Theme of CyberSphere
CyberSphere is a post-holocaust cyberpunk role-playing
game set in the
battered fortress of San Diego, now officially known as
New Carthage. New
Carthage is one of the few remaining strongholds of
civilization in the
wastes of the North American southwest. The residents of
this futuristic
city have survived riots, global war, natural disasters,
and full-scale
invasion. Between the towering walls of New Carthage are
hordes of unwashed
masses who would sell their mother for a good pair of
shoes.
The class struggle that exists within New Carthage is
more violent and obvious
then many other so-called modern cultures. Giant
fortresses of steel and
glass throw long shadows over the rest of the city,
desperate forgotten
members of society living their lives underneath the
might of the
megacorporations. Street trash, violent gangs, deckers,
and freelance
mercenaries clash with each other and the corporate
giants. Often, they
clash between each other as mere puppets, tools of their
corporate masters.
What appears as a simple gang turf war is often a power
clash between two
megacorps, an opportunity to muck with each other's
holdings and test out new
products in action. Gangs form and dissipate like beads
of mercury, leaving
wide paths of destruction like Sherman's March. The
dangerous streets of New
Carthage claim victims by the minute, random citizens
getting pulled into
alleys or sewer tunnels, never to see the smog-clouded
sun of New Carthage
again. The downtown streets are markets of flesh and
Illegal wares, conflict
and business rippling through the masses in waves.
In the northern part of town sits the mighty hulks of old
factories and
warehouses. Hordes of corporate cogs march to work long
shifts, the masses
lining up to have their spirits and lives milked for the
bare minimum to
survive on. They trod past the gangers, the drug dealers,
and the alternate
members of the Darwinian struggle for survival, the
millions of people
trapped within the square walls of New Carthage.
Above the lines that mark the official Northern border of
New Carthage sprawls
Nirvana, a dark den of smugglers and crime. The drugs
that supply New
Carthage's desperate masses, that allow them to escape
from their pathetic
dreary lives, are grown and processed in the murky
underground tunnels of
Nirvana. The surplus of Dreamweed is exported through the
docks, funding the
black markets independent from the noose of the
megacorps. Lurking in the
shadows of Nirvana lie many dangerous and mysterious
groups, from the
Crosspatchers to the Massikim. Shadowy deals are made,
flesh and technology
auctioned off by the shiphold.
Below the southern walls of New Carthage is the battered
Old City, unrepaired
since Zero Day. The twisted remains of humanity and life
exist on a day to
day basis, easy prey to the downtown gangs. Hideous
mutants from the atomic
war hide underneath the streets, easy victims to those
humans who seek to
purify the race.
Even more devastated is the wastes that lie outside the
walls of New Carthage.
Savage groups of nomadic wanderers brave the wastes,
scavenging the goods
needed for survival. Beasts altered by the environment
prey on unwary
travellers, and strongholds of those who do not want to
be found exist out in
the radiated plains.
Behind the bulk of the mighty 'Money Wall', glistening
towering monuments of
power and wealth display the opulance of the megacorps.
Giant multinational
corporations, the real controllers of the population
beyond any remnants of
government, fuel the economy that keeps New Carthage
walking on the taught
tightrope between complete anarchy and complete fascist
control. The
manicured streets of the corporate sector is a completely
different world,
perfect lives with perfect corporate control. From time
to time, the
violence of New Carthage breeches the Money Wall, causing
disaster to the
corporate crafted society. The corporate reaction to such
a personal offense
is usually even more devastating, but not nearly as
devastating to the
corporate bottom line.
Beyond the conflict between humanity and humanity is the
struggle between man
and the machine. Downtown ripperdocs slap in machine,
replacing the weak
flesh until the flesh is overpowered by the force of
the machine. Hiding in
cafes and cheap apartments, deckers scour the matrix, the
internet hackers of
the future. They spend their lives in the virtual reality
of the net,
scouring the corporate databases for valuable data to
support their addiction
to technology and speed.
Thrown into this mix of humanity is you. As a player on
CyberSphere, you must
direct your character through the streets and alleys of
New Carthage. There
is no winning on CyberSphere. There is no ultimate goal,
save survival.
Whether you chose to make a decker, a thief, a scavenger,
or a mercenary, you
must find your own path and carve out your own niche for
survival within the
game. There are many options within the game to make
money, and those who
are more creative can invent their own sources of income
for survival. Over
the past years, characters have become therapists,
pilots, cab drivers,
shopkeepers, politicians, reporters, bartenders, and
more. Above all,
remember this is a game.
You are here to enjoy the game along with the other
players. There will be
ups and downs in the game. You will spend years crafting
a well-detailed
character who is a major part of the city, only to have
everything you care
about and own torn away from you. Remember, this is just
a game.
Furthermore, other characters are players, living
breathing people like
yourself. While this is a game, it is a role-playing
game. As you type your
actions, remember that you are playing a character,
representing their role
within the game. At all times you must act out your role
within the world,
acting as the character you have thought up would act.
Whether you chose to
play a street bum, or a dealer in illegal goods shuttling
back and forth
between Bangkok and New Carthage, you must speak as that
character. Do what
that imaginary character would do, keeping the theme and
their personality in
mind.
For more information about the game, please check out the
CyberSphere webpage
at http://cs.vv.com, Graye's newbie help page at
http://www.geocities.com/area
51/6022/newbie.html
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