Here is a brief summary of what's considered state of the art in the Cybersphere world:
Cybernetics
Electronic miniaturization and the use of tailored anti-rejection drugs has made
cybertechnology the fastest growing field in the 21st century. Skeletal, dermal,
muscle, and even neural modifications are now outpatient procedures. Cyberware
ranges from simple grafts of vat-grown tissue to implanted weapons and chip-driven
memory enhancers.
Cloning
Cloning is commonplace and has become frighteningly cheap since its development in the late
20th century. Public clone services were introduced during the postwar reconstruction era as a
method to boost population and create cheap labor. Strictly enforced Clone Laws prevent
the activation or storage of more than one copy of clone DNA at any given time.
Imperfections in the cloning process manifest themselves as clone failures from time to time,
resulting in the regeneration of crippled and barely viable clones.
Cro-Mags and Drones
These offshoots of cloning technology are mass-produced by corporations from fragmented
human DNA. Cromags are semi-intelligent consumers engineered as test audiences and
experimental subjects. Drones are vat-grown humanoids molded around a cybernetic
chassis, and often are highly specialized for hazardous work or combat.
Experiments with fully recombinant DNA to create animal-human hybrids have proven
unpredictable and impractical. Such horrors have been created by the accidents of radiation
mutation, however.
Cyberspace
The development of a worldwide/orbital computer network (called the matrix) has
advanced since the 1990's and continues into Cybersphere's present-day. Integration of
the matrix into everyday life has made swift reconstruction after the War possible. The
price of this, however, has been the destruction of personal privacy and dependance
on the corporate sponsors of cyberspace. Direct brain-to-computer interfaces are standard,
but the masses cling to less confusing and taxing keyboard or VR interfaces. This has given
rise to an elite class of "Deckers" who use DNI (direct neural interfaces).
AI (Artificial Intelligence)
The birthdate and identity of cyberspace's first artificially intelligent (self aware)
program remains a highly disputed mystery. AI's are commonplace in Cybersphere's future,
both as engineered tools and as mysterious accidents of primordial code in the vastness
of the matrix. Most AI's perform mundane, automated tasks, such as the optimization and
control of municipal utilities, or the analysis of stock markets. AI's are strictly regulated
by the worldwide Turing Commission.
Nanotechnology
This science is still in its infancy, but the use of molecule-sized machines and tailored
chemicals shows much promise. Self-replicating buildings, microscopic computers, and
hunter-killer viruses are currently being developed. Nanotech assembly facilities
are large and expensive, and are mostly restricted to offworld satellites and remote
islands in order to minimize contamination dangers.
Small arms/ weapons
Simple tools suffice in wasteland camps or nomad zones, while Yakuza traditions encourage
the use of katanas and other antique weapons in some circles. Handguns and military surplus assault
rifles are relatively cheap and common, as is standard ammunition. Almost 90% of milspec
weapons "on the street" are over 50 years old, and have been raided from the ruins of war
stockpiles during the aftermath of WWIII. Newly developed corporate technology is rare
and highly prized.
War
Development of tanks, aircraft, and other large-scale weapons has continued after the War,
but is now the arena of only a few specialized corporate cartels. Most war machinery in
use is prewar surplus. Conflict in the 21st century is restricted to small corporate raids
or border skirmishes. The renewed use of nuclear or biological weapons continues to be
regarded as insanity, at least by those possessing the means to use them.
Lasers and railguns
As weapons, lasers continue to be limited by the need for huge power supplies. Laser weapons
exist only as large platforms in orbit or aboard ships. The same restrictions have prevented
railguns from becoming widely deployed. Experimental field testing of portable laser and
railgun systems has been abandoned because of prohibitive costs and radiation issues.
Transportation
Conversion of old gas-burning vehicles to CNG (compressed natural gas) and alcohol-based
alternatives is very common. For the corporate elite, newer technology is available.
The aerodyne (or AV) is a cross between a jet,
hovercraft, and helicopter that provides immense utility and is the standard means of short
range air transport and combat. Hypersonic jetliners called Deltas provide limited
service between cities and orbital stations.
Space
Hundreds of robotic assembly facilities and factories crowd low Earth orbit. Only a few
densely populated habitats and colonies have been built, and most are corporate compounds
or offworld spas for the privelaged. Illegal settlement and squatter colonies in
half-constructed or abandoned habitats (many built but abandoned during WWIII) is an
ongoing nuisance. Colonization of other planets has been restricted to robots and automated
facilities due to the long travel times and expenses involved.
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