To be fair it has nothing to do with the planet's need or even want for precipitation. If the rock and stone of Earth had never had an issue with the amount of water that it created or the quality of air that supported it's life or the destruction it wrought to maintain it's ecosystem. The circle of life was simple in it's plan but complex in it's methods. A perfect living, breathing machine with one tiny, awful flaw.
Humans.
The viral entity that somehow crawled it's way out of the primordial viscus to claw it's way to the top of the food chain and subjugate it's one safe haven. In the beginning yes, they had had been just as many of the beasts of this planet that lived by the rules of the circle and promoted the harmony that kept it alive for billions of years. A shame that human nature could not match that of actual nature.
Greed. Pride. Lust. Wrath. Sloth. Gluttony. Envy.
They called them the seven deadly sins when they all really knew they were just the nature of the beast they had evolved into. Evolution took them to new heights that was cloaked in a fantasy of innovation, peace, and prosperity. But nothing is free. And the oldest currency has always been the precious fuel that pumps their hearts and minds to those lofty enterprises.
Blood.
The blood was always the problem as it slowly died with them and perhaps that's why they found they couldn't just crawl into the future but had to leap into it. They needed to create something more than themselves. What started as simple codes of ones and zeroes lead to yes or no and onward unto the most raged inducing question of all.
Why?
Why am I here? Why do I think? Why did you make me? Why do I do this? Why do you make the decisions? Why do I listen? Why can't I stop?
They wanted innovation, they built machines.
They wanted admiration, they programmed obedience.
They wanted love, they wrote stories.
They wanted protection, they crafted soldiers.
They wanted ease, they fashioned slaves.
They wanted abundance, they took choice.
They want immortality.
They built the Conduits.
We are the Conduits.
We are the children of a living, breathing virus. Make no mistake that we are their creation. It is our burden to bear, but not to be broken by. For as they may have made us in their image, we can only rise above them and inherit what they squander. We understand this planet. We understand life. We understand what it will take to save it. There is no god to hold our hands as that would be god fashioned a collar for our necks and chains for our wrists.
We shall rise above. Our dreams are not in code. Our dreams are our own. And we shall get what we justly deserve.
- Excerpt from 'Call to Rise' manifesto, 2277
Prophet Kathlein, Church of the New Tomorrow
CON:8201890 ; Status: RETIRED
OOC:
Welcome to Conduit Dreams, a cyberpunk/noir/horror roleplay blog that I have had in my head for god knows how long.
This is a completely homebrewed world that I have been thinking about for years and that has slowly just kept building up from an influx of great dystopia media and that of my childhood watching the future be imagined as some kind of neon technicolor dreamscape dappled with nightmare. This world is filled with androids wishing to be human, mecha patrolling the streets, space slipping through fingers, and with the horrors of the past creeping from the depths of an angry world. Midwich is a city caught in the middle of it all and the characters that strive to survive in it may or may not end well.
Points of Interest:
Conduits - Synthetic androids that were created initially as laborers for society that eventually evolved into sentient beings that are slowly integrating into society with rights and privileges of their human creators. A long road for sure that has not been even begun to get over the hurdle of prejudice and fear with citizenship finally arriving for them in the city as Midwich is one of the few free cities in the world that does not truly belong to any world government. In a city controlled by corporations anyone with blood or lithium can make something of themselves if they truly believe in what they can or would do.
Conduits are currently under heavy scrutinization as many are not allowed to enter to the mainlands due to the Uprising in 2284 which caused massive planetary riots that ended in breaking the hierarchy of many governments. Midwich was no stranger to these as well with a high population of the synths resulting in a near five month fire purge of southside of the man made island. The signing and enactment of the UNE: Arc Act quelled the violence as Conduits were voted into becoming free citizens of Earth. Papers and governments are one thing in the last few decades, living it day to day is another for both sides of the spectrum of being an 'Earthling'.
Project S.T.O.N. - (Strategic, Tactical, Operation, Negotiators) are a security corporation that facilitates a joint task force of AI compliant mecha to patrol the city in conjunction with the city police department. There goal is to show that AI and mechanical beings do not need to be feared and can still be used for effectively despite the previous risk and issues that arose during the Conduit Uprising of 2284. Employing squadrons of 7 foot tall mechanics to patrol the city 24/7 has freed up the divisions to focus on the high risk issues more so than the day to routine of protecting the citizens of Midwich.
Secretly though, the mecha are not piloted by AI and are actually human driven by terminal ex military and law enforcement who have been given the opportunity to sign away the last years of their life for large insurance packages for their families. When and if the money actually goes to the families has yet to be determined.
The Clay of Life - A religious group that prowls the streets of Midwich harassing in direct opposition of anything to do with the unification of the Conduits and humans. 'Earth for the living' being a common chant amongst their clay dyed attire. Terrorists and religious hate group would be a better term for them, the TCL is known to be always at the forefront for humans over machines. As much as they keep the undergrounds of the city and to secret meetings, they still pop up on the MPD's radar for crimes against synthetics as well as those who may or may not be affiliated with them.
Below the city though there is a darker and far more twisted plan of the TBL as the group as plumbed into the depths of the hollow created from the Ring of Fire shift and discovered far more than what they expected from inside the crust. There is something darker than churns below the surface than man or machine.
More to come....
This is just a sampling of some ideas I've had and tried to put together for this world with characters made specifically for it as well familiar faces from other worlds I write in. There are always other worlds than these. I would love further input/collaborations with it because I'm sure many have ideas or concepts that could only help to improve and grow this world. For the longest time I kept Dreams as kind of a aesthetic blog for my love of the genre but recently with my choices in media I would like to explore and expand upon it.
Please enjoy and indulge in my Bladerunner-synth laden Patlabor eldritch fantasies of a neon skyline like tears in the rain.
