Inspired by the likes of Jet Set/Grind Radio, Mirror’s Edge, and the best of dystopian cyberpunk fiction like Neal Stephenson’s “Snow Crash” and the comic series “Transmetropolitan”, not to mention the most hilarious film ever, Pirate Radio, I bring you:

[i]"Tee, I think we lost them!" the young green-haired man rasped, a hand clenched over his black Protot7peTM jacket as his eyes wildly searched the buzzing chaos behind them. Bright modern screens depicting models demonstrating the latest must-have gadget on endless repeat clashed with neon signs, the streaks of light caused by vehicles and drones dashing through space occupied just seconds ago by a pedestrian, and the endlessly diverse crowd that swelled and breathed across the platforms and buildings that made up Floor Fifty-Eight, Shinjuku District. Nothing. Or at least, no sign of the unmarked individuals who had caught the tail-end of the young man and his partner as they fled their hidey-hole on Floor Sixty-Two seven blocks over. It was strange... the MetPo usually were so damn proud and excited to be killing that they wore their uniforms with pride. But if not the MetPo, then... "Tee, you think that...?"

"Shut up, Ruu. I'm listening." Ruu's partner Tee was crouched on the ground, one hand pressed to his ear while the other held onto a complex device that looked like a heavily modified radio broadcaster. It was normally useless to try and hear anything over the sheer noise of Metro Tokyo, but with the special device embedded in Tee's ear, he could cut out most frequencies except the ones he was looking for - the sound of spider drones crawling over the concrete exteriors of the skyscrapers. After a long moment, he stood up with a smile and turned to his partner. "Hey, Tee, I don't hear the drones so the fuckin' MetPo must'a lost us, ya? You can't shut down, Vibe Radio Sixty-Two, isn't that rig-"

Ruu suddenly realized that Tee was no longer where Tee had been standing moments before. In fact, what was left of Tee completely covered the wall behind Ruu in a macabre display of violence. Whirling around all too late, Ruu saw the perpetrator of his best friend's murder just as the bio-chemically charged round entered his chest. As he slumped to the ground, Ruu could feel the nanobots released by the charge chewing away at his body. He had maybe fifteen seconds to live. Rolling over in agony, he blurrily saw the woman who had fired the gun reach down to his ear and pluck out his listening device. He opened his mouth to scream, to ask a question, to say something... but nothing came out but an agonized moan. The woman looked down without pity and snorted.

"Would'a worked, kid, if we were the Met. But we ain't the Met." And with that, Ruu knew no more. The woman calmly deployed her clean-up drone, and within a minute the only trace of the murders were blood stains that merely added to those already covering the concrete. Turning briskly, she walked the one block to the "chute", one of the aptly named vertical tunnels that allowed for garbage disposal to the Graveyard, and dropped the remains in. Seconds later, all that was left of "Vibe Radio Sixty-Two" was an empty apartment soon to be seized by desperate neighbours.[/i]

[centre]This is...[/centre]

[centre][b]RADIO FREE METROPOLIS[/b][/centre]

[centre][IMG]http://i60.tinypic.com/206c6ly.jpg[/IMG][/centre]
[centre]Credit to: http://www.deviantart.com/art/Jet-Set-Radio-Future-Gum-391718154[/centre]

[centre][b]Intro[/b][/centre]

Welcome to the year 2134. Humankind has done the miraculous, leapfrogging off of the Earth and into space. The last three decades have seen millions of tiny, fragile, all-so-moral earthlings escape the tomb they dug for themselves with pollution, waste, and most of all war. These privileged few have started the exodus, but there is no guarantee, especially not the likelihood, that humanity will make a full escape. Though the nuclear holocaust that devastated the Earth’s population in 2084 failed to produce either the doomsday or send the remnants of human civilization back into the dark ages, it did centralize the three billion remaining to a few self-governing megacities holding upwards of a hundred million people each. To name but a few of the main ones: New Amsterdam on the old Antarctic shelf, the Chicago-Detroit-Toronto Metropolitan Area, the twin cities of Paris-Brussels, the sprawling masses of poverty and suffering in both Lagos and Cairo, the mechanical marvel of Metro La Paz in former Paraguay, and the ‘natural’ New Sydney in the terra-formed Australian desert. These new megacities were formed to house the millions displaced by rising ocean levels, and those forcibly displaced to make the most efficient use of the arable land left behind. There is natural life in these new edifices of concrete and steel, but is tucked away behind miles of pipes and roads and skyscrapers, each layered on top of the next to firmly segregate the fortunate from the less fortunate. The struggle of mother earth against her most rebellious sons, however, is not so easily suppressed…

[hider=Setting, Please Read!]That brings the casual observer to the greatest offender of all the new cities: Metro-Tokyo, or simply just the ‘Metropolis’ to the most. With a population exceeding three hundred million jammed into just four thousand square kilometres, the incomprehensible mess of languages and cultures that permeates the scientific and engineering marvels keeping the entire city afloat, mostly fed, and partially clean, boggles the imagination, as does the complexity of the street language: metropolitan. Of even greater note, however, is the fantastical space elevator that sits at the centre of the city, connecting the wretched on the earth with the resources sent from their generous cousins mining asteroids and the moons of Jupiter. But this is no altruism, for there is still a fortune to be made exploiting human misery, even in the 22nd millennium. In these megacities, democracy is all but a farce to make the diminishing middle class feel better about their vanishing rights; organized crime bosses, super corporations, and megalomaniacs masquerading as philanthropists make the real rules. And yet, here in the twisting and winding mazes of Metropolis, they cannot utilize their destructive potential to recreate the all-out war of the past. All realize that the real lifeblood flows from space, and to jeopardize the elevator would be to commit suicide. Thus, as always, men and women must bleed and die on the streets of Metropolis for the benefit of ironclad, invisible, and now even almost immortal masters.

Technological advances have revolutionized control, placing almost the entire city under the eye of ‘law enforcement’, which enforce the law of whoever pays them enough. There is no reprieve from this eye online either. The internet is a thing of the past for most: private networks are relied upon due to the speed and invasive power of automated viruses and computer-aided hackers who can steal almost all data left unencrypted or unguarded for even a millisecond on an open network. And it’s not just computers that can be hacked; any internet-connected device without proper safeguards can be used against its owner. Cases of hacked phones, music players, cars, tablets, houses, weapons, and even pacemakers are reported regularly. For those truly wishing to keep their identity free in the new world, then, older technology is making resurgences.

Bicycles, rollerblades, skateboards, even oil-based rocket packs if the fuel can be found, replace other methods of travel, albeit with a modern twist. And even more importantly, the role of the courier has become ever more important in keeping private information private. Typewritten documents, packages, rare animals, anything imaginable is now transported daily by couriers all over the city, often risking life and limb to get their next paycheck. But hey, it’s better than starving… And now, in the greatest juxtaposition of all, ham radio operators have made a comeback, broadcasting their signals out on all frequencies to flood the airwaves with so much traffic that it is nigh impossible to track down one single broadcaster. Most are harmless, would be reporters or music-stars, who receive little attention and deserve even less. Others are bothersome, such as wronged individuals or petty criminals openly plotting crimes. But others… others threaten so many of the rich and powerful, that the one consensus amongst their ranks is that those radio operators must be eliminated.

This is the world of Radio Free Metropolis, and those allied with it, those who dare to speak truth to power, to expose lies for no benefit other than the satisfaction of doing so, to risk their lives for a chance at a better thrill or a better life than they are living now, cynical social justice warriors keen to inflict some damage, and even those few who just want to dance while human civilization on Earth burns itself to a crisp in one last great burst of passion.[/hider]

Some more fluff and intro-stuff to make the following OOC more understandable.

[hider=Metro-Tokyo Layout (IC)]To truly imagine the layout of the Metropolis, one has to first imagine a city where horizontal wealth disparity has ceased to exist. There are no ‘poor’ and ‘rich’ neighbourhoods, no ‘quaint seaside communities’ or ‘up and coming hip streets’, and definitely no respect for traditional landmarks. Everything has been built over or is loomed over by a maze of interconnected and gigantic skyscrapers, reaching up ever higher to the clean air above, and using whatever technology the owners in the Penthouses have available to keep it that way. [i]Vertical disparity[/i] is the name of the game in Metropolis, where there is a constant competition to move up floors rather than down and the claim to social status comes from whether you look down on the neon advertisements or longingly up at them.

Of course, no one wants to associate or look back at the misery from which they’ve come, so every few floors or so there is a mismatch of crossings, markets, impromptu and often unsafe platforms, and entire communities daily lives play out on top of them. Furthermore, a vast majority of skyscrapers have their walls open with the exception of supporting pillars, providing easy thoroughfares across the city if you’re familiar with the labyrinth. People work, eat, sleep, and reproduce without ever moving up or down a few metres simply out of the fear of the judgment they’d receive from their peers. At the lower levels, one rarely ever finds natural sunlight due to the smog and the sheer number of wires, overpasses, ziplines, extensions, platforms, and other contraptions hanging above them. Indeed, with so many people jammed into such a tiny space, the only way one can make a name for themselves legitimately is to be ever present and working. Be present, be interesting, and most of all be wealthy enough – or be forgotten.

Though this typifies the life and thus the structure of most residents of Metropolis, there are plenty who discard the endless rat-race for higher status and choose to pursue any number of alternatives in the shadier or outright illegal spectrum of opportunities. It is their corpses, and the corpses of people who get in their way, which most of all litter the ground in the [b]Graveyard[/b], the most literally named sector of the city at the very bottom of most skyscrapers. But this does not discourage the countless masses which sign up daily to rebel and seek a better life for them doing any job they can get paid for. And thus social mobility is alive and well in Metropolis: fight your way up the ladder, but if you don’t know when to stop you will fall all the way down to the Graveyard, feeding the incomes of the very poorest as they pillage your body for rags and who-knows-what-else.[/hider]

The important stuff for RPing: the playground is 3D. Thus, keep that in mind when on a battlefield or doing something cool. I've kept landmarks out of it for the most part, so feel free to invent your own; they'll be important so that characters can rationally expect to meet up again in the chaos of Metro Tokyo without relying on too much technology.

[hider=OOC Setting Layout] For the most part, skyscrapers in Metropolis reach around 150 stories near the very center of the city, where the characters are presumed to all be located. The central districts ring the starport and the space elevator, which occupies the only free air in the entire city. These districts are Bunkyo, to the north, Taito, to the east, Chiyoda, to the south, and Shinjuku, to the west. These all have at various levels almost every service you could imagine, though I will mention the general composition of the various levels.

0-5: the Graveyard.

6-25: extreme poverty. People jam-packed into tiny spaces and working for even less than that. Rife with violence and crime, but an easy place to hide.

26-50: the poor. Most are still engaged in informal labour, but a number do have formal jobs and here is where you see advertising truly begin to emerge in full force, along with mechanized transports such as flying buses or hovercraft of various types. Most are decades old, though. Expect major gang and organized crime activity here, as it is exceptionally poorly ‘policed’.

51-75: the working poor. Driven by consumerism and a quest to succeed, the advertising and the extra-structural extensions and platforms reach a peak around floor sixty and continue in dazzling force until about the hundredth floor. Though these individuals have a slightly more regular income, many of them what you would call white collar workers in our day, they have been driven into relative poverty by massive wage disparities and crushing rent. Many are also involved in crime, and most organized crime is run out of this district though the bosses live far above.

76-110: the ‘middle class’. Though just as vulnerable as the working poor, these individuals have higher paying jobs and are often professionals with research or development, or even management in major corporations. A massive number of headquarters for offices are in this section, interspaced with ambitious individuals trying to escaped the crush below. Expect just as much dizzying advertising and claustrophobic platforming, though more mechanized and more secure. Around the eightieth floor, serious police efforts begin to be seen, meaning that cameras are everywhere and hidden turrets and drones can easily be dispatched to eliminate anyone the controllers desire. Prisons, where they exist, are located in the Graveyard, so don’t get your hopes up about justice in Metro-Tokyo.

111-150: welcome to the big time. More people live in floor one hundred in most buildings than live in floors 120-150 combined. Expect massive wealth, the complete disappearance of platforms, and the clean and fresh air of luxury. Oh, did I not mention the fans? Yes, floor 110 across most of the city has giant fans dedicated to blowing smog down and out of the city, making life at the bottom medically unsafe. But really, the people at the top never have to see them and only have to travel down to floor one hundred to meet all of their essential shopping needs. For the very richest, their purchases are delivered for them, meaning their life, work, and luxury happens without ever leaving their clean-air paradise.

Realistically, your characters would be from somewhere around floor 35 to floor 115. I’m okay with having characters that have a relatively rich origin, but seeing as for the most part you’ll be operating within the 60-80 range it seems reasonable to assign those limits. Don’t underestimate how stupidly powerful the technology arrayed against trespassers above floor 125 is: before that point it can be hacked, destroyed, or avoided with danger, but without the power to take down multiple networks or destroy entire sides of skyscrapers, you’re not getting access to those floors. Yet. Climbing up the side of a skyscraper in the open is a sure way to get shot by a bored and uncaring law enforcement agent.[/hider]

The following is a brief overview of a few groups that will certainly be present in the RP in some form or another. Improvise and add on to them as you will. I haven't added resistance groups like Radio Free Metropolis, as those will be first introduced in the IC, but be aware that they do exist. You can invent some, if you'd like.

[hider=Politics in Metro-Tokyo]There are a number of organizations you should be aware of:

Metropolitan Senate: Five thousand senators, elected in a ‘completely democratic and fair manner’, set laws and regulations that mostly ensure the status quo. They do provide limited degrees of social welfare when they’re not concerned with managing corporate competition or offworld exports, so to see Aid trucks on the lower levels heavily guarded by Metropolitan Senate Security is not an unexpected sight.

MetroPolice: Each district has its own police force, subdivided into three categories: floors 0-75, floors 75-100, and floors 100-150. All these forces theoretically report to the Metropolitan Senate. Thus, when entering a new district or moving between levels too rapidly, be aware that the bribe you paid in the previous district or level category may no longer be effective. The MetroPolice is ridiculously corrupt, though they can be brutally effective in getting what they want.

Gangs: Too many to name, but here’s a few organized crime conglomerates that you need to keep an eye out for: the Yakuza in Bunkyo, the “Carpenters” in Shinjuku, the Metro Triads in mostly Chiyoda and Taito, and “Fetish Inc” in all districts which continues the fine tradition of organized crime in providing prostitutes and slaves for whatever your heart, and wallet, desires. Expect to encounter brutal turf wars from time to time, both between major gangs and those wishing to break into the big-time.

Corporations: WAY too many to name. The larger the corporation, the more dedicated and well-equipped their private security forces will be. Though most don’t use their forces against other corporations, it is not an uncommon occurrence for a smaller competitor to simply vanish one day from the mega-malls.

Army: The Metropolitan Armed Forces… don’t mess with them. They rarely interfere in internal affairs and deal with outside ‘acquisitions’ and so you should never normally encounter them, but they have no qualms about blowing up entire platforms to kill a single person. Seriously, don’t get their attention.[/hider]

[centre][b]Style of RP[/b][/centre]

In this RP, I want to try something [b]multimedia[/b] meaning if you can tell part of your story or contribute to the world of other characters through photography, art, music-writing, poetry, descriptions, or any possible creative way that you can imagine, I invite you to do so. This does not mean that if you are only comfortable writing you can’t be a part of this story: I encourage you to dig just as deeply into building parts of the world as well. You also don’t have to create every single multimedia piece you use, and can draw from your favourite artists of all kinds. However, the reason I’m trying this is because I think it deepens the connection and satisfaction when you have created something yourself that enriches other people’s roleplaying.

Once you have familiarized yourself with the setting, which I’ve tried to keep brief enough to allow you guys to develop landmarks while providing you the basics to write them in the first place, I want you to write characters that follow these few pointers:

[b]Juxtaposition[/b]: imagine life in the 22nd millennium, in such a tight and cramped space as Metro-Tokyo. How would you innovate to meet your goals? In the face of such chaos, would you go hyper-advanced to gain a technological edge over the average person with all the risks that entails (in terms to thievery and exposure to high-tech threats), or would you fall back on old technology retro-fitted for the modern age?

[b]Branding[/b]: Everything is branded. Everything. Even if you don’t want to fall into a subculture, you’re already there, and someone has done it before you. People make a living in Metro-Tokyo simply keeping up with the culture and fashion confusion, to absolutely no end at all.

[b]Be a Part of the Story[/b]: Design a character that is out on the edge in some way – what skills do they have to contribute that are unique and with appropriate support could pose a threat to the existing system. Don’t imagine such power that your character could singlehandedly take down the hierarchy, but assume that they are several orders of magnitude more talented (though not necessarily trained and skilled) in their chosen niche than the people around them. The examples that I have already seen or thought of range from the expected such as an agile scout, hacker, or brute force thug, to the unexpected but useful, such as a filmmaker, actress, or weapons tinkerer.

[b]Leave Room for Character Advancement[/b]: should be self-explanatory. You’ll all be special little snowflakes soon enough, believe me.

Please review the following character sheet, even if you've posted one, and feel free to go back over it and add in more detail if you wish given the new material I've posted above.

[hider=Example Character Sheet]I’ve completed just the first few sections of the sheet to give you an idea of where to start. Other character sheets in the IC thread are similarly helpful for ideas. You can add additional sections if you wish, but try not to limit yourself too much and leave room to record new items, personality changes, and so on. You may want to fill out these sections in greater detail than my flippant effort as well. =)

[b]Name[/b]: (Intense racial mixing has made names mostly unrelated to the actual race of the individual. Name them whatever you like!) [i]Jai Subramanian[/i]

[b]Age[/b]: [i]34[/i]

[b]Gender/Sexuality[/b]: [i]Male/Homosexual[/i]

[b]Main Skill[/b]: (What is the one thing they are exceptional at beyond all else?) [i]Data Entry. Jai is incredibly skilled and talented at his job, for which he has worked for years, in which he enters routine shipping data into a computer for NycoTech Inc. He can enter data so fast he has won employee of the month four times, though that distinction only comes with a promotion to senior data entry clerk where Jai gets to enter twice as much data. That’s okay, though, because Jai loves data.[/i]

[b]Secondary Skills[/b]: (list up to four, don’t need that many, leave room for growth)
[i]1.	Typing
2.	Sitting Comfortably
3.	Cooking[/i]

[b]Quirk[/b]: (personality wise, what makes them unique and interesting?) [i]Jai is unusually happy about long strings of numbers. This is matched only by his love of Cajun cooking.[/i]

[b]Oddity[/b]: (personality wise, what makes them off-putting?) [i]Jai is unusually happy about… just kidding. Jai has an unfortunate intensity to his personality and a focus on tasks that can make being around him feel like being around a machine. That’s just fine for his employer, though.[/i]

[b]Flaw[/b]: (personality wise, what creates problems for this character?) [i]Jai has missed many opportunities to advance because he’s followed protocol, whereas others who cheat or lie have taken the risk and moved up the corporate ladder. Sheer hard work can only bring Jai so far.[/i]

[b]Secret Weapon[/b]: (personality-wise OR socially, what has this character got that nobody knows about?) [i]Jai’s long-term partner, Rickard, is a gang-member of the Yakuza to Jai’s great shame. However, without his knowledge Jai has secretly been protected from numerous assassination attempts by people below him on the corporate ladder due to his connections to Rickard. It’s been six years and Jai still hasn’t figured out why his coworkers keep falling to accidental deaths.[/i]

[b]Goal in Life (meta)[/b]: (long-term) [i]Provide a stable life for his partner.[/i]

[b]Goal in Life (immediate)[/b](short-term goal) [i]Get a promotion to management (seven years and running)[/i]

[b]Reason-They-Will-Ultimately-Win[/b]: (what is going to make this character succeed in their long-term quest – bring in both personality, skills, history, anything you think relevant. Paint a story in a paragraph for me.) [i]The rest of the character sheet left out to keep length down – but the rest should be self-explanatory.[/i]

[b]Reason-They-Will-Ultimately-Fail[/b]: (same as the above, but in reverse)

[b]Theme song(s)[/b]: (MUSIC YEAH. Any genre, absolutely any.) 

[b]Description[/b]: (art or words fine, but I prefer lots of both) 

[b]Equipment[/b]: (Everything is branded. Everything. Nike Quickshot™ Super-blades, for example. I don’t need to know everything your character will have access too, instead I want ONLY up to three [b]well-defined and personalized[/b] items that make your character. You can have headphones without listing them here, for example, but if you want super special headphones and they’re essential to your vision of your character you need to mark it down.)

[b]Generic Equipment[/b]: (Space for your notes about your gear so that consistency can be maintained, anything you think important that’s not in the above. One or two liners.)

[b]Short Bio[/b]: (You can write more, but I prefer one very well-thought out paragraph that leaves lots of room of expansion and tying backstories together with other players. Please list your brief socio-economic background, such as what floor you come from and what floor you currently spend most of your time on. Feel free to identify landmarks in the central districts in your Bio that can become important in the story later.)[/hider]