News Bulletin: Current Writing Project and Jack/Rubi information!

Just so you know, I'm not dead. I know many of you are dying to know what happens next with Jack and Rubi. Here's the thing. I didn't really plan out what was going to happen. I was just letting the story evolve. Big mistake, I suddenly didn't know what was going to happen, or where the story was going. So I stepped away from the Cyberpunk setting and returned to my roots to write Fantasy. This began the writing of "A Saga of Blood and Steel" (working title, obviously). Now I got to a point where I was like, "Let's take a look at the Cyberpunk story again. So I began to take notes on what I liked about the world I was spining and the things I didn't like. The "Like" list was surprisingly short, comprising of, Jack, Cordell, Rubi, Cal, Jenn, CommNet/InfoNet, and the idea that one person/ or a few select people control everything; A new world order as it were. That was about it. So I began to redesign the world, pushing the story from 2043 to 2184, and rethinking what I thought about the future.

Here's the rundown:

Earth is dying, we have used up most of our resources and pollution is rampant. Most food is "manufactured" in laboratories. We have formed colonies on many of the planetoids in our solar system (Mars, Moons of Jupiter and Saturn) and even in other solar systems. Massive Cities stretch across continents and the government is pretty much a facade. The real power is held by DG International, more often referred to as "The Corporation", who controls everything, the Civil Service, manufacturing, distributing, etc.

Food is manufactured in labs and then distributed. Now there are numerous 'Take-out restaurants" that grow their own food, which are extremely popular among the lower classes. Meat is reserved for the highest of the high class due to it's expensive manufacturing process; so Tofu, Tempeh, and Seitan are common. Protein Packs have become a staple in most households since they are cheap and have an extended shelf-life.

Due to the boom in the Asian populations in the 2040s with the Chinese Government repealing the One-Child policy in 2041, and the Japanese Government putting in place the Anti-Celibacy Act in 2043, Asian culture spread rapidly into the Western World. Mandarin quickly over took English as the business language of the world, and the Yuan/Yen (¥) became the World Currency. It is common for signs to be written in English, Hanzi and Kanji. This combination of languages eventually gave birth to a street language called Rikujin-ko, which is a combination Mandarin, Japanese and Korean.

Due to war and pollution many parts of the world became uninhabitable, forcing many people to move into the massive cities that span thousands of miles. This brought various crime syndicates into conflict, such as the Italian Mafia, Yakuza, Irish Mob, and the Triad. These crime syndicates continue to battle for turf in the megalopolis'.
Due to the rampant crime, cameras are everywhere in the City. Some people believe that the Corporation is using these cameras for other reasons than simply controlling crime.

Now with DG International having a monopoly on everything, has led to some unsavory events. A radical anarchist group of hackers called the "Free Network Coalition" (FNC), originally a peaceful group has begun "terrorist operations" attacking Corporation Facilities and Buildings with no regard to collateral damage. This has sparked a bloody and brutal conflict between the Trigger-Men of the Agency (hired by DG Int'l) and the FNC.


Keep an eye out for any posts featuring the updated Jack and Rubi Story!