Synthetic Soul

in the year 2091, the global warming was at it’s peak. 99% of Earth was a scorching desert with no life. the remaining 1% was few regions in europe and america still having clean water and manageable heat. at that point, the remaining world governments decided that they needed to approach the problem radically. on July 12, 2091 at 12:34 the US government passes a law, forcing every remaining US citizens to have their mind scanned and uploaded to external databank, which resulted in all US citizens becoming digital entities kept in virtual paradise. few months later, on September 28 at 14:47 the European governments, or what’s left of them, declared identical law. during the next 7 years scientists and engineers were developing new, synthetic form of life. that, lead to a project Fenix and creation of first line of synthetic organisms in the Fenix line. those consisted of animalistic robots that were supposed to simulate the wolves. the experiment was a success, kicking off a whole technological boom. the technology was advancing fast, and in the year 2101 second line of Fenix biorobots were released. during the next 4 years new, so called biomachines were made and released in slowly regenerating Earth. the biomachines were simulating animals that once inhabited Earth. the creatures were fully synthetic, with metal endoskeleton and plastic plating. the creatures simulated the animals 1 to 1, reproducing, dying of all age, and consuming other machines. the machines were equipped with a technology that allowed them to fully deconstruct the remaining of died machines and produce a small nanobots that stimulated the regenerative process of Earth. and, in the year 2108 first humanoid biomachine was produced. a chip containing a mind of a real human was installed inside, and allowed the person to control the body fully. unfortunately, the first testrun resulted in an incident where the components burned up and the person’s mind was erased, basically killing them. the prototype was a breakthrough in biomachine technology. and, later, first biomachines designed for mass production were made. the humanoid biomachines later earned the name SHELL and the first mass produced variant was patented by a corporation called A.B.T. also known as Adam’s Biomachine Technologies. in the next 20 years the human civilization was reborn, now in synthetic bodies.

in the year 2114, A.B.T. introduced their first synthetic plant, designed to clear the atmosphere. this lead to a founding of a new corporation called Dionysus Ecotech, D.S. for short, specializing in production and development of synthetic plants that helped the biomachines and cleared the Earth’s atmosphere. in the year 2116 first organic grass had returned. few years later, first organic flower had grown.

unfortunately, in the year 2119 the things get worse. the society, who had been living with nothing but synthetic flora and fauna were afraid and actively disgusted by organic plants, which led to people cutting them down. that did not paid off, and lead to a multiple of homicides in Belgium. total of 45 people were killed and their minds deleted. the corporations though, saw and opportunity in this. and with the release of fourth Fenix biomachines, A.B.T. and D.S. took the recycling feature out. the biomachines were still able to digest the remaining of other machines, but no longer did they produce the nanobots or cleaned the atmosphere. in the year 2120 the Green Earth project kicked off. the project in question was a plan to replace earth. special solutions were developed, causing the earth to become poor on minerals which prevented any organic live, but supported synthetic life. during the next 4 years, synthetic plants and animals spread all over Earth, with new models being developed to simulate the organic plants.

now, in the year 2126 the Earth was green again. but, not in a good sense. the planet was covered in synthetic life that pushed out any organic life that may appear. the humanity started to actively despise any and all organic matter, preferring synthetic over organic. but, the society was rebuild. at first, the society didn’t have any hierarchy, and everybody was doing their part for their settlement. but, in the same year, A.B.T. and D.S. founded their daughter companies. those being Vespasian Arms (VA), Spartacus Heavy Industries (SHI) Quetzalcoatl Luxury Goods (QLG) and Sophron Entertainment INC (SEINC). the corporations were mainly focused on production of different SHELLS and biomechanical animals. at the same time, the society was divided in four groups and one sub-group. at the lowest rank were the average workers that made about 2000 credits per week. the SHELLS for the workers weren’t very expensive and were made by SHI, but they were grey, featureless and with bare minimum in terms of plating. the SHELLS lacked every and all sensory organs, having cheap sensors instead that offered minimum visibility for the hard labor. the workers also could not entertain themselves since the sensors did not support any of that, and they could not physically rest. the SHELL would just remain at maximum energy 24/7, meaning the workers basically became slaves for the upper classes. the next class was the entertainment class. people who worked in entertainment industries such as film making, singing, dancing, painting and so on. the SHELLS were produced mainly by VA and SEINC. those SHELLS were more resembling a normal human, being made for different purposes. fragile and light shells for singers and/or dancers, a more agile SHELL for actors, or more sturdier and synth leather plated SHELL for sexual pleasure. also, the entertainment shells had a sub-category called Gladiators. in the year 2127 a new sport appeared called Cyber Grind. the sport in question was a deathmatch between small groups of people on specialized arenas. the so called “Gladiators” were forced to find weapons and gear on the arena, before either staying alive until the end of the round or killing their opponents. the Gladiators were forced to fight, and most of them were prisoners sentenced to wiping (having their mind deleted from the chip in their shell) and it was a replacement for wiping. their consciousness was kept on special hard-drives instead of normal chips. the drives were extracted from destroyed SHELLS and the survivors of the round could, if they so wish, to keep the drive and the person on it, destroy the drive with the person, or let them go, so the drive would be inserted into new body. the gladiator SHELLS were produced by VA. and, in the year 2128 the rules were changed. now, the a person could, if they so wish, to become a gladiator. if they loose a round, their drive would be just installed into a new SHELL, but if a person was a prisoner, the old rules applied to them. also, Vesparian Arms introduced their new line of shells, being specialized in different combat approaches. the main line is made out of:

Samnite: an average SHELL, with colorful plating, mainly pink, black and green, featureless head, commonly with a build-in monitor instead of a face that can show different images. Samnite were medium armed, and were the standard frame for later designs

Cestus: a more armored SHELL designed for close quarters combat, having intergraded slots for extra shotgun rounds on their arms and thighs, also supporting a custom shield projector on their left hand and more bulkier frame, commonly painted red and black, with their head having two horns like a bull and a flat faceplate that commonly had a face drawn by the Gladiator.

Retiarius: a specialized SHELL designed for close/medium distances, having medium armor and a blue painted body with a head having a build-in piece resembling a cap of a navy officer. they had build in fins on the underside of their arms, being connected to their sides which created wing-like shape, and small underwater engines on their feet and back, allowing them to quickly swim in water or any other liquids. they also have a build in harpoon gun on their right arm with a titanium reinforced cable.

Provocator: a SHELL specialized in long/medium combat, having light frame that was commonly painted pink, white, and cyan. their had was basically a camera with 20x zoom. they also had a special camouflage module that made them blend in with the environment around them, and had a slot for extra sniper rifle rounds on their left arm. the Provocator SHELLs are specialized to kill the enemy before the enemy found them with a special sniper rifle that connected to the visual matrix of the SHELL.

Bestiarius: a SHELL with build in computer terminal on their wrist. commonly painted green, and having minimum plating and completely uncovered sensors on their head, making them look unmistakable. the Bestiarius were always deployed with their biomechanical animal, commonly resembling a canine, or a bird of prey. these SHELLs are commonly let their “pet” loose on their enemies before finishing the enemy with their pistol.

Gladiatrix: a SHELL that was designed for stealth, having an agile woman body (this doesn’t mean the person inside the SHELL is always woman). having very light armorplating and special camouflage technology which allowed them to scramble opponent’s sensors, making the Gladiatrix invisible to the enemy. these SHELLs are very hard to spot, but go down easily if they are discovered.

Paegniarius: a SHELL that wasn’t designed for open combat. the main objective of the SHELL is to extract the hard drives of the downed gladiators during the round. painted white, green and red, they had a flat faceplate with a red cross on the upper half. the lower half was commonly replaced by a respirator-like armorpiece, which helped identify them. the Prageniarius are non-combatons, still always carrying a pistol for self-defense. if a gladiator killed the SHELL, they will get punished after the round.

the Cyber Grind is especially popular among the elite and business class. and most of those classes even become gladiators themselves.

the next citizen class are the business class. the SHELLs of which are commonly produced by QLG and SEINC. the business class shells were resembling a normal human, with colorful, customizable plating and supporting special hands, that had fingers that can split into multiple small appendages which allowed for faster typing or working with small things. the business class SHELLs were basically a common office workers, also they were commonly found in laboratories and as managers on factories or servants for the rich.

and the last class, were the Elite. the skeleton of the SHELL was mass-produced, but the plating was always custom made by special master. the elite who wanted a new shell can contact the master, say what exactly they want, and the master will get it over with. the Elite are the heads of the society. living in on massive penthouses or even entire sky-scrappers all for them. the Elite despise the Workers, and Workers despise the Elite. also, the Elite were popular celebrities and/or actors in popular films.

despite the SHELL not technically needing sustenance, it still needs maintenance. and to help the human mind inside the SHELLS, A.B.T started to produce special synthetic meals with different tastes. those were commonly just a mix of nanabots and minerals needed for maintaining the SHELL. the nanabots after getting inside the SHELL took the minerals and searched for any structural weaknesses, patching them. the synth meals also tricked the chip inside the SHELL with the person’s mind to think it tastes as the package claims. the synthetic meals also help with person’s mind, as the subconsciousness thinks it’s still eating normal food, which makes the person less anxious.

the media is not very different. films, video games, and books still exist. popular platforms like Twitter, Youtube and Instagram are also still function. but, the games are now manly developed by indie developers which make living on making those games, and they can do it really fast without loss of quality. film industry is still also popular, with new popular actors and filmmakers, and studios.

when thing comes to living, the worker class lives in spartan rooms with bare minimum of furniture so they wouldn’t completely lose their mind from endless work. commonly these rooms are shared between multiple workers. the entertainment class commonly lives with the Elite they are supposed to entertain so they wouldn’t go far to work. the business class lives in either apartments in a large living tower with gardens and shops inside, commonly offering a breathtaking view of the cities. or they live in the suburbs with identical houses with two floors, a garage and a backyard.

the vehicles haven’t changed much, being more aerodynamic and faster.

the fashion is different. while the business and entertainment classes refer very colorful and angular designs, commonly having sharp edges and being painted pink, cyan, yellow, bright green and black. while the elite prefer white and golden color scheme.

although, the fashion is heavily affected by the mass production. everything mass produced has the bright colors and sharp angles to show it’s mass produced, as well as having marks from production left on them. also the style can be called graphic realism, since despite everything being very colorful and sharp-edged, it’s still very functional. even having function over form.

the military is basically non-existing since the countries still exist, but only to identify people. every country is controlled by one single government structure. and if a rebel group appears, the special agency can just delete the person remotely. still VA produces various weapons for gladiators. those being:

STRIKE HIR: a battle rifle firing 50.cal caseless munition. the STRIKE is a common weapon for most gladiators, as it’s balanced between great firing speed, ammo capacity and power.

ARIN 12: an assault rifle firing 50.cal caseless munition, but unlike STRIKER HIR it’s made for precision fire.

CLAW 40V: a battle rifle firing custom made self guided caseless munition. the rifle is equipped with tracker, abling the bullets to track the enemy. also, the gladiator can plug into the rifle for more precision. the downside is small magazine capacity and not so good damage.

CONQUEROR 31: a beltfed machinegun, firing 70.cal caseless munition. the firing speed and damage is very good, but the machinegun can fire only for 30 seconds before overheating and the recoil can be too much for most gladiators, so it’s usually mounted on special emplacements on the arena.

RUNNER H1P: a precision, semi-automatic, compact rifle, commonly used by those preferring firing speed and easy handling over power.

NEST 41V a precision rifle, firing custom made self guided projectiles. the rifle trades precision, self guided bullets and high power over magazine capacity and firing speed. also, as with the CLAW 40V the gladiator can plug into it.

VB TAC: a very small pistol, barely bigger than a hand, with very small muzzle velocity, firepower, and magazine capacity but with high stopping speed. the pistol i commonly used as a last option by the gladiator when they have no other options.

Magnum V1: a semi-automatic, highly modular pistol. the gladiator can modify the pistol to either make it into SMG, a sniper rifle or any other gun.

Balista proto: a prototype railgun that is only given to verified gladiators. the railgun has very high muzzle velocity, damage and magazine capacity, but the gladiator has to win 10 rounds in a row to get qualified, and the railgun needs to be charged before every shot. but, with a full charged shot can punch through any armor and even some walls.

RATTLER custom: a double barreled shotgun with short barrel, designed for close quarters, firing either caseless buckshot or caseless slug. also known as Shredder between gladiators for the damage it does at close range.

VOLTER TE7l4: a very specific shotgun, firing a bolt of electricity that becomes unaffected after certain range. trading high battery capacity, damage and firing speed for difficult handling and danger of harming the gladiator who’s using it.

CANAL B1: a sniper rifle, firing custom made caseless munition. the rounds each have their own small battery. the impact itself buries the bullet into the SHELL before the bullet releases a powerful EMP frying the target’s systems. but, to use it the gladiator has to install special eyes that are compatible with the scope.

STRANGER: a sniper rifle that was made from a hunting rifle. being very easily customizable, and firing anti-material, caseless munition.

COACH K1LL: a submachine gun, firing 9mm caseless munition. the SMG is a bullpup with extremely short barrel on the front. the SMG is known for shredding the target almost instantly, but it has low overall damage.

HACKER L1K8: a submachine gun, firing 9mm caseless munition with build in computer. the SMG trades low magazine capacity, damage and fire rate for ability to hack into target’s systems, momentarily disabling the target’s SHELL and opening them for an easy attack.

the arenas themselves are very different. some are specially build for the Hyper Grind while other are abandoned factories and living towers. but the most famous are the New Colosseum. an old A.B.T. business center with glass outer walls and circular shape. inside the building was once a park for the workers that was flooded with white liquid called SILK (basically a liquid plastic).

Tower of Lost Souls is an unfinished luxurious hotel that was abandoned after an accident took lives of over 100 people. the hotel is 12 floors high, with lower floors being finished while the uppers are still unfinished. and finally is the Deathtroid Arena, an arena build in Detroid, US. the arena was specialized for the Cyber Grind, having very bizarre structure to allow the round to be longer and more entertaining.