Carbon 2185: Cities Sourcebook

EQUIPMENT

ARMOR

Detroit Industries Bulwark Personal Silverback Forced Entry Unit.
Defensive System
The Silverback is an extremely bulky set of bullet
This fully-enclosed armor system consists of over- and explosion-resistant armor used by the NYPD
lapping ballistic plates with a visored hard polymer and NYPKF. Its set of interlocking webbing covers
helmet, armored boots and gauntlets, and a sealed the entire body in bulky panels of layered armor,
flexible undersuit. The Bulwark provides a great deal save for a thin vision slit protected by transpar-
of protection but is most valued for its intimidating ent polymers. It is designed for use by personnel
appearance. Grand Central Fortress’ security per- breaching through doorways into hostile situations.
sonnel wear this armor, which is uniformly black. Its exceptional protection comes at the expense of
The Bulwark is part of Detroit Industries’ branding severely limited mobility, so the Silverback is only
as the world’s foremost provider of personal defense deployed in specific situations. The Silverback cuts
systems to the military and security sectors. out almost all sound from outside, so is used in con-
junction with in-the-ear communicators.

WEAPONS

Oligo-Molecular Sword Cane introduce into their target’s bloodstream. A Pricker
can fire sedatives, lethal poisons, hallucinogenic
This elegant cane looks like a fashion accessory, drugs or radioactive tracking substances into the
and is often carried as one. A stud on the head of target, and is almost silent when fired. It can even
the cane can be depressed allowing a slender rapier be used to shoot a dose of narcotics into a target, so
blade to be drawn from the interior of the cane, with they can later fall foul of a megacorp’s mandatory
the head now serving as the sword’s grip. The blade’s drug testing.
edge is a few molecules thick and can pass through
skin, flesh and bone without hindrance, and is only Scepter of the Faithful
halted by dedicated body armor. A sword cane was
originally designed as a concealable weapon, but its This one-of-a-kind weapon is carried by the Pon-
existence is now well-known enough that it is some- tifex of All Faiths in the Underbelly. The Scepter is
times carried as a subtle form of intimidation. a mace with a spherical head which, when swung,
creates a distortion field around it that disrupts and
Pricker shatters whatever it hits. Without this disruptive
energy field the Scepter could shatter bone and
The Lab Rats of Gethsemane were the first to alter crush organs, and the additional destructive power
these medical devices into weapons. A Pricker is a has made the Scepter one of the reasons the Pon-
pneumatic or hydraulic syringe designed to inject tifex’s will is so respected in All Faiths.
large doses at once, adapted so it can fire needles
loaded with whatever substance the owner wants to

That thing comes from a lab. And not one of the common-or-garden security gear R&D places. Some-
thing gravitational. Something weird. No word of how or when the Big Cheese got hold of it, weither.
He’s just always had it. Makes you wonder who the hell the Pontifex actually is. –Checkmate

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

GEAR

Whisper Field Generator NC-1C Vertical Safety Rig

The use of sound-deadening technology, using New York’s skyscrapers require constant main-
overlapping fields of white noise at carefully mod- tenance and cleaning, and anyone with the job of
ulated frequencies, was first developed for military cleaning a skyscraper’s windows needs a reliable,
purposes. It found limited use among special forces safe and simple way of doing the job. The NC-1C is a
and hostage rescue teams, who needed a way to replacement for cumbersome and slow maintenance
create temporary silence for their operations. A gondolas of the past. It is a set of four articulated
small number of such generators found their way arms into which an operator can be strapped. These
into civilian hands and they are now used by the arms can climb any vertical service, though they
Club Kids of Manhattan to facilitate their Hot work faster and more safely on dedicated rail sys-
Prowl raves. A Whisper Field Generator consists tems built into almost every commercial skyscraper
of three or more projectors which must be moved in Manhattan. The NC-1C has a modular loadout
into position around the area to be silenced. Once system, which is most commonly used to carry tanks
activated, very little sound can exit from inside the of detergent, sets of maintenance tools, and hook-
area. The projectors create a constant hiss of white ups to the building’s water system.
noise which is often lost in the background noise of a
city environment. Strap yourself into one of these, put on some
Whisper Field Generators are known by numerous overalls and mosey on up to whatever floor you
slang names such as Silent Nights, Hush Bunnies or want. Of course, everyone in NY is wise to bur-
Mufflers. Getting the projectors into position can glars using the rig to bust into the upper floors so
be an operation in itself, especially if they are to be if you’re not broadcasting the IFF signal they give
used over a wide area requiring numerous projectors. to the maintenance guys, an eyedrone will tag
you and security will come running. The rig isn’t
too fast so you’re not making a getaway in it. Best
bring a parachute or a hell of a lot of bungee cord.
–Checkmate

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

VEHICLES

NYPKF ‘Orca’ Riot Suppression Vehicle proof divider protecting the driver from homicidal
passengers, an automatic distress beacon to sum-
The Orca is advertised as the complete solution for mon the NYPD, and a medical kit in the trunk.
non-lethal urban pacification roles. It resembles
a military APC and is indeed modified from such Alley Scrambler
a vehicle. It can carry a squad of riot cops in full
gear, and once it has reached the operation zone it The term ‘Alley Scrambler’ is used for dirt bikes that
can use its high-pressure water cannon to disperse have been adapted for use in the Underbelly’s tun-
crowds and subdue hostiles. Its intimidating appear- nels. These vehicles make travel through the Under-
ance is as useful as its non-lethal weaponry, as is belly a lot faster and safer, especially after they
its capacity to get NYPKF officers into hot zones have been altered to have ultra-flexible suspension,
behind layers of armor that render it impervious filters and guards to keep muck out of the workings,
to non-military small arms. The NYPKF maintains enlarged and reinforced windshields and various
a fleet of these vehicles and they can be found in reinforcements to toughen them up. Alley Scram-
other liveries in the possession of private military blers can be found above ground, too, enabling fast
contractors who find themselves in urban pacifica- escape through their namesake alleyways, usually by
tion roles. robbers and raiders who use them to flee back into
the sewers and subways of the Underbelly.
‘Aeolus’ Aerostatic Yacht
ONE Aerospace Eyedrone
The Aeolus is a luxury flying vehicle coupling a
dirigible balloon with a finely-appointed gondola, for Media outlets across New York make extensive use
comfortable, elegant travel among the skyscrapers of the Eyedrones made by ONE Aerospace. These
of Manhattan. Many of the island’s skyscrapers have small, remote-controlled vehicles are used to bring
aerostat mooring points, where such vehicles can an ‘eye in the sky’ perspective to outside broadcasts
be docked and passengers can disembark into the and are a common sight winding their way between
penthouse levels, enabling the owner of an aero- the skyscrapers. They can be flown by a remote
static yacht to tour the Capital of the World without operator or follow a pre-determined path with lim-
ever having to set foot at street level. The Aeolus ited intelligent flying capabilities, and are equipped
has room for a driver (though it has full self-flying with three cameras that can track targets on the
capability), a lounge, a fully-stocked bar, a bathroom ground. Eyedrones are used to cover unfolding news
and a fold-out medical table. Its interior resembles stories like car chases and disasters, and report on
an expensive hotel room. The Kasai Corporation in major outdoor events like the regular Times Square
particular makes use of aerostatic yachts to take galas. The NYPD also has some they can use to fol-
its diplomats between the Floating World and the low fugitives or perform surveillance. The drones are
other embassies. known to be hackable by a competent operator.

Detroit Industries Trusty-T

Few sights are as ubiquitous on the streets of New
York as the yellow cab. Detroit Industries holds the
contract to supply official cab agencies with vehicles
in the form of the ‘Trusty-T’, a reliable and capacious
vehicle which is almost always sold equipped as a
taxi. The Trusty-T is easy to maintain and has low
emissions, and is also notably tough and difficult to
total in even the most unfortunate of fender-bend-
ers. Its high-speed performance is lacking, but in
Manhattan few Trusty-Ts ever get out of second
gear anyway. The model is equipped with a bullet-

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THE CITY’S GANGS

DAS JUNGE CLUB KIDS

Origin: New York Origin: New York
Language: German, English Language: English, all
Reach: Manhattan, lesser influence in other bor- Reach: Manhattan
oughs of New York Businesses: Rave parties, drug dealing.
Businesses: Extortion, robbery, assassination, incite- Leader: n/a
ment to unrest. Rivals: NYPD, Rat King, various homeowners’ and
public safety organizations
Feldmarschall: Gunther Sturm (born Brian Fernandez) The Club Kids aren’t really a gang, but a social move-
Notable Lieutenants: Brunhilde Blitzen (born Karen ment. They are the young people for whom ‘normal’ life
Hughes), Horst Krieger (born Maurice Fong) – a career, a place in the System, an existence paying
Rivals: NYPD, Venom Thorn, other megacorp-allied crushing rent until you die – holds no appeal. Instead,
gangs they just want to party. A Club Kid is almost always
young (plenty OD or burn out before approaching mid-
Das Junge is a gang affiliated with Regierung Kyber- dle age), and wears a clashing riot of colors and fashions.
netik, and their allegiance to the megacorp borders Club kids live to party. They gather at secret raves with
on worship. They are based out of the Underbelly times and locations broadcast across encrypted online
in a fortified corner of the abandoned subway sys- channels. These events are highly illegal and if the locals
tem, protected by automated defenses provided complain loudly enough the NYPD breaks them up,
by RK on the quiet. Das Junge numbers several while others are hidden so well they can go on for days
dozen young men and woman who style themselves without interruption. The supplies and technology for
as a military organization with ranks and titles. Its these events are stolen or paid for with the proceeds of
members take Germanic names and speak German the rampant drug dealing at Club Kid events, of which
among themselves, though their command of the the organizers expect to take a cut. While there is no
language is not always fluent. real leadership, some Club Kids are active in organizing
events and scouting locations, while others specialize as
Das Junge concerns itself most of the time with DJs or recruiters for live acts.
simple violence and live off armed robberies and The most notorious Club Kid raves are the ‘Hot
extortion backed up with the violence of which they Prowls’. The Club Kids find a corporate mansion that
are very capable. Their real purpose, however, is to is temporarily empty, then invade it en masse. They
respond when RK sends them a coded communi- use a sound dampening field so the music doesn’t
cation giving them a task the megacorp’s diplomats alert the neighbors, and party for several days non-
cannot perform themselves. In this way, Das Junge stop. When the owner returns he finds his place
form an unofficial ‘heavy mob’ for the RK diplomats a filthy wreck scattered with a handful of OD’d
based at NeueHoffnung, beating up corporate rivals, corpses. Hot Prowls are for hardcore Club Kids only.
assassinating enemies, starting trouble at events Tourists and dabblers can stick to the raves in ware-
to discredit other corporations, and anything else houses and abandoned subway stations.
for which deniable muscle is desirable. Das Junge Offshoots of the Club Kid movement include transgres-
are well-armed since their payment for corporate sive art groups creating startling and offensive art, more
business is often in the form of weapons or simple dedicated dealers in party drugs, and thrill-kill cults for
cybernetic upgrades. Das Junge have never been whom the most riotous party is no longer enough.
officially recognized by RK and never will be.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

VENOM THORN STUTTER’S CUTTERS

Origin: Manhattan Underbelly Origin: Brooklyn, Croatia
Language: English (sometimes none) Language: Croatian, English
Reach: Underbelly, some above-ground operations Reach: Brooklyn, Upper Manhattan
Businesses: Robbery, extortion Businesses: Extortion, drug dealing, assassinations
for hire
Monarch: King Gorebelcher II
Notable Lieutenants: Flesh Rhino, Lord Faceham- Boss: Zvonimir ‘Stutter’ Marković
mer Notable Lieutenants: Blaga & Ljuba Klobučar
Rivals: Gethsemane, Underbelly residents Rivals: NYPD, residents of Upper Manhattan

The Venom Thorn is a gang of cannibal Morlocks Stutter’s Cutters is an example of the many New
who prey on the residents of the Underbelly. They York gangs that owe fealty to the Rat King. They
are natives of this underground world and live in a enforce the Rat King’s extortionate rents by beating
series of nests and burrows too radioactive and pol- up defaulters, menacing anyone who tries to buy out
luted to be inhabited by anyone else. The stretches the Rat King’s various front companies and murder-
of inhospitable, poisoned Underbelly between Geth- ing cops, reporters and others who try to pry into or
semane and the other habitable areas of the Under- dismantle New York’s organized crime-based rents
belly are haunted by the Venom Thorn, and parties system. The Cutters also deal drugs in territories in
of Thorns often set out to reap a toll from the more Upper Manhattan. In return for their service and
commonly-travelled routes through the Under- payment of revenue up the chain to the Rat King,
belly before vanishing back into the toxic swamps. the Cutters can expect support from other gangs
The gang robs, kills and usually eats the victims it in fighting off rivals and avoiding the efforts of the
waylays, and survive by selling on what they take to NYPD to root them out.
traders who do not care where it comes from. The Cutters draw their members from Croa-
The Venom Thorn’s Morlock guides are the best tian-speaking neighborhoods, primarily in Brooklyn,
beneath the city, and another revenue stream is with occasional reinforcements from members’
from travelers willing to pay for a guide through the families in the ‘old country’. They have a few spe-
Underbelly. A Venom Thorn guide can steer clear cialist English-speakers by necessity. Stutter himself
of his fellow gang members while leading his clients (who does not have a stutter – the nickname’s origin
through the hazards beneath Manhattan. Of course, is unknown) is a military veteran with experience
he might just be leading his clients into an ambush, organizing and deploying troops in combat. Assassi-
but that is the risk one takes. nations are carried out by the combat drug-addled
Gorebelcher II is the self-styled ‘king’ of the Venom Klobučar sisters, and Cutter will hire them out for
Thorn though it is not known how much control the right price.
he actually has over his gang. Nevertheless, Gore-
belcher claims the authority to launch a war against
other parts of the Underbelly if he wishes, and
demands tribute from settlements to spare them
from this fate.

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THE NEW YORK POLICE DEPARTMENT THE NEW YORK PEACEKEEPING FORCE

Reach: New York Reach: New York
Businesses: Law Enforcement, corruption, personal Businesses: Personal protection, urban pacification,
protection intimidation

Chief of Police: Gertrude Haggarty Chief Deployment Officer: General Ezuedo Alalale
Rivals: Criminals, Rat King, megacorporate embassies Rivals: NYPD, Manhattan residents, Detroit Industries.

The NYPD isn’t a gang per se, but the cops in many The New York Peacekeeping Force was formed as an off-
precincts act like they’re in one. In spite of the lack of shoot of the NYPD following the destruction of the Man-
regulation and leadership that has led to widespread hattan Bridge by unknown attackers in 2155. On paper it
corruption, there are still good cops in the NYPD is an anti-terrorist force to be employed on the order of
and they still enforce the law when they can. The police or city officials in the event of terrorist attack, or to
NYPD still has jurisdiction when someone outside the capture suspected terrorists. In reality they are a private
diplomatic class is murdered, when gangs terrorize army offering their services to the megacorps. Only
residents or when rioters take to the streets, although Detroit Industries does not hire the NYPKF, since DI
their ability to enforce the law is severely compro- itself is heavily militarized and resents not having a monop-
mised by megacorporate involvement and a lack of oly over military force in the Capital of the World.
resources. The megacorps support the NYPD only The NYPKF is a heavily armed and well-equipped force
in initiatives that will remove obvious crime from the based on North Brother Island, on the East River between
streets and preserve the security of their embassies. Manhattan and the Bronx. The island once housed hospitals
The Rat King’s attempts to make the NYPD com- and quarantine facilities, the remains of which are buried
pletely subservient to him failed, partly because the beneath the military base. The NYPKF can reach anywhere
NYPD is organized by autonomous precincts and on Manhattan by means of a fleet of swift troop boats and
does not have a single overarching leadership. Some larger landing craft for vehicles. It can muster an army of sev-
precincts are in the pocket of the Rat King while eral thousand at a few hours’ notice and always has a corps of
some are effectively branches of the megacorps who troopers on standby ready to respond rapidly to emergencies.
bankroll them, but other precincts work to keep the General Alalale, the public face of the NYPKF and the final
streets safe and curb the worst of New York’s crimi- authority on its deployments, boasts that he could hold the
nality. entire city against an insurgency force if required. He even
In Manhattan, a secret and unofficial police depart- has limited air power at his disposal in the form of a squadron
ment – the Corporate Intelligence Bureau, or the of drone aircraft armed with bombs and missiles, though they
‘Chamber’ - exists to monitor the worst excesses of have yet to be deployed over New York.
megacorporate crime. The NYPD has no jurisdiction The NYPKF’s activities in Manhattan are almost always
over the corporate embassies thanks to a version of requested and funded by the megacorps. They include
diplomatic immunity, and so the megacorps use their putting down civil unrest, providing security for the embas-
embassies to conceal crimes such as human experi- sies and protecting key individuals. An NYPKF presence at
mentation and the development of weapons of mass a major megacorp-sponsored event is a way to add legit-
destruction. The Chamber tries to find and stop these imacy to proceedings and discourage troublemakers. The
projects, always off the books and usually with highly NYPKF’s troops are trained in urban combat and anti-riot
illegal methods. They lack manpower and resources, operations, and they can deploy as riot cops from their Orca
and hire outsiders to perform surveillance, break-ins, urban pacification vehicles to form impenetrable walls of riot
kidnaps and interrogations in their pursuit of unoffi- shields. They also execute raids against prominent megacor-
cial justice. The Chamber does this anonymously, and porate enemies, who are taken to the holding cells on North
many cyberpunks in Manhattan infiltrate corporate Brother Island and never seen again. General Alalale almost
embassies and snatch diplomats off the streets igno- certainly has a plan in place for a major operation against the
rant they are doing it for the cops. Underbelly, but has not yet been hired to put it in motion.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

108 THE CORPS

Every megacorp and hundreds of smaller corpo-
rations have offices and operatives in Manhattan.
These operatives, especially those working in the
corporate embassies, form the diplomatic class at
the pinnacle of Manhattan’s System. The high-
est-ranking diplomats are part ambassador, part
celebrity, and are among the most highly visible
people in the entire city. They are idolized, imitated
and envied by those Manhattanites whose lives are
defined by the System, and represent the ultimate

goal for everyone trying to climb through the
System’s ranks.
Manhattan’s notable people include corpora-
tions essential to the System, like the fashion
houses of Lady Eris and the Baccano Collective, and
the low-key but essential institution of the Hard
Copy Couriers.

JAWAHIR SINDI

Saud Cybernetics was the first of the megacorps to
establish a grand embassy in Manhattan and it still
plays the System arguably better than any other
corp. Jawahir Sindi is its most visible diplomat, a
famous beauty boasting aug-sculpted features and
a carefully coordinated wardrobe fusing traditional
Arabic dress with Neo-Elizabethan flair. She has
been a fixture among the grandest events in Man-
hattan for over twenty years, and spends as much

time on the red carpet as in the sessions of the
World Corporate Forum.
There is far more to Jawahir Sindi than a fig-
urehead for her megacorp. She knows abso-
lutely everyone and seems able to secure
audiences with representatives of any
corporation, not just her own. Whether she
is maintaining a network of contacts for
Saud Cybernetics, or is laying the groundwork

for her own agenda, is known only to her. Jawahir
Sindi is Manhattan’s principal influence broker, and
in return for her services she asks only for a favor to
be paid back some time in the future.

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THE STANWICK TRIPLETS militarized assets and turn Manhattan into a battleground.
When Detroit Industries discovers Brandt’s madness, it
The Stanwick Triplets are the faces of the Medi-Strike will try to have him eliminated — quietly, deniably and off
Megacorp. They represent everything that Medi-Strike the books.
promises – human perfection in health and form. The corp
has been tight-lipped on whether the triplets were artifi- SUKI SAKAMOTO
cially created, but their difference in skills, appearance and
apparent ethnicity suggests they are far from natural. Kasai Corporation has no single head diplomat, instead
sending a rotating cast of ambassadors to the World Cor-
Ethan is a politician and serves as Medi-Strike’s represen- porate Forum. Its most famous diplomat, however, is Suki
tative to the World Corporate Forum. He is Medi-Strike’s Sakamoto, who is rarely seen outside the Floating World
de facto spokesperson and is one of the most active repre- and whose presence at an event outside the corporation’s
sentatives on the Corporate Forum floor. aerial embassy is a sure indicator of Kasai Corporation’s
undivided interest.
Taylor is a gifted dancer and musician, and performs on Sakamoto’s origins are kept obscure by the Kasai Corpo-
Broadway to packed houses, as well as adorning the bed- ration. It suits the megacorp very well to have the people
room walls of thousands of lovestruck teens. He mastered of Manhattan (and rival megacorps) speculating on where
several different instruments in childhood and each tour she came from and what her role in the megacorp truly
has him performing in a completely different style to is. Sakamoto appears rather older than most diplomats,
the last. The fashions of music and performance follow though her age is concealed by rejuvenation treatments
him and he is one of the world’s most recognizable cul- and cosmetic surgery, and dresses in traditional kimonos of
tural trendsetters. such elaborate natures that she is unable to walk in them
and is carried on a sedan chair when necessary.
Zack Stanwick is a star athlete with the New York Nemesis Sakamoto is known for her sagely pronouncements about
in the International Crashball League. He was instrumen- the future. Kasai Corporation does not explicitly state that
tal in capturing the World Championship in 2183 and in she can tell the future, but it does nothing to discount
spite of being the league MVP that year, has repeatedly rumors that she can. Her cryptic remarks, drip-fed to the
pledged his future to the New York Nemesis. rest of the System through rare interviews and occasional
volumes of published poems, are combed for meaning
The triplets are beautiful, inspiring, and perfect. They like the prophecies of Nostradamus. Many important
are everything Medi-Strike would have you believe you events have been linked with hindsight to the teachings of
should be. Suki Sakamoto.
Some speculate that she is a synth housing an AI sophis-
HUNTER BRANDT ticated enough to extrapolate likely future events from
the current state of the world. Others say she is genuinely
Detroit Industries’ diplomatic envoy and Castellan of psychic. Just as many say she is a complete fraud, the
Grand Central Fortress is the formidable Hunter Brandt. product of careful social engineering by the Kasai Corpo-
He is a huge and imposing man who has lost none of his ration as a form of experiment.
youthful intensity in middle age after a career as a military
advisor to the megacorp’s research division. Though one of A cynic like me has to think Suki-chan’s full of
Manhattan’s best-known diplomats, he inspires fear rather shit, right? Well, I dunno. They put a hell of a lot
than delight in onlookers as he goes everywhere accompa- of effort into making a fake psychic, if that’s what
nied by a phalanx of DI-armed heavies. she is, when there are plenty of card readers on
street corners who will do it for damn near free. I
Behind the walls of Grand Central Fortress, Brandt is got no clue what she actually is but it’s something
dangerously unstable. He has fully bought into Detroit more than snake oil. –Checkmate
Industries’ military posturing and believes that physical
war between the corps is inevitable. Brandt spends his 109
time drawing up plans to attack the other embassies and
defend Grand Central, with a confrontation between DI Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG
troops and the NYPKF a particular obsession of his. He
has put hundreds of attack plans into place to deploy DI’s

LADY ERIS BACCANO COLLECTIVE

Manhattan is home to several fashion houses that The Neo-Elizabethan style so common in the System
cater to the insatiable demand for high-end designer is primarily the work of the Baccano Collective, which
clothing. One of the two foremost fashion houses is vies with Lady Eris for the title of Manhattan’s biggest
Lady Eris, whose cutting-edge, transgressive style fashion house. Baccano is an old-school fashion house
has been a stable on the catwalks and red carpets for with a flair for the lavish and overwhelmingly ornate.
decades. Lady Eris’ showroom just off Times Square Its catwalk shows echo the most ludicrous excesses of
is a Mecca for window shoppers and fashion victims, history’s most decadent ages. The glory of Versailles
with the house’s consultants regular sights among and the debauchery of Imperial Rome find their echoes
the homes of the wealthy and the offices of the on the catwalks clothed by the Baccano Collective,
corporate embassies. comparisons which the fashion house gleefully accepts.

Lady Eris’ fashions tend towards the edgy and The Baccano Collective is the most frequent design
shocking. A Lady Eris fashion show is a Grand Guig- house worn by the diplomatic class when they are seen
nol show with images that transgress the boundaries in public. The extremity of the Collective’s clothes
of taste and morality. A front row seat by the Lady varies from simple slashed sleeves and neck ruffs to
Eris catwalk comes with a spattering of blood and a ballgowns and towering powdered wigs that rival the
gallery of nightmarish imagery. The shocking cre- most bizarre creations of their catwalk shows. A Bac-
ations, which can resemble everything from suits of cano wardrobe is almost a prerequisite for anyone
human skin to catwalks full of shambling cadavers, trying to break into the upper levels of the System. The
translate into wearable collections with sharp sil- Collective has no public showroom, and instead accepts
houettes, stark colors and motifs of darkness, death clients by appointment only at their Fifth Avenue sales
and transgression. headquarters. By deciding who gets an appointment,
There is no single ‘Lady Eris’. Instead the fashion the Baccano Collective is an effective gatekeeper to
house is run by a collective of designers, marketers the ranks of the diplomatic class.
and executives who scour the art and fashion scenes
for the kind of dark creatives they need. They care- Danika Seong, the Korean-American founder of the
fully guard the contents of their next shows and col- Baccano Collective, still serves as the fashion house’s
lections, to retain the shock value of their creations. chief designer and is considered the mother of the
neo-Elizabethan style. She is a famous recluse who is
Sure, Eris make a mint out of consulting to the never seen in public, issuing designs via her assistants
diplomatic class, but most of their money comes from her impenetrable Upper East Side home.
from selling that junk to overprivileged teenagers
who hate their parents. You see some kid with a You’d think selling ballgowns that cost more than your
jacket covered in skulls? Probably Lady Eris, or car would be enough to make Baccano rich. Truth is,
at least a rip-off of their stuff. Laugh all you want that’s just half the story. They run one of the biggest
but it makes good social camouflage. No better drug rings in the city. You know how many vials of
way to convince people you’re not actually gonna Crank you can hide in one of those powdered wigs?
start trouble than to look like you’re trying way The executives and celebs who get invited backstage
too hard. –Checkmate at the catwalk shows aren’t just admiring the fabrics,
they’re negotiating shipments of designer drugs. Think
about it. A hat box turns up at your house, you hand
over a few wads of wonlongs, everyone just thinks
you’re a fashion victim moron and you just bought a
year’s supply of the good stuff in plain sight. The Rat
King can’t touch them.
Also, Danika Seong’s almost certainly dead. One big
cyber-cookie to whoever proves it. –Checkmate

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HARD COPY COURIERS

Among the megacorps, safe communications
is essential. However, no matter how effective
encrypted comms are, there’s always someone who
can hack and decrypt them. The most sensitive mes-
sages are therefore delivered by analogue means –
either face to face over a cup of coffee, tea or sake,
or when that’s not possible, by Hard Copy Courier.
A Hard Copy Courier is given a physical printout of
a sensitive message. This is often machined onto a
sheet of metal so it’s pretty much indestructible and
impossible to alter. Then, the courier takes it across
Manhattan to its recipient. The couriers are used for
only the most sensitive information, such as offer-
ings of top-level corporate treaties, contracts worth
trillions of wonlongs, and the behind-the-scenes
negotiations between ambassadors working without
their corporation’s knowledge.
Hard Copy Couriers are a close-knit brotherhood of
military veterans. They vet and test new members
extensively in urban combat and escape and evasion
techniques. Their reputation counts for everything
and they swiftly execute anyone who proves cor-
ruptible or untrustworthy (a good way to do this is
to break the seal on a message and read it), and exile
from their number anyone who fails in a delivery. A
corps of couriers is on standby at the World Corpo-
rate Forum at all times and others are available for
use by the various embassies at short notice.
Hard Copy Couriers are all complete badasses.
Some of the most notorious corporate enforcers
have a past as a courier, and ex-couriers are valuable
freelance operatives.

Do not fuck with the couriers. –Checkmate

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PART III • THE CITY

PLACES OF INTEREST

Welcome to Manhattan! They call it the capital of the world! If you look to your left, you can see Lady Lib-
erty still greeting all-comers to the great city of New York, and beyond her, the world-famous skyline. We
will shortly be landing at Musk International Airport, so let me take a few moments to give you a quick guide
to the island. You all know about the corporate embassies, but I’d like to talk you through some of the most
famous neighborhoods and points of interest in the borough.

See those three skyscrapers there? Yeah, that’s the Roberson-Dialle Building, the Consolidated Mutual Build-
ing and Farhan Towers. They have a bunch of smaller corp HQs and megacorp offices in them. Mostly financial
stuff. Not exciting, right?
Thing is, a long time ago there were two other buildings on that site. The twin towers of the World Trade Cen-
tre. Bunch of assholes flew a couple of planes into them and they both collapsed. This was way back before
everything went to shit. They called the site Ground Zero and it was sacred ground in New York for a long time.
Now? It’s just another patch of dirt. The megacorps judged when everyone had stopped caring and sold off the
land, and boom, another chunk of generic Manhattan exists on what used to be a memorial to the Twin Towers.
Tells you everything you need to know about this city. About this whole fucking world. –Checkmate

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY WALL STREET

Lady Liberty still stands as a beacon of freedom, The one-time financial capital of the world is now
thanks to her energy shielding protecting her from one of its greatest technological marvels. The work of
the elements and from of those who would harm this thousands of traders has been taken over by a host of
symbol of our way of life. She is one of New York’s artificial intelligences, conducting millions of trades per
most popular tourist destinations and no visit to the second and forming the engine that keeps our economy
Big Apple is complete without a taking the elevator going. Those AIs are still housed in the institutions that
to her crown, where you can find perhaps the best created them, protected by layers of electromagnetic
view of the Manhattan skyline. shielding and keeping us in our current age of prosperity.

Goddamn miracle the old girl’s still there. The Wall Street would be some of the most valuable
megacorps seem to have decided among them- real estate on the planet. Thing is, the AIs the old
selves that no-one’s allowed to buy the Statue stock exchanges installed are too big and complex
of Liberty and turn it into a huge cartoon hotdog to be moved, so they’re still there in their shielded
or something. The shielding’s pretty subtle by sarcophagi. Behind the pillars and concrete are
megacorp standards. You can see the projectors refrigerated server rooms ten storeys tall. It’s pos-
arranged around the island but the energy shields sible that a hacker – a really good one, I’m talking
themselves are almost invisible. The trip up to the best in the world – could hack into the trader AIs
crown isn’t worth the wonlongs it costs to get in, and cream off a few billion wonlong, but it would
though. be one of the biggest heists ever pulled off and it
You want to make a statement, blowing up Lady would need more brainpower than any cyberpunk
Liberty would still have enough power to piss off crew’s ever assembled. There’s money to be made
the whole of America. Not that I recommend getting info from Wall Street for other AI manu-
trying it. –Checkmate facturers, though. You’d need the right contacts
among the maintenance crews to get in. Good
thing those guys are paid like shit. –Checkmate.

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EMPIRE STATE BUILDING No picnicking without a license. Anyways, this is
where the best of the rest live. The entertainers,
One of the most recognizable landmarks in the luxury craftspeople, the ones that support the
world is the Empire State Building. Nothing says System the most visibly and get rewarded for it.
the Big Apple like this grand old skyscraper! It’s an This place is ‘cool’ and you pay for it, which means
icon of early twentieth-century architecture and it isn’t really cool at all, yadda yadda.
the symbol of Manhattan’s role as the Capital of the All the old buildings and industrial stuff means
World! Be sure to take a trip to the very top! there are plenty of ways in and out of the Under-
belly. This is where the rich kids get together
The Empire State houses a bunch of smaller for a little Underbelly safari to bring back a few
corp offices. For whatever reason none of the Morlock scalps for the summer house. Maybe it’s
megacorps ever got round to painting it pink time some of us returned the favor. –Checkmate
and making it their embassy. Thing is, it’s still
damn valuable real estate and an office here is a LITTLE RIYADH
big deal. The corps here want to break into the
megacorp world, or break down the monopoly The site of the former SoHo neighborhood, Little
they hold. Believe it or not, if anyone’s going to Riyadh is a classic New York district, a home away
make a concerted stand against the megacorps, it from home for the city’s Arabic-speaking popula-
could well start in the Empire State Building. tion. It’s still the high-end shopping and entertain-
Oh, you wanna break in? Empire State’s older ment district it always was, but in recent history
than dirt, there are plenty of ways in. Quickest has become a centre for Arabic culture in the
way is to pretend to be a window cleaner then United States.
laser out a couple of panes and walk on in. Don’t
do the whole tourist-strays-off-the-tour thing, Be sure to visit the Suq Alzuwwar, the biggest open-
you only get to see the gift shop and the elevator. air market in Manhattan. You can buy anything here,
from the Arabic world to beyond. It’s not uncommon
TRIBECA to see a seller of traditional Middle Eastern carpets
next to a dealer in African art or Chinese silks. Enjoy
The industrial past of Manhattan can still be seen a hookah bar or the sushi restaurant next door!
in the fashionable TriBeCa neighborhood, where
factories and warehouses have been converted into Saud Cybernetics bought a big chunk of SoHo
exclusive and sought-after luxury apartments. It’s wholesale way back in the day. It was the first of
one of the cultural hotspots of New York and is the corporate land raids for their embassies. The
known for its communities of artists and performers. whole area around the Taj Ealia became Little
The coolest nightspots, galleries and theatres can Riyadh, some of it organically because of all the
be found here, but you have to know where to look! Arabic-speaking people working there, but a lot
Open-air performances in Washington Market Park of it as part of Saud Cybernetics branding the
are popular and free entertainments, perfect for a place as their own personal domain. The market
day out and a picnic! wouldn’t exist if Saud didn’t subsidies it.
Still, you really can buy anything. There are
unmarked shopfronts where guns, combat cyber-
netics and other assorted illicit junk gets moved.
The Suq is almost impossible to police properly
and there’s no doubt Saud is fine with it being
that way. They got their reasons. –Checkmate

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MADISON SQUARE GARDEN WORLD CORPORATE FORUM

One of the world’s most famous historical sport- When the world’s governments failed, the corpo-
ing venues stands as a testimony to our compet- rations took over and restored the order we enjoy
itive spirit. Every weekend sees major events in today. The World Corporate Forum is where they
the cybernetic fighting leagues, always the hottest meet to solve our problems. The Forum building is
sporting ticket in town! Or if team sports is more a complete upgrade to the previous United Nations
your style, Monday Night Crashball has all the Headquarters, built around the General Assembly
rib-crunching action you could want. building you’re all familiar with from the newscasts.
The General Assembly hall has seating for over two
Madison Square Garden retains its original layout thousand delegates and is decorated with murals
for an exclusive and intimate audience experience. If by a collective of artists drawn from all corners of
you don’t have a front row ticket in your pocket, the our world.
stadium is supported by a complex of restaurants,
shopping, sports bars and more for the complete The Forum also includes the Courts of Compliance,
excursion into the heart of New York’s sporting the Multicorporate Welcoming Centre and the
spirit! There’s even a full holo-arena for the next Office of the International Board. If there’s a single
best thing to being there! reason Manhattan is called the Capital of the World,
it’s the World Corporate Forum!
Don’t miss a visit to the New York Nemesis Museum
and Team Store, where you’ll find memorabilia and Don’t even think about it. Every megacorp and hun-
memories of the League’s greatest franchise. And dreds of smaller ones chip in for the security of this
want to try blasting your quads next to the latest place. If there’s a way in, it’s in one of the delega-
1K Free sensation? Work out at the iconic Elbow tions itself. Each ambassador has a bunch of hang-
Grease Gym alongside the stars of the fighting ers-on and if you can become one of them you’ll
leagues. If there’s anything dearer to the heart of have an easier job than trying to hack a dozen dif-
New York than Madison Square Garden, well, we’d ferent sensor-nets or sneak in past a small army of
love to hear of it! security goons. That’ll take years to pull off, though.
You’d need to get to the very top of the System.
The Garden might not be a church, but it’s holy The real damage is to be done in the Courts of
ground. The megacorps have built the New York Compliance. The megacorps settle their differences
Nemesis into a cult in this town. Don’t futz with here, at least before the spies and the guns come
the team or its players unless you want the full out. Anyone who can infiltrate there successfully
torches-and-pitchforks experience. If you have to is going to become rich. The place has a private
get access to the team, be a big-money gambler, security force, APS Skarab. These guys are ex-in-
a sponsor’s rep or a hot girl. telligence and special forces and are paid by all the
Elbow Grease is all for show. The fighters actually megacorps equally. They have one job and they’re
train in the sparring rooms beneath the Garden. good at it. They’re as close to neutral as you can get
That’s where the real business goes down. If you in the corporate world so they’re damn difficult to
know the right lockers to hang around you can compromise, too. Good luck. –Checkmate
find the best combat drugs and fighting cyber-
netics outside the military. Only the biggest
names get decent money and some of the guys in
the lower leagues will take money to break a few
legs. Good luck down there, though. There’s no
worse place in Manhattan to get your ass kicked.
–Checkmate.

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TIMES SQUARE FIFTH AVENUE

Some say Times Square is the beating heart of Man- No one with a love of the beautiful, the fashionable
hattan. It is here that the world’s celebrities come and the high life can afford to miss a visit to Fifth
out to play. Every night has a new gala, premier or Avenue. It’s the world’s premier shopping experi-
grand opening, with the attendant crowds making it ence. All the biggest luxury brands can be found
Manhattan’s hottest spot! here, pulling out all the stops to present the biggest
and best showrooms for everything from clothing to
The famous video screens and skyscraper-high jewelry to the highest-tech gadgets.
holo-displays make Times Square one of the most
spectacular sights in the whole city. Even more Don’t have the bank balance for a designer ward-
spectacular are the celebrities and statespeople who robe? Don’t let that stop you from enjoying a day
attend the events here. Want to catch a glimpse of out experiencing the holo-showroom experience.
your sporting, media and corporate heroes? Times See what you’d look like clothed by the world’s
Square is the place to be! best designers or pampered by the finest cosmetic
artistes! A souvenir holo from a Fifth Avenue show-
Priciest hot dogs in the city. More data-noise room is the perfect memory of your Manhattan
than anywhere in the world, too, so make sure adventure and a thrilling taste of the high life.
you’re got your filters set to Mother Superior.
The place is under constant eyedrone surveillance Brand Name USA, holy shit. Sure, pay this place
running algorithms to spot snipers and nutcases, a visit if you want to pay novelty high prices
so keep looking like a tourist or the NYPD or for everything. The virtual showroom thing is
NYPKF will disappear you. depressing as hell, too. Look at all this stuff you
The skyscrapers around the square give you a can’t afford, now here’s your picture and get out,
perfect view of the events, but you’d have to rent Fifth Avenue is a lot more vulnerable than it
out a floor to get free access and you don’t have looks. There’s a hell of a lot of pricy jewelry and
that kind of money. Could be a sniper could cap crazy expensive personal tech begging to be sto-
a corporate face from there while they’re on the len. Most of the heists are silent, done by inside
red carpet, but there’s no way they could get men or robbers disguised as employees, and the
away clean. Security hackers keep an eye out for corps involved don’t advertise them. You pull a
anything automated so you couldn’t use a robot heist here, you don’t walk in with stocking masks
or a drone. If you start shit in the Square, you’re and guns. You walk in with an ID badge and a burn
going to have to shoot your way out and have a drive full of passwords. Beware though, criminals
damn good escape route. –Checkmate targeting this place is one of the few things the
NYPD can be guaranteed to give a damn about.
Don’t come crying to me when they shoot your
ass coming out of a jewelry shop with the alarms
ringing. –Checkmate

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MANHATTAN BRIDGE MEMORIAL The place is a goddamn joke. Every single piece of
PARK art here has a message planted there by the corps.
Do what you’re told, bigger is better, everything’s
The tragic events of thirty years ago are remem- fine, respect the money, it’s all written there if
bered in this beautiful, peaceful park on the river, you know how to read it.
commemorating the loss of the Manhattan Bridge. The corps like to sabotage one another’s art to
The silver sculptures in this oasis of calm represent change the message. Kind of artistic psyops. It’s
all those who lost their lives, but also suggest hope pretty secure but there are gaps in coverage when
for a peaceful future. If you need a break from the a new exhibit is brought in, especially if it has
pace of Manhattan, some quiet reflection at the sculptures big enough to hide in. It’s been done
memorial park can help re-centre you and let you before. Or you could infiltrate one of the late-night
appreciate the simple beauty all around us. celebs-only private viewings, bust out the guns,
hold everyone hostage and do whatever you want.
They still don’t know who blew up the Manhattan The info security is good, but take it over and the
Bridge. At least, they’ve never told. My guess, it place could be yours for the night. –Checkmate
was just some random nutjobs who got hold of a
nuclear demolitions device, but what do I know?

Anyway, it’s true the park is chiller than the rest UPPER WEST SIDE & UPPER EAST SIDE
of the island. It’s also under heavy surveillance to
keep it that way. Too much noise or litter and the Manhattan’s most exclusive neighborhoods border
NYPD drag you into the bushes. For that reason, Central Park, and the swankiest apartments over-
it’s used a lot as neutral ground for face to face look it. The Upper West Side has a traditionally Ger-
meetings. No one’s gonna bring the guns out manic character from the delis and winter markets
when the buys in blue will have everything saved to the 101st Street animated clocktower.
on a server. –Checkmate

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART The Upper East Side is more cosmopolitan and has
echoes of worldwide cultures in its architecture.
Every artist dreams of exhibiting at Manhattan’s Minarets and Arabic archways rub shoulders with
Museum of Modern Art. This is the gold standard gothic stonework and neo-classical pillars. A walk
for acceptance in the mainstream artistic world. around these beautiful neighborhoods is a way to
Seven floors hold rotating exhibits from the hot- expose you to the many cultures that make up Man-
test artists, alongside permanent exhibits of Jannie hattan’s unique society.
Teunissen’s controversial body-art, Abdelhak Boula-
mi’s hypnotic holo-installations and the monumental This is where the diplomatic elites live. It’s a sta-
sculptures of Claudio Ibarra. tus symbol to have one of these addresses so the
megacorps have bought every square foot of real
estate. You don’t need me to tell you they’re tough
to get into. But some of these buildings are old and
old means there are ways in, especially underneath.
Lot of a history here, lot of stuff buried. If you’re
getting in it’s probably through the basement,
unless you con your way through the door.

The Upper West Side is mostly RK, since it’s right
across the street from their embassy. The Upper
East is everyone else. Got some strange neigh-
bors there, for sure. –Checkmate

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CENTRAL PARK OLD HARLEM

The shape of Manhattan is defined by Central Park. Upper Manhattan is dominated by the extensive
This oasis of green among the glass and concrete neighborhoods collectively known as Old Harlem,
canyons makes the island unique. While the park where the cultural melting pot of New York can be
itself is off-limits to visitors, the sight of its lush seen in its purest form.
greenery is a comforting sight from vantage points
across the city. They don’t even try selling this part of the island.
It’s where everyone else lives, and it’s Rat King
This place is dangerous. If the plants don’t eat country. The big man’s gangs rule this place. It’s
you, the scumbags will. If you’re up to no good also probably gonna be your home. It’s the only
in Manhattan, chances are you’ll end up here at place in Manhattan where you might find an aban-
some point. It’s one of the few places you can doned apartment or floor, although nowhere stays
meet above ground in secret. Plenty of ways in at derelict for long. It’s also where the safehouses,
street level and below, too. The bio-accident that drug dens and gang hideouts are. Still, people find
turned the park into a jungle made it a godsend to a way to be themselves even in Manhattan, so the
Manhattan’s low-lifes. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t bars and music halls here are the real deal com-
been cleared yet. The megacorps need a place for pared to the corporate bullshit of Broadway. This is
their puppets to do their business. where you keep it real, but it’s also where you get
Bring a set of antidotes for the most common stabbed for hanging around on the wrong corner,
plant toxins, and pack a gas mask. Hazmat suit’s so watch your ass like always. –Checkmate
better. There’s no lighting so if you can’t see in
the dark, bring something that can. Keep your
wits about you. And no matter what the other
guy says, never, ever come alone. –Checkmate

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THE SURROUNDING CITY

The five boroughs of New York encompass just about ommodity, parceled out by the Rat King in return
every culture and language in the world. This is one of for oaths of fealty and hefty percentages of profit.
the biggest cities in the world, and definitely its most Failing the Rat King or concealing profits from him
cosmopolitan. While Manhattan is dominated by the is an excellent way to find another gang authorized
diplomatic class and the System, the rest of New York to seize your territory and leave your dismembered
is split into innumerable other worlds with their own body on a street corner as a warning to others. The
power structures, combinations of cultures, fashions, Rat King is not above employing professional killers
architectural styles and social pressures. It is impossible to eliminate the leaders of particularly disobedient
to talk about New York as a whole except in terms so gangs, or just those who amass power that might
general they start to become meaningless. one day rival his own.

Only two institutions can be said to exist across the The Rat King himself inhabits a sprawling building
whole of New York. One is the NYPD, which is itself in Brooklyn formed from several city blocks welded
split across hundreds of precincts which have such a together into a sagging, labyrinthine palace. He jeal-
degree of autonomy that no two are alike in outlook ously guards his immense wealth and rarely parcels
or function. Some are little more than organized it out, preferring shows of force to flashy spending
crime hubs where corrupt cops take a cut of criminal to reinforce his authority. The one exception to his
activity and use dubious interpretations of the law to miserly nature is his own survival. His extensive aug-
arrest and disappear anyone who stands in their way. mentations have given him a lifespan that extends well
Others provide support and refuge to New York’s beyond a century and a half, and he is protected at all
beleaguered populations, and provide welfare and times by a phalanx of bodyguards – ex-athletes from
charitable services well beyond the remit of law the cybernetic fighting leagues are a favorite of his.
enforcement. Most fall somewhere in between. A
few precincts have fallen to strange or malign influ- The Rat King spent much of his life in the quest
ences, like fringe religious groups, extremist conspir- to sire a suitable heir. Though that quest has been
acies or something even more bizarre. The sight of abandoned, it has left him with dozens of ex-wives,
a blue uniform of police cruiser can mean radically children and grandchildren, all of whom dream of
different things depending on what street you’re on. one day taking the throne for themselves. They plot
against one another and the Rat King, who due to
The second institution is the Rat King. He is the king some remnant of a moral code does not employ
of New York, the single most powerful individual in the violence against his own family even when they are
city and the man who rules the existence of every- found to be planning his death.
one without the money and resources to exist above
his reach. He is a feudal ruler who sits at the top of a This extended criminal family inhabits the Rat King’s
network of landlords and rental agencies, taking a cut palace or various swanky apartments across New
of every rent paid in the city. This system grew out of York, all paid for by their patriarch. Should the Rat
the city’s organized crime, and the way it reacted to King die, it will lead to an all-out war between the
the mass economic deregulation that occurred after branches of his family, which will only end when a
the corporate takeover in the 2080s. The Rat King was single survivor stands to take the throne. The blood-
there, and rose to the top in the ensuing struggle to shed would be immense and stands a real chance of
establish and inhabit the throne of New York. bringing New York’s gangs into open warfare. The
mutual massacre of the Rat King’s family could fill
His will is enforced by the various criminal gangs of New York’s gutters with blood, and lead to a total
New York, who all pay him a cut of their earnings. shift in the power structure of the whole city. Man-
In return, the Rat King grants them territories, and hattan would be relatively isolated from the unrest,
ensures anyone who violates them is punished. Drug at least outside Upper Manhattan and Old Harlem,
dealing territories are a particularly desirable c but the fall of the Rat King could see one or more of
the megacorps trying to fill the void he left.

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THE UNDERBELLY

So, you’ve found the Underbelly. Nice going. Now of the Eastern Seaboard, but let’s not get ahead of
the only way is up. ourselves here.

The Underbelly has no laws and no society, not The permanent settlements are connected by old
really. It’s the toilet Manhattan’s human waste drains subway tunnels and sewers that are well-travelled
into. Still, it’s home. And, for what it’s worth, you enough to be partially safe. Other places, you need
can be free. a guide. Plenty of regions of the Underbelly are too
Some people live here. They’re destitute and come polluted or radioactive to cross. There are weirdos
down here for a place out of the rain they don’t have down here who’ll eat you, too. No way to sugar-coat
to sell their souls to the Rat King for. They survive that part, sorry. Yeah, actual cannibals. A decent
in the permanent settlements down here. The Penn guide will steer you clear of them, too. Apart from
is the biggest but there are others. From time to the gunge and the maneaters, bits of the Underbelly
time they try to set up a system of laws and make just collapse sometimes, usually when there’s con-
some kind of utopian commune, but it doesn’t last struction going on above. Sometimes that reveals a
for long. This isn’t the place for idealists, sorry. A few new place, like an old subway station that was sealed
of the permanent residents are fugitives who come off or the lower levels of one of the skyscrapers.
down here to hide and never leave. They might have That’s how the Lab Rats got out of Caduceus Island.
a price on their heads, or just like it here. Or they Most of the time, though, a collapse just kills people
give up. They live, screw, give birth, die, get sick, and blocks the safe routes.
have fights, all the normal human stuff, just beneath I guess you can do what you want down here in
the streets in the dark. the sense that there’s no government, or police, or
Other people are just based here. That includes you courts, or any of that stuff. But if you piss some-
guys. The cyberpunks. Also plenty of normal crimi- one off, they can kill you. So that’s a kind of rule.
nals. You’re not normal criminals, right? No, you’re A few other rules are respected by most people,
better than that, I can tell by the haircuts. Anyhow, too, like All Faiths being neutral ground. Those are
the Underbelly is a good place for a hideout since the exceptions though. The only protection you get
the cops, the rent-a-cops and the megacorp spooks down here is your reputation and your gun, so make
don’t come down here and there are no cameras sure people think you’re a badass.
or eyedrones to log your face. It’s possible to get I guess you’re already trying to do that, though,
everywhere in Manhattan from the Underbelly and going by all the cyber-stuff and the leather. That
plenty of other parts of the city, too. The Underbelly reminds me, you might want to dull down all that
eventually connects to the undersides of the rest chrome. Cannibals are attracted by shiny objects.

I have yet to be convinced of the necessity of allowing the Underbelly to exist. Yes, the people who live
there are kept away from the streets and the law-abiding population of Manhattan. However, a stagger-
ing percentage of criminal activity is related to people reaching the streets from the Underbelly. These
people are predators. No, that’s too kind – they are parasites. Internal parasites. Just because we cannot
see them, that does not mean they aren’t hurting us. -Police Chief Haggarty

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THE PENN Any attempt to sanities the Underbelly would begin
with the Penn. This is where the parasites would
This was one of the biggest subway stations back hide when any operation begins. Its population is of
before the floods shut all that down. One of the sufficient size, and the ways in and out are defensi-
transport hubs for Manhattan. Thousands of people ble enough, that the Penn could hold out as long as
passing through it every day. Once it was shut down their supplies last. It is impossible to seal all the sup-
they didn’t even bother to seal it off properly. They ply routes in and out, so starving them by siege isn’t
just poured a layer of concrete over it and let it sink viable either. Gas attack? –Police Chief Haggarty
into the ground.

The Penn is the biggest stable settlement in the O’BLIVION’S
Underbelly. If you’re new down here, you’d be best
advised to make your way to the Penn as your first Cyperpunks like you hang out at O’Blivion’s. It’s a
priority. People live wherever they can in old ship- pretty good bar by Underbelly standards, because
ping containers and subway cars, or the hundreds of it’s got some kind of hookup for decent booze from
shanties made out of sheet steel and junk. If you’re topside. There’s the swamp water rotgut too, just like
lucky you might get to live in one of the old ticket mother used to make, but it’s also the only place you
booths. Here and there you can see the old signage can find a quality whiskey if you’ve got something
and advertising, but the place’s past is almost cov- to celebrate. The jukebox doesn’t have anything less
ered over by us scumbags. than a century old and the meanest guy in the room
There’s no leadership here. People in the Penn have gets to choose the song.
a weird view of leaders. They won’t be led. They all
just muddle along and if you step out of line, the O’Blivion’s is one of the business hubs of the Under-
wronged party’s buddies will find you and stomp you belly. People come here to hire cyberpunk crews.
down. That’s as far as government goes. No laws as That includes corp clients, and you can always spot
such, just don’t kill anyone who doesn’t deserve it, those guys no matter how they try to dress down and
and if the Penn is threatened you grab whatever dirty up. Deals get negotiated in the booths at the
killing gear you have and stand by everyone else. back, briefcases get handed over, wonlongs change
You can get drunk at O’Blivion’s bar, and barter and hands, all that good stuff. O’Blivion’s isn’t just a bar,
buy stuff down on the Eastbound Market. The mar- it’s where shit gets done in the Underbelly.
ket’s down on one of the old platforms where they
can bring loads of food and trade goods along the The bar is tended by Punch Octane, an ex 1K Free
tracks. An enterprising Morlock named Lady Shabs fighter. The dude is the size of a gorilla. He’s nice
set up a bunch of salvaged video screens in one of the enough, mainly ‘cause he knows he can throw you
ticket halls and for a couple of wonlongs you can hang through the wall if he wanted so there’s no need
out there and watch our nation’s greatest creation, to make anyone back down. His wine knowledge is
the wonders of endless TV. The Dollarhyde family patchy but he knows his liquor pretty well. Also I
runs a… well, they hire a bunch of pretty young ladies don’t think that’s his real name.
and gentlemen, plus a few in-betweens, if that’s what
you’re after. They took over one of the subway trains There’s sometimes a skinny little Morlock guy in the
and divided into tiny little bedrooms. Real entrepre- corner. He’s sort of greenish-grey and he has one
neurs, that bunch. Living the American dream. eye way bigger than the other. That’s Sherman the
So, that’s the Penn. It’s gonna be home, at least until Vermin, and he’s one of the best guides in the Under-
you find a hole in the wall to call your own. Most of belly. He’s the one the bar’s clientele trust so he’s
the cyberpunks work out of the Penn and the ones never short of work. If you find him and you need a
who don’t come here regularly to check out what’s guide, jump in and show him the money before any-
going on down at O’Blivion’s or blow off some steam. one else does. He’s kind of disgusting and usually asks
for a trip to the Dollarhyde’s love train as part of his
payment. He sure knows his way around down here,
though.

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ALL FAITHS The existence of All Faiths is a mystery. Some-
thing that died out on the streets took hold in
The megacorps bought up a hell of a lot of land when the Underbelly. It is a mystery we can use to our
they were setting up their embassies. Couple that advantage. If All Faiths fell, it could break the
with the megachurches and the weirdo cults siphon- spirits of the parasites and destroy any sense of
ing off religious types, and Manhattan’s places of community they might have. Side note - who is
worship were vulnerable. Used to be the place was full the Pontifex? –Police Chief Haggarty
of Catholics, Jews, Protestants, and just about every-
thing else, all with their churches and temples and so GETHSEMANE
on. But they started being bought up, taken apart and
replaced with whatever made the most money. In the middle of a toxic underground swamp is
a town built on duckboards and half-submerged
But the old faiths survived. Don’t know what it is about shipping containers. It’s a thin crust of survival on
the Underbelly, but this place still has believers. Way the surface of a poison sea. You get there by boat,
back when, the faithful took bits of all those demol- if they let you get there at all. It has a population of
ished synagogues and cathedrals, and built a church of a few hundred and they’re all weirder than anyone
their own. you’ve ever met. It’s called Gethsemane. It’s where
the Lab Rats live.
That place is All Faiths. It’s a cathedral made out of When a bunch of human experiment subjects
whatever religious architecture could be salvaged. busted out from Medi-Strike’s Caduceus Island
Mosque, church, synagogue, temple, it’s all here. Inside twenty years ago, one of them had the brains and
there’s hundreds of mismatched pews surrounding a the cojones to make a place for them to live. He had
cluster of a dozen or more altars and pulpits. Religious a tag on his little finger saying Subject Tau-Niner
leaders take turns preaching to their flocks, holding rit- so that’s what everyone calls him. Not sure I know
uals and services, doing whatever it is religious folks do. anyone who’s actually seen him but they say he has
There are loads of side chapels and prayer rooms too, a vestigial head growing out of the side of his neck.
so whatever it is that floats your god-boat, you can do Since then Gethsemane has taken in any Lab Rats
it here. If you have the stroke down here you can get a who make their way into the Underbelly. They either
funeral or a bar mitzvah or whatever at All Faiths, too. take in escapees who some kind soul points towards
Gethsemane, or they rescue them in raids on
All Faiths is neutral ground. No violence here, no beef. megacorp labs. They have a school where they teach
Everyone is everyone else’s brother the moment you the newcomers about how to survive down here, and
cross the threshold. Of course, those kind of big words in some cases how to talk and walk around if they
need to be backed up, which is where the Pontifex grew up in a vat. There’s a trading post on the shore
comes in. No one’s sure where this guy came from but of the swamp where they barter for essentials, but if
he’s close on seven feet tall, and that’s not including the you want to get into Gethsemane proper you do it
miter. He carries a huge-ass mace called the Scepter of on the secret or by invitation only.
the Faithful and he uses it on anyone who brings out- Subject Tau-Niner is still around. Once he dies,
side bullshit into his church, not that he’s had to do it which might be soon since the Lab Rats’ genes are
for a long time now. He has a corps of armed Deacons all screwed up, no one knows who might take over if
who guard the place and reminds everyone to pray anyone. He has been known to hire cyberpunk crews
nice. A couple of them are medically trained, too, or at if he needs something done outside Gethsemane he
least enthusiastic amateurs. If you’re on the Pontifex’s can’t spare any of his own people for. They pay in
good side you can get patched up. kind, not money, but they keep their promises.

The enforced neutrality of All Faiths makes it a good
place to meet up with people who hate you. Plenty
of peace treaties got agreed here. No one’s ever tried
attacking All Faiths and I’m scared what the Pontifex
would pull out if they did.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

Medi-Strike would be a staunch ally in any oper- If you just want a new arm or a night vision eye or
ation to eliminate Gethsemane. Human experi- whatever, someone in the Penn will be able to sort
mentation is still illegal but diplomatic immunity you out. But if you want something weird or really
means Medi-Strike can’t be touched for it, but high-end, Nurse Moira has what you need. No idea
there’s still a threat to them in the Lab Rats and where she gets her stuff from but she seems to have
what they know. Reaching Gethsemane across its one of everything. Cyber-ninja legs with integral
polluted surroundings will be a challenge but not toe blades? Check. Detachable rocket punch fist?
impossible. Getting a big enough force through There’s one on the shelf. One of those monomolec-
the maze of tunnels and collapsed subways first is ular whips that coil up into your index finger? She
a bigger obstacle. –Police Chief Haggarty has one of those too.
Nursey isn’t all there. No idea what her deal is but
THE STORE she takes payment either in more weird cybernetic
crap, or a favor. Sometimes it’s to take out someone
The Penn has a couple of chop shops, but if you who’s been giving her grief or hasn’t paid up. Some-
want to sample the real exotic cybernetic goods, times it’s to bring her a particular body part like an
there’s the Store. This used to be an underground athlete’s right arm or a beautiful person’s face. Not
shopping mall that got cut off when the subways sure what she does with it but she’s been collecting
were abandoned. It got taken over by some crazy for a while. Most people assume she’s making some-
old lady called Nurse Moira who’s been working one down there.
out of there as a cybernetic chop-up artist for She has a thing for mannequins, too. The Store is full
decades now. of them. Some of them have a body part or two that
started out on a living person. Some of them move.
Enjoy your visit.

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ABOVE GROUND

THE VOID there’s a big bald Eastern European the staff call
Mr. Drazic, who seems to be some kind of inves-
There are poor people above street level, too. When they tor. Those are the owners, the visible ones at least.
want a good time, and they’re cool enough to get past DJ Kitty Calamity is there a lot, you’ll know her
the doormen, they hang out at the Void. This is Upper by the heavy eye makeup, holographic hair and
Manhattan’s best-kept secret, a nightclub and concert cybernetic fingers that make her pretty sweet on
venue that money and fashion haven’t sterilized yet. It the decks. When she’s got the night off there are
takes up the lower half of a tenement building that was guest DJs from across New York. They have live
gutted by a fire and rebuilt by a coalition of entrepre- bands, too, always some cutting-edge transgressive
neurs and Club Kid types who somehow avoided having genre-breaking act you’ve never heard of.
the place taken over by the Rat King and turned into The Club Kids use the Void as a kind of recruiting
shitty apartments. The décor is black, neon and dry ice. ground. There’s always some twitchy kid in neon
I have a feeling the building isn’t quite up to code. who’ll try to get people to go with them to an after-
party or secret gig. It’s the Club Kids selling the
First, you get past the doors, which are manned by Big drugs here, too, although the owners prefer them
Luka and a bunch of shaven gorilla types. They’re good not to do it too openly. Again, somehow the Rat
guys but if you mess with them they monkey-stomp you King’s gangs haven’t taken the club over as a terri-
into the curb. If they don’t like your shoes, they’ll ask you tory yet. The Void is sometimes used for negotia-
politely to find somewhere less cool. Luka’s got a list of tions and deals, especially when something needs to
people who are always let in, and people who never are, happen on public where a double-cross is tougher
and making friends with these guys is a good tactic. to pull off. There are a few back rooms behind the
stage which Karnate can be convinced to let regulars
Inside there’s a huge multilevel dancefloor. If you’re use for more delicate deals, or the odd high-stakes
just there to dance then the lower floor has the DJ gambling session.
and the loudest speakers in Manhattan. Hardcore Everyone knows the Void’s days are numbered.
ravers like to get themselves some chemical moti- Sooner or later it’ll either be taken over by the Rat
vation then dance until they melt. The upper levels King or it’ll get a writeup in NeoMedici and instantly
have the bar and, a floor above that, the booths lose all its street cred. Either way, it’ll die. There’s a
protected by sound-dampening fields so you can kind of desperation here, as if every dance might be
hear yourself think. Expect to hand over a fistful the last. Sometimes, when the music’s pumping and
of wonlongs or be one of the owner’s friends if you the chemicals are flowing, you can imagine the world
want to take over one of these. is about to end.

Speaking of the owners, there’s a skinny little guy
called Karnate who wears way too much jewelry,
who usually handles day to day business. Sometimes

The Void is a hotbed of criminal conspiracy. Even its ownership is uncertain. It’s probably the front of a
money-laundering operation. I have authorized undercover officers to infiltrate is society but it is not an
easy place to blend in. Authorize drug sales to gain trust? –Police Chief Haggarty

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

SECOND SOUL GIBSON MILE

The corps keep a tight rein on the escape routes out There aren’t many places where the dropouts can
of reality, but some of it slips through the cracks. gather in Manhattan. The rents are too high and the
Second Soul is an unlicensed full-immersion VR abandoned places above ground get taken over by
den that’s hidden in Midtown, at the end of a bread- the Rat King too quickly. But there is something
crumb trail of clues for hackers and urban explorers. close in the Gibson Mile, a section of Old Harlem
The trail is there because this is all extremely illegal. encompassing a bunch of rotting old tenements and
The equipment at Second Soul is all stolen, as is a few newer pre-fabricated buildings.
the code used for the simulations. If the megacorps
found it, they would wipe the place out within Over the generations, Gibson Mile has turned into a
the hour. kind of commune for transhumanists. These are the
big thinkers, the ones who believe that the human
Second Soul is Marigold’s baby. She’s a strapping race is about to ditch the weaknesses of a physical
woman built like a shotputter with a half-shaved body and bail out of meatspace entirely. They main-
head and tats that look like they come from a South tain a network of servers and virtual spaces, along
American prison. Wherever she’s from, she’ll take all with the associated programming suites and medical
your money in return for letting you plug into one of facilities, so they can spend longer and longer away
the restraining rigs she jury-rigged out of dentists’ from the real world and inside the digital. These
chairs, then turn on the server. aren’t the full-immersion VRs of Second Soul,
because those are simulations of real life. The Gib-
Marigold sells VR experiences by the day. She has son Mile dropouts spend their time in states without
a farm of code monkeys in the back who create any physical sensations at all, are purely mental and
stranger and more exotic experiences every day. intellectual entities that interact with worlds that
They start at ‘handsome prince and his exotic harem’ don’t even pretend to have physical dimensions.
and go all the way up to ‘devoured alive by a cathe-
dral of flesh’. In their own way, the dropouts are a lot like the Club
Kids. They’ve found an alternative to the System and
The difficulty of getting to Second Soul, and the they want to live and die in the world they have cre-
fact that the experiences Marigold sells can leave ated. In a series of shitty apartments and co-opted
you pretty fundamentally changed, has given it an storage lockers and basements, they aspire to live
almost religious reputation among the scumbags of lives we meatspacers can’t imagine and become
New York. If you’re looking for a spiritual experi- something beyond human entirely. The ultimate
ence, a dream-journey that will end in some grand aim is to ditch the body and become a being of pure
enlightenment, then a lot of people will tell you to information, but as far as anyone knows none of the
start searching for Second Soul. Some of the true dropouts have actually made it that far yet. There’s
believers from All Saints set off on a pilgrimage always a pasty, malnourished body in a recliner
to Second Soul. Some of them even make it, and somewhere to match the mind in the machine. It’s
return with revelations to spread among the faithful. doubtful any of Gibson Mile’s servers have enough
Other people search for it with a kind of death wish, power to maintain an entirely artificial mind, but
hoping they’ll die of a heart attack or get their brains they’re working on it.
blasted comatose by the most extreme simulation
Marigold’s boys have dreamt up. So where does the money come from? When
they’re not enjoying a brain vacation, the Milers
Whatever your point of view, Second Soul is more offer cut-price programming services for anyone
than just a shady unlicensed brain farm. Get your who wants it. A lot of hackers have got their ice-
skull blended here and you’ll be part of an exclu- breakers and tunneling programs from a half-dead
sive club of people who have sought the edges of Miler to help pay the power bill. A few of these guys
human experience and lived. Assuming you do live, are part-time hackers for hire themselves, although
of course. they’re not known to be the most reliable. Word

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is they rent out server space to people who have the Rat King has something hidden deep in the Mil-
something they need stored discreetly and securely, ers’ server network, in return for leaving them alone.
too, especially if it’s below board. The Milers are useful people to know. They are
The Rat King could make a lot of money by clearing skilled if eccentric programmers and can get a lead
out Gibson Mile and turning it into another swathe on a lot of the extra-lawful information tech you
of overpriced apartments. He’s tried a couple of might need in Manhattan. Plus there’s always a
times by sending in a gang to shoot the place up and spare couch to crash on in a deadheader’s apart-
intimidate the Milers, but each time the response ment, since he’s probably lying in a bath of ice
has been a cyberattack that has emptied accounts, for the next month with his brain plugged in. And
crashed cars and generally made it more trouble maybe, if the life gets too hectic or you’ve burned
than it’s worth for the Rat King to muscle in com- a few too many bridges, they’ll let you join them in
pletely. There’s an uneasy truce between the Milers their meatless Nirvana and become the next stage
and the Rat King, and some say it runs deeper than of humanity, while your carcass withers away.
just a non-aggression pact of convenience. Maybe

THE MEGACORPS

As a new arrival to the World Corporate Forum, often augmented by private security contractors, as
it is imperative that you have a full understanding well as dedicated information defense teams. Sur-
of Manhattan’s diplomatic landscape. This orien- veillance is constant and embassy work continues
tation exercise is intended to give you a thorough 24/7. You will be expected to respect and adhere to
grounding in the various corporate embassies and all security protocols when you attend them. Expect
the way they function. You have already been asked to be incarcerated if you do not, regardless of what
to absorb a lot of information during this induction your ID tag says.
process, but what follows is just as essential as what
you have already learned. In addition, each embassy has its own cultural
The megacorporate embassies are such prominent norms. Ensure you familiarize yourself with them
features of Manhattan that they are now what before representing the World Corporate Forum at
defines the heart of the Big Apple. Even the Statue any embassy event. The megacorps do not neces-
of Liberty and the Empire State Building struggle sarily reflect their own cultures in their embassies
to compete with the splendor and majesty of the – each embassy is a message from its megacorp to
embassies, all of which were built not just to provide the outside world, a statement of what they want
a state of the art headquarters for the megacorps’ the public and the other corps to think of them.
diplomatic activities, but to express the core values Through these places, through the structure, staff-
of each corp. ing and societies inside, they express what they want
The embassies were all built after the megacorp the world to think of them.
takeover in 2081, except for the Taj Ealia which was
built by Saud Cybernetics about twenty years ear- NEUEHOFFNUNG
lier. Some are entirely new constructions, others are
repurposed landmarks purchased by the megacorps. The Regierung Kybernetik embassy is located in the
All of them are bastions of electronic and physical northern half of what was once Central Park, under-
defense, with multiple layers of security controlling neath an opaque climate-controlled dome. The
entrance and exit. Each has its own security force, embassy takes the form of a traditional German vil-
lage with a Bavarian character. The wooden buildings
and cobbled streets are surrounded by manicured
grounds evoking the unspoilt countryside.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

The village is populated by a workforce of robots. can sample the embassy’s seemingly bottomless
These are all top of the line RK models at the fore- supply of beer. Be warned – you’ll be told that what
front of personality programming and form a fully happens in Oktober stays in Oktober, but that is not
functional community. The robots see to the needs necessarily true.
of the ambassadors and visitors to the embassy. RK
keeps human staff to a minimum, and most visitors This is the creepiest place in Manhattan. I’ve seen
only encounter either the robot citizens, or the human skin sculpture galleries that turned my
ambassadors themselves. The robots man the many stomach less than the Stepford Reich that RK
facilities among the chalets and lodges including built here.
hairdressing, massages and eateries for Bavarian The human workforce run around a warren of
cuisine. A small dairy farm just outside the village is tunnels under the village so they won’t be seen.
run by robots, with biological animals providing meat They’re mostly maintenance guys for the robots
and dairy for the embassy. The embassy even has its and a few security overseer types watching
own robotic oompah band that plays regularly in the the monitors. That’s how you’ll get around this
bandstand by the village square. place. Getting in is another matter. The dome
Prominent locations include the Rathaus, the town isn’t impregnable but it’s what they project the
hall where RK’s ambassadors meet and negotiate sky onto so a missing pixel is going to be pretty
with visitors, and the Brauhaus, a traditional tavern obvious. There are a few ways in underneath but
staffed by robot waiting and bar staff where the not many, RK are better than most at monitoring
embassy serves enormous quantities imported beer. what’s going on beneath them. The good news
Expect to be watered at the latter before attending is that the jungle of Central Park next door will
the former. RK are big on hearty hospitality and let you get close and surveil the place without
conduct as much of their diplomacy at the bar as in being seen.
the conference room. Like with most of the embassies, infiltrating it in
Visitors are housed in a cluster of scenic chalets the open as a visitor is the best bet, although with
each with its own robot housekeeper. Medical care, such a small workforce you can’t pull the normal
should it be required, is provided by an on-site, fully trick of pretending to be a cleaner or a wrench
robotic medical suite behind the wooden façade monkey. One of the festivals is the best shot.
of the town’s doctor office. Security is everywhere And the robots are everywhere. They never sleep.
but invisible – most of the robots are equipped with Pulling a major job in NeueHoffnung will need a
less-lethal weaponry and security protocols in case general shutdown of the robots. It can be done, but
of trouble. your hacking guy had better be good. –Checkmate

NeueHoffnung maintains a small human mainte-
nance and security overview staff. They are behind
the scenes and rarely appear in the village except in
emergencies. RK take it as an offence if you insist
on seeing human staff instead of robot, so even if
robots aren’t your thing you will be expected to
accept their presence.
Regierung Kybernetik host regular festivals and
cultural events at NeueHoffnung. They put a lot of
work into ingratiating themselves into the diplomatic
class by inviting corporate guests to these events.
Concerts and friendly sporting events are common.
The centerpiece of this is Oktoberfest, where guests

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GRAND CENTRAL FORTRESS various locations, and to be saluted by lower-sta-
tus employees. Important visitors receive a catered
Detroit Industrial has turned the old Grand Central silver service welcome in a wood-paneled officer’s
Station into a combination embassy and urban for- mess decorated with artwork of famous historical
tress. Their military pedigree is expressed in the bat- battles. DI ambassadors conduct most outside busi-
tlements and buttresses with which they reinforced ness out of uniform but wear full dress when receiv-
the original building. The streets around it belong ing other ambassadors at Grand Central.
to the corp too, and are operated like a buffer zone
against attack with checkpoints and patrols. This is the big one. It’s not just a fortress by name.
Some of DI’s military bullshit is for show but the
Inside, the main hall is used for displaying DI’s patrols outside have guns and the automated tur-
hardware. The entrance to the conference rooms rets are loaded. What’s more, they don’t tell you
is flanked by a pair of MBT-17 Liberty main battle about the old garages under street level where
tanks, the symbolism of which is no accident. Ranks DI have a fleet of tanks, APCs and semi-auton-
of DI’s various marks of combat amour stand to omous walkers ready for an invasion. Or ready
attention to greet visitors beneath the FPC-119 to invade somewhere else. They’re building up
Glory dropship hanging from the ceiling. Interven- their military-trained staff, too. Word is the DI
tion-class semi-autonomous combat walkers patrol management isn’t entirely happy with the army
the building as well. The overt militarism of DI can Hunter Brandt is building there.
be intimidating, so be prepared for it. Ok, how do you get in? So it’s an old building and
there are plenty of back doors. But the automated
The embassy also makes extensive use of DI’s auto- turrets will sound an alarm if you don’t have an IFF
mated weaponry line, with gun turrets tracking tag, and if your face isn’t on their database they’ll
visitors everywhere they go. The corp issues IFF tags give you a few seconds to surrender them open fire.
to all official visitors and while you won’t be shot on DI have lost staff members before who got caught
sight without one, the automated defenses will raise out by the defenses and shot, not that they’ve made
an alarm and you are advised to immediately surren- any of that public. You can get in, but you need
der if this happens. good planning and info support to do anything once
you’re there.
Along with conference rooms and offices, the DI has a cell block under Grand Central where
fortress includes facilities for demonstrating DI’s they keep people who snoop into what they’re up
hardware. Two of the old train platforms have been to. Brandt especially has ordered a whole bunch
converted into shooting ranges for small arms firing of folks arrested and held there. You could get
and another has a full-size ‘death house’ where sol- your ass arrested and imprisoned, then break out,
diers can simulate breaching operations. These are and boom you’re right in the heart of Grand Cen-
purely for demonstrating DI weaponry and amour to tral. It’s high-risk, but then so is doing anything
clients – the corp’s testing facilities are elsewhere. with that many guns around. –Checkmate

The embassy staff are uniformed in a military manner
but are typically not soldiers. The old Grand Central
Station building requires a lot of maintenance and
many of the staff are concerned with this. DI does
maintain a small group of ex-military personnel to
man the patrols outside and demonstrate equip-
ment. They also serve as a security force in event of
an emergency, but the day to day monitoring of the
building is handled by the automated defenses.

The fortress’ culture is as militaristic as the décor.
Expect to hear acronyms instead of names for the

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THE FLOATING WORLD and it is considered impolite to do for oneself what
these attendants could see to instead. Walls are
You have probably already seen the Kasai Corpo- literally paper-thin, so watch what you say.
ration’s embassy, the Floating World. It’s hard to
miss as it moves between the super-tall skyscrapers The Floating World conducts its business accord-
of the skyline. The Floating World is divided across ing to a strict code of protocol and courtesy. This is
three aerostats, each one with a gondola supported sometimes used as a challenge, to disconcert visitors
by a balloon full of lighter-than-air gas. In terms of with elaborate rituals and requirements of courtesy
square footage the Floating World is the smallest the visitor does not know. Some rules are easy to
of the embassies, and the Kasai Corporation use divine – for instance, remove shoes before boarding
that limitation as an expression of efficiency and any aerostat. Kasai Corporation invents other pro-
minimalism. The aerostats can moor at any of Man- tocols on the fly to wrong-foot visitors. Watch out
hattan’s super-talls, and occasionally roam further for these, and be sure to apologies for any infraction
abroad in New York on specific business, but there without expressing any frustration.
are always two out of the three above the island
somewhere. Travel between them is via a fleet of There are two ways onto the Floating World. One
aerial yachts. is to be invited. The other is to latch onto one
of the aerostats with another aircraft and trans-
The first aerostat, the Hana, is where the senior fer over somehow. The latter will be opposed by
diplomats work. Very few outsiders ever board the armed aerial drones, but it’ll let you get gear and
Hana and it is used primarily for meeting between people into the flying embassy that can’t get in
Kasai’s executives and the ambassadors. Kasai pre- through the front door.
fers to do these things face to face, partly because Once you’re in, be ready for a bullshit evocation
it’s more secure than using electronic communica- of a perfect Japan that never existed. All the min-
tions, and partly because that’s just how they are. imalist crap costs a goddamn fortune, of course.
The fleet is directed from a control centre on Hana If you’re not pretending to be Kasai, you can get
and the gondola also has cabins for senior diplomats away with the bumbling gaijin act who doesn’t
staying at the embassy long-term. That includes know any of the rules. If you’re acting as one of
Suki Sakamoto. As an aside, it is considered rude to their people, you have a lot of homework to do.
ask any Kasai employee about Sakamoto directly, so The geishas are all intelligence-trained to gather
please curb your curiosity. whatever gen they can from dumb loud guests.
They’re also ready to take you down silently and
The second aerostat, the Chōwa, is for diplomatic throw you overboard if they think you’re up to
functions and conferences. The hospitality facilities anything shady.
and meetings rooms are here. The place is decorated You probably want to rob the gallery while you’re
according to traditional Japanese wabi-sabi aesthet- at it. I heard somewhere all the stuff is treated
ics, emphasizing minimalism and simplicity. Corpo- with radiation so the moment you open the
rate business is conducted with a great deal of ritual display case, you get a lethal dose of rads. Don’t
and protocol. It is advisable to familiarize yourself know if that’s true or not but I wouldn’t try your
with the basics of these, such as the tea ceremony, luck. Same goes for anything else on the Floating
before attending the embassy. The Chōwa also World. There’s no room to go dicking about with
houses the embassy’s small gallery of extremely no plan. Get in, get out, and don’t give anyone a
expensive and rare art from across the world, one of reason to suspect jack shit. –Checkmate
the prides of the Kasai Corporation.

The third aerostat is the Kenkyo, which is used for
housing temporary residents including lower-rank-
ing diplomatic staff and visitors. Again the décor is
traditionally Japanese. A small group of attendants
in geisha dress are on hand to tend to visitors’ needs

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CADUCEUS ISLAND Medi-Strike’s culture is overtly friendly and benefi-
cent. The company’s posturing is one of alliance and
Medi-Strike’s embassy is built on an artificial island mutual success, with the ultimate aim the overall
on the Hudson River to the south of Downtown improvement of the human race. Expect to hear a
Manhattan. The island’s manicured gardens surround great deal of utopian rhetoric, describing a world
a magnificent building of white stone and glass, with without disease, old age or misery. Medi-Strike’s
elegant curving lines in contrast to the straight ver- diplomatic conferences are typically prefaced with
ticality of the borough’s skyscrapers. a holo-display about the world they hope to make,
with the cooperation of the other megacorps.
Caduceus Island serves as both an embassy and a
state of the art medical facility. The use of these Access to the island is via a private ferry, or by
facilities is offered to diplomats from all megacorps, helicopter to a landing pad on the roof of the central
and selected other notables, as a token of Medi- wing. The island has its own power generation, food
Strike’s dedication to a sense of harmony and coop- and medical supply stockpiles and television station
eration among the corps. One wing of the embassy and can survive fully operational if entirely cut off
serves as a research centre, while another houses from the mainland. Its security force are uniformed
several private clinics and wards. The central wing is personnel who discreetly monitor the various wings
for embassy business, conducted in a series of light, and wards, but overt security is not part of Medi-
airy offices and conference rooms. The aesthetics of Strike’s brand.
the embassy are defined by smooth, white curved
lines, glass, and light. The island isn’t difficult to get to. You can get
in across the Hudson with a stealthed boat or
Medi-Strike has dozens of high-profile medical mini-sub. There are plenty of people going in and
guests at any time. They are particularly well-known out via the ferry, too, so a decent cover story and
for ultra-longevity treatments and the replacement solid IDs will get you in.
of organs and body parts with perfect custom-grown The real story here is what’s underneath the
copies. One of their clinics is solely for cosmetic embassy. Medi-Strike runs its human experi-
procedures. Each ward has a number of private mentation labs there, where the cops can’t touch
rooms, equivalent to a modern luxury hotel room, them. Word is the Stanwick triplets were made
along with a gymnasium, restaurant-quality kitchens down there out of the best body parts and brain
and other leisure facilities. Non-medical visitors are juice they could find. A steady stream of expend-
housed in a small group of chalets in the gardens able penitentiary fodder, kidnap victims and
of the island. These are small but well-appointed, corporate prisoners enter via a tunnel that opens
although they are notably less luxurious than the somewhere on the mainland, and get dissected or
private rooms of the wards. mutated in those labs. They grow plenty of folks
from scratch, too. There’s a major body disposal
The research centre is used to demonstrate Medi- facility adjoining the labs where the remains are
Strike’s current breakthroughs to visitors. The real incinerated and then dispersed into the ocean.
research is done at the megacorp’s other interna- There’s two more ways in right there, where the
tional facilities. Research being conducted at the bodies come in and the remains go out, if you can
embassy is already at an advanced stage and allows hit them hard and fast enough.
Medi-Strike to show the fruits of their most suc- There’s stuff in the labs that would blow Medi-
cessful projects. Of particular pride is the gallery of Strike wide open, diplomatic immunity be damned.
custom organs and tissue samples for use in creating Mutant supersoldiers, living brains in jars, human
advanced humans from scratch. Though Medi-Strike hiveminds, people with induced psychic powers,
claims not to have actually begin doing this, the the whole shebang. They’ll kill a whole lot of people
possibility of making custom corporate scions for to stop it getting out. That makes it worth getting
the other megacorps is a powerful inducement to a in, if you have a decent plan. –Checkmate
long-term alliance.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

LANZA DEL ORO Security at the Lanza Del Oro is invisible but pres-
ent. The ornate Aztec goldwork on the walls and
Garcia Group purchased the old Chrysler Build- ceilings conceals cameras and recording devices.
ing and transformed it into the Lanza Del Oro, the AI algorithms identify threats or aberrant behavior
golden highlight of Manhattan’s skyline. The purpose and instruct armed drones to emerged from hidden
of the Lanza Del Oro is to position the megacorp as panels to corral or eliminate the offender. There are
the pinnacle of the diplomatic world, with a level of no reliable reports of the uppermost floors of the
overt luxury to be aspired to and desired. building and it is likely they are used to incarcerate
dangerous over-indulgers or intruders.
The Lanza Del Oro houses relatively little corpo-
rate business, instead being used almost entirely for The Lanza Del Oro is a much sought-after posting
diplomatic hospitality. Garcia Group’s guests can for diplomatic representatives, for obvious reasons.
expect to be wined and dined surrounded by golden There are pitfalls there, however, that primarily stem
décor inspired by the ancient Aztecs, including from the mental weaknesses of the representatives
areas for relaxation referred to as ‘temples’ which themselves. A posting here must be earned with
are attended by hosts and hostesses instructed to demonstrated discipline and willpower.
cater to everything the guests need. Many floors
are taken up with hotel-like rooms for visitors, as I guess the Chrysler Building always looked kind
well as swimming pools, cinemas and holo-arenas, of like a dick, but covering it in gold just made is
and numerous floors given over to private gardens somehow more phallic. Anyway, it’s got plenty
replicating various lush biomes. The Lanza Del Oro of ways in and out beneath and there’s no short-
even contains a small zoo stocked with genetically age of opportunity to infiltrate it openly since
engineered replicas of various extinct creatures. the hosts and hostesses have a high turnover and
they’re always looking to hire more.
The lower floors are open to the public, though It’s almost impossible to do anything alone in the
visitors are effectively screened by a robust security Goldenrod, though. If the hosts aren’t watch-
presence. Mañana is a fine dining restaurant serv- ing you the cameras are, and Garcia takes every
ing Mexican-influenced cuisine, which keeps tables opportunity to get you drunk or worse so you can’t
reserved so it can always seat unexpected guests think straight. Don’t trust anything you’re given to
from the diplomatic class. Garcia Group uses the eat or drink, but don’t make a show of not eating or
restaurant to host non-diplomatic guests such as drinking it because they’ll know that you know.
reporters and influencers. Garcia Group also houses The upper floors are where they keep the long-
one of its flagship showrooms for personal tech- term guests. That is, the people who are so strung
nology on the ground floor of the Lanza Del Oro, out on whatever Garcia feeds them that they
where it holds its product releases. can’t survive without it and they’ll do anything to
get more. Garcia turns corporate double agents
Garcia maintains a subservient and eager-to-please this way, or just pumps the deadheads for all the
culture at the Lanza Del Oro. It has a small army info they have before feeding them to the fake
of hosts on the payroll whose duty is to provide tigers in the fake zoo. Could be a client’ll want
guests with whatever they want. This is dangerous to you to get one of these drug casualties out of
the unprepared visitor. It is all too easy to become there, in which case you’ll probably be conning
compromised through drink or other excesses at the your way in and shooting your way out.
Lanza Del Oro as Garcia Group’s hosts will provide The security is half gorillas in uniform, half automated
the means to indulge them without question. The drones. The latter have a pretty wide target defini-
potential for such excess, eagerly catered to and tion, Garcia doesn’t mind some collateral damage if
away from the public eye, is one of the perks offered they keep the bad guys (that’s you) from escaping.
by Garcia Group to potential allies and investors, The uniforms aren’t much better. Go in loaded for
and it is a powerful inducement indeed. bear and be ready to shoot first. –Checkmate

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TAJ EALIA implantation suites are used solely for cybernetics
given as a token of esteem or as part of a deal.
This magnificent skyscraper, with its upper floors in
the form of a golden crown, was the first of the cor- Security is integrated into the staffing. Saud ensure
porate embassies and carries all that authority and there are facilitators present in numbers always with
majesty in the lines of the arabesque patterning and a couple of security personnel. They are uniformed
pointed archways. The multicolored, interlocking less elaborately that the facilitators and they are
patterns of the exterior are decorated further with not armed. Their role is to alert the embassy’s small
calligraphic inscriptions of Saud Cybernetics’ corpo- corps of armed, cybernetically-enhanced troops.
rate principles. Saud Cybernetics’ security is the oldest such private
army in the diplomatic world and they are deco-
The core principle expressed through Saud Cyber- rated combat veterans with strong esprit de corps.
netics’ embassy is one of the old working together Most have lost limbs in service to Saud Cybernetics
with the new. Traditional architecture abounds, and been granted embassy work in recognition of
including the magnificently vaulted ceiling of the their velour.
atrium and the many intricately decorated tile
floors. This is combined with electronic monitoring The Taj is the oldest embassy and there are plenty
systems and robotic assistants flawlessly integrated of back doors in the structure. Behind the pretty
into the surroundings. If the building’s AI detects tiling and all the Arabic inscriptions the structure
a need for refreshments, a robotic waiter will glide and its moving parts need constant maintenance.
from a concealed cubby hole to deliver coffee, jellab That’s your way in.
and dates. The Taj also has an advantage over other embassies
in that their security is human. It has its electronic
The staff are welcoming and eager to demonstrate elements but mostly it runs off the Mark 1 Eyeball,
Saud’s cybernetic prowess. The embassy employs which is a lot more difficult to hack than a security
dozens of ‘facilitators’ whose role is to guide and camera. And if you raise the alarm, the cyber-vet-
attend to visitors. Almost all the staff have a cyber- erans they send in are no joke. These guys are
netic enhancement they are proud to display for battlefield veterans and they will kill you.
visitors, especially those that are almost invisibly The food is a bigger weakness than Saud realize.
integrated into the body or otherwise aesthetically They need suppliers and chefs, in particular spe-
impressive. Beyond the atrium where staff greet cialists for picky guests who can’t handle a little
guests, many of the upper floors are given over to spice. It’s tougher to get in as a facilitator but it can
displays of cybernetics, both exhibited individually be done, since they employ a hell of a lot of them.
or incorporated into animated mannequins. Saud The upper floors are where the nasty stuff hap-
use their embassy as a showroom for big-spending pens. Saud implant their illegal cybernetics there,
customers and the journey through the Taj Ealia since even if the authorities found out they
inevitably has something of a sales pitch about it. couldn’t prosecute what goes on in an embassy.
They don’t charge for this – you pay in kind or
Diplomatic business is almost always conducted in favors. Could be if you have something they
over food, highly lavish and in large quantities. It is really want, you can get something shiny and
typically Middle Eastern and North African, though lethal grafted onto you. Just hope they let you
exceptions can be made. Saud’s diplomats insist leave afterwards. –Checkmate
on dining before business and it is recommended
you do not attend a function at the Taj Ealia on a
full stomach.

Saud also conduct cybernetic implantations on the
building’s upper floors. This is not widely advertised
and rarely acknowledged. Cybernetics purchased
from Saud are implanted elsewhere. The embassy’s

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

THE BLADE If you’re going to make a run on the Blade,
chances are you’re snatching someone out of the
ZA Korporasi’s embassy is on the site of the former Nightmare Chambers. These are holo-suites used
Flatiron Building and retains that structure’s unusu- for interrogation. ZA’s AIs and sick-as-balls pro-
ally slender, tapering footprint. The new building is grammers can conjure up all kinds of holographic
substantially taller and has a sharply sloping roof and hells here. Sleep deprivation, personality alter-
gleaming metallic exterior giving it the appearance ation, tactical traumatization, the whole Manchu-
of a huge knife blade, hence its nickname. Though rian thing. A subject without specific conditioning
it is more properly named De Beers Towers, it is against it is likely to break after a few days, max.
universally known as ‘the Blade’ including among its Getting in without being seen isn’t easy. The
staff and ZA’s ambassadors. place is covered in cameras and sensors like
always and while the foundations are old, ZA did
Each floor of the Blade has a holo-projector suite, an unusually thorough job making the place air-
where ZA meet visitors and conduct negotiations. tight. The security aren’t too numerous, though,
These suites enable them to entertain or intimidate and rely on calling in help from the outside, so if
with grand holographic vistas, from the handsome you hit hard and fast you can get in, do the job
landscapes of South Africa to the expanses of space and get out guns blazing.
or the depths of the ocean. Suites on the upper They’ll use the holo-suites against you. There
floors use external cameras to make the building might only be a couple of guys with guns, but
appear transparent, allowing for a magnificent view they’ll make it look like there are a couple hun-
of Times Square and the surrounding area but creat- dred rushing you. A hacker can get control of the
ing an effect that is not for the acrophobic. suites but be ready for a battle.
And don’t get caught, or you’ll wake up in a
ZA limit embassy business to hosting conferences Nightmare Chamber yourself. –Checkmate
and negotiations. They have been known to lease out
their holo-suites to corporate allies for presentations
and events. The Blade’s staff is small, consisting of
the ambassadors and small number of support staff.
Facilitators and guides are AI-driven holograms,
which can be disconcerting when they appear and
disappear suddenly. Security is provided by a small
group of guards with less-lethal weaponry, since ZA
do not store much of value at the Blade and do not
expect much trouble.

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THE MEESTERWERK You want to break into the Meesterwerk? You’re
going in through the back, then. The robotics
Visser Robotics built their embassy on Broadway, in areas are the big weakness here. They’re pro-
the centre of the Theatre District, and their embassy tected by security robots but they’re hackable
embodies the concept of corporate identity as per- and once you’re in, a set of overalls and an ID will
formance. Most of the Meesterwerk consist of an can get you by. The areas under and behind the
enormous concert hall, which can be configured for stage are full of voids and hiding places, too, just
operas, musical concerts, orchestral performances don’t get caught in there when they change the
and theatrical works. The exterior and interior décor scenery or you’re liable to get crushed.
are baroque and highly ornate, with golden scrollwork Visser have some nasty stuff being worked on.
covering every surface, painted frescoes and ceilings, I’ve heard the final assembly of mass kill units
and enormous crystal chandeliers. and assassination robots takes place beneath the
stage. Visser are testing something in the the-
Performances are non-stop and are used as the atres and concert halls of Broadway, too, some
background for corporate business. Ambassadors kind of mass manipulation or hypnosis deal that’s
are received, guests entertained and negotiations being made in the Meesterwerk and being sent
conducted in the auditorium, usually in the box seats out on test runs in front of civilian audiences. The
overlooking the stage. The performances double as other corps are trying to get a proper line on it
a demonstration of Visser’s robotics expertise, as all and either sabotage it or get word to the Cham-
the performers are robots. Visser maintains a cast of ber. Could be it’s a mind control weapon built
several hundred robots that specialize in everything into a synth, could be it’s some kind of hypnotic
from playing instruments to acrobatics, clowning audio-visual pattern.
and singing. So that’s the Meesterwerk. Come for the tunes,
stay for the killbots. –Checkmate
The Meesterwerk performances always have some
element of a corporate message woven into them.
Progress, especially technological, is always cel-
ebrated, and the weakness brought about human
fallibility and reliance on the outdated is emphasized.
This is in contrast to the archaic appearance of the
building itself, which makes for a somewhat confus-
ing mix.

The great majority of the embassy staff are robotic,
including the ushers, security robots and the basic
labor models used as members of the audience in
the main auditorium when not employed in mainte-
nance. The diplomats are used to the performances
going on in the background but they can be dis-
tracting to the unprepared, something that Visser
employs as a tactic in intricate negotiations. Along
with the auditorium and backstage area, the building
includes a bar and restaurant for entertaining guests
between performances, diplomatic offices with a
far less ornate style than the more public areas, and
extensive robot maintenance and assembly facilities.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

TIGER TOWERS Word is, Tiger Towers is haunted. Sounds like bullshit
but I guess weirder things have happened, especially
Shenzen Solutions had big plans for their embassy. They since Shenzen’s all but confirmed to have covered
wanted something that would rise out of the East River, up the deaths of all the construction guys who died
tall enough to rival the Statue of Liberty as one of the in the flooding and collapse. Of course, it could be
first sights you’d see when approaching New York from the AI and the automated defenses are still active, in
the sea. The thing is, they were a little optimistic about which case it might as well be haunted because that
whether the East River was going to cooperate. shit’s gonna come out of the walls to kill you. Any-
way, only the top few floors have been explored, at
Tiger Towers was supposed to be a building with least by anyone’s who made it out to tell. The place
a pair of towers, each one with a big-ass Chinese is a deathtrap but if you’re determined, crazy and
dragon thing winding round it. They were gonna be prepared enough you might be able to penetrate
lit up at night with thousands of paper lanterns. They into the lower levels. There could even be a way up
planned a pair of matched gardens on the tops of from some flooded part of the Underbelly, although
the towers, a combination showroom/conference you’d need to organize a major underwater explo-
centre for the central wing and meditation rooms, ration mission with all kinds of specialized gear that
sparring halls, and all kinds of traditional Chinese doesn’t come cheap.
stuff to impress visitors. It all stood on a pillar of
concrete sunk into the bed of the East River and was Still, there’s plenty of folks that talk shit at O’Blivion’s
supposed to have a flotilla of high-tech junks to take about how they’ll dig some trillion-wonlong gizmo out
people to and from the mainland. of Tiger Towers one day. Some of them really want
to try because of the potential loot in the sunken
Then just before it was finished, the whole damn embassy, but mostly, it’s just because it’s there.
thing sunk into the river bed. The surveyors hadn’t
noticed a huge-ass void beneath it and the weight You want to break into the Meesterwerk? You’re
brought it all down. Now all you can see of Tiger going in through the back, then. The robotics
Towers are the top dozen floors of one tower and areas are the big weakness here. They’re pro-
five or six of the other, tilting up out of the water. tected by security robots but they’re hackable
The head of one of the dragons is clear of the river, and once you’re in, a set of overalls and an ID will
staring at Manhattan like it’s jealous of the dry land. can get you by. The areas under and behind the
stage are full of voids and hiding places, too, just
Shenzen never rebuilt an embassy. Either they’d don’t get caught in there when they change the
sunk too much money into Tiger Towers or they scenery or you’re liable to get crushed.
figure there’s some hoodoo about trying to build Visser have some nasty stuff being worked on.
another huge crime against taste anywhere near the I’ve heard the final assembly of mass kill units
island. Tiger Towers would be too expensive and dan- and assassination robots takes place beneath the
gerous to salvage so the ruin of the place isn’t going stage. Visser are testing something in the the-
anywhere soon. atres and concert halls of Broadway, too, some
kind of mass manipulation or hypnosis deal that’s
Of course, there’s no shortage of idiots who want to being made in the Meesterwerk and being sent
get into the place. Most of it’s flooded but the best out on test runs in front of civilian audiences. The
guess is there are air pockets that have held out, or other corps are trying to get a proper line on it
places that can be pumped dry temporarily to have and either sabotage it or get word to the Cham-
a good root around. Shenzen was about to move in ber. Could be it’s a mind control weapon built
when the place sunk and there’s tell they had the into a synth, could be it’s some kind of hypnotic
most advanced building AI in the world to run it. audio-visual pattern.
Could be that thing’s still functioning, in which case So that’s the Meesterwerk. Come for the tunes,
its code would be worth a hell of a lot of money, not stay for the killbots. –Checkmate
to mention the research and testing facilities full of
Shenzen cybernetics, weaponry and assorted tech.

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PART IV • ECONOMY

RENT

Rent in Manhattan is exceptionally high, partly expensive still. These start at double the rent of a
because of the value of real estate on the island District 1 equivalent, and have no upper limit.
and partly because of the extortionate demands of The most expensive apartments are not rented at
the Rat King and his enforcers. Rent in Manhattan all, but are owned by the megacorps and given to
should be calculated according to the monthly rent their most valued employees. The use of such an
table, but with the following differences: apartment is part of their payment for their service.
Rent in Manhattan begins at the District 3 levels, Only the mega-rich could afford such an apartment
for a place in Upper Manhattan such as Old Harlem. without being granted its use by a megacorpo-
District 2 covers most of the other neighborhoods rate employer.
on the island, while areas adjoining the Upper West Accommodations in the Underbelly can be had for
and Upper East side are district 1. District 5 prices, though payment is often in kind,
Renting the most expensive apartment, such as and many people get by bedding down in a relatively
those in the corporate neighborhoods of the Upper clean and dry section of tunnel or a long-forgotten
West and Upper East Side or TriBeCa’s sought-af- basement level. Such accommodation is free, but it
ter and fashionable studio apartments, can be more comes with the danger of being preyed on by feral
Morlocks or being caught in a sudden flood.

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FOOD AND DRINK

The legendary Krog Dog can be purchased on the are for wines regularly served at restaurants, bars
streets of Manhattan for around 400 wonlongs. and functions. For truly desirable vintages, there is
This is easily doubled in areas of the borough popular no upper limit to cost.
with tourists such as Times Square or Washington
Market Park. Wine Glass Bottle
Other food prices are comparable with the examples Price Price
given for San Francisco, though typically 20-30% Simbrusco (red) 80₩ 300₩
pricier. The most expensive food can easily be dou- Seol Select Rose 120₩ 550₩
ble the price of the examples given in the Absurd (rose) 200₩ 800₩
category for the most expensive restaurants where Neuro Gregio 200₩ 800₩
the diplomatic class eat. Diplomats are subsidized in (White) 400₩ 1 800₩
such extravagance by their megacorps, but the mere Inferno Rosso (red)
mortals of Manhattan must pay full price. Nebula Ranch 800₩ 3 800₩
Radbuster select is a potent spirit distilled in the Shampagne 1 500₩ 7 000₩
Underbelly, using radioactive pollutants and toxic lab (Sparkling white)
off-run to create a uniquely flavored and very pow- Chateau Kamkatcha 2 500₩ 12 000₩
erful concoction. It costs 60 wonlongs for a double (red)
and 800 for a bottle, and is a favorite at O’Blivi- Noctis Labyrinthis ‘71
on’s. Less palatable rotgut is 30-50 wonlongs in the (red)
Underbelly and around 60 wonlongs on the streets. Gene-Sim Cham-
Wine is common among the restaurants and bars pagne Select
of Manhattan, unlike many other cities where it has (sparkling white)
fallen out of fashion. Its creation relies on artificial or
genetically recreated grape strains. The prices given

TEMPORARY ACCOMODATION

Similarly to renting, temporary accommodation lower-rent areas of Manhattan. Accommodation
on Manhattan is notably more expensive than in in the less fashionable areas outside Upper Man-
almost any other city on Earth. The most luxurious hattan are equivalent to District 2, and everywhere
accommodations, in the borough’s exclusive hotels, else equivalent to District 1 prices. Again, seeking
are almost exclusively the domain of the megacorps temporary accommodation in the Underbelly is an
who use it to house and entertain important allies option for anyone familiar with the underworld, and
and investors. it is possible to find a quiet corner to spend the night
The prices for temporary accommodation start underground if you are willing to accept the accom-
at the levels given for District 3 in San Francisco. panying risks.
This represents hostelries in Old Harlem and other

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

TRAVEL

The two most common means of transport in Man-
hattan are the yellow cab, and the HaloWay. Thanks
to union rules partly enforced by the Rat King,
all yellow cabs have human drivers. The minimum
charge is 80 wonlongs, plus 40 wonlongs per mile.
The high-rise nature of Manhattan, fears about
aerial congestion and pressure from the HaloWay
means the standard taxi isn’t airborne, but private
aerial cabs are available for about twice the hire cost
of a road vehicle.

The HaloWay is an elevated railway that connects
most of the corporate embassies, places of interest
and the World Corporate Forum. It is used mostly
by the diplomatic class, and tickets cost a minimum
of 500 wonlongs, plus 200 per extra mile. Corpo-
rate employers offer season tickets to the HaloWay

as a perk to senior employees, and using the
HaloWay enables a member of the diplomatic

class to travel around Manhattan without
ever having to set foot at street level.

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ENTERTAINMENT

There’s no shortage of entertainment in Manhattan, as it’s both one of the ways the diplomatic class express
their cultural superiority, and a means of distraction and escape for everyone else.

Entertainment Price Entertainment Price
Outsider Music Gig 30₩ Theatre ticket (off-
Concert ticket 700₩ off Broadway) 1 200₩
Holo-arena musical spectac- 1 000₩ Theatre Ticket (off-Broad-
ular 500₩ way) 2 000₩
Movie Ticket 600₩ Theatre Ticket (Broadway) 5 000₩
Unlicensed Cybernetic 600₩ Theatre Ticket (Broadway, 100 000₩
Combat Bout 1 000₩ private box) 50 000₩
Madison Square Garden 3 000₩ Opera Ticket 120 000₩
(Holo-arena ticket) 80 000₩ Opera Ticket (private box) 600₩
Madison Square Garden Art gallery ticket 80 000₩
(Cheap Seat) 300 000₩ Art gallery private viewing 800₩
Madison Square Garden Massage (Seedy) 3 000₩
(Good seat) Massage (exquisite)
Madison Square Garden
(Front row seat)
Madison Square Garden
(Front row seat, New York
Nemesis playoff game)

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

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ADDITIONAL CONTENT
FOR MANAHTTAN 2185

PLOT HOOKS

Manhattan’s setup, with a ludicrously privileged diplomatic and corporate elite plus a large subjugated under-
class, and a noxious criminal population in the Underbelly, where a band of cyberpunks based in the Underbelly
head to street level to commit crimes against the embassies and the diplomatic class for wealthy employers.
Wider plots can involve awful crimes being perpetrated by the megacorps power struggles between the corps,
and protecting the Underbelly from purging by the NYPD and NYPKF. Strange, dark forces and entities
can emerge from the depths of the Underbelly, in the servers of the Financial District or Gibson Mile, or the
flooded lower reaches of Tiger Towers. There are a million stories to be told in the Capital of the World.

• You find a Hard Copy Courier’s corpse and • Assassinate a diplomat while he’s at the
deliver his message for a hefty payout. theatre. It’s a classic for a reason.

• Sneak into the MediStrike labs from the under- • Ambush an NYPD convoy travelling through
belly, and rescue Lab Rats/steal research. Manhattan to free the valuable prisoner they
are transporting.
• Fix a Crashball game. Drug players, arrange
scandals, bribe refs, Kerrigan star players. • Journey to Gethsemane to deliver a message to
Subject Tau-Niner.
• The NYPD’s Chamber needs someone very unoffi-
cial to break into an embassy and get evidence. • Accompany a wealthy degenerate as he tours
the seediest delights of Manhattan.
• Two diplomats hire the same cyberpunk crew to
assassinate one another. • A megacorp hires a cyberpunk crew to infiltrate
their own embassy, to test their security measures.
• A megacorp sends a cyberpunk espionage crew
into a rival’s embassy – but is it a set-up? • Stage an attack on the Statue of Liberty, so
the NYPKF can renegotiate contracts in the
• Incite a riot so the NYPKF can demonstrate ensuing paranoia.
their effectiveness in putting it down.
• The crew needs the skills of a legendary hacker,
• A diplomat has gone missing after an epic last seen heading into Tiger Towers.
bender. Find him and sober him up.
• The Rat King needs the skills of a cyberpunk
• Yellow cab drivers are threatening to strike. Break crew to clear a particularly nasty thrill-kill cult
the strike, or help them in their negotiations. from a tenement block.

• The citizens of the Penn send a cyberpunk • Reprogram a corporate holo-demonstration to
crew to negotiate with the King Gorebelcher II sabotage the megacorp’s brand.
on their behalf.
• Infiltrate a megacorporate embassy to install spyware.

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ADVERSARIES

MORLOCK CANNIBAL 1K FREE FIGHTER

The Underbelly is haunted by countless Morlocks The 1k Free division of the cybernetic fighting
who have grown up in this toxic twilight world. While leagues has a 1,000lb weight limit and, aside from
many are friendly, others are bandits, feral hunters a ban on missile weapons, no limit on the types of
or even cannibals who make journeys through the cybernetics used. A 1k Free fighter is a gorilla-sized
Underbelly especially perilous. A Morlock cannibal is cybernetic assbeating machine designed to fight
unlikely to be well-armed, but they are relentless in professionally, either for an audience or, after their
their aggression and tend to travel in hungry packs. careers in the ring falter, for whoever pays them.
The fighting leagues are fertile ground for under-
NYPKF TROOPER world types looking to recruit no-nonsense mus-
cle, and a 1K Free veteran is something of a status
The New York Peacekeeping Force can deploy symbol among crime bosses. The Rat King employs
dozens of armed and armored troopers anywhere in several as personal bodyguards.
Manhattan and most of New York at short notice
to face civil unrest or break up Corp-unfriendly SKYLINE DRONE
activity. The typical trooper has solid body armor,
a collapsible baton, a submachine gun and sidearm, The NYPD, most megacorps and several other
and a love of beating up people less well-armed and organizations use a form of semi-autonomous flying
organized than himself. drone armed with a small-caliber firearm, around
1.5 meters in length. These skyline drones are usu-
NYPKF LINEBREAKER ally kept in skyscraper rooftop facilities until they
are triggered by security personnel or an auto-
A Linebreaker is an NYPKF riot suppression spe- matic alarm. Smash-and-grab robbers sometimes
cialist in heavy armor wielding a ballistic shield, keep a skyline drone in their getaway vehicle, to be
baton and sidearm. His gear is all but immune to deployed to help cover their escape. Skyline drones
regular small arms fire and melee attacks, and he are of limited intelligence, and usually open fire on
is protected from the tear gas the NYPKF throws anyone who is in a protected area without transmit-
indiscriminately. The NYPKF fields units of Line- ting the necessary IFF signal.
breakers large enough to form an impenetrable wall
of shields across one of Manhattan’s thoroughfares.
An advancing rank of Linebreakers has shattered
many determined crowds of rioters in New York’s
turbulent history.

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TEN FUN MANHATTAN FACTS!

1.  The Krog Dog is named after Piotr ‘The Krog’ 8.  At least one of the AIs in the Financial Dis-
Krogstein, legendary half-back for the New trict its powered by its own nuclear reactor,
York Nemesis from ‘71-77. The Krog is said to but exactly which one it is has never been
have invented the delicious street food sta- publicly announced.
ple while walking from MSG to his limo after
a match, and wanted a loaded hot dog which 9.  Thanks to finding a lifetime ticket in the gutter,
would not squirt relish on his suit. homeless Irma Tangasian spent the last 41 years
of her life living entirely on Manhattan’s ele-
2.  The world’s biggest crowd safety operation vated HaloWay transit system.
took place on New Year’s Eve of 2183, ensur-
ing the ‘ball drop’ in Times Square went off 10.  NeueHoffnung, the Regierung Kybernetik
without a hitch. corporate embassy, is the world’s single biggest
consumer of sauerkraut.
3.  The title of New York’s Tallest Building has
changed hands 11 times since 2150.

4.  An eight-hour expedition into Central Park by
the Paragon Star Biodiversity Institute collected
more than 300 species of plant and insect
previously unknown to science.

5.  A concert by Amy Storm, held at Madison
Square Garden in 2181, was broadcast via holo
to more than 1.7 billion fans worldwide.

6.  An archaic law requires every yellow cab in
Manhattan to keep a bale of hay in the trunk.
This law is rarely enforced.

7.  The world’s most expensive piece of sporting
memorabilia is thought to be the titanium
skull of cybernetic fighter Fulton ‘The Fus-
tigator’ Rikorsky, punched into the crowd
during a match in 2114. Rikorsky went on to
win the bout.

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TOKYO

Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG 147

PART 1 • THE BASICS

SLANG ONSEN: Public bath house used for quiet relax-
ation and contemplation, or lively debate if pri-
WON: The term for wonlongs across most of vately booked.
Tokyo and the surrounding prefectures. KARAOKE: Small and soundproof booths that
PACHINKO: A slot-machine gambling den allow you to sing your favorite songs. Almost
CONVINI: A 24-hour convenience store selling always serve food and alcohol for a decent price.
meals, toiletries, disposable underwear, stationary Often a retreat for those wanting to escape the
and alcohol. daily routine of life.
OYABUN: Leader of a Yakuza gang, although RONIN: An honorless and masterless individual
now just a common phrase for all leaders – who deserves nothing more than to be put down
whether of a gang or megacorporation. like the dog they are. When a gang expels a mem-
GAIJIN: Japanese term for foreigner ber, the member becomes a ronin.
YAKU: Term for drugs designed to prolong
mental activity – derived from the Japanese
word yakubutsu.

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CITY OVERVIEW

ELECTRIC BLOSSOMS GLOW,
DARKEST WINTER SLOWLY FADES,
LIGHTS CASTING SHADOW

High-speed subway trains, kilometer high residential humans cannot, they are a necessary slave force – and
trees, anime synthetics, sex with robots, and the yakuza that is exactly how they are treated.
in power – what’s not to like about Tokyo Mega? Unlike Unlike other megacities, Tokyo Mega has not lost touch
other megacities around the world Tokyo Mega is not with its traditions, and some practices like sumo, geisha,
controlled by the megacorporations. Instead, eight and a few others remain nearly unchanged even in the
powerful and deadly gangs control what happens in the face of massive technological advancement. Other once
city. The megacorporations merely operate with license, proud historical and cultural motifs have been adapted
all within the massive environmental barriers that keep for modern technological interpretations, such as the
the residents safe from the poisonous and corrosive personification of the anime characters so beloved by
atmosphere that now covers half of Japan. Tokyo Mega the Japanese of the past via creation of synth replicas.
is unlike any other city in the world – anything and For someone living in Tokyo Mega there are a few
everything is possible, as long as you remain quiet, hon- paths that life can take – some more pleasant than
orable, and unseen in this city of forty million. others. The most common, called the salaryman life,
Now is the time known as the Sakoku Jidai – the Age consists of living alone in a small apartment with one or
of Isolation. Although Tokyo Mega is more connected two, or perhaps three synth companions, working ten-
to the world than it has ever been in its brilliant past, hour days for six days of the week, and spending the
it is more alone and isolated than ever before. The lone day off attending mega-events. For most salary-
scars of the civil war that raged a decade ago might be men the way to cope is to take vast sums of Yaku Zero
glassed, concreted, and rebuilt over but the memories Five (a methamphetamine), wash it down with alcohol,
are still fresh in the minds of the people who live here. and visit prostitutes — personal relationships don’t get
Of the forty million people who call Tokyo Mega a chance to grow in this lifestyle. If a person is lucky,
home, most love living here as bizarre as it seems. they may have a hobby or some other diversion to drag
The rest struggle to find meaning and context in a them away from the hard life they experience. The
world where there are more synthetics than humans; upshot of this lifestyle is access to incredible medical
where sex, drugs, and work are so cheap and yet and health facilities, absolute security of self and the
so ever present that the self – the soul – is often city, and a promise of a two-week holiday at the end
found wanting. Tokyo is ready for another war, only of every year. Lucky couples are often created by the
this time the price is the spirit of the people. If the megacorporations – men and women legally employed
people do not win this war then Tokyo will forever be to be husband and wife. These couples are matched via
just a shadow in whatever light remains in the world. the megacorporation databases for genetic compatibil-
Although Kyoto Megacity is now home to most of the ity and potential. Once under contract these married
megacorporations, Tokyo Mega is a thriving, flourishing couples become poster families for the megacorpo-
space. The population is growing for the first time in a rations. Work hard and you too may be allocated a
long time, and the number of synths is doubling almost partner as only top-performing employees receive this
every ten years. Ironic, considering it was the pres- privilege. The financial rewards, although limited, are
ence of synthetics that sparked the Civil War of 2171. good, and the space allocated to the couple for living is
However, because the synths deliver something that nearly double that of unmarried individuals.

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Carbon 2185 | A Cyberpunk RPG

On the other hand, for nearly half the population ings of Jodo Shinshu. The elite fear the day when the
of Tokyo life is neither planned nor controlled, but is priests unite the people and topple everything.
rather a daily struggle to meet the demands of the
salaryman lifestyle. Short-order chefs, prostitutes, As a result there is a secret war going on. Jodo Shinshu
dry-cleaners, magtrain drivers, entertainers, and followers find themselves fighting against yakuza, Wani-
drug-dealers all hustle on a daily basis to get what they zame, Sagawa, Kagema and all the other gangs, as well as
can from the salarymen. They don’t have the promise against synths. In the insanity of it all, no one knows who
of a two-week holiday, no guarantee of medical care, is a Jodo Shinshu follower and who is not. This is not a
and their world is not nearly as safe as the govern- faith of images and symbols, but one of the soul. Sitting
ment reports it to be. Living day-to-day they are free around a table in one of the opulent apartments of the
to marry whom they like, to live wherever they can elite one might find members from six different gangs,
afford, and take what leave they need. The city, how- four megacorporation envoys, two synthetics, and
ever, never sleeps and those who sleep are not making one geisha. Of the thirteen all might be secretly Jodo
money. Wonlongs — or won – don’t come easy in Shinshu followers, or none. It’s only when the blades are
Tokyo Mega, especially for this part of the population, drawn and the bullets fly that anyone really knows.
and so work is almost the only thing they do.
Then there are the gangs. Watanabe Yakuza, Yamagu- For all the hidden shadows that are cast, Tokyo Megac-
chi-gumi, Inagawa-kai, Wanizame, the Sagawa Sisters, ity is without doubt the most vibrant and bustling place
Kagema Boys, the list goes on and on. Traditionally in the world, full of electronics, light, and a mixture
the gangs have always worked within the lines of their of people focused on working hard and playing even
individual honor-codes, and to a degree respected that harder, even if that does sometimes involve the sinister
a safe Tokyo is a profitable Tokyo. This is still the man- tentacles of the criminal underworld ...
ner in which they operate, only now instead of working
from the shadows, they have risen to take their place at GM DOSSIER
the top of the food chain. Operating almost like a sho-
gunate, with daimyos running districts of Tokyo Mega, Starting in Tokyo Mega can be daunting for players
the gangs make sure each piece of the pie is carefully not familiar with Japan or Japanese culture. When
controlled and operated. Turf wars are common, but playing in Japan think of a very personal, self-sacri-
public violence is rare. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police, ficing population of conservative people who value
the last active form of government aside from civil each other’s privacy and right to exist. A cool first
operations, ensure that the citizens remain in line, while adventure option is ‘Mag Train’. In this mini-adven-
the gangs make sure the illegal operations remain out ture, the cyberpunks start as friends knowing one
of the public eye. It’s a bizarre relationship but one that another in the same crowded magtrain carriage. As
results in a bustling city that works. they’re speeding along as 300 miles per hour, the
No trip to Tokyo Mega would be complete without train comes to a sudden stop in one of the hundreds
understanding how the elite live — that is, in constant of underground tunnels. Gunfire! Someone pushes
fear. Although the leaders of the gangs might appear a small glowing blue piece of electronica into one of
strong, indestructible forces of power, there is a ser- the cyberpunk’s hands. The lights flicker on and an old
pent in the midst – as delicate as a cherry blossom on woman, desperate and tearful, hands another cyber-
the wind, but as powerful as a tsunami, and growing punk a scrap of ancient paper upon which is an address
in power each year — the Jodo Shinshu. Shrines to written in old kanji. Suddenly six Watanabe Yakuza
the various faiths have always been part of Tokyo’s smash into the carriage and a katana blade fight breaks
architecture, and now, unlike almost any other period out between the old woman and the yakuza. She is
in history on the islands of Japan, the faith is growing. slain and the yakuza demand to know if anyone saw
Few people speak of it as no one dares for fear of giving anything. Once satisfied the gang leaves to search the
it life. Yet, the millions of people who live in Tokyo are next carriage. The cyberpunks are left to wonder what
slowly, unknowingly drawing strength from the teach- is on the blue cartridge and what the kanji says.

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