Hiya!

Those actually [i]aren't[/i] mutually exclusive - your characters [i]are[/i] supposed to be members of the "underclass" or, at the very least, not part of the corporate elite. 

There are story reasons - ones that you, as a player, and probably your characters, should be a little suspicious of - as to why this person has offered you and the group a sack of cash (payment on completion, of course, or perhaps a little taste up front) to do this job. There's a little bit (okay, a lot) of railroading here for the sake of getting things started quickly, but your character already [i]has[/i] accepted this job, and so far, the job is easier than you probably think it should have been.

Because I don't want to do a long and drawn-out introduction with all the characters meeting one another, the presupposition is that you [i]are[/i] a group that has done jobs together in the past. Whether those jobs have been being bodyguards, fixing potholes, or being hired to break into jewelry stores is something I'm largely leaving to you, unless you'd like me to just say "You All Are A Group Doing X." While you [i]have[/i] worked together, you are not a well-known crew. It is [i]suspicious[/i] that this person has approached you - but he's offered you enough money that you're willing to go along with it, even against your (much) better judgement.


In terms of how "augmented" the population as a whole is, there's a few different avenues to acquire that technology - sort of digesting the introductions, you have:

- The generally-affluent class who typically have internal augmentations - neural networks that do [i]not[/i] control prostheses. These don't require surgery in many cases, and more typically represent something like the world's best combination of Google Glass and a smartphone. They are very expensive and comparatively rare.

- People who have the much heavier-duty, more difficult and dangerous to install networks that [i]do[/i] control external prostheses (limbs, eyes, organs, musculoskeletal reinforcements). These are subsidized by governments heavily to certain classes of people (The grieviously injured, congenitally deformed, or those who file a petition with a governing body that accepts the petition) to the point where they are either low or no-cost. A large population of people who [i]are[/i] otherwise destitute have extensive augmentations - but the job they were installed for ended, never started, or damaged those people in some other way. Many of these people are desperate or criminals.

- Black market clinics exist for people who have been denied petitions or simply [i]want[/i] to be augmented. They are expensive and dangerous.

- "First party" clinics also exist for people who want augmentations, too. They are [i]less[/i] expensive than the black market clinics, but are difficult to access - people who do not live in the Corporate Zones have a very hard time getting services from these places.

This is an intentional inversion of what you'd expect from the...mm...."source material," because I think it's interesting.

Does that help?

Edited: In terms of how augmented YOUR characters are, I don't really care so long as you give me good reasons, and tell me a good story, explaining why they're 9/10ths robot or if they've got an artificial pinky toe.