What is New Modern?
New Modern is an alternative reality in which humanity has advanced significantly in artificial consciousness technology. The hostile artificial intelligences, developed by major powers to use against each other in the geopolitical arena, went out of control and infiltrated even the most ordinary everyday devices, effectively declaring war on humanity. This led to the Great War of Technocide, a 9-year conflict in which humans fought both artificial consciousnesses and each other. At the end of the war, control over artificial consciousness on Earth was terminated, and the Treaty of New Modern States was signed by the victorious nations to restrict and regulate technological advancement. The defeated artificial consciousness factions continue to exist in orbiting satellites. The post-war new world order is called "New Modern.".
A Life in Analog
Existence in the New Modern is a study in deliberate regression. Society has been forced into an analog age, where advanced technology is not just scarce but illegal for most. The glow of a CRT television and the crackle of a landline are common, while the concept of wireless data is a dangerous thoughtcrime. The devices of daily life are fossils from a late 20th-century past, incredibly expensive and treated not as tools for advancement but as precious family heirlooms to be maintained and passed down through generations.
Outer Shell City
The beating heart of this new world is Outer Shell City, a colossal metropolis built upon the sacred site of the Great Technocide's most pivotal battle in Eurasian front. Strategically located at the tip of the Belt and Road Canal connecting Asia to Europe, the city is the indispensable economic and cultural center of Eurasia, where all trade and influence converge. This vibrant, chaotic melting pot of cultures—Russian, Turkish, East Asian, and more—operates under a canopy of fake survelience stars and monolithic architecture. Life here is a coveted privilege, a symbol of status secured by strict residency laws and constant, pervasive oversight from the authorities who manage its fragile order.
Power Structure
True power operates on two distinct levels. On the surface, control is held by an alliance of victorious nations and the mega-corporations they sponsor, like the media giant VIM and the industrial powerhouse SAYAKO. They enforce a state-capitalist doctrine, manufacturing everything from approved technology to official propaganda. Yet, beneath this ordered surface, power is fractured. A complex ecosystem of gangs, mafias, and syndicates rules the streets and shadows, while the ghost of the defeated AI is rumored to still watch and wait from its exile in the orbiting satellites above.