Chapter 10
Crash Course
Do you know that feeling when you take a nap and when you wake up you are drenched in sweat, have no idea what time it is, where you are or even what your name is? Yeah, that’s exactly how I felt like.
I flailed around trying to look for my phone to check for the time when the past few days caught up to me. I tried to rub the sleep out of my eyes as I sat up and summoned my UI. From the corner of my eye, I could see that the time was 11 am. That actually clued me in that something was wrong.
You see, the whole interface was pretty customizable. You could pin UI elements in real space that only you could see and they would be persistent and stationary. For example, you could pin a timer on top of your stove or a weather widget next to your wardrobe. Alternatively, you could have other elements move with you.
The way I had previously set up the UI was so that it would move in tandem with my head but not with my eyes. That was apparently a pretty common setup as when I was out previously, I could notice people’s eyes flicking around to things that I couldn’t see.
This was because human vision isn’t exactly consistent. Things at the center of your vision are sharp and that allows you to make out details and focus on far away objects while your peripheral vision is shit at making out details but great at noticing movement. It’s very easy to test this by looking at text and starting from a word, try and see how many words to its side you can read without moving your eyes.
Imagine my surprise when I could clearly read text at the extreme ends of my vision without even needing to move my eyes. Remembering the Quality I picked, I stood up and rushed to my window. Looking outside made my jaw drop.
This must what near-sighted people feel like when they put on contacts. The change in sharpness was simply insane. I could see the texture on the bricks of the building across the street from me. I could even focus on a fly that had landed on a sign about 50 yards away.
“This is insane,” I muttered in sheer disbelief.
I pulled up Orion’s chat log and put it the right edge of my vision.
“Holy shit, I can read text without looking directly at it!”
This was an improvement beyond belief and the applications could be endless. Imagine being a lookout from far away or even observing someone in public without even having to look at them. One small negative though was that focusing at things really close to my eyes was disorienting. Hopefully though I would get used to it in due time.
Remembering the part of the description that mentioned the upgrade being a part of my biological eyes, I rushed to the bathroom mirror. Looking at my eyes I got a second shock. My emerald green eyes now had a bit of yellow in them starting more solid from the edge of the pupil and diffusing outwards. While for me it was immediately noticeable, thankfully, it was subtle enough of a difference to not draw attention. It would be a huge pain to have to explain how a poor person like me suddenly got different eyes.
Feeling giddy and invigorated, I wolfed down a protein bar and started formulating a plan on what to do with my day.
I quickly shot a message to Orion to see if he had any updates but he appeared to be offline.
Looking at my attributes and skills I mused on what to do. While my Pistols and Housekeeping skill were the closest to reaching rank 2, I didn’t have they means to train them properly for now. I didn’t have the money to go to a gun range and my apartment was pretty clean. I could maybe train skills like Running, Throwing or Unarmed Combat but again I ran into the issue of efficiency.
With my current means, I figured my best option would be to focus on getting my Body Attribute to rank 3 as that would give me the broadest benefits.
While I wasn’t very knowledgeable about working out, I knew enough to get me going. For now, I would focus on simple body workouts until the XP gain slowed down. In the future, I thought maybe getting a jump rope would be a good way to warm up while training both Body and Agility. Also, when I had enough credits and space, I could build my own home gym.
Doing mostly push-ups, squats, plank and lunges. I tried to do some burpees but after three reps I was feeling sluggish from exhaustion.
“Maybe I should pace myself a bit more,” I mused.
Groaning and shaking from effort, I managed to complete a 2-hour workout that left me drenched in sweat.
Body Attribute has gained 300 XP
Even though it wasn’t enough to reach the next rank, being able to see an actual record of my efforts left me pretty euphoric. Right now, Body was sitting at a nice 850/1000 and maybe after resting a while, I could grind the rest of the XP. Since I was so close to the rank up made me want to power through.
Resolving to relax a bit, I remembered that I had neglected a big part of life in 2071. The way that I had interacted with my commlink and the Matrix in general was barely scratching the surface of what was possible. Finding a way to acquire information, learn some history and maybe even get new software would be a great way to boost my capabilities. Also, having some entertainment while grinding would be pretty cool since spending time doing activities alone and in silence wasn’t something I was used to.
Thanks to my Computers skill, I knew that going into VR would disable my motor functions in order to avoid having my body trashing around while I moved in the matrix. That meant that I would have to lie down first or else I would crack my head open on the floor. Functionally, to an outsider, it would look like I was asleep.
Lying down on my mattress and before I could switch into VR, I found myself receiving a call from unknown contact.
“Hello?” I answered.
“Jack Garland?” croaked the person on the other end in a familiar voice.
“Lucy is that you?”
“Yeah, it’s me. Justin gave me your number,” she said weakly.
“Are you ok? Is Dr. Asano treating you well?” I asked with concern tinging my voice.
“Yeah, yeah. I’m peachy. I just wanted to let you know that I’m grateful for what you did, you might not be such a twinkie after all.”
“I have no idea what is but thanks I guess?”
“Heh, don’t make me laugh,” she said with a chuckle. “I also wanna apologize for my brother. Cillian can be a right ape sometimes.”
“No worries. I’m a strong proponent for treating people how I like to be treated. That means showing respect and being dependable,” I shot back.
“Well, you certainly made a step towards ingratiating yourself to the family. Here, this a personal token of my appreciation.”
*Account Alert* You have been credited 300¥ Sender: Lucille O’Malley Notes: Thanks
“Ok, wow! Thank you!” I said in surprise.
“It was a pleasure doing business Jack Garland. When I have new work for you, I’ll get in touch.”
“Um, sure. Get well soon.”
I tried not show hesitation in my voice as her choice of words didn’t go unnoticed. The fact that she said when instead of if spoke volumes.
“You too Jack Garland,” she said jovially and hung up.
I really hope my involvement with the mafia wouldn’t come back to bite me in the ass.
Trying to not let my imagination run wild with potential bad scenarios, I closed my eyes and mentally flipped the switch to go into VR.
The sudden change in sensory information was simply staggering. One second, I was lying down with my eyes closed, listening to the sounds of the city, the next I was floating above a wire-frame city amidst a sea of light pulses. My body felt charged with static electricity and my mind was going a thousand miles an hour as if I had drunk three shots of espresso in a row.
The floor was a vague representation of Seattle in 1:1 scale and the sky was a deep emerald green and dominated by the huge megacorp hosts. The pulses of light that I could see everywhere I realized where representations of data transfers. Additionally, I could see the personas of users in bizarre configurations flickering in and out and zooming all over the place.
My metaphorical jaw had dropped on the floor as I stood there for God knows how long, trying to digest what I saw.
Once I internalized that I was actually floating 10 feet off the ground, I panicked and started flailing around. Almost immediately, I realized that there was no sense of vertigo or any physical disorientation. Just short mental panic.
Looking down at my persona, I could see that it was a translucent blue representation of my real body but a bit more idealized in musculature and proportions and was wearing very similar clothes to what I had found myself wearing when I woke up in this world.
I moved my hands over body and soon realized that while all my senses were active in VR, they were all muted. That was simply a side effect of my settings. Thanks to my sim module, while in VR, I could switch from cold sim which was the normal mode to hot sim which would amplify the speed of all my actions in the Matrix and allow me to experience all simulated sensations way more intensely. While hot sim is preferred by BTL junkies and deckers alike, the fact that all filters are off, means that if anything goes wrong and your sim module goes haywire, your body is in much greater danger. For that reason, while no one actually cared, being in hot sim was technically illegal.
Deciding to stay in cold sim for now, I tried moving around. While I could walk normally or even run, I realized that my physical skill had little bearing on my performance in VR and could even be considered sub-optimal. With a simple thought, I could move my body in any direction and zoom around like Superman.
After fooling around for a bit, I decided to mess with my persona. Having a near stock persona that looked like me had me feeling a bit weary to interact with others. After all, I knew instinctively that the matrix could be a very dangerous place for the foolish and unlucky.
With a simple thought, I pulled up my persona customization menu. My persona became almost invisible as a full body mirror manifested in front of me. While the Sims-like character creator seemed crazy comprehensive, most options were locked behind a paywall.
“Seems like no timeline is safe from microtransactions,” I mused.
You could find almost any sort of article of clothing and accessory you could think of, inhuman body shapes like dragons or dogs and even abstract shapes as well as a plethora of textures and effects all ranging in price from 1¥ all the way to the thousands.
“Yikes.”
On one hand, I wanted to have an avatar that didn’t look like real me but on the other, I could say with full certainty that financially I wasn’t at the point where I could afford to spend creds on cosmetics. Thankfully basic feature sculpting was free as was also some skin textures.
I proceeded to revert my avatar back to the default holographic humanoid shape. It didn’t have any hair and its face was completely devoid of features save for an aquiline nose. While down there it was like ken doll but nonetheless it was male coded with its proportions. I made it a bit taller to match my perception of my body and made it smidgen more muscular. Next I applied a galaxy texture that made my avatar look like it was window to the darkness of space with stars and nebulae in the background. The cool thing was that when I moved, it created the effect of being able to see different parts of space relative to your position.
Even though I was 90% satisfied with the results, I couldn’t help my edgier side. I spent the 5¥ fee to change my avatar name to Black. Whenever I had the opportunity to choose so, I would always pick the swordsman with the edgy black trench coat and tragic background. Of course, nowadays it would be considered cringey but growing up in the early 2000s it was peak design.
Closing the customization window, I summoned my browsing program with a thought. I assumed that a text prompt would appear for me to enter my query but I almost yelped in surprise as a brown bloodhound run up from behind me. I took a step back as it stopped in front of me looking up at me expectantly. Honestly it was kinda cute with its drooping skin folds and heavily hooded eyes. Instinctively I knew that it was my browsing program represented like that to fit with the iconerate nature of the Matrix.
I gave it a few scritches as it panted in excitement and proceed to issue a command to test the water.
“Can you show me what you can about megacorporations buddy?”
The hound barked once and started running around, sniffing at random spots. Not even a few seconds later, it returned by my feet holding a duck in its mouth. When I focused my attention on the duck, it disappeared in cloud of code as multiple windows opened up before me.
A header read as follows:
Megacorporations: The term megacorporation refers to any corporations that have acquired the prestigious AAA rating from the Corporate Court. There are currently only ten AAA corporations, colloquially known as “The Big Ten”.
Under that were 10 windows. One for each corporation, displaying their logo along with some basic information about them.
Ares Macrotechnology
Rating: AAA #7
Run by Damien Knight, Ares Macrotechnology is headquarted in Detroit, Michigan, UCAS, is the seventh largest corporation in the world, the second largest in the UCAS, and the current leader in the defense and aerospace industries. Ares became globally known through its Ares Arms division, and with good reason. The Ares Predator is the staple firearm for the discerning citizen. Its five main divisions are Ares Space, Ares Global Entertainment, Ares Arms, Knight Errant Security Services and General Motors.
President/CEO
Damien Knight
Chairman of the Board
Damien Knight
Corporate Status
Public
Major Shareholders
Arthur Vogel (24.1%)
Damien Knight (23.7%)
Nadja Daviar (12.2%)
Rhonabwy (5%)
Their logo was a man’s head in profile wearing a spartan helmet all in red, white and blue. Their slogan was “Making the World a Safer Place”.
————
Aztechnology
Rating: AAA #4
Aztechnology, headquartered in Tenochtitlan, Aztlan, is the fourth largest corporation in the world and the largest corporation in South America. Aztechnology is the number one producer of affordable consumer goods, food and cyberware in the world. 60% of all goods at your local Stuffer Shack are produced by Aztechnology! It also is number one in the magic supplies industry. The corporation is the strongest supporter of the Aztlaner government which in turn leads to a favorable position in the country. Aztechnology is privately owned and does not disclose the names of its shareholders and board members.
President/CEO
Flavia de la Rosa
Chairman of the Board
Unknown
Corporate Status
Private
Major Shareholders
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Known shareholders (percentages unavailable): Domingo Chavez, Oliver McClure, Motecuhzoma, Domingo Ramos, Thomas Roxborough, Tsurunaga Shinoyama, Anna Villalobos.
Their logo was a green jaguar head in the style of mesoamerican statues, staring directly at the viewer with fangs bared. Their slogan was “The Way to a Better Tomorrow”.
————
Evo Corporation
Rating: AAA #6
Formerly known as Yamatetsu, Evo is headquarted in Vladivostok, Russia. It is the 6th largest corporation in the world and the largest corporation in Russia. Evo is one the main producers of biotechnology appliances, nano-machines and ergonomic goods for metahumans. Their main focus is transhumanist projects ranging from bioware implants to anti-aging treatments. Evo has a dominant presence in space, being the first corporation to successfully establish a base on Mars. It is also one of the largest members of the Pacific Prosperity Group. Evo’s board of directors is a diverse group of individuals, including one of the most public and powerful free spirits, an ork chairman, an eccentric space scientist and a SURGE changeling.
President/CEO
Anatoly Kirilenko
Chairman of the Board
Yuri Shibanokuji
Corporate Status
Public
Major Shareholders
Buttercup (29%)
Yuri Shibanokuji (22%)
Ren Iwano (8%)
Hideo Yoshida (5%)
Ramon Dizon (3%)
Their logo was the word EVO but made out of silver stylized chemical bonds. Their slogan was “Evo is Acceptance”.
————
Horizon Group
Rating: AAA #10
Horizon is headquarted in Los Angeles, PCC. As the most recent addition to the Corporate Court, Horizon is the 10th largest corporation in the world and the largest corporation in PCC. Horizon is a megacorporation that focuses on public relations, media and entertainment. While it’s best known for its presence in all aspects of advertising, marketing and entertainment, it also has subsidiaries in consumer goods and services, real estate and development as well as pharmaceuticals. Horizon is well known for its “people-centered” corporate culture where employees are taken care off and encouraged to pursue their interests. Subsidiaries include New Line, Polyaural and Hisato-Turner.
President/CEO
Gary Cline
Chairman of the Board
N/A
Corporate Status
Private
Major Shareholders
N/A
Their logo was the word HORIZON under a a rising sun in a blue to purple gradient. Their slogan was “We Know What You Think”.
————
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies
Rating: AAA #3
Mitsuhama Computer Technologies or MCT, headquarted in Kyoto, Japan, is the 3rd largest corporation in the world and the largest Japanese corporation. It deals primarily with computers and robotics, but also possess extensive holdings in heavy industry, multimedia and thaumaturgy. It owes its name to its founder Taiga Mitsuhama who now holds about 2% of the stock along with his son and current CEO of MCT, Toshiro Mitsuhama. MCT is the largest source of entertainment worldwide, leading in markets like the simsense, trideo and music industries. MCT is number two in heavy industry, right behind Saeder-Krupp and likewise in the magic industry, behind Aztechnology. They are strong backers of the imperialist faction in Japan and support the imperialist agenda of strong regulation of awakened and metahumans.
President/CEO
Toshiro Mitsuhama
Chairman of the Board
Samba Oi
Corporate Status
Public
Major Shareholder
Eiji Yakamura (20%)
Samba Oi (13%)
Yuriyasu Shin (11%)
Oguramaro Saigusa (10%)
Akai Uehara (10%)
Their logo was a blue rhombus with a spoked star inside it and under it, the word Mitsuhama where the dot on the i is a comet. Their slogan was “The Future is Mitsuhama”.
————
NeoNET
Rating: AAA #2
NeoNET is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, UCAS and is the 2nd largest corporation in the world and the largest corporation in the UCAS. NeoNET was formed from the merger of Transys Neuronet, Erika and Novatech shortly after the Novatech IPO and Matrix Crash 2.0. Primarily responsible for the wireless backbone of the new Matrix throughout the world, the influx of money brought on by the IPO and its lucrative wireless network contracts has allowed it to grow into a diverse group of businesses in almost every industry, including Matrix infrastructure, software, electronics, biotech, aerospace and small arms.
President/CEO
Richard Villiers
Chairman of the Board
Samantha Villiers
Corporate Status
Public
Major Shareholders
Richard Villiers (22%)
Celedyr (12%)
Hildebrandt-Kleinfort-Bernal (8%)
Trans-Latvia Enterprises (5%)
Samantha Villiers (3%)
Their logo was a golden ten-pointed star with N•E•O•N•E•T under it. Their slogan was “Tomorrow Runs on NeoNET”.
————
Renraku Computer Systems
Rating: AAA #5
Renraku Computer Systems, headquartered in Chiba, Japan, is the fifth largest corporation in the world and the third largest corporation in Japan. As the name implies, its business core is computer technology, especially memory storage and databases. Since the acquisition of one of the Corporate Court’s original founders, Keruba International, Renraku permanently seats a representative on the Corporate Court. They are famous for their traditional Japanese corporate culture as well as their iconic security force the Red Samurai.
President/CEO
Haruhiko "Harry" Nakada
Chairman of the Board
Yukiako Watanabe
Corporate Status
Public
Major Shareholders
None (no shareholder owns more than 10%)
Their logo was an ominous red circle with a wave made out of fractals inside it. Under it the corporation’s name was written in a bold angular black font. Their slogan was “Today's Solutions to Tomorrow’s Problems”.
————
Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries
Rating: AAA #1
Saeder-Krupp Schwerindustriegesellschaft (Saeder-Krupp Heavy Industries Company) or S-K, headquartered in Essen, Germany is the largest corporation in world. It controls BMW, one of the seven founders of the Corporate Court and thus possesses permanent AAA status. S-K’s main business interests lie in heavy industry, nuclear energy, oil, chemistry, aerospace, telecommunications and has its presence in many other industries as befits such a titan. Since a leveraged buyout in 2038, S-K is wholly owned by the Great Dragon Lofwyr.
President/CEO
Lofwyr
Chairman of the Board
Lofwyr
Corporate Status
Private
Major Shareholders
Lofwyr (100%)
Their logo was a metallic dragon’s head facing left with a single glowing red eye. The company name was written in a sterile and blocky sans serif font. Their slogan was “One Step Ahead”.
————
Shiawase Corporation Rating: AAA #8
Shiawase Corporation, headquartered in Osaka, Japan, is the eighth largest corporation in the world and the second largest corporation in Japan. It is generally considered the first megacorporation, defined by the famous Shiawase Decision in 2001. It was founded by the Shiawase family in post-WWII Japan and to the current day, it remains a family-owned corporation. Either directly or through subsidiaries, Shiawase involves itself in energy, environmental engineering, biotech, heavy industry, technical services, mining, military goods and much more.
President/CEO Korin Yamana Chairman of the board Empress Hitomi Corporate Status Public Major Shareholders
Korin Yamana (16%)
Reiko Shiawase-Shimada (14%)
Empress Hitomi (13%)
Tadashi Shiawase (9%)
Mitsuko Shiawase-Yamana (5%)
James Mancuso (4%)
Nigel Coltrane (4%)
Sadato Shiawase (3%)
Soko Shiawase (2%)
Their logo was a dark blue granite sphere with two circular openings showing an inner green glow. The company name was written in a futuristic minimal font alongside some Japanese symbols. Their slogan was “Advancing Life”.
————
Wuxing Incorporated Rating: AAA #9
Wuxing Incorporated, headquartered in Hong Kong, is the 9th largest corporation in the world and the largest corporation in China. Though not as prominent as its peers, they have a reputation for being financial wizards and are known for their uncanny insights into the stock market. They are among the largest insurance providers in both the Americas and Asia. Wuxing also ranks among the largest shipping companies and has recently expanded into other markets, including agriculture, engineering, consumer goods and chemicals.
President/CEO Sharon Chiang-Wu Chairman of the board Sharon Chiang-Wu Corporate Status Public
Their logo was a golden lotus flower and their name was written in an elegant serif font. Their slogan was “Everything you do, we’re behind you”.
————
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed. There was enough info here to send me into rabbit-holes that would take me days to parse through. It seemed that the world was a vastly different place than what I was used to. Of course, I knew that dystopian corporate control was a huge theme of Shadowrun but I had no idea how much history had converged.
“Maybe I can find out some basic information on world history by exploring the Matrix,” I mused out loud.
Before I queried my browsing program again, I took a quick look at the notifications that were quickly piling up.
Computers has gained 500 XP Computers has reached Rank 2 Computers has gained 200 XP
I had been so focused on the new sensations and information that I didn’t even notice the rank up. Now that I thought about it, I could tell that there was new knowledge about using a variety of devices other than a commlink but overall, it was pretty tame.
Looking down at the hound I was struck with an idea.
“You are way too cute to be called Browsing Program. I think I’ll call you Buddy!”
Buddy gave a bark did a little spin in excitement.
“Ok Buddy, do you know where I can find information on world history?”
The bloodhound went to sniffing around and then came back with a prompt directing me to the Seattle Public Library host.
Following the link, I could feel my body being pulled forward by immense force. Everything around me zoomed past in a flash much like a ship engaging its hyper-drive in Star Wars and I suddenly found myself in front of the host. Thankfully there weren’t any nausea simulations in place.
The host has an impressive structure of intersecting geometrical shapes made out of steel and glass. It was about 100 feet in each dimension, was floating about 50 feet above the ground and rotating at a glacial pace.
Not knowing exactly how to properly interact, I glided forward and hesitantly placed my hand on the host. I heard a gentle chirp and my surroundings disintegrated in a mist of code that rearranged itself to form the interior topology of the host.
Going from the sterile wireframe landscape of the grid to the custom environment of a host was a jarring experience. I had found myself standing in an open floor lobby with warm sunlight streaming through the honeycomb glass panels in the walls. The place was combination of brutalist and futuristic aesthetics, tamed by earth-colored Persian rugs all over the floor, wooden furniture and bookcases as well as a myriad of potted plants. From the lobby could see all of the different floors above me from their open balconies. Even though, avatars of all shapes were milling about the place, the familiar silence of a library permeated the air punctuated by hushed tones and the turning of pages.
In front of me was a wide wooden reception desk which was staffed by multiple faceless avatars dressed in early 20th century librarian style outfits. My Computers skill told me that they weren’t real people. They were what was called an Agent. Semi-autonomous software programmed to resemble people but without any real sentience like true AIs had.
I approached one of the agents and they immediately chirped up in an uncannily excited voice.
“Welcome visitor to the Seattle Public Library host! Membership for all UCAS citizens is completely free. For holders of a corporate S.I.N. and non S.I.N. holders, there is a fee of 50¥ for a year’s worth of admittance. Please present your S.I.N. for scanning.”
With a thought I broadcast my S.I.N. to the agent in front of me.
“Thank you, citizen! Feel free to browse our shelves or request any material from the terminals found in every reading desk!”
“Thank you very much!” I said instinctively not used to the uncaring nature of the software.
Walking around aimlessly and taking in the sights, I found an empty desk and proceeded to take a seat on the swiveling wooden chair. The desk was mostly taken up by a huge terminal that vaguely looked like you combined an 80s desktop computer with a 32” monitor. The terminal was of course missing a keyboard as all inputs could be done by just thinking about it. The desk was lit by an LED lamp casting a warm glow and right next to the terminal was notepad and pen.
While I knew that this was just a quirky representation of a text editor and browsing system, if I didn’t think about it hard enough, I could almost fool myself that it was all real. It simply beggared belief how this all could come to be.
With a simple thought, the terminal lit up and displayed a basic landing page. On the top was a search bar, under that a scrolling bar with featured material and under that, buttons for accessing different categories.
I made a quick search for the term “World History”. The number of results was significant. From basic textbooks to scholarly treatises ranging back to ancient Greece. Sadly, it was no wikipedia where I would have all the sources compiled an predigested for me and since I honestly didn’t have the patience to do a deep dive, I figured a highschool textbook would be a good starting point.
I’ll try to not bore you with the details so I’ll give you the cliff notes. From what I found, up until the early 1990s, history was similar enough that I couldn’t see any noticeable differences. Where things started to converge was what was called the “Shiawase Decision”.
In 2000, Shiawase equipped their California aluminum factory with a nuclear power plant in order to avoid the rising electricity costs of the regional utility grid. Shortly after, the terrorist organization called TerraFirst! made an attack on the reactor, allowing nuclear material to contaminate the area. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission took Shiawase to court for negligence in safeguarding their facility. Shiawase argued that they had enough security staff to fend off the attach but their hands were tied by local regulations. The case eventually ended up all the way to the Supreme Court which ruled in favor of Shiawase, affirming the corporations’ responsibility in securing their activities even if it goes against government regulations. This historical decision set the ground for extraterritoriality - the state of being where corporations would be exempt from national jurisdiction wherever they owned land.
A year later, the US government, invoking “eminent domain”, appropriated millions of acres from Native American reservations and hands them over to corporations who were now hungry to exploit extraterritoriality. The more extremist Native Americans formed the Sovereign American Indian Movement to fight the corporate takeovers led by the infamous Daniel Howling Coyote.
In 2005, South Korea backed by Japanese corporate interests declared War on North Korea who in a futile effort to get them to abandon their support, launched nuclear missiles at Japan. The missiles didn’t detonate and North Korea was conquered by the end of the year. Japan, feeling pretty strong, renamed itself the Japanese Imperial State.
In 2010, a disease called Virally Induced Toxic Allergy Syndrome (VITAS) made its appearance in India and ended up wiping out almost 20% percent of the global population.
Around the same time, a percentage of babies were suddenly born “different”. While some called them mutants and others called them elves and dwarfs, scientists called the phenomenon Unexplained Genetic Expression (UGE).
This was followed by what is now termed as The Awakening in December 24, 2011. The great dragon Ryumyo appeared over Mount Fuji. Daniel Howling Coyote, seemingly protected from bullets by some sort of glow, led his followers to an assault on a US concentration camp. All over the world unexplained weather patterns now known as “mana storms” left the land permanently changed.
On January 27, 2012, the Great Dragon Dunkelzahn made his first appearance in Denver and in a record breaking 12 hour televised interview, he basically explained how magic had returned to the world. While scientists might have difficulty coming to grips with magic, it was indisputable that out the blue some people were now able to burn others to a crisp with a mere thought.
After the U.S.-Canadian forces tried to carry out an official act that would see all American Indians exterminated, Howling Coyote led a magic ritual called the Great Ghost Dance which caused numerous volcanoes to erupt and intense storms to strike military bases. In 2018 The U.S. and Canada signed the Treaty of Denver in capitulation which allowed the Native Americans full autonomy and led to the formation of the Native American Nations (NAN) which now takes up most of the western coast of the U.S. and Canada. California and Seattle remained a part of U.S.
2019 saw advancements in technology such as cybernetic limb replacements and the first generation of Artificial Sensory Induction System Technology (ASIST) -otherwise known as simsense- which led to the creation of simflicks and BTLs.
In 2021, one in ten adults metamorphosed into terrifying shapes that were now called orks and trill and was labeled by the media as Goblinization.
In 2029 the appearance of the worst computer virus ever seen hit computer systems around the world. The systems crashed, the virus wiping their data and sometimes even sometimes burning out the hardware. This led to the collapse of the internet and the near collapse of society. Under presidential orders, a team of data-miners and hackers quipped with protoype cyber terminals leveraging the new ASIST technology -known as Echo Mirage- managed to wipe out the virus. However, with damage sustained to the internet as well as the fact that cyberterminals made any sort of online security systems useless, in 2032 the Corporate Court rebuilt the global data network as a fully 3D virtual reality in order to take advantage of the ASIST technology. This new network became known as the Matrix.
In 2030, 13 southern states secede from the United States to form the Conferation of American States (CAS). The remnants of Canada and the U.S. combine to form the United Canadian and American Sates (UCAS).
The rest of the history leading up to 2071 was a non-stop rush of wars, corporate conflicts and unexplained magical phenomena. Some highlights were:
-The formation of the elven nations in 2035. Tír Tairngire in NAN lands and Tír na nÓg where Ireland was.
-The election of Dunkelzahn in 2057 as the president of UCAS and his subsequent assassination after his inauguration.
-The second Matrix crash caused by fighting AIs and coordinated cyber-attacks which led to the creation of the new wireless Matrix and the discovery of technomancers, people able to interface with the matrix without the need for electronic equipment.
-Halley’s Comet brought forth a wave of new and bizarre transformations to random people as well as imbuing mundane resources with magical properties leading to the discovery of things such as natural mythril deposits.
While extremely fascinating, studying history for almost 3 hours left my brain feeling cooked. I checked my notifications, noticing I had gained 100 XP more towards my computers skill and promptly proceeded to jack out of the Matrix.
Coming back to reality, I felt a pounding headache and a sense of nausea all exacerbated by the sunlight streaming through my window. Luckily I was lying on my mattress. Since I didn’t have access to any painkillers, I darkened my window and tried my darnedest to take a nap hoping I would recover quickly.