Chrome Breakers - A dystopian Cyberpunk RP interest thread

(EDIT: There was a similar thread in discussion, but I decided to post it in the signup forum per suggestion).

Hi all! It's time for me to cook a new idea for christmas.

So I had the idea of taking Robo Cop franchise, add some The Surrogates elements, Termina Tor, possibly Ghost In The Shell and The6th Day in one melting pot and see how it goes.

The year is 21XX, and the world... well has evolved into a place better for some, but worse for many. Advancements such as cloning of body parts or whole individuals, cybernetic enhacements and remote controlled drones have both saved lives and sparked wars.

Chrome Breakers, hence the namesake of rp is the codename for a new peacekeeping international police unit, tasking with saving the assess of wealthy citizens from their own greed, as well as struggling to make the world a better place for the poor sods who can't afford to be on the top. I'll elaborate this melting pot idea if i gather enough interest.

Some Worldbuilding:

The world's not as advanced as it could be. The technological advancements on the second half of the 21st century and first half of the 22nd century gave birth to a series of wondrous technologies...

...and calamities. Four events, designated as Harbingers, nearly wiped out the human population (an estimated amount of 95% of the world's population by the 22nd century died to the consequences of these four calamities.) As a side effect, the colonies planned for mars and the moon were halted, and the space program was defunct for a long time. Practically no major city of the world survived, save a sparse few, who then evolved in bustling megapolis. The differences between the poor and the rich were thus accentuated, with those lucky enough to have wealth to live in the remaining cities, while the vast majority of poor, underdeveloped population clings to survival from harvesting, cheap workforce and servitude to these major cities.

The four Harbingers were as it follows:

• First Harbinger: Conquest: The development of computational process and programming, as well as the fast development of learning algorithms and neural network emulation led to the development of ever-increasing complex programs, giving the birth to the first A.I.s... As it was expected, things went south very quickly. A rogue AI thrashed a great deal of the First world's remote systems, bent on conquest upon their creators. As a result, the first world took a staggering blow, and it was just due to the fact a great deal of the world's population was still in underdeveloped environments (which limited the spread of the rogue AI), that humanity as a whole could fight back and banish the menace. As a result, while the technology allows nowaday to make AI... it's highly forbidden to do so.

• The second Harbinger: War: The combined rise of cyborg implants, developed as stopgap to enhace the soldier's performance against the machines during the First Harbinger as well as the weakening of the first world as the dominant force of Earth sparked a hundred of revolutions and wars among the downtrodden underdeveloped countries. By that point, cyborg technology and weapons were so widespread that neither side could get a lasting advantadge. The conflict kept bleeding and scarring entire generations until both sides, tired from all the fighting, ceased hostilities.

• The Third Harbinger: Famine: An abuse of cloning to quickly replenish crops made them very susceptible to plagues. Entire crops were lost and both rich and poor alike suffered from hunger. It was then imposed a genetic diversity quota that limited how much cloning one could do, including the human species (the limits here were in fact more strict due to ethical concers).

• The Fourth Harbinger: Pestilence: The development of nanite cyborg implants as well as rejuvenation techniques based on them led to the most devastating plague humans have suffered: The gray death. A bug in repairing nanites led to a widespread self-digesting of host bodies to produce more gray nanites (gray goo), all while others stimulated cell replication uncontrollable creating gruesome tumours in people afflicted to do so. The worst part of it is that it wasn't self-limited to a few vain celebrities. Nanites became infectious and hopped from human host to human host. As a result only one fraction of humanity which proved resistant to nanites survived. Nanites are thus considered a higher taboo than AI because of this event.

However, humanity never fully learns from its mistakes. The few places with a structure have become once again daring, bustling cities. Humanity has grown proud once more, and the world is both a shinier, wondrous place and a pit of nightmares at the same time. One man, named Michael Watts, has decided to cast aside his massive wealth to create the first public organization in a long time: The Chrome Breakers. A special police that will investigate the root of the problems and seek to make everyone's life, both rich and poor for the better.

However, that's only on the paper. The Chrome Breakers have massive private funding in the form of donations, and rumours exist that it's only a massive PR move on Watt's part, as well as a way to test new toys.

And of course, conspiracy loons say that what Watts is attempting is to stop a possible Apocalypse that these four Harbingers would have announced...

edited 6th Jan '15 4:59:42 AM by AtomicNut

Consider me interested.

Interested.

Depends, but will keep an eye on this.

Interesting.

Okay, i'm axing this idea for the time being. I need the time for other things.