//GLoG/Setting/MegaEast

Ugh. I've been trying to put down some fluff for an implied setting for the CyberGLoG that I've had knocking around my head for a while now. However, trying to write about a world where the ecosystem has collapsed, the air is poison, violence is the day to day norm, and corporations fuck over the common man to squeeze just a little bit more profit from them is damn tiring when you live in a world where the ecosystem is about to collapse, the air is becoming increasingly poison, violence is on the rise, and corporations fuck over the common man in the name of just a little more profit. The world is literally on fire, we're unpersoning our neighbors, militarizing our police forces AND our schools, dumping toxic slug in the few clean waterways we have left. Corporate CEO's claim water isn't a human right while using slave labor. We've learned nothing from our past mistakes, and we're burning away our future, all in the name of temporary wealth. Dystopia stops being fun when you're literally seeing it on the horizon. We're starting to get proto-cybernetics for limb replacing, so that's cool, at least.

Repair, reuse, recycle, walk when you can, grow your own food when you can, join a union, look after each other, eat the rich.

Ugh. Fuck.

ANYWAY, due to this, instead of specifics, I'm dropping highlights and notes of the world and details on the major corporations. The original intent was one huge list, but if I wait for that to get finished to post, I'll never post again. Use 'em or not. I can't stop you.

The world, at general, is a dystopian 80's future where the economical and technological (American) nightmares of the time have come true. Japan has over taken America (or what's left of it) as an economical power house and super power. Technology is fetishized by the masses, yet few actually know how to work it. Corporations are calling the shots and have an invisible iron grip on day-to-day life. The Contras continue, now acting as a proxy war between Corporations and the USSR. Most people carry a weapon of some sort on their person in public. Violence is on the rise. Entertainment and opinion now call themselves news. Right wing libertarians infest every aspect of society, beating off to their perceived freedoms as fascism and corporatism sway their small minds, using them as both cheap disposable labor and money source. In short, it's a shit show.

For now, if you need something specific, might I suggest Augmented Reality by Paul Gallagher? It's well put together and is rather handy. The man does some fine work. 

And then there's these from Tearless Retina.

Also, the following subreddits have some good inspirational material: /r/Cyberpunk, /r/ImaginaryCyberpunk, /r/ImaginaryCybernetics, /r/Cyberpunk_Room



MegaEast

We'll start with the most stereotypical. Ignore the filed off serial numbers and the scratched out "Property of W. Gibson."


Stereotypically, a giant megalopolis known as "MegaEast," runs along the eastern coast of what remains of the United States, bound by the Appalachians to the west. Megatowers, arcogoloies, and domes offering self sustaining cities-within-cities where the old population centers once stood. City built on city built on city. Away from the centers the city isn't built up, it's built out. Strip malls and chain stores The future America having collapsed back into it's colonial size and modernized. The Collapse killed the American dream, while Apathy and Corporatism has picked over the corpse.

cybercitypunk.com

The Sights

Brutalist architecture in the city centers, lined and highlighted with neon signs and advertisements.

So many advertisements in multiple languages. They'd block out the damn sun if they could. Almost every available surface is covered in advertisements, graffiti, or both.

Megatowers provide basic, over crowded storage housing for the working class. Arcologies guard the rich in complete, self sustained, air-conditioned luxury. Fuller domes, most completed (some left to rust half finished), mark nicer shopping districts with filtered air - or places that had hoped to be before money ran out.

Grey, still clouds hang constantly in the skies. Sunlight is but a vague glow diffused from above.

Zen Security agents in heavy militarized gear patrol the streets serving as privatized law enforcement.

Water quality announcements are made daily, assisted by a color code.

Megahighway over-passes, some built over entire neighborhoods of 20th century buildings.

The Sounds

City traffic is a constant thrum at all hours of the day. It's absence is noteworthy.

Gun fire is common nearly as common as traffic roar.

English and Spanish are common, with Japanese seeing an increase in usage. Especially in business areas.

Echoing babble of holographic advertisements.

The Smells

Rotting eggs herald the on-coming rains, that never fully seem to let up.

Ferment and rot hang thick in the air as the wind wafts in from the garbage encrusted Atlantic ocean.

Stale cigarette smoke and sweat cling to most things in the poor districts.

Sweet, chloroform or ether-like scent denotes the conditioned air of the upper class locations.

Piotr Krezelewski

The Tastes

Everything is so god damn sweet. Sugar and corn syrup has been added in increasing amounts to keep addicted customers coming back.

Sulfur lingers in the drinking water and what little sea food is left.

Lab grown beef is more cost effective than actual meat, as most farm land has been lost to the sprawl, however it's mostly reserved for the well-to-do. Rebecca Meat hasn't caught on here like it has in MegaWest.

Soy has made it's way into just about everything, from burgers to coffee to dried fish puffs, while Corn remains a popular base material for food like consumables.

Taco trucks were once the predominant food truck, but are slowly being replaced with noodle trucks. Meanwhile traditional Hotdog stands linger on, a keystone of the sprawl.


The Touches

Sweltering summers, springs, and falls, as the concrete environment further entraps the heat of the  dying planet.

Freezing winters as the climate crisis swings wildly through it's cycles.

Pain and discomfort await any who attempt to rest in public spaces, as aggressive architecture reminds you that you are neither welcomed nor valued.

Crushing humidity, it is a coastal region after all.

Greasy rain as the sky full of heavy elements, dust, and unknown chemicals spews down upon the urban sprawl.

The Corporations
Most "mom and pop" brick and mortar stores only open nowadays with the hope of being bought out by a corporate chain. Entries will be a not exhaustive list of mega corporations within the area, with notes about their public dealings and the shady dealings that're kept from view of the masses.

Bayer/Johnson
Medical and Agriculture research and development company.
Know For: Whole, wide array of health care products, medicines, and, strangely, agricultural pesticides.
Not Known For: One of their subsidiaries, an animal feed and veterinary branch, developed a disease to be released through their feed. The plan involved releasing a separate cure for an exorbitant price, possibly subscription. Well, the disease mutated, the cure didn't work, and now there aren't any more horses. Good job, assholes.

GlobalCast
Global satellite corporation that provides communication services across the globe, from networking to GPS.
Known For: J-D4S "Priest" Electronic Eye Spy Satellite. Able to spot a field mouse from orbit, and rentable for mere hundreds of thousands of NeuvoYen per millisecond.
Not Know For: Rampant censoring of, copying, and adding subliminal messages to, the data that cross their network. Also, while their Priest satellite may be pointed at earth, it's twin, Heretic, is unregistered and pointed to the Hinterland station.

Lockheed Dynamics
Warfare and Defense contractor constant exploring new ways to murder kill provide personal defense in both the foreign battlefield and home.
Known For: Producing quality hardware for personal defense, and offense in certain circles.
Not Known For: Planting agent provocateurs in all sides of the Texas Troubles solely for the purpose of drumming up business. It worked like a god damn dream.

WeSagyo
Commercial real estate company providing property in most remaining cities.
Known For: Leasing small, temporary office space to individual contractors or free lancers, as well as over seeing the digital debtors prisons to that sprung up once more.
Not Known For: The company hasn't turned a profit in sometime, but they've enough shell companies that they can keep money moving to make it look like they've enough. Also, they may have a breeder reactor ten floors below the streets of New York City. Allegedly.

Zen Securities
Called "Bilgewater" by MegaEast citizens, to rhyme with a former company name. Provides "security" services all over the world, for the right price. Also, in keeping with their founder's Christian beliefs, they train and hire out assassin squads.
Known For: Providing police services in MegaEast, since privatization after the Collapse.
Not Known For: Actually, most of the shit they pull is out in the open, just violence is accepted in this soul-crushed world, and without a stable government, not much can be done. Besides, what functioning governments there are probably have a contract or two with them for extra goon squads.

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