Other Cyphers Lane [ Repost. ]

CYPHERS LANE AKA THE ZECYRIAN INTRANET​

Description: A culture unto itself and only accessible within the Great Zecyrian Walls, Cyphers Lane is a sophisticated and very old virtual network that most Zecyrians refer to simply as the Intranet. The world of Cyphers Lane includes a replica of the city itself and everything within a 10-mile radius of its walls excluding the uncharted Deepwood which has been turned into a fairy-tale themed forest after decades of school and children’s activities. A semi-functioning virtual economy exists, supported by real-life statistics from reality which plays a role in the atmosphere of the Lane, for example: weather statistics from reality directly control the virtual weather, although this can be edited by hacking. As of 3284 a joint team of civilian, government and military representatives are in control of the Intranet although they do not dictate what happens or what is posted there. They can however delete & edit information, change sections of the grid and shut it down temporarily for maintenance, backup or other reasons.

When a user connects to Cyphers Lane for the very first time they are prompted to create an account which includes a character avatar. The appearance of an avatar can be edited from its base template that includes hundreds of known races from all over the galaxy. Once inside Cyphers Lane, a user can purchase in-game currency from reality to gather materials to build & items to interact with or grid-lock a small area of the intranet, effectively protecting it against most hackers and trolls who wish to destroy a user’s hard work and dedication. This is handy for those who want their own personal space inside the Lane to protect their purchased items. Those with exceptional hacking and computer skills can bypass the authorization process and jack straight into Cypher Lane and while doing so without authorization is not illegal, conducting illegal activities under these accounts will eventually result in the user being noticed and flagged as a virus and depending on their crime, will be hunted by Division 17 into fragmentation. If a user is killed inside Cyphers Lane they will wake up to an intense headache that can last up to 48 hours, sometimes hospitalizing users depending on the brutality of the death experienced. If a user is killed while they are jacked in to Cyphers Lane, their connection to reality is severed and they become trapped, becoming a virtual species of their own most commonly referred to as Ghosts.

Ghosts have around 15% of their original memories and are heavily corrupted, their minds splintered into a million pieces. They tend to travel the less built up and open areas of the Lane in groups of around thirty, most of them silent but the occasional ghost screaming and wailing in despair for the rest of eternity and forever doomed to walk its virtual halls as a fragmented version of their former selves. It is possible to transfer the consciousness of a Ghost to a synthetic body, although they will behave exactly like they do in Cyphers Lane and in some cases, become vegetables unable to speak or think. If a Ghost is attacked or provoked, they will turn hostile and attack their assailant, sometimes paralysing them inside the Lane for up to 24 hours with a hostile line of code. In this time a user will effectively be frozen in place while still conscious, unable to be pulled back into reality until the effects of the Ghosts code have worn off or an anti-Ghost code is installed by a member of Division 17. Ghosts come in two forms; Blue ghosts indicate a user who has been severed from reality by unintentional means and are less violent than their red counterparts who have been severed from reality by Division 17 after being flagged as a virus. While most do fear the Ghosts, they generally leave people alone and are only attracted to sudden and massive changes inside the Lane such as large scale cyber-attacks in which they actively seek out the hacker to restore order. Little research has been conducted on Ghosts and they are a protected species under the Cypher Protection Act of 3186.

In the last few decades hacking has become a serious issue inside the Intranet, causing most users to abandon the neural side of it and opt for the PDA version instead. This can be directly linked to users spending in-game currency on things they want, only to have them stolen on a regular basis despite backups and having to wait to receive their items back after providing proof of purchase. It is up to citizens to protect their own space and they can put in a request for assistance from Division 17, although this is costly and usually reserved for the wealthy and upper class. The main use of the Lane is now the news, information, educational material, gaming and socializing. As for Division 17, they are an independent crime fighting unit dedicated to the protection of Cyphers Lane and the preservation of user data. They provide the only official policing force inside Cyphers Lane due to the amount of danger and resistance inside, conducting operations against hackers, coders and rouge ghosts daily. Not much public knowledge exists on Division 17 other than the fact that they have been funded by the Peoples Military Forces for 101 years and often refuse to work with the Zecyrian Intelligence Agency on matters of cyber security. There is no official way to contact this division from outside of the Lane unless you are in the upper echelons of the military community which includes intelligence. It is unknown if they even have a headquarters or exist outside of the Lane as they are shrouded in secrecy.

Abilities:

• Information available by thoughts such as news, weather, statistics, educational material, etc.
  
  
• Sometimes used by the military to conduct large scale battle simulations.
  
  
• Synthetics and Glitch do not require neural technology to enter the Lane and they are able to process and sift through much more information faster than organics.
  
  
• A powerful AI protects the main sectors of the Intranet that control the traffic grids, CCTV network and technology around the city such as smart fridges, thermostats and fire alarms. These areas are significantly more sophisticated, covered in more security codes than anywhere in the city and harder to hack, almost always resulting in the hacker being located and caught before they complete their work.

Limitations:

• Must have a Neural Integration Suit or surgical operation to enter the Lane.
  
  
• Nothing is recorded in Cyphers Lane unless an individual user’s ‘spotter’ records their view from reality.
  
  
• There is always the small chance a user’s connection may be severed, turning them into Ghosts.
  
  
• Getting booted [ soft-kicked ] or killed [ hard-kicked ] inside the Lane results in an intense headache lasting 2 - 24 hours, respectively.
  
  
• A lag spike occurs every 24 hours as data is backed up, soft kicking any online users.
  
  
• Life inside Cyphers Lane does not represent reality, resulting in some becoming addicted to the lifestyle.
  
  
• Those on extended trips must make sure their body is sustained correctly or risk fragmentation.

How does it work: To enter Cyphers Lane one will require a small and delicate surgical procedure in which a ‘plug’ or ‘jack’ is inserted onto the back of a users neck which connects to the stem of the brain. Micro transformers in the plug ensure the correct flow of electrons to the stem as the user’s consciousness is temporarily moved into the Lane, leaving the body in a state of limbo like what happens during the cloning process. The plug leads from the back of the neck into any standard computing unit, although the stronger the CPU, the less problems and lag you will have once inside. This jack is almost identical to those seen on Neural Integration Suits, which are the only known alternative to the surgical procedure but significantly more expensive due to the amount of technology in the suit itself. When a user dies , their consciousness only has eight minutes of brain activity to funnel itself into the Lane which is nowhere near enough time, resulting in massive memory loss and fragmentation until the user becomes a Ghost. If a user dies inside the Lane, their consciousness is hard kicked back to their body , resulting in intense headaches and after years of extended use and kick fatigue, permanent brain damage.

Flavour text: Shortly after the discovery of neural technology, the military sought to use the tech to create a small, virtual & realistic battlefield with the intention of desensitizing or ‘breaking in’ their troops to the horrors of war. Originally designed by Reynar Cypher the project was a success and played a major part in the victory for the Revolution of Bathshire in 3171 which was secretly simulated for months before the initial assault even took place. Following the Revolution and once the military realized the potential of the Intranet they began pouring money into its construction to turn it into a life like simulation to prepare for future operations or invasions. By 3210, interest in the Lane mostly faded and its source code was released to the public who quickly turned it into their own version of the Nexus, resulting in the monstrous Lane that can be explored today. [ Refer to lore for Revolution ]

To enter Cyphers Lane one will require a small and delicate surgical procedure in which a ‘plug’ or ‘jack’ is inserted onto the back of a users neck which connects to the stem of the brain. Micro transformers in the plug ensure the correct flow of electrons to the stem as the user’s consciousness is temporarily moved into the Lane, leaving the body in a state of limbo like what happens during the cloning process. The plug leads from the back of the neck into any standard computing unit, although the stronger the CPU, the less problems and lag you will have once inside. This jack is almost identical to those seen on Neural Integration Suits, which are the only known alternative to the surgical procedure but significantly more expensive due to the amount of technology in the suit itself. When a user dies , their consciousness only has eight minutes of brain activity to funnel itself into the Lane which is nowhere near enough time, resulting in massive memory loss and fragmentation until the user becomes a Ghost. If a user dies inside the Lane, their consciousness is hard kicked back to their body , resulting in intense headaches and after years of extended use and kick fatigue, permanent brain damage.

Referenced Technologies: Hard & Soft Neural Links, Neural Integration Suit, Memory Viewer aka Mind Machine, Smart Fridges and Data-Flow Visualizers

Attainability: [ SEMI-CLOSED ] – must be within Great Zecyrian Walls and have the required augments; Neural Plug and/or Integration Suit.

Tags: COMPUTERS – TECHNOLOGY - VIRTUAL

Category: [ OTHER ] + [ COMPONENTS ]

 

Done, also re-pasted it from google docs so hopefully the code doesn't show up again.

 

• Users get 30 minutes warning and it is always at the sam time.
• Deleted the memories cannot be viewed as it was too much of a hassle to explain.

I am now going to give this app a pass!

 

• Fixed.
• The reason ghosts have the habits of wandering around and wailing is because there is only just enough consciousness of the user left to realize something has seriously gone wrong yet they do not fully understand what has happened to them so they are frozen in a state of fear and despair, constantly screaming for the rest of the Lanes existence. Although this only happens to some, most of them are silent as stated in the lore. As for their ability to paralyze individuals that is in the lore as well. It lasts up to 24 hours which I think would be best solved with a simple dice roll. !roll d24. After this time the code begins to wear off and users kind of just lag back to their original state. It does not affect their consciousness, just their cyber-self.

 

Tis a glitch in the Lane.