❓Frequently Asked Questions

Feel free to Ask Questions about Chapter 3 and answers related to technology will be added here.

• Did Y2K panic happen canonically?
  Yes! It was probably more of a thing in the Independent West than elsewhere. Parties like it's 1999 and all. But it was just a huge letdown. By the time 2000 rolled around, folks in the Splinters were just surviving. If there were a few machines that died out there, never rebooting afterward, they're long since on a scrap heap or scavenged. It was likely a driving force in the Independent West to modernize, and I'm sure some iteration of the iVote came out at the time. The PAU would have had their tech folks on it as well. The Steel Syndicate tended toward analog solutions so it's likely they watched the clocks and shrugged when nothing bad happened.

• Could I start with a phone or computer?
  Generally folks don't start with items. For donators, we're going to say no working tech as lore items. We don't have a good model for a cell phone. There are computers in the world, so when you find one you could always claim you brought it with you, but we wouldn't provide one.

• So the Independent West has good connectivity and even votes with iVote, which makes me wonder if there's platforms formed like social media or streaming services (like youtube) considering they're American made but the tech level is 2010s like, so maybe they are under different names/created in a different place, IF they exist? (Not meaning in game, but as part of lore)
  Yes, early streaming like Justin.tv would have been a thing in the Independent West. It's probably the start of some of that influencer culture. When it comes to the Splinters, you're probably looking at a sketchy BBS, if that. The PAU has good connectivity as well. And iVote is 100% sold by a guy wearing a turtleneck.

• Does AI exist?
  There is no ubiquitous AI in the world. It can exist in sci-fi stories and movies. But perhaps it is present in this chapter... perhaps. Who knows what the IWA came up with before falling or what the PAU was doing.

• What is UnityNet?
  Around 2000 a startup named UnityNet popped up in Europe. The company ushered in the age of social media and the internet. In the years since, it has grown to be one of the largest companies in the world, extending its reach to all of Europe and perhaps beyond under other subsidiaries. UnityNet seems to be embroiled in quite a bit: targeted ads, privacy infringement, data collection, monopoly concerns, to say the least.

• What is the current technology level?

Due to events unfolding differently, areas may be more or less advanced than in the present-day real world. However, the current outside world of Africa, Asia, Europe, and Oceania is around a modern-day level of technology. You can use that as a baseline.

North America, however, is much less technologically advanced. It is still around a 1990s level for the common person. Within the ICC, the average person has a 2000s level of technology, but has nothing like smart devices or computers. Any of that remaining technology would be reserved for the use of the city-states' governments.