城

The City

Hong Kong, post-Settlement of 2042, post-Opening of 2031. A historic core of 8.5 million humans, forty-seven registered major entities, and an unknown number of unregistered ones. What follows is what the streets are for.

Geography

Interior and surface Hong Kong The city has a public face — surface — and a working order — interior. The work of these stories is the gap between them.

Social structures

Charm-strings Woven cords worn around wrists, ankles, or threaded through clothing. Each charm is a small token from a temple, a crew, a fixer, a relationship. Reading someone's charm-strings is a basic social skill. Faking a charm is a serious offense. The Open Roll The public list of registered citizens. To be rolled is to be on the list, to be struck is to have been formally erased. The Eight and the Ninth The Eight Houses are the registered entities. A Ninth is an unregistered one. To follow a Ninth is to be in trouble.

Augmentation

Augmentation tiers Roughly 70% of the city has at least one minor mod. Maybe 25% have moderate visible mods. Maybe 5% are heavily modified. The line where House-favor begins to fail is unclear and contested.

Network

The Web — open and quiet Two layers. Open is monitored. Quiet is not. Crews work both.

Economy

Favor and its cost How power flows in this Hong Kong: through formal contracts between humans and registered entities, paid for in attention, observance, service, and slow erosions of self.