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Welcome to Shangri-La


What is Shangri-La?
Synonymous with paradise, Shanri-La in one form or another has been the goal of humanity for untold ages. Through centuries forgotten by history myths have persisted, telling of a promised land built by human hands. So powerful was the drive to find such a place that when a city had been announced with the intent to house earth's greatest minds the name was decided instantly. New Shangri-La rose towering and grasping for the sky. Concrete was used only initially, forsaken in favor of heavy plastics and synthesized metals. Foundations were lain and cables threaded, culminating in the greatest city mankind had ever known. Revolutions in nearly every field traced roots back to New Shangri-La, be it medical, martial, or otherwise.

Fall From Glory
As years wore on an unsavory element began to take root in the lower levels of New Shangri-La. Criminals fleeing from their own countries brought their own influences and groups. Corporations hungry for the potential profits began buying entire blocks at a time. Within the first century of its existence New Shang had fallen to human nature. Now the streets are run by this group or that, gunfire resounds almost nightly, and not a day passes without illicit dealings on an almost incomprehensible scale taking place.

The Now
To survive in New Shang is to live and breathe with the criminal element. All from the lowliest urchin to the loftiest CEO knows where and how to tread. To anger even a minor gangster could have far reaching consequences for the person in question. However, should one posses the luck, skill, and guile necessary to keep to the thin, winding line of connections, there is great opportunity in this place.

New Shangri-La
"New Shang"
Once meant to be humanity's singular paradise, the city of New Shanri-La was established in 2101. Erected of purely synthetic materials and boasting the world's first city-wide neural network. It rested on the cutting edge of technology for decades. Doctors and scientists alike flocked there to test the waters with revolutionary experiments in both cybernetics and transhumanism. Born here was the first true example of a cybernetic body. The first full migration of a human personality to a purely electronic brain, as well. Once the world looked to New Shangri-La as a shining example of what progress could be.
Now the city lives and dies on the passing of a dime. Cash is the blood of New Shang, criminals the pulse. Smooth dealers, silver-tongued pimps, reclusive data theives, shady informants, each and every one of them have a place here. Progress attracted radical thinkers and not all of them had been entirely wholesome. The network that had once linked the greatest minds humanity offered now had hundreds of illict connections. The underworld ran most everything, very little making it into or out of the city without some mid-level crime lord having a say.
Still, progress continues. With a new sort of lawlessness came a fringe element. People living on the bleeding edge of technology and body modification, people seeking a haven for otherwise forbidden experiments. Gene splicing, weaponized implants, nothing is off limits in New Shang. Yet industry also thrives, the lack of restriction alluring to many larger corporations. Numerous factions have formed, oweing allegiance to various companies or crime lords. Even those connections intermingle, making it nearly impossible to trace one person to another.
Then there are those who prefer to keep loyalty only to themselves. Freelancers willing to do almost anything for the right price, they are the most dangerous element of New Shang. With no one holding their leash they do as they please, often playing every side against each other for a bigger cut of the profit.

Neural Network
"Nu-Net"
The former crowning glory of New Shang, the connection that was intended to allow top thinkers to quite literally share ideas. It has since been appropriated by the city itself to be tapped and routed wherever an enterprising engineer might please. Such engineers are almost always kept in the employ or the rich and powerful and clandestine meetings over Nu-Net have become the standard. Nu-Net is not without its dangers, a tapped connection allowing anyone on the line to glimpse into thoughts or send their own signal. Such is a favorite tactic of high-end hit men, for example.

Cyberspace
"Old Net"
Once the pinnacle of human communication, Old Net has since gone the way of land line phones. Always hovering around, yet hardly used. Its function as a platform for electronic transactions, however, remains. Banking, shopping, even simple medical diagnoses are the mainstream uses now. Still, there are those who maintain what some consider obsolete skills. Not a month goes by without some attempted heist or trade of illegal goods. Old Net, much like New Shang itself, is full of hidden back alleys awaiting those with the knowledge to find them.

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