Decode Cipher Database

VCR_CAT · July 23, 2017

Please do not post here without my permission. This database will update over time.

[spoiler=Denko City]

Denko City is a sprawling metropolis built on a massive platform in the Pacific Ocean in the wake of environmental disaster. The city is highly advanced and completely self-sufficient with its own agriculture labs, deep-sea mining, manufactoring, as well as parks and recreation. The city is divided into four sectors - The Skyline, where much of the residential and commercial districts are found; The Layers, where the industrial districts are found; The Pillars, where the city’s many core systems and services are located (power generation, trash removal, water supply, etc.); and The Foundation, where the mining and refining structures are found on the ocean floor.

The majority of the population lives in the Skyline. Because the city is seen as the hope for humanity’s future, the city takes care of its citizens and works to keep poverty and segregation to a minimum. Of course, eliminating both is an impossibility and some people are still forced to eek out a living in the Layers.

One of the most prolific high schools in the region, Prospect Preparatory, is one of the remaining private schooling installations in the school. Many of the students go on to study at Denko University.

[spoiler=History/Lore]

In the year 2052, natural disasters due to drastic shifts in the climate reached a deadly peak and the world was struck by storms the likes of that history has not seen in a very long time. The world’s population took a significant toll, and many people were forced to find new places to live. Many people migrated to old rigs situated across the ocean; advanced platforms built in recent years to become more sustainable and protected against the storms and natural events while allowing workers to remain on-site for longer periods of time. These rigs became refuges for many people, and over time they began to expand over time using the technologies of the era to support more and more people.

Fast forward to 2068, where one of the largest of these platforms, Denko City, has become a hub for a large population of people. Because of the nature of its location and its existence, Denko City has a vibrant and diverse culture with many people from many different origins. While relatively close to the coastline of Japan, the city has a very strong western population and has created its own hybrid culture.

In the year 2070, the ARC Network was created by Redline Entertainment and many people became a part of the use of this virtual reality; enjoying games, social interaction, or even as a business opportunity. The ARC Network had quickly swept over the city and became a massive craze. By the year 2074 many people were found in a permanent comatose state, for a reason yet undiscovered. However, there was a common link among all of these victims: They were users of the ARC Network. Following these incidents and many lawsuits, Redline was forced to shut down, along with the network.

In the year 2089, the Network came back online mysteriously, and ARC Units were back on sale. While there was much speculation over the safety of the network and its dangers, and many that wondered if it was legal for Redline to resume production of its units and to bring the Network back online, the system had passed all inspections and many technicians that worked for the city announced the network was safe to use. However, the city only allowed the sale and use of the Network under the condition that its own instated authority would be able to overlook the security and maintenance of the Network, to ensure the safety of its citizens.

Of course, there was a big difference from the network now than when it was first introduced: the existence of Ciphers. Now the year is 2094, and the Network is once again widely used by many people. While the Network’s user population is still considered a shadow of its former self, its current popularity cannot be ignored, along with the potential of such an advanced virtual reality.

[spoiler=ARC Network]

The Alternate Reality Computer Network is a highly advanced virtual reality. Users log into the network using wrist-mounted computers called ARC Units, and through neural interfaces the units induce a semi-sleeping state to its users while they experience the network to its full potential almost like a very vivid dream. Users can log in anywhere in the city so long as they have a signal sufficiently strong enough, and the city works to provide safe locations for users to login so that their sleeping bodies are monitored and protected from criminal activity.

The Network operates as a highly advanced virtual reality. Users are given the opportunity to craft their own avatars with an extremely wide range of options and customization. Once their designs are approved by the system, they’re allowed to log into the virtual reality. There they experience a different world with fewer limits; are able to play a variety of games, enjoy entertainment in a variety of ways from movies, to music and concerts, to plays, to anything their hearts desire. They can also participate in a strong network of social interaction and meet with people they could not before.

[spoiler=Ciphers]

Ciphers are the anomaly of the new version of the Network. Ciphers are users seemingly selected through unknown and probably random means, and seem to have special abilities outside of the constraints of the common user. These abilities manifest in a variety of ways, and while they are not designed or chosen by the users that designed their characters, they manifest in ways that reflect the people who become Ciphers. While Ciphers are uncommon, they aren’t extremely rare and can be found on a semi-regular basis using the network.

Ciphers use their new-found abilities in a variety of manners, and it always depends on the nature of the user. Some use them to help others, some use them to entertain, others use them to malicious means, and there are also those that use them to stop those users.

Regardless how a Cipher uses their powers, the Denko Authorities consider their existence to be an illegal part of the network and use their status as enforcers of the Network to suspend and remove the accounts of Ciphers however they can. Their job isn’t easy, however, as the Cipher accounts seem to exist outside the Denko Network Authority system; there are not tracers of their registration, logging in, or logging out. As such, the Network Authority has to work tirelessly to isolate these accounts and delete them however they can.

[spoiler=NPC Profiles]

-To be updated-

[spoiler=Player Profiles]