User:Extrasonic

From ILB

I am a game geek. If there's thought, skill, and competition involved, then chances are I'll enjoy it - computer games of multiple genres, board games, collectible/trading card games, miniature games, etc.

You can read more about me and my geekiness on my personal weblog (http://www.extrasonic.com/), but be warned that it's been more or less neglected since I began getting into ILB deeply.

I participated (and finished in 2nd place) in what's arguably the "proto-ARG" (at least Internet-wise), 1995's Johnny Mnemonic net.hunt (http://www.nathan.com/projects/1995/jm.html). Unfortunately, the prize for 2nd place was a private screening of the movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113481/), but it was fun anyway.

The World of Tomorrow

(work in progress)

This article is intended to describe what we know about the future in which Melissa's memories and the Axon Clips takes place.

Many thanks (or apologies, as needed) to thebruce and his transcripts (http://www.thebruce.ca/ilovebees/TheAxonPlot.asp) for their invaluable research assistance and to Clamatius for the Story So Far which was the inspiration for this work.

Earth and its colonies

Earth has a population problem. We know that land and water masses on Earth are so strained (either through overcrowding, pollution, climate issues, or some combination) that tuna¹ and chicken² are considered delicacies, and that pigeon³ is more usual fare. We also know that people have a hard time getting to Earth, which creates a black-market for illegal immigration⁴.

To attempt to alleviate the population problem, humanity has spread to various off-world colonies. Among the colonies mentioned have been Reach⁵, Coral⁶, Jericho VII⁷, Sigma Octanus IV⁸, and, famously, Troy⁹.

We know of at least one complicating factor in Earth's current overpopulation problem - refugees. Refugees are so prevalent that they've been given a slang term ("refu's"¹⁰) and there's enough of them that they are considered a viable market for products such as cheap plastic chatters¹¹.

To understand the reasons behind the influx of refugees to Earth, we must consider that humanity is at war¹² with the Covenant¹³. The war has been going on for a long time¹⁴ and humanity's existence¹⁵ is at stake.

¹ "Whoa! Look at this menu... there's tuna on the menu!" - Kemal, tuna.wav
² "Kemal, nobody buys a whole chicken for a friend." - Hiro, its_a_chicken.wav
³ "I got pigeon and the special." - Marta, pigeon.wav
⁴ "Yeah, he helps people get through Earth immigration, you know, visas and whatever. He got my brother here. Some of what he does is kinda grey-market, you know. I mean, really, it's black market." - Sophia, our_hoodlums.wav

¹⁰ "Right, see I can fabricate them and sell them to the refu's." - Trevor, so_mean.wav
¹¹ "Ah, it's a disposable chatter that looks like a plastic kitten." - Trevor, desktop_model.wav
¹² "We're at war, crewman." - Melissa, Letter from The Sleeping Princess, 13 Aug 04
¹³ "The Covenant Transmission? Maybe they suspect we're monitoring them." - Melissa, Phase 3 Memories
¹⁴ "Well, he's away a lot, like, years at a time - it drives him crazy. He says this stuff reminds him of what he's fighting for." - Jersey, the_human_heart.wav
¹⁵ "When I was your age, I pulled strings so I could join up a year early. Wanted to help save humankind." - The Stupid Cop, asset.wav