so I'm contemplating a setting kind of in the vein of Ninja Turtles by way of 2000 AD and so on. Mutants are becoming common, Psionics and Magic are a thing, as are people who can control machines with powers granted by 'Prime' a technological entity in the vein of gaia having become sapient on the 100 year aniversery of the invention of the internet.
Yeah I know kitchen sink clusterfuck but I'm trying to capture that late eighties early 90s saturday morning cartoon show toy commercial vibe with a little edge.
Among other things I'm thinking of balkanzing the fuck out of the world, USA breaks up, Japan goes fuedal states but with Megacorps, Europe dissolves into fueding over the worlds resources (emerging natural ones both in the form of useful mutants, magical nonsense, and so on)
Considering stuff like Okinawa's Ryukyuan people taking the island over with the help of stationed American forces once the american government collapses.
People are being born with mutations, occasionally they resemble mythical creatures or the usual zietgeist nonsense. A lot of the time the mutations are random and not terribly pleasant. This is the 3rd or 4th generation of these mutations with the 2nd gen having the most extreme mutations and the 4th evening out the less survivable ones.
More importantly certain governments (or megacorps that might as well be governments) are engaging in sterilization campaigns to stop the 'mutant threat,' (a notion which is somewhat laughable as 90% of the world's newborn children are mutated. 70% of them have minor mutations like extra fingers or reflective lenses in their eyes or unusual skin colors however. The remaining 30% vary from useful but drastic mutations to creatures that shouldn't be alive but somehow manage to live tortured halflives.)
Movements to both aid and harm the mutated exist. Japan is notable for its dropping birth rate. (blamed on terrorists using sterilization bombs several generations ago. What isn't widely known is that these sterilization bombs were used by the Corporate Diamyos themselves in an attempt to curb the rising rate of mutation.) As time passes the people of japan are being forced to reassess their cultural values as increasingly complex synthetic lifeforms take over more and more of the toil of every day life. But the birthrate keeps dropping (a trend not helped by the panicking medical community as mutations become more common in humanity as a whole) and the Corporate Shogunate shows no signs of giving foriegners a good reason to immigrate and bump up those numbers.
Angel Flores
Global Warming happened, but it was fine. Mostly.
Underwater cities got built, skyscrapers were extended more than a mile above the new water line, and new agricultural techniques helped offset the desertification.
Of course, the cost of building these things put many local governments in the hands of the construction corps, but that's another story.
Luis Moore
neat, that helps with my fetish for underwater expansion and construction. Artificial islands would also be a thing I imagune.
Cooper Wilson
The 'NuPlague' is responsible for the mutations that have radically altered human society in some areas. The precise source of it is unknown but for a period of 12 hours after it's initial infection it's invariably lethal, fever, coughing, and shakes are common symptoms.
The world lost at least 1/4th it's population in the outbreak and survivors have universally seen their children manifest various mutations. These mutations are consistent and are leading to stable populations of mutants.
'Mutie Culture' has become chic in certain areas but by the same token groups that fetishize human purity (often overlooking the fact that moles, freckles, and other minor blemishes are in fact minor mutations) have also taken root in various areas.
Both groups practice surgical modification to 'enhance' their appearances.
The rise of cybernetic and biomodification for personal use as well as combat enhancement has made the already bizarre world of Mutant/Normal fashions more so.
Brody Rivera
As far as breaking up the US goes, here's my bad idea:
>global warming and crazy fucking mutants make trade difficult and regional economies more important than the national one >people start becoming more dependent (and loyal) to local metropolitan/regional/state/what have you authorities, but not to the point of NOT thinking of themselves as Americans >something stupid happens to the national government. The President turns out to be a Wizard. The Intelligence community blows up DC after trying to create their own techno-deity modeled after Prime, but for surveillance. Congress gets swallowed into another dimension. A virulent strain of NuPlague pops up at a political party's convention. >could be one of those, could be several, which one it is isn't important >it just has to shatter the national government >a few years of crazy bullshit follow, with people getting used to the idea of their city/state/region being its own thing >overseas military commands carve out their own military administrations and governments in exile >the dozens of Alphabet agencies survive mostly intact, each with their own agendas and forces able to project across what was once the US
Jaxon Hill
sounds good, I'd probably pin the shattering of the US government on peaking magic levels making magical groups a thing, Prime and digital entities like free range AI and a mysterius digital chaos entity called 'The Butterfly' making shit pretty bonkers. Add into that the NuPlague making crap like orange skin, tigerstripe hair, twelve fingers and toes the new normal and people are gonna need to adjust.
Nolan Brooks
>Mutants are becoming common,
Ok, why? Radiation? Polution? Mad scientists fucking around with CRISPR?
>Psionics and Magic are a thing,
Where were they before? Are they new? Is magic all mind over matter? How do you explain a thought causing explosions? Is this magic as a science or magic as the unknowable?
> as are people who can control machines with powers granted by 'Prime' a technological entity in the vein of gaia having become sapient on the 100 year aniversery of the invention of the internet.
...Well that's kinda nifty. But if I get a LED, and supply 5V power across it, why would it do anything other than light up?
It doesn't have be widely known, and it doesn't have to be completely explained, but something that justifies all the crazy shit would be much appreciated by some people.
- It's all a simulation and the psychics have privlieged access and can denial-of-service parts of the physics engine.
- The mystic magical weave is coming back into flow
- It's always been this fucked up, but the age of the Internet is making it harder and harder to keep things under wraps and eventually the rest of the world is like "fuck it", most of science is a lie and we're barely hanging onto causality here.
Jaxon Baker
You could probably justify Psionics as existing in the past, but weaker due to the lower population.
Thanks to the billions of people in close confines unconsciously churning the Noosphere into motion, Psionics are stronger than ever!
Landon King
Lower Ambient Magic levels is my old favorite explanation for magic suddenly being a thing. Vague references to climate change and so on.
Psionics is more a cultured mutation left behind in humanity by a source deliberately left vague.
Mutation, as has been mentioned is a product of a world plague causing mutations across the board in the survivors.
