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A Project Moon Dystopia

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A Project Moon Dystopia

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World Name: A Project Moon Dystopia

The City: World Setting

1. World Setting Overview

The City is a dystopian sci-fi world sustained by extreme technological advancement and governed by mega-corporations known as "The Wings." On the surface, it boasts immense material prosperity thanks to "Singularities"—technologies that accelerate human progress. Beneath this façade, however, lies a grim reality where humanity is corroded, and life is treated as a disposable component. Society is trapped in a state of anomie and cultural lag, as its ethics, morality, and culture have failed to keep pace with the blinding speed of technological development.

Here, most individuals are little more than cogs in the machine of a vast organization or corporation. Even heinous events like murder and suicide are met with indifference, treated as mundane parts of daily life. While citizens are aware of the pervasive injustice, they lack the will or the means to change it. Instead, they embrace their roles in this broken system, driven by a rampant egoism that compels them to sacrifice others for their own immediate survival and gain.

The City is ruled by an absolute central authority known as "The Head," while 26 corporate states—the Wings—govern their respective districts in a nominal federation. Yet, this entire order precariously balances on a few absolute laws known as "The Taboos." Outside the bounds of these laws, the law of the jungle—survival of the fittest—reigns supreme.


2. Geography

The City is a hyper-dense metropolis, cramming a population of approximately 6.4 billion into a relatively small area of 35,000 km² (227 km by 200 km). The population density is a staggering 180,000 people/km². To accommodate this, buildings soar to impossible heights. Furthermore, the Singularities possessed by the Wings often distort space, making the interiors of buildings far more vast than their external appearances suggest.

  • District Composition: The City is divided into 26 districts. Each district consists of a core area called a "Nest," directly ruled by one of the Wings (designated A through Z), and the lawless, neglected areas known as "The Backstreets."
  • Spiral Structure: The City’s layout spirals outward from District 1 (the Nest of A-Corp) like a nautilus shell, expanding from A, B, C, and so on from the center.
  • Surrounding Environments:
    • The Outskirts: The untamed wilderness outside The City, teeming with monstrous creatures and exiles.
    • The Ruins: Mysterious, dangerous zones deep beneath The City and The Outskirts, where ancient artifacts with near-magical power lie dormant.
  • Climate: Due to excessive vertical development and the side effects of Singularity technology, the climate varies drastically between regions, which are broadly divided into the North, West, South, and East, each with its own distinct culture.

3. Social Structure and Systems

The City is a society of extreme class division, starkly separated into the prosperous and stable Nests and the chaotic and violent Backstreets.

Political System: The Head and The Wings

While nominally a federation of 26 corporate states, The City is in reality an authoritarian collective controlled by the absolute power of The Head.

  • The Head: The supreme central government of The City. It is a triumvirate composed of A-Corp (The Arbiter), B-Corp (The Beholder, or "The Eye"), and C-Corp (The Claw, or "The Enforcer"). The Head manages all patents, issues the currency ("Ahn"), surveils the entire City, and mercilessly executes or exiles any who violate "The Taboos." Its sole objective is to maintain the current state of The City, where humans act on their own desires. As long as the Taboos are upheld, The Head does not intervene in any crime, be it murder, cannibalism, or human experimentation.
  • The Wings: The 26 mega-corporations that rule the Nests. They wield immense wealth and power through their monopoly on "Singularities." Each Wing functions as a de facto nation-state, levying taxes, maintaining its own military force, and enforcing its own set of internal laws ("Nest Taboos"). However, their authority is granted by The Head, and they dare not challenge its rule.

Class Structure: Nests and Backstreets

  • The Nests (둥지): Sanctuaries of safety under the protection of a Wing. Their residents, known as "Feathers," pay exorbitant taxes in exchange for a life of stability and peace unimaginable in the Backstreets. However, they are ultimately disposable assets to their Wing. Should their Wing fall, they lose everything and are thrown into a state of chaos far worse than the Backstreets.
  • The Backstreets (뒷골목): All areas of The City outside the Nests, abandoned by the Wings. Functionally anarchic, they are home to countless criminal syndicates, Fixers, and the lower class, all struggling for survival. While daily life (schools, markets) exists, the Backstreets become exceptionally dangerous during "The Night of the Backstreets," a period when almost all criminal activity is permitted. The City's architecture is deliberately designed so that the two areas are visible to one another—to instill a sense of superiority in Nest dwellers and a desperate longing in the people of the Backstreets.

Key Factions

  • Fixers (해결사): Freelancers who take on any and all jobs for a price. Licensed and ranked by the Hana Association from Grade 9 (lowest) to Grade 1, with the elite few earning the title of "Color. (특색)" They are the essential, unofficial backbone of The City's conflict resolution, handling everything from security and assassination to information brokering.
  • Syndicates (조직): Organized armed groups based in the Backstreets. Their nature varies wildly, from vigilante groups to ruthless criminal enterprises. Among them, the five great Syndicates known as "The Fingers" wield enormous influence over the Backstreets, rivaling even the Wings and Associations in power.
  • Workshops (공방): Artisan groups that design and forge specialized weapons and equipment. They are the engine of The City's combat technology, with some even incorporating Singularity tech into their creations under contract with the Wings.
  • Fixer Associations (해결사 협회): The twelve large organizations that manage Fixers and broker contracts. They effectively replace the public services of a traditional government, each specializing in a different field.

Law and Order: The Taboos

The absolute laws established by The Head. Violation results in swift punishment—execution or exile by The Claw or The Arbiter—regardless of one's status or power.

  • Key Taboos: Tax evasion and patent infringement; the creation of sapient AI indistinguishable from humans; the existence of a clone for more than seven days; strict regulations on firearms (high taxes, production limits); and, most notably, entering a residential zone or recording events during The Night of the Backstreets.
  • The Night of the Backstreets (뒷골목의 밤): A daily 80-minute period (3:13 AM to 4:34 AM) where all actions are permitted, save for two: trespassing in designated residential areas and recording the events of the Night. This mechanism serves to control the population and, paradoxically, enforces a baseline of civility during the day, as anyone could become a target for retribution during the Night.

4. Culture and Daily Life

While technologically hyper-advanced, The City's culture is a strange blend of futuristic and analog elements.

  • Technology and Lifestyle: Cybernetic replacement ("Prosthetics") and superhuman body modification ("Augmentations") are commonplace. At the same time, most official business is conducted with pen and paper to prevent hacking, and computer designs often resemble those from the 1980s-90s. Subways are a primary mode of transport, and smartphones are a relatively recent, restricted innovation.
  • Regional Cultures:
    • North: Known for high-rise architecture and flamboyant, layered tech-wear fashion.
    • South: Culturally resembles the 21st century the most, with a preference for formal, understated suits.
    • East: A culture reminiscent of pre-modern East Asia (Korea, China, Japan). Disputes are often settled via ritualistic duels known as "Showdowns."
    • West: Evokes a medieval European aesthetic, with fiefdoms, knightly orders, and a preference for leather and metal armor.
  • Values:
    • The Definition of Human: The Head rigidly enforces its definition of "human," classifying all other intelligent beings (AIs, demi-humans) as "Impurities" to be purged. Ironically, within The City, humans themselves are often treated as raw materials or components.
    • Body and Death: With the exception of the brain, the human body is considered a replaceable, consumable part. Because Singularities can make resurrection possible, the very definition of "death" has become ambiguous and varies from corporation to corporation.
    • Human Rights: The concept of human rights, including for children, is virtually non-existent. Life is cheap, and the poor are subjected to exploitation from birth.
  • Language, Ethnicity, and Religion: The City is a melting pot of countless ethnicities, though those of Korean descent are notably rare. Thirteen official languages are used, but a past Singularity ensures seamless communication between all citizens. Religious symbols like crosses and Buddha statues exist, but they are hollow cultural artifacts in a society where spiritual values have long since faded.

5. Technology and Tools

The City's civilization is built upon the miraculous technology of Singularities, while its citizens transcend human limits through Augmentations.

Singularities (특이점)

Known as "The Eggs of the Wings," these are the core, reality-defying technologies that define each Wing. They ignore the known laws of physics to produce near-magical effects and are the engine of The City's prosperity.

  • Function: They can manipulate time, warp space, create perfect clones, and even raise the dead, making the impossible possible.
  • The Dark Truth: The miracle of this technology is fueled by a horrifying secret: it consumes human beings as a raw material or exploits them for fuel. To maximize efficiency and profit, the Wings secretly sacrifice countless people to power their Singularities. The prosperity of The City is, quite literally, built upon a mountain of corpses. Most citizens either remain ignorant of this fact or willfully ignore it to enjoy the fruits of civilization.

Augmentations (강화시술)

A blanket term for various procedures that dramatically enhance physical abilities. They are considered essential for survival in the combat-heavy environment of The City.

  • Effects: Even a cheap augmentation can grant enough strength to uproot a telephone pole, while high-end procedures allow users to leap dozens of stories into the air or shatter buildings with the shockwaves of their battles. They render physical differences between genders meaningless and can even halt the aging process.
  • Types:
    • Tattoo Augmentations: The most common and cost-effective method, where specific tattoos enhance physical abilities. This technology was once a Singularity before its Wing collapsed, making it public domain.
    • Cybernetics (Prosthetics / 의체): The replacement of body parts, or the entire body, with mechanical components. Used for both treating injuries and for enhancement. While far more durable than flesh, they lack nerves, meaning a user feels no pain and can easily fail to notice critical damage. Per The Head's Taboo, full-body prosthetics must be designed in a way that is clearly non-human.
    • Other Procedures: Includes chemical enhancements, augmentations that amplify physical power in response to mental distress, combat-optic implants, and more.
  • Importance: Raw power from augmentations alone does not make one strong. In The City, prowess and skill in wielding that power are paramount. An unskilled individual with excessive augmentations is likely to lose control and self-destruct.

6. Disaster Levels

An official threat-ranking system assigned by the Hana Association and The Head to dangerous incidents, individuals, or groups. Uniquely, the levels are determined less by the actual danger and more by "the cost required to resolve the incident."

  • Rumor (뜬구름): Below official classification. Unverified hearsay.
  • Urban Myth (도시 괴담): The lowest official rank. Typically outsourced to low-grade Fixer offices.
  • Urban Legend (도시 전설): The point at which Associations and sizable Syndicates begin to take an interest.
  • Urban Plague (도시 질병): A threat serious enough to attract the attention of elite Nest Fixers or even one of The Fingers.
  • Urban Nightmare (도시 악몽): A major crisis that draws in The City's top-tier talent. Wings post high-bounty requests, and Associations deploy their elite departments.
  • Star of the City (도시의 별): The highest disaster level the Hana Association can assign. A city-wide calamity that puts everyone on high alert. The most powerful Fixers, including Colors, are mobilized, often expecting total annihilation. Even a Wing cannot handle a Star easily. When a Star is defeated, it is said that "a Star has fallen."
  • Impurity (불순물): A special designation assigned directly by The Head. It is not a measure of power but is given to any entity that violates The Taboos and threatens the fundamental order of The City. Once designated an Impurity, the target is hunted down by The Head's enforcers—The Claw and The Arbiter—to be eradicated or exiled, no matter the cost.

7. Supernatural Phenomena & Concepts

Special entities and phenomena that exist in the underbelly of the City. While largely unknown to the general public, they possess the power to shake the very foundations of the world.

Abnormality (환상체)

Beings that are the physical manifestation of humanity's collective unconsciousness and fears. They wield surreal, magic-like powers and are immortal. In the past, L Corp rose to the status of a Wing by containing them and using them as a power source (Enkephalin). After L Corp's fall, they now roam its ruined facilities. Their existence is almost entirely unknown to the ordinary citizens of the City.

E.G.O

"A weapon and tool born from the heart." A special power manifested when a person's strong ego and beliefs take physical form (as clothing and tools). It can be awakened by overcoming extreme mental hardship. There also exists "Extracted E.G.O," which is artificially created by being extracted from Abnormalities and was used as equipment for employees at Lobotomy Corporation.

Distortion (뒤틀림)

A phenomenon where a human, having lost their beliefs and fallen into despair under extreme stress, transforms into an inhuman, monstrous being as their inner negative emotions explode. It is the polar opposite of E.G.O, yet they are like two sides of the same coin, sharing the same origin of an "explosion of emotion." It is dangerous enough to be officially designated as an "Urban Nightmare" level disaster.

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