two Enhanced Marine Platoons from Eagle Company were used to assault the capital of Venezuela, and their augmented abilities proved decisive. Originally meant to be a covert strike force, international television cameras caught these enhanced humans on film. While the US Military initially denied the existence of cybernetically-enhanced soldiers, it eventually used the surviving members of the platoons as spokesmen for its recruitment drive, Be a CyberSoldier.
The corporate members of Project Silver Eagle lobbied the military for permission to begin sales of commercial versions of the cyberware, and were rebuffed. Seeing no recourse, the American divisions of the companies filed suit against the government. In a highly-publicized series of court cases that went to the Supreme Court, the companies were awarded the rights to produce cyberware for sale, provided each enhancement was installed by a medical professional and registered with a federal database. The first enhancement cyberware was the Chronosoft Blue Collar Series of arms and legs, marketed towards manual laborers at a low cost. The arms suffered from substandard construction and faulty materials, finally being recalled in early 2021. Sales suffered through the next two generations of product, but the 2023 release of the Chronosoft Atlas line saw a perfected design that met high standards in quality while maintaining a reasonable price point.
With the commercial success of the Atlas series, a thriving black market erupted. Whereas corporate label cyberware was safe, following stringent FDA guidelines, black market cyberware was a chancy endeavor, often installed by unlicensed technicians in less than sterile conditions. Corporate label cyberware had limitations placed on the amount of augmentation allowed, but black market cyberware faced none of those restrictions, leading to outlandish experimentation. Many of these experiments have resulted in death for both the user and innocent bystanders. Black market cyberware also bypasses the federal licensing restrictions, but the proliferation of illegal “ware” has become so widespread, not even the LGL-backed corporate police have been able to enforce licensing laws effectively.
Styles
Cyberware most often refers to cybernetic limb replacements, but “ware” is not limited to limbs. Entire organs have been replaced, including eyes, lungs, heart, stomach, pancreas and even sexual organs. The most common replacements are:
All visible cyberware can be covered in a faux flesh covering that often fools the naked eye. However, most of the pop culture that has embraced cybernetic enhancements as a fashion statement disdains the use of “skinning” the cyberware, preferring to proudly display their metal.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
GlobalPedia 2028 Entry: The GlobalNet
The GlobalNet is the interconnected worldwide network of public and private computer networks administered by an international consortium of government and corporate administrators. The GlobalNet transmits data by packet switching using the Advanced Internet Protocol (AIP). Built as an upgrade to the original Internet infrastructure, the GlobalNet is the main delivery mechanism for 95% of the information disseminated on the planet. All media from television to radio, is delivered via the GlobalNet, as well as private media such as electronic mail, chat, telephone, World Wide Web pages, financial transactions, avatar interaction and most forms of communication in the civilized world. Only three countries in the world do not connect legally to the GlobalNet because of a refusal to adhere to the standards set forth by the GlobalNet Consortium: The Congo, the Thai Separatist State of Isan, and Palestine.
History
The Internet was initially constructed as ARPANET, a means for individual departments of the United States government to communicate in case a catastrophic nuclear war left most traditional communication channels unusable. Its widespread commercial use during the 1990’s caused the Internet to expand at an exponential rate, until it had reached a saturation point in late 2012. Rampant lawlessness like media piracy, pornography, identity theft and sedition caused many of the UN member nations to seek international regulation of the network. Multinational media corporations welcomed the regulation, and the GlobalNet Consortium of both public and private interests was formed in 2013 to build the new, regulated network.
The Consortium’s charter outlined a series of laws to which nations must adhere in order to gain access to the new network, dubbed the GlobalNet. Nations were free to enforce penalties for the GlobalNet laws on their citizens in accordance with their local laws as sovereign nations. Some nations, such as China, made headlines by instituting the death penalty for all GlobalNet infringements, while most just proscribed serious prison time. Repeated offenses by citizens of a nation without proper punishment could result in that nation’s access to the GlobalNet being completely rescinded, rendering the nation financially isolated from the rest of the world. The GlobalNet embargo of Venezuela in 2018 was a precursor to the Chavez War between Venezuela and the United States, and the Venezuelan’s lack of modern communication devices was the reason the war lasted less than two weeks.
The upgrade of the world’s Internet backbones to the higher speed GlobalNet connections was completed in 2017, with Laos being the final country to be brought up to the GlobalNet standard. The Consortium committed to continual infrastructure upgrades every two years, and has so far kept to that schedule. The 2027 United States budget crisis caused the only upgrade interruption.
GlobalNet Law
The GlobalNet charter lists twelve infractions as major GlobalNet crimes. An individual committing any of these crimes may be prosecuted by his own nation’s police force, or by the GlobalNet Police Force (GPF) regardless of whether the infringement was confined locally or crossed international boundaries. The GPF (known colloquially by hackers as ‘The Global PigFuckers’), is recruited from the cybercrimes division of police forces around the world. It exists as a cadre of computer operatives on constant online patrol, as well as physical units with jurisdiction in any of the signatory nations. It is not unusual for hackers caught violating GlobalNet laws to be pursued on their home soil by both GPF and local authorities. While the GPF are supposed to adhere to local standards of evidentiary procedures, including search and seizure laws and human rights, it is not uncommon for GPF operatives to be accused of excessive force and violating local statutes. Accountability for those violations is spotty at best, as many nations would rather accept the violations than risk losing GlobalNet access.
The most prosecuted GlobalNet crimes (known as The Big Twelve) are:
Technology
The GlobalNet was initially built on top of the Internet backbone, but has since upgraded far beyond the original capacity. The 1 TB/s data transfer rate was surpassed in 2022, and end users in the most advanced countries now enjoy speeds 100 times greater than that for the same relative cost. In developed nations such as the United States, and most of Europe, GlobalNet hardware is built into most dwellings as an appliance, though this existing hardware is upgradeable.
The GlobalNet transfers data using the Advanced Internet Protocol (AIP), a technology standard created in 2017. The standard has been continuously updated to version 7.7 as of this writing.
The most common GlobalNet interfaces are traditional keyboard and remote pointer combination or the more expensive voice-activated interfaces. In 2015, Japanese researcher Kensuke Takamura created an interface device called the SukeMura Plug™, more commonly known as the interface jack. His decades of research focusing on the man-machine interface had led him to attempt direct control of computer devices via mental commands. The interface jack started life as an unwieldy helmet of electrodes that allowed crude input on a computer, but Takamura pushed the device further. He found a method to stimulate sensory input and output as well. The plug not only allowed the user to control a computer, it allowed them to project their consciousness into the binary data stream itself. At first, the user could only project into a local computer, but by 2017, Takamura had managed to project a “NetBody” into the GlobalNet, freeing the operator’s consciousness to travel anywhere a computer was connected.
Fearful of corporate stranglehold on what he considered a fantastic information-gathering device, Takamura released the source code and schematics for the jack onto the GlobalNet rather than let his employers control the device’s distribution. The Takamura espionage trial in 2018 grabbed massive headlines. He was tried and convicted of 3,000 counts of industrial espionage, intellectual piracy and transfer of stolen data and sentenced to life imprisonment. His subsequent suicide in 2019 has always been considered suspicious by conspiracy theorists, and the phrase “getting Takamuraed” has become slang for being oppressed by big corporations with trumped up charges.
The impact of the release of the interface jack was widespread. Hackers everywhere began adopting the device as their preferred means of interface. Some built their own homebrew SukeMara Plug, while most bought the thousands of commercial versions that became available before Takamura’s trial was even complete.
From the Plug to the Crèche
The GlobalNet crèche was released commercially in 2022. The crèche is typically a pill-shaped sensory deprivation chamber, containing a very fast, easily moddable computer that connects the user to the GlobalNet through their SukaMara Plug. While anyone with a SukaMara Plug can connect to the GlobalNet through any computer, the crèche is a specialist means of interface used by those who desire speed and processing power.
Though both jack and crèche connections transfer a person’s consciousness through the plug, the use of an interface jack causes the brain to have to process both physical sensory input as well as the input coming from the jack. Most users who have experienced both types of connections report the interface jack or “remote connection” is slow. Their NetBody’s reaction times are sluggish, and they can utilize fewer programs on remote nodes.
The crèche, however, completely encapsulates the user in an environment designed to deprive the senses of any physical input whatsoever. The user is encased in the darkened chamber, his body immersed in a saline solution, with a waste catch attached to the genitals, oxygen supplied through a breathing mask and ears plugged. Many crèches are now equipped with intravenous nutrition dispensers, allowing hackers to stay in their crèches for days on end. These models also contain electrodes that stimulate the user’s muscles with tiny electric shocks to combat muscle atrophy. With the brain freed from physical sensations, the NetBody is imbued with fantastic agility, as well as a greater capacity to store and transfer programs and data. Though the health risks of prolonged sensory deprivation have not been explored, crèche hackers are typically known for their bad hygiene, pale yellowed skin, sunken eyes and malnourished appearance.
The NetBody
The virtual manifestation of the “jacked in” is called an avatar or NetBody. In its purest form, without any ornamental textures attached, NetBody’s are described as being silver in color. Though most are vaguely humanoid, the NetBody can be consciously shaped into whatever form the user can program, flowing like liquid mercury. The NetBody can have textures attached to it, making it appear photorealistic, or any form of artistic style imaginable. Doing so will slow the NetBody’s reaction times. As such, most hardcore hackers eschew this ornamentation for performance.
The NetBody does provide the user sensory input such as touch, sight, hearing and smell, all dependent on the amount of sensory information coded into the NetBody’s present location. The more sensory information a net location provides, the more costly that location due to the demands for processing power and bandwidth. Called NetNodes, these locations are more often than not rented servers rather than individually owned local machines or crèches. Only larger corporations own and maintain their own NetNodes, and these nodes are often the targets of hacker attacks.
Arena Battles
Rumors persist of an undocumented set of NetNodes called the Arena Circuit. These illegal and unconfirmed nodes are the sites of fantastic battles between hacker avatars. This virtual bloodsport is illegal according to the GlobalNet charter because fights between NetBody’s can have serious effects on the user. Injuries to a NetBody are often felt in the user’s physical body. The loss of a Net limb can manifest itself as a bruise or worse physical injury. Abrupt destruction of a NetBody has caused nosebleeds, migraines, internal bleeding and in rare cases, aneurysms causing comas and death. No solid data exists on the numbers of hacker deaths related to their NetBody’s destruction. Several GlobalNet committees have been appointed to study the problem, but none have so far acknowledged that death is anything more than extremely rare, random events unrelated to GlobalNet use.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Campaign 2028: Arturo Soto Campaign Video
Arturo Soto was born into a poor Mexican immigrant family in Los Angeles in 1989, the fifth of seven children. Both his parents were barely educated, struggling to make ends meet in menial, low-paying jobs. His life was changed forever when his older brother was slain in gang violence, forever steering Arturo down the straight and narrow path. Working his way through college by busing tables and working odd jobs, Arturo vowed to make something of himself. He became the first child in his family to graduate college from the University of Southern California in 2012 with a degree in Business Administration. Within five years, he was running his own successful business as a real estate developer. During the riots of 2027, he rose to regional prominence as leader of his neighborhood watch, successfully defending his block from rioters and a corrupt detachment of corporate police attempting to loot the affluent area. Videos of his standoff with the so-called "Corporate Police Brigade" exploded onto the GlobalNet soon after power was restored to Los Angeles. Running as a staunch defender of the working man from corporate exploitation, Arturo Soto has mounted a formidable challenge to corporate-appointed incumbent Oliver Sunderland. The latest polls have the race a dead heat going into the final week of campaigning. Watch the campaign video after the jump.
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Campaign 2028: Mayor Oliver Sunderland's Re-Election Campaign Video
Oliver Sunderland was appointed interim mayor of Los Angeles by the Chronosoft Civil Administration Reconstruction Board in 2027, as part of the Local Governance License agreement which gave the corporation administrative control of Los Angeles County and surrounding areas. According to the agreement, the interim mayor and city council would serve for one year, after which elections would be held to fill these positions as they had been in the past. Mayor Sunderland, a former CEO of a corporate efficiency consulting firm acquired by Chronosoft in 2026, was the LGL board's first choice for mayor, and he immediately declared his intention to seek election as mayor once his interim term was complete. Below is one of his campaign videos, distributed via television, GlobalNet, email and electronic paper fliers all over the Los Angeles area.
Mayor Sunderland was born in Los Angeles in 1971, son of a dock worker and a school teacher. He graduated Sum Cum Laude from the University of Southern California with a degree in Business Administration in 1994, and with a Ph.D. in Business Administration in 2001. He worked his way from the mail room to the board room in the corporate consulting firm Efficienca, Inc., becoming the youngest CEO in the firm's history at the age of 39. His only prior political experience came in an unsuccessful bid for City Council in 2020, but despite the loss, he kept himself firmly connected with local politics. His frequent criticisms of the inefficiencies of government earned his firm a contract with the city in 2024, a contract widely praised for reducing wasteful spending in the city budget. When Efficienca was acquired by Chronosoft in 2026, Sunderland joined the Efficienca Division of Chronosoft Consulting, Inc. in an advisory role, charged with long-range planning for civil administration contracts such as those with the city.
His brief tenure as mayor of the Los Angeles LGL has not been without controversy. Critics of the LGL plan have cited many instances of city contracts being won by Chronosoft splinter companies resulting in conflict of interests and corruption charges. The most notorious example is the city's contract with ChronoTarget, a weapons and law enforcement supplier. Their contract with the Chronosoft Legal Enforcement Department has been rife with allegations of embezzlement and overcharges. His most controversial initiative has been the Relocate Plan, an urban redevelopment project that calls for massive relocation of various "crime-infested" neighborhoods into special free fire zones. The plan has met with great resistance from community leaders, which has left it stalled in council proceedings. Mayor Sunderland's opponent, Arturo Soto, has labeled the Mayor a "tool of corporate greed."
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
GlobalPedia 2028 Entry: Local Governance Licenses
Last Updated June 29, 2028
-- Begin Entry --
The crisis which precipitated the unrest of 2027 began with an innocuous federal budgetary crisis in late September 2026, a crisis unseen in the entire history of the United States. The U.S. Congress announced that the Federal government was bankrupt. Its cumulative deficit spending from the previous decade had so far outpaced incoming tax revenues for the forseeable future that it was forced to default on all oustanding financial obligations. Tax revenues had been grossly underestimated since the end of the war in Guatemala. Foreign governments that had for decades propped up the devaluing currency with loans to the U.S. government had sold all their remaining dollar holdings to anonymous corporate interests. Now those same governments, who still owned most of the U.S. debt called in their markers, draining what was left of the liquid federal reserves. All federal aid to local and state government agencies was immediately suspended. All federal workers were warned that their next payday would be their last until the budgetary crisis was solved.
At first, the local and state governments exhibited little urgency to find alternate means of funding their day-to-day operations. It was not the first Federal budgetary crisis declared even within the previous decade, and Congress gave no overt indication this particular crisis was any more precipitous. Most governors and state legislators viewed the crisis as a sly political ploy to extract concessions from the minority power. But after three months of debate, Congress shuttered its doors for the winter session with no solution. Partisan sniping continued in the press over the holidays and into the January Congressional session. The bureaucrats at state and local levels continued ignoring the crisis, operating at previous budgetary levels with no regard to the dwindling coffers. By the time Easter weekend rolled around, civil administration around the country began running in the red. By May 1st of 2027, there was simply no money left. Police Departments, sewage, waste management, and every level of state and local government were forced to operate on skeleton crews. Most workers were sent home without pay indefinitely. Soon, even those allowed to work began to walk off the job in appreciable numbers, and those left at home began seeking other employment.
Law enforcement agencies around the country went on strike to protest the crushing hours and lack of pay. The most disastrous strikes were in Los Angeles and New York, with barely 10% of the force on the job on any given day. Corporations around the country, seeing the writing on the wall, began hiring out of work police officers to secure corporate assets. Those officers who crossed strike lines worked for nothing, with even fewer resources than before. Ammunition for service weapons, fuel for patrol cars, everything was rationed to the bone. The crime rate skyrocketed with minimal police presence on the streets. In June, the California welfare offices closed their doors, and the lower income communities in Los Angeles and San Francisco began to run out of food. Food stamps, welfare checks and all government subsidy food shipments ceased. The combination of scarce food supplies and the hottest summer in twenty years created a simmering cauldron waiting to explode.
One small incident was all that was required to set off the firestorm, and that incident became known as the Jackson 5 Incident. Five African-American youths were gunned down outside a convenience store by two Caucasian policemen. The officers claimed the youths were attempting to rob the owner, a Korean immigrant who was later killed in the riots. Witnesses claimed the youths were arguing with the owner over change owed to one of their number. Words were exchanged, violence threatened, and the police were called. By the time the overworked policemen arrived on the scene, violence was imminent. The officers testified that one of the youths brandished a firearm, but the witnesses dispute that claim to this day. The youths were killed, and the resulting backlash was the ‘27 Riots.
The ’27 Riots were the worst since the Watts Riots of the 20th century. Los Angeles became a battleground. Repeated requests from the Mayor of Los Angeles, Creed Layton, for a National Guard presence were denied. Layton declared martial law anyway, but without federal or state troops to enforce the order, the job fell to the embattled Los Angeles Police Department. With LAPD already the target of so much mistrust and hatred, this only served to fuel further violence, which was now directed at the department itself. Most police facilities were besieged by rioters, organized by GlobalNet circles and armed with military-grade weaponry, the source of which is still under investigation. After three weeks, the riots had claimed the lives of 76 officers and 1358 civilians, with billions in property damage.
The morning of August 17th, 2027 brought news of a compromise. The U.S. Congress, besieged by empty federal coffers, the target of press recriminations, and under threat of revolutionary violence, had turned to its corporate backers for the solution. Congress entrusted corporate security firms with emergency powers to quell the immediate crises in the areas surrounding corporate headquarters such as Chronosoft’s headquarters in Los Angeles. Once peace was restored, the corporations would be allowed to bid on Local Governance Licenses, or LGL’s. Chronosoft, one of the largest multinational corporations based in the Southern California area won the bid for the parcel of land from Los Angeles County south to Baja, gaining control over all civil administration including law enforcement. Within three days, the riots were over. The Private Sector Act of 2027 passed by a unanimous vote, giving LGL corporations the power to run local and state government agencies as they saw fit, and to collect local and state taxes to pay for those agencies. Federal law still held jurisdiction over the LGL’s as well as between LGL districts. In exchange, the corporations agreed to subsidize the federal government’s expenditures when needed to maintain the efficient operation of the federal, state and local governments. Each LGL would be up for renewal after the first three years; failure to meet certain criteria in efficiency, crime and social administration would open the license up to a new round of bidding.
The law allowed the LGL to appoint a city government to serve on an interim basis for no longer than one year. Oliver Sunderland, a former City Councilman, was appointed mayor of Los Angeles, with a six-person City Council appointed in an advisory position. The mayoral elections of 2028 are scheduled for September 1st, and along with a new mayor will come a new City Council, which will serve the same legislative function as the pre-LGL Council. Mayor Sunderland is running against the challenger Arturo Soto, a Hispanic community leader who emerged from the riots as a defender of his neighborhood and something of a local folk hero.
Chronosoft created the Chronosoft Legal Enforcement Division, or CLED, in October 2027 to replace the LAPD. It has been heraladed as the model of civil law enforcement efficiency among LGL’s, reducing crime rates by 20% since inception. Running on the principles of profit-driven incetivism, where profit is measured in terms of convictions, CLED is gaining a reputation as a hard-nosed but efficient law enforcement division that maintains peace in the still-volatile Chronosoft LGL.
-- End Entry --
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Introduction
Welcome to my latest experiment. I've been publishing non-fiction since 2002, mostly dealing with my crazy ideas about video games and MMOG's. From my days at Waterthread.org and into my time at f13.net, I have published nothing but opinion pieces, some almost newsy without any real journalistic intent. My fiction has remained my own. I've decided it's time to change that.
My first novel began as a germ of an idea for a role-playing game, way back in the summer of 1994. The game went through a few alpha tests with friends, then fell apart with the revelation that I am really abysmal with ratios and odds math, something which is highly desirable when designing a dice-rolling based system. But the story, the story hung around, appearing like a polite yet uninvited guest many times over the years. I can blame my own laziness, or my obsession with Everquest for not having written the thing during the 90's. But something about the horrors of 9/11, or perhaps the passing of my 30th birthday in 2001, something about that convergence of events kicked my mind's internal ass into gear. I finally began to put fingers to keys and words to screen, and thus began the first novel I would complete since I was fifteen. That novel I don't count in my list of written novels. It was terrible, an adolescent rewriting of the plot of Christine with a Greek goddess as the seductive car in question. Yes, it really was that bad. I was fifteen, for fuck's sake, what the hell did I know about stupid?
With the resignation of my guild leadership in February 2002, I dedicated myself to finishing the novel. It took quite a while, but I finally did it. I finally finished that novel. A number of edits later, it was shipped off to publishers and agents, beginning in 2005. Almost three years later, it still remains unpublished. I've since edited it down for length, splitting the original book into two books as it was quite a weighty volume for a first novel. It had always been meant to be part of a series, with a very natural split in the middle, so the surgery required was bearable.
That isn't this novel. This novel is something related to that novel, in fact it's a prequel, though it will now be published before its predecessor so I suppose it really won't be a prequel after all. This novel will share some minor characters with that novel, as well as sharing the same world. The story's will be related, but only indirectly. They will all exist in the series I call Clockwork Engine.
The plan is to offer this novel one chapter at a time, released every two weeks. The best way to know when a new chapter is available is to subscribe to the feed, found to the right of the main column. Along the way, there will be other supplementary items, to be found under the GlobalPedia tag. These will go towards fleshing out the world and explaining some of the things that may be mentioned in the main body of text. I hope to release those within the weeks between chapters. And if my usual laziness cripples me in the midst of this, I hope the regular readers (if there are any) will ride my ass like an alien facehugger.
Tomorrow afternoon, Jan. 31st, will see the release of Chapter 1 of Under the Amoral Bridge. Be gentle.
