Your Character

Your character is your avatar in the game. At the beginning of the game, your character is a nameless drifter with no memories, coming in from the Badlands to the metropolis of Cinci. Your past, your abilities, your goals, and even your name and sex are all things that you will have to discover through playing the game.

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Core Identity & Attributes

The fundamental building blocks of who you are. These define your innate capabilities and how you are perceived by the world.

• Traits - Your basic physical and mental abilities: charisma, strength, stamina, etc. These change slowly and only through extreme training, cybernetics, or substance use.
• Skills - Your learned abilities, from fighting to business. They are trained automatically by using them, and it's worth attempting difficult tests just for the training experience.
• Mutations - Inherent genetic modifications that grant unique abilities and challenges. This is a permanent choice made at the start of the game that will define your playthrough.
• Cybernetics - Implants and enhancements that can massively improve your traits and unlock new options. However, they increase your black shakes, and street-level surgery is always a risk.
• Quirks - Unique physical features about your body.
• Temperament - Four different approaches to the world. You can have two of them at a time.
• Morality - Your preference for "good" or "bad" actions, which affects how different people react to you.

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Status & Survival

Cinci is a hard place. Looking after yourself is a full-time job. You begin with a grace period, but soon the city's dangers will ramp up to full blast.

• Wellbeing - Your wellbeing is represented by your sustenance, alertness, moods and other stats. If any of these move too far from the norm, you’ll start to experience increasingly serious negative effects.
• Threats & Hazards - Negative stats that build up over time. They include Injury (physical damage), Hardship (poverty, pollution), Black shakes (from tech), and Psychosis (mental trauma). High levels can lead to a doom loop and eventual death.
• Wounds & Injuries - Serious trauma that will take time to heal. Most major wounds won’t heal without medical attention from places like St Joe’s or the mercy crew.
• Need - Your character’s appetite for sexual pleasure. It rises over time and can be satisfied in various ways, though pain and exhaustion can be inhibitors.
• Perceived Temperature - Being too hot or cold can cause problems. Dress appropriately for the weather and use items like hot or cold drinks to manage your temperature.
• Substance Use & Addiction - Drugs and alcohol can provide temporary benefits but lead to increased tolerance and the risk of addiction, a vicious spiral that is hard to escape.
• Totally Crashed - Using stimulants like breathers or speed too quickly will crash your adrenals, preventing you from using them again until you recover through sleep and food.

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Social & Crew

In Cinci, who you know is as important as what you can do. Your network of contacts and employees is a vital resource.

• People and Organisations - You can build relationships with many characters and factions. These groups also have relationships with each other—making an enemy of one might earn you a friend in another.
• Crew, Teams & Loyalty - Your Crew are people willing to work for you. You must pay them weekly and manage their loyalty. You can organize your crew into specialized Teams for different purposes.
• Close Companions - You can equip a companion in a special slot to have them by your side. This can be a named character for a specific story beat or a member of your crew on a given task.
• Trusted Sidekicks - Your most competent and trustworthy henchmen. They are more effective than normal crew but don't have the distinct personalities of full Contacts.

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Equipment & Inventory

The gear you carry can be the difference between life and death. Your inventory is where you manage your weapons, clothes, vehicles, and more.

• Your Inventory & Strongbox - Your inventory holds all your items. A strongbox is essential for storing money securely, but you need to be in a living space to access it.
• Clothing & Preferred Styles - Clothing has mechanical effects, from temperature control to how dressed to impress you are. Consistently wearing a certain style will make it your preferred style, granting bonuses.
• Weapons & Wear - Firearms use ammo and are subject to weapon wear, which can cause jams or catastrophic failure. Always carry a blade as a backup.
• Vehicles & Wear - Vehicles are essential for some missions and alter your opportunities. They require fuel and suffer from vehicle wear, needing occasional service at a garage.
• Spikes - Artificial memories that boost your abilities, usable with a Neural Interface. They can be used or sold, though selling them can attract trouble.
• Breathers & Apps - Breathers are vials that provide a quick action refill but can cause a crash if overused. Your phone runs apps that must be managed against its security and performance resources.
• The Grey Market - You can buy cheaper goods on the grey market, but they are unreliable. They might be fine, they might harm you, or, on rare occasions, they might be even better than the real thing.

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Gameplay & Progression

How you interact with the world and grow as a character, from taking actions to navigating the city's dangers.

• Actions, Cards & Decks - The core gameplay loop. You spend actions to draw cards from various decks, which represent your opportunities in the world.
• Routes & Familiarity - The backbone of discovering new content. You must first find a route to an area and then build familiarity there by exploring and gathering rumors to unlock new opportunities.
• Improving Yourself - Your core traits can be permanently increased through long-term training at places like a gym or dojo, which is one of the only ways to raise them.
• Making Money - A constant necessity. You can earn cash by working the streets, completing errands, or taking on bigger jobs.
• Chases & Hunting - You will often find yourself in chases, either as the hunter or the hunted. Your success depends on your skill and your familiarity with the area.
• Crime and Punishment - Different areas have different approaches to crime. A mounting body count, however, will earn you a bad reputation everywhere.
• Permadeath & Legacy - The game features permadeath. If you die, you can create a new character who can follow in the footsteps of your last, inheriting a head start and sometimes unlocking new content.

Secrets of the Sprawl

Beyond the concrete and chrome, beyond the daily hustle and bloodshed, lies a world of deeper secrets. These are the whispers in the dark alleys, the bleeding-edge tech that defies morality, and the truths so valuable that people will kill—or die—to protect them. This is a glimpse into the esoteric underbelly of the world.

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Mutations: The Unwanted Gift

What exactly is a mutant? In biological terms, an individual of a species that differs genetically from its kin. In human politics, something much more specific and, apparently, sinister. The modern term “mutant” refers to a particular class of mutation first observed in the aftermath of the Secession Wars: people with unusual, if often subtle, abilities and physical abnormalities.

Stories of mutant supermen are largely a myth. Little is known about the phenomenon due to the political hysteria that erupted upon its identification. In a mere two years, an international decision was made: these “people” were not human and therefore not subject to human rights laws. Shoot on sight orders quickly spread as the Eastern-Border Cities fortified themselves. New AI-driven technology sprang up for their instant identification and extermination, with security conglomerates like Tower Group investing heavily. Modern systems boast an accidental termination rate of a mere five percent.

This brutal policy forces mutants in Cinci to live in hiding, pass as normal, or flee to the relative anarchy of the Badlands. Outside the city walls, however, a mutation can be an asset. The army, for instance, cared little for genetic purity if an individual's abilities were useful. The scavenger Jake possessed a mutation that allowed him to sleep with only half his brain at a time, a perfect trait for a life where constant vigilance is key to survival.

Behind the facts, many conspiracy theories lurk. Whispers of alien intervention, sinister corporate plots, or failed supersoldier programs are common. The reality, however, is far less grand and perhaps more disturbing. The 'mutant' phenomenon is not the product of a government or corporate conspiracy, but the successful work of a lone individual—a 'neckbeard' out in the badlands who acquired a gene-editing suite and, for reasons unknown, began to alter the human code.

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Vampires: The Biotech Myth

Are they real? In the slums, whispers persist of figures who are more—and less—than human. These aren't supernatural creatures of folklore but the horrifying potential endgame of black-market biotech and radical body modification. The myth speaks of individuals so heavily altered that they require fresh blood or specific biological components to sustain their augmented bodies or reverse cellular decay.

These "vampires" are the ultimate urban predators, a rumor that haunts the organ-harvesting clinics and snuff studios of the Core. They represent the terrifying fusion of human desire and unchecked technology, a dark legend in a city already drowning in nightmares. Whether they are a genuine threat or a cautionary tale, the fear they inspire is very real.

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Secret Weapons & Black Tech

In the shadow wars between corporations and criminals, the right weapon isn't just an advantage—it's everything. These tools range from high-tech corporate assassination hardware to disposable street-level implements of death.

Biological & Human Weapons

The most insidious weapons are those that walk and breathe. The assassin Angela demonstrated the pinnacle of this concept, her body converted into a biological bomb by a custom nanite swarm. Keyed to her death, the swarm deconstructed her at a subcellular level to create a potent, undetectable explosive. On a cruder level, individuals can be turned into "puppets" or "shell entities"—their minds digitally wiped and reprogrammed for a single mission, making them the perfect deniable asset, as seen in the Gamble Street bombing.

High-End Assassination Tools

For corporate work, only the best will do. The BRA Khemall ANR60 is a prime example: a smart rifle that links directly to the user's cortex, firing laser-guided, high-velocity rounds. Loaded with illegal, short-lived disassembly nanites, its projectiles not only kill the target but also consume the evidence, making it a ghost's weapon.

Street-Level & Disposable Tech

On the streets, desperation breeds innovation. Fixers and runners use untraceable, 3D-printed, single-shot firearms known as "cunt guns". Designed to be concealed within the body, they are the ultimate last resort—a weapon born from the need to get a gun past even the most invasive security search.

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High-Level Information: The True Currency

In the world of 209X, data is power. Information—corporate secrets, personal data, underworld intel—is the most valuable commodity, and wars are fought to control its flow.

Information Brokers

At the apex of the data trade were figures like the legendary Siprasi Twins. They were ghosts in the machine, capable of stealing any secret and altering any record at will. They operated from a completely sealed, armored bunker, their power so absolute that the only way to stop them was with a weapon as unconventional as they were.

Corporate Espionage & Memetics

The shadow war between megacorps like CinnTech and Naas is fought with information. They employ elite counter-extraction experts who use sophisticated psychological profiling, multi-layered deception, and even memetics—subliminal messaging and suggestions—to influence and extract high-value personnel. These operations are complex chess games where human beings are the pieces.

The Shadow Networks

The nervous system of the underworld. This is a web of encrypted communications, dead drops, anonymous chat rooms, and courier networks. It's how fixers like Layde, drone operators like Trix, and smugglers on the Riverfront trade the street-level intel that keeps the illicit economy moving. Access to this network is the difference between being a player and being prey.

The World of 209X

The world of the 2090s is a fractured landscape, reshaped by a slow, grinding collapse rather than a single apocalyptic bang. It's business as usual, slowly sliding into more and more environmental degradation, economic despair, and mind-numbing pop culture as the corporations rake in the profits and take control. This is a tour of that broken world.

"Some players have some weird ideas about the background. There was no apocalypse or anything like. What happened to the old US was a series of smaller wars that took place over decades."

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A Slow Collapse: The Fall of the Old World

The 21st century was not kind. The collapse was not a single event, but a cascade failure of interconnected systems over decades, driven by corporate greed and political inaction.

The Dustbowl & The Badlands

The single most important event in North America's recent history was the creation of the great dustbowl. A combination of factors—overuse of water from ancient aquifers, chemical fertilizers turning soil to dust, massive monoculture farms, and changing rainfall patterns—led to a cascade of desertification. A vast swathe of the continent, from the Rockies to Ohio, was rendered almost uninhabitable, creating the lawless expanse now known as the Badlands.

The Secession Wars

The ecological disaster of the dustbowl triggered mass population movements and resource scarcity, which in turn ignited the bloody and brutal Secession Wars. These were not conflicts fought with large-scale nuclear weapons, but a series of smaller, protracted wars over decades that utilized devastating chemical and biological arsenals. The old USA was torn apart, its government collapsing and its territory fracturing.

Fuel & The Rise of Nanotech

Parallel to the wars, the petrochemical industry, a house of cards built on peak oil and government subsidies, finally collapsed. This spurred a massive boost in the nascent nanochemical industry. Today, a combination of tailored micro-organisms, nanites, and modified algae strains can synthesize almost any chemical compound, including fuels that burn cleaner and more efficiently than their old-world counterparts.

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Cincinnati (Cinci): Heart of the Eastern Border

The primary setting of the game, Cincinnati is the largest of the Eastern-Border Cities. Its population swelled to 24 million during the refugee crisis, a result of rushed, uncoordinated, and corrupt urban planning. Today, it is a chaotic mix of hyper-modernity and decay. While Ohio is now its own country, Cinci is its undisputed economic and cultural heart.

The Slums

The slums are Cinci. This sprawling mess of favelas, tenements, and cheap condos covers most of the city and houses the majority of its population. Life is a constant hustle, even for those with standard jobs. The streets are a permanent market controlled by a loose network of protection rackets known as "slums law".

The Projects (e.g., Evanston)

Four colossal, interconnected arcologies housing nearly half of Cinci's population. Built to handle the refugee crisis, they are a NoGo zone for outsiders and a crime-filled swamp. Inside, however, a unique and thriving culture has emerged, born from the necessity of millions learning to live together in a high-pressure environment.

Gamble Street

The city's primary market and Chinatown, existing by its own rules under an uneasy alliance between the Triads and the Yakuza. It's the pulsing heart of the city's black market, where one can buy anything from illegal cybernetics to information spikes.

Protected Zones (PZs)

Gleaming corporate enclaves, walled off from the chaos. Areas like the Central PZ are where the elite live and work under the watchful eye of firms like Tower Group. They are worlds of clean air, high technology, and absolute corporate control.

The Bordertown

The western limit of Cinci is a fortress. Just outside lies the Bordertown, a scattered community of travelers, refugees, and predators. Though technically a NoGo area, the heavy Tower Group presence keeps it in a state of tense stability.

NoGo Zones

Areas without official law enforcement, where entry is at your own risk.

• Riverside: A toxic waste dump on the southern bank of the Ohio, a festering scar from the Secession Wars. Officially depopulated, but some desperate souls still live and die among the chemical sludge.
• The Old City Core: The darkest of the NoGos. The former downtown is now a ruin of decaying skyscrapers, a den of pure evil that is home to snuff studios and the city's worst monsters.

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Global Locations: A Fractured World

While America has collapsed, other parts of the world have adapted or risen in its place, creating a new global dynamic. China is now the dominant global power, and space exploration likely consists of a moon base, the ISS being a relic of the past.

Brazil & The Amazon

In stark contrast to the former USA, Brazil has emerged as a stable and powerful nation. However, its vast jungles are a smuggler's paradise and home to ruthless cartels like the Irmandade Roxa. In a stunning reversal of historical trends, it is now a destination for people smugglers moving desperate individuals *out* of the collapsed American state in search of a better life.

The Gulf of Mexico

The Gulf is a graveyard of the old world, with cities like Panama City, Florida, now nothing more than debris sticking out of the sea. The region is dotted with isolated compounds and derelict deep-sea installations, like the oil rig where Mal takes refuge. It's a place to disappear, far from corporate or legal oversight.

The North African Desert

A vast, timeless expanse where borders have no meaning. This is the domain of the nomadic badw clans, who mix ancient traditions with modern technology. It is also a shadow theatre for global espionage, where corporate mercenaries and intelligence agents play a deadly game of cat and mouse amidst the sandstorms.

London

A major world city, but one that has been ravaged by rising sea levels. The old metropolis is flooded, with life continuing on the rooftops and upper levels of its historic buildings, a testament to humanity's stubborn will to adapt.

Siberia

A remote and desolate region used by megacorporations as a location for untraceable subsidiaries, black sites, and brutal gulags. It's a place where people are sent to be forgotten, either as a researcher in a secret lab or a prisoner in a salt mine.

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Factions & Power Brokers

In the fractured world of the 2090s, power is not held by governments, but by a complex web of corporate monoliths, ruthless criminal syndicates, and desperate street gangs.

The Corporate Overlords

The true governments of the modern era. They control the PZs, wage shadow wars, and view the populace as either consumers or obstacles.

• Tower Group: Cinci's corporate rent-a-cops and biggest gang. A multinational corporation contracted to enforce the law, they are known for their brutality in the slums while providing high-quality service in the PZs. A secret black-ops unit within Tower acts to maintain the city's "status quo" through any means necessary.
• Other Megacorps: Entities like CinnTech Genetics, Naas, and Rohden are major players in the constant game of corporate espionage.

Syndicates & Street Power

Where corporate law ends, the law of the street begins. These organizations control the illicit economies of the slums.

• The Triads & Yakuza: Traditional organized crime syndicates, most notably the Five Lucky Winds triad's uneasy alliance with the Yakuza on Gamble Street.
• Slums Law: A loose network of neighborhood watch groups and protection rackets that maintain a semblance of peace, allowing business—legal or otherwise—to function.
• The Jags & Modes: The two main street gangs of the slums, locked in a perpetual, hyper-violent turf war. The Jags favor a punk aesthetic, while the Modes emulate an androgynous version of the ancient actor James Dean.
• The Zetas: A societal label for feral children, aged 5-10, with no hope and no future. They are not an organized gang, but a tragic symptom of the city's decay, a concept they themselves wouldn't even understand.

The Story

"The notion that nature can be calculated inevitably leads to the conclusion that humans too can be reduced to basic mechanical parts..."

The year is 209X. The old nations are ghosts. Climate change, societal collapse, and forgotten wars have shattered America, leaving a landscape carved up by corporate ambition. In the sprawling megalopolis of Cincinnati—Cinci to those who live and die in its streets—megacorporations like Tower Group, CinnTech, and Naas rule from gleaming, fortified towers, their power absolute.

Down below, in the neon-drenched, rain-slicked canyons of the slums and the monolithic arcologies known as the Projects, life is a desperate hustle. This is a world of runners, fixers, gangers, and scavengers, all fighting for their next score, their next meal, their next breath. Technology is a double-edged sword; cybernetic implants can make you a god, but they can also make you a target. Information is the most valuable currency, and violence is the most common transaction.

This is the world you are about to enter. Your past has been scrubbed, your identity a blank slate. You're here for a job. To survive, you'll need to learn the streets, build a crew, and decide who you want to be. The stories below are fragments from this broken world—whispers from the recent past that have shaped the present you now face.

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Timeline of Recent Events

This timeline pieces together key events from the archived narratives, establishing the chain of incidents that have recently shaken the underworld of Cinci and the surrounding Badlands.

The Past (Circa 2078-2080s)

The Telogia Raid: A black-ops team of elite mercenaries, including individuals known as Mal and Morgan Long, is betrayed during a disastrous mission against a Naas debriefing facility in the Florida panhandle. The team is wiped out, scattering the few survivors and creating bitter rivalries that will fester for over a decade. (Storm Force)

The Present (A Turbulent Period in the 2090s)

The Fall of a Fixer: Layde, a well-established fixer operating out of Murphy's Bar, is systematically destroyed by Dog, a sadistic enforcer from the city's NoGo Core. It is later revealed that Dog was secretly contracted by a black-ops unit within Tower Group, led by Cordova, to neutralize Layde, who had discovered too much about their operations. (Dog & her teeth, No Justice)

The Snakehead Execution: Ken Hong, a senior member of the Lucky Shen snakehead gang, is publicly executed. The murder is photographed by freelancer Sally Stone, who is warned off investigating further by fixers Sammie and Leon. Cordova's unit later assassinates Sally's editor to suppress the story and prevent a full-scale gang war from disrupting their primary operation. (Gangland, No Justice)

The Gamble Street Bombing: Cordova's unit orchestrates the bombing of a Tower Group APC on Gamble Street. The chaos serves as a cover for their main objective.

• The attack is carried out by a brain-wiped puppet, who is immediately eliminated by a hired sniper. (Goes Bang, Glint)
• The incident is observed from afar by Trooper Jackson, a disillusioned Tower Group drone operator. (Drone Station)

The Triad Coup: Using the Gamble Street bombing as a pretext, Cordova's unit extracts Tony Wu, leader of the Five Lucky Winds triad, and delivers him to his lifelong rival, Lucky Shen. This act decapitates the triad leadership and prevents a gang war that Wu was planning, thus preserving the fragile status quo that Tower Group desires in the slums. (No Justice)

A Botched Run: Runners Kaylee and Denny are ambushed during a smuggling run on the Ohio River. Denny is killed. Believing she was set up, Kaylee hunts down and kills her fixer, BabyO, before going to ground in the Eastwood arcology. (Denny and Me)

The Courier's Sacrifice: An assassin, hired by Rohden, uses a terminally ill courier named Angela as a living bomb to eliminate the reclusive and untouchable information brokers known as the Siprasi Twins. The assassin confirms the kill with corrupt city detective Ferguson. (Angela)

The Sinclair Extraction: In the Badlands, a scavenger crew led by Sugar and including members Jake, Salt, and Micky is hired to transport a crate for a shell company called Biophorm.

• The crew is ambushed and destroyed. This is witnessed from the perspective of Jake. (Badland Blues)
• It is revealed the entire operation was a multi-layered corporate extraction. The crate contained Michael Sinclair, a CinnTech scientist. The ambush was orchestrated by a CinnTech counter-extraction team to identify who was trying to steal Sinclair. The ultimate twist is that the lead CinnTech operator was, in fact, defecting to Naas and had orchestrated the entire affair as their own extraction. (Extraction)

The Aftermath

A Ghost from the Past: Mal, a survivor of the Telogia raid, lives in self-imposed exile on a derelict oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. When Morgan Long, another survivor, washes ashore, old wounds and dark secrets are reopened, leading to a violent and tragic conclusion. (Storm Force)

An International Trail: Detective Ferguson, operating far from his usual beat in Cinci, travels to Brazil. His mission is to dismantle the Irmandade Roxa, a cartel that has begun smuggling people from the collapsed United States to more stable nations like Brazil, reversing the old-world dynamic. (Inbound)

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World Compendium

Key Factions

Megacorporations: Entities like Tower Group (private security), CinnTech (biotech), Naas (diversified), and Rohden (diversified) are the true governments. They control the PZs, enforce their own laws, and wage shadow wars against each other using black-ops teams and corporate assassins.

Triads & Yakuza: Traditional organized crime syndicates that control specific territories, most notably Gamble Street. They maintain a fragile peace with each other and a political arrangement with Tower Group.

Snakeheads: Brutal and secretive people-smuggling cartels, such as those led by Lucky Shen. They are considered dangerously unpredictable even by other criminal factions.

Street Gangs (Jags & Modes): Hyper-violent, style-obsessed gangs that control territory in the slums and Projects. Their conflict is a constant feature of street life.

Runners & Scavengers: The freelance backbone of the underworld. Runners take on illegal jobs within the city, while scavenger crews brave the dangers of the Badlands for salvage and high-risk hauling contracts.

Key Locations

Cincinnati (Cinci): A sprawling, decaying megalopolis on the Ohio River. The primary setting for the game.

The Slums: The vast, low-lying, and chaotic majority of the city. A mixture of shanties, makeshift markets, and crumbling pre-collapse architecture.

The Projects: Towering, self-contained arcologies (e.g., Eastwood, Bronson) that house millions. Each is a vertical city with its own culture, economy, and dangers.

Protected Zones (PZs): Walled-off, high-security corporate enclaves where the elite live and work, completely isolated from the reality of the city below.

The Badlands: The desolate, lawless expanse outside of Cinci, littered with the ruins of old towns and highways. Home to scavengers, isolated compounds, and corporate black sites.

The Core: A NoGo Zone in the heart of the city. A dense, dark, and anarchic slab of urban hell, home to the most desperate and dangerous elements of society, such as the snuffer studios.