A loose colection of my Europunk 2036 files, hastily thrown together and converted to html. Last update 21/9/1998

?Europunk 2036

EUROPUNK 2036

The year is 2036 and the world is fucked.

Freedom and justice are bought and sold, and you can't afford it. In the city, great riches contrasts the deepest poverty. In the ghetto, drugs, gangs and violence thrive like never before, while the rich invent new vices and new crimes.

Law and order is enforced by private security, paid by the corporations to look out for their interests, as well as real cops, paid by the corporations to look out for their interests.

The world at a glance

In Europe, the Senate rules the world´s number one superpower, but the Senate is controlled from the boardrooms of the megacorporations.

The middle east is a mess of religious wars, poverty and pollution. After the oil dried up, the region sank even deeper into despair and chaos.

USA is a police state under the boot of the ProGov and the NERCC. The UCAS, United Central American States, are holding off their aggresive neighbour while fighting a losing battle against poverty. With most of the historical exploiters busy, South America is preparing to take their place in the spotlights. With a stable economy and abundant natural resources, South America is the up-and-coming palyer in global politics.

In Africa, it's business as usual. The corporations protect their resource-rich enclaves and let the rest of the natives fight out their tribal wars. Actually, since the Nairobi conference of 2010, Africa has become a more stable place.

The Commonwealth of Independent States has more or less split up, and have fallen under the hegemony of either Europe or Japan, or back to Russia. Russia proudly maintains her independence, and the industry is rolling again. Russia still can't compete with the superpowers, though.

Japan has recovered nicely from the crash of the 1990s, and is a power player to be reckoned with. Cutting-edge tech that isn't from Berlin or Scandinavia is usuallly from Japan. And the rest of Asia is snapping at the heels of the Japanese; though Korean and Phillipean products are still second-rate, they are catching on.

China runs a strict isolationist policy; they may be not rich or advanced, but they have lots of military force.

2000: The Millenium Crash. As the second millenium began, computers all over the world crashed.The situation was far worse than people expected. In public adminstration, banking, stock exchange and commerce, systems failed and order broke down. Much data was lost in the confusion.

2000: President Yeltsin dies of a heart attack, and is replaced by right-wing extremist Komarov, who enjoys much popular support.

2001: The UN is disbanded due to lack of funding and political support; the americans don't care, the europeans want to be the next big thing, and the rest of the world is powerless to do a thing about it due to poverty and/ or internal struggle.

2004: The Strassbourg treaty establishes the Senate as the de facto government of Europe; the Commision comes under the control of the Senate.

The Senates is moved to the old UN buildings in Geneva.

2012: The Nairobi conference. The old colonial nations more or less declare that they don't care where the africans draw their national borders, and withdraw most troops. This lead to an intensified bloodbath, but when the smoke cleared, borders had been moved and africa has been slightly more peaceful since then.

2028: The "Client" directive. The 8. May, 2028, the Senate put the the power into the hands of the corporations with bill #158-748. This law allows corporations control of the voting power of their employees.

The european union is a reality. Headquartered out of the old UN buildings in Geneva, the Senate runs Europe. Beneath the senate, the national governments grasp whatever crumbs of power the Senate and the corporations let slip.

The Client system

In 2028, the senate passed bill #158-748, also known as the "Client" paragraph. Under this new law, companies could require employees to sign over their voting rights to the company. Coupled with the general political apathy of most citizens, this has lead to a situation where the real voting blocs are controlled from the boardrooms of the megacorporations.

Borders

Internal border control is a thing of the past. Passing from one country to another is usually no more difficult than crossing a line on the ground. Only when epidemics threaten are internal borders closed.

Private vehicles crossing a border are required to log their arrival, but the transponder in modern vehicles takes care of that automatically. Cargo vehicles are required to inform the new country about the cargo they carry, but there is no physical control; you just hand over the data. In the modern parts of Europe, you don't even have to stop your vehicle to do that.

The external borders are a different story entirely. The borders towards the rest of the world are strictly controlled by Euroforce soldiers, boats and planes. Noone is allowed to enter without permits. Unidentified intruders, be they people or vehicles, will be warned, intercepted and, if necessary, eliminated.

National Identity

National identity is as strong as ever before. As Europe becomes more closely integrated, the peoples stick to their cultural identity. Among young people, exaggerated feelings of national pride leads to behaviour that can only be characterized as stereotypical sillines. To put it briefly, Irishmen are drunk and rowdy, scots wear kilts, italians and frenchmen are passionate, and germans are technocrates, gays or skinheads.

Nearly every citizen in Europe is bilingual, and many know even more languages.

At the same time, other people strive to be as international as possible. They learn several languages (or chip them), wear international fashion (or non-fashion as the case may be), and never allow themselves to be stereotyped, or even identified, as natives of any particular country.

Citizen card

Every citizen in the European Union has a citizen card. It is a piece of tough yellow plastic, with name, number, picture and chip.

The chip holds name and identity, virtual signature, credit information, health and criminal record, finger-, voice-, retina and DNA-print, and a lot of other information. Citizens do not have unrestricted access to all the information on their citizen cards.

Cybertechnology

Cyberware is great. Cyberware makes you better. Cyberware is the trend. You need cyberware to cope. And coping with the humanity loss is no problem; going CyberPsycho is something that happens to other people. Hey, while you're at it, how about a new hand? just 500 ecu.

Cyberpsychosis will make you less and less human and more machine. You will find it harder to control your temper and understand other people. Eventually, if you have one implant too many, you will go over the edge and become a raving sociopath, and start dismembering your friends.

Biotechnology

While unable to duplicate the raw strength of cybernetics, bioware is a viable alternative for personal enhancement. The line is often rather blurred anyway.

Bioware is generally considered to be much healthier for your sanity.

HARD PAYDATA

This is a list of which technologies from the books are available.

Biotechnology

Basically, any TL 8 procedure is available.

Anything can be cloned, and artificial wombs can grow any fetus. But force-growing complex beings is not possible. It is possible to force-grow organs and limbs, in some cases.

Genetic modification is at early TL 9 for humans and bacteria, TL 8 with experimental TL 9 technology in other fields. Genetic manipulation of humans is not tolerated. There are no adult humans with more than TL 8 modifications, and those are secret.

Bodysculpting: All listed technologies are available.

Transplants: All listed TL 8 technologies are available. Tl 9 stuff is being developed in the labs.

Neurosurgery: TL 9, with cybernetic implantation techniques approaching TL 10 performance.

Tissue Engineering: TL 9.

Chemical enhancement: TL 9.

Genetic surgery: TL 8.

Gengeneered microbes, plants insects: At TL 8. Conservative TL 9 tech may be researched.

Cryonics & Immortality: Cryonic suspension is at TL 8. Braintaping is not possible.

Ultratech 1 & 2

Cybernetics are cheap and common. Divide prices by 5 and assume unnatural apperance. The cost of natural-looking cyberware is negotiable. Surgery costs are about right...in a legal, well-equipped clinic. Black market, back-alley surgery is much cheaper.

The core of cybernetic technology is the Neural Translator Unit, a small chip installed in the base of the neck. New models cost 5,000$, plus the same in surgery. The NTU translates from nerve signals to digital signals, and is required for any cybernetic enhancement involving sensory input.

The exception cybereyes and neural HUDs. They can be installed without the NTU. Also, cybereyes or neural HUD is required if you want to mix visual info with data; a neural interface cannot project information in your field of vision, only overwrite it completely.

The following cybertechnology is available: Any TL 8 or TL 9 technology, unless it deals with braintaping or unavailable weapons. Also available: interface jack, accelerated relexes II, chipslots, cortex vault.

Cybernetic limbs should be constructed as robotic arms or legs. Any strength beyond (ST+3) counts as Unsupported. For legs, assume ST 10 at 0.2 kW, +1 ST for each 0.0125 kW beyond that.

Computers

Computers are fast, cheap and everywhere.

Without computers, how would you ever get anything done? Everything is networked. The WWW, TV, radio, phones, everything, is part of the net. All information is stored online. A lot of people have no life outside of the net; they dont see why they should bother, anything can be had online.

Not only is every computer networked, everything is computer-controlled. Your coffee machine. Your car. Your furniture. Your gun.

Computer technology is very flexible and accomodating. Most of the time, you can link just about anything you want to. However, street tech is always prone to malfunctions. Computers do occasionally freeze over. Programs crash. But not often.

Communication is computerized. You have audio connection (which was called telephone calls back in the twentieth), video connection, virtual meeting, video, text and voice-mail, text link, you name it.

Computer price list:

These costs and volumes are for the computer only, with no periphals or terminals. In other words, a box. Add a terminal for accesing it.

Computer Options

Yes, all multipliers are cumulative.

Dedicated: The computer can run only 1 program.

Dumb: For tiny or small computers, cost is 1/20.

Genius: State of the art technology. For tiny computers, small computers, mainframes and macroframes, genius multiplies cost by 20.

Hardened: The computer is optical, or otherwise immune to electromagnetic interference. It is automatically immune to TEMPEST gear as well.

High capacity: The computer can run 50% more programs.

Neural net: Neural nets are quite unlike normal computers. They do not run programs, they are taught skills. They may be trained up to an IQ of Complexity +4 and complexity^2 *20 points in mental abilities. Hardware neural nets are all unique; copying them is not a trivial task.

Artificial Intelligence: This is a complexity 5+ neural net. There is no limit to the learning capacity of a true sentient computer.

Extra ROM slots: The computer has complexity*2 ROM slots, rather than 1*complexity.

TEMPEST hardened: TEMPEST gear and SQUID devices cannot read anything from the computer. Hardened computers have this automatically.

Optimized: The computer is optimized for one type of programs. See the mediaframe in Ultratech 2 for an example. Out of field programs are treated as two complexity levels higher.

Parallel computers: A network of multiple computers. Complexity is equal to log(number of computers) + the complexity of each component computer. Cost is equal to the cost of the component computers, plus 0.1 lb and 50$ times the square of the numbers of computers, for overhead and connections. Software written for parellel computers is not usable on standard computers, and vice versa.

Terminals

These allow you to access your computer.

Personal terminal: A typical computer interface, with screen, keyboard, mouse, printer and so on.

Microterminal: A screen, keyboard and disk drive.

Display pad: A small display with a simple input system like a keypad or track ball. Is is suitable for displaying maps or text, and for videophone communication.

Terminal Options

Yes, all multipliers are cumulative.

Hardened: The terminal is optical, or otherwise immune to electromagnetic interference. It is automatically immune to TEMPEST gear as well.

TEMPEST hardened: TEMPEST gear and SQUID devices cannot read anything from the computer. Hardened terminals have this automatically.

Optimized: The terminal is optimized for one type of programs. See the mediaframe in Ultratech 2 for an example. Out of field programs are treated as two complexity levels higher. Both computer and terminal must be optimized to gain the benefits.

Creator

Creator was marketed by Zetatech in 2016. The then-small company marketed it as a spin-off, a way to make money of the VR research that was their main interest. It caught on almost instantly. Creator received enormous amounts of free "product placement", simply because it looked cool in movies. It became the hip OS (Operating System) to have on your computer.

Creator is a graphic, or VR, or Full Interface environment which requires very little bandwidth or memory. It works through a standardised database which is an integral part of the OS.

To send the VR image of a beautiful virtual park, Creator analyzes the information sent by the user as to which way he is looking, where he is, etc. The program computes the "image" he will see. but instead of sending the entire image, it sends the "source code"; the users own copy of Creator then constructs the image from it's own databanks and the sourcecode. Of course, people create new code bits all the time, which then have to be sent along with the instructions.

Artificial Intelligence

With neural-net computers and neural-net simulators, true artificial intelligence has become a reality. However, AIs can be difficult to control sometimes, and semi-sentient neural networks are preferred for most tasks. True AI technology is strictly controlled.

Virtual People

Virtual people are computer programs, personality simulations. Most of these have no rights, no existence as anything but a program, and not even a real name. Others are "legal entities", programs with the full legal powers (but not rights) of a person. They are used as proxies, straw men, and money makers. Certain legal entities perfom the odius task of sueing people; they will sue you on the flimsiest case if they spot a potential profit.

The most common kind of Virtual Person, however, is the entertainment VP. These are personality simulations whose job it is to entertain. VPs are also used for education, training, and myriads of other applications.

Virtual People are often bought and sold, at markets known as "Slave Pits" or the like. Virtual Persons vary in complexity from crowd-members, who don't remember you if you leave and never have anything interesting to say, to the personas of AIs who can be indistinguishable from real people.

Programs and operation

Computer Operation is easy. Any computer of complexity 3+ has voice recognition, and neural nets even understand what you mean. With virtual reality, keyboard shortcuts have been mostly replaced with snaps, taps and other specific movements.

In game terms, Computer Operation defaults to IQ, and all rolls gain a bonus equal to the complexity of the interface program (Basic VR, full VR, etc ).

For an idea of which programs to run, see Cyberpunk, Cyberworld, Ultratech 1 & 2, Compendium 2, Robots, Vehicles, or just about any tech-like Gurps book.