By 2120 Pacifica has over two-point-six billion citizens, and every one of them a potential criminal.
Welcome to Vice, a role play set in the early half of the 22nd Century. A world of cybernetic enhancements, crime around every corner, technology run amok, and the only thing fighting for order in this dysfunctional civilization are the men and women of the Judiciary. Though, morality being subjective, one may find out where exactly you draw the line. Its a rough world and you may just as easily become a dirty cop as end up on the wrong end of a gun. So tread carefully...
Pacifica: 2120
It is the year 2120 and the Mega-City of Pacifica stretches from the Southern tip of Baja all the way to the Aleutian Islands. From the Pacific Coast, and threading through the Cascade and Rocky Mountain Ranges. Covering much of the former United States, Canada, and North-Western Mexico within its boundary walls. Built to originally house a billion citizens, Pacifica by 2120 is closing on nearly three times that number of registered citizens, with millions more undocumented. A city of immense wealth and squalor. Rolling villas in carefully preserved nature reserves are dwarfed by the horizon stretching urbanity and arcologies where the teeming masses of Pacifica live, work, and die. A city of ruthless corporate enterprise, scientific wonders for those who can afford it, and a mercifully short existence for the rest.
For crime is rampant and violence common in Pacifica, considered the worst place to live on Earth, and yet everyone still wants to live here. Probably because everywhere else is either a shadow of Pacifica's potential offerings or a radioactive wasteland. How common you might ask? Every three seconds a violent crime is reported. Gangs run many regions of the underground and block wars happen sporadically in various sectors leaving hundreds or thousands dead and wounded. If you can think it, then a black market for it exists somewhere in Pacifica. Everything from human trafficking, narcotics, weapons, laundering of cash, to illegal organ harvesting. You name it, its all there, just below the surface...
Where do you fit in? The Judiciary of course
The only people fighting for order in Pacifica are the men and women of the Judiciary, or informally known as the Justice Department. The most powerful organization in the City-State of Pacifica's government and by far the most critical to maintaining some semblance of stability. Even if its tenuous at best. The Judiciary of 2120 is very much an evolution of the United States Justice Department. Albeit, enjoying more power than its predecessor held, and out of necessity doing away with most court proceedings. Instead, opting for the creation of the Inspectorate; Judges, if you go by the word on the street. Inspectors are charged with the dispensation of justice as outlined in the Lex Pacifica and the Juris Americana. The first being the actual book of laws which Inspectors in order to graduate from the Academy of Law must have at least 25% of all three thousand pages memorized. The second being the practical application of the law which in effect is merely the standards and protocols the Inspectorate lives by in their applications of street justice. Every Inspector carries miniature copies of both with them when in the field. But what does this mean in dispensing justice? Inspectors have the ability and expectation to conduct a summary judgement of crimes and offenses by anyone within the boundary walls of Pacifica or its colonies. Up too and including summary execution.
And you? You're a rookie. Your badge all shiny and new but not yet earned. You still need to pass your final assessment. Your first trial by fire. The veterans who may become your peers would call it, 'The Baptism.' You and if available other rookies are assigned to a veteran Inspector who will conduct your final assessment before your newly minted badges are considered official, earned, and logged as fully made members of the Inspectorate. This assessment is pass or fail and entirely at the discretion of your supervising Inspector. Good Luck...
Earth: 2120
Earth is mostly a polluted, radioactive, or ecologically destroyed wasteland by 2120. The only preserved wilderness and nature surviving is in the territorial boundaries of the City-States which dot the globe. The survivors of past conflicts and the evolution of several nations. Pacifica is merely the largest and mightiest of them. Other such Mega-Cities or surviving nations include: Euro-City, covering much of England, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Low Countries, and Germany with Portugal and Ireland serving as massive penal colonies; Eurasia, dominated by the Mega-City of Moskva-Minsk and including much of the former Soviet Union and the Ukrainian Rad-Wastes; Reformed Japan dominated by the Mega-City of Neo-Tokyo; Mega-Cities of Beijing and Neo-Canton which vie for control of mainland China with the latter allied to the surviving nation of Taiwan which is in turn a protectorate of Pacifica and Neo-Tokyo; Appalachia, a poor confederation of surviving towns and territories from Kentucky to New York; Neo-Brasil and Magna Medellin in South America as the two Mega-City States which dominate the continent; the rest of the planet is a patchwork of warlording petty states and the ruins of past civilization.
But how did this all come about?
The 21st Century and Beyond
In the mid-2020's increasing violent unrest, rising human population, and increasingly inefficient government bureaucracy led to the creation of the first 'Super-Municipalities' under the Donald Trump administration's second term. Dismantling the collapsing and corrupt West coast states into a single directly administered 'Super-State' within the confines of the framework of the United States Government. By the 2030's the groundwork of Pacifica was laid and urban sprawl began to see the formation of the first Mega-Cities. In North America from Tijuana to San Francisco and on the East Coast from New York City down to Washington D.C., necessitating the formation of other such 'Super-Municipalities' being formed in the United States and across the globe. The unintended consequence of this being by the late 2040's to early 2050's these semi-autonomous government structures began to exercise real autonomy over their internal workings.
This process of course was accelerated by the resource wars of the 2060's and 2070's as the planet's major fossil fuel producing regions began to have exhaust themselves. While, the first colonies on Luna, Mars, and the Jovian Moons were not yet ready to begin supplying Earth with the raw material she so desperately needed as the global population topped twelve billion. Leading to the 2063 Terra Accords which led to the solidification or creation of various supra-national blocs like the North American Union, European Union, ASEAN, and the African Union into effective super-states. Even if in name only while in 2064 the Treaty of Solar Colonization, establishing the boundaries and rights of each bloc, which added the LATAM League in 2065. But the worst began in 2072 with a flashpoint between India and Pakistan over diminishing fishing and clean water access. Resulting in a nuclear exchange that soon drew in most nations on Earth in the first global conflict not seen since the end of World War II. Nuclear Arsenals were unleashed and much of Earth's struggling ecosystem collapsed. Hundreds of millions died, millions more starved, and the greatest population displacement in history began. Leading to the swelling up of surviving polities with millions of refugees while civil order fragmented.
Several Mega-Cities and a few nations survived. Either as indirect targets or through their own defense systems. For when the dust cleared they declared themselves as independent states and the game of geopolitics began to dance around them as Humanity tried to recover through much of the 2080s and 2090s.
2095 and the Birth of the Pacifican empire
In 2095 the Supreme Assembly of Pacifica elected Winston van Cawlhorn as President of Pacifica and former Chief Justice for the Pacifican Judiciary. Van Cawlhorn and the newly incumbent Chief Justice, Theodore Delano MacNamara, instituted an aggressive foreign policy and internal strong arming. Facilitating a large military build up which eventually saw Pacifica exercise hegemonic superpower status over the entire Pacific Ocean region from Taiwan to Neo-Tokyo and back all the way to the Strayan Colonies and New Zealand Union Territory. While the Pacifican Solar Fleet patrolled the increasingly important commercial supply lines between Earth and the colonies dotting Venus, Luna, Mars, Asteroid Belts, Jovian Moons, and Neptunian Moons, and by 2105 including Pluto. In turn the Inspectorate also began to exercise judicial duties on various solar colonies and became the prime enforcers of Pacifican authority. Even extending jurisdiction over the Pacifican Military under MacNamara.
2120: Current Era
Pacifica is a dichotomy of Imperial glory rising from the ashes of civilization, but with a rotten core. The city is a microcosm of extreme affluence and horrendous poverty. Order may be present, but Law is a dream for many, and you're most likely to have the former enforced by a gang thug than an actual officer of the law...
Mega-City of Pacifica
The Mega-City is divided into three-hundred and nine Sectors grouped into six regions; North, which covers Alaska, British Columbia, and Washington State. Cascadia, covering Idaho, Oregon, and parts of Montana and Wyoming; East, covering Colorado, Utah, and Nevada; Sonora, comprising Arizona, New Mexico, and former North-Western Mexico down to Mexico City; South, covering Baja and former Southern California; Center, covering Northern California and the regions around the California Sea (former Central Valley). Each Sector is in turn broken up into various Zones signified by Letters A through Z. Though the number of Zones in a sector fluctuate and based on Sector demographics. It is common for more less densely populated Sectors to have only four to seven zones while others in former Los Angeles and San Francisco-Oakland will have over twenty. Sometimes a single arcology if large enough will be considered it's own zone.
The cityscape of Pacifica is punctuated by Mega-Blocks and Arcologies. While technically one and the same in function there is a colloquial difference by scale. Mega-Blocks are very much the size of one to a few city blocks in ground level square footage. Rising upwards like a massive skyscraper. While an Arcology is often its own self-contained sub-city stretching over as many as fifty square miles. It is not unheard of for citizens to be born, live and work, and then die in an arcology without ever stepping outside of its walls.
Technology and Themes
Pacifica is a city that could be described as Cyberpunk but leaning towards the darker side of the genre rather than neon. Its a gritty mega-city of the future were drugs and guns go hand in hand. Sex, violence, and rock and roll are the attitude of the night life. Cybernetics and other body modification exists throughout the city. However, much of the poor cannot afford these or have to obtain them from shady backstreet dealers. Much advanced technology of the early 21st century has spread to be common or further developed. It is not uncommon for the upper middle class or affluent to greatly extend their life spans with organ replacement, bionics, and high end cybernetic implants. Gene editing and mutations abound from the radiological damage afflicting neighborhood slums up against the boundary walls. Especially in the Southern and Sonora Regions in particular.
It is a cruel city overseen by an outwardly democratic government which is merely the superficial face of an authoritarian government primarily focused on keeping tenuous control over Pacifica and its external dominions. But it is not all grim and terrible. There are nice sectors of the city and zones where those with the Pacific Dollars and connections live well to do lifestyles.
As such the themes of Pacifica also are inspired by Dredd and other Dark Cyberpunk Settings rather than the slightly less dreary and more fantastical Neon Cyberpunk sub-genre.
The Judiciary
The Judiciary, more commonly known as the Justice Department, is the most powerful branch of Pacifican government and the city's enforcers of law and order. The Judiciary at first glance is a monolithic governmental organ of justice and stability. In reality their control is tenuous and unequal across Pacifica. Some sectors are well patrolled and maintained. Others it is uncommon for them to be under-policed and treated more as active warzones than a municipality. The Judiciary is a paramilitary in all but name and exercises control even over the formal military in their operations. The Judiciary's personnel operate grav-bikes, aircars, all the way to armoured vehicles and aircraft which people a hundred years prior would think belonged in a war. Armed with advanced weaponry and equipment it is all barely enough to keep the chaos under wraps.
The central headquarters of which is the Ministry of Justice located in Sector 1 in the former city of Los Angeles. Its grounds up against the Pacific Ocean and an imposing arcology itself. Housing the various facilities and administrative organs required to keep such a system running. Covering fifteen square miles and an additional five in adjacent auxiliary facilities such as the Southern Training Complex and the Military Command California Headquarters.
Other important facilities include the Academy of Law and the Regional Magistrates which in turn oversee the Sector Precincts.
The Inspectorate
The Inspectorate is the most infamous branch of the Justice Department. Given the power to summarily dispense justice in the field anywhere in the city and solar territories. All trainees, mostly chosen from state run orphanages, but also from volunteers that meet the stringent entrance requirements are sent to the Academy of Law located in the former Yosemite National Park. Inspectorate training is harsh, uncompromising, and demanding. Trainees are put through a grueling process of physical fitness, mental conditioning, specialist training in a chosen field, and survival programs. The wash out rate is 86% for every one hundred candidates. Upon graduation Trainee-Inspectors are sent to a Sector Precinct for their final assessment. Either as single pupils or in teams and supervised by a veteran Inspector for their first tour of duty which doubles as their final assessment. Effectively a six month probationary period where they are weighed as successful or failed Inspectors. Failure is immediate expulsion from the Inspectorate but not the Judiciary were they can still serve Pacifica in some other capacity. Success sees their badge be enrolled as fully 'sanctioned' Inspectors and no longer under another Inspector's supervision.
However, despite this intense level of training and the length of such tutelage the failure rate is seldom below 75%. This is accounting for a first year mortality rate of 33% and a 47% attrition rate of all causes over a five year period. As such merely making it through your first year earns you the status of veteran among the members of the Inspectorate and upon a successful completion of three years of service it is possible to enter even more specialized job functions like the Special Judicial Service, Internal Inspectoral Affairs, Mutant Operations, Wardenship, Undercover Operations, or Void-Inspectorship and sent to a solar colony to dispense justice there.
Inspector equipment is advanced but rugged and generally distributed by the availability of resources at a Sector Precinct. High Inspectors which oversee the Sector Precincts as such tend to be logistically frugal individuals and as such it is not uncommon for new Inspectors to be more sparingly equipped than their veteran, and seen as more valuable and reliable, peers. Inspectorate field equipment is typically broken up into Light, Extended Patrol, and Heavy categories.
Light equipment is often merely a close fitting body glove or leather riding suit with poly-carbon kevlar jacket and pads with optional hard plate inserts. Trusty Mark III Lawman side arm and a helmet which is equipped with an advanced computerization suite allowing broad spectrum vision, acoustic sensory senses, and data feeds. Alongside the usual gear of handcuffs, non-lethal restraint gear, and so forth.
Extended Patrol loadouts typically see sleek armor suits suited for combating gang elements and enough survival equipment for spending multiple days in the field. Only superseded by the Heavy loadouts which are typically only seen during periods of riot control, full on block wars, and civil conflicts.
The Mark III Lawman very much resembles a highly sophisticated Glock. Though slightly larger and having more electronic parts. The Mark III is highly versatile with a standard 9mm 13 round magazine with an additional 25 round front magazine capable of being cycled via voice command and manually via an electronic screen mounted to the left of the gun slid. The screen is capable of folding out from the weapon. Typical front magazine load outs include Incendiary, Armour-Piercing, High Explosive, Fragmentation, and the more exotic types including Heat Seeker, EMP Detonation, Non-Fatal Neurotoxin and Mass Reactive. The front of the weapon can also be fitted with a variety of attachments while the weapon itself is highly durable and rugged. Not entirely uncommon for Inspectors to use their Lawman in close end self-defense as a bludgeoning instrument. For security the Lawman is equipped with gene-sequenced ID technology and will detonate if used by anyone else other than the Inspector coded to use it. This detonation feature can also be activated by the owner of the weapon as a last ditch grenade weapon to explode on a three second timer. Other such benefits of the weapon include distance to target and aim assist features.
Arbitrator Corps
Due to the nature of the Inspectorate it is infeasible that they be the sole law enforcement force in Pacifica. As such the existence of the Arbitrators exist in parallel to the Inspectorate while also subservient to it in the field. The Arbitrators are more closely what 21st century police forces are. They do not have the authority to dispense summary justice but make up for this in numbers and operate as an internal armed force for the Pacifican Government to call upon. Arbitrators are often made up of Inspectorate wash outs, volunteers, or orphans from state run institutions. As such they often share extreme loyalty to the state and as such have earned them a plethora of nicknames including 'bucket heads,' 'plastic boy,' or, 'Stormtroopers.' All of which earned from their equipment appearance, their true para-military doctrine and ability to deploy in sufficient numbers as to wage war themselves if need be. The Arbitrators like the Inspectorate have their own specialist formations including special operations, undercover, void operations, and so forth.
Arbitrators are based out of Arbitration Command in the former Yosemite National Park.
Pacifican Armed Forces
Not necessarily part of the Judiciary but more or less subservient to it. The Pacifican Armed Forces have become more a token force than a full military outfit. Their role increasingly taken over by the Arbitration Corps and marginalized to Naval or Voidship spheres. This can be seen in the gradually increasing funding, equipment, and personnel transfers to the Arbitrator Corps as MacNamara's tenure as Chief Justice has continued.
Pacifica Government
The Pacifica Government is made up of three branches as befits it original United States roots. Legislative in the form of the Pacifican Supreme Assembly which is made up of representatives of each Sector and Regional Councils forming a Lower and Upper House. The Executive Government in the form of the Presidency and Cabinet. Then the Judiciary headed by the Chief Justice and the Council of Joint Justices. However, the Judiciary is by far the most powerful and often more than capable of cajoling the other branches into conceding to Judicial requests or demands.
The Pacifican Assembly is made up of 731 members. Each Sector able to field one to three representatives based on population and then the seven to twenty-one member Regional Councils. Sector Representatives serve for three year terms for two term limits and democratically elected among the Sector's regional population. The Regional Councils are chosen by bloc voting from each Zone in a winner take all election every eight years and serve for life or voted out of office if a 'No Confidence vote' is called by the Sector Representatives.
The Executive branch is headed by the Presidency with the current President being Annabeth Bei-Xi and supported by a cabinet covering various spheres needed to run Pacifica. The President serves four year terms with a three term limit. The current President is in her second term after winning the 2118 elections. Political parties technically banned since 2092 but more or less operate as lobbying interest groups in the Legislative and Executive branches.
The Judicial, headed by long time Chief Justice MacNamara is overseen by himself and the fifteen member Council of Joint Justices of which he is the fifteenth member. But forbidden from voting on rulings unless it is to break a tie.
Rules
1. Respect other players and Admins
2. No flaming or baiting
3. Keep politics out of OOC unless its IC related
4. If you're easily offended then probably not the right RP for you since some of the political and economic themes may be contrary to your beliefs.
5. Obey all site rules and moderator rulings
6. Rules subject to change
7. Must post at least one a week and all collaboration documents must be linked in the discord. This is to avoid lore conflicts or setting issues. While also allowing peer assistance.
8. Notify admins if you're going to be away for more than a week. This is to avoid the head ache of players just vanishing without a word, or leaving and returning abruptly in a jarring manner.
9. I reserve all operator rights and character death may be a concern. Plot armor doesn't exist for you. Walking blindly into gunfire probably won't end well.
