CYBERGENERATION
Generation X

It was the best of times. It was the worse of times. It was a Cyberpunk kinda time.

For twenty years, America has been the land of the fast-gunning, interface-jacked, steel-legged, cyberarmed techno-hero. Good and evil have become mutable concepts, replaced by the realities of expedience and the soulless will of the megacorporations who have saved Technological Man at the cost of his soul.
Now the shape of the Dark Future has finally become clear. A new Power rules America: a power born of the Corporate meritocracy and its lapdog government agencies. It is a Power dedicated to retaining an iron grip on the nation it dedicated to retaining an iron grip on the nation it has obtained, no matter what it costs, no matter what is destroyed in the process. It is the Incorporated States of America - the ISA.
Since 2022, there’s been a war going on: a war between the ISA agents, hired hit squads, government troops, Nomad war parties, Netrunner assault groups and black op teams. The Edgerunners of 2020 have given way to the Guerrillas of 2027; once hunters of the Edge, they have become the hunted.
The Eurocorps have been driven out of the United States by their rebellious U.S. offices. The Government has returned, forging an unholy alliance with megacorp ties. And corporate shark David Whindam is now President of the Incorporated States.
The ISA’s goal is an unarmed, controlled, consumer America. An America where the megacorps use their economic might to control every market, their government-sponsored "agents" to suppress any sign of rebellion, and their hired mediacorp lackeys to control every facet of the truth.
To the ISA, there can be only One Nation, under Corporate Control, with liberty and justice for the Chosen Few.
But all is not proceeding as planned. A terrifying new plague is sweeping America. Nicknamed the Carbon Plague, this nanotech-based mutagenic kills with a frightening selectivity. If you’re over twenty and infected, you die. If you’re under twenty, you live. Or - you Change.
Over ten thousand juvegangers have already been affected, their bodies altered by a process that defies all known science. They have been given new and amazing powers, powers that go beyond any cybertech. They have Evolved. They have become the Cybergeneration.
They are a generation of the Street: a generation which has raised itself in a world of danger, violence and deception; that has watched its parents sell their souls for a few chunks of cyberware and a box of Kibble. And the ISA is rounding them up, hunting them down. Because they’re different. And because the ISA can’t control them.
This time, the battle won’t be for a few extra rounds of ammo and a safe hiding place after the black op.
This time, the stakes are going to be for real.


YoGangs: Children of Generation X

2027. Over 50% of the children born on the Street don’t know both of their biological parents. The nuclear family is a rare breed as the dangers and stresses of poverty have pushed it to the edge of extinction. In the CorpZones, juves are being either brainwashed or ignored, crammed into cookie-cutter personalities, while their parents have sold out and left them at the mercy of the corporate system. On the outside, street-kids are fighting for a means to live while trying to find someplace to call home, even for a little while.
Out of the basic need for identity and rebellion, and (most importantly) to have fun, comes a new version of an old theme: the yogang. Yogangs, while not strictly families in the standard sense of the word, have taken on that role for many since the decline of the more typical forms. The broad term applies to just about any youth group actually put together and maintained by the kids themselves, and is far more like a group than a gang. They are usually exclusively for teens or pre-teens, with little or no adult leadership, and almost every teener belongs to one even if you don’t call yourself a ‘ganger’. Most kids only participate part-time, but that doesn’t make you any less a member. Yogangs provide ways to relate to (and find status among) your peers beyond what the adults spell out for you. At the same time, they allow you to break out and make some rules of your own.
And America in 2027 could definitely use some new rules.
On the Outside, yogangs are sometimes the only means for survival - you need a group to back you up or you’re fair game. Your group could be a feral family, the Squats being a case in point. It could be all the kids from a single neighborhood that decide they share an image and want to present a united front. Or it could be a bunch of dispossessed teens who’ve banded together to defend themselves; StreetFighter schools are great places to look for protection and a way of facing the Street proudly. Misanthropic Nomad kids ar natural GoGangers. One common factor of Yogangs on the Outside, though: They’re designed to help the members survive and gain a reputation first - fun comes a distant second.
Surprisingly, yogangs are as common in the Corpzones as in the Outside. Some Corpzone yogangers like the BeaverBrats turn to vandalism (what’s life without a little graffiti?) and corporate harassment. Most are simply kids that share a major interest, like the ArcoRunners, the Tinkertots, or the Vidiots. Others are looking for ways of displaying skill and grabbing some fun, like the GoGangers and the BoardPunks. For others, like the Goths or the Guardians, it’s deadly serious. Whatever the group is into, the point is to thumb your nose at the system and to do something important for yourself and your fellows. Many still love their parents (if they have any,) but to the yogangers, most adults have become part of the ISA Machine - the corporate megastate which now dominates their lives.
The Carbon Plague has hit the Yogangs hard, since they represent the prime age range from which the Changed emerge. Even more destructive than the Plague itself is the hunt which has followed. Any tolerance the authorities may have had for yogang activities has evaporated in the paranoia of the pursuit for CyberEvolved teens. Police, CorpSec, and a lot of other people most of these kids have never even heard of before are chasing down the yogangs, looking for infection, advantage, or just plain cheap thrills.

The Code

One things down work in these kids’ favor, though, and they built it themselves: The Code. Born in response to all the selling out and scrambling for survival that’s marked the third decade of the 21st century, the Code is a set of ethical guidelines which the yogangs have informally drawn up for dealing with each other and the rest of humanity. These guidelines reflect a state of feeling among a good portion of the juves of 2027: Honor must be reborn. Tired of watching the rest of the world lie, cheat, steal, and bribe its way down the long slide to Hell, these people have discovered the honor is needed for a cohesive society, and that if the Machine won’t supply it, then they will have to do so themselves.
Drawing from a variety of sources, including the code of bushido, a lot of old John Wayne movies, and superhero comic, literature, the Code establishes certain basic rules of conduct between the ‘gangers themselves and even with the outside world, since honor cannot have two standards. These rules have often allied the Evolved with yogangers in their struggle to fight the Machine and have become one foundation for the CyberRevolution. Various gangs have their own interpretations of these codes, and there isn’t any central body which can enforce them. Nonetheless, if a Yoganger seriously or repeatedly violates one of these principles, their relations with other groups will deteriorate rapidly, and if they continue, they may find themselves hunted by a coalition of gangs determined to clean their own house.

The Code has the following basic principles:

1. Your word is your bond, in whatever form it is given. If you make a promise or swear a truth, you have to back it up. In a hostile world, most of the time the yogangs can count only on each other to get things done. And if you can’t trust the word of a fellow ‘ganger, then he isn’t worth drek, period. Even outside the yogang, this rule applies, since once you start making promises that you won’t keep, it lessens you no matter who you do it to.

2. Never betray a fellow ‘ganger to the Machine. This could be CorpSec, or the police, or just your nanny. Parents usually fall into this category as well. If another ‘ganger has jacked you around, you go to your leader and your yogang deals with it. Yogangs take care of their own. If you turn over for them, the Machine will betray you next. This clause has saved many Changed who are also yogangers from being traded for bounties.

3. Money isn’t worth blood. Money is the tool of the Machine, if you buy into it, the Machine has its hooks in you. There are more important things than money, and human life is one of them. Your word is another, the Earth itself may be one, too... (to some juves, fun is worth blood, espcially other people’s, the GoGangers and the Megaviolents being notorious examples of this). The few Yogangs that have sold themselves tot he corps have automatically voided this ethic and are shunned by others because of it. Not that they care.

4. You never take from another ‘ganger without giving something back. Reciprocity is a necessary part of honor. Now, this doesn’t mean that you have to give back something of equal value (that would be materialistic, right?), but you do have to acknowledge the transaction. As you might expect, not all groups adhere religiously tot his particular guideline, but minor infractions are usually forgiven. Some juves also interpret this for negative values as well, meaning that if you are injured by another, you must pay it back. This eye-for-an-eye ethos has led to as many problems as it may have solved.

Before you pick your character Here’s one thing you’ll need to consider - how old your character is (between 7 and 19): You get to pick your age in Cybergeneration, because it’s more fun that way. However, we expect you to play your age as well. That means playing characters that do things that could reasonably be expected for that age (no 8 year olds successfully seducing 16 year olds!). There is only one restriction based on age: If you’re below 9 years old, you cannot drive a vehicle. If you’re below 12, you can drive, but at a -2 to any GoGo skill checks. Beyond that, you’re pretty wide open; we let you be stronger than you probably would be at 10 or 11, and we also give you a lot more freedom as well (we don’t force you to relate to your parents in a particular way). The idea is to roleplay, not to look for the Ultimate Character Advatage!

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Copyright © 1996 - 1997
Created by Wolf Pack Inc, Friday, August 29, 1997
Most recent revision Friday, October 17, 1997