The setting: present day, present time. For all anyone cares, the optimism of the early 2000s is further away than the next century.
The constant rumble of lightning is a backdrop to the metropolis; once an isolated community, Vanta City is the product of international corporate ambitions.
Ostensibly, it's run by the République, and their military police, the Securitat. In truth, they and everyone else are puppets of the corporations that have made this place their playground.
Let's face it, under the authority of the Securitat and their masters, everyone in Vanta City — from the local yakuza to the legal citizens — is guilty of something. But those who are especially guilty are referred to as Flatliners… criminals with some kind of death wish; criminals with an eye for profit; and criminals like you.
// THE HISTORY OF FLATLINERS // (SUPER WIP)
Only a handful of generations have passed in the sixty years since the foundations of Vanta City were laid, yet a time traveler from the past might be astounded by the changes between then and now. Indeed, surviving pre-Panic evidence depicts a world radically different from our own. The longer one looks though, the deeper sense one gets of something hauntingly familiar. And from this sense, one can begin to trace a sequence of events that grew Vanta City from its humble beginning into the famed nexus of culture and technology.
Agitation (the Extinction Revolt; 2019-2023)
Collectivism (the Green Future; 2023-2031)
Mortalism (the Panic; 2031-2034)
Criticalism (the Reconstruction; 2034-2040)
Art Eco (the Soaring Forties; 2040-2049)
Transience (the Silent War; 2049-2056)
Stagnation (the Net War; 2056-2068)
Neo-Industrialism (2068-2075)
Monopolism (2075-Present…)
Agitation (the Extinction Revolt; 2019-2023)
- “Peak Oil” is reached, forecasting a terminal decline in petroleum supply; the Petroleum Syndicate is formed, branding itself PetroSyn; Russia and Saudi Arabia decline membership
- Social upheaval reaches historic highs around the world in the face of climate catastrophe and widening income inequality
- The first Drifter Clans are formed in the midwestern US, Central America and the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, Siberia, the South Pacific, and the Arabian Peninsula
- After years of bitter ideological conflict, Califa, Cascadia, Lincoln, Red Sands, and the Union of Texas secede from the United States; the province of British Columbia secedes from Canada and joins Cascadia
- The economic war between Russia and Saudi Arabia over oil prices escalates to military conflict
- The Second American Civil War begins with the Battle of San Francisco
- France leaves the European Union and establishes Le Domaine Impérial, absorbing Belgium, Luxembourg, part of Switzerland, and the regions of Alsace-Lorraine and Pfalz; the Dominion unifies with Tunisia, Algiers, and much of western Africa in the following year
Collectivism (the Green Future; 2023-2031)
- Social upheaval reaches a boiling point, sparking multiple regime changes; some are peaceful, but most former heads-of-state resist violently or flee into exile
- The first act of many new governments is to establish mutual aid treaties, weakening self-sufficiency but strengthening the global community and raising the quality of life around the world
- Responding to Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, and Romania leave the European Union and form the ___/___
- Florida, Louisiana, and parts of the Caribbean and Southeast Asia join the Dominion
- Fleeing legal reforms, Solara Systems Limited, Gibson United, and _ establish offices in Ciudad Maracay
- The Second American Civil War ends with the simultaneous battles of Twin Falls and Salt Lake City
- The Treaty of Denver is signed; Wyoming, Colorado, and the Union of Texas are reclaimed as protectorates, buffer states occupied by the new American Republic; a non-aggression pact is signed with Calafia and Cascadia
- Construction of the Maracay Orbital Tether begins
Mortalism (the Panic; 2031-2034)
- The Orbital Tether reaches 65% completion
- PetroSyn attempts to retain its economic power by artificially limiting oil supply, causing price shocks to oil-reliant nations
- “Bravo Day”; a powerful coronal mass ejection hits the earth and reacts violently with the magnetosphere, generating electric current that overloads power grids and radio communication; the Blackout begins
- Global supply chains topple like dominoes; food, water, and medicine shortages lead to civil unrest; shortages in materials lead to aggression between key players in almost every industry
- PetroSyn splinters; some factions argue to conserve their dwindling oil stocks for future profit; others seek a rapid, if fragile, recovery from the Blackout
- Disease is widespread in the absence of proper sanitation and medical care
- Regional communities and even entire nations collapse due to widespread systemic strains; Drifter Clans grow in both number and population; many do not last beyond the first year
- The American Republic negotiates for international aid from the French Dominion and China in exchange for military contracts
- Nairobi is burned to the ground by Kenyan rebels
Criticalism (the Reconstruction; 2034-2040)
- Progress on the Orbital Tether, delayed by the chaos of the Panic, is slow but steady; its construction drives recovery in Maracay and the Caribbean
- Lucentio Lachance returns to Maracay and renames it San Luca
- The San Luca Orbital Tether is finally completed
- Hurricane Juanita strikes San Luca
- Construction begins on New Nairobi with the financial backing of the Saudi Royal Family, in exchange for key business opportunities.
Art Eco (the Soaring Forties; 2040-2049)
- The Miyuki family builds an estate on the outskirts of San Luca
- Wikus Corporation merges with Gibson United
Transience (the Silent War; 2049-2056)
Stagnation (the Net War; 2056-2068)
Neo-Industrialism (2068-2075)
- New Nairobi, the world's first and only floating city, is completed above the ruins of Nairobi. This marvel of engineering rises above the ashes, bringing tourists and investors to the new city.
Monopolism (2075-Present…)
- Lucentio Lachance is found dead in his apartment in the Windward Sector
- Marisol Ochoa becomes CEO of Aeschylus Industries via hostile takeover