Theme

Atmosphere

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There is balance in all things. Light is sister to Darkness, Good is brother to Bad. It is the essence of existence, it is the truth that underlies understanding.

In the cities of the Bright, the world is hard and real. Even the imagination has been explored and defined by the corporation sciences. Birth, sex, love, work, all are part and parcel of oppressive technology and engineered society.

But in the Dark, these definitions are crushed by fear, anger, desire, and the shadows. The edge of your vision pulls at your security. The world presses in too closely against the edges of the city, a distant force that seems to breath…

Imagine Utopia with a disease. The bright city and the great, green unknown at war. One wields technology and the other, magic. Both have only one foot soldier - the spirit of humanity. Both are part of heaven, and while the war that can never end rages, the battlefield
between inherits something of each.

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This is the world of Dark Metal. Monsters and heroes. It's all a matter of perspective.

The Falll

"This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper."
-T.S. Elliot

In years before The Fall, stories of Bigfoot, ghosts, and people with magical powers were taken seriously only by children and fringe groups. Laughed at and joked about, the mortals unwillingly fell prey to the constant scheming of the supernatural world that was, with every year that passed, growing in power and bravado. And it would have remained that way, mortals blithely unaware of what lurked in the shadows, and supernaturals playing larger than life political games, if one large news conglomeration hadn't picked up a story of a dangerous cult living with LATMA sewers.

Their investigation led to uncover something wholly inhuman, and, as those later would say, undeniably evil. The creature was described as something out of a children's book - movement so fast your eyes couldn't catch it, strength so immense that cement was as delicate as glass when the creature would strike.

The story was on the front page of every newspaper and on every TV screen and amidst this information, some hunters came to light. The creature was tracked and killed, its death one of true gore. Those responsible for making sure information like this didn't get out
suddenly, within the supernatural world, vanished. No one could remember their names and faces.

Super blamed super for the damaging information and the battle lines, more than ever before, were clearly drawn. Their battles became more violent with each other with each day, and because of this, the presence of supernaturals became ever more present. Within days of the first report of the sewer creature came international news: Central Europe reported black-furred gibbering things invading a village in Germany, and equally horrific wolf-men attacking them in kind. In Russia, an ancient Vampire attacked the Russian Prime Minister, tearing open his throat on international television.

As the world around seemed to crumble, and the government itself was unable to cope, corporations (some drive by, in secret, supernatural groups) came in to 'rescue' a now ripped open world. Law enforcement became privatized, as did public transportation. Smaller companies vied for niches in the new market, promising safe streets for those under contracts.

But some cities within LATMA, those of a darker nature, were left to the devices of the citizens within. No laws, no jurisdiction. Just gun dealers and cybernetically-enhanced humans intermingling with the still secretive Vampires of Sabbat and Camarilla.

Order 47

During the Fall, when Vampires, Garou, and Magi warred openly, using their gifts and powers without concern of what attention it brought, the US Armed Forced determined that these things, masquerading as normal humans, were not human. More so, that their existence was a threat to humanity. Later on in 2002, it was further written and agreed upon that these supernatural things were to be treated as the slaves once were: they are beneath the privilege of rights, the freedom to speak, and to stake claim to what normal humans do. In other words, they cannot own a business, a home, any plot of land, take part in any sort of division of
responsibilities in a legal manner.

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The term 'Order 47', therefore, is a standing call to action (later turned into a law), to exterminate those that resemble, or behave, within the guidelines of the '47' classification. In other words, 47 a detailed classification for anything supernatural, and Order gives
explicit rights to those, if they are able, to kill them in order to provide salvation and safety to average humans.

After the term was made into law, a large corporation, dealing mainly in armaments, formed the Metropolitan Security Corporation, otherwise known as MetSec. MetSec's first contract was to protect the San Onofre nuclear power plant. As MetSec gained notoriety, their financial backing grew.

In 2007, Garou raided the plant, causing the deaths of numerous MetSec officers. The Board of Directors for the MetSec holding company and the Board of Directors for MetSec enacted the Order 47 law, deeming it necessary for all MetSec officers to exterminate supernaturals of all
sort, regardless of their state or perceived capacity to harm and danger humans.

In 2010, after numerous blood baths were seen and heard within the state of California, the United States withdraws its support. California is not the only state to be left as a 'bad lands', forced to fend for itself without the possibility of free travel, monetary, or military support from the country it resides in. It is merely one of the most dangerous states, rampant with a supernatural population that defies logic.

After the United States withdraws its support, large corporate entities get together to form various laws, as they see it. In this state, those with the power are those that rule. One standing and state-wide law is the call to action known as Order 47. The message? We humans don't want you here. We are afraid and consider you a danger.

The Metropolitan Security Corporation.

Formerly considered the de facto and the de jure private police force in LATMA, MetSec has encountered some problems with its public image. Charged with the protection of all Bright areas, and with less emphasis placed on the financial benefits of protecting contracted
businesses, its bottom line and gains have begun to weaken.

Now, with the CMC's changing goals and focus, MetSec has been given a dose of reality thanks to a backlash of negative reaction from the LATMA public, and dwindling financial padding. Its basic tactics may not change, but its public iMage will and business strategy will have to.

Each corporation will individually hold a contract with MetSec, with some corporations providing protection for city streets. Other streets may be granted protection, without payment, by the MetSec board of directors.

Corporations and businesses under MetSec contracts grant the privatized security corporation the freedom to search and seize, if it is deemed necessary, whenever the MetSec directors feel the urge.

The Dark areas of LATMA, and the citizens inhabiting them, are shown a different side of MetSec - harsher and unforgiving. To come across a MetSec officer now, as a Dark or non-mortal citizen, means your person is subject to the painful scrutiny of this private corporation. Its connections, though well known, are hard to trace beyond the CMC.

But it is clear, still, that MetSec remains the strongest force on the side of the Bright, human, or extremely rich.

The Dark

It is the information age and people, like anything else, are quantified in a thousand ways on an incredible web of computing devices. Their health records, birth certificates, money, all the myriad pieces of data that are the product of a lifetime in a computerized society end up
being attached to them.

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More accurately, attached to their SSN. Once a number used to match people to their government benefits, the SSN has become the key to a person's life.

All the residents of the 'Bright' world that surrounds the corporations use their SSN's constantly. A great many actually have it tattooed on their wrists to simplify identification and as a sign of status.

Of the remaining populace, about 75% have an SSN and use it when they are dealing with the system. Hospital stays, licenses of various kinds, taxes and business dealings often require an SSN.

The rest are collectively called 'The Dark' or 'Dark'. These are the fringe of society who either cannot get or do not want an SSN. They deal in barter or in certified cards (a form of electronic money order).

They cannot prove who they are, but they are also outside the immediate gaze of the information world. They are free in a peculiar way.

Cybertech

The first successful link between human nervous tissue and computer circuitry occurred in 2006. The patent went to the Triad company and made it the single largest Biotech company in the world. Over the next five years, neurolink technology found it's way into almost every major facet of human interface.

Now, all mechanisms that use such links are referred to as cybertech, the blending of flesh and machine. Artificial limbs, imbedded electronics, heightened sense organs, an incredible range of possibilities.

Can Supers have cyber?

Depends on what it is.

  • Mages - If their paradigm, faction or Patron allow it.
  • Vampire - It's rumored that some vampires have managed to magically fuse cyber to their undead bodies.
  • Werewolves - The Glasswalkers have made limited use of it in fetish form. Standard cyber is rejected, no matter how the garou might try to dedicate it. The overall garou community (glasswalkers excluded) frowns heavily upon the integration of weaver technology into the body, though some of the more warlike tribes have accepted that augmented kinfolk can be a great asset.
  • Psions -Yeap.

Transportation

There are three ways to get around.

  • Walk - This requires the use of the Tube stations (see 'news areas') to go from city to city. Stations are fairly secure and the trains have guards. Passengers are screened electronically for weapons and security is alerted to armed entries and respond with necessary force.
  • Drive - You can drive/ride a vehicle. Petrol cars are popular with the 'Bright' crowd and the more fortunate 'Numbers', but since gasoline is hard to get in the 'Dark', hydrogen cars have become more popular there. Motorcycles still abound, but they are more dangerous than cars since it's easy to shoot someone off a two wheeler. But hey, you only live once.
  • Fly - Aerodynes are able to access normal highway roads, and the sky grid, and are more expensive and typically harder to maintain. Some cities are a 'no fly-zone', which means flying into them will get your dyne shot down.

A note on highways: Once you're out of Corporation territory, the roads are the purview of the locals - and the natives are often unfriendly.

The Matrix

The matrix is the collective of computer networks that now define almost all of human interaction in the 'Bright' world, and a lot of it elsewhere.

It carries 99% of the worlds communications, be they human or computer. It's scope is so vast as to be almost beyond comprehension. Your answering machine is on it, as is your Vid, your phone, and every cash register in existence.

As early as the mid 1990's, VR was the new frontier in interfaces. Windows and scroll bars, originally part of the GUI, gave way to 3 dimensional slides and knobs manipulated with data-gloves and touch screens. Computer power soon reached the point where voice recognition and photo-realistic rendering became common place, but with the advent of the Neurolink, people started climbing INTO their machines.

Most people who work with computers usually have transducers implanted on each of the seven major nerves and the spine. This allows them to experience the virtual world of the matrix almost as if it were real - complete with smell, touch, everything. The really SERIOUS people go the expensive route. They have themselves 'wired'. These so called 'cowboys' can be found on both side of the corporate fence.

The Web

Things were simple, once. Once the limits of our world were defined in terms of physics and biology using terms like 'law' and 'rule'.

Not any more.

The Matrix, like everything else, lost the fine edge of certainty during the Fall and inherited a little of its creators' madness, a few of their dreams took shape and began to breath.

The world of the spirit, through either the force of countless imaginations or the nature of reality and belief, opened on to the matrix and connected it in a strange circle of existence to the real world.

This collective network of electronics and imagination is call the Web. It is as much a place of spirit as silicon and it is hard to tell where either starts or stops.

Beware NetMage, for the construct may not be of our making and the battle may be for your soul.

Areas

LATMA is divided into a multiplicity of areas; bright and dark, rich and poor,
safe and… otherwise.

Main area designations are determined by the presence of a TUBE station, allowing one access to the TSA routes that worm through the metropolitan area. Although TSA, the corporation responsible for the upkeep and 'installation' of TUBE stations, is largely unknown with regards to details, the weight and speed with which they descend upon those causing problems in the
TUBE stations is something to be feared.

The TUBE stations are, in essence, a small space of absolute safety for citizens who follow the rules. In addition to the scattered highways, and old-fashioned walking, the TUBE stations are the main form of transportation between LATMA cities.

High-tech sensors and scanners at all entrances make it nearly impossible to get into one with guns, which makes TUBE stations safer.

The following cities possess tube stations:

Downtown - Bright
LATMA Corporate Center - Bright
Pasadena - Bright and Dark
LA Harbor - Bright
Villa Park - Bright
Palos Verdes - Bright
Forest Lawn - Bright and Dark
Tijuana - Dark
Lynwood - Dark
Anaheim - Sort of Bright, mostly Dark
San Clemente - Dark

The following city does not have a tube station:
South LA Harbor - Dark

Lexicon

For cyberpunk slang, we recommend |this.